the measures of Justice and the Dictates of Common Sense that the bare doing an irregular act or the bare having an irregular propension should be punishable at all much more with eternal damnation as it must be if every dependence of an action upon the will be enough to render it imputable that is if every material be also a formal sin This I say would be very unjust because such irregular acts are no more a man 's own than those committed by another man. 8. But it is certain that God does not proceed by such measures as may be gather'd from the Oeconomy of his severest dispensation the Law. For when he forbad murther with such strictness and severity as to order the murtherer SECT II. A more particular and explicit consideration of Material sin and what it adds to the general nature of evil 1. AFter our Distinction of sin into Material and Formal and our justification of that distinction it follows that in the next place we give some more particular and explicit account of the nature of Material sin That it is an irregular act in general was intimated before but to speculate its nature more thoroughly we must set it in a clearer light and define what it is that makes an action irregular And the account which I shall give of this I shall ground upon that Definition of St. John who tells us that sin is a transgression of the Law. So that transgression of the Law is the irregularity of an action and is more explicitly the Material part of sin 2. Thus far in general But now to make Transgression of the Law fully adequate and commensurate to Material sin so as to extend to all kinds of it it concerns us in the next place to enquire what is here to be understood by Law and upon the right stating of this will depend the whole Theory of Material sin 3. By Law therefore in the first place is to be understood that which is Positive that is any rule of action prescribed to us by God consider'd only as prescribed Any action so prescribed be it otherwise never so indifferent for the matter puts on the force of a Law from the Authority of the Prescriber and every transgression of such a Rule is Sin. 4. But the Transgression of Law in this narrow sense of the word will not comprehend all the kinds of Material sin For altho Positive Law creates the first difference in some things yet it does not in all For had God never made any Positive Law yet the doing of some actions would have been sin nay there was sin where there was no Positive Law as may be probably collected from the fall of Angels But where there is no Law there is no Transgression There must be therefore some other law besides Positive Law. 5. By Law therefore 2ly is to be understood the Law of Reason that Candle of the Lord that lights every man that comes into the world in his passage through it This is twofold For 1st by the Law of Reason may be understood that Original stock of rational Tendencys or practical sentiments which prevent all Discourse and reasonings about what is to be done and answer to Speculative Principles For as the Animal and sensitive Nature is not only furnish'd with Sense and Perception but also with certain connatural instincts and impressions whereby Animals are directed and inclined to sensitive good so for the guardianship and security of Vertue against the danger either of ignorance or inadvertence God has furnish'd the Rational nature not only with the faculty of reasoning but with certain common Principles and Notions whereby 't is inclined to the good of the Reasonable life This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so much talkt of and that which men generally mean by the Law of Nature 6. Or else 2ly by the Law of Reason may be understood a Power which a Rational Creature has of finding out by discoursing from first Principles what is fit to be done and of reflecting upon the reasonableness of those Moral Anticipations and impressions which he before entertain'd tho he knew not upon what ground 7. These two make up the adequate notion of the Law of Reason but we are not yet come to the adequate notion of Law. For if the Law of Reason be taken in the first sense for a stock of Moral Anticipations implanted by God in the Soul this will be but another branch of Positive Law. For Light of Nature and Light of Scripture are but different modes of Divine revelation and neither of these can be the ultimate Reason into which the Morality of every action is to be resolv'd 8. But if the Law of Reason be taken in the latter sense for a Power which a Rational Creature has of finding out by discourse what is reasonable to be done this will of necessity lead us higher namely to consider that there are certain antecedent and independent aptnesses or qualitys in things with respect to which they are fit to be commanded or forbidden by the wise governour of the world in some positive Law whether that of internal or external Revelation or both 9. We are therefore in the next place to resolve these antecedent aptnesses of things into their proper ground or to assign what that is which makes an action fit to be commanded or forbidden Which when we have done we are advanced as high as we can go and have found out that supreme eternal and irreversible Law which prescribes measures to all the rest and is the last Reason of good and evil 10. That therefore which makes an action fit to be commanded or forbidden by the wise governour of the world can be nothing else in general but its respective tendency to prompt or hinder the attainment of some certain end or other which that governour proposes For all action being for some end and not the End it self its aptness to be commanded or forbidden must be founded upon its serviceableness or disserviceableness to some end So much in general 11. I further consider that this end must be that which is simply and absolutely the best and greatest For no other is worthy of God. Now certainly there is none better or greater than the universal good of the whole Sisteme of things which is therefore to be regarded and prosecuted to the utmost both by God and all other Intelligent Beings 12. And hence arises this first and great Canon or Law that whatever naturally tends to the promotion of the common interest is good and apt to be commanded and whatever naturally tends to the disinterest of the public is evil and apt to be forbidden This is the great Basis of Morality the fixt and immutable standard of good and evil and the fundamental Law of Nature 13. And because there are some actions in specie which with relation to the present systeme both of the Material and Intellectual world have such a natural connexion with the
furtherance or prejudice of this great end therefore these by way of Assumption under the two general Propositions are intrinsecally and naturally good or bad and are thereby differenc'd from those that are made so only by arbitrary Constitution Tho yet in one respect these are arbitrāry too in as much as they depend upon such a particular Hypothesis of the world which was it self arbitrary and which if God should at any time change the relations of actions to the great end might change too that which now naturally makes for the common advantage might as naturally make against it and consequently that which is now good might have been then evil But still the two great Hinges of Morality stand as fixt and as unvariable as the two Poles whatever is naturally conducive to the common interest is good and whatever has a contrary influence is evil These are propositions of eternal and unchangeable verity and which God can no more cancel or disanull than he can deny himself 14. So that now to analyze the immorality of any action into its last Principles If it be enquired why such an action is to be avoided the immediat answer is because 't is sin if it be ask'd why 't is sin the immediat answer is because 't is forbidden if why forbidden because 't was in it self fit to be forbidden if why fit because naturally apt to prejudice the common interest if it be ask'd why the natural aptness of a thing to prejudice the common interest should make it fit to be forbidden the answer is because the common interest is above all things to be regarded and prosecuted if farther a reason be demanded of this there can no other be given but because 't is the best and greatest end and consequently is to be desired and prosecuted not for the sake of any thing else but purely for it self 15. So that now the last Law whereof sin is a Transgression is this great and Supream Law concerning the prosecution of the common interest And every sin is some way or other directly or indirectly a transgression of this Law. Those against any Moral Precept directly and those against a Precept merely Positive indirectly because 't is for the common good that the Supreme Authority be acknowledg'd and submitted to let the instance wherein Obedience is required be in it self never so indifferent 16. If it be now objected that according to these measures there will be no difference between Moral and Physical evil contrary to the common distinction between malum Turpe and malum Noxium the one as opposed to bonum utile and the other as opposed to bonum honestum I answer that I know of no good or evil but of the end and of the means Good of the end is what we call bonum jucundum good of the means is what we call utile Evil of the end there is properly none but that only is evil which is prejudicial to it Indeed the old masters of Morality discours'd of moral good and evil as of absolute natures and accordingly nothing so common among them as to talk of Essential Rectitudes and Essential Turpitudes But I think it greater accuracy to say that Moral good and evil are Relative things that bonum honestum is one and the same with that which is truly utile and that Malum Turpe is that which is naturally against the profit of the Community And herein I assert no more than what the great master of the Latin Philosophy and Eloquence professedly contends for throughout the whole third book of his Offices And therefore instead of evading the Objection I freely own its charge and affirm that there is no difference between Moral and Physical evil any otherwise than that Physical evil extends to all things in nature which obstruct Happiness whereas Moral evil is appropriated to Actions that do so SECT III. The second part of the Discourse which briefly treats of Formal sin with the requisites necessary to its constitution Where also 't is enquired whether the Nature of sin be positive or privative 1. WE are now come to the second part of our Discourse where we are to treat of the nature of Formal Sin that is of Sin consider'd not abstractedly for the mere act of Obliquity but Concretely with such a special dependence of it upon the will as serves to render the Agent guilty or obnoxious to punishment 2. And here the first thing to be observ'd is that altho material sin does neither in its notion nor in its existence include formal sin yet formal sin does always include the other Tho there may be a transgression of the Law without formal sin yet the latter always supposes the former and as St. John says whosoever committeth sin transgresses also the Law. 3. But that which formal sin adds over and above to material and under whose respect we are now to consider it is the connotation of that special dependence of it upon the will which derives guilt upon the Agent So that for a Definition of formal sin we may say that it is an irregular action or a transgression of the law so depending upon the will as to make the Agent liable to punishment This is in the Phrase of St. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have sin that is so as to be accountable for it for he speaks of that sin which upon confession God is faithful and just to forgive and consequently not of material for where there is no guilt there can be no Remission but of formal sin 4. From this general notion of formal sin proceed we to enquire what that special dependence is that makes an irregular action formally a sin And here 't is in the first place supposed that not every dependence of an action upon the will is sufficient to make it imputable And with very good reason For otherwise the actions of Infants Fools and Madmen would be imputable for these as indeed all actions have some dependence upon the will at least as a Physical Principle 5. To be positive therefore that an irregular action may so depend upon the will as to derive guilt upon the Agent 't is necessary first that it proceed from the will as from a free Principle Free not only in opposition to coaction for so all the actions of the will are free but in opposition to necessity or determination to one part of the contradiction That is in one word 't is necessary to the imputableness of an action that it be avoidable To this purpose is that common saying of St. Austin Nemo peccat that is formaliter in eo quod vitare non potest And great reason the Father had to say so for he that cannot avoid transgressing the Law is not so much as capable of being obliged by it because no man can be obliged to what is impossible and if he be not obliged by it certainly he cannot Morally and Formally break it A thing which the
with thy stay Each grove was sprightly every wood was gay The boughs with birds the caves with Swains did ring And the shrill grashopper about the fields did sing But now each wood is silent as the grave Nor does the Shepherd whistle in his cave Nor does the Bird sit Chirping on the bough Nor is the grashopper to be heard now Zeb The Fields with living Springs were fruitful made And every Spring had his refreshing shade Sweet flowers to the Bees were ne're deny'd The Fold with grass was constantly supplied Now Parthenis is gon th' industrious Bee Can't flowers procure with all his industry The Folds want grass the Fields their living Springs Nor have the Fountains now their shady coverings Divine Parthenia with thee we 've lost All the delights our Rural life could boast Asor My little Goats were boldly wont to go And climbe the desert hills my Sheep would do so too Then happy Sheep the Wolf the Fold did spare The Heat the infant trees the Rain the ripen dear Alph. Thou now perhaps sweet Nymph art trave'ling o re Some Craggie hills unknown to thee before Whilest we sitt here among the shady trees And swallow down each Cool refreshing breese Zeb Say you sweet Western blasts that gently blow And you fair Rivers that as swiftly flow You who so often have been vocal made By Swains that pipe and sing under the shade Say now while Phoebus holds the middle Skie Under what Rock does sweet Par heniae ly Or through what Coasts may I her wandrings trace Or in what fountain sees she now her lovely face Ah! tho our way of life be plain and course Yet don 't thou like thy Country e're the worse Since 't ' as thy happy Parent been and Nurse Asor Ah! where 's that sweet retreat can thee detain If thou thy native Country dost disdain Here are pure springs and o're the springs are bowres Fine woods and fruit-trees and a world of flowers Alph. But why fair Nymph would'st thou be absent now When the sweet Strawberry raises up his head Like Morning Sun all delicately red And Odorous blossoms spring from every bough Zeb Don't you my Sheep that yonder bank come near 'T is to Parthenia sacred all that 's there Nor wou'd the grass be toucht by any but by Her. Asor Before fierce Boreas blow with s boisterous mouth Or rainy weather come on from the South Be sure Parthenia to return again Lest by the Cold thou suffer or the rain Alph. In a choice Garden is reserv'd for thee Sweet Marioram and a large Myrtle tree Myrtles thou always lov'st come then if now Thou still lov'st flowers as thou wer 't wont to do Zeb Ripe apples now hang dangling on the tree Ready to drop and only stay for thee The Fig of thy delay too does complain The tender Fig but let them both remain 'Till thou to thy dear Nazareth return again Asor Return sweet Nymph and with thee thou shalt bring All the delights and beautys of the Spring Fresh grass again shall on the mountains grow The Rivers shall with milk and nectar flow The woods shall put on their green Livery And Nature in her pomp shall wait on thee The Country Swains shall flowers and Presents bring And I a Violet garland for my Offering With me shall Azarias come along Who with a smooth-wrought Pipe shall play the Song The Song that Israel's shepherd as he stood By Jordan's bank playd to the listning flood Alph. But if thou longer should'st our hopes deceive With rushes I 'l a basket for thee weave Here thy own Nazareth I 'l represent How all things here thy absence do lament The little goats thou wandring here shalt see Mournful and sad and all for want of thee The Rivers which before flow'd swift and clear As glad the image of thy face to bear Shall move benumm'd and slow whilest on each hand Appears the thirsty and forsaken sand The Corn shall droop and languish in the field The Meadows no fresh grass or herb shall yield The Fir-tree which with stately pride before Her curious shady locks towards heaven spread Shall now with downcast boughs and pensive head Thy absence mourn and thy return implore Thou round about shalt all things weeping see If tears in rush-work may decipher'd be Zeb Preserve ye Powers if you don 't us disdain The Nymph whilest she runs panting o're the plain And while she 's absent since she once had love For these our fields take care ye powers above That neither rivers do their banks o'reflow Nor Storms the pastures spoil or ripen'd corn o'rethrow Asor From night-fires let our stalls sweet Nymph be free Defend from heat the Rose from cold the Myrtle-tree While Rose and Myrtle are belov'd by thee That if you chance to cast a longing eye Back on these fields now naked and forlorn We may have still some flowers left to supply Garlands t' express our Joy and Dresses you t' adorn Alph. Haste not if through rough ways thy journy lye Hast not the Heat will prove an injury Let not the Sun thy brighter Beautys spoil Ah! why wilt thou undoe thy self with too much toil Take pleasing shelter in some gentle shade Till the day slacken and the heat b'allayd Zeb Parthenia why dost thou our hopes prolong Perhaps too some ill Pipe and worser song Now grate thy ears whil'st thy poor Country swain On the deaf winds bestows sweet lays in vain Hang there my Pipe till she return and be A silent Monument of my Misery For what are songs or mirth without her Company Azor. Our hills shall mourn while distant coasts you bless Anamis shall not dance nor Sabaris The fields the naked fields no songs shall know And Brooks their discontent by murmuring streams shall shew Thus did the Swains the absent Nymph lament The neighboring woods to Heav'n the doleful Accents sent The tenth Ode of the second Book of Horace translated I. 'T Is much the better way believe me 't is Not far to venture on the great Abysse Nor yet from storms thy Vessel to secure To touch too nigh upon the dangerous shore II. The Golden Mean as she 's too nice to dwell Among the ruins of a filthy Cell So is her Modesty withall as great To baulk the envy of a Princely seat III. Th' ambitions Winds with greater spite Combine To shock the grandeur of the stately Pine. The height of structures makes the ruin large And Clouds against high hills their hottest bolts discharge IV. An even well-pois'd mind an evil state With Hope a good with Fear does moderate The Summers pride by Winter is brought down And flowers again the Conquering season Crown V. Take heart nor of the laws of fate Complain Tho now 't is Cloudy 't will Clear up again The bow Apollo does not always use But with his milder lyre sometimes awakes the Muse VI. Be life and spirit when fortune proves unkind And summon up the vigour of thy mind
do not thou My Soul fixt here remain All Streams of Beauty here below Do from that immense Ocean flow And thither they should lead again Trace then these Streams till thou shall be At length o'rewhelm'd in Beauty's boundless Sea. Love. I. IMperial Passion Sacred fire When we of meaner Subjects sing Thou tune'st our Harps thou dost our Souls inspire 'T is Love directs the Quill 't is Love strikes every string But where 's another Deity T' inspire the man that sings of thee II. W' are by mistaken Chymists told That the most active part of all The various Compound cast in nature's mould Is that which they Mercurial spirit call But sure 't is Love they should have said Without this even their Spirit is Dead III. Love 's the great Spring of Nature's wheel Love does the Masse pervade and move What ' scapes the Sun's does thy warm influence feel The Universe is kept in tune by Love. Thou Nature giv'st her Sympathy The Center has its Charm from thee IV. Love did great Nothing 's barren womb Impregnate with his genial fire From this first Parent did all creatures come Th' Almighty will'd and made all by Desire Nay more among the Sacred Three The third subsistence is from thee V. The Happiest Order of the Blest Are those whose Tide of Love's most high The bright Seraphic Host who 're more possest Of good because more like the Deity T' him they advance as they improve Their noble heat for God is love VI. Shall then a Passion so Divine Stoop down and Mortal Beautys know Nature's great Statute Law did ne're design That Heavenly fire should kindle here below Let it ascend and dwell above The proper Element of Love. The Consummation A Pindarique Ode I. THe rise of Monarchys and their long weighty fall My Muse outsoars she proudly leaves behind The Pomps of Courts she leaves our little All To be the humble Song of a less reaching Mind In vain I curb her tow'ring flight All I can here present's too small She presses on and now has lost their sight She flies and hastens to relate The last and dreadful Scene of Fate Nature's great solemn Funeral I see the mighty Angel stand Cloath'd with a Cloud and Rain-bow round his head His right foot on the Sea his other on the Land He lifted up his dreadful arm and thus he said By the mysterious great Three-one Whose Power we fear and Truth adore I swear the Fatal Thred is spun Nature shall breath her last and Time shall be no more The Ancient Stager of the Day Has run his minutes out and number'd all his way The parting Isthmus is thrown down And all shall now be overflown Time shall no more her under-current know But one with great Eternity shall grow Their streams shall mix and in one Circling chanel flow II. He spake Fate writ the Sentence with her Iron pen And mighty Thunderings said Amen What dreadful sound 's this strikes my ear 'T is sure th' Arch-angel's trump I hear Nature's great Passing-bell the only Call Of God's that will be heard by all The Universe takes the alarm the Sea Trembles at the great Angel's sound And roars almost as loud as he Seeks a new channel and would fain run under-ground The Earth it self does no less quake And all throughout down to the Center shake The Graves unclose and the deep sleepers there awake The Sun 's arrested in his way He dares not forward go But wondring stands at the great hurry here below The Stars forget their laws and like loose Planets stray See how the Elements resign Their numerous charge the scatter'd Atoms home repair Some from the Earth some from the Sea some from the Air They know the great alarm And in confus'd mixt numbers swarm Till rang'd and sever'd by the Chymistry divine The Father of Mankind's amaz'd to see The Globe too narrow for his Progeny But 't is the closing of the Age And all the Actors now at once must grace the Stage III. Now Muse exalt thy wing be bold and dare Fate does a wondrous Scene prepare The Central fire which hitherto did burn Dull like a Lamp in a moist clammy Urn Fann'd by the breath divine begins to glow The Fiends are all amaz'd below But that will no confinement know Breaks through its Sacred Fence and plays more free Than thou with all thy vast Pindarique Liberty Nature does sick of a strong Fever lye The fire the subterraneous Vaults does spoil The Mountains sweat the Sea does boil The Sea her mighty Pulse beats high The waves of fire more proudly rowl The Fiends in their deep Caverns howl And with the frightful Trumpet mix their hideous cry Now is the Tragic Scene begun The Fire in triumph marches on The Earth's girt round with flames and seems another Sun. IV. But whither does this lawless Judgment roam Must all promiscuously expire A Sacrifice in Sodom's fire Read thy Commission Fate sure all are not thy due No thou must save the vertuous Few But where 's the Angel guardian to avert the doom Lo with a mighty Host he 's come I see the parted Clouds give way I see the Banner of the Cross display Death's Conquerour in pomp appears In his right hand a Palm he bears And in his looks Redemption wears Th' illustrious glory of this Scene Does the despairing Saints inspire With Joy with Rapture and desire Kindles the higher life that dormant lay within Th' awaken'd vertue does its strength display Melts and refines their drosâ—y Clay New-cast into a pure Aethereal frame They fly and mount aloft in vehicles of flame Slack here my Muse thy roving wing And now the world 's untuned let down thy high-set string Freedom I. I Do not ask thee Fate to give This little span a long reprieve Thy pleasures here are all so poor and vain I care not hence how soon I 'm gone Date as thou wilt my time I shan't complain May I but still live free and call it all my own II. Let my sand slide away apace I care not so I hold the glass Let me my Time my Books my Self enjoy Give me from cares a sure retreat Let no impertinence my hours employ That 's in one word kind Heaven â—et me ne're be great III. In vain from chains and fetters free The great man boasts of Liberty He 's pinnion'd up by formal rules of state Can ne're from noise and dust retire He 's haunted still by Crouds that round him wait His lot's to be in Pain as that of Fools t' admire IV. Mean while the Swain has calm repose Freely he comes and freely goes Thus the bright Stars whose station is more high Are fix'd and by strict measures move While lower Planets wanton in the sky Are bound to no set laws but humoursomly rove To his Muse I. COme Muse let 's cast up our Accounts and see How much you are in Debt to me You 've reign'd thus long the Mistress of
for their correspondency to our rational Natures are usually distinguish'd by the name of Natural Religion For there are Practical as well as Speculative Principles and that he who does no hurt is to receive none is as evident a Proposition in Morality as that the whole is greater than its part is in the Mathematics or that nothing can be and not be at once is in the Metaphysics 18. And as Religion and Natural Religion carry such a strict conformity to our Rational facultys so does Reveal'd Religion too All the lines of this as well as of the other point all the way at and at last concentre in the Happiness and welfare of mankind 'T is a persuance of the same excellent end only by more close and direct means For God in all his intercourses with us does accommodate himself to our natures and as he will not forcibly determin us to good because he has made us free so neither does he require any thing from us but what is good and consistent with Reason because he has made us Rational And altho we cannot by this Candle of the Lord find out some of the great and wonderful things of his Law for herein consists the formal difference between Natural and Reveal'd Religion yet when they are once proposed to us they are highly approv'd by our Intellectual relish and strike perfect unisons to the voice of our Reason so that even the Animal man for 't is of him the Apostle there speaks consents to the Law that it is good 19. And indeed were it not so it would be as unfit for God to propose as hard for man to receive since even the Prudence of a Nation is by no one thing either more justify'd or condemn'd than by the good or ill contrivance of its Laws Shall not then the law-giver of the whole world enact that which is right as well as the Judge of all the Earth do right Shall he not be as wise in the framing of his law as he is Just in the Execution of it God in contriving the Mechanism of the material world displaid the excellency of his Divine Geometry and made all things in Number Weight and Measure He establish'd the world by his wisdom and stretch'd out the heavens by his discretion And shall he not govern the Intellectual world with as much wisdom as he made the Natural one Questionless he does and the law which he has prescrib'd to us is as perfect and excellent as that whereby he wrought the Beauty and Order of the universe For the Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works He has accommodated his Statutes and Judgments both to the infinite perfection of his own Nature and both to the actual perfection and capacity of ours God is a spirit and accordingly as the Apostle tells us the Law is Spiritual Man is Rational and accordingly the Homage he is to pay to him that made him so is no other than a. Reasonable Service 20. But to be as compendious and yet withall as just and distinct as may be in so copious and plentiful a Subject I consider that as the whole rational nature of man consists of two facultys understanding and will whether really or notionally distinct I shall not now dispute So Christianity whose end is to perfect the whole man and give the last accomplishment both to our Intellectual and Moral powers will be wholly absolv'd in these two parts things to be believ'd and things to be done If therefore in both these it can acquit it self at the Bar of Reason the Conclusion is evident that it is a Reasonable Service 21. First then as to the things which are to be believ'd Now these are either the Authority and Truth of the whole Christian Institution or the Truth of particular Mysterys contain'd in it The Ist of these will appear to be a reasonable Object of faith two ways I st from the nature of its Design and its excellent aptness to compass it and 2ly from extrinsic Arguments and collateral circumstances And I st 't is recommended to us by the nature of its Design and its excellent aptness to compass it It is according to the precedent representation a very wise and rational Hypothesis above the reason of man indeed at first to contrive but such as when proposed it must needs approve and acquiesce in as at once the Power and Wisdom of God because as I first observ'd and shall hereafter more plainly demonstrate 't is so admirably fitted to the Honor of God and to the necessitys of man thereby verifying that double part of the Angelical anthem at the appearance of its Divine Author and at once bringing glory to God on high and on earth Peace to men of good will. 22. And as it appears thus rational in its general Idea or Structure and thereby speaks it self worthy of God so 2ly that it came actually from him no Rational person can doubt that considers that conjugation of Arguments that cloud of witnesses whereby its divine Original stands attested Such as are the variety of Prophecys and Prefigurations their punctual and exact accomplishment in the Author of this Institution his Birth Life Miracles and Doctrine his Passion Death Resurrection and Ascension with all the wonderful Arrear and train of Accidents that ensued for the Confirmation of Christianity such as the wonderful Sustentation Protection increase and Continuation of Christs little flock the Christian Church the miraculous assistances and miraculous actions of the Apostles the Harmony of the Evangelists the Constancy and Courage of his first Witnesses and Martyrs the defeat of the Infernal Powers in the silencing of Oracles the just punishment that lighted upon his enemies and lastly the completion of all Prophecies that proceeded out of his divine mouth while on earth which I shall here only point at in general and leave to the inlargement of every man's private meditation 23. Then as for the particular mysterys contain'd in Christianity I know but of three that threaten any distarbance to our Philosophy and those are the three Catholic ones mention'd by St. Athanasius the Trinity the Hypostatic union and the Resurrection Now concerning the two first I observe that they are indeed above the adequate comprehension of our Reason but not contrary or repugnant to it For as we cannot conceive how these things can be so neither do we positively and clearly perceive that they cannot be as we do in contradictions and things contrary to reason But as to the last I don't in the least understand why it should be thought a thing incredible that God whose very notion involves Omnipotence should raise the Dead 'T is true we are as ignorant how this can be as in either of the former Articles but that it absolutely may be there is much plainer evidence especially to those who think it reasonable to believe a Creation Which if taken according to
of the too exuberant blessedness But now in this Region we are far enough from being under the Line there is no danger of such Extremity but rather the contrary and therefore it would be now most advisable for us to be as Happy and to that end as Religious as we can 14. Secondly I consider that since God out of the abundance of his overflowing and communicative Goodness was pleas'd to create and design man for the best of Ends the fruition of himself in endless Happiness and since he has prescribed no other Conditions for the attainment of this Happiness but that we would live happily here in this State of Probation having made nothing our Duty but what would have been best for us to do whether he had commanded it or no and has thereby declared that he is so far only pleas'd with our Services to him as they are beneficial to our selves this must needs be a most endearing engagement to one that has the least spark of Generosity or Ingenuity to do somthing for the sake of so good a God beyond the Measures of Necessity and the regards of his main and final Interest This is the only Tribute of Gratitude we are capable of paying God for giving us such good such reasonable and righteous Laws Had the conditions of our eternal welfare been never so hard arbitrary and contradictory to our present Happiness yet mere interest would engage us to perform necessary Duty and shall we do no more out of a principle of Love to our excellent Lawgiver for making our present Happiness the Condition of our future Shall the Love of God constrain us to do no more then what we would do merely for the Love of our selves shall we stint our Performances to him who sets no Measures to his Love of us Can our Generosity be ever more seasonably employ'd than in endeavouring to please him in extraordinary Measures whose Pleasure is to see us happy even while we please him For so is the will of the wise and good Governour of the World that in serving him we should serve our selves and like Adam in his dressing and cultivation of Paradise at the same time discharge the Employment which God sets us about and consult our own Convenience So that it fares with us in our religious Exercises as with the Votary that sacrifices at the Altar who all the while he pleases and serves his God enjoys the perfumes of his own Incense 15. Thirdly I consider that every man has a restless Principle of Love implanted in his Nature a certain Magnetism of Passion whereby according to the Platonic and true notion of Love he continually aspires to somthing more excellent than himself either really or apparently with a design and inclination to perfect his Being This affection and disposition of Mind all Men have and at all times Our other Passions ebb and flow like the Tide have their Seasons and Periods like intermitting Feavers But this of Love is as constant as our Radical heat as inseparable as thought as even and equal as the Motions of Time. For no man does or can desire to be happy more at one time than at another because he desires it always in the highest degree possible 'T is true his Love as to particular objects may increase or decrease according to the various apprehensions he has of their excellencies but then like Motion in the Universe what it loses in one part it gains in another so that in the whole it remains always alike and the same Now this Amorous Principle which every man receives with his Soul and which is breath'd into him with the breath of Life must necessarily have an object about which it may exercise it self there being no such thing in Love if in Nature as an Element of Self-sufficient Fire For tho we may easily and truly frame an abstract notion of Love or Desire in general yet if we respect its real existence we shall as soon find First Matter without Form as Love without a particular Object And as 't is necessary to the very being of Love that it have an object so is it to our content and happiness that it be a proportionate and satisfying one for otherwise that passion which was intended as an instrument of happiness will prove an affliction and torment to us Now there is but one such object to be found and that is God. In the application of our Passions to other things the advice of the Poet is exceeding necessary Quicquid amas cupias non placuisse nimis Martial That we should be very cautious how far we suffer our selves to be engaged in the love of any thing because there is nothing but disappointment in the enjoyment and uncertainty in the possession We must needs therefore be miserable in our Love unless God be the object of it But neither is our happiness sufficiently secured by making God the object of our Love unless we concenter our whole affections upon him and in the strictest sense of the Phrase love him with all our Heart and with all our Soul. For otherwise whatever portion of our Love does not run in this Channel must necessarily fix upon disproportionate and unsatisfying objects and consequently be an instrument of discontent to us 'T is necessary therefore to the compleating of our happiness that that object should engross all our affections to it self which only can satisfie them and according to the comparison of an ingenious Platonist that our minds should have the same habitude to God that the Eye has to Light. Now the Eye does not only love Light above other things but delights in nothing else I confess such an absolute and entire Dedication of our love to God as this is not always practicable in this Life It is the priviledg and happiness of those confirm'd Spirits who are so swallow'd up in the Comprehensions of Eternity and so perpetually ravish'd with the Glories of the Divine Beauty that they have not the power to turn aside to any other object But tho this Superlative Excellency of Divine Love be not attainable on this side of the thick darkness it being the proper effect of open Vision and not of Contemplation yet however by the help of this latter we may arrive to many degrees of it and the more entire and undivided our love is to God the fewer disappointments and dissatisfactions we shall meet with in the World which is a very strong engagement to Heroie Piety 16. Fourthly I consider that the degrees of our Reward shall be proportionable to the degrees of our Piety We shall reap as plentifully as we sow and at the great day of Retribution we shall find that besides the general Collation of Happiness peculiar Coronets of Glory are prepared for Eminent Saints Indeed all hearty and sincere lovers of God and Religion shall partake of the glories of the Kingdom but some shall sit nearer the Throne than others and enjoy a more
Patrons of Physical Predetermination would do well to consider 6. But when I make it necessary to the imputableness of an action that it be freely exerted I would not be understood of an immediat Freeness For certainly those rooted and confirm'd sinners who have by long use reduced themselves under a necessity of sinning are never the more excusable for the impotence they have contracted If there was Liberty in the Principle 't is sufficient 7. The next requisite and that which gives the last and finishing stroke to Formal sin is that it proceeds from the will sufficiently instructed by the understanding That is to make a man sin formally 't is requisite that he has not only a Power of avoiding that action which is a transgression of the Law but that he also know it to be a Transgression of the Law at least that he be in a capacity so to do that so he may be induced to exert that Power And 't is also necessary that he know that he commits it that is he must have or at least be in a capacity of having both notitia Juris and notitia Facti 8. The former of these depends upon that common Principle that Laws do not oblige till they are publish'd according to that known Maxime of the Canon Law Leges constituuntur cum promulgantur and that of the Civilians Leges quae constringunt hominum vitas intelligi ab omnibus debent And the latter also depends upon the equity of the same Principle tho somewhat more remotely for without this the Law with relation to that particular instance cannot be said to be properly known For altho I know such a species of action suppose Adultery to be a transgression of the Law yet if I know not that by such a particular instance I commit it I cannot be said to know that this my action is a Transgression of the Law and consequently supposing this my ignorance invincible am wholly excusable as appears in the case of Abimelech when he took Abraham's wife 9. So that to the Constitution of Formal sin these two things are required 1st that the Transgressor have a Power either immediatly or at least in the Principle of not doing that action which is a Transgression 2ly that he either do or may know that act to be a Transgression of the Law and likewise that he know when he commits it And thus have I shewn the rise progress and maturity of sin I have presented to view both the imperfect Embryo and the full proportion'd and animated Monster All which I shall briefly comprize in that compendious description of St. James Lust when it is conceiv'd bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finish'd bringeth forth death 10. There is one thing behind relating to the nature of sin in common which I shall briefly consider and that is whether its nature be Positive or Privative The latter is generally held both by Metaphysitians Moralists and Divines but upon what sufficient grounds I could never yet understand The Formal part of sin without all Question is Positive as is plain from the very notion of it For it denotes only that special Dependence which an irregular act has upon the will which is the same as well as the common substance of the act both in good and bad actions and consequently alike Positive 11. All the controversy therefore remains concerning the Material part of sin whether that be Positive or Privative And this too not with respect to the mere Act for that without question is positive but with respect to the irregularity of it 12. Here then I consider that according to the foregoing measures the irregularity of an action is not only its aberration from the Rule but its crossing or going contrary to it For 't is not only its not promoting but its opposing or at least its natural aptness to oppose the greatest and best of ends So that 't is not so properly an irregularity as a contra-regularity And therefore good and bad actions are not privatively but contrarily opposed and consequently both positive for contrarys are always so 13. For as to be in pain is not Privatively but contrarily opposed to being Happy for Pain is something more than want of Happiness so that action which causes Pain or misery is not Privatively but contrarily opposed to that which is effective of Happiness and consequently is as Positive as the other 14. Those sins which bid the fairest for Privation are sins of Omission But even these if we consider their Nature will appear to be also Positive For to speak properly their irregularity does not lye in the not doing or the not willing to do what ought to be done but in the willing not to do it But to will the not doing of a thing is as positive as the willing to do it as being not contradictorily or privatively but contrarily opposed to it The sins therefore of Omission are as Positive as those of Commission The only difference is that the Positiveness of sins of Commission lies both in the Habitude of the will and in the executed act too whereas the Positiveness of sins of Omission is in the Habitude of the will only 15. And what is here determin'd concerning Moral evil will I suppose hold equally true in all evil except only that which is Absolute that is whose evil is not its noxiousness to any thing else but only the want of some constituent Perfection due to its self according to that distinction mention'd by Suarez in his Disputation de Malo of Malum in se and malum alteri This indeed does import no more than a Privation And this I suppose might be the occasion of mistake to those who first thought Moral evil to consist in a Privation only for Absolute evil does so and they as I intimated above took Moral evil to be a kind of absolute Nature 16. Many things I know might be and are commonly objected against the Positiveness of sin but I can think but of one that 's worth considering which is that if Sin be positive it will be a real Entity and if so then we are press'd with a double absurdity 1st that God will be the Author of it as being the efficient cause of all Entity 2ly that it will be good goodness being a necessary Affection of Ens. 17. To this I answer 1st that I not only freely acknowledg but contend that sin is a real Entity But then I distingush of Entity There are Physical and there are Moral Entitys By the latter which alone needs explication I understand certain modes of determination superadded to Physical things or motions by intelligent Beings in order either to the interest or disinterest of the universe 18. This being premised I answer to the first part of the objection by denying that it hence follows that God is the Author of sin God indeed is the Author of all Physical Beings and Motions but not of those modes of