most sanctified Nature and some Venial Defects and Imperfections or other may still leave room for the greatest of Saints to extend his Conquest Besides 't is hard to determine or fix the Bounds of Knowledge and every new Degree of Light seems to make way for more So that after all nothing hinders but that the Path of the Perfect Man may as well with respect to his Righteousness as his Fortunes be like the shining Light which shineth more and more unto the Perfect day I mean the Day of a blessed Eternity The Motives to Perfection the Fruit of it the Means and Methods of attaining it laid down in the First Section will all serve here therefore I have nothing to offer of this sort only if I forgot to pay that Deference to the Institutions of our Church which they justly deserve I do it now and do earnestly perswade my Reader to a strict Observance of them I do not only think this necessary to maintain a Face of Religion amongst us but also highly conducive to true Perfection I am fully satisfied That there is a peculiar Presence of God in his publick Ordinances That the Devotion of good Men does mutually inflame and enkindle one another That there is a holy Awe and Reverence seizes the Minds of good Men when they draw near to God in publick Worship And finally That if the Offices of our Liturgy do not affect our Hearts 't is because they are very much indisposed and very poorly qualified for the true and spiritual Worship of God CHAP. X. Of Zeal as it consists in Good Works AND now let not any one think that I have taken Pains to advance the Illumination of a Sinner to knock off his Chains and Fetters to raise him as far as might be above the Corruption of Nature and the Defects and Infirmities of Life to scatter those lazy Fogs and Mists which hung upon his Spirits and to enrich him with Heroick Vertues let no Man I say fancy that I have laboured to do all this that after all my Perfect Man might sit down like an Epicurean God and enjoy himself might talk finely of Solitary Shades and Gardens and spend a precious Life fitted for the noblest Designs in a sluggish Retirement No no as Vertue is the Perfection of Human Life so is Action the Perfection of Vertue and Zeal is that Principle of Action which I require in a Saint of God Accordingly the Scriptures describe this great this happy Man as full of the Holy Ghost fervent in Spirit zealous of good Works Such a one was Moses mighty in Word and Deed as well as learned in all the Knowledge of the Egyptians Such a one was St. Stephen as full of a Divine Ardour and irresistible Fervency of Spirit as of an irresistible Wisdom And such a one was the excellent Cornelius a devout Man one that had transfus'd and deriv'd the fear of God from his own Bosom throughout his Family and Relations and Friends too one that gave much Alms and prayed to God always What need I multiply Instances this is that which distinguishes the Perfect Man from all others the Victories of Faith the Labours of Charity the Constancy and Patience of Hope and the Ardors of Devotion Need I here distinguish a Zeal of God from the Fierceness of Faction the Cruelty of Superstition from the wakeful and indefatigable Activity of Avarice and Ambition from the unruly Heats of Pride and Passion and from the implacable Fury of Revenge it needs not No foolish no false fantastick earthly or devilish Principle can counterfeit a Divine Zeal 'T is a Perfection that shines with such a peculiar Lustre with such an Heavenly Majesty and Sweetness that nothing else can imitate it 't is always pursuing Good the Honour of God and the Happiness of Man it contends earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints but it contends as earnestly too to root out Wickedness and implant the Righteousness of the Gospel in the World It is not eager for the Articles of a Sect or Party and unconcern'd for Catholick ones When it presses for Reformation it begins at home and sets a bright Example of what it would recommend to others 'T is meek and gentle under its own Affronts but warm and bold against those which are offer'd to God In a word though Love fill its Sails Divine Wisdom and Prudence give it Ballast and it has no Heat but what is temper'd and refracted by Charity and Humility Need I in the next place fix or state the various Degrees of Zeal Alas it is not requisite Zeal being nothing else but an ardent Thirst of promoting the Divine Glory by the best Works 'T is plain the more excellent the Work and the more it cost the more Perfect the more exalted the Zeal that performs it When like Mary we quit the Cumber and Destraction of this World and chuse Religion for our Portion then do we love it in good earnest When with the Disciples we can say Lord we have forsaken all and followed thee or are ready to do so when we are continually blessing and praising God when if the Necessities of Christ's Church require it we are ready to call nothing our own when we are prepared if the Will of God be so to resist even unto Blood when nothing is dear nothing delightful to us but God and Holiness then have we reached the Height of Zeal In a word Zeal is nothing else but the Love of God made Perfect in us And if we would see it drawn to the Life we must contemplate it in the blessed Jesus who is the Perfect Pattern of Heroick Love How boundless was his Love when the whole World and how transcendent when a World of Enemies was the Object of it how indefatigable was his Zeal how wakeful how meek how humble how firm and resolv'd His Labours and Travels his Self-denial Prayers and Tears his Silence and Patience his Agony and Blood and charitable Prayers poured out with it for his Persecutors instruct us fully what Divine Love what Divine Zeal is And now even at this time Love reigns in him as he reigns in Heaven Love is still the Predominant the darling Passion of his Soul Worthy art thou O Jesus to receive Honour and Glory and Dominion worthy art thou to sit down with thy Father on his Throne worthy art thou to judge the World because thou hast loved because thou hast been zealous unto Death because thou hast overcome Some there are indeed who have followed thy bright Example though at a great Distance First Martyrs and Confessors Next those belov'd and admir'd Princes who have govern'd their Kingdoms in Righteousness to whom the Honour of God and the Good of the World has been far dearer than Pleasure than Empire than absolute Power or that ominous Blaze that is now called Glory And next follow hold this is the Work of Angels they must Marshal the Field of Glory in the End
of Idleness and Lukewarmness but also as far as it might be even of Sin of Infirmity and Original Corruption what else was I doing but prosecuting this one Designe namely the implanting and propagating in the World the State of Zeal However something there seems to me yet wanting to compleat my Undertaking and that I am to endeavour now To which End I will here discourse of three Things 1. What it is in general I mean by Zeal 2. What is that Perfection of Holiness or Righteousness wherein it consists And 3. Of the Efficacy or Force of this Holiness as it exerts it self in good Works Of these the two Former shall be the Argument of this the Third of the following Chapter § 1. of Zeal in General what it is I do not exclude some Degrees of Zeal from every Period of the Christian's Life Sincerity cannot subsist wholly without it The Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness which is the subject of one of our Saviour's Beatitudes must be more or less in every Child of God But it may signifie one thing in the Infant another in the Adult Christian in the one the Conquest of Sin or rather of the Reliques and Remains of former sinful Habits and the Attainment of habitual Goodness is the Object of this Hunger and Thirst In the other it imports a vehement Desire of whatever is yet wanting to a further Accomplishment and Consummation of Righteousness already fix't and establish'd the entire and ultimate Perfection of it in Heaven and in the mean Time the promoting the Divine Glory upon Earth whatever it cost him to do so By a State of Zeal then I here mean Vertue or Holiness not in the bud or in the blossom but in its full Strength and Stature grown up and ripe and loaded with blessed Fruits I mean that Holiness that is the Result of Illumination or Clearness of Judgment of the Strength and Force of Holy Resolution and the Vigour and Energy of Holy Passions In a word I mean that folie spiritual and operative Religion which may be felt and enjoy'd by us our selves in the Serenity and Tranquility of Conscience the Longings and Breathings of Pious Desires the Joys and Pleasures of a Rational Assurance discern'd by the World in our Lives and Actions in the Modesty of our Garb in the Plainness and Humility of all things else that pertain to the Port of Life in the Temperance of our Meals the Purity and Heavenliness of Conversation the Moderation of our Designs and enjoyments the Instruction of our Families with a tender and undefatigable Watchfulness over them the Constancy of our Attendance upon and the Devoutness of our Deportment in the publick Worship of God and finally in the Activity and Generosity of our Charity Or to speak my Thoughts in the Language of St. Paul a State of Zeal is that Perfection or Maturity of Holiness which abounds in the Work of Faith the Labour of Love and the Patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father 1 Thess 1.3 Now the end of all this is the advancing the Glory of God and therefore Zeal is well enough describ'd or defin'd by an ardent or vehement Desire of doing so Now this is advanced two Ways First by our Personal and Inherent Holiness And Secondly by the Fruit of it good Works Of both which I will now speak a little more particularly § 2. Of that Perfection of Holiness which constitutes the State of Zeal Here I will Enquire into two Things 1. Whether the Perfect Man must be possessed of all the Treasures of Goodness Whether he must be adorned by a Confluence and an Accumulation of all Vertues 2. What Height of Vertue what Degree of Holiness he may be supposed to arrive at 1. Of the Extent of Righteousness It is generally thought That Universality is as essential and necessary a Property of Gospel Righteousness as Sincerity and Perseverance That there is an inseparable Connexion and Union between all Christian Vertues so that he who wants any must be concluded to have none This want being not like a Blemish that diminishes the Beauty or a Maim that weakens the Strength but like a Wound that dissolves the Frame and Contexture of the Natural Body This Opinion is partly built upon Reason which tells us That there is a native Lustre and Beauty in all Vertues and therefore there is no one in the whole Systeme of Morality but must be lovely and amiable to a good Man Partly upon Scripture in which we find the Christian represented as holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 perfect in every good work Heb. 13.21 as fill'd with all the Fulness of God Eph. 3.19 as fruitful in every good work Col. 1.10 and exhorted in the most comprehensive Terms imaginable to the Practice of every Vertue Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any Vertue and if there be any praise think 〈◊〉 these things To which may be added numerous Texts importing That Faith is a Principle of Vniversal Righteousness and That the Fear and Love of God do equally oblige us to all his Commandments and That the Violation of one involves us in the Guilt of all And the result of all this seems to be plainly this That the whole Chain of Graces is dissolved and lost if there be but one Link wanting But at this rate as the Sincere Man must be endow'd with all manner of Vertues so must the Perfect excel in all But the one and the other Assertion If we consider things closely seems to have in them insuperable Difficulties There is a vast Variety in the Natures of Men in the States and Conditions of Life and in the kinds and Degrees as well of the Sanctifying as of the Miraculous Gifts of God St. Paul tells us every Man has his proper Gift of God 1 Cor. 7.7 From whence it seems naturally to be inferr'd That every Man is not capable of attaining to an Excellence and Eminence in every Vertue Experience tells us That there are different kinds of Natures as well as Soils and that some kinds of Vertues like some kinds of Seed will thrive better in one than in another Nor does Grace alter the Matter much since it generally accommodates it self to Nature Lastly it seems very hard That every Man should have the Vertues of all Men of all States of all Capacities every particular Member the Vertues of the whole Church the Beauty and Strength of the Church as well as of the natural Body or Common-wealth consisting not in the All-sufficieney of every Member but in that Variety of Gifts and Graces that cements and unites enriches and Supports the whole To come up to Matter of Fact I read of the Faith of Abraham the Meekness of Moses the Patience of Job the Love of
of all things O my God may I at least be one to fill the Train of this Triumphant Procession in that blessed Day when thou shall Crown the Zeal and Patience of thy Saints Thus have I given a short Account of Zeal I will now endeavour to kindle it in every breast by some few Considerations which will at once evince the Necessity and declare the Fruit of it 1. Our own Security and Happiness demand of us a Zeal fruitful in good Works 2. It is indispensable to the Welfare and Good of our Neighbour 3. It ministers most effectually to the Glory of God 1. Our own Salvation and Happiness depend upon it For without this we reject on at least frustrate the Counsels of God against our own Souls 't was for this Christ Died that he might purifie to himself a peculiar People Zealous of good Works This is the great End of our Election God hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World that we should be holy and without blame before him in Love Eph. 1.4 which is to be explain'd by Eph. 2.10 where God is said to have before ordain'd that we should walk in good Works And the beginning of the ver minds us that 't is for this End God imparts the Light of his Word and the Vigour of his Spirit that for this End he sanctifies and renews our Nature We are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works St. Peter tells us That this is that which all the great and precious Promises of God immediately aim at First Godliness then Life First Vertue then Glory What shall I say more Our Lord in his Narrative of the Last Judgment and elsewhere and his Apostles in almost innumerable Places have with great Power and great Earnestness inculcated this Doctrine that we shall be judged according to our Works that Immortality and Glory is the Portion not of Knowledge but Patience and Charity not of an Orthodox Belief and Specious Pretention but of Righteousness and Zeal for the incorruptible the never-fading Crown is a Crown of Righteousness Or if Men will be judg'd by their Faith which is not the Language of the Gospel this does not alter the Matter at all Since Faith it self will be judg'd by its Works And as a happy Eternity depends upon our Zeal so nothing else can give us any comfortable any rational Assurance of it in this Life The Reason is plain because 't is Zeal that is the only unquestionable Proof of our Integrity and Good Works are the Fruit which alone can evidence the Life and Truth of our Faith and Love hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments 1 Joh. 2.3 Yea a Man may say thou hast Faith and I have Works shew me thy Faith without thy Works and I will shew thee my Faith by my Works Jam. 2.18 Dost thou believe in God why art thou not holy as He is holy Dost thou believe in Jesus why dost thou not deny thy self take up thy cross and follow him why dost thou not walk as he walk'd Dost thou believe a Judgment to come why dost thou not work out thy Salvation with fear and trembling why dost thou not prepare to meet thy God why art thou not rich in good Works that thou mayest lay up a good foundation against the time to come and lay hold on Eternal Life Nor are good Works less necessary to prove our Love than Faith Certainly if we love Holiness if we hunger and thirst after Righteousness we shall never live in a direct Contradiction to the strongest Passions of our Soul we shall never refuse to gratifie an Inclination which is not only fervent in us but its Gratification will procure us Eternal Rewards too Certainly if we love God we cannot but seek his Glory we cannot but be desirous to maintain Communion with him And if so do we know any Sacrifice that is more acceptable to God than good Works do we know any that he delights in more than Zeal Do we Love the B. Jesus are not good Works the very Test of this Love which himself has appointed If a Man love me he will keep my Commandments Joh. 14.15 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Joh. 15.14 The Love of Christ saith the Apostle constrains us what to do to live not to our selves but to him that Died for us and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 What other Returns can we make to Jesus what other way can we express our Gratitude to him He sits on the Right hand of God all Power is given him in Heaven and in Earth he does not himself need our Ministry nor want our Service and Charity But hear what he says in as much as you did it to one of these my little ones you have done it to me Matt. 25.40 2. Our Zeal is indispensably necessary to the Welfare and Happiness of Others Do we regard our Neighbours Eternal Interest 't is Zeal represses Sin and Propagates Righteousness 't is Zeal defends the Faith and suppresses Heresie and Error 't is Zeal converts the Unbeliever and builds up the Believer 't is Zeal that awakens the drousie quickens the lukewarm strengthens the weak and enflames the good with a holy Emulation 't is Zeal that baffles all Objections refutes all Calumnies and vanquishes all Oppositions raised against Religion and oppresses its Enemies with Shame and Confusion 'T is in a word Zeal and Zeal alone that can make Religion appear lovely and delightful and reconcile the World to it for this alone can adorn the Gospel for it renders Vertue more conspicuous more taking in Life and Example than it can be in the Precepts and Descriptions of Words Nor is Zeal less serviceable to the Temporal that Eternal Interest of Mankind When God laid the Foundations of the World he laid the Foundation of Vertue too and when he form'd Man he wove the Necessity of good Works into his very Nature How necessary is Justice to poor Creatures who lie so open to Wrongs and Injuries how indispensable is Charity or Generosity to these who are expos'd to so many Accidents to so many Wants to such a Viscissitude of Fortune and being all subject to so many Follies and Infirmities to so many Mistakes and Fancies how strong must be our Obligation to mutual Forbearance Patience and Gentleness In a word Sin and Misery abounds in the World and if there were not Vertues and good Works to ballance the one and â—o relieve and support us under the other Life would be intollerable So that Reveal'd and Natural Religion do necessarily terminate and center in a Zeal for good Works as their ultimate End and utmost Perfection in this Life and that Rule of our Saviour whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so unto them is an Abstract not only of the Law and the Prophets but of the Code of Nature too and this single Principle if sincerely pursued
Religious Perfection OR A THIRD PART OF THE ENQUIRY AFTER HAPPINESS By the Author of Practical Christianity Therefore leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us go on unto Perfection Heb. 6.1 LONDON Printed for Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford at the Princes Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCVI TO Mr. Whitelocke Bulstrode of Clifford's-Inn I Here present you my dear Friend with a Discourse wherein I labour to advance the great and true Ends of Life the Glory of God and the Perfection and Happiness of Man I cannot I confess pretend to have come up to the Dignity of my Subject yet I have done what I could and have attempted it with my utmost Force I know you too well to imagine you fond of an Address of this publick nature you love the real and solid Satisfactions not the Pomp and Shew those splendid Encumbrances of Life Your rational and vertuous Pleasures burn like a gentle and chearful Flame without Noise or Blaze However I cannot but be confident that you 'll pardon the Liberty which I here take when I have told you that the making the best Acknowledgment I could to one who has given me so many Proofs of a generous and passionate Friendship was a Pleasure too great to be resisted I am Dear Sir Unfeignedly Yours R. Lucas THE CONTENTS The Introduction Page 1. SECT I. Of Religious Perfection in general Chap. 1. PErfection what It 's Notion confirm'd by Reason and Scripture p. 11. Chap. 2. This Notion of Perfection countenanc'd on all Sides however different in their Expressions p. 30. Chap. 3. Several Inferences deduc'd from the Notion of Perfection p. 42. Chap. 4. A General Account of the Blessed Effects of Religious Perfection particularly with respect to Assurance and Pleasure p. 63. Chap. 5. Of the several Steps by which the Christian advances to Perfection p. 102. Chap. 6. Of the Means of attaining Perfection And the great Ends to be aim'd at in Instrumental Duties p. 120. Chap. 7. Of some particular Motives to Perfection p. 176. SECT II. Of the several Parts of Perfection Chap. 1. OF Illumination what it consists in p. 188. Chap. 2. Of the Fruits and Attainment of Illumination p. 227 Chap. 3. Of Liberty in General p. 257. Chap. 4. Of Liberty as it relates to Original Sin p. 335. Chap. 5. Of Liberty with respect to Sins of Infirmity p. 367. Chap. 6. Of Liberty as it imports Freedom or Deliverance from mortal Sin p. 403. Chap. 7. Of unfruitfulness as it consists in Idleness p. 434. Chap. 8. Of unfruitfulness as it consists in Lukewarmness Coldness or Formality p. 452. Chap. 9. Of Zeal Or the first thing to be considered in a State of Zeal namely what Holiness or Righteousness he may be suppos'd to have arrived at p. 489. Chap. 10. Of Zeal as it consists in good Works p. 513. Chap. 11. Of Humility p. 528. SECT III. Of the Impediments of Perfection  ERRATA PAge 5. line 8. pretended read pretending p. 62. l. 4. currant r. concurrent p. 94. l. 21. after all add p. 80. l. 6. effect r. affect p. 96. l. 9. Acts r. Arts p. 116. l. ult led r. let p. 157. after fervent add such Affections are p. 167. l. 21. blot out I. p. 205. l. 31. model'd r. moulded p. World r. Love p. 223. l. 1. be r. lie p. 238. l. 16. Word r. World p. 245. l. 6. add of p. 245. l. 14. prevents r. perverts p. 258. l. 24. of r. a p. 295. l. 14. to r. by p. 302. l. 16. Men r. Man p. 306. l. 4. the Righteousness thereof r. their Righteousness therefore p. 306. l. 6. Suppose r. I oppose p. 334. l. 11. Wounds r. Wombs p. 346. l. 24. these r. there p. 421. l. 9. Affection r. Affectation p. 422. l. 10. part r. party p. 466. l. 24. now r. not p. 489. l. 8. he r. the Perfect Man p. 533. l. ult forwardness r. frowardness THE INTRODUCTION BY what Steps I am advanc'd thus far in my Enquiry after Happiness and what Connexion or Coherence there is between This and two other Discourses already Publish'd on That Subject is very obvious In the First I endeavour to remove those Objections which represent all Enquiries and Attempts after true Happiness in this Life either as fantastick or unnecessary or which is as bad vain and to no purpose And after I have asserted the Value and Possibility of Happiness I do in general point out the true Reasons of our ill Success and Disappointment in Pursuit of it In the Second I state the true Notion of Human Life insist upon the several kinds of it and shew what Qualifications and Virtues the Active and Contemplative Life demand and then consider how Life may be prolonged and improved In This Third I prosecute the same Design which I had in the two Former the promoting Human Happiness For Life Perfection and Happiness have a close and inseparable Dependance on one another For as Life which is the Rational Exercise and Employment of our Powers and Faculties does naturally advance on and terminate in Perfection so Perfection which is nothing else but the Maturity of Human Virtue does naturally end in that Rest and Peace that Tranquility Serenity and Joy of Mind which we call Happiness Now Perfection in an Abstracted and Metaphisical Notion of it is a State that admits neither of Accession nor Dimunition But talking of it Practically and in a manner accommodated to the Nature of things the Perfection of Man consists in such Endowments and Attainments as Man is generally capable of in this Life And because Man may be considered either in Relation to This or to another World therefore Human Perfection may I think naturally enough be divided into Religious and Secular By Secular I mean that which regards our Interest in this Life By Religious That which secures it in Eternity the one more directly and immediately aims at the Favour of Man the other at the Favour of God the one pursues that Happiness what ever it be that is to be found in outward and worldly Advantages the other That which flows from Virtue and a good Conscience 'T is easie now to discern which of These two kinds of Perfection is the more desireable the one purifies and exalts our Nature the other polishes and varnishes it the one makes a compleat Gentleman the other a true Christian the Success of the one is precarious that of the other certain having no Dependance on Time or Chance the Humour or Fancy of Man the Pleasure of the one is short and Superficial That of the other Great and Lasting The World admires the one and God approves the other To be throughly perswaded of This is a good step towards true Wisdom as being that which will enable Man to steer the whole Course of Life aright But while I prefer the one I do not prescribe the Neglect or Contempt of the other so far am I from it that I am
4thly If the Duties of Religion be very troublesome and uneasie to a Man we may from hence conclude that he is not Perfect For though the Beginning of Wisdom and Vertue be generally harsh and severe to the Fool and Sinner yet to him that has Conquered the Yoke of Christ is easie and his Burden light to him that is filled with the Love of God his Commandments are not grievous hence is that observation of the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 4.17 18. For at the first she will walk with him by crooked ways and bring fear and dread upon him and torment him with her discipline until she may trust his Soul and try him by her Laws then will she return the straight way unto him and comfort him and shew him her secrets The reason of this Assertion is palpable it is the nature of an Habit to render difficult Things easie harsh Things pleasant to fix a floating and uncertain Humour to Nurse and Ripen a weak and tender Disposition into Nature And 't is as reasonable to expect these effects in Religious as in any other sorts of Habits Lastly He who does not find Religion full of Pleasure who does not Glory in God and rejoyce in our Lord Jesus he who is not filled with an humble Assurance of the Divine Favour and a Joyful expectation of Immortality and Glory does yet want something he is yet defective with respect either to the brightness of Illumination the Absoluteness of Liberty or the Ardor of Love he may be a Good Man and have gone a great way in his Christian Race but there is some thing still behind to Compleat and Perfect him some Error or other creates him groundless Scruples some Incumbrance or Impediment or other whether an Infelicity of Temper or the Incommodiousness of his Circumstances or a little too warm an Application towards something of the World retards his Vigour and abates his Affections I have now finished all that I can think necessary to form a general Idea of Religious Perfection For I have not only given a plain Definition or Description of it and Confirm'd and Fortified that Description by Reason and Scripture and the currant Sense of all Sides and Parties but have also by various Inferences deduc'd from the General Notion of Perfection precluded all groundless Pretensions to it and enabled Men to see how far they are removed and distant from it or how near they approach it The next thing I am to do according to the Method I have proposed is to consider the Fruits and Advantages of Perfection A consideration which will furnish us with many great and I hope effectual Incitements or Motives to it and demonstrate its Subservencie to our Happiness CHAP. IV. A General Account of the Blessed Effects of Religious Perfection THE Glorious and Delightful Fruits of Religious Perfection may be reduc'd to these four Heads First It advances the Honour of the True and Living God and of his Son Jesus in the World Secondly It promotes the Good of Mankind Thirdly It produces in the Perfect Man a full Assurance of Eternal Happiness and Glory Fourthly It puts him in Possession of true Happiness in this Life Of the two former I shall say nothing here designing to insist upon them more particularly In the following Section under the Head of Zeal where I shall be oblig'd by my Method to consider the Fruit of it only I cannot here forbear Remarking That Perfection while it promotes the Honour of God and the Good of Man does at the same time promote our own Happiness too since it must on this account most effectually recommend us to the Love of the One and the Other Them that Honour me saith God I will Honour 1 Sam. 2.30 And our Saviour observes that even Publicans and Sinners love those who love them Matth. 5.46 Accordingly St. Luke tells us of Christ Luk. 2.52 That Jesus increased in Wisdom and Stature and in favour with God and Man and of those eminently Devout and Charitable Souls Act. 2. that they had favour with all the People so resistless a charm is the beauty and loveliness of Perfect Charity even in the most deprav'd and corrupt Times And what a Blessing now what a Comfort what a Pleasure is it to be the Favorite of God and Man The Third and Fourth I will now discourse of and that the more largely because as to Assurance it is the foundation of that Pleasure which is the richest Ingredient of Human Happiness in this Life And as to our present Happiness which is the fourth Fruit of Perfection it is the very thing for the sake of which I have ingag'd in my present subject And therefore it is very fit that I should render the tendency of Perfection to procure our present Happiness very conspicuous Beginning therefore with Assurance I will assert the Possibility of attaining it in this Life not by embroiling my self in the Brakes of several nice and subtle Speculations with which this subject is over-grown but by laying down in a Practical manner the Grounds on which Assurance depends by which we shall be able at once to discern the truth of the Doctrine of Assurance and its dependance upon Perfection Now Assurance may relate to the time Present or to Come For the Resolution of two Questions gives the Mind a perfect ease about this Matter The first is am I assured that I am at present in a state of Grace The second am I assured that I shall continue so to my Life's end To begin with the first the Answer of this Enquiry depends on three Grounds First A Divine Revelation which declares in General who shall be Saved namely They who Believe and Repent Nor does any Sect doubt but that Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as St. Paul speaks are the Indispensable Conditions of Life 'T is true the Notion of Repentance is miserably perverted by some and that of Faith by others But what remedy is there against the Lusts and Passions of Men The Scripture does not only require Repentance and Faith but it explains and describes the Nature of Both by such Conspicuous and Infallible Characters that no Man can be Mistaken in these two Points but his Error must be owing to some Criminal Prejudices or Inclinations that Byass and pervert him Good Men have ever been agreed in these Matters And Catholick Tradition is no where more uncontroulable then here the General Doctrine of all Ages hath been and in this still is that by Repentance we are to understand a New Nature and New Life And by Faith when distinguished from Repentance as it sometimes is in Scripture a Reliance upon the Mercy of God through the Merits and Intercession of Jesus and Atonement of his Blood Heaven lies open to all that perform these Conditions every Page of the Gospel attest this this is the Substance of Christ's Commission to his Apostles that they should Preach Repentance and Remission of
no evil to himself nor provokes any unnecessary danger His Vertue effectually does that which Atheism attempts in vain dispels the terror of an invisible Power he needs not drown the Voice of Conscience by Wine or Noise or the toil of Life it speaks nothing to him but what is kind and obliging it is his Comforter not his Persecutor And as to this World he reaps that satisfaction and tranquility from the Moderation of his Affections which Ambition and Avarice do in vain promise themselves from Preferments or the increase of Wealth If therefore there were any state on this side Heaven exempt from Evil it must be that of the Perfect Man But he knows the World too well to flatter himself with the expectation of Indolence or an undisturb'd tranquility here below and is as far from being deluded by vain Hopes as from being scar'd by vain fears or tortur'd and distended by vain desires He knows the World has its Evils and that they cannot wholly be avoided he knows it and dares behold them with open Eyes survey their Force and feel and try their Edge And then when he has collected his own strength and called in the Aid of Heaven he shrinks not nor desponds but meets Evil with that Courage and bears it with that evenness of Mind that he seems even in his Afflictions nearer to Indolence then the Fool and Sinner in his Prosperity So that I cannot forbear professing there appears so much Beauty so much loveliness in the deportment of the Perfect Man with respect to the Evils of Life that for that reason alone were there no other I should admire and prefer his Vertue above any Possession or Enjoyment of Life Give me leave to compare the Saint and Sinner on this occasion and but very briefly The wise Man's eyes saith Solomon Eccles 2.14 are in his head but the fool walks in darkness The wise Man sees that he has Enemies I mean Evils and therefore he informs himself well of their Strength observes their Motion and prepares for the Encounter but Ignorance and Stupidity is the greatest blessing of the Sinners Life and his most admir'd Quality is not to be apprehensive of Evil till it crush him with its Weight But if the Sinner be not fool enough to arrive at this degree of brutality then as soon as the report of the most distant Evil or the most inconsiderable reaches his Ear how it fills his Imagination how it shakes his Heart and how it embitters his Pleasures And to what poor and despicable Arts to what base and dishonourable shifts does his Fear force him When on the same occasion we discover nothing in the Perfect Man but a beautiful mixture of Humility and Faith Devotion and Confidence or Assurance in God He is not afraid of evil tidings his Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal 112. a frame of Spirit which to those who have opportunity and sense to observe it renders him both more belov'd and rever'd Lastly if we consider the wicked and the good Man actually under the weight and pressure of Evil how much unlike is the state of the one in reality to that of the other even while the outward circumstances are the same What Chearfulness what Courage what Resignation what Hopes adorn the One What Instruction to all what Satisfaction to his Friends and Relations does his Deportment afford And how does it inspire and warm the Breasts of those that converse with him with an esteem for and love of Goodness and himself What Charm what Delight is there in those gracious Speeches that proceed at this time out of a Good Man's Mouth I know that my Redeemer liveth The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the Name of the Lord Thou of very faithfulness has caused me to be afflicted God is the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever And such-like And how often does he pour out his Heart in secret before God How often does he reflect on the gracious and wise ends of Divine Chastisement And how often does he with desire and thirst Meditate on that fulness of Joy which expects him in the Presence of God! But let us cast our Eye now on the Voluptuary on the Ambitious on the Covetous or any other sort of Sinner under Disgrace Poverty Sickness or any such Calamity what a mean and despicable Figure does such a one make What Impatience what Despondency what Guilt what Pusillanimity does every Word every Action betray Or it may be his Insolence is turned into Crouching and Fawning his Rudeness and Violence into Artifice and Cunning and his Irreligion into Superstition Various indeed are the Humours and very different the Carriage of these unhappy Men in the Day of Tryal but all is but Misery in a different dress Guilt and Baseness under a different appearance Here I might further remark that that Faith which produces Patience in Adversity produces likewise Security and Confidence in Prosperity I will lay me down may every good May say in the words of the Psalmist and sleep and rise again for thou Lord shalt make me dwell in safety And surely the one is as serviceable to the ease of Human Life as the other But I think I have said enough to shew that if Pleasure be suppos'd to imply no more then Indolence the Perfect Man has without Controversie a far greater share of it than any other can pretend to But let us take Pleasure to be not a meer Calm but a gentle Breeze not to consist in meer Rest and Quiet but a delightful Motion not in the meer Tranquility of the Mind but in the Transport of it or some thing nearly approaching it Perfection I 'm confident will suffer nothing by this change of the Notion of Pleasure How many Pleasures has the wise Man which depend not on Fortune but Himself I mean his Diligence and Integrity and to which the Sinner is an utter Stranger What Pleasure what Triumph is equal to that of the Perfect Man when he Glories in God and makes his boast of him all day long When he rejoyces in the Lord with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory When being fill'd with all the fulness of God transported by a Vital Sense of Divine Love and strengthen'd and exalted by the mighty Energie of the Spirit of Adoption he maintains a Fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus All Communion with God consists in this Joy of Love and Assurance and has a taste of Heaven in it Let the most Fortunate and the wisest Epicurean too Ransack all the Store-houses and Treasures of Nature let him Muster together all his Legions of Pleasures and let him if he can consolidate and incorporate them all and after all being put into the Scale against This alone they will prove lighter then Vanity it self To be the Care the Delight the Love of an Almighty God to be dear to him who is the Origine and Fountain of
his Vices which he did not reflect on sufficiently before he is vex'd and troubled at the plagues and mischiefs his Sin and Folly have already procured him and thinks he has reason to fear if he persist others far more intolerable Then he calls to mind the Goodness the long-suffering of God the love of Jesus the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power and how distant soever he be from Vertue he discerns there is a Beauty and Pleasure in it and cannot but judge the Righteous happy These thoughts these Travels of the mind if they be not strangled in the Birth by a Man 's own wilfulness or Pusillanimity or unhappily diverted upon some Temptations do kindle in the Bosom of the Sinner the desires of Righteousness and Liberty they fill him with Regret and Shame cast him down and humble him before God and make him finally resolve on shaking off the Yoke This may be called a state of Illumination and is a state of Preparation for or Disposition to Repentance Or if it be Repentance it self 't is yet but an Embrio To perfect it 't is necessary Secondly That the Sinner make good his Resolutions and actually break with his Lusts he must reject their Sollicitations and boldly oppose their Commands he must take part with Reason and Religion keep a Watch and Guard over his Soul and must earnestly labour by Mortification and Discipline by Meditation and Prayer to root out Vice and Plant Vertue in his Soul This in the Language of the Prophet is ceasing to do Evil and learning to do well Isa 1.16 17. He that has proceeded thus far though he feel a great Conflict within though the Opposition of Lust be very strong and consequently the discharge of his Duty very difficult he is nevertheless in a state of Grace but in a state of Childhood too he is sincere but far from being Perfect And yet this is the state which many continue in to the end of their Lives being partly abus'd by false Notions and taught to believe from Rom. 7. that there is no higher or perfecter state partly intangled and incumbred by some unhappy circumstances of Life Or it may be the Force or Impetus of the Soul towards Perfection is much abated by the Satisfaction of Prosperity and the many Diversions and Engagements of a Fortunate Life But he that will be Perfect must look upon this state as the beginning of Vertue For it must be remembred that a stubborn and powerful Enemy will not be subdued and totally brought under in a Moment The Christian therefore must prosecute this War till he has finished it I will not say by Extirpating but disabling the Enemy But here I would have it well observ'd that the Reducing the Enemy to a low condition is not always effected by an uninterrupted Series of Victories for seldom is any so Fortunate or so Brave so Wise or so watchful as to meet with no Check in the long Course of a difficult War 't is enough if he be not discourag'd but instructed and awaken'd by it And to prevent any fatal disaster too Errors must carefully be avoided First a hasty and fond confidence in our selves with an over-weaning contempt and neglect of the Enemy And next all false and cowardly Projects of Truces and Accommodations Nor is the sitting down content with poor and low Attainments very far removed from this Latter This is the second Stage of the Christian's Advance towards Perfection and may be call'd the state of Liberty The third and last which now follows is the state of Zeal or Love or as Mystick Wrighters delight to call it the state of Vnion The Yoke of sin being once shaken off the Love of Righteousness and a delight in it is more and more increased And now the Man proceeds to the last round in the Scale of Perfection The Wisdom Courage and Vigour of a Convert is generally at first employed in subduing his corruptions in Conquering his ill Habits and Defeating his Enemies in watching over his own Heart and guarding himself against Temptations But this being once done he is in full Liberty to pursue the works of Peace and Love Now he may advance from necessary to voluntary Acts of Self-denial which before would have been putting old Wine into new Bottles contrary to the Advice of our Master Mat. 9.17 Now he may enlarge his Knowledge and exchange the Milk of the Word for strong Meat for the Wisdom and the Mysteries of it Now he may extend his watchfulness his care and whereas they were before wisely for the most part confined to his own safety he may now like our Saviour go about doing good Act. 10.38 protecting strengthning and rescuing his weak Brethren propagating the Faith and enflaming the bosoms of Men with the love of Jesus and his Truths Now in a word he may give himself up to a Life of more exalted Contemplation Purity and Charity which will be natural and easie now though it were not so in the beginning And this Life is accompanied with Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost with Confidence and Pleasure Now the Yoke of Christ is easie and his burden light now he rejoyces with Joy unspeakable and Hopes full of Glory Now 't is not so much he that lives as Christ that lives in him For the life which he now leads is entirely the product of Faith and Love and his greatest business is to maintain the Ground which he has got and to hold fast the steadfastness of his Hope unto the end To render this short account of the growth of Vertue from its very Seed to Maturity the more useful and to free it from some scruples which it may otherwise give occasion to I will here add two or three Remarks 1. That the State and Habit of Perfection is a different thing from some suddain Flights or Efforts of an Extraordinary Passion and so is the fixt and establish'd Tranquility of the Mind from some suddain Gusts and short lived fits of spiritual Joy No man attains to the Habits of Vertue and Pleasure but by degrees and the natural method and order by which he advances to either is that which I have set down But as to some Sallies of the most pure and exalted Passions as to short liv'd fits of Perfection as to transcient Tasts short and suddain transports of spiritual Pleasure it is very often otherwise God sometimes either to allure the frailty of a new Convert or to Fortifie his Resolution against some hazardous Tryal does raise him to an extraordinary height by more then usual Communications of his blessed Spirit and ravishes him by some Glances as it were of the Beatifick Vision Raptures of Love the melting tenderness of a pious Sorrow the Strength of Resolution and Faith the Confidence and Exultancy of Assurance do sometimes accompany some sort of Christians in the beginnings of Righteousness or in the state of Illumination Where the Conviction is full the Imagination lively
Liberty the Constancy and Uniformity of an Holy Life and both Strength and Passion are generally owing to a Tender and Enlighten'd Conscience For while the Conscience preserves a quick and nice sense of Good and Evil all the great Truths of the Gospel will have their proper Force and natural Efficacy upon us These then are the Genuine Fruits of Meditation the Eucharist Psalmody and such-like If they do not add Life and Light to the Conscience if they do not augment our Strength nor exalt our Passions if they do not increase our detestation of Sin and our Love to God and Goodness if they do not quicken and excite Devout Purposes if they do not engage and refresh the Soul by Holy Joy and Heavenly Pleasure if I say they do not in some degree or other promote these things we reap no benefit at all from them or we can never be certain that we do But though the Ends I have mentioned be of this great use to all and consequently all are obliged to aim at them yet may the different Defects and Imperfections of different Christians render one of these Ends more necessary then another And by consequence it will be Wisdom more immediately and directly to intend and pursue that For Example if a Man's Temper be such that his Passions do soon kindle and soon die again that he is apt to Form wise and great Projects and as unapt to accomplish any thing in this Case it will be his Duty to aim especially at the increase of Strength But if on the other hand a Man's Temper be Cold and Phlegmatick Slow and Heavy it is but fit that he should particularly apply himself to the awakening and exciting Devout Affections in his Soul For as excellent purposes do often miscarry for want of Constancy and Firmness of Mind so Steadiness and Firmness of Mind doth seldom effect any great matter when it wants Life and Passion to put it into Motion Again if one's past Life has been very Sinful or the present be not very Fruitful it will behove such a one to increase the Tenderness of Conscience to add more Light and Life to its Convictions that by a daily Repetition of Contrition and Compunction he may wash off the Stain or by the Fruitfulness of his following Life repair the Barrenness of that Past Having thus in few words both made out the Usefulness of those three Ends I proposed to a Christian in the performance of Instrumental duties of Religion and shewed in what Cases he may be obliged to aim more immediately at one then another I will now enquire and that as briefly as I can how these three Ends may be scured and promoted 1st Of Tenderness of Conscience or the full and lively Convictions of it To promote this the first thing necessary is Meditation No Man who diligently searches and studies the Book of God can be a Stranger to himself or to his Duty Not to his Duty for this Book reveals the whole Will of God in clear and full Terms it gives us such Infallible Characters of Good and Evil Right and Wrong as render our Ignorance or Error inexcusable It points out the great Ends of Life so plainly and conducts us to them by such general and unerring Rules that there is no variety of Circumstances can so perplex and ravel our Duty but that an honest Man by the help of this may easily discover it For this Reason 't is that the Word of God is called Light because it does distinguish between Good and Evil Right and Wrong and like a Lamp does manifest the Path which we are to choose and disperses that Mist and Darkness with which the Lust of Man and the Subtilty of Hell has covered it And for this Reason 't is that the Good have such a Value and the Wicked such an Aversion for the Book of God For every one that doth Evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved But he that doth Truth cometh to the Light that his Deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Joh. 3.20 21. Nor can he that Studies the Word of God be a Stranger to Himself any more then to his Duty For this Light ransacks all the Recesses of the Soul it traces all its Affections back to their first Springs and Sources it lays open all its Desires and Projects and strips its most secret Purposes of all their Disguise For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper then any two Edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the Heart Heb. 4.12 In a word if we would preserve the Conscience quick and sensible we must be daily conversant in the Book of God For this commands with that Authority instructs with that clearness perswades with that Force reproves with that Purity Prudence and Charity that we shall not easily be able to resist it it describes Righteousness and Sin in such true and lively Colours proclaims Rewards and Punishments in such powerful and moving Language that it rouses even the Dead in Sin penetrates and wounds the stupid and obdurate To Meditation we must add Prayer For this is a very proper and essential Means to refresh and renew in the Soul the Hatred of Sin and Love of Goodness and to improve those Impressions which Meditation has made upon it We cannot easily put up Petitions to God with Confidence unless we do the things that please him for our Hearts will misgive us and our very Petitions will reproach us And the meer Thought of entring more immediately into the Presence of God does oblige us to a more careful Tryal and Examination of our Actions For God being not only Omniscient but Just and Holy too we can no more flatter our selves with the Hope of Pardon for any Sin into which we are betrayed by fondness or negligence then we can imagine him Ignorant of it But this is not all we are to pray that God would enable us to search out and discover our own Hearts Psal 139.23 24. Search me O God and know my Heart Try me and know my Thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way Everlasting And if we do this sincerely God will undoubtedly grant our Requests and will lay open to us all our present Defects and Infirmities and shew us how far short we come of the Glory of God that Perfection of Holiness and Happiness which many Eminent Saints actually arrived at upon Earth And we way be sure that Light which breaks in upon our Mind with this Brightness will not suffer any latent Corruptions to continue undiscovered nor permit us to forget the Stains and Ruins which the Sins of our past Life have left behind them Conversation is another way by which we learn to know our selves and by which Conscience
more needful than really are I observe here that as there are very few who have not in their Nature very considerable Infirmities so are there as few who have not in their Fortune very considerable Inconveniencies And if they would apply themselves to the Mastering of both these as they ought they would stand in less need of the Discipline of Arbitrary Austerities There are many things too trifling to be taken notice of which yet do prove sufficient to disturb the quiet of most and betray them to many Passions and Indecencies Nay the weaknesses of good Men are sometimes fed by Temptations of very little moment Now to surmount these Temptations and to frame and accommodate the Mind to bear the little shocks and justles which we daily meet with without any Discomposure or Displeasure is a matter of great use to the Tranquility of Life and the Maturity of Vertue To be able to bear the Pride of one and the Stupidity of another one while to encounter Rudeness another while Neglect without being moved by either to submit to Noise Disorder and the Distraction of many little Affairs when one is naturally a lover of Quietness and Order or when the Mind is intent upon things of Importance in one word to digest the perpetual disappointments which we meet with both in Business and Pleasure and in all the little Projects which not the Elegant and Ingenious only but People of all Stations and all Capacities pursue to suffer all the Humours and Follies the Errors Artifices Indecencies and Faults of those we have to do with with that Temper we ought that is with a Calmness which proceeds not from an unconcernment for the good of others but a just Dominion over our own Spirits This is a great Height and to train our selves up to it daily with much Patience Vigilence and application of Mind is the best Discipline Though I do not mean hereby to exclude all voluntary Impositions for in order to Master the Evils which we cannot avoid it may be of good use now and then to form the Mind by voluntary Trials and Difficulties of our own choosing 3. Lastly we must ever have a care not to loose the Substance for the Shadow not to rest in the Means and neglect the End being much taken up in Discipline without producing any Fruits of it For this is taking much pains to little purpose travelling much without making any Progress But much more must we take care in the next place that the Discipline we put our selves upon do not produce any ill Fruit. To which end we must carefully observe three things 1. That we keep to that Moderation which Spiritual Prudence requires neither exposing nor entangling our selves nor discouraging others by Excesses and Extravagancies 2. That our Self-denial never betray us into Pride or Vncharitableness for if it tempt us to over-rate our selves and despise others this is a flat Contradiction to one of the main Ends of Christian Discipline which is the Humiliation of the Heart 3. That we ever preserve nay increase the Sweetness and Gentleness of our Minds for whatever makes us sour and morose or peevish and unsociable makes us certainly so much worse And instead of begetting in us nearer Resemblances of the Divine Nature gives us a very strong tincture of a Divelish one Athanasius therefore in the Life of Anthony the Hermite observes amongst other his great Vertues That after Thirty Years spent in a strange kind of retired and solitary Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He did not appear to his Friends with a sullen or savage but with an obliging sociable Air And there is indeed but little reason why the Look should be lowring and contracted when the Heart is filled with Joy and Charity Goodness and Pleasure A Serene open Countenance and a chearful grave Deportment does best suit the Tranquility Purity and Dignity of a Christian Mind § 5. Lastly Some kinds of Life are better suited and accommodated to the great Ends of Religion and Vertue than others I shall not here enter into an Examination of the Advantages or Disadvantages there are in the several kinds of Life with reference to Religion The setling this and several other things relating to it was one main design of my last Book All therefore that I have here to do is but to make one plain Inference from all that has been advanced in this Chapter If Perfection and Happiness cannot be obtained without a frequent and serious Application of our selves to the Means here insisted on then 't is plain that we ought to cast our Lives if we can into such a Method that we may be in a capacity to do this To speak more particularly and closely since Meditation Prayer and Holy Conversation are so necessary to quicken the Conscience excite our Passions and fortifie our Resolutions it is evident that it is as necessary so to model and form our Lives that we may have time enough to bestow on these For they whose Minds and Time are taken up by the World have very little leisure for things of this Nature and are very little dispos'd to them and as ill qualified for them As to Conversation as the World goes now 't is not to be expected that it should have in it any relish of Piety unless between such as have entered into a close and strict Friendship But the Worldly Man is a stranger to true Friendship 't is too sacred too delicate a thing for a Mind devoted to the World to be capable of A regard to Interest to some outward Forms and Decencies the gratification of some natural Inclination the necessity of some kind of Diversion and Enjoyment may invite him to more Familiarity with some than others But 't is hard to believe that there should be any thing in such Combinations of that which is the very Life and Soul of Friendship a sincere and undesigning Passion increased by mutual Confidences and Obligations and supported and strengthen'd by Vertue and Honour As to Prayer Men of business do I doubt oftner read or say Prayers than Pray for 't is very hard to imagine that a Soul that grovels perpetually here upon Earth that is incessantly Solicitous about the things of this World and that enters abruptly upon this Duty without any Preparation should immediately take Fire be filled with Heavenly Vigour and be transported with earnest and impatient desire of Grace and Glory Ah! How hard is it for him who Hungers and Thirsts perpetually after the profits of this World to Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness too If such Minds as these retain the Belief of a Providence some awe of God and some degree of Gratitude towards Him 't is as much as may reasonably be expected from them and may this avail them as far as it can Lastly as to Meditation how can it be imagined that such whose Minds and Bodies are fatigued and harrassed by Worldly Business should be much inclined to it or
well prepared for it How should these Men form any Notion of a perfect and exalted Vertue of devout and Heavenly Passion What Conceptions can they have of the Power and Joy of the Holy Ghost of Poverty of Spirit or Purity of Heart or the Diffusion of the Love of God in our Souls What Idea's can they entertain of an Heaven or of Angelical Pleasure and Beatitude In a word the Religion of Men intent upon this World when they pretend to any which too often they do not consist especially in two things in Abstaining from Wickedness and doing the Works of their civil Caling and how far they may be sensible of higher Obligations I determine not Good God! What a Mercy it is to these poor Creatures that 't is the Fashion of their Country as well as a Precept of our Religion to Dedicate one Day in seven to the Service of God and their Souls But have I not often taught that Purity of Intention Converts the Works of a secular Calling into the Works of God I have so 't is Universally taught 't is the Doctrine of the Gospel and therefore I shall never retract it but ah How hard a thing is it for a Worldly Man to maintain this Purity of Intention How hard a thing is it for a Mind eaten up by the Love and Cares of this World to do all to the Honour of God! Though therefore I cannot retract this Doctrine yet the longer I live the more reason do I see for qualifying and guarding it with this Caution Let no Man that desires to be Saved much less that desires to be Perfect take Sanctuary in Purity of Intention while he suffers the Works of his secular Calling to ingross his Soul and entirely Usurp his Time If secular Works exclude and thrust out of doors such as are properly Religious it will not be easie to conceive how the Power of Godliness should be maintained how any wise Thoughts or Heavenly Desires should be preserved in such Men or how finally those who have utterly given up themselves to the wisdom of this World should retain any true value for those Maxims of the Gospel wherein consists the true Wisdom that is from above All that I have said against a Life of Business may with equal or greater force be urged against a Life of Pleasure I mean that which they call Innocent Pleasure The one and the other entangle and ensnare the Mind the one and the other leave in it a peculiar relish which continues long after the hurry both of Pleasure and Business is over But all this while I would not have what I have said be extended further then I design it to raise scruples in Vertuous and Good Men instead of reforming the too eager Applications of the Earthy to the things of this World CHAP. VII Of Motives to Perfection INnumerable are the Motives to Perfection which offer themselves to any one that reflects seriously on this Argument An hearty endeavour after Perfection is the best proof of sincerity the nearest approach to Perfection is the nearest approach to the utmost security this Life is capable of Great is the beauty and loveliness of an exalted Vertue great the Honour and Authority of it and a very happy Influence it has even upon our Temporal Affairs And to this may be added the Peace and Tranquility of a wise Mind sanctified Affections and a Regular Life Besides the Love of God is boundless and the Love of Jesus is so too and therefore I demand not a lazy feeble or unsteady Vertue but a strong and vigorous one a warm and active such as a true Faith great Hopes and a passionate Love do naturally excite us to To all this I might add that the Spirit of God is always pressing on and advancing desirous to communicate himself to us more and more plentifully if we be not backward or negligent our selves But these and many other Enforcements to the duty of Perfection should I enlarge on them would swell this Treatise to an intolerable bulk Nor indeed is it necessary for the 4th Chapter where I treat of the Fruits of Perfection does contain such Motives to it as are sufficient to excite in any one that reads them a most vehement desire and thirst after it Here therefore all that I think fit to do is to put my Reader in mind of another Life In the Glories and Pleasures of which I need not prove that the Perfect Man will have the greatest share This is a Motive that must never be out of the thoughts of the Man that will be Perfect and that for three Reasons which I will but just mention 1. Without another Life we can never form any true Notion of a Perfect Vertue Sociable and Civil Vertues may be supported by Temporal Motives and fram'd and model'd by Worldly Conveniencies but a Divine Vertue must be built upon a Divine Life upon a Heavenly Kingdom The Reason of this Assertion is plain the Means must always bear Proportion to the End where therefore the end is an Imperfect Temporal Good there needs no more then imperfect unfinished Vertue to attain it but where the the end is Heavenly and Immortal the Vertue ought to be so too Were there no other Life the Standard and Measure of the Good or Evil to be found in Actions would be their subserviency to the temporal Good or Evil of this World and by a necessary consequence it would be impossible to prove any higher degrees of Poverty of Spirit Purity of Heart Charity and the like to be truly Vertue then what we could prove truly necessary to procure the Good or guard us against the Evil of this Life And if so 't is easie to conclude what mean and beggarly kind of Vertues would be produc'd from this ground 2. Without another Life all other Motives to Perfection will be insufficient For though generally speaking such is the Contrivance of Human Nature that neither the common Good of civil Society nor the more particular Good of private Men can be provided for or secured without the practice of sociable and political Vertues yet 't is certain that not only in many extraordinary Cases there would be no Reward at all for Vertue if there were not one reserved for it in another World but also in most Cases if there were not a future Pleasure that did infinitely out-weigh the enjoyments of this Life Men would see no Obligation to Perfection For what should raise them above the love of this World if there were no other Or above the love of the Body if when they died they should be no more for ever And certainly our Minds would never be able to soar very high nor should we ever arrive at any Excellence or Perfection in any Action if we were always under the influence of the love of the World and the Body 3. A Life to come is alone a sufficient Motive to Perfection Who will refuse to endure hardship as a
good Soldier of Christ Jesus who firmly believes that He is now a Spectator and will very suddenly come to be a Judge and Rewarder of his sufferings How natural is it to run with Patience the Race that is set before us to him who has an Eternal Joy an Eternal Crown alway in his Eye And if a Life to come can make a Man rejoyce even in suffering Evil how much more in doing Good If it enable him to Conquer in the day of the Churches Tryal and Affliction how much more will it enable him to abound in all Vertues in the day of its Peace and Prosperity How freely will a Man give to the distressed Members of Christ who believes that he sees Christ himself standing by and receiving it as it were by their Hands and placing it to his own account to be repaid a thousand-fold in the great day of the Lord How easily will a Man allay the storms of Passion and cast away the weapon of Revenge and Anger with Indignation against himself if his Faith do but present him often with a view of that Canaan which the Meek in Heart shall inherit for ever How Importunately will a Man pray for the Pardon of Sin whose Sense whose Soul whose Imagination is struck with a dread of being for ever divided from God and excluded from the Joys and Vertues of the Blessed How fervently will a Man pray for the Spirit of God for the Increase of Grace whose Thoughts are daily swallowed up with the Contemplation of an Eternity and whose Mind is as fully possess'd of the certainty and the Glory of another World as of the emptiness and vanity of this How natural finally will it be to be poor in Spirit and to delight in all the Offices of an unfeigned Humility to that Man who has the Image of Jesus washing the feet of his Disciples and a little after Ascending up into Heaven alway before him But I know it will be here Objected we discern not this Efficacy you attribute to this Motive The Doctrine of another Life is the great Article of the Christian Faith and it is every where Preached throughout Christendom and yet Men generally seem to have as much fondness for this World as they could were there no other They practise no Vertues but such as are Profitable and Fashionable or none any further than they are so To this I answer though most act thus there are many I hope very many who do otherwise and that all in general do not proceeds from want either of due Consideration or firm Belief of this Doctrine of another Life First from not Considerating it as we should 'T is the greatest disadvantage of the Objects of Faith compared with those of Sense that they are distant and invisible He therefore that will be Perfect that will derive any Strength and Vertue from this Motive must supply this distance by devout and daily Contemplation he must fetch the remore objects of Faith home to him he must render them as it were present he must see and feel them by the strength of Faith and the force of Meditation which if he do then will his Faith certainly prove a vital and victorious Principle then will no Pleasure in this World be able to combate the assured Hopes of an Heaven nor any worldly Evil or difficulty sustained for Vertue be able to confront the Terrors of an Hell A Second Reason why this Motive doth not Operate as it should is want of Faith We doubt we waver we stagger or take things upon trust assenting very slightly and superficially to the Doctrine of another Life and looking upon good Works rather as not injurious to this World then serviceable to a better And then 't is no more wonder that the unbelieving Christian does not enter into Perfection and Rest than that the unbelieving Jew did not 'T is no more wonder if the word of Life do not profit the Christian when not believed by him then if it do not profit a Pagan who has never heard of it And what is here said of Infidelity is in its measure and proportion true when applyed to a weak and imperfect Faith He therefore that will be Perfect must daily pray Lord I Believe help thou mine unbelief He must daily Consider the Grounds on which the Faith and Hope of a Christian stand the express declarations of the Divine Will concerning the future Immortality and Glory of the Children of God the demonstrastration of this contained in the Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead and his Ascension and Session at the Right Hand of God And to this he may add the Love of God the Merits of Jesus and the State and Fortune of Vertue in this World From all which one may be able to infer the undoubted certainty of another World The Sum of all amounts to this whoever will be Perfect must daily I should I think have said almost hourly ponder the blessedness that attends Perfection in another Life he must ponder it seriously that he may be throughly perswaded of it he must ponder it often that the Notions of it may be fresh and lively in his Soul SECT II. Of the several Parts of Perfection WHat the several Parts of Religious Perfection are will be easily discerned by a very slight Reflection either on the Nature of Man or the general Notion of Perfection already laid down If we consider Man whose Perfection I am treating of as it is plain that he is made up of Soul and Body so 't is as plain that Moral Perfection relates to the Soul as the chief subject of it and to the Body no otherwise then as the Instrument of that Righteousness which is planted in the Soul Now in the Soul of Man we find these three things Vnderstanding Will and Affections In the Improvement and Accomplishment of which Human Perfection must consequently consist And if we enquire wherein this Improvement or Accomplishment lies 't is a Truth so obvious that it will not need any proof that Illumination is the Perfection of the Vnderstanding Liberty of the Will and Zeal of the Affections If in the next place we reflect upon the Description I have before given of Perfection nothing is more evident than that to constitute a firm Habit of Righteousness three things are necessary 1. The Knowledge of our Duty and our Obligations to it 2. The Subduing our Lusts and Passions that we may be enabled to perform it Lastly not only a free but warm and vigorous Prosecution of it In the first of these consists Illumination in the second Liberty and in the third Zeal Upon the whole then 't is evident both from the Nature of Perfection and of Man that I am now to treat in order of these three things Illumination Liberty and Zeal as so many Essential Parts of Religious Perfection Nor must I stop here but must to those three unavoidably add Humility For whether we consider the Sins of the
inferiour Nature All which are I think compriz'd by Solomon in very few words Prov. 24.13 14. My Son saith he eat thou Honey because it is good and the Honey Comb which is sweet to thy taste so shall the knowledge of Wisdom be unto thy Soul when thou hast found it then there shall be a reward and thy expectation shall not be cut off Solomon here as is very usual with inspired Writers does compare Spiritual with Corporeal Things or Illustrates the one by the other He tells us that what Honey is to the Body that Wisdom is to the Soul And recommending the Former from two incomparable Properties its Ministring to Health and Pleasure he recommends the Latter from Advantages which bear indeed some Resemblance but are as much Superiour to these as the Soul is to the Body My Son eat thou Honey because it is good i. e. because it both cleanses and purges all noxious Humours and nourishes and strengthens the Body And the Honey Comb because it is sweet to the taste which is the second Excellence of this sort of Food namely its Pleasantness and properly urged to invite the Eater Then proceeding to compleat the Comparison he adds so shall the Knowledge of Wisdom be to thy Soul when thou hast found it i. e. it shall Minister to the Purification Strength and Delight of thy Soul But this is not all Though the Parallel can be extended no further between Honey and Wisdom yet he does not think fit for that Reason to omit one of the greatest Excellencies of Wisdom And therefore he adds then there shall be a reward and thy expectation shall not be cut off Wisdom does not only perfect and entertain our Minds but also it gives us a title to those Rewards for the enjoyment of which it prepares and fits us Here then we have from Solomon the true Properties of true Wisdom By these we may pronounce safely of all the different kinds of Knowledge distinguishing the precious from the vile and fixing the true Estimate of Each If there be any sort of Truths whose Knowledge does not promote but obstruct these great Ends these we are to despise and slight to shun and hate But if there be any Knowledge that does neither oppose or hinder nor yet contribute to these Ends unless accidentally and very remotely for this we may have some but no very great regard or esteem But whatever Knowledge that be which is attended by these Fruits this is that which we are to search for as for hidden Treasure This is that which when we have found it we are to value above the Gold of Ophir the Topaz and the Carbuncle and all precious Stones The distinguishing Characters then of Illuminating Truths are four 1. They Purifie us 2. They Nourish and Strengthen us 3. They Entertain and Delight us 4. They procure us a glorious Reward 1. They Purifie us This is a Property which the Royal Psalmist frequently attributes to the Word of God that it is pure and clean Psal 119. and elsewhere And the New Testament frequently ascribes to Faith and Hope that they purifie the Heart 1 Joh. 3.3 Acts 15. And this sure is the first thing necessary to the Perfecting the Soul of Man 'T is with the Soul as with the Body it must be first cleansed from hurtful Humours before it can be fed and nourished purged of its Errors and Vices e're it can be enriched with Divine Vertues and attain that Liberty and Strength wherein consists the true Greatness and Excellence of the Mind of Man The first Step towards the Perfection of Vertue is the relinquishing our Vice for we must cease to do Evil e're we can learn to do Good And the first Step towards the Perfection of Wisdom is the dispelling those Errors which deceive and mislead the Mind and pervert Life What these were in the Jew and Gentile and what they are at this day in us it is easie enough to discern The Mind of Man as far as I can observe is naturally prone to Religious Worship Not only the consideration of the wonderful Mechanism and contrivance of the World and of Events strange suddain and unaccountable but also the Conscience of his own Impotence and Obnoxiousness inclining him to the Belief and prompting him to seek the Patronage of an Invisible All-sufficient Power In the next place the Mind of Man is ever prone to propose to him some great some soveraign Good in which he may acquiesce and by which he may secure himself as well as he can against the Indigence and Poverty of his Nature and the Changes and Revolutions the Disasters and the Miseries to which this Mortal State is exposed These are two things of that Importance that no man can err in them but the Error must prove fatal to his Repose He that sets up to himself for his ultimate End an empty and uncertain Good instead of a Solid and Eternal one must needs be as miserably deluded and disappointed as he must who sets up to himself a false God instead of the true or goes about to endear and recommend himself to the true by a false and superstitious Worship Now in these points the Jew and Gentile were miserably though not equally mistaken The Gentile worshipped Devils instead of God Their Mysteries were either sensual or cruel their Religion did oftner incourage Sin than Vertue And as to their soveraign Good their Hearts were set upon this World upon the Pomp and Pleasure upon the Ease and Honour of it and they had either none or very dark and uncertain Prospects beyond the Grave All beyond it was an unknown Region full of Fables and idle Phantoms The Jews though they enjoy'd the Oracles of God and generally preserved the Worship of one true and living God yet were they not free from very deplorable Errors relating to these points They seemed to have turned the true God into an Idol and to have entertained some Notions of Him very repugnant to his Nature they looked upon him as the God of the Jews not of the Gentiles as a Respecter of Persons as fond and partial to their Nation and as delighted with a Religion made up of numerous Rites and Ceremonies and external Observances And this could not but have a very sad influence upon their Religion as it really had The Holiness which is truly acceptable to God being neglected and abolished and Sadducism or Pharisaism i. e. Sensuality or Hypocrisie introduced in the room of it And as to their ultimate End or supream Good the Sadducees denied the Resurrection Angels and Spirits and therefore 't is not to be expected they should entertain any design above the Pleasure of the Body And though the Pharisees acknowledged Angels and a Resurrection yet can we not discern that they had a real value for any thing besides the Honour Power and Wealth of this World And no wonder since they could upon their Principles satisfie themselves in a Religion which
Mind but never benefit it but there are others which are in the Language of Solomon like Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones Wisdom and Vertue Life and Honour the Favour of God and Man attend them where e're they dwell And these are the Truths which Illuminate Truths that are Active and Fruitful that make us wise and good perfect and happy such as we have a mighty Interest in such as have a strong Influence upon us such as give a new Day to the understanding and new Strength and Liberty to the Will such as raise and exalt our Affections and render the whole Man more rational more steady more constant more uniform These are the Truths which make Men great and modest in Prosperity erect and couragious in Adversity always content with this World yet alway full of the Hopes of a better Serene Calm and well assured in the present state of their Souls and yet thirsting after Perfection Maturity and the absolute Consummation of Righteousness in the World to come Now the Truths that effect all this are all reducible to those which I have mentioned under the former Head For in those we find all that is necessary to Life and Godliness to Vertue and Glory in those we find all that is necessary to raise and support true Magnanimity to enlarge and free the Mind and to add Strength and Courage to it For what can more certainly promote all this than Immortality and Glory What can be a surer Foundation for the Hope of both to rest on than the Favour of God himself And what can more effectually reconcile and ingratiate us with God than sincere universal Righteousness and the Mediation of his dearly Beloved Son 3. The Third Character of Illuminating Truth is that they are Pleasant and Agreeable to the Soul Hence it is that the Royal Psalmist pronounces the Word of God sweeter than the Honey and the Honey Comb that he ascribes to it Delight and Joy For he tell us that it rejoyces the Heart that it enlightens the Eyes And accordingly we find the true Servants of God not only continually blessing and praising God in the Temple but magnifying him by Psalms and Hymns in their Prisons and rejoycing in the midst of Tribulation But when I reckon Pleasure and Delight amongst the Fruits of Illumition I must add that there is a vast difference between the Fits and Flashes of Mirth and the serenity of a Fixt and Habitual Delight between the Titillations of Sense and the solid Joys of the Mind and lastly between the Pleasures of Fancy and of Reason And when I say Illumination consists in the Knowledge of pleasant and agreeable Truths I mean it of rational Pleasure an habitual Tranquility of the Mind And then the Matter is beyond Question Whatever Truths do contribute to promote this the Study and Contemplation of them must be our true Wisdom Joy when 't is solid and rational does enlarge and exalt the Mind of Man 'T is as it were Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones it renders us more thankful to God more kind and courteous to Man 'T is an excellent Preparation to invite more Plentifully Influxes of the Spirit of God Hence did Elijah call for a Musical Instrument when he desired to Prophesie And we find the Company of Prophets rejoycing with Hymns Musick and Dances all outward Testimonies of the inward Transports and Ravishment of their Minds And as I am perswaded that that which distinguishes a Godly sorrow from a Worldly or Impious one Repentance and Contrition from the Agonies and Perplexities of Dispair is the peace and tranquility which attends it so am I perswaded that God does press and invite us to Mourning and Sorrow for Sin for this Reason not excluding others because it naturally leads on to Peace and Joy A soft and tender Sorrow dissipating the Fears and Distresses of Guilt like mild and fruitful Showers that do lay Storms In a word there is no such powerful Antidote against Sin nor spur to Holy Industry as Holy Pleasure Pious Joy or Spiritual Peace and Tranquility This is a Partaking or Anticipating the powers of the World to come and the mightiest Corroboration of every thing that is good in us The Study then of such Truths is true Wisdom And Illumination thus far will consist in quitting those Errors which beget Melancholy Superstition Desperation and in such Truths as enlarge our view of the Divine Perfections and exhibit to us a nearer Presence of his Goodness and Glory Such again as unfold the Dignity of Human Nature and the wise and gracious Ends of our Creation Such Lastly as extend our Prospect and enlarge our Hopes support our Frailties and excite our Vigour 4. The last property of those Truths in the Knowledge of which Illumination consists is that they are such as procure us a Reward If we reflect upon those three Heads under which I ranged those Truths which Illuminated the Gentile and Jewish World we shall easily discern how well they fit this Character They fill the Mind with Joy and Peace and make it abound in Hope they Purge the Man from his natural Corruption and fortifie the Mind against such Impressions from outward Good or Evil in this World as disquiet and torment the Sinner they procure him the Protection of God's Providence and the Assistance of his Spirit in this Life and they invite him to hope for Glories and Pleasures in another far above any thing that the Heart of Man can conceive God is the God of Hope He has all Fulness and Sufficiency in himself And therefore Blessed must all they be who have the Lord for their God Jesus is the Fountain of all Consolation He is made unto us of God Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption Happy is he that does rejoyce always and glory in Him Righteousness is a state of Health and Strength of Perfection and Beauty of Peace and Tranquility of Rest and Hope Blessed are they who are possessed of it who are made free from Sin and become Servants of God who have their Fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life Such are already past from Death to Life for the Spirit of Life and Holiness of God and Glory rests upon them This is the Character that distinguishes Gospel Knowledge from all other sorts of Knowledge No knowledge of Arts or Sciences and much less the most exquisite knowledge of all the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Darkness can pretend to an Eternal Reward A short and impure Pleasure and a transcient Interest is all that this sort of Knowledge can bestow and very often instead of Pleasure and Profit it requites its Disciples with Pain and Trouble The Gospel only contains those Truths which confer Life and Immortality on those that Believe and Obey them 'T is the Gospel alone that teaches us how we are to gain the Love and Favour of God and 't is God alone who Rules and Governs
but such a Digestion of them by serious and devout Meditation as may in a manner incorporate them with us And this the Scripture plainly teaches when to signifie the Force and Vertue of the Gospel above that of the Law it uses these words For this is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their Minds and write them in their Hearts Heb. 8.10 intimating that no Laws no Principles can ever influence us till they be deeply imprinted in our Hearts To wind up all There are several kinds of Knowledge of the same Truths There is a Knowledge which serves us only as Pisga's top did Moses to shew us Canaan but not to bring us into it There is again a Knowledge which serves us only as the Talent did the wicked Servants not to procure Rewards but Punishments And finally there is a Knowledge which like the Talents in the Hand of the faithful and good Steward enriches us first and recommends us afterwards to higher Trusts and Dignities which improves and perfects our Nature first and then puts us into possession of such Blessings as only Nature thus improved and perfected is capable of And this Knowledge must not be a slight superficial and undigested one it must not be a confused and obscure a weak and imperfect one This is not the Knowledge which will bring forth those excellent Fruits which we have reason to expect from true Illumination But it must be a Knowledge that has all the quite contrary Characters even such as I have before described at large That this is an Observation of the greatest weight and moment is evident to any one who will give himself leave to make any Reflection on the present State of Christianity For how does the power of Darkness prevail amidst the Light of the Gospel How has the Devil erected his Throne in the midst of that Church which should be the Kingdom of God and Sin and Death reign where Life and Immortality are Preached Whence is this Are Men ignorant of those Truths which make up the Systeme of true Wisdom This is not easie to be imagined scarcely of the darkest corners of the Popish Churches much less of ours And therefore we must conclude that this is because our Knowledge is not such as it ought to be with respect to its clearness certainty and Digestion CHAP. II. Of the Fruits and Attainments of Illumination HAving dispatched the Notion of Illumination in the foregoing Chapter and shew'd both what Truths and what sort of Knowledge of them is requisite to it I am next to treat 1. Of the Fruits And 2. Of the Attainment of it S. 1. As to the Fruits of Illumination I have the less need to insist upon them because whatever can be said on this Head has been in a manner anticipated All the Characters of Illuminating Truth and Illuminating Knowledge being such as sufficiently declare the blessed effects of true Illumination I will therefore be very short on this Head and only just mention two Advantages of Illumination As the use of Light is especially twofold to Delight and Guide us so do we reap two benefits from Illumination 1. The first and most immediate one is That it sets the whole Man and the whole Life right that it fixes our Affections on their proper and natural Object and directs all our Actions to their true End I do not mean that the Vnderstanding constantly and necessarily influences and determines the Will. Expeperience tells us that we have a fatal Liberty That our Affections are too often independant of our Reason that we sin against the Dictates of Conscience that we pursue false Pleasure and a false Interest in opposition to the True and in plain opposition to our Judgment too at least to a sedate and calm one And the Reason of all this is because we consist of two different and repugnant Principles a Body and a Soul and are solicited by two different Worlds a temporal and an eternal one But all this notwithstanding 't is certain that Illumination in the Mind has a mighty Influence upon us For it is continually exciting in us wise Desires and excellent purposes 'T is always alluring and inviting us towards our Sovereign Good and restraining and detering us from Sin and Death It alarms disquiets disturbs and persecutes us as often as we err and wander from the Path of Life In one word the great Work of Illumination is to be always representing the Beauties and Pleasures and the Beatitude and Glory of Vertue and remonstrating the Evils and Dishonours the Deformities and Dangers of Vice so that a Man will never be at rest who has this Light within him till it be either extinguished or obeyed 2. This Light within us if it be followed and complied with not mud-died and disturbed if it be not quenched and extinguished by wilful Sin or unpardonable Oscitancy and Remisness if in a word its Influence be not interrupted disperses all our Fears as well as Errors creates an unspeakable Tranquility in the Soul spreads over us a calm and glorious Sky and makes every thing in us and about us look gay and verdant and beautiful The Dissipation of Pagan Darkness and all Participations or Resemblances of it Deliverance from a state of Bondage and Wrath the Peace of God the Love of Jesus the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost the Immortality of the Soul the Resurrection of the Body the Perfection and Blessedness of Eternity good God! what surprizing what ravishing Themes are these for the thoughts of an enlightened Soul to dwell upon Blessed and Happy is he who enjoys this Pleasure upon Earth And that we may I am now to Discourse S. 2. Of the Attainment of Illumination Now whatever advice can relate to this may be reduced under two Heads 1. What Qualifications do render Man capable of Illumination 2. What it is that one duly qualified is to do in Pursuit of it § 1. To begin with the Qualifications requisite to Illumination One Man is distinguished from another several ways By his Estate or Fortune by Natural or acquired Endowments and by Moral Dispositions and each of these may have some though a very different Influence upon Human Perfection For if we enquire after only the Essence and Integrity of Perfection then are there two or three Moral Qualifications which are all that is required in order to this But if we enquire after the largeness of its Stature the Symmetry of its Features the Lustre of its Complexion and the Elegance of its dress then may we allow something to be ascribed to Fortune to Nature and a liberal Education This is an Observation very necessary to be made For though every Man may be capable of Perfection that is Habitual Holiness if it be not his own fault yet is not every Man capable of being equally Perfect because of that accidental Variety which I have suggested and
did not exact of his Disciples as a necessary Preparation for his Doctrine the Knowledge of Tongues the History of Times or Nature Logick Metaphysicks Mathematicks or the like These indeed may be serviceable to many excellent Ends They may be great accomplishments of the Mind great Ornaments and very engaging Entertainments of Life They may be finally very excellent and necessary Instruments of or Introductions to several Professions or Employments But as to Perfection and Happiness to these they can never be indispensably necessary A Man may be excellently habitually Good without more Languages then one He may be fully perswaded of those great Truths that will render him Master of his Passions and independent of the Word that will render him easie and useful in this Life and glorious in another though he be no Logician nor Metaphysician Yet would I not all this while be supposed to exclude the use of true Reason and solid Judgment Though the meanest capacity may attain to its proper Perfection that is such a measure of Knowledge as may make the Man truly wise and happy yet the more capacious any Man's Soul is and the more enlarged his Knowledge the more Perfect and Happy He. 4. The Qualifications previously necessary to Illumination are two or three Moral ones implied in that Infant Temper our Saviour required in those who would be his Disciples These are Humility Impartiality and a Thirst or love of Truth First Humility He that will be taught of God must not be Proud or Confident in himself He must not over-rate his own Parts and Capacity nor lean too stifly to his own understanding He must firmly believe that Illumination is the Work of God and on Him he must depend He must confess the weakness of his own Faculties the natural Poverty and Indigence of his understanding and so look up to God who is the Fountain of Wisdom and giveth Grace to the Humble but resisteth the Proud Secondly Impartiality Sincerity or a certain Purity and innocence of Judgment if I may be allowed to speak so That the Vnderstanding may be capable of Divine Light it must not be blur'd and Stain'd by false Principles It must not be biassed nor influenced by any corrupt inclinations Some to prove their Impartiality or Freedom of Judgment abandon themselves to the scrupulousness of Scepticism and a wanton itch of endless Disputation and Contradiction But I cannot think it necessary to our Freedom and Impartiality to deny the Evidence of our Senses to oppose the Vniversal Reason of Mankind and to shake off all Reverence for the Integrity of Man and the Veracity of God No this savours too much either of Ostentation or of a raw and unexperienced Affectation of new Theories and Speculations He secures his Freedom sufficiently who guards his Reason against the force of groundless Prepossessions and senseless Modes and Customs against the Lusts of the Body and the prejudices of Parties Who keeps a strict Eye upon the Motions and Tendencies of his inferiour Nature who admits not the Dictates of a Single Person or Party for Catholick Reason who considers that there are Revolutions of Phylosophy and Opinions as well as States and Kingdoms and judges well of Times and Men e're he pay much deference to Authority But Thirdly this is not all that is necessary to any compleat Degree of Illumination Impartiality is necessary to the first Dawnings of it but if we would have it increased and diffuse its self into a perfect Day of Spiritual Wisdom and Vnderstanding we must hunger and thirst after Truth An unprejudiced Mind is necessary to qualifie us for the first Rudiments of Truth but we must be inflamed with Desire and Love of it e're we shall enter into the Sanctuary or Recesses of it Therefore our Saviour invites to him every one that thirsts Joh. 7.37 And St. Peter exhorts us as new born Babes to desire the sincere Milk of the Word that we may grow thereby 1 Epist 2.2 And St. Paul imputes the Damnation of those that perish to want of Love of the Truth 2 Thess 2.10 'T is too trifling to Object here how come we to thirst after what we do not know For it concerns every Man to enquire what will become of him for ever and if he be already assured that there is another World and a glorious Salvation to be attained it is natural to thirst after the Resolution of such Questions as these What shall I do to be saved What shall I do to inherit an Eternal Life And such is the Beauty of Illuminating Truth that every Glance of it kindles in our Hearts the Love of it And such its boundless Perfection that the more we know the more still shall we desire to know Having thus considered what qualifies Man for Illumination my next business is to enquire § 2. What one thus qualified is to do for the actual Attainment of it All the Advice that I can think fit here to be given may be reduced to four Heads 1. That we do not suffer our Minds to be engaged in quest of Knowledge forreign to our purpose 2. That we apply our selves with a very tender and sensible Concern to the Study of Illuminating Truths 3. That we act conformable to those Measures of Light which we have attain'd 4. That we frequently and constantly address our selves to God by Prayer for the Illumination of his Grace 1. That we do not suffer c. This is a natural and necessary Consequence of what has been already said concerning Illumination For if Illumination consist in the Knowledge not of all sort of Truths but the most necessary and important such as purifie and perfect our Nature such as procure us sacred and stable Pleasure and all the Rewards that flow from our Adoption to God it is then plain he who would be Perfect ought not to amuse and distract his Mind in Pursuit of trifling or divertive Knowledge that he ought to shun and not to admit whatever is apt to entangle perplex or defile him and to fix his Thoughts and confine his Meditations to the great Truths of the Gospel He that knows the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent knows enough to oblige him to Vertue and to open the way to Glory and everlasting Life He that knows nothing but Jesus Christ and him Crucified knows enough in order to Peace Grace and Joy enough to promote Holiness and Hope Hope that abounds in Joy unspeakable and full of Glory 2. We must apply our selves with a very tender and sensible Concern to the Study of Illuminating Truths This Rule must be understood to enjoyn three things 1. Great Care and Caution in examining Doctrins proposed and in distinguishing between Truth and Falsehood 2. Great Diligence and Industry to increase and enlarge our Knowledge 3. Frequent and serious Reflection upon the Truths we know 1. There is need of great Caution in the Trial and Examination of Doctrins This the
Scripture it self frequently puts us in mind of and not without Reason because the Devil sows his Tares amongst the Wheat Errors and these too fatal and destructive ones are frequently obtruded upon the World for the Revelations of God and every Party nay every single Author lays the stress of Salvation on their peculiar and distinguishing Opinions Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World 1 John 4.1 'T is needless to multiply Texts or Words on this occasion When the Peace and Purity of our Mind the Rectitude and Happiness of our Lives and the Blessedness of Eternity have so close and necessary a Dependance upon the Doctrins we imbibe that we hereby either secure or forfeit them who sees not unless he be stupid and infatuated that greater Care and Solicitude is necessary here than in any matter whatever because there is no other equal moment Bad Money or bad Wares instead of good an ill Title or Conveyance instead of a firm and clear one may impoverish us bad Drugs instead of good may infect the Body and destroy the Health but what is all this to the dismal Consequences of Error and Heresie which impoverishes and infect the Mind prevents the Life and damns the Man to all Eternity The Example of the Bereans is never forgot and indeed never ought to be on this occasion We must admit nothing hastily assent to nothing without examining the Grounds on which it stands Credulity Precipitation and Confidence are irreconcilable Enemies to Knowledge and Wisdom 2. We are to use great Diligence and Industry to enlarge and increase our Knowledge The Treasures of Divine Wisdom are almost infinite and it fares with those that Study them as with a Traveller when he ascends a rising Ground every new step almost enlarges his Horison and presents new Countries new Pleasures to his Eye 'T is our own Negligence if we do not daily extend the Compass of our Knowledge if our View of things grow not more distinct and clear and our Belief of them more firm and steady This is to grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord 2 Pet. 3.18 This is to have the eye of our Vnderstanding opened Eph. 1.17 this is to be filled with the Knowledge of God in all Wisdom and Vnderstanding Col. 1.9 this is finally for the Word of God to dwell in us richly Col. 3.16 And of what Importance this is is manifest from what I have before proved namely that Illumination consists not in a credulous and ill-grounded in a slight and superficial or a confused and obscure or imperfect sort of knowledge but in a clear distinct firm and well established one And the acquiring such a one demands a very diligent and an indefatigable Study of the Word of Life To fill the Mind with numerous great and beautiful Ideas and these clear and distinct to have them engraven in the Memory in deep and lasting Characters to have them lodged and disposed in that Order as to be able in an Instant to have recourse to them to discern and demonstrate plainly the Connexion and Dependance of one upon another and the unquestionable Evidence of each this is a Work of Time and Labour the Fruit of a Regular and Assiduous Search after Truth and if the Capacities and Fortunes of all Men will not suffer them to come up to this they must come as near as they can But if such a search as this be not necessary to penetrate the Depths and to discover the Beauties of Divine Truths or to convince the World and our selves of the Certainty of them yet certainly without it we shall never be able to extract their Force and Vertue and to derive Purity and Nourishment from them Which is the next thing implied in the Rule laid down 3. We must make frequent and serious Reflections on the Truths we do know This again naturally follows from the Notion of Illumination as it is before setled For if it is not every Knowledge of the best things that suffices for Illumination but a Vital and operative one that is a well grounded clear distinct and well-digested one it is plain that constant daily and devout Meditation is necessary to Illumination because 't is not a transcient and perfunctory Reflection upon the most important Truths 't is not a fleeting rambling irregular and desultory Meditation of them that will possess us with such a kind of Knowledge To imprint a Truth in lively Notions upon our Minds to digest it into Nourishment and Strength and make it mix it self with all our Affections and all our Actions it is necessary that we dwell upon it with Constancy and Delight And accordingly we find that excellent and elevated Souls both under the Old Testament and the New have been daily nay almost hourly conversant in the Book of God they have been passionately devoted to the Study of it and delighted more in it than in Treasures or Honours than in the most profitable Employments or engaging Diversions of Life 'T is this kind of Meditation on God on Jesus the World and our selves that can alone acquaint us thoroughly with each 't is this kind of Meditation on Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell that can make us wise unto Salvation The sum of all that I have said on this Rule amounts to this That Illumination is not to be attained without Labour and Travel It is indeed the Gift of God but such a one as he will never bestow but upon those who ask and seek and knock Divine Bounty and Human Industry do here very well accord the Spirit of God generally joyns them together and 't is Boldness and Impiety in Man to go about to divide them Prov. 2.4 5 6. If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as hid treasures then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God For the Lord giveth Wisdom out of his mouth cometh Knowledge and Vnderstanding Nor will any one surely think it much to devote his Time and Labour to the Attainment of Illumination For what is there that can more justly challenge or better deserve both Can Pleasure There is none but what flows from Wisdom that is either pure great or lasting Can Business What Business can be of greater Importance than what secures our Salvation our Eternity Wisdom then is the principal thing therefore get Vnderstanding Prov. 4.7 for without this the most desireable Possessions and Pleasures of Life are but Cheats and Illusions Mischiefs and Snares For the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the Prosperity of fools shall destroy them Prov. 1.32 3. That we act conformable to those Measures of Light which we have attained The more Spiritual we grow the fitter we are for the Residence of God's Spirit and the more capable of his Influences The more we subdue all inordinate Affections the
the Children of God and the blessed Fruit of it Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost would easily furnish me with invincible Arguments Nor would the contrary Opinion ever have been able to have kept the Field so long as it has done had it not been favoured by a weak and decayed Piety by the Fondnesses of Men for themselves in spight of their Sins and Frailties and by many mistaken Texts But that this Matter may if possible be freed from all Objections 1. I here distinguish between Inordinate and Natural Affections By Inordinate Affections I mean the Tendencies of the Soul towards that which is Vnlawful by Natural its Propension to the Body with which it is invested the Desire of its Health and Ease and the Conveniencies and Necessaries of Life for this end Now when Religion enjoyns Repugnances to the former Appetites the Obedience of the Perfect Man has no Reluctancy in it but when it enjoyns things as sometimes occasionally it does which thwart and cross the latter here the Obedience even of Christ himself could not be exempt from Conflict for our Natural Appetites in this sense of them will never be put off till our Bodies be I think this is so clear it needs not be illustrated by Instances or else 't were easie to shew that though good men have practised Temperance Chastity Charity and other Vertues of this kind with ease and pleasure too yet has Nature shrunk and startled at Persecution and Martyrdom though even here too the Courage and Resolution of some hath appear'd to be much above what Human Nature ever seem'd capable of 2. I do not in the least suppose that Nature is so changed but that the Inclinations to sinful Pleasure or Profit or any other forbidden Object will soon revive again even in the Perfect Man unless he keep a watch and guard upon himself and pass the time of his sojourning here in fear Not to be subject to disorderly Desires not to be liable to irregular Motions is the Priviledge of Souls when stript of a Mortal Body or cloath'd with an Immortal one Till then the Conjunction of Flesh and Blood will ever render the poor Soul obnoxious to carnal and worldly Appetites And the natural Appetites of the Body do so easily pass those Bounds that divide them from sinful ones that the best of men can never be secure but when the Mind is taken up in Contemplation Devotion good Works or engaged in the Prosecution of some just and honest Design or amused by some innocent Recreation for in these Cases the Body is either made the Instrument of Righteousness or at least wise 't is innocently busied and diverted from those Objects to which it has too too impetuous a Tendency I have now I think sufficiently stated the Notion of true Liberty and I hope sufficiently guarded it And have nothing to do but to proceed to the Fruits of it Which will serve for so many Motives or Inducements to its Attainment § 2. Of the Fruits of Liberty These may be reduced under four Heads 1. Sin being a great Evil Deliverance from it is great Happiness 2. A second Fruit of this Liberty is Good Works 3. It gives us a near Relation to God 4. The great and last Fruit of it is Eternal Life These are all comprised by the Apostle in Rom. 6.2.1 22 23. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed For the end of those things is death But now being made free from Sin and become Servants to God ye have your fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life For the wages of sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And these are the great Ends which the Gospel that perfect Law of Liberty aims at and for which it was Preached to the World as appears from those Words of our Lord to St. Paul Acts 26.17 18. unto whom now I send thee to open their Eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of Sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by Faith that is in me I will here insist on these Blessed Effects of Christian Liberty not only because the Design of the Chapter demands it but also to prevent the being obliged to any tedious Repetition of them hereafter under every distinct Branch of Christian Liberty § 1. Sin is a great Evil and therefore Deliverance from the Dominion of it is a great Good To make this evident we need but reflect a little on the Nature and Effects of Sin If we enquire into the Nature of Sin we shall find that it is founded in the Subversion of the Dignity and defacing the Beauty of Human Nature and that it consists in the Darkness of our Understanding the Depravity of our Affections and the Feebleness and Impotence of the Will The Vnderstanding of a Sinner is incapable of discerning the Certainty and Force of Divine Truths the Loveliness of Vertue the unspeakable Pleasure which now flows from the great and precious Promises of the Gospel and the incomparably greater which will one day flow from the Accomplishment and Fruition of them His Affections which if fix't and bent on Vertue had been Incentives as they were designed by God to noble and worthy Actions being biass'd and perverted do now hurry him on to lewd and wicked ones And by these the Mind if at any time it chance to be awakened and render'd sensible of its Happiness and Duty is over-power'd and oppress'd If this were not the true State of a Sinner if the strength of Sin did not thus consist in the Disorder and Impotence of all the Faculties of the Soul whence is it that the Sinner acts as he does Is it not evident that his understanding is infatuated when he lives as if he were meerly wholly Body As if he had no Soul or none but one resulting from and dissolv'd with its Temperament and Contexture One designed to no higher purpose than to contrive minister to and partake in its Sensualities Is it not evident that He has little expectation of another World who laies up his Treasures only in this and lives as if he were Born only to make Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof 'T is true all Sinners are not equally stupid or obdurate but even in those in whom some sparks of Vnderstanding and Conscience remain unextinguished how are the weak Desires of Vertue baffled and over-power'd by the much stronger Passions which they have for the Body and the World Do they not find themselves reduced to that wretched state of Bondage wherein the good that they would do that they do not but the evil that they would not do that is present with them 'T is plain then that Sin is a Disease in our Nature that it not only extinguishes the Grace of the Spirit and obliterates the Image of God stampt
Parts and Gallantry Blessed God! to what Degree of Madness and Stupidity may Men of the finest Natural Parts sink when abandon'd by Thee or rather when they themselves abandon Thee and that Light which Thou hast set up in the World Our Lord and Master thought the Profits and Pleasures of the whole World a poor Compensation for the Loss of the Soul What is a Man profited if he gain the whole World c. Matth. 16. But these Men rather than it should not perish for ever will charge through Shame and Pain Remorse and Sickness and all the Obstacles that God has set between us and a desperate Height of Wickedness 4. Though a Sinner may come to that Pass as to suppress his Conscience and master his Fears yet he must ever be conscious to himself of the Fruitlesness and the Meanness of a Course of Sin He must needs be inwardly sensible that he has wearied himself to commit Iniquity to no purpose that his Mind has been restless and tempestuous like a troubled Sea casting up its own Mire and Dirt He must be conscious to himself that he is false and unjust unconstant and ingrateful and in Bondage to such Lusts as are mean and poor and injurious to his Repose and which he has often wished himself free from And this no doubt must be a blessed Condition when a Man 's own Mind does to his face assure him that he is that very thing which all the World condemns and scorns and which he cannot endure to be charg'd with without resenting it as the highest Affront Certainly it were better that all the World should call me Fool and Knave and Villain than that I should call my self so and know it to be true My Peace and Happiness depends upon my own Opinion of my self not that of others 't is the inward sentiments that I have of my self that raise or deject me and my Mind can no more be pleased with any Sensation but its own than the Body can be gratified by the Relishes of another's Palate 5. The more insensible a Sinner grows the more intollerable is the Disorder and Distraction which Sin produces in his Affairs While Men are under any little restraints of Conscience while they are held in by Scruples and Fears and Fits of Regret while in a Word they Sin with any Modesty so long Sin will tollerably comport with their Interest and Reputation but as soon as they grow insensible and impudent they pass all bounds and there is nothing so dear and considerable to them which they will not Sacrifice to their Wickedness Now Wife and Children Friends Estate Laws Vows Compacts Oaths are no stronger Ties to them than Sampson's Wit hs or Cords Such a one as this is very well described in the Prophet Thou art a swift Dromedary traversing her ways a wild Ass used to the Wilderness that snuffeth up the Wind at her pleasure in her occasion who can turn her away Jer. 2.22 And again he is fitly represented to an Horse rushing into the Battel He has as much Contempt for his safety and Happiness as for Reason and Religion he defies Shame Ruin and Death as much as he does God and Providence in one word with an impudent and lewd stupidity he makes all the hast he can to be undone and since he will be so it were well if he could be undone alone I am sure we have too many Instances at this Day of the miserable and fatal Effects of Atheism and Deism to leave any room to doubt whether I have strained the point here or no. Upon the whole it does appear that Sin is a great Evil and that the Evil of it is not lessen'd but increased by Obduration And from hence the Proposition infer'd does naturally follow that Deliverance from it is a great Good so great that if we estimate it by the Evil there is in Sin Health to the Sick Liberty to the Captive Day to the benighted weary and wandring Traveller a Calm a Port to Passengers in a Storm Pardon to Men adjudged to Death are but weak and imperfect Images or Resemblances of it A Disease will at worst terminate with the Body and Life and Pain will have an End together But the Pain that Sin causes will endure to all Eternity for the Worm dies not and the Fire will not be quenched The Errour of the Traveller will be corrected by the approaching Day and his Weariness refreshed at the next Stage he comes to but he that errs impenitently from the Path of Life is lost for ever When the Day of Grace is once set upon him no Light shall e're recal his wandring Feet into the Path of Righteousness and Peace no Ease no Refreshment shall e're relieve his Toil and Misery Whilest the Feet of the Captive are loaded with Fetters his Soul may enjoy its truest Liberty and in the midst of Dangers and Dungeons like Paul and Silas he may sing Songs of Praise and Triumph but the Captivity of Sin defiles oppresses and enslaves the Mind and delivers up the miserable Man to those intollerable and endless Evils which inexorable Justice and Almighty Wrath inflicts upon Ingratitude and Obstinacy A Storm can but wreck the Body a frail and worthless Bark the Soul will escape safe to Shore the Blessed Shore where the happy Inhabitants enjoy an undisturbed an Everlasting Calm but Sin makes Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience and he that perishes in it does but pass into a more miserable state for on the wicked God will rain Snares Fire and Brimstone storm and tempest this shall be their portion forever Psal 11. And Lastly a Pardon sends back a Condemned Criminal to Life that is to Sins and Sufferings to toils and troubles which Death if Death were the utmost he had to fear would have freed him from But he that is once delivered from Sin is past from Death to Life and from this Life of Faith of Love of Hope shall soon pass to another of Fruition and Glory § 2. A Second Fruit of Liberty is Good Works Here I will shew Two things First and this but briefly that the Works of Righteousness contribute mightily to our Happiness and that immediately Secondly That Deliverance from Sin removes the great Obstacles and Impediments of Righteousness and throws off that Weight which would otherwise encumber and tire us in our Race 1. Holiness is no small Pleasure no small Advantage to him who is exercised therein When Nature is renewed and restored the Works of Righteousness are properly and truly the Works of Nature and to do good to Man and offer up our Praises and Devotions to God is to gratifie the strongest and most delightful Inclinations we have These indeed are at first stifled and oppressed by Original Corruption false Principles and Vicious Customs But when once they have broke through these like Seeds through the Earthy Coats they are enclosed and imprisoned in and are impregnated warmed and cherished by
an Heavenly Influence they naturally shoot up into good works Vertue has a Coelestial Original and a Coelestial Tendency from God it comes and towards God it moves and can it be otherwise than amiable and pleasant Vertue is all Beauty all Harmony and Order and therefore we may view and review consider and reflect upon it with Delight It procures us the Favour of God and Man it makes our Affairs naturally run smoothly and calmly on and fills our Minds with Courage Chearfulness and good Hopes In one word Diversion and Amusements give us a Fanciful Pleasure an Animal sensitive Life a short and mean one Sin a deceitful false and fatal one Only Vertue a pure a rational a glorious and lasting one And this is enough to be said here the Loveliness of Holiness being a subject which ever and anon I have occasion to engage in 2. I am next to shew that Deliverance from Sin removes the Impediments of Vertue This will easily be made out by examining what Influence selfishness sensuality and the Love of this World which are the three great Principles or Sources of Wickedness have upon the several Parts of Evangelical Righteousness 1. The first Part is that which contains those Duties that more immediately relate to our selves These are especially two Sobriety and Temperance By Sobriety I mean a serious and impartial Examination of things or such a state of Mind as qualifies us for it By Temperance I mean the moderation of our Affections and Enjoyments even in lawful and allowed Instances From these proceed Vigilance Industry Prudence Fortitude or Patience and Steadiness of mind in the Prosecution of what is best Without these 't is in vain to expect either Devotion towards God or Justice and Charity towards Man Nay nothing good or great can be accomplished without them since without them we have no ground to hope for either the Assistance of Divine Grace or the Protection and Concurrence of Divine Providence Only the pure and chast Soul is a fit Temple for the Residence of the Spirit and the Providence of God watches over none or at least none have Reason to expect it should but such as are themselves vigilant and industrious But now how repugnant to how inconsistent with those Vertues is that Infatuation of Mind and that Debauchery of Affections wherein Sin consists How incapable either of Sobriety or Temperance do selfishness Sensuality and the Love of this World render us What a false Estimate of things do they cause us to form How insatiable do they render us in our Desire of such things as have but false and empty Appearances of Good and how imperiously do they precipitate us into those Sins which are the Pollution and Dishonour of our Nature On the contrary let man be but once enlightned by Faith let him but once come to believe that his Soul is himself that he is a Stranger and Pilgrim upon Earth that Heaven is his Country and that to do good Works is to lay up his Treasure in it let him I say but once believe this and then how Sober how Temperate how Wise how Vigilant and Industrious will he grow And this he will soon be induced to believe if he be not actually under the Influence of vicious Principles and vicious Customs When the Mind is undeceived and disabused and the Affections disengaged 't is natural to Man to think calmly and to Desire and Enjoy with a Moderation suited to just and sober Notions of worldly things for this is to think and act as a Man A Second Part of Holiness regards God as its immediate Object and consists in the Fear and Love of Him in Dependance and Self-Resignation in Contemplation and Devotion As to this 't is plain that whoever is under the Dominion of any Sin must be an Enemy or at least a Stranger to it The Infidel knows no God and the Wicked will not or dares not approach one Their Guilt or their Aversion keeps them from it Selfishness Sensuality and the Love of the World are inconsistent with the Love of the Father and all the several Duties we owe him They alienate the Minds of Men from Him and set up other Gods in his room Hence the Covetous are pronounced guilty of Idolatry Col. 3.5 and the Luxurious and Vnclean are said to make their Belly their God and to glory in their shame Phil. 3.19 But as soon as a poor Man discerns that he has set his Heart upon false Goods as soon as he finds himself cheated and deceived in all his Expectations by the World and is convinced that God is his proper and his Sovereign Good how natural is it to turn his Desires and Hopes from the Creature upon the Creator How natural is it to contemplate his Greatness and Goodness to thirst impatiently for his Favour and dread his Displeasure And such a Man will certainly make the Worship of God a great part at least of the Business and Employment of Life With this he will begin and with this he will end the Day nor will he rest here his Soul will be ever and anon mounting towards Heaven in Ejaculations and there will be scarce any Action any Event that will not excite him to praise and adore God or engage him in some wise Reflections on his Attributes But all this will the Loose and Atheistical say may be well spar'd 't is only a vain and idle Amusement War and Peace Business and Trade have no Dependance upon it Kingdoms and Common-wealths may stand and flourish and sensible Men may be rich and happy without it But to this I answer Religion towards God is the Foundation of all true Vertue towards our Neighbour Laws would want the better part of their Authority if they were not enforced by an Awe of God the wisest Counsels would have no Effect did not Vertue and Religion help to execute them Kingdoms and Common-wealths would be dissolved and burst to pieces if they were not united and held in by these bonds and Wickedness would reduce the World to one great Solitude and Ruin were it not tempered and restrained not only by the Vertues and Examples but by the Supplications and Intercessions too of devout Men. Finally this is an Objection fit for none to make but the Sottish and the Ignorant Men of desperate Confidence and little Knowledge For who ever is able to consider by what Motives Mankind has ever been wont to be most strongly affected by what Principles the World has ever been led and governed how great an Interest even Superstition has had either in the Civilizing and Reforming Barbarous Nations or the Martial Successes of the first Founders of Monarchies and the like whoever I say is able to reflect though but slightly on these things can never be so silly as to demand what the use of Religion is or to imagin it possible to root up its Authority in the World The Third Part of Holiness regards our Neighbour and consists
in the Exercise of Truth Justice and Charity And no where is the ill Influence of Selfishness Sensuality and the Love of the World more notorious than here For these rendring us impatient and insatiable in our Desires violent in the Prosecution of them extravagant and excessive in our Enjoyments and the things of this World being few and finite and unable to satisfie such inordinate Appetites we stand in one anothers Light in one anothers way to Profit and Pleasures or too often at least seem to do so and this must unavoidably produce a thousand miserable Consequences Accordingly we daily see that these Passions Selfishness Sensuality and the Love of the World are the Parents of Envy and Emulation Avarice Ambition Strife and Contention Hypocrisie and Corruption Lewdness Luxury and Prodigality but are utter Enemies to Honour Truth and Integrity to Generosity and Charity To obviate therefore the mischievous Effects of these vicious Principles Religion aims at implanting in the World others of a benign and beneficent Nature opposing against the Love of the World Hope against Selfishness Charity and against Sensuality Faith And to the end the different Tendency of these Different Principles may be the more conspicuous I will briefly compare the Effects they have in reference to our Neighbour Selfishness makes Men look upon the World as made for him alone and upon all as his Enemies who do any way interfere with or obstruct his Designs it Seals up all our Treasures confines all our Care and Thoughts to our private Interest Honour or Pleasure employs all our Parts Power and Wealth and all our Time too in Pursuit of our particular Advantage Sensuality tempts a Man to abandon the Care and Concern for his Country his Friends and Relations and neglect the Duties of his Station that he may give himself up to some sottish and dishonourable Vice it prevails with him to refuse Alms to the poor Assistance to any publick or Neighbourly good Work and even a decent nay sometimes a necessary Allowance to his Family that he may waste and lavish out his Fortune upon some vile and expensive Lust In a word it makes him incapable of the Fatigues of Civil Business and much more of the Hardships and Hazards of War So that instead of imitating the glorious Example of Vriah who would not suffer himself to be courted into the Enjoyment even of allowed Pleasures nor indulge himself in the Tendernesses and Caresses of a Wife and Children while Joab and the Armies of Israel were in the Field he on the contrary dissolves and melts down his Life and Fortunes in Vncleanness and Luxury the shame and burden of his Country and his Family at a time when not only the Honour but the Safety of his Country lies at stake and Prince and People defend it by their Toil and Blood What should I mention the Love of the World are not the Effects of it as visible amongst us as deplorable does not this where-ever it reigns fill all Places with Bribery and Corruption Falshood Treachery and Cowardise Worse cannot be said on 't and more needs not for what Societies can thrive or which way can Credit and Reputation be Supported what Treasures what Counsels what Armies what Conduct can save a People where these Vices prevail Let us now on the other side suppose Selfishness Sensuality and the Love of the World cashiered and Faith Hope and Charity entertained in their Room what a blessed Change will this effect in the World how soon will Honour and Integrity Truth and Justice and a publick Spirit revive how serviceable and eminent will these render every Man in his Charge These are the true Principles of great and brave Actions these these alone can render our Duty dearer to us than any temporal Consideration these will enable us to do good Works without an Eye to the Return they will make us These will make it appear to us very reasonable to Sacrifice Fortune Life every thing when the Honour of God and publick good demand it of us The Belief and Hope of Heaven is a sufficient Incouragement to Vertue when all others fail the Love of God as our Supream Good will make us easily surmount the Consideration of Expence Difficulty or hazard in such Attempts as we are sure will please Him and the Love of our Neighbour as our selves will make us compassionate to his Evils and Wants tender to his Infirmities and Zealous of his good as of our own How happy then would these Principles make the World and how much is it the Interest of every one to encourage and propagate these and to discountenance and suppress the contrary ones I have done with the second Effect of Christian Liberty and will pass on to the Third as soon as I have made two Remarks on this last Paragraph First 't is very evident from what has been said in it that solid Vertue can be Graffed on no Stock but that of Religion that universal Righteousness can be rais'd on none but Gospel Principles who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ 1 Joh. 5. I do not oppose this Proposition against Jew or Gentile God vouchsafed in sundry times and in divers manners such Revelations of his Truth and such Communications of his Grace as he saw fit and to these is the Righteousness hereof whatever it was to be attributed not to the Law of Nature or Moses But suppose it against the bold Pretensions of Libertin's and Atheists at this day Honour and Justice in their Mouths is a vain Beast and the Natural Power they pretend to over their own Actions to square and govern them according to the Rules of right Reason is only a malitious Design to supplant the Honour of Divine Grace and is as false and groundless as arrogant Alas they talk of a Liberty which they do not understand for did they but once admit Purity of Heart into their Notion of it they would soon discern what Strangers they are to it How is it possible but that they should be the Servants of the Body who reject and disbelieve the Dignity and Pre-eminence of the Soul How is it possible they should not be Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God who either believe no God or none that concerns himself much about us and how can they chuse but be selfish and sensual and doat upon this World who expect no better who believe no other Take away Providence and a Life to come and what can oblige a Man to any Action that shall cross his temporal Interest or his Pleasure what shall reward his espousing Vertue when it has no Doury but Losses Reproaches and Persecutions what shall curb him in the Career of a Lust when he may commit it not only with Impunity but as the World sometimes goes with Honour and Preferment too Though therefore such Men as these may possibly restrain their outward Actions yet are they all the
serve Him whom Angels serve to whom all things in Heaven and in Earth do bow and obey 't is the highest Prerogative we can derive from Grace or Nature to be capable of serving Him His Divine Perfections transcend the Conceptions of inferiour Creatures and can be known contemplated and adored by none but such as are made but a little lower than the Angels such as are endued not only with the Light of Reason but with a far brighter that of the Spirit of God This is indeed our utmost Perfection and must be our utmost Ambition this alone makes us considerable who are in all other Respects but mean and contemptible for we draw but a precarious and dependant Breath and the World we inhabit is a dark and tempestuous one full of Folly and Misery But even this will serve for a further Confirmation of what I further contend for For being indigent and needy standing at an infinite Distance from self-Sufficiency 't is plain that what we cannot find within us we must seek without us Some All-sufficient Good we must find out something we must rest in and repose our selves upon and this will be our God this we shall serve and adore And what shall this be shall we serve Evil Spirits These are our avowed and inveterate Enemies and go about like a roaring Lion seeking whom they may devour Shall we serve the Good this were to dishonour our Nature to serve our Fellow-Creatures and Fellow-Servants Besides that such will never Sacrilegiously usurp their Maker's Honour nor admit that Service which is due to Him alone Shall we then serve Man Alass the Breath of great Ones is in their Nostrils their Life is but a Vapour tossed to and fro with restless Noise and Motion and then it vanishes they dye and all their Thoughts and Projects perish What then shall we at length be reduced to serve our Lust this is worse than Pagan Idolatry Stocks and Stones indeed could not help or reward their Votaries but our Lusts like wild and Savage Tyrants destroy where they rule and oppress and overwhelm us with Ruins and Mischiefs while we servily court and flatter them I have not done yet I have proved it indeed to be our Duty and Honour to serve God but these with some are cold and lifeless Topicks I will now prove it to be our Interest and Happiness and this too laying aside at present as I promised the Consideration of a future Reward and the Joys springing from it To make good this Assertion it will be necessary briefly to examine two things First the Design or End and Secondly the Nature of this Service If we enquire after the End of it 't is evidently our own Advantage and Happiness The Lusts or the Humours the Wants and Necessities of Man may put him upon invading our Liberty or purchasing and contracting with us for our Servitude But God is All-sufficient to himself and has no need of our Service When He will be glorified by us 't is that we may enjoy his Protection and Bounty When He obliges us to obey his Commands 't is in order to perfect our Natures and purifie and qualifie us for the Enjoyment of Spiritual and Divine Pleasures When He enjoyns us Prayer 't is because it does exalt and enlarge our Minds and fit us for the Blessings it obtains When He prescribes us self-Resignation 't is because he will choose for us and manage our Affairs better than we can our selves Let us in the Next place consider the Nature of this Service To serve God what is it but to love what is infinitely lovely to follow the Conduct of infinite Wisdom and to repose our Confidence in that Being whose Goodness is as boundless as his Power to serve God 't is to pursue the great End of our Creation to act consonant to the Dignity of our Nature and to govern our Lives by the Dictates of an enlighten'd Reason How wisely has Our Church in one of her Collects expressed her Notion of the Nature of God's Service whose service is perfect Freedom The Devil maintains his Dominion over us by infatuating our Vnderstandings by enfeebling and fettering our Will by deluding and corrupting our Affections But on the quite contrary the more clear and impartial our Vnderstandings the more free and absolute our Wills the more unbyass'd and rational our Affections the fitter are we to worship God nay indeed we cannot worship Him at all as we ought to do unless our Souls be thus qualified Therefore is the Service of God called a Rational Service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Word of God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sincere Milk to signifie to us that in the Service of God all is real and solid Good Such is the Perfection of our Natures the might and Joy of the Spirit the Protection and Conduct of Providence and all the great and precious Promises of God in Christ are yea and Amen But in the Service of Sin all is Cheat and Imposture and under a pompous shew of Good the Present is Vanity and the Future Repentance but such a Repentance as does not relieve but increase the Sinners Misery This is enough to be said of the Nature of God's Service And by the Concessions I made my Objector about the Beginning of this Head I am restrained from taking notice of the more glorious Effects of it Yet some there are very great and good ones that fall not within the Compass of the Objection which I will but just mention The first is Rest. While Religion regulates the Disorder and reduces the Extravagance of our Affections it does in Effect lay a storm and compose a Mutiny in our Bosoms Whilst it Enlightens our Minds and teaches us the true Value that is at least the comparative Worthlesness of Worldly things it extinguishes the Troubles which present Disappointments and Losses and prevents those Fears which the Prospect of future Changes and Revolutions is wont to create in us A Mind that is truly enlighten'd and has no Ambition but for Immortality and Glory whose Humility with reference to these temporal Things is built upon a true Notion of the Nature of them this Soul has entered already into its Rest. This is the Doctrine of our Lord and Master Matth. 11.28 29. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden that is all ye that are oppressed by the Weight of your own Cares and Fears that are fatigued and toil'd in the Designs and Projects of Avarice and Ambition and I will give you rest Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls I need not I think here shew that the more we fear and serve God the more we love and admire Him the more clear is the Vnderstanding and the more pure the Heart For the more we converse with solid and eternal Good the more insignificant and trifling will temporal
this Chapter is grown much too big already And to the consideration of the Fruit of this Liberty which I have so long insisted on nothing more needs to be added but the Observation of those Rules which I shall lay down in the following Chapters For whatever Advice will secure the several Parts of our Liberty will consequently secure the whole I will therefore close this Chapter here with a brief Exhortation to endeavour after Deliverance from Sin How many and powerful Motives have we to it Would we free our selves from the Evils of this Life let us dam up the Source of them which is Sin Would we surmount the Fear of Death let us disarm it of its Sting and this is Sin Would we perfect and accomplish our Natures with all excellent Qualities 't is Righteousness wherein consists the Image of God and Participation of the Divine Nature 't is the cleansing our selves from all Filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit and the perfecting Holiness in the fear of God that must transform us from Glory to Glory Would we be Masters of the most glorious Fortunes 't is Righteousness that will make us Heirs of God and Joynt-Heirs with Christ 't is the Conquest of our Sins and the abounding in good Works that will make us rich towards God and lay up for us a good Foundation for the Life to come Are we ambitious of Honour let us free our selves from the servitude of Sin 'T is Vertue only that is truly honourable and Praise-worthy and nothing surely can entitle us to so noble a Relation for this allies us to God For as our Saviour speaks they only are the Children of Abraham who do the Works of Abraham the Children of God who do the Works of God These are they who are born again not of the Will of the Flesh or of the Will of Man but of God These are they who are incorporated into the Body of Christ and being ruled and animated by his Spirit are entitled to all the blessed Effects of his Merit and Intercession These are they in a word who have overcome and will one day sit down with Christ in his Throne even as He also overcame and is set down with his Father in his Throne Rev. 3.21 Good God! how absurd and perverse all our Desires and Projects are We complain of the Evils of the World and yet we hugg the Causes of them and cherish those Vices whose fatal Wounds are ever big with numerous and intollerable Plagues We fear Death and would get rid of this Fear not by disarming but sharpning its Sting not by subduing but forgetting it We love Wealth and Treasure but 't is that which is Temporal not Eternal We receive Honour one of another but we seek not that which comes from God only We are fond of Ease and Pleasure and at the same time we wander from those Paths of Wisdom which alone can bring us to it For in a word 't is this Christian Liberty that makes Men truly free not the being in bondage to no Man but to no Sin not the doing what we list but what we ought 'T is Christian Liberty that makes us truly great and truly glorious for this alone renders us Serviceable to others and Easie to our selves Benefactors to the World and delightsome at home 't is Christian Liberty makes us truly prosperous truly fortunate because it makes us truly happy filling us with Joy and Peace and making us abound in hope through the Power of the Holy Ghost CHAP. IV. Of Liberty as it relates to Original Sin WHatever Difficulties the Doctrine of Original Sin really be involved in or seem at least to some to be so they will not concern me who am no further obliged to consider it than as it is an Impediment of Perfection For though there be much Disputes about Original Sin there is little or none about Original Corruption the Reality of this is generally acknowledged though the Guilt the Sinfulness or Immorality of it be controverted And though there be Diversity of Opinions concerning the Effects of Original Corruption in Eternity yet there is no Doubt at all made but that it incites and instigates us to actual Sin and is the Seed-plot of Human Folly and Wickedness All Men I think are agreed that there is a Byass and strong Propension in our Nature towards the Things of the World and the Body That the subordination of the Body to the Soul and of the Soul to God wherein consists Righteousness is subverted and overthrown That we have Appetites which clash with and oppose the Commands of God not only when they threaten Violence to our Nature as in the Cases of Confession and Martyrdom but also when they only prune its Luxuriancy and Extravagance That we do not only desire sensitive Pleasure but even to that Degree that it hurries and transports us beyond the Bounds that Reason and Religion set us We have not only an Aversion for Pain and Toil and Death but to that Excess that it tempts us to renounce God and our Duty for the sake of Carnal Ease and Temporal safety And finally that we are so backward to entertain the Belief of revealed Truths so prone to terminate our Thoughts on and confine our Desires within this visible World as our Portion and to look upon our selves no other than the mortal and corruptible Inhabitants of it that this makes us selfish and sordid proud and ambitious false subtle and contentious to the endless Disturbance of Mankind and our selves That this I say is the state of Nature that this is the Corruption we Labour under all Men I think are agreed And no wonder for did a Controversie arise about this there would be no need to appeal any further for the Decision of it than to ones own Experience this would tell every one that thus it is in Fact and Reason if we will consult it will tell us why it is so for what other than this can be the Condition of Man who enters the World with a Soul so dark and destitute of Divine Light so deeply immerced and plung'd into Flesh and Blood so tenderly and intimately affected by Bodily Sensations and with a Body so adapted and suited to the Things of this World and fastened to it by the Charms of Pleasure and the Bonds of Interest Convenience and Necessity This Account of Original Corruption agrees very well with that St. Paul gives us of it Rom. 7. and elsewhere And with that Assertion of our Lord and Master on which he builds the necessity of Regeneration by Water and the Holy Spirit Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Having thus briefly explained what I mean in this Chapter by Original Sin I am next to consider these two Things 1. How far this Distemper of Nature is curable 2. Which way this Cure is to be effected As to the first Enquiry I would
thorow with many Sorrows ver 17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this World that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain Riches but in the living God who giveth us all things richly to enjoy That they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on Eternal Life And to multiply no more Instances of Restraints of this or the like nature thus we ought to stand affected towards Praise and Reputation Interest and Power Beauty Strength c. We must neither be too Intent upon them nor enjoy them with too much Gust and Satisfaction for this is that Disposition which appears to me to suit best with the Spirit and Design of the Gospel and with the Nature of such things as being of a middle sort are equally capable of being either Temptations or Blessings Instruments of Good or Evil. 3ly The Scripture regulates and bounds our natural and necessary Appetites not so much by nicely defining the exact Degrees and Measures within which Nature must be strictly contained as by exalted Examples of and Exhortations to a Spiritual pure and heavenly Disposition Thus our Lord and Master seems to me to give some check to the stream of natural Affection and to call off his Disciples from it to the Consideration of a Spiritual Relation Mark 3.34 35. And he looked round about on them which sate about him and said behold my Mother and my Brethren For whosoever shall do the will of God the same is my Brother and my Sister and Mother To which words of our Lord I may joyn those of St. Paul henceforth know we no Man after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more 2 Cor. 5.16 The Answer of our Lord to a Disciple who would have deferr'd his following him till he had Buried his Father Matt. 8. â—1 and to him who begged leave to go and bid farewell first to his Relations and Domesticks Luke 9.61 does plainly countenance the Doctrine I here advance and so does St. Paul 1 Cor. 7.29 so often cited by me Not that our Saviour or his Apostles did ever account our natural Affections vicious and impure for 't is a Vice to be without them Rom. 1.31 not that they went about to diminish or abate much less to cancel the Duties flowing from them no They only prune the Luxuriancy of untaught Nature and correct the Fondnesses and Infirmities of Animal Inclinations Our natural Affections may entangle and enslave us as well as unlawful and irregular ones if we lay no Restraint upon them Religion indeed makes them the Seeds of Vertue but without it they easily betray us into Sin and Folly For this Reason I doubt not lest under pretence of satisfying our most natural and importunate Appetites we should be ensnared into the Love of this World and intangled in the Cares of it our Saviour forbids us to take thought for to morrow even for the necessaries of to morrow what we shall eat and what we shall drink and where-withal we shall be clothed Matt. 6. These are the Restraints laid upon the Body in Scripture which if any Man observe he will soon discern himself as far purified and freed from Original Corruption as Human Nature in this Life is capable of And that he may § 2ly He must fortifie and invigorate the Mind And this must be done two ways First by possessing it with the Knowledge of the Gospel and the Grace of the Spirit Secondly by withdrawing it often from the Body As to the former Branch of this Rule the Necessity of it is apparent since the state of Nature is such as has before been described we stand in need not only of Revelation to enlighten us but also of Grace to strengthen us Of the former to excite us to exert all the Force and Power we have of the Latter to enable us to do that which our natural Force never can effect It cannot be here expected that I should treat of the Operation of the Spirit and the Ways of obtaining it grieving and quenching it this would demand a peculiar Treatise I will here only observe That 't is the Work of the Spirit to repair in some Degree at least the Ruins of the Fall to rectifie Nature to improve our Faculties and to imprint in us the Divine Image That Meditation and Prayer and a careful Conformity to the Divine Will obtain and increase the Grace of the Spirit That Negligence and presumptuous Wickedness grieve and extinguish it As to the Knowledge of the Gospel I shall not need to say much here I have considered this matter in the Chapter of Illumination and will only observe that the Doctrines of the Gospel are such as if they be thoroughly imbibed do effectually raise us above a state of Nature and set us free from the Power and Prevalence of our Original Corruption Were we but once perswaded that we are Strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth That all Carnal Gratifications do war against the Soul That our Souls are properly our selves and That our first Cares are to be for them That God is himself our Sovereign Good and the Fountain of all inferiour Good that our Perfection and Happiness consist in the Love and Service of Him That we have a mighty Mediatour who once Died for us and ever Lives to make Intercession for us That a Kingdom incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away is reserved in Heaven for all meek faithful and holy Souls Were we I say but once thoroughly perswaded of these Truths with what Vigour would they impregnate our Minds how clear would be the Convictions of Conscience how uncontroulable the Authority of Reason how strong the Instincts and Propensions of the Mind towards Righteousness and Vertue These would alienate the Mind from the World and the Body and turn the Bent of it another way these would inspire it with other Desires and Hopes and make it form different Projects from what it had before old things are done away and all things are become new The Second Branch of this second particular Rule is that we must accustom our selves to retire frequently from the Commerce and Conversation of the Body Whether the Eating the forbidden Fruit did open to the Mind new Scenes of Sensuality which it thought not of and so called it down from the Serenity and Heights of a more pure and contemplative Life to participate the turbulent Pleasures of Sense immersing it as it were by this means deeper into the Body I pretend not to judge But 't is certain a too too intimate Conjunction of the Mind with the Body and the satisfactions of it does very much debase it 'T is our great Unhappiness that the Soul is always in the Senses and the Senses are always upon the World we converse with the World we talk of the World we think of the
Desire and Passion that it works in us we must shun every Appearance of Evil we must press on towards Perfection we must watch unto Prayer we must spend the Time of our sojourning here in fear we must rejoyce and glory in the Lord and we must wait for the blessed Hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus And now I have finished what I had to say on this Subject of the Perfect Man's Liberty as it relates to Mortal or Wilful Sin I have shewed what this Sin is how far Man may be freed from it and referring the Reader to Chap. 4. for the Fruit of this Freedom I have here Lastly given that Advice which I thought most serviceable to the Attainment of it And thorough this whole Chapter I have had regard not only to Perfection but Sincerity it being indeed improper to do otherwise since we cannot arrive at the one but thorough the other For Sincerity is Perfection in its Infancy or Non-age and Perfection is nothing else but Sincerity cultivated by Meditation and Discipline and cherish'd by the Influence of Heaven And now let no Man's Heart fail him while he contemplates the Difficulties which block up the Way to his Liberty The Way indeed is steep and the Top is high but Serenity and Happiness Security and Glory dwell there Many indeed are the Temptations which would forbid our assent and thrust us down But we are Armed all over they cannot hurt us the Spirit supports and encourages us and nothing but our Cowardise and Inconstancy can prevent our Success Watch ye stand fast quit ye like Men be strong and then you shall be sure to Conquer and enter into Rest CHAP. VII Of Unfruitfulness as it consists in Idleness UNfruitfulness is a fit Subject to conclude a Discourse of Liberty with or begin one of Zeal for lying like a Tract of Ground between two bordering Kingdoms it may indifferently be laid to either As it implies a direct Opposition to Spiritual Life and Sincerity it naturally falls in under the Consideration of Zeal As it implies a Servile Subjection to some vile Lust or or other it naturally falls in under the Consideration of Liberty So that by allotting it this Place I shall at once compleat my Reflections on the Argument of Liberty and make a good progress into that of Zeal Barrenness or Unfruitfulness may in general best be understood by comparing it with a State of Wickedness From which as it is usually distinguished in the Notion of the Vulgar so does it really differ on many Accounts The one has in it an Air of Defiance the other of Vnconcernment for Religion the one forgets God the other contemns Him the one has no Relish nor Savour of that which is good the other finds too much Gust and Pleasure in that which is evil the one makes us by Degrees Enemies the other Strangers to God In short there is little Doubt to be made but that the Omission of a Duty and the Commission of a Crime Lukewarmness in that which is good and Eagerness and Confidence in that which is evil may and generally do differ very widely in the Degrees of Guilt From hence it is the Sinner being always a partial and indulgent Judge of himself that it is not unusual for many who seem to have some Abhorrence of Wickedness to be far enough from apprehending much Evil or much Danger in Unfruitfulness This is a fatal Error it frustrates the great Design of Religion and robs it of its truest Honour good Works For what can Religion effect by that Man who retains nothing of it but the bare Form and Profession and dares promise himself not only Impunity but a Heaven in an useless and unprofitable Life Unfruitfulness if more particularly inquir'd into consists in two Things a Neglect of Duty or a lifeless and unprofitable Performance of it The Former I will call Idleness the Latter Lukewarmness Coldness Formality and treat of each in order Of the Former in this and of the Latter in the following Chapter And because each of them are encumbered with Mistakes and Errors which arise not only from Self-Love and Partiality but also from Shallowness of Judgment joyn'd with Tenderness of Conscience I shall endeavour so to mannage this Subject as neither to discourage the weak nor embolden the careless § 1. Of Idleness The Omission of a Duty may be either Habitual or Occasional and Accidental And accordingly the Case of Omission may be very different 1. An Habitual Omission of Duty cannot consist with Sincerity A general Neglect of Duty defeats the main End of Religion which is to Honour God adorn our Holy Profession and promote the Good of Human Society all which can never be attained but by following after Righteousness and abounding in the Fruits of it By this Rule an idle though innocent Life must necessarily be accounted irreligious and vicious being a flat Contradiction to our excellent Profession He who does not pray nor meditate nor pursue any End of Charity though he be otherwise civil and regular in his Life yet because be does not work Righteousness because he is so far from imitating the Zeal or Charity of the Blessed Jesus that he acts directly repugnant to both therefore must he not be looked upon as a Disciple of Jesus but as an Alien and a Stranger He whose Life is spent in Vanity or Drudgery in Pleasure or Business though his Pleasure be not impure nor his Business unjust yet is he before God a Criminal because unprofitable he has received the Grace of God in vain the Light of the Gospel has risen upon him in vain and he has serv'd no Interest of Vertue or Religion in his Generation and therefore he will be excluded Heaven with the slothful Servant who hid his Masters Talent in a Napkin Luke 19.20 2. The Case of an accidental or occasional Omission of Duty is very different from that of habitual Neglect of it an occasional Omission may be not only lawful but necessary but the Neglect of Duty never can be either The Circumstances of positive Duty and the Measures or Degrees of Moral Good are not strictly fix'd and setled and therefore a single Omission either in the one or the other where-ever there is a sufficient Reason for it can neither grieve the Spirit nor frustrate the Design of Religion nor consequently imply any Corruption in the Heart But then we must take Care 1. That our Omission be not too frequent We must always have regard in this matter of Duty to the great End and Designs of its Injunction we must take care that our Omissions in moral Duties be not so often that either the Honour of our Religion or the Welfare of our Neighbour suffer by it Nor must we so often omit Instrumental Duties Prayers Reading the Sacrament and the like as thereby to abate or much less extinguish our Spiritual Gust and Fervour Omission of Duty too
often repeated breeds a kind of Indifference or Lukewarmness and soon passes into Coldness and Insensibleness and this often ends in a reprobate Mind and an utter Aversion for Religion 2ly We must endeavour some way or other to compensate the Omission of a Duty to make up by Charity what we have defalc'd from Devotion or to supply by short Ejaculations what we have been forc'd to retrench from fix'd and regular Offices of Prayer And he that watches for Opportunities either of Improvement or doing Good will I believe never have Reason to complain of the want of them God will put into his hands either the one or the other and for the Choice he cannot do better than follow God's 3ly A single Omission must never proceed from a sinful Motive from a Love of the World or Indulgence to the Body Necessity or Charity is the only just and proper Apology for it Instrumental or Positive Duties may give way to moral ones the Religion of the Means to the Religion of the End and in Moral Duties the less may give way to the greater But Duty must never give way to Sin nor Religion to Interest or Pleasure Having thus briefly given an account what Omission of Duty is and what is not sinful and consequently so setled the notion of Idleness that neither the careless nor the scrupulous can easily mistake their Case I will now propose such Considetations as I judge most likely to deter Men from it and such Advice as may be the best Guard and Preservative against it 1. The First Thing I would have every one lay to heart is That a State of Idleness is a State of damnable Sin Idleness is directly repugnant to the great Ends of God both in our Creation and Redemption As to our Creation can we imagine that God who created not any thing but for some excellent End should Create Man for none or for a silly one The Spirit within us is an active and vivacious Principle our rational Faculties capacitate and qualifie us for doing Good this is the proper Work of Reason the truest and most natural Pleasure of a rational Soul Who can think now that our wise Creatour lighted this Candle within us that we might oppress and stifle it by Negligence and Idleness That he contriv'd and destin'd such a Mind to squander and fool away its Talents in Vanity and Impertinence As to our Redemption 't is evident both what the Design of it is and how opposite Idleness is to it Christ gave himself for us to Redeem us from all Iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Tit. 2.14 and this is what our Regeneration or Sanctification aims at We are God's Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them Eph. 2.10 How little then can a useless and barred Life answer the Expectations of God What a miserable Return must it be to the Blood of his Son and how utterly must it disappoint all the purposes of his Word and Spirit But What need I argue further the Truth I contend for is the express and constant Doctrine of the Scriptures is not Idleness and fulness of Bread reckoned amongst the Sins of Sodom what means the Sentence against the barren Fig-tree Luke 13.7 but the Destruction and Damnation of the Idle and the Sluggish the Indignation of God is not enkindled against the Barrenness of Trees but Men. What can be plainer than the Condemnation of the unprofitable Servant who perished because he had not improved his Talent Matt. 25.38 and how frequently does the Apostle declare himself against the idle and disorderly and all this proceeds upon plain and necessary Grounds Our Lord was an Example of Vertue as well as Innocence and he did not only refrain from doing Evil but he went about doing good We can never satisfie the Intention of Divine Precepts by Negative Righteousness when God prohibits the Filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit he enjoyns the perfecting Holiness in his Fear when he forbids us to do evil he at the same time prescribes the learning to do well What need I multiply more Words Idleness is a flat Contradiction to Faith Hope Charity to Fear Vigilance Mortification and therefore certainly must be a damning Sin These are all active and vigorous Principles but Idleness enfeebles and dis-spirits manacles and fetters us These are pure strict and self-denying Principles but Idleness is soft and indulgent These Conquer the World and the Body raise and exalt the Mind but Idleness is far from enterprising any thing from attempting any thing that is good it pompers the Body and effeminates and dissolves the Mind and finally whatever Innocence or Inoffensiveness it may pretend to it does not only terminate in Sin but has its Beginning from it from Stupidity and Ignorance from Vanity and Levity from Softness and Sensuality from some prevailing Lust or other 2. Next after the Nature the Consequences of Idleness are to be considered and if it be taken in the utmost Latitude there is scarce any Sin which is more justly liable to so many tragical Accusations for it is the Parent of Dishonour and Poverty and of most of the Sins and Calamities of this mortal Life But at present I view it only as it is drawn with a half Face and that the much less deformed of the two I consider it here as pretending to Innocence and flattering it self with the Hopes of Happiness And yet even thus supposing it as harmless and inoffensive as it can be yet still these will be the miserable Effects of it It will rob Religion and the World of the Service due to both it will bereave us of the Pleasure of Life and the Comfort of Death and send us down at last to a cursed Eternity For where are the Vertues that should maintain the Order and Beauty of Human Society that should relieve and redress the Miseries of the World where are the Vertues that should vindicate the Honour of Religion and demonstrate its Divinity as effectually as Predictions or Miracles can do where are the bright Examples that should convert the unbelieving part of Mankind and inflame the believing part with a generous Emulation Certainly the lazy Christian the slothful Servant can pretend to nothing of this kind As to the Pleasure of Life if true and lasting if pure and spiritual 't is easie to discern from what Fountains it must be drawn Nothing but Poverty of Spirit can procure our Peace nothing but Purity of Heart our Pleasure But ah how far are the Idle and Unactive from these Vertues Faith Love and Hope are the Seeds of them Victories and Triumphs Devotion Alms and good Works the Fruits of them But what a stranger to these is the Drone and Sluggard Then for the Comfort of Death it must proceed from a well spent Life he that sees nothing but a vast Solitude and Wilderness behind him
will never like the Israelites see a Canaan before him Life must be fill'd with good Works or else Death will look but dark and gloomy when the Conscience enquires every where after the Effects of the Word and the Spirit and the Blood of Jesus and can discover in all the parts in all the paths of Life no Tracks of any thing but Fancy and Fortune Humour and Indulgence How will it shrink and faint and tremble what pensive melancholy Doubts will damp and choke its Hope And how can it be otherwise Alas the Mind of a Christian is sufficiently informed that every Man shall receive according to what he has done in the Body God will judge every Man according to his Works what then must become of him who has none to shew If Immortality and Glory if Life and Peace be the Reward of well-doing nay of patient continuance in well-doing what will become of the drousie and supine and careless the Sot and the Sluggish who have slept and fool'd and trifl'd away Life 3. I might aggravate the Guilt of Idleness by taking an Estimate of the Talents it wastes the Obligations it slights and the Hopes it forfeits I might render Man more jealous and apprehensive of falling into it by observing how generally it prevails which is a plain Proof either of the strength of the Temptation or our Propension a plain Proof either that there is I know not what secret Magick in the Sin or else that the Cheat it imposes upon the World is a very clever a very dexterous one But I have said enough and where the former Considerations fail these will hardly succeed Therefore I will now pass on from Arguments to Advice which was the next thing proposed to be done And here my Advice must have regard to two different sorts of Persons 1. To such as are born to plentiful or competent Fortunes 2. To such as are to raise their own or to provide for the Support and Maintenance of themselves and their Families by their Labour or Industry in some Calling or profession To the Former the best Directions I can give are these 1. He that is Master of his Time ought to devote the more to Religion to whom God has given much of him much will be required Nor has such a one any Excuse left either for Omission or a hasty and cursory Performance of Duty but one one that will increase his Guilt i. e. Laziness Pleasure or some Sin or other Such a one therefore ought to be constant and diligent in frequenting the publick Assemblies of the Church his Attendance upon Prayers Sacraments Sermons must be such as becomes a Man who as it has pleased God seems born not to provide for Life but only to live only to improve and enjoy Life and carry on the nobler Designs of it and as becomes a Man whose good or ill Example is of such vast Importance to the Service or Dis-service of Religion Nor must such a ones Attendance on the Publick excuse him from the religious Offices of the Closet or his Family he ought to abound in each He may be more frequent in Meditation and Prayer in Reading and Instruction and perform each with more Justness and Solemnity than others can 2. Persons of Fortune ought to be careful in the Choice of Intimates and Friends Conversation is not always a Loss but sometimes a Gain of Time We often need to have our Forgetfulness reliev'd our Drowsiness awaken'd by the Discourses and Reflections of our Friends If Discourse were generally season'd with Grace Conversation would be the greatest Blessing if with Sense and Reason Innocence and Prudence it would be the most agreeable Entertainment of Human Life But how mischievous is the Acquaintance which infects us with Vanity and Lightness of Spirit which shews us nothing but a Gaudy out-side and a Frothy Soul whose Example binds Men in Civility to be foolish and makes Confidence and Vice and Mis-spence of Time a Fashion 3. It were to be wished That Persons of the best Rank were ever bred up to something to something that might improve to something that might amuse and innocently engage their Minds to something that might employ Life without encumbring it And yet alas what need I wish this how many excellent Qualities are necessary to render a Gentleman worthy of the Station where God has placed him Let him pursue these how many are the Vertues how many the Duties to which a Christian is oblig'd for him attend these There is a great deal requisite to make a good Master a good Husband a good Father a good Son a good Neighbour a good Parishioner an excellent Subject and an excellent Friend and yet there are many other Relations besides these In a word there is no Man who when he shall appear before God will not be found to have omitted many Duties and to have perform'd many other with less Care and Diligence than he ought and surely such a one cannot justly complain for want of Business I doubt rather on the contrary That whoever takes a just and full view of things will have reason to complain That Life is short and our Work great That let us use all the Diligence we can and be as frugal of our Time as we will we arrive much sooner at a Maturity of Years than of Knowledge and Vertue 4. The Diversions of Persons of this Quality ought to be well regulated such as become the Character of a Gentleman and the Dignity of a Christian that is that must be neither mean nor vicious But I have treated this and the foregoing Heads more copiously in Human Life to which I refer my Reader As to such in the next place who are engag'd in a Profession I have particularly considered their State in several Places and find little to add here but only to mind them That they may be guilty of Idleness too That their Idleness is the more criminal the less Temptation they have to it They may neglect the Duties of their Calling I mean their Secular Calling and if they be unfaithful and negligent in their Temporal Concern it is not to be expected that they should be more Sollicitous and Industrious about their Spiritual one They may again suffer the Cares of this Life to thrust out those of another and then they are truly idle and slothful Servants to God how industrious and faithful soever they are to the World for Life is but wasted and mis-spent if it make not Provision for Eternity and it matters little whether it be wasted in Pleasure or in Drudgery CHAP. VIII Of Unfruitfulness as it consists in Lukewarmness Coldness or Formality IN the former Chapter I consider'd that part of Unfruitfulness which consists in the Omission of Duty I am now to consider another part of it which consists in too perfunctory a Performance of it Besides those who are truly unprofitable because they slight or neglect the Duties of Religion there is another Sort
Case of Herod he had yielded no doubt to the Power and Force of the Baptists Reasons if he had not been drawn back by the Charms of his Herodias And this is the Case of every Man who is but almost a Christian he is under the Ascendant of some silly or vile Lust or other this is that which spoils the Taste of the hidden Manna and diminisheth the Price of Canaan Without doubt Men would apply themselves more vigorously to spiritual Things were they not too fond of the Body and the Pleasures of it they would certainly seek the Kingdom of Heaven more earnestly and make a better provision than they do for the other World were they not too much taken with this and therefore too apt to set up their Rest on this side Jordan Now if this be so what can we expect they only who conquer are crowned they that sow to the flesh and to the world can reap nothing from these but Corruption These kind of Christians though peradventure they are not Slaves to any infamous and scandalous Lusts are yet entangled by some other not muchless injurious though not to Reputation yet to Purity of Heart they are captived to the World and Flesh though their Chains seem better polished and of a finer Metal they cannot mount upwards they cannot conquer being retarded and kept under if not by the Strength of Temptation yet by their own Softness and Weakness and yet why should I doubt but these are conquer'd by Temptation The more innocent the Object of any ones Passion is generally the more fatal because we are the more apt to indulge our selves in it The Causes of Lukewarmness being thus pointed out 't is evident what the Cure of it consists in namely in forming just and correct Notions of Vertue and Vice in strengthening and confirming our Faith and in perfecting and compleating our Reformation I will now endeavour to possess the Minds of Men with an Aversion and Dread of this State of Lukewarmness by shewing 1. The Folly 2. The Guilt and 3. The Danger of it 1. The Folly How reasonably may I here address my self to the Luke-warm in the words of Elijah to the Israelites How long halt ye between two Opinions if the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him 1 King 18.21 If you do indeed believe that your Safety and Happiness depends upon God then serve him in good earnest but if you think this depends upon the World the Flesh and the Devil then serve these if you really think that Vertue and Religion are the most solid and stable Treasure then strive sincerely and vigorously to possess your selves of them but if you really think that the Ease and Pleasure of the Body Respect and Pomp and State is the proper Portion and soveraign Good of Man then devote and offer up your selves to these For what a folly is that Life which will neither procure us the Happiness of this World nor of another To what purpose is it to listen only so much to Conscience as to damp and chil our Pleasure and so much to Pleasure as to disturb the Peace and Repose of Conscience But indeed as the Words of Elijah were rather an Irony than any real Doubt whether Baal or the Lord were God rather a scornful Derision of their Folly and Stupidity than a Serious Exhortation to deliberate whether Idolatry or the Worship of the true God were to be chosen I doubt not but mine will seem to you to carry no other Sound in them The Disparity is so vast between God and the World between Religion and Sensuality Covetousness or Ambition between those Hopes and Enjoyments we may reap from the one and those we can fancy in the other that there is no place for doubting what Choice we are to make or to which Side we are to adhere Nay in this we are more criminal than the Israelite being self-condemn'd The Israelites indeed seem to be at a Loss whether the Lord or Baal were God they doubted under whose Protection they might thrive best But at this day whoever believes a God knows very well there is none besides him Whatever passion we have for the World and the Things of it whatever spiritual Idolatry we are guilty of our Opinions are not yet so far corrupted as to attribute to them in Reality any thing like Divinity Whilst we dote on Wealth we at the same time know that it makes its self Wings and flies away whilst on Greatness and Power we know that 't is but a piece of empty and toilsom Pageantry and often the Subject of Misery and dismal Tragedies not incident to a lower State whilst we dote on Pleasure we are well assur'd that 't is dishonourable and short and intermixt with Fears and Shame and Torment We know that nothing here below is able to free our State and Fortune from Calamity our Mind from Guilt the Body from Death much less the whole Man from a miserable Eternity In one word we know that what we admire is Vanity and what we worship is indeed an Idol This being so I will insist no longer on this Topick for since the World bears no Competition with God in our Opinion though it often rival him in our Affections we are not to impute the halting of a Laodicean Christian to any Perswasion of Omnipotence or Alsufficiency or any thing like Divinity in the things he dotes on serves and worships but we must find out some other Reason of it And that is generally this we are willing to believe that our Fondness for the World and our Indulgence to the Body is consistent enough with Religion That it is no Violation of our Faith nor Provocation to God nor conserquently Prejudice to our Eternal Interest And then 't is no wonder if we blend and compound Religion and Sensuality and stand divided in our Affections and consequently halt in our Service between God and the World To prevent this I will shew 2. That this is a great Sin which is sufficiently evident from this Single Consideration That it frustrates the Efficacy of the Gospel and the Spirit and entirely defeats the great Design of the Christian Religion For 1. Religion has no effectual Influence upon the Lukewarm himself the Gospel works no thorough Change in him The Sinner is not converted into a Saint nor Human Nature perfected by Participation of a Divine one 2. The Laodiceans can never offer up to God any Gift any Sacrifice worthy of him nor render him any Service acceptable to him the Kingdom of God is Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. He that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of Men. But alas these Men are almost utter Strangers to these things a few faint and irresolute Wishes formal and customary Prayers nigardly and grumbling Alms and an Attendance upon God's Word rather out of spiritual Wantonness than Devotion these are the Offerings
aside the natural Right which He has over him as his Creature and to transact with him as free and Master of himself But this is all infinite condescension Secondly it seems unsuitable to the infinite Goodness of God to bereave Man of the Life and Happiness he has once conferr'd upon him unless he forfeits it by some Demerit The Gifts and calling of God are without Repentance nor can I think how Death which has so much Evil in it could have enter'd the World if Sin had not enter'd it first In this Sense unsinning Obedience gives a kind of right to the Continuance of those good things which are at first the meer Effects of Divine Grace and Bounty Lastly a Covenant of Works being once establish'd 't is plain that as Sin forfeits Life so Obedience must give a right to it and as the Penitent could not be restored but by an Act of Grace so he that commits no Sin would need no Pardon But then Life it self and an Ability to work Righteousness must be owing to Grace antecedent to the Covenant and so such a one would have whereof to boast comparatively with respect to others who fell but not before God The Sum of all is Man has nothing to render to God but what he has received from him and therefore can offer him nothing but his own Which is no very good Foundation for Merit But suppose him absolute Master of himself Suppose him holding all things independent of God Can the Service of a few Days merit Immortality and Glory Angelical Perfection and a Crown He must be made up of Vanity and Presumption that dares affirm this 3. God stands in no need of our Service and 't is our own not his Interest we promote by it The Foundation of Merit amongst Men is Impotence and Want the Prince wants the Service and Tribute of the Subject the Subject the Protection of the Prince the Rich needs the Ministry and the Labour of the Poor the Poor Support and Maintenance from the Rich. And it is thus in Imaginary as well as Real Wants The Luxury and Pleasure of one must be provided for and supported by the Care and Vigilance of others and the Pomp and the Pride of one part of the World cannot subsist but on the Servitude of the other In these Cases therefore mutual Wants create mutual Rights and mutual Merit But this is not the Case between God and Man God is not subject to any Wants or Necessities Nor is his Glory or Happiness capable of Diminution or Increase He is a Monarch that needs no Tribute to Support his Grandeur nor any Strength or Power besides his own to guard his Throne If we revolt or rebel we cannot injure Him if we be loyal and obedient we cannot profit Him He has all Fulness all Perfection in himself He is an Almighty and All-sufficient God But on the quite contrary though God have no Wants we have many and though his Majesty and Felicity be subject to no Vicissitude we are subject to many Our Service to God therefore is our own Interest and our Obedience is design'd to procure our own Advantage we need we daily need his Support and Protection we depend entirely on His Favour and Patronage in him we live and move and have our Being and from Him as from an inexhaustible Fountain we derive all the Streams of Good by which we are refreshed and improved To know and love Him is our Wisdom to depend upon Him our Happiness and Security to serve and worship Him our Perfection and Liberty to enjoy Him will be our Heaven and those Glimpses of his Presence which we are vouchsafed thorough the Spirit in this Life are the Pledges and Foretaste of it This is the constant Voice of Scripture Every good Gift and every perfect Gift is from above and cometh from the Father of Lights Jam. 1.17 If I were hungry I would not tell thee for the World is mine and the Fulness thereof Will I eat the Flesh of Bulls or drink the Blood of Goats Offer unto God Thanksgiving and pay thy Vows unto the most high and call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Psal 50.12 13. c. If thou be Righteous what givest thou unto him thy Wickedness may hurt a Man c. Job 35.7 8. SECT III. Of the Impediments of Perfection THough I have been all along carrying on the Design of this Section that is the Removing the Obstacles of Perfection yet I easily foresaw there might be some which would not be reduc'd within the Compass of the foregoing Heads For these therefore I reserv'd this Place These are Five 1. Too easie and loose a Notion of Religion 2. An Opinion that Perfection is not attainable 3. That Religion is an Enemy to Pleasure 4. The Love of the World in a higher Degree at least than will consist with Perfection 5. The Infirmity of the Flesh § 1. Some seem to have entertain'd such a Notion of Religion as if Moderation here were as necessary as any where else They look upon Zeal as as an Excess of Righteousness and can be well enough content to want Degrees of Glory if they can but save their Souls To which End they can see no Necessity of Perfection Now I would beseech such seriously to lay to Heart that Salvation and Damnation are Things of no common Importance and therefore it highly concerns them not to be mistaken in the Notion they form to themselves of Religion For the Nature of Things will not be altered by their Fancies nor will God be mocked or imposed on If we will deal sincerely with our selves as in this Case it certainly behoves us to do we must frame our Idea of Religion not from the Opinions the Manners or the Fashions of the World but from the Scriptures And we must not interpret these by our own Inclinations but we must judge of the Duties they prescribe by those Descriptions of them by those Properties and Effects which we find there We must weigh the Design and End of Religion which is to promote the Glory of God and the Good of Man and to raise us above the World and the Body and see how our Platform or Model of Religion suits with it And if after we have done this we are not fully satisfied in the true Bounds and Limits which part Vice and Vertue it cannot but be safest for us to err on the right hand We ought always to remember too That the repeated Exhortations in Scripture to Diligence and that the most earnest and indefatigable to Vigilance to Fear and Trembling to Patience to Steadfastness and such-like are utterly inconsistent with an easier lazy gentile Religion That the Life of Jesus is the fairest and fullest Comment on his Doctrine and That we never are to follow the Examples of a corrupt World but of the best Men and the best Ages This this one thing alone will convince
will ferment and work us up to the noblest Heights of Zeal I might here if it were necessary easily shew that Zeal has as happy an Influence on the publick as the private that this must animate that Justice and Mercy that supports the Throne that it is the Soul of that Honour Integrity Generosity and Religion which support the States and Kingdoms of the World and without which all Politick Systems must needs tend to a Dissolution But I have said enough And from what I have said the Truth of my Third Consideration naturally appears 3. Viz. That Zeal ministers most effectually to the Glory of God For if Zeal be in it self thus lovely thus necessary if the Fruits and Effects of it be thus serviceable to the Temporal and Eternal Interest of Man what a Lovely what an agreeable Notion of God shall we form from this one Consideration of him That he is the great Author of it That he is the Origine and Fountain of that Light and Heat of that Strength and Power of which 't is compounded and constituted He commands and exacts it he excites and encourages to it by the Promise of an Eternal Crown and the ravishing Fruition of himself he has planted the Seeds of it in our Nature and he cherishes them by the blessed and vigorous Influences of his Word and Spirit How gracious is the Divine Nature how gracious is the Divine Government when the Substance of his Laws is that we should love as Brethren that we should cloath the naked feed the hungry deliver the captive instruct the foolish comfort the afflicted forgive one another if need be seven times a day and such like If to do all this be an Argument of being Regenerate and born of God if this be a Proof of his Spirit ruling in us his Nature communicated to us and his Image stampt upon us how amiable must God be when we discern so much Benefit and so much Pleasure and so much Beauty and so much Loveliness in those Qualities which are but faint and imperfect Resemblances of Him In a word the Holiness of his Children and Servants is a Demonstration of the Holiness of God himself and in this consists the very Lustre of Divine Glory Holiness is the Flower of all his Attributes the most Perfect because the most Comprehensive of all his Divine Perfections For Holiness includes Wisdom Power and Goodness As to Goodness the Case is so plain that Holiness and Goodness are commonly used as Terms equivalent As to Wisdom 't is evident That no Action is commendable and lovely whatever the Matter of it be unless the Principle the Motive of it be Wise and rational therefore Wisdom cannot be separated from the Notion of Holiness Lastly as to Power this must needs be comprised in it too for Beneficence which is at least one great branch of Holiness must unavoidably imply Power in the Benefactor and Impotence and Want in the Beneficiary And this is the Notion wherein Holiness when ascribed to God in Scripture is generally taken Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory does express the Greatness and Majesty as well as the Rectitude and Purity of the Divine Nature and to sanctifie the Lord God in our Hearts is in the Language of the Scripture not only to love him for his Goodness but revere and fear him for his Majesty and Greatness Need I here add that the Excellencies of the Creature their Fitness and Subserviency to the great Ends of their Creation is the Glory of the Creator just as the Beauty Strength and Convenience of the Work is the Honour of the Architect if the Sun Moon and Stars the irrational and inanimate Parts of the Creation shew forth the Glory of God how much more do spiritual and rational Beings and Vertue is the Perfection of Reason and Zeal of Vertue for this is that which does directly and immediately advance those great Ends that are dearest to God as I have I think abundantly made out CHAP. XI Of Humility OUR Saviour has so often pronounced the humblest the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven He has so often promised the first place and the greatest Exaltation to the lowest Condescensions He was Himself so illustrious an Example of Lowliness of Heart of Poverty of Spirit and the Apostle has so expresly asserted his Joy and Crown to be the Reward of his Humility Phil. 2. That I can never think that Man can ever rise to a more eminent Height than that to which the Imitation of this Vertue of Christ will advance him The more Perfect therefore Man is the more humble must he be too The clearer View and the more assured Hope he has of Heaven the more unconcerned must he be for all those things which the World pays a Respect and Honour to the more he must be above them The more fervent his Love of God and his Neighbour grows the more confidently must he place all his Glory in this one thing the Conformity of his Affections and Life to that of the blessed Jesus Then is he Perfect and the same Mind is in him that was in Christ Jesus Finally the more he knows God the nearer he is admitted into Communion with him the more plainly will he discern at how infinite Distance he stands from the Divine Majesty and Purity and will prostrate himself even into Dust and Ashes before him The Perfect Man admires adores obeys loves relies trusts and resigns up himself and all that is dear to him to God He is nothing in his own Eyes he pretends to nothing he lays Claim to nothing on any other Title than that of the Goodness and Bounty of God Whatever Vertues he has he ascribes them to the Grace of God and the Glory and Immortality he expects he expects only as the Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And whatever he be in himself he compares no himself with others but he proves his own Work that he may have Rejoycing in himself alone and not in another Nothing but Zeal for God or Charity for Man can put him upon the asserting his own Merit or Service but when glories it is like St. Paul in his Infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon him Need I here insist on the Fruit of Humility Surely 't is conspicuous to every one that thinks at all Great is the Peace and Rest of the humble Soul here and great will be his Glory hereafter He who loves not the World nor the things of it the Lust of the Fesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life enjoys a perpetual Calm and Serenity of Mind There is no Object that can raise any Storm in him there is nothing that can breed in him uneasie Desires and Fears He that loves the Father is fixt on an immutable and perfect Good and he that now quits all for God shall one day participate of the Fulness of God and that