the Felicity to which we are called out of the Depth of our misery all the Advantages we receive upon our Redemption the Improvements of our miserable Estate the Degrees and Ornaments that are added to the Beauty and perfection of Gods Kingdome upon so sad an occasion as Sin is all these things take up our Thoughts in such a manner that while we are actually and fully Just to these and Loving GOD for his Eternal Love infinitely more than we Love our selves we live in him and are all in raptures of Blesseduess yet is there a Vertual Sorrow which Reason conceives as most due to Sin which being expressed only in the Humility of our Souls and seen as it were underneath the fruition of our Joys in the lowly Conceit we retain of our selves in the confession of our vileness and the deep Sence of our own unworthiness is far Greater now we are restored to the favour and Love of GOD far sweeter to be seen and deeper to be understood than the Grief for Sin would have been had we been not redeemed but Damned forever CHAP. XVIII Of Charity towards GOD. It Sanctifieth Repentance makes it a Vertue and turns it to a Part of our true Felicity Our Love to all other Objects is to begin and End in GOD. Our Love of GOD hath an Excellency in it that makes it worthy to be desired by his Eternal Majesty He is the only Supreme and Perfect friend By Loving we enjoy him REPENTANCE without Love is so far from seating us in the Felicity of Heaven that it is one of the Ingredients of the Torments in Hell a natural Effect of Sin and a great Part of the Misery of Devils Love is a genuine Affection of the Soul and so powerfully Sweet when it is Satisfied and pleased that it communicates the Relish of its own Delightfulness to every Thing near it and Transformes the most Virulent Affections into Smooth Healing Perfective Pleasures Insomuch that in Heaven our Sorrow for Sin shall perhaps be infinite yet the malignity of it so perfectly correctd that tho we continue Eternally Just in rendring our Sins that grief which is their due it shall not discompose our peace norcorrode our Delighs but increase our Repose in the Beauty of our souls and make our Joys more full of Extasie by those Melting Lively Bleeding Resentments which our Love will occasion in the very Grief where with it perfects our Felicity For as the falling out of Lovers is the Renewing of Love so is the Mercy and Kindness of the one even of him that was injured and the calm and secure Indignation wherewith the other hates himself for being guilty of so vile a miscarriage the very Grace and Beauty of the Reconciliation it is a great means of their mutual Endearment and Tenderness ever after the Compassion of him that is Innocent and the humble grief of the Guilty making the Joy of their future Correspondence more Deep and Serious more Vigorous and Enflaming more lasting LOVE is that which Sanctifies Repentance and makes it pleasant both to him that is Beloved and to him that is adored Acceptable and Delightful to him that repenteth as well as to him that had been injured For the Sinners Restauration makes it as Natural to grieve for his Fault as to rejoyce in his Felicity his fad and humble Resentments are his own Satisfaction because he sees himself Just and Rational in them he delighs in his Sorrow because it is Honourable and finds a new Kind of pleasure in his Abasement because it is relieved by the Wonder of his Happy condition and what he hath lost in himself is regained in the pefection and Goodness of his Object THAT GOD is the sovereign Object of Love I scarcely need to mention all I shall observe upon this occasion is that we are more to Love him for his Mercy and Compassion towards us as Sinners then for his Goodness and Bounty expressed at the first as we were Innocent Creatures The Bleeding Spectacle of his Incarnate Deity and the Perseverance of his Miraculous and Transcendent Love after all our Offences is another Kind of Motive to heighten our Charity of and gives it another form as much more Mysterious so much more perfect and Delightful then ever Our Sorrow for Sin infuses a New Sense into Nature a New Beauty into Love and gives as much unto it as it receiveth from it But this being better known by Experience then by description I shall refer you to the Life of Heaven and Grace for more ample satisfaction LOVE as we have shewed may be extended to all Objects in Heaven and Earth all that is Goodly and Amiable being capable of that Affection Hereupon the Word Love is generally used for that Liking and Esteem we have for any thing whether Dead or alive We can Love Life and desire to see Good Days we can Love the Sun and Wine and Oyl and Gold Love our Dogs and Horses fine Clothes and Jewels Pleasures Honours Recreations Houses Riches and as well as Love Men and Women Souls and Angels And evermore our Love expresseth it self in Tenderness and Care for the Preservation of what we Love in Esteem of its Worth and Delight in its Beauty in endeavours also to promote its Welfare as far as it is capable But there is another sort of Love towards Living Objects Divine and reasonable which we call Charity This is that Vertue of which the Apostle saith after he had spoken of all the Miracles Helps Governments Prophesies Tongues and other Gifts of the Holy Ghost that were then in the Church And Yet shew I unto you a more Excellent Way 1 Cor. 12. ult And in the next Chapter Tho I speak with the Tongues of Men and of Angels and have not Charity I am become as sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal And tho I have the Gift of Prophesie and understand all mysteries and all Knowledge and tho I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing and tho I bestow all my Goods to feed the poor and tho I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing It is that concerning which our Saviour Speaketh The first of all the commandements is Hear O Israel the Lord our GOD is one Lord and thou shalt Love the Lord thy GOD with all thy heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind and with all thy Strength This is the first Commandement And the Second is like namely this Thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy self There is none other Commandement greater then those Nay perhaps it is that of which he saith to his Apostles when they had admired at his Miracles He that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater Works then these shall he do because I go to the Father For Faith worketh by Love Love is the Life of Faith and without the Works of the
in which no Defect or Blemish can be discerned perfect in the variety and Number of its Powers in the fitness and Measure of every power in the use and value of every Endowment A perfect Soul is that whereunto nothing can be added to please our Deâ—â—re As all its Objects are perfect so 〈◊〉 it self It is able to see all that is to be seen to love all that is Lovely to hate all that is Hateful to desire all that is Desirable to honour all that is Honorable to esteem all that can be valued to delight in all that is Delightful and to enjoy all that is Good and fit to be enjoyed If its Power did fall short of any one Object or of any one Perfection in any Object or of any Degree in any Perfection it would be imperfect it would not be the Master piece of Eternal Power PERFECT life is the full exertion of perfect power It implies two things Perfection of Vigour and perfection of intelligence an activity of life reaching through all Immensity to all Objects whatsoever and a freedome from all Dulness in apprehending An exquisite Tenderness of perception in feeling the least Object and a Sphere of activity that runs parallel with the Omnipresence of the Godhead For if any Soul lives so imperfectly as to see and know but some Objects or to love them remisly and less then they deserve its Life is imperfect because either it is remisse or if never so fervent confined PERFECT Fruition as it implieâ— the Perfection of all objects more nearly imports the intrinsick Perfection oâ— it s own Operations For if its Object be never so many and perfect in themselves a Blemish lies upon the Enjoyment if it does not reach unto all their Excellence If the Enjoyment of one Object be lost or one Degree of the enjoyment abated it is imperfect PERFECT Vertue may best be understood by a consideration of its Particulars Perfect Knowledg is a thorow compleat understanding of all that may be Known Perfect Righteousness is a full and adequate Esteem of all the value that is in Things It is a Kind of Spiritual Justice whereby we do Right to our selves and to all other Beings If we render to any Object less than it deserves we are not Just thereunto Perfect Wisdome is that whereby we chuse a most perfect end actualy pursue it by most perfect Means acquire and enjoy it in most perfect manner If we pitch upon an inferiour end our Wisdom is imperfect and so it is if we pursue it by feeble and inferior Means or neglect any one of those Advantages whereby we may attain it And the same may be said of all the Vertues NOW if all Objects be infinitely Glorious and all Worlds fit to be enjoyed if GOD has filled Heaven and earth and all the Spaces above the Heavens with innumerable pleasures if his infinite Wisdome Goodness and Power be fully Glorified in every Being and the Soul be created to enjoy all these in most perfect Manner we may well conclude with the Holy Apostle that we are the children of GOD and if Children then Heirs Heirs of GOD and joynt heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together That our light Affliction that is but for a Moment worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory That beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord we shall at last be transformed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. For all his Works of which the Psalmist saith They are worthy to be had in remembrance and are sought out of all them that have pleasure therein are like a Mirror wherein his Glory appeareth as the face of the Sun doth in a clear fountain We may conclude further that Vertue by force of which we attain so great a Kingdome is infinitely better then Rubies all the Things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her So that with unspeakable comfort we may take Courage to go on not only in the study but the Practice of all kind of Vertues concerning which we are to treat in the ensuing Pages For as the Apostle Peter telleth us He hath given to us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness through the Knowledge of him that hath called us to Glory and virtue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through List. And besides this saith he giving all diligence adde to your Faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness Charity For so an Entrance shall be Ministred to you abundantly into 〈◊〉 everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Which Kingdom being so Divine and Glorious as it is we have need to bow our Knees to the GOD and father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant us according to the Riches of his Glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inward Man that Christ may dwell in our Hearts by Faith that we being rooted and grounded in Love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the Breadth and Length and Depth and Height and to know the love of Christ which passeth Knowledg that we may be filled with all the fulness of GOD. TO be Partaker of the Divine nature to be filled with all the Fulness of GOD to enter into his Kingdom and Glory to be transformed into his Image and made an Heir of GOD and a joynt Heir with Christ to live in Union and Communion with GOD and to be made a Temple of the Holy Ghost these are Divine and transcendent things that accompany our Souls in the Perfection of their Bliss and Happiness the Hope and Belief of all which is justified and made apparent by the explanation of the very nature of the Soul its Inclinations and Capacities the reality and greatness of those Vertues of which we are capable and all those objects which the Univers affordeth to our Contemplation CHAP. III. Of Vertue in General The Distribution of it into its several Kinds its Definition BEfore we come to treat of particular Vertues it is very fit that we speak something of VERTUE in General VERTUE is a comprehensive Word by explaining which we shall make the way more easy to the right Understanding of all those particular Vertues into which it is divided Forasmuch as the Nature of Vertue enters into knowledge Faith Hope Charity Prudence Courage Meekness Humility Temperance Justice Liberality c. Every one of these hath its essence opened in part by the explication of that which entreth its Nature which is VERTUE in General THE Predicament of
depths and changes of our Condition all our Desires all our primitive and virgin Joyes the whole story of our Creation and Life and Fall and Redemption in all the newness of its first appearance all our Wants and Dangers Exigencies and Extremities all our Satisfactions and Delights are present together in our Humility and are so infinitely near and present thereunto so sweet and vigorous in their mixture so strangely powerful in their influence that they inspire our Hearts enter our Thoughts and incorporate with our Souls and are as near and sweet as our present condition be it never so blessed All put together is far more sweet than our present Condition a great part of our felicity and glory is in it while we take it in by our Conceptions here and apply it to our Souls in an humble manner but it will be much more our felicity in Heaven It is of so much concernment that a Great Divine in our English Zion said The greater part of our eternal happiness will consist in a grateful Recognition not of our Joyes to come but of Benefits already received NOW look into the office and work of Humility I will not tell you how here upon Earth it shunneth all strife and contention about Places and all the Mischiefs consequent thereto nor of the Unity and Peace and Honour it produceth These are all but Temporal Benefits It has ten thousand other Walks and Circuits and periods of Revolution I will tell you how it behaves it self in Paradice and in Heaven HUMILITY by leading us to the bottom of our Condition sets our Original before our eyes considers that eternal abyss of Idleness and Vacuity out of which we were taken that miracle by which we were made of Nothing How destitute we should have been in our selves had not GOD created the World had he not been pleased to communicate himself and his Glory to us How weak and unable we were to devise or desire any Felicity yet how infinitely necessary the preparation of it after we were created How great our desires and expectations were how sore and urgent our wants and necessities how much we needed infinite Wisdom and almighty Power to fill Immensity with the omnipresence of their Glory and to fill their omnipresence with Effects and Treasures How gracious and good GOD was to do all this for us without our asking and how justly Davids rapture may be taken up by the Soul The King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy Salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce Thou preventest him with the blessings of Goodness thou settest a Crown of pure Gold on his head His glory is great in thy Salvation Honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon him For thou hast made him most Blessed for ever thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy Countenance We might have been made and put in the condition of Toads who are now created in the Image of GOD have dominion over all his Works and are made capable of all Eternity The infinite condescention of GOD is the amazement of the Soul The depth of its low estate increaseth the height of its exaltation All that it wanted in it self it findeth in the goodness of its Benefactour and the joy of being so Beloved is greater than that of having all these things of our selves for ever For the Love of GOD alone and his goodness in Giving is our last and best and proper Felicity Hereupon follows the extinction of all Envy Regret and Discontentment the sacrificing of our selves the annihilating of our selves the lowliness of our selves And the Exaltation of GOD and the Adoration of GOD and the Joy of adoring the Greatest of all other The Amity and Friendship between GOD and his Creature the Unity of both and their happiness for ever Without this Humility of looking into the bottom of our first Condition all this is impossible And for this cause is Humility an eternal Vertue in all estates for ever to be enjoyed I might have said exercised THUS in the estate of Sin and Misery all the odiousness of our Guilt all our despair and deformity all our shame and misery all the necessity of Hating GOD and being hated of him comes before the eyes of an humble Soul with all the mercies and condescentions of eternal Love in the work of Redemption AND in the state of Glory it self all the particular Sins Neglects Rebellions Apostasies and Villanies we committed against GOD after all his mercy and goodness in the Death of his Son how infinitely base we were in despising all his Bounties and Glories how infinitely those Offences made us unworthy of Heaven and the eternal Glory we now enjoy how marvellous and incomparable his Love was in pursuing us with so much Long-suffering and Patience how amiable he is and how vile and unworthy we are in all this it is the office of Humility to feel and ponder Thus you see its work and you may easily conjecture at its eternal Reward All things are in it in the utmost height and depth of Resignation and Contentment enjoyed I need not observe that sweetness of Conversation that Civility and Courtesie that springs from Humility The Meek and Lowly are the same men the Kind and Charitable and the Affable and the good are all of them Humble and so are all they that prefer others above themselves and render themselves amiable by honouring their Inferiours and giving place to their Equals At least they imitate Humility as Complemental Courtiers do for their advantage And it is no small token of its excellency that the greatest enemies of Humility and Vertue are forced sometimes to flie to it for succour as those that well know they can never thrive nor prosper in the World without Esteem nor gain Esteem without covering their Vices under the mask of Vertue All the advantages and effects of this will be enjoyed eternally CHAP. XXVII That Contentment is a Vertue Its Causes and its Endi Its Impediments Effects and Advantages The way to attain and secure Contentment THOUGH we have not named it in our first distribution of Vertue into its several kinds yet the commendation which Contentment hath in Scripture imports it to be a Vertue so does the difficulty of attaining it and the great and mighty force it is of in our Lives and Conversations Having Food and Rayment saith the Apostle let us therewith be content For Godliness with Contentment is great Gain Where he fitly noteth that Godliness is the original of true Contentment and that the Gain of so great a Vertue is inestimable The truth is it is impossible to be happy or grateful without it A discontented Mind is exceeding prone to be peevish and fretful and throws a man into all the indecencies of Avarice Ambition Envy Treason Murther Contention Turbulency Murmuring Repining Melancholy and Sowrness Anger Baseness and Folly into all the Malevolence and Misery which can disorder the Soul or disturb the World Suspicion
done were he in our places He cannot be the Soul of any of his Creatures but would be the Soul of that Soul the joy and delight of that Soul the life and glory of that Soul and that he cannot be unless that Soul will delight in him and love and honour him It is not he must honour himself but that Soul His desire is that that Soul would freely turn and delight in him freely of its own accord would incline it self to consider his Excellencies and dedicate it self to love and honour him This is one way for the Soul to be Magnificent towards Men too who by Nature delight to see GOD beloved and satisfied in a point of such infinite importance IT is true indeed that GOD can be full of Indignation and punish but for love to turn into anger is no compensation for the pleasure it lost by our miscarriage and to punish is a strange and troublesome work in which Love is extinguished or else afflicted Infinite Love puts an infinite value on the Gift And I think it is Magnificence to give a Gift of infinite value OUR Magnificence towards Men must be laid on a deep and eternal foundation We must be willing to give our selves to their comfort and satisfaction And that we cannot do but by imitating GOD in all his Goodness studying their felicity and desiring their love with the same earnestness to the utmost of our power doing in all places in all things in all Worlds the things they desire supposing them to be what they ought to be like Gods themselves THE best Principle whereby a man can stear his course in this World is that which being well prosecuted will make his Life at once honourable and happy Which is to love every man in the whole World as GOD doth For this will make a man the Image of GOD and fill him with the mind and spirit of Christ it will make every man that is the Representative of GOD and of all the World unto him It will make a man to reverence GOD in all Mankind and lift him up above all Temptations Discouragements and Fears It will make him to meet the love of GOD Angels and Men in every Person It will make a man truly glorious by making him pleasing to GOD and universally good to every one diffusive like the Sun to give himself to all and wise to enjoy their compleat Felicity If there were but one the Case is evident supposing more than one his duty is to love every one the more for all their sakes For since he must love all and they are all to love one and every one he must please them all by gratifying their love to one and by doing so to every one they are all concerned in the welfare of one and pleased in the love that is born to every one This in the state of Glory will be clear where every one like the Sun shall be clearly seen extending his love to all though here upon Earth where our estate is imperfect by reason of the imperfection of our Knowledge it doth not appear Our actions are limited for being finite in our outward demeanour they must needs be regulated by Justice and Wisdom But two things come in here to the assistance of Magnificence whereof the first is the inferiour perfection of our Love to all the second is the universal Satisfaction which the beauty of our outward life will afford at last Concerning the last two things are fit to be considered First that as GOD has communicated the Sun by making it visible to all and there is not a Star but is seen by all Nations and Kingdoms so has he communicated the Soul by making it visible to all and there is not a Thought that shall remain uncovered nor an action but it shall be seen by all for ever Secondly that as GOD himself is admired for his Inward Love so is he for the operations of his Outward Life I mean for his Works and Judgments When they saw his Works finished The Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of GOD shouted for joy The Elders are represented before his Throne casting down their Crowns and saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all these things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Where the perfection of GODS Pleasure in the GLORY of the Creation is evidently discovered to be one of the Joyes of Heaven a great matter of their Contemplation an eternal cause of their Praises His infinite and eternal Love is that by which he is All Glorious within all the sweetness of his Essence and all the perfection of the Soul is there but yet his Saints in the Church Triumphant sing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb saying Great and Marvellous are thy WORKS Lord GOD Almighty Just and True are thy WAYES thou King of Saints His Works are the substantial Creatures in Heaven and in Earth his Waies are his proceedings and dispensations among them in all ages For all shall appear together for ever the one being Great and Marvellous the other beautified with Truth and Justice So that neither of these doth swallow up the other but both are distinct and perfect Our Love may be infinite on the Inside and yet our Life be diversified with many limited and particular actions Now if our Life be like GODS eternally to be seen and our Actions in passing pass not away but in the sphere of our life abide for ever our Life all at once is a mysterious Object interwoven with many Thoughts Occurrences and Transactions and if it be to be presented to GOD like a Ring or a Garland we had need to be very choice in the mixture of our Flowers and very curious in the Enammel of so rare a Token Perhaps it is his Crown nay our own His and our Royal Diadem It shall shine like a glory about our Souls for ever That there should be any dirt or blemish in it is inconsistent with our Felicity but it is a Magnificent Present if it be enchased with Jewels well chosen and curiously set I mean with the most pure and fit elections the most Wise and Just and excellent Actions the most bright and clear Apprehensions the most divine and ardent Affections The last are like Gold the ground work of the Crown but the work it self is a mixture of elaborate Distinctions that sparkle in their lustre like Gems of several cuts and colours An imperial Crown is a Magnificent Present from a King to a King But a Life like GODS in a sphere for which Time was lent that it might be well wrought and presented before him when made perfect as far surpasseth the most glorious Crown that did ever sit upon Monarchs brows as that can be supposed to excel a dull Clod of Earth or a piece of Rusty Iron There all Obligations and Laws and Duties and Occasions are
interwoven all our Vertues and Graces and Vices all our Tears and Devotions and Prayers our Servants the Poor the Rich our Relations Parents Friends Magistrates and Ministers are set and exhibited in their proper places they appear to the life with all our Behaviors towards them and though we did deny a Poor mans Request for the sake of another and this and that and the other particular action did not at present extend to all but the Soul was feign to use much wisdom in contracting its operation for the greater advantage in finding out its Duty in moderating its Behaviour in ballancing its occasions and accounts yet in the result of all it will be found full of Bounty and Goodness to all by taking care to be just and pleasing to all in the beauty of its Conversation When two things it desires to do are incompatible to each other it studies which of the two was more just and fit and necessary which tends most to the full and final perfection of its Life the interest of a Child sometimes carries it from another man a debt of Necessity is paid with that we would give for a work of Charity yet when all is Obedience Duty and Love that life is a most Magnificent Gift A Wife a Sister must be respected in her place a Son a Servant a Friend before a Stranger if the case be such that one of them only can be relieved All in the Family being made in the Image of GOD as well as the Beggars without doors are Objects of our Charity But so much Goodness being in the bottom of the design and so much Prudence and Justice in the denial Where his Gold and Silver faileth his affection may be infinite and the restraints he sets upon his Actions be the several cuts and distinctions in the Work the very true Engravings that make the Jewel or the Crown Glorious It s Matter is Life it self yet the Workmanship far excess the Matter when it is as Accurate and Divine as it ought to be This great and deep Thought makes every little act of Life magnificent and glorious a better Gift to GOD in its place than the Creation of all Worlds before him While a mans Love is really infinite towards all and he is ready to sacrifice himself with Moses and St. Paul for the good of the World but is fain to set a restraint upon himself for the sake of others The very grief which true Goodness conceives at the deficiency of its power and the force that lies upon it in so ungrateful a Necessity where it must be an Umpire and a Judge between its Bowels and its Children is a molestation which he endures in the midst of his duty filling all Spectators with as much pleasure as him with pain All shall be remembered and all these things which are now so grievous shall themselves become a part of our future Glory REMEMBER alwaies thou art about a Magnificent work and as long as thou dwellest here upon Earth lay every action right in its place Let not Patience only but every Vertue have her perfect work Let Wisdom shine in its proper sphere let Love within be infinite and eternal in the light of true Knowledge it is impossible to exceed be right in all thy Conceptions and wise in all thine Elections and righteous in all thy Affections and just in all thy Actions let the habits of Compassion and Mercy appear and break out fitly upon all occasions and the severity of Justice too for the preservation of the World Let all be underlaid with solid Goodness and guided with Prudence and governed with Temperance ordered with Care and carried on with Courage lay hold on thy Incentives by a lively Faith and on all the strengths of Eternity by a glorious Hope let all be sweetened with a gracious Charity fortified and secured with invincible Meekness and profitably concealed and vail'd over with Humility let thy Contentment put a lustre and grace upon all let Magnanimity and Modesty appear in thy actions Magnificence and Liberality act their part let Resignation to the Divine Will and Gratitude come in to compleat all these and thy Life be beautified with the sweet intermixture of Obedience and Devotion Thy GODLINESS will be so divine that all Angels and Men will be perfectly pleased especially when thou hast wiped out the Miscarriages by the bloud of the Lamb which in a little chrystal Vial pure and clear thou ought'st alwaies to carry about with thee when thou hast washed away the defilements contracted in the work with the Tears of Repentance Those Tears too he putteth in his Bottles and they will turn into Jewels There is not one drop so small but it shall turn into a Precious Stone and continue for ever as it were frozen into a Gem. Many O Lord my GOD are thy wonderful Works which thou hast done and thy Thoughts which are to us ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee If I would declare and speak of them they are more than can he numbered how precious also are thy Thoughts O GOD how great is the sum of them if I should count them they are more in number than the Sand When I awake I am still with thee And with whom else can I be for thou only art infinite in Beauty and Perfection O my GOD I give my self for ever unto thee CHAP. XXXII Of Gratitude It feeds upon Benefits and is in height and fervour answerable to their Greatness The Question stated Whether we are able to love GOD more than our selves It is impossible to be grateful to GOD without it A hint of the glorious Consequences of so doing WHAT GOD has made us able to do by way of Gratitude you must see in the Chapter of Magnificence The Love wherewith all these things ought to be done shall be so great in the estate of Perfection our Charity and Wisdom so directly intend all Angels and Men and especially GOD above all blessed for ever our Gratitude and Goodness make us so zealous for their satisfaction that no pleasure in the whole World shall be comparable to that of being Delightful to them To receive all is sweet but to communicate all adorned thus within the sphere of our own lives is infinitely beyond all that can be sweet in the reception both for our glory and satisfaction There is ever upon us some pressing want in this World and will be till we are infinitely satisfied with varieties and degrees of Glory Of that which we feel at present we are sensible when that want is satisfied and removed another appeareth of which before we were not aware Till we are satisfied we are so clamorous and greedy as if there were no pleasure but in receiving all When we have it we are so full that we know not what to do with it we are in danger of bursting till we can communicate all to some fit and amiable Recipient and more delight
of Love that is unacquainted with these high and mighty bounties No man can return more Blessings than he receiveth nor can his Praises exceed the number and greatness of his Joyes A House is too little a Kingdom is too narrow for a Soul to move in The World is a confinement to the power that is able to see Eternity and conceive the Immensity of Almighty GOD He that can look into infinite Spaces must see them all full of delights or be infinitely displeased How like an Angel doth he soar aloft how divine is his life how glorious and heavenly that doth converse with infinite and eternal Wisdom intermeddle with all the delights of GOD assume the similitude of his knowledge and goodness make all his Works his Riches his Laws his Delights his Counsels his Contemplations his Wayes his Joyes and his Attributes his Perfections He that appropriates all the World and makes it his own peculiar is like unto GOD meet to be his Son and fit to live in Communion with him The Kingdom of GOD is made visible to him to whom all Kingdoms are so many Mansions of Joy and all Ages but the streets of his own City The man that sees all Angels and Men his Fellow-members and the whole Family of GOD in Heaven and Earth his own Domesticks is fit for Heaven As he hath more encouragements to believe in GOD and to delight in him so hath he more concerns to engage his fear more allurements to provoke his desire more incentives to enflame his love and more obligations to compel his obedience More arguments to strengthen his Hope more materials to feed his Praises more Causes to make him Humble more fuel for Charity to others more grounds of Contentment in himself more helps to inspire him with Fortitude more rewards to quicken his Industry more engagements to Circumspection and Prudence more ballast to make him Stable more lights to assist his Knowledge more sails to forward his Motion more employments in which to spend his Time more attractives to Meditation and more entertainments to enrich his Solitude He hath more aids to confirm his Patience more avocations from Injuries to Meekness more wings to carry him above the World and more Gates to let him into Heaven He hath more With-holders to keep him from Sin more aggravations to increase his Guilt more odious deformities in every Vice more waters to augment his Tears more motives to Repentance and more Consolations upon his Reconciliation More hopes to relieve his Prayer more bounds to secure his Prosperity more comforts in Adversity and more Hallelujah's in all Estates More delights to entertain his Friends more sweetness in his Conversation more arts to conquer his Enemies more Feasts in abstemious Fasts more and better sawce than other at his Feasts innumerable Companions night and day in Health in Sickness in Death in Prison at his Table in his Bed in his Grove in his Garden in the City in the Field in his Journy in his Walk at all times and in all places He hath more antidotes against Temptation more weapons in his Spiritual Warfare more balsom for his Wounds and more preservatives against the contagion of Worldly Customs From this Spring of Universal Fruition all the streams of Living Waters flow that refresh the Soul Upon this Hing all a mans Interests turn and in this Centre all his Spiritual Occasions meet It is the great Mystery of Blessedness and Glory the Sphere of all Wisdom Holiness and Piety the great and ineffable Circumstance of all Grace and Vertue the Magazine and Store-house of all Perfection An APPENDIX Of Enmity and Triumph Of Schism and Heresie Fidelity Devotion Godliness Wherein is declared how Gratitude and Felicity inspire and perfect all the Vertues I Should here have ended all my discourse on Vertue had it not been necessary to speak something of our Enemies Since there was never any man so Wise but he had some it is not to be expected that the most Vertuous Man living should be altogether without them Moses and David and Elijah and Daniel had Enemies so had our Lord Jesus Christ himself Joseph had some in his younger daies and Solomon some in his Old age Of all the Prophets I find Samuel the most clear and exempted from them But this I observe that Men of great and transcendent Principles of staid and well-govern'd Passions of meek and condescending Behaviours highly kind and serviceable in their Age free from the spots and blemishes of the World have frequently arrived to an universal Applause and Honour and moved in a sphere so high above the Nation in which they lived that as if they had been Creatures of another World they have enjoyed a Veneration above their Degree and been surrounded with a repose that makes them look like Angels in a kind of Heaven that that Heaven which they enjoyed upon Earth was the Work and the Reward and the Crown of Vertue Thus Moses after his long Meekness and invincible Fidelity to the Jewish Nation was in the close of his life most exceedingly honour'd by all the People and lamented after his death by a million of Persons that felt the disastre of so great a loss Joseph suffered much by the Envy of his Brethren in the beginning and the Lust and Slander of his Mistress But after he had once been the Saviour of the Land of Egypt and of his Fathers Family his Vertue being known he enjoyed a long life of Glory and Honour and of the abundance of his own peace and tranquility communicated a repose and prosperity to his Nation Joshua did run the hazard of being stoned for crossing the perverse humour of the Jews when he returned from searching the Land of Canaan but from Moses's death throughout all his life afterwards was an absolute Prince among his own People and a glorious Victor over all their Enemies Samuel was from his Infancy chosen of GOD and from Dan even to Beersheba they knew he was established to be a Prophet of the Lord. The honour of his Communion with Heaven joyned with his great Integrity and Gravity on Earth gave him a Reputation that made him Greater than all the Elders in the Land And it is very apparent that the eminent Holiness and Goodness and great Wisdom of these Men made them to prevail with GODS blessing on their Vertues and to reign like Benefactors and magnificent Patriots of their Country Solomon was by his Wisdom exceeding glorious till he revolted from GOD and those Mischiefs which befel David after he came to the Throne did spring from his Fall in the matter of Urias These things I note to encourage Men to Vertue For though our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles were persecuted to the Death yet two things are very considerable First that their Glory surmounted the Rage of all their Enemies and continues immortally shining throughout all Kingdoms and Ages Next That they were born to troublesome Times and were to break
Grace infused by vertue of which we keep all those Promises which we made to GOD in our holy Meditations and all those holy Resolves which in our best Retirements we put upon our selves to do his Will even in the midst of all Assaults and Temptations It is a Vertue by which we remain Constant in all Persecutions and Allurements not warping or moving aside on any Consideration neither melting with Pleasures nor flinching at Distresses but continuing faithful to the death that we may obtain the Crown of Life He certainly that sees himself a King of all Worlds and Brother to our Lord JESUS CHRIST who hath said He that doth the will of my Father is my Mother Sister and Brother will not be wrought on to forsake or hazard so great a Bliss His knowledge of its Perfection will animate his Soul with all Fidelity IT will draw him from the World too and make him desire to be much alone that he may be much with GOD. A Covetous man will be telling his Monies an Ambitious man aspires to be alwaies near the Kings Person an Epicure is for his Wine or Women or Feasts continually A Vertuous man is more Covetous more Ambitious more prone to Celestial Epicurisme if I may so speak than all the World besides And so art thou if thou art really engaged in the study of Felicity A Pious man has greater Treasures higher Honours more pure Pleasures sincerer and truer Delights a more glorious Friend than all the Earth beside Why should we not enjoy him why should we not retire to adore him why not delight in Devotion and Communion with him There a Man is to feed by sweet Contemplation on all his Felicities He is there to pray for open Eyes and a pure Heart that he may see GOD. There thou art to exercise thy strengths and acquaint thy self with him to look into all Ages and Kingdoms to consider and know thy self to expâ—ciate in the Eternity and Immensity of GOD and to gain that GODLINESS which with real Contentment is Great Gain There thou art to stir up thy self by way of pure Remembrance to recollect thy scattered and broken Thoughts and to cloath thy self with all thy necessary Perfections FOR Godliness is a kind of GOD-LIKENESS a divine habit or frame of Soul that may fitly be accounted The fulness of the stature of the Inward Man In its least degree it is an Inclination to he Like GOD to Please him and to Enjoy him He is GOD-LIKE that is high and serious in all his Thoughts humble and condescending in all his Actions full of love and good-will to all the Creatures and bright in the knowledge of all their Natures He delights in all the Works of GOD and walks in all the Wayes of GOD and meditates on all the Commandements of GOD and covets all the Treasures of GOD and breaths after all his Joyes He that hates all that GOD hates and desires all that GOD desires and loves all that GOD loves and delights in all his delights is GODLY He that aspires to the same End by the same Means and forms himself willingly to the same Nature Every Like in Nature draweth to its Like the Beautiful and the Wise and the Good and the Aged but especially the GOD-Like There is more reason why they should delight in each other They have more Attractives and Incentives GODLINESS or GOD-LIKENESS is the cement of Amity between GOD and MAN Eternity and Immensity are the sphere of his Activity and are often frequented and filled with his Thoughts Nothing less than the Wisdom of GOD will please the GOD-LIKE Man Nothing less content him than the Blessedness and Glory of his Great Creatour He must enjoy GOD or he cannot enjoy himself That is he must rest satisfied in him as the Creatour the Law-giver the Lord and Governour of the World and for that end must be compleatly satisfied with the Glory and Perfection of all his Works and Laws and Wayes He must delight in all his Counsels that he may enjoy him as the Great Counsellour of all Nature and see the Beauty of his Mind that he may take pleasure in him as the Blessedness of the Angels the Redeemer of Men the Sanctifier of his Elect People and the Soveraign End of all things He must enjoy him as his own supream and eternal Object his King his Father Bridegroom Friend Benefactour All in all Which he can never do till he sees GOD to be the best Father the best King the best Benefactour Bridegroom and Friend in all the World Nor that till he sees the Beauty of the whole Creation the great and wonderful things of his Law the marvellous glory of his All-wise dispensations the Sacred perfection of his Decrees and the nature of his Essence And all these must be as sweet and satisfactory to himself as they are to the Deity To be GOD-Like is a very sublime and most glorious Perfection which no man can attain that is not either curiously satisfied in all these things or humbly confident of their Beauty and Perfection And for Cause have we thus written upon all the Vertues that all that need it and read the Book may be elevated a little higher than the ordinary Rate have something more erect and Angelical in their Souls be brought to the Gates at least of GODS Kingdom and be endued with GODLINESS a little more compleatly by their Care than hitherto they have been because they know both that GOD is and is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him FINIS Minners in Latine are called Mores whence the English word Moral is derived Cardo is a â—â—ing Col. 1 9 10 11 12. Col. 116. Joh. 3. 35. Joh. 5. 20. Joh. 15. 15. Wis. 7. 1 Cor. 4. 5. Note All this is spoken for Encouragement and Imitation Gal. 3. 21 2 Cor. 5. 21. Eph. 5. 25 26 27. Eph. 5. 30. Psal. 5. 4 5 6. 1 Pet. â—15 Heb. 11. Rom. 15. 4 Psal. 51. 16. 17. Luke 15. 1 Cor. 13 1. Mark 12. 30 31. 1 Cor. 13. 4 5 c. y s 1 Pet. 3. 10. Prov. 17. 8. Rev. 14. 15. Prov. 3. 19 20. Job 7. 17 18. Psal. 11. 4 5. Dan. 11. 35. Zech. 13. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 6 7. 1 Pet. 4. 12 13 14. 1 Pet. 4. 1 2 3 4. Dr. Hammond Psal. 21. Tully in Somn. Scipion 2 Cor. 9. 6 1 Joh. 4. 20. Rom. 11. 12. Roâ—â—â—â—â— 1 C Isai. 55. Isai. 54. 3 4 5. Isai. 62. 3. 4 5. * Rom. 4. 13. †Ro. 8. 17. * Rev. 21. 7. Job Rev. 4. 11. Rev. 15. 3 4 5. Psal. 40. 5. Psal. 183. 17 18. Of Hereticks and Schismaticks 1 Cor 4. â—