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A45744 A treatise of moral and intellectual virtues wherein their nature is fully explained and their usefulness proved, as being the best rules of life ... : with a preface shewing the vanity and deceitfulness of vice / by John Hartcliffe ... Hartcliffe, John, 1651-1712. 1691 (1691) Wing H971; ESTC R475 208,685 468

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of their Sect may be overcome with Wine but can never be drunk though to be overcome with Wine be downright drunkenness in a carnal Epicurean yet it was something else in a great Stoick How Immorality becomes uncurable NOW Immorality under the disguise of piety becomes uncurable Passion and Self-will is made more implacable by pretences to Sanctity and Godliness without Virtue serves only to furnish the Conscience with excuses against Conviction for it is easie to convince a debauched Person of his Distemper from the blemishes that are in all his Actions But Hypocrisie by lodging it self in the Heart and so by being undiscernible becomes fatal and the Man is past Recovery before he feels his Malady THEREFORE of all men He who hath the Form of Godliness only is conceited with it is the most desperate and incorrigible Sinner For he thinks the performance of the outward acts of Devotion will fix him so in a State of Grace that he needs not any Virtue Thus the Supercilious and self-confident Pharisees were at a greater distance from Heaven than Publicans and Harlots For these our Saviour could by his gentle Reproofs soften into a relenting and pliable Temper But as for the Pharisees their mistaken Piety only made 'em more obdurate and obstinate in sin searing their Consciences against the Force of his sharpest Convictions so that He very justly consigned them up to an unrelenting and inflexible stubbornness Secondly MEN deceive their own Souls How Men deceive their own Souls when they think themselves exempt from the Rule and Judgment of natural Conscience which they fansie exercises its binding Power only over those that are in a state of Nature and Unregeneracy but as for them that are enlightened by the Spirit of God they are directed by the Motions thereof not by the Laws and Dictates of Nature Hence the plain and practical Principles of Reason and Honesty come to be neglected and ever after men are led by giddy Enthusiasms and are befooled by the temper of their Complexions they derive all their religious Motions from the present state and constitution of their Humours and according as Sanguine or Melancholy are predominant so the Scene alters BUT the Spirit of true Religion is of a sedate Temper and dwells in the Intellectual part of a Man In what manner the Spirit of Religion works and doth not work out or vent it self in flatulent Passions but all its Motions are gentle composed and grounded upon the Laws of Reason and Sobriety The Impressions of the Divine Spirit are steddy uniform and breath not upon the Passions but the Reasons of mankind all its Assistances work in a calm and rational way they are not such unsetled and unaccountable motions as discompose but enlighten our understandings the Spirit of God only discovers the Excellency and enforces the Obligation of the Laws of God to the Consciences of Men and works in us a reasonable love of our Duty and serious resolutions to discharge it Therefore the Spirit of every good Man is sober discreet and composed such as becomes the gravity and seriousness of Religion which floats not in his blood nor rises and falls with the Ebbs and Tides of his Humours but he maintains a calmness and evenness of Mind in all the various Constitutions of his Body he confines his Piety entirely within his Soul and chearfully keeps it from all mixtures of Imagination as knowing a Religious Fancy to be the greatest Impostor in the World And there is nothing that spoils the Nature of the best Religion more than outragious Zeal which instead of sweetning embitters the minds of Men so that those Vices which Moral Philosophy would banish are often kindled at the Altar of Religion For it abuses the prudence and discretion of good Men abhors a Christ-like meekness and sobriety and fills their Religion with ill Nature and discontent Hence it is that no Quarrels are so implacable as Religious ones Men with great eagerness damn one another for Opinions and Speculative Controversies IF this be Religion farewel all the Principles of Humanity and good Nature farewel that Glory of the Christian Faith an universal Love and kindness for all Men let us bid adieu to all the Practices of Charity and to the Innocence of a Christian Spirit Let the Laws of our Saviour be cancel'd as Precepts of Sedition Let us banish Religion out of Human Converse as the Mother of Rudeness and incivility Let us go to the School of Atheism and Impiety to learn good Manners BUT if nothing bids greater defiance to the true Spirit and Genius of Religion than a Form of Godliness denying the Power thereof then let not the Wisdom of God be charged with the Folly of Men Let then the furious Sons of Zeal without the Power of Godliness tell me the meaning of such Texts as these Learn of me for I am meek and humble I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with all lowliness long-suffering forbearing one another in Love put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness forgiving one another if any man have a complaint against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye So saith James 3. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledg amongst you let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom He that can reconcile these holy Precepts with a peevish or Cynical disposition may as well unite Christ and Belial make a Christian and a Pharisee the same WHAT remains then but that we set our selves to a serious minding of true and real Goodness An exhortation to mind true and real Goodness that we trifle not away our Time in pursuing the Shadows of it nor waste our Zeal upon its Forms and Instruments that we cheat not our Souls with a partial Godliness nor damn them with an half-Religion For we must measure our profitableness under the means of Grace by the influences of it upon the obedience of our Lives we must pursue Christianity in its true and proper usefulness give a sincere Obedience to every Law of Righteousness we must not divorce Piety from Justice and Charity but join the love of God with the love of our Brother be impatient against our own Sins and other mens Opinions spend our Zeal in our own and not other men's Business be ever zealous for the prime and most substantial Principles of Religion not for uncertain and unexamined Speculations we must set our selves with all our might against our Lusts and our Passions for all our Devotions without it will never expiate one habitual Sin neither will a maimed or halting Religion ever arrive at Heaven nothing but an entire Obedience to the Laws of Christ will gain admittance there Let us therefore inform our Minds with the Excellency of true Religion and Goodness Let us adorn them with an inward Purity
it is quite contrary with the violent Talker who is at first warmed by some inward heat but then the Coals are blown up and the Fire grows too strong to be suppressed Hence we may observe that He who hath begun a Quarrel sometimes in Words expressing Prudence though Displeasure hath in the progress of it talked himself into a Fhrenzy and hath enflamed his own Spirit beyond all measures of Discretion FURTHER Religion scandalized by an unbridled Tongue An unbridled Tongue Scandalizes Religion therewith bless we God even the Father and therewith curse we men who were made after his likeness This is to join the love of our Father and the hatred of our Brother together Thus to represent Religion as a thing reconcileable to Evil is the greatest Scandal to it and makes it a contradiction to it self Woe be to them saith our Saviour by whom offences come and woe be to him that censures Morality and is not himself Moral who calls himself a Christian and yet hath not mortified one Lust For it is not Christianity to be unlike the Author who was meek humble and charitable in all his Conversation Neither is it so to make a Lye to be Suspicious or Envious Proud or Self-willed to Scorn and Deride to Censure and Backbite For as a Fountain cannot send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter so neither can a godly Man raise a false Tale or believe it when it is raised but his Christianity is such as the Apostle describes 1 Corin. 17.4 5 6.7 suffereth long and is kind vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the Truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things MORE than this an unbridled Tongue is an uncontroulable Evil a Beast not to be tamed and quieted Is it not an unreasonable thing to value no man's Religion and to spare no man's good Name What can we think of such a Spirit whom the reverence of God's Command shall not awe whom Christ's Example of Patience shall not move Who will not learn Modesty from an Angel who would not bring a railing Accusation against the Devil himself REFLECT therefore O Man upon thy self and consider as thou wouldst not demonstrate thy self to be a rash and unmortified Person as thou wouldst not enflame the Neighbourhood and disturb the World as thou wouldst not ruffle and darken thine own Soul as thou wouldst not of a man make thy self an unreasonable Brute as thou wouldst not have thy Religion a vain and unprofitable Thing as thou wouldst not be deceived in so important an Affair as Christianity it self take heed of an unbridled Tongue and govern thy Speech wisely which is to be done by these means 1. By possessing certain Habits 2. By acting by certain Principles First THE Habits we are to possess are 1. Sound and impartial Judgment 2. True Christian Love 3. Deep and serious Humility 4. Firm and solid Patience First WE must study to gain a clear Judgment A sound judgment will put a stop to Evil-speaking that no self-Conceit may bribe us to think well of our selves or to despise our Brethren For says Plutarch We should not first love and then judg but first judg and then love And there is in no case more need of This than in relation to our selves because we naturally love our selves even before we are able to make any judgment what we really are and we are all fond of our selves well reconciled to our own Opinions and Actions and therefore do always presume well of our selves But on the contrary most men are at enmity with the Virtues of others therefore we are apt to think meanly and speak suspiciously of what is Eminent in them whereas if we would forbear to speak of others till we have examined our selves I believe our accusations of them would die in that self-examination and we should generally find so much to condemn in our selves that we should not readily arraign other men Charity is of great use to rule the Tongue Secondly HE that will govern his Tongue well must labour after the Spirit of Charity For Charity will cover a multitude of sins our own sins from the indignation of God and other men's sins from our reproach And He who stabs his Brothers Reputation with an evil Tongue ought to consider that these polluted streams which gush out of the Mouth flow from a bitter Fountain in the Heart that keen words are the effusions of Hatred and He that hateth his Brother is a Murderer Whereas if our Religion were Love as it ought to be what a great change would it make among us For when we love we shall hold our Peace without a bridle in our mouths we shall bridle our Tongues without a Bit in our jaws we shall rule our Passions without pain and naturally Heal where we now Wound Humility will check rash words Thirdly WE must practise deep and serious Humility For rash words are generally the vomit of Anger and Anger proceeds from Pride But of all men those that are humble are the least prone to break out into violent and indecent Speeches For if other men think well of themselves they are apt without evident reason to the contrary to think so of them too if others have a mean esteem of them they think as meanly of themselves they agree with their very Enemies and they are of the same Opinion with those who have the least value for them It is Pride that swells and boils with Rage and Contempt that is displeased and offended with every thing that brands this man with Hypocrisie and the other with Superstition that calls this man Carnal and the other Ignorant Nay if God were like unto vain Man then Ignorance must know and Prejudice must judg Passion must hold the Scales with her trembling Hand and Pride must step into the Ballance to weigh for Religion But when these fumes of Pride are over and the vapours are scattered when Humility hath brought us to self-Reflection we then learn to think soberly and to judg charitably according to that of the Apostle Phil. 2.3 Let nothing be done through strife and vain-glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves Without Patience we are not fit for this World Fourthly WE must endeavour after Patience which if it be not as firm as a Rock we are not fit for this World if we cannot hear ill and do well if we cannot be content to hear a Fool contemn a Wise Man and an Hypocrite vaunt it over a sincere Christian if we have not the patience to hear Words cryed up against Things and impertinent Discourses thought to be very Oracles if we cannot hear our selves censured for our Sobriety and hated for our Love we are not fit to converse among men For the best