peculiar manner our Love stands affected or proportioned to Particular and Universal Good. X. Now in answer to this I consider first That since God is the first Mover in the motion of Love he must necessarily determine this motion toward himself or make himself the term of this motion And the only term too it being impossible that God should act for any end different from himself Whence it follows that Universal good or good in general is the only good to which we are directly and properly moved by God. XI Hence again it follows that good in common or God must be the Primary and Adequate Term or Object of Love. This being the only good to which we are directly moved by God. I say directly for God moves us to particular goods only by moving us to good in general which is not to move us to them directly but by accident and indirectly God cannot move us directly to any thing but himself that is to Universal good or good in general which therefore must be the Primary and Adequate Term or Object of Love. XII And this we sensibly experiment as well as rationally conclude For 't is plain that we are conscious to our selves of our loving good as good or good according to its common Nature before we love this or that good in particular And we are further conscious that when we do love any particular good 't is only for the sake of the Universal good We love it only because we find in it something of the common Nature of good and the more we find of that the more we love it So that 't is by that love whereby we love good in common that we love any particular good And were it not for this Universal good we should be able to love nothing Which by the way is a plain argument of the real existence of such Vniversal good and consequently that there is a God. XIII For indeed to speak out in short what I would have as we understand all things in God so 't is in God we love whatever we love And as when we understand the Divine Ideas are that which we directly and properly perceive and Created Beings are only so far perceiv'd as they are of a similar nature with those Ideas and so vertually contain'd in them So when we Love universal good good in common or God is that which we directly and properly love and Created goods or Particular goods are only so far loved as they resemble and participate of the nature of that universal good to which the motion of our love is Directly and Primarily determined So that Particular goods are as much loved in the universal good as Particular Beings are seen and perceiv'd in the universal Being XIV I further consider that as we are determin'd to good in general Primarily and Directly so also the motion whereby we are by God determin'd to it is necessary invincible and irresistable There is nothing in nature more necessary no nor so necessary and invincible as that motion whereby we are carried forth to good in general Here the Soul must not pretend to the least shadow of Liberty having no more command over this motion than she has over the motion of the Sun. 'T is not easie to conceive how God himself should fix this motion but 't is plain that Man cannot any way command it XV. But there is not the same necessity of Determination in our motion towards Particular good I say not the same M. Malebranche will allow none but 't is plain that some there is For since we are invincibly determin'd to the Love of good in general we must needs love good as such and consequently in every degree of Participation the general Reason of good being in some measure or other found in every degree of Particular good Loving therefore good as good we are necessarily determin'd to love every degree of good and consequently every particular good with a Natural Love so far as we consider it as good XVI But because this Particular good is not the Greatest good and consequently in some junctures may come into competition with a greater hence it comes to pass that we may upon the whole have more reason to will and refuse it than to will and embrace it and so are not determin'd necessarily to an Absolute effectual and thorough love of it though yet we must love it as good with a natural love as before XVII For 't is impossible that we should ever nill Good as we nill Evil any more than we can will Evil as we will Good. But as our willing of Evil is always with a mixture of willing though willing may in some junctures prevail so our nilling of good is always with a mixture of willing though in some junctures nilling may prevail we cannot hate good with a Pure Hatred though it be only a lesser good any more than we can love evil with a Pure Love though a lesser evil XVIII Whenever therefore by the Competition of goods we are ingaged to nill any Particular good we do also will it at the same time But in different respects We will it as good and we nill it as a lesser good we will it secundum quid according to a certain respect and we nill it simply and Absolutely that is in other words though we have some reason to will it namely its proper good in which respect we necessarily will it and consequently always yet we have more reason to nill it in the present juncture as standing in competition with a greater good and the stronger motive takes place as to Absolute and Effectual love or choice XIX This I cannot better illustrate than by the example of Weights in a Ballance For though that Scale which has most weight in it weighs down yet it must needs be allow'd that the other Scale does also weigh and press downwards though not effectually because otherwise as much weight would be required to make it weigh effectually down as if it were quite empty And thus 't is in the present case Though for the Prevalency of Reasons in some junctures the Scale may weigh down for the nilling of good yet the other Scale also presses though not effectually And this is what the Schools term a Velleity or Natural Inclination And 't is with this Velleity or natural inclination that we are necessarily determin'd to love even Particular good but we are not necessarily determin'd to love it absolutely and effectually because there is no particular good but what may come in Competition with a greater and then there will be more Reason to nill it than to will it and the heaviest Scale will weigh down XX. And thus have I shewn after what peculiar manner our Love stands affected or proportion'd to Particular and Universal good The difference consists in these two things Vniversal good is the Primary and Direct Object of our Love but our Love tends towards Particular good only
consider that by how much the more our Mind is raised to the Contemplation of Spiritual things by so much the more we always abstract from sensibles But now the highest and last term of Contemplation is the Divine Essence Whence it follows necessarily that the Mind which sees the Divine Essence must be totally and thoroughly absolv'd from all commerce with the Corporeal Senses either by Death or some extatical and rapturous Abstraction So true is that which God said to Moses Thou can'st not see my face for there shall no man see me and live Exod. 33.20 IV. So far therefore are we from deriving any Idea of God from our Senses that they are our greatest Impediment in Divine Contemplations So great that we cannot any other way clearly apprehend the Essence of God while we are lodg'd in the Prison of our Senses God cannot give us a distinct view of himself while we hold any commerce with our Senses For he that knows exactly what proportion our present condition bears to his own Divine Glories has told us That no Man shall see him and live We must therefore for ever despair of conceiving the Divine Essence clearly and distinctly not only from our Senses but even with them V. Not that there is any darkness or obscurity in God. No God is the most knowable Object in himself For he is the First Being and therefore the First Truth and therefore the First Intelligible and consequently the most Intelligible One Apostle says that he dwells in light and another that he is light and that there is no darkness at all in him God therefore consider'd in his own Nature is as well the most Intelligible as the most Intelligent Being in the World. VI. The difficulty therefore arises not from the obscurity of the Object but from the disproportion of the Faculty For our Understandings stand affected to the most manifest Objects as the Eye of a Bat to the light of the Sun as the Philosopher observes in his Metaphysics God dwells in light as the Apostle says but then 't is such as no Man can approach unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he inhabits unapproachable light or a Light which cannot be come at not for its distance for he is not far from every one of us but for its brightness The very Angels are forc'd to veil their faces when they see it but for Mortals they cannot so much as come nigh it The short is God is too Intelligible to be here clearly understood by an Imbody'd understanding and too great a Light hinders vision as much as Darkness VII But tho' we cannot here have a clear and distinct knowledge either of God or our Selves yet we may know so much of both as may serve the ends of Piety and Devotion We may by attending to that general Idea of God which is by himself imprinted on our Minds learn to unfold many of the Perfections of his Glorious and Invisible Essence and tho' we cannot see his face and live yet his back-parts we know were once seen by a Mortal capacity and so may be again And for our selves tho' God has not given us any Idea of our own Souls yet the powers and operations the condition circumstances and accidents of our Nature are things that may fall within the Sphere of Human consideration And from both these we may derive Measures for our due behaviour towards the Great God. And this is the design of the present Contemplations viz. to consider so much of the nature of God and the nature of Man as may afford sufficient Grounds and Measures for true Piety and Devotion VIII By Devotion here I do not meerly understand that special disposition or act of the Soul whereby we warmly and passionately address our selves to God in Prayer which is what is commonly meant by Devotion but I use the word in a greater Latitude so as to comprehend under it Faith Hope Love Fear Trust Humility Submission Honour Reverence Adoration Thanksgiving in a word all that Duty which we owe to God. Nor by this acceptation do I stretch the word beyond what either from its rise it may or by frequent use among the Learned it does signifie Devotion is a devovendo from devoting or giving up ones self wholly to the Service of another And accordingly those among the Heathens who deliver'd and consign'd themselves up to Death for the safety of their Country were call'd Devoti And so in like manner for a Man to give up himself wholly and intirely to the Service of God and actually to demean himself towards him in the conduct of his life as becomes a Creature towards his Creator is Devotion And in this Latitude the word is used by Aquinas who defines Devotion to be A will readily to give up ones self to all those things which belong to the Service of God. IX This is what I here understand by Devotion and of which I intend in the following Contemplations to assign the Grounds and Measures from the Nature of God and the Nature of Man. But before I proceed to inforce and direct Devotion from these two particular Subjects of Contemplation I think it not improper to consider a little by way of preparation how much Contemplation or Meditation in general contributes to the advantage of Devotion X. They that make Ignorance the Mother of Devotion cannot suppose Contemplation any great friend to it For the more a Man Contemplates the more he will know and the wiser he grows the less apt upon their supposition he will be for Devotion But I would ask the Men of this fancy this one Question Is Devotion a Rational thing or is it not If not Why then do they recommend Ignorance or any thing else in order to it For it may as well nay better be let alone But if it be a Rational thing then they must either say that the more a Man considers the less he will discover the Reasons of it or that the more he discovers the Reasons of it the less he will be persuaded to the practice of it Both which propositions are absurd and ridiculous enough to be laught at but too ridiculous to be seriously refuted XI But to shew how much Contemplation serves to the advantage of Devotion we need only consider that Devotion is an act of the Will that the Object of the Will is good apparent or good understood and consequently that every act of the Will is influenc'd and regulated by consideration Devotion therefore is as much influenc'd by consideration as any other act of the Will is And therefore I cannot but admire at the Disposers of the Angelical Hierarchies for making the Seraphim excel in Love and Devotion and the Cherubim in Knowledge As if Knowledge were not the best preparative for Devotion XII I deny not but that Knowledge and Devotion often go assunder and the Wisest are not always the Devoutest But then this is not owing to the natural
than what Reason will conclude necessary For God being the very Essence of Being or Being it self and therefore indeterminate in Being and therefore also in Perfection it follows that he has not only all Kinds of Perfection but that every Kind of Perfection which he has must needs be as excellent as is possible in that Kind Thus for instance The Beauty that is in God must be as perfect as 't is possible for Beauty to be and so the Harmony that is in God must be as perfect as 't is possible for Harmony to be That is in other words The Beauty which is in God must be Beauty it self and the Harmony which is in God must be Harmony it self IX But now 't is impossible that things should exist in the Creature after such a rate as this As they are not Being it self but Particular Beings so every Perfection that is in them is not that Perfection it self in the Abstract but only Particular Derivative and Concrete They are Beautiful and Harmonical but not Beauty it self not Harmony it self Beauty it self can no more be Communicated to the Creature than Being it self can All the Essences and Abstract Natures of things are in God or rather the very same with God as I shall shew when I consider the Omniscience of God and they are but One they cannot be Communicated or Multiplied Their Images indeed may but they themselves cannot for they are the same with God. There may be many Beautifuls or Particular Beauties but there can be but one Beauty it self X. The Beauty therefore that is in the Creature is only a slender Shadow or Reflection of that Beauty it self which is in God who is the Idea or Essence of Beauty And as it is Derivative from it so it exists continually by it and in it and is every way as much depending upon it as the Reflexion in the Glass is upon the Face whose Reflexion it is And as Beauty has a more excellent way of existence in the Face it self than in the Glass so has it a far more perfect way of subsisting in God than in any Face or thing whatsoever For all things are Reflections from him and the whole Creation is but as 't were one great Mirrour or Glass of the Divinity XI I end this Contemplation with a very remarkable passage to this purpose out of St. Austin Tu ergo Domine fecisti ea qui pulcher es pulchra sunt enim Qui bonus es bona sunt enim Qui es sunt enim Nec ita pulchra sunt nec ita bona sunt nec ita sunt sicut tu Conditor eorum cui Comparata nec pulchra sunt nec bona sunt nec sunt Thou therefore O Lord hast made these things who art fair for they are fair Who art good for they are good Who Art for they are But neither are they so fair neither are they so good neither are they so as Thou their Maker in Comparison of whom they are neither fair nor good nor are they at all The Vse of this to Devotion THis may be very much improv'd to the advantage of Devotion For the great Let to Devotion is our Love of Particular and Sensible good 'T is a Charge that may be fasten'd upon the best of us all more or less that we are Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God. And the Love of Pleasure Naturally alienates us from the Love of God. And therefore says St. Iohn Love not the world neither the things that are in the world And to shew the great inconsistency that is between the Love of the World and the Love of God he further tells us If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him But now if we could be but once perswaded that all the Perfections of Particular Beings exist in God and not only so but after a more excellent manner than they do in Particular Beings themselves we should certainly be very much taken off from the love of Particular and Sensible good we should not be such gross Idolaters as we are in adoring Created Beauty but should adhere to God with more Unity and intireness of Affection Sure I am that there is great Reason we should do so when we consider that let the good of the Creature be never so Charming the very same we may find in God with greater Perfection We can propose nothing to our selves in the Creature but what God has more perfectly and more abundantly To what purpose then should we go off from him since Change it self can give us no variety and we can only Court a New Object not find a New Happiness The Aspiration NO My Fair Delight I will never be drawn off from the Love of thee by the Charms of any of thy Creatures Thou art not only infinitely more excellent than they but hast their very excellencies in a more perfect manner than they have or can have What Temptation then can I have to leave thee No O my Fairest I want Temptation to recommend my Love to thee 'T is too easie and too cheap a fidelity to adhere to thee My first Love when by Changing I can gain no more Thou O Soveraign Fair hast adorn'd thy Creation with a Tincture of thy Brightness thou hast shin'd upon it with the light of thy Divine Glory and hast pour'd forth thy Beauty upon all thy Works But they are not Fair as Thou art Fair their Beauty is not as Thy Beauty Thou art Fairer O my God than the Children of Men or the Orders of Angels and the Arrows of thy Love are Sharper than theirs They are indeed My God thy Arrows are very Sharp and were we not too securely fenc'd about with our thick Houses of Clay would wound us deeper than the Keenest Charms of any Created Beauties But these every day Wound us while we stand proof against thy Divine Artillery because these are Sensible and thine only Intelligible these are visible to our Eyes thine only to our Minds which we seldome convert to the Contemplation of thy Beauties But O thou Infinite Fair did we but once taste and see did we but Contemplate thy Original Beauty as we do those faint Images of it that are reflected up and down among our fellow Creatures as thy Charms infinitely exceed theirs so would our Love to thee be Wonderful passing the Love of Women Contemplation IV. Of the Attributes of God in general particularly of the Vnity of God which is proved from his Idea I. COncerning the Attributes of God in general I have no more to offer than what is commonly taught in the Schools from which I find no reason to vary and of which this I think is the summ and substance first That the Essence of God is in it self one only general simple and intire Perfection and that therefore the Divine Attributes are not to be consider'd as Accidents really distinct from the Divine Essence and if
would derive an Obligation of gratitude upon Children toward their Parents from their receiving their Being from them because there is no kindness here design'd to those Persons who in the Event perhaps are profited but before were not so much as known yet our case is quite otherwise as to our receiving our Being from the Father of Spirits For he both knew whom he was to oblige when he gave us Being and intended it as a kindness to us having no Interest of his own to promote by it Which are the two Qualifications required by Seneca in his Book De Beneficiis to make up the Nature of such a Benefit as shall lay an Obligation upon the Receiver XIII Now both these Requisites being eminently found in God it follows that his Kindness in giving us Being receives its Estimate from the value and excellency of the thing bestow'd which cannot appear little if we consider that such was the Dignity and Excellency of Humane Nature that it occasion'd deliberation in Heaven and was thought worthy of the Council of the Trinity If we consider that Man is the most Noble part of all the visible Creation the Abstract and Compendium of the Universe That he is a Creature form'd after the Image of the Great God endow'd with an excellent and immortal Spirit and resembling his Maker as in other respects so in some measure in this that he can and must needs be happy both in the direct Operations of his Nature and in the reflexive acts of Contemplation upon the dignity of his Essence To give therefore Being to such an accomplish'd Creature as this is ipso facto without Consideration of any further design a very signal act of Love and Beneficence XIV Another very signal instance of the Divine Goodness to Man is our Preservation whether we consider it in the more Metaphysical way of the Schools as that uninterrupted Influx which they call Continued Creation whereon we depend as Essentially as the Image in the Glass does upon the Object or whether we consider it after the more popular acceptation as it denotes the Conduct and Superintendency of God's Providence whereby he so disposes of the Events and Issues of things as either to keep off from us what would incommode our welfare or to work out a more important good from those evils which he suffers to befal us XV. And here it would be matter of wonderful curiosity and pleasing astonishment could we but discern from end to end those manifold turns and fetches those Stratagems and Intrigues that Plot of Providence which is engaged for our preservation through the various Occurencies of Life Could we but see what a Labyrinth what a Maze we tread and what reason there is for every turning were but our Eyes open'd as the Young mans were at the Prayer of Elisha to see the Bright Host of Auxiliary Spirits that incamp about us to see with what care and concern the good Angels contest on our behalf against the Powers of Darkness as the Guardian Angel of the Jews did against the Prince of Persia and how many dangers both Gostly and Bodily we escape through their Protection could we I say see all this But we may be content to want the curiosity so long as we enjoy the Benefit and rest satisfi'd with what the Psalmist assures us of in general that the Angel of the Lord tarrieth about them that fear him and delivereth them XVI Another considerable instance of the Divine Goodness to Man is seen in the Provision made by Providence for the necessaries and Conveniences of Life such as Food and Raiment and the like This was first exemplifi'd in the Order of the Creation wherein 't is to be observed that the Creation of Man was reserved for the work of the Sixth day till the World was both Created and Furnish'd for his reception till the Heavenly bodys were prepared to guide him by their Light and the Earth to feed him with her Fruits and then God brings in Man into the World like a Noble guest to a Table richly spread and set out with Delicacys XVII I dare not heighten this consideration so far as some do who affirm all things to have been made meerly for the use of Man. For although as 't is well noted by the French Philosopher upon a moral account it be of good use to say that God made all things for our sakes it being a consideration that would serve to excite in us a greater Love and Gratitude towards him and although in some corrected Sense it be true in as much as we may make use of all things to some good purpose or other either as Objects to employ our Philosophy upon or as Occasions to Magnifie the goodness and Power of our Creator yet to say that all things were so precisely made for us as to exclude all other purposes besides that 't is too boldly to determin concerning the Ends of God and to indulge a fond opinion of our selves 't is also plainly absurd and unphilosophical there being questionless many things in the World so far from affording any real use to Man that they never have been or shall be so much as seen or understood by him XVIII However thus far we may venture to determin and more we need not require that God had a special regard to Man in the Creation of the World whom he has constituted Lord of the inferiour part of it that as the Psalmist says he cover'd the Heavens with Clouds and prepared Rain for the Earth and made the Grass to grow upon the Mountains and Herbs for the use of Man. XIX But besides this general and Primary designation of things for the use of Man there is a more Particular and Seconday work of Providence to be observ'd in the so managing and Ordering of Affairs that every Man may have a tolerable Portion of the good things of this Life And this is effected not by leaving all things in Common or giving every Man a right to every thing for this would be of pernicious consequence as tending both to the perpetual disturbance of the Public Peace and to the utter neglect and Disimprovement of Nature but by the limits and inclosures of Property whereby care is taken that every Man shall either have somthing of his own or be maintain'd by the Provisions of those that have So that some way or other God provides for every member of this his great Family and though he does not always at our desire bring Quails and fill us with the Bread of Heaven yet he furnishes every one that travels in this Wilderness with a Viaticum sufficient to carry him through his Journey and though he does not grant him his own wish yet he grants him that of a Wiser Man and feeds him with food convenient for him XX. But these are but Prefatory Favours Dawnings of goodness and little Essays of the Divine Love if Compared with those
last displays of his Bounty those Consummations of Kindness which attend Man in the other World when God shall give him everlasting felicity and make him glad with the joy of his Countenance When he shall withdraw his hand from the Clift of the Rock and shew him all his Glory When he shall remove the Bounds from the Mount of his Presence and admit him to the Comprehensions of an Intuitive Beatitude This is that great Portion that Final Patrimony which is laid up for Man and which as our Saviour says shall be given to those for whom it is prepared To those who do not by their own default forfeit their Inheritance with the Saints in Light. XXI And thus far of those effects of the Divine Goodness to Man which are manifested by giving The next is that of forgiving This is that peculiar Instance of Favour whereby Man stands distinguish'd from the rest of the Sons of God as the great Favorite of Heaven For though the Angels were all Partakers of God's Love and Bounty yet 't was Man alone that was made choice of to be the Object of his Mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Says Nemesius For 't was Man alone among all Rational Beings who had the Priviledge of being pâ—â—don'd by Repentance A Favour extraordinary whether we consider the great Benefit that accrues to Man by it in being freed from the Curse of the Law and restored to a capacity of arriving to that Happiness for which he was first designed or the wonderful means of effecting it For that God should bow the Heavens and come down empty himself by taking upon him the Form of a Servant and humble himself yet further by becoming Obedient even unto Death this is that Stupendious unutterable instance of Mercy that Mystery of Goodness which the Angels desire to look into which they admire and cannot Comprehend Sound and cannot Fathom and which while they Contemplate Man enjoys The use of this to Devotion HAving now tasted and seen in some Measure how good and gracious the Lord is let us now apply this speculation to the advantage of Devotion This I shall do First by considering what may be collected to this purpose from the Goodness of God in General Secondly by the shewing how the several Instances of the Divine Goodness point out to us the exercise of several Devotional vertues And first since God is so good a Being and so good to Man 't will become us in the first place to banish all superstitious slavish Fears and jealous apprehensions of him considering that 't is more for the Honour and more according to the Will of so Good a Being to be heartily loved than servilely fear'd and that 't is Love and not Fear that has the Honour to fulfil the whole Law. Secondly God being so Good and having shewn so much Goodness to us 't will highly become us in the next place to acknowledge this his Goodness by all the ways we can especially by these Three Praying to him Depending on him and Praising him By every one of these we acknowledge God's Goodness either directly or by consequence but most of all by the last which ought therefore to be principally regarded This I the rather take notice of because 't is a thing wherein we are generally defective for we are all apt to be more zealously affected in our petitionary Prayers than in our giving Thanks And the reason I suppose is because our Prayers are for our selves but giving Thanks is to God. But certainly this is a great fault and proceeds from that root of all evil self-love we ought rather to address our selves to God with more Application and Devotion in our Praises than in our Prayers For he that Praises glorifies God more than he that Prays for he that Prays does only hope that God will be good to him but he that Praises does actually acknowledge that he is already so There is more excellence in Praise than we are commonly aware of To Believe Pray and Trust is the work of Earth but to Adore and Praise is the work of Heaven But not so as to be reserv'd till we come thither No we must begin it here or we shall never do it hereafter 'T is the only retribution God expects from us for all his Goodness to be blessed for his Blessings and unless we do this we shall be guilty of the highest injustice and ingratitude imaginable and of such a vileness as all the Praying in the World will never countervail But as we are obliged to act thus from God's Goodness in general so the several Instances of the Divine Goodness point out to us the exercise of several Devotional Vertues For example when a Man considers God as the Author and Preserver of his Being what inference can be more natural than that he should present unto him himself his Soul and Body to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice that he should employ all his Powers and Faculties in the Service and to the Glory of him that gave them and love him with all his Heart Mind Soul and Strength Again when he considers the guard which Gods Holy Angels keep over him and the many Deliverances vouchsafed him through their Protection What inference can be more obvious than that he rest secure under this defence of the most High and abide with confidence under the shadow of the Almighty that he sing Praises to God in the multitude of these his strong Mercies and be ever mindful of that saying Grieve not the Angel lest he smite thee do nothing against him lest he forsake thee Again when he considers the plentiful provision God has made for him as to this life that his Lot is fall'n to him in a fair ground and that he has a goodly Heritage what is more naturally to be inferred than that he offer up to God the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving for all the Methods Conveyances and Instruments of his Bounty and that he trust his Providential care for his future maintainance Again when he considers that weight of Glory prepared for him in the other World What can be more natural for him than with Angels and Archangels and all the Company of Heaven to Laud and Magnifie his Glorious Name and to press forward to some degrees of excellency in the Service of him who has thus prevented him with such excesses of Kindness such depths of unsearchable Love. Lastly when he considers those astonishing Miracles of the Divine Mercy and condescension in the Redemption of the World in the Assumption of our Nature and the humble submission of our Blessed Lord to the Pains and Dishonours of the Cross what can be more natural than that after an Hymn of Praise and Adoration to him that sitteh on the Throne and to the Lamb he look upon himself now as no longer his own but as bought with a Price and accordingly glorifie God in his Body and Spirit which are God's that he
dishonour not that Nature which is made one with the Divinity and advanced above the Seraphims and that lastly he endeavour to copy out some of the imitable strokes of his Saviours Humility and in the Apostle's Phrase let the same mind be in him which was in Christ Iesus The Aspiration O My great and good God who art good in all thy Greatness and whose chiefest Greatness is to be Good How can I possibly think amiss of thee distrust thee or harbour any jealous apprehensions concerning thee And how unworthy should I be of this thy Goodness if I should But O God my Love 't is my infirmity to be afraid of that Excellence which I should rather love for my love of thee is not yet perfect enough to cast out all fear but blessed be thy Goodness who in the midst of my fears and doubtful surmises art pleased to remind me of thy Nature and to say to my Soul as thou didst once to the dissident Disciples It is I be not afraid The Voice of my Beloved I will therefore turn my fears to love and love more than I ever yet feared or loved I will also magnifie thee O God my King and I will praise thy Name for ever and ever Every day will I give thanks unto thee and praise thy Name for ever and ever For I have tasted and seen how gracious thou art and I find it is a good thing to Praise thee and that 't is a joyful and pleasant thing to be Thankful I know O my God that thy Goodness is as much above my Praise as thy Greatness is above my Comprehension My Praises can add nothing to thee neither can I Praise thee according to thy Goodness But O my God I will Praise thee according to my strength and I know that the same Goodness of thine which is too great to be praised worthily is also too great not to accept our unworthy Praises My God I know thou requirest from me only the Praises of a Man but I am troubled that I cannot Praise thee as an Angel. O that I were now in Heaven if 't were only that I might Praise thee as thy Angels Praise thee This O my God I will do hereafter my gratitude shall run then as high as theirs and it shall be as lasting too it shall last as long as thy Goodness and my Being lasts and as thy Mercy so my Praise shall endure for ever THE SECOND PART Wherein the Grounds and Measures OF DEVOTION Are Consider'd from the Nature of Man. By Iohn Norris M. A. and Fellow of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXXIX Contemplation I. Of Man consider'd as a Creature I. IN Man as thus consider'd I find these four things involv'd First That he was once Nothing Secondly That from Nothing he became Something Thirdly That he was made Something and is what he is by and from God. Fourthly That he so depends upon Gods continual Influence for the continuation of that Being which he receiv'd from him that should God but never so little withdraw it he must necessarily fall back into his first Nothing II. First then I consider that Man was once Nothing which is the same as to say That once he was not or that he was not always This is too acknowledg'd a Proposition to need any laborious Proof but however for satisfaction sake I thus demonstrate it If Man were always he would be a necessary Being For since every thing is necessary while it is and since there is no assignable Point of Duration wherein that which always is is not it follows that if man were always he would be a necessary Being But now that Man is not a necessary Being I prove thus III. Man has not his Being from himself but from some other Being For if he had it from himself he would never have limited his own Being and consequently would have had all other Perfections as well as Existence But that he has not is plain because he is an Amorous and Desiring Being and is continually reaching out and aspiring to some further Excellence which is a certain Argument of Indigency Whence it follows that he had not Being from himself IV. He must therefore have it from some other Being that is He must therefore exist because some other Being will have him to exist If then the Ground and Reason of mans existing be the Will and Pleasure of some other Being then Man must so far exist necessarily as 't is necessary that that other Being should will his existence Since the necessity of the Effect depends upon the necessity of the Cause To shew therefore that Man does not necessarily exist 't will be enough to shew that 't is not necessary that any such Being should will his Existence which I do thus V. 'T is not necessary that any Being should effectually will that which is not necessarily Lovely But Man is not necessarily Lovely therefore 't is not necessary that any Being should effectually will the Being of Man. The first Proposition is Self-evident The second will be made so by considering that necessary Loveliness is the highest degree of Loveliness and the highest degree of Loveliness supposes the highest degree of Excellence that which is lovely in the highest degree must be excellent in the highest degree every thing being lovely so far as it is excellent But now man is not Excellent in the highest degree because he aspires to higher excellence as was said before and therefore neither is he Lovely in the highest degree and therefore not Necessarily Lovely Which was the Minor Proposition The Conclusion therefore follows that 't is not necessary that any Being should effectually will the being of Man. And therefore also 't is not necessary that Man should exist the reason of Mans existing being founded upon the will of some other Being as was supposed And if Man does not exist necessarily then he did not exist always and if not always then once he was not which was the thing to be here made out VI. The next thing to be consider'd is that Man became Something from Nothing Which is the same as to say that he was not made out of any Pre-existent Matter or Substance This tho it be more strictly verify'd of the Soul of Man which in no sense was raised into being from any pre-existent substance but came immediately from Nothing to be what it is yet it is also verify'd to all intents and purposes in respect of his Body which tho it be not immediately from Nothing as the Soul is yet Mediately it is it being form'd not from matter eternally Pre-existing but from Matter which once was Nothing it being impossible that there should be any eternally pre-existing matter or that Matter should always have been for the very same Reason that Man could not have been always which having already set down I shall not again repeat it VII The third thing involv'd in Mans being a Creature
any thing Created when he perceives suppose a Triangle in general This well deserves to be consider'd XX. Again our Ingenious Author argues from the Idea which we have of Infinite For 't is plain that we perceive Infinites though we do not comprehend it and that our mind has a very Distinct Idea of God which it could not have but by its union with God. Since 't is absurd to suppose that the Idea of God should be from any thing that is Created XXI He further Considers that the Mind has not only an Idea of Infinite but that it also has it before it has any Idea of finite For we conceive Infinite Being barely by conceiving Being without considering whether it be finite or Infinite But now to conceive any finite Being we must detract something from that general Notion of Being which by consequence must be Antecedent Our mind therefore perceives nothing but in the Idea which it has of Infinite And this Idea is so far from being form'd from a Confuse heaping together of the Ideas of special Beings as Philosophers commonly pretend that all those Special Ideas are nothing else but Participations from the general Idea of Infinite Even as God does not hold his Being from the Creatures but all Creatures subsist only by him XXII He adds one Argument more which he thinks will go for Demonstration with those who are used to Abstract ways of Reasoning It is impossible that God in any of his actions should have any Principal End different from himself This is a Common Notion with every Attentive Thinker And the Scripture suffers us not to doubt but that God made all things for himself It is necessary therefore that not only our Natural Love that is the motion which he produces in us should tend towards himself but that moreover that Knowledge and Light which he bestows upon our mind should open and exhibit to us something that is in himself For whatsoever comes from God cannot be for any other besides God. If God should Create a Mind and give it the Sun suppose for its Idea or immediate Object of Knowledge God would then make that Mind for the Sun and not for himself XXIII God therefore cannot make a mind to know his Works unless that mind do in some manner see God when it sees his Works so that I may venture to say that if we did not some way or other see God we should see nothing at all Even as if we did not love God that is if God did not continually impress upon us the love of good in general we should love nothing at all For since this Love is the same with our will we cannot Love or will any thing without him since we cannot love Particular goods but by determining towards those goods that motion of Love which God gives us towards himself We love therefore nothing but by that necessary love by which we are moved towards God and we see nothing but by that Natural Knowledge which we have of God. And all those Special Ideas which we have of the Creatures are nothing else but Limitations of the Idea of the Creator as all the motion of our Will towards the Creatures are nothing else but Determinations of that motion which is toward the Creator XXIV He appeals last of all to Scripture which in divers places gives abundant confirmation to this Hypothesis As when we are said not to be sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but that our sufficiency is of God. Again God is said to have shewn unto the Gentiles what might be known of him Again God is call'd the father of lights God is also said by the Psalmist to teach man Knowledge Lastly He is said to be the true light which inlightens every man that comes into the world XXV From all which he concludes that God is the Intelligible World or the Place of Spirits as the Material World is the place of Bodies That these Spirits receive their Modifications or Sensations from his Power and find their Idea's in his Wisdom and by his Love are moved by all orderly motions and that in God we have our Life our Motion and our Being According to that of St. Paul He is not far from every one of us for in him we live and move and have our being XXVI And thus in as short a compass as I could comprize it have I given a summary account of what the excellent Monsieur Malebranche has at large delivered upon this Theory of our seeing all things in God. I shall now further establish it by some other considerations of my own XXVII That all our Intellectual Perception is by Ideas that is not by the immediate presence of things themselves but by something that intimately and immediately represents them to our mind is a thing plain in it self and by all so acknowledged And that all the Idea's of things with their respective habitudes and relations are in God I have abundantly proved and also as to the manner explained in my Contemplation of the Divine Omniscience The thing now to be consider'd is whether we do not see and know whatever we see and know in God that is whether those Idea's which are in God be not the very Idea's which we see and the immediate Object of our Knowledge and Perception XXVIII That it is so besides what Monsieur Malebranche has offered upon this Argument I further prove by considering first That since Knowledge is comprehension of Truth if the Truth which I comprehend be in God and in him only then I must be said to see and know whatever I see and know in God. This is a plain and easie consequence And that the Truth which I comprehend is in God only I thus make out XXIX The nature of Truth consists in a certain mutual respect or habitude of simple Essences one to another But these relations which I comprehend and which are the same with Truth are not verified of the simple Essences as they are in their External and Natural subsistencies but as they are in the Divine Idea's I deny not but that there may be relation between things in their natural subsistencies but I say that is not the relation which I primely and directly behold when I contemplate Truth For first things according to their Natural subsistencies are Temporary and once were not but the relation which I behold is Eternal and was from everlasting and consequently cannot be the relation of things according to their subsistence in Nature Again the Essences of things as to their Natural subsistence may cease to be but the relation which I behold is Immutable and Immortal and will be ever the same Again things as they are in Nature are not even while they are according to that exactness according to which we discern some certain relations to belong to them Thus for instance when I define a right Line to be that which lies equally
secundarily and indirectly for the sake of what it has of the Universal Then again there is Difference as to the Necessity of the Determination as well as to the Primariness of it There is indeed Necessity on both sides but not in like manner We are necessarily determin'd to Love universal good Absolutely and Thoroughly The Scale does not only weigh here but weighs down But we are not determin'd to love any Particular good Absolutely and Thoroughly but only to love it with a Natural Inclination or Velleity And to such a love of it we are as necessarily determin'd as we are to the love of universal good but the Actual Choice of it is not necessary there being no Particular good to the Absolute and Effectual love of which we are invincibly determin'd The Vse of this to Devotion THE Amorousness of Humane Nature as we have here consider'd it contains in it many and great incitements to Devotion For First since the Occasional Cause of our love is Indigence and Emptiness we have great reason to be humble and lowly in Spirit especially considering that we are continually admonish'd of this our Indigence as often as we are Conscious to our selves that we love Again since God is the Principal Efficient Cause of Love and the first mover in all Moral as well as Natural motion it is highly reasonable that he should be Principally loved by us from whom we receive our Love and that we should be mighty careful how we pervert this Divine Impression to any undue object Again since God moves us Directly and Primarily only to himself and since universal good is therefore the Primary and Direct Object of our Love hence it will follow that we ought also to make God the Primary and Direct Object of our Love and that we ought to Love nothing for it self but only in and for God. And lastly since we are necessarily determin'd to love good in general Absolutely and Effectually by such a motion as we can neither resist nor any way Command or Moderate hence it appears how highly necessary it is that we should expllicitly fix all that Love upon God as having all that good in him to which we aspire with a Blind Confuse and Indefinite though Necessary Appetite The Aspiration MY God My Love how absurd a thing is it that an Amorous Creature should be a Proud Creature My Love is occasion'd by my Indigence and I cannot Love but I am minded of that Indigence how ill then would Pride become me having so much reason to be humble and that reason so continually set before me Divine Fountain of Love 't is from thee I receive all my Love and upon whom should I place it but upon thee The fire that descends from Heaven where should it be spent but upon the Altar Thou hast a Right O my God to all my Love for I cannot love thee with any Love but what is thy own O then do thou Regulate this thy own Divine Impression and grant I may never sin against thee by the abuse of that Love which thou hast given me I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth for doing so much towards the guidance and Regulation of my Love as to carry me Directly only to Universal good thereby teaching me that I ought to make thee the only Direct and Primary Object of my Love. My God I will love as thou teachest me the First and Direct Motion of Love shall be towards thee and whatever I love besides thee I will love only in and for thee I thank thee also My God for that thou hast made it so necessary for me to love universal good Thou O God art this universal good and I ought to love thee with the very same Love wherewith I love Happiness it self O that I were as necessarily inclined to love thee as I am to love Happiness I do not desire to be trusted with any Liberty in the Love of thee But this my God I cannot hope for till I shall see thee as thou art O let me therefore love thee to the utmost Capacity of a Free Creature Thou O God hast set no Bounds to my love of thee O let not me set any My God I do not I love thee with all my Heart Soul Mind and Strength Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Contemplation IV. Man consider'd as an Irregular Lover I. HItherto we have considered Man as God made him He was made by God a Creature an Intelligent Creature and an Amorous Creature The two first of which import the Perfection of God actually participated by him in as much as in him he not only lives moves and has his Being but in him has all his Vnderstanding also The last imports in him a tendency to the Divine Perfection which is also an actual Perfection of his own Nature and such as God also has therein implanted And thus far is Man wholely the Divine Wormanship and carries in him the Image of him that made him Let us now consider him as he has made himself and is as it were his own Creature II. Now thus to consider Man is to consider him as an Irregular Lover And to do this fully and to the purpose intended Three things will be requisite First To shew what it is to be an Irregular Lover Secondly Hw prone and apt Man is to Love Irregularly Thirdly That Man himself is the Author of this proneness of his to Irregular Love. III. In relation to the first if it be demanded What it is to be an Irregular Lover I answer in one word That 't is to be a Fool. Sin and Folly Sinner and Fool are words in Scripture of a like signification and are indifferently used one for the other And we are taught in the Schools of Morality that every Sinner is ignorant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Socratical Proverb Indeed Sin has its Birth in Folly and every step of its progress is Folly and its conclusion is in Folly. But this will appear more distinctly from the consideration of these two things First Of the absurdity and madness of the choice which every Irregular Lover makes And Secondly The error and mistake that must necessarily precede in his Judgment before he does or can make it IV. As for the absurdity of his choice 't is the greatest that can be imagined For what is it that he chuses 'T is to do that which he must and certainly will repent of and wish he had never done either in this World for its illness and sinfulness or in the next for its sad effects and consequences 'T is to despise the Authority Power Iustice and Goodness of God 't is to transgress his Commands which are good and equitable and in keeping of which there is present as well as future reward 'T is to act against the Frame of his Rational Nature and the Divine Law of his Mind 't is to disturb the Order and Harmony of the
Light not unto me but to thy greatness and goodness be the Praise and the Glory For 't is thy Word thy Eternal Word that is a Lantern unto my feet and a light unto my paths The Lord is my light and my salvation and it is he that reacheth Man Knowledge I will therefore thank the Lord for giving me warning my reins also chasten me in the night-season Lighten my Darkness thee I beseech O Father of Lights and shine upon me more and more with the Brigthness of thy glory O send out thy light and thy truth that they may lead me and bring me unto thy holy Hill and to thy dwelling Shew the light of thy countenance upon thy servant and teach me thy Statutes O let the Angel of thy Presence go always before me in this my Pilgrimage and grant that I may always attend and give heed to his Counsel and Direction that so walking in thy Light here I may for ever live and for ever rejoyce in the full and open Light of thy Countenance hereafter Amen Contemplation III. Of Man consider'd as an Amorous Creature I. TRuth and good Employ the whole capacity of Man who seems to be purely designed and made for the contemplation of the former and for the desire and fruition of the latter Having therefore consider'd Man as an Intelligent Creature or as he is a Contemplator of Truth I shall now proceed to consider him as an Amorous Creature or as he is a desirer of Good. II. The management of this subject ingages me upon the consideration of these four things First What love or desire is or wherein the general Nature of it does consist Secondly That Love or Desire is in Man or that Man is an Amorous Being Thirdly Whence Man has this Affection or what is the proper cause of it Fourthly and lastly After what manner this Affection has it self or how it stands proportion'd to that cause III. Now as to the First I say that the general nature of Love consists in a motion of the Soul towards good But this I have sufficiently explained in a distinct Treatise upon this occasion to which I shall chuse rather to refer my Reader than to trouble him or my self with needless repetitions IV. As to the Second That there is such a motion in Man I need say no more but that we are intimately conscious of it as much as we are of the motion of our Heart or Lungs or of any other Physical Impression in or about us All therefore that I shall further insist upon shall be the two last things First What is the proper cause of this motion in Man. And Secondly After what peculiar manner this motion has it self or stands proportioned to that cause To these two Enquiries I shall confine my present Contemplation V. As to the cause of this motion in Man which we call Love or Desire I consider that it must be the same that is the cause of all the Physical motion in the Universe Now Physical motion is resolv'd into a double cause an occasional cause and an efficient cause The occasional cause of Physical motion is emptiness or vacuity For in that which is absolutely full there can be no motion because of the Impenetrability of Bodies The efficient cause of Physical motion is either particular or universal The particular is the pressure or impulse of particular Bodies one against another The universal is no other than God himself who in the Creation of the World as the Cartesian Philosophy rightly supposes dispenced a certain portion of motion and rest to matter which he still preserves the same by his Almighty Power So that if one part of matter cease to be moved so much motion as was in that is transferred to another part And if the motion of one decreases or be diminished it is compensated in another And so the same measure of motion is always conserved in the Universe And unless God be supposed to be the Author of motion 't will be impossible to give any account of the Original of it For neither can Bodies move themselves nor can they be moved by one another on to Infinity We must therefore at last come to a first Mover unmoved which is God. And so Aristotle calls God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Mover unmoved VI. And thus in the same Proposition the motion of Love is also resolvable into a double cause an occasional cause an an efficient cause The occasional cause of this motion as of the other is emptiness or vacuity For Love or Desire is founded upon Indigence and Self-insufficiency of the Soul which having not within it self enough to content it is forced to go out of it self for supplies And so Aristotle in his Ethics 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desire is the fulfilling of Indigence And accordingly we find that the more weak and indigent any Person is still the more abounding in desire Thus Children are more profuse in their desires than Adult Persons Women than Men and the Sick more than those who are in Health This is well shadowed forth in Iotham's Parable wherein the Bramble is represented as more ambitious than either the Olive-tree Fig-tree or the Vine For he presently accepted of that Empire which they had all declined Where there is no Indigence there is no room for Desire and accordingly God who is an absolutely full Being can no more admit of desire than a place that is absolutely full can admit of motion VII As to the efficient cause of this Moral motion it is also double as in Physical Motion It is either Particular or Universal The particular efficient cause are particular goods whether Sensual or Intellectual Which act upon the Soul and answer to the pressure or impulse of particular Bodies in Natural motion The Universal efficient cause is the Universal Good or God whom we suppose to have imprinted a certain stock of motion upon the Intellectual World as he did upon the Natural Which he also conserves and maintains by his Omnipotence as he does the other VIII For I consider that there is the same necessity of a first Mover in Moral as there is in Natural motions And upon the very same grounds But now t is impossible that there should be any other first Mover besides God. And therefore whatever intermediate causes there may be of this motion it must at last be resolved into an impression of God upon our Souls whom therefore I call the Vniversal efficient cause of Love. IX And so much for the cause of this motion in Man. I come now to consider the last Enquiry namely after what peculiar manner this motion has it self or how it stands proportioned to its cause I do not mean its occasional cause that being not so properly a cause as a condition but its efficient cause Now this being double Particular and Universal Good the question in more explicite terms will be after what