be-friend you in doing this or that good in particular If we observe this it will be a great help For when we consider in general what time we have for doing good we shall see the most we can reckon to be so very short and that little so very uncertain that we shall not be able to put it under another account than of possible or not improbable We can be sure of none but what is present This will make us very careful to enquire what is the best and most necessary of all the good Works we can do And when we have found that we shall be as diligent to do it with all our might and without delay Whatsoever our Hand finds to do as Solomon expresses it we shall do with our whole Strength He that is well resolved that he can make no certain account of any Time but of that vvhich is vvill certainly be careful to employ that to the best and most necessary Purposes And he that does this has learnt one most excellent Rule for the redeeming his Time Let him also think before-hand vvhat parts of Time do most befriend one good Action suppose Thinking vvhen it may be the fittest season for Speaking and vvhen for other Actions When you have thus considered your Time think hovv you have spent it And if you be sensible of mispence for the future resolve on retrenching all your unaccountable expences of your Time Such as you cannot justify to God and your ovvn Conscience nor to any one that thinks every thing should be put to a good use Having thus used frequent Consideration both of the good Actions you can do and also of the Time you have to do them and prepared your selves 10. Let your next care be to make and keep a serious resolution of filling up every little space of Time vvith doing some Good or other Let it be your constaint care and study to be alvvay doing Good of some kind that no Minutes be laid out on evil Works no Time leak from you in Idleness no Hours be spent on that vvhich has so very little Goodness that it 's doubtful or undiscernable Many of our Businesses afford us abundance of spare Time vvhich a good Mind knovvs hovv to spend in divine Meditations or the like The Naturalists observe that the same Vessel vvhen 't is fill'd vvith Water vvill yet receive Bodies of another Nature And nothing more common than for one Body to incorporate and unite vvith another I am sure there is no Time but may be more employed than it is And very fevv of our good Actions the Goodness of vvhich may not be condensated and vvill admit of others of other kinds and more of the same 11. Be ever inclin'd and resolv'd to do as much good as you can be not content to do a little but design the most do not satisfy your selves to do good only but still aim at doing the best By this means we shall crowd more of Good into out Time The same Ground well husbanded will yield twice as much Corn as if it were in the Hands of a Sluggard And the same Time may bring forth twice as many good Actions if it be well look'd to as otherwise it would Do as many good Actions together as thou canst put as much Good into as little room as is possible Do every Action as well as thou canst make it as good as 't is capable of being 12. Allot the greatest and best and first Portions the most of your Time to the best and most necessary Works those which most tend to Man's greatest Perfection Such are those that are requisite to the getting and keeping a good Mind and Conscience and such a Plight of Body as renders it most useful to the Soul in all wise and vertuous Actions viz. Consideration being conversant in the Scriptures in Prayer in Christian Conference All Acts of Justice and Mercy c. 13. Where there is an Equality on other accounts that one Action is not apparently better than the other Do that to which Season does most invite Things will most assist in the doing it and give Probability of best Success when 't is done The Reason of this Advice is plain because by doing thus we are likely to do most good and in a shorter time than if we set our selves to do that which Opportunity does not so much favour 14. Take the first Time or Season of doing a good Work do not stay in hopes of a better when it may be you may never have another This is wise Counsel in any good Work not to be dilatory to procrastinate But 't is necessary in those that are inwardly and immutably good and eternally obligatory Let no Conceit of present Difficulty put thee off Do not neglect a good Season in an uncertain Expectation of one more convenient Say not to good Works as Felix said to St. Paul Go away for this time when I have a convenient Season Acts 24. 25. 15. Avoid those things which are certain and some of them double mispence of Time Such are these 1. Intemperance Whosoever exceed the Bounds which Nature and Vertue has set to their Appetites of bodily Pleasures they for a space utterly disable themselves from using their Time to any good purpose And so they continue till by Sleep or Abstinence they are recovered to their natural State During which time how many fair Opportunities of doing brave Actions have they lost 2. Immoderate Passion This does so detain the Soul in the Thoughts of some one Object that it is wholly inobservant of any thing else that comes before it Whilst I am over vehemently angry with one I take no notice of another whose Wants would otherwise move my Compassion They do loudly call for my Charity but I am so deaf with the noise of mine own Passion that I cannot hear 3. Wicked Company Such will be saying or doing ill things There is some Danger that the Infection catch hold on me and by sorting with them I become one of them Or if by God's Grace I be preserved from running into the same Excess with them yet I may through Cowardise or Imprudence not rebuke them By suffering Sin on them I may bring it on my self If I do rebuke them it may be to no purpose it is not likely to have any Effect Thus if I be not Company-proof I shall be snared And if I be kept from falling into their Sins yet I have lost some hours which might have been better spent in good Company or in my Closet 4. Courtship and Complement great portions of Time are spent in these Trifles by which I do not mean those Expresses of Civility which become us to use in many cases but when we employ our Minds in studying to speak Words or use Gestures that are wholly insignificant that do not correspond with the Sense of our Souls that have no Truth on which they are bottom'd that are used with a vain with
natural to Man which is corruptive of Men this is a false Notion We must not look on our selves as meerly passive 2. We must not take up with inadequate Thoughts of our selves so as to take a part for the whole to think that we are nothing but Body leads us into Sensuality and a Study to please and serve the Flesh Or on the other hand to imagine that we are in this State nothing but Soul will dispose us to neglect the Body and so we shall be prone to turn either Brutish or Monkish 3. It is not enough that we know our whole selves but we must rid our Minds of confused Imaginations For whilst these remain we do if not prefer the Body before the Mind yet equal them and either set the lower Faculties above the higher or in the same Rank And this as all Disorders are is very pernicious and therefore not the Will of the Good One. For the making all this clear let us consider a particular Instance Suppose a Man perswaded that it is the Will of his Maker that he should endeavour his own Preservation and Perfection So long as he esteems the Depravation of his Nature as a very vehement Desire of bodily Pleasure to be natural he will then study to procure such Delights he will earnestly intend them tho they be indeed the bane of his Pleasure and of his very Being This Man so long as he has these imperfect Thoughts of himself will not look on himself as obliged to mind that part which he considers not as part of himself He will not intend the preservation and perfection of his Mind whilst he looks only on his Body as himself And if he has confused Thoughts of his Nature not distinguishing betwixt his Machine and his Life nor preferring one before the other as he cannot possibly think himself bound to preserve that Order betwixt these two which he understands not So whenever the Body is in danger to be destroyed he will apprehend that the Soul is in the same Hazard And so can never willingly sacrifice his bodily Life whilst he thinks it the same with the higher Life of the Mind Nay 't is much if the Law of Self-Preservation does not prevail against any other And how 〈◊〉 or necessary soever it be for him to die for his Religion on Countrey c. yet he will not chuse it he will not think himself obliged unto it 4. I have directed you to seek for the Will and Law of God in the sense of the Wise and Good and the Agreement of the Community of Mankind with them for 't is not likely they should all be deceived when they all agree that this or that ought or ought not to be done But here I must caution you 1. Not to divide these but to take their Suffrages where they consent I dare not lay so great stress on either singly as I do on both jointly 2. Be careful not to mistake those for Wise and Good who are neither Do not â—â—unt Men wise because they are fortunate and successful which is a common Cheaâ— Neither call Men Good 1. Who only make a shew but are not what they seem nor 〈◊〉 Those that have something which has the Vogue to be Good but is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pharisees 〈…〉 3. Those who are but partially and very imperfect 〈◊〉 Good not so Good as to bear a Denomination which is always taken à parts 〈◊〉 their Ill still weighs it down 3. As I would not in this case lean on the Understanding of the Wise and Vertnous when they think contrarily to the Community so neither would I be concluded from the Opinions of one or of some few against the generality of the Righteous 4. See that it be the unfeigned Sense of their most impartial uncorrupted Judgments which is best known by proposing a matter generally so as that they be not actually concerned in it when no Appetite nor Passion nor Custom does corrupt and bribe them I mean by this that we should observe Men that are and when they are most free from those things which too often obliterate and extinguish the Sense which their Souls have of what is fit and what is not To this let me add That we should do well to take notice of the first thoughts which Men have of these matters which as they are freest and truest so commonly they are the most inward and the very sense of their Minds The Reasons of these Cautions will appear to any one that considers them I need say no more but this to shew their necessity That Men have often thought that to be the Sense of Mankind which was not and have been frequently imposed on under an appearance of Goodness so as to think that to be their Duty which they judged was and were ready to take up every Burden which they laid on them the they required not only more than but contrary to what God required 5. In reference to that way of God's making known his Mind in an extraordinary manner to some and by them to others If I were to speak to those who are Strangers to our holy Scriptures and might have some Enthusiastic Dream as the Alcoran obtruded on them with all the Vogue and Noise of the credulous Multitude I would advise them to look well that the pretended Revelation of the Divine Law be in every respect worthy of that God whose Authority it boastâ—â— 1. That the things therein revealed be such as may beseen the great Author in the Wisdom and Goodness and Holiness of them they bear these Characters of Divinity and every one that sees them may say these are the Laws of the good Creator 2. That the manner of the Publication may not be unbecoming him 3. That they receive some super-human Attestation that something be done which may convince all considering Persons that they have a Divine Author By these things I should detect the Frauds and Forgeries of abundance of Men who have pretended Inspiration and to give us the Laws of Heaven But to us who have examined the Scripture by these Marks and are perswaded of their Divinity I need not insist on these matters My Business is to prevent our mistaking the sence of these Divine Writings That they are abused and miserably wrested by some that receive and rely upon them cannot be doubted by us St. Peter himself one of the inspired Writers complains of some that wrested St. Paul ' s Epistles to their own destruction It concerns us therefore to see that we have the true sence and meaning of these Books As to the understanding the Will of God concerning us let me offer a few Considerations 1. That there is nothing in the Bible to which God obliges us that is repugnant to the Law of Nature and the Reason of our Mind 2. He has enjoin'd us nothing but what is pursuant of the End for which he made us that is our Perfection 3. The Scripture does
there is no interfering betwixt this and other Duties which I have an especial regard to lest whilst I am exhorting to the obedience of one Command I should occasion the neglect of another and perhaps a greater I shall only mention the Mistakes which some may have of which they may rid themselves by what has been said 1. One Mistake is that they should so do their own Business as to allow none else to do any thing for them to use the Service of none to endeavour to have need of no Man to live without the help of any But this cannot be the Apostles meaning because the Scriptures in many places and the Apostle in divers of his Epistles supposes and allows and gives Directions both to Masters and Servants It was a piece of Cynical Morosness in Diegenes not to have a Servant and no way agreeable with the State in which we are nor with those Customs of the World which Experience has confirmed to be good and all Laws have approved I know there is a great vanity in many who devolve all their weighty Business wherein their own Care is most necessary upon their Servants but I meddle not with that now 2. Another Mistake may be That we be so intent on our own Matters as not to regard other Men's This was St. Paul's Complaint that All minded their own things Phil. 2. 21. And it is the Law of Christ that we bear one anothers Burdens Gal. 6. 2. The Apostle's Intent was to take Men off from vain Curiosity about from unnecessary medling in other Men's matters But when Humanity and Kindness Compassion and Civility when Justice it self calls us out of our Houses and takes us from our Employments to help our Brethren in managing their Affairs we are not in this case to excuse our selves under pretence that we are doing our own Business If there be danger of a Vacuum in the natural World the next Bodies will as some Philosophers speak against their Natures remove out of their Places to prevent it the same must be done by us in the Moral World But indeed it is not against Nature that we should do thus For by Nature we are made to promote the Common Good not our own only but other Men's and in the Explication I have shewn that that is every Man 's own Business which belongs to that Place or Station in which he is in relation to other Men. His proper Business has in the very Notion of it a reference to others 3. After what has been said none sure will think themselves excused from the Common Works of all Men because they must do their own proper Business that because I am to do that which is my particular Work I may therefore neglect that which is every ones but mine no less then theirs The works of our general and particular Calling as Divines express it consist and agree and are subordinate to each other Every Man's business is to help forward the good of the World but that which is mine and yours in particular is to do it in this or that was as our Place and Office requires Do your particular Business but do not think you may leave your Common undone On the other hand 4. None must think they have done what is here enjoyned because they have done the Common Work of all Men. This Mistake began in the Primitive Times and continues till ours There were some then who thought themselves exempted from Earthly Masters by their being Servants of Christ And how many are there now who imagine that if they fast and pray and read the Bible and do those things which every Man in the World ought to do they have then done all but they have something more to do still in their Families or Shops or Fields in the Towns and Kingdoms and Churches of which they are Members 5. Nor let any so mistake the Apostle as if he forbad them at any time to rest from their Labour or that all manner of Diversion or Curiosity must now become unlawful No such matter there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Câ—ssation from Work which is not only lawful but necessary Curiosities and Diversions are natural and may be not only innocent but useful and so far from hindring us in our Business that they may help us in it 6. Nor will any I suppose Infer that every Man is bound to be a Mâ—chanich because St. Paul adds working with your own handâ— c. For first If he had respect to manual Labour primarily and immediately when he required them to do their own Business yet not only 2dly If he had respected that only yet it cannot be proved that he intended hereby to oblige all but only those indigent Persons to whom he had a more particular reference and whose Employment was of that Nature 3dly If he had a reference to all yet he never intended to oblige then farther than would be seemly among the Heathens and that they might not be so poor and unjust as to eat other Mens Bread when they did nothing towards a Compensation nothing that would turn to account answerable to the Meat they eat Indeed he obliged them and us all if our condition were such as that we stood in need of any thing for the support and Comfort of our Lives rather to work with our Hands stoop to the lowest and most laborious Drudgeries supposing us able to undergo them than continue indigent or in any unâ—â—coming ways to liâ—e on others This Obâ—iâ—ation on supposition that our Condition requires it I do acknowledge is Universal and reaches us all But that absolutely and without any respect to this all Men are obliged to be Mechanicks I cannot see or that the Apostle intended only working with 〈◊〉 own Hands However Certainly the Wisdom of those People who have so great a paiâ— of the World in Subjection may deserve our consideration and particularly this Practice of theirs For even their Soveraign Princes are brought up to some Mechanick Works and probably our Lord Jesus himself was in his younger years excercised in the Trade of his supposed Father They look not on this as inconsistent with their Grandeur nor does any decline it because â—e is a Studentâ— they know it conducts very much to their Health and is no way â—â—becoming those that have strong Bodies It may also be a Refuge against a Storm the over-râ—lingâ— Providence may deprive Men of what they have and then it would â—e much better to Work then to Beg. But it is enough to have mentioned these Mistakes I must not descend to explain what every Man 's particular Office requires of him nor shall I need for every one is the most likely to know what he ought to do in his Place I shall therefore content my self with what I have said in the general Explication Having then resolved that whatever good Work it is of which a Man is naturally capable and the Divine Providence has
and as his Soul so his Name is perished before his Body No Man was ever esteem'd for sleeping nor is a Bed but a Field the Place of Honour Have the trifling busy Medlers ever been known to gain a Reputation No they have constantly been the Subject of Reproaches and Scorn How are they exposed by the Descriptions that are given of them Saith one Est Ardelionum Romae quadâ—â— natio trepidè concursans occupata in oâ—â—o gratis anhelans multâ— agendo nihil agens sibi mâ—lesta aliis odiosissima But I stay too long on these lesser Advantages Let us go on to consider what benefit accrues to the Soul by Mens diligence in their Callings and minding their own proper Business This ministers both to our Vertue and to our Quiet First To our Vertue 1. I need not say what an Hedg this is to Vertue from how many Temptations Business secures us to which we are exposed by Idleness and Medling 2. By this our Understandings are preserved The idle Man loses his for want of Exercise he has only some fluttering Conceits and they are for the most part superficial but he can have no orderly Series of Thoughts And the busy Intruder into other Mens Business the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Thoughts are so distracted that he loses his Soul in a Crowd in too much Business as the other did in too little He has no vacancy no leisure for Reflection but is alway going out of himself 3. This is an Occasion for the Exercise of many Vertues Every Man 's particular â—â—siness is the Stage the Theatre in which 〈◊〉 Vertue is acted and seen the Sphere in which he moves and shines He has here an Opportunity to exercise his Prudence and his Justice his Temperance and his Patience And it is a kind of Nursery from whence they may be transplanted into a more publick Employment In the best times of the Christian Church they that were admitted into the Priesthood were such as had first ruled their own Houses well and after they had discharged the Office of a Deacon so as to be approved were then made Presbyters And never did the Roman Government prosper more than when they fetch'd their Dictator from the Plow 4. This will help to perfect Vertue For this brings it into Act and it is never perfect till then Whilst it stays in Thoughts and Desires in Designs and Resolutions it iâ— an Embryo it is not compleat till it come forth in action 5. This will help to preserve a Man from entertaining wild and unpracticable Conceits in Religion from running out into airy and useless Speculations to fond Conceits and groundless Imaginations which are usually the Products of idle Contemplatists and are never confuted till they be brought to Practice which is a Touchstone to try them For whatever Mens Thoughts are in their Retirement if they be not practical or do not assist us in our Practices they are not true nor good Secondly As doing our own Business ministers to our Vertue so likewise to our Quiet I appeal to Experience if it be not and to Reason if it must not be so that he who faithfully dischargeth the Duties of his Employment will be at peace within himself when the idle Person is tormented with the Conscience of his Neglect and the Over-busy is distracted with the Multiplicity of his Business and the Medler is disquieted with the needless Hazards he runs and with the sense of vain and hopeless Attempts It is with many of these that are so busy abroad as it is with some Travellers who when they are in other Countries are unquiet because they are not in their own and when they are there they are uneasy because they are not in Travel So these Men are restless because they do not their own Business and when they are about that they are so used to variety and rambling that they have no quiet There are three things which greatly disquiet Men 1. When they have no one setled fixed End which they prosecute 2. When they propound to themselves an End which they cannot attain 3. When they are in so close a pursuit of their Design that they have no Rest or Time to consider what they are doing or whereabout they are Nor is this well-guided Industry beneficial to a Man's self alone but to others also his Family his Neighbourhood are the better for it If he be in publick place the Church the Kingdom in which he is are served by his well-regulated Diligence On the contrary how many how fatal are those Mischiefs which he who neglects his own and thrusts himself into other Mens Businesses brings upon Families upon Towns Churches nay and whole Kingdoms when the Tradesmen will not stay in their Shops but must leap into the Pulpit c. I need not be particular but I will represent this by such Similitudes as these Whilst the River keeps its Course in the Channel it is pleasant it doth no harm the Stream will carry Vessels from one place to another and the Water is preserved but if it leap over the Banks spread it self all over Fields of Corn it does great Mischief and is lost in the Ground If the Fire keep in the Chimney its proper place it is pleasant and useful but if it move into every part of the Room and every Place of the House it then proves mischievous The Poets have represented the Folly and Mischief of busying one's self in other Mens Affairs in Phaeton who would needs mount his Father's Chariot undertake a thing in which he had no Skill but what came of it Himself was thrown out of Heaven and the World had almost been set on fire To come nearer In a Ship how necessary is it for every Man to mind his Business how dangerous if he neglect How careful is every Man to do his own If any one fail it may cost his own Life and all theirs that are with him Of so great efficacy is this that they are preserved by it in the midst of Waves and Winds and Rocks In an Army every Souldier must observe his Orders must keep his Rank if he do not if he will not obey but give Command by this he hazards his own Life and endangers the Loss of the whole Army I add but one more How much the Community depends on every Man's doing his Office his own proper Work appears by the natural Body in which if any one part fail in its Function the Whole suffers and if the Body be kept in a good state of Health every Member in it must do that for which by Nature it was fitted I need make no Application nor add any more on this Particular for there is no Man of any Observation but sees how much the Quiet of Families of Neighbours nay and of Kingdoms depends on this regular orderly Industry For who are the Tale-bearers the Persons that cause Anger in Families that do the Devil's Work in fowing Discord
those Works to â—â—â—fection which they begin whilst they 〈◊〉 old for most of them are such as reâ—â—â—re a considerable time for the doing them I am sure that is such which we have here mentioned III. That in which the Child must be train'd is his Way so 't is in the Hebrew which we render the Way he should go that is in the course and kind of his Life and Practice in what he should do all the days of his Life let him begin to walk in that way let him be initiated in the Work and Business of his Life let him begin beâ—â—mes what he should always be doing His Way i. e. in that Practice and Life for which he was made in the doing those Works for which his Nature was design'd by his great and wise Creator and for which he is by peculiar Endowments and Abilities Temper and Disposition as well as by his Condition and Circumstances fitted and capacitated This I take to be the true meaning of that Phrase His Way which implies two things 1. The Way that 's common to all Men the Way of Man of every Man every one endow'd with humane Nature and Faculâ—ieâ— 2. That Way which is peculiar to this or that or the other Man that for which by his Genius as we say by his Temper and Inclination or by his external Condition he is most adapted and fit and as it were set apart That is by Divines commonly called our general Calling this our particular That Way which is common to all and is the Way of every Man is the doing those Works which every one that has the Nature of a Man is made and furnished to do I need not mention those of the Body which are common to us with Beasts But the other which are more peculiar to Man and belong as it were to him are Knowledg and Choice and keeping good Order among all our Faculties pursuing the Inclinations we have to our own Perfection and Happiness and to help others to be in as good a condition as our selves are or would be To be devout towards God To be just and honest true and faithful and charitable to Men To do that universally which we think to be fit and right which upon the largest knowledg we can get we judg to be good To do no Evil and to do all the Good we can possibly This is the Way of every Man That which is this or that Man's Way besides is to be employed in this or that Trade according as he is fitted the Husbandry Merchandise Mechanick or Liberal Arts the Study of Physick Law Divinity as his own Inclination and Capacity and the Opportunity he has to attain to any of these shall direct Tho we cannot read it in the Faces of Children yet in their Humour and Carriage we may conjecture what they will be fit for Now whosoever takes a survey of the Nature of Man as he will discover it was the Contrivance and Work of great Wisdom and Goodness so from an Observation of the several Faculties and Capacities Inclinations and Appetites Instinct and Saâ—â—city of Mankind he will conclude which is the Way in which he should go which is the Way of Man the Life that is suitable to such a Nature as ours is For he will be fully resolved in this that it must be the natural Exercise and Perfection of those Powers the filling those Capacities in the Pursuit of those Inclinations the Regulation and Satisfaction of those Appetites the Observance of those Instincts and giving heed to such Presages and Conjectures as the Mind by its Nimbleness and Sagacity makes If these be considered 1. Severally and a part 2. Jointly as they are all united and consisting together they make up the whole human Nature As they consist with and are in subordination to each other they will give us a clear view of the whole Way or Life of Man all that he was made for by his great Creator That which will help us to a more distinct knowledg of this will be to compare our Nature with the Brutish which is below us and the Angelic which is above us We partake of both Natures we have the Faculties and Appetites both of Angels and of Brutes From hence I infer That if we live wholly as either meer Animals or as pure Spirits we live not agreeably to our Nature and State We must on the one hand raise up our selves above the low Life of Sensitives and yet we must not foar so high as the Life of Spirits devested of Flesh and Blood That Way is too low and this too high the Way of Man lies in the middle betwixt these two We must not sink down into and yet we must comply with our earthly fleshly animal State And indeed here is the great Difficulty to see that these two Lifes do not clash and interfere but conspire with and be serviceable and friendly to each other to bring down Heaven to Earth and to advance Earth to Heaven as much as is possible This is the Skill this is Wisdom indeed that the Soul condescend to the Condition and Services of this lower Life of Flesh and Sense and yet not lose not forgo its own spiritual Life To come down from and yet still to be in Heaven whilst we are on Earth To behave our selves like Men in the Flesh and yet at the same time to act as becomes those who are endow'd with spiritual divine Souls this is the way of Man in contradistinction to the way or life of brute Animals Quest But how is this Life to be attained What must we do that we may neither sink below our selves and become Brutes nor yet stretch our selves beyond our Line and live like the Spirits which are not in conjunction with earthly Bodies Answ Let us be in a sincere and constant pursuit of that which is and when we are fittest to judg we think to be best This will be as the Polar Star to direct our Course If we mind this we shall steer safely betwixt the two Rocks we shall neither depress the Soul nor neglect the Body we shall advance Understanding and Liberty and all the rational and higher Faculties And this will be done without prejudice to Sense and the Animal Life and Powers If we constantly aim at doing that which is best which is that to which by our very Natures we are framed we shall then make more account of our Soul than of our Body more account of Understanding and Liberty and Conscience than of Sense and Animality we shall bring the Body into subjection and keep the Animal serviceable to the Mind And when they are once come to this which is the true natural State and tends to the preservation and perfection of them both as well as conduces to that of the World without then the Interests are reconciled they are all one they combine and conspire together the Soul makes much of its good Servant the Body and the
to understand by Nature the Corruptions and Depravations of it So many that declaim against Nature interpret that Phrase 1 Cor. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which should be rendred the animal Man the Man that lives the Life of a mere Animal one that hath not the Reason and Understanding of a Man By Nature therefore I understand here 1. Nature in General 2. Particularly that part of humane Nature which is common to Man with inferior Torts of Beings 3. That wherein he differs from and excells them and agrees with those that are better 1. As for Nature in general it is observable that all Beings do by their motions and alterations conspire to the preserving of the Universe that they do not more endeavour their own Good and Continuance than the Good of the Whole Nay many times they leave their own proper Tendencies and seem to neglect as it were their private Concerns to promote the more Publick and Universal This is so obvious to every Observation and there are so many Instances of it in both animate and inanimate Bodies that I need not insist upon it I shall only mind you of another almost as common as this that Animals of the same kind are loving and helpful to each other and do not only associate and herd together but will also expose themselves to danger for their mutual Defence and other good Offices But I go on further and more particularly 2. To that part of Nature which is in Man common to him with other Animals his Body how does every Part minister to other and all of them conspire to preserve and perfect the whole How is Nourishment conveyed from one to another through the whole Body And when it is thus with it the Body is in its natural good State of Health If it be otherwise if one Part draw all the Nourishment to it self it is then diseased and this tends to the Dissolution of the whole and consequently of that Part it self which does not distribute Add to this what the Naturalists have observ'd that no Passion is more agreeable to Man's Body than Love which is the Principle of doing Good that nothing contributes more to his Health nor is a more certain Argument of it than Good-will that the very Body of Man is never in better State than when he is most enclined to do good Offices And that the Motions which maintain Life are then most equally vigorous when we are in the Exercise of Charity and Compassion 3. This is no less congruous to the Nature of Man as distinguished from all other Animals it is agreeable to the Mind and Reason of Man Hear the Sence of an honest Heathen which is the Voice of Nature not of Revelation Saith he to his Friend Qui tibi amicus est scito hunc omnibus amicum esse Again Non sum uni angulo natus Patria mea est totus hic Mundus Nor was it only one but many of the Philosophers that called themselves Citizens of the World not that they forgot their Native Country but they remembred their Relation to the whole They look'd on themselves in the same order to the Universe which others do to the Town where they were born and dwell Again Posterorum res ago He did not content himself to be a Benefactor to the present Age but would take care also that those that should be born after should receive advantage by his Labours and so they have Lucan says of Cato and as many as speak of him say the same Hi mores haec dura immota Catonis Secta fuit servare modum finemque tenere Naturamque sequi Patriaeque impendere vitam Non sibi sed toti genitum se credere Mundo Thus we see Nature taught the very Heathens And I do the more willingly insist on this Argument from Nature because I cannot think that the God of Nature being also the Author of our Religion should make this inconsistent with that or destructive of it And because by this means we shall have a great assistance both in the understanding of our Duty and in making us willing to do it Had this been duly observ'd Men had never sacrificed their Sons to Moloch And if this be received one of the greatest Objections against our being Religious vanishes In general then If it be natural for the Soul of Man before it be corrupted with any of those Passions that are the off-spring of Folly to observe and be affected with the welfare and ill State of others besides it self If it be displeased and unquiet and griev'd when it goes ill with them and joyed and delighted to see them in good Plight then it 's natural to it to will and endeavour their good and welfare The Understanding of Man is a large and unlimited kind of thing it reaches forth it self to all Beings and views them and wherever it sees Good it loves and desires the continuance and when it observes Evil it 's troubled and wishes it were not and will endeavour it may not be And if this be natural to the Mind of Man unaltered by wicked Practices and foolish Passions then it is natural to it to do good universally and then certainly to all Mankind Again it 's natural to the Soul of Man to love Pleasure and to pursue it and to be averse from whatsoever displeases it Now nothing can be the object of Pleasure but Good or if any Evil be 't is only in order to what is Good and as it serves that i. e. as it is good in Reality No Man can be delighted to see any Beings in an ill Plight or if he be he is in an unnatural state himself and his Soul is corrupted More particularly and distinctly If we understand by natural that which proceeds from an inward Principle and which tends to preserve and perfect Nature in general and particularly that which is a Conclusion deriv'd from Principles of Reason and clear Discourses for that 's natural to Man which is rational then I will use this Method to evince that all this which is here required is agreeable to Nature in general and to humane Nature in Particular 1st It 's natural for us to be acting If we either conform to the rest of the Beings we live with in the World or act agreeably to our own Natures we must be doing The best Philosophers assure us that in the vast Universe there is not one little Particle that is idle but the World and all in it are in uncessant motion tho' some Bodies that move more slowly and less discernibly than others are said to be at rest Whether we climb up into Heaven or dive into the Sea or dig into the Bowels of the Earth we shall find all Beings employed and busy nothing idle The Heavenly Bodies are whirling about perpetually the Waters cease not to run and in the Caverns of the Earth which might be imagined the dens of Sleep yet the Mines are made And
this I dare encounter the Sensualist who seeks for Delight from brutish Gratifications or the malicious angry Man who expects to have it from Revenge or the selfish and contracted Man who pursues it in ways of Self-love and all the Pleasure he hath is in doing Good to himself To all these I can shew greater and better purer and more lasting Pleasures in the Exercise of an universal Love Here 's Pleasure that will be constantly fresh and new no satiety no clogging The Sensualist hath the pleasure of a Brute in his Enjoyments the malicious Man hath the pleasure of Divels the selfish of the Sons of Earth but the Man of Benignity and unbounded Love hath the delight of those that are Heaven-born the Joys of Angels and partakes of the greatest Pleasure of God himself for that undoubtedly is to do good I have now shewn how much the temper and practice of universal Goodness tends to make us Knowing Religious Vertuous Quiet and Joyful which are the greatest and most desirable Perfections of the Soul of Man But perhaps some may set a greater value on things less excellent and will be more sensible of what concerns their Body than their Mind and of that which is without than that which is within them Now therefore that I may engage such Men also if it be possible to a Life of Beneficence and that I may fully discover the manifold Vertues of a benign Nature and Life I will consider those also that are of less Importance which relate to our Body and Good-name and Estate but yet ought to have some place in our account And lastly how Instrumental this must be to begin and continue and confirm Friendships which in all these and the other respects before-mentioned are hugely serviceable to us 1. Universal Beneficence conduces to long Life Psal 34. 12. David asks this Question What Man is he that desires Life and loves Days that he may see Good Not that he thought there were any that did not but therefore he proposes this in form of Question the better to excite their attention and to make us all regard what he would say which is to direct us what Course to take that we may attain our desire and that is 1. Keep thy Tongue from Evil and thy Lips from speaking Guile 2. Depart from Evil and do Good seek Peace and pursue it This is the Direction the Scripture gives to preserve Life and we find this very passage cited in 1 Pet. 3. 10. And that we may be assured that by doing Good is meant Beneficence see how it is brought in there as an Argument against rendring Evil for Evil at the 9th Verse Not rendring Evil for Evil nor Railing for Railing but contrariwise Blessing c. and then follows at the tenth Verse For he that will love Life and see good Days c. Reason and Experience will say the same There are we all know two sorts of Enemies to Mans Life one is within the other without him Those within are the Diseases which as they arise from other causes so very often I know not whether I should say for the most part arise from disorderly Passions I know not any better general Prescription for the preventing or curing those Diseases that arise from ill temper of the Blood and other Humours than to keep the Mind in a benign disposition and willingness to do good Offices For there is a great Sympathy betwixt Soul and Body and experience and observation shews us that when the Soul is thus affected it gives and continues alacrity and briskness to those motions in which both Life and Health consist And for those that arise from Passions which are contrary to this universal good Affection or proceed from want of it such as Anger Malice Envy great Sorrow and excess of Self-love or a too particular and contracted Affection what ill effects these have on our Bodies and what Distempers they cause I leave it to Observation and Sense to testifie But we are sure that those sudden changes of Colour trembling of the Flesh palpitation of the Heart stopping of the Breath Sighing Inflaming our Heaviness distorting of the Face and Eyes which are so often consequent on those are very ill Symptoms And the best way to prevent them and all the dangers they threaten us with is to preserve in our Minds an Inclination to do good universally For this will extirpate Malice and destroy Envy it will moderate Anger and not suffer us to be Peevish it will set us at liberty from a too particular Affection and ease our Griefs and thus prevent very many of those Diseases which we lie under for want of due regulating our Passions Nor will this seem strange if we consider that Physicians when they advise a Method for preserving Health caution us about our Passions that they be kept in order I have before shewn that to be universally Benevolent is the best and perhaps only way to govern them and if so 't is evident that it must have a great Influence on Life and that which is the Life of Life without which Death would be more eligible Health The causes of Man's Death that are without him are Men or other things such as infectious Vapours in the Air Famines the ill Qualities of his Food or other such like As for Men Tully tells us it was the Opinion of one Dicaearchus that many more were slain by Men than died by Diseases or any other way The truth of my Discourse depends not on the certainty of his Conjecture all that I shall infer is that those great numbers that die by the hands of Men and before their time come by this means might have had their Lives lengthened For if the Law of Universal Love were observed by all then Quarrels and Contentions War and Fighting Stabbing and Poyson would have no place But there is no better Preservative against infectious Diseases than the Vertue and good Disposition of the Mind of which the Sum is Benignity Therefore Histories tell us that in that lamentable Plague at Athens which was so contagious and mortal yet Socrates escaped and this was ascribed to his Vertue and excellent Disposition in general particularly to his Temperance which I have shewn how it as well as all other Vertues derives from Universal Love One observation will very much assure us of the Truth of what I have said wherein I will appeal to the experience of every one it is this That an unwillingness to be doing Good is for the most part if not always accompanied with indisposition of Body and that when we enjoy the best Health we commonly feel our selves in the greatest disposition to Beneficence For the Soul and Body as in other matters so here mutually operate on each other Whence I infer That as Benignity and Goodness in the Mind contribute to the Health of the Body so the good plight of the Body inclines the Soul to Good-will And for the other Perfections