Mighty Hero our whole Isle survey Advance thy Standard conquer all the way Let nothing but the Sea controul The progress of thy active Soul. Act like a pious Courteous ghost And to mankind retrieve what 's lost With thy victorious charitable hand Point out the hidden Treasures of our Land. Envy or Ignorance do what they will Thou hast a Blessing from the Muses Hill. Great be thy Spirit as thy Work 's divine Shew thou thy Maker's Praise we Poets will sing thine The Exchange I. WHen Corydon had lost his Liberty And felt the Tyrant's heavy chain He swore could he but once get free He 'd never no he 'd never love again II. But stay dull shepherd if you quench your fire Too dear you 'l buy your Liberty Let not such vigorous heats expire I 'l teach thee how to love and yet be free III. Take bright Vrania to thy Amorous breast To her thy flaming heart resign Void not the room but change the guest And let thy sensual love commence Divine IV. The Swain obey'd and when he once had known This fore-tast of the joys above He vow'd tho he might be his own Yet he would ever yes he 'd ever love The Refinement I. WEll 't was a hard Decree of Fate My Soul to Clip thy pinions so To make thee leave thy pure Ethereal state And breathe the Vapours of this Sphere below Where he that can pretend to have Most Freedom 's still his body's slave II. Was e're a Substance so divine With such an unlike Consort joyn'd Did ever things so wide so close combine As massy Clods and Sun-beams Earth and mind When yet two Souls can ne'r agree In Friendship but by parity III. Unequal match what wilt thou do My Soul to raise thy Plumes again How wilt thou this gross vehicle subdue And thy first Bliss first Purity obtain Thy Consort how wilt thou refine And be again all o're divine IV. Fix on the Soveraign Fair thy eye And kindle in thy breast a flame Wind up thy Passions to a pitch so high Till they melt down and rarify thy frame Like the great Prophet then aspire Thy Chariot will like his be Fire To Melancholy I. Mysterious Passion dearest Pain Tell me what wondrous Charms are these With which thou dost torment and please I grieve to be thy slave yet would not Freedom gain No Tyranny like thine we know That half so cruel e're appeard And yet thou' rt Loved as well as Fear'd Perhaps the only Tyrant that is so II. Long have I been thy Votary Thou 'st led me out to woods and groves Made'st me despise all other Loves And give up all my Passions all my Soul to thee Thee for my first Companion did I chuse First even before my darling Muse And yet I know of thee no more Than those who never did thy shrine adore III. Thou' rt Mystery and Riddle all Like those thou inspirest thou lov'st to be In darkness and obscurity Even learned Athens thee an unknown God might call Strange contrarys in thee combine Both Hell and Heaven in thee meet Thou greatest bitter greetest sweet No Pain is like thy Pain no Pleasure too like thine IV. 'T is the grave doctrine of the Schools That Contrarys can never be Consistent in the high'st degree But thou must stand exempt from their dull narrow Rules And yet 't is said the brightest mind Is that which is by thee refined See here a greater Mystery Thou makest us wise yet ruin'st our Philosophy The Discontent I. NOt that it is not made my Fate To stand upon the dangerous heights of state Nor that I cannot be possest Of th' hidden treasures of the East Nor that I cannot bathe in Pleasures Spring And rifle all the sweets which Natures gardens bring Do I repine my Destiny I can all these despise as well as you deny II. It shall not discompose my mind Though not one star above to me prove kind Their influence may sway the Sea But make not the least change in me They neither can afflict my state nor bless Their greatest gifts are small and my desires are less My Vessel bears but little sail What need I then a full and swelling gale III. And yet I 'm discontented too Perhaps ye aspiring Souls as much as you We both in equal trouble live But for much different Causes grieve You that these gilded joys you can't obtain And I because I know they 're empty all and vain You still pursue in hopes to find I stand and dare not flatter on my mind IV. This Tree of Knowledg is I see Still fatal to poor man's felicity That which yields others great repast Can't please my now enlightn'd tast Before tho I could nothing solid find Yet still with specious Prospects I could please my mind Now all at farthest I can see Is one perpetual Round of Vanity Beauty I. BEst Object of the Passion most divine What excellence can Nature shew In all her various store below Whose Charms may be compar'd to thine Even Light it self is therefore fair Only because it makes thy Sweets appear II. Thou streaming Splendour of the face diviue What in the Regions above Do Saints like thee adore or love What excellence is there like thine I except not the Divinity That great and Soveraign good for thou art He. III. He 's Beauty's vast Abyss and boundless Sea The Primitive and greatest Fair All his Perfections Beauty's are Beauty is all the Deity Some streams from this vast Ocean flow And that is all that pleases all that 's Fair below IV. Divine Perfection who alone art all That various Scene of Excellence Which pleases either mind or sense Tho thee by different names we call Search Nature through thou still wilt be The Sum of all that 's good in her Variety V. Love that most active Passion of the mind Whose roving Flame does traverse o're All Nature's good and reach for more Still to thy magic Sphere's confined 'T is Beauty all we can desire Beauty 's the native Mansion of Love's Fire VI. Those Finer Spirits who from the Croud retire To study Nature's artful Scheme Or speculate a Theorem What is 't but Beauty they admire And they too who enamour'd are Of Vertues face love her because she 's Fair. VII No empire Soveraign Beauty is like thine Thou reign'st unrivall'd and alone And universal is thy throne Stoics themselves to thee resign From Passions be they ne're so free Something they needs must love and that is Thee VIII He whom we all adore that mighty He Owns thy supream dominion And happy lives in thee alone We 're blest in him and He in thee In thee he 's infinitely blest Thou art the inmost Center of his Rest IX Pleas'd with thy Form which in his essence shin'd Th' Almighty chose to multiply This Flower of his Divinity And lesser Beautys soon design'd The unform'd Chaos he remov'd Tinctured the Masse with thee and then it lov'd X. But
do not thou My Soul fixt here remain All Streams of Beauty here below Do from that immense Ocean flow And thither they should lead again Trace then these Streams till thou shall be At length o'rewhelm'd in Beauty's boundless Sea. Love. I. IMperial Passion Sacred fire When we of meaner Subjects sing Thou tune'st our Harps thou dost our Souls inspire 'T is Love directs the Quill 't is Love strikes every string But where 's another Deity T' inspire the man that sings of thee II. W' are by mistaken Chymists told That the most active part of all The various Compound cast in nature's mould Is that which they Mercurial spirit call But sure 't is Love they should have said Without this even their Spirit is Dead III. Love 's the great Spring of Nature's wheel Love does the Masse pervade and move What ' scapes the Sun's does thy warm influence feel The Universe is kept in tune by Love. Thou Nature giv'st her Sympathy The Center has its Charm from thee IV. Love did great Nothing 's barren womb Impregnate with his genial fire From this first Parent did all creatures come Th' Almighty will'd and made all by Desire Nay more among the Sacred Three The third subsistence is from thee V. The Happiest Order of the Blest Are those whose Tide of Love's most high The bright Seraphic Host who 're more possest Of good because more like the Deity T' him they advance as they improve Their noble heat for God is love VI. Shall then a Passion so Divine Stoop down and Mortal Beautys know Nature's great Statute Law did ne're design That Heavenly fire should kindle here below Let it ascend and dwell above The proper Element of Love. The Consummation A Pindarique Ode I. THe rise of Monarchys and their long weighty fall My Muse outsoars she proudly leaves behind The Pomps of Courts she leaves our little All To be the humble Song of a less reaching Mind In vain I curb her tow'ring flight All I can here present's too small She presses on and now has lost their sight She flies and hastens to relate The last and dreadful Scene of Fate Nature's great solemn Funeral I see the mighty Angel stand Cloath'd with a Cloud and Rain-bow round his head His right foot on the Sea his other on the Land He lifted up his dreadful arm and thus he said By the mysterious great Three-one Whose Power we fear and Truth adore I swear the Fatal Thred is spun Nature shall breath her last and Time shall be no more The Ancient Stager of the Day Has run his minutes out and number'd all his way The parting Isthmus is thrown down And all shall now be overflown Time shall no more her under-current know But one with great Eternity shall grow Their streams shall mix and in one Circling chanel flow II. He spake Fate writ the Sentence with her Iron pen And mighty Thunderings said Amen What dreadful sound 's this strikes my ear 'T is sure th' Arch-angel's trump I hear Nature's great Passing-bell the only Call Of God's that will be heard by all The Universe takes the alarm the Sea Trembles at the great Angel's sound And roars almost as loud as he Seeks a new channel and would fain run under-ground The Earth it self does no less quake And all throughout down to the Center shake The Graves unclose and the deep sleepers there awake The Sun 's arrested in his way He dares not forward go But wondring stands at the great hurry here below The Stars forget their laws and like loose Planets stray See how the Elements resign Their numerous charge the scatter'd Atoms home repair Some from the Earth some from the Sea some from the Air They know the great alarm And in confus'd mixt numbers swarm Till rang'd and sever'd by the Chymistry divine The Father of Mankind's amaz'd to see The Globe too narrow for his Progeny But 't is the closing of the Age And all the Actors now at once must grace the Stage III. Now Muse exalt thy wing be bold and dare Fate does a wondrous Scene prepare The Central fire which hitherto did burn Dull like a Lamp in a moist clammy Urn Fann'd by the breath divine begins to glow The Fiends are all amaz'd below But that will no confinement know Breaks through its Sacred Fence and plays more free Than thou with all thy vast Pindarique Liberty Nature does sick of a strong Fever lye The fire the subterraneous Vaults does spoil The Mountains sweat the Sea does boil The Sea her mighty Pulse beats high The waves of fire more proudly rowl The Fiends in their deep Caverns howl And with the frightful Trumpet mix their hideous cry Now is the Tragic Scene begun The Fire in triumph marches on The Earth's girt round with flames and seems another Sun. IV. But whither does this lawless Judgment roam Must all promiscuously expire A Sacrifice in Sodom's fire Read thy Commission Fate sure all are not thy due No thou must save the vertuous Few But where 's the Angel guardian to avert the doom Lo with a mighty Host he 's come I see the parted Clouds give way I see the Banner of the Cross display Death's Conquerour in pomp appears In his right hand a Palm he bears And in his looks Redemption wears Th' illustrious glory of this Scene Does the despairing Saints inspire With Joy with Rapture and desire Kindles the higher life that dormant lay within Th' awaken'd vertue does its strength display Melts and refines their drosâ—y Clay New-cast into a pure Aethereal frame They fly and mount aloft in vehicles of flame Slack here my Muse thy roving wing And now the world 's untuned let down thy high-set string Freedom I. I Do not ask thee Fate to give This little span a long reprieve Thy pleasures here are all so poor and vain I care not hence how soon I 'm gone Date as thou wilt my time I shan't complain May I but still live free and call it all my own II. Let my sand slide away apace I care not so I hold the glass Let me my Time my Books my Self enjoy Give me from cares a sure retreat Let no impertinence my hours employ That 's in one word kind Heaven â—et me ne're be great III. In vain from chains and fetters free The great man boasts of Liberty He 's pinnion'd up by formal rules of state Can ne're from noise and dust retire He 's haunted still by Crouds that round him wait His lot's to be in Pain as that of Fools t' admire IV. Mean while the Swain has calm repose Freely he comes and freely goes Thus the bright Stars whose station is more high Are fix'd and by strict measures move While lower Planets wanton in the sky Are bound to no set laws but humoursomly rove To his Muse I. COme Muse let 's cast up our Accounts and see How much you are in Debt to me You 've reign'd thus long the Mistress of
have done But he to whom as chief was given The whole Militia of Heaven That Mighty He Declines all Guards for his defence But that of his inseparable Innocence And quietly gives up his Liberty He 's seiz'd on by the Military bands With Cords they bind his sacred hands But ah how weak what nothings would they prove Were he not held by stronger ones of Love. VI. Once more my weary'd Muse thy Pinions try And reach the top of Calvary A steep Ascent But most to him who bore The Burthen of a Cross this way before The Cross ascends there 's something in it sure That Moral is and mystical No Heights of Fortune are from thee secure Afflictions sometimes Climb as well as fall Here breath a while and view The dolefull st Picture Sorrow ever drew The Lord of Life Heavens darling Son The Great th' Almighty one With out-stretch'd Arms nail'd to a cursed Tree Crown'd with sharp Thorns cover'd with Infamy He who before So many Miracles had done The Lives of others to restore Does with a greater lose his own Full three long hours his tender body did sustain Most exquisite and poignant pain So long the Sympathizing Sun his light withdrew And wonder'd how the Stars their dying Lord could view VII This strange defect of light Does all the Sages in Astronomy affright With fears of an Eternal Night Th' Intelligences in their Courses stray And Travellers below mistake their way Wondring to be benighted in the midst of Day Each mind is seiz'd with Horror and Despair And more o respread with darkness than the air Fear on t is wondrous all and new 'T is what past Ages never knew Fear on but yet you 'll find The great Eclipse is still behind The lustre of the face Divine Does on the Mighty Sufferer no longer shine God hides his Glories from his sight With a thick Skreen made of Hells grossest night Close-wrought it was and Solid all Compacted and Substantial Impenetrable to the Beatifick light Without Complaint he bore The tortures he endur'd before But now no longer able to contain Under the great Hyperbole of pain He mourns and with a strong Pathetick cry Laments the sad Desertion of the Diety Here stop my Muse stop and admire The Breather of all Life does now expire His Milder Father Summons him away His Breath obediently he does resign Angels to Paradice his Soul convey And Calm the Relicts of his grief with Hymns divine Annotations THis Ode is after the Pindaric way which is the highest and most magnificent kind of writing in Verse and consequently fit only for great and noble Subjects such as are as boundless as its own Numbers The nature of which is to be loose and free and not to keep one settled pace but sometimes like a gentle stream to glide along peaceably within its own Channel and sometimes like an impetuous Torrent to roul on extravagantly and carry all before it Agreeable to that description of Horace Nunc pace delabentis Hetruscum In mare nunc lapides adesos Stirpesque raptas pecus domos Volventis una non sine montium Clamore vicinaeque Sylvae And this may serve to explain the Introduction of the Poem And hatch'd with kindly heat the Vniverse Love in the Gentile Theology is made the most ancient of the Gods and the Sire of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Plutarch And it is described by Simmias Rhodius in a pair of Wings which suited well with the Symbolical representation of the Chaos by an Egg which was brooded and hatch'd under these Wings of Love. This whole matter is rarely well and at large express'd by Aristophanes in Avibus The plain and undisguised meaning of it is this That the Creation of the World was the effect of the Divine Love God having no other end in it besides the Communication of his own Happiness As th' Elements are weighty proved When from their Native Station they 're removed This is according to the Aristotelean Hypothesis that the Elements are not heavy in their own places which whether it be true or no I shall not now dispute However it serves for an Illustration which is sufficient for my present purpose He saw the foul Ingratitude of those c. The bitter Ingredients of our Lord's Cup mention'd hitherto were taken from things relating to his own personal concern But this last motive of his Sorrow proceeds wholly on the behalf of others of whose final Impenitence he is suppos'd to have a foresight This I take to be a good and proper insinuation of the excellency of our Blessed Lord's temper his exceeding great Love and Philanthropy when among the other Ingredients of his Passion this is supposed to be one that there would be some who by their own default would receive no benefit from it Vnseal'd to him the Book of Gods decree c. Whether the Angel used these topicks of Consolation or no is a thing as indifferent to my purpose as 't is uncertain In the Scripture it is only said in general that there appear'd an Angel from Heaven strengthning him However these Arguments are such as are probable and pertinent and that 's sufficient In haste for news the heavenly people ran And joy'd to hear the hopeful state of man. It is highly reasonable to believe that those blessed and excellent Spirits who out of their compassionate love and concern for mankind usher'd in the news of our Saviour's Nativity with Anthems of Praise and Thanksgiving and are said likewise to rejoice at the Conversion of a Sinner were also mightily transported with joy when they understood that our Saviour notwithstanding the reluctancy of innocent Nature was at length fully resolv'd to undertake the Price of our Redemption Full three long hours his Tender Body did sustain Most exquisite and poignant pain It is supposed by the Ancient Fathers that the Sufferings which our B. Saviour underwent in his Body were more afflictive to him than the same would have been to another man upon the account of the excellency and quickness of his sense of feeling And this opinion I take to be as reasonable as 't is pious For since according to the Principles of Philosophy the sense of feeling arises from the proportion of the first Qualities it follows that the better the complexion or temperament of any man is the better his Feeling must needs be Now 't is very reasonable to believe that that man who was to be substantially united to the Godhead and who was begotten by the miraculous overshadowings of the holy Spirit should have a Body endow'd with the best Complexion and most noble Harmony of Qualities that could be that so it might be a suitable Organ for his excellent Soul. And if so then it follows that the flesh of our Lord's Body was so soft and render and his feeling so exquisitely quick and sensible as never any man 's was before And consequently the severe usages which he
underwent not only at his Passion but throughout his whole Life must needs be in a Singular manner afflictive to him And hence appears the vanity of their opinion who are little or nothing affected with the consideration of our Lords Passion because they think it was made light to him by reason of his union with the God-head 'T was easie for him some inconsiderate Persons are ready to say to suffer this or this for he was God and not meer man as we are True he was so but his being God did no way lessen the punishment he underwent as man but only supported him in his existence under it in the same manner as God is supposed by an act of his Almighty Power to preserve the bodies of the Damn'd incorruptible among the everlasting burnings But this I think is no kindness to them Neither did the Society of the Divine Nature any more diminish the Sufferings of our dearest Lord nay in one respect it proved an accidental aggravation to them because upon the account of this Noble Union he had given him a Body of a most admirable Complexion and Harmonious Temperature and consequently of a Flesh exceeding tender and most exquisitely perceptive of the least impressions So long the Sympathizing Sun his light withdrew And wonder'd how the Stars their dying Lord could view The Eclipse which accompany'd the Passion of our Saviour was so remarkable and miraculous that 't was taken notice of by many of the Gentile Historians There are three things which made this Eclipse so very remarkable the time of its Appearance the time of its Duration and the Degree of it 1. For the time of its Appearance it was at full Moon when the Moon was not in Conjunction with but in opposition to the Sun. And this appears not only from the testimony of Dionysius who affirms that he saw it at that time but also from the time of our Lord's Passion which according to the relation of the Evangelist was at the Celebration of the Passeover Now the Iews were bound to celebrate the Paschal Solemnity always at full Moon as is to be seen in the twelfth of Exodus This was no time therefore for a Natural Eclipse because 't was impossible that the Moon should then interpose betwixt us and the Sun. 2. For the time of its Duration it was full three hours which is another evidence that this was no Natural Eclipse For the Natural Eclipse of the Sun can never last so long both because of the great disproportion between the Suns Magnitude and that of the Moon and because of the swift motion of the latter 3. For the degree of it it was a total Eclipse The Sun was so darkned that as Historians report who write of that Eclipse the Stars appear'd And this is another Argument that it was no Natural Phoenomenon it being impossible that the Body of the Moon which is so infinitely less than that of the Sun should totally eclipse it Now all these three Remarkables are comprized in the compass of these two Verses For in that it is said that the Sun withdrew his light it is intimated that the light of the Sun was not intercepted by the ordinary conjunction of the Moon but that by an Extraordinary Commission from the God of Nature the Sun rein'd in his light and suspended the emission of his Beams And this denotes the time of its appearance viz. when the Moon was not in Conjunction The time of its duration is implied by the words So long And lastly the Degree of it is implied in the last Verse And wonder'd how the Stars their dying Lord could view Where the appearance of the Stars is not directly express'd but only insinuated and couch'd for the more elegancy of the thought And calm the Relicts of his grief with Hymns divine It is here supposed that the Passion of our Saviour was now over and his Father's wrath wholly appeas'd For I can by no means approve the opinion of those who fancy that our Saviour in the interim betwixt his Death and Resurrection descended locally into Hell there to suffer the torments of the damn'd His own words upon the Cross It is finish'd His promise to the penitent Thief that he should be with him that day in Paradice and his last resignation of his Spirit into the hands of his Father do all of them apparently contradict it But yet though the bitter Cup was wholly drank off upon the Cross 't is natural to imagine some little relish of it to remain behind for a time Though all his sufferings and penal inflictions were ended before his death yet I suppose and I think very naturally some little discomposures of mind remaining like the after-droppings of a shower which his Soul could not immediately shake off upon her release from the Body In allusion to that of Virgil Inter quas Phoenissa recens a vulnere Dido Errabat Sylva in Magna Where the Poet fancies the Ghost of Dido being newly releas'd from the pains of Love could not presently forget her shady walks and melancholy retirements Now these Remains of Sorrow and after-disturbances of mind which cleav'd to the Soul of the Holy Iesus I suppose here to be allay''d by the Musick of Angels in his passage to Paradice An Hymn upon the Transfiguration I. HAil King of Glory clad in Robes of Light Out-shining all we here call bright Hail Light 's divinest Galaxy Hail Express Image of the Deity Could now thy Amorous Spouse thy Beauties view How would her wounds all bleed anew Lovely thou art all o're and bright Thou Israel's Glory and thou Gentile's Light. II. But whence this brightness whence this suddain day Who did thee thus with light array Did thy Divinity dispence T'its Consort a more liberal influence Or did some Curious Angel's Chymick Art The Spirits of purest light impart Drawn from the Native Spring of day And wrought into an Organized ray III. Howe're t was done 't is Glorious and Divine Thou dost with radiant wonders shine The Sun with his bright Company Are all gross Meteors if compar'd to thee Thou art the fountain whence their Light does flow But to thy will thine own dost owe. For as at first thou didst but say Let there be light and strait sprang forth this wondrous day IV. Let now the Eastern Princes come and bring Their Tributary Offering There needs no Star to guide their flight They 'll find thee now great King by thine own light And thou my Soul adore love and admire And follow this bright Guide of Fire Do thou thy Hymns and Praises bring Whil'st Angels with Veil'd Faces Anthems sing The Parting I. DEpart The Sentence of the Damn'd I hear Compendious grief and black despair I now believe the Schools with ease Tho once an happy Infidel That should the sense no torment seize Yet Pain of Loss alone would make a Hell. II. Take all since me of this you Gods deprive 'T is hardly now worth while
Folly past complain But joy to see these blest abodes again VI. A good retrieve But lo while thus I speak With piercing rays th' eternal day does break The Beautys of the face divine Strike strongly on my feeble sight With what bright glorys does it shine 'T is one immense and everflowing Light. Stop here my Soul thou canst not bear more Bliss Nor can thy now rais'd palate ever relish less Annotations THe general Design of the precedent Poem is to represent the gradual Ascent of the Soul by Contemplation to the Supreme Good together with its firm adherency to it and its full acquiescence in it All which is done figuratively under the Allegory of a Local Elevation from the feculent Regions of this lower World. Pure uncorrupted Element I breathe And pitty their gross Atmosphere beneath By pure uncorrupted Element is meant the refined intellectual entertainments of the Divine life which are abstracted from all Corporeal allays 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the divine Plato calls them those Pleasures which are proper to man as such By gross Atmosphere is meant the more drossy gratifications of the Animal life which comes as short in purity of the Divine as the thick Atmosphere does of the pure Aether No steams of Earth can here retard thy flight c. The thing intended in this whole Stanza is to insinuate the great facility and pleasure of the Divine life to one that is arrived to an habit of it For as the Magnetic influence of the earth can have no force upon him that is placed in the upper Regions beyond the Sphere of its Activity so which is the Counterpart of the Allegory the inclinations of the Animal nature have little or no power over him who has advanc'd to the Heights of habitual Contemplation He looks down upon and observes the tumults of his sensitive appetite but no way sympathizes with it He views the troubled Sea but with the unconcernedness of a stander by not as one that sails in it His Soul tho in Conjunction with his body is yet above the reach of its gusts and relishes and from her serene station at once sees and smiles at its little complacencies As Lucan says of the Soul of Pompey when advanced to the Ethereal Regions Illic postquam se lumine vero Implevit stellasque vagas miratur astr◠Fixa polis vidit quanta sub nocte jaceret Nostra dies risitque sui ludibria trunci And here I cannot chuse but take notice of a Difficulty which is very incident to the business in hand and wherewith I my self was once very much perplex'd when I first applyed my thoughts to Moral Contemplations 'T is in short this we have a receiv'd Axiom that the Difficulty of the performance Commends the merit of a good Action Now if so it seems to follow that he who by a long habitual course of Piety and Vertue has made his duty easy and natural to himself will be less perfect than another who does hardly abstain from vice or than himself before the acquisition of that habit And then that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Aristotle in the 7th of his Ethics makes only a Semi-vertue because of the difficulty of its performance will for that very reason become Virtus Heroica and if so to make a progress in vertue will involve a contradiction This I confess appear'd to me no inconsiderable intricacy when it first occurr'd to my thoughts and I could not presently unwind my self from it But in answer to it I consider I. That when the Difficulty of the performance is sayd to commend the Action 't is not so to be understood as if Difficulty did in it self as an ingredient add any moment to the excellency of a mans vertue but only that 't is a sign of it a Posteriori Because were not a man endow'd with such a degree of vertue he would not be able to conquer the suppos'd Difficulty So that if a man has a stock of Resolution sufficient to conquer such a difficulty his vertue is the same tho he never be ingaged in it For all the vertue is absolv'd in the degree of resolution the difficulty is only a sign or indication of it And upon this consideration 't is that those whom nature has befriended with such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or happy constitution as carries with it little or no temptation to vice may yet be accounted vertuous because their Resolution to vertue may be so firm and peremptory that they would adhere to it notwithstanding any Opposition 2ly I consider that we are to distinguish of a twofold difficulty I. There is a difficulty which arises from the nature of the work it self And 2ly there is a Difficulty which arises from the Disposition of the Agent Now 't is not this latter Difficulty that commends the excellency of vertue but only the former which is no way diminish'd by the habit For after the induction of the habit the work remains the same in its own nature which it was before the only change is in the Agent who by his habit is render'd more expedite and ready for the performance of what is good But as for the latter difficulty which proceeds from the Agent himself that is so far from commending the worth of any good action that it derogates much from its commendation 'T is easiness of performance that here gives the value He that abstains from sensual pleasures with great abhorrency and has set himself at a wide distance from it discovers more and has more of a vertuous resolution than he whose mind stands almost in an equipoise and does but just abstain For since we become vertuous by a right application of our wills the excellency of our vertues must be measured by the greater or less strength of our resolutions And consequently he who by a strong habit has made his vertue most natural and easy to him is arrived to the greatest Perfection Drawn by the bent of the Aethereal Tide This is in Allusion to the Cartesian Hypothesis of Vortices or whirl-pools of subtile matter The Mystic sense is this that the higher a Seraphic Soul advances in the Contemplation of the supreme good the stronger he will find its Attractions I know it well it is my native home This Verse with the whole Stanza proceeds upon the Platonic Hypothesis of Prae-existence I shall not here dispute the Problem Those that desire to be satisfied concerning it I refer to the works of that Oracle of profound Wisedom and Learning the excellent Dr. More to an ingenious Treatise call'd Lux Orientalis and to the Account of Origen In the mean while I hope the most rigid maintainer of Orthodoxy will allow me the liberty of alluding to it as an Hypothesis if not I 'm sure the laws of Poetry will. My Business here was to imitate nature and to represent how a Soul would be affected in such a case supposing it true which I think I
have not done amiss For so the Ingenious Platonist Boethius Huc te si reducem referat via Quam nunc requiris immemor Haec dices memini patria est mihi Hinc ortus hic sistam gradum 'T is one immense and everflowing light My business was here to give a Compendious description of God. Now among all the representations we have of him I thought none so agreeable to the Genius of Poetry as a sensible one and of all those I could not find a better in all the Inventory of the Creation than this of Light. I shall not here endeavour a Parallel It may suffice to say that the Representation is warranted by Authority both human and Divine The School of Plato describes the nature of God by an immense light or Lucid Fountain ever flowing and diffusing its refreshing beams And Holy Scripture goes further and says in express terms that God is light and in him is no darkness at all John I. 5. The Curiosity I. UNhappy state of mortals here below Whom unkind Heaven does inspire With such a constant strong desire And with such slender facultys to know And yet we not content to bear the pain Of thirst unquencht and fruitless love With one more curse our ills improve And toil and drudge for what we ne're can gain II. With what strange Frenzy are we all possest Contented Ignorance to refuse And by laborious search to lose Not the enjoyment only but our Rest Something like Oar does on the surface shine We taken with the specious shew With pains dig in the flattering Mine But all alas in vain Truth lies more low III. The greatest Knowledge we can ever gain From studying Nature Books or men Serves just t' employ dull hours but then It yields less Pleasure than it costs us pain Besides so short and treacherous is our age No sooner are we counted Wise But envious Death shuts up our eyes Just our part is learnt we quit the Stage IV. Could I among the nobler spirits find One that would lay aside his State And be my kind confederate That suddainly I might inrich my mind 'T would be some pleasure this if happy I Could once at ease sit and survey And my great victory enjoy And not as now still labour on and dye The 114 Psalm Paraphrased I. WHen conquer'd by the Plagues of Moses Rod Th' Egyptian Tyrant gave command That Israel should depart his Land Israel the chosen Family of God. Among them dwelt the Holy One Juda his Sanctuary and Israel was his Throne II. The Sea beheld this Scene and did admire Each wave stood silently to see The Power of the Divinity They saw and fled the dreadful guide of Fire Aud Jordan too divided stood The Priests the sacred Ark bore through the yielding Flood III. Mount Sinai with great Horrour struck and dread Forgot her weight and in a trance Like a light Ram did skip and dance She fear'd and fain would hide her Palsy Head. The Hills their Mother Mountain saw The little Hills and like young sheep they stood in awe IV. What made thee to retreat thou Mighty Sea Tell me for never any shore Knew such a wondrous Tide before And thou great Jordan say what ailed thee Say sacred Mount what meant thy trance And you small under-hills why did you skip and dance V. You need not think it shame to own your fear What you dismaid the same would make The universal Fabrick shake The cause was great for Jacob's God was there That God who did the Rock subdue And made it melt in tears tho harder far than you The 148 Psalm Paraphrased I. O Come let all created force conspire A general Hymn of Praise to sing Join all ye Creatures in one solemn Quire And let your Theme be Heaven's Almighty King. II. Begin ye blest Attendants of his Seat Begin your high Seraphic lays 'T is just you should your Happiness is great And all you are to give again is Praise III. Ye glorious Lamps that rule both night and day Bring you your Allelujahs too To him that Tribute of Devotion pay Which once blind superstition gave to you IV. Thou first and fairest of material kind By whom his other works we see Subtile and active as pure thought and mind Praise him that 's Elder and more fair than thee V. Ye Regions of the Air his praises sing And all ye Virgin waters there Do you advantage to the Consort bring And down to us the Allelujah bear VI. In chaunting forth the great Jehovah's Praise Let these the upper Consort fill He spake and did you all from nothing raise As you did then so now obey his will. VII His will that fix'd you in a constant state And out a track for Natures wheel Here let it run sayd he and made it fate And where 's that Power which can this Law repeal VIII Ye Powers that to th' inferiour world retain Join you now with the Quire above And first ye Dragons try an higher strain And turn your angry hissings into Praise and Love. IX Let fire hail snow and vapours that ascend Unlock'd by Phoebus searching rays Let Stormy winds ambitiously contend And all their wonted force imploy in Praise X. Ye sacred tops which seem to brave the skies Rise higher and when men on you Religious rites perform and Sacrifice With their Oblations send your Praises too XI Ye Trees whose fruits both men and beasts consume Be you in Praises fruitful too Ye Cedars why have you such choice perfume But that sweet Incense should be made of you XII Ye Beasts with all the humble Creeping train Praise him that made your lot so high Ye Birds who in a nobler Province reign Send up your Praises higher than you â—ly XIII Ye sacred heads that wear Imperial gold Praise him that you with power arrays And you whose hands the Scale of Justice hold Be Just in this and pay your Debt of Praise XIV Let sprightly youth give vigour to the Quire Each Sex with one another vie Let feeble Age dissolv'd in Praise expire And Infants too in Hymns their tender voices try XV. Praise him ye Saints who Piety profess And at his Altar spend your days Ye seed of Israel your great Patron bleâ—s 'T is Manna this for Angels food is Praise A Pastoral On the death of his Sacred Majesty King CHARLES the Second Menalcas Thyrsis and Daphnis Thyr. WHat sad Menalcas Sure this pleasant shade Was ne're for such a mournful Tenant made All things smile round thee and throughout the Grove Nature displays a Scene of Joy and Love. But Shepherd where 's thy flock Sure they in some forbidden pastures stray Whilest here in sighs thou number'st out the day Men. Ah Thyrsis thou could'st witness heretofore What strange Affection to my flock I bore Thou know'st my Thyrsis the Arcadian Plain Could not afford a more industrious Swain But I no longer now that mind retain Thyr. What change so great but what Love's power
haunts and waits about him still Strange persecution when the grave Can't the distressed Martyr save What Remedy can there avail Where Death the great Catholicon does fail IV. Thanks to my stars that I Am with so low a fortune blest That what e're Blessings fate deny I 'm sure of privacy and rest 'T is well thus long I am content And rest as in my Element Then Fate if you 'l appear my friend Force me not ' gainst my nature to ascend V. No I would still be low Or else I would be very high Beyond the state which mortals know A kind of Semi-deity So of the Regions of the air The High'st and Lowest quiet are But 't is this middle Height I fear For storms and thunder are ingender'd there Second Chap. of the Cant. from the 10. verse to the 13. I. 'T Was my Beloved spake I know his charming voice I heard him say Rise up my Love my fairest one awake Awake and come away II. The Winter all is past And stormy winds that with such rudeness blew The heavens are no longer overcast But try to look like you III. The flowers their sweets display The Birds in short praeludiums tune their throat The Turtle in low murmurs does essay Her melancholy note IV. The fruitful Vineyards make An odorous smell the Fig looks fresh and gay Arise my Love my fairest one awake Awake and come away To a Friend in Honour I. SOme thoughtless heads perhaps admire to see That I so little to your titles bow But wonder not my Friend I swear to me You were as great before as now Honour to you does nothing give Tho from your worth much lustre she receive II. Your native glory does so far outdo That of the Sphere wherein you move That I can nothing but your self in you Observe admire esteem or love You are a Diamond set in gold The Curious the rich stone not this behold III. All that to your late honour you can owe Is only that you 're brought in view You don't begin to have but men to know Your Votarys are increas'd not you So the Sun's height adds not t' his light But only does expose him more to sight IV. To some whose native worth more dimly shin'd Honour might some improvement give As metals which the Sun has less refined A value from their Stamp receive But you like gold pass for no more Tho Stamp'd than for your weight you wou'd before A divine Hymn on the Creation I. AWake my Lyre and thy sweet forces joyn With me to sing an Hymn divine Let both our Strains in pleasing numbers flow But see thy strings with tediousness and pain Arise into a tuneful strain How can'st thou silently The universe is Harmony Awake and move by sympathy My heart 's already tuned O why art thou so slow II. Jehovah is our Theme th' eternal King Whose Praise admiring Angels sing They see with steddy and attentive eyes His naked Beautys and from Vision raise To wondrous heights their Love and Praise We mortals only view His Back-parts and that darkly too We must fall short what shall we do But neither too can they up to his grandeur rise III. No power can justly praise him but must be As great as infinite as he He comprehends his boundless self alone Created minds too shallow are and dim His works to fathom much more him Our Praise at height will be Short by a whole Infinity Of his all glorious Deity He cannot have the full and stands in need of none IV. He can't be less nor can he more receive But stands one fix'd Superlative He 's in himself compendiously blest We acted by the weights of strong desire To good without our selves aspire We 're always moving hence Like lines from the Circumference To some more in-lodg'd excellence But he is one unmov'd self-center'd Point of Rest V. Why then if full of bliss that ne're could cloy Would he do ought but still enjoy Why not indulge his self-sufficing state Live to himself at large calm and secure A wise eternal Epicure Why six days work to frame A monument of Praise and Fame To him whose bliss is still the same What need the wealthy coyne or he that 's Blest Create VI. Almighty Love the fairest gem that shone All-round and half made up his throne His Favorite and darling excellence Whom oft he would his Royal vertue stile And view with a peculiar smile Love moved him to create Beings that might participate Of their Creator's happy state And that good which he could not heighten to dispence VII How large thy empire Love how great thy sway Omnipotence does thee obey What complicated wonders in thee shine He that t' infinity it self is great Has one way to be greater yet Love will the method shew 'T is to impart what is 't that thou O soveraign Passion can'st not do Thou mak'st Divinity it self much more divine VIII With pregnant love full-fraught the great Three-one Would now no longer be alone Love gentle love unlockt his fruitful breast And ' woke th' Ideas which there dormant lay Awak'd their Beautys they display Th' Almighty smil'd to see The comely form and harmony Of his eternal Imag'ry He saw 't was good and fair and th' infant platform blest IX Ye seeds of Being in whose fair bosoms dwell The Forms of all things possible Arise and your Prolific force display Let a fair issue in your moulds be cast To fill in part this empty wast He spake The Empty space Immediatly in travel was And soon brought forth a formless mass First matter came undress'd she made such hast t' obey X. But soon a Plastic spirit did ferment The liquid dusky element The Masse harmoniously begins to move Let there be Light said God 't was said and done The Masse dipt through with brightness shone Nature was pleas'd to see This feature of Divinity Th' Almighty smiled as well as she He own'd his likeness there and did his First-born love XI But lo I see a goodly frame arise Vast folding Orbs and azure skies With lucid whirle-pools the vast Arch does shine The Sun by day shews to each world his light The stars stand sentinel by night In midst of all is spread That ponderous bulk whereon we tread But where is its foundation laid 'T is pompous all and great and worthy hands divine XII Thy Temple 's built great God but where is he That must admire both it and thee Ope one Scene more my Muse bless and adore See there in solemn Councel and debate The great divine Triumvirate The rest one Word obey'd 'T was done almost before 't was said But Man was not so cheaply made To make the world was great but t' epitomize it more XIII Th' accomplish'd work stands his severe review Whose judgment 's most exactly ture In natures Book were no Errata's found All things are good said God they answer well Th' Ideas which within me dwell Th' Angelic
voices join Their Praise to the Applause divine The Morning stars in Hymns combine And as they sung play'd the jocant Orbs danc't round XIV With this thy Quire divine great God I bring My Eucharistic Offering I cannot here sing more exalted layes But what 's defective now I will supply When I enjoy thy Deity Then may'st thou sleep my Lyre I shall not then thy help require Diviner thoughts will then me fire Than thou tho playd on by an Angels hand canst raise Plato's two Cupids I. THe heart of man's a living Butt At which two different Archers shoot Their Shafts are pointed both with fire Both wound our hearts with hot desire II. In this they differ he that lyes A sacrifice t' his Mistress eyes In pain does live in pain expire And melts and drops before the fire III. But he that flame 's with love divine Does not in th' heat consume but shine H' enjoys the fire that round him lyes Serenely lives serenely dyes IV. So Devils and damned Souls in hell Fry in the fire with which they dwell But Angels suffer not the same Altho their Vehicles be flame V. The heart whose fire 's divine and chast Is like the Bush that did not wast Moses beheld the flame with fear That wasted not for God was there A Wish I. WHatever Blessing you my Life deny Grant me kind Heaven this one thing when I dye I charge thee guardian Spirit hear And as thou lov'st me further this my Prayer II. When I 'm to leave this grosser Sphere and try Death that amazing Curiosity When just about to breathe my last Then when no Mortal joy can strike my tast III. Let me soft melting strains of Music hear Whose Dying sounds may speak Death to my ear Gently the Bands of life unty Till in sweet raptures I dissolve and dye IV. How soft and easy my new Birth will be Help'd on by Music s gentle Midwifery And I who ' midst these charms expire Shall bring a Soul well tuned to Heaven's Quire. To Dr. More Ode I. GO Muse go hasten to the Cell of Fame Thou kow'st her reverend aweful seat It stands hard by your blest retreat Go with a brisk alarm assault her ear Bid her her loudest Trump prepare To sound a more than Human name A name more excellent and great Than she could ever publish yet Tell her she need not stay till Fate shall give A License to his Works and bid them live His Worth now shines through Envys base Alloy 'T will fill her widest Trump and all her Breath employ II. Learning which long like an inchanted Land Did Human force and Art defy And stood the Vertuoso's best Artillery Which nothing mortal could subdue Has yielded to this Hero's Fatal hand By him is conquer'd held and peopled too Like Seas that border on the shore The Muses Suburbs some possession knew But like the deep Abyss their iuner store Lay unpossess'd till seiz'd and own'd by you Truth 's outer Courts were trod before Sacred was her recess that Fate reserv'd for More III. Others in Learning's Chorus bear their part And the great Work distinctly share Thou our great Catholic Professour art All Science is annex'd to thy unerring Chair Some lesser Synods of the Wise The Muses kept in Universitys But never yet till in thy Soul Had they a Councel Oecumenical An Abstract they 'd a mind to see Of all their scatter'd gifts and summ'd them up in thee Thou hast the Arts whole Zodiac run And fathom'st all that here is known Strange restless Curiosity Adam himself came short of thee He tasted of the Fruit thou bear'st away the Tree IV. Whilest to be great the most aspire Or with low Souls to raise their fortunes higher Knowledg the chiefest Treasure of the Blest Knowledg the Wise man's best Request Was made thy choice for this thou hast declin'd A life of noise impertinence and State And what e're else the Muses hate And mad'st it thy one business to inrich thy mind How calm thy life how easy how secure Thou Intellectual Epicure Thou as another Solomon hast try'd All Nature through and nothing to thy Soul deny'd Who can two such examples shew He all things try'd t' enjoy and you all things to know V. By Babel's Curse and our Contracted span Heaven thought to check the swift career of man. And so it prov'd till now our age Is much too short to run so long a Stage And to learn words is such a vast delay That we 're benighted e're we come half way Thou with unusual hast driv'st on And dost even Time it self out-run No hindrance can retard thy Course Thou rid'st the Muses winged horse Thy Stage of Learning ends e're that of Life be done There 's now no work left for thy accomplish'd mind But to Survey thy Conquests and inform mankind The Passion of the Virgin Mother Beholding the Crucifixion of her divine Son. 1. NIgh to the Fatal and yet Soveraign wood Which crouds of wondring Angels did surround Devoutly sad the Holy Mother stood And view'd her Son sympathized with every wound II. Angelic piety in her mournful face Like rays of light through a watry cloud did shine Two mighty Passions in her breast took place And like her Son sh ' appear'd half human half divine III. She saw a blacker and more tragic Scene Than e're the Sun before or then would see In vain did nature draw her dusky Skreen She saw and wept and felt the dreadful Agony IV. Grief in the abstract sure can rise no higher Than that which this deep Tragedy did move She saw in tortures and in shame expire Her Son her God her worship and her Love. V. That sacred head which all divine and bright Struck with deep awe the Votarys of the East To which a Star paid Tributary light Which the then joyful mother kiss'd adored and blest VI. That head which Angels with pure light had crown'd Where Wisdom's Seat and Oracle was plac'd Whose air divine threw his Traitours to the ground She saw with pointed circles of rude thorns embrac'd VII Those hands whose soveraign touch were wont to heal All wounds and hurts that others did endure Did now the peircings of rough iron feel Nor could the wounded heart of his sad mother cure VIII No No it bled to see his body torn With nails and deck'd with gems of purple gore On four great wounds to see him rudely born Whom oft her arms a happy burthen found before IX It bled to hear that voice of grief and dread Which the Earths pillars and foundations shook Which rent the Rocks and ' woke the sleeping dead My God my God O why why hast thou me forsook X. And can the tide of Sorrow rise more high Her melting face stood thick with tears to view Like those of heaven his setting glorys dye As flowers left by the Sun are charged with evening dew XI But see grief spreads her empire still more wide
demonstrated SECT V. That the Simple Essences of things being not Eternal in their Natural subsistences must be so in their Ideal subsistences or realitys 1. FRom the eternity of essential Habitudes we have demonstrated the necessity that the simple essences of things should be eternal And now since they are not eternal as is too plain to need Proof in their natural subsistencys it follows that they must be eternal in their Ideal subsistencys or realitys 2. For there are but two conceivable ways how any thing may exist either out of all understanding or within some understanding If therefore the simple Essences of things are eternal but not out of all understanding it remains they must have an eternal existence in some understanding or rather they are the same with that understanding it self consider'd as variously exhibitive or representative according to the various modes of Imitability or Participation which is the true Notion of Ideas as 't is generally express'd both by Platonists and Schoolmen and as I have more at large explain'd it in my Letter of Ideas to which for brevitys sake I refer SECT VI. That there is therefore an Eternal Mind or understanding Omniscient Immutable and endow'd with all possible Perfection the same which we call God. 1. THis evidently follows from the Conclusion of the foregoing Section for if the simple Essences of things have a real and eternal existence in some understanding what consequence can be more plain than that there is a Mind or understanding eternally existing An Essence can no more eternally exist in a Temporary understanding than a Body can be infinitely extended in a finite space The mind therefore wherein it does exist must be eternal there is therefore in the first place an Eternal Mind 2. 'T will follow also in the next place that this Mind is Omniscient as well as Eternal For that Mind which is eternally fraught with the simple Essences of things must needs contain also in it self all the several Habitudes and Respects of them these necessarily arising from the other by way of Natural result For as before the Argument was good from the Habitudes of things to their simple Essences so is it as good backwards from the simple Essences of things to their Habitudes But these are the same with Truths That Mind therefore which has all these has all Truths which is the same as to be Omniscient 3. 'T will follow hence also in the next place that this Mind is Immutable as well as Omniscient and Eternal For if that Mind which has existing in it self from all eternity all the simple Essences of things and consequently all their possible Scheses or Habitudes should ever change there would arise a new Schesis in this Mind that was not before which is contrary to the supposition 'T is impossible therefore that this Mind should ever undergo any mutation especially if these eternal Ideas and Habitudes be one and the same with this Mind as I have already hinted and elsewhere proved 4. Lastly 't will follow that this Mind is not only Eternal Immutable and Omniscient but that in a word 't is endow'd with all possible perfection For to have and it self to be all the Essences and Habitudes of things is to have and to be all that can possibly be to be the rule and measure of all perfection to be supreme in the Scale of Being and to be the Root and Spring of all Entity which is the same as to be God. This Mind therefore so accomplish'd is no other than God and consequently there is a God which was the thing I undertook to demonstrate Post-script THis Essay has lain by me a considerable time and I have lately review'd it with all the coldness and indifferency of a Stranger and with more severity perhaps than I am like to meet with from the most Prejudiced Reader I have turn'd it and view'd it on all sides and after the most deliberate and impartial scrutiny that I could make I must needs own that I am not conscious of the least flaw in the whole Procedure I know but of one place that is liable to any reasonable exception and that is in the fourth Section The Proposition there maintain'd is this that since there are eternal and immutable Veritys or Habitudes of things the simple Essences of things must be also eternal and immutable Here it may be objected that these Habitudes are not attributed absolutely to the simple Essences as actually existing but only Hypothetically that whensoever they shall exist they shall also carry such Relations to one another There is you 'l say only an Hypothetical Connexion between the Subject and the Predicate not an absolute Position of either But in answer to this I say first that these Habitudes are not as is supposed only by way of Hypothesis but absolutely attributed to the simple Essences as actually existing For when I say for instance that every part of a Circle is equally distant from the Center this Proposition does not hang in suspence then to be verify'd when the things shall exist in Nature but is at present actually true as true as it ever will or can be and consequently I may thence infer that the things themselves already are There is no necessity I confess they should exist in Nature which is all that the Objection proves but exist they must For of Nothing there can be no Affections But 2ly suppose I grant what the Objector would have that these Habitudes are not absolutely attributed to the simple Essences but only by way of Hypothesis yet I don't see what he can gain by this concession For thus much at least is attributed to the simple Essences at present that whensoever they shall exist such and such Habitudes will attend them I say thus much is attributed actually and at present But now how can any thing be said of that which is not There is therefore another way of existing besides that in rerum Natura namely in the Mundus Archetypus or the Ideal world where all the Rationes rerum or simple Essences of things whereof there are standing and immutable Affirmations and Negations have an eternal and immutable Existence before ever they enter upon the stage of Nature Nor ought this Ideal way of subsisting to seem strange when even while things have a Natural subsistence the Propositions concerning them are not verify'd according to their Natural but according to their Ideal subsistences Thus we demonstrate several Propositions concerning a right line a Circle c. and yet 't is most certain that none of these are to be found in Nature according to that exactness supposed in the Demonstration Such and such Attributes therefore belong to them not as they are in Nature but as they are in their Ideas This is a Notion very frequently glanc'd at by Saint Austin and 't is the Conclusion of Aquinas that the Soul Omnia vera cognoscit in rationibus aeternis Part. 1. Qu. 84.
under a double Capacity 1st as a Law and 2ly as a Covenant And first as a Law. 'T is most certain that Christ was a Law-giver as well as Moses only as he was an Introducer of a better Hope so he required better and sublimer Services The advantage of Christianity does not consist in having any abatements of Duty for Christ was so far from diminishing or retrenching the Moral Law for 't is of that I speak that he improv'd every part of it to higher senses than the most exquisite of the Jewish Doctors understood or at least conceiv'd themselves obliged to As is evident from his divine Sermon on the Mount which for the Perfection and Sublimity of its Precepts St. Chrysostom calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Top and Height of Philosophy 12. And that he thus improv'd the Law of Moses besides the evidence of Comparison we have his own express word for it I came not to destroy the Law but to perfect compleat or fill it up For so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rude draught was Moses his part but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the painting to the life was Christ's Moses drew out the main lineaments the Skeleton of the Picture which was therefore call'd the Body of Moses but 't was Christ that fill'd up all its intervals and vacuitys and gave it all its graces Air and Life-touches And this is no more than what the Analogy of the Christian dispensation required The great end and design of God incarnate was to perfect Holiness as well as to retrieve Happiness to advance the Interests of the divine life and make us Partakers of the Divine nature and accordingly as he himself was the express image of his Fathers Person so 't was requisite he should consign to us an express image a correct Copy of his Fathers will. He was to make us better men and accordingly 't was fit he should give us a better law a Law that could not be satisfy'd but by such a Righteousness as should exceed even the strictest among the Jews that of the Pharisees So that we are by no means releas'd but rather more deeply engaged in Duty by the Gospel as 't is a Law. 13. Nor 2ly are we releas'd by it as 't is a Covenant Here indeed begin the Abatements of the Gospel not as to Duty and Obligation for the Gospel makes all that our Duty which the Law did and more only which in short is the true difference between the two Covenants it does not make the strict and exact performance of it the Measure the ultimate Measure whereby we are to stand or fall but admits of Pardon which the Law knew nothing of Not of absolute Pardon for then the Gospel would be a Covenant without a Condition nor of Pardon without Repentance and actual reformation of Manners for then the Gospel as a Covenant would interfere with it self as a Law but upon the sole Conditions of Faith and Repentance For 't is a great mistake to think that we are actually Justify'd or pardon'd by the satisfaction of Christ this wou'd be the most ready expedient to verify the false charge of the Scribes and Pharisees and make him in their sense a Friend to Publicans and Sinners to encourage all manner of vice and immorality and to turn the Mystery of Godliness into a Mystery of Iniquity No Christ in this sense has redeem'd no man. All that he either did or could in wisdom do for us as satisfying was in short to instate us in a Capacity and Possibility of Pardon and Reconciliation by procuring a grant from his Father that Faith and Repentance should now be available to Justification which without his satisfaction would not have been accepted to that purpose Whereby it appears that he was so far from superseding the necessity of Repentance and good works that he design'd only to make way for the success of them He did so much that Repentance might not be in vain and he did no more that it might not be needless And thus does the wisdom as well as the goodness of God lead us to Repentance by so ordering the matter that we may obtain Pardon with it and not without it which are the two strongest engagements to action in any concern that our Reason either demands or our deliberation can suggest 14. This I conceive to be the true Hypothesis and state of Christianity which I might yet further confirm by infinite Authoritys from Scripture which every where presses the necessity of good works as Conditions to our Justification and acceptance before God but I think the more rational and unprejudiced part of the world are pretty well satisfy'd in that Point and know how to accommodate St. James and St Paul better then some late Reconcilers And besides the wisdom of the Hypothesis sufficiently approves it self 'T is such as becomes the Perfections of the Divine Nature to exhibit to the world and which the Angels may well desire to look into For 't is at once fitted to the necessitys of man and to the Honour of God to the infirmitys of the Animal life and to the advancement of the Divine to the relief of the Sinner and to the suppression of sin Here Mercy and Truth meet together righteousness and peace kiss each other The Sacrifice of the Altar does not prejudice the Ballance of the Sanctuary and the Divine Justice is so satisfy'd that the necessity of Holiness and Obedience remains secured Much is forgiven and much is to be done Duty continues as fast as ever and even the Law of Liberty is a Service 15. And now that this may not be thought a Hard saying and make some of Jesus his Disciples to go back as once they did and walk no more with him when they hear of Duty and somthing to be done I shall now proceed to demonstrate the Reasonableness of that Service which Christianity requires of us which was the 2d general Proposition I proposed to speak to 16. Religion is so very agreeable both to the Inclinations and Discoursings of Human Nature that as none is capable of being Religious but a rational creature so 't is almost impossible for a creature to be indued with Reason and not to be Religious Hence 't is that there is no Nation so barbarous and degenerate but what has some Religion or other and tho ignorant of the true Object as well as manner of worship yet rather than wholly abstain from Religious applications will adore implicitely and erect an altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the unknown God. 17. Nay so great a congruity is there between Religion and the radical notices and sentiments of a human Soul that all mankind except only some few distorted and Anomalous heads for there are monstrositys in the Soul as well as in the Body are unanimously agreed upon the fundamental and substantial Maxims of it which
strictness of notion for a Production of somthing out of nothing is most confessedly a greater and more difficult performance as to the nature of the work than the Raising of the Dead can be Or if more largely for producing somthing out of praeexistent but naturally unapt matter yet 't is still at least equal with it He that with the bare energy of his omnipotent word could inspirit the dead stupid void and formless masse and make it move into a frame so elegant and harmonious that the mere Contemplation of its Beauty and Order has by many Philosophers been thought a sufficient entertainment of life may easily be presumed to be able to do the same in the lesser world and with effect to say to a rude and disorder'd heap of dust the Chaos of a human body stand up and live 24. But after all were this Article of the Resurrection much more thickset with difficulties than it is yet would we before we venture to determine against its possibility sit a while and consider that we are nonplus'd at a thousand Phaenomenas in nature which if they were not done we should have thought them absolutely impossible as for instance to go no further the Central libration of the Earth and now they are we cannot comprehend 'em that we have seen but a few of Gods works and understand yet fewer and lastly that as the possibility of the effect is above the comprehension of our Reason so the Power of the Agent is much more so we should discern great reason to be cautious how we set limits to the Divine Omnipotence and should rather support our Faith against all Objections with that universal Salvo of the Apostle I know whom I have believ'd 25. I descend now from the things that are to be believ'd to the things that are to be done in the Christian Religion And that those may appear to be a Reasonable Service I consider first in general that the Christian Law is nothing else but the Law of Nature retriev'd explain'd and set in a clearer light Christ indeed added some new Precepts that were not in the Law of Moses but not any that were not in the Law of Nature That he only restored and rescued from the Sophistications of ill Principles and the corruptions of degenerate manners For the clearer understanding of which Proposition 't is to be observ'd that the Law of Nature was twice retriev'd by Moses and by Christ Moses did it imperfectly with a shaking hand and with a rude Pencil He adopted 't is true into his Table as many of Natures Laws as were necessary to the present state and capacity of the Jewish people but he did not exhaust the whole Code and Digest of Nature For there are many Instances and Branches of the Natural Law which are no way reducible to the Mosaic Tables unless hook'd in by long tedious consequences which as the Law never intended so neither is one of a thousand able to deduce them from it as appears in the instances of Gratitude to Benefactors Love to Enemys Forgiveness of Injurys Humility and the like which are excellences of the first Magnitude in the Imperial constitutions of Nature but not transcribed in the Copy and Extract of Moses as too refined for the grossness of that Age for the hardness of the Jewish people and for the Infancy of that Dispensation 26. This therefore was reserv'd for the work of a Diviner Prophet who should retrieve the Law of Nature to the full and restore it as at the Beginning For he came as he testifys of himself and as was before observ'd to another purpose to fill up Moses his Law which implies that it was imperfect and deficient and wherein should its defectiveness consist but in wanting somthing of the Natural Law. The Christian Law therefore is only the Law of Nature retriev'd 27. This being premised 't is but now to consider what the formal notion of the Law of Nature is and we have found out one general measure whereby to judge of the Reasonableness of the Christian Law. Now by the Law of Nature I suppose we all understand certain Practical Maxims or Dictates the observing or transgressing of which considering the present system of the universe have a natural connexion with the well or ill being of man either as to his private or political capacity I say considering the present system of the universe For no question God might have so contrived the Order and Scheme of the Creation as that many of those things which are now for the interest might have been for the disinterest of mankind as he might have so framed the texture of a human body that what is now wholsome and soveraign might have been poisonous and pernicious and in this respect I conceive the Law of Nature may be said to depend upon the arbitrary will of God and to be mutable at his pleasure But yet it still remains immutably true in the general that whatsoever has such a natural ordination to or connexion with the well or ill being of mankind is good or evil respectively This is the standard of morality and immorality and the essential difference between Vertue and Vice. And 't is as immutably true that some particular instances should have such a natural connexion stante rerum Hypothesi during the present state and order of things Now whatever has so is an essential branch of the Law of Nature and obliges us to act or not to act respectively to the Term of its Ordination So that Bonum honestum is that which in the order of things is Bonum utile and conduces as a Natural Medium to Felicity which is the End of man. 28. Hence then it follows that the Christian Law which is nothing else but the Law of Nature retriev'd consists only of such practical maxims which carry a natural relation to the true interest and well being of mankind and consequently contains nothing in it but what is reasonable very reasonable to be done But to evince this more particulary 't will be requisite to take a cursory view of the Christian Law. And this I shall consider first as I find it summ'd up in general by our B. Saviour in answer to the Lawyers Question what he should do to inherit eternal life and secondly in some of those particular instances of it which seem most to cross the present interest of mankind 29. As to the Ist the summe which our B. Saviour gave of it was this Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy Soul and with all thy mind and thy Neighbor as thy self These he told him were the two great Commandments and that there were none greater than these and certainly none more reasonable For since man is not his own end but has an Amorous Principle within him which transports him to good without himself since he is not a Central and selfterminating Being but by the weight
HEROIC PIETY 1. SInce the Practice of Religion in general is not only the Natural Instrument of our present Happiness but also the only and indispensable condition of our Future one would think there were but little left for the Orator to do here the naked efficacy of Self-love and a serious consideration of our true and main Interest being sufficient to engage us upon Religious performances But he that shall undertake to recommend the Practice of Heroic Piety has a much heavier task not only because he perswades to higher degrees of Vertue but because he is to address himself wholly to a weaker Principle For since our interest is secured by the performance of necessary Duty there remains nothing but a Principle of Generosity to carry us on to the higher advances the more glorious Atchievements in Religion And what small probability there is that it will often do so may appear from the ill success of the former and more prevailing Principle For if the greatest interest imaginable can prevail with so very few to perform what is indispensably necessary to secure it sure there is little hopes that Generosity which is a much weaker Principle should engage many upon greater performances 2. But yet notwithstanding these discouragements since our Blessed Saviour has taught us to pray not only for the performance of God's will in general but that it be done on Earth as it is in Heaven that is with the greatest zeal readiness and alacrity with all the degrees of Seraphic ardency that frail Mortality is capable of I think a Perswasive to Heroic Piety may be a proper and useful undertaking it being very reasonable we should make that the object of our endeavours which our Saviour thought fit to make the matter of our Prayers 3. In discoursing upon this subject I shall proceed in this Method 1. I shall state the notion of Heroic Piety and shew what I mean by it 2. I shall demonstrate that there is such a thing And 3. I shall offer some Perswasives to recommend the practice of it 4. The Notion of Heroic Piety will be best understood by considering what the Moralists mean by Heroic Vertue For the one carries the same proportion in Religion that the other does in Morality But before I proceed to explain the Thing I suppose it will not be amiss to give some short account of the Name That it is derived from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very obvious all the difficulty is concerning the derivation of the Greek word it self And here I find the Grammarians are very much divided some derive it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that seems somwhat hard others derive it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because 't was supposed by the Ancients that the Souls of the Heroes had their abode in the Air where they had a near prospect of human affairs and accordingly Xenon in Laertius lib. 7. calls Heroes the Souls of wise men separated from their Bodies and ranging about in the Air others derive it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the Heroes are a kind of terrestrial Gods according to that definition which Lucian gives of an Hero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that is neither God nor man but a compound of both Others derive it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name of Juno who was the President Goddess of the Air intimating thereby either the Habitation or the light aereal Nature of the Heroes And this Etymology I remember is approv'd of by St. Austin lib. 10. de Civ Dei cap. 21. But methinks the most natural and significant one is that of Plato who derives it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of that ardent and passionate Love which the Heroes are supposed to have for God. And as the word Hero is very doubtful as to its Etymology so is it also various in its acceptation Somtimes it is attributed to illustrious and eminent Personages while living such as act and live above the ordinary strain of Mortality and render it a very disputable Point whether they are Gods or men A Character which Homer gives of the great Hector Iliad â—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in this sense the word Hero is used by Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Somtimes by Heroes are meant the Souls of wise and good men departed as is evident from the fore-cited testimony in Laertius But in the Platonic Philosophy by Heroes is understood a middle sort of Being inferiour to those whom they stile the Immortal Gods and superiour to Man as is to be seen at large in Hierocles 5. Beyond these three acceptations of the word I do not know of any other But this is certain that in whatsoever sense it is used it always denotes somthing great and extraordinary So that from hence 't is easie to collect what is meant by Heroic Vertue viz. Such a vehement and intense pursuance of a mans last and best end as engages him upon such excellent and highly commendable actions which advance him much above the ordinary level of human Nature and which he might wholly omit and yet still maintain the Character of a good man. Aristotle in his Ethics l. 7. c. 1. calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Vertue that is above us By which I suppose he does not mean that it is above our reach and unattainable but that it is above our obligation and that when it is attain'd it will elevate us above our selves 6. In proportion to this Notion of Heroic Vertue I understand by Heroic Piety those excellent degrees and eminences of Religion which tho to arrive at be extremely laudable yet we may fall short of them without Sin God having not bound them upon us as parts of Duty or made them the Conditions of our Salvation but only recommended them by way of Counsel and left them as instances of Generosity Of this sort are those high and singular Exercises of Religion which are the fruits and effects of a profound and steady contemplation of God Such as are the passionate applications of Seraphic Love acts of ecstatic joy and complacency in the Perfections of the Divine Nature holy transports of Zeal and Devotion Praise and Adoration earnest contentions and very numerous returns of Prayer actual references of our most natural and indifferent actions to Gods glory extraordinary works of Charity great severities of Mortification and Self-denial abstemiousness from many lawful Pleasures perpetual Celebacy and whatsoever else are the excellent products of a contemplative and affectionate Religion 7. Thus far of the Notion of Heroic Piety I come now to my second Undertaking which was to shew that there is such a thing Tho universality and sincerity of Obedience be indispensably required of every Christian and consequently every part of Religion obliges under the penalty of Damnation as to its kind yet that there may be some degrees to the attainment of which we are
Good I cannot see how this Conclusion can be avoided that he is Infinitely Good. 8. For I consider that the First Good can have no Cause of that Goodness which it has otherwise it being necessary that the Cause of Good should be Good it would not be the First And if the First Good can have no cause of its Goodness it can likewise have no cause of the Termination of it since what has no cause absolutely and simply cannot have a cause in any particular respect and if it has no cause of its Termination it must necessarily be interminate or infinite and Consequently God who is the First Good is infinitely Good. 9. And now breath a while my Soul and consider what a rich Mine of Good thou hast Sprung Thou hast found out a Being who is not only the Ideal as well as Efficient cause of all created excellence but who is Infinitely Good and excellent This is he whose great Perfection not only contains and infinitely exceeds but Eclipses and quite Extinguishes all the Beauty of the Creature so that as the express Image of this great Excellence informs us there is none Good but one which is God. This is he whose Good is incomprehensible by the understanding and inexhaustible by the will and affections of man. This is the celebrated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Aristotle the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Plato and the El Shaddai of the Hebrews This is the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the universal Plenitude whose Happiness is consummated within his own Circle who supports himself upon the Basis of his own All-Sufficiency and is his own End and Center 10. And now what is there more requisite to qualify him for being mine also but this only that he be willing that man shall partake of this his transcendent fullness so as actually one time or other to fix the Weight of his Appetite which was the second Condition 11. And that this is also found in God I think I have sufficient assurance from these two things the Absolute Perfection of his Nature and those express Revelations he has made of his Will as to this particular As for the Nature of God it involves as in Notion and Conception so likewise in Truth and reality as was above demonstrated absolute and infinite Perfection and consequently includes a Beneficent and Communicative disposition this being a Perfection 12. Nor does the Superlative eminency of the Divine nature only argue him to be Communicative but to be the Most Communicative and Selfdiffusive of all Beings For as all Kinds so all degrees of excellency must of necessity be included in a Being absolutely and infinitely perfect such as God is Whence it will also follow that he is not only the most Communicative of all Beings but that he will also Communicate himself and not only so but in such an ample and liberal measure too as entirely to satisfy the most aspiring reaching Appetite of man Since Otherwise some degrees of Communicativeness consequently of Excellence would be wanting which is absurd to suppose in a Being absolutely perfect Especially considering that those importunate desires of Human nature are of his own planting which as it firmly assures us of his being able so is it no less cogent an Argument for his being willing to be our Center it being incredible that so infinite an Excellence should plant in man such desires as either he could not or would not satisfy 13. And of this willingness of God that man should partake of his fullness so far as to bottom upon it and acquiesce in it there is yet further assurance from many express Revelations of his good pleasure to that purpose Which consist of two kinds express words wherein he professes himself passionately desirous of the Salvation and happiness of man and two very notable and signal Acts namely the consigning to the world a copy of his Will as a Chart to direct us to the true Haven of Rest and Anchorage and the sending his Beloved Son from the mansions of glory to dislodge the angry Guardian of Paradise and re-open for us an Entrance into the joy of our Lord. By both which kinds of revelation he has given us the highest assurance imaginable that he designs not to engross and monopolize the Perfections of his rich essence but that he is heartily willing to admit man to a participation of that excellent good wherein he himself is Happy to give him as the Psalmist expresses it everlasting felicity and make him glad with the joy of his countenance 14. To which Considerations I might further add that this excellent communicativeness of the Divine nature is typically represented and mysteriously exemplify'd by the Porphyrian Scale of Being For as there the lower degrees are determin'd and contracted but the Higher more common and extensive so is it in the real Scale of Being The inferiour which are either matter or complicated and twisted with matter are more contracted narrow selfish and illiberal but the superiour as they are less immers'd in and allay'd with matter so are they more open diffusive and free For indeed all contraction and consinement is from matter but 't is Form and Spirit that is the Root of all freeness and inlargement And thus we see in bodys the more of kin they are to Spirit in subtilty and refinement the more spreading are they and self-diffusive Whereupon Light which of all Bodys is nearest ally'd to Spirit is also most diffusive and self-communicative God therefore who is at the very top of all Being who is an absolute mere and Spiritual Act and who lastly is such a pure Light as in which there is no darkness at all must needs be infinitely self-imparting and Communicative consequently wants nothing to qualify him to be the true End and Center of Man. The Prayer MY God my Happiness who art as well the End as the Author of my Being who hast more perfection than I have desire and art also seriously willing to quench my great Thirst in the Ocean of thy Perfection I beseech thee shew me thy Glory Withdraw thy hand from the Clift of the rock and remove the bounds from the Mount of thy Presence that I may see thee as thou art face to face and ever dwell in the light of thy Beauty I have long dwelt with Vanity and Emptiness and have made my self weary in the persuit of Rest O let me not fail at last after my many wandrings and disappointments to be taken up into this true and only Ark of repose and security where I may for ever rest and for ever bless the Author of my Happiness In the mean time strike I beseech thee my Soul with such lively and ravishing apprehensions of thy excellencies such bright irradiations of thy divine light that I may see enough to love thee infinitely to depend on thee for my happiness entirely to live upon holy hopes and comfortable expectations and to bear up
only allowable but also highly needful that we should think Honorably of our selves 'T is a frequent Observation among Moral and Divine Writers That most if not all the Sins which men commit proceed from want of a due sense of the Dignity of their Nature And consequently a due reflection upon a man 's own Worth must needs be a strong Preservative against whatsoever would stain its Glory Shall such a man as I flee was the powerful consideration that buoy'd up the sinking Spirits of Nehemiah And 't is one of the Capital Precepts of Pythagoras's Morals and perhaps one of the best too that was ever given to the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Above all things reverence thy self And 't was the Saying of another of the Sons of Wisdom Let not the Reverence of any man cause thee to sin Which it certainly will do unless we observe the former Rule and reflect with due Reverence upon our own Worth and Dignity 22. From these Considerations not to urge any more it seems to me very evident that 't is not only lawful but in some respects highly Expedient that our Opinions of our selves should rise up so as to be of a Level with our Excellencies whatsoever they are Let one of the Scales be mounted never so high yet if there be a proportionable Weight in the Other the Ballance moves regularly and as it should do VVe may then proceed so far as this Standard 23. But Secondly VVe must not go beyond it For all beyond this is Pride Pride that turn'd the Angels out of Heaven Adam out of Paradice and levell'd the great King of Babylon with the Beasts that perish and which is nothing else but an Intemperate Opinion of our selves which consists either in assuming to our selves any Excellency which we have not or in Over-rating what we have Tho indeed in Strictness of Notion this latter falls in with the former For to Over-rate what we have is indeed to assume some Degree of good which we have not Here then begins our Restraint the Reasonableness of which will appear from the Absurdities and ill Consequences which attend the transgressing of this Standard and which in the third and last place I come now to consider 24. I shall observe only the most notorious and these I shall reduce to these Three general Heads First That it unqualifies us for the performance of many Duties Secondly That it betrays us into many sins And Thirdly That it frustrates all methods of Reformation Of these very briefly 25. First an excessive opinion of our selves and that is so which surpasses the measure of our real worth unqualifies us for the performance of many Duties and that both in relation to God our Neighbour and our Selves First in relation to God. 26. As Folly leads to Atheism so does an overweening opinion of our own Wisdom or any other excellency to Profaneness For as the Fool has said in his heart there is no God so it is said in another place That the ungodly is so Proud that he careth not for him Pride then is altogether inconsistent with that Subjection Honour and Veneration which we owe to God. For how can he submit his passions to the Authority of the Divine Will who has made a Law of his own And as it indisposes us for all active so likewise for all passive Obedience for how can he suffer that with Patience which he thinks he does not deserve in Justice Or how can he submit with resignation to the seeming unevennesses of Providential Dispensations the equality of which because he cannot discern he must in honour to his own understanding deny And upon the same ground it unqualifies us for Faith in many of the Divine Revelations For how can he Captivate his understanding to Mysteries who thinks it a dishonour to own any and is resolv'd to believe no farther than he can comprehend 27. Lastly It unqualifies us for Gratitude towards God and consequently puts a Bar to all those good actions which we would otherwise perform upon that Principle And by this it becomes a Multiplied a Legion evil For how can he acknowledg an Obligation pass'd upon him by Gods Favours who calls them not by that name but esteems them as Rewards and Payments and inverting the Protestation of the good Patriarch thinks himself worthy of the greatest of his mercies 28. Then Secondly In relation to our Neighbour it unqualifies us for Obedience to Civil Government For how can he submit to the Wisdom of his Superiours and pay an implicite deference to the Occult reasons of State who thinks himself wiser than a whole Senate and disputes even the ways of Providence Pride was ever observed to be the Mother of Faction and Rebellion and accordingly St. Jude makes it part of the Character of the Proud Gnostics To despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities 29. Again It unqualifies us for those acts of Justice which consist in a due observation of our Neighbours Merits and a deference of external Respect proportionable to that observation For how can he be at leasure to take notice of anothers worth who is so wholly taken up in the contemplation of his own Let the Reputation of his best Friends if it be possible for a Proud man to have any be in never so great danger he like Archimedes is so overbusie in admiring the Creatures of his own brain those Draughts and Ideas which he has form'd of himself there that he regards not the Ruin that is about him Or if he does he is so far from appearing in their defence as in Justice he ought that he rather rejoyces at their Spots as Accessions to his own brightness 30. Again It unqualifies us for the Offices of Humanity and Civil Behaviour and all kinds of Homilitical virtue for how can he treat those with any tolerable Civility whom he looks down upon as a whole Species below him 31. Lastly it unqualifies us for Gratitude toward our Benefactors For how can he think himself obliged by man who counts God his Debtor 32. Then Thirdly In relation to our Selves here is this grand ill consequence of an immoderate self-esteem that it unqualifies us not only for higher attainments but even for the very endeavours of improvement and so cuts short and bedmarfs all our excellencies 'T is the Observation of Cicero Multi ad scientiam pervenissent nisi se jam pervenisse credidissent The Opinion of the Proud man has so far got the start of the real worth that the latter will never overtake the former 33. And as the immoderate esteem of our Selves unqualifies us for the performance of many Duties so does it also in the second place Betray us into many Sins 34. First Into all those sins which are contrary to the foremention'd Vertues respectively And besides them into many more such as are presumption and security vexation and discontent contempt of others tho at the same time it exposes us to
theirs Anger and Contention Malice and Revenge For the Proud man is not content to be his own private Admirer but quarrels with all others that are not of his perswasion and with the Tyrant of Babylon kindles a fire for those who will not fall down and worship the Image which he has set up 35. Neither does the Leprosy stop here But as it betrays us into many sins so in the Third and last place which is the most dismal Consequence of all It frustrates all Methods of Reformation Gods judgments will but exasperate and inrage him because he thinks he does not deserve them and his Mercies will not indear him because he thinks he does Advice he thinks he does not need and Reproof he cannot bear Besides he thinks so well of himself already that he wonders what you mean by advising him to become better and therefore as he does not endeavour after any of those excellencies which he thinks he has so neither can he dream of mending those faults which he thinks he is not guilty of Thus is the man Seal'd up to iniquity and deeply lodg'd in the strong holds of sin where nothing that has a Salutary Influence can come nigh him And in this he resembles the first Presidents of his Folly who from Angels transform'd themselves into Devils and fell beyond the possibilities of recovery 36. These are some of the fruits of this Root of Bitterness and tho more might be named yet these I think sufficient to justify this Admonition of the Apostle to every man not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith Let us then all endeavour to conform our opinions concerning our selves to this Standard Let us not stretch our selves beyond our natural dimensions but learn to entertain modest and sober thoughts of our own excellencies and endowments and mortify our understandings as well as our sensitive affections And thus shall we compleat our Lent Exercise by joyning the mortification of the Spirit to that of the flesh without which the greatest Austerities wherewith we can afflict the latter will not be such a Fast as God has chosen For what will it avail to macerate the Body while the principal part the Soul remains unmortify'd The Humility of Moses must conspire with his Forty days Fasting to qualify a man for Divine Intercourses to make him the Joy of Angels the Friend of God. Thus then let us accomplish the Refinings of our Souls and fill up the Measure of our Mortifications To which end let us add this one further Consideration to what has been already said that Humility in the Judgment even of the High and Lofty one that inhabits Eternity is a Vertue of such great Excellency and singular advantage to the happiness of Mankind that our Blessed Saviour came down from Heaven to teach it that his whole life was one continu'd Exercise of it and that he has dignify'd it with the first place among his Beatitudes Let us then as many as profess the Religion of the Humble and Crucify'd JESUS make it our strict Care that we neglect not this his great Commandment nor omit to Copy out this Principal Line this main stroke of the Pattern he has set us Especially let us of this place who are set among the greater Lights of the Firmament and whose profession and business is to contemplate Truth and to think of things as God made them in Number Weight and Measure labour in the first place to take just and true Measures of our Selves that our Knowledg puff us not up nor our Height become our Ruin. CONSIDERATIONS UPON THE NATURE OF SIN Accommodated to the ends both of Speculation and Practise Considerations upon the Nature of Sin c. SECT I. Of the division of Sin into Material and Formal and of the reality and necessity of that Distinction 1. TO make this our Discourse about Sin more clear and distinct before we enter upon its Nature 't will be requisite to premise somthing concerning the double acceptation of the word For nothing can be defined before it be distinguish'd 2. I observe therefore that Sin may be consider'd either abstractedly for the bare act of Obliquity or concretely with such a special dependence of it upon the will as renders the Agent guilty or obnoxious to punishment I say with such a special dependence of it upon the will for not every dependence of an action upon the will is sufficient to make it imputable as shall be shewn hereafter The former of these by those that distinguish more nicely is call'd transgressio voluntatis the latter transgressio voluntaria or according to the more ordinary distinction the former is the material the latter the formal part of Sin. 3. This distinction is both real and necessary 1. it is real because the Idea or conception of material sin is not only distinct from the Idea of formal sin as it may be in things really the same but when consider'd as alone does positively exclude the other For this notion a bare act of Obliquity does not only prescind from but also positively deny such a special dependence of it upon the will as makes it imputable for punishment 4. Now as it is a certain sign of Identity when the Idea of one thing necessarily includes the Idea of another so is it of real distinction when the Idea of one thing in any case positively excludes the Idea of the other There may indeed be distinct conceptions of one and the same thing whereof there are different Propertys or Degrees but then one does only abstract from and not in any case positively exclude the other Which when it does it is an evident sign of real distinction 5. But the greatest Argument of real distinction is separability and actual separation For nothing can be separated from it self And this also has place here For the material part of sin may actually exist without the formal That is there may be an act of obliquity or an irregular act without any guilt deriv'd upon the Agent or to speak more strictly without that special dependence of the act upon the will which is the foundation of that guilt This is evident in the case of fools and mad men 6. And as this Distinction is real so also is it very useful and necessary 1st in the notion to prevent ambiguitys and fallacys that might arise from the use of the word sin As when St. John says he that commits sin is of the Devil certainly 't would be a fallacy to argue hence that every mere act of obliquity is Diabolical because a sin since not material but formal sin was the thing intended in Saint John's Proposition 7. 2ly in the thing for the honour and vindication of the Divine Attributes Particularly from the damning of Infants merely for the corruption of nature commonly call'd Original sin It being repugnant to
determination superadded by Intelligent Beings which I call Moral Entitys As to the second I grant the consequence but deny the absurdity of it For it is no absurdity that Moral evil should be Metaphysically good For this Metaphysical transcendental goodness which is the affection of Ens is nothing else but a Being's having that essence whereof it is capable or as Suarez expresses it its having that perfection which is convenient to it But this is very consistent with the nature of Moral evil for this may have what belongs to its Idea as well as good and 't is the Perfection of sin to be exceeding sinful SECT IV. Corollarys deduced from the whole The foulness and deformity of sin represented That it is the greatest of evils That no Formal sin can be in its self Venial That in all probability Vindicative Justice is essential to God hence deduced A new Hypothesis for the reconciling of eternal Punishments with the Divine Justice That he who thoroughly understands and actually attends to the Nature of sin cannot possibly commit it 1. HAving thus far carried on the Theory of sin we may now sit down and take an estimate of its Foulness and Deformity And methinks I am affrighted at the ugliness of the face which I have unmask'd and am ready to start back from the distorted and ill-boding monster For however the magic of Self-love may reconcile men to their own faults yet if we set the object at a more convenient distance from the eye and consider the Nature of sin irrespectively to our selves 't will certainly appear according to the precedent measures to be the most deform'd monstrous thing that can either be found or conceiv'd in Nature 2. For if we consider it in its full latitude it is the highest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Habitude of the will to the worst of objects than which what can be imagin'd more monstrous and absurd If we consider it as a violation of Positive Law what can be more indecorous than for a Creature to violate the commands and trample upon the Authority of that awful excellence to whom he owes his life his motion and his very being If we consider it as a violation of the Law of Reason what can be more monstrous and unnatural than for a man to rebel against the vicarious power of God in his Soul to refuse to live according to that part of him whereby he is a man to suffer the ferine and brutish part to get the Ascendent over that which is rational and Divine to refuse to be govern'd by those sacred Digests which are the Transcripts of the Moral Nature of God and to act against the very frame and contexture of his being Lastly if we consider it as a Transgression against that great and Soveraign Law of promoting the common Happiness what a monstrous evil must that be which crosses and opposes the best of ends and which is also proposed by the best of Beings that for the interest of an inconsiderable part commonly ones self justles the great wheel of Society out of its proper track that by persuing a lesser in prejudice to a greater good disturbs the order of things dislocates the frame and untunes the Harmony of the universe 3. We may also hence conclude that sin is the greatest evil that is or that can possibly be For it is contrarily opposed to the greatest possible good and consequently must needs be the greatest evil And besides 't is that which in no case or juncture whatsoever is to be committed and therefore must be the greatest evil because otherwise it might happen to come into competition with a greater and so commence eligible which is contrary to the supposition Moreover the greatness of this evil above all others is à posteriori further confirm'd from the greatness of the Sacrifice required for its attonement God could not or at least thought not fit to remit it without the shedding of blood and that too of the blood of God. So great a Fool is he so little does he consider that makes a mock at sin 4. Again it may be hence collected that no Formal sin can be in its own nature venial For according to the former measures every Formal sin tho never so small is a sin against the greatest Charity imaginable For 't is against that Charity whereby I ought to promote the ends of God and prosecute the great interest of the universe And consequently cannot be in its own Nature venial or pardonable without Repentance 5. Nay may I not further conclude according to the preceding measures that 't is very probable that no sin could have been pardon'd even with Repentance had there not been also satisfaction made for it and that vindicative Justice is essential to the nature of God For when I consider sin I find it so diametrically contrary to the essential sanctity of God and so destructive of that great End which he cannot but propose that he must needs hate it with an infinite hatred But how he should do so and yet not punish for it is hard to understand 6. Upon these measures we may also find out a way of reconciling eternal punishments with Divine Justice The great Objection is what Proportion is there between a transient act of sin and eternal misery And if there be none how is it consistent with divine Justice to inflict the one for the other This has been a great difficulty and has for a long time stood proof against all solutions But now if we consider sin as contrarily opposed to the greatest possible good the good of the universe and consequently as the greatest possible evil its demerit will be such that we need not fear 't will be over-punish'd even with eternal misery For if any misery is to be endured rather than one sin to be committed 't is also just that any may be when it is committed For the equity of both depends upon sin's being the greatest evil 7. The last Deduction which I shall make from the Premises is this that he who thoroughly understands and actually attends to the nature of sin cannot possibly commit it For as long as he does so he must look upon it as the greatest evil otherwise he cannot be said rightly to understand it And if he look upon it as the greatest evil he cannot chuse it so long as he continues in that judgment because the then chusing it would be the chusing of all that whereby it exceeds other evils gratis which is the chusing of evil as evil which is impossible 8. Whosoever therefore consents to the commission of sin passes first a wrong judgment upon it has the light of his understanding darkned and intercepted by a cloud of Passion loses the present Conviction of sin's being the greatest evil and so commits it to avoid as he then foolishly thinks a greater So that the cause and origine of all sin is ignorance folly and inadvertence there is a false
Proposition in the understanding before there is any misapplication in the will and 't is through the swimming of the head that the feet slip and lose their station And yet the sinner is no way excusable for this his deception because 't is the ignorance of that which he habitually knows and he might have attended better and 't was his fault that he did not 9. And 't is the recovering and awaking up into this Conviction that is the Principle of Repentance and reformation of life When a man by the aid of grace and the use of due attention resumes his interrupted Judgment of Sins being the greatest evil he then comes again to himself forms new resolutions never to commit it and returns to the wisdom of the just So great reason had the Psalmist to pray O grant me understanding and I shall live THE PRAYER O My God who art pure light and in whom there is no darkness at all who art pure Love and hatest nothing but sin and hatest that infinitely give me an heart after thine own heart that I may also abhor it without measure and without end Open thou mine eyes that I may see those two wondrous things of thy Law the Beauty of Holiness and the deformity of sin Inspire me with that Charity which seeketh not her own that I may ever propose and follow that great and excellent end which thou proposest that I may ever adhere to that which is simply and absolutely best and never for any self-advantage disturb the order of thy Creation O let me never so far abuse those facultys thou hast given me as to thwart the designs of thy goodness and wisdom and to interrupt that Harmony wherein thou so delightest But let all my designs be generous unselvish and sincere so as chiefly to rejoyce at the good of thy Creation at whose very material Beauty the Morning Stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy Holy Father 't is thy will that this thy great Family should be prosperous and happy and the better part of it thy Angels strictly conform to it O let this thy will be done here on Earth as it is in Heaven and grant that every member of this great Body may so study the good of the whole that thou may'st once more review the works of thy hands and with a Fatherly complacency pronounce them good Grant this for the sake of him who gave his life for the Happiness of the world thy Son Jesus Amen II. GIve me wisdom that sitteth by thy throne and reject me not from among thy children That wisdom which was with thee from the Beginning which knoweth all thy works and was present when thou madest the world and knew what was acceptable in thy sight and right in thy Commandments O send her out of thy holy Heavens and from the throne of thy glory that being present she may labour with me that I may know and thoroughly consider what an evil it is to affront thy Authority to break through the bounds which thou hast set to rebel against the most excellent and divine part of my nature and to oppose that which thou lov'st and which is of all things the most lovely O let thy wisdom dwell with me let my loins be always girt and this my Light always burning that I may never be deceiv'd through the deceitfulness of sin nor seek death in the errour of my life Thy words have I hid within my heart that I might not sin against thee O grant me understanding and I shall live Keep I beseech thee this conviction still fresh and fully awake in me that Sin is the greatest of all evils that so the fear of none may ever drive me to do the thing which thy Soul hates Consider and hear me O Lord my God lighten mine eyes that I sleep not in death Amen Amen AN IDEA OF HAPPINESS IN A LETTER to a FRIEND ENQUIRING Wherein the greatest Happiness attainable by Man in this Life does consist Sollicitis vitam consumimus annis Torquemurque metu caecaque cupidine rerum Aeternisque Senes curis dum quaerimus aevum Perdimus nullo votorum fine beati Victuros agimus semper nec vivimus unquam Manilius lib. 4. OXFORD Printed at the THEATER 1687. An Idea of Happiness c. SIR 1. THO you have been pleas'd to assign me the Task of an Angel and in that Respect have warranted me to disobey you yet since a considerable part of that experimental Knowledg which I have of Happiness is owing to the Delight which I take in your vertuous and endearing Friendship I think 't is but reasonable I should endeavour to give you an Idea of that whereof you have given me the Possession 2. You desire to know of me wherein the greatest Happiness attainable by man in this Life does consist And here tho I see my self engaged in a work already too difficult for me yet I find it necessary to enlarge it For since the greatest Happiness or Summum Bonum of this Life is a Species of Happiness in general and since it is call'd Greatest not because absolutely perfect and compleat but inasmuch as it comes nearest to that which indeed is so it will be necessary first to state the Notion of Happiness in General and then to define wherein that Happiness does consist which is perfect and compleat before I can proceed to a Resolution of your Question 3. By Happiness in the most general Sense of the word I understand nothing else but an Enjoyment of any Good. The least Degree of Good has the same Proportion to the least Degree of Happiness as the greatest has to the greatest and consequently as many ways as a man enjoys any Good so many ways he may be said to be happy neither will the Mixture of Evil make him forfeit his Right to this Title unless it either equals the Good he enjoys or exceeds it And then indeed it does but the Reason is because in strictness of Speaking upon the whole Account the man enjoys no Good at all For if the Good and the Evil be equal-balanc'd it must needs be indifferent to that man either to be or not to be there being not the least Grain of good to determine his Choice So that he can no more be said to be happy in that Condition than he could before he was born And much less if the Evil exceeds the Good For then he is not only not happy but absolutely and purely miserable For after an exact Commensuration supposed between the Good and the Evil all that remains over of the Evil is pure and simple Misery which is the Case of the Damn'd And when 't is once come to this whatever some Mens Metaphysics may perswade them I am very well satisfied that 't is better not to be than to be But now on the other side if the Good does never so little out-weigh the Evil that Overplus of Good is as
of conveyance it cannot be propagated from the Intellectual part to the Sensitive Whereupon they affirm that none are capable of this sensitive passionate Love of God but Christians who enjoy the Mystery of the Incarnation whereby they know God has condescended so far as to cloath himself with Flesh and to become like one of us But 't is not all the Sophistry of the cold Logicians that shall work me out of the belief of what I feel and know and rob me of the sweetest entertainment of my Life the Passionate Love of God. Whatever some Men pretend who are Strangers to all the affectionate heats of Religion and therefore make their Philosophy a Plea for their indevotion and extinguish all Holy Ardours with a Syllogism yet I am firmly persuaded that our love of God may be not only passionate but even Wonderfully so and exceeding the Love of Women 'T is an Experimental and therefore undeniable Truth that Passion is a great Instrument of Devotion and accordingly we find that Men of the most warm and pathetick Tempers and Amorous Complexions Provided they have but Consideration enough withall to fix upon the right Object prove the greatest Votaries in Religion And upon this account it is that to heighten our Love of God in our Religious Addresses we endeavour to excite our Passions by Music which would be to as little purpose as the Fanatic thinks 'tis if there were not such a thing as the Passionate Love of God. But then as to the Objection I Answer with the excellent Descartes that although in God who is the Object of our Love we can imagine nothing yet we can imagine that our Love which consists in this that we would unite our selves to the Object beloved and consider our selves as it were a part of it And the sole Idea of this very Conjunction is enough to stir up a heat about the Heart and so kindle a very vehement Passion To which I add that although the Beauty or Amiableness of God be not the same with that which we see in Corporeal Beings and consequently cannot directly fall within the Sphere of the imagination yet it is somthing Analogous to it and that very Analogy is enough to excite a Passion And this I think sufficient to warrant my general division of the Love of God into Intellectual and Sensitive 31. But there is a more peculiar Acceptation of the Love of God proper to this place And it is that which we call Seraphic By which I understand in short that Love of God which is the effect of an intense Contemplation of him This differs not from the other in kind but only in degree and that it does exceedingly in as much as the thoughtful Contemplative Man as I hinted before has clearer Perceptions and livelier Impressions of the Divine Beauty the lovely Attributes and Perfection of God than he whose Soul is more deeply set in the Flesh and lies groveling in the bottom of the Dungeon 32. That the nature of this Seraphic Love may be the better understood I shall consider how many degrees there may be in the Love of God. And I think the Computation of Bellarmin lib. 2. de monachis cap. 2. is accurate enough He makes four The first is to love God proportionably to his Loveliness that is with an infinite Love and this degree is peculiar to God himself The second is to Love him not proportionably to his Loveliness but to the utmost Capacity of a Creature and this degree is peculiar to Saints and Angels in Heaven The third is to love him not proportionably to his Loveliness nor to the utmost capacity of a Creature absolutely consider'd but to the utmost capacity of a Mortal Creature in this Life And this he says is proper to the Religious The fourth is to love him not proportionably to his Loveliness nor to the utmost capacity of a Creature consider'd either absolutely or with respect to this Life but only so as to love nothing equally with him or above him That is not to do any thing contrary to the Divine Love. And this is absolute indispensable duty less than which will not qualify us for the enjoyment of God hereafter 33. Now this Seraphic Love which we here discourse of is in the third degree When a Man after many degrees of Abstraction from the Animal Life many a profound and steddy Meditation upon the Excellencies of God sees such a vast Ocean of Beauty and Perfection in him that he loves him to the utmost stretch of his Power When he sits under his shadow with great delight and his fruit is sweet to his Tast Cant. 2. 3. When he Consecrates and Devotes himself whollly to him and has no Passion for Inferiour Objects When he is ravished with the delights of his Service and breaths out some of his Soul to him in every Prayer When he is delighted with Anthems of Praise and Adoration more than with Marrow and Fatness and Feasts upon Alleluiah When he melts in a Calenture of Devotion and his Soul breaketh out with fervent Desire Psal 119. When the one thing he delights in is to converse with God in the Beauty of Holiness and the one thing he desires to see him as he is in Heaven This is Seraphic Love and this with Contemplation makes up that which the Mystic Divines stile the Vnitive way of Religion It is called so because it Unites us to God in the most excellent manner that we are capable of in this Life By Union here I do not understand that which is local or presential because I consider God as Omnipresent Neither do I mean a Union of Grace as they call it whereby we are reconciled to God or a Union of Charity whereof it is said he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Jo. 4. 16. The first of these being as common to the inanimate things as to the most Extasi'd Soul upon Earth And the two last being common to all good men who indeed love God but yet want the excellency of Contemplation and the Mystic Union The Union then which I here speak of is that which is between the Faculty and the Object Which consists in some Habitude or Operation of one toward the other The Faculties here are the Vnderstanding and Will the Object God and the Operations Contemplation and Love. The result of which two is the Mystic Vnion Which according to this complex Notion of it that I have here delivered is thus most admirably represented by the excellent Bishop Taylour It is says he a Prayer of quietness and silence and a Meditation extraordinary a Discourse without variety a Vision and Intuition of Divine Excellencies an immediat entry into an Orb of light and a resolulution of all our Faculties into Sweetness Affections and Starings upon the Divine Beauty And is carried on to Extasies Raptures Suspensions Elevations Abstractions and Apprehensions beatifical 34. I make no doubt but that
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Counterpart whereof in English is Conceptive and Exhibitive By the Mind of God Exhibitive is meant the Essence of God as thus or thus imitable or participable by any Creature and this is the same with an Idea By the Mind of God Conceptive is meant a reflex act of God's Understanding upon his own Essence as Exhibitive or as thus and thus imitable Now if you consider the Divine Understanding as Conceptive or Speculative it does not make its Object but suppose it as all Speculative Understanding does neither is the Truth of the Object to be measured from its Conformity with that but the Truth of that from its Conformity with its Object But if you consider the Divine Understanding as Exhibitive then its Truth does not depend upon its Conformity with the Nature of things but on the contrary the Truth of the Nature of things depends upon its Conformity with it For the Divine Essence is not thus or thus imitable because such and such things are in being but such and such things are in being because the Divine Essence is thus and thus imitable for had not the Divine Essence been thus imitable such and such Beings would not have been possible And thus is Plato to be understood when he founds the Truth of things upon their Conformity with the Divine Ideas and thus must the Schools mean too by that foremention'd Axiom concerning Transcendental Truth if they will speak Sense as I noted above 6. And now Sir from Plato's Ideas thus amiably set forth the Transition methinks is very natural to Love. And concerning this I shall account in the same Method first by pointing out the popular Misapprehensions about it and then by exhibiting a true Notion of it Platonic Love is a thing in every bodies Mouth but I find scarce any that think or speak accurately of it The mistakes which I observe are chiefly these Some of the grosser Understanders suppose that Plato by his Love meant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Love of Males but the Occasion of this Conceit was from a passage in his Convivium where he brings in Aristophanes speaking favourably that way But he that shall from hence conclude Plato a prostitute to that vile Passion may as well conclude a Dramatic Poet to be an Atheist or a Whore-master because he represents those of that Character But that Divine Plato intended nothing less than to countenance any such thing is evident from the whole scope and purport of that Dialogue and from other places where he expresly condemns it and rejects it with great abhorrence particularly in the first of his de legibus where he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unnatural attempt Others by Platonic Love understand the Love of Souls and this indeed has somthing of truth in it only it is much too narrow and particular 7. Others take Platonic Love to be a desire of imprinting any excellency whether moral or intellectual in the Minds of beautiful young men by Instruction and so likewise of enjoying your own Perfections reflected from the Mind of another mix'd with and recommended by the Beauty of the Body According to the usual saying Gratior è Pulchro c. And thus Socrates was said to love his beautiful Pupils Phaedrus and Alcibiades Others measure the Nature of Platonic Love not from the Object to which they suppose it indifferent but from the manner of the Act. And according to these that man is said to love Platonically that does Casso delectamine amare love at a distance that never designs a close fruition of the Object what ever it be whether Sensual or Intellectual but chooses to dwell in the Suburbs pleasing himself with remote Prospects and makes a Mistress of his own Desire And this is the receiv'd Notion and that which People generally mean when they talk of Platonic Love. But this too is far enough from the right for tho Platonic Love does not aim at the fruition of sensual Objects yet it designs the fruition of its own Object as much as any other Love does That therefore which distinguishes Platonic Love is not the manner of the act above-mention'd but the peculiarity of the Object And what that is must be collected from the Design of Plato in that Dialogue where he treats purposely of it his Convivium Which is briefly to shew the manner of the Souls ascent to God by love For Plato makes the Happiness of Man to consist in the Contemplation and Love of God whom he calls the Idea of Beauty But now because this Idea of Beauty God is of too sublime and refined excellency to be immediatly fastned upon by our Love he recommends to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Method of Ascent which is from loving the Beauty we see in Bodies to pass on to the Love of the Beauty of the Soul from the Beauty of the Soul to the Beauty of Vertue and lastly from the Beauty of Vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the immense Ocean of Beauty c. For so have I observ'd a tender Infants Eye not enduring to gaze directly upon the too powerful Excellence of the Meridian Sun chuse to entertain it self with the abatements of corrected and reflected Light and take up with the feebler refreshments of lesser Beauties for a while till at length the faculty grows more confirm'd and dares encounter the Sun in his Strength And these are the Steps of the Sanctuary So that Platonic Love is the Love of Beauty abstracted from all sensual Applications and desire of corporal contract as it leads us on to the Love of the first original Beauty God or more plainly thus The Ascent of the Soul to the Love of the Divine Beauty by the Love of abstracted Beauty in Bodies This Love of abstracted Beauty in Bodies he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celestial Love in opposition to that which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same with that Passion commonly signify'd by the name of Love viz. a desire of corporal contact arising from the sight of Beauty This last indeed is a very vile brutish unmanly affection and such as considering the vileness of our Bodies one would think a man could never be charm'd into without the Magic of a Love-potion But the former is an Angelical Affection for certainly Beauty is a Divine thing It is as the Platonic Author says of Wisdom the pure Influence flowing from the Glory of the Almighty and the Brightness of the Everlasting Light or in Plato's own Words A Ray of God. And therefore the Love of abstract Beauty must needs be a very generous and divine Affection Sir I could be more large in my account but I consider what 't is I write and to whom and therefore I think it high time to remit you to your own Thoughts some of which I hope will be that I am in a very eminent degree of Friendship Yours J. Norris