man seem'd more acquainted with God than Moses and no man seem'd more importunate to know him better I beseech thee shew me thy Glory Exod. 33.18 Similitudes and Metaphors in Religion are those Clouds of Incense wherewith at the same time we both enter and obscure the Sanctum Sanctorum We receive those sensible Representations and gracious Condescentions which God hath been pleas'd to make us of his own Nature and the other World in the same manner as the Disciples did the Discourses of our Saviour going to Emmaus we have not a full comprehension of what is thus Figur'd to us but yet we are religiously affected we have a spiritual Sensation of its unutterable import and our hearts burn within us The Strength and Vehemency of the Imagination will sometimes carry forth the Reason and Judgment to make new Discoveries 't will excite them to take such Circuits and Travels in the contemplation of Eternal Beings till the Soul is ready to swim and grow giddy and the speculation turns almost Apoplexy it will sometimes actuate the mind to a stretch and emanation beyond its present Order to a taste and immature anticipation of unproportion'd Knowledge And this does not proceed from the heat and elevation of contemplative and splenetick Heads but it is the sober attestation and examin'd experience of more fix'd and solid Brains It is reported of a Metaphysical Divine of our own Church that by a long assiduity of thinking and a constant ardour of Meditation he could sometimes refine and sublimate a Theorem to that degree till it became too nice even for his own examination when he had abated of that Temper in which he first fram'd it that when the intellectual fire was out and his Brain was sunk into its ordinary dimensions he could not justifie that speculation to his cooler review which he was certain had an exact conformity to his more rais'd Capacity However we need not fear any Illusion any Phanaticism from the innocent Excesses of the Fancy whilst they are only made the private Nourishment of an Holy Life whilst they only promote our Adorations not determine our Opinions whilst they only enter our Closet-Devotions not our Publick Services or Creeds It being also easie to distinguish by the concomitance or absence of Humility and Love when our minds are gently fill'd with Divine Images or when they are Enthusiastically possess'd with presumptuous Enquiries And thus the Imagination the meanest and most trivial faculty of the Humane Soul under a good management may be an admirable Instrument and incentive of Divine Praise and Adoration even as God Almighty thought fit to chuse the Rainbow that Circle of phantastic colours for the Symbole and Sacrament of his Beloved Attribute his Mercy 3ly We may be said to Praise the Lord with our Affections when our Adoration is perform'd with strong vehemency of Soul and intenseness of Spirit with the Unions of Love and Wonder and such-like Bright Affections as perfect and exalt our most spiritual Duties The Will is also comprehended in the Affections For as the Common Passions in their worst acceptation are the Deformities and Turbulencies of the Animal Nature so the Affections are only the fresher gales of Virtue the more enliven'd Acts of the Rational and Superiour Will and as the former raise commotions and irregularities in the Blood and Humours of the Body so these latter invigorate the Faculties of the Soul making them Heroical and Divine in their Emanations Now as the capacity of the Intellect is much larger than that of the Senses so the amplitude of the Will and Affections far surpasses that of the Understanding and therefore God has requir'd that our Desire and Love of him should be more perfect and complete than our Knowledge of him for we are bound to entertain his Perfections with the closest adhesion of Heart and Soul though we can apprehend them onely with a Partial and enigmatical Knowledge Let men therefore boast of their Mighty Reasonings their close Deductions their strong link'd Consequences and their elaborate Demonstrations in Religion when they have done all to justifie themselves in a cautious advance towards Heaven they will find that the Best Divinity consists in Love and Wonder and that there are such enlargements of the Soul arising from these Affections as none can signifie none can conceive but those who have lain under the Blessed Experience III. I will endeavour to point out some of those Benefits which will arise from a worthy performance of the Duty Now this Holy Exercise being worthily perform'd will exalt our Faith beyond the reach of Sophistry or Prophaneness 't will establish in us a permanent love to Goodness and a temper of antipathy to the contradictions and contumelies of Vice 't will convey our fervent Meditations to such safe and peaceful Heights till the false Beauties of the World make no Impression on us and its keenest Temptations are out-distanc't It will secure all the stages of an holy Life and reduce that Barbarous Warlike Stubborn and Malicious Religion which is now in Vogue to the truly Ancient Primitive Christianity to a cheerful and serene Principle of Meekness Humility constant Obedience and Universal Love When the Soul is made tender with this Heavenly Converse made apt to kindle at every representation of Divine Goodness to meet and embrace with every attribute how vile and loath some must the deformity of Sin needs appear The very Transports of Adoration whilst they continue upon us are a natural preservative against the Encroachments of Vice and when the Holy Agitation is ceas'd it commonly settles into a lively calm of lasting Gratitude and Love But to speak more particularly Praise and Adoration are actions perfective of those very Faculties which perform them For they give a Divine Brightness to our Reason free it from the illusions of Sence and Passion fix it on useful enquiries and in all its Discoveries make it serviceable to the Sanctuary for not onely Religious but even Natural objects may be contemplated and examin'd by the humble Adorer into Mysterious subjects of Devotion and Wonder The True Christian Philosopher even from his common observations in secular Learning will by a due Analysis of Meditation open to himself a delicious prospect of Heavenly Glories pursue every Motion and Effect to its first Cause and Author till he finds his Scale of Contemplation to look like Jacobs Ladder with Angels ascending and descending whilst the proud Enquiring Naturalist who sacrifices more to his Hypothesis than his God will reap nothing but Presumption and Contempt of Heaven from his Conversation even with the Divinest Objects He will call a True Miracle the Luxuriancy of Nature an Extraordinary Act of Providence onely the sudden eruption of a Natural though hidden Cause or at least he will debase these immediate Operations of the Almighty to some cheap piece of Motion and Mechanism that may serve to ease and pacifie his Wonder thus loosing the improvement of his
PRAISE and ADORATION OR A SERMON ON TRINITY-SUNDAY BEFORE THE University at Oxford 1681. By THOMAS MANNYNGHAM M. A. late Fellow of New-Colledge Oxford LONDON Printed for William Crook at the Green Dragon without Temple-Barr PSALM 103. V. 1. Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name THere is an Habitual and also an Actual praising or Glorifying of God the first consists in a regular conformity of our Lives or the general course of our Actions to the holy Will and Commands of God But Actual Adoration which is to be the Subject of my Ensuing Discourse is it self a peculiar and solemn part of Divine Worship which does not only consist in an open recitation of Hymns and Spiritual Songs but also in a silent Exultation of our Faculties and a Religious warmth of Soul wrought by Heavenly Objects Now there are many Words and Phrases in holy Scripture especially in this Book of Psalms which are often us'd to express the same Duty of Blessing or praising the Lord And though they are promiscuously inserted as certainly they ought to be either in Popular or Poetick Writings yet are they many of them of peculiar limitation and significancy which being somewhat stated and explain'd may serve to establish a full and easie notion of what in my following Discourse I shall make more copious and less nice reflexions Wherefore our most humble and worthy Apprehensions our sincere devout resentments of the Divine Perfections are necessarily requir'd to constitute the Invisible Adoration of the Heart and Soul and Spirit which from its Vital and inward heat is continually displaying it self into great variety of External Evidences according to the diversity of those objects about which it is immediately conversant So that we may be said to praise the Lord when we declare his free and most excellent works of Mercy and Justice of Creation and Providence to Magnifie and Adore him when we set forth his incommunicable and Natural Excellencies such as his Omnipotence Immensity c. which joyntly consider'd with his Universal Dominion and Sovereignty over all Creatures may seem to signifie all that we mean by the Glorious Majesty of God We may be said to Bless the Lord by our wishes and words and being the good we wish is Extrinsick to his Nature and not yet obtained as that the whole World may be converted and fear his Name c. we must be sure to bless him with our endeavours too But chiefly this Blessing is effected by our most solemn Gratulations for seeing we cannot confer any real good on God we must continually express our joy and gladness for his actual possession of all possible perfection To worship him usually denotes a most humble posture of Body when we incline towards or prostrate our selves on that Dust out of which we were made We Glorifie God with our Mouths and accordingly the Psalmist calls his Tongue his Glory Awake thou my Glory Thanksgiving is an open profession and a hearty acknowledgment that we have received a Benefit most freely and without any merit of our own Adoration and Thanksgiving seem to differ in these respects we adore God for things that were acted long ago which concern not us any more than that they were the Effects of his Omnipotence as for all the Wonders done in the behalf of the Children of Israel Thanksgiving relates to those Benefits which either we immediately receive or whose effects are communicated to us Also we adore God for his Judgments and his Vengeance however displayed either on our Enemies or on our selves for which we are not properly said to return Thanksgivings because Adoration respects the Justice of the Action Thanksgivings the goodness of it These Words and Phrases being thus somewhat explain'd I shall make no scruple to use them again in their popular sense and freedom according as I shall find occasion for them in my farther amplifications on the Text which I will endeavour to handle in these three respects I. You may be pleas'd to consider the Necessity and Excellence of Praise and Adoration Bless the Lord O my Soul II. I shall endeavour to shew what are those Faculties and Capacities of the Soul whereby this Adoration is perform'd All that is within me III. I will point out some of those Benefits which will arise from a Worthy performance of the Duty Bless the Lord c. I. You may be pleas'd to consider the Necessity and Excellence of Praise and Adoration Bless the Lord O my Soul Prayers and Praises which bear the name of all that we can properly call Divine Worship are as well the Eternal Dictates of Nature as the most Sacred Commands of Revelation and if there may be allowed any remarkable precedency in these higher Duties of Natural and Reveal'd Religion Praise or Adoration seems justly to challenge that Prerogative for should not we first acknowledge our Being before we view and lament its imperfections should not we return our sacrifices of Gratitude for what we have already received before we implore the Divine Benignity for further accessions fresh supplies and new assistances Common Justice obliges us at all times first to look back and magnifie the Lord for our actual preservation before we presume to put up our Petitions for pardon and future security and it requires a Psalm of Thanksgiving that we are in a capacity to know our Wants to survey our Infirmities The meanness of our nature has indeed placed us below the possibility of making any Recompence and yet the indigency of our condition still calls upon us to make fresh acknowledgments and however imperfect these oblations are yet are they the only shew of real service we can render the only Image of Requital which our Creator has indulged us And as this Adoration is our indispensable Duty so 't is our Advantage and our glory too 't is not only the business of our Creation but the Excellency of it and we never appear in a more exalted State than when we Glorifie In the performance of this Duty we more eminently make good our Communion with Saints and Angels whilst with those blessed Spirits we constitute the same Choire and make one Universal Hallelujah Nothing surely can be more Just and Natural than to imploy our breath to the glory of him who gave it us nothing more profitable than to magnifie the Lord into greater Mercies to our selves Nothing more delightful than to be always full of glorious Conceptions always pouring forth the Language of Blessing and Affection Prayers are but the Mournful Draught and Table of our Misery the representation of our Ship-wreckt Nature Repentance has a gloomy side but Praise is Faiths and Reasons Triumph a bright unmixt immaculate Joy and only wants some few degrees of being all we can conceive of Heaven Therefore II. You may be pleas'd to consider what are those Faculties and Capacities of the Soul whereby this Duty is perform'd Now the powers of the
Soul which are more eminently concern'd in the Acts of Adoration seem to be these Three 1. Our Reason 2. Our Imagination 3. Our Affections For we may be said to Praise the Lord with our Reason in these two respects 1. When it perfectly and freely submits to the High Mysteries of Faith or the Doctrines of pure Revelation 2. When it humbly and devoutly busies it self about the Nature and Attributes of God manifested in the Works of Creation and Providence and though they are objects of Revelation too yet have they a sure foundation in Right Reason and Natural Religion and therefore may safely admit of a modest and affectionate enquiry We may be said to praise the Lord with our Imagination when we study to adorn our Divine Conceptions with the most Excellent Idea's with the most lively Representations we can invent Lastly We may be said to Praise the Lord with our Affections when the whole Duty is perform'd with strong vehemency of Soul and intenseness of Spirit with the Unions of Love and Wonder and such like bright Affections as perfect and exalt our most Spiritual performances Of these in their Order 1. We may be said to Praise the Lord with our Reason when it perfectly and freely submits it self to the High Mysteries of Faith or the Doctrines of pure Revelation And is it not an especial Excellency of the Christian Religion that as all its Precepts for Life and Manners are so perspicuously deliver'd and so perfectly agreeable to the best conceptions of Mankind that the humble Person cannot mistake his way to Heaven so also there are such Hights and Depths in the recesses of our Faith as perhaps the Seraphims cannot comprehend And although these Propositions of our Belief also be as clear and Evident as History and Language can make them as infallibly true and certain as that God who has reveal'd them yet even in our modest contemplations on them the excessive glory of the Revelation is apt to strike back and scatter our Natural light into the Confusions of Broken Knowledge and Admiration into Humility Love Praise and Resignation thus perfecting our Natures whilst it confounds our Enquiries So that the most Speculative Mysteries of Christianity how Incomprehensible soever in their Intrinsic Natures are yet as serviceable and conducive to the Ends of Religion viz. the glory of God and the promoting true Holiness as the most practical and familiar Doctrines and encouragements of the Gospel Were indeed our Mysteries like those of the ancient Heathen whose Adyta and Penetralia were but so many Cloysters of Separated Impurity so many Concealments of Spiritual Craft or of Mystical and Appropriated Lust then the nice examining World might very well complain of the Impostures of Priests of the absurdities of a Superstitious Faith but when the Mysteries we pretend to are not such as are made so by Shrines Templecharacters and a Traditionary Caution but such as are expos'd to the promiscuous yet humble view of all men in Confessions Creeds and Catechisms and being thus expos'd they are no Incongruities to our Moral conceptions as most of the Heathen's were nor yet Contradictions to our Natural Reasoning as some would have them for they are not such objects as lye within its Sphere or within the reach of its common Axioms but are rather so many Humiliations of our Understandings so many Gracious Affrightments and incomprehensible indearments of our Souls unto Love and Obedience So that if the thoughts of a Trinity in Unity and a Unity in Trinity amaze thy mind thou may'st presently relieve thy self with this contemplation That all this Unconceivable Distinction of Subsistences extends it self to thy Benefit and Comfort to reach thee out of Perdition and thy Primitive Curse that all this Ineffable oeconomy of the Divinity is thy Redemption thy Sanctification in a Word thy Multiply'd Salvation And considering likewise that on one side we have the express Declarations of Holy Scripture the Definitions of General Councils the Writings and Devotions of Primitive Fathers the Blood and Consciences of Holy Martyrs to testifie and seal their early Antiquity their Venerable Certainty and most faithful Conveyance and then on the other side that there is nothing but Scholastick Subtilty and presumptions Enthusiasm to Weaken or Corrupt them bold Philosophy malicious Cavilling and impious Blasphemy to oppose them I say considering all these things what possibly can deter any good and humble man even in this perverse disputing Age from triumphantly embracing the Mysteries of Faith with a strong and heroical Assent with a noble captivity of Mind and the most vigorous Acts of Adoration Happy had it been for the Christian World if these Eminencies in Religion had been always guarded with a Flaming Cherubim and been only made the illustrious Themes of Praise and Adoration But now alas the Controversies of the Church about these higher points will hardly suffer us to speak Devotionally of our Mysteries Grammatical niceties and Socinian figures have weaken'd the Native Reverence of many Texts Every Dutch Systeme is arrogantly big with the bold Explications of the Mysterious Trinity and of those heights and depths before which the very Angels tremble and vail What if some holy Persons of old perhaps of more Piety and devout Affections than Learning and Phylosophy were admitted like Moses into the Cloud humbly to converse with God about this Dreadful Mystery to be a Bank and a Mound against an eager and impetuous Heresie then raging in the Church and to be a standing Authority against all future swellings of proud Contention yet there is no reason but that there should be some restraint also about this Mountain too to fence off the Multitude and Common Beasts and to keep the Viler Herd at awful distance lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze and perish Exod. 19. v. 21. 2. We may be said to Praise the Lord with our Reason when it humbly and devoutly busies it self about the Nature and Attributes of God manifested in the Works of Creation and Providence And although they are Objects of Divine Revelation too yet have they a sure foundation in Right Reason and Natural Religion and therefore may safely admit of a modest and affectionate enquiry Bless his holy Name Where by the Name of God is meant all that we are able to conceive of his Perfections his Nature and Attributes and those not as they are Metaphysically handled and jejunely mingled with the Definitions of the Schools but as they are most pathetically set forth in Holy Scripture by his miraculous works and gracious dispensations to Mankind Alas it is not the dry Skeleton of dead and shapeless Reason or the Scholastick joynting of prodigious Terms which represent an Image rather Gastly than Admirable that can excite and animate our Gratulations and our Praises but there must be the Life and Features and all the Moving Elegance of the Frame to give us bright conceptions of its Dignity And therefore we find that
Faith and Humility by the Arrogancy of his Wit and Invention This exalted Exercise of Praising and Blessing the Lord will also fill the Imagination with Heavenly Imagery 'T will adorn it with the Vine and Pomgranate of the Temple making that Faculty an holy Receptacle of pious Emblems which in its Corrupt Nature is the chief Seat and Empire of Original Sin the Infernal Theatre where all the busiest Scenes of Temptation are display'd 'T will teach us not to lay out our best superlative words on Earthly things not to embalm Rottenness and Corruption with the Epithites of Divinity not to Deifie the Ambitious with sacred Oratory or to commit Idolatry with a too Bounteous Invention but to reserve a peculiar Hierarchy of Language for our Superior Intercourse Lastly It will spiritualize our Affections call them off from the defilements of the World make them languish in unaccountable Unions and give them a tender Sympathy with all the Endearments of the Canticles It will create in us such an Habitual Indulgence towards the sweetnesses of a Religious life that amidst the Avocations of the world the disturbances of secular business and the Afflictions of Common Conversation we shall be able to maintain a secret Under-current of pious Aspirations and Affections Let us therefore summon up all that is within us all the Faculties and Powers of our Souls to Bless and Praise the Lord with fervent Gratulations For surely Christianity is not only a bare Avoydance of Evil a plausible course in Moral Actions or an External living up to the Decency of a Station which yet in a Degenerate Age are no mean Patterns and Examples but certainly there are requir'd some Affectionate Heats some Breathings and Pantings after further degrees of Holiness and an Indefinite Perfection And though the cold Logicians are apt to call this a Spiritual Romance and the effect of a Religious Spleen yet we know of what Complexion they were who styl'd the miraculous effusions of the Holy Ghost Drunkenness and the fumes of New Wine St. Pauls Learning and the Sobriety of his Reason Madness and Distraction Surely no man can be an Heretick in his secret Communions with God or a dangerous Enthusiast in his Inward Adorations And if some Weaknesses have been found among the private Ardours of the Retir'd alas what are they but the glorious Frailties of the Pathetic Soul the Noble Extravagancies of a Seraphick Temper and an impetuous Devotion I know there is a lower Draught of Christianity but I speak a practical Mystery to the Wise to the Perfect to the Prophets and Sons of the Prophets who know how to be warm and affectionate in Religion without being Superstitious how to Adore without being Idolatrous I speak to you who are plac'd in all the Circumstances of an Extatick life who are so nearly acquainted with the intelligible World that what is but plain Picture to the Vulgar is Hieroglyphick to you they must be contented with the bare External View whilst you enrich your minds with the more Excellent Moral and Mystery To you who are able to compose and consecrate the Recollection of your Daily Studies into an Evening Hymn whose constant Imployment consists in such an Eminency of Spiritual Duties as others faintly attempt in seldom Festivals with secular Mixtures and divided Powers To you lastly who are perpetually attending on the Altar who love to speak of the Glory of Gods Kingdom and to talk of his Power who are continually standing before the Throne having your lives hid with Christ in God in Internal Joy and the secrecies of an Incomprehensible peace who live under such an Extraordinary sense of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness that you find it difficult to refrain from publishing his Perfections continually and from letting the Mistaken world know that it is our Priviledge our Duty and our Excellency never to cease from uttering in some measure our Gratulations and Praises here on Earth till they Expire into Greater till we arrive to those Perfect Harmonies above where our Glorify'd Souls and Bodies shall for ever dwell in an Eternal Triumph of Adoration and Amazement where like the voice of Trumpets of Thunders and like the noise of many Waters vve shall for ever sing Hallelujah Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power be to the Blessed Trinity And again we shall sing Hallelujah FINIS