dare to be Wise and be guilty of the great Singularity of doing well and of acting like Men and Christians and then if we can have the liking and approbation of the World well if not the comfort is we shall not much want it And we shall gain something by our Singularity which the others cannot by their Numbers the Favour of God and deliverance from the Wrath to come A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Excellency of Praise and Thanksgiving Preach'd in All-Souls College Chapel in Oxford upon the Founder's Commemoration Day Psal. 50. 23. Whoso offereth Praise glorifieth me Or as in the other Translation Whoso offereth me Thanks and Praise he honoureth me To Honour and Glorifie God as 't is the End of the whole so is it the Duty and Priviledge of all the Rational and Intellectual part of the Creation God indeed has made all things for his Glory and he fails not to glorifie himself one way or other by all things that he has made but there are some things which he has made to glorifie him by free and proper acts of Worship and Homage And these as he has more inabled so has he more obliged to the Performance of this Divine Office by distinguishing them as well by Favours and Benefits as by Order of Being and degrees of natural Excellence from the rest of the Creation Among these is Man who though at present not so capable of this Divine Imploy as some of the other Intellectual Orders yet he has as much perhaps more Obligation to it than any of them all since God has not only favour'd him with peculiar Benefits such as the Grace of Repentance the Honour of being Personally united to the Divinity c. but has also placed him in such a Sphere where he is the only Creature that can acknowledge and pay Religious Service to the common Creator All other Creatures praise God only Passively as far as they carry in them the Characters of the Divine Perfections which must be considered and acknowleded before they redound to the actual glory of the Creator Like a Lute which though never so Harmonically Set and Tuned yields no Musick till its Strings be artfully touched by a Skilful Hand But Man can freely command and strike the Strings of his own Heart and Affections and is the only Creature here below that can Actively praise and honour his great Maker and Benefactor Man therefore is concern'd to honour and glorifie God both for himself and for all the Creatures round about him and as the whole World is the Temple of the great God so Man is as it were the Priest in this Region of it where he must undertake the Office of honouring and glorifying God not only in his own but also in the name of all this brute and uncapable part of the Creation And he is here taught how to do it in these Words of the Psalmist whoso offers me Thanks and Praise he Honours me or he Glorifies me By Honour or Glory here I suppose is meant whatever comes within the Notion of Religious Service or Divine Worship and when 't is said that he who offers God Thanks and Praise he it is that Honours him I suppose 't is spoken Emphatically and by way of Eminence importing as much as if 't were said He it is that honours him more particularly and performs a more special piece of Religious Service So that from the Words I shall in the First place collect this Proposition That the most principal and most acceptable part of Religion consists in Praise and Thanksgiving Secondly I shall consider what are the things we are concern'd chiefly to thank God for among which I shall particularly insist upon that Providential disposal of Men in such outward Conditions and Circumstances of Life as may be of advantage to further their Eternal Interest Thirdly I shall briefly represent to you that the Circumstances of your Life are such Whence in the last place I shall commend this Inference to your Consideration that you are therefore highly obliged to the Duty of Praise and Thanksgiving The First thing to be spoken to is that the most principal and most acceptable part of Religion consists in Praise and Thansgiving I confess I am not very fond of making Comparisons between acts of Religion being not ignorant of what Religion it self has suffered upon this very account among a certain Generation of Men who set up one Duty of Religion against another as Preaching against Praying Nor should I do it here but that I have for some time observed that the Price of this Duty is generally beaten down and the Duty it self but seldom and but coldly practised even among them who make great account of all the rest and are more particularly addicted to a Life of Piety and Devotion The Parable of the Ten Lepers is a true Draught and Image of Mankind all Ten Prayed being under a great necessity to do so but there was but one who bethought himself and gave Thanks And so 't is in the World where to ten that Pray 't is well if there be one that gives Thanks and even that one shall perhaps Pray ten times before he gives Thanks once And when he does it shan't be perhaps with half the Zeal and Affection wherewith he is wont to Pray which procedure by the way I know not how to resolve into any other Principle than this that when we Pray 't is for our selves and our own Interest to procure some good or to avoid some evil but when we give Thanks 't is to God and for God without any Self-regard as I shall further shew by and by This I conceive is it that makes Men generally more frequent and more zealous in their Prayers than in their Praises Whereas indeed the latter calls for greater Affection and Elevation of Spirit than the former Praise being a greater glorification of God than Prayer and indeed than any other Act of Religion This I might make appear from several grounds of Argument but not to burthen my Discourse or your Patience with unnecessaries I shall confine my self to this single Consideration That to Praise and give Thanks to God is the most unselfish and disinteressed act of Religion we can possibly honour him with and consequently the most noble and generous of all The Consequence I suppose will readily be acknowledged that if it be really the most dis interessed act of Religion 't is also the most noble and excellent for the less there is of Self and the more there is of God in any Religious Performance the more perfect 't is allowed to be and though we do not with some make it necessary to the goodness of an Action that it be unmercenary and done without any prospect of Reward yet the Reason is because 't is too high a mark for a Mortal aim We think it a Measure hardly Practicable by any and therefore not necessary to all not denying in the mean while but
Heaven that they do it after a very perfect and excellent manner far exceeding the highest Measures of Mortality is here implied in that they are proposed and commended to us as Patterns and might be further concluded from the Perfection of their Natures and Faculties which we cannot but suppose to be very extraordinary since the excellency of our future Condition is summ'd up in this short Description that we shall be like unto the Angels But waving this Consideration taken from the Powers and Faculties of Angels as somewhat too Nice and Metaphysical for a Practical Discourse I shall chuse rather to represent the great Excellency wherewith they perform the Will of God from Two Collateral Considerations First The Impediments they are free from Secondly The positive Advantages they enjoy And First as to the Impediments they are free from 'T is the great disadvantage of all Human Spirits in this Station as well as the complaint of some that they are united with Bodies that are not proportioned to the Native Excellency and Activity of their Natures for indeed the Soul has made an ill Match Marryed very much beneath her self and has met with a Clog instead of a Companion one that is too weak to obey her Dictates and Motions and too strong to be governed that cannot follow and that will not be led that sticks too close to her to be shaken off and yet is too loose from her to be well managed Such an untractable ill suited Consort as this must needs be a constant incumbrance to the Soul even in her Natural but much more in her Moral and Spiritual Operations because here the Consort has contrary Inclinations so that the Soul is put to incounter not only with her ordinary weight but with an Opposite Law even that Law of the Members which wars against the Law of the Mind and brings us into Captivity to the Law of Sin Neither is this all for we are not only cumbered with a weight of Flesh and depressed by its low tendencies and propensions but our Body which at best is but in an ill disposition for the Operations of the Rational and Divine Life is often discomposed and made worse by Sickness and then the Soul is forced to sympathize and condole with her ill-suited Companion and either not to act at all or to perform her Part upon an ill-tuned Instrument And he that is blessed with the strongest and most tunable Constitution and enjoys the most vigorous Health has yet a great many necessities of Nature to serve that will take up much of his Thoughts and much of his Time so that he can't chuse but be troubled about many things things below the concernment of a Rational Being and that though he has chosen the Better Part and is so well convinced of his true interest as to acknowledge only one thing to be needful Add to all this that we breath in an infected Air live in an ill World where every Object almost is a Temptation and have a Devil to tempt and seduce us one who makes it his proper and profest business to cross the Ends of God to disturb the Moral Harmony of the Universe and to hinder the symphony and agreement of the Two Worlds that so God's Will may not be done in Earth as it is in Heaven And with these disadvantages no wonder that it is not But now the Holy Angels have none of these Impediments they have either no Bodies or such as no way incommode or retard but rather help and further their Faculties for they are in the full height and last perfection of their Natures and consequently must not be supposed to have the least degree of any of their Natural Perfections detained or held back from exerting it self by any clog or impediment there being no reason imaginable why they should be invested with any degree of Power which must never be brought into Act as it never must be if not at present they being now supposed to be in the last Perfection of their Natures They must be therefore conceived in this respect to act like necessary Agents to the full and to the utmost of their natural Strength and to have nothing in them that is not put forth as far as possibly can be And besides the Scripture always speaks of them under the denomination of Spirits without making 〈◊〉 of any Bodies belonging to them which must needs imply that either they are all Pure Minds as the Platonists say of the highest Order or if they have Bodies they are of so refined and clarified a Mould so nigh to an Immaterial Substance that Spirit might serve as a common word for both They have therefore no weight or load upon their Faculties nothing to dead or slacken the Spring of their Nature no Concupiscence to darken their Understandings or to pervert their Wills no Indisposition Languor or Weariness occasioned through crazy and sickly Vehicles but are always Fresh Vigorous and Bright like the life and quickness of the Morning and rejoyce like the Sun to run their Course They have no Necessities to relieve or provide for no impertinent Avocations to call them off from their noble Exercises no ill Company to debauch them no Devil to tempt and insnare them and therefore must needs act with a full display of their Faculties and be carried out uncessantly and intirely toward the Supream Good with their whole bent and energy as a Stone would tend toward the Center through an unresisting Medium But this will further appear by considering Secondly the positive advantages which they enjoy Their great advantageis that they have a constant and clear Vision of the Essence of the great God Now I consider that the Essence of God is the very Essence of Goodness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Divine Philosopher fitly calls him whereupon I conceive that an Angel seeing God after this Essential manner must have the same Habitude and Disposition to him as one that does not thus see God has to the common nature of Good But now 't is impossible that a Man should either will or act any thing without attending to good in common and without proposing that as his aim And accordingly 't is as impossible that the Blessed Angels should will or act any thing without attending to God and making him their End as long as they have this Essential Vision of him and of this they are never deprived for our Lord says of them that they always behold the Face of his Father which is in Heaven This he speaks of the Missionary Angels that have the Charge and Office of Guardians here upon Earth that even they notwithstanding their imployment here have a constant view of the Divine Essence and are never interrupted in their Beatisick Vision much more then is this true of the Stationary Angels that wait upon the Throne of God the Residentiaries of Heaven Whence it further follows that 't is impossible they should
accordingly upon the strength of this Conviction have gone out of the Circle of this World for their Happiness and have proposed to themselves the supream Good for their End and for the wisdom of this their Choice are stiled Children of Light Even these Men are chargeable with this strange Folly and it is here actually charged upon them by the eternal and substantial Wisdom of God in this his weighty Remark upon the Politick Stratagem of the unjust Steward The Children of this World are in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light In the Words there is something implied and something directly asserted 'T is implied 1. That there are a sort of Men who are Children of this World that is who make the Good of this World their End and seek no further for their Rest and Happiness 'T is implied again on the other side 2. That there are a sort of Men who are Children of Light who look beyond this Sphere of Vanity and black Vale of Misery and propose to themselves the Beatitudes of another Life as their true and last End and these our Lord calls Children of Light both from the Object of their Choice the Glories of Heaven being frequently represented in Scripture under the Symbol of Light and from their Wisdom in chusing it 'T is implied again 3. That the former of these notwithstanding the preference here given them do not act according to the measures of true Wisdom and therefore our Lord does not say absolutely that they are Wise but only that they are Wiser in their Generation 4. The thing directly asserted by our Lord is this That notwitstanding their want of true Wisdom that Wisdom which is from above they are however wiser in their Generation than the Children of Light That is that however they are befool'd in the Choice of their End yet they make more prudent Provisions for its Attainment and Security and prosecute it by more apt and agreeable Means and with greater Cunning and Diligence than they who have chosen a better do theirs And in this the Children of this World though great Fools are yet in their Generation in their way and manner Wiser than the Children of Light These I shall make distinct Subjects of Discourse to each of which I shall speak according to the present Order And first of all 't is implied that there are a sort of Men who are Children of this World who make the Good of this World their End and seek no further for their Rest and Happiness 'T is I confess strange that there should be any such considering that the World is no proper Boundary for the Soul even in its Natural Capacity much less in its Spiritual T is too cheap and inconsiderable a Good for an Immortal Spirit much more for a Divine Nature And therefore did not the Commonness of the thing take off from the Wonder 't would seem no doubt as great a Prodigy to see a Man make the World his End as to see a Stone hang in the Air. For what is it else for a Man the weight of whose Nature presses hard towards a stable and never failing Center to stop short in a fluid and yielding Medium and take up with the slender stays of Vanity and lean upon the Dream of a Shadow I say why is not this to be look'd upon as equally strange and preternatural as a Stone 's hanging in the Air Is not the Air as proper a Boundary for a Stone as the World is for a Soul And why then is not one as strange as the other For in the First place one would think it next to impossible that a Man who thinks at all should not consider frequently and thoroughly the vanity and emptiness of all Worldly Good the shortness and uncertainty of Life the certainty of Dying and the uncertainty of the Time when the Immortality of the Soul the doubtful and momentous Issues of Eternity the Terrours of Damnation and the Glorious things which are spoken and which cannot be uttered of the City of God These are Meditations so very obvious so almost unavoidable and that so block up a Mans way and besides they are so very important and concerning that for my part I wonder how a Man can think of any thing else And if a Man does consider and revolve these things one would think it yet more impossible that he should make so vain a thing as this World his End that he should think of Building Tabernacles of Rest on this side the Grave and say it is good to be here So that upon the whole matter were a Man put to the Question whether 't were possible that a Rational and Thinking Creature as Man is should be so far a Child of this World as to make the Good of it his End and seek no further for Rest and Happiness were a Man I say to consider this only in Notion and Theory without having any recourse to Observation and Experience he would go nigh to resolve the Question in the Negative and think it impossible that he who is capable of Chusing at all should Chuse so ill But whether 't is that Men do not heartily believe such a thing as a future state of Happiness and Misery or if they do that they do not actually and seriously consider it but suffer it to lye dormant and unactive within them and so are as little affected with it as if they did not believe it or that they look upon it through that End of the Perspective which respresents it as a great way off and so are more vigorously drawn by the Nearer though Lesser Loadstone or whatever other cause may be assigned for it we are too well assured from Experience that there are such Men in the World Men who going through the Vale of Misery use it not only as a Well to refresh and allay but fully to quench and satisfy their Thirst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle Phrases it it who mind and relish Earthly things who make the Good of this World their last Aim the Sum total of their Wisbes the upshot of their Desires and Expectations their End Who love it as they are Commanded to love God with all their Heart Soul Mind and Strength who rest and lean upon the World with the whole stress and full weight of their Being who out-do the Curse of the Serpent and whose very Soul cleaves to the Dust. For I demand Is not the Interest of this Animal Life the great Governing Principle of the World Are not the Policies of the Statesman and the little Under-crasts of the Plebeian all put into Motion by this Spring and all guided and determined by this Measure Is not every thing almost reckoned Profitable only so far as it conduces to some Temporal Interest in so much that the very Name Interest is almost appropriated to Worldly Advantage And is not this the great Bias of Mankind Is not most of the Noise and
and if we will follow Christ we must forsake the Multitudes and ascend up to the Mount of Solitude and Holy Separation And that we may be the better incouraged to undertake this Religious Singularity let us to the Reason of the thing add two very remarkable Scripture Examples The First that invites our Consideration is that of Lot who happened to live in a City so prodigiously wicked and beyond all Measure or Example Debauched that though a very Populous Place it could not afford so much as Ten good Men they were so universally seiz'd with the Pest and Contagion of Vice And yet this good Man though he breath'd in so corrupt an Air was not at all infected with it the health and cleanness of his Soul like that of Socrates's Body was too strong for the Contagion and preserved him from the Malignity of a Plague that was more infectuous and more mortal too than that of Athens Indeed the filthy Conversation of that wicked Place disturb'd his quiet but it could not sully his Innocence it vex'd his Righteous Soul as the Text says but it could not Debauch it He dwelt like the Church of Pergamos where Satan's Seat was in the very Metropolis the Imperial City of the Devil's Kingdom but he Convers'd there like an Angel of Light among Fiends and evil Spirits He was surrounded with the works of Darkness but he had no Fellowship with them his Company was Devilish but his Conversation was Angelical though he could not make them better yet they could not make him worse he lived with them but he lived against them This indeed was great and extraordinary but there is an Example of Religious Singularity beyond this and that is in Noah who lived in a World that was as corrupt and more than the other's City the whole World then was but one Greater Sodom nay it was much worse than that Seat of Wickedness Sodom indeed was so given up to Debauchery that it could not yield Ten Righteous Persons but the whole World in Noah's time could not afford so much as Two he himself was the only good Man then in the World as may reasonably be concluded from that Reason expressed by God why he excepted him from the general Deluge For thee have I seen Righteous before me in this Generation Now 't is impossible to imagin that Vice should ever be more in mode and fashion than it was then when as the Text says all Flesh had Corrupted his way upon the Earth and the whole Earth it self was fill'd with Violence And yet in this allover-wicked World Noah maintained his Innocence and his Integrity shin'd forth as a Light in the midst of this Crooked and Perverse Generation and was not only a Doer but a Preacher of Righteousness In other Ages of the World though never so Corrupt Religion and Vertue has had some Party and the Singularity of Living well is shared and divided among several and one is a Countenance and Incouragement to another but here poor single Noah was sain to Live as Athanasius was to Dispute against the World and the whole Singularity lodged and center'd in his single Person which puts it beyond all Example or Parallel And thus have I gone through the several Stages of my Undertaking I shall now make one or two brief Reflections upon the whole and conclude In relation therefore to the First Supposition it may be inferr'd That the Multitude is no safe Guide and that the Measures of Right and Wrong are not always to be concluded from the consent of Majority for you see here that Vice has by much the Majority of its side and yet 't is Vice still From the Second it may be inferr'd That those who have already a Majority for their way ought not to think their Cause any whit the better for having new Proselytes every day brought over to them and because Men flock to their Standard from every Quarter For as it has been discoursed this is no more than what is to be expected from the ordinary course of things Men are naturally apt to imitate that which is most prevailing and to conform to the course and way of the World Those therefore that value themselves or their Cause the better for this seem not to understand the World but to be meer Strangers to the Inclinations of Human Nature for did they consider that they would quickly perceive that this does not reflect any Credit upon their Cause but rather upbraids the levity and weakness of Mankind and is no argument that they themselves are Wise but only that other Men are Fools Lastly from the Caution it self we may justly infer that the Censure of Preciseness and Singularity which the Men of this World commonly charge upon good Men and the Hatred and Spite wherewith they prosecute them upon that very account are both of them utterly senseless and extreamly absurd This has been an old Grudge Thus the Sinners in the Book of Wisdom Let us lie in wait for the Righteous because he is not for our turn and he is clean contrary to our doings He upbraideth us with our offending the Law and objecteth to our infamy the transgressings of our Education And again He was made to reprove our Thoughts He is grievous to us even to behold for his Life is not like other Mens his Ways are of another Fashion A very high Charge indeed and as notable an Inference he lives otherwise and better than we do and therefore we must hate and persecute him But this I say is a very absurd and unreasonable way of Proceeding for the ground of the business if sifted to the bottom comes to no more than this They are angry with a Man for not loving their Company so well as to be content to be Damned for the sake on 't But I think we may with great Civility beg their excuse in this matter if they will have us do as they do then let them take care to do as they should do But for a Man to make himself a Beast utterly unfit to be convers'd with and then to call me Singular and Unsociable because I won't keep him Company is hard measure And as these Men are guilty of an unreasonable Charge so shall we be guilty of an inexcusable Folly and Weakness if we depart from our Duty and our greatest Interest upon such a trifling inconsiderable Discouragement For then 't is plain that we are of the number of those low and unconsidering Spirits that love the Praise of Men more than the Praise of God Let us not therefore be led away with Noise and Popularity nor be frighted from our Duty by those empty Anathema's of the Multitude the Censure of Unsociableness Preciseness and Singularity Let us be sure by doing our Duty to satisfy our own Consciences whatever others do or think Let us not be carried away in the Polluted torrent of the Age nor be Fools for Company Let us for once
Interest any otherwise than as by loving I acknowledge and bear witness to the excellency and amiableness of the Object beloved That therefore which is excellent in Love is not my Coveting the Divine Good which I do purely for my own Pleasure and Profit but my bearing witness to it And yet even here Praise will have the Preeminence because this acknowledges the Divine Perfections Directly and Expressly which the other does only Implicitly and by Consequence So that in every respect Praise and Thanksgiving will be found to be the greatest honour and glorification of God which sufficiently establishes the Proposition laid down That the most principal and most acceptable part of Religion consists in Praise and Thanksgiving And here before I go any further give me leave by the way First to deplore the general defect of our common â—oâ—â—t-Devotions Secondly To commend the excellent Constitution of our Publick Liturgy As to the First 't is a sad thing to consider that so Divine and so Angelical a Service as that of Praise and Thanksgiving which is so highly preferred in the Sacred Writings and which the Man after God's own Heart was so very eminent and remarkable for the Burthen of whose Devotion lay in Anthems and Alleluiahs should be so neglected and so little regarded as it is That that which is so much the imployment and business of Heaven should be so little valued upon Earth and what the Angels esteem so Divine a Service should have so little share in the Devotions of Men. There are but few even of the Devouter sort that are duly sensible of the excellency of Praise and those that have a considerable sense of it are generally very backward to the Duty and very cold in the Performance Our Necessities often call us to our Prayers and supply us with Devotion in them but as for praise it seems a dead and heartless Service and we care not how seldom or how indifferently it be performed Which common Backwardness of ours the Scripture also supposes by its earnest and frequent Exhortations to this Duty But the Church of England to her great Commendation be it spoken proceeds by another Measure in her Devotions enjoyning Praise as largely and as frequently as Prayer she has taken her Copy from the Man after God's own Heart and as Hosannah and Alleluiah Prayer unto God and Praises of God divide the whole Book of Psalms so do they her Liturgy which is a Service of Praise as well as of Prayer This the Church admonishes us of in the very Preface and Entrance of her Excellent Service telling us that we Assemble and Meet together to render Thanks for the great Benefits that we have received at God's hands and to set forth his most worthy Praise Then the Priest Praise ye the Lord to which the People The Lord's Name be Praised And this is done in all our Hymns as the Venite O come let us Sing unto the Lord c. And in that noble Hymn called the Te Deum We Praise thee O God we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. Thus again in the Benedictus Blessed be the Lord God of Israel c. where we bless God for the. Redemption of the World by Christ which also we do in the Jubilate and in the Blessed Virgins Magnificat My Soul does magnify the Lord c. So again in the Cantate Domino and the Nunc Dimittis and Deus Misereatur Let the People praise thee O God let all the People praise thee Besides the Gloria Patri and many particular Offices of Thanksgiving and the whole Psalter of David which is a considerable part of the Church Service So truly sensible was the wisdom of our excellent Mother both of the great worth and importance of this Duty of Praise and of the general Back wardness and Coldness of Men in applying themselves to it But I proceed now in the Second place to consider what are the things we are chiefly concerned to Praise and Thank God for These in general are those things which relate to our Spiritual Concern and our grand Interest in another World for the same general Order is to be observed both in our Prayers and in our Praises and as we are chiefly to Pray for Spiritual Blessings so 't is for them that we are chiefly to return Thanks More particularly we are concerned to thank God as the Wisdom of our excellent Church directs us for his inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of Grace and for the hopes of Glory And among these means of Grace I think we are not in the last place concerned to thank him for disposing us in such outward circumstances of Life as are advantagious to our Salvation it being hardly imaginable how much the diversity of these contributes to our Living well or ill How many Persons of excellent Dispositions of great Attainments and of greater Hopes have we known to be utterly spoiled and ruined meerly by falling into ill hands as we have it recorded of the young Disciple of St. John in Ecclesiastick Story And so again on the other hand how many Persons of Vicious Inclinations and more vicious Lives have been diverted out of the Road of Destruction meerly by some accidental Occurrence some little Providential hit that happened to cross their way There is an Ingenious Gentleman of considerable Character and Figure in the Learned World who makes that Grace of God whereby he conducts Men to Holiness and Happiness to be nothing else but only a happy train or disposition of external Circumstances and Occurrences As suppose a Man falls into some very sharp Affliction which works him into a softness and tenderness of Mind while he is under this sensible and pliant disposition he happens to meet with a good Book which strikes upon the same String of his Soul after this he lights into good Company where the former Disposition receives a new and further improvement and so on in a train of Accidents the latter still renewing the Impression of the former till at length the Man is perfectly brought over to a new Order and Habit both of Mind and Life Now though for several weighty Reasons too many to be here alledged I cannot be of this Gentleman's Mind so far as to make the Divine Grace which in Scripture is frequently ascribed to the Holy Spirit of God working within us to be nothing else but a course of well-laid Circumstances yet I may and must needs say that I think the outward Circumstances of Life have a very great stroke upon the moral conduct of it and that the success of inward Grace does very much depend upon outward Occurrences For not to argue from the different manner of Education upon which the quality of our future life does generally as much depend as the fortune of the Boul does upon its delivery out of the Hand 't is common and easy to observe that some Men are
and he is neither Reasonable nor Modest that either Desires or Pretends to more since the other is sufficient for a Satisfactory though not for an Infallible Judgment And yet there is something further in this matter yet for to this Moral Assurance grounded upon the general Terms of Salvation which are matter of Divine Faith and upon the inward Consciousness of our being qualified accordingly which is matter of Experimencal Knowledge we may further add that Obsignation so often mentioned in Scripture whereby the Spirit it self is said to bear Witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God not by a clear and express Revelation for then the Assurance we have of our Salvation would be an Assurance of Divine Faith which is against what was before supposed but only by a secret Determination of our Minds to assent to this Comfortable Conclusion that we are in a state of Pardon and Salvation and by Confirming us in that Assent After what manner this Operation of God is performed I shall not be so curious as to inquire 't is enough to know that it is a certain impression of the Holy Spirit upon our Souls whereby we are inwardly perswaded beyond the force of Rational Conviction of our being interessed in the Divine Favour and in the Glory that shall be revealed This is the Seal of the Spirit and the Pledge or Earnest of our Inheritance which God often bestows upon the Children of Light in this Life as a Reward for their past and sometimes as an incouragement for their future Obedience For so says the Spirit to the Churches To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and I will give him a white Stone and in the Stone a new Name written which no Man knows saving he that receives it And now since Peace at the last is so valuable a Treasure and since a good life is a certain and the only way to obtain it what Consequence can be more natural and evident from these Premises than that it highly concerns us to keep Innocency and to take heed to the thing that is right in one word to Live well which was the Third and last Consideration Indeed were Peace at the last a thing of no great value or were not a good Life a sure and a necessary method to obtain it were there a failure in either of these Premises the Conclusion would fail with it and 't were no great matter how we Lived But since the quite contrary appears to be unquestionably true that Peace at the last is incomparably beyond any Temporal Interest we can propose and a good Life is a sure and necessary way to procure it nothing certainly in the World can be of such moment and consequence as to live well 'T is by infinite degrees the most important thing that can possibly imploy our Thoughts or our Time our Studies or our Endeavours nay indeed 't is the One thing needful Vain and Impertinent are all those other many things we are here troubled about all those Thoughts and Cares we have about Time and the things of Time which indeed would be of little value even to a Temporary Being much more to an Immortal Spirit who is to live in another State and there either Enjoy or Suffer to all Eternity To such a Being Time certainly can be no further considerable than as Eternity depends upon it no further than as it may serve as an Opportunity to secure the other which is all the use and all the value Time and this Mortal Life can have with a wise and considering Man The best use therefore we can make of our Time is to live well in it to spend it Innocently and Usefully Piously and Charitably in the Service of God and in doing good to Men. 'T is for this we have our Time and this is the right and proper use of it and that which will give the most Happy Conclusion to it This is that which will yield us Peace and Comfort when nothing else can and when we stand in most need of it in the Hour of Death and in the Day of Judgment in either of which there is no comfort like a good Conscience When I shall lie faint and languishing upon my Dying Bed with my Friends all sad about me and my Blood and Spirits waxing cold and slow within when I begin to reckon my Life not by the Striking of the Clock but by the throbbings of my Pulse every stroak of which beats a Surrender to the Pale Conqueror in this great Ebb of Nature when the Stream of Life runs low and the Wheel at the Cistern can hardly turn round its Circle it will be then no Pleasure or Comfort to my departing Soul to reflect upon the great Estate that I have got upon the Family and Name that I have raised or upon the Honours and Preferments that I have gone through No my Soul will then have a new Taste as well as my Body and these things will be as insipid to me as my Meat and Drink only the Conscience of having done well will then refresh me and yield me Peace and Consolation This is that Angel that must support and strengthen me in that great and last Agony nothing else is able to interpose for my relief in that dreadful juncture and this alone will be a sufficient Comforter and Assistant Many things there are that divert and ingage our Thoughts in the Course of our Life but at the end of it there is nothing that will be regarded by us or afford us any Satisfaction but a good Conscience Our rejoycing then will be this the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation in the World And how infinitely then are we concerned to take heed to our ways to walk circumspectly and heartily to apply our selves to that now which will stand us in such stead then Besides 't is our greatest Wisdom as well as Interest and the best Proof we can give of our being Rational Creatures We think it a great Commendation of our Reason to be able to Dispute well and Discourse well and we are generally more impatient of what reflects upon our Intellectuals than of what reflects upon our Morals But certainly to live well is the greatest argument of Wisdom and that which reflects upon our Morals reflects most of all upon our Understandings We live now in an Age wherein Craft and Worldly Policy nay and even downright Knavery has usurped the name of Wisdom and a Man is in danger of bringing his Parts in question by adhering to his Duty against his Worldly Interest But this is the Wisdom of Fools and Mad-men of those who either think not at all or else consider things by halves 't is in short the Wisdom of this World which the Apostle tells us is Foolishness with God But there is another Wisdom and that is the Wisdom of
it is described but we must Dye and be Partakers of it before we can either understand it or indure it this therefore would be a Revelation without a Discovery a Revelation which he himself only could understand another Sealed Book which none but himself would be able to open Since then Heaven is a Place of such transcendent Glory and Happiness as our present Faculties are not fine enough to conceive not strong enough to bear what can be more reasonable and becoming than that we who are now journying in the Wilderness towards this our Heavenly Canaan where is our Portion and our Inheritance should have our constant Conversation there by holy Contemplations and devout Affections that so according to our Saviour's Argument where our Treasure is there our Heart may be also For what can be either a more noble or a more concerning Object for an Human Soul to Contemplate than its last end and sovereign Happiness when all its Changes and Revolutions shall cease all its Appetites be satisfied and nothing further to be expected but a most delightsome continuation of the same endless circle of Felicity Certainly one would think that what will so wholly take up and ingage the Soul when she comes to enjoy it should be thought worthy to employ her best Thoughts now as undoubtedly it would did we firmly and heartily believe it And therefore Thirdly Consider that we have no other way of approving the sincerity and heartiness of our Faith concerning Heaven and Happiness but by having our Conversation there for so great and glorious things are spoken of the City of God that 't is not morally possible that a Man should be heartily perswaded of the truth of them and yet not to have the main current of his Thoughts and Affections run in that Chanel How is it possible that a Man should believe such great things and yet not have his Thoughts dwell upon them Some things indeed may be very little questioned and yet as little thought of because their Moment and Importance carries no proportion to their Truth they are Realities but Trisles But sure the things we now speak of are too concerning if true not to be frequently and seriously considered If once we are thoroughly perswaded of their Truth and Reality their own concernment and importance will be enough to recommend them to our most inward and recollected Thoughts and Meditations and therefore for my part when I see Men plunge themselves into the depths of Sensuality and Worldly Interests as if they never meant to rise again to love the World as they are commanded to love God with all their Heart Mind Soul and Strength to have no serious Thoughts and Remembrances of Heaven or Heavenly things but to set up their Tabernacles and say 't is good to be here I must conclude and they may think me uncharitable if they please that whatever they pretend they do not heartily and seriously believe there is any such place as Heaven for if they did considering the vast importance of the thing it would certainly have a greater share of their Contemplations and a larger room in their Hearts And this very thing our Saviour intimates in his Reprehension of the immoderate Carers for the World These things says he the Gentiles seek those who have no Revelation to assure them of a better and more induring Substance Having no certainty of the future they make the most of the present and in so doing act in some measure according to their Principles But seek ye first the Kingdom of God ye that have a Revelation of a nobler end and of a far more excellent state do you apply your selves principally to that or else you will not act like your selves and may justly be suspected of not Believing that Revelation which the others want Fourthly Consider that as the having our Conversation in Heaven is an argument and test of our Faith so is it also of our Resurrection with Christ and our Spiritual Life the Connexion is made by the Apostle If ye be then risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the Right Hand of God set your Affections on things above and not on things of the Earth for ye are Dead c. In which Discourse 't is evident that the Apostle does not only exhort to Heavenly-Mindedness as a Christian Duty but makes it also a certain Mark and Argument of Spiritual Life and Resurrection The Marks and Signs of Grace have made a great part of some Mens Divinity and they are generally such as do not want for Latitude and Comprehensiveness to be sure they contrived their business so as to take in themselves and their own Party But certainly there is not a more notorious Criterion whereby to distinguish the prevalency either of the Animal or of the Divine Life than to consider how the Moral Tast and Relish that which the Platonists call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Boniform faculty of the Soul stands affected 'T is a shrewd Symptom of an ill habit of Body when the Tast comes to be so vitiated as to delight to feed upon Trash and unwholsom things and so 't is in the state of the Mind the Animal and Sensualized Man as he does not Perceive so neither does he Relish the things of God they have no congruity with that Life and Sense that is most invigorated and awaken'd in him and therefore he prefers his Husks and Acorns before the hidden Manna and the Food of Angels But he who is born of that incorruptible Seed mentioned by St. Peter and in whom the Divine Life is most excited he having his Spiritual Senses well disposed and exercised finds a particular gust in Divine things contracts his Affections upon Heaven and Happiness looks upon all inferiour good as dry and insipid and is ready to say with the Psalmist One thing have I desired of the Lord even that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my Life to behold the fair Beauty of the Lord and to visit his Temple This is the Desire this is the Relish of a Spiritually disposed Soul of a Soul that is dead to the World and alive unto God the Sum of all which is briefly comprized in that of the Apostle They that are after the Flesh do mind or as the Word also signifies do relish the things of the Flesh and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit This is a short and compendious but a very great Test of Spiritual Life and that whereby we may distinguish a vital Sense of Religiou from a formal Profession of it Fifthly and Lastly Consider that one great end of our Saviour's Ascending into Heaven in his Human Nature was that we Christians might have our Conversation there in order to which end the Ascension of Christ has a double Influence First as a Rational Motive and Secondly as a Moral Emblem First as a
strong Argument for it that is consistent with it and these do necessarily infer it Thus his Omnipotence Omnipresence and Omniscience render him abundantly able to sit at the Helm of this great Vessel and his Goodness and Justice ingage him to undertake the Charge He that contemplates the former can no longer question How doth God know can be judge through the dark Cloud Nor he that contemplates the latter suspect that he purposely declines the Office and walks idle and unconcern'd in the Circuit of Heaven Besides the Perfections of God would not appear so conspicuously if there were no Providence 'T is great to Create but 't is more to Govern a World as the Skill of the Artist is more seen in well ordering and artfully touching the Strings of a Musical Instrument than in the first making and framing of it And if it be once granted that there is a Providence 't is an absurd and ridiculous conceit to consine it as some do to the Supralunary Regions for the same Arguments that infer the being of Providence in general conclude also for the Universality of it 'T is most congruous to think that the Providence of God is of equal extent with his Creation for sure that which was not too mean to be Created cannot be too mean to be Governed and that the same loving and Harmonious Spirit that first moved upon the face of the Waters and ranged the most minute particles of Matter into Beauty and Order does still run through the now Organized Mass and preside over and sweetly direct not only the Greater but also the Lesser Motions of this his most exquisite Machine For without this the Harmony of the Universe would be very defective and its parts disproportionate and ill-forted 'T is true Beauty and Order would dwell above but all would be Chaos and Confusion below and the Earth would still be without form and void And thus the irregularity of the Lower World would cast a disparagement upon the whole System of things as the untunableness of one or two Instruments dis-recommends the whole Musical Consort 'T is therefore necessary to affirm that the Providence of God extends to both Worlds as the Sun Beautifies and Inlightens each Hemisphere In this respect also as well as others that Divine Comparison will hold God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all But though nothing be too small or inconsiderable for the Comprehensive reach of the Divine Cognizance yet we may reasonably suppose that he considers the value of his Creatures and proportions his Providential Care according to their different excellencies Now throughout all the order of the Visible Creation Man is the most noble and accomplished Being and consequently the chiefest Object the most peculiar Charge of Providence so peculiar that as the Creation of other Sublunary things carried a particular respect to Man so is their Government too chiefly in subordination to his Interest And indeed 't is no more than what by the Measures of Proportion we are warranted to suppose that he should have a more than ordinary Interest in the care and superintendency of his Creator who was made by an immediate Pattern from himself and with his solemn Counsel and deliberation Nor is this ever waking and broad Eye of Divine Providence open only on Societies and Communities of Men and intent only upon the Revolutions of States and Kingdoms but also watches over the affairs and concerns of every particular Person in the World no Man is too little and despicable for the notice of Providence however he may be overlook'd by his Fellow-Creatures for we are told in Scripture not only of the Guardian Angel of the Jews and the Prince of Persia but that we should take heed how we offend or despise even the meanest of Men because of the interest they have among the Angels of special Presence the Courtiers of Heaven Nay we are told by the same infallible Oracle that even the very Hairs of our Head are all numbred so that not only the Meanest of Men but even the meanest things relating to them their most indifferent and insignificant concerns are under the charge and care of Providence And if the care of Providence be so very punctual and exact even to Grains and Scruples in the most trifling and indifferent Concerns of Man we may with great reason conclude that it is much more so in our more weighty and considerable Interests And since not only our present but future Happiness depends much upon various junctures of Circumstances and States of Life we have consequently reason to conclude that these are more particularly conducted by God's Providential Hand and accordingly that Affliction comes not forth of the Dust neither does Trouble spring out of the Ground but are disposed and ordered by God and Arrest us with a Divine Commission And accordingly the excellent Wisdom of our Church in her Office for the Visitation of the Sick piously orders the Minister to exhort the Sick Person after this Form Dearly beloved know this that Almighty God is the Lord of Life and Death and of all things to them pertaining as Youth Strength Health Age Weakness and Sickness Wherefore whatso ever your Sickness is know you certainly that it is God's Visitation c. As indeed we have reason to think that every other Affliction is as well as Sickness that there is a Chastising as well as Destroying Angel and that all Plagues are from God as well as those of Egypt that no Calamity can either privily steal or violently break in upon us without the Divine notice and particular permission But that every bitter Draught which we take is weighed mingled and reach'd out to us by an invisible Hand by the Dispensation of Providence that 't is a Cup which our Father has given us Our Infinitely Wise Good and Compassionate Father one who knows to chuse for us infinitely better than we can for our selves and whose Infinite Goodness Love and Faithfulness give us all possible assurance that he will use his Wisdom for our best Interest and give good Gifts to his Children Which leads me to consider the Second general Proposition that therefore we ought to submit to every Dispensation with all Patience Meekness Contentedness and Resignation of Spirit Patience and Resignation under all Providential dispensations however difficult in the Practick has yet perhaps more to be said for it in the Theory than any one instance in all Morality but I am obliged by the limits of my Discourse to confine my Thoughts at present to such Arguments and Considerations only as may be afforded by the excellent Nature Attributes and Relation of God For 't was for this reason alone that our Blessed Lord chearfully submitted to the drinking of his Bitter Potion because 't was given him by his Father The Cup which my Father bas given me And that this is a Pillar strong enough for so great a weight a sufficient Argument
his Folly will further appear if we consider Secondly the Error and Mistake that must necessarily precede in his Judgment before he does or can make such a Choice all Sin is founded upon Ignorance and Mistake for as 't is impossible to chuse Evil as Evil in general so is it no less imposfible to chuse any particular kind of Evil as Evil and consequently 't is impossible to chuse the Evil of Sin as such The Devil himself as Abstract a Sinner as he is can't love Sin as Sin If therefore it be chosen it must be chosen under the appearance of Good and it can have this appearrance no otherwise than as considered as a lesser Evil for that 's the only way whereby an Evil may appear good or eligible and so it must be considered before it be chosen He therefore that chuses Sin considers it at the instant of Commission as a lesser Evil and therein consists his Error and Mistake he is either Habitually or Actually Ignorant he either has not the Habitual Knowledge of all those things which should preserve him in his Duty or at least he has not the Actual Consideration of them for 't is that which must bring him to Repentance there being no Consideration beyond this And 't is impossible a Man should Sin with the very same Thoughts Convictions and Considerations about him as he has when he Repents This I say is no more possible than for a Ballance to move Two contrary ways with the same Weight and in the same Posture He therefore that Sins wants that Consideration at least to keep him in his Duty which when he Repents brings him to it and is therefore Ignorant and Mistaken The Sum of this matter lies in this form of Argument Whoever thinks Sin a lesser Evil is mistaken in his Judgment but whoever commits Sin does then think it a lesser Evil Therefore whoever commits Sin is mistaken in his Judgment So great is the folly of Sin both in reference to the Absurdity of the Choice and to the Error and Mistake of the Chuser and so great reason has every Sinner to take up that Confession of the Psalmist so Foolish was I and Ignorant and even as a Beast before thee And thus far of the Folly of Sin in general I come now in the Second place to the other ground of the Charge where I am to consider the folly of placing our Happiness and Content in the good things of this World and of that particular sort of Earthly-Mindedness which we call Covetousness It is certainly a very great folly to place our Happiness in any Created Good even in the very Best of the Works of God there is nothing even in Heaven that 's Created which can be our Happiness not the Discourses of Angels not the Love of Seraphins not the Musick of Alleluiahs And therefore the Psalmist excludes all the Creatures even in Heaven as well as in Earth from being the Objects of his Happiness Whont have I in Heaven but thee says he 't would be a great folly therefore to make any Created Good our Happiness even in the very Region of Blessedness But then to place it in any good that this World this Sediment and Sink of the Creation can afford is such a degree of Sottishness and Stupidity as did not Experience convince us that there are such Fools one would hardly think incident to a Rational Creature for it plainly argues that we are grosly ignorant of one of these Two things either of our selves or of the things of the World we are either ignorant of the Dignity and Excellency of our Natures of the Designs and Ends of our Creation and of the Strengths and Capacities of our Appetites which are to be satisfied with nothing less than Infinite or if we do know and consider all this of our selves then we are so much the more ignorant of the World about us to think that there is any thing to be had in this Circle of Vanity to satisfy the importunity of such Hungry and Capacious Appetites So far indeed is any thing in this World from being able to afford us Happiness and Satisfaction that 't is well if it can give us Entertainment and sweeten the otherwise insipid and to some very bitter Draught of Life The wisest Enquirer into the Capacities of Nature will hardly allow it so much as that but says of all here that 't is not only Vanity but also Vexation of Spirit and if we do by an extraordinary Fortune meet with any thing in this World that can a little cool and allay the heat of our great Thirst and refresh the drought of our Spirit yet we are assured by our Saviour who well understood the World though he enjoy'd but little of it that whosoever drinks of this Water shall thirst again and we all find by repeated Experiences that 't is so and our Reason tells us it must be so considering the vast the infinite disproportion between the best things of this World yea of the whole Creation and the largeness the immensity of our Appetites and Capacities which are a plain Demonstration that we were neither made for them nor they for us and that here is neither our Good nor our Evil. And what a Folly then is it to place our Happiness and take up our Rest in such things as these against the Confession and experimental Verdict of the Wisest of Men against the express Declaration and Asseveration of God who made both the World and us and knows the exact Proportion that all his Works have to each other and that a Barn full of Corn can never satisfy the Hunger of a Soul against the united experience of all Men ever since Adam nay and against our own Experience too which will witness to us if we but ask her that we never enjoyed but were disappointed and found our Souls empty when our Arms were full nay and against the Answer of our Reason too which satisfies us of the Necessity of what our Experience confesses to be true and that as it has ever been so so it ever will and must be so I say what a desperate incorrigible Fool must he be who after all this will yet dream of a Heaven upon Earth and place his Happiness in the good of this World The short is there is no Folly or Disappointment like that of being mistaken in ones End and of all Ends none is so foolishly mistaken as our Last End and this can never be more foolishly mistaken than when 't is placed in the things of this World This therefore is a very great instance of Folly and Stupidity and to him that is guilty of it whatever he be for Wit and Parts in other Matters of lesser consequence God justly may and will say Thou Fool. And now if there be so much of Folly in Centring in this World which consists of great variety of Good and wherein there is a great Latitude
never under an Eclips no not so much as in part but as they always receive equal Illumination from God so do they shine upon their Wills with an equal Light and consequently they must needs stand always equally affected and disposed to what is good as appearing to them always in a Light equally advantagious For the variety and changableness of our Wills proceeds from the variety of our Judgments and were our Thoughts and Apprehensions of things always uniform our Actions would be so too for we always act as for that instant we think This therefore being the happy condition of Angels to have the Eye of their Understanding always equally awake and in full Illumination there must needs be also a constant regularity in their Wills The short is as long as they Contemplate the Divine Essence they cannot divert aside to any thing irregular because of the Superlative Excellence of the Divine Good which fills and wholly ingages their Faculties and for the same reason they cannot chuse but for ever to Contemplate And herein I suppose must be placed that happy Necessity the Holy Angels are under of doing the Will of God and of persevering in it to all Eternity and that this is that which we mean when we say they are Confirmed in good But leaving these Flaming Excellencies a while to their Happy and Noble Employments before we go further let us see how these Speculations may be improved to the benefit of our Practice And First since God has made his Angels such excellent and accomplished Creatures let us make the same use of it that the Psalmist did when he took from hence an occasion of Praise and Thanksgiving Praise the Lord O my Soul says he and then mentioning some Characters of his Greatness he adds He maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flaming Fire Indeed the Angels are the greatest Occasions as well as Instruments of Praise as being the Noblest part of the Divine Workmanship Look upon the Rain-bow and praise him that made it says the Son of Sirach And if God is to be Praised for the Beauty of the Rain-bow caused only by various Reflections and Refractions of the Globules of the Second Element in their passage through a Cloud how much more is he to be adored for these great Master-pieces of his Art these Closet-Draughts of his Beauty Secondly We may take a Caution hence to beware of that Voluntary Humility which the Apostle speaks of and were he now alive would have fresh Occasion given him to Condemn in Worshipping Angels take heed to thy self left when thou liftest up thine Eyes to Heaven and seeft the Sun and the Moon and the Stars even all the Host of Heaven thou shouldest be driven to worship them says Moses to the People of Israel And there is the same and greater danger here when we Contemplate the Glory of this other Heavenly Host for however through Envy or Emulation we usually lessen and disparage one anothers Excellencies yet when we have to do with Creatures of another rank and order we are apt to be guilty of the opposite extream and to exchange Detraction for Idolatry Thirdly We have here a most excellent Antidote against Pride which is a littleness of Mind that arises from our Ignorance of the World about us as well as of our Selves and consequently is best Cured by considering what Excellencies there are above us The young Home-bred Heir that thinks his Father's Mannour a considerable part of the World is sent abroad to see more of it and returns Home Cured by his Travels And would the Man that swells and looks big upon his Parts or Learning but bestow a Thought or Two upon the Perfections of Angels I dare warrant him his Plumes will quickly fall and that he will never find in his Heart to set up for a Wit more For alas what are we to the Angels Hereafter indeed 't is to be hoped that some of us may be made like them but what are we in Comparison now They excel us more than we do the Beasts of the Field and we need nothing else but this one Consideration well thought upon to convince us That Pride was not made for Man Fourthly we may learn hence so to fear the Devil as to look upon him as a considerable Adversary and not to be too secure in our best Condition for he is an Angel still and we know not what he has lost by his Fall besides that Grace and Goodness whereby he might be disposed to help and befriend us And the Apostle tells us that we still wrestle against Principalities and Powers And therefore it concerns us to provide our selves accordingly and as he there advises to take unto us the whole Armour of God Lastly we should endeavour to imitate all the Moral and Imitable Excellencies of the good Angels our Saviour has made them our Pattern in his Prayer and we should make them so in our Lives by endeavouring to perform God's Will in Earth as it is in Heaven Which calls upon me to return to the Fourth Enquiry namely How far we are concerned to imitate this Pattern of Obedience That our Imitation of it is in some Measure or other required is most certain otherwise our Lord would never have taught us to Pray that God's Will should be done on Earth as it is in Heaven but how far is the Question In answer to which I observe that the Obedience of the Angels may be considered either Intensively or Extensively or in other Words either with respect to the Act or with respect to the Object which last may again be meant either of the kinds of Good or of the several degrees in each kind This being premised I answer First That we are not obliged to the Intenseness of Angelical Obedience this I say we are not obliged to because 't is not among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things which are in our Power This indeed will be part of our Reward hereafter but it cannot be our Duty here and therefore though we are to obey God readily and chearfully yet 't is not required we should do it with such a degree of Alacrity as excludes all imperfect motions to the contrary 'T is not required while we are a Compound of Flesh and Spirit that the latter should be wholly free from the Solicitations of the former 't is sufficient if it have the Casting Voice and prevail in the Contention and so much indeed is Duty And therefore says the Psaimist He that now goes on his way weeping and beareth forth good Seed shall doubtless come again with Joy and bring his Sheaves with him He must bear forth good Seed and if he does so it shall be no Prejudice to him that he goes on his way weeping Neither are we obliged to serve God always with equal heights of Devotion and with an uniform fervency of Mind for besides that our Saviour himself who led the most