the visible and invisible World He therefore alone is to be fear'd and He alone is to be loved Fear not them saith our Saviour Matth. 10.28 which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell And St. John gives the same Precept concerning the World Love not the World neither the things of the World And backs it by the same reason for the World passeth away and the Lust thereof But he that doth the Will of God abideth for ever That is the World can at best but gratifie for a moment the Appetites of the Body or the Desires of a sensual Fancy therefore love it not but love the Father who after the dissolution of the vital Union betwixt Soul and Body is able to confer Life and Happiness on both to all Eternity Thus have I considered the Characters of Illuminating Truths And the whole of what I have said amounts to these two things 1. There are Truths of very different kinds Truths that are of no use such are those which are either trifling or meerly notional and can have no Influence on Human Life Truths that are of ill use such are those of which consists the Arts of Sensuality Avarice Vanity and Ambition These are to be detested the former to be contemned by all that seek after true Wisdom Again there are Truths of an inferior use such as concern our Fortunes our Relations our Bodies and these may be allowed their proper place and a reasonable Value But the Truths which concern the Peace and Pleasure and Strength and Liberty of our Souls which procure us the Favour of God and the Grace of his Spirit the Truths in a word which secure our Temporal and Eternal Happiness these are Illuminating Truths these have a transcendent worth and inestimable Excellence or Usefulness and consequently can never be too dear to us 2. Since the great Characters of Illuminating Truths do exactly fit the Gospel of Jesus 't is plain that this is that Systeme of Knowledge which we are to Study day and night this is that Divine Philosophy whose Principles and Laws we must incessantly revolve and ponder 'T is not without reason that the Psalmist bestows such glorious Elogies upon the word of God Psal 19. and elsewhere That he magnifies one while the intrinsick Excellence and Beauty another while the Force and Efficacy of it and ever and anon enlarges himself upon the advantages the unspeakable advantages which reward the Meditation and Practice of it Of all Perfections I have seen an end But thy Commandments are exceeding broad They are pure they endure for ever they enlighten the Eyes and rejoyce the Heart Moreover by them thy Servant is warned and in keeping of them there is great Reward That is by them we are preserved from all real Evil and put in possession of or entitled to all real Good How well did St. Peter answer when our Lord asked his Disciples will ye also go from me Lord whither shall we go Thou hast the words of Eternal Life And how wisely did St. Paul resolve to know nothing but Christ Jesus and him Crucified For He is the Way the Truth and the Life and in Him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge But after all as there is a Form of Godliness so there is a Form of Knowledge without the power of it The Knowledge of the same Truths as I observed in the beginning in different Persons may be very different as meeting with a very different Reception Our Conceptions may be more clear or confused more lively or faint more perfect or maimed And our Assent may be stronger or weaker In some they may only float superficially in others they may penetrate deeper And the Degrees of their Influence and Operation will be certainly proportioned to the different manner of their Reception For this reason it will be necessary to the right understanding of a state of Illumination to discourse 2. Of the Nature of that Knowledge we must have of the Former Truths to shew what sort of Conception we must form of them what kind of Assent we must pay them and what kind of Consideration we must employ about them As I have therefore laid down the Properties of those Truths so will I now lay down the Properties of that Knowledge of them which is Essential to Illumination 1. Illuminating Knowledge must be deeply rooted This our Saviour has taught us in that Parble wherein he has observed to us that the Seed which had not depth of Earth as it soon sprung up so it soon withered and dryed away We often know or pretend to do so the Rudiments of our Religion without the Grounds and Foundation of it We embrace Conclusions without examining the Principles from whence they flow and contrary to the advice of the Apostle we are unable to give a reason to any one that asketh us of the Faith and the Hope that is in us And then ours is not properly Knowledge but Opinion 't is not Faith but Credulity 'T is not a firm Perswasion but an easie customary Assent And this is overthrown by every Temptation defaced or much blur'd by every Atheistical suggestion or Prophane Objection Does the World or our Lust tempt us as the Devil did our first Parents ye shall not surely Die how easily is that Faith shaken which is no better founded How easily is a Man induced to Hope that Sin is not very fatal and pernicious that God will easily be prevailed with to pardon it that the Flames of Hell are Metaphorical and its Eternity a mistaken Notion and groundless Fancy if he be ignorant of the true Reasons of God's Wrath and Indignation which are founded in the very Nature of God and Sin Whereas on the other hand he that well understands both these the Deformity and Tendency of Sin and the Holiness and the Purity of the Divine Nature cannot but discern an irreconcilable Opposition between them and be convinced that were there no Tribunal erected for the Sinner yet would Sin be its own Punishment and that an intolerable Hell consisting in the disorder of Nature an exclusion from God c. would be the natural and necessary Issue of it The sum of this Argument is that Knowledge which has no deep root is subject to be overthrown by ever blast That Faith which is little more than Credulity does very seldom stand against any very rude shock Now the Grounds of our Faith and Duty are fully and clearly expounded in the Gospel And here especially we must seek them When I say this I reject no Collateral Arguguments I refuse no Foreign Aids which contribute any thing to confirm and fortifie our Belief of Gospel Truths The Faith of St. Thomas did in part at least depend upon the Evidence of sense Thomas because thou hast seen thou hast believed Joh. 20.29 And so did that of the rest of them
did not exact of his Disciples as a necessary Preparation for his Doctrine the Knowledge of Tongues the History of Times or Nature Logick Metaphysicks Mathematicks or the like These indeed may be serviceable to many excellent Ends They may be great accomplishments of the Mind great Ornaments and very engaging Entertainments of Life They may be finally very excellent and necessary Instruments of or Introductions to several Professions or Employments But as to Perfection and Happiness to these they can never be indispensably necessary A Man may be excellently habitually Good without more Languages then one He may be fully perswaded of those great Truths that will render him Master of his Passions and independent of the Word that will render him easie and useful in this Life and glorious in another though he be no Logician nor Metaphysician Yet would I not all this while be supposed to exclude the use of true Reason and solid Judgment Though the meanest capacity may attain to its proper Perfection that is such a measure of Knowledge as may make the Man truly wise and happy yet the more capacious any Man's Soul is and the more enlarged his Knowledge the more Perfect and Happy He. 4. The Qualifications previously necessary to Illumination are two or three Moral ones implied in that Infant Temper our Saviour required in those who would be his Disciples These are Humility Impartiality and a Thirst or love of Truth First Humility He that will be taught of God must not be Proud or Confident in himself He must not over-rate his own Parts and Capacity nor lean too stifly to his own understanding He must firmly believe that Illumination is the Work of God and on Him he must depend He must confess the weakness of his own Faculties the natural Poverty and Indigence of his understanding and so look up to God who is the Fountain of Wisdom and giveth Grace to the Humble but resisteth the Proud Secondly Impartiality Sincerity or a certain Purity and innocence of Judgment if I may be allowed to speak so That the Vnderstanding may be capable of Divine Light it must not be blur'd and Stain'd by false Principles It must not be biassed nor influenced by any corrupt inclinations Some to prove their Impartiality or Freedom of Judgment abandon themselves to the scrupulousness of Scepticism and a wanton itch of endless Disputation and Contradiction But I cannot think it necessary to our Freedom and Impartiality to deny the Evidence of our Senses to oppose the Vniversal Reason of Mankind and to shake off all Reverence for the Integrity of Man and the Veracity of God No this savours too much either of Ostentation or of a raw and unexperienced Affectation of new Theories and Speculations He secures his Freedom sufficiently who guards his Reason against the force of groundless Prepossessions and senseless Modes and Customs against the Lusts of the Body and the prejudices of Parties Who keeps a strict Eye upon the Motions and Tendencies of his inferiour Nature who admits not the Dictates of a Single Person or Party for Catholick Reason who considers that there are Revolutions of Phylosophy and Opinions as well as States and Kingdoms and judges well of Times and Men e're he pay much deference to Authority But Thirdly this is not all that is necessary to any compleat Degree of Illumination Impartiality is necessary to the first Dawnings of it but if we would have it increased and diffuse its self into a perfect Day of Spiritual Wisdom and Vnderstanding we must hunger and thirst after Truth An unprejudiced Mind is necessary to qualifie us for the first Rudiments of Truth but we must be inflamed with Desire and Love of it e're we shall enter into the Sanctuary or Recesses of it Therefore our Saviour invites to him every one that thirsts Joh. 7.37 And St. Peter exhorts us as new born Babes to desire the sincere Milk of the Word that we may grow thereby 1 Epist 2.2 And St. Paul imputes the Damnation of those that perish to want of Love of the Truth 2 Thess 2.10 'T is too trifling to Object here how come we to thirst after what we do not know For it concerns every Man to enquire what will become of him for ever and if he be already assured that there is another World and a glorious Salvation to be attained it is natural to thirst after the Resolution of such Questions as these What shall I do to be saved What shall I do to inherit an Eternal Life And such is the Beauty of Illuminating Truth that every Glance of it kindles in our Hearts the Love of it And such its boundless Perfection that the more we know the more still shall we desire to know Having thus considered what qualifies Man for Illumination my next business is to enquire § 2. What one thus qualified is to do for the actual Attainment of it All the Advice that I can think fit here to be given may be reduced to four Heads 1. That we do not suffer our Minds to be engaged in quest of Knowledge forreign to our purpose 2. That we apply our selves with a very tender and sensible Concern to the Study of Illuminating Truths 3. That we act conformable to those Measures of Light which we have attain'd 4. That we frequently and constantly address our selves to God by Prayer for the Illumination of his Grace 1. That we do not suffer c. This is a natural and necessary Consequence of what has been already said concerning Illumination For if Illumination consist in the Knowledge not of all sort of Truths but the most necessary and important such as purifie and perfect our Nature such as procure us sacred and stable Pleasure and all the Rewards that flow from our Adoption to God it is then plain he who would be Perfect ought not to amuse and distract his Mind in Pursuit of trifling or divertive Knowledge that he ought to shun and not to admit whatever is apt to entangle perplex or defile him and to fix his Thoughts and confine his Meditations to the great Truths of the Gospel He that knows the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent knows enough to oblige him to Vertue and to open the way to Glory and everlasting Life He that knows nothing but Jesus Christ and him Crucified knows enough in order to Peace Grace and Joy enough to promote Holiness and Hope Hope that abounds in Joy unspeakable and full of Glory 2. We must apply our selves with a very tender and sensible Concern to the Study of Illuminating Truths This Rule must be understood to enjoyn three things 1. Great Care and Caution in examining Doctrins proposed and in distinguishing between Truth and Falsehood 2. Great Diligence and Industry to increase and enlarge our Knowledge 3. Frequent and serious Reflection upon the Truths we know 1. There is need of great Caution in the Trial and Examination of Doctrins This the
dung and dross in comparison of him Can he in one word ever be seduced to renounce and hate Religion who has had so long an Experience of the Beauty and of the Pleasure of it Good Habits when they are grown up to Perfection and Maturity seem to me as natural as 't is possible Evil ones should be And if so 't is no less difficult to extirpate the One then the Other And I think I have the Scripture on my side in this Opinion Does the Prophet Jeremy demand Can the Ethiopian change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots then may you that are accustomed to do Evil learn to do Well Jer. 13.23 St. John on the other hand does affirm Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God 1 Ep. 3.9 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not v. 6. These are the Grounds of Assurance with respect of the time to come As to Personal and Peremptory Predestination to Life and Glory 't is at least a controverted Point and therefore unfit to be laid as the Foundation of Assurance But suppose it were granted I see not which way it can effect our present enquiry since the wisest amongst those who stickle for it advise all to Govern themselves by the general Promises and Threats of the Gospel to look upon the Fruits of Righteousness as the only solid proof of a state of Grace and if they be under the Dominion of any Sin not to presume upon Personal Election but to look upon themselves as in a state of Damnation till they be recovered out of it by Repentance Thus far all sides agree and this I think is abundantly enough for here we have room enough for Joy and Peace and for Caution too room enough for Confidence and for Watchfulness too The Romanists indeed will not allow us to be certain of Salvation Certitudine fidei cui non potest subesse falsum with such a Certainty as that with which we entertain an Article of Faith in which there is no room for Error i. e. we are not so sure that we are in the Favour of God as we are or may be that there is a God We are not so sure that we have a title to the Merits of Christ as we are or may be that Jesus is the Christ Now if this assertion be confined to that Assurance which regards the time to come as I think it generally is and do not deny Assurance in General but only certain Degrees or Measures of it then there is nothing very absurd or intolerable in it For a less Assurance then that which this Doctrine excludes will be sufficient to secure the Pleasure and Tranquility of the Perfect Man But if this assertion be design'd against that Assurance which regards our present State then I think it is not sound nor agreeable either to Reason Scripture or Experience For first the Question being about a matter of Fact 't is in vain to argue that cannot be which does appear manifestly to have been And certainly they who rejoyced in Christ with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory were as fully perswaded that they were in a State of Grace and Salvation as they were that Jesus was Risen from the Dead Secondly 't is one thing to ballance the Strength and Degrees of Assurance another to ballance the Reasons of it For it is very possible that Assurance may be stronger where the Reason of it may not be so clear and evident as where the Assurance is less Thus for Example the evidence of Sense seems to most learned Men to be stronger then that of Faith And yet through the assistance of the Spirit a Man may embrace a Truth that depends upon Revelation with as much confidence and certainty as one depending upon Sense And so it may be in the case of Assurance The Spirit of God may by its Concurrence raise our Assurance as high as he pleases although the Reason on which it be built should not be Divine and Infallible but meerly Moral and subject at least to a possibility of Error But Thirdly Why should not the certainty I have concerning my Present State be as Divine and Infallible as that I have concerning an Article of Faith If the Premises be Infallible why should not the Conclusion He that Believes and Repents is in a State of Grace is a Divine an Infallible Proposition and why may not this other I Believe and Repent be equally Infallible though not equally Divine What Faith and Repentance is is revealed and therefore there is no room for my being here mistaken Besides I am assisted and guided in the Tryal of my Self by the Spirit of God So that the truth of this Proposition I Believe and Repent depends partly upon the evidence of Sense and I may be as sure of it as of what I do or leave undone partly upon the evidence of inward Sensation or my Consciousness of my own Thoughts and I may be as sure of it as I can be of what I love or hate rejoyce or grieve for And lastly it depends upon the evidence of the Spirit of God which assists me in the Examination of my Self according to those Characters of Faith and Repentance which he hath himself revealed And when I conclude from the two former Propositions that I am in a State of Grace he confirms and ratifies my Inference And now let any one tell me what kind of certainty that is that can be greater than this I have taken this pains to set the Doctrine of Assurance in a clear Light because it is the great Spring of the Perfect Man's Comfort and Pleasure the source of his Strength and Joy And this puts me in mind of that other fruit of Perfection which in the beginning of this Chapter I promised to insist on which is Its Subserviency to our Happiness in this Life That Happiness increases in proportion with Perfection cannot be denied unless we will at the same time deny the Happiness of a Man to exceed that of an Infant or the Happiness of an Angel that of Man Now this truth being of a very great Importance and serving singly instead of a thousand Motives to Perfection I will consider it impartially and as closely as I can Happiness and Pleasure are generally thought to be only two words for the same thing Nor is this very remote from truth for let but Pleasure be solid and lasting and I cannot see what more is wanting to make Man Happy The best way therefore to determin how much Perfection contributes to our Happiness is to examin how much it contributes to our Pleasure If with the Epicurean we think Indolence our supream Happiness and define Pleasure by the absence of Pain then I am sure the Perfect Man will have the best claim to it He surely is freest from the Mistakes and Errors from the Passions and Follies that embroil Human Life he creates
Perfect Man's past Life or the slips and defects of his best State or whether we consider Man's continual dependance upon God in all respects but especially in reference to the Beginning Progress and Consummation of his Perfection or whether Lastly we consider the scantiness and deficiency not only of this or that Man's Perfection in particular but of Human Perfection in general we cannot but conclude that nothing can become Mortal Man even though all the Excellence Human Nature is capable of were United in one better then Humility Humility therefore must begin and compleat Religious Perfection it must accompany the Christian in every Stage of his spiritual Progress it must Crown all his Actions and add that Beauty and Excellence that Grace and Lustre to all his other Vertues that is wholly necessary to render them acceptable to God The general Notion of Perfection being thus resolved into its Parts 't is plain I am now to Discourse of each of these And what I have to say on each ought according to the strict Rules of Method to be comprised within the same Chapter But to consult the ease and benefit of my Reader I shall slight this Nicety and distribute my Thoughts into as many Chapters as I shall judge most convenient for the case and support of the Memory CHAP. I. Of Illumination what it consists in THE Method I have set my self obliges me here to three things 1. To state the Notion of Illumination and resolve what it is 2. To consider the Fruits of it And 3. To shew how it may be obtained § 1. What it is It happens in the point of Illumination as it does in that of Happiness All Men at first hearing form in general an agreeable and pleasing Notion of it all Men admire and love it but few have any distinct and true Understanding of those things which 't is made up of All Men conceive Illumination to be a state of Light and Knowledge as they do Happiness to be a State of Pleasure But are as little agreed in particular wherein consists the Light or Knowledge which makes the one as wherein consists the Pleasure that makes the other The Lust and Passion of some the Superstition and Prejudice of others Curiosity and Confidence Weakness and Design Enthusiasm and Fancy embroil and perplex all things However every honest Man hath a Clue by which he may escape out of this Labyrinth The Scripture shines with bright and gracious Beams throughout all this Darkness And if we will attend to it we cannot wander into any dangerous mistake This describes the state of Illumination very plainly to us calling it sometimes Wisdom sometimes Knowledge and understanding sometimes Faith sometimes the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Next it acquaints us with the Design and End of it namely to convert us from the power of Satan to the service of the Living God to Purifie and Sanctifie us to enable us to approve the Holy acceptable and perfect Will of God and in one word to make us wise unto Salvation Nay it procedes further and points out to us particularly the Truths in the Knowledge of which Illumination consists Thus the Old Testament reckons Wisdom to be sometimes the Knowledge of God sometimes the Knowledge of his Law sometimes the Vnderstanding of Proverbs and Parables these containing as it were the Soul of Moral Instruction and wrapping up in few and lively Words whatever the Experience of the Aged or the observation of Men of the most piercing Judgment thought best deserved to be transmitted to Posterity But all this amounts to the same thing and all the Descriptions of Wisdom in the Old Testament may be sum'd up into that one Job 28.28 Behold the fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding The New Testament tells us this is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent That Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life That in Him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge That true Understanding consists in knowing the Will of God which Will is our Sanctification And when St. Paul understands by Wisdom as sometimes he does the penetrating into the Spirit and Mystery the Depths and Recesses of the Old Testament and discovering the great Design of Man's Redemption carried on through all the Ages of the World and through a wise variety of Dispensations this alters not the Notion of Illumination For this does not point out to us any new or different Truths but only regards one peculiar way of explaining or establishing and confirming the great Christian Doctrines To conclude we may easily learn what sort of Knowledge the Spirit of God recommends to us above all other from those Petitions which St. Paul puts up for the Ephesians and Collosians For the Former he Prays thus That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the Eyes of your Vnderstanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the Hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his Power to us-ward who Believe according to the working of his Mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the Dead and set him at his own Right Hand in the Heavenly places c. Eph. 1.17 18 19 20. For the Latter thus That ye might be filled with the Knowledge of his Will in all Wisdom and Spiritual Vnderstanding That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the Knowledge of God c. Col. 1.9 10. If from these and the like Texts we form a general Idea of Illumination it will be this Illumination is a State of Knowledge consisting in the abolishing or relinquishing those Errors which deprave and pervert our Affections and undermine and supplant the Empire and Authority of Reason and in entertaining and embracing those Truths which purifie the one and restore and establish the other All this in order to entitle us to the Favour of God and a blessed Eternity I might content my self with this general Delineation of Illumination But because this is a subject from which we cannot but reap so much Pleasure and Advantage as will abundantly requite whatever Labour can be bestowed upon it I will proceed to a fuller discovery of it if I can Illumination then being a State of Knowledge the Object of this Knowledge being Truth 't is plain that in order to form a just and distinct Notion of Illumination it will be necessary to enquire into two things First what kind of Truth and Next what kind of Knowledge of these Truths constitutes Illumination 1. Of the Truths which Illuminate We have many noble Characters in the Old Testament and the New which distinguish these from Truths of an
had nothing of internal Purity or solid Righteousness in it So that upon the whole the Jew and Gentile were alike wicked Only the Wickedness of the Jews had this Aggravation in it above that of the Gentiles that they enjoy'd the Oracles of God and the Favour of a peculiar Covenant This being the state of Darkness which lay upon the Face of the Jewish and Gentile World our Lord who was to be a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of his People Israel advanced and established in the World that Doctrine which directly tends to dispel these Errors and rescue Mankind from the Misery that attends them For all that the Gospel contains may be reduced to these three Heads First the Assertion of one only true God with a bright and full Revelation of his Divine Attributes and Perfection Secondly an Account of the Will of God or the Worship he delights in which is a Spiritual one together with suitable Means and Motives in which last is contained a full Declaration of Man's supream Happiness Thirdly the Revelation of one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus through whom we have access with boldness to the Throne of Grace through whom we have obtained from the Father Grace and Pardon and Adoption and through whom Lastly all our Oblations and Performances are acceptable to Him The Design of this glorious Manifestation was to open Mens Eyes to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Living God That they might obtain Remission of Sins and an Inheritance of Glory These then are the truths which Illuminated the Gentile and Jewish World And these are the truths which must Illuminate us at this day These dispel all destructive Errors that lead us to Vice or Misery These point out our supream Felicity and the direct way to it These open and enlarge the Eye of the Soul enable it to distinguish and judge with an unerring Exactness between Good and Evil between Substantial and Superficial Temporal and Eternal Good And I wish from my Soul whatever Light we pretend to at this Day we were well grounded and established in these Truths I doubt notwithstanding our Belief of one God and one Mediator and notwithstanding we are well enough assured that God who is a Spirit must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and notwithstanding our pretending to believe a Life to come I say I am afraid that notwithstanding these things we do generally err in two main points namely in the Notion we ought to have of Religion and the value we are to set upon the World and the Body For who that reflects upon the Pomp and Pride of Life upon the ease the softness and the luxury of it upon the frothiness and the freedom the vanity and Impertinence to say no worse of Conversation will not conclude that either we have renounced our Religion or form to our selves too complaisant and indulgent a Notion of it For is this the imitation of Jesus Is this to walk as he walked in the World Can this be the Deportment of Men to whom the World and the Body is Crucified Can such a Life as this is flow from those Divine Fountains Faith Love and Hope Who again can reflect upon the Passion we discover for Superiority and Precedence our thirst of Power our ravenous desire of VVealth and not conclude that we have mistaken our main End that we set a wrong value upon things and that whatever we talk of an Eternity we look upon this present World as our portion and most valuable Good For can such a tender concern for such an eager pursuit after temporal things flow from nay consist with purity of Heart and poverty of Spirit the Love of God and a Desire of Heaven Whoever then will be Perfect or Happy must carefully avoid both these Errors He must never think that Religion can subsist without the strength and vigour of our Affections Or that the Bent and Vigour of our Souls can be pointed towards God and yet the Air of our Deportment and Conversation be earthy sensual and vain conformed even to a Pagan Pride and shew of Life Next he must never cherish in himself the love of this World He must never look upon himself other than a Stranger and Pilgrim in it He must never be fond of the Pleasure of it He must never form vain Designs and Projects about it nor look upon the best things in it as ingredients of our Happiness but only as Instruments of Vertue or short Repasts and Refreshments in our Journey And because all our mistakes about the Nature and Perfection of Religion and the Value of Temporal things do generally arise from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that peculiar Sin to which our Constitution betrays us therefore the Knowledge of our selves an intimate Acquaintance with all our natural Propensions and Infirmities is no inconsiderable Part of Illumination For we shall never address our selves heartily to the Cure of a Disease which we know nothing of or to the rectifying any inclination till we are throughly convinced that 't is irregular and dangerous 2. The Second Character of Illuminating Truths is that they are such as feed and nourish corroborate and improve the Mind of Man Now the Properties of Bodily strength are such as these It enables us to Baffle and repel Injuries to bear Toil and Travel to perform difficult Works with speed and ease and finally it prolongs Life to a much further date than weak and crazy Constitutions can arrive at And of all these we find some Resemblances in Spiritual Strength But as much more Perfect and Excellent as the Spirit is above the Body Those Truths then are indeed Illuminating which enable us to vanquish Temptations to endure with Constancy and Patience the Toils and Hardships of our Christian warfare to discharge the Duties of our Station with Zeal and Vigour and which Lastly render us firm steady and immortal And these are the glorious effects which are attributed to the Truths of God Hence is the Gospel called the Power of God unto Salvation Rom. 1.16 and hence it is that we read of the Armour of God Ephesians 6.11 The Sword of the Spirit the Shield of Faith the Breast-plate of Righteousness c. to intimate to us the Strength and Vertue of the Word of God and that it brings with it safety and success And hence it is that the Word of God is said to quicken and strengthen that Man is said to live not by Bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God that Righteousness is called Everlasting and that he that doth the Will of God is affirmed to abide for ever To teach us plainly that there is nothing steady and unalterable nothing durable nothing eternal but God Divine Truths and those that are formed and modeled by them There are Truths indeed which are meerly Barren and Vnactive which amuse and suspend the
who were Eye witnesses of the Resurrection and Ascention of the Blessed Jesus The Doctrine of one God and a Judgment to come may receive much light and strength from natural Reason And whatever establishes a revealed Truth will be so far from diminishing that it will increase the Vertue and Efficacy of it All the Caution I think fit to give here is that we be sure that the Ground be Plain and Firm on which we build the Belief of an Illuminating Truth Philosophy in many cases is clear and convictive St. Paul himself amongst the Gentiles frequently appeals to Reason But too often we call our Fancy Philosophy and obtrude upon the World the wild and undigested Theories of a warm and confident Imagination for new Discoveries What strange stuff was Gnostick Philosophy once What did it produce but the Corruption of the Christian Faith And what can be expected from Mystick Enthusiastick Philosophy or Divinity in any Age any Man may guess without any deep Penetration Nor do I doubt but that all judicious and experienced Men do as much despise and nauseate the Blendures and Mixtures of pretended Philosophy with our Faith and Morals as the World generally does the subtilties and perplexities of the Schools For my part I can't endure to have my Religion lean upon the rotten props of precarious Notions I admire I love the Elevations and Enlargements of Soul But I can have no value for unaccountable Amusements or Rambles of Fancy An itch of Novelty or Curiosity has a Tincture in it of our Original Corruption I ever suspect an Opinion that carries an Air of Novelty in it and do always prefer a vulgar Truth before refined Error They are vulgar Truths which like vulgar Blessings are of most use and truest worth And surely our Saviour thought so when he thanked his Father that he had hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto Babes And when he himself taught the People with power and authority and not as the Scribes he did advance no subtil Theories but bright and dazling useful and convictive Truths This minds me of another property of Illuminating Knowledge 2. This Knowledge must not be obscure and confused but Distinct and Clear Where the Images of things are slight faint and vanishing they move Men but very weakly and affect them but very coldly especially in such Matters as are not subject to our Senses And this I perswade my self is one chief Reason why those glorious and wonderful Objects God a Judgment to come Heaven and Hell do strike us so feebly and operate so little We have generally no lively distinct and clear Conception of them It being otherwise impossible That things in their own Nature dreadful and amazing should excite in us no Fear or that things in their own Nature infinitely amiable should enkindle in us no Passion no Desire The Notions we have of Spiritual and Invisible Things are dim dusky and imperfect Our Thoughts pass over them so slightly that they scarce retain any print or traces of them Now this sort of Knowledge will never do the work These drousie notices of things will never ferment and raise our Passions for Heaven high enough to confront and combate those we have for the World From hence we may give a fair account what the use is of Prophetick Retirement and Prophetick Eloquence What is the purpose of all those Schemes and Tropes which occur in inspired Writings And why the best of Men have ever so much affected Solitude and Retreats from the noise and the hurry of the World Serious frequent and devout Contemplation is necessary to form in our Minds clear distinct and sprightly Notions And to communicate these well to the World they must be expressed in moving Language in living Tropes and Figures Ah! Did we but consider this we should sure allot more time to the study of Divine Truths and we should not think that to discover them throughly it were enough to let our Thoughts glance upon them But we should survey and ponder them with all the exactness and diligence that were necessary to make lasting and distinct impressions upon us Could we know by Intuition doubtless wonderful Objects would raise very extraordinary Passions in us But this we cannot let us come as near it as we can Only let us avoid forming absurd and false Notions of things whilst we endeavour after distinct and clear ones Spiritual things do not answer Corporeal like Face to Face in a Glass And therefore though to give some light to things that are above us we may find out all the Resemblances of them we can in those things we are acquainted with here below yet we must still remember that the one do vastly exceed the other and that we cannot thus get a just and adequate Notion of them 3. This Knowledge must not be in the Understanding crude and undigested but it must be throughly concocted and turned into Nourishment Blood and Spirits We must know the true value and use of every Principle of every Truth and be able readily to apply them For what does it signifie how important Truths are in themselves if they are not so to me What does it avail that they are impregnated with Life and Power if I feel not any such Influence Of what use is the Knowledge of Gospel Promises to me if I reap no Comfort from them Or the Knowledge of Gospel Threats if they are unable to curb and restrain my Passions And so is it with other Truths What will it avail me that I know the Life of Man consists not in the multitude of the things which he possesses if notwithstanding I cannot content my self with a Competency That Righteousness is the chief Good and the richest Treasure of the Soul of Man if notwithstanding I seek this World and the things of it with a more early and passionate Concern That sin and pain are the most considerable if not only Evils of Man if notwithstanding I be cast down and broken under every Adversity And thus I might go on and shew you that the Knowledge which is not digested into Nourishment is if not a burden of no benefit to us 'T is plain that is to me nothing worth which I make no use of We must then follow the advice of Solomon and never quit the Search and Meditation of Truth till we grow intimate and familiar with it and so have it always ready for a Guide and Guard for our Support and Strength and for our Delight and Pleasure We must bind it about our Heart as he speaks and tie it as an Ornament about our Neck Then when we go forth it shall lead us when we sleep it shall keep us and when we awake it shall talk with us For the commandment is a Lamp and the Law is light and reproofs of Instruction are the way of Life Prov. 6. In a word nothing can render the most important Truths powerful and operative in us
a gracious Master and thus the Child does with respectful Love meet the tenderness of his Parent and the Wisdom and Vertue which sometimes raises some one happy Mortal above the common size and height of Mankind does not surely diminish but increase the Affection and the Pleasure of his Friends that enjoy him Again the Nature of Enjoyment varies according to the various Faculties of the Soul and the senses of the Body One way we enjoy Truth and another Goodness One way Beauty and another Harmony and so on These things considered I saw there was no necessity in order to make God the Object of our Fruition either to bring Him down to any thing unworthy of his Glory or to exalt our selves to a Height we are utterly uncapable of I easily saw that we who love and adore God here should when we enter into his Presence admire and love him infinitely more For God being infinitely amiable the more we contemplate the more clearly we discern his Divine Perfections and Beauties the more must our Souls be inflamed with a Passion for Him And I have no Reason to doubt but that God will make us the most gracious Returns of our Love and express His Affections for us in such Condescensions in such Communications of Himself as will transport us to the utmost Degree that created Beings are capable of Will not God that sheds abroad his Love in our Hearts by his Spirit here fully satisfie it hereafter will not God who fills us here with the Joy of his Spirit by I know not what inconceivable ways communicate Himself in a more ravishing and Ecstatick manner to us when we shall behold him as he is and live for ever encircled in the Arms of his Love and Glory Upon the whole then I cannot but believe that the Beatifick Vision will be the Supream Pleasure of Heaven yet I do not think that this is to exclude those of an inferiour Nature God will be there not only all but in all We shall see him as he is and we shall see him reflected in Angels and all the Inhabitants of Heaven nay in all the various Treasures of that Happy Place but in far more bright and lovely Charcters than in his Works here below This is a state now that answers all Ends and satisfies all Appetites let 'em be never so various never so boundless Temporal Good nay a state accumulated with all temporal Goods has still something defective something empty in it That which is crooked cannot be made straight and that which is wanting cannot be numbred And therefore the Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing but all things are full of Labour Man cannot utter it And if this were not the state of temporal Things yet that one Thought of Solomon that he must leave them makes good the Charge of Vanity and Vexation And the contrary is that which compleats Heaven namely that it is Eternal Were Heaven to have an End that End would make it None That Death would be as much more intolerable than this here as the Joys of Heaven are above those of Earth For the Terrour and the Evil of it would be to be estimated by the Perfection of that Nature and Happiness which it would put an End to To Dye in Paradise amidst a Crowd of Satisfactions how much more intollerable were this than to Dye in those accursed Regions that bred continually Briars and Brambles Cares and Sorrows And now I doubt not but every one will readily acKnowledge that an Heaven were it believed were such a Fruit of Christian Liberty such a Motive to it as none could resist Did I believe this have I heard one say I would quit my Trade and all Cares and Thoughts of this World and wholly apply my self to get that other you talk of There was no need of going thus far But this shews what the natural Influence of this Doctrine of a Life to come is and that it is generally owing to Infidelity where 't is frustrated and defeated What is in this Case to be done what Proof what Evidences are sufficient to beget Faith in him who rejects Christianity and all Divine Revelation He that hears not Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles neither will he believe though one rose from the dead This Doctrine of a Life to come was generally believed by the Gentile World It was indeed very much obscur'd but never extinguished by the Addition of many fabulous and superstitious Fancies so strong was the Tradition or Reason or rather both on which 't was built The Jews universally embraced it The general Promises of God to Abraham and his Seed and the several Shadows and Types of it in the Mosaick Institution did confirm them in the Belief of a Doctrine which I do not doubt had been transmitted to them even from Enoch Noah and all their pious Ancestors Nor must we look upon the Sadduces amongst the Jews or the Epicureans amongst the Gentiles to be any Objection against this Argument of a Life to come founded in Tradition and the universal Sense of Mankind because they were not only inconsiderable compared to the Body of the Jewish or Pagan World but also Desertors and Apostates from the Philosophy and Religion received To what End should I proceed from the Gentile and Jew to the Christian were Christianity entertained as it ought the very supposal of any Doubt concerning a Life to come would be impertinent Here we have numerous Demonstratitions of it Not only the Fortune of Vertue in this Life which is often very calamitous but even the Origine and Nature of it do plainly evince a Life to come For to what End can the Mortification of the Body by Abstractions and Meditations be enjoyned if there be no Life to come What need is there of Renovation or Regeneration by the Word and Spirit of God were there no Life to come One would think ' the common End of this natural Life might be well enough secured upon the common Foundation of Reason and Human Laws What should I here add the Love of God and the Merits of Jesus from both which we may derive many unanswerable Arguments of a Life to come For though when we reflect upon it it appears as much above our Merit as it is above our Comprehension yet when we consider that Eternal Life is the Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord what less than an Heaven can we expect from an infinite Merit and Almighty Love The Love of God must be Perfect as Himself and the Merits of Jesus must be estimated by the Greatness of his Person and his Sufferings He that cannot be wrought upon by these and the like Gospel-Arguments will be found I doubt impenetrable to all others 'T is in vain to argue with such a one from natural Topicks and therefore I will stop here I should now pass on to the Third Thing the Attainment of Christian Liberty But