his Counsellour hath taught him Out of the â—outh of the most High and from infinite wisedom have proceeded the directioâ—â— we have for our Conversations And it is Arrogance beyond an Epithete to offer our selves as Counsel to the Almighty or to preâ—â—â—e or advise a change of that which hath gone oâ—â— of the Mouth of God Unless it please God himself first to repeal his Laws it is not possible that a Creature should have Authority to usurp upon his Creator All the question then is whether God himself have not annexed some conditions to his commands whether there be not some reserves and exceptions which in case they happen then upon performance of the condition the obligation becomes void and of none effect Indeed Christian priviledges by which we ought to encourage our selves to Christian duties have been abused by those that turn the grace Jâ—de 4. of God into lasciviousness to patronize all manner of impiety and three things especially have been made use of to this purpose Faith and Repentance and Christian liberty none of all which do give any indulgence to Immorality or vitiousness of life or do weaken those commands which require Moral Vertues Sect. 2 Not Faith It hath already been acknowledged that the necessity of Moral Vertues ought not to be understood as a prejudice to Book 1. Object 2 Faith It must now be considered on the other side that as Morality doth not make Faith useless so neither doth Faith bring any excuse for Immorality If it be said I believe in Jesus Christ for the pardon of my sins and for the Salvation of my Soul upon his alone merits I rely who hath promised Everlasting life to me if I believe therefore what need I do any more To this I oppose the words of St. Paul This is a Faithful saying and these Tiâ—us 3. â— things I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good works these things are good and profitable unto men They who have believed in God may not sit down and bless themselves with the priviledges of the Faithful without any more ado they must maintain i. e. they must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excel must be eminent in good works they must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word which no body that understands but will allow it thus much they Antistites esse Beza in loc must be Presidents of good works And this they must take care of and be sollicitous about and lest there should be any that may doubt of it he will have Titus affirm it constantly he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be very firm and resolute in the case without peradventure it is the duty of Believers thus to do to all which it is some Emphasis that he begins the Verse thus A Faithful saying a word which he doth elsewhere use in weighty matters It is a Faithful saying and 1 Tim. 1. 15. worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the World to save sinners To all which nothing can be objected by any man that doth not magnify his own private Spirit before St. Paul who did more than think he had the Spirit of God unless possibly this should be imagined that Moral Vertues are not here comprehended under good works wherefore let one Apostle interpret another let us borrow of St. Peter to explain St. Paul And besides 2 Pet. 1. 5. this giving all diligence add to your Faith Vertue c. Temperance Patience Charity A place beyond all exception to prove that though we have Faith yet we may not be without Vertue for if there be any place in Scripture where we are to understand Faith in the most excellent kind it is here for it is that like precious Faith which the Apostles obtained V. 1. it was a Faith joyned with such a knowledge of Christ as that by great and precious promises they became partakers of the divine V. 4. Nature yet this Faith that makes men like God is not too good to accompany with Vertue nor can it safely be alone for he that lacketh V. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these things i. e. these Vertues is blind and cannot see a far off Now if we must give diligence to add Vertue by way of supply to Faith as the word imports then Faith is no excuse for a failure in Vertue To these we may add St. James who speaks as confidently What doth it profit my Brethren though a man say he hath Faith and have no works can Faith James 2. 14. save him will such a Faith which is dead without works be a saving Faith no surely not till these contradictions can be reconciled that a man may at the same time be an unholy or an unsanctified Saint a wicked Believer an honest Knave When Judas his kiss can be interpreted friendship then when he comes to betray his Master when the way to Heaven lyes through the midst of Hell when these things come to pass then may a man hope to be saved by his Faith though he be and continue to be the person whom God threatens to damn for the wickedness of his Conversation Faith is a saving grace if it be true Faith but Noscitur ex socio if it be not accompanyed with good works it is but dead and will never entitle us to life Therefore though it be our priviledge that we may believe yet this is no excuse from Moral Vertues CHAP. V. Sect. 1 NEither doth Repentance disoblige us any more than Faith It is Mercy that Sinners can never enough admire that upon Repentance they may be accepted into favour so as that their iniquity shall not be their Ruine But it is a wicked perverting of this Mercy if Ezek. 18. instead of leading us to Repentance it encourages Rom. 2. 6. us to sin the more because this grace doth thus abound yet how many are there in the World who upon presumptions of Repentance some time before they dye do think it less needful for them to be holy and Vertuous while they live Whereas in truth this very thing is a sufficient Argument for the necessity of those Vertues for a failure in which men hope to repent and so to be excused A Drunkard or Swearer or any other vitious person intending hereafter to repent and amend now continues in those evil courses but what do men mean when they say they will repent Do they not believe it is sin that must be repented of He that hath not committed a fault must lye if he cry peccavi why should he be sorry and wish he had not done it If this sorrow be for that which is amiss then Drunkenness c. are hereby acknowledged to be Sins by those who say they will repent of them If Drunkenness be a Sin then it must needs be a duty to be temperate and sober and so for the rest and if these Moral Vertues be our
who have at any time been upon their sick beds and to their own apprehensions have been like to dye what hath been the opinion of these men concerning the pleasures of wickedness what remains of all their joys what are the ecchoes of their songs what relish have they upon their palates of all the dainties that they have either eat or drunk what are they now the better for the wrongs they have offered others and for their revenge and such like evil dispositions wherein they have triumph'd in their life time If I may make an answer I do not doubt but it may be such an one as once Esau made Jacob Behold I am at the point to dye Gen. 25. and what profit do all these things do to me And therefore I may argue a little further in the words of the Apostle What fruit hath any man in those things whereof he is now ashamed for if the next words may be inverted Death is the end of those things Death puts an end to Rom. 6. all the merriments of life and now at death the remembrance of those things is grievous to them Then succeed those wishes and it is well if they be not as vain as their former joys I would I had better understood my self would I had had more wisdom and more grace to have forsaken that evil company that led me away to consent and partake in their wickedness would I had look'd on my pleasures not as they came with their flattering and inviting aspects but as they now go away from me with repentance and fear and shame Oh that I had taken more care to please God and less to enjoy the pleasures of sense Some such thing said Cardinal Wolsey a little before his death Had I serv'd Herberts History Henry 8. God as diligently as I have done the King he would not have given me over in my gray hairs So say men of wicked and immoral lives had I pleased God more and my company and my self less God would not have given me over in this my necessity but I have had my portion in this world I have sought for sin and hunted after pleasure and if God be not more merciful to my soul I shall have no portion in the world to come but everlasting separation from the presence of God Surely these are the apprehensions of some men that send for their Minister and though they would fain justifie themselves as much as they can yet they cannot deny but they have been Company-keepers they have been Gamesters and it may be worse they have spent a great deal of time idly and wantonly Now what becomes of these men whether peradventure God may give them grace to repent is not for us to determine our charity hopes the best But whether so or not these self-accusations and these different apprehensions they have of things when they are dying to what they had when they were lusty and strong to sin is an argument of the vanity and shortness of that pleasure that men take in sin and 't is the fourth proof that there is no considerable comfort to be found in sin either living or dying This is the first part of this Third Argument There is a necessity of Moral Vertues that our lives and deaths may be comfortable for so long as men continue wicked notwithstanding all the brags they make that they live the merriest lives yet it is found to be nothing so CHAP. VIII Sect. 1 THe ways of Vertue are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace It is said of wisdom but it is such a wisdom as dwells with Prov. 3. Prov. 8. Prov. 9. prudence and such a wisdom of which the fear of the Lord is the beginning and where it is so it follows in another place And unto man Job 28. he said the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding So that Vertue being comprehended under that wisdom which teaches a man to order his conversation aright of that likewise may it be said that her ways are ways of pleasantness Pleasure is the satisfaction of an appetite and according as the appetite is whether sensible or rational so is the pleasure The joys and pleasures of sin are but the pleasures of sense for the most part and therefore inconsiderable It will be now found that the pleasure that arises upon Vertuous Actions is in the mind and soul Delight is nothing Reynolds Treatise of passions else but the Sabbath of our thoughts and that sweet Tranquillity of mind which we receive from the presence and fruition of that good to which our desires have carried us Concerning which much might be said and there is no Theme gives a man a greater temptation to try his skill in Rhetorick then this But I intend to argue not to declaim I am therefore content to pass this over only when I have added one description of joy and pleasure which I find in an Author though a Jesuite yet excellent in these kind of writings Gaudium Neiremberg de Arte voluntatis Prolep 5. est quoddam silentium appetitus quaedam Modestia Ambitionis quoddam claustrum cupiditatis quoddam sine fastidio epulum cordis quidam Thronus jam considentis Affectus quaedam Mors desiderii c. denique ut haec complectar quoddam satis And surely this Joy must needs be a glorious thing when the glory that God will beam on his servants in the other world is so express'd Enter into the joy of thy Math. 25. Lord. Those great and immeasurable measures of joy are reserv'd for the world to come yet now in this life in this vale of tears there are rivers of pleasure True it is the joy and Rom. 15. peace which God fills his people with is in and by believing And the joy we have out of Christ is unsound as we out of Christ are unsafe wherefore it hath been before said that Book 1. Moral Vertue is not to be separated from Faith but they suppose one another and then supposing the Vertue we speak of to be such it will be easie to prove that the exercise of Moral Vertues Righteousness and Temperance c. do furnish us with a great deal of joy and comfort Sect. 2 That I prove when I have but first suppos'd that whereas the pleasures of vice are all or for the most part of the sense and outward man the pleasures of Vertue are inward in the mind After what manner the mind is gratifyed will appear in the following Sections let it now be supposed and then how much hath Vertue to say for her self and to glory over wickedness and sin If we may borrow a little of Jothams parable Vice is Judg. 9. the Bramble that instead of shadowing scratches the body Vertue is the Vine that chears the heart of man Vice is a plaister that skins over an old sore Vertue is a cordial
we may follow the Example of Christ and the Apostles we are then certain we do truly preach the Gospel when we command Moral Vertues for it is evident they did the like before us and that not sparingly but in abundant manner This is the first part of the Argument from the Scripture The commands for Moral Vertues are very many and we may easily find them CHAP. III. Sect. 1 THey are likewise plain commands that when found they may easily be understood The directions which the Scripture gives about the management of our Affairs are not so dark as the Answers that the Heathens had from their Oracles They themselves called their Apollo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of his ambiguity we may give him another Epithete that which the Pharisees without any Reason gave to Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That deceitful Spirit 27 Math. 63. the Devil that took upon him the state of a God was ambiguous on purpose that by those riddles he might salve his own credit amongst them though they should chance to be deceived as Croesus and others were But the Scriptures are clear and plain especially as to these matters of practice The word of God 2 Pet. 1. 19. is a light shining in a dark place Such was the World till Christs time a dark place men were much in the dark and that as to Vertue as well as Religion as hath been before said and made Book 1. an Argument of the insufficiency of the writings of the Philosophers But here have we a lamp 119 Psa to our feet and a light to our paths So our Divine Poet expresses it But all the Doctrine which he taught and gave Herbers Poems Was clear as Heaven from whence it came At least those Beams of Truth which onely save Surpass in Brightness any Flame Divinity Love God and love your Neighbour watch and pray Do as you would be done unto O Dark instructions even as dark as day Who can these Gordian knots undo What the Disciples once said to our Saviour Joh. 16. Loe now speakest thou plainly and speakest no parable So may we say of many of the commands of Scripture for what can be more plain whether for matter or manner then for a man to Love his Neighbour as himself who knows not how he loves himself and he who will not believe he hath many Neighbours will 10 Luke find that he ought to show himself neighbourly to whomsoever shall have need of him if he understand the Parable so to recompence Evil for Evil and many others These are such things of which we use to say he that runs may read them There needs no great intenseness of mind it is not necessary to dwell long upon them to understand them they are plain and easie to be understood This is now another advantage we have by the Gospel it doth both bring us light and open our Eyes to see that light the directions of the Word and the teachings of the Spirit promised in that Word make our Rule very plain and easily understood Sect. 2 These many plain Rules of life are not all general so that the application of them may be easily mistaken but directed to particular conditions and Relations and circumstances of life we do not only read in the general that we must abstain from fleshly lusts but we 1 Pet. 2. Gal. 5. 1 Thes 4. have particular Catalogues of those Lusts we are not only bid to walk so as to please God but we are told what it is that is well pleasing to him In so small a Volume as the Scripture is it would be unreasonable to expect particular commands for every Punctilio for every smaller Occurrence of Life There are general Rules of prudence which may easily be accommodated to particular circumstances yet evident it is that there are many commands for persons in such Relations For Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants Magistrates and Subjects Moreover there are commands for particular duties for Meekness and Humility and Charity and Temperance c. if the Scripture sometimes speaks in Parables yet many of them are such which we may easily apply to our selves as Nathan did his to David when he said thou art 2 Sam. 12. the man As John the Baptist gave directions in particular to the people to the Publicans and 3 Luke to the Souldiers as they applyed to him so will the Gospel answer us if we come with the same question And what shall we do go and search the Scriptures see what is written how readest thou It were a childish fancy to expect to be called by our Names as once Peter was Arise Peter kill and eat who will dare to say that when the King issues out a Proclamation to all his subjects because I do not find my name there it doth not concern me We are all concerned and we are as good as named and particularly directed in many affairs of our lives how to exercise our selves in righteousness and goodness and all Moral Vertues Here are now 3 things said to prove that the Scripture doth make Vertue necessary by giving many plain particular commands in the case but that there may remain no question of our Obligation the 4th follows CHAP. IV. Sect. 1 THese many plain particular commands are absolute without any condition that may excuse they are peremptory and severe and strict so that when they are found and understood and ready to be applyed there remains no evasion to shift off that Application Certain it is that where God doth not dispense with his Laws there man may not It is against all Reason that an Inferiour Magistrate should controul a Superiour but it is monstrous that the head and the feet should change places that the Common people whose duty it is to obey Laws should usurp Authority over the Law-makers and dispute their commands And if it be necessary there should be such a distance between man and man for the safety and preservation of mankind Is not then the distance greater between God man Thinkest Job 35. 2. thou this to be right that thou saidst my Righteâ—â—sness is more than Gods Elihu first puts the question but afterwards God himself demands the same I will demand of thee and declare thou Job 4â— â— 8. unto â—e wilt thou also disannull my Judgments wilt thou condemn me that thou maist be Righteous Hast thou an Arm like God or â—anst thou Thunder with a voice like him Where is the power and Authority that dare oppose it self to God before whom the Hills melâ— like wax 97 Psa â—â— 2. for fear of whom and for the glory of his Majesty the lofty looks of men are humbled and the â—â—â—ghtiness of men is bowed down Yea moreover where is the wisdom that may better inform God or alter what he hath once established Isal 40. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Land oâ— being
return'd with the spoils of War The feast of a good Conscience and the triumphs of a Vertuous Soul may be less pompous as to outward shew but what they have less of the fashion of Agrippa and Bernice they are the more like the Kings Daughter all glorious â—â— 45. within The war that the Spirit manageth against the Flesh hath the same design with other wars to procure peace which when it â—â— attain'd we Englishmen especially cannot but be sensible how desirable it is We are at the same time unthankful to God undutiful to our Prince and unnatural to our selves if we do not rejoyce that we live in peace There is no kind of peace that is without its kind of joy so is the peace within our own minds when we have briâ—led and restrain'd our irregular and exorbitant passions when we have quell'd our lustful inclinations and have either in whole or in part by the blessing of God upon vertuous endeavours Isa 48. and 57. attain'd that peace which God himself twicâ— saith doth not belong to wicked men when Temperance and Justice and other like habits are so firmly rooted in us that we find none or no great reluctancy of the Flesh in the exercise of them then behold how the soul enjoys it self how glad it is to find things in due order the inferiour faculties subordinate to the superiour and they to their supreme Lord the Father of Spirits Go now and see if a righteous and just man doth not rejoyce to consider that temptations of Covetousness hath not made him unjust go and ask of those men whom you observe to be most sober and upright in their conversations they will tell you that they thank God they have a peace within them that passeth all Pâ—il 4. understanding They will say that Meekness and Charity c. are lovely things to be embraced for their own sakes They rejoyce to think that their souls are delivered from their enthralling lusts and disturbing passions If I should say that Vertue doth this perfectly for us I should my self incurre the censure which I before past upon the Stoicks who have boasted of a perfection that they could not attain Truely the Spirits of just men are not yet in this life made perfect In many things we James 3. offend all Yet this is truth though we are not in this state compleatly holy so as to be sinless and therefore our happiness and comfort is incompleat yet so far as we do arise towards a perfection of Vertue we do thereby get the conquest of our lusts and passions and the more they are subdued the greater freedom and pleasure we gain to our selves and for this reason there is a pleasure and joy in Vertuous Actionâ— which is the second proof Sect. 6 There is a pleasure in Vertue for whereas wickedness and vice doth bring men first or last to repent this is the property of Vertuous actions that the farther a man proceeds in them he is the more confirm'd that they are becoming and fitting things The more Vertuous any man is he doth the less repent that he did ever begin to be Vertuous What Simonides said of silence I have often repented Plutarch â—e Garrulitate that I have spoken but never that I held my peace That says the Vertu us man I have have often repented that I have been no more Vertuous that I have fail'd so often in my Duty but where I have attain'd in any measure to any degrees of it I am glad and did never repent of what I have done There may be some who for want of skill and proficiency in the School of Vertue may repent of their good deeds but what though they do Is it an Argument that there is no pleasure in Learning because a Dunce throws away his Book and wishes he had never gone to School Was St. Paul ever the worse because the love of this world tempted â— Tim. 4. Demas to forsake him Doth it signifie much to the disparagement of Christian Religion because Julian prov'd an Apostate Now this is the case some men have ventur'd upon Vertue out of an opinion that it was an easie thing and when they find the difficulties of it vice is not easily mastered nor passions easily subdued then they fall back again and before they were throughly redeemed from a vain conversation they again make their bargain with the Devil and sell themselves to work wickedness But what shall we say of these men even this they are to Vertue as the many Antichrists are to Christian Religion and of them may Vertuous men say They 1 Joh. 2. went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us They are not Vertues menial servants they are but retainers and hangers on they do but pretend to some Vertuous actions some good things they may do but they do not Benè out of a love to Vertue They may have a procatarctick but they have no proegumenal cause they may be outwardly drawn to the exercise of Vertue but not from an inward principle of goodness Now Vertue is not to stand or fall according to the opinions of these men Sect. 7 But now take a man that hath in good earnest set himself to be an honest and righteous man and that hath made conscience of doing the duties that the Word of God and his own conscience have made appear to be his duties and whatever fears and grumblings he might find within himself when he first began yet as he goes on he is the more confirm'd in his way the more he sees into the mystery of Vertue he admires it the more and chuses it the rather and a man by accustoming himself to it will grow more acquainted with the pleasure of it and will daily see less cause to repent of his choice The rule that Plutarch applies to Temperance will be found true of all sorts of Vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De sanitaâ—e tuendâ— Chuse that manner of life that is best and custonie will make it pleasant This Argument hath somewhat of experience in it for a man to disparage that of which he hath no knowledge he talks for want of wit and he must get into the company of his fellow-fools to be believed Come to those who have experience what Vertue is and they find the deeper the sweeter The more Vertue the less Repentance and the less Repentance the more Joy for he that chuseth a course of life of which he sees no cause to repent he must needs good himself in it and rejoyce to think he hath made a happy choice He tastes the sweetness of it and then because Contra gustum non est disputandum No man can be disputed out of his senses nor perswaded that that is not sweet which he
tastes to be so it remains a certain Argument that there is a great deal of pleasure in Vertuous Actions Sect. 8 I might go on to compare Vertue and Vice together and then it would appeâ—r by an enumeration of particulars that there is much more pleasure in temperance than in rioting and drunkenness however they that live in such pleasures are dead to all such perswasions also that just and righteous dealing brings a man more content and comfort then violence and wrong and oppression yea the forgiving an injury is sweeter then revenge and in many other like cases but this would be to descend to particulars which is somewhat without my purpose I leave it to be consider'd by any that will enter into a sober comparison of these things These Vertues have their marks in their fore-heads It is easie to discern a difference and then not hard to pass a judgement that there is more pleasure in Vertue than Vice which was the second thing to be proved in this Third Argument and so it is dispatch'd It is necessary to be Vertuous that both life and death may be comfortable CHAP. IX Sect. 1 End 4 THere remains but one thing more to make this part of my discourse like Vertue her self and like a Vertuous man who is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is square and fix'd and stable one that can stand alone without being upheld by other props or in our English phrase one that goes of all four There is a Fourth proof That it is necessary for us to be as hath been before said that hereby we may become profitable to others as well as to our selves It hath been before evidenced that it is for our own advantage to be Vertuous that our condition may be good and safe and comfortable Whereby it appears that Vertue is Bonum honestum and jucundum good and honest good and pleasant there is but one other sort of good Bonum utile good and profitable and so Vertue likewise is for hereby we do not live to our souls alone we look on the things Rom. 14. Phil. 2. of others as well as on our own That Vertue whereby we do good to others is properly called Beneficence and is comprehended under Charity But as there is a justice in every Vertue it is just and equal and fit to be done so is there a Charity too insomuch that unless we be good our selves we shall do little good to others But good and Vertuous men are Benefactors to the places where they live Two things will finish this Argument and make it correspond to the former 1. Men of vitious and loose lives do live idly and unprofitably and as such they do no good in the world 2. The exercise of Vertue is much for the advantage of mankind Sect. 2 Wickedness is a vain and unprofitable thing and wicked men are unprofitable members of a Common-wealth It may be by accident and beyond their intention they may be an occasion of good done and yet they are never the better men The staggerings and reelings to and fro of the Drunkard together with his sottish looks and behaviour and the woful effects of his intemperance may perswade another man to abhor that vice When a Spend-thrift hath impoverish'd himself by Idleness and Gaming and Prodigality another may take warning by his miseries not to be guilty of the same folly But what is this to the commendation of such men whose bad examples do only by accident make others good Thus the Spartans allowed their Slaves to be Drunk to teach their Children to abhor it but it was no part of their wisdom so to do Is the Devil to be commended for his malice against the Saints because he thereby puts them upon their guard to watch more strictly over themselves and so may be an occasion to make them better The Devil is a wicked malicious spirit for all this for he means not so but it is in his heart to destroy as was said of the Assyrians Isa 10. against the Jews What glory is it for a man to do that in which the Devil doth as much or more then he The vices of men are not the more excusable because they may be an occasion of Vertue to other men for though they may occasion good done yet they themselves do none nor do they intend any The design of wickedness is not to profit and advantage others For 1. It doth no good 2. It doth a great deal of harm Sect. 3 It doth no good and therefore is unprofitable and vain I am not altogether of that mind that they who are not good themselves cannot do good to others Minime absurdum Historia Concilii Tridentini p. 382. Folio est said the Chancellour of France in a Solemn Assembly ut multi boni Cives sint qui boni Christiani non sunt Sure it may please God both in Church and State to make use of wicked men to do him service for which there is no need of other instance then of Judas and Saul Judas was one of the 12 Apostles that Christ sent on great errands and gave them power and authority suitable to their employment Then he called his 12 Luke 9. Disciples together and gave them power and authority over all Devils and to cure Diseases and he sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the Sick It is possible they who preach to others may be Cast-aways themselves God 1 Cor. 9. may bless their gifts to others though they want grace for themselves At the same time a man may out of his own mouth condemn himself and save others And for State-Affairs Saul is another instance who though a wicked man as he afterwards declar'd himself to be so wicked that God would not own him nor he God yet at his first coming to the Kingdom God made choice of him to save his people out of the hand of the Philistines 1 Sam. 9. 16. and in a particular case he was enabled to the rescue of Jabesh-Gilead by the spirit of God coming upon him Accordingly 1 Sam. 11. 6. it is easie to observe there are many men who have wisdom as an Intellectual habit when they have it not as a Moral Vertue they have parts and gifts and abilities which it pleaseth God to over-rule for the service of his Church and the good of others yet they want that grace which is saving to themselves The comparison will serve other men as well as Ministers There are many are like Greenham to Marks in the High-way which rot away themselves while they stand instructing others There are many Physitians prescribe rules to others which themselves will not observe And thus it must not be denyed but there may be many who may continue bad themselves and yet may have an influence upon the welfare of others But then it is to be observed that this is no prejudice to the Argument in
is to be observed all this is want of those degrees of Vertue which we ought to aspire to still therefore so far as men are vertuous they have the right disposition for friends for hereby men are taught to perform all good Offices for their friend that they are able as hath been lately said Vertue sets men on work to do good and also it doth restrain men from doing those that are not good There is a kind of obstinate friendship which many times proceeds to a Brotherhood in iniquity Men are so resolved to humour and gratifie their friend that they will do evil for their sakes So was C. Blossius to Cicer. Laelius Tiberius Gracchus he was so much his friend he said that he would do any thing for him and when the question was asked what if Gracchus should bid you fire the Capitol would you do it he answers he would not bid me do such a thing but if he should I would do as he bid me So had Herod passed his word Math. 14 and his Oath to the Daughter of Herodias to do for her whatsoever she should ask and when she required the head of John Baptist he would not deny it to her Now here is an excellent use of Vertue to keep friendship within its right Channel A Vertuous man will do all the good he can to his friend but unless he fail in his Vertue he will not prophane that sacred thing by entring into a League to maintain friendship whether by lawful or unlawful means Now true friendship is a noble and gallant thing an excellent attainment of humane Nature but that Ceremonies and Complements have almost either obscured it where it is or crowded it into some few corners of the World that it is scarce any where to be found Surely civility and affability and courtesie is a fine accomplishment yet I am of opinion and though I be accounted a Clown for so thinking I am not much sollicitous that as Sarah turned Hagar out of doors for her fcornful Imperiousness so if ever friendship get any considerable dominion in the World smcerity and plain-heartedness must keep somewhat a stricter hand over dissembling Complements I fear men must grow less Complemental if they would approve themselves real friends but I am going out of the way I could not chuse but salute friendship when it came in my way I return and make this use of this short digression If friendship be such an excellent thing then is this greatly to the commendation of Vertue that it doth so help to make and keep men friends Which is the last instance I give and I cannot conclude with a better that it is much for the profit and advantage of mankind that men should live in the exercise of Moral Vertues Which was the proof of the fourth Reason I have given in this kind Vertue is necessary Necessitate Medii as a means in order to an end If we would live good lives if we desire to dye in safety if we would have our lives and deaths Comfortable to our selves and if we believe our selves bound to live profitably to the advantage of others It is necessary for us all of us Christians as well as other men and Christians more than other men because of the commands before-mentioned to abound in Moral Vertues Moral Vertues Baptized Christian OR The Necessity of Morality among Christians BOOK IV. CHAP. I. Sect. 1 THe second and third Book have contained the proof of the second general proposition as I at first summed up my discourse There are great and strong and unanswerable Arguments which prove it necessary for a Christian to be a Moral man A double necessity I have assigned each of which have been distinctly handled I am now towards my Conclusion only I remember I did promise somewhat by way of appendix to adde to this last consideration That as there is a necessity of Moral Vertue so likewise is there an excellency in it and this will require a few words but I will not multiply many Vertue is not only necessary but it is an excellent brave becoming thing a thing lovely and of good report It cannot otherwise be if that be true which is already said that which is so good and comfortable to our selves so good and advantagious to others if we do not admire it we do greatly undervalue it we do not well understand it if we do not believe it to be very excellent So much hath been said to those heads that I am loth again to refer to them Any one may easily apprehend the force of an Argument that which hath the qualifications before-mentioned is very Excellent wherefore passing that by I adde two things more There is a great excellency in Moral Vertue for it is an imitation of God and a Type of Heaven Both which must be understood with some caution Sect. 2 By being vertuous we do imitate and resemble God and Christ It is true we call God holy and not vertuous for the holiness of God is not to be described after the same manner that we define Moral Vertue Our passions are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the matter that our vertue works upon which passions are not assignable to God And there are some particular vertues which we cannot attribute to God as Temperance which supposes us in a bodily state and Humility which at best supposes us in a creature-state for though it pleases God in Scripture to say he humbles himself yet that doth no more prove that he is humble in our notion then his repenting proves that he doth repent as we do yet notwithstanding by vertue we resemble God The holiness of God is the perfection and rectitude of his Nature so our vertue though alone it be not our perfection yet it belongs to our integrity and rectitude When we are commanded to be holy in all manner of Conversation how can we fulfil that Command if we do not exercise those vertues without which our Conversation cannot be as it ought to be Now this holiness is a conformity to God for in the same place it followeth because it is 1 Pet. 1. written be ye holy for I am holy And in many particular cases that Justice and Righteousness in our dealings and that Truth and faithfulness in our word and promise which makes us honest is an imitation of God who is Righteous Psa 145. in all his ways and holy in all his works and who doth not suffer his faithfulness to fail Psa â—9 When we are kind and charitable and desirous to do good then are we the Children of our Father Math. 5. Luke 6. which is in Heaven and are merciful as our Father also is merciful Again when we are gentle and meek then we are like that God who is Merciful and Gracious and Long-suffering c. whence Exod. 34. it doth appear that this Moral Vertue is a true and a considerable part of godliness that
man is a beastly man who lives like a beast and he a manly man who lives and acts like a man accordingly he who is thus God-like doth so far deserve the name of a Godly man The Heathens had the same apprehensions of their Vertues though they fel short of the attainment yet so far as their Philosophy made them vertuous Hiâ—rocl it did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And is not this a great ennoblement of our souls that we may be raised up to be like God doth not God infinitely excel all his creatures wherefore though we come infinitely short of the divine perfections yet so far as we do attain to any resemblance of him it is our excellency to be like that God who doth so infinitely excel To be transformed into the Image of our Creatour what can be more desirable yea may we not say if we should suppose that which yet cannot possibly come to pass that if it were possible for holiness and happiness to be separated from one another it were a greater perfection and glory to be like God in holiness then in happiness The state of happiness in Heaven we call a glorious state and it is a greater glory then we can now conceive But is not holiness more glorious if unholiness be worse then unhappiness then is holiness better then happiness now so it is for unhappiness is our misery but unholiness is our sin and therefore more to be avoided Where are now the men that dare sit in the Seat of the Scorners to despise and laugh at all manner of Goodness and Vertue is it nothing to be like God should we chuse to be like the Devil in Malice and Revenge and ill will and such like evil dispositions is it a thing to be gloried in is there any will glory that he is going to Hell to keep company with the Devils surely we do not understand our Natures or we cannot but acknowledge it is a great excellency to be like God as we are in the exercise of these Moral Vertues To which might be added as a consideration contiguous to this the life of Christ doth greatly commend Moral Vertue He was Temperate and Meek and Humble he went about doing good and many proofs in the Gospel there are that in all his dealings with all men he behav'd himself as did become him which may help to confirm us in a belief of the excellency of Vertue it is such an imitation of God as the life of Christ was very remarkable for But I adde no more to this first Instance Sect. 3 To live in the exercise of Moral Vertue is a Type of Heaven So do the Angels and Saints live in Heaven though in greater perfection as being altogether in a sinless state Not in every particular so that kind of Justice and Honesty that is of use now in this world and we call Commutative Justice is of no use there There is no need of Buying or Selling or Exchanging for there is no need of Eating and Drinking their bodies after the Resurrection are made glorious and spiritual bodies and â— Cor. 15. therefore for the same reason they will not exercise that Vertue of Temperance as it is here exercised but the carriage and behaviour as there must be some whereby they behave themselves one towards another in that Glorious Quire is always as it ought to be There is Love and Meekness and Humility and such like good Affections there is no Envy nor Pride nor ill Will nor any such Hellish quality their Charity is particularly 1 Cor. 13. said never to fail Indeed there is somewhat else in Heaven that doth augment the glory of the place and their happiness who are taken up thither they are in close Communion with God in whose presence is fullness of joy Psa 16. and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore Yet as it is an accessory to their glory to be in company with one another so is this somewhat not to be despised that their love is made perfect and all the correspondencies of Heaven are sinless and pure Hell shall be shut up in Hell all Devilish qualities shall be banished Heaven and Holiness and Righteousness will be in its Triumphancy in that Church Triumphant Now if this be the utmost perfection of which our natures are capable to be translated into this state how must it needs be an excellent attainment to be in any measure like those glorified spirits There is somewhat in our natures that doth mind us of an imperfection in every state and attainment in this world for it is natural for us to desire a change There are the strivings of the Infant in the womb which discover the inclinations of its nature to be born into the world and to be at liberty Boys would fain be Men and Men notwithstanding that they despise Old Age in others yet would live to be old themselves an Apprentice would be out of his time to set up for himself and a Servant hath a great desire to become a Master There is scarce any thing in the Universe but would be graduate and commence some higher degrees of perfection then it hath yet attained All this would not be if there were not a belief an imagination at least that there is some greater excellency in those states to which we are not yet arrived then for the present we do enjoy wherefore if ever we desire after Heaven while we are upon Earth as we ought always to do this supposes we believe it to be a place of more glorious excellencies then any we have yet seen or tasted now in this world and if it be so then we must go on to argue that in regard it is not so much the place as the the state that makes the happiness the nearer we come in the disposition of our minds and the tenour of our lives to that Heavenly state our lives are so much the more excellent And this being true of a Vertuous and good life that it is some resemblance to and some weaker degrees of the life of Heaven it adds to the Argument that as there is a great necessity of so there is a superlative excellency in Moral Vertue CHAP. II. Sect. 1 ANd now I think these premises are strong enough to bear and inforce the Conclusions I would draw from them which are only these two I infer 1. A just Apology for those who preach up Morality 2. An Expostulatory Plea against those who do not practise it Here is Apology enough for those Preachers of the Gospel who Preach the Moral Law in Gospel times who would put Christians in mind that they are men still and must not forget the duties of man to man It is a Doctrine that we have this only reason to be asham'd of that we who Preach it to others do so little practise it our selves else if we suffer in our good names for this kind of Preaching we suffer for righteousness