superadded to the reason of our Minds is of strength sufficient to subdue all the Temptations to evil if the Creation below us by natural instinct doth those things that are regular shall not these higher Principles do the like always preserve us from known evil and determine us to that which is morally good This is the course of things in Nature every Habit begun is greatly weakened by a forbearance of Acts for every thing must be kept up in the way it was produced a Disposition is first wrought by some Acts and if Act be not continued upon Act the Disposition will fail for things that are not brought to a State of Perfection will go back again if they be not maintained in the same way that they were produced Wherefore it will be worth the while to enquire what our most holy Religion aims at and after what manner it doth affect the Person in whom it is lodged Now Religion makes us live up to our highest Faculties and teaches us to practise such Virtues as become rational Beings who bear the Image of the Immortal God and are exalted above the Inferior Creation prompts us to scorn all Actions that are base unhansom or unworthy our State and Relation in which we stand to our Creator forbids us to do any thing that will make us like Beasts or that would sink us into a lower order by Sensuality and Carnal-mindedness or that would transform us into the likeness of Devils by Pride Presumption and Self conceit makes us God-like in Wisdom Righteousness Goodness Charity Compassion in forgiving Injuries pardoning Enemies and in doing hurt to none but good to all as we have power and opportunity advises us to follow the conduct of true and sincere Reason tames the Extravagancy of our Passions and regulates the Exorbitances of the Will permits us the pleasures of our Bodies so far as they may give no disturbance to the Mind produces a sweet and gracious Temper of Soul calm in it self and loving to Mankind begets in us freedom of Spirit and banishes groundless Fears foolish Imaginations and dastardly Thoughts teaches us to have right Conceptions of God that he doth transact all things with Mankind as a loving Father with his Children creates in us a rational Satisfaction and the joy of a good Conscience advances the Soul to its just Sovereignty over inferior Appetites which would disable it for all good and vertuous Acts and render us weak foolish and unfit for any thing that is generous or noble strengthens our Reason against the Onsets of the World Flesh and Devil which is effected chiefly by stifling all manner of Intemperance for it is this that frustrates the Work of Religion either by stupifying or imaging the Spirits or by putting them into irregular Motions 16. An Exhortation to the Practice of Religion Now therefore let us consider whether or no this Religion doth govern our Lives which we must learn not by our acquaintance with Systems and Models of Divinity but by our keeping its Commandments For unless Christ be inwardly formed in our Hearts the Notions of Religion can save us no more than Arts and Sciences whilst they lye only in Books and Papers without us can make us learned For Christ Jesus did not undergo a reproachful Life and Death merely to bring in a Notion into the World without the changing mending and reforming it so that Men might still be as wicked as they were before and as much under the Power of the Prince of Darkness Indeed Christ came to expiate and attone for our Sins but the end of this was that we might forsake all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts 'T is true there be some that dishearten us in this spiritual Warfare and bring an ill Report upon that Land which we are to conquer telling of nothing but strange Giants the Sons of Anak that we shall never be able to subdue others would suggest that it is enough for us if we be but once in a state of Grace we need not take so great pains to travel any farther or that Christ hath done all for us already without us and nothing need more to be done within us Hearken not to them I beseech you but hear what Caleb and Joshua say Let us go up at once and possess it for we are able to overcome them the hugest Armies of Lusts not by our own Strength but by the Power of the Lord of Hosts hear also the wholsom Words of S. Peter Give all diligence to add to your Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledg to Knowledg Temperance and to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Kindness and to brotherly Kindness Charity for if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ For Holiness hath something of God in it and therefore it must needs be a victorious and triumphant thing And as the Devils are always active to encourage Evil so the heavenly Host of blessed Angels are as busie in promoting that which is good for we cannot imagin but that the Kingdom of Light should be as true to its own Interest and as vigilant for the enlarging it self as the Kingdom of Darkness But then by Holiness is not meant a mere Performance of the outward Duties of Religion but an inward Soul and Principle of divine Life that enliveneth the dead Carcast of all our outward Devotions For this is the vulgar Error of Mankind they have dreadful Apprehensions of Fire and Brimstone whilst they feed in their Hearts a true and living Fire that is the Hell of Lusts which miserably scorches their Souls and they are not concerned at it they do not perceive how Hell steals upon them whilst they live here And as for Heaven they gaze abroad for it as for some great and high Preferment that must come from without and never look for the beginnings of it to arise within in their own Minds Whereas nothing without us can make us either happy or miserable nothing can either defile or hurt us but what goeth out from us I shall now shut up all with these two Considerations to persuade you farther to the Love of Virtue From the desire we all have after Truth which is not held up by wrangling Disputes and syllogistical Reasonings but by the Purity of our Hearts and Lives neither would it fail of overcoming the World did not the Sensuality of our Dispositions and the Darkness of our false Hearts stop its passage And from the Desires we have of a true Reformation which must be begun in our own Hearts and Lives for all outward Forms and Models thereof are of little worth without the inward Amendment of our own Souls For the baser Metals are not changed by their being cast into a good Mold or by being made up in an elegant Figure neither will adulterate Silver pass when the Touch-stone tryes it neither can we
arise These are the rubs in our way which make a virtuous course so difficult at first because to cast off old Habits of Vice and Folly to which they have been long accustomed is That at which men are generally galled For a State of Vice and of Virtue are not like two Ways that are just parted by a line so as that a Man may step out of the one full into the other when and how he pleases but they are like two Ways that lead to two very distant places one where Happiness is the other where Destruction so that they are as far separated as Heaven and Hell are For the farther a Man hath travelled in the ways of Vice he is at the greater distance from those of Virtue so that it requires time and much striving too to pass from the one to the other it being a long and severe Conflict to master evil Habits the Temptations of the World and of the Flesh will rally and make head again after they have been beaten off NOTWITHSTANDING these Difficulties the seeds of Virtue under the Influences and Care of the Divine Spirit will get the better and grow up to such a strength as will conquer them It is indeed a very unpleasant sight for a vicious Person to look into himself or to consider on his bad courses therefore he labours all he can to stifle his Reason that he may not think A vicious Person is a very unpleasant sight to himself what will be the sad issues of an ungodly Life Hence it is that all Men find some bitterness in casting off their Lusts according to the progress they have made in Vice For if we intend to lead a vertuous Life we must consider that many Virtues are to be practised before the contrary Vices will be subdued We have many irregular Passions to bring into order and must root out all the power of evil Customs We have a Body of sin to put off which clings close to us and are bound to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God to encrease and improve our Virtues that is add to our Faith Knowledg Temperance Patience brotherly Kindness and Charity to abound in all the fruits of Righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God THIS Change cannot be wrought without some trouble this New-birth cannot be brought about without some bitter Pangs a thorow Reformation of Manners being a work that requires much time deliberation and labour to effect it However we should not be discouraged For so soon as we have begun a good course of Life A good course of Life is always under the influence of God's Spirit we are in such a way as God will help us in and if we pursue our advantages we shall every day gain ground and the work will grow easier upon our hands and though we may be a little disheartned at first at the hardships of Virtue yet after a little while we shall be enabled to run the way of God's Commandments with pleasure FOR nothing is more hurtful to a virtuous and holy Life than to believe that God requires those things of us that He hath not given us strength to perform whereas God takes delight in bestowing the gifts of his Spirit upon us nothing being more pleasing to him than that we should partake of his Divine Nature and be made Holy as he is holy that we should be brought back to that State wherein we were when we came out of his hands Therefore one of the greatest discouragements to a virtuous Life is a false and unworthy representation of God A false Notion of God is a great discouragement to a virtuous Life as if the greatest part of the World were really destitute of any ability to do those things which his Gospel requires and yet should be condemned for not doing them These are hard things to be said of the best Being in the World of one whom we believe to have infinitely more goodness in him than is among all the Sons of men So that S. James 1.5 says If any Man lack wisdom let him ask it of God who giveth liberally and upraideth not By which Wisdom are meant all the Fruits of the Spirit for so S. James hath described it that it is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy and good works Indeed when we think of our own weakness the corruptions of our Natures the strength of our Lusts and the malice of our Spiritual Adversaries we are apt to despond like the Children of Israel when they heard of the Sons of Anak in their passage to the Holy Land But if we would look beyond our selves and our Enemies as Caleb and Joshua did to the power of the Lord we should as the Apostle saith of weakness become strong and put to flight the Armies of the Aliens For we read 2 Kings 16.13 of Elisha's Servant that he came to his Master in great perplexity of mind and said unto him alas Master what shall we do Behold an Host hath encompassed the City both with Horses and Chariots But when he had opened the Eyes of the young Man he beheld the Mountains full of Horses â—â—d Chariots of Fire about Elisha Thus if our Eyes were opened to view the secret Aids that are ready to join us in the course of Virtue our Fears would soon vanish and we should take courage against all the Enemies that do assault us not only flesh and blood but Principalities and Powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places For saith our Saviour S. Luke 19.26 To every one that hath shall be given and from him that hath not shall be taken away That which He hath which was a proverbial Speech among the Jews and signifies thus much that He who improves the Grace of God shall have more and from him who makes no use of it shall be taken away That which he hath made no improvement of For no Man who enjoys the Gospel is destitute of sufficient means of Salvation The Gospel affords to all sufficient means of Salvation if he be not some way or other wanting to himself To what end else do we persuade Men to submit to the Terms of it to repent and believe to deny ungodliness and wordly Lusts When we know they have no power to do what we exhort them to and God hath resolved to withdraw from them that Grace which is necessary for these purposes For if a Man thought that God gives that Grace whereby we may be saved only to a few and that he always works upon those to whom he gives it in such a manner as they cannot resist Why then should we do any thing in Religion because unless we be of the number of those whom God hath decreed to work effectually upon we can do nothing towards the getting Salvation and if we be of that number we need
Imprimatur Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. à Sacris Nov. 20. 1690. A TREATISE OF Moral and Intellectual VIRTUES WHEREIN Their NATURE is fully explained and their USEFULNESS proved AS BEING The best Rules of LIFE AND The Causes of their Decay are enquired into concluding with such Arguments as tend to revive the Practice of them WITH A PREFACE shewing the Vanity and Deceitfulness of VICE Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines Quos ultrà citráque nequit consistere rectum By JOHN HARTCLIFFE B. D. and Fellow of Kings College Cambridge London Printed for C. Harper at the Flower-de-luce over against S. Dunstan's Church Fleet-street 1691. To the Right Honorable CHARLES Earl of Maclesfeld Lord President and Lord Lieutenant of the Principality of Wales Lord Lieutenant of the Counties of Gloucester Hereford and Monmouth and of the City and County of Bristol and one of the Lords of Their Majesties most Honorable Privy Council May it please your Lordship THE Cause of Virtue belongs to great and brave Men therefore I thought it my Duty to lay this Treatise at your Lordships Feet it will not much enlarge your Thoughts or acquaint you with any new things but I hope it may please the Generosity of your Temper to read the Characters of Virtues the greatest Ornaments of that pure Religion which your Lordship hath laboured so much to recover from the Knavery and base Corruptions as well as Bondage of Popery For the Jesuits Morals are as destructive of a good Life and as pernicious to human Society as their Plots and their Gun-Powder I am very well satisfied that if I had sought a Patron in all the List of Noble Persons I could not have found a more proper or competent Judge in a Discourse of this Nature because your Lordships Case and that of Virtue it self have been much alike you have been both persecuted for your Integrity and Truth but like Truth you must and shall prevail in spight of the malicious and the false the Parasite or the Detractor I have not troubled your Lordship with the fine and nice Speculations in Divinity because they have done our Religion much Dis-service by raising a multitude of Questions which neither advance true Piety nor good Manners But I present your Lordship with the Rules of naked Truth and Reason the free Use whereof is as much our Birthright as any thing else Therefore your Lordships Name and the Names of all those shall be had in everlasting remembrance who have placed Their Majesties upon the Throne whereby not only our Properties but our Understandings are secured to us and an healing Plaister is laid upon all our Maladies For we must needs say our Nation was in a very distempered Condition before it came into the hands of this wise and great Prince WILLIAM the Third whose Breaches in its Manners as well as in its Laws may be made up by his seasonable Application of the most proper Remedies as its Greatness and Glory will ever be maintained by His Wisdom Power and Courage under the Influence of these Royal Virtues England methinks begins to recover its just Temper apace and the old British Genius revives so that in time it may be restored to a perfect Health as strong Bodies will work out the Poyson they take by degrees That this Deliverance which hath been so wonderfully wrought for us may have the same effect upon our Country which the Christian Religion had at its first entrance into it when it did so quickly turn the first Inhabitants of this Island who were uncivilized and barbarous into humble affable meek charitable modest prudent tender and compassionate Creatures That the Practice of Virtue may be establish'd in these Kingdoms without which the firmest Government must dissolve because a regard to that will ever have an Influence upon the Honour and Authority of those who rule as well as upon the Happiness and safety of those who obey And that your Lordship may long enjoy the only Sweetness of Life a retreat from Noise and Disturbance that nothing may break or interrupt your Thoughts in the ways of Virtue and Goodness is the Prayer of May it please your Lordship Your Lordship 's most humble and most obedient Servant J. HARTCLIFFE THE PREFACE To the READER THE reason which moved the Author to publish these short Characters of Moral Virtues was a desire he had to revive the Practice of them as much as he could in a very degenerate Age The World we know has ever had its Vicissitudes and Periods of Virtue and Wickedness and all Nations have advanced themselves to their Power and Grandeur by Sobriety Wisdom and a tender regard of Religion This very Remark hath filled us with hope that upon this our late wonderful Revolution the English Nation may recover its ancient Virtues that have been too long under the Oppression of Debauchery which hath been an Evil of so great Malignity as to threaten ruin to the very Constitution of the Government Therefore the Providence of God hath sent us a Prince for our deliverer whose Piety is set off with the whole Train of Moral Virtues whose Temperance is so great and impregnable amidst all those Allurements with which the Palaces of Kings are apt to meet even the most resolved Minds that at the same time he doth both teach and upbraid the Court whose Fortitude is more resplendent in the Conquest of himself than when he strewes the Field with the Armies of Rebels whose Gentleness and Mercy is so remarkable that if ever the Lion and the Lamb dwelt together it is in the Breast of this Royal Person whose personal Virtues will in a little time render all vicious Courses unexcusable and will shed a suitable Influence upon his Government that not only the Honour and Plenty but the Virtue and Goodness of the English People may spread it self even to the Envy of all Neighbour Nations 1. Irreligion the Cause of Ruine to a Nation But whenever men contemn the Laws of God and are loose in all their Conversation they will certainly decline into Softness and Effeminacy on the other side when they are virtuous and upright in their Actions they are unmoveable like a House built upon a Rock for this is the Circle of human Affairs And when Atheism or a neglect of Virtue hath been at the greatest height as it was very lately they have certainly brought on Changes and Dissolutions because the Principles of Irriligion do unjoynt the Sinews of all Government If this be so methinks all Mankind should be ready to weigh and examin all the Arguments for Virtue should carefully enquire into the Grounds of the Christian Faith and take an account of the Truth and Credibility of the Scriptures when they have done this I am confident they will think themselves as effectually obliged in Prudence to the Duties of Virtue and Religion by the Possibility as by the Certainty of things for whatever they
therefore consists the true Gallantry of Spirit when it controuls all those lower Powers that ought to obey Reason when it defends the Authority thereof against all the rebellious Attempts of Passion and Concupiscence For unless our Souls had been lodged in Bodies full of unreasonable Inclinations they would not have been capable of exercising many Choice Virtues such as Temperance Sobriety Chastity Patience Meekness and all the rest that consist in the Empire of Reason over Appetite For Virtues of this sort are never attributed to God because He being of a Nature purely Spiritual hath no unruly Appetites to govern But because the Nature of Virtue is placed in the Minds ruling the Affections Providence hath furnished it with Instruments for that purpose for the Soul having its principal Residence where the Nerves have their Original that convey all Motions backward and forward it is able by an immediate Influence to command all the animal Motions of the Body For if the Superior Part should not be strong enough to govern the Inferior it would destroy the very Being and Existence of Good and Evil and render Mankind utterly uncapable of Goodness and Morality Although sensual Inclinations false Principles vicious Examples and wicked Customs are the inducements and occasions of much Vice yet the Superior Powers of the Mind are able to give check and control to our brutish Lusts and Passions so that it is much in our own Power to attain to Virtue and Happiness were it not for a wilful inconsiderateness the spring and head of that Torrent of Wickedness that has always overflown the greatest part of the World for if every Man be endued with rational Faculties if he can reflect upon the Essential Differences of Good and Evil together with their natural products if he can observe what things tend to his damage and what minister to his advantage and if it be most apparent that vertuous Practices are infinitely more conducive to the Interest and Happiness of Man than Vice and Luxury then no other Reason can be given why Men are so unanimously vicious but only because they are wilfully or carelesly unreasonable especially when the Rules and Directions of Religion are all sober and practicable when it doth not flatter Men with Romantick degrees of Happiness upon fond and fantastick Principles but complies with the Conditions of Human Life for we have no high-strain'd Paradoxes such as the Stolcks had against the Convictions of Sense and Experience but we are allowed to esteem of every thing as we find and feel it above all we are charged to purge our Minds of froward Humors and to sweeten them with mild Principles to moderate and command our Passions and in all Circumstances to govern our selves by the Laws of Wisdom and Moderation with which when the Mind is furnished it is able to extract something beneficial to its own Interests from the most malicious Accidents and may be Serene in the midst of Storms Contented in the midst of Disappointments But suppose there were nothing in Virtue but Hardships and Difficulties a perpetual Force and Violence to Nature a constant War with the World and the Flesh cannot we endure all this for an endless Reward for we must have a very mean Opinion of Heaven if we do not think it worth the Obedience and Service of a few years how difficult soever that were for the Expectation of a future Happiness hath been that Principle from whence that Confidence and Courage hath arisen whereby vertuous Persons have been supported in their Sufferings for that which is good But besides the future Reward that doth await them the Lovers of Virtue are the happiest Men upon Earth for these two Reasons First Because their Virtue tends to the Preservation and Continuance of the World Secondly To the bettering of the Condition and Manners of Mankind For the World would crack about our Ears 13. The world is kept up by Virtuous Men. and sink under the weight of its own Wickedness did not virtuous Men put in their Shoulders to uphold the Fabrick Cardan indeed is very inquisitive how Human Societies were kept up and affirms the Cause why they did not disband and run into Confusion to be the mutual Vices and Wickednesses of Men one Ambitious Man opposing another and checking him in his Designs one Knave discovering another one Cruel Man keeping another in awe And the Politicians think that the World is sustained by their little Arts and Devices in Government But these are but like Anticks in a Building that seem to crouch and bend under the weight of it as if they bore it up when they do nothing less but have as much need of being prop'd up themselves as any other part of the Structure 'T is not the Wise the Noble and the Strong that are sufficient Pillars to bear up the World but the weak things the holy righteous and good Man upon whom the whole stress and weight of it lies For wicked Men be they never so high and great are but rotten Supporters they are so far from contributing to its Preservation that they are continually soliciting God's Judgments and drawing down his Vengeance upon the Earth Thus the corrupt Conversation of the Men of Sodom was the Vapor that did ascend to Heaven and gather into a Cloud of Wrath which did for a long time hang over those Cities And Righteous Lot only hinder'd its being poured out upon them and when he was removed they fell into Desolation as in a Moment So the Places where Virtuous Men dwell are enriched with many Blessings for their sakes and the Persons with whom they converse are happy as it were by Concomitancy they enjoy much Prosperity and are freed from many Evils by reason of their Neighborhood to good Men for the Psalmist hath told us that God blesseth the habitation of the righteous nor shall any plague come nigh his dwelling Thus the Lord was with Jacob and prospered Laban for his sake and He was with Joseph and blessed the Aegyptian's House for his For the World must needs be the better for such as are ever ready to relieve those that are in Want to feed an Enemy if he be hungry to give Drink to the Thirsty to pity the Miserable to bind up the Wounds of the Lame and to cloath the Naked to do any Man a Kindness and reconcile all Differences And if a Virtuous Man be in a more publick Capacity then the Effects of his Goodness will be more large and diffusive He will be of a more publick benefit and advantage And we must take notice that nothing doth conduce more to the Happiness of the World than the bettering Mens manners now this Virtuous Men do these two ways 1. By their Counsel 2. By their Example 14. The condition of Mankind is made better by the Counsels of good Men. Their Lips preserve the soundest Knowledg and they are ever instructing others in the ways they take themselves hence they
among some Greek Divines and in them nothing more is meant by it than that Power which Man hath over his Moral Actions This is that Spirit of our Minds as the Apostle terms it which makes our Actions virtuous For we are not moved as natural Agents are but it is in our power to leave the things we do undone neither can there be any Choice unless the thing which we take be so in our power that we might have refused it and we must take special care that we distinguish between the Will and the Appetite the Object of the first is whatsoever good we may be lead to by Reason the Object of the latter is The Will and Appetite distinguished whatsoever good may be desired by Sense Now Affections such as Joy and Grief Fear and Anger being as it were the sundry Modes of of Appetite can neither be stirr'd by a thing indifferent nor forbear being moved at the sight of some other things so that it is not altogether in our power so to moderate these Affections as never to be moved by them but we may command the Actions that issue from the Disposition of the Will And to our Wills only our Passions are subject not that it is in our power wholly whether we will be angry or not Passions are subject only to the Will whether we will be moved by Lust or Fear but only when they are up and would hurry us into evil Actions it is in our power to restrain their force and to do 〈…〉 their command For wherein we 〈…〉 hindred there only are we free 〈…〉 whatsoever we may be hindered there we have not this Liberty So small a matter it is called Free-will that hath kindled so much Controversie and raised so great a stir amongst Men. AND here cometh in a third thing which we are to observe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Consultation wherein we see the necessity of having Free-will For since in many important Cases of Human Life it doth not appear what is to be done upon the sudden it is necessary to take some time to advise and consult Beasts because they see upon the sudden what they have to do have not this benefit of Advice but as soon as ever they see what to avoid and what to pursue immediatly act accordingly But with Man it is not so many things there are which at first sight seem fair and desireable that upon examination prove otherwise and many things are harsh unpleasant or dangerous at first sight which upon tryal are fitted for our use and therefore ought to be pursued HENCE it is that our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Inclination to act must be frequently suspended and not presently be set on work but upon serious Consideration what is most fit and convenient for us to do And here comes in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Election which is as it were the Conclusion from the Premises WHATSOEVER therefore offers its self to us is first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for some reason to be desired secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it must admit of Consultation and in the third place it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit upon good advice to be chosen This is the just meaning of what Aristotle says of Virtue that it is habitus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel electivus The Art oâ—â—iâ—ing wâ—â—â— consists much in the welâ—â—â—dering 〈◊〉 Pa … BEFORE we come to consider further of his Definition wherein the very Form of Virtue doth consist it will not be amiss to speak somewhat of the Passions of the Mind in the due framing of which into order the very Art as it were of living well doth consist NOW the mind of Man from whence they come hath two principal parts the one proper to Man the other common to Him and Beasts the first we call the Intellectual Part or Reason the second is Sense or sensual Appetite Reason is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Guide to Sense whose Virtues are Prudence Science Art and such like which because they are not Moral but Intellectual Vertues we shall not at present speak to For Sense is our Subject as being the proper Object and Matter of Moral Virtue Which inferior part of the Soul is divided by Philosophers into concupiscible and irascible the former tends to that which is good and delightful the latter arms the Soul against whatsoever is disagreeable and difficult BETWIXT these two all the affections are divided and are chiefly employed in their Business Concupiscence Desire Lust Hunger Thirst Hatred and others of the like Nature belong to that which we call the concupiscible part Pride Contempt Impatience Anger Fear Boldness and the like generous and brave Passions belong to what we say is the irascible part of the mind Whatsoever it is that strikes the Soul touches it to the quick The Office of Moral Virtue is to govern the Passions and moves it to Action or Passion must needs proceed from one of these wherefore to give these their just measure and proportion to mould and temper 'em well is the proper Office of Moral Virtue NOW all the Passions of the sensitive Soul are apt to offend in being either too much or too little and the prudent choice of just what is enough is the chief work of Virtue Which Mediocrity is call'd by those who love to talk learnedly or rather obscurely Arithmetical and Geometrical Arithmetical Mediocrity is that which is equally distant from both extremes is ever one and the same as the Mean between Two and Ten is unalterably Six which by Four exceeds Two and by Four fails of Ten For if we add Four to Two it makes Six but if we add Four to Six it makes Ten. Geometrical Mediocrity is so placed betwixt the extremes as the matter requires to which it is refer'd therefore it is sometimes more sometimes less and not always the same Such a medium as the Taylor observes in making your Apparel he requires not the same measure of Cloth for all but only so much as is necessary for your Person For the Physician if Two Drams of Rhubarb will not serve for his Potion What the Mediocrity is in which Virtue is â—aid to be placed doth not forthwith infuse six or ten more but he examines the Niture of the Disease the Strength and Constitution of the Patient and accordingly he makes up his Dose Such a kind of medium is Vertue sometimes inclining to the less sometimes to the more as it is in temperance where the Mediocrity is not still the same but changes according to the variety of Persons A Student who is but of a thin body or a sickly person eats not so much as a Day-Labourer but eats in proportion to the ability of his Stomach the liberal man gives not always the same Alms the wealthy give more men of meaner Estates less So the Widows two Mites were sufficient because she gave according to her Condition
yet retains a Majesty How the Passions move at her Command like a well governed Army not for Fighting but for Rank and Order from which regular composure of the Faculties all moving in their due Place each striking in its proper Time there arises a Complacency upon the whole Soul infinitely beyond all other pleasures BUT there is no Man that hath his Faculties so equally balanc'd or his Affections so justly poised as that he doth not incline to one of the extremes of Virtue more than to the other Whosoever then would walk in the middle path of a good life must take particular care to avoid that Rock upon which he is most apt to fall FOR when a Person skilful in Physiognomy was asked to give his judgment upon the natural temper of Socrates Socrates his great Mastery over himself and had declared him to be prone to Lust and Sensuality the Company about him grew angry and young Alcibiades brake out into a Laughter But Socrates replied that the Opinion of the Man was right for such indeed he confessed he was by Nature but by assiduous care and pains he had corrected those Inclinations So much the more industrious ought we to be in watching over our own natural Dispositions not only because we slide very fast and easily into Vice where we find our selves strongly inclined to it but because we are apt to offend on the other Hand and pronounce our selves virtuous when there is little or no cause so to do HENCE it is that many Men as Nazianzen observes attribute that unto Grace Some things ascribed to Grace which are due to Nature which is indeed due to Nature For a man who by his natural disposition is Phlegmatick and Cold soon flatters himself with an Opinion of Chastity whereas in truth his Constitution doth not minister to him such lustful Heats as are found in others of a more Sanguine Complexion where the flame of Lust or Anger breaketh out and other potent Allurements to evil make their Assaults there is the trial of Virtue For what commendation is it to stand upright and unshaken where no Resistance is made In fair and calm Weather an ordinary Pilot may steer the Ship but he acts the part of a skilful Mariner who can govern the Helm and hold his Course when the Seas work the Winds are high and the Tempest strong So it is with Virtue in Human Life She must rule all those Passions that raise so many Tumults in our Veins and then she is most glorious when she prevails where the Temptations are most powerful these Victories are not to be gotten by the Starts and Sallies of the Mind but by a resolute and constant Habit For it deserves much more praise to lead an unblameable life by our own study and labour than to be so by our natural Condition Wherefore upon discovery of our selves where we find Passion strongest and most apt to be inflamed there is the greatest occasion for the exercise of Virtue to subdue its outrage and to make it an Instrument of doing well Lastly There is one Rule or rather Counsel more given by Aristotle and it is this That in all the Negotiations of Life we take heed especially how we do admit as Counsellours our Pleasure or our Pain For Pleasures sollicit only unto Vice and Pains deter us from Virtue The danger of Pleasure the former we ought to be as suspicious of as the Trojans were of Helena when they saw how handsom she was they presently began to think it better to send her home than suffer their Country to be destroyed for her sake No less hazard do we run in yielding to Pleasures which for the most part begin in Folly grow up in trouble and conclude in shame For when we step out of the way of Virtue if we aim at Mirth that will presently end in Grief if Ambition then we are killed with Affronts if it be Lust then it wounds us with the loss of our good name In short Pleasures of all kinds wear the disguise of Beauty and Loveliness like the Harlot in the Proverbs they entice with wanton Kisses as she decks her Bed with the covering of Tapestry and perfumes her House but all this while 't is the Road to Hell and leads to the Chambers of Death so whorish and impudent is the face of pleasure it makes use of loose Gestures smooth and Amorous Addresses to draw in the unwary Sinner all this while she is but a painted Snake which is no sooner taken into the Bosom but the fatal sting appears it strikes and wounds with an everlasting Venom and besides the deadly gashes it makes in the Consciences of Men it infects all the present Joys of humane Life In the right Government therefore of our Actions it behoves us not to stoop for such golden Apples that are cast in the way to hinder our work That great Sophist Leontinus Georgias arrived in good health to an hundred and eight Years of Age and being asked What Cordial that was which had preserved him in health to so great an Age answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod nihil unquam voluptatis gratiâ fecerat So great a preserver of Life and Health and of all the good things consequent thereupon is abstinence from Pleasures from the Excesses of Eating and Drinking for He that eats too much dozes away his Life turns his over-charged Body into a Statue of Earth and seems to live in a continual Lethargy He who drinks to Excess drenches his Brains in unwholsom Clouds of moisture and washes away the principles of common Reason and Discretion He that is lacivious is punish'd for it with noisom Distempers and the peace of his Mind is quite destroyed by mad and ungovernable desires HITHERTO we have discoursed of such matters as concern all Virtues in General it remains that we explain the Nature of them in particular The Ancients were wont to divide Virtues into Cardinal or Principal and Virtues less principal The Cardinal Virtues they accounted to be four Prudence Fortitude Temperance and Justice because as they thought all others of an inferiour Order as Magnanimity Magnificence Liberality c. were reducible unto these Four BUT we need not tie our selves up to the strict Rules of Method because it is not of any moment upon what peculiar Virtue we discourse first We will therefore follow Aristotle and begin with FORTITUDE HARDINESS becomes Virtue and it shews it self then most illustrious when it atchieves difficult Things Fortitude despises Dangers and Death Now no Virtue pretends to this more than Fortitude which incites us to undergo all manner of dangers and Death it self for our Liberty our Country or Religion Therefore we give it the name of Virtue as Aeneas doth in that Instruction to his Son Ascanius Disce puer virtutem ex me verum â—e laborem Fortunam ex aliis Tho perhaps it is no Passion because a Man may have it who doth
Stake this excites Active Courage and fits out undaunted Soldiers and Generals for the Field For hereby we know where and when and in what Cases to offer our selves to dye which is a thing of greater Skill than many of them suppose who are most forward to do it bruitishly to run upon and hasten unto death is a thing that many can do as we see Beasts oftentimes rush upon the Spears of such as pursue them But wisely to look into and weigh every Occasion and as Judgment and true Discretion shall direct so to entertain a Resolution either of Life or Death this is true and real Fortitude Of TEMPERANCE IN the Catalogue of Virtues we have given the highest Seat to Fortitude according to Truth peradventure we might Truth peradventure we might have given the precedency to Temperance as being the Ground and Foundation or as the Greeks call her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Storehouse of all Virtues In outward Shew and Glory Fortitude outshines the rest But that which enables and prepares us for all Moral Good Temperance prepares us for all Moral Good is in reality Temperance upon this as upon a sure Basis the whole Building of of a good Life is erected therefore it is very properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being that which preserves our Wits entire and all whatsoever fits us for prudent or regular Actions First BY the way we are to understand that Temperance and Continence which is a part of it is by Moralists taken in a larger signification When a man hath been an old Offender hath by long Custom grown familiar with wicked Practices insomuch that he hath lost as it were all sense of Sinning or is such a man as Divines say is hardened for Hardness of Heart and being given over to a reprobate Sense in Divinity is the same with this Senselesness or Loss of feeling in Sin we call such a one intemperate let his Vice be what it will So the Man that is but a young Offender he that sins indeed but with scruple and Reluctancy him we call incontinent let his Fault be what it will In Liberality he that gives but sore against his Will we call an incontinent Giver but such a one as lasheth out and without any sense or reason is unmeasureably prodigal we say he gives intemperately THIS we note that we may understand the Language of Moralists otherwise Temperance is a peculiar Virtue and hath its own peculiar Object Temperance therefore is that Virtue which teacheth us to keep a moderation in Meats and Drinks which we call Abstinence and Sobriety contrary to which are Gluttony and Drunkenness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrates being asked from what things we should chiefly abstain answered from all filthy and unlawful Pleasures there is a moderation therefore to be used in that delight men take in the continuance of their Species which we call Chastity whose contrary is Luxury All this we comprehend under the name of Temperance which is in truth nothing else but the Government of our Touch and Taste NOW since every Virtue is conversant in the moderation of two Extremes of the one of these we cannot doubt it is so common and so often met with For who knows not Gluttony and Drunkenness they seek no sculking Holes but tho they are the most filthy and spotted Crimes yet every day they dare appear in the face of the Sun But of the other Extreme we have no Name it being a thing so seldom seen for a Man to offend in the too sparing use of Meat and Drinks For few there are that love to give themselves away through refusal of Meats and Drinks or to do as that young Man did of whom Ficinus speaks who languishing of an unknown Distemper and being at length told by a skilful Person that there was no Remedy for him but Marriage made choice rather to die than to use the Antidote whence it comes to pass that when we meet wtih such a Person we know not what to call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Stock or a senseless Man one that hath lost his Wits or some such Name we give Him who offends this way He that is guilty of the Excess is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abstinence the best Cure of Lust unrestrained and let loose to all Debauchery For those that transgress in being tempted by Lust there is no better Cure than Abstinence For it is a certain Rule sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus give to the Body so much as Nature requires it will leave no matter for Superfluity FOR suppose the Palat be entertained with all the dainties of the most witty and Artificial Luxury yet can we taste them but by the measures of a Man and when we have satisfied those slender desires all that remains becomes as tasteless to us as Dirt and Gravel so that whatever is eaten or drank above what a man can rellish turns into Surfeits loathing and uneasiness For so long as he is confined to this short Span and hath but the wonted necessities of a Man which are so soon and so easily provided for he should be as well pleased with the common supplies of God's Providence as with the richest Banquets For he who is not content with Natures cheap and easie provisions runs a thousand Risques to get a needless Abundance and to possess more than is requisite to make him happy For him therefore whose Errour consists in excessive use of Meats and Drinks the Ancient Monks have prescribed a Cure in this Verse Praeproperè lautè nimis ardenter studiosè First Preproperè Make not too much haste to your Diet but expect the time and hour fit to eat Secondly Lautè Let not your Table be loaded with costly Dishes but let your Food be plain and ordinary Thirdly Nimis Not too much for even dainty Dishes touched but sparingly may well pass for sober Eating but Bread and Water taken in Excess may be called Gluttony Fourthly Ardenter Not overhastily for swallowing your Meals by gobbets makes hard digestion and may bring Surfeits therefore the Teeth were given and contrived to mince and grind your Meat small so as to ease the labour of Concoction Fifthly Studiosè The danger of provoking the Appetite too much after it is well satisfied Be not curious in making high and luscious Sauces which provoke the languishing Appetite and create a new Stomach after it hath been well satisfied which is very destructive of Health but to rise from Table with an Appetite not fully allayed above all things conduces to soundness of Body and long Life For if the Stomach be stretched beyond its natural Tone and true extent it will require to be filled but will never digest what it receives Whereas He that lives temperately needs not study the wholesomness of this Meat nor the pleasantness of that Sauce the punctilio's of Air Heat Cold Exercise or Lodging Nor is he critical in Cookery but
takes thankfully what God is pleased to give him BUT against all this that hath hitherto been alledged two bad Customs are kept up and maintained THE first is Solemn and chargeable Feasting THE second is immoderate Lust Feasting an Enemy to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FEASTING by long Usage and the Customs of living loosely hath gained so highly against all Rules of Temperance that on Sacred and Civil Occasions it cannot now be omitted nor reflected upon without giving offence to the greatest part of Mankind For if we look through all the solemn Acts which pass in the World whether they be Civil Meetings Congratulations or friendly Entertainments whether it be sadness or mourning at Funerals or jollity at Marriages whether it be the Celebration of Commencements in the University the Sacred Installation of Bishops or the Innaguration into publick Offices the principal part of all the Pomp and Business is the Feast Indeed in Civil and Temporal matters this loosness might be tolerated but in honour of the Saints that the name of the Action should be termed a Feast is very improper So that Castruccio Castracano being gently reproved by some of his Friends for his frequent Feasting and Entertainments had cause enough for Apology when he answered If Feasting were not a good thing men would not so much honour God and the Saints with it But much better Counsel is given by St. Hierom if we could take it when he tells us Stultum est nimiâ saturitate honorare velle Martyrem quem constat Deo placuisse jejuniis it is a foolish thing for men to think they honour a Martyr by feasting on his Festival who in his life-time pleased God chiefly by his fastings Unto all these holy Gormondizings Sacrifice it self may seem to have given the first occasion For what is a Sacrifice if we truly describe it but a merry Meeting and what was in old time more Celebrated more extolled for Honour unto the Gods than the Caenae Pontifiâ—ae and such were the Lupercalia the Eleusinian Mysteries the Feasts of Bacchus Flora Venus all which were but so many Festivals of Lust and Debauchery in which the Votaries imagined their Deities were pleased as the Salvage and bloody Sacrifices to Saturn Bellona Moloch Baal peor and all the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the ancient Paganism supposed the Divine Being to take pleasure in the miseries and tortures of his Creatures Drunkenness the most filthy Vice AND to this Day Intemperance by publick Approbation hath gain'd upon all sorts of men Drunkenness is by every one declaimed against and not without reason For there are Vices as Montaigne observes wherein there is a mixture of Knowledg Diligence Valour Prudence Dexterity and Cunning but this is altogether Brutish and earthly and the dullest Nation in Europe is that where it is most in Fashion But this Defence may be made for this dull Nation as He is pleased to call it that when Wine to hot Brains is like Oil to Fire and makes the Spirits by too much lightness evaporate into Smoak and perfect aiery imaginations or by too much Heat to break out into Frenzies yet this very Wine may improve the Abilities of cold Complexions may be necessary to rouze sleepy thoughts and perhaps to animate the spirits of the Heart as well as enliven those of the Brain Therefore the old Germans seemed to have some reason in their Custom not to execute any great resolutions which had not been twice debated and agreed to at several Assemblies one in the Afternoon and t'other in the Morning because they thought their Counsels might want Vigour when they were sober as well as Caution when they had drank BUT Drunkenness must be reckon'd a Vice Drunkenness hath a very ill influence on the Mind that hath a very ill influence upon the Soul the worst condition of Man being that wherein he loses the knowledg and government of himself Notwithstanding this Gluttony is a Vice far more frequent and dangerous Gluttony is also a dangerous fault For had Meats that intoxicating property which Drinks have how many of our grave and serious Persons as they would be thought should we find hardly able to pass the Streets For Gluttony being the more secret and retired Vice is generally practised with more security but with no less guilt In this Case therefore it will be of use to us to consult the most excellent Grotius and to hearken to his Censure of this Sin who says assidua convivia etiamsi absit ebrietas culpâ tamen non carent that daily Banquettings tho no man be drunk in the Company yet are very blameable The Abuse of Natural Lust is the most pleasing part of Intemperance THE second and most hazardous tho the most pleasing part of Intemperance is the gross abuse of natural Lust It is somewhat difficult to extend the pleasure of Drinking beyond Thirst and to fashion in our Imaginations an Appetite artificial and against Nature whereas the most regular and most perfect Mind hath but too much to do to keep it self untainted from the follies of natural Lust from being overthrown by its own weakness on this side For it is unavoidably planted in our Nature made up with our Constitution it is fomented and put into a flame upon every small occasion and by every spark of a Temptation it breaks out many times with that violence that it is a great part of our strength and wit which serves to restrain it The Providence of God hath kindled that fire in our Veins as neither Precepts of Virtue Rules of Temperance recess from all Opportunities strength of Youth and scarcely the weakness of old Age can prevail to extinguish it WERE all the Offences of mankind amassed and heaped up together at least two thirds of them were accountable upon that score submission to the Will of God hath bounded our thoughts and confined them within the limits of Humility else we might justly expostulate and contest with the Divine Providence which hath been pleased to subject mankind to so perpetual to so importunate so vexatious a trouble and punish them afterwards for transgressing IT was a favourable and merry Conceit of a Cardinal of Rome that there was no Law beneath the Girdle but both he and we to our cost shall find it otherwise yet notwithstanding all this so madly hath mankind been affected that even the finest Wits and most commendable for Eloquence most abounding with Precepts of Morality and Policy and all Elegancy of Literature have laboured to give entertainment to nay to improve this troublesom Guest There hath for some hundred Years passed a sort of Writings which we call Romances the subject whereof is the strange Adventures many Dangers Fights and wonderful Atchievements which Knights Errants have undergone in pursuit of their Mistresses which Books are the greatest fomenters of Folly Lust and Idleness that have appeared upon the Stage of Human madness Romances the great fomenters of
Lust The Ancients for this is no new Device have prosecuted this part of obscene Story under the name of Fabulae Milesiae and lest perchance it might have fallen to the ground some that have born the Christian Name have made themselves Panders to publick Lust and by no meaner Authors than Christian Bishops have continued the course of these Speculative Lusts The first that opened the way to this Wickedness was Heliodorus whom in our time the famous Author of the Arcadia hath fully imitated nay for Wit and Elegancy hath not much failed if he hath not fully equalled him For this reason some Moralists resolve that young Persons must not be suffered to look into lascivious Books and some pieces of Poetry because tho they are fittest to learn Virtue by the Precepts of Morality yet they are most apt by the Arts made use of in these Discourses to be drawn into Vice being set forth in the most charming postures and in the most taking colours THE idle Monks have spent their time in furnishing the World with abundance of this Trash in all Languages I forbear to mention any because I would not serve as an Index to others to make enquiry I wish the Authors of these Books had all acted like him who made Amadis de Gaul for he gave order at his death that his Books should be burnt as being conscious of the mischief they had done upon which our Brittish Martial hath left this Distich Si meruit poenas quod flammam accendat amoris Mergi non uri debuit iste Liber Howsoever it had been whether by Burning or Drowning these Works had been abolish'd it is not of much moment so the World had been fairly rid of them What hath been said of Cavaliero Marini who at his death left all his Bones to be Glyster-pipes that there were more things to be praised and more to be condemned in his Works than in any whatsoever That may be affirmed of many of these Milesian Impurities for smart Wit smooth Elegancy pleasant Conceits and much fair Discourse have served as Salt for this insipid Stuff the better to excuse and draw it on And where we meet with polite Language and quaint Inventions without one good moral Saying those compositions are wholly unprofitable and besides their uncleanness is many times so foul and shameless that no modest Person can look into them whence we may conclude that Feasting and Romances have been the two main Props which have supported Gluttony and Lust the two principal parts of Intemperance THE last of which doth this mischief in the life of Man that it is sometimes like a Syren tempting with amorous Addresses sometimes like a Fury turbulent and ungovernable for many lustful persons are so impatient of any Bridle that they seem to think their Girdles and Garters to be Bonds and Shackles to them The contempt of Marriage most pernicious to Society But among all the Evils which the indulging of Lust doth bring forth the despising of Marriage is the most pernicious to Human Society for certainly Wife and Children are as my Lord Bacon observes a kind of Discipline of Humanity WE might inlarge our selves far more amply should we speak of all those things which by publick warrant plead for the sin of Lust under the soft and specious Name of Love which Passion when once it can take Men off from their serious Affairs and Actions of Life it troubleth their Fortunes and makes them that they can no ways be true to their own ends Something should be said concerning the abuse of Musick and Dancing to the same purpose Musick abused For excepting the practice of the former in our Devotions and religious Assemblies most other uses thereof are merely to be a Bawd to Lust For if we look upon the Subjects of those Lessons that are taught in the ordinary Education of Youth in this Art we shall find that there is scarce any Argument expressed but what plainly tends to the spoiling their Manners for either the Person boasts himself in the good success of his Love or lamentably bewails the Coyness of his Mistress or is profuse in the praises of her Beauty which none commonly sees but himself Love being the Architect of Beauty or he runs out in description of the Symmetry of her parts or despairs of ever enjoying his Wishes These and the like Fancies full of languishing and flattery are the usual entertainments in the practice of Musick AS for Dancing Dancing very Ancient the Antiquity of it may make us think it a branch of the Law of Nature which every Nation both Civil and Barbarous have expressed their mirth by whereof so much may be safely learned as may give a good and graceful motion to the Body But the use now made of it since it is become a difficult Study serves only to chaff the Blood and to set the Mind upon such pleasures as will corrupt the very Being and Essence of all Moral Virtues SHOULD we prosecute farther this and the other like publick provocations unto Lust it would appear unto most Men nothing else but affected Stoicism However ere we take leave of the Virtue of Temperance it will not be amiss to speak something concerning the moderate use of Sleep Somne quies rerum placidissime somne Deorum IF then it be so sweet it must belong to our Sense it were improper to attribute it to the Touch or Taste for no Man could ever tell us of what Taste it is yet certainly it belongs to all the Senses For in the definition thereof we say it is ligatio sensuum externorum a binding of the outward Senses by reason of the ascent of vapours from the Stomack or otherwise by which the passages from the Heart or the Brain are obstructed and cannot give a supply of Spirits to the outward Senses as for the inward Senses of the Mind they suffer not by Sleep which is the privation of the Act of Sense the Power remaining which is evident in the case of Dreams when the Brain is as it were benumm'd and having not its motion in every part alike its Thoughts appear like the Stars between the flying Clouds not in the order which a Man would chuse to observe them but as the uncertain flight of broken Clouds permits NOW the Natural end of Sleep is the refreshing of our strength when it is exhausted we therefore usually say that it is Sleep The end of Sleep which to make one part of our lives profitable makes the other unprofitable wherefore our King Alfred divided the whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into three parts eight hours he allotted for Study and Business eight for Eating and Recreations and as many for Sleep So that moderate Sleep takes up one third part of our life which moderation of Sleep can appertain to no other Virtue than to that which is the Moderator of all sensual Pleasures Temperance And we have great reason to follow moderation in
being so much an instinct of Nature that tho too many make a shift to suppress it in themselves yet they cannot so darken the notion in others but that an immodest Person is look'd on as a kind of Monster a thing distorted from its proper Form as Women are when they become prostitutes who must break all the restraints of their very Nature Shameless and immodest men can do nothing well before they can be made so Thus it is with shameless Men in adventures where courage is necessary they will not be constrained by any prudential consideration but will run upon the Mouth of a Cannon to gain the name of bold and daring Heroes in the fury of their Lust they will violate all the obligations of Morality to fulfil these vehement desires in common Life they Laugh at the ties of fair dealing that they may grow rich and contemn their poorer Neighbor in their Politicks they will betake themselves to the most desperate Counsels that they may trample upon others and force them to draw their Yoke In their Speculations they will sink themselves into the grossest Heresies that they may boast of their skill and wit above the rest of inferiour Mortals In their daily Commerce they will strive to over-reach their unwary Brethren that they may shew themselves more expert Gamesters at the intricate Cheat of Trading in the World THUS if you examine all the stations that the several Degrees of Men are placed in we must attribute most of their deviations from Virtue to an impudent Humor that cannot endure any moderation and is impatient of all those Precepts that would render every Man an humble and a modest Creature NOW on the other hand too much shamefacedness is a clog and a kind of a dead weight upon Virtue to stop its progress that it may not exert its power with that advantage which otherwise it would do This makes it look as if it were too dull a Principle for the Happiness of Life which is ever in motion INDEED if we consider the nature of our Passions they are perhaps the stings without which they say no Honey is made yet I think all sorts of men have ever agreed they ought to be our Servants Passions must be kept within due bounds and not our Masters to give us some agitation for Entertainment or Exercise but never to throw our Reason out of its Seat Perhaps I would not always sit still or would be sometimes on Horseback but I would never ride a Horse that galls my Flesh or shakes my Bones or runs away with me as He pleases so as I can neither stop at a River or a Precipice better no Passions at all than have them too violent or such alone as instead of heightning our pleasures afford us nothing but vexation and pain BUT in the case of Virtue we had as good have none at all as have it too bashful For this one bad Quality will bring upon us the just Censure of being either idle or cowardly in its Warfare whose Exercises we must undertake with the same resolution and undaunted Spirit We must not be too bashful in the exercise of Virtue as we see sensual men to pursue every pleasure they can start without regarding the pains of the Chase the weariness when it ends or how little the prize is worth All the World is perpetually at work about nothing else but only that our wretched Lives should pass the easier and the happier for that little time we possess them or else end the better when we lose them Upon this occasion Virtues came to be admired because they are the best means to this End He therefore must bid defiance to mankind must condemn their universal Opinions and Designs if instead of practising these Virtues with constancy and courage He shall offer to sneak out of the Field and by too much bashfulness betray the Fort that He should maintain against the assaults of Vice Not that we are to presume too much or think our selves so safe that we may venture into all sorts of bad Company without danger of being infected A man may as well upon confidence of a sound Constitution enter a Pest-house and converse with the Plague whose Contagion doth not more subtlely insinuate it self than the temptations of evil Converse Neither must we think to sequester our selves out of the World which never can be drawn into use neither will it mend our condition for if every action which is good or evil in Man at ripe years were unavoidable or compelled What were Virtue but a Name What praise could be then due to well-doing What commendation to be sober just or continent But God left Adam free and set before him a provoking Object ever almost in his Eyes and herein consisted the right of his Reward No Virtue without freedom to act or not to act and the merit of his abstinence To what purpose did he create Passions within him and Pleasures round about him but that these rightly temper'd are the very Ingredients of Virtue This justifies the Providence of God who though he command us Temperance Justice Continence yet He pours out before us even to a profuseness all desireable Things and gives us Minds that can wander beyond all Limit and Satiety It is not necessary then to affect a Rigour contrary to the manner of God and of Nature by flying from the Delights or any other Enjoyments of this World which are freely permitted both for the trial of Virtue and the exercise of Truth In the case therefore of Conversation in general and especially of that which is mixt Male and Female together we must put on such a Modesty as may guard our Virtue against the strongest persuasions to Evil 'T is said of Philopaemen that the Lacedaemonians finding it their interest to corrupt him with Money Virtue an awful thing they were yet so possest with the Reverence of his Virtues that none durst undertake to attaque him Such an Authority there is in Virtue that it will discourage the most impudent Assailant Such a Sovereignty appears in its very blushes as is able to controul all loose Desires Of TACITURNITY or the Government of our Speech THE great Work and business of a Christian is to act wisely and to govern himself discreetly and it is one difficult part of that Government to rule his Speech as he ought For the Tongue is a very nimble and versatil Engine which the least breath of Thought doth stir yet it turns the whole World about because all the affairs of Conversation and Commerce are managed thereby whatever is done in the Court or in the Hall in the Church or at the Exchange in the School or in the Shop NOW there are four Questions that may here be put 1. What it is to rule or bridle the Tongue 2. Wherein it is to be governed 3. Why or for what Reasons 4. How this is to be done FIRST to rule our
of their Sect may be overcome with Wine but can never be drunk though to be overcome with Wine be downright drunkenness in a carnal Epicurean yet it was something else in a great Stoick How Immorality becomes uncurable NOW Immorality under the disguise of piety becomes uncurable Passion and Self-will is made more implacable by pretences to Sanctity and Godliness without Virtue serves only to furnish the Conscience with excuses against Conviction for it is easie to convince a debauched Person of his Distemper from the blemishes that are in all his Actions But Hypocrisie by lodging it self in the Heart and so by being undiscernible becomes fatal and the Man is past Recovery before he feels his Malady THEREFORE of all men He who hath the Form of Godliness only is conceited with it is the most desperate and incorrigible Sinner For he thinks the performance of the outward acts of Devotion will fix him so in a State of Grace that he needs not any Virtue Thus the Supercilious and self-confident Pharisees were at a greater distance from Heaven than Publicans and Harlots For these our Saviour could by his gentle Reproofs soften into a relenting and pliable Temper But as for the Pharisees their mistaken Piety only made 'em more obdurate and obstinate in sin searing their Consciences against the Force of his sharpest Convictions so that He very justly consigned them up to an unrelenting and inflexible stubbornness Secondly MEN deceive their own Souls How Men deceive their own Souls when they think themselves exempt from the Rule and Judgment of natural Conscience which they fansie exercises its binding Power only over those that are in a state of Nature and Unregeneracy but as for them that are enlightened by the Spirit of God they are directed by the Motions thereof not by the Laws and Dictates of Nature Hence the plain and practical Principles of Reason and Honesty come to be neglected and ever after men are led by giddy Enthusiasms and are befooled by the temper of their Complexions they derive all their religious Motions from the present state and constitution of their Humours and according as Sanguine or Melancholy are predominant so the Scene alters BUT the Spirit of true Religion is of a sedate Temper and dwells in the Intellectual part of a Man In what manner the Spirit of Religion works and doth not work out or vent it self in flatulent Passions but all its Motions are gentle composed and grounded upon the Laws of Reason and Sobriety The Impressions of the Divine Spirit are steddy uniform and breath not upon the Passions but the Reasons of mankind all its Assistances work in a calm and rational way they are not such unsetled and unaccountable motions as discompose but enlighten our understandings the Spirit of God only discovers the Excellency and enforces the Obligation of the Laws of God to the Consciences of Men and works in us a reasonable love of our Duty and serious resolutions to discharge it Therefore the Spirit of every good Man is sober discreet and composed such as becomes the gravity and seriousness of Religion which floats not in his blood nor rises and falls with the Ebbs and Tides of his Humours but he maintains a calmness and evenness of Mind in all the various Constitutions of his Body he confines his Piety entirely within his Soul and chearfully keeps it from all mixtures of Imagination as knowing a Religious Fancy to be the greatest Impostor in the World And there is nothing that spoils the Nature of the best Religion more than outragious Zeal which instead of sweetning embitters the minds of Men so that those Vices which Moral Philosophy would banish are often kindled at the Altar of Religion For it abuses the prudence and discretion of good Men abhors a Christ-like meekness and sobriety and fills their Religion with ill Nature and discontent Hence it is that no Quarrels are so implacable as Religious ones Men with great eagerness damn one another for Opinions and Speculative Controversies IF this be Religion farewel all the Principles of Humanity and good Nature farewel that Glory of the Christian Faith an universal Love and kindness for all Men let us bid adieu to all the Practices of Charity and to the Innocence of a Christian Spirit Let the Laws of our Saviour be cancel'd as Precepts of Sedition Let us banish Religion out of Human Converse as the Mother of Rudeness and incivility Let us go to the School of Atheism and Impiety to learn good Manners BUT if nothing bids greater defiance to the true Spirit and Genius of Religion than a Form of Godliness denying the Power thereof then let not the Wisdom of God be charged with the Folly of Men Let then the furious Sons of Zeal without the Power of Godliness tell me the meaning of such Texts as these Learn of me for I am meek and humble I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with all lowliness long-suffering forbearing one another in Love put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness forgiving one another if any man have a complaint against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye So saith James 3. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledg amongst you let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom He that can reconcile these holy Precepts with a peevish or Cynical disposition may as well unite Christ and Belial make a Christian and a Pharisee the same WHAT remains then but that we set our selves to a serious minding of true and real Goodness An exhortation to mind true and real Goodness that we trifle not away our Time in pursuing the Shadows of it nor waste our Zeal upon its Forms and Instruments that we cheat not our Souls with a partial Godliness nor damn them with an half-Religion For we must measure our profitableness under the means of Grace by the influences of it upon the obedience of our Lives we must pursue Christianity in its true and proper usefulness give a sincere Obedience to every Law of Righteousness we must not divorce Piety from Justice and Charity but join the love of God with the love of our Brother be impatient against our own Sins and other mens Opinions spend our Zeal in our own and not other men's Business be ever zealous for the prime and most substantial Principles of Religion not for uncertain and unexamined Speculations we must set our selves with all our might against our Lusts and our Passions for all our Devotions without it will never expiate one habitual Sin neither will a maimed or halting Religion ever arrive at Heaven nothing but an entire Obedience to the Laws of Christ will gain admittance there Let us therefore inform our Minds with the Excellency of true Religion and Goodness Let us adorn them with an inward Purity
and conformity to the Divine Will accomplish them with all Godlike Virtues and Perfections We must be sure to obey the Fundamental Laws of Justice Mercy Tempeperance Humility Meekness Patience and Charity We must live up to all the Rules of Real and Essential Equity and build all our hopes upon an unmaimed and solid Religion IN the second place we must observe That licentiousness of Living hath brought a great decay upon Moral Virtue The Christian Religion rightly understood and sincerely practised serves no doubt to make men more morally virtuous than any other that at this Day is or since the Creation hath been profess'd in the World not only in regard of Justice and Temperance but of Wisdom and Fortitude But it will be said The dâ—generaâ—y of Mankind lamented that since the first Plantation hereof Men have from time to time degenerated so as the farther they are removed from the Primitive Christians who shined in good Works they have grown worse and worse Since their times Zeal for Virtue hath decayed as if it had not been the intrinsick Excellency of Religion but the Fires of Pagan Persecution that kindled that Heat in the Breasts of Christians What shall we take to be the reason of this decay have the Principles of Christianity lost their Efficacy like the Gentile Oracles that all the motives of Virtue and Holiness have now so little influence upon men's Tempers or Lives or rather this must be the reason that of old Christianity was rooted in the Hearts of Men and brought forth the Fruits of good Works in their Lives Whereas now it is only a barren Notion in Mens Heads and their Actions are not governed by it then it was the Employment of their Souls in Meditation of their Hands in Beneficence Now it is become a disguise for Covetousness Ambition Malice and all that 's Evil It is true in the ancient Authors which studious Men turn over they find descriptions of Virtues more perfect than really they were the Governments are represented better and the ways of Life pleasanter than they deserved upon this these bookish Men compare what they read with what they see and here beholding nothing so Heroically transcendent because they are able to mark all the spots as well as beauties of every thing that is so close to their sight they presently begin to despise their own times and exalt the past to contemn the Virtues and aggravate the Vices of their Age But such is the condition of Religion Debauchery a great Impediment to the growth of Religion that the Moral part of it suffers much by reason of the Debauchery and ill Manners of Men And when lewdness hath gotten a habit and Men's Foreheads are Brazen in their wickedness they will not receive a check from disarmed Religion but rather harden themselves against it and account that their Enemy which they are sure will not give countenance to the Vices they are now settled in Besides when a Licentious course of Life hath brought Men to disuse the Duties and Offices of Religigion all its Obligations are antiquated with them then instead of Prayers they learn to Curse and Swear and from not going to Church for a time grow to plead a Priviledg not to come at it at all Secondly NOT only loosness of Life but also a wrong apprehension of Christian Liberty hath much obstructed the Practice of moral Virtue for some Men have thought themselves discharged thereby from all the obligations of the Moral Law and have been so absurd as to take the Gospel to contain nothing else properly but a Publication of God's Promises and that those Promises are absolute without any Condition of our Obedience so that neither men's Justification nor Salvation do depend upon it Libertinism a pernicious Principle THIS is the Doctrine of modern Liberties and is a Perswasion fit to Debauch the whole World about the Apostles times it was much pleaded for by the Gnosticks to excuse their revolts from Christianity in Times of Persecution and their beastly Sensualities as if the knowledg of the Truth gave a Priviledg neither to profess nor practise it when the one proved too incommodious to their secular Interests or the other too disgustful to their sensual Inclinations WHEREAS the contents of the great Character purchased for us What the Liberty is which Christ hath purchased for us and brought in by the Lord Jesus are these that besides the freeing us from the Dominion of Sin which the Law of Moses could not do and the Tyranny of Satan which the Gentile World lay under He hath set our Consciences at liberty from Judaick Rites to pursue our own Reason and to serve all the interests of Peace and good Order in the World hence it is that we find liberty and condescension or self-denyal joined together by St. Paul Gal. 5.13 ye have been called unto liberty only use not liberty as an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another and by St. Peter 1. Eph. 2.16 as free yet not using your liberty as a Cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God But if Religion should set us free from the Rules of Virtue all the duties of it would be uncertain and precarious things nay it would destroy it self and the Societies of Men would be so far from being the better for it that their happiness would be undermined thereby but this is so expressly contrary to the whole design of the Christian Doctrine and goes so cross to the very Sense of every honest Mind that I shall not spend any more words about it IN the Third place we are to consider how the progress of Moral Virtue hath been discouraged by decrying the Vse of Reason in Matters of Religion as if Reason was not as much the Word of God as Revelation as if whatever contradicts Reason was not opposite to Faith For Abraham's Reason was a great confirmation of his Faith two Revelations were made to him Our Reason confirms our Faith that seeemed to clash one with another and if his Reason could not have reconciled their difference he could not have believed them both to have been from God for Divine Revelation doth not give new Faculties to Men but propounds new Objects to those Faculties so that when God reveals any thing to us He reveals it to our Understandings that we may judg concerning it that we may not believe every Spirit but try whether they be from Him or no now that which hath spoiled the Lives of many Men is there assenting to such Doctrins as never came from the Fountain of Truth therefore to preserve our integrity and keep the Truth we must try the Spirits and compare the evidences Men bring for what they assert which it is not possible to do but by the Use of our Reason But to be confident and peremptory in any thing without Reason is nothing but obstinacy of Mind WHEREAS if we turn off Reason we level the
being so much in our own power WHEREFORE let not Men think they can be Holy without Moral Vertue which they will be apt to do whenever Grace is set in Opposition to Virtue they may as well think they may be godly without Religion Devout and Pious without all sober and sincere use of their Understandings in spiritual matters for this mischief will certainly ensue upon it that Men will embrace Metaphors and Allegories fancies and forms of Speech instead of the Substance of true and real Righteousness 'T IS certain then The Duties of Morality are the most weighty concerns of Religion that the Duties of Morality are the most weighty and material Concerns of Religion and as in the Ordinary Generation of Mankind that vital principle the Soul forms and moulds the foetus according to the specifical Nature of Man and never gives over till it has worked the whole bodily Mass into a full Complement of parts so by a new Principle of Life called Grace and derived from God through Christ into the mind true Wisdom Righteousness Justice Holiness Integrity and all the instances of Moral Vertue are fashioned by this quickning spirit in the thoughts and actions of good and pious Men This makes the whole mystery of Regeneration intelligible so that any Nicodemus may discern the manner and reason of it for to be born again signifies in its utmost meaning to become a sincere Disciple of our Lord Jesus and to be his Disciple is to believe and obey as we are ingaged by Baptism this being the clearest proof we can give to our selves or others that we own him in good earnest to be our Lord and Master if for his sake we love Truth and Goodness above all worldly interests What is meant by the New Creature NOW to be Regenerate is to be the sincere Disciples of Christ which will qualifie a Man for the Kingdom of Heaven and if that be true it follows that Regeneration and all those other Metaphors which express the state of a Man fitted for eternal Happiness do mean nothing else but his being such a Disciple of Christ as to believe in him to love and obey him when the word of God that Divine Seed hath wrought its due and proper effects upon his Soul by its Precepts the temper of his Mind and the disposition of his Will are agreeable to the Laws of God therefore we use to say of a meek spirited Man that he cannot be furious and of an honest Man that he cannot deceive and of a generous Man that he cannot do a base or unworthy Action that is it is Morally impossible that he should it being directly contrary to the Genius and Sense of his Soul so to do just so it is with him who is born of God he cannot sin because it is repugnant to the inclination and bent of his Nature which being Holy will produce a godly and vertuous Life THIS Notion of the new Creature will not suffer a Man to reckon himself Regenerate who doth not amend his Life according to God's Holy Word this will keep Hypocrites from pretending to be so who are apt to think their hearts are good when their manners are naught But the state of a Regenerate person is called Spiritual as being caused by the Grace of God's Spirit so it may be called Moral as consisting in the conformity of our Minds and Actions to the Divine Laws NOW he who makes a distinction between Grace and Vertue a Spiritual and Moral state must think that to disbelieve any of the Revelations and to disobey any of the Commands of God are not immoralities or that a Regenerate state doth not consist in Faith and Obedience WHICH state is called Regeneration a Metaphor taken from a Natural Generation because there is so great a change that a Man is as it were another Creature For first the understanding must be informed with the knowledge of truth concerning God themselves and a life to come then this belief of the Gospel will so work upon their Wills that they shall be turned from Sensuallity to the love of Goodness and this will produce a suitable change in their lives which are not now led according to the Lusts of the Flesh and the examples of ill Men but the Laws of God and the Example of Christ And thus we come to the true use of all our Faculties as an Infant after it is born falls into those Natural Motions which are hindred by its imprisonment in the Womb Nay by reason of that Divine temper which is wrought in good Men by the Holy Spirit they have such a sense of Good and Evil with regard to their Minds and Consciences as all living Creatures have with respect to their Natures For as in the Natural Life we apprehend what is contrary to it so that we will not run into the Fire nor down Precepices so in the Regenerate state we shall look upon all kinds of wickedness to be what they are detestable and pernicious to our Souls but the Doctrine and Example of Christ do communicate to us a new sense of things whereby we are so much altered for the better as if we had never lived till then and we have infinitely more reason to think of this alteration in our state than to remember the day of our birth with joy and gladness FOR now God worketh in us both to will and to do wherefore the fear and love of God and godly Sorrow and true Repentance and the hope of Eternal Life together with all Christian Vertues such as Righteousness Mercy Patience Love Joy Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith All Moral Vertues are produced by the Grace of God Meekness and Temperance are the Graces of the Spirit From hence it follows that God hath not left the success of the Gospel to depend upon that force only which the bare Revelation of the motives to Obedience hath to persuade us if it should be so it would be now lost labour to call upon God to help us by his Grace but seeing all Vertues and qualifications necessary to Salvation are produced by the Grace of God it follows that all Christian Vertues are the Graces of the Holy Spirit For saith S. James every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh from the Father of Lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow of Turning AND S. Paul saith that Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world this one Scripture comprehends all that Men ought to account Religion that they live godlily which is the Vertue of humble gratitude towards God Soberly which contains the Vertues of Temperance Chastity Modesty and all others that consist in the dominion of Reason over our Sensual Appetites Righteously which implies all the Vertues of Justice and Charity as Affability Courtesie Meekness Candour and Ingenuity Let Men
do nothing at all for it will certainly prevail oppose it what we can Nay if God doth not afford sufficient Grace to every man whereby be may lead a virtuous Life how shall He govern the World how shall men be condemned for not doing their Duty in particular for not believing and repenting when without God's Grace it was impossible to do either BUT we profess to believe that the Judg of all the World will do right and if we do this we must understand that there will be nothing in God's proceedings at the day of Judgment that will then be esteemed unjust by the Sons of Men for it is impossible that we should conceive any other Notion of Justice in God than what is owned for just among Men What is just in Man is just in God were it otherwise God would not appeal to Men concerning the Equality of his Ways for if the same Notion of Justice be not in God as is in Men we know not what it is that is just in God neither can we judg concerncerning the Equality or the Justice of his Proceedings upon this account it is granted that the Heathen to whom the Gospel of Christ never came shall not be condemned for their unbelief it being unjust to condemn men for not believing that which was never proposed to them for their Faith this would be to oblige men to things that are impossible which no Law nor Equity can do But far be it from us to entertain any thoughts unworthy of God or to say that of the best Being which we would account a reproach to our selves Since then the Grace of God hath brought Salvation to us it is our own fault if we fall short of it and our own Consciences will accuse us as unworthy of Eternal Life because God hath done his part if we be negligent in doing ours For the Scripture attributes to us That which God does and bids us do That which God did with us and That which we do is attributed to God and That which God does by us is ascribed both to God and us we work and God works by whom we are awakened directed assisted The Controversies are very hot and very long and intricate about these things but I think a right stating the matter would extinguish them from being in the World SINCE that Grace Grace necessary to Salvation is afforded us which is necessary to Salvation is afforded us we cannot pretend any discouragement but have all the reason in the World to set our hands to this Work and to be doing our Duty because the Lord is with us and he hath said we shall not be tempted above what we are able to bear we shall have such an inward assistance of the Spirit of God as is necessary to receive and help the weakness of our Natures and that impotency which Men generally contract by vicious Habits and this Grace of God goes along with the external Revelation of the Gospel and accompanies all those who by their wilful resisting and opposing it have not provoked God to withdraw it from them and then we make use of this Grace when we are careful to enquire into this Revelation and do what we can to act accordingly And as our Minds are enlightned by it so our Wills and Affections are warmed to a complyance therewith we shall find a gentle heat in our Hearts inclining us to a ready Obedience to the Precepts of Gods Word and to live in all Godliness as it requires for when a Man is disposed to the Practice of Virtue he hath just reason to conclude that the Spirit of God is at Work upon him Therefore we ought to go on in a good course of Life because our work will be easier to us the difficulties of Religion will still grow less because our strength will encrease and God hath promised to give greater degrees of assistance to them who use The practice of Moral Virtue is both easie and pleasant what He hath already bestowed Secondly THE Practice of Moral Virtues is both easie and pleasant because they are profitable for all things improve our Understandings and bring Peace to our Minds Now Profit and Advantage have a stronger influence upon the affections of Mankind than any thing else if then we can reconcile Virtue with the Interests nnd Profits of Men they maybe perswaded to embrace a virtuous Course of Life which doth much conduce to our Health not only in a Spiritual but Natural Sense because vicious Courses in the Nature and Tendency of them do destroy the Constitution of our Bodies But Religion doth oblige us to the exercise of such particular Virtues as do as naturally tend to our Welfare and Long-Life for Diseases are prevented by living abstemiously and the firm Estate of the Body depends upon Chastity the quiet both of Mind and Body too upon the moderation of our Passions whereas the Lustful waste and consume away because they follow Harlots till a Dart strikes through their Livers Now the great triumph of Sensuality is where the Ear is fed with Musick the Eye with Beauty the Smell with Perfumes the Taste with Banquets what a Tumult do these various Objects raise within Men What Feavers do they kindle in their Blood by their delicious Meats as well as by Wines and Strong Drinks BUT Virtue doth not only establish Mens Health but increases their Estates also Virtue establishes our health and augments our estates therefore the Wise-man hath placed in her left Hand Riches which is brought to pass by charging Men to be Faithful and True diligent and industrious in their Callings For as Study and Experience give more force to the Soul than any disposition whatever of the Body so Industry and Intention of Mind apon Business will sustain a Man in every Estate hath an influence upon his whole Life and Actions 't is true very good Men may not arrive at much Plenty yet their Vertue makes a compensation in this Case by making them contented with that competent Allowance which God shall allot them for to a Man that is satisfied Riches and Abundance are needless and superfluous Vertue advances our Reputation NOW Vertue doth not only encrease our Estates but it is a great advantage to our Reputation in the World for prudent and substantial Piety is of high price to all whose Judgments are valuable when it is accompanied with serious Devotion to God and real Effects of Charity before Men it is honored among the worst sort of Mankind every one therefore that is not forsaken of common Sense must take pleasure in Vertue when he sees his Actions are conformed to the Sentiments of all good and worthy Persons He is above the Tongues of evil Men and their Raillery will be in vain spent upon him when every Action he does in the course of Vertue will necessarily introduce him into the good Opinion of the best part of the World Vertue makes our
Relations and Friends happy MORE than this Vertue doth not only bring us a good Name but above all things it doth conduce to the Happiness of our Relations and Friends the goodness of God being so diffusive as to scatter his Blessings round about the Habitation of the Just for Vertue tends to this from the Nature of the thing it self because it lays the strictest Obligations upon Men to provide for their Families which whosoever neglects he is reckoned worse than an Heathen or Infidel besides it is many times seen that the Posterity of such as have given Testimony of their Goodness Charity and Kindness towards Men of Piety and Devotion towards God that their Relations have met with unexpected Kindnesses from others upon their account and for their sakes have been especially cared and provided for THUS Vertue is profitable for our Health for our Estates for our Honor and for our Relations it doth likewise improve our Understandings and bring Peace to our Minds 1. IT makes us better acquainted with the great Interests of our Souls Vertue improves our Vnderstandings and it doth also set us at liberty from the Dominion of our Vices and Passions and teaches us to use much Consideration and weighing of Things for that a Man may be vertuous it is not sufficient that he do vertuous Actions out of good Nature Interest or Passion but he must do them discreetly and for good ends by deliberation and choice for it hath been the Observation of all knowing Persons and they have delivered it for a certain Rule as hath also the holy Spirit and Wisdom of God himself That vertuous courses only together with God's Grace obtained by Prayer are capable to make a man wise that is to direct his actions in such a manner as he shall not need to repent of them Now an evil man seeks occasions to gratifie his Humor and at best thinks to stop at the Confines betwixt Passion and Vice but a wise Man avoids the occasions of Vice which he looks upon as a disease of the Soul contrary to the natural and due Constitution of it and subverting its true Tone and Disposition And that every Vice in particular is contrary to Prudence appears because Covetousness instead of Wisdom introduceth Craft Subtilty and Deceitfulness Pride breeds Confidence of a Mans self and Contempt of others Advice Lust is the Mother of Negligence and Inconstancy and at length of that blindness of Understanding which renders Men uncapable of understanding such things especially as concern their Souls but even such also as are advantageous to their temporal Welfare Besides Vertue doth most notoriously improve our Understandings by delivering us from the power of all Passions whatsoever which is done by regulating the Imagination whence they arose that is by subjecting it to Reason that it may not without Consultation follow the Suggestions of Sense and unruly Motions of Appetite these being the Clouds that darken the Mind by a kind of Physical and Natural Influence For as Intemperance and Excess do embase and clog our Minds and glue them to the World so they indispose them for all the Operations of the Spirit Malice Wrath and Envy fill us with Prejudice and false Apprehensions of things so that Mens Spirits under these Distempers are not pure nor fine enough for their Reason for as Clearness disposeth the bodily Eye for a better and quicker sight of material Objects so the Purity of our Souls that is freedom from Lust and Passion fit us for Acts of Reason and Understanding Now Vertue doth refine and purifie our Minds by stifling the fumes and steams of every Vice and Passion and the more a Man's Mind is cleansed from these Filthinesses the more noble will it be in all its Operations the more a Man is free from Passion his Apprehension of Things will be more distinct and unprejudiced and consequently his Judgment will be more steddy and better settled for freedom from Passion doth not only signifie that a Man is wise but really contributes to the making of him such Vertue promotes the Peace of our Minds Secondly VERTUE tends to the Peace of our Minds therefore the Wise man declares that her ways are ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Peace which Peace and Pleasure are brought to us by Vertue two ways First IN that it allays those Storms of Passion which ruffle and discompose the Mind for if we lay open the Soul with its Operations we shall find that Passions regulated by Reason or God's Spirit are properly Vertues and when they are not so regulated they become Vices Now Malice Hatred Revenge Ill-will Wrath Impatience are fretting Passions and rob us of our Peace they admit no Counsel but are full of Tumult and Confusion it is not in the power of Reason to rule absolutely over these untoward Affections but because Reason is sometimes misled or obstinately mistaken Almighty God has given us his holy Religion and his Spirit to govern Reason also and render every Thought obedient to Faith So that in Religion lies the universal and never failing Remedy of all the Evils of the Soul and an infallible Cure of those Passions that lye cross to our Minds which like small Particles that have rugged and sharp Angles do continually molest and grate upon us but he that is free from the Tumults of these Passions finds nothing but Sweetness and Contentment the moderation whereof ought to be the chief aim of every one who desires to be wise or to be quiet Secondly Vertue frees us from guilt and the fears of divine Wrath. VERTUE frees us from the anxiousness of Guilt and the fears of divine Wrath whereby it doth much promote our real Peace and Pleasure for what can be supposed to be more tormenting than the continual dreads of God's Anger consequently the Satisfaction must be as great when God is reconciled to a Man and made his Friend What Comfort and Joy doth a vertuous Person perceive in the sense of his Love in the serious Reflections on a well-spent Life in the Conscience of having acted uprightly in the chief business of Life what pleasure doth such a Man take in his Service what Peace in working Righteousness what Exultation and Triumph in the assured Hope and Expectation of future Glory AS there are pure and refined Joys sweet and unmingled Delights in the ways of Vertue so on the contrary the chief part of the Misery of ungodly Men is this that they are of a Temper which is naturally a disquiet to it self and here the foundation of Hell is laid in the evil frame and disposition of their own Spirits when Men are not circumspect in their Conversation and very careful to walk in the ways of Godliness especially when the Confines of Vertue and Vice are so close and the exact Limits and Boundaries are so difficultly fixed Until this rash and inconsiderate running into Vice be cured which only can be done by the
of another mind Temperance tends to our Happiness in this that it tends to our Health without which all the Enjoyments of this Life are but little worth on the other side the intemperate Man is an Enemy to himself continually making Assaults upon his own Life the Apostle adviseth that we should abstain from fleshly Lusts that war against the Soul and it ought to be no small Argument to us that they war against the Body also so for Kindness and Love besides that they are good to others they are of much use and benefit to our selves for there is unspeakable pleasure in Love a great deal of ease in a charitable Temper on the contrary how fretting and vexatious to the Mind of Man are Malice Envy and Hatred they do not only raise Enemies abroad but they set a Man against himself and deprive him of the Peace of his own Mind Compassion and Mercy is profitable to others and delightful to our selves so Compassion and Mercy are not more profitable unto other Men than they are delightful to our own Souls and we do not only gratifie our selves by doing Services to others but we thereby provoke Mankind by our Example to the like Kindnesses and so turn the pity of others to our selves when it shall come to be our turn to stand in need of their help In like manner our Reason directs us to the practice of Truth Fidelity and Justice as the surest Arts of thriving in this World these beget Confidence and give Men a Reputation in their Neighbourhood and these Vertues our Reason tells us have the force of a Law and there needs nothing to give the force of a Law to any matter but the stamp of divine Authority upon it Now God that made us and all other Creatures and by virtue of his Authority over us hath imprinted on our Natures the Principles of Good and Evil and hath so wrought 'em into the frame of our Souls by which as by a natural instinct Men are carried to approve what is good and disapprove what is evil and supposing that our natural Reasons do tell us that it is for our Interest to live in the practice of what we call Vertue and to dislike and avoid what we call Vice this is a sufficient declaration that we should do the one and avoid the other and if we live contrary to this we violate the Law of him that made us for there needs nothing to make a thing become a Law to us but that it is the Will of our Sovereign who hath Right to require it of us And this God hath declared to Mankind by the frame of their Natures and by those principal Faculties he hath endued us withal for no Man can imagine but that we should follow the Instruction of our Nature and be governed by the natural Notions of our own Minds And those natural Passions of Hope and Fear Hope and Fear are two very strong Passions that are so rooted in our Souls we cannot without great force to our selves act contrary to them And this is all the Law that great part of Mankind comes under and which is no other than that which the Apostle calls the Work of the Law written upon their Hearts and they having no other Revelation made to them shall be judged by it and those that offend against this Law shall be found guilty before God as well as those that have sinned against an express Revelation which is a plain Evidence that these natural Dictates have the force of a Law otherwise Men would not be guilty of any Crime by acting against them for it is a Rule universally true that where there is no Law there is no Transgression and this I take to be the meaning of that obscure Passage of the Apostle Rom. v. 13. for until the Law Sin was in the World that is before the Law was given unto Moses Men were capable of Sinning and therefore there was another Law against which they offended for Sin is not imputed where there is no Law But Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's Transgression that is tho they did not sin against any express Law of God as Adam did Thus Reason discovers to us how that the natural Dictates of our Minds have the force of a Law HENCE we may infer that Mankind would have been under the Obligation of Religion tho God had never made any immediate Revelation of his Mind and Will unto them if this was not so the Heathen who had no supernatural Revelation from God could not have been guilty of Sin nor liable to his Judgment for if nothing were Vertue or Vice but what was either expresly commanded or forbidden by God then all Actions would have been alike to the Heathen But there are some things naturally good and some things naturally evil and Men are bound to do the one and fly the other tho God had never made any supernatural Revelation of his Will to them For if God had never forbidden Hatred and Malice with Deceit Oppression Violence and the like Passions they would have appeared evil in themselves and ought not to have been done by us because they are inconsistent with the Peace of Human Society and contrary to the Nature and Reason of Mankind so on the other hand the Vertues opposite to these as Love to God together with Truth and Justice one towards another have such Goodness in them that they are commended to the liking of Mankind without the need of any absolute Declaration to oblige Men to the practice of them If these things were not so the Tables might have been turned and all that which we now call Vertue might have been forbidden by God and things would have been every whit as well and there would have been no difference only the Names of things would have been changed The nature of Good and Evil is unalterable BUT I appeal to any ones Reason whether he can think it as vertuous an Action to hate God as to love him to contemn as to honor him and whether Malice Envy Hatred and Ingratitude would have made as much for the Peace of Mankind as the practice of Love and Goodness would have done if they would not then it is manifest that there is something in the Nature of Things that made the difference and so long as the Nature of God and Man remain what they are some Things will be in their own Natures unalterably good and some things evil which doth not depend upon any arbitrary Constitution but is founded in the Nature of the Things themselves The general consent of mankind shews what is Virtue and what is Vice Thirdly WHAT is Virtue and what is Vice is shewn to us by the general vote and consent of Mankind which we do not extend to all the instances of Virtue and Vice but only to the great and more essential parts of it
such as Piety to God Adoration of the Divine Nature Gratitude to Benefactors Temperance Meekness Charity Justice Fidelity and such like these are agreed upon by mankind to be good and the contrary to these evil for they are generally had in esteem by Men and their opposites are evil spoken off now to praise any thing is to give testimony to the goodness of it and to dispraise any thing is to declare it to be evil and if we consider the Customs of the World and the instances of all Ages we shall find that the Things that have been praised in the lives of Men are the Piety and Devotion of Men towards their Gods their Temperance and Gratitude their Justice and Fidelity their Humanity and Charity The contraries to these have been ever condemned as Atheism and Profaneness contempt of God and Religion Ingratitude Falsness Oppression Cruelty Nay so steddy hath mankind been in commending Virtue and censuring Vice Vicious Men speak well of Virtue that we shall find not only the virtuous themselves giving their testimony to Virtue but even those that are vicious have so much Justice as to speak well of Moral Virtues not out of love to them but because their Affections are prevented by the Conviction of their own Minds and the testimony of these persons is the more valuable because it is that of an Enemy for Friends are apt to be partial but the acknowledgement of an Enemy is of great weight because it seems to be extorted from him and that which he is even forced to do against his will And it is a clear evidence that Vice is generally cryed down by Mankind because those that are so kind as to spare themselves are yet very quick-sighted to spy a fault in any one else and will arraign Vice in another with very much freedom HENCE it is that the Scripture commands that our Light should so shine before Men that they may see our good works Matth. v. 13. Charges us to promise things honest in the sight of all Men Rom. xii 17. To have our Conversation honest among the Gentiles that is to do those things which the Light of Nature cannot but approve of 1 Pet. ii 12. By well doing to put to silence the ignorance of foolish Men for this saith the Apostle is the Will of God by which it is intimated that there are some Virtues so good in themselves and so owned to be such that the worst of Men have not the face to open their mouths against them BESIDES Mankind do generally stand upon their Justification when they are conscious to themselves that they have done well but are ashamed when they have done ill Some indeed are such Monsters of Impiety that they can glory in their Shame but these are but few in comparison and they attain to this Temper by a long habit of great and enormous Vices But generally Men are Modest and are apt to Blush at what they do amiss Now Shame is a Trouble arising from a Sense What Shame is that we have done amiss and have forfeited our Reputation Guilt is a Passion towards our selves but Shame is with respect to others so that he who is ashamed of an Action doth thereby declare that he hath acted amiss and that what he hath done is accounted so by others for if he did not believe that Men had a bad opinion of such actions however he might be guilty in himself he would not be ashamed in respect of other Men But when Men have walked by the Rules of Virtue the Conscience of their Integrity lifts up their Heads because they are satisfied that other Men have a good esteem of their Actions And the Men sometimes will declare their dislike of the Ways of Virtue yet they have a secret reverence for those that do well and when their Passions are over they cannot but declare their Approbation and frequently do so All Men have a secret reverence for those that do well And this is a great evidence of the Consent of Mankind about Virtue and Vice for that those that do their Duty act above Board and live in the Practice of Goodness need not hide their Faces nor seek dark corners to do their work in as they who are forging evil deeds must do For no Man is ashamed to meet another with whom he has kept his Word and performed his Trust as he who hath done otherwise is wont to be Glory and Shame being an appeal to the Judgment of Mankind concerning the Good or Evil of our Actions NOW Vices such as Murder Adultery Drunkenness Rebellion Sedition Fraud Perjury and breach of Trust are provided against by most Nations and severely punished by the Laws of most Countrys which is a demonstration what opinion all Nations have had of these things No Law ever made against Virtue but there was never any Law made against Virtue no Man was ever forbidden to honour God tho particular Ways of Worship have been prohibited no Man was ever forbidden to be grateful faithful temperate just righteous honest charitable and peaceable which is an acknowledgment that Mankind always thought 'em good and were never sensible of any harm or mischief to come by them for had they done so they would at some time or other provided against 'em by Laws but as the Apostle saith against these things there is no Law as if he had said turn over the Laws of Moses search those of Athens read over the Twelve Tables of the Romans and you shall not find one of those Virtues that are commanded in the Scripture condemned or forbidden a sure and clear proof that Mankind never took any exception against them but rested in the goodness of them that they were necessary and profitable for all things NOW this general consent of Mankind about what is Good and Evil is a very good Argument of their being so in Truth and reality for the Consent of Mankind is the Voice of Nature and the Voice of Nature is the Voice of God the Author thereof for Tully tells us that God would not have planted these Notions in the Minds of Men had they not been agreeable to the Truth of Things there is no better way to establish what is Natural than if the whole kind agree in it and if it be Natural it is from God and whatever is from God is Real and True Now I have proved that God hath planted in Humane Nature a Sense of the difference between Virtue and Vice and hath made us able to judg what is Good and what is Evil. BUT besides this there are but two Causes into which this general Consent of Mankind can be resolved Tradition and humane Policy not Tradition because that is insufficient for so large and long a Conveyance of so many particulars as the Law of Nature consists in throughout all Ages and Nations for the Traditions of particular Nations which are supposed to be Arbitrary and to have no