the rich Pharisee gives perhaps a great deal more and yet gives too little because he bestows not his Charity according to the Jargeness of his Means Hence it is that Virtues are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aim at the medium and hence it also comes to pass that it is so difficult to find the true medium out for there are infinite ways to miss or to shoot beside the Mark but there is only one way to hitt it To do which one thing a virtuous Man must have the perfect use of his Reason Why Youth are not fit Hearers of Moral Philosophy upon this account some Philosophers have disputed whether young Persons should hear or read their Lessons and have determined they should not And Aristotle sets it down for a Maxim that Youth are not fit Hearers of Moral Philosophy For the fickleness of their Fancy the unruliness of their Passions the wild Sallies of their Affections suffer 'em not to reap any benefit by virtuous Discipline or Education But when Age hath somewhat cool'd the Heats of Passion when Wisdom and Experience hath cured all the Boylings of their Blood and hath master'd every exorbitant Humour Then is the proper time to cultivate the Soil and sow the Seeds of Vertue HOWSOEVER it be with this part of Aristotle's Doctrin yet by the method he prescribes the Hearer of Moral Precepts must have such a share of Prudence as may render him able to choose so much Passion as is due unto the Action which he undertakes HOW this Choice can be made by Youth unless they be first well disciplined is more than Aristotle hath taught us For making all Virtue to flow from Prudence he allotts no time to learn Wit which must be wrought in us by chance or some good fortune For Prudence being a solid and constant Habit and all Habits being gotten by the repetition of frequent Acts some space of time there must be in which these Acts that produce our Habits must be practised Now whether Age or Youth be the fitter season to plant Virtue in the mind let those make it a question who are ignorant whether the Spring or Autumn be the better Seed-time SEEING that the sowing of this good Seed doth bring forth the best and the greatest Men those who are most serviceable to God and those that are most useful in the World it will be worth our while to consider what that time of our Life is in which the Principles of Virtue ought to be imbibed In order to a more close enquiry into this matter we will first see what the natural state of the youthful Age is secondly we will prove it to be the best and most proper time to learn the great Art of living well First A Character of the Youthful Age. YOUNG Men are violent in their Desires and ever eager to execute them they have by natural Heat that disposition which elder Ages have by Wine Youth being a kind of Natural Drunkenness they easily forsake what they have much longed for being very inconstant and they love Honour or Success more than Mony as having not been yet in want they are good-natur'd because they have not been acquainted with much malice and they are credulous because they have not yet been often deceived they are stout for that they have not yet been cast down by the Mifortunes of Human Life and on all occasions are apt to err in the excess rather than in the Defect because they overdo every thing THIS being the natural State of our youthful Age in the next place we will consider whether this be the best time to learn Virtue in Now in my Opinion to plant the Principles of Virtue in the first Age of our lives is the same thing as to build a House upon a Rock No Storms nor Winds shall shake it it being in Civil as it is in Natural Plantations where young tender trees though subject to the injuries of the Air and in danger even of their own flexibility would yet little want any Underproppings if they were at first well fastned in their Roots 'T is true at this time the mind is most in danger of being misled by Fancies and of being disturbed by Passions which are the various motions thereof towards Objects agreeable or disagreeable But these and the Inclinations too which are only the more frequent exercise of the Passions are all made obedient to sound Reason and most tenacious of the rules of Vertue if they are received betimes FOR before the Vessel be seasoned with one kind of Liquor it is equally capable of all Reasons Why Youth is the fittest time to learn Virtue and so the Wax is indifferent to any impression before it is moulded and determined by a particular Seal If the mind be rasa Tabula as Aristotle would have it then this White Paper may best be inriched with good Inscriptions before it be soiled or blotted with evil Or if there be any innate connatural Notions which the Platonists affirm it is best then to awaken them before evil Customs of Life deaden their vigor as it happens to the body from an Obstruction in the Nerves For doubtless all Evil is a kind of Intellectual Opium casts the Faculties of the mind as I may so say into a Moral Apoplexy and so according to the opinion of one Philosopher blots the White Paper according to another it is destructive of the very first principles in Nature whereas he who lays his Foundation upon the principles of Virtue shall direct the course of his Life with that Uniformity as will bear him up under all the Accidents he can be exposed to he will be guided by such Rules as he never needs Change but his whole Life will be blameless his Actions well weigh'd his Words discreet his Thoughts regular and in all things shall he live according to the utmost perfection Human Nature is capable of YOUTH being an Age fittest to learn not only the rudiments of divers Languages but the most useful Knowledge both of God and of our selves because in Youth the Powers of the mind and the Strength of the body are alike vigorous clear and active the Instrument is not as yet broken nor out of tune the Organs are not yet disturbed the Understanding is not bribed with Error nor the Will as yet grown stubborn and stiff in bad Courses Prejudices are not strong enough to darken the Object or the Faculty that is to apprehend them the Habits of Vice are as yet unlearned and unpractised the Memory is not at leisure to furnish its Store-house with vain Idea's it is neither choakt with Straw nor stopt wth Mud the Impertinency of worldly business is not yet become a burden too heavy for the mind to bear BESIDES all Impressions made in the days of Youth are strong and deep so that what is now well fix'd in the Soul will not easily leave it And if the principles of Virtue like small and
is by all means to be rooted out from among Men and this following perswasion erected in the stead of that there is no compassing the end we aim at by fraudulent and indirect courses but only by just Dealings and honest Counsels SO that if that be true which is commonly observed that Men are wont to prove such kinds of Christians as they were Men before and that Conversion does not destroy but exalt our Tempers it may well be concluded that the diligent Man in his Employment is nearer to make a modest and an humble Christian The diligent Man makes the best Christian than the Man of Speculative Science who is proud of his Knowledg for a true Preparation for the next Life is not at all inconsistent with Men's consulting of their happiness in this World or being employed about Earthly Affairs the honest pursuit of the necessaries and of the conveniences of a mortal Condition by Just and regular Ways is by no means contradictory to the most real and severe Duties of a Christian it is true indeed an irregular prosecution of Profit or Gain is an offence to Religion but so it is also to Right Reason and Nature it self And it is a wrong Conception of the State of Grace if Men believe that when they enter upon it they must presently cast away all the thoughts and desires after the Possessions of this World but when we are bidden not to think our own thoughts it is not intended that we should forbear all natural Actions and Inclinations so it must be lawful for the strictest Christian by the help of honest Arts to provide for the necessities of this Life else the condition of Men would be worse than that of the Beasts that perish seeing to them it is natural to seek out for all the ways of their own preservation IT must be confessed that there may be an excess as well as defect in men's Opinions of Holiness and then I will make no Scruple to say that the virtuous Man defiles not his Mind when he labors in the works of an honest Art to advance his profit Christianity approves of the works of honest Art the diversion it gives him will stand with the greatest constancy and the delight of pursuing it with the truth and reality of Religion Which is indeed an Heavenly Thing but not utterly averse from making use of the Rules of humane Arts wherefore it is not the best service that can be done to Christianity to place its chief Precepts so much out of the way as to make them unfit for Men of business whereas the best part of Religion is Practical and Her chiefest Precepts are those that govern the private Motions and Passions of our Minds those are its most excellent Rules which calm our Affections and Conquer our Vices And the works of practical Religion are no less wonderful than those of Art which we now speak of for in whatever place of the World Arts have been destroyed Barbarity prevails when Arts are Destroyed Barbarity hath prevailed insomuch that if Aristotle and Plato and Demosthenes should now arise in Greece again they would stand amazed at the horrible Devastation of that which was the Mother of Arts and at the ignorance as well as incivility that hath taken its seat And if Caesar and Tacitus should return to Life they would scarce believe this Britain and Gaul and Germany to be the same which they described they would now behold 'em covered over with Cities and Palaces which were in their time overrun with Forrests and Thickets They would see all manner of Arts Flourishing in these Countries where the chief Art that was Practised when they Lived was that Barbarous one of Painting their Bodies to make them look more Terrible in Battel HENCE it is remarkable that where-ever Arts have been Plante d there Humanity good Manners Religion and good Manners Fourish where Art is encouraged and the Seeds of Religion have encreased and so long as there remains any corner of the World without Civility Artificers are the most likely and fittest Persons to subdue the Rudenesses of Mankind And it was said of Civil Government by Plato that the World will be best ruled when either Philosophers shall be chosen Kings or Kings shall have Philosophical Minds And I will affirm the like of Philosophy it will then attain to Perfection when either the followers of Art shall have Philosophical Heads or the Philosophers shall have Mechanical Hands for thus the conceptions of Men of Knowledg which are wont to soar too high will be made to descend into the Material World and the Flegmatick imaginations of Men of Trade which use to grovel too much on the Ground will be exalted And the power as well as the value of Art may be proved by one instance and it is of Archimedes who did wonders by applying his skill in the Mathematicks to the Practices and Motions of manual Trades his success was so prodigious herein that the true contrivances of his Hands did exceed all the fabulous strength which either the Antient Stories or modern Romances have bestowed on their Heroes He alone sustained the burden of his Falling Country He alone kept the Romans at a bay to whom the whole World was to yield For neither Seas nor Mountains neither Fleets nor Armies could resist the Force of his Engines which are the greatest Powers of Nature and of Men. AS therefore those Men are most happy Where Arts abound there are Riches who are still labouring to improve their minds in moral Virtues which have such a mutual dependence that no man can attain to perfection in any one of them without some degree of the other so that Country is still the richest and most powerful which entertains most Manufactures For the hands of men Employed are true Riches and where this is done there will never a sufficient matter for Profit be wanting but where the Ways of Life are few the Fountains of Profit will be possess'd by Few and so all the rest must live in Idleness on which inevitably ensues Poverty FOR Idleness is that defect which is opposite to Art for the Arts of men's hands are subject to the same infirmity with Empire the best Art of their minds of which it is truly observed that whenever it comes to stand still Idleness the cause of very ill effects and ceases to advance it will soon go back and decrease So if we shall cast an Eye on all the Tempests which arise within our Breasts and consider the Causes and Remedies of all the violent Desires malicious Envies intemperate Joys and irregular Griefs by which the lives of most men become miserable or guilty we shall find that they are chiefly produced by Idleness and may be most naturally cured by Business For whatever Art shall be able to busie the minds of men with a constant course of innocent works or to fill them with as vigorous and pleasant Images
pretend it is not their Reason but their Vice that cavils at the Principles of Virtue and they except against it not because it contradicts their Understandings but their Appetites Now to humor or indulge these Appetites in all their Transgressions of the Laws of Nature and Virtue will appear very absurd and unreasonable if we consider 1st That all manner of Vice is so vain 2. Vice is a vain thing as that it cannot be forced to contribute to any wise End at all Shame is the only Fruit of it and all its Pleasures pass away in a moment leaving nothing but Sorrow and Repentance behind them As for Example Revenge is a busie and contriving Vice thrusts it self into all the hardships of War is lost in perpetual Storms and abandons all Peace of mind to its own impatient humour the only Mark it aims at is mere and abstracted Evil Mischief and Bitterness is the fruit of all its toil The same thing may be said of Ambition which is full of mighty Projects stoops not to small and petty Enterprises but spends its time wholly in the quest of Fame and feeds upon Applause vulgar Ignorance 't is true hath made these great and glorious things but take off the Vizard that Opinion hath put upon them and what remains then but Vanity and Emptiness Insomuch that no wise Man would ever hazard the Ease of his Life in the Attempts of vain Glory whereas there is no Glory like that of a generous and honest Mind no Applause like that of a Man's Conscience for good and righteous Actions But he who quits the inward Joy and Content of his own Soul for the great or the glorious things of this World leaves a lasting Happiness to follow a Phantasm or a Dream For all this what Difficulties do Men choose to undergo only to be loaded with heavier Sorrows to be amazed with greater Fears to be wearied out with preventing or encountering more vexatious Disasters In like manner all the Pains and Passions of the proud and covetous are spent upon things that they can neither want when they have them not nor enjoy when they have them for one Man commonly strives to get as much as would suffice ten and the trouble of holding the other nine parts discomposes the enjoyment of his own share for all any Man hath above the natural Capacities of a Man above that little which supplies the Needs and Desires of his Nature ministers no more to his satisfaction than what he has not because Happiness results not from a Man's possessing the Comforts of Life but from his using them therefore unless he could extend his Appetites with his Fortunes he doth but encrease his Troubles with his Plenty and he who amasseth together more than the Needs of his Nature do require doth but burden himself with superfluous Cares for what he can never have 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 tastless to us as Dirt and Gravel which is more at large demonstrated in the Character of Temperance So idle and so fruitless is all the Industry of Ambition and Covetousness Ad supervacua sudatur is the Motto of the business of human Life and foolish Man is so unlucky as to break his Sleeps consume his Spirits rack his Brains and employ his Skill so to no purpose as to be after all his Sweat not so happy nor so easie as he was before for we should consider 2dly That Vice is an Imposture and Delusion 3. Vice in an Imposture it abuses Men with those very Expectations which it directly opposeth it flatters Men with the fairest Promises of Delight yet produceth nothing but Grief and Vexation it defeats and undermines all its own Projects and ever concludes in Repentance and Disappointment Like the Harlot in the Proverbs it inveigles with the wanton Kisses of her Lips and draws the rash Youth after her as a Fool to the Correction of the Stocks her Bed is deck'd with the Covering of Tapestry and her House is perfumed but all this while it is the Road to Hell and leads to the Chambers of Death So whorish and so impudent is the Face of Vice the Temptations thereof dazzle the Minds of Men with false and counterfeit Gayeties they entice with subtile and wily Glances loose Gestures smooth and amorous Addresses and all this while it 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 human Life for there is no Vice upon which Nature hath not entailed its proper Curse Intemperance is naturally punished with Diseases Rashness with Mischances Injustice with the Violence of Enemies Pride with Ruine Cowardise with Oppression these and such like are the Punishments consequent to the breach of the Laws of Nature and follow them as their natural not arbitary Effects For all Wickedness is its own Penance it ever contradicts what it seems to aim at if its design be Mirth then it torments with Sorrow and Anguish if Pride and Ambition then it kills with Affronts and Indignities if Lust and Wantonness then it wounds with Shame and Repentance Thus the chiefest good to the voluptuous Man is Pleasure and if this be obtained by a short and healthless Life by Crudities and Inflammations then the Man is happy so all Luxury feels its Gripings and the Glutton more heartily loaths the Joys of his Sin than he ever pursued them his Bed or Couch is fain to give him some repose to the irksomness of his Table he dozes away his Life and seems to live in a continual Lethargy his Organs are so diluted with indigested matter that they have not Sense enough to perceive the briskness of their own Relishes and if he escape the sudden stroke of a Feaver he turns his weak and stokly Body into a Statue of Earth and Flegm fills his Veins with flat and spiritless Humours grows fat with Sloth and Dulness In brief he breaths short Sighs often sleeps seldom till he dyes as sottishly as he lived And the like happens to the Drunkard who cannot endure Solitude because then his Fancy is filled with unwelcome Meditations either of Death the Accounts of Conscience or the Concerns of Eternity and therefore he thinks to wash down all these melancholy Thoughts with Wine or banish them with deep Draughts and loud Laughter but his next Mornings Accompts are a sleepless Night Qualms and fainting Sweat and a dismal Confusion all over his Senses altho Custom may have so naturalized both Gluttony and Drunkenness to some Men that they can follow them without the danger of Sickness yet they quench the Heat and Vigour of their
this is that Power and Right which many Men are bent to maintain which Jezabel advised Ahab to put in practice when he was troubled for Naboth's Vineyard Dost thou govern Israel and knowest not how to have Naboth's Vineyard Arise eat Bread and let thy Heart be merry I will give thee the Vineyard of Naboth and she gave it him but upon strange Terms by wilful Murder Perjury and Subordination these are the methods of Vice in drawing Men into her Courses they are puff'd up with an Opinion of their own Ability and extraordinary freedom above other Creatures as if it were power to do Mischief or true freedom to choose Evil. 3. Evil covers it self under some probable Circumstance and finds an Excuse for the worst it can do 9. Evil takes another disguise warrants it self sometimes by the difference of Time and Place sometimes by Measure and Degree sometimes by Mode and Manner for as much as that may be done at one time which may not be at another so by measure and degree although it be one of the most difficult things in the World to assign Mode and Measure for Men will say a thing may be done in another place though not in this or in that manner though it may not be done in this or in that fashion yet it may to such a measure and degree the Sluggard was still for a little more Sleep till Evil had got fast hold and would never let him go so in many Cases it is very hard to fix the utmost bounds of Good and Evil because they part as Day and Night which are divided by Twylight so that there is a glimmering of Day between both and it is a nice Point to know in these adjacent borders of Virtue and Vice how far a Man may go and further he may not 10. Evil pleads Necessity 4. Evil sometimes pleads Necessity that it is unavoidable but we must comply with it insomuch that some have learned to argue for their Wickedness by charging it upon the Physical and necessary Workings of their Natures which they cannot stop and consequently they cannot commit a Fault in suffering them to have their full swinge But if we examine the Case we shall find that there is no necessity at all to do that which is Evil though evil Affections and Lusts may proceed from something that is Natural yet they can never get a Dominion over us but through our own voluntary consent However this weight of Necessity pressing Men to sin was Herod's Argument wherewith he thought to justifie himself when he acted contrary to the sense of his own mind But this we must walk by as a Rule that Necessity may put us upon Inconveniences but it must never put us upon Iniquity or make us consent to Sin Though we live no longer here we shall live in a better State therefore we must not to save our present Being destroy the cause of Life which consists in a good Temper of Mind in a Regularity of our Actions and Practices 11. Evil pleads Custom 5. One Sin seeks covert in another until they are encreased to such a Heap as will press down the Sinner into Misery and Ruin one Evil flies often for Protection to a worse so that nothing can be in a more deplorable State than a wicked Man whilst that which he takes for his Refuge will certainly undo him besides Sin would persuade us to continue it in the World because it hath been customary for Men to live ill by this means the Devil doth so possess the vicious Person as he cannot get rid of him and when once he is habituated to an evil Course of Life it is no easie matter to recover himself but the greatest Cheat of all that Vice puts upon Men is when Attrition or a sudden sorrow for Sin passes for the whole product of Repentance whereas that which is indeed true Repentance must be accompanied with the forsaking all manner of Vice and with the bringing forth a thorow Reformation and Amendment of our Lives and that I may the better satisfie you in this Point you may consider that the first motions of Repentance have been where nothing that is good hath followed upon it for Judas was sorry for betraying our Lord but what was the Consequence nothing but Despair and Self-Murder And of some we read in St. Peter who had escaped the pollutions of the world and were again ensnared whose latter end was worse than their beginning we must therefore follow the first good motions of a new Life until we bring them into a settled State otherwise these Motions may prove an Aggravation of our Sin and encrease our Condemnation In all these Instances before-mentioned Vice it deceitful now it would trouble us less to be overborn and forced than thus to be deluded and wheedled into Destruction we may not be able to oppose Force but we cannot be cozen'd if we be but as wise and cautious as we should or ought to be that one Man is stronger or richer than another it may not be in our power to help but if a Man be not as prudent or vertuous as another it may be much his own fault for this depends upon his own care and the improvement of those Faculties which God hath given him and I am of Opinion that we should be wise enough for one another if we were but equally honest and if Men would consider the doleful issues of Impiety it would be easier to persuade a sober Man to stab himself for a Bag of Cherry Stones as to hazard his future Happiness for a present Advantage Interest or Pleasure 12. If Men would consider they would avoid Evil. Therefore I would ask this of Mankind that they would act suitably to the fixed and unavoidable Fate of things and remember that they are a sort of Beings who must hereafter live always in unconceivable Bliss or Woe But if this Meditation will not Influence their Thoughts it will be in vain to press them with any more Arguments but they must be left to the dismal and pitiless deserts of their want of Sense and Consideration Nay if they would but think what kind of Creatures God hath made them they must look upon Vice as the greatest Corruption and Dishonor to their Natures for they are placed in a middle State between Angels and Brutes they are made up of contrary Principles Matter and Spirit are endued with contrary Faculties animal and rational this is their Condition and by this means they are in a Capacity to exercise the Virtues peculiar to their compounded Natures for the Life of Man in this World is nothing else but an Olympick Exercise therefore it is represented in the Scripture as a Race a Warfare a laboring in the Vineyard the great Principles and Graces of the Christian Life can be exercised only while we have bodily Appetites and Passions to govern that solicite and tempt us to sensual Excesses Herein
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
are called the Lights of the Earth that enlighten all about them for they are ever distilling wise Advices which however they may at first seem grievous yet they insinuate by degrees and get possession of the Vnderstanding they are frequently awakening those with whom they discourse to the consideration of God's Goodness the Eternity of their own Souls putting them upon the best improvement of their time exciting them to the Love of God and of their Neighbour taking all wise occasions to reprove the Wickedness of Men and to restrain their exorbitant Courses So their Example is of great force to amend their Brethren because it is a greater encouragement to go before a Man and shew him the Path of Virtue than only to give him direction 't is true Religion and Virtue are more lovely in the notion and definition of them than they are in the Person in the definition they are pure and have nothing of Allay but in the Person they are attended with mixture and imperfection yet Virtue is more lively in the Person and they say that a Man who shoots can better take his aim at a living than a dead Mark because there is something in Life that commands a more steddy attention and makes us look more intently upon it tho Religion and Virtue may he represented with more Advantage in a Discourse and a Man may be better convinced that way of their Excellency yet Example satisfies one of the practicableness of the thing For Holiness would appear an impossible thing and not to be attained were it not that we have it made familiar to us and easie for our imitation in the Lives of virtuous Men who by their Counsel and Instruction point out the way of Virtue to us but by their Example they take us by the hand and lead us in that way And it is incredible of what Advantage a few great Examples may be to reform the World chiefly if their places have given them any advantage of ground and do make them subject to the notice of others thus the Example of Socrates had an influence upon Athens and the severe Life of Cato upon the People of Rome 'T is true indeed the Nature of Man leaneth to evil and is insensibly drawn away by bad Examples yet it is not so degenerate but it may receive some Impressions of Virtue from the Lives Company and Conversation of good Men who in respect of Counsel and Instruction are the Lights of the World so in respect of their Example they are the Salt of the Earth for a Man of severe Innocency and Justice is as so much Salt cast into the World to preserve the Manners of Men from Putrefaction a Man of a gentle and conversable Temper of a peaceable and reconciling Mind is like so much Balm to heal the Wounds and Exasperations of Mens Spirits a Man of a strict Piety and lively Devotion of an ardent Zeal and active Industry for Goodness is as so much Fire or Life sent down from Heaven to awaken the drowsie Worlds and rowze the endeavours of others after the best things a Man of eminent Holiness doth discourage the Vngodliness of Men and one of a wise and grave Behaviour doth restrain their Vanity and Folly Thus the Preservation and the Bettering of the World must be ascribed to virtuous Persons as an Effect and as a Reward of their Goodness for they are ever persuading Men to be better and they keep 'em from growing worse and God doth not only reward them in their Persons but all who are near or related to them shall thrive the better for their sakes thus the eminent Faith of Abraham and the Sincerity of David had an influence upon the Happiness of Israel for many Generations Therefore if we would avoid being imposed upon and would take just Measures of our selves we are to judg of our Condition as the Psalmist directs Psal 18.21 according as we have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from God For the best proof the Schools afford is a Demonstration by the Effect as for instance if you are to prove the Being of a God the best way to do it is from what he hath made so the best Method for a Man to prove himself to be virtuous is from what he does Thus our Saviour hath told us a good tree bringeth forth good fruit and an evil one evil fruit Now it is a Matter of great consequence to know whether we be in a state of Salvation or not we are apt to puzzle our selves with obscure Marks of Grace and doubtful Signs of our good State but there is one plain and sensible Mark which will silence all Jealousies and that is the keeping of God's Commandments this we may come at without searching into the Records of Heaven or diving into the secret Counsels of God Perhaps there is nothing in Religion more to be wondered at than to see so many Christians in continual Anxieties about their State and so few that can arrive to any competent degree of assurance in this matter Whereas the Scripture every where nakedly declares to Men their Duty and has plainly laid down the Precepts of a holy Life and all along supposes that by Obedience to these Men may certainly know whether they love God or not that by giving all diligence to abound in Grace and the Virtues of a holy Life they may make their Calling and Election sure For there are two different States of Men 15. There are two different States of Men. one is wherein Sin prevails in the other Religion and Goodness take place these two differ in degrees as wide as Heaven and Hell which Places we must not believe to be all hereafter for both the one and the other are in some measure begun here upon Earth They who are made like to God in the frame and temper of their Minds who live according to the everlasting and unchangeable Rules of Goodness Righteousness and Truth may be properly enough said to have made their entrance already into Heaven But they who confound the difference of good and evil who care not to approve themselves to God by leading good and holy Lives do partake of the diabolical Nature and are already entred into the state of Hell Wherefore it behoves us to keep the ways of the Lord with Diligence and Care which the Judgment of right and wrong true and false good and evil doth require For this is the very Grammar of Religion and being built upon these first Principles it grows higher by degrees according to every ones Capacity and Ability in moderating his Faculties for the several purposes of it Now the first thing in Religion is to refine a Man's Temper and the second is to govern his Practice for if it do not mend Mens Spirits and regulate their Lives it is much inferiour to any Principle in Nature which is sufficient to and doth attain its effect But the Grace of God
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
Equals or our Inferiours IN Conversing with our Betters we must beware of Sawciness or of using our advantage if we have any For it is a true Proverb He that eats Pears with his Betters must take heed how he choose the best Rigomez de Selva a great Courtier under Charles the 5th being one Night at Cards with his Master the Emperour likeing his Game Swore that Bout should be his the Courtier not willing to cross him notwithstanding he had much the better hand threw up his Cards and yielded Some of the standers by perceiving this smiled which the Emperour taking notice of would needs know the cause without any excuse and being inform'd what Rigomez had done rather than he would displease him took it well for the present and afterwards gave him a just reward So welcome are these Civilities to Persons of the highest Quality and Honor. Secondly OUR behaviour amongst our equals must be without all Imperiousness for Insolence and Stateliness are no signs of a well bred Man but the Scandals of Conversation and it being better to give too much Honor to any Person than too little therefore it is better to carry our selves as inferiours to our equals and equal to such as are not much our inferiours Thirdly WE must so Converse with our inferiours as never to do any thing that may look like scorn because Man by Nature is most impatient of Contempt Man naturally is must impatient of câ—ntempt For a Person of Note and Birth in Rome Sueing once for the Consulship took one of the Plebeians by the Hand and finding it somewhat hardened by the reason of his daily labour asked him merrily whether he were used to go upon his Hands The Man taking this for a Scoff and a Derision of him complained to his Associates and did so far prevail that the Patrician lost the Consulship for his unseasonable jest TO conclude in our behaviour with all kind of Persons we must cut off those Angles and smooth all that roughness which may give offence and be cautious that we fall not upon either of the extremes base Submission or Surliness for these are the Two Rocks between which we must steer our Course if we would adorn the Doctrine of Christ with a blameless Conversation If we would keep up Friendship with our Brethren which Friendship bears upon it a Character of the Divine Nature because it is ever doing good to Mankind Affability without Friendship is nothing worth and without which Affability is only Talk but a tinkling Cymball Nay without it the whole World is but a Wilderness and Men are the Savage Beasts in that Desart Now our Passions of all Kinds are most apt to swell and affect our Hearts to ease and bring down these Swellings is the principal Fruit of Friendship which at the same time chears our Spirits and quickens them also in Wisdom and Virtue it doubles Men's joys and cuts their griefs into halfes upon this account our most serious Religion commands us to be chearful and friendly that we may be good company for our Neighbours for hereby our words are made more gracious and acceptable our conceits more quick and pleasant our countenances more smooth and obliging A Temper thus Framed may support the Burden of Life very contentedly which is not unfitly compar'd to a Journey to perform it all alone is so uncomfortable that we should grow weary as soon as we begin it unless we were joined in friendship with our Fellow-Travellers who will make it seem less tedious and burdensome What a comfort is this to humane Life to walk with such Companions as shall asswage our cares with their wholsom Discourses dispatch our Counsels with their sage Opinions and dissipate our sorrows with their innocent Mirth Therefore Solomon hath told us that two are better than one 1. In the Case of inward Weakness if one fall the other will lift up his Friend 2. In the Case of Dulness if one be cold and heavy the other may communicate some heat to him 3. In the Case of Worldly Troubles and violent Enemies that may prevail against one yet two he saith shall withstand them So in all private Cases the calling a Man's self to a strict account is a Medicine sometime too corrosive and sharp the reading Books of Morality is often very flat and dead and the observing our faults in others is frequently unproper for our case but the best Receipt both for the amending our Manners and the managing our Business is the Admonition of a Friend especially when he is one of real worth having a Mind furnished with treasures of divine Wisdom and a Heart full of the Love of God For the Hope neither of gain nor pleasure nor youthful affection but the Love of Wisdom Goodness and Sobriety must knit us together we must be united by the admiration and esteem of the same things for since the Study of Virtue is not subject to those changes of Fortune that other things undergo the benevolence of virtuous Men must needs be perpetual and is not in danger to suffer that decay which is wont to be the Fate of vulgar Friendship Of VERACITY OF the Conversable Virtues Veracity is the Tye and that which gives 'em their real price the Philosopher calls it Truth but that name is too general for Truth is properly the Object of the understanding as we are taught in the Mataphysicks where Ens is said to have Three properties unum bonum verum For when the understanding doth conceive aright of Things as they are in themselves with their mutual respects and relations one to another then as it were by a second notion it is said to conceive the Truth and if it happen not to form a right Conception of any thing whose truth was not made by the understanding but was antecedent to it there it is said to conceive that which is false For the better descent therefore unto our matter in hand we are to understand that there is in things a double Truth one Metaphysical the spring of all our common Notions and Principles and upon which we ground all our Reasonings and Discourse to this is opposed Falsehood and Errour Another Truth for distinction sake we call Moral unto which is opposed a Lye For when the understanding conceives amiss of any thing it doth not presently lye but errs mistakes or reports a Falshood But Mendacia animo constant we then Lye when wittingly we broach a Falshood for some evil end either of gain or flattery of fear or some such purpose And here we find that Truth which doth properly constitute this Virtue NOTWITHSTANDING Truth as it is opposed to a lye is somewhat of too large a nature to be contained under this Virtue but it is often opposed unto Justice But the Truth which especially belongs to this Virtue concerns a point of behaviour in common Conversation upon which we are frequently cast For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is
before he is fully possess'd of the End he drives at his Prudence must be concluded to de defective BUT put these three all together and in whomsoever they are found I may affirm that he is a Person well qualified with Prudence either for this or the other World FOR as the prudent Man for this World is ever busie in contriving the most probable Ways of gaining the most precious things of it his Head is ever at work his thoughts are watchful and intent his whole mind is in this very matter to promote his Fortune and to settle his Interest so the prudent Man in the Exercises of Virtue casts off all sloth and negligence The behaviour of a prudent Man in Religion spends his hours in Meditation upon the transitory State of the best Things here and the certainty of Death and Judgment so that He is constantly employed in stating his Accounts for this great Day and in examining himself how he is prepared for it As the prudent Man for this World who resolves to be Rich considers that He must then be very industrious in his Calling and very frugal in his Expences that He must deny his Ease and his Appetites and exactly keep his Accounts For He who indulges his Belly and his sleep takes not the right way to encrease his Estate And as He who hath an Ambition to be highly honoured or prefer'd will take care to offend no Body but demean himself Civilly will put up and conceal many Affronts will do all acts of Courtesie and beneficence that He can As another whose Genius leads him to search for Knowledg knows the directest way to it is sedulous Study to peruse good Books frequent the best Company and to render all useful to himself by sober Contemplation So the prudent Man in Virtue aims at the Enjoyment of God's Favour and Eternal Life with him therefore He applies himself heartily to the fittest Means for this End which is to be holy and to do good to serve God faithfully and to make use of all Opportunities of redeeming his time therefore thinking much of Heaven and hoping to land himself safely there He will never steer his Course by a false Compass by imagining that he is in the right way when he is of such a Party when He can dispute hotly for this and that Opinion or when He spends all his Zeal upon those things that perish in the using and never go beyond this present State As the prudent Man for this World doth not content himself with chusing proper Means to the Ends he follows but when he is satisfied that the Means he hath chosen are fit and suitable he is never discouraged or baffled out of them by any difficulties whatsoever For instance No hardship disheartens the Man who designs to get Riches He slights all the Labours and Cares in his Way because he is stedfastly bent upon the acquisition of his Desires And as another Man who is strongly inclined to become Eminent in all sorts of Learning and to understand all Matters that have been before him knows well that his Candle must never go out that by pains and watchings he must contract pale Looks and a sickly Body yet he is not cast down by any of these considerations So the prudent Man in the business of Virtue is sure that if he doth good and lives well A virtuous and prudent Man values not Reproaches he shall be happy therefore he values not the Reproaches of bad men nor the Afflictions that are to be endured For he will never be beaten off from his intended purpose by any such or greater discouragements As a Wise Man for this World looks upon it as a notorious Mark of Folly for a Man to run upon any thing at all Adventures as He is wary and suspicious so that he will not trust his Fortune in every Bodies hands nor take the Counsel of a Man whom he thinks not to be Honest or that he imagins will impose upon him So the prudent Person for the cause of Virtue builds his Faith and Hope for a better World with as much care and caution therefore He is not apt to be misled by every Impostor but contemns those Mountebanks in Religion A Religious prudent man is not easily misled who by fair Stories and specious Gulleries wheedle men out of their Sense and Reason This he doth because He is as careful of his Religion and as watchful against Cheats as the cunning man for this World is wont to be for advancing his secular Ends and Interests For which purpose he will watch the proper Season of doing any thing and will never let it slip So the prudent Man in the Warfare of Virtue lays hold of all opportunities for the benefit of his Soul He makes use of the present time and considers if his Work be not done now it will never be done at all So far the Parallel goes between a prudent Man for this World and for Virtue But here we cannot but bewail the ill State of things that Men should strive to be more discreet in the little Affairs of this Life than they are in matters of much more importance to them the unreasonableness of which will appear in these four particulars First it is manifest The unreasonableness of being more prudent for this world than for virtue that a good Man hath a nobler End to pursue than the Men of this World can pretend to for how low a design is it how unworthy a rational Being to heap up Wealth when he knows not how soon he may be taken away from it or that waste away and leave him With an ambitious Person it is just so he hath laboured all his days to become Great and Honorable when he hath effected it his Name is only toss'd too and frô by the envy of the World but supposing that Riches could be durable or that Honor were a certain thing yet the Possessions of this Earth in their most flourishing condition are not to be compared with the enjoyments of a virtuous Man which are chiefly to have peace with God and with his own mind Now if a Virtuous Man hath a greater and more desirable End of his Actions it is very unreasonable that he should be outdone in prudence or care in the working out his Salvation Secondly As a virtuous Man hath the best end so the means that he hath to it are much more certain than all the methods of the World are For Solomon hath assured us that here the Race is not always to the swift nor the Battel to the strong one in all likelihood would think that the swiftest should winn the Race and the strongest the Battel yet the wisest Man and the best Judge of the true valuation of all things below hath determined quite otherwise the best humane means tho never so well fitted to their ends do often miscarry for after a Man hath run the utmost dangers and hath
spent his life in continual care for an abundance of Worldly Goods a thousand accidents may and do fall out to devest him of it when another hath used all his Art and Wit to build up a reputation a vulgar breath shall blast it all Whereas the means which the Lovers of Virtue use to their end will never fail them for never any one was disappointed of a peaceable Mind who ever was so prudent as to manage the course of his Life by the Rules of Virtue never any failed of the Favour of God who had so much discretion as to obey his Commandments nor did ever any miss of Eternal Life who were so wise for themselves as to labor after it Thirdly THERE is no more difficulty in the means of obtaining the reward of Virtue which is both present and future Happiness than there is in those ways which the crafty Men of this World use to bring their designs about therefore it is still more unaccountable It is easier for a Man to be virtuous than vitious that they should take more pains in their way than the Disciples of Virtue do in theirs besides it is often much more difficult to raise a credit in the World than it is to get the Favour of God or that Peace of Conscience which a conformity to the Precepts of Virtue will certainly afford us Health of Body is not acquired without wariness and continual circumspection it is far easier for a Man to entertain himself in virtuous Contemplations for God hath not set our happiness at difficult terms but the way to it is smoother than we are apt to imagine it being as easie to be sober as to be otherwise to be just as unrighteous the Rules of Virtue are not so rigid as Men usually apprehend them to be therefore it is the most unpardonable folly if they be not as industrious in the practices of Virtue as they often are in the prosecution of vitious and naughty Purposes Fourthly BY being diligent and discreet in the exercise of moral Virtue we commonly secure the happiness of this present World as well as the next the better to our selves for the Men who regard only this World may be sure that they shall not find any felicity in a future Life because they have taken no care about it and frequently they lose this World also For if they follow Shadows they must needs lose the Substance but if they lay fast hold of the Substance The prudent Man is sure of the Happiness both of this and the other World they must consequently possess the Shadow by which I mean that if they would be wrought upon to lead a virtuous Life in good earnest they would not only secure their Interest in another World but they would succeed better in the Affairs of this For so our Saviour hath said seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and his Righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you Therefore let us be Wise and make Virtue our main design because length of days is in her right hand and in her left Riches and Honour For God doth often dispense the common Benefits and good things of this Life to the Virtuous over and above what he intends to bestow upon them in the World to come SEEING then good Men have the best End to follow The Prudent Man always follows the best End the most apt and certain means that always prove effectual seeing there is no more difficulty in attaining Heavenly than earthly things seeing that men do usually secure a competency of the things of this World by minding the things of another but if we place all our Affections upon this World it many times falls out that we are frustrated of what we desire Therefore let us endeavour to be as prudent at least in our way of Piety and Virtue as Worldly-minded men are in theirs From whose Sagacity we may learn to forearm our selves against the wiles of the Tempter For when all is done true Wisdom is gotten only in the Word of God because that makes us wise unto Salvation and they are very Fools who never think what mischiefs will come upon them after they have spent a sinful and ungodly Life they seem not to be distinguished from Brutes who care not what they do or what becomes of them provided they can fulfil their fleshly Lusts it is quite otherwise with a good Man his End is Eternal Life the means he takes to it is an upright and virtuous Conversation which will never fail of its Rewards NOW the opposites to true Prudence are Craft or a fraudulent subtlety and folly Craft my Lord Bacon says is a sinister and crooked Wisdom and certainly there is a great difference between a Cunning The difference between a crafty and a prudent Man and a Wise Man not only in the point of Honesty but in Ability For there are those who can pack the Cards and yet they cannot play them well So there are some who are very Quickwitted at Tricks and Expedients that are otherwise weak and shallow Men their great Engine is a smooth Tongue and a competent stock of Wit in general Expressions they pretend much Affection and Kindness to gain their Ends they will use many Artifices as taking advantage of Persons in Necessity that are under some fear of Punishment or of Discovery that are in Danger or blinded with Passion that are Weak or Ignorant Inadvertent or Easie they watch their time to ensnare and exert all their Power to impose upon them Thus they build their House under ground as it hath been observed of the Crafty celant tacent dissimulant insidiantur praeripiunt hostium consilia and in order to their own advantage they look upon all other men as Enemies neither have they or ever intend to have any Friends WHAT an odd as well as wicked Humour is this Guile as if by the help of the most perverse and the most erring Guide a man might find out shorter Ways than the lawful Road leaping over Hedg and Ditch breaking through all legal Bounds as if the most crooked were the readiest Way to arrive at their Journeys End This is that which the Serpent is said to be eminent for above all other Beasts of the Field What Craft or a Serpentine Wisdom is whence it is commonly called a Serpentine Wisdom that lies ever upon the Catch and deals by way of Stratagem In a state of War perhaps it may be allowable as it was thought by Virgil when he asked dolus an virtus quis in Hoste requirit Yet even in War its self where matters depend upon sudden Actions a brave and generous Enemy will make as little use of the Dolus or Craft as may be Therefore to use it in their ordinary carriage or dealings with their Brethren to make them such promises as they will not be obliged by to utter Words that intend nothing will expose men to others with whom
exspected from those special Advantages which they enjoy in those places is because they are not so careful to improve the benefit to be had by prudent Conversation For the Men of Reading do very much busie themselves about such Conceptions which are no where to be found out of their own Chambers the Sense the Custom the Practice the judgment of the World is quite a different thing from what they imagine it to be in private and therefore it is no wonder that when they come abroad into Business they abound so much with Fears and Doubts and mistaken Idea's of things which happens to them because they have kept out of the way in the shade of their Libraries Arguing Objecting Defending concluding with themselves and would never look out and by Conversing see what is acted on the Stage of the World FROM what I have said may be gather'd that Prudence will teach Men not to spend their thoughts about empty Contemplations The prudent Man is more for practice than Contemplation by turning them to the practices of a virtuous and an useful Life thus their minds will be cured of all their swellings when all things are represented to them just as large as they are For the nearer men come to the Businesses of Life all those shadows grow less and less which did either enlarge or darken Human Affairs And indeed of the usul Titles by which men of Business are wont to be distinguished the Crafty the Formal and the Prudent the Crafty may answer to the Emperick in Philosophy who has a great collection of particular Experiences but knows not how to use them but to base and low Ends the Formal man may be compared to the mere Speculative Philosopher who vainly reduces every thing to some grave and solemn general Rules without discretion And the prudent Man is like him who proceeds on a constant and solid course of Experiments which do not rest upon empty Knowledg but are designed for Action And it is the active Life of Virtue which it is our Interest to begin betimes because 't is a hard task for him who has only thought much for the greatest part of his days to turn a man of practice as He that can paint the Face of a Lion will much sooner come to draw any other Creature than He who has all the Rules of Limning in his Head but never yet used his Hand to lay on a Colour I have nothing more to add concerning Prudence only this that it is the best preservative we have against all false Religions and those Prudence the best preservative against false Religions that promote them wherewith unless a man be well guarded he will be ever exposed to Impostors who have an Art of presenting falshood for Truth with as fair Colours and Pretences with as exact and regular Proportions with fanciful Consequences and artificial Connexions for want of a due discretion in governing their Lives by the plain Rules of the Christian Doctrine Men have run headlong into very absurd and gross Opinions For when once Religion is made a Tool to advance the Ambition or the Interests of designing men then they broach swarms of supposititious Writings and sophistical Arguments to maintain corrupt Opinions then they pretend to Visions and Dreams to gain credit to their fond inventions But a prudent Man who makes a good Life his only purpose acts as one in his Wits should do For holiness of Life restores him to his Primitive state to the perfect and healthful Constitution of his Nature in the mean time it is a hard matter to persuade the Enthusiastical and the superstitious to be really good The Enthusiastical and superstitious are hardly brought to be really good it is no easie thing to work upon their disordered Tempers and Passions or to reduce 'em to the forsaken and untrodden Paths of Virtue NAY a prudent thoughtfulness hath a natural power in it to work in a sincere Person a sense and acknowledgment of his Sins when he retires into himself and takes a true estimate of his Condition For the workings of the mind are active and restless it will always be employed one way or another and when it hath no external Object to entertain or divert it then self-Reflection the best means to an impartial judgment of things will take place and the true voice of Conscience will be heard ALL Men therefore who act wickedly forget the very nature of their own minds but He who guides his Affairs with discretion looks forward to the end of his Actions examines the Reasons upon which his Religion is founded because most of the Errours among Men are such Whence most Mens Errours do arise as their own Reason might have corrected had they in time bethought themselves and most of the dangers they incur proceed from hence that they have a great indifferency upon their Spirits as to the truth or honesty of the Religion they are engaged in IT cannot be expected considering what fallible Creatures we are that we should always walk according to the precise Rules of Prudence However seeing that most of the Faults of Men proceed from irregular Humours and Desires which they are apt to be too Fond of we are by the Law of our Creation bound to use that Principle in us we call Reason that it may guide all our Operations and direct them to some good End For God governs rational Beings by the Principles of Reason as He doth the material World by the necessary Laws of matter and brute Creatures by the instincts and propensities of Nature Of Understanding Science and Wisdom THESE Three may be handled together because they are alike concerned in the search after Truth For the Vnderstanding perceives and apprehends the Objects by the Ministry of the Senses the resemblances of these Objects being conveyed to the Vnderstanding do there make their own Image which we call Science or Knowledg in which two things are implied What Science is the one is Truth the other is Evidence For what is not Truth can never be known and Evidence is to Truth as Sap to the Tree which so far as it creepeth along with Body and Branches keepeth them alive where it forsaketh them they die For this Evidence which is Meaning with our Words is the Life of Truth and that which hath much experience of Fact What Sapience or Wisdom is and much evidence of Truth that is much Vnderstanding and Science hath usually been called both by ancient and modern Writers Sapience or Wisdom whereof Man only is capable OF whose Soul the Vnderstanding is the highest Faculty which judges of the Reports of Sense Vnderstanding the highest faculty of the Soul and detects all their Impostures resolves all sensible things into intelligible Principles the conceptions whereof are not mere passive Impressions upon the Soul from without but they are actively exerted from the mind its self no passion being able to make a judgment
and moderated NOW the Wise Man we now speak of is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Contemplative Person who hath passed through all the Discipline of Virtue For He cannot be good at true Theory who hath not first been so at Practice and to the true and sober Man peculiarly belongs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine Wisdom which vigorously displays it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Platonists phrase it in an intellectual Life For the good Man only lives in him who is Life it self and is enlightned by him who is Truth it self Besides Purity of Heart and Life as also an ingenuous freedom of Judgment What are the best preparations for Truth are the best preparations for the entertainment of Truth For every Art and Science hath some certain Principles upon which the whole Frame and Body of it must depend and therefore the Scripture is wont to set forth a good Life as the fundamental Principle of Wisdom For it asserts the Fear of the Lord to be the beginning of Wisdom And in Divine Things especially He that is most practical is the wisest Man and not He that is most a Dogmatist For as in the natural Body it is the Heart which sends up good Blood and warm Spirits to the Brain whereby it receives power to execute its several Functions so that which gives us power to understand the best things aright must be a living Principle of Piety within us because if the Tree of Knowledg should not be planted by this Tree of Life Why Truth prevails no more in the World then it may bring forth bitter as well as sweet Fruit evil as well as good Deeds This is the reason why Truth prevails no more in the World because men are busied more in acute Reasonings and subtle Disputes than in real goodness which Goodness and Truth grow both from the same Root and live in one another ON the contrary Vice casts a cold Poison into the Understandings of Men benums the Faculties creeps into the Bed of Reason and defiles it Yet vicious Men are more apt than others to boast of their Wisdom but if we come nearer these Landskips of Reason and Wit that which seemed afar off to be Hills and Mountains in them will be found to be nothing but artificial Shadows besides the Vanity whereby Sin is puff'd up nothing is more unreasonable and foolish For what can argue a greater madness than to forfeit the endless welfare of the Soul for the satisfaction of a Moment THEREFORE I will only ask this of Mankind that they would act according to the directions of Wisdon that is agreeably to the fixed and unavoidable Fate of things and remember that they are a sort of Beings who must hereafter live always either in unconceivable Happiness or Misery if this Meditation will not bring 'em to Wisdom there is no remedy but they must be left to the dismal and pitiless deserts of their want of Sense and Consideration NOW there are two things that make up Religion Knowledg and Practice Knowledg and Practice make up Religion the first is wholly in order to the second and both together constitute Spiritual Wisdom For God hath not revealed his Will and made known our Duty to us to make us more learned but to make us more good not to enlarge our Understandings or entertain our Minds with the Fine Notions of Virtue but to Form and govern our Lives therefore God hath so ordered things that no Man shall be Happy for any Speculations unless they are drawn down into practice For there is no kind of Knowledg that a man may sooner come at than the knowledg of Religion because the greatest part of it hath a Foundation in the common Reason of Mankind and as for that which is revealed it is only new Arguments to be good and virtuous Now this Gospel makes the knowledg and practice of Religion the only way to true Wisdom and consequently to Happiness therefore they are the Practisers that our Saviour hath bless'd in his Sermon on the Mount the poor in spirit the meek and merciful So He who acts according to his knowledg is likened to a wise Man who built his house on a Rock but He who heareth our Saviour's Sayings and doth them not is likened to a foolish Man who built his house upon the Sand the rain descended and the floods came the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell The practice of Religion is a necessary condition for Happiness As God hath made the practice of Religion a necessary Condition of our Happiness so the nature of the thing doth make it a necessary condition for it For our utmost Happiness being to consist in the enjoyment of God and it being impossible that Persons should have communion one with another that are not of a temper we must be like to God if we would be Happy Now nothing can make us like unto God but Holiness and Virtue Therefore Men are not wise who think they can be partakers of Happiness upon any other account Knowledg indeed it self is a Divine Perfection but yet that alone doth not render a man like to God neither doth that alone qualifie him for his Presence For if a Man had the understanding of an Angel he might for all this be of a devillish Temper and whosoever is so hath no disposition in him for the place of pure Happiness LET every Man therefore that hopes to be happy in the next World lead an Holy Life in this because an unholy Life is in the nature of the thing utterly inconsistent with Being in Heaven THE proper Inference from all that hath been said is that in all the exercises of our Understanding Science or Wisdom we should make the practice of Religion our main design because for this purpose God gave us our Reason For to inspire Man with a Faculty of reasoning by which he can form true Notions from single Experiments and infer one Truth from another and to inspire his Reason with Divine Notions are only two different Modes of Revelation For He did as well reveal himself to us when he gave us Reason to understand his Will as he does when he sends a Messenger from Heaven to declare his Mind SINCE then God light up in us this Candle of our Reason why may he not give new Light to it especially when it begins to burn with a dying and languishing Flame How agreeable is this to the Divine Goodness and to that infinite Care it takes of the welfare and happiness of reasonable Beings to conduct and enlighten them with Divine Revelation chiefly when the groping World had so bewildred it self in an endless Maze of Errour and was so lost in its own wandrings when no Human Understanding or Wisdom could shew the Way then to spring a Light from Heaven whereby Mankind may be directed to the Coast of Truth is the highest Instance of the care
wont to be lavish and profuse in their Sacrifices that they might be excused or wink'd at for the Duties of Virtue and Morality they would offer the richest Oblations a Thousand Rams and Ten Thousand Rivers of Oyl all the First-born of their Flocks and Families the Fruit of the Fields and their Bodies too to purchase a dispensation for their Vices they would not grudge to pacifie God with any Sacrifice rather than offer up their Lusts they would honor Him praise Him flatter Him give Him all his dues and more spare neither for costs nor charges in his Worship and all this only to bribe him that He might indulge them their Self-wills and their Passions and not be angry for their injustice cruelty and unmercifulness they were nice and punctual in their Fasts would spare for no trouble to appear Devout yet were there never any People in the World so vicious as they the Prophets every where upbraiding them with the most notorious Peevishness and Pride Covetousness and Ambition for they were persuaded that such zealous Men as they were might be excused for the sake of their expensive Devotions all those petty duties of Justice and Sobriety towards their Neighbors and themselves On the contrary a good Man Worships God because he loves Him and loves him because he hates Vice he loves the eternal Rules of Equity and right Reason because God loves 'em too Secondly THE Formalist is very busie about the Means and Instruments of Religion but neglects the Ends thereof he is very zealous in religious Performances but utterly careless of all inward Virtue and Goodness hence it is that the Minds of some Men are so little possessed with true and real Virtue because the Name of Religion hath been so much appropriated to its Forms which Men are apt to be taken with when they may be easily reconciled with their Vices and Passions The Pharisees did just so they only made great shews of Piety to cover their Frauds and Rapines Too great a regard to Forms disappoints the effects of real virtue they were curious to wash their Hands but took no care to purifie their Hearts they would Fast and starve their Bodies but at the same time feed and pamper their Lusts they would not Rob but they did oppress their Neighbors whilst they relieved their Brethren they did at the same time hate and despise them Thus the Instruments of Piety were made use of as a means to subvert that which they were ordained to advance And thus it is in the relative and subordinate Duties of the Christian Religion if Men do as constantly commit as they do confess their Sins they frustrate plainly the purpose of their Duty and whilst they are very Officious to run on God's Errand they are very negligent of his Business It is not every Confession of our Sins that He requires but when it proceeds from an effectual Resolution against them and therefore where it ends not in Reformation it ends in Hypocrisie and to acknowledg but not to Mortifie our Lusts is only to tell God we are great sinners and by his leave intend to continue so IT is an easie matter for Men to present Heaven with large and perpetual addresses but unless they be meek merciful humble charitable righteous candid and ingenuous as well as Godly and Devout they can in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven For the Christian Religion dwells not amongst its outside Rites and Solemnities but its proper Temple is the Heart and Spirit of Man it resides in the inmost recesses of the Soul NOW the Formalist is only for the external Acts not for the internal Habits of Virtue and Goodness his Actions how good soever issue only from fear or custom or outward compliances not from any good Temper or Modification of Mind there appear no spots nor blemishes in his Face his uncleannesses lodge within and retire themselves to the Centre of his Soul thus his behaviour may be free from the common Pride and Vanity of the World whilst his mind is infected with the worst Vices the posture of his Soul is as haughty and supercilious as his demeanour is humble his Thoughts as arrogant In what virtues our Saviour placed his Religion as his looks are lowly But our Saviour ever told his Followers that his Religion was to be placed in a a sober and silent Piety in Candour Mildness and Humility in doing good to all Men that all the mystery of it lay in a good and virtuous Life so that all the nice Notions and Hypotheseses concerning Faith Justification Election and such like Articles are but foolish Traditions of some speculative Heads and those that are most earnest in these Controversies are commonly most negligent of moral Duty whereas true Religion is an active Principle within that serves the Mind with all good and virtuous Qualities it is in a word an inward sense and love of Goodness that is the Fountain of all good Actions A Mind temper'd with this Principle suppresses all manner of untoward Passions is governed by such meekness as absolutely inclines it to pardon injuries to delight in making good triumph over evil and to satisfie it self as much by forgiveness as others are pleased with revenge For where the inward temper of the Mind is truly humble there a Man 's inward esteem of himself will be sober and modest his opinion of others candid and ingenuous Wherefore if Men took as much care to fill their Souls with goodness as well as their fancies with the notions of it they would be as free from Passion Self-will and all other mental Vices as from Drunkenness Sensuality and the other exorbitances of their bodily Appetites Having thus set forth the Character of Formality I now descend to the Second thing to discover by what Way and Method it defeats the practice of moral Virtue that perceiving its disguises we may not be imposed upon Now the Artifices by which men are apt to delude themselves are mainly these First THEY think they may be dispensed with in the Duties of practical Virtue for their extraordinary strictness in some Duties of Godliness they weigh their acts of Devotion against all their miscarriages in Morality if they do but Fast twice a week they presently believe that they may be allowed to be froward and peevish Hence it is that the grossest Vices are sometimes called sins of Infirmity For when they imagine themselves in God's Favour for frequenting the places of Worship for hearing Sermons and Prayers they are ready to conclude their most heinous sins to be rather the weaknesses of their Natures than obliquities of their Wills taking the measures of Virtue and Vice not from the nature of the actions themselves but from the conditions of the Persons that commit them believing that if a Man be once regenerated all his sins are instantly changed into Infirmities Thus the Stoicks of old made this one of their prime Paradoxes that a wise Man
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
contend as long as they please about the Modes and Circumstances of Religion all these disputes are very insignificant if they do not issue in this a good Mind and a good Life The World was at first governed by the Dictates of Natural Light FOR the first two thousand years of the World God did Govern it only by the Dictates of Natural Light and these were in those days called the Precepts of Noah the Preacher of Righteousness ever since that time to this day God hath Governed the greatest part of the World by those Principles and even since God's voluntary Dispensation and positive Institution which began at Moses and hath continued to this time He hath commanded the observance of these Rules so that He hath never been more provoked as when Moral Duties have been neglected or when an indiscreet Zeal for positive Institutions hath been thought a sufficient recompence for a failure in these FOR in Religion there are things of an alterable Nature and there are things unchangeable and eternal which can never be relaxed or omitted and such are all Moral Vertues therefore to set them at odds with Grace must needs be destructive to all true and real goodness for if we should set aside all manner of Vertue what remains to be called Grace if Grace should not be included in Morality which consists in the right order and government of our Actions in all our Relations it must be a phantasm and an imaginary thing and all that the Scripture intends by the Graces of the Spirit are vertuous qualities derived purely from God's free Grace and Goodness wherewith in the first Ages of Christianity He did in a miraculous manner inspire the Converts of the Gospel and all the practical part of Religion is either Vertue it self or some of its instruments and the whole Duty of Man consists in being Vertuous and all that is enjoyned him beside is in order to it that by the practice thereof he may live happily here and be prepared for Happiness hereafter In what manner the Grace of God begets Vertue NOW the manner wherein the Grace of God begets Vertue in the Minds of Men is suitable to the Rational Nature of Mankind we feel its operations no otherwise than we do our own thoughts neither can we distinguish them by their manner of affecting us from our natural reasonings but when we are bent upon the doing of God's Will when we perform our Duty and govern our Actions by his Word then we may conclude we are acted by the Grace of God but if we forsake the steddy Rules of our Duty we may take every violent impulse for a suggestion of his Spirit therefore unless we would expose our selves to infinite delusions we must try the Nature of all the motions of our Minds by Scripture and Reason For we have no other way of assuring our selves that we follow the guidance of God's Grace but by following the Rules of his Word and we quench the Motions of his Spirit oftentimes when we imagin that we only quarrel with our own thoughts reject the good Counsels of a Friend the exhortations of a Preacher or the rebukes of our own Consciences BESIDES when we are Born again and created New Creatures by this Spirit we have the same Understanding and Will we had before but these are renewed and made better For the Precepts and Motives of the Gospel prevailing in our Minds are properly a Principle of Holiness of Life in us these will produce a proportionable change in our Wills and Affections that from being addicted to evil they may be strongly inclined to what is good and vertuous THUS Grace and Vertue go hand in hand together one being a certain Product of the other Evangelical Graces being the same thing for substance with Evangelical Vertues and these the same with Moral ones hence it is that the Word of God doth more effectually oblige and enable Mankind to an Holy Life than any other Institution could effect or Philosophy pretend for Religion is the same now as it was in the state of Innocence for as then the whole Duty of Man consisted in the Practice of all those Moral Vertues that arose from his Natural Relation to God and Man so all that is superinduced upon us since the Fall is nothing but helps to supply our natural defects and recover our decayed powers and restore us to a better ability to discharge those Duties we stand engaged to by the Law of our Nature and the design of our Creation AND here what terms of wonder or of grief can be significant enough to express or to bewail so strange a decay of Moral Vertue among Men that the Light of the World should be so much darkned as it is that the Salt of the Earth should be corrupted that Men should lose the substance of Religion in the pursuit of its shadows and a general loosness should swallow up all good Manners that Men should make use of Wit to decry sound Reason and to set Vertue at defiance with Grace methinks their doing such acts should strike them out of the list of Rational Beings But Satan is too subtle a mannager to lose this advantage and the event sadly shews he has not neglected to improve it For when once Men can think they may be Religious without Vertue they will be hardly brought to exchange the vicious customs of Life for an habitual course of goodness they will not restrain their Appetites within the limits of Nature nor sacrifice their brutish Pleasures to the interests of Holiness in cases of suffering for the Truth they will never endure any hardship rather than forsake so excellent an Institution as the Gospel they will not believe themselves bound to subdue their Sensual Appetites and Affections to their superior Faculties in the methods of Reason and prudent Discipline no less danger arises to the Souls of Men when they labour after greater Excellencies over and above the common Vertues of Morality in striving to go beyond it they run astray after Chimera's and illusions of Fancy And if they indulge this humour it will betray them to neglect the plain and practical Principles of Reason and Moral Honesty THESE and many more are the Stratagems of the Devil to bubble Men of their Salvation How the increase of Goodness is much hindred to put a stop to the increase of Goodness in the World and to hinder the Reformation of Mankind who will never be at the trouble and pains of acquiring inward Righteousness and Purity when they imagin a few superficial Notions and extatical Whimsies may serve in the room of that industry they should joyn with the Operations of Grace for the getting a blessed Immortality THAT we may countermine these Plots of the evil Spirit against us let us do as God hath commanded which we must think not only possible but easie and pleasant especially when all his Evangelical Methods of Salvation are actuated by a
are naturally full of Hope or Fear according as they follow or go against these Principles who is so confident and bold as he who hath behaved himself well and virtuously who is so strong and well armed against the force of the Powers of Darkness against the apprehensions of a dreadful Judgment these things are so terrible that they must needs raise our fears but the honest Man who is not conscious to himself of any guilt is secure in his own Mind from any harm or prejudice from the Divine Justice either here or hereafter whereas guiltiness creates fears of danger without any other reason for it and so the Scripture informeth us that the wicked flyeth when no Man pursueth him nay when a Man hath done a secret fault which no Eye is privy to nor no human Law can punish yet even then he is constantly under the torment of his own thoughts and hath a natural dread of a superiour Being to whom the most hidden Actions of Men are known and whose Justice will not spare to punish FOR Men have naturally the Notions of good and evil within them which in the plain cases of Right and Wrong will tell them what they ought to do and what they ought to avoid so that in acting well they will be justified and acquitted in their own Minds but in doing the contrary they will be condemned BUT yet there is a considerable difficulty in this matter because the Opinions of Men have been much divided about Virtue and Vice the different Laws and Customs of several Nations seem to argue that they are not so well agreed about these things consequently the difference between Good and Evil is not so well known more than this there is in Mankind a propension to evil and Men are generally vicious which seems to contradict that natural Instinct which shews us as we say what is Virtue and what is Vice To this Objection we answer that all Mankind are agreed that those Moral Virtues before mentioned ought to be practised and that the contraries to them are Vices and ought to be rejected if any one particular person happen to be of another mind he is as rarely to be met with as Monsters and no more to be drawn into an Argument against the truth of this Assertion than a Man being born with three Legs can be an Argument that Men naturally have not two All Men have agreed that God is to be worshiped though they differ much about the particular circumstances of his Worship keeping of Faith all Men have held to be a Duty though some say Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks but this is no prejudice to the Truth it must be granted that there is not the like evidence in all things that there is in some and many things are not so clear but that partial and inconsiderate Men may have wrong conceptions about them but these may be remedied if Men will be wise and consider things as they should do if they will lay aside violent prejudices and self-Interest for if they will govern themselves like Men and not be hurried away with Passion It is one thing to know what Virtue is and another to live according to that knowledg they may come to understand what is good and what is evil it must be confessed there is a great corruption in human Nature and we must consider that it is one thing to own the difference between Virtue and Vice another thing to live and act according to this judgment Although Men have the Notions of Good and Evil yet after all they may choose the Evil and refuse the Good and this the Apostle speaks of in Rom. vii 27. I delight in the Law of God in the inward Man that is my mind consents to it as Holy Just and Good but here he tells us he felt another Law in his Members warring against the Law of his Mind and bringing him into Captivity to the Law of Sin and Death according to that of the Poet Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor For a Man may be convinced of his Duty but not act accordingly FOR by natural Instinct we know what we ought to do antecedent to all Reason and Discourse Secondly Natural Reason tells us what is our Duty OUR Duty is also discovered to us by natural Reason for the force of moral Actions are planted in Mens Minds and woven into the frame of their Natures but to make our Duty more plain God by the light of Reason hath shewed us what is good and what is evil and not only so but he stamps upon them the Authority of Laws for these two are very different to apprehend a thing good for us to do and to be under the Obligation of a Law to do it for to this it is necessary we should apprehend it to be the Will of our Superior that we should perform it NOW our Reason doth discover to us what is Virtue and that the Lord our God doth require our Obedience to it First BY shewing us how convenient and agreeable it is to our Natures Secondly BY the tendency of it to make us happy and to free us from Evil and Misery NOTHING is more suitable to our Natures than to have an esteem of what is great and excellent and Mankind being taught that all Perfection is in God we must adore him for that which is good doth naturally beget Love and Reverence so it is agreeable to our Natures to honor our Parents to be grateful for Benefits received to be just and righteous to be charitable compassionate and temperate to be meek humble and prudent Those that act contrary to these Duties offer an Affront to their own Natures and feel a pain in themselves however they may carry it to others BESIDES these things tend to make us happy and to free us from Misery for Reason considers the consequences of things and we call that Virtue or Good which will bring some benefit to us and that Evil or Vice which is like to bring upon us some Inconvenience upon this account Reason doth shew us what is good and what is evil to begin with Piety towards God nothing is more reasonable than to make him our Friend who is able to make us happy or miserable and the way to make him our Friend is to observe all the Vertues of a good life on the contrary Impiety or a neglect of Vertue is plainly against our Interest for this is to disoblige him who is more able to make us miserable than all the World besides and without whose Favour nothing can make us happy so that our Reason will require us to live vertuously as for instance If Nature did not teach us Gratitude Discretion would it being the only way to obtain a second Favour to be thankful for the first Humility may seem to be a thing of no great Advantage but he that shall consider what contempt Pride exposeth a Man unto will be
foundation in Reason and Nature these do depend wholly upon instruction and memory and cannot be preserved without them but we see among the Rude and Ignorant upon whom hardly any care or instruction is used men have as lively a sense of the difference between virtue and vice in many particulars as the more learned part of the World which is a plain Argument that these things are not conveyed to us by Tradition Nor can they be applyed to humane Policy for many of these things were never enacted by humane Laws and yet they obtain among Mankind as Gratitude Charity and such like Seneca says that Gratitude was never enjoyned by any Law but that of the Macedonians which plainly shews that these things owe their Original to some other Cause and that they are to be attributed to Nature the Author of which is God and the general Consent of Mankind is an argument of their Truth and Reality HOWEVER it is Objected that several Persons and some whole Nations have differed about some of these things so that this Consent is not so general besides the Consent of the World in Superstition and Idolatry may seem to weaken this Argument from the universal Agreement of Mankind about Good and Evil. WE Answer that it is not denied but that Men may so vitiate their Natures Nature may be so vitiated as to lose the Sense of Virtue and Vice as to lose the sense of Virtue and Vice yet it may remain true that Mankind have a natural Sense and Knowledg of them as some by Lust and Intemperance may so spoil their Palates that they may not taste the difference of Meats and Drinks yet this last is never the less natural to Mankind for there is a great deal of difference between Natural and Moral Agents natural Agents always continue the same but voluntary Agents may vary in some things that are Natural especially where Men have Debauch'd their Natures and have offered great violence to themselves more than this the exceptions are not so general as to infringe the universal Consent of Mankind the difference is but in few things and therefore they are taken notice of and being collected together in History they may seem a great many but that they are particularly noted is a sign they are but few what if one Philosopher mentioned that Snow was Black and Ten more had been of his Mind this would have been no objection against the Sense or Reason of Mankind for all Men agree that Self-preservation is a natural Instinct notwithstanding some particular Persons have offered violence to their own Lives As to Superstition or Idolatry there hath been no such agreement of Mankind in that as to prove it to have a Foundation in Nature for it is confessed that it was not always practised in the World but that it had a Beginning and indeed it grew up by degrees and sprang out of the Corruptions of Mankind and therefore Time was when there was no such thing so that it does not owe its Rise to Nature but to the defection of Mankind For while Idolatry prevailed in the World it was condemned by several Men as a stupid and sottish Thing tho they had not the courage to declare against the Practice of it so that whilst it was used by the generality of the World it was censured as a great Folly by those that were best able to judg Lastly WE know what is Virtue and Vice Good and Evil more distinctly Outward Revelation discovers to us what is Virtue and what is Vice by outward Revelation in former Ages of the World God was pleased to reveal his Will several Ways and more especially to the Nation of the Jews the rest of the World being left solely to the dictates of natural Light But in the latter Ages of the World it pleased God to make a publick and more full Declaration of his Mind by his Son and this Revelation is for Substance the same with the Law of Nature our Saviour comprehended it under these two Heads the Love of God and of our Neighbour the Apostle reduceth it to Sobriety Righteousness and Piety for the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation teacheth us to deny all ungodliness and Worldly Lust and to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World so that if we believe the Apostle the Gospel teacheth us the very same things that Nature dictateth to Mankind for these are the very Virtues which natural Light prompt Men unto only we allow a more perfect discovery of them by the Gospel and to convince Men of the Good and Evil that are affixed to Virtue and Vice there are great and eternal Rewards promised to one and endless Punishments threatned to the other so that now Mankind have no cloak for their Sin their Duty being so clearly laid open to them and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life so plainly revealed all the defects of the natural Law and the Corruptions of it through the degeneracy of Mankind being fully supplyed by the Revelation of the Gospel So that we may now much better say than the Prophet could in his days Mich. 6.8 He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God BUT as to external Revelation it is Objected that the Scripture is very obscure and gives us not sufficient direction in Matters of Faith WE Answer that this Objection hath no Colour of Truth in it for if the Church of Rome to whom are beholden for this Objection against the Word of God and who are ready upon all occasions to quarrel with it Yet they do not deny but the Scriptures are plain as to Precepts of Life and Practice but as to matters of Faith they pretend its defection in as if God had not intended to reveal but conceal his Mind in these things Indeed they have some reason to pretend this considering how hard it is to find several of their Doctrines in the Scripture but as to the moral Precepts of a good Life they all grant that they are clearly delivered in the holy Scripture so that this Objection about the obscurity thereof doth not lie against what I have been speaking THEREFORE seeing Moral Virtues may be plainly understood by Natural Instinct Natural Reason the consent of Mankind and outward Revelation we must in the next place see how easie and pleasant they are to be practised First THEY are easie because we are assisted in the practice of them by the Holy Spirit of God against all difficulties whatsoever Secondly THEY are both easie and pleasant because they are profitable for all things improve our Understandings and bring peace to our Minds FOR our Christian Race is a Warfare and we have many Conquests to make over the corruptions of our Natures the influences of Sense and the disorders of Passion Whence the difficulties of a virtuous Life do
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