True Happiness, Section 1
The first Section. of one thing.
PSAL. 27. VERS. 4.
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life, to behold the beautie of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
THis verse containeth the prophets choice of true happinesse, and it is set down in foure things. First indefinitely, that it is one thing. Next, from whom he seeketh it, it is from the Lord Jehovah. Thirdly, how he seeketh it: and that is in two, for the time present he hath desired it; next for the time to come he will enquire it constantly. The fourth is happinesse it self, particularly described in foure points: First, what it is; A dwelling. Next where; In the house of God. Thirdly, the time how long; All the dayes of his life. Fourthly, the end of that long dwelling is in two: The one to behold and enjoy the beautie of the Lord: The other to enquire in his temple.
The first thing then is his choice,Happinesse is but one thing. summarly described in the word (one thing:) So Christ confirmeth the prophets word,Luke 10. 42. while he called Maries choice one thing. And that for these three reasons: First, because it is not a common, but a chief good. If there be any good above it,Summo bono nihil est melius, aut superius, semper eodem modo se habens, semper sui simile est. Aug. de mor. Manich. cap. 1. it is not the chief good, and if there be any good equall unto it, it is not alone: But the chief good properly excludeth both a superiour and an equall good, and therefore is one. Next, because it is the last end which we minde eternally to enjoy: If there be any end beyond it, it is not the last, but amids, and a degree to it: All mids and ends are used for it, but it is sought for it self, and therefore must be but one. Thirdly, it is a center, whereunto all reasonable spirits draw. As all lines from a circle meet in the center, so every one that seeketh happinesse aright meeteth in the chief good, as the only thing which they intend, and therefore must be one.
But some may think,And not moe. that happinesse is in many things,Psal. 32. 1. because scripture sometime sayes, Blessed is the man whose sins are pardoned: and again, Blessed is he that feareth the Lord: and in the beginning of the first psalme,Psal. 1. 1. Blessed is the man, &c. the first text hath in the plurall number be atitudines, the blessednesses or happinesses of the man:Matth. 5. And Christ Jesus in his sermon upon the mount reckoneth out many beatitudes or blessings. But I answer, that all these are but divers respects or parts of one happinesse. As when we say, that a man hath a whole hand, or a whole leg, we make not many healths, but many parts of one health. Happinesse is the soveraigne cure of our miserie, and our miserie hath many parts, as the want of knowledge, of faith, of peace, of uprightnesse, &c. And on the other part the presence of many evils, as of sin originall and actuall, &c. And with all these sathan hath swadled us up in senslesnesse of our miserie, and carelesnesse of a remedie: Therefore Christ beginneth in the doctrine of happinesse to loose us out of these, and pronounceth the first blessing on spirituall povertie, that is on the feeling of our miserie: And the second on our mourning for that felt miserie; and the third on our hunger and thirst, disposing us to seek and receive the remedie. So all these particular blessings are but parts of one happinesse, when God our chief good taketh away all our evil, and imparteth his good to our happinesse. Neither is the two-fold prayer of the wise man contrary to the unitie of happinesse,Prov. 30. 15. Two things I have required of thee: Natura cogit animam unum quaerere, & multitudo non sinit. Aug. de Ord. 1. 1.It is but a deprecation of the two extremes, povertie and superfluitie, and but one prayer for sufficiencie as the mids; Therefore this chief good is only (One) Nature maketh our soul to seek one thing, but …ultitude suffereth not.
But this one thing is all good,1. It is one for excellencie. and beside it all things are nothing, and though it be all and better than all, yet it is called one, and that for excellencie, sufficiencie, integritie, and efficacie. Excellencie, because it is the best of all goods. Every good hath the own degrees, as riches, beautie, honour, &c. and these degrees rise to the height of that kinde, and all these highest degrees of all goods meet in this chiefest good. This excellencie is seen in originall communication, preservation, and reduction. For originall, it is the first good,Bonum simplex omnis boni bonum, & bonum quo cuncta bona sunt & à quo cuncta bona sunt. August. in hunc locum for if it be of any other, it is not the first, but a secondarie good. It is good in it self, and goodnesse it self; not by qualification, but by its own essence: It is a simple good, and the good of all good; a good whereby all things are good, and from which all good things are. For communication, because that chief good keepeth not it self within it self, but communicateth it to others; there is nothing in heaven or earth which partaketh not of Gods goodnes, the reasonlesse creature hath his footsteps, and the reasonable his image. This is the proper notion of saving grace, when this chief good freely gives goodnesse to the Elect, both finding & fetching the reason of that communication from its own goodnesse.
Thirdly for preservation, because it is a preserving goodnesse, keeping the good that it communicateth, and that either by a common providence, as in common blessings, or else by a speciall preservation, maintaining in the elect his saving goodnesse; for if they fully or finally lose it, as they would be the more miserable, so it were a sort of crossing the greatest contentment of this goodnesse. The reduction is both in prosperitie and adversitie: in prosperitie we consider temporall blessings as the good gifts of God, yet we stand not there, but ascend to spirituall blessings as better: And in spirituall blessings we finde the common gifts of the Spirit, as prophesie, knowledge, &c. to be good; but we ascend to the saving graces of the Spirit, as faith, hope, love, &c. as better. Neither stand we still there, but ascend to the giving grace, even Gods free favour, wherefrom these given graces proceed: And from that his free favour we ascend to himself who is goodnesse it self,Non participatione ullius boni sed essentia. Aug. Mor. Man. 4. not by participation of any good, but by his essence. But because in our prosperitie we are slow to make this graduall ascension to God, therefore he teacheth us a more harsh reduction in adversitie, for when we are any wayes afflicted in the blessings of God, we finde no rest till we return to our chief good.
Secondly for sufficiencie, 2. One for sufficiencie.and that both of furniture and supply. Of furniture, because it sufficeth all; for all persons, of whatsoever sex, qualitie, or condition; for all places both in heaven and earth;Omnibus omnia est, qui omnia administrat. Bernard. 124. 2. for all times both in this life and after it. It is ever the same, and maketh us ever the same: it hath no change in it self, but the communication of it groweth in us, and what is now grace, shall be glorie in heaven. If it could decay or lose, it were no happinesse but miserie. It is for all necessities both of soul and bodie, that one good is all-sufficient, there is none beside it, and we need no other for happinesse. Lastly, it is for all the powers of soul and bodie, to hold them in their pleasant exercise and give them rest: It busieth our faith to apprehend it, our hope to expect it, our love to adhere to it, our joy to enjoy it, our fear to eschew the losse of it, &c. It hath also the sufficiencie of supply. For God exerciseth his children greatly about other blessings: either he holdeth from us the thing we desire, or taketh from us the thing we love, or spoileth it in our possession. Therefore we have need of some biding substance to supply these losses, and this is God alone: for if we finde him present, we can easily bear with any losse.1. Sam. 1. 8. Elkanah said to Hannah, Am I not worth ten children to thee? So the presence of God is able to countervail the losse of a thousand blessings. If a merchant have his stock of some hundred thousands secured on the land, he is not greatly grieved though he lose a little by sea.
Thirdly for integritie, because it is a full and compleat thing.3. One for integritie. The chief good cannot be divided, but is as indivisible as infinite: as unitie in number excludeth multitude, so in essence it excludeth division, and the mistaking of this division made first Pythagoras, and then Plato to evanish in their mysticall numbers, though some with more charitie than veritie have laboured to smooth it: We partake not God by parts, but wholly, for he who hath him hath all and is wholly possessed of him. When Christ saith, Come to me all ye that are wearie and laden, Matth. 11. 28.he offereth all happinesse to all, and it is possessed alike of all and of every one.Pariter ab omnibus totum, & à singulis possidetur. Aug. de Verb. Dom. ser. 18. fol. 47. col. 4. As every one heareth the whole word when it is preached. For the kingdome of God is not diminished by the increase of possessours, because it is not divided, and everyone hath that entirely which many possesse in concord. There is no matter of envie, because it is sufficient for all,Simul omnes plenè integre que possidemus. Bernar. Cantic. 12. Auditur verbum à singulis totum. Aug. Epist. 3. and no mans measure doth prejudice another. Neither is their disposition to envie in them who are advanced to happines: Christs disciples envied other in the beginning, but when they were filled with the holy Ghost they did not so. Envie reigneth in carnall men about temporall things, they are so small in themselves that they cannot suffice all, and so proper in their possession that what one hath another wants: But if God dwell in us, his fulnesse excludeth occasion of envie, and his goodnesse excludeth the possibilitie of it:Non est socialis …elicitas quam torquet aliena. Aug. de Temp. Serm. 234. fol. 340. col. 4. For God is love, and filleth the heart with love, to make us count the lot of our neighbour as our own. The more grace the lesse envie, and the lesse grace the more envie:Tolle invidiam & quod meum est tuum est. Qui sque habet quod amat in altero. August. tract. 67. It is not a sociall happinesse that envieth another, but remove envie, and that that is mine is thine also. In heaven there shall be no envie, and the more heavenly on earth, the lesse envie, for they have that that they love in their neighbour.
Fourthly for the efficacie: It is an uniting good,4. One for efficacie. and bindeth all in one who partake it. That participation is an union and adherence, and by vertue of that union with it they are unite to other, the goodnesse they receive is a band among themselves as well as to it: God is that fountain-goodnesse and hath summed up all in himself, they are all of one originally, in one by sustaining, and to one finally. The foure elements concurre to make one body, the body and soul make up one man, & many men make up one citie or kingdome, or armie: But spiritually it is more wonderfull, how many gifts, graces, and powers make a renewed man, and many renewed men make up one mysticall body of Christ,John 17. 23. Vna est consubstantialis, altera consentibilis. Bernard. Cant. 71. all of them are one in that head, and with that head they are all one with God. I in them and thou in me, that they may be one as we are one. Not that our union with him is equall to his union with the Father, the one is consubstantiall, but ours is consentible: That is in substance, but this is in spirit, for we are one spirit with God;Acts 4. 32. that is, native, but this is factitious or wrought by grace: That is properly an union in unitie, but this is only in unition. In like manner he uniteth us among our selves,Omnes in eo unum sunt qui vident eandem faciem divinam. Confess. 10. 34. the multitude of the faithfull were of one heart, and of one minde, because who ever see and love the divine face are one. He is as a center and sendeth out his divine power, and sheddeth abroad his love in the hearts of his own, Omnium nostrum anima, per fidem est una anima. Aug. Ps. 103. Psal. 73. 28.and all these hearts meet in him again. So the faith & love of Abraham meeteth with our faith and love in him. Thus then he tieth us to himself when he is our chief good, and worketh the good in us to adhere to him: As for me it is good to adhere to the Lord. He adhereth to the Lord, who being beloved of God sucketh God in himself again by love: So when God and man inhere mutually in other,Mut…ò inviscerati. Bernard. Cant. 72. and are enbowelled by mutuall love, then God is in man, and man in God: This is our happie adherence to our chief good. It is our first and greatest and chiefest good to abide in him.
Finally, this unitie is seen in the order, degrees, and cession: Order, because all order is from one to one. Degrees, because there is an ascension of goodnesse to one God in whom all good things are most only one, for truth, wisedome, power, which we consider diversly, and work divers affections and actions in us, are all one in him: and our straitnesse maketh him communicate them to us but partially, as his knowledge to help our ignorance, his wisedome to cure our folly, his power our weaknesse. Cession, because everie good thing naturally yeeldeth to a better good, as the body yeelds to the soul, the senses to reason, &c.
Hereof we may learn,Happinesse is not in many things. first that happinesse is not in many things: The multitude think otherwise, for they are led by sense, and must have their eye filled with a multitude of things; riches, honour, wealth, and these increased, and multiplied are their choice. Many things import not perfection, but weaknesse, and the necessitie of their number proveth the infirmitie of their worth. If one sufficed, there were no need of moe, but when a number serveth not necessitie, all are proven to be weak. They feel a bodily and present necessitie, but not a spirituall, and therefore seek a sufficient supply of some bodily thing, but cannot finde it. As a man falling in water grippeth sticks, or straw that swim beside him for help, but he and all go to the ground together: and as a man in fever changeth many places to finde rest, but in stead of rest, increaseth restlesnesse: So every one that seeketh happines in other things beside God, findeth nought but an increase of miserie. Besides, these things bring not contentment, but rather with their increase augment their desire. The skin of a boy is sound, but when he commeth to age it is full of wrinkles, crying for more flesh and bones: So in the infancie of our lot we are most content; but in its greatnesse,Prov. 30. 15. Abundantia laboriosa & copiosaegestas. Aug. ver. Rel. 21. and old age our inflamed desires cry with the horseleach, Give, give. This is their painfull abundance, and abundant povertie, while they seek one thing after another, and nothing remaineth, but in end they conquish vanitie of vanities. Many have been better content when they had but one attendant, than when they are thronged with a great train: and some have thought themselves richer with a small estate, than when it is multiplied an hundred fold: The love of money groweth ever with money. Gods blessings are good indeed, yet none of them the chief good; they are but as pettie goods, and a small shadow of the true good, and as a drop of water out of that great fountain and ocean God himself. They go on their kindes, degrees, and numbers; but God hath none of these, he is his own number, and his own measure; he only is, and calleth himself by the name I am: and to be, to live, Aug. confess. 3.and to live happily, are not divers things, because he is his own blessednesse.
To close this first point, our dutie is to take God for this one thing; that he be most in our minde to know him, most in our heart to love him, most in our mouth to honour, and most in our life to obey and imitate him;Cum te Deum meum quaero, beatam vitam quaero. Aug. Psal. 16. 5. Idem de mor. Ecc. 8. that as bees hyve upon a branch, so all the powers of our soul adhere unto him. So the prophet glorieth in it, The Lord is my portion: for God is the summe of all our good, he is our chief good. We ought not run down-ward, neither forward to seek another; for the one is dangerous, the other wicked. If we seek any thing beside God,Confess. 5. 1. we will lose him, for he will not daigne to be possessed with another chief good, for he loveth God lesse who loveth any thing beside him, which he loveth not for him.
A question here ariseth,There is no chief ill. Whether there be a chief Ill as there is a chief good? And some have made two eternall principles, one good, and one ill, as the Manicheans. They taught also, that everie man had two souls, one from the authour of good, and the other from the authour of evill. But I answer plainly, that there is not a chief ill in that sense as there is a chief good. A chief ill implies contradiction, as we would say, Being no-being, highest-lowest, perfection-annihilation. For the chief good is a substance, infinite in goodnesse, and eternall in durance. But ill is no substance, but a fault in substance, it hath no subsisting in it self but in another, as a sicknesse that is thrust on an whole body. Neither is ill infinite as goodnesse, but only potentially as number, because there are innumerable Ills; or respectively in demerite, because sin deserveth infinite punishment: neither is it eternall, but came after the creation, for God looked on all his creatures, and they were exceeding good: but ill came afterward by the falling of angels and men,aOculus creatus bonus est, accessit caecitas. Basil. 181. Aug. ver. Rel. 23. The created eye was good, but blindnesse came afterward. The vice of the soul is not the nature of it, but contrarie to nature, wherefore no Nature, nor substance, nor essence are ill.
Men fell on that opinion of two chief principles upon three speciall grounds.The grounds of that error. One that they looked not to the universall cause, but to particular causes of particular effects. The other, because they considered apart particular contrarie actions of good and ill, and reduced them not to a common cause. Thirdly, they were ignorant of the degrees of good and ill; for when they saw in good there was good, and better, and so an ascending to best of all, the chief good; so seeing in ill there was ill and worse, they thought there were degrees ascending to some chief ill. But it is contrarie, for the degrees of good ascend to a biding terme, and the greatest degree is the best nature: But the degrees of ill are descending, & go not to a biding terme, but to annihilation, & the greater ill the lesse good or being, and the greatest degree of ill is not highest but lowest; so that if there could be a chief ill it would destroy it self,bSi contra se facit, ipsum esse sibi admit. Aug. Mor. Man. 2. Whatever maketh against it self, destroyeth it self, and what ever becometh lesse than it was is ill, not in so farre as it is, but in so farre as it becometh lesse, and so tendeth to death. Sinne hath a motion, but it is a defective motion, because it is a falling from God: But good hath a perfective motion, because it is an approaching to God.
But if we speak popularly,Foure things come under that name. four things come under the name of the chief ill: A principle or root: a fruit: the punishment: and a substance in whom these three do meet. The root or principle of all ill is free-will in angels and men,Ill root. for when God had made all good, and his work stood in perfect beautie, Sathan brought in the first ill; not of any provocation without, nor corruption within, but of his own free-will. He would not be subject to God, but would set himself in a sort of dominion. In like manner he tempted man, who without either necessitie in his lot, or corruption in his soul upon the bait of equalitie with God, of his own free-will would break the command.Ill fruit. The worst fruit is sin, for Sathans sin was great, because in a great angel, and directly against God; and his will keepeth the stamp of his first defection, so that he cannot repent, because he will not, yea he will not so much as wish a will or power to repent: and mans sins likewise are great, because they flow from that same free-will which now is a slave to sin.Ill punishment The worst punishment is damnation, because the just reward of the worst fruit from the worst root, and an eternall torment of soul and bodie.Ill nature, or substance. And the worst natures in whom these do meet, are evil angels and men, and Sathan the worst of them all, because his worst will hath greatest sin, and shall finde greatest punishment. In a word, the worst ill in man is sin, and the punishment. That is a willing defection from the chief good, Aug. ver. Rel. c. 25.and an unwilling labour among extreme evils. Which otherwise we may call libertie from Justice, and a flavery to sin.
Two uses rise of this question. The first is a comfort, that good is greater than ill;Good is greater than ill. for good is in God and God himself, and ill is nothing but the losse of good, and falling of creatures from him. Therefore when our conscience checketh us for the greatnesse of our sin, we should remember there is greater goodnes in God than ill in us: And the sin against the holy Ghost is not called unpardonable, as though Gods goodnesse could not pardon it, but because the guiltie will not repent, for the very nature of that sin standeth in a malitious oppugning, and hating of God and his grace.
The second use is our warning concerning ill,The least ill is great. that albeit there be not a chief ill, yet every ill is great. There is some ill comparatively lesse than another, as fornication is lesse than adulterie, and an officious lye is lesse than a pernicious; yet there is no ill properly little, but the least ill is great enough to cut us off from the chief good. For were a sin never so little in the sight of the world, yet if we live and dye in it without repentance, it shall prove a bar to hold us out of heaven, and a weight to pull us down to hell.