Three Practical Essays, Essay 2 · Chapter 13
CHAP. XIII. Of Growth in Grace, and of Perfection.
1. LAstly, Strive continually to grow in Grace, and press forward towards Perfection. So long as we continue in these Houses of Clay, encompassed perpetually with the Infirmities of the Flesh, the Allurements of the World, and the Temptations of the Devil; we shall all offend indeed in many things, and can never arrive at the Perfection of Virtue: Yet unless we strive and press forward towards Perfection, we shall never make any tolerable progress. He that has no more Zeal for Religion, than to desire just to keep within the Borders of Virtue, and to escape the Punishment of Vice, will in all probability be deceived in his Expectations, and find when it is too late, that those who are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, are butRev. 3. 17. wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, and shall have no Portion among them that are arraied in fine Linnen, which is the Righteousness and the good Works of the Saints. He whose Heart is inflamed with an ardent Love of God, and a truly zealous desire of the Happiness of Heaven, will with St. Paul never think he has already attained, or is already perfect enough; but forgetting those ihings which are behind, Phil. 3. 1….and reaching forth unto those things which are before, will always press forward towards the Mark, for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus: He will never think himself good and holy enough; but getting continually a more compleat Victory over his Frailties and Infirmities, will go from strength to strength in the ImprovementsPsal. 84. 7▪ of Virtue here, till he appear before God in the Perfection of Holiness and of Glory hereafter.
2. Think not when you have once attained a clear knowledge of your Duty, and framed hearty Resolutions to perform it, and begun to live according to that Knowledge and those Resolutions; that you are presently in a perfect and confirmed State of Virtue. You must frequently *Sed hoc quod liquet firmandum, & altius quotidianâ meditatione figendum est. Plus operis est in eo, ut proposita custodias, quàm ut honesta proponas. Perseverandum est, & assiduo studio robur addendum, donec bona mens sit quod bona voluntas est. Seneca Ep. 16.review and meditate upon the Particulars of your Duty: You must frequently renew and strengthen your good Resolutions: and you must always be correcting and amending your Practice: Till that which was well resolved upon, and bravely begun, arrive by the degrees of a diligent and perpetual Improvement, to a confirmed Habit and settled Temper of Mind.
3. Think not when you have performed your Duty according to the common Measures of Obedience, and the vulgarly reputed Bounds of the Obligation of the Christian Laws; and when you are †Illud praecipuè impedit, quod cito nobis placemus; si invenimus qui nos bonos viros dicat, qui prudentes, qui Sanctos, agnoscimus. Seneca, Ep. 60.by others looked upon, as a good and just and holy Person; that you are now arrived at the Perfection of Virtue. For the Judgment of God is very different from the Opinion of Men; and such a Life as is now look'd upon as very good and creditable, would in the Times of the Apostles or Primitive Christians have been thought, if not scandalous, yet at best very cold and indifferent. He that will be perfect, must be *Nec tantum legibus publicis pareat, sed sit supra omnes leges qui legem Dei sequitur. Lactant. lib. 6. c. 23.above all Laws, and Customs, and Opinions; and must not limit his Purity of Mind, his Contempt of the World, and his Desire of doing Good, to any Degrees or Rules; but must exalt them in proportion to his love of God, and his hopes of Happiness.
4. Further, Think not when upon a loose and general view of your Life your Conscience does not accuse you of any scandalous and deliberate Sins, that therefore you have attained to the highest pitch of Virtue. There are many Sins, with which Men easily impose upon their own Minds; much indifferency in Religion, and coldness of Devotion; many omissions of Duties, and neglects of opportunities of doing Good; many faults of surprize, and indecencies of Passion; much sensuality, and over-fond Love of the things of this present World; many excesses, and small degrees of Intemperance; which are not to be discovered and overcome, without entring into a more strict, particular, and impartial examination of our Actions; and making repeated Resolutions and using constant unwearied Endeavours to correct whatever upon such strict search shall appear to be amiss.
5. Many there have been, (and some even among †Faciebat hoc Sextius, ut consummato die, cùm se ad nocturnam quietem recepisset, interrogaret animum suum, Quod hodie malum tuum sanasti? Cui vitio obstitisti? Quâ parte melior es? Seneca de Ira, lib. 3. c. 36. foreign foreign foreign foreign Pythag. Carm. Aurea.the Heathens themselves,) who have every Night strictly examined into the Actions of the past Day; that if they had done any thing for which they could reprove themselves, they might resolve to be more careful in that Particular for the future; and if they found they had in all Points performed their Duty, they might confirm and incourage themselves to continue to perform it. Others have done this yet more frequently, and habitually; never going about any thing, without a short Thought how they might best act, for the Honour of God, for the Good of Men, or for the Improvement of the Virtues of their own Mind; and never having done any thing, without a short Reflection whether they had acted so, as was most agreeable to these great Ends.
6. These indeed are things not to be imposed upon any Man by any particular Rules, but such as must be wholly left to the Discretion of every Man, to be used according to each ones Prudence or Zeal. Only in general 'tis certain, That by how much the more frequently a Man examines the Actions of his Life, and by how much the more strictly he observes his smaller Failures, and by how much the more particularly he resolves and endeavours to correct them; by so much the more will his Religion be Uniform, and his Obedience Perfect. He that uses himself often to consider, and to recollect the Particulars of his Duty; will perform many things, which others know indeed and understand in general, but †Interdum scimus, nec attendimus; non docet admonitio, sed advertit, sed excitat, sed memoriam continet, nec patitur elabi. Pleraque ante oculos posita transimus. Seneca Ep. 95.through habitual careless and inconsiderateness omit: And he that often searches strictly into the smallest Errors of his Life, and prays against them, and resolves particularly and endeavours to amend them; will be able to avoid and overcome many of those things, which are by others looked upon as the unavoidable Frailties and Infirmities of Nature.
7. And in proportion as a Man arrives nearer to this perfect State of Virtue, so will that Peace of Conscience, which is the peculiar Reward of Religion in this World, grow up by degrees to a settled Joy and Assurance of Mind. One whose Life is void of great and scandalous Crimes, but otherwise not strict and diligent, will be free indeed from the Terrour and Amazement of the Wicked; but because he has taken no great Pains, nor done any thing considerable for the Love of God and for the sake of Religion, his Mind will yet be disturbed with many scrupulous Doubts and uncertain Fears: But when a Man has been truly diligent to improve himself to the utmost, and has with Zeal and Earnestness pressed forward towards Perfection; then is it that he attains to that Tranquillity and Assurance, which wise Men have compared to a continual Feast. The Peace and Satisfaction of Mind, which *Quid ergò pulchrius hâc consuetudine excutiendi totum diem? Qualis ille somnus post recognitionem sui sequitur, quam tranquillus, altus ac liber, cum aut laudatus est animus aut admonitus, & speculator sui censorque secretus cognoscit de moribus suis? Seneca de Irà, lib. 3. c. 36.some have found upon the careful and strict examination of one past Days Actions, has been very great: But that compleat Assurance, which arises from the Conscience of a considerable part of a Man's Life having been spent in the Strictness and in the Purity of the Gospel, is a Pleasure infinitely surpassing all the Enjoyments of Sense; being indeed a fore-taste of the Happiness of Heaven, and a Rejoycing before-hand in Christ with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory. Such a1 Pet. 1. 8. one as has arrived to this pitch, lives in Peace, and dies with Assurance, and at the appearance of our Lord shall be presented fault less before the Presence of his Glory with Jude 24.exceeding Joy.
THE END.