The Christian Life, Chapter 3 · Section 1

The Christian Life · Chapter 3 · Section 1

p. 59SECT. I. Concerning those Humane Virtues which belong to a Man as he is a Reasonable Animal, shewing that they are all included in the Heavenly Part of the Christian Life, and that the Practice of them effectually conduces to our future Happiness.

FIRST we will consider Man in the Capacity of a meer Rational Animal, that is compounded of contrary Principles, viz. Spirit and Matter, or a Rational Soul and Humane Body; by which Composition He is, as it were, the Buckle of both Worlds, in whom the Spiritual and Material World are clasped and united together; and partaking, as he does, of both Extreams of Spirit and Matter, Angel and Brute, there arise within him from those contrary Natures contrary Propensions, viz. Rational and Sensual, or Angelical and Brutish; And in the due Subordination of these, his Sensual to his Rational Propensions, consists all Humane Virtue.

For his Reason being the noblest Principle of his Nature, must be supposed to be implanted in him by God to rule and govern him, to be an Eye to his blind and bruitish p. 60Affections, to correct the Errours of his Imagination, to bound the Extravagancies of his Appetites, and regulate the whole Course of his Actions; so as that he may do nothing that is destructive or injurious to this excellent Frame and Structure of his Nature. But now in this compounded Nature of a Man, there are his Concupiscible and Irascible Affections: with the first of which he desires and pursues his Pleasures; and with the second, he shuns and avoids his Dangers; and there are also Bodily Appetites, such as Hunger, Thirst, and Carnal Concupiscence; and together with these a Self-Esteem and Valuation; all which are the natural Subjects of his Reason, and indeed the only Subjects upon which it is to exercise its Dominion. So that in the well and ill Government of these, consists all Humane Virtue and Vice. To the perfect well governing therefore of a mans self, there are Five things indispensably necessary:

1. That He should impartially consult his Reason what is absolutely best for him, and by what means it is best attainable, and and then constantly pursue what it proposes and directs him to. For so far as he is wanting in this, he casts off the Government of his Reason.

p. 612. That he should proportion his Concupiscible Affections to the just value which his Reason sets upon those things which he affects: For every Degree of Affection which exceeds the merit of Things, is irrational, and consequently injurious to our Rational Nature.

3. That he should not suffer his Irascible Affections to exceed those Evils and Dangers which he would avoid; For if he doth, they will prove greater Evils to him than those Evils or Dangers are which raise and provoke them.

4. That he should not indulge his Bodily Appetites to the Hurt and Prejudice of his Rational Nature: For if he does, he will violate the nobler, for the sake of the viler Part of Himself. And

5. That upon the whole, he should maintain a Modest Opinion of himself; and not think better of his own Conduct and Management of himself than it deserves: For by so doing, he will be apt to overlook his own Misgovernments, and so incapacitate himself for any farther Improvements. And in these five Particulars consists all that Virtue which belongs to a man, considered meerly in the Capacity of a Rational Animal:

The First is the Virtue of Prudence,

The Second is the Virtue of Moderation,

p. 62The Third is the Virtue of Fortitude,

The Fourth is the Virtue of Temperance,

The Fifth is the Virtue of Humility.

All which, as I shall shew, are Essential Parts of the Christian Life, and such as do effectually contribute to our Heavenly Happiness.

I. PRUDENCE. And this is the Root and Ground-Work of all other Virtues; 'Tis this that gives Law and Scope to all our Motions, that proposes the Ends, and prescribes the Measures of our Actions. For Prudence consists in being guided and directed by Right Reason, as it proposes to us the worthiest Ends, and directs us to the fittest and most effectual Means of obtaining them. So that to live prudently, is to live in the constant Exercise of our Reason, and to be continually pursuing such Ends as Right Reason proposes, by such Means as Right Reason directs us to, which is the proper Business of all the Virtues of Religion. And hence Religion in the Scripture is frequently called by the Name of Wisdom or Prudence; The Fear of the Lord that is Wisdom, saith Job, and to depart from Evil that is Vnderstanding, Job xxviii.28. And, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom, saith David, Psal. cxi.10. where the Fear of the Lord comprehends all the Acts of Religion, which p. 63are therefore wise and prudent, because they are the fittest Means to those worthiest Ends which Right Reason proposes. So that to exercise our Reason in the Search and Discovery of what is absolutely best for us, and to follow our Reason in the Pursuit and Acquest of what it discovers to be so, is that virtue of Prudence whereunto we stand obliged as we are Rational Animals.

FOR our Reason being the noblest Principle of our Nature, That by which we are raised above the Level of Brutes, yea, by which we are allied to Angels, and do border upon God himself, ought upon that account to be submitted to, as the supream Regent and Directress of all our other Powers and to be looked upon as the Rule of our Will, and the Guide of all our Animal Motions. And when to gratifie our sensual Appetites, or unreasonable Passions we either neglect those Ends which our Reason proposes to us, or pursue them by such Means as our Reason disallows of, we reverse the very order of our Natures, and tread Antipodes to our selves; And while we do so, it is impossible we should be happy, either here, or hereafter. For every thing, you see, is diseased while it is in an unnatural State and Condition, while its Parts are displaced, or put into a Disorder, or distorted into an unnatural Figure. p. 64And so it is with a Man, who while he preserves his Faculties in their natural Station and Subordination to each other, while he keeps his Affections and Appetites in subjection to his Will, and his Will to his Reason, he is calm and quiet, and enjoys within himself perpetual Ease and Tranquillity; But when once he breaks this order, and suffers his Passions or his Appetites to usurp the Place of his Reason; to impose contrary Ends to it, or prescribe contrary Means; his Faculties, like disjointed Members, are in perpetual Anguish and Anxiety. And hence it is that in the Course of a wicked Life, we feel such restless Contentions between our Spirit and Flesh, between the Law in our Minds, and the Law in our Members; because our Nature is out of Tune, and its Faculties are displaced and disordered, and that sovereign Principle of Reason which should sway and govern us, is deposed, and made a Vassal to our Appetites and Passions. For in all our evil Courses we chuse and refuse, resolve and act, not as Reason directs us, but as Sense and Passion biasses us; and our Reason having nothing to do in all this Brutish Scene of Action, either sleeps it out, without minding or regarding, or else sits by as an idle Spectator of it, and only censures and condemns it. And it is this that causes p. 65all that Tumult and Contest that is in our Natures; and till, by the Exercise of Prudence, our Faculties are reduced, and set in order again, our Mind will be like our Body, while its Bones are out of Joint, continually restless and unquiet. And therefore to remove this great Indisposition of our Nature to Happiness, Prudence is required of us, as one of the principal Virtues of the Heavenly Part of the Christian Life.

FOR thus our Saviour injoins that we should be wise as Serpents as well as harmless as Doves, Mat. x.16. which though it be here prescribed in a particular Case only, viz. that of Persecution; yet since the Reason of it extends to all other Cases, and it is fit we should be Prudent in all our Undertakings as well as in suffering Persecution, it is upon that account equivalent to an universal Command. So also Ephes. v.15. See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise; i. e. In the whole Course of your Actions take heed that ye follow the Guidance of your Reason, and do not suffer your selves to be seduced by your blind Passions and Appetites, which are meer Ignes Fatui, or the Guides of Fools. And accordingly the Apostle prays for his Christian Colossians, That they might be filled with the Knowledge of God in all Wisdom and spiritual Vnderstanding, p. 66Coloss. i.9. i. e. That they might have such a knowledge of Gods will as might render them truly prudent, and cause them to pursue the best Ends by the best Means. And though this Virtue seldom occurs in the new Testament under its own Name, yet, as in the above-named Places it is expressed by Wisdom, so it is elsewhere by Knowledge, as particularly, 2 Cor. vi.6. where he commands the Ministers of the Church to approve themselves such by several Virtues, and particularly by Pureness, i. e. Continence, and by Knowledge, i. e. by Prudence; For, besides that Knowledge as it signifies an Vnderstanding of Divine Things, was not a Virtue in the Apostles, but a Gift of God, and so not proper to be enumerated amongst these Virtues; there is hardly any Account to be given why the Apostle should place Knowledge in the midst of so many Moral Virtues, if he did not thereby mean the Virtue of Prudence, which is, as it were, the Eye and Guide of all the other Virtues. So again, 2 Pet. i.6. where he bids us add to Faith, Virtue, i. e. Fortitude, or Constancy of Mind; and to Virtue Knowledge, and to Knowledge Temperance; By Knowledge it is highly probable he means Prudence, because he places it in the midst of those two Virtues which border nearest upon Prudence.

p. 67NOW that the Practice of this Virtue is a most proper and effectual Means of our Everlasting Happiness, is evident from hence, Because the Practice of it is a constant Exercise of Reason. For to act prudently in Religion is to follow the best Reason; to aim at Heaven, which is the best End, and direct our Actions thither by the best Rules; 'Tis to consult what is best for our selves, and how it may be most effectually obtained. In a word, it is to intend the chiefest Good above All, and to level our Lives and Actions most directly towards it. This is Religious Prudence in the General; and as for those Particulars of it, which we are obliged to exercise in the several States, Relations, and Circumstances wherein we are placed, they all consist in doing what is most fit and reasonable with respect to that Great and Blessed End.

FOR by living in the continual Practice of Religious Prudence, we shall by degrees habituate our selves to a Life of Reason, and shake off that drowsie Charm of Sense and Passion which hangs upon our Minds, and renders our Faculties so dull and unactive; And having disused our selves a while to obey their blind and imperious Dictates, our Reason will reassume its Throne in us, and direct all our Aims and Endeavours to what p. 68is Fittest and most Reasonable. For we being finite and limited Beings, cannot operate divers ways with equal vigour at once; and our Faculties are made in such a regular and aequilibrious order, that proportionably as the one does increase in Activity, the others always decay; And so accordingly as we abate in the strength of our Brutish, we we shall improve in the vigour of our Rational Faculties. But to act suitably to their Natures being the End of all our Faculties and Powers of Action, the God of Nature to excite them thereto, has founded all their Pleasure in the vigorous Exercise of them upon suitable Objects. Since therefore our Reason is the best and noblest of all Powers of Action, to be sure the greatest Pleasure we are capable of, must spring out of the Exercise of our Reason. Wherefore since Prudence consists in the Vse of our Reason, the Practice thereof must needs effectually contribute to our Pleasure and Happiness. For Vse and Exercise will mightily strengthen and improve our Reason, and render it not only more apprehensive of what is fit and reasonable; but also more persuasive and prevalent; and when once it is improved into a prevailing Principle of Action, and hath acquired not only Skill enough to prescribe what is Right to us; but also p. 69Power enough to persuade us to comply with its prescriptions; to chuse and refuse, to love and hate, to hope and fear, desire and delight, and regulate all our Actions by its Laws and Dictates, then are we entring upon our Heaven and Happiness.

FOR that which makes us unhappy is that our sinful and ureasonable Affections do so hamper and intangle us, that we cannot freely exercise our Faculties upon such Objects as are most suitable to them; that our Minds and Wills are so fettered by our vicious Inclinations, that we cannot exert them upon that which is most worthy to be Known and Chosen, without a great deal of Difficulty and Distraction. But now under the Conduct of our Reason our Faculties will by Degrees recover their Freedom, and disengage themselves from those vicious Encumbrances which do so clog and interrupt them in all their Rational Motions. And when this is throughly effected, we are in full Possession of the Heavenly State, which, as I have shewed, consists in the free and vigorous Exercise of our Rational Faculties upon the best and worthiest Objects. For when once our Passions and Appetites are perfectly subdued to our Reason, all our Rational Faculties will be free, and every one will move towards its proper Object p. 70without any Lett or Hindrance; our Vnderstanding will be swallowed up in a fixt Contemplation of the sublimest Truth, our Wills, intirely resigned to the Choice and Embraces of the truest Good; our Affections, unalterably devoted to the Love and Fruition of the most excellent Beauty and Perfection; and in this consists the Happy State of Heaven; So that to live prudently, or, which is the same, to govern our selves by our best Reason, is both a necessary and effectual means of attaining to the Heavenly State.

II. ANOTHER Virtue which appertains to a Man considered meerly as a Rational Animal is MODERATION; which consists in proportioning our Concupiscible Affections to the just worth and value of Things; so as neither to spend our Affections too prodigally upon Trifles, nor yet be over-sparing or niggardly of them to real and substantial Goods. But to love, desire, and expect things more or less, according to the Estimate which our best and most impartial Reason makes of their Worth and Goodness. For he that affects things more than in the Esteem of Reason they deserve, affects them irrationally, and regulates his Passion by his wild and extravagant Imagination, and not by his Reason and Judgment. And while men do thus neglect their Reason, p. 71and accustome themselves to desire, and love and affect without it, they necessarily disable themselves to enjoy a Rational Happiness. For, besides that their Rational Faculties being thus laid by and unemployed, will naturally contract Rust, and grow every day more weak and restive; Besides that their unexercised Reason will melt away in Sloth and Idleness, and all its vital Powers freeze for want of motion, and, like standing water, stagnate and gather mire, and by degrees corrupt and putrefie, till at last it will be impossible to revive them to the vigorous Exercise and Motion wherein their Pleasure and Happiness consists; Besides this, I say, by habituating our selves to affect things irrationally, i. e. to love the least Goods most, and the greatest least; we shall disable our selves from enjoying any Goods, but only such as cannot make us happy. For he that loves any Good more than it is worth, can never be happy in the enjoyment of it; because he thinks there is more in it than he finds, and so is always disappointed in the Fruition of it. And the Grief of being disappointed of what he expects, does commonly countervail the Pleasure of what he finds and enjoys. While he is in the pursuit of any Good which he inordinately dotes upon, he is wild and imaginative; p. 70duplicate page p. 71duplicate page p. 72he swells with Phantastick Joys, and juggles himself into Expectations, that are as large and boundless as his Desires; But when once he is seized of it, and finds how vastly the Enjoyment falls short of his Expectation, his Pleasure is presently lost in his Disappointment, and so he remains as unsatisfied as ever. And thus if he were to spend an Eternity in such Pursuits and Enjoyments, his Life would be nothing but an Everlasting Succession of Expectations and Disappointments. So that all inordinate Affection destroys its own Satisfaction, and necessarily renders us by so many Degrees miserable, as it exceeds the real worth and value of Things.

BESIDES which also it is to be considered, that all these lesser Goods which are the Objects of our Extravagant Affections, are things which we must ere long be for ever deprived of: For the lesser Goods are those, which are only good for the worser Part of us, that is, for our Body and Animal Life; the proper Goods whereof are the Outward, Sensitive Enjoyments of this World; All which, when we leave this world we must leave for ever, and go away into Eternity, with nothing about us, but only the Good, or Bad Dispositions of our Souls, So that if our Soul be carnalized p. 73through our immoderate Affection to the things of this World, we shall carry that Affection with us, but leave the things which we thus vehemently affect behind us for ever. For that which is the prevailing Temper of Souls in this Life will doubtless be so in the other too; and so far is that of the Poet true

—Quae gratia currûm

Armorúmque fuit vivis, quae cura nitentes

Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos.

For though the coming into the other world will questionless improve those Souls which are really good before, yet it is not to be imagined how it should create those good who are habitually bad; and if we retain in the other world that Prevailing Affection to these sensitive Goods which we contracted in this, it must necessarily render us unspeakably miserable there. For every Lust the Soul carries into the other world, will, by being eternally separated from its Pleasures, convert into an Hopeless Desire, and upon that account grow more furious and impatient. For of all the Torments of the mind I know none that is comparable to that of an outragious Desire joined with Despair of Satisfaction; which is just the case p. 74of sensual and worldly minded Souls in the other Life where they are full of sharp and unrebated Desires, and like starving men that are shut up between two Dead Walls are tormented with a fierce, but hopeless Hunger, which having nothing else to feed on, preys and quarries on themselves; and in this desolate condition they are forced to wander to and fro, tormented with a restless Rage, an Hungry and Unsatisfied Desire, craving food, but neither finding, nor expecting any; and so in unexpressible Anguish they pine away a long Eternity. And though they might find content and satisfaction, could they but divert their Affections another way, and reconcile them to the Heavenly Enjoyments; yet being irrecoverably preingaged to sensual Goods, they have no Savour or Relish of any thing else, but are like Feaverish Tongues that disgust and nauseate the most grateful Liquors by reason of their own overflowing Gall. So impossible is it for men to be happy, either here or hereafter, so long as their Affections to the lesser Goods of this World do so immoderately exceed the worth and value of them.

ONE Essential Part therefore of the Christian Life which is the Great Means of our Happiness, is the Virtue of Moderation; p. 75the peculiar Office whereof is to bound our Concupiscible Affections, and proportion them to the Intrinsic Worth of those outward Goods which we affect and desire. For though the word Moderation, according to our present Acceptation of it, be no where to be found in the New Testament, yet the Virtue expressed by it, is frequently enjoined; as particularly where we are forbid to set our Affections upon the Things of the Earth, Col. iii.2. To love the World or the Things that are in the World, 1 John ii.15. Which Phrases are not to be so understood as if we were not to love the Enjoyments of the World at all; for they are the Blessings of God, and such as he has proposed to us in his Promises as the Rewards and Encouragements of our Obedience; and to be sure, he would never encourage us to obey him by the Hope of such Rewards as are unlawful for us to desire and love: The meaning therefore of these Prohibitions is, that we should so moderate our Affections to the world, as not to permit them to exceed the Real Worth and Value of its Enjoyments. For it is not simply our loving it, but our loving it to such a Degree as is inconsistent with our Love of God that is here forbidden; For he that loveth the world, saith St. John, the Love of the Father is not in him, i. e. he p. 76that loves it to such a Degree as to prefer the Riches, Honours, and Pleasures of it before God and his Duty to him, hath no real Love to God, i. e. He loves not God as God, as the Chiefest Good and Supream Beauty and Perfection. And hence Covetousness, which is an immoderate Desire of the world, is called Idolatry, Col. iii.5. because it sets the world in the place of God, and gives it that supream Degree of Affection which is only due to him; And this the Apostle there calls Inordinate Affection, because it extravagantly exceeds the Intrinsic Worth and Value of its Objects. Wherefore we are strictly enjoined to take heed and beware of Covetousness, Luke xii.15. And to let our Conversation be without Covetousness, Heb. xiii.5. By all which and sundry other Commands and Prohibitions of the Gospel, the Moderation of our Concupiscible Affections is made a necessary part of the Christian Life.

NOW that this also mightily contributes to our Acquisition of the Heavenly Happiness, is evident, not only from what hath been already said, but also from hence, that till our Affections are thus moderated, we can have no Savour or Relish of the Heavenly Enjoyments. For in this corrupt State of our Nature, we generally understand by our p. 77Affections, which, like coloured Glass, represent all Objects to us in their own Hue and Complexion. When therefore a mans Affections are immoderately carried out towards worldly things, they will be sure by Degrees to corrupt and deprave his Judgment, and render him as unfit to judge of divine and spiritual Enjoyments, as a Plowman is to be a Moderatour in the Schools. For when a mans thoughts have been employed another way, and the Delights of Sense have for a long while preoccupied his Vnderstanding, he will judge things to be Good or Evil according as they disgust, or gratifie his lower Appetites: And this being the Standard by which he measures things, 'tis impossible he should have any Savour of those Spiritual Goods in which the Happiness of Heaven consists. For though in his Nature there is a Tendency to Rational Pleasures, yet this he may, and very frequently does, stifle and extinguish by addicting himself wholly to the Delights and Gratifications of his Sense, which by degrees will so melt down his Rational Inclinations into his Sensual, and confound and mingle them with his Carnal Appetites, that his Soul will wholly sympathize with his Body, and have all Likes and Dislikes in common with it; And there is nothing will p. 78be capable of pleasing the One but what does gratifie the unbounded Liquorishness of the Other.

NOW to such a Soul the spiritual World must needs be a barren wilderness, where no Good grows that it can live upon, none but what is nauseous and distastful to its coarse and vitiated Palate; where there are noble Entertainments indeed for Minds that are contempered to them, that have already tasted and experienced them; but not one Drop of Water to cool the Tip of a Sensual Tongue, or gratifie the Thirst of a Carnal Desire. So that were we admitted to that Heavenly Place where the Blessed dwell, yet unless we had acquired their Heavenly Disposition and Temper, we could never participate with them in their Pleasures. For so great would be the Antipathy of our sensual Affections to them, that we should doubtless flie away from them, and rather chuse to be for ever Insensible, than be condemned to an everlasting Perception of what is so ungrateful to our Natures. So that till we have in some measure moderated our Concupiscible Affections, and weaned them from their excessive Dotages upon sensual Good, it is impossible we should enjoy the Happiness of Heaven; For such perfect Opposites are a Spiritual Heaven and a Carnal p. 79Mind, that unless This be spiritualized, or That be carnalized, it is impossible they should ever meet and agree.

III. ANOTHER Virtue that belongs to a Man considered meerly as a Rational Animal is FORTITUDE; which in the largest sense consists in not permitting our Irascible Affections to exceed those Evils or Dangers which we seek to repel or avoid; in keeping our Fear and Anger, our Malice, Envy, and Revenge in such due subjection as not to let them exceed those Bounds which Reason, and the Nature of Things, prescribe them. For I do not take Fortitude here in the narrow sense of the Moralists, as it is a Medium between Irrational Fear and Fool-Hardiness; but as it is the Rule by which all those Irascible Passions in us which arise from the sense of any Evil or Danger, ought to be guided and directed; That by which we are to guard and defend our selves against all those troublesome and disquieting Impressions which outward Evils and Dangers are apt to make upon our Minds: And in this Latitude Fortitude comprehends not only Courage, as it is opposed to Fear; but also Gentleness, as it is opposed to Fierceness; Sufferance, as it is opposed to Impatience; Contentedness, as it is opposed to Envy; and Meekness, as it is opposed to p. 80Malice and Revenge; All which are the Passions of weak and pusillanimous Minds, that are not able to withstand an Evil, nor endure the least Touch of it without being startled and disordered; that are so softned with Baseness and Cowardise that they cannot resist the most gentle Impressions of Injury. For as sick Persons are offended with the light of the Sun, and the freshness of the Air, which are highly pleasant and delightful to such as are well and in health; Even so Persons of weak and feeble minds are easily offended, their Spirits are so tender and effeminate that they cannot endure the least Air of Evil should blow upon them; and what would be only a Diversion to a Couragious Soul, troubles and incommodes Them. And whatsoever Courage such persons may pretend to, it's meerly a Heat and Ferment of their Bloud and Spirits; A Courage, wherein Game-Cocks and Mastives out-vy the greatest Heroes of them all. But as to that which is truly Rational and Manly, which consists in a firm Composedness of Mind in the midst of Evil or Dangerous Accidents, they are the most wretched Cowards in Nature. For the true Fortitude of the Mind consists in being hardened against Evil upon Rational Principles; in being so fenced and guarded with Reason and Consideration, as that no p. 81dolorous Accident from without is able to invade it, or raise any violent Commotions in it; In a word, in having such a constant Power over its Irascible Affections, as not to be overprone either to be timorous in Danger, or envious in Want, or impatient in Suffering, or angry at Contempt, or malicious and revengeful under Injuries and Provocations. And till we have in some measure acquired this Virtue, we can never be happy either here or hereafter.

FOR whilst we are in this world, we must expect to be encompassed with continual Crouds of Evil Accidents, some or other of which will be always pressing upon and justling against us: So that if our minds are sore and uneasie, and over-apt to be affected with Evil, we shall be continually pained and disquieted. For, whereas were our Minds but calm and easie, all the Evil Accidents that befall us would be but like a Shower of Hail upon the Tiles of a Musick-House, which with all its Clatter and Noise disturbs not the Harmony that is within; our being too apt to be moved into Passion by them, uncovers our mind to them, and lays it open to the Tempest. And commonly the greatest Hurt which these outward Evils do us, is, their disturbing our Minds into violent Passions; and this they p. 82will never cease doing, till we have throughly fortified our Reason against them. For if our Reason commands not our Passions, to be sure outward Accidents will; and while they do so, we are Tenants at will to them for all our Peace and Happiness; and according as they happen to be Good or Bad, so must we be sure still to be Happy or Miserable. And in this Condition, like a Ship without a Pilot in the midst of a Tempestuous Sea, we are the sport of every wind and wave, and know not, till the Event hath determined it, how the next Billow will dispose of us; whether it will dash us against a Rock, or drive us into a quiet Harbour.

SO miserable is our Condition here, while we are utterly destitute of this Virtue of Fortitude; But much more miserable will the want of it necessarily render us hereafter. For all those Affections which fall under the Inspection and Government of Fortitude, are, in their Excesses, naturally vexatious to the Mind, and do always disturb and raise Tumults in it. For so Wrath and Impatience distracts and alienates it from it self, and confounds its Thoughts, and shuffles them together into a heap of wild and disorderly Fancies; so Malice, Envy, and Revenge do fill it with anxious biting Thoughts, that like young Vipers gnaw the p. 83Womb that bears them, and fret and gall the wretched Mind that forms, and gives them Entertainment. And though in this world we are not so sensible of the mischief which these black and rancorous Passions do us; partly because our sense of them is abated with the Intermixture of our Bodily Pleasures; and partly because while we operate, as we do, by these unwieldy Organs of Flesh, our Reflexions cannot be comparably so quick, nor our Passions so violent, nor our Perceptions so brisk and exquisite as they will doubtless be when we are stript into naked Spirits; yet if we go away into the other World with these Affections unmortified in us, they will not only be far more violent and outragious than now, and we shall not only have a far quicker Sense of them than now; but this our sharp sense of them shall be pure and simple, without any intermixture of Pleasure to soften and allay it. And if so, Good Lord! what exquisite Devils and Tormentors will they prove, when an extreme Rage and Hate, Envy and Revenge shall be all together, like so many hungry Vultures, preying on our Hearts; and our Mind shall be continually baited and worried with all the furious Thoughts which these outragious Passions can suggest to us! When with the meagre Eyes of Envy p. 84we shall look up towards the Regions of Happiness, and incessantly pine and grieve at the Felicities of those that inhabit them; when through a sense of our own Follies, and of the miserable Effects of them, our Rage and Impatience shall be heightned, and boiled up into a Diabolical Fury; and when at the same time, an Inveterate Malice against all that we converse with, and a fierce desire of Revenging our selves upon those who have contributed to our Ruine, shall, like a Wolf in our Breasts, be continually gnawing and feeding upon our Souls, what an insupportable Hell shall we be to our selves! Doubtless that Outward Hell to which bad Spirits are condemned is very terrible; but I cannot imagine, but that the worst of their Hell is within themselves, and that their own Devillish Passions are severer Furies to them than all those Devils that are without them. For Wrath and Envy, Malice and Revenge are both the Nature and the Plague of Devils; and though, as Angels, they are the Creatures of God; yet, as Devils, they are the Creatures of these their Devillish Affections; they were these that transformed them from Blessed Angels into Cursed Fiends, and could they but once cease to be envious and malicious, they would cease to be Devils, and turn Blessed Angels again. p. 85If then these rancorous Affections have such a malignant Influence as to blacken Angels into Devils, and make them the most miserable who were once the most happy Creatures, how can we ever expect to be happy so long as we indulge and harbour them?

WHEREFORE to remove this great Impediment of our Happiness, Christianity strictly enjoins us to practise this necessary Virtue of Fortitude, which consists in the due Regulation of all these our Irascible Affections; in moderating our Anger and Impatience, suppressing our Envy, and extinguishing all our unreasonable Hatred and Desire of Revenge. For hitherto tend all those Evangelical Precepts which require us to put away all bitterness and wrath, all clamor, and evil speaking and malice, Ephes. iv.31. to lay aside all malice, and to be children in malice, 1 Pet. ii.1. 1 Cor. xiv.20. to be strengthned with all might unto all patience and long suffering, Coloss. i.11. And accordingly all the Virtues which are comprehended in this of Fortitude are reckoned among the Fruits of that Blessed Spirit by which we are to be guided and directed, Gal. v.22. But the fruit of the Spirit is peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, and meekness; all which are nothing but this great Virtue of Fortitude, severally exerting it self upon p. 86those several Irascible Affections that are in us, and guiding and regulating them according to those Laws and Directions which right Reason severally prescribes them; and setting such Bounds and Limits to each of them as are necessary to the Peace and Happiness of our Rational Natures; That so when Outward Dangers or Evils do excite them, they may not start out into such wild Excesses as to become Plagues and Diseases to our Minds.

NOW how much the Practice of this Virtue conduces to our Heavenly Happiness is evident from hence, That all the Diseases and Distemperatures which our Mind is capable of, are nothing else but the Excesses of its Concupiscible and Irascible Affections; but its being affected with Good and Evil beyond those Limits and Measures which Right Reason prescribes. Did we but love outward Goods according to the value at which true Reason rates them, we should neither be vexed with an Impatient Desire of them while we want, nor disappointed of our Expectation while we enjoy them. And when our Desires towards these outward Goods are reduced to that Coolness and Moderation as neither to be impatient in the Pursuit, nor dissatisfied in the Enjoyment of them, it is impossible they should give p. 87any Disturbance to our Minds. And so, on the other hand, did we but take care to regulate our Resentments of Outward Evils and Dangers as Right Reason advises, they would never be able to hurt or discompose our Minds. For Right Reason advises that we should not so resent them as to increase and aggravate them; that we should not add the Disquietude of an anxious Fear to the Dangers that threaten us, nor the Torment of an Outragious Anger to the Indignities that are offered us, nor the Smart of a Peevish Impatience to the sufferings that befall us; In a word, that we should not aggravate our Want through an invidious Pining at anothers Fulness, nor sharpen the Injuries that are offered us by a malicious and revengeful Resentment of them. And he that follows these Advices of Reason, and conducts his Irascible Affections by them, has a Mind that is elevated above the Reach of Injury; that sits above the Clouds in a calm and quiet Aether, and with a brave Indifferency hears the rowling Thunders grumble and burst under its Feet. And whilst Outward Evils fall upon timorous and peevish and malicious Spirits, like Sparks of Fire upon a heap of Gunpowder, and do presently blow them up, and put them all in Combustion; when they happen to a dispassionate p. 88Mind they fall like Stones on a Bed of Down, where they sit easily and quietly, and are received with a calm and soft Complyance. When therefore by the continual Practice of Moderation and Fortitude we have tamed and civilized our Concupiscible and Irascible Affections, and reduced them under the Government of Reason, our Minds will be free from all Disease and Disturbance, and we shall be liable to no other Evil but that of Bodily Sense and Passion. So that when we leave our Bodies and go into the World of Spirits, we shall presently feel our selves in perfect Health and Ease. For the Health of a Reasonable Soul consists in being perfectly Reasonable, in having all its Affections perfectly subdued to a well-informed Mind, and clothed in the Livery of its Reason. And while it is thus, it cannot be diseased in that Spiritual State wherein it will be wholly separated from all bodily Sense and Passion; because it has no Affection in it that can any way disturb or ruffle its calm and gentle Thoughts. And then feeling all within it self to be well, and as it should be; every String tuned into a perfect Harmony; every Motion and Affection corresponding with the most perfect Draughts and Models of its own Reason, it must needs highly approve of, and be perfectly p. 89satisfied with it self; and while it surveys its own Motions and Actions, it must necessarily have a most delicious Gust and Rellish of them, they being all such as its best and purest Reason approves of, with a full and ungainsaying Judgment. And thus the Soul being cured of all irregular Affection, and removed from all corporeal Passion, will live in perfect Health and Vigor, and for ever enjoy within it self a Heaven of Content and Peace.

IV. ANOTHER Virtue which appertains to a man considered meerly as a Rational Animal is TEMPERANCE; which consists in not indulging our Bodily Appetites to the Hurt and Prejudice of our Rational Nature; Or, in refraining from all those Excesses of Bodily Pleasure, of Eating, Drinking and Venery, which do either disorder our Reason, or indispose us to enjoy the pure and spiritual Pleasures of the Mind. For, besides that all Excesses of Bodily Pleasures are naturally prejudicial to our Reason, as they indispose those Bodily Organs by which it operates, (For so Drunkenness dilutes the Brain, which is the Mint of the Understanding, and drowns those Images it stamps upon it in a Floud of unwholesome Rheums and Moistures; and Gluttony cloggs the Animal Spirits, which p. 90are, as it were, the Wings of the Mind, and indisposes them for the Highest and Noblest Flights of Reason; so Wantonness chafes the Bloud into Feverish Heats, and by causing it to boil up too fast into the Brain, disorders the motions of the Spirits there, and so confounds the Phantasms, that the Mind can have no clear or distinct Perception of them; by which means our Intellectual Faculties are very often interrupted, and forced to sit still for want of proper Tools to work with, and so, by often loitering, grow by degrees listless and unactive, and at the last, are utterly indisposed to any Rational Operations;) Besides this, I say, (which must needs be a mighty prejudice to our Rational Nature) by too much familiarizing our selves to bodily Pleasures, we shall break off all our acquaintance with spiritual ones, and grow, by degrees, such utter strangers to them, that we shall never be able to rellish and enjoy them; and our Soul will contract such an Vxorious Fondness of the Body (that being the Shop of all the Pleasure it was ever acquainted with) that 'twill never be able to live happily without it. For though in its separate state it cannot be supposed that the Soul will retain the Appetites of the Body; yet, if while it is in the Body, it wholly abandons it self to Corporeal p. 91Pleasures, it may, and doubtless will, retain a vehement hankering after it, and longing to be re-united to it; which, I conceive, is the only sensuality that a separated Soul is capable of. For when such a Soul arrives into the Spiritual World, her having wholly accustomed her self to bodily Pleasure, and never experienced any other, will necessarily render her incapable of enjoying the Pleasures of pure and blessed Spirits. So that being left utterly destitute of all her dear Delights and Satisfactions, which are such as she knows she can never enjoy but in conjunction with the Body, all her Appetite and Longing must necessarily be an outragious Desire of being Embodied again, that so she may be capable of repeating her old sensual Pleasures, and acting over the brutish Scene anew.

AND this, as some think, is the Reason why such gross and sensual Souls have appeared so often, after their separation, in the Churchyards, or Charnel-Houses where their Bodies were laid; because they cannot please themselves without them:Plat. Phaed. pag. 398. foreign p. 92foreign· The soul that is infected with a great Lust to the Body, continues so, for a great while after Death, and suffering great Reluctancies, hovers about this visible place, and is hardly drawn from thence by force, by the Demon that hath the Guard and Care of it. Where by the visible Place he means, foreign·Ibid. Pag. 386. That is, About their Monuments and Sepulchres, where the shadowy Phantasms of such Souls have sometimes appeared. For being utterly unacquainted with the Pleasures of Spirits, they have nothing in all the spiritual world to feed their hungry Desire, which makes them when they are permitted to wander, to hover about, and linger after their Bodies; the Impossibility of being re-united to them not being able to cure them of their impotent Desire of it, but still they would fain be alive again, and reassume their old Instruments of Pleasure;

—Iterumque ad tarda reverti

Corpora:—

—Quae lucis miseris tam dira Cupido?

And hence, among other Reasons, it was that the Primitive Christians did so severely abstain from Bodily Pleasures, that by this p. 93means they might gently wean the Soul from the Body, and teach it before hand to live upon the Delights of separated Spirits; that so upon its separation it might drop into Eternity, like ripe Fruit from the Tree, with Ease and Willingness; and that by accustoming it before to spiritual Pleasures and Delights, it might acquire such a savoury Sense and Relish of them, as to be able, when it came into the spiritual world, to live wholly upon them, and to be so intirely satisfied with them, as not to be endlesly vext with a tormenting Desire of returning to the Body again. For so Clemens Alexandrinus, foreign·Paedag. l. 2. c. 1. pag. 141. We that are hunting after the Heavenly Food, must take heed that we keep our Earthly Belly in subjection, and to keep a strict Government over those things that are pleasant to it. For saith he a little before, foreign·Ibid. Pag. 139. Neither, saith he, is Food our Work, nor Pleasure our Aim, but we use them only as necessaries to our present Abode, in which our Reason is instituting, and training p. 94us up to a Life incorruptible. i. e. They did so use them, as that as much as in them lay, they might wean their Souls from the pleasures of them, that so they might have the better Appetite to that Spiritual Food upon which they were to live for ever.

AND therefore thus to temperate and restrain our selves in the Use of bodily Pleasures is one of the necessary Virtues of the Christian Life. For hitherto tend all those Precepts concerning abstaining from fleshly lusts which war against our Souls, I Pet. ii.11. and mortifying the deeds of the Body, Rom. viii.13. and keeping under the Body, 1 Cor. ix.27. and putting off the body of the sins of the Flesh, Coloss. ii.11. And we are strictly enjoined to be temperate in all things, to watch and be sober, and walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in excess of wine, revellings and banquettings; The sense of all which is, That we should not indulge our bodily Appetites to the vitiating and depraving of our spiritual; that we should not plunge our selves so far in the Pleasures of the Flesh, as to drown our Sense and Perception of Divine and Heavenly Enjoyments; but that we should so far subdue and mortifie our Sensuality, as that it may not have the Dominion over us, nor be the p. 95prevalent Delight and Complacency of our Souls; but that the commanding Biass, and swaying Propension within us may be towards Divine and Heavenly Enjoyments; that so, when we leave this Body, we may not be so wedded to the Pleasures of it, as not to be able to be Happy without them; but that we may carry with us into Eternity such a quick Sense and lively Rellish of the Pleasures above, as to be able to live upon, and be for ever satisfied with them.

SO that at first View it is evident how much the Practice of this Virtue conduces to our Future Happiness. For by taking us off from all excess of bodily Pleasure, it disposes us to enjoy the Pleasures of Heaven, and connaturallizes our Souls to them: So that when after a long Exercise of Temperance, we come to leave the Body, our Soul will be so loosned from it before hand, and rendred so indifferent to the Delights of it, that we shall be able to part both with It and Them without any great Regret or Reluctancy, and to live from them for ever without any disquieting Longings or Hankerings after them. For, as when we are grown up by Age and Experience to a sense of more manly Pleasures, we despise Nuts and Rattles, which when we were Children, we accounted our Happiness, and should have reckoned our p. 96selves undone had we been deprived of them; So when by the Practice of a severe Temperance, we have acquired a thorough sense of the Pleasures of Virtue and Religion, we shall look upon all our bodily Pleasures as the little Toys and Fooleries of our Infant State, with which we pleased our childish Fancies when we knew no better. And whereas had we been deprived of them then, we should have cried and bemoaned our selves, as little Children do when they lose their Play-Games, and reckoned our selves undone and miserable; upon the Experience we have had of the Nobler and more Generous Pleasures of Religion, we shall be able to despise these little, poor Entertainments of our Infancy; to take our leave of them without a Tear in our Eyes, and to live eternally without missing them. For, our Minds being for the main reconciled to Rational and Spiritual Pleasures, we shall put off all Remains of bodily Lust with our Bodies, and so flie away into the spiritual world with none but Pure and Spiritual Appetites about us; where meeting with an infinite Fulness of Spiritual Joys and Pleasures, of which we had many a foretast in the Body, our predisposed Mind will presently close with, and feed upon them, with such an unspeakable Content and Satisfaction, p. 97as will ravish it for ever from the Thoughts of all other Pleasures. So that now we shall not only be able to subsist without Fleshly Delights, but to despise and scorn them; our Faculties being treated every moment with far nobler Fare and better Joys.

V. ANOTHER of those Virtues which belong to a man considered meerly as a Rational Animal, is HUMILITY; which consists in a modest and lowly opinion of our selves, and of our own Acquisitions, Merits, or Endowments; Or, in not valuing our selves beyond what is due and just, upon the account of any Good we are possessed of, whether it be Internal or External. For Pride, or an over-weening Self-Conceit is the Bane of all our Virtue and Happiness. It causes us to overlook our Defects, and thereby hinders us from making farther Improvement; and it possesses us with an opinion that we deserve more than we have and thereby renders us dissatisfied with our present Enjoyments. For by how much any man over-values himself, by so much he under-values what he enjoys; because while he compares what he enjoys with the fond opinion that he hath of himself, he always finds it short of his Desert, and so can never be satisfied with it. Yea, such is the cross p. 98and capricious Humour of a proud Spirit, that the more it possesses, the bigger it swells with the opinion of its own Desert; and the more it is opiniated of its own Desert, the less it is satisfied with that which it possesses and enjoys. For when a man is exceeding apt to flatter and cokes himself, he will catch at any Pretence to exalt his own Merit and Desert, and be ready to measure it, not only by what he is, but by what he has too; and then reckoning his outward Possessions to be the Rewards or Products of his Inward Worth, the more he has, the more he will still imagine he deserves to have. So that his Opinion of his own Desert will still run on so fast before his Enjoyments, that though they should follow it never so close, as the Hinder Wheels of a Coach do the Fore ones, yet it would be impossible for them to overtake it; And so long as he conceives his Enjoyments to be behind his Desert, he will be always discontented, and dissatisfied with them; and while he continues of this Humour, the utmost Bliss and Glory that Heaven affords would not to be able to satisfie him. For if he were set equal in Glory with the highest Saint, he would be so puffed and exalted by it in his own Conceit, that he would fancy he merited the Glory of an Angel; and if from thence he were advanced p. 99to the Throne of an Arch-Angel ▪ he would flatter himself into a conceit that he deserved the Glory and Dignity of a God: And so long as he fancied his Advancement to be below his Merit, he would never be contented with it, how high soever it were, but be continually vexing and repining that he was raised no higher.

AND this I verily believe was the Temper of the Devil, and that which finally ruined and undid him. For when he was an Angel of Light he was doubtless placed by the Father of Spirits, in such an Order or Degree of Dignity as became the Dignity of his Nature. But he, reflecting on his own Indowments, and the Glorious Condition wherein he was placed, began first to swell with an arrogant and overweening conceit of himself, and to set too high a value upon his own Angelical Graces and Perfections; and, as the natural Effect of this, to imagine that he was not high enough advanced in the Scale of the Heavenly Hierarchy, and that his Station in the Commonwealth of Angels was beneath the Grandeur and Dignity of his Nature. This made him look up with envious Eyes upon the Glorious Orders above him, into whose sublime Rank he being forbid to aspire by God, the Prince of Spirits, he proceeded by Degrees p. 100to malign and hate both Him and Them. And this he first expressed by entring into a Conspiracy against him with some of his Fellow-Angels, whom he found most apt to be wrought upon by him; together with whom he made an open Revolt, forsook the Blessed Abodes, as not enduring to abide any longer amongst those Blessed Orders whom he so inveterately hated and envied; and so with his revolted Legions descends into this Aery Region, where ever since he hath persisted in open Hostility against God and Heaven. And accordingly it is said of Him and his Accomplices, that they kept not their first Station, that is, they would needs have a higher Station in Heaven than that wherein God had placed them; which because they could not obtain, they left their own Habitation, i. e. forsook Heaven their Native Country and Abode, and came down into these lower Parts of the World, upon Design to strengthen their Party against Heaven by seducing Mankind into the same Revolt with themselves, Jude 6.

THUS 'twas the Devils Pride, you see, that made him Envious, his Envy that made him Spiteful and Malicious, all which together made him a Devil. And thus it would be with us, if we could be admitted into p. 101Heaven whilst we are under the Power and Prevalence of Pride and Self-Conceit. For while we think better of our selves, than God does, we shall never be contented with his Retributions, who will be sure to deal with every man according to his works; and that excessive value we should have of our selves, would cause us to undervalue the Degree and Rank of Glory and Happiness wherein we should be placed by the just Rewarder of Souls, as a Station much beneath our imagined Excellency and Perfection. And hence we should proceed to think hardly of God, and to repine against him as a partial and unequal Distributer of his Favours, and to envy and malign those that were placed higher in Glory than our selves; and so at last, out of an implacable Vexation and Discontent, to leave our Habitations, as the Devils did, and fly away to their Revolted Party. So impossible is it for a Soul that is under a prevailing Habit of Pride and Self-Conceit to be happy either here or hereafter.

AND therefore to remove this Obstacle, Christianity imposes the Practice of Humility, as a necessary means of our Happiness; and requires us to put on humbleness of mind, Col. iii.12. to be clothed with humility, 1 Pet. v.5. to walk with all lowliness and meekness, p. 102Ephes. iv.1, 2. and in lowliness of mind to esteem others better than our selves, Phil. ii.3. In a word, to follow the Example of our Blessed Lord, who was meek and lowly, Mat. xi.29. and in honour to prefer one another, Rom. xii.10. The sense of all which is, that we should labour, as much as in us lies, to think very meanly and modestly of our selves, and not to be discontented if others think meanly of us too; i. e. that we should neither be proud nor vainglorious, neither too much exalted in our own opinions, nor endeavour to insinuate into others a higher opinion of us than we do really deserve: In short, that we should so effectually represent to our selves the little Reason we have to be proud of any Personal Accomplishment, whether it be of Body, or Mind, to strut, like Esop's Crow, in these borrowed Feathers, which we could neither give to our selves, nor merit of God, but are wholly owing for to the Divine Bounty; so to inculcate upon our Minds the Folly and Ridiculousness of being proud of any Outward Goods we possess, such as fine Cloths, great Estates, or Popular Reputation, all which are so far from either making or speaking us wiser or better men, that they are too often the Fruits and Testimonies of our Folly and Knavery; And, in fine, that we should so p. 103impartially reflect upon the many Follies and Indiscretions, Errors and Ignorances, Irregularities of Temper, Defects of Manners, and Deviations from Right Reason that we are guilty of, as to shame our selves out of all those proud and arrogant Conceits that do so swell and impostumate our Minds.

AND when by these, and such like humbling Reflections we have laid our selves low in our own Eyes, and so far abased our Pride and Self-Conceit as to be effectually convinced of the Folly of it, and throughly persuaded to abhor and hate it, to watch and strive against it, and to be habituated for the main to mean and lowly thoughts of our selves; though we should not here arrive to an absolute Perfection in Humility (having none here to converse, or compare our selves with but such as our selves, such as are many of them our Inferiours, many our Equals, and many but few▪ Degrees our Superiours) yet, as soon as we go off from this lower Form, in which we may seem so considerable, into the Class and Society of those Glorious Inhabitants above (in whose bright Presence we shall appear but like so many Glow Worms in the midst of a Firmament of Stars) all the little Remains of Pride and Self-Conceit in us, will immediately vanish from our Minds. For if at the sight p. 102duplicate page p. 103duplicate page p. 104of an Angel the Beloved Apostle could not forbear prostrating himself; how prostrate and lowly must we be, when we see not only the whole Choir of Angels together, but God himself too, the Prince and Father of Spirits! For even here we find that the nearer we approach God, the more we shrink and lessen in our own Eyes; and if in the Presence of Angels we are but Dwarfs, in the Presence of God we shall be Nothings. But Oh! when we shall not only discern how infinitely he outshines us in Glory, but shall also continually feel by the most sensible Communications of his Goodness how we hang upon him, and derive every Breath and Joy and Glory from him; how our Being and Well-Being are the meer Alms and Pensions of his Bounty; how every Grace and Beauty in us is but the Reflection, and that a faint one too, of his outstretched Rays; when, I say, we shall feel all this, as we shall do in Heaven every moment, by a quick and sensible Experience, how must it needs wean us from all self-arrogating Thoughts, and perfectly abase and humble us in our own Eyes! And when this is done, our minds will be perfectly tempered and prepared for the Enjoyment of a Perfect Happiness; For now, such a modest opinion we shall have of our selves, p. 105that whatsoever Degree of Glory we are placed in, we shall look upon it as far beyond our Desert, and upon that account, be unspeakably satisfied and contented with it, and freely acknowledge it to be a thousand Degrees beyond what we could desire or hope for. And so far shall we be from grudging at, or envying those above us, that out of an humble sense of our own Unworthiness we shall readily prefer them before our selves, and freely acknowledge that we are only so many Degrees inferiour to them in Glory, as they are superiour to us in Divine Graces and Perfections. Upon which we shall not only acquiesce, but heartily rejoice in their Advancement, and be abundantly pleased that their Reward is as much greater than ours, as we do acknowledge their Virtue to be. In a word, so far shall we be from repining and murmuring at God for not rewarding us as liberally as others, that we shall be thoroughly sensible that he hath been bountiful to us infinitely beyond our Desert or Expectation; that 'twas not out of a fond Partiality, ot blind Respect of Persons that he raised others to higher Degrees of Glory than our selves, but out of a Principle of strict Justice that exactly ballances and adjusts its Rewards, according to the Degrees of our Desert and Improvement. p. 106The sense of which will not only compose our Minds into a perfect Satisfaction, but also continually excite us to those Beatifical Acts of Love and Praise, Thanksgiving and Adoration. Thus Humility, you see, tunes and composes us for Heaven, and only casts us down, like Balls, that we may rebound the higher in Glory and Happiness.

THUS you see how all those Virtues which appertain to a man considered as a Reasonable Animal, conduce to the Great Christian End, viz. The Happiness of Heaven. 'Tis true indeed the immediate product of this sort of Virtues is only, at least chiefly, pri…ative Happiness, or, the Happiness of Rest and Indolence, which consists in not being miserable, or, in a perfect cessation from all such Acts and Motions as are hurtful and injurious to a Rational Spirit. For, as I have shewed you in the Beginning of this Section, the proper office of Humane Virtue consists in so regulating all our Powers of Action, as that we do nothing that is hurtful or injurious to our Rational Nature; and thus, you plainly see, these Five aforenamed. Virtues do most effectually perform. But besides this Pri…ative, there is, as I shewed you, a Positive Part of Happiness, which consists not in Rest, but in Motion; in the Vigorous Exercise of our p. 107Rational Faculties upon such Objects as are most suitable to them; And to the obtaining of this Part of our Happiness, there are other kinds of Vertues necessary to be practised by us, of which I shall discourse in the two following Sections. But though the immediate Effect of these Humane Virtues we have been discoursing of, be only the Happiness of Rest, yet do they tend a great deal farther, even to the Happiness of Motion and Exercise. For it is impossible so to suppress that Active Principle within us, as to make it totally surcease from Motion; and therefore as every intermission of its sober and regular Actings does but make way for wild and extravagant ones; so every abatement of its hurtful and injurious motions, makes way for beatifical ones; And so the Humane Virtues by giving us rest from those Motions that are afflictive to our Natures, incline and dispose us to such Motions and Exercises as are most pleasant and grateful to it.