The Christian Life, Chapter 3 · Section 2
SECT. II. Concerning those Divine Virtues which belong to a Man considered as a Reasonable Creature, related to God, shewing that these also are comprehended in the heavenly part of the Christian Life; and that the practice of them effectually conduces to our future happiness.
I PROCEED now to the second kind of Virtues, viz. Divine, to which I told you we are obliged in the capacity of reasonable Creatures related to God; who being not only endowed with all possible perfections, with infinite Truth and Justice, Wisdom and Goodness, and Power, with all that can render any being most highly reverenced, admired, loved and adored; who being not only the Author of our Being, and Well-being, as he is Creator and Preserver of all things, but also our sovereign Lord and King, as he is God almighty, the supream and over-ruling Power of heaven and earth, hath upon all these accounts a just and unalienable claim to sundry duties and homages from his Creatures; all which I shall reduce to these six particulars.
1. That we should frequently think of, and contemplate the beauty and perfection of his nature.
2. That upon the account of these perfections we should humbly worship and adore him.
3. That we should ardently love, and take complacency in him.
4. That we should attentively and unweariedly imitate him in all his imitable perfections and actions.
5. That we should intirely resign up our selves to his conduct and disposal.
6. That we should chearfully rely, and depend upon him. All which, as I shall shew, are included in the heavenly part of the Christian Life, and do most effectually contribute to our future happiness.
I. AS we are rational Creatures related to God, we are obliged to be often contemplating and thinking upon him. For the natural use of our understanding is to contemplate Truth, and therefore the more of Truth and Reality there is in any knowable object, and the farther it is removed from Falshood and Non-entity, the more the Understanding is concerned to contemplate and think upon it. God therefore being the most true and real object, as he stands removed by the necessity of his existence from all possibility of not-being, must needs be the most perfect Theme of our Understanding, the best and greatest Subject, on which it can employ its Meditations. And besides that he is the most true and real of all beings, he is also the source and spring of all Truth and Reality, his Power conducted by his Wisdom, and Goodness being the cause not only of all that is, but of all that either shall be, or can be. And is it fit that our Understanding which was made to contemplate, should wholly overlook the fountain of it? But besides this too, that he is the greatest Truth himself, and the cause of every thing else that is true and real, he is the Sovereign of Beings, and the most amiable and perfect, as he includes in his infinite Essence all possible perfections both in kind and degree. And what a monstrous Irreverence is it for minds that were framed to the contemplation of Truth, to pass by such a great and glorious one without any regard or observance; as if he stood for a cypher in the world, and were not worthy to be thought upon? Nay and besides all this (which one would think were enough to oblige our Understandings to the strictest attendance to him) he is a Truth in which above all others we are most nearly concerned, as he is not only the Father and Prop of our Beings, and the Consolation of our lives, but the sole Arbiter of our Fate too, upon whom our everlasting well or ill being depends. And what can we be more concerned to think and meditate upon than this great being, from whom we sprang, in whom we live and breath and of whom we are to expect all that evil or good that we can fear or hope for. All which considered, there is no doubt to be made but that our Understanding was chiefly made for God, to look up to him and contemplate his Being and Perfections. And though in this imperfect State it is too often averted from him, by this vast variety of sensual things that surround it, and intercept its Prospect, yet as our Soul recovers out of this sensual condition into a life of Reason, we find by experience that its Understanding presently looks upwards, by a natural Instinct, and directs it self to God, as to its proper Pole and Center. And as it grows more and more indifferent to the objects of Sense, so it becomes more and more vigorous in its tendency towards God and divine things. And 'tis no wonder it doth so, since it is God only who is an infinite Truth, that is able to satisfie its infinite Thirst after Truth. And hence it is, that till we have throughly fixed our Minds and Wills upon God, we do naturally affect such an Infinity of Objects, that our Desires are always reaching at new Pleasures, and carried forth after new Possessions; that our Fancy is always entertaining our mind with new Ideas, and our Understanding continually calling for new Scenes of Contemplation. By which, as one hath well observed, the Soul declares that it is not to be perfectly pleased with finite Truth or Good. Which possibly may be the reason of that delight we take in Fables, and Pictures of Anticks and Monsters, because they exceed the limits of Truth, and so do enlarge as it were the prospect of the Soul, which by its unconfined motions, shews that it is of a Divine Extract, and that it can never be perfectly satisfied but in union with God, who is an infinite ocean of Truth and Goodness. For as for all other beings, they are so very shallow, that we quickly see (or at least shall do, when we see after the manner of Spirits) to the very bottom of their Truth and Reality; and when we have done that, they have no more in them to feed and entertain our understandings. So that when we have exhausted the Truth of finite Beings, we must either cease to understand any more, which would be to deprive our noblest Faculty of any farther Pleasure, or we must at last fix our mind upon God, in whom it will find such infinite Truth, as will be sufficient to exercise it throughout all its infinite Duration. But unless we do now acquaint our minds with God by frequent thinking and meditating upon him, we shall by degrees grow such Strangers to him, that, by that time we go into the other world, we shall be so far from being pleased with contemplating him, that we shall look upon him as an uncouth object, and out of distast avert and turn our eyes from him. For the mind of man must be familiarized to its objects, before it will be able to contemplate them with pleasure, and though the objects themselves be never so amiable, yet while the mind is unused to them, its thoughts will start and flie off from them, and without a great deal of violence, will never be reduced to a fixt and serious attention to them. So that if we go into eternity with minds unaccustomed to the thoughts of God, we shall be continually flying away from him, as Bats and Owls do from the light of the Sun, and never be able to compose our awkward thoughts into a fixed contemplation of his glory. And when we have thus banished our selves from the only object that can for ever bless and satisfie our understanding, that can keep it in everlasting exercise and motion, duplicate page duplicate page and feed its greedy thoughts eternally with fresh and glorious discoveries, we have utterly lost one of the sweetest Pleasures that humane nature is capable of; and so must necessarily pine and languish, under an eternal discontentedness. To prevent which, the Gospel enjoins us to train up our minds to divine Contemplation, and to be frequently thinking and meditating upon God; to mind those things that are above, for so the Greek word is to be rendred, Coloss. iii.1. to sanctifie the Lord God in our hearts, 1 Pet. iii.15. that is, by entertaining great and worthy Thoughts of him. And therefore the Gospel is set before us as a Glass, that therein we may contemplate and behold the glory of God, 2 Cor. iii.18. namely, that divine glory which is therein discovered and revealed to us; that we may set him always before our minds, and gather up our thoughts about him, and force them to dwell and stay upon him, that so they may taste and relish his heavenly beauties, and please and satisfie themselves with the view and contemplation of them. For though to meditate closely upon God may at first be irksome and tedious to our unexperienced minds, yet when by the constant practice of it, we have worn off that Strangeness towards God which renders the thoughts of him so troublesome to us, and by frequent converses are grown better acquainted with him, we shall grow by degrees so pleased and satisfied with the thoughts of him, that we shall not know how to live without them; and our minds at last will be toucht with such a lively sense of his attractive beauties, that we shall never be well but while we are with him; so that he will become the constant Companion of our thoughts, and the daily theme of our Meditations; and nothing in the world will be so grateful and acceptable to us, as to retire now and then from the world, and converse with God in holy Contemplations. And though by reason of our present Circumstances and Necessities there is no remedy but our thoughts must be often diverted from him, and forced to attend to our secular occasions; yet after they have been used a while to God, we shall find they will never be so well pleased, nor so much at ease as when they are retired from every thing but God, and composed and setled into divine meditations. So that when we go away into the other world, where we shall be removed from those troublesome Circumstances and Necessities, which did here so often divert our thoughts from God, our minds which have been so long accustomed and habituated to him, will immediately fasten upon him, and intirely devote themselves to the contemplation of his nature and glory. For our minds being already strongly inclined and byass'd towards God by those grateful foretasts we have had of him in the warmths of our Meditation, when we come in the still and quiet regions of the blessed, where we shall immediately have a more close and intimate view of him than ever, all our thoughts will naturally run towards him, and be so captivated with the first sight of his glory, that we shall never be able to look off again, as long as eternity endures, but one view will invite us to another, and what we see will so transport and ravish us, that we shall still desire to see further and further. And because our finite mind will never be able fully to comprehend all that is knowable in his infinite being, we shall be so delighted in every further Knowledge of him, that we shall still desire to know further, and that Desire as fast as it springs shall still be satisfied with a further Knowledge, and so to eternal ages, each new satisfaction shall immediately spring a new desire, and each new desire immediately terminate in a new satisfaction. And now, O happy mind! what tongue can express thy joys and raptures! that being thus in conjunction with God art always filled with glorious Ideas, and compassed round with the wonders of his perfection; so that at every glance thou seest some new Charm, and with every thought makest some vast Discovery. O the transporting pleasure of that blessed Vision! which now I can hardly think of without an ecstasie; when my poor longing Mind, which here gropes about for truth in a dark dungeon of Errour and Ignorance, shall be let forth into the heavenly light, to see as it is seen, and know as it is known, how will it fix its greedy eyes upon God, of whose acquaintance it is now so desirous! With what infinite delight will its winged and active thoughts hover in the light of his Countenance, which through every moment of Eternity will be still revealing new Beauties to us, such as will not only for ever employ, but for ever inflame our Meditations.
II. AS we are Rational Creatures related to God, we are obliged humbly to Worship and Adore him, that is, that out of a most awful esteem and profound reverence of his super-excellent Majesty, and boundless Perfections, we should bow down our Souls before him, and address our selves to him by Invocation and Prayer, by Praise and Thanksgiving, as to the Alsufficient, Independent, and sole disposer of every good and perfect gift; and that in these our Addresses we should outwardly express this our reverential Esteem of him, by such humble gestures of Body, as are most apt to testifie it to others. For all this is but a just and due acknowledgment of what he is in himself, and to us, and all his Creation. The profoundest Reverence and Veneration we can pay him, is but a just Acknowledgment of his Infinite Majesty and Power; the most fervent Invocations and Prayers we can offer him, are but a due owning of him to be what he is, the supream Disposer and Author of all things; the most ample and glorious Praises we can give him are incomparably short of what is owing to his infinite Excellencies and Perfections; the most thankful Acknowledgments we can make him, are but poor compositions for those vast sums which we owe to his Bounty and Liberality. So that all our Worship is a most just Due arising from what he is in himself, and from what he doth to us, and to all his Creatures. And till we are made throughly sensible of both, we are utterly incapable of eternal Happiness; which consisting, as I shewed you before, in the vigorous exercise of our Rational Faculties upon God, doth necessarily require that we should be duely affected with his Perfections and Actions. For unless we are so, we shall never be able to engage our Faculties vigorously to employ and exercise themselves about him; unless our minds be over-awed with an habitual sense of his infinite Majesty and Power, we shall be apt to negglect him as an object too mean for our great Faculties to converse with; unless our minds be strongly disposed to esteem and admire his Glory and Excellencies, we shall never be able to excite our Understanding and Will to act upon him with any life and vigour: in a word, unless we are possessed with a constant sense that he is the Spring of all those goods which we enjoy or hope for, we shall be apt to look upon him as one with whom we are very little concerned, and so to neglect and disregard him. So that unless we do now acquire an habitual Devotion of mind toward God, when we go from hence into the other world, we shall find our faculties so averse and listless to all that heavenly Motion and Exercise wherein the Happiness above consists, that we shall be utterly incapable to tast and enjoy it. For in eternity our Souls will run according to the prevailing byass which they carry thither with them; but 'tis impossible they should run towards God with life and freedom, unless they are constantly drawn and inclined to him by a devout veneration of his Majesty, and admiration of his Glory and Perfection. And hence it is that the Gospel doth so strictly oblige us to adore and worship God, Rev. xxii.9. to worship him in spirit and in truth, Joh. iv.24. to pray without ceasing, 1 Thes. v.17. and pray always with all prayer and supplication, that is, earnestly to supplicate God upon every fit opportunity and time of need, Ephes. vi.18. in a word, to offer to God the sacrifice of praise that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name, Heb. xiii.15. and to thank God without ceasing, 1 Thes. ii.13. The meaning of all which is, that out of a deep and quick sense of the infinite Majesty and Power, Alsufficience and Beneficence of God, we should be frequently bowing our selves before him, and offering up our Prayers and Praises, and Thanksgivings to him. And in the constant practice of these, we shall be growing up by degrees to that blissful state of Heaven. For all these acts of divine Worship being immediate addresses of our minds to God, do so unite us to him, that in every hearty Prayer, Praise, or Thanksgiving, we do in a manner touch … him. So while we humbly adore …, we are sensibly struck with the rays of it; while we earnestly invocate his Goodness and Mercy, we are touched with a strong attractive virtue from him, whereby we plainly feel our selves drawn up to him, and rapt into a real enjoyment of him: in a word, while we are offering our hearty Praises and Thanksgivings to him, we are under a captivating sense of his infinite Gloy and Beneficence, and with a sensible touch of this his heavenly fire, our hearts are kindled and inflamed. Insomuch that while we are upon our knees in a warmth and fervour of Devotion, our minds have many times as quick a perception, as strong and lively a relish of God, as ever our bodily palate had of the most gustful meats or liquors. So that by frequently repeating these our devotions, we frequently repeat these our sensations of God; which being often renewed will grow more vigorous and constant, and so at last improve into an active, permanent and habitual sense of him. And having thus acquired by our frequent and devout Worship, a lively constant feeling and perception of the Majesty and Glory, of the Bounty and Benignity of God, when ever we go into eternity this like a vital spring will give a perpetual motion to our Faculties, and vigorously exert and employ them upon God for ever. The quick and lively sense we shall have of his infinite Majesty and Power, will for ever aw our Understandings and Wills into a strict attention and submission to him; and have such a commanding power over us as will even constrain us to regard him with the profoundest Reverence and Veneration. For there we shall have far greater and clearer apprehensions of his Majesty than ever we had in this imperfect state; which will improve our pre-acquired sense of it to such a degree of Respect and Veneration, as will for ever over-rule our Faculties, and keep our Understandings, Wills and Affections in close and strict attendance to him. And as our sense of his Majesty will sweetly command, so our sense of his infinite Beauty and Beneficence will invincibly allure us to exert and exercise our faculties upon him. For he that hath an affectionate sense of the Beauty and Goodness and Bounty of God, hath a heart ready tuned for the Musick of heaven, ready set and composed for everlasting Praises and Halelujahs. So that when he goes away from hence into the other world, and is there admitted to a more intimate view of the perfections, and a more abundant participation of the blessings of God than ever, his predisposed mind will immediately be seized with such a strong pathetick sense of both, as that he will not be able to withhold expressing and venting it in the most rapturous strains of Admiration, and Praise and Thanksgiving. And this will be his business and employment for ever, to admire and extoll the Perfections of God, of which he will every moment make new and glorious Discoveries; and to celebrate with grateful acknowledgments the infinite riches of his Bounty, of which he will every moment have fresh and sweet experiences. So that whilst by continual acts of Praise and Thanksgiving we endeavour to affect our minds with a due sense of the Goodness and Bounty of God, we are practising before-hand the Musick of Heaven, and taking out the Songs of Zion; that so when we go from hence, we may be qualified and prepared to bear a part in the Celestial Choir. So that true devotion (you see) which consists in a quick and lively sense of the infinite Majesty, Beauty, and Benignity of God, doth most effectually dispose the mind to all those divine and heavenly exercises wherein the state of heaven consists.
III. AS we are rational Creatures related to God, we are obliged to an unfeigned love of, and complacency in him. And that both upon the account of what he is in himself, as he is the most lovely and amiable of beings, in whom there is an harmonious concurrence of all imaginable Beauties and Perfections, of Wisdom and Goodness, of Justice and Mercy, and every other amiable thing that can claim or attract a reasonable Affection, all which in infinite degrees are contempered together in his nature: and also upon the account of his infinite Kindness and Beneficence to us. For besides that he hath compassed us round, like so many fortunate Islands, with a vast Ocean of external Blessings, in which there is all that is either necessary, convenient, or pleasant for our bodily use and enjoyment; besides that he hath inspired us with immortal Minds, and stamped them with those fair impresses of his own Divinity, the knowledge of Truth and the love of Goodness, which are both of them very forward capacities of the highest Perfection, and most exalted Happiness: in a word, besides that to supply and gratifie these our noble Capacities he hath prepared for us an immortal Heaven, and furnisht it with all the Pleasures and and Delights that a Heaven-born Mind can desire or enjoy: besides all this, I say, he hath sent his own Son from heaven to reveal to us the Way thither, and to encourage us to return into it, by dying for our sins, and thereby obtaining for us a publick Grant and Charter of Mercy and Pardon, upon Condition of our return; yea and as if all this were too little, he hath sent his Spirit to us in the room of his Son to abide amongst us, and as his Vicegerent to drive on this vast design of his love to us, to excite and persuade us to return into that sure way to heaven, which he hath described to us, and to assist us all along in our travel thither. So wondrous careful hath he been not to be defeated of this his kind intention to make us everlastingly happy. And now what Heart can be so hard and impenetrable as to resist such powerful Charms and Endearments! Methinks if we had but the common Sense and Ingenuity of men in us, it would be impossible for us to reflect upon such miracles of Beauty and Love as these are, without being intimately touched and affected with them. But till we are so, it will be impossible for us to enjoy Heaven; for how can we freely exert our Faculties upon an Object that we do not love; and if we cannot, how can we without loving God enjoy Heaven; which consists in the free and cheerful out-goings of all our Faculties upon him? For if when we go into Eternity we love him not, either he will be indifferent or hateful to us; if the former, we shall altogether neglect and take no notice of him; if the latter, we shall either flie away from him, and banish our selves from his presence, or be forced to abide and endure it with extream regret and torment. For whilst our minds are averse and repugnant to him, whatsoever we see in him will but the more enrage and canker our malice against him; and even the sight of those his glorious Perfections which so enravish the hearts of the blessed inhabitants of Heaven, will only provoke and boil up our Dislike of him to a higher degree of Hatred and Aversation. For so we find by experience in this life that while our minds are unreconciled to God, it is a Pennance to us to come near him, to admit any Thoughts of or Conversation with him. And this is the reason why we take so much pains as we do to misrepresent him to our selves, to draw such Pictures and Ideas of him upon our Minds, as best correspond with our own Tempers; that so having thus transformed the Notion of him into the Image of our selves, Narcissus-like we may fall in love with him, or at least more easily endure his blessed Presence and Conversation. When therefore we shall go into the other world where all these Disguises of the divine Idea shall be taken off, and we shall see him as he is, circled about with his own Rays of unstained and immaculate Glory, we shall never be able to abide him; but being all affrighted and confounded at the Glory of his Presence, we shall be forced to run away, and if possible to hide our selves from him in everlasting Darkness and Despair. For our Wills being poisoned and infected with an habitual Enmity against him, it must needs be torment to us to see him, because we must always see him happy; which is so great an eye-sore to those damned Spirits that hate him, that I am apt to think, that next to being delivered out of their own Misery, the chiefest Good they desire or wish for is, to be delivered from the tormenting Sense of his Happiness.. For what greater torment can our Mind endure, than to be an everlasting Spectator of the Bliss and Happiness of one whom it hates? How then will it fret and gall our meagre and envious Spirits to see that blessed Being whom we cannot endure, surrounded with an infinite Happiness; with a Happiness so vast as that it can admit of no Increase, and yet so secure, as that it can never suffer a Diminution? So that 'tis impossible, you see, for the Mind of Man to live happily upon God in the other life, unless it be inspired before-hand with an hearty Love and Affection to him.
AND hence it is that our holy Religion doth so strictly require us to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, Mat. xxii.37. to love him because he loved us first, to delight our selves in the Lord, Psal. xxxvii.4. and to rejoice in the Lord, Phil. iii.1. and to rejoice in the Lord always, Phil. iv.4. i. e. to be habitually complacent or well pleased with the infinite Beauty, Goodness and Perfection of the divine Nature. Nay of such vast import is the Love of God in the account of the Gospel, that 'tis there recommended as the proper Principle of Christian Life. For so, Rom. xiii.10. we are told that love is the fulfilling of the law, that is, the adequate Principle of all Christian Obedience; and Gal. v.6. we are told that neither Circumcision, nor uncircumcision availeth any thing in Christ Jesus, but faith which worketh by love, that is, there is nothing of any account with Christ, buch such a Belief of the Gospel, as begets in us a hearty Love to God, and doth thereby work and exert it self, as by that which is the only genuine Principle of Christian Life and Action. 'Tis true, beside this principle of Love, the Gospel acts us both by our Fear and Hope, exciting the one by Threatnings of the greatest Evils, and animating the other with Promises of the greatest Goods; but yet it is certain that neither these nor any other Principles of religious Action can be acceptable to God, whilst they are totally separated from Love to him. For there is no Principle of Obedience can be acceptable to God that is not a Principle of Universal Obedience; but to love God being a great and main instance of Obedience, that can be no principle of Universal Obedience, which doth not effectually excite us to love him.
'TIS true, the Religion of most men begins upon the Principles of Hope and Fear, and it cannot be denied but these are good Beginnings; but yet till by these we are excited to love God, as well as to do the other Parts of our Duty, our Obedience is lame and partial, and consequently unacceptable. So that though Hope and Fear are good Ingredients to compound an acceptable Principle of Obedience, yet without an Intermixture of Love they are by no means sufficient. There may be indeed, and at first there generally is, much less of Love in this internal spring of our Obedience than of Hope or Fear, whilst yet the whole Composition is truly pleasing and acceptable to God. For the lowest degree of cordial Love intermixed with our Hope and Fear, is sufficient to leaven and consecrate them into duplicate page duplicate page an acceptable Principle of Obedience; but still the less of Love there is in it, the more weak and languid, and imperfect it is, and in all its progresses towards Perfection, its ripeness and maturity is to be measured by the degrees of Love that are in it. And till our Love is arrived to that degree of Fervour and Ardency, as to become the predominant Motive and Master Ingredient of this our compounded Principle of Obedience, our state in Goodness is very low and imperfect. So that in short, the Principle that acts and moves us in Religion, is still more and more perfect, the more of Love there is in it, and the less of Hope and Fear; and when Hope and Fear are both swallowed up in Love, and this is become the sole Spring of Action in us, then 'tis the Principle of Heaven, the Soul that acts and animates the Religion of just men made perfect.
SO that if ever we design to grow up to their blessed State, we must endeavour to kindle and blow up the Love of God in our Hearts. And in order hereunto we must be frequently representing to our own Minds, the infinite Reasons we have to love him, and pressing our selves with the vast Obligations he hath laid upon us; spreading them fairly before our Thoughts in all their endearing Circumstances. We must ever and anon set our cold and frozen Souls before those melting Flames of his Love and Beauty, and never leave chafing them at 'em, urging and pressing them with the Consideration of them, till we feel the heavenly Fire begin to kindle in our Bosoms. And above all things we must take care by the constant Practice of what is agreeable to Gods Nature, to reconcile our Minds and Tempers to him; for till this is done we can never be habitually pleased or delighted in him; but when once by the Practice of those eternal Rules of Goodness that are founded in his blessed Nature, we have so far reconciled our Natures to him, as that our Hearts and his stand bent the same way, and are for the main alike inclined and disposed, then we are prepared for, and made proper and convenient Fuel to receive this heavenly Flame of Love to him; and when this is once so throughly kindled in our Hearts, as that we are habitually well pleased and delighted in him, so as to rejoice in his Happiness, acquiesce in his Will, and meditate on his Beauty and Goodness, with an unfeigned complacency of Soul, we are then in the same State (that is in Kind, though not in Degree) with the blessed People of Heaven. And though in this Life we may not be able to raise our selves, to that Height of Love as we desire, and much less as that blessed Object deserves, our present Knowlege being short, our Thoughts unsteady and our Affections entangled in Sense and sensual things; yet when we go from hence into the other World, and are there admitted to a more intimate View of his Nature, Works, and Perfections, our imperfect Love will be immediately improved into an high Seraphick Flame. For now we shall not only know him better, having him always in our View, and continually shining full in our Eyes; but we shall be removed from all other Objects that are apt to divert our Thoughts, or divide our Affections from him. So that now our Love being kindled and fed with the purest Light, with the ever out-streaming Rays of the most perfect Beauty and Goodness, will always exert its utmost Vigour, and spend it self without Decay in one continued everlasting Rapture.
AND then how unconceivably happy will our State be, when we shall always live in view of the most lovely Object, and always love him as much as we are able, and be able to love him a thousand times more than we can now imagine! For the longer we view the more we shall know him, and the more we know, the better we shall love him, and so through everlasting ages our Love shall be stretching and extending it self upon his infinite Beauty and Loveliness. Now Love is naturally a most sweet and grateful Passion, a Passion that sooths and ravishes the Heart, and puts the Spirits into a brisk and generous motion. For it wholly consists in a fixed complacency or well-pleasedness of Mind arising from the apprehended Goodness and Congruity of the thing beloved; and it is meerly by accident that it hath any disquieting or ungrateful Emotion mingled with it. Either the Person beloved is absent, which fills it with unquiet Desire; or he is unhappy, or unkind, which mingles it with Grief and Sorrow; or he is fickle and inconstant which imbitters it with Rage and Jealousie; but consider it separately from all these Accidents, and it is nothing but pure Delight and Complacency. But now in Heaven our Love of God will have none of these disquieting Accidents attending it, for there he will never be absent from us, but continually entertaining our amorous Minds with the Prospect of his infinite Beauties; there we shall ever feel his Love to us in the most sensible and endearing Effects, even in the Glory of that Crown which he will set upon our Heads, and in the ravishing Sweetness of those Joys he will infuse into our Hearts; there we shall experience the continuation of his Love, in the continued Fruition of all that an everlasting Heaven means, and be convinced as well by the Perpetuity of his Goodness to us, as by the Immutability of his Nature, that he is an unchangeable Lover: in a word, there we shall find him a most happy Being, happy beyond the vastest wishes of our Love, so that we shall not only delight in him as he is infinitely lovely and amiable, but rejoice and triumph in him too as he is infinitely blessed and happy. For Love unites the Interests as well as the Hearts of Lovers, and mutually appropriates to each, each others Joys and Felicities. So that in that blessed State we shall share in the Felicity of God proportionably to the Degree of our Love to him. For the more we love him, the more we shall still espouse his happy Interest, and the more we are interested in his Happiness, the happier we must be, and the more we must enjoy of it. Thus Love gives us a real Possession and Enjoyment of God; it makes us Copartners with him in himself, and derives his Happiness upon us, and makes it as really ours as his. So that Gods Happiness is as it were the common Bank and Treasury of all divine Lovers, in which they have every one a Share, and of which proportionably to the Degrees of their Love to him, they do actually participate to all Eternity. And could they but love him as much as he deserves, that is infinitely, they would be as infinitely blessed and happy as he. For then all his Happiness would be theirs, and they would have the same delightful Sense, and Feeling of it all, as if it were all transplanted into their own Bosoms. God therefore being an infinitely lovely, infinitely loving, and infinitely happy Being, when once we are admitted to dwell for ever in his blessed Presence, our Love to him can be productive of none but sweet and ravishing emotions; for the immense perfections it will then find in its Object, must necessarily refine it from all those Fears and Jealousies, Griefs and Displeasures that are mingled with our carnal loves, and render it a pure Delight and Complacency. So that when once it is grown up to the Perfection of the heavenly State, 'twill be all Heaven, 'twill be an eternal Paradise of Delights within us, a living Spring whence Rivers of Pleasures will issue for evermore. O blessed State, in which my heart shall be brim-full of Love, and my Love shall triumph alone within me, and be all Joy and Ravishment, being removed for ever out of the Noise and Neighbourhood of all those disquieting Affections which here are wont to mingle with, and continually disturb and incommode it!
IV. AS we are rational Creatures related to God, we are obliged attentively to imitate him in all his imitable Perfections and Actions. For this is an allowed Maxim, Perfectissimum in suo genere est mensura reliquorum, that is, that which is most perfect in its kind is to be the rule and measure of all those Individual natures that are contained under it. For Perfection is the measure of Imperfection, even as a straight line is of a crooked, and every Individual of a kind must needs be so far defective in its nature, as it falls short of that which is most perfect in its kind. God therefore being the most perfect of all in the whole kind of reasonable Beings, must needs be the supream Pattern of all those Individuals that are under it; and so far as any of them disagree with him, so far they are defective in their Natures. foreign, Phil. lib. 2. pag. 132. i. e. God is the Archetype of every reasonable Nature, and Man is his Imitation and Image. For he is a Being that is infinitely reasonable in all his Volitions and Actions, that hath not the least intermixture either of Humour or Folly, or Prejudice in his Choices, but is always, and in every thing governed by his own pure and all-comprehending Wisdom. Upon which account he ought to be owned and looked upon by every reasonable Being, as the sovereign Standard and Pattern of their Natures; and so far as any reasonable Nature moves or acts counter to his, which is the most perfectly reasonable, so far it ought to be looked upon as monstrous and unnatural in its kind. For as it is monstrous in a humane Body to have its parts displaced, its Mouth opened in its Belly, or its Legs growing out of its Shoulders, because these are unnatural positions, that are directly contrary to the true Idea, Form and Figure of a humane body; so every reasonable Nature that doth not imitate and take after Gods, but chuseth and acts contrary to him, is so far monstrous and mishapen, because 'tis wrythed and distorted into a Figure that is directly contrary to its natural Pattern and Exemplar. And while it continues so, it is not capable of true Happiness. For that which renders God so infinitely happy in himself, is not so much the Almighty Power he hath to defend himself from foreign Hurts and Injuries, as the exact Agreement of all his Motions and Actions, with the all-comprehending Reason of his own Mind. For he always sees what is best, and what he sees is best he always chuses and affects, and this makes him perfectly satisfied with himself, and fills him with infinite Joy and Complacency; because when ever he surveys himself in the glorious mirrour of his own Mind, he discerns nothing in himself but what is infinitely lovely, nothing but what exactly corresponds with the fairest Ideas of his own infinite Reason. Whereas if, upon an impossible Supposal, it were otherwise, there would arise a Civil War within his own Bosom, against which Omnipotence it self could not protect or defend him. For in despight of himself he would be continually exposed to the just reproaches of his own Mind, and his own All-seeing Eye would every moment detect, and libel, and upbraid him, and render him a most inglorious Spectacle to himself. So that he would be so far from being infinitely pleased and satisfied with himself, that his own infallible Reason would be an everlasting vexation to him.
AND so will ours be to us, unless we take care to imitate God in those his divine Perfections, from whence his infinite self-satisfaction arises. For so long as we are conscious to our selves that we wilfully swerve and deviate from the great Exemplar of our rational Natures, we cannot but be ashamed of and condemn our selves, and be highly dissatisfied with our own Actions. Our Conscience must necessarily reproach our Will, and our Reason upbraid our base Inclinations. Now what an intolerable plague is it for a man to be forced to make Invectives against himself, and continually to carry his own Satyrs in his bosom. In this life indeed, what by disguising our Faults with specious Names, or colouring them over with plausible Pretences; what by bribing our Consciences with false Presumptions, or diverting our selves from listning to their reproaches by hurrying into Vice or Business, we may happily make a shift to deal well enough with our selves. But alas! what shall we do when we come into the other world, where all fair Colour and Pretence shall be wiped off, our Vices and We shall appear to our selves in our own naked and undisguised Ugliness; where all our false Presumption shall be baffled by a woful Experience, and all the din of worldly Pleasure and Business in which we were wont to drown the clamours of our Conscience shall be for ever silenced; so that we shall be exposed without Fence or Guard to the furious Reflections of our own mind, and lie stark naked under the lash of an enraged duplicate page duplicate page Conscience for ever! O good God! what Tongue can express the intolerable Anguish of such a State; wherein our own Deformities shall be continually objected to our Eyes, and we shall have nothing to palliate or excuse them, but be always forced to condemn, and hate, and curse our selves for them, and yet not be able to correct and reform them; wherein we shall still be hurried on to such Actions by our own furious Inclinations, as when we have done them will startle and amaze us, set on our Reason and Conscience to worry us with their reproachful Reflections, yet in despight of all their Reproaches we shall still reiterate and repeat them! Like a desperate Murderer who having killed an innocent Person, reflects with Horrour upon his own Act, tears his Hair, beats his Breast, curses and calls himself a thousand Villains; but being hereby chased into a greater Fury, instead of reforming he grows more mischievous, and so murthers another, and then rages afresh at his own Act, but still the more he rages, the more he murthers. And this will necessarily be our State in the other world, if through our neglect of imitating God, we go away thither under an habitual Contrariety of nature to him. Besides that we shall be wholly indisposed to those beatifical Acts of divine Love, Worship and Contemplation, in which, as I have shewed, a great part of the pleasure Heaven consists. For since all Love is founded in Likeness, and Likeness is the effect of Imitation, how is it possible we should love God unless we imitate him, and if we do not love him, what Pleasure can we take in contemplating and adoring him.
WHEREFORE in prosecution of its great Design, which is to make us happy, the Gospel strictly requires us to be always imitating, so far as they are imitable, the Perfections and Actions of our heavenly Father; to endeavour to form our Natures to his, to rectifie the Features and Lineaments of our Souls by his most amiable Idea; to be continually framing our tempers, by the noble pattern of his Mercy and Goodness, his Justice, Purity, and Wisdom; that so being new cast as it were in the perfect mould of his Nature, we may be transformed into living Images of him. So Ephes. v.1. be ye therefore foreign imitators, or followers of God, as dear Children, i. e. that so you may resemble him in the Qualities of your Minds, as children do their Parents in the Lineaments of their Bodies. And this is the sense of all those Evangelical Injunctions, which require us to be pure as God is pure, merciful as he is merciful, and perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect; that is, to take example by God in the whole course of our lives, and trace and follow him in all his imitable Perfections, by putting on that new, that god-like man, that divine temper and disposition, which after God, that is, according to the pattern of his Nature, is created in righteousness, and true holiness, Ephes. iv.24. This therefore is an essential part of our Christian Life, to set God always before our Eyes, as the great Pattern of our Lives and Actions, and to endeavour constantly to write after him, and transcribe his Graces into our Natures; that so when we go away into the other World, we may carry with us at least a rude and imperfect draught of his blessed Image upon our Minds, such as when we are removed from the manifold impediments of flesh and blood, and the perpetual diversions of this sensitive World, and admitted to a near view of God, may be a prevailing byass upon our Wills, and incline us to imitate him for ever. For if for the main we are here transformed by imitating God into a godlike Temper and Disposition, all those involuntary contrarieties to him, which by reason of our Ignorance of his Nature, of our bodily Temper, and the manifold Temptations we are here exposed to, are still remaining in our Natures, will be immediately extinguished upon our arrival into the other World; where being freed from all our misconceptions of God, from all the repugnancies of our bodily Temper to him, and from all those Temptations that were wont to avert us from him, we shall have no involuntary Disposition or Inclination in us; and then our Wills being already predominantly inclined to follow God, and take example by him, and having no contrary Inclination to contend with, we shall presently attend to and imitate his Perfections with the greatest Vigour, Freedom and Alacrity of Soul. So that now we shall be so intensely fixed to chuse and act like God, who is the Example and Pattern of our Natures, that we shall everlastingly regulate all our Motions by those very eternal Laws of Reason, whereby he everlastingly wills and acts; and there is nothing will be so abhorrent to our Natures as an ungodlike Will or Action. For if as the Apostle tells us, by beholding now the glory of God in a glass, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, 2 Cor. iii.18. then doubtless much more shall we be so, when we behold him face to face. 'Tis true as our Knowledge of God who is an infinite Truth can never be absolutely perfect, because if it were it would be an infinite Knowledge; so neither can our Resemblance of him be, who is an infinite Goodness, because if it were we should be infinitely good; both which are contradictions to the state of a Creature: yet as we shall be knowing him farther and farther, so proportionably we shall be imitating him too through infinite Ages of Duration; and still every act of our Imitation shall be so attentive and vigorous, that it shall leave a further impression of his infinite Perfection on our Natures. So that though our finite Nature can never arrive to a perfect Likeness of that infinitely lovely and amiable Being, because it can never be infinitely amiable; yet it shall be everlastingly approaching nearer and nearer to him, proportionably as it discovers more and more of his infinite Beauties and Amabilities, and be still growing more wise and pure, more righteous and benign, according as its prospect of the Wisdom, Purity, Justice and Goodness of his Nature is enlarged and extended. So that as his Beauty shines into us, it will still imprint it self upon us, and transform us into blessed Images of it self; and then according as we are assimilated to the divine Nature, we shall still partake of those Joys and Pleasures which are inseparable to it, and resemble it in Bliss as much as we do in Perfection. For as Gods infinite Perfection is the spring of his infinite Self-satisfaction, so from our finite Perfection there shall ever redound to us a Satisfaction equal to our finite Capacities. For though we shall never attain to absolute Perfection, that is, to all the possible degrees of Wisdom and Goodness, which is the Peculiar of God; yet to Eternity we shall be growing on to it, and in every Period of our growth, we shall be perfectly what we ought to be, that is, we shall ever know as much of God as is possible for us, our present State and Circumstances considered; and so far as we know of him we shall to our utmost power continually imitate and resemble him. And thus in our eternal Race to Perfection, our Wills shall always follow our Understanding, and our Understandings shall always follow God with their utmost Vigour and Activity; so that neither the one nor the other shall ever be deficient of any Degree of Knowledge and Goodness which pro hic & nunc is possible to them.
NOW what an unspeakable Satisfaction must this give to the Mind, when surveying it self round about, it shall find every thing within it self exactly as it ought to be; every Faculty to its utmost Power and Capacity perfectly corresponding with its original Pattern and Exemplar; when upon the strictest Scrutiny it will discover nothing within it self, but what the most critical Conscience will be forced to approve of; no Motion or Action, but what will endure the Test of its severest Reason: in a word, when it shall interchangeably turn its Eyes from God to it self, and compare Grace with Grace, and Feature with Feature, and perceive what an amiable Consent and Agreement there is between its own Copy and his fair Original; what a pure Imitation of God its Life is, and how exactly Deiform all its Motions and Actions are: when, I say, our blessed Minds shall always find themselves in this Godlike Posture and Condition, O! what incomparable Content and Satisfaction will they take in themselves! With what enravishing Pleasure will they ever review their own Motions, which being immediately copied from the Nature of God, will be such as its severest Reason will be always forced to commend and approve of! So that now the happy Mind will be always triumphing in its own Purity, and enjoy within it self an everlasting Heaven of Content and Peace; now 'twill continually be crowned with Applauses of its own Reason, and all its Actions will have the joyful Ecchoes of a well-pleased Conscience continually resounding after them. And thus by imitating Gods Perfections, we shall imitate his Happiness too, and shall for ever take after him, not only in respect of the Rectitude of our Natures, but also in the most blessed and comfortable Enjoyment of our selves. Besides that our Resemblance of God will everlastingly dispose us to love, and our Love to contemplate and adore him. For all these blessed Acts do reciprocally further and promote each other; just like contiguous Bodies that are placed in a Circle, the first of which being moved thrusts on the second, the second the third, the third the last, if there be no more between; and then the last thrusts on the first, and so round again in the same order. So that if we carry with us into Eternity a Frame and Disposition of Nature like Gods, we shall always so imitate as still to love him, so love as still to contemplate him, so contemplate as still to adore him, so adore as still to imitate, and love and contemplate him anew; and in this blessed Circle we shall move round for ever, with unspeakable Vigour and Alacrity.
V. AS we are reasonable Creatures related to God, we are bound to resign up, and submit our selves to his blessed Will and Disposal. For God hath a just Dominion ove… all, founded in his own infinite Power, that doth not like other Dominions result to him from any external Acts or Atchievements, but is the eternal Prerogative of his own Nature. For he, as well as all other Beings, hath a freedom to exercise his own Abilities so far as it is just and lawful; but being infinitely paramount to all other Powers whatsoever, he can be subject to no superiour Authority, nor consequently be obliged by any other Law but that of his own Nature. So that whatsoever he can do, he can justly do, if it be not contrary to the infinite Perfections of his Nature. For his Power being infinite, and unconfined as well as his Wisdom, Justice and Goodness, doth sufficiently warrant him to do whatsoever is consistent with them; otherwise he would be infinitely powerful in vain. And therefore since he can exercise a Dominion over all, he must needs have an eternal Right to do it, so far as his own Wisdom, Goodness and Justice will permit, which are the only Laws by which he can be bounded in the exercise of his infinite Power and Ability. So that while he governs us by such Rules and Laws, as are convenient to his own Nature, his own Greatness and Power, which exalts him above all other Law or Authority, sufficiently warrants him so to do. And being thus rightfully enthroned by the infinite Preeminence of his own Power and Majesty, all other Beings so far as they are capable stand immutably obliged to submit and resign themselves up to his Government.
BUT besides that we are obliged to him as he is God, we are also bound to him as he is our Creatour. For there is always a Power acquired by Benefits, where there is none antecedently; especially where the Benefit confer'd is no less than that of our Being, which is the case between us and God. And this is such a Benefit as is sufficient to entitle him to us, by an absolute and unalienable Propriety, though he had no antecedent right of Dominion over us by virtue of his own infinite Greatness. So that though before he created us or any other Being, he had free Power to act any thing that lay within the compass of just and lawful, which just and lawful was undefineable by any other Law but that of his own Nature; and though since his Creation his Power is no more than so, (so that he hath not acquired to himself any new Power by creating us, but only made new Subjects whereon to exercise that ancient Power, and Dominion which was eternally inherent in him) yet doubtless by giving us our Beings, he hath laid new Obligations upon us to obey him. For now deriving our selves, as we do, from him, we are bound by all the ties of Equity and Justice to render back our selves to him, and to submit those powers to his Dominion, which are the effects and off-spring of his Bounty. For what can be more just and equal, than that that Will which is the Cause of our Beings, should be the Law and Rule of our Actions; then that we should serve him with those Powers we derived from him, and render him back the fruits of his own Plantation? For now we are not our own but Gods, and He alone hath power to dispose of us; and whensoever we dispose of our selves contrary to his Will and Pleasure, we do not only invade his Property, but employ the spoils of it against him. And whilst we continue thus doing, it is impossible we should ever be happy. For besides that while we continue in Rebellion against him, we are in an actual Confederacy with Hell; for so when we are told that Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft, that is, Rebellion against God, the meaning is, that like Witches, we are in League with the Devil, and are listed Volunteers under those infernal Powers, who for blowing the Trumpet of Rebellion in Heaven were banished thence six thousand years ago, and have ever since been raising Forces in this lower World against God; so that whilst we continue with them in Defiance to God, we are in the Devils Muster-Roll, who is Captain General of all the revolted Legions, and so are of the quite opposite Party to the Loyal people of Heaven, and consequently can never hope while we continue such to be admitted to their Society and Happiness; besides all this, I say, Rebellion against God doth naturally draw a Hell of Miseries after it. For it cannot be supposed that the wise Sovereign of the World, should be so unconcerned for his own Authority, as to suffer his Creatures to spurn at and affront it without ever manifesting his Displeasure against them in some dire and sensible Effects. And therefore though in this Life which is the time of our Tryal and Probation, he mercifully forbears us to lead us to Repentance; yet if we leave this Life with our Wills unsubdued and unresigned to him, we must not expect to be thus gently dealt with in the other. For it is as easie for him who is the Father of our Spirits, to correct our Spirits, as 'tis for the Parents of our Flesh to correct our Flesh. And though our Souls are no more impressible with material stripes, than Sun-beams are with the blows of a hammer; yet are they liable to have horrid and dismal thoughts impress'd upon them, and to be as much aggrieved by them, as sensible Bodies are with the most exquisite Torments. So that if God be displeased with us there is no doubt but he can imprint his Wrath upon our Minds, in black and ghastly thoughts, and cause it perpetually to drop like burning sulphur on our Souls. And it being in his Power thus to lash our Spirits, to be sure, when once he is implacably incensed against us (as he will be in the other World if we go Rebels thither) he will more or less let loose his Power upon us, and make us feel his wrathful Resentments, by infusing supernatural Horrours into our Souls, and scourging our guilty and defenceless Spirits with inspirations of dire and frightful Thoughts. Now though this be not a natural and necessary Effect of our Rebellion against God, because it depends upon his Will who is a free Agent; yet considering that he is a wise Agent, and that as such it is necessary he should one way or other manifest his Displeasure against such as are unreclaimable Rebels to his authority, it is next to a natural one; and at least the fearful Expectation of it in such rebellious spirits (which is a misery next to the enduring it) is necessary and unavoidable. For God hath imprinted a dread of his own Power and Majesty so deeply on our Natures, that we are not able with all our arts of Self-deceit wholly to obliterate and deface it; and though in this life we may sometimes suppress and stupifie our Sense of God, yet even here in despight of our selves, 'twill ever and anon return upon us. And if when we have done what we know is offensive to that invisible Majesty we stand in aw of, we do but suffer our selves seriously to reflect upon it, there presently arises in our minds a swarm of horrid Thoughts and dismal Expectations; and if in this present State in which we have so many Salvo's for our wounded spirits, so many Pleasures and Self-delusions to charm our natural dread of God, our overcharged Consciences do notwithstanding so often recoil upon us, and alarm us with such dismal abodings; what will they do hereafter, when all those Pleasures are removed, and all those Self-delusions baffled with which we were wont to sooth and divert them. Then doubtless we shall be continually stung with sharp and dire Reflections, and our Consciences like tragick Scenes be all hung round with the Ensigns of Horrour; then shall the dread of God perpetually haunt us like a grim Fury, and the terrour of his offended Majesty strike us into an everlasting Trembling and Agony. For so S. James tells us, that the Devils themselves do believe and tremble, James ii.19. they believe that there is an Almighty Being above them, and are conscious that they are in actual Rebellion against him, which makes them horribly afraid of his vengeance; and yet such is the inveterate devilishness of their Natures, that they will by no means hearken to a Submission, but in despight of their own Dread and Horrour, do still persist in an open Defiance to their Almighty Enemy, and so tremble and sin, and sin and tremble for ever. And so shall we, if we go into the other World habitual Rebels to God; our deep and inveterate malice against him will still hurry us on to incense and provoke him, and then our natural Dread of his Power and Majesty will break into frightful and horrible Thoughts, and so be continually revenging upon us those our continual provocations of him. For then our soul will be nakedly exposed to the lash of its own furious thoughts, and have no shield to defend it self against the terrours of its guilty Conscience, which being rouzed up and kept awake by the unintermitting Sense of our misery, will be always clamouring upon us, and continually torturing us with black and horrid Reflections. So that whilst we are wandering among wretched Ghosts, through those dismal shades below, we shall be perpetually meditating Horrours, and never leave lashing our selves with our own sharp and terrible thoughts, till we have chased our selves into Furies, and boiled up our self-condemning Rage into an everlasting Madness. Thus as our sense of our unlikeness to God will ever fill us with Shame and Confusion, so will the sense of our Rebellion against him continually strike us into Fear and Amazement.
TO prevent which, our holy Religion, which doth so industriously consult our Happiness, requires us now to submit our selves to God, James iv.7. to live to God, Gal. ii.19. to present our selves living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, Rom. xii.1. to yield our selves unto God, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God, Rom. vi.13. the sense of all which is, that we should endeavour, so to affect our Minds with the sense of Gods Authority over us, and with the manifold Reasons of our obedience to him, as to be firmly and constantly resolved within our selves, neither to chuse any thing that he forbids, nor to refuse any thing that he commands; that we should set him up a Throne in our Hearts, a fixt and prevailing Resolution of Obedience, that therein he may sit and reign, and have the absolute Empire and Command of all our inward Motions and outward Actions; in a word, that we should acquire such an habitual Respect to and Reverence of his sovereign Authority, that no temptation from within or without us, may be able to countermand it, or to seduce us from our duty into any wilful course of Rebellion against him. And when once we have framed our minds into this obediential Temper, we are in a forward preparation for Heaven. And though by reason of those Remains and Reliques of corrupt Nature that are in us, which are here continually excited by the many Temptations among which we live, we may find reluctant and counter-striving Principles within us; a stubborn Appetite contending against an obedient Will, and sometimes upon Surprize or Inadvertence over-powering it; yet if we heartily bewail this as our Unhappiness, and if when we thus fall we weep and rise again, and take more care of our steps for the future, we shall carry with us when we go from hence into the other World a Will that is habitually resigned to God; and so being there removed from all the Temptations that were wont to excite in us those contrary Appetites and Inclinations, we shall immediately become all Duty and Obedience, and freely give up our selves to God without the least shadow of Contest, or Reluctancy. And in this blessed State we shall continue for ever, so intirely devoted to God that between him and us there shall ever be one common Will, and End, and Interest; and our Hearts which before were in a great measure set and tuned to the Heart of God, will be instantly such perfect Vnisons with it, that whensoever, or whatsoever he speaks, we shall still resound and eccho to him, from our inmost bowels, with unspeakable Chearfulness and Alacrity.
AND being thus reduced to a perfect Submission to the Will of God, we shall therein find our selves incomparably happy. For now our Wills being always determined by the Will of God, we shall be perfectly eased of all the Trouble and Distraction of chusing. Now our Minds will no longer hover in Suspence, nor be divided between contrary Reasons, but all its thoughts will glide gently on in a calm and even Current, without ever being tossed and bandied to and fro by cross and opposite Deliberations. For now it no sooner knows the Will of God, but it rests in it immediately with a free Assent, and uncontrolled Approbation; so that upon new Occasions it's free from the trouble of forming new Choices and Resolutions, being already fixt under all Events to one steady Course of Motion, and immovably resolved whatever befals, ever to do what God would have it. And its will thus perfectly acquiescing in God as in its proper Place and Element, it will no longer dispute as it was wont to do, no longer waver between two Loadstones, but always obey upon the first Motion, and follow him for ever without Deliberation. In which happy state we shall be no longer ground between those coutermoving Milstones, the law in our Minds, and the law in our Members, but being intirely resigned to God we shall ever obey him secundo flumine, with a full Current of Inclination, and Nature. And what a mighty Ease must this be to the Soul; especially considering that by being thus entirely subject to God, it will not only be released from the Trouble of chusing and deliberating, but also throughly warranted of the Goodness and Rectitude of its own Choices. For so far as we are subject unto God, our Wills are his, and so are our Actions too; and whilst they are so, we can have no reason to mistrust, either that they are bad in themselves, or that he is angry and displeased at them. For his Will we know is governed by his Nature, which is the Standard of Good and Evil, the Law and Measure of Right and Wrong; so that while we will and act as he would have us, we have a sufficient warrant for what we do; a warrant that will for ever bear us out and justifie us to our own Minds, and always render us abundantly satisfied with our selves; so that we shall not only always acquit but always reverence our selves, and our Conscience will not only cease to shame us, but be continually applauding and smiling upon us, and instead of those importunate Clamours with which it was wont to entertain us, its constant eccho to all our actions will be well done good and profitable servant. So that being entirely determined by the Will of God, which never varies from the Law of his Nature, we shall be perfectly satisfied with our selves, and for ever chuse and act without the least Mistrust or Hesitance. And then our Wills being perfectly subject to his, and all our powers of action entirely at his Devotion, we shall never have the least ground to fear or suspect his Displeasure, but be always fully satisfied that he loves us, that we are dear and pretious in his Eyes, and that to Eternity he will respect and look upon us with the smiles of an unchangeable Complacency. The sense of which will ravish our Hearts and for ever fill us with joy unspeakable and full of glory. So that whereas rebellious Souls are perpetually haunted with two restless Furies, viz. the shame of their guilt and the fear of their danger, which even here do give them more disturbance than all their sins can pleasure, and delight; when once we are perfectly subjected to God, we shall be for ever discharged of them both, and then will our happy minds be always as couragious as Truth, and as confident as Innocence it self.
AND as by our perfect Submission to God, we shall be wholly released from the trouble of chusing, and sufficiently warranted in our own Choices, so we shall be abundantly satisfied both of the Wisdom and Success of them. For then we shall be assured, even by a sweet and happy Experience, that whatsoever God commands us to do he most certainly knows that it is for our good, and that that is the Reason why he commands it. So that when we are entirely subjected to God, our Choices and Actions will be all directed by an infallible Wisdom to our own good. For while we chuse what God would have us, our Wills are guided by Gods Wisdom, and so in every genuine act of Obedience we are as infallible as Omniscience it self. When therefore we are perfectly resigned to God, we shall always will and act with as much Confidence and Assurance of a happy and prosperous Success as if we our selves were infinitely wise, and had a perfect Comprehension of all possible Issues and Events. And whilst wretched Rebels grope about under the Conduct of their own blind Wills, and for the most part do they know not what, and go they know not where themselves, but live by chance, and act at random; our Wills and Actions being wholly steered by an All-wise Will, that never fails to measure them by the best Rules, and point them to the best Ends, we shall be always sure of our hands, and know infallibly before hand that every thing we will or do shall conspire to our own good. And this will enable us to perform the everlasting Race of our Obedience, with an unspeakable Freedom and Alacrity, and always render us wondrous light, and nimble, and expedite in our Operations. For whereas when men know not what may happen upon such an Action, and are not able to pry out all those hidden Events, that lurk in the Womb of their own Designs, they always act with Caution and Anxiety, and are doubtful and tremulous in their Motions; when once we are sure of a good Event, we still go on with Courage, and Chearfulness; and so we shall ever do, when we ever perfectly will and act under the command of God. For now we shall always see good Issues before us, and be firmly assured from that infallible Wisdom which governs his Will, and by his ours, that every thing we will or do shall be crowned with a happy Effect. And this will for ever wing our Souls with an unwearied Vigour and Activity, and render each act of our Obedience unspeakably sweet and delightful to us. And now O blessed mind! what Tongue or Thought can reach thy happiness; who living in a most perfect Subjection to an All-good and All-wise Will, art never in the least concerned or troubled to debate and deliberate what to chuse, but dost everlastingly embrace and follow what an infinite Goodness, and an infinite Wisdom hath chosen for thee!
VI. AS we are reasonable Creatures related to God, we are also obliged chearfully to trust in and depend upon him. For as he is the Prop and Center of all the mouldering Creation, the Almighty Atlas, that bears it upon his Shoulders, and keeps it from sinking into Ruine, we and every Creature in Heaven and Earth do hang upon him, and draw our breath from him, and if he shake us off but for a moment, we presently drop into nothing and perish. For could we exist of our selves this present moment, we might as well have done so the moment before, and may as well do so the moment after, and so backward and forward to all Eternity; and unless we had such a Fulness of Essence in us, as to exist of our selves from all eternity past to all eternity to come, it is impossible we should exist so much as one moment without new supplies from the infinite and independent Fountain of Being. And what can be more fit or reasonable than that we who are thus born up by him, should freely trust in and depend upon him; than that we should build our Hope upon the Prop of our Existence, and make him the Stay of our Confidence in whom we live and move and have our being? Especially considering what a proper Object of Trust and Dependance he is; and that not only as he is the sovereign Disposer of all those Issues and Events which concern us, but also as he is infinitely Wise, and always understands what is good or hurtful to us, and as he stands engaged both by his own essential Goodness, and free Promise never to fail those that put their Trust in him, but to manage all their Affairs to their everlasting Interest and Advantage. And in whom can we more rationally confide than in a Being of infinite Wisdom, Goodness and Power; that always knows what is best for us, that always wills what he knows so, and always does what he wills? All which considered, its certainly incomparably more to our Interest and Advantage, that our Concerns should lie in his hands, and be managed as he sees best, than that every thing should happen to us according to our own Will and Desire. For there are innumerable things which in the natural Series and Order of Causes are concomitant and consequent to every Event, the greatest part of which are out of the Sphere of our Cognizance; by reason of which it is impossible for us to make an infallible Judgment of the good or evil of any Event that befals us; because though we may be secure that such an Event singly and apart by it self may be good or evil for us, yet for all we know there may be such Concomitants or Consequents inseparable to it, as may quite alter its Nature, and render that evil, which considered singly may be good for us, or that good which considered singly may be evil. We earnestly wish for such an Event, and are very confident it would be mighty advantagious to us; but alas! if it should befal us, according to the Series of things a thousand others must, and what they wil… prove we are not able to prognosticate; but for all we know, the Mischief of them may abundantly out-weigh the Benefit of this. And this being so, how extremely unfit are we to make Choices for our selves, since in most particulars 'tis almost an equal lay whether what we chuse will prove our Food or our Poison? But now God being the supreme Orderer and Disposer of things, and having the first link of every Chain of Causes in his own hands, must needs have an intire Comprehension of all the intermediate ones, from the beginning to the end; and his Power being not only the cause of all actual Events, but also of the possibility of those that shall never be actual, he must needs discern the utmost Issues and Concomitants of every possible, as well as of every future Event, and perfectly understand not only what will be beneficial or injurious to us, but also what might be so. So that 'tis impossible for him to be mistaken in his Choices, because he knows as well before hand what things would be to us if they were, as what they are when they do actually exist. Upon the whole therefore 'tis doubtless of inestimable Advantage to us, to be in the hands of God; and verily next to Hell it self, I know nothing that is more formidable than for God to let us alone, and give us up to our own Wills and Desires. And should he call to us from Heaven, and tell us, that he was resolved to cross our Desires no more, but to comply with all our Wishes, let the event prove good or bad, we should have just reason to look upon our selves as the most forlorn and abandoned Creatures on this side Hell, as Persons excluded from the greatest Blessing that belongs to a Creature; and if we had any hope of his re-acceptance of us, it would be infinitely our Interest to resign back our selves, and all our concerns to him, and on our bended knees to beseech him above all things not to leave us to our selves, or throw us from his Care and Conduct. It being therefore upon all accounts so highly fit and reasonable, and so much to our Interest and Advantage, that we should freely trust our selves, and all our Affairs into the hands of God, and depend upon him for the good success of all our honest Endeavours and Undertakings; that we should acquiesce in his Disposal of things, and under all outward events be pleased and satisfied with his Conduct, as knowing that howsoever things may happen to us, they cannot be otherwise than as the wise and good God is pleased either to permit, or to order and determine them; this I say being so fit in it self, and so much for our Interest, it is impossible that without it we can be happy either here or hereafter. For since both our Being and Well-being are wholly dependent on the Will of God, and we can neither be, nor be happy one moment longer than he pleases, how is it possible we should ever be quiet, and satisfied in our own minds without a great Assurance of and Confidence in him? When we consider what a mighty Stake we have in his hands, how all our Fortunes lie at his feet, and how easily he can frown us into nothing, or spurn us into a Condition ten thousand times worse than nothing when ever he pleases, how can we be otherwise secure in our own minds, or avoid being eternally anxious and solicitous, but by firmly relying on his Truth and Goodness; to the want of which is to be attributed all that carking Care, tormenting Fear and disquieting Thoughtfulness, which perpetually haunts the minds of men. They are sensible that their Condition is dependent, and that it is not in their own Power, either to make it what they would have it, or to secure and continue it when it is made so; they know that by a thousand Chances which in despight of their Foresight or Power may happen, the next moment either themselves may be snatched from what they possess, or what they possess may be snatched from them; they find that their most probable Designs are liable to innumerable Miscarriages, and that when they have formed their Projects never so wisely, there are infinite cross Accidents may intercurr and dash them in pieces; and in this uncertain State of their Affairs, they either think not of God at all, but live at the Courtesie of a fickle Chance, and leave themselves to be tossed, and bandied to and fro at the pleasure of a blind and undesigning Fortune, upon whose ever-moving Wheel their wearied thoughts can never rest; or if they think of God, it is with great Mistrust and Despondency; they fear he will not be regardful enough of them, nor prove so kind to them as they could wish, and are possest with an obstinate opinion that 'twould be much better for them to be their own Carvers, than to live at his Disposal and Allowance. And hence proceed all those Anxieties and Discontents, those fretting Cares, dismaying Fears, perplexing and misgiving Thoughts, which do continually gaul and disquiet them; and from these their thorny disquietudes it is impossible they should ever be wholly free, no not in Heaven it self, till they have wrought their Minds to a perfect Trust and Confidence in God. For we shall be altogether as dependent upon God for our heavenly, as we are for our earthly Happiness; because, though all those Acts of heavenly Virtue, in which our heavenly Happiness consists, will be much more in our own Power, than any of these worldly goods are, yet they will be no longer in our Power than God shall think fit to enable us to chuse, and act, and to support us in our Being and Existence, which then we shall sensibly perceive entirely depends upon the All-enlivening vigour of his vital breath. And therefore though he hath promised to continue our being in that most blessed State for ever, yet unless we perfectly trust in his Veracity, our Minds will be continually disturbed with anxious and misgiving Thoughts; we shall be afraid lest one time or other he should forget his Promise, and upon some unknown Reason or Emergency withdraw from us that Influence of his All-upholding Power, upon which our Being and Well-being depends, and let us drop into Nothing. And the greater our Happiness is, the more we should be afraid of losing it; because we should be always sensible that it entirely depends upon the Pleasure of God, whose Truth and Goodness, we could not perfectly confide in. So that were we placed in the midst of Heaven with a misgiving, distrustful Mind of God, that would imbitter all the joys of it, and give them a harsh and ungrateful Farewel. For the fearful Apprehensions we should continually have of being thrust out of Heaven again, and tumbled headlong from all our Glory, would be such a continual Affliction to us, that we should even pine away our happy Eternity, for fear of being eternally deprived of it. So impossible it is for any dependent Being to be happy, without an entire Trust and Confidence in God upon whom its Being and Happiness depends.
AND therefore the Gospel to render our future Happiness compleat, endeavours to train us up before-hand to a firm and perfect Confidence in God, by making it an essential part of our duty to commit the keeping of our souls to God in well-doing, 1 Pet. iv.19. to trust in the living God who gives us all things richly to enjoy, 1 Tim. vi.17. not to trust in our selves but in God who raiseth the dead, 2 Cor. i.9. to believe in God, and not be troubled at any Events which happen to us in this world, John xiv.1. and not to cast away our confidence, Heb. x.35. and the like; the Sense of all which is, to press and engage us to a constant and chearful Relyance upon God, and to endeavour to affect our minds with a deep sense of his over-ruling Providence, and a full Assurance of the Goodness of all those great Designs he is driving on in the World; and accordingly to acquiesce in, and embrace all Events as the tokens of his Love and Favour, and always to live upon this Persuasion, that it is infinitely better for us to be in Gods hands than in our own, and that he knows much better how to dispose of us, and our affairs than we do, and that he will take care to dispose of them as much to our advantage as we our selves should, if we knew as much as he doth. Now though by reason of those strong Impressions which sensible things in this Life of Sense make upon us, we should not always be able so firmly to rely upon, and repose our selves in Gods invisible Power, as not to be at all disquieted about the Issues and Events of things; yet if by frequent acts of Trust and Relyance on him, we have so disposed our minds to confide in him, as that by looking up to his over-ruling Providence, we can ordinarily stay and support our selves, amidst the Changes and Revolutions of this world; if when a storm of Adversity hangs lowring over, or showers down upon us, we can flie to God for shelter, and promise our selves Safety and Protection under the out-stretched wings of his Providence; in a word, if when we smart, we can ordinarily hope in him, and rest persuaded that under his gracious Conduct and Disposal, all things shall work together for our good; this our imperfect, wavering Hope and Dependance, shall in the other life be immediately ripened into a most perfect Confidence, and Assurance. For there we shall be wholly removed from this Life of Sense, by which our Trust in Gods invisible Providence is very much weakned and distracted; and besides we shall have much quicker and clearer apprehensions of his Nature, and of the infinite Reasons we have to confide in him. And then when after all the threats of a tempestuous Voyage, we shall find our selves landed in a blessed World, and possessed of all its promised Glories, this mighty Experiment of Gods Fidelity and Goodness, will immediately settle our predisposed minds, into such an immovable Confidence in him, as that from thenceforth no Fear or Distrust will ever find the least access to our thoughts, but we shall be so perfectly assured of his Truth and Goodness, that though we shall feel our selves sustained and blest every moment by the arbitrary Influences of his Benignity and Power, yet we shall be as confident for ever of the continuance of our bliss, as we could be, if we did self-exist, and held the eternity of our Being and Happiness as independently as God doth his. For though our Condition will be ever dependent, yet'twill be ever dependent upon such a foundation as can no more fail than Gods own Life and Being; viz. upon his Veracity and Goodness, both which are so essential to him, as that he cannot exist without them. And knowing our selves so firmly secured in this our dependent State, as that we can never sink unless God himself sink under us, we shall be to all Eternity not only as safe, but as satisfied in it, as if we were every one a God to himself; and in this blessed Security we shall quietly enjoy God and our selves for ever. So that our Trust and Confidence in God will crown the Pleasure of all our other Virtues, by giving us full Security of an everlasting Fruition of it. For now the ravished mind will have no fear or distrust to cramp or arrest it, in its blessed operations; no anxious Thoughts of a sad futurity to sower its present enjoyments; but 'twill enjoy all Heaven every moment, in a fearless Security of enjoying it all for ever. And when it shall perfectly love, contemplate and adore God, with a sure and certain Confidence, of contemplating, loving and adoring him perfectly for ever, O! how unspeakably will this enhance the Pleasure of those beatifical Acts! For now in every moment of all our blessed Eternity, we shall still have the Joy of a blessed Eternity to come; and besides all those Pleasures which each present moment of our heavenly Life shall abound with, we shall still have the Pleasure of a Prospect of infinite Ages of Pleasure. And thus the blessed mind, you see, by its perfect Dependance upon God, consummates its own Heaven, and secures it self for ever in a most quiet and undisturbed Enjoyment of it.
BY all which I think it sufficiently appears, how much each of these Divine Virtues, which as rational Creatures we are obliged to exert, and exercise upon God, contributes to our heavenly Happiness; and consequently, how indispensably necessary our present Practice of them is to dispose and capacitate us to enjoy it.