The Christian Life, Chapter 3 · Section 3
SECT. III. Concerning the Social Virtues, shewing that these also are included in the Heavenly Part of the Christian Life, and that in their Natures they very much contribute to our Heavenly Happiness.
MAN of all sublunary Creatures is the most adapted for Society. For though the greatest part of other Creatures do covet Society, as well as he, yet he alone is furnished with that gift of Nature which renders Society most pleasant and useful, and that is the gift of Speech. By means of which we can express our Thoughts, and maintain a mutual Intelligence of Minds, with one another; and thereby divert our Sorrows, mingle our Mirth, impart our Secrets, communicate our Counsels, and make mutual Compacts and Agreements to supply and assist each other. And in these things consists the greatest Vse and Pleasure of Society. And as of all Creatures we are the best fitted for Society, so we stand in the greatest need of it. For as for other Creatures, after they come into the World they are much sooner able to help themselves than we; and after we are most able to help our selves, there are a world of Necessaries and Conveniences without which we cannot be happy, and with which we cannot be supplied without each others aid and assistance; which in an unsociable State of Life we should of all Creatures in the World be the most indisposed to render to one another. For as Aristotle de Repub. lib. 1. pag. 298. hath observed, foreign As man in his perfect state is the best of all Animals, so separated from Law and Right he is the worst. For out of Society we see his Nature presently degenerates, and instead of being inclined to assist, grows always most salvage and barbarous to his own kind. Since therefore we have so much need of each others help, Society is absolutely necessary to cherish and preserve in us our natural Benevolence towards one another, without which instead of being mutually helpful, we should be mutually mischievous. For as the same Philosopher hath observed, foreign. Id. ibid. He that cannot contract Society with others, or through his own Self-sufficiency doth not need it, belongs not to any Commonwealth, but is either a wild Beast, or a God. We being therefore so framed for Society, and under such necessities of entring into it, it hence necessarily follows, that being associated together, we are all obliged in our several Ranks and Stations so to behave our selves towards one another as is most for the Common Good of All; and that since the Happiness of each particular Member of our Society redounds from the Welfare of the Whole, and is involved in it, we ought to esteem nothing good for our selves that is a Nuisance to the Publick. Because whatsoever this suffers, I and every man suffer; and unless I could be happy alone, that can never be for my Interest in particular, that is against my Interest in common. Now in such a mutual Behaviour as most conduces to our common Benefit and Happiness as we are in Society with one another, consists all Social Virtue; the proper Use and Design of which is to preserve our Society with one another, and to render it a common Blessing to us all. And hereunto five things are necessary, viz.
1. That we be charitably disposed towards one another.
2. That we be just and righteous in all our Intercourses with each other.
3. That we behave our selves peaceably in our respective States and Relations.
4. That we be very modest towards those that are Superiour to us in our Society, whether it be in Desert or Dignity.
5. That we be very treatable and condescending to all that are Inferiour to us. Under these Particulars are comprehended all those Social Virtues upon which the Welfare and Happiness of Humane Society depends. Now that the Practice of all these is included in the Christian Life, and doth effectually conduce to our everlasting Happiness, I shall endeavour particularly to prove. And
I. AS rational Creatures associated and so related to one another, we are obliged to be kindly and charitably disposed towards each other. For the end of our Society being mutually to aid and assist one another; it is necessary in order hereunto that we should every one be kind and benevolent to every one, that so we may be continually inclined mutually to aid and do good Offices to one another. And so far as we fall short of this, we fall short of the End of our Society. For to be sure the less we love one another, the less prone we shall be to promote and further each others Welfare, and consequently the less Advantage we shall reap from our mutual Society. But if instead of loving, we malign and hate each other, our Society will be so far from contributing to our Happiness, that it will be only a means of rendring us more miserable. For it will only furnish us with fairer Opportunities of doing Mischief to one another, and that mutual Intercourse we shall have by being united together in Society will supply us with greater Means and Occasions to wreak our spight upon each other. For Society puts us within each others reach, and by that means (if we are enemies) renders us more dangerous to one another; like two adverse Armies, which when they are at a Distance can do but little hurt, but when they are joined and mingled never want opportunities to destroy and butcher one another. So that Hatred and Malice, you see, renders our Society a Plague, and we were much better live apart poorly and solitarily, and withdraw from one another as Beasts of Prey do into their separate Dens, than continue in one anothers reach, and be always liable, as we must be while we are in Society, to be baited and worried by one another.
AND as Hatred and Malice spoils all our Society in this Life, and renders it worse than the most dismal Solitude, so it will also in the other. For whensoever the Souls of men do leave their Bodies, they doubtless flock to the Birds of their own Feather, and consort themselves with such separate Spirits as are of their own Genius and Temper. For besides that good and bad Spirits are by the eternal Laws of the other World distributed into two separate Nations, and there live apart from one another, having no other Communication or Intercourse but what is between two Hostile Countries that are continually designing and attempting one against another; so that when wicked Souls do leave this Terrestrial Abode and pass into Eternity, they are presently incorporated by the Laws of that invisible State into the Nation of wicked Spirits, and confined for ever to their most wretched Society and Converse; besides this, I say, Likeness doth naturally congregate Beings, and incline them to associate with those of their own Kind. Now Rancour and Malice is the proper Character of the Devil, and the natural Genius of Hell; and consequently 'tis by a malicious Temper of Mind that we are naturalized before-hand Subjects of the Kingdom of Darkness, and qualified for the Conversation of Furies. So that when we go from hence into Eternity, this our malignant Genius will render us utterly averse to the friendly Society of Heaven, and naturally press and incline us to consort with that wretched Nation of spightful and rancorous Spirits, with whom we are already joined by a Likeness and Communion of Natures. But O! much better were it for us to be shut up all alone for ever in some dark Hole of the World, where we might converse only with our own melancholy Thoughts, and never hear of any other being but our selves, than to be continually plagued with such vexatious Company! For though we who are spectators only of Corporeal Action, cannot discern the manner how one Spirit acts upon another; yet there is no doubt but Spiritual Agents can strike as immediately upon Spirits, as bodily Agents can upon Bodies; and supposing that these can mututually act upon one another, there is no more doubt but they can mutually make each other feel each others Pleasures and Displeasures, and that according as they are more or less powerful, they can more or less aggrieve and afflict one another. And if so, what can be expected from a company of spightful and malicious Spirits joined in Society together, but that their Conversation should be a continual Intercourse of mutual Mischiefs and Vexations? especially considering how they here laid the foundation of an eternal Quarrel against one another. For there all those Companions in Sin will meet, who by their ill Counsels, wicked Insinuations, and bad Examples did mutually contribute to each others Ruine; and being met in such a woful State; how will the tormenting sense of those irreparable injuries they have done each other, whet their Fury against and incite them to play the Devils with one another? And what can be expected from such a Company of waspish Beings, so implacably incensed against one another, but that being shut up together in the infernal Den, they should be perpetually hissing at, and stinging each other? But then besides those mutual plagues which these furious Spirits must be supposed to inflict upon one another, they will be also nakedly exposed to the powerful Malice of the Devils those fierce Executioners of Gods righteous Vengeance, who, as we now find by Experience, have power to suggest black and horrid Thoughts to us, and to torture our Souls with such dreadful Imaginations as are far more sharp and exquisite than any bodily Torments. And if now they have such Power over us, when God thinks fit to let them loose, what will they have hereafter, when our wretched Spirits shall be wholly abandoned to their Mercy, and they shall have free Scope to exercise their Fury upon us, and glut their hungry Malice with our Griefs and Vexations? It seems at least a mighty probable Notion, that that horrid Agony of our Saviour in the Garden which caused him to shriek and grone, and sweat as it were great Drops of Blood, was chiefly the effect of those preternatural Terrours, which the Devils, with whom he was then contesting, impressed upon his innocent Mind. And if they had so much Power over his pure and mighty Soul, that was so strongly guarded with the most perfect and unspotted Virtues, what will they have over ours when we are abandoned to them, and thrown as Preys into their Mouths? With what an Hellish Rage will they fly upon our guilty and timorous Souls, in which there is so much Tinder for their injected Sparks of Horror to take fire on?
SINCE therefore Rancour and Malice doth so naturally incline and hurry our Souls towards the wretched Society of Devils and damned Spirits, the Gospel which so industriously consults our Happiness, takes all possible Care to train us up in Charity and mutual Love; and makes it a Principal, as well as necessary Part of our Christian Life, heartily to love one another. For this, as our Saviour tells us, is the Darling Precept which lay next to his Heart; this is my Commandment that ye love one another, Joh. xv.12. And accordingly we are bid not only to follow after Charity, 1 Cor. xiv.1. and to do all things with Charity, 1 Cor. xvi.14. but also to put on Charity above all things, Col. iii.14. and to dwell in Love, which the Apostle tells us, is to dwell in God who is Love, 1 Joh. iv.16. The intent of all which is, to oblige us to bear an universal good Will to all, and to take an hearty Complacency in all that are truly lovely; to be ready to contribute to and rejoice in every ones Good and Welfare, and in a word, to live in the continual exercise of all those charitable Offices which our present State and Condition requires and calls for. To be courteous and affable, and to treat all those we converse with with an obliging Look, a gentile Deportment and endearing Language. To be long-suffering, mild and easie to be entreated; not to break forth into Rage and Storm upon every petty Provocation, and when we are justly provoked not to suffer our Displeasure to fester into Malice and Rancour, but to be forward and easie to be reconciled. To be of a compassionate and sympathizing Temper, and to rejoice with those that rejoice, and weep with those that weep. To be candid Interpreters of Men and their Actions; to be ready to mitigate and excuse their Faults and put fair Comments on their Actions; and to be so far from making malicious Glosses on their innocent Meaning, from proclaiming their Miscarriages, and rejoicing in their Falls, as not to believe ill of them but upon undeniable Evidence, and when we are forced to do so, to pity and lament them, and endeavour and pray and hope for their Reformation. In short, to be benign and bountiful to the necessitous and distressed, and to endeavour according to our Ability to allay their Sorrows, remove their Oppressions, support them under their Calamities, and counsel them in their Doubts; to be ready to every good Work, and like Fields of Spices to be scattering our Perfumes through all the Neighbourhood; and all this out of an honest and sincere purpose to promote their Good, and not meerly to acquire to our selves a popular Vogue and Reputation. All which are essential Parts of that Charity which the Gospel enjoins us to exercise towards one another. For so the Apostle assures us, 1 Cor. xiii.4, 5, 6, 7. Charity suffereth long, and is kind, charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not it self, is not puffed up, doth not behave it self unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked; thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
NOW though there be several Acts of Charity that will cease for ever in Heaven, such as long-suffering, giving of Alms and forgiving of Injuries, and the like; because among the People of Heaven there will be none of the Faults or Miseries about which these Acts are conversant; yet even the Practice of these is indispensably necessary to temper and dispose our Minds to heavenly Charity, which till we are disposed to by universal Love, we shall never be capable of exercising; but since all virtuous Dispositions are acquired by Acts, it is impossible we should acquire the Disposition of universal Love, unless we universally practise it. 'Tis by giving Alms that that we must acquire cordial Charity to the poor and needy; and by forgiving Injuries that we must dispose our selves to love those that offend us. For these Acts are Causes as well as Signs of a charitable Temper, and are necessary not only to signifie it where it is, but also to produce it where it is not. When therfore by acting all those Parts of Charity which are proper to this as well as the other State, we have acquired this blessed Disposition of universal Charity, our Minds are fairly framed and tempered for the Society of Heaven. And though in the perpetual Justle and Tumult of this World some little Piques and Displeasures should now and then arise in our Minds, yet if in the cool and standing Temper of our Souls we are hearty Well-wishers to all Men, and hearty Lovers of all that do in any measure love and resemble God, we are in a natural Tendency to Heaven, that perfect Element of Love, and when we go from hence shall consort our selves with unspeakable Joy and Alacrity with those great and blessed Lovers that inhabit it. Who being all of them most amiable and Godlike Souls, that are every one of the same Temper with our selves, being touched at the same Loadstone and made partakers of the same Divine Nature, we shall immediately close and join with them in the strictest Unions of Love. For those heavenly People being all of them most flagrant Lovers of God, are so united in him who is the common Center of Love, that no Saint or Angel can enjoy his Love without possessing a proportionate Degree of theirs; and their Love of one another being all subordinate to their common Love to God, and grounded upon it, though their strongest Inclination, like that of excited Needles, be still towards him the blessed Magnet at which they have every one been touched, yet do they all stick fast to one another, being clung inseparably together by those attractive Virtues which they have all derived from him. And in this state of perfect Friendship they converse together with unspeakable Pleasure, and all their Conversation is a perpetual Intercourse of wise and holy Endearments. And now what a blessed Society must this be, wherein perfect Love and Friendship reigns and hath an All-commanding Empire; where every Heart mingles with every one, and all like precious dusts of Gold, are melted together into one solid Ingot; where infinite Myriads of blessed Spirits, by interchangeably clasping and twining with one another, are so inseparably united and grown together that they are all but one compounded Soul! And when from the highest Angel to the lowest Saint they are all so tied together by the Heart-strings that every one is every ones dear Friend, what inexpressible Content and Complacency must they needs take in one another! When I shall pass all Heaven over through ten thousand millions of blessed Beings, and meet none but such as I most dearly love and am as dearly beloved by, O! what unspeakable Rejoicings and Congratulations will there be between us! Especially when I shall find no Defect either of Goodness or Happiness in them, nor they in me, to damp our mutual Joy and Delight in each other; but every one shall be what every one wishes him, a perfect and a blessed Friend. For perfect Lovers have all their Joys and Griefs in common between them; but the Heavenly Lovers having no Griefs among them, do only communicate their Joys to one another. For where they love so perfectly as they do in Heaven, there can be no such thing as a private or particular Happiness, but every one must have a share in every ones; and consequently in this their mutual Communication of Blisses, every ones Happiness will, by his Friendship to every one, be multiplied into as many Happinesses as there are Saints and Angels in Heaven; and so every Joy of every Member of the Church Triumphant runs round the whole Body in an eternal Circulation. For that blessed Body being all composed of consenting Hearts, that like perfect Unisons are tuned up to the same Key, when any one is touched, every one ecchoes and resounds the same Note; and whilst they thus mutually strike upon each other, and all are affected with every ones Joys, it is impossible but that, in a State where there is nothing but Joy, there should be a continual Consort of ravishing Harmony among them. For such is their dear Concern for one another, that every ones Joy not only pays to, but receives Tribute from every ones; so that when any one blessed Spirit rejoices, his Joy goes round the whole Society; and then all their rejoicings in his Joy reflow upon, and swell and multiply it; and so as they mutually borrow one anothers Joys, they always pay them back with Interest, and by thus reciprocating do everlastingly increase them.
II. AS we are rational Creatures related to one another, we are obliged to be just and righteous in all our Intercourses with each other. To yield to every one whatsoever by any Kind of Right, whether natural or acquired, he can demand or challenge of us. For there are some things to which every Man hath a Right by Nature as he is a Part or Member of Humane Society. As for instance, Life, which is the Principal of all our Actions and Perceptions, is freely lent us by God, who is the Source and Fountain of Life; and consequently till God resumes his Loan, or we forfeit it by our own Actions, we have all a natural Right to live, and for any man to attempt to deprive us of our Life, or of our Means of living, is the highest Injury and Injustice. Again, Words being instituted for no other End but to signifie our Meaning and to be the Instrument of our Intercourse and Society with one another, every one who is a Member of Humane Society hath a Right to have our Meaning truly signified to him by our Words, and whosoever lies or equivocates to another, doth thereby injuriously deprive him of the natural Right of Society. Again, a good Name being the Ground of Trust and Credit, and Credit the main Sinew of Society, till men have forfeited their good Name, they have a natural Right to be well reputed and spoken of; and whosoever either by false Witness, publick Slanders, or private Whisperings, endeavours to attaint an innocent Mans Reputation, doth thereby injuriously attempt to exclude him from the Conversation of Men, and shut the Door of Humane Society against him. Once more, Promises being the great Security of our mutual Intercourse and Society with one another, every Man that hath a Right to Society hath a Right to what another promiseth him, provided it be but lawful and possible; and therefore for any man to promise what he intends not to perform, or to go back from his Promise when he lawfully may and can perform it, is an Act of unjust Rapine; and I may every whit as honesty rob another Man of what is his without my Promise, as of what I have made his by it; he having an equal Right to both by the fundamental Laws of Society. In fine, the great Design of our Society being to help and assist one another, every Man has a Right to be aided and assisted by every one with whom he hath any Dealing or Intercourse; to have some share of the Benefit of all that Exchange, Traffick and Commerce which passes between him and others; and therefore for any man in his Dealings with others to take Advantage from their Necessity or Ignorance to oppress or over-reach them, or to deal so hardly by them as either not to allow them any share of the Profit which accrues from their Dealings, or not a sufficient share for them to subsist and live by, is an injurious Invasion of that natural Right which the very End and Design of Society gives them. But then besides these natural, there are also acquired Rights; and such are those which either by legal Constitution or by mutual Compacts and Agreements we are seized and vested with; which Constitutions and Compacts being absolutely necessary to the upholding and regulating of humane Societies, it is no less necessary that all those Rights which they confer should be inviolably preserved; and whosoever knowingly or wilfully takes away or detains from another what he is thus entitled to by Law or Agreement, is guilty either of a Fraud or a Robbery, either of which is an unjust Violation of the Rights of humane Society. So that the Practice of Justice and Righteousness, as it is confined to humane Society, consists in not intrenching either upon the natural or acquired Rights of those with whom we have any Dealing or Intercourse; in not endeavouring to deprive them either of their Lives or Livelihoods, unless by their own Actions they forfeit them to us; in imparting our true Meaning to them by our Words, and neitheir hiding it under Lies and Falshoods, nor disguising it with equivocal Reservations; in making good to them all our lawful and possible Promises, in not falsely aspersing their good Names and Reputations, nor suffering them to be falsely aspersed when we are able to vindicate them; in neither using them cruelly in our Dealings, so as wilfully to damnifie them, nor hardly so as either to rake all the Advantage to our selves, or not to allow them such a competent share of it as is necessary to support and maintain them: in a word, not to defraud or rob them of any thing which either by Constitution of Law, or by Compact and Agreement they have a Right to. This is civil Righteousness, and without this it is impossible that any Society should be happy. For how can any one be secure in a Society where Violence and Rapine, Falshood and Oppression reign; where Causes are decided not by Rules of Justice but by dint of Power, and the strongest Arm is the sole Arbitrator of Right and Wrong; where Promises and Professions are only Traps and Snares, and every man lays Ambushes in his Words, and lurks behind them in reserved Meanings, only to await an Opportunity to surprize and ruine every one he converses with? It would doubtless be far more eligible for Men to disperse and disband their Society and live apart as Vermin do, and subsist by robbing and filching from one another, than live together as they must in such a State of Injustice like Bundles of Briars and Thorns, and out of their mutual Jealousies and Distrusts be continually tearing and scratching one another.
NOW, as I shewed you before, what Mens Tempers are here, such will their Company be hereafter. So that if we go out of this World with an unrighteous Temper, we must expect to be confined in the other to an unrighteous Society; and if Unrighteousness be such a Nuisance to our Society in this Life, what a Plague will it be to it in the Life to come? For the most barbarous Societies of Men in this Life, have some Remains of Justice and Equity among them; and though the best of them have many corrupt Members that are bad in the main, yet whether it be by their natural Temper, or their Fear of Punishment or Disgrace, or by their Sense of Honour or Checks of Conscience, they are frequently restrained from many bad things, and particularly from Dishonesty and Injustice; by which means their Society is rendred much more tolerable. But in the other Life, as they are all perfectly good that are in the Society of the good, so they are all perfectly wicked that are in the Society of the wicked; and whatsoever Checks there may be in their Natures to any particular Acts of Wickedness, they are there all born down by their inveterate Malice against God, and outragious Despair of ever being reconciled to him. So that in all their Society with one another there is not the least Intermixture of just and righteous Intercourse, but all their Conversation is Falshood and Treachery, Violence and Oppression, and whatsoever else is hurtful and injurious to one another. For the Devil who is the sovereign duplicate page duplicate page Prince of their Society, is described in Scripture to be the Father of Lies, and a Murtherer from the beginning, that is, a most outrageously unjust and unrighteous Being, one whose whole Trade hath been to cheat and deceive, to rook men of their Happiness, and mask his murtherous Intentions against them with dissembled Smiles, and fawning Endearments. And doubtless Regis ad exemplum is true there as well as here; the miserable Vassals of his dark Kingdom do all imitate his Manners and tread …n his Footsteps. And if so, O! good Lord what woful Society must they have with one another! When by reason of their continual Experience of each others Falshood and Insincerity, all mutual Trust and Confidence is banished from among them, and every one is forced to stand upon his own Guard in continual Expectance of Mischief from every one. When all their Life is a Trade of diabolical Knaveries, and their whole Study is to do and retaliate Injuries, and the main Business of this their hellish Society is to circumvent and play the Devils with one another. Doubtless this alone is enough to make Hell a most dreadful State though there were nothing else dreadful in it; and I verily believe, if it were left to my own Option, I should much rather chuse to languish out an Eternity in some dismal Dungeon alone, and there converse only wlth my own silent Griefs, than to dwell for ever in the Garden of the World accompanied with such false and villanous Creatures.
THAT this therefore may not be our Fate hereafter, it is a great Part of the Business of our Holy Religion to train us up for better Company, by inuring us before-hand to the Practice of Righteousness and Justice. For so it obliges us to do unto men whatsoever we would that men should do unto us, Mar. vii.12. that is, so to deal with every man as if we had exchanged persons with him, and he were in our place, and we in his. And in particular it enjoins us to be harmless as Doves as well as wise as Serpents, Mat. x.16. to converse in the World with simplicity and godly sincerity, 2 Cor. i.12. to keep up an honest conversation in the world, 1 Pet. ii.12. not to lie to one another, Col. iii.9. not to go beyond or defraud our brother in any matter, 1 Thess. iv.6. The sense of all which is, to oblige us to maintain a strict Integrity in all our Professions and Intercourses with men, and not to allow our selves in any Course of Action which the Laws of Justice and Sincerity disapprove; to measure our Words by our Meaning, and our Meaning so far as we are able, by the Truth and Reality of things; to converse among men with a generous Openness and Freedom, and with as little Reserve and Disguise as is possible and prudent, considering what a treacherous and ill-natured World we have to deal with; to be what we seem, and not to paint ill Meanings with smiling Looks and smooth Pretences; to notifie our Intentions and unfold our Hearts, and, so far as innocent Prudence will admit, to turn our selves inside outwards to all we converse with; to give to every one his due and not to intrench upon other mens Rights, whether it be to their Lives or Liberties, Reputations or Estates: in a word, to weigh to our Neighbours and our selves in the same Balance, and to do to them whatsoever we could reasonably wish they should do to us, if we were in their Persons and Circumstances. By the Practice of which excellent Rules our Mind will by degrees be refined and purified from all Disposition to Fraud and Injustice; and then when we go from hence into Eternity we shall carry thither with us such a just and righteous Frame of Mind, such an honest Plainness and Integrity of Temper as will immediately qualifie and dispose us for the Society of just men made perfect, who finding us already united to them in Disposition and Nature, will joyfully receive us into their blessed Communion. And now, O! the blessed State we shall be in, when being stripped of all Partiality and unjust Desire, of all Insincerity and Craftiness of Temper, we shall be admitted into a Nation of just and righteous People, where every one has his appropriate Seat and Mansion of Glory, and is so perfectly contented with it that he never covets what another enjoys, so that every one possesses what is his own without the least suspicion of being ejected by a subtiler or more powerful Neighbour; where being perfectly assured of each others Integrity, they converse together with the greatest Openness and Freedom, and in all their Language, whatsoever it be, do read their Hearts and convey their Intentions to one another; where their Souls converse face to face, and do freely unbosom themselves to one another without the least Disguise or Dissimulation; so that in all their Society there is no such thing as a Secret or Mystery, but they are all Bosom Friends to one another, and every one has a Window into every ones Breast! O! blessed God what a most happy Conversation must such just Souls as these enjoy with one another, from whose Society all Fraud and Falshood, Violence and Oppression is for ever banished! For whilst they live together as they do in the continual Exercise of perfect Righteousness and Integrity, they can neither design upon nor suspect one another, and so consequently must needs converse together with infinite Security and Freedom. And being all of them thus inviolably safe in each others Sincerity and Justice; every one enjoys his proper Rank and Degree of Glory without Fear or Disturbance, and freely communicates his wise and excellent Thoughts to every one without any Strangeness or Reserve. Thus all Heaven over there is a most perfect Freedom of Conversation among those righteous People that inhabit it, and every one is every ones Neighbour, and every ones Neighbour is as Himself. For in all their Communication and Intercourse they mutually exchange Persons with one another, and there is no one doth that to another which he would not gladly have done to himself in the same Condition and Circumstances. So that none of them all can possibly be aggrieved because they are every one dealt by just as they would be, most fairly, most righteously and faithfully. And hence there can be no Grudges among them, no Whisperings, Backbitings or spightful Misrepresentations, because every one likes what every one does, and so they are all perfectly satisfied with one another. And thus you see in the Exercise of perfect Righteousness and Integrity all the Society of Heaven is rendred perfectly happy.
III. AS we are rational Creatures related to one another we are obliged to behave our selves peaceably in our respective States and Relations. For Society being nothing but an united Multitude, it is indispensably necessary to the preservation of its Union, that every Individual Member of it should peaceably comport himself towards every one in that Degree and Order wherein he is placed. Because, as the Health of natural Bodies depends upon the Harmony and Agreement of their Parts, so doth the Prosperity of Societies or political ones. For 'tis Peace and mutual Accord which is the Soul that doth both animate and unite Society and keep the Parts of it from dispersing and flying abroad into Atoms, which nothing but Force and Violence can hinder them from, when once they are broken into Discords and Dissentions. So true is that of our Saviour, A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand. For besides that Division impairs the strength of a Society, which like an impetuous Stream being parted into several Currents runs with far less force, and is much more easily forded; for the several Factions that are in it are like the several Nations in a Confederate Army, which though they be all united into one Body have several contrary Interests and Designs, which divides their Councils and sows Jealousies among them, and so renders them not only less able to withstand the Force of an unanimous Enemy, but also less willing to aid and assist one another; besides this, I say, Faction and Discord naturally disunite and separates Society, as it dissolves the Bond of Peace which holds it together. For a Society without Peace is but an aggregated Body whose Parts lie together in a confused heap, but have no Joints or Sinews to fasten them to one another; for want of which instead of mutually assisting, they do but mutually load and oppress each other; which must necessarily divide their Wills and their Interests, and when that is done 'tis only external Force that hinders them from dividing and separating their Society. Upon this account therefore every man is obliged, as he is a Member of Humane Society, to comport himself peaceably with all men; because otherwise he will necessarily render himself a publick Pest and Nuisance. For so long as he is of an unquiet and turbulent Spirit, instead of being an Help he must necessarily be a Disease to every Community of which he is a Member; and if those with whom he is joined were all of his Humour and Spirit, it would be much better for them all to live asunder in the most solitary Condition, than to continue in Society together; because instead of helping and assisting they would be sure to be continually vexing and plaguing one another.
IF therefore we go into the other World with an unquiet and quarrelsome Temper, we shall be thereby inclined to and prepared for the most wretched and miserable Society, even the Society of those factious Fiends that could not be quiet even in Heaven it self, but raised a Mutiny before the Throne of God, and for so doing were driven thence, and damned to keep one another Company in endless Misery and Despair. The Souls of men therefore being by the Laws of the Invisible State always assigned to that Society of Spirits whereunto they are most connaturalized in their Temper, we must expect, if we go into Eternity with turbulent and contentious Minds, to be thrust into the Society of Devils and damned Ghosts, with whom we are already joined in a strict Communion of Natures. And O! what a dreadful thing must it be, to be forced to spend an Eternity in such wretched Company! Verily methinks the most horrid and frightful Idea I can form in my own Mind, is, that of a company of snarling and quarrelsome Spirits, crouded like so many Scorpions and Adders into a Den together, and there forced by the Venomousness of their Temper to live in continual Mutiny, and be perpetually hissing and spitting Poison at one another. For though those words of our Saviour, Mat. xii.25, 26. imply that Satans Kingdom is not divided, yet they are not to be so understood as if there were any such thing as Peace or Concord among those rancorous Spirits, for that is impossible to be imagined; no, doubtless they would be divided eterdally if they could, being such continual plagues as they are to one another, and think it a mighty Happiness to be shut up all alone in separate Dens, where they might never see nor hear of one another more; but being chained together as they are by an adamantine Fate, which they cannot withstand, they consent in this and in this only, to oppose all good Designs, and do the utmost Mischief they are able. But as to all their other Intercourses they are continually embroiled, and do live in an eternal Variance with one another. So that their Society is like that Monster Scylla, whom the Poets talk of, whose inferiour parts were a company of Dogs that were perpetually snarling and quarrelling among themselves, and yet were inseparable from one another as being all of them parts of the same substance.
WHEREFORE since to be united by indissoluble Ligaments to this wretched Society will be the certain Fate of all factious and contentious Souls, our blessed Religion, whose great Design is to advance our happiness, hath taken abundant care to educate our Minds in Quietness and Peace. For hither tend all those Precepts of it which require us to follow peace with all men, Heb. xii.14. to be at peace among our selves, 1 Thess. v.13. to follow after the things that make for peace, Rom. xiv.19. to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, Eph. iv.3. to be of one mind and to live in peace, 2. Cor. xiii.11. and if it be possible, and as much as in us lies, to live peaceably with all men, Rom. xii.18. in a word, to mark them that cause divisions among us, and avoid them, Rom. xvi.17. and to do our part that there be no divisions among us, but that we be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgement, 1 Cor. i.10. The Design of all which is to bind us over to the Study and Practice of Vnity and Concord, and restrain us by the strictest Obligations from all schismatical, factious and turbulent Behaviour in those sacred or civil Societies whereof we are Members. And unless we do sincerely endeavour to fulfil these Obligations, however we may monopolize Godliness to our own Party, and claw and canonize one another, we are Saints of a quite different strain from those blessed ones above, and are acted by the factious Spirit of the Devil, whose Business it is to foment Divisions, and kindle Disturbances and Commotions wherever he comes. This therefore must be our great Care if we design for Heaven, to root out of our Tempers all Inclination to Contention and Discord, and to compose our selves into a sedate and peaceable, calm and gentle frame of Spirit; and not only to avoid all unnecessary Quarrels and Contentions our selves, but so far as in us lies be Peace-makers between others, and preserve a friendly Union with and among our fellow members. And if through humane Frailty and Infirmity, through our own Ignorance or the plausible Pretences of Seducers, through the too great Prevalence of our worldly Interest or the Principles of a bad Education, it should be our Misfortune to be insensibly misled into unwarrantable Dissents and Divisions, yet still to keep our Minds in a teachable Temper, and our Ears open to Truth and Conviction; to be desirous of Accommodation, and willing to hear the Reasons on both sides, and as soon as we are convinced of our Error to repent of our Division and immediately return to Vnity and Peace.
WHICH if it be our constant Practice and Endeavour, we shall by Degrees form our Minds into such a peaceable and amicable Temper, that when we go into the other World where we shall be perfectly disengaged from all temporal Interests, and throughly convinced of all our erroneous Prejudice, our Souls will be effectually contempered to the quiet and peaceable Society of the Blessed; who having no private Interests to pursue, no particular Affections to gratifie, no Ends or Aims but what are common to them all, which is to adore and imitate and love that never-failing Spring whence all their Felicity flows, it is impossible there should be any Occasion administred by any of them of any Schism or rupture of Communion. And so those happy People live in the most perfect Unity and Concord, as being all united in their Ends and tied together by their heart-strings. For they having no counter Opinions or cross Interests to divide them, nothing but Truth shining in their Minds, nothing but Goodness reigning in their Wills, it is impossible there should be any dissenting Brother among them, any Non-conformist to the blessed Laws of their Communion; but conspiring together as they do in the same Mind and Interest, and in the same peaceable Intentions and Affections, they must needs walk hand in hand together in a most perfect Vniformity. So that if we would live for ever with these blessed Folk, we must now endeavour to calm and compose our selves into their Temper; to discharge our Minds, as much as we are able, of every froward and contentious Humour, and reduce our Wills to a perfect loathing of them; that so being qualified for their Society we may be admitted to it when we go away from this wrangling World. And then how unspeakably happy shall we be, when with Minds perfectly refined from all Contention and Bitterness we shall be received into the Company of those calm and sedate Spirits, and bear our part in their sweet and placid Conversation, wherein they freely communicate their minds to one another without the least Fierceness or Insolence, Captiousness or Misconstruction, Clamour or Contention for Victory, and do eternally discourse over the wise things of Heaven and still perfectly concenter both in their Vnderstandings and Wills; wherein like so many Stars in Conjunction they mingle Light with one another, and do peaceably communicate the treasures of their Knowledge without the least bandying or Controversie. For though some of them do doubtless know much more than others, yet there being no Intermixture of Error in the Knowledge of any, it is impossible they should oppose or contradict one another, because whatsoever is true, agrees with every thing that is true. And being thus united in Mind and Judgment, they freely communicate their Thoughts without ever disputing one anothers Sentences, which renders it impossible for them ever to quarrel or disagree. So that all their Communion is a perfect Concord of Souls; wherein there is no such thing as a Schism or Division, as passing cruel Censures or affixing hard Names or bandying Anathema's at one another, but in Mind and Heart they are all as perfectly one as if they were all animated by one and the same Soul. And thus they live unspeakably happy in the mutual Exercise of an everlasting Peace, and all their Conversation with one another is perfect Harmony without Discords.
IV. AS we are rational Creatures related to one another, we are obliged modestly to submit to our Superiours, and chearfully to condescend to our Inferiours in those respective Societies whereof we are Members. These two I put together, because they are Relatives, and as such do mutually explain and contribute light to each other. Now it being necessary to the Order and End of all Societies that their Members should be distinguished into superiour and inferiour Ranks and Stations; that some should be trusted with the power of Commanding, and others reduced to the condition of Obedience, that so in this regular Subordination they may every one in their several stations be obliged to aid and assist each other, and according to their several Capacities to contribute to the good of the Whole; which in a state of Equality (wherein every Man would be absolute Lord of himself) cannot be expected, considering the different Humours and Interests by which Men are acted; this I say being upon this account necessary, it is upon the same Reason equally necessary that they should mutually perform those Offices to one another, which are proper to their respective Ranks and Stations. That Superiours should look upon themselves as Trustees for the Publick Good, who are entrusted with Authority over others not to domineer and gratifie their own imperious Wills, but to provide for and secure the Common-weal; and consequently to take care that they do not prostitute their Power to their own private Avarice or Ambition, but that they employ it for the Common Good and Benefit of their Subjects and Inferiours; that they be ready to do them all good Offices, to compassionate their Infirmities, consult their Conveniencies, and comply with all their reasonable Supplications; considering that for this End they derived their Authority from God who is the Fountain of Authority, to whom they are accountable for their good and bad Administration of it. And so for the Inferiours, it is no less necessary for the Common Good, that they perform their parts towards those that are above them; that they behave themselves towards them, with all that Loyalty and Modesty, Respect and Submission which their Place and Authority calls for; that they reverence them as the Vicegerents of God, and address to them as to sacred Persons, and render a chearful Obedience to that divine Authority that is stampt upon all their just Laws and Commands; considering that in their several Degrees, they represent the Person of the great Sovereign of the World, to whom we owe an intire Subjection, and consequently are in every thing to be obeyed and submitted to, that he hath not expresly countermanded. For that Subjects and Superiours should thus behave themselves towards one another, is indispensably necessary to the Welfare of all Societies. For whilst the Inferiours of any Society do obstinately refuse to submit to the Will of their Superiours, and the Superiours to condescend to the Common Good of their Inferiours, they are contending together, either for a Confusion or a Tyranny; and if the Superiours prevail Tyranny follows, if the Inferiours, Confusion; either of which is extremely mischievous, not only to the Society in general, but to each of the contending Parties, For if Confusion follows, 'tis not only the Superiour Party suffers by being deposed from its Authority, but the Inferiour too by being deprived of Protection, and exposed to one anothers Rapine and Violence; and if Tyranny follows, 'tis not only the Inferiour Party suffers by being forced upon a rigorous and uneasie Obedience, but the Superiour too, by being continually perplexed how to force and extort that Obedience; and thus both Parties suffer under the bad effects of each others Misdemeanour. So that to make our Society happy, it is necessary, that whether we be Superiours or Inferiours, we should be of a gentle, yielding and treatable Temper; that so which Rank soever we are placed in, we may be pliable either way, to a fair Condescension, or a just Submission. For whilst we are of obstinate, perverse and untractable Tempers, we are neither fit to be Superiours nor Inferiours, but must necessarily be Plagues and Grievances to our Society, which Rank or Order soever we are placed in. And though in this life we have not always such a sensible Experience of the Evil and Mischief of this malignant Temper, because now it is counter-influenced by those more meek and auspicious ones that are in Conjunction with it; yet when we go into Eternity, we shall be consigned to such a Society of Spirits as are all throughout of our own Genius and Temper. For as in the Society of the Blessed there is a Conjunction of every Vertue in every Member, so there is of every Vice in the Society of the Wicked; who do not only retain those Vices in their Natures, which they were here inclined and addicted to, but are also continually excited to all other Vices they are capable of, by their inveterate Enmity against God, which in that miserable estate is perpetually enraged, by their Despair of being ever reconciled to him. So that whatsoever wicked Temper we carry with us into Eternity, we shall be sure to meet with it in every individual Member of the Society of the Wicked, and consequently if we carry thither with us a perverse and untreatable Temper that will not endure either to submit or condescend, we shall be sure to find the same Humour reigning throughout all the Society of the Wicked. And then being eternally united to it, (as we must expect to be if we are allied to it by Nature) in what a miserable state shall we be, when every Member of our Society shall be of the same unconversable Temper with our selves, and we shall find none that will comply with, or endeavour to sooth and mollifie our Obstinacy; when all our whole Society shall consist of a Company of stiff and stubborn Spirits that will neither submit to, nor bear with one another, but every one will have his will upon every one, so far as he is able to force and extort it; when those that are superiour in Might and Power, do all rule with a fierce and tyrannical Will, and will condescend to nothing that is beneficial for their Subjects; and those that are inferiour do obey with a perverse and stubborn Heart, and will submit to nothing but what they are forced and compelled to, and 'tis nothing but meer Power and Dread by which they rule and are ruled: in a word, when they all mutually hate and abominate each other, and those that command are a Company of cruel and imperious Devils that impose nothing but Grievances and Plagues, and those that obey are a Company of surly and untractable Slaves, that submit to nothing but what they are driven to by Plagues; so that Plagues and Grievances, are both the Matter and the Motive of all their Obedience and Subjection; when this, I say, is the State of their Society with one another, how is it possible but that they should be all of them in a most wretched and miserable Condition? For where all is transacted by Force and Compulsion (as to be sure all is among such a Company of perverse and self-willed Spirits) there every one must be supposed to be, so far as he is able, a Fury and a Devil to every one; and those that do compel are like so many salvage Tyrants continually vexed and enraged with stubborn Oppositions and Resistances, and those that are compelled like so many obstinate Gally-Slaves are continually lashed into an unsufferable obedience, and forced by one Torment to submit to another; and thus all their Society with one another is a perpetual Intercourse of mutual Outrage and Violence.
THIS being therefore the miserable Fate and Issue of a perverse and stubborn and untractable Temper, the Gospel whose great design is to direct us to our Happiness, doth industriously endeavour to root it out of our Minds, and to plant in its room a gentle, obsequious and condescending Disposition. For hither tend all those Evangelical Precepts which require us to become weak to the weak that we may gain them, 1 Cor. ix.22. to bear with their infirmities, Rom. xv.1. and support them, and be patient towards them, 1 Thess. v.14. And on the other hand, to submit our selves to our Elders, 1 Pet. v.5. and to those that have the rule over us, Heb. xiii.17. to obey our Magistrates, our Parents, and our Masters, to be subject to Principalities, and not speak evil of Dignities, to honour Kings and submit to their laws, and Governours, 1 Pet. ii.13, 14. in a word, to honour all men as they deserve, 1 Pet. ii.17. and to hold good men in reputation, Phil. ii.19. and in honour to prefer one another, Rom. xii.10. The sense of all which is, to oblige us to treat all men as becomes us, in the Rank and Station we are placed in; to honour those that are our Superiours whether in Place or Vertue, to give that modest Deference to their Judgments, that Reverence to their Persons, that Respect to their Virtues, and Homage to their Desires or Commands, which the Degree or Kind of their Superiority requires; to condescend to those that are our Inferiours, and treat them with all that Candour and Ingenuity, Sweetness and Affability, that the respective Distances of our State will allow; to consult their Conveniencies, and do them all good Offices, and pity and bear with their Infirmities, so far as they are safely and wisely tolerable. By the constant Practice of which, our minds will be gradually cured of all that Perverseness and Surliness of Temper, which indisposes us to the respective Duties of our Relations; of all that Contempt and Selfishness which renders us averse to the proper Duty of Superiours, and of all that Self-Conceit and Impatience of Command which indisposes us to the duty of Inferiours. And our Wills being once wrought into an easie pliableness either to Submission or Condescension, we are in a forward Preparation of Mind to live under the Government of of Heaven, where doubtless under God the supream Lord and Sovereign, there are numberless Degrees of Superiority and Inferiority. For so some are said to reap sparingly and some abundantly, some to be Rulers of five Cities, and some of ten, some to be the least, and some the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven; all which implies, that in that blessed State, there is a great Variety of Degrees of Glory and Advancement. And indeed it cannot be otherwise in the Nature of the thing; for our Happiness consisting in the Perfection of our Natures, the more or less perfect we are, the more or less happy we must necessarily be; for every farther Degree of Goodness we attain to, is a widening and enlargement of our Souls for farther Degrees of Glory and Beatitude. And accordingly when we arrive at Heaven which is the Element of Beatitude, we shall all be filled according to the Content and Measure of our Capacities, and drink in more or less of its Rivers of Pleasure, as we are more or less enlarged to contain them. So that according as we do more and more improve our selves in true Goodness, we do naturally make more and more Room in our Souls for Heaven, which doth always fill the Vessels of Glory of all sizes, and pour in happiness upon them till they all overflow and can contain no more. Since therefore they are all of them entirely resigned to, and guided by right Reason, there is no doubt but in these their different Degrees of Glory and Dignity, they mutually behave themselves towards one another, as is most fit and becoming; and that since under God the Head and King of their Society, there is from the highest to the lowest a most exact and regular Subordination of Members, they do every one perform their Parts and Duties towards every one, in all those different Stations of Glory they are placed in, and consequently do submit and condescend to each other, according as they are of a superiour or inferiour Class and Order. So that if when we go from hence into the other world, we carry along with us a submissive and condescending Frame of Spirit, we shall be trained up, and predisposed to live under the blessed Hierarchy of Heaven; to yield a chearful Conformity to the Laws and Customs of it; and to render all the Honours to those above, and all the Condescensions to those beneath us in Glory, which the Statutes of that Heavenly Regiment do require; in doing whereof we shall all of us enjoy a most unspeakable Content, and Felicity. For though in the Kingdom of Heaven, as well as the Kingdoms of the Earth, there are numberless Degrees of Advancement, and Dignity, and one Star there, as well as here, differeth from another Star in Glory; yet so freely, and chearfully do they all condescend and submit to each other, in these their respective differences of Rank and Station, that in the widest Distances of their State, and Degrees of Glory, they all maintain the dearest Intimacies and Familiarities with each other; and neither those that are Superiour are either envied for their Height, or contemned for their Familiarity, nor those that are Inferiour despised for their Meanness, or oppressed for their Weakness. For in that blessed State, every one being best pleased with what best becomes him, it is every ones Joy to behave himself towards every one as best becomes the Rank and Degree he is placed in; and those that are above, do glory in condescending to those that are below them, and those that are below, do triumph in submitting to those that are above them; and thus in all those Differences of Glory and Dignity between them, they alternately reverence their Superiours, and condescend to their Inferiours, with the same unforced Freedom and Alacrity, and so do eternally converse with one another (notwithstanding all their Distances) with the greatest Freedom, and most endearing Familiarity.
AND thus I have endeavoured to give you an account of the first sort of Means, by which Heaven the great End of a Christian is to be obtained; viz. the proximate and immediate ones, which comprehend the Practice of all those Virtues, which as Rational Creatures related to God and one another we stand eternally obliged to; and shewed how they are all of them essential Parts of the Christian Life, and how Heaven it self consists in the Perfection of them.
SO that upon the whole, the best Definition I can give of the State of Heaven is this, That it is the everlasting, perfect Exercise of all those Humane, Divine, and Social Virtues, which as Rational Animals, related to God, and all his Rational Creation, we are indispensably and everlastingly obliged to. And therefore since the only natural way, by which we can acquire and perfect these Vertues is Vse and Practice, it hence necessarily follows, that the Practice of them is the only direct and immediate Means, by which that Heavenly State is to be purchased and obtained.