Practical Discourses Volume 2 — John Scott

Practical Discourses Volume 2 · John Scott

PSALM xi.7.

For the Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness.

BY Righteousness here some Expositors understand the Righteousness of Punishment; because in the foregoing Verse it is said, upon the wicked he shall rain snares, Fire and Brimstone, &c. and then it follows why he shall do it; for the Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness: But considering the whole; I rather believe that by Righteousness here is meant Righteousness of Life and Manners: For it seems more probable that the Text is a Reason of the two former Verses, than of that immediately foregoing; but the whole that is asserted is this, the Lord tryeth the Righteous; but the wicked and him that loveth Violence, his Soul hateth. VponUpon the wicked he shall rain snares, &c. As if he should have said; there is a vast Difference between Gods dealing with the Righteous and the Wicked; for though sometimes he afflicts the Righteous, yet 'tis only to prove and try them, and to render their Virtue more exemplary and illustrious; but as for the Wicked, when he rains down Punishments on them, it is out of a just Hatred and Indignation against them. And the Reason why he is thus differently affected towards these different Persons is, because of the different Affection he bears towards their contrary Qualifications; he loves the Righteousness of the Righteous, and that makes him chasten them in love, and for kind and merciful Ends and Purposes; but he hates the Wickedness of the Wicked, and that makes him proceed against them with so much Wrath and Severity. So that by Righteousness here he means that Goodness and Virtue which is inherent in righteous Persons, is evident from what follows; the righteous Lord loveth righteousness, his countenance doth behold the upright; that is, he looks upon them with a most gracious and benevolent Aspect; which latter Words being only a fuller Exemplification of the former, plainly shew that by the Righteousness mentioned in them is meant the Righteousness of righteous Persons, and consequently that it doth not signify the Righteousness of Punishment, but the Righteousness of Manners: By which we are not to understand that single Virtue of Honesty or Justice, but all the Virtues, or Virtue in the general in its utmost Compass and Latitude. For so in the sacred Dialect it is very usual to express the whole Duty of Man by Righteousness. So Prov. 14.34. Righteousness exalteh a Nation, but Sin is a reproach to any People; where the Opposition plainly implies that by Righteousness we are to understand all that is contrary to Sin; that is, all that is contained within the Compass of our Duty. So also Heb. 1.9. thou hast loved Righteousness, and hated Iniquity; where Righteousness being opposed to foreign, or Transgression of the Law in general, must according to the Rule of Opposition be understood in the same Latitude to signify all Obedience to the Law in general. And indeed all our Duty being a natural and eternal Due, either to God, our Neighbour, or our selves, the whole may very well be expressed by Righteousness, the Performance of every one of them being an Act of strict Justice, the Payment of a due Debt, either to our selves or others. The Meaning therefore of the Words is this; God, who himself is infinitely pure, and holy, and good, is a constant hearty Lover of Purity and Goodness in others wheresoever he sees or finds it. In the Management of which Argument I shall do these two Things:

1. Shew you upon what Principles and Reasons God is a Lover of Virtue and Goodness.

2. What Indications he hath given to the World that he is so.

1. I shall shew you upon what Principles and Reasons God is a Lover of Virtue and Goodness; and they are principally these Four.

1. He loves Righteousness, or Goodness as it is an essential Perfection of his own Nature.

2. He loves it as it is the main Principle and Foundation of his own Happiness.

3. He loves it as it is that which exalts all other Creatures into his own Likeness and Resemblance.

4. He loves it as it is the Spring or Cause from whence the highest Happiness of his most beloved Creatures is derived.

1st. God loves Righteousness, or Goodness as it is an essential Perfection of his own Nature. For supposing God to be a reasonable Being, as all acknowledge him to be who acknowledge him at all, he must be in all Respects most perfectly reasonable, otherwise he would be deficient of that natural Perfection which the very Notion and Idea of God implies; and if he be perfectly reasonable, he must be supposed to govern himself, his Choices, Motions and Actions by the truest, best, and purest Reason: And herein consists the perfect Holiness and Righteousness which the Essence and Notion of God implies, in a perfect Conformity of all his Choices and Actions to the eternal and infallible Reason of his own Mind, in chusing to do every thing which right Reason requires, and refusing to do any thing which it forbids. And this is so essential to God, that to exclude it out of the Notion of him is in Effect to deny his Being, or which is worse, to fancy him an Almighty blind Polyphemus, that hath an Arm of infinite Force, but no Eye in his Head to guid or direct it. When therefore we submit all our Choices and Actions to the Conduct and Government of right Reason, we stear our Course by Gods Compass, and live and move by the self-same Rule whereby he governs himself, and all his Motions. And when we do what God would have us, we are sure to do what right Reason requires, because we are sure he would have us do nothing but what is agreeable with the infallible Reason of his own Mind. When therefore we submit our Wills to God's, our Wills and his are governed by the self-same Reason, even by the most perfect Reason of his All-comprehending Mind, which never can deceive or be deceived. And when our Wills, Affections and Inclinations are once reduced under the Government of God's Reason, we are of the same Temper with God, because we are formed and tempered by the same Reason; we are affected and inclined as he his, and are made Partakers of his divine Nature; we are pure as he is pure, and holy as he is holy, and do communicate with him in all that Righteousness and Goodness which is the essential Glory and Perfection of his own Nature. So that Holiness and Righteousness in us being only a Ray and Representation of God, it is no more Wonder that he loves it than that he loves himself, it being nothing but himself derived, his own Perfection copyed out and transcribed into our Temper and Natures. Were the Sun a living Being, we cannot imagine but as he would be infinitely pleased with his own inherent Brightness, so he would be greatly delighted to behold that vast Sphere of Light which he diffuses round about him; to see his own outstretch'd Rays shining through this Spacious World, and glorifying with their quick Reflections all those dark and opaque Bodies that are continually moving round about him. How then can we imagine that the living God, who is infinitely glorious in Holiness himself, and loves himself infinitely for being so, can without vast Delight and Satisfaction behold his own Beauty, Light, and Purity, shining on the Face of his Creatures; that he should not be enamoured with the Reflexions of that which is the Brightness of his own Being, and take infinite Complacency when he looks down from his Throne, and beholds his Creatures gilded with his Rays, and glorifyed with his own Glory? For if God love himself, he must love what is suitable to himself; and consequently since himself is Righteous, he must love Righteousness, or quarrel with the Perfection of his own Nature. And this Reason of his Love of Righteousness is implied in the very Words, The righteous Lord loveth righteousness.

2ly. He loves Righteousness and true Goodness, as it is the main Principle and Foundation of his own Happiness. For if he were not just, and holy and good, he would be a miserable Being, notwithstanding all his Power and Knowledge; for though by these he might defend himself from all foreign Hurt or Injury, yet could he not secure his own Content by them, or enjoy himself with any Peace or Pleasure. For perfect Holiness, as I have shewed you, consists in an exact Conformity of Actions to the eternal Rules of Reason; but God having a full and perfect Comprehension of the eternal Reasons of Things, could never be satisfied with himself if he should act Unreasonably, because his Reason would condemn his Practice, and his own Knowledge would libel and upbraid him. For whenever he reflected on himself, his own All-seeing Eye would detect him, and by unmasking the Deformity of his Actions would render him an inglorious Spectacle to himself. How then could he enjoy himself, whilst in the Glass of his own Omniscience he beheld himself so odiously Represented? What Content could he take in his own Choices and Actions, whilst his own infallible Reason disapproved them, and their Unreasonablness exposed them to the just Reproaches of his own Mind? No certainly, should he any ways swerve in his own Choices, Affections, or Actions from the eternal Reason of his own Mind, he would be so far from being pleased with himself, that he would be his own eternal Torment; and that infinite Reason which he himself cannot deceive or impose on, would so Expose and Shame him, that whensoever he reviewed himself he would be sure to appear a most gastly Spectacle in his own Eyes. That therefore which renders him so infinitely happy in himself, is not so much the 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. He always sees what is best, and what he so sees he always chuses and affects; and this makes him perfectly satisfied with himself, and fills him with infinite Joy and Complacency. When ever he surveys himself in the glorious Mirror of his own Mind, he discerns nothing in himself but what is infinitely lovely and amiable, nothing but what exactly corresponds with the fairest Idea of his own infinite Reason; every Thing in him is as it should be, every Motion and every Action so perfectly good and exactly reasonable, that his own all-seeing Eye can discern no possible Degree of Perfection wanting in them; and this makes him infinitely pleased with himself, infinitely joyed and contented in the Prospect of his own Beauty and Glory. So that God's Holiness and Righteousness, or which is the same Thing, the exact Agreement of his Choices and Actions with the infallible Reason of his own Mind, being the Principle and eternal Spring of his Happiness, it is no Wonder if he loves it wheresoever he finds it; for how should he forbear being pleased and delighted with it, when he hath such a continued Experiment of the blessed Effects of it in his own Bosom; when he feels himself made happy by it, and hath every Moment a fresh Relish of the Joys and Pleasures which result from it? Can he be so insensible of his own Happiness as not to be enamoured with the blessed Cause of it? Or can the Tree be indifferent to him, when the Fruit of it is so infinitely grateful? No certainly, it is impossible but that the eternal Sense he hath in himself of the Joy, the Pleasure, the Bliss of being holy, should infinitely endear Holiness to him, and engage his Soul in an everlasting Love of it.

3dly. God loves Righteousness as it is an Improvement and Exaltation of his Creatures into his own Likeness and Resemblance. Every Being that loves it self, naturally affects, so far as it is able, to derive it self, to beget its own Image and propagate its own Likeness and Resemblance; which is an immediate Consequence of that Principle of Self-love that is in us, which inclines us to encrease and multiply our selves, and diffuse and spread our own Tempers and Natures. And no Wonder then that God, who is the best of Beings, and whose Love to himself is as infinite as his own Beauties and Perfections, should affect to derive and communicate himself, to beget and propagate his own most amiable Image in his Creatures. The infinite Love which he bears to himself cannot but engage him to like and approve his own Likeness; and what he likes he must needs be inclined to produce where it is not, and to love where it is. But now Righteousness, being that moral Attribute which comprises all those Perfections of his Nature, wherein the Beauty and Glory of it consists, is the only Accomplishment that can render a Creature like him in that which renders him so infinitely lovely in his own Eyes. As for Omnipotence, Omniscence, Eternity, and Omnipresence, they are amiable only as they are crowned with infinite Righteousness and Goodness, and abstracted from these they have nothing of Form or Comeliness in them. That therefore which moulds us into a Resemblance of God, and renders us like him in that which is the Beauty of all his other Attributes, is Righteousness; and therefore this he must love if he love himself, because tis his own Image: As for Power, and Knowledge, and length of Duration, though we should partake of them with him to the highest Degree that is possible for Creatures, yet we may be infinitely unlike him; for so the Devils are, who yet are liberally endowed with these natural Perfections of the Divinity; but the more they imploy their Power and Knowledge to unrighteous Purposes, the more ungodlike they are for being powerful and knowing; and then only are Knowledge and Power god-like Perfections, when Righteousness and Goodness is their Scope and Rule; for without these they are only the Perfections of Devils; but good and righteous Devils are Contradictions in Terms. Since therefore 'tis Righteousness only that can stamp us god-like Creatures, God must needs love it out of that natural Inclination which he and all other Beings have to propagate his own Likeness. For without Righteousness no Creature can resemble him; and therefore if he love to be resembled, as he must needs do, because he loves himself, he must love that which gives the Resemblance; and this, and this only is Righteousness and true Goodness.

4thly. And lastly. God loves Righteousness as it is the Spring or Cause from whence the highest Happiness of his Creatures is derived. For he loves Beings more or less according to their intrinsick Worth and Value; and doubtless of all Orders of Beings there are none so valuable as the rational; and therefore if he love these most, he cannot but be desirous of their Happiness; and if he be, he cannot but love that which is the Spring and Cause of it, and this is universal Righteousness. For the Foundation of our Happiness must necessarily be laid in the Perfection of our Natures, and our Natures being rational the Perfection of them must consist in a perfect Complyance of all their Powers and Faculties with the eternal Rules of Reason, which is all one with universal Righteousness. For doubtless the highest Perfection of reasonable Faculties is to act most reasonably, and then they act most reasonably when they govern themselves by the unchangable Laws of Righteousness. Righteousness therefore being our Perfection as we are reasonable Beings must necessarily be the Spring and Principle of our Happiness, and 'tis as impossible for us to be happy without it as 'tis to be well in Sickness, or at Ease under Pain. For to the Happiness of every Nature that is capable of being happy two Things are requisite; First, that there be no disorder within it self; that its Parts and Faculties be not distempered, nor their Vigour and Activity lessened and abated: Secondly, that all it's Faculties be imployed and exercised about such Objects as are most grateful and suitable to their Natures; upon both which Accounts Righteousness is most necessary to the Happiness of every reasonable. Nature. For in the first Place, 'tis Righteousness that rectifies all their Disorders, and reduces them to their native and most genuine Temper. No reasonable Nature is well, and in Health, so long as it acts unreasonably and unrighteously; it's Pulse beats disorderly while it beats either faster or slower than Right Reason prescribes, while it acts either on this side or beyond the Medium, in the Defect, or Excess of Virtue; and whilst 'tis thus sick and distempered, 'tis impossible it should be happy. But now by acting righteously it revives and grows well again; it throws off those unreasonable, and consequently unnatural Inclinations that clogg'd and obstructed all its regular Motions, and by Degrees recovers to the native Temper and Complection of a rational Nature; and when once it hath perfectly discharged it self of all those unreasonable and unrighteous Humours that disordered it, it will then live in perfect Health and Ease, and all its languishing Faculties be restored to their natural Vigour and Activity. And then secondly, as Righteousness recovers us from all the Distempers of our Nature, so it imploys and exercises our Faculties about such Objects as are most grateful and suitable to them. For Truth and true Goodness are the only Objects that can gratify a reasonable Nature acting reasonably; and about these doth Righteousness naturally dispose our Faculties to imploy and exercise themselves; it disposes our Vnderstandings to contemplate upon, and our Wills to embrace and chuse that God who is the Fountain of all Truth and Goodness: For every Thing loves its own like, and what it loves, it is inclined to think on. So that when we are righteous, as God is, we shall naturally love him, because he is like us; and then our Love to him will still incline our Thoughts to the Contemplation of his Beauty and Glories, and so the more righteous we grow the more we shall love him, and the more we love him the more our Understandings will be enclined to meditate upon him, and so more and more till we arrive at that City of Vision where we shall see him Face to Face, and be eternally ravished with the Love and Contemplation of him. Thus Righteousness you see is the Spring and Cause of our Happiness, and being so, he must needs love it, who above all things desires and sollicits our Welfare: For he being perfectly happy from himself, cannot need our Misery to augment his Happiness; and therefore cannot desire it; but on the contrary, he must desire our Happiness out of that infinite Complacency and Delight which he takes in his own, it being impossible that he whose Delight and Love is always founded on the same Motives should delight in contrary Objects, in different Subjects, in Happiness in himself, and Misery in his Creatures: And if he desire our Happiness, as most certainly he doth, how can he forbear to love and take Complacency in that which contributes so much to it? Thus you see upon what Reasons and Principles it is that God is so firm a Lover of Righteousness.

2. I now proceed in the Second Place to shew you what Indications he hath given the World of his steady Affection and Goodwill to Righteousness. Now these, though they are many and almost infinite, may be reduced to Two general Heads. 1st. The natural Indications; 2dly. The Supernatural ones: Of both which I shall endeavour to give you some brief Account.

1. God hath given us Sundry natural Indications of his Love of Righteousness; all which I shall reduce to these Four Heads:

1. He hath imprinted a Law upon our Natures which approves of righteous Actions, and condemns their contraries.

2. He hath endued our Minds with a grateful Sense of righteous Actions, and a natural Horror of their contraries.

3. He hath coupled good Effects to all righteous Actions, and bad ones to their contraries.

4. He hath implanted in us natural Abodings of the future Reward of righteous Actions, and the future Punishment of their contraries.

1st. One Indication of God's Love of Righteousness is his imprinting a Law upon our Natures which approves all righteous Actions, and disapproves their contraries; and this Law is that natural Reason which is either connate with our Understanding, or doth immediately result from the righteous Use and Exercise of it. For such is the Frame of our Understandings that whensoever we impartially reason about Things, we are forced to distinguish between Good and Evil, and without offering infinite Violence to our Faculties we can never persuade our selves, that to blaspheme God, or to reverence him, to lie or speak Truth, to honour our Parents, or to scorn or despitefully use them, are indifferent Things; for as soon as we open the Eye of our Reason, we immediately discern such an essential Difference between them, as forces us to condemn the One, and approve the Other: And hence we see that as for the great Strokes of Unrighteousness, they have as much the universal Judgment of our Reason against them, as any false Conclusion in the Mathematicks; whereas the Goodness of their contrary Virtues is as universally Acknowledged by us as the Truth of any first Principle of Philosophy. God therefore having created us with such a Faculty as doth so necessarily pass such a contrary Judgment upon righteous and unrighteous Actions, we must either say that he hath made us judge falsely or else acknowledge this Judgment to be his as well as the Faculty that made it; and if it be, then 'tis a sufficient Indication of his Love of Righteousness, that he hath so framed our Faculties, that without apparent Violence they cannot but approve of it. For whatsoever our Faculties do naturally Speak, they are made to speak from the Author of Nature; they only speak what he hath Dictated to them, and so what they say he says, who hath put his Word into their Mouths, and hath made them speak it. Our Faculties therefore being God's Oracles, whatsoever they freely and naturally pronounce is as much his Words as any outward Revelation. Since therefore they so unanimously pronounce their Approbation of Righteousness, it is as plain a Signification of God's Love and Approbation of it, as if he himself should immediately pronounce it by a Voice from Heaven.

2ly. Another Indication of God's Love of Righteousness, is his enduing our Minds with a grateful Sense of righteous Actions, and a natural Horror of their Contraries. We find that antecedently to all our Reasoning and Discourse, there is something in our Natures to which Virtue is a grateful Thing, and its Contraries very nauseous and loathsome; for thus before we are capable of Reasoning our selves into any Pleasure or Displeasure, our Nature is rejoyced at a kind or a just Action, either in our selves or others, before we can speak, or are capable of being allured by Hope, or awed by Correction. We are sensibly pleased when we see we have pleasured those that have obliged us, and as sensibly grieved when we are conscious of having Grieved and Offended them. We love to see those fare well whom we have seen deserve well, and when any unjust Violence is offered them our Nature shrinks at and abhors it. We pity and compassionate the Miserable, when we know not why, and are ready to offer at their Relief, when we can give no Reason for it; which is a plain Evidence that these Things proceed not merely either from our Education, or deliberate Choices, but from some natural Instinct antecedent to both, and that in the very Frame of our Nature there is implanted by the Author of it a Sympathy with Virtue and an Antipathy to Vice. And hence it is, that in the Beginnings of Sin our Nature is so shy of an evil Action, and doth so startle and boggle at it; that it approaches it with such a modest Coyness, and goes blushing to it like a Virgin to an Adulterers Bed; that it passes into Sin with such Regret and Reluctancy, and looks back upon it with such Shame and Confusion; which in our tender Years, when we are not as yet arrived to the Exercise of our Understandings, cannot be supposed to proceed from Reason or Conscience, but from some secret Instinct of Nature, which by these and such like Indications declares it self violated and offended. And this plainly shews the mighty Respect that God hath to Righteousness, that he hath woven into our Beings such a grateful Sense of it, and such a Horror of its Contraries. For this natural Sense was doubtless intended by God to be the first Guide of humane Nature, that so when as yet 'tis not capable of following Reason and Conscience, it might be led on to Righteousness by its own necessary Instincts; that these might dispose us to our Duty, and keep us out of all wicked Prejudices, till we come under the Conduct of our Reason; that so this may then lead us forward with more Ease and Facility in the Paths of Righteousness. What a plain Indication therefore is this of God's Love of Righteousness, that he hath taken so much Care to incline our Natures to it, that he hath not only given us reasonable Faculties that do naturally direct us to Righteousness, but hath also taken so much Care to lead us to it by Instinct, till we are grown up to the Exercise of those Faculties, and are capable of being guided by them?

3ly. Another Indication of God's Love of Righteousness is his coupling good Effects to righteous Actions, and bad ones to their Contraries. For if we consult the Consequents of humane Actions, we shall generally find that all moral Good resolves into natural, in the Health and the Pleasure, the Credit and Tranquility of those that practise it. For so the first Great Mover in that Course and Series of Things which he hath established in the World, hath ordered and disposed it, that every Action which is morally Good, should ordinarily tend to, and determine in some natural Benefit and Advantage; that the good Government of every Passion should tend to the Tranquility of our Minds, and the due Regulation of every Appetite center in the Health and Pleasure of our Bodies; that Abstinence and Humility, Honesty and Charity should have happy Effects chained to them, that they should contribute to our Good both private and publick; and that their contrary Vices should be always pregnant with some mischievous Inconvenience; that they should either untune the Organs of our Reason, or impair the Vigour and Activity of our Tempers, or imbroil the Peace and Tranquility of our Minds, or invade the Common-weal of Societies, which includes the Interest of each particular Member. Such contrary Effects as these are as necessary to vertuous and vicious Actions in that Course of Things which God hath established, as Light is to the Sun, or Heat to the Fire; by which he hath plainly demonstrated how contrarily he is affected to those contrary Causes. For by those natural Goods and Evils which are appendent to humane Actions, he hath plainly distinguished them into moral Goods and Evils; and those good and bad Effects which he hath annexed to them are most sensible Marks of his Love of the one, and his Hatred of the other. For to be sure he would never have made Righteousness the Cause of so much good to us, if he had not loved it; nor Wickedness the Spring of so many Mischiefs and Inconveniences, if he had not hated and abhorred it. The Effects of Righteousness are ordinarily a Reward, and the Consequents of Sin a Punishment to it self, and this by God's own Order and Disposal; and pray by what Significations can a Law-giver more effectually declare his Love and Hatred of Actions than by rewarding and punishing them?

4thly, And lastly. Another Indication of God's Love of Righteousness, is the natural Presages and Abodings which he hath implanted in our Natures of the future Reward of righteous Actions, and the future Punishment of their Contraries. That there are such Abodings as these in humane Nature is apparent by this, that antecedently to all divine Revelation, Men of all Ages, Nations and Religions have felt and experienced them; yea, and that it hath been experienced not only among the politer and more learned Nations, who may be supposed to be persuaded of a future State by the probable Arguments of Philosophy; but also among the most barbarous and uncultivated, who cannot be supposed to have believed it upon Principles of Reason: For though some of them have been so rude as to disband Society, and live like Beasts without Laws and Government; yet have they not been able to extinguish these their natural Hopes and Fears of future Rewards and Puishments; which is an unanswerable Evidence how deeply the Sense of another World is imprinted upon humane Nature. And as we have such a natural Sense of a future State as we cannot easily stifle, so our Minds do naturally abode that we shall fare well or ill in it according as we behave our selves righteously or unrighteously in this Life. When we do well and reflect upon it, it leaves a delicious Farwel on our Minds; our Conscience smiles and promises glorious Things that we shall reap from it, most happy and blessed Fruits in the other World. And as the Sense of doing well doth naturally suggest to us the most ravishing Hopes and blisful Expectations, so the sense of doing ill fills our Minds with sad and dire Presages; our Conscience abodes us a black and woful Eternity wherein we shall dearly pay for our sinful Delights and Gratifications. And though for the present we can divert and stifle this troublesome sense of our Natures, yet Naturam expellas— is true in this also; though we thrust off Nature with a Fork, yet 'twill return again upon us; and a Fit of Sickness, a sudden Calamity, or a serious Thought will soon awake and revive in it these black Prognosticks of our future Torment. And hence we generally find that bad Men are most afraid of Eternity, when they are nearest to it, their Fear like all other natural Motions being swiftest when 'tis nearest it's Center. For so Plato hath observ'd foreign, When Men are near Death, or suppose themselves near it, there arises in them great Fear and Thoughtfulness of a future State, which before they never thought of. And that this springs not from Superstition but from Nature is evident by this, that Atheists themselves who are most remote from Superstition, when they come to die are rarely able to suppress this ominous Dread and Fear of another World, but in despight of themselves are forced into those dismal Expectations which before they laughed at: A clear Demonstration that these ill Abodings spring from something within them that they cannot conquer, and that what their Minds now speak is not so much the Sense of their Opinion as their Nature. And this Language of Nature is a clear Expression of God's Love of Righteousness; for the Voice of Nature is only the Voice of the God of Nature ecchoed and rebounded; and to be sure whatever he imprints upon our Natures is the Sense and Meaning of his own Heart, since his Veracity will not permit him to print any Falshood there. And since by these our natural Abodings the God of Nature proposes to us a future Reward if we are righteous, and a future Punishment if we are wicked, he hath hereby as certainly declared to us how much he loves Righteousness and hates the Contrary, as he can possibly do by the most express Promise which he hath made to reward the one, or Threatning to punish the other. And thus you see what natural Indications and Discoveries God hath made of his unfeigned Love of Righteousness, which are such as without any additional Revelation are sufficient to convince considering Men that God is a most sincere and affectionate Lover of Righteousness and righteous Men, and that if we will but unfeignedly submit our selves to the eternal Laws of Goodness we shall thereby make our selves the best Friend who is a never-failing Fountain of Goodness, and who will do us more good than all the Beings in the World, should they conspire to be our Benefactors; and that on the Contrary, if we persist in Sin and Unrighteousness we shall most certainly provoke him to be our mortal Enemy, and render our selves eternally odious and hateful in his Eyes; that his incensed Wrath will sooner or later break forth upon us and prosecute us with eternal Vengeance, and that we can expect nothing but black and dismal Issues while we are hated by him who is the Fountain of all Love and Goodness. All this we may be sufficiently convinced of by seriously attending to those natural Discoveries which God hath made of his Love of Righteousness. But yet because he saw Mankind so unattentive to the Voice of their Natures, so unobservant of it's Language and Meaning as to run headlong on, notwithstanding all it's Countermands, into the greatest Impiety and Wickedness; he hath been graciously pleased to add to these natural Discoveries of his Love of Righteousness sundry great and eminent supernatural ones; such as one would think were sufficient to rouze and awake the most stupid and insensible Creatures into a serious Attention to them; all which are reducible to these following Heads.

1. His conferring such great and miraculous Favours upon righteous Persons, and inflicting such severe Judgments on the Wicked.

2. His making so many Revelations to the World for the promoting of Righteousness, and discountenancing of Sin.

3. His sending his own Son into the World to transact such mighty Things, for the Incouragement of Righteousness, and discouragement of Sin.

4. His promising such vast Rewards to us, upon Condition of our being righteous, and denouncing such fearful Punishments against us in Case we do neglect it.

5. His grantaing his blessed Spirit to us to excite us to, and assist us in our Endeavours after Righteousness.

1. One supernatural Expression of God's Love of Righteousness is his conferring great and miraculous Favours upon righteous Persons, and inflicting severe Judgments upon the Wicked. And of this we have infinite Instances in the several Ages of the World, there being scarce any History, either sacred or prophane, which abounds not with them; several of which both Blessings and Judgments do as plainly evince themselves to be intended for Rewards and Punishments, as if they had been attended with a Voice from Heaven declaring the Reasons for which they were bestowed and inflicted. For how many famous Instances have we of the miraculous Deliverances of Righteous Persons, who by an invisible Hand have been rescued from the greatest Dangers, when in all outward Appearance their Condition was hopeless and desperate; and of wonderful Blessings that have happened to them, not only without, but contrary to all secondary Causes? Of some that have been so eminently rewarded in Kind as that the Good which they received was a most visible token of the Good which they did; of others that have received the Blessings they ask'd whilst they were praying for them, and obtained the Grant of them with such distinguishing Circumstances as did plainly signify them to be the Answers and Returns of their devout Desires? And so on the contrary, how many notable Examples are there of such miraculous Judgments inflicted upon unrighteous Persons as have either exceeded the Power of all secondary Causes, or else have been caused by them contrary to their natural Tendency; of Men that have been punished in the very Act of their Sin, and sometimes in the very Part by which they have offended; that have had the Evil of their Sin retaliated upon them in a correspondent Evil of Suffering, and been punished with those very Judgments which they have imprecated on themselves in Justification of a Falshood? Now though in the ordinary Course of Things, that of the Wise Man is most true, that we know neither love nor hatred, by any thing that is before us, because ordinarily all things come alike to all, and there is one Event to the Righteous and the Wicked, Eccles. ix.1, 2. yet when the Providence of God so visibly steps out of it's ordinary Course, to bless the Righteous and punish the Wicked, it is a plain Indication of his Love to the one, and his Hatred to the other. For these irregular Providences have plain and visible Tokens of God's Love and Anger imprinted on their Foreheads, and it would be Stupidity to attribute them either to a blind Chance, or the necessary Revolutions of secondary Causes, when they are stamp'd with such legible Characters of their being designed and intended for Rewards and Punishments. For if these were either casual or necessary, why should they not happen alike to all, as well as ordinary Providences? Why should not there be as many Examples of the miraculous Blessings and Deliverances of the Vnrighteous, as there are of the Righteous? Why should not as many Men have suffered as remarkably the Evils which they have imprinted on themselves in attesting the Truth, as there have in attesting Lies and Falshoods? Why should so many have been struck dumb or dead in the Act of Perjury, and not one that we ever heard of, suffer the like Calamity in witnessing the Truth? In a word, why should so many bad Men have suffered such Calamities as were plain Retaliations in Kind of their cruel and unjust Actions, as Adonibezeck (for instance) did, in the cutting off his Thumbs and great Toes, whilst so few, if any, for doing Justice upon others have by any such casual and irregular Providence been exposed to the Evils they inflicted? Since therefore in every Age of the World there have happened such Goods to righteous Men as have the plainest Characters of divine Rewards upon them, and such Evils to the Wicked as do evidently bespeak themselves intended for divine Punishments, God hath hereby sufficiently declared his Love of the one, and his Hatred of the other. For by their Rewards and Punishments all Lawgivers do declare their Love and Hatred of the Facts they are annexed to; and therefore to be sure if the Supreme Law giver had not loved Righteousness and hated the contrary, he would never have so eminently rewarded the one and punished the other, as he hath apparently done.

2dly. Another Supernatural Indication of God's Love of Righteousness is his making so many Revelations to the World for the promoting of Righteousness and discountenancing of Sin. That God hath made sundry Revelations to the World is evident in Fact, because there are sundry Revelations which have been sufficiently demonstrated by those miraculous Effects of the divine Power which have accompanied the Ministration of them; such are those contained in the five Books of Moses and the Prophets, which have been almost amply confirmed both by the Miracles which were wrought by the inspired Authors of them; and by the exact Accomplishments of the several Predictions contained in them; and such is also that last and best Revelation contained in the New Testament, which both by the Types and Predictions contained in the Law and the Prophets, and by the infinite Miracles wrought by Jesus and his Followers, who were the immediate Ministers of it; together with its own inherent Goodness; is so effectually demonstrated divine, that no Man who weighs the Proof of it can suspect it, unless he be infinitely prejudiced against it. Now if you consult these several divine Revelations, you will plainly perceive that the main Drift and Design of them is to promote Righteousness, and suppress whatsoever is contrary to it; that the several Revelations made to Abraham and his Children were all but one repeated Covenant of Righteousness; that the Law of Moses consisted partly of ceremonious Rights, which were either intended for divine Hieroglyphicks to instruct the dull and stupid Jews in the Principles of inward Purity and Goodness, or else for Types and sacred Figures of the holy Mysteries of the Gospel; partly of Precepts of moral Righteousness, together with some few prudential ones that were suitable to the Genius and Polity of that People; and partly of such Promises and Threats as were most apt to oblige them to the Practice of those righteous Precepts. As for the Prophets, the Substance of their Revelations, was either Reprehensions of Sin, together with severe Denunciations against it; or Invitations to Righteousness, together with gracious Promises of Rewards to follow it; or Predictions of the Messias, and that everlasting Righteousness which should be introduced by him. And then as for the Gospel, all the Duties of it consist either in Instances or Means of Righteousness; and all the Doctrines of it are nothing else but powerful Arguments and Motives to persuade us to the Practice of those Duties. Thus Righteousness you see is the main Center to which all true Revelation tends, the Mark at which the righteous Lord hath continually levelled and directed it. What a plain Demonstration therefore is this of the unfeigned Love and Respect he bears it, that he did not think it sufficient to imprint a Law of Righteousness upon our Natures, and stamp upon our Beings so many Indications of his Love to it, but seeing us swerve and deviate from it hath from time to time by so many loud and reiterated Voices from Heaven invited and called us back again; so that if he be cordial and sincere in what he says, (as it would be absurd and impious to suspect the contrary,) we cannot doubt but he heartily loves that which by so many immediate Revelations he hath so earnestly importuned us to embrace.

3dly. Another supernatural Indication of God's Love of Righteousness is his sending his own Son into the World to transact such mighty Things for the Encouragement of it, and persuading Men to it. For to advance Righteousness was the main Design of all those mighty Things which the Son of God did and suffered in this World; the Design of all that holy and innocent Life which he led was to propose to our Imitation a perfect Example of Righteousness, that so treading our Way before us we might have not only the Line of his Precepts, but also the Print of his Foot-steps to direct us, and that by beholding so fair a Draught of Righteousness drawn so exquisitely to the Life, and in every Part so exactly answering to the sweetest and most amiable Ideas of it, we might be both invited and instructed to copy and imitate it in our Actions. For what he saith of that illustrious Act of Charity and Humility, his washing his Disciples Feet, is truly applicable to the whole Course of his Actions; For I have given you an Example, that you should do as I have done unto you, Joh. xiii.15. And as his Life was an Example of Righteousness, so his Death was a most urgent Motive to it; for hereby he made Expiation for our Sins and obtained an Act of Pardon and Indemnity for every Rebel that would lay down his Arms and return to his Duty and Allegiance; and by obtaining this he hath given us infinite Encouragement to return, since if we do so, we have most ample Assurance that we shall be received into Grace and Favour. And though I cannot deny but if God had pleased he might have granted such an Act of Pardon to us without the Consideration of Christ's Death and Sacrifice; yet I am sure, if he had, it could never have been such an effectual Motive as it was to oblige us to Righteousness for the future. For should he have granted us Pardon merely upon our Repentance without any other Motive or Consideration, he would have discovered so much seeming Easiness and Indulgence in such a Procedure, as would have very much imboldened such disingenuous Creatures as we to presume upon his Lenity, and turn his Grace into Wantonness. And if to prevent our presuming upon his Lenity it was necessary that he should have some other Motive to pardon us besides that of our Repentance, then it was no less necessary that this other Motive should be such as did clearly argue and evince his righteous Severity; for otherwise it would have no Force in it to prevent our Presumption. And what Motive of Pardon could better evince his Severity than the Suffering of some other in our Room, especially the Suffering of his own Son, the greatest and dearest Person in the whole Creation? For not to be moved to grant a publick Pardon to us upon our hearty Repentance unless this blessed Person would engage to die for us, whose infinite Greatness gave such an inestimable Value to his Sufferings as rendred them adequate to what we had deserved to suffer, was as great an Argument of his inflexible Severity against Sin, as if he should have destroyed at one Blow the whole World of Sinners. So that as he hath expressed an infinite Mercy to us in admitting his own Son to die for us, so in refusing to pardon us upon any less Motive than his precious Death, he hath expressed an infinite Hatred to our Sins; and so that very Death which moved God to pardon us, moves us to stand in Awe of his Severity, the Death of the Son of God upon which we are pardoned being the most terrible Instance that ever was of the Desert of our Sin, and God's Displeasure against it. Thus our blessed Lord hath not only given us the greatest Encouragement by procuring our Pardon to return from our Iniquities, but by procuring it in such a formidable way he hath given us the most dreadful Warning of God's Severity against them. So that now we cannot think upon the Reason for which our past Offences are forgiven, without being vehemently moved to future Obedience. And thus the main Design, you see, both of Christs Life and Death, was to recal us from Sin to the Practice of Righteousness: And hence he is said to have given himself for us, to redeem us from all Iniquity, and to purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good Works, Tit. ii.14. And then he arose again from the Dead to confirm that righteous Doctrine which he had revealed to the World, and visibly ascended into Heaven to give us an ocular Demonstration of the heavenly Rewards of Righteousness; and there he now sits at the right Hand of God, to assure us, that if we persevere in Righteousness, we shall be continually befriended in the Court of Heaven through his all-powerful Intercession; and hath assured us that at the End of the World he will come to Judgment, and faithfully distribute those Rewards and Punishments which here he promised and threatned to righteous and unrighteous Persons. Thus the main Drift, you see, of all these great Transactions of our Saviour, was to advance the Interest of Righteousness and true Goodness. What a mighty Evidence therefore is this of God's great Love of Righteousness, that he should send his own most blessed Son upon its Errand, to transact such mighty Things on its Behalf? For by sending Christ into the World, and exposing him to Misery for Righteousness Sake, he did in Effect declare that he valued the Interest of Righteousness more than the present Happiness and Enjoyment of his most dearly beloved and only begotten Son; and we may most certainly conclude, that had not Righteousness been infinitely dear to him, he would never have authorized his dearest Son to take such infinite Pains to promote it.

4thly. Another supernatural Indication of God's Love of Righteousness is his promising such vast Rewards to us upon it, and denouncing such fearful Punishments against us if we despise and neglect it. For besides all those temporal Rewards he hath proposed to us if we seek the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Righteousness thereof, he hath erected a Heaven of immortal Joys and Felicities to crown and entertan it; a Heaven that contains in it all the Beatitudes that humane Nature is capable of, all that Truth that the most capacious Mind can comprehend, and all that Good that the vastest Affections can either crave or contain: In a word, a Heaven whose Blisses are all as large as our immense Desires, and all as lasting as our immortal Beings: For 'tis a Heaven which consists in an eternal Fruition of the Fountain of infinite Truth and Goodness, whose everflowing Streams are abundantly sufficient to quench the Thirst, and make glad the Heart of every Being that understands and loves. How much therefore God loves Righteousness you may easily guess by these vast Preparations he hath made to entertain it. For he built Heaven on purpose to lodge righteous Souls, and that they may see he thinks nothing too dear for them, he is himself their Feast there as well as their Entertainer. He feeds them with his own Perfections, and they live for ever as happily as their Hearts can wish upon the Sight and Love and Imitation of his Beauties. So vehemently is his Heart set upon Righteousness, that he will have every righteous Soul dwell with him and live upon him, and partake of all those heavenly Joys in which his own Beatitude consists. But as for Vnrighteousness, how much his Soul abhors it is evident by those dire Punishments he hath denounced against it, by those dark and dismal Abodes which he hath condemned unrighteous Souls to, to languish out a woful Eternity, to burn in Flames there that never consume, and be gnawn with Worms which never devour them; to be scared and haunted with Devils without and Furies within, and perpetually worried Day and Night without any Ease or Intermission with all the Horrors, Griefs, and Vexations that an everlasting Hell imports. O thou merciful Father of Beings! How couldst thou have found in thy Heart to condemn thy Creatures to so wretched a State, had not their unrighteous Practices been infinitely odious in thine Eyes? No certainly; the good God would never have made Hell for a Trifle, for the sake of any Thing that his Nature could have endured or dispensed with; nor would he ever have cast any unrighteous Creature into it, were it not for the implacable Abhorrence he hath to all Unrighteousness: And therefore since he hath not only made Hell, but warns us of, and threatens us with it, we may be sure he infinitely abominates that for which he made and threatens it; and consequently that he is infinitely concerned for the Cause and Interest of Righteousness.

5thly, And lastly. Another supernatural Indicaton of God's Love of Righteousness is his granting his blessed Spirit to us to excite us to, and assist us in our Endeavours after Righteousness. First he sent his Son to propagate Righteousness by his Ministry, his Life and Death; and upon his Return to Heaven he sent his Spirit to supply his Room, and carry on that dear Design, of which his Son had already laid the Foundation. For in Christ's personal Absence his Spirit acts in his Stead, and was sent down from the Father by Virtue of his Intercession to be his Vicegerent in the World, to promote and inlarge his heavenly Kingdom, to conquer our Hearts, and subdue our stubborn Wills to the Obedience of his most righteous Laws. So that the Holy Ghost doth now preside in the Church as the supreme Minister and vicarous Power of our Saviour, and is continually imployed even as our Saviour himself was whilst he abode upon Earth in driving on the Interest of Righteousness; for hitherto tend all his secret Operations on the Minds of Men; this is the Reason why he suggests so many good Thoughts, and by repeating them thick upon us, keeps our Minds so fix'd upon them, that so if possible he may recollect our dispersed Minds that are continually wandring to and fro in this infinite Maze of sensual Vanities, and engage them to attend to such Motives of Righteousness as are most apt to excite them to wise and vertuous Resolutions. So that as in the Beginnings of Christianity before Christian Motives to Righteousness were believed, the Holy Spirit did operate more visibly and miraculously to confirm and demonstrate the Truth of them; so now they being believed, and thereupon the Necessity of such miraculous Operations superseded, his great Work is to object and present them to our Minds, and fix our Thoughts upon them till they have effected in us those good Resolutions for which they were designed and intended: And how diligently he pursues this Work our own Experience certifies and informs us: For how often do we find good Thoughts and Motions injected to us we know not how nor whence; and how many times do these unexpected Thoughts kindle holy Desires in us before we are aware? Which Desires being fed by a fresh Supply of holy Motions and Suggestions are many times nourished into good Resolutions, and these being still back'd with those repeated Motions which do frequently press with strong Importunity upon us, are at last perfected into firm and lasting Principles of Action. Thus does the Holy Spirit continually knock at the Door of our Souls, and sollicit us with the greatest Earnestness to sober and righteous Resolutions; and this is his constant Imployment among Men, and will be so to the End of the World; till Jesus, whose Vicegerent he is, and whose Absence he supplies, returns in Person from Heaven to keep his last and general Assizes upon Earth. And can we imagin that God would have all this while imployed his Holy Spirit in the Service of Righteousness, to drive on its Interest and sollicit its Cause, if it had not been infinitely dearer to him? No certainly, he sets a greater Value on the Pains of his Son and Spirit, than to busy them about a Trifle, to imploy them so industriously as he has done in an Affair which he had little or no Regard for. If his Heart had not been extremely set upon it, he would have found out some other Imployment for those divine and illustrious Persons, and not have engaged them so everlastingly as he hath done in the Service and Ministry of Righteousness.

Having thus explained and proved the Proposition, That the Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness, I shall conclude with some few Inferences drawn from the whole Argument.

1. From hence I infer that no Religion, or Proposition of Religion can be true, that either directly or by true Consequence is an Enemy to Righteousness. For all true Religion is from God; and therefore to be sure that cannot be true which either directly or indirectly opposes that which God so dearly loves. This therefore is a plain Conviction of the notorious Falshood and Imposture of Popery, that in all those Doctrins it hath superinduced upon the common Principles of Christianity, it is an open Enemy to Righteousness. As for Instance, it is a common Principle of Christianity that God alone is to be worshiped as the supream Author and Fountain of our Beings, upon which the Church of Rome hath superstructed the Invocation of Saints and Angels, which they perform in the same Words and with the same Address as they do the Invocation of God himself. For though they pretend to pray to them only for their Prayers, yet in their Publick Offices they do not only beg their Prayers to God for them, but also invocate them as sovereign Gods and independent Disposers of the Mercies they pray for. Thus in the Hours of Sarum they implore the Angels to direct their Thoughts and Words and Actions in the way of Salvation, that so they may be able to fill up the Number of the Angelical Orders, which by the Fall of Lucifer was diminished; to protect them from the Devils, and comfort them when they are dying. Particularly, St. Michael they beseech to be their Coat of Mail, St. Gabriel to be their Helmet, St. Raphael to be their Shield, St. Vriel to be their Defender, St. Cherubim to be their Health, St. Seraphim to be their Truth; and all the holy Angels and Arch-angels to keep, protect and defend them, and bring them to eternal Life. And as for Raphael, to whom they seem to bear a more particular Affection, they stile him the best Physitian both of Body and Soul, and pray him to inlighten both their spiritual and carnal Eyes. And then as for the Saints, they do as immediately address to them in their Forms of Prayer for Sanctification, Pardon, temporal and eternal Blessings, as they can possibly do to God himself; particularly the Blessed Virgin they adorn with the most glorious Titles of God, and in her Psalter address to her in the same Forms of Invocation which David uses in his Psalms to God; they stile Her the Lady Almighty, the Author of Mercy, the Queen of infinite Majesty, and the Hope of all the World; praying that her Mercy may lighten upon them, as they do put their trust in her; and a great deal more to this Purpose. And as for Joseph her Husband they stile him the Support of their Lives, and the Pillar of the World; beseeching him with his Carpenters Ax (a Tool fit only to work upon such wooden Souls) to hew down their Sins, that they may be adopted Timber for the Palace of Heaven. In a word, in their present Breviary they implore St. Peter to loose them by his Word from the Bonds of Sin, and supplicate the Apostles, who by their Word (if the Prayer lies not) do lock and unlock the Gates of Heaven, to loose them from all Sin by their Command. They humbly intreat St. Genovesa to have pity on those that hope in Her, to blot out their Sins, and send them Relief and Comfort; and implore St. Sebastian to preserve their Country from the Plague, to preserve their Bodies, and heal their Minds; and to win him thereunto, assure him that all their Hope is in him. These and several other such like Instances there are of their Prayers both to Angels and Saints, in which they do as immediately invoke them both for temporal, spiritual and eternal Blessings as they can do God himself, who is the sole Disposer of them. And is not this most palpable Unrighteousness towards God, to strip him thus of his divine Prerogatives, and clothe his Creatures in them before his Face? But against this black Charge Bellarmin hath a very quaint Salvo: When we say, says he, St. Peter have mercy upon me, or so; we supply the Sense with this mental Construction, procure Mercy for me by thy Prayers or Merits; which is a plain Confession that the Words are unwholsome in themselves, and cannot be safely used without being corrected by a more honest meaning; and that if the Votaries of that Church do not take Care to mend their Publick Prayesr with their private Meanings, they incur the Guilt, or at least the Danger of Idolatry. For we cannot address more immediately in any Form of Words to God for any Mercy, than they do in these to the Saints and Angels; and therefore if they do not actually address to them as Gods, 'tis because they construe those Forms into a different Sense from their most obvious meaning. For when they say, Lord have mercy upon me, they may mean, with as little Force to the Words, Procure me Mercy, O Lord, from St. Peter by thy Prayers and Merits, as they do when they say, St. Peter have Mercy upon me, Procure me Mercy from God, O St. Peter, by thy Prayers and Merits. And what a dreadful Prophanation is it of the divine Majesty to use such Forms of Address to God and St. Peter, as do leave our Minds indifferent either to pray to St. Peter to pray to God for us, or to pray to God to pray to St. Peter for us? Again, 'tis a common Doctrin of Christianity, that our Saviour hath instituted the holy Eucharist to be a Memorial of his Sufferings, and a Seal of that everlasting Covenant which he purchased by them; upon which the Roman Church hath superstructed that monstrous Doctrin of Transubstantiation; which, besides the disgrace it doth to our holy Religion by Reason of those ridiculous Absurdities and gross Contradictions it fastens upon it; it puts such an extravagant sense upon the first Institution of this holy mystery, that if our Saviour had really meant it, 'twould have been enough to expose him to the general Scorn and Derision of Mankind. For if when he first instituted it, he had really pretended to convert the Sacramental Elements into the Substance of his own Body and Blood, this must have been the Sense of his Words and Actions; these outward Elements which but just now were made Bread and Wine, are now by my Almighty Benediction converted into the Substance of my Body and Blood; this very Body which sits here at the upper End of the Table, lies there under those Species of Bread and Wine which you see upon it. My Head and Feet, and every Part of me, are all intirely within every Crumb of that unleavened Bread; and yet those several Crumbs, which do each contain my whole Body, contain not several Bodies; and if you divide them into ten thousand Crumbs, and distribute them into ten thousand different Places, yet in all those different Places I am the same intire and undivided Body. And though as I sit here, you see I am at least a Foot broad, and five or six Foot long, yet in those little Crumbs that lie before you I am no bigger than a Pin's Head; and yet upon my honest Word I am in all my Parts and Dimensions under the outward Species of every one of them, and so am every whit as broad and thick and long in them, as I do now appear in this visible Body. And as for my Blood which is at least two Gallons, though it is all contained within the Veins and Vessels of this Body, yet it is all at the same Time within that Cup, which I confess is hardly large enough to contain the eighth Part of it: And though you Twelve shall every one drink his share of it, yet every one shall drink it all, that is, out of this one Cup of my Blood, which at most contains but a Quart, each Man of you Twelve shall drink the whole two Gallons. But let not these Things astonish you, for now I am doing yet stranger Things than these, and first I take my self (it being supposed both by Papists and Protestants that Christ himself first eat and drank those sacred Elements) that is, I take my Hands into my own Hands, and put my Mouth into my own Mouth, and swallow down my Hands, and Mouth, and Throat, and Stomach through my own Throat into my own Stomach; so that now my whole Body is intirely within my Stomach, though the whole you see, except my Stomach, is still intirely without it. And having thus eaten and drank up my self, in the next Place I give my self to be eat and drank by every one of you. And now while I am wholly buried within each of your Stomachs and my own, I shall begin a sacred Hymn, and conclude with my Farewel Sermon. This, supposing our Saviour had intended a real Transubstantiation, had been the natural Sense, or rather Nonsense of his Words and Actions in the first Institution of this sacred Mystery. And what a most shameful Disgrace is it to the most righteous Religion that ever was, to fasten such wild Extravagancies upon its great and blessed Author? Certainly had Men set their Wits at work to burlesque the most sacred Thing, and dress it up for Laughter and Derision, they could never have invented a more ridiculous Disguise for it than this of Transubstantiation: Besides all which, it introduces two notorious Pieces of Unrighteousness; the first of which is a most gross and barbarous Piece of Idolatry, viz. their adoring the consecrated Bread with the highest Species of divine Worship; which if it be not Transubstantiated into the Body of Christ, as we are sure it is not, unless our Senses lie, and Contradictions be true; they themselves confess is as gross Idoatry as the Laplander's worshiping a red Cloth hung upon the Top of a Spear. Now what monstrous Unrighteousness is this, for Men to rob God of his Honour, and vest a senseless Piece of Bread with it; to advance the Workmanship of a Baker into an Equality with God, and then adore, and then devour it? The second Piece of Unrighteousness which this monstrous Figment introduces, is the Half-Communion, in which the Christian World is most unjustly robbed of one half of that Legacy which Christ bequeathed to us in his last Will and Testament; which as Bellarmin tells us was done out of Reverence to the Transubstantiated Wine, lest any Drop of it sticking upon Lay-mens Beards should be spilt and prophaned. But this Inconvenience, by the Cardinal's Leave, might have otherwise been easily prevented by prohibiting all Lay-men, as they do their Priests, to receive the Sacrament with their Beards on. For I am apt to think there is no good Christian but would have been better contented to lose all his Beard than half the Sacrament. So that this Doctrin of Transubstantiation, you see, hath a most unrighteous Tendency both as it disgraces the most righteous Religion, and introduces the most gross Unrighteousness. Again, Thirdly, 'Tis a common Principle of Christianity that true Repentance is indispensably necessary to the Salvation of Sinners; upon which they have superstructed their Sacrament of Pennance, which joyned with Absolution is of such Sovereign Virtue as to Transubstantiate a Sorrow proceeding from the Fear of Hell, into true and saving Repentance: By which Doctrin they have most directly superseded all the Obligations of Righteousness. For what need I put my self to the Trouble of a holy and righteous Life, when for allarming my self before I go to Confession into some frightful Apprehensions of Hell, I can be dubbed a true Penitent, and receive the Remission of my Sins? For now my old Score being all wiped off, I may Sin on merrily on a new Account, and when I make my next Reckoning, 'tis but being afraid of Hell again, and I am sure to receive a new Acquittance in full of all Demands and Dues. And when I have spent all my Life in this Round and Circle of Unrighteousnss, 'tis but sending for a Priest at my last Breath, confessing my Sins, and dreading the Punishment of them, and with a few magical Words he shall immediately conjure me to Heaven, or at least out of Danger of Hell. Once more; it is a common Principle of Christianity that the Wages of Sin is eternal Death; upon which they have introduced their Doctrins of Purgatory and Indulgencies, which, like Simeon and Levi, Brethren in Iniquity, do both conspire to render Righteousness a needless Thing. For by the Sacrament of Pennance the eternal Punishment of Hell is changed into the temporary one of Purgatory, and by Indulgencies, especially plenary ones, the temporary Punishment of Purgatory is wholly remitted, and extinguished; so that the first lessens the Punishment of Sin, and the last annihilates it: And by this Means are Sinners mightily imboldened to go on, being assured that upon the Sacrament of Pennance they shall commute Hell for Purgatory, and that upon plenary Indulgence they shall exchange Purgatory for Heaven. Many other Instances of this Nature might be given, but it would be endless to enumerate all those unrighteous Principles with which their Casuistical Divinity abounds; the Frauds and Falsifications, the Treasons and Murders, the Slanders and Perjuries, which their Guides of Conscience do not only tolerate but commend; For I will maintain that there is scarce any Villany in Nature so notorious which by the Principles of some or other of their allowed Casuists may not be wholly vindicated, or at least extenuated into venial Crimes. So that considering the whole Frame and Structure of the Popish Religion, I do most seriously believe it to be one of the most effectual Engins to undermine and tear up the Foundations of Righteousness that ever the Devil forged or made use of; and were it not for those common Principles of Christianity that are intermingled with it, and do allay, and sometimes I hope overpower the Venom of it, I am verily persuaded that the Religion of Heathens would sooner make Men righteous than that of Papists. For I do affirm that there is not one Principle of pure Popery that is either a Rule of Righteousness or a Motive to it, but contrariwise that the most of its Principles seem to have been purposely calculated to affront Men's Reason, and debauch their Manners; and if so, then we may easily guess whether this be a true Religion or no, which in all its Parts is so repugnant to that which God most dearly loves.

2dly. Hence I infer upon what Terms a Man may safely conclude that he is beloved of God; for if he hath that amiable Quality within him which is the eternal Reason of God's Love, he may be sure he is beloved of him. If our Souls be adorned with that Righteousness which the righteous Lord loves, we may safely conclude that we are his Favourites, and shall never cease to be so whilst we continue so adorned. For 'tis as impossible for God not to love righteous Souls, as not to be righteous himself; for whilst he continues so, his own Nature must needs incline him to love all those in whom he finds his own most amiable Image and Resemblance. Let us not therefore persuade our selves that we are beloved of God either upon any inward Whispers and Suggestions, or upon any particular Marks and Signs of Grace; for both these may abuse and deceive us, and flatter our Minds into false and groundless Assurances. We may think 'tis the Spirit of God that whispers to us when all of a suddain we feel our selves surprized with joyous and comfortable Thoughts, and yet this may be nothing else but a Frisk of melancholy Vapors heated and fermented by a feverish Humour. For those suddain Joys and Dejections, which are so often interpreted the Incomes and Withdrawings of the Spirit of God, do commonly proceed from no higher Cause than the Shiverings and Burnings of an Ague; and I am very sure that Histerical Fits are very often mistaken for spiritual Experiences; and that when Men have most confidently believed themselves overshadowed by the Holy Ghost their Fancies have been only hagged and ridden with the Enthusiastick Vapours of their own Spleen. And sometimes I make no doubt but this suddain Flush of joyous Thoughts proceeds from a worse Cause, even from the Suggestion of the Devil; who, though he hath no immediate Access to the Minds of Men, can yet doubtless act upon our Spirits and Humours, and by their Means figure our Fancies into spritely Ideas, and tickle our Hearts into a Rapture; And this Power of his we may reasonably suppose he is ready enough to exert upon any mischievous Occasion, when he finds Men willing to be deceived, and to rely upon ungrounded Confidences. Let us not therefore build our Hopes of the divine Favour upon any such uncertain Foundations, but impartially examin our selves whether we are really righteous; for unless we are so, it is not more certain that God is righteous, than that these our pretended spiritual Incomes and Inundations of Joy and Comfort, are either the Freaks of our own Temper, or else the Injections of the Devil. For how can you imagin that the God of all Righteousness and Truth can, without infinite Violence to his own Nature, either love or pretend Love to an unrighteous Soul? But then you will say, by what Signs and Tokens shall we know whether we are righteous or no? To which I answer, that there is nothing can be a true Sign and Token of Righteousness, which is distinct from Righteousness it self: For Righteousness is its own Sign; and if any Man judges himself righteous by any Mark which is not an Act or Instance of Righteousness, he deceives and abuses his own Soul. But then we must have a Care that we do not argue from any one particular Mark or Instance of Righteousness to our being righteous in general. For you may as well argue that you are not blind because you hear well, or that you are not deaf because you taste well, or that you have all your Senses, because you have one; as that you are righteous in the general, because you are so in this or that particular; and you may as reasonably conclude your self in a State of Health, because you have a fresh Colour, as that you are in a State of Grace, because you have this or that particular Sign of it. Well, but then how shall we resolve our selves in this most material Enquiry? Why do but consider what it is to be righteous, and then reflect upon your own Motions, and you will quickly feel whether you are righteous or no. Now to be righteous, is in the general to intend righteously, and to act accordingly. If you ask again how you shall know whether you so intend and act? I shall only answer, that 'tis an unreasonable Question, and that you might as well ask me whether you are hungry or thirsty; for you do as naturally feel the Motions of your Souls as you do the Motions of your Bodies; and for you to ask another Man what your own Intentions are, is to make him a Conjurer instead of a Casuist. Would it not look extreamly ridiculous for a Man to ask his Creditor, or Customer, good Sir, how shall I know whether I intend to pay my Debts, or am sincerely resolved not to over-reach you? Should any Man ask me such a Question, I should only bid him consult himself; and if then he suspected his own Honesty, I should shrewdly suspect he had too much Reason for it. If you intend righteously, you intend it knowingly; and if you knowingly intend it, you cannot but know that you intend it. If you cannot know whether you intend and act righteously, you cannot know how to do it; and if you cannot know how to do it, you are not Subjects capable of Morality; but must of Necessity live and act at Random, and blunder on like Travellers in the dark, without being able to determin whether you go backward or forward. If therefore you would know whether you are righteous Men or no, do not go about to perplex and intangle your selves in the Wilderness of Signs and Tokens; for if you had a thousand Signs of Grace, you can never safely conclude you are righteous, till upon an impartial Review of your selves you do feel that you intend and act righteously; and then, and not till then, you may build upon it that God loves you. For God's Love is a constant and immutable Thing; and in this the Constancy of it consists; not that it is always fixt upon the same Person, but that 'tis unchangeably determined to the same Motive, and this Motive is Righteousness. So that if he find this Motive in us, he will be sure to love us so long as it continues; but if from Righteous we become Vnrighteous, he must either change in his Affection, or else cease to love us. For should he still love on when the Reason is ceased for which he loved us, he must either love us for no Reason, or for a Reason that is directly contrary to that for which he loved us first; and consequently his Love must either be a blind Fondness, or else a fickle and inconstant Passion. If therefore Righteousness be the Reason that moves the righteous Lord to love, we grossly flatter and abuse our selves if we presume that he loves us while we are unrighteous. Wherefore as we would not ruin our selves with relying upon vain Hopes, Hopes that will sink underneath us, and leave us eternally desperate and miserable; let us never conclude that we are beloved of God till upon an impartial Tryal of our selves we can conclude that we are sincerely righteous.

3dly. From hence I infer what grand Encouragement we have to be righteous, for that God loves Righteousness is a plain Demonstration that 'tis the most amiable thing in the World; and that it best deserves the Affections of all rational Beings, since it hath won his, who never loves but upon the best Reason. And what a most glorious thing is it to be adorned with the best of Beauties, which by such an invincible Charm endears the Heart of the most glorious Being in the World? If there be so much Honour paid to a Beauty that can smite and inslave an earthly Potentate, what is there due to that that can constrain the God of Heaven and Earth to fall in love with us? For what higher Mark can our Ambition aim at, than that of being beloved by the greatest and most lovely Being? Doubtless to be God's Favourite and Image is the highest Advancement that any Creature can aspire to; and were I born King of all the Kings of the Earth, and had all their Crowns and Scepters at my Feet, I am sure my Reason would tell me that to be beloved of God would be a greater Glory to me than to be obeyed from Pole to Pole; and should I entertain a Thought of exchanging the Honour of being a God-like Creature and the Favourite of Heaven for the Crown and Empire of the World, my Conscience would tell me that I degraded my self, and prostituted my own Glory; for next to that of being a God my self, the highest Glory I can think of is to be a Friend to God, and this I am sure to be as soon as ever I commence a righteous Man. And shall I stand so much in my own Light, O foolish Creature that I am, as to refuse his Friendship when I may have it on such reasonable Terms, and shall need no other Endearment to introduce me into his Favour but only that of Righteousness? O thou most excellent Beauty, with whose Charms the God of Heaven is inflamed! What shall I do to make thee mine! How shall I obtain to be adorned with thy heavenly Luster! I will go to the blessed Fountain from whence thou art derived, and with a Heart hungring and thirsting after thee, beseech him to infuse thy Streams into my Soul. I'll shun whatsoever is contrary to thee, and do whatsoever thou commandest me, and never cease Writing after thy fair Copies till I have transcribed thee into my Nature. And who would not, that sets any Value upon the Glory of being dear to God? For besides the Honour of being his Favourites, what an infinite Advantage may we expect to reap from it? For what may we not promise our selves from the Grace and Favour of the great Sovereign of Beings, who doth whatsoever pleases him in both Worlds, and hath the absolute Disposal of all the Blessings that either Heaven or Earth affords? Doubtless we may safely promise our selves every Thing both from below and above that can either do us good here, or contribute to our Happiness hereafter. For so the Psalmist tells us, that such is his Love of Righteousness that he will give both Grace and Glory, and that no good Thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly, Psal. lxxxiv.11. Who would not then be tempted to Righteousness upon the Prospect of being a Favourite of God, and of the infinite Glory and Advantage which redounds from thence?

4thly, And lastly. From hence I infer how inexcusable we are if we persist in Sin after the many Discoveries which God hath made to us of his Love of Righteousness. Had we any Reason to suppose that God is indifferently affected towards Righteousness and Sin, it would be a fair Excuse for unrighteous Persons; for what great Matter would it be which of the two Contraries we chose, if both were indifferent to God, who best understands the Worth and Value of Things? But now when God hath discovered such a zealous Concern for Righteousness, and such an Abhorrence of its contrary, by so many clear Indications both natural and supernatural, there is no Ground or Colour for any such Excuse. For now no Man can be excusably ignorant which way God's Heart is inclined, and we must wilfully shut our Eyes if we do not discern which of the two Contraries he would have us pursue; and therefore if notwithstanding this we still persist in unrighteousness, we do in Effect declare that we regard not God, and that we will do what we list let him will what he pleases; that in the Conduct of our Actions we will have the sole Disposal of our selves, and are resolved that God shall have nothing to do with us, and that we will not concern our selves in any of our Choices or Actions whether he be pleased or displeased with them: this is the plain Sense of our Perseverance in Unrighteousness under all those clear Discoveries, which God hath made of his Aversion to it. Now how incusable is this, for a Creature to behave it self so insolently towards the Author and Owner of its Being; to make him stand for a Cypher in his own Creation, and to take no more Notice of him than if he were the most impertinent and insignificant Being in the World? For now it's plain that our unrighteous Doings proceed from our rude Contempt and Regardlesness of his heavenly Will; we know well enough what he would have us do, but either we do not think him worth the minding, or if we do, we are resolv'd to behave our selves as if we did not. 'Tis true, he hath not made as full a Discovery of his Will to some as he hath to others; but yet it is plain he hath so sufficiently discovered it to all, that none can pretend to the Excuse of Ignorance. For, as for the Heathens, though they have no revealed Discoveries of it without them, yet they have a Bible within them, the large and legible Bible of Nature which lies continually open before them, and proposes to their View in fair and distinct Characters the Notion of God, the Distinctions of Good and Evil, and the eternal Laws of Righteousness; and therefore if notwithstanding this they will be so regardless of its great and blessed Author, as either not to attend to, or not comply with these natural Discoveries of his Will, what Excuse can they make why they should not perish in their own Obstinacy? For as the Apostle tells us, though they have not the Law, i. e. the revealed Law, yet they did (or at least might have done) by nature the things contained in the Law; and therefore as many of them as have sinned without this revealed Law, shall also perish without it, that is, by the Sentence of the Law of Nature, Rom. 2.12, 14. And then as for the Jews, besides those natural Indications of God's Love of Righteousness which they had in common with the Heathen, they had sundry supernatural ones; they had sundry great and notorious Examples of God's rewarding righteous, and punishing wicked Men; and the outward Revelation of the Law of Moses, the moral Part of which was a new Edition of the Law of Nature, and did contain within the Rine and Letter of it, the most sublime and spiritual Precepts of Righteousness; and the Ceremonial Part of which was, (though an obscure) yet intelligible Representation of all those spiritual Motives to Righteousness which Christianity contains. So that would they but have attended either to the spiritual Sense of their Law, or to the Sermons of their Prophets which very much cleared and explained it, they could not have been ignorant either of any Part of their Duty, or of any considerable Motive that was needful to press and ingage them to it. If therefore notwithstanding this they were so regardless of God as to take no Notice of those many sensible Distinctions which his Providence had made between righteous and unrighteous Men, in blessing the one and punishing the other, of which he gave them so many signal Examples; if they had so little Reverence for his Authority, as neither to mind his Law within, nor his Law without them, or if they minding the later, were so extreamly heedless as to rest in a mere Conformity to the Letter of it, without ever attending to its spiritual Sense and Meaning; upon what reasonable Pretence can their Stupidity be excused? But then lastly, as for us Christians, we have not only all those natural Indications of God's Love of Righteousness which the Heathens had, and all those supernatural ones which the Jews had; but we have all these later with much greater Advantage than the Jews; for they are all set before us in a clearer Light, and presented much more naked to our View. For as they are proposed to us, they are neither wrapt up in mystical Senses, nor clouded over with typical Representations; but laid before us in the most plain and easie Propositions. The literal Sense of our Precepts of Righteousness, and of all our Promises and Threats, is the mystical Sense of theirs; and all those Christian Motives to Righteousness which were delivered to them in dark Riddles and obscure and typical Adumbrations, are brought forth to us from behind the Curtain, and proposed in plain and popular Articles of Faith: So that if we still continue in Unrighteousness, we are of all Men in the World the most inexcusable. The Heathens may plead against the Jews that their Law of Nature was not so clear in its Precepts, nor yet so cogent in its Motives as the Law of Moses was. The Jews may plead against us Christians that their Law of Moses was neither so express in its Precepts, nor yet so intelligible in its best and most powerful Motives; but as for us Christians we have nothing at all to plead, but, by our own Obstinacy against the clearest Discoveries both of our Dury and the Motives which oblige us to it, are condemned to everlasting Silence. So that when at the last Tribunal it shall appear that we have persisted in Unrighteousness, we must expect the Reproaches of all the reasonable World; to be exploded and hissed at, not only by the universal Choir of Saints and Angels, but by Jews and Gentiles, and by the Devils themselves; who will all conspire with our own Consciences to second that dreadful Sentence which shall then pass upon us, with the general Acclamation of just and righteous art thou, O Lord, in all thy Ways. Wherefore as we would not perish for ever without Pity or Excuse, let us be persuaded to abandon all Vnrighteousness and worldly Lusts, and to live soberly and righteously, and godly in this present World; and then we may assure our selves that the righteous Lord who loves Righteousness will love us also for the sake of it, and express his Love to us in blessing and preserving us here, and crowning us with Glory and Happiness hereafter. And this we beseech thee to grant, O thou immutable Lover of Righteousness, even for Jesus Christ his sake; To whom with thy self and thy eternal Spirit be ascribed by us, and all the World; all Honour and Glory and Power from this time forth, and for evermore, Amen.

FINIS.

End of the text · John Scott, Practical Discourses Volume 2 (1698)

Practical Discourses Volume 2, Discourse 10