AN EXTRACT

 

FROM AN

 

INQUIRY AFTER HAPPINESS,

 

RICHARD LUCAS, D. D.

 

IN THREE PARTS.

 

TO THE READER.

 

 IT has pleased GOD, that in a few years I should finish the more pleasant and delightful part of life, if sense were to be the judge and standard of pleasure; being confined, (I will not say condemned,) by well-nigh utter blindness, to retirement and solitude. In this state, business (wherein I could never pretend to any great address) gives me more trouble than formerly; and that too without the usual despatch or success. Study (which is the only employment left me) is clogged with this weight and in-cumbrance, that all the assistance I can receive from without, must be conveyed by another's sense, not my own; which, it may easily be believed, is an instrument as ill fitted, and as awkwardly managed by me, as wooden legs and hands by the maimed.

 

But the vigor and activity of my mind, the health and Strength of my body, (being now in the flower of my age,) continuing unbroken, I found that if I did not provide some employment that might entertain it, it would weary out itself with fruitless desires of, and vain attempts after, its wonted objects, and so that strength and vivacity which should render my state more comfortable, would make it more intolerable.

 

 Being likewise abundantly convinced, that I am not released from that duty I owe that body of which I am still a member, by being cut off from a great part of the pleasures and advantages of it; therefore, like one that truly loves his country, when no way else is left him, fights for it on his stumps; so will I, even in the remains of a broken body, express at least my affection for mankind., and breathe out my last gasp in their service.

 

 I have had so much experience of the pleasures that prosperity can afford, that I am sufficiently capable of setting a true value upon them, and of judging their subserviency to true happiness. And I am so well acquainted with affliction, that I am sufficiently sensible, as of the weakness of human nature, so of the necessity and power • of virtue: and after all, my mind lives now in the body, (like a soul in a separate state,) retired as from the pleasures, so from the troubles of the world, and is therefore the more able to pass a free and dispassionate judgment upon both.

 

 I should not think it any crime, were I master of such talents, if I mingled with necessary truths, all that variety of thought and fancy, -which might render them as delightful as useful: the example of GOD himself in the great work of creation, would justify this liberty, who has created as well leaves and flowers, as herbs and fruit; and in the variety and beauty, in the colors and figures of all that he has produced, appears plainly to have made provision not only to feed the appetite, but even the fancies of his creatures.

 

AN INQUIRY AFTER HAPPINESS.

 

PART 1:

 

SECTION 1:

 

OF THE MOTIVES TO THIS INQUIRY, AND OF THE OBJECTIONS WHICH MAY BE FORMED AGAINST IT.

 

CHAPTER 1:

 

The Importance and the Necessity of it.

 

 THE desire of happiness is the first, most powerful, and most universal principle of human actions. This moves the Prince and peasant, the learned and idiot. Revelation and reason take tins for granted; all laws, both divine and human, proposing our happiness as the sufficient motive to our obedience.

 

 But all this while, though all sorts of religion and government unanimously consent in the proposal of this general end; yet so great is the diversity (I may say contrariety) in the methods in which they pursue it, that it seems to imply the discovery of happiness a matter of no less uncertainty than importance; there being as great a variety in the opinions of men about it, as in their lives and actions, or in the forms of religion and government in the world; since all these seem, according to the different judgments of men, so many different parts which lead to it.

 

 And yet, until I have fixed the notion of happiness, and found out in what it consists, it is impossible I should live rationally. How shall I steer the course of my life aright, when I know not what port I would make How shall my actions tend to any wise or noble purpose, when I have no mark prefixed them Till then, I must live extempore, and act at random; I must abandon myself to wind and tide, to time and chance:

 

Quo me cunque raplt tempestas, dejeror hospes.

 

 Tossed by a storm, for my retreat I take Whatever shore the unguided bark can make. In a word, until I know what to aim at, business will be but a mechanic drudging out of life, and study but a vain amusement: whereas, when all my inclinations shall have one uniform tendency, when every desire of the soul, and every action of life, shall be a step advancing in a direct line towards happiness; when the vigor and activity of my mind shall not be suspended and frustrated by uncertainties and fluctuation, nor deluded and lost in wandering eiTors and deviations, but shall ever carry me straight forwards towards my journey's end; then certainly all my labors will prosper, and my progress will be great, though my motion should be but slow. Thus plants, whose native vigor mounts straight upwards, though their bulk be less, yet their height and beauty are greater than theirs whose luxuriant nourishment wastes itself in knots and distorted branches.

 

 Having considered this, I resolved, that I could not spend my time better than in an inquiry, What the happiness of man is, and how attainable Every advance towards this, is an accession to my life and being; and all travail which doth not lead me on towards this end, is but so much of life mis-spent and lost: what a silliness were it to-load my memory with terms and words, with numerous instances of matters of fact; to talk of unknown seas and distant shores; to tumble over each page of nature's system! What trifling cunning to skill the gainful mysteries of trade; what solemn foppery to penetrate into all the subtleties of government; if, after all, I have no receipt for a troubled mind, no cure for distempered passions; if I have no principle to support my mind under a sinking fortune, or govern it in a rising one; if I have nothing to arm me against my fears, or to disperse my griefs; would any one think I had spent my time well, or stocked myself with useful knowledge

 

 But to find out what would make me happier, what would free my mind from the slavery of uneasy passions, what would make it serene, steady, great, and manly, in all the accidents of life: this every man sees, at the first blush, to be a wise, generous, and serviceable employment of my reason. 

 

 This occasioned ST. AUGUSTINE'S ingenious reflections on the. polytheism of the Romans. When he considered that they worshipped FEUCITAS, (by which they meant that deity that could confer happiness upon men,) he could not but wonder why this was not the most ancient of all their gods: or why, when this deity was found out, they did not presently discard the other idle multitude of superfluous and unnecessary gods; since this alone was sufficient to supply all the necessities, and gratify all the desires of mankind.

 

 But though happiness should be a project tooigreat, too ambitious for a poor silly mortal; yet, sure the redress of those evils which oppress our state and nature, is such a design as may well become the meanness of men: and therefore, if I could not excuse the presumption of this inquiry, by pleading the innate desire of happiness, yet sure I might by urging the multitude of those evils which infest human life, which it is not only irrational but impossible so far to yield and submit to, as not to struggle to lighten their afflicting weight. This I confess was the first, and none of the least prevalent arguments that engaged me: I would be, if not happy, at least not miserable; and I am neither insensible nor fearless; I know the common portion of man, and I cannot so far flatter myself as not to apprehend approaching evils; nor am I naturally so hard as not to shrink under the weight of them, and I suppose most men are of the same nature with me; and consequently, this consideration of human misery ought to effectually oblige us to this study.

 

 However, let others do what they will, I will nevei abandon myself; I will not tamely renounce my hopes ot happiness; whatever calamities assault me, they shall find me ready armed from head to foot, nor shall they ever gam an easy victory; death itself, whenever it comes, shall find me struggling to the last for life, eternal life and happiness. Nor can I entertain so unworthy a thought of the most perfect Being, but that he loves this resolution wherever he meets it, and will be most ready to assist his creatures in so just and rational an endeavor.

 

CHAPTER 2:

 

Objections against this Inquiry.

 

 BUT it is objected, 1. Happiness is too divine a state for man to aspire after.

 

 2. The utmost happiness of this life is so trifling, that it cannot recompense our time and travail.

 

 3. There is no need of study or inquiry after happiness; nature and custom being the best guides to it.

 

 4. The great variety there is in the nature of men, and consequently in their happiness, demonstrates it impossible either to frame one uniform notion of happiness, or to prescribe any general rules for the attainment of it.

 

And, 1. they that' pretend to be wise above the vulgar, look upon happiness as too divine a state for so mean a creature as man to affect; it was the sinful ambition of our first parents to aspire to the likeness of GOD, and what can be more truly the prerogative of GOD than happiness.' Or what can make us more like GOD To affect this, therefore, were the folly of those earth-born creatures, which sacrilegiously invaded heaven; let us rest satisfied with those easy and obvious pleasures which best suit this imperfect state.

 

 I confess, it were, if not a sinful, yet a vain ambition for man to affect any other happiness than what is suitable to his nature; we readily grant, happiness is a state of pleasure, and pleasure is the result of the proportion and agreeableness of the object to the capacity or appetite; so that he that aspires to a state of happiness, that infinitely exceeds his nature, foolishly doats on contradictions, and affects a happiness devoid of pleasure; or, which is all one, covets a pleasure which he cannot enjoy. But when it is remembered that we propose no happiness, but what the frame of our nature qualifies us for, and consequently the GOD of nature designed us; it will be easily granted, that God does not only allow of, but direct and delight in, man's endeavors after happiness. Those faculties and capacities with which he has endued him, being the fairest declaration of the divine will in this point.

 

 2. There are others of that sluggish and brutish temper, that, being unable to raise their conception above sense, seem to despise that happiness the wise and religious part of mankind profess to seek after, and to think all the pleasure man can enjoy so little, that it is scarce worth the while to take much pains for it.

 

 It is true I am but man, that is, a little atom in the vast bulk of matter; and my life is but a short moment in an endless stream of time: but then I feel a strange kind of comprehensiveness in my soul; it stretcheth forth itself to times past and to come, it enjoys things that are not seen, by faith and hope, and sometimes things that are not at all, by memory and fancy; and though my life be but a moment, pleasure has its degrees; and therefore if I can possess it in its height and perfection, I shall live much, though not long; I shall enjoy eternity in a moment. Nor is this mere fancy and romance: for when I find CICERO, in surely- a holy ravishment of soul, preferring one day spent according to the precepts of virtue, before a sinful immortality; and the Psalmist declaring almost in the same words,” One day in thy courts is better than a thousand;” I cannot choose but think there are irresistible charms in virtue,, pleasures as ravishing as they are pure and sacred: and who then can restrain himself from the glowing desires of, and resolute endeavors after, a share in them When I have read of SOCRATES, dying with a generous charity and serene hopes, and, with an undisturbed mind, easily parting with all here below; when I have read of SIMEON waiting for and expecting death, as weary laborers do the evening shades; when I read ST. PAUL, with humble impatience expressing his devout desire of death and dissolution; when I have seen some (as some I have seen) sitting in calm, and majesty, and triumph, as if they had attended death as the old Romans once did the barbarous Gauls, in their chairs and robes; when I have seen men die, not only with content, but ’almost in an ecstasy, and the boul breathed forth not in a groan, but an ejaculation; I must needs say I could not choose but wish,” That I might die the death of the righteous, and that my latter end might be like his.” These are degrees of happiness which I should judge it reasonable to purchase at any rate, whatever there be hereafter; a smooth, contented, delightful life, such as would not only bear, but invite reflections on it, a cheerful, lightsome death, able to make the living in love with it.

 

 But after all, whether this present life be all my portion; whether I die, all of me together, with my body; or whether this life be only the time of our probation and preparation for another, and death be nothing but the rough passage from one shore to another, or the horizon that parts the hemisphere of darkness from that of light; is a question I will not now determine: it is sufficient to propose it here as a doubt, whereof one side or other must be true. If, therefore, this life be in order to eternity, it nearly imports me'to consider my present relation to a future state; if it be not,-then this life, call it what you please, a span, a dream, or a bubble, yet is it my all, and I must make the most of it. But,—

 

 3. Are not nature and custom the best guides to happiness What needs there so much poring to find out that which instinct leads us to We do not see that the most learned are always the most happy men: let such demonstrate the truth of their philosophy by their own success.

 

 As to the former part of the objection, were it but once truly determined what were to be understood by nature, this objection would vanish: I think our souls within us, may be justly supposed to constitute a part of our nature, as well as our bodies; and therefore, I cannot be content that the body, much less vicious habits, should usurp the name and authority of nature; nor, consequently, can I be content to allftw the mere sensual appetites of the body, much less the dictates of vicious habits, for the laws of nature. The body indeed is an essential part of our nature, but then it must be remembered, it is not the governing part; and therefore its instinct cannot arrogate to it&elf the authority of a law. It remains therefore, that though the rational soul be but a part of our nature, yet being the better part, the ruling part, its dictates must have the force of laws; so that the law of nature will be nothing else but the commands of right reason. I shall be most ready to grant, that we ought to follow the conduct of our nature, taking it in this sense; he indeed lives happy who follows the conduct of that part to which belongs the undoubted right of sovereignty and dominion in man.

 

 As to the latter part of this objection, by custom is commonly meant those principles and practices which are generally received in the place we live; I have a just veneration for whatever is the sense of mankind, but I think their suffrage is not to be taken by number, but by weight: nor are we to follow the opinion or example of the most, but of the best: nor indeed is it possible to understand what is the sense of mankind in this point; for we have custom against custom, nation against nation, and religion against religion.

 

 It ought farther to be considered, that principles taken upon trust, have seldom an equal influence upon us, with those which we take upon strict examination and mature deliberation; that men will easily be tempted to desert those for which they have no better authority than the vote of a multitude: nor can any thing tend more to the disparagement of any persuasion than this, that it is not the result of our judgment, but our fortune. And so I take it to be a credit to the Christian religion, that it did not force assent, but gain it by irresistible arguments; that it is so far from shunning the trial of impartial philosophy, that it did always invite men to a sober examination of its evidences; and commanded its disciples,” Be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that ib in you.”

 

 Lastly, To trust to otherrs, who themselves with like rashness trust to others, a the matter of highest moment, seems to be inconsistent with common prudence, with the very constitution of a rational nature: For what use can reason be of, if I slight its service in so important an affair as this

 

 Yet it is true, temper, fortune, and education, have so great a share in the happiness or misery of some kind of men, that I must not yet dismiss this objection, until I have taken a little notice of such for whose defense it was at first found out. These are,—

 

 (1.) The stupid and brutish part of mankind: these seem to have met with happiness whilst they seek it not. Their fancies flat, their prospect short, and their desires few and easy, and consequently if their pleasures be not raised, neither are their troubles deep; stupidity in them outdoes philosophy in others, and want of sense makes them laugh more loudly, live more securely, and die more unconcernedly, than the most thoughtful of men can. Were the incapacity is these men great enough to justify their contempt of reason and religion, I should almost be tempted to call them happy: but at the same moment I should despise their happiness; for I cannot call those happy, whose souls are too sluggish and drowsy to understand or reflect upon their happiness: or, if I must call this happiness, it is the happiness of a beast, not of a man. With me, to live is somewhat greater than to feed and rest; and to be happy, must be much more than to live. The extreme to these are,—

 

 (2.) The gay, the gaudy, the modish part of mankind; these too pretend to happiness: and if their pretence be well-founded, their way to happiness is a more ready, plain, and compendious one, than any that ever was, or ever will be, discovered.

 

But, alas, shortness of sight cannot pass with me for wit; nor an unthinking confidence for wisdom: I have seen most of those dreams the world can present the gayest fancy with, and, upon trial, I have perhaps found something that could divert my fancy, nothing that could satisfy a rational soul. I will not here examine what is the employment, what the pleasure proper to a rational being. Nor will I now go about to show, that that mind can enjoy no sober or lasting peace, much less pleasure, which is engaged in such a method of life as it cannot rationally justify to itself; both which considerations would be plain refutations of this gay objection. It is enough in this place to say, that this sort of life is repugnant to those principles which religion reveals, and which are backed by all the authority which the unanimous approbation of the wisest and best part of mankind can give. It behoves us, therefore, not to abandon ourselves to this kind of life, until we have narrowly tried these principles; for if they should prove true, then will this sensual, careless life betray us to a miserable eternity: and though they should be false, yet until we are upon rational grounds convinced that they are so, we have little reason to- commit our happiness to so great a hazard.

 

 It remains, notwithstanding all these objections, that it behoves every man to pursue his happiness by a rational inquiry after it; neither undervaluing human nature or its happiness, nor giving up himself to the guidance of the bruiish and blind part of him; but seriously and thoroughly to examine whatever end be proposed to him as his happiness, or whatever method be proposed to him as the way to it. But when we have blown off these objections, there are others that seem by a fairer show of reason to deter us from it by the difficulty and unsuccessfulness of the attempt.

 

 3. Happiness, say they, is like PUOTECS in the Poet; it puts on so many different forms and shapes, that it seems impossible to circumscribe it within general rules, or to represent it under any one fixed notion: it deserves to be examined, what weight or truth there is in the vulgar notion of happiness, that for a man to be happy is nothing else but to live according to his fancy: and it seems no less absurd, to invite every man to the same heaven, or gratify every humor by the same kind of happiness, than to entertain all appetites with one and the same dish.

 

 But in that great variety of complexion, feature, shape, and motion, and in that great diversity of endowments which we behold in men, there is yet one common nature wherein they all agree, whereby they are constituted creatures of the same species; just such accidental varieties may the happiness of man be capable of, and yet the life and being of it may be one and the same, and consequently may be comprehended under general rules. And if this answer were not sufficient, it would not be absurd to say, that happiness, like beauty, may put on various dresses, and yet be still charming and delightful in each; or that this bread, like that of heaven, (for so the Rabbins tell us of manna,) has that in it, which gratifies every palate; there are blessings, which take with every appetite, and are universally welcomed to all the sons of men. Or I may truly say, that happiness must not only be prepared and fitted for man, but man for his happiness; he must become a rational creature ere he can enjoy a rational pleasure: It is from this want of preparation, that diversity of opinions concerning happiness springs.

 

 But there is no reason why we should take up with these answers: we may now boldly say, the difficulties that former ages met with, are of no force to deter us; we can now free ourselves from the distracting terrors of an invisible power without banishing him out of that world which himself created; we can now prove a judgment to come, without the assistance of poetic dreams; and the existence of souls after death, without their pre-existence before our birth. To be short, we have now Revelation for our rule, and every good man a Divine SPIRIT for his guide; nay, every man, if he be sincere, in such inquiries as these. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask it of GOD, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it •shall be given him.” So that now we may rationally conclude, that fatal ignorance, or fatal error in this point, must be imputed either to a sottish contempt of that knowledge we are most nearly concerned in, and the means conducing to it, or to an obstinate resistance of that conviction which GOD endeavors to beget in us by his word and his SPIRIT, or at least to the want of that just consideration we ought to allow to revealed truths, or of that necessary preparation which fits us for divine assistance, and enables us to understand the divine will; and for this reason, the dissensions and sharp contentions of Christians ought to be no prejudice to the authority or perspicuity of revelation^ or to the assertion of the SPIRIT'S conduct and assistance. For, besides that unity of faith is an unity of fundamentals not of fancies, it must be confessed that our sects and divisions have their rise and propagation from these and such like causes; men's tempers and complexions, and educations, and interests, and passions, give a bias to their judgments, and a tincture to their opinions. The errors of some are the dreams of drowsy carelessness; of others, the wanderings of a wanton confidence; of others, the crooked windings of designing interest, and so on. For it may with much truth be affirmed, that all erroneous philosophy in matters necessary and fundamental, is the result of some unworthy lust and passion.

 

 Let us not therefore so far undervalue human nature, or dishonor the Author of it, as once to fancy that happiness is too great for us, or we too little for it; or that GOD should disallow, as a sacrilegious ambition, the most rational attempts of a rational creature: since we seek no other happiness than what the frame and the GOD of nature appear plainly to design us to; the greatness of which nothing can so well express, as the transports and raptures of happy men.

 

 But let us not think this happiness so easy a purchase, that it will run into the lap of the sluggish. No, no; nothing but industrious reason, pure and vigorous philosophy, can ever attain it. The sluggard or the wanton, the fool and vain, may have some fits of ease and mirth; only the rational, only the philosopher, can possess true and lasting happiness. Nor let the endless quarrels, the numerous contentions, of vain and proud pretenders, discourage us from following the conduct of reason and Revelation; these are the contentions of lust, not philosophy. Truth and happiness inhabit a palace, into which none can” enter but humble, sincere, and constant lovers.

 

SECTION 2:

 

OF THE ATTAINABLENESS OF HAPPINESS IN THIS LIFE.

 

CHAPTER 1:

 

The Notion of Happiness stated; granted imperfect, compared to that of another -Life, yet in itself considerable and desirable.

 

 HAVING removed such discouragements as were less considerable, I come now to examine that which attacks my design with the rudest violence; I mean, the impossibility of obtaining happiness in this world. It is true, if our endeavors after happiness here could succeed no further than to secure it to us hereafter, none could deny them reasonable upon this sole account. Yet because this persuasion would blunt the force of one of the most powerful motives to religion, which is,” That its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths peace;” and consequently, very much abate our vigilance and industry in pursuit of it; I judge it indispensably necessary to enter into a full discussion of this point. In managing which, I will, First, Assert the possibility of obtaining happiness by plain, and, as I think, unanswerable arguments: and, Secondly, I will endeavor to give full satisfaction to all objections to the contrary. But, before I do either of these, to obviate mistakes, it is fit I should explain my notion of the happiness I propose; I must therefore acquaint my reader, that I do not promise him the happiness of angels, but of men; and that I do not understand happiness in this proposition of that which is every way perfect and absolute, to which fancy.itself can add nothing; but of that which is like our nature, incomplete and imperfect, speaking comparatively, and yet truly great and excellent too.

 

 I am content to call a building beautiful, though there be something in it which doth not answer the test of the strictest art; I am content to call it day, though flitting clouds and showers do now and then obscure the light; so can I not choose but call him righteous, whose life is bright and exemplary, though not utterly void of blemishes. And so am I content to think him a happy man, not who is utterly exempt from all disturbances in mind or body; not who lives in constant ecstasy, but him whose pleasures are more and greater than his troubles; one whose enjoyments though they do not transport, do satisfy him; one whose serenity and calm of mind, though it may suffer interruptions, suffers but few and slight ones. Now as we are not to lay aside any advice of being virtuous, because we cannot arrive at the height of angels; so neither are we to cast off all thoughts of happiness, because we cannot equal theirs: for if we are happy in such a degree as this inferior state will permit; if we can free ourselves from those miseries which involve the foolish and vicious part of mankind, if we can possess ourselves of those humble joys that human nature is here capable of, it will be worth all the time and travail we can spend upon the design: and that we may advance thus far, the following considerations will, I think, render it mere than probable.

 

CHAPTER 2:

 

The Possibility of attaining Happiness asserted.

 

 IT cannot be denied, but that some men are more happy than others. Who will deny TITUS to have been more happy than NERO TITUS, whose government of the Roman people was not more mild and gentle than the impartial reflections of his conscience upon himself and actions NERO, that guilty wretch, whose conscience was no less a plague to him than he to Rome Who will compare the pleasant retirements, the modest contentments, the regular and virtuous enjoyments of ATTICUS, with the fatal luxuries of CATILINE, orthe proud cruel ties of SYLLA and MARIUS What, then, shall we attribute no share of happiness or misery, to the virtues or the vices of the one or the other; or no part of their virtues or vices to themselves, but to I know not what fatal and irresistible causes

 

 If we assert the former, we contradict unquestionable matters of fact; if the latter, we rob the virtuous of that which rendered them beloved in their lives, and ever since has preserved their memories sacred and honorable; and •we acquit those from all blame or guilt, whom the laws of their own country, and the common sense of mankind, have ever condemned and detested. What gross and monstrous absurdities are these Shall we now, after the improvement of so many ages, dispute whether vice or virtue be the better guide of human actions, or the more • serviceable to human life Shall sloth and luxury be thought to conduce as much to the prosperity of our lives, as industry and frugal temperance Shall ambition, pride, and choler, be now judged as instrumental to promote or preserve the peace of our minds and states, as modesty, meekness, and charity Or, if this be too daring a defiance to sense and experience, shall we contend that the slothful and luxurious, the unjust and cruel, are as blameless and innocent, nay, if we will extend principles to their just consequence, as commendable and worthy of praise, as the industrious and temperate, the meek and gentle, the just and charitable For this must inevitably follow, if neither men's virtues nor vices be in any degree to be ascribed to themselves. Wretched and desperate is that shift that equals the just and unjust, the industrious and sluggard! Wretched the shift that equals the tyrant and most gracious Prince, the loyallest subject and the traitor, the faithful friend and the perfidious flatterer! And all this we must be driven to, or else, as we cannot deny that some are happier than others, so we must not deny that the happiness of one, or misery of the other, is owing, in some measure at least, to their virtues and vices, and these to themselves. And if this be true, it is evident we may be happy if we will; and though we may not equal the most happy, (for I will not exclude temper, education, fortune, from all share in men's misery or happiness,) yet, since every degree of happiness is truly valuable, let us with all our might endeavor to be as happy as we can.

 

Nee quia desperes invicti membra Glyconis, Nodosa corpus noli prohibere chiragra: Est quiddam prodire tenus......

 

 2. It is a great absurdity to confound or equal virtue and vice; but it is not the greatest they commit, who deny the possibility of attaining happiness; for he that banishes happiness out of the world, does at the same time banish good and evil out of it too: for good being nothing else but the subserviency of some things to our true interest, and evil the tendency of others to our trouble and injury; it must needs follow, if there be good and evil in the world, that he who has a greater share of good than evil, is a happy man; and he that denieth good and evil, may with as plausible a confidence deny all human passions, and assert that there is neither love nor hatred, neither joy, nor grief, nor hope, nor fear, nor pity, nor envy; for good or evil are the objects or causes of all these. I may then, I think, take it for granted, that no man will say, there is no such thing as good or evil in the world; and consequently all men must be obliged to acknowledge such a state as happiness in the world too, unless they will affirm one of these three things:—Either, First, That evil grows up every where in thick crops; good thinly scattered, and rarely to be found: that, consequently, there are none whose share of evil doth not infinitely outweigh that of good. 

 

 Or, Secondly, That evil has so much of venom and malignity in it, that a little evil contributes more to our misery, than a great deal of good can to our happiness; so ripe and full grown is evil, so lank, under grown, and every way imperfect, is good. Or, Thirdly, That we ourselves can contribute nothing to that good or evil which is our portion; it is the product, not of reason or industry, but of time, or chance, or of some other principle which is not in our power. All these deserve to be weighed, not only because the examination of them will tend to cheer and encourage the minds of men, and to render the great Creator and Governor of the world more dear and venerable to us; but also, because it will be of some use and service to the whole inquiry.

 

First, therefore, let us examine what truth there is in that fancy which supposes the weight and number of evils in the world infinitely to exceed that of good things. I know it is natural to some to blaspheme GOD and the King, to quarrel with and reproach Providence, and their government; while loaded with good things they stretch themselves on silken couches, under roofs of cedar, and loll at ease in their gilt coaches; and yet at the same time the honest countryman, who with security, though much drudgery, ploughs, and sows, and reaps, a few acres, eats his plain meals with cheerfulness, sleeps without disturbance, blesses GOD, and magnifies the goodness of his Prince. The contentment of the one is an evident proof of GOD'S bounty and goodness, whose provision doth far exceed the necessities of his creatures; the discontent of the other can be no disparagement to it, since he has dealt liberally with them, though they enjoy not what they possess.

 

 We are not therefore to judge of the world by the clamors and invectives of such as are always mutinous and dissatisfied, -but by the suffrages of those humble, modest, and grateful souls, who know how to value the favors of Heaven, who do not mar every blessing by peevishness, or envy, or pride, or wantonness; but can weigh their enjoyments, their hopes, and their merits, in just and equal balances; and, discerning how much the one exceeds the other, cheerfully praise the world's Author and Governor. If this controversy were to be determined by such, we should find these, even under uneasy and tyrannical governments, and in the more barren and niggardly countries, confuting this objection by their cheerfulness and contentment.

 

 But let us decide the controversy, not by votes, but reasons; let us consider the state and nature of the world: Is there one in a thousand who is left utterly unfurnished of all means of wise and wholesome instruction, which is the good of the soul of man Or is there one in a thousand maimed and defective in the powers and faculties of the soul, or senses and members of the body Is there one in a thousand, that cannot by industry, or virtue, provide himself a comfortable subsistence Survey the world, examine and consider man, and then tell me whether there be any room for those reproaches and spiteful reflections, by which some men have so outraged nature and Providence PHILO JESUS tells us a Rabinnical story to this purpose:’ That when GOD had created the world, he demanded of a Prophet, whether he saw any thing wanting to complete the glorious work Who told him, nothing but an intelligent being to praise the wise and gracious architect. GOD approving the advice, created man.'

 

 The Hebrew philosophers (it seems) thought the world exactly perfect, such a work as might bespeak GOD the author of it: and no wonder, for they were inspired by MOSES, who brings in GOD reflecting upon his own Creation, thus: “ And GOD saw every thing that he had made; and, behold, it was very good.” If we look up to the heavens, such is the beauty of those bodies, so uniform and regular their motions, so exactly are they disposed both for ornaments and service, that the speculation exalts the mind, and insensibly raises it above the body; nay, it has tempted some to think every star moved and acted by some understanding spirit. If we look upon the earth, so wonderful is the variety, so inconceivable the plenty of it, that it is not only sufficient for the needs and desires of the sober and temperate, but even for the luxury and wantonness of the fanciful and intemperate: every place almost is a paradise; there is no country almost which cannot afford us Tempe, or Campania, opus gaudentis natures, a work which nature seems to have created when in the gayest and the kindest humor.

 

 Let us now consider man, and we shall find with the Psalmist,” that he is wonderfully made; he is but a little lower than the angels; he is crowned with glory and honor; and all the creatures are put under his feet; all the fowls of the air, and all the beasts of the field.” How infinitely wise as well as kind does GOD appear in his-contrivance So modest are his appetites, that a small portion, of nature's good is a full meal, or feast; and yet so various, that there is nothing in all the provision, in all the joys of nature, which he is not capable of tasting and enjoying.

 

 If we regard the mind of man, it is capable of a most surprising satisfaction, in the contemplation of the hidden powers, the secret laws and operations, of nature; nay, it vises higher, it passes the bounds of mechanic nature, it entertains itself with moral perfections, and the spiritual excellencies of an invisible world, and gazes on those charms/and glories which are not subject to the bodily eye: Vultus nimis lubricos aspici: such is the nature of the soul, that, when it pleases, it can retire within itself, withdraw from sense, and be secure and happy in its own strength and wealth, Ipsa suis pollens opibus: and, when it pleases, it can walk forth, like DINAH, to see the daughters of the land; those beauties that sense presents it with; and that too, (if guarded by awful virtue,) without the danger of a rape. To say all of it in a word, it is capable of a share in all the good, and not necessarily subject to any of the evil, of this world.

 

Fatis avolsa voluntas.

 

 There are no fates that can control the sovereign freedom of the soul. If this be a true account of man, and the state of the world, which he inhabits; if the one be filled with all things necessary and delightful, and the other be endued with all those capacities that fit him to enjoy them; nay, if his soul can raise itself above the pleasures, and exempt itself from the changes and revolutions of it; nothing is more manifest, than that the evil in life cannot be greater” than the good, unless it be owing to ourselves.

 

 And to leave this matter beyond dispute, no man pretending to receive revelation, should admit the contrary opinion: for no texts of divine writ are more plain than those which proclaim to us GOD'S love of mankind; that” he doth not afflict or grieve willingly the children of men: “ that the book of Creation and Providence is writ all over with the legible characters of love; so legible, that it renders the idolatry and wickedness of the Gentiles disable: and finally, that” he gives us richly all thing* to enjoy;” where the Apostle excellently expresses at once the bounty and design of GOD: his bounty, in that he gives us all things richly; his design, not to enkindle, and then delude our desires, but on purpose to be enjoyed by us. So then the Christian cannot believe the evils to outweigh the goods of life, without contradicting revelation; nor the Atheist, or Epicurean, as shall appear front what follows, without contradicting himself.

 

 If nature has contrived the world so ill, if it has scattered good things with such a sparing hand, whence are all those-transports and ecstasies we meet with amongst these men What is the ground What is the matter of them Whence so rich a crop of sensual pleasures Whence so much dotage on, and fondness for, the world we so com” plain of Whence are the charms and irresistible temptations which the generality of mankind is vanquished by Whence is it that men are so willing to set up their rest oa this side Canaan

 

 Again: If nature has been such a step-mother to man; if it has forwardly designed him little else but mischief; •whence that sagacity and penetration of mind, searching -with delight into all the retirements of nature Whence that comprehensive and almost immense capacity of pleasure Whence that strength, and greatness of soul, enabling not only to confront, but to despise evils, and to” be happy in despite of them These are advantages so incomparably great and good, that no evils can be balanced against them: and it is evident that no writings were ever more stuffed with boasting accounts of the nature of man, than those1 of the Epicureans. And thus, from all put together, whether we consult the nature and state of the world and man, the testimony of revelation or reason, the suffrages of the good-humored and grateful part of mankind, or the confessions of the voluptuous and atheistical, it is evident that good does outweigh evil in the design of GOD or nature. But have I not myself, in the beginning of this treatise, acknowledged the weight and number of evils great T Yes, but evils not of GOD'S creation, but own: for the truth of the whole is, *. Not things themselves, but the shades and phantasms, wanton, superstitious, or forward minds raise about them, disturb the quiet and repose of man. So then, if we ourselves do not multiply the number of evils, our share of good in life may be much greater than our share of evil; and if we be not necessary to our own misery, we may be happy, unless,—

 

 Secondly, Evil has so much of venom and malignity in it, that a little evil contributes more to our misery than a great deal of good can to our happiness. We may judge of the force and energy of good and evil, either by that influence they generally have, or that they ought to have upon the state of mankind. If we consider what impressions they ought to make upon men, the question will come to a speedy and happy issue; for then we must either reckon nothing an evil, but a moral one, that is, sin and vice; or at least we must acknowledge that the venom and malignity of other evils is not comparable to that of moral ones. This latter opinion is an unquestionable truth: for who will not make a wide difference between a misfortune and a crime, between an affliction and a punishment, between those inconveniences, which we suffer as guilty criminals, and those we suffer as unfortunate innocents, or afflicted saints 

 

 For notwithstanding the evils or pains should be in the matter of them the same, yet there is a vast difference in the suffering; the one make man much more miserable than the other; for our misfortunes pnly reach the body, not the mind: but when we suffer for our crimes, the whole man suffers, the soul as well as the body: misfortunes, when the storm is passed, leave no deformed ruins, no wounds, no scars behind them; but our crimes leave stains and guilt behind, which haunt the mind with perpetual horror. From this distinction of the nature and effect of evils, we may infer this comfortable conclusion, that nothing can make man wholly, truly miserable, but himself; nothing can oppress him by the weight of moral evils, but his own choice, for nothing can compel or necessitate him to be wicked; the wounds of natural evils (so I will call all the rest distinct from moral) are faint and slight; the mind of man ought not to suffer itself to be too deeply and sensibly affected by them. It is the work of reason and religion to fortify the mind against the impressions of these evils: and that mind that is furnished with true notions of things, with a rational and solid faith, with steady and well-grounded hopes, may bear the impetuous shock of all these waves and storms, calm and unmoved: nay, I may boldly affirm, not only that virtue checks and controuls these evils, blunts their edge, and abates their force; but what is more, that their own force is weak and contemptible, unless our own vices be combined and confederated against us. Our pride must aid our enemy to render his a front provoking; our covetous-ness and ambition must assist fortune to render it destructive to our tranquility. Falsehood, under a disguise of friendship, could never have abused our confidence, by betraying our infirmities, or forsaking us in affliction, had not our own folly and self-conceit first betrayed us, exposing us a naked prey to flattery and treachery. The storm that snatcheth away a relation or a friend, could never overthrow me, if I stood upon my own bottom; if I were not guilty of one of the greatest weaknesses, of placing my happiness in any thing out of my own power, and so making myself dependant upon another man's fancy or fortune. Finally, death itself must derive its terrors from, the mournful solemnities we dress it in, or else it would prove but a very inconsiderable evil, or none at all. Thua it is evident, that if we distinguish evils into natural and moral, we shall have little reason to think the influence of evil so malignant and deadly, since it is in our own power to avoid moral evils; and natural ones strike one but half way; they wound not the soul that is armed and guarded with reason and religion.

 

 I think it is now sufficiently evident, that natural evils are not of that mighty efficacy, that it should be thought a little evil doth more contribute to our misery, than a great deal of good can' to our happiness: it is apparent how slight the impressions are which they ought to make upon us. It will now be time to consider what impressions they do generally make upon us, what their real effect commonly is. It is true there are some that mix heaven and earth upon every slight occasion, that will receive good but no evil at the hand of GOD, most insensible of blessing, but extremely sensible of any evil: but this speaks not the “nature of the evil, but of the man; it speaks him ungrateful, but not the evil intolerable. Nor is human nature to be measured by the humor of a few, but by the sense and temper of the generality; amongst whom it is easy to observe, how instinct teaches us to elude the stroke and force of evil: nature opens its arms, and enlarges itself to receive good, and all the powers of the mind greedily strive to share in it; but it contracts and shrinks, retires and stands upon its defence at the approach of evil: it is apt to flatter itself, and apt to hope, apt to lessen evil, and magnify good; apt to put off the thoughts of approaching trouble, and to anticipate its pleasures; it is full of great designs and gaudy projects, and easily prone to delight itself with airy and imaginary schemes of good: this and much more is evident in a thousand daily instances of human life; by which it is plain, nature, in the contrivance of man, Tendly designed to fit and dispose him for happiness, by giving him such inclinations as might serve to lessen the evil, to increase the good, to supply the defects of this imperfect state. Is it not manifest, that whereas evil looks less to us, good looks bigger at a distance We are willing to help fortune, and call in the aids of fancy to adorn and enrich her gifts. Nor is it easy to defeat man of this humor, He dreams of a bottomless abyss in every good, in every pleasure; and notwithstanding the daily confutations of experience, lie still desires to repeat his enjoyments again, as if he still hoped to find some new untasted sweet, some pleasure undiscovered before. How apt are we to flatter ourselves, and willing to be flattered!

 

 Every man represents himself and state under the fairest idea that he can possibly frame of it, and turns away his eye and thought from every thing that may offend him: beauty, strength, health, understanding, wisdom, reputation, power, wealth, and whatsoever future good he can form but a slender pretension to, make up the gay idea; nay, and even long life and undisturbed security, are there drawn as two pillars to support the building, the daring but kind confidence of man, that makes himself the master of fate and fortune! If you should mark this tablet with ever so curious an eye, you would not be able to discover either deformity or folly, or dishonor, or poverty, or disease, or death: for these, man, kind to himself, banishes far from his thoughts. Nay, so easy to be imposed upon are men, that they make even those things which are the trophies of death, and the monuments of man's frailty and vanity, minister to them some comforts against mortality; they divert and entertain themselves with the mourning and pomp of, their obsequies, with blacks and tombs, with the dying echoes of surviving reputation, and with the grandeur and felicity of their posterity; as if they fondly persuaded themselves they should be concerned in all these things. 

 

 And if this kind, as well as obstinate hope, do in some measure break the force of the greatest evil, that is, death, we cannot but expect that it should be highly serviceable to man, in moving him to despise, or enabling him to vanquish, less evils: I examined not what is here the office of philosophy, or the work of virtue; I have barely represented the inclinations of man, only that you may see that he is not such, a defenseless, shiftless creature, but that his reason dares confront, and tan vanquish, evils in open battle, and by downright force, and his instinct elude them by various arts. It doth therefore manifestly appear, that as the number of evils is not greater than that of goods, so neither is the vigor and energy of the one so much greater than that of the other, that a little evil should outweigh a great deal of good;, that a little evil should contribute more to a man's misery, than a great deal of good to his happiness. There remains nothing further to be examined, but,

 

 Thirdly, That fancy which ascribes man's portion of good and evil to time or chance; to any thing but to himself: and he that can with confidence affirm this, may with as good grace assert, that there is neither wisdom nor folly in the world; for if there be, this imagination must soon vanish; since wisdom is nothing else but the choice of true good, and rejection of evil; the pursuit of our true happiness, by the most rational means, and a declining all those things that are repugnant to it. And though success do not always attend wisdom and virtue, yet you shall never persuade any but madmen or fools, that it is in vain to be virtuous, or irrational to be wise. SOLOMON has indeed, observed, “That the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill: “ but notwithstanding, I must ever think with him, that” wisdom excels folly, as much as light doth darkness;” not only because more delightful in itself, but also, because it is the happiest guide of human life, blessed generally with success; success in things necessary, not superfluous: for I cannot see how it can be any disparagement to Providence, to turn that plenty another way, which would not, like soft distilling rains and dew, cherish, refresh, and increase the tender plants, wisdom and virtue, but like a flood, wash away the earth from their roots, and either utterly extirpate or leave them oppressed and buried in rubbish. If this were not true, if the experience as well as reason of mankind did not confirm it, men would not serve apprenticeships to trades, study arts or sciences, strive with toil and hazard to make their point, but lazily and securely stay till fortune ran in golden showers into their laps.

 

 By a recapitulation of all that has been hitherto discoursed, it may easily appear how far I have advanced in the proof of that assertion, that happiness may be attained in this world. I have showed, that some are happier than others; and that difference is to be imputed to the virtues of some, and the vices of others. I have proved that the world abounds with good things; that there is no appetite or capacity of man, that may not find objects proper and agreeable, and such as in a great measure may delight and satisfy; and that man is endued with such a variety of faculties and senses, that there is scarcely any thing in all the variety of beings the world contains, which he is not capable of enjoying. From whence it clearly follows, that man may be happy in the enjoyment of these good things, unless the evil of life sour and embitter the good, or the attainment of the good be out of the power of man. To remove all suspicion of both which, I discoursed briefly of the nature of evil, and of the nature of man, evincing plainly the impotence and feebleness of the one, and the strength and preparations of the other; and for the close of all, I have endeavored to make it manifest, that good and evil are not so much the result of time or chance, as the necessary consequence of wisdom and folly. From all which the conclusion that naturally arises is this: That if man be miserable, it is his own fault; or, which is all one, a man may be happy if he will; which was the thing to be proved.

 

 Let us try now, by a close application of all that has been said to the wants and necessities of mankind, what the evidence, what the conviction, what the real use and force of this discourse is. I am unhappy, I am miserable; whosoever thou art that sayest so, thou must needs mean one of these two things: Thou dost enjoy no good, or art oppressed with evil: if the latter, I demand what evil Speak out, speak plainly. There are three sorts of evils: The evils of the mind, the evils of the body, the evils of fortune. Which of these art thou oppressed by The evils of the mind These are either sinful passions, or, what is the effect of them, guilty fears. Nothing can compel thee to be wicked; and if thou wilt cease to be %vicked, thou wilt cease to fear. The evils of the body

 

 They are generally the effect of unruly passions and a disorderly life; and where they are not, the pleasures of the mind will outweigh the pains of the body. The evils of fortune It is in thy power whether these shall be really evils, or no; they befall thy possessions, not thee: the foolish and vicious mind only suffers in these; the wise and virtuous one is above them; it is therefore thy own fault if thou be oppressed with evil. But wilt thou say, I enjoy no good; no satisfactory good Why, is there no good to be enjoyed I have already proved the contrary; and if I had not, how easy were it here to do it There is truth to entertain thy understanding, moral perfections to delight thy will, variety of objects to treat thy senses, the excellencies of the visible and invisible world, to be enjoyed by thee: why then dost thou defer to live Why dost thou not begin to enjoy Here it is evident that thou must be forced to say one of these two things: Either that thou art not capable of enjoying the blessings; or, that they are out of thy reach, out of thy power. To say that thou art not capable of them, is to renounce the faculties of thy soul, and the senses of thy body: to say they are out of thy reach is, in effect, to say, that virtue and vice, wisdom and folly, are all one; or, which is every jot as absurd, that thou art wicked and sottish, and canst not help it. And this is that indeed, which, in effect, all do say that accuse Fortune, or Fate, or Nature, or any thing but themselves, as the causes of their misery: and yet as absurd as this is, it must be now examined, because the minds of men are perverted and discouraged by such notions. I will therefore now proceed to the next thing, that is, to answer the objections against the attainment of happiness.

 

CHAPTER 3:

 

God is not the Cause of Man's Misery.

 

 Would men talk coherently, the assertion of my former chapter would meet but few opposers; none can be rationally allowed to deny the possibility of happiness, but such as assert fate: for he that leaves to man his liberty, leaves him in a capacity of happiness; it being hardly possible to conceive, that a man should be free in his choice of good and evil, and yet necessarily or unavoidably miserable: besides, few of those who are fond of fate, are willing to extend its empire over the liberty of man's mind; it being as easy to confute their fancy, if they did, by some instance of a free choice, as it was by moving or walking to confute his who denied motion.

 

 If it be in the next place considered, that none can rationally maintain fate, but such as deny a GOD, since the belief of a GOD does naturally include his creation and government of the world; and this again as naturally infers either vice or virtue, rewards or punishments. All this put together amounts to thus much: That none should exclude happiness, but such as exclude GOD and liberty out of the world; and since very few I hope are guilty of this, I ought to have very few antagonists. But when I am to answer objections, I am not to consider so much what men should say, as what they do: since therefore men are wont to impute their misery one while to GOD, and another to chance, I must examine what justice there is in these complaints.

 

 In this chapter, therefore, I shall not only vindicate GOD from all aspersions and calumnies, but also fully assert the love of GOD to mankind, whereby I shall not only baffle all the poor pretences of such as charge GOD directly or obliquely with their misery; but also, more strongly establish my own position, by demonstrating GOD'S readiness to contribute all assistance that is necessary to our attainment of happiness. In prosecuting this, I shall,—

 

 First, Evince the importance of entertaining right notions of GOD.

 

 Secondly, Because of all GOD'S attributes, his goodness and holiness have the most direct influence on the present question, I shall particularly confine myself to these-two. To begin with the First. The chief thing in religion is, to have true notions of GOD; it being otherwise impossible that religion should serve the great interest of GOD'S glory, and man's happiness; for false and unworthy notions of him must needs bereave GOD of the honor and worship due to him from his creatures, by alienating the minds of men, and betraying them into superstition, idolatry,, or atheism; and thus that religion which was designed to glorify GOD by the manifestation of his divine excellencies, and to advance man in a state of blessedness, by influencing his life, and filling his mind with cheerfulness, shall be perverted to ends directly contrary, and prove instrumental to dishonor GOD, and render man miserable. The truth of this has been too evident in those visible effects of ignorance, or misrepresentation of the divine nature, amongst the Gentiles; the want of conceiving aright his omnipotence and immensity, joined with the numerous necessities of mankind, did bring forth, or at least confirm, polytheism. Groundless apprehensions of cruelty in GOD, brought forth superstition; and the absurdities of polytheism and superstition, gave birth to atheism. 

 

 And at this day, there are many mis chiefs which I must impute either to false notions of GOD, or want of just consideration of the true ones, or at least to not arguing clearly and truly from them. For from one of these reasons it proceeds, that the worship of some men is so slight, empty, and trifling; the religion of others so melancholy and uncomfortable, and truly superstitious: and I am afraid there is too much of atheistical looseness, carnal presumption, and wretchless despair, owing to the same cause. Would not a right notion of GOD easily convince a scrupulous trifler, that GOD were not to be pleased but by sincere and substantial holiness, nor displeased but by voluntary wickedness All things else weighing nothing in the balance of the sanctuary, and not deserving the notice or reo-ard of the Governor of the world.

 

 It is evident therefore, of what importance it is to settle in the minds of men a right understanding of the divine nature; and of all the attributes of GOD, there are none that have a more immediate and powerful influence, either upon the conduct of man's life, or the comfort of his mind, than these two,—His holiness and goodness. These make us willing and desirous to believe that there is a GOD; these make us love him and depend upon him, as one from whom we may rationally expect all that is good.” He that comes to GOD,” says ST. PAUL, “must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of all those that diligently seek him.” These words do not only assert the being of a GOD, but also his holiness and goodness; both which may be clearly inferred from three propositions couched in those words of the Apostle, That" he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” 1. That all men may seek GOD diligently if they will. 2. That it is the desire of GOD that they should do so. And, 3. That GOD will reward all that do so.

 

 On these principles is religion founded; on these principles the honor of GOD and the happiness of man must be established. I will therefore discourse here, first of the goodness; and secondly, of the holiness of GOD; which I distinguish from one another only for method's sake.

 

 Treating of the goodness of GOD, I will, First, Prove it by undeniable arguments. Secondly, I will show that it extends itself to man. Thirdly, I will explain the nature of divine assistance; I mean, that which GOD vouchsafes man in order to happiness.

 

First, therefore, To begin with the proofs of GOD'S infinite goodness.

 

Cruelty was the property of the Gentile gods, and not of the true GOD: human blood, in which the Canaanites, Carthaginians, and others, sacrificed, was an oblation fit for Baal or Moloch, that is, for devils, not for GOD. Innate wrath and cruelty is inconsistent with a happy nature or a happy state; for these are furious and tormenting passions; nor can we imagine that such a being should make its residence in heaven, a place of peace and love, or be delighted with hallelujahs and adorations of angels: this were no pleasure, no music to a being in whom wrath and cruelty were predominant, nor were those good, those holy, those charitable spirits, fit attendants, fit ministers, for such a being. 

 

 No; could we suppose that there were an evil god, one in whom cruelty and wrath were his beloved attributes, we must necessarily conclude that he would make hell his court, that his guards and courtiers would be fiends and furies, and that the shrieks and torments of wretched creatures would be the pleasure, the harmony, he delighted in. This were a god fit for a Hobbist; one who can discern no difference between virtue and vice, between good and evil. And yet I cannot but retract and condemn this thought; for O! no other GOD is fit for him, but He whom he denieth: no other GOD is fit for such a wretch, but the GOD of love and mercy; to whom I recommend him.

 

 This notion of the Deity, which represented that Being which was kind and benign, as terrible and dreadful; which was gracious and fatherly, as tyrannical; which was friendly and careful of us, as injurious and hurtful; which was mild and gentle, as fierce and savage; always gave such a distaste to all ingenuous tempers, that they thought atheism a much more excuseable impiety than superstition. Hence is that of PLUTARCH: “ I had rather men should say of me, There neither was, nor is, such a one as PLUTARCH, than that they should say, that he was a man of fickle, inconstant, forward, revengeful, and implacable temper.” Let us not, therefore, entertain such an idea of GOD, as human nature would recoil from, and start back, pale and scared at the sight. Let us not fasten those characters upon GOD, which a good-tempered man, if charged with them, would look upon as the foulest reproaches and most injurious accusations; especially since a defect is not only more conspicuous, but more reproachful, where there is nothing but perfection; and peevishness and cruelty are infinitely more mischievous in an almighty, than an impotent, being. I might shun POLYCRATES, DIONYSIUS, PERIANDER; but how should I shun GOD I might leave Samoa, Sicily, or Corinth, and where clemency and justice made their abode, I might make mine; but whither should I go, what place should be my refuge, if the Governor of the world were but an almighty tyfant Thus it is manifest, such kind of representations of GOD tend not to enamour man with GOD, but to alienate and estrange him; they tend not to advance religion, but superstition; they tend to make men dread GOD, but not love him; they are therefore to be banished out of the world, and GOD is to be represented such as our dear LORD, who lay in the bosom of his FATHER, has revealed him,—a GOD of hope, a GOD of love, a GOD who” is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” This is the dictate of nature, this is the dictate of the SPIRIT: “God is love.”

 

 Nor let GOD'S dealings with the Gentile world before the revelation of Christianity be alleged as an objection against the goodness of GOD, and his tenderness and compassion for mankind. It is true,” GOD in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways; and the times of this ignorance he winked at;” he published no revealed law to the Gentiles from heaven; he deputed no Prophets to them, as to his people the Jews, with a commission to restore, by signs and miracles, that natural religion, conformably to which they were to worship GOD; which is the import of those places of ST. PAUL. And it is true that the belief of the living and true GOD, and the natural law of good and evil, were strangely effaced amongst the Gentiles; but notwithstanding all this, it must be remembered too,

 

 1. That GOD ”left not himself without a witness” in any age of Gentilism: the heathens were never destitute of so much light as might have conducted them to GOD, and that happiness he designed them; for besides the traditions transmitted from NOAH to posterity, the Book of Nature and Providence was ever open to them, and this did in most legible characters assert the being of one supreme GOD, and instructed them in the knowledge of, his power and goodness. Thus ST. PAUL: “Nevertheless he left not himself without a witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” Nor was this testimony so unsuccessful, but that in all ages there were some who did ascribe the original and government of the world to GOD, and gave such an account of his holiness and goodness as was sufficient to have founded a rational and excellent worship upon. These were so many lights shining in dark places, as so many justifications of divine providence, and reproaches of man's willful stupidity.

 

 2. It is not in the least to be doubted, but that the nature of their duty, and consequently the condition of” their happiness, was proportioned to those manifestations which GOD made them, to those obligations which he laid before them, and to that strength and assistance which he vouchsafed them. For GOD is not a hard master; he will not make good the accusation of the wicked servant: he will not” take up where he laid not down, nor reap what he did not sow.” In a word, if GOD doth at the last day deal with men according to those several economies of his providence which they are under; and if he has afforded all nations means proportionable to those duties he required of them, and to those degrees of happiness to which he designed them, then” he was always the GOD of the Gentiles, as well as once of the Jews, or now of the Christians; and there is no one part in the whole series of providence, which can give us any color to call into question the care or goodness of GOD towards mankind.

 

The barrenness of some- countries, the servitude and poverty of some people, is a much slighter objection; for until it can appear that poverty is an enemy to virtue, of that wealth, the nurse of sloth and wantonness, is absolutely necessary to man's happiness, it will weigh but very little against so many demonstrations of divine love, that he has not heaped on all nations so many temporal blessings as might put them into a capacity of being lazy, wanton, and insolent.

 

 Now give me leave to make a stand, and like a traveler when he has gained an ascent, look back upon the way I have gone. My undertaking was to demonstrate the love of GOD to mankind; thus far I have advanced towards this with undeniable evidence; I have proved that peevishness, malignity, and cruelty, cannot belong to GOD, because this were inconsistent with the perfection of his nature, or the happiness of his state; nor can it rationally be supposed, that the same properties should belong to those evil spirits which for a long time deluded the world, and that GOD, who has done so much to destroy that kingdom of darkness, to rescue man, and to restore him to a capacity of happiness; how could it be, that GOD should have done so much, as it appears he has, in the contexture of our nature and the contrivance of our state, to make us in love with goodness, and irreconcilable enemies to tyranny, cruelty, arbitrary revenge, if he himself were passionate, furious, and arbitrary in his cruelties Nay, I have advanced further, and have proved, secondly, That boundless love and goodness are the unquestionable attributes of GOD. Nor doth the inconceivable majesty and eminence of the divine nature only, but also the indigence and weakness of human nature, require this; since without it, he could not be the object of our love or dependance, nor consequently of our worship.

 

 Having proceeded thus far, and proved that tyranny or cruelty are utterly repugnant to the divine nature, and boundless love and goodness the essential and inseparable properties of it, I must now, Secondly, take notice, that the goodness of GOD extends to man, and has a particular regard to his happiness.” The world being now created, and mankind formed after GOD'S image, (*, “We are his offspring,” says ST. PAUL, out of the Poet,) inactive and unconcerned love seems to me a contradiction, and infinite boundless goodness confined within heaven, cannot but seem as gross a one. Let it therefore remain an unshaken truth, that GOD is good, and that his goodness doth exert and express itself towards mankind, and we shall from hence gain these two points,—

 

1. That GOD is not the cause of man's misery; and, what is more yet,—

 

2. That he is most ready to further and assist him in all’his endeavors after happiness.

 

 1. The first of these is apparent: for if GOD be infinitely good, then every thing that came out of his hands must, in the state of its creation, have been exceeding good; the end of the creation must have been something extremely kind and gracious, and the law he prescribed his creatures, for the attainment of that end, must be as good as wise. This must have been the glorious state of things when GOD contrived this wonderful frame of nature, when he erected this vast work, the world; and in all the continued progress of divine providence, we are to expect no other acts of government than what may become the most gracious Prince, the most tender Father; for the same immense goodness that once created, doth ever continue to rule the world. Let us not therefore accuse GOD, but ourselves, if we be not happy. Blessings, indeed, and mercies, like fruitful seasons, descend upon us without our importunity; but evils and mischiefs come not until our sins and provocations have pulled them down upon his. GOD may indeed, like a kind parent, train up a son through a strict discipline to virtue and glory; he may throw difficulties in our way, on purpose to reward our conquest; he may, like a wise Physician, restore us to our health by bitter potions; and he will, like an excellent Governor, punish, if need be, our wanton contempt of love and mercy, by severity; but he will never, like a savage tyrant, delight in the sufferings or ruin of innocent subjects; he will never prescribe impossible laws, that he may enjoy the pleasure of bloody executions; he will never make the-groans of wretched people his music, nor think misery and death the best marks of his absolute power, or fairest ornaments of his throne. No; we shall never need any other proof to clear the divine majesty from any such imputation, than to examine ourselves, and reflect upon our own behavior; we shall soon find that we alone are guilty of our ruin, and that GOD is utterly free from it; our excessive enjoyments create the diseases of the body, and our excessive passions the pains and torments of the mind, and most of the changes in our fortune derive themselves from both. A languishing body, and a languishing reputation, a broken estate, and a dejected mind, are the common effects of a disorderly life; and such a life is the natural effect of a mind enslaved to the body, and estranged from GOD, not only by a neglect, but by a contempt, of all those means by which a good GOD designed to bring him through virtue to glory; and then at last a guilty conscience, a distracted mind, and a miserable death, are the consequence and end of all. This is the progress which our sin and folly make: we cannot think that a good GOD can direct or necessitate us to these courses; they are as repugnant to his laws as to our interest; and the same time we forfeit our happiness, we disappoint his love and goodness. All the ways and methods of GOD are kind and gracious, and wise and-rational; inanimate bodies do not desert those offices he has prescribed them; animals move regularly by those instincts he has implanted in them, and so both the one and the other necessarily serve those excellent ends for which they were created; but man having liberty woven into the constitution of his nature, and having no compulsory, but only a directing law prescribed him, has-perverted his own ways, and abused his liberty, and made-that his ruin, which, if well used, had enhanced his reward. This is the account which the Scripture gives us of man's misery; he imputes it wholly to himself, and represents his obstinacy as displeasing to GOD as it is fatal to himself: “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.” “As I live, I delight not in the death of a sinner; turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die” “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the Prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”

 

 But this is not all we gain from the assurance of GOD'S infinite goodness, that we have no reason to apprehend “any harm from him, that he cannot be the author of our

 

misery; but we may confidently persuade ourselves on the other side,—

 

 (2.) That he is most ready to further and assist us in all our endeavors after happiness. And now, methinks, I am so far from questioning the possibility of attaining happiness, that I begin already to feel and enjoy it; I see the day breaking in upon me from above. How can he choose but be happy, who is the love, the care of GOD I may walk, like Peter, on the waves, and bid defiance to the storms; I know I shall never sink, whilst that GOD upholds me who calls me this way to him; I can now easily believe that my temper may be transformed, my corruption put off, and I be made partaker of a divine nature; since the SPIRIT of GOD will dwell with me, the light of GOD will shine upon me, and the power of GOB will succor me. Can I imagine as much as any color why I should not now be able to attain to an excellent state of virtue, or why this virtue should not be able to vanquish all those difficulties that oppose my happiness, since I am assured that GOD will not refuse me his SPIRIT, if I ask it, and that his grace will be sufficient for me

 

 You see of what vast importance this truth is, that God will be always ready to assist every man in his endeavors after happiness; and therefore, though it stands here as a necessary and undeniable conclusion from, the foregoing discourse; though the perfection of the divine nature amounts to little less than a demonstration of it; for beneficence to his creatures is necessarily included in the-notion of perfection; yet I will dwell a little longer on the confirmation and illustration of it. There are three eminent acts of divine assistance: The first is such a direction of the events of secular affairs, that they may tend to our good; the second is, his assistance of us in-the attainment of virtue; and the third is, his recruiting us by fresh supplies of strength in all otir hazardous conflicts and extraordinary trials. Now though I could not give an account of the manner how GOD performs this kind of work of his providence, yet ought not that to-dissuade me from the belief of it; because we know that our comprehension ought not to be the standard of divine perfections, nor the narrow bounds of our imagination the utmost extent of the Almighty's power. However it is not difficult to explain this assistance of GOD in such sort as may free it from the least suspicion of implying a contradiction.

 

 For, First, as to his direction of temporal events: how easy will it be for us to conceive this possible to GOD, if we consider, first, That GOD can form what impressions he pleases in the minds of men, and inspire them with, what affections he shall think most serviceable to his designs For there is not the least colour to imagine that the soul is any more exempt from the sovereignty of GOD than the body, or that GOD cannot do that which the great, or the cunning, or the eloquent, nay, the popular and ambitious, seldom fail to do,—raise what passions he pleases in the mind of man. Or if we consider, secondly, That the power and efficacy of nature is> wholly in his hands; that life or death, plenty or poverty, every thing depends upon his will; for the winds and beas, earth and air, fire, hail, and vapours, obey his voice, and are all of them, as often as he pleases, the instruments and executioners of his will. He that stills the ragings of the multitude, and calms the passions of the mighty; He at whose command new creatures enter upon the stage of the world, and the old leave k; what is impossible for him to do Nay, what is it this Almighty Governor cannot do, without moving one step out of the common road of his providence; without employing any extraordinary instrument, or exerting any extraordinary power For what secular interest can there be imagined, whose success or disappointment depends not upon some or other of these natural causes And yet we must acknowledge further, thirdly, That the ALMIGHTY has not set himself such immutable, unalterable laws, but that he has reserved to himself the prerogative of suspending or overruling them when he pleases; I mean with respect to the motions of natural bodies, or revolutions of secular affairs; and if such an interposal of divine power cannot be conceived to be other than a miracle, I must confess I do not look upon one age only, but every age, as an age of miracles; nay, I believe such as these are wrought every day, for the protection or relief of those who depend upon this Governor of the world: for I know not to what purpose I should, like JONAH or his mariners, call upon GOD in a storm, if it were never to be laid until it had spent its force and fury; I know not to what purpose I should implore the ALMIGHTY'S direction upon all my deliberations in perplexed and entangled affairs, if J could expect no other light than what my laboring mind could give itself; I know not why I should address myself to GOD in the pains and danger of an unsupportable disease, if the medicines will be the same, and their virtue the •same, if the fever will abate, and its dames be extinguished, or extinguish life in the same degree and manner, if I pray, or if I do not. All these ways of divine providence are very plain and intelligible; and therefore it is manifest that we may, without any absurdity, ascribe to GOD such a superintendency over human affairs, as may render the issue of them most serviceable to the true interest of those that worship him.

 

 As to the second part of divine assistance, which consists in aiding us in the attainment of holiness, I readily acknowledge, as far as this is performed by the internal operations of the SPIRIT, by the influx of divine light or heavenly vigor, I do no more understand the manner of sanctification, than that of the creation of the soul; this I know, that virtue is a rational work, which implies the knowledge of our duty, and a power to perform it; and therefore this I know, that this aid must consist in the improvement of my rational faculties, in some accession to the reason of my understanding, and to the power of my will. Now, though I cannot comprehend how GOD does this, yet how easily can I believe it possible for him to do it, since it is natural to imagine, that He who created my understanding can improve it, and he who invested me with liberty, can confirm or enlarge it; or, (if you please,) rescue it from that diseased and servile condition, into which it was degenerated, and restore it to the health and soundness of its first state.

 

 The third act of divine providence does not imply anew manner, but a new degree of assistance, and therefore contains in it no new difficulty: and as to the truth and certainty of this sort of assistance, no man who believes the Gospel can question it, since this every where ascribes, as well perfection as conversion to GOD; as well the finishing as the beginning of sanctification, to his grace; it every where promises us the might and power of GOD'S SPIRIT, to”strengthen and establish us,” and exhorts us to” come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in the time of need.”

 

 But it doth not so nearly concern the happiness of man to be instructed in the manner, as to be thoroughly persuaded of the truth, of divine assistance; and therefore, choosing rather to be tedious than defective in the proof of it, I will add to those arguments taken from the nature of GOD, whatever force and strength can be derived from the consideration of divine government, which is the expression of the divine nature, and the image of its perfection visible in its effect.

 

 The-Gospel contains this doctrine in almost every page, •and the lives of apostles and martyrs are so many illustrious instances of the divine favor and love, performing those promises which he had made them by his SON. The Jewish polity was a theocracy; GOD did for a great while preside over them immediately, and govern them, (if I may so speak,) without a substitute or viceroy; repeated miracles, repeated prophecies, extraordinary manifestations of himself, and extraordinary revelations, were •the illustrious proofs of GOD'S aflection and care for that people; so that it were to insult over my reader's patience, if I should go about to confirm this truth from the Old and New Testameni; it is therefore only necessary to -examine what the Heathen thought of the necessity of this divine assistance, and what instances of it may be found amongst them.

 

 Whether the Gentiles had any notion of the fall ef man, is not here necessary to be inquired; but this I am sure, they were extremely sensible of that opposition which •virtue met with from the world and the body; they were extremely sensible that the inclinations of the one, and the affluence and troubles of the other, did naturally tend to engage them in vice; and therefore, though they sometimes magnify human nature, yet they were not so forgetful of their own infirmities, or the condition of this life, as not to judge the assistance of GOD indispensably necessary to render them virtuous and happy. Hence it is, that PYTHAGORAS, SOCRATES, and PLATO, were eminent in that part of religion which consists in prayer and invocation. The life of SOCRATES was a life of prayer.

 

 And hence it was, that they generally ascribed their laws to those gods'from whom they received their oracles; the Cretans, Romans, Sec., not more confidently believing that they received laws from MINOS, or NUMA POMPILIDS, than that these received them from LOVE, GERIA, and other gods. And I wonder not that CICERO should say, *;’ There never was a great man enjoyed not some divine impulse; ' since it did so generally obtain through the pagan world, to attribute all the surprising excellencies, or extraordinary exploits, of their eminent men, to the immediate favor and patronage of their gods.

 

 Nor let any one think that this was usual only amongst the barbarous people. Athens itself, Athens, the very-abode of wit and philosophy, attributed the perfections of Eleusinian MELESAGORAS and Cretan EPIMENIDES, to the instruction of some divine being, and those of SOCKATES to” his guardian angel, as well as the Scythians those of their ZAMOLXIS, or they of Proconesus those of AHISTEAS, to the peculiar favor and assistance of their god. Nor ought it to seem strange that the works of HESIOD, HOMER, or other poets, should be ascribed by the Heathens to divine inspiration, since those of AHOLIAH and BEZALEEL are by MOSES himself ascribed to the SPIRIT of GOD; for the poems of the former could not but seem to the Heathens as a rich piece of fancy, as the embroideries of the latter did to Jews: and this puts me in mind of an excellent- argument MAXIMUS TYRIUS makes use of to prove virtue to be derived from the assistance of GOD:’ If arts, (says he,) less excellent in their nature, and less useful in their end, be owing to GOD, how much more virtue, the divine guide and comfort of human life' If there be no good that descends not from above, much less surely the chief and sovereign good of man.

 

 Thus far I have pi'oceeded to show you, what the Heathens thought of the necessity of divine assistance, even in the attainment of virtue; for as to secular matters, and temporal events, their sense of the overruling power and influence of divine providence was “so notorious, that it is not to be called in question; the being and providence of GOD (in this sense of it) seemed so inseparable, that the Epicurean who denied the latter, could never find belief when he professed himself to own the former: nay, even those very men who could not be convinced of a providence by the bounty, were convinced of it by the severity, of Goniriliis chastisement of sins. Such is man's disingenuous temper, that he is more convinced by the wideness and fatality of a wound, that it was inflicted by an Almighty arm, than he is by the greatness of the benefits he receives, that they are distributed by a divine munificence; though the number and infinite value of the good things we receive, -be in itself a much clearer proof of a divine providence, than the evils we suffer can be; for these we can create ourselves; those none but GOD can bestow.

 

 And this opinion of the necessity of GOD'S assistance, sprung not only from the experience of the weakness and corruption of human nature, but also of the power and goodness of the divine nature; for I cannot think that the order, beauty, and greatness of the creation, the fixed and constant returns of fruitful seasons, the filling men's hearts with food and gladness, were the only testimonies which GOD gave the Gentiles of himself, and his care for mankind. When I read that ”angels are the ministering spirits of GOD; “when I read in Daniel, of the Princes of Graecia and Persia, and find that provinces were committed to angels as the viceroys and lieutenants of GOD, I cannot think that these devout and charitable spirits did with less zeal, in their provinces, labor to promote the honor of GOD, and the good of man, than evil spirits did the dishonor of the one, and the ruin of the other: and unless the frequent appearances of angels in the beginning, had possessed men's minds with a firm persuasion that there was a constant commerce maintained between heaven and earth, and that spirits did very frequently engage themselves in the protection and assistance of men, I cannot imagine what foundation there could be for the numerous impostures of oracles, or upon what ground the custom of putting themselves under the patronage of some tutelar spirit, could so generally have prevailed in the pagan world. without this superstition, the poetry of HOMER had been so far from being entertained as sacred and inspired, that it had been universally contemned as an idle rhapsody of unnatural, incredible characters of their gods.

 

 How could any man, who had never heard of the appearances of spirits, nay, who could not conceive any other notion of such fancies than as absurd and impossible, ever digest the gross confidence of a Poet, bringing in a god upon the stage at every turn I do not therefore doubt, but that the gentile world received very many good offices and advantages from good angels, as well as suffered many mischiefs from evil ones: and I think I might with good probability believe, that every good Heathen, as well as SOCRATES, had the assistance of a good spirit.

 

 Nor was the ministry of angels, the only assistance that GOD afforded the gentile world; but in every age he raised up wise and good men, to be his Prophets, or interpreters of nature's law, to the Gentiles. It is true, their faith differed from that of a Christian, and no man could expect it otherwise; for how vast is the difference between the light of nature and that of revelation But if we look upon those motives by which they were acted, they were such as a Christian need not be ashamed of: they looked upon it not only as the perfection of human nature, the bond and support of society, the delight, the guide, and comfort of every particular man's life; but also as the image of GOD, as the only thing that could unjte man to GOD, that could raise man above the pollutions of sensuality, that could enable him to outbrave the fears of fortune, and of death; as that which could fit him for the conversation of heaven; and lastly, they looked upon it as the gift of God.

 

 Who sees not now, that GOD by raising up such men, and assisting them with the spirit of wisdom and courage, which the constancy of many of them in suffering for these truths, and the lustre of their writings, in those dark times, abundantly testified, was an undoubted proof of GOD'S goodness to the Gentiles, and of his concern for their true interest and happiness Why should not this light, which GOD lent the then wandering benighted part of mankind, be as kindly interpreted by man, as it was designed by GOD Why should not the Philosophers of the Gentiles be looked upon as Priests and Prophets, suited to the economy of the law of nature Very excellent use have Christians, even the most learned and pious, made of them; and surely they ought to have proved as much more beneficial to the world they lived in, as they were then more necessary.

 

 I think I have, by this time, said enough, not only to extinguish in any man all superstitious fears, and unworthy apprehensions of the divine majesty; but also to enkindle in him a grateful love of GOD, and cheerful hopes of true, happiness, by establishing this persuasion upon unshaken foundations, That GOD is a good and gracious GOD, that he is always ready to assist every man in his endeavors after happiness. But let not that doctrine be perverted to the betraying of us into sloth, which was designed to inspire the mind with fresh vigor, to quicken and confirm us in an industrious pursuit after our true happiness: for we must remember, that GOD is not only good and gracious, but also,—

 

 Secondly, Holy too: I shall not insist long on this point, because it is already proved; holiness being as necessarily implied in perfection, as love or goodness. I know some have talked, as if GOD were a mere arbitrary being; as if laws were not the image or expression of his nature, but merely the positive precepts of an arbitrary will. If any man can believe that the most perfect being can love or hate without any reason; or that all the laws and actions of GOD shall be consonant to the strictest rules of justice and goodness, and all this by chance; for mere arbitrary motion is blind and guided; such a one seems to be as incapable as he is unworthy of instruction. I can as soon believe lightning and thunder, wind and storm, a god, as believe Him to be a mere arbitrary being. If we consult the Scriptures, nothing is more evident than the sanctity of the divine nature: we are there exhorted,” to walk in the light, because GOD is light; and to be holy, because he is holy;” which holiness doth not regard the declaration of his will, but his nature; this being given as a motive to oblige us to walk according to his righteous

 

precepts, because this alone is that which can please a righteous GOD; this alone is that which can make us like and dear to him: from this attribute of GOD, holiness, we may plainly infer,—

 

 First, That we are not to expect any assistance from him, but then, when that which we enterprise is just and lawful, and we ourselves are not wanting to ourselves; for it is inconsistent with the holiness of GOD, to make his Providence the refuge of laziness or impiety. GOD is the hope of virtue, not the excuse of sloth and” cowardice. This is a safe rule to guide our faith and reliance by; in all our distresses and difficulties we must have recourse to GOD, for these are the times wherein human infirmity requires the support of divine assistance: the utmost strength and perfection of virtue is too weak to bear the shock of calamity alone,’ it must be reinforced by power from above.' But then our own courage and industry must be as vigorous as our prayers; for in vain do we beg new supplies of strength, if we use not what we enjoyed before. Divine bounty doth never supersede man's industry; fruitful showers, and enlivening rays, do not prevent, but second, the labors of the husbandman: GOD observes the same method in the production of a nobler sort of fruit, wisdom, and virtue; the soul, as well as the field, of the sluggard, shall be overrun with weeds: there only shall the divine fruit of happiness grow, where religious discipline tills the ground, and wakeful study sows the seeds of thriving truths among the furrows.

 

 Accordingly, if we consider the lives and practice of excellent men, none were ever so much favorites of heaven, that its gifts grew up in them, like com and wine in the golden age, without culture and dressing. Inspiration itself did not exempt man from the necessity of industry, but oblige him to a greater. Thus, under the Old Testament, a prophetic life was a life of greater strictness and retirement than that of others; and in the New, not to mention the watchings, the fastings, the retirements, the prayers, of our LORD and Master; that account of himself which ST. “PAUL gives us, will inform us, not only what his life was, but what it was expected the life of every one should be, that shared with him in the ministry and dignity of an Apostle: “ But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of GOD, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in labors, in watchings; by pureness, by knowledge.”

 

 Secondly, It is easy to infer, from the sanctity of GOD, that they who expect his assistance, should endeavor to be good and holy: it is virtue that constitutes a man a subject of the heavenly kingdom, and the favorite of GOD: vice is a state of rebellion and defiance against GOD, and he that puts off his allegiance, cannot expect rationally the benefits of that government which he refuses to be under.

 

 It is true, the infinite goodness and clemency of GOD, which are not easily vanquished by man's ingratitude, may pursue such a man with repeated overtures and tenders of grace and pardon, and may leave him in the possession of common benefits, such as health, plenty, friends; but God will never confer upon him the most excellent gifts, the marks of his especial presence and particular favor; he will withdraw from him the aids of his SPIRIT, and leave him to himself, a blind, indigent, and forlorn creature: “ The Holy Spirit of discipline will fly deceit, and will not abide when unrighteousness comes in.”

 

 Thirdly, What different rates we are to set upon the different gifts of GOD: “ Every good gift, and every perfect gift, comes down from above: “ but every gift is not equally good: wealth, power, friends, relations, health, strength, beauty, wit, discretion, virtue, are all good, but not all equal: their value is different, and therefore the degrees of our importunity, and of our faith, and reliance upon GOD, must be proportioned accordingly: a confident faith, and an almost impatient zeal, doth well become us when we seek the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof; when we seek of GOD the divine gifts of wisdom and virtue; but a humble modesty, and a most profound submission, are the ornament and beauty of those who are petitioners for inferior blessings: for GOD has promised the former to all that earnestly sue for them, peremptorily, and without any reservations; but his promises of the latter always imply this condition,” If they shall be for our good: “ for the perfections of the mind are immutable beauties; but those of the body, and all the gaudy things of fortune, are like the fading beauties of a flower: the heat scorches it, the cold nips it, every little chance cracks the stalk, and the hand of a child will serve to crop it. Nothing, therefore, is more acceptable to GOD, than the modesty of our petitions for these good things, and the fervency of them for the other; nothing more delightful to him, unless the granting of them.