_Shewing that all orders of men and women, of all ages, are
obliged to devote themselves to God._
1. I HAVE in the foregoing chapters shewn that all the parts of our
common life, our _employments_, our _talents_ and _fortune_, are to
be made holy and acceptable unto God, by a wise and religious use of
every thing, and by directing our actions and designs to the glory of
God.
I shall now shew, that this holiness of common life, this religious
use of every thing we have, is a devotion that is the duty of all
orders of Christian people.
*_Fulvius_ has had a learned education, and taken his degrees in the
_university_; he came from thence, that he might be free from any
rules of life. He takes no employment upon him, nor enters into any
business, because he thinks that every employment or business calls
people to the just discharge of its several duties. He did not enter
into holy orders, because he looks upon it to be a state that requires
great holiness of life, and it does not suit his temper to be so good.
He will tell you that he never intends to marry, because he cannot
oblige himself to that regularity of life, which he takes to be the
duty of those that are at the head of a family. He refused to be
_godfather_ to his nephew, because he will have no _trust_ of any kind
to answer for.
_Fulvius_ thinks that he is conscientious in this conduct, and is
therefore content with the most _idle_, _impertinent_, and _careless_
life.
He has no religion, no devotion, no pretences to piety. He lives by no
rules, and thinks all is very well, because he is neither a _priest_,
nor a _father_, nor a _guardian_, nor has any _employment_ or family
to look after.
2. *But _Fulvius_, you are a rational creature, and as such, are as
much obliged to live according to _reason_, as a _priest_ is obliged
to attend at the _altar_, or a _guardian_ to be faithful to his trust;
if you live contrary to reason, you don’t commit a small crime, you
don’t break a small trust; but you break the _law_ of your nature,
you rebel against God who gave you that nature, and put yourself
among those whom the God of _reason_ will punish as _apostates_ and
_deserters_.
Though you have no employment, yet as you are baptized into the
profession of the Christian religion, you are as much obliged to
live according to the holiness of the Christian spirit, as any man is
obliged to be honest and faithful in his calling. If you abuse this
great calling, you are not false in a small matter, but you abuse
the precious blood of Christ; you crucify the Son of God afresh; you
neglect the highest instances of divine goodness; and it will be more
tolerable for _Tyre_ and _Sidon at the day of judgment than for you_.
3. It is therefore great folly for any one to think himself at liberty
to live as he pleases, because he is not in such a state of life as
some others are: for if there is any thing dreadful in the abuse of
any _trust_; if there is any thing to be feared for the neglect of any
calling, there is nothing more to be feared than the wrong use of our
_reason_, nor any thing more to be dreaded, than the neglect of our
_Christian calling_; which is not to serve the little uses of a short
life, but to redeem souls unto God, to fill heaven with saints, and
finish a kingdom of eternal glory.
No man therefore must think himself excused from the _exactness_ of
piety, because he has chosen to be _idle_ and _independent_ in the
world; for the _necessities_ of a holy life are not founded in the
several conditions of this life, but in the immutable nature of God
and the nature of man. A man is not to be reasonable and holy, because
he is a _priest_, or a _father_ of a family; but he is to be a pious
priest, and a good father, because piety and goodness are the _laws_
of human nature. Could any man please God, without living according
to _reason_ and _order_, there would be nothing displeasing to God
in an _idle_ priest or a _reprobate_ father. He therefore that abuses
his _reason_, is like him that abuses the _priesthood_; and he that
neglects the holiness of the _Christian life_, is as the man that
disregards the most _important trust_.
4. If a man was to chuse to put out his eyes, rather than enjoy the
light, and see the works of God; if he should voluntarily kill himself,
by refusing to eat and drink, every one would own that such a one was
a rebel against God, that justly deserved his highest indignation. You
would not say, that this was only sinful in a _priest_, or a _master_
of a family, but in every man as such.
Now wherein does the sinfulness of this behaviour consist? Does it
not consist in this, that he abuses his _nature_, and refuses to act
that part for which God had created him? But if this be true, then all
persons that abuse their _reason_, that act a different part from that
for which God created them, are like this man, rebels against God, and
on the same account subject to his wrath.
*Let us suppose that this man, instead of putting out his eyes, had
only employed them in looking at _ridiculous things_, or shut them up
in _sleep_; that instead of _starving_ himself to death, by not eating
at all, he should turn every meal into a _feast_, and eat and drink
like an _epicure_, could he be said to have lived more to the glory
of God? Could he any more be said to act the part for which God had
created him, than if he had put out his eyes, and starved himself to
death?
Now do but suppose a man extinguishing his _reason_, instead
of putting out his _eyes_, and living in a course of folly and
impertinence, instead of starving himself to death, and then you
have found out as _great a rebel_ against God.
♦6. *If we consider mankind as a redeemed order of _fallen spirits_,
that are baptized into a fellowship with the Son of God; to be
temples of the Holy Ghost; to live according to his holy inspirations;
to offer to God the reasonable sacrifice of an humble, pious, and
thankful life; to purify themselves from the disorders of their fall;
to make a right use of the means of grace, in order to be sons of
eternal glory: if we look at mankind in this true light, then we shall
find, that all tempers that are contrary to this holy society; all
actions that make us unlike to Christ, have every thing in them that
can make us odious to God. So that tho’ _pride_ and _sensuality_, do
not hurt civil society, as _cheating_ and _dishonesty_ do; yet they
hurt that society, and oppose those ends, which are greater and more
glorious in the eyes of God, than all the societies that relate to
this world.
♦ Number 5 omitted in text.
7. *Nothing therefore can be more foolish, than to imagine, that
because we are private persons who have taken upon us no charge or
employment, therefore we may live more at large, indulge our appetites,
and be less careful of holiness, for it is as good an excuse for
_cheating_ and _dishonesty_; because he that abuses his _reason_,
that indulges himself in _lust_ and _sensuality_, and neglects to act
the wise reasonable part of a Christian, has every thing in his life
to render him hateful to God, that is to be found in _cheating_ and
_dishonesty_.
If therefore you rather chuse to be an _idle epicure_, than to be
_unfaithful_; if you rather chuse to live in _lust_ and _sensuality_,
than to injure your neighbour in his goods, you have made no better a
provision for the favour of God, than he that rather chuses to rob a
_house_, than to rob a _church_.
For the abusing of our own nature, is as great a disobedience against
God, as the injuring our neighbour; and he that wants piety towards
God, has done as much to damn himself, as he that wants honesty
towards men.
8. Another argument to prove that all orders of men are obliged to
be thus holy in the common course of their lives, in the use of every
thing that they enjoy, may be taken from our obligation to _prayer_.
It is granted, that _prayer_ is a duty that belongs to all states and
conditions of men. Now, if we enquire, why no state of life is to be
excused from prayer, we shall find it as good a reason why every state
of life is to be made a state of holiness in all its parts.
For the reason why we are to pray to God, and praise him with hymns
and psalms of thanksgiving, is because we are to live wholly to God,
and glorify him in all possible ways. It is not because the praises
of _words_, or _forms_ of thanksgiving, are more particularly parts of
piety, or more the worship of God than other things; but it is because
they are possible ways of expressing our dependance, our obedience
and devotion to God. Now, if this be the reason of verbal praises and
thanksgivings, because we are to live to God in all possible ways;
then we are equally obliged to glorify God in all other actions that
can be turned into acts of piety and obedience. And as actions are of
much more significancy than words, it must be a much more acceptable
worship of God to glorify him in all the actions of our common life,
than with any little form of words at any particular times.
Thus, if God is to be worshipped with forms of thanksgiving, he that
is content and thankful in every accident of his life, because it
comes from God, praises God in a much higher manner, than he that
has some set times for singing of psalms. He that dares not say an
ill-natured word, or do an unreasonable thing, because he considers
God as every where present, performs a better devotion than he that
dares not miss the church. To live in the world as a stranger and a
pilgrim, using all its enjoyments as if we used them not, making all
our actions so many steps towards a better life, is offering a better
sacrifice to God, than any forms of holy and heavenly prayers.
9. To be humble in all our actions, to avoid every appearance of
pride and vanity, to be meek and lowly in our words, actions, dress,
behaviour, and designs, in imitation of our blessed Saviour, is
worshipping God in a higher manner, than those do who have only
_times_ to fall low on their knees. He that contents himself with
_necessaries_, that he may give the _remainder_ to those that want it;
that dares not spend any money foolishly, because he considers it as a
talent from God, which must be used according to his will, praises God
with something more glorious than songs of praise.
Prayers therefore are so far from being a sufficient devotion, that
they are the smallest parts of it. We are to praise God with words and
prayers, because it is a possible way of glorifying God. But then, as
words are but small things in themselves, as times of prayer are but
little, if compared with the rest of our lives; so that devotion which
consists in times and forms of prayer, is but a very small thing, if
compared to that devotion which is to appear in every other part and
circumstance of our lives.
10. Again, as it is an easy thing to worship God with forms of words,
and to observe times of offering them unto him, so it is the smallest
kind of piety.
And, on the other hand, as it is more difficult to worship God with
our substance, to honour him with the right use of our time, to offer
to him the continual sacrifice of self-denial and mortification; as it
requires more piety to eat and drink only for such ends as may glorify
God, to undertake no labour, nor allow of any diversion, but where we
can act in the name of God; as it is most difficult to sacrifice all
our corrupt tempers, and make piety to God the rule and measure of all
the actions of our common life; so the devotion of this kind is a much
more acceptable service to God, than those words of devotion which we
offer to him either in the _church_ or in our _closet_.
Every sober reader will easily perceive, that I don’t intend to lessen
the value of prayers, either public or private; but only to shew him,
that they are but a very slender part of devotion, when compared to a
devout life.
11. *To see this in a yet clearer light, let us suppose a person to
have appointed times for praising God with psalms and hymns, and to
be strict in the observation of them; let it be supposed also, that
in his common life he is restless and uneasy, full of murmurings and
complaints at every thing, never pleased but by chance, but murmuring
and repining at the very seasons, and having something to dislike in
every thing that happens to him. Now, can you conceive any thing more
absurd and unreasonable, than such a character as this? Is such a one
to be reckoned _thankful_ to God, because he has _forms of praise_
which he offers to him? Nay, is it not certain, that such forms of
praise must be so far from being an acceptable devotion to God, that
they must be an abomination? Now the absurdity which you see in this
instance, is the same in any other part of our life. If our _common
life_ hath any contrariety to our prayers, it is the same abomination,
as songs of thanksgiving in the mouths of murmurers.
Bended knees, whilst you are cloathed with pride: heavenly petitions,
whilst you are hoarding up treasures upon earth; holy devotions,
whilst you live in the follies of the world; prayers of meekness
and charity, whilst your heart is the seat of spite and resentment;
hours of prayer, whilst you give up days and years to idle diversions,
impertinent visits, and foolish pleasures, are as unacceptable a
service to God, as forms of thanksgiving from a person that lives in
repinings and discontent.
So that unless the common course of our lives be according to the
common spirit of our prayers, our prayers are so far from being a
sufficient degree of devotion, that they become an empty lip-labour;
or, what is worse, a notorious hypocrisy.
12. Seeing therefore we are to make the _spirit_ and _temper_ of our
prayers the _common spirit and temper_ of our lives, this may convince
us, that _all orders_ of people are to labour after the _same utmost_
perfection of the Christian life. For as all Christians are to use
the same holy and heavenly devotions, as they are all with the same
earnestness to pray for the Spirit of God; so is it a sufficient proof,
that all orders of people are, to the utmost of their power, to make
their life agreeable to that one Spirit for which they all pray.
*A _soldier_, or a _tradesman_, is not called to minister at the
_altar_, or preach the gospel; but every soldier or tradesman is as
much obliged to be devout, humble, holy, and heavenly-minded in all
the parts of his _common life_, as a _clergyman_ is obliged to be
zealous, faithful, and laborious in all parts of his profession.
13. *All men therefore, as men, have one and the same important
business, to act up to the excellency of their rational nature, and
to make _reason_ and _order_ the law of all their designs and actions.
All Christians, as Christians, have one and the same calling, to live
according to the excellency of the Christian spirit, and to make the
sublime precepts of the gospel the rule and measure of all their
tempers in common life. The one thing needful to one, is the one thing
needful to all.
*The _merchant_ is no longer to hoard up treasures upon earth; the
_soldier_ is no longer to fight for glory; the great _scholar_ is no
longer to pride himself in the depths of science; but they must all,
with one spirit, _count all things but loss, for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus_.
*The _fine lady_, must teach her eyes to weep, and be cloathed with
humility. The _polite gentleman_ must exchange the gay thoughts
of wit and fancy, for a _broken and a contrite heart_. The man
of _quality_ must so far renounce the dignity of his birth, as to
think himself miserable till he is _born again_. _Servants_ must
consider their service as done unto God. _Masters_ must consider their
servants as their brethren in Christ, that are to be treated as their
fellow-members of the mystical body of Christ.
14. *_Young ladies_ must either devote themselves to piety, prayer,
self-denial, and all good works in a _Virgin state_ of life, or else
marry to be holy, sober, and prudent in the care of a family; bringing
up their children in piety, humility, and devotion, and abounding in
all other good works, to the utmost of their capacity. They have no
choice of any thing else; but must devote themselves to God in one of
these states. They may chuse a married, or a single life; but it is
not left to their choice, whether they will make either state, a state
of holiness, humility, and all other duties of ♦the Christian life.
It is no more left in their power, because they have fortunes, or are
born of rich parents, to divide themselves betwixt God and the world,
or take such pleasures as their fortune will afford them, than to be
sometimes chaste and modest, and sometimes not.
♦ ‘he’ replaced with ‘the’
*They are not to consider how much religion may secure them a _fair
character_, or how they may add devotion to an _impertinent_, _vain_,
and _giddy_ life; but must look into the _spirit_ and _temper_ of
their prayers, into the _nature_ and _end_ of ♦Christianity; and then
they will find, that whether married or unmarried, they have but one
business upon their hands; to be wise, and pious, and holy; not in
little modes and forms of worship, but in the whole turn of their
minds, in the whole form of their behaviour, and in the daily course
of their common life.
♦ ‘Christianiiy’ replaced with ‘Christianity’
15. *_Young gentlemen_ must consider what our blessed Saviour said to
the young gentleman in the gospel; he bid _him sell all he had, and
give to the poor_. Now, though this text does not oblige _all_ people
to sell _all_; yet it certainly obliges all kinds of people to _employ
all_ their estates in such wise and reasonable ways, as may shew, all
they have is devoted to God; and that no part of it is kept from the
poor, to be spent in needless, vain, and foolish expences.
*If therefore _young gentlemen_ propose to themselves a life of
pleasure and indulgence; if they spend their estates in high living,
in luxury and intemperance, in state and equipage, in pleasures and
diversions, in sports and gaming, and such like wanton gratifications
of their foolish passions, they have as much reason to look upon
themselves to be _angels_, as to be disciples of Christ.
*Let them be assured, that it is the one only business of a _Christian
gentleman_, to distinguish himself by good works, to be eminent in the
most sublime virtues of the gospel, to bear with the ignorance and
weakness of the vulgar, to be a friend and patron to all that dwell
about him, to live in the utmost heights of wisdom and holiness, and
shew through the whole course of his life a true religious greatness
of mind. They must aspire after such a gentility, as they might have
learnt from seeing the blessed Jesus, and shew no other spirit of a
gentleman, but such as they might have got by living with the holy
apostles. They must learn to love God with all their heart, with
all their soul, and with all their strength, and their neighbour as
themselves; and then they have all the greatness and distinction that
they can have here, and are fit for eternal happiness in heaven.
16. Thus, in all orders and conditions, either of men or women,
this is the one holiness, which is to be the _common_ life of all
Christians.
The _merchant_ is not to leave devotion to the clergyman, nor the
_clergyman_ to leave humility to the _labourer_. Women of _fortune_
are not to leave it to the poor of their sex, _to be discreet_,
_chaste_, _keepers at home_, _to adorn themselves in modest apparel_,
_shame-facedness_, and _sobriety_; nor _poor women_ to leave it to the
rich to attend at the worship of God. _Great men_ must be eminent for
true _poverty of spirit_, and people of a _low and afflicted_ state
must greatly rejoice in God.
The man of _strength_ and _power_ is to forgive and pray for his
enemies, and the _innocent sufferer_, that is chained in prison, must,
with _Paul_ and _Silas_, at midnight sing praises unto God. For God
is to be glorified, holiness is to be practised, and the spirit of
religion is to be the common spirit of every Christian in every state
and condition of life.
*For the Son of God did not come from above, to add an external form
of worship to the several ways of life that are in the world, and
so to leave people to live as they did before, in such tempers and
enjoyments as the fashion and spirit of the world approves: but as
he came down from heaven, altogether divine and heavenly in his own
nature; so it was to call mankind to a divine and heavenly life; to
the highest change of their whole nature and temper; to be born again
of the Holy Spirit; to walk in the wisdom, and light, and love of God,
and to be like him to the utmost of their power; to a mortification of
their passions; and to live in such wisdom, and holiness, as might fit
them to enjoy God to all eternity.
17. Whatever therefore is _foolish_, _vain_, or _earthly_, or
_sensual_ in the life of a Christian, is something that ought not to
be there. But if any thing of this kind runs through the _course_ of
our whole life, if we allow ourselves in things that are either vain,
foolish, or sensual, we renounce our profession.
For as sure as Jesus Christ was wisdom and holiness; as sure as he
came to make us like himself, so sure is it, that none keep to their
Christian profession, but they who, to the utmost of their power,
live a wise, and holy, and heavenly life. This, and this alone, is
Christianity; universal holiness in every part of life, a heavenly
wisdom in all our actions, not conforming to the spirit and temper of
the world, but turning all worldly enjoyments into means of piety and
devotion.
18. And if it be the happiness and glory of a _bishop_ to live in this
Spirit, full of these holy tempers, doing every thing as unto God, it
is as much the glory and happiness of all men and women, whether young
or old, to live in the same Spirit. And whoever can find any reasons
why an _ancient bishop_ should be intent upon divine things, turning
all his life into the highest exercises of piety and devotion, will
find them so many reasons why he should, to the utmost of his power,
do the same himself.
If you say that a _bishop_ must be an eminent example of Christian
holiness, because of his high and sacred calling, you say right. But
if you say, that it is more to his advantage to be exemplary, than
it is yours, you greatly mistake. For there is nothing to make the
highest degrees of holiness desirable to a bishop, but what makes them
equally desirable to every _young person_ of every family.
For an exalted piety, and the religious use of every thing, is as much
the glory and happiness of one state of life as it is of another.
*Do but fancy what a spirit of piety you would have in the _best
bishop_ in the world, how you would have him _love_ God, how you would
have him _imitate_ the life of our Saviour and his apostles, how you
would have him live _above_ the world, _shining_ in all the instances
of a _heavenly life_, and then you have found out that Spirit, which
you ought to make the spirit of your own life.
I desire every reader to dwell awhile upon this reflection, and
perhaps he will find more conviction from it than he imagines. Every
one can tell how good and pious he would have some people to be; every
one knows how wise and reasonable a thing it is in a _bishop_, to
be entirely above the world, and be an eminent example of Christian
perfection. As soon as you think of a _wise and ancient bishop_, you
fancy some exalted degree of piety, a living example of all those holy
tempers which you find described in the gospel.
19. Now if you ask yourself, what is the happiest thing for a _young
clergyman_ to do? You must be forced to answer, that nothing can be so
happy and glorious for him, as to be like that excellent, holy bishop.
*If you go on, and ask what is the happiest thing for a _young
gentleman_ or his _sisters_ to do? The answer must be the same; that
nothing can be so happy or glorious for them, as to live in such
habits of piety, in such exercises of a divine life, as this good old
bishop does. For every thing that is great and glorious in religion,
is as much the true glory of every man or woman, as it is the glory
of any bishop. If high degrees of divine love, if fervent charity,
if spotless purity, if heavenly affection, if constant mortification,
if frequent devotion, be the best and happiest way of life for any
Christian, it is so for every Christian.
And as the wisest _bishop_ in the world is he who lives in the
greatest heights of holiness, who is most exemplary in all the
exercises of a divine life; so the _wisest youth_, the _wisest woman_,
whether married or unmarried, is she that lives in the highest degrees
of Christian holiness, and all the exercises of a divine and heavenly
life.