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Persons
that are free from the necessity of labour and
employments, are to consider themselves as devoted to
God in a higher degree.
A GREAT
part of the world are free from the necessities of labour
and employments, and have their time and fortunes in their
own disposal.
But as no
one is to live in his employment according to his own
humour, or for such ends as please his own fancy, but is
to do all his business in such a manner as to make it a
service unto God; so those who have no particular
employment are so far from being left at greater liberty
to live to themselves, to pursue their own humours, and
spend their time and fortunes as they please, that they
are under greater obligations of living wholly unto God in
all their actions.
The
freedom of their state lays them under a greater necessity
of always choosing, and doing, the best things.
They are
those, of whom much will be required, because much is
given unto them.
A slave
can only live unto God in one particular way, that is, by
religious patience and submission in his state of slavery.
But all
ways of holy living, all instances, and all kinds of
virtue, lie open to those who are masters of themselves,
their time, and their fortune.
It is as
much the duty, therefore, of such persons, to make a wise
use of their liberty, to devote themselves to all kinds of
virtue, to aspire after everything that is holy and pious,
to endeavour to be eminent in all good works, and to
please God in the highest and most perfect manner; it is
as much their duty to be thus wise in the conduct of
themselves, and thus extensive in their endeavours after
holiness, as it is the duty of a slave to be resigned unto
God in his state of slavery.
You are
no labourer, or tradesman, you are neither merchant nor
soldier; consider yourself, therefore, as placed in a
state in some degree like that of good Angels who are sent
into the world as ministering spirits, for the general
good of mankind, to assist, protect, and minister for them
who shall be heirs of salvation.
For the
more you are free from the common necessities of men, the
more you are to imitate the higher perfections of Angels.
Had you,
Serena,[13] been obliged, by the necessities of life, to
wash clothes for your maintenance, or to wait upon some
mistress that demanded all your labour, it would then be
your duty to serve and glorify God, by such humility,
obedience, and faithfulness, as might adorn that state of
life. It would then be recommended to your care, to
improve that one talent to its greatest height. That when
the time came, that mankind were to be rewarded for their
labours by the great Judge of quick and dead, you might be
received with a "Well done, good and faithful
servant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." [Matt.
xxv. 21]
But as
God has given you five talents, as He has placed you above
the necessities of life, as He has left you in the hands
of yourself, in the happy liberty of choosing the most
exalted ways of virtue; as He has enriched you with many
gifts of fortune, and left you nothing to do, but to make
the best use of a variety of blessings, to make the most
of a short life, to study your own perfection, the honour
of God, and the good of your neighbour; so it is now your
duty to imitate the greatest servants of God, to inquire
how the most eminent saints have lived, to study all the
arts and methods of perfection, and to set no bounds to
your love and gratitude to the bountiful Author of so many
blessings.
It is now
your duty to turn your five talents into five more, and to
consider how your time, and leisure, and health, and
fortune, may be made so many happy means of purifying your
own soul, improving your fellow-creatures in the ways of
virtue, and of carrying you at last to the greatest
heights of eternal glory.
As you
have no mistress to serve, so let your own soul be the
object of your daily care and attendance. Be sorry for its
impurities, its spots, and imperfections, and study all
the holy arts of restoring it to its natural and primitive
purity.
Delight
in its service, and beg of God to adorn it with every
grace and perfection.
Nourish
it with good works, give it peace in solitude, get it
strength in prayer, make it wise with reading, enlighten
it by meditation, make it tender with love, sweeten it
with humility, humble it with penance, enliven it with
psalms and hymns, and comfort it with frequent reflections
upon future glory. Keep it in the presence of God, and
teach it to imitate those guardian Angels, which, though
they attend on human affairs, and the lowest of mankind,
yet "always behold the face of our Father which is in
heaven." [Matt. xviii. 10]
This,
Serena, is your profession. For as sure as God is one God,
so sure it is, that He has but one command to all mankind,
whether they be bond or free, rich or poor; and that is,
to act up to the excellency of that nature which He has
given them, to live by reason, to walk in the light of
religion, to use everything as wisdom directs, to glorify
God in all His gifts, and dedicate every condition of life
to His service.
This is
the one common command of God to all mankind. If you have
an employment, you are to be thus reasonable, and pious,
and holy, in the exercise of it; if you have time and a
fortune in your own power, you are obliged to be thus
reasonable, and holy, and pious, in the use of all your
time, and all your fortune.
The right
religious use of everything and every talent, is the
indispensable duty of every being that is capable of
knowing right and wrong.
For the
reason why we are to do anything as unto God, and with
regard to our duty, and relation to Him, is the same
reason why we are to do everything as unto God, and with
regard to our duty, and relation to Him.
That
which is a reason for our being wise and holy in the
discharge of all our business, is the same reason for our
being wise and holy in the use of all our money.
As we
have always the same natures, and are everywhere the
servants of the same God, as every place is equally full
of His presence, and everything is equally His gift, so we
must always act according to the reason of our nature; we
must do everything as the servants of God; we must live in
every place, as in His presence; we must use everything,
as that ought to be used which belongs to God.
Either
this piety, and wisdom, and devotion is to go through
every way of life, and to extend to the use of everything,
or it is to go through no part of life.
If we
might forget ourselves, or forget God, if we might
disregard our reason, and live by humour and fancy, in
anything, or at any time, or in any place, it would be as
lawful to do the same in everything, at fancy, at every
time, and every place.
If
therefore some people fancy that they must be grave and
solemn at Church, but may be silly and frantic at home;
that they must live by some rule on the Sunday, but may
spend other days by chance; that they must have some times
of prayer, but may waste the rest of their time as they
please; that they must give some money in charity, but may
squander away the rest as they have a mind; such people
have not enough considered the nature of religion, or the
true reasons of piety. For he that upon principles of
reason can tell why it is good to be wise and
heavenly-minded at Church, can tell that it is always
desirable to have the same tempers in all other places. He
that truly knows why he should spend any time well, knows
that it is never allowable to throw any time away. He that
rightly understands the reasonableness and excellency of
charity, will know that it can never be excusable to waste
any of our money in pride and folly, or in any needless
expenses.
For every
argument that shows the wisdom and excellency of charity,
proves the wisdom of spending all our fortune well. Every
argument that proves the wisdom and reasonableness of
having times of prayer, shows the wisdom and
reasonableness of losing none of our time.
If any
one could show that we need not always act as in the
Divine presence, that we need not consider and use
everything as the gift of God, that we need not always
live by reason, and make religion the rule of all our
actions; the same arguments would show that we need never
act as in the presence of God, nor make religion and
reason the measure of any of our actions. If, therefore,
we are to live unto God at any time, or in any place, we
are to live unto Him at all times, and in all places. If
we are to use anything as the gift of God, we are to use
everything as His gift. If we are to do anything by strict
rules of reason and piety, we are to do everything in the
same manner. Because reason, and wisdom, and piety, are as
much the best things at all times, and in all places, as
they are the best things at any time or in any place.
If it is
our glory and happiness to have a rational nature, that is
endued with wisdom and reason, that is capable of
imitating the Divine nature, then it must be our glory and
happiness to improve our reason and wisdom, to act up to
the excellency of our rational nature, and to imitate God
in all our actions, to the utmost of our power. They
therefore who confine religion to times and places, and
some little rules of retirement, who think that it is
being too strict and rigid to introduce religion into
common life, and make it give laws to all their actions
and ways of living, they who think thus, not only mistake,
but they mistake the whole nature of religion. For surely
they mistake the whole nature of religion, who can think
any part of their life is made more easy, for being free
from it. They may well be said to mistake the whole nature
of wisdom, who do not think it desirable to be always
wise. He has not learnt the nature of piety, who thinks it
too much to be pious in all his actions. He does not
sufficiently understand what reason is, who does not
earnestly desire to live in everything according to it.
If we had
a religion that consisted in absurd superstitions, that
had no regard to the perfection of our nature, people
might well be glad to have some part of their life excused
from it. But as the religion of the Gospel is only the
refinement and exaltation of our best faculties, as it
only requires a life of the highest reason, as it only
requires us to use this world as in reason it ought to be
used, to live in such tempers as are the glory of
intelligent beings, to walk in such wisdom as exalts our
nature, and to practise such piety as will raise us to
God; who can think it grievous to live always in the
spirit of such a religion, to have every part of his life
full of it, but he that would think it much more grievous
to be as the Angels of God in Heaven?
Farther,
as God is one and the same Being, always acting like
Himself, and suitably to His own nature, so it is the duty
of every being that He has created, to live according to
the nature that He has given it, and always to act like
itself.
It is
therefore an immutable law of God, that all rational
beings should act reasonably in all their actions; not at
this time, or in that place, or upon this occasion, or in
the use of some particular thing, but at all times, in all
places, on all occasions, and in the use of all things.
This is a law that is as unchangeable as God, and can no
more cease to be, than God can cease to be a God of wisdom
and order.
When,
therefore, any being that is endued with reason does an
unreasonable thing at any time, or in any place, or in the
use of anything, it sins against the great law of its
nature, abuses itself, and sins against God, the Author of
that nature.
They,
therefore, who plead for indulgences and vanities, for any
foolish fashions, customs, and humours of the world, for
the misuse of our time or money, plead for a rebellion
against our nature, for a rebellion against God, who has
given us reason for no other end than to make it the rule
and measure of all our ways of life.
When,
therefore, you are guilty of any folly, or extravagance,
or indulge any vain temper, do not consider it as a small
matter, because it may seem so if compared to some other
sins; but consider it, as it is acting contrary to your
nature, and then you will see that there is nothing small
that is unreasonable; because all unreasonable ways are
contrary to the nature of all rational beings, whether men
or Angels: neither of which can be any longer agreeable to
God, than so far as they act according to the reason and
excellence of their nature.
The
infirmities of human life make such food and raiment
necessary for us, as Angels do not want; but then it is no
more allowable for us to turn these necessities into
follies, and indulge ourselves in the luxury of food, or
the vanities of dress, than it is allowable for Angels to
act below the dignity of their proper state. For a
reasonable life, and a wise use of our proper condition,
is as much the duty of all men, as it is the duty of all
Angels and intelligent beings. These are not speculative
flights, or imaginary notions, but are plain and
undeniable laws, that are founded in the nature of
rational beings, who as such are obliged to live by
reason, and glorify God by a continual right use of their
several talents and faculties. So that though men are not
Angels, yet they may know for what ends, and by what
rules, men are to live and act, by considering the state
and perfection of Angels. Our blessed Saviour has plainly
turned our thoughts this way, by making this petition a
constant part of all our prayers, "Thy will be done
on earth, as it is in Heaven." A plain proof, that
the obedience of men is to imitate the obedience of
Angels, and that rational beings on earth are to live unto
God, as rational beings in Heaven live unto Him.
When,
therefore, you would represent to your mind, how
Christians ought to live unto God, and in what degrees of
wisdom and holiness they ought to use the things of this
life, you must not look at the world, but you must look up
to God, and the society of Angels, and think what wisdom
and holiness is fit to prepare you for such a state of
glory. You must look to all the highest precepts of the
Gospel, you must examine yourself by the spirit of Christ,
you must think how the wisest men in the world have lived,
you must think how departed souls would live if they were
again to act the short part of human life; you must think
what degrees of wisdom and holiness you will wish for,
when you are leaving the world.
Now this
is not over-straining the matter, or proposing to
ourselves any needless perfection. It is but barely
complying with the Apostle's advice, where he says,
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these
things." [Phil. iv. 8] For no one can come near the
doctrine of this passage, but he that proposes to himself
to do everything in this life as the servant of God, to
live by reason in everything that he does, and to make the
wisdom and holiness of the Gospel the rule and measure of
his desiring and using every gift of God.
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