fhort and feeble, to enter into the Reasons of the Di-vine Counsels. If therefore fuch Curiofities return upon thee, look upon them as the Suggeftions of the Devil, by which he labours to difquiet and unfettle thee. If Men, impertinently bufy, require a Solution of fuch Difficulties, content thy felf with that general Answer of the Prophet: Righteous art thou, O Lord, and just are thy Judgments; The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether; His Righteousness ftandeth like the Strong Mountain, fix'd and immoveable, eminent and confpicious; And bis Judgments are like the Pf.xxxvi. great Deep: A vaft and dark Abyss, such as we cannot fee to the bottom of, or fathom with the fhort Line of a Finite Understanding.

Jer. xii. 1.

Pfa. xix.

My Methods and Dealings are to be admired and had in reverence, not fawcily criticized upon, by my own Creatures. For no Creature can have a Capacity proportioned to them; and what Men cannot comprehend, they should not prefume to take into Examination.

As little ought they to enquire and difpute concerning the Merits or the Preference of Good Men: Which of the Saints excels in Virtue, or is greateft in the Kingdom of Heaven. For these are Queftions, in which Men are no ways concerned, fuch as engender Strife and Debate, and turn to no good Account. They cherish Arrogance and Pride, Envy and Faction, while Men break into Parties, and each contends for the Preeminence of Him, whofe Order and Patronage he is devoted to, or whom his own Vain Imagination inclines him moft to honour. The effect of this is very vifible, and the Mifchiefs, that fpring from fuch an impertinent Zeal, exceeding numerous and lamentable: The Controverfy, neither poffible to be decided, nor worth deciding, if it were. And, if thofe Saints have any Knowledge of what paffes here below, this indifcreet

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and partial Zeal cannot but be highly difpleafing to them. For I am not a God of Contention and Faction, but of Order, and Peace, and Love. And these are the genuine Product of true Modefty and Humility, fuch as esteems others better than it felf; but inconfiftent with that bold affuming Temper, which is reftlefs and discontented, if any other be preferred before it. It may be, Affection and honeft Zeal may dispose fome Men to be more liberal in their Respect on this or that fide of the differing Parties; but, do not fuch confider, that fuch Affection is not the effect of Grace or Religion, but. merely of Human Infirmity? These are fuch Prepoffeffions as I can never be capable of; for all the Saints are equally mine. My Hand made them Men, my Affifting Grace made them Saints; I enriched them with Virtues, and crowned them all with Glory. I know what each have done, what Occafions they had, what Improvements they made. I foreknew them before Time was;, they chose not Me, but I them; and fingled them out of the Common Crowd. I drew them with the Cords of Love and Mercy, conducted them thro' great Variety of Trials and Afflictions; fuftain'd them with uncommon Comforts and Recruits, enabled them to perfevere, and rewarded the Conftancy my felf had given. I know the first and laft; and my fatherly, my inexpreffible Affection extends to them all. Forall are Inftruments of my Praise and Glory, fo many Monuments and Eternal Trophies of my Goodnefs; freely advanced to what they are, by my Bounty and Favour, without any Right or antecedent Merit of their own. He therefore, who defpifes the least of these, is guilty of Difrefpect to the greateft; for this Contempt reflects at last on Me, the Author of their Virtues and their Happiness; and therefore in Me alone should all the Honour, pretended to be paid to Them, centre. Their Interefts and Properties are no longer feparate; for Charity hath

made

273 made them One, and knit them into the fame Mystical Body, whose Honours, and Advantages,and Inclinations, and Joys, are infeperably the fame. Nay, which is the utmoft Perfection of Charity, they all conspire in loving Me more than themselves, or any Merits or Refpects of their own; for, being in that happy State exalted above themselves, they are entirely taken up with the Love and Honour of God. This is their Happiness and utmoft End. Nothing can divert them to meaner Profpects, no mixture of Self comes in betwixt, to damp the pure Flames of this everlafting Love.

Away then with these vain Curiofities, these eager Difputes, concerning the Condition of the Bleffed; which betray a Prevalence of Carnal and Senfual Appetites, fuch as have no Notions higher than particuJar Gains and separate Interefts. Nature and Partiality incline fuch Difpofitions, to Act, and Defire, and Love, and Hate, upon private and perfonal Confiderations; and then they fondly transfer the fame Idea's and the fame Behaviour, from Earthly to Heavenly Objects. Alas! The difference is the wideft in the World, and nothing in Nature fo diftant, as the filly Imaginations of fuch Novices in Matters of another World, from thofe jufter Apprehenfions, which Minds, enlightned from above, entertain upon these Occafions. Be not too curious then, my Son, in Matters above thy Capacity; but rather let it be thy Care and conftant Thought, how thou may'ft be found, tho' it be but the leaft, in the Kingdom of Heaven. For couldft thou understand all Myfteries and all Knowledge; -couldst thou diftinctly view the feveral Orders and Places ofeach Angel and Spirit above; yet what would this avail, farther than as it excited in thee less for thy Own, and greater Zeal for my Honour? The Man, who seriously reflects upon the Multitude of his own Sins, and the Defects and Worthlefnefs of his own Virtues, how few, how poor, how far fhort they are

of

of the Perfection of those bright Examples heretofore, employs his Mind upon a Subject, which God likes much better than fuch empty Speculations of them who have set thofe Examples.

This is a Controversy, which they themselves never trouble themselves about. For they afcribe nothing to any Deserts of their own, but acknowledge the whole of what they have and are, to be the fole Effect of my infinite Liberality and Love. And their Happiness and Honour is compleat, by the Joy they take in the Fruition of God and his Glory. The more exalted any of these are, the more modeft they are; the more dear, and the more like to me. Thus much is intimated by that Vision, where they are faid to caft their Crowns at the Feet of God, and falling down upon their

Rev. X.

Faces before the Throne, and before the Lamb, to worship him that liveth for ever and ever.

Ifa. lx. 22.

lxv. 20.

How abfurd is it to fee Men zealously contending who is greatest in the Kingdom of God, who are not folicitous in the mean while to know, what much more nearly concerns them, whether they fhall have any place at all there themselves? And yet to be leaft there is to be great, for even the leaft are Sons and Heirs of God. A little one fhall become a thousand, and the Child fhall die an hundred Years old, but the Sinner of an hundred Years old ball be accurfed. When the Disciples enquired who should be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, this was the Answer made to that Demand: Except Matth. xviii. ye be converted, and become as little Children, ye shall in no wife enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore whosoever shall humble himself as this little Child, the fame fhall be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Wo to them who difdain to imitate the Humility and Meekness of little Children; for strait and low is the Gate of Heaven, fuch as the towrings of Ambition,

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and fwellings of bloated Vanity can never ftoop to, or enter at. Wo to the Rich, who have their Confolation in this World, for while the Poor are admitted into Paradise, they fhall ftand Weeping and Wailing without. But rejoice, ye Meek, and Humble, and Poor, for Yours is the Kingdom of God; if ye heartily embrace and obey the Truth, and-be Rich in Patience and good Difpofitions.

CHA P. LXIV.

God is all the Good Man's Hope and Confidence.

IN

Difciple.] N whom, O Lord, is my Hope, while here below? or what, of all the Things under Heaven, can minister Peace and Comfort to my Soul? Truly my Hope is even in Thee, and my Joy and Truft in thy Mercy alone. When were my Affairs in ill Condition with thee? Or what can prevent my being exquifitely miferable without thee? Poverty for thy fake is infinitely rather to be chofen, than all the Riches and Greatnefs in the World, in Exchange for thy Favour; and Earth and Exile with that Favour more blissful, than Heaven without the Fruition of Thee. For Heaven is Heaven by thy bleffed Prefence; and where that does not refide, all is Death and the Grave, and Hell. Thou art my Defire and my Portion, and therefore to thee my Sighs and Groans, and Cries and Prayers, continually afcend. I have no other Stay or Refuge, who can send seasonable and fuitable Relief to all my Dangers and Neceffities; but thou alone art my Hope and Truft, my effectual Comforter, and faithful Friend.

Others pursue their own private Ends and Advantages, but thou feekeft my Improvement and Hap

piness,

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