citement of Pleasure, from any thing without, from any of those fenfible Objects which furround us; tho' all things about us are filent,and our own Thoughts too are no way ingaged upon any Object extraordinary; yet we feel a certain Pleasure in our very Existence; not in our being thus or thus, in this or that ftate of Mind or Body, (for I abstract at present from any particular Sensation,) but abfolutely and fimply in our Being, in our being Conscious to our Selves that we are. This general Pleasure of meer Being, (for so I think it may be fitly call'd,) every Man may much better Experiment, than I can defcribe; and. I believe there is no Man that has convers'd intimately with himself, but who is fufficiently fenfible of the thing I would exprefs.

Now, this Pleasure accompanying our Beings as fuch, it will be neceffary to fuppofe it infeparable from all intelligent Beings while they exist, even those who are most unhappy; who though they may have it fo outweighed and overset with Misery, that they were better be without it, than pay fo dearly for it; (for I cannot be of a Mind with thofe, who will have it better to be tho' in extream Mifery, than not to be ;) yet have it they muft, as long as their Being lafts; tho' it be fo drown'd and overwhelm'd in a contrary Sentiment, that they cannot enjoy the Sweetness of it. But now whence fhould this general Pleafure of meer Being, arife in these Miserable Beings? Not fure from any pofitive and direct A& of God, as our particular Senfations do; for it

can

cannot be fuppofed, that God by any express Will or Act of his,would reward those wretched Spirits with pleasing Sensations, who deferve his feverest Anger, and whom he is then Punishing for their Demerits. And may it not then be refolved into that Effential Union, that even fuch Spirits have, (for otherwise they could not be) with the Infinite and All-being God; who is fo excellent an Effence, fo Sovereign a Good, that there is no Being united to him, without being fomething the better for him, without partaking of fome degree of Pleasure. So then we owe the whole Pleasure and Comfort of our Being to our Union with God, were it not for which, we should have neither Light nor Warmth; Darknefs and Defolation,Privation and Sterility would be our Portion; we fhould feel nothing, nor know nothing, nor fo much as Be.

And thus far of the Perfection, that redounds to the Soul from her Natural Union with God 5 I fhall now briefly confider that, which proceeds from her Moral Union with the fame Principle. Here I might fhew, that the Love of God, (for that is what we understand here by this Moral Union,) is the trueft Key of Knowledge; according to that Sublime Aphorifm of a Great Man, Amor Dei eft Lux Anima; that it brightens the na Understanding, as well as warms the Affections; Clears the Head, as well as inlarges the Heart;and gives to the Soul an open and a free view of the greatest and nobleft Truths, both in Nature and in Religion. That it is the belt Teacher and In

ftructor

Card.

,

structor in Theory, and the beft Guide and Director in Practice, the best Expofitor of Scripture, best Resolver of Doubts, the best Distinguisher of the Will of God, the best Decider of Cases of Confcience, and the best Moderator and Compofer of Disputes and Controverfies in Religion; and in one Word, that as the Fear of God is the beginning, fo the Love of God is the Perfection and Accomplishment, of Wisdom. But this being matter of Experience, more than of Notion; I fhall rather apply my felf to confider, how the Love of God perfects the Will of Man, which is the proper Seat of it.

As the Love of God has an Effective Influence towards the Perfecting of the Understanding, fo is it the immediate and formal Perfection of the Will. For it is the Perfection of every Power or Faculty, to be imploy'd about its proper Object, and in profecution of its proper End. Now God is the only proper Object and End of the Will; not only becaufe he is (as I have elsewhere fhewn,) our only true Good, as being the Caufe of all our Pleasure and Happinefs; but alfo, because the Will of Man was made for the Love of God, and for him only. 'Twill I suppose be readily granted me, that the Will was made to Love, as much as the Eye was made to See, or the Ear to Hear; this being the whole use and purpose to which it is fitted to Serve. But to Love what? Was it made to Love it felf? But how can a Finite Being be its own end? Or was it made to love any of its Fellow-Creatures ?

But

But stay, if the Will be made to love a Creature, then the fame Creature that is the End of this Will, must be alfo the End of God too, who is supposed to make it for that End. But now can a Creature be the end of God? Can God defire or aim at any thing out of himself? Or, can God act for any thing out of himself? How then is he a Being Infinite in Perfection, and every way Self-fufficient? But fuppofe it were poffible for ! God to have any End or Aim, to defire or propofe any thing, out of himself; yet why, or to what purpose, should he do it? For is not God Infinitely Wife? And must he not then love that which is most Lovely? And must he not therefore love himself, more than all other things whatever; and fo make himself the end of all his Actions, and confequently of his whole Creation? All things then are made for God, as well as by him, and he is the End of all his Works. If therefore the Will of Man was made,it was made for God; and if it was made to Love, it was made to love God. And indeed there is no other way of conceiving,how the Will fhould be made for God, than by being made for the Love of God; who can no otherwise be its End, than as he is its Object. I conclude therefore, that God is the proper End and Object of the Will, which was made only for God, and the Love of God; and is then confequently in her greatest Perfection when imployed in the Love of him that made her, and for whom she was made. The Love of God is the greatest Moral Perfection of the Soul, puts her in a right frame and posture, and enter

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Vol. III. tains her with the Divineft Joy and Pleasure; fets her above the Tyranny of Concupifcence, and all her other troublefome Paffions; raifes her beyond the mean Joys, and unreasonable Griefs, of Life, and is the belt Antidote against the Terrors of Death; conforms her Will to the Will of God, and is a ftay to her in all the Revolutions of his Providence, exalts her above the infipid Entertainments of the World, and helps to fupport. her under the Senfe of its Emptiness and Vanity; in one Word, makes her fit to relish her Union with God here, and difpofes her, for a stricter and more Beatifick Union with him hereafter.

And thus have I confider'd that double Union which the Soul has with God, Natural and Moral; and those refpective Perfections which result from them, and which fhe enjoys by Virtue of them; whereby the Truth of that great and fublime Theorem we laid down, may be in fome measure illuftrated, viz. That the Perfection of the Soul is her Union with God. Here is the Fons boni Lucidus, the bright and ever-fhining Fountain of Good; the Well of Life, the Spring of Joy, the Water of Comfort, and the River of Pleafure; and Happy is the Soul that, fhall bathe her felf in it: The deeper the wades in these Living Waters, the higher the Tide of her Happinefs rises; for here is her whole Perfection,Natural and Moral, all that the enjoys and all that she is ever capable of.

But if the whole Perfection of the Soul be in her Union with God, if it all refolves into this