I Come now to our third and last Inducement to the study of Divine things, which consists in, and comprises the Advantages of that study, which do as much surpass those of all other Contemplations, as Divine things transcend all other Objects. And indeed, the utility of this study is so pregnant a Motive, and contains in it so many Invitations, that your Friend must have as little sense of Interest as of Gratitude, if he can neglect such powerful and such ingaging Invitations.
For, in the first place, Theological studies ought to be highly endeared to us by the Delightfulness of considering such noble and worthy Objects as are therein propos’d.
The famous Answer given by an excellent Philosopher, who being ask’d what he was born for, repli’d, To contemplate the Sun, may justly recommend their choice, who spend their time in contemplating the Maker of the Sun, to whom that glorious Planet it self is but a shadow. And perhaps that Philosopher failed more in the Instance than in the Notion: For his Answer implies, That Man’s End and Happiness consists in the exercise of his noblest Faculties on the noblest Objects. And surely the seat of Formal Happiness being the Soul, and that Happiness consequently consisting in the Operations of her Faculties; as the Supreme Faculty of the Mind is the Understanding, so the highest Pleasures may be expected from the due Exercise of it upon the sublimest and worthiest Objects. And therefore I wonder not, that though some of the School-men would assign the Will a larger share in Mans Felicity, than they will allow the Intellect; yet the generality of them are quite of another mind, and ascribe the Preheminence in point of Felicity to the Superiour Faculty of the Soul. But, whether or no this Opinion be true in all Cases, it may at least be admitted in ours: For, the chief Objects of a Christian Philosophers Contemplation, being as well the Infinite Goodness, as the other boundless Perfections of God, they are naturally fitted to excite in his mind an ardent love of that adorable Being, and those other joyous Affections and virtuous Dispositions, that have made some men think Happiness chiefly seated in the Will. But having intimated thus much by the way, I pass on to add, That the contentment afforded by the assiduous discovery of God and Divine Mysteries, has so much of affinity with the Pleasures, that shall make up mens Blessedness in Heaven it self, that they seem rather to differ in Degree than in Kind. For, the happy state even of Angels is by our Saviour represented by this Imployment, that they continually see the face of his Father who is in Heaven. And the same infallible Teacher, intending elsewhere to express the Celestial Joys that are reserv’d for those, who for Their sake deny’d themselves sensual Pleasures, imploys the Vision of God as an Emphatical Periphrase of Felicity, Blessed, said he, are the pure in heart,1 for they shall see God. And as Aristotle teaches, that the Soul doth after a sort become that which it Speculates, St. Paul and St. John assure us, that God is a transforming Object, and that in Heaven we shall be like him,2 for (or, because) we shall see him as he is. And though I readily admit, that this Beatisick Vision of God, wherein the Understanding is the proper Instrument, includes divers other things which will concur to the compleat Felicity of the future Life; yet I think, we may be allowed to argue, that that ravishing Contemplation of Divine Objects, will make no small part of that happy Estate, which in these Texts take its Denomination from it.
I have above intimated, that the Scripture attributes to the Angels themselves Transports of Wonder and Joy upon the Contemplation of God, and the Exercises they consider of his Wisdom, Justice, or some other of his Attributes. But least in referring you to the Angels, you should say, that I do in this Discourse lay aside the Person of a Naturalist, in favour of Divines; I will refer you to Des Cartes himself, whom I am sure your Friend will allow to have been a rigid Philosopher, if ever there were any. Thus then speaks he in that Treatise, where he thinks he imploys a more than Mathematical Rigor; and where he was obliged to utter those (I had almost said Passionate) words, I am going to cite from him, onely by the Impressions made on him by the transcendent Excellency of the Obey he Contemplated;3 Sed priusquam (says he) hoc diligentius examinem, simulque in alias veritates quae inde colligi possunt, inquiram, placet hic aliquandiu in ipsius Dei contemplatione immorari, ejus attributa apud me expendere, & immensi hujus Luminis pulchritudinem, quantum caligantis Ingenii mei acies ferre poterit, intueri, admirari, adorare. Ut enim in hac sola Divinae Majestatis Contemplatione summam alterius vitae felicitatem ex consistere fide credimus; ita etiam jam ex eadem, licet multo minus perfecta, maximam, cujus in hac vita capaces simus, voluptatem, percipi posse experimur.
But as high a satisfaction as the study of Divine things affords by the Nobleness of its Object, the Contentment is not much Inferiour that accrues from the same study upon the score of the Sense of a mans having in it performed his Duty. To make actions of this nature satisfactory to us, there is no need, that the things we are employ’d about, should in themselves be Excellent or Delightful; the inward gratulations of Conscience for having done our Duties is able to […]d the bitterest Pills, and, like the Wood that grew by the Waters of Marah,4 to correct and sweeten that Liquor, which before was the most distastful. Those antient Pagan Heroes, whose Vertues may make us blush, being guided but by natural Reason, and innate Principles of Moral Virtues, could find the most difficult and most troublesome Duties, upon the bare account of their being Duties, not onely Tolerable but Pleasant. And though to deny some Lusts be, in our Saviours esteem, no less uneasie, then for a man to pluck out his right eye,5 or cut off his right hand; yet even Ladies have with satisfaction chosen, not onely to deny themselves the greatest Pleasures of the Senses, but to Sacrifice the Seat of them, the Body it self, to preserve the Satisfaction of being Chaste. Nor are they onely the Dictates of Obedience that we comply with in this study, but those of Gratitude; and that is a Vertue that has so powerful an Ascendant upon Ingenuous Minds, that those, whose Principles and Aims were not elevated by Religion, have, in acknowledgment to their Parents and their Countrey, courted the greatest Hardships, and Hazards, and Sufferings, as if they were as great Delights and Advantages. And a gratefull Person spends no part of his Life to his greater satisfaction, than that which he ventures or imploys for those to whom he is oblieged for it; and oftentimes finds a greater Contentment even in the difficultest Acknowledgments of a favour, than he did in Receiving of it.
Another Advantage, and that no mean one, that may accrue from the Contemplation of Theological Truths, is, the Improvement of the Contemplator himself in point of Piety and Virtue. For, as the Gospel is styl’d, The mystery of godliness;6 and St. Paul elsewhere calls what it teaches, The truth which is according to godliness, that is,7 a Doctrine fram’d and fitted to promote the Interest of Piety and Virtue in the World: so this Character and Encomium belongs (though perhaps not equally) to the more Retir’d Truths discover’d by Speculation, as well as to those more Obvious ones, that are familiarly taught in Catechisms and Confessions of Faith. I would by no means lessen the Excellency and Prerogatives of Fundamentals; but, since the grand and noblest Engagements to Piety and Virtue, are a high Veneration for God and his Christ, and an ardent Love of them; I cannot but think, that those particular Inquiries, that tend to make greater Discoveries of the Attributes of God, of the Nature, and Offices, and Life of our Saviour, and of the Wisdom and Goodness they have display’d in the Contrivance and Effecting of Man’s Redemption; do likewise tend to Increase our Admiration, and Inflame our Love, for the Possessors of such Divine Excellencies, and the Authors of such invaluable Benefits. And as the Brazen Serpent,8 that was but a Type of one of the Gospel Mysteries, brought Recovery to those that look’d up to it; so the Mysteries themselves, being duly consider’d, have had a very Sanative Influence on many that contemplated Them. Nor is it likely, that he that discerns more of the depth of Gods Wisdom and Goodness, should not, caeteris paribus, be more disposed than others to Admire him, to Love him, to Trust him, and so to resign up himself to be Governed by him: Which frame of mind both is it self a great Part of the Worship of God, and doth directly tend to the Production and Increase of those Vertues, without the practise of which, the Scripture plainly tells us, that we can neither Obey God, nor express our Love to him. And from this Bettering of the mind by the study of Theology, will flow (to add that upon the by) another Benefit, namely, that by giving us a higher value for God and his Truths, it will endear Heaven to us, and so not onely assist us to come Thither, but heighten our Felicity There.
I know it may be said, that the Melioration of the mind is but a Moral Advantage. But give me leave to Answer, that, besides that ‘tis such a Moral Advantage as supposes an Intellectual Improvement whose fruit it is, a Moral Benefit may be great enough, even in the Judgment of a meer Philosopher, and an Epicurean, to deserve as much study as Natural Philosophy it self. And that you may not think that I speak this onely, because I write in this Epistle as a Friend to Divines, I will tell you, that Epicurus himself, who has now adays so numerous a Sect of Naturalists to follow him, studied Physicks, and writ so many Treatises about them for this End, that by knowing the Natural Causes of Thunder, Lightning, and other dreadful Phaenomena, the Mind might be freed from the disquieting Apprehensions Men commonly had, that such strange and formidable things proceeded from some incensed Deity, and so might trouble the Mind, as well as the Air. This account I have been giving of Epicurus his Design, is but what seems plainly enough intimated by his own words, preserved us by Laertius, near the end of his Physiological Epistle to Herodotus, where recommending to him the consideration of what he had delivered about Physical Principles in general, and Meteors in particular, he subjoyns, Si enim ab istis non discesserimus, tum id unde oritur perturbatio,9 quodque metum ingerit, recta cum ratione edisseremus, nosque ab ipsis eximemus. And to this in the close of his Meteorological Epistle to Pythocles, his best Interpreter, Gassendus, makes him speak consonantly, in these words, Maxime veró dede teipsum speculationi Principiorum, ex quibus constant omnia, & Infinitatis Naturae, aliorumque his cohaerentium Insuper veró & Criteriorum, affectuumque animi, & scopum illius in quem ista edisserentes collineavimus, attende, Tranquillitatem intelligo statumque mentis imperturbatum. But this is not all the Testimony I can give you from Epicurus himself to the same purpose, for among his Ratae Sententiae, preserved us by Laertius, (himself reputed an Epicurean) I find one that goes further; Si nihil (says he) conturbaret nos quod suspicamur, veremu que ex rebus sublimibus, neque item quod ex ipsa morte, ne quando nimirum ad nos pertine at aliquid, ac nosse praeterea possemus, qui Germani fines dolorum atque cupiditatum sint ([…]) nihil Physiologiâ indigeremus. Thus far the testimony of Epicurus, of whose mind though I am not at all, as to what he would intimate, That Physiology is either proper to free the Mind from the Belief of a Provident Deity, and the Souls Immortality, or fit for no other considerable purposes; yet this use we may well make of these Declarations, that, in Epicurus’s opinion, a Moral Advantage that relates to the Government of the Affections, may deserve the pains of making Inquiries into Nature. And since it hence appears, that a meer Philosopher, who admitted no Providence, may think it worth his pains, to search into the abstrusest parts of Physicks, and the difficultest Phaenomena of Nature, onely to ease himself of one troublesome Affection, Fear; it need not be thought Unphilosophical, to prosecute a Study, that will not onely Restrain One undue Passion, but Advance All Vertues, and free us from all Servile Fears of the Deity; and tend to give us a strong and well-grounded Hope in Him; and make us look upon Gods greatest Power, not with Terrour, but with Joy.
There is yet another Advantage belonging to the study of Divine Truths, which is too great to be here pretermitted. For whereas there is scarce any thing more incident to us whilst we inhabit our (Batté Chómer) Cottages of Clay,10 and dwell in this vale of tears, than Afflictions; it ought not a little to endear to us the newly mention’d Study, that it may be easily made to afford us very powerful Consolations in that otherwise uneasie state.
I know it may be said, that the Speculations about which the Naturalist is busied, are as well pleasing Diversions, as noble Imployments of the Mind. And I deny not that they are often so, when the Mind is not hinder’d from applying it self attentively to them; so that Afflictions slight and short may well be weather’d out by these Philosophical Avocations; but the Greater and Sharper sort of Afflictions, and the approaches of Death, require more powerful Remedies, than these Diversions can afford us. For in such cases, the Mind is wont to be too much discompos’d, to apply the attention requisite to the finding a pleasure in Physical Speculations; and in Sicknesses, the Soul is oftentimes as indispos’d to relish the Pleasures of meerly Humane Studies, as the languishing Body is to relish those Meats, which at other times were delightful: And there are but few that can take any great pleasure to study the World, when they apprehend themselves to be upon the point of being driven out of it, and in danger of losing all their share in the Objects of their Contemplation. It will not much qualifie our Sense of the burning heat of a Feaver, or the painful gripes of the Cholick, to know, That the three Angles of a Triangle are equal to two Right ones; or that Heat is not a real Quality (as the Schools would have it,) but a Modification of the Motion of the Insensible parts of Matter; and Pain not a Distinct, Inherent Quality in the things that produce it, but an Affection of the Sentiment. The Naturalists Speculations afford him no Consolations that are extraordinary in, or peculiar to, the state of Affliction; and the Avocations they present him with, do rather Amuse the mind from an Attention to lesser Evils, than bring it any Advantages to Remove or Compensate them· and so work rather in the nature of Opiates, than of true Cordials.
But now, if such a Person as Dr. N. falls into Adversity, the case is much otherwise; for we must consider, that when the study of Divine things is such as it ought to be, though, That in it self, or in the Nature of the Imployment, be an act or exercise of Reason; yet being apply’d to, out of Obedience, and Gratitude, and Love to God, it is upon the account of its Motives, and its Aim, an act of Religion; and as it proceeds from Obedience, and Thankfulness, and Love to God, so it is most acceptable to him; and upon the account of his own Appointment, as well as Goodness, is a most proper and effectual means of obtaining his Favour; and then I presume, it will easily be granted, that he who is so happy as to enjoy That, can scarce be made miserable by Affliction. For not now to enter upon the Common-place of the Benefits of Afflictions to them that love God, and to them that are lov’d by him, it may suffice, that he who (as the Scripture speaks) knows our frame,11 and has promised those that are his, (1 Cor. 10.13) that they shall not be Over-burden’d, is dispos’d and wont to give his afflicted Servants, both extraordinary Comforts in Afflictions, and Comforts appropriated to that state. For though Natural Philosophy be like its brightest Object, the Stars, which, however the Astronomer can with pleasure Contemplate them, are unable, being meer Natural Agents, to afford him a kinder Influence than usual, in case he be cast upon his Bed of Languishing, or into Prison; yet the Almighty and Compassionate Maker of the Stars, being not onely a Voluntary, but the most Free, Agent, can suit and proportion his Reliefs to our Necessities, and alleviate our heaviest Afflictions by such supporting Consolations, that not onely they can never surmount our Patience, but are oftentimes unable so much as to hinder our Joy; and when Death, that King of Terrours, presents it self,12 whereas the meer Naturalist sadly expects to be depriv’d of the pleasure of his knowledge by losing those Senses and that World, which are the Instruments and the Objects of it; and perhaps (discovering beyond the Grave nothing but either a state of Eternal Destruction, or of Eternal Misery,) fears either to be Confin’d for ever to the Sepulchre, or expos’d to Torments that will make even such a Condition desirable; the pious Student of Divine Truths, is not onely freed from the wracking Apprehensions of having his Soul reduc’d to a state of Annihilation, or cast into Hell, but enjoys a comfortable expectation of finding far greater Satisfaction than ever in the Study he now rejoyces to have pursu’d; since the change, that is so justly formidable to others, will but bring him much nearer to the Divine Objects of his devout Curiosity, and strangely Elevate and Inlarge his Faculties to apprehend them.
And this leads me to the mention of the last Advantage belonging to the study I would perswade you to; and indeed, the highest Advantage that can recommend Any Study, or invite Men to any Undertaking; for this is no less than the Everlasting fruition of the Divine Objects of our Studies hereafter, and the comfortable Expectation of it here. For the employing of ones time and parts, to admire the Nature and Providence of God, and contemplate the Divine Mysteries of Religion, as it is one of the chief of those Homages and Services, whereby we Venerate and Obey God; so it is one of those, to which he hath been pleased to apportion no less a Recompence,13 than (that which can have no greater) the Enjoyment of Himself. The Saints and Angels in Heaven have divers of them been employ’d to convey the Truths of Theology, and are sollicitous to look into those Sacred Mysteries; and God hath been pleased to appoint, that those men who study the same Lessons that they do here, shall study them in their company hereafter. And doubtless, though Heaven abound with unexpressible Joys, yet it will be none of the least that shall make up the Happiness even of that Place, that the Knowledge of Divine things, that was here so zealously Pursu’d, shall there be compleatly Attain’d. For those things that do here most excite our Desires, and quicken the Curiosity and Industry of our Searches, will not onely there Continue, but be Improv’d to a far greater measure of Attractiveness and Influence. For all those Interests, and Passions, and Lusts, that here below either hinder us from clearly Discerning, or keep us from sufficiently Valuing, or divert us from attentively enough Considering, the Beauty and Harmony of Divine Truths, will there be either abolish’d, or transfigur’d: And as the Object will be Unveil’d; so our Eye will be Enlighten’d, that is, as God will there disclose those worthy Objects of the Angels Curiosity, so he will Inlarge our Faculties, to enable us to gaze without being dazl’d upon those sublime and radiant Truths, whose Harmony as well as Splendor we shall be then qualifi’d to Discover, and consequently with Transports to Admire. And this Enlargement and Elevation of our Faculties, will, proportionably to its own measure, Increase our Satisfaction at the Discoveries it will enable us to make. For Theology is like a Heaven, which wants not more Stars than appear in it, but we want Eyes, quick-sighted and piercing enough to reach them. And as the Milky Way, and other Whiter parts of the Firmament, have been full of Immortal Lights from the beginning, and our new Telescopes have not plac’d, but found them, there; so, when our Saviour, after his glorious Resurrection, instructed his Apostles to teach the Gospel, ‘tis not said that he alter’d any thing in the Scriptures of Moses and the Prophets, but onely open’d and enlarg’d their Intellects,14 that they might understand the Scriptures: And the Royal Prophet makes it his Prayer, That God would be pleased to open his eyes, that he might see wonderful things out of the Law; being (as was above intimated) so well satisfi’d, that the Word of God wanted not Admirable things, that he is onely sollicitous for the Improvement of his own Eyes, that they might be qualifi’d to discern them.
I had almost forgotten one particular, about the Advantages of Theological Studies, that is too considerable to be left unmention’d: For as great as I have represented the Benefits accruing from the Knowledge of Divine Truths; yet to endear them to us, it may be safely added, that, to procure us these Benefits, the actual Attainment of that Knowledge is not always absolutely Necessary, but a hearty Endeavour after it may suffice to entitle Us to them. The patient Chymist, that consumes himself and his Estate in seeking after the Philosophers Stone, if he miss of his Idoliz’d Elixir, had as good, nay better, have never sought it, and remains as poor in Effect, as he was rich in Expectation. The Husbandman that employs his Seed and Time, to obtain from the Ground a plentiful Harvest, if, after all, an unkind Season happen, must see his toil made fruitless; —longique perit labor irritus Anni.
Too many Patients, that have punctually done and suffer’d for Recovery all that Physicians could prescribe, meet at last with Death in stead of Health. You know what entertainment has been given by skilful Geometricians to the laborious endeavours, even of such famous Writers as Scaliger, Longomontanus, and other Tetragonists; and that their Successor Mr. Hobbs, after all the ways he has taken, and those he has propos’d, to Square the Circle, and Double the Cube, by missing of his end, has, after his various attempts, come off, not onely with Disappointment, but with Disgrace. And (to give an Instance even in things Celestial) how much pains has been taken to find out Longitudes, and make Astrological Precictions with some certainty, which for want of coming up to what they aimed at, have been useless, if not prejudicial to the Attempters.
But God (to speak with St. Paul on another occasion) that made the world,15 and all things therein, and is Lord of heaven and earth, seeks not our Services, as though He needed any thing, seeing he giveth Life, and Breath, and all things: His Self-sufficiency and Bounty are such, that He seeks in our Obedience the Occasions of rewarding it, and prescribes us Services, because the Practise of them is not onely sutable to our Rational Nature, but such as will prevail with his Justice, to let His Goodness make our Persons happy. Agreeably to this Doctrine we find in the Scripture, that Abraham is said to have been justified by faith,16 when he offered his son Isaac upon the Altar, (though he did not Actually sacrifice him) because he endeavour’d to do so; although, God graciously accepting the Will for the Deed, accepted also of the bloud of a Ram instead of Isaac’s. And thus we know, that ‘twas not David, but Solomon that built the Temple of Hierusalem, and yet God says to the former of those Kings (as we are told by the latter) For asmuch as it was in thine heart to build an House for my name thou didst well in that it was in thine heart;17 notwithstanding thou shalt not build the House, &c. And if we look to the other Circumstances of this Story, as they are delivered in the Second Book of Samuel,18 we shall find, that upon David’s declaration of a design to build God an house, God himself vouchsafes to honour him, as he once did Moses, with the peculiar Title of His Servant; (ver. 5) and commands the Prophet to say to him,19 Also the Lord tells thee, that He will make Thee an House: To which is added one of the graciousest Messages that God ever sent to any particular man. By which we may learn, that God approves and accepts even those Endeavours (of his Servants) if they be real and sincere, that never come to be actually accomplished: Good Designs and Endeavours are our part, but the events of those, as of all other things, are in the All-disposing hand of God, who, if we be not wanting to what lies in us, will not suffer us to be Losers by the defeating Dispositions of his Providence· but crown our endeavours either with Success, or with some other Recompence, that will keep us from being Losers by missing of that. And indeed, if we consider the great Elogies that the Scripture, as well frequently as justly, gives God’s Goodness (which it represents as Over, or as Above,20 all his Works) and that his purer eyes Punish, as well as See, the Murder and Adultery of the heart, when those Intentional sins are hinder’d from advancing into Actual ones; we can scarce doubt but He, whose Justice punishes sinful Aims, will allow his Infinite Goodness to recompense pious Attempts: And therefore our Saviour pronounces them blessed,21 that hunger and thirst after righteousness, assuring Them that they shall be satisfi’d, and thereby sufficiently intimating to us, That an earnest Desire after a Spiritual Grace (and such is the knowledge of Divine things) may entitle a man to the complete Possession of it, if not in This life, yet in the Next,22 where we shall not any more walk by Faith, but by Sight, and obtain as well a Knowledge as other Endowments, befitting that Glorious state, wherein the Purchaser of it for Us,23 assures us, that we shall be […] equal, or like to the Angels.
The Considerations, Sir, I have hitherto laid before you, to recommend the Study of Divine Truths, have, I hope, perswaded you, That ‘tis on many accounts both noble and eligible in it self; and therefore I shall here conclude the First Part of this Discourse. And in regard that the Undervaluation Physiophilus expresses for that excellent Imployment, seems to flow (chiefly at least) from his fondness and partiality for Natural Philosophy; it will next concern us to compare the study of Theology with that of Physicks, and show, that the Advantages which your Friend alledges in favour of the Latter, are partly much lessen’d by disadvantageous Circumstances, and partly much out-weigh’d by the Transcendent Excellencies of Theological Contemplations: The study whereof will thereby appear to be not onely Eligible in it self, but Preferrible to its Rival. And I must give you warning to expect to find the Second Part, which the making this Comparison challenges to it self, a good deal more Prolix than the First; not onely because it often requires more trouble, and more words to detect and disprove an Errour, than to make out a Truth; but also because that divers things tending to the Credit of Divinity, and which consequently might have been brought into the First Part of this Discourse, were thought more fit to be interwoven with other things, in the Answers made to the Objections examin’d in the Second.
← Part 1, Section 2 · Contents · Part 2, Section 1 →
Footnotes
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Matth. v.8. ↩
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1 Joh. iij.2. […] ↩
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Medit. tertia sub finem. ↩
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Exod. xv.25. ↩
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Matth. v.29, 30. ↩
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1 Tim. iij.16. ↩
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Tit. j.1. ↩
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Numb. xxj.9. ↩
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Diogenis Laertii libr. 10. ↩
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Iob iv.19. ↩
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Psal. ciij.14. ↩
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Job xviij.14. ↩
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Dan. ix.21, 22. Luke j.11, 26. Acts x.4, 5, 6. 1 Pet. j.12. ↩
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Luke xxiv.45. Psal. cxix.18. ↩
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Acts xvij.24, 25. ↩
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Jam. ij.21. ↩
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2 Chron. vj.8, 9. ↩
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2 Sam. vij. ↩
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ver. 11. ↩
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Hab. j.13. ↩
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Matth. v.6. ↩
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2 Cor. v.7. ↩
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Luke xx.36. ↩