11. It is now time to return to the consideration of that divine life, that life which is hid with Christ in God, and therefore hath no glorious shew or appearance in the world, but to the natural man seems mean and insipid. As the animal life consists in that narrow love which is terminated on a man’s self, and in his propension to those things that are pleasing to nature; so the divine life stands in an universal affection, and in the mastery over our natural inclinations. The root of the divine life is faith; the chief branches are, love to God, charity to man, purity and humility; for (as an excellent person observed) however these names be common and vulgar, yet do they carry such a mighty sense, that the tongue of man or angel can pronounce nothing more weighty or excellent. Faith hath the same place in the divine life, which sense hath in the natural; being indeed a kind of sense, or feeling persuasion of spiritual things: it extends itself unto all divine truths; but in our lapsed estate, it hath a peculiar relation to the declarations of God’s mercy to sinners thro’ a Mediator; and therefore, receiving its denomination from that principal object, is ordinarily termed faith in Jesus Christ.
12. The love of God is such a delightful sense of God’s love to us, as makes the soul resign itself wholly to him, desiring above all things to please him, and delighting in nothing so much as in communion with him, and being ready to do or suffer any thing for his sake. A soul thus possessed with divine love, must needs be enlarged towards all mankind in sincere affection, because of the relation they have to God, being his creatures, and having something of his image stamped upon them. And this is that charity I named as the second branch of religion, and under which all the parts of justice, all the duties we owe to our neighbour, are eminently comprehended. For he who doth truly love all the world, will be nearly concerned in the interest of every one, and so far from wronging any person that he will resent any evil that befals others, as if it happened to himself.
13. By purity, I understand such a disposition of mind, as makes a man despise and abstain from all pleasures of sense or fancy, which either are sinful in themselves, or tend to extinguish or lessen our relish of more divine and intellectual pleasures. It doth also infer a resoluteness to undergo all those hardships he may meet with in the performance of his duty; so that not only charity and temperance, but also Christian courage and magnanimity, may come under this head.
14. Humility imports a deep sense of our inward and outward sins, and of our utter helplessness; which is always accompanied with a profound submission to the will of God, and deadness to the applause of men.
These are the highest perfections that men are capable of, the foundation of heaven laid in the soul; and he who hath attained them, needs not desire to pry into the hidden rolls of God’s decrees, to know what is determined about his everlasting condition, but he may find a copy of God’s thoughts concerning him written in his own breast. Those beginnings of happiness which he feels in the conformity of the powers of his soul to the nature of God, are a sure pledge that his felicity shall be perfected, and continued to all eternity. And it is not without reason that one said, I had rather see the real impressions of a godlike nature upon my own soul, than have a vision from heaven, or an angel sent to tell me, that my name was enrolled in the book of life.
Religion better understood by actions than by words.
15. When we have said all we can, the secret mysteries of a divine life can never be sufficiently expressed: nor can they be truly understood but by those that have a sense and relish of spiritual things. There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth this understanding. The power and life of religion may be better expressed in actions than in words: And therefore we may take the best measure of those gracious endowments, from the deportment of those in whom they reside; especially from the holy life of our blessed Saviour, a main part of whose business in this world was to teach by his practice what he required of others, and to make his own conversation an exact resemblance of those unparalleled rules which he prescribed: so that if ever true goodness was visible to mortal eyes, it was when his presence beautified this lower world.
Divine love exemplified in our Saviour; his diligence in doing God’s will; and his patience in bearing it.
16. That devout affection wherewith his blessed soul constantly burned towards his heavenly Father, expressed itself in an entire resignation to his will. It was his very meat, to do the will, and finish the work of him that sent him. This was the exercise of his childhood, and the constant employment of his riper age. He spared no pains while he was about his Father’s business; but took such satisfaction in the performance of it, that, when being faint and weary with his journey, he rested on Jacob’s well, and intreated water of the Samaritan woman; the success of his conference with her, and the accession that was made to the kingdom of God, filled his mind with such delight, as seemed to redound to his very body, refreshing his spirits, and making him forget his thirst, and refuse the meat which he had sent his disciples to buy. Nor was he less patient and submissive in suffering the will of God, than diligent in doing of it. He endured the sharpest afflictions, and extremest miseries that ever were inflicted on any mortal, without a repining thought, or discontented word. For though he was far from a stupid insensibility, and had as quick a sense of pain as other men, and the deepest apprehension of what he was to suffer in his soul, (as his bloody sweat, and the sore amazement and sorrow which he professed, do abundantly declare) yet did he intirely submit to that severe dispensation of providence, and willingly acquiesced in it.
His constant devotion.