depending upon the Divine favour, bears with patience all these evils, by the efforts of generous love and unshaken faith: they all seem light to him; he despises what he suffers, while he waits with patience for the object of his hope. And, indeed, what, either in life or in death, can he be afraid of, whose life is hid with Christ in God; and of whom it may be justly said, without exaggeration, "If the world should be crushed and broken to pieces, he would be undaunted, even while the ruins fell upon his head *?"

22

LECTURE XX.

Of our HAPPINESS, particularly that it lies in GOD, who alone can direct us to the true way of attaining to it; that this way He has discovered in the Sacred Scriptures, the Divine authority whereof is asserted and illustrated.

THESE two expressions, "That there is a beginning, and that there is also an end +," convey matters great in themselves, and which ought to be considered as of vast importance to us. It is absolutely necessary that there should be some one Principle of all things; and by an equal degree of necessity, this Principle must be, of all others, the greatest and the best. It is also necessary, that He who gave being to all things, must have proposed to Himself some end to be attained by the production and disposal of them: but, as the end of the Best of all agents must itself also be the highest and the best, this end can be no other than Himself. And the reasonings of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, concerning the oath of God, may also be applied to this case: As He had no greater to swear by, says the Apostle, He swore by HIMSELF. In like manner, as He had no greater or better end to propose,

* Si fractus illabatur orbis,
Impavidum ferient ruinæ.

HOR. lib, iii. Od. 3.

† Ἐστὶν ἄρα τὶς ἀρχὴ, καὶ ἐστὶν ἄρα τὸ τέλος.

He proposed HIMSELF. He hath made all things for Himself, says the author of the Book of Proverbs, even the wicked for the day of evil. Prov. xvi. 4. And the apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, gives us a lively description of that incomparable circle, the most complete of all figures: Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever, Amen. Rom. x. 36.

Now man, the ornament and master-piece of all the visible creation, by extraordinary art, and in a method peculiar to himself, returns to his first Original, and has his Creator, not only for the principle of his being, and of his well-being, but also for his end. Thus, by a wonderful instance of wisdom and goodness, God has so connected His own glory with our happiness, that we cannot properly intend or desire the one, but the other must follow of course, and our felicity is at last resolved into His eternal glory. The other works of God serve to promote His honour; but man, by rational knowledge and will, offers Himself, and all that He has, as a sacrifice to His Creator. From his knowledge of Him, he is induced to love Him; and in consequence of his love, he attains at last to the enjoyment of Him. And it is the wisdom, as well as the happiness of man, to propose to himself, as the scope and ultimate end of his life, that very thing which his exalted Creator had proposed before.

But, that we may proceed gradually in our speculations upon this subject, we must first conclude, that there is a proper end intended for man; that this end is suited to his nature, and perfectly accommodated to all his wants and desires; that so the principal part of this wonderful fabric may not be quite irregular, and labour under a manifest imperfection.

Nor can there be a more important speculation, nor one more worthy of man, than that which concerns his own end, and that good which is fully and perfectly suited to his circumstances. Chance of fortune must, of necessity, have a great influence in our life, when we live at random: we must, therefore, if we be wise, or rather that we may be wise, propose to

our course.

ourselves an end, to which all our actions ought to have a reference, and by which, as a certain fixed star, we are to direct But it is surprising to observe, how much all the wisest men among the heathens were perplexed in their inquiries after this end, and into how many different opinions they were divided about it. Of this, however, we have spoken at greater length in another place.

Now, to be brief, it is necessary, that this good, or end, should be, "perfectly suitable, not easily taken away, nay, such as we can by no means be deprived of; and finally, it must consist of such things as have a particular relation to the soul, and not of eternal enjoyments*." Whence "slavish and brutal pleasures+" vain and perishing honours and riches, which only serve to support and promote the former, are, in this inquiry, justly, and without the least hesitation, hissed off the stage by all sound philosophers; who with great unanimity acknowledge, that our felicity consists solely, or at least principally, in virtue. But your favourite philosopher Aristotle, and the Peripatetics who are his followers, seem to doubt whether virtue alone be sufficient for this purpose, and not to be very consistent with themselves. The Stoics, who proceeded with greater courage, and acted more like men, affirmed, that virtue was fully sufficient for this purpose, without the helps and supplements required by the former. And that, while they bestowed such high praises on virtue, they might not seem to have quite forgotten God, they not only said, that virtue was something Divine, in which they were joined by Aristotle, but also concluded, that their wise man did all things" with a direct reference to God." It was also a general maxim with the followers of Plato, " That the end of man is, to be, as far as is possible, made like unto God §." And Plato himself, in his

* Τελεῖον, καὶ ἀυταρκές, καὶ δυσαφάιρετον, imo ἀναφαίρετον, καὶ τῶν περὶ ψυχῆς, καὶ οὔ των ἕκτος.

† ̓Ανδραποδώδεις καὶ θηριώδεις ἡδοναι.

* Μετ ̓ ἀναφορᾶς εις τον Θεόν.

§ Τέλος ανθρώπου ὁμοιώσις Θεῷ κατα τὸ δύνατον.

second book of Laws, and in his Phædo, asserts, that man's chief good is the knowledge of the truth: yet, as this knowledge is not perfect in the present life, he is of opinion, that it can scarcely be said of any man, that he is happy here below; but there is hope to be entertained concerning the dead, provided they are purified before they leave the world. But there are two things particularly, with regard to this question, which our religion and most precious faith, teaches with incomparably greater fulness and evidence, than all the schools and books of the philosophers.

1. That our felicity is not to terminate in ourselves, but in God. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord; and, The pure in heart shall see God. Psal. cxii. 1. Matt. v. 8. σε Το seek God," says St. Augustine," is to desire happiness; and to find him, is that happiness *."

2. That our happiness is not confined within the limits of this short life, nor does it end with it: on the contrary, it is scarce begun in this world, but when the present life comes to a period, then this happiness is completed and becomes eternal. Our life on this earth, therefore, is only so far happy as it has a resemblance to that we shall enjoy in heaven, and becomes, as it were, an earnest of it: that is, when it is employed in pure and sincere piety, in obedience to the will of God, and an ambition to promote His glory, till we arrive at that happy state, where our hunger and thirst shall be abundantly satisfied, and yet our appetites never cloyed.

For it is evident, that man, in this life, becomes so much the more perfect and happy, in proportion as he has his mind and affections more thoroughly conformed to the pattern of that most blessed and perfect life. And this is, indeed, the great ambition of a true Christian; this is his study, which he ceases not to pursue with ardour day and night: nor does he let so much as one day pass without copying some lines of that perfect pattern. And the more he advances in purity of mind,

* Secutio Dei appetitus beatitatis, consecutio beatitas

the greater progress he makes in the knowledge and contemplation of Divine things.

But who will instruct us with regard to the means of reaching this blessed mark? Who will shew us how we may attain this conformity to God, and most effectually promote His honour and glory, so that at last we may come to the enjoyment of Him in that endless life, and be for ever satisfied with the beatific vision of Him? What faithful guide shall we find to direct us in this way? Surely he himself must be our Leader: there is no other besides Him, who can answer our purpose. It is He alone that acquaints us with His own nature, as far as it is necessary for us to know it; and He alone that directs us to the way wherein he chooses to be worshipped. "God cannot be known but by His own revelation of himself." When He is pleased to wrap himself up in a cloud, neither man in his original integrity, nay, nor even the angels, can know or investigate His nature or His intentions. We are indeed acquainted in the sacred records, That the heavens declare the glory of God, (Psal. xix. i.); and this, to be sure, is very true in certain respects; but they do by no means declare the hidden mysteries of the Creator, nor His intentions, and the manner of that worship and service He requires from his reasonable creatures. And therefore the Psalmist, having begun the psalm with the voice and declaration of the heavens, immediately after mentions another light much clearer than the sun himself, and a volume or book more perfect than the language of all the spheres. Nothing is more certain than that the doctrine which leads us to God, must take its rise from Him: for, by no art whatever can the waters be made to rise higher than their fountain. It was therefore absolutely necessary for the purpose I have mentioned, that some revelation concerning God should be made to mankind by Himself; and, accordingly, He did reveal Himself to them from the beginning. And these revelations, the father of lies mimicked by those delusions of his, that were

*Non potest Deus, nisi de Deo, intelligi.