Speculum theologiæ in Christo, or, A view of some divine truths which are either…

3. They were animalia gloriae, Creatures which lived upon popular air. Accordingly their design was as opposite to that of the Gospel, as pride is to the Grace of God. That which the Gospel aimed at, was, that Pride might be stained, that no flesh might glory in it self; that we might be saved by mere Grace, that God might be exalted therein. But the aim of the Philosophers was quite contrary to this, they were lifted up in self-excellencies: in all their Moral Virtues they did but sacrifice to the pride of their own Reason and Will; they needed ⟨p. 122⟩no such thing as Grace or Prayer for it. Quid votis opns est? fac te faelicem, saith Seneca; What need of Prayers?¹ thou mayst make thy self happy. Their fundamental maxim, the very firmament of their happiness was, sibi fidere, to trust to themselves; they would be virtuous, as Ajax would be victorious, without the help of God, that the glory might be entirely their own. In homine id landandum quod ipsius est, that only is praise-worthy which is a mans own. Their Virtuoso was Deorum socius, a Peer to the Gods: He did cum Diis ex pari vivere, live equally with them; nay, he did in one thing go before them, they were such by Nature, he by Virtue. This makes Seneca cry out,² Ecce res magna, habere imbecillitatem hominis, securitatem Dei. Behold! a great thing, to have the frailty of a Man, the security of a God. This horrible Pride, the venom in their Moral Virtues, (which was so near and intimate to them, that one looking into Plato's vomit, said, I see his choler here, but not his Pride, meaning, that that stuck too close to him to be cast up by him) was a temper as opposite to the Gospel as any thing could be; it did utterly evacuate Christ and Grace. What room could there be for Grace, when Nature might do the work? What need that the Eternal Word, the brightness of Glory, should be incarnate, when the little [Greek or Hebrew], the small spark of Reason in our bosom, was enough to make us virtuous and happy? No frame of mind, no, not that of the profane man could be at a greater distance from Heaven than this.³ Inter maltos reos, nullus est criminosior, quàm qui fe non putat criminosum. Among many guilty persons, none is more criminal than