Devotion therefore is so far from being best suited to _little, ignorant_ minds, that a _true elevation_ of soul, a _lively sense_ of honour, and _great knowledge_ of God and ourselves, are the greatest helps that our devotion hath.
4. On the other hand, it shall be made appear, that _indevotion_ is founded in the most excessive ignorance.
And, _first_, Our blessed Lord and his apostles were eminent instances of great devotion. Now if we will grant, (as all Christians must grant) that their great devotion was founded in a true knowledge of the nature of devotion, the nature of God, and the nature of man, then it is plain, that all those that are insensible of devotion, are in this excessive state of ignorance; they neither know God, nor themselves, nor devotion.
Again, how comes it that most people have recourse to devotion, when they are in sickness, distress, or fear of death? Is it not because this state shews them _more_ of the want of God, and their own weakness, than they perceive at other times? Is it not because their approaching end, _convinces_ them of something which they did not _half perceive_ before?
Now if devotion, at these seasons, is the effect of a _better knowledge_ of God and ourselves, then the neglect of devotion at other times is owing to ignorance of God and ourselves.
5. Farther, as indevotion is ignorance, so it is the most _shameful_ ignorance, and such as is to be charged with the _greatest folly_.
This will fully appear to any one that considers by what rules we are to judge of the excellency of any knowledge, or the shamefulness of any ignorance.
Now _knowledge_ itself would be no _excellence_, nor ignorance any _reproach_ to us, but that we are _rational_ creatures.
It follows plainly, that knowledge which is most _suitable_ to our rational nature, and which most concerns us, as such, to know, is our _highest, finest_ knowledge; and that ignorance which relates to things that are most _essential_ to us, as rational creatures, and which we are most concerned to know, is, of all others, the most _gross_ and _shameful_ ignorance.
6. If a _gentleman_ should fancy that the _moon_ is no bigger than it appears to the _eye_, that it shines with its _own light_, that all the _stars_ are only so many spots of light; if after reading books of _astronomy_, he should still continue in the same opinion, most people would think he had but a poor apprehension.
But if the same person should think it better to provide for a _short life_ here, than to prepare for a _glorious eternity_ hereafter; that it was better to be _rich_, than to be _eminent_ in piety, his _ignorance_ and _dulness_ would be too great to be compared to any thing else.
That is the most clear and improved understanding, which _judges_ best of the _value_ and _worth_ of things; all the rest is but the capacity of an _animal_; it is but meer _seeing_ and _hearing_.
If a man had _eyes_ that could see beyond the _stars_, or pierce into the heart of the earth, but could not see the things that were before him, or discern any thing that was serviceable to him, we should reckon that he had but a very _bad sight_.
If another had _ears_ that received sounds from the world in the _moon_, but could hear nothing that was said or done upon earth, we should look upon him to be as _bad_ as _deaf_.
In like manner, if a man has a _memory_ that can retain a great many things, if he has a _wit_ that is _sharp_ and _acute_ in arts and sciences, but has a _dull, poor_ apprehension of his _duty_ and _relation_ to God, of the _value_ of piety, or the _worth_ of moral virtue, he may very justly be reckoned to have a _bad understanding_. He is but like the man that can only _see_ and _hear_ such things as are of no benefit to him.
7. To proceed: We know how our blessed Lord acted in an human body; it was _his meat and drink to do the will of his Father which is in heaven_.
And if any number of heavenly spirits were to leave their habitations in the light of God, and be for awhile united to human bodies, they would certainly tend towards God in all their actions, and be as heavenly as they could, in a state of flesh and blood.
They would certainly act in this manner, because they would know that God was the _only good_ of all spirits; and that whether they were _in_ the body, or _out_ of the body, in _heaven_ or on _earth_, they must have every degree of their greatness and happiness from God alone.
All human spirits therefore, the _more exalted_ they are, the more they _know_ their divine original, the _nearer_ they come to heavenly spirits, the more will they live to God in all their actions, making their whole life a _state of devotion_.
Devotion therefore is the greatest sign of a great and noble _genius_; it supposes a soul in its _highest state_ of knowledge; and none but _little_ and _blinded_ minds, that are sunk into _ignorance_ and _vanity_, are destitute of it.