ll makes a man and as there a man is miserable by his own
condemning of himself: And on the other side, when they think that Heaven
arises from any place, or any nearness to God or Angels, that is not
principally so; but Heaven lies in a refined Temper, in an inward
Reconciliation to the Nature of God. So that both Hell and Heaven have
their Foundation within Men."[63] The evil and punishment which follow
sin are "consequential" and inseparable from sin, and so, too, eternal
life is nothing but spiritual life fulfilling itself in ways that are
consequential and necessary in the deepest nature of things: "That which
is our best employment here will be our only employment in eternity."[64]

The good old Puritan, Tuckney, suspected that Whichcote was promulgating
a type of Christianity which could dispense with ordinances--"as though
in this life wee may be above ordinances,"--and it must be confessed that
there was some ground for this suspicion. He was no "enthusiast" and he
in no way shared the radical anti-sacramentarian spirit of the small
sects of the Commonwealth, but it belonged to the very essence of this
type of religion, as we have seen in every varied instance of it, to hold
lightly to externals. "The Spirit," as Whichcote once said, "makes men
consider the Inwards of things,"[65] and almost of necessity the grasp
slackens on outward {303} forms, as the vision focusses more intently
upon inward and eternal realities. It is one of his foundation
principles that "we worship God best when we resemble Him most,"[66] and
if that is true, then the whole energy of one's being should concentrate
upon the cultivation of "the deiform nature," "the nativity from Above."
The real matters of religion, as he keeps insisting, are matters of life
and inner being, the formation of disposition and the right set of will.
But these vital things have been notoriously slighted, and "men's zeal is
employed in usages, modes and rites of parties"; in matters that are
divisive and controversial rather than in "things that are lovely in the
eyes of all who have the Principles of Reason for their rule."[67] The
great differences in religion have never been over necessary and
indispensable Truth; on the contrary the disturbing differences have
always been and still are "either over Points of curious and nice
Speculation, or about arbitrary modes of worship."[68] Just as fast as
men see that religion is a way to fullness of life, a met