Principia et documenta Vitae Christianae Golgotha Matthew 16 Ver 24 If any man will com after me let him deny him self and take up his Cross and follow me F. H. Van. Houe feci◠〈…〉 PRECEPTS AND Practical Rules FOR A truly Christian Life BEING A Summary of Excellent Directions to follow the narrow way to BLISS In two PARTS Written Originally in Latin By JOHN BONA Englished by L. B. LONDON Printed by M. Clark for H. Brome at the Gun in S. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXVIII TO The Reverend Mr. Thomas Ken PREBENDARY OF THE Church of Winton c. SIR YOU are known to be a Person of a very Charitable and Generous Spirit ready and desirous to oblige the publick yet had you been aware your commendation of this Book would have drawn upon you the trouble of this address it may well be doubted whether you would not have kept it secret to your self without promoting its being divulg'd in our vulgar tongue for the benefit of others But Sir that you may not repent this good deed I will spare you as much as is possible and leave it still to publick fame to proclaim your great worth only pray give me leave to offer that to you to which you had most right It will not only be an Act of justice but a kindness also to them that love good Books For they will be sure this is one when they shall know so Pious and so Learned a man hath recommended it for such And I may well expect this will prevail with others to read it gladly when it was that made me undertake the greater trouble of Translating of it I know not whether I should deprecate for the more than usual liberty I have in some places taken but Sir either I could not follow my Reader in his too lofty flight or else I thought plainness might be of a more general usefulness or it may be I judg'd it convenient that speaking another language he should somewhat alter his sentiments It may be no difficult matter to win a Jansenist not now biast by worldly Considerations and however 't is a good work to draw a good man from a bad party So that I am almost confident that what I have done in this will not only have your pardon but your approbation also and then I shall not need fear the censure of any judicious Reader Sir I am well assur'd your name will more than answer all the objections that might be raised against this Book on the account of its Author as for the matter of it 't is most excellent and if my Translation be but tolerable it cannot but do good and be acceptable to all good Christians I know 't was your design it should and I wish it may and that this Dedication may be looked upon as a Testimony of my great respects for you worthy Sir whom unknown I honour as a Person well known to deserve it remaining SIR Your humble Servant L. B. THE Translators Preface TO THE READER I Know we have great plenty of good Books already but the number of the bad ones increaseth daily and we must not suffer the tares to choak the good seed for the new ones are read and enquired after though for nothing but meerly Novelty I know likewise that for the best of modern Authors we need not be beholden to strangers we have many of our own more excellent than any can come from abroad But why should we be greedy of such forein things as minister to vanity and neglect such as advance true goodness Why should we teach Poets and Romancers to speak the English Tongue and not acquaint Christian Philosophers with the graces of it If I wanted Apologies for this Translation such as these would sufficiently plead for it but indeed I rather want words to set forth its due praise for 't is very good in it self and designed to a good end I mean the instructions of it which if attended to cannot but be very serviceable in promoting Holiness and true Religion I know some will be ready to ask with Nathaniel John 1.46 Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth But I Answer with St. Philip Come and see Believe not my report but come and satisfie thy self and judge as thou shalt find cause 'T is true we may not go to school to the Devil but we may receive truth from whencesoever it comes I mean only that we should not seek to dissenters to learn from them those things wherein we disagree but in those things which we know to be true we may use their counsel and their assistance and we are all agreed that unfeigned holiness and Christian vertues are absolutely requisite to make us true Christians and to make us happy We may therefore use all such means as tend to this end without inquiring whence they come Israelites may go down to the Philistines to sharpen their mattocks their shares and their axes and where we know the right way there is no danger in being forwarded therein by any strangers help 'T is not to be denied but that the Church of Rome maintains many Doctrines very injurious to God and destructive of Holiness and true Piety but withal it must be granted that many of her members admit not of the direful consequents but still believe and press the necessity of a good life and obedience to the Gospel-precepts and were it not for this 't would be impossible for any good man to live in so erroneous and so corrupt a society But however fear not to read and to follow the Christian Directions contained in this Book for it hath past through such hands as would not have made it publick but for a publick advantage and withal it is not so much the Authors composure as his Collection from Ancienter and more Orthodox Writers But Blessed God! how different are the tempers and procedures of men Not a few in the Roman Church are grieved for and very sensible of the corruptions crept in and establisht amongst them and yet they are meek and peaceable silent and subject under their worst Constitutions and this purest of Churches the Church of England against which nothing reasonable can be objected is clamour'd against torn and distracted even by some that would be thought the best of Protestants There they impose a heavy yoke and teach things apparently design'd to gratifie their Pride and their Ambition and yet they are obey'd here the Church is indulgent and plainly aims at nothing but the Salvation of Souls and the Glory of God and yet it is rebel'd against and persecuted And I profess but that the Gospel it self is slighted and Heaven not cared for I must eternally wonder that the Church of England is not lov'd and reverenc'd and most gladly follow'd by all that have the happiness to live within the limits of her inclosure But I say this wonder must cease when we consider that men can stand out against the mercies of their
without Works is dead and except our conversation be suitable to our Profession the most glorious Names and Titles shall avail nothing Life and manners as well as Faith make a difference betwixt a Heathen and a Believer by Works the distinction is made betwixt the true Religion and the false For what manner of Faith is theirs who so believe in God that they despise and reject his Commands are they not like the Devil who believes and trembles or rather it were to be wisht that they were no worse for his Faith begets an awe and terror but these boast of Faith and yet do not so much as fear God CHAP. III. That original sin is the spring whence all evil proceeds 1. NOW of the cause of all this wickedness none can be ignorant that hath but heard of the transgression of our first Parents For by their fall original Righteousness being lost human nature utterly depraved and shut up under condemnation their off-spring fell into evils of all sorts so great and so many that they can be neither exprest nor numbred Hence that deep and dreadful ignorance which like a black cloud darkens the mind and lies upon it hence that brutish and untamable Lust which like a heavy weight sinks the soul to the ground and there keeps it fast hence that aversion from God and conversion to things perishing hence those anxious cares and foolish joys those dissensions quarrels and enmities those perverse Heresies greedy Sacrileges and unsatiable Lusts and hence the Eternal ruin and damnation of all Mankind For this was the just vengeance of Man's impious Disobedience and Rebellion that God should forsake him who by Pride lift up himself against God that he that would not when he could make a good use of his free will should be depriv'd of it and become uncapable of doing what was infinitely his duty and his interest to perform except he be prevented and assisted by the divine grace and mercy 2. Thus Man left to himself in the state of Nature is by self-love drawn to himself seeks himself onely and in his wretched self alone sets his rest and his satisfaction This is a sad truth and 't is much to be wisht all Christians did well consider and understand it for if they were sensible of their weakness and impotency how uncapable they are of themselves to do any good then 't is like they would daily by fervent prayer beg his gracious help that works in us to will and to do from whom comes all our light our strength and our sufficiency But alas too many in a deep death-like sleep rest in carnal security and unhappily abused by vain delusions love their blindness and their disease too dreaming that they are safe and sound because they have no sense of their distemper CHAP. IV. Of the occasion and drift of this Book 1. WHilest I often thought of these things and in the bitterness of my Soul call'd to mind the lost years of my life I was griev'd and perplext both upon the account of the time which is past and of that which shall follow hereafter Looking backward on those days which are gone and examining seriously how I have spent them I was seiz'd upon with horror at the sight of my many soul prevarications against the laws of my gracious God and my great unfaithulness to Christ my Saviour in the breach of those sacred vows I made when I gave up my name to him in holy Baptism I was asham'd and confounded to have thus requited my God and abused his Grace And when I turn'd my self to the future to those things that are coming upon me I could not but dread the dreadful judgments of my offended God and tremble exceedingly at the greatness of my danger and the uncertainty of that pardon I want and am so much unworthy of In these straights I resolved by God's help first to help my self and then others that are in the same case to prescribe what might easily be had and yet be effectual things ready at hand which being often read and considered might be remembred and follow'd that they that seriously design to be happy and to take the safest way that leads to Heaven might find it here without the trouble of a long and laborious search 2. Now because Physicians have their Aphorisms and Philosophers their Axioms or sentences and in all inquiries after truth we must begin at certain principles which are short and comprehensive and as it were the seed and marrow of the whole discipline therefore I purpose in this little book to lay down briefly and clearly those chiefest Rules and instructions for to lead a holy and a religious life which more at large are scattered in the sacred books of Divine Scripture and in the works of the Holy Fathers and other good Authors For when all is done this is our first and our greatest concern that one necessary thing on which all depends to know how to live well to live like Christians For what shall a man be profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul and what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Mat. 16.26 Nothing more perverse and unreasonable can be imagined than to own our selves Christ's disciples and live quite contrary to the example and the precepts of Christ The name of a Christian will avail nothing where the life is Antichristian CHAP. V. The Cause why so many learn the Rules of Christianity and follow them not 1. MAny without difficulty can read and learn the Gospel-precepts and even often think of them but 't is much to be lamented that few understand well their force and their full importance We easily grant that the only way to heaven lies through self-denyal fasting watching and praying keeping under the body and going patiently through many tribulations but when it comes to the proof of action we seem to be of another mind We can readily say and affirm that it is a Christian's duty chearfully to endure reproaches and persecutions torments and even death it self but when these evils are at hand and our life comes to be in danger then things appear not as they did before we cannot see that we are oblig'd to resignation and sufferance what before was a very clear case is now at the best but very doubtful We can be humble when no body reviles us and when wee meet with no vexation then we are patient We assent to the doctrine of Christ and his severest injunctions when we are not concern'd but when they come to regard us and press upon us a present duty then the inticements of lust and worldly vanities alter our resolutions and disturb our minds and by a corrupt gloss or lazy interpretation we elude the unpleasing precept 2. Truth is as it were wrapt up in a cloud and men hate it because it reproves them their sinful depraved nature cannot abide its rigour and austerity They find in virtue something
rough and bitter and in sin a mixture of sweetness that offends and this gratifies their distempered palat and they brutishly follow the bait run into all dissolution and so reject truth to imbrace a lie If at any time they give ear to an honest and plain monitor who lays the truth open before them and be so far work'd upon as to be sensible that they are in darkness and to have some desire after light yet like men that would fain awake but are opprest by a heavy slumber and so presently fall to sleep again they soon after close their eyes and exclude the light to return to their beloved darkness 3. No wonder therefore if we propound to do many things and effect nothing For we not foreseeing the difficulties which commonly occur in well-doing when we come to meet with them we presently draw back and our courage fails again we trust in our own strength more than in the divine help and assistance and when temptations grow strong we lose heart and are soon worsted and learn by a sad experience that when we overcome it is not by our own virtue but by the power of God's grace Lastly we give much to notion and speculations and take little care to affect our will and affections the Christian laws of well-living we learn as a science rather than as a matter of conscience we study Divinity not to obedience and conformity to God's will but to vain glory and ostentation Now 't is altogether in vain to learn wisdom and yet live foolishly CHAP. VI. That the rules of Evangelical Perfection are intended for all Christians 1. MAny that have no mind to perfect holiness in the fear of God by living according to the strict precepts of our Saviour Christ pretend that they belong not to them but only to Clergy-men or such as are shut up and recluse from the World this is their excuse and their plea but as I shall soon make it appear it is altogether void of truth and vain For though it is to be acknowledg'd that some by new vows and ingagements are more particularly devoted to God and under greater obligations to live Religiously and tend to perfection yet certain it is that all Christians tend to the same end though their way may differ in some circumstances and as to what regards the practice of Christian virtues contempt of the World poverty in Spirit and the loving and bearing of the Cross they are all equally concern'd they have the same Gospel and are equally oblig'd to obey its dictates Charity which is the band of perfection comprehensive of all other duties God requires of all Christians alike and lust or self-love which is the root of all evil is likewise generally forbidden no exception of persons no difference is made betwixt any Our Blessed Saviour hath injon'd we should abstain from idle words of which an account shall be rendred in the great day that we should not be angry with our Brother nor covet what belongs to him he makes no distinction betwixt Clergy-men or Lay-men or persons of any rank or calling nor yet when he says Woe unto you that laugh and blessed are ye that mourn nor when he teaches that we must always pray that we must forsake all and follow him that we must hate our own life deny our selves suffer injuries patiently and enter in at the straight gate in these consists Christian perfection and yet from these he excludes no man 2. Saint Paul likewise writing to all Christians such as were cumbered with worldly affairs and had the care of large families gives them this strict Ascetick Rule to be content with food and raiment 1 Tim. 6.8 Than which nothing more was ever required of any Hermits Saint Peter also exhorts all believers to be holy in all manner of conversation as he that hath called them is holy 1 Ep. 1.15 So doth Saint James 1.4 to be perfect and intire wanting nothing And our Blessed Saviour before them all preaching to the multitude that followed him Be ye perfect saith he as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Mat. 5.48 Thereby recommending the highest degree of holiness to all that would be his Disciples that as many as are reputed children of God by grace and adoption might live accordingly indeavouring after the example and perfection of their Heavenly Father And so hath our Blessed Lord laid upon all Christians infinite obligations to live holy lives to be strict and virtuous to the highest measure and possibility which they may not neglect without forfeiting his favour and excluding themselves from his Heavenly Kingdom CHAP. VII Of the usefulness of this Book with an exhortation to follow after perfection 1. NOW then let us despise and forsake all those things wherein worldings place their felicity and make it our onely study to pursue after the prize of our high calling the height of Christian perfection in following the blessed steps of our Blessed Redeemer This is the aim of this little volume to this purpose are design'd all the instructions here laid down that we may overcome the temptations and allurements of sense attain to the knowledge of the truth and so return in some manner to our primitive station that Paradise wherein we were created to triumph over sin and at last reign to Eternity The children of this World would fain have it believ'd that that perfection or sincerity which the Gospel requires is very hard to come by and hardly to be found in any man living thereby endeavouring to make Christians faint and remiss loth to venture upon an attempt which they would have them think is wholly impossible whereas nothing is difficult to him that is truly resolv'd and willing and whatever is hard in it self is made easie by that grace of God which is always ready to assist us 2. The truth is there is so much of delicious beauty in virtue and righteousness so ravishing a joy in a glimpse of heavenly light so glorious a brightness in the sight of God's eternal truth that the enjoyment of these for one day may justly be prefer'd to many ages of the greatest pleasures this world can afford for one day in thy Courts is better than a thousand as the Psalmist saith Psal 84.10 3. Now here would I caution my Reader not to wonder if perchance he finds the same thing repeated more than once in this little book for that cannot be avoided there being so close a connexion and affinity betwixt the precepts of several virtues and withal it may be an effect of the great power of truth that the nearer we view it the oftner we are drawn to review it Likewise if something herein seems too Angelical and high or more harsh and difficult than the frail nature of man can well bear let him remember that the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed