written and allowed of by the Ancient Fathers and the whole Church of God in all Ages And then as to the necessity of Prayer if we consider our many wants Temporal and Spiritual to be relieved many sins wherein we still offend God to be pardoned many Temptations and Dangers from which to be preserved many Benefits and Assistances received and all these with a respect also to our Fellow Christians we cannot but acknowledge every moment of our Lives had we no other necessary Duties too little to be spent in this one Great Duty of Continual Prayer 1 Thess 5.17 Our good Lord assist us by his Holy Spirit in the diligent and sincere performance thereof The other Chief Means of our obtaining Divine Assistances against our Lusts is 2ly Frequen Communicating as many good Christians now do and the Primitive Christians did almost every day I do not intend here to treat largely of this Holy Sacrament there being many good Books Written designedly on that Subject but only recommend to the Reader without medling with God's power therein which transcends all Humane Conception and Comprehension the Immense Benefit of this Holy Mystery to each worthy Communicant in reference to his particular Necessities For obtaining Remission of this or that Sin a Remedy of this or that Infirmity a Deliverance from this or that Affliction for receiving a Benefit or giving thanks for a Benefit received for helping our Neighbour for encreasing the Holy Spirit and Love of God in us Because as by one Spirit in Baptism We are made one Mystical Body of Christ 1 Cor. 12.13 so likewise in the Eucharist are we made to drink into the partaking of one Spirit The Blessed Eucharist being as necessary for the continuing and encreasing as Baptism for the first receiving the Holy Spirit Because also this is that particular Nourishment instituted by Christ for the preserving our Body and Soul to Everlasting Life that particular Pledge and Assurance of our Resurrection that true Bread from Heaven which mystically also Incorporates us into Christ and makes us continue and grow up into perfect Members of his Body that so thus partaking of the Nature and Spirit of the Second Adam the Heir of all things we may become with him Sons of God Heirs of Eternal Life as we were by the First Adam of Eternal Death That true Heavenly Bread lastly so Exalting and Assimulating our Nature into Christ when worthily Communicating as to make us one with him as he and the Father are one According to our Saviour's Prayer when he was Instituting this Blessed Sacrament I pray thee Father John 17. that they may be one as we are one O Blessed Union between poor Man and his Maker O happy those Souls who here worthily feed on this Heavenly Bread the only true Nourishment of the Life of Grace enabling them in the Strength thereof to walk even to the Mount of God the Life of Glory The Conclusion THE Summ of this Discourse is The Sins of the Flesh are most dangerous because most natural to us And by reason of their filthiness most loathsome to Almighty God and most severely punished by him For not only those of the greater magnitude Fornication Adultery Incest Sodomy Beastiality are followed with God's most Tremendous Judgments but also we find in Scripture Vncleanness and Laciviousness Gal. 5.19 Eph. 5.3 destinct from the foregoing and of a less denomination every where joyned with such Sins as exclude the Practisers thereof from the Kingdom of Heaven The way to prevent such Sins and to avoid the punishment of them is To mortify our Passions our Memory and Imagination to beware of impure Suggestions cheirsh Holy Inspirations and avoid all the occasions of such Sins to Improve lastly the Grace of God in us by Assiduous Prayer daily Examination of our selves perfect Repentance frequent Communicating and all other holy means pressing still farther to higher and higher Gifts particularly to the attaining that most excellent Gift of Charity which makes us love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves hate even our own Lives for love of Him who first loved us undergoing the the greatest sufferings with Thankfulness and Complacency performing all our Actions on purpose to please him referring them to his Honour offering them up to his Praise and Glory To whom Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Honour Praise and Glory to all Eternity Amen God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4.24 Grace and Truth i. e. means of Salvation came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves but to him who dyed for them Gal. 4.6 2 Cor. 5.15 Wretched is that man who is all for the good things of this Life a good House good Apparel good Provision c. and is content to have a bad Soul Int. Christ Some Short Directions and Heads of Meditation for the Persons Concerned in the Preceeding Discourse CHAP. I. Of Meditation it's Requisites and how it differs from Contemplation MEditation is called the first Essential part of Prayer leading to Contemplation Thanksgiving Petition c. in which all the Principal Faculties of the Soul the Memory Vnderstanding Will and Affections are severally employed The Memory recollects the matter to be Meditated upon and also placeth the Soul in the Divine Presence The Vnderstanding judgeth of the Subject and its Vertues and accordingly proposeth it to the Will The Will excites in us divers Acts and Affections either of Love Affiance Gratitude c. towards God Or of Hatred Compunction desire of doing better c. towards our selves which is indeed the main Scope and end of Meditation Then follows our Praying and representing to Almighty God our Miseries Necessities Temptations which we most earnestly beg him to redress for his own Love and Compassion's sake and the Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ But when the Faculties of the Soul are unactive or slow in their Operations as it often happens they are to be excited by the help of good Books which ought always to be at hand when we Meditate and in all such holy exercise we are to approach the Divine Presence with our greatest Reverence and Humiliation And it is also necessary before every Meditation to make a strict Examen of Conscience 1. What Benefits we have received that day from Almighty God for which we are to return Thanks 2. What Sins we have that day committed running through every hour in thought word and deed for which we are to beg pardon 3. We are to resolve upon an amendment in every particular by the Grace of God After such strict Examination of all our Thoughts Desires Words and Works judging our selves that we be not judged of the Lord and Confessing our Sins in the bitterness of our Soul as the Church requires and taking also
and wicked Courses and seem obstinately resolved so to do Because our siding and herding with such is plainlly the declaring our selves on the Devils side open Enemies to God and all goodness And for this reason it is that the Church of Christ like a most wise Mother hath in all Ages taken strict care to secure her obedient Children from the Infection of the Disobedient by making severe Canons against Praying Communicating and in some Cases speaking with the Perverse whether their Errors were in Faith or Practice Because she not discerning the hearts of her Children can only level her Censures against their External Profession as she perceives them faulty either in Doctrin or Manners and those that will not be restrained must blame not her but themselves if they incurr her Anathema's instead of her Blessings Can. Apost See Can. Apost 11 12 13. Conc. Laod. Can. 33 38 39. Concil Carthag 4. Can. 72 73. St. Aug. Ep. 48. and Ep. 152. To Lewd and Debauched Company we may add lewd Books as the worst and most dangerous Companions of all Because they usually take us alone and when perhaps least upon our Guard By lewd Books I mean nasty Ribaldry Novels Poems Songs Pictures Romances and many of our Modern Plays which of that kind are so much the worse as their Language is better the Authors whereof even when they become Penitents can never ordinarily speaking make a sufficient Satisfaction to God and the World without a Solemn Retractation of them Many unwary both Men and Women have been ruined by them none bettered because indeed they with all the Pomp imaginable recommend the Debauchery they pretend to expose and if you observe it always speak more wittily for than against the Vice they are describing But as bad Books are the worst so good Books are the best Companions in the World The safest retreat from ill Company more advantageous than the best and the greatest Felicity on this side of Heaven In omnibus requiem quaesivi c. I sought my quiet in all things of this Life but could not find it only in Angello cum libello with a little good Book in a convenient Nook 3ly Infamous Places infected with the whole herd or any one of these abominable sins notwithstanding their being grown almost into a Fashion amongst us are to be most watchfully avoided by us whether they be single Houses or whole Cities No trusting to the smooth words of an Harlot who layeth in wait at all the Corners of the Streets Prov. 7.5.10.16 enticing whom she can to her house pretending all things are made ready for them when at the same time she intends only to make a prey of them And the same Wiles Crafts may be observed in common Drunkards and all profligate Sinners who are also very dexterous in using their Witticisms and little Artifices to deceive and draw in others Thomas a Kempis adviseth against too great Familiarity with any especially Women how good soever much more with lewd Persons or Cohabiting with them No safe venturing into their Houses where this Leprosie hath been spread No secure coming into Sodom even for an Angel Righteous Lot or any good Man must not stay there when he cannot convince them least he be consumed with them And I suppose Tyre and Sidon and the other Cities about them to have been in the same condition And yet we find our Saviour pronouncing greater Woes upon some other Cities in his time of Conversing visibly upon Earth that had received greater mercies greater means of Salvation We to thee Chorazin Mat. 11.21 wo to thee Bethsaida If the mighty works that have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago sitting in Sackcloth and Ashes Therefore it shall be more tollerable for those Cities in the day of Judgment than for you And I pray God those Woes may not reach our ungrateful Cities which have seen so many of God's mighty Works and felt so many of his Fatherly Corrections yet are still so over-run with all sorts of uncleanness and sensuality as too many profligate Wretches will tell you without blushing that we cannot expect less than that the utmost of the Divine Vengeance should forthwith after an extraordinary manner as lately upon Jamaica be poured out upon us God's ordinary dreadful Judgments such as Plague Fire Sword Poverty have not reclaimed us and nothing now as it seems to me but a speedy Exemplary Repentance like that of Nineveh can avert our ruine Our good Lord give us such true universal over-prevailing Repentance before it be too late Before I conclude this Chapter give me leave to add one Caution more concerning Discourse as being the most dangerours Occasion of the filthiest sins All levity therein foolish Talking Jesting Buffoonery Superfluous Facetiousness Affectation of Wit and the like must be avoided because they tend wholly to the pleasing of men and that many times not without grosly offending of God and woe to them that in such manner Laugh now for they shall eternally weep hereafter Luk. 6.25 It is good Advice therefore which is given by a very Learned Person upon this Point to use an Holy Reservedness in our Conversation even with intimate Friends and not to turn our inside outward or to speak all that comes in our thoughts Because having many imperfections most of our thoughts must needs be weak and unrefined and we apprehend at first sight according to Nature not Grace unless some Preconsideration be used And in much Company we are to accustom our selves rather to silence sometimes imposing it upon our selves if given to talk much so far forth as is consistent with our Duty and Common Civility And not to permit the lewd or idle Discourse of others to interrupt as little as may be our Praying continually 1 Thess 5.17 always giving thanks rejoicing always in the Lord which is the true Life and perfection of a Christian The Guarding thus our own Tongues well and Watching other Mens cuts off perhaps the greatest occasion of our corrupting or being corrupted As may be seen more at large in the many particular Discourses upon this Subject to which I referr the Reader Subjoining only the warning our Saviour hath given us That of every idle word we speak much more of our Perjuries Mat. 12.36 37. Obstinacies palpable Lyes and Blasphemies we must give an account at the day of Judgment and that according to our words we shall either be Condemned or Justified God grant we may not out of our own mouths be condemned in that terrible day CHAP. VIII The Fourth Rule Of Divine Assistances and the means of obtaining them FOurthly The last Rule I shall mention is The being mindful of the Powerful Assistances afforded Christians above all others in the Conquering their Lusts and of the means also of obtaining those Assistances For it is to be noted 1st That no one Sin is Pardoned but by the
A CHECK TO Debauchery AND OTHER CRYING SINS Of these TIMES WITH Several useful Rules for the attaining the contrary Virtues To which are annexed some Directions and Heads for Meditation and Prayer taken out of Holy Scripture Except the Lord had left unto us a very small Remnant we should have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah Is 1.9 Oct. 26. 92. Imprimatur Edm. Bohun LONDON Printed for Richard Butt in Princes-street near Covent-Garden and are to be sould by Randal Taylor near Stacioners-Hall 1692. A LETTER TO A FRIEND SIR I make you this small Present as knowing a Gentleman ought to be as zealous for Virtue as he is for Honour and to shew his Courage chiefly in conquering himself Your Example influences very far being so well known and so well beloved And I need not tell you how many out of meer Emulation are apt enough to become your Creatures and Followers The Conversation of some Gentlemen is not so innocent as becomes their Quality and as it ought to be But it is commonly either Drollery or hard drinking In the former they neither spare Friend nor Foe have no regard to Modesty or good Manners and many times not to sacred Things themselves And in the latter they are obnoxious to all other even the greatest Sins It is Solomon's Observation concerning Drunkenness that it leads to Whoredom and all Lewd things and renders Men more insensible than Beasts and yet so great is the sottishness of its followers they will seek it still and not refrain Prov. 23.33 c. Those false Maxims so much in Vogue with some God will deal with me as a Gentleman a Souldier a Courtier and the like so often urged in Excuse of a Vicious Life were invented by the Common Enemy of Mankind to justle out the Laws of God and to render all good Instructions of Pious Men ineffectual Whereas the H. Scripture assures us That God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness i. e. becomes and does the duty of a Christian is accepted of him and none others Acts 10.34 35. John 3.18 And if we profess to know God and deny him in our Works we are no better than Infidels and if we say we do know him and not keep his Commandments we are Lyars let our Quality or Station be what it will Tit. 1.16 Many Saints now in Heaven were indeed not always so upon Earth but then resolutely reforming themselves and retracting their past Course of Life the Divine Grace and assistance being never wanting to such they afterwards by incessant vertue became great Instruments of God's Glory in the Salvation of innumerable Souls This is more or less applicable to every Man whilst he lives in this World who hath always some fault or other if not ill habit to retract which by God's assistance he may do when he pleases and it is his greatest wisdom not to delay his Endeavours as the contrary his greatest folly I hope therefore you will not think me your Enemy because I tell you the truth Who am on the contrary Sir Your Faithful Friend in this highest point of Friendship and most ready to serve you in any thing conducing to your eternal happiness at least my poor Prayers shall not be wanting SIR Your most Sincere Humble Servant L. D. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Courteous Reader THese Collections were designed chiefly for the good of my self and some particular Freinds but may perhaps be of service towards the awakening and exciting others to endeavour the pulling down those abominable sins which walk our Streets at Noon day with a Whores forehead unmasked and inhabit with us in our very Gates even in the most Eminent and most frequented places of our Cities without any notice taken of them unless it be to Caress and Encourage them The wiser Heathen would have thought such gross sins a reproach to Reason and a Disgrace to Humane Nature and therefore for Christians to spend their whole lives here in them and expect Heaven at the last which is the reward only of Vertue and Holiness would be the greatest folly and madness in the World The way to Salvation is now by Grace not by weak Nature by what is revealed to â—â— to be the will of God not what we can think or can know any other way by Faith the evidence of things not seen by the Light of Nature yet most certain to us not by sight or blind Reason by denying not pleasing our selves Paradise is not to be gained the same way it was lost but the contrary Not by eating but by forbearing to eat the forbidden Fruit. Not that ceasing to do evil is sufficient to make us happy unless we also learn to do well we must besides bridling our Appetites perform such dayly duty to God as he requires of us Go on from Grace to Grace from Vertue to Vertue from one degree of Holiness to another till we come to the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ The first and principal step however to Vertue is the ceasing to be Vicious and this cannot be done without renouncing all sensuality and subduing our Lusts In order to which we are to pray for the assistance of God's Grace to consult good Men and good Books and resolve to follow their Example and Directions And if this short Treatise should conduce any thing towards the reclaiming of but one single Sinner from a lewd sensual debauched Course of Life to become a sober chast sincere Christian it would be thought more then a sufficient recompence to Courteous Reader Your Faithful Freind for the Good of your Soul L. D. The Contents CHAP. I. OF Gross Carnal Sins in General Pag. 1 Marriage a lawful Remedy Pag. 3 And so also our Lord's Counsel of a Single Life Ibid. The practice of the present Age too contrary to both ibid. CHAP. II. Of the impurity and filthiness of such sins Pag. 6 They proceed wholly from our selves Pag. 7 Natural Infirmities no sins Pag. 6 Opposite to God's own Holiness ibid. A particular mark set upon them in Scripture Pag. 8 Opposite to the cleanness and sanctity which ought to be in the Body as well as in the Soul of every Christian Pag. 9 Diseases Sores c. are not the uncleanness her meant ibid The Body the Temple of the Holy Ghost a Member of Christ his Spouse purchased with his precious Blood therefore to be kept holy Pag. 10 11. Fornication c. Dishonourable and Disgraceful to the committors thereof Offers the greatest indignity to Christ's Incarnation Pag. 12 Filthy Discourse tending thereunto to be avoided ibid. A Natural shame accompanies such sins Pag. 14 The Habit thereof changes Men into Beasts Pag. 15 These were the sins the Heathen sell into when abandoned by God for their Idolatry Pag. 15 16 CHAP. III. Of the punishments of such sins Pag. 17 God a revenges of such sins himself Pag.
18 Punishments dreadfel and sudden Pag. 19 Flood Fire and Brimstone Sword Loss of Kingdoms c. and what exceeds them all eternal Death Pag. 19 20 21 CHAP. IV. Of the chastity of Marriage and of the purity of a Single Life Pag. 23 68 Marriage very honourable compared to that of Christ with his Church Pag. 24 Many degrees of Conjugal chastity ibid. Some abstain for a shorter time upon the account of some Solemn Devotion Communicating c. Pag. 24 25 Some longer for good ends also Pag. 25 26 Some their whole life by consent for the better serving of God Pag. 26 27 Of a Single Life's being 1st more pure than chast Marriage it self Pag. 27 28 29 2ly Freer from Worldly distractions c. Pag. 29 30 More sensible of God's presence Pag. 34 The Gift of Continency attainable by all sincere endeavourers Pag. 35 36 Fitter for Contemplation Pag. 33 36. More Heroical Pag. 37 The reward in Heaven greater ibid. Of the purity of the Soul Pag. 38 The sins more immediately opposed Pride c. with the Remedies Humility c. only barely named ibid. A blind Understanding and perverse Will the causes Pag. 39 Rebellion according to St. Judes Description Pag. 39 40 Some Rules for the preventing and curing the sins of the Flesh Pag. 41 c. CHAP. V. The first Rule of our Affectiens c. Pag. 42 Of th Passion of Love ibid. If wrong placed ruins us Pag. 44. If rightly placed makes us happy ibid. Of the Memory and Imagination Pag. 41 The Store-house of the Soul Pag. 46 When advantageous ibid. When Destructive to us ibid. The outward Senses must be watched Pag. 47 Several ways of getting rid of Temptations from them by meditating upon our Saviour's Passion the 4 last things c. Pag. 48 49 c. CHAP. VI. The Second Rule Of Suggestions Pag. 52 Whence they proceed ibid. What to be done if they tempt to habitual sin Pag. 53 Using external Actions Pag. 54 Delaying the Execution bid Concerning strong resolutions Pag. 53 54 Resolutions Conditional upon a Forfeiture Pag. 56 Resolution of returning and repenting upon a relapse Pag. 58 Telling the Temptation to some other Pag. 60 61 CHAP. VII The third Rule The Occasions of Lust c. to be avoided Pag. 62 1st No making provision for the Flesh to c. ib. Temperance in meat and drink Pag. 63 64 65 c. Frequent fastings ibid. Moderate sleep and sometimes watchings Pag. 66 67 2ly Lewd Company to be avoided Pag. 70 No conversing with such Pag. 71 This for our own security and their good Pag. 73 No eating c. with them when obstinate ibid Cases of Necessity excepted c. Pag. 74 The Church in her Councils and Canons very strict in this matter Pag. 75 Lewd Books also dangerous Companions Pag. 75 Good ones the best Companions in the World Pag. 76 3ly Infamous places to be avoided ibid Whether single houses or whole cities Pag. 77 No cohabiting with lewd Persons ibid. A caution concerning Discourses Pag. 79 80 81 Especially in much Company ibid CHAP. VIII The fourth Rule Of Divine Assistances c. Pag. 82 Three things prenoted ibid. The first Grace given at Baptism Pag. 83 More added upon our using the first well Pag. 85 Of the Grace of Charity or the love of God Pag. 86 87 The force of Spiritual Gifts against the Flesh Pag. 89 How to Experience the good of Christianity ibid. Of frequent Examination of Conscience Pag. 90 The Subtility of the Devil Pag. 92 2ly The means of obtaining divine assistances Pag. 93 1st Prayer Repentance Pag. 93 94 c. 2ly Frequent Communicating Pag. 98 c. The Summ of the whole Pag. 102 Some short Directions and Heads for Meditation c. CHAP. I. OF Meditation its Requisites and how it differs from Contemplation Pag. 105 CHAP. II. Of the Subject of Meditation with Heads for the first Week Pag. 111 CHAP. III. Heads of Meditation for the Second Third and Fourth Weeks Pag. 121 CHAP. IV. Meditations for the Fifth Week Pag. 130 The Letany of Christian Vertues taken out of the Holy Scriptures c. Pag. 139 A CHECK TO DEBAUCHERY CHAP. I. Of grosse Carnal Sins in General THE spiritual Man and good Christian hath no greater Enemies than those he carrieth about with him his own depraved Appetites and inordinate Desires especially to sensual Pleasure and carnal Delights for which Flesh and Blood so strongly plead These the more common and the less heeded they are so much the more dangerous to and more destructive of the Soul There are no Temptations so vigorously assault us or so easily beguile us as these Which are therefore said by the Prophet to seize and take away the Heart Hos 4.11 and the Desire of them entreaseth the more we descend to a particular thinking or discussing of them even tho it be with a design to leave them They make so strong an Impression have so much of Force and Stratagem together that there is no Conquering of â—â—em by our contending with them but by our running away from them So many wiles and secret devices so many promises and specious pretences so many windings and turnings which the Wise Man calls the way of a Serpent upon a Rock Prov. 30.19 the way of a Man with a Maid that it is next to impossible to find them out And that because 1. Being born in Sin our very Nature is depraved And 2. inbred Lust when not subdued in us so Captivates and Incarnates the Soul as to restrain its liberty of Reasoning or thinking upon any thing else This therefore is the greatest Temptation and the vanquishing of it the great perfection of a Christian 1 Thess 4.3 Hence it is that Almighty God in pity to frail man hath provided him whosoever likes not to follow our Lord's Counsel of a single life a lawful remedy of his Lusts by Marriage Mat. 19 12. 1 Cor. 7.2 upon condition he live within the bounds of it and not endeavour the satiating his desires any other way or with any other Person than his own Wife But alas how contrary to this is the practice of the present Age wherein a Vertuous single Life is almost grown Scandalous and Marriage will hardly be allowed to be Honourable save only upon the account of Legitimating Heirs and keeping up Families Nay is it not rather reckoned as more Gentile even amongst Persons of Quality to their shame and dishonour be it spoken to have variety of Misses as they are pleased to call their lewd Prostitutes tho themselves perhaps very well married And then amongst others of less plentiful Fortunes Marriage tho stiled by the Holy Ghost Honourable is looked upon as a mean and despicable thing and little less than utter undoing Because forsooth they cannot then so near equal their Betters their elder Brothers and the like in Eating and Drinking and Cloaths and other Formalities of worldly Grandeur Whereas now they can
are those high things so far surpassing our Understanding that according to St. Paul Eye hath not seen 1 Cor. 2.9 2 Cor. 12.4 nor Ear heard nor hath it ever entred into the heart of Man to conceive them And if none or all of these Meditations and innumerable others relating to our Saviour and another World with which the Holy Scriptures and other good Books amply supply us cannot prevail to secure us it is certainly much better rudely to quit the Company and leap out of the flames than to stay out of Complaisance to be burnt in them CHAP. VI. The Second Rule Of Suggestions THE Second Instruction is To take great care of Suggestions and to observe from what Principle or Cause they proceed Whether 1st From our selves or our own Lusts Or 2ly From the Devil Or 3ly From the H. Spirit of God and accordingly we are either to entertain or reject them Now it is not easie even for the greatest Asceticks to discern upon all occasions from which of these Principles a Suggestion arises but if it be such as tempteth us to any Notorious sin any Filthy uncleanness we may presently know from whence it comes And then it is much better and easier to suppress it in its very beginning to stifle it in the Embryo before it be conceived in us by our consenting to it or at least before it break forth into any outward action which when finished brings forth Death Jam. 1.15 Filthy unclean Suggestions we cannot always prevent but we may refuse consenting to them or taking any delight in them and so suppress and keep them under by God's Assistance till at length we Totally extinguish them O that God's Holy Spirit would take such full possession of my heart as not to suffer any unclean Suggestion to enter there But if the sin to which we are tempted be habitual to us or the sin which doth most easily of all others beset us Heb. 12.1 we are then to bend all our forces against it make the strongest resolutions we can for some short time at least suppose for a day and so renew our resolutions every Morning the known practice of a Renowned Bishop of the Church of England in Point of Matrimony taking particular Notice how often it assaults us and in the midst of the Temptation using some external action if nothing but violence will do such as throwing our selves down upon our knees or face beating our Breast supplicating our Lord with sighs and tears when God pleases to give them for his assistance who hath promised that he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able 1 Cor. 10.13 but will with the Temptation make a way for our Escape or enable us to bear the pressure of it At least it is wisdom to delay the Execution of the foul Act to which we are tempted for by deferring it our reason may gather new forces our Passions abate or some External Accidents may intervene Some pious reflection of our own may occurr or some good Friend may come in to whom we may impart our deplorable Condition and ask his good Advice who at such a time is much better able than we our selves to give it and in this sence chiefly it is that the bearing one anothers burdens is the fulfilling of the Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 After the vanquishing of such a Temptation and the leaving as far as we can our own Nature to go over to Grace there usually comes an Angel to comfort us or what is better some holy Inspiratons of the Divine Spirit to encline us who of our selves cannot so much as think a good thought to thank God for our deliverance 1 Cor. 3.5 and to pray for more Grace and Strength against another time Such holy Inspirations we must take care not to repell for that would be more or less to Resist Grieve and Quench the Holy Spirit of God in us But on the contrary we must Cherish all good Thoughts and by them endeavour to introduce by little and little Vertues instead of our ill Habits When once we intend to begin a new Course of Life we must not in the least consult with Flesh and Blood but rather fall immediately upon it If at any time why not now if not now perhaps never Was the saying of St. Austin And in the acquiring of any Vertue suppose Continency Chastity or the like we may with the same Father boldly throw our selves upon God who will not withdraw himself to let us fall Projice te in Deum c. But yet our own sincere Endeavours after a pure mind and right intention must not be wanting to which God always gives a Blessing tho' we are not always sensible of it Now some perhaps may think Solemn Resolutions to one Just beginning to break a long custom and habit of any filthy sin to be both Rash and Dangerous because when once broken as many times first Resolutions are the ill habit being as yet much stronger than the good one to be introduced the over-grown Sinner is apt to be either too much discouraged and so fall into despair or to be more hardned in his most shameful Vice and so Incorrigibly go on still in his old wonted Road of Debauchery It may therefore be much safer for a beginner to make a limited Conditional Promise and such as is Releasable upon a Forefeiture Suppose for Example we resolve to abstain from such a filthy sin from such lewd Company for so long a time or if we do not we will indispensibly pay so much Money to be given to the poor say so many Prayers fast so many Meals shut up our selves so many Days from all Company and the like and this besides and over and above the necessary requisites of our Repentance which present forefeiture or punishment in our Purse or otherwise many times hath a greater Influence upon us towards the breaking off a Debauched Custom than either the fears or hopes of what may and certainly will happen to us according to our deserts in another World Moreover the resolving upon such a Penalty for the Forefeiture as does really afflict the Body such as Fasting long Retirement Watching c. or diminishing our beloved treasure and substance by giving large Alms to Prisons Hospitals poor House-keepers c. will certainly fix in our memory an hatred of the sin and so mind us of every Suggestion of it and deterr us from embracing it because if a temporal punishment be immediately to follow it much lessens the desire of the imaginary pleasure and oftentimes occasions the reflecting also on the future real punishment eternal Death which is the final Doom and the Inseparable wages of all unrepented Rom. 6.23 unforsaken sin But then to every good purpose we must not forget to joyn this Resolution also that if we should at any time by infirmity or surprize relapse into the detestable sin against which we have resolved
distinguish between the motions of Grace and those of Nature what are Temptations and what not and here the Judgment of some wise conscientious man more skilful than our selves is to be taken in least we should place our greatest Consolation as the Soul always does in something in any thing that is not God We are to think our selves below all and that there are none more frail than our selves to empty our selves of all affections to Earthly things and to have no propriety or desire that shall in the least wise hinder our love to God from being pure To leave our Lusts and that forever which tho' with St. Austin we may find difficult yet with him also we shall thereby find our selves freed from a Chain To be so indifferent lastly to joy or sorrow Temptation or quietness Life or Death and all things in this World as to expect no Consolation here but what flows from the Cross This is dying to our selves and all Creatures that we may be united to God which the Holy Scriptures call partaking of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 turning our heart to God conformity to his Holy Will walking in the Truth serving him with a pure mind i. e. without anxiety or Expectation of reward rejoicing in him acquiescing in him 2 Pet. 3.1 going out of our selves into him by a perfect Abnegation of our selves Mark 8.34 referring all things to his Glory and making him all in all to us 1 Cor. 25.28 Eph. 1.6 which is the perfection of Religion as may be seen more at large in Thomas a Kempis and other Spiritual Books But then in our endeavouring after this perfection we must beware of the highest cunning and must subtile Device of the Devil which the Scripture calls his transforming himself into an Angel of Light And that is either 1st By his stirring up in us a secret self-conceit of our good Actions as if they could not possibly be mended Or 2ly His throwing in some little specious Reasonings and Fallacies to make us abate or alter them as he always pretends for the better and for God's greater Glory For example in the exercise of our Charity towards our Neighbour to corrupt that Divine Love he usually suggests something from Reason to induce us to change Divine into Rational then something from Nature to change Natural into Carnal then something from our Flesh alone to change Rational into Natural till by degrees he renders that love in us which was at first Divine and Pure altogether impure and unchast and most opposite and most displeasing to Almighty God But yet for the most part he takes care not to deface all Vertue in his Servants that neither themselves nor others may easily discern the wickedness he intermixes and so be frightned into Repentance Such are the Wiles of the Roaring Lyon who continually goes about seeking how to devour and make a prey of us 1 Pet v. 9. Whom we are commanded to resist stedfast in the Faith with all sobriety and watchfulness But do thou O Lord have mercy on us and strengthen us to overcome him Secondly The means now of obtaining farther Assistances of the Holy Spirit besides what we receive in Baptism are chiefly 1st Prayer our own and other mens Phil. 1.19 2ly Frequently Communicating If we would for Example obtain in opposition to our Lusts those false Loves that most excellent Gift of loving God above all things which is the only true love and doing every thing to please him we must First Pray for it And this we cannot do with that earnestness and integrity we ought before we sincerely repent of our False Loves our Darling Lusts For God hears not unrepenting Sinners and admits of no Rivals in our Affections he will have our whole heart or none Then after our deep sorrowing for those Heinous Sins and what sins are not heinous Even so sorrowing as not to be content without the Absolution of the Church See Bishop Andrews's Sermon on John 20.23 Whose sins ye remit Joh. 20.23 c. to be ready to submit to her severest Discipline for the good of our Souls See the Preface to the Commination in the Common-Prayer Book in great Humility and Lowliness of Mind and Self-abjection and with a stedfast Lively Faith also that God both Can and Will answer our Request if it be for our Good we may again and again discover to him our particular Follies which he already knows but yet expects to be as it were anew Informed of them by us bemoaning our vileness and opening to him our present wants with all the Motives which we can think will cause true Contrition in us and incline Him also to Grant our instant Petition We desire for the purpose what he commands us the loving Him above all things Let us lay before Him besides our own weaknesses and Infirmities his Perfections Beauty Wisdom Love and Mercy towards us which one would think were enough to excite our love to him without his commanding us to love him who are most unworthy of his love So many Blessings so many Deliverances both Temporal and Spiritual will they not move us Hath he not Redeemed us from all our Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil taught us what to do and what to refrain given us tender Consciences the greatest Blessing upon Earth to admonish us Enabled us by his Holy Spirit to perform what he requires And yet when we continue vitious is he not still patient and long-suffering for our Repentance Preventing our Conversion with his Grace renewing his Image in us and making us again capable of Immortality and Glory For all which Benefits and Ten Thousand more can we do less than pray we may hate our Selves our Lusts and all things else and become Dead to sensuality and the World for love of him who first loved us even to Death Some there are and always have been who by Assiduous Praying having attained to the love of God think Prayer the greatest pleasure of their whole Life and themselves never well but when they are thus conversing with Almighty God whom they reverentially apprehend to be always with them either before or within them And are continually offering to him his own most precious Gifts which he therefore vouchsafes them that they may have something valuable and worthy to offer And so by their Devotions they also prepare their Souls for the receiving those particular Graces for which they pray and of which they stand in need The Power and Prevalency of Prayer whether Vocal or Mental with Almighty God and the great benefits to ourselves and others from the several parts thereof Self-Examination Confession Thanksgiving Petition Praise Resolution Intercession Oblation and every kind of Devotion wherein we either speak to God or God to us together with proper Forms and Directions for every occasion the Reader may amply learn from the publick Liturgies Manuals Catechisms Lives and Devotions of holy Men c