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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B10083	Tracts theological. I. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and vertue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites. II. The life of St. Antony out of the Greek of Sr. Athanasius. III. The antiquity and tradition of mystical divinity among the Gentiles. IV. Of the guidance of the spirit of God, upon a discourse of Sir Matthew Hale's concerning it. V. An invitation to the Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and virtue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Life of St. Antony.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Antiquity, tradition, and succession of mystical divinity among the Gentiles.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Enthusiasmus divinus: the guidance of the spirit of God.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Apology for, and an invitation to, the people call'd Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5444E; Wing S5444E; ESTC R184630	221,170	486

they wholly abstain from Wine as he has said in these express Words and eat nothing that has Blood in it Water is their only Drink and their Food is Bread with Salt and Hyssop Farther he describes the Order and Degrees of their Governours to wit those who perform the Ecclesiastical Offices then the Ministrations of the Deacons and lastly the Episcopal Presidency over all He that desires to know these things more accurately may be therein informed from the fore-mentioned History of Philo. It is therefore apparently evident to every one that Philo writing thus did mean thereby those first Preachers of the Evangelical Doctrin and Discipline at the beginning delivered by the Apostles Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus concerning the same Har. 29. § 5. HAving said that the Christians were at first called Nazarens as Act. 24.5.2.22 and for some time Jesseans whether from the Name of Jesse or from the Name of our Lord Jesus because they were his Disciples he adds But thou may'st find this in the Writings of PHILO in the Book by him intituled Of the Jesseans who describing their Politie and Commendations and recounting their Monastries near about the Lake Maria he relates it of no other than of Christians For he when he was in that Region called Mariotis and was by them themselves conducted to the Monastries of that place got much Profit by it For being there in the Days of Easter he saw both their Lives and how some lived without Eating all the Holy Week of Easter some Two Days and some until the Evening But all these things were done by this Man for the treating of the Subject concerning the Faith and Manners of the Christians St. Hierom concerning the same in his Book de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis PHILO the Jew Born at Alexandria of the Race of the Priests is therefore by us placed among the Ecclesiastical Writers because writing a Book of the first Church of Mark the Evangelist at Alexandria he discourseth in Praise of our People the Christians there recounting that they were not only there but also in many other Provinces and calling their Habitations Monastries Whence it appears that such was the Church of the first Believers in Christ as now the Monks endeavour and desire to be that nothing may be any one 's own that is that none claim a Propriety in any thing that there be none amongst them Rich none Poor their Patrimonies be divided among those who need that they all attend to Prayer and Psalms also to Doctrin and to Continence such as Luke relates were the first Believers at Hierusalem It is reported that under Caius Caligula he was in some Danger at Rome whither he was sent Legate for his Nation that when he came a second time to Claudius he there in the same City spake with the Apostle Peter and held Friendship with him and for this Cause also wrote in Praise of the Followers of Mark the Disciple of Peter at Alexandria A little after recounting the Works of Philo among the rest he puts in One Book concerning the Lives of our People that is concerning Apostolick Men of which we have spoken before which he intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. because they did contemplate Heavenly things and prayed continually Johannes Cassianus concerning the same lib. 2. de Institut cap. 5. IN the Beginning of the Faith there were indeed but few but those most approved Persons reckoned under the Denomination of Monks who as from Mark the Evangelist of Blessed Memory who first presided Bishop in the City of Alexandria they received their Rule of Living did not only retain those Great things which we read in the Acts of the Apostles that the Church or Crowd of Believers at first made so famous viz. The Multitude of them who believed were of one Heart and of one Soul neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed were his own but they had all things Common Neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were Possessors of Land or Houses sold them and brought the Prices of the thing which were sold and laid them down at the Feet of the Apostles and Distribution was made unto every Man according as he had need But they even built up more sublime thing upon them For retiring into the most secret parts of the Suburbs they lead a Life of so great Rigour of Abstinence that so severe a Profession of Life was an amazement to others For they applied themselves with so much Fervour to the Reading of the Divine Scriptures and to Prayer and to the Work of their Hands Day and Night that neither the Appetite or Memory of Meat unless after two or three Days did interrupt them by Hunger of the Body And they received Meat and Drink not as what they desired but what was necessary and not that neither before Sun-set that they might conjoyn the time of Light with the Studies of Spiritual Meditations but the Care of the Body to the Night and other things did they effect more sublime than these concerning which he who is not sufficiently informed by the People of the Countrey may satisfie himself in the Ecclesiastical History Sozomen concerning the same 1 Hist Eccl. c. 12. HAving spoken of the Glory of the Christian Religion by reason of the Virtue of its Professors and of the Confessors then living and of the Famous Bishop Spiridion he adds But most of all did they illustrate the Church with their Virtues and propagated the Christian Doctrin who exercised the Monastick Discipline For this kind of PHILOSOPHY coming from God with the greatest Benefit to Men despiseth indeed many Sciences and the Artifice of Logick as a matter of Curiosity and by which the Exercise of better things is supplanted nor is any thing of Advantage for a right kind of Life conferred by it and with a more natural Prudence void of Curiosity teacheth those things which remove wholly Vitiousness and effect better things but the Middle things between Vertue and Vice it reputes not among the Good but delights in only Good things and holds him for an ill Man who although he abstains from Evil yet doth no Good For it doth not make shew but exerciseth Vertue and makes no account of the Glory which is of Men resisting the Affections of the Mind with great Fortitude nor doth it yield to the Necessities of Nature nor stoop to the Infirmities of the Body but having obtain'd the Powers of a Divine Mind it looks perpetually at the Creator of all whom it worshippeth Day and Night and appeaseth with Prayers and Supplications But having begun a pure Religion with Purity of Mind and the Exercise of Good Deeds it makes light of Washings and such like Purifications For it judgeth Sins only to be Impurities and being Conquerour of those things which happen from without and as I may so say Mistress of all is not diverted from her purpose neither by the Confusion of

those things which fill the Lives of Mortals nor by any Necessity neither is it provoked with Contumelies nor being injured doth it revenge it self nor doth it sink being pressed either with Sickness or with Penury of Necessaries but doth rather triumph over those in which she exerciseth Patience and Meekness and Contentation of Mind all the Life long and as far as is possible to Humane Nature becomes near to God using this present Life as in a Passage is neither anxious for the acquest of Earthly things nor doth so much as think of things present even in urging Necessity but perpetually prizing a Life frugal and discharged of temporal Furniture respects the Felicity which it hath from thence and is always disposed for a Blessed End But incessantly breathing out Piety towards God it abhors the Defilement of filthy Speaking not so much as enduring in Speech those things which in Fact it hath banished from its Course of Life and by degrees contracting the Necessities of Nature and compelling the Body to be content with mean things it doth with Temperance overcome Prodigality Injustice with Justice and corrects Lying with Truth and in right order keeps Moderation in all things and orders its Method of Life in keeping Concord and Communion with Neighbours It provides for Friends and Strangers communicates its Good to those who want confers upon every one what are commodious for them not being troublesome to those who rejoyce but administring Comfort to those who are sad But in all studiously reaching after the True Good discoursing with sound Speeches and wise Thoughts void of Elegance and Rudeness as with certain Medicines doth cure its Auditors with Decency and Respect without Contention Scorn or Anger For since it is furnished with reason it refuseth every unreasonable Motion and compleatly rules the Affections both of the Body and the Mind This most Excellent Philosophy was begun as some say by Elias the Prophet and John the Baptist but PHILO the Pythagorean writes That the most Excellent of his Nation the Hebrews being assembled from all Parts in a certain place at the Lake Maria did Philosophize in a little Hill thereunto adjacent but describes their Habitation Living and Conversation such as we also now see amongst the Monks now living in Egypt For he writes that they who began to Philosophize forsook their Estates and renounced both Things and Persons belonging to them and lived without the Walls in solitary Fields and Orchards then that their Houses were Sacred which they called Monasteries that they did devoutly worship God with Psalms and Hymns nor did touch any Food till Sun-set that some among them abstained for three days together or more and lay certain days upon the Ground but Wine and Things that have Blood they never at all used but their Meat was Bread and Salt and Hyssop and their Drink Water That ancient Women and Virgins dwelt among them and for the Love of Philosophy or Wisdom of their own choice abstained from Marriage And Philo writing to this purpose seems to intend the Jews who in his time imbracing Christianity lived a little too much after the Jewish Manner and observed the Rites of their Nation For among no others is that kind of Life to be found from whence I conjecture that this Philosophy hath from that time flourished in Egypt But others think that the Persecutions of those times gave Occasion to this Religion For because those who escaped by Flight lived in Mountains and Desarts and Woods they contracted a Habit of this kind of Living This of St. HIEROM being omitted in its proper place pag. 46. it was thought fit to insert it here MARK the Disciple and Interpreter of Peter intreated by the Brethren at Rome wrote a short Gospel according to what he had heard Peter relate Which when Peter had read he approved it and by his Authority gave it to the Church to be read as writeth Clemens in sexto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 libro and Papias Bishop of Hierapolis Of this Mark doth Peter also make mention under the Name of Babylon figuratively signifying Rome The Church which is in Babylon salutes you and so doth Mark my Son Wherefore taking the Gospel which he had composed he went to Egypt and first Preaching Christ at Alexandria he founded the Church there with such Doctrin and Continence of Life that it enforced all Followers of Christ to their Example At length Philo the most Eloquent of the Jews seeing that first Church at Alexandria yet Judaizing wrote a Book concerning their Manner of Living as in Praise of his own Nation And as Luke relates that the Believers at Hierusalem had all things Common so doth also he what he did see done at Alexandria under Mark commit to Memory He Died in the Eighth Year of Nero and was Buried at Alexandria Anianus succeeding him Of the Ancient MONKS of Egypt And their Original A Relation of Piammon an Ancient Egyptian Abbot and a Presbyter or Priest of great Grace and Virtue even to the doing of Miracles Cassian Coll. 18. cap. 4. THERE are in Egypt Three sorts of Monks whereof Two are excellent but the Third tepid and sloathful and by all means to be avoided The first is of the Coenobites who living together in a Religious Society are governed by the Judgment and Order of One Elder or Superior of which sort a very great number of Monks are resident throughout all Egypt The second is of the Anchoretes or Hermites who being first instructed in the Monasteries and become already perfect in their Conversation have chosen the Secrets of the Desart of whose Perfection we also wish to be Partakers The third the reprehensible one of the Sarabaits Of all which we shall discourse severally more fully in order The Discipline of the Coenobites took its beginning from the time of the Preaching of the Apostles For such was that whole Multitude of Believers at Jerusalem which in the Acts of the Apostles is thus describ'd The Multitude of them who believed were of one Heart and of one Soul neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed were his own but they had all things Common Neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were Possessors of Land or Houses sold them and brought the Prices of the things which were sold and laid them down at the Feet of the Apostles and Distribution was made unto every Man according as he had need Such I say was then the whole Church as it is now difficult to find a very few in the Monasteries But when after the Apostles decease the Multitude of the Believers began to grow Tepid and that most of all which came into the Faith of Christ of Foreigners and divers Nations of whom the Apostles according to their Rudiments of Faith and inveterate Custom of Gentisism did require no more but that they should abstain from Fornication and from things strangled and from Blood and that

Leaders were the Sons of the Prophets who dwelt in Fields and Deserts or Solitary Places and made themselves Tabernacles or Cells by the River of Jordan Of this Company were also the Sons of Racab c. Ep. 13. ad Paulin. p. 34. and elsewhere The Sons of the Prophets whom we read to have been Monks in the Old Testament did build themselves Cottages or Cells near the River of Jordan and leaving the Crowds of the Cities lived on Barley-Cakes and Field-Herbs Ep. 4. ad Rusticum pa. 11. And if some of them lived in Cities that doth no more invalidate what St. Hierom saith than Monasteries being brought into Cities by St. Basil is an Argument against their being Monks who have dwelt in such ever since Such Cavils do only prove the Partiality and Disingenuity of the Authours and signifie no more to any Person of Judgment and Candour since they cannot deny but are forced to confess That the Prophets Samuel Elias and Elisha did institute Colledges in which many Disciples did live together So then they lived a Coenobitick Life and What was their Food and Rayment Was it costly and delicious or poor and mean and What was their Imployment Can we imagin it to have been other than Studying the Scriptures after Moses his time and the large Book of Nature the Works of God of Creation of Providence Prayers Psalms and Divine Contemplation and Works and Labours about what was necessary for them and no more And if we consider the admirable Graces of the Ancient Christian Monks it will be an hard matter for an honest Man to find any difference between the Christian Monks and the Jewish Prophets more than in Name And for the Antiquity of these Is it any Argument that there were none before if we do not read of any before How and by whom did they inquire of the Lord Was Israel only without Prophets Was Balaam the first in his Nation or any other or Were there Prophets who did not ordinarily live Prophetick Lives or if they did What was the Difference But such Prophane Spirits as have too long contemned and insulted upon the most Heroick Professors of Christianity and abused the People with their Sophistry must answer for their Presumption Rashness Temporizing and incouraging of Sacriledge before God though the Degeneracy of the Modern Monks had provoked his Judgments upon them and among Men their Names will be little regarded hereafter But all are not alike and therefore I will here add a Note of Peter Martyr's concerning this Matter upon 2 King We will moreover observe saith he that the Disciples of the Prophets did live together with their Preceptors For so they say The Place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us It seems to have been a kind of Monastick Life but free without Vows or Superstitions But Vows we find approved by God in the Nazarites and practised by St. Paul and others and that they were not in use among these is more than any one can prove but he goes on They exercised themselves in Divine Scriptures and Hymns and also in Holy Prayers They were often sent to edifie the People and to confirm Holy Men who lived amongst Idolaters in sound and true Religion They seem moreover to have exercised some Arts working with their Hands to get a Maintenance for themselves c. And so much for this At the same time with Elisha lived Jonadab the Son of Rechab 2 King 10.15 who instituted another Order of Religious Persons called after his Father's Name RECHABITES These were not of any of the Tribes of Israel but Kenites descended of Jethro Moses his Father-in-Law v. 1 Chron. 2.55 Jud. 1.16 who was Priest of Midian Exod. 2.16 3.1 18.1 and one who worshipped the true God for he blessed God when he heard the Relation of what he had done for the Israelites Exod. 18.10 and in the usual Form in such Cases just as Melchizedeck did long before upon the Victory of Abraham Gen. 14.20 but they are reckoned among them of the Tribe of Juda 1 Chron. 2.55 because they came up with them out of the Wilderness Jud. 1.16 and for that reason and because they dwelt in Tents are thought to be call'd the Tents of Juda Zech. 12.7 But they are call'd the Families of the Scribes 1 Chron. 2.55 And therefore both from their Descent and from their Quality of Scribes and from their Institution and from the very Form of God's Promise to them we may reasonably conclude them to have been a Religious Order And indeed that alone is sufficient to demonstrate it was some special Service to God they were imploy'd in for it is expressed in the same terms which are used concerning the Tribe of Levi when the Lord separated them to his special Service viz. to stand before the Lord Deut. 10.8 v. 2 Chron. 29.11 Ezek. 44.11 15. And though we have little more Account of them than only in Jer. 35. yet there have we a plain Account of these Three great things concerning them 1. The Institution of their Progenitor 2. Their Religious Observance for Three Hundred Years past And 3. the Approbation of both by Almighty God The Institution may be thought very severe and the more because without any special manifest Reason and by consequence their so punctual Observance rather Superstitious than Reasonable and yet both are greatly approved by God Whence it is very plain that such Institutions and the strict Observance of them are lawful and well-pleasing to God and therefore that it is great Presumption and Inconsiderateness to censure them as Superstition But the Evidence of Truth hath extorted this Confession from an Adversary and as Sinister an Interpreter of these things as he could well tell how to be viz. That their Father gave them these Precepts for this very purpose that thereby he might set them free from the Cares and the Pleasures of the World that so they might with the more leisure imploy themselves in the Study of the Scriptures and of Divine Matters Which was the very Business of the Christian Monks And if they continued in Being at the Destruction of Jerusalem as is believed as well it may if we believe the Promise of God to them and that Simeon who succeeded James Bishop there was one of them there is no doubt but many of them received the Christian Faith and retained the Institutions of their Progenitor there being nothing inconsistent between them Some of the Jews understand that of Zechar. 12.7 The Lord shall save the Tents of Juda first of this People because they lived in Tents came up with that Tribe out of the Wilderness and are reckoned among them 1 Chron. 2.55 and that the Lord shall save them first because to them the Messiah shall first be discovered And whether the Therapeuts of whom Philo writes and the first Converts by St. Mark about Alexandria might not be of those People may be considered It is true we have no mention

are manifest After the President seems to have made a sufficient Discourse so as that his Applications successfully hit what he aim'd at and the Attention of the Auditours perceive his meaning they all give an Humm thereby signifying that they are pleased and choose for the future to put his Advice in Execution After this he rises up and sings an Hymn in Praise of God which is either of his own or some ancient Poets composure for their Poets have left them Measures and Songs of all sorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trimetres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Introits or Processional 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laudatory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrifical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Altar-Songs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stationary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Choiral with Stanza's of various Measures some of which are us'd with their Faces turn'd from and others with their Faces turn'd towards the Altar After whom the others according to their Orders in a very decent manner do also sing the rest hearing with deep Silence except when the last Lines or the short after-Hymns are to be sung for then they all sing out both Men and Women When every Precentor has finish'd his Hymn the Juniors bring in the Table as was just above-mentioned upon which they have all their Holy Loaf of Bread leavened with Salt and Hyssop mingled together They have Hyssop in the Hall-Loaf out of Reverence to their Holy Table in the Church-Porch for on this Table they have Loaves and Salt without Sauces the Loaves unleaven'd and the Salt unmix'd For 't was fitting that the simplest and purest things should be allotted to the Principal part of the Sacra as the Reward of the Ministration and that others should imitate the same and abstain from those Loaves that their betters may have them as their Prerogative After Supper they keep a Holy Vigil all Night They keep the Vigil thus They all rise together and in the middle of the Hall make two Choirs one of Men and the other of Women each choosing their Eminentest person for Musick for a Precentor and then they sing some Hymns made in the Praise of God with variety of Measures and Stanza's sometimes singing all together and sometimes alternately with peculiar Gestures and dancing about as those who are struck with a Divine Fury Sometimes they sing Processional sometimes Stational Hymns altering their Postures with respect to the Altar as they see occasion Then when each of them has been separately and by themselves entertain'd just as though they had been drinking some Divine Wine they both mingle together and make one Choir in imitation of the Choir at the Red-Sea upon the account of the Miracles wrought there which exceeded the Thought and Hope of the Israelites and made them all in one Company exult as though they were beside themselves and sing Eucharistical Hymns to God their Deliverer the Prophet Moses being the Mens Precentor and Miram the Prophetess Precentress to the Women The Choir of the Therapeuts and Therapeutesses is just like it singing with different Notes for the treeble Voice of the Women mingled with the Base of the Men makes a lovely and truly Musical Harmony Their Thoughts are truly fine their Words are fine and their Choiristers are comely in short the Thoughts the Expressions and Choiristers are all pious and devout After they have continu'd their Holy Transport till the Morning they do 〈◊〉 feel their Heads disorder'd or their Eyes heavy but they are more wakeful than they came and as soon as they see the Sun rise with their Eyes and their whole Body towards the East and their Hands lifted up towards Heaven they pray for Lightsomness of Mind and Truth and Rational Quick-sightedness After these Prayers every one of them retreat to their own Oratories to cultivate and traffick in their usual Philosophy Since therefore the Therapeuts have embrac'd the Theory of Nature and liv'd together with one Soul and were Citizens both of Heaven and Earth and were truly commended and conformed to the Father and Maker of all things by Vertue which procur'd them that Friendship which is the truest Honour do thou by applying thy Mind to a Prosecution of Vertue which is better than all Prosperity reach the Top and Perfection of Felicity The Judgment and Observations of Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea in his Eccl. Hist l. 2. c. 16. and other Ancient Writers concerning Philo's Book of the Therapeuts and that they were Christians MARK the Evangelift going into Egypt is reported to have been the first Publisher there of the Gospel he had written and to have settled Churches in the very City of Alexandria And furthermore that so great a Multitude both of Men and Women who there embraced the Faith of Christ professed from the very beginning so severe and so Philosophical a Course of Live that Philo vouchsafed in his Writings to relate their Converse their Assemblies their Eating and Drinking together and their whole manner of Living It is reported that this Philo in the times of Claudius came to be familiarly acquainted with Peter at Rome who then Preached the Word of God there neither is this unlikely For that Work of his of which we speak being by him elaborated a long time after does manifestly contain all the Ecclesiastical Rules which are to this present observed among us And seeing he describes evidently the Lives of the Ascetae amongst us he does make it sufficiently perspicuous that he did not only see but also very much approve of and admire the Apostolical Men of his time who being as it is probable originally Jews upon that account did then observe in a great measure the Judaical Rites and Customs First of all therefore in that Book which he intituled Of Contemplative Life or Of Suppliants having professed that he would insert nothing disagreeable to Truth or of his own Head into that Account which he was about to give he says That the Men were called Therapeutae and the Women that were conversant among them Therapeutriae And he adjoyns the reason of that Appellation either because like Physicians they healed the Minds of those that resorted to them curing them of their vitious Affections or because they worshipped the Deity with a pure and sincere Service and Adoration Further whether Philo himself gave them this Name devising an Appellation agreeable to the Manners and Dispositions of Men or whether they were really so called from the beginning the Name of Christians not being every where spread and diffused it is not necessary positively to affirm or contend about it But he attests that in the first place they part with their Goods saying That as soon as they betake themselves to this course of Philosophizing they put over their Wealth and Possessions to their Relations Then casting away all Care of Wordly matters they leave the Cities and make their Abode in Gardens and solitary Places well knowing the Conversing with Men of a different and disagreeing

of his Estate but to dispose of it in a decent manner While he lived with others of his time studious of Philosophy he imitated the Virtues of all of them And because he conceived that a Good Life although hard and difficult at the beginning would by Custom become easie and pleasant to those measures of severe Exercise of his Continence which he first began with he daily added something and as if he always began still renewed his Resolution and Alacrity of Mind chastizing sensitive Pleasures with corporal Severities and resisting the Affections of his Mind with a Wise and Divine Resolution His Food was only Bread and Salt and his Drink Water and Sun-set his Dinner time But he often continued ●●sting two days or more He waked almost continually whole Nights and continued in Prayer even till Day and if he did take any Sleep it was only upon a Mat. But for the most part he took the Ground or Floor for his Bed He refused anointing with Oyl and the Use of Baths and such like things because they with their Humidity are wont to dissolve and relax the firmness of the Body And it is reported that he never saw himself Naked Book Learning he neither understood nor admired but a Good Mind he commended as more ancient and the Inventer of it He was very Meek Civil Prudent Magnanimous courteous to such as came to him and not unpleasant to those who talked with him even though they talked crossly For he did wisely by his Behaviour and Skill allay the heat of Contention as it arose reduced it to Moderation and the Persons to more composed Behaviour When by so great Virtues he had obtained abundance of Divine Fore-knowledge he did not account it a Virtue to fore-know and therefore neither did he advise that any one should lightly trouble themselves about the Fore-knowledge of Futurities And he judged that neither he who is ignorant of future things should for that incur Punishment nor he who had Knowledge of them to be in that respect Happy or to be emulated For true Felicity he said was to Worship God and Observe his Laws But said he if any one be desirous of this Prae-science or Fore-knowledge of things let him purifie his Mind For by this means he did resolve that the Faculty of Fore-seeing and the Science of future things might by Divine Revelation be obtained But neither did he indure to be idle and he directed any who desired to live well to work and day and night to enter into Examination and Account with himself of his Deeds and if any thing was done otherwise than it ought to write that down that thenceforward he might beware of Sins and be cautious of himself if he should find many such things written as fearing lest if that writing should be found it might appear to others how bad he had been He was an excellent and most industrious Advocate for such as were oppressed and for the sake of such often went to Cities For many with their lamentable Complaints prevailed with him to interceed for them with Princes and Magistrates For all of them reckoned it a great Happiness if they could have the opportunity to see him hear him Discourse and receive his Commands But although he was such as he was yet did he endeavour to live unknown and in Solitude And when at any time he was compelled to go to the City to succour any in want as soon as ever he had dispatch'd the Business for which he came he presently hasted back to his Retirement For Fishes said he do live in the Water but Solitude is the Element for Monks Those if removed to dry Ground die these if they approach the City lose their Monastick Composedness Toward those who looked upon him he endeavoured to behave himself so as neither to be nor to be judged proud These few things concerning the Conversation of Antony I thought necessary to say that taking them for Examples we may by them judge of the rest of his Philosophy He had many very Eminent Disciples of whom some flourished in Egypt and Libia others in Palestine and Syria and in Arabia And each of them lived among those where they lived as their Master did and instructed many in the like Virtue and Philosophy so that it was hard for one who did diligently visit Cities and Countries to meet with his Associates or Successors For how could such easily be met with who more industriously endeavoured to live conceiled and unknown than other Mortals of the World out of a vain Ambition do to be known A Relation of Two Courtiers converted from the World to a Religious Life by Reading the Life of St. Antony taken out of St. Augustin's Confessions TWO Courtiers at Trevers while the Emperor was at a Publick Shew diverting themselves in some Gardens near the City in one of them found a certain Cottage inhabited by some Religious Men and there the LIFE of St. Antony which one of them began to read and to admire and be inflamed and while reading to think of taking up such a Life and leaving the Service of the World to serve God And presently being suddenly filled with a Holy Love and modest Shame he angry at himself cast his Eyes upon his Friend and says to him Tell me I pray thee whether do we aspire to arrive by all these our Labours What do we seek For what do we strive Can our Hope be greater in the Court than to be Favourites with the Emperor And what is there there not frail and full of Dangers And by how many Dangers do we proceed to greater Danger And how long shall this be But if I would be the Friend of God behold I am made so presently This he said and being in Labour in the bringing forth a New Life he turned his Eyes again to the Book and read on and was inwardly changed where God only sees and his Mind was set free from the World as presently appeared For as he read and rouled over the Waves of his Heart he sometimes groaned and considered and at last resolved upon better things and having given up himself to God he saith to his Friend I have now broken off from those hopes of ours and have resolved to serve God and this I begin from this very hour in this very place If thou be'est loth to follow me do not hinder me The other answered That he would stick to his Companion in so great an Atchievement and of so great Merit And both now being Religious have built the Tower saith St. Augustin with the proper Expence of Leaving all and following Christ and fixing their Heart in Heaven remain in that Cottage Two other Courtiers who had parted from them and been walking in other parts of the Gardens coming to call them to return they told them their Resolution and how it was wrought and confirmed in them At which they though not yet so resolved fell into Tears and

his Learning by Books nor external Wisdom nor any Art But Antony was renown'd purely for his Devotion to God No one can deny that this was the Gift of God How came he who was hid and sat in a Mountain to be heard of in Spain France Rome and Africa unless God had made his Name known every where who promis'd this to Antony at first for although such Heroes act secretly and are willing to lye conceal'd yet the Lord shews them as Lamps to all that they may know that his Commands which he has given to reform us are practicable and thence may derive a Zeal for the ways of Vertue 62. Read ye this to others that they may know what sort of Life the Life of Monks should be and may be perswaded that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will glorifie those who glorifie Him and serve Him unto the End not only bringing them to the Kingdom of Heaven but making them notwithstanding they hide and retire celebrated here for their Vertue to the Benefit of others And if there be a Necessity read it to the Heathens that they may know not only that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and the Son of God but that those Christians who serve Him truly and believe in Him piously reprove those Spirits whom they account Gods and tread upon them and chase them as those who are the Deceivers and Corrupters of Men and this they do by the Grace and Strength of Christ Jesus our Lord to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS Theologia Mystica TWO DISCOURSES CONCERNING DIVINE COMMUNICATIONS To Souls duly disposed I. The Antiquity Tradition and Succession of Mystical Divinity among the Gentiles with Notes and Observations to distinguish Illusions and Directions of Spiritual Writers concerning Prayer II. Of the Guidance of the Spirit of GOD The Doctrine of the H. Scriptures of the Catholick Church and of the Church of England in particular upon a Discourse of Sr. Matthew Hale concerning it LONDON Printed for the Author for the Use and Benefit of a Religious Society 1697. ADVERTISEMENT ASCETICKS or The Heroick Piety and Virtue of the Ancient Christian Anchorets and Coenobites wherein the Beginning and Progress of Contemplative Living and Religious Societies is briefly discoursed and a true Account of the Esseans Therapeuts and ancient Egyptian and other Monks collected out of the most Authentick Records Also the LIFE of the Famous Saint ANTONY written in Greek by St. Athanasius faithfully Translated into English All Printed for the Author for the Use and Benefit of the Society afore-said THE PREFACE THE latter of these Discourses was Printed as part of a Preface to that Book of Sr. Matthew Hale's from whence the beginning of the Discourse is now taken but why it was not Published with it I know no reason unless that which is the Vniversal primary Obstacle to all Good that Satan hindered it And that I make no question was the principal moving Cause which set the others on work That wicked envious Spirit who had raised up all the Evil he could both against him and against me in our several Families in his Life-time hath not ceased to do so still since his Death By what he got such Advantage against my self I know very well and intend to declare it But by what he got such Advantage against that good Man is a Secret I know nothing of But this I know that he hath been Vnhappy in his Family both in his Life-time and since his Death and particularly in what I am now saying I long looked upon him as a Man raised up by the Special Providence of God to be an Illustrious Example of Vertue and Piety in this degenerate Age And therefore that People might not be deprived of the Benefit of such an Example by their Ignorance of his Principles as I found by Experience many were I did in his Life-time publish a Volume of his Contemplations even after I had earnestly pressed him to consent to it and he refused Indeed I knew him and he knew me so well that I did not fear any misconstruction from him and after his Death I desired to have done Honour to his Memory for the same purpose by the Publication of such of his Writings as were most necessary and seasonable that the Benefit of his Labours as well as of his Example while yet fresh in Memory might be communicated as much as might be to all and they might mutually recommend each other for the greater Benefit of all But alas that wicked Spirit which had so prevailed in his Family in his Life-time as made him tell some of them That Satan or the Devil did ride them as an Ape would do a Mastiff-Dog hath likewise prevailed hitherto upon such as vainly gloried in their Relation to him to obstruct that good Design for Twenty years together without due regard either to that Service of God those Benefits to Men the true Honour of his Memory in which they vainly gloried or the Performance of his Will according to his Mind For though he had not expressly ordered the Publication of one or other in particular yet had he made this Provision in a Codicil concerning the Publication of any of them that he had nominated the Bookseller who should have the Printing of them paying as much as another would in reason for them and of the Profits appointed one part to one for his Care and Pains in overseeing and ordering the Publication another part to another for Writing and Correcting and the rest among his Servants and told them what he had done for them so that besides the Injury done to their Country they have done a double Injury to his Memory not only by hindering the Honour due to it but by Dishonouring it and giving occasion to a Blemish and Reproach to it provoking some not only to think but to speak hardly of him as if he had abused them in some of the last Acts of his Life and all this out of a sordid Humour to get or keep what he had otherwise disposed of And though thus they exercised their Malice and Spight against the Memory of the Good Man yet was not this the chief part of their Work and Triumph that they had raised this Injury against his Memory and besides had deprived his Country of the Benefit of much of his Labours in his own Profession But there is a greater matter in the bottom and of greater concern to them which these Wicked Subtile Agents had a principal regard to The Good Man had taken great Pains in examining and considering the Grounds and Evidences of Religion both Natural and Revealed And he was excellently well qualified for it both by Natural Sagacity by Exercise of his Parts in his own Profession which affords as much and good Exercise for such a purpose as any and by Freedom from Prejudice either of Education or of Temporal Interest For though he had a Religious Education yet it is certain

that after he came to maturity of Thinking and Judging he became as he found reason in many things of a different Judgment from the Notions and Sentiments he had first received by which it appeared that his Religion was the Religion of his Judgment and not of his Education And being no Ecclesiastick but a Man of a Civil Employment he stood fair to be looked upon as an Indifferent Judge and not as an Advocate or Party as Clergy-men generally are reputed by some and by consequence his Writings upon such Subjects besides the weight of his Reason would have a double Weight of Authority if we take in his Example too above others to make them successful upon such as have received prejudice from the Scandalous Practices of too many Professors and Preachers of the Christian Religion which hath been a principal Cause of Atheism heretofore and of Deism at present and of the Contempt of the Clergy and more effectual and prevalent than any of those which have been assigned in Print though by Scandalous I intend here nothing but Zeal for Preferments and a cold Indifferency in Matters of Religion For as it hath been rightly observed When Vertue fails in the Priests Faith will fail in the People be their Preaching what it will Now by how much greater was the Advantage that the Writings of this Man had above others to have done Service in this Cause so much the greater was the Gratification which these Wicked Spirits received in the Suppression of them I know nothing so sordid that ever appeared in his Life But that this hath been ordered by the Malice and Subtilty of those Wicked Spirits who had gotten Advantage against Him or his Family however some particular Dispositions in Persons might make it more feasible as I verily believe so I am well satisfied he would not at all have doubted had he been living and to have spoken his Judgment in a like Case He and I both before he died had had Experience enough to satisfie us concerning such matters And I wish his and all other Families who are fallen into any such Snare may consider well of it and be well advised how to recover themselves out of it if it may be Many such have I known and though the Burden be sealed upon some and the Decree fixed yet in others there seemed to be a Door open if Opportunity was not neglected Mens Belief or Disbelief will not alter the Truth of things But Disbelief of things that are true is often the Cause of great Vnhappiness and they who disbelieve such things as these are not the less obnoxious to their Malice but more secure in their Power So much as this is not impertinent to be said concerning the Malice and Subtlety of the Evil Spirits before a Discourse of the Gracious Conduct of the Good And I think my self specially obliged to declare my Sentiments of both upon any just Occasion And indeed I confess the Preface was not written so much for the sake of the Book as the Book Published for the sake of the Preface as an Occasion to write on that Subject which I thought my self obliged to do as an Act of Penitence for an Vnhappy Miscarriage whereby my Enemy got that Advantage against me which I mentioned before and shall here repeat in the Words then Printed as followeth I must not here forbear upon this Occasion to add not my Opinion but my own certain Knowledge upon great and long and in some respects in a great measure woful Experience in an Humble Confession of my Fault to give Glory to God Testimony to his Truth and Warning to Men. I have had Experience of this Divine Conduct and of the Blessings and Curses attending Obedience and Disobedience to it so that I have plainly perceived that the Conduct of the Children of Israel out of Egypt through the Wilderness into the Promised Land was a visible Manifestation or Representation of the Secret Spiritual Conduct of Souls out of Slavery under the Powers of Darkness through the Wilderness of this World into the Land of Rest and the very same thing in Action and Representation which is delivered by way of Doctrine and Admonition in the Book of Ecclesiasticus iv 11 20. and vi 18 31. The Crosses Disappointments and Afflictions which I have gone through have been very grievous and many of them known to the World though nothing hath appeared in my Life to which they could be imputed by others as a Cause in any respect I must therefore declare that while I did act in a ready Compliance with that Conduct I not only had great Peace and Serenity of Mind but all things went strangely prosperous and successful with me and I had extraordinary Answers to my Prayers not only for my self but for others also But whenever I have done contrary I always had trouble in my Mind and what I did was either blasted or unsuccessful and often of such evil Consequence as I did not foresee This I have found so by great and long Experience and in some of the great Businesses of my Life wherein I acted not only upon my own Reason and Judgment but also upon the Advice and Persuasions of very considerable Persons And after considerable Experience of this I was once so unhappy in my Disobedience to this Conduct upon a special Occasion having none to advise with and yielding too much to the Sentiments of our Anti-enthusiasts which was a Temptation to me that as I have special reason to believe it was like the Sin of Adam to me an Inlet unto all the Vnhappiness that hath since befallen me and my Family And I have been as it were turned back into the Wilderness ever since The Things wherein I had this Conduct were not matter of Duty in themselves or not in the particular Circumstances but either were such as were in Humane appearance so indifferent that I might have used my Liberty or the Conduct was much different from the Wisdom of the World And though I cannot say whether the Afflictions I have suffer'd were so ordered as a Punishment for my Miscarriage yet I am assur'd they were a Consequence thereof at least such as we often fall into when we neglect the Good Counsel of our Friends And they have been such as I am persuaded it is my Duty upon this Occasion to make this publick Penitential Confession whatever Prejudice I may suffer thereby from Men If I can but thereby obtain the Favour of God and benefit Men I shall accept that as part of my Punishment For the Certainty of this I can truly affirm That I had immediately upon my Miscarriage as sensible Notice of the Evils which have since befallen me as I can have of any thing by any sense I have as plain as if a Sentence had been pronounced against me And what I have suffered hath had Two several Marks as exactly agreeable to my Miscarriage as the print of a Seal upon the Wax

but by the Flower of the Mind the very Phrase used by Proclus and the same which the Mysticks call the Fund of the Spirit of the Soul 's being inebriated from God which Plotinus calls being drunk with the Divine Nectar and Psellus explains of Divine Illuminations and Extasies of Abstraction from the Body and extending the Mind upwards and hastening to the Divine Light and the Beams of the Father with several other passages to the same purpose And for the EGYPTIANS the same Author tells us That Jamblicus in his Book of the Egyptian Mysteries which he writ in answer to an Epistle of Porphyry to an Egyptian Priest and wherein Proclus saith that he writ like a Man inspir'd discourses at large concerning Divine Extasies and Visions and Inspirations in which he describes the Persons just after the Mystical way as no longer leading a humane Life or having any Operations of their Senses or Vnderstanding but their Mind and Soul is only in the Divine Power and not in their own being acted and possessed wholly by it Afterward he sets down the several Degrees and Kinds of those in some they have only Participation in others near Communion and in the highest of all Vnion In some of these he saith the Body wholly rests and sometimes breaks out into Singing and all expressions of Joy sometimes the Body is raised up from the Ground as M. Teresa thought hers sometimes it swells into a greater bulk and sometimes the contrary Then he lays down Rules to know Divine Inspirations by viz. by Enquiring In what manner God appears Whether an appearance of Fire come before Him Whether he fills up and acts the whole Soul so that there is a Cessation of all its own Acts For this he makes the main Character of a Divine Inspiration that the Persons are wholly taken up and possessed by the Deity from whence follows an Extasie and alienation of the Senses But if either the Soul acts or the Body moves then he saith it may be a false Inspiration No Man can express himself more emphatically concerning the Excellency of Contemplative Prayer than Jamblicus doth This quickens the Mind inlargeth its Capacity opens the Secrets of the Divinity and fits it for Conjunction and Vnion with God and never leaves Men till it hath carried them to a State of Perfection and by degrees doth alter and change Men that it makes them put off Humane Nature and bring them into such a State of Dei-formity that they become Gods The first degree of Prayer saith he brings to a State of Recollection and hath some Divine Contact which helps our Knowledge The second carries the Soul to a nearer Communion with God and excites the Divine Bounty to freer Communications to it But the third is the Seal of the ineffable Vnion which makes our Mind Soul to rest in God as a Divine Port or Haven And he concludes his Book with saying That this Vnion with God is Man's greatest Perfection and the End of all Religion among the Egyptians whose Mysteries his Design was to explain and vindicate Many other Passages might be produced out of him concerning the Knowing of God by Divine Contact and the Insufficiency of any Act of the Mind for this ineffable Vnion but these are enough to shew how well acquainted Jamblicus and if we believe him the Egyptians were with the profoundest Secrets of Mystical Divinity There is a Book translated out of Arabick intituled Of Divine Wisdom according to the Egyptians wherein are many things to this purpose but our Author takes notice but of one passage in it which he sets down as the Words of Plato But before we come to Plato it is fit to be noted that PYTHAGORAS and the PYTHAGORIANS could not but be well acquainted with this Mystical Theology though they did not ordinarily deliver it in such express terms but in a more occult manner For it is known confessed That Pythagoras himself was from his Youth greatly inclin'd to an Inquisition into Religious Rites and Mysteries That he travelled into Egypt to hear their Priests was there 22 Years had recommendations from the King to the Priests and was permitted to acquaint himself with all their Learning entred into the Egyptian Adyta and was instituted in things unexpressible touching the Gods gave himself exact Information concerning Persons and Things not omitting any Person eminent at any time for Learning or any kind of Religious Rites or any Place where he conceived he might find somewhat extraordinary That he went thence to Babylon and continued there 12 Years conversed with the most Eminent of the Chaldeans as also with the Persian Magi who entertained him very courteously gave him insight into their more hidden Mysteries and Religious Rites and without doubt with the most Eminent for Knowledge of the Jews in both places and likely enough as Selden and others think with Ezekiel in particular That he made Theology or the Knowledge of God the First most Universal Being the Centre of all his Philosophy That he was by way of Eminency call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he treated chiefly of God his Nature and Worship That he was a great Devoto or Advocate for God his Worship and Sacred Institutes That the Confederation of his Coenobium for so they called it or College had reference to some Divine Temperament and to Union with God and to Unity with the Divine Soul That the Institutions of his Society and Sect for the Admission and Probation of Disciples distinction of Persons Reverence to their Elders Celibacie Communion of Goods Retirement from the World c. were very much the same with those of the Esseans and the Christian Coenobites afterward That of the differing Sects afterward none did Pythagorize more than Plato especially in Divine matters as Aristotle and Laertius have observed yea that the choicest of his Metaphysick Contemplations seem to be traduced from Pythagoras and his Followers and that Plotinus did more clearly explicate the Principles of the Pythagorick Philosophy as well as of the Platonick And from all this put together we may very reasonably conclude especially if we take in what is related by Jamblicus That he continued 3 days and 2 nights at one time in the same Posture without taking either Meat or Drink or Sleep lib. 1. cap. 3. That he must have been well acquainted with this Mystick Theology which was in such Esteem with both those from whom he recieved Instructions and those who received from him and that in Plotinus and others we read the Pythagorick as well as Platonick Principles and that in both was a mixture of the Judaick and what was derived by all from the Common Parent Noah To this I will add only a Passage or two of his out of Demophilus Being born of God and rooted in Him let us cleave to our Root For the Streams of the Waters and the Sprouts of the Earth if they

of Him is not by Knowledge or any Intellectual Operation but by a Divine Presence which far exceeds any Knowledge for Knowledge he saith hinders Vnion therefore we must go beyond Knowledge and be abstracted from all other Objects and be united to Him only by the Power of Divine Love from whence follows a clearer Light in the Soul And in this State saith he there is not only a Cessation of Passion but of Reason and Vnderstanding too neither is the Person himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like one in a Rapture or an Extasie he enjoys God in that State of Quiescency as in a silent Wilderness which he calls being in God and in other places seeing God in themselves being the same with God being one with God and which is the highest of all being God which is the perfect State of Dei-formity Of Porphyry who was a Disciple and Confident of Plotinus the same Author gives us this account That he looked upon the Theurgick Way as lyable to deceit and not capable of advancing the Soul to highest Perfection Which Theurgick Way lay in the initiating of Men in some Sacred Mysteries by partaking of certain Rites and Symbols by which they were admitted to the Presence of some of their Deities the End whereof as they pretended was reducing the Souls of Men to that State they were in before they came into the Body So St. Austin tells us from Porphyry That they who were purified after this manner did converse with glorious appearances of Angels which they were fitted to see but Porphyry himself as he did not utterly reject this Lower and Symbolical way so he said That the Highest Perfection of the Soul was not attainable by it but it was useful for purifying the Lower part of the Soul but not the Intellectual By the Lower part he understood the Irrational which by the Theurgical Rites might be fitted for Conversation with Angels but the Intellectual part could not be elevated by it to the Contemplation of God and the Vision of the things that are true And herein he placed the utmost Perfection of the Soul in its return to and Union with God in this upper part or Fund of the Soul for the utmost the other attained to was only to live among the Aetherial Spirits but the Contemplative Souls returned to the Father as he speaks which as many other of his Notions he borrowed from the Chaldaick Theology To shew what this Intellectual or Contemplative Life was that should bring Mens Souls to this State of Perfection Porphyry writ a Book on purpose Of the Return of the Soul as St. Austin tells us who quotes many passages out of it and this particular Precept above all the rest That the Soul must fly from all Body if it would live Happy with God which is all one with Abstraction of Mind and pure Contemplative Life In that Book he complains that there was no Perfect Way yet known to the World for this End not the Indian Chaldaick or any other But what that was which he meant appears by what he saith near the end of the Life of Plotinus where he hath these Words The Scope and End of his Life was Vnion and Conjunction with God over all and four times saith he when I was with him he attained to this Vnion by an unexpressible Act of the Mind which he before sets forth by a Divine Illumination without any Image or Idea being above the Vnderstanding and all intelligible things And he saith of himself that he was once in this State of Vnion when he was 68 Years of Age. Which Holstenius understands of an Extasie he then fell into and imputes it to the depth of his Melancholy joyned with his abstracted and severe Life his frequent Watchings and almost continual Exercise of Contemplation For all these things were remarkable in him and Eunapius saith of him That he was so little a lover of the Body that he hated his being a Man and being in Sicily he was almost famished by Abstinence and shunned all Conversation with Mankind as he begins the Life of Plotinus That he was like one ashamed that his Soul was in a Body So that we find the Foundation here laid saith our Author not only for the Mystical Vnion but the Abstraction of Mind necessary in order to it and that it doth not lye in any Intellectual Operations but rather in a Cessation of these Acts is likewise expressly affirmed by Porphyry Many things saith he are said of Vnderstanding things that are above the Mind but the Contemplation of those things is better performed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 otio vacatione Intellectûs as Holstenius renders it rather by the Rest and Cessation of Operation in the Vnderstanding than by the Exercise of it as many things while a Man wakes are said of him that he does when he sleeps but the Knowledge and Perception of them is by Sleep for things are best understood by Assimilation And elsewhere he saith That our manner of Vnderstanding all things is different according to their Essence those things above the Mind are to be known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the way of unknowing and after a super-essential manner where we see the very Phrases of Dionysius used by him and in many places he speaks of the Minds abstracting and loosing it self from the Body and drawing it self nearer to the First Being of the Souls being in God of the pure and clear Light which follows the Abstraction of the Mind of the State and Life of Contemplation and the Virtues necessary thereto such as Abstinence from the Actions of the Body and from Affections to it which saith he raise the Mind to the super-essential Being And he very much disparages the Active and Political Life in comparison with this the End of one being only Mens living according to Nature but of the other Assimilation to God He that lives according to Practical Virtues is only a Good Man but he that lives the Life of Contemplation is a God From whence we understand the Deiformity of the Mystical Divines being attainable by the Life of Contemplation The Way laid down by him for Purifying the Soul is this 1. The Foundation of it is for the Soul to know it self i. e. to consider that it is in a strange place and bound to a thing of another Substance 2. Recollection or gathering it self up from the Body to be free from the Affections of it In order to which he adviseth to deny the Body in its Appetites and Pleasures and to shew as little Care of it and Concernment for it as may be by degrees to lessen all sense both of Pleasure and Pain and so to come at last to a Freedom from the Passions of the Body Then he describes the Superlative Being and saith that it is neither Great nor Little but above both and is neither Greatest nor Least but above all and that his Presence is not Topical but Assimilative and