frequent use of them bring us to a careless indifference in performing them and take off our conceit of them they will become little beneficial and perhaps harmful § 2. But these inconveniences avoyded these Devotes are to be advised to pray as often and as long as they can and such prayers as they please To frequent the Sacraments the oftner the better so it be with serious preparations and such as may preserve the Reverence due to them To be present at all Solemnities of the Church and there where things are performed with most Majesty and becomingness If any Extraordinary Occasion of Devotion happen as in Jubilees and the like by all means to lay hold of it Often to read good Books of which the Affective are more for their purpose than the Instructive and in a word to omit nothing proper to strengthen and increase the Habit of Devotion In general the conceit they frame in common and confusedly of the Benefit of these things should be kept up at the height and Increas'd if it may be and for particulars because they penetrate not into the nature of things nor consider which way they work it matters not much what they be so they be good and apt to move them For this Reason and because they are through their weakness easily scandaliz'd peo ple should in charity be wary of maintaining and even discovering contrary sentiments before them For these ways whatever they be in themselves the best or no are best for them and will make them Saints if they pursue them sincerely and faithfully and we must beware Nè pereat in scientiâ tuâ infirmus frater Lest a weak Brother perish by thy Knowledg § 3. The way of Knowledg must needs be pursu'd by such means as improve Knowledg and he advances in it best who most deeply penetrates into Christian Duties and most clearly sees their agreeableness to right Reason I do not mean with such a sight as is meerly speculative nor such a sight as can pierce into the Mysteries themselves and look upon them with that kind of Evidence which we have of other Truths whose terms we see connected For this would take away Faith and is impossible here and only to be hoped in the Country of Blissful light where we shall see Face to Face But I mean such a sight as presupposes Faith and renders it lively or operative which if once we can attain it is impossible not to be Devout For knowledg of any Good when 't is express and lively becomes a Principle of acting for it or to obtain it that is Will as by reflexion we may easily discover in the whole course of our lives and experience of our daily Actions § 4. Now this Knowledge is renderd express and Faith by consequence lively two manner of ways By Supernatural and by Natural means Supernatural means are either apt to affect all Mankind or some few chosen by God's providence and design'd and fitted for great ends Of the first sort are Miracles in general For the common course of Nature is practically evident to all and so what ever evidently crosses it must needs be conceiv'd to spring from the Author of Nature who can control it as he pleases Wherefore as on the one side this evidence makes it stick firmly in the soul that God has a hand in it so on the other side the Astonishment by reason of the Unusualness of the effect makes it sink deep and both together render Faith as to the point it testifies exceeding lively and prompt to Action Of the other sort are the rushing Wind the fiery Tongues and other concomitant causes which produc't that prodigious liveliness of Faith and sublime height of ardent Devotion in the first Planters of the Church by which they were renderd so strongly and readily dispos'd for those duties which Christ had order'd them that they cheerfully embrac'd all Inconveniencies Torments nay Death it self to perform them These causes were not apt to affect all Mankind as they did those few particularly fitted by long conversation with Christ himself and expectation of the effects of the Promise he made them at his departure which was still working in their minds and raising them to look for some strange Supernatural effect of it These are the two manners of External and more ordinary supernatural means for of the Inward workings of God's Spirit which blows where it lists and whose Operation and the Circumstances of it depend upon a Series of causes unknowable by us 't is not my Intention to speak in this Discourse § 5. Natural and Ordinary means to make this Knowledge express and Faith lively are also two-fold viz. penetrating well either the Grounds on which Faith is built that is the Certainty of the Authority which recommends it or else the Agreeableness of the things to be believed and of the Actions to be practis'd to the Maxims of true Reason It is the proper business of Controversy to teach the one and Scholastick Divinity the other and 't is by reading and attentively considering the discourses made by Masters in both kinds that we may attain the Knowledge we desire in these matmatters Only let us provide the Author we chuse be truly Solid for every one who writes is not so and that the Point we chuse be to our purpose It is neither necessary always nor convenient that every one who is capable of Knowledge should read all the Controversies that concern each point of Faith even though they be good and solid much less amuse himself with solving all Objections rais'd and raisable without end by Adversaries It will be sufficient to peruse and understand one or two good Books which solidly treat and firmly establish the Grounds of Faith or if leasure and opportunity serve to hear some Oral discourses of that subject In fine by any way we can to weigh attentively the Nature of the Authority on which Faith is built and what perfect Certainty the same and less Authority begets in us on other Occasions This done with that care and concern which the thing requires it will naturally breed in a Soul these and the like reflexions § 6. I believe and that with a most firm assurance that there was a King Henry 8th a William the Conqueror a Julius Caesar and many Actions perform'd by them as altering Religion in England Conquering this Nation gaining many Victories and the like The same I believe of less men and less universally-known Actions provided they were sufficiently notorious to great Multitudes and by these multitudes openly and seriously attested and without any imaginable ground of suspicion of Fear or Hope or any Interest which might move them to ly in the case I find this writ in my heart in such characters that I can as well doubt whither I am as whither such things were I find all Mankind judge the same and I can no more think it possible that Humor or Interest should beget this perswaon
performance of Prayer § 8. Freedome of Spirit is another great help in this case Distractedness for the most part proceeding from worldly matters which our too great concern in them is perpetually suggesting to our thoughts He that can contrive himself into circumstances which free him from having any thing to do with the World more then to make use of the means it affords him to gain Heaven is in the happiest condition and likely to find least disturbance in Prayer He that cannot free himself from business let him free himself from all unnecessary concerns for it and settle this judgment firmly in his Soul That reason permits him not to be farther concern'd cern'd for worldly affairs let their importance be what it will than as they depend on him That success is out of his power and depends not on him but Providence to which he should contentedly resign it and must whether he be content or no That his part and all the share he has in any Action is to use his endeavours according to the best of his skill That when he has allotted the time which is necessary for this and imploy'd it as well as he can he has done all he has to do or can do in these matters and ought to be concern'd no farther but is now at liberty to employ the time allotted for Prayer in the Best manner Likewise That there is no business which takes up so much time as not to leave sufficient for Prayer if negligence more than business do not hinder and the like But above all let him still remember that whatever other business he have or can have and I do not except any not love to Parents care of Children the strongest and most rational tyes to the nearest and most dearest Relations nay the pursuit of things most necessary even of Livelyhood of Cloths and Meat is of no importance in comparison of this If this succeed not he is undone and that Eternally however he thrive in others And if this succeed no miscarriage in any or all the rest can hinder him from being Eternally Happy He that lives gloriously and with full Satisfaction of all his desires is wretched if he go at last into Hell and after his short dream of Happiness wake into a horrid and never ending real misery And he who lives despised and scorn'd and dyes starved with cold or hunger is happy if he go to heaven and find his short and now ended suffrings swallowed up in infinite Bliss So that in truth to amuse our selves with what happens in this life to the prejudice of what is to come hereafter is a folly infinitly more senceless then what we can fancy most ridiculous § 9. This Freedom of Spirit is a Disposition so highly conducive to Devotion that it ought to be preserv'd even in the immediate means to it I mean in our Prayers and reading devout Books in case they be not obligagory or that after a deliberate consideration with the assistance and advice of our Spiritual Director it appears not that we have already made choice of the best and see that others are improper or less beneficial For there are many good Souls so strangely fixt by a habituated Custome of saying such and such Prayers that they fall into Scruples if upon occasion they hap to omit or change them and yet let them examin their own thoughts to the bottom they can discover no reason or ground of such a Scruple but the aukwardness of breaking a longinur'd Custom And to such persons it seems very advisable in my judgment that they omit them in very good occasions or with good advice change them that so freeing themselves thus from the tyrannous slavery of Custome and the biggottery of irrational fears they may inure themselves still to follow Right Reason in what they do and no other motives of which they can give no account which is indeed to assert and preserve the just Liberty of Spirit due by the Laws of Nature and Grace where no contrary Duty or Obligation does restrain it § 10. There are divers reasons why we should not always use the same Prayers and run still in one track One is because a perpetual custom hinders our attention to the sense and due penetration of the words in which chiefly consists the Fruit or spiritual advance by Prayer Another is the irrational scruple as was said of leaving off what meer Custom has addicted one to which is a fault or imperfection and so ought to be amended A third because it is not to be expected in this state that our Spirit should be always in one humour or disposition and 't is best that every thing be wrought upon according as it is dispos'd to have the Effect produc't in it A fourth and principal reason is because our Soul every day grows or should grow in spirituality at least at every competent distance season or stage of our Lifes Race she must needs by the very practise of a vertuous Christian Life have gain'd a considerable advance though perhaps she discern it not especially while 't is growing and 't is as irrational to think the same thoughts are apt to fit her in all states as to think that our Bodies ought always to be fed with Milk because we eat nothing else when we were Infants I for my part know no one Devotion suting all sorts all states all times and every pitch but that which was made by the Wisdom of the Eternal Father who fully comprehended them all I mean the Lords Prayer § 11. But the best help of all is a good Director For as in the Body the same diseases proceed somtimes from different causes and require different ways of cure so it is in the Mind too It may happen that the same indisposition which in some proceed from the Impersection of Nature may be caused by the Perfection of Nature in others A Soul fitted for higher Operations than these in which she is imploy'd and straining at them by a natural propension and yet not reaching them for want of Instruction may fall into the same unsatisfactory condition which happens to other Souls from other causes A good Director is as necessary in such cases as a good Doctor where diseases spring from not usual and not easily perceived causes However our conduct is sure to be so much the wiser as he has more Wisdom than our selves In this particular there are but two things to be observed to chuse one who is truly fit and then to treat freely with him They are both of great importance but need not be farther dilated SECT IV. Of the two chief kinds of Devotion § 1. BEcause Devotion is a steady bent of the Will to Spiritual Operations and there be two ways by which the Will may come to this disposition those two different Methods make two sorts or Kinds of Devotion For the Will may be wrought to this temper either by a Habit got as other Habits
are meerly by a frequent Repetition of her own Acts or by the interposition of the Understanding which clearly seeing that such or such things are to be done presses and prevails upon the Will to be always ready to do them These ways are both efficacious but the later the more Natural and less changeable For the will according to the designe of nature is to be led by the Understanding and indeed in some sence cannot be led otherwise there being some co-operation of the Understanding to that first Act of the Will the repetition of which afterwards produces the Habit. For unless the action had first been thought fit to be done it would not have been done at all But if the Understanding contributed but litle 't is more chance and luck than Reason that the Action haps to be good which is not connatural our nature requiring a rational proceeding in all things Again it is also less lasting for as Use produces Disuse will lose it and should the Understanding as not being first settled it self it well may come to cross the operations of the Will by contrary judgments or even doubts the Will would waver and act faintly first and after perhaps not at all But a Will produced by the Understanding cleerly seeing and conceiting practically what is to be done and out of that sight moving and indeed becoming the Will to do it cannot be changed till the Understanding change And if the Understanding be determin'd by Truth and that Truth clearly seen the Understanding cannot change because Truth can never turn into not-Truth I say clearly seen For Passion dims or blinds and so comes in Sin § 2. We shall find that in one way the Soul works upon the Body in the other the Body works upon the Soul Where the Habit is produced by repeated Acts it is caused in the Soul by the influence of the Body whose Spirits and Organs being fitted by constant use and readily concurring to such Actions carry the soul along with them In the other way the Action begins from the Soul by whose predominance over the Body those Spirits and Organs are fitted and concur with readiness and ease to her Directions yet both arrive at the same End a fitting disposition both of Soul and Body § 3. Notwithstanding since Effects must needs partake the nature of their Causes though true Devotion be an effect of both ways yet this Effect cannot but have Consequences and Operations as different as the Causes are which produce it The Devotion caus'd by Knowledg is proper for more refined Souls such as are able to penetrate into and judg of the nature of things and guide their Actions by their judgments The other for tempers less rational and who not able to go alone require to be led The former can only be lost by a wilful neglect of cultivating those Principles which caus'd it and which are not soon nor easily pluckt up where once they have taken deep root The other perishes both sooner and more easily by bare dis-use of the material actions by which it was produc'd And indeed they who have only custom from whence they can derive their Devotion generally run great hazard of a total decay in virtue upon any considerable neglect of their customary Exercises § 4. Yet in some respects this Material Way is less subject to Involuntary distraction in Prayer than the other because this way of Prayer being in a manner confused and an Elevation of the Mind to God in common as it were without distinct application of the soul to particular Motives which should advance her to new degrees of fervency it costs her by consequence little labour and obliges her not out of weariness to divert to new Objects Again this kind of Prayer having little or no height of Spirituality but being sutable to Fancy finds in the Brain Proper Species agreeable to the thoughts he has who Prays whereas the other straining after Objects purely spiritual of which we have no proper Species has by consequence less ground in Nature to fix the Attention § 5. In some respects too the Spiritual Way has the advantage in this point of Distraction For the distinct considerations to which the soul applyes her self are apt from their being Distinct to fix the Attention because they afford her a particular Entertainment to which she may attend As for Weariness when she finds that prevail and render her unfit to continue her Prayer longer she leavs it off for the present to resume it when she is better dispos'd And when some use has provided her of Spirits fit for her purpose she will seldom have cause to break off for weariness but may Pray with ease as long as is necessary or useful § 6. Hitherto we have discourst of these two kinds of Devotion as they are in their own nature If we upon look them as they are in the Subject we shall find those of the material way generally great valuers of External Acts They place all Spiritual Goodness in frequenting them think them Saints who are addicted to long Prayers and assiduously repairing to Churches and Sacraments proceeding too often to censure those as little less than voyd of all goodness whom they observe not to be still as their Beads or the like And this proceeds not from defect in Devotion on the contrary it seldom happens but where it is strong and much valu'd but from the weakness of the person who has it and who being neither us'd nor able to judge of the nature of things comprehends not how he can be Devout who does not do those Actions continually which by Experience he finds useful and necessary to Devotion in himself Those of the other Way place all their Treasure in Interiour Dispositions and for Outward Actions chuse them by Judgment and practice so many and such as they find useful to the Inward Affections They think persons more or less Saints as their Souls possess more or less of those true Spiritual Riches and hence value and endeavour so to improve their minds in the Knowledg of Spiritual things as being the connatural means to produce good Affections which the others fancy not but rather condemn as a hinderance to Devotion because they perceive no efficacy nor fruit of it in themselves § 7. The former placing much of their Devotion in performance of the External Act as going often to Confession Communion c. are not generally altogether so solicitous of due Preparation or at least aim not by their preparation to work their souls into a disposition fit to advance in true Vertue and perfection of the Interior by a connatural efficacy of the Action upon such a disposition but following Faith unexplicated by true Theology expect the fruit from a supernatural operation of Grace beyond their comprehension fixt to and accompanying the Action The later apprehending the benefit to be expected from those Actions depends after a connatural way upon the disposition with which they
are done are as much solicitous about the Disposition as the Action and labour more to perform them well than often unless their spiritual Director judg them fit for both but always with a Preparation suitable to the Reverence due to institutes so Sacred and Divine Those being altogether affected to many and those the most Customary Prayers often slubber them over sometimes with so litle application of the mind that there is not so much as a becoming Reverence in the posture of the Body They litle heed the sence as they go along and consider not how or how far it affects their souls and wanting that which is the proper Rule to direct their choice if chance dispose not otherwise generally make use of such as they see us'd by others apprehending some great matter in the very words and for that reason chusing somtimes Latin Prayers though they understand not one word of the Language And yet by the proportion this way has to their Pitch of Soul this conceit of some great thing in common concurrs so well with their right-set intentions that they pray very well better than where they understand more and conceipt less The other sort being knowingly devout or Spirituall who as St. Paul says Omnia dijudicant discern or distinguish all things and holding themselves at liberty where God or his Church has layd no command take for their Rule the Good of their Souls and believe this Good to consist in a Right Disposition They therfore chuse such Prayers and Books as they find by experience most useful to this purpose and contain such Motives as are most Efficacious to raise their Souls to Heaven They are no ways affected to what they do not understand and comprehend not how Ignorance one of the chief curses of Original Sin should ever be the Mother of Devotion They are more for the few and well than the many and often at a venture They are always careful to accompany their Prayers with a grave and reverent gesture and an attention piercing into as far as they are able and distinctly penetrating the force of the Words which they expect should contain such an Affective sence as is apt to wing their Souls for Heaven § 8. The former too are more addicted to Corporal the later to Spiritual Works of Mercy and as those fancy no great matter in the advancing of Truth supposing we have once Faith so these see no advantage to the world in relieving any necessity incident to the Body comparable to that of bettering mens Souls which they see will follow from the advancing of Truth Solid Goodness being the genuin Off-spring of Solid Knowledg § 9. Lastly the difference of these two Spirits is great in Relation to comportment and human conversation They whose study it is to guide themselvs by Right Reason the true Nature which God has given us apply it to all their Actions whence their carriage is even their Friendship steady their Judgment stay'd and just their thoughts Charitable They hearken to proposals with calmness and indifference and believe without good grounds slowly The others are more apt to be humorous stifly addicted to any opinion taken up of course inconstant in their purposes and friendships partial in their Verdicts credulous even of Toyes and of which no solid ground appears if they suit their Fancy unwilling to hear any Reason son which Crosses the conceit they have once espous'd And for want of duly weighing the nature and reason of things Rash Concluders Censorious of every thing that runs not just in the track of their thoughts and fierce Reprehenders of what they think amiss And yet these imperfections when they happen hinder not a good meaning and right-set intention All this while they may heartily wish and love what 's agreeable to Gods will and hate whatever is contrary only by the shortness of their Reason or untoward circumstances they are preoccupated with a wrong conceit of their own way and see not what is agreeable and what contrary to the Will of God And so afford those of the other sort a fair Occasion of Exercising a double Charity in bearing with their Imperfections and by sweet ways instructing their Ignorance § 10. But we must not think that these two sorts of Devout people are found in the World fixt in an indivisible point as they seem here described I fear there are not very many perfectly of the one kind and hope there are not very many just of the other I only intended to describe the standards of these two Spirits which are participated with a thousand unequal degrees now of the one now of the other sort and interwoven with a variety almost infinit according as natural Genius Instruction and other circumstances have allotted their proportions § 11. Let be it our task oemulari charismata meliora with a true Christian Ambition to aim at what 's best and highest but yet remember too that what 's best in it self is not always best for every particular and resolve upon better advise than our own to pursue the Unum necessarium that way which is most expedient for our Souls The truth is these Methods as different as they are may both be needful almost for every one Few or no understandings are so sublime as not to admit and even need the assistance of frequenting outward Acts which beget Habits And few so low as may not be improv'd to contribute and that considerably to the benefit of the material way if good Instruction be not wanting Wherefore neither should the Intelligent Devote neglect the constant use of outward Acts of Devotion nor the Material one to improve his outward exercises by joyning as much Understanding to them as he can SECT V. Of the means to attain Devotion THe means of attaining both sorts of Devotion are already toucht in Common but the subject deserves to be treated more particularly In the Material way because the effect is wrought in the Soul by impressions first made on the Body that which imports is that these Impressions be as strong as may be and as many for a weak cause often apply'd will produce the effect of a strong one Such exercises therefore are to be preferr'd as strike the inward sense and fancy most strongly but what ever they are they will become Efficacious if they be often enough repeated Those therefore for whom this way is proper should be exhorted to be assiduous in the outward exercises of Devotion whatever they be yet with this caution that the Frequency prejudice not their Efficacy For if they become so customary as to be done meerly out of custome they will loose much of their force Particular care is to be taken in this point about those Exercises which require an extraordinary Reverence and by the design of the Divine Institutor carry with them an awe and respect as the Sacraments c. For if according to the Maxim Consueta vilescunt Customary things grow vile our too
in them than in my self which I am sure it does not 'T is evident then that Right Nature or true Reason obliges both them and me to assent that such things are true and therefore that such an Authority attesting such matters of Fact cannot deceive us Wherefore by the same and far better Reason I am to believe this vast Authority of the Church attesting to me that such and such Doctrins were taught by Christ and his Apostles § 7. Farther considering the circumstances in which this Universal perswasion of Mankind that this doctrine is Divine was introduc't I find the Effect absolutely impossible to Nature The men who first began to work it were inconsiderable in all respects of which the world takes notice Of mean Birth of mean Callings Fisher-men of no Power no extraordinary natural Endowments and where there was a Primitive Christian as there were many famous for Parts or Quality he must first be wrought upon by men inferior to himself in all such kind of respects This was at a time when the whole world was possest with Idolatry that is utter Enemies to Christianity excepting one poor Corner of it Judea where the Change began and where those who remained unchanged were greater enemies to the business than the Heathens themselves The temper of the World at this time was so far from simple or foolish that Wit was rather at the highest pitch all the Learning of Athens and Greece being transfer'd to the Romans and there improv'd and heighten'd Yet this World by these men in such circumstances was prevail'd with to cast off all their long-settled perswasions in Religion and instead of them to entertain and that with a most unshakable firmness the belief of Mysteries inconceivable such at which nature could not chuse but boggle extreamly and not admit without absolute Conviction For no Interest could move them all Preferments of Honour or Trust or Profit were in the Hands of those who Opposed this New Doctrine and to Embrace it was to Forfeit whatever they Possest or hoped in this kind nay to change it for Poverty and Contempt and Torments and Death Force there neither was nor could be For all Power was in those who were against Christianity and was employ'd and strain'd to suppress it In Learning and Wit and Eloquence and all Natural Parts they had the Advantage and the things proposed to their Belief a Trinity a God made Man and living in Obscurity and dying in Torments and Infamy a Virgin-Mother c. were Inconceivable and to nature Unsolvable Riddles § 8. He that shall consider these things and the rest of what may occur as they deserve will be convinc'd that the Effect viz. a Perswasion of such Multitudes of Men so qualify'd to believe such strange things so strongly that no Hopes or Fears could hinder them from standing firmly to them even to Death could not be compast by Natural Causes and thence conclude with absolute certainty the Doctrine could be no other than Divine dictated by God the Author of Nature and by his Power over it introduc't and settled in the World § 9. Again amongst other Supernatural means Miracles being one which the Christian party unanimously pretend to have been done by Christ and his Apostles 'T is impossible had they been false they should not have been discover'd and the Pretenders and Actors manifestly shown to be a company of Cheats unless there wanted Wit or Power or Will in the Opposit Party to examin and detect them For that which we know how to do and can aud will do manifestly is done Wit to detect them there was in abundance the world being then both acute and withall Sceptical a quality too which hindered them from believing rashly Will there wanted not The Honor and Interest of all Overseers of Religion or Priests both Jews and Gentiles engaging them against it and the Civill Policy being highly concern'd to look to Innovations and Doctrins contrary to the Religion in vogue and Establisht among them Besides 't is plain they had a Will to do what they did and they did make all the Opposition they could Neither was there any want of Power which till Constantin's time three hundred years after Christ was all whether Secular or Religious in the hands of the Enemies of Christianity and often fruitlesly imploy'd to the uttermost both by Policy and Persecution to root it out There was no possibility of over-bearing them by Noise for that is one kind of Power and silencing those who cry'd down the Miracles by the louder Clamours of greater multitudes who cry'd them up For though Christianity had made a considerable progress in the world during the times of persecution yet in comparison of Heathens Christians were but few and very unable to contend with them in noise It remains then that the pretended Miracles were true Miracles and too evidently such for any Wit or Power of man to show them otherwise And that those and the other means used in the conversion of the world were truly above Nature since they overcame all Human and Natural means conspiring and bent to oppose them And had they not been such the perswasion nay steadfast belief of such incomprehensible Mysteries and standing fast against such a violent Torrent nay turning the stream so strangely and prevailing on such vast Portions of the World to embrace Christianity would be an Effect without a Cause or which is all one without a proportionable Cause or a Cause able to produce it Wherefore as Certain as it is that no Effect can be produc't without a Cause and that a Proportionable cause or a Cause able to produce it and that is so certain that to deny it is to affirm manifest Contradiction viz. that a thing can do what it cannot do so sure it is that this first-taught Doctrin was both truly Divine and rightly deriv'd from the Primitive times to us Therefore I am as sure as I live my Faith is True and the Doctrin I believe Reveal'd to Mankind by God himself § 10. Hence a rationally-pious Soul will discourse on this or the like manner When I certainly know any thing that really and highly concerns me for example that such a precipice if I leap into it will certainly kill me such an Action will certainly ruin my estate such another will secure it and settle me in Plenty Content and Security 't is plain Madness not to act according to this Knowledg and beware of that precipice and avoyd one Action and do the other But it is infinitly greater madness not to avoyd such things as my Faith with much greater certainty assures me will bring upon me infinitly greater Mischiefs and not lay hold of such things as it likewise assures me will put me into possession of infinitly greater Goods no less than true and perfect and never Ending Happiness I will therfore endeavour by the best and all means I possibly can to avoyd Sin correct my Passions and Inordinate
both and at once instruct and enlighten the Understanding and inflame the Will I would therefore advise to chuse such as contain solid Christian Doctrin and express it both rationally and affectively Of this kind of Prayers the number is not great few being fitly qualifi'd to compose them For there is requisit in the Author both skill in true Divinity to make the conformity of Christian Doctrin to Reason appear and ardent Devotion he being very unlikely to warm another who is cold himself And besides a great mastery in Language to chuse expressions clear and affective and both easy I recommend for this purpose the meditations of St. Augustin and the Devotions of our learned Pious and judicious County-Man Mr. John Austen in the way of Offices § 19. The Lives of Saints also are of great efficacy to stir up Devotion by way of Imitation and Example But they would be well writ that is with more care to relate their Heroick Vertues which made them Saints and estimable and imitable by us then to huddle multitude of Miraculous and if but flightly attested incredible actions which neither were the causes of their Sanctity nor are imitable They affect the Vulgar indeed with Admiration and Esteem But work not so much upon the wiser sort who only seek their own Improvement and how they may come to Vertue themselves of which these things were no Cause though they may be Signs Yet when they are duly attested and accompany'd with the Saints Vertuous Life they become a kind of Testimony to the Church of God's particular favour to those who give themselves up to his Service and an encouragement for others to serve so good a Master who thus honours those that honours him But as I said they ought to be well attested lest the credulity of the vulgar embracing so many uncertain stories for assured Truths and the easiness of some Pastors in permitting them without distinction to be Printed do not as much or more harm to those without the Church as good to those within her The best way is to chuse such Lives as were written by Authors who were also Saints themselves and withal Learned and Prudent and so less apt to be imposed upon by false Relations or byast by Interest or Affection Such as is the Life of St. Francis by St. Bonaventure of St. Hilarion and St. Paul the Hermite by St. Hierom of St. Anthony the Great by St. Athanasius and the like CHAP. II. Of the Chief Act of Devotion PRAYER SECT I. Of the Nature of Prayer and its Excellency as it includes in it self the Exercise of all Virtues THE First or Principal Act of Devotion being Prayer it seems proper that in a Treatise of Devotion I should say something more particularly of it's Nature and excellencies than I have done hitherto and thence enkindle in the Hearts of my Readers a great desire to frequent it All which I cannot do without hinting at the same time the best Manner how to perform it though it ought not to be expected in so short a discourse as I intend I should much enlarge my self or descend to every particular manner of it § 2. Prayer then as was said is defin'd an Elevation or raising of the mind to God which being a kind of Action and every Action as Philosophy tells us having two Terms or Ends the one that from which the Action goes the other that to which it tends as for Example the Action of Heating goes from Coldness and tends to Heat it follows that the benefit of Prayer must be rated from both these It raises us to Heaven and therefore it lifts us from Earth its opposit or Antartick That is it sets us above that from whence our misery springs and approaches us to that where all our Happiness is treasur'd up § 3. Some ancient Heathens such as Diogenes seem'd to have attain'd the former without the Help of Prayer and to be great Contemners of the World But alas they did but seem so for all their mock-holy-day pretences For had they been indeed and truly rais'd above Earth they must of force have been rais'd towards Heaven that is they must have been addicted to address themselves by Prayer to the true God of which kind of Devotion their Earth-clogg'd minds were utterly ignorant They were not then rais'd above their affections to Earth but their whole pursuit was still the World though under a different consideration They were above it as it was able to give them Riches and Honorable Titles but still deeply plung'd in it as it gave them Esteem Nay far more deeply even for this regard that for this Esteem's sake they contemn'd the other For they thought it more Honorable to seem to contemn Riches and Dignities then to seek them and therefore aym'd at a greater worldly honour by refusing that which in their Apprehensions was a less So that the Progress of their vain and proud Souls was not an advance from Earthliness to Heavenliness but a foolish leaving Earthly Riches and Dignities to acquire an aiery and perhaps a more empty Earthly Esteem and Admiration Nay they contemn'd the other comparatively onely that is would have lov'd it and perhaps heartily too but that they doted more upon this As the forenam'd Cynick trampled on Plato's Pride as he call'd his gay cloths with a greater Pride perhaps than Plato wore them Of which kind of Contemners of the World we have too many examples in England amongst our deepest Fanaticks With this difference that their Pride is more spiritual that is worse nay being a corruption of right Christianity the worst of all that can be § 4. Prayer then being the best means to elevate the mind from Earth to Heaven or rather this very Elevation it self and the best or readiest way to effect this or raise our selves upwards being Flying it follows that if we pursue the Metaphor we must say the Soul has wings by which she is enabl'd to take this flight that is her Thoughts and Affections which how swift they are and how far they reach at one View and Effort of the Soul a litle Reflexion will teach us Moreover she must move and stir these Wings that is meditate and consider whence we experience that those who are given to run over their private Prayers without considering what they say are sluggishly indeed moving towards Heaven for they cannot but think of it at times sleightly and still intend well but they seldom advance by it to any high pitch They climb a little upward by the help of Characters and Sounds and the lame Activity of Fancy lifts them into the Air where they see after a duskish manner far distant glances of Heaven but scarce one constant Ray of true Light dawns to allure and affect them strongly Lastly there must be a calm and clear medium to fly thorow such as is our Air in material Flights not disturb'd with ruffling Passions or clogg'd with clouds of Sorrow and worldly
his own holy will and that prayers for Virtue are such makes us firmly hope out petition will be granted and a Hope thus rais'd renders our wish of it far more efficacious as we experience passes in our selvs in other matters when we are assur'd of getting them and as it were just upon the point of attaining them This Hope also fixes and comforts our Thoughts in confidence of having already gain'd some and of attaining yet more by which means they are kept up and continu'd in the pursuit of what we ask for and relapse not into a stupid want of expectation 5ly While out minds are more rais'd by Prayer to an ardent Love of God our Will is proportionably rais'd to a more fervent wish of Virtue which is already known to be the proper means to attain him In the same manner as one who knows certainly a Treasure is hid in such a place and is his if he will go for it is very prompt to wish nay resolute to get and use means to obtain it Whereas on the other side that is when our thoughts are not made lively by Prayer the thoughts of Heaven being so distant and hard to be represented by fancy it seems but a kind of dry speculation and dull in comparison 6ly Since as was said the nature of our soul is such that to know any thing what ever is to have that very thing in our Understanding and that Prayer improving this Knowledg to a Liveliness or expresness it becomes Active to obtain it or which is all one it becomes Will it follows that by much and lively thinking and conceiting the Goodness of Virtue we arrive to have it in our Will I mean we have in our Will a Disposition to Act according to right Reason inform'd by Faith that is indeed we have attain'd Virtue this being its very Nature and Definition Lastly since as was shown before by Prayer the Soul is to some degree inferior indeed but yet truly Deify'd or made one with God that is with him who includes Eminently all Virtues or rather is those very Virtues Essentially it follows necessarily that the soul addicted to Prayer especially when she Prays knowingly and thence raises her self to Love must have all Virtues in her nay be those very Virtues according as her pitch of Love of God advances her and her present state in this life will permit her § 10. From this Doctrine we may draw these Consequences First that though we ought to pray for Temporal Goods always with resignation and conditionally there is no need of adding either of these cautions when we pray for Virtue but we may wish it absolutely without any measure or stint since we are sure 't is alwayes of it self agreeable to Gods Will and our own true Good in asking or desiring which God's Goodness has limited no Man You 'l say then one may wish as high a Pitch of Virtue as the greatest Saints had nay that of our Blessed Lady her self 'T is answer'd Since the means to arrive at so high a Degree of Virtue as others is to wish it with as pure an Intention and as fervently as they do none is to wish the End without the proper means to it but to labour all they can to put the means that is to gain a fervent desire of it from God by Prayer qualify'd according to all the Particulars above-said as that of those Saints was and then they may be sure 't is absolutely God's Will both as Author of Nature and Super-naturals that Effects should spring out of Proper Causes and Immediate Dispositions Nay we know this with a greater Assurance than that any Effect of Nature will succeed For example Fire burn or Rain wet For it becomes God's Goodness sometimes to alter the Course of Nature miraculously for higher Ends even when Natural Dispositions are ready and require to produce Natural Effects but it can never consist with his sweetest Goodness to hinder those from having Virtue who are immediately dispos'd for it Whether those that pray shall attain an Immediate Disposition to so high a Virtue as those had is another Question But it is certain God has laid no Commands upon any to deterr him from doing his best to attain it but has propos'd Saints to our imitation absolutely and not to a Degree only For as the saying is He that aims at the Sun though he be sure he shall never his his Mark yet he will shoot higher than he that aims only at a Bush. But how high Steps every particular Soul ought to take at once belongs to Super-natural Prudence and Discretion of Spirits and therefore 't is the proper Office of a Wise Ghostly-Father to determin it And his only Care must be to be sure the Soul proceeds still by Immediate Dispositions for otherwise the taking great Leaps at once in a Spiritual Progress generally strains the Connaturality of Devotion and ends in Indevotion or Sloth In a word Let him that prayes be only attentive to ask Virtue of God with as much Fervency as he will and then leave the Effect to Him who is a Faithful Promiser and a full Rewarder 11. Secondly Since this Assurance is so great let him that Prayes ask his true and certain Good Virtue without any wavering or doubting but with an absolute Confidence in God's Goodness or Mercy For can we be surer of any thing than that a Miracle shall not hinder the Effect if we put the Immediate Dispositions to it by Prayer And this Security we have of attaining Virtue if we pray for it fervently and as we ought 12. Thirdly The same Certainty is of the Effect if one Prays for the Forgiveness of his Sins For Prayer being a hearty Wish of what we pray for made Fervent by those Advantages we have above enumerated it follows that it moulds as it were and frames the Soul into an absolute and resolute Will of forsaking Sin and warms it with Affection to her true Good But great Care must be had of praying God to pardon our Sins while yet our Wills are ty'd fast to the sinful Objects For that were to require of Him to do more than Miracle Love of God alone finally or the Holy-Ghost in their Hearts being the only Remission of Sins and the Love of any Creature otherwise than in order to that Love being the proper Notion of Sin So that as impossible as it is that we should Love God alone finally and a Creature above or not in order to him both at once which is no less than a direct Contradiction so impossible it is that Sin should be pardon'd till the Inordinate Affection be taken from the Objects of it 13. But what shall those poor Sinners do who have not a Will to leave Sin or at least but a divided Will as was St. Augustin's Case before his Conversion which he so complainingly descants upon in his Confessions I answer They must still take the same Method that is
strive by continual Prayer made after that weak manner at least as they are able to improve those Imperfect Wills into Perfect Ones and groaning under the Slavery they now fully experience at once sigh and tremble before their justly offended God Which kind of Exercise in this case is more profitable and proper for them to use than Love of God of which their Hearts yet full of Filth are at present uncapable Yet their utmost Industry must be imploy'd by Faith and some Degree of Hope which are here the only Acters to promote and advance these good Motions and Graces of the Holy-Ghost not yet within them but only moving them to towards that Grace by which the same Holy-Ghost enters into their Heart and inhabits there The hardest struggle is at first till the Scales begin to turn which done all is easie to us if we pursue our Victory But for those who are in this State it were very fit that Mortification went along with Prayer to wean deterr and divert the Soul from the noxious Gust she took in sinful Objects 14. Lastly We may hence admire the Wise Methods and Matchless Bounty of our good God in alluring us by so many Motives to apply to him by Prayer that so we may arrive at true Happiness and giving us by the very asking that is as soon as ever we ask all that is our certain and true Good or all we can according to right Reason heartily beg of him You 'l say It will follow hence that if one immediately ask Heaven he shall have it I answer That this were the same manner of fond Petition but far more highly unreasonable as to ask the Virtue of our Lady or the Apostles without thinking of putting first the Immediate Disposition to have it which is to press God to do a Miracle for our sakes a thing true Humility Reverence the Requisites to a rightly made Prayer will scarce allow And so still our general Principle remains firm to us that we shall be sure to obtain what we pray for when we ask for our true Good so we ask as we ought Now the Immediate Disposition to Heaven being Love of God if we pray for the Means we shall be sure both to obtain This and Heaven too which is our End by it Which secures to us the Effect of our Prayer or the Accomplishment of our Wishes though it come not to us after our own foolish manner but according to the Method our infinitly Wise God has appointed that is that all things even in Super-naturals except in some few Cases be carryed forwards from Connatural Causes or Dispositions to proper Effects Which Consequence of the Effects out of their proper Causes is the true meaning of the Word Merit so misrepresented by our Adversaries only superadding That God has promis'd this certain Effect shall follow and that the Generality of the Faithful Work out of that Consideration or out of a Relyance on God's Promises without knowing perhaps how this Promise is brought about or perform'd to us Which yet when known by those who are capable of understanding it must needs add a strange Degree of Comfort and an exceeding Courage to employ themselves in Prayer Whence may be easily Collected that I only concern my self with that kind of Impetrative Virtue by which rightly made Prayer obtains certainly of God our true Spiritual Good that by shewing the Connatural Efficacy of it and with how necessary a Consequence the Attainment of Virtue springs from it I may excite my Readers to pursue that best Duty and withal by the way instruct them how to perform it What other Virtue Prayer has of obtaining many things of God for our selves and our Neighbour by obliging his infinit Goodness and Wisdom in his Government of the World so to contrive and order Things that not one Prayer of the Just be left unavailable as far as can possibly consist with the common Good of the Universe nay even so far as if the Prayer be made with a perfect Faith Confidence and firm Relyance upon him to alter the Course of Nature by Miracle for such a Prayer's sake Of these I say it is not my purpose to treat at present it being out of my Road as depending on Principles which ly very remote from my present Design as was said formerly in a like Case concerning Prayer to Saints at the End of the Fourth Section I shall end this Discourse with those most expressive Words of St. James If any one wants Wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all abundantly and without grudging and it shall be given him But let him ask in Faith nothing doubting For he that doubts is like a Wave of the Sea which is mov'd and tost about by the Wind. Let not then such a Man think that he shall obtain any thing of our Lord. Where we are to note first that by Wisdom is not meant Speculative Knowledge but that Wisdom which is our certain and true Spiritual Good and of which the Fear of God is the Beginning as the Love of God is its Accomplishment or Perfection Next he assures us It shall be given and that without grudging or upbraiding any that they have receiv'd enough already but abundantly without stint so they dispose themselves by Prayer to receive it Thirdly He puts the Disposition to receive it to be a firm Hope Faith or Confidence in God's over-flowing Goodness which is strengthen'd by knowing that what we ask is agreeable to his Holy Will Lastly He declares that the want of this Confidence in asking renders our whole Prayer ineffectual For the Wish cannot be strong and efficacious to work the Soul into a hearty and habitual Love of God if it be held before-hand as it ought that it cannot be had without God's giving it and the Asker thinks that let him ask Virtue how he will it is yet an obscure kind of Mystery lying in God's Breast and depending on his meer Will whether he will please to give him any Virtue or no and that let him pray for it how he will there are yet no determinate or certain Causes laid in the Course of his Supernatural Providence to attain it and thence comes to doubt whether he shall ever obtain any Virtue or none at all which is very uncomfortable Whereas were it known and well penetrated that God's Will is already as to that Point determined by his Wisdom governing and promoting Souls by Prayer to Virtue and by Virtue to Heaven as by proper Dispositions to those Effects according to that Saying of the Psalmist They shall rise from Virtue to Virtue till they see the God of Gods in Sion Also were it known and consider'd that an unwavering and thence efficacious Prayer or Wish strengthen'd by directing it to God is the proper Disposition or Means effectually and necessarily as we may say to gain Virtue It will become impossible to want Courage to ask it heartily and absolutely impossible to waver or want Assuredness in our asking it impossible our Wishes of it should not become an Efficacious Means to obtain it Lastly impossible we should not obtain what we ask Soli Deo Gloria FINIS