is now crucified that the body of sin might be destroyed that hencenceforth we should not serve sin Rom. 6. and S. Peter likewise makes it the purpose why Christ did hear our sins their punishment on his own body on the tree that we thereby being dead unto sin might live unto righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 Christ gave himself fo us that he might redeem us from this present evil world Gal. 1.4 The Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 Sin is that which God hates above all things sin is that which is most contrary to his nature and to our happiness and so JESUS was crucified that sin might be destroyed he died that sin might live no longer and therefore I renounced all sin the Devil and all his works when JESUS owned me for his friend and I owned him for my Lord and Master they are incompatible their inconsistency is irreconcilable If I hold to the one I must despise the other if I love one I must hate the other I will therefore as I am most bound and as I have promised forsake sin and follow JESUS I will fight against his enemies and side with him against my own corrupt affections while I have a being I will love and obey JESUS CHAP. XXIV Of outward helps and instruments of love and obedience NOw to effect these good resolutions we must use means to bring our hears to a devout and Religious Temper and so to keep them It will not suffice that we intend well except we perform We may soon be diverted from our best designs either by temptations or by the interruption of worldly business Therefore the revolutions of time which bring on us the snares and disturbances of this life must also bring with them the frequent returns of our pious excercises and Christian duties We must often recollect our thoughts and listen to the Divine Love of our Blessed JESUS We must entertain our Souls with him renew our religious purposes and call to mind those special considerations which use to affect us most of all We must often resort to those fountains of Grace which God hath opened to his Church in his publick Worship and the several dispensations of his Word and Sacraments by his Ministers To these we must be sure to add Fastings Alms and Prayers than which we can do nothing more acceptable to God nothing that can better declare how much we love him and how heartily we devote to him our bodies souls and estates All these are not only means but duties of Religion also not to be omitted upon any pretence whatever But now the following have more of indifferency less of necessity in them but yet may have a good influence upon the inner man may move our affections and declare or increase our devotion and our sincerity Such are the constant reading of good Books set times of meditation and mental prayer the enjoyning to our selves a strict silence for some convenient time to bridle our tongue and so to use it to discipline and as it were to unsay and retract inwardly by hearty repentance what we have said amiss Sometimes like Hezechiah to turn our selves to the wall to mourn in secret I mean to retire from the world and enter our closet there to confer with God and our own souls about Eternity and the way to a blessed one Every day or at least once a week to cast our eyes back and take an account of our lives especially of what we have done since our last examen that we may repent and rectifie our follies renew our good resolutions and increase our diligence and our care In our adorations and penitential prayers to cast our selve on the ground with the humblest prostration to hold our hands like criminals bound supplicating before their judge to look up to heaven to smite our breasts and so excite our zeal and contrition Some are much affected with watching with visible representations the sight of a dying man and such instructions and mementoes as enter the Soul by the eyes which being the quickest and most apprehensive sense we have Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures Quam quo sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus quae Ipse sibi tradit spectator conveys its objects to the mind with the greater force and makes the deeper impression Here in my first Edition I had mentioned the making on our selves the sign of the Cross which could not escape being taxt of Popery by some that call by that name every thing they dislike I should not be much concerned at the charge but that I find Popery is made a thing too ancient and too innocent and so mistaken It hath indeed abused that primitive Ceremony and made it subservient to superstition but the right use of it is not therefore unlawful Those zealous and holy Christians in the first ages who frequently signed themselves with that Sacred Sign intended it as a tacit invocation of the name of Christ as an outward profession that they owned him for their Lord and Saviour and as a signature to themselves that they were devoted to his service and ready to die for his sake I might produce and plead their reasons and example the Custom of our Church and its 30th Cannon but that I would perswade no man to a rite so indifferent If any will reiterate it on themselves where they give no offence to the same purpose as it was intended when they were made Christians In token that they will not be ashamed to profess the faith of Christ crucified c. I shall not condemn him and I shall in no wise quarrel with them that omit it If we sincerely love our Divine Master and are faithful and obedient to him it is no great matter what outward means and instruments we use But yet experience and the approbation of the best of men have recommended these I have now mentioned as many ways useful and profitable They and others of the like nature and Church ceremonies are said by Calvin to assist our infirmities to increase our devotion and to make Religion more solemn and more venerable Inst l. 4. c. 10. § 28. 31. So the great duties be secured these are indifferent and may vary according to circumstances but yet they are not useless nor totally to be rejected Those outward rites and actions have an influence upon our hearts they not only express our inward piety but they increase it Though they proceed from the affections Nescio quomodo cum hi motus corporis fieri nisi motu animi praecedente non possint iisdem rursus exterius visibiliter factis ille interior invisibilis qui eos fecit augeatur Aug. they re-act upon them as S. Augustine saith they augment that fervour which at first produced them And so said a Blessed Martyr of our Church that the true inward worship of God while we live in the Body needs external helps
it withall it will kill our lusts crucifie the members of the body of sin and carry us through the labours and difficulties of penitence and sincere amendment it will be the fulfilling of repentance as it is the fulfilling of the law For as love is strong to overcome strong enemies to kill the greatest sins so is it wise and quicksighted to see and to find out the least A loving friend will not only not slander and defame his friend not rob or strike or murther him but will forbear all words and actions which might bring him the least grief or inconvenience love will not only not give the greatest provocations but even not disoblige or displease in the least instances And now my soul I must apply this home and thereby examine how true are my resolves and protestations if my love to JESUS my Lord be sincere it will not only keep me from confederation with his profest and greatest enemies but even make me shun and forsake the most secret and contemptible of them I mean that the love of JESUS will never suffer me to entertain any the least sin and whenever I find that I have been unhappily seduced to commit any it will cause me to grieve and sadly to repent that I have displeased my dearest Saviour and wounded that tender love I owe him and profess ever to have for him And indeed it is reported of many devout persons great lovers of JESUS that they would sorrow and weep for ordinary failings for small omissions more than others would for much greater sins Divine Love like a bright burning flame will feel a commotion and disturbance by the least drop of water that falls upon it a small irregularity will be more grievous to a pious lover of JESUS than great crimes to another Therefore he that could say the love of Christ constraineth us would also highly complain and groan under the sense of our unavoidable imperfection O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.24 Nothing will make us more sensible of our least and most common sins than the love of JESUS it will make us angry at and impatient of them and earnest and severe in reforming of them Now therefore as I profess my self a sincere and affectionate lover of JESUS I am obliged to undo as much as may be what I have done amiss and to do it no more this earnestly and vigorously I must now resolve and beg the divine grace an assistance to perform it I must make amends and restitution to those I have any ways damnified in body goods or name and even ask their pardon for the injury and then bewail my sins grieve that I have offended my Divine and loving Master and beg his forgiveness and indeavour by tears and contrition to wash away the stain and spots wherewith my soul is polluted and displeaseth the holy eyes of the Holy JESUS And so to own and to love JESUS my Master binds upon me all the duties of holy penitence repentance must now be my my work and I must live like a true penitent Especially on Lent Fridays and such other times as the Church appointed and devout Christians use for mortification and more solemn devotion I must then and even every night call my ways to remembrance And besides those greater provocations wherewith I have offended my Lord in the days of my folly and inconsideration I ought also to take notice of those sins of daily incursion I last committed and weep over them all and beg for pardon and this I say especially on penitential days For though true contrition should always abide in the heart of every one that truly loves JESUS yet there are occasions and proper times to bring it forth when we are to make it our business to soften our hearts and make them melt into penitent tears Which must be done by religious exercises pious meditations and such acts of contrition as this My dearest JESUS I owe to thy kindest goodness my being and all the blessings I enjoy and I know that thou didst come down from heaven to die on the Cross that I might not die in hell to eternity to suffer a bitter and shameful death that I might live in eternal joys I hope to see thy glorious face one day I hope to receive a crown from thy gracious hands I hope to dwell in thy blissful society for ever Dearest Saviour if thou wert upon earth I would go all the world over to prostrate my self before thee to kiss the ground thy Holy Feet should tread to serve thee to shew my love and gratitude to thee Dearest Lord I would now joyfully give up my life for thee I would lose the last drop of my blood to please and glorifie thee I would die rather than deny thee Why then unhappy wretch that I am do I offend thee to whom I owe my self and all that I have Why do I wound thee by my transgressions who wast wounded for them by thy love Why do I grieve thee who purchasest eternal joys for me Why do I displease thee with whom I hope to live and dwell and from whom I expect mercy and salvation Why do I sin against thee whom I love with all my soul and why do not I live to thee for whom I would die Lord if what thou hast done and suffered for me be not able to win my heart what canst thou do more but O break and yield sinful heart of mine open the way to tears and grief and let the love of thy dearest Saviour enter and fill and ever possess thee CHAP. XXVIII That Love will sweeten as well as produce the truest penitence and that true wisdom not melancholly is the guide of sincere penitents SUch considerations and soliloquies as these will produce not only lacrymas doloris tears of grief but also lacrymas amoris tears of love and true contrition and moreover will make pleasant all the severities of repentance which are so unacceptable and so repugnant to nature those things that would be ungrateful as acts of justice on our selves or obedience and submission to a severe Master will become delightful as acts of love to a gracious beloved Lord. In amore nihil amari in love all things are sweet that are done or suffered for the sake of the beloved I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake saith S. Paul 2 Cor. 12.10 that great lover of JESUS not that those things are of their own nature pleasant whether inflicted by our selves or others 't was for Christs sake that he liked them He likewise that by self-denial and revenge on himself expressing his sorrow for his sins shews his love to JESUS is certainly delighted with the most afflictive of those voluntary sufferings as they are expressions of his love Accordingly 'tis said of some Religious persons that their watchings and fastings and all the severities to
contain thy blood and spirits in a word of all the parts and passions of thy body which are all made for necessity and comeliness and then admire the great goodness as well as wisdom of thy Creator and say with the Psalmist that thou art fearfully and wonderfully made and that Gods works are very marvellous After this let thy thoughts dive deeper and consider thine interior senses the mysterious union of thy soul and body with the beauty of that Divine Light which we call Reason thy memory thy will thine understanding which are the faculties of thy precious soul which is not only created after Gods image but is capable and desirous to enjoy him and then see how numerous or rather innumerable are the benefits which God hath bestowed upon us in our creation and how just it is that we should love him that we should glorifie God in our Body and in our Spirits which are Gods CHAP. II. How much we are obliged to God for our Preservation PReservation comes next to be considered a benefit of very large extent and well deserving that rank the Church hath placed it in in making it the subject of our daily thanksgiving for ever since man changed the impenetrable armour of Original Righteousness for a thin covering of fig-leaves he became so defensless and yet exposed to so many sharp and wounding arrows that should not Divine Protection interpose for to shelter and secure him his temporal Life would be a true and a sad Emblem of Eternal Death It appears by the history of patient Job that if we were not fenced about with the hedge of a gracious providence we should find that all creatures conspire our vexation and ruine God had no sooner broke the inclosure but afflictions crowded in so fast upon that happy man that in a short time there remained nothing of his former prosperity but a bare and bitter remembrance to make the sense of his present misery more grievous There is no man but is exposed to all the greatest Calamities that ever befel any of the Sons of Adam and there is none able by his own power to defend himself against the least of them Fortune and accidents sport themselves if I may so speak with our goods and estates Moths fret our garments rust cankers our mettals thieves break through and steal our riches or else they make to themselves wings and fly away Besides their own corruptibility which of it self would consume them they are exposed to so many hazards that it would be as impertinent as 't is impossible to number all the ways and means whereby men are afflicted with losses and brought to poverty only from hence we may justly infer that the same God who gives us all things richly to enjoy must al 's secure them in our possession or else we certainly lose them If we look on our selves we shall like the Prophets man in Dothan 2 Kings 6. see armed enemies on all sides of us our spiritual enemies are many strong and full of rage and malice and yet we have no defence against them but that God makes his heavenly host to wait on our safety incamps his Angels about us to be an invisible guard against our invisible enemies and not only so but to secure us also from thousands of sudden and sad accidents which might every moment befall us All creatures are now furnished with a sting wherewith they may either vex or kill us The elements and all compounded bodies the air we breath and the food that nourisheth us all things in nature and all things in chance may become our tormentors or murtherers Nay we carry swords and daggers in our own bosoms we have within our selves the matter of all sorts of distempers not one joint in our bodies but may be afflicted with the gout Not one humour but may overflow its banks and quench the light of Reason or the fire of Life Not one pore or part within or without but may unexpectedly at all times and in all places become an entrance to death and sorrow In the midst of so many and great dangers it were impossible for us to stand one moment but that God defends us under his wings and keeps us safe under his feathers Psal 90. as the Psalmist speaks and so the blessings of immunity which most men slight or overlook are never enough to be acknowledg'd but deserve the thanks of a whole life We dwell under the defence of the most high and abide under the shadow of the Almighty therefore let us set our love upon him and glorifie him CHAP. III. Of the positive Blessings of this life THe Positive Blessings of this life are now to be exposed to view but of them I may use the words of the Psalmist If I would reckon and speak of them they are more in number than can be numbred Psal 40. Health and strength and comliness with industry and learning are shared among the sons of men in several proportions and so are good friends and a good name peace plenty and pleasures any one of those single might make a rich portion for one man for each within it self contains many rich and precious blessings yet oftentimes God unites all or most of these together to crown us with loving kindness and tender mercies Psal 103. The works of creation and the works of providence are not more numerous than the graces and gifts of God to mankind any one that should seriously meditate upon this subject would find it multiply and increase almost to immensity and would be forced to break off with the exclamation of David Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of many that thou so regardest him Psal 8.4 God renews his mercies to us every day together with our lives every hour we eat of the fatness of his house drink of the river of his pleasure Psal 36. and receive the sweet emanations that flow continually from the fountain of life But of those benefits which God pours open hands upon us how many are there that pass unregarded we usually mind not what we receive but what we desire Let heaven rain Manna never so thick upon us if we wish for Quails Angels food shall be unsavory and perhaps distastful They that long for great and well covered tables find no relish in their daily bread they that pursue after wealth look not on the blessings of competency they that aspire to honour receive health food and raiment rather with a disdainful anger than with thankfulness all the favours we receive from God are unobserved or slighted as long as he doth not gratifie our humour with what we desire and even those gifts whereof we are most sensible are soon laid in oblivion an hours pain will cause many longer pleasures to be forgotten and if God sends evil upon us only for one day it makes us forget the many good things which we for many years received from him This I say because
more because his debt is also forgiven and yet he is freed from that trouble and sorrow which his fellow debtor underwent Why then thy gracious Redeemer by saving thee from the horrors and torments of Hell hath laid on thee at least as great obligations to love him as if he had brought thee out of it after thou hadst been long detained therein Therefore I desire thou wouldst bring thy thoughts back again to that unpleasant abode and consider thy self as if thou were shut up in that dismal dungeon and then express what thou wouldst give to be releast what thou wouldst do for him that should bring thee out of that horrible and bottomless pit I know that they that are afflicted with sharp pains and grievous sicknesses would purchase health with all the wealth they have and I believe no reward would hire a man to hold his hand in the fire but for one hours time therefore I doubt not but that if it were in a mans power he would give this and a thousand more worlds to be brought out of an ever burning furnace and I am perswaded that if thou wilt suffer thy fancy to be active in framing the black and dreadful scene of hellish horrors about thee thou wilt then heartily say Were I owner of the whole universe I would joyfully give it to come out of these ever-burning flames which torment my body and to be freed from this never dying worm the remorses of my guilty conscience which torture my soul but because I have nothing freely would I give my self to him that should bring me out of this woful place O I would follow him any where do any thing that he should command me imbrace his feet kiss the ground they tread on and give him all the demonstrations of a sincere and passionate Love Well thy petition is granted before 't was presented the Love and Mercy of JESUS hath prevented thy request and distress Now make good thy vows and resolutions Love and Serve JESUS thy Redeemer and give thy self up wholly to him I know that many may be good Christians without being snatcht out of the fire without these terrors and affrightments but I am shewing what our condition had been without a Saviour what is that gulf of perdition whence JESUS hath saved us if we will be saved by him and I mention these affrighting truths to perswade men to be motives of an active and a vehement Love For 't is too observable that few men seriously consider what Redemption means what it was we were redeemed from else they could not be so indevout so disobedient so unthankful to their Saviour S. Paul supposing as I do here that without Christ we were already dead and perisht makes it the reason of that Constraining Love which enabled him and other Primitive Christians to suffer so patiently and act so zealously for JESUS The love of Christ saith he constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead as if he should say we were certainly dead irrecoverably lost had not Christ died to purchase life and salvation for us therefore we cannot chuse but love him and it is no wonder if that love be strong and if we are governed and acted by it That thou maist therefore love affectionately and live religiously consider seriously that death the misery of that condition wherein thou wert and ever must have been hadst thou not a JESUS a merciful Saviour and Redeemer I might add that we were delivered from the power and slavery as well as from the condemnation of sin but this is included in the other it being impossible to be saved from the wrath to come without bringing forth fruits meet for repentance and as it is mercy and grace on Gods part so on ours it is matter of duty and earnest indeavour and must be the result and effect of our love first that we offend not and then that we serve diligently and faithfully him that redeemed us from our vain conversation and gave himself for us that we being dead unto sin might live unto righteousness CHAP. VI. How graciously and wonderfully we were redeemed A Further ingagement to love and obey will be to consider the manner how our redemption was effected and the price that was paid for it thus The Blessed Son of God the Second Person of the Ever glorious Trinity undertook that work himself which none else could perform for us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man In this act of his miracles and mercies seem to vie one with another In praesepe jacet sed mundum continet ubera sugit sed angelos pascit Aug. Ser. de purific 2. that the God of eternity should be born in time that the Creator of all things should be the Son of a Creature that the most highest should abase himself to the low condition of a servant that God should become an infant is a miracle of Love which we can admire and adore but never fully comprehend The greatness of God is unsearchable his excellencies and perfections are incomprehensible he is infinitely good powerful wise and holy Man contrariwise is in himself wicked and weak ignorant impure and miserable there is so great a disproportion betwixt God and man so wide so immense a distance Haec est mensura amoris non solum quantum fecit nos quanta fecit pro nobis sed quantillus factus est pro nobis that nothing less than an infinite love could have filled up the gulf betwixt those two so different natures and united them into one person 'T was never seen that a shepherd would creep upon all four and cover himself with a sheep skin to call his flock out of danger and to expose himself for it but the good shepherd did much more When he came to lay down his life for his lost and wandering sheep and gather them into his fold he took on him not only the likeness but the very nature of them he became the Lamb of God that he might be the shepherd of mankind Though he was infinitely more above man then men are above beasts yet he became the Son of man that he might become the Saviour of men 'T was never seen that a Sovereign Prince would seek to reduce to loyalty the most abject of his rebellious subjects by mixing blooud with them uniting their families together but behold the Supreme Monarch of heaven and earth contracts a near affinity with his ungrateful rebels who are as vile and miserable as they are criminal that he may free them from their guilt and win them to their duty and their happiness Proud and wretched sinner thou wouldst be so far from entring into the kindred of meaner persons those that are much thine inferiors that thou canst hardly endure to be in their company and behold the most Glorious and Holy
canes and clubs and put a reed instead of a scepter in his hand and when he was all over spittle and blood they brought out their mock-King and Pilate presented him to the people and said behold the man thinking to move them to pity by so sad a spectacle but nothing less than his death would satisfie their enraged cruelty therefore he was condemned and then abused afresh by the Souldiers and loaded with his Cross and driven out of the City to Mount Golgotha Now here begins a new scene of sorrows the afflicted Son of Man having lost much blood and suffered so much having been rudely haled from the garden to Annas from Annas to Caiphas from Caiphas to Pilate from Pilate to Herod from Herod to Pilate again and from thence to the place of his Execution arrives at last faint and weary and sorrowful upon Mount Calvary where he was to die here his hands and feet which are most sensible parts of our bodies by being most full of nerves were pierced through and nailed to the Cross and though there was a seat where to rest his body as the Ancients say yet the Cross being lift up and put into the hollowness of the ground to make it stand upright his wounded body was shaken and affected doubtless with a most acute pain He was exposed naked not only to the view of the multitudes but also to the open air which was extremely cold in that the Sun was hid he was burnt inwardly with an excessive heat and driness being tired with so many journeys and being exhausted of spirits and moisture by his sorrows and bleeding insomuch that he complained of this above all his other sufferings crying out I thirst though we may say that he thirsted most our happiness that he thirsted to drink out the dregs of his bitter cup that we might drink the cup of Salvation He wanted the use of his hands and feet being tied to suffer so that he could not so much as stir nor wipe the blood off of his face he was afflicted with the sight of his afflicted Mother who from her wounded soul reflected sorrow upon her dying Son and Saviour His soul was also as it were crucified by the sense of the Divine Anger against the sins of men for the which he was making expiation insomuch that he complained that God had forsaken him And lastly his heart-strings were broke and his body deprived of life by a most violent and bitter death And now who shall not love JESUS and who shall not admire that love which is exprest in the breadth of the Cross Lord how exceeding broad was thy Cross which contained so many sorts of torments Nothing can be compared to it but thy charity which made thee take it up that we might be charged with nothing but a pleasant and easie yoke But Lord why do we most vile and sinful creatures refuse to bear thy light burthen when thou the Most Holy and Most Highest hast born for us so sad and intolerable a load CAAP. IX The length of the Cross WE are now to measure the length of the Cross that is the time of Christs bitter passion the tedious duration of his sufferings which began with his birth and continued to his last breath The Life of JESUS as we have seen was as it were a chain of miseries every link every connection had something grievous and afflictive he was a man of sorrows therefore we no where read that ever he laught or injoyed the pleasures and the mirth of this world but that he suffered much and wept several times is recorded by the Evangelists Every day was in some manner the day of his Crucifixion which to us is Good but to him was sad Friday for he knowing all along what he was to suffer and living in expectation of that cruel death we may say that his fears did in some manner prevent his murtherers and by anticipation acted upon him while he lived what they were to inflict on him to put him to death for he was pleased to assume together with our nature our innocent passions and infirmities I have a Baptism saith he to be Baptized with and how am I constrained until it be accomplished that was the Baptism of his Blood which he wisht for because of his love to mankind his great desire of paying our ransoms but feared because of the repugnance of his humane nature to such bitter sufferings wherefore saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am constrained I am in a streight betwixt two I wish and yet I fear to die But that which we most properly call his Passion because it exceeded the rest of his sufferings lasted eighteen hours without intermission nine of Thursday night and nine of Friday from the time of his agony in the garden about nine at night while three in the afternoon of the day following all which time he suffered those several sorts of pains and tortures which are already mentioned all that time he drank full draughts of that bitter cup the fear whereof made him sweat drops of blood when he began to taste of it all that time he suffered what no tongue can express but what all hearts should endeavor to feel and to think of daily Lord JESU thou wert tormented a long time that we might not be tormented to all Eternity grant that we may endure any thing for thee and from thee our God who didst endure so much for men and from men CHAP. X. The depth of the Cross WE have seen that bar of the Cross on which the hands of our Blessed Saviour were nailed the breadth and the length that is the variety and the tediousness of the pains and sufferings he underwent for us Now we are to consider the biggest piece which stood upright whereon his body rested and his feet were nailed the depth and the height that is the pureness and the greatness of his sorrows If we read with attention the passion of Christ in the four Gospels we shall see our Blessed Redeemer as it were sunk into a deep abyss of misery by the heavy burthen of our sins he might well cry by his Prophet See whether there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow for the greatest of humane afflictions admit of many comforts whereas he was deprived of all as there was no part in us but was infected with sin there was none in him but was affected with pain he was all over stripes and sores an universal wound within and without he suffeed in all his capacities in his outward and inward senses in all the parts and faculties of his soul and body the very circumstances of his passion did all concur to make it more bitter and afflictive He was deprived of that ordinary comfort of being assisted by his friends all the Disciples forsook him and fled as the Prophet had foretold of him I have trodden the wine-press alone and of the people there was none with me I looked and
and insignificant attempts its strength is great as well as its endeavours Great are the dangers and difficulties which love overcomes it carries the ambitious lover of honour through many uneasie perils to a fading laurel it carries the covetous lover of riches through the most hard and slavish labours to his false and treacherous Mammon and it carries likewise the devour lover of JESUS through obedience and self humiliation through briars and uneasie crosses through patience and the greatest sufferings to the enjoyment of his Beloved Love can do all things since it brought God down from heaven to become man and die for man Who shall separate us from the love of Christ saith S. Paul Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us for I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.35 c. As much as to say that the power of love is irresistible that it answers all objections and conquers all obstacles notwithstanding mans high provocations and great unworthiness love made the Almighty lay down the arms of his just vengeance and open his bosom of mercy to give his dear and only Son to man for a Saviour God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 And likewise man is enabled or rather forced by love to do and suffer any thing as soon as Divine Love enters a mans heart of proud it makes him humble of lustful and intemperate it makes him chaste and sober of covetous it makes him charitable of dainty and effeminate it fits him to be a Martyr No ill habits so deeply rooted but love can pluck them up no cross so heavy but love can bear it Many waters cannot quench love saith Soloman neither can the floods drown it Cant 8.7 No the strongest torrent of affliction is but like drops of water sprinkled upon the fire it increaseth the flames and the ardency thereof Love is as strong as death verse 6. and death is very strong Magnum verbum fortis ut mors dilectio magnificentius exprimi non potuit fortitudo charitatis quis enim morti resistat ignibus undis ferre regibus resistitur venit una mors quis et resistit nihil illa fortius propterea viribus ejus charitas comparatur Aug. in Psal 121. stronger than all visible creatures We daily fight against death and beat it back by rest and food and Physick we dispute the victory with it many years but it is ever victorious at last so is love it never gives over till it hath conquered all oppositions its courage increaseth together with its difficulties the more obstacles in its way the greater its endeavours the more fierce its contentions Death severs a man from himself and disunites what seems inseparable love also takes the lovers soul from him and unites it to the beloved so that he lives more in what he loves than in himself love is as strong as death Death converts the greatest sinners or at least keeps them from sinning at all any longer so doth love it certainly mortifies all even the most reigning sins it will not suffer them to sin that love God We can tame wild beasts by industry overcome the barrenness of the earth by labour resist the angry elements by Art and Physick no evil but hath a remedy only death hath none there is no striving against it so that nothing can better express the irresistible power of love than to say that it is as strong as death The last property of love I shall now mention is that love sweetens bitter things makes our labours pleasant and even our sufferings delightful How heavy is that yoke which is imposed by an ungrateful hand The Souldier prest to the service can hardly bear his arms but he that is inrolled by love thinks them light and bears them with pleasure the slave that works in the Mines counts his very life a burthen the niggard that works much harder likes well his drudgery because the love of riches is his task-master he that serves his master out of fear works faintly and with a heavy heart he that serves him out of love doth it diligently and yet with chearfulness the Christian pilgrim who is driven heaven-ward with fears and terrors goeth on with much reluctancy and a sorrowful heart he that is drawn with the cords of love follows with joyfulness minds not the ruggedness of his way and even rejoyceth in his weariness because it brings him nearer and nearer to his beloved he that that could say the love of Christ constraineth us could say also we rejoyce in tribulations 'T was the love of JESUS made primitive Christians work hard and suffer much Nullo modo sunt onerosi labores amantium sed etiam ipsi delectant sicut venantium piscantium interest ergo quid ametur nam in eo quod amatur aut non laboratur aut labor amatur Aug. with comfort and unspeakable joy and 't is for want of that sweet and Divine Love that Christians now find sorrow and great difficulty in that little they do or suffer for JESUS The labours of love are ever pleasant nothing is hard that love binds upon us CHAP. XXII A farewel to all sinful desires THis great power of love is now to be drawn into act and these considerations to be reduced into practice Now therefore enter more seriously than ever this Cloister of love ingage thy self further into the society of the true lovers of JESUS enter now actually and affectionately upon the work and labour of love Remember now thy Baptismal Vows remember them I say now that the love of Christ constrains binds thee to fulfil them Things are best preserved by that which first gave them being And now thy making good that stipulation thy part of that gracious Covenant whereby thou art related to Christ that according to the design of that Sign of the Cross which was drawn upon thee as the badge of thy profession thou wouldest not be ashamed to profess the Faith of Christ crucified and manfully to fight under his banner against sin the world and the devil and to continue his faithful Souldier and Servant unto thy lives end So now thou shouldest accomplish this promise by faith working by love Now then retire a while and enter thy Closet sequester thy thoughts from the world and confer with thy Soul about thy duty and thy great interest Call to mind the obligations the love of JESUS hath laid upon thee and how thou hast promised to requite it by renouncing all things that are contrary to thy love and
duty to him By renouncing the devil and all his works the vain pomps and vanities of the world and the covetous desires of the same as also the sinful lusts of thy flesh Now thou art to approve thy self a true lover and servant of JESUS by departing from these by repentance and amendment Leave them therefore and forsake them these enemies of thy Saviour of thy love and of thy happiness Let thy Soul full of the love of JESUS thus meditate and resolve and express thy devout affections to him that died for thee The love of JESUS hath prevailed I find my heart wounded I can no longer resist the charms of his love he hath woed me so long and with so much kindness that now my heart is his I will love him because he first loved me Now it repenteth me that ever I rejected his sute that ever I was unkind to him it grieveth me that ever I countenanced and preferred his rivals the lusts of sensuality covetousness and pride which I renounced in my Baptism I will now exclude them wholly this is the first mark JESUS shall receive of my sincere affection to him that I will entertain nor caress no longer those his enemies with whom I have had an unhappy intelligence for too long a time henceforth if they come near me I will endeavour to drive them away if they come after me I will flee if they persevere in their attempts they shall get nothing else but shame and denials Away from me then ye wicked spirits with all your tempting allurements worldly vanities deceitful riches sensual pleasures I remember that I renounced you all when first I gave up my name to JESUS when he first began to shew and seal his love to me and to ingage mine I then renounced the devil and all his works the vain pomp and glory of the world with all covetous desires of the same and the carnal desires of the flesh I now remember those my ingagements and grieve that I have not kept them and therefore will hate you the more that you made me forget my promises and break my holy vows Now will I be revenged of you ye proud and ambitious designs lustful thoughts greedy desires of wealth I will now kill and crucifie you Henceforth it shall be my honour that I am a Servant of JESUS it shall be my delight and pleasure that I am a lover of JESUS and it shall be my wealth that he is mine as I am his JESUS hath done and suffered much to declare his love and to deserve mine he hath come down from heaven and humbled himself to my mean and low condition he hath lived poor and despised he hath been afflicted and persecuted he hath died for me hereby I know that he loves me because he laid down his life for me but ye his unworthy rivals never gave me any assurance of your affection never did or suffered any thing for me JESUS exposed himself to shame that I might become glorious endured pains that I might have pleasure he became poor that I might be enriched but covetousness offers me riches to pierce me through with many sorrows lust enticeth me to wound me when I have consented to it and pride promiseth me honours to cumber me and expose me to envy JESUS is infinitely lovely he is all perfection and goodness and he desires to be loved not for any advantage of his own but to make his lovers intirely and eternally happy but you painted idols of abused mortals are in your selves ugly and even loathsome though at a great distance ye may seem somewhat fair yet near at hand ye are nothing but deformity ye always prove vain and vexatious ye seek to enter mens hearts only to tyrannize and torment them and betray them to eternal sorrows JESUS is a true and constant lover he ever owns his friends he never fails them that love him he helps them in their distresses he comforts them in their sorrows and when they die he stands by them but ye temporal deceitful pleasures are false and inconstant ye forsake your friends in their greatest need ye flatter them for a few Summer days while the Sun shines kindly upon them but in the rigors of Winter when an unprosperous storm ariseth you are gone you leave them to die comfortless they carry nothing of you when they go from hence but the bitter remembrance of your treacherousness JESUS is a most grateful lover he ever returns love for love he is ever found of them that seek him to them that desire him he ever gives himself every true lover of JESUS is sure to enjoy him but you worldly enjoyments are generally most unkind to your most passionate lovers ye flee from them that run after you ye grieve and vex your greatest admirers ye are ever uncertain false and ungrateful I will therefore never love you again nay I resolve to hate and persecute you to mortifie and watch against my lusts my pride and covetous desires But JESUS shall reign in my heart him will I love him will I serve him will I endeavour to please in all things I will be wholly his therefore I renounce all friendship with you that are his enemies there can be no agreement betwixt the Holy JESUS and this sinful world If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him 1 John 2.15 Lord we beseech thee grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world the flesh and the devil and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee the only God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. XXIII That the Love of JESVS and the love of Sin can never consist together FUrther consider O my Soul that JESUS my Blessed Master is the Prince of purity he will never abide in the same heart with intemperance and with fleshly lusts He is meek and lowly pride cannot follow him By works of mercy and charity he calls us to the possession of heavenly treasures therefore greedy worldly mindedness can never entertain nor prefer his promise Lust Pride Covetousness can never abide with the love of Christ they can never be reconciled JESUS and they are mortal enemies Mortal I may call them because they were his murtherers or rather because he died to put them to death We were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation but with the precious blood of Christ JESUS shed his blood to redeem us as well from the practice and commission as from the punishment and destruction of sin Or rather of both together for they are not to be put asunder Moral and natural evil ever go hand in hand as happiness is inseparable from Goodness and vertue Blessed are the the pure in heart for without holiness no man shall see God S. Paul therefore saying that Christ died unto sin that is to take away sin infers from thence that we being baptized into Christs death our old man
will much increase thy diligence and thy sincerity Many in the Church of Rome put on when they die a Fryers habit and much confide therein do thou put on by times thy dying thoughts consider seriously and steal time as often as thou canst to sequester thy self from the world Gods secret voice is not heard in the croud and no man meditates in the Market Retire and think of death and put on the affections of a penitent humility shame and sorrow for thy past follies care and watchfulness for that rest of time which God gives thee to destroy thy sins Deus dat spatium ut pereant crimina non homines Prosp Aquit and to save thy soul S. Austin on his death bed would always have the penitential Psalms saying that every Christian must die a penitent Nominem Christianum absque poenitentia mori oportere So must he live that would live well for contrition and mortification will make thee charitable and contented will make thee despise the world and chuse the best and safest course of life Optimam vitae rationem deligendam brevi consuetudine fiet jucunda which if some thing hard at the first will soon by use become easie When men have an opportunity to eat and drink to obtain profit or pleasure they seldom neglect it and put it off to uncertain delays Now thou canst if thou wilt serve God shew thy love to JESUS and make sure of heaven defer it not till time be past or be worse Think what thou wouldst advise thy friend to do and do thou act accordingly Often think upon thy reward and look up to heaven hope sets the world at work Jacob's drudgery fourteen years seemed but a few days to him because he had Rachel before his eyes and loved her affectionately Gen. 29.30 All is not to be done to day go on in the way of love and duty Our life is a course not a leap therefore faint not and be not displeased with thy self Nunc paululum laborando manibus nunc genibus flexis orando deinde corpus reficiendo post quiescendo rursus iterum operando Anthoni sic fac tu salvus eris if thou hast not yet done what must not be finisht till thy life be so S. Anthony's impatience was thus reproved and cured by an Angel work now afterward pray then refresh thy wearied nature and after that return again to thy labour and devotion Let this be thy course all thy way and salvation shall be thy end Thus betwixt grace and nature betwixt labour and Religion distribute thy time and in all these let the love of JESUS accompany and direct thee and it will certainly bring thee to his glory after thou hast in this manner lived in his favour thou shalt enter into his joy I love them that love me saith the Lord and they that seek me early shall find me Prov. 8.17 CHAP. XIX That upon all accounts God should be loved above all things THE first Consideration is that it is most unjust and unreasonable to love any creature to the prejudice of the Creator As all things hare their being from God so they have from him all the goodness and beauty which makes them lovely to us and God drawing upon visible objects fair copies of his invisible perfections designed to be loved in them or that they should be loved in him and for his sake If men being delighted with the beauty of the heavenly host took them to be gods let them know how much better the Lord of them is for the first Author of beauty hath created them for by the beauty and greatness of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seen Wisd 13.3 Beauty and goodness are the proper object of love and therefore God who is the first and supreme beauty and goodness should be loved before all things We indeed reverence Princes in their seals and arms in their meanest servants clothed with their livery but should a subject set up these in the royal Throne and transfer to them or even to the greatest Favorite those special honours which belong to the Prince only he should justly be deemed a Rebel and his proceedings would be as unjustifiable as the disloyal distinction of taking arms by the Kings Authority against his Person Yet such are the proceedings of all disorderly lovers I mean of all sinners who setting more of their affections upon the creatures than upon God the Creator pay them afterwards a greater veneration than they do to him having exalted honours pleasures and riches into the Imperial chair they do more for them than for the Sovereign himself nay they obey them to their prejudice and against his express command Thus vicious unreasonable men burn in the shade and freeze where the Sun shines they dote upon inferior beauties and neglect the highest and most perfect they take fire at dark shadows and find no heat in the brightest light Great men have a respect paid them in their degenerating posterity great Artists are respected in their liveless children we highly honour unhappy Pagans in those labours of theirs which adorn our closets and libraries God only is dishonoured in his works the more perfect he hath made them the more injurious they prove to him Phidias and Apelles are remembred with veneration in a fine picture or Statue God only is ingratefully forgotten in a lovely creature whereof he is Maker An absurd impiety this is Absurdum est genu posito simulacra adorare suspicere fabros vero qui ea feceâ—unt contemnere which Seneca reproved in his fellow heathen to worship and deifie the carved image and to take no notice of the Carver that made it God hath done like a loving father who jealous of his sons affection would have none to attend him but such as wear his livery would have the picture of himself hang in every room and all the goods in the house marked with his name and cypher So God who loves men tenderly and desires to be by them loved again hath put something of himself in all the creatures he hath appointed to serve us that which way soever we turn our eyes we might be put in mind of him he hath stamped his name in more or less legible Characters upon all the goods and utensils of this his great house the world wherein he hath placed us And now shall we do like a simple child who turning his back upon his father should look and smile on his picture and caress it and wait upon it and ask it blessing while he slights the original So absurd a thing would be counted madness and move pity or laughter but when we act the same folly in loving the world while we despise God we are highly criminal and we highly provoke our heavenly Father thus to return to him contempt and disobedience for the gracious tokens of his love From hence it follows that as we should