together and become Dogs Swine absolute Slaves to our Lusts and so wholly defacing the glorious Image of God engraven in us transforms us into Vessels of Dishonour fitted and prepared by our own folly for Eternal Destruction The Young Man that is deceived and enticed by a Whore who invites him in with a Stolen Waters are sweet Bread eaten in a corner is pleasant or some such little Inveigling Devices of the Devil follows her says the Wiseman As an Ox goeth to the Slaughter i. e. with Greediness as thinking he is going to a fresh Pasture and as a Fool to the Correction of the Stocks without any foresight at all Prov 5.5.9.18 not knowing that he is in any danger till a Dart strike thro his Liver Where as her house is the ready way to the Grave going down to the Chambers of Death and her steps layhold on Hell Behold the dreadful end of a sinful dishonourable Love Which well considered is certainly the best Remedy to stop the Foolish beginnings thereof And to cause Virgins to fly to their Veil to secure their Beauty from occasioning their ruine and to take Adulteries out of their bosom and beware of the Curiosity which is always Criminal But then on the contrary if this powerful Passion of Love be rightly managed so as to be once fixed upon its true object Almighty God and to hate for love of him all sin and with St. Paul Phil. 3.8 count all things loss and dung to gain Christ it then surmounts all difficulties and casts out all fears and renders the whole duty of a Christian easie and Sufferings and Persecutions for Christs sake desirable that he may thereby more please God and become more conformable to our Lord of which more afterwards Secondly Our Memory and Imagination are to be mortified We must not suffer our selves to ruminate and feed our Fancies upon past sensual Pleasures our own or other Mens for that is next to our Acting them over again Thus the Israelites when they were delivered by God himself from the midst of a sinful Nation and miraculously fed in the Wilderness with Manna from Heaven Num. 11.5 6. longed and lusted after the Flesh-pots of Egypt and so displeased Almighty God more by wishing for them again than when they actually enjoyed them So St. Peter Compares a Christians returning to the Filthiness from which he hath once escaped 2 Pet. 2.22 to a Dogs returning to his vomit and a Swine that is clean to her wallowing in the mire And our Saviour himself hath particularly forewarned us Luk. 9.62 That whosoever hath put his hand to the Plough i. e. professed himself a Christian looking back with any delight to his former sinful course of life is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven We are therefore most carefully to mind these two Faculties especially considering they are the very Store-house of the Soul See St. Austin in his Confessions lib. 10.8 concerning the boundless Capaciousness of the Memory for the comprehending the Images of all things that can any way fall under Mans Consideration Which therefore if filled with filthy Idea's obscene Representations and the like most of all disturb and distract us and are the greatest hinderance to Piety imaginable and indeed the main Engine by which the Devil works according to the power now left him his malicious designs upon us Whereas on the contrary if they be filled with good Objects devout Representations they do unavoidably cause great Piety and Devotion in us and our hearts cannot but be set upon such Rich Heavenly Treasure Because our Imagination alone hath so great influence upon us either to good or bad that such as our Fancy is such is our Love and such is the whole Man Every one is drawn trahit sua quemque c. by some forcible Fancy something that pleases and according as that is thereafter are our thoughts It is well therefore if that something be either Truth or Justice or Beatitude and Eternal Life the only true End and Scope of a Christian Now in our watchfulness over these two faculties we are to have a particular Eye 1st to Our outward Senses Not suffering them to approach at least not dwell upon sinful Objects but removing them presently from us or us from them For not Arguing with but rather running away from them is the surest Remedy against the Temptations of all sensual Objects it being much easier to keep our selves from any knowledge or experience of them than after experiencing them so great is the Pravity of our Nature from longing after them especially those which are Incitements to Lust A Whorish Woman saith Solomon will hunt for the precious Life of a Man Prov. 6.26 27. and you may as safely take fire into your bosome or walk upon hot burning Coals as Converse with her or even look upon her without having first made a Covenant with your Eyes When therefore our Circumstances are such that we cannot well avoid the presence of a Tempting Object our best Expedient is 2ly To retire immediately into our selves to Discourse with God who stands always knocking ready to be admitted and to enter with us into our Soul and particularly to pray and beseech him either to remove the present Temptation or preserve us from it Rev. 3.20 Or the sooner to put it out of our mind we may recite any Affectionatly pious Devotions or Psalms we have ready stored up in our Memory which will make our Intention not capable of long minding two things at once unawares quit its former sinful object Or we may consider with our selves the bitterness and sting sin whatsoever committed leaves behind it by reason of the uncertainty of our true Repentance and Sincere Reformation of Life Or we may meditate on the Dolorous Passion of our Saviour which rent the very Rocks Heb. 6.6 or any part of his sufferings in the Garden at the Pillar upon the Cross and that Voluntarily to sin is as much as in us lies to Crucify him afresh Or on some one of the Four last things On Death which puts an end to all Earthly pleasures in a moment and separates a wicked Soul not only from the Body but from God forever On the last Judgment when the dreadful Sentence on Drolling Debauchees and all Impenitents will be Go ye Cursed Mat. 25.41 On Hell That everlasting Fire whither the Cursed are to go Or lastly On the Vnspeakable Joys of Heaven which may be so advantageously represented to the Soul as to drive out the thoughts of all other pleasures For there the Blessed have their Knowledge perfected Ps 63.5 their Afflictions rewarded more than they were in the least worthy Rom. 8.18 Rev. 22.4.4.8 They possess all Riches all Honour enjoy all Pleasures are ravished with the Beauty and Holiness of our Lord Eph. 4.10 Joh. 17.21 23. filled with the fulnes of God made one with Christ and with God Which
written and allowed of by the Ancient Fathers and the whole Church of God in all Ages And then as to the necessity of Prayer if we consider our many wants Temporal and Spiritual to be relieved many sins wherein we still offend God to be pardoned many Temptations and Dangers from which to be preserved many Benefits and Assistances received and all these with a respect also to our Fellow Christians we cannot but acknowledge every moment of our Lives had we no other necessary Duties too little to be spent in this one Great Duty of Continual Prayer 1 Thess 5.17 Our good Lord assist us by his Holy Spirit in the diligent and sincere performance thereof The other Chief Means of our obtaining Divine Assistances against our Lusts is 2ly Frequen Communicating as many good Christians now do and the Primitive Christians did almost every day I do not intend here to treat largely of this Holy Sacrament there being many good Books Written designedly on that Subject but only recommend to the Reader without medling with God's power therein which transcends all Humane Conception and Comprehension the Immense Benefit of this Holy Mystery to each worthy Communicant in reference to his particular Necessities For obtaining Remission of this or that Sin a Remedy of this or that Infirmity a Deliverance from this or that Affliction for receiving a Benefit or giving thanks for a Benefit received for helping our Neighbour for encreasing the Holy Spirit and Love of God in us Because as by one Spirit in Baptism We are made one Mystical Body of Christ 1 Cor. 12.13 so likewise in the Eucharist are we made to drink into the partaking of one Spirit The Blessed Eucharist being as necessary for the continuing and encreasing as Baptism for the first receiving the Holy Spirit Because also this is that particular Nourishment instituted by Christ for the preserving our Body and Soul to Everlasting Life that particular Pledge and Assurance of our Resurrection that true Bread from Heaven which mystically also Incorporates us into Christ and makes us continue and grow up into perfect Members of his Body that so thus partaking of the Nature and Spirit of the Second Adam the Heir of all things we may become with him Sons of God Heirs of Eternal Life as we were by the First Adam of Eternal Death That true Heavenly Bread lastly so Exalting and Assimulating our Nature into Christ when worthily Communicating as to make us one with him as he and the Father are one According to our Saviour's Prayer when he was Instituting this Blessed Sacrament I pray thee Father John 17. that they may be one as we are one O Blessed Union between poor Man and his Maker O happy those Souls who here worthily feed on this Heavenly Bread the only true Nourishment of the Life of Grace enabling them in the Strength thereof to walk even to the Mount of God the Life of Glory The Conclusion THE Summ of this Discourse is The Sins of the Flesh are most dangerous because most natural to us And by reason of their filthiness most loathsome to Almighty God and most severely punished by him For not only those of the greater magnitude Fornication Adultery Incest Sodomy Beastiality are followed with God's most Tremendous Judgments but also we find in Scripture Vncleanness and Laciviousness Gal. 5.19 Eph. 5.3 destinct from the foregoing and of a less denomination every where joyned with such Sins as exclude the Practisers thereof from the Kingdom of Heaven The way to prevent such Sins and to avoid the punishment of them is To mortify our Passions our Memory and Imagination to beware of impure Suggestions cheirsh Holy Inspirations and avoid all the occasions of such Sins to Improve lastly the Grace of God in us by Assiduous Prayer daily Examination of our selves perfect Repentance frequent Communicating and all other holy means pressing still farther to higher and higher Gifts particularly to the attaining that most excellent Gift of Charity which makes us love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves hate even our own Lives for love of Him who first loved us undergoing the the greatest sufferings with Thankfulness and Complacency performing all our Actions on purpose to please him referring them to his Honour offering them up to his Praise and Glory To whom Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Honour Praise and Glory to all Eternity Amen God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4.24 Grace and Truth i. e. means of Salvation came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves but to him who dyed for them Gal. 4.6 2 Cor. 5.15 Wretched is that man who is all for the good things of this Life a good House good Apparel good Provision c. and is content to have a bad Soul Int. Christ Some Short Directions and Heads of Meditation for the Persons Concerned in the Preceeding Discourse CHAP. I. Of Meditation it's Requisites and how it differs from Contemplation MEditation is called the first Essential part of Prayer leading to Contemplation Thanksgiving Petition c. in which all the Principal Faculties of the Soul the Memory Vnderstanding Will and Affections are severally employed The Memory recollects the matter to be Meditated upon and also placeth the Soul in the Divine Presence The Vnderstanding judgeth of the Subject and its Vertues and accordingly proposeth it to the Will The Will excites in us divers Acts and Affections either of Love Affiance Gratitude c. towards God Or of Hatred Compunction desire of doing better c. towards our selves which is indeed the main Scope and end of Meditation Then follows our Praying and representing to Almighty God our Miseries Necessities Temptations which we most earnestly beg him to redress for his own Love and Compassion's sake and the Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ But when the Faculties of the Soul are unactive or slow in their Operations as it often happens they are to be excited by the help of good Books which ought always to be at hand when we Meditate and in all such holy exercise we are to approach the Divine Presence with our greatest Reverence and Humiliation And it is also necessary before every Meditation to make a strict Examen of Conscience 1. What Benefits we have received that day from Almighty God for which we are to return Thanks 2. What Sins we have that day committed running through every hour in thought word and deed for which we are to beg pardon 3. We are to resolve upon an amendment in every particular by the Grace of God After such strict Examination of all our Thoughts Desires Words and Works judging our selves that we be not judged of the Lord and Confessing our Sins in the bitterness of our Soul as the Church requires and taking also
God God himself Innocent c. What and how grievous things he suffered So many griefs So great Ignominy He hath born our griefs Behold the Man Behold and see were there ever sufferings like his And all this for his Enemies ungrateful sinners and me in particular to Reconcile them to God Reflect Oh the Obedience Humility Patience Perseverance Charity of his sufferings Wednesday What passed in the Garden His Agony His Soul was heavy even to Death He sweat drops of Blood He Prayed against the bitter Cup but with a Resignation to his Fathers Will. Thy will not mine be done And soon after with unparallell'd Fortitude surrendred himself If you seek me let these go their ways desiring to tread the Wine-press of God's Wrath alone Thursday Our Saviour's Vsage before Annas Caiphas Herod and Pilate Before Annas Questioned for his Doctrine In Caiphas's house false Witnesses were brought against him He was kept Prisoner there all Night Mockt by the Souldiers and others Denyed by Peter Before Herod despised Before Pilate first declared Innocent but afterwards Condemned by him for Treason to please the People and secure his own Interest with them St. Peter's Repentance very speedy But the Obstinacy of the Jews continues to this very day Friday Our Saviour's Vsage at the Pillar his Crown of Thorns his Journey to Mount Calvary bearing his Cross his barbarous Crucifixion the Wounds he received the sweet words he uttered Father forgive them c. yet the Rocks were more Compassionate than the Jews and We. Saturday Of our Saviours Burial Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea his Blessed Mother and St. Mary Magdalene and some other Honourable and Holy Persons were concerned in it They wash'd his Wounds with their holy Tears and Embalmed his Body with their Sighs and Prayers and Richest Odours He made his Sepulcher with the Rich and Honourable but yet the malicious Jews sealed the Stone and set a Watch to prevent if possible his rising again to Glory Sunday Of our Saviour's Resurrection Ascension and sending of the Holy Ghost 1. The manner of his Resurrection His Conversing Fourty days upon Earth Comforting his Freinds Strengthening his Disciples and giving them charge over his Flock 2. his Ascention into Heaven siting on the right hand of God that our Hearts and Affections might thither also ascend 3. His sending the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost his Disciples having Fasted Watch'd and Pray'd continually day and night for ten days before Reflect His Resurrection the first Fruits and earnest of ours His Ascension to draw us and our affections after him His sending the Holy Ghost that the same Spirit that raised up him the Head might also quicken us his Members CHAP. IV. Meditations for the fifth Week MOnday Of the Nobility of the Soul 1. Created by God after his own Image 2. God giveth his Angels Charge over it As the Hills stand about Jerusalem so standeth the Lord round about them that fear him 3. Of so great value is the Soul that our Saviour left the Bosom of his Father to redeem it even with the price of his Blood Tuesday Of a pure Conscience a right Faith and doing all things for God's Honour These Three constitute the good Christian for the Life we now live is by Faith And the pure in heart shall see God shall have a clear and more naked perception of him even in this Life No Image or Idea can represent a Spirit such as God is He is Purity it self perceptible only to the pure in Heart after an ineffable manner and void of all sensible Idea's Reflect The purging therefore our Consciences is to be carefully minded Wednesday Of the Presence of God With the thoughts of this so great Presence many holy Persons have preserv'd themselves from sin Enoch walked with God and was translated Abraham walked before God and was perfect King David set God always before him that he should not sin So Elijah and Elisha God liveth in whose sight and presence I stand And nothing more certain than that God filleth and worketh in all his Creatures In him we live and move and have our being and all things subsist and are upheld by his immediate hand But he more nearly dwells and inhabits in every good Man and directs him by the Interiour Language of his Inspirations and gives him leave also to Communicate to him as to a most faithful Freind all his Wants Desires Resolutions Infirmities Temptations c. And the oftner he recollects his Faculties from external objects and retireth into himself to God so much the better and his progress in holiness greater and more easy Reflect How great a folly therefore is it to live insensible of the Assistance of so great a presence so near us even within us Thursday Of the Conjunction of the Soul with God Which consists in a Conformity of our Will to the Divine We must Will the same thing with God and the same means to it My Son give me thy heart says God by Solomon It is good for me to cleave to God says David And St. Paul nothing could separate from Christ Neither Life nor Death c. 2. Such a Person is always Examining his Conscience Keep 's a strict guard that his thoughts wander not abroad or be over long busied in outward Affairs for fear of losing that presence that Consolation he always carries about with him in his Soul Prayers Meditation Contemplation Recollection the Holy Sacraments are in a manner the entertainment of his whole Life Reflect All these things are irksome and nauseous to the Carnal Worldly Man Friday Of Humility 1. The Humble man retains a true sence of God's Favours What great things he hath both done and suffered for him and that out of a free and most amazingly generous Goodness without any the least merit on his side And on the contrary what returns he hath made how many and how great wickednesses committed against that good God So that he knows not which way to turn himself Thinks no place vile enough for him who for his sins deserves the greatest Afflictions the greatest Torments He hath no way but to humble himself before God with Confusion of Face and Offer and Resign himself wholly to his boundless Mercy to deal with him as his Compassion pleases 2. The true Humble Man is Servant of all Especially his lawful Governours and Teachers to whose wiser Judgment he readily submits his own less wise As knowing they have more ability to judge than himself and more assistance also promised not to mistake To these therefore he submits as to Christ himself being commanded so to do Ezek. 33.7 8. Heb. 13.17 3ly Being contemned he rejoiceth being honoured he referrs the honour to God and so all other Benefits he receives But the shame of his sins he takes to himself and confesses with the poor Publican that he is not worthy to lift up his eyes to Heaven 4ly What humilty can equal that of our Lord in all