Needy which formerly they used to express to their own Children Here you should see none Rejoycing that he had any thing of his own for whatever he had he look'd upon his Fellow-Christians as Co-heirs and was so well contented that they should inherit with him that he thought that which he had a Burthen if his Neighbours were not to share in his Possessions This present Life was the least thing they minded while that to come engrossed their Thoughts and Considerations They were so entirely Christians that in a manner they were nothing else and cared not for being any thing else lest if they should be something else they should be suspected of deviating from their Masters foot-steps Hence it was that the Pagans accused them of Unrighteousness and Unprofitableness as if they were dead Weights in the World contributing nothing to the welfare and prosperity of Mankind and as if they stood for Cyphers in Humane Societies though none were more ready to communicate of the Profit of their Labours to others than they and did therefore on purpose keep close to their Calling and Profession that they might be able to relieve the Needy And though they were loath to take upon them the Employment of Magistrates and Governors lest the Emperors and Gods Commands should clash and they lye under a temptation of obeying Man more than God yet whenever they were thought worthy to bear Office in the Church they readily embraced the Charge that they might be in a greater capacity to improve the Talents God had given them to his Glory and his Peoples good and were pleased with the Trouble of the Office that the World might see they had no design of Gain or Worldly Interest in the Administration They spake little but their Thoughts were always Great and Heavenly and as they look'd upon sublunary Objects as too mean for their lofty Minds to rest on so their care was to keep the Eyes of their Understandings fix'd on that World which fades not away In the eye of the World they were Pythagoreans and a kind of Dumb-Men but when they met one with the other and CHRIST was named perfect Peripateticks and no Philosophers would be freer in their Discourses than they Their business was to live not to talk great Matters and the name Christian did so charm them that though there were various degrees of Men among them Ecclesiasticks Lay-men Virgins Widows Married Persons Confessors Martyrs and Friends yet the name Christian swallowed up all and in this they triumph'd beyond all other Titles in the World which made Attalus in Eusebius when the Governor ask'd him what Countryman he was who his Father and Mother were what Trade Profession and Employment he was of whether he was Rich or Poor give no other answer but this That he was a Christian. And the same did the excellent Blandina And by this answer they gave the World to understand that their Kindred Pedigree Nobility Trade Profession Blood c. did all consist in this one Thing and that beyond this there could be no greater Honour and Dignity Their Communications or Answers in common Discourse were Yea Yea and Nay Nay An Oath they shunn'd as much as Perjury and a Lye among them was more rare than a Sea-monster is to the Inhabitants of a Continent for they said that in their Baptism they were Signed with the Mark of Truth and that they could not be Servants of the God of Truth if they should yield but to the least appearance of Falshood Christ was the charming Word among them and they heard nothing with greater joy than that glorious Name His Death and Sufferings raised their Souls and his Cross was more Pretious to them than Rubies Hereby they learned to despise the World and the Marrow Virtue and Efficacy of their Religion was the Death of JESUS This Death they remembred not only in the Sacrament but at their common Meals and when they refreshed their Bodies with Meat and Drink they talked of that Meat which would feed them into Everlasting Life and herein they walked contrary to the custom of the Drunkards of old who used to carry a Death's Head with them to their drunken Meetings and set it upon the Table and with the sight of that and remembrance of what they must shortly come to encouraged themselves in Drunkenness The first Christians remembred indeed the Death of Christ at their ordinary Tables but it was to make Pain and Torment and Death and the Cross familiar to them for the Afflictions of this Life they looked upon as the Midwives that promoted their new Birth and the best Companions of their Faith and the faithfullest Nurses of their Hopes In the Cities and Towns where they lived none was unknown to the other for they Pray'd together heard the Word together met frequently at Meals together and were continually helpful one to the other Infomuch that where-ever they met they knew one another and when they durst not with their Lips yet with their Eyes and Gestures they would salute one another send Kisses of Peace one to another rejoice in the common Hope and if permitted assist one another in Adversities This is one of us saith such a Saint for we have seen him in our Oratories we have Pray'd with him we have been at the Lords Table together we have heard the Scriptures read together we have kneeled together we have been instructed together O happy Kindred which comes by Prayer and Communion of the Body and Blood of JESUS O blessed Relations where Men are not called Brothers of the Sun or of the Stars as the antient Tyrants styled themselves but Brethren of CHRIST Children of GOD and Citizens of Heaven When a Christian who was a Stranger came to them before ever he shew'd his Testimonials they knew him by his lean Visage and meager Face which his frequent Fasting had brought him to by the Modesty of his Eyes by the Gravity of his Speech by his Gate and Habit and mortified Behaviour for something Divine did shine through their looks and one might read the Characters of the Spirit in their Countenance Nor is it very strange that a good Man should be known by his Carriage for to this day a serious Person though he says nothing something in his Lineaments and Features and Postures will betray the inward Zeal and Sincerity of his Soul and his deportment will discover there is something more than ordinary in him as much as the Roman Senator was betray'd by the Perfumes about him Whenever they were thrust into the Croud of Malefactors their Fellow-Christians soon guessed who they were for they hastned with Meekness to their Martyrdom and without expressing any impatience or indignation submitted their Necks to the stroak of the Axe prepared for them They used to look frequently up to Heaven and one might by their smiles see that between God and them there was more than ordinary Correspondence Sometimes they would provoke the Executioners to
exceeding strict and they so emaciated their Bodies by these rigors that their Faintness Weariness and Sackcloth and Ashes seem'd to force Heaven to Pity and Compassion In short whatever was Voluptuous they hated and look'd upon as unsuitable to the Crucified JESUS and so improper for that perfect Wisdom they aimed at that they proscribed it as an Enemy and shunned it like the rankest Poison and admitted no more of it but what was just necessary for the support of that Life the Great Creator had given them to spend to his Glory And though they never had studied Pythagoras yet both their Faith and Reason told them that as the Body waxes stronger by the death of the Soul so the Soul becomes more valiant and lively by the death of the Body This made them Conquerors of those Pleasures of the Flesh which in all Ages have weakned the bravest Men into Women melted Hearts of Iron and conquered the greatest Conquerors of the World To suppress such satisfactions of the Flesh they were so watchful so couragious so magnanimous that they seemed Angels more than Men and were actually nearer to God to whom they lived than to the World in which they lived In their lives Chast and Modest in their Married estate Moderate and Holy and not a Man came near his Wife after he perceived or had notice that she was with Child till she was deliver'd and even then when they came together their thoughts were so innocent that they proposed no other end but Procreation of Children to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord. In the very Works of their Calling they would sing of Christ and converse with Spiritual Objects even in their Sleep and Dreams and consequently were always ready for Prayer and holy Ejaculations so addicted to the love of Goodness that they could not endure a vitious Person and if they met with any such in their Assemblies did thrust him out from their Communion and made it Criminal for any Christian either to Eat or Drink or Converse or Talk or keep Company with him They took particular notice of him who taught any thing contrary to the Doctrine of their Pastors and no Plague-sore was shunn'd more than a new up-start Principle If they heard any thing contrary to the Faith deliver'd to the Saints they either stopt their Ears or made haste to be gone from the place the dangerous Tenet was publish'd in New Fangles were that which their Teachers seriously warned them against and the great Character of Heresie was that the Doctrine was New and unknown to the Apostles To continue this Purity of Doctrine in their Church their custom was to read the Scripture and to hear it explain'd by their Pastors in publick Congregations and though they read it at home yet they were fearful to explain any thing but what they had heard their Pastors explain in publick before and according to their Expositions they understood those Oracles It was a very common thing in those days both for Laymen and Clergymen to learn the Bible without Book and many of them had the Word so ready that nothing could befal them but they had a Plaister or Medicine ready from that inexhaustible Treasury From hence their Souls got more than ordinary strength and nourishment and their Minds receiv'd that vivacity and quickness that it gave life even to their Bodies starved almost through Watching Fasting and other voluntary Penalties Of their Teachers they were so observant that without them they would begin nothing and go no where without their Letters of Recommendation Without their Advice they would not Marry nor do any thing considerable in their Civil Affairs without asking their Counsel Approbation for they looked upon them as their Fathers and as Religion had made them so so they thought the obligation to consult them upon all occasions was the stronger These they received into their Houses as the Saints of old did Angels with Joy and Trembling and whenever they met them though upon the Road or in the Streets they would fall down and kiss their Feet and refuse to rise till they had given them their Blessing and Benediction to which Blessing they said Amen and rose again and so parted with a Kiss They thought it no small happiness to lodge their Pastors at their Houses for when they had them they believed they had got some good Spirit in their Houses and with them they pray'd and hop'd that now their Prayers could not miscarry when joined with the Incense of those who had so often moved God to be merciful to a whole Congregation For this reason they were desirous to entertain Pious men in general to do them good and to relieve them as they did their Domesticks for they thought the presence of such Men a Blessing to their Families and a Protection from innumerable Evils that might otherwise befal them From the Unity and Peaceableness of their Teachers it was that the Christians then though very numerous continued unanimous in the Primitive Doctrine and Discipline and though the several Assemblies might differ in Rites and Ceremonies yet the mighty love they bore one to another constrain'd them to over-look those differences and though they varied in some outward Acts of Worship yet their Affections were so strongly glewed together that nothing but death could break the League or AAmity If one Neighbour chanced to quarrel with another and they broke forth into Contention and Enmity they were so long excluded from the Prayers of the Assembly till they had cordially reconciled themselves one to the other This punishment was then thought great and grievous and Men were so uneasie under these Excommunications that the fear of them kept them from Animosities and rather than undergo such Censures would suffer themselves to be defrauded and when they were beaten would not beat again when reviled would not revile again and when abused would not abuse again nay look upon an unjust Calumny as a piece of Martyrdom and therefore bear it undauntedly Those that knew themselves guilty of a great Sin durst not appear in the publick and they that were fallen into any notorious Errors durst not so much profane the Prayers of the Church as to appear there with the rest of the Assembly So great was the dread of Gods Majesty in those days that even a desperate Offendor was afraid of taking Gods Covenant in his Mouth while he hated to be reformed Their meeting or coming together to Pray they esteemed a thing so Sacred that no Frowns no Thunders no Threatnings of Tyrants could make them forbear and being Conscious of their innocence they justly thought their enemies might by their Authority forbid but could not with any colour of Reason prohibit their Assemblies This made them flock to their Oratories though it was death to go and Parents with their Children would run though the next news they were like to hear was Christianos ad Leones Throw those Dogs to the
of his Prayer in the Morning and behold what he presently subjoyns to that Duty When I have done this I then resolve how to order my Conversation that day and how I may please God and consider how I may best watch against those Corruptions which do most easily beset me The truth is Men running abroad abruptly without any previous consideration of what they mean to do for their Souls that day must needs continue strangers to that Spiritual Life our Profession obliges us to for this makes them rush into Sin as the Horse rushes into the Battle having no Bridle to restrain no Curb to keep them in order no Solemn Resolutions upon their Souls to check and govern themselves whereas if before I venture upon any worldly business or work of my Calling I do solemnly resolve in the presence of Allmighty God This day do I seriously intend thus and thus to behave my self by the blessing and assistance of Allmighty God I resolve if a Neighbor or any other person should be very Angry or Insolent with me to answer him with meekness and gentleness If I meet with success in my Business assoon as I come home will I enter into my Chamber and praise the Great Giver of every good thing If I am tempted to go into Company and have reason to suspect they 'l draw me into sin I 'le refuse to go though they revile and abuse me for it never so much or if I go into any Company I 'll speak but little or will endeavor to divert any vain Discourse to more savory Subjects If a man speak ill of me I 'll be sure not to speak ill of him again If I meet with any ill Language I 'll keep my mouth as it were with a bridle Yesterday I committed such an error against this fault I 'll watch to day and strive to reforme my Inclinations If my Servants or my Children do things undecent or unlawful I will certainly reprove them with tenderness and compassion If I meet with objects of Charity I 'll relieve them according to ability or if I meet with none I 'll seek out and enquire for some to whom I may express my Love and Christian Compassion If I am Ask'd a Question which I know not how to Answer readily without telling a Lie I am resolved either to be silent or to take time to consider of an Answer that I may not be surpriz'd into an untruth If I resolve thus before I set about any of my Secular Affairs I set up a kind of Remembrance Office in my Soul and constitute a Monitor in my Conscience that will put me in mind of my Obligations and pull me back when my Sensual Appetite would push me on to sin To make this Exercise more effectual select two or three of Christ's Precepts every Morning and resolve to live up to them strictly so long till you have conquered your selves and made the Practice of them familiar to you and when you are arrived to a facility and love of such Duties set your selves another task and make choice of two or three other Lessons especially of the Greater and Weightier sort and observe the same method By Example I seriously resolve this day to observe three Rules To speak evil of no Man to Praise God seven times with David to shun the occasion of such a sin suppose Anger or Hatred to my Neighbor Thus I will resolve every morning before I settle to any Work till these Duties become easie and pleasing to me and when my Soul begins to delight in them I 'll then appoint me another task in the Morning resolve to be cautious of promising and if I promise to keep strictly to my promise to deceive no Man though it were never so much for my profit and interest or to have good discourses at my Table And till I were Master of these Vertues too I would go on in my Resolutions every Morning and if I broke or acted contrary to them at any time I would renew them next day with greater vigor and earnestness This is it partly which Solomon means Eccles. 11. 6. In the morning sow thy seed and from these pains in the morning before we go abroad we may promise our selves an excellent harvest all the day To this end it will be necessary to consider what sins we are most prone and inclined to that we may resolve particularly against such and arm our selves against them And to this purpose I have read of one Sylvanus that he always began his Work in the morning with these holy purposes To Censure no body that day but to reflect always on his own sin whenever he met with a Temptation to judge his Brother Not to hate any person for his sin but to pitty him and to pray for him to think of the day of his death and not to rejoyce at any thing that was evil whence it came to pass that he arrived to that perfection of Grace that like another Abraham he became a Father of the faithful and able to comfort them which were in any trouble by the comfort wherewith himself was comforted of God to use St. Pauls expression 2 Cor. 1. 4. Where people venture out without putting on this Armour of God this Shield of Faith and this Breast-plate of Righteousness no wonder if they expose themselves to the Fiery Darts of the Devil and the insolence of that roaring Lion which walks about seeking whom he may devour such a Soul lies open to his incursions and having no hedge to fence it The Bore out of the Wood doth waste them and the wild Beast of the Field devours them as David speaks Psal. 80. 13. Such resolutions in the morning are a wall about the Soul and the Devil cannot easily climb it the sight of it weakens his attempts and he is afraid of approaching it as much as once he was of coming near the Cell of Holy Sophronius These are the bulwarks that fright the slaves of Hell and where they see such Citadels built against their fury their courage fails them or where they assail the Fort it is but with fear and trembling Such Resolutions shew that we do not take up Religion out of custom but upon serious deliberation and perswasion that this is the one thing necessary and that the fear of God hath our chiefest care and is the beginning of our wisdom a temper without which God rejects our service and hides his face from our customary Devotions and gives them no other welcome but this Who hath required this at your hands Sirs you purpose in a morning to dispatch such and such of your worldly affairs that day Why should you not purpose to do something more than ordinary for God or for your Souls every day How came your Spiritual concerns to deserve so little care Why must ye needs be slovenly and careless in this particular Is not your Soul more than your Trade and your Eternal welfare more
face of Him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb How all things then will look with another face How the humble self-denying Christian that is now the hissing and off-scouring of the world will then be exalted above all Heavens and seated in the same Throne with the Son of God and how all those mighty nothings that scorn and laugh now at the Religious Soul will tremble in that day like an Aspen leaf and wish that they had consider'd the things which belong'd to their everlasting Peace while the Candle of the Lord shined over their heads and God caressed them to their happiness On Tuesday we may take God's various Mercies and Providences into serious consideration What preservations What deliverances we have met withal What care God hath taken of us from time to time how he hath been with us when we have gone through the Water and when we have passed through the Fire hath commanded the Flames not to kindle upon us How ready he hath been to assist us in the fiery Furnace How miraculously he hath appeared in our rescue when the Figtree hath not blossom'd when there hath been no Fruit in the Vine and when the labour of the Olive hath failed and when all Creature-comforts have failed how often he hath been our strength and our portion our refuge and our hiding place How kind he hath been in causing us to be born in a Christian Countrey and in a Religion free from those gross errors and superstitions that other nominal Christians do sink into What a mercy his Word his Gospel and all his Laws and Revelations are What assistance what Comfort what checks of Conscience what motions of Gods Spirit we have found and how God hath done more for us than we have been able to think or to express On Wednesday we may take a view of our Death and the hour of our departure out of this World How certain Death is how frail our Lives how soon this frame may be dissolved how easy a thing dispatches us how the approaches of Death have made the stoutest sinner tremble how dreadful and terrible it will be to those who have set their Heart upon the Riches and Pleasures of this World how wise a thing it is to prepare for it before the evil days come how joyful it will be if it find us prepared for the stroke and prepared for that life we must enter into when we quit this present how welcome Death is to a Holy Soul how cheerfully a Pious man can say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace how upon our death there depends Eternity how foolish it is to slight Grace and Mercy till death forces us to embrace and wish for it how Death will marr our Beauty deface our Glory and lay all our grandeur in the dust how Death is the birth-day of a sincere Believer brings him into a new world a world of joys and endless satisfactions and is to him an entrance into Paradice a door into the Garden of Eden where no good shall be absent and no evil present On Thursday we may Piously survey the Torments of Hell how just they are how great they are how terrible they are how the unhappy Prisoners there roar for a drop of Water to cool their burning Tongues how they lie tormented in those Flames wishing in vain for some Glorified Spirit to relieve them for some comfort from the Mansions of Glory to drop down upon them what howling what gnashing of Teeth there is in that outward Darkness how Men there gnaw their Tongues for pain and Blaspheme the God of Heaven because of their Sores and Anguish how endless those Calamities are how glad those wretched Captives would be if there might be hope of their deliverance after some Millions of Ages how many that have made a Jest of these Torments have felt them in good earnest and those that have disputed the Justice of God in inflicting them have to their cost found that there is no playing with a Consuming Fire how Men in that Tophet wish when it is too late that they had bethought themselves and submitted themselves betimes to Christ's Government before those evil days had come upon them how easie every Precept of the Gospel will then seem to them how all Pretences of Difficulty and Impossibility will vanish when they shall lie upon the Wrack and find by sad Experience that it was easier to deny themselves in their Sinful Pleasures and easier to Watch over their Hearts then to endure such Agonies On Fryday we may cast our eyes upon the Passion and Death of Christ how he was Mock'd Derided Crown'd with Thorns and Crucified to purchase an Eternal Redemption for us What a wonderful Love it was to suffer all this for Enemies that they might be reconciled to God and become his Friends What a dreadful spectacle it was to see Infinite Majesty Annihilated Infinite Beauty Defaced Infinite Happiness Tormented and Eternity Dying and droping into the Grave What Patience what Meekness what Submission what Gentleness he expressed under all those Injuries to shew us an Example and to oblige us to follow his steps How heavy the burthen of our Sins was that could make the Son of God cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me What a mighty Argument that Love is to Love him Fervently How Inexcusable that Man makes himself that believes this Love and yet will not be perswaded by it to obey and conforme himself to his Will How mysterious this Love is that the Sinner should Transgress and the Righteous be Punished for him That the Innocent should suffer for the Nocent the Judge for the Malefactor the Master for the Servant God for Man What Ingratitude it must be to trample on the Blood of Christ or to put him to open shame again or to make light of Salvation when God hath Purchased it at so dear a rate how by his Death we Live by his Stripes we are heal'd by his Wounds we are cured by his Reproaches we are advanced to Glory and by his being made a Curse for us we escape the Curse of the Law How after so much Charity we have all the reason in the world to prize him and to count all things dross and dung in comparison of him to delight in him to love him to prefer him before the World and to follow the Lamb whethersoever he goes On Saturday we may lay our sins before us when and where and how often and how long and how wilfully we have rebell'd against our best and greatest friend What Light we have resisted What motions of God's Spirit we have slighted What checks of Conscience and convictions we have smother'd What exhortations and admonitions we have baffl'd What we have done against the First Table What against the Second What against God and what against our Neighbour How we have mispent our time and trifled away our precious hours How vile how
These hinder men from going on from virtue to virtue and like a Moth eate away the beauty and splendour of their virtues Indeed while you go on in these little sins you cannot rationally suppose that your Names are written among the Candidates of Heaven for Conversion makes the Soul cautious even of the appearance of sin and he is yet a stranger to the work of Grace that hath not learn'd to avoid the occasions of evil and he certainly begins at the wrong end that begins to subdue his obduracy and hardness in sin by suppressing the outward act for it is the evil thought that causes delight delight consent consent action action habit habit custom custom perseverance and perseverance hardness therefore he that means to crush the corruption must begin at the little sin the evil thought or else he doth but beat the air and like the Boy in the story that thought to pour out the Sea into a Nut-shell attempt impossibilities Christians The Day will come when every thing shall be call'd by its proper name and O how will you be surpriz'd when the sins you look'd upon as inconsiderable and unworthy of your deep repentance and circumspection shall be represented in Magnifying Glasses and appear as they are indeed dreadful and terrible Wo to them that call evil good and good evil saith God Esay 5. 20. a threatning pronounced not only against such as give Virtue the name of Vice and Vice the name of Virtue but such also as make of great sins little ones and of little ones none at all This was the trade of the Pharisees and what serious Man can read the Judgments denounc'd against them by the Son of God and not be afraid of being guilty of their Errour Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked Men and touch nothing of theirs lest ye be consumed in all their sins cry'd Moses to the Children of Israel in the case of Korah Numb 16. 26. A Watch-Word I may give unto every one of you Do you know what terrour what anguish what plagues our Great Master hath threatned the Pharisees for their disregarding of little sins and will you participate of their ruine Come Christians believe the Word of God before your deceitful hearts That will tell you what is offensive to God and shew you that even the least sin deserves tears more than laughter and sorrow more than mirth and divertisement That will tell you that even these Children of Edom must be dasht against the stones if you would have peace within and that as dead Flies cause the Ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour so doth a little Folly him that is in reputation for Wisdom and Honour Eccles. 10. 1. That will tell you that a little Leaven leavens the whole lump and the only way not to be under a temptation of sitting down in the scorners Chair is not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly And to this purpose Barlaam in Damascene advises his Convert Josaphat Before all things in this exercise thy self even in the sedulous destruction of all thy evil thoughts that nobler conceptions may enter into thy mind and thy Soul may become a habitation of the Holy Ghost for from thoughts we come to actions and whatever work we undertake it hath its rise in our minds and as small as its beginning seems to be by degrees it grows bigger and by silent steps swells to a vast magnitude And for this cause let no evil custom exercise dominion over thee but while the shrub of sin is young and tender pull up the little root lest being grown strong and lusty it be past thy skill to eradicate it for from hence it is that greater sins get access to our hearts because we apply no early remedy to the lesser errours such as are roving thoughts immodest speeches and evil conferences and as it is in wounded Bodies if the slighter hurts and bruises be neglected the wound festers and gathers corruption and many times brings on death and excessive torments so he that 's careless of little sins calls for greater to attend him Christians There is not one Soul in Heaven now but what watch'd against such little sins when they sojourned here and if they did not mind them for some time yet they were forced to repent of them and to subdue and leave them before ever they saw the face of God in Glory If this Heaven be worth your care if this Glory be worth your pains if this Everlasting Rest be worth your endeavours O say not of any sin as Lot of Zoar Is it not a little one and my Soul shall live You may as well say I will break my Neck a little and I will cut my Throat a little and I will burn my self in Hell a little as harbour the smallest sin O Tremble at any thing that looks like it Beware of these Foxes these little Foxes that spoil the Vines Trust not these Vermin but destroy them utterly This is the way to keep your Garments white and to fit your selves for the Wedding of the Lamb and for those Mansions at which no unclear thing must enter Learn to die to the World for it 's your fondness to that which blinds you dulls you darkens your Understanding and perverts your Affections raises clouds and mists before your eyes that you cannot see your duty or your sins and eclipses the light of your minds that you can see nothing but grosser offences if you would have that Sun shine out clearly you must not suffer this Moon to interpose between your sight and it This Moon is your love to the World which will put other constructions other interpretations on your sins than your naked Reason would do Set the Goodness of God before you Reflect much on his Favours Ruminate upon his Mercies The Divine Goodness is of a melting constraining nature and the more lively you represent it to your minds the more it will compel you to part even with the least transgression Fancy you hear God pleading with you Sinner What Iniquity hast thou found in me Thou owest thy Life and Being to me and all the Blessings thou hast are mine Canst thou be so unkind so inhumane so ingrateful as not to crucifie so small a sin for my sake If I should withdraw my presence from thee take away all I have given thee wouldst not thou complain and mourn But what mean these Provocations Why dost thou compel me to cast thee off Look back and see whom thou dost offend by these thou callest little sins It is thy greatest Benefactor and is not he worth pleasing that hath greater things in store to bestow upon thee if the favours he hath already showred down upon thee can make thee intirely his Think you hear such a Voice behind you Compare your losses with your gains Your little sins are commonly your gainful sins they are sins wherein your carnal ease and
as love Christ cordially and the Lillies among which they feed are the innocent and spotless lives of sincere Believers which nourish and cherish their Souls make them Lively and Vigorous Fat and Flourishing These purify their Minds These give them the whiteness of Milk and nothing digests with them better than this Heavenly Food I dislike not the practice of Papias had it been but carried on with greater discretion who was mighty inquisitive what Andrew what Philip what Peter what James what John what Matthew and what the rest of the Apostles of our Lord had done and what they used to say how they ordered their Lives what their Conversation was how they behaved themselves abroad and at home for by such enquiries a man may learn much improve himself advance in goodness and encourage himself to the severest acts of Religion which by having such patterns before us become easie and loose much of that dreadful aspect in which they do appear to Flesh and Blood Behold Christians here lies your Wisdom this is to be wise unto Salvation This is the Learning that must fit you for the University of the Third Heaven This is the Schollarship without which you loose your places in that Colledge of Glory Study this point and you 'll be Wiser than Aristotle Learneder than all the Sages at Athens all the Wisdom of Solomon without this skill would have done him but little good Behold the Fountain of your Comforts would you be supported in distress would you be preserved from fainting under troubles would you bear up under the greatest storms would you hold out in the greatest persecutions survey the Heroick actions of the Martyrs and Confessors of old and they 'll shed new Life into your Spirits strengthen you beyond expectation keep you from despair defend you against discouragements and make you weather out all the tempests that come against you Are you reproach'd look upon David how patiently he endured the railings of Shimei are you persecuted for Righteousness sake look upon the Apostles of our Lord how they rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the Name of the Lord Jesus do you suffer wrongfully look unto Jesus the Author and Captain of your Salvation who for the Glory set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame Are you bound with Chains Look upon St. Paul how he glories in those shackles and is confident that they will promote God's Glory Do Friends forsake you Look upon Lazarus whom God took care of when none would regard or relieve him Nay in Death it self the sweet and heavenly frame of spirit that is to be found in the Saints of God will be of very great efficacy to arm your selves against the assaults of that last Enemy When Death approaches look upon the courage the joy the comfort the resolution and chearfulness of Polycarp of Ignatius of Epagathus of Sanctus Maturus Altalus Blandina Biblis Alexander and others Come forth my Soul said old Hilarion Why art thou afraid Venture into another World Why dost thou doubt Hast thou served Christ so long and dost thou tremble The Saint in Ruffinus smil'd and laught three times when he was a dying Being ask'd by his Friends that stood about him mourning and weeping why at the point of death he presumed to laugh The first time said he I laugh'd because I saw you so strangely afraid of death The second time I did so because the World deludes you so that you cannot find in your hearts to prepare for death And I smiled the third time because just now I am going from my labour to rest from my pains and toil here below to everlasting quietness in Heaven St. Jerom when he was departing thus addressed himself to his Friends that stood about him Throw off your Mourning Weeds and sing a Psalm of Praise to God for hitherto I have gone through Fire and Water but now I am entring into my Cooling-place O what a mighty gainful thing is Death to me for Christ with all his Merits and Benefits will be mine Behold my Friends the Earthly Tabernacle of my House is going to be dissolved that I may enter into another made without hands eternal in the Heavens I am going to put off Corruption that I may put on Incorruption Hitherto I have been a Traveller but now am going to my own Country I see the Prize before me for which I have been running so long I am come to my desired Haven I am passing from Darkness to Light from Poverty to great Riches from Fighting to Victory from Sorrow to Joy from a Temporal to an Everlasting Life from an Offensive Dunghill to Odoriferous Fields The Life of this World is no Life but Death The Mèrchandise of Death is more precious than that of Gold and Rubies O sweet O comfortable Death Certainly thou art no King of Terrours for thou givest true Life thou chasest Fevers and Wounds and drivest away Thirst and Famine Come then my Beloved my Spouse my Friend my Sister shew me where he feeds whom my Soul doth love Awake my Glory Lend me thy hand draw me after thee My Heart is ready I 'll rise and follow the perfume I smell till thou bringest me into my Fathers House Thou art lovely my Friend come do not tarry By thee I must go into the Garden of my Beloved that I may eat of his Fruit. The time is come for thee to have Mercy on me make haste fly to me for I am sick of love Thou art black but comely thy Lips drop Honey Thou art terrible to the Kings of the Earth and crushest the Spirits of Princes but to the Humble thou makest thy Power to be known Thou breakest the Horns of the Wicked and liftest up the Horns of the Righteous Open to me my Sister thou Gate of Life Take away my Coat this Mortal Coat which I wear and deck me with the Garment of Praise and Gladness Break the Bow and Sheild the Sword and the Battle Harden not thy Heart against me Take pity of a hungry Son that hath lived long in a strange Country and deliver him back to his own Father again Thus departed that Holy Presbyter thus he spoke and thus he died What excellent Cordials are such Patterns to a dying Christian He that takes a view of them learns what to say and how to speak to God and to his own Soul when he is going to leave this present World Hypocrites commonly compare themselves with Men that are worse than themselves and finding themselves better than the worst of Men stroak themselves for excellent Saints Because they are not so bad as others therefore they must be very admirable Christians Because they do something more than those that know not God therefore they think they do enough as much as is necessary to Salvation But a Christian indeed a Christian that is altogether so looks forward upon those that are better than himself and by
stinking weed which gives his Limbs new strength and vigor and alacrity This is to exercise our selves in resisting Temptations and oh that the dull world would understand what a stress the Holy Ghost lays upon this Labour they would not then let Temptations ride in Triumph into their Souls they would not open the Gates to these Locusts to let them in but come out with Swords and Staves against them as against Thieves and Murtherers They would go another way to work than now they do It 's a wonderful thing to see how aukwardly Men go about this Conquest a serious Spectator must needs think they have no mind to it and that what they do is for no other end but to satisfie the secret stings and twitches of a frighted Conscience When men heretofore took delight in this Exercise they studied which way they might overcome Temptations and made it the great object of their contrivance how to be eminent in this Victory how to silence the hellish Dogs that bark'd at them and how to convince even the Divel himself that from the bottom of their hearts they abhorred the sins they were provoked to When they were tempted to unlawful Lusts they resisted the motion by great abstinence and hard Fare and harder Lodging When they had a mind to resist a temptation to Covetousness they crossed Flesh and Blood and gave away more than they could spare When they were minded to resist a temptation to Anger they did good to the Offender When they would resist a Temptation to Revenge they would watch an opportunity to shew their Love and Compassion to the person that had done them the injury When they resisted a temptation to Quarrel or Litigiousness they deceded from their own Right When they would resist a temptation of Vain Glory they would do something that should render them contemptible When a temptation to Pride they call'd to mind their Imperfections their Defects in Grace and how short they fell of the perfection of greater Saints Their Conquest cost them Pains and he that takes this way discovers his sincerity in the opposition Who can read of eating of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Of not being hurt by the Second death Of feeding on the hidden Manna and receiving the White Stone and in the Stone a new Name written which no man knoweth saving he that receives it of Ruling Nations with a Rod of Iron Of possessing the Morning Star Of having his Name writ in the Book of Life Of having the honour of being confess'd and own'd before God the Father and his Angels Of being clothed in White Raiment Of being made a Pillar in the Temple of God whence he shall go out no more of having the Name of God engraven upon him and the Name of the City of God which is the New Jerusalem which comes down out of Heaven from God Of inheriting all things and of being freed from Fears and Pain and Death and Sorrow and Curses and Darkness Blessings promised by the Holy Ghost to Men who resist and overcome who can read I say of all these and feel no warmth no heat to dare temptations and to strive for mastery But then Christians if you resist let nothing interrupt your resistance but death it self Remember who it is that cries When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity he shall dye in his sin and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembred Ez. 3. 20. To resist unto Blood is something but to resist unto Death is more After Death the Enemy can tempt no more but while there is Life he will not give over without we resist as long as he tempts we expose our selves to his Fury and he will tempt while we are above ground If we are not tired with resisting we make him despair of success and his Assaults grow weaker the more stiff we are in our Duty I conclude this Exercise with the Advice of the Pious Syncletica The Divel not being able to make people weary of walking in the ways of God by poverty tries what Riches will do and if he prevails not by calumnies and reproaches he 'll make an attempt by Praise and Honour Where he cannot seduce by carnal Delights there he discourages by the tediousness and laboriousness of Religion many times by sickness and long-lasting miseries he tries whether he can discompose good men in their Love to their Gracious Redeemer But Christian let thy Body be cut and wounded fry in burning Fevers and tormented with excessive Thirst if thou art a sinner remember the torments of another World and the everlasting Fire and this will keep thee from fainting under all the crosses and miseries here Rejoyce because God doth visit thee and have ever that memorable Saying in thy mouth The Lord hath chasten'd and corrected me sore but he hath not given me over unto death If thou art Iron this Fire will purge away thy Rust. If thou art a Saint and sufferest such things from these great Conquests thou wilt be advanced and promoted to greater Dignities in Heaven If thou art Gold this Fire will make thee finer Is Satans Angel given thee to buffet thee Rejoyce to think whom thou art like for this was St. Pauls affliction and St. Pauls Glory will fall to thy share XII Exercise To stand in awe of God when we are alone and no creature sees us An Exercise Commanded Psal. 139. 1 2 3 4 5. Psal. 4. 4. Psal. 10. 13 14. Heb. 4. 13. One would think that the bare belief of the Being of God should be a sufficient Argument to any man to fear him when he is alone and behave himself with that Reverence and Decency he would use were the greatest visible Monarch of this World present with him But alas the generality of men dare to do that in private when none but God and they are together which they would be afraid to do before the meanest slave and their minds after their bodies are once lock'd up are as busie to plot mischief and wickedness as if none no not God himself could look into those Cabinets They dare to think that before God which they would tremble to utter before men and harbor things in their hearts in the sight of the Almighty which they would not for a world men should know of yet they matter not whether God knows it or no and this is satisfaction enough to them that they can hide their vain imaginations from their neighbours How does the Thief rejoyce when he finds no person in the room that can disturb him How is the Fornicators and Adulterers Fancy tickled to see that the Chamber or the House he is in with his Harlot is void of company Sots and Fools The God that gave them Life and Being and who supports them every minute looks upon them and mourns and they regard it not A Christian is a man of another
health but these examples we may justly look upon as Miracles rather then effects of use and custom by use a man may much abridge himself in his sleep but cannot ordinarily attain to a perpetual vigilancy and as to be always waking is to be Immortal so to sleep more than is needful is like death rather than life 2. And to this use we shall arrive the sooner if we eat very moderately for it 's the fumes of a full stomach that cause immoderate sleep Eating little will support nature better than plentiful Meals We first corrupt nature and teach it to crave more than it wants and the ill custom brings a necessity upon us to keep up our intemperance By this moderate eating Maercellus Strategus in Commodus his time brought himself to that vigilance that he was the object of all mens admiration It was S t Anthony the Hermits slender and simple diet that enabled him to observe those laborious Vigils we read of and hence it was that he used to quarrel with the Sun when he saw him rise for disturbing the joy and sweet communion he had with God all night so true was that saying of Scopelianus of old That the night is the best friend of the Soul and participates of the Wisdom and Glory of the Deity 3. Nothing will facilitate this watchfulness at night more than frequent contemplations of what others do and have done before us They were men and so are we they carried flesh and blood about them and so do we they had infirmities of the flesh as well as we we have Souls as well as they and may have courage as well as they if we will take the same reasons they did into consideration A shadow of this Virtue is to be seen in the Cock and Lion the former of which Pliny justly calls a Creature born to call People out of their Beds and the latter therefore was made by the Antients the Symbol of vigilance The Dragon that kept the Golden Fleece was always awake and the Hundred-ey'd Shepherd then ceased to live when he ceased to watch Emblems these are of the Exercise before us and the Lord Jesus therefore continued in Prayer all night to shew that if the Master could watch for the Servants the Servants have reason to watch for their Master saith the eloquent Chrysologus Of the Pantarba or Shining-stone they report that in the middle of the night it sends forth a grateful splendour and seems to turn night into day Whether there be such a Stone or no I dispute not but the Moral of it are these nocturnal Praises and Hallelujahs these make it day at midnight and whatever darkness may be on the face of the Earth I am sure in a Soul that uses them the Sun shines and a glorious charming Light arises The night they say is a time that Spirits walk abroad It 's true enough where men use this Exercise for an Infinite Spirit the God of Grace and Peace walks forth to meet them and the Soul makes her Chamber another Mahanaim a walk for the Host of God I conclude this Subject with the words of Nestor in mer to Diomedes and the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which I thus Paraphrase What Sleep all night and th' Enemy so near When from the Camp you may their Voices hear Is it not time unto our Arms to fly When but a Hill 'twixt them and us doth lye Up stand upon your guard my Children watch Lest the bold foe you unawares do catch And in your slaughter triumph and do scorn Your braver Souls like Men to ruine born IV. Extraordinary Exercise Self-Revenge An Exercise insisted on 2 Cor. 7. 11. and practised by S t Paul 1 Cor. 9. 27. and by Timothy 1. Tim 5. 23. I distinguish this Exercise from the rest not because Fasting and Vowing or Watching have nothing of Self-revenge in them but because the word is more general and includes all other lawful severities which holy men have used upon themselves so that this Exercise takes in all other acts of Self-denial undertaken on purpose that the Soul may learn to die to the World and to have her conversation in Heaven an Exercise as antient as Christianity nay as antient as the Law of Moses for it began as early as the Nazarites who neither cut their Hair nor 〈…〉 heads nor drank any Wine or strong Dâ—â—â—k nor tasted of any Liquor of the Grapes â—â— eat any dried Grapes nor any thing 〈◊〉 was made of the Liquor of the Grapes 〈◊〉 of any strong Drink severities used on purpose and by Gods approbation that they might more entirely dedicate themselves to God s service And these austerities we find afterwards used by Elijah the Prophet of whom we read that he was a hairy man and girt with a Girdle of Leather about his Loins I know some understand the expression a Hairy man of a hairy Garment but this sense seems not to agree with the Hebrew Language which doth not use to express a mans Garment by such words but the nature or external shape and form of his Body so that he seemed liker Onuphrius who met Paphnutius in the Wilderness hairy all over insomuch that little else could be seen about him a piece of austerity the Prophet made use of that he might learn to despise the World and that no temptations might make any impression upon him which usually insinuate into our Hearts and Affections where the body is used delicately and men take care to dress up themselves curiously to please the eyes of the Spectator and though it 's true that Elijah was a fore-runner of S t John the Baptist as S t John Baptist was of Christ and S t John is said to have had his Raiment of Camels hair which seems to make it probable that this hairiness of Elijah was only in his Cloaths because his Antitype or Successors was so yet the Prophesie that God would send Elijah before the great day of the Lord Jesus his appearing in the World imported not that he would be exactly like him in his way of living and the form of his body but that he should come in the Spirit and Power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the Wisdom of the Just as the Angel said to Zacharias Luc. 1. 17. These severities were afterwards practised by the Rechabites Jer. 35. 6 7. for they neither drank Wine neither they nor their Sons for ever neither did they build Houses nor sow Seed nor plant Vineyards nor possess any Land but dwelt in Tents all their days poor and mean and minding the Salvation of their Souls When they ceased the Essenes and the Pharisees took up that discipline The Essenes lived retired from the World avoided Cities and Crowds of People as temptations
taken notice of his former austerities and saw him laughing and merry with his Brethren that came to see him and was scandalized at it Bend thy Bow saith he he did so Bend it more he obey'd him Bend it yet more No answered the Huntsman then it will break Just so saith he is it with these severities too much of them spoils all but the moderate use of them may preserve both Soul and Body to Eternity I do not believe it was possible without a Miracle for Besarion to stand forty nights in a Hedge of Thorns that continually prick'd him though some do confidently report it and if he did so I do not see of what use his Body could be to his Soul after such Torments Nor do I know what to say to that man in Dionysius that being at Prayer and a Scorpion biting him and shedding Poison into his Foot insomuch that it swell'd immediately pain'd him exceedingly and convey'd the infection to his very Heart yet would not move from his place nor take care to resist the noxious Animal till he had done his Prayer for though he was restored to his former Health by the Prayer of Pachomius yet no rational Man can think well of such severities where men may prevent their death and will not and I know not whether it be not tempting of God rather than trusting him where he hath put the means to save our lives into our hands and we neglect them Nor VI. Must the stress of Repentance be laid on these severities This I have already touch'd upon and I cannot but mention it again because without great care and watchfulness men are apt to be deluded by the Devil into misconstruction of this Exercise as if God were more pleased with this Exercise than with the Repentance Men may possibly be pleased with these outward Austerities more than with inward Reformation but God who sees further cannot His piercing eye looks through the Bowels and if the Root be sound loves all the Branches that spring from it if the Foundation be good casts a favourable Eye on all the Ornaments of the Structure This Root this Foundation is a sincere Repentance or a Heart enamour'd with the Beauty of Holiness If this Rod buds and blossoms and bears such Fruit it is accepted in Christ Jesus without a contrite Heart severities are but a deceitful Bush whereby Men are deceived into a good opinion that there is excellent Wine to be found in the House but find nothing but Gall and Vinegar a stately Gate to a Swine-stye and paint laid on upon a homely Face which makes the Mortification ridiculous And therefore VII These severities must be only demonstrations of the sincerity of our Repentance when they are used they must be used to convince our selves and others that we do in good earnest abhor the sins we have been guilty of When our Hearts grieve for the provocations we have given to the Almighty and temptations come in and our frighted Consciences would make us believe that our sorrow is but counterfeit there is no better way to dash and beat back the despaining suggestion than by offering some violence to our Bodies for being naturally lovers of ease and softness when we can thus deny our selves and can be reveng'd for our sins upon our selves we give very good evidence that what we profess is 〈◊〉 and that our Tears are flowing from a Heart sensible of the Majesty and Purity of the Great Creator And this was the reason why the noble 〈◊〉 repenting of her being married to another Husband while the former from whom she had been divorced was living came into the Church with her Haiâ— dishevelâ—d with her Hands and Neck and Lips all diâ—ty and bemired with lying in Dust and Ashes for some time and for this S t Jerome commends her highly because hereby she discover'd the reality and sincerity or her Repentance VIII These severities are of great use in our endeavours to despise the World and to lead a truly Spiritual Life Indeed our love of the World hath need of 〈◊〉 coâ—â—osives It 's a Distemper which is 〈◊〉 to be dispell'd by flatrery 〈◊〉 is it cured by a few angry words such as Eli gave his two Sons Hophni and Phinees Without it be corrected and and lash d the Weed will over-run the Ground and endanger the Soul even in the mid'st of ordinary devotion The Body is ever a Bosome-friend to this love of the World and therefore if the Body be proceeded against with harshness this love feels the smart and begins to abate in its Grandeur and Loftiness The Body being put to pain it 's satisfaction faint and it begins to lower it's Top-sails and to dwindle away into nothing such Mustard being laid on these Breasts the Child soon gets an aversion from sucking them and this bitternes drives the Soul to seek for sweeter Object in Heaven And upon this account it was that Sylvanus the Bishop of Philippoâ—olis went always in Sandaâ—s made of Hay even in the City of Constantinople and the Rural Bishops in the Diocess of Rome denied themselves of all Wordly Rotinue and Splendour while those of Rome lived in all the Pomp and Bravery the World could afford IX Either to subdue a corruption or to prevent yielding to a sin these severities may be very helpful Such severities fright away the corruption and make Satan himself stand amazed at what we are going to do Seeing the love of God so strong in us that for his sake we can put our selves to great inconveniencies he departs and finding that Gods favour is dearer to us than our ease and interest his next conclusion is that he must find out other Subjects to impose and Work upon When Hilarion applied himself to the subduing of his Lusts he spake to his Body Come thou Beast I will not feed thee with Barley but with Chaff I 'll so order thee that thou shalt not kick I 'll subdue thee with the hunger and thirst I 'll lay Weights upon thee I 'll afflict thee by Heats and Colds that thou shalt long for Victuals more than for Lustful Objects And so he did labouring hard when the Sun shin'd hottest and praying and singing all the while he was at Work and thus he became Master of his Passions In the same manner Zenon travelling one day through Palaestina and seeing a Bed of excellent Cucumbers a Fruit he naturally loved and finding temptations in his Breast to steal some from the Owner it came into his Mind that Thieves when taken by the Magistrate are usually tormented I must therefore saith he try whether I can endure Torments before I steal and accordingly he laid this punishment upon himself for coveting another mans Goods and stood five days in the Sun frying his Body in the intolerable heat and being able to endure it no longer I see saith he I must not steal for I cannot endure Torments and so he passed on