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
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
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
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
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
than a livelyhood on Earth Why of all things must your Souls and your God be neglected Laban was more concern'd for his God than for his Sheep and Oxen Shall an Idolater mind his Idol more than you the great God of Heaven and Earth You complain you cannot conquer your corruptions How should you conquer when you do not strive How should you strive if you enter into no Holy purposes to arm your selves against the sins of the day Are Corruptions blown away with a breath or Lusts that are deeply rooted expelled with Sighs and Wishes Did you ever know Cedars fall with the touch of a hand Or did ever Children with a switch strike a sturdy Oak out of its place Will your sins leave you when you do not think of them Or will these foes ever yield while you make no war against them Do you think the Devil values your Souls as little as your selves or do you fancy that strong man will leave his Habitation except you come against him with Swords and Axes Canst thou draw Leviathan with a Hook or his Tongue with a Cord which thou lettest down Canst thou put a hook into his Nose or bore his Jaw through with a Thorn Wilt thou play with him as with a Bird or wilt thou bind him for thy Maidens With what faces can you confess your sins at night when your Consciences tell you and cannot but fly into your faces and convince you that you did do nothing to prevent them that you left your selves naked and exposed to the assault of temptations and would take nothing to preserve you from the infection What do you confess your sins for but to be better and if to be better how is it possible you should be so without you defend and guard your Souls by such Holy purposes the next day Do you make confession of Sin a business of custom only Do you make no more than a formality of it How shall God forgive you How shall he pardon you for your transgressions while you do not study and contrive next day how you shall be rid of those sins which the night before you professed your sorrow for Do you think God will be put off with shadows and the Almighty gull'd with counterfeit Devotion Have you lived so long under the Gospel and have learn'd Christ no better Have you convers'd with Ministers so long and are no better Scholars The Devil himself cannot but smile to see how ridiculously you go to work to be good and to subdue your sins to see you content your selves with the bare confession and take no care to tear them from your hearts these Holy purposes in the morning would shake the evil tree and by degrees so weaken it that it would fall of it self If therefore you would not make a jest of Religion if you would not play with your Confessions if you would not turn your Duties into ridiculé for Gods sake enter into protestations against your sins every morning lest you increase your guilt and like the Aethiopian in the Fable who thought he should carry his burthen better if he made it greater you add sin unto sin III Exercise Every day to spend half an hour or some such time in thinking of some good thing an Exercise insisted on in this Chapter v. 15. and Psal. 1. 2. Phil. 4. 8. I mention half an hour because it is not easily to be conceiv'd how any meditation can be effectual or do good upon the Soul if men do not think it worth bestowing so much time at least upon 't Meditation is that noble Power wherby we are distinguished from Brutes and irrational Animals and our being able to think and with our thoughts to dwell upon any Divine Object shews that we participate of the nature of Angels And there is such great variety of Heavenly and Spiritual Objects that every day we may pitch upon a new Theme every day smell to a new Flower and with the day change the subject of our contemplation On Sunday or the Lords day rather we may let our hearts dwell on the everlasting Kingdom of Heaven and the vast Glory of the world to come who they are that shall enjoy it on what terms that Crown may be purchased The transcendency of that felicity above all that the world can call Rich and Beautiful and Glorious How pleasant that life will be how free from Hunger and Thirst and Cold and Nakedness from all possibility of sin and danger from death and sorrow and sadness from anxiety corruption perturbation from changes and sickness and weakness and infirmities from fear and storms and tempests from the assaults of the World the Flesh and the Devil How full of Love and Delight and Ravishment it will be How sweetly the weary Soul will rest in the bosom of everlasting Mercy How Glorious a sight the new Jerusalem will be How reviving a spectacle to behold the Guard-Royal of Angels shining in Robes of Light The noble Army of Martyrs the goodly fellowship of Patriarchs and Prophets and what is more Christ as Man glorified with his Fathers Glory shining like the Sun in his meridian Lustre and calling to his Triumphant Church Behold thou art fair my love thou hast ravish'd my heart How fair is thy Love my Sister my Spouse How much better is thy love than wine and the smell of thy ointment than all spices Who is she that looks forth as the Morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun and terrible as an Army with Banners Thy Lips Oh my spouse drop as the Honeycomb Honey and Milk are under thy Tongue and the smell of thy Tongue is like the smell of Lebanon On Munday we may reflect on the last judgement how the Lord Jesus for all the seeming delay shall be ere long revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire to take vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ How the King of Heaven will then sit upon the throne of his Glory and before him will be gathered all Nations and how he will separate them one from another as a Shepherd divides his Sheep from the Goats how he 'l set the Sheep on his right hand and the Goats on the left and say to them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was a hungred c. but to them on his left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels How different mens notions and apprehensions of God's Mercy and Justice will be then from what they are now What amazement the careless besotted world will be in then how those men that spend their days in jollity and brutish pleasures now will then be forced into despair and be ready to tear themselves and call to Rocks and Mountains Fall on us and hide us from the
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