here on Earth was accepted and received of God in Heaven This is the State of things in our Blessed Lord Jesus now let us consider them in our selves When we are first admitted into the Church which is the World of the Faithful especially of the Elect wherein Jesus Christ entred from the Moment of his Incarnation by a peculiar Privilege belonging to the only Son of God we are Offered and Sanctified This Sacrifice continues through the whole course of Life and ends at Death wherein the Soul truly quitting all the Vices and love of the World with the Contagion wherewith it is infected during the course of this Life it finishes its Offering and is received into Bliss Let us not then grieve for the Death of Believers as Pagans do that have no hope When the Faithful depart this Life they are not lost We lost them upon a matter even from the moment they entred into the Church by Baptism from that instant they were Devoted to God their Life was Consecrated to God their Actions regarded the World only for God at their Death they were wholly freed from Sin and 't is then they were received of God and that their Sacrifice received its accomplishment and reward They did what they had Vowed they accomplish'd the Work God gave them to do they did the Work they were Created for the Will of God is fulfilled in them and their Will is swallow'd up into the Will of God Let not our Will separate what God has join'd together and let us stifle or restrain by understanding the Truth the instinct of corrupt and deprav'd Nature which only has false Glosses and that by its Illusions interrupts the Holiness of those Notions which the Truth of the Gospel doth inspire in us Let us not any longer consider Death like Pagans but like Christians that is to say with hope as St. Paul teacheth seeing it is the special Privilege of Christians Let us not consider a Body as a filthy Carrion for deluded Nature does so represent it to us but as the Living Temple of the Holy Ghost as Faith doth teach us For we know the Holy Ghost dwells in the Bodies of Saints till the Resurrection and that they shall be raised by the Power of the Spirit that resides in them to this effect This is the Opinion of some of the Fathers It was upon this account that the Eucharist was heretofore put in the Mouth of the Dead for knowing they were the Temple of the Holy Ghost it was thought convenient they should be united to this Holy Sacrament but the Church has changed this Custom not but the Bodies of Saints are decently buried but because the Eucharist being a Figure of the Bread of Life and for the Living it is not fit it should be given to the Dead Let us not look upon Believers departed in the Fear of God as ceasing to Live though Nature would suggest so but as beginning to live as Truth doth assure us Let us not look upon their Souls as lost and reduc'd to nothing but as vivified and united to the Sovereign Being and by hearkening to these Truths let us restrain the great Mistakes we are so inclin'd unto and those motions of horror which are so Natural to Men. 3. * God has Created Man with two Desires one for God the other for himself but with this restriction that the love for God should be infinite that is to say without any other end but God only and that the love for himself should be finite and referring to God Man in this State would not only love himself without Sin yea he could not but love himself without Sin. Since the Fall Man has lost the first of these Loves and the love of himself being only left in this great Soul capable of an infinite love this Self-love has extended it self and filled the space the Love of God had left and so he loves only himself and all things for himself that is to say Infinitely This is the Original of Self-love it was Natural to Adam and just in his Innocency but it became criminal and immoderate after his Fall This is the Spring of this Love and the cause of its defectiveness and of its excesses It is the same of the immoderate desire of Power of Sloath and of other things The Application is easie to be made upon account of the horror we have of Death This Fear was natural and just in Adam whilst Innocent because his Life being very pleasing to God it was the same to Man and Death would have been horrible because it would have put an end to a Life that was conformable to the Will of God. Since Man Sinned his Life is become depraved his Soul and Body Enemies to each other and both to God. This change having infected so Holy a Life the love of Life remains nevertheless and the fear of Death resting also what was just in Adam is unjust in us This is the Original of the horror of Death and the cause of its defectivenss Let us then clear the horror of Nature by the light of Grace The fear of Death is Natural but 't is in the State of Innocence because it could not enter into Paradise but in finishing an Innocent Life It was just to hate it when it could not happen but in separating a Holy Soul from a Holy Body but 't is just to love it when it separates a Holy Soul from an Impure Body it was just to shun it when it would have broke the Peace betwixt the Body and Soul but not when it calms the highest Dissention To conclude when it would have afflicted an Innocent Body when it would have depriv'd the Body of the liberty of honouring God when it would have separated from the Soul a Body that submitted to its desires when it had destroyed all the Good Man was capable of it was just to abhor it but when it puts an end to a wicked Life when it takes from the Body the liberty of Sinning when it delivers the Soul from a powerful Enemy that resists all the Motions to its Salvation it is very unjust to have the same Sentiments Let us not then quit this Love Nature has given us for Life seeing we have received it from God but let it be for the same Life for which God has given it to us and not for a contrary end And in consenting to the Love Adam had for his Life in Innocency and that Jesus Christ himself had for his let us strive to hate a Life contrary to that which Jesus Christ loved and fear only the Death that Jesus Christ feared which befals a Body well pleasing to God but not fear a Death that punishing a guilty Body and cleansing a Vicious Body should give us quite contrary desires if we have ever so little Faith Hope and Charity It is one of the chief Principles of Christianity that all that befel Jesus Christ should also be fulfill'd in the Body
and Soul of each particular Christian That as Jesus Christ suffered during his Mortal Life Rose again to a new Life Ascended into Heaven and sate down on the Right Hand of God his Father so also the Body and Soul must suffer die be raised and ascend up into Heaven All these things are fulfilled in the Soul during this Life but not in the Body The Soul suffers and dies unto Sin in Repentance and Baptism the Soul rises to a new Life in these Sacraments and at last the Soul leaves the Earth and ascends to Heaven in Living a Holy Life which makes St. Paul say Conversatio nostra in Coelis est None of these things happen to the Body during this Life but they do afterwards for at Death the Body dies to this Mortal Life at the Day of Judgment it shall rise to a new Life after Judgment it shall ascend up into Heaven and there abide to all Eternity So that the same things arrive to Body and Soul but at different times and the changes of the Body do not happen till those of the Soul are accomplish'd that is to say after Death so that Death is the consummation of the Souls Happiness and the beginning of that of the Body This is the admirable conduct of the Wisdom of God in the Salvation of Souls and St. Austin teaches us on this Subject That God has so order'd it fearing least the Body of Man should be Dead and raised again for ever in Baptism or that he only became Obedient to the Gospel for love of Life whereas the greatness of Faith shines much more when one hopes for Immortality even through the shadows of Death 4. * It is not just we should be without sense and feeling of grief in the Afflictions and sad Accidents that befal us as if we were Angels that have no sense of Nature neither is it just that we should be quite dejected like Heathens that have no sense of Grace but 't is just we should be Afflicted and Comforted like Christians and that the Comforts of Grace should surmount the Sense of Nature to the end Grace may not only be in us but that it may predominate in us that so Sanctifying the Name of our Father his Will may become ours that his Grace may bear sway over Nature and that our Afflictions may be as the Matter of a Sacrifice which his Grace offers for the Glory of God and that these particular Sacrifices may honour and fore-run the Universal Sacrifice wherein whole Nature is to be consumed by the power of Jesus Christ Thus we draw benefit from our own Imperfections seeing they shall serve for matter of this Sacrifice for 't is the aim of all true Christians to make a Benefit of their very Imperfections because all things work together for Good for the Elect. And if we seriously consider it we shall find great helps to our edification in considering the thing in the Truth of it for seeing it is true that the Death of the Body is only the Figure of that of the Soul and that we build on this Principle that we have cause to hope the Salvation of those whose Death we lament it is most certain if we cannot stop the course of our Grief and Sorrow we should at least make this advantage of it that seeing the Death of the Body is so terrible that it causes so much fear in us that of the Soul should cause much greater grief and amazement God has sent the former to those whom we grieve for we hope he has put away the latter let us then consider the greatness of our Happiness by the greatness of our Miseries and let the excess of our Sorrow be the measure of our Joy. One of the most Solid and best Services we can do for the Dead is to do those things they would desire of us if they were living in the World by this means we make them as it were live in us seeing it is their Counsels that live and act in us And as Hereticks are punish'd in the other World for the Sins wherein they have ingag'd their Followers in whom their Poison as yet remains so the Dead are recompensed for those that have follow'd them by their good Counsels and Example 5. * Man is certainly too unable to judge rightly of the state of future things Let us therefore hope in God and not weary our selves by our indiscreet and rash Curiosity Let us refer our selves to God to Govern our Lives and that Grief may not predominate in us Saint Austin teaches us That there is in every Man a Serpent an Eve and an Adam The Serpent is the Senses and Nature the Eve is the Lustful Appetite and the Adam is Reason Nature tempts us continually the Sensual Appetite is ever craving but Sin is not finish'd unless Reason consents Let us then suffer this Serpent and Eve to act if we cannot hinder them but let us pray God that his Grace would so stregthen our Adam that he may continue Victorious that Jesus Christ may be Conquerer and that he might Reign for ever in us §. XXXI Sundry Meditations 1. THe more knowledge we have so much the more we find that there are perfect Men. Common People see no difference betwixt Men. 2. * One may have good Sense and yet not perceive all things aright for there are some that may judge aright in some things that are deceived in others some draw true Consequences from few Principles others draw right Consequences from things where there be many Principles for example some do well comprehend the effects of Water wherein there is but few Principles but whose Consequences are so fine that 't is only a very diligent search can attain to it yet these may not it may be be any great Geometricians because Geometry comprehends a great many Principles and some kind of Wit may be such that it can penetrate a few Principles to the bottom and yet may not penetrate those things wherein there are many Principles There are then two sorts of Wits one that penetrates vigorously and profoundly the Consequence of Principles and that is the Polite Wit the other comprehends a great many Principles without mingling them and that 's the Wit of Geometry the one is strength and clearness of Wit the other is largeness of Wit. Now the one of these may be without the other Wit may be strong and narrow and also may be large and weak There 's a great difference betwixt the Wit of Geometry and a refin'd Wit In the one the Principles are clear but remote from common usage so that one has some difficulty to look that way for want of use but turn a little that way and the Principles will appear plainly and one must have the Understanding very corrupt to reason ill upon such Principles as must needs be seen But in the refin'd Wit the Principles are in the common use and visible to the sight of all
its own sake nor for the sake of any thing it has for there is nothing in it but deserves thine Anger but for the Pains it endures which alone can be worthy of thy Favour Love my Sufferings Lord and let my Sorrows invite thee to visit me But to finish the preparation of thine abode Grant O my Saviour that if my body has that in common with thine that it suffers for mine Offences my Soul may also have that in common with thine too that it might be in sadness for the same Offences and that so I may suffer with thee and as thou didst in my Body and in my Soul for the Sins which I have committed XI Grant me the Grace Lord to join thy Consolations to my Sufferings that I may suffer as a Christian I don't desire to be free from Sufferings that 's the recompence of Saints but I desire not to be abandon'd to the Sorrows of Nature without the Comforts of thy Spirit for that 's the Malediction of Jews and Infidels I don't desire to have a fulness of Consolation without any Suffering for that 's the Life of Glory neither do I desire to be in a fullness of Evils without Comfort this is the State of Judaism But I desire Lord to feel altogether the sadness of Nature for my Sins and the Comforts of thy Spirit by thy Grace for that 's the true State of Christianity Let me not feel sadness without Consolation but let me feel sadness and Comfort both together that I may at length attain to feel only thy Consolations without any Grief For Lord thou didst let the World languish without consolation before the coming of thy only Son now thou comfortest and softenest the Sufferings of thy Children by the Grace of thy beloved Son and thou wilt fill with perfect Happiness thy Saints in the Glory of thine only Son These are the admirable steps by which thou conductest thy Works Thou hast drawn me out of the First make me to pass through the Second to arrive at the Third Lord it is what I heartily beg of thee XII Suffer not that I may be in that distance from thee that I may consider this Soul sorrowful unto Death and this Body pressed by Death for my Sins and not rejoice to suffer both in my Body and in my Soul For what is there more shameful and yet more common in Christians and even in my self than whilst thou didst sweat Blood to expiate our Offences we live in Pleasures That Christians who make Profession to belong to thee that those who by Baptism have renounced the World solemnly in the Face of the Church to Live and Die with thee that those that make Profession to believe the World Persecuted and Crucified thee that those that believe thou didst expose thy self to Gods anger and to the rage of Men to ransom them from their Sins that those I say that believe all these Truths that consider thy Body as the Sacrifice that was deliver'd for their Salvation that consider the Pleasures and Sins of the World as the only Subject of thy Sufferings and the World it self as thy Executioner yet should seek to Pamper their Body with these same Pleasures in this same World and that those that cannot without horror see a Man imbrace and cherish the Murderer of their Father that gave himself to Death to restore them to Life how they can live as I have done with full delight in the World which I very well know was the Murderer of him that I acknowledge to be my Father and my God and that gave himself to the Death for my Salvation and that bore in his Body the Punishment due to my Sins It is just Lord that thou shouldst put a stop to such Sinful Delights as those were wherein I rested under the Shadow of Death XIII Take therefore from me Lord the sorrow which Self-love might give me for my own Sufferings and by reason that Worldly things don't succeed according to the Inclinations of my Heart that tend not to thy Glory But be pleased to cast me into a sorrow conformable unto thine let my Sufferings in some measure pacifie thine Anger Make them be an occasion of my Conversion and Salvation Let me not henceforth desire Health nor Life but that I may employ and end them for thee and with thee and in thee I don't ask Health nor Sickness nor Life nor Death but that thou wouldest dispose of my Health and Sickness of my Life and Death for thy Glory and my Salvation and for the good of thy Church and Saints of which I hope by thy Grace to make a part Thou only knowest what is expedient for me thou art the absolute Disposer of all things do what seems good in thy sight Give unto me take away from me but conform my Will to thy Holy Will and that in an humble and perfect submission and Holy confidence I may prepare my self to receive the Decrees of thine Eternal Providence and that I may equally adore all things that proceed from thee XIV Grant O my God that in a constant Uniformity of Mind I may receive all sorts of Events because we don't know what to ask for and that I cannot desire one thing rather than another without Presumption and without making my self a Judge and liable to answer the consequences which in thy Wisdom thou hast justly hid from me Lord I know I know but one thing which is That 't is good to serve thee and that 't is ill to offend thee besides this I don't know which is worst or best in any thing I can't tell which is best for me Health or Sickness Riches or Poverty or any thing else in the World these things pass the Skill of Men and Angels to discern and are hid in the secrets of thy Providence which I humbly adore and will not presume to pry into XV. Grant therefore Lord that such as I am I may conform my self to thy Will and that being sick as I am I may glorifie thee in my Sufferings without them I cannot attain to Glory and thou thy self my Blessed Saviour wouldst not arrive thereunto by any other way It is by the marks of thy Sufferings that thou wert known to thy Disciples and it is by Sufferings that thou dost also know those that are thy Disciples acknowledge me therefore for thy Disciple in the Pains which I suffer both in my Body and Mind for the Offences which I have committed And because nothing is well pleasing to God but what is offerr'd up by thee conform my Will to thy Will and my Sufferrings to those which thou hast suffered grant that mine may become thine unite me unto thee fill me with thy self and thy Holy Spirit Enter into my Heart and Soul to bring thither my Sufferings and to continue to maintain in me what is yet behind to suffer of thy Passion which thou dost fulfil in thy Members until the full consummation of thy Body
say If he would that I should have ador'd him he would have left me Marks of his Will. So he has but you neglect them seek them at least they are well worth the labour 22. * Atheists should speak things very clear Now one must be out of their right Senses to say the Soul is Mortal I think it is not necessary to search into the bottom of Copernicus his Opinion but it concerns our whole Life to know if the Soul be Mortal or Immortal or not 23. * The Prophesies Miracles and other Proofs of our Religion are not of that kind as that one can say they are Geometrically convincing But it shall serve my turn at present that you will grant that 't is not against Reason to believe them They have light and darkness to enlighten some and to darken others but the light is such that it surpasseth or at least equals that which makes to the contrary so that 't is not Reason that can make us not to follow it and can be nothing else but the Malice and Lust of the Heart There is light enough to condemn those that do not believe and not enough to gain them to the end it should appear that in those that follow it it is Grace and not Reason that makes them follow it and that in those that shun it it is Concupiscence and not Reason that makes them shun it 24. * Who can chuse but admire and imbrace a Religion that knows to the bottom that understands the more by so much the more one is enlightned A Man that discovers Proofs of the Christian Religion is like an Heir that finds the Deeds of his Estate Will he say they are false and will he neglect to examin them 26. * There is two sorts of Persons that know God those whose Hearts are humbled and that love Self-denial and Meanness how much or how little Wisdom soever they have or those that have Judgment enough to discern Truth what opposition soever they have unto it 27. * The Wise Men amongst the Heathens that affirmed there was but one God were persecuted the Jews were hated the Christians worse hated 28. * I do not see there is any greater difficulty to believe the Resurrection of the Dead and the Birth of Christ of the Virgin than that of the Creation Is it a harder matter to reproduce a Man than to make a Man And if it had never been known what Generation was would it be thought stranger that a Child should proceed from a Maid alone then from a Man and a Maid 29. * There 's a great difference betwixt Repose and Peace of Conscience nothing should give Rest but a sincere seeking of the Truth and nothing can give Assurance but Truth 30. * There are two Truths of Faith equally constant one wherein Man in the State of Creation or in the State of Grace is raised up above Nature made like unto God and partaker of the Divine Nature the other that in the State of Corruption and of Sin he is fallen from this State and become like to the Beasts These two Propositions are both alike solid and certain The Scripture plainly manifests this when it saith Deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum Effundam Spiritum meum super omnem carnem Dii estis c. and that it saith in other places Omnes caro foenum Homo comparatus est jumentis insipientibus similis factus est illis Dixi in corde meo de filiis hominum ut probaret eos Deus ostenderet similes esse bestiis c. 31. * The Example of the generous Death of the Lacedemonians and others signifies but very little to us for what is all that to us But the Death of Martyrs doth concern us for they are our Members we have a common Obligation with them their Resolution may frame ours there 's no such thing in the Example of the Pagans we have no relation to them the Riches of a Stranger adds nothing to us but that of a Father or a Husband doth 32. * We never part with any thing without regret One don't feel any yoak when we willingly follow them that lead us but when we begin to resist and to struggle one suffers the more the Yoak is the heavier the Pain the more sensible and this Yoak is our Body which is not broke but in Death Our Saviour said that since the coming of John Baptist that is to say since his coming in every Believer the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Before one is touched we have only the weight of Concupiscence that bends to the Earth When God wakeneth these two contrary Motions cause such a concussion as God only can appease But we can do all things saith St. Leo with him without whom we can do nothing We must then resolve to suffer this War all our Life for there is here no Peace Jesus Christ came to bring the Sword and not Peace Nevertheless it must be granted that as the Scripture saith the Wisdom of Man is Foolishness with God so it may be said that this War that appears severe to Men is Peace in the sight of God for it is the Peace that Jesus Christ hath brought however it shall not be compleat till the Body be destroyed and 't is this that makes Death be desired yet nevertheless being content to live for his sake who both suffered to die and live for us and that can bestow better things upon us than we can desire or imagin as Saint Paul speaks 33. * We must strive not to be troubled for any thing and to take all that comes for the better I believe 't is a Duty and one Sins in not doing so for the reason why Sin is Sin is only because it is contrary to the Will of God And so the Essence of Sin consisting in having a Will opposite to that we know to be in God it appears visible that when he discovers his Will to us by the Events it were a Sin not to comply therewith 34. * When Truth is forsaken and persecuted it seems to be a time wherein the Service we yield to God in defending it is the more pleasing to God. He will have us judg of Grace by Nature and so he suffers us to consider that as a Prince banish'd from his Country by his Subjects has an extream love for those that continu'd faithful to him in the publick Revolt so it would seem God considers those with a particular kindness that defend the purity of Religion when it is openly opposed But there is this difference betwixt the Kings of the Earth and the King of Kings that Princes don't make their Subjects faithful but they find them so whereas God always finds Men unfaithful without his Grace and makes them faithful when they are so So that whereas Kings for the most part testifie their Obligation to those that continue in their Duty
not in it self and out of God but out of it self and in the very Will of God in the Justice of his Decree in the order of his Providence which is the true cause of it without which it had not arriv'd by whom alone it is come to pass and in the very manner that 't is hapned We should adore with an humble silence the impenetrable height of his Secrets We should adore the Holiness of his Decrees We should praise the Wisdom of his Providence and joining our Will unto Gods Will we should with him in him and for him desire the thing that he appointed in us and for us from all Eternity 2. * There is no Comfort to be found but in Truth only Doubtless Seneca and Socrates have nothing that can perswade or Comfort us on these occasions they were in the Ignorance that blinded all Men at first they thought Death was Natural to Man and all the Discourses they grounded upon this false Principle are so vain and empty that they only serve to shew in the general how weak Man is seeing the greatest Productions of the Wisest Men are so mean and childish It is not so of Jesus Christ it is not so of the Canonical Books of the Scriptures Truth is therein plainly discover'd and true Comfort is as Infallibly join'd thereunto as Error is infallibly separated from it Let us then consider Death in the Truth taught us by the Holy Ghost We have this admirable advantage to know that truly and effectively Death is a Punishment of Sin imposed upon Man to expiate his Crime necessary to Man to cleanse him from Sin it is that alone can deliver the Soul from the Lust of the Flesh which Saints are subject to while they live in this World. We know Life and the Life of Christians is a continual Sacrifice which cannot determine but in Death We know Jesus Christ coming into the World lookt on himself and offer'd himself to God as a true Sacrifice that his Birth his Life his Death Resurrection Ascension and his Session at the Right Hand of God are but one only Sacrifice we know what befel Jesus Christ must happen to all his Members Let us then consider Life as a Sacrifice and that the Evils of our Lives make no impression on the Minds of Christians but in measure as they hinder or accomplish this Sacrifice Let us call that only Evil which makes the Offering of God the Offering of the Devil but let us call that Good which makes the Offering of the Devil in Adam the Offering of God and by this Rule let us examine the Nature of Death To this purpose we must have recourse to the Person of Jesus Christ for as God regards not Man but by the Mediator Jesus Christ so also Men should neither regard themselves nor others but by Jesus Christ if we do not pass the middle we find in our selves only true Miseries or abominable Pleasures but if we consider all things in Jesus Christ we shall find all manner of Consolation Satisfaction and Edification Let us consider Death in Jesus Christ not out of Jesus Christ out of Christ it is horrible detestable and the horror of Nature In Jesus Christ it is quite another thing it is Amiable Holy and the Joy of the Faithful All is sweet in Jesus Christ even Death it self it is for this he suffered and dyed to Sanctifie Death by his Sufferings and as God and as Man he was Great in the highest Degree and mean in the lowest degree to the end to Sanctifie in himself all things Sin excepted and to be the Pattern of all Conditions To consider what Death is and to die in Christ Jesus one should see what place it has in the continual Sacrifice and to this effect observe that in the Sacrifices the chief thing was the Death of the Offering The Oblation and Sanctification that went before were the Dispositions but the Substance is the Death wherein by the loss of Life the Creature gives to God all Obedience it can in becoming nothing in the sight of his Majesty and in Adoring his Sovereign Being which subsists alone essentially It 's true there is yet something farther after the Death of the Offering without which his Death is of no value it is Gods accepting the Sacrifice it is what is mention'd in the Scriptures Et odoratus est Dominus odorem suavitatis It is this indeed that crowns the Oblation but it is rather an action of God towards the Creature than of the Creature towards God and it don't hinder but the last Action of the Creature is Death These things were accomplish'd in Jesus Christ coming into the World he Offerr'd himself Obtulit semetipsum per Spiritum Sanctum Ingrediens mundum dixit Hostiam oblationem noluisti tunc dixi Ecce venio In capite libri scriptum est de me ut faciam Deus voluntatem tuam He offer'd himself by the Holy Ghost entring into the World he said Lord Sacrifices and burnt Offering thou wouldst not a Body hast thou prepared me And I said Behold I come as it is written to do thy Will O God and thy Law is written within my Heart this is his Oblation his Sanctification followed immediately after his Oblation This Sacrifice continued all his Life and was finished by his Death It was necessary that by Sufferings he should enter into Glory and though he was the Son of God it was requisite he should learn Obedience In the Days of his Flesh having with strong cries and tears offer'd Prayers and Supplications to him that was able to deliver him from Death he was heard according to his Obedience to God his Father And God raised him from the Dead and sent him his Glory figur'd under the Law by the Fire of Heaven that came down upon the Sacrifices to burn and consume his Body and to make it live with the Life of Glory It is what Jesus Christ obtained and has accomplished by his Resurrection So that this Sacrifice being perfect by the Death of Jesus Christ and consummated by his Resurrection where the Figure of the Flesh of Sin was swallow'd up in Glory Jesus Christ fulfilled all things on his part and there only remained that the Sacrifice should be accepted of God and that as the Smoak ascended and carry'd the sweet savour to the Throne of God also Jesus Christ should in that perfect State of immolation be offer'd carry'd and received at the very Throne of God and this was accomplish'd in the Ascension wherein he rose up by his own Power and by the power of the Holy Ghost that compass'd him round about he was raised up as the Smoak of the Sacrifices which was the Figure of Jesus Christ was carry'd up by the Air that supported it which is the Figure of the Holy Ghost and in the Acts it is said expresly That he was received up into Heaven to assure us that this Holy Oblation accomplish'd
one thing to another unless it be to give it ease and that too at a convenient time and not otherwise for those that would give ease unseasonably do but cause trouble One is displeas'd and then regards nothing so hard it is to obtain any thing of Man but by Pleasure which is the Money for which we part with any thing 44. * Man is a lover of Malignity but 't is not against the Wicked but against the Happy proud and 't is to be deceiv'd to judge otherwise Martiall 's Epigram upon the Blind is naught for it don't Comfort them and only gives a Point to the Glory of the Author What is not for the Author is worth nothing Ambitiosa recidet ornamenta those that have human and tender Thoughts should be pleased and not those who are barbarous and inhumane §. XXXII PRAYER To desire of God the right use of Sickness I. LORD thy Spirit is so good and so sweet in all things and thou art so Merciful that not only the Prosperities but even the sufferings which befal the Elect are effects of thy Love give me Grace not to act as a Heathen in the State whereinto thy Justice has reduced me but that as a true Christian I may own thee for my Father and my God in what condition soever I am for the change of my Condition makes nothing to thee for thou art always the same though I am subject to change and thou art the same God when thou afflictest and punishest as when thou dost comfort and shew compassion II. Thou gavest me Health to serve thee and I have converted it to a prophane use now thou sendest me Sickness to correct me suffer me not to abuse it to provoke thee by my impatience I have not rightly improved my health and thou hast justly punish'd me suffer me not to slight thy Correction And seeing the Corruption of my Nature is such that it makes thy favours pernicious to me Grant O my God that thy powerful Grace may make thy Chastisements profitable to me If my Heart has been full of Love for the World whilst it had any vigour abate this vigour for my good and make me uncapable of enjoying the World whether it be through weakness of Body or through Zeal of Charity that I might enjoy thee only III. O God before whom I must give an exact account of all my Actions at the end of my Life and at the end of the World O God who sufferest the World and all things in the World to subsist only to exercise thine Elect or to punish Sinners O God who leavest impenitent Sinners in the delicious but Criminal use of the World O God who killest our Bodies and at the instant of Death separatest our Soul from all that it loved in the World O God who wilt take me away at the last moment of my Life from all those things I delighted in and whereon I set my Heart O God who at the last day wilt consume Heaven and Earth and all Creatures therein contained that all Men might see that 't is thou only that subsistest and that therefore thou only deservest to be loved because nothing is permanent but thou O God who wilt destroy all vain Idols and all these wicked Objects of our Passions I Praise thee my God and will Bless thee all the days of my Life inasmuch as thou hast been pleas'd to prevent this dreadful Day in my behalf by destroying as to me all things by the weakness wherein thou hast put me I Praise thee my God and will bless thy Name as long as I live in that thou hast been pleas'd to make me unable to enjoy the Pleasures of Health and the Pleasures of the World and in that thou hast in some sort destroyed for my good the deceitful Idols which thou wilt absolutely destroy for the confusion of Sinners in the great Day of thy Wrath. Grant Lord that I may judge my self after this destruction which thou hast made in my regard to the end thou maist not judge me thy self after the general destruction which thou wilt make of my Life and of all the World For Lord as at the instant of my Death I shall find my self separated from the World stript of all things standing in thy Presence to answer thy Justice for all the Motions of my Heart grant that I may look on my self in this Sickness as in a kind of Death separate from the World depriv'd of all the Objects wherein I placed my delight standing in thy Presence to implore of thy Mercy the true Conversion of my Heart that so I may have and feel extraordinary Comfort that thou art pleased now to send me a kind of Death to exercise thy Mercy before thou sendest me Death effectively to exercise thy Judgment Grant therefore O my God that as thou hast anticipated my Death I may prevent the rigor of thy Sentence and that I may examine my self before thy Judgment that I may find Mercy in thy Presence IV. Grant O my God that I adore in silence the order of thy wonderful Providence in the conduct of my Life that thy Chastisements may comfort me and that having lived in the bitterness of my Sins during the time of Peace I may taste the Heavenly sweetness of thy Grace during the healthy Afflictions wherewith thou dost visit me But I acknowledge my God that my Heart is so hardned and full of Ideas Cares Molestations and Thoughts of this World that neither Sickness nor Health neither Discourse nor Books thy Holy Scriptures nor the Gospel neither Fasting Mortifications nor Works of Charity and Mercy nor Miracles nor the use of thy Sacraments nor all my indeavours nor those of all the World put together can contribute any thing towards my Conversion unless thou art pleas'd to accompany all these things with an extraordinary assistance of thy Grace Therefore my God I come unto thee Omnipotent God to demand that of thee which all Creatures together cannot give me I should not have the confidence to lift up my Voice unto thee if any body else could help me But O my God as the Conversion of my Heart which I beg of thee is a Work that surpasseth the strength of Nature I cannot but address my self to the Almighty Author and Master of Nature and of my Heart to whom should I cry Lord to whom should I go but to thee nothing but God can fill and satisfie my expectation It is God only that I seek for and that I desire and 't is to thee only O my God that I address my self that I might enjoy thee Open my Heart Lord enter into this Rebellious place which has been defil'd with Sin it keeps it in subjection enter thereinto as into the strong Mans House but first bind the strong Man that Rules in it and then take all the Riches therein Lord take my Affections which the World had stollen wilt thou accept this Treasure rather reassume it seeing
't is to thee it appertains as a Tribute I owe unto thee for thy Image is stamped upon it Thou didst there ingrave it Lord at the instant of my Baptism which is my second Birth but 't is quite blotted out the Idea of the World is so ingraven in it that thine cannot be seen Thou alone hadst power to make my Soul and thou only art able to renew it thou only wert able to stamp thine Image upon it thou only art able to restore it and to renew thy decayed Image that is to say Jesus Christ my Saviour who is thy Image and the Character of thy Glory V. O my God how happy is the Heart that can love so charming an Object that don't dishonour it but in whom 't is so safe to trust I find I cannot love the World without displeasing thee without hurting and dishonouring my self and nevertheless the World is the Object of my delight O my God how happy is that Soul of whom thou art the delight because it can willingly love thee not only without scruple but also with pleasure How firm and durable is her Happiness seeing her expectation shall not be frustrated because thou shalt never be destroy'd and that because neither Death nor Life shall ever separate her from the Object of her delight and that the same moment that shall plunge the wicked with their Idols into common Misery shall unite the Righteous with thee in a common Glory and as the one shall be destroyed with the perishable Objects which they delighted in so the others shall abide for ever in the Object that Eternally subsists of himself whereunto they were strictly united O how happy are those that with free Liberty and full bent of their Will do freely and perfectly love that which they are necessarily obliged unto VI. Accomplish O my God the good Desires thou art pleas'd to give me be thou the End as thou art the Beginning Crown thy own Gifts for I confess they are from thee Yes my God and very far from thinking there is any Merit in my Prayers that should oblige thee of necessity to grant them I most humbly confess that having given my Heart to the Creatures which thou madest only for thy self and not for the World nor for me I can expect no Grace but meerly from thy Mercy seeing there is nothing in me might invite thee to it and that all the natural Motions of my Heart being inclin'd to the Creatures or to my self cannot but displease thee I therefore give thee Thanks my God for the good Motions thou givest me and even for that which thou givest me that I give thee Thanks VII Touch my Heart with Repentance of my Sins seeing that without this inward Grief the outward Evils thou layest on my Body will be a farther occasion of making me transgress make me fully understand that bodily Pains are nothing else but the Punishment and Figure both together of the Evils of the Soul. But Lord grant that they may also prove the Remedy in making me consider in the Punishments I feel those which I did not feel in my Soul although I was sick and over-run with Ulcers For Lord the greatest of these Evils is this insensibleness and extream weakness that had deprived the Soul of all Sense and feeling of its own Miseries Make me to feel them sharply and that the residue of my Life may be a continual Repentance for the Offences which I have committed VIII Lord though my Life past has been exempt from heinous Crimes from which thou hast put from me all occasions yet it has been very odious in thy sight by my continual negligence in thy Service by the ill use of thy Holy Sacraments by dispising thy Holy Word and Motions of thy Spirit by the Sloath and unprofitableness of my Thoughts and Words by the loss of my time which thou gavest me only to adore and serve thee and seek in all my Businesses the means to please thee and to be sorrowful for the Sins are daily committed and which the best Men are subject unto so that their Life should be a continual course of Repentance without which they are in danger of falling from their Righteousness So O my God I have always been contrary to thee IX Yea Lord even to this Day I have been deaf unto thy Holy Inspirations I have despised thy Oracles I have judged contrary to what thou judgest I have opposed the Holy Maxims which thou didst bring into the World from the bosom of thine Everlasting Father and according to which thou wilt Judge the World. Thou sayest Blessed are those that weep and Woe be to those that laugh but I have said Wretched are they that are sorrowful and Happy are those that rejoice I have said Happy are those that enjoy a large Fortune and a glorious Reputation and full State of Health and wherefore have I esteemed them Happy but only because these advantages should give them the greater opportunity with ease to enjoy the things of this World that is to say to displease thee Yea Lord I confess I have accounted Health a Blessing not because 't is a Means the better of serving thee to spend the more Days and Nights in thy Service and to do good to Neighbours but because by means thereof I could with the greater Freedom and Liberty give my self up to the enjoyment of the abundance of the things of this Life and the better enjoy the dangerous Pleasures of Sin do me the favour Lord to rectifie my depraved Reason and to conform my Thoughts unto thine Let me count my self Happy in Affliction and that in my being unable to act outwardly thou mayest in such manner purifie my Thoughts that they may no longer oppose thy Will that so I may feel thee within me because I cannot seek thee outwardly by reason of my weakness For Lord thy Kingdom is within thy Children and I shall find it within me if I there find thy Spirit and thy Will. X. But Lord what shall I do to prevail with thee to shed forth thy Spirit on this miserable Clay all that I am is odious unto thee and I can find nothing in me that may be acceptable in thy sight I see nothing in me Lord but only my Sorrows that have any resemblance with thine consider therefore O Lord the Evils that I suffer and those that hang over my Head. Look with an Eye of pity on the Wounds that thy hand has made in me O my Saviour thou didst love thy suffering in Death O God who becamest Man only to suffer more than any Man for the Salvation of Men O God who wast not Incarnate till after the Sin of Man and that tookest not a Body but therein to suffer all the Evils that our Sins deserved O God who so lovest the Bodies that suffer that thou didst choose for thy self the Body the most loaden with suffering that ever was in the World accept my Body not for