never been free from temptation nor rested satisfied in the servilitie of the Sin. But for any man to connive at lesser failings in him in this kinde as but wandring thoughts affected admiration of Beauties evill intentions and inward concupiscences without execution and much more actions impure is to be overcome and loose all unlesse renewed by Repentance again 7. Neither ought a man to intermitt acts of austerities as Cold Hunger and severe treatments outward of the flesh because sometimes evill events quite contrarie to his expectation have happened to him the reason whereof may be better omitted than enquired into yet most certain it is that constant subjugation as St. Paul speakes 1 Corinth 9. 27. or bringing the bodie into subjection is usefull to that end by the judgement and experience of the most famous Saints in the Church contrary to the vain and absurd Doctrines of modern Directers who doe exhort to the principall work without the proper meanes and so magnifie the Grace of God as necessarie and sufficient alone to effect this as if it could not consist with it or might not better be hoped for by such diligence and circumspection used And when they can no longer deny this fall to reviling them as if they were inseparable from Superstition and opinion of Meriting with the like folly For what a miserable shuffling and evasion is that and plain injustice to lay the blame and defects of Persons upon the dutie performed by them No doubt therefore the universall Churches judgement and practice is much to be preferred before the opinion of moderne and private Apologists for illimited use of sensuall gratifications and opposers of Bodily exercises and disciplining of the Appetites even to the denying of things not in themselves unlawfull as conducing to Chastitie Though the subjecting of the inward affections and lusts is more noble more necessarie more desireable as that to which the other should tend and in which end It was the course Saint Hierom writeth he took with himselfe when he found his flesh to rebell against his spirit in the desert of Bethleem upon an apprehension of a beautifull Ladie he had seen at Rome and began to desire He cast himselfe into the Briars as Gideon used the men of Penuel and Succoth Judges 8. 7. 16. who withstood him and taught his flesh better obedience The like to which writeth Gregory of Saint Benedict Dialog Lib. 2. that he threw himselfe amongst Thornes to turne his light cogitations another way 8. And agreeable to this is that universall Instrument of all Gifts and Graces descending to us from above Prayer and the firme perswasion that from thence and by that not neglecting other meanes Chastitie may be obtained according to the Rule and experience of the wise Man Ecclesiasticus 8. 21. thus writing Neverthelesse when I perceived I could not otherwise obtain her Wisdome or as some render it Undefilednesse mentioned before except God gave her me and that was a point of Wisdome allso to know whose gift she was I pray'd unto the Lord and besought him with my whole heart 9. Thirdly It is very requisite to avoid vain and vile communication which Saint Paul ratifying the opinion of the Gentile Poet assures us begets evill manners And therefore advises farther Ephes 4. 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth And by the same Rule should a man let no corrupt communication enter into his eares and suffer no light obscene Books or Sonnets or objects of any Creatures tending that way to draw his eye to them For all these like the Estriches Egges covered perhaps for a time in the Sand untill the warm Sun shall ripen and enliven them will quicken in the minde of man in the heat of temptation or perhaps will of themselves break forth into a temptation and receive consummation according to the Doctrine of Saint James Chap. 1. A man is drawn away thus and enticed Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death And in avoiding evill Books and directly obscene let more especiall care be had of such Good Books of Moderne Casuists who under pretence of perfecter information of Confessour and Penitent abound with curious enquiries into all the secrets of Nature and sinfull concupiscences exposing them to the view and imaginations of the Reader and exciting of unclean Passions For all these sensible insinuations of unlawfull Lusts yea acts Lawfull to them that use them in a regular way become Images in the minde which the natural man turnes to upon occasion and falls down before worshipping them and idolizing them to his shame and fall 10. Fourthly Let it be consider'd what honour God doth to the chast Soule and Body in that he esteems them as his own Temple Christ and looks upon them as his own Members in especiall manner And on the contrary how ill he taketh transgressings in this kinde Know ye not that ye are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you If any man defiles the Temple of God him shall God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are 1 Corinth 3. 16 17. And in another place with what indignation doth the same Saint Paul 1 Cor. 6. 15. argue against such affronts offered to Christ himselfe by such practices as these Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot What Monster of confounded Kinds did ever match this Prodigious mixture whereby Christ and an Harlot Christ and a Fornicatour are made one No wonder then that the Scripture assures us Ephes 5. 5. that No Whoremonger or unclean person hath any inheritance in the Kingdome of God and of Christ And sufficeth not this to quench the flames of lust in us and to repent throughly for it 11. Last of all Consider we what a concatenation of other Vices is found too often in this one and the reason will be apparent why it is accounted a Mother-sin For though Harlots are seldome fruitfull the sin of Whoredome is We hear much spoken of simple Fornication as minutely peccant in the opinion of divers But doth not that beget basenesse of Spirit and as Saint Austin saith lownesse of understanding nothing casting down the wit of man more from its top and Tower than such inordinate love of Women Nothing makeing a man more contemptible and ridiculous than that known Vice. But that is not all For from hence comes wasting of Estates as the History of the Prodigall cleerly proveth Hence allso proceeds Quarrelling and Duelling as it is amongst Dogs when they follow a Bitch that runs proud And Murders follow them and too often to avoid the shame of the world is destroyed with murdering Potions or Pills the fruit of the wombe before it ripens and which is worse are not sensible of that more heinous sin in covering sin
is requisite that we should not rest in the opinion we have of our selves which is commonly biassed by selfe-conceit selfe-love selfe-interest all quite contrary to that great Dutie of Selfe-deniall but that we should be so true and just to our own Soules as like righteous Judges to keep one Ear for what others judge of us and impartially to give a sentence upon our selves accordingly and not slie to that base and bold subterfuge of nonplus'd and shamelesse persons I care not I care not For though Malice and ill-will may instigate some one or two and upon speciall occasion to false accusations and slanders yet if the opinion be of more and those not so prejudiced and constant and lasting in vain doe men proclaim their integrity and innocencie for such judgement of others is much more to be trusted than our own 7. Sixthly Appearance of Evill and Hypocrisie reverst as I may so speak when men seem by outward carriage to be worse than in trueth they are is allso carefully to be avoided not onely because of the sin of scandalizing our Brethren and causing an erroneous judgement and uncharitable to be entertained but because it very often happens that men fall really into that sin which they at first onely seemed to committ Therefore it is St. Pauls Rule Philip. 2. 4. Look not every man on his own things but every man allso on the things of others not by curiositie and censoriousnesse but Charitie and conscienti ous walking without offence to others and if possible to prevent sin in others as well as our selves 8. Lastly Every man should have Charitie towards his Brother but no man is to demean himselfe so as to stand in need of the charitable judgement of others For he that doth so is certainly uncharitable in the first place and being really guiltie within himselfe is most wickedly unjust in demanding that another should be so charitable as not to think so of him though there be use of Charitie even where Crimes are past defence or excuses but for men to live conscious to themselves of unrighteousness towards God and justice towards men and then because there may want notorious convictions to demand of Censurers to judge charitably is in effect to require that others should be religious and they may be wicked under the protection of others Pietie and Charitie A Prayer for Puritie of Spirit O Lord God who is like unto thee amongst the Gods Who is like unto thee glorious in holinesse fearfull in praises doing wonders And what greater wonder is there than of sons of Men we should be called the Sons of God and of Children of wrath heirs of the Kingdome of God of lost sheep be brought back to the great Shepheard of our Soules of prodigall and fugitive Sons be brought home and embraced by thee our heavenly Father making us as well as requiring us to be holy as thou art holy raising us from the death of sin to the life of Righteousnesse given us by the Spirit of Grace which worketh in us by the meanes of Grace ordained by thee to that great end Let that Spirit be never wanting in me let that Grace never be received by me in vain whereby I may be sensible of my unworthinesse and insufficiencie to any thing that is good and at least to have an hunger and thirst after righteousnesse that I may in thy due time be satisfied and in the mean time grow and increase in this desire and this desire proceed to action and this action to such perfection as to overcome and mortifie all worldly lusts and Carnall affections purifying my selfe as he is pure and taking greater content and pleasure in casting off than ever I did in taking on me the burden of sin and in purging away all my old sin than ever I did in contracting those spots and blemishes which have too much and too long defiled that pure Spirit thou once gavest me and defaced that beautifull Image thou once stampedst on me And let the pleasure of Repenting be greater to me than that of offending ever was to me though alas it was too great Lord nothing is impossible to thee who canst bring light out of darknesse and strength out of weaknesse and out of stones raise up Children unto Abraham and to thy selfe and out of the ruines of Religion in me raise up a Temple fit for thy holy Spirit to dwell in Descend into possesse and dwell in my heart by faith and love of thee which may purge out the old leaven and make me a new lump and quench all fleshly Concupiscences which have or may raign over me or rage in me For this corruptible bodie presseth down my minde musing on high and heavenly things and the weight of sin so easily besetteth me that I cannot run the Race which is set before me and the stain of sin pollutes my best actions Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this bodie of death from this bondage of corruption Thy grace I know O Lord is sufficient for me and thy Son mighty to save and that his Office is to save his people from their sins from their sins I say as well as from the punishment of sin Let that Day-star at length arise in my heart and enlighten and warm my minde with love of thee and let that breath of new life be inspired into me enliven my dead bodie and re unite and animate my drie bones and excite me with new vigour to the perfourming thy holy will that so the life I now live may be by the faith of the Son of God and being poor in spirit as he was I may be pure in spirit as he allso was for theirs is the Kingdome of God even the Kingdome of Grace here and the Kingdome of Glory hereafter whither O mercifull God and Father in thy due time bring me for thy blessed Sons sake Jesus Christ my Saviour Amen The Third Part. Treating of the UNITIVE WAY OF THE Devout Soule with God. SECT I. Of the Nature of true Vnion with God and Mysticall Theologie and of the Abuses and due Vse thereof 1. SUCH due preparation being made towards Spirituall Life in laying aside every sin so easily besetting us the remainder of our Christian Race towards God and our Union with him are more easily attained which Union is by Saint John called our fellowship with the Father and the Son 1 John 1. 3. And this is it which vulgarly is called allso Perfection Perfection being here used for Justification by faith in Christ and Christ dwelling in us and such a measure of assurance of Gods grace and favour which are competible to our Militant state in this life and incline God to the acceptation of us to a future inheritance of Immortalitie and Glorie And to this it is not absolutely necessarie that no blemish imperfection or infirmity should be incident but that none such should be found which either of it selfe should tend to corruption
of the soule or spirit of man which was variously canvased by the wise men of this world without resolution satisfactorie and that he and not naturall generation was the true cause thereof and that Christ and his Father worketh hitherto and he worketh John 5. 17. 7. Seventhly we learne from holy Writ concerning the government of the World that God leadeth not such a sedentarie and carelesse life as some Philosophers imagined after the manner of many Great Men who build fair and stately Houses and furnish them richly but so leave them to fall to decay and the things therein to be lost and spoiled neither doth he trouble his head or vex his heart as some men doe about the management of their Houses and Lands but by a mean way of sufficient protection and providence disposes all things even Good and Evill so wisely and harmoniously that no molestation is given to himselfe nor any damage to the Universe it selfe though innumerable changes are constantly wrought to the detriment of some particulars there and the like advantage to other things not before noted So that what for its time lay hid and contemptible is raised as it were out of the dust and exalted to greatnesse and splendour and for a season having so continued by the same all-disposing hand relapses into its ancient obscurity and this by a perpetuall vicissitude which some times an Age or two declareth some times not many Centuries of years And by the same Faith we according to St. Peter's Doctrine 2 Ep. 3. 7. understand that as the heavens and earth were formed and stood out of the waters so the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of Judgement 8. By Faith likewise we know that the fine and admirable Masterpiece of God himselfe Man created in the foresaid perfection and being in great honour and happinesse through his own folly as did the Angels before him fell from his stedfastnesse into blindesse povertie and generall miserie of bodie and minde contracting thereby disorder of affections inward and diseases and death outward the seeds of all which he transmitted to his posterity and is that Originall sinne all are infected and infested with This the Learning of this world could hardly or not at all instruct us in but is the office of our faith to inform us From whence also we can only give account of the many and strange exorbitances of our minde and the severall infirmities distempers and pains of our bodie before our reason comes to that ripenesse as to entitle us to the guilt of erroneous actions or free election of Good and Evill 9. Neither could humane learning or books of the greatest Philosophers informe us how tied and bound in the chain of our sins and fallen into the depth of common destruction we should recover our losses and repair our breaches neither could we our selves devise any more than we could really desire to evade the evils we were surrounded with But that light from above which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world sheweth that God out of the Abysse of his Counsells and freenesse of his Grace and Love towards Mankinde first determined the redemption of him and when the fullnesse of time was come actually sent his Son into the world in the likenesse of sinfull flesh to condemn sin in the flesh Rom. 8. 3. Galat. 4. 4. 10. And this Salvation was ratified to man soon after his fall God entring then into a new Covenant with man to the re-enstating him into his favour and restoring him to the blessed hopes of salvation eternall upon Evangelicall faith and obedience answerable thereunto And that these termes of this Covenant may as well as ought be performed on mans part though not upon his own strength is a materiall point of our faith and a prime motive to our obedience For were it not that man bounden thus to God might come up to that degree of perfection as to be judged by God to have performed what is necessary to obtaining the promises made by God no wise man would trouble himselfe to begin such an impossible work and no faithfull man or true believer could be sure of his salvation as is often taught we may and ought to be but rather every man may be sure of his damnation knowing thar he can in no wayes doe that upon which his salvation depends 11. Furthermore It is necessary to salvation as the Athanasian Creed tells us that we believe rightly the Incarnation of out Lord Jesus Christ who by taking flesh of the Virgin Mary his Mother unto the divine nature became an apt and sufficient Mediatour between God and Man and Administratour of the New Covenant made between God and Man. 12. And this administration was wrought two wayes principally First by the divine doctrine and knowledge revealed unto the world delivered by himselfe and his elect servants to that end inspired extraordinarily and contained in the severall Books of the New Testament Secondly by his Passion and death upon the Crosse as a Lamb of God offered for the sins of the whole world in which God rested satisfied and became appeased and Believers had accesse to the throne of Grace and became accepted in the beloved 13. But to the effectuall application of so glorious a benifit as this is somewhat more required of all true Believers than a Faith passive it being necessarie that first we should use the meanes ordained by God to that great end before we can have any sound hope of attaining the same And supposing faith preceding the summe of what remains and to which other duties may be reduc'd may be three fold 1. The use of the Sacrament of Baptisme instituted as a laver of regeneration and a forme of initiation into the Covenant without which we are of the number of Infidells and aliens from the Common wealth of Israel and without hope of salvation and in our sins and naturall blindnesse which hereby was so cured that the newly baptised were said in Scripture to be illuminated or enlightened Heb. 6. 4. Hebr. 10. 32. 2. And unto this comes in as an Auxiliary improving and perfecting the low beginnings of those once initiated to an high degree of holinesse and comfort The Sacrament of the Lords Supper ordained by Christ to the ratification of our Covenant entered into with God and the memorie of Christs passion and death upon the Crosse for us and our being more strictly and intimately united to Christ as shall hereafter be more fullie declared 3. A third most necessary and effectuall meanes of applying Christs merits to us is that excellent gift of God as the Scripture termes it Acts 5. 31. Acts 11. 18. Repentance of which with the concomitants of it likewise we may speak farther hereafter 14. Of the Resurrection likewise of the bodie and the reuniting of the soule unto it and upon such restauration the receiving of the proper
understanding to the Wisdome of God. Oh how naturall how sweet and allmost how necessarie it is for man to have his own will And yet in truth how monstrous is this unruly appetite It ariseth from a root worse than ordinarie Idolatrie as much as to make ones selfe a God is a much more heinous sin than to worship any other false God. And what is that whether we mean it or not mean it that impells men so passionately to desire and so violently to contend for their will and as much of it as is possible but that they would be great thereby they would be supreame they would rule and govern not so much themselves for they are the worst at that of all men but others and because they would be admired and worshipped and that more and in an higher degree than they dare openly own When men have given themselves up to this misleading and mischievous temper they would have no bounds prefixed them God himselfe shall not escape their murmures if open accusation and expostulations Every thing is uneasie to them that is not projected by their own witts and managed by their wills And whereas according to St. Paul 1 Corinth 13. Charitie that Divine grace made up of meeknesse humilitie love of God and that which in any manner resembles God beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things the Idolizer of his own will on the contrary can bear nothing believe nothing hope nothing endure nothing contradicting this his humour Reason he will by no means professedly affront or oppose but then he counts it all the reason in the world that matters should be carried as he judges and willeth otherwise the power and effects of his impatience shall be his remedie Whereas there is nothing more unworthy of a wise man and nothing more inconsistent with a good Christian than to desire to have more wills under him than his own for in trueth he never is master of his own will who would tyrannize over others For this may be but one sin in forme and appearance but it is the parent of many if not of all to strive to have our wills 4. For what is Pride but an appetite of our unmortified wills pushing us forward to be great Ruling admired followed not to be led by any What is Anger but a desire of satiating our lust of revenge What is Avarice but to have all and part with nothing but what Justice and Necessity extorts And what is Lust properly so called but a furious will of carnall pleasure He therefore that will ever obtain any command of himselfe in any of these things or the like must lay the Ax of Reformation to the root of all these trees the generall lusting after a mans own will and the satisfaction thereof naturally inclined For though there may seem such a distance outwardly between one sin and another as that there should be no consanguinitie between them yet in the practice they like persons at domestick difference or civill dissensions will joyn against a common and forrein Enemie and help one another according to the observation of that mortified Father mentioned in Ecclesiasticall History who deliver'd it for a trueth That a man can never observe the rule of Chastitie unlesse he subdues the Lust of Anger For surely if we shall give leave to our corrupt wills to take their swing in one thing they will take leave to excurre into other evills against our more advised judgements and wills Therefore let us a little insist upon the reasonablenesse of such affectation of our carnall wills 5. But first it is to be observed that Religion it selfe is not of that morosity or indeed tyrannie under colour of mortification that it should denie us the libertie wholly of that naturall facultie of desiring and loving for that God himselfe hath placed in us For then we could not love God himselfe nor choose the good or refuse the evill as himselfe commandeth It is not the rooting up of that Vine which Gods own hand hath planted in the heart of man but the pruning and dressing it to bear generous branches and bunches It is to cut off those Suckers to destroy that Nature which is become such and not made so by God. It is according to the ancient Philosophie for our earthie Spheare and inferiour and smaller Orb to be ordered by the first mover of all and to say and to pray as Christ hath taught Thy will he done in earth as it is in heaven to live in this world as Christ came into it and lived and died in it As appeares by the historie of his holy and humble Life which tells us John 18. 37. To this end was I borne and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witnesse unto the trueth every one that is of the trueth heareth my voice And this was the holy Gospell he taught and left us And his bearing witness was to make himselfe of no reputation as great and as good as he was to be obedient unto the death even the death of the Crosse and to appear as it were without a will of his own or which is a greater victory and glory to have a will allwayes obsequiously included in the Will of his heavenly Father as it was when in great Agonies and conflicts of Soule he prayed to God Luke 22. 42. Neverthelesse not my will but thy will be done demonstrating what he before affirmed for a trueth John 5. 30. I can of my selfe doe nothing as I hear I judge and my judgement is just because I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which is in heaven And as the Disciples said most loth to hazard so precious a Vessell of honour and service as St. Paul amongst Jewish Barbarity Acts 21. 14. The Will of the Lord be done And what better or wiser resolution can any good Christian take than what he saw Christ to practice before him and the most Heroicall Christians did to have no will stirring but the Will of God and Christ For this is to be what St. Paul exhorteth to Rom. Chap. 6. 11. Likewise reckon ye allso your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord that is content to be directed by the Wisdome and acted by the pleasure of God alone So that we may say as that good old Father in his Cell having relinquished the world who when one came to him and brought him the tidings that a â—…ere Kinsman of his was at the point of death and therefore he should doe well to repair to him and take possession of what descended legally to him made answere And would you have me inherit his Estate who have been dead a long time before him And this I intended for one distinct argument to denie our own wills either wholly impeding the Will of God to be done in us or the perfecter conformity to that and the Example
humane Will as he had of Davids Will when Saul was in the power of his hands when Shemei railed to purpose and when at the word given his head might have been taken off and the King revenged of a Petulant slanderer yet he committed his cause to God and seeing at some distance his Hand and Will humbly acquiesced 8. Fifthly Nature it selfe teaches us and upon that Abimelech bowed the men of Sichems heart to make him King to be subject to one rather than to many there being no personall disparity which may alter the Case how much more elegible then must it needs be for a man well advised to submitt to the Monarchie of God than to the Anarchie or tyrannicall Democracie of innumerable lusts whereof some vote one thing and some another One tugges us this way and another draggs us that way commanding many times inconsistencies and contradictions and worreying and wearing out the simple Soule by unreasonable sollicitations and vexations For most truely said Saint Paul 1 Corinth 6. 16. Know ye not that to whome ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whome ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousnesse Every irregular Affection every inordinate Lust is a Tyrant and would needs subject us to it so miserable is that Soule which listens or leans to them being divided from God and it selfe For prodigality and covetousnesse Anger and desire of Revenge Envie and Malice Superstition and profanenesse Pusillanimitie and rashnesse Slothfulnesse and indefatigable drudgeing for the world Loving strange Faces and embraces Lothing lawfull and laudable excessive exaltation and exultation when matters proceed prosper and succeed according to our loose phansies and fondnesse and dejection of minde and spirit when we are worsted in our designes and crossed and frustrated of our hopes and expectations All these and more than these never cease molesting and disquieting a man untill they see him secured under the protection and in the service of Allmighty God resolving to obey him against all temptations and to look on all occurrences as sent chiefly to make proof of his obedience and patience And that this free and full submission doe not only bring admirable quiet and tranquillity to the minde but sanctitie and puritie the thing we at present pursue appeares by the Discourse of the Apostle to the Hebrewes Chap. 10. 9 10. where having propounded for an Example and our imitation the readie obedience of Christ of whome it was said Lo I come to doe thy will O God it followeth By which will we are sanctified That is by that readie conformation of our wills to the Will of God. SECT VIII Of the Custodie and Discipline to be had over the outward Man and especially the Eyes Eares and Tongue 1. BUT now let us passe to the other part of a true Christinas care and labour consisting in the Purging of the Outward man and regiment ought to be had of our Senses from whence lust having conceived inwardly proceeds outwardly deadly sins and through which outward temptations pressing in defile the Soule For our Senses are as Gates to a Cittie through which there is continuall passing to and fro and that of Good and Bad and are the weakest and easiliest surprised unlesse very strictly guarded I will but look I will not like nor love I will but taste I will not eat the forbidden fruit I will but touch I will not embrace saith the naturall and warie wisdome of this world But the wisdome of the Word of God teaches us otherwise when it saith Touch not tast not handle not which all shall perish with the flesh Coloss 2. 1. especially when such touches and light Essaies are of things unlawfull dangerous or wholly unprofitable Doe we not read how Death entreth in at the windowes that is deadly sins at the Eye Doe we not read in St. Peter 2 Epist 2. 14. of such Persons who have eyes full of Adulterie and cannot cease from sin Not that the visive facultie good in it selfe and a great gift of God can of it selfe be subject to such a crime but that through the communication and combination between the inward and outward Man such lustings are either bred or stirred up by such Aspects The Jacks or Keis in the Virginall Harpsicon or Organ being touched with the Finger doe not sound themselves but they strike the inward strings which render the sound So when the outward Senses themselves are struck by their particular objects they soon communicate that passion scarce felt by them to the inward Senses which make all the noise Saint Augustine delivers this as a trueth experimented in himselfe Confess Lib. 7. 1. when he said After what outward formes my minde wandered the same Images did my heart run after allso So that even the subtiller Heathens could not but see the coherence between Phansie and Senses and between the Appetites of the Soule and them both when they tell us By our Eyes we are Luxurious by our Eyes we are hurried into all manner of Vices by our Eyes we are wanton by our Eyes we look on the Wine when it shewes it selfe in the Glasse our eyes are cast upon the Riches of the world as Achan's upon the wedge of Gold and the Babylonish Garment and by orderly unhappie but allmost necessarie gradations and consequences we as he are led to see to covet to take them That subtile Serpent the Devill knew too well what power the temptations had entring into a man through the eye when by his artifice he presented to Christ all the glories of the world and with such a suddain surprise that scarce any but Christ could have withstood or rejected them Job therefore would not so much as cast a vain and idle glance upon a beautie which might delude him Job 31. having no occasion justly so to doe knowing assuredly that the conjunction of the minde with an unlawfull object without that bodilie conjunction adulterates the Soule And imagination with resolution and strong intention does that before God which men cannot censure and so according to the diversitie of the object is the pollution diversifyed allso So that if there be as naturall Philosophers tell us Coel. Rhodigin an hundered Diseases of the naturall Eye the morall distempers by ill use of them may be accounted many more 2. And if I should give some instances of the many waies of corrupting the sight the rest may more readily be made up by mens own observations Poring upon Faces prepared to catch fonder Spectatours Taking pleasure in beholding wanton Pictures under pretence it may be that it is but a dead object or that fowl things are finely drawn Viewing wanton postures and gestures by either Sex or of either Sex. Yea casting an eye upon the mutuall and naturall actions of Animalls doing according to their kinde a man would think it should put one to the blush but too often the contrarie is found by a sympathie to be abhorred
the Earth the motions of the Air and temper differing from ours and the unusuall formes of Beasts and such like Rarities doe beget an inclination in the minde to be present on the place Likewise Relations of Battles wise Stratagems Valiant and bold Actions in others inflame the spirit to an imitation In like manner he who converses much with Religion its strange and preternaturall Notions the sublime Speeches and heroicall Actions of Saints and Martyrs and especially the admirable designe and Providence of God in Lost mans Redemption and Restitution perfourmed by Christ cannot choose but finde and feel a disposition in himselfe answering the impressions made in his minde of them where it is not notoriously pester'd with earthly and vitious Habits prepossessing it which by the foresaid prescriptions of the Purgative Exercise must be first discharged before any such transformation as we speake of can be hoped for For no man can attain to any savourinesse or complacencie in any faculty whatever untill by frequent practice he becomes a competent Master of such Science or Art. So that Saint Paul exceeding in these Exercises himselfe and thereupon experimenting the admirable effects of them in the vehement zeal for Gods glorie ending in Raptures and Visions Celestiall commends the same Methode to his Son Timothy 1 Epist 4. 8. in these words Till I come give attendance to Reading to Exhortation to Doctrine which are easily applicable to such an attendance whereupon Christ with his blessed Spirit may enter into the Soule to its Illumination Purgation and Conjunction with him 5. And though all the Scriptures being given of God are profitable for Instruction and Edification yet as the glorie of the Celestiall Bodies differ in degrees so some Lights in Gods Word produce both greater light and heat in men than others doe Whereupon it is expedient that choice be there made allso of such as may be more effectuall upon a man not excluding inferiour points as uselesse but insisting upon such as are more honourable and weighty and fruitfull to be meditated on 6. And to give some assistance here to the weaker in directions and instances of subjects proper for Meditation not intending to limit any strictly to what I here offer What if we should distribute the Great Work of God in restoring and renewing or recreating the world brought into ruine and confusion by the fall of Man into as many dayes as it pleased him to take for creating and forming of the naturall and Visible world at the first And thus beginning on Munday to consider and meditate on the miserable Chaos of confusion into which all the world was reduced by Mans Apostacie from and the severall branches of the sinne committed thereby against God with the aggravations of guilt pertaining thereunto And how God entertained within himselfe thoughts of reconciliation with Man so undone and to determine or decree the same by his Sons becoming Man and undertaking the great Work of Mediation If on Tuesday a man should observe seriously and contemplate of the execution of this Decree by Covenanting a second time with Adam in behalfe of himselfe and Posteritie this true and proper Covenant of Grace and the foundation thereof in promising the Messias as a Mediatour and Redeemer and the exceeding love of God in giving his Onely Son to be Incarnate to that end Thirdly If on Wednesday we should meditate how upon this Day God created light out of darknesse and the light sprang up to the Righteous a Light of Hope and Life and of help by which we perfourme all spirituall Offices and workes as we doe our naturall workes by the light of the Sun dayly And if the observation be true and the reason of the Jew given to the Gentile Philosopher Why the Sun fails not to shine little or much every Wednesday viz. because it was made on that Day and so shining celebrates its own Nativitie much greater reason is there that we should celebrate the praise of Gods mercy shining in the face of Jesus Christ to us If on Thursday we should more particularly observe the severall Raies of the glorious Body of Grace falling upon us here on earth and how that he who hath given his Son thus to us will and doth with him give us all things so that the fat and the sweet and the plentie of the creatures ordained to mans use are derived to him by Christ through whome as he made the Worlds he administers and governs and disposes all things in an admirable order and Harmonie filling even the naturall mans heart with food and gladnesse which ought to appear and utter it selfe in outward acts of gratitude and service rising up from thence to the valuation more serious and high of the spirituall Blessings whereby he satisfieth the hungrie and thirstie Soule after Righteousnesse and the graces of the Gospell conducting to the glorie of God. And on Friday how ample noble and patheticall Meditations may be had on the sufferings and death of Christ for the sins of the whole world and the satisfying of Gods wrath due to man in extremitie by the tearing of his Flesh and the shedding his Blood even to the death of the Crosse for us so fullfilling all Righteousnesse And how reasonable just and righteous a thing it is for all true Christians to suffer for him and themselves all such hardships of Abstinences Continences Selfe-denialls and bodily punishments to be made like unto Christ and more capable of the fruits and effects of his Intercession and Redemption Sixthly On Saturday to consider the Rest of Christ in the Grave having finished the severall workes of our Redemption as God did that Day the workes of Creation resting from them And that we allso should rest from such workes of Nature corrupt which may be called properly Ours and so fit our selves to live and die as that the next Day which we call Sunday we may be fitted for a blessed and joyfull Resurrection And being then raised from the death of sin unto the life of Righteousnesse we may keep a perpetuall Jubilee of Holinesse and Happinesse elevating our mindes in the contemplation of the Power of God the glorie of Christ raised from the dead ascended up into Heaven ever to make intercession for us labouring here under severall conflicts untill we allso reign together with him Which future state may well deserve the best and highest of our thoughts as that where the imperfecter union of faith and love we can attain here shall receive its absolute and most perfect consummation hereafter 7. But untill that fullnesse of time or time of fullnesse shall come the minde of man is wonderfully helped and exalted by the exercise of the contemplation of God in his beautie and goodnesse which is oftentimes very effectuall upon men for the quietation and fixing of the unsetled minde in great peace and tranquillitie from the molestations of this world though at the same time there be found no small sollicitude how to
perdition more than his coming For excepting some monstrous and notorious evills into which a man may fall and that when the Communion is instant so that no competent time nor meanes remain to discharge his part in due preparation though sudden accidents of that nature may admitt of sudden remorse and intense Repentance when time is denied of more full and thorow humiliation then perhaps such excuses may be tolerable as unpreparednesse but when men have timely advice of such ensuing Solemnitie and have no unavoidable impediments but wilfully and necessarily involve themselves in matters inconsistent with it and so absent themselves neglecting that competent preparation required then doe they shun the Curse of communicating unworthily and fall into the condemnation of not preparing themselves and contempt of such meanes of Salvation as he under the Law that refused to purge his House of Leaven and purifie himselfe to eat the Passe-over 4. For in this one Evill many more are contained such as are frustrating Gods invitation to Grace and Mercy a great provocation of men who are of the same nature with our selves though greater in Power and Honour A bereaving our selves of the benefits there tendered and an hazarding of the losse of the fruits of all other meanes ordained by God to our Salvation For God requires that we should put on the whole Armour of God Ephes 6. 11 13. And Saint Paul likewise Coloss 4. 12. exhorteth to stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God. And Saint James assures us Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he shall be guilty of all James 2. 10. insinuating sufficiently unto us that the willfull neglect of one such materiall Dutie and violating one so soveraign Ordinance as this doth injury to all and provokes God to withdraw his Blessing upon those other Ordinances we are content to admitt of For he that contemns him in one contemns the Authour of all and so cannot reasosonably expect any benefit from Sermons or from Publique or private service of God. For no man must trust to his making compensation to God one way having wronged him in another where both may be perfourmed And experience teacheth this to be true that none are generally more rare and remisse in the other parts of Gods Worship than they who are carelesse in this 3. A manifold Scandall is offered to Fellow Christians who upon observing the neglect of some in this point entertain suppositions of the little use of it and consequently that the offence in omitting the same is very inconsiderable and light passing it over accordingly or perhaps that receiving that Sacrament belongs chiefly to the Greater or better sort and such as are more at leisure than are they and not to poor obscure and busie persons as they are Furthermore a Scandall is hereby given to the Brethren of the same Faith and profession as if a Member of the Church were fallen away from them and found some evill in the Actions sacred For God doth not onely require at our hands that we should truely believe and become lively Members of Christs mysticall Body and invisible but allso Visible and not onely so but that so far as lies in us we should be visible members allso of that Body Visible and that we should declare the same and doe nothing to give ground or occasion to believe otherwise of us which must necessarily be if we forbear such necessary and solemn proofs and indications as this is even the Greatest of all and that which as it is Unitive of us to Christ so is it very effectuall to produce and preserve that bond of Charitie which Christ commands to be kept up amongst Brethren in Christ 3. Thirdly The main pretence and Apologie of abstaining from the Communion taken from its Sacrednesse and formidablenesse are grounded upon the foresaid words of Saint Paul which therefore to give a faithfull and proper sense of will be very expedient which we may attain to two wayes chiefly First by rightly understanding the occasion given him to write so severely above others For we finde nothing of the like charge given by Christ to his Disciples at the first Institution of it all which came with no other preparation to it than was Legall or Leviticall Neither have we in holy Writ any thing afterward except the words of Saint Paul about it who upon grosse corruptions and scandalous invading openly that holy Sacrament opportunely bestirs himselfe for the vindication of it from such abuses brings them back to the first institution of Christ which was that they should understand that to eat this as their own Supper was to profane it For Christ at that time had two Suppers One Mosaicall which though it had sacred Rites belonging to it did serve to the use of the naturall Body and was to imprint in their memories a sense of their deliverance from slaughter with the First-born in Egypt and from bondage there allso The other was Evangelicall not given in such quantitie as the other to nourish the Bodie but ceremoniously rather in such sort as might give the receiver certain information and proportionable affection of the Passion and death of Christ whose Bodie was broken and Blood shed for the sinnes of the whole World much more of true Believers Which if they who received those Elements did not consider of so as in them to discern the Lords Bodie thereby signified and his Passion thereby called to remembrance and received by the faithfull to their edification in faith and love and comfort but prophanely ventured to take it as common bread yea to come to it first stuffed full with their own riotous Suppers and drunk with excesse of Wine before all the world would judge and condemne them for so doing and more especially would God be avenged of them for such affront put upon him and those divine Mysteries of his ordaining and that by sudden Deaths or grievous Sicknesses and weaknesses upon their bodies besides the evill upon their Soules Others forbearing to eat and drink at home in their Houses kept their stomachs for the good Cheer they were wont to make and plentifully to take in Gods House or the place and at the time they should have soberly modestly and devoutly partaken of these great Mysteries which worthily so incensed the Apostle as to demand if they had not Houses of their own to eat and to drink in but must come into the publique place of Worship the House of God and there gluttonize and revell not considering nor discerning the Lords Body to the shame of themselves and Religion And that this is the most plain and naturall sense of that whole passage of the Apostle will clearly appear to every attentive and judicious Reader taking in the Context And this St. Chrysostome than whome none of his time magnifies more the Mysteries of the Eucharist doth agree to in a second Homilie he hath upon the Passeover Tom. 5. pag. 921. telling