Redemption the infinite Love and Charity of the Blessed Jesus and the glorious rewards and promises offered to all that will be true Christians While men shall be so stupid as to neglect these 't will be no hard matter to impose upon them and it must not seem strange that the means are despised where the end it self is disregarded Vntil Christians make it their first and chiefest business to secure a blessed Eternity by living holy lives it cannot be expected they should make wise and serious enquiries into those truths which are more disputable and less necessary For the mixing secular interests with things of Religion first made and still maintains the errors and breaches of the Christian world and the way to bring to an end many controversies is not so much to decide as to bury them at least to make them give place to those things which are much more plain and much more requisite and beneficial And here again I might have a just occasion to commend this Church we live in for the best guide of Souls for either she meddles not with many disputes or else she always stands on the much surer side of the question holding that which even her Adversaries cannot but acknowledge for truth and never amusing her Children with unnecessary speculations or unprofitable contests But as it is her great design to make us obedient to the Gospel of Christ and bring us to a sincere practice of all holy vertues so I shall conclude this Preface with an Exhortation to the same purpose That thou wouldest seriously and often consider that thy life is short and uncertain and that the world passeth away and all things here below and that thou resolve thereupon not to lose not to venture thy portion of good things above for any earthly enjoyment That thou wouldest bear Eternity in mind and weigh the importance of these two words which conclude our Creed Life Everlasting and that afterwards thou resolve carefully to follow the way that leads to it the Doctrine and Example of our Blessed Saviour who hath purchast and promist it to all that love and follow him Live therefore as one that follows the King of Eternity to a blessed Eternity and despise the world Vse diligently such means as will make thee know thy duty and incourage and assist thee in the discharge of it and amongst them good Books which read with attention and a design to make their goodness our own are very useful instruments of Vertue and Religion This I hope will somewhat conduce to their advancement Nay I am sure thou shalt be much better'd by it if thou wilt transcribe it with thy Life as I have with my Pen and make it thy hearty Endeavour as I do my Prayer L. B. THE Authors Dedication TO ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS WIth due Reverence I offer this small volume to you blessed Souls vessels of honour and mercy elect and holy Children of God predestinated to glory before the foundation of the World who being redeemed from death by the bloud of Christ and from sin by the gift of grace are not asham'd to own the despised Cross of your Redeemer For to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to you that are not born of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God You are call'd by the Father to a portion of the inheritance of the Saints in light that ye might be holy and unreprovable in his sight in love and in Christ you are chosen according to the purpose and good pleasure of God not for your own works and merits For you the Blessed Jesus prayed when being ready to leave the world and go to the Father he said I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine He prayed not for the world because all that is in it the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are not of the Father And therefore they that are of the world hear not or at least will not regard and understand the words of eternal life for the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God And though Christ be the true light which lightens every man that comes into the world yet the world sees him not nor knows him neither can it receive the spirit of truth On this will be grounded the iust judgment of the wicked This will be their condemnation that light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil and every one that doth evil hateth the light Now if Christ was a light in his life and doctrine he was so much more in his sufferings he did shine on the Cross most gloriously to all the world The tree of death to which he was tyed became his pulpit whence he preached his divinest Sermons teaching us that great lesson dying which he set while he was alive He that doth not take up my Cross and follow me cannot be my disciple Therefore to take up our Cross and follow Jesus is our greatest safety as well as duty our surest title to glory the Cross is the highest pitch of Christian learning to know Jesus Christ and him Crucified I heartily wish that they that shall read the ensuing Precepts and Practical Rules may have sanctified affections and a clear understanding that by the divine grace they may be brought to know and to follow the truth And my prayer for them is that God would strengthen them by his good Spirit in the inner man that love may abound in them more and more and that they may be sincere and unblameable replenisht with the fruits of righteousness pleasing to God in all things without contention and without offence I also beg for my self of the divine goodness that the glorious light of Christ may enlighten and guide my mind and that his strength may be perfected in my weakness lest after having preached to others I my self should become a cast-away by acting contrary to my own instructions And therefore I also beseech you good friends of God Blessed Christians who are the sheep of his Pasture remember me in your Prayers that what I teach I may fulfil that the precepts contained in this Book may be my practice by his divine grace and assistance without whom we can do nothing who with the Father and the Holy-Ghost liveth and reigneth one ever glorious and adored God Amen Imprimatur Geo. Hooper R. P. D. GIL Ep. Cant. Ã Sacris Dom. May 29. 1677. THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART PART I. Of the Christian Life and of its end and offices Pag. 1 CHAP. I. OF the distribution of all Christians into three ranks good middle-sort and bad ibid. CHAP. II. A further Description of
our Blessed Saviour commanding to all without distinction Luke 11.41 Give Alms of such things as you have And the great Preacher of Repentance injoyn'd the multitudes that asked him what they should do Luke 3.11 He that hath two Coats let him impart to him that hath none and he that hath meat let him do likewise I hear the Psalmist declaring that Blessed is he that considereth the Poor for the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble Psal 41.1 And the Prophet instructing all Penitents on this wise Deal thy Bread to the Hungry and bring the Poor that are cast out to thy House when thou seest the naked cover him and hide not thy self from thine own flesh Isa 58.7 I hear Religious Tobit giving this Lesson to his Son Give Alms of thy substance and when thou givest Alms let not thy hand be Envious neither turn thy face from any Poor and the Face of God shall not be turned away from thee If thou hast abundance give Alms accordingly If thou have but little be not afraid to give according to that little for thou layest up a good Treasure for thy self against the day of Necessity because that Alms do deliver from Death and suffer not to come into darkness Tob. 4.7 c. 3. What can be said more than all this to prove Alms-giving to be much a Duty and most advantagious But yet let us hear also what the Beloved Apostle saith in this matter 1 John 3.17 Whoso hath this Worlds good and seeth his Brother hath need and shutteth up his Bowels of Compassion from him how dwelleth the Love of God in Him If not the love of God then self-love that is lust and sin dwell and reign in him and his Portion in the next world shall be with the rich man in the Gospel Luke 16. who was cloathed in purple and fine linnen and fared sumptuously every day and yet would not give Lazarus so much as the crums that fell from his Table The Conscience of the Covetous cryeth or ere long will cry against him why dost thou put by that poor hungry man thou art his murtherer in that thou art able and dost not feed him that Bread which thou canst spare is his those garments which fill up thy Trunks belong to the Naked and the money hoarded in thy Coffers is the just right of the Necessitous Christ in the great Judgment will condemn to Hell such merciless wretches as thou art Go ye saith he into Everlasting Fire for I was hungry and you fed me not I was thirsty and you gave me no drink naked and ye clothed me not Mat. 25.42 He doth not mention such pressing extream necessities as must be now supplied and could be relieved by none else such occur but seldome not once perhaps in a mans life Therefore we must not stay for such Extremities to be Charitable but we must spare as much as we can and what we can we must give in Good Works for Charity is the band of perfectness and shall cover a multitude of sins Neither yet must we as some do delay our Charity till we can keep no longer what we have That which Death makes us give if we could have given it before will be nothing so acceptable as what we our selves freely distribute when we have power to keep it CHAP. XVIII Of Patience in Bearing and Forbearing 1. OF all the Virtues wherein Christians must exercise themselves that they may come to Life Eternal none is more excellent and none more useful than Patience By it we imitate the forbearance and long-suffering of God who provoked by so much wickedness and disobedience yet doth good to all men and makes his Sun to rise upon the Just and the Unjust Patience governs the mind and preserves it in Peace and an even Temper it breaks Anger and bridles the Tongue and mortifies Pride and a high Spirit it ends Quarrels and entertains Friendship and it conquers the World it tames the Flesh overcomes Temptations bears nobly and meekly reproaches and persecutions and it perfects and crowns the life of a Christian If all men were Patient the evils of mankind would be nothing so great nor so numerous as they are and we should be happy with abundance of love and quietness By Patience a wise and good man may be distinguish'd from a vicious fool It is so diffusive a vertue that it is necessary to all other vertues and contrary to all vices and God instructs and proves the best of his Children by exercising their Patience Nothing can hinder but that injurious Words and Actions shall affect and stir up our minds and nothing but Patience can make us masters of our selves can pacifie our tumultuous Spirits and restrain us from mischief and revenge 2. Philosophers themselves have extold very high the Praises of this excellent vertue and they made it the chiefest mark and ostentation of their own wisdome But as they know not the true God from whom proceeds and to whom tends all true vertue so their Patience was false as well as their wisdom But we that live in the School of Christ are taught by him that through many Tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God and this is the only true wisdom to know Jesus Christ and him crucified and to love and chearfully bear his Cross For a Christian must be made conformable to his Crucified Saviour our life must be the Image of his Death So that he is no Christian that hates and refuseth the Cross and will not suffer Let none of us sinful men that own God for Father expect to be without Chastisement in this World for his own natural Beloved Son was not though he was without sin even the Christ was to suffer that he might enter into his Glory Every one in this life is visited with pains and sorrows either for his conversion or for his greater perfection but the most afflicted endures nothing that can be compar'd to the shame and the Cross of Christ CHAP. XIX Adversities are occasions of Vertue and must be Patiently indur'd 1. THis our present Life is the way through which we must go to Heaven and in it we find all the properties that belong to a way sometimes it is even sometimes rough sometimes it is pleasant sometimes full of briers rocks and precipices in some places it is crowded with company in some it is desart and solitary and here and there you meet with wild beasts and robbers rain and fair weather daily succeed each to other obstacles and difficulties frequently occur and even in Grace and Religion the Philosophers saying doth take place Omnia fieri secundum litem that there is contention and opposition in all things We see it in Vertue which is acquired by fighting by resisting Temptations and mans strength and fortitude would be unknown and of no use should he not meet with afflictions and uneasie tryals I know this is not the sense of the world the fools party
that it is good for me to hold me fast by my God and to put in him alone my whole confidence and not in Princes or Friends or even Brothers who as they have all a distinct being have also different ends and seek from us every one his own advantage being ever ready to forsake us as soon as they shall think we are become useless to them This light therefore we ought gladly to receive and follow that appearances and pleasing illusions put not a cheat upon us and make us seek for happiness in the creatures which are as if they were not and have no value but what the ignorant vulgar attributes to them and make us forsake God who remains for ever who is the fountain of all being and the author of all good things out of whom there is no rest no peace no felicity to be had He that departs from the supreme happiness thereby becomes miserable in the highest degree CHAP. XIII How men spend themselves and their time and abuse all things to their own ruine 1. THE Life of man runs round and spends it self within this circle they eat and drink they sleep and wake that they may return to the same again they scrape together as much as they are able and there is no end of their acquists they will live as merrily as they can and die as late as possible may be betwixt their baptism and the hour of death there lies a confused heap of acts of sin and acts of Religion of penitent confessions and wilful relapses of Sacramental vows and breaches of them No day passeth over without they add to the number of their transgressions and they all go on heedlesly without considering what will be the end of their course of life and they all run when but a few care how they come to the end of their race because they consider not what reward and glory is prepared in Heaven to them that remain faithful to their Christian engagements overcoming the world and the flesh for to follow Christ 2. God created the whole universe and in it man to his image giving him an understanding to know his maker a will to love and obey him a memory to think of his laws faculties to serve him and a tongue to praise him but then as he made man for himself so he created the whole world for man that he might use all things for his own happiness and for the glory of God the giver of all But ungrateful man unmindful of his duty drawn by the deceit of voluptuousness minds only his sensual pleasure useth or rather abuseth his knowledge and reason his riches and honours his health and life and all other enjoyments to the displeasure and dishonour of God his gracious benefactor who freely granted him all those things that if he would make a good use of them they might be instruments of his present ease and well being and of his future eternal happiness So great is the folly and perversness of man that he abuseth that to his own ruine which God intended and gave him for his greater good CHAP. XIV That the right way to Heaven is every one to remain in the station Providence hath appointed him and therein bear the crosses which he meets withal 1. EVery man that aims at the right end must guide his course thither by the measures of Eternity and that in a way sutable to the circumstances of his condition This necessary Rule is not observ'd by all for many following their own fancies unadvisedly forsake that way wherein Divine providence had brought them and take some other of their own chusing Like Naaman the Syrian who though he much longed to be cur'd of his leprosie yet refused to use the easie remedy prescrib'd by the Prophet and preferring what he himself had fancied had gone away in anger diseased as he came had not his wiser servant hindred it After this manner many following their own heads undertake many things which they cannot perform but which only vex and distract them being above their abilities or inconsistent with the necessary occupations which they lie under so that they can neither act nor advance towards the desired end but spend themselves in unprofitably wishing that things were otherwise than they are 2. But the short and ready way to Bliss is that which our Blessed Saviour hath shew'd us saying Let him that will come after me take up his Cross and follow me His Cross he saith not that which was to be another man's burthen the Cross which God lays upon him and hath fitted for him and given him strength to bear not that which he foolishly shall take up and soon after poorly sink under These two things must therefore carefully be heeded first that a man understand perfectly what is the right end at which he should aim without this all deliberations concerning the means are to no purpose and secondly that knowing that good end he keeps his mind intent upon 't and take that plain path towards it which lies before him and agrees with his state and condition therein bearing his Cross chearfully as the Lord hath commanded Now this is every man's Cross to discharge well the duties of his place and of his several relations to bear patiently those afflictions which he daily meets in his way and constantly by doing better and better that which belongs to his province to endeavour after the highest perfection attainable therein Every man in his proper station in that calling wherein he is called may best become a good Christian perfect holiness in the fear of God and at last obtain happiness CHAP. XV. How man 's last end or supreme happiness is qualified and how so many mistake and miss it 1. THese be the inseparable properties of the last and highest end at which man should aim that it be perfectly good and perfectly satisfactory so that being once obtain'd nothing else is wanted and nothing else desir'd for whoever wants any thing desires it also and he that desires is not satisfied is not yet come to that last end beyond which his wishes can go no further that is is not possest of God who alone is infinitely good and can alone replenish all our desires and capacities I shall be satisfied when thy glory appears saith the Psalmist or I shall be satisfied with thy likeness Psal 17.15 that and nothing else can perfectly do it 2. Yet such is the perverse and incurable folly of man that he will have that to be best which he loves best though by the testimony of others and the conviction of his own conscience he knows it to be evil And therefore many either ignorantly or perversly pursue after that which is good only in appearance and forsake that which is good indeed And they thereby become disorderly wretched and criminal enemies to God lovers of the thorny pleasures of sin and lovers of that fatal darkness which hides their sorrows the snares among which
to righteousness unto holiness as it is written Be ye holy for I am holy saith the Lord. Lev. 11.45 3. Now as Christianity checks and restrains self-love so doth self-love keep men from understanding and approving the Christian doctrines for how can he that seeks and loves himself rightly apprehend that whatever the world dotes upon is meer vanity that Estates and Honours bring great vexations and great slavery that to forgive Enemies and do good to them that hate us is the part of a noble and generous mind that 't is better to despise than to possess riches that 't is more honourable to be subject where God commands than to bear rule and to domineer that for a man to restrain his appetite and conquer himself is more glorious than to win battels and take fenced Cities These are Paradoxes hard and incredible sayings to the self-lover whose fondness of himself ties him fast to this earth to whatever can be useful and any ways pleasant to the flesh whereas the Children of God live to God being not led and govern'd by the flesh but by the spirit they live in the flesh but not after the flesh some of their actions are natural whilest they are in the body yet they proceed from a supernatural principle and are designed to a nobler end for they continually deny themselves and mortifie all sensual unruly desires Self-lovers hold a great regard should be had to the flesh 't is true but it must be such as Christ hath taught us to keep it under otherwise Saint Paul hath declar'd that to be carnally minded is death CHAP. XXXI That Self-love is that Babylon out of which God hath called us 1. GOD at first placed man in Paradise but Adam in whom we all sinned transported us into this world out of Paradise out of Jerusalem into Babylon out of our freedom into slavery out of integrity into corruption out of our countrey into banishment and out of life into death Thus from truth and perfection we fell into vanity we are now like unto vanity nay every man is but vanity as the Psalmist saith Psal 39.6 Man is vain in his body which ends in death and corruption vain in his soul which being inslav'd to sin is obnoxious to death eternal and vain in all his outward enjoyments which all perish or must be forsaken when he dies Yet man strangely dotes on this vanity he passionately runs after these transitory things which are all cheats and lies whereby he is drawn into thousands of pernicious errors and out of the Heavenly Jerusalem into a Hellish Babylon 2. Now these two Cities are built by two sorts of love to love God so as to despise our selves makes the City of God and to love our selves so as to despise God makes the Devils Babylon the City of this World The way to this is broad and short to that is streight difficult and long because dull and earthly as now we are we more easily fall on the earth and descend down to Hell than we can raise up our selves and ascend to Heaven Let every man therefore examine himself and find out what he chiefly loves for if he loves God so as to deny himself he is doubtless a Citizen of the Jerusalem which is from above but if he loves himself so as to prefer his own desires to God 't is plain he belongs to that Babylon out of which God hath called his Children For thus the Scripture cries aloud Go ye forth of Babylon and remove out of the midst of her Isa 48.20 Jer. 50.8 and again the Psalmist Psal 137.8 O Daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones We come out of Babylon when we leave the confusion of sin forsaking our disorderly course of life and we dash the children of Babylon against the stone when our love to Christ overcomes our ill desires and ill inclinations Self-love is the death of the Soul and the love of God is its life therefore he doth not truly love himself who by self-love destroys himself CHAP. XXXII How men naturally seek themselves even in their best works 1. IT may seem strange to observe that whereas mens opinions and inclinations are so various and different yet all men are agreed in this that none appears vile to himself none is willing to yield and submit to others none though never so mean but thinks himself somebody and is desirous to be taken notice of every one seeks to be higher than others every one is indulgent to himself and severe to others all men will have their will and their saying all applaud to their own inventions and conceits and censure others they count their own follies wisdome and notwithstanding their great ignorance there is nothing but what they think to know They carefully hide their own faults and pretend to those virtues they know they have not And what is most of all to be wonder'd at even good men who endeavour to please God and seem to aim at nothing but his honour and glory Even they sometimes in their best actions by a secret and natural instinct almost unknown to themselves seek their own comfort and complacency most of all and the more excellent are their works the more subtil and undiscernable is this snare which self-love sets to the most spiritual 2. What better than to obey God to read his Sacred Word and preach it to receive and administer his Holy Sacraments Yet these duties are commonly stain'd with some secret desire of praise and except the Christian be very watchful over his own heart he may easily lose his better reward Though I speak with the tongues of men and Angels saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.1 and have not Charity I am become like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal And though a man should give all his goods to the Poor and even his Body to be burnt yet without Charity without the love of God hath purified his heart it will profit him nothing According to the saying of the Prophet Haggai 1.6 Ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but ye are not filled with drink and he that earns wages earneth wages to put into a bag with holes for thus good works avail nothing if done out of respect to our selves and not to please God This being therefore the bent of our corrupt nature to draw us to our selves we ought carefully to examine our selves and search the hidden corners of our hearts that there lurk not in them some ill purpose of vain-glory or self-interest to mix with our best actions either first or last This is the Rule of a true Christian Life always to seek and love the things of God and never his own CHAP. XXXIII Things which every Christian is bound to know in order to obedience 1. EVery Disciple of Christ ought to know those Divine and Human Laws under which he lives and the which he is
from the other for they are all vain and uncertain and in a moment they come to nothing Wherefore David the man after Gods own heart passing by all temporal things entertain'd his meditation with things Eternal I have considered the days of old and the years of Eternity Psal 77.5 And Solomon his Son the wisest of men after a long and comprehensive enumeration of all things good and bad under the Sun concludes that all is vanity vanity of vanities Eccles 1.2 CHAP. XXXVI Three things very profitable and necessary to every Christian 1. THat we may be faithful to God as we are oblig'd we must of necessity attend to these three things First to watch and observe our selves and our actions at all times that we turn not aside out of the right path into by-ways difficult and unpassable seeking for happiness where it is not in spight of all admonitions By reason a Christian differs from the brutes and by Faith from unbelievers so that when he doth any thing rashly and basely meerly to satisfie his unruly passion and his appetite so far he becomes a beast and ceaseth to act as man and likewise when for vain-glory or self-interest he is drawn to action in this he acts like a Heathen Faith hath no hand in it As Arts are attained and perfected by working according to the rules of them so a man becomes Wise Just Sober and Patient by living according to the prescript of those Virtues 2. The second thing recommended is a good and careful use of our time on which depends Eternity Philosophers would have us not only know things useful but also be studious and watchful to take hold of all opportunities of virtue because time passeth away and comes not again and once lost is lost for ever Time flies away and the unwise man considers not that 't is never to be recall'd and that with time he loseth more than he can think or ever recover It may be pleasant indeed to pass away the time in sports and merry company but so doth our day go away and the night comes when no man can work and we lose the acceptable time that time that was given us to obtain our Pardon and work out our Salvation in We must give an account for every idle word much more for that time which is spent idly 3. The third thing we are carefully to mind is to make a right use of the Sacraments especially that of the Lord's Supper which if frequently and devoutly received would be to us a fountain of grace profitable beyond expression and the more in that penitence as a Sacramental is joyn'd to it whereby we are humbled and cleansed and our hearts prepar'd to entertain Christ whom we receive in the Holy Communion and from whom we receive increase of love to God and of meekness and charity to men As a covetous man minds nothing but gain and money and is always gasping after it so the devout Christian duly and often receives the Blessed Eucharist always pants and longs after God and cannot without trouble mind any thing but him And it is the principle of a heavenly life to despise and forsake all things that have not a relation to God CHAP. XXXVII That Repentance is necessary to all Christians 1. EVery Christian ought so to live and die in such continual regret and mortification as to make it appear he is a true Penitent who endeavours to make what satisfaction he can for his sins and entirely to be cleansed from the guilt of them This was the beginning and is the sum of the Gospel Mark 1.4 John did baptize in the Wilderness and Preach the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of sins And the Blessed Jesus himself the Author and finisher of our Faith made it the first subject of his preaching Verse 14. Jesus came into Galilee Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand repent ye and believe the Gospel Or as Saint Matthew relates it 4.17 Jesus began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand Repentance was first sent to prepare men duly to entertain the Gospel that their Souls might be purified and fitted to receive Divine Grace which never enters wicked hearts nor abides with them that yield their bodies to be instruments of unrighteousness 2. But Penitence is a Sacrifice well pleasing to God when a man is sensible of his sin and confesseth it with shame and sorrow and with a broken contrite heart begs Pardon of his offended God For the greatest evil in sin is a contempt of the Divine Majesty to live in sin is to live in enmity and defiance against the Great and Holy God and to this desperate impiety men are betrayed by infidelity and by inconsideration For who is there so mad and presumptuous that would dare transgress the Divine Laws if he believed and understood that God is Almighty and infinitely Good and Glorious and that an offence against so high a Majesty is heinous beyond expression But to this height of wretched folly men are carried by original depravation that as being seiz'd on by an unhappy frenzy they have a secret aversion to God the chiefest good and delight themselves in impure shadows in base and false enjoyments and this because they see not the truth or they have not power to follow it 3. How great and deplorable is this blindness and impotency we cannot well understand except we seriously consider that the guilt and malignancy of sin was so extreme that nothing could make expiation for it but the bitter death and passion of the Blessed and only Son of God This if we believe and if we are sensible of the intolerable burthen of our sins we are to pass our days in sorrow and to spend our years in mourning thereby to own our selves guilty and that we have deserv'd the worst the greatest of evils For God readily forgives those sins which penitence and amendment indeavour to undo CHAP. XXXVIII Of the signs and effects of true Repentance 1. WE shall never be in a capacity to avoid sin when the temptation comes except the soul hath conceiv'd a great horror and detestation of it and our penitential exercises will soon be at an end except we hunger and thirst after Righteousness so as never to be satiated without it Therefore when we humble and punish our selves and when we make our confession to God or his ministers we should besides contrition and a resolution in general to sin no more design the extirpation of some one particular sin to avoid and prevent the occasions of that one sin which is most dangerous and importunate Hence will accrue to us a great advantage of our penitence and we shall the better bring forth fruits worthy of Repentance such as these fear to offend and displease God any ways a great dread of his just judgment to check and reprove our selves
with shame and confusion of face to be ready to make all satisfaction and amends possible for past offences to restrain and mortify all sinful appetites carefully to avoid all the ways and allurements to sin to humble our selves and willingly to bear contempt frequently to examine our conscience and search the secrets of our hearts to root out as much as is possible all vicious desires and inclinations and to set in their stead all virtuous and holy affections 2. They that make this their serious and constant employment have their own sins before their eyes but have no eyes for the sins of others they grieve for their own offences and punish their own follies but they pass by or excuse the faults of others they see their own danger and are always afraid of falling and always watchful not to fall For our necessary converse with the World our ill customs and our dwelling with baits and temptations exposeth us to sin and yet takes the sense of it from us especially our evil inclinations which being born with us have a strong party in our hearts and begin by times to deprave or harden Conscience that it shall hardly have any feeling of sins daily committed And then this is the unhappiness of contracting ill habits that the oftner we act by them the more we confirm them and the less we observe our faults and errors CHAP. XXXIX Remedies against ordinary failings and greater sins 1. TO fall into those sins which some call Venial or sins of daily incursion is hardly to be avoided and yet even those sins cannot be said to be little that are committed against a great God and for which we must suffer Eternal Torments if we our selves were to make expiation for them But though there is pardon for those unavoidable errors which without a special grace we cannot but commit at some time yet ought we to endeavour with all our power daily to lessen the number of them and to prevent them by acts of contrary virtues one by one To that end we should be as careful as men are in contagious times who not only avoid infected persons but also all that hath toucht and been about them so should we in the case of those sins that are counted light avoid and stop all the ways and avenues that lead to them Lest we falling frequently at last fall into the pit of death 2. Every moment almost we have some temptation to vain talk or vain inquisitiveness to anger or unseemly jesting to contention or impatience to idle thoughts and distraction or to such like sins which are the more difficult to be avoided that being mixt with all our worldly affairs they are hardly to be discern'd Therefore we must at least secure this that however our nature stands affected to any of those lesser sins yet our hearts may not entertain any love for them lest our own affections hinder us carefully to watch and strive against them Without this our after-Repentance and our Sacramental vow will signifie little to obtain remission of them or victory against them I know that 't is said of these failings that the just man falls seven times a day but yet certain it is that the just man endeavours against it and that he never falls but by frailty or by sudden surprise 3. Likewise for vices or greater sins to conquer them you must stifle them in the birth suppress the first motion to them and meet the temptation with an act of virtue contrary to it As for example if you be abused and provok'd refrain the first stirring of Anger and then busie your mind with some act of Patience and Humility considering that you suffer that and less than that you deserve praying for him that doth you wrong and resolving to do him any kindness you can For thus we best avoid evil by studying to do that which is good and the last is as much our duty as the first and that servant deserves no great reward who doth not strike and revile his master if he doth not withal faithfully serve and obey him In this many deceive themselves who think to have made sure work of their Salvation because they have not been wicked when yet they have neglected positive duties and have not done those good works which God requir'd from them Cease to do evil learn to do good both are equally commanded not to transgress by omission no more than commission CHAP. XL. Clergy-men have some especial obligations though all are bound to endeavour after perfection 1. THough the same institutes of Christian perfection be delivered to all and all are to walk by the same rule as has been shew'd before Chap. 7. Yet it cannot be denyed but that Clergy-mens obligations to a strict devout life are much inforced upon them by their particular calling For they are not only oblig'd to be holy themselves but also by their life and doctrine to set forth the glory of God and set forward the Salvation of all men In order to which they must be very careful so to follow after virtue and all things that are honest and of good report so to live and so to converse with men that their words and actions may speak them and others may acknowledge them to be indeed the sons of God and ministers of Christ and to this the least neglect and remissness will be very prejudicial because they are observ'd by all and men generally are apt to judge and to follow the worst 2. They must remember that as all Christians are but Stewards and have nothing of their own and must use the World as not possessing it and as being ready to part with it so they more especially are to count nothing their own and that little they have as well as themselves must be subservient to the design of their function They must remember that they are not only as others oblig'd to live by the Gospel-Rules but that besides they have devoted themselves to the service of the Church and have vow'd obedience to its constitutions and so far are barr'd from their own will which must comply with that order and commission they have taken And most of all let them remember that Christ himself whose servant they are humbled himself came in the form of a servant became of no reputation became poor for us though he were Lord of all and became obedient to the death Professing he was not come do his own will but the will of him that sent him 3. What will it avail to read the instructions and examples of Christ and his Saints if we follow them not those things were written for our learning and are set before us for our imitation It hath been said by some that no Christian comes to Heaven that is not a Martyr we must all be prepar'd for it and indeed that mortification and self-denyal which all Christians especially spiritual guides are oblig'd to use is a kind of Martyrdom without bloud is
forth to some outward imployment by necessity or by Gods glory yet his thoughts will always tend homeward to dwell in peace with the inner man in an humble and quiet heart wherein there is always a sense of Gods gracious presence Whereas he that is too intent and busie about the circumference of unsettled creatures shall not be able to come to his proper rest and center which is God 2. To the ignorant foolish World it is very grievous to be alone and converse with themselves but for a few hours they are afraid of themselves and they make it their chiefest care to be ingag'd abroad and to avoid their own company They spend much of their time upon the necessities of this present life and yet what remains of it lies upon them like a heavy burthen and they are glad to find out occasions to throw it away They dread to look within and to hear the voice of their own conscience and finding nothing in themselves but fearful apprehensions vexation and tediousness of spirit they range abroad and go for comfort to other creatures Serious thoughts are a terror to them and consideration is as bad as death because their Soul lies naked and deformed loaded with sins and miseries and they have just cause to avoid the sight of such a Spectacle No wonder therefore if but a few men love to be private and to be sequestred from the World when so many desire to be in a croud and a perpetual hurry and esteem themselves unhappy when they must be alone as indeed unhappy they are and must be until they rectifie many things and learn to confer and live with themselves and by inward purity invite God to dwell in their hearts that there they may rest in him We are told that many are called and but a few chosen that we might learn to forsake the many and live with the few and with fear and diligent care make our Calling and Election sure CHAP. XIV Of the Danger of Riches and that the desire of them is to be mortified 1. HOW apt Riches are to corrupt a good Life how pernicious is the love of them our Blessed Saviour taught his Disciples when he affirm'd with an asseveration as being a thing of great moment and much to be noted Verily I say unto you that a Rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.23 And that this terrible sentence might make the deeper impression upon their hearts he exemplifies Rich mens danger by this Parable It is easier for a Camet to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a Rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God The Door of the Heavenly Kingdom is narrow and can give no entrance to such as are loaded and cumbred with fardels of Wealth We should therefore love and desire Riches as a sick man doth a bitter Potion it is necessary to recover health but it is unpleasant and if he could be well without it he would let it alone and however he takes no more than needs must so should every Christian be affected to the things of the World they are the staff of our Pilgrimage and our necessities require the use of them but yet they are vexatious and dangerous too and therefore we may wish we could live without them and we must take no more of them than is requisite to supply our wants for as the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness with Contentment is great gain And 't was the Counsel of a good man Fear not my Son though we are made Poor for thou hast much wealth if thou fear God and depart from all Sin Tob. 4.21 2. He is truly Rich that is Rich to Eternity and hath a Treasure of Good Works in store But they can hardly be Innocent that will be Rich in the World for the love of Riches is the Root of all Evil. Men care not what sins they commit so they may get Wealth and when they have it its great use is to purchase therewith the satisfaction of their Lusts the Lust of the Eyes the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life which are the Idols of the World But as some that play with pibbles and pins are very intent to their game when yet they value not the instruments of it so should we care for our necessities and yet not set our hearts upon those things that supply them we may use money to that end but we may not inslave our affections to it except we will become most base and miserable We see when Nuts are thrown among Children they will greedily scrape and fight for them and Men will stand unconcern'd and despise such trash so should we as many as fear God and are true Christians when Riches and Honours are to be got and men that know and expect no better will croud and strive and sweat for them let us laugh and pitty their folly those things are but Nuts not worth our stooping if any fall into our bosome we may break it and eat it but 't is below us to scramble for them all Worldly things are meer deceit and vanity When the Son of God became Man he would have no Riches to teach us how much we should despise them The Children of this World like not of this they rather despise Christ and his Divine Doctrine because they love and esteem Mammon but the Children of light gather their Treasure in Heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupteth and where thieves cannot break through nor steal He is Rich enough in this World that wants not Daily Bread CHAP. XV. Of the Vse of Riches and how to know we Love them not 1. FEW understand or consider how to use their Estates aright that they are the provision for this present short Life which a good man obtains without any wrong to others and own without Pride or Covetousness and preserves without anxious fears and distributes without regret or nigardliness where Charity and Necessity call Now the measures of Necessity are to be taken from the Man's state and condition For some by birth or by place are Noble and dignified Persons who in respect of their ranks which should be Honourably maintain'd have greater wants than their inferiors who may have sufficient with a lesser Portion Yet however we are all but Stewards of what we possess and we should all study Alms and Moderation that God our great Land-lord may find us faithful For he is the true owner of all that we have we are but Servants under him who should use all for his glory and in the midst of our plenty be voluntarily Poor as to our selves And when Riches increase should not be proud nor set our heart upon them 2. Nature hath hid Gold and Silver in the bowels of the Earth and the Covetous that seeks for those beloved mettals is bowed down and stoops to the ground and can hardly raise up himself to look to Heaven but the wiser Christian looks
uncertainty every Christian ought exceedingly to fear and with trembling and an assiduous care indeavour to make his election sure living in that Faith which worketh by Love and declaring by his good works that he is one of that little but blessed number to whom God will give his Kingdom 2. Now that that number is but little compared with the greater multitude of the wicked unhappy world nay that the number of the chosen is but small even of them that profess the Gospel and are capable of chusing life or death we have too many reasons to believe And our Blessed Saviour intimates so much when he warns his disciples of the difficulties of coming into that blessed Kingdom of which the entrance is narrow Mat. 7.13 Enter ye in at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that go in thereat Then he adds as wondring at this narrowness because strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Being also asked another time Lord are there but few that shall be saved he gives no other answer but this Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13.23 King David also inquiring Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill the holy Spirit suggests this answer he that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness Psal 15. And in the twenty fourth Psalm he questioning again Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord he is likewise answered He that hath clean hands and a pure heart and hath not lift up his Soul unto vanity Now who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Prov. 20.9 Who can say to David I shall for I work righteousness and I am innocent 3. Our Blessed Saviour saith Mat. 10.38 He that taketh not his Cross and follows after me is not worthy of me Now where are they that thus willingly take their Cross and suffer with Christ or rather how sadly doth St. Paul's saying fit our Age All seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christs Phil. 2.21 Our Blessed Redeemer who alone hath the keys of Heaven and knows how we must be qualified before we come thither affirms Mat. 18.3 Verily I say unto you except ye be converted and become as little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Which saying if compared with the pride of men it will be found that but a few by meekness and humility seek to become children to be heirs of the Heavenly Kingdome It is declar'd by St. Paul Rom. 8.29 That those whom God foreknew he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son But who is the man can boast that his life is conform to the Life of Christ and who is he that suffers with Christ that he may be with him glorified It is a saying that belongs to all If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments Mat. 19.17 But they are all gone out of the way they are altogether become abominable there is none that doth good no not one Psal 14.3 The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence saith the King of Heaven Mat. 11.12 and the violent take it by force Now this violence being against Nature there are but few that will offer it to themselves by forgoing any present sensual satisfaction on the account of that Kingdom which is out of the reach of sense not now to be enjoyed but expected only by Faith If all our Righteousnesses are as filthy rags as the Prophet saith Isa 64.6 What are then our sins and iniquities If the Righteous scarcely shall be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear 1 Pet. 4.18 4. None but eight persons of the old world were saved with Noah in the Ark all the rest of mankind perisht in the floud Lot alone with his wife and two daughters escaped the conflagration of the infamous Cities all the other Inhabitants were consumed by the revenging flames And of six hundred thousand Jews that came out of Egypt two only Caleb and Joshua came into the Land of Promise Now those things were examples representations of things to come denoring that the number of those that come to life is but small in respect of the greater number of such as go to perdition Which is yet further but too evident by confidering how most men live and die how few give any certain marks of true contrition Fear and sorrow extort groans and good words and death forceth men to recant and 't is much to be feared there is seldome any sincerity in a late death-bed repentance For how can he begin to live well that is now dying how can he heartily detest those pleasures of sin which he loved and enjoyed as long as he liv'd how hardly will he now he a true penitent who before abhorred all the mortifications of true penitence how will his resolutions be prov'd effectual if he should esâ—ape for the forsaking those sins which custom hath made habitual and almost a second nature how shall now his sensual mind lift up it self to those spiritual heavenly things which he before seldom or never regarded and how shall he straitned by time and sad circumstances exercise those vertues contrary to the sins he repents of to make it appear by his life that there is a change in his heart 5. 'T is known by experience that very few when the pains and the danger is over stand to those resolves and promises which they made in the day of sorrow Generally men forget and are asham'd afterwards of what they promised and resolv'd and they soon return to their customary vices and beloved vanities Especially because there is still a secret reserve in those resolutions of amendment made in their distress there being still some hope of an escape till they are at the worst and then they are altogether passive and can act no longer or at the best their strength and rational faculties are so weakned there are such anxious fears and trepidations when the Soul is nigh to depart that men are almost distracted and know not what they do We may hope well of them who though they liv'd ill yet gave signs of repentance when they were dying But this is a desperate venture there is much of uncertainty and nothing of safety in their condition We have a sad example of this in King Antiochus read Maccab. 9. what vows he made while he was under his grievous sickness He thought himself in earnest no doubt but God knew the unsincerity of his heart that his repentance proceeded from the fear of death and would therefore no more have mercy upon him as the text affirms And who can consider all this and not tremble who will dare to presume he hath nothing to do and that his Salvation is sure who in the midst of so many and so great dangers will dwell as in safety and not watch and call upon God therefore because the chosen are few fewer perhaps than we think let us not go with the many nor follow the croud but let us live with the small select number of truly good and religious Christians that we may have comfort and confidence when our life is ended that we may with an humble and well-grounded hope look up to God and expect that gracious reward he hath promised to his faithful servants to all that sincerely love and obey him THE END A CATALOGUE of some Books Printed for and Sold by Henry Brome MR. Comber on the Common-Prayer in Three Volumes Dr. Spark's Primitive Devotions on the Feasts and Fasts of the Church of England Bishop Wilkins Natural Religion The Fathers Legacy or Counsels to his Children being the whole Duty of Man in three parts very useful for Families Christian Education of Children Cardinal Bona's Guide to Eternity Extracted out of the Writings of the Holy Fathers and Ancient Philosophers The Reformed Monastery or the Love of Jesus A sure and short but a pleasant and easie way to Heaven In two Parts Written Originally in Latin by the same Author A Guide to Heaven from the World or good Counsel how to close savingly with Christ Holy Anthems of the Church The Brief Rule of Life The Crums of Comfort Mr. Farindon-'s Sermons Several Sermons at Court and at other Places A Discourse concerning the Operations of the Holy Spirit Together with a Confutation of some part of Dr. Owen's Book upon that Subject A Discourse concerning God's Judgments Resolving many weighty Questions and Cases relating to them Preached for the substance of it at Old Swinford in Worcester-Shire And now published to accompany the annexed Narrative concerning the Man whose Hands and Legs lately rotted off in the neighbouring Parish of Kings-Swinford in Stafford-Shire Penned by another Author By Simon Ford D. D. and Rector of the said Parish Christianity no Enthusiasm or the Several Kinds of Inspirations and Revelations pretended to by the Quakers Tried and found Destructive to Holy Scripture and True Religion In Answer to Thomas Ellwood's Defence thereof in his Tract Miscalled Truth Prevailing c. A Narrative of the Principal Actions occurring in the Wars betwixt Sueden and Denmark before and after the Roschild Treaty