he has not let him not glory but let him continue in that which is Good and not be Negligent or contemn his Neighbour neither Let him justifie himself till as the Blessed Apostle says the Lord come who searcheth into the most secret things for we are often even to our selves in the dark as to what we do we are ignorant But the Lord comprehends all things Wherefore yielding and ascribing Judgment to him let us be Patient one with another and bear one another's Burthens and Judge our selves and whereinsoever we are behind hand let us strive to fill up our Defects And pray let me desire you to take this Rule as a Preservative against Offending Let all of us mark and write down all our Actions and Motions in order to declare them to one another and ye may be confident that if we always blush to be known we shall forbear offending nay so much as thinking any ill thing for Who would Sin a Sin for which he must presently undergo open Shame By this Means who-ever offends cann't be secret without lying By this Means we should never fornicate as being always in one another's Sight But by writing and communicating our Thoughts we shall keep from inward Impurity through Shame of having it known Let our Paper therefore serve us instead of the Eyes of our Fellow-Asceticks that our blushing when we write them down in order to be seen may prevent our Lusting amiss in any case By keeping close to this Model of Discipline we shall have Power to subdue the Body and so please the Lord and to tread the Wiles of the Enemy under Feet This he said to all that met him He us'd to sympathize and pray together with all Sufferers and in many Cases the Lord heard him When he was heard he did not boast and when he was not heard he did not murmur But he always and in all Circumstances gave Thanks unto the Lord. He exhorted Patients to Long-suffering and made them know that Healing was not from him or from Men but of the Lord who acts as he pleases both as to what he does and as to the time when he does it Such Discourse as this was to them as a Cure none despising his Lectures But those whose Illness continu'd learnt from him to be patient and those that were Cur'd not to give Thanks to him but to God alone Among others one Fronto a Courtier having a terrible Sickness which eat his Tongue and just affected his Eyes came in the Mount and desir'd Antony to pray for him St. Antony at his request pray'd to God for Fronto and bid him be gone and he should be Healed 29. But Fronto having got into his Cell by Violence and tarrying a whole Day there Antony said Whilst you tarry here you cann't be cur'd Be gone and by that time you come within Sight of Egypt you shall see a Sign wrought upon you St. Antony speaking so positively he was satisfy'd and went his way and as soon as he saw Egypt he was rid of his Malady and became a Sound Man as Antony had assur'd him There is another Remarkable Cure which I must not omit 30. A certain Virgin of Tripolis had a very terrible and foul Distemper for her Tears and her Snot and the running of her Ears turn'd into Worms after it fell upon the Ground besides too she was very Paralytical and had very unnatural Eyes Her Parents having been inform'd of St. Antony by some Monks that were travelling to him and trusting in our Lord who as we read Matt. 20. cur'd an Issue of Blood requested that she might travel with them They granting her request the Child and her Parents went with them and when they came tarry'd without the Mount with Paphnatius a Confessor and a Monk The other Monks went in to St. Antony and just as they were going to acquaint him with it he prevented them and told them of the Child's Disease and her Travelling with them Hearing this they requested the Child might be permitted to enter but St. Antony deny'd their request and bid them go out and they would find the Child either Heal'd or Dead For said he Healing is not an Act of mine Why should she come to me who am a miserable Man To Cure is the Property of our Saviour who exercises Mercy in every Place over all that call upon Him and therefore has favour'd her and her Prayer and has manifested this particular Instance of his Philanthropy to me viz. that he will cure the Child's Disease there This caus'd great Admiration amongst them and they went out and found the Parents Rejoycing and the Child Healthy from that time 31. About this time there had Two Brethren entred upon a Journey and for want of Water one dy'd upon the way and the other was not far from Dying too and therefore having no Strength to travel he also lay upon the Ground expecting to die Now Antony was sitting upon the Mount and call'd Two Monks to him that were hard by and said to them Pray take a Pitcher of Water and run Egypt Road-way for one of two Fellow-Travellers is already dead and the other will die too unless ye make haste for this was discover'd to me as I was a Praying Accordingly the Two Monks went and buried their dead Brother and reviv'd the other and brought him to their venerable Father who was at the distance of a whole Day 's Journey from them If any one should ask Why Antony did not speak before the other dy'd he asks an improper Question for the Sentence of Death did not belong to Antony but to God who determin'd Death for the one and a Recovery by Antony's inter-Agency for the other That which is to be admir'd in Antony is That he had a Soul so stay'd and sedate as to be shew'd things at such a distance by the Lord upon the Mount 32. And a little after as he was sitting again upon the Mount he saw one lifted up on high from the Mount and a great deal of Joy in all that met him He could not but admire and call the Company Blessed and pray'd to know what that might be Then presently came a Voice and told him that 't was the Soul of Ammun a Monk of Nitria Now the distance between Nitria and that Mount is Thirteen Days Journey The Monks seeing the Old Man for he continu'd an Ascetick to his Old Age in such a Maze desired to know the reason of â—t St. Antony told them that Ammun was dead For this Monk was very well known among them because he often came thither and many Miracles were done by him of which this is one Having once an Occasion to go over the River Lycus which was a great Inundation of Waters he desired Theodore to go at a distance from him that they might not see one another Naked as they swam over Then Theodore withdrawing he blush'd to see himself again Naked And as he was blushing
and solicitous he was of a sudden convey'd to the other side Theodore therefore who also was a very Religious Man having seen him got over and not at all wetted with the Water requested to know the manner of his Passage But finding him loth to tell him he took hold of his Feet and protested he would not let him go before he knew Ammun observing the Earnestness of Theodore for the sake of his Protestation consented to tell him after he had engag'd him to tell no Body before he was dead and so told him how he was carry'd over after an invisible manner and laid on the other side He did not walk on the Water nor was the manner of it possible to Men but only possible to those whom our Lord permits as he did St. Peter This Theodore told after Ammun's Death But to return to St. Antony The Monks to whom St. Antony told what he saw noted down the Day in a Book And some Brethren that return'd from Nitria enquir'd about Thirty Days after and brought word that Ammun dy'd the same Day and Hour in which Antony saw the Soul lifted up on high and they greatly admir'd the Purity of Antony's Soul and wondred how he should immediately know what was done at Thirty Days distance and how he saw the Soul carry'd up a-loft But we have fresh Matter of Praise and Wonder from St. Antony still 33. For Archelaus Comes having found him praying by himself in the Outer Mount entreated him on the behalf of Pelycrateia who was an admirable Virgin and full of Christ for she had a Pain in her Stomach and her Side by reason of extream Exercise and was very weakly all over her Body Wherefore Antony pray'd and Archelaus mark'd down the Day whereon Antony pray'd and when he return'd to Laodicea he found the Virgin well and having ask'd them what Day she was first releas'd from her Weakness he took out the Paper in which he writ down the Time when Antony pray'd for her and immediately shew'd them the same time writ down in his Paper So that they were all convinc'd that the Lord deliver'd her from her Pains when Antony was by Prayer forwarding the Goodness of our Saviour towards her 34. He did also oftentimes give Notice many days before hand of Persons that were coming to him Nay sometimes he would tell the reason of their Journey a Month before hand as that some came only to see him others because Distempered others because Possess'd And this we all know of all That none that came to him thought the Labour of his Journey a Trouble or a Loss for every one return'd from him with a Sense of some Benefit receiv'd But notwithstanding he spoke and saw such strange things yet he would not have any one admire him for it but rather to admire the Lord who by his Power has granted us though but Men a Capacity and Liberty to know Him 35. Another time having went down to visit the Outer Monasteries and been prevail'd upon by request to go into a Vessel and pray with the Monks He and He only perceiv'd a wretched and terrible Stink the Company said there was some salt Fish in the Vessel but he perceiv'd another kind of Scent And whilst he was speaking a Young Man that had a Devil and had entred in before them and hid himself cry'd out and the Devil was rebuk'd by St. Antony in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and came out of him and the Young Man was restor'd to his Wits And then they all knew that 't was the Devil that stunk 36. There came to him also a Nobleman that had a Devil Now that Devil was so trouble that the Person that was Possess'd was not so much as sensible that he came to St. Antony and ate his own Ordure Wherefore they that brought him begg'd of St. Antony to pray for him Antony commiserating him pray'd for him and sat up with him all Night and the Noble Youth on a sudden run against St. Antony and hunch'd him Now those that came with him were very much disturb'd at it But Antony said Don't ye be angry with the Youth for 't is not he but the evil Spirit within him for being rebuk'd and commanded to post away into some waterless Places he was enrag'd and did this Therefore glorifie God for his doing thus against me for that is a Sign that he is a going out No sooner had Antony said so but the Youth was well and himself and knew where he was and saluted the Old Man giving Thanks to God 37. Many other such like things did the Monks tell of him and they all agreed in their Relation But as wonderful as these things are there are stranger things yet to be related for as he was going to pray before he eat about the Ninth Hour he was in a Rapture and which is a Paradox as he stood up he saw himself without himself and some other Beings by himself as it were in the Air and afterwards some other bitter and terrible Beings standing by him in the Air too and willing to stop him so that he did not pass But the Angels his Guides and Conveys withstanding them they pretend to exact an Account of him to see whether he was not lyable to them Now they would have took the Account from his Birth But St. Antony's Guides would by no means allow of that and told them That the Lord had blotted all Faults since his Birth But ever since he became a Monk and promis'd to God they might exact an Account Then they having accused him of what they could not prove the Passage became free and presently he saw himself as it were come to himself in a standing Posture and whole again Hereupon having forgot to eat he continu'd all the remaining Day and Night Groaning and Praying for he wonder'd to see how many we fight against and through how great Difficulties any Soul must needs pass thorow the Air. He could not but upon this Occasion call to mind that Saying of the Apostle Eph. 2.2 According to the Prince of the Power of the Air for here 't is that the Enemy exerts his Power in Fighting and attempting to stop those who pass thorow for this Reason he the more earnestly exhorts Christians Eph. 6.13 Take ye the whole Armour of God that the Enemy having no Evil thing to say of you he may be ashamed But we when we had been inform'd of this remembred the Apostle Whether in the Body I know not or out of the Body I know not God knows St. Paul was wrapt up as far as the Third Heaven and heard unutterable Words But Antony saw himself going up into the Air and contended till he was free 38. He had also another particular Favour for as he was sitting on the Mount in a Praying posture of Soul and perhaps gravelled with some doubt relating to himself for not long before he had been conferring with some who
make this as my last Visit to you and shall admire if we should see one another again in this World 'T is time for me now to let go my Body for I am near an Hundred and Five Years Old At this saying they wept clung about him and saluted him But he just as it became one leaving a strange Place for his own Countrey rejoyc'd and charg'd them not to be negligent in Labours nor to faint in Exercise but to live as dying daily and as I said before to keep their Souls from filthy Thoughts and to have a Zeal for the Saints but not to go a-near the Meletian Schismaticks for said he ye know their wicked and prophane purpose nor to have any Correspondence with the Arians for their Impiety is manifest Neither when ye see their Judges in Power be ye troubled for 't will cease and their Opinion and Splendour is mortal and of a short standing wherefore keep ye your selves pure from them and hold the Tradition of your Fathers and principally a pious Faith in our Lord Christ Jesus whom ye have learnt in the Holy Scriptures and have often been put in mind of even by me 57. When he had said this the Brethren urg'd him to tarry and die there But that he would not he shew'd by his silence as for many Reasons so especially for this The Egyptians love to bury the Bodies of Zealots and especially of Martyrs and wrap them up in fine Linnen Now they don't bury them in the Earth but lay them upon Couches and keep them in Repositories by themselves thinking thereby to honour the Deceas'd But Antony often besought the Bishops to warn the People against it and also reprov'd many Lay-Men and Women for it saying That that was neither Lawful nor very Holy for the Bodies of the Patriarchs to this Day are preserv'd in Sepulchres nay even the Body of our Lord Himself was laid in one and a Stone was laid upon it and hid it till he rose again whereby he shew'd them that they transgressed the Law in not hiding the Bodies of the departed although they be Holy for What is greater or more holy than our Lord's Body Many therefore afterwards bury'd under Ground and gave Thanks to God Now St. Antony knowing the Custom of Egypt and fearing lest they should do so by his Body hasted his Departure and took his Leave of the Monks in the Outer Mount and went into the Inner Mount where he us'd to live 58. A few Months after he fell Sick and having call'd to those that were with him for he had Two within with him who had been Asceticks with him Fifteen Years and serv'd him because of his extream Old Age he said to them I now as 't is written go the way of my Fathers for I see my self call'd by my Lord but be ye sober and finish a long-liv'd Exercise Be as earnest to hold fast your Purpose as though you were just beginning Ye know the Devils are plotting against you Ye know they are fierce in Will but weak in Power don't therefore be afraid of them but breath Christ and believe in Him and live as dying every day taking heed to your selves and remembring my Exhortations Hold no Communion with the Schismaticks nor the Arians for ye know how I declin'd them because of their Heterodox and Christ-opposing Heresie Do ye study principally to cleaâ—e unto Christ and his Saints that after Death they may receive you as Friends and Acquaintance into Everlasting Habitations Think upon and relish these Counsels and if ye have any regard for me and do remember me as a Father don't suffer any one to take my Body into Egypt lest they lay me in their Houses for for that reason I came 〈◊〉 Ye know how I have rebuk'd those who did it and â—â—â—â—g'd them to do so no more Do ye therefore bury my Body under Ground and mind my Words that no Body but your selves may know where I am bury'd for I shall receive my Body incorruptible from my Saviour in the Resurrection And pray do ye divide my Cloaths Give one Leathern Garment to Bishop Athanasius and the Blanket which he gave new to me but is now grown old and the other Leathern Jacket to Bishop Serapion and take ye the Hair-Cloth and save it my Children for Antony passeth away and is no longer with you 59. Having said this he saluted them and gather'd his Feet and as it were seeing Friends come unto him and rejoycing because of them for he look'd with a cheerful Countenance as he lay he left us and was added unto the Fathers So in fine the Monks wrapp'd him up and buried him under Ground according to his Command And no Body to this Day except the Two Monks knows where he was Bury'd The Vestments being distributed according as he order'd every one kept them as a great Purchase for he that sees them does as it were see Antony and he that puts them on carries his Admonitions about him with Joy 60. Such was Antony's Exercise and such the End of his Life in the Body And if these things are small in comparison to his Excellency judge ye what sort of Man of God he was who to so great an Age from his Youth up kept close to his rigorous Discipline neither conquer'd by Variety of Food upon the Account of his Old Age nor changing the Habit of his Raiment for want of Vigour or so much as washing his Feet And yet in all respects he was sound and unhurt for he had his Eyes clear seeing very well not one of his Teeth was lost only near the Gums they were worn because of his great Age He was also sound in his Hands and Feet and much clearer in every part than those who use several Diets Bathings and Variety of Garments and as to Strength too they were much more ready 61. St. Antony liv'd and dy'd admir'd and celebrated by all every where and long'd for by those who never saw him A great Sign of his Vertue and of a Soul that truly lov'd God for he did not get his Learning by Books nor external Wisdom nor any Art But Antony was renown'd purely for his Devotion to God No one can deny that this was the Gift of God How came he who was hid and sat in a Mountain to be heard of in Spain France Rome and Africa unless God had made his Name known every where who promis'd this to Antony at first for although such Heroes act secretly and are willing to lye conceal'd yet the Lord shews them as Lamps to all that they may know that his Commands which he has given to reform us are practicable and thence may derive a Zeal for the ways of Vertue 62. Read ye this to others that they may know what sort of Life the Life of Monks should be and may be perswaded that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will glorifie those who glorifie Him and serve Him unto the End not only bringing them to the Kingdom of Heaven but making them notwithstanding they hide and retire celebrated here for their Vertue to the Benefit of others And if there be a Necessity read it to the Heathens that they may know not only that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and the Son of God but that those Christians who serve Him truly and believe in Him piously reprove those Spirits whom they account Gods and tread upon them and chase them as those who are the Deceivers and Corrupters of Men and this they do by the Grace and Strength of Christ Jesus our Lord to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS
for I do believe that a Soul in every respect pure and brought to its primitive Frame may become so discerning as to see by the Revelation of our Lord both more and remoter Events too than Devils Just so the Soul of Elisha saw Gehazi 2 Kings 5.25 and the Hosts standing before him 6.17 18. When therefore they come in the Night and are willing to tell things or say We are good Angels believe them not for they lye Or if they praise your Exercise or call you Happy believe them not neither submit so far to them as to hear them But rather cross your selves and your Families and pray together and ye shall see them vanish for they are dastardly and dread the Sign of our Lord's Cross because by that our Saviour made them bare and publickly exposed them Col. 2.15 Moreover if they grow more and more Impudent and leap about wantonly in various Shapes don't be afraid or attend to them as good Spirits for by God's Assistance 't will be possible nay easie to distinguish between the Presence of a Good and a Bad Spirit For the Appearance of Holy Spirits is not with Disturbance and Disorder Matt. 12.19 for He will not strive nor cry neither doth any one hear their Voice But a Good Spirit visits in such a sweet and delectable manner that Joy and Transport and Confidence presently cover the Soul that is visited For the Lord is with them who is our Joy and the Power of God the Father Besides too when they visit the Thoughts of the Soul are free from Consternation and Wavering For the Soul being enlightened by such a Vision views with Ease the Spirits that appear Furthermore it has a certain desire of Divine and future things seizing it and is willing to joyn with the Spirits and to go out with them And if those to whom they appear be afraid of the Vision they presently take away the Fear by Love as Gabriel did from Zachary Luke 1.13 As also the Angel which appeared to the Women at the Divine Tomb Matt. 28.5 A Testimony of this Truth too is that saying of the Shepherds in the Gospel Luke 12.10 Be ye not afraid for the Fear of Good Men is not a Fear of Pusillanimity but it proceeds from the Sense of the Advent of superiour Beings So much concerning the Nature of the Vision of Good Angels But the Incursion and Appearance of Evil Spirits is disturb'd with Noise and Clamour and Brawling like the Hurlyburly of untaught Boys or High-way-men whence proceeds Timidity of Soul Confusion and Ataxy of Thoughts Grief Hatred of Asceticks great Despondence Tediousness Remembrance of Relations and Fear of Death in short Lusting after Evil things Wearisomness of Vertue and Disorderliness of Morals Wherefore after you have been frighted with a Vision if your Fear be presently taken away and there succeed in the room of it a Joy unalterable and you find within your self Chearfulness and Confidence and Refreshment and Composedness of Thought and all the other things which I mentioned before as Mâ—nlâ—ness and Love towards God take Courage and pray for Joy and Steddiness of Soul discovers the Holiness of the Spirit that is present Thus Abraham when he saw the Lord exulted John 8.56 And John when he heard a Voice from Mary Mother of God leap'd for Joy But if there be Confusion in those that appear and Noise from without and Wordly Pharasies and Threatnings of Death with the other Disorders above-mentioned their know that 't is the Sally of Wicked Spirits Let this be a Common Rule If the Soul be searful there are Enemies in sight for they are Devils that don't take away that Fearfulness as the great Arch-Angel Gabriel did from Mary and Zachary and the Angel that appeared at the Tomb from the Women But Wicked Angels when they see Men afraid they encrease their Phantasies that they may dread them the more and so at last they assault them and jeer them and bid them fall down and worship Thus they deceiv'd the Gentiles By this Means they that were not Gods were falsly called Gods But our Lord has not suffered us to be deluded by the Devil whom he rebuked when he was exciting such Fancies in Him Luke 4.8 Get thee behind me Satan for 't is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve Let therefore the crafty one be more and more despised For what our Lord spake he spoke for our sake that the Devil hearing the same Words from us may be overturned by the Power of the Lord who so rebuked them then 19. But when we have cast out Devils we should not vaunt neither when we have cured Diseases should we be lifted up or admire one that casts out Devils or despise one that does not cast them out But let every one mind every one's Discipline and either imitate or emulate it or rectisie it For doing of Signs and Wonders is not our Business This belongs to our Saviour Hence Luke 10.20 He saith to his Disciples Rejoyce not because the Devils are subject unto you but because your Names are written in Heaven For our having our Names written in Heaven is a Testimony of our Vertue and regular Life But to cast out Devils is the pure Gift of our Saviour who gave it Whence we read Matt. 7.22 that to those who glorying not in their Vertue but in Signs said Lord have we not cast out Devils in thy Name and in thy Name done many Wonders Our Saviour said Truly I say unto you I know you not for the Lord knows not the ways of the Ungodly In short as I said before we should always pray for the Gift of discerning of Spirits that as 't is written 1 John 4.1 we may not believe every Spirit 20. I thought indeed now to have concluded and been silent of what concerned my self and to have contented my self with giving these Memento's But that ye may not think I speak these things idlely but do declare them from Experience and a Knowledge of the Truth therefore though I become as a Pool thereby however the Lord knows the Purity of my Conscience and that I do not do it for my own sake but out of Love to you and to encourage you I will further acquaint you with some of them As oft as they applauded me when I in the Name of the Lord cursed them when they would be fore-telling the Overflow of the River and I ask'd them What need you concern your selves about that when once they came threatning and surrounding me like Souldiers accoutred and hors'd and another while fill'd the House with Wild Beasts and creeping Creatures and I sung Psal 19.8 These in Chariots and they on Horses but we will rejoyce in the Name of the Lord our God they were presently routed by the Mercy of Christ Another time when they came and made an Appearance of Light in the Dark and said We are come Antony to lend thee