God God himself Innocent c. What and how grievous things he suffered So many griefs So great Ignominy He hath born our griefs Behold the Man Behold and see were there ever sufferings like his And all this for his Enemies ungrateful sinners and me in particular to Reconcile them to God Reflect Oh the Obedience Humility Patience Perseverance Charity of his sufferings Wednesday What passed in the Garden His Agony His Soul was heavy even to Death He sweat drops of Blood He Prayed against the bitter Cup but with a Resignation to his Fathers Will. Thy will not mine be done And soon after with unparallell'd Fortitude surrendred himself If you seek me let these go their ways desiring to tread the Wine-press of God's Wrath alone Thursday Our Saviour's Vsage before Annas Caiphas Herod and Pilate Before Annas Questioned for his Doctrine In Caiphas's house false Witnesses were brought against him He was kept Prisoner there all Night Mockt by the Souldiers and others Denyed by Peter Before Herod despised Before Pilate first declared Innocent but afterwards Condemned by him for Treason to please the People and secure his own Interest with them St. Peter's Repentance very speedy But the Obstinacy of the Jews continues to this very day Friday Our Saviour's Vsage at the Pillar his Crown of Thorns his Journey to Mount Calvary bearing his Cross his barbarous Crucifixion the Wounds he received the sweet words he uttered Father forgive them c. yet the Rocks were more Compassionate than the Jews and We. Saturday Of our Saviours Burial Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea his Blessed Mother and St. Mary Magdalene and some other Honourable and Holy Persons were concerned in it They wash'd his Wounds with their holy Tears and Embalmed his Body with their Sighs and Prayers and Richest Odours He made his Sepulcher with the Rich and Honourable but yet the malicious Jews sealed the Stone and set a Watch to prevent if possible his rising again to Glory Sunday Of our Saviour's Resurrection Ascension and sending of the Holy Ghost 1. The manner of his Resurrection His Conversing Fourty days upon Earth Comforting his Freinds Strengthening his Disciples and giving them charge over his Flock 2. his Ascention into Heaven siting on the right hand of God that our Hearts and Affections might thither also ascend 3. His sending the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost his Disciples having Fasted Watch'd and Pray'd continually day and night for ten days before Reflect His Resurrection the first Fruits and earnest of ours His Ascension to draw us and our affections after him His sending the Holy Ghost that the same Spirit that raised up him the Head might also quicken us his Members CHAP. IV. Meditations for the fifth Week MOnday Of the Nobility of the Soul 1. Created by God after his own Image 2. God giveth his Angels Charge over it As the Hills stand about Jerusalem so standeth the Lord round about them that fear him 3. Of so great value is the Soul that our Saviour left the Bosom of his Father to redeem it even with the price of his Blood Tuesday Of a pure Conscience a right Faith and doing all things for God's Honour These Three constitute the good Christian for the Life we now live is by Faith And the pure in heart shall see God shall have a clear and more naked perception of him even in this Life No Image or Idea can represent a Spirit such as God is He is Purity it self perceptible only to the pure in Heart after an ineffable manner and void of all sensible Idea's Reflect The purging therefore our Consciences is to be carefully minded Wednesday Of the Presence of God With the thoughts of this so great Presence many holy Persons have preserv'd themselves from sin Enoch walked with God and was translated Abraham walked before God and was perfect King David set God always before him that he should not sin So Elijah and Elisha God liveth in whose sight and presence I stand And nothing more certain than that God filleth and worketh in all his Creatures In him we live and move and have our being and all things subsist and are upheld by his immediate hand But he more nearly dwells and inhabits in every good Man and directs him by the Interiour Language of his Inspirations and gives him leave also to Communicate to him as to a most faithful Freind all his Wants Desires Resolutions Infirmities Temptations c. And the oftner he recollects his Faculties from external objects and retireth into himself to God so much the better and his progress in holiness greater and more easy Reflect How great a folly therefore is it to live insensible of the Assistance of so great a presence so near us even within us Thursday Of the Conjunction of the Soul with God Which consists in a Conformity of our Will to the Divine We must Will the same thing with God and the same means to it My Son give me thy heart says God by Solomon It is good for me to cleave to God says David And St. Paul nothing could separate from Christ Neither Life nor Death c. 2. Such a Person is always Examining his Conscience Keep 's a strict guard that his thoughts wander not abroad or be over long busied in outward Affairs for fear of losing that presence that Consolation he always carries about with him in his Soul Prayers Meditation Contemplation Recollection the Holy Sacraments are in a manner the entertainment of his whole Life Reflect All these things are irksome and nauseous to the Carnal Worldly Man Friday Of Humility 1. The Humble man retains a true sence of God's Favours What great things he hath both done and suffered for him and that out of a free and most amazingly generous Goodness without any the least merit on his side And on the contrary what returns he hath made how many and how great wickednesses committed against that good God So that he knows not which way to turn himself Thinks no place vile enough for him who for his sins deserves the greatest Afflictions the greatest Torments He hath no way but to humble himself before God with Confusion of Face and Offer and Resign himself wholly to his boundless Mercy to deal with him as his Compassion pleases 2. The true Humble Man is Servant of all Especially his lawful Governours and Teachers to whose wiser Judgment he readily submits his own less wise As knowing they have more ability to judge than himself and more assistance also promised not to mistake To these therefore he submits as to Christ himself being commanded so to do Ezek. 33.7 8. Heb. 13.17 3ly Being contemned he rejoiceth being honoured he referrs the honour to God and so all other Benefits he receives But the shame of his sins he takes to himself and confesses with the poor Publican that he is not worthy to lift up his eyes to Heaven 4ly What humilty can equal that of our Lord in all
driving out all those mighty Nations from Canaan and destroying them and giving their Land to the Children of Israel for a possession was it not for these abominable sins See the eightenth Chapter of Leviticus Lev. 18. whereafter variety of those sins rehearsed such as are not fit to be named amongst Christians but with horror and detestation of them it follows Verse 27. For all these abominations the Name God himself there gives to these loathsome sins have the Men of the Land done before you and the Land is defiled and therefore in the Verse following this defiled Land is said to have spewed out the Inhabitants thereof who defiled it In like manner the Destruction of the Shechemites the Death of Sampson of Amnon the Judgment of God upon the Three and twenty thousand of the Children of Israel 1 Cor. 10.8 who fell in one Day at Baal-Peor before they entered Canaan were they not for such Sins as these And for the like Sins even for one luxurious adulterous Act was not the whole Tribe of Benjamin cut off Judg. 20. except only Six hundred Men I might here add the remarkable Wars and Slaughters that suddenly followed upon David's Adultery as also the rending of the ten Tribes from Solomon as a Judgment for his being seduced to the Toleration of Idolatry by his exorbitant Lusts and unlawful Marriages and many more the like sad Examples even out of the Annals of our own and other neighbouring Countries And here also I might set down more at large God's particular Denunciations against such Sins by the Mouth of all his Prophets sometimes inflicting his great Judgments Plague Pestilence Famin Sword removing his Candlesticks c. But I think what is already said is enough to shew that these Sins of Uncleanness tho seeming most excusable and natural to Man are most abominable and loathsom in the sight of God Especially since by the new Contract that is made between us and our Lord we are become in a more peculiar manner Eph. 5. the Spouse of Christ and are therefore to keep our selves Chast and Holy We are become likewise by a particular and higher degree of Sanctification the Temples of the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. 6.19 and are therefore not sacrilegiously to violate 'em but to cleanse them from all Filthiness 2 Cor. 7.1 so perfecting that Holiness which becomes God's House for ever Ps 92.5 And this at our utmost Peril For these Temples saith St. Paul whoso defileth 1 Cor. 3.17 him will God eternally destroy And a great Moralist that lived at the same time with Saint Paul and probably also was made a Christian by him with some others of Nero's Houshold says in a manner the same thing according to Lactantius De Div. Instit Lib. 6. C. 25. The most agreeable Temple we can build for God is to consecrate him in our Hearts And therefore to build otherwise would be to ruin our selves to all Eternity which transcendently exceeds all temporal Punishments put together CHAP. IV. Of the Chastity of Marriage and the Purity of a single Life THus far concerning First The Impurity and Filthiness of the Sins of the Flesh with their Oppositeness to the Purity and Holiness of Almighty God and the defilement and dishonour they bring to the Persons that commit them And Secondly the severe Punishments and tremendous Judgments of Almighty God towards such Sins above others But I would not by any means be thought so to have censured in the beginning of this Discourse the present Age as if there were not many amongst the married Persons whom God hath reserved to himself even in our own Nation most inviolably constant to one another and that live strictly within the Bounds and Obligations of that honourable State And some also of the Unmarried that live single out of Choice not Necessity upon the account of Vertue and Religion not Licentiousness and Luxury And many also who after one Marriage abstain from a Second upon the same serious account as did those Widows in the Primitive times of Christianity 1 Tim. 5. who were for that very reason taken into the Charity and Service of the Church MARRIAGE Marriage is Honourable in all and the Bed undefiled with sin Eph. v. 32. So Honourable that St. Paul compares the Union of Man and Wife with that of Christ and his Church But yet doubtless conjugal Chastity hath many Degrees in it and in some is far more pure than in others More pure in those who for better performance of Holy Duties or in Times of Humiliation such as Lent Ember-Weeks c. before receiving the Blessed Sacrament and the like abstain and separate that they may give themselves to Fasting and Prayer So in the Old Testament Exod. 19.15 1 Sam. 21.4 before the descent of the Lord upon Mount Sinai the People were commanded three days Sanctification and not coming at their Wives Women kept from the Young Men for about three days and the Vessels of the Young Men Holy i. e. from their Wives And in times of more earnest Addresses to God this separation from Carnality was continually used amongst the Jews as appears from the Prophet Zechary Zech. 7.3 But Conjugal Chastity is still more pure in those who being separated for a longer time either upon the account of Sickness in one Party or by necessary absence of either of them about Worldly Affairs in Journeys Publick Employments Embassies or being taken Captive by an Enemy and the like yet both continue constant and faithful to one another and this perhaps for many years notwithstanding the many strong Temptations the world presents So in the Case of Divorcement or of a resolved Separation by consent many there are who take from hence an occasion of being more diligent in the Service of God and afterwards perhaps of removing themselves out of all danger of being ensnared and ruined by the Sollicitations of Sense And so likewise after Espousals some there have been tho' not many who according to the Transcendent Example of our Blessed Lady and her Espoused Husband St. Joseph have never proceeded any further but instead of Consummating the Marriage have transferred their Love and Affection to our Lord. So St. Austin treated with his Spouse and after having once vanquished himself and his exorbitantly Incontinent Desires of which himself so much complains and in his Confessions Laments so as to be content even without Marriage it self became a most Holy Bishop and one of the most Glorious Lights in the Church of God that ever the World saw since the times of our Saviour and his Apostles And in our own Nation King Edward commonly called the Saint lived together with his Queen a holy Virginal Life as Surius shews out of a very Ancient Manuscript As did also Henry the First Emperour Bolislaus the modest King of Poland Alphonsus II King of Castile Peter Vrceoli Duke of Venice with may others And St. Austin
are those high things so far surpassing our Understanding that according to St. Paul Eye hath not seen 1 Cor. 2.9 2 Cor. 12.4 nor Ear heard nor hath it ever entred into the heart of Man to conceive them And if none or all of these Meditations and innumerable others relating to our Saviour and another World with which the Holy Scriptures and other good Books amply supply us cannot prevail to secure us it is certainly much better rudely to quit the Company and leap out of the flames than to stay out of Complaisance to be burnt in them CHAP. VI. The Second Rule Of Suggestions THE Second Instruction is To take great care of Suggestions and to observe from what Principle or Cause they proceed Whether 1st From our selves or our own Lusts Or 2ly From the Devil Or 3ly From the H. Spirit of God and accordingly we are either to entertain or reject them Now it is not easie even for the greatest Asceticks to discern upon all occasions from which of these Principles a Suggestion arises but if it be such as tempteth us to any Notorious sin any Filthy uncleanness we may presently know from whence it comes And then it is much better and easier to suppress it in its very beginning to stifle it in the Embryo before it be conceived in us by our consenting to it or at least before it break forth into any outward action which when finished brings forth Death Jam. 1.15 Filthy unclean Suggestions we cannot always prevent but we may refuse consenting to them or taking any delight in them and so suppress and keep them under by God's Assistance till at length we Totally extinguish them O that God's Holy Spirit would take such full possession of my heart as not to suffer any unclean Suggestion to enter there But if the sin to which we are tempted be habitual to us or the sin which doth most easily of all others beset us Heb. 12.1 we are then to bend all our forces against it make the strongest resolutions we can for some short time at least suppose for a day and so renew our resolutions every Morning the known practice of a Renowned Bishop of the Church of England in Point of Matrimony taking particular Notice how often it assaults us and in the midst of the Temptation using some external action if nothing but violence will do such as throwing our selves down upon our knees or face beating our Breast supplicating our Lord with sighs and tears when God pleases to give them for his assistance who hath promised that he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able 1 Cor. 10.13 but will with the Temptation make a way for our Escape or enable us to bear the pressure of it At least it is wisdom to delay the Execution of the foul Act to which we are tempted for by deferring it our reason may gather new forces our Passions abate or some External Accidents may intervene Some pious reflection of our own may occurr or some good Friend may come in to whom we may impart our deplorable Condition and ask his good Advice who at such a time is much better able than we our selves to give it and in this sence chiefly it is that the bearing one anothers burdens is the fulfilling of the Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 After the vanquishing of such a Temptation and the leaving as far as we can our own Nature to go over to Grace there usually comes an Angel to comfort us or what is better some holy Inspiratons of the Divine Spirit to encline us who of our selves cannot so much as think a good thought to thank God for our deliverance 1 Cor. 3.5 and to pray for more Grace and Strength against another time Such holy Inspirations we must take care not to repell for that would be more or less to Resist Grieve and Quench the Holy Spirit of God in us But on the contrary we must Cherish all good Thoughts and by them endeavour to introduce by little and little Vertues instead of our ill Habits When once we intend to begin a new Course of Life we must not in the least consult with Flesh and Blood but rather fall immediately upon it If at any time why not now if not now perhaps never Was the saying of St. Austin And in the acquiring of any Vertue suppose Continency Chastity or the like we may with the same Father boldly throw our selves upon God who will not withdraw himself to let us fall Projice te in Deum c. But yet our own sincere Endeavours after a pure mind and right intention must not be wanting to which God always gives a Blessing tho' we are not always sensible of it Now some perhaps may think Solemn Resolutions to one Just beginning to break a long custom and habit of any filthy sin to be both Rash and Dangerous because when once broken as many times first Resolutions are the ill habit being as yet much stronger than the good one to be introduced the over-grown Sinner is apt to be either too much discouraged and so fall into despair or to be more hardned in his most shameful Vice and so Incorrigibly go on still in his old wonted Road of Debauchery It may therefore be much safer for a beginner to make a limited Conditional Promise and such as is Releasable upon a Forefeiture Suppose for Example we resolve to abstain from such a filthy sin from such lewd Company for so long a time or if we do not we will indispensibly pay so much Money to be given to the poor say so many Prayers fast so many Meals shut up our selves so many Days from all Company and the like and this besides and over and above the necessary requisites of our Repentance which present forefeiture or punishment in our Purse or otherwise many times hath a greater Influence upon us towards the breaking off a Debauched Custom than either the fears or hopes of what may and certainly will happen to us according to our deserts in another World Moreover the resolving upon such a Penalty for the Forefeiture as does really afflict the Body such as Fasting long Retirement Watching c. or diminishing our beloved treasure and substance by giving large Alms to Prisons Hospitals poor House-keepers c. will certainly fix in our memory an hatred of the sin and so mind us of every Suggestion of it and deterr us from embracing it because if a temporal punishment be immediately to follow it much lessens the desire of the imaginary pleasure and oftentimes occasions the reflecting also on the future real punishment eternal Death which is the final Doom and the Inseparable wages of all unrepented Rom. 6.23 unforsaken sin But then to every good purpose we must not forget to joyn this Resolution also that if we should at any time by infirmity or surprize relapse into the detestable sin against which we have resolved
Fastings we may add Watching and Moderating our Sleep which as Experience shews us very much tames the Flesh as it does even the wildness of the most savage Beasts and in a manner produceth the same effects upon it as Fasting renders us less disposed to sensual Mirth and more inclined to Silence and Recollection When in Bed if we cannot sleep Praying and Medirating is necessary and sometimes rising from our Beds when we cannot otherwise drive away impure Thoughts and passing the whole Night under God's wing in Devotions without any sleep at all according to the Examample of our Lord Luk. 6.12 2 Sam. 12.16 his Apostles King David and other Saints For lazy Sleep and indeed all manner of Sloathfulness is so near a kin to Lust that nothing can break it off but violence and strong resolutions against it Forcing our selves out of our Chair or Couch to some Vertuous Action or Pious Company or the ordinary business of our Employments or what is much better to our Prayers And it is worth all our pains and trouble if it were only for preserving our Chastity To which Vertue alone the Two great Monarchs of the World Cyrus and Alexander seem to have owed the success of their Arms and the Apostate Julian when he had left all other Vertues most truly owned that this Queen of Vertues made Lives more Beautiful than Painters Could Faces Fair and the Reason given by Salvian of the Goths gaining the Empire of Rome is That they were a Nation far more chast and sent on purpose by God to chastise the Effeminacy of the Romans And yet that Vertue in them so Eminent how far short came it of true Christian Chastity which ought to be embraced for the sole sake of Christ and accompanied also with all other Christian Vertues which they wanted The Truth is to sleep and loyter away our time which is one of the most precious Talents with which Almighty God hath entrusted us is altogether mispending of it and so is also the passing of it in Drunkenness high Gaming c. from whence naturally proceeds Swearing Cursing Damning our selves and others all which are far worse than Idleness it self A diligent Employment therefore such as together with our Prayers and the Exigences of Nature not exclusive of some short innocent Diversions measures out all our time is absolutely requisite even to the greatest Personages And the more of it that is spent in the Immediate Service of God the better as coming nearer the eternal Employment of the Blessed in Heaven But of all the Labours the resisting Temptations and our Passions and all encouragements to Sloth and Idleness so frequently recommended to us in Holy Scripture under the Name of Vigilancy and Watching is the greatest and most worthy a Man and time is never bâ—â—ter spent than in so doing Blessed is that Servant whom our Lord when he cometh shall find so Employed Mat. 24.46 Secondly Lewd and Debauched Company and Filthy Conversation is also to be avoided as a principal occasion of Lust It was an observation of the Moralist Seneca long ago concerning the Temper of the World in general That he could never go abroad in it one day and return home again at night with the same manners he carryed out with him but was still rifled of some Vertue or other and rendred either more ambitious or more luxurious and the like Which holds much truer of Lewd and Debauched Company now-a-days who are the very Scum and Reproach of Mankind setting up as the Infidels did the Statues of Venus and Adonis in the place of the Holy Cross Debauchery in the place of Piety and having accustomed themselves to Fleshly Lusts perfectly hate all Spiritual Actions and Persons whatsoever and knowing the Judgment of God against the Committers of such things yet not only do the same but take pleasure in them that do them whose very words also and sometimes breath is contagious many times to keep up maintain their lewd Courses they are forc'd to become common Mercenaries in all sorts of Wickedness to buy themselves bread as is notoriously evident to the whole World and you cannot converse with such without being in danger either 1st of partaking of their sins which they think only necessary accomplishments to fit one for their Company even by not reproving them or 2dly of being infected by their ill Example they always crying up Liberty and Luxuty against Mortification and Chastity Eccl. 13.2 1 Cor. 15.33 Whereas there is no touching of Pitch without being defiled therewith no having Communication with ill manners without being insensibly corrupted by them Our Conversation therefore is more safe with Vertuous Persons And those rather few than many such as may either better us or we them But as for open lewd prophane Livers who publish their sin as Sodom glory in their shame boast of their Debaucheries as so many great Atchievements as if the Christian Hero was to be known by often violating not by defending the Bulwarks of Chastity and being perhaps Gentlemen think they are above all Ordinances whatsoever and so having removed all Land-marks between good and evil and owning no Obligation to a Supream Power besides what is Suggested from Nature profess themselves downright Libertines and count it their greatest Excellency to have neither Vertue nor Religion which they call Chains and Fetters whose death however is commonly in Despaire We are strictly forbidden having any Society with such I have written to you says St. Paul to his Corinthians not to keep Company if any Man that is called a Brother be a Fornicator c. or a Drunkard c. with such a one no not to Eat And this 1st in order to the bettering of him by making him ashamed Or at least 2ly for the preserving our selves from being insensibly corrupted by him Or 3ly from giving Scandal to others by our frequenting such ill Company Thus St. Austin's Religious Mother carried herself towards her own Son who till he had Renounced his Manichaean Heresy and Vicious Life together and become a good Christian would not so much as eat with him tho nevertheless when alone she was almost always in prayers and tears to God for him till she had obtained his Conversion It is a saying of Matchiavil That the ready way to ruine a State or Kingdom is to fill it with ill manners Good reason then for good Men to take care how they Converse with ill and to suspect all they do not know least at length not only themselves but the Publick also be endamaged by it But then Cases of necessity are to be exempted when either we or they cannot subsist or perform our ordinary Duties without our coming together or there is high Probability of our Reforming them by our Conversing friendly and vertuously with them Otherwise we are forbidden all manner of Conversation with such notorious Sinners so long as they continue the Custom and Practice of their lewd
Death of Christ 1 Cor. 15.3 2ly That to the applying the Merits of Christ's Passion to us there are required some Conditions on our part Phil. 2.12 namely our Assenting and Co-operating with God's Grace 3ly That by such Application not only our sins are remitted Eph. 2.5.4.25 but we receive the Grace of Regeneration changing us in our minds implanting us into Christ enabling us to good works Rom. 2.13 Joh. 1.12 to become doers of the Law Sons of God c. The manner of such our Regeneration and of the Divine Assistance is thus First Mat. 28.19 Eph. 5.26 When we are Baptized into Christs Church not only past sins are washed away supposing us rightly disposed thereunto but also a new Power and Ability Supernatural of Living holily for the future is conferr'd and superadded Tit. 3.5 c. Acts 11.16 The Holy Ghost being then personally given us and God's Grace Efficaciously planted in us for newness of Life Rom. 6.4.7.6 and bringing forth Good Works By the Assistance of this Grace therefore our corrupt Nature is so perfectly restored and made capable of all Vertue that we may and are obliged also therewith totally to subdue our Lusts so as to live free from the habit even of unclean thoughts Gal. 5.24 and from the commission of all unclean Acts at least of those greater before mentioned which we are sure from God's own Word exclude the Kingdom of Heaven By this new principle of Grace Eph. 5.5 which worketh with us and without which our working signifies nothing a real Holiness Facility to Good is conveyed into our Souls our Understanding is Illuminated so as readily to embrace the Holy Mysteries of Christ's Religion which are above it above it 's natural Knowledge and Reach and past it s ever finding out but by Revelation Our Will from time to time inspired with new and divine Affections and at length influenced at least in some Persons with an impatient Love of God above all other things And the same Holy Spirit which thus Acts and Assists within us interceeds also for us Rom. 8.26 with groans which cannot be uttered groans irresistably prevalent at the Throne of Grace To the first Grace therefore given us at our Baptism if we make a right use of it more and more is added to every one that hath improved his one Talent more shall be given Mat. 25.29 and he shall have abundance And sometimes to the same well-disposed Person are conferred several Talents several different Gifts for God's greater glory of the same Holy Spirit but yet the most excellent Grace which we are above all to covet 1 Cor. 12.31 as being that without which all other Graces signify nothing to us is 1 Cor. 13.13 Charity or the Love of God Which is the most effectual remedy of all our Lusts or false Loves and when once obtained does in a manner the whole work of a Christian it felf because by its secret Energy it centers all our Affections in our Lord so as sweetly to compell us to seek in all things a punctual Observance and conformity to his holy Will and in nothing to displease him with whom our Soul being ravished is sick of love for him and languisheth with a perpetual desire Cant. 5.8 either 1st of suffering for him thereby at once to shew the Truth of our love and to purify us as Gold in a burning Furnace Or 2ly of praying to Him the only way of Conversing with him upon Earth Or 3ly Of fully enjoying him in Heaven even though it were through Martyrdom it self Which great Vertue shined most Eminently in St. Mary Magdalen whose sins which were many were therefore forgiven her because she loved much And her chosing to sit at the feet of Jesus to hear his words our Saviour himself calls the unum necessarium the better and sublimer part of a Christian which nothing can take away And albeit this love of God inferrs and comprehends the love of our Neighbour and of our selves and of all things that belong to God yet these not after the fashion of the World but only as consistent with and much encreasing and enflaming our love of God So that by shewing our love to God as we are obliged all the ways that we can we are continually enlivening and augmenting it and still think it little and unworthy of eternal life and that it is want of our Endeavours and not of God's Grace which hinders us from attaining still higher Spiritual Gifts and a more intense love of our Lord every little Inclination in us to any thing else if not throughly mortifyed being enough to retard our progress in this true way to perfection This one thing I do says St. Paul to his Philippians forgeting those things which are behind already obtained and reaching forward to those things which are before not yet obtained I press toward the Mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.13 And if so great an Apostle when he had so far attained as perhaps none farther in the Love of God and Self-mortifications witness his Watchings 2 Cor. 6.5.11.23 Fastings Labours Stripes Imprisonments Deaths was still pressing forward much more ought we to mend our pace who are so far behind so far from perfect Charity and perfect Chastity as to be still wallowing in our â—usts still hankering after the Gratifications of Sense We ought not only to be mindful of the powerful Assistances God hath afforded us to Purity and Holiness but also actually to make use of them for that very end and purpose those Assistances of the Holy Spirit being such as continually war against the Flesh Col. 3.1 stirring us up to seek those things that are above and supernatural and so after an ineffable manner if we endeavour to correspond to them unite us to Christ and God and bring down Heaven into our Souls quenching in us the thirst to all sensual Pleasures making them by degrees seem more and more contemptible to us and at length odious Quas sordes quae dedecora c. what filthiness did they Suggest what disgrace and dishonour says St. Austin in his Confessions concerning his formerly beloved but then much more hated Lusts The way therefore to experience the good of Christianity is resolutely to enter upon practising Christian Vertue by a more strict observance of Gods Laws and purging our selves from the contrary Vices For none how learned soever can truly know God but they that serve him And a poor Shepherd that faithfully serves him will by experience know more of God in his chiefest Excellencies than a Doctor of the Chair that does only talk of him And as the Grace of God is the principal Instrument of a good Christian Life so the next to that is frequent examining our Consciences once or twice a day that so we may learn to know by little and little how to
his whole Life and who also humbled himself to death even the death of the Cross And we are to be like him meek and humble Reflect The undeserved Favours of Almighty God The Ingratitude of our repeated sins The behaviour of the poor Publican The Example of our Lord himself Great Lessons of Humility Saturday Of the Advantage of being Christians We live under the Covenant of Grace which is founded in Remission of sin and upon promises of eternal rewards to the observers of it who are also enabled to observe it We are redeemed from all our Enemies so as not to fear them Death it self being now only a Passage to immortality Are we not also made Sons of God Members of Christ Kings and Priests and Coâ—heirs with our Elder Brother of an Eternal Inheritance Sunday Of the Benefits of the Holy Ghost By him who was sent by our Saviour we are begotten and born again and made new creatures By him Illuminated to understand the Mysteries of our Redemption By him the Love of God is spread abroad in our hearts so as to love even our Enemies for God's sake He purifies and cleanses us from all filthiness He Interceeds for us and teaches us how to pray He comforts and supports us in all our afflictions with his peace and joy He is the Seal of the Divine Promises and the Foretaste of Heaven The great power of God in us over Sacan and all his Instruments And by his Vertue and Efficacy our Bodies also will be Spiritualized and we raised to Immortality and Glory Reflect This Comforter abides with us for ever and is grieved when-ever we do any thing to chase him from us To these few Heads of Meditation taken chiefly out of Holy Scripture might be added infinite more concerning God's Attributes Gifts Miracles c. with innumerable more passages both of the Old and New Testament but these are thought sufficient to shew the manner of Meditation which is so considerable a part of Religion and to serve also as a Succidaneum to those that have not the opportunity of larger Books which is all that was intended by the Collecter of them Let the words of my Mouth and the Meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my Strength and my Redeemer Psal 19. I meditate on all thy works Ps 143.5 In his Law doth he meditate day and night Ps 1.2 The Letany of Christian Vertues taken out of the Holy Scripture and the several Texts Annexed O GOD the Father of Heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the World Have mercy on us O God the Holy Ghost Have mercy on us O Sacred Trinity one God Have mercy on us O Lord just and good Heb. 11.6 and a rewarder of all those that seek thee diligently Have mercy on us Who createdst our First Parents in Innocency and Holiness Gen. 2. after thine own Image and gavest a Testimony to the offerings of just Abel Gen. 4. Have mercy on us Who savedst in the Ark from the Flood Gen. 7. Noah a Preacher of Justice and deliveredst from the Fire Just Lot vexed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked Gen. 19. Have mercy on us Who gavest the Promise to Abraham Gen. 22. found Faithful after many tryals Have mercy on us Gen. 29. Who deliveredst Jacob endued with a wonderful patience and confidence in Adversities from all evils and gavest a joyful end to thy Servant Job Job 42. that Pattern of Patience Have mercy on us Gen. 39. Who rewardedst the singular Modesty and Chastity of Joseph with the Rule over Egypt Gen. 41 Have mercy on us Num. 22. Who chosedst Moses the meekest Man upon Earth to be Ruler over thy People and Electedst Joshua Deut. 31. notable for Valour and Constancy to lead thy People into the Land of Promise Have mercy on us Who gavest the Priesthood to the Sons of Levi for their great Courage in vindicating thine Honour Exod. 32. and deliveredst from all dangers the Prophet Elias for his incomparable Zeal for thy true Worship against the false Prophets 1 King 18. 2 King 2. and at length tokest him up into Heaven Have mercy on us Who set Samuel Judge over thy People 1 Sam. 7 12 a lover of Justice and free from Bribes And liftedst up David 1 Sam. 16. a man after thine own heart in the faithful Service of thee to be King of Israel Have mercy on us Who replenishedst Solomon 1 King 4. humbly begging Wisdom of thee both with it and many other Graces And Adornedst Daniel and his Companions Dan. 1. being singularly Temperate and Sober with Wisdom and Beauty Have mercy on us Who didst chuse the Blessed Virgin Mary Luk. 1. Adorned with singular Chastity Humility Obedience and all other Vertues to be the Mother of thy Son Have mercy on us Mat. 3. Who sentest John Baptist a Forerunner of thy Son a Preacher of Penitence and of great Austerities and Abstinencies Have mercy on us John 17. 1 Pet. 2.21 Who sentest Jesus Christ thy only begotten Son into the World the Pattern of all Holiness that we should follow his Example Have mercy on us Eph. 1. Who hast chosen us in him before the Foundations of the World that we also should be Holy and Unblame able in thy sight Have mercy on us Who hast Predestinated us that we should be made conformable to the Image of thy Son Phil. 3. Eph. 2. and hast created us in him to good Works which thou hast ordained that we should walk in them Have mercy on us Who hast Redeemed us from our vain Conversation by the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. and hast Regenerated us by thy Word unto a lively hope of an Eternal Inheritance Have mercy on us O Jesu 1 Pet. 2. who knewest no Sin neither was Guile found in thy Mouth 1 Joh. 3. but appearedst to take away the Sins of the World Have mercy on us 1 Pet. 2. Jesus who barest our Sins in thy Body on the Cross that we being dead unto Sin may live unto Justice and Holiness Have mercy on us Col. 1. Who hast delivered us out of Darkness into Light from the power of Satan Acts 26. into thy Kingdom and hast bestowed upon us the Remission of Sins and an Inheritance amongst thy Saints Have mercy on us Mat. 19. Who promisedst thy Disciples that forsook all for thee Joh. 21. Twelve Thrones Judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel who committedst unto St. Peter notably confessing and loving thee the feeding of thy Sheep Have mercy on us Joh. 20. Who vouchsafedst to St. John notable for Chastity the singular privilege of thy Love Have mercy on us Who sendest thy Holy Spirit Rom. whereby Divine Charity is spread abroad in our hearts Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Lord Be merciful and