it Joh. 14.13 14. As if he had said as long as men do not ask in my Name they have no assurance of being heard But if you do ask in my Name then need you no other Intercessor Joh. 16.26 27. For the Heavenly Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and believed that I came forth from God If therefore any one would be sure that his Prayers are heard let him believe in Christ For he that believeth in Christ is beloved of God and needs no other Inteâ—…ssor But if all the Saints in Heaven should pray for thee and thou have no Faith in Christ it would be all in vain and unprofitable to thee CHAP. X. Concerning our indissoluble Union with Christ THE Faith that is in Christ suffers no man to remain or abide in himself but draws us out and raiseth us above our selves and never ceaseth till it have united us unto God In the first place God doth so unite all Believers amongst themselves that they all become one Heart and one Soul in God wherein Christ's Prayer is heard and fulfilled which he prayed to the Father for them Joh. 17.11 19. Holy Father keep through thine one Name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are one Which Words do not only respect the Twelve Apostles of Christ but all those that for the future should believe on him through their Word as the Text manifestly holds forth and this is the only true Ground and Original of the Unity of the Church Now all that believe in Christ shall in like manner be united in and with God as the Father in Christ and Christ in the Father are of one Will one Mind one Sense one Meaning and one Desire Moreover God doth so unite all those that believe in Christ with Christ that they become one Body with him of which he is the Head and they the Members and as all the Members are Ruled and Influenced by the Head so are they Govern'd and led by Christ in Christ so that no body can be helpful or advantageous to them as to their inward guidance in the Spirit save the only most intimate Jesus With respect to this intimate Union Jesus said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. 9.4 As if he himself had been only concern'd whereas indeed he persecuted those that believed in him By means of this Mystical Union Christ poures forth all Spiritual Gifts and Graces into our heart through the Holy Ghost yea and his very self too But besides this Union there is yet another whereby God the Father Espouseth those to Christ that believe in him so that a Believer and Christ are inseperably United and Joyned together in the indissoluble Band of Wedlock This Marriage-band is the Marriage in Paradise a Sacrament and Seal that Christ hath taken upon him all our Weaknesses Defects Wants and Sins and is become Sin for us that we might become the Righteousness of God in him and made our Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption not without us but within us To us Christ is given to us he is born and for us he dyed his Life Death and Suffering his Doctrine and Works are wholely ours and we in Christ through Faith are united and made one with God This is the Eternal Heavenly Marriage Band that we abide eternally betrothed joyned and united with Christ forasmuch as we are born of God himself and still-are in him who hath born us And this is and is called Faith viz. Christ dwelling in us and that is the true Love viz. God and his Holy Spirit in us This is the highest Union in the which Christ and he that believes in him give up themselves wholely into God that he alone may be All in All and work All in All. Of this Union much might be said but it is above our Understanding and as long as this Life lasteth it will but be in part with us However this is and abides undoubtedly true that he who believes in Jesus Christ becomes thereby Eternally united to God For he that cleaveth to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him which God of his Mercy grant unto all Amen Dr. John of Staupitz Jesu thine I am Save me FINIS
present by his Essence to every thing than the thing is to it self in whom all things are united and one and in whom they live Eternally Moreover if by reason of weakness or the unaccustomedness of the understanding any Man be oblig'd to Meditate or Contemplate on the Creatures then this will be the best truest and most profitable way for him that at least in all his Contemplations and Meditations whether about Creatures or about the Creator a delight in the Creator himself the One and Trine God may arise within him and that the fire of Divine Love and true Life may thence flame forth in himself and in others for the obtaining of Eternal Felicity And here we may observe the difference there is between the Contemplation of Christian Believers and that of the Heathen Philosophers For the Contemplation of Philosophers is intended only for the perfection of the Contemplator and therefore stops in the understanding and so their end herein is intellectual Knowledge But the Contemplation of the Saints is taken up for the Love of him whom they Contemplation that is of God and therefore does not stop in the Intellect by Knowledge as in its ultimate end but passeth over into the affection by Love Wherefore the Saints in their Contemplation have the Love of God for their principal end and aim because it is far more happy and blissful to know and have the Lord Jesus Christ Spiritually by Grace than without Grace corporally or essentially Now whilst the Soul thus abstracts it self from all things and reflects into it self the eye of Contemplation by this means becomes dilated and raiseth it self like a Ladder whereby she mounts to the Vision of God From which beholding the Soul becomes inflamed with the Love of Coelestial and Divine Good Things and looks upon all Temporal Things aloof as if they were just nothing Thus when we draw near to God by the way of Negation or removing from him all that is perceptible or comprehensible in the first place we remove from him all that is Bodily Sensible or Imaginable in the next place all that is Intelligible and last of of all Essence or Being it self as it is in the Creatures And by this means according to St. Dionysius the Areopagite we approach nearest to the Divine Essence and are in the ready way of being joyn'd to him And this is that thick Darkness where God is said to dwell and into which Moses entred and through it passed to his inaccessible Light But that which is Spiritual is not first but that which is Animal so that according to the natural and accustomed Order we are to proceed from the Labour of Action to the Rest of Contemplation and from the Moral Virtues to the Theorical and Speculative Wherefore O my Soul why is it that thou busiest thy self to no purpose about the many vain and superfluous Things where thou art always in want And dost not rather fix thy intention and love upon that one Best and Soveraign Good which contains all Good and is only sufficient for thee and all things Unhappy therefore yea thrice unhappy he who knows and has all things besides him but is ignorant of him For if a Man should be supposed to know all things and him yet would not he be the happier for knowing them but him only whence St. John tells us and this is Life Eternal Joh. 17. v. 3. Psalm 17. v. 15. that they know thee the only true God c. And the Psalmist I shall be satisfied at the appearance of thy Glory or according to the Hebrew when thy image or likeness shall awake in me CHAP. X. Actual and sensible Devotion is not so much to be minded as the adhering or cleaving to God with our Will MOreover do not thou greatly mind actual Devotion sensible sweetness or tears but let it suffice thee to be by good will in thy intellect with thy Mind united to God within thy self forasmuch as nothing is more pleasing to God than a Mind strip'd naked of Phantasms Images and Reptesentations of the Creatures It becomes therefore a truly devout Person to estrange himself from all Creatures that he may nakedly and readily intend apply himself and adhere to God alone within himself Wherefore deny thy self that thou mayest nakedly follow Christ thy Lord God who being truly Poor Obedient and Chast humbled himself and suffered for us and at whose Life and Death many were greatly offended as appears from the History of the Gospel Now as we see that a Soul separate from its Body doth not mind or take notice what becomes of it whether it be burnt hang'd abus'd or cursed and is not at all troubled or grieved for any injuries that are done to it but has all its thoughts fixed upon that ever present Now of Eternity and the one thing necessary our Saviour speaks of in the Gospel In like manner be thou also affected to thy Body being so unconcern'd with it as if thou wast already out of the Body and have always thy mind fixed upon the Eternity of thy Soul in God and earnestly direct and level thy thoughts at that one thing of which Christ saith But one thing is needful Luke 10.42 and by this means thou wilt feel great incomes and assistance of Grace for the attainment of true nakedness of Mind and simplification of Heart And most certain it is that this one thing is most present to thee and will appear so as soon as thou shalt have rid thy self from thy imaginary representations and all other intanglements and thou wilt soon find that now thou canst with a naked free and ready mind apply thy self and cleave to God and by this means thou shalt be invincible in all things whatsoever that can happen to thee as the Holy Martyrs Fathers and all the Elect and Blessed Saints were who despising and rejecting all things only minded the Eternal Salvation of their Souls in God And being thus armed within and united to God by Good will they contemned all the Things of the World even as if their Souls already had been actually separated from their Bodies Consider well therefore how great the power is of a good will united to God yea how by this impression of God upon the Soul as by its virtual and spiritual Division from the Flesh the Soul comes to look upon the outward Man as if it were none of hers and is so unconcern'd at any thing that is done to it or its flesh as if they were done to another Body for he that cleaves to God becomes one Spirit with him Wherefore do thou never dare in the least to think or imagine any thing in the presence of the Lord thy God within thee which thou wouldest blush that Men should hear or see and that because of the highest Reverence which is due to the Divine Majesty in his Holy Temple It is also fit and just that all thy thoughts be erect and lifted up to
discharge of which Exercise and Duty will follow the Remission of our Sins the Expulsion of all Bitterness the Collation of Sweetness Peace and Security the infusion of Grace and Mercy the attraction and strengthening of Familiarity and Communion with most abundant Comfort in him and firm cleaving to and Union with him But by no means let us be willing to imitate those who through Hypocrisie and Pharisaical Pride make it their Endeavour to be seen esteemed and to appear more Holy outwardly before Men than the Truth within them bears Witness to which certainly is a piece of the extremest Folly and Madness to desire and long for Humane Praise and Glory from ones self or others when at the same time we are inwardly full of the flickering inticements of this World and most Grievous Sins And certainly whoever pursues these most vain things the foresaid Goods will fly from him and he will fall into Shame and Disgrace Wherefore have thou always before thine Eyes thy manifold Sins and Wickedness and thy unfitness for any thing that is good and endeavour to know thy self that thou mayst be Humbled and don't refuse or be afraid to be esteemed and judged by all as the vilest unworthiest and most abject Off-scouring and Filth because of thy most Grievous Sins and great Iniquities Do thou therefore repute thy self amongst others as Dross amongst Gold as Tares amongst Wheat as Chaff amongst Corn as a Wolf amongst Sheep and as Satan amongst the Sons of God Neither do thou in the least desire to be Reverenc'd or Honour'd by Men or to be preferr'd before others but rather with thy whole Heart and Spirit flee from the Infections of this Pestilence the Poyson of Praise and the Pride of Boasting and Ostentation Psal 10.3 lest the Wicked should be Praised in the desire of his Heart and so be in the condition of those of whom the Prophet faith Isa 3.12 O my People they which call thee Blessed cause thee to erre and overturn the way of thy going or fall under that Curse of our Lord Luke 6.26 Wo unto you when all Men shall speak well of you for so did their Fathere to the false Prophets CHAP. XV. How we may arrive to a thorough Contempt of our selves and how profitable it is THE more therefore that any Man knows his own Vileness the more distinct and clear is his View and Vision of the Divine Majesty and the more Base and Vile any one appears in his own Eyes for God Truth and Righteousness the more Precious he is in the Eyes of God Wherefore let us strive with the total Effort of our desire to think our selves the Vilest of all Men and to believe our selves unworthy of every Benefit to displease our selves and to please God alone and be willing to be judged by others the most inconsiderable and despicable Creatures Moreover let us endeavour not to be moved by any Tribulations Afflictions or Injuries nor to be troubled at those that bring them upon us nor to entertain any hard Thoughts or to have indignation against them but with an even and quiet Mind to believe that we do well deserve all Injuries slightings Chastisements and Derelictions For certainly he who truly Mourns and is Penitent according to God he abhorrs to be Honour'd or Belov'd by others and doth not avoid or refuse to be hated trod upon and wholly despis'd to the end that he may be truly humbled and with a Pure Heart may sincerely cleave to his Lord God alone Now that we may arrive to this Loving of the Lord God alone and the abhorring of our selves above all Things and to the desire of being despis'd by othess there is not required any outward Labour or Health and Strength of Body but rather solitude of Body Labour of the Heart and Quiet of the Mind That by Labour of the Heart and Affection of the inmost Mind we may raise our selves above and Bodily withdraw our selves from these inferious Things and so rise and mount up to those that are Heavenly and Divine For doing this we change our selves into God And this is then chiefly done when we choose from our Hearts without any judging Condemning or Contemning of our Neighbour to be esteem'd by all Men as meer Off-scouring Filth and Reproach yea to be abhorred and trampled upon by all as the Dirt in the Streets rather than to abound in Pleasures and Deliciousness or to be Honoured and lifted up by Men or to enjoy any Corporal and Transitory Health or Advantages Or to desire any other Comfort in this present Mortality and Bodily Life but to Mourn Lament and bewail our Offences Faults and Sins without ceasing perfectly to set at naught and Annihilate our selves and to be esteemed daily still Viler and Viler by others and appear daily more unworthy in our own Eyes That we may please God alone Love him only and cleave unto him Being unwilling to be Affected with any thing save only with our Lord Jesus Christ himself not being sollicitous or careful about any thing but him under whose Rule and Providence all things subsist and have their Course Know then that henceforward it is not for thee to delight thy self but to Mourn with thy whole Heart wherefore if so be thou dost not yet Mourn Mourn for that and if thou dost Mourn Mourn and Lament the more for that thou hast brought upon thy self this Cause of Grief and Sorrow because of thy most Griveous Offences and Infinite Sins For as a Malefactor who receives his Sentence of Death is not concern'd about the ranging of the Sherifs Men or the Multitude of the Spectators So he who in good earnest Mourns and Bewails his Sins cannot give his Mind to Pleasures or Anger or vain Glory or Indignation or any other such like And as the Habitations of Citizens and Condemned Malefactors are very different So the State Manner and Behaviour of those that Mourn for being Guilty of Sins that bind them over and make them obnoxious to Punishment ought to be very different from those who are Innocent and not Guilty For otherwise there would be no difference made between a Guilty and Innocent Person by reward and Punishment and Unrighteousness would be more free than Innocence So that all things are to be denied all things are to be Contemned all things are to be cast away and avoided That with full Faith a good and sure Foundation may be laid for the Sorrow of Repentance Wherefore he that Loves Jesus Christ in Truth and that Mourns after him and that bears him in his Heart and in his Body that truly Mourns for his Sins and Offences and earnestly seeks for the Kingdom to come and in true Faith possesseth the Memory of the Torments of Hell and of Eternal Judgement and imprinteth firmly and perfectly in his Heart the Sense and Fear of his own Death such a one will no farther strive care or be sollicitous about any other thing whatsoever
Let him therefore who hastens to attain that Blessed impassibility and to approach to God himself account that every day wherein he is not reproach'd revil'd or contemn'd he suffers great loss and damage Now this impassibility here mention'd is nothing else but a freedom from Vices and Passions Purity of Heart and the entire Ornament of Vertues and Graces Suppose thy self therefore already Dead whom thou doubtest not but must Dye certainly And let this be the last and highest proof and surest Tryal of all thy Thoughts Words and Actions to prove whether they be according to God or no if by them thou becomest more humble and more recollected and fixed within thy self and in God but if thou findest the effect otherwise thou wilt have good reason to suspect that they were not according to God and neither well pleasing to him nor profitable for thee CHAP. XVI How the Providence of God extends it self to all and every thing NOW to the end that according to the foregoing instructions we may without let or hinderance readily securely and nakedly be carried towards the Lord our God with the greatest freedom and Tranquility become joyned with him and united to him and may firmly cleave unto him with an evenness of Temper whether in Prosperity or Adversity Life or Death it is of absolute Necessity that we resign and commit all and every thing without the least doubt or hesitation and with the greatest assurance to his unsearchable and infallible Providence Neither ought we to think strange of this Counsel forasmuch as it is he alone that gives to all things their being Power and Activity that is their Substance Vertue Operation Kind Manner and Order and that in Number Weight and Measure And this the rather because as all Artisicial Works presuppose the Works of Nature so every Work of Nature presupposeth the Work of God Creating Preserving Ordering and Administring Since to him alone belongs Infinite Power Wisdom Goodness and Essential Mercy Justice Truth and Charity immutable Eternity and Immensity Wherefore it is evident that nothing doth or on subsist by its own Virtue nor Act save only in the Virtue of God himself that is of the first Mover and first Principle who is the Cause of all Actions and Operates in every Agent For with respect to the true Order of the Administration of the World Go immediately provides and takes care for all Things even to the utmost Individuals So that nothing from the highest to the lowest can escape or avoid the Eternal Providence of God whether in things Natural or Voluntary or Casual and Fortuitous which were never intended by the particular Agent Neither can God make any thing but what must of necessity resort or fall under the order of his Providence no more than he can make any thing which is not subject to his operating Power It follows therefore that the Divine Providence doth extend it self to all and every thing even to the very Thoughts of Mens Hearts Upon which Foundation the Scripture builds the following Instructions Casting all your care upon him 1. Pet. 5.7 for he careth for you Casâ— thy Burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee Psal 55.22 Look at the Generations of Old and see Eccl. Syr. 2.10 did ever any trust in the Lord and waâ— forsaken Or did ever any abide in his Fear and was confounded And that of our Saviour Take no though for your Life Mat. 6.25 whaâ— you shall eat c. Wherefore let us assure our selves that whatsoever or how great soever the things are that we hope or expect from God we shall without doubt receive the same according to that Promise in Deuteronomy Deut. 11.24 Every place whereon the Soles of your feet shall tread Josh 1.3 shall be yours Because as much as every one can desire so much shall he receive and as far as he can reach with the foot of his trust and confidence so far shall he possess Accordingly Bernard tells us God the Author of all things doth abound with such Bowels of Love and Mercy that to how great a degree soever of Grace we can extend the reach of our trust and confidence the same we shall undoubtedly receive and be possest of To which purpose our Saviour Mar. 11.24 also assures us What things soever ye desire when ye pray believe that you receive them and ye shall have them Now the stronger and more instant this trust and reliance in God is And by how much the more forceably it lifts it self up to and presseth into God with Humility and Reverence the more assuredly abundantly and swiftly it will obtain the desired good But and if it should happen that by reason of the Multitude or Greatness of Sin the Affiance should be luke-warm and slow in lifting up it self to God let such a one consider that all things are possible with God and that whatsoever he will must necessarily come to pass And that what he wills not is for that very reason impossible and it is as easie for him to forgive and blot out innumerable Sins how enormous soever they may be as one only Sin And that as a Sinner cannot by all the Power that is in him raise himself up again from his innumerable Sins shake them off and free himself from them so neither from one only 1. Cor. 3.5 For we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing that is good much less to do it but our Sufficiency is from God Tho' indeed it be much more dangerous to be intangled with many Sins all other Circumstances being alike than with one alone because there is no Evil with without its Punishment and an Infinite Punishment is due to every mortal Sin and this according to the Rigor of Justice because every such Sin is committed against God who is of Infinite Reverence Dignity and Honour Moreover we are to consider that according to the Apostle the Lord knows those that are his and that it is impossible for any of those to Perish in whatsoever windings and Floods of Errours Scandals Schisms Persecutions Dissentions Heresies Tribulations Adversities and Temptations they may be involved seeing that the number of his Elect and the bound of their Merits hath been eternally and unchangeably foreseen by him so that all things whether Good or Evil proper or strange and Forreign prosperous or adverse do all work together for their good save only that they appear yet more Glorious and acceptable to God in Adversity than Prosperity Let us therefore securely and readily commit all and every of our and others concerns with a plenary Trust and Confidence to the Divine Providence who therefore permits all manner of Evils in what way soever to be done and it is good and well done of him that he suffers them to be done neither can they be more or otherwise done than as he permits them to be because he knows can and will change and dispose them
any other Source or Spring save only the Benigne Kind and Merciful Will of God even that very self subsisting Essential Love which is God himself Accordingly our hope is not in any degree founded on the Love we have to God nor on the Duties or Services we perform to God or for his sake but is only grounded on the Love which God bears to us and the Works that he himself operates in us This the Apostle St. Paul plainly and openly declares from the High Spirit he had received of God for after that he had spoke to the Romans concerning the comfort of Hope he immediately declares to them from whence the same proceeds saying And hope maketh not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts Rom. 5. v. 5. through the Holy Ghost which is given unto us This is the saving Comfort and highest Consolation of Man that out of the inexpressible Love of God the Holy Ghost is given unto him though the Merit of Christ not of his desert as it is written Rom. 5.8 9 10. But God Commendeth his Love towards us in that he died for us whilest we were yet Sinners Forasmuch then as he hath so highly loved us whilst we were yet Sinners as to reconcile us to his Heavenly Father when we did not desire in the least any such thing of him how can it be then that being now reconciled through him to the Father we should not be saved yet not in our own but in his Life For most sure it is that all Life must proceed from one Life as all Death 's proceeded at first from one Death From all which it follows that they are not our own works that can give us comfort so as that from them we should be able to conceive a true and lively hope towards God but they afford us only a comfortable conjecture that this true hope is in us in the very same manner as each fruit points us to the tree upon which it grew It is in this Sense St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 1.10 that we must be diligent to make our Calling and Election to Eternal Salvation sure by the good Works we do When the Holy Ghost is in any Soul her condition may be compared to water springing out of a Rock Now in this case first there must be water in the Rock for otherwise none could ever spring thence in the next place those hidden springing waters must make a Well before that ever any streams can proceed from them Wherefore as the streams or rivulets lead us to the Well or Spring and the Spring to the hidden Water in like manner do good Works lead us to the Fountain wherein Faith Hope and Love do first spring and these three again lead us to the inward hidden Water even to the Holy Ghost who is the self-subsisting Essential Love of God By this very comparison or Similitude God leads the Samaritan Woman from the Water she drew out of Jacob's Well to that Water which is God himself which through Faith Hope and Love becomes a Well springing up into Eternal Life and flowing forth in the streams of all good Vertues and Graces For the Holy Ghost is the hidden Water Faith Hope and Love are the Spring that make the Well or Fountain and good Works are the Streams or Rivulets Thus you see for a conclusion that no good Work can be in us except the Holy Ghost be there before as hath been already mentioned Now when he dwells in us then is he himself in us that Living Water which becomes in us a Well springing up into Eternal Life through Faith Hope and Love Here thou mayst understand how and in what manner Faith Hope and Love are poured forth or conveighed into our Souls why because the Holy Ghost who is the true Living Water sheds himself abroad in our hearts and so causeth them to flow forth which afterwards farther diffuse themselves into manifold other Vertues and Graces first to those that have them and afterwards also to others that see their Works And lastly as the stream is not the Original of the Spring nor the Spring or Fountain the Original of the hidden Water so neither can our Works be the Original of Faith Hope and Charity nor Faith Hope and Charity be the Original or Cause of the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost CHAP. X. The Love to God that is in us is begotten and born of the Revelation of God's Love towards us NOthing can be conceived more proper and efficacious to beget Love than Love therefore 't is that God then and there only appears most amiable and lovely unto us when his unutterable Love towards us his surpassing Benefits and the Merits of Christ are pourtrayed and imprinted on the heart when in his Light we discover how our Heavenly Father when we were as yet his Enemies gave his only begotten Son to come down into Flesh into this mortal Life yea into the bitterest Suffering and Death for us But now this Revelation Manifestation and Impression on the heart cannot be performed by any one but by God alone who has the hearts of all in his own hand and inclines the Will according to his own pleasure Our dear Lord Christ is that flinty Rock that strikes Fire but yet doth not give it forth except it be forc'd from him with the strong Iron Christ also is the Rock that gives forth Water yet not till it be smitten with Moses's Rod. His Holy Life his Suffering and Death give forth no kindling no inflaming fire except they be stir'd and struck with the eternal unchangeable constant strong Love of God in which he immutably and without repentance has elected those who shall be the Inheritors of his Eternal Joy for no striking helps nor kindles any fire except it fall into the true catching Tinder of those Souls whom God from Eternity hath determined to favour with his Grace to sanctifie and save them For else strike who will the Rock never gives fire and consequently neither doth the Tinder catch it But when God strikes the Rock in the heart of his chosen then it presently gives forth fire then the dead Coals become live Coals the black Tinder looks glorious like the burnish'd Gold and the cold fire becomes shining and flaming in that Love which is kindled by God's Love Thus Love proceeds and springs from Love that is from the Love of God to us proceeds our reciprocal Love to him So likewise neither doth this Rock give forth Water except it be struck with the Rod of Moses ever flowing streams of Grace do not flow from Christ neither doth he appear in the highest degree lovely and amiable friendly and kind in that he was scourged crown'd with Thorns mocked and crucifyed but because the merciful Lord God the true Moses the Great Law-giver of the Law of Love out of pure Love to us or as the Prophet Isaiah chap. 53.5 8. saith for our sakes hath
struck and smitten him to the end that nothing but Love might flow from him and that the substantial and essential Love which is God himself which is given unto us before all gifts and graces without any merit of ours for Righteousness might through the Holy Ghost flow through and wholely penetrate our hearts From all which we may gather this Conclusion that to love God above all is a meer pure Grace and Favour above all our Arts or Abilities and above all our Works and Merits CHAP. XI To love God above all things is not vouchsaved to all Beloved ones in the same Measure or Degree TO love God above all things is to love him Savingly now forasmuch as even in Saving Love there be higher and lower greater and less degrees it will not be in vain or unprofitable to make mention of the said difference or diversity There are some in this Love of God above all things that are called Incipientes i.e. Beginners others Proficientes Proficients or goers forward and some again Perfecti that are arrived to the Perfection of it Of which three sorts the first love God least the second more the third or last most of all yet all of them Love him above all things for did they love any thing more than God or equal with him their Love would rather be Hatred of God because therein they do not render him his true and due Honour as Gods Love saith Men indeed may build Straw Hay and Wood Gold Silver and Pretious Stones upon the Rock but for all that the Foundation doth not suffer it self to be shaken or removed Christ must still be Christ and God must be beloved as God that is above all things this is the true Foundation of all Love and good Desires and this is common to all true Lovers of what rank soever But the Reason of the diversity of some loving more some less some in a higher and others in a lower degree is this because Gods kind and amiable Manifestation of himself doth not act necessarily like Nature according to its utmost Power and Ability but more or less as the Holy Ghost pleaseth and how and when he pleaseth Therefore to Love God above all things is not only Free Grace but every degree of Love is so likewise CHAP. XII How or in what manner the Beginner loves God above all things THE first degree of Love manifests it self in this manner when the Loveliness of God is so deeply imprinted on the heart that a Man begins to love God above all things then such a Love infallibly brings along with it a loathing or dislike of whatsoever is contrary to God as of all deadly Sin and more especially of Pride whereby Man takes upon him to place himself on even ground with or above God which every Man does when he loves himself as much as or more than God This Love brings along with it Humility in Honour Temperance in Lusts and holy Fear not such as Servants stand in of their Master but such as young Children have for their Father In these Beginners there is a mixture of Fear and Love and a Conjunction of Heavenly and Earthly Desires they love many things together with God Therefore the vertue or goodness of these consists only in this that the Love of God that is in them continually brings forth Heavenly Desires and that tho' they love God together with other things yet they love him above and more than them Wherefore also the Beginner falls often into many lesser Sins by the delight he takes in Temporal Profit Honour and Pleasure and into strong Fears and Apprehensions of Temporal Losses and Trouble finds also in himself strong Inclinations to Deadly Sins so that often he is ready to sin but that the Friendly and Lovely Perception of God in his heart doth hinder him Wherefore it still appears that whatsoever the Love of God above all things begets or brings forth in the Heart is nothing else but meer Grace CHAP. XIII How the Proficient Loves God above all things MOreover it oft happens that God from Heaven doth manifest himself yet more friendly and amiably to the Heart and thereby inflames the Will to that degree that now the Soul doth not only love God above all things but also make use of all other things in subordination and with reference to the Love of God in all things aiming at his Praise and Glory Such an one is more concern'd how he may please God than about Sins displeasing of him Now he to whom it is given to love God in this Degree or to speak more exact he in whom the Holy Ghost thus loves in him this Love is immediately followed by the Love of Righteousness great Strength and Courage of Mind a Liberal Heart Prudent Converse wise Purposes and Undertakings and other such like Vertues that help to raise a Man above himself I have said that Man being so highly excited and moved with the Divine Kindness and Loveliness doth love God in this manner or rather that the Holy Ghost thus loves in him to the end that no body might attribute his Proficiency or rising higher to himself but appropriate and impute it to God alone Even as Christ instructed his Disciples and in them all of us When ye shall be brought before Kings and Governors for my sake take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak For it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you Mat. 10.18 19 20. These are the Words of Eternal Truth Now if it be true that he does not speak whom we see moving his Tongue and Lips whose Voice we hear and perceive his Breath why should not we then for the same reason appropriate and impute the Love we feel in our hearts to God alone acknowledging it to be his only The moving or motion is from the Holy Ghost but the perceiving of it is ours as when any one tickleth us the Tickling is anothers but the Sensation it produces is our own From all which it appears that the Love of Proficients together with the Vertues flowing from it are meer Grace as well as that of the Beginner CHAP. XIV How the Perfect Lover loves God above all things HE is called Perfect in Love to whom God manifests and represents himself so kind so sweet and so amiable that he becomes wholely of the mind that there is nothing lovely but God nothing kind sweet and friendly but God Such a Man as this loatheth and is burthen'd with himself hateth this Life and longs for Death that nothing might hinder him in his Love Wherefore also strange and wonderful Works proceed from such an one all which God by Love works in him He is full of Joy Peace and Rest he doth not trouble himself about either Heaven or Hell Angel or Devil Friend or Foe he hates Father and Mother Wife and
forasmuch as the Divine Love only flows forth from Gods Love revealed and manifested to us it for the most part happens that we through our vehement earnestness and eager pursuit after her hinder our selves from rellishing her sweet Savour which is best tasted and perceived when we are silent and introverted inwardly attentive when we open our Mouths wide expecting the Heavenly Food when we work or do neither Good nor Evil but attend the Working of the Holy Spirit in us In this manner David hearkned and heard what God spake in him and found him speaking Peace He opened his Mouth wide and experienc'd Gods filling it was silent and waited upon God and received Incomes of Spiritual Strength and Power Ps 81.10.40 1.85.8 For the Almighty VVord saith the Wise King Wisd 18.14,15 comes not down from Heaven his Royal Throne nor suffers it self to be heard till all things be in quiet silence Therefore for a conclusion we must above all things labour and endeavour for inward stillness and quiet of Heart and to reduce our Prayer and other outward and inward Exercises to Rest and Silence that so we may hear the Heavenly Voice of God and perceive his Lovely Motions Thus thou seest how our good God permits himself to be overtaken by a soft or slow Pace but never by Running according as we read concerning the Divine Spouse Cant. 3.1 2 4. c. 5.2 3 4 5 6. That when she laid down on her Bed and had no Desire after her Bridegroom but rather seem'd to be troubled at his knocking yet was this the time he took to manifest himself in all Friendliness and Love towards her whereas when she run out after him he hid himself from her CHAP. XVI The Degrees of the Love of God alter and are changed according to the Will and Pleasure of the Self-subsisting Love of God suitable to what he knows to be most Vseful for Men. TO Love God above all things therefore is a perpetual and constant Work always abiding the same as long as the Lover abides in the true Love yet not always at the same Height or in the same Degree but sometimes more and at other times less as God knows it will be most Profitable for the Beloved Person To Paul was given a thorn in the Flesh an Angel of Satan to buffet him that he might not be exalted above measure by reason of the abundance of Revelations vouchsafed unto him 2 Cor. 12.7 And on the other hand we see the Robber was assured of his part in Paradice Luk. 23.43 and had a clear sight given him that he was a Child of Salvation and was favoured with a joyful Death to the end the Depth of his Sins might not overwhelm him At one time Paul crys out Rom. 7.24 O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Death And not long after we hear him boasting and triumphing at such a rate as this Rom. 8.38 39. for I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall separate me from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This was a perfect Word proceeding from a perfect Love Thus it happens still at this day that God often in an Hours time yea in a much shorter space doth oft alter the degrees of Love in us Sometimes we find in our selves a perfect Elevation of our Minds with entire and total Resignation and soon after experience a frightful and doubting Heart and an unstable Will and many are in the same Moment comforted again with Courageousness and a Peaceful and Joyful Mind which makes them break forth with David Psalm 56.11 In God have I put my Trust and will not fear what all mine Enemies can do unto me So that a Man here upon Earth is not constant in any degree of Love but sometimes is raised above himself and at other times sinks beneath himself according as the Holy Ghost draws him Furthermore we are to know to our great comfort that the Love which God hath towards us doth neither admit of encrease dminution and frequently is doing the very best for us when we least of all perceive or understand it We are also for the most part most sweet and well pleasing to him when he seems most bitter and harsh to us here upon Earth where his Divine Love more exerts its self for our Cross and Suffering than for our Joy Heaven is the place where God continually manifests and displays himself in everlasting Joys not this Earth Forasmuch therefore as there is more advantage and profit in Poverty than in Riches more in Suffering than in enjoyment more in Weeping than in Laughter more in Hunger than in Fulness or Satiety more in Communion of Suffering than in Communion of Comfort it follows that the Love of God manifests it self in a fuller and greater Measure to us when it procures us Lamentation Sorrow Suffering and Misery than when it affords us pleasure and delight Wherefore altho' the feeling of that Quiet and Peace of Heart which is the Portion of those who are Perfect in Love be Sweeter and more delightful yet is the Love of Proficients wherein God manifests himself for the strengthning and encouraging of the Mind more profitable for Advantage and Amendment Besides it is far more profitable and advantagious to our Salvation that we despair of our own Strength than that we confide in our own Works or Labour For which Cause also God of his great Grace doth frequently take away from us the Love of Proficients and drives us into the acknowledgment of our disability and into fearfulness and despairing of our selves to the end that as little helpless Children we might run to him as our only Redeemer accounting our selves nothing and magnifying his Grace and Power alone When it is thus with us then from the great Love of God to us ward the Love of Beginners proves of greatest use and advantage to us and we do experience by so much the more comfort from God by how much the more we despair of our own Power when we do not trust in our Strength nor take upon us to strive and struggle but only six our eye upon the Lifted up Brazen Serpent Numb 21.6 7 8 9. as in the Figure it is very comfortably held forth to us When the Children of Israel were dangerously and mortally hurt by the poysonful stinging of the Fiery Serpents God was pleased to give them a Brazen Serpent lifted up on a Pole even a Serpent without Poyson made of Brass and whosoever did only behold the same became immediately healed and all the Serpents fled away from him without any more ado Which Figure imports thus much that there is no more ready or compendious way for a Man to get rid of the Poyson of Diabolical Temptation than when he despairs of any opposition himself can make
against it and lays hold only on the Cross trusting and confiding in that Fight and Combat which Christ without Sin maintained against the Sins of Men to exterminate the Diabolical Poyson and in the same came off a Conqueror and Triumphator And thus a Christian boasteth of Christ alone and wholly despairs of himself Wherefore it is much better for a Man to commit and resign himself wholly to God neither Praying for this or the other feeling or Perception of the Divine Love but that he would order all things according to his own good Pleasure When a Man comes to this State he enjoys a constant and abiding Peace Tranquility and Comfort founded and bottom'd on the unchangeable Love God bears towards us however Dead Barren or Heavy he may find himself But they who will not rest save in the highest degrees of Love and who do not believe God is with them when they do not feel in themselves the Sweetness of his Love or at least some Comfort and Solace of his Spirit such as these have no constant abiding Comfort here on Earth and are in Eminent Danger both as to Soul and Body CHAP. XVII That all things work together for the best of the Elect that Love God above all things ALL things and all Creatures are theirs who belong to Christ and are his as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 3. v. 21 22 23. The Apostles the World Life Death Things present and things to come and in a Word all Creatures are his who himself is Christs and Christ without a mean is Gods but we are his through or by means of Christ Wherefore also the Elect Soul is by means of Christ so highly Seated in Gods favour that all Evil yea even Sin it self is not only not hurtful to her but also conducive and helpful in the hand of God her great Physitian to her best State Verily a true Christian is a Miraculous Creature of God with whom God from Eternity in the highest Love has so intimately United himself that tho' as David saith Psalm 89.30 31 32. He forsake the Divine Law and walks not in his Judgments tho he prophane his Statutes and keep not his Commandments yet God for all this will only Chastise him Temporally and not utterly take away his loving kindness from him So that even his Sin must be helpful to his Salvation For what God hath once determined can never fail and whatsoever he hath once promised must Eternally be true whom God Loves and Favours to him Heaven and Hell Good and Evil must be helpful and advantagious And for this Reason it is that we are very Subject to be mistaken and confounded in our Reflecting on the Works of other Men and find that we are not able in the least to pass a true Judgment or Estimate what is profitable or hurtful to Men forasmuch as we find by experience that God sometimes out of great and faithful Love permits him that stands to fall Who doubts but that Peters Fall wherein he denied his Lord and Master was far more profitable and advantagious for him than to have continued and persevered in his self-confidence Our Lord and God has a greater Interest and is more concerned to manifest and display the glory of his own Grace Mercy than to maintain and keep up our Righteousness His least suffering was sufficient to reconcile his Heavenly Father to us to Justifie to Preserve or make us persevere in Righteousness and to save us but this would not have been sufficient to hold forth the unmeasurableness of his Love or the unalterableness of his Mercy Therefore Paul tells us Rom. 11.32 That God hath concluded all under Vnbelief and Sin that he might have Mercy upon all If you take away Sin who then will be able clearly to understand that Gods Mercy is above and beyond all his Works or that Christ the true Son of God is the Redeemer of the World Which no other way could ever have been manifested but by his unalterable Love and by that great instance of his Transcendent Pity and Compassion to us miserable Sinners And therefore Gregory calls Sin Salutary or Saving because by Divine Mercy it procur'd us so glorious a Saviour and Redeemer Forasmuch then as God makes use of Sin for the advancement of his Divine Glory it is no longer any Wonder that he makes the same also advantagious to the Sinner But we must not argue from hence that if it be so we may therefore freely sin without Danger by no means but on the contrary it is our Duty at all times with our utmost Diligence and Strength to avoid Sin as we would the most deadly Poyson for to cover Sin with Mercy is the Work of God alone 'T is he only that can bring good out of Evil we can fall of our selves but not rise again of our selves this rests only in the gracious Mercifulness of God which excells and surmounts all his Works CHAP. XVIII Whosoever hath not received the Love of God above all things to him all the Temporal good things that God affords him are of no Profit ST Paul faith 1 Cor 13 1 2 3. Tho' I speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels and have not Love or Charity I am become like a sounding-Brass or a loud Cymbol and tho' I have the gift of Prophesie and understand all Mysteries and Knowledge and tho I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing Moreover tho I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned if I have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Yea what 's still more where Love is not it is to a persons Hurt and Loss that ever he was born a Man and the highest Gifts or Benefits God hath bestowed upon him serve only for his greater condemnation It had been better for Judas he had neverbeen born as Christ himself testifies that he had never been an Apostle that he had never wrought any Miracles that he had never seen or heard of Jesus and had never eaten the sweet Food with him at the same Table than that after such great and inestimable Favours received he should become his Betrayer sell him and deliver him to the Jews From whence we may take notice that our dearest Lord God bestows that often in his Wrath which he denies in his Love From whence also follows that the higher the Gifts are we receive from God the more they engage us to the Duty of loving God above all things tho they cannot make us to Love God so and therefore are rather Poyson than Gifts if Love does not come along with them neither can they certainly assure us of that love wherewith God loves us to Salvation Moreover these Gifts when they ate separate from Love are the cause of a puft up Spirit Pround Mind censorious judging arrogant Actions imprudent Behaviour and converse Self conceitedness Hypocrisie and Contempt of the simple
save them and none of them might be lost But why the Father hath foreseen or predetermined one and not another it doth not become us to enquire For this is sufficient comfort and satisfaction to us that we know that they all are Predestinated that believe in Christ CHAP. VI. Concerning the Redemption or Deliverance from Sin NO Man can ever be deliver'd from his Sin save only through Faith in Christ who is the Lamb of God that takes away the Sins of the World Vpon him aâ—e laid the Sins of us all he is the Scape Goat who carries the Sins of all the World into the Wilderness Without or besides him there is no Redeemer Isa 4.3.11 No Confession no Repentance no human Work is of any avail in this Case We must believe in Christ or else die in our sins Wherefore it is far more necessary for us to exercise our selves in the Faith than in a Confessional at Directory The Faith in Christ never fails the Faith in Christ purifies the heart it justifies us makes us Children of God obtains Grace of God and renews the whole Man Mat. 11.28 29 30. Come hither all ye that labour and are heavy laden with Sin believe in Christ so shall ye be refreshed and find rest to your Souls Joh. 7.37 38. Doth any ene thirst after the Divine Grace let him come hither and drink for he that believes in Christ as the Scripture saith out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water Faith is the True River of Jordan in which those who are washed obtain the purity and innocence of Children Faith is that Fountain that washeth and purifies from all uncleanness Isa 55.1 2. Come therefore and buy it without Money and without Price you need not give any thing for it for ye are justifyed by Grace alone through the Redemption which is in Christ whom alone God hath set and appointed to be our Saviour and gracious Redeemer only by the Faith in his pretious Blood-shedding for the manifesting and declaring of his Righteousness Rom. 3.24 25. and 5.1 By Faith we are saved without the Works of Love Whence follows that nothing is more needful for us than to exercise our selves in the Faith CHAP. VII Concerning our being set free from Damnable Sins NOtwithstanding that those who believe in Christ do fall into Sin transgress the Laws of God Prov. 24.16 and it may be more frequently than those who do not believe yet they who believe in Christ have the advantage that their Sins shall not be imputed to them to their Condemnation God will not because of them turn away his loving kindness from them but will visit their transgressions with his fatherly Rod and not take his loving kindness quite away from them For so God declares and testifies to David concerning Christ Psalm 89.30 31 32 33. 2 Sam. 7.12 13 14 15. And when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with the Fathers I will set up thy Seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowels and I will establish and confirm the Throne of his Kingdom for ever and will exalt him above all the Kings of the Earth I will be his Father and he shall be my Son If his Children forsake my Law and walk not in my Judgment if they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments then will I visit their Transgression with the Rod and their Iniquity with Stripes nevertheless my Loving kindness will not I utterly take from them nor break my Covenant made with them nor alter the thing that is gone out of my Lips I will abide true whether they abide so or no. For whatsoever is once born of God shall never sin neither can ever sin unto Death Their sins are always pardonable if they repent because they have been once born of God for that Divine Birth withholds them from sinning not their own Virtue Reason or Strength and presence of mind Forasmuch then as no Man is born of God but he that believes in Jesus Christ it is a consideration above all measure wonderful and terrible to see then so little exercised in or acquainted with the Faith that is in Christ It were good and necessary therefore that the Ministers of Gods Word should continually in season and out of Season faithfully exhort and press people to this Holy Faith And indeed tho there were no other Fruit of the true Faith in Christ but this only yet would all men have sufficient Reason to press after and desire it as being of such absolute necessity to Salvation CHAP. VIII Concerning the Encrease of Merit WE all know that no Man can deserve or Merit any thing of God or do any good thing except that he be planted and engrafted by the Father into Christ Joh. 15.1 2 3. which cannot be by any other way than through the Faith that is in Christ I am the Vine and my Father is the Husband Man Every Branch in me that beareth no Fruit he taketh away and every Branch that beareth Fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more Fruit. As the Branch cannot bear Fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me I am the Vine ye are the Branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much Fruit for without or sever'd from me ye can do nothing He that abideth not in me the same cannot bring forth any good Fruit nor do any good works but his works will be cast into the Fire and be left there It is clear and evident that no man can do any thing that is good except he believe in Christ for otherwise even all his seeming Virtues are no better than Sins rejected and condemned to the Fire of Hell What will then become of the seeming Virtues of the Heathens of the Judgment of right Reason and the counting upon our good meaning without Faith in Christ Since without Christ there is indeed no true Virtue Reason or good meaning And this Doctrine agrees very well with what Jesus declared to the Jews when he bad them labour or work for that Meat which endureth to Eternal life Whereupon when the Jews asked him John 6.27 28. What shall we do that we may work the Works of God Jesus answered them saying this is the Work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent Therefore we ought and must employ and exercise our selves in those Works that abide to Eternal Life even such as God himself works in us and that flow forth from the Faith which is in Christ for they only endure for ever unto Eternal Life all the rest will be lost fruitless and in vain CHAP. IX Concerning the certain Hearing of our Prayers IF ye abide in me saith our Saviour and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you Joh. 15.7 And again Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name I will do