cryed unto the Lord all night Judith rose up in the night and perform'd her Devotions and who knows not what the mighty David saith of himself that he wash'd his Couch with his Tears at night In the night the Son of God was Born and the Angel of the Lord brought the news of it to the Shepherds The Heathen themselves by a natural dictate of Reason thought it unjust to spend all the night in sleep without some expressions of Gratitude to their Deities This made them not only sacrifice a Cock to the Night which they adored as a Goddess but by Watching and sitting up at night and praying to their Gods testifie their respect and homage to that Being from which they thought their Blessings did drop down It 's true many of their nocturnal Devotions were impious prophane and ridiculous but still this argues that they thought it rational and a duty to the Gods they worshipt to adore them in the night as well as in the day not only the Vestals rose in the middle of the night to sacrifice but the Indian Philosophers too paid their respect to the Sun at night for it was their God and the same they did in other places to Venus Bacchus Apollo Minerva which makes Cicero and Seneca speak highly in commendation of such Vigils or devotional Watchings if they be used with Sobriety How the Christians came to exercise themselves this way is soon guessed at if we reflect on what Christ had told them that he would come to Judgment in the night or to use his own words as a Thief in the night They trembled at the word he had spoke Marc. 13. 35. Watch therefore for ye know not what time the Master of the house cometh whether at even or at midnight or at the Cock crowing or in the morning and this made them deny themselves in their Sleep so often and rise to praise God lest coming in the night he should find them unprepar'd The example of David was a great motive also for at midnight will I rise and give thanks unto thee saith he Psal. 119. 62. For the Christians in those ages had a custom which is much out of fashion now whatever they found that any holy man had done before them if it were possible they would imitate him in that service and devotion This made Paul and Silas pray and sing praises at midnight and from hence as well as from Christs watch-word it was that the Christians in Pliny's time used to meet before day and sing a Psalm to Christ as unto their God And these Meetings Tertullian calls Nocturnal Convocations as the Prayers then used were afterward call'd Lamp-devotions or Candle-Devotions And though I do not deny but that the Persecutions of those ages were partly the cause of their meetings at night when their Adversaries the Heathen were asleep and therefore unlikely to disturb them in their Worship yet this could not be the sole Reason for sometimes they had respit and lucid intervals even under Heathen Emperors and yet they continued their Vigils and night services These night-devotions were in process of time performed in this order 1. When day-light was shut in 2. When they were going to bed 3. At midnight 4. By break of day hence it is that S t Jerome bids Eustochium rise twice or thrice out of her bed at night to Prayer and these four hours of Prayer at night joined with the three hours in the day made up that ordinary Devotion which they undertook in imitation of Holy David Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy Rigteous Judgments Ps. 119. 164. for they pray'd at nine of the clock in the morning because then the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles at twelve of the Clock at noon because then the Son of God was crucified and at three of the Clock in the afternoon because then Christ gave up the Ghost The Heathen especially in the first and second Centuries after Christ took so much notice of these midnight devotions of the Christians that they ordinarily call'd them Owls and men that shunn'd day-light and though it 's true they accused them of promiscuous Copulations eating of Children and such Crimes partly because they could not tell what they did in those night Assemblies and therefore suspected it must be some ill thing they did because they made use of the night partly because the villanous Gnosticks who called themselves Christians committed abominations much like these yet the World found afterwards that it was their love to their Creator and Redeemer that made them watch and pray and praise and sing the goodness of their God at midnight It happen'd afterward that these Night devotions were abused for Men and Women using to meet at night in Church-yards to praise God some were so profane as to commit wickedness together and made those Devotions opportunities of impure and lascivious Actions upon which account they were forbid especially to the Women by the Eliberitane Councel about the year 305. after Christ yet this restrain'd not the sober use of this Exercise either in private houses or in publick places where men met by themselves whence it came to pass that in the succeeding ages they went so far as to institute Societies of men which they call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or men that never slept who relieving one another sung praises to God day and night without any intermission or interruption For as soon as one company had done another began and thus they represented Heaven and the Joys of Angels here on Earth This Zeal in these latter ages is grown cold and the lukewarmness of the present times is such that he seems to be a setter forth of new Gods that Preaches up this kind of Exercise yet I know not whom we can imitate better than the Christians who lived in times of the purest Devotion and to see how far this Exercise may be revived among us is the attempt of the following Discourse and to make it practicable I shall first lay down some Rules concerning it and then add some encouragements The Rules are these following 1. There being at this day no publick meetings of Christians at night upon the account of devotion what is done must be done by private persons in their own Chambers or Houses Where there are no publick Societies to encourage us there our own Zeal must prompt us to such Exercises and did private Men and Families begin it once the Governors of the Church would soon encourage it publickly who only forbear to urge it because the age will not bear such watchfulness A Christian that 's Zealous for God's glory stays not for a publick Summons if he find that such an act of Piety is acceptable to God and it 's enough to him that the Saints of old did use it What is order'd by God or Man in publick is only to kindle
this Art did Paphnutius teach Thais the Harlot after her Conversion and St. Bernard reports the same of St. Malachias I have read of others that while they have been in company of their Neighbors have in their Minds offered no less then One hundred and three Prayers to Allmighty God and accordingly Macarius advised the Man that ask'd him how he should Pray to repeat very frequently such words as these in his Mind Have Mercy upon me O Lord as thou wilt and think'st most convenient In the Lives of the Fathers there is mention made of one Moses that Pray'd Fifty times a day of one Paulus that Prayed Three hundred times and of a Virgin that did so Seven hundred times others have gone farther and lifted up their hearts to Heaven a Thousand times a day as St. Clara. These Prayers were only short Ejaculations used upon all occasions effects of this Praying Frame and whatever they undertook they began with a Prayer and while they were busy in the Works of their Calling still some Holy Aspirations came from them and if they were reading the Bible at the end of every Verse their Souls breath'd after God and in few words beg'd some Blessing at his hand to which purpose St. Ephrem gives this excellent Rule Whether you work or are going to lie down whether you stand still or are in a Journey whether you eat or drink whether you are going to sleep or are awaking take heed you do not forget to Pray whether you are at Church or at home or in the field whether you feed sheep or build houses whether you are at a Feast or otherwise engaged still Pray and Converse with God These short Ejaculatory Prayers are by St. Austin justly call'd Arrows whereby Gods heart is wounded and our hearts are rais'd into reciprocal love to God These are the Prayers which Tertullian calls Prayers without a Train or retinue of Words And Isack the Anchorete in Cassian pure Offerings Sacrifices with Marrow in them These are the Works or Attempts of our Spiritual Bow as Justinian phrases them Darts and Arrows levell'd against the Enemy Fiery Desires of the heart and the Wishes of Importunate Supplications which are shot up to Heaven wound a great way off fly with great swiftness keep the Enemy from coming too near and sometimes at one stroke enervate his Temptations when he approaches for seeing the presence of God in these Ejaculations he is struck with horror and departs And this Rule I earnestly entreat my Reader to think of and put in practice Christian What difficulty is there in 't before any honest attempt or enterprise to say in thy Mind Lord establish thou the work of our hands upon us yea the work of our hands establish thou it or if it may not tend to thy Glory keep it from prospering and let it not succeed according to my desires If thy design be honest and lawful Why shouldst thou be loth to recommend thy endeavors to the conduct of Providence try it and thou wilt find what comfort it will yield in the end When thou hearest the Clock strike let thy Mind immediately mount up to Heaven and say Lord so teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom When dressing thy self Cloth my soul with salvation and deck me with white raiments that the shame of my nakedness may not appear When washing thy hands and face Bathe my soul in the Blood of Jesus and wash my heart from all Iniquity When walking O Lord cause me to walk in the way of thy Testimonies and let me not wander from thy Commandments When in Company O when will that Joyful Day come that my soul shall be gathered to the innumerable Company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect When Writing Lord put thy Laws in my heart and write them upon my mind When Reading O make me to understand the way of thy Precepts so shall I talk of thy wondrous Works When Rising O let me awake unto Righteousness and arise from the dead that Christ may give me light When lying down O cause me to lie down in the green pastures of thy Mercy lead me beside the still waters of thy Comforts and restore my Soul When kindling a Fire O shed abroad thy love in my heart and raise such flames within as may burn up all my dross and all my filth When lighting a Candle O give me the spirit of Wisdom and Understanding and enlighten mine Eyes that I may see what the hope of thy calling is and what the riches of thy Grace are When Eating or Drinking O let it be my Meat and Drink to do thy Will feed me with the Bread which came down from Heaven and give me to drink of that Water whereof whoever drinks shall never thirst again When Riding out O Thou that ridest upon the wings of the Wind shew thy self conquer my Corruptions and trample all my Sins under thy feet When taking the Air Come Holy Spirit blow upon my Garden that the Spices may flow out make my mind calm serene and quiet breathe upon me and revive me with the light of thy Countenance When Visiting a sick Neighbour O do thou make all his Bed in his sickness and give me Grace to speak a word in season to him and cause all thy Goodness to pass before him When beholding Trees and Plants and Flowers Lord how wonderful are all thy Works in Wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Riches O make me as a Tree planted by the Rivers of Water which may bring forth its fruit in due season When going to speak to a Great Man Over-awe me with thy presence Lord that I may not comply with any Evil but may fear Thee more than Men. When going by Water O satisfie my Soul with the Fatness of thy House and make me to drink of the River of thy Pleasures When Buying or Selling Lord prevail with me to keep a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward Man When standing in thy Shop How amiable are thy Tabernacles Lord God of Hosts O let me ever love the Habitation of thy House and the place where thine Honour dwelleth When hearing thy Neighbour Curse or Swear O Lord lay not this sin to his charge Father forgive him for he knows not what he doth When hearing any good of thy Friend or Acquaintance O let him grow in Grace and go on from Virtue to Virtue and make him fruitful in every good word and work When seeing any one that 's Blind or Lame or Dumb O Lord make these distressed Creatures amends for these defects some other way make the Eye of their Faith the quicker their inward Man stronger and their Hope more lively and visit them more powerfully with thy Salvation When looking upon a
as love Christ cordially and the Lillies among which they feed are the innocent and spotless lives of sincere Believers which nourish and cherish their Souls make them Lively and Vigorous Fat and Flourishing These purify their Minds These give them the whiteness of Milk and nothing digests with them better than this Heavenly Food I dislike not the practice of Papias had it been but carried on with greater discretion who was mighty inquisitive what Andrew what Philip what Peter what James what John what Matthew and what the rest of the Apostles of our Lord had done and what they used to say how they ordered their Lives what their Conversation was how they behaved themselves abroad and at home for by such enquiries a man may learn much improve himself advance in goodness and encourage himself to the severest acts of Religion which by having such patterns before us become easie and loose much of that dreadful aspect in which they do appear to Flesh and Blood Behold Christians here lies your Wisdom this is to be wise unto Salvation This is the Learning that must fit you for the University of the Third Heaven This is the Schollarship without which you loose your places in that Colledge of Glory Study this point and you 'll be Wiser than Aristotle Learneder than all the Sages at Athens all the Wisdom of Solomon without this skill would have done him but little good Behold the Fountain of your Comforts would you be supported in distress would you be preserved from fainting under troubles would you bear up under the greatest storms would you hold out in the greatest persecutions survey the Heroick actions of the Martyrs and Confessors of old and they 'll shed new Life into your Spirits strengthen you beyond expectation keep you from despair defend you against discouragements and make you weather out all the tempests that come against you Are you reproach'd look upon David how patiently he endured the railings of Shimei are you persecuted for Righteousness sake look upon the Apostles of our Lord how they rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the Name of the Lord Jesus do you suffer wrongfully look unto Jesus the Author and Captain of your Salvation who for the Glory set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame Are you bound with Chains Look upon St. Paul how he glories in those shackles and is confident that they will promote God's Glory Do Friends forsake you Look upon Lazarus whom God took care of when none would regard or relieve him Nay in Death it self the sweet and heavenly frame of spirit that is to be found in the Saints of God will be of very great efficacy to arm your selves against the assaults of that last Enemy When Death approaches look upon the courage the joy the comfort the resolution and chearfulness of Polycarp of Ignatius of Epagathus of Sanctus Maturus Altalus Blandina Biblis Alexander and others Come forth my Soul said old Hilarion Why art thou afraid Venture into another World Why dost thou doubt Hast thou served Christ so long and dost thou tremble The Saint in Ruffinus smil'd and laught three times when he was a dying Being ask'd by his Friends that stood about him mourning and weeping why at the point of death he presumed to laugh The first time said he I laugh'd because I saw you so strangely afraid of death The second time I did so because the World deludes you so that you cannot find in your hearts to prepare for death And I smiled the third time because just now I am going from my labour to rest from my pains and toil here below to everlasting quietness in Heaven St. Jerom when he was departing thus addressed himself to his Friends that stood about him Throw off your Mourning Weeds and sing a Psalm of Praise to God for hitherto I have gone through Fire and Water but now I am entring into my Cooling-place O what a mighty gainful thing is Death to me for Christ with all his Merits and Benefits will be mine Behold my Friends the Earthly Tabernacle of my House is going to be dissolved that I may enter into another made without hands eternal in the Heavens I am going to put off Corruption that I may put on Incorruption Hitherto I have been a Traveller but now am going to my own Country I see the Prize before me for which I have been running so long I am come to my desired Haven I am passing from Darkness to Light from Poverty to great Riches from Fighting to Victory from Sorrow to Joy from a Temporal to an Everlasting Life from an Offensive Dunghill to Odoriferous Fields The Life of this World is no Life but Death The Mèrchandise of Death is more precious than that of Gold and Rubies O sweet O comfortable Death Certainly thou art no King of Terrours for thou givest true Life thou chasest Fevers and Wounds and drivest away Thirst and Famine Come then my Beloved my Spouse my Friend my Sister shew me where he feeds whom my Soul doth love Awake my Glory Lend me thy hand draw me after thee My Heart is ready I 'll rise and follow the perfume I smell till thou bringest me into my Fathers House Thou art lovely my Friend come do not tarry By thee I must go into the Garden of my Beloved that I may eat of his Fruit. The time is come for thee to have Mercy on me make haste fly to me for I am sick of love Thou art black but comely thy Lips drop Honey Thou art terrible to the Kings of the Earth and crushest the Spirits of Princes but to the Humble thou makest thy Power to be known Thou breakest the Horns of the Wicked and liftest up the Horns of the Righteous Open to me my Sister thou Gate of Life Take away my Coat this Mortal Coat which I wear and deck me with the Garment of Praise and Gladness Break the Bow and Sheild the Sword and the Battle Harden not thy Heart against me Take pity of a hungry Son that hath lived long in a strange Country and deliver him back to his own Father again Thus departed that Holy Presbyter thus he spoke and thus he died What excellent Cordials are such Patterns to a dying Christian He that takes a view of them learns what to say and how to speak to God and to his own Soul when he is going to leave this present World Hypocrites commonly compare themselves with Men that are worse than themselves and finding themselves better than the worst of Men stroak themselves for excellent Saints Because they are not so bad as others therefore they must be very admirable Christians Because they do something more than those that know not God therefore they think they do enough as much as is necessary to Salvation But a Christian indeed a Christian that is altogether so looks forward upon those that are better than himself and by
us How can we deal worse with a man that hates us than by not looking on him when he meets us Is God our enemy that we care not for beholding him in secret when he stands before us in our Closets The Glory of God surrounds us penetrates our Souls and Bodies more than the Sunbeam doth the Chrystal stone and shall not we tremble when we are alone at so great a Majesty The Presence of Gods Wisdom provides for us and sees that we may want nothing is always busie about us either to direct or to rewards us nay God doth not trust his Angels with this Province but himself watches over us every moment every hour like a Nurse he carries us in his everlasting Arms. Have we such a constant Benefactor continually about us and are not we concerned more at his Presence Behold Christian when thou art alone that God is with thee and in thee and stands by thee before whom all Angels vail their Faces at whose Presence Divels tremble who fills Heaven and Earth with his Glory that God is with thee who is altogether lovely the Center of Happiness before whom all Nations are as Grashoppers as the small Dust of the Ballance and as a drop at the bottom of a Bucket who by his Providence maintains thy Soul in life charges the Divel not to drag thee into Hell commands the Powers of darkness not to molest thee or murther thee takes care of thy Self thy Wife and Children and watches day and night over all that thou hast that preserves thy House from being burnt thy Children from being drowned thy Cattle from rotting thy Barns from being consumed by Lightning that Commands and thou takest thy Rest speaks the Word and no danger must come nigh keeps thee as the Apple of thine own Eye and bids his Angels to carry thee in their hands This God this Beneficial God This Immense This Infinite This Bountiful This Gracious This Munificent This Liberal This Charitable God is with thee and about thee every where especially when thou art by thy self for then there is none with thee but he and wilt not thou be conscientious in his Presence Was ever Ingratitude like this The most ungrateful slave however he rails against his Benefactor behind his back yet is afraid to do it in his Presence and will you revile God to his Face What is your sinning against him but reviling of him What is your acting contrary to his Will but abusing of him 〈…〉 he be in the room with you looks you in the Face when you do so do not you reproach him to his Face Ay but Man would be angry with us say you if we should abuse him when he is present with us and bring us into trouble God never punishes us when we sin against him in private and none but he with us Disingenuous Wretches Is your Eye therefore evil because God is good Must you be vain because God is patient Foolish because he suffers long Must you sin because he doth not punish or transgress his Laws because by his Mercies he would oblige you to Repentance Will you slight him because he is kind or undervalue him because he caresses you to your happiness Sinner Did the Lord Jesus appear to thee in a visible shape while thou art alone in thy Closet Wouldst not thou behave thy self humbly modestly and seriously and sute thy thoughts and actions to the Presence of so Glorious a Being Why Christs Divinity is with thee now and cannot his Divinity have the same influence upon thy Spirit that his Humanity would have Is not his Divine above his Humane Nature and is not the Deity more excellent than the most Glorious Image or representation Inconsiderate man If thou art minded to offend God get Curtains that can hide his sight for if he see what madness is it to conspire against him before him Go get where God sees not and then do what thou wilt God stands with infinite Ears and Eyes and Understanding about thee and with as strong application of Spirit as if he left contemplation of himself to pierce thee with all his beams and for him to see thy Disloyalties is a greater shame than if they were represented on all the Theaters of the World The Soul that lives in the thoughts of Gods Presence prepares for her richest Comforts for how can he want Joy that is sensible the Fountain of Joy is with him How can he want Support that is sensible that the God of all Consolation is with him How can he want a refuge or hiding place that is sensible he hath the rock of ages in the room with him The Palm-tree bears Fruit when another Tree of the same nature is set by it how much more will a Soul bear Fruit that 's sensible the Great Husbandman that hath planted Heaven and Earth and gives Sap and Nourishment to all his Creatures is with her and within her and that that Sun of Righteousness is continually warming her with his lively beams Have not you seen a stone thrown into the Air make all the haste it can to return to its Center so whenever such a Soul is justled out of her Orb either by the World or the Divel the God that lives in her forces her to return presently to her Center even to that God in whom she hath all that heart can wish or reason can desire Fear the Lord all ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him saith David Psal. 34. 9. The Soul that fears him from a sense of his Omnipresence is that Soul that can lack nothing for it can lack no strength to arrive to the highest degrees of Holiness for this sense will call it away from all absurd and undecent actions will not suffer her to fall into sin and like the Hands of Angels preserve her Foot from running against a stone as a large spreading Oak deeply rooted in the Earth mocks the rage of winds so a Soul in whom this Sense is fixed can sing securely under all the outrages of hellish Furies My Flesh trembles for fear of thee so we read Psal. 119. 120. The Septuagint render it Fix or nail my flesh with thy fear because the Hebrew Word signifies both and the Word thus taken is very emphatical for as the Man whose Hands and Feet and Body are nailed to a Tree can stir no where so he that lives in a mighty Sense of the Almighties Presence dares not stir from the strait way or from the paths of Righteousness Such a man thinks himself obliged to work out his Salvation with fear and trembling and when Flesh and Bloud would have him be angry or laugh at a sin or defile himself in secret he dares not how can I commit this wickedness and sin against God saith he for God sees me Where this Sense is there Envy must be gone love of Money must take its leave and depart Wrath and Malice dares not stay
care must only be to arrive at the intended Harbour This is it what Christ means by bidding us take care that our eye may be single Matth 6. 22. it must aim at one Thing only viz. Gods glory if it looks upon more objects at once it confounds it self and the man that makes use of it There cannot be a nobler Mark than this and there is nothing more proper for our great and lofty Souls than this Employment This is to be with Jesus about our Fathers business and to mind the end for which we came into the World This is to conform to God and to be workers together with him in the enlarging of his Kingdom This is it we pray for in the famous Prayer Thy Kingdom come and we then live according to our Prayer when the advancement of that Kingdom is not the least part of our endeavours This is to glory in the Lord and there can be no greater commendation then that we seek to bring all back again to the spring or fountain from which they had their being God took more care and pains about creating man than he did about other creatures and whereas he spoke the Universe into being about man he consults and deliberates how to make him after his own Image And since Gods perfection consists in glorifying himself man can be man no longer for he can be Gods Image no longer if he doth not with all his might promote his Creators glory This is to make Religion the darling of our Souls and he answers the great design of his Maker who takes that care that God may be in all his Thoughts He that doth so shews that he delights in God and that God hath engrossed his chiefest joy Then delight in God is come to a just pitch when the Soul is thus greedy to advance Gods glory and then the mind doth truly taste how sweet and gracious the Lord is when Gods honour becomes an ingredient into all its designs and purposes Take the Wings of the morning O my Soul and flie away that thou may'st be at rest and think how thy God hath honour'd thee How studious hath God been of thy Glory How hath he honoured thee by making thee an Angelical Substance Sublime and capable of soaring above this trasitory World How hath he honoured thee by putting all things under thy feet and by making thee capable to converse with him to all Eternity How hath he honoured thee in that he would not trust his Angels with the Charge of making thee but would frame thee with his own hands and breath himself the breath of life into thee How hath he honoured thee by providing so glorious a Palace as this lower World for thy residence and by promising thee a nobler building made without hands Eternal in the Heavens How hath he honoured thee in that he hath charged his Angels to guard thee in thy going out and in thy coming in Nay how hath he honoured thee in that he hath not spared his own Son but hath delivered him up to be sacrificed for thy Sin that thou might'st be capable of being exalted from Earth to Heaven How hath he honoured thee by taking notice of thy Prayers and Alms and holy Labours and by rewarding of them with Blessings great and wonderful and such as thou durst not have aspired to had not his bounty prompted him to such Liberality Hath God so honoured thee and art not thou obliged to seek his glory Hath he glorifyed thee and is he willing to give thee greater glory and wilt thou think much of glorifying him Behold thy Dignity behold the Honour God hath laid upon thee and be ashamed of thy great neglect of seeking his glory Get up once more and purifie thy self Learn to love him dearly Learn to see him in all things and then thou wilt long for his goodness seek his praise breathe nothing but his honour and be zealous for his glory XIV Exercise To stir up and to Exercise our Graces as we have occasion and to grow stronger in the Grace of God an exercise commanded 2 Tim. 1. 6. 2. Pet. 1. 5 6 7 8. 2 Pet. 3. 18. 1 Thess. 3. 12. 1 Thess. 4. 1. By this Exercise I do not only mean when we are tempted to any sin to practice the contrary Virtue a Subject whereof I have already discoursed in the Eleventh Exercise but to become eminent in those Virtues the seeds whereof lie scattered in our Souls it 's not enough now and then to venture upon a single virtuous act but the virtue must become habitual to us natural and easie and we must learn to harden it into immobility My Faith must not only engage me to Praying and Hearing but must advance me into a readiness to die with all Martyrs for the least Article the Church hath taught me upon the Authority of Gods word it must raise my Soul to a transcendent love to the Law of God to an insatiable hungring and thirsting after him to a mighty delight in his presence to a sacred grief in his absence and to resolutions to seale the Truth of God with my own Blood My Hope must not only make me have a good apprehension of Gods Power and Clemency but must force me to repose all my Concerns on his holy Providence make me pray with fervour and incessantly and lead me on to trust him in most desperate plunges make me ashamed to think that a Patient should trust his health with a Physitian the Covetous his Estate with a Lawyer the Blind his Life with a Child or Dog and that I should not trust my self to the Bounty and Conduct of him that hath done all things well that defends all Creatures even to the Snail and least root of Grass defends Serpents and Crows and showers down Blessings on his Enemies and therefore cannot possibly be supposed to forsake those that hope in him My Patience must not only extend to such Wrongs and Injuries as do not blemish much either my Fortune or Reputation but I must so exercise this noble Virtue that I may learn to bear and weather far greater blows even the Censures of good men and the contradictions of such as are Persons of Credit and Interest This grace must be so cultivated that I may no longer call Afflictions miseries but donatives of mercy gifts that come from my deerest friend God that means to conduct me to my happiness I must get up to a higher form in this School and learn that I am a Christian not to be Rich and Pompous and take my pleasure in the World God need not have descended and shed tears and blood and given Precepts for this but to bear the Cross and to become conformable to the Sufferings of Jesus In a word I must learn to fear nothing so much as that God will give over afflicting me My Meekness must not only teach me to be gentle to great men but I must so improve it that it may appear
do afterward happen they are apt to distract the Mind and while the Votary is tossed between his obligation to God and the preservation of his Health he makes his Breast like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest And though some Casuists think that upon such Accidents a man is free from Sin if he do not keep his Vow yet to a person that is very Conscientious it is not so satisfactory as when himself hath made these Exceptions Had Jephtah Judg 11. 30. 31. observed this Rule he had not brought that grief and anguish upon himself which afterwards was ready to overwhelm him Vowing in general that whatsoever should first meet him upon his return from the Slaughter of the Children of Ammon he would certainly Sacrifice and Offer for a Burnt Offering without any limitation provided it be fit to be Offer'd or provided it be no rational Creature or provided it be of the clean Cattle that is in my possession or provided it be not another Mans Vowing I say at large without any such exception when his Daughter met him he knew not how to evade the obligation of the Vow and therefore was forced at least thought himself obliged to Sacrifice his only Child for he did unto her saith the Text according to his Vow which he had Vow'd v. 39. IV. When such Vows are made it 's fit we should write them down in a Book or in Paper that we may remember what we have Vow'd and what the particular things are we have promis'd to the Almighty The Roman Soldiers when they went to War having made certain Vows to God used to write them on Tables and fasten them to the Gates of the City that they might be sure upon their return to pay their Vows Our Memories are frail and treacherous and things are not so soon forgot when committed to Paper or a Book The Oath God made against Amaleck he caused to be written in a Book Exod. 17. 14. and Samuel wrote the manner of the Kingdom in a Book 1 Sam. 10. 21. and indeed remarkable Passages or Occurrences deserve no less Sickness Business or Divertisements may put things out of our Minds whereas if they be noted or written down we can refresh our Memories when we please and remember the very circumstances we were under when we did or saw or met with them Vows are actions of great concernment writing of them down gives us fresh suggestions of the occasion of such engagements and serves to kindle a new zeal in us to perform them When they are once past there depends so much upon the observance of them and the performance or non-performance of them have so great an influence upon the happiness or unhappiness even of our lives here on Earth that they may justly be look'd upon as things of the greatest moment and therefore we cannot be too careful about them and why may not writing down of our Vows be a Monument of our Sincerity Seriousness and Gratitude as much as the Primitive Christians hanging up Boards and Cloaths in the Church which had on them the Picture of the Joint or Part of the Body where they had been diseased or distempered after they were deliver'd as a Testimony of their Thankfulness V. The end of these Vows must be Gods Honour and Glory If the end be that we may with greater liberty live in a certain Sin we delight in the Vow is so far from tending to Gods Honour that God is despised and thought to be altogether such a one as we our selves Such Vows as have no good ends I am afraid are too common in the Church of Rome where Men by Vowing to go in Pilgrimage to such a Saints Shrine or to Jerusalem or to such a Chappel of our Blessed Lady think they purchase a prerogative or priviledge to continue in those darling Sins their Profit or Pleasure doth consist in or to neglect some greater and weightier matter of the Law and though this is call'd by their Votaries seeking Gods Glory yet whatever doth tend to the advancement or cherishing of any sin cannot possibly tend to Gods Glory let mens pretences be what they will for if the bare saying that I aim at Gods Glory would serve turn who almost would be damned Since men may plead that they sin abundantly on purpose that Gods Grace may abound in these Vows destruction of the body of sin must be chiefly aimed at for God is honour'd by nothing so much as by the ruine of the Devils Kingdom VI. Commutations and Dispensations of Vows must be slighted as things alien from true Religion These Practises are common in the Roman Church By Commutations of Vows they mean changing the matter of one Vow into another i. e. He that hath Vow'd to give so much to the Poor changes the Vow into a Vow of Fasting and so breaks the former Vow and substitutes an easier or more convenient in the room of it But these commutations are no better than Falsifications for in a Vow I bind my Soul to God that I will do that particular thing I have mentioned and not another and if God doth not release me of the performance who was the party I promised to what can humane Authority signifie in the case It 's true where the thing I have Vow'd is either impossible or sinful there I may lawfully make another Vow of something that 's good or possible but that doth not excuse the sin of the first nor is this properly a Commutation but a Testimony of my Repentance for the rashness of the former The same may be said of Dispensations how should man be able to dispence with the non-performance of my Vow who hath nothing to do with it and most certainly cannot give away Gods Right who by my Vow is made absolute Owner of that Service I resolve upon and hath so great a Propriety in it by my voluntary resignation of it to him that it is no less than Sacrilege in man to attempt it The Parasites of the Court of Rome allow the Pope besides his pretended power to absolve Men of their Oaths power to dispence with five sorts of Vows with Vows to enter into Orders with Vows of entring into a Monastry and perpetual Chastity with Vows to go in Pilgrimage to Jerusalem with Vows to visit the Thresholds of the Apostles S t Peter and S t Paul and with Vows to salute S t James of Compostella Though we Protestants justly question whether some of these Vows be lawful and whether the matter of them be not contrary to the Will of God yet suppose they are lawful as the Church of Rome holds who gave the Pope Authority to deliver men from the Obligations they have engaged themselves in to God Almighty These Vows all this while are not made to the Pope but to God and how comes the Bishop of Rome to know Gods Mind in this particular or to give away Gods right By what Title or
to loosness and debauchery hoarded up no Money purchased no Lands but lived altogether upon the labour of their hands and nothing in the World could oblige them to have a hand in making Spears or Swords or Arrows or Breast-plates or Arms or any other Instruments of War because they said God had ordered Mankind should live peaceably They despised Riches Honours Pleasures delicate Dishes and lived upon little contented with a course Diet and aiming at nothing in this World but Food and Raiment if ten of them met none would speak till he had first obtain'd leave of the other nine and they ever wore but one Coat and wore it so long till it was quite worn out and then they thought of purchasing another and all this they did that might learn to die to the World and live like men that had Souls to be saved The Pharisees went much farther in these severities even to Superstition Besides the first Fruits they paid double Tithes and besides these Tithes they gave away the Thirtieth and the Fiftieth parts of their Incomes to the Church or the Treasury for the Poor they lay on hard Beds had sometimes no other Pillows but Cylinders and many times Pillows fill'd with Straw and Nails and sharp Stones that they might not sleep too long but awake to Prayers some would knock their heads against a Wall and others hurt their feet in going along the Streets because they walk'd with their eyes shut being loath to look upon a Woman and others as Christ saith would compass Sea and Land to make a Proselyte disfigure their Faces and look very ruefully insomuch that they seem'd Skeletons rather than Men. Though they had Wives yet they would tye themselves to Continence and Chastity some for four some for nine some for ten years and keep themselves undefiled from all carnal pollution Whether S t Paul learn'd the severities be used upon his body in the School of the Pharisees at the feet of Gamaliel we cannot tell but that he used them seems to be very plain from 1 Cor. 9 27. I keep under my body and bring it into subjection where the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a learned Critick of our own observes is very emphatical and signifies to strike under the eye or to give one a blew eye as Wrestlers in the Isthmian games that cuffed one another and wounded one another though it is uncertain whether the Apostle proceeded so far in this mortification as to wound himself or beat himself to that degree that those Agonists did yet it is more than probable that he did afflict his body and sought to keep it under as a Servant or as a Wrestler doth his fellow that it might not be able to strike again and undertook such austerities as made his Soul more than a Conqueror Indeed Christ himself lived but poor destitute and afflicted and had not where to lay his head and whether it was in imitation of Christ that they would be conformable to him in all things or whether it was out of emulation of the Jews that it should not be be said that the Essenes and Pharisees did more than they the Christians about that time and in the succeeding ages seemed to think themselves obliged to put their Bodies to some afflictions and severities in this World for the glories of another which made Nicholas the Deacon whom we read of Act. 6. 5. instil this Principle into his Disciples that they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abuse or mortifie the Flesh use their Bodies coursly that they might be more active in Spiritual Concerns and the same Doctrine saith Eusebius was taught by the Apostle Matthias and though many have slander'd Nicholas and branded him as an Apostate and the Author of a Heresie mentioned Rev. 2. 15. and as one that gave way to promiscuous copulations and made Scortation a venial sin yet the holy man hath been wronged as appears by Eusebius and Clemens Alexandrinus and it 's very likely that those who call'd themselves Nicolaitans having heard Nicolas use that Motto that the Flesh must be abused defended their impure Doctrine with that saying and from thence were call'd Nicolaitans whereas Nicolas understood no more by it than that Flesh must be subdued and bridled by such severities as we are able to bear that our Faith and Hope may become more lively and our inward and outward Man more expedite for Heaven If they be Christians that Philo speaks of in his Book of a Contemplative Life Eusebius and S t Jerome think so S t Mark the Evangelist it 's like instructed them in these severities for they used them and were the wonder of the World and who knows not how the succeeding ages pressed this Self-revenge upon all those that were fallen either into Adultery or Idolatry or Murder and repented and what severities they inflicted on them how they obliged them to stand in a torn Garment at the Church door and made them weep and fall down before the believers that enter'd into the Church and beg of them to pray for them how after this severity they placed them among the Catechumenes then gave them leave to receive the Blessing of the Congregation and when they haâ—◠〈◊〉 through all this Discipline they gave 〈◊〉 leave at last to join with believers in their Prayers and Sacraments Tertullian who lived about the year 203. after Christ expresses these severities thus Repentance is a Discipline of Humiliation and Prostration and enjoins such a câ—â—â—â—â—sation as provokes and allures Gods mercy It determines what Meat the Penitent must eat what Cloaths he must wear it bids him go and wallow in Ashes lie in Sackcloath throw dust upon himself let his Soul melt into grief and treat those Members scurvily that have been Instruments in sinning to eat and drink nothing that 's pleasing to the Pallate but only so much as will keep Soul and Body together to Pray to Weep to Sigh to Howl to Roar to fall down at the knees of Gods Ministers and to beg of all he meets with to supplicate to God for him This is Repentance If you repent you must saith Pacianus weep before the Church lament your lost and sinful life in a sordid Garment you must pray and roll on the Earth if any invite you to the Bath or some such Divertisement you must refuse to go if any bid you to a Feast you must say these things are for the happy I have sinn'd against God and am in danger to perish for ever what should I do at Banquets who have wrong'd the Lord you must take the poor by the hand beseech the Widow lie at the feet of the Presbyters and beg of the Church to forgive you and you must do any thing rather than perish And accordingly Natalius the Confessor when corrupted with Money he had suffered himself to be made a Heretical Bishop and afterward by a signal
tell you that the Saints of old thought Heaven could not be had without them They verily believed that there must be a conformity to Christ not only in active obedience but in sufferings too and where God did send no affliction upon them they thought themselves obliged to inflict some on themselves This produced that vast number of Virgins wherein the Church then triumph'd By Hair-cloth and Sackcloth and denying their Bodies even Necessaries by mean Attire and carelesness in their Dress and deforming themselves and going bare-foot and enduring heat cold hunger thirst and nakedness they became Conquerors of their Lusts and Spectacles to Angels and to Men. Alas you that at this day call your selves Christians and are fond of all the bravery that the Silkworm and the curious hand can make to the Female Sex I speak particularly that must have such Washes for your Skin such Paint for your Cheeks such Patches for your Faces and go from one Glass to another to see whether this Curl is in its exact Figure whether this Lace sits well whether this Meen becomes you or whether you are entirely Modish that keep such a stir with your Fans and Instruments of Pride in publick Prayers are more afraid to hurt your Knees than your Souls and more discomposed if justled than if you lost Gods favour and practice no more Religion than is just consistent with your Lusts that are more concerned if your Hoods and lighter Vails and flowing Mantles do but sit amiss than if we thunder out Gods Judgments against you that must serve God with ease and elbow-room are discomposed and disorder'd with every trifle and as soon as the Lords day is over go from one Play-house to another and know not which way to look for Starchedness and Wantonness and exactly observe the mode and figure of your Gate and conform accurately to the vain Gesture the Dancing-Master taught you and are careful about nothing so much as about being dressed A-la-mode and whose Discourses chiefly are about Fashions and Fineries Alas Had you lived in the Primitive times there is no man would have taken you for Christians The Primitive Saints would have reckon'd you may be among the Gnosticks or among the better sort of Heathens but they would have wondred at your impudence if you had called your selves Christians for they lookt upon all those Gaudes that now you doat on as part of that Pomp and Glory of the World which they had Abjured in Baptism How you come to be Christians in this Age Heaven knows I am afraid you are none of Gods making The Primitive Saints were such Enemies to all Vanity that they would scarce allow the Female Sex any Looking-Glasses to behold their Faces in which made some of them make use of Vesiels of Oyl to behold themselves and they took none to be Christians that did not conform in Habit and Dress and Behaviour to Christ as well as in Doctrine Tertullian makes himself very merry with those that pretended to be Christians and call'd for such a Bodkin to dress their Hair and the Blushes of such a Paper to beautifie their Faces and fasted with delicate Wines as Persons whose Religion could not be treated of but with Jest and Mockery The Christians in those days lived like people that had not their Portion in this Life their Pomp lay all in Holiness and all their Bravery in making their Souls rich and beautiful and indeed where so much Cost and Time and Pains is bestowed upon dressing the outward Man the inward commonly goes like a Beggar or lies unregarded where their condition and dignity required difference in Cloathing they wore may be Sackcloth next to their Skin to remember that though they were in the World yet they were not of the World The Age we live in will not bear these severities Mens Lusts have made that necessary which heretofore would scarce have been thought convenient so strangely is Religion alter'd from what it was and let no Man tell me here that to Preach up severities is to teach People to turn Heathens again for the Priests of Baal cut themselves with Knives and Laucers till the Blood gush'd out upon them 1 Reg. 18. 28. we urge no such severities as shall disable the Body from doing the Work that 's proper for it nor do we look upon God as a Tyrant or a Deity that delights in Blood as those Heathens did much less do we think that any such severities merit God's favour or his Audience as they did no the severities which we recommend to Christians are such as the Primitive Fathers used severities which nothing but love to God produces and a hatred of Sin and a willingness to be rid of those Lusts and Temptations which do so easily beset us Nor is this to reduce men to Popery for I have already shew'd how the Papists do abuse these rigors and pointed at the Rocks that must be shunn'd In matters of these Bodily severities the Papists have not forg'd a new Doctrine but have only turned an old Doctrine into Superstition and run it into excess and extravagance which bitter Rind being pared away the Fruit may be wholesome and like the Leaves of the Tree of Life for the healing of the Nations In vain doth the slothful Sinner plead that God commands no such severities I believe if he look'd into the Bible with seriousness and attention he would find more Commands that urge these severities than he is aware of The 5 th and 19 th Chapters of S t Matthew the 6 th of S t Luke and the 12 th of the Romans diligently considered will convince a rational Man that the Holy Ghost is no enemy to these severities and suppose there were no express Commands for it as long as we have so many examples of Saints before us that have used them and as long as we are commanded to imitate those that have gone before us in their holiness these examples will not want much of the nature of peremptory Commands But it 's very common with Men that are for an easie Religion to find out excuses No wonder if Men whose God is their Belly whose Glory is their Shame and who mind earthly things speak against these severities It 's their interest to talk against them and they would be undone if their Guts should want those soft Morsels they used to feed upon Their Lusts tremble at these rigors and therefore they must be unlawful Nothing is Religion with them that crosses their sensual Appetite though in good truth Christianity is nothing else but crossing our sensual Appetite It 's true no man yet hated his own Flesh but still these severities are no Signs of Mens hating their own Flesh but certain Marks that a Man loves his own Flesh and that he is willing to save his Soul and Body in the day of our Lord Jesus Without doubt he loves himself most that denies himself most and no Man believes a Heaven and