our defect of credulitie and beliefe The eies of our soules as Bernard saith are intellectus affectus Our vnderstanding and affection But those two eyes are pulled out by Satan the God of the world who hauing blinded the minds of Infidels 2. Cor. 4.4 that the light of the glorious Gospell of Iesus Christ which is the Image of God should not shine vnto thÌ„e takes frÌ„o them all faith that they should haue in the promises iudgements of God The time will come saith the Apostle and the time is say I when they wil not suffer wholesome doctrine 2. Tim. 1.3.4 and shall turne their eares from the truth they will not beleeue the truth and if they wil not heare and beleeue too Moses and the Prophets Luc. 16.31 neyther will they bee perswaded albeit one rose from the dead again And indeed the sinne of Infidelitie is the root of all our cecitie blindnesse and miserie For if wee beleeued Moses and the Prophets Iesus Christ and his Apostles we could not but see a farre off as the Apostle saith 2. Pet. 1.9.5 both Gods mercies to such as ioyne all vertues to faith also his iudgements against the wicked sinner that walkes on in the stubbornnesse of his owne heart How much this Infidelitie offendeth God wee may see in the example of Moses and Aaron Num. 20.12 Gods deare children who because they did not beleeue him to sanctifie him before the children of Israel in the desart he barred them from bringing the Israelites into the Land of Promise Euen as our Sauiour depriued his owne countrie of his great works Mat. 13.58 for their vnbeliefes sake How much the more then will he be offended with vs who stand not so highly in his fauour as these men did If one tell you of fables and narrations of many incredible things you beleeue them why will ye not then beleeue the truth 2. Tim. 4.4 3 The third cause of our blindnesse is the expectation of Gods long animity and patience Because sentence against an euill worke is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the children of men is fully set in them to doe euill This the Apostle cals a Despising of the riches of Gods bountifulnesse patience and long suffering and a heaping vnto our selues wrath against the day of wrath and declaration of the iust iudgement of God Therefore Wise Siracides disswades this Sir 5.6 Say not the mercie of God is great hee will forgiue my manifold sinnes for mercie and wrath come from him and his indignation commeth vpon sinners Nor yet say I haue sinned Sir 5.4 and what euill hath come to me For God is a patient Rewarder and hee will not leaue thee vnpunished And as this presumption of Gods mercie blinds many so hope of long life doth the same As wee may beholde in the Rich man whose soule was taken from him Luc. 12.20 whilest he was building his barnes for his fruits Let vs remember what Bernard saith Maledictus qui peccat in spe Cursed is he that sinnes in hope 4 Fourthly Besides the outward appearance of goodnesse and the externall worship of God makes many so hood-winked that they cannot see the danger of their Estate Most doe thinke that God is pleased with the outward worke of his seruice praying reading hearing of Sermons wherein they carrie themselues as the Spirit speaketh of the Church at Sardi Apoc. 3.1 Thou hast a name that thou liuest but thou art dead they seeme to haue some Religion and deuotion but it is but hypocrisie for there are no fruits worthie amendement of life Of these you may say as the Prophet doth Beautie hath deceiued thee Dan. 13.56 so apparance of Religion hath deceiued and blinded them Of this Bernard speaketh thus Serpit super omne corpus putridalabes Hypocrisis moribus vtique damnabilis the rotten and stinking blemish of Hypocrisie hath dispersed it selfe ouer the whole bodie of mankinde in manners verily damnable Therefore let not any thinke that the outward workes of the Law alone are all that God requires of vs. For the end of the Commandement is Loue out of a pure heart 1. Tim. 1.5 a good Conscience and Faith vnfeigned 5 The last but not the least cause of our blindnesse is abundance of temporall blessings For euen as in the Moones Eclypse which is the interposition of the Earth betwixt the bodie of the Sunne and the Moone the Earth being a darke bodie detaines the beames that they cannot proceed and so the Moone is Eclypsed and looseth her light so in Man the loue of temporall thinges in the wil Eclypseth and hindereth the beames of reason and vnderstanding that they cannot inlighten the soule Hence the Hebrewes affirme that Couetousnesse so possessed Cain that he beleeued not there was any life after this and for this cause slew his brother who beleeued a life to come a reward for the good and punishment for the wicked in which contention Cain slew him Eight Aphorismes or Rules containing the summe of an happie life and blessed death 1 WEE rightly worship God with true faith daily invocation and lawfull obedience in the Sacrifice and obedience of Christ imputed to vs by faith 2 Wee exhilarate our soules and honourably spend our liues by a learned pietie and exercise of vertues 3 We cure the anguishes of the mind and the doutbfull health of our bodies by the evacuation of cares moderate labour and sober temperance 4 Wee increase and conserue our stocke and substance with honest diligence obserued faithfulnesse and liberall parsimonie and sparing 5 We gaine the godly fauour of men with wise and well seasoned language blamelesse life and approoued manners 6 Wee get friendship with faithfull beneuolence and mutuall Offices of Loue. 7 Wee gaine our enemies with iust susterance pacifying words and worthy Offices 8 This kind of life is most acceptable to God To doe good to all men and yet to sustaine enâ—ie hatred and iniuries of Deuils and Men. How to obtaine eternall life and auoid eternall death 1 THat there bee an earnest care of learning and reading the be auenly Doctrine deliuered in the sacred Scriptures ioyned with a godly and lawfull vse of the Sacraments according to that in Saint Lukes Gospell Luk. 16.29 They haue Moses and the Prophets Let them heare them 2 Let vs liue in the feare of God and imploy our selues in the serious exercises of true repentance that in the acknowledgement of our sinnes we may by saith flie to the mercie of God promised in his Sonne Christ and addresse all our whole liues after the rule of his holy Word mindfull of that Commaundement Mat. 4.17 Repent for the Kingdome of Heauen is at hand 3 That we shunne with a singular care all sinnes and scandals which shal according to the prediction of Christ and his Apostles in the end of the world swarme most abundantly namely Luxurie Drunkennesse Auarice Carnall
wicked the sense of the horrible anger of God against their sinnes the most sorrowfull feare confusion flight roaring indignation biting and gnawing of conscience arising from the recordation of their sinnes now laid open to the whole world and with the most direfull thunder of Gods anger inflicted vpon them The wicked perceiuing themselues for euer with the Diuels cast off from God and his horrible wrath powred out vpon them all their turpitude and malice to all the Angels and men demonstrated and all occasions of flying these punishments and mending of their manners in this life intercepted acknowledging godly men enioying with God eternall ioy and glorie to be for euer blessed so all houle and lament for their carnall securitie and final impenitency and amongst these infinite torments of bodie and soule with horrible lamentations eiulations sobbes and sighes and in perpetuall mourning anguishâ— trembling shame ignominie gnashing of teeth and desperation ration shal euery moment in vaine wish that these sorrowes and torments might by death be cut off and they themselues to be redacted into nothing but all this I say in vaine Apoc. 9.6 For Cupient mori mors fugiet ab eis they shall desire to die but death will not be acquainted with them This is eternall damnation this is eternall fire O horrible eternitie whom the consideration of thee may not moue to forsake all euill and follow all that is good I will speake it in a word but I will speake it truly he hath no faith or if any sure he hath no heart or if any sure hee he hath no hope of saluation Close vp this Meditation with a sweet colloquie and speech with God desiring him so to inflame thy heart with a true zeale of seruing him in holinesse and righteousnesse of life that all thy life long thou maist be out of the feare of this eternall death and in the death of thy bodie thou maist enioy the fruit and Crowne of righteousnesse eternall life MEDITATION IIII. Of Coelestiall glorie CAst downe thy self before God and begge of him that he will direct all thy thoughts words and workes to his glorie and thy saluation First cast thy conceit earnestly vpon that description of the holy Citie Apoc. 21. New Hierusalem where is represented to thee a place full of all glory pleasures and excellencies that heart can imagine and all those perdurable and for euer Secondly aske of God to giue thee grace intimously and from the heart to vnderstand the glory of this heauenly countrie and so to be affected and rauished with the desire thereof that euer and euery where thou maist be stirred vp to serue him in purenesse of life and also labour to bring as many to this glorie as thou canst The first point is to consider what kind of place it is that the blessed doe inhabite in site most high in space most ample in matter most sumptuous in shew and beautie most specious and glorious whose foundations are precious stones and the whole Citie of most pure gold the gates of Smaragds and Saphyres and the streets of no lesse price and beautie There is no night nor darknesse for the Sunne of righteousnesse which knowes not to be hid doth euer send his beames into it Now if the fabricke of this world which is but a stable for beasts an exile and valley of teares to men hath so much beautie and excellency that it strikes him that contemplates it into admiration and astonishment and such plentie of good things that no sense can desire more such varietie of beastes fishes fountaines townes cities prouinces disagreeing in institutes manners and lawes such choise of all stones of value gold siluer and exquisite silkes naturall and artificiall if I say this building of so small a frame of the Sunne Moone and Starres shine with such brightnesse what shall then our heauenly countrie doe not now the habitation of seruants but sonnes not of beasts but blessed soules where is the Hall of the great King of Kings the omnipotent God who can and will performe to his beloued children much more then they can conceiue what things will not he frame in his eternall Palace for his sonnes Psal 84.1.2 How amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord of Hostes My soule hath a desire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord. What ioy shall that bee when they shall come from the East and from the West from the North and from the South Luc. 13.29 sit at table in the kingdom of God Thou shalt consider what kind of house Gods house is wholly pleasant wholly desirable remoued from all euill replenished with all good in which as Angustine there is a life prepared of God for his friends a secure life a quiet life a beautifull life a cleane life a chast life a holy life a life that knowes not death a life without straitnesse without necessitie without sorrow without auxietie without corruption without perturbation without varietie without mutation a life full of beautie and honour Where as Bernard saith there is nothing present that offends nothing absent that delights How louely a house is this where is perfect loue and no feare eternall day and all one Spirit where God is seene face to face Blessed are all those who so liue in this world that departing hence they may be assured to remoue to so blessed a home Then contemplate that blessed society of most pure minds in their seueral quires described Angels Archangels Principalities Powers Dominions Vertues Thrones Cherubins and Seraphins Whereof there is such a multitude that Daniel saith Dan. 7. Thousand thousands serue him ten hundred thousands assist him Behold with these so many most holy soules of men and women Patriarches Prophets Apostles Martyres Virgins Innocents so many that Iohn said Apoc. 15. They could not be numbred Behold the beautie of euery one and so great charitie that they no lesse reioyce of anothers glorie then their owne Conceiue what is the exercise of the blessed to see God face to face First to know the diuine Essence in three persons Father Sonne and holy Ghost with which knowledge they are so illumined and inflamed that incessantly they sing Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbath Isa 6. In the diuine Essence they know themselues and all things else and do not onely see God but also loue him with a vehement loue a full loue a perfect loue with all the heart and all the strength and in louing they enioy him and in enioying with an inexplicable ioy are rauished No cessation of praises admiration thanksgiuing and ioy which they receiue by the presence of God whom with all reuerence and rest they assist and by that societie of so many Saints with whom they see themselues in glorie in a place so sublime secure and pleasant doe eternally reioyce Consider withall the multitude and fulnesse of those ioyes so many that God can onely number them so great that onely he
and sting of guilt 9 To please the bodie and put the minde to drudgerie for his sake is as full of peril as folly and no other good comes thereof but a dis-ranking of all good orders of Holinesse putting the Cart before the Horse Earth before Heauen Pleasures of the bodie are the diseases of the bodie and no more to be followed or beleeued then the conceits of a man in a burning feauer 10 You will beleeue that a vessell full of chinkes and holes holds nothing to the good of the owner why will ye not then iudge that a bodie and minde replenished with chinkes and holes of pleasure powres out it selfe vnprofitably and spends faster then it gets all their actions being monsters some wanting heads some feete one blinde another deafe and none with right shape or Christendome With this cast vp your gaines and losses the shortnesse of them vnsafetie and torments of them and tell me if any but fooles and mad men will make choice of such companions 4 Of things concerning the endowments of the mind 1 SHame not to aske the thinges thou knowest not of any man which thing the most excellent men haue not blushed at But be ashamed to be ignorant and vnwilling to learne 2 By three instruments we attaine learning Wit Memorie and Studie 3 If thou wouldest seeme learned or good labour to be so indeed For that is the most compendious way to be esteemed learned and good 4 There must be no end of learning till the end of our liues therefore three things whilest we liue must be meditated How we may well be wise how we may speake well and how we may liue well 5 All things in this world doe passe from man to man being all vile sauing the Minde to the end that no man should say That anything is his owne saue his Minde 6 He is a free man who onely couets the things that are in his power He is a seruant and slaue that doth the contrarie For to be filled with the gifts of fortune what other thing is it but to ouerload a footman in his iourney 7 Nothing is so pleasant as the knowledge of many things nothing so fruitfull as the vnderstanding of Vertue These season ioyful things and mitigate sorrowfull things restraine the temerities of youth lighten the burthens of old age In all times places and occasions these accompanie vs nay guide and helpe vs. 8 Much care is had in curing the diseases of the bodie but much more should be had in saluing the sicknesses of the Minde seeing the maladies of the Mind are more grieuous thē those of the body 9 Thou shalt easily cure the greatest disease of thy Minde that is Anger if thou doest fixedly hold that no iniury can be done thee vnlesse thy Minde be hurt which cannot be done but by bringing vice into it 5. Of Religion 1 THe true worship of God is to purge the minde of the diseases and wicked affections and as much as in vs is to labour to be transformed into his Image which is to be holy and pure as he is 2 Be assured that God is not more liberall to any then such as he teacheth what is his true worship 3 So ignorant and childish is our nature that we lament when most hurtful things are not giuen vs as if they were most profitable and we abhorre most profitable things as if they were most hurtfull So that for the most part there is nothing more pestilent to vs then to enioy our desires 4 Know that the life of Christ doth testifie the probitie and goodnesse of his humanitie his miracles the omnipotencie of his Diuinitie his Law his heauenly wisedome that thou mightest from his probitie haue an example to follow from his authoritie power to obey from his wisedome faith to beleeue his probitie engendreth loue his Maiestie reuerence his wisedome faith 5 Be present at the sacred Rites attentiuely and piously not ignorant that whatsoeuer thou hearest or seest there is most pure and sacred and that it is facile to looke vp and adore that immense Maiestie but impossible to comprehend it 6 When thou hearest any attribute of God or his Sonne Christ lift vp thy selfe in contemplation and pray that he may be such to thee as namely if thou hearest that he is full of mercie that thou maist finde him such to thee if Omnipotent that he will shew it towards thee in making thee who art the worst to be the best of an enemie a sonne of nothing something if terrible that he may strike feare into them of whom thou art afraid if Father see thou loue him and liue like his sonne if Lord see thou serue him and that in singlenesse of heart 7 Begin nothing without inuocation of his sacred name for all things being in his power he will giue wished successes to such things as we enterprise from him 8 But inuoke him with a pure heart bruised and broken with true repentance for thy sins and accompanied with a liuely faith For if thou regardest wickednesse in thy heart God will regard neither thee nor thy seruice Psal 66. 6 Of Charitie 1 MAn commended to thee of God if he bee worthie loue him because he is worthie whom thou shouldest loue but if he be vnworthie yet loue him because God is worthie whom thou shouldest obey 2 Thinke it no disparagement to haue him for thy brother whom God disdains not for a sonne except thou wilt contemne the iudgement of God 3 Warre is the greatest of all hatreds whereby Man exceeds the fiercenesse of all beasts thinke it is not any thing belonging to man but as the name of it imports belonging to beasts Bellum quasi Bellumum 4 Let no man thinke himselfe a Christian or deare vnto God if he hate any man for Christ commends all men to vs to be loued as our selues 5 To mocke or scorne good things is a thing detestable and wicked euill things crueltie indifferent things folly good men impious wicked men beastly knowne men immanitie And to conclude to mocke or scorne any man is brutish inhumanitie 7 Of Conuersation 1 HIs saluation is to be despaired of who is not ashamed to do euill 2 Contempt is an intollerable thing for none seemes to himselfe so vile as that he deserues to be contemned nor is any so great but stands in need of him that is least and Time and Chance may bring him lower then the least 3 Thinke nothing of such moment that for it thou shouldst suffer thy selfe to swarue from right truth Let not riches nor nearenesse of bloud nor prayers nor threats nor feare of death nor certaine danger wrest this from thee so shalt thou gaine to thy selfe authoritie credit that whatsoeuer thou speakest shall bee thought to be Oracles otherwise thou shalt be despised and iudged most vnworthie to be heard 4 No pleasure is so sweet as that it can be compared to the speech of a wise and discreet man 5