the Wicked and their Wickedness 4 CHAP. III. That Original Sin is the spring whence all Evil proceeds 8 CHAP. IV. Of the Occasion and Drift of this Book 10 CHAP. V. The Cause why so many learn the Rules of Christianity and follow them not 12 CHAP. VI. That the Rules of Evangelical Perfection are intended for all Christians 14 CHAP. VII Of the Vsefulness of this Book with an Exhortation to follow after Perfection 17 CHAP. VIII Of the Folly of them that neglect their last End and how necessary it is to consider it seriously 19 CHAP. IX The Reasons why all men are not happy being they all desire it 22 CHAP. X. That with an upright intention we must use all things and refer all our Actions to God 24 CHAP. XI That men trifling about things Eternal and being so earnest about the World is the cause why so many attain not their main end 26 CHAP. XII How men suffer themselves to be deceiv'd by a fair out-side and false appearance of good 29 CHAP. XIII How men spend themselves and their time and abuse all things to their own Ruin 31 CHAP. XIV That the right way to Heaven is every one to remain in the station Providence hath appointed him and therein bear the Crosses which he meets withal 33 CHAP. XV. How man 's last end or supreme happiness is qualified and how so many mistake and miss it 35 CHAP. XVI Another Reason why so many miss of their End their living too much by Sense 38 CHAP. XVII That we being the Children of God ought to be guided by his Spirit and by the example of Christ 41 CHAP. XVIII The Just liveth by faith not by the laws of flesh and bloud 43 CHAP. XIX That Faith works in a Christian self-denyal and contempt of the World 46 CHAP. XX. Of the desperate folly of men who willingly run to ruin by their inconsideration 48 CHAP. XXI The Character of a true Christian 50 CHAP. XXII Several useful cautions how a Christian should undertake and perfect his works 53 CHAP. XXIII That to discharge the Duties of our station is the best thing we can do 56 CHAP. XXIV How Christians are to live and to be sincere 57 CHAP. XXV That a hearty affection is the life of good actions 60 CHAP. XXVI Whence the goodness of our works proceeds 62 CHAP. XXVII How useful and comfortable is the consideration of God being always present 63 CHAP. XXVIII Why the Imitation of Gods Saints appears difficult 66 CHAP. XXIX How we should in all things aim at Gods Glory 68 CHAP. XXX Self-Love is the Root of all Evil. 70 CHAP. XXXI That Self-Love is that Babylon out of which God hath called us 72 CHAP. XXXII How men naturally seek themselves even in their best works 74 CHAP. XXXIII Things which every Christian is bound to know in order to Obedience 77 CHAP. XXXIV The difference betwixt the outward and the inward man 79 CHAP. XXXV How dangerous it is to be governed by Opinion and false apprehension of things 81 CHAP. XXXVI Three things very profitable and necessary to every Christian 84 CHAP. XXXVII That Repentance is necessary to all Christians 86 CHAP. XXXVIII Of the signs and effects of true Repentance 88 CHAP. XXXIX Remedies against ordinary failings and greater sins 90 CHAP. XL. Clergy-men have some special obligations though all are bound to endeavour after perfection 93 CHAP. XLI That Prayer is necessary to all and what dispositions are requisite to make it acceptable 96 CHAP. XLII Why many are not profited by Prayer and that we should study to Pray well and frequently 100 CHAP. XLIII How to Pray and avoid distractions and fix the intention 103 CHAP. XLIV The great advantages of Prayer 106 THE CONTENTS OF THE SECOND PART PART II. Of the moderation of our affections and the study and endeavour after true Virtue CHAP. I. That Voluptiousness and Vanity are to be avoided and Truth sought for in things Eternal after Christ's Example Pag. 1 CHAP. II. That to attain Perfection nothing must be neglected 4 CHAP. III. That Self-denyal and the Cross is absolutely necessary to all Christians 7 CHAP. IV. That Self-denyal is the Character and the principal duty of a Christian 10 CHAP. V. How we must fight our corrupt nature and depraved affections 13 CHAP. VI. Of the right use and moderation of our outward senses 16 CHAP. VII Of denying our Sensual appetites especially Intemperance 19 CHAP. VIII Of Talkativeness and Silence 22 CHAP. IX Of true and false delights and of self-complacency in virtue 25 CHAP. X. That we are led too much by Opinion 27 CHAP. XI That the Doctrine of Salvation is much slighted even by some who pretend to it 30 CHAP. XII That Self-will is a great Evil and must be renounc'd 32 CHAP. XIII Of the advantages of Solitariness and Retirement 34 CHAP. XIV Of the Danger of Riches and that the desire of them is to be mortified 36 CHAP. XV. Of the use of Riches and how to know we love them not 39 CHAP. XVI Of Poverty in Spirit and the contempt of the World 41 CHAP. XVII Of the Necessity and the Measures of Alms-giving 44 CHAP XVIII Of Patience in Bearing and Forbearing 48 CHAP. XIX Adversities are occasions of Virtue and must be Patiently indur'd 51 CHAP. XX. That we must bear patiently the little Vexations that happen daily 53 CHAP. XXI That we should Rejoyce in Triublations 56 CHAP. XXII That Detractions and Derisions must be indur'd and derided 59 CHAP. XXIII Remedies against Discontent and Anger for what abuses we receive 61 CHAP. XXIV Remedies against Impatience 64 CHAP. XXV Of Humility the proper Vertue of Christians 66 CHAP. XXVI From God we turn'd away by Pride to him we must return by humility 69 CHAP. XXVII The Character of a proud man 72 CHAP. XXVIII Motives and Reasons for Humility 75 CHAP. XXIX That the Humble man judgeth himself and not others with a Character of him 79 CHAP. XXX Of the Conformity of our Will to Gods 83 CHAP. XXXI Of the Resignation of our selves to God in all things 87 CHAP. XXXII That the Hope of our Salvation must rest upon God 91 CHAP. XXXIII That Love is the Spirit of Christian Religion 93 CHAP. XXXIV Of the right Placing and Ordering of Love 96 CHAP. XXXV Of the Necessity and Measures of Loving our Neighbour 98 CHAP. XXXVI True Friendship and the true Offices of it 101 CHAP. XXXVII Of the several Acts of Charity to our Neighbours 105 CHAP. XXXVIII Charity is also due to our Enemies 107 CHAP. XXXIX That the love of the Supreme Good comprehends all goodness 109 CHAP. XL. Wherein consists the Love of God 112 CHAP. XLI That there is more of Love in Practical Knowledge than in Speculation 115 CHAP. XLII That by Love Holiness is to be perfected 117 CHAP. XLIII That the Consideration of the fewness of the Chosen ought to make us very wary and diligent 120 PRECEPTS AND Practical Rules FOR A truly
that no man without a special Revelation can have a special assurance of his Salvation but we have that which is as good to secure us against despair and to ground an holy and comfortable hope upon That we are redeemed by the Bloud of Christ and devoted to him in Holy Baptism and that God is our confidence and refuge always ready to help them that call upon him and to forgive them that beg for pardon with tears and contrition and a serious purpose of amendment And many more great and precious assurances we have that God hath given us eternal life and that this life is in his Son so that all his Providences are to fit us for it if we do not wilfully frustrate all his saving methods and purposes Only he would have our Election to be hid and secret that security may not breed in us pride and negligence and that he that thinketh he standeth should take heed lest he fall 2. Now therefore because the chosen are few let every true Christian live a Holy Life with the few that he may make his Calling and Election sure and be counted worthy at last to receive the Crown of Life with the few Streight is the way and narrow is the gate that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it saith our Blessed Saviour Mat. 7.13 Therefore we must walk in that narrow way and that always with care and fear even when we seem to run with most speed because no man in respect of himself is absolutely sure of perseverance Yet our fear must not proceed so far as to make us faint but only to make us wary and make us put our trust and confidence in God and with a chearful submission cast our selves upon him both for time and eternity If any one objects that he knows not how Gods will is affected towards him I answer that Gods promises are sincere and must be received as they are generally set forth in Holy Scripture to all that will obey Gods revealed will and moreover that his own will is much more uncertain so that it is much more safe to trust Gods for God we are certain is infinitely good He is extremely proud and unhappy withal that relies on himself more than upon God but happy is he that confides in that gracious Lord whose mercies and promises are sure for ever and in whom whosoever trusted was never confounded CHAP. XXXIII That Love is the Spirit of Christian Religion 1. THough it be by vertue of our Baptism and profession of the Christian Faith that we are and are called Christians yet the Life or Soul of our Religion is Charity or the Love of God whereby we are enabled to live godly as becomes Christians For as God by his great love wherewith he loved us sent his dear Son into the world to die for us that we might live through him so are we to love God most affectionately with all our heart and strength and our Neighbour as our selves for his sake In this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Love therefore is the first and great Commandment on which depends the Law and the Prophets Love is the foundation and excellency of our Faith to know the love of God which passeth knowledge that when we were enemies we were reconciled to him by the death of his Son Love is that fire which our Blessed Redeemer came to send in the Earth Luke 12.49 which cost him much to kindle and which burns up mens dross and impurities and cannot be put out but where iniquity doth abound And Love is the spirit of Primitive Christians who had one heart and one mind and is even the Soul of the whole Church whereby it is united and lives 2. Christ left and appointed Love as the mark whereby his followers should be known Joh. 13.35 By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another And so in the love of God consists our union with him and it is the highest perfection of the Christian life Now perfection is the work of Grace therefore we must not relie upon our own strength but we must beg of God daily and devoutly that by his good Spirit he would kindle in our hearts the fire of an holy Charity that by it we may be guided quickned and at last perfected Neither yet must we lose heart if we sometimes fall as if all our hope were in our own strength but we must acknowledge our own infirmity and rise quickly and pray more fervently and afterwards fight more couragiously Still pursuing after perfection not only in words or ineffective wishes but in hearty desires and serious indeavours manifesting our love by daily mortifying our sins and attaining to new and higher degrees of vertue And then shall a Christian be most perfect and happy when his heart shall be empty of himself and free from the love of the world but purified and burning with the love of God CHAP. XXXIV Of the right Placing and Ordering of Love 1. HE is a just and holy man who rightly values things according to their worth and also loves them proportionably for sin is duly by wise men defin'd to be a disorderly Love and vertue to be a regular and well placed Love And though there be other natural affections yet they all proceed from and depend upon love and if this be well placed and governed as it should the rest cannot be unruly It is vertue to love what deserves to be lov'd and wisdome to make choise of it and constancy to pursue it through all dangers and sufferings and to be drawn from it by no inticements is temperance and to prefer nothing to it is justice and the order of Love must follow the order of things and so God is to be lov'd infinitely more than any creature because he is infinitely better more perfect and lovely We become good and pure by loving him who is the fountain of all goodness and purity for our manners follow our affections we become either vertuous or vicious according to the nature of what we most love 2. The true object of Love is God our Neighbour and our selves God in the first place to whom all love is due and from whom it must pass to other creatures according as they are more or less like him By this we must love our Neighbour because he is or that he may be just and we must love our selves in that we are or else that we may be holy taking from God the measure of our Love to all other things that our Love may be regular and we may be happy Let no man therefore love sin for thereby he hates and destroys his Soul and let no man love himself for his own sake but upon Gods account who is the chiefest Good in whom alone we can be intirely happy For God who alone is the Author of our being
and well-being hath set these bounds to our affections that we should love him with all our heart and with all our Soul that we should consecrate to the service of that Love our understanding our life and all our powers and that if we love any thing else it be in reference and in subordination to him that deserves all our Love and should be the master and disposer of it The love of God must therefore lead the way to what else we should love it must always prevail and be the rule of all our affections and then we cannot love nor do amiss CHAP. XXXV Of the Necessity and Measures of Loving our Neighbour 1. WE cannot love God as we should without we love our Neighbour neither can we love our Neighbour except we love God If any man saith I love God and hateth his Brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen and this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God loveth his Brother also 1 Joh. 4.20 The Commandment makes no exception though the man be poor though he be a stranger nay though he be vicious and thine enemy yet he is thy Neighbour and thy Brother and he must be lov'd The expressions of thy love may vary according to his needs and thine opportunities Yet they must be hearty real and effective for The End of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfained 1 Tim. 1.5 And we must not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth 1 Joh. 3.18 2. As Christ loved us and gave himself for us not that we deserv'd any love but because he lov'd God and us in God to whom he purchast us so must we love all men not for ours or their sakes but for God's sake having no further regard to what is good in them than only as it relates to God True Christians are so strictly united together by love that what one hath not in himself he with joy finds it in others and what one hath more than the rest he willingly imparts it to all As by our love to God we are united and in some manner become one spirit with him so by the mutual love of men of Christians especially they become one among themselves so that what one hath to himself is for the good of all and what one hath not in himself he hath and enjoys in others Thus love is the fulfilling of the Law and the fulfilling of all Righteousness According as is the mans Charity in the beginning progress or perfection so is his goodness and his righteousness and then most perfect in this life when even life it self is parted with for love 3. The modus or measure of love to our Neighbour is twofold positive and negative First To do to him as we would he should do to us Secondly And not to deal with him any otherwise than as we would he should deal with us Every one therefore in the sight of God to whom all things are known must consider seriously what he would others should do or not do to him and if he desires others should he patient towards him and bear with his faults and infirmities and speak well of him c. Then let him be careful to do so to others 'T is a sure indication of a perverse heart for a man in a private capacity to do that to another which he should be sorry to suffer himself A good Christian doth not inquire into the manners and faults of others but leaves them to his view and correction to whom all judgment is given He examines judgeth and punisheth himself and makes self-reformation his serious and constant business Whatever he sees or hears his mind is undisturb'd and abides in peace for if it be good he praiseth God if evil he turns it to good by turning his mind from it towards God in Prayers and Resignation 4. If his Office and Charity obligeth him to reprove and to correct others he doth it with a zeal sweet and benign and compassionate to his Brothers infirmity for roughness and ungovern'd passion cannot consist with Charity If the ill actions of others are capable of an excuse he excuseth them however he censures not knowing that nothing human is so perfect and holy but may be ill interpreted and at the best may be some way defectuous enough to be liable to reprehension if carping men let loose their censorious humors Whilst men are men they will have some imperfections and to be zealous against them is under pretence of preciseness to give way to peevish impatience or proud censoriousness He that is too busie to tax and judge others will never grow better himself CHAP. XXXVI True Friendship and the true Offices of it 1. FRiendship is the communion of good things and therefore it follows the nature of those things which friends have common Now there being nothing truly good but things supernatural and eternal true friendship must consist in the communication of these mutually Hence it is that carnal friendship is soon dissolved because things of sense cannot last nor always confine the spirit whereas spiritual friendship is never broken for though it may seem to be interrupted by little angers and contentions yet true piety and the love of God sweetens the harshness of them and keeps the knot indissoluble As for that friendship which too much sets our hearts upon any person and may be called Doting it should be stifled and avoided as being mischievous and it is to be known by these tokens when the party belov'd is always in our thoughts and we can never be well without him when we fear his displeasure above all things when in him we rest as in our center and we sacrifice to him all our actions and most important concerns And let none flatter themselves that this is pure innocent friendship without any self-interest for it is altogether sensual it depraves the heart and affections it is an enemy to all wisdom and true Religion and it begins and ends in the flesh and 't is to be observ'd that this kind of friendship is never betwixt persons truly good and vertuous 2. Men of real worth are always well composed grave and of a sweet deportment they are courteous to all but they are familiar to few and they flatter none in their conversation modesty discretion an exact justice and an unaffected severity is to be observed They seek not to make a shew outwardly their life is inward and secret they live to God and to their own conscience They fairly converse with men outwardly when it is fitting but their heart cleaves to God and they will not disturb themselves with the silly impertinencies or petty concerns of the world Their designs and affections differ much from the vulgar multitude and therefore their words and actions are guided with
without Works is dead and except our conversation be suitable to our Profession the most glorious Names and Titles shall avail nothing Life and manners as well as Faith make a difference betwixt a Heathen and a Believer by Works the distinction is made betwixt the true Religion and the false For what manner of Faith is theirs who so believe in God that they despise and reject his Commands are they not like the Devil who believes and trembles or rather it were to be wisht that they were no worse for his Faith begets an awe and terror but these boast of Faith and yet do not so much as fear God CHAP. III. That original sin is the spring whence all evil proceeds 1. NOW of the cause of all this wickedness none can be ignorant that hath but heard of the transgression of our first Parents For by their fall original Righteousness being lost human nature utterly depraved and shut up under condemnation their off-spring fell into evils of all sorts so great and so many that they can be neither exprest nor numbred Hence that deep and dreadful ignorance which like a black cloud darkens the mind and lies upon it hence that brutish and untamable Lust which like a heavy weight sinks the soul to the ground and there keeps it fast hence that aversion from God and conversion to things perishing hence those anxious cares and foolish joys those dissensions quarrels and enmities those perverse Heresies greedy Sacrileges and unsatiable Lusts and hence the Eternal ruin and damnation of all Mankind For this was the just vengeance of Man's impious Disobedience and Rebellion that God should forsake him who by Pride lift up himself against God that he that would not when he could make a good use of his free will should be depriv'd of it and become uncapable of doing what was infinitely his duty and his interest to perform except he be prevented and assisted by the divine grace and mercy 2. Thus Man left to himself in the state of Nature is by self-self-love drawn to himself seeks himself onely and in his wretched self alone sets his rest and his satisfaction This is a sad truth and 't is much to be wisht all Christians did well consider and understand it for if they were sensible of their weakness and impotency how uncapable they are of themselves to do any good then 't is like they would daily by fervent prayer beg his gracious help that works in us to will and to do from whom comes all our light our strength and our sufficiency But alas too many in a deep death-like sleep rest in carnal security and unhappily abused by vain delusions love their blindness and their disease too dreaming that they are safe and sound because they have no sense of their distemper CHAP. IV. Of the occasion and drift of this Book 1. WHilest I often thought of these things and in the bitterness of my Soul call'd to mind the lost years of my life I was griev'd and perplext both upon the account of the time which is past and of that which shall follow hereafter Looking backward on those days which are gone and examining seriously how I have spent them I was seiz'd upon with horror at the sight of my many soul prevarications against the laws of my gracious God and my great unfaithulness to Christ my Saviour in the breach of those sacred vows I made when I gave up my name to him in holy Baptism I was asham'd and confounded to have thus requited my God and abused his Grace And when I turn'd my self to the future to those things that are coming upon me I could not but dread the dreadful judgments of my offended God and tremble exceedingly at the greatness of my danger and the uncertainty of that pardon I want and am so much unworthy of In these straights I resolved by God's help first to help my self and then others that are in the same case to prescribe what might easily be had and yet be effectual things ready at hand which being often read and considered might be remembred and follow'd that they that seriously design to be happy and to take the safest way that leads to Heaven might find it here without the trouble of a long and laborious search 2. Now because Physicians have their Aphorisms and Philosophers their Axioms or sentences and in all inquiries after truth we must begin at certain principles which are short and comprehensive and as it were the seed and marrow of the whole discipline therefore I purpose in this little book to lay down briefly and clearly those chiefest Rules and instructions for to lead a holy and a religious life which more at large are scattered in the sacred books of Divine Scripture and in the works of the Holy Fathers and other good Authors For when all is done this is our first and our greatest concern that one necessary thing on which all depends to know how to live well to live like Christians For what shall a man be profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul and what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Mat. 16.26 Nothing more perverse and unreasonable can be imagined than to own our selves Christ's disciples and live quite contrary to the example and the precepts of Christ The name of a Christian will avail nothing where the life is Antichristian CHAP. V. The Cause why so many learn the Rules of Christianity and follow them not 1. MAny without difficulty can read and learn the Gospel-precepts and even often think of them but 't is much to be lamented that few understand well their force and their full importance We easily grant that the only way to heaven lies through self-denyal fasting watching and praying keeping under the body and going patiently through many tribulations but when it comes to the proof of action we seem to be of another mind We can readily say and affirm that it is a Christian's duty chearfully to endure reproaches and persecutions torments and even death it self but when these evils are at hand and our life comes to be in danger then things appear not as they did before we cannot see that we are oblig'd to resignation and sufferance what before was a very clear case is now at the best but very doubtful We can be humble when no body reviles us and when wee meet with no vexation then we are patient We assent to the doctrine of Christ and his severest injunctions when we are not concern'd but when they come to regard us and press upon us a present duty then the inticements of lust and worldly vanities alter our resolutions and disturb our minds and by a corrupt gloss or lazy interpretation we elude the unpleasing precept 2. Truth is as it were wrapt up in a cloud and men hate it because it reproves them their sinful depraved nature cannot abide its rigour and austerity They find in virtue something
shake off the thoughts and the comforts of Gods presence because it puts a restraint upon our appetites And when at any time Spiritual joys are denyed us we presently seek for Earthly pleasures because we open not the eyes of our Faith to see God present and we embrace him not with devout affection and we care not to converse with him This is the way to Perfection which God himself shewed to Abraham to have always a sense of the Divine presence Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect Holy David likewise made a great use of this to be always mindful that God is with us Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved He can never but be happy that dwells with the Author of all happiness CHAP. XXVIII Why the imitation of Gods Saints appears difficult 1. WE think it a matter of great difficulty to follow the example of those Christian Worthies that have gone before us because we represent them to our selves as being now of another nature freed from the body inhabitants of the mansions of bliss whence anger lust and all temptations are for ever banish'd and where they enjoy peace and joy and eternal felicities But if we really desire to follow their steps and to conform our lives to theirs then are we to consider that as we are so were they mortal men cumbred with the uneasie burthen of the flesh infected with sin tempted by sinful affections and exposed to miseries and dangers but that by Faith they overcame all these subdued Kingdoms wrought Righteousness and by fighting obtain'd the Crown 2. Elias saith St. James 5.17 was a man subject to the like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the Earth by the space of three years and six months and again he prayed and the Heaven gave rain and the Earth brought forth her fruit The same may be said of any other Saints that have done the greatest wonders they were like us made of the same clay and subject to the same passions and temptations while they were on Earth They were only above us in this that with great and assiduous pains they conquered pride and lust and escaped the snares of the Devil by diligent care and invincible resolution Why then do we draw back and make delays to them that are truly resolved and willing 't is not difficult to become Saints by the imitation of those that have gone before us if shaking off our sloth and laziness we would seriously endeavour we might by the help of Divine Grace arrive to the same height of Sanctification and bliss as they have For he hath proceeded far towards holiness that sincerely desires to be holy CHAP. XXIX How we should in all things aim at Gods Glory 1. IT is the precept of St. Paul that God should be the end of all our works that they may be good and acceptable 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the Glory of God and again Col. 3.17 Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him For a good work which is not done upon Gods account doth become evil it being the nature of virtue to receive its form from the end rather than from the act And if we cleave to the creatures and love them for their own sake without reference to God this is that lust or sinful love which Saint John condemns 1 Ep. 2.15 Love not the World neither the things that are in the World love them not so as to rest in them For here we are Pilgrims Travellers going home to our Fathers house to our God and so what creatures we meet in our way we may use them as conveniences to carry us forward towards him but we may not dwell with them as if we were at our journeys end God alone is to be lov'd for himself he alone being infinitely good and the last and best end we can propound to our selves in him alone our appetites shall rest satisfied our enjoyment shall be secure and our joys undisturb'd for ever Whosoever knows not and pursues not this end knows not why he lives nor how to live well but he that knows it knows whither to direct his intentions and whither to tend in all his actions 2. It is granted that some natural actions as to walk to eat to sleep and such like are of themselves neither good nor evil yet all Divines teach that they become sin if we do them not to some further and better end that is to live to serve God whose glory should be the ultimate design of all mens actions because as he is the beginning so should he be the end of all things The light of the Body is the Eye saith our Blessed Saviour Mat. 6.22 if therefore thine Eye be single thine whole Body shall be full of light but if thine Eye be evil thine whole Body shall be full of darkness This Eye is the intention of every man in his actions if it be not good they become works of darkness and good it cannot be except it be refer'd to God the supreme goodness Every good thing comes from God and whatever returns not to him is evil CHAP. XXX Self-love is the root of all evil 1. AFter our first Parent by preferring himself to God committed that grievous transgression whereby all mankind became obnoxious to death lust and ignorance darkness and evil propensities seiz'd upon our nature man forsook God and turn'd to seek himself and having lost all sense of spiritual comfort ran dissolutely after carnal pleasures Hence Self-love the greatest Enemy to virtue came to tyrannize over men who to comply with it seek nothing now but wealth honours and sensual delights And now saith the Apostle Rom. 8.7 The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be for all its instincts and impulses have a tendency to sin and to sin only 2. And yet self-love which seeks so much our own ease and satisfaction is indeed its chiefest hinderance for God having created us for his glory and enjoyn'd us to design it always when by self-love we seek only our selves and our own advantage we do nothing whereby to obtain Gods favour and eternal life but rather fall into a wretched state of damnation We are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh saith Saint Paul Rom. 8.13 For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Now to this mortification we are strongly oblig'd by Christian Religion its great design is to bring us out of our selves to God that as we yielded our members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity even so now we should yield them servants
to righteousness unto holiness as it is written Be ye holy for I am holy saith the Lord. Lev. 11.45 3. Now as Christianity checks and restrains self-love so doth self-love keep men from understanding and approving the Christian doctrines for how can he that seeks and loves himself rightly apprehend that whatever the world dotes upon is meer vanity that Estates and Honours bring great vexations and great slavery that to forgive Enemies and do good to them that hate us is the part of a noble and generous mind that 't is better to despise than to possess riches that 't is more honourable to be subject where God commands than to bear rule and to domineer that for a man to restrain his appetite and conquer himself is more glorious than to win battels and take fenced Cities These are Paradoxes hard and incredible sayings to the self-lover whose fondness of himself ties him fast to this earth to whatever can be useful and any ways pleasant to the flesh whereas the Children of God live to God being not led and govern'd by the flesh but by the spirit they live in the flesh but not after the flesh some of their actions are natural whilest they are in the body yet they proceed from a supernatural principle and are designed to a nobler end for they continually deny themselves and mortifie all sensual unruly desires Self-lovers hold a great regard should be had to the flesh 't is true but it must be such as Christ hath taught us to keep it under otherwise Saint Paul hath declar'd that to be carnally minded is death CHAP. XXXI That Self-love is that Babylon out of which God hath called us 1. GOD at first placed man in Paradise but Adam in whom we all sinned transported us into this world out of Paradise out of Jerusalem into Babylon out of our freedom into slavery out of integrity into corruption out of our countrey into banishment and out of life into death Thus from truth and perfection we fell into vanity we are now like unto vanity nay every man is but vanity as the Psalmist saith Psal 39.6 Man is vain in his body which ends in death and corruption vain in his soul which being inslav'd to sin is obnoxious to death eternal and vain in all his outward enjoyments which all perish or must be forsaken when he dies Yet man strangely dotes on this vanity he passionately runs after these transitory things which are all cheats and lies whereby he is drawn into thousands of pernicious errors and out of the Heavenly Jerusalem into a Hellish Babylon 2. Now these two Cities are built by two sorts of love to love God so as to despise our selves makes the City of God and to love our selves so as to despise God makes the Devils Babylon the City of this World The way to this is broad and short to that is streight difficult and long because dull and earthly as now we are we more easily fall on the earth and descend down to Hell than we can raise up our selves and ascend to Heaven Let every man therefore examine himself and find out what he chiefly loves for if he loves God so as to deny himself he is doubtless a Citizen of the Jerusalem which is from above but if he loves himself so as to prefer his own desires to God 't is plain he belongs to that Babylon out of which God hath called his Children For thus the Scripture cries aloud Go ye forth of Babylon and remove out of the midst of her Isa 48.20 Jer. 50.8 and again the Psalmist Psal 137.8 O Daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones We come out of Babylon when we leave the confusion of sin forsaking our disorderly course of life and we dash the children of Babylon against the stone when our love to Christ overcomes our ill desires and ill inclinations Self-love is the death of the Soul and the love of God is its life therefore he doth not truly love himself who by self-self-love destroys himself CHAP. XXXII How men naturally seek themselves even in their best works 1. IT may seem strange to observe that whereas mens opinions and inclinations are so various and different yet all men are agreed in this that none appears vile to himself none is willing to yield and submit to others none though never so mean but thinks himself somebody and is desirous to be taken notice of every one seeks to be higher than others every one is indulgent to himself and severe to others all men will have their will and their saying all applaud to their own inventions and conceits and censure others they count their own follies wisdome and notwithstanding their great ignorance there is nothing but what they think to know They carefully hide their own faults and pretend to those virtues they know they have not And what is most of all to be wonder'd at even good men who endeavour to please God and seem to aim at nothing but his honour and glory Even they sometimes in their best actions by a secret and natural instinct almost unknown to themselves seek their own comfort and complacency most of all and the more excellent are their works the more subtil and undiscernable is this snare which self-love sets to the most spiritual 2. What better than to obey God to read his Sacred Word and preach it to receive and administer his Holy Sacraments Yet these duties are commonly stain'd with some secret desire of praise and except the Christian be very watchful over his own heart he may easily lose his better reward Though I speak with the tongues of men and Angels saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.1 and have not Charity I am become like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal And though a man should give all his goods to the Poor and even his Body to be burnt yet without Charity without the love of God hath purified his heart it will profit him nothing According to the saying of the Prophet Haggai 1.6 Ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but ye are not filled with drink and he that earns wages earneth wages to put into a bag with holes for thus good works avail nothing if done out of respect to our selves and not to please God This being therefore the bent of our corrupt nature to draw us to our selves we ought carefully to examine our selves and search the hidden corners of our hearts that there lurk not in them some ill purpose of vain-glory or self-interest to mix with our best actions either first or last This is the Rule of a true Christian Life always to seek and love the things of God and never his own CHAP. XXXIII Things which every Christian is bound to know in order to obedience 1. EVery Disciple of Christ ought to know those Divine and Human Laws under which he lives and the which he is
oblig'd to observe The Divine are contain'd in the Ten Commandments and in the New Testament which contains the precepts of Faith Hope and Charity Faith obligeth all the Faithful to believe the doctrines of Christianity as they are sum'd up in our Creed By Hope we trust by the grace of God and our own sincere endeavour to obtain and use all necessary means of Grace and Eternal Life at last all which in this assurance we heartily beg in the Lord's Prayer And Charity requires of us to love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves A Christian by these three virtues is made a new and holy creature Faith inlightens and directs his understanding Hope raiseth him up and sets his will at work for God and to God Charity unites him wholly It is also necessary to understand the necessity of Baptism and the Lord's Supper and true Repentance which are all Divine Institutions indispensably necessary to all that will be saved For except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.5 And Except we eat the flesh and drink the bloud of Christ we have no life in us Joh. 6.53 And as for Repentance it is the only remedy we have for the sins committed after Baptism that by it we may be made clean again 2. Lastly there are also Human Laws Enacted by the Church or the State we live in and them we are also to know and to observe with meekness and humility and for Conscience sake But no man of himself is able to keep all these Laws which God hath bound upon us none can obey them without the true light from above enlighten and guide him as it is written Psal 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastnest O Lord and teachest him in thy Law For ever since sin came into the World men without the light of Faith sit in darkness and the shadow of death and take an account of good and evil not by the measures of truth but by their lusts and depraved passions We must therefore earnestly beg the divine assistance that he that commands what he wills would enable us to do what he hath commanded healing our blindness and impotency destroying self-love and filling our hearts with devout love to him for the end of the Commandment is Charity and he that truly loves God keepe his Commandments without hypocrisie or reservation CHAP. XXXIV The difference betwixt the outward and the inward man 1. OUR Christian hope is not for this World nor for this present time and we were not created to enjoy that Earthly happiness which the World only seeks but God made us for that Eternal Bliss which he hath promised and whose excellency we cannot as yet understand For eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither is it entred into the heart of man what things God hath prepared for them that love him We therefore that are called to the possession of that Kingdom which was prepared for us from the beginning of the World ought not to govern our selves only by human reasons and live by natural instincts after the common manner of men who are unacquainted with the ways of Eternity and the motions of Divine Grace But happy are they that wisely dive into the depth of things who live to God and commune with him in their hearts and suffer not their thoughts and affections to range and dwell abroad 2. These men live an inward life they are recollected and dwell at home always disposed to hear Gods voice within them and to understand his secrets Whereas they live an outward life that are most affected with outward things having fair pretences for their worldly-mindedness being greedy of news and curious sights and sensual pleasures walking saith the Apostle Eph. 4.17 in the vanity of their minds alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them For the more a man profits in carnal wisdom the more ignorant he becomes in the things of God As much as we love the creatures as much we lessen our love to the Creator CHAP. XXXV How dangerous it is to be governed by opinion and false apprehension of things 1. HE is a wise man that weighs things justly and then esteems them according to their intrinsick value for every thing in the world hath a twofold aspect or a double face the one natural and real and the other disguised and fallacious The first is what God judgeth and hath revealed it to be and the second depends on mens passions and false opinions Thus for Example the Dignity of a Bishop is in effect and according to Gods appointment a high and Angelic office of such a weight as should make human strength tremble and shrink under it it is a place of great honour but also it requires the greatest labour and diligence to watch for the Souls intrusted with the dignified Prelat who shall give a strict account for them in the day of judgment But in the Worlds account a Bishoprick is only a degree of honour in the Church which promotes the owner of it to riches and greatness and temporal advantages Hence it is that they that rightly apprehend what the office is fear and avoid it and are so far from seeking that they refuse it when offer'd and it is much to be feared that they follow the worlds judgements and seek themselves that seek it and make it their aim and the object of their passionate desires The same may be said of all other dignities and places of trust in Church and State Generally men have a wrong notion of them and understand not their definition and hence the confusions and malvorsations that are in the world that men mistake things and hate truth and will not see nor follow divine light but the darkness of their own perverse hearts 2. Such names are commonly used amongst men as are consecrated by the Bloud of Christ and the highest virtues of his greatest Saints as that some be called Bishops Priests Deacons Monks or Hermits Some Kings Princes and Magistrates and all together Christians but who is there that duly considers the great worth the strength and true significations of those names what virtues what perpetual care what duties they require from such as bear them the bare Titles with a vain shadow of the things remain but the reality and significancy of them is vanish'd few men are in truth what they call themselves few live according to the name of Christian because few make it their first care to follow the example of Christ This unhappy deceit is also an effect of the first and worst of evils Self-love the most crafty deceiver hardly found out by the wisest and seldome quite conquer'd by the best of men 3. The truth is that the good and evil things of this present life are so mixt and confused that if we take an exact view of the nature of them we shall hardly discern the one
greater and more divine wisdome they proceed from a higher principle and they tend to an end much more excellent Their soul and conversation their treasure and joys are all in Heaven and if thither they draw not others after them 't is because health propagates not it self as distempers do Mans nature is corrupt and now infections are catching but cures are difficult 3. Men are sociable by nature and by a certain instinct they generally seek to please others and to be loved by them but that friendship which they so much indeavour after will never be sincere nor lasting except their souls meet and are joyn'd in the love of God That friendship which consists only in the reciprocation of civil offices is but a kind of a traffick and it abides no longer than whilst men can be useful one to another That courteousness and obligingness which friends so strictly exact one of another is but a vain deceit or pastime or at the best a game at words and many that play best at it and with most readiness are they that cheat you most they talk and promise gracefully and at a high rate but these are but wind and come to nothing when realities are wanting and effects be required Whereas if God were possest of mens hearts by Holy Charity he would make their love to their Neighbours hearty and sincere there would be no contentions no envies no discords betwixt them they would dwell in peace and a happy union together every one not following his own will and desires but all conspiring together in the will of God and his good pleasure 4. Self-love and self-interest are the spring of all divisions for men therefore esteem not their Neighbours nor seek their advantage except it be for some ends of their own Let a man be a great Philosopher or a great Mathematician very Learned or very Religious few care for that and few love him therefore but if he be Rich and Prodigal withal multitudes worship him and run after him Vertue and Learning are valued by few but many love and admire the money and thence many wars and enmities and many Law-suits do proceed Man commonly loves not himself because he is partaker with others of humanity but for some things which he fancies peculiar to himself therefore he lives not as he should to the community loving others especially Christians for what they have common with him but by his imaginary particular excellencies he separates himself from the rest of mankind and upon that account cherisheth himself and cares for none else but for his own sake This well considered will make a wise man despise much the friendship of the men of this world He will not purposely do any thing to get their hatred but yet he will not much value their good words and their fine pretences Privacy and silence will be pleasant to him and his delight will be in conversing with God in whom alone all joys and all comforts are to be found CHAP. XXXVII Of the several Acts of Charity to our Neighbours 1. WE are never without an occasion to shew our love to our Brothers for so great and various are the miseries of human nature either corporal or spiritual that we can hardly look or step without finding objects of Charity Even the best of men want our hearty Prayers that they may persevere for such is our weakness and such the strength of our enemies that no man can be secure in this world and many strong ones have been known fall suddenly and irrecoverably at the assault of an ordinary and often baffled temptation And how much want they our assistance and our prayers that are fast tyed with the bonds of their sins that they may not perish in their dungeon and unhappy slavery This is the case of all Infidels and Hereticks besides many vicious Christians who all together croud in the broad way to destruction and heedlesly go down to Hell 2. Bodily miseries also are frequently to be met with and are altogether past number Many are afflicted with hunger thirst and nakedness with debts and law-suits and natural infirmities Many are persecuted and opprest reviled and slandered imprison'd and begger'd and perpetually vext and distracted And many struggle with the terrors of a guilty conscience and the fear and approaches of death and the amazements of that last moment on which depends Eternity To all these our pitty and charity is to be extended as God shall enable us by alms by counsel or comfort by prayers and by any means that are in our power Christ accepts as done to himself what good we do for his sake to the afflicted and in the great day of recompences he will bountifully reward Charity CHAP. XXXVIII Charity is also due to our Enemies 1. TO love our Enemies is the highest and most divine vertue and the sum of Christian perfection which our Blessed Saviour most earnestly recommends and absolutely enjoyns to all his Disciples saying Mat. 6.44 But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust This Law is hard to flesh and bloud therefore the Law-giver raiseth his subjects minds above all things earthly and natural even to the highest glory and priviledges of Heaven That ye may be saith he the children of your Father which is in Heaven that despising our first carnal birth we may live according to this second whereof the honours and advantages in Christ are so much above all we could hope from Adam Enough certainly to make us chearfully comply with our duty in this particular not only to love but also to do good to our enemies to speak well of them and to pray for them And yet we are bound to this also by our greatest interest for except we thus forgive and requite good for evil our heavenly father will not forgive us our sins nor receive us into favour again as our Blessed Saviour plainly asserts Mat. 6.15 and 18.35 2. Saint Paul likewise exhorts us Rom. 12.20 If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink And Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good Men may be too strong for us that we cannot help but we cannot be overcome of evil except we please our selves For to be overcome is to hate them that do evil to us and to seek to revenge it upon them and 't is in our power to do otherwise if we will we may overcome evil with good in pitying and forgiving those that hate and injure us and doing good to them when we have occasion But this is better understood and perswaded by Holy Charity than by all argumentations and learned discourses Wee need not fear
therefore the evils men can do to us but those we do against our selves by an angry impatient and revengeful Spirit Let us but pray and labour for Christian Charity and it will make us invincible it will make us conquer and overcome all wrongs and afflictions Many waters cannot quench love neither can the flouds drown it Cant. 8.7 The waters of Calamities and Persecutions cannot put out that bright and ever-burning flame kindled by God in pious hearts CHAP. XXXIX That the love of the Supreme Good comprehends all goodness 1. GOD is our true and sovereign good him we must love with all our soul and strength and to him we must direct all our ways For the love of God comprehends all vertue and godliness it is temperance whereby we despise the pride and delights of the World that God may have our whole hearts to himself it is constancy whereby we patiently bear any cross for and from God It is justice whereby we serve and obey God alone and with due moderation command his creatures it is prudence and the highest wisdom whereby we diligently avoid the obstacles and use the means to come to God it is all that can make us good and make us happy Now God must be lov'd for himself for nothing can be better than God he is infinitely good and the beginning and end of all goodness Therefore other things must be lov'd only for his sake and in such proportion as they are more or less related to him but he must be lov'd on his own account as much as is possible without bounds or measures for his perfections are vast enough to swallow up all our affections nay they infinitely exceed them so that nothing must share our love with him it is all infinitely more than due to him 2. It much concerns us therefore to be very careful that those lower sensible goods wherewith we converse in this Earth do not steal our hearts from God the giver of them For though we set the greater value upon things Spiritual and Eternal yet because now they are out of our sight and we cannot reach them our affections to them are dull and heavy and must be forc'd and listed up whereas they are brisk and swift to such things as are the object of sense and we naturally fall down to our sensual nature and without great care we cannot avoid to be by it cheated into self-love If we would therefore be replenish'd with the Holy and Beatifying Love of God we must first cast the World out of our hearts for as a full vessel cannot receive better liquor except it be emptied no more can our hearts love the Creator if they are possest by creatures Therefore saith Saint John the beloved Apostle of Jesus Love not the world neither the things that are in the world for if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2.15 Worldly things are made for our use and there is in them some beauty but how much more beautiful is he that made them and made us for the enjoyment of himself He that seeks for happiness out of God shall never find it but if we love him above all things then we are certainly happy for he also loves us and his favour is all CHAP. XL. Wherein consists the Love of God 1. IT consists chiefly in joyfully suffering for God for Love is a passion and he therefore loves most that is most patient as the Blessed Apostles returned from the Council rejoycing that they had been worthy to suffer shame and stripes for the name of Jesus There may be much of nature in that tenderness of devout affection and those tears that proceed from it which are observ'd in some but true vertues and solid joys do proceed from a Love practical and obediential For he that truly loves obeys in all things cheerfully for savour not for fear and if any burthen unpleasant to the flesh be laid upon him Love makes it light and acceptable too Therefore the Scripture saith that Gods Commandments are not grievous to let us know we are not yet perfect in Love when we find them grievous and difficult and that we should pray and labour for an increase of Charity The keeping of Gods Commandments is doubtless very hard to them that are acted by fear but Perfect Love casteth out Fear and as it fulfills the Law so it makes it easie and delightful to us For there is no trouble nor difficulty in that service which Love obligeth to what duties it binds on a good servant are ever thought pleasant and readily discharg'd whereas the same imposed by fear will make subjection grievous and obedience to be cavill'd at and by some means eluded 2. By this they are convinc'd to want the Love of God who complain of the strictness of Gospel-precept and count morality a needless burthen and by pretences and objections seek to loosen the yoke that they may shake it off Such are they that have itching ears and heap to themselves teachers after their own heart such as may more comply with their humor and inlarge their wanton liberty by restraining Gods Laws and the injunctions of his Church For men now adays will not be held in by duty but will range according to their will they have disputed themselves out of meekness and Charity and now that their actions are not govern'd by plain precepts but by opinions and parties they may be warranted to do in a manner whatever they lust But alass before Christs dreadful Tribunal we shall not he judged by vulgar opinions nor by the exceptions of contentious men but by truth and by divine Laws There mens fancies and relaxations and the doctrine of probability as some do teach it will be found to hare been only pernicious cheats whereby men sought to warrant their looseness and disobedience 3. But these things are not weighed nor understood but by them that sincerely love God and are therefore ready always to obey him in all things he requires For 't is by Love that the Soul gives up her self to God and by cleaving to him becomes one will and one spirit with him for God is Love saith the Scripture and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 And from this union flows an holy peace and a delicious joy when by love we are subject to our Beloved and are possest of him in whom and by whom are all things and who is the fountain of all happiness and the satisfaction of all our desires Now by this shall a man know whether he truly loves God and adheres to him if God be the last end of all his purposes and actions if his thoughts and desires always run after him and if above all things he seeks to please and to obtain him CHAP. XLI That there is more of Love in Practical Knowledge than in Speculation 1. TO desire knowledge is natural to man and still the more
he knows the more that desire increaseth and then he rejoyceth in himself and is much delighted with his great learning when he thinks he knows much and hath a great insight into the profoundest of divine mysteries and so he comes to love his knowledge more than God the object of it Thus the Philosophers as St. Paul reproves them when they knew God yet they glorified him not as God but became vain in their imaginations much admiring themselves and their discoveries And thus also many Christians value more what they know and what they can discourse of God and Religion that they value both him and it They speak great things of the love of Christ and they love themselves for so speaking In that knowledge they have of God as in a mirror they view themselves especially and take little notice of the glass they admire the vision their own act more than the object which is seen But God must be lov'd and worshipt in spirit and in truth in singleness and simplicity without any respect to our selves 2. As a Country-man plain and unlearned who daily sees the Sun is more in love with the light of it than a blind Philosopher who can talk many things concerning the nature and the causes and effects of light so an honest pious man without Scholarship by an active practical Faith shews more love to God than the profound Divine by his subtleties and high speculations And as a learned man in Northern Countries where no Vines can grow may learnedly discourse of their fruit and the properties of it and yet not have such an intimate acquaintance with the nature and strength of the wine as the plain vine-dresser that drinks it daily so may a Religious illiterate man have a greater insight into divine mysteries and a more relishing apprehension of them than many a man of great fame and learning For experience goes beyond all theory and love passeth knowledge and we much sooner come to God by affection than by studious inquiries 3. We must not only therefore inform our understanding but if we desire to love God fervently we must ingage our affections and give our selves to Prayer Proficiency in goodness will make us know more of God and to better purpose than proficiency in knowledge Goodness will make us love and love will bring us into Gods secret place where we shall see more and with more delight than all notional learning can shew us What we can know of God in this our exile is but little but we may love him as much as we will he grants us that power and as our love increaseth our labour will grow less and our obedience more perfect But many had rather seek God whom they never find than love and thereby enjoy him CHAP. XLII That by Love Holiness is to be perfected 1. IT is a commandment of God both in the Law and the Gospel be ye Holy for I am Holy That is that we should be pure and without the unclean mixture of the creatures For as Lead in Silver and dirt upon white robes will debase and stain so if we ingage our Souls to the world to things beneath them we make them vile and unclean whereas if we list them up to God by a hearty love we make them pure and beautiful A heart whence all sensual and earthly things are excluded and whose affections cleave to God by the unions of love may with joy and confidence say with the Apostle Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famin or nakedness or peril or sword Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us 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 be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.35 2. Fasting and Alms and Corporal Austerities the use of Sacraments and all such means are great helps towards Sanctity but they all profit nothing without Charity No not Martyrdom it self saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 13.3 The exercise of some other vertues may be sometimes dispenc'd withall as the poor from Alms-giving and weak and sickly people from fasting and rigorous discipline but to love God and our neighbour which is the end of all other precepts and the fulfilling of the Law every one is always oblig'd no man at no time can be any ways hindred or excused obstacles and difficulties may stop the progress of other vertues but they increase Love Love is within in the heart and will there God hath placed it there God looks for it and there nothing can obstruct or stifle it except we will our selves Love alone is necessary and alone sufficient to make us holy It is the first and great Commandment pleasant and easie beyond all others for what more pleasant than to love and who dares say I cannot love 3. He that heartily loves God who is one loves all things in one and one in all things for he loves not God truly that loves any thing which he loves not in God and for God There is nothing above there is nothing equal to God and if at any time we turn our affections from him they fall upon inferior objects upon earthly things whose weight doth sink and press them down and our hearts are never at rest and liberty till they return to God from whom they ungratefully departed That we may therefore be truly sanctified we must forsake our selves and all created things and return as high as to that first principle of sanctity that God from whom we had our origin and then cleaving stedfastly to him by a devout love we shall become one with him in life and holiness and felicity CHAP. XLIII That the Consideration of the fewness of the Chosen ought to make us very wary and diligent 1. NOthing can sooner startle a man out of his slumber and security and â—edge him on to amend and order his life by the Gospel Rules than the due pondering of the dreadful saying of Christ Mat. 20.16 That many are called but few are chosen For no man knows whether he be called by that secret election which intitles him to glory and justification No man knows either love or hatred by all that is before him all promises for the life to come are conditional nothing but our sincerity in fulfilling the conditions can give us any ground of assurance And yet how defective are we in this how uncertain is it that we shall persevere and who can search and see into the deep secret of his Election here the Apostle who had been once in Paradise cryes out and wonders O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out Rom. 11.33 In this great danger and
Principia et documenta Vitae Christianae Golgotha Matthew 16 Ver 24 If any man will com after me let him deny him self and take up his Cross and follow me F. H. Van. Houe feci◠〈…〉 PRECEPTS AND Practical Rules FOR A truly Christian Life BEING A Summary of Excellent Directions to follow the narrow way to BLISS In two PARTS Written Originally in Latin By JOHN BONA Englished by L. B. LONDON Printed by M. Clark for H. Brome at the Gun in S. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXVIII TO The Reverend Mr. Thomas Ken PREBENDARY OF THE Church of Winton c. SIR YOU are known to be a Person of a very Charitable and Generous Spirit ready and desirous to oblige the publick yet had you been aware your commendation of this Book would have drawn upon you the trouble of this address it may well be doubted whether you would not have kept it secret to your self without promoting its being divulg'd in our vulgar tongue for the benefit of others But Sir that you may not repent this good deed I will spare you as much as is possible and leave it still to publick fame to proclaim your great worth only pray give me leave to offer that to you to which you had most right It will not only be an Act of justice but a kindness also to them that love good Books For they will be sure this is one when they shall know so Pious and so Learned a man hath recommended it for such And I may well expect this will prevail with others to read it gladly when it was that made me undertake the greater trouble of Translating of it I know not whether I should deprecate for the more than usual liberty I have in some places taken but Sir either I could not follow my Reader in his too lofty flight or else I thought plainness might be of a more general usefulness or it may be I judg'd it convenient that speaking another language he should somewhat alter his sentiments It may be no difficult matter to win a Jansenist not now biast by worldly Considerations and however 't is a good work to draw a good man from a bad party So that I am almost confident that what I have done in this will not only have your pardon but your approbation also and then I shall not need fear the censure of any judicious Reader Sir I am well assur'd your name will more than answer all the objections that might be raised against this Book on the account of its Author as for the matter of it 't is most excellent and if my Translation be but tolerable it cannot but do good and be acceptable to all good Christians I know 't was your design it should and I wish it may and that this Dedication may be looked upon as a Testimony of my great respects for you worthy Sir whom unknown I honour as a Person well known to deserve it remaining SIR Your humble Servant L. B. THE Translators Preface TO THE READER I Know we have great plenty of good Books already but the number of the bad ones increaseth daily and we must not suffer the tares to choak the good seed for the new ones are read and enquired after though for nothing but meerly Novelty I know likewise that for the best of modern Authors we need not be beholden to strangers we have many of our own more excellent than any can come from abroad But why should we be greedy of such forein things as minister to vanity and neglect such as advance true goodness Why should we teach Poets and Romancers to speak the English Tongue and not acquaint Christian Philosophers with the graces of it If I wanted Apologies for this Translation such as these would sufficiently plead for it but indeed I rather want words to set forth its due praise for 't is very good in it self and designed to a good end I mean the instructions of it which if attended to cannot but be very serviceable in promoting Holiness and true Religion I know some will be ready to ask with Nathaniel John 1.46 Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth But I Answer with St. Philip Come and see Believe not my report but come and satisfie thy self and judge as thou shalt find cause 'T is true we may not go to school to the Devil but we may receive truth from whencesoever it comes I mean only that we should not seek to dissenters to learn from them those things wherein we disagree but in those things which we know to be true we may use their counsel and their assistance and we are all agreed that unfeigned holiness and Christian vertues are absolutely requisite to make us true Christians and to make us happy We may therefore use all such means as tend to this end without inquiring whence they come Israelites may go down to the Philistines to sharpen their mattocks their shares and their axes and where we know the right way there is no danger in being forwarded therein by any strangers help 'T is not to be denied but that the Church of Rome maintains many Doctrines very injurious to God and destructive of Holiness and true Piety but withal it must be granted that many of her members admit not of the direful consequents but still believe and press the necessity of a good life and obedience to the Gospel-precepts and were it not for this 't would be impossible for any good man to live in so erroneous and so corrupt a society But however fear not to read and to follow the Christian Directions contained in this Book for it hath past through such hands as would not have made it publick but for a publick advantage and withal it is not so much the Authors composure as his Collection from Ancienter and more Orthodox Writers But Blessed God! how different are the tempers and procedures of men Not a few in the Roman Church are grieved for and very sensible of the corruptions crept in and establisht amongst them and yet they are meek and peaceable silent and subject under their worst Constitutions and this purest of Churches the Church of England against which nothing reasonable can be objected is clamour'd against torn and distracted even by some that would be thought the best of Protestants There they impose a heavy yoke and teach things apparently design'd to gratifie their Pride and their Ambition and yet they are obey'd here the Church is indulgent and plainly aims at nothing but the Salvation of Souls and the Glory of God and yet it is rebel'd against and persecuted And I profess but that the Gospel it self is slighted and Heaven not cared for I must eternally wonder that the Church of England is not lov'd and reverenc'd and most gladly follow'd by all that have the happiness to live within the limits of her inclosure But I say this wonder must cease when we consider that men can stand out against the mercies of their
Redemption the infinite Love and Charity of the Blessed Jesus and the glorious rewards and promises offered to all that will be true Christians While men shall be so stupid as to neglect these 't will be no hard matter to impose upon them and it must not seem strange that the means are despised where the end it self is disregarded Vntil Christians make it their first and chiefest business to secure a blessed Eternity by living holy lives it cannot be expected they should make wise and serious enquiries into those truths which are more disputable and less necessary For the mixing secular interests with things of Religion first made and still maintains the errors and breaches of the Christian world and the way to bring to an end many controversies is not so much to decide as to bury them at least to make them give place to those things which are much more plain and much more requisite and beneficial And here again I might have a just occasion to commend this Church we live in for the best guide of Souls for either she meddles not with many disputes or else she always stands on the much surer side of the question holding that which even her Adversaries cannot but acknowledge for truth and never amusing her Children with unnecessary speculations or unprofitable contests But as it is her great design to make us obedient to the Gospel of Christ and bring us to a sincere practice of all holy vertues so I shall conclude this Preface with an Exhortation to the same purpose That thou wouldest seriously and often consider that thy life is short and uncertain and that the world passeth away and all things here below and that thou resolve thereupon not to lose not to venture thy portion of good things above for any earthly enjoyment That thou wouldest bear Eternity in mind and weigh the importance of these two words which conclude our Creed Life Everlasting and that afterwards thou resolve carefully to follow the way that leads to it the Doctrine and Example of our Blessed Saviour who hath purchast and promist it to all that love and follow him Live therefore as one that follows the King of Eternity to a blessed Eternity and despise the world Vse diligently such means as will make thee know thy duty and incourage and assist thee in the discharge of it and amongst them good Books which read with attention and a design to make their goodness our own are very useful instruments of Vertue and Religion This I hope will somewhat conduce to their advancement Nay I am sure thou shalt be much better'd by it if thou wilt transcribe it with thy Life as I have with my Pen and make it thy hearty Endeavour as I do my Prayer L. B. THE Authors Dedication TO ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS WIth due Reverence I offer this small volume to you blessed Souls vessels of honour and mercy elect and holy Children of God predestinated to glory before the foundation of the World who being redeemed from death by the bloud of Christ and from sin by the gift of grace are not asham'd to own the despised Cross of your Redeemer For to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to you that are not born of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God You are call'd by the Father to a portion of the inheritance of the Saints in light that ye might be holy and unreprovable in his sight in love and in Christ you are chosen according to the purpose and good pleasure of God not for your own works and merits For you the Blessed Jesus prayed when being ready to leave the world and go to the Father he said I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine He prayed not for the world because all that is in it the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are not of the Father And therefore they that are of the world hear not or at least will not regard and understand the words of eternal life for the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God And though Christ be the true light which lightens every man that comes into the world yet the world sees him not nor knows him neither can it receive the spirit of truth On this will be grounded the iust judgment of the wicked This will be their condemnation that light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil and every one that doth evil hateth the light Now if Christ was a light in his life and doctrine he was so much more in his sufferings he did shine on the Cross most gloriously to all the world The tree of death to which he was tyed became his pulpit whence he preached his divinest Sermons teaching us that great lesson dying which he set while he was alive He that doth not take up my Cross and follow me cannot be my disciple Therefore to take up our Cross and follow Jesus is our greatest safety as well as duty our surest title to glory the Cross is the highest pitch of Christian learning to know Jesus Christ and him Crucified I heartily wish that they that shall read the ensuing Precepts and Practical Rules may have sanctified affections and a clear understanding that by the divine grace they may be brought to know and to follow the truth And my prayer for them is that God would strengthen them by his good Spirit in the inner man that love may abound in them more and more and that they may be sincere and unblameable replenisht with the fruits of righteousness pleasing to God in all things without contention and without offence I also beg for my self of the divine goodness that the glorious light of Christ may enlighten and guide my mind and that his strength may be perfected in my weakness lest after having preached to others I my self should become a cast-away by acting contrary to my own instructions And therefore I also beseech you good friends of God Blessed Christians who are the sheep of his Pasture remember me in your Prayers that what I teach I may fulfil that the precepts contained in this Book may be my practice by his divine grace and assistance without whom we can do nothing who with the Father and the Holy-Ghost liveth and reigneth one ever glorious and adored God Amen Imprimatur Geo. Hooper R. P. D. GIL Ep. Cant. Ã Sacris Dom. May 29. 1677. THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART PART I. Of the Christian Life and of its end and offices Pag. 1 CHAP. I. OF the distribution of all Christians into three ranks good middle-sort and bad ibid. CHAP. II. A further Description of