with him They made it appear by their patient cheerful and magnanimous sufferings that they valued nothing but JESUS and Eternity We are not now exposed to the same dangers for the profession and belief of Christianity but we may make our love and zeal appear by our contempt of the world and aspiring after heaven by our charity to men and abounding in the work of the Lord by keeping the Commandments as well as dying for the Creed the same Lord and Saviour that requires our Faith to the one demands our obedience to the other And now if we spend our time in the hearty observance of our Lords Precepts and intimations in doing and inlarging our duty to the utmost of our power if we thus confess him before men by living to him then are we prepared to die for him and he will certainly own us as much as if we had Our Crown now this way may be enriched and our love shewn and perfected as well as by the flames of Martyrdom And O happy we that we can come and more happy yet if we do come to sing Allelujah and eternally praise our gracious Redeemer with the noble Army of Martyrs where the love we had here shall fill our hearts with divine joy Vbi tota virtus erit O anima videre quod amas summa felicitas amare quod vedes Aug. and be increased to the proportions of our endless and unspeakable Bliss The Lord direct our hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for JESUS our Master 2 Thes 3.3 I need not here insert cautions against vain glory and self complacency after we have done the most we are able for if it proceeds not from the love of God it is nothing worth and if it doth it will never bring pride nor vanity Charity vaunteth not it self and is not puffed up 1 Cor. 13.4 Only in the words of a pious Saint If we had died a thousand times for JESUS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. S. Johan Clim Grad 23. 11. yet we should not have repaid him the least part of what we owe his infinite mercy and condescension for vast is the difference betwixt the blood of God and the blood of his creatures and servants if we judge according to the dignity and not to the substance of it What hast thou that thou hast not received remember what JESUS saith to all Christians He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me Mat. 10.37 and whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple Luk. 14.33 We can never do too much for JESUS but we may easily do too little though the most we can do will never merit heaven yet the least shall not obtain it 't is safe and impossible to exceed but 't is easie and dangerous to be defective O God who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass mans understanding Sixth Sund. after Trin. pour into our hearts such love towards thee that we loving thee above all things may obtain thy promises which exceed all that we can desire through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen I have now assigned Love its full task to repent and mortifie our lusts to serve and obey God and to abound in good works even free-will offerings I have no more for it to do I would only have it to encrease to grow towards perfection to be constant and to endure unto the end To help this forward I have here added a meditation on the exaltation of our Blessed Saviour some useful directions for the ordering of our lives and four concluding Considerations whereby to assist direct and encourage the sincere lover of JESUS in the discharge of this great and blessed duty the work and labour of Love Let us consider one another to provoke unto Love and to good works Heb. 10.24 CHAP. XV. Meditation on the Exaltation of the Blessed JESVS LIve and reign sweetest JESU for ever My dearest Lord I heartily â—ejoice in that great power and glory to â—hich now thou art exalted When I conâ—â—der what thou didst do to rescue us from Misery and to make us happy how thou didst lay by thy glories to intitle us to them becamest poor to pay our debt becamest weak to die and to vanquish our enemies When I consider this Ita ne summus omnium unus factus est omnium quis hoc fecit amor dignitatis nescius dignatione dives affectu potens suasu efficax quid violentius triumphat de Deo amor Bern. I cannot but admire the greatness of thy charity whereby thou wert moved thus to relieve and succour us in suffering and abasing thy self I cannot also but be transported with joy that in thy conflict with our enemies thou didst obtain the victory and thereby a Kingdom that shall have no end Lord if thou hadst perished in our quarrel if death had still detained thee what grief what remediless anguish had it been to our souls not only to see our hopes frustrated but also to see him opprest and overcome who with so much pity and generosity ingaged for our deliverance But thou livest dearest Lord thou art triumphant thou hast got the keys of death and of hell Thou art the head and Saviour of the Church Thou art the Judge of all men Thou art the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords Thou sittest at the right hand of the Majesty on high above all principalities and powers All power is given to thee in heaven and in earth At thy Name O Blessed JESU every knee must bow and that we do most willingly gladly acknowledging that thy name is exalted above every name Thou alone hast redeemed and hast power to save us Thou alone hast the might and right to command us Unhappy they that will not worship thee and submit to thy government Unhappy they that impart thine honour to created beings and will not wholly depend upon thee Blessed be God that we have a Saviour whom without idolatry we may love and worship to whom we may offer our humble petitions and at whose feet we may prostrate our selves Blessed be God that he himself would become our Saviour Had an Angel or man been able and deputed to work our Redemption our love and gratitude might have been excessive and provoked God to jealousie But now Blessed JESU we cannot humble our selves too low before thee we cannot exalt thee too high we can never exceed in paying our acknowledgments to thee Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Unto him therefore that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen Rev. 5.12
even from the beginning there hath been Civitas dei Civitas mundi children of light and children of this world or to use the modern distinctions the Godly and the Wicked Regular and Secular persons Not because some have made new vows wore distinct habits or chosen new guides and separated from the Church but because some have lived after the flesh some after the Spirit that is some have followed Gods revealed will some onely their own some have obeyed the precepts of Christ and too many their own lusts and humors However I would not make any exprobrations against either Monks or Schismaticks by disobliging truths rather commend what is praise worthy in them because I would have and 't is every Christians duty to be really devout mortified and precise without entring the Cloister or the Conventicle For indeed I am somewhat jealous and not without reason that the ingaging men to be Religious and Vertuous by other considerations besides their Christian duty hath done some prejudice to Religion because now there be some that fansie self-denial and contempt of the world to belong only to Friers and others that to abstain from swearing and drunkenness is only the part of a Puritan Whereas Christianity binds those duties on all its Professors and every one by his Baptismal vow is bound to perform them though he doth not submit himself to the Rule of S. Francis or the dictates of the Assembly Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things saith the Apostle they are all parts of our duty Whatever is good in it self or any ways a means to make us good is commanded or recommended in holy Scripture is contained in the Christian Rule wherefore I say the Christian Professor designing to attain higher degrees of holiness the highest pitch of Christian perfection attainable in this life needs not separate from the Church nor make new vows nor wear distinct habits but only mind seriously and sincerely discharge the obligations which he lies under in being a Disciple and a Servant of the Holy JESVS My design therefore is not to Incloister particular persons Vellem universos Christianos ita vivere ut qui nunc soli Religiosi vocantur parum Religiosi viderentur but to make a large Monastery of the whole Common-wealth at least to make every family a School of Vertue and Piety and every man an Ascetick and strict liver wishing heartily with Erasmus that they who hitherto have been called Precise and Religious by way of appropriation might justly lose that name by the more exemplary lives of all other Christians But though it be my wish it is not my hope in the least to see any such thing come to pass by means of this little volume Many much bigger and better have not been able to effect it They that will not hear Moses and the Prophets nay Christ the Lord himself will be far enough from being perswaded by the meanest of his servants And where the Text it self is not regarded no Comment can signifie much I mean that if the Holy Religion we own be not able to reform our lives if the Gospel which is here preached and professed in purity doth not make us holy 't is in vain to expect any other instruments should prevail But yet our indeavours ought not to be wanting it may not be in vain to diversifie Christian instructions severall ways of perswasion may affect several persons and perhaps that which to day is slighted will to morrow make a deep impression However it is more or less the duty of every one of us with great S. Paul to trie all means that by any means we may save some at least that we may save our selves that if those arguments which we think most forcible cannot convince others they may may at least move us to take the better heed that after we have preached to others we our selves be not cast-aways Now to this end having observed how much in all cases men will do and suffer for love I have thought nothing would more conduce than to make a Christian love God with a sincere and devout affection a devout love being undoubtedly not only the best part but also the best instrument of true Religion an irreconcilable enemy to sin a friend or rather a nurse to all holy vertues No enticement could have drawn penitent Magdalen to any of her former sins whilest in the fervency of her love she washed her Saviours feet with her tears and 't is known by experience that when reading meditation the sight of a dying friend or any such thing hath softened a mans heart into a religious temper temptations will be then so far from prevailing that they durst not so much as appear before him But when he returns to mind earthly things and hath his thoughts taken up again with the concerns of this present life he finds that his spiritual strength decays by the same proportions that his love becomes cold and he grows indevout again Love is the Queen if not the fountain of passions the great mover and governor of actions and affections could we keep the fire of Divine Love always burning in our breasts it would be the most powerful and best instrument of Holy-living it would make self-denial and the yoke of Christ easie it would make acts of vertue and Religion pleasant and it would make us delight in pleasing God as much as we naturally do in pleasing our selves Therefore I have made it my aim and design in the following Pages to seize upon the affections to inkindle in the hearts of Christians the heavenly flames of the love of God To that end I have represented the more general benefits of God to mankind and especially that of Redemption by the greatest demonstration of love that ever was given the death of the Blessed JESVS which if duly considered would be an irresistible motive to love him I have shewed the power the pleasure and the great advantages of love and I have used devout meditations and ejaculations as it were to transport our souls to heaven by love for to adore that God whom love brought down from thence to save us 'T is certain that most of them that perish perish for want of consideration and I have heard dying men wonder at themselves how they could be so stupid as not to mind those things which are of an infinite concern and should rather take up all our thoughts and our cares than be neglected or forgot one only moment Israel doth not understand my people doth not sider Isa 1.3 Love may be said to be that fire which God would have always to burn upon his Altar Lev. 6.12 that is in our hearts which are his Temple where the sacrifices of good works and the incense of devotion should always
more because his debt is also forgiven and yet he is freed from that trouble and sorrow which his fellow debtor underwent Why then thy gracious Redeemer by saving thee from the horrors and torments of Hell hath laid on thee at least as great obligations to love him as if he had brought thee out of it after thou hadst been long detained therein Therefore I desire thou wouldst bring thy thoughts back again to that unpleasant abode and consider thy self as if thou were shut up in that dismal dungeon and then express what thou wouldst give to be releast what thou wouldst do for him that should bring thee out of that horrible and bottomless pit I know that they that are afflicted with sharp pains and grievous sicknesses would purchase health with all the wealth they have and I believe no reward would hire a man to hold his hand in the fire but for one hours time therefore I doubt not but that if it were in a mans power he would give this and a thousand more worlds to be brought out of an ever burning furnace and I am perswaded that if thou wilt suffer thy fancy to be active in framing the black and dreadful scene of hellish horrors about thee thou wilt then heartily say Were I owner of the whole universe I would joyfully give it to come out of these ever-burning flames which torment my body and to be freed from this never dying worm the remorses of my guilty conscience which torture my soul but because I have nothing freely would I give my self to him that should bring me out of this woful place O I would follow him any where do any thing that he should command me imbrace his feet kiss the ground they tread on and give him all the demonstrations of a sincere and passionate Love Well thy petition is granted before 't was presented the Love and Mercy of JESUS hath prevented thy request and distress Now make good thy vows and resolutions Love and Serve JESUS thy Redeemer and give thy self up wholly to him I know that many may be good Christians without being snatcht out of the fire without these terrors and affrightments but I am shewing what our condition had been without a Saviour what is that gulf of perdition whence JESUS hath saved us if we will be saved by him and I mention these affrighting truths to perswade men to be motives of an active and a vehement Love For 't is too observable that few men seriously consider what Redemption means what it was we were redeemed from else they could not be so indevout so disobedient so unthankful to their Saviour S. Paul supposing as I do here that without Christ we were already dead and perisht makes it the reason of that Constraining Love which enabled him and other Primitive Christians to suffer so patiently and act so zealously for JESUS The love of Christ saith he constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead as if he should say we were certainly dead irrecoverably lost had not Christ died to purchase life and salvation for us therefore we cannot chuse but love him and it is no wonder if that love be strong and if we are governed and acted by it That thou maist therefore love affectionately and live religiously consider seriously that death the misery of that condition wherein thou wert and ever must have been hadst thou not a JESUS a merciful Saviour and Redeemer I might add that we were delivered from the power and slavery as well as from the condemnation of sin but this is included in the other it being impossible to be saved from the wrath to come without bringing forth fruits meet for repentance and as it is mercy and grace on Gods part so on ours it is matter of duty and earnest indeavour and must be the result and effect of our love first that we offend not and then that we serve diligently and faithfully him that redeemed us from our vain conversation and gave himself for us that we being dead unto sin might live unto righteousness CHAP. VI. How graciously and wonderfully we were redeemed A Further ingagement to love and obey will be to consider the manner how our redemption was effected and the price that was paid for it thus The Blessed Son of God the Second Person of the Ever glorious Trinity undertook that work himself which none else could perform for us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man In this act of his miracles and mercies seem to vie one with another In praesepe jacet sed mundum continet ubera sugit sed angelos pascit Aug. Ser. de purific 2. that the God of eternity should be born in time that the Creator of all things should be the Son of a Creature that the most highest should abase himself to the low condition of a servant that God should become an infant is a miracle of Love which we can admire and adore but never fully comprehend The greatness of God is unsearchable his excellencies and perfections are incomprehensible he is infinitely good powerful wise and holy Man contrariwise is in himself wicked and weak ignorant impure and miserable there is so great a disproportion betwixt God and man so wide so immense a distance Haec est mensura amoris non solum quantum fecit nos quanta fecit pro nobis sed quantillus factus est pro nobis that nothing less than an infinite love could have filled up the gulf betwixt those two so different natures and united them into one person 'T was never seen that a shepherd would creep upon all four and cover himself with a sheep skin to call his flock out of danger and to expose himself for it but the good shepherd did much more When he came to lay down his life for his lost and wandering sheep and gather them into his fold he took on him not only the likeness but the very nature of them he became the Lamb of God that he might be the shepherd of mankind Though he was infinitely more above man then men are above beasts yet he became the Son of man that he might become the Saviour of men 'T was never seen that a Sovereign Prince would seek to reduce to loyalty the most abject of his rebellious subjects by mixing blooud with them uniting their families together but behold the Supreme Monarch of heaven and earth contracts a near affinity with his ungrateful rebels who are as vile and miserable as they are criminal that he may free them from their guilt and win them to their duty and their happiness Proud and wretched sinner thou wouldst be so far from entring into the kindred of meaner persons those that are much thine inferiors that thou canst hardly endure to be in their company and behold the most Glorious and Holy
and insignificant attempts its strength is great as well as its endeavours Great are the dangers and difficulties which love overcomes it carries the ambitious lover of honour through many uneasie perils to a fading laurel it carries the covetous lover of riches through the most hard and slavish labours to his false and treacherous Mammon and it carries likewise the devour lover of JESUS through obedience and self humiliation through briars and uneasie crosses through patience and the greatest sufferings to the enjoyment of his Beloved Love can do all things since it brought God down from heaven to become man and die for man Who shall separate us from the love of Christ saith S. Paul Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine 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 c. As much as to say that the power of love is irresistible that it answers all objections and conquers all obstacles notwithstanding mans high provocations and great unworthiness love made the Almighty lay down the arms of his just vengeance and open his bosom of mercy to give his dear and only Son to man for a Saviour God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 And likewise man is enabled or rather forced by love to do and suffer any thing as soon as Divine Love enters a mans heart of proud it makes him humble of lustful and intemperate it makes him chaste and sober of covetous it makes him charitable of dainty and effeminate it fits him to be a Martyr No ill habits so deeply rooted but love can pluck them up no cross so heavy but love can bear it Many waters cannot quench love saith Soloman neither can the floods drown it Cant 8.7 No the strongest torrent of affliction is but like drops of water sprinkled upon the fire it increaseth the flames and the ardency thereof Love is as strong as death verse 6. and death is very strong Magnum verbum fortis ut mors dilectio magnificentius exprimi non potuit fortitudo charitatis quis enim morti resistat ignibus undis ferre regibus resistitur venit una mors quis et resistit nihil illa fortius propterea viribus ejus charitas comparatur Aug. in Psal 121. stronger than all visible creatures We daily fight against death and beat it back by rest and food and Physick we dispute the victory with it many years but it is ever victorious at last so is love it never gives over till it hath conquered all oppositions its courage increaseth together with its difficulties the more obstacles in its way the greater its endeavours the more fierce its contentions Death severs a man from himself and disunites what seems inseparable love also takes the lovers soul from him and unites it to the beloved so that he lives more in what he loves than in himself love is as strong as death Death converts the greatest sinners or at least keeps them from sinning at all any longer so doth love it certainly mortifies all even the most reigning sins it will not suffer them to sin that love God We can tame wild beasts by industry overcome the barrenness of the earth by labour resist the angry elements by Art and Physick no evil but hath a remedy only death hath none there is no striving against it so that nothing can better express the irresistible power of love than to say that it is as strong as death The last property of love I shall now mention is that love sweetens bitter things makes our labours pleasant and even our sufferings delightful How heavy is that yoke which is imposed by an ungrateful hand The Souldier prest to the service can hardly bear his arms but he that is inrolled by love thinks them light and bears them with pleasure the slave that works in the Mines counts his very life a burthen the niggard that works much harder likes well his drudgery because the love of riches is his task-master he that serves his master out of fear works faintly and with a heavy heart he that serves him out of love doth it diligently and yet with chearfulness the Christian pilgrim who is driven heaven-ward with fears and terrors goeth on with much reluctancy and a sorrowful heart he that is drawn with the cords of love follows with joyfulness minds not the ruggedness of his way and even rejoyceth in his weariness because it brings him nearer and nearer to his beloved he that that could say the love of Christ constraineth us could say also we rejoyce in tribulations 'T was the love of JESUS made primitive Christians work hard and suffer much Nullo modo sunt onerosi labores amantium sed etiam ipsi delectant sicut venantium piscantium interest ergo quid ametur nam in eo quod amatur aut non laboratur aut labor amatur Aug. with comfort and unspeakable joy and 't is for want of that sweet and Divine Love that Christians now find sorrow and great difficulty in that little they do or suffer for JESUS The labours of love are ever pleasant nothing is hard that love binds upon us CHAP. XXII A farewel to all sinful desires THis great power of love is now to be drawn into act and these considerations to be reduced into practice Now therefore enter more seriously than ever this Cloister of love ingage thy self further into the society of the true lovers of JESUS enter now actually and affectionately upon the work and labour of love Remember now thy Baptismal Vows remember them I say now that the love of Christ constrains binds thee to fulfil them Things are best preserved by that which first gave them being And now thy making good that stipulation thy part of that gracious Covenant whereby thou art related to Christ that according to the design of that Sign of the Cross which was drawn upon thee as the badge of thy profession thou wouldest not be ashamed to profess the Faith of Christ crucified and manfully to fight under his banner against sin the world and the devil and to continue his faithful Souldier and Servant unto thy lives end So now thou shouldest accomplish this promise by faith working by love Now then retire a while and enter thy Closet sequester thy thoughts from the world and confer with thy Soul about thy duty and thy great interest Call to mind the obligations the love of JESUS hath laid upon thee and how thou hast promised to requite it by renouncing all things that are contrary to thy love and
and with whom my love hath crucified me and that now is the time to make it appear that I love him and to justifie the sincerity of my protestations And so for covetousness pride intemperance and all such temptations I will reject their attempts and proffers with indignation as a true friend would scorn the solicitations to betray his friend thus saying to my self What shall I be false to him I love to him that loveth me who hath shed his bloud for me and to whom I have often protested that I would even die for him shall I break the sacred bonds of love and my most sacred vows and put my soul into a state of regret unquietness shame and sorrow for this vile transitory profit or pleasure O my dearest JESUS thou knowest that I love thee I beseech thee make that love victorious against thine enemies and mine I would rather die than deny thee for any interest in the world and I hope thou wilt not deny me at the last day but own me among thy faithful servants Lord I serve thee not for nothing great are the reasons why I should obey thee thou hast done much for me and from thee I still expect much infinite rewards for such due and poor services Lord let me die before I deliberately over sin against thee and forfeit thy love by falling from mine Thus by love I resolve to conquer my self to deny and mortifie my lusts by love I will strive to overcome all unlawful desires all sinful motions and then I shall rejoice in the victory It shall not make me either proud or peevish or severe to others but rather humble and meek cheerful and contented so that it shall be seen by my outward deportment how much pleasure and tranquillity my soul hath inwardly that I rejoice in what I do for Christ that it is delicious to me to deny my self for his sake to oblige so great so true so generous a lover as JESUS who hath done all acts of friendship for me and owns me for his friend I call you not servants but friends ye are my friends indeed if ye do whatsoever I have commanded you Joh. 13.14 Those that are accounted gallant men in the world will venture their lives to second a friend in an idle an unchristian quarrel and their wound they bear with courage and count them honourable 'T was to serve a friend how much more should I rejoice in that violence I offer to my appetites and unruly desires in what I do or suffer for to please and serve my heavenly my best my dearest friend whom I can never love so much as he deserves and in loving of whom I am infinitely happier than if I should enjoy all the pleasures of sin as long as I live I only grieve and am displeased that I can do so little for him that I can requite his love no better I know that many persons have done far more for their less deserving friends than I do or can do for my Saviour JESUS CHAP. XXXII A singular example of humane Love with a short reflection upon it IT is reported by Greek historians of two loving sisters Eudoxia and Irenea daughters to the last unhappy Prince of Morea Niceph. Gregor Chalcondys who with his life lost his Crown and Country that an uncle saved them from the general desolation and captivity which soon succeeded the lost battel and carried them to old Andronicus their kinsman then Emperour of Constantinople There with pity they found a kind welcome and as great respects as they could wish Their beauty their vertues and accomplishment surpast their princely birth and were as eminent as their fortune was low so that young Andronicus who was to succeed in the Empire was in process of time taken with Eudoxia loved her passionately and obtained the Emperours consent to marry her This caused great troubles to Irenea who liked it well as she loved her sister but could not but grieve at it as she loved the Prince for unhappily she had setled her affections on him Upon this she fell sick and almost to death and it being observed that some distemper in her mind caused the distemper of her body her sister protesting of her love to her assuring her that Eudoxia should have only the title and the trouble but Irenea the priviledges and the power of an Empress conjured her to declare what caused her discontent Having understood what it was and grieving that she should be the occasion of her sisters danger and sorrow she presently took from her head a jewel the Prince had given her in form like a half-moon and with it she so wounded and disfigured her face that she cured the Prince of his love as she designed and afterwards retired to Galliopoli where she entred a Cloister and devoted the rest of her life to God The Prince finding in Irenea what he had lost in Eudoxia soon after entertained the same passion for her he had for her sister but Irenea remembring her sisters generosity forgot her affection to the Prince considering what Eudoxia had voluntarily suffered for her how great how tender a love she had exprest in what she had done resolves to forsake Andronicus to forgo her ease and pleasure and what she had so earnestly desired rather than be ungrateful Whereupon she steals away from the Court goes to Galliopoli enters her sisters Cloister and having exprest to her her love and acknowledgments she takes the same vows and resolves to live and die to God and with her beloved sister This story makes me grieve and blush that so little gratitude should be paid to JESUS for greater benefits for that incomparable love he hath shewed men in dying for them that I my self should so ill requite his much greater kindness so poorly and imperfectly return his most wonderful love What shall I think it much to refrain my intemperance for his sake who for mine fasted long and often and tasted vinegar and gall shall I think it much to mortifie my pride and anger for him who for my sake despised the shame of the Cross and returned nothing but meekness to the greatest provocations shall I think it much to refrain my worldly covetous desires for him who for me became poor naked destitute of all things though he were Lord of all shall I think it much to deny my self some momentary sensual pleasures for him who carried my sorrows who shed his blood and was crucified to save me No my dearest JESUS thy love hath overcome my heart I will be no more what I have been henceforth it shall be my wealth my delight my glory and ambition to serve and obey thee give thee all possible demonstrations of a devout a most passionate love CHAP. XXXIII Some Scriptures to shew the necessity of departing from Sin according to our Baptismal Vow With some protestations to conclude this first Part. THis Repentance and Reformation is what our Religion requires The
affection thou canst daily repeat these few words which have been frequently in the mouth of some devout persons I love thee dear JESUS I love thee dear JESUS thou hast learned that which will teach thee both to live and die well Then thou wilt value nothing not life it self but so far as it is subservient to love and thou shalt be so far from being afraid of death that thou shalt wish with a primitive Saint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God in S. Basil it were in thy power to die many times for JESUS A devout love for him will make thee find that true peace and satisfaction which the world with endless labour vainly seeks in earthly enjoyments It will make thee say but without fear of change or disappointment with the rich man in the Gospel Soul eat and drink be merry take thine ease thou hast much goods laid up for many years Luk. 12. yea for eternity Worldly men as though they had a dropsie the more they drink out of their broken Cisterns the more they thirst the more unsatisfied they remain but they that love and fear God lack nothing they drink living waters out of that fountain which is never drie they have him in their souls with whom true peace and felicity is ever enjoyed O fortunanatissime cui quod amas domi est O happy soul that art possest of that which thou lovest thou hast enough at home to make thee intirely happy without ever seeking abroad O my soul entertain that blessed guest which instead of being chargeable will discharge thee of all thy wants and fears and troublesome burthens Love will strengthen thee against temptations Poterant leges delicta punire cons ientiam munire non poterant Lact. and secure thee from sin It will deliver thee from the terrors and bondage of the Law and bring thee to the rest Brevis differentia inter legem Evangelium timor amor Aug. and freedom of the Gospel-yoke As it self grows on towards perfection So will it still increase thy hapiness till its consummation But my Soul suffer not thy love to be fantastick and to spend it self in thoughts and wishes the expressions of love are obedience and submission with a devout life Whoso keepeth his word in him is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in him 1 John 2.5 Princes have many flatterers and but a few friends JESUS also hath many pretenders and but a few lovers Multitudes will wait upon him in Mount Gerizim to receive his blessing in Sinai where he gives his Law he hath but a few attendants and fewer yet in Golgotha where he himself suffers and calls us to take up his Cross Therefore my Soul by obedience self-denial and an humble patience justifie the sincerity of thy love and protestations Follow now thy Saviour by love and a sincere imitation and thou shalt certainly come to see his face and to dwell with him in glory for where he is there shall his servant be John 12.26 They that be faithful in love shall abide with him Wisd 3.9 CHAP. IX Christianity absolutely requires our love and strictest obedience THis double duty of dying unto sin and living unto righteousness abstaining from that which is evil and doing that which is good I am obliged to perform by strong and indispensable obligations If I do not I certainly perish When we say in common speaking that we do things out of love we mean that we are free and may chuse whether we do them or no we are not bound to it but here all along where I undertake to discharge the duties of Religion out of love I do not in the least mean so I acknowledge my self under the greatest necessity of discharging my Baptismal Vow of living according to the Gospel Rule otherwise my neglect of 〈◊〉 would be my ruine I should perish in my disobedience Love it self is a duty the first and greatest commandment thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind Mat. 22.37 I recommend love therefore â—s the noblest the most powerful moâ—ive to a religious obedience Meliores quos dirigit amor plures quos corrigit timor Aug. as that which makes our duty easie and pleasant and gives a value to what we do or suffer â—or God I know there is those who teach that by our well doing we must not seek for salvation and that our obedience is not required to our justification but may be a mark or an effect of it faith having done the work before but this groundless and mischievous opinion is contradicted by thousands of plain express Scriptures He that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not is like the man that built his house upon the sand Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven If thou wilt enter life keep the Commandments and innumerable others with all those that affirm that God shall judge and reward every man according as his works have been No the holy Religion we profess requires a conformity betwixt the Holy JESUS and his followers that by a devout imitation we should copy his example that we should be fruitful in good works and by a sincere and universal obedience serve God all the days of our life For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a full recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation Heb. 2.2 3. by being disobedient to our Lord JESUS who having wrought and revealed it offers it to us on the condition of an affectionate obedience to his Gospel The earth which drinketh the rain that cometh upon it and beareth thorns and briers is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burnt such is their condition who receiving the heavenly dew of Divine Grace in their admission into and profession of Christianity yet still remain barren or bring forth evil fruit But beloved saith the Apostle we are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which ye have shewed towards his name and we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end Heb. 6. 7 c. He says not we desire that you may be confident and perswaded of your salvation but that by love and diligent obedience ye may ascertain your hope make your calling and election sure as S. Peter speaks 1 Pet. 1.10 for indeed God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether We wake or sleep we should live together with him 1 Thes 5.9.10 in holiness of life worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called Ephes 4.1 for we