are those high things so far surpassing our Understanding that according to St. Paul Eye hath not seen 1 Cor. 2.9 2 Cor. 12.4 nor Ear heard nor hath it ever entred into the heart of Man to conceive them And if none or all of these Meditations and innumerable others relating to our Saviour and another World with which the Holy Scriptures and other good Books amply supply us cannot prevail to secure us it is certainly much better rudely to quit the Company and leap out of the flames than to stay out of Complaisance to be burnt in them CHAP. VI. The Second Rule Of Suggestions THE Second Instruction is To take great care of Suggestions and to observe from what Principle or Cause they proceed Whether 1st From our selves or our own Lusts Or 2ly From the Devil Or 3ly From the H. Spirit of God and accordingly we are either to entertain or reject them Now it is not easie even for the greatest Asceticks to discern upon all occasions from which of these Principles a Suggestion arises but if it be such as tempteth us to any Notorious sin any Filthy uncleanness we may presently know from whence it comes And then it is much better and easier to suppress it in its very beginning to stifle it in the Embryo before it be conceived in us by our consenting to it or at least before it break forth into any outward action which when finished brings forth Death Jam. 1.15 Filthy unclean Suggestions we cannot always prevent but we may refuse consenting to them or taking any delight in them and so suppress and keep them under by God's Assistance till at length we Totally extinguish them O that God's Holy Spirit would take such full possession of my heart as not to suffer any unclean Suggestion to enter there But if the sin to which we are tempted be habitual to us or the sin which doth most easily of all others beset us Heb. 12.1 we are then to bend all our forces against it make the strongest resolutions we can for some short time at least suppose for a day and so renew our resolutions every Morning the known practice of a Renowned Bishop of the Church of England in Point of Matrimony taking particular Notice how often it assaults us and in the midst of the Temptation using some external action if nothing but violence will do such as throwing our selves down upon our knees or face beating our Breast supplicating our Lord with sighs and tears when God pleases to give them for his assistance who hath promised that he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able 1 Cor. 10.13 but will with the Temptation make a way for our Escape or enable us to bear the pressure of it At least it is wisdom to delay the Execution of the foul Act to which we are tempted for by deferring it our reason may gather new forces our Passions abate or some External Accidents may intervene Some pious reflection of our own may occurr or some good Friend may come in to whom we may impart our deplorable Condition and ask his good Advice who at such a time is much better able than we our selves to give it and in this sence chiefly it is that the bearing one anothers burdens is the fulfilling of the Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 After the vanquishing of such a Temptation and the leaving as far as we can our own Nature to go over to Grace there usually comes an Angel to comfort us or what is better some holy Inspiratons of the Divine Spirit to encline us who of our selves cannot so much as think a good thought to thank God for our deliverance 1 Cor. 3.5 and to pray for more Grace and Strength against another time Such holy Inspirations we must take care not to repell for that would be more or less to Resist Grieve and Quench the Holy Spirit of God in us But on the contrary we must Cherish all good Thoughts and by them endeavour to introduce by little and little Vertues instead of our ill Habits When once we intend to begin a new Course of Life we must not in the least consult with Flesh and Blood but rather fall immediately upon it If at any time why not now if not now perhaps never Was the saying of St. Austin And in the acquiring of any Vertue suppose Continency Chastity or the like we may with the same Father boldly throw our selves upon God who will not withdraw himself to let us fall Projice te in Deum c. But yet our own sincere Endeavours after a pure mind and right intention must not be wanting to which God always gives a Blessing tho' we are not always sensible of it Now some perhaps may think Solemn Resolutions to one Just beginning to break a long custom and habit of any filthy sin to be both Rash and Dangerous because when once broken as many times first Resolutions are the ill habit being as yet much stronger than the good one to be introduced the over-grown Sinner is apt to be either too much discouraged and so fall into despair or to be more hardned in his most shameful Vice and so Incorrigibly go on still in his old wonted Road of Debauchery It may therefore be much safer for a beginner to make a limited Conditional Promise and such as is Releasable upon a Forefeiture Suppose for Example we resolve to abstain from such a filthy sin from such lewd Company for so long a time or if we do not we will indispensibly pay so much Money to be given to the poor say so many Prayers fast so many Meals shut up our selves so many Days from all Company and the like and this besides and over and above the necessary requisites of our Repentance which present forefeiture or punishment in our Purse or otherwise many times hath a greater Influence upon us towards the breaking off a Debauched Custom than either the fears or hopes of what may and certainly will happen to us according to our deserts in another World Moreover the resolving upon such a Penalty for the Forefeiture as does really afflict the Body such as Fasting long Retirement Watching c. or diminishing our beloved treasure and substance by giving large Alms to Prisons Hospitals poor House-keepers c. will certainly fix in our memory an hatred of the sin and so mind us of every Suggestion of it and deterr us from embracing it because if a temporal punishment be immediately to follow it much lessens the desire of the imaginary pleasure and oftentimes occasions the reflecting also on the future real punishment eternal Death which is the final Doom and the Inseparable wages of all unrepented Rom. 6.23 unforsaken sin But then to every good purpose we must not forget to joyn this Resolution also that if we should at any time by infirmity or surprize relapse into the detestable sin against which we have resolved
driving out all those mighty Nations from Canaan and destroying them and giving their Land to the Children of Israel for a possession was it not for these abominable sins See the eightenth Chapter of Leviticus Lev. 18. whereafter variety of those sins rehearsed such as are not fit to be named amongst Christians but with horror and detestation of them it follows Verse 27. For all these abominations the Name God himself there gives to these loathsome sins have the Men of the Land done before you and the Land is defiled and therefore in the Verse following this defiled Land is said to have spewed out the Inhabitants thereof who defiled it In like manner the Destruction of the Shechemites the Death of Sampson of Amnon the Judgment of God upon the Three and twenty thousand of the Children of Israel 1 Cor. 10.8 who fell in one Day at Baal-Peor before they entered Canaan were they not for such Sins as these And for the like Sins even for one luxurious adulterous Act was not the whole Tribe of Benjamin cut off Judg. 20. except only Six hundred Men I might here add the remarkable Wars and Slaughters that suddenly followed upon David's Adultery as also the rending of the ten Tribes from Solomon as a Judgment for his being seduced to the Toleration of Idolatry by his exorbitant Lusts and unlawful Marriages and many more the like sad Examples even out of the Annals of our own and other neighbouring Countries And here also I might set down more at large God's particular Denunciations against such Sins by the Mouth of all his Prophets sometimes inflicting his great Judgments Plague Pestilence Famin Sword removing his Candlesticks c. But I think what is already said is enough to shew that these Sins of Uncleanness tho seeming most excusable and natural to Man are most abominable and loathsom in the sight of God Especially since by the new Contract that is made between us and our Lord we are become in a more peculiar manner Eph. 5. the Spouse of Christ and are therefore to keep our selves Chast and Holy We are become likewise by a particular and higher degree of Sanctification the Temples of the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. 6.19 and are therefore not sacrilegiously to violate 'em but to cleanse them from all Filthiness 2 Cor. 7.1 so perfecting that Holiness which becomes God's House for ever Ps 92.5 And this at our utmost Peril For these Temples saith St. Paul whoso defileth 1 Cor. 3.17 him will God eternally destroy And a great Moralist that lived at the same time with Saint Paul and probably also was made a Christian by him with some others of Nero's Houshold says in a manner the same thing according to Lactantius De Div. Instit Lib. 6. C. 25. The most agreeable Temple we can build for God is to consecrate him in our Hearts And therefore to build otherwise would be to ruin our selves to all Eternity which transcendently exceeds all temporal Punishments put together CHAP. IV. Of the Chastity of Marriage and the Purity of a single Life THus far concerning First The Impurity and Filthiness of the Sins of the Flesh with their Oppositeness to the Purity and Holiness of Almighty God and the defilement and dishonour they bring to the Persons that commit them And Secondly the severe Punishments and tremendous Judgments of Almighty God towards such Sins above others But I would not by any means be thought so to have censured in the beginning of this Discourse the present Age as if there were not many amongst the married Persons whom God hath reserved to himself even in our own Nation most inviolably constant to one another and that live strictly within the Bounds and Obligations of that honourable State And some also of the Unmarried that live single out of Choice not Necessity upon the account of Vertue and Religion not Licentiousness and Luxury And many also who after one Marriage abstain from a Second upon the same serious account as did those Widows in the Primitive times of Christianity 1 Tim. 5. who were for that very reason taken into the Charity and Service of the Church MARRIAGE Marriage is Honourable in all and the Bed undefiled with sin Eph. v. 32. So Honourable that St. Paul compares the Union of Man and Wife with that of Christ and his Church But yet doubtless conjugal Chastity hath many Degrees in it and in some is far more pure than in others More pure in those who for better performance of Holy Duties or in Times of Humiliation such as Lent Ember-Weeks c. before receiving the Blessed Sacrament and the like abstain and separate that they may give themselves to Fasting and Prayer So in the Old Testament Exod. 19.15 1 Sam. 21.4 before the descent of the Lord upon Mount Sinai the People were commanded three days Sanctification and not coming at their Wives Women kept from the Young Men for about three days and the Vessels of the Young Men Holy i. e. from their Wives And in times of more earnest Addresses to God this separation from Carnality was continually used amongst the Jews as appears from the Prophet Zechary Zech. 7.3 But Conjugal Chastity is still more pure in those who being separated for a longer time either upon the account of Sickness in one Party or by necessary absence of either of them about Worldly Affairs in Journeys Publick Employments Embassies or being taken Captive by an Enemy and the like yet both continue constant and faithful to one another and this perhaps for many years notwithstanding the many strong Temptations the world presents So in the Case of Divorcement or of a resolved Separation by consent many there are who take from hence an occasion of being more diligent in the Service of God and afterwards perhaps of removing themselves out of all danger of being ensnared and ruined by the Sollicitations of Sense And so likewise after Espousals some there have been tho' not many who according to the Transcendent Example of our Blessed Lady and her Espoused Husband St. Joseph have never proceeded any further but instead of Consummating the Marriage have transferred their Love and Affection to our Lord. So St. Austin treated with his Spouse and after having once vanquished himself and his exorbitantly Incontinent Desires of which himself so much complains and in his Confessions Laments so as to be content even without Marriage it self became a most Holy Bishop and one of the most Glorious Lights in the Church of God that ever the World saw since the times of our Saviour and his Apostles And in our own Nation King Edward commonly called the Saint lived together with his Queen a holy Virginal Life as Surius shews out of a very Ancient Manuscript As did also Henry the First Emperour Bolislaus the modest King of Poland Alphonsus II King of Castile Peter Vrceoli Duke of Venice with may others And St. Austin
Death of Christ 1 Cor. 15.3 2ly That to the applying the Merits of Christ's Passion to us there are required some Conditions on our part Phil. 2.12 namely our Assenting and Co-operating with God's Grace 3ly That by such Application not only our sins are remitted Eph. 2.5.4.25 but we receive the Grace of Regeneration changing us in our minds implanting us into Christ enabling us to good works Rom. 2.13 Joh. 1.12 to become doers of the Law Sons of God c. The manner of such our Regeneration and of the Divine Assistance is thus First Mat. 28.19 Eph. 5.26 When we are Baptized into Christs Church not only past sins are washed away supposing us rightly disposed thereunto but also a new Power and Ability Supernatural of Living holily for the future is conferr'd and superadded Tit. 3.5 c. Acts 11.16 The Holy Ghost being then personally given us and God's Grace Efficaciously planted in us for newness of Life Rom. 6.4.7.6 and bringing forth Good Works By the Assistance of this Grace therefore our corrupt Nature is so perfectly restored and made capable of all Vertue that we may and are obliged also therewith totally to subdue our Lusts so as to live free from the habit even of unclean thoughts Gal. 5.24 and from the commission of all unclean Acts at least of those greater before mentioned which we are sure from God's own Word exclude the Kingdom of Heaven By this new principle of Grace Eph. 5.5 which worketh with us and without which our working signifies nothing a real Holiness Facility to Good is conveyed into our Souls our Understanding is Illuminated so as readily to embrace the Holy Mysteries of Christ's Religion which are above it above it 's natural Knowledge and Reach and past it s ever finding out but by Revelation Our Will from time to time inspired with new and divine Affections and at length influenced at least in some Persons with an impatient Love of God above all other things And the same Holy Spirit which thus Acts and Assists within us interceeds also for us Rom. 8.26 with groans which cannot be uttered groans irresistably prevalent at the Throne of Grace To the first Grace therefore given us at our Baptism if we make a right use of it more and more is added to every one that hath improved his one Talent more shall be given Mat. 25.29 and he shall have abundance And sometimes to the same well-disposed Person are conferred several Talents several different Gifts for God's greater glory of the same Holy Spirit but yet the most excellent Grace which we are above all to covet 1 Cor. 12.31 as being that without which all other Graces signify nothing to us is 1 Cor. 13.13 Charity or the Love of God Which is the most effectual remedy of all our Lusts or false Loves and when once obtained does in a manner the whole work of a Christian it felf because by its secret Energy it centers all our Affections in our Lord so as sweetly to compell us to seek in all things a punctual Observance and conformity to his holy Will and in nothing to displease him with whom our Soul being ravished is sick of love for him and languisheth with a perpetual desire Cant. 5.8 either 1st of suffering for him thereby at once to shew the Truth of our love and to purify us as Gold in a burning Furnace Or 2ly of praying to Him the only way of Conversing with him upon Earth Or 3ly Of fully enjoying him in Heaven even though it were through Martyrdom it self Which great Vertue shined most Eminently in St. Mary Magdalen whose sins which were many were therefore forgiven her because she loved much And her chosing to sit at the feet of Jesus to hear his words our Saviour himself calls the unum necessarium the better and sublimer part of a Christian which nothing can take away And albeit this love of God inferrs and comprehends the love of our Neighbour and of our selves and of all things that belong to God yet these not after the fashion of the World but only as consistent with and much encreasing and enflaming our love of God So that by shewing our love to God as we are obliged all the ways that we can we are continually enlivening and augmenting it and still think it little and unworthy of eternal life and that it is want of our Endeavours and not of God's Grace which hinders us from attaining still higher Spiritual Gifts and a more intense love of our Lord every little Inclination in us to any thing else if not throughly mortifyed being enough to retard our progress in this true way to perfection This one thing I do says St. Paul to his Philippians forgeting those things which are behind already obtained and reaching forward to those things which are before not yet obtained I press toward the Mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.13 And if so great an Apostle when he had so far attained as perhaps none farther in the Love of God and Self-mortifications witness his Watchings 2 Cor. 6.5.11.23 Fastings Labours Stripes Imprisonments Deaths was still pressing forward much more ought we to mend our pace who are so far behind so far from perfect Charity and perfect Chastity as to be still wallowing in our â—usts still hankering after the Gratifications of Sense We ought not only to be mindful of the powerful Assistances God hath afforded us to Purity and Holiness but also actually to make use of them for that very end and purpose those Assistances of the Holy Spirit being such as continually war against the Flesh Col. 3.1 stirring us up to seek those things that are above and supernatural and so after an ineffable manner if we endeavour to correspond to them unite us to Christ and God and bring down Heaven into our Souls quenching in us the thirst to all sensual Pleasures making them by degrees seem more and more contemptible to us and at length odious Quas sordes quae dedecora c. what filthiness did they Suggest what disgrace and dishonour says St. Austin in his Confessions concerning his formerly beloved but then much more hated Lusts The way therefore to experience the good of Christianity is resolutely to enter upon practising Christian Vertue by a more strict observance of Gods Laws and purging our selves from the contrary Vices For none how learned soever can truly know God but they that serve him And a poor Shepherd that faithfully serves him will by experience know more of God in his chiefest Excellencies than a Doctor of the Chair that does only talk of him And as the Grace of God is the principal Instrument of a good Christian Life so the next to that is frequent examining our Consciences once or twice a day that so we may learn to know by little and little how to
his whole Life and who also humbled himself to death even the death of the Cross And we are to be like him meek and humble Reflect The undeserved Favours of Almighty God The Ingratitude of our repeated sins The behaviour of the poor Publican The Example of our Lord himself Great Lessons of Humility Saturday Of the Advantage of being Christians We live under the Covenant of Grace which is founded in Remission of sin and upon promises of eternal rewards to the observers of it who are also enabled to observe it We are redeemed from all our Enemies so as not to fear them Death it self being now only a Passage to immortality Are we not also made Sons of God Members of Christ Kings and Priests and Coâ—heirs with our Elder Brother of an Eternal Inheritance Sunday Of the Benefits of the Holy Ghost By him who was sent by our Saviour we are begotten and born again and made new creatures By him Illuminated to understand the Mysteries of our Redemption By him the Love of God is spread abroad in our hearts so as to love even our Enemies for God's sake He purifies and cleanses us from all filthiness He Interceeds for us and teaches us how to pray He comforts and supports us in all our afflictions with his peace and joy He is the Seal of the Divine Promises and the Foretaste of Heaven The great power of God in us over Sacan and all his Instruments And by his Vertue and Efficacy our Bodies also will be Spiritualized and we raised to Immortality and Glory Reflect This Comforter abides with us for ever and is grieved when-ever we do any thing to chase him from us To these few Heads of Meditation taken chiefly out of Holy Scripture might be added infinite more concerning God's Attributes Gifts Miracles c. with innumerable more passages both of the Old and New Testament but these are thought sufficient to shew the manner of Meditation which is so considerable a part of Religion and to serve also as a Succidaneum to those that have not the opportunity of larger Books which is all that was intended by the Collecter of them Let the words of my Mouth and the Meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my Strength and my Redeemer Psal 19. I meditate on all thy works Ps 143.5 In his Law doth he meditate day and night Ps 1.2 The Letany of Christian Vertues taken out of the Holy Scripture and the several Texts Annexed O GOD the Father of Heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the World Have mercy on us O God the Holy Ghost Have mercy on us O Sacred Trinity one God Have mercy on us O Lord just and good Heb. 11.6 and a rewarder of all those that seek thee diligently Have mercy on us Who createdst our First Parents in Innocency and Holiness Gen. 2. after thine own Image and gavest a Testimony to the offerings of just Abel Gen. 4. Have mercy on us Who savedst in the Ark from the Flood Gen. 7. Noah a Preacher of Justice and deliveredst from the Fire Just Lot vexed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked Gen. 19. Have mercy on us Who gavest the Promise to Abraham Gen. 22. found Faithful after many tryals Have mercy on us Gen. 29. Who deliveredst Jacob endued with a wonderful patience and confidence in Adversities from all evils and gavest a joyful end to thy Servant Job Job 42. that Pattern of Patience Have mercy on us Gen. 39. Who rewardedst the singular Modesty and Chastity of Joseph with the Rule over Egypt Gen. 41 Have mercy on us Num. 22. Who chosedst Moses the meekest Man upon Earth to be Ruler over thy People and Electedst Joshua Deut. 31. notable for Valour and Constancy to lead thy People into the Land of Promise Have mercy on us Who gavest the Priesthood to the Sons of Levi for their great Courage in vindicating thine Honour Exod. 32. and deliveredst from all dangers the Prophet Elias for his incomparable Zeal for thy true Worship against the false Prophets 1 King 18. 2 King 2. and at length tokest him up into Heaven Have mercy on us Who set Samuel Judge over thy People 1 Sam. 7 12 a lover of Justice and free from Bribes And liftedst up David 1 Sam. 16. a man after thine own heart in the faithful Service of thee to be King of Israel Have mercy on us Who replenishedst Solomon 1 King 4. humbly begging Wisdom of thee both with it and many other Graces And Adornedst Daniel and his Companions Dan. 1. being singularly Temperate and Sober with Wisdom and Beauty Have mercy on us Who didst chuse the Blessed Virgin Mary Luk. 1. Adorned with singular Chastity Humility Obedience and all other Vertues to be the Mother of thy Son Have mercy on us Mat. 3. Who sentest John Baptist a Forerunner of thy Son a Preacher of Penitence and of great Austerities and Abstinencies Have mercy on us John 17. 1 Pet. 2.21 Who sentest Jesus Christ thy only begotten Son into the World the Pattern of all Holiness that we should follow his Example Have mercy on us Eph. 1. Who hast chosen us in him before the Foundations of the World that we also should be Holy and Unblame able in thy sight Have mercy on us Who hast Predestinated us that we should be made conformable to the Image of thy Son Phil. 3. Eph. 2. and hast created us in him to good Works which thou hast ordained that we should walk in them Have mercy on us Who hast Redeemed us from our vain Conversation by the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. and hast Regenerated us by thy Word unto a lively hope of an Eternal Inheritance Have mercy on us O Jesu 1 Pet. 2. who knewest no Sin neither was Guile found in thy Mouth 1 Joh. 3. but appearedst to take away the Sins of the World Have mercy on us 1 Pet. 2. Jesus who barest our Sins in thy Body on the Cross that we being dead unto Sin may live unto Justice and Holiness Have mercy on us Col. 1. Who hast delivered us out of Darkness into Light from the power of Satan Acts 26. into thy Kingdom and hast bestowed upon us the Remission of Sins and an Inheritance amongst thy Saints Have mercy on us Mat. 19. Who promisedst thy Disciples that forsook all for thee Joh. 21. Twelve Thrones Judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel who committedst unto St. Peter notably confessing and loving thee the feeding of thy Sheep Have mercy on us Joh. 20. Who vouchsafedst to St. John notable for Chastity the singular privilege of thy Love Have mercy on us Who sendest thy Holy Spirit Rom. whereby Divine Charity is spread abroad in our hearts Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Lord Be merciful and