Devotion is a disposition of the Will For since no Power acts but as 't is apply'd Devotion whose Nature 't is to apply both the Understanding and all other Powers to Christian Action must needs belong properly to that Power which in man is the Principle of Action that is to the Will § 4. Secondly that this state of Devotion being a constant bent and readiness to perform the best actions on the best manner is by consequence the best State the Will can possibly have in this World and next to the necessary and continual Conformity to the Divine Will which the Blessed have in Heaven § 5. Thirdly that this Promptness to put both the Understanding in act as to Prayer and the other Powers as to Acts of Virtue as it is a Disposition of the will so it is to be lookt for in the Will alone and not in the Acts either of the Understanding it self much less of the Fancy or of any other of those Powers which Devotion is to set a work Whence follows cleerly that though there happen never so much difficulty to elevate the mind actually or rather sensibly to God never so many Impediments nay even Incapacity to act feelingly or tenderly yet as long as the Will on her part preserves her self prompt to do all these and can truly say with King David Paratum cor meum Deus paratum cor meum My Heart is ready O my God my heart is ready there happens no loss nor so much as Diminution of interiour solid Devotion The Fancy without whose co-operation the understanding in this state cannot act may be restiff and backward the inferiour Faculties lame and clogg'd whether through Impotency or ill Circumstances But a pious Soul ought not in the least be discouraged at these Accidents to which in the dependence the Soul has now upon the Body we were not Men if we were not subject nor think her self a jot worse For Devotion as was said is only in the Will and the Will is not at all the worse dispos'd because the Faculties with which she would work are indispos'd and cannot obey her no more than the Hand is lame because the Pen is bad and will not write § 6. Fourthly That a Soul which has a ready Will to pray can never fail though the Fancy be never so dull or out of order to please God by praying or which is all one to have the Merit of Prayer For all Merit or Actions that please God proceed properly from the Will whence a devout that is a hearty and ready Intention which is the best Act of the Will must needs be in a high and special manner Meritorious or Rewardable Nay more a devout Soul intending and endeavouring to pray and standing bent that way that is keeping that Intention unalter'd and prosecuting her Endeavours as well as she can actually is in prayer or truly prays interiorly though for want of the Complyance of the Fancy or Inferior Part of the Soul which onely in Acts of Prayer is sensible she does not experience it even while she has it but rather suspects the contrary unless reflex Thoughts and rais'd above matter preserves her from being mistaken Yet the thing is clear both by Reason and when by reflexion we observe what passes Experience too For Prayer is nothing but an Elevation or Application of the Understanding to God and there can need no more to apply the Understanding interiorly to Objects already within her but the Will to do so Now supposing as the case does the Will applying as far as she can the Understanding of necessity the Understanding must be apply'd interiorly that is Prayer is actually exercis'd Again however outward Objects striking the Senses or inward Fancies irregularly stirr'd up and fluttering in a perpetual motion cause in a manner continual Distractions yet we may observe the Soul when by reflexion it comes to perceive them rejects those Distractions and reapplies it self after that seeming dull manner which the Understanding un-assisted with serviceable Fancies can practise to what it was employ'd about before Nay there would be no such thing as Distraction in Prayer nothing for those Words to signifie in case the Understanding had not been acting about some other Object before and attending to it The being diverted from which and attending to a new Object we call Distraction and this former Object can be nothing but the Object of Prayer God § 7. A parallel instance to this case is that of Saint Paul speaking of praying in an unknown Tongue Nam si orem linguâ spiritus meus orat mens autem mea sine fructuest For if I pray with my Tongue my Spirit prayeth but my Understanding is without Fruit that is he reaps not the Benefit of stirring up the Mind by new Motives or Discourses which those Prayers distinctly and perfectly understood and penetrated were apt to suggest Yet still his Spirit or Superior Part of the Soul is in common and confusedly elevated to God still Spiritus or at the Spirit truly prayes So in our case in this dull state of praying when the Fancy playes not nor co-operates as is fit the Understanding advances not in gaining those sights which by Extension of former Knowledges into new Conclusions through attentive discoursing of its Object it might have attain'd But still the superior part of the Soul is by the Will fixt to something which is not Temporal all such Thoughts suggested by the dis-order of the Fancy being held Distractions She is then truly apply'd to her Eternal Good and truly praying all the while till Intention altering all she frankly and unconcernedly relinquishes the Circumstances proper for Prayer and applyes her self to new Objects without scruple or strugling any longer to keep out the Thoughts of them which before she avoyded or repin'd at as Distractions but now admits and pursues voluntarily as her Business Duty or End SECT II. Of Sloth § 1. I Hope the Nature of Devotion in common may sufficiently be understood by what has been already said But yet because Contraries help exceedingly to illustrate one another I will make some short Reflexions upon its opposit Sloth This Vice is a certain lumpishness and unweildiness in the Soul through which she yeilds her self to be sway'd down-wards by the weight of Original Sin inclining her to Temporal Objects and so rendering her un-active and unable without difficulty to apply and raise her self to such Thoughts and Actions as dispose her for Heaven I say In the Soul for in her alone Vertue and Vice properly taken and as they import Merit and Demerit are lodged The indisposition and disorder of the Fancy and other matterial Powers belong to the Body and are not Vice though they dispose and incline to it and if care be not taken will cause it Again by these Words In the Soul I mean in that Power which we call Will or in the Soul as she is Will. For Philosophy which indeed is
alter a course directed by our best and clearest Reason for the suggestions of disorderd fancies But if once those temptations can deceive a soul into these erroneous conceits first that all her Prayer is fruitless and then harmful as being in her apprehension a kind of perpetual fault and such as she cannot mend for she finds by experience she can do no better with all endeavours she can use she is in danger to leave it quite off and think it better not to pray at all than to continue to do ill And this I take to be one of the most dangerous temptions in the World both because it comes mask't in the Vizard of Vertue and so is apt to take with well-meaning Souls which are not aware of it as also because Devotion being the best disposition of the soul to practise all Christian Duties and particularly Prayer which includes in it self the exercise of Faith Hope and Charity it follows that a soul which thus abandons her self to Sloth must needs languish away into a spiritual Consumption and piningly decay in those Christian Virtues which give life to all the rest and without which the outward practise of others are but false appearances springing from material habits and as it were the Ghosts of true Vertue § 4. Another Weapon of great use in this kind of Fight is this consideration That we may be certain we merit in the sight of God or serve and please him by continuing our Prayer when we are seized with this Dryness and Dulness and assaulted with Distractions whereas we cannot be so certain of this when our Prayer is accompany'd with satisfaction and delight The content taken in sensible feeling is so inbred and in a manner essential to a Soul according to her Inferior part or as she is the Form of the Body and this natural propension to all manner of delights so heighten'd in us by Original Corruption which still draws us from Spirituality to Sense that we are apt to adhere and cling to whatever is thus agreable and this even in prayer it self Whence it comes to pass that because nature so subtly seeks its own satisfaction 't is very hard when this sensible pleasingness accompanies our prayer to discern whether we are not serving our selves when we should be serving God at least it often happens in this case of sensible delight that our easiness and promptness to apply our selves frequently to Acts of Prayer springs in part from our love of this pleasure which is a great alloy to the spirituality of Devotion and to some degree taints the purity of our intentions Whence all spiritual Masters use to take great care that those souls who find sweetness in their prayer be not attacht to it lest they fall into spiritual Gluttony and depress the mind to sensible Objects by those very means which should raise it above them § 5 Now all this danger is securely avoyded when our Prayers are disgustful For however they seem to us sapless and dry yet we are sure the desire of pleasing our inferior part or complying with our corrupt inclinations has not any the least share in what we do but that the Prayer and Intention which as was said necessarily goes along with it in the superiour part which only is Spiritual remains altogether pure and untainted Let then the Soul which finds litle gust in Prayer continue in the posture and circumstance of praying especially if the prayer be Obligatory and in the material exercise of it at least vocally if she can do no more Two comforts will ensue hence one that the merit of such prayer is secure every Act of bearing up against this dryness and the sloth to which it tempts being manifestly an adhesion or clinging to God with the superior part of the Soul The other is that the gain made by such continuance though it seem small comes in clear there being nothing to be defalkt from its purity by the mixture of any motive sprung from matter or Body wheras generally in good actions perform'd by the middle sort of Christians there goes so much out to the inferior part that is to Fancy and Appetite that when the Chaff comes to be winnowed from the pure Corn there remains not so many grains of Spirit as some apprehend 'T is very well if they escape with the Abatement of half And after all the harvest of the former sort does but only seem small for in truth 't is otherwise since of necessity the Habit of adhering to God must be got by a frequent repetition of Acts so that the soul which faithfully continues to struggle against the difficulties of Prayer cannot fail at last to come to a facility of it so much the more to be valued and endeavour'd by how much it is free from all suspicion of alloy from the inferior part being manifestly wrought out by the strength and predominancy of the Superior § 6. There is yet another comfort in this constancy and resolution which is that the not deserting our devotions for want of sensible content but going steadily on whatever we feel is an evident testimony or argument to the soul that she is as she ought to be For since she cannot act this to please Nature to whose grain it lies so cross it must of necessity proceed from a motive above Nature that is a firm will and hearty desire to please God The knowledg of which must needs increase Hope and if it be well laid to heart will in despite of the Dryness and the Scruples apt to ensue upon it produce that fruit of the Holy Ghost which is called Spiritual Ioy and such a solid Peace of mind as the World cannot give § 7. A Soul which needs more helps in this kind may make use of some Preparation to Prayer such as may be most efficacious to fix her attention and keep her Fancy from wandring To which purpose she may a litle reflect upon the importance of it and remember That Happiness or Misery and this for all Eternity depends upon the disposition which she carries with her out of this life and that disposition on Prayer which is the means to procure it That so much time is allotted to every one to work out his Salvation as every one lives and no more And that this time mispent can never be recalled That the rest of our life is only to fit us to pray well and if the time of Prayer be fruitless our whole life is fruitless and irrecoverably Lost That we cannot be disposed for Heaven without Time and the time of Prayer is that wherein alone it can be expected this disposition should be wrought wherefore if this time be lost at what other time can we hope to do that which if it be not done we are miserable and yet cannot be done but at some time c. These and the like reflexions such as we find most apt to work upon us may contribute much to the well
are meerly by a frequent Repetition of her own Acts or by the interposition of the Understanding which clearly seeing that such or such things are to be done presses and prevails upon the Will to be always ready to do them These ways are both efficacious but the later the more Natural and less changeable For the will according to the designe of nature is to be led by the Understanding and indeed in some sence cannot be led otherwise there being some co-operation of the Understanding to that first Act of the Will the repetition of which afterwards produces the Habit. For unless the action had first been thought fit to be done it would not have been done at all But if the Understanding contributed but litle 't is more chance and luck than Reason that the Action haps to be good which is not connatural our nature requiring a rational proceeding in all things Again it is also less lasting for as Use produces Disuse will lose it and should the Understanding as not being first settled it self it well may come to cross the operations of the Will by contrary judgments or even doubts the Will would waver and act faintly first and after perhaps not at all But a Will produced by the Understanding cleerly seeing and conceiting practically what is to be done and out of that sight moving and indeed becoming the Will to do it cannot be changed till the Understanding change And if the Understanding be determin'd by Truth and that Truth clearly seen the Understanding cannot change because Truth can never turn into not-Truth I say clearly seen For Passion dims or blinds and so comes in Sin § 2. We shall find that in one way the Soul works upon the Body in the other the Body works upon the Soul Where the Habit is produced by repeated Acts it is caused in the Soul by the influence of the Body whose Spirits and Organs being fitted by constant use and readily concurring to such Actions carry the soul along with them In the other way the Action begins from the Soul by whose predominance over the Body those Spirits and Organs are fitted and concur with readiness and ease to her Directions yet both arrive at the same End a fitting disposition both of Soul and Body § 3. Notwithstanding since Effects must needs partake the nature of their Causes though true Devotion be an effect of both ways yet this Effect cannot but have Consequences and Operations as different as the Causes are which produce it The Devotion caus'd by Knowledg is proper for more refined Souls such as are able to penetrate into and judg of the nature of things and guide their Actions by their judgments The other for tempers less rational and who not able to go alone require to be led The former can only be lost by a wilful neglect of cultivating those Principles which caus'd it and which are not soon nor easily pluckt up where once they have taken deep root The other perishes both sooner and more easily by bare dis-use of the material actions by which it was produc'd And indeed they who have only custom from whence they can derive their Devotion generally run great hazard of a total decay in virtue upon any considerable neglect of their customary Exercises § 4. Yet in some respects this Material Way is less subject to Involuntary distraction in Prayer than the other because this way of Prayer being in a manner confused and an Elevation of the Mind to God in common as it were without distinct application of the soul to particular Motives which should advance her to new degrees of fervency it costs her by consequence little labour and obliges her not out of weariness to divert to new Objects Again this kind of Prayer having little or no height of Spirituality but being sutable to Fancy finds in the Brain Proper Species agreeable to the thoughts he has who Prays whereas the other straining after Objects purely spiritual of which we have no proper Species has by consequence less ground in Nature to fix the Attention § 5. In some respects too the Spiritual Way has the advantage in this point of Distraction For the distinct considerations to which the soul applyes her self are apt from their being Distinct to fix the Attention because they afford her a particular Entertainment to which she may attend As for Weariness when she finds that prevail and render her unfit to continue her Prayer longer she leavs it off for the present to resume it when she is better dispos'd And when some use has provided her of Spirits fit for her purpose she will seldom have cause to break off for weariness but may Pray with ease as long as is necessary or useful § 6. Hitherto we have discourst of these two kinds of Devotion as they are in their own nature If we upon look them as they are in the Subject we shall find those of the material way generally great valuers of External Acts They place all Spiritual Goodness in frequenting them think them Saints who are addicted to long Prayers and assiduously repairing to Churches and Sacraments proceeding too often to censure those as little less than voyd of all goodness whom they observe not to be still as their Beads or the like And this proceeds not from defect in Devotion on the contrary it seldom happens but where it is strong and much valu'd but from the weakness of the person who has it and who being neither us'd nor able to judge of the nature of things comprehends not how he can be Devout who does not do those Actions continually which by Experience he finds useful and necessary to Devotion in himself Those of the other Way place all their Treasure in Interiour Dispositions and for Outward Actions chuse them by Judgment and practice so many and such as they find useful to the Inward Affections They think persons more or less Saints as their Souls possess more or less of those true Spiritual Riches and hence value and endeavour so to improve their minds in the Knowledg of Spiritual things as being the connatural means to produce good Affections which the others fancy not but rather condemn as a hinderance to Devotion because they perceive no efficacy nor fruit of it in themselves § 7. The former placing much of their Devotion in performance of the External Act as going often to Confession Communion c. are not generally altogether so solicitous of due Preparation or at least aim not by their preparation to work their souls into a disposition fit to advance in true Vertue and perfection of the Interior by a connatural efficacy of the Action upon such a disposition but following Faith unexplicated by true Theology expect the fruit from a supernatural operation of Grace beyond their comprehension fixt to and accompanying the Action The later apprehending the benefit to be expected from those Actions depends after a connatural way upon the disposition with which they
Cares If such Whirl-winds and Tempests turmoil this medium it will hazard to take the Soul off the Wing and throw her head-long to the Earth Wherefore if we intend a Progress towards Heaven by Prayer we must first prepare a cheerful and unpassionate disposition of the mind Ubi pax ibi Spiritus Sanctus Where there is Peace the Gift of the Holy-Ghost the Divine Giver himself is not far absent At least there must be a steadiness in the Soul 's superior part or a full Intention to get rid of all these Passions For this laid first Prayer it self will do the rest as shall be seen hereafter § 5. Another Excellency of Prayer and consequently an Encouragement to pursue it is that it includes in it self at once all Virtues not after a sluggish manner as they ly dormant as it were habitually in the Soul but as they are consider'd in their most actuall and best state Which is as much as to say that Prayer is the actual exercise of all virtues at once For it is known that those virtues we call morall are not at all meritorious and consequently not at all virtues but as they partake of that Queen of virtues Charity Whosoever therfore has Charity and consequently the two other Theologicall virtues Faith and Hope has all the rest whence it is said in the Scripture that Love is the fullfilling of the Law § 6. But that we may come to particulars While we pray we make use of the virtue of Faith in-many regards for we at once Exercise our Belief that God is the Soveraign Giver of all Good and Lord of all things that He is infinitly Wise to see the bottom of our hearts laid open then before him Infinitly Powerfull to accomplish all we can possibly wish Infinitly Good to admit us into his presence nay to exhort and even command us to come to him as also to bestow on us all that our condition and disposition can render us capable of Infinitly Merciful to forgive all our sins as soon as ever we heartily repent and humbly ask pardon Again by our profound Reverence we acknowledge and exercise the belief of his incomparable Greatness and Majesty By our Submission and Resignation of his wise Providence and Conduct of the World Lastly by our asking of him with due Humility that he is our Great Creatour we his poor indigent Creatures and meer Nothings of our selvs also that he is our most liberal and bounteous Benefactor Infinitly Rich to supply and Overflowingly Communicative of himself to relieve all our Necessities so we ask as we ought § 7. Again when we pray we exercise our Hope that He will hear our Prayers and grant all we ask if we ask wisely and humbly that he will keep the promise he has made us to that purpose that he will Mercifully Pardon our sins Protect us from dangers and in a word as we use to phrase it that he will hear all our Prayers which according to his wise Government of the World ought to be seconded with Performance § 8. Lastly while we pray we exercise the Virtue of Charity as it signifies Love of God by calling upon him and looking on him as a Father and the Fountain of all good as endow'd with all those ravishing qualities which amongst us use to beget Love such as are Bounty Kindness Mercy tender Compassion Fidelity of word Friendliness Pure Intellectual Light infinit Beautifulness to the eye of the mind And most of all as he is our Chief and final our Infinit and Eternal Good and our onely Bliss in whom our Soul must either for ever repose after all the fond toyes of the World we so dote on leave us or else remain Eternally Miserable Let us lay all this together and then reflect how sublime an Excellency is found in Prayer which at once exercises and interiourly Executes in the sight of God all Virtues at once SECT II. Of the Excellency of Prayer as t is the Actual Fulfilling all the Commandments at once WHen the young man in the Gospel askt our Blessed Saviour what he should do to have Eternal Life his answer was keep the Commandments Now if Prayer be supposing it made as it ought the keeping all the Commandments nay an actual exercising them all at once then we may be bold to vary the Phrase of our Saviour's Words without altering his sence and to say If thou wilt have Eternal Life apply thy self to Prayer And this is another Excellency of Prayer and a great one too that every time we exercise it we are exercising the fulfilling all the Commandments at once § 2. To understand which we must consider that no External Act is Meritorious or Demeritorious before God but as it springs from Deliberate Will or Intention and though the Execution of God's Commands do exteriously increase Merit too yet it is because the Intention it self is better'd or strengthen'd habitually to some degree by the outward Exercise or because there being some Difficulty perhaps to be overcome in the performing the outward action hence the Intention to do this pursu'd resolutely to an actuall Execution is better then else it would have been by the very conquering the difficulty in the same sence a◠we may say an intention to do a thing notwithstanding any difficulty occurring is better than an intention simply to do it Again the outward action increases our Merit be-because it begets a greater satisfaction and Hope in us that our inward Intention was not a counterfeit one for the being conscious to our selves of having perform'd many such good Deeds especially if not done in the world's Eye and therefore not for its sake but for God's will stand us in good stead at our last hour and strengthen our Souls with Hope and consequently with Love which always goes proportion'd to it when we are to appear before our great Judg. But abstracting from these cases and speaking of outward Actions without any regard or rapport to the Soul they are purely Local motions or meerly Natural not Moral ones and so have nothing to do with Merit or Demerit Wherefore putting an Intention to do any good as resolutely bent to do it and to overcome all difficulties that may occur and to that degree of perfection as the other gains by extending it self to action lastly such as by reason of its heartiness and honest sincerity with other circumstances gains the same comfort to the Soul as if it had been executed outwardly 't is equally Meritorious as the other Insomuch that whosoever firmly and resolutely intends any good so that nothing needs but an opportunity actually to put it in execution does already execute it in his heart and t is the same before God as if he had perform'd it exteriourly As is evident from our B. Saviours saying that the poor Widow when she gave a mite gave more than all the Rich Vaunters For though in the Eye of the World it was not so much yet
nothing but true deliberate or reflecting Reason teaches that Contraries belong still to the same Subject and therefore Devotion being an Affection of the Will Sloth must needs be so too And besides 't is evident that all Intellectual Vices are defects of the Understanding-Power that is Error or Ignorance as on the contrary all its Perfections are Knowledges of Truths But there is no kind of shew that Sloth should formally consist in Ignorance or Error or Devotion in Knowledge since they who have much Knowledge may withall be very Slothful and those who have very little may be very Devout very ready and very constant in the performance of all Christian Duties to their Power § 2. Hence follows in confirmation of the former Doctrine that as long as the Intention to pray persevers sincere there can be no sin of Sloth nor ground of scruple of not having pray'd as one ought For so long the Will is not faulty and so there is no moral defect nor sin at all in a Prayer no better performed but all the imperfection in it springs either from Nature or circumstances indisposing the Fancy or perhaps from want of skill or information in the Understanding Power how to go about one's Prayer which is so far a fault as there is negligence in the will to use due means to attain so requisit a Knowledg Wherfore in case any one doubts whether he have behav'd himself negligently carelesly or distractedly in his prayer he must consider well whether he intended that carelesness or those distractions For if he did not 't is evident it happen'd besides his Intention and so was no moral fault § 3. But yet this word Intention is equivoral and may be mistaken There are who think they do great matters if for Example they make as they call it an Intention in the morning of spending the following day in vertue and the service of God when perhaps they never think of God or vertue after This is but deceipt and 't would be no better to use the formality of making an act fancy'd to be an Intention of praying before Prayer and then spend the time of Prayer in a free and uncheckt entertainment of distractive suggestions § 4. To understand the business we must remember that every Action has a Finall as well as an Efficient or Material and Formal cause and that a man can no more act without a Why then a What. This End when we know what we do is foreseen and the Actor means or intends it So that the Intention is woven into the Action and a kind of part of it as if I go down or up stairs I intend to be at the bottom or top nor can it happen otherwise if the action be rational and accompany'd with Knowledg And if any action be done otherwise as when people walk or do other things in their Sleep or with a perfect Inadvertence it is not counted a Human Action In this sence as no Action can be without an Intention no more then without an End so neither can the Intention be without the Action For 't is as I said before a kind of part of it and we should laugh at him who would perswade us he had an Actual Intention of being at the bottom of the stairs yet voluntarily stay'd at the top But as the understanding sees things to come as well as past and present it may see what is like to follow from an Action before the Action it self and from that sight resolve or reject it and may resolve for the future as well as present time and so intend before she acts And in this sence Intention may be both before and without Action which before it come to be executed the Intention may possibly change Intention is taken in this notion by those who amuse themselves with making artificial Intentions before hand For plainly they intend for the future and when the time comes do nothing often-times of what they intended and remain deluded Now I understand Intention in the former sence that is for such an Intention as accompanies the Action and needs no formal endeavours on our part to make it Since nature will joyn it to the Action though we should endeavour never so much the contrary For it is altogether as idle to imagin he who knows what he does can have a not-Intention to go down Stairs who actually goes down as that he has one I mean for the present who stays above Wherfore since this kind of Intention cannot be sever'd from the Action 't is cleer that who thus intends to pray truly prays though never so many distractive thoughts interrupt and confound his Action Neither are they unless he voluntarily admit and mean to think of such things properly Actions of his but rather Passions or Sufferings For as the Eye cannot chuse but see what is represented to it nor hinder it self from transmitting to the soul what it sees nor the soul from perceiving what is transmitted so neither can the soul hinder her self from receiving the impressions made by the inward stroaks of fluttering Fancies nor those impressions from having their Effect but is in both cases more passive than active and doth not so much do any thing as hath somthing done upon her SECT 3. Remedies against Sloth § 1. TO return to the matter in hand All that can be said of this dryness and disgustfulness in Prayer caused by the not complying of the inferior part of the Soul with the superior is this that 't is a Disposition and indeed Temptation to the sin of Sloth § 2. By that Tediousness It first tires then discourages and after frights us till at last it gains so much upon us as to make us yeild our selves over to a neglect sometimes omission of customary decent or ohligatory Prayers and the same may be said in some proportion of our yeilding to those Difficulties which oppose our exercising other devout Acts. Here then it is that a devout Christian soul must faithfully fight Gods Battel and never consent for want of gust or for feeling disgust to omit her Devotitions § 3. One of the best weapons she has to defend her self is upon consideration of what has been and more what will be said to settle a firm judgment that this state of Distraction is no ways faulty This judgment would be made not at the instant of Prayer for then 't is to be put in practise and the Prayer exercised by it and so is needful to be had already not then to be gotten but at some fit season before hand when the Fancies are most calm ' and the soul can act with most cleernes and force And when 't is once made let the soul be sure to act steadily according to it and pray on how strongly soever Disgust or Dryness or whatever Engin the Devil chuses to imploy may tempt her to the contrary A little Resolution will compass this assisted with the Reflexion how unreasonable it is to
Love of this World strengthen and advance my Reason elevate my mind to God and strain with the utmost force of my Soul after this state of Bliss which is alone Desirable alone Considerable c. And this with a steady and devout pursuit keeping ever awake in my mind when it grows drowsy the Absolute Certainty of what my Faith propos'd and attested to me by the Church delivers to me Thus we see how Faith is the Argument of things not yet seen to wit by the clearness of its Principles or Grounds Likewise how 't is the Substance of things to be hoped by the Firmness of its own Foundations Lastly how it is the Ground-work of all Devotion because the consideration of its Truth render'd express to our thoughts makes Faith it self very lively and Operative that is our Judgments concerning the Truth of it very Practical and Ready for Christian Action in which that disposition of the Soul which we call Devotion formally consists To proceed thus far and settle their Judgments in these Truths with the steadiest firmness and clearest sight they can is advisable for those Souls whose pitch of Reason makes them Inquisitive into the Grounds of things and capable to comprehend them for such persons will receive much comfort and profit by such kind of satisfactions It imports not which way they take to this end whether they work it out by their own meditations or use the assistance of Books or publick or private and Familiar Discourses So the business be done it matters not how § 11. If any particular difficulty which strikes at the very Ground of their Beleef comes cross their thoughts and hazards in the least to shock their Judgment it may be worth their pains somtimes to see through that too But to amuse themselves with every Objection and not to be quiet till they themselves can answer every thing which is or may be oppos'd I take to be a very unprofitable and very unsatisfiable curiosity The difficulty may somtimes be such as cannot be solved without a deep in-sight into many Sciences such as they neither have nor can hope to have for want of leasure or parts Again Objections are endless and should we not be satisfi'd of a Truth till all that can be said against it were answer'd we should never be satisfy'd of any Truth at all but onely of the very first Principles Should all the Objections yet ever thought of from the beginning of the World be answer'd to day as many more might be invented to morrow For Wit and Fancy have no bounds and 't is from the fertility of their Inventions that Objecting proceeds And after all 't is not the proper business of Devotes it belongs to Controvertists to answer Objections the only thing which imports Devout people of this pitch is to understand well that the Grounds on which they proceed in the conduct of their Lives are firm and solid and such as they ought securely and without fear of deceit rely on Which done they must be true to themselves and act with a vigour proportionable to that degree of cleerness with which their Speculativeness discerns them to be true joyn'd with such a Concern as Faith tells us the matter deserves Nor need they distrust Gods Providence in this which has furnisht his Church with means suitable to every capacity § 12. Again when upon certain Grounds they have given Admittance to a Truth they should stand to it and trouble themselves no more For nothing in the World is or can be more certain than that if this be True what ever is or can be said against it is not True whether I be able to make so much out or no. And upon this they may securely rest In truth this wavering Inconstancy this quivering Irresolution which keeps us from owning heartily what we do see for fear of what we do not see is a blamable weakness loses the time in which we should work out our Salvation upon Doubts and Scruples and puts us into the condition which St. Paul reprehends in the women of his time Semper discentes nunquam ad scientiam veritatis pervenientes Always Learning never coming to the knowledge of truth § 13. Since then a knowing devout soul seeks only or only should seek so much knowledg as is necessary to the perfection of Devotion let her if she be able faithfully and severely pursue her inquiry till she arrive at such a certainty of those Truths which concern her I mean such as will give solid Ground for Virtuous Christian Life and for the rest remain satisfy'd with this that there must of necessity be some deceit in whatever is said against Truth Let her a God's Name first discover that to be Truth which she embraces as Truth to which 't is sufficient to judge upon good Grounds the Church is Infallible But after this it is lost time if she spend any in the discovery of the deceit It is enough she knows it is Deceit and needs not know what kind of one it is In our particular Case she may reflect that the Testimony of the Church or Tradition being the ground on which we build the certainty of Faith as 't is Christian which onely in a manner amongst us is called in question they who deny the force of Tradition must by consequence deny the certainty of any matter of Fact done before our Days And because Nature assures us that this is Irrational it assures us likewise that who object on this manner go against nature and so all they can say is no other than witty talk handsom flourishes and plausible quibbling without real force or solid ground And indeed they plainly discover themselves irrational and led by passion who obstinately oppose Tradition because they maintain an evident Contradiction For on the one side they affirm that Faith is truly certain and on the other deny Faith has any Grounds truly Certain And this since nothing can be said certain but in vertue of the Proofs of Grounds by which the Certainty is made out is to say that Faith is and is not truly Certain To this they are forc't by the heat of Opposition For they will not grant Tradition has the vertue to make a thing truly certain because they are aware it is against them And by denying it they leave no truly certain Grounds for Faith at all For as all proof of matters of Fact past long ago must at last depend on Testimony or Tradition if Tradition it self be not secure nothing can be so which depends on it And so there is no remedy but they must speak out at last and say plainly as they do that all grounds of Faith and consequently Faith it self may possibly be false § 14. I would not be mistaken here to advise any they should not beleeve till they have this Evidence of the Grounds of Faith but I presuppose them already Faithful and intend only to comfort their Faith by looking into
is was full as much in the Eye of God accepting it as such because He saw her hearty good Intention was such that could she have done it she would have given more than they all did § 3. This being once settled 't is easily seen that Prayer exercis'd as it ought is in true Theology a keeping at once all the Commandments and consequently the Commandments of the Church too which are all involv'd in the Fourth For who sees not that the First Commandment is nothing but an injunction to Faith Hope and Charity as this last signifies Love of God above all things As also to Soveraign Honour and profoundest Reverence as they are peculiarly due to God Likewise that the Second is but an Extension of the Reverence due to Himself to his Name or a Conformity in Words and Conversation to the Esteem we ought to bear him in our Minds And the Third a Determination of a circumstance of Prayer to which he that is given to Prayer must needs be easily conformable And what cares he who is Exercising actually the Virtues we show'd before were all found in rightly made Prayer and especially Love of Heaven above all things what cares he I say for pretending to worldly Power greater than others for resenting injuries or for gaining worldly pleasures or profit in which consist all those of the Second Table whereas if he be in Prayer that is if his mind be Elevated to God and this frequently and fervently he must needs despise in his Heart nay be Habituated to despise all these sublunary trifles In his Heart I say or Superior part of his Soul or which is all one as soon as he recurs to his Principles which dwell and govern there however the Inferiour which feels some trouble will have some natural grudgings and repinings But these are little or nothing to God's Commandements but rather an advantage to virtue or an occasion of merit so the Superior Part by strength of Christian Principles and Supernatural Considerations or Motives keeps them from growing Moral ones that is keeps those Natural Considerations from settling into Intentions which is the true Touch-stone how far these or such Motions belong to Nature and how far they relate to Morality § 4. But you will say we do not Experience while we pray that we practise distinctly any one of these Virtues now spoken of nor so much as think of any of those Commandments nay many of them seem most Exceedingly remote from our thoughts when we are in Prayer and a quite different kind of Object 'T is answer'd there are two ways by which divers things may be included in another The one is call'd Formally or being Formally there so that every one of these things retains it's own form and nature as Wood and Stones are included in the Fabrick of a House Ink and Paper are included in writing where each preserves it's own Nature distinct from the other notwithstanding their Concurrence in a common subject The other is call'd Eminential which happens when all are there indeed not singly as in themselves or as remaining yet in their own different Natures but as contain'd in some Third or Common Excellency which has in it the Virtue of all and yet is singly no one Thus the Sun-Beams include Light and Heat thus Reason includes in it self though in an inferiour degree to Prayer all Imaginable Acts of Virtue Thus the force of each Body in Nature is included as in a kind of Center in the Indivisible Being and Operativeness of a Spirit Thus lastly all Perfections and Virtues are compriz'd in the most simple and most uncompounded Essence of the Divinity in which Justice Mercy Power and the rest are not found in their several Distinct Natures singled out a part but in one most perfect formality call'd God's Essence whose Incomparable Excellency comprehends Eminently both all these and infinit others which our low pitch of knowledge cannot reach or even think of without diffecting it piece-meal as it were by our understanding and considering each little morsell a part § 5. Now this manner of containing others is by far more excellent than the former and 't is thus that Prayer comprehends all Virtues and the several distinct Acts of fullfilling each of the Commandments § 6. For Prayer being an Elevation of the Soul to God and this not after a meer speculative way as an Heathen or an Aristotle would think and discourse drily of the first Being without any farther concern than as it is a kind of curiosity beyond the ordinary reach but after an Affective way endeavouring and aiming by the Affections which are the wings of the Soul and by such thoughts as we are already possest of to raise our selves to a higher degree of Divine Love and by it of Union with our dear God Hence it comes to pass that Prayer is in its best and most essential Part an Actual Exercise of the Love of God built up in us on the best Foundations and Principles that can possibly be imagin'd viz. on those Motives which Faith proposes and actually rais'd by the best and most immediate Disposition imaginable viz Hope Daily experience telling us that nothing moves us so Effectually to pursue any thing which we conceit to be an Eminent Good as the Hope we have to arrive at it as on the other side that let the thing be never so excellent and alluring an Object in it self unless we have Hope it will or at least may be attain'd by us we may perhaps gaze at it in our thoughts as a fine thing but never desire it or work for it that is never Effectually Love it § 7. Prayer then being the best Exercise of the Love of God and this Love including in it self Eminentially all Virtues and being as the Scripture tells us the fulfilling of all the Commandments it follows first that Prayer is such likewise as including in it self that soveraign quality actually and in the best manner exercis'd which comprehends eminentially all the rest It follows next that this manner of including them eminently being as appears by the instance we brought before of God's Essence including all perfections by far more sublime than the other Prayer is even in this regard of a most Incomparable Excellency and the best Manner imaginable of keeping the Commandments as indeed 't is fit that Action should be which is of it 's own nature an Approach to the Divinity SECT III. A Third Excellency of Prayer in uniting us to God Intellectually BUt we have not yet taken so neer a view of Prayer as we might much of our former Discourse especially at the beginning runs upon the Metaphor as our low dull pitch of knowledge oftentimes obliges us when the thing we intend to explicate is very Spiritual and very Sublime We now come to closer Discoveries of its Nature by looking with a literal consideration into it's Proper Effects which immediately and necessarily spring from it § 2. That
great Man Aristotle whom St. Thomas of Aquin follows both in this and most other points of his Doctrin as fittest by reason of their Truth to explicate Christian Faith assures us that the Soul when it knows any thing has the very Nature of the thing known in it self and therefore as knowing it becomes that very thing intellectually To comfort our assent to so strang a Point which looks at first sight like a kind of Mystery of Faith we may reflect that when we discourse or think of the nature of any thing let it be fire a stone or what other thing you will this Discourse or Thought passes wholly within our mind and when 't is done the Effect of it remains there and not in things that are without us as it does in other kinds of Actions as Writing Cutting or such like which leave their impressions out of our minds in the things we work on Wherefore also the Object on which that inward Thought or Discourse works must as necessarily be in the Soul too as Objects of the other sorts of Actions Fire for Example or a Stone exist out of us when we work upon them that is when we blow the fire or hew the stone But this Object of our discourse or thought is suppos'd to be the very Nature of the thing for 't is that we are discoursing about and not about some lame resemblance of it wherefore the very Nature of the thing is in our Soul or exists there though after a different manner than it does out of the Soul § 3. Then to clear how this can possibly be that the very same thing can have two different manners of being we may reflect how the Frame of a House or a new invented Figure or Draught is in the mind of the Artificer while yet it has no being out of it or how the Essences or Natures of all things were in God from all Eternity when as yet they were not in themselves or according to their own manner of Being If then as 't was now made Evident the Soul can have the natures of things in its Knowledg it can be those things intellectually since what has the nature of any thing in it 't is as it has that nature in it that very thing for what is it to be that very thing but onely to have the nature of that thing in it The Soul then as knowing any thing becomes that very thing intellectually which it knows § 4. To apply this to our present purpose As the Blessed in Heaven seeing intellectually Gods very Essence have the Divine Nature in their knowing Power and so are God by Participation and intellectually which is the utmost pitch imaginable that a Creature can possibly arrive to Similes ei erimus says St. John quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est So those who see God and think on him as represented to us by Faith are according to the inferior pitch of Knowledge we have of God in this state to some degree Deify'd too And though these imperfect resemblances of God which we borrow from Creatures do not reach the Divine Nature in it self yet in case those who pray be instructed as they ought that though the Object of their Conception does not properly correspond to God yet since the notion their judgment accepts to stand for him is not competible to any Created Nature they truly have God in their thought though after an imperfect manner and so are him intellectually Prayer then being the proper Exercise of thinking of God or having him as held out to us by Faith in us intellectually that is of being him in some manner for the Conceptions Faith gives of God though imperfect ones yet are true ones and peculiarly belong to him it follows that we are truly him in some sort when by the Exercise of Prayer we attend to the thought of Him or address to Him And thus much is common to all Christians that have Faith And were there no more but thus much 't is enough to ground this Exhortation of St. Leo. Agnosce O Christiane dignitatem tuam et Divinae consors factus naturae noli in veterem vilitatem degeneri conversatione redire Acknowledge O Christian thy own dignity and being made partaker of the Divine nature do not debase thy self by degenerate carriage into thy former Vileness But Prayer adds an incomparable advance to the common Advantage of Faith For the same Reason which proves that we partake the Divine Nature by thinking on it or conceiving it concludes also that the more perfect our Conception of God is the more perfectly we become Him approach to Glory which is the reason why some pure and Elevated Souls by cultivating Faith through continual Prayer come to gain so sublime an Idea of the Divine Nature that they fall into Transports of Admiration and when they return to their customary way of thinking the memory of it is so precious to them that they look upon that ravishing state as on a kind of Glory or Heaven and seem to have been so happy that they could wish no more Now 't is only Prayer that gives the Soul this high Advantage For by often applying the mind to God we discover more of the Divine Excellencies which gains to the Soul a purer and nobler manner of Understanding how and what he is in himself And the like may be said of all the other mysteries of our Faith according to the Prophet Esay as 't is render'd by the Septuagint c. 7. v. 9. Nisi credideritis non intelligetis Unless you will beleeve you will never Understand So that meer Belief must go before to give us Knowledge of the Objects and then from a firm Belief cultivated as it ought follows a more penetrative Knowledge call'd a Lively Faith to which we are wrought up by Prayer which is a studious Addiction of the Mind to those Objects that depure the Idea of God from all Dross of Imperfection and render it far more Chrystallin Empyreal and ravishingly Glorious SECT IV. A fourth Excellency of Prayer in Uniting us to God Affectively FRom this more penetrative Knowledge of the Divine Essence immediately and necessarily follows that disposition of the Will call'd Divine Love or rather indeed Love of God or Creatures is nothing but a Knowledge of their Goodness render'd express in our thoughts either imprinted strongly by solid and well built-Judgments of their Agreeableness to us or else by frequently-repeated thoughts as by so many dints beat out into an expresness For we experience in our selves both in loving Creatures and in loving Heaven that if we more fully and lively conceit the good in one Creatures for Example than the good in the other that is in Heaven we still chuse and pursue Creatures even though we speculatively judg that Heaven is incomparably more Excellent And the reason is because a more lively Conceit hîc et nunc or in these present circumstances that the former is
more agreeable to us taking us as we are thus dispos'd renders the Soul more Operative for it which Active Disposition of the Mind to pursue any thing it judges agreeable or Good we use to call Love § 2. Whence again are seen two considerable advantages in Prayer in which also the sum of our Christian Life is contain'd viz. to beget a fervent and hearty Love of God in our hearts and to enable us to over-come all Temptations both which are perform'd by rendering the Idea's of the Goods of the other Life very Lively and as it were Bright in our minds for this done they will be sure to work Love of Heaven above all things in our Hearts if they be not that very Love it self which will efface or at least dim with their far more resplendent Lustre the gay appearances of false and transitory goods and so preserve the Soul from being deluded by her three spiritual Enemies For which Reason they that are in Temptations are as much bound in Conscience to apply themselves to Prayer as a man in danger to lose his Life by a distemper he feels growing upon him is bound to make use of such helps as Physick assists us with nay rather much more according as the greater concern of the thing and the greater Certainty of the success and Cure are more powerful motives to make them act and endeavour to seek a remedy § 3. Now the Love of Heaven being thus wrought in our minds by Prayer and Love being unitive of the Soul to the Object belov'd according to the common saying dictated by our natural thoughts that if two love one another they are all one 't is farther discover'd how incomparably Prayer dignifies and ennobles the Soul this to a great degree beyond what meer knowledg that is knowledge staying in speculation and not render'd efficacious by considerative Prayer could have effected If then every Power receives a different degree of Nobleness in proportion to the Object it is employ'd about Nay if in our case it becomes It intellectually and be in a more intimate manner united to it by Love and the Object of the Soul while in Prayer is Gods own Infinite Essence it follows that Prayer which being at once Studious and Affective performs both these advances a Soul to so high a Pitch of Dignity that not all the Potentates of the Earth and Learning of the Wise nor Riches of both the Indies conspiring together no not the whole innumerable Host of Angelical Natures joining all their force can raise her to that heighth of Dignity that Vicinity to the Divine Nature as Prayer can do Who then that loves true Nobility and the solid Perfection of his Soul but will apply himself to the means of gaining so high Preferment And how strangely is the indevout part of the World Frantick who look upon Prayer as an idle Bigottery and Fruitless Entertainment of our mind in aiery conceits without any farther Effect or Benefit § 4. For the same Reason a Soul unimploy'd in Prayer and so unconcern'd to frame lively Idea's of the goodness of Heaven's blissful State that is how beautifying and ennobling an Object Gods Essence is but makes some Creature the study of its Affective Thoughts and first Love of its Will becomes that Creature though never so base and wretched and never advances higher She is Married as it were to that mean Object by her giving it her Love and is debased or rais'd to that degree of Vileness or Dignity as is found in the thing to which she is Espous'd if it be Earth she is Earthy if it be Flesh she is Carnal if Money she is no more worth than shining dirt is if Honour she is Empty and Aiery And justly too since she had the means to advance her self by Prayer and rather chose to ly groveling on the ground and wallow in the dirt than raise her head by it to the Glorious Fountain of all true Excellency § 5. From what is said may be collected also What advantage accrues to Souls by their Devotions to Angels and Saints in Heaven First they that intend to benefit themselves by this way ought to frame in their thoughts a most exact Idea of the holy and happy state the Blessed enjoy how full of Conformity to Gods Will and thence how not only Inclinable but unchangeably fixt to follow Right Reason and act according to Highest Virtue in all things how boundlessly their Souls are enlarg'd by Charity to embrace all the World and wish them from their Hearts and unenuiously all the goods they see they can possibly be capable of even though they see it will be greater than their own How their Understanding Power is replenish'd with a most Incomparable Glory or surrounded with Rays of most pure and most bright Light of Knowledge and their Wills most indissolubly united with and immerst most intimately in the boundless Ocean of all Goodness By which means those happy Persons become Deify'd or rais'd to such a Dignity that all the Glories of the World put together are empty beggery and worthless trash in comparison of that noble and close Relation to the Divinity or which is more Union with it § 6. Particularly of the Saints it is fit devout persons first chuse those whose state here was agreeable to their own to some degree then attentively read their Lives soberly writ regarding more their solid virtues proposed there to their Imitation than the Esclat of their Miracles which are but the likely signes of true goodness and need an eminent and constantly practised Virtue accompanying them to make them such since the power of doing Miracles Prophesying and the like has been granted even to Heathens on some occasions as St. Hierom and the Fathers inform us Having thus gain'd a lively Character of the particular Spirit that such a Saint has if we cultivate it in our minds with a high Esteem of it and of the Saint as endow'd with such and such Virtues and so let it sink into our Wills and grow a desire to attain it and all this be heighten'd and made more lively and more Efficacious by applying to the Saint himself by Prayer or invoking him to obtain of God's Goodness that portion of his virtuous Spirit which he sees fitting for us we shall at length be wrought up an endeavour to imitate him going along into the very genius of that Saint and as it were become him and make his Merits ours not by Extrinsecal Imputation as if because we daily ask't Virtue for the Saints sake without any other disposition on our part they are shar'd out to us and as it were extrinsecally apply'd to our Wills and so better our interiour Let none flatter themselves with such Hopes for Catholick Faith admits no Extrinsecal Imputation of Christ's Merits much less of those of the Saints But this is perform'd by proposing their Virtuous Example as an Object which by being penetrated lively and thence desir'd heartily