possest but for those there was not the least certainty by never so great endeavours to compass them nor the least hope long to hold them VVhen the unhappy Soul shall be clearly convinc'd of all this will it not incomparably encrease its grief and infinitely augment its torments its pains The third Point BUt above all Those wretched Souls who whilst they liv'd in their Bodies had receiv'd greater Knowledge of this Beatitude and by the honour of being Christians had heard and believ'd both that there was an eternal Happiness provided for them if themselves would and that it incomparably exceeded all temporal Goods and worldly Felicity yet see on the other side how they spent their whole lives in running after Vanities and trash as if they had been Pagans and ignorant of Heav'n such must needs out of this knowledge fall into an incredible yet unprofitable Repentance and according to our Saviours sentence be beaten with many stripes as the VVise-man explicates like great Persons be greatly tormented Conclusion COnclude with fear and trembling lest what happens to many and perhaps to most Christians may also be thy lot and resolve with a constant courage to shake off quickly the burthen of all worldly Fears or Affections that hinder thy march to Heav'n lest when Death shall surprize thee thou mayst not peradventure find time for Repentance nor be able to alter in a moment what thy whole life has been us'd to The fifth Consideration The unspeakable Pains which the damned Souls shall suffer through their own disordinate Affections The first point COnsider Since a Soul cannot be without desires but something it must Love wherefore if it Loves not true Beatitude it must needs desire false Goods whence it will clearly follow that The Souls of the Wicked who dye without loving God must after death desire those same goods on which they placed their affections whilst they liv'd in this World and the Acts of a separated Soul being incomparably more strong and violent than any it could possibly exercise in the Body Those Souls must be all on fire and incredibly burn with perpetual longings after the goods of this life which notwithstanding cannot be had in that State and yet the desire of such is now grown natural to them and consequently as unchangeable and immortal as their Nature They must therefore be eternally tormented with a furious yet fruitless desire of those things they can never obtain whence follows a continual Desperation insufferable grief and A version from the causes of so great evil Viz. Hatred against God and Themselves and a raging Madness altogether inexplicable The second Point BUt further It being almost impossible that he who directs not his life to God should so lettle his Affections on any one temporal thing as not to be distracted with successive desires of now this now that independent of one another and all those Acts which in this life are successive and at severall times being in the next world altogether and at once in the Soul It must needs follow that such a Soul in the next life desires at the same time contrary and incompossible things and so for ever remains divided in and against it self alwaies at debate and strife with it self and as if compounded of so many furious beasts as it has contrary Passions perpetually biting and tearing one another without the least minute of rest becomming thus to it self a most bitter spiteful and tedious enemy and which way soever it turns still meeting new goads and spears that gore it to the very heart The third Point ANd which is yet more grievous than all the rest When these unhappy Souls shall clearly see that these evils into which they have plung'd themselves shall never have an end can never be lessen'd with any success of time nor admit of any the least comfort no not so much as a little Oblivion or not thinking on them for a Moment but shall alwaies and all at once in a heap o're-whelm oppress them continually gnawing and eating yet without consuming their very Bowels what mountains of Calamities what Etnas of despair must this needs draw upon them Do but reflect on your self what a terrour 't is wont to strike when you have some time thought of this Eternity by multiplying hundreds thousands and Millions of years which notwithstanding when you have gone as far as you are able is infinitely short of what Eternity is and then tell me what effect you think this sad consideration must needs produce in the damned who by the excellency of their Nature and the State wherein they now are cannot but behold the horrid countenance of this their accursed Eternity truly and such as in it self it is for ever Conclusion COnclude then Since our eternal misery flows from the habits and affections our Souls acquire in this life which if misplac't upon objects unenjoyable in the next engage us above all possibility of relief into everlasting sorrows and distractions Resolve from this hour from this very moment to bid adieu to the vanities of this world and as you cannot but know that Nothing ought to be belov'd but for our last end which is God so couragiously strive to regulate your Affections and force them to be subject to this only rule of true Reason The sixth Consideration Though the Bodies of the damned by reason of their State be incorruptible after the Resurrection yet shall not their Souls be exempt from Corporal pains The first Point COnsider As all pleasure in Man proceeds from the Soul so of necessity must all grief too wherefore as in the highest delight all kind of pleasure is contain'd so in the extreamest sorrow all kind of grief is included Since therefore all the corporal pains we suffer are but several griefs in the Soul it evidently follows that in damned Souls where extream sorrow reigns no kind of pain can be wanting Whence though their Bodies be in a state of Immutability and no material Instruments of Torment can work on them after the Resurrection yet shall not they be free even from corporal pains but feel incomparably more grievously than they ever could in this life the torments of burning by Fire the gnawing of Worms and Serpents the affliction of weeping and wayling the causes of gnashing the Teeth and all Pains whatever have been shew'd to holy Persons in their approved Visions The second Point AGain When all their wickednesses and most infamous Actions when every Word and Thought shall not only be written in their own Consciences but layd open to the sight of all the World those wretched Creatures of necessity must then appear both to themselves and all others most effeminate foolish and wicked and by consequence most base and infamous and thereby most hateful even to themselves contemptible to God and his Angels with all the Blessed Souls nay even to the very Devils and all the damned crew but especially
to those once honour'd and belov'd Companions of their wickedness in this world whom either whilst they liv'd they had courted into their Sins or been by them allur'd and draw'n into their's and so in an instant and to all Eternity become depriv'd of all even false Friendship vain Honour and whatever seeming Goods they so passionatly affected and ambitiously sought for in this life The third Point LAstly though their Bodies then remain perfectly subject to their Souls yet ev'n this subjection through the inâ—disposition of their Souls can only serve to render them more miserable and hateful their Eyes and Countenances fram'd according to the horror of their guilty Consciences and tormented Thoughts how can they but be most ugly and abominable the rest of their Members in what strange Postures expressing the distraction of their Minds beyond all Bedlams for their mad and extravagant deformities and if any occasion of Action should be offer'd them without any Prudence or consideration at the very first motion how prone to all wickedness and unable to resist any evill Only secure by their state of Immutabiliry Unhappy Immutabiliry which only serves them never to be chang'd from but eternally to endure Torments that would quickly dissolve any thing less than an immortal Body Conclusion COnclude then Whoever loves his Soul in this life that is inordinatly and according to Flesh and Blood truly loses it in the next world as our Lord foretold and falls into the evills which here he labours so much to shun but with a very disadvantageous advantage for by fearing little ills he falls into infinite great ones and by declining momentany sufferings he runs into eternal Take up therefore as the Apostle exhorts thee this Buckler of Faith and by the serious consideration of the next life's future evills defend thy self against the fyery Darts of thine Enemies fight courage things put together are any ways coÌ„parable ev'n to the least degree of it 't is evident that then our whole life is best when 't is best fitted and order'd for obtaining this End and if in any part it be ill or less well dispos'd for It so far 't is vicious or at least imperfect Wherefore 't is the sole business of all prudent Persons so to order their whole life to the utmost of their power as may most directly and certainly lead them to attaining this happiness proportionating every Part thereof to the scope of the Whole and having still the End so considerately before their eyes that all their Actions may be squar'd and levell'd to it The second Point SEcondly Since the chief and proper Action of a Man towards his End is the Love of it and the highest Good is above all to be loved 't is evident Those actions and endeavours to This End are best which beget and breed in Our selves a strong and solid Love to It. Now there are two ways or Mediums to engender and encrease Love One by purging our hearts from all other Loves and Affections that so we may more freely and entirely attend to this we are in pursute of the Other by considering and Meditating on as well the great Goods contain'd in the End or thing we desire to Love as the extream Evils that follow or accompany their Loss or privation Wherefore 't is cleer Our chief labour and study ought to be so to order our life that we may both often and seriously think on this our End and the infinite Happiness it contains and that in all we undertake our Affections be not corrupted and adulterated with the least Love of the things themselves but our works be done purely for the Love of this blessed End and all our intentions aym at the encrease of this Love The third Point THirdly Since by every deliberate Action we aym at some End or pretend the attaining some Good which we seek either purely for it self without any farther reference or else intend this as a means to some other 't is evident that in every such Action we love something as the last End for which we do it If then it be not done for the love of true Beatitude which is the Enjoyment of God it must needs follow we do It only for the love of some false Good as Pleasure Riches or the like and that in every such Action we love some false Good as our last End Wherefore it imports us to walk very cautiously with our God and purify all we can our intentions seeing no considerâ—t action can be surely indifferent but either advances towards or swerves from our true and only Felicity His beatifying sight Conclusion COnclude with thaÌ„ksgiving to the Almighty for this special favour of bringing thee thus seriously to reflect on thy ways And if thou findest that hitherto thou hast been too negligent in a business of such consequence strive henceforward to renew in thy self the fervour of Charity with so much more care and diligence as thou hast already lost time Do what good thou canst in the day of this life for our great Master tells us When the night of death shal come it will be too late to help our selves but such as we are then found must be our lot for all eternity The eighth Consideration Piety is conformable to Man's Nature whence such as live according to Vertue are most happy even in this World The first point COnsider Since every one's particular End is that of Humane Nature and it cannot stand with the Wisdom and Goodness of our Creatour to have made our Nature other than such as was fit and conformable to obtain the End for which it was created it must needs follow that the actions by which we are to procure this End are also conformable to our Nature And since What is agreeable to Nature is pleasant and delightful it must follow again that Those Actions are very grateful and sweet and therefore a Pious Life which consists of such Actions is not a crabbed and unpleasant but on the contrary a life full of sweetness and most apt to yield content And if some passages in it seem a little harsh that they are but Medicinal and whereby we are preserv'd from falling into others far more hurtfull and worse to be digested wherefore that These also are sweet in their effect not only in respect of the Future Life but even of the Present and like a bitter Potion to be swallow'd with a joyful hope of the Health they induce The second point AGain Since a Pious life orders the whole course of our Actions to one end so rendring them all conformable to one another it clearly exempts our lives from all inward opposition and contradiction and keeps us in perfect Peace with our selves whereas on the contrary a Vicious life wich precipitates us according to our Passions to follow now this now that Concupiscence must needs fill our Souls with repugnant Affections make us lead a life full of
THE STATE OF THE FUTURE LIFE AND THE Present's Order to It Consider'd By THO. WHITE Gent. PSAL. 15. 11. Notas mihi fecisti vias vitae adimplebis me laetitiâ cum vultu Tuo delectationes in Dexterâ Tuâ usque in finem LONDON Printed by T. W. for John Ridley and are to be Sold at the Castle in Fleetstreet by Ram Alley 1654 To the Reader LEast this petty Countriman of ours may seem to impose on the World or that emminent Name which adorns the Front 'T is judg'd a duty to make It's first breath proclame This but a Translation out of that Latin Original which a powerful Sollicitour prevayl'd upon the well-furnisht Charity of this Authour suddainly to digest into a perfect Course of Meditations for the Spiritual exercise of the English Clergy And now this free confession obliges it wisely to prevent a severer censure by detecting as ingenuously it 's farther Imperfections Presenting but the just half of that Body nor this rigorously or verbatim but with a fair proportion of Liberty Wherein as the different genius of so distinct Languages Vindicates It's providence thus to secure the same clearness and emphasis to the same very sense so in the other the entire fitness of this part by it self for the General use may excuse it's separation from the rest which is but singular concerns only the Clergy Who may civilly be referr'd to the Fountain if they have any Appetite whence a prudent compassion has drawn this only for such weak or nice Stomacks soon clog'd with the sight of Variety or more than is just necessary for their own present Refection The Contents Being these Considerations following TRue Felicity or the perfect Happiness of a Rational Soul is the Future Life's Portion 2. The Delight which proceeds from the Knowledge and Vision of Almighty God infinitely excells all other 3. The happy State of the Just's Bodys after their Resurrection 4. The intollerable Pains of the Damned for the Loss of this happy Knowledge and Sight of God 5. The unspeakable Pains which the damned Souls shall suffer through their own disordinate Affections 6. Though the Bodies of the damned by reason of their State be incorruptible after the Resurrection yet shall not their Souls be exempt from Corporal pains 7. The Beatifical Vision is the Erd whereat we ought principally to aim in all our Actions 8. Piety is conformable to Man's Nature whence such as live according to Vertue are most happy even in this World 9. God highly esteems our Felicity then how ought we to value It. 10. The great Benefits Mankind has receiv'd by Christ's comming into the World 11. Meekness and Humility is the readiest way to Happiness not only hereafter but ev'n in this Life 12. Fraternal Charity is the true Mark of a good Christian and the only sure way to eternal Happiness THE STATE OF THE Future Life AND The Present's Order to it THE FIRST Consideration True Felicity or the perfect Happiness of a Rational Soul is the Future Life's Portion The First Point COnsider Since Almighty God has ordain'd for Man two sorts of Life One in this World short and full of Misery the other in the next Everlasting and for those that live well here subject to no evill and abounding with all good 'T is evident this latter is infinitely and without all comparison to be preferr'd The second point AGain Considering that Knowledge is the Good of a Rational Soul and that no one Object has the least repugnance to any other as to being known but all however opposite among themselves are perfectly consistent in the Understanding the Soul of its own nature if not checkt by union with the body is capable of knowing all things Since therefore through the Obstruction of the Body in the whole course of this Life she attains to the knowledge of but very few things and those one by one whereas in the next world she shall be freed from all impediment being either alone without the Body or absolute Mistriss of it 'T is evidently consequent that knowledgâ— the Souls good in respect of the Object musâ— hereafter where 't is noâ— hindred infinitely surpass it self here whil'st 't is subject to the Body The third Point BUt farther Considering that all Objects and things both in their Nature and Number are limited and finite except Almighty God who alone in his sole Essence as in one single Reality â—nd Formality contains â—hem all and infinite other possibilities in a more united and infinitely higher kind whence He 's the sole Object that can render our knowledge perfect and that only Soul's good whose Vision and Fruition can make us happy Hence again it follows that since this Object is reserv'd for the next life its Felicity is incomparably to be preferr'd before all the Goods and Happiness this life can promise much less afford us Conclusion COnclude therefore and convince thy self that this one only necessary and Soul-satisfying Good ought to be prosecuted and sought for even with the neglect of all other interests that the greatest part of thy life perhaps hitherto has perish'd and been spent in vain and resolve seriously to provide for the future that of that little time which peradventure is left thee no day no hour no moment pass by without some progress towards thy obtaining this sole Good The second Consideration The Delight which proceeds from the Knowledge Vision of Almighty God infinitely excells all other The first Point COnsider Since all delight either consists in Knowledge or at least absolutely depends on it for we find by experience all the knowledge we have ev'n sensible is perfected in the Brain by help of the Understanding It follows that All delight whether Intellectual or Sensual proceeds from the Soul as it is Intellectual and consequently that delectation which comprehends all Intellectual comprehends indeed all manner of delight Wherefore the Vision of God must needs contain in it self all kind of sweet contentments and infinitely exceed all other delights The second Point AGain All temporal and worldly Pleasures consist in a certain Motion and transient succession which quickly slip away and can have no greater stability than the time by which they are measur'd nor indeed can that be long for neither are we able alwaies to eat or drink c. nor yet alwaies attend or reflect without which 't is impossible to take delight what we do whilst wee are in these Actions But on the contrary that delight which flows from the Vision of God is Everlasting steddy and unchangeable as any fixt and permanent substance not enjoyed by piece-meal never interrupted as of necessity all Corporal pleasures are in this life but full and all together and needing no attention it self Essentially reflecting upon it self So that it alone exceeds All worldly pleasures as far as All time exceeds one Instant the vast Machin of the world the least Moat we discover in
Contradiction and cast us into those very evils we seek most to fly And as all Vices are contrary to our Nature and cannot be kept subject to Reason's Rule so are they of necessity bitter and painful in their effects pressing their Followers still downward from evill to worse till in death they tumble them at length into Hell where they shall justly complain that They have walked thither by difficult and rough ways and even been weary'd in their Iniquities The third Point THirdly Since our Bodies are made for our Souls and the Dispositions of the one for the Operations of the other it follows that then our Souls best operate when our Bodies are best dispos'd and that Disposition of the Body is truly best which is best fitted to the Operations of the Soul whence 't is an errour to think it well with our Bodies when they are not fit to serve our Soul And hence again it follows that ev'n Those delights and comforts of the Body which God has created for it 's necessary Recreation are not to be deny'd to a Pious Life in their due proportion that a Pious and Orderly Life truly and really more abounds with corporal delights than the Life of the wicked as appears to any that considers the inconveniences unavoydably flowing from disorder and that ev'n They who abstain from those corporal delights which are enjoy'd in Marriage the possession of Riches such find here other far greater temporal Pleasures incompatible with these as Honour Friendship Knowledge excellent Conversation and the like which abundantly supply the defect of those material enjoyments and rende◠their Life more sweet and happy ev'n in this world Conclusion COnclude then without fear to commit thy self to God and a Pious Life and know that the Almighty has no need of thee nor made thee for his own sake but for thine that thou might'st partaker that Happiness whereof He was Essentially full and therefore He were not wise but would miss of his End had He not prepar'd all things convenient to render thee happy Be thou then but confident and discreetly proceed and thou shalt quickly find by experience what a difference there is between a wicked or negligent and a truly vertuous and devout Life how much more pleasant how much more full of comfort and delight this is than that and how sweetly yet strongly our wise Creatour has fram'd all the parts of our Felicity conformable to each other and to the End for which he has ordain'd us The ninth Consideration God highly esteems our Felicity then how ought we to value It. The first point COnsider Since Almighty God is essentially happy and in Possession of all Good and therefore incapable of the least new addition by his Creatures 't is evident that whatever he has created he made not for his own but for thine and thy Brethrens sake not to render himself but thee and them happy and by consequence has valew'd your Felicity above all the rest of his works Behold therefore Heaven Earth and Sea and all the Creatures wherewith he has stor'd adorn'd them created for thee and to bring thee to happiness nor cared for but as means to that End And which is yet infinitely more ev'n beyond all amazement see the Divinity it self humbled and impoverish't to raise and enrich thee Him whom but now wee concluded through his own fulness incapable of encrease devested for thy sake of all his Royal Privileges and cloth'd with all our miseries and infirmities For what know we amongst the whole mass of Creatures so distressed and helpless as a poor Infant newly born what so subject to all kind of contingencies and inconveniencies what requiring so much care and industry to nurse and breed up to its perfection Thank on every particular and see at how high a rate the unerrable judgement of the Almighty has valew'd thy happiness The second Point BUt again Consider the whole Life and Death of this poor God pillag'd of his own to purchase thy glory See a Life of three and thirty long years endur'd in cōtinual necessities labours molestations and contradictions How often was it necessary that this most meek and innocent Lamb who never brake a brused Reed nor quench'd the smoaking Flax should to give thee an example of Patience undergoe the anger and indignation of his enemies How often to teach thee Meekness and Humility was He to be chidden threatned reproach'd and blasphem'd without once op'ning his mouth to reply What shall I say of his Travayls Sweats Weariness Lying without dores Watching whole nights in Prayer Fasting Poverty not having a House wherein to shrow'd his Head living on Alms continual Dangers and Flying from one place to another especially in the last three years of his Life O but His End Consider his Anguish in the Garden the manner of his Apprehension his leading or rather dragging from one Tribunal to another all sorts of contempt all manner of insolent and abusive revilements weigh the Pains he suffer'd in the most tender and sensible parts of his Body His being Betray'd by One and Forsaken by the rest of his Disciples the doleful presence of his dearest Mother and other afflicted Friends In fine his ignominious Death and the effusion of the last drop of his Blood for thy Redemption and eternal Happiness The third Point LAstly Consider how not content with all this He spar'd not his Glorious Body but ordain'd even That too to serve as a means for thy Felicity leaving himself to thee in the Blessed Sacrament under the forms of Bread and Wine not only to be seen and adored but ev'n to be handled broken chew'd swallow'd and incorporated by thee for all this is as truly and really verify'd of him invested with the Accidents or forms of Bread and Wine as it would be of the Bread it self were it taken before Consecration and It 's connatural Accidents are now as truly Those of His Body as they were of the Bread whilst it continu'd such Add now to this all the Injuries and indignities that are offer'd his Sacred Person as it lyes veyl'd under those Accidents for thy Love whether by Negligence of inconsiderate Servants or Malice of wicked Sinners and see to what a pitch his Charity to thee is heightned which has made Him in a manner prefer thee before Himself Conclusion COnclude therefore Since thou neither mayst nor canst doubt but that the judgement of thy God is most certain impartial and unerrable what care and esteem oughtst thou to have of thine own Salvation what Sollicitude to seek the means of attaining It what diligence to omit nothing in order to assure It whereof thou see'st him so industriously careful who is no wayes concern'd more than out of pure Goodness whether thou bee'st a sav'd Soul or no and yet whom even Goodness it self could not so transport as to make him think any price too high to procure thee Felicity The
the Sun beams or the highest Angel a contemptible Worm and infinitely more beyond all comparison The third Point LAstly All other objects of delight may be coÌ„prehended by our Understanding may be contemn'd by our Will as less than our Soul and not able to satisfie it only Almighty God so fills and oversatisfies that entirely possessing our Affections He as it were forces the Soul to love and delight more than of its own nature it possibly could nor can it ever be weary of the good it enjoys but still with its whole and more eager desire will hug and cling to its beloved Object so that a Soul which sees God seeks nothing else but rests fully satisfied as it were lull'd into a dear contentment wherein it remains so absorpt and wholy ravisht that it sweetly languishes and dissolves into Spirits and flames of love the better to inessence and incorporate it self into God Thus then thou feest clearly demonstrated this great-concerning Truth that No delight can be comparable to thy Beatitude and that 't is no wonder to hear our Blessed Lord and Master in a manner labour to express it when He said Mensuram plenam confertam coagitatam supereffluentem dabunt in sinus vestros You shall be paid with good measure heap'd up and press'd down and thrust together and yet running over into your Bosoms Conclusion COnclude therefore with a full resolution by all thy works and best endeavours and even if need be with the hazard and loss of all other Goods to purchase this hidden Treasure this precious Pearl which at length though late thou hast hit on and to think nothing considerable nor to be car'd for in comparison of this to pitty the unhappiness of those poor Souls that spend their whole Affections in toys and trifles of this Life neglecting this only necessary good and to rejoyce in the secret of thy Bosom that being vouchsaf'd grace now to see that the wisdom of this world is in very truth but folly it has pleas'd thy kind Lord to number thee amongst those few that are truly wise The third Consideration The happy State of the Just's Bodys after their Resurrection The first Point COnsider When the last day shall restore thee thy Body again it shall be endow'd with such a degree of health as will be most convenient for all thy operations both Spiritual and Corporal accompany'd with an incapacity of deficience or Corruption and wth such an Agility as the most perfect disposition of the Nerves can cause with access of all possible swiftness and a power of raising or depressing thy self at pleasure as also of consisting with or penetrating any other Body to all which thou shalt have such a graceful Comeliness with so rare a Beauty of Light and Colour whose like shall not be found in any other Body but thine that thereby thou shalt become an ornament to the Universs adding so peculiar a grace to all the rest that without thee that whole mass of glorious Bodies would seem in a manner lame and defective The second Point MOreover All the laudable actions of thy whole life shall be known to all the Men and Angels that are or ever were who admiring all and every perfection in them even to the least circumstances and thoughts that accompany'd them shall from their very hearts and by the force of truth love and praise thee for them nay the very Devils and damned souls shall honour thee but with envy grief and repentance and what may seem more strange thy very sins shall be then a glory to thee both because thou o'recam'st and forsook'st them and that even in their commission there was possibly some laudable circumstance and which avayl'd to thy salvation So that then thou shalt have so many Friends so many Admirers of thy Vertue as there are Saints and Angels so many VVitnesses of thine Excellency as there are damned souls and Devils who obstinate in their own malice by their Torments shall confess and encrease thy Glory The third Point ADde to this Neither the Devils nor damned souls shall be able in any thy least Motion or Will to resist thee all the Saints and Angels shall observe and comply with thy desires more punctually then any obsequious servant ever watch'd their Masters eye and no Corporeal nature shal be able to contest with thee but all Bodies shall obey thee in what ever thou hast a mind to So that there thou shalt neither want Power where none shall contradict thee nor Riches where nothing shall be denyed thee Conclusion COnclude then Whatever Good thou shalt here forsake for God and Vertu 's Love will not be lost but there restor'd with Interest whether Friends Wealth Honour or Dominion Wherefore doubt not like a prudent Merchant to venture thy Goods to the Sea of Fortune and storms of Persecution whence thou shalt find an indefectible Treasure layd up in Heaven for thee or like the good Husbandman to sow in the Winter of Adversities though with some reluctance sorrow thy seed in Vertu 's ground expecting the precious fruit it shall infallibly yield thee in the Summer of Eternity Having so firm an assurance as the express VVord of God They that sow in tears shall reap in jâ—y The fourth Consideration The intollerable Pains of the Damned for the Loss of this happy Knowledge and Sight of God The first Point COnsider Man's Soul being created for the Vision of Almighty God as properly and more than a knife is made to cut any Vessel to be fill'd and all heavy things for their Center and a knowing substance when it wants the good for which it was made being very unquiet and full of Pain and that so much the more as it's Nature is more excellent it's Force greater and Inclination more Violent It must needs follow that such a Soul when it shall know what an infinite Good the Almighty is who alone is able to satisfie its Appetite will be fill'd with a sorrow for so great a Joss equal to the excellency of its Nature and the force of its Inclination Reflect then with what Violence a huge stone falls to it's center or a Mighty Bow of Steel let loose unbends its self or Powder set on fire breaks all to make it's way and be assured the sorrow of an unhappy Soul who now sees of what good it remains depriv'd will be as far more Violent than all these as its Nature and Forces surpass the activivity of the strongest Bodies The second Point AGain When this poor Soul shall be convinc'd how slender base sordid fading and almost momentany all those things were for which it contemn'd and lost this infinite and only Good that might so easily have been obtain'd even with far less pains than were often employ'd on those transitory toys and with far more security since none could hinder it but it self no not it self deprive it self of this when once
it were unreasonable to be colerick at the Ditch or stone and seek revenge like a Dog so no less folly is it to be angry with a Person for doing thee a displeasure Since either 't is done justly or unjustly if justly thou oughtst to turn thine anger on thy self for deserving it and not on the doer if unjustly then certainly he was unjust before he did it and if thou then wert not angry with him for being unjust neither oughtst thou be now for his doing unjustly it being but natural and what in reason thou shouldst expect that an unjust Person should do unjust things Again since no humane Action or Desire is reasonable which aims not at some good to him that wills or does it and Revenge ayms only at the Evill of the Offender which is no ways thy Good but meerly as a satisfaction of thy vindicative appetite in reason thou oughtst not to wish anothers ill but rather repress thine own unreasonable Humour The third Point COnsider the Reward promis'd thee by our kind Master for Meekness You shall find rest says he to your Souls and in another place Blessed are the Meek for they shall possess the Land and again In your Patience that is Meekness you shall possess that is enjoy your Souls Of all which the sense is that besides the Reward in Heaven the greatest sweetness this present Life affords viz. A quiet and contented mind is properly and peculiarly reserv'd for the Meek as a recompence of their Vertue Whereas those that seek Revenge are alwaies in contention and at debate with one another which for the most part costs their Purses well in Sutes and Law-wranglings and many times their skins even their Lives too in desperate quarrels Besides within what tumults of Passion are rais'd in their Souls what cares what fears continually disquiet and torment them that they neither enjoy themselves nor even the temporal blessings God has given them 'T is Meekness alone then you see affords contentment and sweetens our whole Life Conclusion COnclude then What a good God wee serve who is so sollicitous as for our Future so even for our Present happiness that hee 's pleas'd not only most tenderly to recommend and with sweet words allure us to it but even to introduce them by exhibiting himself to us as a Master and Pattern of those means by which true temporal comforts and contentments as much as this present Life admits are to be obtain'd What evasion can there be from such kindness what excuse from so important so pleasant an Interest No either renounce the name of Christian or resolve to addict thy self seriously to the exercise of this Vertue The twelfth Consideration Fraternal Charity is the true Mark of a good Christian and the only sure way to eternal Happiness The first Point COnsider first Our Lord and dear Master to fix on us a greater necessity and as it were a double tye of mutual Love and Charity to one another was pleas'd not only to strengthen the old Cōmandement of loving our Neighbour as our self by commanding it anew as from himself when he said I give you a new Command and This is my Command that you Love one another but also in most particular manner to recommend and appropriate it to the Law of Grace as a special Mark and Sign of Christianity whereby true Christians are distinguisht from false By this men shall know that you are my Disciples If you Love one another Since therefore true Love is never idle nor consists in words only but is active according to its power 't is evident That which Christ commands us is that we be alwaies ready as much as in us lys to do good to all Men but especially to those that are truly Brethren that is good Christians The second Point AGain consider Since as the Apostle says He that Loves his neighbour has fulfill'd the Law 't is evident this mutual Charity ought to be embrac'd not only as a particular Vertue but as the common Mother and producer of all the rest For if he that loves his Neighbour has fulfill'd the Law the whole Law then is nothing but of Love and doing good to our neighbour Wherein admire the tender goodness of God whose care and providence tends wholy to this That it may be well with all and every one of us See how by that Law which commands thee to do good to all thou canst by that very same Law all and every other person is commanded to do thee what good they can O! how holy is this Law of Christ which so carefully provides for the welfare and advantage of all but withall how profitable how gainfull to thee since for that little good thou canst do to others it obliges all others readily to do thee all the good they can which must needs be infinitely more than what thou art able to do for them The third Point LAstly Consider the beloved Disciple St. John's words He that loves not his Brother whom he sees how can he love God whom he sees not and observe that the love of thy Neighbour must be the Touchstone where on to try thy love to God whether indeed it be true or a counterfeit and as they say but a Lip-love having God in thy Mouth but in thy heart the World For if thou lov'st not thy Neighbour 't is evident thou lov'st something else that hinders thee from loving him which because it cannot be God must needs be some created good as Honour Riches Pleasure c. which thou lovest inordinately that is for it self and not in order to God and so clearly as long as thou lov'st not thy Neighbour thou hast not God for thy last end nor lov'st him above all things as is thy duty for as much as thou lovest God so much more doubtless thou lovest those things he loves amongst which the chiefest if not the only thing we know is our Neighbour whose love even by Nature is so recommended to us that without friendship and conversation with one another our very lives would be tedious and miserable Conclusion COnclude therefore with a serious and effectual Resolution in Truth and Actions to love thy Neighbour to contemn none to refuse none in what thou art able to help them but whatever good thou canst do to any person without prejudicing thy self even with a little prejudice to thy self when 't is much for his advantage to do it chearfully and willingly be glad when thou hast oblig'd any esteeming that day lost wherein thou hast done good to none And be certain this Practice will be so far from injuring thee that nothing will more advantage nothing render thee more grateful and acceptable both to God and Man FINIS 1. The future Life preferrable 2. Because knowledge there more perfect 3. God being it's sole Object Therefore only to be minded 1. All delight from the Intellect 2. Whence God transcends all Corporal Pleasures 3. He only filling the Soul Therefore fully resolve for Him 1. Gloriously qualify'd 2. Vniversally honour'd 3. Entirely complyd with Therefore here to be sacrifiz'd up in hope 1. Equal to the Inclination of a Soul's Nature 2. Aggravated by the folly of her choice 3. Especially a Christian Therefore in time prevent It. 1. Missing their unalterable desires 2. Incompossible in themselves 3. Which they see Eternal Therefore regulate the Affections 1. Extream sorrow including All 2. With Contempt on all sides 3. All hightned through the subjection of the Body Therefore Love not thy self here 2. That Best which begets a Love to It. 3. Every deliberate Action important Therefore be careful and diligent 1. The mean's to Natur 's end truly pleasant 2. Whence Vertue brings Peace and Vice disquiet 3. Piety not debarring ev'n temporal Contentments Therefore confidently proceed in It. 1. Creating the World nay Himself for Man 2. Passing through so painful a Life and Death 3. Feeding us with Himself Therefore value thy Salvatition 1. Rendred easily capable of high Mysteries 2. Encourag'd by His Example 3. Endear'd by His sufferings Therefore inexcusably be good 1. No Christian revengeful 2. All anger unreasonable 3. Meekness alone sweetens Life Therefore strongly embrace It. 1. Appropriated to the Law of Grace Wherein every one has an advantage 3. The Touchstone of our Love to God Therefore improve It's occasions