trouble And it is not for us to say This or that is a small Business for I tell ye let it seem never so small It is a great advance the very first Step that leads to Vertue and Perfection V. If we may compare to a Tree the old man in us that derives his Original from the infected Seed of Adam we may resemble Self-Love to the Root a Perverse Inclination to the Trunk Perturbations to the Branches Vitious Habits to the Leaves Evil Works Words and Thoughts to the Fruit. Now the way to hinder all subsequent Corruptions and Wickedness is to lay the Ax to the Root and to begin with Self-Love Take away that and the whole Off-spring of Carnal Appetite is destroy'd at one Blow And this is done by Humility and Contempt of our selves We must be lowly in our own Eyes and not fear either the Scorn or the Displeasure of Men We must chearfully submit to what condition soever God hath appointed for us He that hates himself as he ought shall be sav'd He that loves himself as he ought not is in danger to perish CHAP. XIII Of Love the Nature of it Causes and Effects Its Remedies and somewhat added of Hatred I. LOve is a certain Delight or Satisfaction we take in that which is Good The first Impression that affects the Appetite proceeding from the Pleasure we take in a known Good It is the Cement of the World the most powerful of all our Passions subdue this once and the rest are easily overcome The Love which is divine aspires naturally toward its Original All Good comes from the Soveraign Good and thither it tends Let every man call his own Soul to a Shrift and see what it is that his Heart is most set upon For it is either the God which he should worship or the Idol which he should not It is the Command of God that we love him with the whole heart and without a Rival He that loves any thing else with his whole heart makes that his God II. Beside the ordinary Motives to Love which are Vertue and Beauty there is also a certain Agreement and Congruity of Minds and Manners together with several Graces and Advantages both of Body and Mind As Modesty of Behaviour Industry Nobility Learning Sharpness of Wit c. But the great Attractive of Love is Love it self which if accompany'd with Benefits is sufficient to turn even the strongest Aversion into a Kindness Men of clear Spirits warm and sanguine Constitutions mild and gentle Natures are much given to Love III. So great is the Power of Love that it does in a manner transform the Lover into the thing belov'd It is a kind of a willing Death a voluntary Separation of the Soul and Body He that is in Love is out of himself he thinks not of himself he provides nothing for himself and effectually he is as good as no where at all if he be not with the thing he loves His Mind is in one place and his Body in another How miserable is that man that loves and loves not God! What Proportion is there betwixt a corruptible Object and the Immortal Soul The end of such Love is Vanity and Vexation and Disappointment Whereas he that loves God lives always where he loves in him in whom all things live and in a secure possession of an unchangeable Good In Carnal Love there is a mixture of Bitterness and Violence but the Love of God is altogether humble and calm The one is full of Jealousies the other has none Here we are afraid of Rivals and there we pray for them We are to love God if we love our selves for we are only the better for it not He. Man is changeable and mortal but there 's no losing of God unless we forsake him IV. If we would have the love we bear to our Neighbour sincere it must be wholly sounded upon Piety and Religion abstracted from all the common Considerations of Wit Likeness Good Humour c. The Platonic Love which pretends from the sight of a Corporal Beauty to raise the Soul to the Contemplation of the Divine proves in the end to be the very Bane of Vertue It is very rarely that a man stops at the view of a lovely Woman without a desire to come nearer and whether it be a Ray only or some kind of Fascination with it that passes from the Eye to the Object somewhat there is that dissolves a man and ruines him There 's more danger in a slip of the Eyes than of the Feet The Cure of Love is the more difficult because the more we oppose it the stronger Resistance it makes And if it be not checkt at the very beginning it comes so insensibly upon us that we are in before we are aware but if we begin with it betimes the Remedy is not difficult One way of Cure may be by Diversion and plunging a mans self into business to put the thought of it out of his head But then we must avoid all occasions and Circumstances that may mind us of the Person we love For if we relapse there will be no Remedy but Time and Absence and we must expect to be perpetually seized with it till in the end it 's weary'd out and falls asleep Many have been cur'd out of mere shame to see themselves pointed at and made Town-talk and then perhaps they may have been brought to a better understanding of the Dishonour and Hazzard of their Proceeding Others have relieved themselves by finding out of Faults and Inconveniencies and by enquiring into the Errors and Imperfections of the thing they love But the last and surest Remedy is to drive out a Carnal Love with a Spiritual and to turn our Affections to God to Vertue to Heaven and to Eternity which are truly amiable A generous Mind cannot but be asham'd to set his heart upon a Dunghil Evil Love corrupts good Manners V. What is it but a kind of Natural Love-Chain that ties the whole World together and the several parts of it The Stars of the Firmament in their Motions the Birds of the Air and the Beasts of the Field Now this Sacred Bond is only dissolv'd by Hatred which leads to Division and Dissension as Love does to Union The most subject to this Vice are the Slothful the Fearful and the Suspicious for they fancy themselves to be threatned with Mischief which way soever they look There are some people of so unsociable a Nature that like Birds of ill Omen they both hate and fear all things together These men are a Burthen to themselves and to Mankind and to be avoided by all means but with Pity not Hatred And in truth there will be no place for Hatred if we turn every thing to the best for there is no man so ill but he has some mixture of Good in him There is nothing truly detestable but Sin and Damnation If we turn our Hatred any other way the harm is to
to gain the whole world and lose his own Soul There can be no gain where there is loss of Salvation CHAP. II. He that would live well let him chuse a good Tutor The Qualities of such a Tutor and the Duties of the Pupil I. AS the Service of God is the chief End of the very Being of Man so is there not any thing more necessary for him that would make his Duty his Business than to apply himself to the Counsel and Government of a Prudent Master Does any man venture to travel in an unknown way without a Guide Or so much as to take up a difficult Trade without an Instructor There may be indeed some General Rules set down in writing for the benefit of the Absent or of Posterity but in the Particulars of When and How there is no advising at a distance nor without taking in all the Circumstances and deliberating with the things themselves It is in the Diseases of the Mind as in those of the Body A Physician can never prescribe so properly to his Patient What Diet what Physick by Letter as by word of mouth upon feeling of the Pulse and enquiring into the state and accidents of his Distemper And this holds as well in the Maladies of the Soul Some there are which are not to be redressed nor in truth discovered but upon a Personal Conference and Observation St. Paul himself the designed Doctor of the Gentiles was sent to Ananias after his Conversion that he might learn from him the way of Life He that undertakes upon his own single strength to overcome the Perverseness of corrupt Nature to wrestle with spiritual Impieties and to break through all Obstacles and Impediments to make his way to Vertue will find it a hard and a laborious Task It will concern us therefore to call in some charitable Assistant to our Aid that may lay open to us the Dangers we are to encounter the Frauds and Stratagems of the Enemy and teach us how to win the Field in the Day of Battel If you ask What kind of Man must this be Let him be a Person of Wisdom and Fidelity One that has both a Will and a Power to do us good One for whom we have a Reverence without Dread One that seeks rather our Amendment than our Punishment and that lives better than he speaks He that preaches one thing and does another is not worthy of this Trust. II. He must be no Flatterer neither no Cajoler of the People on the one hand nor a Frequenter of Great Mens Tables or the Courts of Princes on the other I would have him as well skill'd in Manners as the Goldsmith is in Moneys shew him any Coyn any Affection he shall tell you what it is or like an experienced Physician presently make a Judgment of the Disease and prescribe you the Remedy Such a one he must be as is able to dive into the Secrets and Recesses of the Inward Man and to suit himself to the Humors and Dispositions of those he has to do withal in order to their spiritual advantage One that is not transported by his Passions but teaches and invites Offenders in the Spirit of Meekness One that has learn'd how to detect and disappoint all the Artifices and Crafts of the Devil One to whom a man may securely commit the most recondite Privacies of his Soul and Confess himself without a blush One in fine that can distinguish betwixt good and evil And happy is he that finds such a Treasure III. With such a Friend we are to communicate in all Conditions and upon all Occasions without any Scruple or Reserve and to take his Opinion along with us in all cases whether good or evil Now we are to conjure him to tell us freely of our faults wherein we do amiss without any sort of Difficulty And when he spares us as if we had none we are not presently to take for granted that we are innocent But rather to impute his silence either to his lothness to disoblige us or to his despair of reforming us And we are then to press him with more earnestness and to shew him by our actions the desire we have to profit by his Reproofs and to square our Lives for the future according to his Direction It will be a good sign if we love him the better for his Reprehensions and take delight in them When we are come to that pass once we shall still part with him either better than he found us or in a fair way to it In the Distempers of the Mind â—t goes far if one has but a good will to be cur'd IV. These are the mutual Offices of the Master and of the Scholar that the one be well dispos'd to confer a benefit and the other to receive it And truly the former can hardly fail without the extreme Obstinacy Impatience or Incapacity of the latter There are some people so over-conceited of their own Abilities that they will never endure to be advis'd by any body else All this they cry is no mâ—re than what I could have told you To what purpose do you trouble me with what I knew before But I say on the other side that it is to very great purpose There are many things we know which we do not at all times so well heed and consider and in such cases the Admonition is not so much intended to inform the Understanding as to quicken the Memory and rather to do the Office of a Remembrancer than of a Tutor In other cases there is nothing so evident but men will pretend Ignorance So that the Suggestion of Matters even the most Manifest must not be omitted sor Vertue does then more vigorously exert her self when she is touch'd and provok'd Some people there are that have not the Face to acknowledge an Error a most ridiculous and unmanly sort of Modesty Others have not the Heart to do it but fret inwardly and smoother all in a stomachful silence falling soul like Bedlams upon the Physician that would cure them This mischievous Secresie and Reserve proceeds undoubtedly from the Temptation of the Devil who needs never despair of gaining his end so long as he can keep himself close and undiscover'd Our Ulcerated Bodies let them be never so offensive and loathsom we can expose to the Chirurgion or Physician in hope of Remedy even without a blush But what a stir we make to hide the blemishes and infirmities of our Souls as if to conceal them were really to take them away when yet we are not able to hinder them even from betraying themselves He that will not own himself to be wounded shall never be cur'd V. Let a Physician tell us You have such or such a Disease you are dangerously ill Have a Care you neither eat nor drink any thing to day but this or that So far are we from taking this Liberty amiss that on the contrary we reckon it for a favour and give him thanks
I would advise any man to starve himself for the Belly is importunate and must have daily food But here lies the snare we do the business of Pleasure under the pretence of Necessity If we would inform our selves how small a matter satisfies Hunger let us consider what we are capable of and what we have need of we shall then understand that no man is driven upon excess by necessity Nature contents her self with a little but the cravings of Luxury are boundless III. Hunger takes no pleasure at all in complement or ostentation let it be satisfied and no matter with what So soon as the Relish is off from the Palate the precious and the common are both alike Let but him eat that is hungry and drink that is a thirst whether his Bread be white or brown or his Drink plain water out of the next Brook or the choicest Wine refresh'd with Snow it is all one to Nature Stay but the stomach and quench the thirst she looks for no more All the quarters of the World must be hunted for Fish and Flesh several sorts of Wines for the Gusto and provoking sawces to gratifie our phantastical Appetites And what are all these far-fetch'd Curiosities and Delicates in the end but the Torments of a miserable Surfeit Epicurus recommends Temperance to us if it were for nothing else but the very pleasure of it There 's a great deal of difference betwixt the plainest meat in the World to a good stomach and the most delicious to one that is crop-sick He that would discharge himself of all superfluous care for the Belly let him but consider the end of all and that he is only preparing a Treat for the Worms This me-thinks should make a man so order his Body as that his Mind may be never the worse for 't That 's the best Diet undoubtedly which is every where to be had and without trouble and neither burthensome to a mans Purse nor to his Body He is a great master of himself that commands his Belly The Body requires Nourishment not Dainties and we have been convinced of the superfluity of many things by the want of them IV. But 't is no such mighty business neither to contemn Superfluities give me the man that can chearfully dispense even with Necessities that can content himself with Bread and Water and with the Herbs of the Field as well for Mans meat as for Beasts that eats only to sustain and strengthen nature and to glorifie God that takes his meat as a sick man does his Physick merely for healths sake without any regard to the taste that declines voluptuous Treats and Entertainments and at least moderates himself in the Pleasures of the Palate since he cannot totally extinguish them and preserves himself in purity both of Body and Spirit The perfection of Chastity is a better proof of Abstinence than the bare taking down of the Body CHAP. V. Of Luxury The foulness of it How apt we are to Relapse into it How to avoid it I. LUxury is a Brutal vice and that which of all others puts a man the most out of countenance Nor is it so shameful only in the practice but the Apostle forbids us the very naming of what concerns it The foulness of it may appear in this That a man if he has but the least spark of modesty or good nature in him cannot forbear Blushing at the very thoughts of any Uncleanness committed if he does but imagine that any body else knows of it Nay there are many people fo tender and scrupulous in this point that they 'l run any hazard rather than trust their very Confessors with so scandalous a secret He that falls into this bog very rarely gets out again and there 's little hope of him that 's infected with this Disease For alas what can man do in the case of Continence which is the only Gift of God II. The first Remedy must be fervent Prayer to the Almighty for Grace and Strength And we are next to resist the very first motions to Impurity and to shake them off as we would do a burning coal from our Garments If we come but once to deliberate we are lost If we parly we are upon the point of yielding We must have a care of Idleness High-feeding Lascivious Objects loose and wanton Company Nothing in short is to be omitted in this difficulty Nay the very best of men are not without their infirmities certain latent dispositions which though we cannot properly call sins we find many times to prove the preludes to Wickedness and if they gain but never so little upon us it will be hard quitting them He that will be great must not despise little things The least spark is enough to fire the largest City III. Let every man have a care of too much confidence in himself He that goes on without doubting is fallen already How many Instances have we of brave and eminent men that after solemn Confessions Victories and Exploits even to admiration have yet been surprized and lost at the sight of a Woman I do not speak of Sampson David and Solomon those ancient and famous examples of Humane frailty but others of fresher date and which we see daily before our eyes And if there were nothing else but a mans own weakness methinks he should be so conscious of it as to be humbled and suspect himself What greater madness than after so many experiments of the errours of all Ages and Nations still to expose our selves to be worsted in confidence of our own strength But this is the fate of our incredulous and stubborn Nature to give no heed or credit to the Falls of others till we are in the Pit our selves God made Woman for a helper to Man but by the subtilty of the Serpent she was wrought upon to be his destroyer She wounds burns and consumes him There is no Hyaena no Basilisk to what she carries in her Voice and Eyes Have a care of her Charms as you love your Soul The whole Sex follows the old trade of driving man out of Paradise IV. It is an ordinary thing I know to excuse our selves by saying We cannot avoid it she 's of our Acquaintance we mean no hurt in 't But under these plausible pretences there lies more mischief than we are aware of For we fall by degrees into dangerous Liberties unwary Discourses loose Behaviour Wanton Meriments enterchanging of Presents c. till in the end by little and little we come from the neglect of Modesty to just none at all This License grows upon us by degrees and he that blushes and trembles at the very appearance of a Woman to day shall look Babies in her Eyes to morrow play with her naked Breasts and feel the Poyson at his Heart before he is sensible of the danger Thus by degrees from dim-sighted our Reason comes to be stark blind and the divine Soul lies groveling upon the ground without any consideration
without vexing our selves at the prosperity of others No man shall ever be Happy so long as the sight of a Happier man than himself can make him miserable If by envying the Wealth the Abilities the Dignity of our Neighbours we could transfer all to our selves it were something But this is never to be done by Envy by Love in some measure it may For by loving what 's good in another we make it our own III. We may couple Envy and Sloth together for they both agree in an abject Heaviness of Mind The Envious mans Trouble is to see any body else happy and the Slothful mans to despair of being so himself And none but pitiful Wretches are subject to either of these Passions Sloth is the Vice of a languishing Spirit that 's weary of every thing that 's good and for fear of blocks and difficulties in the way shrinks at the very thought of any Generous Enterprize It will and it will not The Sluggard is various and unconstant a burthen to himself a trouble to others He 's perpetually wishing himself out of the World weary of his Life and the Contriver of his own Misfortunes He 's like a Top in continual Agitation the Whip drives him about but 't is only round not forward He stops still at half-way and goes through with nothing All his Works are insipid and like warm Water a Vomit both to God and man This stupid Drowsiness must be shak'd off and a generous Resolution taken up in the place of it or we are undone for ever As the Bird is made to fly so is Man born to labour And since Labour and Travel are our Portion why should we not rather take pains to be happy than to be miserable Let us be never so lazy to Godward the World will yet find us work enough to do One man labours for an Estate another for a Title or an Office when half that trouble and diligence would secure us a blessed Eternity and no body looks after it But Vices and Vanities come to a better Market The greater is our shame to be so dull and careless in a matter of that Importance as not to endure the Labour of one Moment for an Eternal Reward There is nothing so hard but Courage with Gods Blessing may overcome We fancy Difficulties where there are none Whatever the Mind imposes upon it self it obtains He that does what he can does as much as he needs to do God helps the willing CHAP. XI Of Pride Ambition and Vain-Glory The Description of a Proud Man The Vanity of Dignities and the Dangers The Evils of High-Mindedness and the Cure I. PRide Ambition and Vain Glory are Vices that are very near akin And they are to other sins as the Sea is to the Rivers the Source and Fountain of them all When a man comes once to be blown up with this Tumour of Adoring Himself farewel all Reverence and Respect both to God and Man And if there be no way to Glory but by Villany and Fraud by the Ruine or Death of his Brother That 's the way he 'l take without any difficulty or scruple The Proud man is abominable to God and intolerable to Mankind All his faculties and studies are bent upon Popular Applause He takes wonderful Delight in the Contemplation of his own Abilities and to think what pity 't is such Men as he are not employed at the Helm He 's as bold as blind Bayard and puts his Oar into every mans Boat ever magnifying himself and despising all others And yet all this is done under a Mask of Humility for fear he should be suspected of Ambition If he miss his end or fall into disgrace the whole World is too little to hear his Story and he makes it his business to stir up brawls and disputes No man so insolent and domineering to his Inferiours nor so arrant a Slave to those that are above him He 'll fawn upon ye like a Spaniel and you shall find him as tame a Mutton If there be any thing in him that 's good he has the Arrogance to challenge it to himself as if God Almighty had no hand in 't He loves to be in at every thing and to talk loud and Magisterially of matters that he understands no more than a Goose. He is a great meddler in other peoples affairs rash in his Judgment and severe in his Censure He 's much better at spying out his Neighbours Faults than his Vertues He has a kind of disdainful Singularity in his Port Words Looks Actions and Ways He is not to be wrought upon either by Correction Caution or good Advice He wants abundance of good things which he fancies he has and those which really he is possest of are nothing so great as he imagines them And this it is that makes him gall and fret himself as who should say Good Lord What an Age are we fallen into when Men of Parts are ready to beg their bread and such as I am come to be neglected He is afflicted with a perpetual Palpitation of the heart and it can hardly be otherwise with one that is continually upon the Tip-toe and streining at Honour a thing which is out of his reach Pride is the Foundation of all Evil. II. If we will know the Difference between the smallest Particle of Eternal Bliss and the whole sum of what appears to be desirable in this World Kingdoms Empire nay the intire Universe it self let us but lay them in the Scale one against the other and the Earth with all the Pomps and Pleasures of it are not so much as a Leaf or a Feather in the Ballance Let us look upward then and address our selves to the end for which we were created and laying aside all vain Opinions of our own Excellencies let us examine our selves and take a true estimate of our Worth and Value He that is proud in a mean Condition certainly if he had been born to a Crown there would have been no enduring him Now I would have every Christian to prize himself not as the Son of Caesar but which is more as the Son of God redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ. This is an Extraction that is truly Honourable Why do we not glorifie our selves upon this account but tather lie groveling upon the Earth to the scandal of our Divine Original God is our Father who hath elected us to the Dominion of the Heavens and the Stars and given us an Assurance of an everlasting Possession Here lies our Glory our Nobility our Comfort Here we may lawfully boast Let us therefore raise our Eyes and our Hearts and frame our Lives and manners to the Likeness of our Father which is in Heaven This is the way that leads to True and to Immortal Honour III. As for Crowns and Scepters what are they but Golden Fetters and glaring Miseries which if men did but truly understand there would be more Kingdoms than Kings to govern them A great
one Contrary to the other for want of setting to our selves certain Rules and Bounds which we are not to transgress Excess or the over-doing of any thing is enough to turn even good into evil CHAP. XXXIV Of Humility wherein it consists The knowledge of our selves The true Character of an Humble Man I. HUmility is a Vertue that comes from Christ himself who published it by his Doctrine and taught it by his Example Next to Vertues Theological and Intellectual it holds the first place for it overthrows Pride which is the fountain of all evil It makes us acceptable to God whose communication is with the humble Without this foundation our whole spiritual building falls to the ground The name of it 't is true does not seem to import any great matter but it is the Vertue nevertheless without which no man can be either great or perfect It is that which puts us upon Illustrious Exploits without danger of being pust up upon difficulties and hazards without fear nay and without so much as a change of countenance or temper Humility does not lie as the people imagine in the mere contempt and abjection of our selves but also in the just and moderate pursuit of Honour and Glory Of Glory not for Ostentation but for the Vertue it self of which that Glory is the reward all other Glory is false and spurious and not worthy so much as of his thought that knows the value of things and perfectly understands himself The Humble man knows too well to affect Honour in it how little it is that he can contribute out of his own to the works of Vertue Beside that he is afraid of seeking even the Honour that he deserves for fear of being insensibly drawn in to covet more than his due There can be no less in despising of Honour since it is great Honour to refuse it and greater yet to contemn it II. The reason why we are not humble is because We do not know our selves And we will sooner believe a mistake in our own breasts than if it came to us from the furthest quarters of the Earth What is man a weak and sickly body a pitiful helpless Creature exposed to all the Injuries of Times and Fortune a mass of Clay and Corruption prone to all wickedness and of so perverse and deprav'd a judgment as to prize Earth above Heaven Temporal Pleasures before Eternal Felicities Every man living is altogether Vanity He is one of the most frail one of the most furious lustful and timerous Creatures of the Creation What have we then to be proud of considering our misery and shame which we should most certainly consider if we had but the least spark of Reason in us We can never be perfectly humble till we come to a perfect understanding of our selves III. It is not enough for us to be humble but we must be vile in our own eyes distrustful of our selves and ascribe all Glory and Honour to God He that is humble takes pleasure in the contempt of himself and is only proud of not being affected with applause He judges of himself by what 's his own and he values others by what they have received from God so that he always lessens himself in the comparison This is his practice to set his own faults against his Neighbours Vertues by which Rule the perfectest man alive shall think worse of himself than of another He is obedient to his Superiours not wedded to his own will He confesses his infirmities he bears all indignities with patience he does any good office be it never so mean he is neither singular nor talkative He loves privacy without any desire to be taken notice of he draws himself into a narrow compass and he places himself both above the World and below it He is modest and circumspect and speaks little but when he needs must and that too with a countenance rather disposed to sadness than mirth One may read the humility of his heart in his outside his face is grave and modest his eyes cast down like those of a guilty person before the great Tribunal And betwixt the conscience of his sins and the uncertainty of his pardon not daring to lift them up to Heaven He stands afar off with the Publican in the Gospel crying Lord be merciful to me a sinner To conclude he trembles at the thought of himself he despises the World and all the glories of it for the whole Earth is as nothing to him that does not first over-value himself CHAP. XXXV Of the state of the Perfect The image of a perfect man The end of a perfect life is union with God I. HE that wants nothing may be properly said to be perfect And what can that man want who is cleansed and purged from his sins beautified with all divine Vertues whose heart is set upon God and his soul united to him to Eternity This is the top of Christian Perfection and the last end of Christianity it self to be united to him who is the End and Author of our Being But it is not for man to attain this End without the special aid and assistance of God and therefore there are but few that arrive at this perfection for there are not many that entertain the Grace when 't is offered them But however some there have been in all Ages II. We may pronounce that man perfect whom we see unshaken in dangers untainted with Lusts chearful in Adversity happy under Reproach quiet in a Storm Free Equal Constant Resolute Generous Empty of himself and Full of God And so much above the things of this World that the Hopes and Fears which are the Anxiety of other people do but serve him for Divertisement and Sport His Comforts are out of the reach of Violence and his very Misfortunes are for his good He fears neither Disappointments nor Accidents He values things by the Nature of them and not by Opinion He sees the World at his feet he studies contemplates and despises it with an invincible tranquillity of spirit and yet his Soul keeps still her station where she had her Original It is with the Conversation of a Good man as with the Beams of the Sun which though they strike the Earth are nevertheless at the same time in the great Luminary that sends them and so is the Soul of a perfect Christian in Heaven at the same time that we enjoy his Company here below His mind is like the stare of the World above the Moon ever serene and quiet He knows neither Defects nor Variations all Ages serve him The Sun it self does not look upon the World more impartially than he does and without cumbering his thoughts about many things he takes up his rest in the simplicity and unity of God himself He neither seeks nor wishes for any thing without himself for he carries his happiness in his own breast It is to God alone that he dedicates both his actions and life He that walks by this Rule knows what it is to be perfect III. It not for flesh and blood to arrive at this pitch without his helping-hand who says Without me you are able to do nothing But there is likewise a necessity of precious Dispositions An intimate union with God is the Accomplishment of a perfect Life and we must first cast off the darkness of the Creature ere we presume to appear before him that dwells in an unaccessible Light How shall any man think to partake of the joys of Heaven so long as he carries the corruptions of Earth and Flesh about him Every Pleasure every Vanity every Vicious Affection is a Remora to him It stops him in his full course endangers the whole Lading and keeps him from his Port. God is unity and takes no joy in a Soul that is divided FINIS Some Books printed for Henry Brome DR Comber's Paraphrase on the Common Prayer 4 vol. Octavo his Friendly and Seasonable Advice to the Roman Catholicks of England Seneca's Morals in 3 vol. Octavo Dr. Heylin on the Creed The Fathers Legacy to his Friends containing the whole Duty of Man Dr. Du Moulin's Week of Prayers Christianity no Enthusiasme Dr. Woodford on the Psalms his Divine Poems Precepts and Practical Rules for a Truly Christian Life Mr. Camfields Discourse of Angels The Reformed Catholick or the Love of Iesus Mr. Claget against Dr. Owen The lives of the Grand Viziers The History of the Sevarites Bp. Wilkins Real Character in fol. his Natural Religion The History of the Irish Rebellion fol. The Life of the Great Duke Espernon Montluck's Commentaries fol. Bp. Cousens against Transubstantiation Mr. Simpsons Compendium of Musick his Division of Violins Several Sermons at Court c. Mr. Banisters Ayres Dr. Whitby against Host-Worship The Fair one of Tunis Parbett's Practice of Physick Pools Parnassus The Scholars Guide from the Accidence to the University Mr. Sarazins Works Gentum fabulae Anatomy of the Elder Skinner's Lexicon Education of Children Sr. Kenelm Digby's Receipts Virgil Travesty Lucian Burlesque The Exact Constable The Planters Manual The Compleat Gamester Dr. Glisson's Anatomy Glisson's Common Law Epitomis'd Dr. Fords Sermon against Forswearing Five Love Letters Conversation or Witty Discourses Horace in English by Mr. Brome and other Persons The Wars of Sweden and Denmark Several Pieces in Defence of the Church of England Mr. Dean LLoyd's Sermon at the Funeral of Sir Edmundbery Godfrey Tully's Offices in English Erasmus Colloquies in English The History of the Plot all three by Mr. L'Estrange Dr. Sprat's Plague of Athens Mr. Cowly's Lecture to the People Toleration Discussed Presbytery Displayed Vossius of the Winds and Seas Crums of Comfort The Guide to Heaven Brief Rule of Life Bp. Saunderson's Nine Cases Minelius on Horace Grotius De Veritare Religionis Christ. Guillims Heraldry Enlarged