that which God will bestow in the Life to come though it be a free gift yet is called a Reward and Recompence praise and commendation you may well think it will be very illustrious when you consider how rich in mercy he hath been to us before we could do any thing praise-worthy 8. And you may consider again how that excellent Princes when they give rewards are not wont to have respect so much to the Persons on whom they are conferred who may be but mean and of low condition as to the greatness of their own Persons by whom they are bestowed whom it doth not befit to give any thing mean and below the name and the Authority which they bear From whence you may conclude how inconceivably great that reward will be which the Majesty of Heaven and Earth will honour us withall If a Prince do but send his Charity to the Poor it is not like one of us but like himself and therefore such will the favours of God be which he intends to deal to all his Servants Though they are but servants though they are but unprofitable servants and have done no more than was their duty to do yet he will reward them like a King like the King of all the World like the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who only hath immortality He will feast and entertain them sutably to the excellence of his own Infinite Majesty and not proportionably to the poverty of their Persons or of their deserts 9. For you may consider again that it is the reward which the Lord Jesus hath received to give us for all his pains and tears and sweat and blood It is the purchase of the blood of the Son of God the recompence of his obedience to the death and therefore must needs be of great and inestimable price 10. Nay it is the glory of Christ himself the same happiness which he enjoys according to his own words The glory which thou gavest me I have given them and enter thou into the joy of thy Lord and according to that of St. Paul We are Heirs of God Co-heirs with Christ Jesus who is gone into the Heavens as he told his Apostles to prepare a place for us To prepare a place for us you may say How long will it be a fiting When shall we come to it 11. Truly from thence you may take some estimate of it by considering the time you must stay and wait till your happiness be compleated and that is till the Day of his appearing again unto Salvation They are great things which are long in preparing And therefore the longer your Life is hid with God in Christ as St. Paul speaks the more glorious will it appear when it shall be manifested The longer your body sleeps in the dust to the greater dignity shall it be raised God will pay us if I may so speak principal and use and all The Treasure multiplies the longer it lies in his hands If he should give us our reward now it could be but little but it increases infinitely beyond all our thoughts by being deposited with him till the Lord Jesus shall come from Heaven with all his mighty Angels to be admired in his Saints and glorified in all them that believe 12. And now in Conclusion think with your self what a pleasure these short and little thoughts have given you how delightful that minute is in which you have had a glance of your future happiness and say to your self if a small tast be so sweet O what will the full draughts be when he makes me drink of the Rivers of his Pleasure Are not Men of contemplation wonderously transported with some few discoveries which they have made of the secrets of nature Are they not perpetually thirsting and seeking after more Do they not spend their time and their estates in such enquiries though they never hope to find out all What would not these Men give were it in their power if the earth or any other part of this world would reveal all the Treasures that are hid in it What a satisfaction would they esteem such a vast discovery when some little scraps of knowledge are so surprizing The same you may think of the other World and raise your spirit by such Meditations as these to expect an inconceivable joy when all the glory of that shall be opened which now darts such chearful Rayes of Light into your mind Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us saith St. John that we should be called the Sons of God Beloved we are now the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is What that will be we cannot tell but we feel now how delicious it is to resemble him though but a little in his Wisdome in his Goodness in his Love and Charity in his Meekness and Patience and such like Heavenly qualities And if in a drop of Honey that distills from above there be such sweetness what satisfaction what fulness of joy shall we find in an Ocean of pleasure If the morning star be so bright then what is the Sun it self in its greatest lustre It is one of the Meditations of St. Austin O God if thou dost such great things for us in the Prison what wilt thou do for us in the Palace If thou grantest such solace in the day of our tears what wilt thou give us on the day of our marriage When we shall not only behold Jesus in all his glory but live with him and live with him for ever and receive the utmost effects of his mighty love and be preferred to sit with him in Heavenly places and have a Crown of Righteousness set on our Heads which he the righteous Judg will give to all those who love his appearing And is there not great reason My Friend that we should love it and set our hearts on this as the most desirable good which so far surpasses all others that they have no power at all to tempt us from it while we keep in mind its incomparable greatness Perswade your self therefore as strongly as you can that Jesus lives and that because he lives you shall live also and that you shall live with him in inconceivable bliss according to his gracious promises Believe them heartily fix them deeply in your mind and by such arts as these represent to your self as sensibly as you can how exceeding precious they are for it is neither the certainty nor the goodness nor the greatness of any thing but the lively faith which we have of it implanted in our Souls that will make us seek and labour for it If our faith be superficial we shall be no more moved by it than if it were a thing of little moment or but a devised tale and some idle fancy You must settle in your
us Look therefore how great how goodly how glorious how beautiful and pleasant we are and he is incomparably more bright more sweet more harmonious more filling and contenting than the whole World which is but his Creature And having thus a little raised up your mind above all things visible you may proceed to a new Meditation in this manner 3. If a Soul inclosed in this Body can see and apprehend so much of God O what a sight of him shall it have when it is freed from these Chaines If whilst we look out of these Windowes of Sense such a glorious Majesty presents it self before us in what an amazing splendor will the Divinity appear when there is nothing to interpose between us and its incomparable beauty If whilst there are so many other things to imploy our thoughts he discover so much of himself to us What will he do when we shall be alone with Him and seeing face to face shall know as we are known Is it not a Miracle to see so much light conveyed to us through so little a hole as that of the eye to behold so much of the Heaven and the Earth at once and such a company of beautiful objects crowding in together at so narrow a passage without any disturbance or discomposure O what an admirable pleasure then as Seneca discourses with himself will the Soul be surprised withall when it shall come into the Region of light when it shall be all surrounded with this glorious Body when on every side as we may conceive it shall take in light and be adorned and clothed with it as with a Garment And may we not with greater reason meditate on this manner when we think of God the Creator of light and of all those goodly things which it discovers to us Ought we not to say to our selves O what wisdom what greatness what riches of goodness is this which showes it self in all his works of wonder What a World of things hath he comprised in this one little Being which calls it self Man whose mind is circumscribed and yet extends it self beyond the limits of this sensible World which remaining in this body swiftly runs and takes its circuit and views all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and united to these Senses abstracts it self from them and goes to the Father of Spirits whom it meets with every where Is it thus active thus busie thus capacious discerning whilst it is thrust up in such a close and little Room as this poor Body and shall it not be more vigorous more piercing more inlarged when it is set at liberty from this imprisonment It will then sure stretch it self to receive more of him it will see him more clearly and comprehend him more fully admire him with more improved and extended thoughts and love him with a more ardent flame and feel more of his wisdome more of his goodness pressing in upon it and filling of it with infinite joy and satisfaction 4. Again you may think with your self if God bestow so many goodly things even upon the wicked then what shall be the portion of the just Do not the worst of men possess great plenty of his blessings Doth he not entertain them here with strange variety of delicious enjoyments Are they not so liberally and abundantly provided for that Silver and Gold and Jewels are theirs and all Creatures in the Earth and the Air and the Water are pressed for their Service O what Treasures what Riches of Glory what excess of Joy then will God confer on those who are most dear unto Him If he treat his Enemies in this manner how sumptuously will he entertain his Friends If he let such Rebels live in a Palace so stately so richly furnisht as this great World is which he hath built for good and bad what Mansions may we think are those which are peculiarly prepared for them who live in faithful obedience to him 5. And think again if God hath made this Building wherein we dwell so sumptuous though it be to continue but for a time O how glorious are those Mansions which are Eternal in the Heavens If he hath bestowed so much cost on that which waxeth old and shall vanish away what are the Ornaments of that which shall never decay Is not this very mortal Body which we inhabit very fearfully and wonderfully made Is it not contrived with admirable art and curiously wrought in the lowermost parts of this little World O how beautiful then will that Body be which is from Heaven and shall never be dissolved but remain Immortal there With what lustre shall we shine when this vile Body shall be changed and made like to the glorious Body of Christ our Lord 6. And cannot you easily make your self believe the inconceivable splendor of that place where God himself more particularly dwells since he hath made for us so fair and goodly an Habitation Heaven you know is called his dwelling-place and our blessed Lord calls it his Fathers House where there are many Mansions for all his beloved Ones O how beautiful how glorious how full of Majesty must this needs be seeing we and other of his lower Creatures live in a World which is so richly adorned and so fairly beautified both above and beneath Do you not see how the roof of this Palace if I may so speak wherein we are is all gilded with innumerable Stars how the Floor of it is overlaid with wonderful variety of pleasant Plants and lovely Flowers O how glistering O how refulgent then is that place may you think with your self in which the Lord of Heaven and Earth himself is pleased in a special manner to reside where he keeps his Court where all the Angels minister to Him where he shows the Greatness of his Glory and where our blessed Saviour sits at the Right Hand of the Throne of that Majesty on High 7. And when was it that he brought you into this delightful Dwelling so rarely furnish'd and richly adorn'd Was it not as soon as you were born before you could know to whom you were beholden or could give him any proof of your love and fidelity Think with your self then and say If God hath granted us such a World of good things by way of gift O what is that which he will bestow when he shall come to reward If before we do our duty to him I mean he is so bountiful nay opens his Hand so wide and fills every living thing with good though they cannot acknowledg him what blessings will he pour forth what liberality will he express when he comes to recompence our faithful services and give us according to our works For we see that gracious Princes who grant many immunities and priviledges to their subjects only because they are their subjects do not fail to raise and advance their good and valiant subjects who have performed some noble acts in their service to eminent Honours and High Places Now since
with such a mighty love to thee as may set Thee alway before me and carry forth my Soul in ardent desires after thee and fill me with an humble confidence in thee and make me watchful active and zealous in my duty and never suffer me to distrust thy pitty and indulgence when I unwillingly offend thee and assure me of thy kind intentions in all the cross accidents of this life which are most offensive to me I doubt not O Lord of a power from above continually to attend me now that I feel thy love so strong and powerful in me I believe thou wilt do more for me both here and eternally than heart can conceive O how great things hast thou laid up for those that fear thee O the heighth of that joy which thou hast set before us to encourage us in our Christian race O the comfort of those gracious words which promise us after our short pains and trouble here a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory How pleasant is it to wait for thy Son Jesus from Heaven to give a Crown of righteousness to me and to all those that love his appearing Preserve I beseech thee this holy love and faith most fresh and lively in my heart to my great increase in all the fruits of righteousness which are by Christ Jesus unto thy glory and praise Maintain in me such chearful thoughts of thee that Religion may be my delight as much as it is my duty and I may alway approach unto Thee with a joyful heart being glad to leave the company of all other things to go to thee my God my exceeding joy Reconcile me so perfectly to every other part of my Christian duty that all the actions of an holy life may be but so many motions of hearty love to thee and I may so feel the ease and satisfaction of all well doing as to love and delight the more in thee whose wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all whose paths are Peace I am sensible of the uncertainty of all things else but only of thy love which will inspire me I hope to behave my self worthy of the greatness of it in every state and condition of life O that in prosperity I may think I have an opportunity to show how much I love Thee above the World by exercising humility heavenly-mindedness charity temperance and purity and in adversity how much I love thee more than my self by expressing all patience meekness forgiveness of others chearful submission to Thee and confidence in Thee with thankfulness for all thy past and remaining mercies Be they always acknowledged and never forgotten by me For which end I again consecrate my Soul to be thy holy Temple wherein may dwell continually pious and religious thoughts devout Meditations of Thee and remembrance of thy loving kindness intire love to Thee sending up perpetual Hymnes of Praise and Thanksgiving together with the constant sacrifice of an humble and obedient heart That so I may be filled with the comfort and joy of the Holy Ghost at present and hereafter be admitted into the fellowship of Saints and Angels with them to rejoyce and praise Thee in fulness of love World without end Amen IV. BUT as I would have you exceedingly in love with Religion so I must advise you not to charge your self with too many or too long exercises of Devotion For Honey it self will cloy us and a perpetual scent of Roses may become offensive to us Observe therefore what you can do with ease and a pleasantness of Spirit And when you find your self to be free and forward then you may be the longer and more enlarged in your Devotions But when you are very heavy and straitned then it is not fit to tire your spirits and drag them along with you whither they have no strength to accompany you nor any disposition to comply with your desires Our Body is such a beast and sometimes so dull and restife that if we spur it on to a faster pace it not only quite tires but will have no list to travel any more Whereas if we bait it a while and suffer it to take some repast and give it some rest it will go along with us to the end of our Journey When our spirits are dull already we make them more dull by our restless importunity to do as we would have them As a Child you may have observed when he cannot think of his Lesson the more his Teacher chides and calls upon him the more blockishly he stands and the further it is beat out of his memory so it is very frequently with the natural spirits of every one of us They are so oppressed and stupid at certain seasons that if we labour to set them in motion it doth but dispose them the more to stand stock-still But if we let them alone and for that time leave them they will be like the same Child who in a short time comes to himself and is able to say his Lesson perfectly They will go whither we would have them and perhaps run before us We must do then with our selves as one that is weak and going up an high and steep Hill When he feels his Legs begin to fail him and complain that they are weary he rests a while and sits him down to recruit himself And it will not be long before he hear his mind calling on him to try if he hath not gathered some new strength with which he marches a little further according as it will carry him And if he hath any cordial spirits in his Pocket a little taste of them may much revive him in this languishing condition Yea the pleasant prospect of the Fields round about him and the various Objects that gratefully entertain his eyes if he cast them on every side will be a fit divertisement for his mind to turn it from thinking of his weariness Thus I say My Friend it is adviseable for you to do rest your self a while and make a pause when you perceive your spirits begin to flag Break your Devotions into little parts and take not the Journey you have set your self all at once When your mind tels you that now you are better able or prompts you to try your strength then up again and go forward And between whiles turn your mind aside to something or other that is wont to please you much Think of some good Friend of the many fair accommodations that God hath afforded you of the pleasant Meadows as I may call them and the still Waters by which he leads you or betake your self to some Divine promise and take a taste of the love of God contained therein which is as a Cordial to chear and refresh the Spirits or run to the extract or quintessence that you have drawn as I shall direct you anon out of former Meditations and some of these its possible may make you quite forget that you were faint and weary And truly for the most
be performed at another time so they will not wait upon us and stay our leisure and that as they pass away so we know not when they will come again For May as the Proverb is comes not every Moneth and a fit opportunity lies not in every lock of Times head And if there should yet it is bald behind and we cannot call back that which is gone which may be better than will be presented to us again And if we find by experience that these occasions do excite our Souls then the observing and embracing them will be an excellent means to keep us from dulness because it is likely that God will favour us with more of them when he sees that we use those well which he hath given us already But yet you ought to be cautious that this do not prove matter of scruple and perplexity to you if you neglect an occasion when you are otherwise necessarily employed For both prudence and the forwardness of our affections and every thing else must give way to a real necessity and of two necessary things that seems to be most necessary in which we are already engaged Make therefore a short Address to God and both comfort and quicken your self after this manner when you are dull and indisposed or otherwise apt to be perplexed upon such accounts as these A PRAYER O My God whose Name is most excellent in all the Earth and ought to be celebrated with the highest and continual Praises of Men and Angels How happy are they whose minds are ever delighted in the thoughts of Thee and whose hearts constantly burn with ardent affection and devotion to Thee It is some satisfaction to think of that vehement love wherewith the Holy Spirits above perpetually acknowledg thy bounty to them to us and to all thy Creatures and to feel my self desirous if it were possible to accompany them at all times with the like affections of a most chearful and joyful heart in that Heavenly employment Accept I most humbly beseech thy Divine Goodness of these sincere desires that thou hast wrought in me Graciously accept of these pantings of my Soul after a freer and more delightful converse with Thee And pitty the great weakness and dulness of my nature which will not permit such ardours of love to continue always as by thy grace I sometimes feel in my heart towards Thee Pitty O pitty and take compassion upon me when I am so heavy as not to be able to lift up mine eyes towards Heaven or when I move so slowly and faintly as if I had no lift to serve thee in the works of piety righteousness and charity O that I may feel my spirit stirred with a greater zeal and carried with stronger desires at all other times when I am better disposed for thy service that then I may run the ways of thy Commandments when thou hast enlarged my heart And endue me likewise with prudence equal to that uprightness and integrity of heart which I hope I shall always carefully preserve That I may neither neglect any occasion of exciting and expressing a most fervent love to Thee nor dispirit my self by an indiscreet heat and forwardness to the performance of any part of my Christian duty Dispose me but to be ever serious resolved stedfast and watchful to be always well or innocently imployed and to be still going on with continued and constant motions to perfect holiness in thy fear and I shall hope by thine Infinite grace to finish my course at last with joy and to arrive at the happiness of that blessed company who as they do thy Commandments hearkning to the voice of thy Word so they are not weary in their obedience to Thee but with incessant Praises and Thanksgivings serve Thee World without end Amen V. YOU see already how necessary it is well to understand our selves and therefore lest you should think the pleasures of Religion to be other than they are it will concern you My Friend in the next place to Distinguish carefully between those consolations that are spiritual and those that are sensible For your receiving benefit by this Rule you must consider that the spirit of man being as I said joyned to a body and made a member of this World and yet belonging to another Country hath several sorts of faculties which we call its upper and lower powers whereby it converses with both With the former which are the mind understanding and will it hath entercourse with God and Invisible things and is fitted to improve all lower objects to an heavenly end with the other which we call sense imagination and sensitive appetite we can maintain acquaintance with nothing but this outward World Or rather this one Soul of Man is fitted with Capacities of such different kinds that it can hold correspondence with God and the higher World and likewise with the goods of the body in this World which is sensible to us Now such a friendship there is between the Soul and the Body by reason of their nearness and between the upper and lower faculties of the Soul if you so conceive of it by reason as I may call it of their oneness that they do mutual good offices for each other when they are able And as the Soul lends such a great part of it self to serve the Bodies necessities so the bodily spirits likewise are ready to assist the Soul in their better Moods to a freer pursuit of its own concernments in its motion towards God and the things above And more than this the pleasures of the one redound to the other what the Soul doth for the Body returning upon the mind it self and the bodily spirits likewise oft-times feeling the contentment of which the mind tasteth Hence it is that by discreet use of bodily enjoyments and due attendance to the outward Mans moderate satisfaction the spirits ofttimes are made so mild and sweet so chearful and compliant that the Mind finds them more ready and forward to accompany it in the contemplation of Diviner objects and it serves it self the more by serving the Body for a while And on the contrary part when the mind converses with Heavenly things they so powerfully touch it at certain Seasons that they make a motion there all over even as far as the very skirts of its Territories The Heart is glad the Spirits leap and dance for joy and the very blood in our Veins runs the smoother for it Now while we have this sensible delectation in the borders of our Soul by the agitation of the Animal Spirits to which the mind communicates its resentments there is no part of us but can be well content to accompany the mind in its devotions and they will not be enclined to with draw their attendance from these delightful services But on the other side if the Mind through incapacity it is like of the Body to receive them cannot impress its perceptions upon the Spirits nor make such a warmth and
heat in them that they are pleased and move delightfully though it really hath no less of God in it self than it had before when they skipt for joy yet now the Body becomes like a lump of Clay and cannot endure to be drawn any longer to these Holy Duties Yea the Soul it self unless it duly consider will begin hereat to be greatly dejected and to have little list to that which gives so small contentment to it as it is an Inhabitant in Flesh and which makes its abode nothing pleasant and comfortable for the present But if in this state the Mind recollect it self and consider that for its part it doth what it did before though it doth not feel it self and perceive its power in the same manner and that it is not bound to produce these pleasurable motions in the lower man and that they are more pleasing to us than unto God it might presently have rational satisfaction and tranquillity in its own breast which is the best of all other joys and be perswaded to hold on in its course notwithstanding this seeming discouragement And if the Mind by these or such like considerations be induced to do as it was wont then I cannot see but all its performances would be both more acceptable to God and in the issue more delightful to it self For there is more strength of a Mans reason and will in them now that he wants that pleasing assistance which the Body used to afford him in the doing of them His love to God is the more fervent and unconquerable in that it will not cease its motion towards him though all things else fail it but only the force of its own inclination He is not in true understanding more weak and feeble now but a Person of greater might and courage than he was before He breaks through all difficulties and will not suffer himself to be overborn by the great load that lies upon his Spirits I said just now that the lower man finding a delectation in Gods service might be well contented with it if not desirous of those Holy Duties and so the Soul in doing them gave no great proof at such a time of the power and vigour of its own affections to them because there was no impediment or reluctance in the other party But when there is nothing but a sense of its duty to invite it and all beside begin to withdraw their consent then it is that it showes its resolution and what it can do by it self Then a man demonstrates his heart to be so set towards God and to be so much in love with him that he will please him though he cannot please half of himself in what he doth in obedience to his commands And besides by a right understanding of this that I have said there may be some way perhaps found of recovering these sensible joyes which are so grateful to us that we never think we have enough of them Either 1 by more preparing our Mind and labouring to work in it a deeper apprehension of what we go about And if the fault be there this will cure it Or 2 by gratifying our outward man with some recreations and sensible goods that it is in love withal whereby its spirits may be better cheared than they can be for the present with Divine exercises Seeing it cannot now have a good liking of that which the mind doth most desire let the mind make no scruple to comply more freely with it and entertain it with those innocent pleasures which agree best with its inclinations And if the fault lye there and arise from its lumpishness this may be a Remedy for it Or 3 by using humiliations of the Body by abstinence and fasting if through too much fulness it be indisposed or by smiting on our Breast casting down our selves on our Face if through too strong a taste of earthly joyes it be grown untractable and if the fault be partly in the mind and partly in the body it may be in this manner removed No body doubts but discreet Fasting is very profitable in some cases and for the other we find so many examples of them in the Holy Books that we cannot think they are to be despised Nay it is likely that good men found by an outwardly humbled body that the mind was more affected and apt to be humbled therewith But then remember that it is far better when the Mind affects the Body than when the Body affects the Mind and we should strive rather after that though we should not reject the help of this I will give you an instance which shall at once prove this and show withall the influence the Body hath upon the Mind Let a Man Pray or Preach in a melting tone with much action of his hands and with earnest looks and motions of his Head and the affections of the People shall be exceedingly stirred when as the very same matter and words delivered after another manner shall not half so much work upon them Nay if the Voice be but sweet and the carriage graceful though there be little action of the Body and no arts of insinuation to conjure up the affections yet the discourse which comes with these advantages shall find more favour and better entertainment with the Hearers than that which proceeds from an harsher mouth and a less plausible behaviour though otherwise it be of far greater weight and moment And so we see many People chuse to sit in the Ministers face rather than behind a Pillar or the Pulpit because they say their minds are made more attentive and their hearts more engaged thereby From all which you are satisfied how much the Soul many times is beholden to the eyes and eares and those stirrings in the blood which outward Objects create But yet you know very well also that one strong touch or stroke that the Mind gives it self by a piercing consideration is of far greater force to breed even a sensible delectation if the Body be disposed than all the commotions and agitations in the Body are to beget a rational satisfaction and contentment of mind though it be never so desirous of it And the affections you know likewise that are raised by those outward means are not half so much worth as those which the mind it self excites from the matter and not the manner of what is delivered These sensible consolations then are not to be slighted but it is far better to look after the other And if when we desire them it were as a step and help to the other they were the more to be valued and endeavoured after As the pleasant trembling and warmbling I may call it of the Spirits doth much clarify them just as the Air is purified by being shaken upon that account it is desirable for the affording our mind a freer sight of its own objects But if we love it only for the harmony and ravishing delight that is in it self then it may prove
which is the only thing that can give any value to them It is a shame that I should groan or go heavily under the sweet the easie and gentle Yoke of my most loving Saviour none of whose Commandments are grievous but all his wayes pleasantness and his pathes peace But there is nothing more frightful than to think that I have at any time opposed his will and thrown off the light burden of obedience which he layeth on me I adore thy pardoning mercy and wait on thee likewise for power from above to save me from reproaching his Religion by so much as any unwillingness to obey him I implore thy Divine Inspirations to preserve in my heart that delightful sense of Thee which may render it no less my contentment than my duty to follow Jesus in his humility and condescension of spirit in his meekness and patience in his kindness and tenderness in his holiness and purity in his love to thee and to all man-kind in doing good and suffering evil in resolved denyal of my own will when contrary to thine and in every thing giving thanks to thee O Father of Mercies which is thy will concerning us in Christ Jesus To whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen VII AND having thus poured forth your Soul to God you may feel your self sometimes so mightily moved that your heart runs out with much pleasure in abundance of pious thoughts and holy affections which you are not wont to find at other times And then My Friend let me tell you it would be of singular use if you would set down those extraordinary thoughts and passionate effusions of your Soul which you feel in your greater enlargements These are as so many Records which you have to show of the Spirits prevalency and triumph over the dull flesh They are the flights of your Soul whereby you see to what it aspires and how great and happy it may be when God pleases They are the tokens of Gods love whereby he would indear himself to your heart And you may look upon them as if they were Golden Chains let down from Heaven to draw and attract you thither and bind you fast but willingly to your duty It is great pity to throw away such sweet flowers after once smelling of them to lay by such good thoughts as we do a common Book after the first reading I would wish you to find some safe repository for them and to lay up carefully such expressions of your mind in Meditation or Prayer as are most lively and affecting and to fetch them out for your use when any dulness or straitness shall oppress you As a good Student when he reads a Book though he may let pass the most of it which he knew before yet remarks and preserves in his Notes the choicest parts in which he finds great strength of reason or sharpness of wit or may be any ways useful to him in his design so would I have you mark those passages in your converse with God and Divine things which have in them some fulness of sense some liveliness of conceit some elevation of mind and are so much beyond the ordinary strain of thinking as if they were some beam of light darted from an higher hand or the utmost endeavour of the Soul to be with God When you find I say your conceptions so fit and proper that you seem to behold the bare face of truth when some thing smites your heart with such a force of reason that you are constrained to yield or when such an holy breath comes into you that your Soul swells and grows too big for your body let them be noted as carefully as the Moneth and the Day was by your Parents which brought you into the World or as you remember the happy time when God bestowed some singular blessing on you which made this World a more comfortable place than otherwise you should have found it Examples you know are wont to move us much and therefore of what power may we suppose it to be when we can propound our selves for an Example to us This Copy as I may call it of our selves besides that it will make us blush at another time to see how unlike we are to our selves will also excite us to recover the same countenance and aspect that once we had and make some colour come into our Faces and warmth into our Spirits when we are pale and cold in the service of God It will remember us likewise of the pleasurable motions that were then in our hearts and remembrance is the way to call them back again It will furnish us also with some matter for our thoughts when they are barren and can bring forth nothing For though reading of some good Book in this case may be very advantageous to us yet nothing can more assist us than a Book of our own making the births as I may term them of our own mind Both because they best sute with our notions and can soon find the place where they lay before and because they will remember us also of Gods grace and goodness to us so that either shame or love or hope will make us strain to do the same again or to excel our selves When no thoughts will stir within we must call for some helps without to move us and what is there that will so easily enter as that which was once within us before Nothing sure can better fit us than that which our own Souls have cut out and shaped for themselves As a Chymist therefore that is drawing out the more retired spirits of things if he grows faint in his work takes a drop or two of his own extracts to bring his Soul back again so should we do when our liveliness begins to forsake us and our Soul complains of its weak and fainting Fits We must pour in some of those thoughts which we have formerly drawn out of our hearts which are as it were the quintessence of our Souls and the very spirits of our Devotion that they may recall the life that is flying away And tell me I beseech you what a reviving it is but to think that we once had such thoughts in our mind What a Cordial is it to the languishing Soul to feed as I may say upon its own Honey and taste of its own sweetness How greedily will it embrace and how gladly will it smile upon the Children of its own Womb How pleasant will it be but to hope that it may become fruitful again as well as it was before to behold the Picture of what it may be as well as of what it hath been in former times Save therefore some of these and let them not all be spilt as they distill from your Soul Lay them up in store considering the time may come when your Soul will be glad to have them restored to it and will receive them as so many drops of Balm Keep them by you as you do some precious
to deliver me Thou art not unwilling neither I know to gratifie the desires of pious hearts who sincerely long after a state of more perfect love to Thee and would gladly with more active and unwearied spirits serve thee and all mankind But since thou art pleased to leave us to contend with many and great infirmities of our mortal Nature thy will be done I deserved none of that power and strength from above which I have received O that I could say that I have alwayes imployed it or been so thankful for it as I ought By thy grace I am what I am And by its assistance I hope to persevere in my duty and in thy love though thou denyest me all the satisfaction which I am inclined to desire I am content to serve thee on any terms yea desirous to have my will subdued in every thing perfectly unto thine O that I may but feel my Soul growing more humble more submissive more patient more intirely resigned to thy pleasure and I shall think my self a great gainer by all the loads and pressures under which I groan O that they may depress me more in my own thoughts and make me more admire thy indulgent kindness which exercises no greater severity upon me and raise in me an higher esteem of those favours which thou art pleased at any time to communicate to me and make me place my satisfaction in a constant and resolute obedience to Thee whatsoever discouragements I meet withall and in the expectation of an happy translation from this earthly state to an Heavenly which thou hast promised as the reward of faithful obedience Into thy hands O Lord I now commend my Spirit as I must do when I leave this World I trust my self with Thee beseeching thee to conduct me safe through all varieties and changes both bodily and spiritual unto thy eternal rest And for that end bestow upon me such an attentive and sincerely discerning spirit that I may never be cheated by the laziness of fleshly Nature nor call that my infirmity which is my carelesness and negligence Preserve me from all affected Ignorance from idleness from rashness from self-flattery and presumption as well as from all causless jealousies of my self and too much sadness and dejection of spirit Help me to overgrow daily the unsteadiness of my mind and thoughts and that backwardness which is in my will and affections together with all other imperfections and weaknesses of this state But as for all the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eye or the pride of life O my God I hope I shall be a perfect stranger to them and far removed from them Help me in all conditions stedfastly to love the good which thou hast commanded and the good which thou hast promised And enable me as patiently to bear the evil which thou inflictest and as vehemently to hate the evil which thou forbidest and to be much afraid of the evil which thou threatnest and to be well pleased with every thing that thou sendest If thou makest me rich keep me from being wanton or proud or in love with this World or loth to leave it Help me discreetly to taste of these good things but to live upon those which are Heavenly And if thou art pleased to reduce me into want keep me from all repining thoughts from distrust of Thee and from too great carefulness and solicitude of mind and help me then to remember that I have still the same most loving Father who fed me in the days of my fulness and prosperity While I have my health good Lord make me serviceable that if I be sick I may not be disconsolate nor uneasie to my self and others In all my employments dispose me to be chearful in all my enjoyments thankful and on all occasions very watchful that I fall not into temptation And be thou my Guide my Helper my Defender my Comforter and indulgent Father also that if I do fall I may not utterly be cast down but live in hope to recover more strength and to Glorifie Thee by bringing forth much and better Fruit through Christ Jesus our blessed Saviour By whom I believe in Thee who hast raised Him from the Dead and given Him Glory 1 Pet. 1.21 that our Faith and Hope might be in Thee our GOD. Amen THUS My Friend I have finished this little Labour of Love to speak in the Language of St. Paul 1 Thess 1.3 which I wish may prove so serviceable to you that it may do more than produce that Patience of hope in you which he mentions in the same place I would have you to be filled with the joy of hope or as he speaks in another Epistle XV. Rom. 13. with all joy and peace in believing It becomes one of your understanding and goodness nor is there any greater effect of true Wisdome as Seneca hath observed than the equality and evenness of our joy Nothing sure can hinder it in you but the inequality perhaps at sometimes of your bodily temper which is not to be avoided But in that case I have instructed you what to do and I am sure you will not fail to follow my Directions therein and in all the rest whatsoever pains it cost you For I need not send you to Musonius to learn this great truth of which you are as sensible as it is incourageing that if a Man do any good thing with labour the labour passes soon away but the good remains and if he do any evil with pleasure the pleasure presently flies away but the evil remains So great is the difference between doing well and doing ill that you can never I know be tempted from the one unto the other It is too late now to put a cheat upon you The pleasures of sin cannot deceive one whose senses are so well exercised to discern between good and evil You may be abused it is possible with fears and jealousies of your self and be cast down when you have no list to do any thing that is good or when you mistake or have committed a little fault but as I said in the beginning so I conclude be sure you hold fast an unmoveable belief of the goodness of God to you which will defend you from the danger of those assaults and prevent all the mischief which otherwise they might do you He doth not expect Children without all faults and you may be sure cannot be unwilling to pardon them when he knows that's the way to incourage them to grow better There is no reason to suspect his sincerity when he tells us that he desires not the Death of a Sinner Or to imagine that he secretly undermines us while he openly professes love and friendship to us or to fear that he intends to make us the Trophees of his meer Power and Greatness or to draw us after Him as his Captives in any other Chariot than that of his Omnipotent Goodness in which he rides all the World over