into the Soul of man wasts and eats out the innate vigour of the Soul and casts it into such a deep Lethargy as that it is not able to recover it self But Religion like that Balsamum vitae being once conveighed into the Soul awakens and enlivens it and makes it renew its strength like an Eagle and mount strongly upwards towards Heaven and so uniting the Soul to God the Centre of life and strength it renders it undaunted and invincible Who can tell the inward life and vigour that the Soul may be fill'd with when once it is in conjunction with an Almighty Essence There is a latent and hidden virtue in the Soul of man which then begins to discover it self when the Divine Spirit spreads forth its influences upon it Every thing the more Spiritual it is and the higher and nobler it is in its Being the more active and vigorous it is as the more any thing falls and sinks into Matter the more dull and sluggish unwieldy it is The Platonists were wont to call all things that participated most of Matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now nothing doth more purifie more sublimate and exalt the Soul then Religion when the Soul suffers God to sit within it as a refiner and purifier of Silver and when it abides the day of his coming for he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers sope Mal. 3. Thus the Soul being purified and spiritualliz'd and changed more and more into the glorious Image of God is able to doe all things out of weakness is made strong gives proof of its Divine vigour and activity and shews it self to be a Noble and Puissant Spirit such as God did at first create it CHAP. V. The Third Property or Effect discovering the Nobleness of Religion viz. That it directs and enables a man to propound to himself the Best End viz. The Glory of God and his own becoming like unto God Low and Particular Ends and Interests both debase and streighten a mans Spirit The Universal Highest and Last End both ennobles and enlarges it A man is such as the End is he aims at The great power the End hath to mold and fashion man into its likeness Religion obliges a man not to seek himself nor to drive a trade for himself but to seek the Glory of God to live wholy to him and guides him steddily and uniformly to the One Chief Good and Last End Men are prone to flatter themselves with a pretended aiming at the Glory of God A more full and distinct explication of what is meant by a mans directing all his actions to the Glory of God What it is truly and really to glorifie God God's seeking his Glory in respect of us is the flowing forth of his Goodness upon us Our seeking the Glory of God is our endeavouring to partake more of God and to resemble him as much as we can in true Holiness and every Divine Vertue That we are not nicely to distinguish between the Glory of God and our own Salvation That Salvation is nothing else for the main but a true Participation of the Divine Nature To love God above our selves is not to love him above the Salvation of our Souls but above our particular Beings and above our sinfull affections c. The Difference between Things that are Good relatively and those that are Good absolutely and Essentially That in our conformity to these God is most glorified and we are made most Happy THE Third Property or Effect whereby Religion discovers its own Excellency is this That it directs and enables a man to propound to himself the Best End and Scope of life viz. The Glory of God the Highest Being and his own assimilation or becoming like unto God That Christian in whom Religion rules powerfully is not so low in his ambitions as to pursue any of the things of this world as his Ultimate End his Soul is too big for earthly designes and interests but understanding himself to come from God he is continually returning to him again It is not worth the while for the Mind of Man to pursue any Perfection lower then its own or to aim at any End more ignoble then it self is There is nothing that more streightens and confines the free-born Soul then the particularity indigency and penury of that End which it pursues when it complies most of all with this lower world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is well observed by an excellent Philosopher the true Nobleness and Freedome of it is then most disputable and the Title it holds to true Liberty becomes most litigious It never more slides and degenerates from it self then when it becomes enthrall'd to some Particular interest as on the other side it never acts more freely or fully then when it extends it self upon the most Universal End Every thing is so much the more Noble quò longiores habet fines as was well observ'd by Tully As low Ends debase a mans spirit supplant rob it of its birth-right so the Highest and Last End raises and ennobles it and enlarges it into a more Universal and comprehensive Capacity of enjoying that one Unbounded Goodness which is God himself it makes it spread and dilate it self in the Infinite Sphere of the Divine Being and Blessedness it makes it live in the Fulness of Him that fills all in all Every thing is most properly such as the End is which is aim'd at the Mind of man is alwaies shaping it self into a conformity as much as may be to that which is his End and the nearer it draws to it in the atchievement thereof the greater likeness it bears to it There is a Plastick Virtue a Secret Energy issuing forth from that which the Mind propounds to itself as its End to mold and fashion it according to its own Model The Soul is alwaies stamp'd with the same Characters that are engraven upon the End it aims at and while it converses with it and sets it self before it it is turned as Wax to the Seal to use that phrase in Job Man's Soul conceives all its Thoughts and Imaginations before his End as Laban's Ewes did their young before the Rods in the watering troughs He that pursues any worldly interest or earthly thing as his End becomes himself also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earthly the more the Soul directs it self to God the more it becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-like deriving a print of that glory and beauty upon it self which it converseth with as it is excellently set forth by the Apostle But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory That Spirit of Ambition and Popularity that so violently transports the Minds of men into a pursuit of Vain-glory makes them as vain as that Popular air they live upon the Spirit of this world that draws forth a mans designes after worldly interests makes him
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It 's the propertie of a Diviner to be Ecstaticall to undergoe some violence to be tossed and hurried about like a mad man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it 's otherwise with a Prophet whose understanding is awake and his mind in a sober and orderly temper and he knows every thing that he saith But here we must not mistake the business as if there were nothing but the most absolute Clearness and Serenitie of thoughts lodging in the Soul of the Prophet amidst all his Visions And therefore we shall further take notice of that Observation of the Jews which is vulgarly known by all acquainted with their Writings which is concerning those Panick fears Consternations and Affrightments and Tremblings which frequently seized upon them together with the Prophetical influx And indeed by how much stronger and more vehement those Impressions were which were made by those unwonted Visa which came in to act upon their Imaginative facultie by so much the greater was this Perturbation and Trouble and by how much the more the Prophets Imagination was exercised by the laboriousness of these Phantasms the more were his natural strength and Spirits exhausted as indeed it must needs be Therefore Daniel being wearied with the toilsome work of his Phansie about those Visions that were presented to him Chap. 10. 8. c. complains that there was no strength left in him that his comeliness was turned into corruption and he retained no strength that when he heard the voice he was in a deep sleep and his face toward the ground that his sorrows were turned upon him and no breath was left in him So Gen. 15. 12. when the Vision presented to Abraham passed into a Prophetical Dream it is said a deep sleep fell upon Abraham and a horror of great darkness fell upon him Upon which passage Maimonides in the 2 d Part 41. Ch. of his More Nevochim thus discourseth Quandoque autem Prophetia incipit in Visione Prophetica postea multiplicatur terror passio illa vehemens quae sequitur perfectionem operationum facultatis Imaginatricis tum demum venit Prophetia sicuti contigit Abrahamo In principio enim Prophetiae illius dicitur Gen. 15. 1. Et fuit verbum Domini ad Abrahamum in Visione et in fine ejusdem vers 12. Et sopor irruit in Abrahamum c. And in like manner he speaks of those Fatigations that Daniel complains of Est autem terror quidam Panicus qui occupat Prophetam inter vigilandum ficut ex Daniele patet quando ait Et vidi Visionem magnam hanc neque remansit in me ulla fortitudo vis mea mutata est in corruptionem nec retinui fortitudinem ullam Et fui lethargo oppressus super faciem meam facies mea ad terram And thus this whole business is excellently decyphered unto us by R. Albo in his Third book and tenth chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold by reason of the strength of the Imaginative facultie and the precedencie of the Influence upon that to the influence upon the Rational the Influx doth not remain upon the Prophet without Terrour and Consternation insomuch that his members shake and his joints are loosned and he seems like one that is readie to give up the ghost by reason of his great astonishment After all which perturbation the Prophetical influx settles it self upon the Rational Facultie From this Notion perhaps we may borrow some light for the clearing of Jeremie 23. 9. Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets all my bones shake I am like a drunken man and like a man whom Wine hath overcome because of the Lord and because of the words of his Holiness The importance of which words is That the Energy of Prophetical vision wrought thus potently upon his Animal part Though I know R. Solomon seems to look at another meaning But Abarbanel is here full for our present purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When Jeremy saw those false prophets eating and drinking and faring deliciouslie he cried out and said My heart is broken within me because of the Prophets For while I behold their works my heart is rent asunder with the extremity of my Sorrow and because of the Prophetical influx residing upon me my bones are all rotten and I am like a drunken man that neither sees nor hears And all this hath befell me because of the Lord that is because of the divine influx that seized upon me and because of the words of his Holinesse which have wrought such a conturbation within me that all my senses are stupified thereby And thus I suppose is also that passage in Ezechiel 3. 14. to be expounded where the Prophet describes the Energie and dominion which the Prophetical spirit had over him when in a Prophetical Vision he was carried by way of Imagination a tedious journey to those of the Captivitie that dwelt by the river Chebar The Spirit of the Lord lifted me up and took me away and I went in bitterness and in the heat or hot chafing and anger of my spirit but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me So Habak 3. 2. O Lord I have heard thy speech and was affraid that is the Prophetical voice heard by him and represented in his Imagination was so strong that it struck a Panick fear as Maimon expresseth it into him And it may be the same thing is meant Esay 21. 3. where the Prophet describes that inward conturbation and consternation that his Vision of Babylon's ruine was accompanied withall Therefore are my loins fill'd with pain pangs have taken hold upon me as the pangs of a woman that travaileth I was bowed down at the hearing of it I was dismaied at the seeing of it Though I know there may be another meaning of that place not improper viz. that the Prophet personates Babylon in the horrour of that anguish that should come upon them whereby he sets it forth the more to the Life as Jonathan the Targumist and others would have it though yet I cannot think this the most congruous meaning But I have now done with this Particular and I hope by this time have gain'd a fair advantage of solving one Difficultie which though it be not so much observ'd by our own as it is by the Jewish writers yet it is worth our scanning viz. How the Prophets perceived when the Prophetical inspiration first seized upon them For as we have before shewed there may be such Dreams and Visions which are meerly delusive and such as the false prophets were often partakers of and besides the true Prophets might have often such Dreams as were meerly vera somnia True dreams but not Prophetical For the full Solution of this knot we have before shewed how this Pseudo-prophetical Spirit only flutters below upon the more terrene parts of mans Soul his Passions and Phansie The Prince of darkness comes not within the Sphere of Light and
Reason to order affairs there but that is left to the sole Oeconomy and Soveraignty of the Father of Lights There is a clear and bright heaven in mans Soul in which Lucifer himself cannot subsist but is tumbled down from thence as often as he assayes to climbe up into it But to come more pressely to the business The Hebrew Masters here tell us that in the beginning of Prophetical inspiration the Prophets use to have some Apparition or Image of a Man or Angel presenting itself to their Imagination Sometimes it began with a Voice and that either strong and vehement or else soft and familiar And so God is said first of all to appear to Samuel 1 Sam. 3. 7. who is said not yet to have known the Lord that is as Maimon in Part. 2. c. 44. of his More Nevochim expounds it Ignoravit adhuc tunc temporis Deum hoc modo cum Prophet is loqui solere quod hoc mysterium nondū fuit ei revelatum In the same manner R. Albo Maam. 3. cap. 11. For otherwise we must not think that Samuel was then ignorant of the true God but that he knew not the manner of that Voice by which the Prophetical spirit was wont to awaken the attention of the Prophets And that this was the antient opinion of the Jews R. Solomon tells us out of the Massecheth Tamid where the Doctors thus gloss upon this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. as yet he knew not the Lord that is he knew not the manner of the Prophetical voice This is that soft and gentle voice whereby the Sense of the Prophet is sometimes attempted but sometimes this Voice is more vehement It will not be amiss to hear Maimonides his words Part. 2. c. 44. of his More Nev. Nonnunquam fit ut Verbum illud quod Propheta audit in Visione Prophetiae ei videatur fieri voce robustissimâ c. i. e. It sometims happens that the Word which the Prophet hears in a Prophetical Vision seems to strike him with a more vehement noise and accordingly some dream that they hear Thunder and Earthquake or some great Clashing and sometimes again with an ordinarie and familiar noise as if it was close by him We have a famous Instance of the last in that Voice whereby God appeared unto Adam after he had sinned and of the former in Job and Elijah That instance of Adam is set down Gen. 3. 8 9. And they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the Garden in the coole of the day and Adam hid himself from the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him Where art thou Where those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render the coole of the day the Jews expound of a gentle vocal air such an one as breathed in the day-time more pacately For this appearance of God to him they suppose to be in a Prophetical Vision and so Nachmanides comments upon those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sense of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the gale of the day is that ordinarily in the manifestation of the Shechina or divine presence there comes a great and mighty wind to usher it in according to what we read of Elijah 1 Kings 19. 11. And behold the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind rent the Mountains and brake in pieces the Rocks before the Lord and in Psalme 18. and elsewhere He flew upon the wings of the wind Accordingly it is written concerning Job c. 38. v. 1. that the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind Wherefore by way of distinction it is said in this place that they heard the voice of the Lord that is that the Divine Majestie was revealed to them in the garden as approaching to them in the gale of the day For the wind of the day blew according to the manner of the day-time in the garden not as a great and strong wind in this Vision as it was in other Prophetical approaches lest they should fear and be dismaied This mightie voice we also find recorded as rowzing up the attention of Ezechiel chap. 9. 1. He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice saying c. So that all these Schemes are meerly Prophetical and import nothing else but the strong awakening and quickning of the Prophets mind into a lively sense of the Divine majesty appearing to him And of these the Apocalypse is full there being indeed no Prophetical writ where the whole Dramatical series of things as they were acted over in the Mind of the Prophet are more graphicallie and to the Life set forth So we have this Vox praecentrix to the whole Scene sometimes sounding like a Trumpet Rev. 1. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lords day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet And chap. 4. upon the beginning of a new Vision we find this Prologue I looked and behold a door was opened in heaven and the first voice which I heard was as it were the sound of a Trumpet talking with me which said Come up hither c. And when a new Act of opening the Seals begins chap. 6. 1. he is excited by another voice sounding like Thunder And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the Seals and I heard as it were the noise of thunder one of the four Beasts saying Come and see And chap. 8. ver 5. voices and thunders and lightnings and an earthquake are the Prooemium to the Vision of the Seven Angels with seven trumpets Lastly to name no more sometimes it is brought in sounding like the roaring of a Lion So when he was to receive the little Book of Prophesie chap. 10. 3. An Angel cryed with a loud voice as when a Lion roareth and when he had cryed seven thunders uttered their voices Hence it is that we find the Prophets ordinarily prefacing to their Visions in this manner The hand of the Lord was upon me that is indeed some potent force rouzing them up to a lively sense of the Divine majesty or some heavenly Embassador speaking with them And that the sense hereof might be the more Energetical sometimes in a Prophetical Vision they are commanded to eat those Prophetick rolls given them which are described with the greatest contrarietie of tast that may be sweet as hony in their mouths and in their bellies as bitter as gall Rev. 10. 9. Ezek. 2. 8. Thus we have seen in part how those Impressions by which the Prophets were made partakers of Divine inspiration carried a strong evidence of their Original along with them whereby they might be able to distinguish them both from any hallucination as also from their own True dreams which might be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sent by God but not Propheticall which yet I think is more universally unfolded Jeremie 23. where the difference between true Divine inspiration and such false Dreams and Visions as sometimes a
of God will not reside with Heaviness From the example of Jacob for that all that while he grieved for Joseph the Shechinah or the Holy Spirit did forsake him For so they had also a common Tradition that Jacob prophesied not that time while his grief for the loss of his son Joseph remained with him So L. Tosiphta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Spirit of Prophesie dwells not with Sadness but with Chearfulness I will not here dispute the Punctualness of these Traditions concerning Moses and Jacob though I doubt not but the main Scope of them is true viz. that the Spirit of Prophesie used not to reside with any black or Melancholy passions but required a serene and pacate temper of Mind it being it self of a mild and gentle nature as it was well observed concerning the Holy Ghost in another notion by Tertullian in his de Spectaculis Deus praecepit Spiritum Sanctum utpote pro naturae suae bono tenerum delicatum tranquillitate lenitate quiete pace tractare non furore non bile non irâ non dolore inquietare Now according to this notion I think we have gained some light for the further understanding of some Passages in Psalm 51. which the Chaldee Paraphrast and Hebrew Commentators also understand of the Spirit of Prophesie which was taken from David in that time of his sorrow and grief of Mind upon the reflection of his shameful miscarriage in the matter of Uriah and this is called ver 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a free Spirit or a Spirit of alacritie and libertie of mind acting by generous and noble and free impulses upon it and ver 8. it is paraphrased by Joy and Gladness as being that Temper of Mind which it most liberally moved upon and acted as likewise ver 12. a like Periphrasis is used of it the joy of God's salvation and ver 10. David thus prayeth for the restauration of it to him and the establishing him in the firm possession of it Create in me a clean heart O God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and renew a fix'd Spirit within me As if he had said Thy Holy Spirit of Prophesie dwells in no unhallowed Minds hut with puritie and holiness and when these are violated that presently departs the holy and the impure Spirit cannot converse together therefore cleanse my heart of all pollution that this divine guest being restored to me may find a constant habitation within me And thus both Rasi and Abenezra gloss on this place but especially R. Kimchi who pursues this sense very largely and so before them the Talmudists had expounded it Gem. Joma c. 2. where they thus descant upon those words ver 11. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me and tell us how David was punish'd by Leprosie and double Excommunication one from this Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words I find most corruptly translated by Vorstius in his Comment upon Maimon his Fundamenta legis I should therefore thus render them in their native and genuine sense Per sex menses erat David leprosus viz. propter peccatum in negotio Uriae admissum separabant se ab eo viri Synagogae magnae atque ablata est ab eo Shechinah i. Spiritus Propheticus Primum constat ex Psalm 119. ubi dicitur Revertantur ad me timentes te scientes testimonia tua alterum ex Psalm 51. ubi dicitur Fac revertatur ad me laetitia salutis tuae But it s now time to look a little into that place which the Masters constantly refer to in this notion viz. 1 Kings 3. where when the Kings of Israel and Judah and Edom in their distress for water upon their warlike expedition against the King of Moab came to Elisha to enquire of God by him the Prophet Elisha ver 14. seems to have been moved with indignation against the King of Israel and so makes a very unwelcome address to him Surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehosaphat the King of Judah I would not look toward thee nor see thee and then it follows ver 15. But now bring me a Minstrell and it came to pass when the Minstrell play'd that the hand of the Lord came upon him Which words are thus expounded by R. D. Kimchi out of the Rabbines with which R. S. Jarchi R. L. Ben Gersom agree for the substance of his meaning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Doctors tell us that from that day wherein his Master Elijah was took up into heaven the Spirit of Prophesie remained not with him for a certain time for for this cause he was very sorrowful and the divine Spirit doth not reside with heaviness Others say that by reason of the indignation he conceived against the King of Israel he was disquieted in his mind and touching this they say That whensoever a Prophet is disturbed through anger or passion the Holy Spirit forsakes him From whence learn we this From the example of Elisha who said Give me a Minstrel Thus we may by this time see the Reason why Musical instruments were so frequently used by the Prophets especially the Hagiographi which indeed seems to be nothing else but that their Minds might be thereby put into a more composed liberal and chearful temper and so the better disposed and fitted for the transportation of the Prophetical Spirit So we have heard before out of the 1 Chron. 25. how Asaph Heman and Jeduthun composed their rapt and Divine Poems at the sound of the Quire-Musick of the Temple Another famous place we find for this purpose 1 Sam. 10. which place as well as the former hath been I think much mistaken and misinterpreted by some of Singing whereas certainly it cannot be meant of any thing less then Divine Poetrie and a Composure of Hymns excited by a Divine Energy inwardly moving the Mind In that place Samuel having anointed Saul King of Israel to assure him that it was so ordained of God he tells him of some Events that should occur to him a little after his departure from him whereof this is one that meeting with some Prophets he himself should find the Impulses of a Prophetical Spirit also moving in him ver 5. These Prophets are thus described After that thou shalt come to the hill of God c. and it shall come to pass when thou art come thither to the City that thou shalt meet a company of Prophets coming down from the high place with a Psaltery and a Tabret and a Pipe and an Harp before them and they shall prophesie And the Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee and thou shalt prophesie with them and shalt be turned into another man Where this Musick which they were accompanied with was to vigorate and compose their Minds as Kimchi comments upon the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And before them was a Psalterie or Lute and a Tabret and a Pipe and an Harp for asmuch as the holy Spirit dwells no where
some men had there not first come an Apostasy from sober Reason had there not first been a falling away and departure from Natural Truth It is to be feared our nice speculations about a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Theology have tended more to exercise mens Wits then to reform their lives and that they have too much descended into their practice and have tended rather to take men off from minding Religion then to quicken them up to a diligent seeking after it Though the Powers of Nature may now be weakned and though we cannot produce a living form of Religion in our own Souls yet we are not surely resolved so into a sluggish Passiveness as that we cannot or were not in any kind or manner of way to seek after it Certainly a man may as well read the Scriptures as study a piece of Aristotle or of Natural Philosophy or Mathematicks He that can observe any thing comely and commendable or unworthy and base in another man may also reflect upon himself and see how face answers to face as Solomon speaks Proverbs 27. 19. If men would seriously commune with their hearts their own Consciences would tell them plainly that they might avoid and omit more evil then they doe and that they might doe more good then they doe and that they doe not put forth that power which God hath given them nor faithfully use those Talents nor improve the advantages and means afforded them I fear the ground of most mens Misery will prove to be a Second fall and a Lapse upon a Lapse I doubt God will not allow that Proverb The Fathers have eaten sour grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge as not in respect of Temporal misery much less will he allow it in respect of Eternal It will not be so much because our First parents incurred God's displeasure as because we have neglected what might have been done by us afterwards in order to the seeking of God his face and favour while he might be found Up then and be doing and the Lord will be with us He will not leave us nor forsake us if we seriously set our selves about the work Let us endeavour to acquaint our selves with our own lives and the true Rules of life with this which Solomon here calls the Way of Life let us inform our Minds as much as may be in the Excellency and Loveliness of Practical Religion that beholding it in its own beauty and amiableness we may the more sincerely close with it As there would need nothing else to deterr and affright men from Sin but its own ugliness and deformity were it presented to a naked view and seen as it is so nothing would more effectually commend Religion to the Minds of men then the displaying and unfolding the Excellencies of its Nature then the true Native beauty and inward lustre of Religion it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither the Evening nor the Morning-Star could so sensibly commend themselves to our bodily Eyes and delight them with their shining beauties as True Religion which is an undefiled Beam of the uncreated light would to a mind capable of coÌ„versing with it Religion which is the true Wisedome is as the Author of the Book of Wisedome speaks of Wisedome a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty the brightness of the Everlasting light the unspotted mirrour of the power of God and the image of his Goodness She is more beautiful then the Sun above all the order of Stars being compared with the light she is found before it Religion is no such austere sour rigid thing as to affright men away from it No but those that are acquainted with the power of it find it to be altogether sweet and amiable An holy Soul sees so much of the glory of Religion in the lively impressions which it bears upon it self as both wooes and winns it We may truly say concerning Religion to such Souls as S. Paul spake to the Corinthians Needs it any Epistles of Commendation to you Needs it any thing to court your affections Ye are indeed its Epistle written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God Religion is not like the Prophet's roll sweet as honey when it was in his mouth but as bitter as gall in his belly Religion is no sullen Stoicisme no sour Pharisaisme it does not consist in a few Melancholy passions in some dejected looks or depressions of Mind but it consists in Freedom Love Peace Life and Power the more it comes to be digested into our lives the more sweet and lovely we shall find it to be Those spots and wrinkles which corrupt Minds think they see in the face of Religion are indeed nowhere else but in their own deformed and misshapen apprehensions It is no wonder when a defiled Fancy comes to be the Glass if you have an unlovely reflection Let us therefore labour to purge our own Souls from all worldly pollutions let us breath after the aid and assistance of the Divine Spirit that it may irradiate and inlighten our Minds that we may be able to see Divine things in a Divine light let us endeavour to live more in a real practice of those Rules of Religious and Holy living commended to us by our ever-Blessed Lord and Saviour So shall we know Religion better and knowing it love it and loving it be still more and more ambitiously pursuing after it till we come to a full attainment of it and therein of our own Perfection and Everlasting Bliss A CHRISTIANS Conflicts and Conquests OR A DISCOURSE Concerning The Devil's active Enmity and continual Hostility against Man The Warfare of a Christian life The Certainty of Success and Victory in this Spiritual Warfare The Evil and Horridness of Magical Arts and Rites Diabolical Contracts c. Siracides Cap. 2. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 36. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyprianus De Zelo Livore Exâ—ubandum est Fratres dilectissimi atque omnibus viribus elaborandum ut â—â—iâ—nico saevienti jacula sua in omnes corporis partes quibus percuti vulnerari possumus dirigenti sollicitâ plenâ vigilantiâ repugnemus Quamobrem contra omnes Diaboli vel fallaces insidias vel apertas minas stare debet instructus animus armatus tam paratus semper ad repugnandum quam est ad impugnandum semper paratus inimicus A CHRISTIANS Conflicts and Conquests Represented in a Discourse upon James 4. 7. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you CHAP. I. The Introduction Summarily treating of the perpetual Enmity between God the Principle of Good the Principle of Evil the Devil as also between Whatsoever is from God That which is from the Devil That Wicked men by destroying what there is from God within them and devesting themselves of all that which hath any alliance to God or true Goodness and transforming themselves into the Diabolical image fit themselves for
degenerate and depraved nature Could the Devil change his foul and impure nature he would neither be a Devil nor miserable and so long as any man carries about him a sinfull and corrupt nature he can neither be in perfect favour with God nor blessed Wickedness is the Form and Entelech of all the wicked spirits it is the difference of a name rather then any proper difference of natures that is between the Devil and Wicked men Wheresoever we see Malice Revenge Pride Envy Hatred Self-will and Self-love we may say Here and There is that Evil spirit This indeed is that Venenum Serpentis the poyson and sting too of that Diabolical nature As the Kingdome of Heaven is not so much without men as within as our Saviour tells us so the Tyranny of the Devil and Hell is not so much in some External things as in the Qualities and Dispositions of mens Minds And as the enjoying of God and conversing with him consists not so much in a change of place as in the participation of the Divine nature and in our assimilation unto God so our conversing with the Devil is not so much by a mutual local presence as by an imitation of a wicked and sinful nature derived upon mens own Souls Therefore the Jews were wont to stile that Original pravity that is lodged in mens spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Angel of death and fiend of darkness Those filthy Lusts and Corruptions which men foment and entertain in their Minds they are the noisome Vapours that ascend out of the bottomless pit they are the thick Mists and fogs of Hellish darkness arising in their Souls as a Preface and Introduction of Hell and Death within Where we find Uncleanness Intemperance Covetousness or any such impure or unhallowed behaviour we may say Here Satan's throne is This sinfull and corrupt nature being the true issue of Hell it self is continually dragging down mens Souls thither All Sin and Wickedness in man's Spirit hath the Central force and Energy of Hell in it and is perpetually pressing down towards it as towards its own place There needs no Fatal necessity or Astral impulses to tumble wicked men down forcibly into Hell No for Sin it self hastned by the mighty weight of its own nature carries them down thither with the most swift and headlong motion As they say of true Holiness and Christianity Christi sacrina pennas habet Christ's burden which is nothing else but true Godliness is a winged thing and bravely bears it self upwards upon its own wings soaring aloft towards God so we may say of all Impiety Diaboli sarcina pondus habet the Devilish nature is alwaies within the Central attractions of Hell and its own weight instigates and accelerates its motion thither He that allows himself in any sin or useth an unnatural dalliance with any vice does nothing else in reality then entertain an incubus Damon he prostitutes a wanton Soul and forceth it to commit lewdness with the Devil himself Sin is nothing better then a Brat of darkness and deformitie it hath no other extraction or pedigree then may be derived from those unclean spirits that are nestled in Hell All men in reality converse either with God or with the Devil and walk in the Confines either of Heaven or of Hell They have their fellowship either with the Father and the Son as S. John speaks or else with the Apostate and evil Angels I know these Expressions will seem to some very harsh and unwelcome But I would beseech them to consider what they will call that spirit of Malice and Envy that spirit of Pride Ambition Vain-glory Covetousness Injustice Uncleanness c. that commonly reigns so much and acts so violently in the Minds and Lives of men Let us speak the truth and call things by their own Names let us not flatter our selves or paint our filthy sores so much as there is of Sin in any man so much there is of the old man so much there is of the Diabolical nature Why do we defie the Devil so much with our Tongues while we entertain him in our Hearts But indeed men do but quarrel with him in the name and notion of him while yet their Hearts can readily comply with all that which the Devil is that Antipathy which is ordinarily expressed against him like those natural Antipathies which the Philosophers speak of being nothing else but Occult qualities or Natural instincts which as they arise not from any principle of Reason or Understanding so neither are they guided or governed by it As mens Love to God is ordinarily nothing else but the mere tendencie of their Natures to something that hath the notion or name of God put upon it without any clear or distinct apprehensions of him so their Hatred of the Devil is commonly nothing else but an inward displicency of nature against something entitled by the Devil's name Or else at best Corrupt minds do nothing else but fashion out a God and a Devil a Heaven and a Hell to themselves by the power of their own Fancies and so they are to them nothing else but their own Creatures sustained and supported by the force of their own Imaginations which first raised them And as they commonly make a God like to themselves such a one as they can best comply with and love so they make a Devil most unlike to themselves which may be any thing but what they themselves are that so they may most freely spend their Anger and Hatred upon him just as they say of some of the Ethiopians who use to paint the Devil white because they themselves are black This is a strange merry kind of Madness whereby men sportingly bereave themselves of the Supremest Good and insure themselves as much as may be to Hell and Misery They may thus cheat themselves for awhile but the Eternal foundation of the Divine Being is immutable and unchangeable God is but One and his Name One as the Prophet speaks howsoever the several Fancies of men may shape him out diversly and where we find Wisdome Justice Loveliness Goodness Love and Glory in their highest elevations and most unbounded dimensions That is He and where we find any true participations of these there is a true Communication of God and a defection from these is the Essence of Sin and the Foundation of Hell Now if this be rightly considered I hope there will an Argument strong enough appear from the Thing it self to enforce S. James his Exhortation Resist the Devil endeavour to mortifie and crucifie the Old man with all the corrupt lusts and affections of the Flesh. We never so truly hate Sin as when we hate it for its own Ugliness and deformity as we never love God so truly as when we love him for his own beauty and excellency If we calculate aright as we shall find nothing Better then God himself for which we should love him so neither shall we find any thing
did as soon vanish as arise and it used to arise upon no such occasions as I now speak of No whensoever he look'd upon the fierce and consuming Fires that were in mens Souls it made him sad not angry and it was his constant endeavour to inspire mens Souls with more benigne and kindly heats that they might warm but not scorch their Brethren And from this Spirit together with the rest of Christian Graces that were in him there did result a great Serenity Quiet and Tranquillity in his Soul which dwelt so much above that it was not shaken with any of those Tempests and Storms which use to unsettle more low and abject Minds He lived in a continued sweet enjoyment of God and so was not disquieted with scruples or doubts of his Salvation There was alwaies discernable in him a chearful sense of God's goodness which ceased not in the time of sickness But we most longed for to see the motions of his Soul when he drew near to the Centre of his rest He that had such a constant feeling of God within him we might conclude would have the most strong and powerful sense when he came nearer to a close conjunction with him But God was pleased to deny this to us and by a Lethargick distemper which seized on his Spirits he passed the six last daies of his life if I may call it a life in a kind of Sleep and without taking much notice of any thing he slept in the Lord. And now have I not described a Person of Worth and Eminency Have we not reason to be so sad as you see our Faces tell you that we are But alas half of that is not told you which your Eyes might have seen had you been acquainted with him I want thoughts and Words to make a lively pourtraiture of him my young Experience hath not yet seen to the height or the depth of these things which I have here given you a rude draught of and so my Conceipts and Expressions must needs fall far below that excellent degree of beauty wherein they dwelt in him Let it suffice therefore to say that I may keep to the word in the Text That he was truly a Father that he wanted Ages only to make him Reverend and that if he had lived many Generations ago left us the children of his Mind to posterity he might by this time have been numbred among the Fathers of the Church I have almost prevented my self already in the Two latter Particulars His singular Care and his great Usefulness both which must needs be concluded from the former His Care I say of others as a Tutor his Usefullness as a Fellow of this now mournful Society Let me speak a word or two of either 2. All his Pupils who are now truly Pupilli Fatherless children began to know in his sickness what it was to have and to want a loving Father a faithful Tutor and now they will know it more fully He was one that did so constantly mind their good that instilled such excellent pious Notions into their Minds gave such light in everything a man could desire to know that I could have been content though in this gown to have been his Pupil His Life taught them continual lessons of Justice Temperance Prudence Fortitude and Masculine vertue and above all he taught them true Dependance upon God and reference of themselves and all their Studies unto him with true Faith in and Imitation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for which end he often expounded to them out of the Holy Scriptures And for Humane learning the many good Scholars that came from under his hand do witness how dextrous he was at the training up of Youth in all good Literature Porphyry tells us of Plotin that he was such a carefull person that sundry Noble men and women with divers others when they died committed both their sons and daughters to his Tuition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as unto some Tutelar Angel or a sacred and divine Guardian Truly those that come hither are in a manner without Father and Mother but they could not be committed to a more loving Tutor a more holy and faithful Guardian that would bring them up in all true Learning and Piety If any think that he was too severe let me tell them that they are such as find fault with the Lion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he looks not like an Ape but with a stern royal and Kingly countenance He both look'd and spake like a man that had drunk into his Soul such solid high and generous Principles as few men are acquainted with which made him very zealous not only for Righteousness Integrity and Holiness but for a Decorum in all things He had a great regard for all those things which are mentioned by the Apostle Philip. 4. 8. for whatsoever things were true honest or rather comely and grave seemly and venerable as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie for all that was just pure lovely of good fame and report if there was any praise or any vertue he was most earnest and forward in its behalf 3. And now what his Usefulness was and the Benefit we received by him all that bear any share in the government of this Society will be made to know by the want of him There is not one but will cry out with Elisha O the Chariot of this place and the horsemen thereof which words seem to express what a necessary man Elias was and to be just like that of Horace to Maecenas when sick which we may use concerning him that is now dead Grande decus columénque rerum Our great glory the pillar upon whose shoulders the weight of business of late lay O praesidium dulce decus meum as he saith in another place O thou who wast both my safe-guard and my ornament who wast a Society by thy self a College in brief what a loss have we sustained by thy departure That must not be resolved by me nor by any one single person of us but we must all lay our heads together to tell our loss To which of us was not he dear who is there that was not ingaged to him who can think himself as wise as he was when we had him And this our high and dear Esteem of him when he was with us leads me to speak of that Honour and Reverence which we all express to his Name that Affection which is in our Hearts to his Memory the sense that is in us of our great and unspeakable loss in Answer to those three foregoing Considerations about Elisha But here I must be very brief and put all together There is none that knew his Worth but honour his very dust And for my part I honour him so much that I wish we might doe as the Virgins of Israel did for Jephtah's daughter come once a year hither and lament his death and so at once we might express all