Redemption the infinite Love and Charity of the Blessed Jesus and the glorious rewards and promises offered to all that will be true Christians While men shall be so stupid as to neglect these 't will be no hard matter to impose upon them and it must not seem strange that the means are despised where the end it self is disregarded Vntil Christians make it their first and chiefest business to secure a blessed Eternity by living holy lives it cannot be expected they should make wise and serious enquiries into those truths which are more disputable and less necessary For the mixing secular interests with things of Religion first made and still maintains the errors and breaches of the Christian world and the way to bring to an end many controversies is not so much to decide as to bury them at least to make them give place to those things which are much more plain and much more requisite and beneficial And here again I might have a just occasion to commend this Church we live in for the best guide of Souls for either she meddles not with many disputes or else she always stands on the much surer side of the question holding that which even her Adversaries cannot but acknowledge for truth and never amusing her Children with unnecessary speculations or unprofitable contests But as it is her great design to make us obedient to the Gospel of Christ and bring us to a sincere practice of all holy vertues so I shall conclude this Preface with an Exhortation to the same purpose That thou wouldest seriously and often consider that thy life is short and uncertain and that the world passeth away and all things here below and that thou resolve thereupon not to lose not to venture thy portion of good things above for any earthly enjoyment That thou wouldest bear Eternity in mind and weigh the importance of these two words which conclude our Creed Life Everlasting and that afterwards thou resolve carefully to follow the way that leads to it the Doctrine and Example of our Blessed Saviour who hath purchast and promist it to all that love and follow him Live therefore as one that follows the King of Eternity to a blessed Eternity and despise the world Vse diligently such means as will make thee know thy duty and incourage and assist thee in the discharge of it and amongst them good Books which read with attention and a design to make their goodness our own are very useful instruments of Vertue and Religion This I hope will somewhat conduce to their advancement Nay I am sure thou shalt be much better'd by it if thou wilt transcribe it with thy Life as I have with my Pen and make it thy hearty Endeavour as I do my Prayer L. B. THE Authors Dedication TO ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS WIth due Reverence I offer this small volume to you blessed Souls vessels of honour and mercy elect and holy Children of God predestinated to glory before the foundation of the World who being redeemed from death by the bloud of Christ and from sin by the gift of grace are not asham'd to own the despised Cross of your Redeemer For to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to you that are not born of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God You are call'd by the Father to a portion of the inheritance of the Saints in light that ye might be holy and unreprovable in his sight in love and in Christ you are chosen according to the purpose and good pleasure of God not for your own works and merits For you the Blessed Jesus prayed when being ready to leave the world and go to the Father he said I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine He prayed not for the world because all that is in it the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are not of the Father And therefore they that are of the world hear not or at least will not regard and understand the words of eternal life for the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God And though Christ be the true light which lightens every man that comes into the world yet the world sees him not nor knows him neither can it receive the spirit of truth On this will be grounded the iust judgment of the wicked This will be their condemnation that light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil and every one that doth evil hateth the light Now if Christ was a light in his life and doctrine he was so much more in his sufferings he did shine on the Cross most gloriously to all the world The tree of death to which he was tyed became his pulpit whence he preached his divinest Sermons teaching us that great lesson dying which he set while he was alive He that doth not take up my Cross and follow me cannot be my disciple Therefore to take up our Cross and follow Jesus is our greatest safety as well as duty our surest title to glory the Cross is the highest pitch of Christian learning to know Jesus Christ and him Crucified I heartily wish that they that shall read the ensuing Precepts and Practical Rules may have sanctified affections and a clear understanding that by the divine grace they may be brought to know and to follow the truth And my prayer for them is that God would strengthen them by his good Spirit in the inner man that love may abound in them more and more and that they may be sincere and unblameable replenisht with the fruits of righteousness pleasing to God in all things without contention and without offence I also beg for my self of the divine goodness that the glorious light of Christ may enlighten and guide my mind and that his strength may be perfected in my weakness lest after having preached to others I my self should become a cast-away by acting contrary to my own instructions And therefore I also beseech you good friends of God Blessed Christians who are the sheep of his Pasture remember me in your Prayers that what I teach I may fulfil that the precepts contained in this Book may be my practice by his divine grace and assistance without whom we can do nothing who with the Father and the Holy-Ghost liveth and reigneth one ever glorious and adored God Amen Imprimatur Geo. Hooper R. P. D. GIL Ep. Cant. Ã Sacris Dom. May 29. 1677. THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART PART I. Of the Christian Life and of its end and offices Pag. 1 CHAP. I. OF the distribution of all Christians into three ranks good middle-sort and bad ibid. CHAP. II. A further Description of
account They make their Glory their Felicity their Wisdom to consist in such things as the World accounts Shame Misery and Folly They detest the false Principles on which proceeds carnal prudence as that we must be Rich and Great honour'd by the World and above others and they love and heartily imbrace the Christian verity which teacheth us to despise riches to deny our selves and to glory in nothing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ In a word their conversation is in Heaven and they so live that all their actions seem to speak aloud That their Kingdom is not of this World These things indeed are high and difficult but the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and is only to be taken by force and withall it well deserves all our labours and noblest contentions CHAP. XXII Several useful cautions how a Christian should undertake and perfect his works 1. ALL the actions of a Christian should be done in peace and meekness and he ought to consider the circumstances of time and place and persons and especially of the end of that he is about but withall let him take care of being rash and hasty of following sudden motions of nature rather than reason Grace and Religion Let not his mind be light and inconstant easily wandring after vain projects but let him attend and be ready to entertain and to obey the illuminations and motions of the good Spirit When he is about to begin any work let not his mind be too busie and distracted with other thoughts for then he must expect to want his wits and fail in many things which afterwards will grieve him when it will be too late When he first enters upon any design let him humbly beg that God would guide and assist him and let him seriously consider what share God hath in the business and how much of it is on his own account In the carrying on of his work let not self-complacency turn him from the good end he proposed and in the finishing thereof let him be cautious that all he hath done be not marr'd and spoil'd by self-applause and vain-glory above all let him be seriously intent upon this that he seeks not the praise of men but the glory of God keeping down proud thoughts in the consideration of his being nothing 2. He should not meddle with any business except God by his Providence calls him to it and then he ought to go through with it chearfully and diligently and with noble designs of charity to men specially to their souls considering that the bliss or perfection of this present life consisteth not in the full enjoyment of God but in the conformity of our will to his in the doing and suffering his pleasure Except necessity compell him let him not undertake any thing that 's above his strength that if it be possible he may lose nothing of his peace nor of the freedom of his mind for to be too intent and too much taken up with things without us commonly quencheth the Spirit of God and deprives our Souls of tranquillity Rather as the Angel which is said to have accompanied Tobit though it was always ready to serve him yet nevertheless attended to the will of God and was always present to him so should a good Christian mind the necessary concerns of this life and be outwardly troubled and imployed about them when yet his heart should be with God and his soul in Heaven there to be free from the distractions and all the affections of the World CHAP. XXIII That to discharge the duties of our station is the best thing we can do 1. TO do that which our place and calling requires of us here and that which will make us happy hereafter may be said to be one and the same thing for no man more certainly works out his Salvation than he that honestly and diligently works in his proper sphere Therefore the Devil commonly lays this snare in our way to Christian perfection to make us aspire after the doing of great matters which are no parts of our office thereby to busie and distract our mind that we may not attend to our proper duty which lies before us and the doing whereof is our greatest virtue 2. He therefore greatly deceives himself that would fain change his condition imagining he could better serve God if he were here or there or so or so after Providence or a prudent choise have otherwise determin'd it It doth but make him lazy and negligent in doing what he should whilest he thinks of what belongs not to him it makes him to sit idle and do nothing in the place where he is whilest he projects to do great feats where he is not Whereas the unblameable integrity or perfection at which a Christian should aim depends upon particular actions they that are negligent and incurious to do them well set themselves backward and make no progress for their heart being absent and their thoughts employ'd somewhere else they do but little where they are and yet that little is done after a dreaming careless way Such men are always beginning or about to begin to live well they contrive many things but bring nothing to perfection they are all leaves and no fruit Like Trees that are often remov'd they no where take firm root and so remain every where useless CHAP. XXIV How Christians are to live and to be sincere 1. CHristians should not indulge to the Lusts of the lower belly or to the pleasures of a nice or gluttonous palat they should abstain from all vanity and undecency in their Apparel and from all idle sports that are too expensive of time and their life should be free from sloth and negligence from ambition and pride and from covetousness and desire of riches Anger ought not to lodge in their breast and they should never do that to others which they would not have done to themselves They should do nothing carelesly nor yet rashly least of all deceitfully and hypocritically Christian duties and acts of virtue that are not done in Spirit and Truth with attention and a good intention are meer dissembling and pageantry In some places where Religion is made a Theatrical representation you shall often find men of wicked lives act the highest virtues of the greatest Saints one the constancy of Martyrs another the modesty of the Blessed Virgin or perhaps the heroick actions of Christ and his Apostles but the end of the play puts an end to their fine dissembling they no longer appear those holy men they were but presently return to their nature to their prophaneness and impurity Just so are they that have a fair specious out-side appearing precise and godly to be seen and praised or drive an interest they are meer jugglers and stage-players they put a fair vizard over an ugly face holiness outwardly inwardly unmortified lusts and perverse passions Their lives are nothing but a Comedy that will have a Tragical end 2. For indeed this is
shake off the thoughts and the comforts of Gods presence because it puts a restraint upon our appetites And when at any time Spiritual joys are denyed us we presently seek for Earthly pleasures because we open not the eyes of our Faith to see God present and we embrace him not with devout affection and we care not to converse with him This is the way to Perfection which God himself shewed to Abraham to have always a sense of the Divine presence Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect Holy David likewise made a great use of this to be always mindful that God is with us Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved He can never but be happy that dwells with the Author of all happiness CHAP. XXVIII Why the imitation of Gods Saints appears difficult 1. WE think it a matter of great difficulty to follow the example of those Christian Worthies that have gone before us because we represent them to our selves as being now of another nature freed from the body inhabitants of the mansions of bliss whence anger lust and all temptations are for ever banish'd and where they enjoy peace and joy and eternal felicities But if we really desire to follow their steps and to conform our lives to theirs then are we to consider that as we are so were they mortal men cumbred with the uneasie burthen of the flesh infected with sin tempted by sinful affections and exposed to miseries and dangers but that by Faith they overcame all these subdued Kingdoms wrought Righteousness and by fighting obtain'd the Crown 2. Elias saith St. James 5.17 was a man subject to the like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the Earth by the space of three years and six months and again he prayed and the Heaven gave rain and the Earth brought forth her fruit The same may be said of any other Saints that have done the greatest wonders they were like us made of the same clay and subject to the same passions and temptations while they were on Earth They were only above us in this that with great and assiduous pains they conquered pride and lust and escaped the snares of the Devil by diligent care and invincible resolution Why then do we draw back and make delays to them that are truly resolved and willing 't is not difficult to become Saints by the imitation of those that have gone before us if shaking off our sloth and laziness we would seriously endeavour we might by the help of Divine Grace arrive to the same height of Sanctification and bliss as they have For he hath proceeded far towards holiness that sincerely desires to be holy CHAP. XXIX How we should in all things aim at Gods Glory 1. IT is the precept of St. Paul that God should be the end of all our works that they may be good and acceptable 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the Glory of God and again Col. 3.17 Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him For a good work which is not done upon Gods account doth become evil it being the nature of virtue to receive its form from the end rather than from the act And if we cleave to the creatures and love them for their own sake without reference to God this is that lust or sinful love which Saint John condemns 1 Ep. 2.15 Love not the World neither the things that are in the World love them not so as to rest in them For here we are Pilgrims Travellers going home to our Fathers house to our God and so what creatures we meet in our way we may use them as conveniences to carry us forward towards him but we may not dwell with them as if we were at our journeys end God alone is to be lov'd for himself he alone being infinitely good and the last and best end we can propound to our selves in him alone our appetites shall rest satisfied our enjoyment shall be secure and our joys undisturb'd for ever Whosoever knows not and pursues not this end knows not why he lives nor how to live well but he that knows it knows whither to direct his intentions and whither to tend in all his actions 2. It is granted that some natural actions as to walk to eat to sleep and such like are of themselves neither good nor evil yet all Divines teach that they become sin if we do them not to some further and better end that is to live to serve God whose glory should be the ultimate design of all mens actions because as he is the beginning so should he be the end of all things The light of the Body is the Eye saith our Blessed Saviour Mat. 6.22 if therefore thine Eye be single thine whole Body shall be full of light but if thine Eye be evil thine whole Body shall be full of darkness This Eye is the intention of every man in his actions if it be not good they become works of darkness and good it cannot be except it be refer'd to God the supreme goodness Every good thing comes from God and whatever returns not to him is evil CHAP. XXX Self-love is the root of all evil 1. AFter our first Parent by preferring himself to God committed that grievous transgression whereby all mankind became obnoxious to death lust and ignorance darkness and evil propensities seiz'd upon our nature man forsook God and turn'd to seek himself and having lost all sense of spiritual comfort ran dissolutely after carnal pleasures Hence Self-love the greatest Enemy to virtue came to tyrannize over men who to comply with it seek nothing now but wealth honours and sensual delights And now saith the Apostle Rom. 8.7 The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be for all its instincts and impulses have a tendency to sin and to sin only 2. And yet self-love which seeks so much our own ease and satisfaction is indeed its chiefest hinderance for God having created us for his glory and enjoyn'd us to design it always when by self-love we seek only our selves and our own advantage we do nothing whereby to obtain Gods favour and eternal life but rather fall into a wretched state of damnation We are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh saith Saint Paul Rom. 8.13 For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Now to this mortification we are strongly oblig'd by Christian Religion its great design is to bring us out of our selves to God that as we yielded our members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity even so now we should yield them servants
that no man without a special Revelation can have a special assurance of his Salvation but we have that which is as good to secure us against despair and to ground an holy and comfortable hope upon That we are redeemed by the Bloud of Christ and devoted to him in Holy Baptism and that God is our confidence and refuge always ready to help them that call upon him and to forgive them that beg for pardon with tears and contrition and a serious purpose of amendment And many more great and precious assurances we have that God hath given us eternal life and that this life is in his Son so that all his Providences are to fit us for it if we do not wilfully frustrate all his saving methods and purposes Only he would have our Election to be hid and secret that security may not breed in us pride and negligence and that he that thinketh he standeth should take heed lest he fall 2. Now therefore because the chosen are few let every true Christian live a Holy Life with the few that he may make his Calling and Election sure and be counted worthy at last to receive the Crown of Life with the few Streight is the way and narrow is the gate that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it saith our Blessed Saviour Mat. 7.13 Therefore we must walk in that narrow way and that always with care and fear even when we seem to run with most speed because no man in respect of himself is absolutely sure of perseverance Yet our fear must not proceed so far as to make us faint but only to make us wary and make us put our trust and confidence in God and with a chearful submission cast our selves upon him both for time and eternity If any one objects that he knows not how Gods will is affected towards him I answer that Gods promises are sincere and must be received as they are generally set forth in Holy Scripture to all that will obey Gods revealed will and moreover that his own will is much more uncertain so that it is much more safe to trust Gods for God we are certain is infinitely good He is extremely proud and unhappy withal that relies on himself more than upon God but happy is he that confides in that gracious Lord whose mercies and promises are sure for ever and in whom whosoever trusted was never confounded CHAP. XXXIII That Love is the Spirit of Christian Religion 1. THough it be by vertue of our Baptism and profession of the Christian Faith that we are and are called Christians yet the Life or Soul of our Religion is Charity or the Love of God whereby we are enabled to live godly as becomes Christians For as God by his great love wherewith he loved us sent his dear Son into the world to die for us that we might live through him so are we to love God most affectionately with all our heart and strength and our Neighbour as our selves for his sake In this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Love therefore is the first and great Commandment on which depends the Law and the Prophets Love is the foundation and excellency of our Faith to know the love of God which passeth knowledge that when we were enemies we were reconciled to him by the death of his Son Love is that fire which our Blessed Redeemer came to send in the Earth Luke 12.49 which cost him much to kindle and which burns up mens dross and impurities and cannot be put out but where iniquity doth abound And Love is the spirit of Primitive Christians who had one heart and one mind and is even the Soul of the whole Church whereby it is united and lives 2. Christ left and appointed Love as the mark whereby his followers should be known Joh. 13.35 By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another And so in the love of God consists our union with him and it is the highest perfection of the Christian life Now perfection is the work of Grace therefore we must not relie upon our own strength but we must beg of God daily and devoutly that by his good Spirit he would kindle in our hearts the fire of an holy Charity that by it we may be guided quickned and at last perfected Neither yet must we lose heart if we sometimes fall as if all our hope were in our own strength but we must acknowledge our own infirmity and rise quickly and pray more fervently and afterwards fight more couragiously Still pursuing after perfection not only in words or ineffective wishes but in hearty desires and serious indeavours manifesting our love by daily mortifying our sins and attaining to new and higher degrees of vertue And then shall a Christian be most perfect and happy when his heart shall be empty of himself and free from the love of the world but purified and burning with the love of God CHAP. XXXIV Of the right Placing and Ordering of Love 1. HE is a just and holy man who rightly values things according to their worth and also loves them proportionably for sin is duly by wise men defin'd to be a disorderly Love and vertue to be a regular and well placed Love And though there be other natural affections yet they all proceed from and depend upon love and if this be well placed and governed as it should the rest cannot be unruly It is vertue to love what deserves to be lov'd and wisdome to make choise of it and constancy to pursue it through all dangers and sufferings and to be drawn from it by no inticements is temperance and to prefer nothing to it is justice and the order of Love must follow the order of things and so God is to be lov'd infinitely more than any creature because he is infinitely better more perfect and lovely We become good and pure by loving him who is the fountain of all goodness and purity for our manners follow our affections we become either vertuous or vicious according to the nature of what we most love 2. The true object of Love is God our Neighbour and our selves God in the first place to whom all love is due and from whom it must pass to other creatures according as they are more or less like him By this we must love our Neighbour because he is or that he may be just and we must love our selves in that we are or else that we may be holy taking from God the measure of our Love to all other things that our Love may be regular and we may be happy Let no man therefore love sin for thereby he hates and destroys his Soul and let no man love himself for his own sake but upon Gods account who is the chiefest Good in whom alone we can be intirely happy For God who alone is the Author of our being
the Crucifixion of our desires and appetites Too many 't is to be confest live irregularly in their calling Christian and Ecclesiastical unmindful of the obligations of that blessed order they are entred in their indevotion deprives them of the sense and the comforts of Piety so that they are fain to seek for pleasure abroad in the enjoyment of the world because they find it not in their own heart and the doing of their duty Many they are that go a stray and judge that to be best which is done by the most and follow the broad way in a crowd but few they are that with sincerity follow Christ in the narrow way of the Cross It is a great folly to be careless and secure in that way wherein the best and wisest men have trembled and walking with the greatest wariness have found it very hard to go right CHAP. XLI That Prayer is necessary to all and what dispositions are requisite to make it acceptable 1. SUch is the necessity of Prayer that 't is become an approved saying that without it none can be saved For who can obey the divine call leave all and follow me without the assistance of grace and who can obtain it without begging for it therefore we are taught by Holy Scripture Luke 18.1 1 Thes 5.17 That we should always pray and not faint because that always and in all things we want the help and assistance of God Now he may be said to pray always who every day hath his set hours of Prayer which as they return are observ'd duly He Prays always who in all things walks uprightly and with an holy intention designs Gods glory for Prayer is the elevation of the Soul to God He Prays always who in his heart preserves an habitual devotion and always desires to Pray that very desire is a good Prayer Lastly he prays always who always lives well a good life is a continual Prayer 2. No man ever became wicked prophane or heretick who did not first neglect and cast off this Holy Duty Prayer is the pipe or conduit which brings Divine Grace into our Souls take it away and Grace hath no passage and the Soul is parch'd and wither'd and at last by degrees must die Neither is it enough to mumble over a few orisons and recite them only with the voice as too many do without attention without reverence and without devout affections Of them God complains by his Prophet and his Son Isa 29.13 Mat. 15.8 This people honour me with their lips but their heart is far from me On them shall come the imprecation of the Psalmist 109.6 Let his Prayer be turned into sin Their words are lies that work wickedness and yet sing with Holy David That they hate sin and love the Law of God and they whose God is their belly and yet profess with him Psal 102.4 My heart is smitten and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread And they that spend their time in mirth and laughter and yet say with that penitent Prophet Psal 42.3 My tears have been my meat day and night And they that neither regard nor obey divine precepts and yet pronounce with David Cursed are they that depart from thy Commandments and are far from thy Law Such Prayers are meer mockeries they are an abomination to God and they provoke his wrath rather than appease him 3. No man deserves the name of a Christian except at least twice a day morning and evening he lift up his Soul to God in devout and fervent Prayer spending as much time therein for the comfort and benefit of his immortal soul as he commonly doth for the feeding of his mortal body And let none intermit or lessen the duty because he finds himself dry and dull and wants that holy relish and liveliness of holy affection which sometimes he hath felt for true devotion doth not consist in tears and tender passions and overflowings of sensible joys which may be felt by such as pray to images and false deities but true devotion consists in a ready and well disposed will to serve and obey God and abstain from all sin God is known and worshipt by Faith and not by Sense 4. I do not find fault with those rules and directions how to Pray which are given by pious men they may be useful but alone they are not sufficient For Prayer is not to be learn'd as a Trade by imitation of the work that lies before us No the Art of it is in the Heart in a careful watch over it and over our senses For how can he have the Spirit of Prayer whose Spirit is let loose to vanity How can he approach God duly to deal with him concerning the Salvation of his Soul whose Soul is all day taken up with the World with idle talk and idle business It is a great error to think that of a sudden a man of clay can raise himself up to Heaven can do that work which is most Spiritual and most difficult without serious attention and preparation nay with the obstacles and distractions of a whole days employment about earthly things No Prayer doth require a pure and well composed heart free from the Images of Worldly concerns fitted and desirous to entertain it self with God and the best preparation to this Blessed Duty is a good and upright life with a meek and peaceable conversation He that would daily pray better should so value Heaven and Heavenly things that therein may be his comfort and he may be dead to the World That Prayer which is accompanied with true Faith and humility is ever accepted CHAP. XLII Why many are not profited by Prayer and that we should study to Pray well and frequently 1. MAny receive little or no advantage from their Prayers and Meditations because they entertain and cherish affections contrary to what they Pray and Meditate and they make reservations and do not wholly devote and offer themselves to God to comply in all things with his good pleasure They desire that God would teach them to know and to fulfil his will and yet they cease not in many things to neglect and to oppose it having as it were a double heart one they offer to God when they Pray the other they reserve to themselves and cannot say with the Psalmist With my whole heart I have sought thee Others acted by curiosity and the spirit of Pride seek after high Speculations and abstruse learning which signifies little or nothing to the knowing themselves and the mastering of their sinful passions and if at any time their Spirit be softned and they find some delight in sighs and tears yet soon after that delight is gone they remain impatient of their Humiliation they return to their former ways and still remain tangled in their follies and their vicious habits 2. Hence it is that those sudden changes or conversions are not durable which proceed from sudden and strong commotions for the violence of
forth to some outward imployment by necessity or by Gods glory yet his thoughts will always tend homeward to dwell in peace with the inner man in an humble and quiet heart wherein there is always a sense of Gods gracious presence Whereas he that is too intent and busie about the circumference of unsettled creatures shall not be able to come to his proper rest and center which is God 2. To the ignorant foolish World it is very grievous to be alone and converse with themselves but for a few hours they are afraid of themselves and they make it their chiefest care to be ingag'd abroad and to avoid their own company They spend much of their time upon the necessities of this present life and yet what remains of it lies upon them like a heavy burthen and they are glad to find out occasions to throw it away They dread to look within and to hear the voice of their own conscience and finding nothing in themselves but fearful apprehensions vexation and tediousness of spirit they range abroad and go for comfort to other creatures Serious thoughts are a terror to them and consideration is as bad as death because their Soul lies naked and deformed loaded with sins and miseries and they have just cause to avoid the sight of such a Spectacle No wonder therefore if but a few men love to be private and to be sequestred from the World when so many desire to be in a croud and a perpetual hurry and esteem themselves unhappy when they must be alone as indeed unhappy they are and must be until they rectifie many things and learn to confer and live with themselves and by inward purity invite God to dwell in their hearts that there they may rest in him We are told that many are called and but a few chosen that we might learn to forsake the many and live with the few and with fear and diligent care make our Calling and Election sure CHAP. XIV Of the Danger of Riches and that the desire of them is to be mortified 1. HOW apt Riches are to corrupt a good Life how pernicious is the love of them our Blessed Saviour taught his Disciples when he affirm'd with an asseveration as being a thing of great moment and much to be noted Verily I say unto you that a Rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.23 And that this terrible sentence might make the deeper impression upon their hearts he exemplifies Rich mens danger by this Parable It is easier for a Camet to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a Rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God The Door of the Heavenly Kingdom is narrow and can give no entrance to such as are loaded and cumbred with fardels of Wealth We should therefore love and desire Riches as a sick man doth a bitter Potion it is necessary to recover health but it is unpleasant and if he could be well without it he would let it alone and however he takes no more than needs must so should every Christian be affected to the things of the World they are the staff of our Pilgrimage and our necessities require the use of them but yet they are vexatious and dangerous too and therefore we may wish we could live without them and we must take no more of them than is requisite to supply our wants for as the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness with Contentment is great gain And 't was the Counsel of a good man Fear not my Son though we are made Poor for thou hast much wealth if thou fear God and depart from all Sin Tob. 4.21 2. He is truly Rich that is Rich to Eternity and hath a Treasure of Good Works in store But they can hardly be Innocent that will be Rich in the World for the love of Riches is the Root of all Evil. Men care not what sins they commit so they may get Wealth and when they have it its great use is to purchase therewith the satisfaction of their Lusts the Lust of the Eyes the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life which are the Idols of the World But as some that play with pibbles and pins are very intent to their game when yet they value not the instruments of it so should we care for our necessities and yet not set our hearts upon those things that supply them we may use money to that end but we may not inslave our affections to it except we will become most base and miserable We see when Nuts are thrown among Children they will greedily scrape and fight for them and Men will stand unconcern'd and despise such trash so should we as many as fear God and are true Christians when Riches and Honours are to be got and men that know and expect no better will croud and strive and sweat for them let us laugh and pitty their folly those things are but Nuts not worth our stooping if any fall into our bosome we may break it and eat it but 't is below us to scramble for them all Worldly things are meer deceit and vanity When the Son of God became Man he would have no Riches to teach us how much we should despise them The Children of this World like not of this they rather despise Christ and his Divine Doctrine because they love and esteem Mammon but the Children of light gather their Treasure in Heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupteth and where thieves cannot break through nor steal He is Rich enough in this World that wants not Daily Bread CHAP. XV. Of the Vse of Riches and how to know we Love them not 1. FEW understand or consider how to use their Estates aright that they are the provision for this present short Life which a good man obtains without any wrong to others and own without Pride or Covetousness and preserves without anxious fears and distributes without regret or nigardliness where Charity and Necessity call Now the measures of Necessity are to be taken from the Man's state and condition For some by birth or by place are Noble and dignified Persons who in respect of their ranks which should be Honourably maintain'd have greater wants than their inferiors who may have sufficient with a lesser Portion Yet however we are all but Stewards of what we possess and we should all study Alms and Moderation that God our great Land-lord may find us faithful For he is the true owner of all that we have we are but Servants under him who should use all for his glory and in the midst of our plenty be voluntarily Poor as to our selves And when Riches increase should not be proud nor set our heart upon them 2. Nature hath hid Gold and Silver in the bowels of the Earth and the Covetous that seeks for those beloved mettals is bowed down and stoops to the ground and can hardly raise up himself to look to Heaven but the wiser Christian looks
grounded upon humility but if this fails vertue is but Hypocrisie a vain oftentation and an empty name He gathers dust before the wind that is not humble and yet would be vertuous 3. But he is to be counted truly humble who is more lowly than the lowest condition and higher than the highest who is not lift up with honours nor swelled with the wind of mens applauses and who is never so much afflicted and disgrac'd but he is perswaded he deserves much worse He is truly humble who is willing to be vile in the eyes of others as he ever is in his own who if he hath advanc'd an untruth is not asham'd to retract it and to ask pardon of others if by surprize or any other way he hath offended them in word or deed this is known to good men to be a great self-denyal He is truly humble that is careful to do nothing for which he may justly be despised and yet he is content to be so and meekly bears with reproches grieving for the offence to God but rejoycing in his own abasement He whose most innocent actions are misunderstood and misreported who is disappointed of his due reward and requited evil for good and yet is patient and contented makes it appear that he neither values himself nor his best actions The humble man is silent of himself and dead to the world and when he is forsaken and persecuted yet in God he finds refuge and comfort He is decently courteous and obliging to all persons even to them that are his inferiors He compares what is natural to him to the gifts of God in others his imperfections to their vertues and so entertains always mean thoughts of himself and is content to have others prefer'd before him and to sit low and be conceal'd in his humility I might add that humility will make a man obedient to his superiors meek and peaceable under Government and always ready to believe better of the goodness and wisdome of his Rulers than of his own but these must suffice 4. This is a rude draught and but an imperfect Image of that lovely creature called an Humble Christian whereby yet a man may discern how unlike he must be to the original that comes not near to the copy That is how far he is from being master of that blessed vertue which Christ our Blessed Lord did so much recommend to his followers by his lowest and wonderful humiliation In the exercise of humility there is no danger of excess we can never be too humble but we may easily not be humble enough here the danger is great as the crime also As he that would come in at a door which is low of entrance if he bows himself more than needs there is no harm done but if he comes too upright and never so little too high he must bruise his head if not break his skull so the lowest humility will never hurt the Soul but the least Pride may destroy it Let a Christian therefore to avoid this danger not onely not exalt himself but even not equal himself to others For in so doing he shall best imitate the Blessed Jesus who being Son of God yet took on him the form of a servant that be might shew to us the true form of humility CHAP. XXX Of the Conformity of our Will to Gods 1. WE can offer to God nothing more pleasing no victim better and more acceptable than our own will intirely to resign that to God and desire that in all things it may be subject and conformable to his blessed will is that living and holy sacrifice wherein God delights which none but a Pious man can offer and which is the highest act of Religion we can perform on Earth For in this submitting and conforming our will to the Divine pleasure we offer not to God any one particular thing alone but our whole selves Body and Soul and all that we have without any reservation Therefore we should make that our daily study thus to deny and forsake our selves to empty our hearts of all self-desires and self-affections that even here God may be all in all in us and we may be wholly devoted to him prepared and willing to be in all things disposed of by him according as he shall think good For God will not work in us his good and acceptable will if we have a will of our own distinct from and contrary to his he requires the whole heart and he that gives less gives nothing It may be allowed indeed to human frailty that we should wish and will after the manner of men but then we must soon recollect our selves and lifting up our heart to God lay our will in the dust that we may acquiesce in him and cleave to him who being the Sovereign hath absolute dominion over all He is the Creator we are his Creatures he is the Lord we are all his Servants he is Omnipotent we are weak and infirm we must therefore restrain our own and give up our selves wholly to his Blessed will saying in all contingencies Not as I will O Lord but as thou wilt 2. Thus Prayed our Blessed Redeemer when he acted for us and suffered in our stead not that he whose Godhead is one with the Father could will any thing contrary to him but to teach us how to behave our selves in resigning all our desires to God Therefore he also taught us to make it our daily Prayer Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven that as the Angels are always ready to fulfil God's will we may be so likewise in all things desirous to be obedient to his laws and dispensations That that unhappy fight and contention may be taken away of which the Apostle speaks Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh That so God's will may be obeyed by the whole Man Body Soul and Spirit without any opposition or reluctancy and Nature may be governed by Grace and Human affections be changed into Holy Charity for this is the will of God even our Sanctification There is one onely God and he that cleaves to him is one with him in Spirit and in Will and cannot but be Holy and Happy 3. There is not a more excellent duty than to receive whatever happens as coming from Gods hand with a quiet and a contented mind casting all our care upon him for he careth for us 1 Pet. 5.6 There is no true evil but the evil of sin all other things so counted do proceed from God Prosperity and Adversity Life and Death Poverty and Riches come of the Lord saith the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 11.14 Therefore God saith by his Prophet Isa 45.7 I form the Light and create Darkness I make Peace and create Evil I the Lord do all these things Whereas therefore all things even those that seem to be most accidental depend upon Gods most wise determinations and secret counsels we must submit our selves to his
and well-being hath set these bounds to our affections that we should love him with all our heart and with all our Soul that we should consecrate to the service of that Love our understanding our life and all our powers and that if we love any thing else it be in reference and in subordination to him that deserves all our Love and should be the master and disposer of it The love of God must therefore lead the way to what else we should love it must always prevail and be the rule of all our affections and then we cannot love nor do amiss CHAP. XXXV Of the Necessity and Measures of Loving our Neighbour 1. WE cannot love God as we should without we love our Neighbour neither can we love our Neighbour except we love God If any man saith I love God and hateth his Brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen and this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God loveth his Brother also 1 Joh. 4.20 The Commandment makes no exception though the man be poor though he be a stranger nay though he be vicious and thine enemy yet he is thy Neighbour and thy Brother and he must be lov'd The expressions of thy love may vary according to his needs and thine opportunities Yet they must be hearty real and effective for The End of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfained 1 Tim. 1.5 And we must not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth 1 Joh. 3.18 2. As Christ loved us and gave himself for us not that we deserv'd any love but because he lov'd God and us in God to whom he purchast us so must we love all men not for ours or their sakes but for God's sake having no further regard to what is good in them than only as it relates to God True Christians are so strictly united together by love that what one hath not in himself he with joy finds it in others and what one hath more than the rest he willingly imparts it to all As by our love to God we are united and in some manner become one spirit with him so by the mutual love of men of Christians especially they become one among themselves so that what one hath to himself is for the good of all and what one hath not in himself he hath and enjoys in others Thus love is the fulfilling of the Law and the fulfilling of all Righteousness According as is the mans Charity in the beginning progress or perfection so is his goodness and his righteousness and then most perfect in this life when even life it self is parted with for love 3. The modus or measure of love to our Neighbour is twofold positive and negative First To do to him as we would he should do to us Secondly And not to deal with him any otherwise than as we would he should deal with us Every one therefore in the sight of God to whom all things are known must consider seriously what he would others should do or not do to him and if he desires others should he patient towards him and bear with his faults and infirmities and speak well of him c. Then let him be careful to do so to others 'T is a sure indication of a perverse heart for a man in a private capacity to do that to another which he should be sorry to suffer himself A good Christian doth not inquire into the manners and faults of others but leaves them to his view and correction to whom all judgment is given He examines judgeth and punisheth himself and makes self-reformation his serious and constant business Whatever he sees or hears his mind is undisturb'd and abides in peace for if it be good he praiseth God if evil he turns it to good by turning his mind from it towards God in Prayers and Resignation 4. If his Office and Charity obligeth him to reprove and to correct others he doth it with a zeal sweet and benign and compassionate to his Brothers infirmity for roughness and ungovern'd passion cannot consist with Charity If the ill actions of others are capable of an excuse he excuseth them however he censures not knowing that nothing human is so perfect and holy but may be ill interpreted and at the best may be some way defectuous enough to be liable to reprehension if carping men let loose their censorious humors Whilst men are men they will have some imperfections and to be zealous against them is under pretence of preciseness to give way to peevish impatience or proud censoriousness He that is too busie to tax and judge others will never grow better himself CHAP. XXXVI True Friendship and the true Offices of it 1. FRiendship is the communion of good things and therefore it follows the nature of those things which friends have common Now there being nothing truly good but things supernatural and eternal true friendship must consist in the communication of these mutually Hence it is that carnal friendship is soon dissolved because things of sense cannot last nor always confine the spirit whereas spiritual friendship is never broken for though it may seem to be interrupted by little angers and contentions yet true piety and the love of God sweetens the harshness of them and keeps the knot indissoluble As for that friendship which too much sets our hearts upon any person and may be called Doting it should be stifled and avoided as being mischievous and it is to be known by these tokens when the party belov'd is always in our thoughts and we can never be well without him when we fear his displeasure above all things when in him we rest as in our center and we sacrifice to him all our actions and most important concerns And let none flatter themselves that this is pure innocent friendship without any self-interest for it is altogether sensual it depraves the heart and affections it is an enemy to all wisdom and true Religion and it begins and ends in the flesh and 't is to be observ'd that this kind of friendship is never betwixt persons truly good and vertuous 2. Men of real worth are always well composed grave and of a sweet deportment they are courteous to all but they are familiar to few and they flatter none in their conversation modesty discretion an exact justice and an unaffected severity is to be observed They seek not to make a shew outwardly their life is inward and secret they live to God and to their own conscience They fairly converse with men outwardly when it is fitting but their heart cleaves to God and they will not disturb themselves with the silly impertinencies or petty concerns of the world Their designs and affections differ much from the vulgar multitude and therefore their words and actions are guided with
uncertainty every Christian ought exceedingly to fear and with trembling and an assiduous care indeavour to make his election sure living in that Faith which worketh by Love and declaring by his good works that he is one of that little but blessed number to whom God will give his Kingdom 2. Now that that number is but little compared with the greater multitude of the wicked unhappy world nay that the number of the chosen is but small even of them that profess the Gospel and are capable of chusing life or death we have too many reasons to believe And our Blessed Saviour intimates so much when he warns his disciples of the difficulties of coming into that blessed Kingdom of which the entrance is narrow Mat. 7.13 Enter ye in at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that go in thereat Then he adds as wondring at this narrowness because strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Being also asked another time Lord are there but few that shall be saved he gives no other answer but this Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13.23 King David also inquiring Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill the holy Spirit suggests this answer he that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness Psal 15. And in the twenty fourth Psalm he questioning again Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord he is likewise answered He that hath clean hands and a pure heart and hath not lift up his Soul unto vanity Now who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Prov. 20.9 Who can say to David I shall for I work righteousness and I am innocent 3. Our Blessed Saviour saith Mat. 10.38 He that taketh not his Cross and follows after me is not worthy of me Now where are they that thus willingly take their Cross and suffer with Christ or rather how sadly doth St. Paul's saying fit our Age All seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christs Phil. 2.21 Our Blessed Redeemer who alone hath the keys of Heaven and knows how we must be qualified before we come thither affirms Mat. 18.3 Verily I say unto you except ye be converted and become as little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Which saying if compared with the pride of men it will be found that but a few by meekness and humility seek to become children to be heirs of the Heavenly Kingdome It is declar'd by St. Paul Rom. 8.29 That those whom God foreknew he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son But who is the man can boast that his life is conform to the Life of Christ and who is he that suffers with Christ that he may be with him glorified It is a saying that belongs to all If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments Mat. 19.17 But they are all gone out of the way they are altogether become abominable there is none that doth good no not one Psal 14.3 The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence saith the King of Heaven Mat. 11.12 and the violent take it by force Now this violence being against Nature there are but few that will offer it to themselves by forgoing any present sensual satisfaction on the account of that Kingdom which is out of the reach of sense not now to be enjoyed but expected only by Faith If all our Righteousnesses are as filthy rags as the Prophet saith Isa 64.6 What are then our sins and iniquities If the Righteous scarcely shall be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear 1 Pet. 4.18 4. None but eight persons of the old world were saved with Noah in the Ark all the rest of mankind perisht in the floud Lot alone with his wife and two daughters escaped the conflagration of the infamous Cities all the other Inhabitants were consumed by the revenging flames And of six hundred thousand Jews that came out of Egypt two only Caleb and Joshua came into the Land of Promise Now those things were examples representations of things to come denoring that the number of those that come to life is but small in respect of the greater number of such as go to perdition Which is yet further but too evident by confidering how most men live and die how few give any certain marks of true contrition Fear and sorrow extort groans and good words and death forceth men to recant and 't is much to be feared there is seldome any sincerity in a late death-bed repentance For how can he begin to live well that is now dying how can he heartily detest those pleasures of sin which he loved and enjoyed as long as he liv'd how hardly will he now he a true penitent who before abhorred all the mortifications of true penitence how will his resolutions be prov'd effectual if he should esâ—ape for the forsaking those sins which custom hath made habitual and almost a second nature how shall now his sensual mind lift up it self to those spiritual heavenly things which he before seldom or never regarded and how shall he straitned by time and sad circumstances exercise those vertues contrary to the sins he repents of to make it appear by his life that there is a change in his heart 5. 'T is known by experience that very few when the pains and the danger is over stand to those resolves and promises which they made in the day of sorrow Generally men forget and are asham'd afterwards of what they promised and resolv'd and they soon return to their customary vices and beloved vanities Especially because there is still a secret reserve in those resolutions of amendment made in their distress there being still some hope of an escape till they are at the worst and then they are altogether passive and can act no longer or at the best their strength and rational faculties are so weakned there are such anxious fears and trepidations when the Soul is nigh to depart that men are almost distracted and know not what they do We may hope well of them who though they liv'd ill yet gave signs of repentance when they were dying But this is a desperate venture there is much of uncertainty and nothing of safety in their condition We have a sad example of this in King Antiochus read Maccab. 9. what vows he made while he was under his grievous sickness He thought himself in earnest no doubt but God knew the unsincerity of his heart that his repentance proceeded from the fear of death and would therefore no more have mercy upon him as the text affirms And who can consider all this and not tremble who will dare to presume he hath nothing to do and that his Salvation is sure who in the midst of so many and so great dangers will dwell as in safety and not watch and call upon God therefore because the chosen are few fewer perhaps than we think let us not go with the many nor follow the croud but let us live with the small select number of truly good and religious Christians that we may have comfort and confidence when our life is ended that we may with an humble and well-grounded hope look up to God and expect that gracious reward he hath promised to his faithful servants to all that sincerely love and obey him THE END A CATALOGUE of some Books Printed for and Sold by Henry Brome MR. Comber on the Common-Prayer in Three Volumes Dr. Spark's Primitive Devotions on the Feasts and Fasts of the Church of England Bishop Wilkins Natural Religion The Fathers Legacy or Counsels to his Children being the whole Duty of Man in three parts very useful for Families Christian Education of Children Cardinal Bona's Guide to Eternity Extracted out of the Writings of the Holy Fathers and Ancient Philosophers The Reformed Monastery or the Love of Jesus A sure and short but a pleasant and easie way to Heaven In two Parts Written Originally in Latin by the same Author A Guide to Heaven from the World or good Counsel how to close savingly with Christ Holy Anthems of the Church The Brief Rule of Life The Crums of Comfort Mr. Farindon-'s Sermons Several Sermons at Court and at other Places A Discourse concerning the Operations of the Holy Spirit Together with a Confutation of some part of Dr. Owen's Book upon that Subject A Discourse concerning God's Judgments Resolving many weighty Questions and Cases relating to them Preached for the substance of it at Old Swinford in Worcester-Shire And now published to accompany the annexed Narrative concerning the Man whose Hands and Legs lately rotted off in the neighbouring Parish of Kings-Swinford in Stafford-Shire Penned by another Author By Simon Ford D. D. and Rector of the said Parish Christianity no Enthusiasm or the Several Kinds of Inspirations and Revelations pretended to by the Quakers Tried and found Destructive to Holy Scripture and True Religion In Answer to Thomas Ellwood's Defence thereof in his Tract Miscalled Truth Prevailing c. A Narrative of the Principal Actions occurring in the Wars betwixt Sueden and Denmark before and after the Roschild Treaty