Eternal Wisdom this is the Advice which he gives not only to the Apostles but to all Mankind in general And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also he said unto them Whosoever will come after me let him deny himself c. The Elevation of the Soul to GOD. O LORD whose Will is ever effectual and all whose Decrees are unchangeable it is of thy bounty that we feel Pleasure in the use of sensible things but ungrateful Man loves that false good and despises the true cause of his Happiness or rather he is ignorant that thou O Lord alone art able to operate in him It was wisely ordered by thy Providence that Man should be able to discern by short and evident Proofs whether he should use or avoid the Bodies that surround him that he might not be obliged to turn from thee nor to six his Mind upon thy Creatures But he has abused thy Mercy to his own destruction for thou O God art not in all his thoughts He imagines that matter is the cause of all the Pleasure which he feels and therefore yields himself a slave to it and makes it the only Object of his Thoughts and Affections Thus what thou hadst appointed to preserve the Righteous Man in his Rightcousness serves now to harden the Wicked in their Wickedness Is it just thou shouldst work a Miracle for a sinful wretch O God No Lord let thy Decrees remain fixt for ever and woe be to those that tempt thee Let Men shun Poyson if they would avoid Death They can discern that Poyson for thou hast taught them to know and avoid it But O thou Just and Merciful God who dealest Righteously with thy Creatures how shall we be able to hate Pleasure How hate what thou causest us to love It is just that we suffer as Sinners but can we love Pain which thou seemest to make us hate by an invincible Impression O Lord whose Wisdom is infinite enable us perfectly to understand that thou art not contrary to thy self and that thy Wills do not imply contradiction that Pleasure in it self is not absolutely bad and that the true cause that produces it really deserves and ought to be belov'd and respected belov'd with all our Heart and Soul and respected so as not to be constrain'd in consequence of his Will to gratifie us when absolutely speaking be should punish us O Lord who hidest thy self from our mortal Eyes cause thy strength and the efficacy of thy will to exert themselves and do thou clearly and incessantly convince us that the Bodies which are on all sides about us are absolutely incapable of doing us either good or harm Perhaps Men will love none but thee when they come to know that thou alone art able to do them good and perhaps they will fear none but thee when they shall have rightly understood that thou alone hast sufficient strength and power to cause them to suffer Pain But I beseech thee O my God to deal with me in a more safe and merciful manner I know that thy Creatures are not my good yet I love them I am convinc'd that whatever is round me cannot penetrate me yet my Heart insensibly opens it self and expects to receive from the vilest of thy Creatures what thou alone art able to give me Therefore O Lord be pleased out of thy infimte Mercy to deal with me in a more safe manner than thou dost with those who follow the Dictates of their Love Oh set me apart from thy Creatures since they turn my Heart from thee Draw my Eyes from fixing themselves on sensible Objects since I mistake them for thee or rather since I love them instead of thee This is the surest means to remedy the disorders in my Heart All my Philosophy is not sufficient to regulate my Love and can only serve to accuse and confound me before thee It teaches me that I make use of the Order to overthrow the Order that I misemploy thy Gifts by promoting what is ill and that I make use of the immutability of thy Decrees meerly to reward Rebellion and other Crimes It plainly shows me my Impiety and Injustice but leaves me plung'd in it I am stricken with horrour when I think on my self yet I cannot forbear loving my self So I procure those Pleasures to my self which make me happy at least while I enjoy them O God how stupid and sensless am I not I love my self for a Moment and ruine my self for a whole Eternity But I have a feeling sence of that Moment and I have none of Eternity 'T is true I think on it and the Thought disturbs my Joy but alas Pleasure though never so weaken'd by my Reflections easily draws after its self a Heart which it has already put into motion Deprive me then O my God of all the Objects that flatter my Senses and disorder my Reason While as being the Author of Nature thou makest me seel Pleasure in the use of those Objects do thou as thou art the Author of Grace make me loath and abhor them And I beseech thee out of the abundance of thy Mercies that at such times as Pains are voluntary thou mayst make me suffer those which my Crimes deserve O God who canst not let sin remain impunished make me continually return to the observance of the Order Form me upon the model of thy Son crucifie me with him and let his Cross that is only folly and weakness to the Eyes of Man be all my Strength all my Wisdom and all my Joy O Jesus who wast nail'd on the Cross for my sins I am thine nail and fix me there with thee crucifie my Flesh with its Passions and unruly Desires destroy this body of Sin or by thy Grace deliver me from the stress of it that continually presses upon my Mind We are baptized in thy Death We are dead to all the things of this World We are even buried with thee through Baptism Our old Man according to thy great Apostle was crucified with thee that the body of sin might be destroy'd And wilt thou O Lord suffer this Old Man to live again and this Body of Sin to subsist O Saviour of the World do thou finish the work which thou hast begun Continue to suffer in thy Members Do thou in our Flesh sinish the Sacrifice which thou hast begun in Abel which thou didst continue in the Patriarchs and Prophets and to which thou wilt not put an end but by the Death of the last Member of thy Body that is to be the last Saint whom thou wilt give to thy Church O thou Blessed Spirit of Christ thou Love of the Father and of the Son diffuse thy Charity through our Hearts drive the servile fear of Slaves out of our Minds and fill us with that Fear that is found in the Children and which gives a Right to the Inheritance of our Father Come O thou Spirit of Comfort soften the bitterness and distaste which we find in Repentance make us partake of the Sufferings of Christ that we may also be made partakers of his Glory But give us at the same time some of that Heavenly Fire which thou didst shower down on the Apostles that Fire which kindled in them an ardent Zeal to preach the Cross of Christ without Fear and to suffer joyfully the shame of Whipping the stress of Torments and Death it self for Christ Jesus Amen FINIS
tell freely what you think of it Erastus Is there any danger or folly in saying that God alone is our light That he alone is the perfection and nourishment of the mind and that we depend from him all manner of ways not only that we may become more happy but also more understanding and perfect Erast I am afraid that Aristarchus will say I am full of fantastick notions if I say that I see all things in God as if I affirmed that one may see God even in this life because whatever is in God is God Theod. There is a difference between seeing the essence of God and seeing the essence of things in God For though we see nothing but God when we see the essence of things in God we see God but by relation to Creatures we see the perfections of God but as they represent another thing than God So that though we see God and can see nothing but him since he preserves spirits for himself only it may in one sense be said that we see nothing but the Creatures For tho God sees nothing but himself 't is certain that he sees the Creatures when he sees what is in himself that represents them Thus though we see God but by an immediate and direct sight we see in God that which represents them for the Creatures are invisible in themselves There is no corporeâ—… nor spiritual Creature can act immediately in the soul and cause it self to be seen by it God shows us whatever we see but 't is in his substance that he shows it us for the Divine Substance alone can give us life enlighten and make us happy We are made to be nourished with that substance and to live by it and if the spirit hath some life I mean if it hath some knowledge for the knowledge of truth is the life of the soul it receives it from and in that substance Whatever God hath done Erastus he hath done it after his Image or according to his Image he hath made the Animals Plants and even the Insects according to the Image or living Idea he hath of them For he hath made all things by his Son by his Word according to the uncreated Wisdom in which all things live But he hath not only made man according to his Image or Wisdom but also for his Wisdom and to contemplate the Eternal Wisdom that includes the Ideas of all things An Impertinent Philosopher Averrois found this fault in the Religion of Christians that they Eat him whom they adore condemning our Communion with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ whom we receive after we have Worshipped him * Pontificius Loquitur He did not know that the Wisdom of the Father the Word that enlightens and nourishes our Spirit desired to teach us in a sensible manner and by the real Manducation of his Body that he is really our Life and Nourishment and that he hath made our Spirit to know and to love him For our Spirit ought to love but what gives it Life nourishes makes it more perfect and is above it since only this can be his true good If it is certain that our thinking faculty comes from God 't is certain that it is made for God since God Acts only for himself as Aristarchus owns But if we do not see things in God how can it be said that God hath only made and doth only preserve us for himself for after all if Bodies are the immediate object of our Knowledge our Spirit is partly made to see them In what sense can it also be said that God preserves the spirits of Devils and the Damned but for himself if the spirit of those wretches doth not see God in some manner You will tell me they are Dead and that is true in some sense but they perhaps know some truth and if the knowledge of truth is the life of the Soul they are not intirely dead nor annihilated they have yet some union with the eternal Wisdom whose light penetrates into the very abyss They nourish themselves with the word if they have some life left because he alone is life but they are not the happier for it for they wish themselves dead They nourish themselves with a truth they do not rellish they seek darkness and annihilation and wish that this remainder of union with God that enlightens and preserves them maybreak and dissolve it self for ever Arist What do you tell us here Theodore Doth the spirit see nothing but God What! Do we see Errour in God Do the Philosophers see all their Chymera's in God And doth the Father of lies receive from God Theod. Errour cannot be seen Aristarchus 'T is neither visible nor intelligible Truth is a relation that is And what is may be seen There is a relation of equality between two times two and four and this relation may be seen because it is There is a relation of inequality between two times two and five and this relation of inequality may be seen because it is So truth is visible or intelligible but errour is not One cannot see that two times two is five or a relation of equality between two times two and five for there is no such relation of equality One cannot see that two times two is not four nor a relation of inequality between two times two and four for there is no such relation of inequality And thus when men mistake themselves they do not see the relations which they suppose they see When a man mistakes himself he may well see things in God though after an imperfect manner but he doth not see the relations that are between things for those things are and those relations are not I will not here explain the cause of our errour and our different ways of falling into it It hath been done already Erast I own Theodorus that we see in God the eternal truths and immutable laws of Morality A finite and changeable spirit cannot see in himself the eternity of those truths nor the immutability of those laws 't is in God he sees them But he cannot see in God transitory truths and corruptible things since there is nothing in God but what is Immutable and Incorruptible Theod. Yet Erastus God sees all the changes that happen in the world and 't is in himself only he sees them It follows then that he sees in himself whatever is subject to change or corruption though there is nothing in him but is perfectly Immutable and Incorruptible But all this may be explained thus God hath in himself the Idea for example of Extent since he sees it and hath made it and this Idea in Incorruptible 'T was his will there should be extended beings and those beings were produced 'T was also his will that those extended parts should be incessantly moved and communicate naturally their motions to one another Now this communication of motions which cannot be unknown to God it being impossible he should not
things yet whose Love is not lively being suffer'd by them to languish for want of Nourishment and weaken'd extreamly by that Concupiscence which incessantly wars against it so that the Ideas which according to the Laws of Nature present themselves to their Minds in Temptation dissipate and vanish in a moment they are of no substance nor consistence But the Ideas which according to the Laws of Nature are excited in the motions of the Passions are sensible Thus Erastus lest the Righteous should fall God must either give them a greater Light than that which should ensue from their love according to the Laws of Nature or awaken and fortifie their love by a preingaging delectation But because he does it if he pleases and as much as he pleases this not being in course of Nature a thing to which he is oblig'd the Light of the Righteous and the Disposition of their Hearts as sufficient as it is does not always give them the victory in the time of Temptation Erast 'T is a very sad thing that even the Righteous Theod. It is true Erastus but the Righteous can pray God has obliged himself by his Promises which he keeps as inviolably as the Laws of Nature to give them continually actual and efficacious help if they have need of it The Righteous are Members of Christ they are animated with the Spirit of Christ 't is as we may say Christ that prays in them and God can refuse nothing to his Son For the Righteous obtain nothing that they ask unless they ask it in the Name of Christ and in order to preserve the Spirit of Christ within them Erast But Theodorus when a Righteous Man through negligence lets his love decay when he lets the Light and Life of the Spirit dye in him God knows his wants God loves him for every Righteous Man is loved of God why then does he stay till he pray to him Why does he not grant before he demands Why does he not protect and defend him Theod. God does not always stay till the Righteous pray to him but often gives them help which they ask not of him and if he does command them to ask it of him it is because he will be lov'd and ador'd for it God knows our wants better than we do our selves and if he commands us to pray to him 't is to oblige us to think on him and to look upon him as the only Being that is able to fill us with good things 't is to excite and awaken our love towards him and not to learn of us either our wants or the motives he has to relieve us He is resolv'd to be gracious to us upon his Sons account and if it is his will that we pray to him for it in his Sons Name 't is that we may love him and his Son 'T is love that prays 't is respect 't is the disposition of the Mind and Heart For we cannot pray to God without actually believing a great many things concerning him and us without actually hoping in him and actually loving him But acts stir up and even beget habits therefore 't is principally to awaken in us our Faith our Hope and our Love that God commands us to pray to him But when our Faith is lively our Hope firm and our Love ardent it is not possible according to the very Laws of Nature we should want a lively and efficacious Light For as you say 't is impossible that what we love should be snatch'd away from us without exciting in us a desire to preserve it and this desire is naturally follow'd with a prospect of the means to preserve it Besides the Joy we find in the possession of what we ardently love is of great force For the Righteous possess God by the fore-taste of their hope and this fore-taste accompanied with light is able to make them overcome the strongest Temptations because it makes them embrace with Joy the means that the Light offers them Thus Prayer is the nourishment of the Soul and by it it receives new strength by it it thinks on God and comes into his presence unites its self to him that is its whole strength and even it receives of God through Christ the delectation of Grace to counterballance those preingaging Pleasures which it receives also of God for 't is God alone that acts in it but which are involuntary and rebellious by reason of Adam's disobedience And you ought to observe Erastus that the Righteous have always in them the strength to pray seeing it is Love that prays and consequently strength to obtain an increase of their Love seeing that God has obliged himself by his Promises to grant them their Prayers Nay they can easily make use of this strength they have to pray at all times in which they have liberty of Spirit and need of Prayer especially if they live in a retirement and deny themselves sensual Pleasures For as the Righteous love God it is easie for them when they have liberty of Mind and perceive that any thing sets them at a distance from God to make some attempt to return to him again And this effort is an efficacious Prayer which is rewarded according to the greatness of the effort They may fly to Christ think on his Counsels and Examples and if they cannot easily imitate his Life they may at least desire to do it they may strengthen their hope and raise their love by praying with Faith and Humility in the prospect of the Merits of Christ Arist They may do what you say if they think upon it But if they do not think upon it certainly they cannot do it for none can do what you say with out thinking on it Theod. They alwayes think upon it Aristarchus when it is necessary because being righteous they love God For those that love God have him still present when there is danger of losing him because we cannot have that which we love snatch'd away from us and not desire to preserve it I suppose in the mean time that they preserve the Liberty of their Minds by putting away Sensual Pleasures for sometimes the Imagination is so taken up and troubled by the Action of Bodies that are about us and by the Motion of the Spirits which the Passions raise in us that we may lose God easily enough and without making all the Reflections which I believe necessary to preserve and fortifie Love Erast Thus Theodorus we should always return to the Counsels of Christ There is nothing more necessary for the Righteous as well as for Sinners than to remove from the Noisie World and Violent Pleasures and I believe that those who set no Bounds to their Pleasures nor to their Passions can hardly continue in this Presence of God which bears up and fortifies their Love I fancy that the Hurry Music Pomp Magnificence and other Allurements that are at Publick Places would very much perplex my Mind if I should resort thither for they say