Creatures we converse with have their mixture and alloy we are alwayes in hazard to be sullied and corrupted by placing our affection on them Passion doth easily blind our eyes that we first approve and then imitate the things that are blameable in them The true way to improve and ennoble our Souls is by fixing our love on the Divine Perfections that we may have them alwayes before us and derive an impression of them on our selves and beholding with open face as in a glass the glory of the Lord we may be changed into the same Image from glory to glory he who with a generous and holy ambition had raised his eyes toward that uncreated Beauty and Goodness and fixed his affection there is quite of another spirit a more excellent and heroick temper than the rest of the world and cannot but infinitely disdain all mean and unworthy things will not entertain any low or base thoughts which might disparage his high and noble pretensions Love is the greatest and most excellent thing we are masters of and therefore it is folly and baseness to bestow it unworthily it is indeed the only thing we can call our own other things may be taken from us by violence but none can ravish our love if any thing else be counted ours by giving our love we give all in so far as we make over our hearts and wills by which we possess our other enjoyments it is not possible to refuse him any thing to whom by love we have given our selves nay since it is the priviledge of gifts to receive their value from the mind of the giver and not to be measured by the event but by the desire he who loveth may in some sense be said not only to bestow all that he hath but all things else which may make the beloved person happy since he doth heartily wish them and would really give them if they were in his power in which sense it is that one makes bold to say That Divine Love doth in a manner give God unto himself by the complacency it takes in the happiness and perfection of his Nature But though this may seem too big an expression certainly love is the worthiest Present we can offer unto God and it is extreamly debased when we bestow it another way When this affection is misplaced it doth often vent it self in such expressions as point at its genuine and proper object and insinuate where it ought to be placed The flattering and blasphemous terms of adoration wherein men do sometimes express their Passion are the language of that affection which was made and designed for God as he who is accustomed to speak to some great Person doth perhaps unawares accost another with those Titles he was wont to give to him But certainly that Passion which accounteth its object a Deitie ought to be bestowed on him who is really so Those unlimited submissions which would debase the Soul if directed to any other will exalt and ennoble it when placed here those chains and cords of love are infinitely more glorious than liberty it self this slavery is more noble than all the Empires in the World Again as Divine Love doth advance and elevate the Soul so it is that alone which can make it happy the highest and most ravishing pleasures the most soiid and substantial delights the humane Nature is capable of are those which arise from the endearments of a well-placed and successful affection That which imbitters Love and makes it ordinarily a very troublesom and hurtful Passion is the placing it on those who have not worth enough to deserve it or affection and gratitude to requite it or whose absence may deprive us of the pleasure of their converse or their miseries occasion our trouble To all these Evils are they exposed whose chief and supream affection is placed on Creatures like themselves but the Love of God delivers us from them all First I say Love must needs be miserable and full of trouble and disquietude when there is not worth and excellency enough in the Object to answer the vastness of its capacity so eager and violent a Passion cannot but fret and torment the spirit when it finds not wherewith to satisfie its cravings and indeed so large and unbounded is its nature that it must be extreamly pinched and straitned when confined to any Creature nothing below an Infinite Good can afford it room to stretch it self and exerce its activity and vigour what is a little skin-deep beauty or some small degrees of goodness to match or satisfie a Passion which was made for God designed to embrace an Infinite Good No wonder Lovers do so hardly suffer any Rival and do not desire that others should approve their passion by imitating it they know the scantness and narrowness of the good which they love that it cannot suffice two being in effect too little for one Hence Love which is strong as death occasioneth Jealousie which is cruel as the grave the coals whereof are coals of fire which hath a most violent flame But Divine Love hath no mixture of this gall when once the Soul is fixed on that Supream and All-sufficient Good it finds so much perfection and goodness as doth not only answer and satisfie its affection but master and over-power it too it finds all its love to be too faint and languid for such a noble object and is only sorry that it can command no more it wisheth for the Flammes of a Seraph and longs for the time when it shall be wholly melted and dissolved into love and because it can do so little it self it desires the assistance of the whole Creation that Angels and Men would concur with it in the admiration and love of those Infinite Perfections Again Love is accompanied with trouble when it misseth a suitable return of affection Love is the most valuable thing we can bestow and by giving it we do in effect give all that we have and therefore it must needs be afflicting to find so great a gift despised that the Present which one hath made of his whole Heart cannot prevail to obtain any favour for him Perfect love is a kind of self-dereliction a wandering out of our selves it 's a kind of voluntary death wherein the lover dyes to himself and all his own interests not thinking of them nor caring for them any more and minding nothing but how he may please and gratifie the party whom he loves thus is he quite undone unless he meet with reciprocal affection he neglects himself and the other hath no regard to him but if he be beloved he is revived as it were and liveth in the soul and care of the person whom he loves and now he begins to mind his own concernments not so much because they are his as because the beloved is pleased to own an interest in them he becomes dear unto himself because he is so unto the other But why should I
himself every thing is enough to vex him but scarce any thing sufficient to content and please him he is ready to quarrel with every thing that falls out as if he himself were such a considerable person that God Almighty should do every thing to gratifie him and all the Creatures of Heaven and Earth should wait upon him and obey his will The leaves of high Trees do shake with every blast of wind and every breath every evil word will disquiet and torment an arrogant man but the humble person hath the advantage when he is despised that none can think more meanly of him than he doth of himself and therefore he is not troubled at the matter but can easily bear those reproaches which wound the other to the Soul and withal as he is less affected with injuries so indeed he is less obnoxious unto them Contention which cometh of Pride betrayes a man into a thousand inconveniencies which those of a meek and lowly temper are seldom meeting with True and genuine humility begetteth both a veneration and love among all wise and discerning persons while Pride defeateth it's own design and depriveth a man of that honour it makes him pretend to But as the chief Exercises of Humility are those which relate unto Almighty God so these are accompany'd with the greatest satisfaction and sweetness it is impossible to express the great pleasure and delight which Religious persons feel in the lowest prostrations of their Soul before God when having a deep sense of the Divine Majesty and Glory they sink if I may so speak unto the very bottom of their beings and vanish and disappear in the presence of God by a serious and affectionate acknowledgment of their own nothingness and the shortness and imperfections of all their attainments when they understand the full sense and emphasis of the Psalmist's exclamation Lord what is Man and can utter it with the same affection neither did ever any haughty and ambitious person receive the praises and applauses of men with so much pleasure as the humble and religious do renounce them Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give glory c. Thus I have spoken something of the Excellencies and Advantage of Religion in it's several Branches but should be very injurious to the Subject did I pretend to have given any perfect account of it Let us acquaint our selves with it My dear Friend Let us acquaint our selves with it and experience will teach us more than all that ever hath been spoken or written concerning it But if we may suppose the Soul to be already awakened unto some longing desires after so great a Blessedness it will be good to give them vent and suffer them to issue forth in some such aspirations as these A Prayer GOod God! what a mighty felicity is this to which we are called How graciously hast thou joyn'd our Duty and Happiness together and prescribed that for our work the performance whereof is a great reward And shall such silly worms be advanced to so great a height Wilt Thou allow us to raise our eyes to Thee Wilt thou admit and accept our affection Shall we receive the impression of thy Divine Excellencies by beholding and admiring them and partake of thy infinite Blessedness and Glory by loving Thoe and rejoycing in them O the happiness of those Souls that have broken the fetters of Self-love and dis-intangl'd their affection from every narrow and particular good whose Understanding are inlightned by thy Holy Spirit and their wills inlarged to the extent of thine who love thee above all things and all Mankind for thy sake I am perswaded O God I am perswaded that I can never be happy till my carnal and corrupt affections be mortify'd and the pride and vanity of my spirit be subdued and till I come seriously to despise the world and think nothing of my self But O when shall it once be O when wilt Thou come unto me and satisfie my Soul with thy likeness making me holy as thou art holy even in all manner of conversation Hast thou given me a prospect of so great a felicity and wilt thou not bring me unto it Hast thou excited these desires in my Soul and wilt thou not also satisfie them O teach me to do thy Will for thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me unto the Land of Uprightness Quicken me O Lord for thy Names sake and perfect that which concerneth me Thy Mercy O Lord endureth for ever forsake not the works of thine own hands I Have hitherto considered wherein True Religion doth consist and how desirable a thing it is but when one sees how infinitely distant the common temper and frame of men is from it he may perhaps be ready to despond and give over and think it utterly impossible to be attain'd he may sit down in sadness and bemoan himself and say in the anguish and bitterness of his spirit They are happy indeed whose Souls are awakened unto the Divine Life who are thus renew'd in the spirit of their minds but alas I am quite of another constitution and am not able to effectuate so mighty a change if outward observances could have done the business I might have hoped to acquit my self by diligence and care but since nothing but a new Nature can serve the turn what am I able to do I could bestow all my Goods in Oblations to God or Alms to the Poor but cannot command that Love and Charity without which this expence would profit me nothing This gift of God cannot be purchased with money if a man should give all the substance of his house for love it would utterly be contemned I could pine and macerate my body and undergo many hardships and troubles but I cannot get all my corruptions starved nor my affections wholly wean'd from Earthly things there is still some worldly desires lurking in my heart and those vanities that I have shut out of doors are alwayes getting in by the windowes I am many times convinced of my own meanness of the weakness of my body and the far greater weakness of my Soul but this doth rather beget indignation and discontent than true humility in my spirit and though I should come to think meanly of my self yet I cannot endure that others should think so too In a word when I reflect on my highest and most specious attainments I have reason to suspect that they are all but the effects of Nature the issues of Self-love acting under several disguises and this principle is so powerful and so deeply rooted in me that I can never hope to be delivered from the dominion of it I may toss and turn as a door on the hinges but can never get clear off or be quite unhing'd of Self which is still the center of all my motions So that all the advantage I can draw from the discovery of Religion is but to see at a huge distance that
felicity which I am not able to reach like a man in a shipwrack who discerns the Land and envies the happiness of those who are there but thinks it impossible for himself to get ashoare These I say or such like desponding Thoughts may arise in the Minds of those persons who begin to conceive somewhat more of the Nature and Excellency of Religion than before they have spy'd the Land and seen that it 's exceeding good that it floweth with milk and honey but they find they have the Children of Anak to grapple with many powerful lusts and corruptions to overcome and they fear they shall never prevail against them But why should we give way to such discouraging suggestions why should we entertain such unreasonable fears which damp our spirits and weaken our hands and augment the difficulties of our way Let us encourage our selves my dear Friend let us encourage our selves with those mighty aids we are to expect in this Spiritual Warfare for greater is he that is for us then all that can rise up against us The Eternal God is our refuge and underneath are the Everlasting Arms. Let us be strong in the Lord and the power of his might for he it is that shall tread down our Enemies God hath a tender regard unto the Souls of men and is infinitely willing to promove their welfare he hath condescended to our weakness and declared with an Oath that he hath no pleasure in our destruction There is no such thing as despight or envy lodged in the Bosom of that ever Blessed Being whose Name and Nature is Love He created us at first in a happy condition and now when we are fallen from it he hath laid help upon One that is Mighty to Save hath committed the Care of our Souls to no meaner Person than the Eternal Son of his Love It is he that is the Captain of our Salvation and what Enemies can be too strong for us when we are fighting under his Banners Did not the Son of God come down from the Bosom of his Father and pitch his Tabernacle amongst the Sons of Men that he might recover and propagate the Divine Life and restore the Image of God in their Souls All the Mighty Works which he perform'd all the Sad Afflictions which he sustain'd had this for their scope and design for this did he labour and toil for this did he bleed and dye He was with child he was in pain and hath he brought forth nothing but wind hath he wrought no deliverance in the Earth Shall he not see of the travel of his Soul Certainly it is impossible that this Great Contrivance of Heaven should prove abortive that such a mighty undertaking should fail and miscarry It hath already been effectual for the Salvation of many Thousands who were once as far from the Kingdom of Heaven as we can suppose our selves to be and our High Priest continueth for ever and is able to save then to the uttermost that come unto God by him He is tender and compassionate he knoweth our infirmities and had experience of our temptations A bruised reed will he not break and a smoaking flax will he not quench till he send forth Judgment unto victory He hath sent out his Holy Spirit whose sweet but powerful breathings are still moving up and down in the World to quicken and revive the Souls of men and awaken them unto the Sense and feeling of those Divine things for which they were made and is ready to assist such weak and languishing Creatures as we are in our Essay's towards holiness and felicity and when once it hath taken hold of a Soul and kindled in it the smallest spark of Divine Love it will be sure to preserve and cherish and bring it forth into a flame which many waters shall not quench neither shall the floods be able to drown it when ever this day begins to dawn and the Day-Star to arise in the heart it will easily dispel the powers of darkness and make ignorance and folly and all the corrupt and selfish affections of men flee away as fast before it as the shades of the Night when the Sun cometh out of his Chambers for the path of the Just is as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day They shall go on from strength to strength till every one of them appear before God in Sion Why should we think it impossible that True Goodness and Universal Love should ever come to sway and prevail in our Souls Is not this their Primitive state and condition their native and genuine constitution as they came first from the hands of their Maker Sin and corruption are but usurpers and though they have long kept the possession yet from the begining it was not so That inordinate Self-love which one would think were rooted in our very being and interwoven with the constitution of our Nature is nevertheless of forraign extraction and had no place at all in the state of integrity we have still so much reason left us to condemn it our Understandings are easily convinced that we ought to be wholly devoted to him from whom we have our being and to love him infinitely more than our selves who is infinitely better than we and our wills would readily comply with this if they were not disordered and put out of tune and is not he who made our Souls able to rectifie and mend them again Shall we not be able by his assistance to vanquish and expel those violent intruders and turn unto flight the Arms of the Aliens No sooner shall we take up Arms in this holy Warr but we shall have all the Saints on Earth and all the Angels in Heaven engaged on our party the holy Church throughout the World is daily interceding with God for the success of all such endeavours and doubtless those heavenly Hosts above are nearly concerned in the Interests of Religion and infinitely desirous to see the Divine Life thriving and prevailing in this inferiour World and that the Will of God may be done by us on Earth as it is done by themselves in Heaven and may we not then encourage our selves as the Prophet did his Servant when he shewed him the Horses and Chariors of fire Fear not for they that be with us are more then they that be against us Away then with all perplexing fears and desponding thoughts to undertake vigorously and rely confidently on the Divine assistance is more than half the conquest Let us arise and be doing and the Lord will be with us It is true Religion in the Souls of men is the immediate work of God and all our natural endeavours can neither produce it alone nor merit those supernatural aids by which it must be wrought The Holy Ghost must come upon us and the power of the Highest must overshadow us before that holy thing can be begotten and
some this Image is more Eminent and conspicuous and we can discern the Lovely Treats of Wisdom and Goodness and though in others it be miserably sullied and defaced yet is it not altogether razed some lineaments at least do still remain All men are endued with Rational and Immortal Souls with Understanding and Wills capable of the highest and most excellent things and if they be at present disordered and put out of tune by wickedness and folly this may indeed move our compassion but ought not in reason to extinguish our Love When we see a person of a rugged humour and perverse disposition full of Malice and Dissimulation very foolish and very proud it is hard to fall in love with an object that presents it self unto us under an Idea so little grateful and lovely but when we shall consider these evil qualities as the Diseases and Distempers of a Soul which in it self is capable of all that wisdom and goodness wherewith the best of Saints have ever been adorned and which may one day come to be raised unto such heights of perfection as shall render it a fit companion for the holy Angels this will turn our aversion into pity and make us behold him with such resentments as we should have when we did look on a beautiful body that were mangled with wounds or disfigured by some loathsome disease and however we hate the vices we shall not cease to love the man In the next place for purifying our Souls and dis-intangling our affections from the Pleasures and Enjoyments of this lower life let us frequently ponder the excellency and dignity of our Nature and what a shameful and unworthy thing it is for so noble and divine a Creature as the Soul of Man to be sunk and immersed in bruitish and sensual Lusts or amused with airy and phantastical delights and so to lose the relish of solid and spiritual pleasures that the Beast should be fed and pampered and the Man and the Christian be starved in us Did we but mind who we are and for what we were made this would teach us in a right sense to reverence and stand in awe of our selves it would beget a holy modesty and shamefacedness and make us very shy and reserved in the use of the most innocent and allowable pleasures It will be very effectual to the same purpose that we frequently raise our Minds toward Heaven and represent to our thoughts those Joyes that are at God's right hand those pleasures that endure for evermore for every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure If our Heavenly Country be much in our thoughts it will make us as strangers and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the Soul and keep our selves unspotted in this world that we may be fit for the enjoyments and felicities of the other But then we must see that our Notions of Heaven be not gross and carnal that we dream not of a Mahometan Paradise nor rest on those Metaphors and Similitudes by which these joys are sometimes represented for this might perhaps have a quite contrary effect it might intangle us further in carnal affections and we should be ready to indulge our selves a very liberal foretaste of those pleasures wherein we had placed our everlasting felicity but when we come once to conceive aright of those Pure and Spiritual pleasures when the happiness we propose to our selves is from the sight and love and enjoyment of God and our minds are filled with the hopes and fore-thoughts of that Blessed Estate O how mean and contemptible will all things here below appear in our eyes with what disdain will we reject the gross and muddy pleasures that would deprive us of those Coelestial enjoyments or any way unfit and indispose us for them The last Branch of Religion is Humility and sure we can never want matter of consideration for begetting it all our wickednesses and imperfections all our follies and our sins may help to pull down that fond and overweening conceipt which we are apt to entertain of our selves That which makes any body esteem us is their knowledg or apprehension of some little good and their ignorance of a great deal of evil that may be in us were they throughly acquainted with us they would quickly change their opinion The thoughts that pass in our heart in the best and most serious day of our life being exposed unto publick view would render us either hateful or ridiculous and now however we conceal our failings from one another yet sure we are conscious to them our selves and some serious reflections upon them would much qualifie and allay the vanity of our spirits Thus holy Men have come really to think worse of themselves than of any other person in the world not but that they knew that gross and scandalous Vices are in their nature more heynous than the surprisals of tentation and infirmity but because they were much more intent on their own miscarriages than on those of their Neighbours and did consider all the aggravations of the one and every thing that might be supposed to diminish and alleviate the other But it is well observed by a Pious Writer That the deepest and most pure Humility doth not so much arise from the consideration of our own faults and defects as from a calm and quiet Contemplation of the Divine Purity and Goodness Our spots never appear so clearly as when we place them before this Infinite Light and we never seem less in our own eyes than when we look down upon our selves from on high O how little how nothing do all those shadows of perfection then appear for which we are wont to value our selves That humility which cometh from a view of our own sinfulness and misery is more turbulent and boysterous but the other layeth us full as low and wanteth nothing but that anguish and vexation wherewith our Souls are apt to boyl when they are the nearest object of our thoughts There remains yet another Mean for begetting a Holy and Religious disposition in the Soul and that is fervent and hearty Prayer Holiness is the Gift of God indeed the greatest gift he doth bestow or we are capable to receive and he hath promised his holy Spirit to those that ask it of him in Prayer we make the nearest approaches unto God and lye open to the influences of Heaven Then it is that the Sun of Righteousness doth visit us with directest rayes and dissipateth our darkness and imprinteth his Image on our Souls I cannot now insist on the advantages of this exercise or the dispositions wherewith it ought to be performed and there is no need I should there being so many Books that Treat on this subject I shall only tell you That as there is one sort of Prayer wherein we make use of the voice which is necessary in publick and may sometimes have its own advantages
deal of seeming hast but anon they flagg and give over they were in hot mood but now they are cooled they did shoot forth fresh and high but are quickly withered because they had no root in themselves These sudden fits may be compared to the violent and convulsive motions of Bodies newly beheaded caused by the agitations of the animal spirits after the Soul is departed which however violent and impetuous can be of no long continuance whereas the motions of holy Souls are constant and regular proceeding from a permanent and lively principle It is true this Divine life continueth not alwayes in that same strength and vigour but many times suffers sad decays and holy men find greater difficulty in resisting temptations and less alacrity in the performance of their duties yet it is not quite extinguished nor are they abandoned to the power of these corrupt affections which sway and over-rule the rest of the world Again Religion may be designed by the name of Life because it is an inward free and self-moving principle and those who have made progress in it are not acted only by external Motives driven meerly by threatnings nor bribed by promises nor constrain'd by Laws but are powerfully inclined to that which is good and delight in the performance of it The love which a Pious man carries to God and goodness is not so much by vertue of a Command enjoyning him so to do as by a new Nature instructing and prompting him to it nor doth he pay his devotions as an unavoidable tribute only to appease the Divine Justice or quiet his clamorous Conscience but those Religious exercises are the proper emanations of the divine life the natural employments of the new born Soul he prayes and gives thanks and repents not only because these things are commanded but rather because he is sensible of his wants and of the Divine goodness and of the folly and misery of a sinful life his charity is not forced nor his alms extorted from him his love makes him willing to give and though there were no outward obligation his heart would devise liberal things injustice or intemperance and all other vices are as contrary to his temper and constitution as the basest actions are to the most generous spirit and impudence and scurrility to those who are naturally modest so that I may well say with St. John Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God Though holy and religious persons do much eye the Law of God and have a great regard unto it yet is it not so much the sanction of the Law as its reasonableness and purity and goodness which doth prevail with them they account it excellent and desirable in its self and that in keeping of it there is great reward and that Divine Love wherewith they are acted makes them become a Law unto themselves Quis legem det amantibus Major est amor lex ipse sibi For who can give a Law to those that love Love 's a more powerful Law which doth such persons move In a word what our blessed Saviour said of himself is in some measure applicable to his followers that it 's their meat and drink to do their Father's will and as the natural appetite is carried out toward food though we should not reflect on the necessity of it for the preservation of our lives so are they carried with a natural and unforced propension toward that which is good and commendable It is true external motives are many times of great use to excite and stir up this inward principle especially in its infancy and weakness when it 's often so languid that the man himself can scarce discern it hardly being able to move one step forward but when he is pusht by his hopes or his fears by the pressure of an affliction or the sense of a mercy by the authority of the Law or the perswasion of others Now if such a person be conscientious and uniform in his obedience and earnestly groaning under the sense of his dulness and is desirous to perform his duties with more spirit and vigor these are the first motions of the divine life which though it be faint and weak will surely be cherished by the influences of Heaven and grow unto greater maturity but he who is utterly destitute of this inward principle and doth not aspire unto it but contents himself with those performances whereunto he is prompted by Education or custom by the fear of Hell or carnal notions of Heaven can no more be accounted a religious person than a Puppit can be call'd a Man This forced and artificial religion is commonly heavy and languid like the motion of a weight forced upward it is cold and spritless like the uneasie complyance of a wife married against her will who carries dutifully toward the husband whom she doth not love out of some sense of Virtue or Honour Hence also this religion is scant and niggardly especially in those duties which do greatest violence to mens carnal inclinations and those slavish spirits will be sure to do no more than is absolutely required 't is a Law that compels them and they will be loath to go beyond what it stints them to nay they will ever be putting such glosses on it as may leave themselves the greatest liberty whereas the Spirit of true Religion is franck and liberal far from such peevish and narrow reckoning and he who hath given himself intirely unto God will never think he doth too much for him By this time I hope it doth appear that Religion is with a great deal of reason termed a Life or vital principle and that it 's very necessary to distinguish betwixt it and that obedience which is constrained and depends on external causes I come next to give an account why I designed it by the name of divine life and so it may be called not only in regard of its fountain and original having God for its Author and being wrought in the Souls of men by the power of his Holy Spirit but also in regard of its nature Religion being a resemblance of the Divine perfections the Image of the Almighty shining in the Soul of Man nay it is a real participation of his Nature it is a beam of the Eternal Light a drop of that Infinite Ocean of goodness and they who are eudued with it may be said to have God dwelling in their Souls and Christ formed within them Before I descend to a more particular consideration of that Divine Life wherein true Religion doth consist it will perhaps be fit to speak a little of that natural or animal Life which prevails in those who are strangers to the other and by this I understand nothing else but our inclination and propension toward those things which are pleasing and acceptable to Nature or self-Love issuing forth and spreading it self
into as many branches as men have several appetites and inclinations The root and foundation of the animal life I reckon to be Sense taking it largely as it is opposed unto Faith and importeth our perception and resentment of things that are either grateful or troublesom unto us Now those animal affections considered in themselves and as they are implanted in us by nature are not vitious or blameable nay they are instances of the Wisdom of the Creator furnishing his Creatures with such appetites as tend to the preservation and welfare of their lives these are instead of a Law unto the brute Beasts whereby they are directed towards the ends for which they were made but Man being made for higher purposes and to be guided by more excellent Laws becomes guilty and criminal when he is so far transported by the inclinations of this lower Life as to violate his duty or neglect the higher and more noble designs of his creation Our natural affections are not wholly to be extirpated and destroyed but only to be moderated and over-ruled by a superiour and more excellent principle In a word the difference betwixt a religious and wicked man is that in the one the Divine life bears sway in the other the animal doth prevail But it is strange to observe unto what different courses this natural principle will sometimes carry those who are wholy guided by it according to the divers circumstances that concur with it to determine them and the not considering this doth frequently occasion very dangerous mistakes making men think well of themselves by reason of that seeming difference which is betwixt them and others whereas perhaps their actions do all the while flow from one and the same original If we consider the natural temper and constitution of mens Souls we shall find some to be airie frolick and light which makes their behaviour extravagant and ridiculous whereas others are naturally serious and severe and their whole carriage composed into such gravity as gains them a great deal of Reverence and Esteem some are of an humurous rugged and morose temper and can neither be pleased themselves nor endure that others should be so but all are not born under such sowre and unhappy Stars for some persons have a certain sweetness and benignity rooted in their natures and they find the greatest pleasure in the endearments of Society and the mutual complacency of Friends and covet nothing more than to have every body obliged to them And it is well that Nature hath provided this complectional tenderness to supply the defect of true charity in the world and to incline men to do something for one another's welfare Again in regard of Education some have never been taught to follow any other rules than those of Pleasure or Advantage but others are so enured to observe the strictest rules of decency and honour and some instances of Virtue that they are hardly capable of doing any thing which they have been accustom'd to look upon as base and unworthy In fine it is no small difference in the deportment of meer natural men that doth arise from the strength or weakness of their Wit or Judgment and from their care or negligence in using them intemperance and lust injustice and oppression and all those other impieties which abound in the world and render it so miserable are the issues of self-love the effects of the animal life when it is neither over-powered by Religion nor govern'd by natural reason but if it once take hold of reason and get judgment and wit to be of its party it will many times disdain the grosser sort of vices and spring up unto fair imitations of Virtue and Goodness if a man have but so much reason as to consider the prejudice which intemperance and inordinate lust doth bring unto his health his fortune and his reputation self-love may suffice to restrain him and one may observe the rules of Moral Justice in dealing with others as the best way to secure his own interest and maintain his credit in the world But this is not all this natural principle by the help of reason may take a higher flight and come nigher the instances of Piety and Religion it may incline a man to the diligent study of Divine Truths for why should not these as well as other speculations be pleasant and grateful to curious and inquisitive humors it may make men zealous in maintaining and propagating such opinions as they have espoused and be very desirous that others should submit unto their Judgment and approve the choice of Religion which themselves have made it may make them delight to hear and compose excellent discourses about the matters of Religion for Eloquence is very pleasant whatever be the subject nay some it may dispose to no small height of sensible devotion the glorious things that are spoken of Heaven may make even a carnal heart in love with it the Metaphors and Similitudes made use of in Scripture of Crowns and Scepters and Rivers of pleasure c. will easily affect a man's fancy and make him wish to be there though he neither understand nor desire those spiritual pleasures which are described and shadowed forth by these and when such a person comes to believe that Christ has purchased these glorious things for him he may feel a kind of tenderness and affection towards so great a Benefactor and imagine that he is mightily inamoured of him and yet all the while continue a stranger to the holy temper and spirit of the Blessed Jesus and so instead of a Deity he may imbrace a cloud and what hand the natural constitution may have in the rapturous devotions of some melancholy persons hath been excellently discovered of late by several Learned and Judicious Pens To conclude there is nothing proper to make a man's life pleasant or himself eminent and conspicuous in the World but this natural principle assisted by Wit Reason may prompt him to it and tho I do not condemn these things in themselves yet it concerns us nearly to know and consider their nature both that we may keep within due bounds and also that we may learn never to value our selves on the account of such attainments nor lay the stress of Religion upon our natural appetites or performances It is now time to return to the consideration of that Divine Life whereof I was discoursing before that life which is hid with Christ in God and therefore hath no glorious shew or appearance in the world and to the natural spirit will seem a mean and insipid notion As the Animal life consisteth in that narrow and confined love which is terminated on a mans self and in his propension towards those things that are pleasing to Nature So the Divine Life stands in an universal and unbounded affection and in the mastery over our natural inclinations that they may never be able to betray us to those things which we know to be blamable
Christ be formed in us but yet we must not expect that this whole work should be done without any concurring endeavours of ours we must not lye loitering in the ditch and wait till Omnipotence pull us from thence no no we must bestir our selves and actuate these powers which we have already received We must put forth our selves in our utmost capacities and then we may hope that our Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. All the art and industry of Man cannot form the smallest herb or make a stalk of Corn to grow in the field it is the energy of Nature and the influences of Heaven which produce this effect it is God who causeth the grass to grow and herb for the service of man and yet no body will say that the Labours of the Husband-man are useless or unnecessary So likewise the humane Soul is immediately created by God it is he who both formeth and enliveneth the child and yet he hath appointed the Marriage-bed as the ordinary mean for the propagation of Mankind Though there must intervene a stroak of Omnipotence to effectuate this mighty change in our Souls yet ought we to do what we can to fit and prepare our selves for we must break up our fallow ground and root out the weeds and pull up the thorns that so we may be the more ready to receive the Seeds of Grace and the Dew of Heaven It is true God hath been found of some who sought him not he hath cast himself in their way who were quite out of his he hath laid hold upon them and stopt their course on a sudden for so was S. Paul converted in his Journey to Damascus but certainly this is not God's ordinary method of dealing with men though he hath not ty'd himself to means yet he hath tyed us to the use of them and we have never more reason to expect the Divine assistance but when we are doing our utmost endeavours It shall therefore be my next work to shew what course we ought to take for attaining that blessed temper I have hitherto described But here if in delivering my own thoughts I shall chance to differ any thing from what is or may be said by others in this matter I would not be therefore thought to contradict and oppose them more than Physitians do when they prescribe several Remedies for the same Disease which perhaps are all useful and good Every one may propose the Method which he judgeth most proper and convenient but he doth not thereby pretend that the Cure can never be effectuated unless that be exactly observed I doubt it hath occasioned much unnecessary disquietude to some holy persons that they have not found such a regular and orderly transaction in their Souls as they have seen described in Books that they have not passed through all those steps and stages of Conversion which some who perhaps have felt them in themselves have too peremptorily prescribed unto others God hath several wayes of dealing with the Souls of men and it sufficeth if the work be accomplish'd whatever the Methods have been Again Though in proposing Directions I must follow that order which the nature of things shall lead to yet I do not mean that the same method should be so punctually observed in the practise as if the later Rules were never to be heeded till some considerable time have been spent in practising the former The Directions I intend be mutually conducive one to another and are all to be perform'd as occasion shall serve and we find our selves inabled to perform them But now that I may detain you no longer if we desire to have our Souls moulded to this holy frame to become partakers of the Divine Nature and have Christ formed in our hearts we must seriously resolve and carefully endeavour to evite and abandon all Vitious and Sinful practises There can be no Treaty of Peace till once we lay down these weapons of Rebellion wherewith we fight against Heaven nor can we expect to have our distempers cured if we be daily feeding on poyson Every wilful sin gives a mortal wound to the Soul and puts it at a greater distance from God and goodness and we can never hope to have our hearts purified from corrupt affections unless we cleanse our hands from vitious actions Now in this case we cannot excuse our selves by the pretence of impossibility for sure our outward man is some way in our power we have some command of our feet and hands and tongue nay and of our thoughts and fancies too at least so far as to divert them from impure and sinful objects and to turn our Mind another way and we should find this power and authority much strengthned and advanced if we were careful to manage and exercise it Mean while I acknowledge our corruptions are so strong and our temptations so many that it will require a great deal of steadfastness and resolution of watchfulness and care to preserve our selves even in this degree of Innocence and Purity And first let us inform our selves well what those Sins are from which we ought to abstain And here we must not take our measures from the Maxims of the World or the practises of those whom in charity we account good men most people have very light apprehensions of these things and are not sensible of any fault unless it be gross and flagitious and scarce reckon any so great as that which they call Preciseness and those who are more serious do many times allow them selves too great latitude and freedom Alas how much Pride and Vanity and Passion and Humour how much weakness and folly and sin doth every day bewray it self in their converse and behaviour It may be they are humbled for it and striving against it and are daily gaining some ground but then the progress is so small and their failings so many that we had need to choose an exacter Pattern Every one of us must answer for himself and the practises of others will never warrant and secure us It is the highest folly to regulate our Actions by any other standard than that by which they must be Judged If ever we would cleanse our way it must be by taking heed thereto according to the Word of God and that Word which is quick and powerful and sharper then any edged sword piercing even to the dividing assunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart will certainly discover many things to be sinful and heynous which pass for very innocent in the eyes of the World Let us therefore imitate the Psalmist who saith Concerning the works of men by the words of thy lips I have kept my self from the path of the destroyer Let us acquaint our selves well with the strict and holy Laws of our Religion Let us consider the Discourses of our Blessed Saviour especially that
be Pride or Passion or any corrupt and vitious humour that prompteth us to any design and whether God will be offended or any body harmed by it And if we have no time for long reasonings let us at least turn our eyes toward God and place our selves in his Presence to ask his leave and approbation for what we do Let us consider our selves under the All-seeing Eye of that Divine Majesty as in the midst of an infinite Globe of light which compasseth us about both behind and before and pierceth to the innermost corners of our Soul the Sense and remembrance of the Divine Presence is the most ready and effectual mean both to discover what is unlawful and to restrain us from it There are some things a person could have a shift to palliate or defend and yet he dares not look Almighty God in the face and adventure upon them If we look into him we shall be lightned if we set him alwayes before us he will guide us by his Eye and instruct us in the way wherein we ought to walk This Care and Watchfulness over our Actions must be seconded by frequent and serious reflections upon them not only that we may obtain the Divine Mercy and Pardon for our Sins by an humble and sorrowful acknowledgment of them but also that we may reinforce and strengthen our resolutions and learn to decline or resist the temptations by which we have been formerly foyl'd It is an advice worthy of a Christian though it did first drop from a Heathen Pen That before we betake our selves to rest we renew and examine all the passages of the day that we may have the comfort of what we have done aright and may redress what we find to have been amiss and make the shipwracks of one day be as marks to direct our course in another This may be called the very art of Virtuous living and would contribute wonderfully to advance our reformation and preserve our innocency But withall we must not forget to implore the Divine assistance especially against those Sins that do most easily beset us and though it be supposed that our hearts are not yet moulded unto that Spiritual frame which should render our Devotions acceptable yet methinks such considerations as have been proposed to deter us from Sin may also stir us up to some natural seriousness and make our Prayers against it as earnest at least as they are wont to be against other Calamities and I doubt not God who heareth the cry of the Ravens will have some regard even to such Petitions as proceed from those natural Passions which himself hath implanted in us besides that those Prayers against Sin will be powerful engagements on our selves to excite us to watchfulness and care and common ingenuity will make us asham'd to relapse unto those faults which we have lately regrated before God and against which we have begged his assistance Thus are we to make the first essay for recovering the Divine Life by restraining the natural inclinations that they break not out into sinful practises but now I must add that Christian Prudence will teach us to abstain from gratifications that are not simply unlawful and that not only that we may secure our innocence which would be in continual hazard if we should strain our liberty to the utmost point and be always walking on the Marches but also that hereby we may weaken the forces of Nature and teach our appetites to obey we must do with our selves as prudent Parents with their Children who cross their wills in many little indifferent things to make them manageable and submissive in more considerable instances he who would mortifie the pride and vanity of his spirit should stop his ears to the most deserved praises and sometimes forbear his just vindication from the Censures and aspersions of others especially if they reflect only upon his prudence and conduct and not on his Virtue and Innocence He who would check a vindictive humour would do well to deny himself the Satisfaction of representing unto others the Injuries which he hath sustain'd and if we would so take heed to our ways that we sin not with our tongue we must accustome our selves much to solitude and silence and sometimes with the Psalmist Hold our peace even from good till once we have gotten some command of that unruly member Thus I say we may bind up our natural inclinations and make our appetites more moderate in their cravings by accustoming them to frequent refusals but it is not enough to have them under violence and restraint Our next Essay must be to wean our affections from created things and all the delights and entertainments of the lower life which sink and depress the Souls of men and retard their motions toward God and Heaven And this we must do by possessing our Minds with a deep perswasion of the vanity and emptiness of worldly enjoyments This is an ordinary theme and every body can make declamations upon it but alas how few understand and believe what they say These Notions float in our Brains and come sliding off our Tongues but we have no deep impression of them on our spirits we feel not the truth which we pretend to believe We can tell that all the glory and splendour all the pleasures and enjoyments of the World are vanity and nothing and yet these nothings take up all our thoughts and ingross all our affections they stifle the better inclinations of our Soul and inveigle us into many a Sin it may be in a sober mood we give them the slight and resolve to be no longer deluded with them but these thoughts seldom out-live the next temptation the vanities which we have shut out at the door get in at a postern there are still some pretensions some hopes that flatter us and after we have been frustrated a thousand times we must continually be repeating the experiment The leaft difference of circumstances is enough to delude us and make us expect that satisfaction in one thing which we have missed in another but could we once get clearly off and come to a real and serious contempt of worldly things this were a very considerable advancement in our way The Soul of Man is of a vigorous and active nature and hath in it a raging and unextinguishable thirst an immaterial kind of fire always catching at some object or other in conjunction wherewith it thinks to be happy and were it once rent from the World and all the bewitching enjoyments under the Sun it would quickly search after some higher and more excellent Object to satisfie its ardent and importunate cravings and being no longer dazel'd with glistering vanities would fix on that Supream and All-sufficient Good where it should discover such beauty and sweetness as would charm and over-power all its affections The love of the World and the love of God are like the scales of a ballance as the one falleth the other
doth rise when our natural inclinations prosper and the creature is exalted in our Soul Religion is faint and doth languish but when earthly objects wither away and lose their beauty and the Soul begins to cool and flagg in its prosecution of them then the seeds of Grace take root and the Divine Life begins to flourish and prevail It doth therefore nearly concern us to convince our selves of the emptiness and vanity of Creature-enjoyments and reason our heart out of love of them let us Seriously consider all that our Reason or our Faith our own Experience or the observation of others can suggest to this effect Let us ponder the matter over and over and fix our thoughts on this truth till we become really perswaded of it amidst all our pursuits and designs let us stop and ask our selves For what end is all this At what do I aim Can the gross and muddy pleasures of Sense or a heap of white or yellow Earth or the esteem and affection of silly creatures like my self satisfie a rational and immortal Soul Have I not tryed these things already Will they have a higher relish and yield me more contentment to morrow than yesterday or the next year than they did the last There may be some little difference betwixt that which I am now pursuing that which I enjoy'd before but sure my former Enjoyments did shew as pleasant and promise as fair before I attain'd them like the Rain-bow they looked very glorious at a distance but when I approached I found nothing but emptiness and vapor O what a poor thing should the life of man be if it were capable of no higher enjoyments I cannot insist on this subject and there is the less need when I remember to whom I am writing Yes my dear Friend you have had as great Experience of the emptiness and vanity of humane things and have at present as few worldly engagements as any that I know I have sometimes reflected on those passages of your life wherewith you have been pleased to acquaint me and methinks through all I can discern a design of the Divine Providence to wean your affections from every thing here below The Tryals you have had of those things which the World dotes upon hath taught you to despise them and you have found by experience that neither the endowments of Nature nor the advantages of Fortune are sufficient for happiness that every Rose hath its thorn and there may be a Worm at the root of the fairest Gourd some secret and undiscerned grief which may make a person deserve the pity of those who perhaps do admire or envy their supposed felicity If any earthly comforts have got too much of your heart I think they have been your Relations and Friends and the dearest of those are removed out of the World so that you must raise your Mind towards Heaven when you would think upon them Thus God hath provided that your heart may be loosed from the World and he may not have any Rival in your affection which I have alwayes observed to be so large and unbounded so noble and dis-interessed that no inferiour object can answer or deserve it When we have got our corruptions restrain'd and our natural appetites and inclinations towards worldly things in some measure subdued we must proceed to such exercises as have a more immediate tendance to excite and awaken the Divine Life And first let us endeavour conscientiously to perform those duties which Religion doth require and whereunto it would incline us if it did prevail in our Souls If we cannot get our inward disposition presently changed let us study at least to regulate our outward deportment if our hearts be not yet inflam'd with Divine Love let us however own our alleagiance to that infinite Majesty by attending his Service and listening to his Word by speaking reverently of his Name and praising his goodness and exhorting others to serve and obey him if we want that charity and those bowels of compassion which we ought to have towards our Neighbours yet must we not omit any occasion of doing them good If our hearts be haughty and proud we must nevertheless study a modest and humble Deportment These external performances are of little value in themselves yet may they help us forward to better things The Apostle indeed telleth us that bodily exercise profiteth little but he seems not to affirm that it is altogether useless it is alwayes good to be doing what we can for then God is wont to pity our weakness and assist our feeble endeavours and when true Charity and Humility and other Graces of the Divine Spirit come to take root in our Souls they will actuate themselves more freely and with the less difficulty that we have been accustomed to express them in our outward conversations Nor need we fear the imputation of hypocrisie tho our actions do thus somewhat out-run our affections seeing they do still proceed from a sense of our Duty and our Design is not to appear better then we are but that we may really become so But as inward acts have a more immediate influence on the Soul to mould it to a right temper and frame so ought we to be most frequent and sedulous in the exercise of those Let us be often lifting up our hearts towards God and if we do not say that we love him above all things let us at least acknowledg that it is our Duty and would be our Happiness so to do Let us regrate the dishonour done unto him by foolish and sinful men and applaud the Praises and Adorations that are given him by that Blessed and Glorious Company above Let us resign and yield our selves up unto him a thousand times to be governed by his Lawes and disposed upon at his pleasure and though our stubborn hearts should start back and refuse yet let us tell him we are convinced that his Will is alwayes Just and Good and therefore desire him to do with us whatsoever he pleaseth whether we will or not And so for begetting in us an universal Charity towards men we must be frequently putting up wishes for their happiness and blessing every person that we see and when we have done any thing for the relief of the miserable we may second it with earnest desires that God would take care of them and deliver them out of all their distresses Thus should we exercise our selves unto godliness and when we are imploying the powers that we have the Spirit of God is wont to strike in and elevate these acts of our Soul beyond the pitch of Nature and give them a Divine impression and after the frequent reiteration of these we will find our selves more inclined unto them they flowing with greater freedom and ease I shall mention but two other Means for begetting that Holy and Divine temper of spirit which is the Subject of the present Discourse And the first is a Deep
and Serious Consideration of the Truths of our Religion and that both as to the certainty and importance of them The assent which is ordinarily given to Divine Truths is very faint and languid very weak and uneffectual flowing only from a blind inclination to follow that Religion which is in the fashion or a lazy indifferency and unconcernedness whether things be so or not Men are unwilling to quarrel with the Religion of their Countrey and since all their Neighbours are Christians they are content to be so too but they are seldome at the pains to consider the evidences of those Truths or to ponder the importance and tendency of them and thence it is that they have so little influence on their affections and practise Those spriteless and paralitick thoughts as one doth rightly term them are not able to move the will and direct the hand We must therefore endeavour to work up our Minds to a Serious belief and full perswasion of Divine Truths unto a Sense and feeling of Spiritual things Our thoughts must dwell upon them till we be both convinced of them and deeply affected with them Let us urge forward our spirits and make them approach the invisible World and fix our Mind upon immaterial things till we clearly perceive that these are no Dreams nay that all things are Dreams and Shadows besides them When we look about us and behold the beauty and magnificence of this goodly frame the order and harmony of the whole Creation let our thoughts from thence take their flight toward that Omnipotent Wisdom and Goodness which did at first produce and doth ftill establish and uphold the same When we reflect upon our selves let us consider that we are not a meer piece of Organized matter a curious and well-contrived Engine that there is more in us then flesh and blood and bones even a Divine sparkle capable to know and love and enjoy our Maker and tho it be now exceedingly clogged with its dull and lumpish companion yet ere long it shall be delivered and can subsist without the body as well as that can do without the Cloathes which we throw off at our pleasure Let us often withdraw our thoughts from this Earth this Scene of Misery and folly and sin and raise them towards that more vast and glorious World whose Innocent and Blessed Inhabitants solace themselves Eternally in the Divine Presence and know no other passion but an unmixed Joy and an unbounded Love and then consider how the blessed Son of God came down to this lower World to live among us and dye for us that he might bring us to a portion of the same felicity and think how he hath overcome the sharpness of death and opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers and is now set down on the right hand of Majesty on high and yet is not the less mindful of us but receiveth our Prayers and presenteth them unto his Father and is daily visiting his Church with the Influences of his Spirit as the Sun reacheth us with his Beams The Serious and frequent considerarion of these and such other Divine Truths is the most proper Method to beget that lively Faith which is the Foundation of Religion the spring and root of the Divine Life Let me further suggest some particular subjects of Meditation for producing the Several branches of it And first to inflame our Souls with the love of God let us consider the excellency of his Nature and his Love and Kindness towards us It is little we know of the Divine Perfections and yet that little may suffice to fill our Souls with admiration and Love to ravish our affections as well as to raise our Wonder for we are not meerly Creatures of Sense that we should be uncapable of any other affection but that which entreth by the Eyes The character of any excellent Person whom we have never seen will many times ingage our Hearts and make us hugely concerued in all his adventures and what is it I pray you that engages us so much to those with whom we converse I cannot think that it is meerly the colour of their face or their comely proportions else we should fall in Love with statues and pictures and flowers these outward accomplishments may a little delight the Eye but would never be able to prevail so much on the Heart if they did not represent some vital Perfection we either see or apprehend some greatness of mind or vigor of Spirit or sweetness of disposition some sprightliness or Wisdom or Goodness which charms our spirit and commands our Love now these perfections are not obvious to the Sight the Eyes can only discern the signs and effects of them and if it be the understanding that directs the affection and vital perfections prevail with it certainly the excellency's of the Divine Nature the Traces whereof we cannot but discover in every thing we behold would not fail to engage our Hearts if we did seriously view and regard them shall we not be Infinitely more transported with that Almighty Wisdom and Goodness which filleth the Universe and displays it self in all the parts of the creation which establisheth the Frame of Nature and turneth the mighty Wheels of Providence and keepeth the World from disorder and ruine then with the faint rays of the same perfections which we meet with in our fellow-creatures Shall we doat on the scattered pieces of a rude and imperfect picture and never be affected with the original beauty This were an unaccountable stupidity and blindness whatever we find lovely in a friend or in a Saint ought not to engross but to Elevate our affection we should conclude with our selves that if there be so much sweetness in a drop there must be Infinitely more in the Fountain if there be so much splendor in a ray what must the Sun be in its Glory Nor can we pretend the remoteness of the object as if God were at too great a distance for our converse or our Love he is not far from every one of us for in him we live and move and have our being we cannot open our Eyes but we must behold some vestige of his Glory and we cannot turn them toward him but we shall be sure to find his intent upon us waiting as it were to catch a look ready to intertain the most intimate fellowship and communion with us Let us therefore indeavour to raise our minds to the clearest conceptions of the Divine Nature Let us consider all that his works do declare or his Word doth discover of him unto us and let us especially contemplate that visible representation of him which was made in our own Nature by his Son who was the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person and who appeared in the World to discover at once what God is and what we ought to be Let us represent him unto our minds as we find him described in the Gospel
in private and another wherein though we utter no sound yet we conceive the expressions and form the words as it were in our Mind which I presume is most commonly used in private devotion so there is a third and more sublime kind of prayer wherein the Soul takes a higher flight and having collected all its forces by long and serious Meditation it darteth it self so to speak towards God in sighs and groans and thoughts too big for expression As when after a deep Contemplation of the Divine Perfections appearing in all his Works of Wonder it addresseth it self unto him in the profoundest adoration of his Majestie and Glory or when after sad reflections on its vileness and miscarriages it prostrates it self before him with the greatest confusion and sorrow not daring to lift up its eyes or utter one word in his presence or when having well considered the beauty of holiness and the unspeakable felicity of those that are truly good it panteth after God and sendeth up such vigorous and ardent desires as no words should be sufficient to express continuing and repeating each of these acts as long as it finds it self upheld by the force and impulse of the previous Meditation This mental Prayer is of all other the most effectual to purifie the Soul and dispose it unto a holy and religious temper and may be termed the great Secret of Devotion and one of the most powerful instruments of the Divine Life and it may be the Apostle hath a peculiar respect unto it when he saith that the Spirit helpeth our infirmities making intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered or as the Original may bear that cannot be worded Yet I do not so recommend this sort of Prayer as to supersede the use of the other for we have so many several things to pray for and every petition of this nature requireth so much time and so great an intention of spirit that it were not easie therein to overtake them all to say nothing that the deep sighs and heavings of the heart which are wont to accompany it are something oppressive to Nature and make it hard to continue long in them But certainly a few of those inward aspirations will do more than a great many fluent and melting expressions Thus my dear Friend I have briefly proposed the Method which I judge proper for moulding the Soul unto a holy frame and the same means which serve to beget this Divine Temper must still be practised for strengthning and advancing it and therefore I shall recommend but one more for that purpose and 't is the frequent and conscientious use of that holy Sacrament which is peculiarly appointed to nourish and increase the Spiritual Life when once it is begotten in the Soul All the Instruments of Religion do meet together in this Ordinance and while we address our selves unto it we are put to practise all the Rules which were mentioned before Then it is that we make the severest Survey of our Actions and lay the strictest Obligations on our selves Then are our Minds raised to the highest contempt of the World and every Grace doth exercise it self with the greatest activity and vigour all the subjects of Contemplation do there present themselves unto us with the greatest advantage and then if ever doth the Soul make its most powerful Sally's towards Heaven and assault it with a holy and acceptable force And certainly the neglect or careless performance of this Duty is one of the chief causes that bedwarfs our Religion and makes us continue of so low a size But it is time I should put a close to this tedious Letter which is grown to a far greater bulk then at first I intended If these poor Papers can do you the smallest service I shall think my self very happy in this Undertaking at least I am hopeful you will kindly accept the Sincere Endeavours of a Person who would fain acquit himself of some part of that which he owes you A Prayer AND now O most gracious God Father and Fountain of Mercy and Goodness who hast blessed us with the Knowledge of our Happiness and the way that leadeth unto it excite in our Souls such ardent desires after the one as may put us forth to the diligent prosecution of the other Let us neither presume of our own strength nor distrust thy Divine Assistance but while we are doing our utmost endeavours teach us still to depend on Thee for the success Open our Eyes O God and teach us out of thy Law Bless us with an exact and tender sense of our duty and a taste to discern perverse things O that our wayes were directed to keep thy Statutes then shall we not be ashamed when we have respect unto all thy Commandments Possess our hearts with a generous and holy disdain of all those poor enjoyments which this World holdeth out to allure us that they may never be able to inveigle our Affections or betray us unto any Sin Turn away our eyes from beholding vanity and quicken thou us in thy Law Fill our Souls with such a deep sense and full perswasion of those great Truths which Thou hast reveal'd in the Gospel as may influence and regulate our whole Conversation and that the life which we henceforth live in the flesh we may live through Faith in the Son of God O that the infinite Perfections of thy Blessed Nature and the astonishing Expressions of thy Goodness and Love may conquer and overpower our hearts that they may be constantly arising towards Thee in flames of Devoutest Affection and inlarging themselves in Sincere and Cordial Love towards all the World for thy sake and that we may cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in thy fear without which we can never hope to behold and enjoy Thee Finally O God grant that the consideration of what thou art and what we our selves are may both humble and lay us low before Thee and also stir up in us the strongest and most ardent aspirations towards Thee We desire to resign and give up our selves to the Conduct of thy Holy Spirit lead us in thy Truth and teach us for thou art the God of our Salvation Guide us with thy Counsel and afterwards receive us unto Glory for the Merits and Intercession of thy Blessed Son our Saviour Amen FINIS AN ACCOUNT OF THE BEGINNINGS and ADVANCES OF A Spiritual Life Written at the Desire of M. L. V. R. The Occasion of this Discourse Mistakes about Religion What Religion is It s Permanency and Stability It s freedome and unconstrainedness 1 Joh. 3. 9. Joh. 4. 34. Religion a Divine Principle What the Natural Life is The different tendencies of the natural life Wherein the Divine Life doth consist Religion better understood by actions than by words Divine Love exemplified in our Saviour His Diligence in doing Gods Will. His Patience in bearing it His constant Devotion His Charity to men His Purity His Humility The Excellency and advantage of Religion Prov. 14. 10. The Excellency of Divine Love The Advantages of Divine Love The worth of the Object The certainty to be beloved again The Presence of the beloved person That Divine Love makes us partake in an infinite happiness He that loveth God finds sweetness in every dispensation The duties of Religion are delightful to him Psal. 63. 2. The Excellency of Charity The Pleasure that attends it The Excellency of Purity The Delight it affords The Excellency of Humility The pleasure and sweetness of an humble temper The despondent Thoughts of some newly awakened to a right sense of things Act. 8. 20. Cant 8. 7. The unreasonableness of these Fears Deut. 33. 27. Psal. 89. 19. Esay 26. ver 19. Esay 53. ver 11. Heb. 7. 24 25. Matth. 12. 20. Cant. 8 7. 2 Pet. 1. 19. Prov. 4. 18. Psal 84 7. Heb. 11. 34. 2 King 6. 16 17. We must do what we can and depend on the Divine assistance I Chron. 22. 16. 1 Cor. 15. 58. Psal. 104. 14. Jer. 4. 3. We must shun all manner of Sin We must know what things are sinful Psal. 119. 9. Heb. 4. 12. Psal. 17. 4. We must resist the Temptations to Sin by considering the Evils they will draw on us 2 Pet. 3. 10. 1 Cor. 4. 5. Isa. 33. 14. We must keep a constant watch over our selves We must often examine our Actions It is fit to restrain our selves in many lawful things We must strive to put our selves out of love with the World We must do those outward Actions that are commanded We must endeavour to form internal Acts of Devotion Charity c. Consideration a great instrument of Religion Heb. 1. 3. To beget Divine Love we must consider the excellency of the Divine Nature Act. 17. 27. Heb. 1. 3. Lam. 3. 31. Psal. 39. 3. We should meditate on his Goodness and Love Eph. 3. 17 18 19. To beget Charity we must remember that all men are nearly related unto God That they carry his Image upon them To beget Purity we should consider the Dignity of our Nature We should meditate oft on the Joys of Heaven 1 Joh. 3. 3. Humility ariseth from the consideration of our failings Thoughts of God give us the lowest thoughts of our selves Prayer another Instrument of Religion The advantages of mental Prayer Religion is to be advanced by the same means by which it is begun The use of the Holy Sacrament