flesh and bloud and tastes nothing but what flatters this Flesh and Bloud And therefore among sensual Pleasures there are permitted our Devout Person only those which are moderate The Senses love to receive strong impressions of Objects provided there be no wound in the case the imagination loves also to be powerfully moved But all these emotions make such mighty impressions upon the Soul as it hardly can come to it self again And therefore they ought carefully to be avoided But if we would have more sensible proofs that the heart the passions and the senses are not to be consulted about the choice of Pleasures let us hear experience and cast an eye upon the disorders of the world Such are the consequences of this blindness in men who follow their own heart and senses in the choice of Goods and Pleasures Why did the first Woman lay hold on the forbidden fruit because it was good and pleasant to the eye she hearkened to her Heart and Senses How did corruption arise to that high pitch in the World that it forced God's Justice to bring upon it a terrible Deiuge Because the Sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair they stopt their Ears to the voice of God which call'd upon them they heark'ned to the sollicitations of their own sensual heart they took them Wives of all which they chose and corrupted themselves with them Did not David commit Adultery and Murder in a little time because he gave ear to his senses and heart and let his passions seduce him did not Solomon become an Idolater because his sinful love for Women having blinded his eyes separated him from God and stopt the Ears of his Soul so as his mind heard only the voice of his Passions and his Senses Lastly did not St. Peter deny his Lord and Master for that his heart his senses his imagination made him see present Death in an affrightful posture and he consulted neither God nor his own reason We seem here to blend and confound Innocence with Sin in speaking of our Heart and our Senses as common Sources of our errours Since that the Senses may seem rather to be unhappy and unfortunate than Criminal and Sinful True the Senses are subject to two unhappinesses The first is to be forced to receive Objects which are sinful and capable of transferring Images of corruption to the Heart such are evil Examples scandalous Actions and Words The other misfortune of the Senses is that they take in innocent Objects and sometimes in an innocent manner and these Images do spoyl and corrupt themselves in the Heart Nevertheless I think we ought not to separate the Senses from the Heart they make but one and the same thing This is a Match at the end of which lies a great heap of Gun-powder The Hear and the Imagination are the inward extremity of this Match they are the Magazine of Powder The Senses are the other end to which the Objects set fire This Fire slides or rather it flies along the Match It enkindles the Imagination and puts the Heart into a flame And therefore the holy Spirit puts for the same thing To walk in the ways of ones heart and in the sight of ones Eyes In short if we would be perfectly assured that our Heart and Senses are evil Counsellors in this affair hear what the holy Scripture saith it considers our Heart as the root of all our Evils Every imagination of the thoughts of Man's heart is only evil continually The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts false Witness Blasphemies These are the things which defile a Man The holy Ghost represents the Heart to us as blind wrapt up in a thick Cloud and profound darkness it speaks of it as of a kind of Death it is of the Earth it is carnal How then canan Heart thus composed and fram'd judge of the true Goods and Pleasures How can there come any thing good from a poysoned Spring And thus we see that the Wife man puts this Maxime among the members of those we are to detest and abominate Walk in the ways of thine Heart and in the sight of thine Eyes I should end here were it unnecessary to take off one Scandal that may be taken at what we have said that sensual Pleasure is a Good and even a Good for the Soul For in a word if the Soul be that not only which perceives and which tastes Pleasure and if Pleasure be a Good 't is a Good of the Soul If it be a good then some will say we are to seek and love it It 's not sufficient to answer that this is a Good of the Body only that is not absolutly true 't is in some sort the good of the Soul because the Soul tastes it Further if this Good were only for the Body yet it does not follow it should therefore be of necessity unlawful since we are not always forbidden to seek the Good of the Body But we ought not only to consider a thing in its self to know whether it be good or bad we must consider it in its causes and its effects in what precedes it what may be the consequence of it I mean that the Pleasure which comes to the Soul by the Body is a sort of Good considered in it self Look upon its Source and see to what it produces The Source is Sin is Impurity is Rebellion against the law of our Creator What it produces is a disunion between God and our Soul 't is a pawning our selves to Death 't is the pain of everlasting burnings How can we under the Idea of a Good conceive a thing which is incompast about by so many moral Impurities and such real Mischiefs If therefore bodily Pleasure can be called a Good with respect to the present sentiment of the Soul it 's an Evil in all other regards it 's an Evil to speak Absolutely and therefore the wifest men of all Ages have plac'd it among the false Goods for a true Good ought to be good on every side we view it The Soul then has no true Pleasure but what arises from its union with God And this union is fortified according to the measure that we loosen our selves from sensible things and are united to God by the knowledge of his Truth Not of those Verities which Philosophy seeks after and never finds with any certainty but of those Divine truths which Faith discovers to us of those wholsome Verities which are the Candle of the Soul Thy Word is a Lamp to my Feet and a light to my Paths It enlightens the Eyes and makes wise the simple The second Bond whereby we are united to God is Virtue the Practice of which renders us like to our Creator renews his Image in us and makes us to be the Copies of that Beauty whereof he 's the original the third cord is
rain of thy Grace bless this Field to make it bring forth Fruits worthy of Repentance Let mine hands distill Myrrh and my fingers precious Spices Let them be alwayes opened to the miserable Let my feet run to the help of the afflicted Let my ears receive with earnestness thy Word and thy Praises Let my tongue continually celebrate thy most glorious Name and lift up even to Heaven the Acts of thy good Favour O Holy Spirit thou Principle of all good motions instill Life into me be thou the Soul of my Soul that it may be no more interred in the Grave of Sleep and Sin but that it may act mightily that it be inflamed by the fire of Charity that this Fire may never cease one moment to be at rest and without Action so that by continual practice of good Works I may be disposed to Devotion and to an Vnion with thee who art the Object of my Love O let me by this Purity invite Him more and more who is the Author of every good and perfect Gift to make me partake of the flames of Zeal and Piety CHAP. III. The third general Direction To be watchful over the Senses and not let the Heart loose SO near a commerce is there between the Heart and the Senses that our strife would be in vain to guard the one unless we set a strict watch over the other The Heart is the House the Senses are the Gates and Windows And hereat does the Devil enter and seises on our Souls This Enemy prepares so many batteries without as we have external Senses and if we escape Death on one side he sends it us on the other Notwithstanding this we may say in vindication of the Senses that they are more unhapy than criminal they have a sensation of what they ought to have according to the order of Creation and even the greatest part of Ideas which come to 'em are innocent but they are spoyled in arriving at the Heart The beauty of a Woman the glitter of Gold and Silver and precious Stones the sweetness of vocal Musick are the works of God and consequently they cannot be evil but 't is the Heart poysons these innocent Images Nevertheless since the Heart doth not scatter it's poyson but upon the Objects which are presented to it we should take away the matter of its Crimes and it 's mischievous Habits would be assuredly destroy'd and lost if they wanted Employment and therefore it 's of absolute necessity to have a constant guard over the Senses I made an agreement with mine Eyes says an holy man not to look upon all Women This has been ever the custom of those who would become truly devout to hold their Souls shut up to the multitude of Objects that might assault 'em on all sides True it is the usage of this Maxime has bin pusht on and wrested even to Superstition some have voluntarily banisht themselves into Desarts that they might see nothing at all Others have lock'd themselves up in Cells and Caves never to come forth And History tells us of an Egyptian Hermit who would never agree to let his Sister have the Pleasure of seeing of him He receiv'd Order from his Superiour at the intreaty of Athanasius to go and visit her he went but he presented himself before her with his Eyes shut and would by no means see her Glut thy self quickly sayd he to her with the sight of me These excesses do a greater wrong and injury to Reason than they bring help to Devotion The Soul draws a vast aid from its senses when it knows how to make a good use of them To stop all the Avenues whereby Knowledge may arrive to the Soul is to keep it in a darksome and lonely Prison and nourish it in Ignorance What is true herein is that 't is dangerous for it to be concern'd about evil Objects because it carries thence a tincture which indisposes it for Devotion 'T is no less dangerous to permit it to meddle too much with indifferent Objects fince this dissipates its strength and evermore it returns with somewhat of the Vain air of those Courses it takes Abroad This is the way of the Worlds living we give we receive Visits we expose our selves to conversation that is to the contagion of every Comer The eyes are always open'd to see new Objects the Ears to hear News Vain is our Discourse we say there a thousand impertinences and more of evil than good things One willl entertain you with a Dress Another with a little intrigue of the Town Others will pour profane or back-biting discourses into your Breast One will carry you to see a new House or any fine building One lately come from a new World will tell you strange things and enlarge his Recitals with Stories and Miracles which he himself had been concern'd in and your Soul will return to your House charged with these Toys and Gew-gaws When it would enter into its Closet it 's certain it will not find the Heart in its ordinary Dispositions and upon that account it is the more difficult to be Devout in great Cities where you can scarcely defend your selves from these Amusements so that I would advice the faithful Soul to keep its self up close The Souls of worldly people are like to your great Streets they are open to every Comer we are never there but in a crowd and Devotion which loves Privacy is not pleased with these publick places These are Inns where all Strangers are lodg'd well and the Master lyes oft out of Doors But the heart of the faithful Person ought to be for himself and God who is its Master is to be ever at Large A Garden inclosed is my Sister my Spouse a Spring shut up a Fountain sealed says Jesus Christ to his Spouse that is to every Christian Soul Lock up this Garden if thou wouldst preserve the Flowers and Fruits and let not the purity of thy living Waters be corrupted by unclean Beasts Temples and Oratories are not to be accessible to the prophane our Hearts are the Temples of the holy Ghost and therefore let us shut the Gates against a thousand indiscreet Ideas and vain Objects that would prophane them The Soul is a vessel which Grace fills with sweet Odours but we should not give it too much Air otherwise it would evaporate and become insipid If the vessel be full it can receive nothing new without losing what it had before If it be filled with Devotion and we bring it into the World according to the measure it is filled with Vanities these Vanities will send what it had good a packing away 'T is a truth we are to fix in our memories that at all times we make any sally into the World we lose so much of our own Dinah went out to see the Daughters of the Land and she lost her best ornament the flower of her Virginity But especially let us remember that in seeking out harmless Objects we
an hundred other Lessons But all this is nothing to compare with the Knowledge to be had from the reading of that other book which God hath dictated to his Prophets and Apostles 'T is there thou mayest see the Abysses of the Divine Wisdom the infinity of his Love and the depths of his Mercy Without engaging thy self very deep in these Abysses what Fruit canst thou not reap from the Death of my Saviour and the Contemplation of his Cross thou wilt learn there how thou art to love for that is the School of Love thou wilt view thy Divine Saviour eaten up with the zeal of God's House burnt with the Flames of Charity He so loved the World that he gave himself up to Death for the World and that to a shameful cruel and tormenting death even that of the Cross He expos'd himself to all the arrows of God's Wrath he suckt the venom and underwent the weight of his Indignation and for whom for his Enemies 'T is thus O my Soul thou must Love This is but a very small part of the things thou mayst learn in that heavenly Book Prayer BVT O Lord I read in vain I meditate without success O my Sun infuse thy Rayes into my Heart open mine Eyes that I may see the wond'rous things of thy Law Make thy Word to be in me like a two edged Sword piercing even to the dividing of my Soul my Joynts and Marrow Thy Word is truth sanctifie me by thy Truth Let my Heart burn within me when thou speakest and declarest to me the Scriptures Let me receive thy word with a thirsty Soul and let it become unto me a Spring of living Waters bubling up to Eternal Life that I may be conducted by the Rivers of thy Grace to the Ocean of Glory CHAP. IX The fourth particular help to Devotion The use of Prayer I Do not design here to make any Commendation of Prayer nor to display all it's Uses which both the Antients and Moderns have done very Amply I shall only say that 't is one of the surest means to purifie the Soul since there is no Action whereby we approach nearer to God no time wherein he communicates himself more to us He hath been very often observ'd to give his Extraordinary inspirations in Prayer In praying St Peter fell into an Extasie Paul was ravisht to the third Heaven Cornelius in his Prayers receiv'd the Vision of an Angel Monica St Austin's Mother after her Prayers and Tears for the Salvation of her Son had in her dream that excellent Revelation of his Conversion An Angel tells her Afflict not thy self thy Son is with thee As God is the Sun of our Soul and jets his beams perpendicularly into our Hearts he must necessarily clarifie and heat them he disperses the vapours of the Inferiour part and draws his own Image there Now this Communication of the Raies of Grace is never made more than in Prayer I shall not stay to examine any further the Conditions with which Prayers should be made to be Devout it 's already shown enough that they ought to be Attentive Persevering and Ardent I shall only give here two Advices the one to avoid Weariness the other to avoid Distraction First I say that few Souls are capable of long Prayers For to render a Prayer perfectly devout there 's need of an extreme Contention of Mind an extraordinary Elevation and an entire loosening ones self from the World Now these Actions do a kind of Violence to the Soul which naturally tends to a releasing of it self and therefore they cannot be of any long Continuance If we give no relaxation to the Heart it takes it and rambles some where or other in spite of our teeth so as I would have the exercises of Devotion to be long tho divided into little spaces of time that they have many parts and each of 'em be short Devotion is composed of three principal Acts Reading Meditation and Prayer each of these need not be done presently so as to follow one another but they may be mingled for we must allow some grains to the Souls Weakness and we must keep it from disgust by variety A little reading may be the first degree of it's Elevation a little meditation on that reading will lift it a degree higher and after the reading and meditation a short Prayer will lead it to the highest degree of forgetting the World after which it will return wholly new to reading and Meditation in the same order In Prayer it will fly through the Air by the force of its own Wings and at its return to reading it will do like those Birds that weary with flying come to repose themselves not on the Earth but some very high Tree of their own choice so our devout Soul will come to rest it self not by falling on the Earth for 't will never set foot there nor permit the mind to return to the World but it will continue elevated upon the Props of the holy Prophets and Apostles Vr and Aaron will sustain it lifted up towards the Heaven and from thence taking its flight it will by little and little rise upon the Wings of Meditation untill it return by Prayers whither it was first lifted up This method undoubtedly will give it time to renew its strength it cannot hold out long if its course be push'd on to the utmost of its vigour but by taking breath and marching fairly on from time to time it will make a very great advance in a day The other Direction I would give regards those who having not been busied about the operations of the Mind are less proper for the great Elevations These People ordinarily make their Devotions in Prayers pronounced by heart from which way Distractions are almost inseparable These I would counsel to endeavour to untye themselves from Words and hold only to the Sense I do not mean that in their Family-Prayers they should dispense themselves from their Forms I know very well that all the World has not the gift of forming their thoughts and putting them into an order which may edifie the Publick but for the Devotions of the Closet they are rather to be made by Heart than by the Tongue When the Imagination does not make some endeavour for the production of its Thoughts and the choice of its Words in following the beaten Road which it fears not to lose it never fails of going somewhither else as having nothing to do in the place where we would retain it but when it gives Attention to the manner in which is necessary to express the things which the Heart has conceiv'd the Heart and the Imagination uniting their Forces make up a compleat Attention I cannot endure to hear some say That all the World is not capable of composing all are not able to compose for Men but to compose for God they are able Let us make never such Efforts to speak well we stammer in the Mouth before the Lord and