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
The root of the divine life is Faith the chief branches are Love to God Charity to Man Purity and Humility For as an Excellent Person hath well observed however these names be common and vulgar and make no extraordinary sound yet do they carry such a mighty sence that the tongue of Man or Angel can pronounce nothing more weighty or excellent Faith hath the same place in the Divine life which Sense hath in the natural being indeed nothing else but a kind of sense or feeling perswasion of Spiritual things It extends it self unto all Divine Truths but in our lapsed estate it hath a peculiar relation to the declarations of God's mercy and reconcileableness to Sinners through a Mediator and therefore receiving its denomination from that principal object is ordinarily termed Faith in Jesus Christ. The Love of God is a delightful and affectionate sence of the Divine perfections which makes the Soul resign and sacrifice it self wholly unto him desiring above all things to please him and delighting in nothing so much as in fellowship and communion with him and being ready to do or suffer any thing for his sake or at his pleasure though this affection may have its first rise from the Favours and Mercies of God toward our selves yet doth it in its growth and progress transcend such particular considerations and ground it self on his infinite goodness manifested in all the Works of Creation and Providence A Soul thus possessed with Divine Love must needs be inlarged towards all Mankind in a sincere and unbounded affection because of the relation they carry unto God being his Creatures and having something of his Image stamped upon them and this is that Charity I named as the second branch of Religion and under which all the parts of Justice all the duty 's we owe to our Neighbour are eminently comprehended for he who doth truly love all the world will be nearly concerned in the interests of every one and so far from wronging or injuring any person that he will resent any evil that befals to others as if it happened to himself By Purity I understand a due abstractedness from the body and mastery over the inferiour appetites or such a temper and disposition of mind as makes a man despise abstain from all pleasures and delights of sence or fancy which are sinful in themselves or tend to extinguish or lessen our relish of more divine and intellectual pleasures which doth also infer a resoluteness to undergo all those hardships he may meet with in the performance of his duty so that not only Chastity and Temperance but also Christian Courage and Magnanimity may come under this head Humility imports a deep sence of our own meanness with a hearty and affectionate acknowledgment of our owing all that we are to the Divine Bounty which is alwayes accompanied with a profound submission to the Will of God and great deadness toward the glory of the world and applause of men These are the highest Perfections that either Men or Angels are capable of the very foundation of Heaven laid in the Soul and he who hath attain'd them needs not desire to pry into the hidden Rolls of God's Decrees or search the Volumes of Heaven to know what 's determined about his everlasting condition but he may find a Copy of God's Thoughts concerning him written in his own breast his love to God may give him assurance of God's favour to him and those beginnings of happiness which he feels in the conformity of the powers of his Soul to the Nature of God and compliance with his Will is a sure pledge that his felicity shall be perfected and continued unto all Eternity And it is not without reason that one said I had rather see the real impressions of a God-like Nature upon my own Soul then have a Vision from Heaven or an Angel sent to tell me that my name were inroll'd in the Book of Life When we have said all that we can the secret Mysteries of a new Nature and Divine Life can never be sufficiently expressed language and words cannot reach them nor can they be truly understood but by those Souls that are enkindled within and awakened unto the sense and relish of Spiritual things There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth this understanding The power and life of Religion may be better expressed in actions than in words because actions are more lively things and do better represent the inward principle whence they proceed and therefore we may take the best measure of those gracious indowments from the deportment of those in whom they reside especially as they are perfectly exemplified in the holy life of our Blessed Saviour a main part of whose business in this world was to teach by his practise what he did require of others and to make his own conversation an exact resemblance of those unparalell'd Rules which he prescribed So that if ever true Goodness was visible to mortal eyes it was then when his presence did beautifie and illustrate this lower world That sincere and devout Affection wherewith his Blessed Soul did constantly burn toward his Heavenly Father did express it self in an intire resignation to his Will it was this was his very meat to do the will and finish the work of him that sent him this was the exercise of his Childhood and the constant imployment of his riper age he spared no travail or pains while he was about his Father's business but took such infinite Content and Satisfaction in the performance of it that when being faint and weary with his Journey he rested him on Jacob's Well and intreated a drink of the Samaritane Woman the success of his Conference with her and the accession that was made to the Kingdom of God filled his Mind with such delight as seemed to have redounded to his very Body refreshing his spirits and making him forget the thirst whereof he complain'd before and refuse the meat which he had sent the Disciples to buy Nor was he less patient and submissive in suffering the Will of God then diligent in doing of it he endured the sharpest Afflictions and extreamest Miseries that ever were inflicted on any mortal without a-repining thought or discontented word for tho he was far from a stupid insensibility or a phantastick or Stoical obstinacy and had as quick a sense of pain as other men and the deepest apprehension of what he was to suffer in his Soul as his Bloody Sweat and the sore amazement and sorrow which he profest do abundantly declare yet did he intirely submit to that severe dispensation of Providence and willingly acquiesced in it And he prayed to God that if it were possible or as one of the Evangelists hath if he were willing that Cup might be removed yet he gently added nevertheless not my will but thine be done Of what strange importance are the expressions Joh. 12. 27. where he first
Imprimatur G. Jane Aug. 18. 1676. THE Life of God IN THE Soul of Man OR The Nature and Exceliency of the Christian Religion With the Method of attaining the Happiness it proposes AND An Account of the Beginnings and Advances of a Spiritual Life In Two LETTERS written to Persons of Honour Eph. 4. 18. Alienated from the Life of God Gal. 2. 20. I am Crucified with Christ Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Rom. 8. 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God LONDON Printed for Charles Smith at the Angel near the Inner-Temple-Gate in Fleet-street And William Jacob at the Black-Swan next Bernards Inn in Holbourn 1677. Preface THis Age grones under such a surcharge of new Books that though the many good ones lately published do much ballance the great swarms of ill or at least needless ones Yet all men complain of the unnecessary charge and trouble many new Books put them to the truth of it is Printing is become a Trade and the Presses must be kept going so that if it were but to shufle out an ill Book a man may be tempted to keep them at work And for Books of Devotion and Piety we have seen so many excellent ones of late in our own Language that perhaps no Age or Language can shew the like in these the Christian Religion is proposed in its own True and Natural Colours and rescued from those salse Representations many are apt to make of it As if it consisted either in External Performances or in Mechanical Heats of the Fancy or in embracing some Opinions or Interests It is and can be nothing else but a Design to make us like God both in the Inward temper of our Minds and in our whole deportment and conversation For this end did Christ both live and dye this he taught by his Discourses and discovered in his Life He died that he might take away sin not only or chiefly to procure our Pardon which was done by him for a further end that a Universal Indempnity being offered through his Death all mankind might be thereby encouraged to enter into a course of holy Obedience with all possible advantages having the hopes of Endless happiness and the fears of Eternal miseries before them having the clearest Rule and the most unblemished Example proposed to them being also sure of constant Inward supplies to support and strengthen their endeavours and an Unerring Providence to direct all things that concern them Nor are there any Precepts in this whole Doctrine whose fitness and true excellency besides the Authority of the Law-giver has not been fully made good And the truth of the Principles of Natural Religion and of the Revelation of the Council of God in Scripture was never since Miracles ceased demonstrated with fuller and clearer evidence then in our Age both for stopping the mouths of all daring Hectors and for silencing the secret doubtings of more Inquisitive Minds And though so grave a subject should have been rather prejudiced then adorned by Artificial and forced strains of Wit or Eloquence yet as our Language was never chaster than now so these Subjects have been handled with all the proper decencies of easie Wit and good Language But after all this into what a torrent of regrates and lamentations must me break out when we consider the Age we live in For few do either believe or reflect on those great things And as if there were a general Conspiracy against God and Religion how does the greater part among us break loose from all the ties and bonds of that Yoke that is light and casie and inslave themselves to many base and hurtful lusts and passions And are not satisfied with being as bad as they can be but desire that all the world may esteem them such and glory in their shame and inhance their guilt by turning factors for hell studying to corrupt all about them This sad prospect must needs deeply affect all that either truly love God or have a tender compassion for the Souls of Men and will certainly set them to their secret mournings and wrestlings with God to avert the heavy Judgments that seem to hang over our heads and that he may of his great mercy turn the hearts of the froward and disobedient to the wisdom of the just And till God arise and bless his Gospel with more of this success nothing could be such an effectual Mean for convincing the World of the Truth and Excellence of our most holy Faith as that those who profess and embrace it did walk in all the strictness of a most holy Innocent and Exemplary Life keeping the due mean between the affectation of morossness and hypocrisie and the levities of irreligion and folly This is the only argument that is wanting to convince the World of the truth of our Religion all people are more wrought on by lively Examples set before their eyes than by any discourses or reasonings how strong or convincing soever The one is more easily apprehended and leaves a deeper Impression then the other which does not prevail on us till by frequent and serious reflections we be satisfied about them and when we hear any one speak well we are not assured he thinks as he says but do often suspect he is shewing his Wit or Eloquence to our cost that he may perswade us into some Opinions that may prove gainful to himself but when we see a man pursuing a constant course of holiness in the most painful Instances which do most prejudice his Visible Interests we have all reason to believe he is in good earnest perswaded of those truths which engage him to such a Conversation After the Ages of Miracles nothing prevailed so much on the World as the exemplary Lives and the painful Martyrdoms of the Christians which made all sorts of people look with amazement on that Doctrine that wrought so powerfully on all ranks and did raise persons of the meanest Educations and Dispositions and of the weaker Sex and tenderer Age to do and suffer beyond what their greatest Heroes and most celebrated Philosophers had ever done And in those days the Apologists for the Christian Religion did appeal to the lives of the Christians to prove their Doctrine holy concluding that there could be nothing but good in that Doctrine that made all its Votaries such But alas when we write Apologies we must appeal from the Lives of most that pretend to be Religious to the Rules and Precepts of our most holy Faith and must decline the putting the trial of Christianity upon that issue and though thanks be to God there are beautiful and shining Instances of the power of Religion among us yet alas there be too few of them and they lie hid in a vast mixture of others that are naught The two great prejudices the Tribe of Libertines and Ruffians are hardned in against Religion are 1. that they do not see those
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