therefore the evils men can do to us but those we do against our selves by an angry impatient and revengeful Spirit Let us but pray and labour for Christian Charity and it will make us invincible it will make us conquer and overcome all wrongs and afflictions Many waters cannot quench love neither can the flouds drown it Cant. 8.7 The waters of Calamities and Persecutions cannot put out that bright and ever-burning flame kindled by God in pious hearts CHAP. XXXIX That the love of the Supreme Good comprehends all goodness 1. GOD is our true and sovereign good him we must love with all our soul and strength and to him we must direct all our ways For the love of God comprehends all vertue and godliness it is temperance whereby we despise the pride and delights of the World that God may have our whole hearts to himself it is constancy whereby we patiently bear any cross for and from God It is justice whereby we serve and obey God alone and with due moderation command his creatures it is prudence and the highest wisdom whereby we diligently avoid the obstacles and use the means to come to God it is all that can make us good and make us happy Now God must be lov'd for himself for nothing can be better than God he is infinitely good and the beginning and end of all goodness Therefore other things must be lov'd only for his sake and in such proportion as they are more or less related to him but he must be lov'd on his own account as much as is possible without bounds or measures for his perfections are vast enough to swallow up all our affections nay they infinitely exceed them so that nothing must share our love with him it is all infinitely more than due to him 2. It much concerns us therefore to be very careful that those lower sensible goods wherewith we converse in this Earth do not steal our hearts from God the giver of them For though we set the greater value upon things Spiritual and Eternal yet because now they are out of our sight and we cannot reach them our affections to them are dull and heavy and must be forc'd and listed up whereas they are brisk and swift to such things as are the object of sense and we naturally fall down to our sensual nature and without great care we cannot avoid to be by it cheated into self-love If we would therefore be replenish'd with the Holy and Beatifying Love of God we must first cast the World out of our hearts for as a full vessel cannot receive better liquor except it be emptied no more can our hearts love the Creator if they are possest by creatures Therefore saith Saint John the beloved Apostle of Jesus Love not the world neither the things that are in the world for if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2.15 Worldly things are made for our use and there is in them some beauty but how much more beautiful is he that made them and made us for the enjoyment of himself He that seeks for happiness out of God shall never find it but if we love him above all things then we are certainly happy for he also loves us and his favour is all CHAP. XL. Wherein consists the Love of God 1. IT consists chiefly in joyfully suffering for God for Love is a passion and he therefore loves most that is most patient as the Blessed Apostles returned from the Council rejoycing that they had been worthy to suffer shame and stripes for the name of Jesus There may be much of nature in that tenderness of devout affection and those tears that proceed from it which are observ'd in some but true vertues and solid joys do proceed from a Love practical and obediential For he that truly loves obeys in all things cheerfully for savour not for fear and if any burthen unpleasant to the flesh be laid upon him Love makes it light and acceptable too Therefore the Scripture saith that Gods Commandments are not grievous to let us know we are not yet perfect in Love when we find them grievous and difficult and that we should pray and labour for an increase of Charity The keeping of Gods Commandments is doubtless very hard to them that are acted by fear but Perfect Love casteth out Fear and as it fulfills the Law so it makes it easie and delightful to us For there is no trouble nor difficulty in that service which Love obligeth to what duties it binds on a good servant are ever thought pleasant and readily discharg'd whereas the same imposed by fear will make subjection grievous and obedience to be cavill'd at and by some means eluded 2. By this they are convinc'd to want the Love of God who complain of the strictness of Gospel-precept and count morality a needless burthen and by pretences and objections seek to loosen the yoke that they may shake it off Such are they that have itching ears and heap to themselves teachers after their own heart such as may more comply with their humor and inlarge their wanton liberty by restraining Gods Laws and the injunctions of his Church For men now adays will not be held in by duty but will range according to their will they have disputed themselves out of meekness and Charity and now that their actions are not govern'd by plain precepts but by opinions and parties they may be warranted to do in a manner whatever they lust But alass before Christs dreadful Tribunal we shall not he judged by vulgar opinions nor by the exceptions of contentious men but by truth and by divine Laws There mens fancies and relaxations and the doctrine of probability as some do teach it will be found to hare been only pernicious cheats whereby men sought to warrant their looseness and disobedience 3. But these things are not weighed nor understood but by them that sincerely love God and are therefore ready always to obey him in all things he requires For 't is by Love that the Soul gives up her self to God and by cleaving to him becomes one will and one spirit with him for God is Love saith the Scripture and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 And from this union flows an holy peace and a delicious joy when by love we are subject to our Beloved and are possest of him in whom and by whom are all things and who is the fountain of all happiness and the satisfaction of all our desires Now by this shall a man know whether he truly loves God and adheres to him if God be the last end of all his purposes and actions if his thoughts and desires always run after him and if above all things he seeks to please and to obtain him CHAP. XLI That there is more of Love in Practical Knowledge than in Speculation 1. TO desire knowledge is natural to man and still the more
Redemption the infinite Love and Charity of the Blessed Jesus and the glorious rewards and promises offered to all that will be true Christians While men shall be so stupid as to neglect these 't will be no hard matter to impose upon them and it must not seem strange that the means are despised where the end it self is disregarded Vntil Christians make it their first and chiefest business to secure a blessed Eternity by living holy lives it cannot be expected they should make wise and serious enquiries into those truths which are more disputable and less necessary For the mixing secular interests with things of Religion first made and still maintains the errors and breaches of the Christian world and the way to bring to an end many controversies is not so much to decide as to bury them at least to make them give place to those things which are much more plain and much more requisite and beneficial And here again I might have a just occasion to commend this Church we live in for the best guide of Souls for either she meddles not with many disputes or else she always stands on the much surer side of the question holding that which even her Adversaries cannot but acknowledge for truth and never amusing her Children with unnecessary speculations or unprofitable contests But as it is her great design to make us obedient to the Gospel of Christ and bring us to a sincere practice of all holy vertues so I shall conclude this Preface with an Exhortation to the same purpose That thou wouldest seriously and often consider that thy life is short and uncertain and that the world passeth away and all things here below and that thou resolve thereupon not to lose not to venture thy portion of good things above for any earthly enjoyment That thou wouldest bear Eternity in mind and weigh the importance of these two words which conclude our Creed Life Everlasting and that afterwards thou resolve carefully to follow the way that leads to it the Doctrine and Example of our Blessed Saviour who hath purchast and promist it to all that love and follow him Live therefore as one that follows the King of Eternity to a blessed Eternity and despise the world Vse diligently such means as will make thee know thy duty and incourage and assist thee in the discharge of it and amongst them good Books which read with attention and a design to make their goodness our own are very useful instruments of Vertue and Religion This I hope will somewhat conduce to their advancement Nay I am sure thou shalt be much better'd by it if thou wilt transcribe it with thy Life as I have with my Pen and make it thy hearty Endeavour as I do my Prayer L. B. THE Authors Dedication TO ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS WIth due Reverence I offer this small volume to you blessed Souls vessels of honour and mercy elect and holy Children of God predestinated to glory before the foundation of the World who being redeemed from death by the bloud of Christ and from sin by the gift of grace are not asham'd to own the despised Cross of your Redeemer For to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to you that are not born of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God You are call'd by the Father to a portion of the inheritance of the Saints in light that ye might be holy and unreprovable in his sight in love and in Christ you are chosen according to the purpose and good pleasure of God not for your own works and merits For you the Blessed Jesus prayed when being ready to leave the world and go to the Father he said I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine He prayed not for the world because all that is in it the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are not of the Father And therefore they that are of the world hear not or at least will not regard and understand the words of eternal life for the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God And though Christ be the true light which lightens every man that comes into the world yet the world sees him not nor knows him neither can it receive the spirit of truth On this will be grounded the iust judgment of the wicked This will be their condemnation that light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil and every one that doth evil hateth the light Now if Christ was a light in his life and doctrine he was so much more in his sufferings he did shine on the Cross most gloriously to all the world The tree of death to which he was tyed became his pulpit whence he preached his divinest Sermons teaching us that great lesson dying which he set while he was alive He that doth not take up my Cross and follow me cannot be my disciple Therefore to take up our Cross and follow Jesus is our greatest safety as well as duty our surest title to glory the Cross is the highest pitch of Christian learning to know Jesus Christ and him Crucified I heartily wish that they that shall read the ensuing Precepts and Practical Rules may have sanctified affections and a clear understanding that by the divine grace they may be brought to know and to follow the truth And my prayer for them is that God would strengthen them by his good Spirit in the inner man that love may abound in them more and more and that they may be sincere and unblameable replenisht with the fruits of righteousness pleasing to God in all things without contention and without offence I also beg for my self of the divine goodness that the glorious light of Christ may enlighten and guide my mind and that his strength may be perfected in my weakness lest after having preached to others I my self should become a cast-away by acting contrary to my own instructions And therefore I also beseech you good friends of God Blessed Christians who are the sheep of his Pasture remember me in your Prayers that what I teach I may fulfil that the precepts contained in this Book may be my practice by his divine grace and assistance without whom we can do nothing who with the Father and the Holy-Ghost liveth and reigneth one ever glorious and adored God Amen Imprimatur Geo. Hooper R. P. D. GIL Ep. Cant. Ã Sacris Dom. May 29. 1677. THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART PART I. Of the Christian Life and of its end and offices Pag. 1 CHAP. I. OF the distribution of all Christians into three ranks good middle-sort and bad ibid. CHAP. II. A further Description of
up to God thus at least he intended it but by our depravation and folly they became obstacles in our way to him they turn us from the path to life and happiness and as the Wiseman saith Wisd 14.11 The creatures of God become stumbling blocks to the souls of men and a snare to the feet of the unwise Of the unwise he saith such as will not take God for their guide such as turn their eyes from his glorious light to enjoy the shade and obscurity of creatures thereby falling in love with darkness and so becoming uncapable of ever abiding the divine saving light 2. Now if all creatures are created for this to be as helps and means whereby we may obtain our end then are we to take off our affections from them to place them upon the Creator who is the end we should aim at For the end should be lov'd and desir'd without end and without competitor in goodness being independent supreme and alone satisfactory whereas means have no farther goodness than as they help to obtain the end A Christian should therefore refer to God all his thoughts and words and actions and that not lazily or verbally only but with a strong affection and with a pure heart avoiding thereby the cheat men often put upon themselves in being deceiv'd with their own formalities and specious pretences when even in Religion and spiritual exercises they often seek and please themselves rather than God Upon this account the Scripture calls the way to life straight and narrow because depraved man refers all to himself and can hardly follow the pure and direct ways which God prescribes being naturally averse to an upright intention But when this aversion is once overcome by an assiduous diligence and delight in the law of God then divine commandments are not grievous the way to life is wide and the yoke of Christ is light and pleasant CHAP. XI That men trifling about things Eternal and being earnest about the World is the cause why so many attain not their main end 1. THat the number of fools is past number was rightly affirmed by the Wise man For indeed infinite multitudes of men trifle away their days so simply act so childishly or rather so much like mad men that their intolerable follies cannot be sufficiently deplor'd They set the flesh above the spirit they prefer time to Eternity and Earth to Heaven till the unhappy Comedy of their sinful lifâ— ends in a sadder Tragedy of death and they go down to Hell in a moment If a suit at law is to be determin'd or an estate gain'd or a place of honour obtain'd then they spare no cost nor labour no search no diligence no study but if Heaven is to be purchast and eternal life and glory made sure then no man stirs they are all asleep and unactive no regard no care is had of it 2. In things that touch and afflict the body as hunger and thirst heat and cold pains and infirmities our senses are quick and can never be deceiv'd and therefore with all our might and industry we presently occur to those evils and endeavour to remove them But if our soul suffers under the same or the like spiritual evils we are not sensible and we care no more than if that nobler part of us whereby we live and are rational and like to Angels had no being at all And this because the flesh hath got the upper hand and we value this sport uncertain life more than life eternal and we make it our first and sole employment to rescue that carcass from death for a few moments which certainly must soon become its prey 3. One cause of these preposterous doings is the gross and brutish ignorance or rather inconsideration of too too many who will neither know nor consider to what end man was created what it is he should seek and design in the whole course of his life and what way he should take that he may not miss of his great aim Jer. 12.11 The whole land is made desolate because no man lays it to heart i. e. because no man considers wisely Another cause of this mischief is the great number and power of those Enemies that perpetually assault us whose snares no man can possibly avoid without God breaks them and delivers him for we are continually besieg'd by a frail flesh a flattering world and legions of devils who seek to devour us 4. Lastly our folly and misery proceeds partly from our blindness the whole World being in darkness we want light to guide us and yet will not beg it of God and pray him devoutly he would lead us aright who alone is able and willing to do it and partly from our sloth and inconstancy for we are vertuous in wish and not in effect because we are lazy to work and when it comes to the practice we find difficulties and being soon tir'd and disheartned hastily give over before we have effected any thing All Christians no doubt would be glad to come at last to Christ but they have no heart to come after him they would be glad to enjoy him but care not to imitate him fain would they come to him but not follow him Men would obtain riches without labour and Crowns without fighting they like well of rewards but they would take no pains GHAP. XII How men suffer themselves to be deceiv'd by a fair out-side and false appearance of good 1. THis World's felicity put all together with all those things that are most esteem'd by the generality of mankind the whole is but like a coarse picture which seems to have something pleasing and inviting when you look upon 't with a false light or in a place somewhat obscure or with a small blind candle such as is the dim and deceitful light of present time but if you bring forth the picture and view it before that glorious sun that shines for ever the radiant brightness of Eternity there it will appear deform and unfinish'd a dark and imperfect shadow which represents nothing a confused heap of strokes and lines drawn without order or design For though the light of the Gospel enlightens the World yet it remains in darkness men will not see the glorious discoveries which the Gospel makes The light shined in the darkness but the darkness comprehended it not 3. Yet that light it is and none else that clearly shews the great difference betwixt good and evil btwixt vile and precious betwixt truth and appearances how we may know and chuse the one from the other By this blessed light of Christianity which dwells in the heart and instructs it and abides for ever by it we are taught not to cleave to the creatures because of their attractive beauty but so to consider their perfections as to be by them led to the fountain whence they proceed to the love and admiration of the glorious maker of all things And the same divine light it is makes me see
eyes and mind on that Original which he means to copy So should a follower of Christ in all his words and actions set before himself his Master's Life as the most perfect exemplar he is resolv'd to imitate and never to swerve from 2. Now he that professeth Christ and remains in him should walk as he walked carefully observe and follow the steps of his new and better Lord. For as whilest we remain in the state of Nature and follow its instinct we are Children of wrath and are slaves to Satan and to our own lusts so now we are redeem'd from that unhappy slavery by the bloud of Christ his Grace must be the principle of all our actions we must carefully follow him whose members we are 1 Cor. 15.47 The first man is of the Earth earthly the second man is the Lord from Heaven therefore as we have born the Image of the Earthy we should also bear the Image of the Heavenly making that our first and chiefest care that we walk worthy of our high calling as being led by his Spirit from whom we have our highest title for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his saith the Apostle Rom. 8.9 3. Now he alone hath the Spirit of Christ whose outward and inward life that is whose actâ—ons and affections are according to the Pattern of Christ's blessed example who endeavours always to speak and act as Christ his Master did According as we are exhorted not to walk after the flesh but after the Spirit being created anew in Jesus Christ unto good works We should look unto the Rock whence we are hewn not living after the methods of depraved man but walking in the ways of that righteous God from whom we have our being that we being holy in all manner of conversation may be own'd to be the children of our Father which is in Heaven For he certainly is no child of God who is not led and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ CHAP. XVIII The Just liveth by faith not by the laws of flesh and bloud 1. FAith is to all virtues and to a Christian life the same thing as the root is to the tree the foundation to the building and the Spring to the fountain for it is the first lesson of Christianity from whence we learn all the rest there we must first begin and without it it is impossible to please God for the just lives by faith The Commendation Job gives to wisdom Chap. 28. is justly due to Faith Faith being the principle of it and likewise it is evident and granted by all wise men that Solomon's high Encomium of Wisdom doth but set forth the Divine excellencies of Faith Wisd 7. Gold in respect of her is as little sand and silver shall be counted as clay before her she is a treasure unto men that never faileth which they that use become the friends of God She is the brightness of the everlasting light the unspotted mirrour of the power of God and the Image of his goodness The doctrine of Faith apprehended by Faith teacheth us all Truth informs our Souls what we ought to love what to shun and what to pursue It teacheth us that what the world counts good is evil And that worldly calamities are good if indur'd patiently It teacheth us to despise things visible and temporal and all that which is for no use but to the material part of us It teacheth us to know God and to know our selves which is the true saving knowledge and the highest of our wisdome And it frees us from the pernicious errors of this foolish world and from its wretched slavery to make us wise unto salvation and set us at perfect liberty 2. There is a vast distance and great contrariety betwixt the instructions of faith and the customs of this present world but then Christ who delivers the first being ever true and infallible it is clearly our duty and interest to live by faith and not by sense to follow the holy light of our holy faith not the wicked example of this wicked world And withal 't is much to be observ'd that depraved as we now are there is nothing in us nothing in our nature but what is contrary to the principles of the Christian Faith and altogether destructive of them For 't is the constant dictate and endeavour of flesh and bloud and natural reason to procure by all means possible a well-being to our selves in this present world without taking any further care of a better life and a blessed Eternity This evil men have from Adam and from those lusts which reign in their mortal bodies and the best of men have still some cause to groan under the sense of it Rom. 7. The good that I would I do not and the evil which I hate that I do O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death St. Paul answers the Grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ will deliver us For by Grace we are sav'd from our blindness and impotency and enabled to see and chuse that which is good and to perform the same and the first and chiefest work of that grace is faith whereby we are united to Christ and receive a new life from him CHAP. XIX That Faith works in a Christian self-denyal and contempt of the World 1. GReat is the power and strength of Faith for it makes the faithful Christian to be as it self is unshaken and unmovable The true believer whose faith is lively and active regards and seeks nothing but God and in him alone finds light and peace delight and full satisfaction but in the world and in the sons of men he finds neither rest nor pleasure for in time of need there is no help in them They are like all other things under the Sun perishing and unstable so that he that relies on them must expect the same destiny whereas he that trusts on God who is unmoveable is established for ever As the Saints that see God as he is become like unto him so should our life express the holiness of our belief our actions should be a lively representation of what we see by faith and we should glory in nothing but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ which to the lovers of this present world is a reproach and an offence 2. The first man indeed in the state of his innocence might have come to Bliss by a free and lawful use of those good creatures which God had prepar'd for him in the delights of Paradise but after he had rebel'd against God and infected his unborn posterity with sin the Divine Wisdom appointed another way to Bliss that is the way of the Cross and Self-denyal through which Christ himself past and appointed the same to all his followers saying Luke 9.23 If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow me And again Luke 14.26 33.
oblig'd to observe The Divine are contain'd in the Ten Commandments and in the New Testament which contains the precepts of Faith Hope and Charity Faith obligeth all the Faithful to believe the doctrines of Christianity as they are sum'd up in our Creed By Hope we trust by the grace of God and our own sincere endeavour to obtain and use all necessary means of Grace and Eternal Life at last all which in this assurance we heartily beg in the Lord's Prayer And Charity requires of us to love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves A Christian by these three virtues is made a new and holy creature Faith inlightens and directs his understanding Hope raiseth him up and sets his will at work for God and to God Charity unites him wholly It is also necessary to understand the necessity of Baptism and the Lord's Supper and true Repentance which are all Divine Institutions indispensably necessary to all that will be saved For except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.5 And Except we eat the flesh and drink the bloud of Christ we have no life in us Joh. 6.53 And as for Repentance it is the only remedy we have for the sins committed after Baptism that by it we may be made clean again 2. Lastly there are also Human Laws Enacted by the Church or the State we live in and them we are also to know and to observe with meekness and humility and for Conscience sake But no man of himself is able to keep all these Laws which God hath bound upon us none can obey them without the true light from above enlighten and guide him as it is written Psal 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastnest O Lord and teachest him in thy Law For ever since sin came into the World men without the light of Faith sit in darkness and the shadow of death and take an account of good and evil not by the measures of truth but by their lusts and depraved passions We must therefore earnestly beg the divine assistance that he that commands what he wills would enable us to do what he hath commanded healing our blindness and impotency destroying self-love and filling our hearts with devout love to him for the end of the Commandment is Charity and he that truly loves God keepe his Commandments without hypocrisie or reservation CHAP. XXXIV The difference betwixt the outward and the inward man 1. OUR Christian hope is not for this World nor for this present time and we were not created to enjoy that Earthly happiness which the World only seeks but God made us for that Eternal Bliss which he hath promised and whose excellency we cannot as yet understand For eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither is it entred into the heart of man what things God hath prepared for them that love him We therefore that are called to the possession of that Kingdom which was prepared for us from the beginning of the World ought not to govern our selves only by human reasons and live by natural instincts after the common manner of men who are unacquainted with the ways of Eternity and the motions of Divine Grace But happy are they that wisely dive into the depth of things who live to God and commune with him in their hearts and suffer not their thoughts and affections to range and dwell abroad 2. These men live an inward life they are recollected and dwell at home always disposed to hear Gods voice within them and to understand his secrets Whereas they live an outward life that are most affected with outward things having fair pretences for their worldly-mindedness being greedy of news and curious sights and sensual pleasures walking saith the Apostle Eph. 4.17 in the vanity of their minds alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them For the more a man profits in carnal wisdom the more ignorant he becomes in the things of God As much as we love the creatures as much we lessen our love to the Creator CHAP. XXXV How dangerous it is to be governed by opinion and false apprehension of things 1. HE is a wise man that weighs things justly and then esteems them according to their intrinsick value for every thing in the world hath a twofold aspect or a double face the one natural and real and the other disguised and fallacious The first is what God judgeth and hath revealed it to be and the second depends on mens passions and false opinions Thus for Example the Dignity of a Bishop is in effect and according to Gods appointment a high and Angelic office of such a weight as should make human strength tremble and shrink under it it is a place of great honour but also it requires the greatest labour and diligence to watch for the Souls intrusted with the dignified Prelat who shall give a strict account for them in the day of judgment But in the Worlds account a Bishoprick is only a degree of honour in the Church which promotes the owner of it to riches and greatness and temporal advantages Hence it is that they that rightly apprehend what the office is fear and avoid it and are so far from seeking that they refuse it when offer'd and it is much to be feared that they follow the worlds judgements and seek themselves that seek it and make it their aim and the object of their passionate desires The same may be said of all other dignities and places of trust in Church and State Generally men have a wrong notion of them and understand not their definition and hence the confusions and malvorsations that are in the world that men mistake things and hate truth and will not see nor follow divine light but the darkness of their own perverse hearts 2. Such names are commonly used amongst men as are consecrated by the Bloud of Christ and the highest virtues of his greatest Saints as that some be called Bishops Priests Deacons Monks or Hermits Some Kings Princes and Magistrates and all together Christians but who is there that duly considers the great worth the strength and true significations of those names what virtues what perpetual care what duties they require from such as bear them the bare Titles with a vain shadow of the things remain but the reality and significancy of them is vanish'd few men are in truth what they call themselves few live according to the name of Christian because few make it their first care to follow the example of Christ This unhappy deceit is also an effect of the first and worst of evils Self-love the most crafty deceiver hardly found out by the wisest and seldome quite conquer'd by the best of men 3. The truth is that the good and evil things of this present life are so mixt and confused that if we take an exact view of the nature of them we shall hardly discern the one