I should ever have had an occasion to answer such a question as that you propose for sure you never discerned that I had a mind to be separated from you And truly I never discerned any such thing in my self nor have you given me cause to be less your Friend then heretofore unless it be by this unfriendly jealousie which as I told you a little while ago I thought you would never have entertained And since I see it proceeds rather from an ill opinion of your self then any you have of me I recall that word and pray you to believe that you are as dear unto me as ever that is my friend And what I pray you is the office of a friend if not to relieve the wants of those he loves and to bear those burdens with them which they are not able to carry alone If they themselves therefore by reason of any heaviness of Spirit prove the burden that he must sustain He will not complain of it It is their unhappiness he knows both that they are so heavy and are in danger they think to be a load to him and He will not let them be more unhappy by becoming heavy himself and groaning under that easie weight which they lay upon him Easie I call it because it is a pleasure to do any kindness for our friends and the pleasure encreases proportionably to the pains that we take in doing of it You shall hear the Judgement of a Philospher in this case if you please and of one that loved ease more then any of his fellows Though a wise man he thought might be content with himself yet notwithstanding he granted that his happiness would be greater with a friend Of such a companion he cannot but be desirous if it be for no other end but to exercise his amity and that so great a vertue may not remain without use He doth not chuse a friend saith Epicurus himself to have some to assist him when he is sick or to succour him if he be in prison or such necessities But contrary wise that he may have one whom he may help and comfort in the like distresses For he hath an evil intention that only respects himself when he makes Friendship And so shall he end his friendship as he begun the same He that hath purchased himself a friend to the intent that he may be succoured by him in prison will take his flight as soon as he feels that he is released of his bonds Both the chains shall be knockt off together those of his prison and those of his friendship These are the friendships which we vulgarly call Temporary being made only to serve a turn He that is made a friend for profit sake shall please as long as he may be profitable and so they who are in felicity see themselves inviron'd with a multitude of these followers But where the distressed dwell there is nothing but solitude For such manner of friends alwayes avoid those places where they may be proved It is necessary that the beginning and the end have a correspondence He that hath begun to be a friend because it is expedient he that hath thought there is a gain in friendship beside it self may well be suborn'd against the same by the appearance and offers of a greater gain For what cause then do I entertain a friend To the end I may have one for whom I may dye whom I may accompany in banishment and for whose life and preservation I may expose my self to any danger For the other which only regards profit and makes account of that which may turn to its own commodity it is rather a Traffique then Friendship Certain it is that Friendship hath in some sort a similitude and likeness to the affection of Lovers Whose scope is neither gain nor greatness nor glory but despising all other considerations love it self inkindles in them a desire of the beloved form under hopes of a mutual and reciprocal amity Thus he Unless you will number me then among those Summer friends which he speaks of or think that friendship in me is feebler then it was in Pagans you must not hold me any longer in suspition And indeed if you did but know how great a favour you do me in letting me know your griefs and making me the Witness of your Conscience and relying upon me for advice and thereby giving me an opportunity to serve you the best I can you would presently throw away all these Imaginations which the enemy of Souls and of Friendship would instill into you For my part I did not so lightly and in sport receive you into my conduct as that any difficulty or a multitude of them should make my employment tedious to me Nay how can it be irksome when you your self acknowledge that the labours of Love are all pleasure and carry their own rewards in them You may think perhaps that love grows old as well as all other things and that time works its decay and renders it feeble and weak Thus Attalus was wont to say that it is far more pleasant to make a friend then to have one As it is more agreeable to a Painters fancy to draw his lines then to have finished the picture After he hath painted indeed he possesses the fruit of his Art but he took pleasure in the Art it self when he painted Just as the youth of our children is more fruitful to us but their infancy is more sweet But assure your self I do not live by any of these Maxims Friendship is like Wine the older it is the better It grows more pure by age its spirits are more disingaged and it warms the heart more powerfully then when it was but new and green Nay your friendship is more pleasant too whatsoever you may think now that it is grown then it was in its childhood I enjoy the remembrance of those pleasures and have some new ones besides just as a Painter thinks on his Art when he beholds the piece that he hath brought to perfection I beseech you then if you have any love to me that you will not call in question mine to you And if all this will not satisfie you let me intreat you for the Love of our Lord that you will ask him whether I do not love you I know he is so much a friend to Truth and unto Love too not to say to you and me that he will do me the favour to perswade you that I do And therefore let not the Evil one who loves nothing less then our Friendship sow this jealousie in your heart that I grow weary of you But be confident that as our Lord loves you so he imparts true love to me and that if the armes of these two can do any thing you shall be carried safe to Jerusalem And now since I have told you my very heart let me know I pray what further doubt it is that troubles yours It cannot be so great sure that
cheap rate or rather have them for nothing but in the other they will not come so easily but cost no small pains to acquire them There is a kind of impatience also in some natures which is not able to suffer any delayes And this being joyned with a softness and delicacy which is a sworn enemy to all manner of trouble and pains it renders men very willing to spare themselves the length and tediousness of an enquiry together with all the difficulties of a choice Hence it comes to pass that they love at first sight and suffer others to chuse their belief for them and then afterwards they retain by custome and prescription that which they took but by chance and preoccupation Make an essay therefore of the patience which you promise in your whole journey at the very entrance of it and let your diligence to know the will of God be an earnest of that you mean to use in the doing of it And as I would have you free your self from this lazy credulous humour so let it be your next care to rid your mind of its opposite obstinate incredulity Let not the cure of one sickness be the cause of another nor that which takes away your softness and easiness to believe render you hard and impenetrable by all the impressions of truth Imploy the thoughts which I would have you spend in serious inquiry to possess your mind with a strong perswasion of the certainty of Christian Religion and with a right understanding of the true design of that glorious Revelation For that both gives you such a prospect of the Blessed place you are going to as no where else can be met withal and directs you to such a course of real piety as plainly leads unto it And the more confident you grow that Jesus is the Son of God as the voyce from Heaven witnessed that he is the Lord of Life and the King of Glory the surer will you tread all the way you go and the less danger there will be of stumbling The sounder also and more healthful will you grow so as not to faint much less to forsake the Christian course And next to this I beseech you use the greatest diligence to provide that your Faith which is to do all things in your journey be not it self infected with the common disease of sloth and idleness Be sure to purge your soul from all the drousie and phlegmatick opinions you may have about it which stifle and choak the very spirit and life of it Do not cease till you have freed it of all obstructions and rendred it so active and vigorous that you can be confident in its own nature it will necessarily produce an holy Life Suffer it not to rest no not in Christ himself till it animate you to a free and cheerful obedience to all his commands Let it give your soul a sense that the whole Religion is comprehended in this one powerful word Let it seem as a poynt from whence all the lines of your duty are drawn like a fire in the middle of a room sending out its heat on every side in an ardent love of God and of your Brethren Esteem it I mean such an hearty perswasion of the Truth and Goodness of all that Christ hath spoken that by the force and virtue of it you become obsequious to his will in all things And having effected this then search your Conscience very narrowly to find out all the sins whereof you stand guilty some of which may lurk so secretly or look so demurely that a Faith which is not very busie may either not espy them or let them pass for no offences These must all be purged out and left behind as things that can by no means be permitted to go along with you And for that end let me advise you to unload your soul of them all by humble confession and if any of them lye as an heavy burden upon you to repair to your spiritual Physician that he may help by his counsel and prescriptions to ease you of them And in the last place Let all these be attended with a strong Resolution that though your sins should follow and call after you and beg to have but one word with you they shall be so far from receiving any entertainment that you will not so much as enter into speech with them nor listen to the voice of any of their temptations I will not deny but that it is a difficult thing not to lend so much as a good look to an old acquaintance yet it will appear much otherwise to those who confess their sins so as to hate them and to purge themselves from all affection to them That therefore you must give me leave to subjoyn to this Advice That you do not content your self with such Physick as cleanseth only the first passages and carries away no more than the grosser humours out of the greater chanels of your life but that you administer such as will search into the furthest parts of your soul and cleanse the spirit from all its defilements You must not leave behind so much as a good opinion of any evil way Not the smallest kindness for it or if it be possible any inclination to it must be suffered to remain For this you know undid no less than six hundred thousand Travellers to Jerusalem in ancient times and left all their carkasses buried in the Desarts who left Egypt as you now are going to forsake the world but it was in their Bodies only and not in their hearts and affection Their mouths watred still at the remembrance of the Flesh and Coleworts the Garlick and Onyons and they had a secret inclination which could not be long concealed to return to those injoyments which they had abandoned They loved the Country from whence they were departed though they hated the bondage And it was not so much the evil customs as the cruelties of that Land which made them sigh for deliverance Which is but the type and picture of those persons now who leave their sinful waies and practices resolving never to return to them but yet they bear them a great good will and could be very well pleased if they could gain a permission to enjoy them and not be damn'd to the bargain They are often casting a kind and favourable look towards them it tickles them to think how happy they should be if they could sometimes keep them company and suffer nothing by it It is not their sins that they are fallen out withall but some of their followers that wait upon them their smiles and salutes they receive with joy and fear nothing but the sting which appears in the tail of them We are wont you know to compare such persons to those sick men who dare not taste of the salt meats and the raw fruit which they see their friends eat before them because the Physician assures them that Death lyes in ambush under every morsel
at the first as in a still quiet and loving admiration of the excellent Goodness Purity and Love of Jesus When you believe him to have the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily and especially when you are indued with a savoury feeling of his holiness and kindness this sight of him will beget in your soul a more pure spiritual and sweet Humility than the beholding of your self can possibly do which produces an Humility more gross boisterous and unquiet As there is a Love which is calm and quiet when not at all stirr'd with the passion we remain possessed of all the pleasure of it So is there an Humility of the same nature which silently sinks us down to the very bottom of our being without stirring and troubling of our souls as we are wont to do when we violently plunge our thoughts into them But both of these descend from above when our minds are fastned to caelestial objects which alwayes are in a serene tranquillity they will not spring from things beneath which are tossed in a perpetual and restless agitation We never seem less in our own eyes than when we look down from an high upon our selves and being then in peace we have less also of that vexation wherein our souls are apt to boil and rage when they are the nearest objects of our thoughts Our Humility will be the more when we admire Jesus and it will be of a temper more mild and gentle like him whom we admire It will not lose any thing of it self by taking its original from him but only lose that sowreness which is mingled with it when it hath its beginning from our selves You will plainly understand my meaning if you do but consider that by fixing your eyes upon your self you may indeed discern that you are a most wretched sinful creature but by fastning them upon him you will both see the same and that more clearly and moreover feel that you are a meer nothing This sense of your self which layes you lowest of all other you can never owe to any thing else but a sight of him who wants nothing His Fulness appearing so great your Emptiness will seem as vast and in compare with his Perfections you will think your self nothing but Imperfection When you consider that all is his at that thought you have lost your self by finding that you are not your own and when you think that he is the original of all you are lost again in a sense that you had been nothing without him So that in this way you will be as much cast down to the ground and rolled as much in the dust as by any other reflections All the difference is that you will not roll and tumble about in the turbulency of your own distracted thoughts and the violent commotion of your furious passions You will only lye at his feet in a lowly posture adoring of his Excellencies praising his surpassing Perfections confessing your own meanness beseeching him to pity a poor Soul that thinks it self nothing unless it may see him there and desiring him to take the opportunity of doing himself that honour and you that kindness as out of his fulness to impart a new spirit and a divine nature to you Nay this Humility will make you study to cast all other things out of your thoughts and labour only to be beloved of him without which you judge your self to be of all creatures most miserable It is not to be told what the benefits of this sort of Humility are but to let you see something of its great virtue reflect upon that which we lately discoursed concerning the force of a strong Resolution and hearty surrender of your self to God Which as it contains all things you are to do with in its comprehension so it is supported by nothing more than a profound Humility When we consider that we were made by God that we depend upon him every moment that we are infinitely ingaged to him for many millions of his favours when we think what a Soveraign Authority he hath over us how much he is superiour to us what a right he hath to all our services and how wise and good his will is it is impossible that we should avoid resolving to give him our hearts and to persist eternally in the abnegation of our own wills and desires which we can never suffer to be competitors with his This Humility will not be forward to cloathe you with shirts of hair to prescribe you no other dyet but the meanest you can procure to put a whip into your hand wherewith to let your self blood to rob you of your hose and shooes that you may go barefoot to Jerusalem It will not bid you strike your bare breast against the stones nor tell you that to be a Saint you must roll your naked body in the briers or tumble in the same manner in heaps of Winter Snow or plunge your self up to the neck in an Icy Pool But it will infallibly strip you of your self and starve all your carnal desires and break your will in pieces and lay you at the foot of the Cross of Christ and dispose you to all those rigours and a thousand more if your Lord did signifie that he would be pleased with such austerities How safe then and secure must you needs think your self under the conduct of such a Companion you cannot have a better Guard nor be put into a place of greater assurance if you seek over all the world for it than that to which Humility will lead you For making you distrustful of your own power and strength it will urge you to a continual dependance upon your Lord without whom you feel that nothing much less such an excellent thing as you design can be atchieved We accuse very much the weakness of our nature we complain heavily of the body of flesh and blood which continually betrayes us we conceit that we should do rare things were we but once quit of this load of earth and suffered to move in the free and yielding Air. But let me tell you and believe it for a truth though we had no society with a terrestrial nature nay though our minds were free and clear from all mortal concretion though we had no cloathes at all to hinder our motion yet our ruine might arise out of our spirits and by pride and self-confidence we might throw our selves down into utter destruction For what commerce I pray you had the Apostate Angels with our corporeal nature what familiarity with a body Do we not conceive them to have been pure spirits separated from all earthly contagion And yet by placing all in themselves by being puffed up in their own thoughts and not acknowledging their need of the Divine presence and assistance we conclude that they tumbled themselves into an Abysse of misery and woe irrecoverable Now they are in a worse condition then if they were spirits of a smaller size Now the torment
to all the rest of its neighbouring parts together with the exact and admirable order of the Whole And can you imagine into what transports it will cast your soul to hear the praises of the Creator sung by all his Works of wonder And yet that is another priviledge of this blessed place by the advantage of whose holy silence you will receive the chearful hymns wherewith every creature you behold doth celebrate the wisdom power and goodness of him that made it You have heard no doubt of the Musick of the Sphaeres which they say would ravish souls from these mortal bodies should it but strongly touch their ears and therefore is almost drown'd by the noise and clatter of this lower world This is it which I am now commending to you that sweet concent which all creatures make among themselves that rare harmony which there is in the motion of all the heavenly Orbs which strikes the mind so agreeably that one cannot chuse but dance for joy together with them But it is the proper entertainment of those who dwell in that still Region in which alone it can be distinctly heard and where an everlasting song to the Creator of all doth melt their hearts to joyn in consort with that Universal harmony But yet the place is nothing so considerable as the Persons that inhabit it nor will it be so useful to draw their pictures curiously as to describe their life and manners Enquire not therefore of the vastness of this place the stateliness of its buildings the riches of their furniture and such like things but know that it is the City of the Great King the seat of the Imperial Majesty of Heaven and Earth the place where the Lord and Governour of the whole world whose Dominion is an everlasting Dominion and who reigns through all Generations keeps his Court. Do you not think it will be a pleasingly amazing sight to behold the Majesty of his Glory Or What greater happiness can you wish if you were to be the disposer of your own fortune than alway to stand before the Soveraign of the World as one of his Ministers and Attendants and to live in his blessed presence as one whom he highly favours To behold the wisdom of his Government the righteousness and goodness of his Laws the admirable contrivance of all his Works the universal care which he takes of all his Creatures the infinite extent of his Providence and the power of his Authority whereby he doth whatsoever he pleases in Heaven and Earth and Sea and all deep places To see how he brings those things together which were removed far asunder and dissolves the combinations and confederacies of those things which were closely united To contemplate how he hereby makes those designs abortive which were just bringing forth how he disappoints the devises of the crafty and confounds all the subtilty of the world and catches it in its own snares It will strangely transport you to see the beauty of his Holiness the splendor and brightness of his Understanding the largeness of his Love his uncorrupted Justice his unexhausted Goodness his immoveable Truth his uncontroulable Power his vast Dominions which yet he fills with his presence and administers their affairs with ease and is magnified and praised in them by the throng of all his creatures These things I will leave to your own private thoughts that I may have time to speak of the rest of the caelestial Inhabitants but especially of the Kings Son who is a principal ornament if I may speak in so low a phrase and a great glory to this place And of him I shall need to tell you no more than this that in his person there is to be seen at once the most illustrious Lover and Warriour that ever was His Conquests have been innumerable His Victories no History but one of his own inspiring is able to recount He hath trodden down the most potent and giantly enemies He hath triumphed over the Powers of Earth and Air. He hath trailed the greatest Tyrant that ever was seen at his Chariot-wheels And there is one universal triumph of his over all things still behind wherein there will be special marks of honour set on all the Citizens of Jerusalem who are to bear a part in it which will astonish and ravish all their hearts with Admiration Love and Joy This will be the most splendid shew the most illustrious appearance that ever the Sun saw for all Angels and all Men all that ever have been are or shall be will there be summoned to attend in some sort or other upon the Pomp of that great day Then all the Citizens of Jerusalem will be seen with Crowns of Gold on their heads which this great Prince will bestow upon them then they will appear on the Theatre of the world as so many Kings raigning together with him and then all the Heavens will ring with shouts of joy and praise to him that redeemed them as they march along in his train thorow the Air to Jerusalem For as I told you he is the most glorious Lover that ever was and the greatness of his valour and courage doth not at all extinguish his nobler flames He is owner of the most tender heart that ever was in any breast and hath rendred himself redoubtable to his greatest enemies by nothing more than this that he hath won so many hearts and triumphed over so many brave souls who were vanquished by nothing else but the power of his mighty Love Such a generous Lover he was that though he was rich he became poor that they on whom he had set his heart might be made rich He laid aside the Robes of his Glory that they might be invested with them He took upon him the shape of a servant that he might prefer them to be the Sons of God and Heirs of a Kingdom And at last he voluntarily and without any compulsion but that of his Love dyed upon a Cross to save the lives of those who were so far from having any resentments of Love to him that they had the hearts of most desperate enemies against him For you must know that he is such a Lord of Love that the hatred and malignity of men could not extinguish the fervours of his passion All the discourtesies they could do him were not able to prevail with him to lay aside his thoughts of kindness toward them The innumerable affronts which he received could not make him go back to Heaven and forsake this ill-natur'd world till he had expressed all the Love conceiveable unto it No he dyed for those who took away his life His bowels earned toward those who were ready to rake into them with their bloody hands His heart burnt with affection to those wretches that cruelly pierced it and thrust it thorow with a spear And therefore I cannot but think you would have a mind to take a journey to Jerusalem and judge your pains and travel well
might be so greedy of these things as to mind them more than their duty and for that cause it is best to take them away that they may be sensible there are other matters of greater moment and necessity But if none of these dangers should be supposed will we not give God leave to exercise our Faith and Love and make a tryal of the sincerity and strength of those Graces in what way he pleases He would know perchance whether we will build our confidence upon himself and upon his Promises rather than on sense and whether we will follow after him upon the same account though we have no present sensible attractive And who can take it ill that he makes such a proof of us seeing we do it every day our selves to others whose friendship we value not if they court us only when we are bestowing gifts and benefits upon them But if you think that this deprivation of Joy is a punishment for some fault which you have committed and that it is a token he hath sent you a bill of divorce and separated you from him you are much to blame in suffering your Soul to make such a rash conclusion Perhaps you have deserved to be chid for some fault but will you presently fancy that your Father intends to disinherit you Is it his manner to forsake and run away from us when we chance to stumble and not rather to come and lift us up and bid us take more heed to our selves I never thought he loved us so little and me thinks it ill comports with the notion of a Father to represent him so severe It is very necessary indeed that you should weigh your faults and confess them sorrowfully and mend them speedily but I can never think it is pleasing to him that you should be so dismaid at them and afflicted for them as to imagine he will cast you off and never look upon you more No I believe rather he esteems this a greater dis-service to him then the very fault it self because it keeps us from mending what is amiss and makes us so feeble that we are apt to offend in some kind or other again To say nothing of the dishonour it is to his Goodness and the great scandal it gives to others who will be loath to enter into the service of that Master whom they think it impossible to please But then if under the pretence of humbling your self you shall make a sin that is no bigger than a grain of Mustard-seed as great as an Elephant I beseech you what service do you therein do your Lord And yet this stone many are apt to stumble at and that so oft that in time they fancy a great sin there where indeed one can find none at all Do you think our Saviour will conne you any thanks for aggravating your offences to this heigth or accusing your self when there is no guilt Is there nothing for him to pardon unless you make some faults or bring him a great mountain to cover and hide with his love Let me tell you my dear Brother that this is a part of your mistakes and a cause that you and Joy are no better acquainted You imagine that you have done Nothing and complain of such dulness as if you had stood still ever since I saw you when as you have made a very fair progress and in some things you see have overtaken my self And then on the contrary you groan under the sense of an heavy guilt when as you did but neglect a Free-will offering and was kept from a duty to which you had then no tye but what you received from your own hands You are apt I see to overwork your soul and to impose too great burdens upon its back Which when you are not so well able to bear as sometimes you find your self you are apt to think it a great fault if you take some ease when as in truth it is your duty then to omit those tasks you have injoyn'd your self that you may not neglect those duties which are required by our Saviour Come come my friend if these things be all that trouble you my life for yours you shall do well enough Let but my advice be followed though at first it should be with unwillingness and take my word you shall fare the better for it in your after-course And first I must not have you lay more loads upon your self then Christ hath done nor oblige your self without the liberty of a dispensation to so many hours of Prayer and Reading every day Let it suffice to do what you can all other things being duly considered that require your attendance Next I must forbid you to make so much haste to perfection A soft pace goes far Do not tire your spirits by your speed but go on so fairly and leisurely that you may hold out And then likewise let me not hear any more that you exhaust your natural strength and weary your very body with much Fasting unseasonable abstinence long prayers or such like things which had better be let alone than procure so much mischief as I have seen them do And remember I beseech you that Lesson which I think was taught you before this journey That you bind not your self alwayes to one way of Prayer or Meditation nor confine your soul to one exercise only at the hours of retirement but chuse that which shall like you best and wherein you can proceed with the greatest freedom and delight Besides I perceive you have forgot another of my Lessons which was to make use of some innocent Recreations and harmless pastimes as you went along And therefore what I did but then advise let me now enjoyn that you give your self sometimes a little divertisement from more serious employments And truly if you should say as I know some do that it is not for want of these Joyes that you complain but because you can neither understand nor tast the goodness of Divine truths this last advice is one of the most useful that I can give you for the remedying of that melancholly dulness All that I shall add is only this that you would have patience and you shall see the good temper wherein you were return of it self as it went away without your consent Indeed said the Pilgrim who all this time had been very silent I am very sensible that I have lost a great many of your good counsels or else I should not have been so bad as here you find me And I take it for a singular favour that Jesus hath done me in sending you again thither to rub up my memory and to fasten those things in my mind which hung there too loose before I must not forget likewise to acknowledge my new obligations to you from whom I have now received not only so large but so plain and familiar an answer to my doubt And truly you do very prudently and charitably to lay your commands upon me to
while after with some Pilgrims who were remiss and negligent a great zeal was kindled in him and he called upon his Guide very earnestly to use his spurs and prick them up to a greater diligence Which motion you will easily think the Good Father was not backward to embrace but drawing a little nearer to them and well observing their careless postures he askt them what the reason might be of that lazy and wretchless life which men of their profession lead Are you not convinced said he of the truth of that Religion which is taught by Christ Do you take Jesus for an impostor and think that he lyes in his grave and never shall come to Judge the World by his Laws Or do you think that he hath commanded impossible things and made a Law which cannot be put in use and practice How then shall he Judge the World in Righteousness Or how came it to pass that you undertook his service if you thought that none can come in his wayes to the happiness of Jerusalem For my part I can see nothing that should make it seem impossible to be so good as Christ hath required but only the lives of a number of such wretches as your selves And lest I should seem to reproach you or my words should not meet with due regard from you hearken I beseech you to the language of one who indeed commands your attention if it be but for the reverence which you bear to his years and the place which he held in the Church of God It is the famous Patriarch of Constantinople which I mean who thus awakens some such drowsie souls as yours Suppose a Gentile saith he should come to thee and say If thou lookest for a Kingdom in Heaven why dost thou mind this World so much Sure thou dost but talk they are but words which thou tellest to us If thou expectest the dreadful tribunal of Christ hereafter why dost thou not despise the most terrible things that threaten thee in this life If thou expectest immortality why do we not see thee laugh at death What answer now wilt thou return to this Objector What wilt thou say for thy self who tremblest at the loss of a little Riches for the Kingdom of Heavens sake and rejoycest at the gain of a farthing as if it were a great prize This is that which scandalizes the Gentiles and makes them mock both at thee and thy Religion too Do not therefore study so much to apologize for it by thy Words as by thy Deeds Let him see such a one as Christ describes not only in thy Books but in thy Self Make it manifest to him that there is such a Religion in being alive in the World and that it lyes not dead in Parchments Suffer it not to be the work of the Scribe or as we now speak of the Printer only but let him read it in thy life Make him confess that the Gospel commands things that may be done and doth not draw a Platonical Common-wealth or describe as we say in these dayes an Eutopian Polity Suppose again that a Gentile should say to thee Good Sir how shall I know that your God requires possible things They look like things which cannot be done and I never saw any Christian such a man Behold thou wast brought up in thy Religion from thy childhood and yet dost no such things with what face then dost thou require them of me who have been long accustomed otherwayes What wilt thou now reply in the behalf of Christianity Perhaps thou wilt point him to others and desire him not to look on thy self Thou wilt bid him cast his eyes upon the Monks and those who live in Wildernesses where he may behold what holy lives they lead O most shameful Apology For he will say what then must I turn a Monk must I live in Mountains and dwell in the Desarts Must I forsake all company but only that of the Beasts This is a strange Religion of which a man cannot be unless he leave the Society of men A Religion that cannot dwell in Towns and Cities A Religion that flyes the light and seeks for Dens and Caves of the Earth That is an enemy to the best of pleasures that banishes good neighbourhood and renders a man an hater of the rest of Mankind I will none of this Religion keep it to your self and do not invite me to your melancholy Piety This truly is a very great disgrace to the Christian profession to make as though it could not inhabit any place and be perform'd by any men There is no excuse to be made for it If it cannot stay with us in Towns and keep us company in business and be the employment of common men away with it it is not for our turn let it be banished the World Show to me a man that hath a wife and children and servants and yet is a Christian. Let me see a man that keeps his shop and buys and sells and yet lives well and keeps the Laws of Christ. Doth not our Saviour say Let your light shine before men but where do we read that it is to illustrate Desarts and make the Mountains glorious Which is not spoken saith he to reproach those persons who chuse to dwell in such places but only to bemoan our Cities that have driven Vertue from among them and thrust it out of their gates into the Wilderness Let us indeavour I beseech you to call it back again Let us bring it to dwell within the Walls of Cities as well as those of Monasteries Let us reduce it into our Families and our shops and our Markets nay into our Taverns and Victualling-houses Let us render it Sociable and fit for Conversation that all men may be the better for it Suffer no place to be void of Religion but make it extend it self like the Divine Presence which is ready to assist men every where Do not say any longer that you cannot be good He never took the business seriously into his thoughts he never gave all diligence who speaks that wicked word And do not say to me neither that you cannot understand the Religion of Christ and know not what to do For see how skilfull the most simple people are in their worldly affairs see what exactness they use how accurate and circumspect they are wont to be in some of their outward concerns Let them imploy the same in spiritual things and I le warrant they shall not be overlookt by the Divine grace nor miss of being wise to Salvation The Sun shines not so clear as the Truth of God Where men have a mind they may easily come to the knowledge of him If they would but attend and not make a By-work of it they would neither be so ignorant nor so impotent as they are For the Gospel was not shut up in Palaestine nor confined to some corner of the World but all shall know me saith the Lord from the greatest to the least and
when we have enjoyed as much as we please of this It suffers reason to retain its throne or rather exalts and advances its Supremacy every day to a greater height Nay it preserves our taste and renders our palate more exact then other mens are for all the senses I perswade my self when ruled by reason must needs be more upright Judges then when that is absent and set aside And therefore me thinks there is nothing more preserves the honour and reverence that is due to our natures then this Vertue It maintains the Majesty of our countenance the lustre of our eyes the graceful deportment of our whole Man Whereas all the world confesses and it is their common speech that a man in drink is Nothing else but a man disguised He looks basely he is the 〈◊〉 of children and fools he is pointed laughed at as if he were some monster he is the sport and 〈◊〉 â—â—ven of those who have thus disrobed him of himself And as for them whose brains are so strong that they have overcome him and think it an honour to be able to hold more then the rest of their fellows this glory is their shame They are the Vermin of the Earth who live to consume the goods of others and to waste the patrimony of the Poor And when they brag of their Victories they are so silly as not to remember what one of the Philosophers saith that they are overcome by the Hogshead which is far more capacious than themselves Nay I cannot but think those people who know no pleasure but high fare the joy of whose life depends upon full Tables and as full Bellies who love nothing like Feasts and would have them as sumptuous as Sacrifices to be a sort of creatures much inferiour to some Beasts who though they are not capable to govern themselves yet are ruled by us and rendred serviceable and profitable to the world But these are good for nothing but only to devour and commonly they follow this trade so long that they devour themselves and all that belongs unto them No doubt said the good Father who here thought fit to interrupt him the praises which you bestow upon Temperance are very just and you can never commend it to excess Which procures me therefore the greater grief when I see so few in the World who live according to the rules of this Vertue Their number is very small who are not corrupted with the love of these sensual pleasures Though they do not fall into such high debauches as you speak of not drinking as if they were in a perpetual feavour nor eating as if they were laying in provision for a long Siege which me thinks is a good description which I have heard some give of their excess yet they are not many who measure their meals by their needs and they are not to be told who are Bibbers of Wine and love to sit long at compotations and design to make provision for the flesh that they may fulfil the lusts thereof Nay which is saddest of all there are too many of those who profess to be Religious whose God is their belly They love Feasts and hunt after good chear And if it be but sanctified with a Sermon Gourmandise is innocent in their account Like some naughty Christians in the Elder times whom I mentioned before who thought they might carouse and drink as long as they would so they did but sit with a mortified face upon the Martyrs Tombs And it were some comfort if their sin ended here but their Intemperance is the Mother and fruitful Parent of many other Vices A long train of sins as well as diseases waits upon this and follows it just at the heels It both brings in and it uncovers every other evil inclination It removes that Modesty which stands more in the way than any thing else of most mens bad endeavours It banishes all shame so that there is nothing left to oppose any wickedness Who hath woe who hath sorrow who hath contention who hath babling who hath wounds without cause They that tarry long at Wine they that go to seek mixt Wine as the Wise man tells us Whatsoever evil dispositions are in the mind then they take opportunity to shew themselves Malice is brought into open view and spits its venom The proud spirit is lay'd bare and seeks no pretence for its insolence The furious man is left naked of all his guards and cares not whom he mischieves The lustful man uncovers himself and scarce waits for secrecy to fulfil his desires And truly I wish I could not say that this Folly which is the most filthy of all was not the common issue of that of which we speak There is more of this uncleanness in the World than you imagine They that wear the countenance of Religious people are led I assure you by their Cups to the Brothel-houses and pass from the Taverns to the Stews So it was of Old and the same Villany continues still that many turn the Grace of God into laseiviousness And if you would know who they are the same Apostle tells you that they were such as feasting with others did feed themselves without fear Jude 4.12 And so St. Peter also lets us know that they who accounted it pleasure to riot in the day-time in the clear light of the Gospel had eyes full of adultery 2 Pet. 2.13 14 and could not cease from sin But I will leave these men who are gone in the way of the false Prophet Balaam who taught the Children of Israel to commit fornication Only let me leave those words of the Apostle with them 2 Pet. 2.14 They are Wells without water Clouds that are carried with a tempest to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever Nor will I say any more of the rest of those sins which attend upon an intemperate life which makes a mans Soul like a piece of low ground which by reason of abundance of wet brings forth nothing but Frogs and Worms and Adders all manner of wickedness which either dishonours God or hurts our selves and our neighbours I will rather turn my eyes to a more pleasant sight and comfort them with the remembrance of those Good men whom we saw just now so happily met together And me thinks it is a very great felicity in this false World to find but one face among so many Vizors and to be able to lay hold on something that hath truth and substance in it among so many shadows Having found therefore a little number of seriously sober persons it cannot but make me rejoyce the more that Temperance hath some Clients and that she is not forsaken of all her followers But though this be very true that we do deservedly praise this Vertue and all her Servants yet me-thinks you should have observed something else at that meeting which is worthy of your commendation Did not the very meeting it self seem a very comely sight
as much nobleness in the handsome acknowledgement of a kindness as there is in the conferring of that which deserves such acknowledgement But besides all this let me ask you a Question for I am resolved to ferret this scruple out of the bottom of your heart should you not love me unless I had done you benefits Tell me the truth is there any great dearness think you created in peoples hearts towards each other by this means For my part I have often found the observation true that the remembrance of benefits wears out of mens minds as grief doth out of the heart of afflicted persons from which every moment steals a part Time hath power over the one as well as the other and it diminishes the affection which is the fruit of favours as it doth the sorrow which is produced by losses and calamities Nay so little power have benefits to make a friend that they sometimes make a foe There are some men the more they owe the more they hate A little debt makes a man a debtor but a great one makes him an enemy What is it then that produces a durable Friendship Nothing sure but worth and desert together with the agreeableness of a person to our humour and his resemblance to our disposition The impression which these make can never be blotted out Time which wipes away the remembrance of benefits can never efface the sense of worth and merit We alwayes carry in our minds the amiable perfections and accomplished qualities of worthy persons We alwayes think of those who have touched our inclinations by their agreeable nature And I appeal to you whether you could refuse me your Love though you were not so much beholden to me as you now acknowledge And whether all the kindnesses in the world would produce a Friendship with me if you saw not something else to woe your affection No no my Friend it is Gratitude not Friendship which is the proper effect of benefits They ought to dispose us to suitable returns and an hearty acknowledgement but they cannot oblige us to entertain him for a Friend who is bountiful toward us They may possibly make our Friendship grow but they cannot beget it They may give it some nourishment but they cannot produce and bring it forth It depends upon an higher cause it owes its Original to some nobler thing to that from whence all benefits and good offices ought to come I mean a great love and a sincere affection which if deserts be not wanting is more powerful to move than all the gifts in the world and is able without them all to tye us fast to a worthy person Be so just then to your self and to me as to think that I am your Friend though you do not bestow those benefits on me which you desire since they can serve only as I said to make me thankful but not your Friend I esteem you very highly for your self and upon the account of your own proper worth which I am sure doth put me into the next disposition to be your Friend And since you have added to your own desert a very great Love to me that cannot but compleat it and make me perfectly yours This Love alone hath been thought sufficient to make a Friend and indeed is more powerful than any benefits According to that of Hecaton Wouldst thou know how to get a Friend I will shew thee and thou shalt use neither Medicament Herb or Inchantment to produce the affection thou desirest If thou wilt be beloved Love When Vertue then and it have made a league and shews it self in a subject whose qualities also are worthy to be embraced its force must needs be irresistible and leave us no power to withstand its desires The poor Pilgrim remained astonished a while at the kindness of this discourse And finding himself overwhelmed with the weight of such Love was fain to strive very much to recover a power of making this short reply unto it I am utterly ignorant said he what worth it is that you ascribe to me which hath brought me into your good esteem and obtained me the noble title of your Friend I see that I please you but I know not what it is that should give you that pleasure I find my self very happy but what hath advanced me to this felicity I cannot define And truly since it is your will to have me so I will not be too busie and curious in examining the causes of my good fortune nor will I seek to lessen my worth lest in so doing I should upbraid you with a bad foundation of your Love No I will rather think I am worth something than render your judgement nothing worth I will think of my self as you would have me that you may not seem to be mistaken There is nothing else can make me of any value unless it be that I had the wit to judge of the deservings of such a person as your self It is a mark they say of some sufficiency to be able to discern an able person from a flashy wit It is a note I have heard of great wisdom to chuse an excellent Friend By this I am told a man is known to others and I have little else whereby to know my self This is the chiefest thing that makes me see I am not so unfortunate as I thought I perceive I am worthy of some esteem because I had the judgement to set such an esteem upon your self For I must needs confess that though your favours could have imposed a greater necessity upon me of loving than you will allow yet I feel that I am not beholden to them for my Inclination to love you That is something more antient than any benefits you can bestow and depends only on your own merits And let it not be judged an amplification to say that they are so great that they will not leave it to my choice either whether I will love you or no or how much I will love you but they constrain me to love you as much as I can It is a constraint indeed to which I am very willing there being no violence offered but of what my own judgement is the cause yet it is irresistable and I can never be of any other mind nor have a will to dispose of my affections otherwayes Nay I cannot for my life but think that your favours are a part of your deserts and that there is something peculiar in them to merit mine affection They flow purely from your own goodness and owe not themselves so much as to my entreaties You have not put me to the trouble of begging your kindnesses but they ran to me of their own accord I did but ask and you were pleased to open your heart and make me a liberal gift I did but shew my need and you instantly inriched me with your self And ever since I have not had so great a care to conceal my griefs as you have taken to find them out Nor have you suffered my troubles to speak before you saw them in my looks All your favours likewise have flowed so freely from you that there was no hope they should return again They have brought me a great deal of happiness but could not be thought to come to fetch any to him that sent them This adds exceeding much to the esteem I have conceived for you This will ever make me to propound you as the pattern of an excellent Friend And if I were now to dye it would be one of the last words I should speak to those that love me Remember that those will be your worst enemies not to whom you have done evil but who have done evil to you and those will be your best Friends not to whom you have done good but who have done good to you The End