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A61672 Verus Christianus, or, Directions for private devotions and retirements dedicated to ... Gilbert Ld. Arch Bishop of Canterbury ... by David Stokes. Stokes, David, 1591?-1669.; Andrewes, Lancelot, 1555-1626. 1668 (1668) Wing S5724; ESTC R24159 135,214 312

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not For so filthy is sin that it makes us and all that is ours corrupt and abominable It defiles the conscience rots our good name in●…cts our acquaintance by the contagion of sin and makes our very Prayers abominable which otherwise might be our sweetest odors In which speculation St Basil said the Angels forsake the custody and and company of us when we forsake Holines to delight in sin And the Poet could say Accipiet nullas sordida turris aves And yet we have had but a little glimpse of this Holines in the Purity of it self and the contrary Impurity of Unholines Shall we now come a little neerer to it and take a clearer view of the large extent it hath over all virtues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew word coming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praeparare separare implies that Holines is a separation of our selves from sin to a virtuous and godly life Which is the extent of the word Righteousnes as it is often used in holy Scripture Yet there are some that would-confine Holines to some one part Some lodge it in the ear some in the tongue Though our Saviour came not to smooth our tongues or fill our ears but to present us with pure hands and chast eyes to guide our feet into the wayes of Peace and Holines and to render all our parts and actions such as may receive purity and holines from the right Fountain the Heart it self We must begin with Holines in the Heart if we mean to see God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God saith our Saviour Mat 5. 8. There we must begin but we must not stay there Thence we must climbe up to those several steps of Holines so often commended to our care in the word of God building up our holy Faith as St. Jude speakes till it come to a full structure To this structure you must bring in all the good works that may be making your holines passe through all Virtues St. Paul meanes that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being fruitful in every good work Col. 1. 10. But there he is in generals Will you hear him run over the particulars Then observe what he saith to the Philippians Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue if there be any praise think of these things and the God of Peace shall be with you Phil. 4. 8 9. This is the Holines that must be joyned to peace if you will hear the great Doctor of the Gentils VVill you now have some particulars from St. Peter the Doctor of the Jews Thus saith he Adde to your Faith virtue he is no Solifidian then he goes on To your virtue knowledge temperance patience godlines brotherly kindnes Charity for so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7 8 11. i. e. so shall we be admitted to the Vision of God Shall I adde what St. Peter hath in the ninth verse he that lacks these things is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like one that is purblind and cannot see a far off or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blind outright that is he is so far from seeing God or any divine things that he sees nothing as he should do XXVI Another reflexion upon the proposal of the second meanes Hebr. 12. 14. NOw if we have them we shall not be kept long from the happy sight of him that is the God of Peace and Holines Yes Have them you will say but how shall we have them The answer is laid before our eyes in the words of sacred Scripture Follow Peace and Holines They are both so willing to be had if we will but follow them there needs no more But we must learn what it is to follow The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred by following we observed before to be a busy and active word It signifies a hearty and serious persuit an eager hunting after what we long for Having told you this I hope I shall have leave to ask one Question He that hath some faint desire hovering about the heart and breathing it self about the lips if he put himself to no farther trouble in the prosecution can he be said in this sense to follow Peace or holines I believe he that seeks or follows any thing as he should must use his head and his feet and somewhat else as well as his wishes and lip-labour And so he had need that thinks of attaining what here we speak of For can we think that peace or holines do so undervalue themselves that they will wait our leisure and ●…e whistled up when we please by the charme of a cold prayer or two Or can we imagine that such Precepts as these to follow after peace and holines without which no man shall see God are so given to us that if we like them we may use them if not we may lay them by Do we conceive that what the holy Scripture enjoyns and we are commanded to preach is left to our liberty to practice as we or you shall see cause Then may our Preaching and your Hearing quickly come to an end like a tale or dream of one running after Peace and Holines and before he came at them stumbling upon Felicity and the Vision of God Let us not deceive our selves God is not mocked He that saith there is no enjoyment of the one without following of the other no seeing God without Holines he will not dispense with the Duty and follow after us with the Reward that care not to make our selves capable of the Blessing For this will prove a necessary Duty And then there would be another Quaestion Whether we do so perform it whether we so follow after holines as if we understood what it is to follow after and what is the value of that which is set before us Shall I more fully explain what is the true Force of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Following He rightly follows a Duty that avoiding all occasions of the contrary vice watches for and apprehends all hints and opportunities of doing good He that ambitiously laies hold of a happy hour and fair way wherein to approve his virtues And this way of following and persuing we may learn from the practice of those that have little to do with Holines How doth the coveteous man follow his beloved gain Doth he not rise early and late retire himself to rest Doth he not exhaust his strength and abilities by Sea and Land to compasse what he aimes at though with hazard of health and life it self What doth the ambitious and amorous person How eagerly and with what pains do they hunt after that which they fancy their best prize and content Our following of Holines might borrow a little heat and aemulation from
of it then we make the next piece of Armour the Shield of Faith Faith helps to shield and protect every part about us Therefore the Apostle joyned it with the Breast-plate of Charity or Righteousnes And we may joyn it with all the rest 1 Thess 5. 8. Nay it is of such vertue that it is not so much a part of our Armour as indeed the Victory it selfe as Saint John speakes 1 Joh. 5. 4. Therefore Saint Paul Epes 6. 16. might well ascribe unto that the repelling of all those dangerous lusts and temptations that are suggested by the Devil or any of his wicked Instruments It is our certainly believing the threats and promises of the Gospel that hath the power of quenching those fiery darts and preventing the venome which otherwise from thence might spread and diffuse it selfe to the deadly infection of the Soule Wherefore after a Shield of this power and vertue we may well heare of the Helmet of Salvation that crownes the head and makes us now compleat in our Panoplia A good Souldier will have a speciall care of this part of his Armour that defends his head Both because in the head those prime faculties are placed that guide the whole body and because a wound there is most dangerous It is here called the Helmet of Salvation But let us enquire what that is slest we be mistaken in the sound of the words Saint Paul interprets Himselfe and tels us what it is in his Epistle to the Thess 〈◊〉 when he calls it the Hope of Salvation 1 Thess 5. 8. And that Hope is a good Helmet and somewhat more It will keep us from drooping or being ashamed Spes non confundit Rom 5. 5. It will make us to hold up our heads without any feare what danger soever threatens to afflict us For what stormes what blowes will not be indured by him that hopes for no lesse then Salvation and a crowne immortall And who would not strive to purchase the Helmet of that Hope Which being added to what we heard before makes up the whole Armour of God as the Apostle calls it Ephes 6. 18. Because from Him we must expect it and His blessing upon it Which we are advised to beg and intreat by our best prayers and endeavours For this compleat Armour was not set out for us to gaze on but to purchase and put on and be ready to make use of or in the Apostles words v. 13. 14. to stand as if we were provided and resolved to oppose the Enemy And when we thinke we have done so and are armed cap à pè Let him that girds on his harnesse boast himselfe as he that puts it off 1 Reg. 20. 10. He that saith he hath the girdle of Chastity and tels you so in veritate in verity may chance to finde in time and place wherein to be dissolute He that begins with girding on the Sword of the Spirit Let him take heéd he do not end in the flesh It is the Item which the great Apostle gave to the Galatians He that talkes of the Breast-plate of Righteousnesse and Charity Let him be sure of it in corde in that part which is covered with the breast-plate and not boast of the flourishing of Opinion that he hath put into other men That Opinion of theirs perhaps may hold out when his Righteousnesse may prove like the Morning dew that soon passeth away He that walkes as confidently as one that is well shod against the danger of the worst waies shod with the preparation of the Gospell and a ready Heart to serve Christ Let him be careful so to walk with God that he continue to the end For he onely that perseveres shall be saved Mat. 24. 13. And lastly to close up the Panoplia He that secures himself of the Shield of Faith and the Helmet of Hope let him shew his Faith by his works and his Hope by his patience and take heed he make not shipwrack of both at last as did Hymenaeus and Alexander 1 Tim. 1. ult And that this may be done let us all with our armour take the Apostle's advice along with us Eph. 6. 18. Praying upon all occasion with all servency of prayer and supplication in the spirit and vigilance and perseverance that by God's assistance we may continue Christ's Faithful Souldiers servants to our lives end and be able to say with the Apostle I have fought a good fight henceforth is laid up for me a crown of Righteousnes 2 Tim. 4. 7. XXIX Advice concerning the dangers from within us AFter we have been informed of the best advice against all assaults from without in the next place it is of as much concernment to think of the dangers from within Against which we have the best Counsel and direction in those words of Solomon Keep thy heart above all keeping or with all diligence for out of that are the issues of Life Prov. 4. 23. that is It is not onely the Fountain of our natural life but thence also are the Springs of our Health and Solace here and of our Joy and happines hereafter Well might this Caveat come out of a Kings heart and out of Solomon's the wisest of Kings But upon what occasion he spake this or any other of his Proverbs it is not easy to discover in so uncertain a method They are Aenigmata for that as well as Proverbia You may sooner riddle the meaning without the occasion then what the occasion was when you know the meaning But whatsoever the true occasion might be we know there was a time when out of woful experience he had occasion enough to speak it both in regard of his own heart which is here so well advised and in regard of others that were to succeed him in t●…e Throne This Counsel this Legacy alone deserved better keeping then the best treasure and the strongest Fort that the great Solomon could leave behind him No Rule of such consequence as this for Him and His and for all Kings and Princes quorum in salute n●…stra omnium salus continetur Our safety consists much in theirs and theirs as much in their own circumspection For themselves are their best Guardians under God and their keeping close to this Caution here is their chiefest guard Custodia prae omni custodiâ And it is the chiefest not for them onely but for all others too Therfore it is a Rule born with us non facta sed nata Keep thy Heart is the first voice of Nature the main principle that she leaves imprinted in the Creature Nor is this enough but for the farther safety and easier custody of the heart that provident hand of God that we call Nature set it in the securest place and walled it about with strong Ribs and those Ribs as the Anatomists observe somewhat in the sorme of Swords for a natural defence of this little f●…rt of Life So that if we will hear Nature her self it is that which she directs
that are weak and sick by reason of too various and too much nourishment who deceive themselves and go a contrary way from the cure seeking spirituous liquors and succulent meats in a conceit of weaknes and fear of cold diseases Not considering that too much juycie meats oppresse nature and hot wines fill the head with foggie vapours whioh being turned into ill matter and condensed become the original of some distempers which were never feared These refreshments are not for such as live at ease but rather for such as often spend their spirits in labour or hard study For others moderate Abstinence is far better better for their health and better for the prolonging of their daies Which appears in this that the most austere and abstemious sort of men in all ages though they lived at ease and used little exercise have been the most healthfull and the longest livers 2. I must tell you one thing more To a healthful and long life Abstinence adds a light body agile and fit for any emploiment For where the Diet is moderate proportioned to the body the temper the season there the concoction the work of the Stomach must needs be good and so the blood also good and the humors pure untainted and fit for motion fit for God's service especially fit for currere for those services that require a quick dispatch that is for the best and noblest actions that cannot well be atchieved by a troublesome body With which I will close up those things which Abstinence brings to the body But Abstinence stretcheth her virtue farther still being beneficial to the whole Man And first she derives safety and vigor to the Senses For instance where there is no crude deflux into the nerve and organ of hearing and seeing there the Sight and Hearing must ordinarily be more lasting and more accurate and exact unlesse it be extinct and decayed by Age or Study or some Accident 2. Nor doth she stay at the Senses The Affections themselves participate of that good that proceeds from Abstinence Anger Lust and Melancholly must needs be abated when their ordinary fewel that keeps in the fire is taken away Griefe Fear and Heavines must needs be corrected when those Humors that feed them are drawn dry Thus doth Abstinence charme the raging spirits make a man affable chearful tractable and reduce all to the right state In case of lust especially that kind of Devil is seldom cast out but by Prayer and Fasting too 3. The Benefit of Abstinence goes yet farther extends it self to the Memory and Vnderstanding For whereas Intemperance sends up a cold obstructive humour that possesseth the Brain and so dulls the memory and Apprehensive Faculty that both of them weakly apprehend and hardly retain On the contrary a just and moderate Abstinence quickens the wit sharpens the Invention and Judgment as far as the Constitution is capable and makes the spirits and apprehension true and pure instar speculi So that both the species of Earthly things and the contemplation of Heavenly is more to the life and so illuminate as an intemperate muddy brain cannot be for Anima sicca anima prudens Wisdom dwels not where the vapors of Meat and Drink have too much to do 4. Nay Abstinence flies higher yet It makes our Prayers our Meditations our Devotions lesse distracted more facile more intent more delightsome And as Faith is the prime and inward Foundation so of secondary and external things Abstinence gives the greatest advantage to all spiritual and heavenly virtues So many helps doth it supply so many obstacles doth it remove in every Christian and Religious employment Therefore let not so much be crammed in for the Vegetant as shall not onely indanger the whole body but hinder all the superiour Faculties the Senfes the Affections the Memory the Understanding and Devotion too But rather let us use that Christian Abstinence without which we cannot be so fitted to run the race that is set before us that in the end we may win the Prize and Crown of Immortality We have reason so to do in regard of those Advantages that we see it brings to the body and to the Soul By all which if wee look upon it with impartial eyes it is truly amiable as most acceptable to God to Nature to Reason to Virtue to Religion the Continence of men the Chastity of women the vigour of a living and the ease and quiet of a dying man and not so much the means to a Crown as a crown it self and more virtual to the head of him that wears it but ever ending with a Crown incorruptible LI. Of that Charity or hearty love of God which is our best Companion while we live and when we die OUr Saviour being asked which was the greatest Commandment gave this answer in effect That the greatest Commandement is to love God with all our heart and soul and mind that is as well as we can or totis viribus as Saint Luke hath it ut totius dilectionis impetus eò ourrat that the whole current of our love may drive that way as St. Augustin well expounds it This is the greatest and the next is like unto it to love others as well as our selves not quantum but sicut or eo modo or in ordine ad Deum in reference and subordination to our love to God which is the modus of loving our selves God looks at nothing more then this hearty unfeigned love of him nor should we desire any thing more nothing being more advantageous to our selves For it is that Love which covers the multitude of our sins and presents us and all our Actions acceptable to God who regards nothing that is not derived from that Fountain If that were not Motive enough who would not love him above all in whom are all beauties and loves in an eminent manner beyond our apprehension And in the fruition of whose love we have a fair way made to the enjoying of everything else worth the loving But may we not stop a little when we look upon our selves What are we poor and vile Creatures that we should aspire or dare to make tendry of our love to him with any confidence True But since he will not onely accept it but peremptorily command it and command it in the first place we may and we must frame our selves to do it And the more we can improve this Divine Affection the better we may think our pains to be spent all the dayes of our life I shall therefore endeavour to help it in this method 1. First taking a view of Love in general 2. Then particularly of Divine love not omitting the waies and attractives of them both 1. Love is the inclination and application of the Heart and mind to that which is beloved Wherein there is no sence of labour or difficulty but rather a languor and impatience of not having a speedy success of our endeavours to find out and enjoy that which is
aut unum saltem mensem fiat cum poenitentia sufficiet ut perfectus virtutis habitus generetur And now my Lords papers failing me I must make use of my own paines and my English tongue again for the present help of those of whom I would but cannot otherwise be understood Can we carelesly cast our eyes over such powerful Motives to a nocturnal scrutiny and Inquisition into our sinful souls Dare we venter to fleep in sin so perhaps to loose those souls before we know where to find them again May we not in such a necessary task prevail with our selves to bestow a peice of a night or two in that employment which is able to make them prove the happiest nights that ever we spent in our lives There was a time when the Royal Prophet found it so that many a night watered his bed with his teares or rather made it swimme so emphatically doth he himself express it Psal. 6. 7. with an Hyperbole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Would not St Aug. make us fear that the omitting or deferring of that Scrutiny may bring us into extream hazard For he hath said that which may prove too true in many Poenitentia quae ab infirmo petitur infirma est quae autem à moriente petitur timeo ne ipsa moriatur that is It is best to make strict examination and compleat our Repentance while we are in health and have time enough to look into all that is past and prevent all Relapses into the like sins hereafter For the future is a time most uncertain to us and wherein we know not what Indisposition Sicknesses Hinderances or Obstructions may suddainly fall out though we might chance to live longer Now therefore while it is called to day and our day lest us make haste to break off our sins and let us take a penitentiall Psalm into our mouthes or one of the publick Confessions in the first or second Service or one out of the good Bishop's Penitential papers And make a sad and serious resolution for present and real amendment of life and have a great care against all Relapses into sin especially into our darling and habituall sins without which Intention and Resolution all our Nocturnal Scrutinies will bè fruitless and to no purpose Shall I say a little more to help you forward First then I will propose several places of Holy Writ wherein we are most earnestly admonished to beware of Relapses 2. After you have chew'd a litle upon them Iwill prescribe a Prophetical Antidote by way of prevention against the foul returns of sin 1. The First shall begin with the words of the two great Apostles Grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. Receive not the grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6. 1 Giveing all diligence adde to your Faith Virtue c. 2 Pet. 1. 5. He that lacks these things is blind and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins verse 9. If they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them then the beginning 2 Pet. 2. 20. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousnes then after they had known it to turn from the holy Commandement But it is happened to them according to the true Proverb The Dog is returned to his own vomit c. Continue thou in the things that thou hast learned 1 Tim. 3. 14. Be not shaken in mind 2 Thes. 2. 2. If I build again the things which I destroyed I make my self a transgressor Gal. 2. 18. What these two cheif Apostles have said we may find to be the frequent advise of holy Scripture elswhere Such as return back to their own wickedness the Lord will lead them forth with evil doers i. e. to be punished with them Psal. 123. ult When the Righteous turnes away c. Ezek. 18. 29. He that hath washed himself after the touching of a dead body if he touch it again what avails his washing Ecclus. 34. 25. No man having put his hand to the Plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdome of God Luke 9. 61. Therefore let not your goodness be as a morning cloud or the early dew that soon vanish away Hos. 6. 4. What God hath cleansed doe not thou make common Act. 10. 15. Be not weary of thy repenting of thy sin least God be weary of his repenting of thy punishment Jer. 16. 6. Turn not your backs and start not aside like a broken Bow Psal. 78. 5. Slide not back as a back-sliding Heifer Hos. 4. 16. But follow on to know the Lord cap. 6. 3. And bring forth fruites worthy of Repentance Mat. 3. 8. Walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his Kingdome and glory 2 Thes. 2 12. O how I wish that all men would make good use of all that refers to this Inquisition and narrow search into the state of our souls that should have more care taken upon them then is ordinarily spent upon the body every day Therefore I hope none will be offended that I mustered up so many good Admonitions together with such a noise about your eares as it were with so many Drums and Trumpets at such an unseasonable time of the night rather to keep you waking then to afford some help towards your quiet rest I think indeed the first night though you make choice of a Fasting night wherein you settle your selves to the purpose about this most Christian and most necessary expression of our duty unto God and love to our selves will prove full of trouble for that part of the night and your prayers may seem to be the voice of crying as the Royal Prophet speaks of his in his several nights Psal. 8. 6. But this is your happiness that such a troublesome and sad peice of such a night may by God's blessing work as great a Miracle as the turning the Water into Wine and the changing a Face sullied with salt teares into a most cheerfull countenance The solitariness of that part of a night may be answered with the company of a merry heart of our own which is a continual Feast all the dayes and nights of our life And after this uncertain life ended it may be crowned with everlasting Joy and Happiness in that only place of blisse where all teares shall at once be wiped quite away from all faces and all hearts compleatly filled with true Joy 2. In hope of this beleif in you I will now goe on to that which I promised in the second place Of an Antidote and Preservative against future Relapses worthy to be remembred every night You shall receive it from the hands of St. Basil that you may know to whom you are beholden for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil. Regul brev Interogat 28. That is If a man hath repented of a sin and after fallen into the same sinne again it is a sign that he pulled