they be of God because many false spirits are gone out into the world And to this end I hold it usefull to distinguish three kindes of Illuminations the first merely Speculative representing unto the minde fine and rare objects and heavenly Scenes of God himselfe and Christ and the Virgin Mary and Quires of Saints and such like not at all tending to edification of him that hath them or of any others This sort I should think to be generally vain and illusive as tending to nothing so much as the swelling of a mans minde up with conceit of his being a favourite of Heaven This that prudent holy Man saw mentioned in ancient Histories When the Devill appearing to him with a glorious retinue representing Christ and the good Angells attending him Saint Itor for so was his name demanded what all that meant Answer was made by that Lyar Lucifer that he was Christ whom he had so faithfully served and was come to refresh and comfort him with the manifestation of his presence in that resplendent manner Christ come to me said he I desire not to see Christ on earth but in Heaven and him I there daily worship and enjoy whereupon the Devills Stratageme not succeeding he with his Complices is said suddenly and with shame to have vanished The like doth Gerson Of the Tryall of Spirits relate of another Holy Man to whom none other but the Devill appeared in the forme of Christ telling him that he was Christ but he believing him not clapt both his hands before his eyes and said I will not see Christ here upon earth it suffices me that I shall one day see him in Heaven And Sulpitius Severus in the Life of Saint Martin tells us that upon a time an Apparition very splendid being made to him resembling Christ he flatly denied to behold it saying I will not see Christ any otherwise than as he appeared on earth crucified From whence may be it is that moderne Revelations and Visions pretended of Christ and the Virgin Mary are much framed after this Pattern yet often also otherwise and with the same probability and use It seems to me therefore a very good argument of an evill Vision when such are sent only to be admired and star'd on And when a strong desire in men not otherwise evill to be partakers of strange sights and Revelations possesses them it is probable enough that God may punish their carnall fondnesse of that nature with delivering them over to such delusions of Spirits ready enough to doe their office of deceiving 7. Secondly From the matter of Revelations judgement may be competently made of the Revelation it selfe whence it cometh and what it is For in our Religion towards-God we must alwayes build upon some such firme and unshaken foundations given us by Christ in his Revealed Word whereby we are to try all extraordinary Illuminations or Visions or Revelations So that whatever shakes or weakens those principles given us must not be allowed to proceed from God but from our vain imaginations or the subtile blandishments of the Tempter To deny Christ come in the flesh was in Saint John's age a signe of an Antichristian Spirit To subvert the Doctrine of Christ and the silencing of Moses his Law To abuse Christian Libertie to an occasion of the flesh To break the bond of Unitie and Christian Charitie by disowning and contemptuously disobeying Governours for every frivolous matter and such like was in Saint Paul's dayes lookt on and taught by him to be inconsistent with a Gospell Spirit or sound Revelations and such that though an Angell from Heaven should teach such contrarietie to Christianity he was to be Anathematized There must be therefore as judicious Authours tell us the like forme in all sound Revelations to us as was found in Christs at the time of his Transfiguration there must be Moses and Elias joyned with them that is the Law and the Prophets viz. the Word of God vouching them 8. A Second sort therefore may be such Visions as are partly Speculative and partly Practicall having indeed extraordinarie Discoveries but not resting there but tending to good or evill by which their good or evill natures may be discerned For as much as God cannot denie himselfe as the Scripture assures us neither may he by Extraordinary intimations warrant us to doe that which ordinarily he forbids so that they as pretended Prophets may be known by their works as Christ tells us For though the Devill may doe good sometimes at least in appearance yet God never doth evill neither as Saint James saith tempteth he any man so to doe To Preach therefore against Truth to pray against Edification of the whole Body of the Church with a seeming advantage to some few to Prophesie without Rule order or subjection is to bewray the bitter fountain from which such sweet waters flow And though the Devill may sometimes speak as well as foresee the truth God cannot at any time speak what is untrue When therefore pretended Lights and Visions fail of their due event and end it is certain that that Light is from him that transformes himselfe into an Angell of Light but is not so in trueth And this was the Character God himselfe gave unto his own People the Jewes to preserve them from Impostures and delusions of false Prophets and by which they were wont to try and judge of Prophets Deuter. 18 22. When a Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord If the thing follow not nor come to passe that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not be affraid of him But in some cases the signe was to be judged by the matter and not the matter by the signe viz. When the extraordinary Revelation tended to the subversion of the fundamentall points of Religion as is said before For so we read Deuter. 13. 1 2. If there arise among you a Prophet and a dreamer of Dreams and giveth thee a signe or a Wonder And the signe or the Wonder come to passe whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us goe and serve other gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet c. So that we may see from hence that Visions leading to superstitions doe not so much commend these as these condemne them 9. Again as it is with Diamonds and other Jewells generally of great value when they are scarce and rare but being brought in heaps and common are either counterfeit or lose their wonted worth so is it with Visions Raptures and extraordinarie Illuminations where they are common and familiar they may lose their esteem and reputation and be reduced to the Classis of Diseases and the sublimating of the understanding to strange apprehensions and speeches incident to bodily inflammations of which notable instances and many are extant in the reports of Physicians as well as them who treat of
to know To whome therefore should I betake my selfe for help and succour but to thee O Lord who alone canst open the eyes of him that is borne blinde and who art the Father of Lights from whome cometh every good and perfect gift and givest to all men liberally and upbraidest not And how should we come unto thee but through Jesus Christ who is made unto us of God Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption In him therefore coming unto thee I pray thee to give me wisdome that sitteth by thy Throne and reject me not from thy Children For I thy servant and son of thy handmaid am a feeble person and of short time and too young and weak for the understanding of judgement and thy Lawes O send her out of thy holy heavens and from the throne of thy glorie that being present she may labour with me that I may know what is pleasing unto thee and what is that good and acceptable will of God. For hardly do we guesse aright of the things that are upon earth and with labour doe we finde the things that are before us but the things that are in heaven who hath searched out but by thy Spirit which searcheth all things even the hidden things of God. I am a stranger and a Pilgrim upon earth O hide not thy Commandments from me that so having a sound and saving knowledge of thee and of my selfe and mine own wayes of my errours and my negligences and ignorances of mine infirmities and emptinesses and so diffident in and disliking my selfe I may apply my selfe to thee lay hold on thy strength partake of thy fullnesse and freenesse and have a sincere faith in thee a fervent love of thee and holy life before thee and professing thee outwardly may believe thee inwardly and serve thee in all good works in all godly conversation and honesty and persevere therein through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The Second Part. OF THE PURGATIVE PART OF RELIGION SECT 1. That Action and good Works must be added to true Knowledge and Believing And of the distinction of Sins to be purged 1. AS Light was at the first Creation produced by God as an Introduction to his Six-dayes workes so hath he continued that light to all his Creatures but especially Man the greatest Artist of all other to the better discharge of those Acts and Offices assigned him in the few dayes of his labour in this World. And according to his gift in workes of Nature hath he provided a proportionable light of Understanding and Faith to give him Means Rule and Opportunity to work the work of God and that especially upon his own soule to the end it may draw near unto God both in likenesse of perfection and fruition of blessednesse For the Image of God defaced by our Apostacie having contracted many and monstrous deformities the great businesse we are to be imployed about is how to refashion our selves to that Grand Patern which became visible to us by the Incarnation of Christ the brightnesse of Gods glorie and the expresse Image of his Father So that as we see it is with Statuaries who are to make an accurate Image out of a rude and naturall stone taken out of the Quarrie what light is necessarie what judgement what diligence by little and little to chip and hew away all irregular parts and roughnesse till the intended forme riseth out of it so must it be with every good Christian to whom God hath given his Light to work by and Instruments to work with and matter to work upon his own soule over-grown and mishapen and wholly out of order and rule as taken out of the common rock of Nature 2. God therefore hath set up his Holy Word amongst us as the Greater Light to rule the Day according to whose Illumination we should direct and rule all our actions and not contrary to our Saviours advice put it under a Bed or under a Bushell that is not under the bed of slothfulnesse and lazinesse nor under the bushell of worldlinesse and secular businesses and traffickings whereby men are wont to make use of the Scripture the better to advance worldly profits as hypocrites doe or sweetly to flatter themselves that they know much as if the gifts of God to us were service done to him and he were so well satisfied with the talents committed to our trust that he would never require any thing from us or perhaps some lipp-service whereby with religious Discourse we move others to think well of us were to be good and faithfull servants to him though we remained unfruitfull as if he that gives aym to another should perswade himselfe that he had hit the mark himselfe But the Holy Scriptures quite contradict this and that often as St. James 1. 22. Not the hearers of the Law are justified before God but the doers And St. Paul Rom. 2. 13. speaking the same thing Which we must not so understand as if the Law of Moses were here only commended but the Law of Christ obedience to whom is no lesse necessary to our justification and salvation than the workes of Moses his Law were once necessary to him that would live by them For this is the Doctrine of Christ himselfe Luke 12. 47. He that knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes And so where he saith John 8. 19. If ye had not known me ye had had no sin comparatively but now ye say We know therefore your sin remaineth For at the day of Judgement as Gerson observeth it shall not so much be demanded of us how much we know how well skill'd we are in the Scriptures what notable Disputers and Arguers we have been out of them nor how many good Sermons we have heard nor how many Chapters we have read or how often but as the forme of proceeding in that Great Day contained in the Scriptures assures us Matt. 25. 34 36 c. what good workes we have done in the true faith we professe and what good fruits the tree of knowledge of Good and Evill hath produced And in our spirituall warfare it will not suffice to beat the Drum or sound as it were the Trumpet to stir up others to fight that good fight appointed by Christ against flesh and blood and spirituall wickednesses unless as St. Paul exhorteth we quit our selves likemen in Christs Camp. 3. Applying then our selves to so Divine and necessary a work before we can doe what is required we must judge what is amisse and being now about to purge our selves from filthinesse of flesh and spirit as St. Paul speaks 2 Corin. 7. 1. we are first of all to be throughly perswaded of those spots and blemishes which are to be cleansed from the soule and those scales which are to be taken off our Eyes and those infirmities and distempers our souls naturally labour under For we see not if we lament not our rude and polluted naturall state our defects
end of Faith. If a man believes firmely but not soundly nor truely his faith like to the knowledge acquired by our first Parents upon the eating of the forbidden fruit brings him to shame and confusion of face And of this sort are innumerable mistakes not to be here instanced in that only excepted which is of most generall evill consequence whereby men are wont and willing to divide and rend faith from it selfe I mean the Forme or inward act of believing from the power and effect of Faith perswading themselves that Faith alone so taken gives us Justification and if so it must needs give us Sanctification too For none are justified but such as are thereunto prepared by a competent degree of Sanctification And so in trueth at length it will be found that whatever is pretended and more dangerously presumed no man is more Justified alone by Faith than he is Sanctified by it alone and the workes of Faith are in no place of holy Scripture opposed to Faith it selfe the cause of such workes in reference to our Justification And it is altogether as derogatory to Christs merits and the freenesse of Gods Grace to rest upon such Faith for justification and salvation as upon such workes of Faith. But this I speak as I passe 4. However therefore the Authours of such Doctrine or at least formes of speaking as have lately prevailed disown the necessary ill consequences of the same and allow yea urge much good workes and with many flourishes commend the use of them yet advancing immoderately and injudiciously the Act of Faith creeple it and binde it up from the free course and full influence it may and otherwise would have upon mens lives to the purging of the Soule from evill and impregnating it to good works of vertue and holinesse 5. But leaving that Controversie let us proceed to what is without Controversie shewing by plain instances what we have propounded concerning the power of Faith in our militant state here And let it be ingenuously judged how a man by Faith thorowly convinced of that one first Principle that there is a God Creatour of all things Judge of all things and of all Men especially and their hearts and actions and infallibly rewarding the good and the evill can easily omitt the good so amply hereafter to be remunerated or rashly fall into the evill of Sin-tempting standing by his Christian Faith assured that his temporary trifling vanishing as soon as felt pleasures shall end infallibly in bitternesse and never-failing sorrowes Who would sow that seed in his Field which he might easily believe will rise up to an harvest of Serpents which will sting him to death Or can a man stedfastly believe that Article of his Creed teaching and assuring him that Christ that righteous Judge shall appear a second time in glorie and severe Justice towards quick and dead rendering to every man according to the good or evill he hath done in his bodie viz. Life Everlasting or shame and torment everlasting and not feare or fear and yet committ such things as will weigh him down into the place of such miserie What wise man would be tempted so with the beautie and desireablenesse of drinking out of a Golden Cup when he knowes it is filled with deadly Poison Or would any man eat of that bread fair to the Eye and perhaps pleasant to the palate which he knowes will suddenly after breed gravell and stones in his reins and bladder and infinitely torture him Certainly such a mans perswasion which in Religion we call Faith must needs be verie weak and his fondnesse strong which can impose so hard things on him unrejected 6. No more can any man have a sound and sufficient perswasion of the heavenly Mansions and the unspeakable Glories thereof yea the perfection and beautie of Vertue and Divinenesse of holie Life and good Conscience and neglect or contemn the same for the fallacies vitious practices put on the outward senses for a moment or lesse if lesse we can imagine Is not this next to a Miracle if we may allow the Devill to be able to work Miracles contrary to the Doctrine of the Schools For what way we call a Miracle if not deluding the senses and so far changing the natures of things to mans eye and common sense that he shall call good evill and evill good and have no other opinion of Flames into which he must be cast than of a Feather bed 7. To him that lives by Sense the present sweet is most sweet and the present bitter most bitter but to him that lives by Faith and not by Sense the future exceeds in both kinds And to a truly wise man knowing the worst of troubles and hardships in this world no more to be compared to the miseries wicked men suffer hereafter than the joyes of sin in this life are to the glorie to be hereafter enjoyed in Heaven by the Righteous it may seem most reasonable to choose the least of Evills and to run the least of hazards too as that poore simple austere man vilely and coldly clad and as ill fed did with whom as our own histories tell a boisterous and soft Gallant meeting demanded of him Why he used himselfe so hardly and was answered by him I doe this to escape Hell-fire But said the Gallant again If there be no Hell what a Fool art thou to use thy selfe so ill But he more wittily and sharply replied But what if there be an Hell how much more Fool art thou to live so as thou doest Put the case to common Reason for true Faith is infallibly assured of it that it was a doubtfull point Whether there were an Hell or not a Heaven or no Heaven and the Scales weighing both sides were equall would not generall Reason advise so to believe as to take the safest course and live that life which may lead to the supposed happinesse and escape the threatened torments What hurt befalls that man that lives continently temperately modestly justly soberly yea and selfe-denyingly as to those things which are not necessarie though no reward followes upon his rigours but the ordinary comforts of health and peace of minde which are greater to him than the riotous liver and pleaser of his appetites and senses without restraint But what hurt doth not befall him hereafter who by indulging to his sensible Soule bereaves himselfe of everlasting happinesse in the world to come that not being all neither as our Religion truely informes us 8. Let us therefore truely examine our selves as St. Paul exhorteth whether we be in the faith and prove our selves knowing of our own selves that Jesus Christ is in us except we be reprobates 2 Corin. 13. 5. Surely if Christ be in us it must be by Faith and if Faith be in us it will discover so much of the events of an holy and wicked life as not to be like a Horse and Mule which have no understanding nor like such men who have