Redemption the infinite Love and Charity of the Blessed Jesus and the glorious rewards and promises offered to all that will be true Christians While men shall be so stupid as to neglect these 't will be no hard matter to impose upon them and it must not seem strange that the means are despised where the end it self is disregarded Vntil Christians make it their first and chiefest business to secure a blessed Eternity by living holy lives it cannot be expected they should make wise and serious enquiries into those truths which are more disputable and less necessary For the mixing secular interests with things of Religion first made and still maintains the errors and breaches of the Christian world and the way to bring to an end many controversies is not so much to decide as to bury them at least to make them give place to those things which are much more plain and much more requisite and beneficial And here again I might have a just occasion to commend this Church we live in for the best guide of Souls for either she meddles not with many disputes or else she always stands on the much surer side of the question holding that which even her Adversaries cannot but acknowledge for truth and never amusing her Children with unnecessary speculations or unprofitable contests But as it is her great design to make us obedient to the Gospel of Christ and bring us to a sincere practice of all holy vertues so I shall conclude this Preface with an Exhortation to the same purpose That thou wouldest seriously and often consider that thy life is short and uncertain and that the world passeth away and all things here below and that thou resolve thereupon not to lose not to venture thy portion of good things above for any earthly enjoyment That thou wouldest bear Eternity in mind and weigh the importance of these two words which conclude our Creed Life Everlasting and that afterwards thou resolve carefully to follow the way that leads to it the Doctrine and Example of our Blessed Saviour who hath purchast and promist it to all that love and follow him Live therefore as one that follows the King of Eternity to a blessed Eternity and despise the world Vse diligently such means as will make thee know thy duty and incourage and assist thee in the discharge of it and amongst them good Books which read with attention and a design to make their goodness our own are very useful instruments of Vertue and Religion This I hope will somewhat conduce to their advancement Nay I am sure thou shalt be much better'd by it if thou wilt transcribe it with thy Life as I have with my Pen and make it thy hearty Endeavour as I do my Prayer L. B. THE Authors Dedication TO ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS WIth due Reverence I offer this small volume to you blessed Souls vessels of honour and mercy elect and holy Children of God predestinated to glory before the foundation of the World who being redeemed from death by the bloud of Christ and from sin by the gift of grace are not asham'd to own the despised Cross of your Redeemer For to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to you that are not born of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God You are call'd by the Father to a portion of the inheritance of the Saints in light that ye might be holy and unreprovable in his sight in love and in Christ you are chosen according to the purpose and good pleasure of God not for your own works and merits For you the Blessed Jesus prayed when being ready to leave the world and go to the Father he said I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine He prayed not for the world because all that is in it the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are not of the Father And therefore they that are of the world hear not or at least will not regard and understand the words of eternal life for the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God And though Christ be the true light which lightens every man that comes into the world yet the world sees him not nor knows him neither can it receive the spirit of truth On this will be grounded the iust judgment of the wicked This will be their condemnation that light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil and every one that doth evil hateth the light Now if Christ was a light in his life and doctrine he was so much more in his sufferings he did shine on the Cross most gloriously to all the world The tree of death to which he was tyed became his pulpit whence he preached his divinest Sermons teaching us that great lesson dying which he set while he was alive He that doth not take up my Cross and follow me cannot be my disciple Therefore to take up our Cross and follow Jesus is our greatest safety as well as duty our surest title to glory the Cross is the highest pitch of Christian learning to know Jesus Christ and him Crucified I heartily wish that they that shall read the ensuing Precepts and Practical Rules may have sanctified affections and a clear understanding that by the divine grace they may be brought to know and to follow the truth And my prayer for them is that God would strengthen them by his good Spirit in the inner man that love may abound in them more and more and that they may be sincere and unblameable replenisht with the fruits of righteousness pleasing to God in all things without contention and without offence I also beg for my self of the divine goodness that the glorious light of Christ may enlighten and guide my mind and that his strength may be perfected in my weakness lest after having preached to others I my self should become a cast-away by acting contrary to my own instructions And therefore I also beseech you good friends of God Blessed Christians who are the sheep of his Pasture remember me in your Prayers that what I teach I may fulfil that the precepts contained in this Book may be my practice by his divine grace and assistance without whom we can do nothing who with the Father and the Holy-Ghost liveth and reigneth one ever glorious and adored God Amen Imprimatur Geo. Hooper R. P. D. GIL Ep. Cant. Ã Sacris Dom. May 29. 1677. THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART PART I. Of the Christian Life and of its end and offices Pag. 1 CHAP. I. OF the distribution of all Christians into three ranks good middle-sort and bad ibid. CHAP. II. A further Description of
up to God thus at least he intended it but by our depravation and folly they became obstacles in our way to him they turn us from the path to life and happiness and as the Wiseman saith Wisd 14.11 The creatures of God become stumbling blocks to the souls of men and a snare to the feet of the unwise Of the unwise he saith such as will not take God for their guide such as turn their eyes from his glorious light to enjoy the shade and obscurity of creatures thereby falling in love with darkness and so becoming uncapable of ever abiding the divine saving light 2. Now if all creatures are created for this to be as helps and means whereby we may obtain our end then are we to take off our affections from them to place them upon the Creator who is the end we should aim at For the end should be lov'd and desir'd without end and without competitor in goodness being independent supreme and alone satisfactory whereas means have no farther goodness than as they help to obtain the end A Christian should therefore refer to God all his thoughts and words and actions and that not lazily or verbally only but with a strong affection and with a pure heart avoiding thereby the cheat men often put upon themselves in being deceiv'd with their own formalities and specious pretences when even in Religion and spiritual exercises they often seek and please themselves rather than God Upon this account the Scripture calls the way to life straight and narrow because depraved man refers all to himself and can hardly follow the pure and direct ways which God prescribes being naturally averse to an upright intention But when this aversion is once overcome by an assiduous diligence and delight in the law of God then divine commandments are not grievous the way to life is wide and the yoke of Christ is light and pleasant CHAP. XI That men trifling about things Eternal and being earnest about the World is the cause why so many attain not their main end 1. THat the number of fools is past number was rightly affirmed by the Wise man For indeed infinite multitudes of men trifle away their days so simply act so childishly or rather so much like mad men that their intolerable follies cannot be sufficiently deplor'd They set the flesh above the spirit they prefer time to Eternity and Earth to Heaven till the unhappy Comedy of their sinful lifâ— ends in a sadder Tragedy of death and they go down to Hell in a moment If a suit at law is to be determin'd or an estate gain'd or a place of honour obtain'd then they spare no cost nor labour no search no diligence no study but if Heaven is to be purchast and eternal life and glory made sure then no man stirs they are all asleep and unactive no regard no care is had of it 2. In things that touch and afflict the body as hunger and thirst heat and cold pains and infirmities our senses are quick and can never be deceiv'd and therefore with all our might and industry we presently occur to those evils and endeavour to remove them But if our soul suffers under the same or the like spiritual evils we are not sensible and we care no more than if that nobler part of us whereby we live and are rational and like to Angels had no being at all And this because the flesh hath got the upper hand and we value this sport uncertain life more than life eternal and we make it our first and sole employment to rescue that carcass from death for a few moments which certainly must soon become its prey 3. One cause of these preposterous doings is the gross and brutish ignorance or rather inconsideration of too too many who will neither know nor consider to what end man was created what it is he should seek and design in the whole course of his life and what way he should take that he may not miss of his great aim Jer. 12.11 The whole land is made desolate because no man lays it to heart i. e. because no man considers wisely Another cause of this mischief is the great number and power of those Enemies that perpetually assault us whose snares no man can possibly avoid without God breaks them and delivers him for we are continually besieg'd by a frail flesh a flattering world and legions of devils who seek to devour us 4. Lastly our folly and misery proceeds partly from our blindness the whole World being in darkness we want light to guide us and yet will not beg it of God and pray him devoutly he would lead us aright who alone is able and willing to do it and partly from our sloth and inconstancy for we are vertuous in wish and not in effect because we are lazy to work and when it comes to the practice we find difficulties and being soon tir'd and disheartned hastily give over before we have effected any thing All Christians no doubt would be glad to come at last to Christ but they have no heart to come after him they would be glad to enjoy him but care not to imitate him fain would they come to him but not follow him Men would obtain riches without labour and Crowns without fighting they like well of rewards but they would take no pains GHAP. XII How men suffer themselves to be deceiv'd by a fair out-side and false appearance of good 1. THis World's felicity put all together with all those things that are most esteem'd by the generality of mankind the whole is but like a coarse picture which seems to have something pleasing and inviting when you look upon 't with a false light or in a place somewhat obscure or with a small blind candle such as is the dim and deceitful light of present time but if you bring forth the picture and view it before that glorious sun that shines for ever the radiant brightness of Eternity there it will appear deform and unfinish'd a dark and imperfect shadow which represents nothing a confused heap of strokes and lines drawn without order or design For though the light of the Gospel enlightens the World yet it remains in darkness men will not see the glorious discoveries which the Gospel makes The light shined in the darkness but the darkness comprehended it not 3. Yet that light it is and none else that clearly shews the great difference betwixt good and evil btwixt vile and precious betwixt truth and appearances how we may know and chuse the one from the other By this blessed light of Christianity which dwells in the heart and instructs it and abides for ever by it we are taught not to cleave to the creatures because of their attractive beauty but so to consider their perfections as to be by them led to the fountain whence they proceed to the love and admiration of the glorious maker of all things And the same divine light it is makes me see
rough and bitter and in sin a mixture of sweetness that offends and this gratifies their distempered palat and they brutishly follow the bait run into all dissolution and so reject truth to imbrace a lie If at any time they give ear to an honest and plain monitor who lays the truth open before them and be so far work'd upon as to be sensible that they are in darkness and to have some desire after light yet like men that would fain awake but are opprest by a heavy slumber and so presently fall to sleep again they soon after close their eyes and exclude the light to return to their beloved darkness 3. No wonder therefore if we propound to do many things and effect nothing For we not foreseeing the difficulties which commonly occur in well-doing when we come to meet with them we presently draw back and our courage fails again we trust in our own strength more than in the divine help and assistance and when temptations grow strong we lose heart and are soon worsted and learn by a sad experience that when we overcome it is not by our own virtue but by the power of God's grace Lastly we give much to notion and speculations and take little care to affect our will and affections the Christian laws of well-living we learn as a science rather than as a matter of conscience we study Divinity not to obedience and conformity to God's will but to vain glory and ostentation Now 't is altogether in vain to learn wisdom and yet live foolishly CHAP. VI. That the rules of Evangelical Perfection are intended for all Christians 1. MAny that have no mind to perfect holiness in the fear of God by living according to the strict precepts of our Saviour Christ pretend that they belong not to them but only to Clergy-men or such as are shut up and recluse from the World this is their excuse and their plea but as I shall soon make it appear it is altogether void of truth and vain For though it is to be acknowledg'd that some by new vows and ingagements are more particularly devoted to God and under greater obligations to live Religiously and tend to perfection yet certain it is that all Christians tend to the same end though their way may differ in some circumstances and as to what regards the practice of Christian virtues contempt of the World poverty in Spirit and the loving and bearing of the Cross they are all equally concern'd they have the same Gospel and are equally oblig'd to obey its dictates Charity which is the band of perfection comprehensive of all other duties God requires of all Christians alike and lust or self-love which is the root of all evil is likewise generally forbidden no exception of persons no difference is made betwixt any Our Blessed Saviour hath injon'd we should abstain from idle words of which an account shall be rendred in the great day that we should not be angry with our Brother nor covet what belongs to him he makes no distinction betwixt Clergy-men or Lay-men or persons of any rank or calling nor yet when he says Woe unto you that laugh and blessed are ye that mourn nor when he teaches that we must always pray that we must forsake all and follow him that we must hate our own life deny our selves suffer injuries patiently and enter in at the straight gate in these consists Christian perfection and yet from these he excludes no man 2. Saint Paul likewise writing to all Christians such as were cumbered with worldly affairs and had the care of large families gives them this strict Ascetick Rule to be content with food and raiment 1 Tim. 6.8 Than which nothing more was ever required of any Hermits Saint Peter also exhorts all believers to be holy in all manner of conversation as he that hath called them is holy 1 Ep. 1.15 So doth Saint James 1.4 to be perfect and intire wanting nothing And our Blessed Saviour before them all preaching to the multitude that followed him Be ye perfect saith he as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Mat. 5.48 Thereby recommending the highest degree of holiness to all that would be his Disciples that as many as are reputed children of God by grace and adoption might live accordingly indeavouring after the example and perfection of their Heavenly Father And so hath our Blessed Lord laid upon all Christians infinite obligations to live holy lives to be strict and virtuous to the highest measure and possibility which they may not neglect without forfeiting his favour and excluding themselves from his Heavenly Kingdom CHAP. VII Of the usefulness of this Book with an exhortation to follow after perfection 1. NOW then let us despise and forsake all those things wherein worldings place their felicity and make it our onely study to pursue after the prize of our high calling the height of Christian perfection in following the blessed steps of our Blessed Redeemer This is the aim of this little volume to this purpose are design'd all the instructions here laid down that we may overcome the temptations and allurements of sense attain to the knowledge of the truth and so return in some manner to our primitive station that Paradise wherein we were created to triumph over sin and at last reign to Eternity The children of this World would fain have it believ'd that that perfection or sincerity which the Gospel requires is very hard to come by and hardly to be found in any man living thereby endeavouring to make Christians faint and remiss loth to venture upon an attempt which they would have them think is wholly impossible whereas nothing is difficult to him that is truly resolv'd and willing and whatever is hard in it self is made easie by that grace of God which is always ready to assist us 2. The truth is there is so much of delicious beauty in virtue and righteousness so ravishing a joy in a glimpse of heavenly light so glorious a brightness in the sight of God's eternal truth that the enjoyment of these for one day may justly be prefer'd to many ages of the greatest pleasures this world can afford for one day in thy Courts is better than a thousand as the Psalmist saith Psal 84.10 3. Now here would I caution my Reader not to wonder if perchance he finds the same thing repeated more than once in this little book for that cannot be avoided there being so close a connexion and affinity betwixt the precepts of several virtues and withal it may be an effect of the great power of truth that the nearer we view it the oftner we are drawn to review it Likewise if something herein seems too Angelical and high or more harsh and difficult than the frail nature of man can well bear let him remember that the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed
eyes and mind on that Original which he means to copy So should a follower of Christ in all his words and actions set before himself his Master's Life as the most perfect exemplar he is resolv'd to imitate and never to swerve from 2. Now he that professeth Christ and remains in him should walk as he walked carefully observe and follow the steps of his new and better Lord. For as whilest we remain in the state of Nature and follow its instinct we are Children of wrath and are slaves to Satan and to our own lusts so now we are redeem'd from that unhappy slavery by the bloud of Christ his Grace must be the principle of all our actions we must carefully follow him whose members we are 1 Cor. 15.47 The first man is of the Earth earthly the second man is the Lord from Heaven therefore as we have born the Image of the Earthy we should also bear the Image of the Heavenly making that our first and chiefest care that we walk worthy of our high calling as being led by his Spirit from whom we have our highest title for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his saith the Apostle Rom. 8.9 3. Now he alone hath the Spirit of Christ whose outward and inward life that is whose actâ—ons and affections are according to the Pattern of Christ's blessed example who endeavours always to speak and act as Christ his Master did According as we are exhorted not to walk after the flesh but after the Spirit being created anew in Jesus Christ unto good works We should look unto the Rock whence we are hewn not living after the methods of depraved man but walking in the ways of that righteous God from whom we have our being that we being holy in all manner of conversation may be own'd to be the children of our Father which is in Heaven For he certainly is no child of God who is not led and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ CHAP. XVIII The Just liveth by faith not by the laws of flesh and bloud 1. FAith is to all virtues and to a Christian life the same thing as the root is to the tree the foundation to the building and the Spring to the fountain for it is the first lesson of Christianity from whence we learn all the rest there we must first begin and without it it is impossible to please God for the just lives by faith The Commendation Job gives to wisdom Chap. 28. is justly due to Faith Faith being the principle of it and likewise it is evident and granted by all wise men that Solomon's high Encomium of Wisdom doth but set forth the Divine excellencies of Faith Wisd 7. Gold in respect of her is as little sand and silver shall be counted as clay before her she is a treasure unto men that never faileth which they that use become the friends of God She is the brightness of the everlasting light the unspotted mirrour of the power of God and the Image of his goodness The doctrine of Faith apprehended by Faith teacheth us all Truth informs our Souls what we ought to love what to shun and what to pursue It teacheth us that what the world counts good is evil And that worldly calamities are good if indur'd patiently It teacheth us to despise things visible and temporal and all that which is for no use but to the material part of us It teacheth us to know God and to know our selves which is the true saving knowledge and the highest of our wisdome And it frees us from the pernicious errors of this foolish world and from its wretched slavery to make us wise unto salvation and set us at perfect liberty 2. There is a vast distance and great contrariety betwixt the instructions of faith and the customs of this present world but then Christ who delivers the first being ever true and infallible it is clearly our duty and interest to live by faith and not by sense to follow the holy light of our holy faith not the wicked example of this wicked world And withal 't is much to be observ'd that depraved as we now are there is nothing in us nothing in our nature but what is contrary to the principles of the Christian Faith and altogether destructive of them For 't is the constant dictate and endeavour of flesh and bloud and natural reason to procure by all means possible a well-being to our selves in this present world without taking any further care of a better life and a blessed Eternity This evil men have from Adam and from those lusts which reign in their mortal bodies and the best of men have still some cause to groan under the sense of it Rom. 7. The good that I would I do not and the evil which I hate that I do O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death St. Paul answers the Grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ will deliver us For by Grace we are sav'd from our blindness and impotency and enabled to see and chuse that which is good and to perform the same and the first and chiefest work of that grace is faith whereby we are united to Christ and receive a new life from him CHAP. XIX That Faith works in a Christian self-denyal and contempt of the World 1. GReat is the power and strength of Faith for it makes the faithful Christian to be as it self is unshaken and unmovable The true believer whose faith is lively and active regards and seeks nothing but God and in him alone finds light and peace delight and full satisfaction but in the world and in the sons of men he finds neither rest nor pleasure for in time of need there is no help in them They are like all other things under the Sun perishing and unstable so that he that relies on them must expect the same destiny whereas he that trusts on God who is unmoveable is established for ever As the Saints that see God as he is become like unto him so should our life express the holiness of our belief our actions should be a lively representation of what we see by faith and we should glory in nothing but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ which to the lovers of this present world is a reproach and an offence 2. The first man indeed in the state of his innocence might have come to Bliss by a free and lawful use of those good creatures which God had prepar'd for him in the delights of Paradise but after he had rebel'd against God and infected his unborn posterity with sin the Divine Wisdom appointed another way to Bliss that is the way of the Cross and Self-denyal through which Christ himself past and appointed the same to all his followers saying Luke 9.23 If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow me And again Luke 14.26 33.
oblig'd to observe The Divine are contain'd in the Ten Commandments and in the New Testament which contains the precepts of Faith Hope and Charity Faith obligeth all the Faithful to believe the doctrines of Christianity as they are sum'd up in our Creed By Hope we trust by the grace of God and our own sincere endeavour to obtain and use all necessary means of Grace and Eternal Life at last all which in this assurance we heartily beg in the Lord's Prayer And Charity requires of us to love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves A Christian by these three virtues is made a new and holy creature Faith inlightens and directs his understanding Hope raiseth him up and sets his will at work for God and to God Charity unites him wholly It is also necessary to understand the necessity of Baptism and the Lord's Supper and true Repentance which are all Divine Institutions indispensably necessary to all that will be saved For except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.5 And Except we eat the flesh and drink the bloud of Christ we have no life in us Joh. 6.53 And as for Repentance it is the only remedy we have for the sins committed after Baptism that by it we may be made clean again 2. Lastly there are also Human Laws Enacted by the Church or the State we live in and them we are also to know and to observe with meekness and humility and for Conscience sake But no man of himself is able to keep all these Laws which God hath bound upon us none can obey them without the true light from above enlighten and guide him as it is written Psal 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastnest O Lord and teachest him in thy Law For ever since sin came into the World men without the light of Faith sit in darkness and the shadow of death and take an account of good and evil not by the measures of truth but by their lusts and depraved passions We must therefore earnestly beg the divine assistance that he that commands what he wills would enable us to do what he hath commanded healing our blindness and impotency destroying self-love and filling our hearts with devout love to him for the end of the Commandment is Charity and he that truly loves God keepe his Commandments without hypocrisie or reservation CHAP. XXXIV The difference betwixt the outward and the inward man 1. OUR Christian hope is not for this World nor for this present time and we were not created to enjoy that Earthly happiness which the World only seeks but God made us for that Eternal Bliss which he hath promised and whose excellency we cannot as yet understand For eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither is it entred into the heart of man what things God hath prepared for them that love him We therefore that are called to the possession of that Kingdom which was prepared for us from the beginning of the World ought not to govern our selves only by human reasons and live by natural instincts after the common manner of men who are unacquainted with the ways of Eternity and the motions of Divine Grace But happy are they that wisely dive into the depth of things who live to God and commune with him in their hearts and suffer not their thoughts and affections to range and dwell abroad 2. These men live an inward life they are recollected and dwell at home always disposed to hear Gods voice within them and to understand his secrets Whereas they live an outward life that are most affected with outward things having fair pretences for their worldly-mindedness being greedy of news and curious sights and sensual pleasures walking saith the Apostle Eph. 4.17 in the vanity of their minds alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them For the more a man profits in carnal wisdom the more ignorant he becomes in the things of God As much as we love the creatures as much we lessen our love to the Creator CHAP. XXXV How dangerous it is to be governed by opinion and false apprehension of things 1. HE is a wise man that weighs things justly and then esteems them according to their intrinsick value for every thing in the world hath a twofold aspect or a double face the one natural and real and the other disguised and fallacious The first is what God judgeth and hath revealed it to be and the second depends on mens passions and false opinions Thus for Example the Dignity of a Bishop is in effect and according to Gods appointment a high and Angelic office of such a weight as should make human strength tremble and shrink under it it is a place of great honour but also it requires the greatest labour and diligence to watch for the Souls intrusted with the dignified Prelat who shall give a strict account for them in the day of judgment But in the Worlds account a Bishoprick is only a degree of honour in the Church which promotes the owner of it to riches and greatness and temporal advantages Hence it is that they that rightly apprehend what the office is fear and avoid it and are so far from seeking that they refuse it when offer'd and it is much to be feared that they follow the worlds judgements and seek themselves that seek it and make it their aim and the object of their passionate desires The same may be said of all other dignities and places of trust in Church and State Generally men have a wrong notion of them and understand not their definition and hence the confusions and malvorsations that are in the world that men mistake things and hate truth and will not see nor follow divine light but the darkness of their own perverse hearts 2. Such names are commonly used amongst men as are consecrated by the Bloud of Christ and the highest virtues of his greatest Saints as that some be called Bishops Priests Deacons Monks or Hermits Some Kings Princes and Magistrates and all together Christians but who is there that duly considers the great worth the strength and true significations of those names what virtues what perpetual care what duties they require from such as bear them the bare Titles with a vain shadow of the things remain but the reality and significancy of them is vanish'd few men are in truth what they call themselves few live according to the name of Christian because few make it their first care to follow the example of Christ This unhappy deceit is also an effect of the first and worst of evils Self-love the most crafty deceiver hardly found out by the wisest and seldome quite conquer'd by the best of men 3. The truth is that the good and evil things of this present life are so mixt and confused that if we take an exact view of the nature of them we shall hardly discern the one
forth to some outward imployment by necessity or by Gods glory yet his thoughts will always tend homeward to dwell in peace with the inner man in an humble and quiet heart wherein there is always a sense of Gods gracious presence Whereas he that is too intent and busie about the circumference of unsettled creatures shall not be able to come to his proper rest and center which is God 2. To the ignorant foolish World it is very grievous to be alone and converse with themselves but for a few hours they are afraid of themselves and they make it their chiefest care to be ingag'd abroad and to avoid their own company They spend much of their time upon the necessities of this present life and yet what remains of it lies upon them like a heavy burthen and they are glad to find out occasions to throw it away They dread to look within and to hear the voice of their own conscience and finding nothing in themselves but fearful apprehensions vexation and tediousness of spirit they range abroad and go for comfort to other creatures Serious thoughts are a terror to them and consideration is as bad as death because their Soul lies naked and deformed loaded with sins and miseries and they have just cause to avoid the sight of such a Spectacle No wonder therefore if but a few men love to be private and to be sequestred from the World when so many desire to be in a croud and a perpetual hurry and esteem themselves unhappy when they must be alone as indeed unhappy they are and must be until they rectifie many things and learn to confer and live with themselves and by inward purity invite God to dwell in their hearts that there they may rest in him We are told that many are called and but a few chosen that we might learn to forsake the many and live with the few and with fear and diligent care make our Calling and Election sure CHAP. XIV Of the Danger of Riches and that the desire of them is to be mortified 1. HOW apt Riches are to corrupt a good Life how pernicious is the love of them our Blessed Saviour taught his Disciples when he affirm'd with an asseveration as being a thing of great moment and much to be noted Verily I say unto you that a Rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.23 And that this terrible sentence might make the deeper impression upon their hearts he exemplifies Rich mens danger by this Parable It is easier for a Camet to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a Rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God The Door of the Heavenly Kingdom is narrow and can give no entrance to such as are loaded and cumbred with fardels of Wealth We should therefore love and desire Riches as a sick man doth a bitter Potion it is necessary to recover health but it is unpleasant and if he could be well without it he would let it alone and however he takes no more than needs must so should every Christian be affected to the things of the World they are the staff of our Pilgrimage and our necessities require the use of them but yet they are vexatious and dangerous too and therefore we may wish we could live without them and we must take no more of them than is requisite to supply our wants for as the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness with Contentment is great gain And 't was the Counsel of a good man Fear not my Son though we are made Poor for thou hast much wealth if thou fear God and depart from all Sin Tob. 4.21 2. He is truly Rich that is Rich to Eternity and hath a Treasure of Good Works in store But they can hardly be Innocent that will be Rich in the World for the love of Riches is the Root of all Evil. Men care not what sins they commit so they may get Wealth and when they have it its great use is to purchase therewith the satisfaction of their Lusts the Lust of the Eyes the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life which are the Idols of the World But as some that play with pibbles and pins are very intent to their game when yet they value not the instruments of it so should we care for our necessities and yet not set our hearts upon those things that supply them we may use money to that end but we may not inslave our affections to it except we will become most base and miserable We see when Nuts are thrown among Children they will greedily scrape and fight for them and Men will stand unconcern'd and despise such trash so should we as many as fear God and are true Christians when Riches and Honours are to be got and men that know and expect no better will croud and strive and sweat for them let us laugh and pitty their folly those things are but Nuts not worth our stooping if any fall into our bosome we may break it and eat it but 't is below us to scramble for them all Worldly things are meer deceit and vanity When the Son of God became Man he would have no Riches to teach us how much we should despise them The Children of this World like not of this they rather despise Christ and his Divine Doctrine because they love and esteem Mammon but the Children of light gather their Treasure in Heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupteth and where thieves cannot break through nor steal He is Rich enough in this World that wants not Daily Bread CHAP. XV. Of the Vse of Riches and how to know we Love them not 1. FEW understand or consider how to use their Estates aright that they are the provision for this present short Life which a good man obtains without any wrong to others and own without Pride or Covetousness and preserves without anxious fears and distributes without regret or nigardliness where Charity and Necessity call Now the measures of Necessity are to be taken from the Man's state and condition For some by birth or by place are Noble and dignified Persons who in respect of their ranks which should be Honourably maintain'd have greater wants than their inferiors who may have sufficient with a lesser Portion Yet however we are all but Stewards of what we possess and we should all study Alms and Moderation that God our great Land-lord may find us faithful For he is the true owner of all that we have we are but Servants under him who should use all for his glory and in the midst of our plenty be voluntarily Poor as to our selves And when Riches increase should not be proud nor set our heart upon them 2. Nature hath hid Gold and Silver in the bowels of the Earth and the Covetous that seeks for those beloved mettals is bowed down and stoops to the ground and can hardly raise up himself to look to Heaven but the wiser Christian looks
here pour'd upon us for a wise and good man will not only regard what he suffers but what he deserves to suffer for his offences against God Also let no man judge and condemn another remembring the saying of St. Paul Ro. 2.1 Thou art inexcusable O man for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self for thou that judgest dost the same things For 't is very unfitting he that owes ten thousand talents should be a severe exacter of his Brother's mite and he is a fool that thinks to cure others by his distemper that is by his pride and his impatience Who art thou saith the Apostle Rom. 14.4 that judgest another mans servant To his own master he standeth or falleth And how canst thou say to thy Brother let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye when thou thy self beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye Luke 6.42 God alone that can amend and forgive or else punish the sins of men hath right to judge of them our part is to prevent them if we can or else bring men to repentance however to hide and bear with them indeavouring first to amend our own faults before we take upon us to correct others As God is merciful and patient to us all so must we be to our Brothers CHAP. XXIV Remedies against Impatience 1. MAny and various are the affairs a man must go through in his life and very different are the humors and companies he must converse withal so that it is next to impossible all men should be of his opinion and all things should fall out according to his mind therefore he must resolve before hand and be very careful that he lose not his Peace and his Patience whatever happen To that end let him consider in all his concerns and undertakings what things may come cross to his desires and above his power to help and having took a view of them let him prepare himself to bear them if they come For this will avoid the surprize and lessen the grief and compose the mind This must be therefore our first and chiefest task to understand the nature of things and to use them accordingly as that they may be taken from us and they are and must be subject to thousands of changes and chances which we cannot hinder and they are to serve not to command us and withal they are out of our power so that we must not be troubled if we cannot dispose of them as we would 2. These considerations well weighed will make a wise mans mind stedfast and even able to entertain all events with a generous indifferency Is he depriv'd of his good name of his estate or liberty is he threatned with persecutions or with death itself he is not mov'd nor dejected he had consider'd long before that such things might happen whether he would or no and now he can bear and overcome them 'T is not outward things that wound us but the wrong notion that we have of them our own mistaken conceits do us the most hurt No man grows pale with fear or perplext with anguish but he that passionately would avoid or obtain that which is not in his power mind your duty and let not your passions go out of your own sphere and you shall avoid all those troubles which come from abroad where mans Jurisdiction cannot reach The Christian Martyrs were constant in the midst of their wearied tormentors their patience could not be conquer'd even women and children were undaunted in the midst of the flames they could not be overcome though they might be kill'd because they valued not those things which Tyrants might give or else take away Things without were nothing to them but things within things that were their own as their vertue their divine faith and love these they kept and preserv'd and in so doing were happy For these are the true goods which depend only from our selves and which the world can neither give nor take away from us CHAP. XXV Of Humility the proper Vertue of Christians 1. LEarn of me saith our Divine master the eternal wisdom the inexhaustible fountain of Grace and Vertue Learn of me what sure some great matter for he that bids us learn hath himself created Heaven and Earth and commanded the light to shine out of darkness Will he therefore teach us to make a new world and so bring things out of nothing also No that belongs only to God He bids us learn not what he made but what he himself was made for us Who being in the form of God yet made himself of no reputation taking on him the form of a Servant and being made in the likeness of men Phil. 2. Learn of me therefore saith he not to raise the dead or cast out Devils not to cleanse lepers or give light to the blind not to walk on the Sea or to work such wonders as he enabled some to do but Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart Mat. 11.29 He would not teach what himself would not do but he himself becomes our lesson and this he makes the sum of his wisdome and his saving doctrine that we learn to be meek and humble after his example So great so difficult a thing was lowliness that we could not learn it but from the humiliation of the most highest 2. Indeed human pride can be cur'd by none but him who being God yet humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross And humility is the chiefest vertue of Christians proper to them alone unknown to the Philosophers and wise men of the world recommended by Christ by his Example and by his Precepts above all other duties That we following him in his abasement might at last come to his glory Now that we may think meanly of our selves we must seriously consider who it is that calls us the wretched State whence he calls us the Bliss he calls us to our perverse dulness to follow and the assistances he gives to forward us For we shall never come to the prize of our high calling except humility goes along and follows our best works which are the steps we make towards it Because our vertues shall avail nothing if we be proud of them and if we seek for praise and glory here we shall not have any hereafter 3. If at any time our thoughts be lift up and we fancy our selves to be something the Earth which is always present will tell us whereof we are made and whence we had our origin For dust we are and to dust we must needs return and upon this humble and low foundation we must build the highest vertues For if a man had the gift of miracles and could remove mountains if he could speak all languages and foretel things to come if he had converted all the infidels and given all his substance to the Poor yet he would be in great and perpetual danger of falling and losing his reward