had drawn out all my Misery from the bottom where it lay hid to present it to the Eyes of my Heart there arose a great Tempest which was followed by a great Shower of Tears This weeping does not always come from a Sense of Sin 't is sometimes caused by a jarring diversity of Thoughts and a confusion of good Emotions which cast the Soul into a sort of Disorder but which is much better than the greatest Calm Meditation HOW were it to be wisht that men were as holy as they are Eloquent and knowing pourtraicts they make but where shall we find the Originals I see plainly that the characters of true Devotion are curious and ravishing but alas the more I enter into this Meditation the more do I continue confus'd When I consider what I ought to be to be devout and I examin what I my self am I find that I am nothing or that I am not just what I should be I do not find in my self those ardent desires to be with my God and to converse with him by holy Prayer and Meditation My Soul languishes but it is not after the house of my God nor after the solitude of my Cabinet It languishes for it is feeble and weak in all the motions of Piety I do violence to my own heart in drawing it out of the clutches of the World to put it into the hands of God I enter into my Closet to do my Exercises of Piety rather to acquit my self of a Duty which I have imposed on my self than to follow my own inclinations Where is that Joy which I ought to taste in the Acts of my Devotion Where is that being unbound from the World renouncing of all carnal thoughts where is that Fervour and Alacrity the Extasies the Flames the Illuminations of that heavenly fire whereof I am a reading the description All is dead in me If I would quit the World to enter into my Closet I carry it still along with me In all the faculties of my Soul I feel a monstrous weight and dulness which arrests all my Elevations and makes me tumble down back again to the Earth my Jertings up are feeble and of a short Durance they hardly go half Way to Heaven Prayer HAve pity on my sad Estate my Father and my God Draw me and I will run after thee Why should I remain in the shadow of Death Thou Sun of righteousness that carriest healing in thy Wings raise me up and quicken me Let the East from on high visit me with the Bowels of his Mercy Let my heart burn within me whilst I read thy Scriptures and hear thy Word Let my Prayers be ardent and my Piety constantly sustained by the force and flames of thy Grace and loving kindness And thou my Soul do not attend this loving kindness with Arms across go meet it call and say Come Lord Jesus come quickly O God of my Salvation awaken my heart Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee Life Chase away sloath let it no longer lye in the bed of security banish all coldness rid thy self of that burthensome weight that oppresses thee Take the Wings of an Eagle and to Heaven fly into the bosom of thy Saviour and thou shalt find Sweets which thou hast never yet tasted never seen never heard of and which never enter'd into thy Imagination to conceive CHAP. III. The great necessity of Devotion WHO can doubt on 't and is it not sufficient barely to know and to describe it to perswade us to it Devotion is the Soul of the Soul and the very Life of Piety 'T is that which sets a price and value upon the Duties and the Worship of a faithful Soul A due Preparation is necessary to every thing An Orator who is to speak in publick first amasses his matter together and then assays to put it into a good Form A Souldier being to fight prepares his Army and rouzes his courage He that goes to a Marriage puts on a Wedding Garment And why then do we take upon us to present our selves before God in Prayer in reading or in hearing his Word in imploring his Assistance or rendring him Actions of Gratitude without having the holy disposition of Piety and Devotion that are before him of so great Price We do ever that thing well which we do heartily but when the Heart is no Party in the business it avails nothing The Souldier who carries not his Heart along with him turns his back in the day of battle and the Orator whose Heart is not toucht with what he says will never touch that of others If without the Heart we cannot perform the works of the Tongue and of the Hand how shall the work of the heart it self be done without the Heart This is what I call the Exercises of Piety and the Service of God A Lute can it be plaid upon unless it be string'd and tun'd can a Bow shoot unless it be bent the Heart is an Instrument and a Lute the sound whereof charms the Ears of the Almighty but it must be strung with all its Vertues as with strings and Devotion must be to it a kind of Soul that makes every thing else to act Prayer is an Arrow that flies to the Heav'ns but Devotion only gives it both strength and Feathers Prayer is a Sacrifice and an offering of the Heart We must not therefore present common Riches to God without preparation and choice and the Passover-Lamb was separated from the Flock four days before its Immolation Let not the Sinner then offer to God dirty and soyl'd Prayers but pure and devout ones let him separate his heart from the vanities of the World and the Folly of his vain thoughts if he will be well-pleasing to God Without Devotion the Soul is dead the heart is but in its Body as in its Grave What rashness then to lay a dead and corrupted Beast upon the Altars of God will not God say I hate your Oblations the Peace-Offerings of your fat Beasts and the perfume of your Incense I cannot away with them Devotion is a Fire without which our Sacrifices could not be consumed It 's a Fire coming down from Heav'n it 's an emanation of the Rays of the Sun of Righteousness it s what must lift up the Smoak of our incense to Heay'n Assure thy self thou Christian Soul that thy offerings are in the right way and that the Flames of Devotion are alone capable of piercing those Clouds thickned by Iniquity that separate us from God The matter that makes thunder-bolts so massy and heavy would not alwayes be mounted in the middle Region of the Air from whence we see 'em hurl'd down upon the Earth were it not carried upon the Wings of some inflamed Exalations In like manner our Earthly Prayers as well as our hearts would not be able to mount the Skies did not the flames of Devotion lift them up So that we ought to put our
and which Death at least would have infallibly ravisht from thee Dost thou not know that the World and its Fortunes are all of Glass They shine but they are brittle The least blow shatters them and makes 'em to flye into a thousand pieces why then shouldest thou think it strange that Glass should break between thy Fingers Why art thou so sensible of Injuries and Offences And why dost thou make the malignity of another thy own misery why dost thou so bitterly lament the loss of some Persons that Death has taken up from thee they were not thine they were Gods who lent 'em thee and has retaken them In short Why art thou so prodigal of Tears whereof thou reapest no fruit that is to imploy ones Labour in that which profiteth not When thou bewailest O my Soul thy misfortunes thy tears do not make thy misfortunes to cease but mourn for thy Sins and thy Tears will destroy them They will whirl them away like a Torrent or a Deluge and they will be found no more Thy carnal anxieties trouble thy Devotion But the Grief which thou shalt have for thy Sins and Infirmities will augment it and God will comfort thee Prayer COme therefore thou Holy Ghost the Comforter who wert promised to us by the Son in behalf of the Father Come sweeten my bitter Anguishes by thy Delights and Mercies Come and recompence my losses by thy Riches Give me such joy as passes all understanding Give me Piety that I may have contentment of Mind and that the one and the other being joyned together may be great Gain to me and compose my soverign happiness Come and place my Soul in so firm a Seat and Posture that it may never be jogged or stagger'd even by the rudest blows Come and restore back to me what I have lost Goods Possessions Houses Husband Wife Children Kindred and my dearest Frinds Come my dear Saviour and let me possess thee perfectly instead of all things The World has taken away all it hath given me But it cannot ravish from me what thou shalt bestow upon me I make a Sacrifice to thee of all the Goods which I have lost If I have not lost 'em for thy Name yet at least I at present patiently suffer the loss of them for thy Name 's sake And therefore I hope thou wilt reward me as if I had lost them for thee In this Hope I banish my Cares and Troubles far from me to the end they may come no more to disturb and interrupt my Repose O my God make the Walls of my Closet impenetrable Ramparts such as cannot be pierced by the Darts of my persecuting Enemies So that I may be there in thy Presence as in a quiet and safe Haven against the Tempests wherein my Life is lost and that so the Commerce which my Soul would have with thee may not be interrupted by the remembrance of my Misfortunes but I may forget all my Griefs and Calamities in thy Presence CHAP. V. Of Excessive Business A fifth Source of Indevotion THIS is also another branch of the Love of the World and another let and hindrance to Devotion We love the World and give up our selves intirely to its Imployments One imploys himself in Traffique and thinks of nothing else Another he is oppressed with the Affairs of other men which he makes his own through interest He pleads as he saith for the defence of Justice but it is too often for iniquity and though he gains his Cause yet he loses his Conscience A physician Visits his Patients with a design to make 'em pay dear for his Services and Attendance The man of business is ever thumbing his Arithmetick The Mechanick exercising his Trade the Husband-man Agriculture And to these several ways goes the greatest and best part of their time And so much is the World corrupted as they think they deserve praises in that among the sundry ways of spending time this is the most innocent but it becomes criminal as soon as it robs us of our God and slackens our Piety The mind of man is so made as it cannot vigorously tend but to one Mark it cannot ardently will but one thing insomuch as if thou givest up the ardour and force of thy desires to thy Family and thy Occupations God will but partake of the Reliques of thy Soul and thy languishing motions I do not pretend here as if Persons of all conditions could give up themselves wholly to contemplation This contemplative Life is the Life of Angels and not of men and since that we are in part Body we must also live after a manner partly corporal A Bird let its wings be never so strong cannot always be flying A Soul has not strength enough to be evermore lifted up to Heaven I know moreover we ought to serve the necessities of Nature In a word I do not oppose the Order that man has received from God to eat his Bread by the sweat of his Brows and by his labour six days in the Week all I aim at is that the imployments of Martha may not hinder the work of Mary and that the Body being the worse Part of us may not carry away the better part of our time If there be any thing wherein we ought to laud and praise the great condescention of God to us it is in this all our time is his but he pleased to give us six parts in seven Six days shalt thou labour and on the seventh rest Seeing he has forgone so much we ought at least to be very exact to pay him this Tythe of our time one day in seven one hour in seven Six hours therefore should not slip by in a day without returning to God to give him the seventh Do more and imagine not you can do too much since you owe him all Why will you not have the same regard and consideration for the Soul as you have for the Body On it you bestow Refreshment and Rest and for this you intercept your most important Concerns that you may repair the decayed forces of Nature Take heed there be not made too great a dissipation of the Spirits of Grace call the Soul to its exercises of Devotion as to repasts which renders it vigorous and as to sleep during which it lyes in the Arms of its God labour often in this Divine Recollection and to withdraw the Soul from those wandring courses it makes in humane affairs Meals and repasts hastily taken are followed with a difficult digestion and very little nourishment and therefore we repose our selves while we eat let not any one tâ—en imagin he can serve God whilst he is doing something else These stirrings and turbulent Devotions are of ill consequence and instead of nourishing do load and clog the Conscience We must therefore in our ordinary imployments set aside some hour wherein our Souls may retire themselves as it were in an Haven to rejoyce over a Calm after a boysterous Tempest Whilst the Water
Dream which vanisheth away a Smoke which is consumed in its lifting up And as it speaks of it with contempt so it would also that we have little care of it Take no care of the Body saith St. Paul to obey the lusts thereof Take no thought for the morrow the morrow shall take thought for the things of its self be in litttle pain for what ye shall eat or wherewithal ye shall be clothed As for the Soul the holy Spirit would have us turn all our cares on that side He would have us vigilant and sober because the Devil watches about it as a roaring Lyon seeking to devour it He commands us to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling and that we be in a perpetual solicitude about it He Orders us to nourish it with the milk of the Word sincere and without deceit and that we furnish it with strong meats He wishes us to entertain it continually in an holy joy He would have us search after those sovereign pleasures that are to be found in the possession of God which are only for the Soul The Gospel requires of us to imbellish it and that we labour to adorn it that it may be found a glorious Spouse not having spot or wrinkle worthy to be presented to its head the Lord Jesus Christ Examine the conduct of Voluptuous men it is quite contrary to this they act as if they were all Flesh and as if their Soul were only Salt to keep the Body from corrupting All the Ideas they have of Pleasure derive from the Senses and the Imagination and without a metaphor they are as they call themselves Men of Sense and they conceive no more what we call spiritual pleasures than blind men do colours As therefore they never tasted other delights than bodily ones they believe themselves oblig'd to the Body for all their Happiness And in effect so it is For at the time when they taste carnal Pleasures we cannot say they are unhappy since happiness consists in Pleasure and Joy and they have them at that moment So that because we intirely love what we consider as the source of our felicity we cannot think it strange that these worldly People love their body perfectly which they look upon as the only Source of their Pleasures We see also that these men have the same Sentiments for their Body as holy men have for God who is their sovereign good and in whom they find their sovereign pleasure They adore this Body of theirs they cherish they perfume it they offer Incense and Sacrifice to it If one should give a blow or a gird to this same Body Oh! how jealous they are on 't as of a Divinity More Indignation they have against him that should hurt this Flesh than against a Blasphemer or a Sacrilegious Person In a word their Body holds so much of a Divinity that they Sacrifice unto it even their very Conscience nay and God himself But nothing is more opposite to the spirit of Christianity and Devotion than this Sentiment For the truly faithful ones are oblig'd to slight the Body to sacrifice it to God to see it torn in pieces for his name and to renounce all the pleasures of sense for his Glory The Spirit of the Gospel and of Devotion absolutely tends to the contempt of the World but the spirit of Voluptuousness and sensuality to the love of the World How must we love the World when it caresses us and is mighty kind and pleasurable to us if we love it when it persecutes us and steeps us in Gall The World is a mere Cheat and Gull and an undeniable Source of Delusions it masques it self and would be seen by us under the image of fleshly pleasure It imbraces us under the habit of Flowers but under these Flowers are a thousand Thorns We do not see these thorns we only smell the Flowers we are sensible of such pleasures and love that causes them But all the World knows nought is more contrary to Devotion than the love of the World and we have made it appear elsewhere so as by consequence nothing is more opposite to the spirit of Christianity and Devotion than sensual Pleasure The Spirit of Christian Religion would inspire a contempt of the present and a desire after the other Life Now certain it is that nothing tyes men so much to Life as the pleasures of Sense the Saints say and ought to say I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better I know when this earthly house shall be dissolved we have an House eternal in the Heavens and therefore we desire to be clothed upon with our House which is from Heaven None of these things moving neither count I my Life dear unto my self As the hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God When shall I come and appear before God It 's impossible that men who live in a perpetual use of Voluptuousness should have these thoughts Every one wishes to be happy and when once he is or at least believes he is so he cannot renounce what he fancies the cause of his felicity these carnal-minded men think themselves happy at such time as they injoy their Pleasures they have no Idea of any other Beatitude but of that they injoy in this present life They can every day speak both about another life and another happiness But they have got an habit not to let themselves be touch'd but by sense and Imagination and so because this life and this happiness do not fall under their Senses nor can be imagined by them they cannot consider them but as imaginary Beings which have no relation to them because they have not any Idea of them in their minds Moreover their hearts meeting in this life with a fat Land that is much prosperity do take very deep rooting there Their affections being thoroughly ingaged in carnal pleasures bound themselves in the possession of Sensible Objects they wish for nothing more besides for that no body wishes for things which he does not know and whereof he has no clear and certain Ideas The Earth becomes their Country they naturalize themselves here every thing else is a strange and unknown Land Let people say what they please but questionless we have an ill preparation for Death in the continual use of those pleasures whose Innocence the World maintains O Death said a Wise Man how cruel is the remembrance of thee to him that lives quietly among his Possessions One lives indeed more commodiously in a Palace than in a Prison but one finds it more trouble to dye in that than in this How insupportable is the thought of Death his presence how affrightful to him who lives in the midst of Pleasures he looks upon Death as a Judge that comes to pronounce on him a dismal Sentence or an Executioner that seizes him to be lead to punishment But the faithful one who has ever held his Flesh
come near the number of thy Offences The moments wherein God hath made me to enjoy most of his Blessings have been those wherein I have render'd my self the most sinful by the abuse of my Prosperity And the least sin I commited in one of those moments deserves pains of an infinite duration Prayer ALmighty God who makest all things with a profound Wisdom I find nothing to say against thy Works All that thou hast made is good But I mourn for my Iniquity and bewail my Corruption Good is in the neighbourhood of Evil and the things which are permitted me are so near to those that are forbidden me that if I forget innocent Pleasures but a little I straight pass into sinful ones At all passages the Devil lies in Ambush and my Concupiscence lays snares for me every where Narrow is the way and borders on precipices I know Lord that thy goodness is infinite and thou dost not exact from me that I should be evermore in Grief thou allowest some grains to the Fesh as rebellious as 't is against thee But how difficult and dargerous is it to mark out precisely the Bounds that distinguish permitted from forbidden Pleasures If I give ear to my Concupiscence it will stretch the limits far beyond all Reason it will endeavour to persuade me that whatsoever is agreeable cannot be bad whether I eat or drink am asleep or awake am idle or at work I am always in the Temptation and Danger of falling into Excess Thy Providence willeth that I pass through all these Dangers Thou alone art able to conduct me safely through this difficult Path Let thy Spirit lead me as in an even Plain Let me turn neither to the right nor to the left Here are two Extremities to fly thou hatest carnal Pleasures but it may be thou dost not love excessive Austerities Bodily Exercise profiteth little but Godliness has the promises of this Life and of that which is to come I know O my God that 't is much more dangerous to fall into one Excess than into the other All thou say'st of bodily Exercise is That it is profitable but to a few things but as to the other excess to wit of Pleasures it hurts and incommodes all things it makes havock of the Conscience it corrupts the Heart ruines the Body grieves the Holy Spirit and it separates the Soul from thee O Lord. 'T is incomparably more safe to renounce all Pleasures in general than to choose some and expose ones self to the danger of taking those that are unlawful O thou who holdest in thine hands the Heart of Men as the Rivers of Water turn mine into the safest way wherein I am certain not to offend thee and that is the privation of all sensual Pleasures Take from me that taste of all Voluptuousness wherewith I am inchanted Cast off from the Demon of Pleasure that Mask which covers him and that fading Beauty which charms me that I may see all his Vgliness and Deformity and detest and fly it Since the Body which thou obligest me to hale after me to nourish and conserve binds me to do Actions conjoyn'd with Pleasure give me the Grace to do those Actions to satisfie Necessity and not to serve Sensuality Discover to me the Snares that Lust lays for me under the Cloak of Necessity Let me not by an ill habit make that necessary which is superfluous according to the Laws of Nature and Reason that my Soul under thy guidance may keep its Body under as a Slave and not serve it as its Master CHAP. V. That we are not to consult our Heart and Senses in the choice of Pleasures That Devotion leads us to true Pleasure 'T IS observ'd that for the obtaining any thing we must ask much more than we have a mind to get and that to bring men to just Sentiments in withdrawing them from their Errours it is good to carry them a little into the other Extremity that in their return they may abide at least in a reasonable middle This perhaps has made so many Christian Authors and Preachers to imitate the style of the Stoicks upon the Nature of Pleasure and Pain These People say that Pain is no evil and Pleasure is not a Good We can say they be perfectly happy in the burning Bull of Phalar is and perfectly unhappy in tasting the greatest Pleasures This method is not it may be so good as we imagine We soyle and dishearten mens Minds by requiring too much of them and nothing is persuasive when Truth is invested with Paradoxes which awaketh curiosity but distemper the Mind After all we can never persuade men to the contrary to what they feel Cicero tells us of one of these Philosophers who had bin blinded by the pompous reasonings of his Sect But a great Rheum falling upon his Eyes which put him to horrible Tortures prevailed over the Illusions of his Philosophy and made him abandon it When we see one of these Sages cruelly tormented upon his Bed with the Gout or Stone and hear him say Thou mayst do as thou wilt O Pain but thou shalt never make me confess thou art an evil we cannot keep our selves from looking upon this as a Comedy and profound Hypocrisie Reason can do nought against Experience nor against a Sense so lively as that of pain The Martyrs I conceive might be happy amidst their punishments because they did not feel all their Pains For I hold that their Soul by the help of Grace was so strongly taken up with the Glory and Crown they were about to receive that hardly any Room remain'd to them for other Sentiments The Patience of the Faithful in their Calamities arises in my Opinion from no other cause than that their Souls being fixt wholly upon God and his Heaven the Object of their Hope do partly unite ' emselves from the Body and give less Heed or Attention to it's Annoyances Impatience on the other side is a motion of the Soul which turns it self wholly to the Body to be abandon'd to pain and to feel all its racks So that I conclude Pain is an Evil Which is to confess bodily Pleasure is a good 'T was my belief I owed this Confession to them whom we would prevail withall to renounce sensual and fleshly Pleasures that by this sincerity and plain dealing we may render them more attentive to our Reasons We do not entreat them to renounce bodily Pleasure as an evil in its self but as a petty and small good that brings along after it in its train an incredible Multitude of mischiefs and as a good which is unworthy of Man born for the most noble Pleasures and destin'd to the possession of the greatest Goods What ever we do we can never rivit out of the Mind of man this Opinion that Happiness consists in Pleasure I will not oppose this Maxime The chiefest beatitude consists without doubt in the Possession of the chiefest Good and in this Possession the Soul
tasts it's chief Pleasure And if we please we may call this chief Pleasure the chief Happiness of man But men are terribly chows'd herein They are persuaded that the Soul is not capable of any true Pleasure without it be what comes from the Body Among men generally a spiritual pleasure and a chimerical pleasure are all one All those who make their felicity to consist in Contemplation and in Actions intirely removed from those which make up carnal pleasure pass in the World for visionary wights this Errour springs from the Heart and Senses And therefore I say that in the Judgment we ought to have of pleasures and in the choice we ought to make thereof we are not to consult either our Senses or our Heart This mistake I say is caused by the Heart and Senses because they believe nothing agreeable but what is agreeable to them We judge things good or evil only according to the relation they have to the Faculties whereunto they raise either pleasure or Pain And therefore the Heart and Senses which are corporeal cannot be touch'd by spiritual things They judge these cannot be agreeable because they are sensible of no Pleasure in them Just as a blind man if he would judge according to the report of his Senses undoubtedly he would judge that there are no colours or if there were they could not make any Impression upon his Senses This is then an Imposture which we must lay open and disperse First of all we ought to remember that Man is made up of two parts the Soul and Body Each of these parts hath it's separate and distinct Goods The Goods of the Mind are spiritual and those of the Body necessarily corporeal Of these two parts the Soul is infinitely the more excellent From this Man is properly denominated and the Body is but a Retainer to him so that consequently the Goods and Pleasures which belong to the Soul by its self are infinitely greater than those which come by the interposition of the Body Lastly 't is very easie to comprehend why the Senses and the Heart indge otherwise These being bodily Faculties we need not wonder they hold clearly for bodily things As for the Senses this is without dispute they are corporeal both in their Organs and in their Operations they perceive only the Superficies of Bodies This is no less true of the Heart it is corporeal too for I understand by the Heart the seat of the Passions and the Imagination 't is very evident that both these Faculties are bodily Faculties For the Imagination is the feat wherein are represented those Images that come from the Senses and offer themselves to our Mind in the absence of Objects The Passions also are corporeal because they are formed by Mechanical Movements This is manifest by those Characters they impress upon the Body as the motion of the Blood quick slow or precipitate Paleness or Ruddiness of Complexion the Fire and languishing which they impress upon the eyes The Senses and Heart which are corporeal being the Gates whereat Objects do enter and accost the mind bring nothing to it but bodily Images and raise in it only sensual Pleasures and the Soul hereby gets an habit of believing there are no other Pleasures besides these since it does not endeavour to disingage it self from the Body and to taste others But can it be possible we should be such enemies to our selves and so irrational as to believe our Senses touching a thing of so great Importance The Senses are unable to know the thousandth part of Bodies As soon as ever a Body ceases to have a considerable Extension we cease to see and feel it and would we make these very Senses to be judges of things absolutely Spiritual Certainly the Soul is very unhappy and very much a Slave if it cannot taste that Pleasure which is its sovereign Felicity but it must be beholden to the Body for it If Matter be the Spring of true Pleasure what do those Souls do I wonder that are separated from Matter what must be the Beatitude of Angels that have no Body Is it not true that their Pleasures ought to be as far above ours as Minds are above Matter Assuredly spiritual Pleasures spring from the knowledge of Truth from the practise of Virtue from our union with God by the tyes of Love and from that Action whereby God unites himself immediately to our Soul All this is intirely above the Senses they are not acquainted with Truth for their Office is to report the Appearances of Bodies They cannot judge of Virtue it is not under their Jurisdiction much less can they judge of that Union betwixt God and the Soul And yet although they make no report to us about any of these things we are not nevertheless to doubt of the real Impressions they make upon our Souls But from whence comes it say some that spiritual Pleasures are not so touching and make not such strong Impressions upon the Soul as bodily ones doe For you see not say they your devout People in those Transports of Joy and Pleasure as we see men have in the injoyment of Sensual Pleasures Is not this a proof that those intellectual pleasures are merely imaginary or at least that they are very weak and languishing This difficulty arises from that men know not how to distinguish the Soul from the body they believe it is concern'd in proportion to the greatness of the agitations of the Bodily Organs They are persuaded that it cannot receive an impression of Joy but by the interposal of these great corporeal motions But the thing is far otherwise 't is certain that in the great Pleasures which the Soul receives from the Body the great corporeal Agitations re'ncounter one another and it receives not those pleasures but by favour of these agitations and because the Bloud and Spirits are in a great heat and ferment But the Pleasures of holy Persons which are lock'd up in the Soul it self and which exert no external Characters do not fail to make very powerful Impression These Pleasures are so great and so touching that they carry the Soul out of the World And the Joy which springs from the possession of God from the Knowledge of his Truth and the imitation of his Vertues and Attributes must needs infinitely transcend all the pleasures of the Body Since that for these spiritual pleasures we not only renounce bodily ones but also expose our selves to all even the most sensible pains True it is the more the Soul is accustomed to let its self be moved by the Agitations which do cause corporeal Pleasures and Passions the more is it uncapable of tasting Internal joys and spiritual Pleasures And this is one of the greatest mischiefs that spring from the continual use of sensuality the Soul waxeth fat as the holy Ghost speaketh the heart of the Wicked is fat as grease he hath prophaned the Rock of his Salvation It covers its self as it were with
coufounded in that mighty abysse of what is past But the Moments thou givest to thy God are put in reserve thou wilt find them they will come before thee At the great Judgment they will be put to thy account and for some moments of Devotion thou shalt receive eternal Glory Do not therefore hang in suspence any longer O my Soul delay no more to renounce all the pleasures and all the hopes of the Age for to follow thy God only In him is the Well of Life in his Light thou shalt see Light thou shalt be fatted with the fat of his House and quench thy thirst in the Floud of his Pleasures In thy old age thou shalt not regret the loss of thy Youth Thy days shall not rise up in Judgment against thee to condemn thee when thou shalt be old and on the brink of Death The thought of thy God shall not put thee into an affright Thou wilt not look upon him as a Judge who comes to demand an account of so many years consumed in vain Pleasures but a Deliverer who will come to break thy Irons and as a Rewarder bringing days of Refreshment instead of painful and dolorous years which the World would make thee pass thorough Prayer O Most gracious and merciful Lord thou Guide of my Youth thou Light to the blind thou Instructer of the ignorant who enlightenest the simple bringest back those that have wandered into the way of Truth and perfectest praise out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings teach me thy ways and draw me out of the paths of the World make haste that I may do so too leave me not any longer in the World and in Sin By the effusion of thy Grace into my Soul make my Heart to desire thee that in desiring thee it may seek thee and in seeking thee it may find thee in finding thee it may love thee and in loving thee it may find in that love a sovereign Joy It is now too long a time I have consumed my self in my vain desires I would go to thee but I find not strength to vanquish those Habits wherein I am engaged by Custom Come therefore and tear me O my God out of the arms of Voluptuousness suffer not these delays of mine and if I should say yet a little while stay a little longer draw me by thy Powerfull Word and say unto me Awaken thou that sleepest arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee Light If words be not efficacious enough to raise me up touch the biere strike the Body wherein the Soul is as it were buried It sleepeth in its Tomb or rather it is dead bodily Pleasures have overwhelm'd or slain it Smite therefore the Body that the Soul may awake for it is better that I enter into Life having but one eye than having two eyes to be cast into Hell-fire It is better that my Flesh here below suffer some pains and that my Soul one day taste those infinite Pleasures which thou preparest for it on high I abide in Sodom and I love my abode thou sendest thy Angels to draw me thence thy Word and thy Mnisters to make me depart before the terrible day comes in which thou wilt tumble down torrents of fire and brimstone upon this wicked World but I ever find pretexts to delay Lay hold then of my hand and draw me out by the force of thy Grace that I perish not among the wicked Shew me the way of thy holy hill that I may save my self and thence without danger behold the deluges of Corruption which overspread the Country and the Torrents of thy Wrath and Vengeance which suddenly and amazingly overwhelm the World Alas If it would please thee O my God to make me taste the speritual Delights of thy Love I should not be so sensible of Earthly Pleasures and I should not linger so long to seek thee for I most ardently wish after happiness If therefore I knew that my Beatitude lyes in thee I should flye to find in thee that happiness which I seek O Lord since Pleasure is the only Load-stone capable of drawing my Soul make me taste a little of that Joy which I ought to find in thee make me to feel thy infinite Goodness that without delay I may run after thee and consecrate my self to thy service walking in Holiness and Righteousness all the dayes of my Life and setting my Affections on things above that when Christ who is my Life and Pleasure shall appear I may also appear with him in Glory PART IV. Of helps towards Devotion CHAP. I. The first General Advice is to will desire and ask Devâ—tion WE have seen from how many Sources Indevotion springs let us now try to vanquish those Difficulties by some Advices that may lead us to Devotion Those Advices I would give here are either general or particular But before I pass further we are to presuppose that he whom we would make devout must have a Mind himself to become so he that has not this Disposition will very unprofitably pass farther How many indevout persons have we in the World that do not desire Devotion for themselves and contemn it in others Of this sort we find some that are so hardy as to perswade themselves they have a Religion I am it may be says one as religious as another though I laugh at Devotion and devout Persons If they believe what they say most assuredly they cheat their own Heart and we must confess that these People are really profane Others there are that esteem Devotion in another and yet like it not for themselves it doth not fit right with the Spirit of the World which they make their Idol They approve the better side they admire it but they fancy as to their own particular they may be saved with less Trouble I know not whether these be better than the former yet they are a little nearer to the Disposition we seek after but still alas in how bad a Condition is their Conscience They are in this worse than the former that they sin against their own Sentiment they know their Masters Will and do it not They are afraid of doing too much provided they be sav'd it 's of no great Importance how What a thought is this Is not Paradise worth the purchasing at the Expence of some Tears some Prayers some hours of Humiliation And how can we imagine we can obtain Heaven by the less since we shall find a hard Task to arrive thither by the greater If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Vngodly and the Sinner appear Do ye believe ye backward and lukewarm Souls that a truly devout Person has too much Righteousness to open to himself the gate of Heaven Do not you know that all the World praises that Saying of St. Austin Woe to the most praise-worthy Life if it be examined without Mercy and what the Psalmist says If thou should'st mark Iniquities O Lord who shall stand I
of his Closet we may say he shuts the door to the World saying to himself Get ye gone ye worldly Thoughts retire ye Objects of Vanity and approach not near this place let me rejoyce in the quiet of this secure Sanctuary and suffer me to give my self wholly up to my God The pious Soul after this manner dies many times a day for Death does not more efface the Images of worldly things than Devotion when it takes a Christian out of the World This Soul may say at such a time The World is crucified unto me and I unto the World I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the Life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me We need not wonder if the World quits the place in this moment since I suppose that it before took up but very little Room in the Soul whereof I speak God comes to possess it wholly of which he had before the better for the devout Heart ventures to say The whole is in God and God is in every part In this state if by peradventure it casts its Eyes upon the World it looks down from on high and with an Eye of Contempt Alas What are these same Riches says the faithful Soul these Honours and Advantages which frequently terminate in eternal Death to compare with the Riches that God here bestows upon me But near to God himself whom I possess these earthly Goods will vanish and be lost but I will never lose him who holds me and whom I hold and Death which will disrobe the Living of their Pomp will invest me with new Glory The fourth Effect of Devotion is an Alacrity in running and advancing in the Practise of Piety A General flies to the Combat when he sees an assured Victory but the devout Person has other kind of wings which make him fly whither Devotion conducts him He knows not that 't is the drooping and weight of the Body that retains them who are call'd to Travel he has not the Sentiments of the Sluggard who rouls upon his Bed as a Gate upon its Hinges who fight Battles with his Boulster and wages Wars with Sleep and Idleness with a Design to be vanquished He is one of those Eagles of which some think our Saviour spoke Where the dead Body is thither will the Eagles be gathered together He knows that he shall find his Jesus once dead but now alive either in the Church or in his Closet he flies thither with the Swiftness of an hungry Eagle nothing is capable of stopping him Friends Enemies Employs Occupations Prayers Menaces Fears and Dangers all useless for in posting he can surmount all Obstaeles in the way Another Effect of Devotion is a certain Elevation of Soul which I cannot term otherwise than a sort of Extasie whereby the Soul is as it were ravish'd from its self 'T is so knit to the Contemplation of Coelestial Objects that not only it has no more intelligence of earthly things but it has no Sense no Ears no Eyes it sees not it understands not St. Peter while he prayed saw the Heavens opened and a certain Vessel descending to the Earth as it had been a great sheet knit at the four Corners St. Paul in Prayer was ravished even to the third Heaven and the Devout even at this time of day have their Extasie They see with Stephen the Heavens opened they are lifted up to Heaven with St. Paul for they enter into a secret Commerce with God The Soul inwardly is so taken up that it sees nothing at all of what passes without and contributing its whole force to the Contemplation of God no Wonder it has no more for other Objects Blessed are they says St. Basil who are fill'd with and infolded in the Contemplation of this true Beauty since being bound to it by the Cords of Charity and of an heavenly and divine Love they forget their Parents Friends Houses they forget even the necessity of eating and drinking And now why should it not be so in the Offices of Piety when ev'ry day this happens to us in the Affairs of the World While we are strongly fixt to Reading to disintangle a crabbed and knotty matter while we answer an Adversary a thousand Objects pass before our eyes whereof we do not take notice The devout Soul is so shut into it self so well gathered up and compacted that no external thing is able to move it If it prays it is intirely in Heaven if it hears it is wholly tyed up to the Tongue of him that speaks if it reads its heart is always where the eyes terminate themselves if it meditates it is all over plunged in it's subject and if a Flock of Birds of vain and light Thoughts come to soil its Sacrifice as that of Abraham it scares them away incontinently This is that which I understand by the Extasie of Devotion otherwise if you take this term for effectual Ravishments which were the Priviledges of the Prophets and Saints of the first Order I must take an infinite deal of pains to believe that the Holinesses of the Roman Cloyster do oblige God as some would fain perswade us so ordinarily to communicate such extraordinary Graces Now a days we do not see those Devotions which lift up not only the Souls but make the Body to lose its Earth and raise it to the very Clouds Nevertheless if we would believe some who call themselves good Authors there is nothing more common The last Effect of Devotion that I shall mention is a certain Fire that warms the Heart One cannot well conceive it unless one had felt it and I cannot express it otherwise than in the words of holy men Did not our Heart burn within us while he talked with us and while he opened to us the Scriptures My Heart was hot within me while I was meditating the Fire burned then spake I with my Tongue We are told how the Faces of the Saints have been oftentimes seen to be bright and inflamed in the midst of their Devotions which could not proceed but from the glowing and fiery affection of the Heart which manifests it self accordingly in the Countenance This Fire we may call a Fermentation of the Spirits of Piety which not seldom make Impressions even in the eyes And hence it may be came the shining of St. Stephen's Face of which it is said that his Enemies saw it as if it had been the Face of an Angel his Zeal and his Devotion were evident in his Eyes and render'd 'em sparkling Now this Lightning is not without its Rain I mean that this Fire is ordinarily accompanied with Tears The Heart is heated blows up that Heat makes it grow bigger then it self grows tender and at last the Eyes melt into Tears St. Austin represents himself in one of these Illuminations or rather Inflamations of Heart After says he that a strong Meditation
heart into a good condition to hope a good success of its worship Tho never so much prepared it cannot be too good for him to whom we ought to present it It will be an acceptable thing to be receiv'd in this Estate And what on the contrary can we expect in presenting to him an indevout Soul but a shameful and sad refusal God does not hear our prayers unless the Heart be disposed to make them Seek and ye shall find saith our Lord but seek with zeal otherwise ye shall not find God said once I was found of them that sought me not But this does not happen every day this is but one of those singular events whereby general Rules are not established But the Law in common bears Ask and it shall be given Lay hold on the Kingdom of Heaven and thou shalt obtain it To what is not Devotion useful It is of use in all Places all times and all things as well in the Closet as the Church thereby we hear the Word pronounced by men as if it were truly the word of God and receive it as the dry and chapped Earth does the rain Hereby the Consecration of the Divine benefits touches us the thought of God's love inflames us his promises comfort us his threatnings terrifie us and his Consolations have their Efficacy upon us Without this the word which ought to be a two-edged Sword recoyls and turns its edge on the hardness of our hearts and without this we joyn the Sin of Insensibility to that of Impenitence By this we look upon every thing in the Church with veneration the Preacher as the Embassador of the Gospel his Word as the voice of Heaven The Faithful as the Children of God and as it were a Troop of Angels that always rejoyce in his presence the Sacraments as precious vessels the appearance whereof is contemptible but which do contain the Treasures of his Grace and Mercy It 's Devotion that makes our Closets to become little Churches whether the Divinity descends and upon which it extends its Wings like the Cherubims over the Mercy-seat where God speaks to our heart as we speak to his ears where he makes us understand his Oracles and taste his Consolations where he says to us in a still small voice My Son or my Daughter Be of good chear arise thy Sins are forgiven thee Oh! how blessed is the faithful Soul that God honours with such sacred Entertainments Now he does never do this but when call'd upon if not forced by an ardent Devotion These desires of Devotion may be the Eyes of the Spouse whereof it is said Turn away thine Eyes from me for they have overcome me Far be from hence those prophane Wretches that know not the use of Devotion They say that Valour is the Rampart of Estates and the Tutelary Angel of the Publick and of Privates that Liberality sweetens the misfortunes of the miserable that Justice is the nurse of Peace and the ligament of Society that Temperance causes tranquillity of mind and health of Body But say they Devotion 't is alone that is good for nothing but to render the mind weak and effeminate and to depress the Spirits Do not call so universal a Vertue unprofitable without which all the rest are meer shadows for he that having not a habit of Devotion does not refer all his vertues to the Glory of God is a bad good man Do not call that an useless Virtue which appeases the wrath of God and turns away the Tempests flying over States a Virtue which had drawn Sodom out of the Fire had there been found there but ten devout Persons like Abraham who would have Devoutly with him interceded for it a Virtue which saves the Church so often from ship-wrack a Virtue which in the Conscience raises up and establishes a profound Peace and a Divine Light Do not fay that it softens the Mind seeing it confirms the Courage makes men run to death as to a Feast makes 'em to despise Perils and in its occasions mannages nothing wherein the Glory of God is not concerned Meditation SEE one of the causes of my luke-warmness and one of the reasons why my Soul is little devout The necessity of Devotion it comprehends not whereas it knows that Food is necessary for the conservation of its bodily Life It desires nourishment with a great ardour and searches after it with a marvellous diligence But negligent it is in all those things which serve to nourish Piety and the flames of Devotion since it does not beleive that 't is of any great use Thou see'st O my Soul some who save themselves with a languishing Piety and go to Heaven at a very slow pace Thou persuadest thy self that God will not be more rigorous to thee and that there will not be more exacted from thee than from others But alas what an errour and fallacy is there in this reasoning Such an one as thou believest to be in the way to Heaven is a marching towards Hell There is such a way that seems right to man the end of which nevertheless is Death These chill Devotions wherewith People believe God is well paid are oftentimes very fruitless They may think it fine one day to say we have prayed to thee we have invok'd thy Name we have served thee The Lord will not fail to answer I do not know who ye are go far from me ye that are neither cold nor hot I will cast you up out of my mouth Prayer MY God conduct my Soul in the surest path I know not how to sound thy Mercy nor do I know how far the severity of thy Juctice will carry it self and no further I know not whether thou wilt pardon so many People that serve thee with so little Zeal and so much indevotion That which I know is that they are unworthy of thy clemency anâ— that they cannot be saved unless they sincerâ—ly repent of having served thee with so much indifference Let the Candle of my Soul thâ— holy Spirit which has inlightened thy Church in all ages and the faithful at all times inspire me with such frankincense of Devotion as with which I know that one may be saved and without which I know not if one caâ— be saved Kindle my heart that it may be an Altar where an eternal Fire may burn in which all my sacrifices may be consumed and which may make all my prayers as thâ— Perfumes of incense to mount up in thy Presence CHAP. IV. That Devotion is extremely rare and neglected HERE is an Exception to the general Rule that things rare are esteemed nothing in the World more rare than Devotion and nothing more neglected Herein men do not sin through Ignorance they know very well what we have said in the precedent Chapter that without these devout dispositions or Prayers they cannot please God Nevertheless one cannot Express the horrible negligence with which they perform this pious Duty as well as all others
your selves to this present wicked World As Strangers and Pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts Have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of Darkeness Make â—â—t the Temples of the Holy Ghost the members of an Harlot The Mind of the Prophets was not different from that of the Apostles for they speak after this manner Go to now I said â—f Mirth it is vanity and of Laughter it is madness It â—s better for a young man to go to the House of mourning â—han to go to the House of feasting for that is the end of all â—hen and the living will lay it to Heart It is good for a man 〈◊〉 bear the yoke in his youth I said in my Heart I will â—reve thee with Mirth therefore enjoy pleasure And behold his also is vanity Rejoyce O young man in the days of thy south but know that for all these things God will bring hee unto Judgment And now in good earnest are all these â—â—aughts of the Character of us Christians now a dayes â—â—ese Crosses these Thorns these rough Wayes these â—rait Gates this Yoke this renouncing the World and â—s Vanities do they signifie that we can follow our Lord â—esus Christ in the equipage of Sensuality sometimes â—mong Feasts sometimes Dancings sometimes at Coâ—edies and sometimes at Play Those soft and effemiâ—ate Lives that are spent at Carde and Dice in vain â—â—d lewd Conversations in the intrigues of fleshly love â—ave they any resemblance with the combates the â—rastlings the races from which the H. Spirit takes his â—mblems to paint out to us the Life of the Faithful â—ight the good fight of Faith and so run that ye may obtain the prize Keep under your Body and bring it into subjectionâ— So fight not as one that breaketh the Air. Heaven and Earth Life and Death are not more opposite to one another than the Effiminate life of us Christians to this pourtraict of the Life of the Faithful which the holy Ghost hath given us But above all let us remember that the Spirit 〈◊〉 Christianity and of Devotion loves nothing so much aâ— Mortification to which sensible Pleasures are mortal enemies Mortifie your members which are upon the Earth St. Paul bids us do they mortifie their Members that entertain and imploy them in Volptuousness in lying upon Beds of Down in pillaging Sea and Land to furnish them with delicate Meats in joyning Aâ—â— to Nature to compose delicious Liquors for them and in running after all that may enchant their Senses Some will say that by these Member whereof the Gospel commnads the Mortification 〈◊〉 ought to understand Vices Very well But doe 〈◊〉 we know that the Members of the Body are the origâ—ne of the members of that Old Man which makes Viceâ— we cannot kill Vice but by mortifying our members The flesh is that unhappy Field accursed by Gâ—â— which produces Thorns and Thistles the more yeâ— fatten this Earth the more will it produce of theâ— venemous Plants So that we are obliged to keep it 〈◊〉 a great Privation of those Pleasures that fomention cupisence to the end it may continue mighty barrâ— in respect of those unhappy Products The Spirit of Christianity and of Devotion is a Spirit of strength but pleasure is soft It softens the Soâ— and effeminates the courage and the Church requiâ—â— a vigorous Soul and an heart of a Temper which caâ—â— not be wounded by the most weighty blows nor tâ—â— most edged and hacking gleaves of the Churches Eâ—emies We are to march thorough an hundred and â—â—â—dred sharp Swords He that would follow the Truth of Jesus Christ ought to resolve to suffer Persecution since we have alwayes in our head the Devil and the World But can a soft and voluptuous Life be proper to dispose us to Martyrdom In going out of a perfumed Bed in rising from a Table almost weigh'd down with delicious meats with an head fill'd with the furnes of a debauch are we in a good state to mount Scaffolds to enter into Flames and without quaking look upon Racks and Tortures whether is it more reasonable to look for the Heroes of Jesus Christ capable of facing Death it self among our Christians that overwhelm and as it were fuddle themselves in pleasures or among those whose austere and retired Life has declared War to all the pleasures of the World But says one we are not called to Martyrdom and according to all appearances we shall never be It may be so but still it is of great importance we should alwayes have the necessary Disposition to suffer Martyrdom For God will judge us not only according to what we do but also according to what we would do Furthermore does any one believe that the Sword and Fire of the Persecutors of the Church are the most dangerous of all Temptations we imagine we have need of strength and courage only to vanquish or undergo such torments But alas Some who have come off victorious from their bloody Bartels have yet fallen into the snares of the Devil and some that have born the marks and brands of the Lord Jesus have become children of Hell by letting ' emselves be surpriz'd by the Devil of Pride Covetousness Uncleanness or Heresie Such an one who had torn a young Lion to pieces in his strength broken the bands of the Philistines and pil'd heaps of dead bodies with the jaw-bone of an Ass falls into the â—racelets of a Dalilah and is lead in herchains to an Idol Temple This truth the World is not ignorant of It was well said that the Delights of Capua did more than the sword of the Romans and that they found out the way to soften and break those hard Africans that march'd after Hannibal and made victory to march after them So the Tranquillity God bestows on us ought not to make us sleep in the Arms of Voluptuousness Prosperity is a strong Temptation and pleasure it self is a Monster which we cannot overcome without a vigorous Resistance Meditation I Am reading a maxime that makes me tremble God will judg us both according to what we do and according to what we would have done if we had bin exposed to those Temptations which may fall out in the Providence of God True it is there is scarce room for doubt in this maxime And it 's certain that my God would have the highest purity of Heart that no one is innocent in his sight because he has committed no evil but because he has not the inclination to commit it He sounds the depths of the Heart and searcheth the Reins and he will judg according to what he knows and not to what men see In my heart he sees crimes in their very buds And if these sins have not shot forth by reason of want of Earth if they have not come forth for want of Occasion and Opportunity I am therefore the more innocent But on the other side also who can undergoe the Terrour and Amazment that such a thought inspires
in an intire Privation of Carnal Pleasures fancies Death as a Messenger that brings him good news as a deliverer that is come to throw down the four Walls of his Prison down to the Ground and will leave a passage free on all sides to flye away to Heaven The Voluptuous they must be dragg'd to death they lay hold on every thing in the way to stop themselves they give place to necessity but they do it with an aukward and ill grace These therefore who multiply the pleasures of their Senses make themselves Chains the breaking whereof will cost them many a groan and many a tear But pious people who have renounc'd the pleasures of life cannot be in pain to forsake the present life since they have quitted that which life has most agreeable I should say here that the Pleasures of Sense are enemies to Devotion because they absolutely take away the taste of the Spiritual Pleasures which the faithful find in the commerce they have with God but that I have said it already and it is so evident both in Reason and Experience We know that those Slaves of sensual Pleasures look upon all that is said of the pleasures of Devotion as mere idle Stories Speak to them of the delights which the faithful Soul tasts when God speaks to it within its heart and during the silence of its passions of the sweetness it finds in meditating on the Love he hath for us and in contemplating on its Mysteries All this will appear to them as Dream and Vision Undoubtedly one is not sensible of the pleasures of the Mind but in proportion as he hath renounc'd those 〈◊〉 the Body And therefore we Christians are all so little touch'd with Spiritual pleasures with Prayer Meditation Contemplation because we are not of those who have perfectly renounced Sensual pleasures In this respect we must confess Rich and Great men are exposed to great Temptations their condition say they obliges them to draw after them a great equipage of Pleasures if it be so they are very unhappy And in prospect to this it may be our Saviour said How hard a thing is it for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Riches and Grandeur are continual Temptations to Voluptuousness and it 's very difficult for him that is always tempted not to yield sometimes But although Moderation and Temperance are praise-worthy when they are kept amid so many Enemies that conspire their ruin it is very rarely so and therefore Devotion is not so common among them who by their Rank fancy themselves obliged to live evermore in Pleasures In short if it be permitted us to draw proofs from Examples as without doubt it ought to be we may easily prove that the Spirit of Devotion and Christianity are enemies to Sensual Pleasures Whether are the Christians of our age that live with a freedom which austere morality calls Libertinage better entred in the spirit of Christianity than the Christians of former ages who led a most severe and rigorous life Many there have been who not finding a retreat secure enough in the World against the temptations of Voluptuousness have gone to seek it in Desarts where they found none but pure and innocent Objects some have worn Sack-cloth as John the Baptist and others residing in humane Society have prefer'd Fastings and mortification of the Body before Pleasures of the Sense Do ye believe that these people were wiser than us or are we wiser than them I know some will not hesitate on the matter but file these Austerities to the account of Fanaticism and Delusion of the Spirit of Errour But certainly this is a rash Judgment for which we appeal to the Tribunal of God to whom alone appertains the right of distinguishing Sincerity from Hypocrisie in such austere lives But would we have an example that is not subject to errour let us look up to our Lord Jesus Christ had his life any thing common with sensual pleasures You see him born in a Stable brought up in the house of a Carpenter you see him fast forty days in the Wilderness you see him live on the Alms of Women that followed him We hear him declaring that he had not whereon to lay his head We see him go on foot and without equipage from City to City And does this now relish of the Spirit of the World and a delicious Life Who can know better what is the spirit of Christianity than our Saviour himself and what are the effects of Devotion but he who was perfectly devoted to his Father after this let none tell me that our Lord was no enemy to Pleasures because he was present at Feasts and Nuptials It were to be wish'd that our Lord Jesus Christ were at all our Feasts We should not see Insolence and Debauchery to reign there Wisdom Temperance Sobriety and the highest moderation would march in his Train Meditation SEeing thou art compass'd about O my Soul with so great a cloud of witnesses run with patience the Race that is set before thee seeing so many so holy so excellent examples have gone before thee thou must follow and imitate them Wouldst thou follow an Elias in the Desart a Moses on the Mountain fasting forty days and not feed but on the bread of Ravens nor drink but of the water of a Torrent But these are particular Vocations that do not refer to thee Nevertheless if any one would imitate John Baptist wear Sack-cloth with him be clothed with Camels hair and eat locusts and wild-honey let 's not say because he is not come eating nor drinking he hath a Devil Have a care of making such rash judgments Those that come to exhort men to repentance must preach up mortification both in their actions and words and habit and food Thou hast great need O my heart both to mortifie thy self and to repent so as it would be very necessary that thy Body should carry Sack-cloath and Ashes But this example of John Baptist does not become a Law and if thy God hath not commanded it thee thou canst not be obliged thereby Behold then another example another model much more perfect which thou oughtest to follow and that is of thy Saviour the pattern by whose traces thou oughtest to guide thy steps Live as he did and thou wilt live well enough The Disciple should not hope to be greater than his Master He liv'd in the World but he was not of the World He eat and drank to give examples of Sobriety He convers'd with men to teach them to speak wisely and piously for he never open'd his mouth but for edification He is the model of all which thou oughtest to suffer to do to abstain from Suffer patiently with him the rebukes and the outrages of the World drink as he did with a spirit of Submission the cup of God's wrath when he shall present it thee do good works with him spend the day in doing good to the afflicted and the night in
creating Spirit and Creator of Spirits create in me a new Heart and renew a right Spirit within me that my Soul may be filled with thy Delights and I may taste all the sweetness of thy Love Thirsty I am after Pleasure open thy Fountain of eternal Pleasures and let thy Rivers fâ—â—w into my Soul Kiss me with the kisses of thy Mouth for thy Love is better than Wine Tell me O thou whom my Soul loveth where thou makest thy Flocks to rest at noon For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the â—â—â—ks of thy companions Why should my Soul â—ander amidst the vain Pleasures of the World and why should it bring to thee so many false Goods for companions Let me retire under thy shadow embrace adore love thee only and taste no Pleasure but what is in thee Draw me therefore that I may run after thee draw near to me that I may be able to draw near to thee Prevent me by thy Grace by thy Mercy and by the bowels of thy Compassion stirred up for a prodigaland rambling Son who seeks but cannot find thee Awake O North-wind and come thou South blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out Let my beloved come into his Garden and eat his pleasant Fruits O Holy Spirit thou South-wind the Father of Heat Author of Generation Source of Love and Charity blow upon the Powers of my Soul which are as a Desart make them an Eden a Garden of the Almighty make odoriferous Plants to grow there produce there Habits and Works of a sweet odour so as my heavenly Saviour the beloved of my Soul may come and taste the sweetness of those Fruits that he may delight in me and I in him and that we may eternally taste all those Pleasures the products of a mutual Love CHAP. VI. That young People have no Priviledge to use sensual Pleasures nor to dispence themselves from Devotion ONE Reflection is still behind which we are obliged to make before we leave this Important Subject we having done nothing yet in regard to young People They persuade ' emselves it may be that whatever hath bin say'd does not concern them it is almost impossible to deliver them from this Errour That Pleasure is peculiarly their share and that without Tyranny we cannot deny it them To them Indevotion is natural and they reckon it a particular Honour We should make fine work of it say they to 〈◊〉 Bigots at these years they fancy that Modesty Wisdom Sobriety and Temperance are not proper for them 't is the business of old Men say they we must not make our selves ridiculous by turning Cato's and Seneca's And indeed if any one of them has more happy Inclinations he is asham'd he dissembles 'em he follows the Crowd They tell him to every thing under the Heaven there is a time In considering old and young men we can never believe say they that Persons so different are destin'd to the same Actions The wrinkled forehead of old Age the paleness of it's Complexion hollow Eyes chap-fallen Mouth and Limbs all trembling have a correspondence with the Duties of Repentance and it 's fit that they pour forth Tears and give themselves up to Mortification But the good disposition and plumpness of Youth that flourish of Blood that displays it's self upon the Complexion lively and sparkling Eyes Seâ—ses eager and capable to be toucht by their Objects very manifestly shew that this age is born for pleasures and all manner of Joy Thus it is they flatter and hug themselves in their security Not only young People talk at this rate but most part of mankind agree with them in it I cannot deny but that the extravagancies and disorders of conduct in the life of an old man impress much greater marks of infamy than the debauches of the younger sort I must confess also that the disorders of old age discover a greater depth of Corruption It cannot cast it's faults upon the first boylings of the Blood which hath much filth and scum It cannot take the default of Experience for excuse and in short it breaks the barriers of a shame much greater than that which follows the crimes of Youth But nevertheless God will not judge men according to humane Rules and the Sentiments of the World there is no Age that has receiv'd a dispensation from obeying God All the violaters of his Law shall be punisht since his Commandments are given to all and if so be the difference of Age put a diversity in sins in respect of Punishment this would only in the upshot go upon the More and the Less But what will that result to seeing in a word even the less unhappy must have their share in Eternal fires and the Worm that never dyeth Why should young people be less obliged to Devotion Has God given them less On the contrary they as well as old men have received of God their Being and Reason but farther they have vigour of Body force of Wit Health Youth and the flower of Age. Assuredly these are particular Obligations to devote themselves to God All these advantages they have not receiv'd to consecrate them to the Devil of Lust and Voluptuousness Is any thing too good for God They design for him a tatter'd body ' putrified Lungs gloomy Eyes and dry Members In truth God will be mightily oblig'd to them they would give him the bottom Lees of their years and consecrate to him that Age which is the sink of Life and the Center of all Miseries that is to say they would give him what the World has cast off they act like covetous men who are only liberal when they are dying they give what they can retain no more Believe me all the very best we have is not goo good for our God Heretofore he would not have Victimes that had any fault that were ill or in no good case or that had lost any part of the Body Do we believe he will be pleas'd to accept the Sacrifices of a spent and wasted heart and a man who is only the shadow of what he was once â—exhort you that ye present your Bodies a living Sacrifice But young People that take up the resolution of being devout when they can be no longer sinners promise God their dead and as it were corrupted Bodies for in old age Bodies are like Phantoms and come near to the nature of Carkasses God has thought nothing too good for us he has given himself for us he who is the sovereign good has given us his Son he devoted him to death for us in the flower of his age and it is just that we be devoted to his service in all our Ages God is not satisfied with these promises of futurity I will give thee He would have us speak in the present tense I do give thee as he does himself in speaking to us I give you my Peace He is called He who is was and is to come So that
whereas in Religion all is divine and intellectual the Object of their Worship is mostly an Agnus Dei a Relick or an Image and God who ought to be the sole Object of our Devotions has scarce any share in their Veneration I do'nt require our Christian to be learned and that he have prey'd either into the Secrets of Nature or also into the highest mysteries of Grace by an over-exact and curious Research I hold that that is more disadvantageous than prositable to Devotion but the devout Soul must be spiritual enough to lift it self up above the Senses by Meditation Meditation is an excellent Operation of the Soul whereby it penetrates the out-sides of Objects and sounds them to the very heart 't is a reflected Action that rouls its subject upon the Heart till it makes deep Impressions 't is an happy Prospect by which the Soul every moment discovers more and more Wonders in that which it is about but these Discoveries are not nice Speculations to be communicated to others they are particular Sentiments and Applications which the Soul makes and which are only for it We cannot doubt but this is of absolute necessity to Devotion for this does not embrace it's Subject but proportionably as Meditation makes it to enter therein Devotion is an agitation of a vigorous and lively Soul whereby we are lifted up to God and to our sovereign Good and therefore the more Devotion applies us to this great Object and lets us see the depths of his Goodness the more ardent doth Devotion become so that this is to be the principal Subject of our Contemplations God is good either in himself or in respect had to us in himself because he is great majestic bounteous merciful if we did not partake of the Fruits of these Divine Vertues nevertheless God would not cease to possess them and consequently he wou'd be infinitely amiable We cannot think too often on these Attributes of God this is one of the most efficacious means which David uses to awaken his drowsie Devotion Awake O my Tongue saith he and thereupon he sings God Almighty's Power in his Works his Majesty shining forth in the Heavens his Justice in his Judgments his Wisdom in the Government of the World his Mercy towards Man But because Interest has so great a sway with us we are to joyn to this Confideration that-of-God's Benefits to descend into the Abysses of his Love and to consider him in Jesus Christ reconciling the World unto himself we must essay to dive if possible it be into the depths of his Mercy which are found every where and in all parts of the Dispensation of our eternal Salvation above all we cannot fix our selves too much upon the Passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ we shall see there a thousand Objects able to mollifie our Soul fince God's Love to Mankind appears there in all it 's Extension From general Considerations it is good to come to particular Applications We ought to conceive how much we stand indebted to God for freeing us from so many Miseries to raise us up to such glorious hopes in short and to speak all in a Word the Object of our Meditation is as vast as God Nature and Grace altogether for there are no Flowers in the World but we may gather Honey from 'em we need not fear therefore that we can drain a Subject of so great a Bigness But how comes it to pass then our Meditations are frequently so dry and our Recollections so barren It is not from the Seed but from the bad Ground Whence comes it saith an Ancient Father that our Mind is found destitute of good Thoughts as if there were nothing well-pleasing to God wherewith we cou'd entertain our selves This comes not says he but from a carelessness of Spirit for the subject is inexhaustible and if the Eye cannot reach the end of Wonders to be seen much less can the Mind attain it in those that are to be conceived If the Eyes cease to see the Light when it is day 't is not for that the Light is exstinguish'd but it proceeds from the dissipation of the Sight If you pierce and open a Field in all â—arts with a Plow-share it will render you an abundant Harvest otherwise 't will continue barren and even if you penetrate very deep you may find springs of living Water In like manner if you open this great Subject to wit God and his Works by profound and frequent Meditations there will proceed from thence Sources of Consolations and Instructions Lastly make no difficulty to repass oft upon the same subject for to make it familiar to you Our Soul is depending upon the Body during the time we are upon Earth and the most spiritual Idea's are form'd in us by bodily motions so that it is highly useful to let the Thoughts of things divine pass and repass frequently in our selves to the intent we may give an Inclination to the Animal Spirits which may carry 'em that aways and at length we shall find they will go naturally in that Road in such sort as without design and before we are aware we shall think on good things I shall say one Word more for the comfort of those Minds which are not capable either of a piercing Infight or a strong Application and that is That they are to be griev'd if they do not find themselves forcible enough to drive on their Reasonings so far and if Conceptions fail them provided this comes not from any Coldness Some short but frequent Meditations whereby a faithful Person of the meaner sort does often apply his Mind to the Author of his Salvation and Gods Benefits may serve instead of long Reflections when one is not capable of them To help Devotion we are without doubt to call in the reading of good Books for we must not imagine we can draw all from our own Well and among those Books the Holy Scripture is as much above all others as God is above Men and the Sun above the Stars of the sixth Magnitude This is that Word which is as powerful and piercing as a two-edged Sword this is that Fire which can warm our Entrails and make us say Does not our Heart burn within us One only Passage in St. Paul Let us walk honestly as in the day not in Riotting and Drunkenness not in Chambering and Wantonness not in Strife and Envying but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ wrought the Conversion of St. Austin In every Page of this Book we shall find Gods Benefits and his excellent Promises so proper to awaken Devotion we shall find there many Examples of heavenly Meditations fit to lift up the Soul and guide us in our own Especially the Book of Psalms is an inestimable Treasure for devout Souls and if we could prize it and say of it beyond what the Ancients did we could never say enough 'T were to be wish'd that this Treasure were laid up entirely in our Memory
with relation to God there can be no other difference betwixt the most eloquent and him that is least so than between one Child and another God understandeth all Languages and all Stiles he requires no Order nor Elegance the most confused Thoughts that come in a Crowd from the Heart are often most pleasing to him he hears the Sighs of the Dumb he knows what we desire better than we can speak or oftentimes conceive for The Spirit of God as St. Paul says maketh Intercession for us with Groanings which cannot be uttered After all there are none but know what they want and by consequence none but can pray for Prayer is nothing but a weaving of Desires for those things which we stand in need of for the present Life the Salvation of the Soul and the Life to come The Passions are eloquent and the Imagination is warmed by its sympathy with the Heart wherefore those Persons that excuse themselves upon the smallness of their Light when they are inflamed with Choler never want Words and certainly if their Heart be heated with the Fire of Devotion the Imagination will be very sensible of it and they cannot complain of want of Thoughts or Expressions Meditation THou hast never well comprised O my Soul how much honour thy God does thee in permitting thee to cast thy self at his Feet thou art not sensible of this Favour Thou believest that God does owe thee it for that thou wilt humble thy self before him Thou remembrest not how dear and scarce are the Audiences before the Kings of the earth which yet are in the presence of God but a Shadow a Nothing The King of Kings is pleased to lend his ear to thee to hear thee to succour thee his Throne is accessible at all times To approach thither there is no need either of Favour or Friends or Credit or painful Sollicitations or troublesome Attendings notwithstanding what is that Throne and how great its Magnificence and Glory Thereon God is seated environed with a Light whose lustre dazles the eyes of Seraphims all around millions of Angels and Arch-Angels falling upon their Faces on the right hand Rivers of Milk and Honey which his Children drink of on the left are Torrents of Fire to devour his Adversaries on the one side is Hell and Death and the dreadful Ministers of Divine Vengeance and on the other Heaven and Paradise with the glorious Rewards which God prepares for those whom he loves Thou dost not see this O my Soul and therefore thou art the less touch'd but thou oughtst to believe it though the Veil of thy Flesh rob thee of the fight Therefore represent to thy self the Magnificence of that Throne tremble admire and be fill'd with Gratitude for that being corrupted by the Commerce thou hast with a miserable Body abiding in an House of Clay and having thy Seat in the Dust thou canst nevertheless at all times with liberty present thy self before him who sits upon the Cherubims who flies upon the Wings of the Wind who maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a Flame of Fire Thou hast the permission to pray but thou knowest not how to pray and that because thou knowest not to love One intimate Friend never wants things to discourse on to another when our Heart is perfectly opened to any one and we have received his Soul into our Breast we are never short Alas my Soul If thou lovedst thy God perfectly thou wouldst be never weary with entertaining him never would thy Imagination be congealed thy Tongue remain speechless or thou want Words thy Mouth would pour it self forth like a Torrent and thy Prayers would roul like a Flame but thou languishest in thy Prayers since thou dost not speak to God as thy nearest and best Friend the barrenness of thy Heart comes from the coldness of thy Love Prayer O Holy Spirit which art Love it self in the most adorable Trinity O Spirit of Prayer make Intercession for me with dumb interrupted Groans and such as cannot be exprest Teach me how I ought to pray I know almost what ought to be the Matter of my Prayers but I am ignorant how to give them their form I feel in my self a Chaos of confused Thoughts and Motions which I cannot unmixe or disentangle the Light is found blended with Darkness worldly with heavenly thoughts O holy spirit which at the world's beginning didst in the like Chaos draw Light out of Darkness and Order out of Confusion stretch forth thy wings upon the wavering waters of my thoughts and hatch them into well conceiv'd formed and digested Prayers Thou makest the dumb to speak and givest Eloquence to those that are slow of speech Touch my Tongue with a coal from thy Altar that my Lips may be purified my mouth opened and I may declare thy Praises Warm my heart and fill it with devout and pious thoughts that from the abundance of my heart my mouth may speak And thou O Lord Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant our great High-Priest receive my Prayers as Incense and carry them before that adorable Throne upon which thy Father sitteth make them to smoke before him make them a sweet smelling Odour of Atonement that these calves of my Lips may be acceptable to him and because my Offerings are imperfect cover them with thy perfect Righteousness obtain through thy Intecessions what my Prayers alone would never obtain CHAP. X. The fifth particular help to Devotion Fasting and Mortification NONE can deny that Fasting and Mortification are most necessary helps to Devotion unless they will deny the Scripture and the Maximes of the Fathers of the Church The Scripture seldom separates Prayer from Fasting it gives to both joyntly the force of driving away the most dangerous Demons This kind of Devil goeth not out but by Prayer and Fasting The Flesh is an head-strong Horse which we cannot manage but by holding in the Bridle it 's a Lion which we must not feed so long till he is grown fat unless we would augment his Cruelty and cast our selves into the danger of being devoured by him The Body if we mark is the same Flesh whereof the Gospel complains so strongly and in so many places of which 't is said that it is an Enemy to God and its fruits are Debauchery Strife Sedition Murder Hatred Envying Ambition and Covetousness So that to hinder the product of these fruits 't is good to keep this plant in continual great dryness for if we besprinkle this root of bitterness with carnal Pleasures it will shoot up its sprouts on high and turn us out of the way of our Salvation As plants which are very tall and surmount their Neighbours leave them in a bad Estate in sucking all the fatness of the Earth from 'em so the Flesh grows not fat but at the Expence of the Soul which it deprives of Comfort and leaves it in a great bareness of Fruit. A great meal is a very bad preparative for the
duties of Piety we cannot be in the Kitchin and the Closet at the same time and while the Soul is employ'd in its Rooms about seething and digesting its Victuals and distributing its Nourishment it is not in a state to be transported in places destin'd to Contemplation and Meditation It lyes groveling beneath thick Clouds and foggy Vapours which render the heart unfit to lift it self up The abundance of delicious meats says a Father send smoky Exhalations like Clouds that interrupt the Illumination which is made in the understanding by the Holy Ghost Wherefore Moses that he might see God without a Cloud stayed forty days upon the Mount without eating or drinking with design that the superiour part of his Soul might remain disengag'd from Trouble and the Obscurities of the lower part Ease and Abundance of Bread cause the sins of Sodom and Uncleanness of of Life is the consequence of the mouth 's Excess After the use of many delicate meats and drinks the blood is all over inflam'd which gives a Disposition to all carnal Actions and an Inclination to worldly Joy which is ever immoderate The People sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play We must therefore of absolute necessity observe the Rules of Sobriety and nourish the Body only for Life's sake We must give it what is necessary and deny it superfluities that it be never able to rebell against us And frequently we must retrench even the necessary things that we may master it the more for the Flesh when kept under contributes much to make the heart contrite and the less tye the Soul has to the Body the more easily it lifts it self up to God When we fast our Devotions are not interrupted by sleep they are not corrupted by involuntary Motions they are not viciated by dishonest Thoughts In the mean while touching the practice and use of Fasting divers advices may be given First we are not to hold it for a part of Devotion and as a worship wherewith we serve God For the Kingdom of Heaven is neither meat nor drink it is only an help to Devotion This first consideration furnishes us with an other which is that we use not fasting as Devotion it self for to fast whilst we are travelling or about our Employments is no work of great merit or great use The first consideration has a third still that springs from it and that is that Fasting is not to be employ'd no farther in Devotion than as it may be an aid to it and by consequence we cannot give any certain rules either for the Practice or the Duration of it Some tempers there are so weak that fasting is so far from being an help to Devotion as it may be a great lett to it because it immediately casts the body into a certain negligence which hinders the Soul from soaring up Again there are those can't be tamed but by long mortifications and these ought not to spare themselves Others master ' emselves more easily and these must know themselves but nevertheless they are to take care that the weakness of their body do not serve for a pretext to dispence themselves from necessary mortifications Yet we cannot approve those cruelties which some use towards the body in treating it like a declared Enemy without sparing either Fire or Sword We put not on here the Spirit of Controversie we leave every one to his own Conscience We say only that altho those excesses be not new they are never the better for all that Eccesiastical History supplies us with examples enow I confess of these extravagant Mortifications But I had rather stand to the dicision of St. Basil who is not to be suspected in this cause since he was a great Associate in Fastings and Mortifications However he repeats many times the precept of Mediocrity and insists very long upon it He denyes his Virgins and his Hermits the use of excessive Mortifications even to his saving in the Book of Virginity that the burthen of heavy and excessively pamper'd Flesh does not bring more incumbrance to the elevation of the Soul than the weakness of a sick Body thinn'd by a long and excessive Mortification And therefore he expresly orders That necessity be the rule of Fasting and Abstinence And now follows another necessary Direction upon this Subject That bodily Mortification and Fasting does not reach to the very bottom of the Soul nor mortifie all sort of Vice An Ancient said That the Devil being not able to lay hold or take Possession of a Body master'd by great Mortifications seizes upon the Soul all naked and by it and in it begins and consummates the carnal Desires If the Soul without the Body be capable of acting and committing bodily Sins though Mortification be in the way how shall it heal it self by this means of those Diseases which are intirely in it as Envy Pride and Self-love So we see these Passions reign very often and very imperiously in those Men of Scourges and Sackcloth This so bloody War which is wag'd against the Body and in appearance renounces all Self-love can be no more in the most part than a Self-love very delicate which leads to Glory by extraordinary Paths that it may arrive there the more surely From all this I conclude that the Mortification which St. Paul requires of us when he says Mortifie your Members which are upon the Earth and that which we have judged necessary for Devotion goes much farther than bodily Mortification To stifle that Self-love that Pride those Jealousies Harreds Envyings and even Ambition and Covetousness there is need of another sort of Fasting that is an Abstinence from all Actions which may nourish those Vices So I conclude this Chapter with those incomparable Words of the Father Beware of defining the excellence of Fasting by a sole Abstinence from Meats and Drinks for true Fasting consists in abstaining from Evil. Thou dost not eat Flesh but thou tearest thy Brother in pieces thou abstainest from Wine but thou abstainest not from doing Outrage thou waitest till the Evening to eat but thou spendest the day in a Law Suit Woe to those that are drunk though not with Wine Anger inebriates the Soul and as well as Wine casts it out of the limits of Reason Meditation THIS of wine I confess is a most dangerous Drunkenness and Gluttony is a most filthy sin These sins are great Enemies to Devotion and therefore Fasting Abstinence and Sobriety are very necessary to succour and nourish Piety But O my Soul take care of thy self these vices regard the body chiefly There is another sort of Drunkenness and Gluttony which immediately concerns the Soul and is it may be still more dangerous this Drunkenness is Pride and this Gluttony is Avarice and Ambition How many Souls do I see in the World made drunk with Vanity and an high Opinion of themselves They are fly-blown with Pride that all the Earth cannot contain them they stretch themselves so far