thy Face Aquinas Set Death into your Minds and it will put Life into your Actions St. Austin saith There 's nothing more abateth Sin than the frequent Meditation of Death He cannot Die Ill that Lived Well and seldom doth he Die Well that Lived Ill. Ambrose saith Death is the Burial of all Vices To be willing to Die consider the harmlesness of Death to the People of God tho' it keeps its Dart yet it hath lost its Sting Thy Heart may be kept from shrinking back in time of Sickness by considering the necessity of Death in order to the Fruition of God 2 Cor. 5.6 Whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. Another Argument to this unwillingness to Die is The immediate Succession of a more excellent and a more glorious Life it is but Wink and you shall see God Rom. 8.10 11. At Death you will be freed from Trouble here and have Communion with God and Communion of Saints Flavel Cardinal Richleu being Tempted to doubt and disbelieve a God another World and the Immortality of the Soul and by that Distrust to relieve his aking Heart but in vain So strong he said was the Notion of God on his Soul so clear the Impression of him upon the frame of the World so unanimous the Consent of Mankind so powerful the Conviction of his own Conscience that he could not but taste of the Powers of the World to come and so Live as one that must Die and so Die as one that must Live Eternally And being asked one day Why he was so sad he answered Monsieur Monsieur the Soul is a serious thing It must be either Sad here for a moment or Sad hereafter for ever Cardinal Mazarine when he came to Die said O my poor Soul Whither wilt thou go saying one Day to the Queen Mother Madam your Favors have undone me and were I to Live again I would rather be a Capuchine than a Courtier Sir Francis Walsingham towards the latter end of his Life grew very Melancholy and Writ to the Lord Burleigh to this purpose We have lived long enough to our Country to our Fortunes and to our Soveraign It is high time to live to our Selves and to our God. In the multitude of Affairs that pass through our Hands there must be some Miscarriages for which a whole Kingdom cannot make our Peace Whereupon some Court Humorist being sent to Divert Sir Francis Ah! said he whil'st we Laugh all things are serious round about us God is serious when he Preserveth us and hath Patience towards us Christ is serious when he Dieth for us the Holy Ghost is serious when he striveth with us the Holy Scripture is serious when it is Read to us the Sacraments are serious when they are Administred unto us the whole Creation is serious in serving God and us they are serious in Heaven and Hell and shall a Man that hath one Foot in the Grave Jest and Laugh Dr. Dunn a Man of as great Parts and Spirit as any in this Nation being on his Death-Bed taking his solemn leave of all his most considerable Friends left this with them I Repent of all my Life but that part of it I spent in Communion with God and doing Good. That Person in a Dying hour shall wish himself not a Man that hath not been a good Christian When Queen Mary Died Mr. Fox that Writ the Book of Martyrs was Preaching Comfort to the English Exiles in Geneva at which time he did tell them That now was the time come for their return into England and that he brought them that News from God for which Words many of the Grave Divines Rebuked him greatly for the present but afterwards excused him by the Event for it appeared that Queen Mary Died but the Day before he so spake to them Judge Nichols used to say That he knew not what they called Puritan Preaching but he said that Preaching which went next his Heart and spake as Attorney General Noy used to say of Doctor Preston as if they knew the Mind of God. Mr. Selden that Universal Scholar being suspected by many to have too little Affection to Religion a little before he Died sent for the Bishop of Armagh and Dr. Langbane and told them to this effect That he had Surveyed most part of the Learning that was amongst the Sons of Men And that he had his Study full of Books and Papers of most Subjects in the World yet at that time could he not recollect any Passage out of those many Books and Manuscripts he was Master of whereon he could rest his Soul save of the Holy Scriptures wherein the most remarkable Passage that lay upon his Spirit was Titus the 2. ver 11 12 13 14 15. Grotius one of the greatest of Scholars concluded his Life with this Protestation That he would give all his Honor and Learning for the plain Integrity and harmless Innocency of Jean Urick who was a Devout Poor Man who spent Eight hours of his Time in Prayer Eight in Labor and but Eight in Sleep and other Necessaries And with this Complaint to another who admired his Astonishing Learning and Industry Ah Vitam perdedi opero se nihil Agendo And this Direction to a Third that desired in his great Learning and Wisdom in brief to shew him what to do who bade him Be Serious Count Gundomer was as great a Wit and Statesman as ever Europe knew and took as much Liberty in point of Religion till drawing towards his latter end he would say as they say of Ansalem I fear nothing more in the World than Sin often professing That if he saw Corporally the Horror of Sin on the one hand and the Pains of Hell on the other and must necessarily be plunged into the One he would choose Hell rather than Sin yea that what liberty soever he had taken he had rather be torn in pieces with Wild Horses than wittingly or willingly run into any Sin. Above all says Sir Philip Sidney at the time of his Death govern your Will and Affections by the Word and Will of your Creator and in me behold the end of this World. Damnation PEter Lumbard says GOD Condemns none before he Sins nor Crowns any before he Overcomes Disrespect IF any despise thee do not bear a grudge against him for it And be not offended with any meerly because they do not Honor thee If any neglect or slight thee care not for it yet observe it Distrust IT is Distrust of God to be troubled about that which is to come Impatience against God to be troubled for what is present and Anger at him to be troubled at what is past Vid. Afflictions and Sufferings Doubting ONe cause of uncomfortable Living is That Christians look more at their present Cause of Comfort or Discomfort than they do at their future Happiness and the way to attain it Another cause of Doubting is The weakness and small measure of your Graces
may be Just and Contented I may be Evil spoken of but still I can do Well I may be Sick but still I may be Patient I may be in Prison but there I may Pray and Sing Psalms as Paul and Silas did That which cannot hinder our Duty should not be so sadly lamented Baxt. Hearts Ease The World perhaps does not love us have we no reason to thank it if it make us place our Contentment and Comfort in God and a pure Conscience Ibid. 17. It is our grand Fault that we are affected presently according as every thing appears in the Face and we stay not till it turn the other side I saw not my Children when they were in the Womb yet there the Lord fed them without my knowledge I shall not see them when I go out of the Body yet they shall not want a Father Mr. Cooper Austin's usual Wish was That Christ when he came might find him either Praying or Preaching When the Donatists upbraided him unworthily with Impurity and Impiety of his former Life Look says he how much they blame my former faults by so much more I commend and praise my Physitian Belisarius having been the Thunderbolt of War made the East West and South to tremble the mighty Power of the Earth crawling in the Dust before him he that drew the whole World in throngs after him was forsaken and walked through the Streets of Constantinople with two or three Servants as a man that had out-lived his Funerals to serve as a Spectacle of pity and having his Eyes put out by the Emperour Justinians Widdow she being a Nestorian went up and down the Streets of Constantinople begging Date quaeso obelum Belisario This sad Example and others of the uncertainties of humane Affairs and the necessity of yielding to Religious Thoughts made Carolus Magnus at the Crowning of his Son utter these serious words My dear Son It is to day that I die in the Empires of the World and that Heaven makes me born again in your Person If you will Rule happily fear God who is the Force of Empires and Soveraign Father of all Dominions Keep his Commandments and cause them to be obeyed and observed with unviolable Fidelity Serve Him first of all for an Example of the World and lead an holy Life before God and Man Irreprovable A young Gallant that visited Saint Ambrose lying on his Death Bed said to his Comrade then with him O that I might live with thee and Die with St. Ambrose Danger is better then Safety a Storm more eligible than a perpetual Calm if before our fears we were the Worlds but after them became God's Nazianzen Sickness JVnius being Sick one asked him How he did said That he had quieted himself in God who would do for him that which was most for his Glory and his own good Serving of God. WHen Mr. Calvin was Banished he said Truly if I had served Men I should have had but an ill Reward but it 's well I have served God who doth always perform to his Servants that which he hath once promised See the Difference betwixt Him and Cardinal Wolsey who said Had I been as diligent to serve my God as I have been to please my King he would not have sorsaken me now in my Gray-hairs One of the Kings of Sweeden thought said That he should not live long because the people did over-value him for his many Victories Who was slain a little after in Battle but with a great Victory Superstition THe School-men have framed a Number of intricate and subtile Actions and Theorems to serve the Practice of their Superstitious Church Lord Bacon Suspition THere is nothing makes a Man more to suspect than to know little and therefore men would remedy that by procuring to know more and not to keep their Suspicion in smother Bacon's Essays Secrecy SIr John Cooke broke an Affair to a Partisan that kept him under all his days and he that entertains a dangerous design puts his Head into an Halter and the Halter into his Hand to whom he first imparts it The Habit of Secrecy is Policy and Virtue Speak no more than thou canst safely retreat from without danger or fairly go through without opposition Thoughts WHen a sensual Thought breaks in then excite and taste the Powers of the World to come and labour to recover the Divine Frame Abhor every Thought Word or Deed which is contrary and tends to the hurt of others Evil Thoughts are Natures Kisses Thoughts being neither free from God's Knowledge Judgments Punishments Laws nor from Christ's Government nor from the power of Conscience surely Thoughts are not then free to think what we please Reynard Thoughts are roving and restless till they come to their Center or proper place as a stone to the Earth so are our Thoughts till we pitch them upon God and acquiesce in Him and they will be unquiet till they rest in God Psal 119.7 So before a Prayer against Evil Thoughts De Kempis 201. Temptations Chrystome saith The Devils assault us violently resist the first and the cond will be weaker and That being resisted he becomes a Coward The Devil runs with open Mouth upon God's Children to devour them if they manfully resist him he thinks to weaken their Faith and they by his Assaults are made stronger he fights against them but they get Ground upon him and so what he intends for their Destruction full sore against his Will makes for their Advantage Cyril of Alexandria Time. SAys Aquinas Make much of Time especially in that matter of Salvation Oh! how much would they that now lies Frying in Hell rejoyce if they might have the least moment of Time whereby they might get God's favour Troubles and Afflictions VIctorinus was wont to say There is a time to say nothing there is a time to say something but there is never a time to say all things I have not Reigned to Day said the Emperor when he had done no good To day I have not lived said Judge Fineux and that we should not complain we have little time but that we spend much in doing evil or in doing nothing to purpose Secretary Walsingham would say My Lord stay a while and we shall have done the sooner Secretary Cecil said It shall never be said of me that I do defer till to morrow what I can do to day And Sir Richard Morrison used to say Give me this day and the next take your self The Martyr Mr. Bradford accounted that hour ill spent wherein he did not not some good either with his Pen Study or Exhortation of others Trust AT what time I am afraid I will put my Trust in thee let us be confident he will dispose of us there where it is most necessary for us to be either in this World or the other Mr. Patrick I trust God with my chiefest outward Concernments even that which I am most Solicitous in and therein to be satisfied is of great
Universities Discharged himself of all publick Affairs and Attendants a quarter of a year before he died Desiring the Bishop of Winchester and Worcester to draw him out of the Word of God the plainest and exactest way of making his Peace with God in this present World adds That it was great pitty that Men know not to what end they were born into this World until they were ready to go out of it My Lord Bacon hath said at the latter end of his Life That a little smattering in Philosophy would lead a Man into Atheism but a thorough Insight into it would lead a Man back again unto a first Cause and that the first Principle of Right Reason is Religion in Reference to which it was the wisest way to live strictly and severely for if the Opinion of another would not be one yet the sweetest thing in this World is Piety Vertue and Honesty If it be true none are so miserable as the Loose the Carnal and Profane Persons who live a Dishonorable and Base Life in this World and are like to Fall into a most woful State in the next The E. of Arundel lying on his Death Bed said My Flesh and my Heart fail me and his Chaplain answered the next Words That God was the strength of his Heart and his portion for ever he would never fail him He answering tho all the World hath failed He will never fail me Sir Tho. Coventry Lord Keeper of the Great Seal hearing some Gallants jesting with Religion said That there was no greater Argument of a Foolish and Inconsiderate Person than to droll at Religion It is a sign he hath no regard of himself and that he is not touched with a Sence of his own Interest who playeth with Life and Death and makes nothing of his Soul. To examine severely and debate seriously of Religion is a thing worthy of a wise Man Whosoever turns Religion into Railery with two or three bold Jests rendreth not only Religion but himself Ridiculous in the Opinion of all Wise and Considerate Men because he sports with his own Life For a good Man saith If Principles were doubtful yet they concern us so nearly that we ought to be serious in the Examination of them Carolopator relateth how the excellent Painter Methoclius Drawing the last day the Heavens black the Earth on Fire the Sea in Blood the Throne of God environd with Angels in the Clouds wrought so upon Bogaris the barbarous Prince of Bulgaria that in a short time he yielded himself to God by an happy Conversion for he dreaming of the whole proceedings of that day amongst other things saw the things he made so light of by speaking thus I am the pleasure thou hast obeyed I am the Ambition whose Slave thou wast I am the Avarice which was the aim of all thy Actions Behold so many Sins that are thy Children Thou begottest them thou belovest them so much as to prefer them before thy Saviour Mr. John Bruen said At his Funeral he would have no Black for I love not said he any proud nor pompous Funeral neither is there any cause of Mourning but Rejoycing rather in my particular Immediately before his death lifting up his Hands he said The Lord is my Help my Portion and my Trust His Blessed Son Jesus is my Saviour and Redeemer Amen For so saith the Spirit to my Spirit Then come Lord Jesus and Kiss me with Kisses of thy Mouth and embrace me with the Arms of thy Love Into thy Hands I commit my Spirit Take me to thy own self Come Lord Jesus come quickly O come O come O come Mr. Brown of Norwich Phisitian entertained one Attribute of God to recreate his Devotion and that is Wisdome In which says he I am Happy for the Contemplation of this only I do not Repent me that I was brought up to Study the advantage I have over the Vulgar with the content and happiness I conceive therein is an ample Recompence of all my endeavours in what part of Knowledge whatsoever Wisdom is his most glorious Attribute no man can attain unto it yet Solomon pleased God when he desired it he is wise because he knoweth all things and he knoweth all things because he made them all Yet his greatest knowledge is in comprehending what he made not Himself and this also is the greatest Knowledge in man for this I do honour my Profession and Embrace the very Council of the Devil himself Had he read such a Lecture in Paradice as he did at Delphos we had better known our selves neither had we need to stand in fear of him I know he is Wise in all things he is Wise in all and Wonderful in what we conceive but farmore in what we comprehend not for we behold him but a squint upon reflex or shadow Our Vnderstanding is dimmer then Moses his Eye we are Ignorant of his Back-parts and his lower-side of his Divinity there to pry into his Councels is not only Folly in Man but Presumption even in Angels like us they are his Servants not his Senators he holds Councel but with that mystical One the Trinity where tho there be three Persons there is but one Mind that decrees without contradicion nor needs he any of his Actions to be begot with deliberation his Wisdom knows naturally what 's best his Intellect stands fraught with the superlative and purest Ideas of Goodness Consultation and Electi on which are two Motions in us make but one in Him his Actions sprung from his Power at the first touch of his Will There are Contemplations metaphysical my humble Speculations have another Method are content to trace and discover those Expressions he hath left in his Creatures and the obvious effects of Nature there is danger to confound these Mysteries no Sanctum Sanctorum in Philosophy the world to be Inhabited by Beasts but Study'd and Contemplated by Men. It is the debt of our Reason to Owe unto God the Homage we pay for not being Beasts without this the World is still as though it had not been or as it had been before the sixth day when as yet there was not a Creature that could conceive or say there was a World. The Wisdom of God receives small Honor from the Vulgar Heads that usually stare about with gross Rusticity admire his works Those highly magnifie him whose Judicious Enquiry into his Acts and deliberate Research into his Creatures return the duty of a Learned and Devout Admiration Therefore search whilst thou wilt and let thy Reason go To ransom Reason even to the Abyss below Rally the Scattered causes and that line Which Nature twists be able to untwine It is thy Makers Will for unto none But unto Reason can he e're be known The Devil knows thee but those Damned Metors Build not thy Glory but confound the Creatures Teach my endeavours so thy Work to read That learning them in Thee I may proceed Give thou my Reason that
are ever holding Holy things without feeling Bacon If Atheists say The World or its Materials were Made they must grant a GOD that made it If they say They were not Made they then assert an Eternal Being of it self that is they allow the Difficulties for which they pretend to deny a GOD. Cares WHen Men Believe weakly and Love GOD but little they can scarce find whether they Believe or Love at all and therefore remain in doubt To Remedy which follow your Duty till Grace be encreased ply your Work wait upon God in the use of his prescribed Means and he will undoubtedly bless you with Increase and strength of Grace If you would lay out those serious Affections in Praying and Seeking unto Christ and for more Grace you would in time Believe strongly and Love fervently and thereby put it out of doubt whether you Believe or Love or not Mrs. B. If by moderate and due Care we would resign up our Selves and Concernments into the Hands of God He would charge himself with us but if we will Immoderately Care and be so peremptory in our Designs and will not submit them to him then God is discharged and we must look to our selves You need not fetch the Misery of another Day and put to this it hath enough for its own Let them consider that fear Want that they want nothing so much as Faith A little more trusting in God and a little less sinful Foresight and needless Care would do well Our daily Defects and Disappointments procure Misery and Vexations He that would make Earth sure must first of all make Heaven sure Shall I by taking thought what I shall Eat and what I shall Drink here never fear Wanting or Begging a drop of Water hereafter Shall I be Solicitous for Cloaths and do not know but my Soul and Body may lie naked in the scorching Flames of the Wrath of God to all Eternity Besides that I have a Promise of God for outward things if I make it my business to look after Heavenly It s a very needless Care God provides Meat for me that I may not be taken off my Work to seek those things that are Heavenly Mat. 6.33 Christ Crucified the knowledge of it IT is a kind of Catholicon of universal Use and Conveniency in reference to this Life Am I in Want in Prison in Contempt in Banishment in Sickness in Death this Knowledge gives Contentedness Patience Chearfulness Resignation of my self to his Will who hath Sealed my Peace with him and Favor from him in the great Covenant of his Son I could live upon this tho' I were ready to Starve when I am assured that it is for my Good and the glory of his Name I shall be delivered if not I can be contented if my Jewel the Peace of God and my own Conscience by the Blood of Christ be safe if not in Wealth Honor greatness in Esteem in the World. This Knowledge teacheth me Humility as knowing of whom I have received it Fidelity as knowing to whom I must account for it and in all it teacheth me not to over-value it nor to value my Self the more by it or for it It makes Death not Terrible because a most sure Passage to Eternal Life Here I find a way to get my Sins Pardoned whereas all the World without this cannot contrive a Satisfaction for me I find such a Way to obtain such a Righteousness as is valuable with God and perfect before Him even the Righteousness of God in Christ and here I find the means the only means to avoid the Wrath to come the Terror of the Judgment of the Last-Day Everlasting Life to all Eternity which the blessed God and the Lord Jesus Christ all the blessed Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect The knowledge of Christ above all other Knowledge and Christ Crucified above all other Knowledge of Christ being the highest manifestation of his Love. J. Hale With all my Heart saith Calvin I embrace the Mercy of God which he hath used towards me for Jesus Christ's sake recompencing my Faults with the Merits of his Death and Passion that satisfaction being made by this means for all my Sins and Crimes and the remembrance of them may be blotted out I witness also and profess that I humbly beg of him that being washed and cleansed in the Blood of that highest Redeemer shed for the Sins of Mankind I may stand at his Judgments-Seat under the Image of my Redeemer Had Christ been God only he could not have Suffered had he been Man only he could not have Merited Christ's Blood was shed as well for Oblution as for Absolution Diffidence of ones Self and Dependance of Christ is the Motto of a Christian Counsel THe greatest Trust between Man and Man is the Trust of giving Counsel For in our Confidences saith our Lord Bacon Men commit the parts of Life their Lands their Goods their Children their Credit and some particular Affairs but to such as they make their Counsellors they commit the whole by how much the more they are obliged to Faithfulness and Integrity There is no such Flattery as of a Mans self and there is no such Remedy against that Flattery as the Liberty of a Friend Counsel is of Two sorts The one concerning Manners the other concerning Business For the first The best Preparative to keep the Mind in Health is the faithful Admonition of a Friend The calling of a Man's self to a strict Account is sometimes too piercing and corroding Reading good Books of Morality is a little Flat and Dead Observing our Faults in others is sometimes improper for our Case but the best Receipt best I say to work and best to take is the Admonition of a Friend Conviction IF you be troubled for Sin observe whether your trouble for it be inward as well as outward and reaches not only to open Sins but to secret Lusts to Inward and Spiritual Sins such as Hypocrisie Formality Lukewarmness Deadness and Hardness of Heart and if so this is a sure sign of the Work of the Spirit because the Trouble occasioned by these Sins bears a more immediate Relation to the Holiness of God who only is offended by them they being such that none else can see or know Covetousness HE that is Covetous when he is Old is as a Thief that Steals when he is going to the Gallows Bags of Gold to us when Saints will be but as a Bag of Pebbles when Men. Alexander of Hales says That Covetousness deserves the Hate of all for these Reasons First It is a Sin against Nature making the Soul Terrestrial which should be Heavenly Secondly For the many Curses against it in the Scripture Wo to them that joyn House to House c. Thirdly For the many Evils it subjects them unto It is the Root of all Evil. Fourthly It makes a Man a Fool O Fool this Night c. Fifthly It canses Strifes from whom are Strifes Sixthly It
weakness because tho' the Believers hand is weak yet his Heart is right the Hypocrite may have the most active Hand but the Believer hath the most faithful and sincere Heart Our applying to God through Jesus Christ id est our address to the Father through his Son begetting in us a sense of that Love which our Saviour had for us cannot but kindle returns of Love suitable to it and that must needs reform the inward Man upon which purity and holiness of Life will certainly follow Right Obedience to Christ First It must be Evangelical 1st For the Matter of it Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15.14 2ly To the manner of it according to what God requires of us God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth John 4.24 3ly The ground of it This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1.15 Secondly It is an Universal Obedience Numb 14.24 But thy servant Caleb because he hath another Spirit with him and hath followed me fully him will I bring into the Land c. Psal 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments Thirdly It is a continual Obedience Psal 119.112 I have enclined my Heart to perform thy Statutes always even unto the end God is never absent tho' the wicked have him not in their Thoughts where he is not by Favour he is by Punishment and Terror Greg. the Great Painting of Faces THey that love to Paint themselves in this World otherwise than God hath made them may justly fear that at the Resurrection their Creator will not know them Cyprian Passions IT is the greatest Slavery in the World to be subject to ones own Passions Justin Martyr Patience OTher Graces are but the parts of a Christians Armour but Patience is the whole Armour of the Man of God the Enemy foils us without it but we foil him with it Ignatius O that I could live says Mr. Corbet by Faith in this time of Affliction I endeavour to press upon my Soul those Arguments which the Scripture affords with Patience and Long-suffering with Joyfulness but this will not do the Work except the Spirit of Faith and Patience be given from him from whom comes down every good and perfect Gift I do pray I do cry to my Father that he would give me the gracious Spirit according to his Promises that I may shew forth the Power of his Grace and that I may not Dishonour him A Soul patient when Wrongs are offered him is like a Man with a Sword in one hand and a Salve in the other could wound but will heal Alexander of Hales Do not promise to thy self that which God never promised thee This heals the evils that arise from vain hopes and cools the anger of those Sores that are caused by frustration of our Expectations It is lawful to desire several things which are uncertain if God sees them good for us but let us not promise to our selves any of them Do not entertain thy thoughts with promises of Contentment in such a relation in such a condition nor success in such an Enterprise no tho' thou goest about it wisely but promise to thy self pardon of Sin and Eternal Life if thou do thy Duty and the Grace of God to do it if thou pray for it and wilt use it for this our Merciful Father hath promised And if we will hope for any thing let it be as I said before in the days of our Sorrow and Adversity to support our Heaviness but not in the days of our Prosperity to please our Fancies Parents PArents ought to offer these things to their Children as Instructions both in God's Word and Human Arts which preserves them from Idleness and Folly gives them Wisdom and learns them Subjection and Obedience to their Superiours Justin Martyr Peace WHat will it avail thee to Dispute soundly of the Trinity if thou be void of Humility and art thereby displeasing to the Trinity high Words surely never make a Man neither Holy nor Just but a Vertuous Life makes him dear to God I desire rather to feel Compunction than to understand the Definition thereof If thou dost know the whole Bible and the Sayings of all the Philosophers by Heart what would that profit thee without the Word of God Vanity of Vanity all is Vanity but to fear God and him only this is the highest Wisdom by contempt of the World to attend the Kingdom of Heaven It is Vanity then to tend after Perishing Riches to hunt after Honors to climb to high Dignities and to labor after that for which we afterwards suffer more grievous Punishments Vanity it is to wish to live long and carelessly to live well Vanity it is to mind only this present Life and not to foresee these things that are to come Vanity it is to stay and set thy love on these fading and Perishing things here below and not to hasten thither where everlasting Joy is permanent Call often to mind that Proverb The Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing endeavor therefore to withdraw thy Heart from these Visible things and turn thy self to the Invisible for they that follow their Sensuality shame their own Consciences and lose the favor of God. Thou must labor to break thy Will in many things if thou wilt have Peace and Concord with others It is no small thing to live in Chistian Communion It is no small thing to dwell in Religious Communion and to converse therein without Complaint and persevere therein faithfully till Death Blessed is he that hath then lived well and persevered therein till Death The Kingdom of God is within you saith the Lord turn thee with thy whole Heart to God and forsake this wretched World and thy Soul shall find rest Learn to despise Exterior things and to give thy self Inferior and thou shalt perceive the Kingdom of God to come into thee for the Kingdom of God is Peace and within the Holy Ghost which is not given to the Wicked Christ will come unto thee and shew thee his Consolations if thou prepare for him a worthy Mansion within thee All his Beauty and Glory is within and there he pleaseth himself the Inward Man he often Visiteth and hath with him sweet Discourses much Solace much Peace and wonderful Familiarity O faithful Soul make ready thy Heart for this Bridegroom that he may vouchsafe to come into thee and dwell within thee If any love me he will keep my Words and we will come and make our Abode with him Give therefore admittance to Christ and deny entrance to all others When thou hast Christ thou art Rich and he will suffice thee he will be thy faithful and provident Helper in all things so that thou shalt not need to trust in Men for Men are quickly
AN ESSAY To Promote VIRTUE By Example IN A COLLECTION OF Excellent Sayings Divine and Moral OF Devout Learned Men In all Ages from the Apostles Time to this present Year 1689. By William Whitcombe Gent. Licensed March 2d 1688 / 9. LONDON Printed for the Author And are to be Sold by Edw. Evets at the Green Dragon in St. Paul's Church-yard 1689. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER I Here present to thy Perusal and Consideration these Serious Sayings following Spoken and Delivered not Rashly but upon the Experience of whole Lives and that too in those most seriously Reflecting Moments the Close of Life and Approach of Eternity And moreover not by any one Party or Perswasion or of any one Age but of all Men of all Perswasions of all Ages Spoken too when they were so disinterested and disobliged from the World as neither to be deluded or abused thereby nor by any the most tempting Baits of Honour or Wordly Profit whatever With this Authentick stamp upon them they are offered to thy Reading and retired Thoughts and for this Great End That these Memoirs and Reliques of the Learned and Pious in all Ages together with what other Examples of the like Kind thy farther Conversation with Good Books or Good Men may afford thee may in some Measure excite thee by a Zealous Imitation of their Lives to endeavour to arrive to the Comfort and Peace of their Deaths and that Eternal Glory that Crowns them And considering how certainly and very shortly we must Die as they did thou may'st therefore Labour to Die as happy too The Design of these Collections of so many Warning-pieces from departed Saints being no other than making the Dead an Instrument towards the Salvation of the Living W. W. Excellent Sayings OF DEVOUT AND Learned-Men c. Alphabetically Digested Abby-Lands THE Pope by a Bull would confirm Abby-Lands but who said Burleigh can confirm the Pope's Bull In the Secret Judgment of God it is to be Admired and Adored in that those Houses and Abbies that were so full of all Abominations as appeared to the Kings Commissioners upon Examination and remains upon Record so Horrible to be heard so Incredible to be believed that it is a Wonder God would suffer them unpluck'd up So that we may say with Mat. Paris Cujus foetor usque ad Nubes fumum toterrimum exhalabat i. e. Whose filthy Stink did Breath a most Pestiferous Fume even to the Clouds of Heaven and with Sodom's Sins cryed aloud for Vengeance c. Accusation IF God's People be Accused falsly Christ will Iustifie them If they have Sinned and truly Believe Repent and Amend He will Pardon them thro' His Meritorious Righteousness and Sacrifice and will make them and pronounce them Just Adversity PRosperity is not without many â—ears and Distastes and Adversity not without many Comforts The Vertue of Prosperity is Temperance the Vertue of Adversity is Fortitude Prosperity doth best discover Vice but Adversity doth best discover Vertue Prosperity is the Blessing of the Old Testament Adversity of the New and the clear Manifestation of the favour of God. The good things of Prosperity are to be Wished the good things of Adversity to be Admired My Lord Cook would say That no Wise Man would do that in Prosperity whereof he would Repent in Adversity His Motto was Prudens qui Patiens Advises EDward Earl of Rutland left these Four Advises behind Him viz. First Be always Imploy'd Secondly Look to the Issue Thirdly Be Furnished with a Friend Fourthly Reflect on thy Self Vita est in Reflectione Affections OBserve this Rule That we never give this Affection of Love leave to run out alone without Judgment and Consideration going before it and along with it That we suffer not our Passions which are Love Hatred Anger Joy Grief Fear or Hope to deal out their own Measures but our Judgment and Deliberation That we always keep this Affection of Love especially under Discipline and Government and suffer it not to run away from us as an unruly Beast without a Chain for it is certain the due Government of this Affection governs all the rest Vae Soli. If any Affection come alone I will ask him for his Fellow If Love to God or Good come alone I will ask him Where is Hatred for Sin If Grief or outward Crosses come alone I will ask him Where is thy Fellow that is Joy in the Lord and in Spiritual Mercies If Fear of Evil come alone I will ask Where is thy Fellow that is Hope in the Lord in his Promises and in his Providences Afflictions NIciphorus saith God so moderates our Actions using the Scourge of Affliction for our Castigation and Conversion and after due Correction shews his Fatherly Affection to those that Trust in him for Salvation Christ asked Peter Three times whether he Loved him not for his own Information but that for his Threefold Profession he may help and heal his Threefold Negation Among the many Preparations for Afflictions patiently take this one which includes the rest viz. Labour to get thy Peace made with GOD through Jesus CHRIST our Lord When this is once done and attained thou art above the Love of the World and fear of Affliction because thou hast an Assurance of a greater than this World can give or take away a Kingdom Heb. 12.2 9. an Hope an Expectation that is above the reach and Region of Affliction and renders the greatest and sorest Afflictions as they are namely Light and Momentany And yet notwithstanding because thou art in this glorious Expectation yet but in this lower Region and so subject to Passions Perturbations and Fears The Merciful God hath engaged his Promise to support thee under them to Better and Improve thee by them and carry thee thro' them by his All-sufficient Grace and Mercy 119. Psal 74. 1 Cor. 10.13 2 Cor. 4.17 Christians under your greatest Afflictions lies your greatest Treasure Afflictions are Good but not Pleasant Sin is Pleasant but not Good there 's more Evil in a Drop of Corruption than in a Sea of Afflictions God seperates the Sin he Hates so deadly from the Soul He Loves so dearly By the greatest Afflictions God Teacheth us the sweetest Instruction A Believer when he lies under the Hand that doth Afflict him he lies in the Heart that doth Affect him Believers are Crucified by the World that they may not be Crucified in the World. The Flesh is an Enemy to Sufferings because Sufferings is an Enemy to the Flesh It may make a Man an Earthly Courtier but it will never make a Man an Heavenly Martyr They that carry not the Yoke of Christ on their Neck will never carry the Cross of Christ on their Backs but the Believer Studies more how to Adorn the Cross than how to avoid the Cross None so Couragious as those that are Religious A Believer never falls asleep for Jesus till he falls asleep in Jesus Some Glory in that which is their Shame and shall
hath made satisfaction and lay this heavy Reckoning to his Account Lord forgive me mine Iniquity for it is very great Vid. Pag. 70. Frugality Frugality is the Left-Hand of Fortune and Diligence the Right Fasting FAsting and other Holy Revenges upon our selves for our Sins are very acceptable to God yet we must not think that either those or any thing else we can do can make satisfaction for our Offences for that nothing else but the Blood of Christ can do And therefore upon that and not upon any of our Performances we must depend for Pardon yet since that Blood shall never be applied to any but Penitent Sinners we are as much concern'd to bring forth all the fruits of Repentance as if our Hope 's depended on them wholly Duty of Man 126. Fear THe Man that Fears GOD is the Wisest Man and he that upon that account departs from Evil is the Man of greatest Understanding Hales's Contemplations 15. When Trembling is the Fruit of a Spirit broken for Sin and the Law in its own Eyes there God will look Mead. 72. How great a Madness is it to Fear Man will soon appear if we do but compare what Man can do unto us and what God can do And First It is sure it is not in the Power of Man I may say Devils too to do us any hurt without God permit and suffer them to do it So that if we do but keep him to be our Friend we may say with the Psalmist The Lord is on my side I need not fear what Man can do unto me for let their Malice be never so great he can restrain and keep them from hurting us Nay He can change their Minds towards us according to that of the Wise-Man Prov. 16.7 When a Man's Ways please the Lord he can make his very Enemies to be at Peace with him A notable Example of this we have of Jacob Gen. 32. Who when his Brother Esau was coming against him as an Enemy God wonderfully turned his Heart so that he met him with all the loving Expressions of Brotherly kindness as you may read in the next Chapter But Secondly Suppose Men were left at liberty to do thee what Mischief they could alas their Power goeth but a little way they may perhaps rob thee of thy Goods it may be they may take away thy Liberty or thy Credit or perchance thy Life too but that thou knowest is the utmost they can do But now God can do all this when he pleases and that which is infinitely more his Vengeance reaches even beyond Death it self to the Eternal Misery both of Body and Soul in Hell in comparison of which Death is so inconsiderable that we are not to look upon it with any dread Fear not them that Kill the Body and after have no more that they can do saith Christ Luk. 12.4 and then immediately adds But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear fear him which after he hath Killed hath Power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him In which words the Comparison is set between the greatest Ill we can suffer from Man the loss of Life and those sadder Evils God can inflict on us And the latter are found to be the only dreadful things and therefore God only to be Feared Duty of Man. 20. Let your Fear of Men stir up an Holy Fear of GOD. Grace and Merits CArdinal Pool was wont to say tho' a Papist We cannot give too much to God 's Grace nor too little to our own Merits He said when he returned into England I came hither not to Condemn but to Reconcile not to Compel but to Desire God's People THey are a small part of lost Mankind whom God hath from Eternity Predestinated to the Glory of Heaven for the Glory of his Mercy and given to his Son to be by him in a Spiritual manner Redeemed from their lost Estate and advanced to this higher Glory all which Christ doth in due time accomplish accordingly for them and by his Spirit upon them But this is but a piece of their Description concerning God's Work for them and upon them Le ts see also what they are to do in regard of the working of their own Souls towards God and their Redeemer again viz. These People of God are that part of the Externally called who having been by the Spirit of Christ throughly tho imperfectly Regenerated and hereby Convinced and sensible of the Evil in Sin that Misery in themselves that Vanity in the Creature that Necessity Sufficiency and Excellency of Jesus Christ that they abhor that Evil bewail that Misery and turn their hearts from that Vanity and most affectionately accepting of Christ for their Saviour and Lord to bring them to God their chief Good and present them perfectly just before him Do accordingly enter into a Cordial Covenant with him and herein persevere to their lives end Baxter A Godly Man is one of those whose Conversation is in Heaven his Hopes and Heart are likewise there for his Riches his House and his Relations are in Heaven a Godly Man 's All is there ask him what he hath on Earth and he will tell you nothing or less than nothing Ask him then wherein are his Blessings he will tell you where his Father is there are my desired Blessings there are my hopes there is my All there I wish that I my self were with them Wadsworth on Phil. 12. I would not only have God hereafter but in this World for my chief good for as far as I am able to discerne my heart and ways I have chosen the Lord for my Portion I take my rest in him and not in the Creature to Love Fear Admire and Bless him and to have my Communion with him is my Joy an Eternal Vision and Fruition of God is my great hope he is even now better than the whole World. Mr. Corbet's Enquiry pag. 6. Lactantius says Godliness Enriches the owner Grace GRace flowing from the Spirit of God makes the Soul like a Fountain whose Waters are pure and wholesome for Grace Beautifyeth Cleanseth and Saveth the whole Man. Ignatius When a Man desires Grace from a right sence of his natural State when he sees the vileness of Sin and the woful defiled and loathsome condition he is in by reason of Sin and therefore desires the Grace of Christ with uncessant earnestness to renue and change him this is Grace Mead 68. Grace is a comprehensive Word and includes in it not only favour and acceptance with God but also those other accessaries of the Gifts of Bounty and Goodness which comes from the great Giver of every good and perfect Gift as Wisdom Righteousness Purity of Heart and the like Hales Grace is precious it suffereth not it self to be mingled with External things nor with Earthly Comforts thou oughtest therefore to cast away all hindrances of Grace if thou desire the Infusion thereof De Kempis The least Grace gives a full Interest
in the Blood of Christ whereby we are fully and throughly Purged and it gives a full Interest in the strength and power of Christ whereby we shall be perfectly preserved Mead. To quicken your Graces you must first quicken your Humility by considering your many Sins repeated Secondly you must quicken your Faith by Meditating on the Promises to all Penitent Sinners Thirdly by quickening your Love to God by considering his Mercies especially those remembred in the Sacrament his giving Christ to Die for us and your Love to your Neighbour nay to your very Enemies by considering that great Example of his Suffering for us when we were Enemies to him You must know that it is not gifts but Grace that makes a Man a Christian a Man may Preach like an Apostle and Pray like an Angel and yet have the Heart of a Devil It is Grace only that can change the heart a graceless Professor may have more gifts than the most sound Believer he may out-Pray out Preach and out-do them but they in Sincerity and Integrity out-do him Good and Wicked Men and Hypocrites THey are like True and Counterfeit Money the one seems to be good and is not the other both seems and is good Ignatius Goodness GOod things of this life if they be our only Portion we are in a sad Condition so Gregory the Great thought for he could never read those words Son remember thou in thy life time received thy good things without Horror and Astonishment least having such Dignities and Honours as he had he should be excluded from his Portion in Heaven The signs and parts of goodness are these If a man be Courteous to Strangers it shews he is a Citizen of the World and that his heart is no Island cut off from other Lands but a continent that joyns to them If he be Compassionate towards the Afflictions of others it shews his Heart is like the noble Tree that is Wounded it self when it gives the healing Balm If he easily pardons and remits Offences it shews his Mind is planted above Injuries so that it cannot be shot If he be thankful for small Benefits it shews he weighs mens Minds and not their Trash But above all if he have St. Pauls affection That he could wish himself Anathematized from Christ for the Salvation of his Brethren it shews much of a Divine Nature and a kind of Conformity to Christ himself Bacon's Essays 70. Grandees It is said that Great Men are the first that find their own Griefs and the last that find their own Faults The Lord Rich was quick in both and hath taught us this that certainly Men of great Fortunes are strangers to themselves and while they are in the puzzle of Business have no time to attend the Welfare either of Body or Soul and that they must withdraw from this World before they retire to another Happiness THe way to attain to it in short is by the constant and sincere endeavours of a holy Life in and through the Merits of Jesus Christ Christ indeed is the Author of Eternal Salvation but Obedience is the Condition of it so the Apostle tells us That Christ is the Author of Eternal Salvation to them that Obey him Heb. 5.1 I long to enjoy thee O Lord most inwardly but I cannot attain unto it my desire is that I may be given up to Heavenly things but unmortified Passions and Temporal things weigh down my Mind I would be above all things but with the Flesh I am forced to be subject against my will. Thus unhappy Man that I am I fight against my self and am grievous to my self Whilst my Spirit seeks to be above my Flesh seeks to be below Say not that we are unable to set our Hearts on Heaven this must be the Work of God and therefore all your Exhortations are in vain for I tell you though God be the chief disposer of your Hearts yet next under Him you have the greatest Command of them your selves and a great power of ordering your own thoughts and determining your own Wills in their choice tho' without Christ you can do nothing yet under him you may do much and must do much or else it must be undone and you undone thro' your own neglect Do your own Parts and you will have no cause to Distrust whether Christ will do his Do not your own Consciences tell you when your Thoughts are abroad that you may do more than you do in the restraining of them and when your Hearts be flat and neglect Eternity and seldom mind the Joys before you that is most wilful If you be to study a set Speech you can force your Thoughts to the intended Subject If a Minister be to Study a Sermon he can force his Thoughts to the most saving Truths and that without any special Grace Might not a true Christian then mind more the things of the Life to come if he did not neglect that Authority over his own Thoughts which God hath given him especially in such a work as this where he may more confidently expect the Assistance of Christ who useth not to forsake his People in the work he setteth them upon Mr. Baxter 's Rest Part the Fourth 53. Heavenly Sayings Robert Rollock saith I bless God I have all my Senses entire but my Heart is in Heaven and Lord Jesus why should'st not thou have it It hath been my Care all the Day long to Dedicate it unto thee I pray thee take it that it may live with thee for ever Hooper Martyr said Imprisonment is painful but Liberty upon Evil Conditions is worse The Prison stinks yet not so much as sweet Houses where the Fear of God is wanting I must be alone and Solitary it is better be so and have God with me than to be in the Company of the Wicked Loss of Goods is great but the loss of Grace and God 's favour is greater I cannot tell how to answer before Great and Learned Men yet it is better do that than stand Naked before God 's Tribunal I shall Die by the hands of Cruel Men He is Blessed that loseth his Life and finds Life Eternal There is neither Felicity nor Adversity in this World is great if it be compared with the Joys of the World to come Bilney the Martyr being going to be Burnt was by a Friend Exhorted to take his Death patiently to whom he said I am Sailing with the Mariner thro' a boisterous Sea but shortly shall be in Heaven help me with your Prayers Bishop Ridley Writing to Mr. Bradford said Blessed be God notwithstanding our hard restraint and the Evil Reports raised of us we are Merry in God and all our Care is and shall be by God 's Grace to please and serve him from whom we expect after these Temporary and Momentany Miseries to have Eternal Joy and Felicity with Abraham Isaac and Jacob c. And Writing to Mr. Latimer in Prison he said Good Father let me have
Injuries INjuries of Evils present are to be neglected for hopes of things to come St. Cyprian You must saith St. Jerom be a Dove and a Serpent the one not to do hurt to others the other not to be hurt by others He knows not how to live that knoâ—â— not how to bear Wrongs David Chiterus The Mercies and Forgiveness that I find and hope for at the Lords hands engageth and disposeth me to forgive Injuries and Abuses done to me And I should not think it much that I who am so sinful should bear some Contumelies and Abuses from Men. Corbet The more Men Wrong thee the more watchfully maintain thy Love to them Ibid. When that another hath spoken to thy Disgrace beware of a transport of Anger that thou speak not harshly and unadvisedly against him or too Passionately or as too much concerned for self Ibid. Vid. Wrongs Incarnation TO believe the Incomprehensible Mistery of our Saviour's Incarnation that the omnipotent Divine Nature and the weak Nature of Man are united in one Person of Christ is sure a very hard thing of Belief and requires the express Word of God to submit to and captivate our Understandings in Obedience to it for the Union of the Divine Nature Vid. John 1.1 Idleness HE is a Sluggard that would raign with God and will not labor for God. In the promised Reward he takes delight but the Commanded Combats affright him Bead. Ingratitude ST Austin called Ingratitude the Devils Spunge whereby he wipes out all the favours of the Almighty Integrity SAint Cyprian says There can be no Integrity whereby they that should Condemn the Wicked are ever wanting and they only which should be Condemned are ever present Judgment SAint Jerom said Whatsoever he did he still thought that that Voice was still in his Ears Arise ye Dead and come to Judgment Interest THey who least consider Hazard in the doing of their Duty fare best still The surest way to Safety is to have one Interest espoused firmly as never to be changed KINGS IT is a Maxim that KINGS are like the Sun and Usurpers like Falling-Stars for the Sun tho' it be Effuscated or Eclipsed with Mists and Clouds yet at length becomes refulgent whereas the others are but Figures of Stars to the view and prove no more than Exhalations which suddainly dissolve and fall to the Earth where they are consumed First Jesus Christ is his Enemies King. Secondly His Saints King. Thirdly His Fathers King. The First he Rules Over the Second he Rules In and the Third he Rules For. Knowledge ST Basil said To know thy self is very difficult for as the Eye can see all things but it self so some can discern all Faults but their own There is a common Knowledge and there is a saving Knowledge common Knowledge is that which floats in the Head but doth not Influence and affect the Heart This Knowledge Reprobates may have Numb 23.10 but then the saving Knowledge of God and Christ which doth include the assent of the Mind and consent of the Will This is Knowledge which implies Faith Isa 5.8 By his Knowledge shall my Righteous Servant Justifie many For us to know but to know that 's Curiosity to know to be known that 's Vain-Glory but to know to Practise what we know that 's Gospel-Duty He only knows GOD aright that knows how to Obey him and Obeys according to his Knowledge of him Psal 111.10 a good Understanding have all they that keep his Commandments Law of GOD. EVsebius saith That Moses Wrote the Old Law in dead Tables of Stone but Christ did write the lively and perfect Documents of the New Law in Tables of the New-Testament in living Souls One Law Executed is worth Twenty Made No Laws so no good could be done by a Governor that was not Absolute without either restraint or a Competitor Machiavil Law and Equity have Two Courts but Law and Equity should dwell in one Breast Light Gold. THe Master of a Company affirmed That they had a pair of Scales that would turn with the Two hundredth part of a Grain I should be loath said Mr. Attorney General Noy standing by that all my Actions should be weighed by those Scales We are all but Light Gold. Liberty A People accustomed to live under a Prince if by accident they become free are like Beasts let loose and have much ado either to maintain their Government or their Liberty Machiavil Love. LOve is nothing but a disposition of the Will whereby it cleaves or makes forward to some good thing that is agreeable to it self Preston 216. St. Jerom used this excellent saying If my Father stood Weeping on his Knees before me and my Mother hanging on my Neck behind me and all my Brothers Sisters Children and Friends howling on every side to retain me in a sinful Life I would run over my Father fling my Mother to the Ground despise my Kindred and fling them under my Feet that I may run to CHRIST Here 's Love and Fortitude St. Austin saith Love is strong as Death as Death killeth the Body so Love of Eternal Life kills Worldly Desires and Affections The Love of Christ being predominant in the Soul deadens the Affections to any thing else Christ asked Peter Three Times Lovest thou me not for his own Information but that by his Threefold Profession he might help his Threefold Negation of him Nicephorus To Love God and to be conformable to him is that which I most of all desire should be in me Corbet's Enquiry God will never Damn in Hell any Soul that hath the habitual Predominance of the Love of God in his Soul tho' culpable or otherwise sinful whil'st remains such yea Hell and such Love are inconstant Ibid. 30. I Love to Love GOD says Mr. Corbet and desire this Love not only as an evidence of my Salvation but for it self I had much rather have an Heart to Love him perfectly than to have all the Honors Riches and Pleasures of this World. Ib. 17. Love to God is the Fountain and Spring of all true Obedience most of the Hypocrites Love empties it self in Vain-Glory Mat. 6.2 5. Hos 10.1 We know that we have passed from Death unto Life because we love the Brethren John 3.14 10. there we understand Brethren by Grace and not by Nature or otherwise to love God for Godliness sake the Saints for Saintships sake this is a sure Testimony of our Christianity A Sinner cannot Love a Saint Quatenus a Saint neither can a Saint love a Sinner Quatenus a Sinner John 15.19 Psal 57.4 It is a true Rule That Love is ever Rewarded either in the Recipoque or with an Inward or secret Contempt Watch against all secret Pleasure in the lessening of another for advancing of thy self Divine Love says Basil is a never failing Treasure he that hath it is Rich and he that wanteth it is Poor Chrisostom saith A Bulwark of Adamant is not more impregnable than the Love of Brethren
We can hardly spare time for God because we Love him too little but we have abundance of spare time for our Idle Aversions only because we love them too much Sir Thomas Howard was wont to say That the less others set by him the more he would set by himself God makes his Love sensible to the faithful Soul and saith to it by the Presence of his Spirit Soul I am thy Salvation and the Soul saith to him Lord thou art my God I am thine save me teach me to do thy Will God Communeth with the Soul by his Word and Spirit that is by Prayer and Holy Meditations Pe. Du Moulin 39. All the Deliverances that God sendeth his Children all the Blessings that God poureth out upon them they take them as Productions of the Fatherly love of God who hath Adopted them in his Son they taste that love in the Enjoyments of present Goods they breathe that love in hope of future and eternal Good they rest upon that love when they sleep they rest upon that love in the Occurrences of their Life with what face soever the World looks upon them they see thro' them the evident love of God being certain that nothing happens to them but is directed by the good hand of their loving Father Ib. 37. Life to come THe Life to come is blessed Eternity certain Security a secure Quietness quiet Joyfulness happy Eternity and Eternal Felicity Lyes A Lye as Mountane saith is only to brave it towards God and to be a Coward towards Man for a Lye faceth God and shrinketh from Man. Lusts AS a great shower of Rain puts out the force of Fire so Meditations of God's Word puts out the Fire of Lusts in our Souls Maxims VIdeo Rideo is God's Motto on Affronts Video tacio was Queen Elizabeths And Prudens qui Patiens Sir Edward Cooks Melancholy A Mind in the dark of Melancholy and Trouble feareth every thing Mistakes in Divinity THere will be Mistakes in Divinity whil'st Men Preach And Errors in Government whil'st such Govern. Mirth and Vanity SIR Edward Fines would say That he that would be Merry for a Day let him be Trim'd He that would be Merry for a Week let him Marry He that would be Merry for a Year let him Build And he that would be Merry for Ages let him Improve his Land. Marriage HOly Marriage says St. Austin is better than proud Virginity Meekness THeodosius Senior Commanded That he that Reviled and spoke Evil of him should not be Punished because if it proceeded from levity it is not to be regarded if of Madness it was to be pittied if of Injury received it is to be Pardoned in them Malice Origen saith That Gods Providence hath ordered all things for some End or Purpose He made not Malice and tho' he can restrain it yet he will not for if Malice were not Virtue should not have a contrary and so should not shine so clear For the Malice of Joseph's Brethren was the means whereby God brought many admirable works of his Providence as the Story sheweth Mass AT Rome saith Luther I heard them say Mass in such a manner as I detest them For at the Communion Table I heard Curtesans laugh and boast of their Wickedness And others concerning the Bread and Wine on the Altar saying Bread thou art and Bread thou shalt remain Wine thou art and Wine thou shalt remain Martyrdom IGNATIVS said of his Tormentors That the Lions Teeth are but like a Mill for tho' it bruiseth yet wasteth not the good Wheat only prepares and fits it to be pure Bread Let me says he be broken by them so I may be a pure Manchet for Heaven Mr. Latimer being ready to be burnt said God is faithful that will not suffer us to be Tempted above that we are able c. When the Fire was brought he said to Bp. Ridley Be of good Comfort Brother and play the Man we shall this day light such a Candle by Gods Grace in England I trust shall never be put out Mr. John Philpot in a Letter which he wrote to Mr. John Careles then a Prisoner in the Kings-Bench he thus writes I am in this World in Hell and in the shadow of Death but he that for my deserts hath brought me down into Hell shall shortly lift me up into Heaven where I shall continually look for your coming and others of my faithful Brethren in the King's-Bench And tho' I tell you I am in Hell in the judgment of the World yet I assuredly feel in the same the Consolation of Heaven Praised be God their loathsom and horrible Prison is pleasant to me Mercy CHrisostom says God had rather Men should love him than fear him to be called Father rather than Master He wins by Mercy that he may not perish by Justice Only a Godly Man knows how to make use of Mercies Neatness SIr Edward Cook was wont to say It is profitable to be Neat that the outward Neatness of the Body may be a moniter of the purity of our Souls Negotiating USE such Persons as affect the Business wherein they are to be Employ'd for that quickneth much and such are fit for the matter As bold Men for Expostulation fair spoken Men for Persuasion crafty Men for Enquiry and Observation Froward and Absur'd Men for Business that doth not well bear out it self Use such as have been Lucky and prevailed before in things wherein you have employed them for they will endeavour to maintain their Prescription It is better sound a Person with whom he deals a far off than to fall on the Point at first except you mean to surprise him by some short Question Lord Bacon's Essays Nobility NObility without Virtue is a Disgrace Virtue without Nobility is low but Nobility adorned with Virtue and Virtue embellished by Nobility raiseth a Man as high as Nature reacheth and he in whom these two Concur have all the Glory a Man can attain unto that is both an inclination and a power to do well In the Life of Francis Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury Obedience LET it be thy serious and fixed purpose every Morning through the assistance of Grace not willingly or knowingly to commit any Sin or to do any thing thy Conscience shall tell thee is displeasing to God but if contrary to thy serious intention through Infirmity sudden Surprisal violence of Temptation or Incogitancy thou do'st at any time fall humble thy self before the Lord bewail and confess thy Faults with sorrow and grief and speedily recover thy self by a serious Repentance by flying to the Blood of Christ for Pardon Our Natures must be renued before the Command can be rightly obeyed Mat. 7.18 Whatsoever a Mans performances are they cannot be called Obedience whilst the Heart remains unregenerate because the Principle is false and unsound Every duty done by a Believer is accepted of God as part of his Obedience to the Will of God tho' it be done in much
Moment unto me for that it hath as great an Influence on my Spirit as any inward thing hath and I believe God will provide for me herein or otherwise supply the want of it My earnest request therefore to God is That my outward Condition may be so stated by his wise and gracious Providence as may be least exposed to Temptations and best disposed and furthered as to Duty Mr. Corbet Truth DIonisius Areopagitus said That he desired Two Things of God 1st That he might know the Truth himself 2d That he might Preach it as he ought to others Help me O Lord that I may examine my Self in the Evening how I have born the Troubles and Crosses of the Day Did I not Murmur Vex and Sink Did I not Entertain hard Thoughts nor utter hard Words against God One being designed an Agent waited on the knowing Lord Wentworth for some Directions for his Conduct and Carriage who delivered himself thus To secure your self and serve your Country you must at all Times and upon all Occasions speak Truth and by this means Truth will secure your self if you be questioned and those you deal with who will still run counter to a loss in all your Disquisitions and Undertakings Theodosius Junior said That Emperors of all other Men were most Miserable because commonly the Truth of Business was concealed from them Vntowardliness SIR Edward Fox in his First years none more untowardly in his last none more staid The untoward Youth makest the ablest Man he that hath Mettle to be Extravagant when he cannot govern himself hath a Spirit to be eminent when he can Vsurpation THE Earl of Strafford used this Maxime That there is no danger small but what is thought so This was his great Principle Usurped Royalty was never laid down by Perswasion from Royal Clemency for with Tirants Omne Jus Regni Vain-Glory I Have an Inclination to seek Self particularly in vain Applause and that in Religious Services and herein I have been highly Guilty but I shame my Self for it before God and am willing to be satisfied with the Praise that comes from Him alone I trust through his Grace that I my self in matter of Reputation seek to do his Will. Corbet's Enquiry Victory THere is a compleat Victory and an incompleat over the World 1 John 1.3 If we say we have no Sin we deceive our Selves and the Truth is not in us The compleat Victory our Saviour only performed John 14.30 The Prince of this World hath nothing in me which cannot be so with us until our Change come for until then we carry about with us Lusts Passions and Corruptions which without Vigilancy kept under and daily impaired in their Power and Malignity will hold Corespondency with the Prince thereof and be ready to betray and deceive us tho never to regain their Empire and So veraignty and the Reason is significantly given by the Apostle 1 John 3.9 For his Seed abideth in him and he cannot Sin because he is born of God Indeed he may and shall have Sin as he hath Flesh about him 1 John 1.3 If we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us for tho we have Sin still abiding in us and like the Byas of a Bowl warping us to the World yet that Vital Seminal Principle of the Grace of God in Christ always keeps its Ground its Life its Tendency towards Heaven and wears out and gradually subdues the contrary Tendency of Sin and Corruption Hales 101. Vertues TO set out Vertues and by Words to destroy the same are nothing worth All the Vertues are so linked together that he that hath one hath all and he that wants one wants all Vertues separated are annihillated Chrysologus Heavenly Sayings SEneca a man of great Parts Prudence and Experience after a serious Study of almost all the Philosophy then in the World was almost a Christian in his severe Reproofs of Vice and Excellent Discourses of Vertue and Jerom reckoning him for his supposed Epistle to St. Paul and St. Paul's to him being read by them that study saith Mr. Gattater Divinity as they that study other Learning came to that Excellent Temper by the Consideration of his reduced years which is to be seen in his Excellent Preface to his Natural Questions What a pitiful Thing is Man were it not that his Soul soared above these Earthly Things yea and was somewhat dubious as to the future Condition of the Soul Yet he could tell his dear Friend Lucilius With what Pleasure he could think of it and at last he was settled in his Opinion of an everlasting State with thought That the Soul had the mark of Divinity in it That it was most pleased with Divine Speculations and conversed with them as matter that did not merely concern it and when it had once viewed the Dimensions of the Heavens it was asham'd of the Cottage it dwelt in Nay were it not for these Contemplations it had not been worth the while for the Soul to have been in the Body as he goes on Whence come such amazing Fears such dreadful Apprehensions such startling Thoughts of their Future Condition in Mind that would fain ease themselves believing that Death would put an end or period to Soul and Body When on the other side come such encouraging Hopes such confident Expectations comfortable Preposessions of their future State in the Souls of Men when their Bodies are nearest the Grave and whilst the Soul is kept in its Cage it is coutinually fluttering up and down and delights to look out now at this part and then at the other to take a view by Degrees of the whole Universe To these Notions of the future State it was that Caesar owed that Opinion of Death That it was better to die once than to lose his Life in continual Expectations of Death being troubled with that Unhappiness of Men mentioned in Atheneus That he had done his Work as if it had been his Play and his Play as if it had been his Work. Daniel Hensive Historiographer at Leyden Secretary and Bibliotheatory of that Famous University appointed Notary of the Synod at Dort said at last Ah as to Humane Learning I may use Solomon's Expression That which is crooked cannot be made streight Methinks saith the same Hensive and Mr. Baxter out of him I can bid the World farewel Immure my self among my Books and look forth no more were it a Lawful Course but shut the Door upon me as in the lapse of Eternity and among those Divine Sages employ my self with Content and pitty the Rich and Great Ones that know not this Happiness Surely then it is true Delight indeed which in the true Lap of Eternity is enjoyed Francis Junius a Gentile and Ingenious Person who hath written his own Life as he was reading Tully de Legibus fell into a Perswasion Nihil curare Deum nec sui nec alieni till in a Tumult at Lyons the Lord
wonderfully delivered him from eminent Death so that he was compelled to acknowledg a Divine Providence therein his Father seeing the dangerous ways his Son was led into sent for him home where he carefully and holily instructed him and caused him to read over the New-Testament of which he himself writeth thus When I read over the New-Testament I first lighted on the First Chapter of St. John In the beginning was the Word c. I read part of the Chapter and was suddenly convinced that the Divinity of the Argument and the Majesty and Authority of the Writing did exceedingly excel all the Eloquence of Humane Writings My Body trembled my Mind was astonished and so affected all the Day that I knew not where or what I was Be thou mindful of me O my God according to the Multitude of thy tender Mercies call home thy lost Sheep into thy Fold And as Justin Martyr of Old so he of late professed that the Power of Godliness in a plain simple Christian wrought so upon him that he could not but take up a strict and serious Life Mr. Howard afterwards the learned Earl of Northampton being troubled with Athestical suggestions put them all off this way viz. If I could give any account how my self or any thing else had a Being without God how came there so uniform and constant a Consent of mankind in all Ages Tempers and Educations otherwise differing in their apprehensions about the Being of God the Immortality of the Soul and Religion in which they could not likely come so many or being so many could not be deceived I could be an Atheist And when he was urged that Religion was a State-policy only to keep men in awe he replyed That he would believe it but that the greatest Politicians have sooner or later felt the Power of Religion in the grievous lashes of their own Consciences and dreadfulness of their own apprehensions about that State wherein they must live for ever Sir John Mason having been imployed much in State-Affairs said I have learned this after so many experiences that Seriousness is the greatest Wisdom Temperance the best Physitian and a good Conscience the best Estate and if I were to live again I would leave the Court for a Cloyster my Privy Councellors Bustles for a retired Life and the whole Life I lived in the Palace for one Hour Enjoyment of God in the Chappel all things forsake me besides my God my Prayer and my Duty Sir Henry Wotton after so many years Study with proficiency and applause of the University his being a Favorite of Robert Earl of Essex his intimacy with the Duke of Tuscany and James the 6th of Scotand his Embassies into Holland Germany yet desired to retire with this Motto Tandem didicit animas sapientiores fieri quiescendo He was very Ambitious of the Provost-ship of Eaton that there he might enjoy his beloved Study and Devotion saying That that day he put on his Gown was the happiest day of his Life that being the utmost happiness a man could attain to he said to be at leasure and to do good never reflecting on his former years but with Tears in his Eyes he would say How much Time have I to repent of and how little to do it in Charles the Fifth Emperor of Germany King of Spain and Lord of the Netherlands after 23 Pitch-fields 6 Triumphs 4 Kingdoms won and 8 Principalities added to his Dominions and 14 Wars finished he resigned his Empires and Kingdoms retiring to his Devotions in a Moastery and had his own Funeral Celebrated before his Face leaving this Testimony of the Christian Religion That the sincere Profession of it had in it Sweets and Joys that Courts were strangers to Salmasius that excellent French Scholar whom the Learned men of his Time never mention without such Expressions as these Vir nunquam satis laudatus went out of this World with these words in his Mouth Oh! I have lost a World of Time that most precious thing in the World whereof had I but one year more it should be spent in David's Psalms and Paul's Epistles Oh! Sirs said he to those about him Mind the World less and God more all the Learning in the World without Piety and the true Fear of God is nothing worth The Fear of the Lord that 's wholsome and to depart from Evil that 's understanding Robert Rollock said at the time of his Death Haste Lord and do not tarry I am a weary both of Nights and Days Lord Jesus that I may come to Thee break these Eye-strings and give me others I desire to be dissolved and to be with Thee Haste Lord Jesus and defer no longer Go forth my weak Life and let a better succeed Oh my Lord Jesus Christ thrust Thy Hand into my Body and take my Soul to Thy Self O Lord Jesus set my Soul free that she may enjoy her Husband The Earl of Strafford said Oh trust not in man that shall Die nor to the Son of Man as shall be made as Grass there is no Confidence in Princes the only things that stands by a man are the Blood of Christ and the Testimony of a good Conscience An Excellent Person having writ exquisitly for the Christian Religion hath this Discourse of the Nature of it viz. Doth now the Conquest of Passions forgetting of Injuries doing Good Self-denial Patience under crosses which are the expressions of Piety abound to the support of a Luxurious Malitious and Impatient Spirit Is there nothing more becoming Malitious Proud and Impatient Soul of Man in examplary Piety and an Holy and well ordered conversation than in the Lightness and Vanity not to say in Rudeness and Debauchery in them which the World accounts the greatest Gallants Is there nothing more graceful and pleasing in the Sweetness and Ingenuity of a truly Christian-temper and disposition than in the revengeful Spirit of such whose Honour lives and is fed by the Blood of their Enemies Is it not more truly Honourable and Glorious to serve that God that Commandeth and Ruleth the World than to be a Slave to those Passions and Lusts that put men upon continual hard Service and torment them for it when they have done it Is there nothing else to Commend Religion to the Minds of men besides that Tranquility and Calmness of Spirit that Serene and placable temper which follows a good Conscience where soever it dwells it were enough to make Men to welcom that Guest which brings such good Entertainment which it wherefore the Horrors Anxiety and Amazement of Mind which brings at one time or other which prostitute their Consciences to a Violation of the Laws of God and of the Rules of rectified Reason may be enough to perswade any Rational Person that Impiety is the greatest Folly and Irreligious Madness Sir Thomas Smith after he had served Queen Elizabeth as Secretary of State and done many good Services to the Kingdom especially in setling the Corn-Rate for the