that the bare belief of the truth of the New Testament is a strong and indispensable obligation to a cheerful universal and persevering obedience to all its precepts the very profession of being Christians doth strictly bind us to the performance of all Christian duties But the necessity of a Holy faith and a holy hife hath been so fully evinced and asserted and all things that pertain to life and godliness so cleerly and learnedly explained by Catholick Writers Ancient and Modern especially many pious Fathers and Sons of this Church since the Reformation that I need nor can add nothing to their learned labours We want charity not knowledge Therefore now I turn my self as my design is to draw inferences from known and granted premises to move the affections and affect the heart and by various arts and meditations to kindle and nourish in our breasts the fire of a divine Love CHAP. XV. An invitation to enter the Cloister of Love I Ask therefore hast thou conceived a fair Idea of Christianity hast thou observed the glory and greatness of its Mysteries the holiness of it's Doctrine and the perfection of its precepts and counsels hast thou considered and admired the great exemplar of all vertues the Holy JESUS author of this Holy Institution hast thou read his life with an observing eye and hast thou viewed the fair copies of this perfect Original which have been drawn by many of his Saints in the imitation of his example hast thou weighed the excellency of his promises the great immunities and the invaluable advantages which belong to his followers hast thou seriously pondered the great obligations which the love of JESUS hath laid upon thee and art thou desirous to be happy by loving again and being grateful if so enter this Cloister of love Love JESUS and thou shalt reign with him The Cloister I mean is not the precinct of a particular Abbey or the confinement of a narrow Cell but as to the place it is the Catholick Church whose inclosure is large enough to entertain all the Religions in the world all that are of the Christian Order And the Rule I would have thee follow is not not that of any Founders nor even that of Pachomius said to have been brought down by Angels but that which the Son of God himself delivered the Gospel-rule the Christian Laws which were bound upon us by him that is our Lord and our Judge and to whom gratitude duty and interest obligeth us all to be obedient Hath not God given his beloved Son the heathen for his inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for his possession Cur sic arctamus Christi professionem quam ille latissime voluit patere ego certe sic optarim Evangelicam Religionem sic omnibus esse cordi c. Ench. Psal 2. Why then saith Erasmus Should we confine the excellency and perfection of Christianity to particular places Why should we make that short and narrow which Christ would have to be of an universal extent If it be words we affect is not a City a great Monastery the Abbot whereof is the Bishop set over it by Christ Would to God the Christian Rule were so well beloved and observed that no man might seek or desire the Benedictin or Franciscan I say so too all this is true and to be wished yet the universal comprehends many particular Churches and the Christian Rule hath also many several interpretations therefore to be plain and positive the Church of England as the purest part or member of the Catholick which hath repurged corrupt innovations maintaining still a due conformity with Antiquity is that which I recommend to thee above all others and for the best interpretation of the Sacred Canon the Doctrine and Worship of this Church is that which I would have thee prefer to all the rest CHAP. XVI The Vow to be taken at the entrance of Loves Monastery BUt because I speak not to dissenters nor intend to dispute with them thou wilt say that thou hast entred this Cloister already and hast undertaken its Rule and so far 't is well But there is this difference betwixt what thou hast already done in this matter and what now I wish thee to do that thou didst not come of thy self but wert brought into this society that it was by proxy thou promisedst to observe the orders of it and that what was done at that time is never to be repeated Whereas now by an after election by free and considerate acts of thine own will I would have thee often renew thy holy vows and protestations and to do it with a great sense of love and gratitude Ratifie then thy former ingagements by being confirmed if thou art not and if thou art by a hearty and sincere endeavour to perform thy vows and promises which are as follows First To renounce the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities rf this wicked world with all covetous desires of the same and the sinful lusts of the flesh Secondly To believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And Thirdly To keep Gods Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of thy life This vow contains all thy duty the highest pitch of Christian perfection Quod summum est id omnibus est enitendum ut saltem mediocria assequamur nec est quod ullum vitae genus ab hoc scopo submoveamus c. Eras rules for the most Regular and Spiritual Life let thy serious application and earnest indeavour to observe it discriminate and sever thee from the prophane and less religious world Thou needest no distinct inclosure no distinct habits no distinct patrons or offices thy sincere Study thy Religious care to discharge this obligation In Vestimentis non est contritio mentis Ni mens sit pura nihil confert regula dura will sufficiently cloister thee in from the looser society and conversation of men and will make a difference great enough betwixt thee and them But though thou dost remain in the civil society of the world and the neighbourhood of thy neighbour yet various are the ways that lead through the world to heaven and here I undertake to teach thee a sure and short one through which all glorified Saints have past Some persons here are eminent in one vertue In Coelo videbimus amabimus hic amandum ut videamus some in another some are guided by hope and some by fear Many different are the considerations and helps whereby men are brought to make themselves happy in doing their duty but the motive the guide the way Dilectio est via rectissima absque devio via bevis absque taedio via plana absque tumulo via clara absque nubilo via secura absque periculo c. Idiot Cont. the instrument I recommend thee above all others is Love Love is the strongest motive the surest guide the safest way the best instrument in
of sorrow and tedious sadness and are left in the world to struggle with the temptations of a discontented mind would perhaps take Sanctuary in a Religious house and give themselves up wholly to JESVS and forget their temporal sorrow by heavenly joys and meditations and at last bless that storm and shipwrack which cast them into that unknown land of rest and safety Some that are forward and ready to promise well and take good resolutions have not strength enough to keep them but are prevailed upon by the importunity of those temptations they meet withall in the converse of men they perhaps being fled from those occasions of sin might by the good example and good instructions of a Religious Society secure themselves and stand to their holy ingagements Some who never loved the world or that are grown weary of it or have passionate longings for heaven would willingly free themselves of the cumbrances and distractions of worldly business to enjoy the leisure and opportunities of meditations devotion and other spiritual exercises And some that are much taken with the strict lives and beads and orisons of Papist-Friers would look home and spend their commendations on the purer Religion and better ordered lives and devotions of those in this Church that should wholly devote themselves to God However 't is not to be denied but that men are much affected and influenced by the place the company the way of living and the outward circumstances wherein they are ingaged and I believe it might be now as true a proverb as ever Benè vixit qui benè latuit he lives best and most safe who is least acquainted with the world and lives farthest from it I might add further that such pious foundations or restitutions might be so ordeoed as to afford a very great advantage to our Church and Religion For thence persons of good parts and great piety devoted to the advancement of the true Christian Faith and free from those cares and cumbrances that are upon others might be sent as Missionaries to make it their business to reclaim persons of all sorts from schism errors and heresies and even from loosness and irreligion Not but that we have an abundant supply of persons very well fitted for that blessed imployment from our great Seminaries of Learning But their necessary attendance upon their Ministry and particular Cures besides other avocations deprive them of the leisure and opportunities of running after their strayed sheep They can well guide and feed such as duly keep within their folds but such as break out and wander they have not time to seek after And yet great is the number of these especially about great Towns where small incouragements and stiff opposition are a great hindrance to the gaining of Converts This excellent and charitable work could be best done by them that should have nothing else to do But first let every one work out his own salvation and make sure work for himself that will best enable him to work upon others But though we want some conveniences for withdrawing from temporal affairs to mind eternity and our souls the better yet we must go to heaven wherever we live we must live to God that we may live with God therefore if we cannot have a material Claustrum ubique portate interius Norb. ab praemonst we must have a Spiritual cloister which may defend us against temptations and guide and assist us in doing our duty Such a one is the love of Jesus it will protect us against all dangers and spiritual enemies better than the strongest walls of any Abbey and will make us devout and zealous in Gods service beyond what the exhortations of the wisest Abbot could do Dum crescit fortitudo amoris interni infirmatur fortitudo carnis whilst love is strong the flesh is mortified and its lusts are subdued Greg. Mag. Amanti nihil est difficile nihil impossibile love can do all things of its self it passeth over all difficulties and there is no obstacle which it overcomes not August Love can supply the want of all outward helps and advantages let it but be our care to secure love and it will secure us Let us therefore feed and entertain it by reading and meditation by frequent prayers and acts of love Coelum terra omnia quae in eis sunt non cessant mihi dicere ut a mem Dominum Deum meum Aug. and by observing and tasting how gracious the Lord is in all his works all things in heaven and earth do incessantly cry to us that we should love God God draws us after him Hos 4.11 with cords of a man with bands of love therefore by love we can best follow him 1 John 3.18 But let us not love in word or in tongue but in deed and in truth and hereby we shall know that we are of the truth and we shall assure our hearts before him THE Reformed Monastery Or the Love of JESUS CHAP. I. That Love obligeth us also to fulfil the positive part of our Baptismal Vow with a protestation of obedience to it MY former disobedience and rebellions against my Blessed Lord and dearest Master I have examined and bewailed I have considered that by sin I wound and crucifie him afresh and therefore have resolved to sin no more never to lift up hand or heart against him But will love be satisfied with this is it a sufficient demonstration of love not to abuse not to injure a friend No sure I must proceed further love requires more than this I must not only abstain from what would anger him I love but I should further do that that will please him 'T is part of my duty as it was of my vow not only to renounce the Devil and all his works but also to believe all the articles of the Christian Faith and to keep Gods holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of my life As for the Articles of the Christian Faith I believe them from my heart and resolve to own and confess them whilst I live I never will dispute or object against them and I hope I should chuse to die before I would renounce any of them as for other less necessary doctrines I will be guided by my Spiritual Governors in controversies I will submit to the judgment of that Holy Church in whose Communion I live and so I will read and ponder Gods Holy Word especially the new Testament that I may know my Masters will and be incouraged to do it not that I may find out new mysteries and maintain the private opinions of a party It remains then only that I should keep Gods Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of my life And this I also undertake it shall be my daily and constant study and endeavour I resolve to obey to the utmost of my power and I also promise further to manifest my love by free-will-offerings as
even from the beginning there hath been Civitas dei Civitas mundi children of light and children of this world or to use the modern distinctions the Godly and the Wicked Regular and Secular persons Not because some have made new vows wore distinct habits or chosen new guides and separated from the Church but because some have lived after the flesh some after the Spirit that is some have followed Gods revealed will some onely their own some have obeyed the precepts of Christ and too many their own lusts and humors However I would not make any exprobrations against either Monks or Schismaticks by disobliging truths rather commend what is praise worthy in them because I would have and 't is every Christians duty to be really devout mortified and precise without entring the Cloister or the Conventicle For indeed I am somewhat jealous and not without reason that the ingaging men to be Religious and Vertuous by other considerations besides their Christian duty hath done some prejudice to Religion because now there be some that fansie self-denial and contempt of the world to belong only to Friers and others that to abstain from swearing and drunkenness is only the part of a Puritan Whereas Christianity binds those duties on all its Professors and every one by his Baptismal vow is bound to perform them though he doth not submit himself to the Rule of S. Francis or the dictates of the Assembly Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things saith the Apostle they are all parts of our duty Whatever is good in it self or any ways a means to make us good is commanded or recommended in holy Scripture is contained in the Christian Rule wherefore I say the Christian Professor designing to attain higher degrees of holiness the highest pitch of Christian perfection attainable in this life needs not separate from the Church nor make new vows nor wear distinct habits but only mind seriously and sincerely discharge the obligations which he lies under in being a Disciple and a Servant of the Holy JESVS My design therefore is not to Incloister particular persons Vellem universos Christianos ita vivere ut qui nunc soli Religiosi vocantur parum Religiosi viderentur but to make a large Monastery of the whole Common-wealth at least to make every family a School of Vertue and Piety and every man an Ascetick and strict liver wishing heartily with Erasmus that they who hitherto have been called Precise and Religious by way of appropriation might justly lose that name by the more exemplary lives of all other Christians But though it be my wish it is not my hope in the least to see any such thing come to pass by means of this little volume Many much bigger and better have not been able to effect it They that will not hear Moses and the Prophets nay Christ the Lord himself will be far enough from being perswaded by the meanest of his servants And where the Text it self is not regarded no Comment can signifie much I mean that if the Holy Religion we own be not able to reform our lives if the Gospel which is here preached and professed in purity doth not make us holy 't is in vain to expect any other instruments should prevail But yet our indeavours ought not to be wanting it may not be in vain to diversifie Christian instructions severall ways of perswasion may affect several persons and perhaps that which to day is slighted will to morrow make a deep impression However it is more or less the duty of every one of us with great S. Paul to trie all means that by any means we may save some at least that we may save our selves that if those arguments which we think most forcible cannot convince others they may may at least move us to take the better heed that after we have preached to others we our selves be not cast-aways Now to this end having observed how much in all cases men will do and suffer for love I have thought nothing would more conduce than to make a Christian love God with a sincere and devout affection a devout love being undoubtedly not only the best part but also the best instrument of true Religion an irreconcilable enemy to sin a friend or rather a nurse to all holy vertues No enticement could have drawn penitent Magdalen to any of her former sins whilest in the fervency of her love she washed her Saviours feet with her tears and 't is known by experience that when reading meditation the sight of a dying friend or any such thing hath softened a mans heart into a religious temper temptations will be then so far from prevailing that they durst not so much as appear before him But when he returns to mind earthly things and hath his thoughts taken up again with the concerns of this present life he finds that his spiritual strength decays by the same proportions that his love becomes cold and he grows indevout again Love is the Queen if not the fountain of passions the great mover and governor of actions and affections could we keep the fire of Divine Love always burning in our breasts it would be the most powerful and best instrument of Holy-living it would make self-denial and the yoke of Christ easie it would make acts of vertue and Religion pleasant and it would make us delight in pleasing God as much as we naturally do in pleasing our selves Therefore I have made it my aim and design in the following Pages to seize upon the affections to inkindle in the hearts of Christians the heavenly flames of the love of God To that end I have represented the more general benefits of God to mankind and especially that of Redemption by the greatest demonstration of love that ever was given the death of the Blessed JESVS which if duly considered would be an irresistible motive to love him I have shewed the power the pleasure and the great advantages of love and I have used devout meditations and ejaculations as it were to transport our souls to heaven by love for to adore that God whom love brought down from thence to save us 'T is certain that most of them that perish perish for want of consideration and I have heard dying men wonder at themselves how they could be so stupid as not to mind those things which are of an infinite concern and should rather take up all our thoughts and our cares than be neglected or forgot one only moment Israel doth not understand my people doth not sider Isa 1.3 Love may be said to be that fire which God would have always to burn upon his Altar Lev. 6.12 that is in our hearts which are his Temple where the sacrifices of good works and the incense of devotion should always
and 1.6 Blessed Lord I rejoice that thou hast the disposal of me I willingly submit my self to thy good pleasure both to obey and to suffer I desire that my heart and all my affections may wholly be subject to thee O why is thy name dishonoured thy Church persecuted thy holy Religion despised or perverted and thou thy self rejected and rebelled against even by many of them that have sworn allegiance to thee O that it were in my power to advance thy Kingdom here among my Fellow-Servants to bring all men in subjection to thee But first my Blessed Lord let me sincerely submit to thy will in all things Let never one of my words or actions send thee that impious message of the rebellious Citizens We will not have this man to reign over us Luk. 19.14 but now thou art absent I beseech thee let me observe thy laws and own and reverence thy power in them to whom thou hast imparted it thy Church and Ministers Thou art my King dearest JESU let me never see that hour that I shall not heartily love and humbly obey thee Consider O my Soul how great is the happiness and honour to be one of the retinue of so great so good a Master Let nothing cast thee down thou shalt certainly reign above if thou art faithful here below Jacob and his sons were in fear to perish with hunger because they knew not that Joseph did reign in Aegypt but my timorous heart why shouldst thou fear any thing when thou knowest that JESUS doth reign in heaven God hath given him power over all flesh that he might give eternal life to all that will sincerely give themselves to him If thou art his thou canst not want to be protected and provided for All his servants are certainly prefer'd all his souldiers come to be Kings the Crown of life the Kingdom of heaven the glories of eternity are the recompences laid up for his humble subjects Live and Reign sweetest JESU for ever When I do consider that Legions of Angels millions of blessed Souls perpetually adore thee with the greatest extasie of love and divine joy that all pious men throughout all the world express their love and gratitude by daily worshipping and obeying of thee that all thy wicked enemies are seiz'd with fear and trembling before thee When thus I see thee blessed Lord with the eyes of my faith on the Throne of highest Majesty encircled with glory and power I then disdain the world and am raised above my self transported with pleasure to see thy labours and sufferings thus justly rewarded to think that mine for thee shall have the same reward according to the utmost of my capacity And now my gracious Lord this I make my request if I can add nothing to thy highest glory yet let me enter in and partake of thy joy for they that love thy name shall be joyful in thee Psal 5.12 CHAP. XVI Two general directions about the manifesting of our love to God IT is a Maxim in Morals quod cor non facit non fit what the heart doth not is reputed as not done it can deserve neither praise nor reward and it can signifie nothing to any purpose of vertue Now the heart is the fountain of humane affections and the seat of love so that the meaning is that what is not done out of love is insignificant and wholly unacceptable Which truth holds in Religion also God earnestly requires the heart of all his worshippers and without it he doth accept neither their services nor their oblations Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart Deut. 6.6 Love therefore must carry us through the whole course of our lives through all our duty that our actions bearing its stamp and signature may be pleasing to God and to us profitable So that in the discharge of our several callings in our intercourse with others at home or abroad and in the most common actions of our lives still we must act as being acted by a sincere love to God It is one of the best of those ancient Rules which were given to ascetick persons Let charity which abides for ever In omnibus quibus utitur transitura necessitas superemineat quae permanet charitas Reg. Aug. influence and govern the use we make of time and other transitory things let it go along with us in all our ways and we shall certainly go right But this like other general Rules will signifie nothing except it be applied to particulars My love to JESUS must appear in what I do this day and what I shall do to morrow The justice and charity of the words I speak and the work I am about must justifie it that indeed I own JESUS for my Lord his Gospel for my Rule and his love for my comfort and encouragements Let charity which abides for ever direct us in our use of transitory things It is the advice of some spiritual directors that we would single out some one eminent Christian vertue to the study whereof we should more particularly addict our selves and examine our growth in grace by our proficiency in it This may be much for our ease and for our advantage For the Duties and Graces of our Religion are very numerous not to be attained and attended to all at once and as they stand together whereas if we make choice of any one single which leads us to all the rest and includes them all our Christian advancement will be with greater speed and less difficulty and we shall be masters of all other vertues by having bent our strength and endeavours on the practice of one Such a one I am sure is the love of God the love of the Blessed JESUS which if well followed and attended to will bring us to the highest perfection to which any Christian can arrive in this life Let it therefore be our chiefest care to beget and entertain in our hearts that most blessed love and then to express and perfect it by these two general Rules 1. In all our actions to have respect to Gods will and to seek to fulfil it rather than our own This is recommended to us by the Example of our Blessed Saviour who professed that he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him and this was his great demonstration of love to the Father That the world may know that I love the Father Probatio dilectionis exhibitio est operis Greg. and as the Father gave me Commandment even so I do arise let us go hence Joh. 14.31 He would go and deliver himself into the hands of his crucifies rather than not comply with that order he had received from God his Father And thus if we chuse Gods will where it is most contradictory to our own desires we shall make it appear that indeed we love him Abraham was
be offered to him now that sacred fire must have fewel to entertain it it must be nourished by reading good books and especially by frequent and pious meditations Wherefore I have endeavoured as much as I could to feed those holy flames by representing things as they are and I would have every Christian seriously and often to consider what God is what he hath done what he doth and what he will do for us if we love him sincerely as also what we are whence we come whither we go and how easie it is for us to be eternally happy if we will set our affections upon God who deserves them so infinitely Doubtless inconsideration is the cause why God is not loved It is not possible men could resist the charms of his love if they would open the eys of their mind and of their faith to view them But how few is there that mind attentively their obligations to love God how few that seriously ponder how much it is their duty and their interest to love him heartily who is infinitely lovely in himself and infinitely good to us or rather how fully is the prophesie fulfilled Iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold Mat. 24.12 To how many Christians might our Blessed Saviour now say as once to the Jews I know you that you have not the love of God in you John 5.42 How justly might now S. Paul complain all men seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christ's Phil. 2.21 And how justly might our Blessed Lord the great lover of men complain in the words of his Apostle I will gladly spend and be spent for you or rather I have gladly spent and been spent for you though the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved 2 Cor. 12.15 This want of Divine Charity is a very sad and general evil amongst us Christians in these worst of times and I have observed that even amongst them that hope for heaven the major part go no farther in their love than only to desire pardon and salvation without seeking to make any returns suitable to those undeserved and incomprehensible mercies Against so much stupidity and ingratitude I have opposed the following Treatise of Divine Love or the Love of JESUS which I hope will help to reinkindle or at least stir up the holy fire in some Christian souls by the argument it self if by no other means Whilest my Reader fixeth his mind on this most excellent and delightful subject his own thoughts will improve my considerations and many better may be suggested to him And if any ways I can occasion his spiritual advantage and the glory of my Blessed Lord I have attained my aim And now have no more to say by way of Preface but that if I have been so unhappy as to write any thing contrary to the Doctrine of the Church I disown and retract it before hand and would blot it out with my blood as for particular persons who may find fault with any thing herein I desire them to pass it by It matters not much if they like not every passage and expression if they do but follow what they judge to be good and approve my design and love Jesus with all their hearts it will be enough for their profit and my satisfaction He that loveth not knows not God for God is Love 1 John 4.9 THE Reformed Monastery Or the Love of JESUS The Introduction IT were as easie to find out the bottomless depth of the inexhaustible fountain of the Divine Bounty as to tell the Streams which run from it Gods mercies are over all his works and all things that are made are a demonstration as much of his goodness as of his being I will not therefore undertake to number what is innumerable or to express what we cannot so much as comprehend but only insist briefly upon some of the most general benefits of God to mankind and in the representing of them endeavour to make us read our duty and to inflame our hearts with love CHAP. I. Of the general Benefits of God to mankind and first of Creation 1. IT is God that hath made us and not we our selves we owe him our very being thine hands have made and fashioned me saith David thine eyes did see my substance being yet imperfect and in thy book were all my members written Psal 119.73 Let us say therefore with the same Prophet I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made Psal 134.16 and let us with him fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker You know that by the Laws of God and of all Nations there is an indispensable obligation upon all children to love and honour their Parents because they brought them into the world now certainly the obligation doubles upon every man in respect to his Father which is in heaven for our natural parents were but second causes under him his own power it was that form'd and created us they engendred our mortal bodies only he is the Father of spirits he himself gave being to our immortal souls Therefore let every man pay to his Maker those duties he would expect from his child If I am a Father saith God where is mine honour Mal. 1.6 If from our heavenly Father we have received our life and being let us pay that respect and love and obedience to him which thereby are become his due But there is yet more in this Creation is not a transient act the same power that once gave us our being doth still exert it self in the continuation thereof When a child is born he subsists by himself his parents need not take aay care that he returns not to his pristine condition but we have the same dependance upon God in our preservation as we had in our creation should he withdraw his Almighty hand we should return to our first nothing in him we live and move and have our being Therefore we are the more bound to serve and love him that he not only made us to be but gives us as it were a new being every moment by continuing our life and durati n by that Almighty will whereby he effected our first production Now if we consider further not onely that God made us but what he made us it will yet inforce those bonds of duty which Creation tied upon us For it was in our Makers power either to make us vile and abject as the vilest of beasts or to deny us those faculties and abilities which are most honourable and most useful to our nature but he made us Men the most wonderful of his creatures in us he joyned what heaven and earth had most excellent an immortal Spirit created after his image with the most elaborated the most perfect of material things Take a view of the marvellous organs of thy senses of the curious contrivance of those joints and ligaments which unite thy several members of those various and delicate channels which
is now crucified that the body of sin might be destroyed that hencenceforth we should not serve sin Rom. 6. and S. Peter likewise makes it the purpose why Christ did hear our sins their punishment on his own body on the tree that we thereby being dead unto sin might live unto righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 Christ gave himself fo us that he might redeem us from this present evil world Gal. 1.4 The Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 Sin is that which God hates above all things sin is that which is most contrary to his nature and to our happiness and so JESUS was crucified that sin might be destroyed he died that sin might live no longer and therefore I renounced all sin the Devil and all his works when JESUS owned me for his friend and I owned him for my Lord and Master they are incompatible their inconsistency is irreconcilable If I hold to the one I must despise the other if I love one I must hate the other I will therefore as I am most bound and as I have promised forsake sin and follow JESUS I will fight against his enemies and side with him against my own corrupt affections while I have a being I will love and obey JESUS CHAP. XXIV Of outward helps and instruments of love and obedience NOw to effect these good resolutions we must use means to bring our hears to a devout and Religious Temper and so to keep them It will not suffice that we intend well except we perform We may soon be diverted from our best designs either by temptations or by the interruption of worldly business Therefore the revolutions of time which bring on us the snares and disturbances of this life must also bring with them the frequent returns of our pious excercises and Christian duties We must often recollect our thoughts and listen to the Divine Love of our Blessed JESUS We must entertain our Souls with him renew our religious purposes and call to mind those special considerations which use to affect us most of all We must often resort to those fountains of Grace which God hath opened to his Church in his publick Worship and the several dispensations of his Word and Sacraments by his Ministers To these we must be sure to add Fastings Alms and Prayers than which we can do nothing more acceptable to God nothing that can better declare how much we love him and how heartily we devote to him our bodies souls and estates All these are not only means but duties of Religion also not to be omitted upon any pretence whatever But now the following have more of indifferency less of necessity in them but yet may have a good influence upon the inner man may move our affections and declare or increase our devotion and our sincerity Such are the constant reading of good Books set times of meditation and mental prayer the enjoyning to our selves a strict silence for some convenient time to bridle our tongue and so to use it to discipline and as it were to unsay and retract inwardly by hearty repentance what we have said amiss Sometimes like Hezechiah to turn our selves to the wall to mourn in secret I mean to retire from the world and enter our closet there to confer with God and our own souls about Eternity and the way to a blessed one Every day or at least once a week to cast our eyes back and take an account of our lives especially of what we have done since our last examen that we may repent and rectifie our follies renew our good resolutions and increase our diligence and our care In our adorations and penitential prayers to cast our selve on the ground with the humblest prostration to hold our hands like criminals bound supplicating before their judge to look up to heaven to smite our breasts and so excite our zeal and contrition Some are much affected with watching with visible representations the sight of a dying man and such instructions and mementoes as enter the Soul by the eyes which being the quickest and most apprehensive sense we have Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures Quam quo sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus quae Ipse sibi tradit spectator conveys its objects to the mind with the greater force and makes the deeper impression Here in my first Edition I had mentioned the making on our selves the sign of the Cross which could not escape being taxt of Popery by some that call by that name every thing they dislike I should not be much concerned at the charge but that I find Popery is made a thing too ancient and too innocent and so mistaken It hath indeed abused that primitive Ceremony and made it subservient to superstition but the right use of it is not therefore unlawful Those zealous and holy Christians in the first ages who frequently signed themselves with that Sacred Sign intended it as a tacit invocation of the name of Christ as an outward profession that they owned him for their Lord and Saviour and as a signature to themselves that they were devoted to his service and ready to die for his sake I might produce and plead their reasons and example the Custom of our Church and its 30th Cannon but that I would perswade no man to a rite so indifferent If any will reiterate it on themselves where they give no offence to the same purpose as it was intended when they were made Christians In token that they will not be ashamed to profess the faith of Christ crucified c. I shall not condemn him and I shall in no wise quarrel with them that omit it If we sincerely love our Divine Master and are faithful and obedient to him it is no great matter what outward means and instruments we use But yet experience and the approbation of the best of men have recommended these I have now mentioned as many ways useful and profitable They and others of the like nature and Church ceremonies are said by Calvin to assist our infirmities to increase our devotion and to make Religion more solemn and more venerable Inst l. 4. c. 10. § 28. 31. So the great duties be secured these are indifferent and may vary according to circumstances but yet they are not useless nor totally to be rejected Those outward rites and actions have an influence upon our hearts they not only express our inward piety but they increase it Though they proceed from the affections Nescio quomodo cum hi motus corporis fieri nisi motu animi praecedente non possint iisdem rursus exterius visibiliter factis ille interior invisibilis qui eos fecit augeatur Aug. they re-act upon them as S. Augustine saith they augment that fervour which at first produced them And so said a Blessed Martyr of our Church that the true inward worship of God while we live in the Body needs external helps
and all little enough to keep it in any vigor These voluntary observations should not lead them to scruple or censoriousness that are pleased to use them and should not be clamoured against by others indiscreetly and uncharitably for in themselves they are adminicula pietatis handmaids to devotion and holy contrition And they that know themselves are sensible that they want all possible helps to stir them up and relieve their dulness When our understandings are convinced we have not quite done means must be used also to affect the fancy and to ingage the affections And he had need be very sure of his strength that refuseth the assistance of all auxiliaries CHAP. XXV A passionate Meditation on the Passion of our Blessed Saviour MY love is crucified said that loving and holy Martyr Ignatius declaring how earnestly he wished to die for JESUS and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 considering the passion of JESUS I meditate with him My love is crucified my dearest Saviour dies in most bitter pains he hath been rudely bound and drag'd from place to place he hath been stript tied to a post and whipt like a vile slave he hath been buffeted and caned and abused with all manner of contumelies and now I see him crowned with thorns all over spittle and blood I see him stretched upon the Cross where his hands and his feet are nailed his head hangs down I read in his pale face and his weeping eyes the extremity of his pain the anguish of his wounded soul Lord art thou he whom my soul loveth O Domine Jesu Christe si intelligentia quam mihi dedisti uti vellem sicut deberem cernerem manifeste quo modo â—â—o quam sine modo a me creatura tua amari merueris qui prior dilexisti me tantus tantum gratis tantillum talem ingratum Idiot art thou my dearest JESUS were it my father my brother my friend or my benefactor that should suffer this undeservedly how would I pity them but should they suffer this upon my account Lord I could not outlive such a sight if nothing else love would certainly wound my soul to death But behold it is so this crucified this dying man is my father he gave me my being he is my brother he came down from heaven and took humane flesh that he might have that relation to me he is my friend he lays down his life to save mine he is my greatest benefactor from him I receive all I have all the blessings the good things I enjoy I owe to his kindness But now my soul suppose that from his Cross thou shouldest hear him thus expressing his love and bespeaking thine Christian dearest Christian for whom here I die consider seriously imprint it it thine heart what in my words what in my mysteries thou readest of my suffering for thee consider who I am what I endure and to what end I am the eternal Son of God whom the Angels adore I became Man to make thee partaker of the Divine Nature I am infinitely rich the whole universe is mine I became thus destitute of all things to purchase true riches for thee I am of an Almighty Power the whole world was made and subsists by me I am now weak to make thee strong I am overcome of mine enemies to make thee conquer thine I am crowned with glory and clothed with Majesty I now were these thorns and am become naked to cloth thee with robes of righteousness and Crown thee with a Royal Diadem I am the inexhaustible fountain of joy and happiness I now indure sorrows and miseries to make thee joyful and happy I am infinitely pure and innocent I am become a sacrifice for sin to merit thy pardon and to sanctifie and make the holy I am the Author of life the first and the last I now die to make thee live for ever nothing but love moves me thus to suffer for thee and nothing but love I require for it Dearest soul thy sins are more grievous to me than my wounds Aspice serve Dei sic me posuere Judei Aspice mortalis pro te datur hostia talis Aspice devote quoniam sic pendeo pro te Introitum vitae reddo tibi redde mihi te In cruce sum pro te qui peccas desine pro me Desine do veniam dic culpam corrige vitam add not sorrow to my sorrow by remaining impenitent deny not this request to thy dying bleeding Saviour that thou wouldest mortifie thy lusts and forsake thy sins all that is past I heartily forgive if thou becomest true penitent I freely give my self for thee and beg that thou wouldst give thy self to me To this O my Soul with the greatest love and wonder thou maist thus reply What shall I say now dearest Lord Words cannot answer thee I am amazed I am astonished I know not how to speak my tongue cannot express what my heart feels Lord I will say nothing I will answer with sighs and tears with devout affections by resigning and giving up my body and soul to thee I will answer by obedience by actions by now falling to work to reform my life to mortifie my sinful lusts to cut off the members of the body of sin Sweetest JESU I will love thee with all the affections my heart can entertain no bosome sin shall be so dear to me but for thy sake I will heartily part with it no lust shall be so pleasing but I will kill it at thy request and command even my natural desires and inclinations will I gladly deny when they come in competition with that duty and love I owe and ever will pay my dearest JESUS Sweetest Lord it was I had deserved to be smitten to be covered with shame to be deprived of life and thou sufferest all these for me for me vile wretch for me my Lord was it for me O where shall I find such another friend or rather what shall I do to requite thy kindness and mercy I can give thee nothing but love and thanks and that will I do O my Blessed Lord who wast spet upon I humbly worship thee Thou wast reviled like a vile slave I praise thee and own my self thy servant The Jews refused thee for their King but thou art mine thou art my Blessed Master I care not what becomes of me here so I may come to bless and adore thee for ever Lord if there is a place where thou art not loved and magnified let me never come into it Assist me dearest Lord let no pleasure or pain no fear or hope no profit or loss no temptations within or without ever make me to offend thee O ye Spirits and Souls of the Righteous praise ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever O that I could but join with you to express worthily my thanks and gratitude O that all the world would join with me to praise and glorifie the Lord that died for us Blessed JESU cleanst
God shall enable me But first my love is to appear by doing what is commanded This is the love of God that we keep his Commandments saith S John 1 John 5.3 and he that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me saith our Blessed Saviour John 14.21 There can be no love without obedience this is its first and chiefest Tryal if a man love me he will keep my words ver 23. Now then should my beloved Lord ask me as once he did S. Peter N. N. dost thou love me would not my heart answer with his zealous Apostle Yes Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee I would lay-down my life for thee John 21.15 and 13.37 Now to this he replies again if thou lovest me keep my Commandments John 14.15 Every time we tell him Lord I love thee thou knowest that I love thee He doth answer again if thou lovest me keep my Commandments So that without we observe this we can no ways pretend to love him I am therefore to take notice of and to amend sins of omission which too too many among Christians mind little or not at all In the matter of sobriety I am commanded whether I eat or drink to do it as all things else to the glory of God and to be contented whatsoever state I am in for chastity I am commanded to know how to keep my vessel in sanctification and honor for acts of corporal and spiritual mercy I am commanded to be merciful as my heavenly Father is merciful and to forgive injuries as I desire my self to be forgiven for reverence to my betters I am commanded to honour and obey my superiors Ecclesiastical and Civil in what concerns Divine Worship I am bound to read and pray and meditate to instruct my self and family to receive the Blessed Sacrament to have a veneration and respect for all things that belong or relate to God and him to love and fear and trust and adore evermore All these with the particulars included in them and all other duties and the special precepts of the New Testament is the task I chearfully undertake and in the performance whereof I will approve my self a sincere lover of JESUS CHAP. II. How great a happiness in Eternity follows our love and obedience HIS yoke is easie and his burthen light his Commandments are not grievous and yet in keeping of them there is great reward a temporal happiness than which none is greater in this world and an eternal happiness infinitely greater than any this world can afford Do not I see what pains most men are at to get a subsistence for this world how they run and sweat and spend themselves to provide for this perishing life which yet is miserable short and uncertain and shall I not labour for the meat which abideth to eternal life shall I be at no pains to secure that life which hath no end and knows no misery O that I could duly understand the difference betwixt this life and the life to come how would I slight the one and desire the other or rather how chearfully would I imploy this present to obtain that which is to come Is not there servants that work hard day by day a whole year together for small wages who are almost perpetually employed about their masters business and yet have sometimes no thanks and often but a sorry reward and am not I one of those labourers whom my Lord hath hired to work in his vineyard Mat. 21. Am not I one of those servants whom he hath intrusted with his goods to whom he hath intrusted talents to improve for him and do not I desire he should tell me one day well done thou good and faithful servant Mat. 21. Is not my salary great greater than any Prince on earth could make it greater than I could wish greater than I can comprehend eternal rest eternal joys eternal happiness eternal glories eternity it self he himself will be my reward Eternity Eternity Eternity Blessed Eternity Eternity never enough to be considered Eternity never enough to be valued shall I obtain thee by what I do here for my Lord shall I obtain thee by that imperfect service I pay to my gracious Master O God who hast prepared for them that love thee Sixth Sund. after Trin. such good things as pass mans understanding pour into our hearts such love towards thee that we loving thee above all things may obtain thy promises which exceed all that we can desire through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Lord I am not worthy to be called thy Son I have often begg'd to be one of thy hired servants the meanest so I love and obey best O let me like thy servant Moses ever have a respect to the recompence of the reward ever consider what I shall get by serving thee that I may be diligent persevering and cheerful in doing my duty O my soul blush to consider how laborious men are for the unsatisfying acquests of this earth how eager thou hast been thy self in pursuing of them how slothful how unactive and heavy thou art in working for eternal rest for the treasures of eternity for the glories of heaven for those Divine Pleasures which are at the right hand of God for evermore Whence comes this unhappy soul is it not from inconsideration because thou dost not lift up thine eyes to see whither the way of love and obedience will bring thee because thou dost not look beyond the world upon things eternal because thou dost not often enough meditate upon heaven and eternity that unvaluable infinite recompence which awaits thee as soon thy work is finished Resolve therefore to amend this and daily once at least to consider what are thy wages what thou shalt get by serving God As the Apostle says of afflictions that they are light and but for a moment whilst we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen the same we may say of the most difficult of Christian duties that they are light and but for a moment that they are easie and soon done that there is no tediousness no hardship in them whilst we look upon things eternal whilst we have a respect unto the recompence of the reward CHAP. III. That to win our hearts and duty God propounds great rewards to us THis consideration doubtless would be powerful and effectual would wake and stir us up and make us active and lively if we had it often in our minds Therefore our Blessed Saviour to incourage his followers and make them diligent in his service doth often give them to understand what by parables and what by plain declarations that they should not serve him for nought and that they should be no losers by him that he would consider them for their time for their expences for their sufferings and for their labours that he would take notice of the least thing they should do for him so that even
are Gods workmanshep created in Jesus Christ unto good works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them Ephes 2.10 This then is the way wherein of necessity we must walk that as we ingaged and promised when we were baptized into Christ so we should live ever after which S. Paul expresseth thus As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him Col. 2.6 and again walk worthy of the Lord being fruitful in every good work Col. 1.10 This is the rule whereby we must order the course of our lives that our conversation be as becomes the Gospel of Christ that our conversateon be in heaven whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Phil. 1.27 and 3.20 that whatsoever things are true honest just pure lovely of good report any vertue any thing praise-worthy Phil. 4 8. may be our constant study and practice We must labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of our Lord because we shall all appear before him and receive according as we obey him now in his absence 2 Cor. 5.9 CHAP. X. Considerations to encourage us in the discharge of our Christian duty with a caution to the Reader ALL this and much more to the same purpose which I have read and observed in the Sacred Books of the new Testament hath convinced me that it is the design of Christian Religion to make me meek and humble sober and contented just and charitable devout and religious vertuous and holy this I own to be my duty and I will endeavour my self heartily to perform the same And that I may do it with cheerfulness and affection I will stir and quicken the holy fire of love in my heart by pious considerations When any duty to God or man calls upon me for action and performance and I find in my soul too much of dulness or reluctancy I will again by meditation suppose my dying Saviour present telling me how much he hath done and suffered for me and desiring me as I love him to do that duty which lies before me Christian if thou dost understand the greatness of my love which brought me here to die for thee if thou art sensible of it and wouldst make any return for it do this obey this command this may be the last thing thou shalt ever do for me this may be the last tryal of thy love sure it would grieve thee to have denied this small request to him that gives his life that gives himself for thee Or else I will suppose my self in the presence of my Divine Master sitting on his heavenly Throne with his glorified servants about him shewing me the crown he hath assigned to me and saying N. N. wilt thou deny to do this at my earnest request wiit thou be so unkind to me Sure I have deserved better at thy hands sure I who am much above thee have done much more for thee than that comes to but besides I would highly recompence thee These my friends I have rewarded with the bliss and glory they enjoy for having done such things for me and I would reward thee as bountifully here is eternal life eternal rest eternal glory for thy recompence as thou lovest me as thou lovest thy self obey that thou maist be happy To this what answer could I make but such as this Lord not only this but any thing else thou hast commanded I am willing to fulfil and obey I bewail my dulness and depraved nature that makes me so unready so unactive in thy service but Lord thou knowest that I love thee I would undertake any labour any trouble to make it appear I would die to justifie it Yet sweetest JESU I beg of thee to increase my love to increase it to such a degree that like thy heavenly attendants I may burn with that Divine fire and be all love to thee that so I may be always prepared and desirous to do thy will Stir up we beseech thee O Lord Sund. 25. after Trin. the wills of thy faithful people that they plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works may of thee be plenteously rewarded through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Christian I would here advise thee before I pass further That thou wouldst not judge of several things in this Book by thy present liking of them Devotional things are discerned more by the affections than by the judgment the relish of them doth depend upon the temper of the Soul And so those resolves and meditations which now it may be please thee not may hereafter be very acceptable when thou art otherwise disposed to be sure when thou art ready to leave the world and enter thy portion of Eternity If now therefore thou wilt bring thy mind to such a frame as then it will be in I need not fear but that what I have writ thou wilt also read and repeat heartily in the first Person for to that end I have thus contrived it to ingage thine affections to make thee speak as of thy self these soliloquies acts of love and acts of resolution which run throughout the whole discourse It may affect thee much and to good purpose frequently to confer with thy Soul and with thy Saviour about thy duty and thy happiness However be sure thou beest serious and sincere For certain it is that for thee N. N. by name JESUS was crucified and died and certain it is that thou thy self shalt die and be judged and rise again to an intolerable eternity if by carelesness and inconsideration thou hast been unmindful of thy Lord and thy soul or else rise again to eternal joys if thou hast sincerely loved and served JESUS If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his love John 15.10 CHAP. XI That Love will prompt us to free-will offerings and things it never doth enough THus much of necessity must be done my duty as well as my love constrains me to it Not to break negative precepts and to obey positive ones that is to cease from sin and to work righteousness is required of me if I do it by love I have made my task pleasant but yet a task it is which must be fulfilled Not but that there is mercy for sins against the New-covenant for the transgression of Gospel precepts there is joy in heaven at the conversion of a sinner whatever his sins have been and it ought greatly to indear God to us that he is so willing to forgive so desirous to have us repent that we may be capable of his pardon but whether soon or late whether after crying guilts or ordinary sins still I say there must be a true contrition a sorrow and repentance for our sins proceeding from the love of God and a sincere endeavour to please and obey him for the future and so thus far we are drawn by a moral necessity by the desire of our own happiness which is
will much increase thy diligence and thy sincerity Many in the Church of Rome put on when they die a Fryers habit and much confide therein do thou put on by times thy dying thoughts consider seriously and steal time as often as thou canst to sequester thy self from the world Gods secret voice is not heard in the croud and no man meditates in the Market Retire and think of death and put on the affections of a penitent humility shame and sorrow for thy past follies care and watchfulness for that rest of time which God gives thee to destroy thy sins Deus dat spatium ut pereant crimina non homines Prosp Aquit and to save thy soul S. Austin on his death bed would always have the penitential Psalms saying that every Christian must die a penitent Nominem Christianum absque poenitentia mori oportere So must he live that would live well for contrition and mortification will make thee charitable and contented will make thee despise the world and chuse the best and safest course of life Optimam vitae rationem deligendam brevi consuetudine fiet jucunda which if some thing hard at the first will soon by use become easie When men have an opportunity to eat and drink to obtain profit or pleasure they seldom neglect it and put it off to uncertain delays Now thou canst if thou wilt serve God shew thy love to JESUS and make sure of heaven defer it not till time be past or be worse Think what thou wouldst advise thy friend to do and do thou act accordingly Often think upon thy reward and look up to heaven hope sets the world at work Jacob's drudgery fourteen years seemed but a few days to him because he had Rachel before his eyes and loved her affectionately Gen. 29.30 All is not to be done to day go on in the way of love and duty Our life is a course not a leap therefore faint not and be not displeased with thy self Nunc paululum laborando manibus nunc genibus flexis orando deinde corpus reficiendo post quiescendo rursus iterum operando Anthoni sic fac tu salvus eris if thou hast not yet done what must not be finisht till thy life be so S. Anthony's impatience was thus reproved and cured by an Angel work now afterward pray then refresh thy wearied nature and after that return again to thy labour and devotion Let this be thy course all thy way and salvation shall be thy end Thus betwixt grace and nature betwixt labour and Religion distribute thy time and in all these let the love of JESUS accompany and direct thee and it will certainly bring thee to his glory after thou hast in this manner lived in his favour thou shalt enter into his joy I love them that love me saith the Lord and they that seek me early shall find me Prov. 8.17 CHAP. XIX That upon all accounts God should be loved above all things THE first Consideration is that it is most unjust and unreasonable to love any creature to the prejudice of the Creator As all things hare their being from God so they have from him all the goodness and beauty which makes them lovely to us and God drawing upon visible objects fair copies of his invisible perfections designed to be loved in them or that they should be loved in him and for his sake If men being delighted with the beauty of the heavenly host took them to be gods let them know how much better the Lord of them is for the first Author of beauty hath created them for by the beauty and greatness of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seen Wisd 13.3 Beauty and goodness are the proper object of love and therefore God who is the first and supreme beauty and goodness should be loved before all things We indeed reverence Princes in their seals and arms in their meanest servants clothed with their livery but should a subject set up these in the royal Throne and transfer to them or even to the greatest Favorite those special honours which belong to the Prince only he should justly be deemed a Rebel and his proceedings would be as unjustifiable as the disloyal distinction of taking arms by the Kings Authority against his Person Yet such are the proceedings of all disorderly lovers I mean of all sinners who setting more of their affections upon the creatures than upon God the Creator pay them afterwards a greater veneration than they do to him having exalted honours pleasures and riches into the Imperial chair they do more for them than for the Sovereign himself nay they obey them to their prejudice and against his express command Thus vicious unreasonable men burn in the shade and freeze where the Sun shines they dote upon inferior beauties and neglect the highest and most perfect they take fire at dark shadows and find no heat in the brightest light Great men have a respect paid them in their degenerating posterity great Artists are respected in their liveless children we highly honour unhappy Pagans in those labours of theirs which adorn our closets and libraries God only is dishonoured in his works the more perfect he hath made them the more injurious they prove to him Phidias and Apelles are remembred with veneration in a fine picture or Statue God only is ingratefully forgotten in a lovely creature whereof he is Maker An absurd impiety this is Absurdum est genu posito simulacra adorare suspicere fabros vero qui ea feceâ—unt contemnere which Seneca reproved in his fellow heathen to worship and deifie the carved image and to take no notice of the Carver that made it God hath done like a loving father who jealous of his sons affection would have none to attend him but such as wear his livery would have the picture of himself hang in every room and all the goods in the house marked with his name and cypher So God who loves men tenderly and desires to be by them loved again hath put something of himself in all the creatures he hath appointed to serve us that which way soever we turn our eyes we might be put in mind of him he hath stamped his name in more or less legible Characters upon all the goods and utensils of this his great house the world wherein he hath placed us And now shall we do like a simple child who turning his back upon his father should look and smile on his picture and caress it and wait upon it and ask it blessing while he slights the original So absurd a thing would be counted madness and move pity or laughter but when we act the same folly in loving the world while we despise God we are highly criminal and we highly provoke our heavenly Father thus to return to him contempt and disobedience for the gracious tokens of his love From hence it follows that as we should
shall soon understand that God is to be loved above all things infinitely without measure and if we love our selves as we should we shall easily remove our affections from the world to set them upon God and Eternity upon JESUS and his Kingdom Love as we have seen will make it easie and delightful to do our duty will make the yoke of Christ light and enable us with strength and courage to bear our cross cheerfully like Christians it will lead us the shortest and the safest way to heaven and make our journey pleasant it will make us dear to God and to his Saints and blessed Angels and fill our hearts with peace and comforts it will abide with us when we are forsaken by the world and all our friends can do us no good it will accompany us when we go from hence and open heavens gate and enter in with us there to perfect our happiness which it here began to be there our reward as it was here our work and our duty I may now upon too too just an account use the words of S. Bernard Non quod ego ista faciam dico sed quod facere vellem c. Ber. Med. what I have written is not what I do but what I should do what I grieve that I do not what I endeavour to do and what I wish all others might do But withall I shall plead for my self the advice of a Greek Father not to judge too severely of those who teach excellent lessons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Joh. Clim grad 26. § 18. great and profitable truths which they themselves learn and practise but very imperfectly because the usefulness of their instructions may make some amends for the defects of their performance Ephes 6.24 Grace be with all them that love our LORD JESUS CHRIST in sincerity Amen FINIS THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART THe Introduction Pag. 1. CHAP. I. Of the general Benefits of God to mankind and first of Creation Pag. 2 CHAP. II. How much we are obliged to God for our Preservation Pag. 5 CHAP. III. Of the positive Blessings of this life Pag. 8 CHAP. IV. What returns we should make for temporal Blessings Pag. 10 CHAP. V. Of the mercies of Redemption and first a consideration of the infinite miseries we were redeemed from Pag. 12 CHAP. VI. How graciously and wonderfully we were redeemed Pag. 19 CHAP. VII A consideration of the Cross in its four dimensions Pag. 23 CHAP. VIII The breadth of the Cross or the manifold Sufferings of Christ for our Redemption Pag. 25 CHAP. IX The length of the Cross Pag. 29 CHAP. X. The depth of the Cross Pag. 31 CHAP. XI The height of the Cross Pag. 33 CHAP. XII What an infinite love is exprest by the Cross Pag. 35 CHAP. XIII Of the eternal happiness merited for us by the Cross of Christ and measured by it Pag. 37 CHAP. XIV That the mercies of our Redemption challenge our love and hearty obedience Pag. 42 CHAP. XV. An invitation to enter the Cloister of Love Pag. 44 CHAP. XVI The Vow to be taken at the entrance of Loves Monastery Pag. 47 CHAP. XVII Considerations of the nature of Love and first of Self-love Pag. 50 CHAP. XVIII That the Love of JESVS requires we should mortifie self-love Pag. 55 CHAP. XIX How great a vertue is Divine Charity or the Love of God Pag. 58 CHAP. XX. That love always pursues what it thinks good and is never satisfied till it hath obtained it Pag. 62 CHAP. XXI That Love is strong and effective and sweetens all labours Pag. 66 CHAP. XXII A farewel to all sinful desires Pag. 70 CHAP. XXIII That the love of JESVS and the love of Sin can never consist together Pag. 76 CHAP. XXIV Of outward helps and instruments of love and obedience Pag. 78 CHAP. XXV A passionate Meditation on the Passion of our Blessed Saviour Pag. 83 CHAP. XXVI Of a sincere amendment which must be wrought by proper means Pag. 88 CHAP. XXVII Love the best instrument of Self-Reformation and true penitence with an act of hearty contrition Pag. 92 CHAP. XXVIII That Love will sweeten as well as produce the truest penitence and that true wisdom not melancholy is the guide of sincere penitents Pag. 98 CHAP. XXIX That severities and mortifications well regulated are subservient to Repentance and the Love of JESVS Pag. 103 CHAP. XXX A short Meditation for penitential days Pag. 105 CHAP. XXXI That repentance must look forward to the securing of our duty for the time to come With instances and resolutions to that effect Pag. 108 CHAP. XXXII A singular example of humane Love with a short reflection upon it Pag. 113 CHAP. XXXIII Some Scriptures to shew the necessity of departing from Sin according to our Baptismal Vow With some protestations to conclude this first Part. Pag. 116 THE CONTENTS OF THE SECOND PART CHAP. I. THat Love obligeth us also to fulfil the positive part of our Baptismal Vow with a protestation of obedience to it Pag. 1 CHAP. II. How great a happiness in Eternity follows our love and obedience Pag. 5 CHAP. III. That to win our hearts and duty God propounds great rewards to us Pag. 8 CHAP. IV. That Love hath a secret pleasure and reward in it self with a meditation to that purpose Pag. 11 CHAP. V. Reflections on the vanity of temporal things with some holy resolves and ejaculations Pag. 14 CHAP. VI. That Christ having bought us hath now a just title to our love and service Pag. 18 CHAP. VII How much we are ingaged to serve our Blessed Lord with renewed promises to do it faithfully Pag. 20 CHAP. VIII Meditation to excite us to a sincere and fervent love Pag. 23 CHAP. IX Christianity absolutely requires our love and strictest obedience Pag. 28 CHAP. X. Considerations to encourage us in the discharge of our Christian duty with a caution to the Reader Pag. 32 CHAP. XI That Love will prompt us to free-will offerings and thinks it never doth enough Pag. 36 CHAP. XII That our obedience to the Church is an excellent expression of our love to Christ Pag. 43 CHAP. XIII Of several voluntary Oblations Pag. 46 CHAP. XIV The true notion of Free-will Offerings vindicated with an Exhortation to abound in the work of the Lord. Pag. 50 CHAP. XV. Meditation on the Exaltation of the Blessed JESVS Pag. 57 CHAP. XVI Two general directions about the manifesting of our love to God Pag. 62 CHAP. XVII The two former Rules explained and enlarged Pag. 68 CHAP. XVIII Some more particular directions how to order our lives by the love of JESVS Pag. 74 CHAP. XIX That upon all accounts God should be loved above all things Pag. 78 CHAP. XX. That as it is most just so it is most easie to love God Pag. 84 CHAP. XXI An Objection answered which might be raised against this Book and its Subject Pag. 88 CHAP. XXII The second Objection concerning the love of JESVS answered Pag. 91 CHAP. XXIII That it is most pleasant and safe to love God Pag. 97 CHAP. XXIV That love brings the most lasting joy and satisfaction to the soul Pag. 105 CHAP. XXV The Conclusion Pag. 113 Books printed for Henry Brome Bishop Wilkins Natural Religion Dr. Comber on the Common Prayer in 4 Vol. Guide to Eternity Precepts and Practices for Christian Life Christianity no Enthusiasm or the several kinds of Inspirations and Revelations pretended to by the Quakers tried and found destructive to Holy Scripture and true Religion In Answer to Thomas Elwood's defence thereof in his Tract miscalled Truth prevailing c. Dr. Glanvill of Preaching Help to Prayer c. An Historical Account of the Reforma here in England Everlasting Fire no Fancy Dr. Ford in Gods Judgments Mr. Camfield's Discourse of Angels Dr. Woodford's Paraphrase on the Psalms his Divine Poems