ADVICE TO A FRIEND DEPRESSA RESVRGO ECCLUS xiv 13. Do good unto thy Friend before thou dye GREG. NYSSEN 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 London Printed for R. Royston Book-seller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXIII AN ADVERTISEMENT FROM THE PVBLISHER TO THE READER Reader I Have nothing to say either of this Boâ—k or of its Author But only desire the Reader if he like the Counsels which are here given for the promoting and better ordering of Devotion and for the preserving of a pious Soul in peace and chearfulness that he would be so kind and faithfull to himself as to follow them And the hope I have that after a perusal they will invite him so to do makes me secure the Author will not be displeased to see that exposed to publique view which was at first intended only for a private Persons use For if the Advice be good the more common it grows so much the better it is and it will not be the less mine when it is gone into other hands Plato I am told calls Love the Ornament of all both of the Gods and of Men the fairest and most excellent Guide whom every man ought to follow and celebrate with Hymnes and Praises And what is there in which we can better express and declare it to others than in communicating to them that which we hold in highest esteem our selves It was that which first produced this Treatise and from thence it comes abroad That which the same Person saith is the Father of delights of mirth of whatsoever is gracefull and desirable was the Parent of this Book And therefore let it be accepted with the same kindness wherewith it was writ and is now Printed Let all the faults if you find any be overlookt with a friendly eye and do not discourage so excellent a vertue as Friendship to which we owe the best things in the World by severe and harsh censures of any thing that it produces But I need not I think be solicitous about this the pious design of the Book being sufficient to give it protection if it cannot gain it approbation It hurts no body and therefore may pass it self with more safety and it offers its service to do every body good which me thinks should be taken kindly even by those who stand in no need of it As for those who shall make use of it and find any benefit by it they will complain perhaps only of the Author's thriftiness and wish he had been more liberal of his Advice And so it 's like he would if he had not consulted his Friends ease more than his own and considered rather what would be usefull than what would make a great show You will take a wrong measure of his kindness if you judg of it by the bulk of the Book which was purposely contracted into a little room that it might be a constant Companion and as easie to carry in mind as it is to carry in ones hand And let the defects of it be what they will they may be supplied out of one of the Rules you here meet with if you please to make use of it which is to chuse a good Guide from whom you may receive further Advice in any thing that is necessary for your Progress in Piety or for the setling your Conscience in peace And that we may none of us ever want such a faithful and skilful Person to conduct us and that we may receive a benefit by these and all other good Counsels let us heartily joyn in that Prayer to God which is the Collect for this Day and add it often to the ensuing Devotions Leave us not we beseech Thee destitute of thy manifold Gifts nor yet of Grace to use them alway to thy Honour and Glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen St. Barnabie's Day 1673. IMPRIMATUR Sam. Parker R. Rmo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no Gilberto Divinâ Providentiâ Archi. Ep. Cant. à Sacris Domesticis Maii 14. 1673. Ex Aed Lambeth ADVICE TO A FRIEND My Friend MAN bears some resemblance and may not unfitly be compared to a Diamond or such like precious stone whose darker parts confess that it is of the earth but the brighter look as if it had borrowed some rayes from the Sun or Stars He is a substance I mean consisting of a terrestrial Body and celestial Spirit with his Feet he touches the earth but with his Head he touches Heaven Though the neighbourhood knows whence his Body came and remembers the time perhaps when it lay in the dark Cell of his mothers womb yet his Soul doth absolutely deny that it is of so mean extraction And casting its eyes upward calls to mind its high descent and parentage and takes it to be no presumption to affirm that we are the off-spring of God He cannot therefore but find in himself propensions and desires not only different from but contrariant to each other For since two worlds meet in him and he is placed in the confines of heaven and earth his will must needs hang between two widely distant goods the one propounding pleasures to his body and the other to his mind And though once there was a time when these two preserved such a friendship and gave such due satisfaction to one anothers just interests and inclinations that they did not break out into an open war yet this peace lasted not so long as to let us feel the blessings and happiness thereof But that part whose kindred and acquaintance was in this world apprehended the first occasion that offered it self to quarrel with the other whose native countrey was not so visible through walls of flesh and denying to consent unto it plainly rebelled and entred into a state of hostility against it This it might do with the more ease because two parts of those three into which the Soul is ordinarily divided stand very much affected to the Body and its concernments The Desiring part that is always ready to run to any thing and embrace it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath the appearance of a bodily good the Angry part that is no less forward to shun and to make defence against whatsoever seems to be a bodily evil to the Rational is committed the direction and government of these which that it may manage aright it is to maintain a constant conversation with an higher good to which all the lower desires and passions ought to be subordinate and subject These are handsomely compared by a noble Greek Philosopher to the Three Ranks or Orders of men that are in a City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proclus L. 1. in Timaeum The Servants the Souldiers and the Magistrates The first of which are to do all the work and make such provisions as are necessary for its support The second serve for a guard to protect and defend it from all dangerous assaults And the third sits in Counsel pronounces Judgment issues out Orders makes Rules and gives
us Look therefore how great how goodly how glorious how beautiful and pleasant we are and he is incomparably more bright more sweet more harmonious more filling and contenting than the whole World which is but his Creature And having thus a little raised up your mind above all things visible you may proceed to a new Meditation in this manner 3. If a Soul inclosed in this Body can see and apprehend so much of God O what a sight of him shall it have when it is freed from these Chaines If whilst we look out of these Windowes of Sense such a glorious Majesty presents it self before us in what an amazing splendor will the Divinity appear when there is nothing to interpose between us and its incomparable beauty If whilst there are so many other things to imploy our thoughts he discover so much of himself to us What will he do when we shall be alone with Him and seeing face to face shall know as we are known Is it not a Miracle to see so much light conveyed to us through so little a hole as that of the eye to behold so much of the Heaven and the Earth at once and such a company of beautiful objects crowding in together at so narrow a passage without any disturbance or discomposure O what an admirable pleasure then as Seneca discourses with himself will the Soul be surprised withall when it shall come into the Region of light when it shall be all surrounded with this glorious Body when on every side as we may conceive it shall take in light and be adorned and clothed with it as with a Garment And may we not with greater reason meditate on this manner when we think of God the Creator of light and of all those goodly things which it discovers to us Ought we not to say to our selves O what wisdom what greatness what riches of goodness is this which showes it self in all his works of wonder What a World of things hath he comprised in this one little Being which calls it self Man whose mind is circumscribed and yet extends it self beyond the limits of this sensible World which remaining in this body swiftly runs and takes its circuit and views all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and united to these Senses abstracts it self from them and goes to the Father of Spirits whom it meets with every where Is it thus active thus busie thus capacious discerning whilst it is thrust up in such a close and little Room as this poor Body and shall it not be more vigorous more piercing more inlarged when it is set at liberty from this imprisonment It will then sure stretch it self to receive more of him it will see him more clearly and comprehend him more fully admire him with more improved and extended thoughts and love him with a more ardent flame and feel more of his wisdome more of his goodness pressing in upon it and filling of it with infinite joy and satisfaction 4. Again you may think with your self if God bestow so many goodly things even upon the wicked then what shall be the portion of the just Do not the worst of men possess great plenty of his blessings Doth he not entertain them here with strange variety of delicious enjoyments Are they not so liberally and abundantly provided for that Silver and Gold and Jewels are theirs and all Creatures in the Earth and the Air and the Water are pressed for their Service O what Treasures what Riches of Glory what excess of Joy then will God confer on those who are most dear unto Him If he treat his Enemies in this manner how sumptuously will he entertain his Friends If he let such Rebels live in a Palace so stately so richly furnisht as this great World is which he hath built for good and bad what Mansions may we think are those which are peculiarly prepared for them who live in faithful obedience to him 5. And think again if God hath made this Building wherein we dwell so sumptuous though it be to continue but for a time O how glorious are those Mansions which are Eternal in the Heavens If he hath bestowed so much cost on that which waxeth old and shall vanish away what are the Ornaments of that which shall never decay Is not this very mortal Body which we inhabit very fearfully and wonderfully made Is it not contrived with admirable art and curiously wrought in the lowermost parts of this little World O how beautiful then will that Body be which is from Heaven and shall never be dissolved but remain Immortal there With what lustre shall we shine when this vile Body shall be changed and made like to the glorious Body of Christ our Lord 6. And cannot you easily make your self believe the inconceivable splendor of that place where God himself more particularly dwells since he hath made for us so fair and goodly an Habitation Heaven you know is called his dwelling-place and our blessed Lord calls it his Fathers House where there are many Mansions for all his beloved Ones O how beautiful how glorious how full of Majesty must this needs be seeing we and other of his lower Creatures live in a World which is so richly adorned and so fairly beautified both above and beneath Do you not see how the roof of this Palace if I may so speak wherein we are is all gilded with innumerable Stars how the Floor of it is overlaid with wonderful variety of pleasant Plants and lovely Flowers O how glistering O how refulgent then is that place may you think with your self in which the Lord of Heaven and Earth himself is pleased in a special manner to reside where he keeps his Court where all the Angels minister to Him where he shows the Greatness of his Glory and where our blessed Saviour sits at the Right Hand of the Throne of that Majesty on High 7. And when was it that he brought you into this delightful Dwelling so rarely furnish'd and richly adorn'd Was it not as soon as you were born before you could know to whom you were beholden or could give him any proof of your love and fidelity Think with your self then and say If God hath granted us such a World of good things by way of gift O what is that which he will bestow when he shall come to reward If before we do our duty to him I mean he is so bountiful nay opens his Hand so wide and fills every living thing with good though they cannot acknowledg him what blessings will he pour forth what liberality will he express when he comes to recompence our faithful services and give us according to our works For we see that gracious Princes who grant many immunities and priviledges to their subjects only because they are their subjects do not fail to raise and advance their good and valiant subjects who have performed some noble acts in their service to eminent Honours and High Places Now since
hitherto in performing my duty to Thee Yea I have tasted so often how gracious thou art that I account thy service the most perfect freedome and find that in keeping of thy Commandements there is great reward My Hope is that thou Lord who hast never failed those that seek thee Psal 9.10.19.11.138.8 wilt perfect that which concerneth me and not forsake the works of thine own hands It is Thee whom my Soul seeketh that I may have a more lively and prevailing sense of Thee that I may most ardently love Thee and constantly adhere to thy will and do Thee honour by a chearful observance of all thy Commands And from Thee it is that I have received these good inclinations and holy desires They are the fruit of thy love and therefore cannot but be thy delight which makes me still trust in Thee that thou wilt rejoyce over me and do me good I have thy Word to incourage me upon which thou hast caused me to hope And I know that thy Word is true from the begining 119. Psal 90.160 and that thy faithfulness is unto all Generations They are not the things which thou hast never promised us that I come to beg of Thee riches honours long life or the rest of the goods of this World for which I refer my self to thy wisdom to give me what portion of them thou pleasest but thy Holy Spirit which my Saviour hath told me thou wilt as readily give to those that ask it as a tender-hearted Parent will give food to his hungry Children when they cry unto him I desire only that thy own life may be nourished and protected in me and vanquish all its enemies and be compleated in a blessed Immortality I beg of thee more of the Grace of Humility of Meekness of Temperance of Patience of Brotherly-kindness and of Charity Endue me with moderate desires of what I want and a sober use of what I enjoy with more contentedness in what is present and less solicitude about what is future with a patient mind to submit to any loss of what I have or to any disappointment of what I expect with a pious care to improve my precious time in all other actions of a Christian life and with a willingness to conclude my days and return back to thee to be with Christ which is best of all Let I pray thee thy merciful kindness in these things be for my comfort 119. Psal 58.76 1. Colos 9.1 Phil. 11.15 Rom. 13.14 1. Pet. 5.10.48 Psal 14. according to thy Word unto thy Servant I entreat thy favour with my whole Heart Be merciful unto me according to thy Word Which hath pronounced those blessed that hunger and thirst after righteousness and promised that they shall be filled Fill me O Lord with the knowledge of thy will in all wisdome and spiritual understanding Fill me with goodness and the fruits of righteousness And fill me with all joy and peace in believing that thou wilt never leave me nor forsake me but make me perfect stablish strengthen settle me and be my God for ever and ever my Guide even unto Death Amen XV. AND now is there any need to use many words to show how much force there is in the Meditation of Death to make you lively It is the common opinion that all things intend themselves more earnestly and act in the extremity when they meet with their contrary which threatens their destruction As Springs are hottest in the coldest seasons and Fire it self most scorching in frosty weather Even so if we set Death very seriously before our mind and laid the thoughts of it close to our heart would it cause our life to be more full of Life We should gather together all our might to do as much as we can if we lookt upon our selves as going to the Grave where there is no work to be done at all The mind of Man is too apt to feed it self with the fancy of several pleasures that either Nature affords or Art hath invented Among all which a good natur'd mind findes none so delicious as the conceit which frequently starts up in it of the excessive pleasure he should enjoy were he always in the company of a Friend whom he loves intirely and might they spend their days even as they list themselves and dispose of all their Hours according to their own inclinations But if a thought of Death interpose it self when he is in the height of this delight it dashes all these fine Bubbles of the imagination in pieces All 's gone and vanishes into a sigh or there is nothing of them remains but a drop as big as a tear And therefore if it be so sharp a curb to the forwardness of our desires and serve as a Bridle to hold in our head-strong passions we may use it also as a good Spur to prick them on when they are too sluggish and to stir them up when they have no list to move at all When we are ready to fall asleep did we but think of dying it would make us start and say Who would sleep and dream away his time in this manner when for any thing he knows he hath but a few Sands left in his Glass Death is coming to draw the Curtains about me and to make my Bed for me in the dust Awake then up and be doing because there is a long Night near at hand wherein we must rest and not work And is it not a very great grace if for so small so short a work we shall receive so vast so long a reward It is a great shame to stand all the day idle if it be but for this very reason that our best diligence though it could be continued for many more years than it is like to be can never deserve such a recompence Place your self therefore as if you were upon your Death-bed and think with what ardent desires with what passionate groans with what an heartful of sighs you would seek after God if your Soul was just taking its flight out of this Body and perhaps this will send it out beforehand in the like sighs and groans which will help to waft You towards Heaven Just as when a man is to write to the dearest Friend he hath in the World and thinks they are the last Lines that ever he shall send him his very heart dissolves and drops it self into his Pen So would all our affections melt and flow forth towards God if we seemed to our selves as if we should never speak to him more with a Tongue of Flesh nor look upon him through these Windows of Clay but should shortly dwell in silence and go down into the House of Darkness O how would our Souls thirst for God as David speaks for the living God! How much should we love him and endeavour to confirm our friendship with him that when our Bodies are disposed of into the Earth our Souls might still live and rejoyce with Him in
but the good are best instructed by their enjoyments Ingrateful People think of God when he takes away his blessings from them but ingenuous and thankful minds have a great regard to him when his favours are in their hands Nor do they only think it a duty but feel it a pleasure to reflect on the bounty of their great Benefactor which endeares the practise of it and makes it still both more facile and more frequent In so much that in the use of all these outward and carnal things a pious heart may soon learn to turn its thoughts and raise up its affections to a more spiritual good and nobler fruitions Do you not observe how the Holy Ghost is wont to express the joyes of the World to come by such pleasures as are most acceptable to us here What is the reason of it if it be not in compassion to the weakness of our apprehensions and to let us see that all bodily delights administer occasion for pious thoughts and holy desires after diviner enjoyments God would preserve us from sinking into a fleshly sense by our daily conversation with and use of fleshly things He shows us how we may lift up our minds even by those things which are apt to depress them and take an advantage from these inferiour comforts to climb up towards those higher satisfactions Hence it is that the happy enjoyments of the other World are compared so often to the pleasures of eating and drinking whereby our hunger and thirst is asswaged and our bodily life supported Yea to a Feast which is a more liberal entertainment of that kind and is the meaning of that phrase in the Gospel which represents Lazarus carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome placed that is in the uppermost Room at that Heavenly Feast and treated as the noblest and most beloved guest Yea to a Marriage-Feast which being a time of the greatest joy Men are wont to make the largest provision of good chear that their friends may rejoyce together with them And lastly to a Marriage-Feast made by a King a Royal entertainment such as a Monarch would make at the Wedding of his Son All which may serve to provoke good minds to look up above such things as these which are most enticing in this World and to be so far from being swallowed up in sensual pleasures as to give themselves thereby a more lively taste of that excessive joy which God will impart unto them when they shall live with him and be feasted by him in his Heavenly Kingdom The like benefit you may reap from all other things which you converse withall and though the World will attract your thoughts to it and imploy a great many of your hours yet you may draw at last something from thence which will pay you well for the time which you have spent upon it As for Example when you look about you and behold the delightful Objects wherewith you are inviron'd on every side which present themselves continually to your Eyes or your Eares or your Tast or other of your Senses you may think with your self 1. If God have provided such a multitude of pleasant things for the entertainment of this poor body in this present life What are the joys and delights which he hath prepared for my better part in the life which is to come This is the World of Bodies the other of Souls and Spirits Therefore if this little Carkase which is but as the Grass of the Field be so well accomodated if there be so many rare things in the Earth and the Sea and the Air for its refreshment and pleasure What may I not expect hereafter for my mind in those Celestial those spacious Regions which I see above O the inconceivable felicity which is provided in the Paradise of God for this more wide and capacious Spirit which beares his own Image and like himself is to live for ever 2. Again you may think with your self if there be such pleasure to be found in a Creature O what is there then in the Creator of all If the sight of the Sun the Moon the Stars and all the rest of the beauties of this World be so glorious What will it be to see my God to be filled with that wisdom which contrived and with that goodness which produced this vast this goodly and comely Fabrick If the melodies of Musick be so charming O what an ecstasie of joy will it cast me into to hear God himself say I love thee I delight in thee for ever If the love of a true Friend do so much ravish and transport my Spirit what pleasure is it that I shall feel when my Soul shall love him as much as its most enlarged Powers will enable it and know how much I am beloved by him There is a delicious Meditation in St. Austin to this effect who thus speaks to God in one of his Confessions Lib. 10. Cap. 6. I love thee O my God thou hast smitten my heart with thy Word and I have loved thee Nay the Heavens and the Earth and all things contained therein admonish me on every side that I should love thee and they cease not to say the same to all Men else so that they are inexcusable if they do not love thee But what do I love when I love thee Not the beauty of a Body not the grace and comeliness of time not the brightness of light and yet O how friendly and agreeable is that to these eys not the sweet melodies of well-composed Songs not the fragrant odors of Flowers or unguents or costly Spices not Manna not Honey not the embraces of the dearest and most lovely Person these are not the things that I love when I love my God And yet I love a certain light and a certain voice and a certain grateful odor and a certain food and a kind of embracement when I love my God the true light the melody the food the satisfaction and the embracement of my inward man Where that shines to my Soul which no place can contain where that sounds which no time can snatch away where that scents which no Wind can disperse and scatter abroad where I taste that which eating cannot diminish where I cleave to that which no fulness no satiety can force away This is that which I love when I love my God And what is this I askt the Earth and it said I am not I askt the Sea and the Deeps and all living Creatures and they answered We are not thy God look above us and enquire after him for here he is not I askt the Air and all its Inhabitants yea the Heavens the Sun Moon and Stars and they confessed We are not him whom thy Soul seeketh And I spake to all things whatsoever that stand round about the Gates of my Flesh saying Ye tell me that ye are not my God but tell me something of him And they all cried out with a loud voice He made
may still see more of that wonderful love which he hath discovered in his Gospel and to accompany me with his grace till I arrive at his heavenly Court O let his good Spirit breath upon me and carry away my Soul in holy desires towards him Let it guide my course through this troublesome Sea wherein I am tossed Let it shine upon me and prosper my endeavours Let it bring me safely to a quiet haven in Eternal Rest and Peace These pious aspirations you may still pursue at the end of these Meditations in some such Prayer as this A PRAYER I Praise Thee I magnify thy wise and mighty Goodness O Lord who hast made this great World the Heavens and the Earth with all things contained therein to the everlasting honour of thy Name I thank Thee with all my Soul for bringing me into it and for advancing me so much above the rest of thy Creatures here below that I see the glory of thy Majesty shining every where and hear thy Name proclaimed and praised by all thy works of wonder But above all I acknowledg thy bounty with the most admiring thoughts and the devoutest affections of my heart for sending Jesus Christ upon Earth to open unto us the Kingdom of Heaven and to show us the glories of another World O the exceeding greatness of that love which gave him to dye for us and rewarded all his sufferings with a blessed Resurrection and then translated him to Heaven and appointed Him Heir of all things and setled his Throne for ever and ever on the right hand of thy Majesty on high From thence he hath sent the Holy Ghost to be witness of the fulness of his Royal Power and Love and hath shown himself sometime in Majesty and Glory above the Sun when it shineth in its strength that we might hope in thee for the like Resurrection to a glorious immortality in the Heavens No tongue can utter nor heart conceive what Honour Glory and Peace what joy and gladness of heart thou hast prepared there for those that love Thee But blessed for ever blessed be the riches of thy grace whereby I understand so much as to feel most earnest longings in my Soul after a fuller sense of that which thou hast made me taste and relish beyond all the pleasures of this Life O raise and inlarge my Spirit unto clearer more comprehensive thoughts of that supreme blessedness Thou who entertainest all thy Creatures with so much liberality who causest thy Sun to shine upon the good and the bad and the showers of Heaven to fall on the just and the unjust deny not to satisfie the pious desires of a Soul in whom thou hast excited an ardent thirst after its proper and eternal good But inlighten the eyes of my understanding that I may know more and more what is the hope of thy Heavenly calling and what the riches of the glory of thy Inheritance in the Saints and what the exceeding greatness of thy power to us-ward who believe according to the working of thy mighty power which wrought in Christ when thou raisedst him from th dead and set him at thy own righâ— hand in the heavenly places O life up my mind to that high and holy place where thou dwellest and where Jesus is inthroned and where the Angels and Saints continually behold and praise with joyful hearts the Majesty of thy glory and where our Lord hath promised all the faithful shall live and reign with him for ever Help me to climb up daily by all thy Creatures on which thou hast set such marks of thy Greatness Wisdome and Goodness to the contemplation of that Celestial Bliss And possess me with such a constant sense and desire of it that nothing here may ingage my heart which will indispose me for the happy company and society of the blessed Assist me good Lord by such Meditations as these to discern more and more the incomparable and surpassing greatness of that felicity which thy Royal bounty will bestow upon our advanced spirits and bodies in the world of rewards and recompences Affect my heart more powerfully with it and fill me with love and joy unspeakable and full of glory when I turn my eyes towards it Stir me up thereby to prepare my self with diligence and care by a lively resemblance of the Lord Jesus for the day of his appearing and to wait with patience for that blessed Hope when I shall not see as now through a Glass darkly but face to face and be made compleatly like him by seeing him as he is Enable me always to live upon this Hope and according to it that growing in all goodness by a chearful obedience to his holy commands I may be found of him in peace and be so happy as to hear at last those gracious words of his Well done good and faithful Servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Amen III. I Need say no more to excite one of your vertue to the frequent exercise of such Meditations as these which are no less delightful than they are useful Let me next unto this advise you to study the truest notions of God and of Religion the love of which is the way to that transcendent bliss and happiness of which I have spoken As you must believe things unseen and perswade your self thoroughly that they are so it is necessary you should inform your mind aright what they are And in particular look upon Religion as a most pleasant thing and represent it to your self with a face as fair and beautiful as you can If it seem cloudy dark and melancholy it will make you to be of the same complexion But if it have a lovely and chearful aspect it will encline you always to smile upon it The poor Norwegian whom stories tell of was afraid to touch Roses when he first saw them for fear they should burn his Fingers He much wondered to see that Trees as he thought should put forth flames and blossomes of Fire before which he held up his hands to warm himself not daring to approach any nearer But as he you may be sure was happily undeceived when he came not only to touch but likewise to smell those innocent Flowers which seemed to burn in his eyes so will it be with us when we come rightly to understand and feel the pleasure that Religion gives us which at first sight before we come acquainted with it looks as if it intended to make us Martyrs but not to crown us with any joys or contentments As the Martyr said of the real fire wherein he was covered that it seemed to him as if it were a Bed of Roses so shall we say of true Religion which we are afraid will scorch us and prove too hot for us Its flames are but the flames of love and it makes us not lye down in sorrow but in the most comfortable sense of the tender love of our dearest Lord. Think with your self therefore
may speak wholly unto it It participates with that supreme good to which it is united It carries in it self a great deal of the life of God it is a part of Heaven and the business of the other World But besides the solace which is inseparable from it there is this remarkable property in the passion of love that it strangely disposes us to believe all the kind expressions of our friends and makes us easily receive whatever they say for certain truth Upon which account the love of God will incline us above all other things to entertain every thing that he shall communicate of his mind unto us And there is nothing so great nothing so magnificent declared in the Gospel of his Grace but he that loves God will presently believe it and lay it up in his heart as a singular expression of his divine favour For he feels by the power and force of this affection in his own heart what God is enclined to do for those whom he loves and takes delight in though it seem incredible to other Men. And therefore as it doth not pose his belief who loves God when he hears that the Word was made Flesh for the good of men that the fulness of the God-head dwelt bodily in Jesus that he dyed for sinners and lay'd down his life for the Redemption of Enemies So the Resurrection of Christ from the dead his Ascension to Heaven the exaltation of our Nature in his Person at Gods right hand the Glory and Majesty in which he is said to shine there and in which we are told we shall at last appear together with him are no riddles nor incredible things to him No Love sees him there preparing a place for us making all ready for the joyful Marriage to be celebrated in his glorious Kingdome coming in the Clouds of Heaven to call us up thither and to advance all his Subjects to reign as so many Kings together with him This makes a man presently understand how God should design to reward our poor endeavours those services to which we stand obliged though but weakly performed with an everlasting inheritance How he should compensate our present sufferings which are but for a moment and not worthy to be named with a far more exceeding Eternal weight of Glory Hyperbole's go down easily with this Mans Faith He can believe beyond them all and see what is far beyond that far more exceeding Eternal weight of Glory as the Apostles words import 2 Cor. 4.17 He is assured the love of Heaven will enkindle a new life in our dead ashes He beholds it sublimating this earth to an Heavenly state And can well conceive this thick Clay shining as the Sun and made like to the glorious Body of Christ This Soul also as pure as the light saluting its new born Body and possessed with a mighty love rejoycing for ever in Gods bounteous kindness to it All this it sees nay feels being already filled as St. Paul speaks with all the fulness of God For it feeling First what a vast difference there is between it self now and what it was before when it was pent up in scant and narrow affection to these petty goods here below makes no doubt there may be as wide a difference between what it shall be hereafter and what it is now It presently concludes that the same powerful goodness which roused up and called forth its sleepy thoughts and drowsie desires towards it self can still further awaken and raise all its faculties to a more quick and lively sense or call forth some hidden power and vertue in the Soul which hath as yet no more appeared than those motions which now it feeles did before it was touched by his Almighty hand And Secondly finding its own nature by this touch of the Divine Love made so free and benign so abundant and overflowing in kind affection to others so open-hearted and gracious it concludes that the Almighty goodness not only can but will do more for it and confidently expects to be lifted up to an higher state of bliss proportionable to the superabundant kindness of that most excellent Nature which hath produced already such good inclinations in it It is impossible for a Man to be under the power of love to feel the huge force of its flames to perceive of what a spreading and communicative Nature it is and not conceive very magnificently of the bounty of God and have a faith in him as large and capacious as his love Love God therefore My Friend as much as ever you can with the greatest passion and most ardent affection and you shall find Heaven coming apace into you and taste the good things of the promised World to come You shall not only guess at your future state and make conjectures about it but in some measure know and feel the all-filling joy of our Lord and possess that quiet tranquillity and peace which passeth all understanding For this Divine love is the right sense whereby Heavenly things are apprehended It is that which fits the mind rightly to understand and the will firmly to believe those great and transcendent things which the Scripture reports as the portion of the Saints in light It gives us a sight of things as much differing from all other which we have meerly by dry reasoning and which we spin out by thoughtful Discourses as the sight of a great beauty before our Eyes differs from the description of it which we read in a Book or as the warmth of fire on the hearth doth from that we see in a Picture which cannot loosen and inliven our stark and benummed Joynts And if you would love God I have told you the ready way to it which is by preserving in your mind a constant and lively sense of his infinite love and good will already expressed to you for this will naturally and easily produce a reciprocal love to him and that will make you look for more of his mercy even to Eternal Life This you understand so well that I shall not say a word to you more about it but proceed to the next when I have left a few words with you to say to God A PRAYER O God how great is thy love how excellent is thy loving kindness towards us thy unworthy Creatures To whom thou takest such pleasure in communicating thy blessings that thou dost not stay till we ask them of thee but pourest them down plentifully before and beyond all our desires O the inconceivable depth of that love from whence thy Son Jesus was sent to dwell among us who hath done so much for us that he hath left us nothing to do but to consider and lay to heart thy love which hath so marvelously abounded towards us For all things I know are easie and pleasant to those that love Thee Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them O possess this heart which opens it self to thy gracious influences
by despairing to do otherwise Bless the Lord O my Soul that we are aware of this dangerous mistake And let us not despond though we have no reason to boast and glory in our resolution Was not this the condition of other of the Saints long before I was born Am I the only example of an heavy and sluggish Soul Must I be recorded the first in the Catalogue for inconstancy What helps and assistances then had they to restore themselves and to preserve them to the end which are strangers to our eares Must I dispatch a message to some Forreign Country for their Recipe's as we send for Drugs and Spices Cannot we tell without the charge of going to Hippo what Holy Austine strengthned himself withall Must we take a Pilgrimage to Rome to learn St. Hierome's Medicines Sure my Soul thou hast the same gracious Saviour the same compassionate High-Priest the same cordial promises the very same hope of the Gospel which revived and supported their hearts or if thou hast not speak that I may go and seek them Look then on thy blessed Saviour look on his holy Apostles nay look upon all those excellent Persons in the Church that have succeeded them Shall we not follow such glorious Leaders Are their Examples impossible to be imitated If they be they are not examples How can we be cold when we think of the flames of their love How can we be lazy and unwilling to do when we see how forward how vehemently desirous they were to suffer What should hinder us from going on when we have such a Multitude of Triumphant Souls before our eyes whom nothing could drive back Shall pleasures shall the incumbrance of business shall Relations and Friends yea shall dangers shall Death No I am not inchanted I am not affrighted with these words Be gone you false and deceitful pleasures How dare you perplex me you impertinent imployments No more of your importunity I charge you if you will be my Friends Welcome contempt welcome reproach welcome poverty or any other thing which will certainly bring me nearer to my God But what is it that gives you this suddain confidence How come you of a coward to grow thus couragious Of a Snail who made you thus to mount up in your thoughts like an Eagle Who will believe that thou wilt do such things I will believe it may you answer again to your self whatsoever can be objected against it Why are these called suddain thoughts which are my most deliberate resolutions Through the Lord I shall do valiantly He it is that shall tread down mine enemies under me The like discourse you may have with your self about God or any other subject You may consider not only that he is gracious and merciful but cry out O how great how great is his goodness Is there any thing thou canst name comparable to his loving-kindness What makes thee then so unwilling to go to him What 's the cause of such a diffidence and unbelief as hath deadned and dispirited thine heart Could I think that any thing would make thee fall into this stupidity Didst thou not once look upon him as the first Beauty as the joy the health and the life of our Souls Who is it that is altered and hath suffered a change He or thou Is he not the same to day yesterday and for ever Why shouldest not thou be the same too Or why shouldst thou not think that he will make thee the same again How many times is it repeated in the Book of God that his mercy endureth for ever For whom was it but such trembling Souls as thou that he proclaims himself so often to be abundant in mercy goodness and truth But must we not then believe it Is this the way to obtain his mercy by distrusting of him What a preposterous course is this How unseemly nay how unkind is it to question these gracious declarations of his love Let us be confidently perswaded he hath a greater desire than we that we should be true and faithful to him Let us rest our thoughts in this conclusion that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now when you find any benefit by such expostulations and reasonings with your self hope it would do you some good if you should use the like in an humble address to God you may be furnished with several strains of devout Admiration and Pathetical Appeals to his all-seeing Majesty out of the Holy Scriptures There are Examples also of the other but expostulations with God are not to be imitated without much caution and holy fear and ought not to be commonly used It may be sufficient to conclude the foregoing Meditations with some such form of words as this A PRAYER O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth who hast set thy glory above the Heavens When I consider thy Heavens the work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained What is miserable man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with Glory and Honour Lord what honour is that which thou hast conferred on him in setting him now in the Person of Jesus above the Angels themselves For to which of the Angels didst thou say at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And again Let all the Angels of God worship him Who in the Heaven can be compared unto the Lord Who among the mighty can be likened unto the Lord And therefore whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee O God thou art my God early will I seek thee My Soul thirsteth for Thee and longeth after Thee O when wilt thou come unto me There be many that say Who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me Show me thy self and it sufficeth Lord what wait I for Truly my hope is in Thee My Soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him By thee O Lord have I been holden up from the Womb thou art he that took me out of my Mothers bowels My Praise shall be continually of Thee But who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord Who can shew forth all his praise Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the Sons
Heaven expecting also a blessed Resurrection And if you say that in this state of dulness that I am speaking of a Soul is fit to think of nothing this thing will tell you how it alarms the heart and makes it muster up its thoughts and collect its scattered Forces that it may be in a readiness to receive the approaches of Death and its assault upon us And the thoughts of it at such a time are the more natural and easie because there is nothing more like to Death than this unactive and sluggish temper when the Soul seems as if it were buried in the Body and intombed already in this Vault of Flesh And it would be very easy to show how much every one of the foregoing counsels would be improved by our frequent conversation on all occasions with our Graves It would excite our minds to enquire after another World and make us very desirous to find it out It would raise our esteem of the great love of God who hath given us such assurance of a never dying life It would carry away our thoughts from this Earth as not the place of our setled abode It would presently send them above and bid them see the pleasures which we do but imagine here in their full growth and perfection of joy and happiness there O how delightful would Religion and Vertue be unto us which is the only thing we can carry away with us How curious should we be to judg aright that Death may not be the first thing that shall undeceive us How would it open our heart as I said to pour out it self in devout affections to God and what a comfort would these be to us if the records of them were spread before us at our dying hour This is so far from being an enemy to chearfulness that it is a forcible reason why we should freely enjoy all that God hath given us because we must shortly leave it Our Friends also we shall therefore be enclined to embrace more ardently and do them the more good and covet their company because we have not long to stay with them For when I said the thoughts of Death are apt to restrain our too forward desires I did not mean that it checks or abates our love to our Friends No Love is strong as Death and hard or unyielding as the Grave the Coals thereof are Coals of Fire a most vehement flame as Solomon speaks VIII Cant. 6. It burns that is like the Fire on the Altar for in the Hebrew the last words are the Flame of God which came down from Heaven and never went out Nothing can conquer it no not Death which conquers all Flesh That can only teach us not to place our chief contentment in any thing here no not in the best good in this World though never so dear unto us because it may shortly leave us only its shaddow the image of it in our memory which putting us in mind of our forepast pleasures will make us so much the more sad if we have not hope to find that good improved by its departure from us in another World And is not the use of a Friend then most visible when we think of our departure by whom as I said in one of the former Discourses we shall still remain with those whom we leave behind But what Friend is there like to our blessed Lord whose love we shall the oftner remember by commemorating his Death if we think of our own We cannot chuse but be excited to prepare our selves thereby for an happy and chearful dissolution And why should we not trust God with all we have for a little time whom we must shortly intrust with Soul and Body to all Eternity But I list not to prolong this Discourse with such collections as these which I will leave to your own thoughts with this Prayer wherewith you may awaken your mind when you find it necessary A PRAYER THou art worthy O Lord of all Praise Glory and Honour by whose Omnipotent Will and for whose pleasure all things in Heaven and Earth were created and by whose indulgent Providence they are continually maintained and preserved They shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a Garment 102. Psal 26.73.26 as a Vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy Years shall have no end I prostrate my self before Thee in an humble sense that I am but sinful dust and ashes who have nothing to glory in neither riches nor strength nor wisdome but only this O how happy is it for me that I know thee the ever living God the Rock of Ages the only solid foundation of our comfort and joy who when my Flesh and my Heart faileth wilt be the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever I am now presenting my Soul and Body to Thee in perfect health but cannot tell where I shall be the next moment or whether I shall live to breath out the desires of my Soul once more unto Thee For in thy hand is the breath of our Nostrils and when thou pleasest we are turned to destruction We dwell in Houses of Clay whose foundation is in the dust and they are daily crumbling and mouldering away so that we know not how soon they will vanish and be seen no more O how serious should the thoughts of this make me in all my addresses unto Thee How dead to all the sinful enjoyments of this World How holy and pure How heavenly minded and spiritual How ready to do good and to communicate to others those things which I must shortly leave How diligent to assure my self thereby of better enjoyments to make friends in Heaven that when I go hence I may be received into everlasting Habitations I see O Lord now that I think of my departure how unprofitable my too many cares are for the things of this life How vain my eager desires after unnecessary riches and honours how trifling all my pleasures and that there is no solid happiness but in thy love and a pious hope of immortality O my God be so good to me as to turn my thoughts frequently toward my latter end and to fix in my mind a lively sense of the uncertainty of my being and the fickleness of all things belonging to it That since I must shortly leave them all even my dearest Friends and Kindred and this body too which must be turned into corruption I may most zealously endeavour to secure thy love and friendship in a better life by the constant chearful and earnest exercise of all godliness and vertue while I tarry here Help me to be as humble and lowly as the dust to which I am going to bury all anger hatred and enmities since we must needs dye 2 Sam. 14.14 and be as Water spilt upon the Ground which cannot be gathered up again to discharge my mind of all superfluous cares and