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
love to men in JESUS so in JESUS men offer the returns of their love to God In this was manifested the love of God towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him 1 Joh. 4.9 and in this is manifested our love towards God that we receive and love and obey that Son With this God is in no wise offended but rather infinitely well pleased he that loveth me shall be loved of my father saith our Blessed Saviour Joh. 14.21 If a man love me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him ver 23. and again If any man serve me him will my father honour Joh. 12.26 nay he expresly tells his disciples that the Father loved them because they loved him whom the Father had sent The Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me John 16.27 For though we owe our redemption to the infinite mercies of God Father Son and Holy Ghost yet in a more especial manner we are engaged to the Son who personally came down from heaven for us men and for our salvation JESUS is the Author and finisher of our faith he is the Founder of our Holy Religion it is he hath revealed those doctrines we are to believe it is he hath given us those laws and precepts whereby we are to live it is he from whom we are called Christians it is he who for us despised the shame and endured the Cross who hath shed his blood and given his life a ransom for ours it is he who by contracting a near relation with us becoming our brother hath caused us to be adopted Sons of God and heirs with him of an eternal kingdom it is he who can save them to the uttermost that come to God by him it is he who is the head of the Church Caput positum in coelestiâ—us corpus suum gubernaâ— separatum quidem visione sed annexum charitate Aug. to whom we must be united by Love that we may be his members and derive life from him it is he who is our Lord and Master and will be our judge and our rewarder if we be faithful to him For this end Christ died and rose again that he might be Lord both of the dead and living saith S. Paul Rom. 14.9 God hath made that same JESUS whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ him God hath exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and Saviour saith S. Peter Act. 2.36 and 5.31 All power is given him in heaven and earth and he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet Hence the frequent and urgent exhortations to follow and imitate to serve and obey JESUS Hence those pathetick words of S. Paul The love of Christ constraineth us 2 Cor. 5.14 and again what things were gain to me I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of JESUS CHRIST my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ Phil. 3.7 8. 'T is JESUS hath won our hearts to God 't is he hath reconciled us from a state of enmity to a state of love Besides that God was justly angry for our rebellions his glories are so bright so amazing his Divine Majesty so high that to love a being so infinitely above us might have been thought prophaneness or presumption Non bene conveniunt nec in una sede morantur Majestas amor respect not friendship is the affection of subjects to Princes ΦθονεÏὸ Θεὸς was an ordinary Epithete for the heathen gods who were thought to be envious rather than loving to men and even the Israelites were amazed and terrified at the sight of a heavenly messenger crying we shall die for we have seen God 'T is the great humiliation of JESUS hath procured and established an everlasting reconciliation and friendship betwixt God and man God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinnerr Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 and now there is neither death nor life nor Angels nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God which is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD Rom. 8.39 Therefore for a reward of the great sufferings and abasement of JESUS God hath given him a supreme authority over all the world Men and Angels being made subject unto him because he made himself of no reputation and took on him the form of a servant and humbled himself and became obedi unto death even the death of the Cross therefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of JESUS every thing should bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth and every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is the Lord to the glory of God the Father Phil. 2.7 8 c. Our love and obedience to JESUS derogates nothing from but belongs to God 'T is to the glory of God the Father God hath highly exalted JESUS for his humiliation and for the same cause we ought also to love and exalt him as much as possibly we can because it was for us not only bow at his name but even kneel and kiss the ground when he only sees us no fear of exceeding here no fear of superstition we can never shew him too much love or respect Psal 72. All Kings shall fall down before him all nations shall do him service prayer shall be made unto him and daily shall he be praised Amen CHAP. XXIII That it is most pleasant and safe to love God A Third consideration will be that it is most pleasant and safe to love God Love may cause trouble but it certainly is the spring or parent of all joy and satisfaction He that hath an affection to nothing hath pleasure in nothing could the imaginary insensibleness of the Stoicks really seize upon any man if he could never be miserable he would also be uncapable of all happiness 'T is true indeed that the love of worldly things in that they are vain and perishing is it self vanity and vexation qui multum amat plus dolet is certainly true of all but the Divine Love He that hath many friends hath many sorrows he that loves many things hath many things to fear for 'T is only God that hath those infinite excellencies which can fully replenish our minds and desires 'T is only God that admits of no variableness neither shadow of turning and therefore 't is the love of God alone that can make us eternally and intirely happy It is reported of a person of great sanctity that an evil spirit confest to him that were it possible for one who loves God to come into hell yet were it impossible he should be miserable but that it would rather sink hell it self and make it
with him They made it appear by their patient cheerful and magnanimous sufferings that they valued nothing but JESUS and Eternity We are not now exposed to the same dangers for the profession and belief of Christianity but we may make our love and zeal appear by our contempt of the world and aspiring after heaven by our charity to men and abounding in the work of the Lord by keeping the Commandments as well as dying for the Creed the same Lord and Saviour that requires our Faith to the one demands our obedience to the other And now if we spend our time in the hearty observance of our Lords Precepts and intimations in doing and inlarging our duty to the utmost of our power if we thus confess him before men by living to him then are we prepared to die for him and he will certainly own us as much as if we had Our Crown now this way may be enriched and our love shewn and perfected as well as by the flames of Martyrdom And O happy we that we can come and more happy yet if we do come to sing Allelujah and eternally praise our gracious Redeemer with the noble Army of Martyrs where the love we had here shall fill our hearts with divine joy Vbi tota virtus erit O anima videre quod amas summa felicitas amare quod vedes Aug. and be increased to the proportions of our endless and unspeakable Bliss The Lord direct our hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for JESUS our Master 2 Thes 3.3 I need not here insert cautions against vain glory and self complacency after we have done the most we are able for if it proceeds not from the love of God it is nothing worth and if it doth it will never bring pride nor vanity Charity vaunteth not it self and is not puffed up 1 Cor. 13.4 Only in the words of a pious Saint If we had died a thousand times for JESUS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. S. Johan Clim Grad 23. 11. yet we should not have repaid him the least part of what we owe his infinite mercy and condescension for vast is the difference betwixt the blood of God and the blood of his creatures and servants if we judge according to the dignity and not to the substance of it What hast thou that thou hast not received remember what JESUS saith to all Christians He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me Mat. 10.37 and whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple Luk. 14.33 We can never do too much for JESUS but we may easily do too little though the most we can do will never merit heaven yet the least shall not obtain it 't is safe and impossible to exceed but 't is easie and dangerous to be defective O God who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass mans understanding Sixth Sund. after Trin. 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 I have now assigned Love its full task to repent and mortifie our lusts to serve and obey God and to abound in good works even free-will offerings I have no more for it to do I would only have it to encrease to grow towards perfection to be constant and to endure unto the end To help this forward I have here added a meditation on the exaltation of our Blessed Saviour some useful directions for the ordering of our lives and four concluding Considerations whereby to assist direct and encourage the sincere lover of JESUS in the discharge of this great and blessed duty the work and labour of Love Let us consider one another to provoke unto Love and to good works Heb. 10.24 CHAP. XV. Meditation on the Exaltation of the Blessed JESVS LIve and reign sweetest JESU for ever My dearest Lord I heartily â—ejoice in that great power and glory to â—hich now thou art exalted When I conâ—â—der what thou didst do to rescue us from Misery and to make us happy how thou didst lay by thy glories to intitle us to them becamest poor to pay our debt becamest weak to die and to vanquish our enemies When I consider this Ita ne summus omnium unus factus est omnium quis hoc fecit amor dignitatis nescius dignatione dives affectu potens suasu efficax quid violentius triumphat de Deo amor Bern. I cannot but admire the greatness of thy charity whereby thou wert moved thus to relieve and succour us in suffering and abasing thy self I cannot also but be transported with joy that in thy conflict with our enemies thou didst obtain the victory and thereby a Kingdom that shall have no end Lord if thou hadst perished in our quarrel if death had still detained thee what grief what remediless anguish had it been to our souls not only to see our hopes frustrated but also to see him opprest and overcome who with so much pity and generosity ingaged for our deliverance But thou livest dearest Lord thou art triumphant thou hast got the keys of death and of hell Thou art the head and Saviour of the Church Thou art the Judge of all men Thou art the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords Thou sittest at the right hand of the Majesty on high above all principalities and powers All power is given to thee in heaven and in earth At thy Name O Blessed JESU every knee must bow and that we do most willingly gladly acknowledging that thy name is exalted above every name Thou alone hast redeemed and hast power to save us Thou alone hast the might and right to command us Unhappy they that will not worship thee and submit to thy government Unhappy they that impart thine honour to created beings and will not wholly depend upon thee Blessed be God that we have a Saviour whom without idolatry we may love and worship to whom we may offer our humble petitions and at whose feet we may prostrate our selves Blessed be God that he himself would become our Saviour Had an Angel or man been able and deputed to work our Redemption our love and gratitude might have been excessive and provoked God to jealousie But now Blessed JESU we cannot humble our selves too low before thee we cannot exalt thee too high we can never exceed in paying our acknowledgments to thee Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Unto him therefore that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen Rev. 5.12
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
more because his debt is also forgiven and yet he is freed from that trouble and sorrow which his fellow debtor underwent Why then thy gracious Redeemer by saving thee from the horrors and torments of Hell hath laid on thee at least as great obligations to love him as if he had brought thee out of it after thou hadst been long detained therein Therefore I desire thou wouldst bring thy thoughts back again to that unpleasant abode and consider thy self as if thou were shut up in that dismal dungeon and then express what thou wouldst give to be releast what thou wouldst do for him that should bring thee out of that horrible and bottomless pit I know that they that are afflicted with sharp pains and grievous sicknesses would purchase health with all the wealth they have and I believe no reward would hire a man to hold his hand in the fire but for one hours time therefore I doubt not but that if it were in a mans power he would give this and a thousand more worlds to be brought out of an ever burning furnace and I am perswaded that if thou wilt suffer thy fancy to be active in framing the black and dreadful scene of hellish horrors about thee thou wilt then heartily say Were I owner of the whole universe I would joyfully give it to come out of these ever-burning flames which torment my body and to be freed from this never dying worm the remorses of my guilty conscience which torture my soul but because I have nothing freely would I give my self to him that should bring me out of this woful place O I would follow him any where do any thing that he should command me imbrace his feet kiss the ground they tread on and give him all the demonstrations of a sincere and passionate Love Well thy petition is granted before 't was presented the Love and Mercy of JESUS hath prevented thy request and distress Now make good thy vows and resolutions Love and Serve JESUS thy Redeemer and give thy self up wholly to him I know that many may be good Christians without being snatcht out of the fire without these terrors and affrightments but I am shewing what our condition had been without a Saviour what is that gulf of perdition whence JESUS hath saved us if we will be saved by him and I mention these affrighting truths to perswade men to be motives of an active and a vehement Love For 't is too observable that few men seriously consider what Redemption means what it was we were redeemed from else they could not be so indevout so disobedient so unthankful to their Saviour S. Paul supposing as I do here that without Christ we were already dead and perisht makes it the reason of that Constraining Love which enabled him and other Primitive Christians to suffer so patiently and act so zealously for JESUS The love of Christ saith he constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead as if he should say we were certainly dead irrecoverably lost had not Christ died to purchase life and salvation for us therefore we cannot chuse but love him and it is no wonder if that love be strong and if we are governed and acted by it That thou maist therefore love affectionately and live religiously consider seriously that death the misery of that condition wherein thou wert and ever must have been hadst thou not a JESUS a merciful Saviour and Redeemer I might add that we were delivered from the power and slavery as well as from the condemnation of sin but this is included in the other it being impossible to be saved from the wrath to come without bringing forth fruits meet for repentance and as it is mercy and grace on Gods part so on ours it is matter of duty and earnest indeavour and must be the result and effect of our love first that we offend not and then that we serve diligently and faithfully him that redeemed us from our vain conversation and gave himself for us that we being dead unto sin might live unto righteousness CHAP. VI. How graciously and wonderfully we were redeemed A Further ingagement to love and obey will be to consider the manner how our redemption was effected and the price that was paid for it thus The Blessed Son of God the Second Person of the Ever glorious Trinity undertook that work himself which none else could perform for us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man In this act of his miracles and mercies seem to vie one with another In praesepe jacet sed mundum continet ubera sugit sed angelos pascit Aug. Ser. de purific 2. that the God of eternity should be born in time that the Creator of all things should be the Son of a Creature that the most highest should abase himself to the low condition of a servant that God should become an infant is a miracle of Love which we can admire and adore but never fully comprehend The greatness of God is unsearchable his excellencies and perfections are incomprehensible he is infinitely good powerful wise and holy Man contrariwise is in himself wicked and weak ignorant impure and miserable there is so great a disproportion betwixt God and man so wide so immense a distance Haec est mensura amoris non solum quantum fecit nos quanta fecit pro nobis sed quantillus factus est pro nobis that nothing less than an infinite love could have filled up the gulf betwixt those two so different natures and united them into one person 'T was never seen that a shepherd would creep upon all four and cover himself with a sheep skin to call his flock out of danger and to expose himself for it but the good shepherd did much more When he came to lay down his life for his lost and wandering sheep and gather them into his fold he took on him not only the likeness but the very nature of them he became the Lamb of God that he might be the shepherd of mankind Though he was infinitely more above man then men are above beasts yet he became the Son of man that he might become the Saviour of men 'T was never seen that a Sovereign Prince would seek to reduce to loyalty the most abject of his rebellious subjects by mixing blooud with them uniting their families together but behold the Supreme Monarch of heaven and earth contracts a near affinity with his ungrateful rebels who are as vile and miserable as they are criminal that he may free them from their guilt and win them to their duty and their happiness Proud and wretched sinner thou wouldst be so far from entring into the kindred of meaner persons those that are much thine inferiors that thou canst hardly endure to be in their company and behold the most Glorious and Holy
there was none to help I wondred that there was none to uphold Isa 63. He was like a mild and defenceless lamb in the midst of ravenous wolves there were none about him but such as thirsted for his blood And no wonder if man forsook him when he was in some manner forsaken even by his Father It pleased God to give him up to the cruelties of wicked men and the sorrows of death and that his Divine Nature though personally and inseparably united to his humanity should for a time suspend the effects of its beatifying union and leave him suffer as a man in soul and body the greatest pains without the least comforts They that saw our crucified Saviour suffer so patiently as not to open his mouth to complain might have thought that he had no sense of pain therefore he cries out so bitterly My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why dost thou suffer me to be plunged into this gulf of sorrow so that I have nothing but anguish within and without Why dost thou suffer me to be almost overwhelmed by so great a distress and art so far from helping me and from the words of my complaint Psal 22. Lord we had deserved to sink and evermore to cry and groan in the bottomless pit and to rescue us thou art pleased to descend very low and with strong crying and tears to say de profundis clamavi out of the depths have I cried unto thee O Lord hear my voice Psal 130. be pleased to hear us dearest Lord when we call upon thee and make thy voice sink into our hearts and there find a cheerful admission and a constant and sincere obedience CHAP. XI The height of the Cross NOw we have only the height of the Cross to look on that is the sublimity the greatness of the torments of Christs crucifixion that in this sense his Cross was very high appears already by what hath been said and yet we may consider further that he being conceived by the Holy Ghost of a most pure Virgin was therefore of a most healthful constitution so that his senses being very quick and apprehensive were sensible of pain beyond other men's and so all the blows and wounds he received and his being nailed and stretched three long hours on the Cross as upon the Rack must needs have been a most exquisite torture Also the vigor of his nature being neither weakned nor spent by age or distempers he being full of strength and in the flower of his age was capable to taste the smart and sharpness of his pain to the very last moment of his life and so 't is written by S. Luke that he cryed with a loud voice when he gave up the ghost to shew that he was still very strong and that his death was bitter and violent to extremity There was likewise an invisible Cross which afflicted his soul and made it sorrowful even unto death his heart was like wax melted in the midst of his bowels Psal 22. and in the midst of so many and such intolerable pains his murtherers shook their heads made mouths at him scoft at his sorrows by cruel and insulting mockeries and by their tongues and derisions aggravated those sufferings which their hands could hardly increase but thaâ— the Cross of Christ was higher in the greatness of its pains than that of any Martyr of any man that ever suffered is evident enough only by considering who it was that was crucified on it for it was more that JESUS being perfect God as well as man should shed one drop of blood than that all Men and Angels should for Millions of years bear the greatest torments Lord we were wonderfully made by thy power but we are yet more wonderfully redeemed by thy mercy Lord what is man that thou shouldst thus be mindful of him or rather what is man that he is unmindful of thee CHAP. XII What an infinite love is exprest by the Cross NOw we have seen the whole frame of the Cross writ all over in blood with characters of love expressions of the greatest kindness for a testimony that JESUS loved us unto death Not any sorrow or anguish in his soul not any gap or wound in his body but are as many mouths to cry aloud in the ears of all men Behold what manner of love God had for his enemies his sinful and unworthy creatures to suffer such things to die in such a manner for to redeem them and make them happy Now let us if we can comprehend the breadth and the length O dilectio quam magnum est vinculum tuum quo ligari potuit Deus Idiot the height and the depth of the love of JESUS that love which bound him much harder than the cords of the Jews and nailed him to his Cross much faster than those Irons which pierced his hands and feet for he that could with one word cast his enemies to the ground could easily have broke their bands and escaped from them but that his love did constrain him and make him desirous and willing thus to die What man would suffer one half of what Christ did for his dearest Benefactor And then how immense and wonderful was that charity which he exprest in suffering the ignominy and pains of the Cross for those that were his enemies and had highly injured him and from whom he could expect no reward but only to be loved again Let us therefore remember it throughout this whole book or rather throughout our whole life that we have been redeemed from eternal despair and misery and from our vain and sinful conversation not by any corruptible thing as silver and gold but by the precious blood of Christ shed with great pain and great ignominy CHAP. XIII Of the eternal happiness merited for us by the Cross of Christ and measured by it THis Love of JESUS is more already by far than ours can answer Could our hearts burn perpetually with those brightest flames of love which beatifie the Cherubims could they contain all the most passionate affections of all Saints both in heaven and earth yet we could not love JESUS so much as he deserves for having died to save us from eternal death and yet he did more he suffered death that we might have life that we might have eternal life Not only that we might not be intirely miserable but also that we might be perfectly happy Heaven is the purchase of the Blood of Christ as well as Redemption from hell God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us when we were dead in trespasses and sins hath quickned us together with Christ and hath raised us up and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.5 Let us meditate a while upon that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory reserved in heaven for us 2 Cor. 4.17 and in it consider the same dimensions as in the price wherewith it was bought the Cross of
set our love upon the right object upon God not upon our selves Not that we should or can be our own enemies and seek our own ruine no man ever yet hated his own flesh saith S. Paul Ephes 29. the worst enemies to mankind are kind to themselves and we may as soon lose our being as the desire of our well being But we must understand that our supream happiness consisteth in the enjoyment of God who is that infinite increated Goodness that can alone fully beatifie us God is infinitely happy and hath the possession of his infinite perfections by loving himself and we also become happy by loving him with all our hearts and souls it was so in the state of innocency and so it is still and ever shall be and Angels and men became miserable only by departing from the love of God which was then as 't is now to be exprest by obedience So that when man prefers any thing to God he not only departs from his duty but also from his sovereign bliss In the time of mans integrity God was to be regarded and loved first and most of all so it must be still the difference is that then man did it naturally and now by a supernatural assistance he did it then by the grace of his Original Righteousness and now by the grace of the Gospel he did it then without reluctancy now he hath sinful appetites and passions which he must deny and mortifie before he can do it Therefore our blessed Saviour requires it at the very entrance of his School as a necessary qualification to all that will be his Disciples that they should deny themselves and hate all things in comparison of him If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me and again if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Luk. 9.23.14.26 that is he that will own JESUS and be owned by him must in all things give him the preeminence must relinquish his natural desires deny his own will that he may yield an humble obedience to God he must forsake all things that come in competition with him and even part with his dearest relations and his own life as though he hated them rather than commit what God hath forbidden or disclaim what he would have us profess this self-abnegation Ille satis se diligit qui sedulo agit ut summo fruatur bono this daily self crucifixion is no act of self-hatred as the world might think but the greatest kindness we can shew to our selves or others for 't is the onely way whereby to make our lives comfortable here and eternally happy in the world to come and in many cases more hard and less advantageous we practise self-denial of our free choice As he therefore that cuts off one of his limbs hates not himself but seeks the preservation of his body and he that casts his goods over-board hates them not but prefers his safety to them so in this case he that parts with his earthly enjoyments hates them not but prefers heaven to this earth he that loseth this present life hates it not but loves eternal life beyond it and he that forsakes his friends or parents to follow his Saviour in the discharge of a good conscience hates them not but seeks to win them to their happiness by preferring his God and his Salvation to their unjust desires In this case the promise is verified that he that parts with any thing for Christs sake receives an hundred fold in compensation and he that loseth his life certainly finds it therefore hating our kindred and our own lives is otherwise exprest in S. Matthew he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me c. Mat. 10.37 As much as to say that it is only required that the love of God should be predominant that JESUS should be dearer to us than all persons whatever and that in the first place we should love God with all our minds with all our strength and with all our souls for then afterwards the love of our selves Recte novit vivere qui recte novit amare Aug. and others being subordinate would become regular and innocent CHAP. XIX How great a Vertue is Divine Charity or the Love of God NOw as all sins and miseries proceed from a misplaced love so all vertues and felicities are the product of love well guided and placed on the right object this is as beneficial and advantagious as the other is pernicious that is Sicut radix omnium malerum est cupiditas ita radix omium bonorum est charitas Serm. de Charit as S. Augustine saith that as self-love is the root of all evil so the love of God is the root of all good the stock whence all vertues do grow The excellency of Divine Love is so great so transcendent Sine charitate fides potest esse sed non prodesse Aug. 1 Cor. 13. that it alone is accepted on its own account and all other things for its sake a faith strong enough to work miracles alms the most expensive and even the flames of Martyrdom profit nothing without love as S. Paul teacheth love it is that makes all good works meritorious in the best sense love it is that gives a value to all other vertues or rather it is love that produceth all good works and vertues as they are so indeed Love is the discharge of our whole duty the fulfilling of the law saith S. Paul Rom. 13.10 love is that grace which renews and sanctifies our natures and abides for ever it is the greatest the most excellent gift of God it is even the Divine Spirit Vnitas Spiritus continet omnia Serm. Pont. Donum est Spiritus San tus in quo nobis omnia bona dantur who unites all things within the bonds of love and unity saith S. Aug. and with whom all good things are ever given Divines teach that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son by way of love wherefore he is called nexus amoris quo conjungitur Pater cum Filio Filius cum Patre that is in the Language of the Church that in the Unity of the same Spirit Charitas qua Pater diligit Filium Filius Pa rem quae est Spiritus Sanctus ineffabilem communionem amborum demonstrat De Trin. l. 15. the Father and the Son live and reign evermore or as S. Augustine expresseth it The love wherewith the Father and the Son love mutually is the Holy Spirit and represents best the Mystery of their Incomprehensible Union Now that Divine Spirit which is the eternal love of God to himself is given to us in the grace of love or charity which are one and the same whereby we are all joined together into one body and all
favour that thou wilt accept of me and my weak endeavours I know that if heaven were capable of any grief it would be only that we have not loved thee enough upon earth when thou fillest our souls with thy divine ravishing joys we shall wish we had done nothing here but serve and love thee O give me grace now whilst I live to do what I shall wish to have done when I die let me do now I am absent from thee what I shall wish to have done when I dwell with thee let me love thee infinitely and without measure Modus amandi Deum sine modo S. Bern. An offering of a free heart will I give thee and praise thy name O Lord because it is so comfortable Psal 54.6 CHAP. XII That our obedience to the Church is an excellent expression of our love to Christ THE first instance of our love in this way of free-will offerings should be a pious obedience to our Mother the Church not but that it is many ways required but because 't is almost wholly neglected What by pride and refractoriness what by ignorance and indevotion and what by loosness and ireligion that obedience which ought to be paid to those that have the rule over us in the Lord to the standing rules and orders of our Spiritual Governours is so generally laid aside that many that would yet dare not press it upon the people and that even they that obey do it secretly and as though 't were dishonourable are in a manner ashamed to own it Hence comes that great neglect of Confirmation that most necessary and ancient if not Apostolick constitution hence the desuetude of fasting upon appointed days and even of bidding of them and the non-observance of Holy days and times of solemn devotion hence the slight regard had to the publick worship of God and the seldom receiving of the Lords Supper hence the reservedness and unhappy secrecy or most people in not acquainting their spiritual guides with the state of their conscience when it needs and not receiving their comforts and directions hence the not sending for the Elders of the Church to do their office upon sick persons and the seldom desiring their absolution and hence even in too many of the Clergy the neglect of daily saying Divine Offices as they are commanded and observing other injunctions peculiar to them I may say that it fares with our Church as with some Princes who have their due sovereignty denied them because they are Christians as if by becoming members and defenders of the Church they were become subject to Pontifical Chairs and Puritan Synods for so many would not have this Church obeyed because 't is Reformed they would not have its laws observed because it makes them inferior to Gods as though by not imposing a blind superstitious and over severe obedience as Rome doth this Church were become uncapable of exercising any authority over her children and requiring any duty from them But I say let those that love JESUS amend this for his sake for the Church is his spouse and hath received her power from him let them yield a free and religious obedience to Ecclesiastical injunctions for his sake who hath said he that receiveth you receiveth me It is doubtless our duty so to do and I am sure it will be a good token of a pious heart when we shall obey them in the Lord whom the Lord hath set over us We shall make it appear that we own the Authority of our heavenly King when we are subject to those his officers by whom he now reigns over us to whom he hath given the keys of his kingdom and whom he hath appointed Stewards of his saving Mysteries we shall have a right and a share in the Mysterious representation of of the great expiatory sacrifice which by the Church is celebrated in the Eucharist and in those Divine Services and solemn Prayers which the Church offers to God daily and we shall receive the full benefit of being members of the Church and holding communion with it If this were not absolutely required yet I am sure it will be a very acceptable free-will offering if we do it devoutly and joyfully because we love JESUS and this Christian obedience to the known rational and pious orders of the Church will answer the best part of that ancient and so much magnified self-abnegation vowed by the Coenobites when they gave up themselves to be in all things ruled and commanded by their superiors and it will exercise those two heavenly graces meekness and humility which the world despiseth but all true Christians own to be most Divine as they that bring rest to the soul Mat. 11.29 and make us most conformable to the meek and humble JESUS Solomon knew the true mother by her love to the child and the true child of God may be known by his love and duty to his Mother the Church CHAP. XIII Of several voluntary Oblations AS for corporal austerities commanded or uncommanded I have said something of them already and the chiefest use and design of them is to mortifie sensual lusts and to keep under the body that the spirit may rule and be obeyed yet as they are exercises of repentance marks of the just indignation we conceive against our selves for having displeased God as they may effect or express a disrelish of temporal pleasures a longing for heavenly joys and an endeavour to take up our cross and follow JESUS they may be the matter of a free-will offering and they may find a gracious reward and acceptance insomuch as they proceed from a sincere love to JESUS Prayer also thanksgiving reading meditation acts of Religion though as to the substance they be the discharge of the greatest duty God requires of us the worship and adoration of his Divine Majesty yet as to the quantity they may become free oblations the expressions of a greater love He that with devout affections enlargeth his offices or counts the frequency of them by Canonical hours and wisht for opportunities and he that sets apart large portions for religious exercises or in the following of his necessary business doth often lift up his heart and thoughts to heaven and heavenly things makes a voluntary offering of some of his time to him of whose eternity he hopes to be partaker He that defalks some hours from the refreshment of his body to bestow them upon his soul he that chuseth a meaner condition and employment that having fewer avocations he may spend more time upon Religion and he that bears with some wrongs and injuries that being free from the distractions of quarrels and law suits he may be the better disposed to serve God hath bought the blessed opportunity of attending JESUS and indearing himself to him Charity likewise whether Spiritual or Corporal whether in giving or in forgiving may be carried further than is absolutely required and so become a free oblation He that takes great pains to instruct
of thâ—â— whom he serves and obligeth we eaâ—â—ly suppose that they love us whom we loâ—â— and that they to whom we do good will 〈◊〉 kind to us therefore let us shew to God 〈◊〉 the love we can and by words and actioâ—â— protest that we seek to please him and 〈◊〉 hearts will soon be possest with a blessed aâ—surance that we are dear to him and that 〈◊〉 will never be cruel and severe to us ' Tiâ— reported of a Religious Person whose soâ—â— was grieved and wounded with doubts and fears and with sadness that while he 〈◊〉 one day weeping and praying thus O thaâ— I were sure that I shall persevere and neveâ— fall from God O that I were sure thaâ— God loves me and that I shall one day see his blessed Face how zealous then would I be in mortifying my sins and doing my duty how cheerfully would I serve God every day and take pleasure in suffering for him how would I despise the world and its vanities and fix my thoughts and affections on things above while he was thus expressing the sorrows of his troubled mind he heard the whispers of a secret voice which told him fac quod faceres do now what thou wouldst do if thou hadst all those assurances With this he found himself so affected and refreshed that he took it as an Oracle from heaven and in obeying of it found those comforts he begged Better counsel I cannot give thee fac quod faceres do what thou wouldst do if thy diffident timorousness and jealousies were confuted by a voice from heaven and they will soon be removed Let thy meek submission thy sincere obedience and thy free-will offerings speak thy love to God and thou shalt soon find thy self perswaded that God loves thee dearly and that thy condition is safe and happy Other assurance we are not to expect in this world and this is not to be obtained any other way should thy comfort proceed from any thing else but thy humble and devout love to God it would be fansie and presumption whereas so it is well grounded and never can deceive thee There is no fear in love saith Divine S. John 1 Ep. 4.18 but perfect love casteth out fear 't is never otherwise grace and nature join together to make the effect infallible that a Holy Love should ever produce a Holy Peace if we love indeed and in truth thereby not by new and secret revelations we shall know that we are of the truth and we shall assure our hearts before God 1 Joh. 3.18 Love may well work confidence and joy in our souls for it enjoys already what it loves it is affectuosa unitas unitiva affectio love is inseparable from its object and the essence thereof consists in their union and in some manner unity as our Blessed Saviour praid for his that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Joh. 17.21 and that this is effected by love he adds ver 26. that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Though God be exalted infinitely above all things in a sphere of Glory and Majesty so high that the Cherubims with their many wings cannot flie up to it Qui mente integro Deum desiderat profecto jam habet quem amat Greg. Mag. yet thither love soars up and takes God and holds him as his own so that every one that loves God is already possest of him and may say with the spouse I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine Cant. 6.3 We come to God by love amando non ambulando and to him we are united by by love amore Deo conjungimur Magna res est amor quo anima per semetÌ„ ipsam fiducialiter accedit ad Deum c. S. Aug. therefore love is a great thing saith that devout father it brings the soul to God with an holy confidence and makes it trust in him and cleave stedfastly to him and rejoyce in him and represent her needs and beg his mercies with fiducial and devout affections And this is so great a truth that death it self with its pains and sorrows alters nothing of it even then in the last agonies the love of God sweetens the bitter cup and still entertains the soul with joy and holy comforts It was the saying of S. Aug. that because the soul hath willingly forsaken God whom she should love infinitely she is forced therefore with grief and regret to forsake her body which she loves too much and that because she voluntarily departed from God who is her life she therefore departeth from the body whose life she is with sadness and much reluctancy Aug. de Trin. lib. 4. cap. 13. Now we may say Charitas libertatem donat timorem pellit c. S. Bern. that when the soul returns to God by love she is freed from this punishment and restored to her first liberty she is willing to die for to be with Christ and then comes a cheerful cupio dissolvi O when shall I come and appear before God Happy is he who living doth so manifest his love to God by Piety and Charity that dying he can say with Theodosius Dilexi love hath been the business and delight of my life I have daily endeavoured by my actions to declare the sincerity of my love to God he is doubtless of the number of those that love the appearing of JESUS and so he goes out to meet him with joy and confidence expecting a kind reception from him whom having not seen yet he loved Nemo se amari diffidat qui jam amat libenter Dei amor nostrum quem praevenit subsequitur c. Bern. and worshipped and served affectionately Let no man that loves God doubt of Gods Love to him for he that loved us when we were his enemies so as to die for us will much more love us when we have for him the hearty affections of friends It is the joy of heaven the joy of the Holy JESUS when his loving kindness hath won and conquered our hearts and 't is our greatest joy 't is for us a heaven upon earth when we love him faithfully and fervently with all our souls and affections The love of God brings that peace to the soul which the world can neither give nor take away O sweet JESU O look thou upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name Psal 119.132 CHAP. XXV The Conclusion NOW who can refuse to love God when 't is a thing so just and reasonable so pleasant and easie so safe and advantageous something of necessity we must love every mans heart is full of that passion and every mans life is governed by it 't is but considering who hath done most for us and whom we are most obliged to love who is most lovely and who will best reward our love and we
not to be obtained any other way But shall we stay just here and not go one step further than is required 't is well indeed when we are safe and that must be secured first of all and with the greatest care but shall our love proceed no further Sure that Christian who is best assured of his salvation will love God most of all and make to him the greatest and most hearty returns When a man is qualified for heaven and enjoys the greatest happiness this world is capable of that is a sense of Gods favour and a well grounded assurance of a future bliss his soul cannot but melt into the most affectionate love for that gracious God whose mercy and loving kindness hath brought him into that happy condition and fitted him by his grace for a much happier they I say that are in such a case for they only can be capable of what I now treat of may well do something more than what needs they must may well enlarge their affections to God beyond the bounds of prescribed duties It is a good sign a sign of a sincere and a pious heart when a man is forward to undertake for God when he doth not weigh grains and scruples lest he should part with any of his right and liberty but affords God a full measure and running over and thinks he never gives enough and still desires that he might do infinitely more for him 'T is true that properly speaking all is due to God and the more any the best Christian returns the more he hath received and so the more he is indebted but yet God is pleased not to require all that he gives nor all that we may give that we may have wherewith to make a free-will-offering that we may have something to give him that he requires not tokens of our greateer love and gratitude It was foretold that under the Gospel in the day of Christs power his people should offer him free-will-offerings with an holy worship Psal 110.3 And David himself under the Law was at his quid retribuam What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me Psal 116. Though the benefits which God vouchsafed his people then were much inferiour to them he hath since bestowed upon us for eye had not then seen nor ear heard neither was it entred into the heart of man what great things God would do for them that love him as he hath now declared in the revelations of his Gospel though he had tied them to a burthensome and most expensive service yet he accepted their voluntary vows and ingagements and was well pleased with them yet he would receive their free-will offerings and delight in them And sure we are more obliged than the Jews to let our love and gratitude break forth beyond the limits of commands and express injunctions and now that God hath opened to us his rarest treasures his own bosome for to give us his beloved Son he will not reject our free oblations the voluntary acknowledgments of his undeserved and unspeakable mercies 'T is not to be denied without giving the lie to the learning and piety of the best Christians in all ages but that there is in the New Testament counsels as well as precepts some things recommended though not commanded He that sells all that he hath for to buy the pearl of great price and they that make themselves Eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven were not injoined so to do but are well approved of and that God who gives a plentiful harvest to him that sows bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 is doubtless well pleased with his open handedness and charitable profusion And as it is the best indication of a devout and loving soul cheerfully to exceed what is strictly required it is also the best sence to immure and secure our duty for then when we slack and abate we may be still within our due bounds Nay more I am confident that as it is best and safest it is also easier to give free will offerings than only just to pay the daily commanded sacrifice because those proceed from affection these perhaps only from injunction A friend desired to go one mile goes two or ten and finds his way pleasant because love leads him but he that is prest to the same journey and is acted by fear and compulsion while he resolves not to go one foot farther than needs he must will easily be tempted to stay one short of what he should But this is better understood by the devout lovers JESUS than I can express it Precepts are given to all men as tributes are exacted of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beat. Doroth. Doct. 1. saith an Ancient guide of souls but as in the world great persons and favourites not only pay the tax but also offer presents and gifts to the Prince so in the Church the most Religious observe not only the precepts but also intimations and counsels and give to God not only what he exacts but also free oblations all that they are able How many thousands of Saints now in heaven have taken this course how many that now wear the bright crown of virginity might have enjoied the comforts of marriage had not the love of JESUS prevailed over their natural desires how many who might have possest great estates enjoy now the greater treasures of eternity for having made themselves poor to relieve the needy members of JESUS how many who now sit on thrones of glory have chosen here to follow JESUS in meanness and humility when honours and worldly pomps were at their command how many are now rewarded with high degrees of everlasting bliss for having devoted their whole time upon earth to the service of the Blessed JESUS when they might have spent more of it upon their profit or pleasure and how many now living aspire to the same felicities and recompences by cheerfully following the same ways and expressing a sincere and unbounded love by such free oblations Cur non possum quod isti istae S. Aug. Why cannot I do what these my Christian Brothers and Sisters have done and do still hath not God done as great things for me as for them hath he not given me the same promises as they had do not I hope to be their companion and fellow citizen in heaven And why then cannot I love as much as they did I should therefore and do resolve to make no reservations JESUS shall have the command of all he hath given me of all he hath enabled me to do I shall keep nothing from him which may express my love and gratitude and do him service Dearest JESUS I know I can never do for thee so much as I should and I know that I shall never do so much as I would thou gavest thy self for me and thou wilt give thy self to me and Lord what am I worth and what is the worth of all I can do It is a great