rejecting his commands and art become a slave under the outragious Empire of that Tyrannous enemy to mankind who never rests day nor night from ensnaring us our selves to fight against our own hopes and expectations of Heaven Thus hast thou flung off a light and easie burthen freed thy self from a mercifull yoke to fasten thy neck in linkes of Iron And what is both base and ridiculous hast laid a Mill-stone the Asses burthen on thy owne shoulders What wilt thou think to do in the future that at present suffers thy most miserable soul to be swallow'd in this impetuous Gulfe of lusts Nay that wilfully has brough a kind of necessity on thy self which continually compels thee to fall into deeper extreams The woman in the Gospels when she had found her lost groat call'd all her neighbours together to partake of her joy with her saying Rejoyce with me because I have found the lost groat Lu. 15. 8. Thus will I call your friends and mine together but to a different end and purpose I will not bid them rejoyce with me but grieve and weep lament be truly sorrowfull and mourn with me For our losse is grievous and insupportable greater then if we had lost never so great a treasure or Magazine of Gold or Diamonds For we have lost a friend not to be valewed who sailing with us through this vast Ocean I know not by what means is fallen overboard and sunk into the bottomlesse Gulfe of perdition If any man should offer to disswade mee from my lamentations I would answer him with this passionate expression of the Prophet Isaiah Let me alone I will weep bitterly you cannot comfort me Is 22. Such is the sorrow which draws this flood of tears from my eyes Such a sorrow as doubtlessely would not shame Saint Peter or Saint Paul to own it though in such excesse as they denyed themselves all consolation or perswasion to the contrary They who deplore the naturall decreed death of the body may perhaps find coÌ„forters who by the strength of reason and argument may without much labour restore their dâ—ooping spirits to settledness tranqulity by religious precepts gently quiet and palliate their griefes But who can plead gainst his just deploring who laments the death of a soul fallen into perdition dead in sin and pierc'd with ten thousand arrows venom'd with Hells malitious poyson the beauty form and grace of most eminent Vertues and devotions lost and extinct in him These administer matter justly to provoke lawfull and lasting tears What flinty heart What rockie soul could in an agony so moving forbear lamentings or entertain an apparition of any delusion should forbid him his just sorrow At the fall of the body it is humane though not altogether rebellious to weep At the falling of a soul the extreamest lamentation is the greatest evidence of the truest piety He who had on Earth possession of Heaven in so much as hee contemn'd abhor'd and laught at the vanity of the World hee who beheld the greatest beauty but as a statue of stone or a fair picture That he who despis'd Gold as dirt pleasures and vanity as mire He it is who most unexpectedly falling into a raging feaver of burning lusts has lost his comliness and his courage is now turn'd a slave to his own bestiall appetites Shall not we then grieve for him shall we cease our lamentations till he return to himselfe again it is no more then our duty and tye of Christian charity if we have any sense of pitty or humanity in us What alas is the destruction of the body but an accomplish'd course in the order of nature yet such a losse finds dayly mourners and lamenters What ought we then to doe for his perishing soul which manifestly appears resolv'd on eternall damnation if our prayers bring him not to repentance but that he finish his course in obstinate sinning and obduratenesse of heart For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee thanks Psal. 6. How great a sin then is it against the rules and Laws of charity not to resent with the greatest pitty a soul thus everlastingly perishing Violent cries and abundance of tears cannot possibly recall the dead But frequent experience teaches us that a soule dying here in sin is not wept for in vaine For the humble requests of brotherly charity plead so effectually before the Throne of mercy that many hardned in obstinate impenitency have melted into floods of tears and have ow'd thee thanks for their contrition to the importunity of other mens prayers And by such meanes many both in our daies and the daies of our forefathers who have deserted the paths of righteousnesse and run headlong astray out of the waies of piety which is a spirituall dying at length have risen again with such heavenly alacrity their fall so hid and obscur'd by the glory of their rise that they have purchas'd the palme of recompence and crowned with the wreath of victory have triumph'd Conquerors on earth till they were summon'd to be numbred with the blessed for all eternity Yet infinite such examples prevail not with a man who wilfully continues in the flames and fires of his lusts Such a wretched perversenesse withstands his recovery and pleads an impossibility of mercy against him But if he chance to get a little way out of the fire and by degrees leave it still farther behind him the dimnesse which the flames caused will be taken from his eyes then how plainly wil he discern the way of salvation to be accessible and very plain smooth and easie having obtain'd grace for his guide And conquer'd those Troops the Devill laid in ambush for him But hee who wants the courage to undertake the combat in vain desires the conquest He may that 's willfull stay and burn in the fire nay shut the doors against himself that are open for him And whatman who is thus sotishly his own enemy can design any thing nobly and virtuously Wherfore this our common enemy makes it his onely businesse leaves nothing unattempted which may render us diffident of grace and mercy Nor needs he much labour to compasse that his end if we lie prostrate at his feet and take no counsell or resolution or order the battail against him it is an easie conquest to overcome us But he who violently breaks his fetters and betakes himself to the use of his strength with courage He I say who in so desperate a condition allows himselfe no cessation but with a continuall violence maintains the battell against him though hee have before lost the day a thousand times shall then recover his losses and gloriously triumph in his enemies overthrow When he who is dejected with despair and permits his spirits to fail and languish can never hope for conquest how can he overcome who makes no resistance at all but fearing the encounter lays down his armes and submits to his enemy CHAP.
consuming fire and a mighty tempest shall be stirred up round about him He shall call the Heavens from above and the Earth that he may judge his people The Prophet Isaiah dilates thus on this dreadfull appearance Isaiah 13. 9. Behold the day of the Lord commeth cruel both with anger and fierceness to lay the land desolate and to destroy the sinners out of it for the starrs of Heaven Orion and the constellations there shall not give their light The Sun shall be darkned in his going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine And I will punish the whole Earth for their evils and the wicked for their iniquitie and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible And those that are left shall be more precious then fine Gold such a man shall be more esteem'd then a precious stone of Ophir for the Heavens shall be shaken and the Earth shall be removed out of her place for the anger of the Lord of Sabbath in the day when his wrath shall come And in another place the same Prophet The windowes of Heaven shall be opened and the foundations of the Earth shall be shaken the Earth shall be utterly broken down the Earth shall be cleane dissolved the Earth shall be moved excedingly it shal reel to and fro like a drunkard it shal be removed like a Cottage and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it and and it shall fall and not rise again Isa. 24. 18. For their iniquities have prevail'd against them To these adde the Prophet Malachi Behold saies he the Lord Almighty cometh but who shall abide the day of his comming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like a refiners fire and like fullers sope and he shall sit as a refiner of silver and gold Mal. 3. 2. And again saith he the day of the Lord commeth consuming like a furnace and it shall burn them up Mal. 4. 1. And they who are proud and all that do wickedly shal be as stubble the day commeth saith the Lord Almighty it shall leave them neither root nor branch And to the same purpose does the vision of the Prophet Daniel alarum us with the terrors of that day I beheld saith he till the Thrones were placed and the antient of daies did sit whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like the pure wooll his Throne was a flame of fire and his wheeles burning fire A fiery streame issued out before him Thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him The judgement was set and the Bookes were opened Dan. 7. 9. And a little after thus speakes the Prophet ver. 13. I saw a vision in the night and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of Heaven and came to the antient of daies and they brought him near before him And there was given him Dominion and glory and a Kingdome that all People Nations and languages should serve him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which cannot passe away and his Kingdome a Kingdome which cannot be destroyed ver. 15. I Daniel was grieved in my spirit and the visions of my head troubled me Let us consider these menaces of holy writ and instruct our soules how in that day the glory of Heaven shall be revealed the clouds shal separate the whole firmament open parting like a curtaine before a screen and discovering to us the Majestick prospect within which will fill all things created with fear amazement and horror Then shall the Angells themselves be full of fear with the Archangells Thrones and â—owers of Heaven not for themselves but because their fellowservants are brought to judgement and to give their strict accompt of their past life in this world For if they under whose tutelage we are grieve at the judgement pronounced against one sole City under their charge what will be the generall affrights and horrors when the Son comes against the whole world for though themselves they know exempt from the danger they will have a sence of them brought before a Judge whose alseeing eye needs no proof of witnesse or accusation Who will force the guilty to accuse themselves and lay their own offences open when every delinquent to Heavens justice shall produce his owne deeds his words and thoughts to condemn himself Will not this mighty and just severity of our Lord astonish the very powers of Heaven themselves If it had not in it the horror of an inundation of a river of fire and those terrible affrighting Angells ministers of his justice which assist the fury and rage of his revenge How would it move men to see the workmanship of the same creation call'd some to be highly preferr'd and honour'd Nay had in great admiration while others are blinded with disgrace lest they should see the glory of God Can you imagine a more tormenting Hel then this When the thought of that Heaven we have lâ—st will more sensibly cruciate our soules from the torments of that Hell wee suffer in The infinite losse our wilfully erring and self-abusing soules bring to themselves in the forfeiting those excellent great blessings ordain'd them are impossible to be apprehended by thought or in words comprehended Sad will be the experience of it to the impenitent Wherefore I beseech thee set before thy eyes the different ends of piety and impiety Behold the impious overwhelm'd with horrors and unspeakable punishments and even then when the truly pious children of God shall be cloath'd with immortality and eternall glories When the damn'd shall be deliver'd to cruell tormenting furies the blessed shall be adorn'd with crownes accompanied with Angells singing and rejoycing before the Kings Throne thus shal it be with them who on Earth have done good and justice and are found worthy of eternall life CHAP. X. The joyes of Heaven prosecuted give occasion to discourse of the felicities and blessings God has promis'd our soules the excellencies Wherewith they are enricht with and the vile contempt wee have of them preferring our bodies their slaves before them THE joyes of Heaven are beyond our dull perceptions while wee are loaden with earth in vain it were to undertake labour of their description Ineffable are those pleasures and delights the great profits unvaluable which will then bee ours in eternall possession when we are received into the number of the Saints glorified for ever When the immortall soule shall be invested with her own glory and eas'd of all her yoakes in happy freedome enjoy the pleasure to behold her Lord It cannot it cannot I say be exprest how great the extasies of her joyes must bee when she shall not onely be ravish't with contentments of her glorious condition for the present but rest likewise secur'd of their eternity that without lessning or decay but rather with encrease they shall endure for ever Nor is this
for them a better City or a more glorious Temple then the old Haggai 2. 9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater then the former saith the Lord of hosts in this wil I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts See thus often defil'd with her abhominations the Lord will not exclude this City from repentance nor shut the doors of his â—lemency against her No he will not nor will he forsake thee for ever though thy desperate condition by the suggestions of the Divell would perswade thee to it but with infinite desire and affection receive thee into mercy if thou returnest to him and he will lovingly embrace thy soule again though thus sunk in the deeps of wickednesse For no man no man I say though passionate even to madness can so truly affect the greatest beauty of the world as our Lord does the soul of man And if we look narrowly into the daily expressions of his love to every particular soul this truth will shew it self as clear to us as the light of the day And the Scriptures abound in testimonialls of this his infinite love to us Observe in Jeremiah and throughout the Prophets how the Lord has been wearied nay contemn'd and despised by his yet has restor'd the desertors and plac'd them again in his high favours this witnesse he bears of himself in the Gospell when he saies Mat. 23. 37. O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and you would not And Saint Paul 2 Cor. 5. 19. God saith he was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation Now when we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us wee pray you in Christs stead be reconciled to God O let us lay these invitations to our hearts and the minute wee read them believe the holy Ghost calling us Nor let us think it enough that wee believe aright for alas infidelity is not the onely bane of the soul to believe well availes us nothing if we live ill if wee purifie not our soules from uncleannesse and bid a farwell to that lewdnesse of life which so incenses the mighty anger of the Lord against us Because that the fleshly mind is enmity against God for it is not obedient to the Law of God neither can be Rom. 8. 7. The concupiscence of the flesh stands like a separating wall betwixt our soules and mercy which wee must utterly raze and destroy or never hope to have a free passage to that happy reconciliation which will crown our soules with triumph and honor and make them lovely and acceptable to God himself Thou art now bewitcht with thy Hermion's face and thinkst nothing in the world comparable to such an excesse of beauty believ'st the Earth bears nothing like it thy selfe if thou pleasest maist be far more lovely then she nay excell her more then starres of Gold and inestimable workmanship doe images of clay and dirt If men are naturally amaz'd and ravisht with the sight of some extraordinary beauties how will they be extrasied with the splendour of a soule in glory For indeed the substance of the greatest beauties though in a greater excellence of composure is the same with the meanest and most contemptible things of nature And are nourisht by the same meanes and subject to the same decay if not preserv'd by most common contemptible and inferiour supplies What is the inside of her killing glittering eyes What lies under that sweet and lovely outside of thy Hermion's surpassing graces or her purpled cheeks If thou art once redeemed from thy dotage thou wilt confesse the greatest beauty but a Sepulcher fairly whited and painted over every thing within it being decreed to the certainty of ruine and dissolution for there is nothing soe lovely that turnes not into loathsome putrifaction But what was that former grace and beauty whilst thou wert in thy integrity in which thou didst so infinitely excell that was of another composition above al the glorious things of this world as much as the Heavens exceed the Earth in splendour nay far more glorious then the Heavens themselves for though the soul be undiscernable and wee are altogether strangers to her excellencies wee may behold her in the elevated expressions of those whose pious zeales have left their attempted descriptions to inflame us with the favour they had to possesse their thoughts with so amiable desires as the contemplation of future glory which they have severall waies aim'd to know especially by soaring high as they were able into the natures of Angelical and heavenly substances CHAP. XI Saint Chrysostome continues 〈◊〉 the glorious nature of the soul and from that excellence prosecutes his perswasives to Theodorus still striving to overcome the rebellions of his lusts with exhortation and pressing arguments HEar him whose desires would have showne the excellent substance of an happy soul but finding it unequall to all comparison he betakes himselfe first to illustrate it by an assimulation to the nature of metals whose gross being was too heavy in the purest of their extractions to give him a sufficient hint and light of it thence he rayses his contemplations and attempts his comparison with the brightness of lightning and next of Angelicall bodies whose glorified essence he finds of a nature so abstracted from our knowledge that he cannot expresse the curiosity and subtilety of their essences so transplendent are they And such shall the blessed be in their glory Mat. 22. They shall be as the Angells in Heaven saies our Saviour to the Sadduces In fine all examples deriv'd from materiall things can never expresse the beauty of a soule Heaven excells all the glories of the Earth fire surpasses water the starres in lustre excell the most pretious stones wee may admire the rainbow in Heaven the violets and lillies withall the pride and variety of the fields which are all nothing in a manner if compar'd with the glories of the soule and those ineffable honors she shall be clothed withall in the day of her blisse Let us not forfeit so much happinesse which a lively faith and constant hope can secure us Nay for this wee must wade through all the inconveniencies of this miserable world 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory And as blessed Saint Paul teacheth us It is really easie to beare the greatest afflictions looking to the reward of our sufferings So is it equally easie to overcome the petulant passions of our lusts and the same reward is appointed for both the conquests For when I would draw thee from thy dissolute courses I invite thee not to dangers nor the horrors of eminent death nor to perpetuall plagues
Saint Chrysostome HIS PARAENESIS Or Admonition wherein hee recalls THEODORUS the fallen Or generally An Exhortation for Desperate sinners Vincenti datur Manna torpenti relinquitur multa miseria T. A. Kempis Translated by the Lord Viscount Grandison Prisoner in the Tower LONDON Printed for Thomas Dring at the Signe of the George near Cliffords Inne in Fleet-Street 1654. To the Reader I Should not have the vanity to believe any thing of my owne worthy the Presse but being concern'd much in this treatise I undertook he translation and with some paines renew'd my long discontinued acquaintance with the Greek to render Saint Chrysostomes meaning into this plaine English It was writ with passion to his fallen friend I am very confident it may be beneficiall to many whose case is not unlike this of Theodorus I wish it may and that it may not be look'd lightly on as mine but with more serious eyes as the counsell of that reverend father whose it is I am certain there can be nothing more appositely said to men in a desperate course of life then what may bee found here I propound nothing of my own to any man but such an excellent cordiall as this I could not take alone I desire it may be to others what I pray it may prove unto my self that in this time of misery though we are lyable to all other losses we may lay certain hold on the better part which cannot be taken from us Yours GRANDISON TO MY NOBLE LORD THE EARL of CLEAVLAND MY LORD SInce I first began this translation your Lordship has stil encourag'd me to go on with it and when I had ended it I could not but think it unfirnish't till I had prefixt your name to it I have alwaies told your Lordship that I had no vanity to own my imperfections and if I thought my confidence to print this Treatise a fault I would smother rather then publish it But having most seriously weighed the content and satisfaction the originall brought to my selfe after I had taken the paines to translate it I resolv'd to make it communicable to as many as please to read Saint Chrysostome in my English And though it particularly aimes at fallen Theodorus and as at him so at every dissolute person the most opinionated reserved men may read it and perhaps somtimes find themselves not a little concern'd in it For it most particularly treats against desperation which is a disease lyable to the greatest confidence Especially when the very same men who have had the severe curiosity almost to blind their brethren with plucking the motes out of their eyes shall be brought to consider the beames that are in their own so great and just often proves their doome who are not forewarn'd by our Saviour not to judge lest they be judged My Lord This treatise of the holy Father signally invites us to be our owne Physicians and sincerely to arraigne our soules before the face of Heaven it instructs us how to prize the beauties God has endowed our minds with unlesse wee soyle them with our owne negligence it teaches us to preferre the care of our souls above all earthly alurements though baited with the most tempting delights and may well then be a fit mission from a Prison to those in the greatest liberty for men in restraint while they are most forbid vanities begin to know then most truly what they are for all deceiving delights possesse us like the Devil they take our wits from us but the correcting hand of God whilst we are in the troubles and miseries of this world prepares us for a better and here wee shall find weapons and arms fit for the fiercest conflict of that nature here my Lord in this translation which I dedicate to you with that infinite desire I have ever to be esteemed Your Lordship's Most faithful servant GRANDISON AN EXHORTATION TO DESPERATE SINNERS Taken out of St. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM In his admonition to falling THEODORUS CHAP. I. SAint Chrysostome passionately describes the great esteeme and valew wee ought to have of our own soules and on that Basis hee raises this Fabrick of this Treatise to perswade Theodorus plung'd into extream sinns and bewitch'd with the vanity of dissolute life to return to Vertue and Piety in which hee had once been a most eminent example Who will give water to my head and to my eyes a Fountain of tears I take up this lamentation at a farre more seasonable and needfull time then when the Prophets sorrow for the Jews made him so passionate a Mourner For although I determine not to bewaile the desolation of many Cities or Kingdomes I esteem the necessity of my grief much more urging that am to deplore the losse of thy most inestimable Soul more to be priz'd and therefore more to be lamented then many Nations Whose dignity though never so swelling in the additions of vast riches and innumerous numbers of people could not make them equall to thee Eccle. 16. For such is the esteem of one man embracing the will of God above ten thousand transgressors What then were infinite millions of those Jews in the ballance with thee before thy sad fall Wherefore let no man blame me if I double the bitternesse of the Prophets lamentation desiring thus nearly concern'd to make my grief exceed his And though I bewaile no sackt City nor sinfull men subdued by a conquering power the subject of my tears exacts a deeper sorrow It is a most sacred soul whose ruine I regret a soul forsaken and in a most deplor'd condition God's own Temple demolisht and raz't A Temple so sacred as Christ himself tooke pleasure to inhabite there while he govern'd alone unrivall'd by the possession or dominion of sin or vanity whatsoever How did the glorious beauty of thy soul excell all the magnificence and pomp of this World whose onely Ornament was our Lord JESUS the World's Saviour and Redeemer Where is this beauty banisht Where consum'd it in the rage and flames certainly of that hellish Fire which every temptation thy too easie soule yeelds to bring with it for prepar'd art thou by the Devills malice for thy destruction What honest and ingenuous man could abstain from mourning perusing cordially the Prophets lamentation When he speaks of those barbarous sacrilegious hands which prophan'd the Holy of Holies committing every thing that was dedicated to the honor and service of God The Cherubins the Ark the Propitiatorie the Tables of stone the Golden Urne And is not thy fall of much more sorrowfull consequence when all these were in a manner Types of thee but representations of that greater excellence thy soul was once enricht with Thou wert the more sacred Temple though not resplendent with Gold or Silver Yet refulgent with the grace of the Holy spirit Who hadst within thee in stead of Cherubins and the Ark God the Father Christ his Son and the holy Comforter But alas Thy glories are perisht and thou become a
very Wildernesse wild and desolate stript and naked rob'd and spoil'd of all thy riches and sumptuous Ornaments which were once so miraculously and divinely eminent in thy pious life that they were above humane faith these I say are ravish'd from thee and more to augment our sorrow wee see thee ruinated like a desert full of dangers which no body undertakes to keep Thou hast no Vertue left to bar the doors against assaulting temptations but lyest open to every corruption and wicked determination of thy fancy Whether it be pride or lust or drunkennesse or avarice what sin soever the Devill commands to storme thee there is nothing that defends the breach nothing that guards thy unman'd soule Yet once how much of heaven hadst thou in thee whilst like it the purity of thy thoughts was inaccessible to all manner of ill Mee thinks I speak wonders not to be believ'd by those who see thee in this thy forlorne and desperate condition which makes me pray lament and mourn continually that I may see thee return again to thy former integrity and piety which may perhaps seem to humane apprehension impossible but all things are easie in the hands of God For he it is that lifteth the beggar from the dust and exalteth the needy from the Dunghill that he may sit with Princes even with the Princes of his people Hee it is that maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful Mother of Children Ps. 113. On this infinite and unsearchable love of our God to us build thou thy hopes and thou wilt find an impossibility a strange incapacity within thy self to despair at any time grace still working in thee to change thy heart into better and better desires For if the Devill had the power to pluck thee from so eminent a top and glory of Vertue into this Abysse of wickednesse Much more easily can our Omnipotent God raise thee up again restore thee to thy former liberty and honor and and not onely set thee free from this base captivity but make thy happinesse greater then ever yet it was Onely I beseech thee resolutely to break all snares that shall be lay'd in the way of thy return Let not thy hopes which are so full of certainty be cut off by any destructive fear or timorous perswasion lest those punishments light on thee which are due onely to the desperately wicked For neither the number nor the greatnesse of our sins does absolutely condemn us to a condition irrecoverable But resolv'd settlednesse and an intollerable composednesse in impious waies are the sure manifest signes of a soul so fall'n that it shall never rise again Wherefore Solomon does not speak generally of every man who transgresseth Pro. 18. but names that wicked man who when he comes into the depth of evill contemns his mercy It is onely a wicked purpose never to leave sin that plunges men into this dangerous Gulfe of despair and iniquity from whence they can never so much as look back and much more difficultly return For the deceiving weights of wickednesse lie like a heavy Collar on the necke of the soul and forcing our eyes upon the Earth forbids them to look up to our Lord that made them Know then it is the part of a generous and truly daring Christian spirit not to endure the Tyrants yoake valiantly to combate and destroy those officious guards his watchfull malice sits over us And with the Prophet to acknowledge our obedience there onely where it is onely due saying with him As the eyes of a Mayden unto the hand of her Mistresse so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God untill he have mercy upon us have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us for we are exceedingly fill'd with contempt Ps. 123. These are divine exhortations these are the doctrines of the most heavenly Philosophy we are fill'd with contempt we are shaken with infinite violent stormes of sad events Yet shall not this debar us from looking up to our God and imploring his assistance Nay till our Lord has granted our Petitions we must put on the confidence of importunate beggars and not let our prayers cease til our requests are granted This is the true Character of a pious daring soul not to be baffled from his hopes by the violence of ill successe not to start out of the way or goe back because as yet he has not found the expected issue of his prayers but to endure to the last till the Lord have mercy on him according to the precept and example of the Prophet David CHAP. II. The Devills endeavours and practices to undermine our hopes and raze the Foundation of our eternall happinesse The comparison betwixt a dying body and a perishing soul with an exhortation to be couragious in our conflicts with the Devill THE wily subtilty of Satan aimes at nothing more then to inveigle us in a Labyrinth of despair still feeding our naturall tottering inclinations with change and variety of doubts and once unsetled we are his certain prey for irresolution excludes us from our expectations in Heaven and relyance upon the benignity of our most mercifull God and Father it violently and too insensibly drives us from our hopes our surest Anchors By it wee lose the very essence of our lives the guide which leads us to God the Pilot which steers our forlorne and shipwrack'd soules into the Haven of Salvation For resolution and a constant hope never fail of assurance in the end by hope saies the word wee shall be sav'd that will to the last preserve us Hope is a stronge and Golden Chain let down to us from Heaven taking fast hold on it wee learn to subdue our soules most desperate rebellions Which our benign Lord finding us sure link'd to it has promis'd to raise and lift us by it above all the dangerous billowes of this present miserable life Whilst he who through idlenesse neglects to make his hold sure to this golden Anchor sinks and is certain to drown and perish in the deeps of his own wickednesse Which Satan that subtle Fox so well know's that he then makes his Hel-Harvest when he sees us laden with sin and overprest with the weight of our guiltiness this is the time hee so diligently watches for then falls he on us and presses our declinings with arguments of the immensity of our offences and deceives us with his cunning aggravations Then suggests he to our soules horror and despair in their extreames as there were no salvation left to us and the doors of mercy were lock'd against our cryes for ever And once in this dejected and base low condition how prone and precipitate is our descent into Hel forc'd still violently downwards by unresisted desperation having weakly lost our hold on hope that Golden Chain wee sink perpetually in the deepes both of sin and misery Thus is it with thee Theodorus who hast cast off thy obedience and subjection to a meek and mercifull Lord quite
sincere repentance though we sin most malitiously against him if we most humbly return to him his sweet embraces are ready to receive us Nay though we should be unwilling he often contends with our perversenesse and forces our recovery Nay helpes the defects of our falling inclinations with his preserving grace which raises us above our selves to pious desires which he both gives and prepares their reward What greater argument can there be of the benignity of an incens'd God then when we have provok'd him to anger to accept of our sorrow and though our repentance be not so long and so full as it ought though it want something of the circumstances of form and time or other properties our Lord helps us in our humiliations and sends his blessings on very weaknesse and frowardnesse As in the Prophet Isaiah you may find it He went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his waies and will heal him I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners Isaiah 57. 17 18. Let us remember the story of that most wicked King who by a womans perswasion had given himselfe over to all abhomination when he once repented and putting on sackcloth acknowledg'd his sins he so mov'd the compassion of God that he escap'd all those evills which then threatned him For God spake to Elias upon his submission saying Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me I will not bring this evill in his daies 2 Kings 21. 29. And after him Manasses exceeds all the former Kings in madnesse and Tyranny he overthrows the Law shuts the Temple sets up the worship of Idoll's to confront the Majesty of God outstripping all that went before him in wickednesse 2 Chron. 33. He after his repentance was receiv'd into the number of Gods elect friends Had Manasses when he saw the deformity of his impiety despair'd of his restauration to grace and believ'd an impossibility of his change to a new man he had certainly never partaken of those blessings afterward befell him but when he weigh'd how little the excesse of his sins was put in the ballance with Gods immense and infinite mercies hee cast the the fetters off wherewith the Devill had made him fast became Conqueror and finish'd his good course Nor has the Scripture furnish'd us with these examples alone to preserve us from splitting on the dange-Rockes of our own harden'd hearts But by his commands God calls us continually and forewarns us of our destruction To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the day of temptation in the Wildernesse Psa. 95. 8. 9. This day to us may be any day of our life from the tendernesse of our youth to the extremity of our age Wee must imagine the Lord alwaies speaking to us and calling us to him who proportions not his mercies to the circumstances of time but the affections of our hearts The Ninivites had not many daies for repentance and to pray to God to forgive them their crying sins yet could a little portion of one day blot out all their iniquities and in how short a time was Paradise assur'd the theefe upon the Crosse In how small a time did his contrition purchase him Heaven even before Christs followers and Apostles Many have obtain'd the honor of Martyrdome and purchas'd Crownes of glory in lesse then few years in a few daies nay some in lesse then one day Let us be alwaies and in all conditions undejected and cheerfull confident and assur'd in our soules of Gods infinite mercies which will intice and allure us to prepare our confidences for such a tendernesse as will dread and abhorre sinne as will make us shake off our infirmities and violently suppresse the malice of temptation Our own election will lead us into better paths with Gods assisting grace waies quite contrary and opposite to our lusts such as God commands us to walke in such as he rejoyces to see us tread in whose end is rewarded with eternity to which course the shortnesse of time can be no obstacle for many that were last have got to be first in this spirituall race by the eager feavour of their desires Our fallings are not our miseries but this is our calamity when we are sunk under the weight of sin that we lie under the heavy burthen and never strive to rise again that wee sleep under it and those litle intervalls we awake dispute our soules into despair against such as are thus sottishly bewitch'd to their own destruction the Prophet cries out in the heat and height of passion Shall they fall and not arise shall he turn away and not return Why then is the People of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetuall back-sliding They hold fast deceipt they refuse to return Jer. 8. 4. Whoever it is that wilfully refuses humbly and with his whole heart to accept the grace of the spirit offer'd him after his wandring from out of the waies of God is concern'd in this of the Prophet For it cannot be said he fell who never stood or that he went out of it who never was in the way Many things to confirme this truth are evident in parables and other manifestations of holy writ That sheep which was lost from the nintynine and after found and brought back to the rest Mat. 18. 12. what did it signifie but the going astray and the return of the faithfull For the sheep belong'd not to another Shepheard it was of the same flock and under the same Shepheard it wandred through the Mountaines and the deserts it stray'd far from the fold And what did the Shepherd neglect the wanderer No he brought him back nor did he angerly drive and beate it before him but laid it on his owne shoulders and so brought it home Observe the best Physicians how in some fierce and dangerous diseases they please and humour their patients dispensing with the set rules of their art to comply with these distempers so God uses not the fiercenesse of his wrath against the greatest sinners but his meeknesse heales them hee applyes the gentle cure of his compassion like the good Shepheard hee layes them on his own shoulders like the Physitian he heales them with forbearance lest they wander for ever lest their woundes prove incurable Next followes the parable of the prodigall to justifie this truth Luke 15. 12. Who when hee had run into extraordinary exorbitancies wilfully and on purpose by his own folly wandred to purchasing shame and misery whilst his brother stay'd at home ever pleasing his Father he that was rich free and nobly borne became more despis'd then the worst of his Fathers hirelings Yet at last was restor'd to his former honour and repossest of his Fathers favour Had he in that miserable condition despair'd of life and those enjoyments he afterwards found he had nere known blessing but had perish'd perhaps in the Wildernesse with famine of all deaths the most miserable
dotage till it forsake thee thou art deaf to perswasions while thy eares are stopt with thy delights or wilt if thou hearest think them lyars that call the sweets so please thee what they really are bitter and noysome But when by the mercifull deliverance of our Lord thou art freed out of the toyls thou wilt with patience hear mee treat of the malicious cunning that deceiv'd thee with those snares Wherefore I deferr to tell thee the malignity of thy disease till I see thee recovering Now let us fancy pleasures to be really the things they seem and that the delights of this world have nothing of gall or bitternesse But what then I pray shall we say of the punishments attend them how shall wee avoid them whither shall we flye to escape the wrath that followes them They that now rejoyce and triumph in the shades of seeming content shall not with their greatest fortitude be able to endure the least punishments of those many prepar'd for their vengeance And how little time well spent in prayer and unfaign'd hearty penitence might save them from those torments and bring them to those joyes prepar'd for the blessed Such is the clemency and mercy of our God who so earnestly loves mankind that hee has not appointed a long time of conflict with Satan the Warre last's no longer then the short space of this fleeting life which is but the twinkling of an eye compar'd with those infinite ages to come wherein wee shall be crown'd with glory for ever And this will adde infinitely to those things the damn'd shall suffer when they remember their great neglect of that little time they had to repent in and at how easie a rate and low a price they sold and betray'd themselves into everlasting thraldome Let us then awake and rouze our selves out of this lethargie of sin lest this sad doom be ours And let us hast and do it whilst the time is yet that wee may be receiv'd into mercy and favour while there is hope and that salvation may be had before repentance be too late for they who idly and sloathfully wallow in the mire of their iniquities shall not onely endure these but far more intolerable torments Since it is not to be exprest in the most artificiall termes of eloquence how great those tortures are which are prepared for the damned in Hell But if it were onely to lose the joy and blessings of Heaven the thought alone of so great a losse though we were after to perish like other beasts would be insupportable it would bring with it so just cause of sorrow such affliction and tribulation that were no other punishment ordain'd for sinners that it selfe should bee sufficient to reduce us from our wicked waies and might terrifie us more then the apprehension of all those torments that threaten and affright us and wee may most assuredly expect unlesse wee truly repent CHAP. VIII Of the beatitude of the Saints glorifi'd in Heaven pressing Theodorus farther to amendment by arguing that Heaven is rather to be sought after then Hell to be fear'd The glory of one being a more moving object then the terriblenesse of the other FRom this caution given thee Theodorus of the unspeakable paines of Hell I would raise thy contemplations to the most necessary most admirable and ravishing delight thy soule can possibly fix it self upon which is to imploy thy curiosity in search of the Knowledge of the joyes of Heaven for though the dignity of that blessed state be not within the compasse of the most accurate expression and farre exceeding the delineation of the acutest wit yet my advice presumes to invite thee to conceive as much of it as is allow'd our humane judgements to comprehend And as farre as wee are taught and instructed by holy writ our contemplations have liberty to soare into the felicities of Heaven Isaiah the Prophet expresses them thus The ransom'd of the Lord shall rejoyce and come to Sion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladnesse and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Isai. 35. 10. 51. 11. What can be more happy then such a life There you shall never fear povertie or sicknesse There shall be neither oppressor nor opprest No troubsome tormentor nor any one tormented No man angry or vext nor any repining at anothers displeasure No proud man swelling in abundance nor any person dejected and mourning for his necessities No man contentious for principality or power nor any one lamenting under the persecution of a superiour There all the tempestuous passions of our minds shall be hush't in a perpetuall calme All things shall be peace joy and gladness all things serenity and tranquillity There shall be eternall day brightnesse and light Light as farre excelling the splendor of the Sun as that does the blaze of a torch for it shall never be hid with the vail of night never be obscur'd in clouds and darknesse yet though so exceeding lustrous withall so temperate that it shall neither burn nor scorch No night nor evening shall the blessed know no scorching summer or chill winter no change of seasons shall molest them every thing is so ordered in a setled constancy and so appointed for their fruition whom grace and repentance shall fit for it They shall feel no old age nor the evills of it there shall nothing remain subject to corruption but every one be crown'd with incorruptible glory what exceeds all already said the blessed shall then enjoy eternally the company of Christ with his Angels Archgels and all the glorious hoasts of Heaven contemplate on the skies in that excellency they appeare now to our eyes behold the beauties there No starre in the firmament shall in thy beatitude outshine thee which will be when all things created shall be refined into greater abundance of glory and exceed themselves as they are now as much as the purest Gold which seems to give light to the air and captivate our humane sence does the complexion of lead So shall all things created as they shall then be refin'd excell themselves in their glory For as blessed Saint Paul saies The creature also it self shall be deliver'd from the servitude of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God Rom. 8. For now in our flesh we suffer many things lyable onely to the corruption of the body which nature in the body it selfe shal be chang'd into incorruptible and that together with the soul become immortall the soul it self possest of more beauty and greater excellencie And where then canst thou dream of any jarre or discord may happen what ruines or what destroying civill dissention when an eternall inviolable love shall knit the Saints of Heaven in one knot and make them one soul The dread of the Divell shall be no more no more threats no more snares no more death the body it selfe shall be immortall and the soule quit her fear of a far
thy life but I cannot utterly despair of thee though thou wilfully do so of thy selfe as yet for I should be then guilty of thy own folly and peevishnesse by my distrust Which is a sin I will not commit For though I see thee strangely fallen I will still trust in Gods mercy and grace to thee and doubt not but to see thee in a happy condition clear'd and purg'd of all that fatall malignancy thy carelesse soule has now contracted and behold thee perfectly reconcil'd to vertue godlinesse and the favour of God CHAP. XII The story of the Ninivites repentance the proeme to Saint Chrysostomes farther urging Theodorus to his conversion collecting thence that greatest sinners may return to God he prosecutes his perswasions alledging that many so converted have become the best and most zealous people THE Ninivites hearing that threatning and sharp crying out of the Prophet Jonah Jonah 3. 4. Yet forty daies and Nineveh shall be destroyed were not so discourag'd and dismai'd at so terrible warnings of their approaching destruction from the fierce anger of an incens'd omnipotent God but they would yet trust to his mercy Though the decreee of his vengeance was not conditionall but positive Niniveh shall be destroy'd without admittance of any clause to foment a hope in them for the words of the Prophet were not disjoynted but a plain and direct sentence of judgement yet they submit with humble penitence ver. 9. For say they who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that wee perish not ver. 10. And God saw their workes that they turned from their evill ways and God repented of the evill that he said that he would do unto them and he did it not See how those barbarous rude and mad people apprehended their imminent destruction togther understood the possibility of their deliverance having their hearts set upon his infinite mercy in his greatest wrath and rage against them Let us then that are Christians and nursed up in the knowledge of our Lords benignity who are instructed and disciplin'd in his word and know many the like examples stir up our soules to sincere repentance and not be less then them in our confidence of his goodness and mercy For he it is whose sacred spirit has told us Isa 55. 8 9. That his thoughts are not our thoughts neither are our waies his waies For as the Heavens are higher then then the Earth so are his waies higher then our waies and his thoughts then our thoughts Servants of men erre from the duty they owe their masters and commit foul faults against them yet if they grow sorrowfull and recant that disobedience they are againe received into their masters good opinion and sometimes with advantage of preferment God our gratious Lord and master whose thoughts and waies exceed those of men will deale as favourably Nay far more mercifully with us If the intent of his creating us had been to damn us then thy despaire were reasonable and just nor couldst thou do otherwise then doubt of salvation when none were prepar'd for thee But God having made thee out of his goodnesse and created thee to good ends no less then that thou mightst enjoy everlasting happinesse and to that intent his great workes continue in thee if thou willfully denie not to perceive it what should make thee thus diffident or in the least to mistrust his mercy When we have the most incens'd him then ought we most carefully to look to our selves most diligently and couragiously to resist all issuing temptations present and most bitterly lament our easie yielding to those past which so miserably overcame us so shall wee be able to give a manifest testimony of our perfect change For nothing more provokes our Lord then our obstinacie and denyall to returne into the right way For to do ill is but humane weaknesse to persevere Diabolicall malice Consider how horrid a thing it was which wee read in the Prophet that Iudah call'd back in the race of her vild whoredomes would not return to the Lord Jer. 3. 7. And I said after shee had done all these things turn thou unto me but she returned not The Lord strives with us to show how mercifully he is inclin'd to our salvation many are his promises to those who return into the right way forsaking the Meanders and by-paths of iniquity When hee saw Israels promises of repentance that they began to prepare their hearts to fear him and to keep his Commandements his promise was that it should bee well with them and their Children for ever Wherefore Moses joyns the reward with the command when hee bids them to keep the Commands of the Lord and his statutes which he commands saies he for their good Deut. 10. 13. And immediately before he commands us to fear him to walk in his waies and to love him Which is most remarkable that the God of Heaven should earnestly seek their loves who so wretchedly offend him Wherefore ought wee to love him who desires to belov'd of us who woes us and does us all things to win our affections Nay who spar'd not his onely begotten Son for us but gave him up and delivered him to the ignominious death of the Crosse that we might be reconcil'd to him And what think you so loving a Father will do for them he has purchas'd at so dear a rate Nay and what lies on our duty which is humiliation and repentance even that he presses on us if wee were not insensible of our own miseries the evill of our own miseries the evill of our own condition would invite us to As he speakes by the Prophet Isaiah 43. 26 Tell thy sinns first declare thou that thou maist be justified Which the Lord speakes desiring to make our affections vehement that so with freenesse and openness of heart we may deliver our selves up to his mercifull kindnesse Infinite is this love of our Lord while we anger and provoke him while we abuse his goodnesse and his patience all this ingratitude cannot extinguish his love and when hee laies open to us the injuries wee offer his divine Majesty he does it but to dilate on his love and so to tye our affections nearer to him and demands of us nothing but penitent acknowledgment If then to confesse our sinnes unto him bring with it so much comfort as the promise of justification how great will our joy be when our workes are rendred acceptable in the sight of God and all the filth and uncleannesse of them washt quite away And if this way to him were not accessible after we err'd and leudly strai'd from the paths of righteousnesse how few of many soules now glorified in Heaven had ever seen their salvation It is worthy all mens observation seriously to consider the returne of many desperate sinners who after the reconcilement of their enormous soules to grace have strangely excell'd in piety and outshin'd those who were in
comparison of them unspotted and undefiled For the same heat and violence of theirs which made them rage in sinne has after their conversion turn'd into a zeale as passionate in good and vertuous determinations out of a true sence of their guilt and the merited judgements on their past iniquities In this excesse did Christ resent the officious service of Mary Magdalen when hee answer'd Simon Luk. 7. 44. Doest thou see this woman I entred into thy house thou gavest mee no water for my feet but she hath washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head Thou gavest me no kisse but this woman since I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet My head with oyle thou didst not annoint but this woman hath annointed my feet with oyntment Wherefore I say unto thee her sins which are many are foâ—given for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little and he said unto her Thy sins are forgiven This is the Devills reason both for his vigilance and fears that hee has often known the greatest sinners prove the sincerest penitents It is this makes him dread the losing of his prey when hee perceives a conscience beginning to be struck with the sense of sin O how he fears and trembles at the very first step a transgressor makes out of his snares how he is troubled at our least inclinations to conversion For they who have once begun this happy course can very difficulty bee turn'd back from it the zeale of true penitence burnes like a flame within us till it consumes our drosse and refines our soules to a greater purity then that of Gold tryed in the fire Wee are driven with the horrid memory of our past sins as if it were with a violent wind into the Haven of vertue And this is the reason that great sinners often prove better then they who seldome fell because their undertakings is to be manag'd with greater fervour and alacrity the difficulty in the beginning onely deludes us it seems a precipice at first too hard for us to clime off the bottome of impiety to the top of piety while our feet are nail'd in Hell wee may deem it impossible to get loose and fly to Heaven Therefore wee must boldly enter into this conflict our resolved penitence must storme the passe though the enemy spit fire in our faces valiantly assault him and thou hast already overcome the impotent wretch the vanquisht Devill flyes thee and leaves thee master of the field O let us begin this Heavenly journey let us ascend into this Heavenly City let us step up the first stepps and never look back till wee arrive at it for there are wee appointed Citizens there are our glorious dwellings design'd us For if wee like forlorne soules cast off our hopes wee shut the gates of Heaven against our selves and bind our feet in linkes of despair the chain that keeps Satan tyed for ever For despair at first flung the fiend into the bondage hee is confin'd to for all eternity The soule that once despairs is never sensible of her own condition weighs not the danger she is in but speakes and acts every thing in opposition to salvation As men quite frantick fear nothing are asham'd of nothing dare do any thing without apprehension of danger will run into Seas or fires and fly in their fits to the edge of precipices for security So those sinners who by negligent obstinacy become desperate run upon vices unheard of abhominations never dream't of imminent death and damnation stoppe not the violence of their courses but still they winde themselves into wild Labyrinths where they are lost for ever I therefore intreate thee Theodorus before thou drownst thy self any more in this thy drunkennesse manly to contend to get out of it Awake recover and cure thy soule of this diabolick surfeit If thou think'st it too difficult presently to resolve to leave it quite off do it by degrees Though in my opinion such excuses are childish fond delaies and too much show thy dotage on thy beastlinesse For if thou tryest thou wilt find it a most easie mastery to cast those base suggestions if a true knowledge and disdain of thy infirme reasons back thee in the conflict O let the blessed contemplation on eternity prevaile with thee to accomplish this blest conversion I beseech and pray thee by those vertues by which thou once didst so highly merit by that former trust and confidence in our Lord to let us see thee rais'd again to that top of vertue where thou wert once so eminent and from which thou fellest so miserably Let us see thee recover the lost strength and vigour of thy soule Pitty them that are scandaliz'd and offended at thy fall Pitty those who perhaps by thy example example run into the same dangerous destruction despairing of the waies of vertue seeing thee forsake them Consider how great the grief and sorrow is who dearly love thee And that this thy ruinating state can be joy or gladnesse to none but desperate Atheists and youths sacrific'd to their lusts and sensualities Return then to thy former goodnesse and piety we thy friends shall be over full of joy to see that happy hour When thou hast left them to contempt and infamie who are now Enemies to thy recovery malitiously wishing thou maist still continue this dissolute life Then will wee triumph 'ore them who gloried to blast thy honor and once assur'd of thy conversion triumphing crown thee with elogium's when thy detractors shall blush and envie the truths our tongues shall utter of thee Add to this the benefits thy example may bring to other falling soules seldome it is but such recoveries beget companions and what a joy will that be when the splendour of thy reclaiming shall give light to others to find the way out of the same darknesse Do not Theodorus neglect so great a good as may happen by thy return to vertue And for pitty deny not our soules the joy we shall have for thee Keep not us in this depth of grieving for thee but turn our suffocating lamentations into gentler melodious aires of joy and exultation Which will be full in us when we see thou hast forsaken the troops of Satan and that thou art come over to the army of Angells and enroll'd in the Militia of Heaven Consider how infinitely exemplary and eminent their glories be who escape the toiles and snares of Satan how much they acquire of praise and reward whose true repentance brings them home to the Lord how indeed they seem to excell those who have appear'd alwaies virtuous as has been formerly demonstrated out of holy writ So Harlots and Publicans have gain'd the Kingdome of Heaven for the lot of their inheritance and many who were last have obtain'd the preeminence to be the first CHAP. V. Saint Chrysostome relates a story of Phoenix a young gentleman of his time another of an Herm
the deepest abysse of Hell Nor does this discourse alone aver this For the records of holy writ most amply testifie the same The Evangelist Saint Matthew shewes it Matth. 16. 27. He shall render saith he every man according to his workes Nor in Hell onely but in Heaven also shall there be difference of reward John 14. 2. In my Fathers house are many mansions saies our blessed Saviour And again 1 Cor. 15. 41. There is one glory of the Sun another of the the Moon another of the Starrs for one Star differeth from another Star in glory so likewise in the Resurrection of the dead Let him who considers this value the expence of his labour and be continually employ'd in good deeds If we attain not the glory of the Sun or the Moon wee get to be little starrs if we discharge the duty of good Christians so far as to get there at all If we shine not in glory like Diamonds or like Gold wee may like Silver But we must be carefull we are not found of materialls fitter for the fire then a place in his Heavenly mansions And if wee are not able to discharge the highest actions of perfection let us not neglect the due observance of lesser things which we may perform For it is most desperate madnesse to do no good at all because we are not in the state of the most excelling perfection For as worldlings grow rich by saving every little trifle encreasing their store so are spirituall riches attain'd by a circumspect laying hold on every occasion wherein we may serve our Lord It is wonderfull and something strange to humane sence that God has appointed so great a reward as the Kingdome of Heaven to him that shall but give a cup of cold water in his name yet are men so foolish that unlesse they can atchieve the greatest they neglect lesser matters which are likewise very profitable He that neglects not his duty in things but small in their appearance will learn to be able to performe greater But he that is negligent in a little will be a weak discharger of greater duties And to prevent this humane inclination Christ has left us great proposalls of certain reward for things to be compast with very little trouble What is more easie then to pay the labourer his hire which is but a part of thy own gain and yet large are the promises of our Lord for that See then the way to lay hold on Everlasting salvation enter into it delight in our Lord pray incessantly unto him again submit thy self to his easie yoak take on thy shoulders the light burthen thou bearst in a more happy condition and let the end of it prove worthy the beginning of thy life Do not O do not despise such infinite riches which freely flow unto thee And they are all for ever lost to thee if thou perseverest to exasperate our Lord with those ill courses thou art in For if thou yet stopst the channells and hinder'st this deluge in time before it has made too great a breach thou maist repaire thy losses to thy great advantage When thou hast considered and meditated seriously on this as thou oughtest fling away the filth and mud which hangs upon thy soule rise from out of the mire wherein thou hast wallowed And see how formidable thou wilt be to thy adversarie who believ'd he had cast thee down never to rise again it will amaze him to see thee again provoke him to the battaile surpriz'd with thy recovery and astonisht at such an undaunted resolution how fearfull will the coward the Devill be to attempt again the ensnaring thee If other mens calamities be proper lessons for us shall not all our owne instruct us I believe that I shall see this shortly in thee and that thou wilt appear in the sight of Heaven a person restor'd to grace a more excellent and clearer soul then ever thou were one that shall give testimonies of such perfection and integrity that thou maist be ranckt amongst the best men if not preferr'd before them Onely despair not fall not againe This is my counsell do thou as my custome is When ever I hear any thing from others may profit me I make no delay to embrace and follow it and if thou receivest with a good purpose these my admonitions thy sick and languishing soule will need no other Physick FINIS Erata Page 1. l. 5. for this r. the l 7. of dissolute r. of a dissolute p. 3. l. 4. of sin r. of any sin l. 13. for for prepared r. so prepared l. 20. for committing every thing that was dedicated r. committing every thing to the flames that was dedicated p. 6. l. 7. for intollerable r. in alterable p. 9. l. 5. r. linkd to p. 12. l. 16. for rebellious r. religious p. 14. l. 15. for wretched r. wretches p. 23. l. 1. leave out and promised p. 24. l. 6. r. like a loving father p. 26. l. last for peruses r. persues p. 31. l 11. for confidences r. consciences p. 44. l. 28. r. delights for lights p. 46. l. 17. for again r. gone again p. 60. l. 7. r. there appeared not p. 62. l. 22. for receive r. conceive p. 67. l. 11. for screen scaene p. 70. l. 4. for undertake labour r. undertake the labour p. 72. l. 5. for choosed r. crost p. 79. l. 12. for Hermions r. Hermiones p. 79. l. 17. for starrs r. statues p. 80. l. 7. for Hermion's r. Hermione's p. 84. l. 6. for hope r. home ibid. l. 23. for greater r. great p. 87. l. 3. for were r. wore p. 103. l. 13. Chap. is intitled the 5. ibid l. 3. I knew a young Phoenix r. I knew a young man Phoenix p. 104. l. 3. for religions r. religious Reader this multitude of faults in so small a treatise I can attribute to nothing but my own ill hand which deceived the printer which I entreat thee to correct The Contents of every Chapter CHAP. I. SAint Chrysostome passionately describes the great esteem and value we ought to have of our own soules and on that basis he raises the fabrick of this treatise to perswade Theodorus plung'd into extream sinns and bewitch't with the vanity of a dissolute life to return to vertue and piety in which he had once been an eminant example CHAP. II. The Devil endeavours and practices to undermine our hopes and raze the foundation of our eternall happiness The comparison betwixt a dying body and a perishing soul with an exhortation to be couragious in our conflicts with the Devill CHAP. III. Gods mercie to the greatest sinners an argument against despair CHAP. IV. The example of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon a cohaerence to the preceding Chapter CHAP. V. That sincere repentance is alwaies acceptable to God declar'd out of Holy writ by example precept and parable CHAP. VI That we ought carefully to cleanse our soules from the filth of sin which must by no meanes be slighted or neglected since in this word we cannot presume on to morrow every thing is so subject to mutability And then the pleasures of the Earth being so short and so quickly vanishing we ought to fix our thoughts upon that eternity in which we shall be crown'd with glory or plagued in torments CHAP. VII Hell fire expos'd to the terror of the impenitent with the torments and the certainty thereof CHAP. VIII Of the beatitude of the Saints glorified in Heaven pressing Theodorus farther to amendment by arguing that Heaven is rather to be sought after then Hell to be fear'd the glory of the one being a more moving object then the terriblenesse of the other CHAP. IX Of the day of judgement CHAP. X. The joyes of Heaven prosecuted give occasion to discourse of the felicities and blessings God has promis'd our soules the excellencies wherewith they are enricht and vile contempt we have of them preferring our bodies their slaves before them CHAP. XI Saint Chrysostome continues here the glorious nature of the Soule and from that excellence prosecutes his perswasions to Theodorus still striving to overcome the rebellions of his lusts with exhortations and pressing arguments CHAP. XII The story of the Ninivites repenpentance the proeme to St. Chrysostomes farther urging Theodorus to his conversion collecting thence that the greatest sinners may return to God he prosecutes his perswasives alledging that many so converted have become the best and most zealous people CHAP. XIII Sant Chrysostome relates a story of Phoenix a young Gentleman of his time another of an Hermit another of a Disciple of Johns the Son Zebedeus and of Onesimus out of Saint Paul with which he continues his perswasives to fallen Theodorus CHAP. XIV The sum and conclusion of this treatise FINIS No comparison betwixt the death of the body and the soul St. Chrysostom's application to Theodorus The Hermet The schooler of John In Eusebius Eccles. Hist. lib. 5. c. 2.