ADVICE TO A FRIEND DEPRESSA RESVRGO ECCLUS xiv 13. Do good unto thy Friend before thou dye GREG. NYSSEN 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 London Printed for R. Royston Book-seller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXIII AN ADVERTISEMENT FROM THE PVBLISHER TO THE READER Reader I Have nothing to say either of this Boâ—k or of its Author But only desire the Reader if he like the Counsels which are here given for the promoting and better ordering of Devotion and for the preserving of a pious Soul in peace and chearfulness that he would be so kind and faithfull to himself as to follow them And the hope I have that after a perusal they will invite him so to do makes me secure the Author will not be displeased to see that exposed to publique view which was at first intended only for a private Persons use For if the Advice be good the more common it grows so much the better it is and it will not be the less mine when it is gone into other hands Plato I am told calls Love the Ornament of all both of the Gods and of Men the fairest and most excellent Guide whom every man ought to follow and celebrate with Hymnes and Praises And what is there in which we can better express and declare it to others than in communicating to them that which we hold in highest esteem our selves It was that which first produced this Treatise and from thence it comes abroad That which the same Person saith is the Father of delights of mirth of whatsoever is gracefull and desirable was the Parent of this Book And therefore let it be accepted with the same kindness wherewith it was writ and is now Printed Let all the faults if you find any be overlookt with a friendly eye and do not discourage so excellent a vertue as Friendship to which we owe the best things in the World by severe and harsh censures of any thing that it produces But I need not I think be solicitous about this the pious design of the Book being sufficient to give it protection if it cannot gain it approbation It hurts no body and therefore may pass it self with more safety and it offers its service to do every body good which me thinks should be taken kindly even by those who stand in no need of it As for those who shall make use of it and find any benefit by it they will complain perhaps only of the Author's thriftiness and wish he had been more liberal of his Advice And so it 's like he would if he had not consulted his Friends ease more than his own and considered rather what would be usefull than what would make a great show You will take a wrong measure of his kindness if you judg of it by the bulk of the Book which was purposely contracted into a little room that it might be a constant Companion and as easie to carry in mind as it is to carry in ones hand And let the defects of it be what they will they may be supplied out of one of the Rules you here meet with if you please to make use of it which is to chuse a good Guide from whom you may receive further Advice in any thing that is necessary for your Progress in Piety or for the setling your Conscience in peace And that we may none of us ever want such a faithful and skilful Person to conduct us and that we may receive a benefit by these and all other good Counsels let us heartily joyn in that Prayer to God which is the Collect for this Day and add it often to the ensuing Devotions Leave us not we beseech Thee destitute of thy manifold Gifts nor yet of Grace to use them alway to thy Honour and Glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen St. Barnabie's Day 1673. IMPRIMATUR Sam. Parker R. Rmo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no Gilberto Divinâ Providentiâ Archi. Ep. Cant. à Sacris Domesticis Maii 14. 1673. Ex Aed Lambeth ADVICE TO A FRIEND My Friend MAN bears some resemblance and may not unfitly be compared to a Diamond or such like precious stone whose darker parts confess that it is of the earth but the brighter look as if it had borrowed some rayes from the Sun or Stars He is a substance I mean consisting of a terrestrial Body and celestial Spirit with his Feet he touches the earth but with his Head he touches Heaven Though the neighbourhood knows whence his Body came and remembers the time perhaps when it lay in the dark Cell of his mothers womb yet his Soul doth absolutely deny that it is of so mean extraction And casting its eyes upward calls to mind its high descent and parentage and takes it to be no presumption to affirm that we are the off-spring of God He cannot therefore but find in himself propensions and desires not only different from but contrariant to each other For since two worlds meet in him and he is placed in the confines of heaven and earth his will must needs hang between two widely distant goods the one propounding pleasures to his body and the other to his mind And though once there was a time when these two preserved such a friendship and gave such due satisfaction to one anothers just interests and inclinations that they did not break out into an open war yet this peace lasted not so long as to let us feel the blessings and happiness thereof But that part whose kindred and acquaintance was in this world apprehended the first occasion that offered it self to quarrel with the other whose native countrey was not so visible through walls of flesh and denying to consent unto it plainly rebelled and entred into a state of hostility against it This it might do with the more ease because two parts of those three into which the Soul is ordinarily divided stand very much affected to the Body and its concernments The Desiring part that is always ready to run to any thing and embrace it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath the appearance of a bodily good the Angry part that is no less forward to shun and to make defence against whatsoever seems to be a bodily evil to the Rational is committed the direction and government of these which that it may manage aright it is to maintain a constant conversation with an higher good to which all the lower desires and passions ought to be subordinate and subject These are handsomely compared by a noble Greek Philosopher to the Three Ranks or Orders of men that are in a City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proclus L. 1. in Timaeum The Servants the Souldiers and the Magistrates The first of which are to do all the work and make such provisions as are necessary for its support The second serve for a guard to protect and defend it from all dangerous assaults And the third sits in Counsel pronounces Judgment issues out Orders makes Rules and gives
us Look therefore how great how goodly how glorious how beautiful and pleasant we are and he is incomparably more bright more sweet more harmonious more filling and contenting than the whole World which is but his Creature And having thus a little raised up your mind above all things visible you may proceed to a new Meditation in this manner 3. If a Soul inclosed in this Body can see and apprehend so much of God O what a sight of him shall it have when it is freed from these Chaines If whilst we look out of these Windowes of Sense such a glorious Majesty presents it self before us in what an amazing splendor will the Divinity appear when there is nothing to interpose between us and its incomparable beauty If whilst there are so many other things to imploy our thoughts he discover so much of himself to us What will he do when we shall be alone with Him and seeing face to face shall know as we are known Is it not a Miracle to see so much light conveyed to us through so little a hole as that of the eye to behold so much of the Heaven and the Earth at once and such a company of beautiful objects crowding in together at so narrow a passage without any disturbance or discomposure O what an admirable pleasure then as Seneca discourses with himself will the Soul be surprised withall when it shall come into the Region of light when it shall be all surrounded with this glorious Body when on every side as we may conceive it shall take in light and be adorned and clothed with it as with a Garment And may we not with greater reason meditate on this manner when we think of God the Creator of light and of all those goodly things which it discovers to us Ought we not to say to our selves O what wisdom what greatness what riches of goodness is this which showes it self in all his works of wonder What a World of things hath he comprised in this one little Being which calls it self Man whose mind is circumscribed and yet extends it self beyond the limits of this sensible World which remaining in this body swiftly runs and takes its circuit and views all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and united to these Senses abstracts it self from them and goes to the Father of Spirits whom it meets with every where Is it thus active thus busie thus capacious discerning whilst it is thrust up in such a close and little Room as this poor Body and shall it not be more vigorous more piercing more inlarged when it is set at liberty from this imprisonment It will then sure stretch it self to receive more of him it will see him more clearly and comprehend him more fully admire him with more improved and extended thoughts and love him with a more ardent flame and feel more of his wisdome more of his goodness pressing in upon it and filling of it with infinite joy and satisfaction 4. Again you may think with your self if God bestow so many goodly things even upon the wicked then what shall be the portion of the just Do not the worst of men possess great plenty of his blessings Doth he not entertain them here with strange variety of delicious enjoyments Are they not so liberally and abundantly provided for that Silver and Gold and Jewels are theirs and all Creatures in the Earth and the Air and the Water are pressed for their Service O what Treasures what Riches of Glory what excess of Joy then will God confer on those who are most dear unto Him If he treat his Enemies in this manner how sumptuously will he entertain his Friends If he let such Rebels live in a Palace so stately so richly furnisht as this great World is which he hath built for good and bad what Mansions may we think are those which are peculiarly prepared for them who live in faithful obedience to him 5. And think again if God hath made this Building wherein we dwell so sumptuous though it be to continue but for a time O how glorious are those Mansions which are Eternal in the Heavens If he hath bestowed so much cost on that which waxeth old and shall vanish away what are the Ornaments of that which shall never decay Is not this very mortal Body which we inhabit very fearfully and wonderfully made Is it not contrived with admirable art and curiously wrought in the lowermost parts of this little World O how beautiful then will that Body be which is from Heaven and shall never be dissolved but remain Immortal there With what lustre shall we shine when this vile Body shall be changed and made like to the glorious Body of Christ our Lord 6. And cannot you easily make your self believe the inconceivable splendor of that place where God himself more particularly dwells since he hath made for us so fair and goodly an Habitation Heaven you know is called his dwelling-place and our blessed Lord calls it his Fathers House where there are many Mansions for all his beloved Ones O how beautiful how glorious how full of Majesty must this needs be seeing we and other of his lower Creatures live in a World which is so richly adorned and so fairly beautified both above and beneath Do you not see how the roof of this Palace if I may so speak wherein we are is all gilded with innumerable Stars how the Floor of it is overlaid with wonderful variety of pleasant Plants and lovely Flowers O how glistering O how refulgent then is that place may you think with your self in which the Lord of Heaven and Earth himself is pleased in a special manner to reside where he keeps his Court where all the Angels minister to Him where he shows the Greatness of his Glory and where our blessed Saviour sits at the Right Hand of the Throne of that Majesty on High 7. And when was it that he brought you into this delightful Dwelling so rarely furnish'd and richly adorn'd Was it not as soon as you were born before you could know to whom you were beholden or could give him any proof of your love and fidelity Think with your self then and say If God hath granted us such a World of good things by way of gift O what is that which he will bestow when he shall come to reward If before we do our duty to him I mean he is so bountiful nay opens his Hand so wide and fills every living thing with good though they cannot acknowledg him what blessings will he pour forth what liberality will he express when he comes to recompence our faithful services and give us according to our works For we see that gracious Princes who grant many immunities and priviledges to their subjects only because they are their subjects do not fail to raise and advance their good and valiant subjects who have performed some noble acts in their service to eminent Honours and High Places Now since
hitherto in performing my duty to Thee Yea I have tasted so often how gracious thou art that I account thy service the most perfect freedome and find that in keeping of thy Commandements there is great reward My Hope is that thou Lord who hast never failed those that seek thee Psal 9.10.19.11.138.8 wilt perfect that which concerneth me and not forsake the works of thine own hands It is Thee whom my Soul seeketh that I may have a more lively and prevailing sense of Thee that I may most ardently love Thee and constantly adhere to thy will and do Thee honour by a chearful observance of all thy Commands And from Thee it is that I have received these good inclinations and holy desires They are the fruit of thy love and therefore cannot but be thy delight which makes me still trust in Thee that thou wilt rejoyce over me and do me good I have thy Word to incourage me upon which thou hast caused me to hope And I know that thy Word is true from the begining 119. Psal 90.160 and that thy faithfulness is unto all Generations They are not the things which thou hast never promised us that I come to beg of Thee riches honours long life or the rest of the goods of this World for which I refer my self to thy wisdom to give me what portion of them thou pleasest but thy Holy Spirit which my Saviour hath told me thou wilt as readily give to those that ask it as a tender-hearted Parent will give food to his hungry Children when they cry unto him I desire only that thy own life may be nourished and protected in me and vanquish all its enemies and be compleated in a blessed Immortality I beg of thee more of the Grace of Humility of Meekness of Temperance of Patience of Brotherly-kindness and of Charity Endue me with moderate desires of what I want and a sober use of what I enjoy with more contentedness in what is present and less solicitude about what is future with a patient mind to submit to any loss of what I have or to any disappointment of what I expect with a pious care to improve my precious time in all other actions of a Christian life and with a willingness to conclude my days and return back to thee to be with Christ which is best of all Let I pray thee thy merciful kindness in these things be for my comfort 119. Psal 58.76 1. Colos 9.1 Phil. 11.15 Rom. 13.14 1. Pet. 5.10.48 Psal 14. according to thy Word unto thy Servant I entreat thy favour with my whole Heart Be merciful unto me according to thy Word Which hath pronounced those blessed that hunger and thirst after righteousness and promised that they shall be filled Fill me O Lord with the knowledge of thy will in all wisdome and spiritual understanding Fill me with goodness and the fruits of righteousness And fill me with all joy and peace in believing that thou wilt never leave me nor forsake me but make me perfect stablish strengthen settle me and be my God for ever and ever my Guide even unto Death Amen XV. AND now is there any need to use many words to show how much force there is in the Meditation of Death to make you lively It is the common opinion that all things intend themselves more earnestly and act in the extremity when they meet with their contrary which threatens their destruction As Springs are hottest in the coldest seasons and Fire it self most scorching in frosty weather Even so if we set Death very seriously before our mind and laid the thoughts of it close to our heart would it cause our life to be more full of Life We should gather together all our might to do as much as we can if we lookt upon our selves as going to the Grave where there is no work to be done at all The mind of Man is too apt to feed it self with the fancy of several pleasures that either Nature affords or Art hath invented Among all which a good natur'd mind findes none so delicious as the conceit which frequently starts up in it of the excessive pleasure he should enjoy were he always in the company of a Friend whom he loves intirely and might they spend their days even as they list themselves and dispose of all their Hours according to their own inclinations But if a thought of Death interpose it self when he is in the height of this delight it dashes all these fine Bubbles of the imagination in pieces All 's gone and vanishes into a sigh or there is nothing of them remains but a drop as big as a tear And therefore if it be so sharp a curb to the forwardness of our desires and serve as a Bridle to hold in our head-strong passions we may use it also as a good Spur to prick them on when they are too sluggish and to stir them up when they have no list to move at all When we are ready to fall asleep did we but think of dying it would make us start and say Who would sleep and dream away his time in this manner when for any thing he knows he hath but a few Sands left in his Glass Death is coming to draw the Curtains about me and to make my Bed for me in the dust Awake then up and be doing because there is a long Night near at hand wherein we must rest and not work And is it not a very great grace if for so small so short a work we shall receive so vast so long a reward It is a great shame to stand all the day idle if it be but for this very reason that our best diligence though it could be continued for many more years than it is like to be can never deserve such a recompence Place your self therefore as if you were upon your Death-bed and think with what ardent desires with what passionate groans with what an heartful of sighs you would seek after God if your Soul was just taking its flight out of this Body and perhaps this will send it out beforehand in the like sighs and groans which will help to waft You towards Heaven Just as when a man is to write to the dearest Friend he hath in the World and thinks they are the last Lines that ever he shall send him his very heart dissolves and drops it self into his Pen So would all our affections melt and flow forth towards God if we seemed to our selves as if we should never speak to him more with a Tongue of Flesh nor look upon him through these Windows of Clay but should shortly dwell in silence and go down into the House of Darkness O how would our Souls thirst for God as David speaks for the living God! How much should we love him and endeavour to confirm our friendship with him that when our Bodies are disposed of into the Earth our Souls might still live and rejoyce with Him in
be performed at another time so they will not wait upon us and stay our leisure and that as they pass away so we know not when they will come again For May as the Proverb is comes not every Moneth and a fit opportunity lies not in every lock of Times head And if there should yet it is bald behind and we cannot call back that which is gone which may be better than will be presented to us again And if we find by experience that these occasions do excite our Souls then the observing and embracing them will be an excellent means to keep us from dulness because it is likely that God will favour us with more of them when he sees that we use those well which he hath given us already But yet you ought to be cautious that this do not prove matter of scruple and perplexity to you if you neglect an occasion when you are otherwise necessarily employed For both prudence and the forwardness of our affections and every thing else must give way to a real necessity and of two necessary things that seems to be most necessary in which we are already engaged Make therefore a short Address to God and both comfort and quicken your self after this manner when you are dull and indisposed or otherwise apt to be perplexed upon such accounts as these A PRAYER O My God whose Name is most excellent in all the Earth and ought to be celebrated with the highest and continual Praises of Men and Angels How happy are they whose minds are ever delighted in the thoughts of Thee and whose hearts constantly burn with ardent affection and devotion to Thee It is some satisfaction to think of that vehement love wherewith the Holy Spirits above perpetually acknowledg thy bounty to them to us and to all thy Creatures and to feel my self desirous if it were possible to accompany them at all times with the like affections of a most chearful and joyful heart in that Heavenly employment Accept I most humbly beseech thy Divine Goodness of these sincere desires that thou hast wrought in me Graciously accept of these pantings of my Soul after a freer and more delightful converse with Thee And pitty the great weakness and dulness of my nature which will not permit such ardours of love to continue always as by thy grace I sometimes feel in my heart towards Thee Pitty O pitty and take compassion upon me when I am so heavy as not to be able to lift up mine eyes towards Heaven or when I move so slowly and faintly as if I had no lift to serve thee in the works of piety righteousness and charity O that I may feel my spirit stirred with a greater zeal and carried with stronger desires at all other times when I am better disposed for thy service that then I may run the ways of thy Commandments when thou hast enlarged my heart And endue me likewise with prudence equal to that uprightness and integrity of heart which I hope I shall always carefully preserve That I may neither neglect any occasion of exciting and expressing a most fervent love to Thee nor dispirit my self by an indiscreet heat and forwardness to the performance of any part of my Christian duty Dispose me but to be ever serious resolved stedfast and watchful to be always well or innocently imployed and to be still going on with continued and constant motions to perfect holiness in thy fear and I shall hope by thine Infinite grace to finish my course at last with joy and to arrive at the happiness of that blessed company who as they do thy Commandments hearkning to the voice of thy Word so they are not weary in their obedience to Thee but with incessant Praises and Thanksgivings serve Thee World without end Amen V. YOU see already how necessary it is well to understand our selves and therefore lest you should think the pleasures of Religion to be other than they are it will concern you My Friend in the next place to Distinguish carefully between those consolations that are spiritual and those that are sensible For your receiving benefit by this Rule you must consider that the spirit of man being as I said joyned to a body and made a member of this World and yet belonging to another Country hath several sorts of faculties which we call its upper and lower powers whereby it converses with both With the former which are the mind understanding and will it hath entercourse with God and Invisible things and is fitted to improve all lower objects to an heavenly end with the other which we call sense imagination and sensitive appetite we can maintain acquaintance with nothing but this outward World Or rather this one Soul of Man is fitted with Capacities of such different kinds that it can hold correspondence with God and the higher World and likewise with the goods of the body in this World which is sensible to us Now such a friendship there is between the Soul and the Body by reason of their nearness and between the upper and lower faculties of the Soul if you so conceive of it by reason as I may call it of their oneness that they do mutual good offices for each other when they are able And as the Soul lends such a great part of it self to serve the Bodies necessities so the bodily spirits likewise are ready to assist the Soul in their better Moods to a freer pursuit of its own concernments in its motion towards God and the things above And more than this the pleasures of the one redound to the other what the Soul doth for the Body returning upon the mind it self and the bodily spirits likewise oft-times feeling the contentment of which the mind tasteth Hence it is that by discreet use of bodily enjoyments and due attendance to the outward Mans moderate satisfaction the spirits ofttimes are made so mild and sweet so chearful and compliant that the Mind finds them more ready and forward to accompany it in the contemplation of Diviner objects and it serves it self the more by serving the Body for a while And on the contrary part when the mind converses with Heavenly things they so powerfully touch it at certain Seasons that they make a motion there all over even as far as the very skirts of its Territories The Heart is glad the Spirits leap and dance for joy and the very blood in our Veins runs the smoother for it Now while we have this sensible delectation in the borders of our Soul by the agitation of the Animal Spirits to which the mind communicates its resentments there is no part of us but can be well content to accompany the mind in its devotions and they will not be enclined to with draw their attendance from these delightful services But on the other side if the Mind through incapacity it is like of the Body to receive them cannot impress its perceptions upon the Spirits nor make such a warmth and
I forget to look continually towards this Immortal Life And what is that should make me forget it How come I to lose that sense and let go my hopes of Immortal Life O wonderful Love O patient goodness which still waits and attends upon me to remind my Soul of its everlasting bliss May I after so long a time of sleep and such forgetfulness be favoured with a sight of it Will my love and free obedience be yet accepted Awake awake then all the hidden powers of my Soul rise up and call him blessed Who can with-hold his heart from devoting it self affectionately to him With what pleasures can I entertain my self comparable to those which grow out of the hope of Immortal Life Or what service can be unpleasant which is undertaken for so great an happiness The thoughts of it make my Soul light and aërial even under the burden of this Body I feel it drawing me up above from whence when I look down upon all the men of this lower World how do they appear but as so many little Ants busily creeping on a Mole-hill while I sit upon the holy Hill of God O that my mind could dwell there Or since I cannot reach so high a felicity it may never descend from thence but with a lively remembrance of the joys of that Celestial Hope which may bear me up above all the petty temptations of this World For what is it that I labour and toil with such restless thoughts and desires For what am I troubled and discontented Can any thing make him absolutely unhappy who hopes to live for ever with God No I will rejoyce in my Lord always again I say I will rejoyce I will bear at least even all my dulness and listlesness to my duty with a quiet and composed mind in hope one day to be more full of life Here my Pen is very forward and would be running on further than my design will allow And therefore I must restrain it and abbreviate also the remaining Counsels having been so long in some of the foregoing lest instead of a little Book to carry about with you and refresh you I should send you a tedious Volume that will quite tire you Let me only annex before I leave this a Prayer to God which relates to what hath been now said and with which you are not unacquainted A PRAYER O Most Holy and blessed for ever more Who art the most excellent Nature the Perfection of beauty happy in thy self alone and needest not the Company of any of thy Creatures to make thee happier than thou art It is we poor beggarly things that stand in need of thy continued grace and love who art the Father of our spirits the only hope and stay of our hearts the joy and comfort of our life that filling and satisfying good in whom alone our desires can meet with perfect rest and repose The most glorious of all the Heavenly Host can find no higher pleasures than those of loving and praising and obeying thee whose Ministers they are and delight to be in executing the commands of thy holy will in every thing For thy will is guided by the best and most excellent reason and is so propense we see to goodness benignity and charity that all its commands must needs be reasonable and good too and intend the greatest kindness to those that are obedient to them Every Creature in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth and in the Sea obeys thy Almighty Word declaring thee to be as good as thou art great Rev. 5.13 and giving not only glory and power but blessing and honour unto thy Divine Majesty and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Yea that blessed Son of thy love when he came into the World freely chose to do thy will and not his own saying I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart Psal XL. 7. What is there then in Heaven or Earth that I can wish but to be united in hearty devout and chearful affection together with my dearest Saviour and all the Saints and Heavenly Host to that most holy will of thine by a free and constant obedience to it It is infinitely fit and desirable I am sure that we above all the rest of thy Creatures should take a perfect contentment and pleasure in serving thee who hast not only gratified all our senses with great and delightful variety of good things in this World but also sent thy Son from Heaven to entertain our Spirits with joyful hopes of having our weak and short obedience here rewarded with great and endless pleasures at thy right hand in the World to come Lord what is man that thou shouldest have such a regard unto him And what hearts have we if after all thy grace we should delight in any thing more than thee or be weary and faint in our minds while we are doing thy blessed will O how deeply should we have been indebted to thee if thou hadst only admitted us to the happiness of knowing and loving thee and complying with thy good will while we dwell in this body But that thou shouldest design when we expire to recompense the meer discharge of our duty here with the continued happiness of being with thee and enjoying thee for ever is an expression of thy bounty that exceeds all our wonder and admiration If a full sense of this thy stupendious goodness should now possess our spirits they would grow I believe too big and large for our bodies and bursting forth in passionate love would make their way into Eternity which only is wide and long enough to admire and love and praise thee in But be pleased O Lord of love in thy infinite goodness to give me at present such a true and lively feeling of it as may make me think of nothing so much or with so much delight and satisfaction of heart and as may inflame me with such a fervent love unto thee that it may melt and dissolve my will into thine and consume all my corrupt desires and abate at least the chilness and indifference of my spirit and offer me up a whole burnt Sacrifice to thee my God And then stay I most humbly beseech thee for the fulness of my love and praises and joyful acknowledgments till I come to that happy liberty of having nothing else to do but to love and thank and magnifie thy Name for ever and ever It is my daily and repeated desire according as our Lord hath taught us that thy will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven to which both now and ever I say most heartily Amen O purge and refine my nature to such a degree of vertue and goodness that I may at least delight to do thy will as those heavenly Creatures do O that those little little acts of Piety and Charity which I am able to exercise in this World may never want this complacence in the performance of them
and perswaded to confide and put their whole trust in him Never so much as imagine that he will disappoint those good Souls that rely and depend on nothing in their obedience to him but his undoubted promises Let it not come into any our minds or let the thought of it be abhorred and rejected with indignation that after he hath made us such assurances of his Care and Love he will break his word and let us fall when we have fast hold of his Mercy and his Truth Men may prove false and treacherous there may be such Monsters whose kindnesses are but flatteries and their invitations but insnarements But faithfulness it self cannot be unfaithful God's Goodness cannot mock us His infinite perfections will not let Him have any unworthy designs upon us or any ways delude us What deceive a Confident and fail a Friend Such God is pleased to esteem us when we devote our selves in love to his Service which is a farther consideration of greater moment than any else to secure us of his faithful kindness For if our heart will not serve us to let a poor neighbour fall to the ground when we can easily support him much less to desert one that hath intirely trusted us with all he hath and who by our desire reposed this trust in us then least of all can we be enclined to abandon the care of him who by long conversation with us and experience of us is become our Friend This gives him a new and a stronger title to all that we can do for him and because we have been so kind will be the best reason why we should continue to be so still Consider but the Natural works of God doth He begin to form the life of a Child in the Womb and leave it before it become a perfect Creature yea if it be but a Chicken in an Egg doth he not bring it to its full growth unless in either case something extraordinary hinder Why then should we dream that he will desist and forsake the formation of his Son Christ in us the lively Image of whom he hath already begun It must be some strange violence which we offer to our selves some very ill use of our Souls and great straining of the conscience that can make us miscarry I have askt the Question you know elsewhere and let me briefly repeat it again in this place Who was it that bid S. Peter to walk upon the Water At whose command did his body though apt to sink like a stone tread in that soft and yielding Element Was it not our Saviour that said Come and that was enough His word made the floods that they could not swallow him up He felt no more difficulty or danger in those paths as long as he believed our Saviour's Power than if he had walked on dry Land Then it was that he began to sink when his faith turned into fear His heart sunk before his body and his courage yielded before the Waters Just so it is with us who are compounded of earthly materials and yet are bid to wade through this world to heaven A Miracle it is that our dull Nature which hangs downward and is inclined to sink into the soft delights of sense should be able to look up above and not be swallowed up in a gulph of sin and misery For this we stand indebted to the Divine Power upholding and aiding our weakness And He that hath called us as he did Peter and bid us come to him continues his mighty word with us and bids us go on in the ways of his Commandements What need we fear as long as we have him in our company to go along with us And when is it that we are in danger of drowning but when we grow diffident as St. Peter did and our minds are fixed more upon the Wind and the Waves the hardships and the hazards that threaten us than upon the grace and power of our Lord that takes the charge of us And yet if through our fearfulness and distrust we chance to stagger and waver in our resolution we are not utterly undone but have a Remedy very near us Our Lord will put forth his hand even in the midst of these fears and hold us up as he did that faint-hearted Disciple of his when we cry out to Him in his words Lord save me It is stoutly resolved by an Heathen that seeing all disorders in man arise partly from the weakness of those reasons that are in his mind and partly from the excessive abundance of gross matter to which he is chained and seeing those Reasons Notions are Divine and near of Kin to the Gods themselves the insuperable and irresistible power of the Gods will come to the assistance of their Kindred Proclus L. 1. in Timaeum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and so revive renew those Reasons so comfort cherish their weakness that they shall be able to conquer the heaviness and dulness of the bodily impediments Let us much more resolutely conclude that seeing our Souls though here in this Prison are the off-spring of God and seeing likewise he is manifested in our flesh and hath married it as I may say to himself he will mightily incourage strengthen the one and help us to disburden the other and purifie both and that he will never despise the faintest essayes of any honest Soul that faithfully strugles for greater liberty but assist it in all its attempts and endeavours to be unloaded and made more free and chearful in his service These very motions derive themselves from Heaven and may as confidently expect to be succoured from thence as a Child to receive relief from his Parents when he is in distress and when by his order also he is ingaged to apply his weakness to a mighty work which without his help he knows cannot be accomplished It is incredible that the Father of Mercies should expose that which is born of him to be undone and perish which will certainly be the fate of all that is good in us without his constant care and assistance for its preservation Do not doubt but God will look after his own and see that the little portion of goodness which is remaining in this World be countenanced and incouraged In assurance of which you may address your self unto him after this manner A PRAYER O Lord who hast breathed into me the breath of life and indued me with an Immortal Spirit which looks up unto thee and remembers it is made after thine own Image and that thou hast sent Jesus Christ from Heaven to repair and renew that Image in wisdome righteousness and holiness Behold with grace and favour the ardent desires which are in mine heart to recover a perfect likeness of Thee By thine Almighty Love all Praise be unto Thee my mind is already awakened to some sense of Thee and my will overcome to yield up it self intirely to obey Thee and I have been assisted
far greater advantages on the other Just as you see sometimes a wild-headed and unthrifty Heir though there be no comparison between his future inheritance and a small sum of present money yet for the pleasing of a violent passion sells the reversion of an estate which after some years would make him very rich and happy So do souls that are not serious and deliberate heedlesly resign for mere trifles their apparant title to such things as are of most importance to their true and lasting felicity Though the possessions of the other world be as far beyond all our enjoyments here as this world is above nothing yet because these things here are present and because they are ever soliciting and offering themselves to us and because they entertain our desires with pleasure and because they put us to little pains to give our selves the fruition of them they are wont to prevail with sleepy and careless minds to purchase them though they part with all their interest in the other world as the price of the bargain From hence there grows a necessity of that precept of vigilance and watchfulness which our Lord Christ hath given his Souldiers lest through subtle insinuations or frequent and violent assaults this old enemy get up again and establish it self in a new and more grievous tyranny Augustus deservedly reproved the folly of Alexander who as the story goes was troubled in his mind for want of imployment after the conquest as he imagined of the whole world for he should have considered said that great Emperour that there is no less pains and wisdom requisite to keep a possession than there is to win it We must not think that we have ended our warfare when we have reduced the flesh to some terms of obedience and peace but the strongest soul will find it necessary to keep a constant guard or else that enemy whose weakness consists in our watchfulness will succeed in its indeavours to get all into its hands once more and settle it self in that throne from whence it was so happily depos'd Whensoever we grow remiss the experience of all the world tells us our souls lose as much in a week as they have been acquiring by a whole years labour To fall down is very easie and we tumble apace but we cannot climb the hill without difficulty and by little steps and slow motions we advance towards the upper world and the celestial blessedness which will cost us much patience and unwearied industry before we approach it But what will keep the Mind may you demand from this remisness what remedies can you prescribe to preserve a feeble spirit from being stupified and lull'd asleep sometimes with these gaudy Poppies these fair and soft enjoyments which appear every where and continually surround us who is able to keep a perpetual watch and never take a nap In such a long work who can chuse but be sometimes weary When I consider my own infirmity and the enemies strength my natural love to these worldly things and their restless importunity the length of my journey and my aptness to be tired and especially when I see so many seeming Champions that have been overcome so many that did run well who have grown slack or retired I am afraid may your heart say that I shall never hold out to the end and maintain the ground stedfastly on which I stand And indeed it must be confessed that the spirit is not alwayes alike able to make a valiant resistance and couragious opposition But what through the defect and disorder of the bodily instruments which it uses and what through strange occasions and unusual accidents that it meets withal to surprise it and what through the strength of some one object either of joy or grief or such like that seises mightily upon the imagination and what through its own timorousness which makes the enemy grow confident and what through the want now and then of those delectable motions of Gods good Spirit and those heavenly consolations wherewith it hath been transported it may fall into some listlesness and dulness and grow so faint that it hath but little heart to maintain its Christian warfare But yet for all this you ought not to despond nor be quite discouraged at the thoughts that you may possibly one day find your self in these unhappy circumstances You are not left without a Remedy either for the preventing of the fall of your soul into this condition or for the delivery and raising of it up should it chance to slide into it or for its safety and preservation that it may receive no harm whilst it lies therein and can for the present meet with no means to rid it self of so great a burthen This little Book comes to bring you some relief and lend you some support and aid in such a case It hath no other business but to give your soul the best assistance that mine can afford it for its security that whatsoever assault may be made upon you whatsoever weaknesses you may feel in your self and whatsoever advantage the enemy may make of them the flesh notwithstanding may never be able to draw you back again underits power but your Spirit may stand fast in its pious resolution and come off with victory and triumph at the last And let the Divine Spirit of Wisdom and Grace I humbly beseech the Father Almighty so guide my Pen that your Soul may receive no less benefit by the reading of these Papers than mine doth contentment in the writing of them and that the Good they do you may be proportionable to the Love from whence they come Amen I. AND in the first place let me advise you to bring your self into as great an acquaintance and familiarity as ever you can with unseen and spiritual things and to make your mind so sensible of them that they may seem the most real and substantial beings You easily discern how sutable this Counsel is to the foregoing discourse and you can tell your self how much of our listlesness and want of spiritual appetite proceeds from hence that these outward things press continually very hard upon us and make us feel that they have a being and a solid subsistance but the other rarely touch us with any force and so appear as if they were only in our fancy Our soul seems to us in our careless thoughts as if it were but a breath or a thin vapour But our Body we perceive to be a massy bulk of whose concerns we are therefore very apprehensive The Divine being though the cause of all others seems but like a shadow on whom our Soul having no fast hold it is no wonder that we rather catch at those things which we can grasp and feel to have some substance in them The report of immortal life and bliss in heaven comes to us like a common story of which there is some probability but no certainty and that inclines us to close so greedily with the
enjoyments of this life which make more strong impressions on our body than the other on our Spirit The glass through which we look upon this lower world makes every thing we desire appear exceeding great nay multiplies and increases it to vast dimensions but when we cast our eyes upward towards our heavenly countrey alas things appear there as if we had turn'd about the perspective so little so remote so like nothing that we can scarce discern them or retain any remembrance of them We have a kind of opinion and half perswasion concerning these inward and intellectual objects but we have a sense and full apprehension of our outward enjoyments Now though opinion may govern us and we may follow it while there are no considerable impediments to oppose it yet when any difficulty arises or something crosses our way to which we stand very much affected it will soon submit it self and leave us to our new inclinations because it is but an opinion We must confirm our souls therefore in a full belief of those spiritual things which thus differs from a bare opinion of them The one is grounded only upon probable reasons or on good reason but half considered and feebly assented unto the other upon clear and manifest evidences well digested and fully entertained So that the one leaves us weak and wavering because it leaves us half in and half out of the arms of Truth but the other makes us firm constant and unmoveable because it puts us compleatly and intirely into its embraces All those times then which are so favourable as to let your mind be free and unclog'd spend some of your retired thoughts in the company of immaterial beings and approach so near them that you even feel and handle them and remain perswaded they are no less real than those which you see and hear and touch with your outward man By which means they will infinitely more engage your affections and tie your heart unto them than any thing else can do because of the vast disproportion which every one acknowledges supposing their existence between them and all that you love in this sensible world 1. Think first of all that your Body is but the clothes and garments of your Soul and that this indeed is the man And undress your self in your own thoughts strip your self of these robes and conceive that you are only a naked Spirit This you can do and thereby you will both make your Soul think more of it self and you will likewise plainly prove it is quite distinct from your body in whose society though it live yet is not of its lineage but of another nature and original For nothing can think it self not to be since by its very thinking so it proves that it hath a being But we can quite put off all thoughts that we have this body hanging about us and the Soul can think it self to be what now it is though it look not through these eyes nor speak with this tongue nor write with these hands nor have any other thing about it but its own thoughts And therefore it is not such a thing as this Body but some better and more noble substance It is that which tells you that you have a Body If you believe it you have reason to believe withal that it self is some other being of more force and longer continuance because you can now think you have castoff your body and conceive it lying in the dust your soul still remaining as it is full of these and other such like thoughts but you can never think you have no soul because even by that conception you prove that you have and shew your self to be a thoughtful thing 2. When you have thus therefore discoursed your self into some feeling of your Soul think in the next place very seriously that whatsoever you clearly apprehend by this though it be perceived by none of your outward senses yet is no less real and certain than what you use with them Disbelieve your eyes and think that your ears bring you a false report rather than doubt of any thing which your mind doth plainly and distinctly perceive Though you cannot but yield an assent to the relation which any of your senses make you yet since the mind is the more excellent Principle and it hath a most certain existence give the greatest credit to what it affirms when none of them can afford you any evidence 3. And then you will presently find that your mind asserts nothing so strongly as the being of a God without whom it could not be Perswade your self therefore as confidently of him as you do of that which your eyes behold Though your eyes see him not as they do the Sun yet say to your self my Soul doth which gives as sound an evidence on his behalf as my eyes do for the Sun That great Light and all the rest of those Globes of Fire which I see in the Skies declare him as clearly to my mind as they do themselves to my outward Sense I cannot think of them nor of my self nor of any thing else in this great World but a Divine Being presents it self before me by whose incomparable wisdom and Almighty goodness they were at once produced and set in this beautiful and useful order in which I behold them Exhort your self therefore to look about you as often for this end as you are apt to do for other little purposes that you may see God in this goodly Temple which he hath built himself for his own glory Set your Soul in that Divine Presence which fills all things Open your eares listen to the wide World and hear as Gregory Nazianzen excellently speaks that great and admirable Preacher of his Majesty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 43. Is it possible as Athanasius well reasons to come into a great City consisting of a Multitude of Inhabitants of different sorts great and small rich an◠poor old and young Men Wome◠and Children Slaves Souldiers an◠Tradesmen and to see all things ordered so handsomely that every on◠of these though opposite in their inclinations agree and conspire together for the common good the Rich not grieving the Poor nor the strong oppressing the weak nor the young rising up against the aged Can one possibly I say behold all this and not conclude that there is a wise and powerful Governour there though we see him not by whose Authority they enjoy this happy concord Why then should we not draw the same Conclusion from the sight of this great World composed of divers contrary Beings moving several ways and to distant ends but making as good harmony alltogether as the various strings of a Lute whose sweet Musick coming to our eares proves there is some excellent Artist Orat. contra Gentes though hid from our eyes by whom they are tuned and touched Confusion is a sign of anarchy but order demonstrates a Governour 4. If then there be a God
Heaven expecting also a blessed Resurrection And if you say that in this state of dulness that I am speaking of a Soul is fit to think of nothing this thing will tell you how it alarms the heart and makes it muster up its thoughts and collect its scattered Forces that it may be in a readiness to receive the approaches of Death and its assault upon us And the thoughts of it at such a time are the more natural and easie because there is nothing more like to Death than this unactive and sluggish temper when the Soul seems as if it were buried in the Body and intombed already in this Vault of Flesh And it would be very easy to show how much every one of the foregoing counsels would be improved by our frequent conversation on all occasions with our Graves It would excite our minds to enquire after another World and make us very desirous to find it out It would raise our esteem of the great love of God who hath given us such assurance of a never dying life It would carry away our thoughts from this Earth as not the place of our setled abode It would presently send them above and bid them see the pleasures which we do but imagine here in their full growth and perfection of joy and happiness there O how delightful would Religion and Vertue be unto us which is the only thing we can carry away with us How curious should we be to judg aright that Death may not be the first thing that shall undeceive us How would it open our heart as I said to pour out it self in devout affections to God and what a comfort would these be to us if the records of them were spread before us at our dying hour This is so far from being an enemy to chearfulness that it is a forcible reason why we should freely enjoy all that God hath given us because we must shortly leave it Our Friends also we shall therefore be enclined to embrace more ardently and do them the more good and covet their company because we have not long to stay with them For when I said the thoughts of Death are apt to restrain our too forward desires I did not mean that it checks or abates our love to our Friends No Love is strong as Death and hard or unyielding as the Grave the Coals thereof are Coals of Fire a most vehement flame as Solomon speaks VIII Cant. 6. It burns that is like the Fire on the Altar for in the Hebrew the last words are the Flame of God which came down from Heaven and never went out Nothing can conquer it no not Death which conquers all Flesh That can only teach us not to place our chief contentment in any thing here no not in the best good in this World though never so dear unto us because it may shortly leave us only its shaddow the image of it in our memory which putting us in mind of our forepast pleasures will make us so much the more sad if we have not hope to find that good improved by its departure from us in another World And is not the use of a Friend then most visible when we think of our departure by whom as I said in one of the former Discourses we shall still remain with those whom we leave behind But what Friend is there like to our blessed Lord whose love we shall the oftner remember by commemorating his Death if we think of our own We cannot chuse but be excited to prepare our selves thereby for an happy and chearful dissolution And why should we not trust God with all we have for a little time whom we must shortly intrust with Soul and Body to all Eternity But I list not to prolong this Discourse with such collections as these which I will leave to your own thoughts with this Prayer wherewith you may awaken your mind when you find it necessary A PRAYER THou art worthy O Lord of all Praise Glory and Honour by whose Omnipotent Will and for whose pleasure all things in Heaven and Earth were created and by whose indulgent Providence they are continually maintained and preserved They shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a Garment 102. Psal 26.73.26 as a Vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy Years shall have no end I prostrate my self before Thee in an humble sense that I am but sinful dust and ashes who have nothing to glory in neither riches nor strength nor wisdome but only this O how happy is it for me that I know thee the ever living God the Rock of Ages the only solid foundation of our comfort and joy who when my Flesh and my Heart faileth wilt be the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever I am now presenting my Soul and Body to Thee in perfect health but cannot tell where I shall be the next moment or whether I shall live to breath out the desires of my Soul once more unto Thee For in thy hand is the breath of our Nostrils and when thou pleasest we are turned to destruction We dwell in Houses of Clay whose foundation is in the dust and they are daily crumbling and mouldering away so that we know not how soon they will vanish and be seen no more O how serious should the thoughts of this make me in all my addresses unto Thee How dead to all the sinful enjoyments of this World How holy and pure How heavenly minded and spiritual How ready to do good and to communicate to others those things which I must shortly leave How diligent to assure my self thereby of better enjoyments to make friends in Heaven that when I go hence I may be received into everlasting Habitations I see O Lord now that I think of my departure how unprofitable my too many cares are for the things of this life How vain my eager desires after unnecessary riches and honours how trifling all my pleasures and that there is no solid happiness but in thy love and a pious hope of immortality O my God be so good to me as to turn my thoughts frequently toward my latter end and to fix in my mind a lively sense of the uncertainty of my being and the fickleness of all things belonging to it That since I must shortly leave them all even my dearest Friends and Kindred and this body too which must be turned into corruption I may most zealously endeavour to secure thy love and friendship in a better life by the constant chearful and earnest exercise of all godliness and vertue while I tarry here Help me to be as humble and lowly as the dust to which I am going to bury all anger hatred and enmities since we must needs dye 2 Sam. 14.14 and be as Water spilt upon the Ground which cannot be gathered up again to discharge my mind of all superfluous cares and