revenge of our selves according to the Example of St. Paul's Penitent amongst the Corinthians we shall by such fifting our Consciences be the better able to sever the Wheat from the Chaff and know also what is fittest to offer to Almighty God what to pray for and what also to meditate upon In which particular Examen of our Consciences wherein we are to endeavour to produce Acts of Contrition Self-confusion Humility Resolutions of amendment Resignation c. we must observe to what Vice we are most inclined and be sure to bend all our Forces against it for that Captain-Imperfection being Conquered the rest will easily submit And in the next Examen we must Impartially enquire whether our relapses in that kind are as frequent as formerly and so continue on the Fight with new Fervour Vigour and Constancy till it shall please God to give us the Victory Now the difference between Meditation and Contemplation is said by holy Men to be as follows 1. We Meditate when by the help of the Vnderstanding we seek and cast about and at length fix our thoughts upon such Truths and Reasons as are in our present Circumstances most apt to move and affectionate the Will to the embracing the Love of God Christian Vertues Works of Piety c. but sometimes the Inclinations of the Will the Holy Spirit operating more principally in that by Love than in the Vnderstanding by Illumination preceed the Acts of the Vnderstanding tho' most commonly it is the other way the Will and Passions not easily moving without the Reasoning of the Vnderstanding to excite them 2. We Contemplate when we steadfastly and unmovably behold God by Faith believing that he is really with us and within us as he truly is and so leaving all other Objects Idea's and Discourses we Internally look on him as present love him in silence and feed on his All-satiating Sweetness And this Contemplation is either by the help of Sensible Idea's or Intelligible or surmounts them both which is the highest sort of Prayer But this is not my business at present I intending only some short Meditations such as the Reader may easily carry about with him even in his Memory CHAP. II. Of the Subject of Meditation with Heads for the first Week THE Matter and Subject of Meditation may be any thing whatsoever Divinely revealed or that any way conduceth to our Salvation But most commonly it is adapted to the Three Degrees of Christians the lower the middle and the highest Some Learned Men recommend the method of the Church in her Liturgies beginning with Advent Nativity of our Saviour and so on to his Preaching Passion Resurrection Ascension sending the Holy Spirit taking in the Epistles and Gospels of all the Dominica's and Holy-Days This Rule is Chiefly observed by the Clergy Others advise the Selecting some certain number of pious Subjects for every day in the Week and keeping to them only and this seems also a very useful way of Meditation Heads of Meditation for the first Week Monday Of the Chief end of Man Consider 1. Why he was Created namely to praise and glorifie God 2 How far this is observed or transgressed by us and how far the ample means offorded thereunto abused Reflexion 1. Give God Thanks 2. Ask Pardon 3. Promise Amendment in every particular as need requires Tuesday Of God's Benefits Consider our Being from God Preservation Redemption Sanctification Spiritual Gifts and Graces the Holy Sacraments Eternal Life c. All that God gives is freely out of his own Goodness not for his own but our profit Reflex 1. Give great Thanks with all possible Humility 2. Offer up your self all your Thoughts Words Actions and Affections to God to be sincerely directed to his Glory only Wednesday Of your Sins Consider 1. Who it is you have offended viz. God most Munificent who hath done so many and so great things for you and promised more and greater 2. God Omniscient who sees all things most clearly 3. God Omnipotent who can destroy you in a moment and none is able to resist him 4. God most Pure who abhors all sin and for that Reason threw the fallen Angels out of Heaven for one single Sin Adam out of Paradise and condemned him to above 900 Years Pennance for one single disobedience Reflect What then will become of Impenitent Sinners And how great Reason to Fear and Tremble at so great Power and Justice of God! Consider 2. Who thou art that offend'st and resistest so great a God A most vile inconsiderable Worm The whole World in God's sight is but as a drop of the morning dew Sapient 11. What is man then so minute a Particle of that Drop Who is indeed nothing of himself and compared to Infinity bears no Proportion Reflect How great the Clemency of God in bearing so long with so great Sinners and your self the Chief and very greatest of all Consider 3. For what Cause you offended God For some very vile thing some vain Honour some beastly pleasure and that knowingly and wilfully not out of Ignorance or Infirmity Reflect Detest thy Foolishness before God Acknowledge thy Fault Beg mercy Thursday Of Death Consider 1. The certainty of it and the uncertainty of the time Recollect all the suddain Deaths you have ever seen heard or read of and conclude it the greatest madness and folly in the World to live on in such a State in which you would not die Reflect You can die but once and if not well your loss is irreparable Consider 2. Of what things Death deprives you Of all External things Riches Pleasures Honours Friends for which and whose sake you have so often offended God And that nothing will accompany you to the other World but your works whether good or bad Reflect Imagine what a wicked man restored to Life from Hell-fire would do and that do you Consider 3. The State of your Body and Soul Your Body for which you have been so Sollicitous will be carryed out to be meat for the Worms your Soul immediately hurri'd to Judgment by the Angels and from thence by an unknown way to an eternal State either of bless or misery according to the Actions done in the Flesh Reflect Use now all possible means by your self and others to make Christ who is to be your Judge become propitious to you And pray to God for Grace that you may now both know and do what upon your Death-bed and at the Judgment Seat you will wish you had done Friday Of the last Judgment Consider 1. The particular Judgment that passeth upon every man at his Death and remains unalterable 2. The dreadfulness of the last general day when the Heavens will be rouled together as a Scrol the Sun it self darkened the Moon not give her light the Stars fall from their Orbs the Earth quake the Mountains and Islands remove out of their places and Mens hearts fail them for fear 3. An Universal appearance of all the Sons of Adam
his whole Life and who also humbled himself to death even the death of the Cross And we are to be like him meek and humble Reflect The undeserved Favours of Almighty God The Ingratitude of our repeated sins The behaviour of the poor Publican The Example of our Lord himself Great Lessons of Humility Saturday Of the Advantage of being Christians We live under the Covenant of Grace which is founded in Remission of sin and upon promises of eternal rewards to the observers of it who are also enabled to observe it We are redeemed from all our Enemies so as not to fear them Death it self being now only a Passage to immortality Are we not also made Sons of God Members of Christ Kings and Priests and Coâ—heirs with our Elder Brother of an Eternal Inheritance Sunday Of the Benefits of the Holy Ghost By him who was sent by our Saviour we are begotten and born again and made new creatures By him Illuminated to understand the Mysteries of our Redemption By him the Love of God is spread abroad in our hearts so as to love even our Enemies for God's sake He purifies and cleanses us from all filthiness He Interceeds for us and teaches us how to pray He comforts and supports us in all our afflictions with his peace and joy He is the Seal of the Divine Promises and the Foretaste of Heaven The great power of God in us over Sacan and all his Instruments And by his Vertue and Efficacy our Bodies also will be Spiritualized and we raised to Immortality and Glory Reflect This Comforter abides with us for ever and is grieved when-ever we do any thing to chase him from us To these few Heads of Meditation taken chiefly out of Holy Scripture might be added infinite more concerning God's Attributes Gifts Miracles c. with innumerable more passages both of the Old and New Testament but these are thought sufficient to shew the manner of Meditation which is so considerable a part of Religion and to serve also as a Succidaneum to those that have not the opportunity of larger Books which is all that was intended by the Collecter of them Let the words of my Mouth and the Meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my Strength and my Redeemer Psal 19. I meditate on all thy works Ps 143.5 In his Law doth he meditate day and night Ps 1.2 The Letany of Christian Vertues taken out of the Holy Scripture and the several Texts Annexed O GOD the Father of Heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the World Have mercy on us O God the Holy Ghost Have mercy on us O Sacred Trinity one God Have mercy on us O Lord just and good Heb. 11.6 and a rewarder of all those that seek thee diligently Have mercy on us Who createdst our First Parents in Innocency and Holiness Gen. 2. after thine own Image and gavest a Testimony to the offerings of just Abel Gen. 4. Have mercy on us Who savedst in the Ark from the Flood Gen. 7. Noah a Preacher of Justice and deliveredst from the Fire Just Lot vexed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked Gen. 19. Have mercy on us Who gavest the Promise to Abraham Gen. 22. found Faithful after many tryals Have mercy on us Gen. 29. Who deliveredst Jacob endued with a wonderful patience and confidence in Adversities from all evils and gavest a joyful end to thy Servant Job Job 42. that Pattern of Patience Have mercy on us Gen. 39. Who rewardedst the singular Modesty and Chastity of Joseph with the Rule over Egypt Gen. 41 Have mercy on us Num. 22. Who chosedst Moses the meekest Man upon Earth to be Ruler over thy People and Electedst Joshua Deut. 31. notable for Valour and Constancy to lead thy People into the Land of Promise Have mercy on us Who gavest the Priesthood to the Sons of Levi for their great Courage in vindicating thine Honour Exod. 32. and deliveredst from all dangers the Prophet Elias for his incomparable Zeal for thy true Worship against the false Prophets 1 King 18. 2 King 2. and at length tokest him up into Heaven Have mercy on us Who set Samuel Judge over thy People 1 Sam. 7 12 a lover of Justice and free from Bribes And liftedst up David 1 Sam. 16. a man after thine own heart in the faithful Service of thee to be King of Israel Have mercy on us Who replenishedst Solomon 1 King 4. humbly begging Wisdom of thee both with it and many other Graces And Adornedst Daniel and his Companions Dan. 1. being singularly Temperate and Sober with Wisdom and Beauty Have mercy on us Who didst chuse the Blessed Virgin Mary Luk. 1. Adorned with singular Chastity Humility Obedience and all other Vertues to be the Mother of thy Son Have mercy on us Mat. 3. Who sentest John Baptist a Forerunner of thy Son a Preacher of Penitence and of great Austerities and Abstinencies Have mercy on us John 17. 1 Pet. 2.21 Who sentest Jesus Christ thy only begotten Son into the World the Pattern of all Holiness that we should follow his Example Have mercy on us Eph. 1. Who hast chosen us in him before the Foundations of the World that we also should be Holy and Unblame able in thy sight Have mercy on us Who hast Predestinated us that we should be made conformable to the Image of thy Son Phil. 3. Eph. 2. and hast created us in him to good Works which thou hast ordained that we should walk in them Have mercy on us Who hast Redeemed us from our vain Conversation by the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. and hast Regenerated us by thy Word unto a lively hope of an Eternal Inheritance Have mercy on us O Jesu 1 Pet. 2. who knewest no Sin neither was Guile found in thy Mouth 1 Joh. 3. but appearedst to take away the Sins of the World Have mercy on us 1 Pet. 2. Jesus who barest our Sins in thy Body on the Cross that we being dead unto Sin may live unto Justice and Holiness Have mercy on us Col. 1. Who hast delivered us out of Darkness into Light from the power of Satan Acts 26. into thy Kingdom and hast bestowed upon us the Remission of Sins and an Inheritance amongst thy Saints Have mercy on us Mat. 19. Who promisedst thy Disciples that forsook all for thee Joh. 21. Twelve Thrones Judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel who committedst unto St. Peter notably confessing and loving thee the feeding of thy Sheep Have mercy on us Joh. 20. Who vouchsafedst to St. John notable for Chastity the singular privilege of thy Love Have mercy on us Who sendest thy Holy Spirit Rom. whereby Divine Charity is spread abroad in our hearts Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Lord Be merciful and
18 Punishments dreadfel and sudden Pag. 19 Flood Fire and Brimstone Sword Loss of Kingdoms c. and what exceeds them all eternal Death Pag. 19 20 21 CHAP. IV. Of the chastity of Marriage and of the purity of a Single Life Pag. 23 68 Marriage very honourable compared to that of Christ with his Church Pag. 24 Many degrees of Conjugal chastity ibid. Some abstain for a shorter time upon the account of some Solemn Devotion Communicating c. Pag. 24 25 Some longer for good ends also Pag. 25 26 Some their whole life by consent for the better serving of God Pag. 26 27 Of a Single Life's being 1st more pure than chast Marriage it self Pag. 27 28 29 2ly Freer from Worldly distractions c. Pag. 29 30 More sensible of God's presence Pag. 34 The Gift of Continency attainable by all sincere endeavourers Pag. 35 36 Fitter for Contemplation Pag. 33 36. More Heroical Pag. 37 The reward in Heaven greater ibid. Of the purity of the Soul Pag. 38 The sins more immediately opposed Pride c. with the Remedies Humility c. only barely named ibid. A blind Understanding and perverse Will the causes Pag. 39 Rebellion according to St. Judes Description Pag. 39 40 Some Rules for the preventing and curing the sins of the Flesh Pag. 41 c. CHAP. V. The first Rule of our Affectiens c. Pag. 42 Of th Passion of Love ibid. If wrong placed ruins us Pag. 44. If rightly placed makes us happy ibid. Of the Memory and Imagination Pag. 41 The Store-house of the Soul Pag. 46 When advantageous ibid. When Destructive to us ibid. The outward Senses must be watched Pag. 47 Several ways of getting rid of Temptations from them by meditating upon our Saviour's Passion the 4 last things c. Pag. 48 49 c. CHAP. VI. The Second Rule Of Suggestions Pag. 52 Whence they proceed ibid. What to be done if they tempt to habitual sin Pag. 53 Using external Actions Pag. 54 Delaying the Execution bid Concerning strong resolutions Pag. 53 54 Resolutions Conditional upon a Forfeiture Pag. 56 Resolution of returning and repenting upon a relapse Pag. 58 Telling the Temptation to some other Pag. 60 61 CHAP. VII The third Rule The Occasions of Lust c. to be avoided Pag. 62 1st No making provision for the Flesh to c. ib. Temperance in meat and drink Pag. 63 64 65 c. Frequent fastings ibid. Moderate sleep and sometimes watchings Pag. 66 67 2ly Lewd Company to be avoided Pag. 70 No conversing with such Pag. 71 This for our own security and their good Pag. 73 No eating c. with them when obstinate ibid Cases of Necessity excepted c. Pag. 74 The Church in her Councils and Canons very strict in this matter Pag. 75 Lewd Books also dangerous Companions Pag. 75 Good ones the best Companions in the World Pag. 76 3ly Infamous places to be avoided ibid Whether single houses or whole cities Pag. 77 No cohabiting with lewd Persons ibid. A caution concerning Discourses Pag. 79 80 81 Especially in much Company ibid CHAP. VIII The fourth Rule Of Divine Assistances c. Pag. 82 Three things prenoted ibid. The first Grace given at Baptism Pag. 83 More added upon our using the first well Pag. 85 Of the Grace of Charity or the love of God Pag. 86 87 The force of Spiritual Gifts against the Flesh Pag. 89 How to Experience the good of Christianity ibid. Of frequent Examination of Conscience Pag. 90 The Subtility of the Devil Pag. 92 2ly The means of obtaining divine assistances Pag. 93 1st Prayer Repentance Pag. 93 94 c. 2ly Frequent Communicating Pag. 98 c. The Summ of the whole Pag. 102 Some short Directions and Heads for Meditation c. CHAP. I. OF Meditation its Requisites and how it differs from Contemplation Pag. 105 CHAP. II. Of the Subject of Meditation with Heads for the first Week Pag. 111 CHAP. III. Heads of Meditation for the Second Third and Fourth Weeks Pag. 121 CHAP. IV. Meditations for the Fifth Week Pag. 130 The Letany of Christian Vertues taken out of the Holy Scriptures c. Pag. 139 A CHECK TO DEBAUCHERY CHAP. I. Of grosse Carnal Sins in General THE spiritual Man and good Christian hath no greater Enemies than those he carrieth about with him his own depraved Appetites and inordinate Desires especially to sensual Pleasure and carnal Delights for which Flesh and Blood so strongly plead These the more common and the less heeded they are so much the more dangerous to and more destructive of the Soul There are no Temptations so vigorously assault us or so easily beguile us as these Which are therefore said by the Prophet to seize and take away the Heart Hos 4.11 and the Desire of them entreaseth the more we descend to a particular thinking or discussing of them even tho it be with a design to leave them They make so strong an Impression have so much of Force and Stratagem together that there is no Conquering of â—â—em by our contending with them but by our running away from them So many wiles and secret devices so many promises and specious pretences so many windings and turnings which the Wise Man calls the way of a Serpent upon a Rock Prov. 30.19 the way of a Man with a Maid that it is next to impossible to find them out And that because 1. Being born in Sin our very Nature is depraved And 2. inbred Lust when not subdued in us so Captivates and Incarnates the Soul as to restrain its liberty of Reasoning or thinking upon any thing else This therefore is the greatest Temptation and the vanquishing of it the great perfection of a Christian 1 Thess 4.3 Hence it is that Almighty God in pity to frail man hath provided him whosoever likes not to follow our Lord's Counsel of a single life a lawful remedy of his Lusts by Marriage Mat. 19 12. 1 Cor. 7.2 upon condition he live within the bounds of it and not endeavour the satiating his desires any other way or with any other Person than his own Wife But alas how contrary to this is the practice of the present Age wherein a Vertuous single Life is almost grown Scandalous and Marriage will hardly be allowed to be Honourable save only upon the account of Legitimating Heirs and keeping up Families Nay is it not rather reckoned as more Gentile even amongst Persons of Quality to their shame and dishonour be it spoken to have variety of Misses as they are pleased to call their lewd Prostitutes tho themselves perhaps very well married And then amongst others of less plentiful Fortunes Marriage tho stiled by the Holy Ghost Honourable is looked upon as a mean and despicable thing and little less than utter undoing Because forsooth they cannot then so near equal their Betters their elder Brothers and the like in Eating and Drinking and Cloaths and other Formalities of worldly Grandeur Whereas now they can
Virgins that they more especially care for the things of the Lord how to please him in every thing and so become Holy both in Body and in Spirit yet are Married People also as the Circumstances of their Stations will permit obliged to care for the things of the Lord above all other things for the Spouse of Christ the Church being a chast Virgin as St. Paul calls her we that profess ourselves Members of that spotless Church 2 Cor. 11.2 whether we be married or unmarried ought also to be chast and neither in action or thought make the Members of Christ the members of an Harlot The same Apostle in his first Epistle to the Corinthians Argues still more against Fornication 1 Cor. 6.18 Fly Fornication saith he and why so For every other Sin that a Man doth is without the Body i. e. doth not so immediately touch the body with any proper Infamy or so entirely remove it from under the power of our Lord But he that committeth Fornication and much more if Adultery c. sinneth against his own body i. e. dishonours it the most he can by degrading himself to so base an Alliance as to become one and the same with that vile nasty Creature with whom he sinneth and so from a pure Member of Christ he renders himself the filthy Member of an Infamous Harlot or something worse I here add that this sin offers also the greatest Indignity to the Incarnation of the Son of God imaginable who did therefore take upon him our Flesh to exalt it into his own nature his Heavenly Image that no such filthiness might any longer inhabit in it To prevent which vileness in us the same Apostle also peculiarly concerning this sin or any filthy Discourse tending towards it gives charge that it should not be so much as named amongst such as would pass for Christians But Fornication saith he to the Ephesians and all Vncleanness Eph. 5.3 4. c. let it not be so much as once named amongst you as becometh Saints Nor Filthiness nor Foolish Talking nor Jesting which are not Convenient And the Apostle there assures us that no Whoremonger or unclean Person hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Besides the Seal of the Covenant of Grace with Abraham was it not ordered by God to be so particularly placed upon all the Faithful as to become in a manner a punishment of their Lusts And is there not a Natural shame upon every man in the committing of those sins or any thing like them tho' lawful So as that the light of the Sun the sight of a pious Picture the coming in of a little Child or almost any of God's Creatures even a pious thought which proceeds also from God is sufficient sometimes to overawe prevent and put by the most hardned Sinner from embracing the Temptation And is it not a burning shame that the presence of Almighty God and His. Holy Angels who with perfect hatred of all Impurities are continually looking upon us and disswading us to the contrary should not be much more prevalent with us against such enormous wickedness But yet so strong are the habits of such Sins as in a manner to dispoil us of all shamefacedness and wholly to alter and corrupt the Nature and Reason of those Persons in which they are insomuch that the Practisers but of one Species of them are called in the Revelations by the name of Dogs Rev. 22.15 Phil. 3.2 and so are the Gnosticks by St. Paul for their being guilty of some such like impurities As if the Custom and Beastliness of such sins did utterly depose men from their manhood and change them into Dogs And lastly not to omit the greatest Argument of all of the Deformity and Filthiness of the sins of the Flesh Rom. 1.16 we find in the Epistle to the Romans when God had abandoned those Heathens that had first forsaken him to follow their own Imaginations since they would not hearken to his Commands which were Holy Just and Good they committed such monstrous unnatural Lusts that were the greatest disgrace to Humane Nature that possibly could be Men with Men and so Women also committing those things that were unseemly and unbefitting rational Creatures God grant that we be not so left to our selves so given over to our own hearts Lusts a certain sign of God's highest displeasure and a fore-runner of his heaviest Judgments CHAP. III. Of the punishments of such Sins TO those dissolute unthinking Wretches who will not by the preceeding Arguments be prevailed on to leave their lewd unmanly Course of Life I shall propose in the second place the Terrors of the Lord to perswade them the severe Punishments which inevitably attend such sins that the Practisers thereof may most rightly measure the greatness of their faults which they make Natural and for that reason excusable by the great revenge God himself takes of them Thus St. Paul warns his Thessalonians to abstain from the Fornication of the Gentiles 1 Thess 4.6 7. the defrauding our Brother of his Wife c And what is the reason because the Lord saith he is the avenger of all such all manner of Lusts even those commited only in the heart And so in his Epistle to the Hebrews he pronounceth the same thing Heb. 13.4 Marriage is Honourable and the bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will Judge And in detestation of such unlawful Lusts the Lord appointed under Moses's Law That a Bastard should not enter into the Congregation of the Lord Deut. 23.2 until the tenth Generation And does not the Prophet Jeremiah most particularly threaten in God's Name such Sinners for their Assembling in Troops into Harlots Houses and running like fed Horses after their Neighbours Wives Shall I not Visit for these things saith the Lord Jer. 5.7 and shall not my Soul be avenged of such a Nation as this Those Expressions The Lord is the Avenger God will Judge the Lord appointed shall I not visit plainly show that God taketh the punishing all such abominations into his own hands that they may be sure not to go unpunished even in this Life But this is not all we find in Sacred Scripture God inflicting on these sins not ordinary punishments but such fearful Judgments to which none other can be compared The drowning of the whole World about a Thousand Years after its Creation when all Flesh excepting some very few Persons had corrupted their ways was it not to wash away its pollution from these sins with a Flood And how many thousand Souls better than our selves perished in that Deluge The dreadful Raining of Fire and Brimstone from Heaven upon those miserable brutish Cities Sodom and Gomorrha and the Cities about them which yet perhaps were not so bad as some Cities even now-a-days amongst us was it not to purifie their Land which was once a Paradise upon Earth from those loathsome sins by Fire The
Death of Christ 1 Cor. 15.3 2ly That to the applying the Merits of Christ's Passion to us there are required some Conditions on our part Phil. 2.12 namely our Assenting and Co-operating with God's Grace 3ly That by such Application not only our sins are remitted Eph. 2.5.4.25 but we receive the Grace of Regeneration changing us in our minds implanting us into Christ enabling us to good works Rom. 2.13 Joh. 1.12 to become doers of the Law Sons of God c. The manner of such our Regeneration and of the Divine Assistance is thus First Mat. 28.19 Eph. 5.26 When we are Baptized into Christs Church not only past sins are washed away supposing us rightly disposed thereunto but also a new Power and Ability Supernatural of Living holily for the future is conferr'd and superadded Tit. 3.5 c. Acts 11.16 The Holy Ghost being then personally given us and God's Grace Efficaciously planted in us for newness of Life Rom. 6.4.7.6 and bringing forth Good Works By the Assistance of this Grace therefore our corrupt Nature is so perfectly restored and made capable of all Vertue that we may and are obliged also therewith totally to subdue our Lusts so as to live free from the habit even of unclean thoughts Gal. 5.24 and from the commission of all unclean Acts at least of those greater before mentioned which we are sure from God's own Word exclude the Kingdom of Heaven By this new principle of Grace Eph. 5.5 which worketh with us and without which our working signifies nothing a real Holiness Facility to Good is conveyed into our Souls our Understanding is Illuminated so as readily to embrace the Holy Mysteries of Christ's Religion which are above it above it 's natural Knowledge and Reach and past it s ever finding out but by Revelation Our Will from time to time inspired with new and divine Affections and at length influenced at least in some Persons with an impatient Love of God above all other things And the same Holy Spirit which thus Acts and Assists within us interceeds also for us Rom. 8.26 with groans which cannot be uttered groans irresistably prevalent at the Throne of Grace To the first Grace therefore given us at our Baptism if we make a right use of it more and more is added to every one that hath improved his one Talent more shall be given Mat. 25.29 and he shall have abundance And sometimes to the same well-disposed Person are conferred several Talents several different Gifts for God's greater glory of the same Holy Spirit but yet the most excellent Grace which we are above all to covet 1 Cor. 12.31 as being that without which all other Graces signify nothing to us is 1 Cor. 13.13 Charity or the Love of God Which is the most effectual remedy of all our Lusts or false Loves and when once obtained does in a manner the whole work of a Christian it felf because by its secret Energy it centers all our Affections in our Lord so as sweetly to compell us to seek in all things a punctual Observance and conformity to his holy Will and in nothing to displease him with whom our Soul being ravished is sick of love for him and languisheth with a perpetual desire Cant. 5.8 either 1st of suffering for him thereby at once to shew the Truth of our love and to purify us as Gold in a burning Furnace Or 2ly of praying to Him the only way of Conversing with him upon Earth Or 3ly Of fully enjoying him in Heaven even though it were through Martyrdom it self Which great Vertue shined most Eminently in St. Mary Magdalen whose sins which were many were therefore forgiven her because she loved much And her chosing to sit at the feet of Jesus to hear his words our Saviour himself calls the unum necessarium the better and sublimer part of a Christian which nothing can take away And albeit this love of God inferrs and comprehends the love of our Neighbour and of our selves and of all things that belong to God yet these not after the fashion of the World but only as consistent with and much encreasing and enflaming our love of God So that by shewing our love to God as we are obliged all the ways that we can we are continually enlivening and augmenting it and still think it little and unworthy of eternal life and that it is want of our Endeavours and not of God's Grace which hinders us from attaining still higher Spiritual Gifts and a more intense love of our Lord every little Inclination in us to any thing else if not throughly mortifyed being enough to retard our progress in this true way to perfection This one thing I do says St. Paul to his Philippians forgeting those things which are behind already obtained and reaching forward to those things which are before not yet obtained I press toward the Mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.13 And if so great an Apostle when he had so far attained as perhaps none farther in the Love of God and Self-mortifications witness his Watchings 2 Cor. 6.5.11.23 Fastings Labours Stripes Imprisonments Deaths was still pressing forward much more ought we to mend our pace who are so far behind so far from perfect Charity and perfect Chastity as to be still wallowing in our â—usts still hankering after the Gratifications of Sense We ought not only to be mindful of the powerful Assistances God hath afforded us to Purity and Holiness but also actually to make use of them for that very end and purpose those Assistances of the Holy Spirit being such as continually war against the Flesh Col. 3.1 stirring us up to seek those things that are above and supernatural and so after an ineffable manner if we endeavour to correspond to them unite us to Christ and God and bring down Heaven into our Souls quenching in us the thirst to all sensual Pleasures making them by degrees seem more and more contemptible to us and at length odious Quas sordes quae dedecora c. what filthiness did they Suggest what disgrace and dishonour says St. Austin in his Confessions concerning his formerly beloved but then much more hated Lusts The way therefore to experience the good of Christianity is resolutely to enter upon practising Christian Vertue by a more strict observance of Gods Laws and purging our selves from the contrary Vices For none how learned soever can truly know God but they that serve him And a poor Shepherd that faithfully serves him will by experience know more of God in his chiefest Excellencies than a Doctor of the Chair that does only talk of him And as the Grace of God is the principal Instrument of a good Christian Life so the next to that is frequent examining our Consciences once or twice a day that so we may learn to know by little and little how to
written and allowed of by the Ancient Fathers and the whole Church of God in all Ages And then as to the necessity of Prayer if we consider our many wants Temporal and Spiritual to be relieved many sins wherein we still offend God to be pardoned many Temptations and Dangers from which to be preserved many Benefits and Assistances received and all these with a respect also to our Fellow Christians we cannot but acknowledge every moment of our Lives had we no other necessary Duties too little to be spent in this one Great Duty of Continual Prayer 1 Thess 5.17 Our good Lord assist us by his Holy Spirit in the diligent and sincere performance thereof The other Chief Means of our obtaining Divine Assistances against our Lusts is 2ly Frequen Communicating as many good Christians now do and the Primitive Christians did almost every day I do not intend here to treat largely of this Holy Sacrament there being many good Books Written designedly on that Subject but only recommend to the Reader without medling with God's power therein which transcends all Humane Conception and Comprehension the Immense Benefit of this Holy Mystery to each worthy Communicant in reference to his particular Necessities For obtaining Remission of this or that Sin a Remedy of this or that Infirmity a Deliverance from this or that Affliction for receiving a Benefit or giving thanks for a Benefit received for helping our Neighbour for encreasing the Holy Spirit and Love of God in us Because as by one Spirit in Baptism We are made one Mystical Body of Christ 1 Cor. 12.13 so likewise in the Eucharist are we made to drink into the partaking of one Spirit The Blessed Eucharist being as necessary for the continuing and encreasing as Baptism for the first receiving the Holy Spirit Because also this is that particular Nourishment instituted by Christ for the preserving our Body and Soul to Everlasting Life that particular Pledge and Assurance of our Resurrection that true Bread from Heaven which mystically also Incorporates us into Christ and makes us continue and grow up into perfect Members of his Body that so thus partaking of the Nature and Spirit of the Second Adam the Heir of all things we may become with him Sons of God Heirs of Eternal Life as we were by the First Adam of Eternal Death That true Heavenly Bread lastly so Exalting and Assimulating our Nature into Christ when worthily Communicating as to make us one with him as he and the Father are one According to our Saviour's Prayer when he was Instituting this Blessed Sacrament I pray thee Father John 17. that they may be one as we are one O Blessed Union between poor Man and his Maker O happy those Souls who here worthily feed on this Heavenly Bread the only true Nourishment of the Life of Grace enabling them in the Strength thereof to walk even to the Mount of God the Life of Glory The Conclusion THE Summ of this Discourse is The Sins of the Flesh are most dangerous because most natural to us And by reason of their filthiness most loathsome to Almighty God and most severely punished by him For not only those of the greater magnitude Fornication Adultery Incest Sodomy Beastiality are followed with God's most Tremendous Judgments but also we find in Scripture Vncleanness and Laciviousness Gal. 5.19 Eph. 5.3 destinct from the foregoing and of a less denomination every where joyned with such Sins as exclude the Practisers thereof from the Kingdom of Heaven The way to prevent such Sins and to avoid the punishment of them is To mortify our Passions our Memory and Imagination to beware of impure Suggestions cheirsh Holy Inspirations and avoid all the occasions of such Sins to Improve lastly the Grace of God in us by Assiduous Prayer daily Examination of our selves perfect Repentance frequent Communicating and all other holy means pressing still farther to higher and higher Gifts particularly to the attaining that most excellent Gift of Charity which makes us love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves hate even our own Lives for love of Him who first loved us undergoing the the greatest sufferings with Thankfulness and Complacency performing all our Actions on purpose to please him referring them to his Honour offering them up to his Praise and Glory To whom Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Honour Praise and Glory to all Eternity Amen God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4.24 Grace and Truth i. e. means of Salvation came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves but to him who dyed for them Gal. 4.6 2 Cor. 5.15 Wretched is that man who is all for the good things of this Life a good House good Apparel good Provision c. and is content to have a bad Soul Int. Christ Some Short Directions and Heads of Meditation for the Persons Concerned in the Preceeding Discourse CHAP. I. Of Meditation it's Requisites and how it differs from Contemplation MEditation is called the first Essential part of Prayer leading to Contemplation Thanksgiving Petition c. in which all the Principal Faculties of the Soul the Memory Vnderstanding Will and Affections are severally employed The Memory recollects the matter to be Meditated upon and also placeth the Soul in the Divine Presence The Vnderstanding judgeth of the Subject and its Vertues and accordingly proposeth it to the Will The Will excites in us divers Acts and Affections either of Love Affiance Gratitude c. towards God Or of Hatred Compunction desire of doing better c. towards our selves which is indeed the main Scope and end of Meditation Then follows our Praying and representing to Almighty God our Miseries Necessities Temptations which we most earnestly beg him to redress for his own Love and Compassion's sake and the Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ But when the Faculties of the Soul are unactive or slow in their Operations as it often happens they are to be excited by the help of good Books which ought always to be at hand when we Meditate and in all such holy exercise we are to approach the Divine Presence with our greatest Reverence and Humiliation And it is also necessary before every Meditation to make a strict Examen of Conscience 1. What Benefits we have received that day from Almighty God for which we are to return Thanks 2. What Sins we have that day committed running through every hour in thought word and deed for which we are to beg pardon 3. We are to resolve upon an amendment in every particular by the Grace of God After such strict Examination of all our Thoughts Desires Words and Works judging our selves that we be not judged of the Lord and Confessing our Sins in the bitterness of our Soul as the Church requires and taking also
God God himself Innocent c. What and how grievous things he suffered So many griefs So great Ignominy He hath born our griefs Behold the Man Behold and see were there ever sufferings like his And all this for his Enemies ungrateful sinners and me in particular to Reconcile them to God Reflect Oh the Obedience Humility Patience Perseverance Charity of his sufferings Wednesday What passed in the Garden His Agony His Soul was heavy even to Death He sweat drops of Blood He Prayed against the bitter Cup but with a Resignation to his Fathers Will. Thy will not mine be done And soon after with unparallell'd Fortitude surrendred himself If you seek me let these go their ways desiring to tread the Wine-press of God's Wrath alone Thursday Our Saviour's Vsage before Annas Caiphas Herod and Pilate Before Annas Questioned for his Doctrine In Caiphas's house false Witnesses were brought against him He was kept Prisoner there all Night Mockt by the Souldiers and others Denyed by Peter Before Herod despised Before Pilate first declared Innocent but afterwards Condemned by him for Treason to please the People and secure his own Interest with them St. Peter's Repentance very speedy But the Obstinacy of the Jews continues to this very day Friday Our Saviour's Vsage at the Pillar his Crown of Thorns his Journey to Mount Calvary bearing his Cross his barbarous Crucifixion the Wounds he received the sweet words he uttered Father forgive them c. yet the Rocks were more Compassionate than the Jews and We. Saturday Of our Saviours Burial Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea his Blessed Mother and St. Mary Magdalene and some other Honourable and Holy Persons were concerned in it They wash'd his Wounds with their holy Tears and Embalmed his Body with their Sighs and Prayers and Richest Odours He made his Sepulcher with the Rich and Honourable but yet the malicious Jews sealed the Stone and set a Watch to prevent if possible his rising again to Glory Sunday Of our Saviour's Resurrection Ascension and sending of the Holy Ghost 1. The manner of his Resurrection His Conversing Fourty days upon Earth Comforting his Freinds Strengthening his Disciples and giving them charge over his Flock 2. his Ascention into Heaven siting on the right hand of God that our Hearts and Affections might thither also ascend 3. His sending the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost his Disciples having Fasted Watch'd and Pray'd continually day and night for ten days before Reflect His Resurrection the first Fruits and earnest of ours His Ascension to draw us and our affections after him His sending the Holy Ghost that the same Spirit that raised up him the Head might also quicken us his Members CHAP. IV. Meditations for the fifth Week MOnday Of the Nobility of the Soul 1. Created by God after his own Image 2. God giveth his Angels Charge over it As the Hills stand about Jerusalem so standeth the Lord round about them that fear him 3. Of so great value is the Soul that our Saviour left the Bosom of his Father to redeem it even with the price of his Blood Tuesday Of a pure Conscience a right Faith and doing all things for God's Honour These Three constitute the good Christian for the Life we now live is by Faith And the pure in heart shall see God shall have a clear and more naked perception of him even in this Life No Image or Idea can represent a Spirit such as God is He is Purity it self perceptible only to the pure in Heart after an ineffable manner and void of all sensible Idea's Reflect The purging therefore our Consciences is to be carefully minded Wednesday Of the Presence of God With the thoughts of this so great Presence many holy Persons have preserv'd themselves from sin Enoch walked with God and was translated Abraham walked before God and was perfect King David set God always before him that he should not sin So Elijah and Elisha God liveth in whose sight and presence I stand And nothing more certain than that God filleth and worketh in all his Creatures In him we live and move and have our being and all things subsist and are upheld by his immediate hand But he more nearly dwells and inhabits in every good Man and directs him by the Interiour Language of his Inspirations and gives him leave also to Communicate to him as to a most faithful Freind all his Wants Desires Resolutions Infirmities Temptations c. And the oftner he recollects his Faculties from external objects and retireth into himself to God so much the better and his progress in holiness greater and more easy Reflect How great a folly therefore is it to live insensible of the Assistance of so great a presence so near us even within us Thursday Of the Conjunction of the Soul with God Which consists in a Conformity of our Will to the Divine We must Will the same thing with God and the same means to it My Son give me thy heart says God by Solomon It is good for me to cleave to God says David And St. Paul nothing could separate from Christ Neither Life nor Death c. 2. Such a Person is always Examining his Conscience Keep 's a strict guard that his thoughts wander not abroad or be over long busied in outward Affairs for fear of losing that presence that Consolation he always carries about with him in his Soul Prayers Meditation Contemplation Recollection the Holy Sacraments are in a manner the entertainment of his whole Life Reflect All these things are irksome and nauseous to the Carnal Worldly Man Friday Of Humility 1. The Humble man retains a true sence of God's Favours What great things he hath both done and suffered for him and that out of a free and most amazingly generous Goodness without any the least merit on his side And on the contrary what returns he hath made how many and how great wickednesses committed against that good God So that he knows not which way to turn himself Thinks no place vile enough for him who for his sins deserves the greatest Afflictions the greatest Torments He hath no way but to humble himself before God with Confusion of Face and Offer and Resign himself wholly to his boundless Mercy to deal with him as his Compassion pleases 2. The true Humble Man is Servant of all Especially his lawful Governours and Teachers to whose wiser Judgment he readily submits his own less wise As knowing they have more ability to judge than himself and more assistance also promised not to mistake To these therefore he submits as to Christ himself being commanded so to do Ezek. 33.7 8. Heb. 13.17 3ly Being contemned he rejoiceth being honoured he referrs the honour to God and so all other Benefits he receives But the shame of his sins he takes to himself and confesses with the poor Publican that he is not worthy to lift up his eyes to Heaven 4ly What humilty can equal that of our Lord in all