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heaven_n	earth_n	great_a	let_v	6,859	5	4.2631	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B10083	Tracts theological. I. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and vertue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites. II. The life of St. Antony out of the Greek of Sr. Athanasius. III. The antiquity and tradition of mystical divinity among the Gentiles. IV. Of the guidance of the spirit of God, upon a discourse of Sir Matthew Hale's concerning it. V. An invitation to the Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and virtue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Life of St. Antony.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Antiquity, tradition, and succession of mystical divinity among the Gentiles.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Enthusiasmus divinus: the guidance of the spirit of God.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Apology for, and an invitation to, the people call'd Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5444E; Wing S5444E; ESTC R184630	221,170	486

concluded they were Devils and being afraid they call'd to St. Antony but he heeded the Devils more than them and whereas they expected to have seen him dead they heard him saying Let God arise and his Enemies be scattered Let them vanish as the Smoak vanisheth As the Wax melteth before the Fire so Sinners shall perish from the Presence of God And again All Nations compassed me round about but in the Name of the Lord I stav'd them off 13. Thus did he lead Twenty Years in private Exercise never stirring out or seen by any one But at last many others desiring to imitate his Ascetick Life and other Acquaintance coming to him and breaking open the Door by force Antony came out of the Castle as out of an inaccessible Sanctuary being matriculated a Member of the Heavenly Jerusalem and become full of God The Spectators when he came out were in an Amaze to see his Body that had been so belabour'd by Devils in the same shape in which it was before his Retirement The Temper of his Soul was very pure neither clouded by Sadness nor shattered by Voluptuousness Neither Laughter nor Melancholy held him in their Chains The sight of the Multitude did not disturb him nor their Praises make him vain But he was intirely smooth and regular steered by Reason and Revelation and fixed in the primitive State of Nature Our Lord healed many Sick Persons by him He also cleansed many that were possessed comforted many that were grieved and reconciled many that were fallen out charging them all to prefer none of the Things of this World before the Love of Christ discoursing and exhorting them to be mindful of future Goods and of the great Philanthropy of God who spared not his own Son but gave Him up for us all He perswaded many to chuse a solitary Life and by this means there came to be many Monasteries in the Mountains So that now the Desarts were turned into a City by Monks that left their Estates and Houses and entred themselves Members of the Heavenly City 14. Once he had an Occasion to pass over the Trench of the Arsenoites to see some of his Brethren Monks which Trench was very full of Crocodiles but St. Antony and all that were with him by the pure Vertue of Prayer went over unhurt When he returned to his Monastery he obliged himself to very severe and youth-like Enterprizes By his Conferences he would be continually encreasing the Fervour of other Monks and exciting many others to the Love of Exercise and by the magnetism of his Discourses many more Monasteries were erected all looking upon him as their Father 15. One Day among the rest as he was walking out he told the other of his Brethren Monks who came to him with a desire to hear him in the Egyptian Language that the Holy Scriptures are sufficient for Instruction But nevertheless 't is decent for us to confirm one another in the Faith by Exhortation and to chear and anoint each other's Spirits by mutual Discourses Wherefore do ye my Sons bring your Father what ye know and I who am your Elder will communicate to you what I know by Experience But besure in a peculiar manner to take care to be communicative and unanimous and that now ye have begun ye don't grow slack nor faint in your Warsare nor say with your selves We have laid out so much item so much Time upon Exercise But rather as beginning every day let us inlarge our Resolution for the Life of Man altogether is very short if we compare it with future Ages All our Time is nothing to Eternal Life Every thing else is Sold for its Value and like is Exchanged for like But the Promise we have of Eternal Life is a cheap Purchase For 't is writ The Days of our Life are Seventy Years and if by great Strength we reach Fourscore or more they are but Labour and Sorrow Now if we spend Eighty Years in Exercise we shall not reign an Hundred Years for it but instead of an Hundred we shall reign for ever and ever Again After we have contended on Earth our Inheritance will not be upon Earth but we hold Promises of Heaven Again After we have laid aside a Mortal Body we are cloathed with an Immortal One Wherefore Children let us not faint neither let us think we lay out much Time for God or do any great Matters for the Sufferings of this present Life are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed Neither let us think that we have parted with great Possessions for the whole Earth is very small with respect to Heaven For just as one who parts with a Mite for an Hundred Broad Pieces So were any one Lord of all the Earth and parted with it for Heaven he parts with a Mite and receives an Hundred-fold But if all the Earth is not worth Heaven then certainly he who leaves a few Acres for it does in a manner leave nothing at all If therefore any of us parts with a Mansion or with Gold he should neither vaunt nor despond But we should rather consider that if we don't leave them for the Sake of Vertue yet afterwards when we Die we often leave them to whom we would not as the Preacher has minded us Shall we not therefore leave it for the sake of Vertue to inherit a Kingdom Let us have a Thirst after true Possessions for What does it signifie to possess those things which we cannot carry away with us Let us rather acquire those Goods which will follow us into the other World such as are Wisdom Justice Sobriety Fortitude Spiritual Prudence Charity Love of Wordly Poverty Faith in Christ Freedom from Anger Delight in Hospitality if we possess these we shall find they will procure us a Mansion in the Land of the Meek These things duly considered no Person can be Negligent especially if he consider that he is the Lord's Servant and ought to serve Him Since therefore every one is his Servant no one should dare to say I do not work to day for I wrought yesterday or by measuring the time past to be idle for the time to come But every day a true Disciple of Christ will shew the same Readiness of Mind that as 't is written he may please his Lord and not run a risque in the Concerns of his Soul So also let us every day persevere in Exercise knowing that if we are Negligent one day we shall not be pardoned for it because we did well the day before No God is offended with such Negligence as we read in Ezekiel So also Judas by one Night's Impiety lost the Fruits of his time past Let us therefore Children adhere to Exercise and not suffer our Spirits to be bejaded for herein the Lord is our Fellow-Labourer as 't is written The Lord co-operates for Good with every one that wills and works Good Now in order to our not being Negligent there is a

into the Carnal part cap. 17. v. Col. 9. cap. 26. Abbot Daniel concerning the triple State of Souls Cass Coll. 4. cap. 19. ACcording to the Doctrin of the Scripture there are Three States of Souls the first Carnal the second Animal the third Spiritual which we read thus noted-out by the Apostle for concerning the Carnal it is said I have given you Milk to drink not Meat for then ye were not able neither yet indeed are ye for ye are yet Carnal 1 Cor. 3. And again While there is among you Emulation and Contention are ye not Carnal ibid. Concerning the Animal it is thus mentioned The Animal Man perceives not the things of the Spirit of God it is Foolishness to him 1 Cor. 2. But of the Spiritual But the Spiritual judgeth all things but is judged of none ibid. And again Ye who are Spiritual instruct those who are of that sort in a Spirit of Gentleness Gal. 6. And therefore we must be diligent that when by our Renunciation we have ceased to be Carnal that is have begun to separate our selves from the Conversation of Worldly People and to cease from that manifest Pollution of the Flesh we strive presently with all our Might to acquire the Spiritual State lest flattering our selves because we seem according to the outward Man to have renounced the World or to have forsaken the Contagions of Carnal Fornications as if by this we had gotten the top of Perfection we should thenceforth become more remiss toward the Emundation of other Passions and more slothful and being detained between both not be able to attain to the degree of Spiritual Profit supposing that it is abundantly sufficient for us for Perfection that in the outward Man we seem separated from the Conversation and Delights of this World or that we are set free from Carnal Corruption and Mixture And so being found in that Tepid State which is reckoned the Worst we shall understand that we are to be vomited out of the Mouth of the Lord according to his Sentence saying I would thou wert Hot or Cold but because thou art now Tepid or Lukewarm I will begin to spue thee out of my Mouth Rev. 3.15 c. Abbot Isaac concerning PRAYER Cass Col. 9. THE End of every Monk and Perfection of his Heart tends to a continual and uninterrupted Perseverance in Prayer and as far as is permitted to Humane Frailty strives after an unmoveable Tranquility and perpetual Purity of Mind For the Enjoyment of which we unweariedly seek and continually exercise as well Labour of the Body as Contrition of Spirit And there is between these a certain reciprocal and inseparable Conjunction For as the Structure of all Virtues doth tend to the Perfection of Prayer so unless all these be bound and compacted together by the toping of it they can by no means hold out firm and stable For as without them cannot this perpetual and continual Tranquility of Prayer of which we speak be acquired and perfected so neither can those Virtues which prepare for it without the Continuance of it be accomplished Wherefore neither can we rightly treat of the Effect of Prayer or enter to the principal End of it which is accomplished by the Employment of all Virtues by a hasty Discourse unless first all these things which for the obtaining of it are either to be cut off or to be prepared be in order enumerated and discussed and according to the Instruction of the Parable in the Gospel those things which belong to the Building of that Spiritual and more sublime Tower be counted and diligently prepared for it Which notwithstanding will neither profit being prepared nor rightly admit those high topings of Perfection to be built upon them unless first all refuse of Vices being cast out and all dead rubbish of Passions dug up the most firm Foundations of Simplicity and Humility be laid upon the sound and solid Earth of our Heart that Evangelical Rock upon which this Tower to be built with the Employments of all the Spiritual Virtues may be both unmoveably established and raised up to the highest Heavens by the Consistence of its own Firmness cap. 2. And therefore that the Prayer be made with that Fervour and Purity it ought these things are by all means to be observed First The Solicitude of Earthly things in general is to be cut off Next not only the Care but not so much as the Memory of any Business or Cause is to be admitted Detractions idle Talk much Talk Jestings are likewise also to be cut off Anger above all things or the Perturbation of Sadness are to be throughly rooted out The pernicious Food of Carnal Concupiscence and the Love of Money is to be plucked up by the Roots and these and the like Vices which are visible even to the Eyes of Men being cut off and wholly thrust out and such a cleansing of the Rubbish which is perfected in the Purity of Simplicity or Singleness of Heart and Innocence first made the unshaken Foundations of a profound Humility which may bear a Tower reaching to the Heavens are first to be laid then is the Superstruction of Spiritual Virtues to be built upon it and from all Discourse or Reasoning and light Wandering is the Mind to be restrained that so it may by degrees be elevated to God and to Spiritual Intuition For what-ever our Soul conceives before the Hour of Prayer of necessity it will occur to us while we pray by intrusion of our Remembrance Wherefore such as we would be found while we Pray such ought we to prepare our selves to be before the time of Prayer For from the precedent State is the Mind formed in Prayer c. cap. 3. The Quality of the Soul is not unfitly compared to a light Feather which if it be not spoiled by some wet from without happening to it by the levity of its own Substance with the help of a gentle Breath is as it were naturally raised up on high and to the Heavens But if it be aggravated with the Accession of any wet it is not only not raised up to any Aerial Flights by its natural Mobility but will be depressed down to the very Earth by the weight of the Wet received So also our Mind if it be not aggravated with contracted Vices and Worldly Cares or corrupted with the Humour of noxious Lust being lifted up as with the natural Advantage of its Purity will with the least Breath of Spiritual Meditation be elevated on high and forsaking low and Earthly things will be transported to those which are Heavenly and invisible So that we are very properly admonished by our Lord's Precepts See that your Hearts be not at any time over-charged with Gluttony Drunkenness and the Cares of the World Luk. 21.34 And therefore if we would our Prayers should pierce not only the Heavens but what are above the Heavens let us take Care to raise our Mind purged from all Earthly Corruptions and cleansed from

of the Earth as much as their Mortal State could bear and applyed themselves intirely to the Contemplation and Prosecution of those of a more excellent Nature living an Abstracted and Angelick Life in Mortal Flesh in Holy Conversation and Favour with God and his blessed Ministring Spirits And some did actually and expressly consecrate themselves by Vow unto the special Service of God Of which Sort were those among the Jews called NAZARITES because they did so separate themselves from among Men to attend upon God The Sacred History Numb 6. is a Record not of the Original but of the Divine Approbation of Nazarites which though that be very ancient yet were much more ancient and more ancient than any Man can tell And God's Ordering of the Rites and Circumstances of their Consecration and Observations for that People is a manifest Indication of his Divine Approbation of the thing it self which had been in use long before All do agree that they were of Two sorts some only for certain time others perpetual for their whole Life and those may again be distinguished into Three sorts viz. Such as were call'd or appointed by God as Samson a Nazarite unto God from the Womb Judg. 13.5 7 16.17 and as St. John the Baptist consecrated effectually and filled with the Holy Spirit even from his Mother's Womb Luk. 1.15 Such as were dedicated by their Parents as Samuel by his Mother 1 Sam. 1.10 28. And such as did freely offer themselves And this Free-will Offering of themselves though but for a certain time God did accept no less than the Free-will Offerings of their Goods or any thing they had v. Lev. 22.18 21 23 27.2 and therefore ordered the Rites and Circumstances of their Consecration and Observations as was said before And on the contrary the Calamities of Nazarites is reckoned as a part of the Punishment of the People by Jeremiah the Prophet Lam. 4.7 But it is reckoned by God among his Divine Favours to that People that he raised up Nazarites amongst them and reckoned with his bringing them up from the Land of Egypt and raising them Prophets amongst them Amos 2.10 11. I raised up of your Sons for Prophets and of your Young Men for Nazarites Though they might freely offer themselves yet it was God that did secretly inspire and incline their Wills And therefore these were Holy as Origen hath well observed Hom. 11. in Levit. If any one devotes himself to God if any one intangles himself in no secular Business that he may please Him to whom he hath approved himself if any one is separate from the rest of Men who live Worldly Lives and are obliged in secular Business not seeking the things which are upon Earth but which are in Heaven he is deservedly called HOLY or SAINT And after much to this purpose he concludes in these Words From all which it is clear how every one of us who will be Holy ought to be consecrated to God and thenceforth be imployed in no Business or Acts which relate not to God So likewise the Colledges or Schools of the PROPHETS though we meet with no express mention of them till in 1 Sam. 10.5 yet certain it is that they were much more ancient who under the Name of Prophets lived very abstracted Lives The very change of the Denomination mentioned in the chap. next foregoing 1 Sam. 9.9 is an Evidence of that viz. That he who was then call'd a Prophet was afore-time call'd a SEER and therefore when one went to inquire of the Lord they said Come and let us go to the Seer And if to inquire of the Lord was to go to the Seer than that leads us back to the time of Rebecca Gen. 25.22 for Seers and how much farther back no Man knows for that certainly was no new thing then Nor doth it appear that the Schools of the Prophets were first instituted by Samuel But that they lived such abstracted Contemplative Lives is undeniable both from the Nature of their Profession and from the Particulars of the Matter of Fact of their Conversation mentioned in the Holy Scriptures Nor were there Men only but WOMEN also who did very anciently leaving the World apply themselves to Matters of Devotion though perhaps not with so solemn Consecration such as Anna a Prophetess who having lived seven years a Wife lived afterwards a Widow till eighty four years of Age and departed not from the Temple but served God with Fastings and Prayers Night and Day For of this sort of Religious Women were there many among the Israelites as anciently as the Tabernacle in the Wilderness as we are informed by the Jews and the most learned Criticks of this Age as Munster Fagius Vatablus and others upon Exodus 38.8 And this it is very probable was a great Aggravation of the Sins of the Sons of Eli 1 Sam. 2.22 that the Women whom they abused were such as these who assembled at the Door of the Tabarnacle as learned Criticks inform us And putting all these Notices together it seems that such Religious Devout Women there were among the Jews at least from the time of their first abode in the Wilderness while they had the Temple standing amongst them And if so Why not long before even while in Egypt Had they not received Religious Instructions from their Ancestours or Did they retain none of them or Did they see nothing of Religion practised among the Egyptians and Had they not the same Natural Propensation to Religion which is common to all Men We see how ready and expert all the Women were at the Red-Sea Exod. 15.1 20. with Miriam a Prophetess to answer Moses and the Men and Can we imagin that all Religion had been extinguished or lain dormant in their Abode in Egypt No certainly their hard Servitude though it might hinder their more Solemn Worship yet it could not hinder but did rather excite and provoke to more retired and secret Devotion And indeed that Servitude with Rigour and hard Bondage was not till a little before their Deliverance and even then do we find that generous Magnanimity even among the Hebrew Women the Midwives as to obey God rather than Man Exod. 1.17 The Companies of the PROPHETS mentioned 1 Sam. 10.10 and 19.20 such as else-where are call'd the Sons of the Prophets 1 King 18.4 20.35 2 King 2.3 5 7 15 4.38 6.1 2 9.1 were a sort of Religious Persons who lived Abstracted Contemplative Lives many of them plainly Coenobitical Lives and some Anachoretical or Hermete Lives as St. Antony and others among the Christians did as Elias 1 King 17.1 and Elisha 1 King 19.6 So that St. Hierom said very truly Every Order or Institution of Life hath its Principals or Leaders and then after divers Instances in others he adds Our Leaders are such as Paul as Antony as Julian as Hilarian as the Macerius 's And to return to the Authority of the Scriptures our Prince or Leader was Elias was Elisha our

of them in the Gospel nor have we of the ESSEANS who yet are known to have been a Religious Sect among the Jews of great Antiquity though not once mentioned in all the Scriptures a People who lived a Religious Abstracted Life But of them I shall say no more in this place because I intend the full Relations both of Josephus and of Philo concerning them hereafter Nor shall I here say any thing of the THERAPEUTS another Religious Society of the Jews as Philo saith not only for that reason because I intend Philo's Relation of them hereafter but because I conceive this no proper place for it For I am well satisfied that they were some of those who were first converted to Christianity probably of the Jews and possibly of the Esseans notwithstanding all the Cavils which some disingenious and prejudiced Persons have in these last Ages strained their Wits to raise against it though they might retain some Sentiments and Practices peculiar to themselves for some time as did they at Jerusalem as may be understood from Act. 15.1 5. Gal. 2.4 12. c. For it is certain they were never heard of before that time nor any such since but Christians who from that time inhabited the same places and from thence after the Persecution ceased were the Ascetick Communities propagated to Palestin and those parts first and afterward into Europe The Precursor to our Saviour St. JOHN BAPTIST according to the Prediction of the Angel Luk. 1.15 was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his Mother's Womb and drank neither Wine nor strong Drink had his Rayment of Camels Hair and a Leathern Girdle about his Loins and his Meat was Locusts and wild Honey Mat. 3.4 and was in the Desert till the day of his Shewing unto Israel Luk. 1.80 but in the Fifteenth Year of the Reign of Tiberius Coesar Annas and Cajaphas being the High Priests the Word of God came unto him in the Wilderness Luk. 3.1 2. and being sent of God Joh. 1.6 he preached and baptized in the Wilderness Mat. 3.1 Mar. 1.3 and the People from Jerusalem and all Judea went out to him and were baptized of him Mat. 3.5 6. This was a Life not only of Retirement and Abstraction from the World such as was also that of the Coenobites who lived in Religious Communities but plainly an Eremetick or Hermetick Life And this being by one fill'd with the Holy Ghost from his Mother's Womb and therefore by one raised up by Him who had raised up the Nazarites before with good cause do the ancient Christian Writers repute Him a Prince of the Monks and Hermites raised up among the Christians and so good cause that they who oppose it may seem to oppose not only the Sentiments and Opinions of Men but out of Prejudice and misguided Zeal the very Acts of God very disingeniously and inconsiderately to serve a Party And for our SAVIOVR Himself though we have no particular Account of his Life till about the Thirtieth Year of his Age yet we cannot question but he did practice Himself what he did recommend to others and that it was a Life of the Highest Perfection The only particular of his Life before that is left upon Record is That when he was Twelve Years Old he tarried behind at Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover and Joseph and his Mother knew not of it and after Three Days was found in the Temple sitting in the midst of the Doctors both hearing them and asking them Questions and that all who heard him were astonished at his Understanding and Answers and when his Mother asked him why he had thus dealt with them and told him that they had sought him sorrowing he reply'd How is it that ye sought me Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's Business and that he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them At his Baptism we see how careful he was to fulfill all Righteousness Afterwards he declared to the Jews That he sought not his own Will but the Will of the Father who sent him and to his Disciples That it was his Food to do the Will of him who sent him and to finish his Work Joh. 5.30 4.34 That he lived a Life of Poverty from his Birth is very plain in the Evangelical History and that by his own choice certainly no ingenuous Person will deny and therefore of voluntary Poverty And that he lived also a Life of Chastity is not to be questioned Much less that it was a Life of Abstraction Recollection and continual Adherence to and Communion with the Father And all this being put together and well considered what was it other than a most perfect Ascetick Life the Great Exemplar so generously and heroickly Exemplified by those many and numerous Choires of Holy Christian Nazarites of whom the World especially this Lazy Tepid Unprofitable Sensual Generation which despiseth the Memory and reproacheth the Common Name heretofore with them and others venerable is not worthy And this Life which he lived Himself he did recommend to others as by his own Illustrious Example so also by his Doctrin though he injoyned it to none especially in that high degree For Chastity and Celebacie he doth not barely approve it but speaks of it as a special Gift of God Mat. 19.11 which all cannot receive save they to whom it is given And when he had said There be Eunuchs who have made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heavens sake he adds He that is able to receive it let him receive it in both speaking of something more excellent than ordinary and besides in these Words There be Eunuchs who have made themselves Eunuchs c. he plainly affirms that it was a thing in Use and Practice at that time as it had been long before which he so approved and recommended to all who could receive it And concerning voluntary Poverty to the Young Man who desired to know what he should do that he might have Eternal Life and had kept the Commandments from his Youth up he replyed one thing thou lackest if thou wilt be Perfect go and sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the Poor and thou shalt have Treasure in Heaven and come take up the Cross and follow me Mat. 19.21 Mar. 10.21 Luk. 18.22 And Forsaking all he maketh an indispensible requisite to the being his Disciple Whosoever he be of you who forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple Luk. 14.33 As to Religious Obedience and voluntary Subjection to the Order and Determination of another well experienced in the Ways of God for an Exercise of an intire Subjection of the Creature to the Creator What else is it but a very proper and useful Mean and Expedient for the acquiring the Habit and a continual Exercise of that great Doctrin of our Saviour of Self-denyal and taking up the Cross Mat. 16.24 Mar. 8.34 warranted and approved by God in the Recabites and by

our Saviour in his Subjection to Joseph and his Mother Which though Self-denial be a Precept is a voluntary Act of the nature of a Reasonable Free-will Offering and a doing it daily as is expressed Luk. 9.23 a Living in it and a continual Reasonable Sacrifice of the prime Faculties of the Soul for the Service of God And the whole Business of an abstracted Ascetick Life What is it but a reasonable religious and devout Exercise of our Saviour's Doctrin in his Admonition to Martha Luk. 10.41 42. against being careful and troubled about many things when it was only for a short Entertainment of Himself and that One thing is needful and that Mary's Choice was of the better part In his Sermon upon the Mount of taking no thought for our Life Mat. 6.25 34. In his Parable of the Sower concerning the Cares and Riches and Pleasures of this Life the Thorns which choak the Seed of the Word that it bringeth no Fruit to Perfection Luk. 8.14 and concerning Watching that we be not surprized Mat. 24.42 25.13 Mar. 13.35 Luk. 21.36 And now if any one please as many have done to make any question concerning the meaning of our Saviour or the Interpretation of any part of this what more Authentick Evidence of that can be reasonably desired than what the wisest of Men have always approved and had recourse to in such Cases Usage and Practice afterward which daily Experience in the Construction of Laws and ancient Records and Deeds doth sufficiently confirm The APOSTLES certainly practised all this as far as was consistent with their Circumstances and Business they were imployed in and Preached it and recommended it by their Doctrin too as far as the Circumstances of the People and the Times would bear They forsook all not one of them Married any Wife afterward though they might have done it and were so far abstracted from all Diversions and Distractions of the World that they ordered Deacons for other necessary Works that they might give themselves continually to Prayer and to the Ministery of the Word or to Preaching And the effect of their Preaching and of the powerful Operation of the Holy Spirit upon the People was that they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrin in Communion in breaking Bread and in Prayers And all that believed were together and had all things Common and sold their Possessions and Goods and parted them as every Man had need c. Act. 2.42 And again Act. 4.32 The Multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and of one Soul neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things Common For as many as were Possessors of Lands or Houses sold them and brought the Prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles Feet What is here briefly said of the first Converts and Primitive Christians at Jerusalem agrees so well all things considered with what Philo more largely relates concerning those about Alexandria whom he calls THERAPEUTS who were never heard of before nor after under any Denomination unless of that of Christians which began early at Antioch and was soon spread over the World where any Disciples of Christ were and took place of all others that as the Ancients do affirm we also have great reason to rest satisfied that they were indeed such notwithstanding all the Cavils of some of the last Age which have since been sufficiently refuted It is true they did not long appear in that form of Communities for they were dissolved at Jerusalem and dispersed into divers Regions by that great Persecution after the Death of Stephen and doubtless by like Occasions in other Places But the Example and Doctrin of our Saviour and his Apostles could not but provoke many especially among the Jews before well-disposed for it to forsake the World and betake themselves to a retired abstracted Contemplative Life The Natural Inclination in them was excited and fortified by the various Examples which were common among them before and then receiving such further Encouragement from our Saviour and his Apostles both directly and indirectly from several Doctrines of the Gospel concerning Self-denyal Mortification Contempt of the World Heavenly-mindedness c. this could not but mightily affect them generally with an Heroick Contempt of the World and of the Body and all Earthly things The very Doctrin Promises and Miracles with which they were confirmed were apt of their own Nature to produce all this but much more being accompanied with such a Spirit and Power as the Preaching of the Apostles and the Primitive Christians then was And certainly they wanted nothing but Opportunity even then in the Apostles times to have settled in Coenobitical Societies which as soon as the commom obstacle the Persecutions was removed by the Providence of God in raising Constantine to the Throne of the Empire they presently began to do first in Egypt where 't is probable were many descended from the Recabites and Esseans and in no long time after in most other Parts Concerning those in Egypt in his time St. John Chrysostome gives us this Account Should any one come now to the Deserts of Egypt he would see all the Wilderness altogether more excellent than a Paradice and innumerable Companies of Angels shining in Mortal Bodies For there is to be seen spread over all that Region the Camp of Christ and the admirable Royal Flock and the Conversation of the Heavenly Powers illustriously shining upon Earth And this you may see most splendid not in MEN only but also in WOMEN Heaven it self doth not so shine with various Constellations of Stars as Egypt is beset and illustrated with innumerable Convents of Monks and Virgins But of this more hereafter These things being well considered it will be very plain 1. That they who have derived these Religious Institutions from our Saviour and his Apostles by their Example and Doctrin and the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit had a good Foundation of Truth to maintain their Assertion 2. That they who have raised such Prejudice in the Minds of the People against such Holy Religious Societies in general as to beget in them an Odium against all if they did it in simplicity and meerly through the Prejudice they themselves had conceived from the Scandals of those of their time yet did they very rashly and inconsiderately in so doing but if they did it to temporize and ingratiate themselves with Princes and Great Men who had inriched themselves with the Spoils of the Monasteries and the Revenues of the Church they did very wickedly and impiously We must not deny or question the Justice of the Judgment of God upon them but Who are they by whom the Righteous God doth usually execute such Judgments And at this time we have great reason to take that for a Warning to our Selves Were they cast out for their Laziness and Corruptions What then have we to expect Suppose ye that

Noble saying of the Apostle on which we should oft meditate 1 Cor. 15.31 I die daily for if we so live as those who consider they may die every day we shall not sin Whence we learn every Day when we rise not to reckon upon our stay till the Evening and again when we lye down to sleep to suppose we shall not rise because our Life is uncertain by Nature which Providence daily measures out to us By being thus dispos'd and living so every day we shall not offend nor lust after any forbidden Object or be angry with any one or lay up treasure on Earth But thus dying every day we shall be possessing nothing and forgive all Offences being freed from all desire of filthy Pleasure reputing it as transeunt always striving and having the Day of Judgment in our Eye for a great fear of Eternal Torments takes off the Appetite from excess of Pleasure and rears up the Soul when it begins to stoop Wherefore having set foot in the path of Vertue let us advance faster and faster and that we may be Masters of all Opportunities before us let none of us look back as did Lot's Wife for our Lord hath positively said that No one that puts his hand to the Plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of Heaven Now by the Expression look back is meant nothing else but to change our Thoughts and to relish the Things of this World Be not startled when ye hear any thing of Vertue neither think strange of the Name for 't is not far from us nor without us but the work is in our Power and an easie matter if we have but an hearty Resolution The Greeks travel and cross the Seas to learn Letters but we need not travel for the Kingdom of Heaven or to cross the Seas for Vertue for our Lord has told us before hand Luk. 17.21 The Kingdom of Heaven is within you Wherefore Vertue stands only in need of the Will since 't is within us and built up out of us For Vertue consists of a Soul which has a primitive Natural Temper Now the Mind is so when it has that Temper wherein it was created 'T was created very beautiful and upright for which reason Jesus the Son of Nave bid the People Joshua 24.23 Incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel as John also Make strait your paths for the Soul 's being strait or upright does consist in its having its intellectual Faculty in that posture in which it was created Again When the Soul bends or is crooked from Nature's posture then the Soul has Evil imputed to it Wherefore the Business is not so difficult as some make it for if we continue as we were made we are in a State of Vertue But if we purpose things that are wicked we are arraigned before God for wicked Persons If this Accomplishment were such as that it must necessarily be procur'd from without us it would be difficult But since 't is within us let us keep our selves from evil filthy Purposes and having received so great a Trust from God let us keep our selves for God that he may own his Work when he sees it such as he made it Let us contend earnestly lest Wrath tyrannize or Lust domineer over it for 't is written The Wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God But Lust when it hath conceived brings forth Sin and Sin when it is finished brings forth Death But since the Case is so with us let us be sincerely sober and as 't is written Keep our Hearts with all Diligence for we have shrewd and subtile Enemies even wicked Devils To which I add with the Apostle We wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities and Powers against the Rulers of this World against Spiritual Wickednesses in high places for there is a vast rout of them in the Air against us Nor are they far from us But there is a great difference in Devils But to speak of their Nature and Diversity would take up too much time A Narrative of that kind must be the work of greater Abilities That which lies upon us as necessary to be known is their various Subtilties against us And here be it known that the Devils were not by Nature what they are by Name For God made nothing Evil But they were created Fair and Good But having fall'n from an Heavenly Prudence and now wheeling about the Earth they deceived the Gentiles with their Phantasies And now that they envy us Christians they leave no stone unturn'd to hinder us from Entring into the Kingdom of Heaven lest we should get thither whence they fell Wherefore we stand in need of much Prayer and Exercise till we obtain the Gift of discerning of Spirits for when once a Man has obtain'd that he may be able to know which of them is more and which less Wicked and whither their different Endeavours mostly tend and by what Means every one of them may be conquered and cast out For they have several Wiles and Stratagems Hence came that Saying of the Apostle and his Followers For we are not ignorant of his Devices 2 Cor. 2.11 Since therefore we are tempted by them we should be setting one another's Souls to rights Wherefore I having partly experienced their Wiles do now but as a Child speak something to you about them Well then If they observe any Christians especially Monks labouring hard to make a considerable Progress in Vertue they assault and tempt them by laying continual obstacles in their way viz. evil Thoughts But however we should not be afraid of their Threats for by Prayer and Fasting and Faith in God they quickly fall But after they have been thrown they don't desist but presently come again subtlely and deceitfully for if they cann't cheat our Hearts by gross Pleasures they will assault us another way striving to terrifie us by false Appearances and transforming themselves into the Shapes of Women Beasts Serpents Bulky Bodies and Armies of Souldiers Even then our Hearts should not mis-give us for they are nothing and presently dis-appear especially if the Christian immures and fortifies himself with the Faith and the Sign of the Cross But still they are very bold and impudent for when they have been thus vanquished they set upon us another way and pretend to Prophecy and foretell things to come Also to scare us they will represent themselves so Tall as to touch the Cieling and proportionably Broad that they may steal those away by such Delusions whom they could not deceive by their Sophistry But if they find a Soul so secur'd with Faith and that Hope which attends true Repentance as to resist them still at last they bring the Prince of the Devils 16. He said also that the Devil often appeared just as he is described in Job 41.18 19 20. His Eyes are like the Eye-lids of the Morning Out of his Mouth go burning Lamps and sparks of Fire

encreas'd and the Negligence of some was shook off and the Opinionativeness or Self-Conceit and Vain-glory of others ceas'd and all were perswaded to despise the Devil's Treachery admiring the Grace that was given to St. Antony by our Lord for his Exercise 21. The MONASTERIES now were like so many Sacred Tabernacles full of Divine Choirs singing and delighting in Holy Conferences and Fasting and Praying and exulting in the Hope of future Goods and working to give Alms and Exercising mutual Love and unanimous Symphony among themselves So that you might see there of a Truth a Land of Piety and Righteousness by it self For there was neither an Injurious nor an injured Person neither any Complaint of the Oppressour But a Multitude of Asceticks having one and the same Ardour for Vertue insomuch that one amongst the rest of the Spectatours seeing such Monasteries and regular Discipline could not forbear crying out as we read Numb 24.5 6. How goodly are thy Dwellings O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel As the shady Vales are they spread forth and as the Parks beside the Rivers and as the Tents which the Lord hath fix'd and as the Cedars by the Waters side 22. St. Antony therefore oft retiring himself into his Monastry daily grew Vigorous in Exercise and groan'd longing for Mansions in Heaven because he long'd for them and observ'd the frail Life of Man When-ever he was about to eat or drink or sleep or serve any other Bodily Necessities he blush'd for he thought upon the Dignity of his Intellectual part So that oftentimes when he was going to eat with other Monks and call'd to Remembrance his Spiritual Food he refus'd and retir'd to eat alone thinking he should blush if he was seen Eating by them When he eat alone 't was purely out of Necessity Sometimes though very seldom he eat with his Brethren But though 't were with Blushing he took the Liberty to acquaint his Brethren for their Benefit that they should lay out their Leisure rather on their Soul than their Body lest it be weigh'd down by the Pleasures of the Body which ought to be in Subjection to it For our Saviour has said Take no thought for your Life what you shall eat nor for your Body what ye shall put on Do not seek what ye may eat nor what ye may drink neither aim at high things For all these things the Nations of the World seek for your Father knows that ye need them and all these things shall be added unto you 23. Not long after the Emperour Maximinus Persecuted the Church and some Holy Martyrs being carried to Alexandria he left his Monastry and followed them saying to his Friends Let us also go and combat or see those who do for he was Ambitious of Martyrdom But not being willing to deliver up himself he ministred to the Confessors in the Mines and Prisons and shew'd great Diligence in the Court of Judicature comforting and spurring on those that were call'd to it and attending them till they were Crowned Martyrs Wherefore the Judge observing the Fearlesness and Assiduity of Antony and of those that were with him ordered that no Monk should appear in the Court nor so much as live in the City so that all the rest seemed to abscond that Day But St. Antony took this so much to thought that he wash'd his Scapulary the cleaner the Day after and stood foremost on an high place before the Judge's Face And though all Persons admir'd at it and the Governour as he pass'd by with his Train took Notice of it yet he stood unmov'd shewing the Readiness of the Christians to die For as I said before he wish'd to die a Martyr and appear'd very much griev'd because he did not But the Lord preserv'd and reserv'd him for our Benefit and the Advantage of many more that he might be a Teacher to many by the Exercise which he learnt out of the Holy Scriptures for the bare sight of his Discipline inflam'd many others to imitate his Life Wherefore he again visited the Confessors as he us'd and as it were bound up together with them he labour'd to serve them But after that Persecution in which the Blessed Bishop Peter suffered Martyrdom ceas'd he pilgrimag'd and retir'd again to the Monastry where he was daily a Martyr in Conscience and fought the Combats of Faith For there he us'd himself to much and stricter Exercise for he always fasted His inner Garment was Hair-cloth his upper of Leather which was the Habit he wore to his dying Day neither washing the dirt off his Body no nor so much as his Feet unless they were wet by chance when he waded thorow Water on a Journey 24. Now when he had thus retir'd and resolv'd to continue in that State some time without ever going abroad or entertaining any Company There came to him one Martinian a Colonel who had a Daughter troubled with a Devil and was very troublesome to him and after he had stood a long while knocking at the Door and entreating him to come and pray to God for his Daughter Antony would not suffer him to break open his Door but leaning out of the top said Man Why dost thou stand crying thus I am a Man as well as thou If thou believest pray to God and 't is done presently The Colonel therefore pray'd to God with Faith and went his way and his Daughter was cleans'd from the Devil Many other things did our Lord by him Wherefore we do not read in vain Matt. 7.7 Ask and it shall be given you For many that were Sick and only sat without the Monastry by Faith and Prayer were Cur'd But as soon as he saw himself thus disturb'd by a great many People and not permitted to retire according to his Purpose and Desire and fearing lest from what the Lord did by him he should be lifted up or any one else upon that account should think of him beyond what he ought he thought and was resolved to go to the upper Thebais where no body knew him and having took some Loaves of his Brethren he sat down by the River Banks watching for a Vessel to get over In the mean while came a Voice from Heaven saying Antony Whither goest thou and wherefore Antony without any Commotion or Disorder of Mind for he was us'd to such extraordinary Occurrences said Since the Multitude will not let me be at rest here I have a mind to retire in the upper Thebais and so much the rather because they require things above my Strength Then reply'd the Voice Should'st thou go thither thou would'st have double the Trouble to undergo But if thou would'st be quiet indeed go into the inner Wilderness But Who said Antony shall shew me the way for I don't know it And the Voice presently directed him to some Sarazens that were travelling that way Whereupon Antony made up to them and requested to walk with them to the Wilderness They as it were by the

Sin may be greater and their Case more dangerous than they or I can imagin but I cannot but pity them be ready to help them to hope the best because they were led into it and did it through Ignorance Prejudice and the Scandals of others and to speak comfortably to all that will receive it and submit to the Call of God humble themselves before Him and return to their Duty But the Sin of those who shall refuse and go on obstinately will be greatly aggravated and their Case more dangerous and difficult If they fall into the Ditch the company of a blind Guide will not save them If they die in their Sins it will be but a sorry Comfort to them that their Blood must be required of another But to help them out I know no better and more effectual way than to detect the Snare and Stratagem whereby they fell and the Stone at which they stumbled And it was no other than what I have mentioned already in general the Scandal given by others and Offence taken by them but it will be necessary to consider it more particularly and the first particular that I observe in the Journal of G. Fox was an empty Formality void of the Power of Godliness that he perceived and felt in all Parties the Professors as well as the Priests as he calls them that they were Ministers not of the Spirit but of the Letter only 2 Cor. 3.6 that their Preaching was but with Wisdom of Words 1 Cor. 1.17 with the inticing Words of Man's Wisdom ibid. 2.4 or at best but a Ministration of the Letter not of the Spirit I do not write his Words but his Sense And this was an undeniable Evidence and Demonstration of the insufficiency of Vniversity Learning alone alone I say to qualifie Men to be Ministers of Christ for there were of both sorts those who wanted not that if that had been sufficient And if we inquire into the true reason of that how that comes to pass since a principal End of our Universities is to qualifie Persons for that Service we shall presently discover that which is the Root and true Cause both of that and of almost all the Unhappiness of this Nation and that is a great Defect and Neglect of Teaching and Learning the best and chief part of all Learning and Knowledge of true Heavenly Wisdom Their Learning is plainly such an ineffectual Learning which doth deceive their Souls being void of the chief solid Food like Chaff without the Corn and Husks without the Kernel it stops the Mouth satisfies the Stomach but famisheth the Soul and not only so but like unwholsome Food breeds only Wind Crudities a Knowledge that pusseth up and Diseases a superficial Notional Business without any thing of true Culture and Food of Souls a Form plainly without the Power such a Cheat and Deceit as the most virulent Expressions of any call'd Quakers could not exceed but even Indignation would extort almost as much from a sober Man duly sensible of it It deceives themselves it deceives the People whom they undertake to feed and it deceives the whole Nation The Teaching here is agreeable to the Design of those who come to learn a mixt Design of an unnatural Composure Heaven and Earth or rather Earth and Heaven not so much God and Mammon which according to our Saviour's Doctrine are inconsistent but Mammon and God for the principal in the Design in this Case ought first to be named and it is visible in their Actions which that is and even in their Common Expressions for if one propose a Place with all the Advantages of doing Good that may be presently comes this filthy fulsome Question But what Encouragement is there as if an Advantage for doing Good was not Encouragement enough to a Christian to enter into the Service of God without some humane assurance of I know not what temporal Income And Preferments are not only thought but plainly asserted to be the Encouragements of Learning and I doubt they have their Reward What unsatiable Greediness is observable generally in all to be scandalous in almost the best that can come at them And what is the Use they make of them when they have with great Study and Pains and Solicitations and Compliances and Flatteries and Costs at last obtained them but Pride and Luxury and Extravagancies of Wives and Children to which all * v. Fa. Paul Of Matters Beneficiary N. 236,237 f. a Sin to mispend that which exceeds the moderate Necessity of a Clergy-Man That must be sacrificed which was designed for Provision for true Food of Souls of which Thousands are daily famished for want of a competent number of duly qualified Labourers in the Lord's Vineyard in the great Parishes about this City and other parts of the Nation where there is Maintenance enough if such Persons were imployed as did indeed make that their Business Care and Concern All their Learning raiseth but few above the Sensual to the Animal State but none to the truly Spiritual if any attain to that it is by such Means as may be used any where else as well as at the University as things are there ordered at present and not by University Learning which as it is ordinarily used doth more hinder than further it Nor is it likely it should have much better Effect upon others which hath no better upon themselves For in the Spiritual Generation as in the Carnal Men beget their like the strong such as are strong and the weak and infirm such as themselves are But if we look farther into the Concerns of the whole Nation and their Duty to their Great Master in that respect are not they to be both severally and jointly not only Pastors but Watchmen severally over their own particular Charges and jointly over the whole Nation But what an insignificant Generation are they even the Chief of them in that respect not only far short of the Generosity and Magnanimity of genuine Christians and the more immediate Servants of the Great Jehovah but even of the natural Genius of their own Nation as if their Preferments had some Narcotick and stupifying quality or some secret Enchantment in them And so in truth they have they are like the Trojan Horse when they think they have got a great Prize they themselves are surprized and captivated by they little think what invisible Enemies When they return to the Pomps and Vanities of the World which they had renounced in their Baptism they desert the Heroick Christian State and enter into the Power of the Enemy and their true Christian Strength departs from them they have no longer any real strength to serve the Lord Christ but only such an Appearance of it as serves to deceive themselves and others and make them the more effectually subservient to that Interest which they do not design to serve for their Actions and Behaviour render their Preaching not only ineffectual but scandalous to Men