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judgement_n	bring_v	death_n	sin_n	2,245	5	4.6873	4	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

they add that if he be put in Authority over others he never will abuse it to the Prejudice of those who are under him and neither exceed the rest in Apparel nor any other ambitious Pomp that he will always love the Truth and severely reprove Lyars and that he will keep his Hands and Soul pure from all Theft and unjust Gain and that he will not conceal any Mysteries or Secrets of their Religion from his Companions nor reveal them to any Strangers although he should be threaten'd thereto by Death Adding moreover that he will never deliver any Doctrin save that which he hath received and diligently preserve the Books as well as the Names of those from whom they received it These Protestations they oblige those to take solemnly who enter into their Order to the end to fortifie them against all Vices Those of the Society who transgress notoriously they thrust out of their Company And who-ever is so punished for the most part dieth a miserable Death for it being not lawful for him to eat with any Stranger he is reduced to feed on Grass like Beasts and so he perisheth through Famine For which cause oftentimes they are moved with Compassion to receive many into their Order again when ready by Famine to yield up the Ghost judging them to have endured Penance enough for their Offences who with Famine were almost brought to Death's door They are very severe and just in their Judgments and to decide any Matter there is never fewer of them than an Hundred and that which is by them agreed upon is irrevocable Next after God they reverence their Law-giver insomuch that if any one revile him they forthwith condemn him to Death They take it for a great Duty to obey their Elders and what is appointed by many so that if Ten of them sit together no Man of them must speak without he be licensed thereto by ●●●e of the Company They account it a great ●●●ivility to be in the midst of the Assembly or on their right hand And they are more severe than any other Jews in observing the Sabbath for they do not only abstain from dressing Meat which they dress the Evening before that Day but also they may not remove any Vessel out of its place nor satisfie the Necessities of Nature Upon other Days they dig a Pit a foot deep in the Ground with the Hatchet which as we before said every one at his Entrance into their Order hath given him and then covering themselves diligently with their Garment as if they feared to be Irreverent to the Light of Heaven in that Pit they ease themselves and then cover their Ordure with the Earth they took out of the Pit and this they do in the most secret places And though this purging of their Bodies be natural yet do they by washing purifie themselves after it as after great Uncleanness Furthermore amongst themselves they are divided into Four Orders according to the time which they have continu'd this Exercise of Life and they that are Juniors bear such respect to their Seniors that if they do but touch one of them they are obliged to purifie themselves as though they had touched a Stranger They are long liv'd so that most of them live an Hundred Years which I judge is by reason of their well-ordered Diet and their Temperance They contemn Adversity and by Constancy and Fortitude triumph over Torments They preferr an honourable Death before Life The Wars which the Jews made against the Romans shew'd what invinsible Courage and Hardiness they have in all things for they suffered the Breaking of the Members of their Bodies Fire and Sword and all kind of Tortures rather than be brought to speak the least Word against their Law-giver or to eat Meats forbidden They could not be forced to any of these neither would they entreat the Torturers nor shew any Sorrow amidst their Torments Yea in the midst of their Pains they scoffed at their Tormentors and joyfully yielded up their Souls as though they hoped to pass to a better Life For it is an Opinion amongst them That the Body is mortal and corruptible but the Souls remain ever immortal and being of a most pure and etherial Substance wrap themselves in Bodies as in Prisons being drawn thereunto by some natural Inclination But when they are delivered out of these carnal Bonds then presently as freed from a long Bondage they joyfully mount into the Air. And of the Good Souls they say as did the Grecians that they live beyond the Ocean in a place of Pleasure where they are never molested with Rain nor Snow nor Heat but have always a sweet and pleasant Air. But the Wicked Souls as they say go into a Place very tempestuous where there is always Winter Weather always Lamentations of those who for ever are to be punished For I judge that the Greeks are of this Opinion when they say there is an Isle for the Virtuous whom they call Heroes and Half-Gods and that the Souls of the Wicked go to a Place in Hell where it is feigned that some are tormented as Sysiphus Tantalus Ixion and Titius Those Esseans also believe that they are created Immortal that they may be induced to Vertue and averted from Vice that the Good are rendred better in this Life by the Hope of being Happy after Death and that the Wicked who imagin they can hide their Evil Actions in this World are punished for them in the other with Eternal Torments This is the Esseans Opinion touching the Excellence of the Soul from which we see very few of those depart who have once embraced it There are also some among them who promise to foretell things to come which Faculty is obtained as well by the Study of Holy Books and Ancient Prophecies as by the Care they take of sanctifying themselves And their Predictions seldom fail They are at least Four Thousand in Number who have neither Wives nor Slaves supposing that Women are the occasion of Injustice and Slaves do cause Insurrections and living apart by themselves they serve one another and chuse out certain upright Men among the Priests to gather the Fruits and Revenues of the Land to the end they may be maintained and nourished thereby In a Word they follow the same Course of Life that they do who are called Plisti among the Danes There is another sort of Esseans agreeing with the former both in Apparel Diet and kind of Life and Observance of the same Laws and Ordinances only they differ in the Matter of Marriage Affirming that to abstain from Marriage tends to abolish Man-kind For say they if all Men should follow this Opinion presently all Man-kind would perish Notwithstanding these People use such Moderation that for Three Years space they observe the Women they intend to Marry and then if they appear sound enough to bear Children they Marry them None of them lye with their Wives when they are with Child to shew

Leaders were the Sons of the Prophets who dwelt in Fields and Deserts or Solitary Places and made themselves Tabernacles or Cells by the River of Jordan Of this Company were also the Sons of Racab c. Ep. 13. ad Paulin. p. 34. and elsewhere The Sons of the Prophets whom we read to have been Monks in the Old Testament did build themselves Cottages or Cells near the River of Jordan and leaving the Crowds of the Cities lived on Barley-Cakes and Field-Herbs Ep. 4. ad Rusticum pa. 11. And if some of them lived in Cities that doth no more invalidate what St. Hierom saith than Monasteries being brought into Cities by St. Basil is an Argument against their being Monks who have dwelt in such ever since Such Cavils do only prove the Partiality and Disingenuity of the Authours and signifie no more to any Person of Judgment and Candour since they cannot deny but are forced to confess That the Prophets Samuel Elias and Elisha did institute Colledges in which many Disciples did live together So then they lived a Coenobitick Life and What was their Food and Rayment Was it costly and delicious or poor and mean and What was their Imployment Can we imagin it to have been other than Studying the Scriptures after Moses his time and the large Book of Nature the Works of God of Creation of Providence Prayers Psalms and Divine Contemplation and Works and Labours about what was necessary for them and no more And if we consider the admirable Graces of the Ancient Christian Monks it will be an hard matter for an honest Man to find any difference between the Christian Monks and the Jewish Prophets more than in Name And for the Antiquity of these Is it any Argument that there were none before if we do not read of any before How and by whom did they inquire of the Lord Was Israel only without Prophets Was Balaam the first in his Nation or any other or Were there Prophets who did not ordinarily live Prophetick Lives or if they did What was the Difference But such Prophane Spirits as have too long contemned and insulted upon the most Heroick Professors of Christianity and abused the People with their Sophistry must answer for their Presumption Rashness Temporizing and incouraging of Sacriledge before God though the Degeneracy of the Modern Monks had provoked his Judgments upon them and among Men their Names will be little regarded hereafter But all are not alike and therefore I will here add a Note of Peter Martyr's concerning this Matter upon 2 King We will moreover observe saith he that the Disciples of the Prophets did live together with their Preceptors For so they say The Place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us It seems to have been a kind of Monastick Life but free without Vows or Superstitions But Vows we find approved by God in the Nazarites and practised by St. Paul and others and that they were not in use among these is more than any one can prove but he goes on They exercised themselves in Divine Scriptures and Hymns and also in Holy Prayers They were often sent to edifie the People and to confirm Holy Men who lived amongst Idolaters in sound and true Religion They seem moreover to have exercised some Arts working with their Hands to get a Maintenance for themselves c. And so much for this At the same time with Elisha lived Jonadab the Son of Rechab 2 King 10.15 who instituted another Order of Religious Persons called after his Father's Name RECHABITES These were not of any of the Tribes of Israel but Kenites descended of Jethro Moses his Father-in-Law v. 1 Chron. 2.55 Jud. 1.16 who was Priest of Midian Exod. 2.16 3.1 18.1 and one who worshipped the true God for he blessed God when he heard the Relation of what he had done for the Israelites Exod. 18.10 and in the usual Form in such Cases just as Melchizedeck did long before upon the Victory of Abraham Gen. 14.20 but they are reckoned among them of the Tribe of Juda 1 Chron. 2.55 because they came up with them out of the Wilderness Jud. 1.16 and for that reason and because they dwelt in Tents are thought to be call'd the Tents of Juda Zech. 12.7 But they are call'd the Families of the Scribes 1 Chron. 2.55 And therefore both from their Descent and from their Quality of Scribes and from their Institution and from the very Form of God's Promise to them we may reasonably conclude them to have been a Religious Order And indeed that alone is sufficient to demonstrate it was some special Service to God they were imploy'd in for it is expressed in the same terms which are used concerning the Tribe of Levi when the Lord separated them to his special Service viz. to stand before the Lord Deut. 10.8 v. 2 Chron. 29.11 Ezek. 44.11 15. And though we have little more Account of them than only in Jer. 35. yet there have we a plain Account of these Three great things concerning them 1. The Institution of their Progenitor 2. Their Religious Observance for Three Hundred Years past And 3. the Approbation of both by Almighty God The Institution may be thought very severe and the more because without any special manifest Reason and by consequence their so punctual Observance rather Superstitious than Reasonable and yet both are greatly approved by God Whence it is very plain that such Institutions and the strict Observance of them are lawful and well-pleasing to God and therefore that it is great Presumption and Inconsiderateness to censure them as Superstition But the Evidence of Truth hath extorted this Confession from an Adversary and as Sinister an Interpreter of these things as he could well tell how to be viz. That their Father gave them these Precepts for this very purpose that thereby he might set them free from the Cares and the Pleasures of the World that so they might with the more leisure imploy themselves in the Study of the Scriptures and of Divine Matters Which was the very Business of the Christian Monks And if they continued in Being at the Destruction of Jerusalem as is believed as well it may if we believe the Promise of God to them and that Simeon who succeeded James Bishop there was one of them there is no doubt but many of them received the Christian Faith and retained the Institutions of their Progenitor there being nothing inconsistent between them Some of the Jews understand that of Zechar. 12.7 The Lord shall save the Tents of Juda first of this People because they lived in Tents came up with that Tribe out of the Wilderness and are reckoned among them 1 Chron. 2.55 and that the Lord shall save them first because to them the Messiah shall first be discovered And whether the Therapeuts of whom Philo writes and the first Converts by St. Mark about Alexandria might not be of those People may be considered It is true we have no mention

been of theirs And so much for Synesius a very competent Witness of what he knew in this Case but a most incompetent Judge of what he understood not If we come nearer to our own times and inquire into the State of the Monasteries at the time of the Dissolution Stow the Historian writing of the Year 1536. 28. Hen. 8. says The Poor did much lament the Downfall of Monasteries for the great Hospitality which was kept there And it is certain that till after the Dissolution of Monasteries there was no Law in England to enforce any Man to pay to the Relief of the Poor by way of Temporal Coercion The Stat. of Ed. 1. call'd the Stat. de Asportatis Religiosorum recites it to be one chief End of building Monasteries that Hospitality and Almsgiving might be exercised and the Sick and Feeble maintained The Clergy then scarce pretending themselves to be Proprietors but rather Vsu-Fructuarii and as Mr. Selden saith that Parsonages and Vicarages were Elemosynae Laicorum so it seems they were used as a kind of Reserve for the Laity when they fell into Poverty again that is the Surplus was so for there was always to be deducted the Maintenance of him who waited at the Altar according to the Dignity and Quality of his Person Order and Function This was the Observation of a very good Friend to the Church of England the late Lord Chancellor Finch But as to the Monasteries certainly that was an excellent Provision for the Poor where they might be supplied with Spiritual as well as Corporal Alms and such as it seems did not fail till the last so that we needed no Law for Provision for the Poor till the Monasteries were dissolved Which is that Sin whereof the Learned and Judicious Mr. Joseph Meed saith the whole Body of the Reformation is notoriously guilty which nevertheless saith he is accounted no Sin and yet such a one as I know not whether God ever passed by without some visible and remarkable Judgment Ep. 14. p. 760. v. Ep. 58. p. 829. Disc 2. p. 15 17. Disc 27. p. 119 ... and the Judgment he thought begun upon some v. p. 17. 829. and expected more to follow And since the Righteous God is a severe Revenger of the Indignities and Injuries done to his Saints nor can he be thought to have less regard to Sacred Persons than to Sacred things I know no reason why the great Defects of pious and a compleat Christian Education which are now notorious in our Universities and that Blindness and Spirit of Sloath and Slumber which from thence seems to have seized and possessed all Ranks and Qualities of Persons and Parties amongst us may not be a special Judgment of God for that Universal Prejudice and Contempt which upon the Scandals of some the prophane Sacrilegious Impiety of others and the inconsiderate Rashness and Indiscretion of many more have raised against it FINIS THE LIFE OF St. ANTONY Originally Written in Greek by St. ATHANASIUS Bishop of Alexandria Faithfully Translated out of the Greek by D. S. TO WHICH The LIVES of some others of those Holy Men are intended to be added out of the best Approved Authors LONDON Printed for the Author for the Use and Benefit of a Religious Society 1697. THE PREFACE THE great Prejudice which in this last Age was raised against Monastick Life and Monks so greatly esteemed in the most flourishing Ages of the Church did proceed not so much from any Evil in the thing or in the persons at that time though much degenerated from the Virtue of the Ancients as from the Wickedness and Sacriledge of such as were greedy of their Revenues and Riches and Vnwillingness of others to bear the Yoak they had taken upon them This is so manifest that whoever should proceed to that degree of Disingenuity and Impudence as to deny it would justly forfeit all Credit with Men of Judgment and Impartiality afterward It is true there was too much occasion given for such as had a mind to rake up all the dirt they could against them yet even in that scarce any who have set themselves to that work have contained themselves within the bounds of Truth and Modesty much less of Charity but their Malice and Prejudice may be perceived upon a very small inspection into their Writings In this wicked Work besides all those who were directly concerned in it many others ingaged partly as Advocates in hope of some Preferment or Advantage from such as were possessed of the Prey partly to ingratiate themselves with the Party and partly through an indiscreet ignorant Zeal easily carried with an overflowing Stream The mischievous Consequences of this were many and great of which to pass by others one is no less than want of sound Education in true Christian Piety and Virtue even in our Vniversities ever since but too manifest in the Effects and another no less than that even the making the Word of God of none effect by discommending and disparaging and eluding even what our Saviour recommended to all though injoyned to none undermining the very Principles of the most Heroick Virtue and Piety of the most Holy Christians by an abominable Antichristian Presumption requiring no less than a Publick Humiliation of all the Protestant Churches For these and others of this nature it is that the Blessing of God hath not been upon the Reformation but only a Protection nor is it probable ever will till the Reformation it self be reformed but that they will either dwindle away as they have hitherto till they come to nothing or fill up the measure of their Iniquities till they bring some great Judgment of God upon them Such inconsiderate factious Zealotes as call this Popery know not what they say but do Honour to Popery Injury to Christianity and Prejudice to their own Cause But so mad and heady have they been that sober Men who understood better things have been forced to apologize for barely mentioning the Monasteries as Mr. Tanner hath truly observed in his Preface to his Notitia Monastica who notwithstanding hath very worthily dared to say That Monasteries were in those dark Ages the only Preservers of Learning and Maintainers of Hospitality That Orders and Statutes for the Relief of the Poor were never known till after their Dissolution and That their Founders were Men of the greatest Honour and Virtue in their respective Ages In his Epistle Dedicatory The Antiquity of Monasteries among Christians is not certainly known It is very probable which Mr. Tanner saith after Sir George Mackensy that the Original of Monks in Britain may be dated from the first Plantation of Christianity therein and that some of the Druids having been converted from the Pagan Religion whereof they were the Priests became our first Monks being thereunto much inclined by the Severity of their former Discipline And the same is certainly more than probable concerning Egypt that the Therapeuts whatever they were before were converted some of

Dominion yet hath not this Spirit as yet attained such a soveraign Empire and Mastery over the importunate Solicitations of Concupiscence and the natural Inclinations of our Will and Affections as that we do not still fall frequently into many lesser and those call'd Venial Sins or at least as to Actions that are not sinful but in their nature indifferent or lawful that we do not for the most part still prosecute those that are more grateful or advantageous to our present Carnal desires and our Sensual or secular designs Though such Actions are no way expedient for us nor acceptable to the Holy Spirit in which now we live nor do conduce to our growth in Grace but are great hinderances thereof and though these Acts contained indeed within the compass of lawful yet often expose us to Occasions of Sin Now so long as we stay here and advance no further we appear but as Infants and Babes in Grace it having not as yet obtained its perfect Reign in us either over our Concupiscence which carries us still into frequent venial Sins or over our Nature and Will which carries us in other matters lawful to those satisfying our natural Condition But when we are come to have potestatem voluntatis nostrae as St. Paul expresseth it 1 Cor. 7.37 come once to act seldom according to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concupiscence to fall seldom into Venial Sin especially with advertency and unsurprised and the Holy Spirit to have a more absolute power over Sense Reason our own Will Propriety and Self-love as to these things lawful but not expedient when come to St. Paul's omnia mihi licent sed ego sub nullius redigar potestate 1 Cor. 6.12 and to his corpus in servitem redigo 1 Cor. 9.27 and to act more constantly according to the Spirit moving now more perceptibly in us and giving the Law to us when Grace is as to these non-expedients also predominant and sole Mistress ordering all things without our reluctance or also with our zeal to the greater Love Praise Honour of God and the doing of all things in order to his Will so far as it is made known to us by this his Spirit then are we arrived to a full growth to a compleat Man in Christ to a state of Perfection such as this Life attains but few Regenerate there are that do not by their own disorders die in their Spiritual Youth before they come to such a mature Age. As therefore in our Regeneration a Man is removed from the state of Sin into the state of Grace so the Church desires in that which is called from some high Mysteries it speaks of as to the supream Effects of this Grace Mystical Theology to advance those already in the state of Grace to that of Perfection and from the Spirit Dwelling to it more absolutely Reigning in us which finds so many great Rewards not only in the next but this present Life § 19. 2. We must know therefore That to such end this Holy Spirit received in our Regeneration assisteth and worketh in us not only as to affording generally to all good Christians that seriously endeavour to save their Souls such internal Illuminations and Motions as are sufficient to direct them for the resisting of any sinful Temptation or to perform any necessary act of Vertue in Circumstances wherein they are obliged to it but also in affording us Light and Ability in all indifferent Actions and Occurrences with which may be also joyned all the Acts of Christian Vertues when no necessity obligeth us to do any of them and so when it is lawful for us without Sin to do or omit them whereby we are guided to make such a Choice as is more conformable to God's Will and particular Circumstances considered may much more advance us in the Love of God and Christian Perfection and whereby we may avoid such other of them as may be suggested either by corrupt Nature or the evil Spirit under pretence also of some Good End but to defeat a Better For the Holy Spirit excites us and assists us not only in doing Duties of necessary obligation or in the avoiding what is prohibited and performing what is commanded by God under penalty of Sin but in all these Acts also that may any way tend more to God's Glory or to our greater Perfection though these be such as we may without sinning chuse or refuse For in this I may say that the Holy Spirit in us is like to Concupiscence in us the one continually exciting us unto that which is Better as the other to that which is Worse See the Apostles description of these two inmates Rom. 8.1 c. and Gal. 5.16 17 18. where he saith v. 7. that Spiritus concupiscit adversus Carnem Caro adversus Spiritum and that sibi invicem adversantur And ibid. v. 18. as also Rom. 8.14 That those who are God's Children or Regenerate aguntur Spiritu are acted by the Spirit It guides us into Truth Jo. 16.13 brings things forgotten to our Remembrance Jo. 14.26 gives Knowledge and Arguments to one Act. 6.10 Vtterance and Eloquence and the power to perswade to another Act. 2.4 To another Wisdom or a good Judgment 1 Cor. 1.5 12.8 9 28. Prudence in Governing in executing anothers Commands Rom. 12.6 7. To another Courage and Boldness Act. 4.29 31. It opens Mens Vnderstandings and Hearts and renders them docile and apt to believe Luk. 24.8 Act. 16.14 Eph. 1.18 What is there that is not done in us by this Holy Spirit when we are employed about any thing that tends to the Glorifying of God the Father or the Son So is our regenerate Life wholly managed by this Spirit as the Natural is by the Soul and if not obstructed works in us a continual growth in Grace till we come to a perfect Man in Christ 2 Pet. 3.18 Eph. 4.13 Therefore the Apostle exhorts his Converts Gal. 5.25 that as they live their new Life in or by the Spirit so they would walk in it according to its directions And that they would mind or affect the things of the Spirit or the things it minds them of Because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within them is Death in the end but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within them is Life and Peace to them Exhorts them also Eph. 4.30 with no corrupt and fruitless Communication to contristate or grieve this Spirit Tim. 4.14 not to neglect it 1 Cor. 15.10 That it should not be void or idle in them 1 Thess 5.19 not to quench it Eph. 5.18 To replenish themselves with it And 2 Tim. 1.6 continually to revive it Rom. 12.11 to be fervent in it without which the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3.5 we cannot think a good Thought and our Lord Jo. 15 5. that we can do nothing § 20. 3. These Actions of the latter kind we are now speaking of that may be lawfully done or omitted the one or the other performed without any guilt of

greater and stronger and more intimately effective on the Soul than any other Motions from whencesoever they come can be and so also these become more evident to such and many times are so clearly discerned by them from the Supernatural impression they make upon the Soul as that it cannot resist disbelieve or any way doubt of them that they are Supernatural and Divine So St. Austin relates of his Mother Monica that she clearly knew such Supernatural actings in her from her own Imaginations Dicebat enim discernere se nescio quo sapore quem verbis explicare non poterat quid interesset inter revelantem Te animam suam somniantem Confess l. 6. c. 13. For she said she did discern by I know not what Savour which she could not explain in words what difference there is between Thee revealing and her own Soul dreaming And indeed if such interior Divine Operations were not sometimes certainly discernable how could St. Paul be assured when he intended to Preach the Word in Asia and again in Bithynia a most Charitable design that the Spirit forbad it and not rather the Enemy of the publishing of the Gospel Act. 16.6 7. or That it was by Revelation and not a Fancy of his that he ascended to Jerusalem Gal. 2.2 or That it was the Holy Spirit that testified and not Mens Fears that much Affliction should happen to him there Act. 20.23 How the Corinthians knew when they had a Revelation that it was not a work of their own Imagination since all these things were transacted only interiourly in the Soul and it was the Holy Spirit only that in all these gave the Evidence to it self A certain Assurance then it cannot be denyed that some at sometimes may have of Divine Operations in them But yet it is not affirmed here that all Persons less advanced in Prayer and Purity of Life or also the greatest Saints at all times discern the Operations of the Holy Spirit within them so clearly in this sort of Actions as not to be sometimes mistaken and it is sufficient that Persons piously disposed and frequent in Prayer may have a rational presumption of it as hath been said Neither is any more communicated unto them perhaps for the better preserving of their Humility And that no absolute Certitude is herein to be expected is a thing often confessed by Sancta Sophia See 1 Vol. p. 139. and p. 137. § 23. 4. But in case such Divine Inspirations be sometimes mistaken yet can no damage come thereby I mean as to committing any Sin 1. The Subject of them we speak of here being Matters in themselves indifferent and on any side lawful See Sancta Sophia 1 Vol. p. 143. 2. No Command of Superiors in these any way neglected 3. No Neglect besides using Prayer in practising any other means of making a secure Choice either in weighing Reasons on all sides or taking Advice from others Only the devout Soul in using these endeavours yet relies not on them but on the Directions of God's Holy Spirit working continually in the Regenerate both by prevenient and subsequent Grace makes no sudden Resolutions nor rushes hastily upon any Action but diligently hearkens first to this internal Guide what it may tell her is best desiring faithfully all natural Passions and Self-love laid aside to correspond with all its Motions the careful Observers of which with a pure Intention of Mind may be justly presumed seldom to want them though they do not so certainly know them and mean while such Persons if not free always from Mistakes yet are secure in this sort of Actions we speak of from entertaining any sinful Enthusiasm or such as any other Person except by Divine Inspiration can either censure or discover § 24. Here the Author proceeds to another Discourse which being no less necessary for this purpose than pertinent to the Subject of Mystick Divinity it may be both proper for this place and also useful and grateful to many devout People to add part of it It is of Directions given by Spiritual Writers concerning Prayer and Devotion FIRST for Preparation for Prayer they are advised 1. to a serious Endeavour at all times to keep their Conscience clear from all Sin even the least as much as Humane Frailty permits and to a Care of avoiding the Occasions thereof without which Endeavours our Devotions cannot be acceptable to God as to the receiving from him any great plenty of his Grace And 2. at times of Prayer to Abstraction from all Secular Business Recollection of the Mind and Thoughts from all Creatures and all Objects of the Exterior Senses And then to begin at first with Forms for all Occasions of Vocal Prayer where Novices saith he begin and which the most perfect also frequently return to § 25. From these they are led on to Mental Prayer in which the Cessation from External Action renders the Inward more attent and affective more free from Distraction of the Senses and from the Wandring of the Thoughts For this many useful Subjects of Meditation are recommended chiefly touching our own Misery the Mysteries of our Salvation and the Divine Perfections 1. Of their Natural Condition the Heinousness of Sin the Divine Justice the bitter Passion of our Lord in Satisfaction for Sin the Terrors of Death Judgment and Hell to plant in them the Due Fear of God and advance in them all sorts of Mortification and Purification from all Habits of Sin 2. Of the Life of our Lord and the Lives of his Saints for Imitation and Growth in Vertue And 3. of the Divine Perfections and Benefits both received and promised of the Graces and Operations of the Holy Ghost in us and the Abilities for doing Good and pleasing God restored to Man by it if attentively observed and obeyed to advance them in all Spiritual Grace and Christian Perfection and to enkindle in them an ardent Love of God the Acquisition of which Love and not of Knowledge being chiefly designed in them § 26. When by the Practice of these Meditations they are well prepared they are directed by laying more aside their former Reasonings and Discoursings of the Brain with the frequent stroaks of which they have already kindled this Fire in the Heart how to exercise these Affections now in that Lesson of Loving God with all the Heart and all the Soul and all the Mind and all the Strength Luke 10.27 in a more simple and quiet Intuition and Contemplation Advertency and Admiration of the Divine Beauty and Perfections and in more fervent and amorous Colloquies with God in Praising Thanking Solacing her self with him whilst she casts her eye upon his infinite Mercies past and promised in many Resolutions for the future to serve him better and no more so to grieve and offend him in offering all she hath she can do or suffer to his Service and in putting her self in a posture of Silence and Attention to hear what he may be pleased to speak to