and insignificant attempts its strength is great as well as its endeavours Great are the dangers and difficulties which love overcomes it carries the ambitious lover of honour through many uneasie perils to a fading laurel it carries the covetous lover of riches through the most hard and slavish labours to his false and treacherous Mammon and it carries likewise the devour lover of JESUS through obedience and self humiliation through briars and uneasie crosses through patience and the greatest sufferings to the enjoyment of his Beloved Love can do all things since it brought God down from heaven to become man and die for man Who shall separate us from the love of Christ saith S. Paul Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us for I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.35 c. As much as to say that the power of love is irresistible that it answers all objections and conquers all obstacles notwithstanding mans high provocations and great unworthiness love made the Almighty lay down the arms of his just vengeance and open his bosom of mercy to give his dear and only Son to man for a Saviour God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 And likewise man is enabled or rather forced by love to do and suffer any thing as soon as Divine Love enters a mans heart of proud it makes him humble of lustful and intemperate it makes him chaste and sober of covetous it makes him charitable of dainty and effeminate it fits him to be a Martyr No ill habits so deeply rooted but love can pluck them up no cross so heavy but love can bear it Many waters cannot quench love saith Soloman neither can the floods drown it Cant 8.7 No the strongest torrent of affliction is but like drops of water sprinkled upon the fire it increaseth the flames and the ardency thereof Love is as strong as death verse 6. and death is very strong Magnum verbum fortis ut mors dilectio magnificentius exprimi non potuit fortitudo charitatis quis enim morti resistat ignibus undis ferre regibus resistitur venit una mors quis et resistit nihil illa fortius propterea viribus ejus charitas comparatur Aug. in Psal 121. stronger than all visible creatures We daily fight against death and beat it back by rest and food and Physick we dispute the victory with it many years but it is ever victorious at last so is love it never gives over till it hath conquered all oppositions its courage increaseth together with its difficulties the more obstacles in its way the greater its endeavours the more fierce its contentions Death severs a man from himself and disunites what seems inseparable love also takes the lovers soul from him and unites it to the beloved so that he lives more in what he loves than in himself love is as strong as death Death converts the greatest sinners or at least keeps them from sinning at all any longer so doth love it certainly mortifies all even the most reigning sins it will not suffer them to sin that love God We can tame wild beasts by industry overcome the barrenness of the earth by labour resist the angry elements by Art and Physick no evil but hath a remedy only death hath none there is no striving against it so that nothing can better express the irresistible power of love than to say that it is as strong as death The last property of love I shall now mention is that love sweetens bitter things makes our labours pleasant and even our sufferings delightful How heavy is that yoke which is imposed by an ungrateful hand The Souldier prest to the service can hardly bear his arms but he that is inrolled by love thinks them light and bears them with pleasure the slave that works in the Mines counts his very life a burthen the niggard that works much harder likes well his drudgery because the love of riches is his task-master he that serves his master out of fear works faintly and with a heavy heart he that serves him out of love doth it diligently and yet with chearfulness the Christian pilgrim who is driven heaven-ward with fears and terrors goeth on with much reluctancy and a sorrowful heart he that is drawn with the cords of love follows with joyfulness minds not the ruggedness of his way and even rejoyceth in his weariness because it brings him nearer and nearer to his beloved he that that could say the love of Christ constraineth us could say also we rejoyce in tribulations 'T was the love of JESUS made primitive Christians work hard and suffer much Nullo modo sunt onerosi labores amantium sed etiam ipsi delectant sicut venantium piscantium interest ergo quid ametur nam in eo quod amatur aut non laboratur aut labor amatur Aug. with comfort and unspeakable joy and 't is for want of that sweet and Divine Love that Christians now find sorrow and great difficulty in that little they do or suffer for JESUS The labours of love are ever pleasant nothing is hard that love binds upon us CHAP. XXII A farewel to all sinful desires THis great power of love is now to be drawn into act and these considerations to be reduced into practice Now therefore enter more seriously than ever this Cloister of love ingage thy self further into the society of the true lovers of JESUS enter now actually and affectionately upon the work and labour of love Remember now thy Baptismal Vows remember them I say now that the love of Christ constrains binds thee to fulfil them Things are best preserved by that which first gave them being And now thy making good that stipulation thy part of that gracious Covenant whereby thou art related to Christ that according to the design of that Sign of the Cross which was drawn upon thee as the badge of thy profession thou wouldest not be ashamed to profess the Faith of Christ crucified and manfully to fight under his banner against sin the world and the devil and to continue his faithful Souldier and Servant unto thy lives end So now thou shouldest accomplish this promise by faith working by love Now then retire a while and enter thy Closet sequester thy thoughts from the world and confer with thy Soul about thy duty and thy great interest Call to mind the obligations the love of JESUS hath laid upon thee and how thou hast promised to requite it by renouncing all things that are contrary to thy love and
even from the beginning there hath been Civitas dei Civitas mundi children of light and children of this world or to use the modern distinctions the Godly and the Wicked Regular and Secular persons Not because some have made new vows wore distinct habits or chosen new guides and separated from the Church but because some have lived after the flesh some after the Spirit that is some have followed Gods revealed will some onely their own some have obeyed the precepts of Christ and too many their own lusts and humors However I would not make any exprobrations against either Monks or Schismaticks by disobliging truths rather commend what is praise worthy in them because I would have and 't is every Christians duty to be really devout mortified and precise without entring the Cloister or the Conventicle For indeed I am somewhat jealous and not without reason that the ingaging men to be Religious and Vertuous by other considerations besides their Christian duty hath done some prejudice to Religion because now there be some that fansie self-denial and contempt of the world to belong only to Friers and others that to abstain from swearing and drunkenness is only the part of a Puritan Whereas Christianity binds those duties on all its Professors and every one by his Baptismal vow is bound to perform them though he doth not submit himself to the Rule of S. Francis or the dictates of the Assembly Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things saith the Apostle they are all parts of our duty Whatever is good in it self or any ways a means to make us good is commanded or recommended in holy Scripture is contained in the Christian Rule wherefore I say the Christian Professor designing to attain higher degrees of holiness the highest pitch of Christian perfection attainable in this life needs not separate from the Church nor make new vows nor wear distinct habits but only mind seriously and sincerely discharge the obligations which he lies under in being a Disciple and a Servant of the Holy JESVS My design therefore is not to Incloister particular persons Vellem universos Christianos ita vivere ut qui nunc soli Religiosi vocantur parum Religiosi viderentur but to make a large Monastery of the whole Common-wealth at least to make every family a School of Vertue and Piety and every man an Ascetick and strict liver wishing heartily with Erasmus that they who hitherto have been called Precise and Religious by way of appropriation might justly lose that name by the more exemplary lives of all other Christians But though it be my wish it is not my hope in the least to see any such thing come to pass by means of this little volume Many much bigger and better have not been able to effect it They that will not hear Moses and the Prophets nay Christ the Lord himself will be far enough from being perswaded by the meanest of his servants And where the Text it self is not regarded no Comment can signifie much I mean that if the Holy Religion we own be not able to reform our lives if the Gospel which is here preached and professed in purity doth not make us holy 't is in vain to expect any other instruments should prevail But yet our indeavours ought not to be wanting it may not be in vain to diversifie Christian instructions severall ways of perswasion may affect several persons and perhaps that which to day is slighted will to morrow make a deep impression However it is more or less the duty of every one of us with great S. Paul to trie all means that by any means we may save some at least that we may save our selves that if those arguments which we think most forcible cannot convince others they may may at least move us to take the better heed that after we have preached to others we our selves be not cast-aways Now to this end having observed how much in all cases men will do and suffer for love I have thought nothing would more conduce than to make a Christian love God with a sincere and devout affection a devout love being undoubtedly not only the best part but also the best instrument of true Religion an irreconcilable enemy to sin a friend or rather a nurse to all holy vertues No enticement could have drawn penitent Magdalen to any of her former sins whilest in the fervency of her love she washed her Saviours feet with her tears and 't is known by experience that when reading meditation the sight of a dying friend or any such thing hath softened a mans heart into a religious temper temptations will be then so far from prevailing that they durst not so much as appear before him But when he returns to mind earthly things and hath his thoughts taken up again with the concerns of this present life he finds that his spiritual strength decays by the same proportions that his love becomes cold and he grows indevout again Love is the Queen if not the fountain of passions the great mover and governor of actions and affections could we keep the fire of Divine Love always burning in our breasts it would be the most powerful and best instrument of Holy-living it would make self-denial and the yoke of Christ easie it would make acts of vertue and Religion pleasant and it would make us delight in pleasing God as much as we naturally do in pleasing our selves Therefore I have made it my aim and design in the following Pages to seize upon the affections to inkindle in the hearts of Christians the heavenly flames of the love of God To that end I have represented the more general benefits of God to mankind and especially that of Redemption by the greatest demonstration of love that ever was given the death of the Blessed JESVS which if duly considered would be an irresistible motive to love him I have shewed the power the pleasure and the great advantages of love and I have used devout meditations and ejaculations as it were to transport our souls to heaven by love for to adore that God whom love brought down from thence to save us 'T is certain that most of them that perish perish for want of consideration and I have heard dying men wonder at themselves how they could be so stupid as not to mind those things which are of an infinite concern and should rather take up all our thoughts and our cares than be neglected or forgot one only moment Israel doth not understand my people doth not sider Isa 1.3 Love may be said to be that fire which God would have always to burn upon his Altar Lev. 6.12 that is in our hearts which are his Temple where the sacrifices of good works and the incense of devotion should always
that the bare belief of the truth of the New Testament is a strong and indispensable obligation to a cheerful universal and persevering obedience to all its precepts the very profession of being Christians doth strictly bind us to the performance of all Christian duties But the necessity of a Holy faith and a holy hife hath been so fully evinced and asserted and all things that pertain to life and godliness so cleerly and learnedly explained by Catholick Writers Ancient and Modern especially many pious Fathers and Sons of this Church since the Reformation that I need nor can add nothing to their learned labours We want charity not knowledge Therefore now I turn my self as my design is to draw inferences from known and granted premises to move the affections and affect the heart and by various arts and meditations to kindle and nourish in our breasts the fire of a divine Love CHAP. XV. An invitation to enter the Cloister of Love I Ask therefore hast thou conceived a fair Idea of Christianity hast thou observed the glory and greatness of its Mysteries the holiness of it's Doctrine and the perfection of its precepts and counsels hast thou considered and admired the great exemplar of all vertues the Holy JESUS author of this Holy Institution hast thou read his life with an observing eye and hast thou viewed the fair copies of this perfect Original which have been drawn by many of his Saints in the imitation of his example hast thou weighed the excellency of his promises the great immunities and the invaluable advantages which belong to his followers hast thou seriously pondered the great obligations which the love of JESUS hath laid upon thee and art thou desirous to be happy by loving again and being grateful if so enter this Cloister of love Love JESUS and thou shalt reign with him The Cloister I mean is not the precinct of a particular Abbey or the confinement of a narrow Cell but as to the place it is the Catholick Church whose inclosure is large enough to entertain all the Religions in the world all that are of the Christian Order And the Rule I would have thee follow is not not that of any Founders nor even that of Pachomius said to have been brought down by Angels but that which the Son of God himself delivered the Gospel-rule the Christian Laws which were bound upon us by him that is our Lord and our Judge and to whom gratitude duty and interest obligeth us all to be obedient Hath not God given his beloved Son the heathen for his inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for his possession Cur sic arctamus Christi professionem quam ille latissime voluit patere ego certe sic optarim Evangelicam Religionem sic omnibus esse cordi c. Ench. Psal 2. Why then saith Erasmus Should we confine the excellency and perfection of Christianity to particular places Why should we make that short and narrow which Christ would have to be of an universal extent If it be words we affect is not a City a great Monastery the Abbot whereof is the Bishop set over it by Christ Would to God the Christian Rule were so well beloved and observed that no man might seek or desire the Benedictin or Franciscan I say so too all this is true and to be wished yet the universal comprehends many particular Churches and the Christian Rule hath also many several interpretations therefore to be plain and positive the Church of England as the purest part or member of the Catholick which hath repurged corrupt innovations maintaining still a due conformity with Antiquity is that which I recommend to thee above all others and for the best interpretation of the Sacred Canon the Doctrine and Worship of this Church is that which I would have thee prefer to all the rest CHAP. XVI The Vow to be taken at the entrance of Loves Monastery BUt because I speak not to dissenters nor intend to dispute with them thou wilt say that thou hast entred this Cloister already and hast undertaken its Rule and so far 't is well But there is this difference betwixt what thou hast already done in this matter and what now I wish thee to do that thou didst not come of thy self but wert brought into this society that it was by proxy thou promisedst to observe the orders of it and that what was done at that time is never to be repeated Whereas now by an after election by free and considerate acts of thine own will I would have thee often renew thy holy vows and protestations and to do it with a great sense of love and gratitude Ratifie then thy former ingagements by being confirmed if thou art not and if thou art by a hearty and sincere endeavour to perform thy vows and promises which are as follows First To renounce the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities rf this wicked world with all covetous desires of the same and the sinful lusts of the flesh Secondly To believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And Thirdly To keep Gods Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of thy life This vow contains all thy duty the highest pitch of Christian perfection Quod summum est id omnibus est enitendum ut saltem mediocria assequamur nec est quod ullum vitae genus ab hoc scopo submoveamus c. Eras rules for the most Regular and Spiritual Life let thy serious application and earnest indeavour to observe it discriminate and sever thee from the prophane and less religious world Thou needest no distinct inclosure no distinct habits no distinct patrons or offices thy sincere Study thy Religious care to discharge this obligation In Vestimentis non est contritio mentis Ni mens sit pura nihil confert regula dura will sufficiently cloister thee in from the looser society and conversation of men and will make a difference great enough betwixt thee and them But though thou dost remain in the civil society of the world and the neighbourhood of thy neighbour yet various are the ways that lead through the world to heaven and here I undertake to teach thee a sure and short one through which all glorified Saints have past Some persons here are eminent in one vertue In Coelo videbimus amabimus hic amandum ut videamus some in another some are guided by hope and some by fear Many different are the considerations and helps whereby men are brought to make themselves happy in doing their duty but the motive the guide the way Dilectio est via rectissima absque devio via bevis absque taedio via plana absque tumulo via clara absque nubilo via secura absque periculo c. Idiot Cont. the instrument I recommend thee above all others is Love Love is the strongest motive the surest guide the safest way the best instrument in
of sorrow and tedious sadness and are left in the world to struggle with the temptations of a discontented mind would perhaps take Sanctuary in a Religious house and give themselves up wholly to JESVS and forget their temporal sorrow by heavenly joys and meditations and at last bless that storm and shipwrack which cast them into that unknown land of rest and safety Some that are forward and ready to promise well and take good resolutions have not strength enough to keep them but are prevailed upon by the importunity of those temptations they meet withall in the converse of men they perhaps being fled from those occasions of sin might by the good example and good instructions of a Religious Society secure themselves and stand to their holy ingagements Some who never loved the world or that are grown weary of it or have passionate longings for heaven would willingly free themselves of the cumbrances and distractions of worldly business to enjoy the leisure and opportunities of meditations devotion and other spiritual exercises And some that are much taken with the strict lives and beads and orisons of Papist-Friers would look home and spend their commendations on the purer Religion and better ordered lives and devotions of those in this Church that should wholly devote themselves to God However 't is not to be denied but that men are much affected and influenced by the place the company the way of living and the outward circumstances wherein they are ingaged and I believe it might be now as true a proverb as ever Benè vixit qui benè latuit he lives best and most safe who is least acquainted with the world and lives farthest from it I might add further that such pious foundations or restitutions might be so ordeoed as to afford a very great advantage to our Church and Religion For thence persons of good parts and great piety devoted to the advancement of the true Christian Faith and free from those cares and cumbrances that are upon others might be sent as Missionaries to make it their business to reclaim persons of all sorts from schism errors and heresies and even from loosness and irreligion Not but that we have an abundant supply of persons very well fitted for that blessed imployment from our great Seminaries of Learning But their necessary attendance upon their Ministry and particular Cures besides other avocations deprive them of the leisure and opportunities of running after their strayed sheep They can well guide and feed such as duly keep within their folds but such as break out and wander they have not time to seek after And yet great is the number of these especially about great Towns where small incouragements and stiff opposition are a great hindrance to the gaining of Converts This excellent and charitable work could be best done by them that should have nothing else to do But first let every one work out his own salvation and make sure work for himself that will best enable him to work upon others But though we want some conveniences for withdrawing from temporal affairs to mind eternity and our souls the better yet we must go to heaven wherever we live we must live to God that we may live with God therefore if we cannot have a material Claustrum ubique portate interius Norb. ab praemonst we must have a Spiritual cloister which may defend us against temptations and guide and assist us in doing our duty Such a one is the love of Jesus it will protect us against all dangers and spiritual enemies better than the strongest walls of any Abbey and will make us devout and zealous in Gods service beyond what the exhortations of the wisest Abbot could do Dum crescit fortitudo amoris interni infirmatur fortitudo carnis whilst love is strong the flesh is mortified and its lusts are subdued Greg. Mag. Amanti nihil est difficile nihil impossibile love can do all things of its self it passeth over all difficulties and there is no obstacle which it overcomes not August Love can supply the want of all outward helps and advantages let it but be our care to secure love and it will secure us Let us therefore feed and entertain it by reading and meditation by frequent prayers and acts of love Coelum terra omnia quae in eis sunt non cessant mihi dicere ut a mem Dominum Deum meum Aug. and by observing and tasting how gracious the Lord is in all his works all things in heaven and earth do incessantly cry to us that we should love God God draws us after him Hos 4.11 with cords of a man with bands of love therefore by love we can best follow him 1 John 3.18 But let us not love in word or in tongue but in deed and in truth and hereby we shall know that we are of the truth and we shall assure our hearts before him THE Reformed Monastery Or the Love of JESUS CHAP. I. That Love obligeth us also to fulfil the positive part of our Baptismal Vow with a protestation of obedience to it MY former disobedience and rebellions against my Blessed Lord and dearest Master I have examined and bewailed I have considered that by sin I wound and crucifie him afresh and therefore have resolved to sin no more never to lift up hand or heart against him But will love be satisfied with this is it a sufficient demonstration of love not to abuse not to injure a friend No sure I must proceed further love requires more than this I must not only abstain from what would anger him I love but I should further do that that will please him 'T is part of my duty as it was of my vow not only to renounce the Devil and all his works but also to believe all the articles of the Christian Faith and to keep Gods holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of my life As for the Articles of the Christian Faith I believe them from my heart and resolve to own and confess them whilst I live I never will dispute or object against them and I hope I should chuse to die before I would renounce any of them as for other less necessary doctrines I will be guided by my Spiritual Governors in controversies I will submit to the judgment of that Holy Church in whose Communion I live and so I will read and ponder Gods Holy Word especially the new Testament that I may know my Masters will and be incouraged to do it not that I may find out new mysteries and maintain the private opinions of a party It remains then only that I should keep Gods Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of my life And this I also undertake it shall be my daily and constant study and endeavour I resolve to obey to the utmost of my power and I also promise further to manifest my love by free-will-offerings as
love to men in JESUS so in JESUS men offer the returns of their love to God In this was manifested the love of God towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him 1 Joh. 4.9 and in this is manifested our love towards God that we receive and love and obey that Son With this God is in no wise offended but rather infinitely well pleased he that loveth me shall be loved of my father saith our Blessed Saviour Joh. 14.21 If a man love me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him ver 23. and again If any man serve me him will my father honour Joh. 12.26 nay he expresly tells his disciples that the Father loved them because they loved him whom the Father had sent The Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me John 16.27 For though we owe our redemption to the infinite mercies of God Father Son and Holy Ghost yet in a more especial manner we are engaged to the Son who personally came down from heaven for us men and for our salvation JESUS is the Author and finisher of our faith he is the Founder of our Holy Religion it is he hath revealed those doctrines we are to believe it is he hath given us those laws and precepts whereby we are to live it is he from whom we are called Christians it is he who for us despised the shame and endured the Cross who hath shed his blood and given his life a ransom for ours it is he who by contracting a near relation with us becoming our brother hath caused us to be adopted Sons of God and heirs with him of an eternal kingdom it is he who can save them to the uttermost that come to God by him it is he who is the head of the Church Caput positum in coelestiâ—us corpus suum gubernaâ— separatum quidem visione sed annexum charitate Aug. to whom we must be united by Love that we may be his members and derive life from him it is he who is our Lord and Master and will be our judge and our rewarder if we be faithful to him For this end Christ died and rose again that he might be Lord both of the dead and living saith S. Paul Rom. 14.9 God hath made that same JESUS whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ him God hath exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and Saviour saith S. Peter Act. 2.36 and 5.31 All power is given him in heaven and earth and he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet Hence the frequent and urgent exhortations to follow and imitate to serve and obey JESUS Hence those pathetick words of S. Paul The love of Christ constraineth us 2 Cor. 5.14 and again what things were gain to me I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of JESUS CHRIST my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ Phil. 3.7 8. 'T is JESUS hath won our hearts to God 't is he hath reconciled us from a state of enmity to a state of love Besides that God was justly angry for our rebellions his glories are so bright so amazing his Divine Majesty so high that to love a being so infinitely above us might have been thought prophaneness or presumption Non bene conveniunt nec in una sede morantur Majestas amor respect not friendship is the affection of subjects to Princes ΦθονεÏὸ Θεὸς was an ordinary Epithete for the heathen gods who were thought to be envious rather than loving to men and even the Israelites were amazed and terrified at the sight of a heavenly messenger crying we shall die for we have seen God 'T is the great humiliation of JESUS hath procured and established an everlasting reconciliation and friendship betwixt God and man God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinnerr Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 and now there is neither death nor life nor Angels nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God which is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD Rom. 8.39 Therefore for a reward of the great sufferings and abasement of JESUS God hath given him a supreme authority over all the world Men and Angels being made subject unto him because he made himself of no reputation and took on him the form of a servant and humbled himself and became obedi unto death even the death of the Cross therefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of JESUS every thing should bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth and every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is the Lord to the glory of God the Father Phil. 2.7 8 c. Our love and obedience to JESUS derogates nothing from but belongs to God 'T is to the glory of God the Father God hath highly exalted JESUS for his humiliation and for the same cause we ought also to love and exalt him as much as possibly we can because it was for us not only bow at his name but even kneel and kiss the ground when he only sees us no fear of exceeding here no fear of superstition we can never shew him too much love or respect Psal 72. All Kings shall fall down before him all nations shall do him service prayer shall be made unto him and daily shall he be praised Amen CHAP. XXIII That it is most pleasant and safe to love God A Third consideration will be that it is most pleasant and safe to love God Love may cause trouble but it certainly is the spring or parent of all joy and satisfaction He that hath an affection to nothing hath pleasure in nothing could the imaginary insensibleness of the Stoicks really seize upon any man if he could never be miserable he would also be uncapable of all happiness 'T is true indeed that the love of worldly things in that they are vain and perishing is it self vanity and vexation qui multum amat plus dolet is certainly true of all but the Divine Love He that hath many friends hath many sorrows he that loves many things hath many things to fear for 'T is only God that hath those infinite excellencies which can fully replenish our minds and desires 'T is only God that admits of no variableness neither shadow of turning and therefore 't is the love of God alone that can make us eternally and intirely happy It is reported of a person of great sanctity that an evil spirit confest to him that were it possible for one who loves God to come into hell yet were it impossible he should be miserable but that it would rather sink hell it self and make it