to know To whome therefore should I betake my selfe for help and succour but to thee O Lord who alone canst open the eyes of him that is borne blinde and who art the Father of Lights from whome cometh every good and perfect gift and givest to all men liberally and upbraidest not And how should we come unto thee but through Jesus Christ who is made unto us of God Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption In him therefore coming unto thee I pray thee to give me wisdome that sitteth by thy Throne and reject me not from thy Children For I thy servant and son of thy handmaid am a feeble person and of short time and too young and weak for the understanding of judgement and thy Lawes O send her out of thy holy heavens and from the throne of thy glorie that being present she may labour with me that I may know what is pleasing unto thee and what is that good and acceptable will of God. For hardly do we guesse aright of the things that are upon earth and with labour doe we finde the things that are before us but the things that are in heaven who hath searched out but by thy Spirit which searcheth all things even the hidden things of God. I am a stranger and a Pilgrim upon earth O hide not thy Commandments from me that so having a sound and saving knowledge of thee and of my selfe and mine own wayes of my errours and my negligences and ignorances of mine infirmities and emptinesses and so diffident in and disliking my selfe I may apply my selfe to thee lay hold on thy strength partake of thy fullnesse and freenesse and have a sincere faith in thee a fervent love of thee and holy life before thee and professing thee outwardly may believe thee inwardly and serve thee in all good works in all godly conversation and honesty and persevere therein through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The Second Part. OF THE PURGATIVE PART OF RELIGION SECT 1. That Action and good Works must be added to true Knowledge and Believing And of the distinction of Sins to be purged 1. AS Light was at the first Creation produced by God as an Introduction to his Six-dayes workes so hath he continued that light to all his Creatures but especially Man the greatest Artist of all other to the better discharge of those Acts and Offices assigned him in the few dayes of his labour in this World. And according to his gift in workes of Nature hath he provided a proportionable light of Understanding and Faith to give him Means Rule and Opportunity to work the work of God and that especially upon his own soule to the end it may draw near unto God both in likenesse of perfection and fruition of blessednesse For the Image of God defaced by our Apostacie having contracted many and monstrous deformities the great businesse we are to be imployed about is how to refashion our selves to that Grand Patern which became visible to us by the Incarnation of Christ the brightnesse of Gods glorie and the expresse Image of his Father So that as we see it is with Statuaries who are to make an accurate Image out of a rude and naturall stone taken out of the Quarrie what light is necessarie what judgement what diligence by little and little to chip and hew away all irregular parts and roughnesse till the intended forme riseth out of it so must it be with every good Christian to whom God hath given his Light to work by and Instruments to work with and matter to work upon his own soule over-grown and mishapen and wholly out of order and rule as taken out of the common rock of Nature 2. God therefore hath set up his Holy Word amongst us as the Greater Light to rule the Day according to whose Illumination we should direct and rule all our actions and not contrary to our Saviours advice put it under a Bed or under a Bushell that is not under the bed of slothfulnesse and lazinesse nor under the bushell of worldlinesse and secular businesses and traffickings whereby men are wont to make use of the Scripture the better to advance worldly profits as hypocrites doe or sweetly to flatter themselves that they know much as if the gifts of God to us were service done to him and he were so well satisfied with the talents committed to our trust that he would never require any thing from us or perhaps some lipp-service whereby with religious Discourse we move others to think well of us were to be good and faithfull servants to him though we remained unfruitfull as if he that gives aym to another should perswade himselfe that he had hit the mark himselfe But the Holy Scriptures quite contradict this and that often as St. James 1. 22. Not the hearers of the Law are justified before God but the doers And St. Paul Rom. 2. 13. speaking the same thing Which we must not so understand as if the Law of Moses were here only commended but the Law of Christ obedience to whom is no lesse necessary to our justification and salvation than the workes of Moses his Law were once necessary to him that would live by them For this is the Doctrine of Christ himselfe Luke 12. 47. He that knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes And so where he saith John 8. 19. If ye had not known me ye had had no sin comparatively but now ye say We know therefore your sin remaineth For at the day of Judgement as Gerson observeth it shall not so much be demanded of us how much we know how well skill'd we are in the Scriptures what notable Disputers and Arguers we have been out of them nor how many good Sermons we have heard nor how many Chapters we have read or how often but as the forme of proceeding in that Great Day contained in the Scriptures assures us Matt. 25. 34 36 c. what good workes we have done in the true faith we professe and what good fruits the tree of knowledge of Good and Evill hath produced And in our spirituall warfare it will not suffice to beat the Drum or sound as it were the Trumpet to stir up others to fight that good fight appointed by Christ against flesh and blood and spirituall wickednesses unless as St. Paul exhorteth we quit our selves likemen in Christs Camp. 3. Applying then our selves to so Divine and necessary a work before we can doe what is required we must judge what is amisse and being now about to purge our selves from filthinesse of flesh and spirit as St. Paul speaks 2 Corin. 7. 1. we are first of all to be throughly perswaded of those spots and blemishes which are to be cleansed from the soule and those scales which are to be taken off our Eyes and those infirmities and distempers our souls naturally labour under For we see not if we lament not our rude and polluted naturall state our defects
THE Method and Means TO A TRUE Spiritual Life Consisting of Three Parts agreeable to the Auncient Way By the late Reverend Matthew Scrivener Vicar of Haselingfield in Cambridge-shire Cleared from Modern Abuses and render'd more easie and practicall Feb. 1. 1688. Imprimatur Jo. Battely LONDON Printed for James Knapton at the Queens head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1688. TO THE READER COnsidering with my selfe and lamenting the many polemicall or contentious Discourses about Religion and that Christian this unhappie Age hath produced it might be feared that through the subtiltie of the Old Serpent such strifes may have the mortall event upon too many of liking no Religion at all To prevent or obviate so great an evill I found my selfe inclined very much to treat of such a Subject as might by Gods blessing conduce much as well to the obliging of mens mindes to the Faith and fear of God in generall as to reconcile Christians one to another rather than divide them farther or encrease Animosities between them But I must confesse a more speciall reason hereunto exciting me how insufficient soever I found my selfe to the worthy perfourmance of so good work was the consideration of some Persons of our Communion I mean the established Religion in this Isle who though shining with Pietie and devotion towards God to the ecclipsing of phantastick lights lately appearing do keep up that temper of Spirit to which our Saviour Christ hath affixed this Beatitude Matth. 5. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be satisfied For as Gregorie the Great hath it in an Homilie on the Gospells Herein differ the delights of the bodie and the Soule that bodily pleasures while we have them not enkindle in us a sore desire of them but so soon as we devour them greedily they turn to loathing through satietie but on the contrarie spirituall pleasures are onely loathed when we have them not and are so much the more thirsted after by how much more they are received by the hungring Soule And this kinde of hunger observing to increase in them by conversing with spirituall Books wrote by others I conceived my generall Office and particular Obligations to such Persons in a manner demanded of me an endeavour to gratifie such religious Appetites And hereupon I chose rather to publish mine own inabilitie than to frustrate the expectations of such Christian Spirits intending hereby to divert them with a mean view and sense of heavenly things which as Saint Paul speaks Ephes 1. 4. are the earnest of our inheritance untill the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glorie But it will appear by the Methode I have here chosen and the manner of my proceeding in this Discourse that it was not my principall much lesse onely designe to be usefull to greater Persons or sublimer Christians but to the lowest and meanest of both Orders I having laid my foundation so low as the weakest may rest on and improve by and so raise themselves by orderly gradations to a more considerable height Which course I have taken not out of affectation of singularitie as some may conjecture who are either wholly ignorant that this is of very long standing in the Catholick Church or doe know that books of Devotion in our Mother-Tongue have very rarely if at all insisted on this Subject or trodden the same path with me and they of the Unreformed Church who have often treated of this matter have very seldome handled all these parts of Piety together but passing over lightly the Illuminative and Purgative parts of Religion have ambitiously to my apprehension strived to abound and excell in the Unitive-Way and their Mysticall Theologie soaring very high if not exorbitantly towards Heaven and gaining to themselves and Church no small estimation for divine Contemplations strange Notions and Language as if they had themselves been wrapt up into the Third Heaven as was Saint Paul and were priviledged to doe what was denied him viz. to utter those unspeakable words which he tells us 2 Corinth 12. It is not lawfull for any man to utter and exalting Contemplations to the undervaluing of operations and active life under pretence that Marie who sate still not attending Christ being present chose the better part and Martha the inferiour in serving of Christ which notwithstanding it be so generally received and applauded by Scholasticall as well as Mysticall Doctours auntienter and later seems to me to be no otherwise true than as Mary represented the state of blisse hereafter consisting alltogether of Contemplation and Affection and Martha the state of a Christian in this Life in which unactive Contemplation and barren in the work of the Lord is scarce laudable and as the Quietists are said to magnifie it not tolerable they amongst other notorious Errours charged upon them excluding divine Meditation from their contemplation by too great nicenesse though we our selves have in this Treatise distinguished them as degrees consistent one with another so far as they are Acts of the spirituall life we now live For according to our present Subject we first not without good advice consider simple Intelligence or knowledge of God acquired by Illumination of the naturall Man whereby a Christian comes to a right belief of God and a knowledge of himselfe and a discerner in good measure of Spirits and fallacious Visions and Revelations This being competently attained unto disposes the Soule to right Reformation of it selfe from the inveterate evills of sin corrupting and afflicting it which is the Purgative way every true Christian should exercise himselfe in untill he hath purged out the Old Leaven and cast out the Old Man of which Saint Paul speakes with the affections and Lusts And because it suffices not to denye and even to dye unto worldly lusts if this may be supposed unlesse we allso live the life of Christ and be truely united unto God through him and that by those proper helps and ascents prescribed by him and in some manner by us described here therefore doe we proceed to the third State of a Christian commonly called the Unitive wherein is to be found that true rest of the Soule promised by Christ not so as to cease from a possibility of sinning or suffering perturbations as late Quietists are allso reported wickedly to maintain but so as to prefer God and Godlinesse above all things in the World and by love of and delight in them to persevere immutably to perfect consummation in blisse hereafter And having thus given thee Christian Reader a brief account and Prospect of my present Designe I committ my selfe to thy favourable acceptance and commend thee to God and to the word of his Grace which is able to build thee up and to give thee an inheritance among all such as are Sanctified The Summe of what is contained in the first Part. SECT I. Previous advice concerning the necessity reasonablenesse and usefullnesse of being truely Religious Page 1 SECT
II. A brief description of the Illuminative Purgative and Vnitive way of Religion p. 9 SECT III. Of the necessity of Illumination and of Faith with its subordinate Graces especially conducing thereunto p. 12 SECT IV. That Faith and naturall Reason improved is the onely proper cause of Illumination being taken for the things revealed whereof some principall heads are here given p. 20 SECT V. Of the Grace and act of Faith leading to Illumination and of the difficulties and meanes of believing p. 40 SECT VI. Of the gift and guidance of Gods Spirit towards true Illumination the abuse and true uses of it noted And of the necessitie of believing p 51 SECT VII Of Illumination Reflexive whereby the Christian Soule comes to the knowledge of its selfe in its Spirituall State. p. 63 SECT VIII Of Revelations or Illuminations extraordinarie by Spirits and the discerning of them with the use of such Revelations p. 76 The Second Part. Of the Purgative part of Religion SECT I. THAT Action and good Works must be added to true knowledge and Believing And of the distinction of sins to be purged Page 99 SECT II. Of the Office of Faith in purging the Soule from sinfull defilements p. 105 SECT III. That in purifying our selves principall regard is to be had to the puritie of Faith and of the affections of the Inward Man not neglecting outward severities p. 114 SECT IV. Of the proper meanes and methode of cleansing the Soule And first of Baptisme p. 124 SECT V. Of the Grace and power of Repentance in cleansing the Soule p. 129 SECT VI. That this purgative Repentance must be generall of all sins and perpetuall p. 147 SECT VII Of Selfe deniall required to true Reformation and that both of Vnderstanding and Will. p. 156 SECT VIII Of the custodie and discipline to be had over the outward man especially the Eyes Eares and Tongue p. 174 SECT IX Of outward moderation and modestie to be used in abstinences and Apparell p. 189 SECT X. The connexion of what hath passed with what followes concerning the Seven Capitall Sins p. 201 SECT XI Of Pride the first deadly or Capitall Sin. p. 203 SECT XII Of Anger a Second Capitall Sin its Concomitants and Remedies p. 219 SECT XIII Of the deadly sin of Envy its nature and Remedies p. 233 SECT XIV Of the Capitall Sin Covetousnesse p. 244 SECT XV. Of Luxurie and Vncleannesse p. 254 SECT XVI Of Gluttonie its sinfullnesse and Cure. p. 265 SECT XVII Of Slothfullnesse the last Capitall Sin. p. 277 SECT XVIII The Conclusion of this Second Part with some short advices relating to what hath been said therein p. 288 The Third Part. Treating of the Unitive Way of the devout Soule with God. SECT I. Of the Nature of true Vnion with God and of Mysticall Theologie and of the Abuses and due Vse thereof p. 297 SECT II. That this Vnion consisteth chiefly in the true knowledge of God and Love experimentall and reciprocall p. 304 SECT III. Of the excesse of Vnitive Love of God in Extasies and Raptures with their abuses and uses noted p. 309 SECT IV. Of the Vnion of the Soule with God by Divine Contemplation and Meditation with some instances of particular Subjects for this latter p. 317 SECT V. Of the Vnion we have with God in Prayer habituall and actuall as the proper matter of Worshippe p. 328 SECT VI. Of the defects incident to the Act of Praying and their Remedies p. 334 SECT VII Of the due use of Publique and Private Prayer p. 342 SECT VIII Of the severall sorts of Prayer viz. Sensible Mentall Supramentall Extemporarie Formed or fixed as allso of Singing of Psalmes p. 350 SECT IX Of Vnion and Communion with God in the Holy Eucharist or Lords Supper to which certain instructions are premised p. 359 SECT X. Of the difficulties and dangers in receiving the Holy Communion here discussed p. 367 SECT XI Other impediments and scruples observed against Communicating especially with their proper Remedies p. 378 SECT XII A brief recapitulation of what hath been treated of before with advices and directions concerning the interruption and recoverie of actuall Communion with God and of Consolations p. 387 THE Methode and Means TO TRUE SPIRITUALL LIFE The First Part Treating of Spirituall Illumination SECT 1. Previous advice concerning the Necessity Reasonablenesse and Vsefulnesse of being truly Religious 1. THERE being three principall Stages as I may so speak which every true Christian is to passe over in his travail towards that Sabbath of Blessednesse hoped for hereafter and aspired to it may seem both very methodicall and profitable to that great end to prepare the way thither by cleering up the defaced Characters written by Gods own finger on the tables of Mans heart concerning the sense of God and Religion towards him in generall that such a fundamentall perswasion being well received the edification in our most holy faith may be more firme absolute and better advanced 2. For what may we call Religion speaking here more practically than artificially but a thorow conviction of a Supream Being and Power able to save and destroy everlastingly inferring a strong and just obligation upon all creatures especially Man to pay the debt of veneration and obedience to that God from whom he received his present being and to whom he owes his subsistence and upon whom depends his future state of happinesse or misery 3. But may it not here allso be said Who hath believed our report and to whom hath the Arme of the Lord been revealed too many obstinately refusing any better guidance or conduct of their Lives but such as may favour their degenerous and dangerous humour of gratifying their sensuall appetites hurrying them to a liberty inconsistent with that whereby we are made free to God by Christ Jesus For his service being perfect freedome ' when we are dedicated to him in Baptisme we renounce the servitude and turpitude of the world and enter our selves Apprentices to learne and doe the will of God by Religion the Art of all Arts God at the same time Indenting and Covenanting with Believers so faithfully serving him when their times come out by death in this world to give them a more noble and desireable freedome by making them Citizens in Hierusalem which is above the Mother of us all than which the heart of man can desire no greater or better event of all his labours and services in the world nor so good nor great remuneration 4. Who would not then sometimes retire into the chamber of his heart and seriously consider these things And who considering these things would not apply himselfe to this so necessary so divine and beneficiall a work shall we see so many Artists of this world strive to excell one another not only for lucre sake but esteem of men in their severall professions and trades and shall we be cold indifferent and carelesse in this of Religion the glory of all How many have become poor infamous
obstinacie and obduratenesse in their naturall state according to Christs own judgement of the world John 5. v. 40. Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life So that as it is written by Sulpitius Severus in the life of St. Martine that being endued with a marvellous gift or faculty of curing sick and impotent persons The blinde and lame and decrepit who got their living by begging were affraid of him and would not come near him lest being cured of such their defects and impotencies they should lose their livelihood In like manner many getting a miserable and beggarly livelihood by serving and complying with the world and so being blinde and crippled in an heavenly sense refuse that light and life and renovation which Christ bringeth with him An instance whereof we have in the ministrie of St. Paul preaching to the Athenians prepossessed and captivated with worldly wisdome and thereupon saying Thou bringest strange things to our eares In their judgements more strange than true And though it be Mannah it selfe and that dropt down from heaven for their edification and comfort men out of their scepticalnesse and curiositie will question it and perhaps in time loath it as the Israelites that bread from heaven there being generally too little agreement between the notions of half-sighted naturall reason and delectations of our senses naturall and the divine Revelations and more spirituall prescriptions given us by Religion though naturall reason not counterfeited nor corrupted by baser allayes of vitious men may passe also as Gods true coyne But that pure Gold it is not which the Holy Ghost counselleth us to buy Revel 3 18. that we may be rich and wherewith we may get white raiment that we may be clothed that the shame of our nakednesse doe not appear and get that eye-salve that we may see which is the word of God. For the knowledge or illumination which we have from thence and that which we have from the Holy Spirit differ no otherwise than that money a man carries about him or that which the Tradesman hath present in his Bank and that which he hath in his Books which must put him sometimes to trouble to fetch in The manner of which fetching in is by the Holy Spirit also opening the heart that we may as the Disciples going to Emaus after Christs Resurrection understand the Scriptures untill which time that will be found too true which the Prophet Hosea Cap. 8. 12. complains of in Gods behalf I have written to him the great things of my Law but they were counted as a strange thing 4. But if we should enquire faithfully into the grounds of such incredulitie and prejudice against Religion we may finde them too often in the corrupt manners of men influencing the understanding with mistakes and grosse errours which yet some to cover with shew of greatest candour in judging and ingenuity have wished they could believe the things Christianity requires of them But if reality and common integritie be not also laid aside here how easie a thing is it to reconcile them to the truth For does not their own prime reason and of all civilized People tell them that nothing truely humane is more naturall to Man than to be of some Religion And yet if they be men but of indifferent reading and observation they shall finde that there is no Religion nor ever like to be all whose Principles are obvious to all competent understandings And so consequently that men to avoid the barbaritie of Atheisme must believe more than nature can compell them unto by her philosophicall demonstrations or fall into an absurditie little inferiour to Atheisme That every man should frame his own Religion and be so far religious as he thinks fit and no farther and which must necessarily follow call his freak and humour his reason and judgement So that it is scarce so true that a man cannot believe the mysteries of Religion as that he will not and he will not because he dares not for fear of the worst Or let it be that he cannot when St. Paul if he be but so far believed saith of some 2 Corinth 4. 4. The God of this world who that is I suppose is well known hath blinded the mindes of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospell of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them vain and vitious men having by their presumed wit and evill lives tempted evill Spirits themselves and drawn them to be accessaries to their infatuations For as every good and perfect gift cometh from above from the Father of lights as St. James tells us Chap. 1. 17. So doth everie notorious errour and wickednesse proceed from the Prince of darknesse who ruleth in the Childeren of Disobedience they being called children of Disobedience in Scripture who obey not the Gospell nor believe it reasonably propounded 5. But it may seem strange and worth our wondering How the same effect of blindnesse of minde should be ascribed to God and also to the Devill in Scripture as John 12. 4. speaking of God out of the Prophet Isaias He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts c. This is in truth a Scholasticall difficultie which belongs to another place to which I may referre it but here I would have it observed that as Judges or Princes are said to put Malefactours to death when they doe it not themselves but deliver them over to the Executioner whose office it is so God upon just provocation delivering great Sinners to the Devill may be said to be a cause of their hardnesse and blindnesse when it is caused directly by Satan only and themselves But the true light of Faith and life of Grace doth most properly appertain to God as it is said 2 Corinth 4. 7. By grace ye are saved through faith it is the gift of God. The reason whereof is That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us And this key of knowledge which is also of the Kingdome of God did Christ deliver to his Apostles by vertue of which God assisting Lydia's heart was opened as we read Acts 16. 14. And so necessary is the assistance of God in this case that he seems to keep this key by his own side and not at all times to lend it to his Ministers no not the Apostles Nor did Christ himselfe who as God had the command of mens mindes allwayes succeed in his teaching and exhortation but by I know not what deep providence suffered his labours to be frustrated by the incredulity of men But this we may say falls out by divine dispensation that God may be all in all in the beginning continuing and consummation of every good work and to repell that spirit of presumption whereby too prosperous Labourers in Gods Harvest or Vineyard might be prone to attribute much more to themselves than
the emptie and perishing vanities and fouling even in this life their Fingers in catching these worldly pleasures 8. And why should I adde the consequences of such evill infatuations and choice as is made here by such whom the God of this world hath blinded Doth not even Nature teach us that there is a reward of Good and Evill And doe not our senses or common observation teach us that that reward is not precisely or constantly dispenced in this life but very often all things as it is in Ecclesiastes befall all men alike him that sacrifices and him that sacrifices not which the Divine Wisdome hath so ordered that men might erect their mindes and direct their hearts to the state after Death and stead fastly believe and accurate remuneration both of good and evill and that sevenfold to what men suffer or enjoy of all the labour or pleasure taken in this life in pursuit of Good and Evill This our Christian Creeds would have us perfectly setled in This the Holy Scripture often inculcates unto true Believers And the Wise man saith Ecclesiasticus 7. 36. Whatsoever thou takest in hand remember thy latter end and thou shalt never doe amisse Know thy selfe and present frailties infirmities and vain inclinations exposing thee to sin and errours Remember the great end thou wert placed for in this world Remember the inevitable stroke of Death destroying this Body and the inevitable Resurrection restoring it again to never-dying joy or miserie Know and believe these things soundly and effectually and thy selfe thorowly by a spirituall Philosophie making thee wise to vertue and godlinesse here and to salvation hereafter To the attaining this Divine Knowledge of a mans selfe some of the wiser and soberer Philosophers and much more ancient and holy Fathers of the Church doe often exhort others and exercise themselves at the conclusion of the Day revolving in their mindes what they had done and what they had not the day passed and all this discerning themselves and judging their actions impartially they might adjust the accounts between God and their own souls and as the Tradesman desirous to thrive often turns over his Day book as he calls it and his Debt-book the better to understand whether he thrives or runs behind-hand in the world so every prudent and thrifty soule frequently reflects on its selfe and actions what he hath laid out and what he hath taken in to its advantage or prejudice If the good Emperour bewailed his hard hap when he upon reflexion upon what had passed one day said My Friends we have lost a day how much more reason of lamentation may inconsiderate and dissolute Christians ruminating upon ill-spent time say My Friends we have lost Eternitie we have lost our Souls or at least forfeited them so far as may not be regained without true and timely repentance and renovation neither of which can be obtained without discerning our selves nor that without search made into our selves nor this without reflexions made upon our selves nor this without Illumination nor Illumination of this nature without devout imploration of the Father of Lights from whom cometh every good and perfect gift SECT VIII Of Revelations or Illuminations extraordinarie by Spirits and the discerning of them with the use of such Revelations 1. BUT hitherto have we treated of such Light and Knowledge which God in the ordinary course of his Covenant with Man generally vouchsafes unto him Now we proceed briefly to consider the Extraordinary way of Illuminations and as Saint Paul speaks 2 Corin. 12. 1. come to Visions and Revelations in the Lord. For that such there have been and such there may be who ever believes the Holy Scriptures must not deny and whoever will allow any credit to Ecclesiasticall Histories and Traditions cannot denie I know God hath given us a sufficient Rule revealed in his Word and so sufficient that we ought not importunately to seek for such extraordinarie manifestations of himselfe yet hath he not so far tyed his own hands as he hath our luxuriant appetites after knowledge which transported our first Parents and darkened and degraded them but having distributed to every man according to the measure of his Faith he of his undeserved and unexpected liberality casts into our dimension the overplus of immediate Illuminations The gift of Prophesie before Christ and the frequent grant of Visions to the beloved and honoured Patriarchs before the Law of Moses manifestly prove this beyond doubt or exception Of which reasons are endeavoured to be render'd by the subtile and learned not belonging to this place But as for Prophets and Seers after the Law given they were not only the Life and vigour of the Law so delivered which otherwise might and too often did lie languishing and neglected but so many speciall intimations of the minde of God to his people which became a Law likewise to their Posterities And we upon whom the ends of the world are come as the Scripture speakes 1 Corinth 10. are entred into their labours and Lights of Revelations and that with the advantage and accessions of more cleer and plentifull Revelations than the world before had been acquainted with And with this Bodie of Divinity or Divine Revelations we may safely and ought thankfully and modestly to acquiesce not despising Prophecyings as the Apostle advises consonant to that known Rule given us And that these materiall Revelations as I may so call them are not so full and manifest as to make all Illuminations superfluous and fruitlesse even the precisest admirers of Scriptures will grant themselves laying speciall claim to accessorie Revelations or Inspirations And an eminent instance to this purpose is given in the two Disciples travailing to Emaus Luke 24. who understood the Scriptures we may suppose as well as others generally and to help them therein had acted before their eyes what was before prophesied of Christ and yet could they not understand nor believe the Scriptures untill Christ expounded unto them all the Prophesies from Moses and downward concerning himselfe And upon the same occasion of the other Disciple not believing Christ ver 45. is said to open their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures which gift of God as hath been touched before will never cease to be usefull to the same ends For the office and gift of the Spirit shall never cease untill the Saints and Servants of God come to contemplation of God face to face and Christ hath deliver'd up the Kingdome to the Father 2. A great instance whereof though perhaps a little digressive we have in one of the most fundamentall Articles of our Faith questioned by that wretch Socinus and his followers directed only by their private naturall wits Upon the words of St. Johns Gospell Chap 1. v. 1. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God we believe that God became Man and the second Person in the Trinitie Incarnate And some naturall Philosophers as the
they be of God because many false spirits are gone out into the world And to this end I hold it usefull to distinguish three kindes of Illuminations the first merely Speculative representing unto the minde fine and rare objects and heavenly Scenes of God himselfe and Christ and the Virgin Mary and Quires of Saints and such like not at all tending to edification of him that hath them or of any others This sort I should think to be generally vain and illusive as tending to nothing so much as the swelling of a mans minde up with conceit of his being a favourite of Heaven This that prudent holy Man saw mentioned in ancient Histories When the Devill appearing to him with a glorious retinue representing Christ and the good Angells attending him Saint Itor for so was his name demanded what all that meant Answer was made by that Lyar Lucifer that he was Christ whom he had so faithfully served and was come to refresh and comfort him with the manifestation of his presence in that resplendent manner Christ come to me said he I desire not to see Christ on earth but in Heaven and him I there daily worship and enjoy whereupon the Devills Stratageme not succeeding he with his Complices is said suddenly and with shame to have vanished The like doth Gerson Of the Tryall of Spirits relate of another Holy Man to whom none other but the Devill appeared in the forme of Christ telling him that he was Christ but he believing him not clapt both his hands before his eyes and said I will not see Christ here upon earth it suffices me that I shall one day see him in Heaven And Sulpitius Severus in the Life of Saint Martin tells us that upon a time an Apparition very splendid being made to him resembling Christ he flatly denied to behold it saying I will not see Christ any otherwise than as he appeared on earth crucified From whence may be it is that moderne Revelations and Visions pretended of Christ and the Virgin Mary are much framed after this Pattern yet often also otherwise and with the same probability and use It seems to me therefore a very good argument of an evill Vision when such are sent only to be admired and star'd on And when a strong desire in men not otherwise evill to be partakers of strange sights and Revelations possesses them it is probable enough that God may punish their carnall fondnesse of that nature with delivering them over to such delusions of Spirits ready enough to doe their office of deceiving 7. Secondly From the matter of Revelations judgement may be competently made of the Revelation it selfe whence it cometh and what it is For in our Religion towards-God we must alwayes build upon some such firme and unshaken foundations given us by Christ in his Revealed Word whereby we are to try all extraordinary Illuminations or Visions or Revelations So that whatever shakes or weakens those principles given us must not be allowed to proceed from God but from our vain imaginations or the subtile blandishments of the Tempter To deny Christ come in the flesh was in Saint John's age a signe of an Antichristian Spirit To subvert the Doctrine of Christ and the silencing of Moses his Law To abuse Christian Libertie to an occasion of the flesh To break the bond of Unitie and Christian Charitie by disowning and contemptuously disobeying Governours for every frivolous matter and such like was in Saint Paul's dayes lookt on and taught by him to be inconsistent with a Gospell Spirit or sound Revelations and such that though an Angell from Heaven should teach such contrarietie to Christianity he was to be Anathematized There must be therefore as judicious Authours tell us the like forme in all sound Revelations to us as was found in Christs at the time of his Transfiguration there must be Moses and Elias joyned with them that is the Law and the Prophets viz. the Word of God vouching them 8. A Second sort therefore may be such Visions as are partly Speculative and partly Practicall having indeed extraordinarie Discoveries but not resting there but tending to good or evill by which their good or evill natures may be discerned For as much as God cannot denie himselfe as the Scripture assures us neither may he by Extraordinary intimations warrant us to doe that which ordinarily he forbids so that they as pretended Prophets may be known by their works as Christ tells us For though the Devill may doe good sometimes at least in appearance yet God never doth evill neither as Saint James saith tempteth he any man so to doe To Preach therefore against Truth to pray against Edification of the whole Body of the Church with a seeming advantage to some few to Prophesie without Rule order or subjection is to bewray the bitter fountain from which such sweet waters flow And though the Devill may sometimes speak as well as foresee the truth God cannot at any time speak what is untrue When therefore pretended Lights and Visions fail of their due event and end it is certain that that Light is from him that transformes himselfe into an Angell of Light but is not so in trueth And this was the Character God himselfe gave unto his own People the Jewes to preserve them from Impostures and delusions of false Prophets and by which they were wont to try and judge of Prophets Deuter. 18 22. When a Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord If the thing follow not nor come to passe that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not be affraid of him But in some cases the signe was to be judged by the matter and not the matter by the signe viz. When the extraordinary Revelation tended to the subversion of the fundamentall points of Religion as is said before For so we read Deuter. 13. 1 2. If there arise among you a Prophet and a dreamer of Dreams and giveth thee a signe or a Wonder And the signe or the Wonder come to passe whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us goe and serve other gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet c. So that we may see from hence that Visions leading to superstitions doe not so much commend these as these condemne them 9. Again as it is with Diamonds and other Jewells generally of great value when they are scarce and rare but being brought in heaps and common are either counterfeit or lose their wonted worth so is it with Visions Raptures and extraordinarie Illuminations where they are common and familiar they may lose their esteem and reputation and be reduced to the Classis of Diseases and the sublimating of the understanding to strange apprehensions and speeches incident to bodily inflammations of which notable instances and many are extant in the reports of Physicians as well as them who treat of
end of Faith. If a man believes firmely but not soundly nor truely his faith like to the knowledge acquired by our first Parents upon the eating of the forbidden fruit brings him to shame and confusion of face And of this sort are innumerable mistakes not to be here instanced in that only excepted which is of most generall evill consequence whereby men are wont and willing to divide and rend faith from it selfe I mean the Forme or inward act of believing from the power and effect of Faith perswading themselves that Faith alone so taken gives us Justification and if so it must needs give us Sanctification too For none are justified but such as are thereunto prepared by a competent degree of Sanctification And so in trueth at length it will be found that whatever is pretended and more dangerously presumed no man is more Justified alone by Faith than he is Sanctified by it alone and the workes of Faith are in no place of holy Scripture opposed to Faith it selfe the cause of such workes in reference to our Justification And it is altogether as derogatory to Christs merits and the freenesse of Gods Grace to rest upon such Faith for justification and salvation as upon such workes of Faith. But this I speak as I passe 4. However therefore the Authours of such Doctrine or at least formes of speaking as have lately prevailed disown the necessary ill consequences of the same and allow yea urge much good workes and with many flourishes commend the use of them yet advancing immoderately and injudiciously the Act of Faith creeple it and binde it up from the free course and full influence it may and otherwise would have upon mens lives to the purging of the Soule from evill and impregnating it to good works of vertue and holinesse 5. But leaving that Controversie let us proceed to what is without Controversie shewing by plain instances what we have propounded concerning the power of Faith in our militant state here And let it be ingenuously judged how a man by Faith thorowly convinced of that one first Principle that there is a God Creatour of all things Judge of all things and of all Men especially and their hearts and actions and infallibly rewarding the good and the evill can easily omitt the good so amply hereafter to be remunerated or rashly fall into the evill of Sin-tempting standing by his Christian Faith assured that his temporary trifling vanishing as soon as felt pleasures shall end infallibly in bitternesse and never-failing sorrowes Who would sow that seed in his Field which he might easily believe will rise up to an harvest of Serpents which will sting him to death Or can a man stedfastly believe that Article of his Creed teaching and assuring him that Christ that righteous Judge shall appear a second time in glorie and severe Justice towards quick and dead rendering to every man according to the good or evill he hath done in his bodie viz. Life Everlasting or shame and torment everlasting and not feare or fear and yet committ such things as will weigh him down into the place of such miserie What wise man would be tempted so with the beautie and desireablenesse of drinking out of a Golden Cup when he knowes it is filled with deadly Poison Or would any man eat of that bread fair to the Eye and perhaps pleasant to the palate which he knowes will suddenly after breed gravell and stones in his reins and bladder and infinitely torture him Certainly such a mans perswasion which in Religion we call Faith must needs be verie weak and his fondnesse strong which can impose so hard things on him unrejected 6. No more can any man have a sound and sufficient perswasion of the heavenly Mansions and the unspeakable Glories thereof yea the perfection and beautie of Vertue and Divinenesse of holie Life and good Conscience and neglect or contemn the same for the fallacies vitious practices put on the outward senses for a moment or lesse if lesse we can imagine Is not this next to a Miracle if we may allow the Devill to be able to work Miracles contrary to the Doctrine of the Schools For what way we call a Miracle if not deluding the senses and so far changing the natures of things to mans eye and common sense that he shall call good evill and evill good and have no other opinion of Flames into which he must be cast than of a Feather bed 7. To him that lives by Sense the present sweet is most sweet and the present bitter most bitter but to him that lives by Faith and not by Sense the future exceeds in both kinds And to a truly wise man knowing the worst of troubles and hardships in this world no more to be compared to the miseries wicked men suffer hereafter than the joyes of sin in this life are to the glorie to be hereafter enjoyed in Heaven by the Righteous it may seem most reasonable to choose the least of Evills and to run the least of hazards too as that poore simple austere man vilely and coldly clad and as ill fed did with whom as our own histories tell a boisterous and soft Gallant meeting demanded of him Why he used himselfe so hardly and was answered by him I doe this to escape Hell-fire But said the Gallant again If there be no Hell what a Fool art thou to use thy selfe so ill But he more wittily and sharply replied But what if there be an Hell how much more Fool art thou to live so as thou doest Put the case to common Reason for true Faith is infallibly assured of it that it was a doubtfull point Whether there were an Hell or not a Heaven or no Heaven and the Scales weighing both sides were equall would not generall Reason advise so to believe as to take the safest course and live that life which may lead to the supposed happinesse and escape the threatened torments What hurt befalls that man that lives continently temperately modestly justly soberly yea and selfe-denyingly as to those things which are not necessarie though no reward followes upon his rigours but the ordinary comforts of health and peace of minde which are greater to him than the riotous liver and pleaser of his appetites and senses without restraint But what hurt doth not befall him hereafter who by indulging to his sensible Soule bereaves himselfe of everlasting happinesse in the world to come that not being all neither as our Religion truely informes us 8. Let us therefore truely examine our selves as St. Paul exhorteth whether we be in the faith and prove our selves knowing of our own selves that Jesus Christ is in us except we be reprobates 2 Corin. 13. 5. Surely if Christ be in us it must be by Faith and if Faith be in us it will discover so much of the events of an holy and wicked life as not to be like a Horse and Mule which have no understanding nor like such men who have
of Christs mediation God would have to depend wholly on Repentance as is implyed in these words Acts 5. 31. Him Christ hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sin So that as there is no forgivenesse without repentance and there is no saving repentance without Christ so is there no saving Christ without repentance For this was one end of Christs coming into the world Repentance as we read Acts 17. 20. The times of former ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men to repent every where And hence it is that the Apostles having heard what successe St. Peter's preaching had amongst the Gentiles make it matter of astonishment and glorification of Allmighty God as it is written Acts 11. 18. When they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God saying Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life 7. But farther let us see more particularly the dignitie of Repentance in the managing of which all the principall Attributes of Allmighty God are engaged as first of all that which is most formidable to a guilty and conscious Soule his Justice For when by foregoing Illumination the minde of man is brought to the knowledge of the nature of sin dwelling in it and the strong opposition which is made against it and enmity and the fearfull reward due to it who can but tremble to finde himselfe brought under the plagues due to it But withall considering the wonderfull condescension of Allmighty God entring into a Covenant of Grace and favour with Sinners upon the termes of true repentance and that he will infallibly be as good as his promises declare him the bitternesse of his Justice is changed into the sweet waters of Life to the desponding Sinner For if God had only said as he doth Exodus 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and trueth Keeping mercie for thousands forgiving iniquities transgression and sin and that will by no means cleer the guilty c. the matter had not been so wonderfull For it is imprinted in the mindes of all Believers that God is mercifull and Good to all even to Sinners that repent Allmost every Chapter in Mahomets Alchoran proclaims that aloud and this is most pleasant to the ear of a Sinner dejected for his errours but much more is that refreshing the languishing Soule to hear that Justice it selfe is turned to be a Friend to a Sinner by vertue of repentance as St. John assures us 1 Epist 1. 9. If we confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse However therefore Scholasticall doubts and disputations may be raised about the manner how God out of his justice may be said to save a man yet it cannot be doubted after such expresse words of Scripture that so it is And that this comes thus to passe that God hath so great regard and esteem for his own gift Repentance that where ever he finds that he hath obliged his honour his trueth or faithfulnesse to his word and Justice it selfe to acquitt that Sinner and cleanse him from his pollutions Not unlike to the gift of some great Prince or Person to some inferiour one who in token of his fidelitie to him and firmenesse in all great calamities and distresses endangering his life delivereth to him a Ring or other privie token well known to him advising that if ever he be call'd in question for his life or like to be oppressed by his Enemies he would send him that or show it him and it shall suffice to oblige him to come speedily to his deliverance and safety so pleaseth it Allmighty God to grant to his friends in Christ this excellent gift of Repentance which he beholding is so much affected with the dangerous condition of the miserable Sinner that in honour and justice he holdeth himselfe bound to secure him from the malice and mischiefs which his Enemies long and strain hard to bring upon him 8. And so may we say of the Omnipotencie of God concerned very much in the deliverie of the penitent Sinner For as there is guilt danger and damnation in sin so is there likewise shame and confusion of minde and face at the apprehension of so foul errours and odious spots as accompanie the commission of sins so that the same pierces into the verie soule by its stain and infests the Conscience with intolerable pain at the apprehension of such a shamefull condition What would an ingenuous Penitent give yea rather What would he not give that he had never offended so Great a God and so Good a Father With what shame the eyes of his minde being illuminate doth he reflect upon himselfe so that it is questionable in some truely repenting and generous soules whether the abhorrence of that foul state it findes it selfe in by sin be not altogether as intolerable as the foreseen punishments of Hell it selfe In such cases as this when all other hopes of being restored to its pristine integrity and purity so infinitely desireable to a true Convert faileth relief and remedie is discovered in the Allmighty power of God which and none but which could cause the Leprous and filthy parts of Naaman to returne to the soundnesse and sweetnesse of the flesh of an Infant and can as easily renew the defaced and defiled Soule so that when one day it shall appear naked at the Tribunall of Christ before the sharp-sighted Angells and men they shall not be able to discerne the least blott or blemish in the same And why because as by a second regeneration after Baptisme Repentance renews the soule by Gods powerfull Grace to a new habit and is therefore called a Second Baptisme 9. Furthermore what can be more worthy of every good Christians practice than Repentance which God honoureth above many splendid Graces in the sight of the world yea which men more thorowly seen into the divine study and art of conversing with God judge to be inferiour to none in dignitie and above all in necessitie How doe we read of Davids Repentance and Peters restoring them entirely to Gods favour so that former sins which were great obstructed not their ascent to the highest pitch of Gods favour and of Rule and Authority in the Church of God. For doth not the incomparable Parable of our Saviour Christ in the Gospell Luke the 15th of the lost Sheep of the lost Groat of the lost Son prove the certainty to us all which declare unto us this miserable state of Sinners fled from God and unreduced and the happinesse and glory upon their returne by Repentance and the joy in heaven and earth upon their conversion unto God and goodnesse as upon a Victory wun over the Devill and a soule wun to God. 10. And if we compare Repentance with other Christian vertues adorning the Soule we shall
Christ hath set us 6. Secondly The speciall care that God taketh of him who careth least for his own will but committeth the management of it into the hands of his most Wise and Gracious Father 'T is true To have ones own will and to doe as we are impelled by it is the preciousest Pearle in the world to the naturall man nothing so deare to him as that and that when it is really evill in it selfe and hurtfull though pleasing to himselfe But man having so little skill how to use such a dangerous instrument were it not much better to resigne it into the hands of him that careth for us more than we doe for our selves and is wiser for us than we for our selves As we see it in Children When a thing of great value is bestowed upon them by some Friend the Parents have the keeping of it least it should be lost spoiled imbezel'd or hurt the young owner till he comes to yeers of discretion So our Godfather properly so called God himselfe bestoweth upon us that great Jewell of Freewill and Choice which he denies to inferiour Creatures but with this tacit condition that we should committe it to his custodie and by his wisdome and direction only use and exercise the same till we come to yeers of true discretion which is only in Heaven and not in this life Then shall we have the full and absolute use of it because then there is no feare that we should use it amisse as here we doe And this is that which holy David adviseth Psalm 55. 22. saying Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved This is it which St. Peter allso exhorteth unto 1 Ep. 5. 6 7. Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you And more expressely and particularly Christ himselfe counselleth thus his Disciples Matth. 6. Take no thought for your life c. For Which of you by taking care can adde on cubit to his stature The trueth is no man exalts himselfe so highly as he who secluding or not considering God followes the will of himselfe and the greatest of all humiliation is by the subjecting of our wills to Gods and the next and readiest way to true preferrement or exaltation And take no thought saith Christ not commending supinenesse sloth or lazinesse in any but none without God none not directed and regulated by his Will and Prescripts none without consulting him and submitting the event with all confidence aed calmenesse to his all-disposing most wise most just most gracious Providence and in suffering as well as doing his Will For it is a Maxime or Rule berter becoming a Heathens mouth than a Christians Every man is master or maker of his own fortune not but that every man hath a hand in and contributes towards Good or evill events befalling him but that the Architectonicall or Over-ruling Power of all is in God whoe doth not allwayes give the Battle to the strong nor the Race to the swist nor bread to the wise to teach us that he is Lord paramount of all according to the Divine acknowledgement of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 26. 12. Lord thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou allso hast wrought all our works in us And therefore it seems to me a thing as very memorable so more worthy the mouth and practice of a Christian what is written of Muhamed Olbarsalanus the Great Prince of Bagdet or Babylon a Saracen who being wounded to death in a Battle which he fought as he died said I never before this once fought but first I desired Gods blessing I would all Christians would doe so and have so much confidence in God in all matters especially of importance that they would first implore Gods aid and then depend on him for the successe which if it be favourable he must be humbly thankfull if improsperous in like manner patient as the effect of Gods Divine and wise Providence requires 7. Thirdly The Scripture both by Example and Precepts directs us to this reasonable as well as religious resignation of our wills unto Gods Will when it sets before our eyes the practice of earthly Parents and Children as Hebr. 12. 9. We have had Fathers of our Flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live For they verily for a few dayes chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be patakers of his holinesse Fathers of our flesh may take a cruell pleasure rather than intend any reall profit or benefit unto Children in chastising them but 't is not to be imagined that God can transgresse the mean or erre in the end of any Dispensation severe or unpleasant to us therefore much rather should we be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live a more easie safe and comfortable life here than otherwise can be expected and a most happie life hereafter where all things be perfectly subject to the Father as Saint Paul speaks 1 Corinth 15. that he may be here allso as well as hereafter All in All. 6. Fourthly This Selfe-deniall is the true Holocaust or absolute Sacrifice we can give to God and most acceptable imposed upon us as true Believers according to Saint Paul Rom. 12. 1. saying I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service And be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of the spirit of your minde that ye may prove what is that good and perfect Will of God. Sacrifices came alive to Gods House and Altar but were not accepted till they were slain so it is with the spirituall or reasonable Sacrifice of our selves especially our naturall wills so long as they live cannot please God but they must be crucified as Christ was crucified for us And as the same Apostle advises Rom. 6. we must reckon our selves dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ. He that is dead ceaseth from willing and so from sinning He that denieth himselfe and his will is dead indeed unto sin and liveth by the life of the Son of Man and is acted by the Will of God. And surely if it be our Dutie our Wisdome our Righteousnesse to committ our very Soules and life into Gods hands and disposall shall we stick to render that one faculty of our Soule our Wills into his hands That doth Saint Peter exhort us unto 1 Epist 4. 19. Wherefore let them who suffer according to the will of God committ the keeping of their soules to him in well doing as unto a faithfull Creatour Let God then have the keeping of our Wills as he hath of our Lives as he had of Christs
minde and greedinesse we devour rather than take our ordinary Meals And lastly when we eat unseasonably against due rule and order and Christian prescriptions 7. For the Quantity no set Rule can be given but every man is to be a Law unto himselfe as the Apostle speakes of the Righteous Man For Gods Word so frequently enjoyning Temperance doth committ the interpretation and application of that Law unto himselfe as best able to judge unlesse corrupted by his Palate his own capacitie and the exigencie of his nature Sexes Ages strength and weaknesse of nature of divers persons and employments laborious and hard or light and sedentarie make great variety in the stomachs and appetites of men So that in eating one must not rashly condemne another because he takes a greater portion than himselfe neither must he excuse himselfe from Gluttonie who eats no more than another the cause making the equality Arithmeticall unreasonable Allwaies provided and observed that in eating and drinking a man hath not by unnaturall usances brought upon himselfe an unnaturall necessity of taking more than his proportion For in such cases he is a glutton by vertue of his first errour necessitating the following and reformation if not suddenly yet gradually must be made by a true Christian according to the auncienter and commoner Rule of using Gods creatures to Gods glory and Natures benefit 8. And for the Qualitie the simpler and more naturall the better it must needs be the great naturall ends of sustenance and healthfulnesse and usefulnesse to bodye and minde which moderately considered are strong lustie expedite and active but tainted with the inventions of Kitchin Philosophers are enfeebled and confounded And the importunity of the delicious Palate becomes so restlesse and unsatisfied that the greatest wits in that Trade can scarce finde out Novelties fast enough to still them No though there be such encouragements to advance Learning in that greasie black Art that some great Persons have doubled the Salarie of their Cooks to that of their Chaplains So base an Object was a Cook aunciently amongst the Romans as Livie tells us Lib. 39. that none was his equall in vilenesse untill true Masculinesse decayed in Rome and the Asiatique Armie having subdued those Countries brought home the infection of deliciousnesse in Diet which made Cookery a noble Science at length which before was a drudgerie few would be hired to But how much more shamefull and lamentable is it that the Gentrie and Nobilitie too some of them should look upon it as a piece of forrein breeding to understand how to make palatable Sauces and in person to practise such ignoble and degenerous acts whereas if their Tutours the French had taught them to mend their old Clothes and Shoes they had brought back a more usefull and no lesse commendable Art though they were as learned in that Art of Cookery as was Suitrigall Duke of Lithuania who as Aeneas Silvius tells us wrote an accurate book of Cookerie which wherever he travailed he would be sure to give strict charge to his Steward to remember to bring along with him What is this but to fall justly under Saint Pauls Censure Philip. 3. 9. Whose end is destruction whose God is their bellie who minde earthly things For as St. Paul saith Rom. 16. They that are such serve not the Lord Jesus but their own bellies Both which i. e. Idoll and Idolater God shall destroy nay themselves hasten to destruction by such indulgence and voluptuousnesse And the reason holds against drinking and eating with affectation and pleasure more than naturall For both make up Gluttonie and sometimes one 9. A third kinde is the inordinate manner of eating when men with too much greedinesse and hast devour rather than eat their Meat and so become rude and scandalous and injurious to Nature it selfe not able to dispatch so suddainly what is stuffed in so hudlingly to the prejudice of the body And which is a great disappointment the Appetite is oppressed rather than satisfied But it is far from my purpose to insinuate any thing here which may instruct men to eat or drink to the best advantage And therefore 10. Lastly The offence in unseasonnable eating and drinking were here to be explained had I not in the directions above given for the custodie of the outward man treated of Fasting and the obligation Christians have not allwayes to measure their libertie herein by the generall natures of Meats and Drinkes nor by their appetites disposing them so to doe against lawfull restraint and order For such must either be rebellious in their mindes against Lawfull Autority or gluttonous in their lustfull part who contemne all regulations not of their own devising in this case Whereas the Apostle plainly tells us Rom. 14. 20. All things are indeed pure but it is evill with that man who eateth with offence Offence then especially by the contumacious despising of Autority undoubted converteth clean Meats into unclean and stands in need of this Purgative Doctrine as much as immoderate Gormandizing 11. The meanes of curing this Distemper have been some of them touched before and therefore now this Summary may suffice First Gluttonie comprehending eating and drinking both is a wasting the Spirits or oppressing of the minde the fountain of true ingeniousnesse and Reason 2. It weakens the bodie allso as well as the minde and that Politick as well as Personall men thereby being effeminated unhardy dull and timorous but when the phrenzie of excesse heats their brain when they should be soberest and wisest they become brutish 3. Mispending of precious hours to trample upon which they choose such diversions more truely called subversions of themselves and 4. Of the good creatures which God having ordained to be received with thanksgiving and blessing him are turned to his dishonour by riotousnesse cursing and swearing and blaspheming and contentions and mutuall violences and assassinations 5. Hereby Men and Women too of this order are put upon unlawfull lusts of the flesh and what not but Modestie Humility Chastitie Mercifullnesse to the poor and divine Contemplations which will not down with the Gluttonous nor rise high with the Drunkard And above all to avoid this Rock steer we our course by the due Compasses of Gods holy Word which Rom. 13. 13. adviseth Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkennesse not in chambering and wantonnesse not in strife and envie But put on the Lord Jesus and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof And Ephes 5. 18. Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excesse but be filled with the Spirit And let that premonition sink into our hearts given by Christ Luke 21. 34. Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkennesse and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares For as our Saviour saith allso Luke 12. If that servant say in his heart My Lord deferreth his coming and
that he might doe them good at the latter end not feasting them so by the way that they should not desire to enter into any other rest For as we see it is with the Day-labourer that his Meals are very short in comparison of his toyl so is it allso with the faithfullest Servants of God in this life their spirituall refreshments are not comparable to their labour in working out their salvation with fear and trembling so that as Bernard observeth the Dayes are rare and the stayes are short of Consolations 6. And a fourth reason hereof may be Gods great designe to keep the Soule in Humility which might be endanger'd by such exaltations and upon which inferiour and harder services might be slighted and neglected as more proper for Persons not so highly priviledged Or it may be vainly presumed that such priviledges are granted to the Soule for its extraordinary diligence in Gods service which must not be allowed but looked upon as an overplus of his favour 7. Fifthly The withholding or withdrawing of such delectations in Gods service may be to instruct us in the absolute Will of God to keep times and seasons in his own Power which it is not for us to know as Christ tells his Disciples Acts 1. And that the Kingdome of God cometh not by observation or according to our expectations 8. But because it is very acceptable to God that we should in all our services give a cheerfull Sacrifice to him which cheerfullnesse is much advanced by the sense of Gods good will towards us such a lightnesse of spirit is not to be wholly slighted as it is not too importunately to be sought after The meanes therefore to obtain the same may be First The due observation of the foregoing Rules now mentioned Secondly A free submission of our selves and services to the disposition of the will of God and contentednesse to persist unalterably in our station under such Aridities of which we know not our selves to be direct occasions a great motive to incline God to manifest his favour unto us more fully Which calls to my minde what I have been told to have happened in the Court of Charles the First For why may we not illustrate things as well by Moderne as Auncient Examples and Domestick as well as Forein in which rare and noble divertisements being prepared for the delight of such as he favoured an inferiour person demanded entrance into the place of such Splendour but being repulsed by a Noble Person to whome the power of admission was given He said Well if I must not be admitted I know what I will doe Doe said the Noble Man Why What will you doe I will goe home said the other and goe to Bed. Nay then if you be so indifferent and well content without it come in replied that Lord. So doth it usually happen unto such who cannot but desire to be admitted into the Presence of God in this way of sensible delectations and yet with patience and submission absolute to Gods Will readily and quietly rest in their ordinarie Dutie ordained of God to walk in here in fullfilling his Will so on Earth as it is in Heaven according to humane abilitie where alone is the consummation of that Union we have but in part here never to be dissolved or interrupted Last of all Retirement for some time into our private Chambers and then into our own selves by stillnesse and composednesse of spirit and minde from not onely worldly cogitations but forcible as I may so speak devotions towards God becomeing as it were Blanks before him that so he may write his own will and in his own way upon the Soule and having so done not to intermitt the wonted Worship of God whether private or publique fullfilling what is said Lamentations 3. 28. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence because he hath born it upon him He putteth his mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope For it often happens that a great mistake is committed through the speciousnesse of the condition of serving God and having him in our Eye as if we intended nothing more than a more cheerfull and acceptable service when love of our selves bears the greatest share in the pursuit of such serenities of minde and consolations For the Soule finding an heavinesse and wearinesse upon it naturally desires ease and relief which Religion it selfe does not denie or disallow provided it be pure from Selfe-love often concerned herein And an humble apprehension of our vilenesse unworthinesse and unfitnesse to entertain Christ in such singular manner moving one to cry out in the words and Spirit of Saint Peter Luke 5. 8. Depart from me for I am a sinfull man O Lord may be as great an argument of the profitable and saving Presence of Christ as the possession of him in Consolations and a more readie way to attain what is really good for us though not directly craved in this kinde A Prayer for true Union with God. MOST High and Holy Lord God whome the Heaven of heavens cannot contain who dwellest on high and yet humblest thy selfe to behold the things done in heaven and earth yea to dwell with them that are of an humble spirit and broken heart and takest the simple out of the dust and liftest the poor out of the mire to set him with Princes even with the Princes of his People even with thine holy Angells and the Spirits of just men made perfect And to this end vouchsafest to begin that glorious state here by that state of Grace whereby thou enterest into the Soules of thy Servants and dwellest with them and art united to them O most Gracious Father in thy Son Jesus Christ and through thy Holy Spirit be pleased to descend into my heart and make thy abode with me as by thy Son thou hast promised Vnite my heart to fear thy Name Open the eyes of my understanding that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law and with cleer and pure Contemplation of thee and things spirituall and Heavenly may be so far inflamed with the love of thee and thy Worship that all earthly and sensuall contents and pleasures may be strange and unsavourie to me and that such a spirituall gust may so affect my Soule that I may refuse all delights and glories not placed in thee and derived from thee and tending to thee which may more firmely oblige and endear me to thee so that Nuptiall Bond whereby thou hast espoused me to thee and thy Son Jesus Christ may never be dissolved but amidst the many cares troubles and temptations which may befall me in this life I may constantly and faithfully persevere to serve thee without distraction and much more alienation from thee Thou knowest O Lord that this corruptible bodie presseth down the Soule musing on heavenly things thou knowest that though our spirit be willing our flesh is weak and yet hast taught us that thy Grace is sufficient for us and thy strength is made known in our weaknesse as thy mercy is in our wickednesse wherefore Righteous Father take possession of this thine House which thou hast chosen to dwell in vindicate me from the usurpations of sin the flesh the Devill and all worldly vanities apt to deceive me or draw me from thee that so like thy servant Stephen by a strong eye of Faith evermore stedfastly beholding thee and the glorie with thee I may joy in thee here and everlastingly enjoy thee hereafter through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen FINIS
Possessions And I can think little more reverently of the frequentation of Visions and Revelations celebrated in the Lives of those three famous Women published together viz. Hildegardis Elizabeth Micthildis which afford us such instances by bushells as it were I will not instance in Jacobus de Voragine his Golden Legend nor Caesarius Heiberstachius as I could to the great disadvantage of that Cause which was intended to be advanced thereby as such at which the modester and graver of the Roman Communion need not any other to put them upon blushing at they doe it of themselves But when I read in the Visions of Katharine of Sienna sainted a perpetuall storie of God himselfe appearing to her and preaching in person to her almost through the whole book though I like the Sermon very well and must needs acknowledge the Documents deliver'd to be many of them very Divine and usefull I cannot assent unto the Scene there given us If these Revelations as we say of Phanaticall and pretended Inspirations and gifts of Prayer in Publick were so Divine as reputed and affirmed why doe they not become Canonicall Why are they not equallized to the Holy Scriptures But things are not come to that height thankes be to God unlesse with them who glorying immodestly of a Light within them and the Word and Will and Wisdome of God given into them contemne the written Word themselves for this very reason becoming suspected convicted and detestable 10. But those Visions which are so practicall and grosse as that they end as in their consummation in the gratifying of our senses outward and them the grossest overthrow in my opinion the spiritualnesse and even the honesty of Revelations and notably shake the reputation of that Religion which countenances them If it were recorded only in an unapproved Author what I finde in the Sermon of an eminent Preacher Granatensis Vol. 5. pag. 387. concerning the same Katharine of Sienna Granatens Vol. 5. Conc. 3. in Cathar pag. 387. it might have been lesse scandalous to read of the great and frequent familiarity between Christ and her so that termes of wooing passed between them for a long time till at length she was sensibly espoused to him but what were the consequences of that Wedding I know not This to my apprehension is a true consequence of such Revelations that it must be the Devill rather than Christ that so appeared and led away a silly Woman laden with sinne in the midst of her profession of Sanctity or that these Talemongers have shamefully belied that reputed Saint And on the other side the like instances might be given of such who were so vehemently devoted to the Virgin Mary as to win her love so far as to condescend to suffer her breasts to be handled by her Saints A little more cleanly and credible is that story in the Remains of Gregorie Thaumaturgus Bishop of Neocaesarea of an Exposition of the Faith which he received from Saint John the Evangelist by the meanes of Mary the Mother of God. But the Romanists themselves are so modest we thank them as not to hold it to be the same we now have under that name And we are so bold to tell them that their Visions Miracles and Revelations so much sometimes with the ignorant sort boasted of have done them more discredit with the wiser than good or honour 11. And to these another note of true and false Illuminations and Alluminations which I may call all outward Discoveries made to the senses may be that made by the observation of the Masters of such Learning That in the true and near approach of God and his Holy Spirit to the sense outward or minde inward first great trouble surprisement consternation and deep humiliation are wrought upon the spirit of him the Lord vouchsafes so to honour with his presence as it appears by Ezechiell the Prophet Daniell and before them by Manoah who were struck with dread and confusion at the Revelations made unto them as likewise was the Blessed Virgin at the aspect and Annunciation of the Angell Gabriell but in the winding up and conclusion they were all refreshed and comforted aboundantly On the contrary the specious Pageantry and Insinuations of Evill Angells are begun with great delight of the deluded minde and in the conclusion bring shame sorrow and confusion answerable indeed to the method of the tempter in all other Cases in which the good Wine is brought forth first of which when men have well drunk followes the bad but Christ first sets before his faithfull servants the bad and keepeth the best to the last of all that he might humble thee and that he might prove thee to doe thee Good at the latter end as it is said Deuteron 8. ver 16. Brisk Pert and vaunting are the gifted by Evill Spirits reflecting upon such their perfections above others but modest humble and grave are they who are indeed taught of God. 12. And thus having briefly prepared the true Christian with a prospect given him of the nature use and necessitie of true Spirituall Illuminations translating him out of the Kingdome of darknesse into the marvellous light of saving Knowledge and Faith before due progresse can be made to the life and power of Faith in holy Conversation and likewise shewed the hazards of miscarrying through mistaken Light I proceed to the Second Part of Christian walking with God by walking according to that Light consisting principally in Spirituall Purgation or Sanctification A Prayer for Spirituall Illumination O Allmighty God and Heavenly Father the Light and life of the world lying in darknesse Who by thy Son Jesus Christ coming into the world enlightenest every one that cometh into the world and whome to know is eternall Life But who can know thee the Father but the Son and he to whome he shall reveale him and yet none can come unto the Son unlesse the Father draw him and none doth the Father draw unto him but by his holy Spirit teaching all things Send down I beseech thee that Spirit of light life and truth into my minde and heart that they may preserve me prevent and informe me and rule me that by that key of knowledge the door of my heart may be opened and the eyes of my understanding to perceive the things of God which are only spiritually discerned and that I may not love darknesse rather than light because my deeds are evill But grant that in thy light I may see Light and know how to choose the good and refuse the Evill not calling darknesse light nor light darknesse nor bitter sweet nor sweet bitter nor good evill nor evill good Various are the Mazes and Labyrinths of this World and many are lost in them Difficult is the road and strait is the way that leadeth unto trueth and life and few there be that find them Dangerous it is to lean to mine own understanding or wisdome who am but of yesterday and know nothing as I ought