in an intire Privation of Carnal Pleasures fancies Death as a Messenger that brings him good news as a deliverer that is come to throw down the four Walls of his Prison down to the Ground and will leave a passage free on all sides to flye away to Heaven The Voluptuous they must be dragg'd to death they lay hold on every thing in the way to stop themselves they give place to necessity but they do it with an aukward and ill grace These therefore who multiply the pleasures of their Senses make themselves Chains the breaking whereof will cost them many a groan and many a tear But pious people who have renounc'd the pleasures of life cannot be in pain to forsake the present life since they have quitted that which life has most agreeable I should say here that the Pleasures of Sense are enemies to Devotion because they absolutely take away the taste of the Spiritual Pleasures which the faithful find in the commerce they have with God but that I have said it already and it is so evident both in Reason and Experience We know that those Slaves of sensual Pleasures look upon all that is said of the pleasures of Devotion as mere idle Stories Speak to them of the delights which the faithful Soul tasts when God speaks to it within its heart and during the silence of its passions of the sweetness it finds in meditating on the Love he hath for us and in contemplating on its Mysteries All this will appear to them as Dream and Vision Undoubtedly one is not sensible of the pleasures of the Mind but in proportion as he hath renounc'd those 〈◊〉 the Body And therefore we Christians are all so little touch'd with Spiritual pleasures with Prayer Meditation Contemplation because we are not of those who have perfectly renounced Sensual pleasures In this respect we must confess Rich and Great men are exposed to great Temptations their condition say they obliges them to draw after them a great equipage of Pleasures if it be so they are very unhappy And in prospect to this it may be our Saviour said How hard a thing is it for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Riches and Grandeur are continual Temptations to Voluptuousness and it 's very difficult for him that is always tempted not to yield sometimes But although Moderation and Temperance are praise-worthy when they are kept amid so many Enemies that conspire their ruin it is very rarely so and therefore Devotion is not so common among them who by their Rank fancy themselves obliged to live evermore in Pleasures In short if it be permitted us to draw proofs from Examples as without doubt it ought to be we may easily prove that the Spirit of Devotion and Christianity are enemies to Sensual Pleasures Whether are the Christians of our age that live with a freedom which austere morality calls Libertinage better entred in the spirit of Christianity than the Christians of former ages who led a most severe and rigorous life Many there have been who not finding a retreat secure enough in the World against the temptations of Voluptuousness have gone to seek it in Desarts where they found none but pure and innocent Objects some have worn Sack-cloth as John the Baptist and others residing in humane Society have prefer'd Fastings and mortification of the Body before Pleasures of the Sense Do ye believe that these people were wiser than us or are we wiser than them I know some will not hesitate on the matter but file these Austerities to the account of Fanaticism and Delusion of the Spirit of Errour But certainly this is a rash Judgment for which we appeal to the Tribunal of God to whom alone appertains the right of distinguishing Sincerity from Hypocrisie in such austere lives But would we have an example that is not subject to errour let us look up to our Lord Jesus Christ had his life any thing common with sensual pleasures You see him born in a Stable brought up in the house of a Carpenter you see him fast forty days in the Wilderness you see him live on the Alms of Women that followed him We hear him declaring that he had not whereon to lay his head We see him go on foot and without equipage from City to City And does this now relish of the Spirit of the World and a delicious Life Who can know better what is the spirit of Christianity than our Saviour himself and what are the effects of Devotion but he who was perfectly devoted to his Father after this let none tell me that our Lord was no enemy to Pleasures because he was present at Feasts and Nuptials It were to be wish'd that our Lord Jesus Christ were at all our Feasts We should not see Insolence and Debauchery to reign there Wisdom Temperance Sobriety and the highest moderation would march in his Train Meditation SEeing thou art compass'd about O my Soul with so great a cloud of witnesses run with patience the Race that is set before thee seeing so many so holy so excellent examples have gone before thee thou must follow and imitate them Wouldst thou follow an Elias in the Desart a Moses on the Mountain fasting forty days and not feed but on the bread of Ravens nor drink but of the water of a Torrent But these are particular Vocations that do not refer to thee Nevertheless if any one would imitate John Baptist wear Sack-cloth with him be clothed with Camels hair and eat locusts and wild-honey let 's not say because he is not come eating nor drinking he hath a Devil Have a care of making such rash judgments Those that come to exhort men to repentance must preach up mortification both in their actions and words and habit and food Thou hast great need O my heart both to mortifie thy self and to repent so as it would be very necessary that thy Body should carry Sack-cloath and Ashes But this example of John Baptist does not become a Law and if thy God hath not commanded it thee thou canst not be obliged thereby Behold then another example another model much more perfect which thou oughtest to follow and that is of thy Saviour the pattern by whose traces thou oughtest to guide thy steps Live as he did and thou wilt live well enough The Disciple should not hope to be greater than his Master He liv'd in the World but he was not of the World He eat and drank to give examples of Sobriety He convers'd with men to teach them to speak wisely and piously for he never open'd his mouth but for edification He is the model of all which thou oughtest to suffer to do to abstain from Suffer patiently with him the rebukes and the outrages of the World drink as he did with a spirit of Submission the cup of God's wrath when he shall present it thee do good works with him spend the day in doing good to the afflicted and the night in
To remember him to whom we speak Can we doubt also that our slackness does not come from the little love we have for God One friend does not visit another nor a lover his mistress with such an air of negligence as we show in Gods Service If we were kindled with Love all our motions would receive impressions from that heavenly fire In a word if the hope of glory had touch'd our hearts we should not go so slowly to him of whom we think to receive coelestial happiness But I know not whether this can be counted among the Sources of Indevotion since that the want of Faith Hope and Charity is Indevotion it self To conclude we must confess that we often find our selves in some certain Indispositions of Heart whereof we can render no account nor reason to day we are all Fire to morrow all Ice An upright Soul instantly pursues and awakens its self thinks on every thing that may inflame it It examins its own Conscience to see whether it hath committed any thing to dissorder its heart and grieve the spirit of Grace it finds nothing whereof it can accuse its self and knows not from whence it hath this coldness Whence then proceed these inequalities Perhaps from the changable nature of man who is not always himself and peradventure from the Temperament too as well as the disposition of the Air. As the Soul imprisoned in the Body does not act but by its Organs and depends extreamly on the motion of its humours it 's very manifest that Devotion also depends on these dusty Springs and Wheels whose pace is frequently seduc'd and spoyl'd And it may be the Devil finds his time and amidst the good seed sows his Tares in our field In some perhaps God's holy Spirit the author of every good thought has hid himself for sometime This drought and barrenness of the Soul may proceed from that God hath lock'd up the Sources of those Waters springing up to eternal Life However it be this mischief does cause much trouble to devout Souls We need not for a cure imploy any other remedy but Prayers and Tears The Soul must say Come Lord Jesus come thou Son of my Soul disperse this darkness make the morning Starr to rise in mine heart Why dost thou hide thy self I have sought thee in the night and found thee not Open thy fountains and make thy Rivers of Water to flow on me that I may quench my thirst and be refreshed make haste O God of my Salvation Meditation WHAT Negligence is this I find in my self I take a great deal of pains to do all things well which respect the present Life but I take very little care of doing the only and main thing well for which I ought to Labour To make a progress in an Art I exercise it often I consult Masters I make reflection on my Faults that I may not fall into 'em again But alass my Soul thou dost not use thy self so in the Exercises of Devotion Very rarely it is thou dost them And frequently without Reflection and therefore thou dost them ill Thou dost them rarely because thou dost them without Pleasure And thou dost them without any good because thou dost them in a careless Fashion and not with thy whole Bent of Heart Return to 'em often and thou shalt find such Delights in them as the Heart of Man cannot conceive Prayer O my God my divine Saviour open the fountains of thy Grace and let Rivers flow upon me Make me sensible of the advantage of possessing thee and the pleasures of enjoying thee so that I may not draw my self both seldom and difficultly to the places where thou speakest to me and I to thee in thy Temple or in the retreat of my Closet Draw me that I may run after thee When I design to approach thee by the actions of my Devotion be not thou far from me I know I am unworthy thou should'st come under my Roof 'T is not long since mine heart was a den of Thieves and the haunt of unclean spirits but these filthy Guests have left some remainder of Impurities behind them which render this Tabernacle unworthy of thy Holiness Nevertheless thou Sun of my Soul whose rayes cannot be soil'd nor defil'd by the impurity of the places through which they pass pierce even to my Marrow put thy Fire within me which may purge me and kindle me with the flames of thy Love If I sleep in security awaken me if I tumble into neglect and happen to break off the holy exercises of Piety so necessary to conserve Devotion knock at the Door of my heart to make me vigilant and watchful and if the hammer of thy word be not sufficient spare not even that of Afflictions Rent me in-pieces rather than leave me in my own natural hardness for thy blows will not wound my head they will be to me sweeter than Balm Come to my help O my redeemer to accomplish the victory over my Infirmities I am heavy and material make me spiritual and heavenly The motions of Grace and of Devotion which lift me up on high are opposite to the motions of Nature that pull me down In this Duel tost I am grievously and turmoild betwixt two contraries Nature hath the Insolence to oppose Grace and this Combat makes the exercises of my Devotion to be so few But render them O holy Spirit easy and pleasant to me that I may return to them frequently PART III. CHAP. I. That Pleasure is the mortal enemy of Devotion what are the Sentiments and maximes of the world about Pleasure and Voluptuosness WE have examined the Sources of Indevotion and have indeavoured to stop and stem them But among all the rest one there is more lively more green and more abounding in Impurites and by consequence more an enemy to Piety and that is the Spirit of the World and after having well thought on 't we find that this Spirit of the World is the love of pleasure and sensual voluptuousness Experience lets us see that this Spirit is such an enemy to Devotion as 't is impossible to be animated with it and to be Devout This perpetual use of sensual Pleasures does fix the Soul so strongly to Matter as it becomes incapable of any Elevation The more we have of union with sensible things the more we are disunited from God We ought therefore to turn on this side our greatest industry and indeavours to strive to bring the Soul back to God and make that strong application cease it hath for Material things so as it may lean and adhere to God and imploy its self about him Upon which account although the overgreat sensibility we have of earthly pleasures has had its Chapter above among the other Sources of Indevotion we believe we have not sayd enough upon so great and so important a Subject This is a monster too redoutable to be beat and quell'd by the By and with so much negligence If we could
coufounded in that mighty abysse of what is past But the Moments thou givest to thy God are put in reserve thou wilt find them they will come before thee At the great Judgment they will be put to thy account and for some moments of Devotion thou shalt receive eternal Glory Do not therefore hang in suspence any longer O my Soul delay no more to renounce all the pleasures and all the hopes of the Age for to follow thy God only In him is the Well of Life in his Light thou shalt see Light thou shalt be fatted with the fat of his House and quench thy thirst in the Floud of his Pleasures In thy old age thou shalt not regret the loss of thy Youth Thy days shall not rise up in Judgment against thee to condemn thee when thou shalt be old and on the brink of Death The thought of thy God shall not put thee into an affright Thou wilt not look upon him as a Judge who comes to demand an account of so many years consumed in vain Pleasures but a Deliverer who will come to break thy Irons and as a Rewarder bringing days of Refreshment instead of painful and dolorous years which the World would make thee pass thorough Prayer O Most gracious and merciful Lord thou Guide of my Youth thou Light to the blind thou Instructer of the ignorant who enlightenest the simple bringest back those that have wandered into the way of Truth and perfectest praise out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings teach me thy ways and draw me out of the paths of the World make haste that I may do so too leave me not any longer in the World and in Sin By the effusion of thy Grace into my Soul make my Heart to desire thee that in desiring thee it may seek thee and in seeking thee it may find thee in finding thee it may love thee and in loving thee it may find in that love a sovereign Joy It is now too long a time I have consumed my self in my vain desires I would go to thee but I find not strength to vanquish those Habits wherein I am engaged by Custom Come therefore and tear me O my God out of the arms of Voluptuousness suffer not these delays of mine and if I should say yet a little while stay a little longer draw me by thy Powerfull Word and say unto me Awaken thou that sleepest arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee Light If words be not efficacious enough to raise me up touch the biere strike the Body wherein the Soul is as it were buried It sleepeth in its Tomb or rather it is dead bodily Pleasures have overwhelm'd or slain it Smite therefore the Body that the Soul may awake for it is better that I enter into Life having but one eye than having two eyes to be cast into Hell-fire It is better that my Flesh here below suffer some pains and that my Soul one day taste those infinite Pleasures which thou preparest for it on high I abide in Sodom and I love my abode thou sendest thy Angels to draw me thence thy Word and thy Mnisters to make me depart before the terrible day comes in which thou wilt tumble down torrents of fire and brimstone upon this wicked World but I ever find pretexts to delay Lay hold then of my hand and draw me out by the force of thy Grace that I perish not among the wicked Shew me the way of thy holy hill that I may save my self and thence without danger behold the deluges of Corruption which overspread the Country and the Torrents of thy Wrath and Vengeance which suddenly and amazingly overwhelm the World Alas If it would please thee O my God to make me taste the speritual Delights of thy Love I should not be so sensible of Earthly Pleasures and I should not linger so long to seek thee for I most ardently wish after happiness If therefore I knew that my Beatitude lyes in thee I should flye to find in thee that happiness which I seek O Lord since Pleasure is the only Load-stone capable of drawing my Soul make me taste a little of that Joy which I ought to find in thee make me to feel thy infinite Goodness that without delay I may run after thee and consecrate my self to thy service walking in Holiness and Righteousness all the dayes of my Life and setting my Affections on things above that when Christ who is my Life and Pleasure shall appear I may also appear with him in Glory PART IV. Of helps towards Devotion CHAP. I. The first General Advice is to will desire and ask Devâ—tion WE have seen from how many Sources Indevotion springs let us now try to vanquish those Difficulties by some Advices that may lead us to Devotion Those Advices I would give here are either general or particular But before I pass further we are to presuppose that he whom we would make devout must have a Mind himself to become so he that has not this Disposition will very unprofitably pass farther How many indevout persons have we in the World that do not desire Devotion for themselves and contemn it in others Of this sort we find some that are so hardy as to perswade themselves they have a Religion I am it may be says one as religious as another though I laugh at Devotion and devout Persons If they believe what they say most assuredly they cheat their own Heart and we must confess that these People are really profane Others there are that esteem Devotion in another and yet like it not for themselves it doth not fit right with the Spirit of the World which they make their Idol They approve the better side they admire it but they fancy as to their own particular they may be saved with less Trouble I know not whether these be better than the former yet they are a little nearer to the Disposition we seek after but still alas in how bad a Condition is their Conscience They are in this worse than the former that they sin against their own Sentiment they know their Masters Will and do it not They are afraid of doing too much provided they be sav'd it 's of no great Importance how What a thought is this Is not Paradise worth the purchasing at the Expence of some Tears some Prayers some hours of Humiliation And how can we imagine we can obtain Heaven by the less since we shall find a hard Task to arrive thither by the greater If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Vngodly and the Sinner appear Do ye believe ye backward and lukewarm Souls that a truly devout Person has too much Righteousness to open to himself the gate of Heaven Do not you know that all the World praises that Saying of St. Austin Woe to the most praise-worthy Life if it be examined without Mercy and what the Psalmist says If thou should'st mark Iniquities O Lord who shall stand I
are methinks the movements that compose Devotion but we must observe that in all People they are not evermore in the same degree Always some one of them does Reign sometimes Joy bears sway another while Grief oftentimes Alacrity other times the Desires And hence it comes to pass that if we consult the Devout upon the nature of Devotion they will answer us very differently because every one will say that he feels within himself and that every one feels within himself things very different from those of other men It happens also that one and the same Soul feels a different Devotion at divers times the Motions whereof we have spoken ruling by Turns To day a faithful Person shall be fill'd with hope in the view of a blessing to come and to morrow with joy in the possession of the present good One time by reason of his Sins Sadness shall domineer another time the Desires shall reign and this alteration proceeds from the diversity of Estates wherein the Conscience finds it self and the variety of Prospects which Meditations presents it withall in considering God some times with respect had to his Love and Mercy other times to his Severity and Justice Frequently too he will eye his Conscience both in its strongest and in its weakest parts and this may change some things in the Agitations of his Devotion Chearfulness likewise which seems to be the very Essence and Soul of this Virtue is not inseparable from it and sometimes the most heav'nly Souls find themselves under a gloomy and sad weight But when this Briskness is absent its place is possest by a stinging Displeasure for its Absence Meditation ALas my Soul how ignorant art thou in things Divine The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him These are profound Abysses which thou canst not sound Thy light is nothing but darkness But yet astonishing it is not that thou knowest not heavenly things which God has reserv'd to himself and lockt up in his own Breast 'T is more strange thou knowest not what God does in this and art ignorant of those Divine things which are in thy Heart Vain and haughty as thou art with the advantages which Nature has given thee above the visible Creatures thou saiest thou art an incarnate Angel say rather that thou art an Angel imprisoned in a dark and dismal mansion who knowest but in part and see'st but in part obscurely and as in a Glass through the thick veil of Flesh and Blood Prayer O My God thou Father of Lights from whom cometh every good and perfect gift open mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law I am a Stranger upon Earth and a Sojourner Oh! hide not from me thy Commandments I am inquiring into the Nature of Devotion I shall not be able to know it without thee In vain shall I search for it in the works of another unless I find it in mine own Heart I do not find what I seek for there where then shall I find it Even in thee my God who art the Source of what I look for Raise therefore in my Heart those flames of Zeal and Piety that being filled therewith my Soul may not need but to study it self to attain this knowledge and after the attainment may be able to love it and make others do so too Let it sparkle and shine in all my Words and Actions like a Torch that lights my Neighbours and let it kindle in them the holy flames of Devotion CHAP. II. Of the Effects of Devotion IN speaking of the nature of Devotion in the precedent Chapter we insinuated all its Effects but it will not be amiss nor unprofitable to unfold them a little more for these Effects well understood will lead us to the knowledge of the Cause and serve us for a Touch-stone whereby pious Souls may try both the purity and the progress of their Devotion The first of these effects is a vehement Passion to converse with God and pour forth our grief into his Bosom to hear his Word and to receive the Gages of his Love in his Sacraments You see this Disposition in David who sighs after the House of God and finds nothing in his Exile more insupportable than his Banishment from the Court of the Lord's House Jealous he is of the Condition of the Swallows that build their Nests there He would be a Door-keeper in this house and never stir from thence My Soul hath a desire to enter into thy Courts says he I have asked one thing of the Lord that I may dwell in his house all the days of my life He avows that the hopes of seeing God again in his house do sustain him and keep him from falling into Despair I had fainted unless I had believed to see the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living The faithful Soul has no less Passion for the Solitude of its Closet than David had for the Temple of his God It looks upon those hours as lost which 't is obliged to throw away upon the World and as soon as it can withdraw it self from the hurry and bustle of Affairs it runs to the Bosom of its God as the Hart to the Water-brooks as a covetous Person to the search of Riches as a Courtier watches for the Hour and Place to see his Prince and to be seen and receive from him considerable Favours A second Effect is a Joy which we may call inconceivable when the Devout in their Devotions feel their Heart display'd and the Holy Ghost appears with all the Riches of his Grace and all the Treasures of his Consolations If any one should inquire of such a Soul why it is so satisfied perhaps it would be an hard matter for it to tell him but the true cause of this Joy is That God does exert in it his comfortable and wholsom Rays which are ever accompanied with a plenary Happiness The Pleasure which an avaricious man takes in counting his Money which the ambitious taste in hoping for new Grandeurs which the Epicurean finds in his Feasts and Debauches all this I say is unsavoury and of a bad taste in comparison of that Joy which the pious Soul perceives in communicating with its God This is an Ocean which overwhelms and drowns all the Perplexities and Troubles of the Flesh The Persecuted find here their Sanctuary the Poor Riches the Sick-man Health the Contemptible Glory the Humble Grandeur and the Miserable a general Oblivion of all his Calamities This is that wherein a Soul tired with the World finds that heavenly Repose which makes it with Indignation and yet with Pity look upon the cruel Agitations of worldly men that are tied to the racking Wheels and Stones of Ixions and Sisyphus's that is to say to Labours that always return and never have an end Hence springs another effect of Devotion namely To forget this World When the Devout Person shuts the door
neglects the other Life as if it were never to come I believe O my God but help thou my unbeleif Make me to see the Truth and Excellency of Eternal Life that I may flight the present Life that I may make me such Friends as may receive me into everlasting Habitations that I may acquire such Riches as I may carry along with me and that I may make choice of that good Part which shall not be taken away from me CHAP. VI. The Custom of letting the mind ramble 〈◊〉 different Objects A sixth Source of Indevotion I Believe that this is also another Source of 〈◊〉 Indevotion and especially of our Distraction During Prayer we know not how to fire oâ—â— Heart our mind wanders and our attention iâ— lost Whence proceeds this but from a pernicious custom we have of giving a soaring vaunt to our Imagination It is in man what Quick-Silver is in Mertals It rouls it runs glibly up and down A little fire makes it evaporate and as it were to vanish into Smoak it becomes so subtle We suffer it to 〈◊〉 what ever it pleases When 't is upon the Wing sometimes it flyes from East to West from South to North from Heaven to Earth and as if the limits of the Universe were too narrow for it it over-passes them and loses its self in the innumerable Whirle-pooâ— of Des-Cartes And no more can it contain it self within the bounds of Time it flyes to Eternity and asks what it is It would know what was when there was Nothing If it keeps its self within this World amidst this great space it curvets over all Beings it swims over all Matter and the compounds of it differently modified and yet penetrates none of them And as if the prodigioâ— Mass of Creatures did not furnish Imployment enough to its Actions it labours in the production or rather creation of Beings of its own forming It imagine Chimeras Phantomes it makes Mountains of Gold Worlds in the Moon Centaurs and Hippogryphicks And these motions for the most part are of such quick â—ispatch that in a quarter of an hours rambling we find â—ur selves so far off that the greatest Parted man in â—â—e World could never ghess by our last thought what was the first And after this shall we ask from whence â—ome those aberrations of our heart in the duties and exercises of Piety can we expect that a Soul accustomed to wander can fix and arrest it self all at once It is an Horse that has not as yet received the Bitt it does nothing night or day but kick and skip up and down in the Meadows When one would put the Saddle upon the back or the Rein in the mouth it flyes out and struggles it throws down him that gets up and returns from whence it came When we would gather our selves together it dissipates its self like a Flame it abandons us it breaks the Rein of Piety and before that we espy the first ways it took we find it plunged in the diversity of its vain thoughts St. Augustine â—acknowledges that this is the cause of our Distractions When our mind is fill'd with these Phantasins savs he and that incessantly it carries along with it an infinite number of vain thoughts thence it comes to pass that our Prayers are oftentimes troubled and interrupted thereby and that when being in thy presence O God we indeavour to make thee hear the voice of our heart An action of such importance is frequently traversed by frivolous Imaginations which come from I know not whence to break into the crowd in our minds If we did well comprize the nature of Evil we might easily conceive the Remedy Evils ought to be cured by their contraries So that let us learn to give bounds to our imagination and not permit it to go so far that we may have the less trouble to bring it back again That is to say For the disposing our heart to Devotion we ought to accustom our mind to think a little of things and of good things 't is a Mercury that must fix it self in being applied to Silver or Gold 't is a lively faculty whereto we must give the Bridle and the Rein. 〈◊〉 let us not imagine that the secret to cure this Malaâ—â— of the Soul consists in retaining our mind in a privatâ—â—â— of all thought this is not profitable to Nature nor useâ—â—â— to Grace The imagination of man is too active 't is iâ—possible to hold it from doing nothing 't is to bring 〈◊〉 Death upon it to leave it without imployment sincâ— it lives no longer than it acts God hath not given 〈◊〉 such noble faculties to bury them in an inglorious aâ—â— shameful Idleness In short a mind that is habituatâ—â— to think on nothing would nevertheless find it as muâ—â— trouble to fix it self upon the works of Piety as oâ—â— would to withdraw it from its ramblings and course that it formerly used From all which I conclude that the imployment of letter'd and knowing men are perhaps the most destructive to Devotion as any that are in the World The Eye is scarce ever weary with seeing nor the Eaâ— with hearing and we are so far from counting this among Defects that we reckon it a great Vertue Undeâ— favour to those Great Names of Sciences of fine knowledges of curious Researches of Sublime Speculations of miraculous Discoveries there is established in the World a method to mince the Soul and almost infinitely to subdivide it without Remedy would to God experience did not give us proofs of the Truth But it 's very certain and very well known that Atheists are not to be found in the croud of the common People The Epicures the Protagoras's and Diagoras's were knowing men of great Wit The thing is past into a Proverb And they say that they who by reason of the Art whereof they make profession are obliged to study Nature and the second Causes very much do â—ix themselves so strongly thereto that they forget to ascend to the first Cause These men so well read in Antiquity and that make so great a noise in the Common-wealth of Learning for their knowledge make none at â—ll in the Church for their great Devotion The study only of heavenly things can inspire an habit of Piety we also see enow great Divines continue bad Christians because they refer not their Labours to God nor to his Glory all their industry is for themselves and they are the end of all their own watchings I would never â—herefore advise him that has a mind to be very devout â—o imbrace so many things nor to fill his head with conjectures and his memory with these May-bees whereof those rare Sciences so called are composed besides that this Acquisition brings in a habit of self-conceited Pride and surly Scorn a great enemy to the Spirit of Devotion and it puts the Virtuosos up with Pyrrhonism and Doubt which from Philosophy passes into Divinity And whereas some find nothing
Dream which vanisheth away a Smoke which is consumed in its lifting up And as it speaks of it with contempt so it would also that we have little care of it Take no care of the Body saith St. Paul to obey the lusts thereof Take no thought for the morrow the morrow shall take thought for the things of its self be in litttle pain for what ye shall eat or wherewithal ye shall be clothed As for the Soul the holy Spirit would have us turn all our cares on that side He would have us vigilant and sober because the Devil watches about it as a roaring Lyon seeking to devour it He commands us to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling and that we be in a perpetual solicitude about it He Orders us to nourish it with the milk of the Word sincere and without deceit and that we furnish it with strong meats He wishes us to entertain it continually in an holy joy He would have us search after those sovereign pleasures that are to be found in the possession of God which are only for the Soul The Gospel requires of us to imbellish it and that we labour to adorn it that it may be found a glorious Spouse not having spot or wrinkle worthy to be presented to its head the Lord Jesus Christ Examine the conduct of Voluptuous men it is quite contrary to this they act as if they were all Flesh and as if their Soul were only Salt to keep the Body from corrupting All the Ideas they have of Pleasure derive from the Senses and the Imagination and without a metaphor they are as they call themselves Men of Sense and they conceive no more what we call spiritual pleasures than blind men do colours As therefore they never tasted other delights than bodily ones they believe themselves oblig'd to the Body for all their Happiness And in effect so it is For at the time when they taste carnal Pleasures we cannot say they are unhappy since happiness consists in Pleasure and Joy and they have them at that moment So that because we intirely love what we consider as the source of our felicity we cannot think it strange that these worldly People love their body perfectly which they look upon as the only Source of their Pleasures We see also that these men have the same Sentiments for their Body as holy men have for God who is their sovereign good and in whom they find their sovereign pleasure They adore this Body of theirs they cherish they perfume it they offer Incense and Sacrifice to it If one should give a blow or a gird to this same Body Oh! how jealous they are on 't as of a Divinity More Indignation they have against him that should hurt this Flesh than against a Blasphemer or a Sacrilegious Person In a word their Body holds so much of a Divinity that they Sacrifice unto it even their very Conscience nay and God himself But nothing is more opposite to the spirit of Christianity and Devotion than this Sentiment For the truly faithful ones are oblig'd to slight the Body to sacrifice it to God to see it torn in pieces for his name and to renounce all the pleasures of sense for his Glory The Spirit of the Gospel and of Devotion absolutely tends to the contempt of the World but the spirit of Voluptuousness and sensuality to the love of the World How must we love the World when it caresses us and is mighty kind and pleasurable to us if we love it when it persecutes us and steeps us in Gall The World is a mere Cheat and Gull and an undeniable Source of Delusions it masques it self and would be seen by us under the image of fleshly pleasure It imbraces us under the habit of Flowers but under these Flowers are a thousand Thorns We do not see these thorns we only smell the Flowers we are sensible of such pleasures and love that causes them But all the World knows nought is more contrary to Devotion than the love of the World and we have made it appear elsewhere so as by consequence nothing is more opposite to the spirit of Christianity and Devotion than sensual Pleasure The Spirit of Christian Religion would inspire a contempt of the present and a desire after the other Life Now certain it is that nothing tyes men so much to Life as the pleasures of Sense the Saints say and ought to say I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better I know when this earthly house shall be dissolved we have an House eternal in the Heavens and therefore we desire to be clothed upon with our House which is from Heaven None of these things moving neither count I my Life dear unto my self As the hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God When shall I come and appear before God It 's impossible that men who live in a perpetual use of Voluptuousness should have these thoughts Every one wishes to be happy and when once he is or at least believes he is so he cannot renounce what he fancies the cause of his felicity these carnal-minded men think themselves happy at such time as they injoy their Pleasures they have no Idea of any other Beatitude but of that they injoy in this present life They can every day speak both about another life and another happiness But they have got an habit not to let themselves be touch'd but by sense and Imagination and so because this life and this happiness do not fall under their Senses nor can be imagined by them they cannot consider them but as imaginary Beings which have no relation to them because they have not any Idea of them in their minds Moreover their hearts meeting in this life with a fat Land that is much prosperity do take very deep rooting there Their affections being thoroughly ingaged in carnal pleasures bound themselves in the possession of Sensible Objects they wish for nothing more besides for that no body wishes for things which he does not know and whereof he has no clear and certain Ideas The Earth becomes their Country they naturalize themselves here every thing else is a strange and unknown Land Let people say what they please but questionless we have an ill preparation for Death in the continual use of those pleasures whose Innocence the World maintains O Death said a Wise Man how cruel is the remembrance of thee to him that lives quietly among his Possessions One lives indeed more commodiously in a Palace than in a Prison but one finds it more trouble to dye in that than in this How insupportable is the thought of Death his presence how affrightful to him who lives in the midst of Pleasures he looks upon Death as a Judge that comes to pronounce on him a dismal Sentence or an Executioner that seizes him to be lead to punishment But the faithful one who has ever held his Flesh
not bridle and keep in â—hese Passions they will raise terrible Tempests in the â—ea and Devotion which is a peaceable Vertue will â—arce be heard Every Passion carries the Heart to it â—elf and Devotion being a Stranger and standing only by it self will never gain it There is most assuredly a very near Relation beâ—wixt Words and Actions they come from the same Source and the same Heart produces them wherefore I think we cannot better employ the Mouth than â—o sing the Praises of God nor the Mind than to conâ—emplate his Wonders nor the Soul than to lift it self up by Piety and the practise of good Works We have said that a Man is ill disposed in coming from a Ball or Comedy to fall to pious Ordinances On the quite contrary I say that in returning from the House of Mourning where he has comforted the Afflicted succour'd the Miserable sustained the Weak â—ed the Poor and defended the Oppress'd he finds himself in such a Gayety of Heart and such a Disposition to Prayer as is inconceivable He comes to God with the Lightness and Alacrity of a Servant who presents himself before his Master after having done his Duty to obtain the Reward for although he acknowledges he deserves nothing at God's hands yet he knows that God liberally recompenseth us for what we do only by the help of his Grace He approaches to the Altar with the Confidence of a Subject that appears before his Prince with Presents which he knows are capable of opening the way to his Heart for though our good Works be most imperfect Gifts that hold not what they have good in them but from God's Liberality nevertheless he is not ignorant that he accepts them as if they were of great Price Insomuch as I will not make any difficulty to say that the Ancients and Moderns who have distinguish'd the Active Life of a Christian from the Contemplative and have believed that this can be without that and even that the Contemplative Life was far more excellent than the other are assuredly in a great errour for by seperating the Active life which consists in doing good to our Neighbour and practising Charity to the afflicted and miserable from the contemplative life to which they believed they could give themselves up entirely they have certainly depriv'd Devotion of a very great help I have already confess'd there to be no need that the Imployments of Martha which have regard to the bodily Service of our Saviour and his Members should take away from us the time consecrated to Mary's works toreading Meditation and Prayer But we have time enough for all When Mary shall have been sufficiently heard then its fit she take the place of Martha Wherefore I would not counsel him that wou'd attain to perfect Devotion to renounce that part of the World which consists of the afflicted Members of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the School of Virtue and Piety and so far is it that this practise of works of Mercy can distract devout Souls that it is the readiest and surest way to arrive at Devotion The Ideas of the World I confess are incompatible with those wherewith a devout Soul ought to be fill'd A tragical event the â—ight of a triumph the hope of a fortune for one's self the grandeur of that of another a duel a warr all this I say hath no alliance with the sweet Images of God of his Love and Benefits Wherefore it 's good to shut and bar the Door against these first Representations if we would with success labour to establish others in their room but the Images of a man languishing upon the Bed of Sickness or another that suffers for God's sake agrees easily with the thought of our Lord Christ suffering for us A multitude of poor Creatures to whom thou openest thy Bowels will easily lead thee to the Consideration of those Liberalities thou receivest from God The aid thou shalt lend one to defend his Life another for the defence of his Honour and Reputation will oblige thee to think on the Benefits and Helps thou continually receivest from Heaven Thou shalt have no-manner of need to banish the thoughts that attend an Active life lodge those in their place which spring from Contemplation They will be united in the same heart and lend one another mutual Succour Meditation I HAVE been told sometimes that the Vertues are Sisters that walk hand in hand that they are so many Rings in an holy chain which is broken by the rupture of one of those Rings They can't be without one another and therefore O my Soul thou canst not be truly devout because thou art not truly Vertuous and thou hast not in thy heart the Practice of all good works Dost not thou see that the World is exactly â—am'd to furnish employ to thy Vertues and to soilicit thee to good and holy actions the heavens declare the Glory of God and the extent of the Firmament sheweth his Almighty Power that thou mayest joyn thy Voice to those praises which all Nature rings and thy gratitude may have scope to act upon The Air forms outragious Tempests makes the Thunder and Lightning to break forth so as the fear of God may spring up in thee and thou mayest tremble under his hands which make the Mountains to tremble Dost not thou see that God here below makes miserable wretches that they may be the Objects of thy Compassion poor ones that thou mayest be liberal afflicted that thou mayest comfort them weak for thee to uphold sick that thou mayest visit them Doth not be permit too even that there be sinners straying like lost Sheep that thou mayst bring them into the right way ignorant ones for thee to instruct imprudent that thou mayest be their Director some that fall that thou mayest help them up again and for thy self that thou look to thy steps and even wicked persons who perish that thou mayest be put into a wholesom terrour for thy self does not he suffer examples of Vanity to be that thou mayest slight and contemn the World sudden and unlookt for deaths that thou should'st watch and be ever upon thy Guard proud men that fall into ruine while thou retainest thy self in Humility the wicked who are punisht for thee to dread sin good men that are rewarded for thee to seek Vertue yet amidst so many lessons thou art deaf and immoveable Thou makest thy Vertue to consist in not doing evil that is to say in doing nothing as if any one should make life to confist in death and in being depriv'd of Motion Thou remembrest not that the barren fig-tree was cut up by the root that God will cast out the unprofitable servant and will banish out of his Paradice both him that hath lost his talent and him that had only buried it in the Earth Prayer COme then O my Divine Redeemer come and cultivate my heart that it be no more a rocky and barren ground Soften this Rock by the
my bed Come and honour me with thy presenceduring the absence of all other Objects that I may possess thee only and nothing may rob my Soul of thee Cause the sweetness of this rejoycing to display an heavenly fire in my Eyes and an holy gayety over my Countenance which may accompany me all ways and defend me from those many troubles and vexations whereunto I am exposed Let me lye down aâ— night as in thy bosom and let me cast my self betwixt thâ— arms that I may be afraid of nothing which is ghastâ—â— or terrible in Darkness CHAP. VII The second particular Help Solitude and Religious Aâ—semblies WE cannot but own with a great earnestned of mind that Devotion requires Solitudy We have our Master's word and decisiâ—â— in the case When thou goest to pray sayes he enter in thy closet Very strange Prayers were those of the Phyrisees that prayed in the corners of Streets or in tâ—â— Market-places Our Lord Christ had good ground 〈◊〉 indict them of Hypocrisie Solitude is necessary 〈◊〉 only to avoid that Pomp and Parade which God 〈◊〉 much detests in all things and especially in Devotioâ— but also to make our Prayer more pure and perfeâ— How should the Soul I wonder be recollected into it self if a thousand Objects lay hold on the Senses and draw it abroad We must therefore be in such a place where we need not defend it against the Assaults which sensual Objects make upon it Let us retire never so far from the World we shall be sure to carry enough of the World along with us and the Images of its Objects will persecute us sufficiently without being voluntarily exposed to the persecution of the Objects themselves Yes the Commerces of the faithful Soul with its God require a secret retiral Our Lord is its Beloved who casts not his Favours upon the Crowd and exposes them not to the sight of men as St. Bernard sayes He loves Shadow and Retreat And therefore the Spouse will not let him go whom her Soul loveth until she has brought him into her Mothers house and into her closet If we have a design to do any thing wherein is need of Application we seek a Retreat that we may not be distracted We are therefore to seek it for Devotion since nothing in the World asks a more fix'd Consideration Far from all Witnesses must the truly Devout Person be to be intirely Free in all respects Devotion has its Actions and its Words it impresses its transports and motions upon the Soul â—nd the Body frequently may have its too so that it should not be expos'd to the view of men who make so ill Judgments thereof If these Reasons have need of being upheld by Examples we have that of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom the Mountains did not seem secret or solitary enough since he added to them the darkness of the Night That of Daniel who shut the door of his Chamber to pray That of St. Peter who went upon the House-top to perform his Devotions But this Subject is so little disputed and indeed so little disputable as we need not dwell upon it longer The necessity of Solitariness for Devotion may give â—â—s more extensive Prospects There have been many great men and I would believe many great Saints who have thought Devotion and Solitude were so inseparable as that not only the truly devout were to set aside some hours of Retreat but their whole Life ought to be consecrated to it And 't was this Sentiment which sometime peopled the Desarts of Thebes and of Syria with so many Anchorites They fled the World to lift up their Souls more easily to God and to acquire an habit of more pure and ardent Devotion And hence perhaps might come the very name of Devotion which is deriv'd from vowing ones self to a thing because those Christians by a Vow in a particular manner consecrated themselves to God 'T is a matter extremely difficult to pronounce upon this sort of Life I would not condemn all those that follow it I do not doubt but many were led by the Spirit into the Wilderness as our Saviour was but I dare boldly say that this Estate is subject to as great Temptations as a worldly life is In my opinion it 's very much to presume on one's own Strength to go and lye exposed to the strokes of an Enemy so potent as the Devil In Society if one falls another helps him up again but in the Wilderness he must sustain himself he must stand upon his own bottom he must be his own Pastor Guide and Director of Conscience and he that believes he has Light enough to furnish for all these Duties hath too high an opinion of himself I would speak here nothing more forcible against this way of living than what St. Basil himself a great Lover and Admirer of the Monastic Life hath writ thereon He believes that that sort of Life is no more charitable than it is prudent They have either need of succour themselves or they are in a condition to give it to others If they stand in need themselves 't is an imprndence to be confined in a place where they can receive none If they can afford it to others this is to want Charity and to rob Society of what might be useful to it And with good reason he sayes that this is to deprive ones self of the Hope to hear one day those words from our Lord's Mouth Thou gavest meat to him that was an hungred drink to him that was thirsty thou clothedst him that was naked and visitedst him that was in Prison In short I fear the Remark of this Father in the same place is not over true that this Life so far out of the path of Humility is not a Stair-case to Pride for these men comparing themselves to themselves as St. Paul speaks and seeing nothing more accomplisht than themselves persuade themselves they are Perfect Every one sees himself too near to know himself well and does not know himself thoroughly enough to correct himself and therefore an Anchoret who uses not the eyes of another to examin himself le ts many sins without doubt escape him to which Judges more severe than we are to our selves would not have done that favour To be brief I have said that so far is this kind of living from any great use to Devotion as I believe 't is an impediment to it because it is depriv'd of exercising the Works of Mercy which are so necessary A man in the Desart hath his distractions and if he have not a Soul of an extraordinary temper 't is to be fear'd they are more dangerous than those met withall in the World A mind abandon'd without any Guide makes oftentimes strange slips The wide World and a narrow Lowliness are most assuredly two very dangerous Extremities There is need of extraordinary Grace to thrive well in either Conditions so that those who have receiv'd indifferent Gifts from Heaven