them how they might baffle their Wiles explaining the Weakness and Subtleties of the Devils working in them Every one therefore as animated by him departed daring the Devices of the Devil and his Party Virgins also who had Suiters having only seen St. Antony at a distance continu'd Virgins to Christ. There came also some from Foreign Parts to him who were dismiss'd from him as from a Father with great Benefit When he dy'd they were all his Orphans comforting themselves with his bare Memory and holding fast his Admonitions and Instructions 56. And now 't is but decent and fitting to acquaint you with the Nature of the End of his Life for indeed 't was such as does deserve Emulation Near his Death he did according to his old Custom visit the Monks in the outer Mountain and being informed by Providence of his End he spake to them thus I make this as my last Visit to you and shall admire if we should see one another again in this World 'T is time for me now to let go my Body for I am near an Hundred and Five Years Old At this saying they wept clung about him and saluted him But he just as it became one leaving a strange Place for his own Countrey rejoyc'd and charg'd them not to be negligent in Labours nor to faint in Exercise but to live as dying daily and as I said before to keep their Souls from filthy Thoughts and to have a Zeal for the Saints but not to go a-near the Meletian Schismaticks for said he ye know their wicked and prophane purpose nor to have any Correspondence with the Arians for their Impiety is manifest Neither when ye see their Judges in Power be ye troubled for 't will cease and their Opinion and Splendour is mortal and of a short standing wherefore keep ye your selves pure from them and hold the Tradition of your Fathers and principally a pious Faith in our Lord Christ Jesus whom ye have learnt in the Holy Scriptures and have often been put in mind of even by me 57. When he had said this the Brethren urg'd him to tarry and die there But that he would not he shew'd by his silence as for many Reasons so especially for this The Egyptians love to bury the Bodies of Zealots and especially of Martyrs and wrap them up in fine Linnen Now they don't bury them in the Earth but lay them upon Couches and keep them in Repositories by themselves thinking thereby to honour the Deceas'd But Antony often besought the Bishops to warn the People against it and also reprov'd many Lay-Men and Women for it saying That that was neither Lawful nor very Holy for the Bodies of the Patriarchs to this Day are preserv'd in Sepulchres nay even the Body of our Lord Himself was laid in one and a Stone was laid upon it and hid it till he rose again whereby he shew'd them that they transgressed the Law in not hiding the Bodies of the departed although they be Holy for What is greater or more holy than our Lord's Body Many therefore afterwards bury'd under Ground and gave Thanks to God Now St. Antony knowing the Custom of Egypt and fearing lest they should do so by his Body hasted his Departure and took his Leave of the Monks in the Outer Mount and went into the Inner Mount where he us'd to live 58. A few Months after he fell Sick and having call'd to those that were with him for he had Two within with him who had been Asceticks with him Fifteen Years and serv'd him because of his extream Old Age he said to them I now as 't is written go the way of my Fathers for I see my self call'd by my Lord but be ye sober and finish a long-liv'd Exercise Be as earnest to hold fast your Purpose as though you were just beginning Ye know the Devils are plotting against you Ye know they are fierce in Will but weak in Power don't therefore be afraid of them but breath Christ and believe in Him and live as dying every day taking heed to your selves and remembring my Exhortations Hold no Communion with the Schismaticks nor the Arians for ye know how I declin'd them because of their Heterodox and Christ-opposing Heresie Do ye study principally to cleave unto Christ and his Saints that after Death they may receive you as Friends and Acquaintance into Everlasting Habitations Think upon and relish these Counsels and if ye have any regard for me and do remember me as a Father don't suffer any one to take my Body into Egypt lest they lay me in their Houses for for that reason I came hither Ye know how I have rebuk'd those who did it and charg'd them to do so no more Do ye therefore bury my Body under Ground and mind my Words that no Body but your selves may know where I am bury'd for I shall receive my Body incorruptible from my Saviour in the Resurrection And pray do ye divide my Cloaths Give one Leathern Garment to Bishop Athanasius and the Blanket which he gave new to me but is now grown old and the other Leathern Jacket to Bishop Serapion and take ye the Hair-Cloth and save it my Children for Antony passeth away and is no longer with you 59. Having said this he saluted them and gather'd his Feet and as it were seeing Friends come unto him and rejoycing because of them for he look'd with a cheerful Countenance as he lay he left us and was added unto the Fathers So in fine the Monks wrapp'd him up and buried him under Ground according to his Command And no Body to this Day except the Two Monks knows where he was Bury'd The Vestments being distributed according as he order'd every one kept them as a great Purchase for he that sees them does as it were see Antony and he that puts them on carries his Admonitions about him with Joy 60. Such was Antony's Exercise and such the End of his Life in the Body And if these things are small in comparison to his Excellency judge ye what sort of Man of God he was who to so great an Age from his Youth up kept close to his rigorous Discipline neither conquer'd by Variety of Food upon the Account of his Old Age nor changing the Habit of his Raiment for want of Vigour or so much as washing his Feet And yet in all respects he was sound and unhurt for he had his Eyes clear seeing very well not one of his Teeth was lost only near the Gums they were worn because of his great Age He was also sound in his Hands and Feet and much clearer in every part than those who use several Diets Bathings and Variety of Garments and as to Strength too they were much more ready 61. St. Antony liv'd and dy'd admir'd and celebrated by all every where and long'd for by those who never saw him A great Sign of his Vertue and of a Soul that truly lov'd God for he did not get
Perswasion to be unprofitable and hurtful Which thing the Christians of that time seem to me to have instituted out of a generous and most fervent Ardour of Faith endeavouring to emulate the Prophetical severe Course of Life Therefore in the Acts of the Apostles which contain nothing but the perfect Truth it is shewed That all the Disciples of the Apostles selling their Possessions and Goods divided the Price among the Brethren according as every one had need that so there might not be any indigent Person amongst them For as the Word says As many as were Possessors of Lands or Houses sold them and brought the Prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles feet and Distribution was made unto every Man according as he had Need. After Philo has attested the very same things with these of the Therapeutae he adds thus much farther concerning them word for word saying This sort of Men indeed is diffused far and wide over the whole World For it was requisite that both Greeks and Barbarians should be partakers of so excellent a Benefit Egypt especially is full of them throughout all its Divisions but most of all about Alexandria But from all places the principal of them retire themselves into a most commodious place above the Lake Maria situate upon a little rising Hill excellently well seated both for Wholsomeness of Air and Conveniency of Abiding as into the Country of the Therapeutae Then after he has described their Houses after what manner they were built he speaks thus of the Churches they have in divers Places In every House there is a Chappel called a Semnaeum and Monasterium in which alone by themselves they perform the Mysteries of an Holy Life They bring in thither neither Meat nor Drink nor any Corporal Provisions or Necessaries but only the Law and the divine Oracles of the Prophets and Hymns and such like whereby Knowledge and Piety are increased and perfected And a little while after he says All the interval of time from Sun rising to the Evening they spend in Meditations of Philosophy For reading the Holy Scriptures they Philosophize after their Countrey way and expound Allegorically For they suppose that the Words are only Notes and Marks of some things of a Mystical Nature which are to be explained Figuratively They have Writings of some ancient Persons who have been heretofore famous Leaders of their Sect and have left them many Monuments of that Learning which consists in dark and secret Expressions which they using as original Platforms do imitate thereby that Course of Study These certainly seem to be the Words of such a Man as had heard some of our Religion expounding the Holy Scriptures And it is very likely that the Writings of those ancient Persons which he says they had were the Gospels and Writings of the Apostles and certain Expositions of the ancient Prophets of which sort many are contained both in other Epistles of Paul and also in that written to the Hebrews Afterwards Philo thus writeth concerning the New Psalms composed by them They do not only spend their time in Contemplation but they compose Songs and Hymns to the Praise of God of all sorts of Meeter and Musical Verse which they write in grave and seemly Rhymes He relates many other things of them in that Book I mentioned But I judged these fittest to be selected and pickt out in which certain Marks of Church Discipline are proposed But if any one should think what Philo here says to be in no wise proper to the Evangelical Politie but may be adapted to others besides those I have mentioned he will certainly be convinced by Philo's following Words in which if he shall duly weigh the Matter he will receive a most undoubted Testimony of this thing Now he writes thus Having first laid Temperance as a certain foundation they build thereupon the other Virtues For none of them takes either Meat or Drink before Sun-set for they hold it requisite to spend the Day in the Study of Philosophy and the Night in making necessary Provision for the Body Therefore they allot the whole Day to study but allow a very small portion of the Night for Bodily Provision Some of them forget to eat for Three Days together so great is the desire of Knowledge that possesses them But some others of them are so well pleased with and feed so richly and deliciously upon the Banquets of Wisdom which sets before them wholsome Precepts as a most sumptuous Feast that they are wont scarce to tast any necessary Food in twice that space to wit in Six Days time We suppose these Words of Philo to be evidently and without all doubt spoken concerning those of our Religion But if after all this any one shall still persist in a peremptory denyal of these things he will at length recede from his obstinate difficulty of Belief being perswaded to submit to such manifest Demonstrations as are no where to be found but in the Christian Religion composed according to the Rule of the Gospel Philo says further therefore That among these Men of whom we speak there are certain Women conversant many of which continue Virgins being old not out of Necessity like some of those amongst the Grecian Priests but voluntarily preserving their Chastity out of an ardent Affection to and Desire of Wisdom in the Embraces and Familiarity whereof they earnestly affect to spend their Lives having despised all Bodily Pleasures and desiring earnestly not a Mortal Issue but an Immortal which that Mind only that loves and is beloved of God can of it self bring forth After many other Expressions he speaks yet more plainly thus Their Expositions of Holy Writ are figurative by way of Allegories For these Men suppose the whole Law to be like a Living Creature the bare Words whereof are as it were the Body and the invisible Sense that lies hid under the Words resembles the Soul Which sence this Sect have and do make it their Religion earnestly to search into and contemplate beholding in the Words as in a Glass the admirable beauty of the Meaning There is no necessity of adding farther here an account of their Assemblies of the distinct Apartments of their Men and Women and of their several Studies and Holy Exercises now in use amongst us more especially about the Feast of our Lord's Passion when we are wont to practise them in Fastings Watchings and attentive Reading of Holy Scriptures All which the Man we have so often mentioned does relate in his Writings accurately after the same manner in which we only at this time observe them Especially he mentions the Vigils of the great Solemnity the Holy Exercises therein and the Hymns we are wont to recite And how when one has begun to sing a Psalm harmoniously and gravely the rest silently hearkening do after sing out in Chorus the latter parts only of the Verses And how throughout those Days lying in Straw upon the Ground
congratulating their State desired their Prayers But two Virgins to whom these Converts had been contracted when they heard of it did likewise consecrate their Virginity to the Lord. And St. Augustin himself was so affected with the Relation of it by Potitianus who was one of those who returned that it was a chief occasion of his Conversion and after many Conflicts in himself which he expresseth very pathetically in the next chapter he broke out at last into these earnest Expressions to his Friend Alipius What do we suffer What is this What hast thou heard The Vnlearned get up and take Heaven by force and we with all our Learning without heart behold where we wallow in Flesh and Blood Is it because they are gone before that we are ashamed to follow and are we not ashamed at least not to follow And these throws of the New Birth never ceased till his Conversion was perfected The LIFE of St. Antony Originally Written in Greek BY St. ATHANASIUS Bishop of Alexandria TO The Pilgrim Brethren YOUR Design of not only keeping pace with but also of out-stripping the Egyptian Monks in a virtuous Ascetick Course of Life is an Entrance upon a very generous and laudable Enterprize You have at length I find got Monasteries of your own and a Platform of Monastick Discipline by you There is no one but must in Justice commend your Design and no doubt but God will bring it to Perfection in case ye be but instant and constant in Prayer for his Blessing And since you have an earnest desire of being inform'd How St. Antony first entred upon an Ascetick way of Living and what manner of Man he was before and what sort of End he made at last and whether the Reports that have pass'd about him are true in order I presume to bring your selves to an Emulation of him and hereupon have thought fit to request an Account of his Conduct from my hands Be ye hereby satisfy'd that I have received your Command and received it with great Affection too for the Truth of it is the bare Remembrance of St. Antony is a Matter of great Advantage to me Besides too I am very well satisfy'd that when you have had an Account of this Man you will admire him so as to rival and transcribe his Example which indeed is a Pattern so exact that any Monk may form his Solitude by it and therefore I dare advise you not to dis-believe what-ever you may have heard concerning him but rather to look upon common Reports as strange as they may seem to fall far short of what St. Antony did and was for truly his Fame does not come near his Worth And I must needs say that what I send now to you concerning him in this Letter by reason of the Urgency of your Request is only an imperfect Relation of some few Passages of his Life which are still fresh in my Memory And I desire you by no means to leave off Enquiring about him of Passengers from all Quarters for I am perswaded did every one speak what they knew of him his Life would be found a Task too great for any Biographer to undertake to perfect it For which reason as soon as your Letter had reach'd my hands I thought fit to send for some of those Monks who us'd frequently to visit him that by their Information my Narrative might be a little fuller than 't is now But because the scantiness of the Seamens time and the hast of the Pacquet-Boat straiten'd me so that I could not tarry till they came I have us'd my utmost Diligence to acquaint your Reverences with all that I knew my self for I have often seen him and could learn from a Person who was his Servant no small time and us'd to pour the Water on his Hands when he washed I have all along ey'd the Truth so that who-ever hears more than he will find here may safely give Credit to what he hears Who-e'er knows less of him cann't chuse but have great Thoughts of St. Antony but how-ever cann't revere him so much as he ought who Reads this 1. ST Antony was Born in Egypt both of Rich and Noble what is better than both of Christian Parents And indeeed his exact Christian Life was a clear Evidence of his Christian Birth During his Childhood he was always kept at home being an utter Stranger to every Body but his Father's Family And after he was a little grown up he could not endure to go to School purely because of an inbred Aversation to keeping Company with other Children For he had a strong desire to live as we read of Jacob like a plain Man dwelling in Tents When his Parents us'd to carry him to Church though but a Child he did not appear Listless or Lazy Neither as he grew up did the least sign of a refractory Spirit appear in him But he was always very Obedient to his Parents and Attentive to the Prayers and Homilies and strictly careful to reap some Profit to his Soul from what he heard Though he saw his Parents had a great Estate yet he never was concerned for dainty Victuals or variety of Dishes being not in the least solicitous about matters of that kind but was always pleased with what-ever was provided and never desired any thing else 2. At about Eighteen or Twenty Years of Age at the most he was left an Orphan with an only and very young Sister and trusted by his Parents notwithstanding he was so young when they dy'd with the Management of the whole Family and Estate and the Education of his Sister Before Six Months after their Decease was expir'd as he was going according to his Custom to Church and ordering his Faculties into a fit frame for Devotion that Text Matt. 19.27 of the Apostles leaving all to follow their Saviour came particularly into his Mind in the midst of his Walk as also concerning those who in the Acts Act. 4.35 Sold their Estates and brought and laid them at the Apostles feet to be distributed as every one had need and what and how great an Hope remains laid up for them in Heaven With these Thoughts he went into the Church Now it happened on that Day that that part of the Gospel was read where we read our Lord saying to the Rich Man Matt. 19.21 If thou wilt be perfect Go sell all thy Possessions and give unto the Poor and then come and follow me and thou shalt have Treasure in Heaven This Lesson St. Antony apply'd as particularly directed to him to himself and hereupon embracing the Remembrance of the generous Example of those Saints as injected into his Mind by God himself accordingly parted with the Estate of an ancient Family in all 300 Measures which the Egyptians call Arours of very rich and fertile Land and distributed the Money for which he sold it among the Inhabitants of the Village where he liv'd that neither his own nor his Sister's Mind might be
good Authority and Christians duly disposed having a like Communion with Christ in the participation of the consecrated Bread and Cup as St. Paul affirms and the solemn Worshipping of God by presenting our Prayers to the Father with those Memorials of our Saviour's Passion being plainly a Recognition of our Redemption by Christ and of his Dominion over us acquired by his Passion and that that is the only Propitiation and He the only Mediator by which and by whom we Mortals born in Sin can have Access to and Acceptance with the Father and St. Paul having received the Doctrine of what he taught concerning this from the Lord and the ancient Christians frequenting this Ordinance after they had manifestly received the Holy Ghost Whether I say this being so to reject these either as Types and Shadows which are indeed Antitypes as the Grecians express it Solemn Memorials and Sensible Declarations before God Angels and Men of present internal actions of our Minds for the greater Manifestation and Notoriety of the Fact be not meer Sophistry Shuffle and Evasion or as needless upon pretence that Christ is come to them in the Spirit or of their having the Substance be not to set up themselves in Pride above the Apostles and Holy Christians who had so manifestly the Spirit of God nay above Christ himself viz. to reject that as needless which he instituted as necessary and a plain Evidence of the Subtilty and Delusion of Satan to oppose Christ and detain and withdraw people from his Solemn Worship and under the most specious appearance of the Spirit of God by sensible Motions to things appearing Good and by False Lights to corrupt and adulterate them and get and keep a residence in them as if it was the Spirit of Christ Whether such Obstinacy such Fallacy in such a Matter of such Importance in Christianity and yet so easie to Man and void of all Exceptions be not plain Evidence of a Mystery of Iniquity in it XX. Whether to deliver those things in the Name of the Lord as immediately from the Lord and by his Spirit which may be plainly perceived and detected to proceed either from a humane Spirit or a Spirit of Error be not a great Presumption against the Holy Majesty of God and a great Scandal to the Holy Doctrine of the Guidance of the Spirit of God and therefore a double and great Sin the Sin of the False Prophets of old and that which in Germany formerly and since in this Nation raised so great a Prejudice against the Truth Upon the perusal of these Questions it may be supposed that some Answer was returned and therefore some account of that may reasonably be expected and I should have been glad to have been able to have answered so reasonable an Expectation more fully but the truth in short is that eight of the first ten were answered affirmatively but the other two were answered indeed but with Answers not to the Questions and the other ten remain yet to be answered but I hope upon due consideration will be answered at last not with words only but with deliberate solemn Actions Nor are my Hopes without rational Ground For in the several Conferences I have had with them seven or eight at a time of the principal leading Men of their Party they behaved themselves as became serious considerate Persons heard patiently and attentively replyed gravely and calmly none interrupting either me or any of their own party while speaking and our Conclusion was friendly though not altogether agreeing in the same Sentiments And this is my Ground in respect of the Persons And for the Matter it self in question That they have been led into Error and Mistake in some things the due Consideration of these Questions will in a great measure make them sensible And when besides they shall consider by what Means they who misled the rest came to overshoot themselves and fall into those Mistakes viz. through the Scandals before-mentioned and that common Infirmity incident to us Mortals to run from one Extream into another this will farther satisfie and confirm them in the truth of it And if to these Considerations be added a clear Explication of the Truth which they did not rightly apprehend before this with the Grace of God will farther inlighten the Mind of those who are sincere and regard Truth more than any temporal Concern with much Satisfaction viz. That Baptizm with Water and that Noble Solemnity of the Christian Worship are not needless Types and Shadows of things past and fulfilled as they imagin but Solemn Expressions and Declarations more comprehensively and remarkably significative than Words before God Angels Devils and Men of present Acts of the Mind of what is internally and invisibly at the same instant acted in Spirit the one of our Engagement in an Holy Covenant with God in Christ by putting off by Repentance our Pollutions through Sin and Dedication of our Selves to the Holy Trinity the other of our Recognition of our Redemption by Christ by his Death and Sacrifice upon the Cross and of his Dominion over us and our Subjection to Him even to lay down our Lives in Obedience to Him as he did His in Obedience to his Father which is done by making our Solemn Address and presenting our Prayers to the Father with the Memorials of his Passion as the Great Propitiation for the Sins of Mankind and Participation of those Memorials being Consecrated not only by a Separation to a Holy Use but by a real Sanctification through the Spirit of God at the Prayers of the Church whereby the Faithful have a real and Spiritual Communion with Him and one with another This is the pure Offering of the Gentiles foretold by Malachy That it should be Offer'd by them from the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same And this is the Sense and Meaning thereof received and retained by the Church of Christ all over the World till Calvin's new Notions became received as the Pure Word of God and made this most Sublime most Holy and most August Sacrament as it is deservedly call'd by Dr. Morton be taken in effect for a needless Ceremony or of no great Importance by others besides the Quakers and used or rather neglected accordingly even to this day These are the great things in it which I have now mentioned but rare to be found in our Books now a days or heard of from our Pulpits Nor can it conveniently here be explained as it deserves But as to both these what is said before pag. 13 14. ought to be consider'd These things I say well consider'd cannot choose but make great Impression upon the Minds of those who are sincere and have a due sense of their own Spiritual and Eternal concerns But when they shall also understand That the great Principle of the Guidance of the Spirit of God is not so peculiar to themselves as they imagin but the constant Doctrine of the Church
was earned by them who distribute it For they do by no means endeavour that these things should abound with them but by all means are diligent that what doth abound may not remain with them insomuch that they send even Ships laden to those places where indigent People dwell There 's no need to say more of a thing so well known This is also the Life of the WOMEN who serve God with Carefulness and Chastity who are separated and removed from Men as far as is decent joyned to them only in pious Charity and Imitation of Virtue to whom Young Men have no access at all nor the Ancient neither although most Grave and Approved further than to the threshold for the supplying them with the Necessaries which they need They do both exercise and sustain the Body by making Cloth and deliver the Garments themselves to the Brethren receiving of them again what is necessary for their Maintenance These Manners this Life this Order this Institution if I would praise it I am not able to do it as it deserves And I fear lest I should seem to think that of it self barely related it would not please if I should think fit to add to the Simplicity of a Reporter the Flourishes of an Orator lib. 1. de Moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae cap. 30 31. The Direction of Piammon to some Foreiners who came to his Monastery WHo-ever desires to obtain the Skill of any Art unless with all Care and Vigilance he oblige himself to the Studies and Labors of that Discipline which he desires to learn and observes the Precepts and Institutions of the most compleat Masters of that Art or Science he doth in vain with vain Desires wish to be like them whose Care and Industry he refuseth to emulate ...... Wherefore if the Cause of God as we believe drew you to an Emulation of our Knowledge you must abdicating the Prejudices of your Education with all Humility observe what-ever ye shall see your Seniors or Superiors do or prescribe Nor let it move you or withdraw and divert you from that Imitation although at present the Reason or Cause of any Thing or Fact which you see be not manifest to you For to those who think well and simply of all things and do more study to imitate than examin what they see prescribed or done by the Ancients by their own Experience doth the Knowledge of all things come to them But he will never enter into the Reason of the Truth who begins to learn with questioning things For the Enemy seeing him rather confiding in his own than in the Judgment of the Fathers doth easily drive him to that that even those things which are most profitable and wholsome for him shall seem to him superfluous and hurtful And so doth the crafty Enemy impose upon his Presumption that he perswades him pertinaciously adhering to his unreasonable Determinations that that only is Holy which he in the Error of his Obstinacy thinks Right and Just Cassian Coll. 18. cap. 2 3. An Excellent Exhortation of Pinuphius to a Novice upon his Admittance into his Monastery lib. 4. de Vit. Pat. cap. 31. ex Cassian SON thou knowest after how many Days waiting before the Doors thou art this Day received Of which difficulty of thy Reception thou oughtest in the first place to understand the Cause for it may advantage thee much in this Life which thou desirest to enter into if understanding the Reason of it thou dost accordingly come to the Service of Christ and as thou oughtest to do For as infinite Glory is promised hereafter to those who faithfully serve God and do adhere to Him according to the Institution of this Rule so most grievous Pains are prepared for them who shall perform the same coldly and negligently and shall neglect to produce congruous Fruits of Sanctity according to what they do profess or by Men are believed to be For it is better not to Vow than to vow and not perform and Cursed is he who doth the Work of the Lord negligently Therefore for this cause wast thou long refused by us not that we do not desire with all our Hearts to promote the Salvation of thee or of all or do not wish even afar off to meet those who desire to come to Christ but lest being too hastily received we should make both our selves guilty before God of Levity and thee of the greater Punishment if at present easily received and not understanding the weight of this Profession thou shouldest afterward prove either a total Deserter or a tepid Professor Know therefore that this Day thou art dead to this World and that according to the Apostle thou art crucified to the World and the World to thee But perhaps thou wilt say How can one that is Living be Crucified Hear briefly the Reason Our Cross is the Fear of the Lord for as one Crucified hath not the power thereafter to move or turn his Members any way at the pleasure of his own Mind so we also ought to apply our Wills and Desires not to that which pleaseth us at present but according to the Precept of the Lord as it obligeth us And as he who is fixed to the Tree of the Cross doth not then regard the things of this World nor think of his Affections is then moved with no desire of Possessions and while he is yet living in the Body reckons himself dead to all Earthly things so we also by the Fear of God ought to be crucified to all carnal Vices and there always to have the Eyes of our Minds fixed whether we ought every moment to hope to arrive We must therefore beware that we do not at any time resume any of those things which at our Renouncing the World we have forsaken For the crafty Serpent doth always watch our Steps that is he lays Snares for our going out and even to the end of our Life doth always endeavour to supplant us and therefore to have begun well profits nothing if it be not well finished Wherefore according to the Determination of the Scripture being entred into the Service of the Lord stand in the Fear of the Lord and prepare thy Soul not for Ease not for Delights but for Temptations and Streights for we must through many Tribulations enter into the Kingdom of God For narrow is the Gate and straight is the Way which leads to Life and few there are who find it The Beginning therefore of our Salvation is the Fear of the Lord For by this is both the beginning of our Conversion and the Preservation of our Virtue obtained which when it has once pierced into the Mind of Man it produceth a Contempt of all these things and begets an abhorrence of the World and by Contempt and forsaking of our Riches is true Humility obtained And Humility is proved by these Tokens 1. If the Religious person have in him all his Wills mortified 2. If he conceil not his Acts nor his Thoughts
10. c. 6. This is the Design of a Solitary this ought to be all his Intention that he may come to possess in this Body an Image of future Beatitude and begin in this Vessel to fore-tast the Earnest of Heavenly Conversation and Glory This I say is the End of all Perfection that the Mind so extenuated or refined from all Carnal Dust may be daily elevated to Spiritual things till all its Conversation all its volutation of Heart may become one continual Prayer And as I said a little before All our Love all our Desire all our Study all our Endeavour all our Cogitation all that we see all that we speak all that we hope may be God and that Unity which now is of the Father with the Son and of the Son with the Father may be transfused into our Sense and Minds that is that as he loves us with a pure and indissoluble Charity we also may be joyned to Him in a perpetual and inseparable Charity cap. 7. For the Attaining and Practice of this he recommends from Experience of the Seniors the continual or frequent mental repetion of that verse Psal 70. Deus in adjutorium meum intende Domine ad adjuvandum me festina in our Liturgy O God make speed to save us O Lord make hast to help us and largely shews the use of it at all times and upon all special occasions Abbot Theodore concerning the right Knowledge of the Scriptures Cassian lib. 5. HE was indowed with very great Sanctity and compleat Science not only in the Active Life but also in the Knowledge of the Scriptures which he acquired not so much by Study of Reading or Humane Learning as by Purity of Heart for he could hardly either understand or pronounce so much as a few Greek Words When he sought the Explanation of a certain obscure Question he persisted indefatigably in Prayer seven Days and Nights until he knew the Solution of the Question proposed by the Revelation of the Lord. cap. 33. When certain of the Brethren admiring his eminent Light of Knowledge inquired of him the Sense of certain Scriptures he said A Monk desiring to attain to the Knowledge of the Scriptures ought by no means to imploy his Pains upon Books of Commentators but rather restrain and keep all the Industry of his Mind and beat of his Heart to the purifying of his Carnal Affections which being expell'd presently the Eyes of his Mind the Veil of his Passions being once removed will begin as it were naturally to contemplate the Mysteries of the Scriptures For they are not published to us by the Grace of the Holy Spirit that they should be unintelligible and obscure but they become obscure by our Fault the veil of Sins over-clouding the Eyes of our Mind which being again restored to their Natural Sanity the Reading of the Holy Scriptures will even alone abundantly suffice to the Contemplation of true Knowledge nor will they need the Instructions of Commentaries as these Eyes of Flesh need the Doctrin of none to see if they be free from Suffusion and Dimness of Sight For therefore is there so great Variety and Errors arisen amongst Interpreters themselves because the most running to Interpret them without using any Diligence toward the Purgation of the Mind by reason of the Grossness or Uncleanness of their Heart thinking things divers or contrary either to Faith or to themselves they could not comprehend the Light of Truth cap. 34. For this see in Smith 's Select Discourses The true Way and Method of attaining to Divine Knowledge Abbot Serapion of Discretion Cass Coll. 2. cap. 11. WHEN I was a Child and lived with Abbot Theon this brutish Custom was imposed upon me by the Enemy that after I had eaten with him at the ninth hour I did every day secretly convey one Bisket into my Bosom which I did after without his knowledge eat in secret Which Theft though I did constantly through my accustomed Incontinence commit yet when I had gratified my Appetite coming to my self I was more tormented with the Guilt of my Theft than satisfied with what I had eaten And when I was every day compelled to the grief of my Heart to perform that most troublesome work imposed as it were by Pharaoh's Task-Masters instead of Bricks upon me nor could extricate my self from this their most cruel Tyranny and was ashamed and confounded to discover the secret Theft to my Senior it came to pass by the Hand of God who was pleased to rescue me out of the Yoak of this Captivity that certain Brothers desired to come to the Cell of the Senior for Edification sake And when they were refreshed and a Spiritual Conference was begun the Senior answering to their Questions discoursed of the Vice of Gastrimargy or Gluttony and of the Domination and Slavery of Thoughts kept secret and did explain their Nature and most dismal Power so long as they were concealed I by the power of this Conference being prick'd and terrified with an accusing Conscience as believing that these things were spoken for that Cause that the Lord had revealed the Secrets of my Heart to the Senior I began first secretly to sigh then the Compunction of my Heart increasing breaking out into Sighs and Tears I pull'd the Bisket which by that evil Custom I had secretly stolen to eat out of my Bosom where it was conceal'd and proferring it to them I did prostrate upon the ground with Supplication for Pardon confess how I did every day eat in secret and with abundance of Tears did implore them to beg my Absolution from this hard Bondage of the Lord. Then said the Senior Be of good Comfort Child Thy Confession hath obtained thy Absolution though I hold my Tongue For thou hast this day gotten the Victory of thine Enemy more powerfully beating him down by thy Confession than thou thy self wert cast down by him through thy Concealment Whom not at all checking either by thy own or any others Reprehension thou didst suffer to domineer over thee till now But now after this thy Confession that wicked Spirit shall not be able to disquiet thee nor shall the filthy Serpent any longer hold a hiding place in thee being drawn-out into the Light out of the Darkness of thy Heart by a salutary Confession The Senior had not finished these Words and behold a Burning Lamp proceeding from my side so filled the Cell with the smell of Brimstone that the Stink of it would not suffer us to remain in it And the Senior resuming his Admonition Behold saith he our Lord hath visibly proved to thee the Truth of my Words that thou shouldest see with thy Eyes the Instigator of thy Affection driven out of thy Heart by a salubrious Confession and shouldst know that the detected Enemy should no longer at all have place in thee by his manifest Expulsion And so it is according to the Sentence of the Senior the Domination of that diabolical Tyranny in me is
instead of many of two Eminent Bishops Men of greatest Reputation both for Learning and Virtue St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Austin Bishop of Hippo But first to begin with St. Gregory Nazianzen it will not be amiss to add here to those before his Character of the Holy Monks of his time St. Gregory Nazianzen concerning the Lives and Exercises of MONKS in his time Orat. 9. to Julian the Comptroller of the Customs upon the Discharge of the Monks MY Speech presents to you the Poor the whole Choir of Priests the Choir of Philosophers Monks who are tied down by no Band who possess only their Bodies nor them wholly have nothing for Coesar but all for God Hymns Prayers Watchings Tears a Possession not to be seized on viz. to be dead to the World alive to Christ to have killed the Flesh to have drawn the Soul from the Body Sparing these or rather purely restoring to God the Worshippers and Disciples of God and Contemplators of Coelestial things the first Fruits of our kind the Pillar the Crown of Faith the precious Pearls the Stones of that Temple whose Foundation and Corner Stone is Christ the noble Accomplishments of the Church most nobly indeed both for them and for thy self and for us all hast thou taken Care And such Riches should I rather wish thee from us than Treasure of much Gold and Silver now appearing and after a little while not being at all But what he observed in them he else-where expresseth more copiously as with great Approbation Applause and even Admiration in these Particulars Watchings Fastings Prayers Tears brawny Knees knocking 's of the Breast deep Sighs nocturnal Stations travel of the Soul to God soft Weepings at Prayers a Medicine of Compunction to those who hear it Singing Glorifying Meditating on the Law of the Lord day and night carrying Exaltations of God in their Mouths And also those noble Testimonials and Indications of a Life according to God silent Preachers Hair foul and uncombed Feet naked and like the Apostles wearing nothing dead decent Shaving Rayment reproving Arrogance a Girdle becoming an undeck'd Body keeping the Coat from hanging loose but so as though it did not gird it an even Pace an unwandering Eye a pleasing sort or rather powerful way of Smiling which checks the Excess of Laughter Discourse guided by Reason Silence more venerable than Speech Commendations seasoned with Salt not to flatter but to excite to Proficience a sort of Reproving more defirable than Praise a Mean in Compunction and Relaxation and a Mixture and Temperature of both Lenity with Authority and Authority with Modesty so that neither is debased but rather recommended by the other due Measures of Converse and Retirement of Converse to help others of Retirement to get insight into the Mysteries of the Spirit a Converse preserving Solitude or Recollection in Society and Retirement retaining Brotherly-kindness and Charity in Solitude And which are yet Greater and Sublimer things than these Riches in Poverty Possession in Pilgrimage Glory in Disgrace Power in Weakness Fruitfulness in Celebacie if Divine Off-springs be better than what have beginning from the Flesh They are such as live deliciously by refusing Delights and Mean for the sake of Heavenly things have nothing in the World and yet are above the World who are out of the Flesh and yet in the Flesh Whose Portion is the Lord who are Poor for the sake of a Kingdom and Kings for their Poverty These my Wealth and Banquets while present made me exult for Joy and if absent stopp'd the brisk Circulation of my Blood Thus far his Character of these Holy Men And now for a Tast of his Contemplation of which we have a Touch here where he sets out the End of Retirement to get Insight into the Mysteries of the Spirit St. Gregory Nazianzen concerning Divine Contemplation Orat. 42. I Will Stand saith the admirable Habakkuk upon my Watch and I with him to day upon the Power and Speculation given me by the Holy Ghost and will contemplate and know what is shewed and what is spoken to me I being to speak of the great Sacrifice and of the greatest of Days cannot but have recourse to God Here will I begin and purge ye me your Mind and Hearing and Understanding who-ever relish these things for as much as a Speech of God is Divine so shall ye depart with a Savour of things which do not fade God Was always and Is and Shall be or rather Is always For Was and Shall be are fragments of Time with us and of a fading Nature But he always Is and so doth he name Himself speaking to Moses in the Mount For he containing All in Himself hath a Being neither beginning nor ceasing as a certain Ocean of Essence immense and boundless exceeding all conception both of Time and Nature represented with the Mind alone and that but very faintly and obscurely not from what are in Him but from what are about Him one Conception being collected after another into some one Image of the Truth flying before it be laid-hold-on and running away before it be apprehended illustrating only the Principal part of us and that purified as the Lightning strikes the Sight without remaining that as it seems to me he may with what is comprehensible draw us to Himself for what is altogether incomprehensible is neither hoped nor attempted and with what is incomprehensible may become admired being admired may be the more desired being desired may purifie us and purifying make us Dei-form or God-like and these things perfected he may as with Familiars converse with us God to God's united and made known c. To make this remarkable Discourse the more plain and intelligible it may be fit and necessary to add some brief Notes out of the Greek Commentators Nicetas and Psellus upon it The Sense of the Prophet's Words is this I will keep my Mind Pure and Intire from all Worldly Care and will fly into a certain Security very firm and as a Thought raised on high and thence will I observe what God will speak to me c. Nicetas n. 1. Stand signifies Firmness and Constancy and a State unmoved and unmoveable to meaner things Speculate an accurate and agreeable Contemplation and Knowledge and that Impetus or Earnestness wherewith the Mind is carried to those things which come to our Knowledge For so he who doth emerge out of the Grossness of corporal things at first goes the middle way which is called Animal but afterward the more sublime which is called Spiritual Psell The Watch or Guard is the Manner of every ones Soul according to which he doth receive Divine Visions in a certain proportion For if any one shall raise himself by higher Contemplation he will err He calls it Power because every Soul raised up to a Divine Simplicity and conversing immediately with Divine Visions themselves useth those kind of Sights freely and according to this Power condescending to the Capacity of his
even whilst he wore his frail Body of Flesh For our Lord who wore Flesh Himself for our sake and gave the Body a Conquest over the Devil wrought and wrestled together with this Holy Youth So that every one who strives in good earnest with the Devil may with good reason say Not I but the Grace of God with me 1 Cor. 15.57 At last the Devil perceiving that he could not overthrow and discourage Antony by this Device gnashing his Teeth and being like one beside himself to see himself drove out he who is really black in his Nature within appear'd in the form of a Black Boy to Antony and as it were lying at his Feet for the crafty Spirit being turn'd out of his Heart now no longer invaded his Thoughts assum'd an Humane Voice and said I have deceived many yea verily I have worsted and deceived very many But having now exerted my Strength against thee as against many others I have been weaken'd and overcome Who is this said Antony that talks thus to me The Devil answer'd in a wretched whining Tone To this Day I have ply'd soft fleshly Allurements in Young Persons and have been call'd The Spirit of Fornication How many when willing to be Sober have I deceiv'd How many have I by Hypocrisie and sense-affecting Motions drawn aside I am he of whom the Prophet speaks Hos 4.12 Ye have been deceiv'd by the Spirit of Fornication 'T was by me that they were tripp'd up I am he who have so often disturb'd thee and as often been humbled by thee Antony therefore having paid his Thanks to God and being become more valiant in Spirit said Hence 't is plain that thou art very contemptible for thy Soul is black and swarthy and thou art weak as a Child neither will I for the future give way to any Solicitude upon thy Account for the Lord is my Helper and I shall look down upon mine Enemies with scorn which he had no sooner said but the Black Monster fled away being afraid to speak or come near the Heroe 5. This was St. Antony's first Conflict with the Devil or rather to speak properly and as I ought this was our Lord's first defeat of the Devil in Antony who Rom. 8.3 4. Condemn'd Sin in the Flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the Flesh but the Spirit But for all this St. Antony did not neglect himself as if the Devil were intirely under his Feet Nor did the Enemy as though vanquish'd desist from forming Stratagems for he rang'd about like a roaring Lyon seeking out some pretence against him Antony had learnt from the Holy Scriptures that the Wiles of the Devil are many continually and therefore continually gave himself to exercise considering that since the Devil could not deceive his Heart by Pleasure he would try the more subtlely and diligently to do it by other Methods for the Devil is Sin 's sure Friend Wherefore Antony tam'd his Body more and more lest after he had conquer'd in some Combats he should be dragg'd a Captive by him in others Hence he resolves to accustom himself to severer Discipline still At which Resolution many were startled through surprize But however he went thorow with it very patiently for the bent of his Soul having lasted a long time wrought such a good habit in him that he seiz'd on every even the least Occasion of exerting his strenuous pursuit after Vertue 6. He watch'd so very much that oft-times he lay without Sleeping all Night long and this not once or so but very often to admiration He eat once a Day after Sun-set sometimes but once in two Days nay and sometimes but once in four Days His Diet was Bread and Salt His Drink only Water Instead of a Feather-Bed he lay on a Mat and sometimes on the bare Ground He never anointed himself because he said 't was more proper for the Younger to addict themselves to Ascetick Exercises than to seek out those things which effeminate the Body They should rather accustom themselves to labour and to bear the Apostle's saying in their Mind 2 Cor. 12.10 When I am weak then I am strong for then said he the Vigour of the Spirit is renew'd and becomes Athletick when the Pleasures of the Body languish and are impair'd This also was an admirable Thought of his viz. That he did not think it proper to measure our Progress in Vertue by the length of the Time we first set out or by our Retirement so much as by our Divine Desires and Longings and the Encrease of our Holy Purpose And therefore he would not remember the Time past but every Day as though it were the first he would express a more ardent Thirst and Endeavour after a further Advance Speaking by the way of Soliloquie that of the Apostle Phil. 2.14 Forgetting that which is behind and pressing forward And remembring the Voice of the Prophet Elias who saith 2 King 18.15 As the Lord of Hosts lives before whom I stand I will surely shew my self to day for he observes from the Prophet's saying To day he did not take a measure of the Time past but every day as if it were laying the first Foundation of his Vertue he studied to approve himself such an one as he ought to be before God pure in Heart and ready to obey his Will and no ones else Every Christian Ascetick said he ought to see and learn within himself his own Life from Elias as in a Glass 7. Antony having by this time and by these means recollected and simplify'd himself Travelled to the Tombs which were at a considerable distance from that Town having first acquainted one of his Acquaintance with it who supply'd him with Bread enough to subsist upon a good while When he was got thither he went into one of the Tombs and shut the door over his Head and tarried within there by himself Now the Devil not being able to away with this and afraid lest in a little time the whole Desart should be fill'd with Asceticks came one night with a great company of Devils and beat and bruis'd him at that fearful rate that he lay a long time Dumb because of the Extremity of his Torments for he protested his Pains were so great that 't was impossible Men should be the Instruments of the like But by the Providence of God for the Lord does not forget those who hope in Him the Day after an Acquaintance came with some Loaves to him who as soon as he had open'd the door seeing him lying along like a Dead Man upon the Ground took him up and carried him to the Town-Church and laid him upon the Pavement where many of his Relations and Towns-People sat by him as they there us'd to do about the Corps of the Dead Now about Midnight Antony came to himself and awoke and saw all asleep but himself and his Acquaintance that brought him from the Tombs
concluded they were Devils and being afraid they call'd to St. Antony but he heeded the Devils more than them and whereas they expected to have seen him dead they heard him saying Let God arise and his Enemies be scattered Let them vanish as the Smoak vanisheth As the Wax melteth before the Fire so Sinners shall perish from the Presence of God And again All Nations compassed me round about but in the Name of the Lord I stav'd them off 13. Thus did he lead Twenty Years in private Exercise never stirring out or seen by any one But at last many others desiring to imitate his Ascetick Life and other Acquaintance coming to him and breaking open the Door by force Antony came out of the Castle as out of an inaccessible Sanctuary being matriculated a Member of the Heavenly Jerusalem and become full of God The Spectators when he came out were in an Amaze to see his Body that had been so belabour'd by Devils in the same shape in which it was before his Retirement The Temper of his Soul was very pure neither clouded by Sadness nor shattered by Voluptuousness Neither Laughter nor Melancholy held him in their Chains The sight of the Multitude did not disturb him nor their Praises make him vain But he was intirely smooth and regular steered by Reason and Revelation and fixed in the primitive State of Nature Our Lord healed many Sick Persons by him He also cleansed many that were possessed comforted many that were grieved and reconciled many that were fallen out charging them all to prefer none of the Things of this World before the Love of Christ discoursing and exhorting them to be mindful of future Goods and of the great Philanthropy of God who spared not his own Son but gave Him up for us all He perswaded many to chuse a solitary Life and by this means there came to be many Monasteries in the Mountains So that now the Desarts were turned into a City by Monks that left their Estates and Houses and entred themselves Members of the Heavenly City 14. Once he had an Occasion to pass over the Trench of the Arsenoites to see some of his Brethren Monks which Trench was very full of Crocodiles but St. Antony and all that were with him by the pure Vertue of Prayer went over unhurt When he returned to his Monastery he obliged himself to very severe and youth-like Enterprizes By his Conferences he would be continually encreasing the Fervour of other Monks and exciting many others to the Love of Exercise and by the magnetism of his Discourses many more Monasteries were erected all looking upon him as their Father 15. One Day among the rest as he was walking out he told the other of his Brethren Monks who came to him with a desire to hear him in the Egyptian Language that the Holy Scriptures are sufficient for Instruction But nevertheless 't is decent for us to confirm one another in the Faith by Exhortation and to chear and anoint each other's Spirits by mutual Discourses Wherefore do ye my Sons bring your Father what ye know and I who am your Elder will communicate to you what I know by Experience But besure in a peculiar manner to take care to be communicative and unanimous and that now ye have begun ye don't grow slack nor faint in your Warsare nor say with your selves We have laid out so much item so much Time upon Exercise But rather as beginning every day let us inlarge our Resolution for the Life of Man altogether is very short if we compare it with future Ages All our Time is nothing to Eternal Life Every thing else is Sold for its Value and like is Exchanged for like But the Promise we have of Eternal Life is a cheap Purchase For 't is writ The Days of our Life are Seventy Years and if by great Strength we reach Fourscore or more they are but Labour and Sorrow Now if we spend Eighty Years in Exercise we shall not reign an Hundred Years for it but instead of an Hundred we shall reign for ever and ever Again After we have contended on Earth our Inheritance will not be upon Earth but we hold Promises of Heaven Again After we have laid aside a Mortal Body we are cloathed with an Immortal One Wherefore Children let us not faint neither let us think we lay out much Time for God or do any great Matters for the Sufferings of this present Life are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed Neither let us think that we have parted with great Possessions for the whole Earth is very small with respect to Heaven For just as one who parts with a Mite for an Hundred Broad Pieces So were any one Lord of all the Earth and parted with it for Heaven he parts with a Mite and receives an Hundred-fold But if all the Earth is not worth Heaven then certainly he who leaves a few Acres for it does in a manner leave nothing at all If therefore any of us parts with a Mansion or with Gold he should neither vaunt nor despond But we should rather consider that if we don't leave them for the Sake of Vertue yet afterwards when we Die we often leave them to whom we would not as the Preacher has minded us Shall we not therefore leave it for the sake of Vertue to inherit a Kingdom Let us have a Thirst after true Possessions for What does it signifie to possess those things which we cannot carry away with us Let us rather acquire those Goods which will follow us into the other World such as are Wisdom Justice Sobriety Fortitude Spiritual Prudence Charity Love of Wordly Poverty Faith in Christ Freedom from Anger Delight in Hospitality if we possess these we shall find they will procure us a Mansion in the Land of the Meek These things duly considered no Person can be Negligent especially if he consider that he is the Lord's Servant and ought to serve Him Since therefore every one is his Servant no one should dare to say I do not work to day for I wrought yesterday or by measuring the time past to be idle for the time to come But every day a true Disciple of Christ will shew the same Readiness of Mind that as 't is written he may please his Lord and not run a risque in the Concerns of his Soul So also let us every day persevere in Exercise knowing that if we are Negligent one day we shall not be pardoned for it because we did well the day before No God is offended with such Negligence as we read in Ezekiel So also Judas by one Night's Impiety lost the Fruits of his time past Let us therefore Children adhere to Exercise and not suffer our Spirits to be bejaded for herein the Lord is our Fellow-Labourer as 't is written The Lord co-operates for Good with every one that wills and works Good Now in order to our not being Negligent there is a
leap out Out of his Nostrils goeth Smoke as out of a Seething-pot or Caldron When the Prince of the Devils makes such a figure the old Impostor strikes Terrour upon Flesh and speaks very big And therefore he is upbraided where we read He esteemeth Iron as Straw and Brass as rotten Wood and looks upon the Sea as a Pot of Oyntment and the deep Abyss as his Conquest even the Abyss is to him as a Walk And by the Prophet Ezek. 15.9 the Enemy said I will and will overtake And again by another Prophet Isa 10.14 I will grasp the whole Earth in my hand like a Nest and take it up like forsaken Eggs. And to speak all in one Word they often make such Brags and Promises only to deceive those who worship God But we that are Faithful should not fear his Appearances nor give ear to his Words for he is a Lyar and speaks not a true Word For in truth notwithstanding all his Vaunting our Saviour draws him like the Leviathan by a Hook Job 41.1 Like an Ox he has an Halter upon his Head and his Nostrils are bored with a Ring and his Lips with an Hoople of Disgrace like a Fugitive He is ty'd like a Sparrow by the Lord so that we may justly deride him He and his Crew crawl now like Serpents So that now he may be trod upon by us Christians This is a certain Sign that our way of Living mads and crosses him for he who before vapour'd that he would make the Sea like a Pot of Oyntment and clinch the Earth in his Fist lo now he cann't so much as hinder you from Exercise or keep me from speaking to you against him Wherefore we mind not what he says neither do we shrink for his Objections and Lies for there is nothing but a seeming light in them They are only as it were the Portraitures of the Fire prepared for them They would fain fright us with those Fires with which they will be tormented themselves but they are quickly detected in their Falacies and do not hurt the Faithful But only give us a semblance of that Fire with which the Wicked will be tormented Wherefore it behoves us not to fear for all their Devices through the Grace of Christ come to nought for they are full of Guile and ready to be transformed into all Shapes Hence 't is that they often pretend to sing Psalms and cite the Scriptures and sometimes whilst we are a Reading they give us Ecchoes of what we read and oft in our Sleep raise us up to Prayers And this they will do continually not suffering us to rest Nay and sometimes they will put on the Religious Habit of Monks and talk like Religious Persons that they may deceive us by such Appearances and when we are deceived lead us whither they please But we should not give ear or listen to them at all No though they wake us to pray and advise us not to eat at all or pretend to condemn and deject us for those Matters in which they before incouraged us for they don't do this out of a Principle of Religion or Truth but that they may bring the Simple into Despair and make them apt to say Exercise is unprofitable and so make them nauseate a Solitary as a very grievous and burthensome way of Living and may entangle those who have entred into a Course of Self-Government Wherefore a Prophet whom the Lord sent has declared such Miserable Hab. 2.15 Wo be to him who offers his Neighbours thick dregs to drink because such Schemes and Purposes do turn us out of the Path that leads up to Vertue for our Lord Himself muzzled the Devils though they spoke Truth and commanded them to be silent for they did speak Truth when they said Thou art the Son of God Matt. 8.29 Mark 1.25 lest with the Truth they also slily sow their Perversness with the more Advantage and that he may accustom us not to hearken to them though they seem to speak Truth for 't is very unseemly for us who have the Holy Scriptures and Deliverance by our Saviour to be taught by the Devil who kept not his own Station but studied Disorder For this Reason he is forbid Psal 50.16 to quote Scripture Vnto the Wicked said God wherefore do'st thou utter my Statutes and takest my Covenant in thy Mouth for they do pretend and disturb all things to delude the Simple Sometimes they stamp sometimes they laugh and sometimes they hiss But when one regards them not then they weep and lament as vanquished For this Reason the Lord God muzzled the Devils We therefore having learnt this from the Holy Scriptures ought to resist them and imitate their Resoluteness and Stratagems against us Pray eye the Example of David Psal 39.2 Whil'st the Wicked was before me I was deaf and still and held my peace even from good Words And again Like a deaf Man I heard not and as one who is dumb I opened not my my Mouth I became like a Man who does not hear Wherefore let us not hear them as being Strangers to us nor obey them although they wake us to go to Prayers or talk about Fasts But rather let us attend to the Purpose of our Exercise and not be deceived by them who always act with Deceit Neither let us be afraid though they should come with Force against us and threaten to kill us for they are weak and can do nothing but threaten But this by the By But now I think of it I must not think much to speak more largely of these matters to you for a Remembrance of them will be safe for you When our Lord was a Pilgrim upon Earth the Enemy fell and his Forces were weakened For this Reason he a Tyrant though fall'n is not at rest yet but threatens us with Words Think of this all of ye and despise the Devil Were they confin'd to such Bodies as these they might possibly say Men lie hid and we do not find them But when we do find them we make work with them But if the Case were so with them we might hide our selves by shutting the Doors against them But since 't is not so but their Nature on the contrary is such that they can enter in even when the Door is shut and they themselves are all over and all about us in the Air together with their Principal the DESTROYER and do always will Mischief and are ready girt to do it and the Devil as our Saviour hath told us the Father of Mischief John 8.44 is a Murderer and we now live a Life of War against him 't is plain now that notwithstanding they are not embodyed they have no Strength and therefore their Weakness cannot be imputed to the Confinement of Bodies for no Place hinders them from laying their Snares neither do they spare us because we are their Friends neither are they Lovers of Good to rectifie us But they are rather more Wicked
encreas'd and the Negligence of some was shook off and the Opinionativeness or Self-Conceit and Vain-glory of others ceas'd and all were perswaded to despise the Devil's Treachery admiring the Grace that was given to St. Antony by our Lord for his Exercise 21. The MONASTERIES now were like so many Sacred Tabernacles full of Divine Choirs singing and delighting in Holy Conferences and Fasting and Praying and exulting in the Hope of future Goods and working to give Alms and Exercising mutual Love and unanimous Symphony among themselves So that you might see there of a Truth a Land of Piety and Righteousness by it self For there was neither an Injurious nor an injured Person neither any Complaint of the Oppressour But a Multitude of Asceticks having one and the same Ardour for Vertue insomuch that one amongst the rest of the Spectatours seeing such Monasteries and regular Discipline could not forbear crying out as we read Numb 24.5 6. How goodly are thy Dwellings O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel As the shady Vales are they spread forth and as the Parks beside the Rivers and as the Tents which the Lord hath fix'd and as the Cedars by the Waters side 22. St. Antony therefore oft retiring himself into his Monastry daily grew Vigorous in Exercise and groan'd longing for Mansions in Heaven because he long'd for them and observ'd the frail Life of Man When-ever he was about to eat or drink or sleep or serve any other Bodily Necessities he blush'd for he thought upon the Dignity of his Intellectual part So that oftentimes when he was going to eat with other Monks and call'd to Remembrance his Spiritual Food he refus'd and retir'd to eat alone thinking he should blush if he was seen Eating by them When he eat alone 't was purely out of Necessity Sometimes though very seldom he eat with his Brethren But though 't were with Blushing he took the Liberty to acquaint his Brethren for their Benefit that they should lay out their Leisure rather on their Soul than their Body lest it be weigh'd down by the Pleasures of the Body which ought to be in Subjection to it For our Saviour has said Take no thought for your Life what you shall eat nor for your Body what ye shall put on Do not seek what ye may eat nor what ye may drink neither aim at high things For all these things the Nations of the World seek for your Father knows that ye need them and all these things shall be added unto you 23. Not long after the Emperour Maximinus Persecuted the Church and some Holy Martyrs being carried to Alexandria he left his Monastry and followed them saying to his Friends Let us also go and combat or see those who do for he was Ambitious of Martyrdom But not being willing to deliver up himself he ministred to the Confessors in the Mines and Prisons and shew'd great Diligence in the Court of Judicature comforting and spurring on those that were call'd to it and attending them till they were Crowned Martyrs Wherefore the Judge observing the Fearlesness and Assiduity of Antony and of those that were with him ordered that no Monk should appear in the Court nor so much as live in the City so that all the rest seemed to abscond that Day But St. Antony took this so much to thought that he wash'd his Scapulary the cleaner the Day after and stood foremost on an high place before the Judge's Face And though all Persons admir'd at it and the Governour as he pass'd by with his Train took Notice of it yet he stood unmov'd shewing the Readiness of the Christians to die For as I said before he wish'd to die a Martyr and appear'd very much griev'd because he did not But the Lord preserv'd and reserv'd him for our Benefit and the Advantage of many more that he might be a Teacher to many by the Exercise which he learnt out of the Holy Scriptures for the bare sight of his Discipline inflam'd many others to imitate his Life Wherefore he again visited the Confessors as he us'd and as it were bound up together with them he labour'd to serve them But after that Persecution in which the Blessed Bishop Peter suffered Martyrdom ceas'd he pilgrimag'd and retir'd again to the Monastry where he was daily a Martyr in Conscience and fought the Combats of Faith For there he us'd himself to much and stricter Exercise for he always fasted His inner Garment was Hair-cloth his upper of Leather which was the Habit he wore to his dying Day neither washing the dirt off his Body no nor so much as his Feet unless they were wet by chance when he waded thorow Water on a Journey 24. Now when he had thus retir'd and resolv'd to continue in that State some time without ever going abroad or entertaining any Company There came to him one Martinian a Colonel who had a Daughter troubled with a Devil and was very troublesome to him and after he had stood a long while knocking at the Door and entreating him to come and pray to God for his Daughter Antony would not suffer him to break open his Door but leaning out of the top said Man Why dost thou stand crying thus I am a Man as well as thou If thou believest pray to God and 't is done presently The Colonel therefore pray'd to God with Faith and went his way and his Daughter was cleans'd from the Devil Many other things did our Lord by him Wherefore we do not read in vain Matt. 7.7 Ask and it shall be given you For many that were Sick and only sat without the Monastry by Faith and Prayer were Cur'd But as soon as he saw himself thus disturb'd by a great many People and not permitted to retire according to his Purpose and Desire and fearing lest from what the Lord did by him he should be lifted up or any one else upon that account should think of him beyond what he ought he thought and was resolved to go to the upper Thebais where no body knew him and having took some Loaves of his Brethren he sat down by the River Banks watching for a Vessel to get over In the mean while came a Voice from Heaven saying Antony Whither goest thou and wherefore Antony without any Commotion or Disorder of Mind for he was us'd to such extraordinary Occurrences said Since the Multitude will not let me be at rest here I have a mind to retire in the upper Thebais and so much the rather because they require things above my Strength Then reply'd the Voice Should'st thou go thither thou would'st have double the Trouble to undergo But if thou would'st be quiet indeed go into the inner Wilderness But Who said Antony shall shew me the way for I don't know it And the Voice presently directed him to some Sarazens that were travelling that way Whereupon Antony made up to them and requested to walk with them to the Wilderness They as it were by the
Order of Providence receiv'd him readily By that time he had travelled with them three Nights and three Days he came to a very high Mountain Now under the Mountain there was fine clear cool sweet trembling Water and without the Plain a few Wild Palm-Trees that had been neglected Antony as being sent thither by God was in Love with the Place for this was the Place of which the Voice that spake to him upon the Banks of the River gave him Notice Having at first took with him some of his Fellow-Travellers Loaves he tarry'd alone in the Mount no Body at all conversing with him There he kept looking upon it as his own Home The Sarazens having observ'd his Intent and Proposal to himself in Living there designedly pass'd often that way and gladly supply'd him with Bread He had also a little Refreshment from the Palms 25. And afterwards the Brethren like Children mindful of their Father took care to send to him But Antony considering that some were toyled upon the account of bringing him Bread and being willing to spare the Monks that trouble deliberated with himself how he might prevent it and so at last desired those that came to him to bring him a Spade and a Mattock and a little Corn. When he was supply'd with Materials he walk'd a little way and having found a little piece of Arable Ground he Till'd it and having Plenty enough of Water to water it he sow'd his Grain there and thus ever-after he was supply'd with Bread enough every Year rejoycing because he was troublesome to none and could keep himself without being burthenfome to any one After seeing some coming to him again he Till'd some more Ground and Planted a few Herbs for the Refreshment of any tir'd Traveller At first the Wild Beasts of the Desart came out of pretence for Water and damag'd his Standing-Corn One Day therefore he pleasantly took hold of one of the Beasts and said to them all Why do ye hurt me since I don't hurt you Get ye gone in the Name of the Lord and come no more near this Place again and from that time they as it were receiving his Command never came again So he kept alone in the inner part of the Mountain attending to Prayer and Exercise But his Brethren came and ministred unto him entreating him to let them come once a Month and bring him some Olives Beans and Oyl because he was now grown Ancient Whilst he lived there how many Conflicts he under-went not with Flesh and Blood but with Devils his grand Adversaries we know very well from those who went to him who heard Tumults Voices and Noises like those of the trampling of Horses and clashing of Arms and saw the Mount full of Wild Beasts in the Night and him as it were Fighting and Praying against them But he emboldened the Hearts of those that came to him and strove upon Bended Knees in Prayer with the Lord. And 't is worth our while to consider with Admiration that he though all alone in such a great Wilderness was not afraid of the Devil 's Assaulting him nor of the Fierceness of many Wild Beasts and Creeping Creatures but did literally as 't is written trust in the Lord like Mount Sion having a Mind unmov'd and void of Fluctuation So that as 't is written Job 5.23 the Devils fled and the Wild Beasts were at Peace with him The Devil therefore as David sings Psal 34.16 gnash'd upon him with his Teeth when he saw him But Antony was comforted by our Saviour and continu'd unhurt notwithstanding all his Subtleties and Stratagems The Devil sent all the Beasts and Snakes out of their Holes and Dens gaping upon him and threatning to bite him But he understanding the Device of the Enemy said to them all If ye have received any Authority over me I am ready to be devour'd by you but if ye are suborn'd by the Devil tarry here no longer but get ye hence in an Instant for I am Christ's Servant and they fled at his Word as fast as from a Whip 26. A few Days after that as he was at work for he always took Care to labour one standing at the Door train'd after him with his Heels some of his plyant Twigs which he had wrought together for he made little Baskets and exchang'd them with those that came to him for what they brought him and as he stood up he saw a Beast down to the Thighs like a Man but with Legs and Feet like an Ass Antony only sign'd himself with the Sign of the Cross and said I am a Servant of Christ If thou art sent hither against me lo I am here But the Beast with his Devils fled so fast that he fell and dy'd for Haste Now the Death of the Beast signisy'd the Overthrow of the Devils for they did all they could to bring him out of the Wilderness but could not prevail 27. Soon after this he travelled with some of his Brethren Monks that came to see him and requested him to come and live with them a little while Now the Monks had a Camel to carry their Loaves and Water for that Desart was Waterless neither was there any drinkable Water thereabouts but by the Mount where his Monastery was and thence they had the Water that they took with them Wherefore their Water failing them whilst they were upon their Way and the Heat being very great their Lives were in Danger for having search'd all the Places thereabouts and found no Water they were not able to walk any longer but lay down upon the Ground and dismiss'd the Camel to shift for its self despairing of their own Lives Now the Old Man seeing them all in Danger was very much troubled and groan'd and having stept a little way aside and knelt and pray'd the Lord presently made Water spring forth out of the Place where he had pray'd and they all drank and reviv'd and fill'd their Bottles and having sought the Camel found him for as it happen'd the Halter twin'd about a Stone and held him fast so they brought him water'd and loaded him and travell'd safe to their Journeys End And as soon as he came to the Outer Monasteries they all came and saluted him as a Father And now there was Joy again in the Mountains and a new Emulation of Proficiency and Consolation by mutual Love and Faith It rejoyc'd Antony mightily to see the Forwardness of the Monks and his Sister grown old in Virginity and become a Governess over other Virgins In a short time after he return'd to his own Mountain whither many that were Diseased came to him 28. He would be continually charging all the Monks that came to him to believe in the Lord and love Him and to keep themselves from filthy Thoughts and carnal Pleasures and as 't is written in the Proverbs not to be deceiv'd by the Fulness of the Belly and to avoid Vain-glory and to pray continually and to sing before
Sleep and after Sleep and to lay up the Precepts of the Holy Scriptures in their Breasts and remember the Acts of the Saints that the Soul being minded of those Precepts may be conformed to their Zeal but especially he advis'd them to have St. Paul's Saying in mind Let not the Sun go down upon your Wrath and to apply this in Common to every Precept that the Sun may not only not go down upon their Wrath but upon any other Sin whatsoever for 't is but fitting that the Sun should not condemn us for any Wickedness in the Day nor the Moon by Night for any Sin or Thought If we would be truly Beautiful St. Paul's Advice must be kept 2 Cor. 13.5 Judge your selves Try your selves Let therefore every one of you take an Account of both his Day and Night Actions and wherein he has offended let him leave off and wherein he has not let him not glory but let him continue in that which is Good and not be Negligent or contemn his Neighbour neither Let him justifie himself till as the Blessed Apostle says the Lord come who searcheth into the most secret things for we are often even to our selves in the dark as to what we do we are ignorant But the Lord comprehends all things Wherefore yielding and ascribing Judgment to him let us be Patient one with another and bear one another's Burthens and Judge our selves and whereinsoever we are behind hand let us strive to fill up our Defects And pray let me desire you to take this Rule as a Preservative against Offending Let all of us mark and write down all our Actions and Motions in order to declare them to one another and ye may be confident that if we always blush to be known we shall forbear offending nay so much as thinking any ill thing for Who would Sin a Sin for which he must presently undergo open Shame By this Means who-ever offends cann't be secret without lying By this Means we should never fornicate as being always in one another's Sight But by writing and communicating our Thoughts we shall keep from inward Impurity through Shame of having it known Let our Paper therefore serve us instead of the Eyes of our Fellow-Asceticks that our blushing when we write them down in order to be seen may prevent our Lusting amiss in any case By keeping close to this Model of Discipline we shall have Power to subdue the Body and so please the Lord and to tread the Wiles of the Enemy under Feet This he said to all that met him He us'd to sympathize and pray together with all Sufferers and in many Cases the Lord heard him When he was heard he did not boast and when he was not heard he did not murmur But he always and in all Circumstances gave Thanks unto the Lord. He exhorted Patients to Long-suffering and made them know that Healing was not from him or from Men but of the Lord who acts as he pleases both as to what he does and as to the time when he does it Such Discourse as this was to them as a Cure none despising his Lectures But those whose Illness continu'd learnt from him to be patient and those that were Cur'd not to give Thanks to him but to God alone Among others one Fronto a Courtier having a terrible Sickness which eat his Tongue and just affected his Eyes came in the Mount and desir'd Antony to pray for him St. Antony at his request pray'd to God for Fronto and bid him be gone and he should be Healed 29. But Fronto having got into his Cell by Violence and tarrying a whole Day there Antony said Whilst you tarry here you cann't be cur'd Be gone and by that time you come within Sight of Egypt you shall see a Sign wrought upon you St. Antony speaking so positively he was satisfy'd and went his way and as soon as he saw Egypt he was rid of his Malady and became a Sound Man as Antony had assur'd him There is another Remarkable Cure which I must not omit 30. A certain Virgin of Tripolis had a very terrible and foul Distemper for her Tears and her Snot and the running of her Ears turn'd into Worms after it fell upon the Ground besides too she was very Paralytical and had very unnatural Eyes Her Parents having been inform'd of St. Antony by some Monks that were travelling to him and trusting in our Lord who as we read Matt. 20. cur'd an Issue of Blood requested that she might travel with them They granting her request the Child and her Parents went with them and when they came tarry'd without the Mount with Paphnutius a Confessor and a Monk The other Monks went in to St. Antony and just as they were going to acquaint him with it he prevented them and told them of the Child's Disease and her Travelling with them Hearing this they requested the Child might be permitted to enter but St. Antony deny'd their request and bid them go out and they would find the Child either Heal'd or Dead For said he Healing is not an Act of mine Why should she come to me who am a miserable Man To Cure is the Property of our Saviour who exercises Mercy in every Place over all that call upon Him and therefore has favour'd her and her Prayer and has manifested this particular Instance of his Philanthropy to me viz. that he will cure the Child's Disease there This caus'd great Admiration amongst them and they went out and found the Parents Rejoycing and the Child Healthy from that time 31. About this time there had Two Brethren entred upon a Journey and for want of Water one dy'd upon the way and the other was not far from Dying too and therefore having no Strength to travel he also lay upon the Ground expecting to die Now Antony was sitting upon the Mount and call'd Two Monks to him that were hard by and said to them Pray take a Pitcher of Water and run Egypt Road-way for one of two Fellow-Travellers is already dead and the other will die too unless ye make haste for this was discover'd to me as I was a Praying Accordingly the Two Monks went and buried their dead Brother and reviv'd the other and brought him to their venerable Father who was at the distance of a whole Day 's Journey from them If any one should ask Why Antony did not speak before the other dy'd he asks an improper Question for the Sentence of Death did not belong to Antony but to God who determin'd Death for the one and a Recovery by Antony's inter-Agency for the other That which is to be admir'd in Antony is That he had a Soul so stay'd and sedate as to be shew'd things at such a distance by the Lord upon the Mount 32. And a little after as he was sitting again upon the Mount he saw one lifted up on high from the Mount and a great deal of Joy in all that met him He could not
but admire and call the Company Blessed and pray'd to know what that might be Then presently came a Voice and told him that 't was the Soul of Ammun a Monk of Nitria Now the distance between Nitria and that Mount is Thirteen Days Journey The Monks seeing the Old Man for he continu'd an Ascetick to his Old Age in such a Maze desired to know the reason of it St. Antony told them that Ammun was dead For this Monk was very well known among them because he often came thither and many Miracles were done by him of which this is one Having once an Occasion to go over the River Lycus which was a great Inundation of Waters he desired Theodore to go at a distance from him that they might not see one another Naked as they swam over Then Theodore withdrawing he blush'd to see himself again Naked And as he was blushing and solicitous he was of a sudden convey'd to the other side Theodore therefore who also was a very Religious Man having seen him got over and not at all wetted with the Water requested to know the manner of his Passage But finding him loth to tell him he took hold of his Feet and protested he would not let him go before he knew Ammun observing the Earnestness of Theodore for the sake of his Protestation consented to tell him after he had engag'd him to tell no Body before he was dead and so told him how he was carry'd over after an invisible manner and laid on the other side He did not walk on the Water nor was the manner of it possible to Men but only possible to those whom our Lord permits as he did St. Peter This Theodore told after Ammun's Death But to return to St. Antony The Monks to whom St. Antony told what he saw noted down the Day in a Book And some Brethren that return'd from Nitria enquir'd about Thirty Days after and brought word that Ammun dy'd the same Day and Hour in which Antony saw the Soul lifted up on high and they greatly admir'd the Purity of Antony's Soul and wondred how he should immediately know what was done at Thirty Days distance and how he saw the Soul carry'd up a-loft But we have fresh Matter of Praise and Wonder from St. Antony still 33. For Archelaus Comes having found him praying by himself in the Outer Mount entreated him on the behalf of Polycrateia who was an admirable Virgin and full of Christ for she had a Pain in her Stomach and her Side by reason of extream Exercise and was very weakly all over her Body Wherefore Antony pray'd and Archelaus mark'd down the Day whereon Antony pray'd and when he return'd to Laodicea he found the Virgin well and having ask'd them what Day she was first releas'd from her Weakness he took out the Paper in which he writ down the Time when Antony pray'd for her and immediately shew'd them the same time writ down in his Paper So that they were all convinc'd that the Lord deliver'd her from her Pains when Antony was by Prayer forwarding the Goodness of our Saviour towards her 34. He did also oftentimes give Notice many days before hand of Persons that were coming to him Nay sometimes he would tell the reason of their Journey a Month before hand as that some came only to see him others because Distempered others because Possess'd And this we all know of all That none that came to him thought the Labour of his Journey a Trouble or a Loss for every one return'd from him with a Sense of some Benefit receiv'd But notwithstanding he spoke and saw such strange things yet he would not have any one admire him for it but rather to admire the Lord who by his Power has granted us though but Men a Capacity and Liberty to know Him 35. Another time having went down to visit the Outer Monasteries and been prevail'd upon by request to go into a Vessel and pray with the Monks He and He only perceiv'd a wretched and terrible Stink the Company said there was some salt Fish in the Vessel but he perceiv'd another kind of Scent And whilst he was speaking a Young Man that had a Devil and had entred in before them and hid himself cry'd out and the Devil was rebuk'd by St. Antony in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and came out of him and the Young Man was restor'd to his Wits And then they all knew that 't was the Devil that stunk 36. There came to him also a Nobleman that had a Devil Now that Devil was so terrible that the Person that was Possess'd was not so much as sensible that he came to St. Antony and ate his own Ordure Wherefore they that brought him begg'd of St. Antony to pray for him Antony commiserating him pray'd for him and sat up with him all Night and the Noble Youth on a sudden run against St. Antony and hunch'd him Now those that came with him were very much disturb'd at it But Antony said Don't ye be angry with the Youth for 't is not he but the evil Spirit within him for being rebuk'd and commanded to post away into some waterless Places he was enrag'd and did this Therefore glorifie God for his doing thus against me for that is a Sign that he is a going out No sooner had Antony said so but the Youth was well and himself and knew where he was and saluted the Old Man giving Thanks to God 37. Many other such like things did the Monks tell of him and they all agreed in their Relation But as wonderful as these things are there are stranger things yet to be related for as he was going to pray before he eat about the Ninth Hour he was in a Rapture and which is a Paradox as he stood up he saw himself without himself and some other Beings by himself as it were in the Air and afterwards some other bitter and terrible Beings standing by him in the Air too and willing to stop him so that he did not pass But the Angels his Guides and Convoys withstanding them they pretend to exact an Account of him to see whether he was not lyable to them Now they would have took the Account from his Birth But St. Antony's Guides would by no means allow of that and told them That the Lord had blotted all Faults since his Birth But ever since he became a Monk and promis'd to God they might exact an Account Then they having accused him of what they could not prove the Passage became free and presently he saw himself as it were come to himself in a standing Posture and whole again Hereupon having forgot to eat he continu'd all the remaining Day and Night Groaning and Praying for he wonder'd to see how many we fight against and through how great Difficulties any Soul must needs pass thorow the Air. He could not but upon this Occasion call to mind that Saying of the Apostle Eph. 2.2 According to the
to assert or own so great and noble a Principle of the Religion they profess And therefore besides my own special Obligations and concern for the Honour and Service of God and of our Holy Religion Pity to the many Souls which I perceive destitute of true Spiritual Direction and Indignation at the Baseness Folly and Madness of so many Prudentialists amongst us hath made me for some time to long for an Opportunity to bear my Testimony in the Case The Motive in my collecting the other Discourse which though written last and by the by according to its proper order is here first was to detect a Misapplication of Truth and retort his Argument against himself who had so grossly and rudely treated the Business of Fanaticism without due regard to that Sacred Principle of Religion which is pretended in it or to the most noble and heroick Professors and Observers of it But in this degenerate Age God hath not left himself without Witness but raised up some of a more generous Spirit such as Mr. Smith of Cambridge the late profound Dr. Cradoc whom I much esteemed for his Generosity as well as Judgment in Preaching up this Doctrine who told me he had Preached 20 or 30 Sermons upon it and that if we deny that we may burn our Bibles for he knew not he said what Religion would signifie without it and the Learned Mr. Matthew Scrivener who hath left us a Discourse concerning Mystical Divinity Intituled The Method and Means to a true Spiritual Life and others to say nothing of some I know now Living whose number I pray God increase and make them perfect and compleat in all Graces and Vertue to his Honour and Glory and the Happiness of this Church and Nation OF THE Antiquity Tradition and Succession of Mystical Divinity Among the GENTILES FROM THE Testimony Confession OF AN Eminent Adversary AS Adam was the common Parent of all Man-kind from the Creation so was Noah the common Parent of all Man-kind who have lived since the Flood And of Noah it is recorded that he was a just Man and perfect in his Generations and that he walked with God Gen. 6.9 And that he was 600 years Old when the Flood of Waters was upon the Earth Gen. 7.6 From whence we may reasonably believe that he could not but be well acquainted with all the Knowledge of his Ancestors And what this Walking with God doth imply we may understand from the rest of the History and the Apostles Observation Heb. 11.7 viz. not only a careful Observance of all the General Rules of Righteousness transmitted from Adam to his Posterity but a ready Obedience and Conformity to all special Declarations and Manifestations of the Will of God to him Instances of which are those Commands of God and his Obedience thereunto in Building the Ark which undoubtedly exposed him to much trouble by Questions concerning it and to various Censures Gen. 6.14 22. He did notwithstanding according to all that God commanded him so did he and in going into it with the several sorts of Creatures Gen. 7.1 5 7 9. and in going out again at the Command of God Gen. 8.16 18. In his Walking with God in this manner he could not but besides all the Knowledge which he had received from his Ancestors learn much more by the immediate Teachings of God And it is not to be questioned but as he was instructed by his Ancestors so he was careful to instruct his Family Posterity in all necessary Knowledge amongst which that of Walking with God was some of the chief And this being so I see no reason Why other Nations should not have derived their Knowledge with their Descent directly from Noah or Why we should suppose the other Branches of his Posterity to have all received their Knowledge of Divine and Sacred things especially collaterally from that of Abraham rather than directly and lineally from their common Ancestor Noah As Noah offered Sacrifice Gen. 8.20 and Abraham offered Sacrifice so we find Priests and Sacrifices among other Nations Such was MELCHIZEDECK a Priest of the most High God Gen. 14.18 And certainly it was by Revelation from God or some Divine Means that PHARAOH understood that it was because of Sarah Abraham's Wife that the Lord plagued him and his House Gen. 12.17 as we find it expressed afterward in the like Case of ABIMELECH Gen. 20.3 6. God came to Abimelech in a Dream by Night and said to him Behold thou art but a dead Man for the Woman which thou hast taken for she is a Man's Wife And another PHARAOH acknowledged Joseph to be a Man in whom was the Spirit of God Gen. 41.38 and when he raised him to the greatest Preferment in the Kingdom gave him for a Wife the Daughter of an Egyptian Priest ibid. v. 45. And Moses Married the Daughter of a Priest of Midian JETHRO Ex. 2.16 21. who was a good Man and a Worshipper of the true God as appears Ex. 18.9 10 12. And the Means then to Inquire of the Lord were common to them and to other Nations As REBEKAH Gen. 25.22 So BALAAM Numb 22.8 9 18 19 20 23.4 went to inquire of the Lord and received Answers from Him And about this time JOB is believed to have lived who was a Holy Man and offered Sacrifices and had Visions By these Instances and others that might be noted we may understand that in those ancient times it was believed in all Nations that there were Means whereby Men and Women might come to have some Acquaintance and Communication with God and what these Means were is well worth our Inquiry That the JEWS had anciently their Schools or Colleges of Prophets we may observe in the Sacred Scriptures And though what were their Institutions and their Instructions and Orders there prescribed is not in the Scripture particularly related yet in the Particulars mentioned they seem to have been much the same with what was practised by the Ancient Christian Anchorets and Coenobites If we inquire amongst other Nations of most ancient Note and Fame for Knowledge in Divine matters the Egyptians and Chaldeans are the most considerable And the Means recommended by them do so well agree with the Mystical Divinity delivered by divers Christians that some Opposers of this Divinity think they have sufficient ground to derive it from them and supposing that a Prejudice to it have taken the pains to do it If the CHALDAICK ORACLES saith one of considerable Learning Name and Place were still extant which were frequently quoted by Plotinus Jamblicus Porphyrius and Proclus who did wholly approve the Chaldaick Theology and from them in a great measure the Fragments were preserved we might more fully manifest these things yet as they are they give us sufficient ground to draw the Fundamentals of this Mystical Divinity from thence For they speak of God's being united to the Soul by the Soul 's clasping God to herself and that not by any act of the Vnderstanding
greater and stronger and more intimately effective on the Soul than any other Motions from whencesoever they come can be and so also these become more evident to such and many times are so clearly discerned by them from the Supernatural impression they make upon the Soul as that it cannot resist disbelieve or any way doubt of them that they are Supernatural and Divine So St. Austin relates of his Mother Monica that she clearly knew such Supernatural actings in her from her own Imaginations Dicebat enim discernere se nescio quo sapore quem verbis explicare non poterat quid interesset inter revelantem Te animam suam somniantem Confess l. 6. c. 13. For she said she did discern by I know not what Savour which she could not explain in words what difference there is between Thee revealing and her own Soul dreaming And indeed if such interior Divine Operations were not sometimes certainly discernable how could St. Paul be assured when he intended to Preach the Word in Asia and again in Bithynia a most Charitable design that the Spirit forbad it and not rather the Enemy of the publishing of the Gospel Act. 16.6 7. or That it was by Revelation and not a Fancy of his that he ascended to Jerusalem Gal. 2.2 or That it was the Holy Spirit that testified and not Mens Fears that much Affliction should happen to him there Act. 20.23 How the Corinthians knew when they had a Revelation that it was not a work of their own Imagination since all these things were transacted only interiourly in the Soul and it was the Holy Spirit only that in all these gave the Evidence to it self A certain Assurance then it cannot be denyed that some at sometimes may have of Divine Operations in them But yet it is not affirmed here that all Persons less advanced in Prayer and Purity of Life or also the greatest Saints at all times discern the Operations of the Holy Spirit within them so clearly in this sort of Actions as not to be sometimes mistaken and it is sufficient that Persons piously disposed and frequent in Prayer may have a rational presumption of it as hath been said Neither is any more communicated unto them perhaps for the better preserving of their Humility And that no absolute Certitude is herein to be expected is a thing often confessed by Sancta Sophia See 1 Vol. p. 139. and p. 137. § 23. 4. But in case such Divine Inspirations be sometimes mistaken yet can no damage come thereby I mean as to committing any Sin 1. The Subject of them we speak of here being Matters in themselves indifferent and on any side lawful See Sancta Sophia 1 Vol. p. 143. 2. No Command of Superiors in these any way neglected 3. No Neglect besides using Prayer in practising any other means of making a secure Choice either in weighing Reasons on all sides or taking Advice from others Only the devout Soul in using these endeavours yet relies not on them but on the Directions of God's Holy Spirit working continually in the Regenerate both by prevenient and subsequent Grace makes no sudden Resolutions nor rushes hastily upon any Action but diligently hearkens first to this internal Guide what it may tell her is best desiring faithfully all natural Passions and Self-love laid aside to correspond with all its Motions the careful Observers of which with a pure Intention of Mind may be justly presumed seldom to want them though they do not so certainly know them and mean while such Persons if not free always from Mistakes yet are secure in this sort of Actions we speak of from entertaining any sinful Enthusiasm or such as any other Person except by Divine Inspiration can either censure or discover § 24. Here the Author proceeds to another Discourse which being no less necessary for this purpose than pertinent to the Subject of Mystick Divinity it may be both proper for this place and also useful and grateful to many devout People to add part of it It is of Directions given by Spiritual Writers concerning Prayer and Devotion FIRST for Preparation for Prayer they are advised 1. to a serious Endeavour at all times to keep their Conscience clear from all Sin even the least as much as Humane Frailty permits and to a Care of avoiding the Occasions thereof without which Endeavours our Devotions cannot be acceptable to God as to the receiving from him any great plenty of his Grace And 2. at times of Prayer to Abstraction from all Secular Business Recollection of the Mind and Thoughts from all Creatures and all Objects of the Exterior Senses And then to begin at first with Forms for all Occasions of Vocal Prayer where Novices saith he begin and which the most perfect also frequently return to § 25. From these they are led on to Mental Prayer in which the Cessation from External Action renders the Inward more attent and affective more free from Distraction of the Senses and from the Wandring of the Thoughts For this many useful Subjects of Meditation are recommended chiefly touching our own Misery the Mysteries of our Salvation and the Divine Perfections 1. Of their Natural Condition the Heinousness of Sin the Divine Justice the bitter Passion of our Lord in Satisfaction for Sin the Terrors of Death Judgment and Hell to plant in them the Due Fear of God and advance in them all sorts of Mortification and Purification from all Habits of Sin 2. Of the Life of our Lord and the Lives of his Saints for Imitation and Growth in Vertue And 3. of the Divine Perfections and Benefits both received and promised of the Graces and Operations of the Holy Ghost in us and the Abilities for doing Good and pleasing God restored to Man by it if attentively observed and obeyed to advance them in all Spiritual Grace and Christian Perfection and to enkindle in them an ardent Love of God the Acquisition of which Love and not of Knowledge being chiefly designed in them § 26. When by the Practice of these Meditations they are well prepared they are directed by laying more aside their former Reasonings and Discoursings of the Brain with the frequent stroaks of which they have already kindled this Fire in the Heart how to exercise these Affections now in that Lesson of Loving God with all the Heart and all the Soul and all the Mind and all the Strength Luke 10.27 in a more simple and quiet Intuition and Contemplation Advertency and Admiration of the Divine Beauty and Perfections and in more fervent and amorous Colloquies with God in Praising Thanking Solacing her self with him whilst she casts her eye upon his infinite Mercies past and promised in many Resolutions for the future to serve him better and no more so to grieve and offend him in offering all she hath she can do or suffer to his Service and in putting her self in a posture of Silence and Attention to hear what he may be pleased to speak to
the Creature when God hath thus as it were dismissed and cast it off But resigning it self and loving its Misery for his Sake and because it is his Will that it should be so An Exercise wherein our Lord himself was pleased to be tried that he might become a merciful High Priest before God and experimentally that he might compassionate our Infirmities in the great Desolation he underwent in the Garden the Night before his Passion Heb. 4.15 2.17 Where caepit pavere taedere saith the Evangelist Matt. 26.37 38. And that sad Expression came from him Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem Tarry here and watch with me Mark 14.34 Yet these Desolations also in a Soul thus far advanced in Grace are not void of a mixture of Joy and Satisfaction that it hath always in God's Will being performed in them which Will of God now in whatever happens is a constant Consolation to it and the Apostles Precept 1 Thess 5.16 17. of Semper gaudete is thus accomplished in such a Soul as well as his orate sine intermissione and go together For there cannot want Content where the Mind hath its Desire nor doth such a Mind want this that is unanimous with the Divine Will the want of which Conformity is only from the loving of something that is against his Will Worldly Sorrows saith St. Gregory affligentes cruciant but these Spiritual reficiunt dum affligunt In the one is In afflictione maeror but in the other In merore laetitia Moral l. 23. c. 13. Nay more true Sweetness in these Sorrows than in the other Joys And the abstaining in such a sharp Tryal from all Sin against God or seeking Comfort from any thing besides Him or giving over her accustomed Exercises of Piety argues also then a close Vnion of the Soul with God though not so sensible and that when it thinks it self farthest from him it is in some sort nearest to him Lastly by and upon these Spiritual Desolations ordinarily it is that the Soul afterward receives higher sensible Visits and Caresses from God then any former were for which the Soul seems best prepared by this her extream Poverty and Lowness and then it is if ever the Soul receives them with more Gratitude and both highlier values them and villifies its self And it is God's ordinary way to exalt us in proportion to our Humility and to be Adjutor in tribulationibus as in opportunitatibus when also the Soul is more endeared unto him by her Sufferings All this I have said to shew that these Spiritual Desolations of which this Author Ironically saith Then when one would least expect them follow c. are a necessary part of the Way to Perfection and that the resistance of such Pressures when they come or a non-compliance with them in shewing much Irresignation and Impatience in seeking to relieve such Spiritual Desertions with some secular Contents in relaxing former Holy Practices and the like disappoints the Soul of those following Consolations which are the proper Reward of these Sufferings and disturbs God's Work in her and good Intentions toward her and hinders her Growth in Vertue by her retaining still those Imperfections and that Self-love which these rightly received would have purged and mortified This of the fourth Step to Perfection Desolation 5. The Fifth is a State more settled constant and tranquil where neither these Desolations are so fequent or necessary nor those Coelestial Visits so violent or so short § 65. To these I shall add two or three of his Answers to Objections and Cavils such as I think most pertinent for Common use and first whereas upon the first Step his Adversary descants thus A sad Case to end our days as Christ and his Apostles did who used this low dispensation of Praying to the last But alas they never understood these Vnions with God in the Fund of the Spirit they taught Men a plain and intelligible way of Serving God and bid them look for Perfection in another World To this he replies I ask Did our Lord and his Apostles end their days only or chiefly in the first Step here that of Meditation and Discursive or Vocal Prayer and never ascend to the second Step exercising more therein the Will and Affections in Aspirations and Elevations of the Soul to God What think we of the most exalted Disciple St. John every where discoursing so much of Love and of our dwelling by Love in God and God in us 1 John 4.16 What of those Precepts Pray without ceasing 1 Thess 5.17 Watch and pray always Luk. 21.36 And with all Perseverance therein Eph. 6.18 Are these to be understood only of Vocal and discursive Prayer the first Step or not rather of Effective Prayer the second according to that Qui semper desiderat semper orat which latter is also much easier to be continued Again What think we of our Lord 's spending so long time in Prayer often mentioned in the Gospels Rising up a great while before day for this purpose Mar. 1.35 Again retiring into the Wilderness for a great vacancy to it Luk. 5.16 Before the day of the Election of his twelve Apostles the twelve Foundations of his Church ascending into a solitary Mountain and there spending the whole Night in Prayer Luk. 6.13 His ascending again into another Mountain before he took his last Journey to Jerusalem for the accomplishing of his Passion taking three of his Disciples with him where all the Night again was spent in Prayer for it is said he descended not from the Hill till the next day and that there the three Disciples were surprised with Sleep Luk. 9.37 32. In which Prayer they saw his Countenance changed and an anticipated appearance of his Glory such as he shall have when he comes to Judgment 2 Pet. 1.16 and an Apparition also of Moses and Elias they by a supernatural Illumination knowing also who the Persons were Matt. 16.28 and his Disciple Peter in such an Extatick Joy as that he cryed out Bonum est esse hic c. Luk. 9.33 not knowing saith the Evangelist what he said So in our Lord 's being in Prayer presently after John's Baptizing him happened the Vision of the Heavens opened the Holy Ghost descending upon him in a Bodily shape like a Dove seen by the Baptist Luk. 3.21 22. and a Voice from Heaven speaking to him as here Thou art my beloved Son Luk. 9.35 And then a Rapt of the same Spirit that carried him into the Desart where also we may rationally imagin his time to have been wholly spent in Prayer and Devotion and this in such a degree as to suspend and supercede the ordinary Functions of Nature as to Eating and Drinking and in these his Prayers the Tempter to have assaulted him What think we again of our Lord's Infremuit Spiritu once and again in his Prayer to his Father for the Resurrection of Lazarus Joh. 11.33 38. of the ravishing Expressions of his Love
publick Meetings upon sufficient Notice and there to give a true Account of my Proceedings with them hitherto and to discourse the Great Question now depending between us What that Spirit is by which the Party hath been generally and principally acted and conducted Whether the Spirit of Christ or any Good Ministring Spirit or the Spirit of Antichrist or some Porphyrian or Apostate Spirit And in the mean time I only recommend this Advertisement to all That the Holy Scriptures and the best Spiritual Writers give great Caution to beware of false Spirits and Directions to Try the Spirits and if the Leaders of the Quakers do not so they are the more to be suspected also That it is commonly agreed by such Writers that there is often much Deceit and Delusions of Evil and Seducing Spirits in seeming Illuminations and Sensible Impressions and Inspirations See Sancta Sophia Tr. 3. § 4. ch 5. c. FINIS Enthusiasmus Divinus THE GUIDANCE OF THE Spirit of GOD The Doctrine of the Scriptures of the Catholick Church of the Church of England in particular upon a Discourse of Sir Matthew Hale's concerning it LONDON Printed for the Author for the Use and Benefit of a Religious Society 1697. OF THE GUIDANCE OF THE Spirit of GOD. The Judgment of Sir Matthew hale concerning it in his Contemplations on the Magnet c. 15. p. 132. THE Magnet hath not only its intrinsick active Principle its Form from which its Motions proceed but there is also a common Magnetism of the Earth and its Effluxes that greatly assist excite and direct its Motions Animals and Vegetables have not only their intrinsick specifical vital Principles of their specifical Motions and Operations but the Sun and its Heat and Influence is an universal adjuvant exciting Principle of all vital and sentient Operations And not only the ancient Philosophers as Aristotle and Plato and their several Commentators as Simplicius Themistius Alexander Aphrodiceus Avicen and Averroes but also the Jewish Doctors and the Christian Philosophers and Divines for some Ages after Christ did think that besides the individual intellectual Soul of every Man there was also a certain Common Intelligent Nature or Being substituted by Almighty God whose Office it was to illuminate the humane Soul to excite actual Intellection in it and to communicate unto it these common intellectual Principles which ordinarily and generally obtain in all Men and stood in relation to the humane Intellectual Soul as the Sun and its Light and Influence stands in relation to vital Natures in the Lower World And this they call Intellectus Agens which Averroes supposeth to be Vltima Intelligentiarum separatarum and deputed to the actuating and exciting of Intellection in Men. This Opinion hath been possibly upon Reasons probable enough laid aside for many Ages in the Christian Church the Use therefore that I make of it only is this That though this Opinion seems to be dark and obscure and not bottom'd upon a clear Evidence yet it carries with it and under it an Adumbration of a great and real Truth though they attained not a full clear distinct discovery of it Therefore as the Apostle elsewhere in another Case told the Athenians that that God whom they ignorantly worshipped Him declare I unto you Acts 17.23 so with some variation I may with humility say that secret unseen and spiritual Power which these ancient Philosophers did not distinctly understand but groped after it and celebrated by the Name of Intellectus Agens I am now endeavouring to declare Almighty GOD as he is every where by his Essential Presence so he is every where by his Powerful Influence and as he is the Universal Productive and Conserving Cause of all things in the World so he is more intimate unto and effective of every thing in the World by his Efficacious Influence than any second created Cause in the World for they are all but his Instruments and therefore their Causality is still but in and from the Virtue and Influence of the first Cause And this Influx of the First Cause the prime Efficient Almighty God is by him ordinarily communicated effused and proportioned according to the several Natures of Created Beings though according to his wise good Pleasure he sometimes is pleased to do it in a different manner for excellent Ends pro Imperio Voluntatis And therefore in Matters that are simply natural this ordinary Efflux of the Divine Influence is suited to that common Law of Nature that he hath settled in the World and governs such things according to those instituted regular natural Laws But unto an Intellectual Nature such as is that of Man endued with Understanding and Will this Divine Efflux is communicated in a kind proportionable to those Faculties of the humane Soul and therefore these Effluxes of the Divine Influence are communicated in two kinds 1. By way of Illumination in relation to the Understanding Faculty 2. By way of Persuasion Inclination and Incitation in relation to the Will and Affections although there are many other kind of Effluxes of the Divine Spirit and Influence as the Gift of bodily Strength as that of Samson Judges 16.20 the Gift of curious Workmanship as that of Aholiab and Besaliel Exod. 36.1 the Spirit of Majesty and Government as that of Saul 1 Sam. 10.9 the Gifts of Prophesying Tongues Miracles 1 Cor. 12.4 9. for these were extraordinary Effluxes given out upon special Occasions and for special Ends though even in most of them and other extraordinary Gifts of the like nature the Understanding and Will were much concerned and wrought upon 1. As to the Illumination of the Vnderstanding certainly what the Sun is to the sentient Eye that and much more is Almighty God to the Mind of Man Psal 36.9 In thy Light shall we see Light John 1.9 This is the true Light that enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World 2. As to the Inclination and Bending of the Will it is true the Will is naturally free but yet it is essentially subject unto the God that made it and the operation of the Divine Influence upon the Will ordinarily is but persuasive and therefore ordinarily resistible thus the old World resisted the merciful striving of the Divine Influence Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall not always strive with Man Acts 7.51 Ye always resist the Holy Ghost but the Powerful God hath so great an Efficacy and hath so intimate an access into the Minds of Men that he can when he pleaseth and doubtless sometimes doth irresistibly bend and incline the Will unto himself according to his good Pleasure Psal 110.3 Thy People shall be willing in the day of thy Power It is an excellent Expression Prov. 21.1 The Heart of the King is in the Hands of the Lord as the Rivers of Water he turneth it whithersoever he will A good Artist will guide a Stream of Water to what place and in what manner he pleaseth in the same Level and yet without any violence
Nazianzen Ambrose Hierom Austin and many others but it would be too long for this place and occasion And therefore to make short Work instead of that I will here represent their Sentiments in some short Notes of an Eminent and most Learned Annotator who was well acquainted with them and doth sometimes intersperse some of their Testimonies in his Writings It is the Famous Hugo Grotius These saith he upon Mat. 18.10 who dedicate themselves to God with a true Faith and thereupon are accounted his peculiar People God as he doth favour them with a peculiar Providence so he seems to give to each an Angel Guardian to guide and assist them either perpetually or certainly until they come to the full Possession of the Divine Spirit For so I see the Ancient Christians did believe And in his Pref. to his Annot. upon the Epistle to the Romans Into the Heart purified by Faith as into a clean Vessel God doth infuse his Spirit I mean the Spirit of Christ full of Love of God and of our Neighbour and of all Goodness Those who have this Spirit of God and carefully keep it God doth account as born of Him and like unto Him to them he gives a certain Right to Heavenly and Eternal Good Things Neither is the Heart purified but by Faith in Christ nor is the Spirit infused but into a Heart so purified nor doth he plainly own for his any but who are endowed with that Spirit Upon Luke 22.3 As they who religiously obey the Divine Admonitions at length receive the Indwelling Spirit so they who readily consent to the Suggestions of the Devil at length God deserting them become the Slaves of Satan Upon Jo. 5.45 Those to whom the Gospel is Preached become taught of God that is if they would if they be greedy of it if they do not reject the Benefits offered and even forc'd upon them They will have no need to have recourse to Learned Men that from them they may learn the Mysteries of the Old Testament Upon Eph. 1.17 The Spirit of God which is given to Believers doth among other things imprint also Wisdom in their Souls not that of the things of this World of which Philosophers did boast but of those things which conduce to a better Life The same Spirit doth reveal also to those who are his things future and secret which cannot be known by humane Means Upon 1 Jo. 2.20 The Spirit doth suggest to us in all Circumstances both the Precepts of Christ and such Hints or Notices as are meet for the Occasion v. 27. What we are to do in every Circumstance For there are certain Differences which Times Places and Persons require Therefore is there often need of Admonition to hit the way of our Duty See Jer. 31.34 Jo. 6.45 and if you please Seneca Epist 94. And upon 1 Thess 4.9 The Holy Ghost teacheth you concerning all things to be done By how much the more there is of the Spirit so much the less need is there of Prescripts This Place is not to be understood of the General Precept but of special Determinations as all Things Persons and Times do require And Gal. 5.18 Those who are led by the Spirit as now of Age have no need of the Law the Guardian of their Youth And Rom. 8.4 Those who walk after the Spirit he interprets those who having obtained the Holy Spirit do constantly obey its Motions and afterwards v. 5. They that are after the Spirit he interprets those who are possessed by the Spirit of God which doth not now come to pass but by Christ And v. 12. he notes God hath given his Spirit that we should use it and again So great a Guest will be treated with Care otherwise he will bid farewell to his Lodging And to conclude 1 Thess 5.23 Spirit here saith he is that Holy Spirit inhabiting in the Souls of Christians and if it be carefully kept adhering to Souls unto Death and after Death even to the Resurrection and then referrs to what he had said 1 Cor. 15.44 to Hierom upon Gal. 5. and recites to the same purpose the Words of Philo Irenaeus Tatianus Clem. Alexandrinus and Tertullian More might be added but this is enough to shew the Mind of this great Man concerning the Necessity of our having the Spirit of God dwelling in us the Effects of his Residence in Light and Conduct and our Duty how to treat it And that this is also the Belief of the Church of England however some of late have commonly presum'd to speak if not despitefully and reproachfully yet too slightly of so great and holy a Principle of our Religion may appear by the most Authentick Evidence that can be her most solemn Addresses to Almighty God in divers Collects for this very purpose As for all Persons to be Baptized before they be Baptized to give his Holy Spirit to them that they may be born again c. and after they be Baptized to give his Holy Spirit to them that they may continue his Servants and attain his Promises So likewise for all Persons Confirmed to strengthen them with the Holy Ghost and daily increase in them his manifold Gifts of Grace before Imposition of Hands and then again together with the Imposition of Hands that they may daily increase in his Holy Spirit and again afterward that his Holy Spirit may ever be with them and so lead them c. and lastly for all the Congregation upon several Occasions as upon the Nativity of our Lord that they may daily be renewed by his Holy Spirit Upon the 19th Sunday after Trinity that his Holy Spirit may in all things Direct and Rule our Hearts Upon the first Sunday in Lent that we may ever obey his Godly Motions Upon Easter-Day that as by thy special Grace preventing us thou dost put into our Minds good Desires so by thy continual Help we may bring the same to good Effect Upon the fifth Sunday after Easter that by his Holy Inspiration we may think those things that be good and by his merciful Guiding may perform the same and others to the like Effect as upon the Sunday after Ascension Whitsunday the 13th Sunday after Trinity the Collect at the beginning of the Communion Service And at every Morning and Evening Service all are admonished to beseech him to give us his Holy Spirit And in the Coll. for Grace we pray to God that all our doings may be ordered by his Governance and in the Litany to indue us with the Grace of his Holy Spirit to amend our Lives according to his Holy Word In the Ordering of Deacons this Question is first to be asked by the Bishop Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this Office and Ministration c In the Ordering of Priests the Bishop says Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Priest in the Church of God c. And in the Consecration of a Bishop the
sad Truth but Truth it is and a Great one too and very manifest to all whose Eyes are open That our Vniversities and Church Preferments which were designed by our Pious Ancestors for the promotion of true Piety as well as Learning are by the Subtilty of Satan and Neglect of true Piety and Devotion to God become very subservient to the Kingdom of Darkness less to the Kingdom of Light From which corrupt Fountain hath proceeded one way or other not only all our Divisions but most of all the Evils which do now afflict either the Ecclesiastical or Civil State and if some very good Care be not speedily taken more and greater yet are more like to ensue than these be removed Of all the Sects which have sprung up amongst us there is none more considerable in this respect whereof I am speaking or less considered as it ought to be than that of the QUAKERS as they are abusively called begun by GEORGE FOX a young Man born of mean but honest and religious Parents at Drayton in Leicester-shire in the Year of our Lord 1624. and educated from his tender years in the Fear of the Lord but to no more Humane Learning than only to read English and write indifferently He was in his Youth disposed to Virtue and Piety and when upward of Nineteen retired from his Relations and Acquaintance and lived in divers places where he was not known working at his Trade of a Shoe-maker with his hands for his Livelyhood but exercising his Mind in serious Meditations both while at his Work and at other times of Leisure especially In the Year 1646. he understood That Vniversity Learning was not enough to qualifie Men to be Ministers of Christ and thereupon instead of hearing them used to retire with his Bible into Solitary places joyning neither with the Ministers of the Church nor with the Dissenters but relying wholly upon the Lord Jesus Christ for his Inward Teaching At another time he understood That God who made the World did not dwell in Temples made with Hands but in his Peoples Hearts And in the Year 1647. having been for some time exercised with Temptations and Troubles in his Mind he came farther to understand That all was done and to be done in and by Christ and How he conquers and destroys the Tempter And some time after he went among the Professors at Duckenfield Manchester and declared Truth as he calls it amongst them and also at Broughton in Leicester-shire and Mansfield in Northampton-shire and then People came far and near to see him And here his Preaching seems to have commenced And in 1648. were divers Meetings of Friends in several Places And this was the Beginning of that Sect which is now become so considerable in outward Appearance and I wish more considerable in a true inward Power than it is For as all Man-kind are apt to relapse and sink down again from the Elevation to which God at any time raised them so I doubt are this People now relapsed very much into a Form only of a different sort and appearance The Beginning of George Fox seems to have been by and under a true Divine Conduct such as Abraham was led by such as Moses was driven by from the Court of Pharaoh into the Wilderness and such as the Holy Prophets of Old and greater numbers of Holy Christians afterwards were partly led and partly driven by into the Wilderness Solitary places and Retirement from Relations Friends and Acquaintance as our Saviour saith to forsake Father and Mother Brother and Sister and House and Land for his sake and in those Retirements he did receive Openings as he calls it of Truth indeed and when he came from his Retirement and went into the Meetings of Professors he did declare Truth indeed as he expresseth it For it is a certain Truth that University Learning that Preaching and Praying at Churches or elsewhere that the Studying of the Holy Scriptures that the Profession of Faith in Christ the Use of the Sacraments and most frequent and constant use of the great and chief Solemnity of the Christian Worship nay even Zeal for Christ and doing Miracles in his Name and Reliance upon his Merits are all though good in their kind and very necessary and some absolutely necessary yet are all short and deceitful to those who rest in them and seek not in all and above all that inward Principle of Light and Life which is Christ in them who receive him in Sincerity and Purity and retain it by faithful and ready Obedience to his Conduct This George saw very well and rightly And if he did in the heat of Disputes either through Transport or any humane Infirmity or through the Subtilty of Satan getting any Advantage of him over-shoot himself it is no more than what Luther and Calvin and the rest of the Reformers have done who whether they have reformed or deformed most may very well bear a Dispute and he and his Party deserve to be pitied and helped out by gentle and kind means And great reason there is for it upon two accounts at the least 1. Because the Scandals given were the occasions of their Errors 2. Because Christianity having before been pull'd to pieces and no where compleat intire and clear from Corruptions and Abuses to be found in any Church or Party of People in the World they of all the parts chose the better the Soul leaving the Body as a dead Carcass to the rest It is true this is in a great Measure to be imputed to those who by their Empty Formality gave the Occasion yet it was a Fault in Them who took such Offence at it What God hath joyned together Man must not presume to put asunder If the Leaper be commanded to wash in Jordan 2 King 5.10 he must not think that to wash in the Rivers of Damascus will do as well If the Blind Man be commanded to wash in Siloam Jo. 9.7 or even Moses to cast up Ashes into the Air Exod. 9.8 the Command must be obeyed and observed or the Effect shall not follow If People be commanded to be Baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus that their Sins may be forgiven and that they may receive the Holy Ghost Act. 2.38 41. if they presume to neglect and cavil at the Command their Sins are more like to be increased and faster bound than forgiven and they more like to receive Satan transformed in a Spirit of Delusion than the Holy Spirit of God and to die in their Sins though with many false Comforts than to come to true Rest in the Lord in any other way than he hath prescribed God's Command if it be but the forbearing of an Aâ—ple Gen. 2.17 3.3 6 11. or the doing that which our Reason cannot understand must be observed punctually Disobedience to the Wisdom of God is no less a Sin than Disobedience to his Will And therefore I dare not excuse this People in this for their
their being cast out of the Synagogues as part of the Persecution they were to suffer It is also certain that our Saviour did foretell that many false Prophets that is false Teachers should come in his Name and deceive many and gave great Caution not to go out or believe them and that his Apostles did the like and did with great earnestness exhort all to beware of Divisions Schisms and Separations in the Church And accordingly in all Ages for Men to take upon them the Office of Elders or Ministers of the Gospel without a Regular Ordination derived by Succession from the Apostles or to draw away people after them and engage them in Separate Parties hath been looked upon as a heinous Sin and whoever have done so have been Infamous in the Church ever since And therefore if our Dissenters did continue daily with one accord at our Temples as the primitive Christians did and did continue their Assemblies at their own Meeting-places for Instruction and Edification without any Separation from the Church provided there was nothing but true Christian Doctrine taught amongst them I do not see but they might be of very good Use and deserve not only an Indulgence but Encouragement from the Publick Authority But they who make a Trade of it to engage Separate Parties I do verily believe have much to answer for before God and those who desire to be Christians indeed had need to beware of them And this I must in justice say after all I have said concerning what is amiss amongst us that thanks be to God we have those amongst us who for good Learning for profitable Preaching and for sincere Piety Devotion and all Virtue are no way inferior to any of the Dissenters if to be equalled by any of them and yet I cannot say they are so many but there may be reason enough to receive those Labourers also into our Lord's Harvest And I heartily wish it was well considered How they may be made more serviceable in so important and needful a Work without any thing of a Separation and that they would consider Who They are who sit in Moses or rather the Apostles Seat and What our Lord doth require in that respect And now to come more particularly to the PEOPLE of that Party call'd Quakers I must first acquaint them that I have not only had several Conferences with the Principal Persons of their Party whom they call Ministers but have also sent them several Letters and Papers to their Second Days Meetings And as our Conferences have hitherto been managed in a very friendly manner so I do desire to proceed in the same manner with them also and therefore what is directed at first only to the second days Meeting I shall desire them now to receive as intended from the first for them all though I thought it most fair and decent to proceed in that order And it is as followeth To William Penn and the rest of the Friends with him at their second days Meeting in Grace-Church-Street William and the rest of the Friends with thee MY Hearts desire and Prayer to God for you all is that ye may be saved for I am perswaded that you have a Zeal of God at least many of you though not according to Knowledge in some things Nevertheless whereto ye have attained in that I desire ye may be established and that God will be graciously pleased to reveal the rest to you that ye may be perfect and intire wanting nothing For which purpose I come I trust by the Grace of God with a Message of Grace and Peace to you I am well satisfied that it is no meer Humane Project or Artifice that at first raised you up and hath conducted you hitherto but a Supernatural Power and that it is of the Lord some way or other as was the Separation of the Ten Tribes from Rehoboam 1 King 12. for Correction and Reformation of something amiss in this Church And therefore I dare not presume either upon my own head or by my own Ability to intermeddle in it But my Heart is inlarged towards you upon these Considerations 1. That ye do assert one of the Great and Chief Principles of the Christian Religion which I have observed to be very unworthily and even despitefully treated by too many who have gotten into or seek Preferments and Imployment in the Church without Check or Reproof and so unworthily deserted by most for fear of reproach or disgrace or hindrance in their Preferment that I have not known it generously asserted by above two or three in the Pulpit but those great Men indeed though it be plainly a Doctrine most authentickly and solemnly professed and declared in the Church of England 2. That ye do bear a good Testimony against other Abuses connived at or tolerated amongst us 3. I am moved with Pity towards you that you should have so great Causes of Offence or Scandal given you against the Holy and Established Institutions and Ordinances of Christ for the Ministerial Office for the Admission of Proselytes and for the great Solemnity of the Christian Worship which hath been so long abused with Controversies that I know very few Persons now amongst us who do rightly and compleatly understand it and even against the Person Satisfaction and Merits of Christ himself But when I consider your Notions and Sentiments concerning these things though I am well satisfied that you are under the Conduct and Energy of some Spiritual Power yet What that Spirit is and Whether One or Divers in my Judgment doth deserve very good Consideration Ye know what Spirit it was which God sent between Abimelech and the Shechemites Jud. 9.23 and what that was that was sent from the Lord to Saul 1 Sam. 6.14 and what that was that was commissioned by God in the case of Ahab 1 King 22.22 23. and what that was in the midst of the Princes of Noph Isa 19.14 which was from the Lord too And that such a Spirit hath been among some call'd Quakers is manifest both by their Actions Speeches and Writings nay the very Spirit of the Devil and of Antichrist is apparent and undeniable from the Indignities offered both in word and deed to Holy things But that is not the thing now to be considered what Spirits may have appeared among them For even among the Apostles Satan had power to enter into Judas and it is not improbable but those whom our Saviour told Ye know not what Spirit ye are of and even Peter himself when our Saviour said to him Get thee behind me Satan might not at the time be free from some Impressions of Evil Spirits That 't is likely was a Peculiarity of our Saviour's for the Prince of this World to have nothing in him But the thing to be considered is What Spirit that is which at first excited and hath now the Conduct of the whole Body of this People And not whether it be sent or commissioned from God but