as fearful of offending and as tender of my duty as the first day that I vowed or as I was when I last communicated Do I remember how dear my former Offences cost me and how dâ—fficult my Repentance was How many sighs how many disturbances of a distracted Conscience it gave occasion to And have I courage enough to resist a temptation for the future to put a knife to my throat when I am at a Feast and to wear Sackcloath in the Palace of Princes Can I be grave in light company and reserv'd among the vain and virtuous in a debauch'd Society and chaste among the effeminate Are these my Resolutions constant do they dwell in my mind Or am I holy only by occasion and outward accidents and extraordinary events Am I as humble and devout in my prosperity as in the day of affliction Do I pray as often on the days of my pleasure as on a fasting-day And am I as just as charitable and temperate when I follow my worldly business as when I communicate Have I remembred * 2 Cor. 13.5 the Apostle of the Gentiles to examine my self whether I am in the Faith or else I am a Reprobate Is my Faith such as works by Love and publickly declares it self by an intire Obedience to the Laws of Christ and is fit to give me a right to communicate For the Catechumens who were not baptized had Faith and so had those who were in a state of Penance and yet their Faith was not thought sufficient to intitle them to the Priviledges of God's Table For Faith is not so much an affiance in God as a giving credit to his Revealed Will as it is a body of Laws adapted to the promoting of God's Honour and our Salvation Therefore when I say I believe I mean I resolve to live according to those injunctions that I take Jesus for my Saviour and expect to share in the benefits of his Death and Resurrection no further than I obey his will I must also further examine Am I in perfect Charity Is my hope firm and my love to Jesus unalterable Do I as earnestly long for this spiritual food as I do for my daily sustenance And could I be content rather to want the Necessaries of life than to be deprived of the Bread of God And do I bear in mind the doom of those who slighted the divine Invitations and would not come and of him who intruded not having the Wedding-garment These and many other such Questions are necessary to make this duty of Self-examination advantageous For nothing less than the strictest scrutiny can make a worthy Communicant It was therefore an excellent Observation of the Ancients That the preparation for the Holy Eucharist should be as strict and compleat as our preparation for our dissolution and that I should no more dare to appear before God's Table with any known sin unmortified than I should dare to appear before his Tribunal with it For when I approach this tremendous place I am not concern'd about matters of curiosity and of light value but about the most momentous affairs of Religion about my Souls health and eternity I do not therefore puzzle my self with little questions nor do I dispute what are the exact dimensions of the Kingdom of darkness where it is and what different Climates are in it but the question is whether Heaven and Hell be real or imaginary places Whether the Judicature of Conscience signifie any thing in this world or the Tribunal of Christ in that which is to come Can I dwell with everlasting burnings and a consuming fire where the torments are infinite in their height and infinite in their duration Is not depending on a death-bed-Repentance a deceiving of our selves And if so what shall I do now that when I go hence I may die in God's favour What shall I do to be saved This is a terrible Interrogatory a question of weight and moment For as no man is fit to die but he who loves God above all things and is in perfect charity with all Mankind who is unconcerned with the affairs of the world and hath learnt and practised an intire Resignation of himself into the hands of his Creator whose accounts are adjusted whose life hath been one act of intercourse with Heaven and whose interests in eternity are secured so neither is any man fit to approach the holy Table without the like preparation The Collect. LET thy holy Spirit so assist me O most gracious Father that my preparation for the Sacrament may be as exact as if I were to fit my self to stand before the Throne of my eternal Judg that nothing may a lienate my affections from thee nor alter my Resolutions Heavenward but that I may so worthily eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of man that when I go hence I may be admitted to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. VII Of the Examination of my Knowledg 'T IS not to be denied that some knowledg is requisite to fit me for this Heavenly Communion that I may be able * 1 Cor. 11.29 to discern the Lords Body But this knowledg rather consists in the understanding of the Offices of Holiness than in the comprehension of the depth of this and other sacred Mysteries I am very sure that at the first Institution the Apostles were very meanly furnisht with such Learning The very Foundation of the Sacrament the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour was a Riddle to them Nor did they then understand either the method of working out our Redemption or of the establishing of the Kingdom of the Messias in the world And yet because they were humble and devout sincere and obedient our great Master gave them admission to his Table And so was it also in the Primitive Church For the Bishops of old allowed every one as soon as he was baptized to come to the Holy Eucharist altho they carefully avoided any discourses about this Sacrament before those who had never been partakers of it And when their Subject led them that way they spoke in Figures and Metaphorical Expressions and appealed to the understanding of those who had communicated For they were well perswaded that it was a Mystery Now Mysteries are not to be pryed into but admired not to be commonly talkt of nor curiously disputed about but to be lookt on with Veneration and Respect to be studied and reverenc'd They knew it was no slight and perfunctory employment to communicate with the Holy Jesus but they withal knew that a little measure of Knowledg and a great degree of Humility Piety and Charity would intitle to the Priviledges of God's Altar Now all that they instructed the Candidates of these Mysteries in was only the duties of Morality Justice and Honesty Peaceableness and Compassion Chastity and Temperance together with an ardent love to God only now and then they could not forbear reprehending an Heretick
the only Region of Rest For I may be secure in the love of the world but I can never be safe but in the love of Jesus This divine Vertue is always content when it is in trouble it is not distrest when under the greatest perplexities it is far from despair when it is persecuted it is never forsaken of its God or its hopes and when it is wounded it cannot be slain for it always carries about with it the marks of a dying Redeemer and desires to know nothing but Christ and him crucified that it may die to the world 3. According to what a man loves so is his denomination in this world and so shall his judgment be in another We call a man Covetous from his love of money and Voluptuous from his love of Pleasure and Envious from his love of Revenge and so also we call a man a Christian from his love to God and his Neighbour For on those two hang all the law and the prophets And in the proceedings of the last day a man shall be examined not what he hath known nor what he hath believed not what he hath hop'd nor what he hath talkt of but what he hath loved and accordingly the love of the World shall damn the sinner while the love of Heaven makes the Saint happy Now this love can never be compleat unless it reflect upon God my Neighbours and mine Enemies and be particularly conversant with the Offices of Religion The Collect. For the 14th Sund. after Trin. ALmighty and Everlasting God! give unto me and to all thy people the increase of Faith Hope and Charity and that we may obtain that which thou dost promise make us to love that which thou dost command through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. X. Of the Love of God I Tremble when I read that sentence * 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema Maranatha And yet it is but just that the Punishment should be proportion'd to the Offence and that that man should be hated by his Maker who hath no affection for his Saviour in whom there is nothing wanting that may endear him to our Respects and our Love 1. There is in him the greatest Perfection and the most admirable Excellencies Can I with patience behold the Miser condemn himself to the Mines for the sake of his Mammon and a bigotted Devoto use wonderful Abstinences and submit to great austerities only to serve his desires of Applause Can I every day see how the lovers of Pleasure and Revenge wilfully make themselves dismal spectacles of Ruin and Desolation and be all the while unconcern'd and take no delight to please my adorable Redeemer and save my own soul * Wis 13.3 c. If men being delighted with the beauties of the Heavenly Host took them to be Gods let them know how much better the Lord of them is For the first Author of Beauty hath created them and by the beauty and greatness of the Creatures proportionably is the Maker of them seen But it is too sadly found true that the love of the world grows to a prodigious stature of a sudden while the love of God and Holiness is pincht in its Infancy and starv'd in its Swath-bands It is a Plant which seldom meets with a fit Soil and when it grows up can never be brought to maturity without the constant beams of the Sun of Righteousness a plentiful portion of the dew of Heaven and a great care to preserve and cherish it 2. I ought to love my Saviour because I have the greatest Obligations to him For his love to me brought him from Heaven to Earth from a Throne to a Cross and thence into Hell for my Redemption Greater love than this hath no man shown than that he should lay down his life for his friend said the compassionate Jesus And is there no higher degree no nobler instance of love O my infallible Master Yes certainly thine was when thou wert content to die for thine Enemies Many waters could not quench it and it was stronger than death Now if the love of an undone world conquer'd God's Anger made him suspend his Justice and degrade his Son should not the love of God much rather engage me to conquer my Lusts Could I die O my best Friend a thousand times over for thee yet should I not love thee according to thy deservings But this is our great folly and the cause of all our miseries we are set on fire under the Pole and we freeze under the Aequinoctial the world makes us passionate Lovers while the Son of God cannot 3. To love God is the most natural and easie of all Recompences Shouldest thou Lord now require from me the burthensom Attendances and the expensive Sacrifices that were injoin'd under the Old Law I could have no Reason to complain but to love thee sincerely is the cheapest of Returns For when my bodily weakness or infirmities will not suffer me to fast or watch or wear sackcloath and my poverty hinders my giving Alms yet I am never so poor never so weak but I can love and tho perhaps I cannot hear every day nor pray every hour nor communicate every week yet nothing hinders but that I may love my God every moment and that will bring me to Eternity 4. The Love of God is the Fountain of acceptable Obedience and proportionable to my Love to God is my Zeal and my Devotion my Resolution and my Piety and when once these Ardors cool every thing that is good languishes and decays To be affrighted threatned and compell'd to serve my Master is a dishonour to my Christian performances and fullies all their Beauties but it is a Sacrifice that God is well-pleased with when the Offering is brought freely and offered chearfully and sent up in flames to Heaven being offered on the Altar of Love For Jesus is the Author of salvation to those only who so love him and the Grace of God is only with them who love his Son in sincerity 5. A due Reflection upon this Sacrament is a great encouragement to love him who instituted it for by it we are made one Body of which our blessed Saviour is the Head And therefore among other Rites that intimated this Union it was the ancient use nor is it yet prohibited in our Church but left to discretion to mingle Water with the Wine in the holy Chalice to testifie the Mystical Union that is betwixt Christ and his Church For as Water and Wine mix and incorporate so are the faithful Communicants made the same body with the Son of God For in the Opinion of * Cypr. Epist 63. Euseb Emis Hom. 5. de Pasch c. the Ancients the Wine is the Figure of our Redeemer's Blood and the Water of the many Nations purchas'd by it Besides all which it is further considerable that of worldly things a man may love what he shall never enjoy or
him drag'd from the Garden to the Palace of Amas thence to the House of Calaphas and thence to Pontius Pilate who sent him to Herod Herod used him with all sort of scorn clad him in Mock-purple and remanded him to the Roman Procurator where the Soldiers and common people spit on him blinded him smote him and ironically bid him prophecy who did it he was whipt like a slave while the multitude in their esteem prefer to him Barabbas a Traytor a Thief a Murtherer a Captain to those seditious persons with whom he made his insurrection one publickly and notoriously guilty of the crimes laid to his charge and look'd on as a pernicious wretch and one of the pests of the Kingdom And when he was thus cover'd with blood and sweat with stripes and the marks of cruelty with an uneasie Crown and ridiculous purple he was brought out and exposed to publick view he was crucified a death by which none but slaves and the vilest malefactors were punisht and that naked no regard being had to modesty or the rules of decency and in the midst of the Thieves as the worst of all the malefactors The High-priests mock'd him the common people shook their heads his fellow sufferers upbraided him and all that past by did shoot out their Arrows even bitter words which affronts were not the Ephemerous product of sudden fury but the continuation of former injuries for all his life long he was censured his poor parentage thrown in his Teeth is not this the Carpenter His Doctrine misrepresented as if he spoke against Moses and the Temple and introduc'd false Doctrine his Miracles belied as if he cast out Devils by compact with Satan his conversation mistook as if his innocent and necessary freedom were herding with the profligate and making friendship with publicans and sinners Nothing could be more temperate and yet he is impeached of being a Glutton and a Drunkard nothing more Chast and yet he is affronted with the title of a companion of Harlots no man more sedate and grave and yet his nearest Relations say he is besides himself nothing was more Loyal and yet he is accused as an enemy to Caesar nothing more Pious and yet he is condemn'd for Blasphemy If he be benign and free in his converse then he is popular and seditious if retired he hath a Devil and let him cry down hypocrisy never so zealously he is reputed an Impostor Thus they affronted him in all his capacities Was he designed our High-priest to redeem the world by the sacrifice of himself They mock him on the Cross with his Office If thou be the Son of God save thy self and us Was he sent to be the great Prophet to declare the Will of God to mankind They first blind then smite him and afterward bid him prophecy who struck him And had God design'd him to be a King They cloath him in Purple put on his Head a Crown of Thorns and a Reed in his right hand instead of a Scepter Such was the ill entertainment the holy Jesus found such the rudeness of men to their greatest benefactor that he that came into the World only to do good was above all others in it worst treated All which indignities could not but sit more uneasily upon an innocent person than they would have done on a hardy criminal who usually takes shelter in impudence And to make the shame exquisite remember O my Soul that this Son of Man was at the same time the Son of God When therefore I represent to my self my bleeding Saviour nailed to the accursed Tree and view the sadness of his countenance disfigured with his Sweat his Blood and his Tears when I look upon his wounded side his hands and feet pierc'd his head crown'd with Thorns Is not this sight enough to strike me dumb enough to strike me dead when I consider that my sins have wounded him and were more troublesom than his adversaries malice Shall the Jews be up at midnight to apprehend him and shall I not break my sleep to serve him shall the sinner take more pains to be damn'd than I to work out my salvation with fear and trembling What shall I first admire in thee O my dying Redeemer for thou art all wonderful I admire thy willingness to submit for no compulsion could force thee to bear the weight of thy Father's anger it is indisputably true that Jesus could fall by no hand but his own and that his Love had slain him before the Spear pierc'd his side and if we may believe the Vision in St. Dennis thou art ready yet to come down again and to dye anew were it any way conducive to the salvation of mankind I admire the miraculousness of the contrivance That he who grasps the World in his fist should be confined to a Cradle and he who sustains Angels should suck the Breasts of a Virgin that Vigour it self should languish Eternity become mortal that Life should give up the ghost and God be crucified and the same person at the same time in Hell and in Paradise I admire the intireness of his resignation who without any articles or capitulation gave himself up to the managery and conduct of his Father submitting the habit and the acts of his Will to God and resolving to obey in whatever manner he should require Nor can I forbear admiring and celebrating the earnestness of his Love who was in great distress till he had paid our ransom but I cannot avoid particular reflections on the advantages of his being crucified publickly that the matter of fact might be undeniable and that the Apostles might have no cause to be ashamed of their Doctrine or the World of their Faith nor both of their Saviour What a pattern of resignation and submission of meekness and patience of compassion and love to the worst of enemies had the Christian world been deprived of if our bessed Saviour had suffered in a Corner or been strangled in a Prison It was out of design to make his virtues as well as his sufferings illustrious that he chose to suffer at Jerusalem the Metropolis of the Country and at the Passover when all the Nation were come up to the holy City Let therefore the Cross of Christ be to the Jews an offence and scandal who expect to share with the Messia in the grandeur of a secular Kingdom and let it be to the Greeks foolishness who relish no notions but what comport with their ease and profit and think it madness to slight present miseries and stand in awe of future sufferings I will look upon it as the greatest instance of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness that God was pleased to teach his Son Obedience and to make the world happy by the things which he suffered And am I not indispensibly obliged to follow this pattern and to imitate this my best Friend Can I be ashamed of a naked crucified Saviour who when he was stript of his Garments
thy sight for all mankind especially for the houshold of faith through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen May the Blessing of God Almighty the Father Son and Holy Ghost be with me and remain with me now and for evermore Amen § 28. And because the blessings of an Easter are very valuable and deserve extraordinary returns the good Christian thinks fit after the Evening Service at Church is over to return again to his Closet to converse with his holy Saviour and to exercise those acts of Love of Faith of Contrition and Hope and other Graces which for want of leisure or other conveniences could not so well be performed in the House of God to which he subjoins this or the like Meditation The MEDITATION § 30. I Am now return'd from that happy place that is preferable to Paradise where I have been treated with a Feast of fat Things and Wine well refined and what does my Lord require of me in point of Gratitude for these his inestimable benefits but to do Justice to love Mercy and to walk humbly with my God For every thing in this Sacrament obliges me to holiness of Life the Institutor of it was the undefiled High Priest of our Profession who did bear all sins but committed none the end of its Celebration is to show forth his Death which when we receive unworthily we act over again we new crucifie the Lord of Life who hath bought us and bring on our selves the most horrid and affrighting guilt that we can incur the preparation is nothing less than a strict examination of our Consciences than strong Prayers and Cries ardent resolutions of being better and a constant course of pious and charitable Actions This Sacrament actually enters us into Covenant with God and what agreement can there be between Light and Darkness It is an Emblem of our holy Profession which calls us to an exemplary Conversation it is a bond of Christian Communion and obliges to Charity 't is a representation of our Saviour's Crucifixion and so calls to the practice of Patience Forgiveness and Holy Resolution and it is a solemn Sacrifice of Praise and so obliges to practical Gratitude How wide are thy Wounds O my dying Saviour and how sorrowful thy Countenance Oh thy bitter Agony Oh thy shameful Cross And all occasioned by my sins and shall I continue in the same Transgressions out of despite to my Saviour Lord let me never be in any capacity to do so any more for how shall I dare to eat with thee and to lift up my heel against thee In this Sacrament I renew the Vow which I made in my Baptism and have so often shamefully broken and thereby forfeited the blessings which were promis'd me upon the performance of my duty Now this Covenant as on Gods part it entitles me to his Protection and his love to the Merits of his Son and the indwelling of his Holy Spirit so on my part it engages me to accept of that Son of his in all his Offices obliging me to receive him as my Sovereign and to obey his Commands and to depend upon him to receive him as my High Priest and to believe that his Sacrifice of himself if I repent and amend shall cleanse me from all sin but if I continue in my disobedience shall avail me nothing and to give my self up to his Instruction as a Prophet learning from him all the particulars of the Divine Will that are necessary to make me wise to Salvation and perfect unto every good Work But how often have I broken that Covenant rebell'd against this my Sovereign made my self unworthy of the blessing of this my High Priest and cast all his Laws behind my back Before my Repentance my bosom was a Den of Thieves and a Cage of unclean Birds but now it is cleansed and I am become a new Creature now know I that I am the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in me but if any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which Temple I am There is a particular Veneration paid to the places where Princes usually entertain themselves and every House where any of the Blood-Royal of Persia is born is afterward converted to a Sanctuary and whereever any of their Princes lodges in a Journey the place is reputed for the future sacred and ought not the place where my God takes up his Habitation to be for the same reason separate from profane and common uses And if some of the School-Doctors who assert Transubstantiation tell us that as soon as the consecrated Host grows mouldy the Body of God retires from it and it is again changed into its old substance of bread can I think that God will pitch his Tents in a polluted Soul infected with the Leprosie of Vice I do therefore resolve and it shall from henceforward be the employment of my time and my strength so to live in thy fear and to thy service that I may dye in thy favour and rest in thy Peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. § 31. At the end of this Meditation this Collect is fitly subjoined BLessed and most bountiful Saviour as thou hast honoured me and made me happy this day so vouchsafe me the same measures of Grace the same ardors of Mind and the same holy opportunities all the days of my Life fix my thoughts upon the things of Heaven strengthen and inflame my love to my dying Saviour increase and support my Faith confirm and secure my Hopes and give me frequent occasions to exercise all the other Virtues of my Christian Calling and as thou hast filled my soul with the most ravishing and transporting pleasures so make me for ever careful that I neither quench thy Blessed Spirit nor stifle its Motions but that I may improve all the seasons of Mercy and all the tendries of Grace to the best ends and purposes to the advancement of thy Glory and my own Salvation through thy Merits and Mediation who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest ever one God world without end Amen § 32. After this the devout man is all Rapture and all Joy and cannot forbear praising God afresh for all his spiritual blessings in Heavenly Places in this or the like Hymn O God my heart is ready my heart is ready I will sing and give praise with the best Member that I have I will give thanks unto thee O Lord among the people and I will sing praises unto thee among the Nations For thy mercy is greater than the Heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the Clouds Through God shall we do great acts and it is he that shall tread down our enemies Truly God is loving unto Israel even unto such as are of a clean heart Oh how amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord of Hosts my soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh rejoice in
Reward from my Father that seeth in secret And tho on every day I give my God my earliest attendance yet on the days of my solemn Vows I bind my self to prevent the morning that in the beginning of the watches I may pour out my heart like water before the Lord. Thus every day will be a day of business and traffick and every night I shall be some steps nearer to my Fathers Palace The Collect. GRant Lord that when I serve thee in secret I may do it with a true and upright heart and that all my publick performances may be encouragements to others to love and praise and adore thee that I may pray fervently and thank thee heartily and read carefully and meditate seriously and fast humbly and live conscientiously all the days of my life in hopes at my death to be admitted into thy presence through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. I. Of the Obligations of Religion especially the Sacraments to Holiness WEre the Christian Religion to be judg'd of by the excellency of its Author and the purity of its Precepts by the wisdom of its contrivance and the usefulness of its designs it would need no other Credentials that it came down from Heaven and that its Original was from God But if we judg of it by the practices of its professors who under the mask of Piety allow themselves in all sorts of sensuality who scruple not to break all their Vows made to their Maker tho confirm'd and renew'd in the presence of Men and Angels and sealed by the most precious Body and Blood of the Son of God who call themselves Saints and yet live more irregularly than Brutes This very consideration is enough to encline a man to applaud the Morals of the Heathen World and to believe that either that body of holy Precepts is not the Gospel of the blessed Jesus or such men are not professors of it so strongly are the generality of Mankind in a loose and ungovernable Age bent towards Vice and Ruin Nor can it otherwise be expected when men put on the form of godliness in defiance to the power of it and think that the Redemption wrought out for them by Christ is only a deliverance to do all sort of abominations Nor can I give a better Reason why the Christian World are so degenerate from truth and holiness than that so few of us reflect on the Obligations of the Covenant that we have enter'd into with God tho so often and so solemnly acknowledged by us that we confidently lay claim to the Priviledges but never mind the Duties of Religion May our gracious God so mercifully forgive me and the rest of sinners our former neglect as we may resolve for the time to come to alter our course and put on more becoming Resolutions and faithfully make good what we have so solemnly promis'd our Redeemer For when I seriously and as becomes a Christian consider with my self the Relation which every baptized person hath to the Son of God and that that initiatory Sacrament was design'd as to free him from his share in Adam's sin so to engage to a life of Obedience to the Laws of our blessed Saviour and that therefore we are buried with him in baptism that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life reckoning our selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord I cannot but remember that among all those holy and beneficial Precepts which he hath blest the World with that is none of the least in advantage and usefulness that injoins me to do as he did in remembrance of his Passion the great cause of our redemption and happiness and encourages me to frequent communicating because as often as I do eat that bread and drink that cup so often do I show forth the Lords death till he come so often do I call to mind my old promises of obedience and conformity to the divine prescription and enter into new engagements to love and adore my Saviour How eagerly therefore ought my soul to pursue after and to embrace all Opportunities of coming to that holy Table where God exhibits himself Happy are those Servants of his who stand continually before him and keep themselves always in that frame of mind that fits and encourages them to communicate every day Happy are those men who only want Occasions but are never defective in intention or preparation who are never without the Wedding Garment nor without Oyl in their Lamps How did our dear Saviour long to institute the Sacrament * Luke 22.15 with desire did he desire to eat the passeover at the close of which the Eucharist was celebrated before he suffered And shouldst not thou my soul as earnestly long to receive it Were this Sacrament like that of Baptism not to be re-iterated or but once only in my life to be received and that just before my death with what ardors of mind should I wish to be dissolv'd that I might thus also be with my Saviour And must the Blessing because it is common be for that Reason cheap Is the bread of Heaven become contemptible because it may be my daily food But remember O my soul it is not enough to approach this Venerable Altar unless thy Repentance be sincere thy Sorrow hearty thy Resolutions unalterable thy Piety flaming and thine Alms generous My preparations should be the same with those of dying persons not of those who have lived loosly all their days in hopes to make their faint desires of Heaven when the pleasures of the Earth have deserted them to pass for true love to those joys but of those who all their lives long have been crucified to the world My care ought to be so to approach Gods Table on Earth as if I were the next moment to be carried by Angels to eat bread with him in his Kingdom It is true I am too sensible that this is more easily talkt of than done that when the good Man is acting the Priest and sacrificing himself to God then Satan is at his right hand perplexing him And I have sadly experimented how difficult it is to deny my self to put off the Old Man and to crucifie my transgressions But is it not O my soul much more sad and difficult more uneasie and distracting to be confin'd to utter darkness and to endure the tortures of Hell in a remediless Eternity To argue from a present state of ease is a shortness of discourse that is not to be allowed Were I never so passionately bent to gratifie an unreasonable Lust I doubt not but I should be afraid to proceed did any man but threaten me with immediate death if I should pursue my unlawful design And ought I not with greater Reason to forbear when that God who can neither lie nor deceive threatens me with everlasting damnation Am I afraid of the
destroy themselves first with their Fears before they actually fall into a Mischief that cannot be avoided and what man can pretend to such a state of ease and indolency When therefore the Son of God makes a Disciple he calls him to the practice of self-denyal to the contempt of the World and all its vanities to the mortifying of his Passions and the abjuration of Pleasures that is he bids him live no longer like a Beast but like a man and a Christian and in lieu of these impertinencies he promises him all that is great and good in a better life and this was the method he made use of when he comforted the first-born of his Family his Apostles upon his departure And what could be more eloquent rational or pâ—rswasive than such a discourse about patience from him who had his sufferings in inmediate prospect For the thoughts of such persons being fixt on Heaven they talk of the place as if they were there already their stile is more brisk and vigorous than ordinary and their words make a deeper impression such was our Saviours last Sermon and such the Epistles of the Apostles which they wrote in their bonds Jesus having discovered Judas forewarned Peter and bound the rest of his Disciples to mutual Love and Charity at length tells them that it was the greatest Argument of the heighth of passion and shortness of reasoning to be troubled at the adversities of this present life that he who is strong in Faith is above the assault of secular dangers and whoever is called to embrace the Gospel is out of the reach and beyond the Fears of temporal afflictions that when you imprison him you do not rob him of his Liberty and when you kill him you cannot hurt him for he that depends on the Crucified Jesus for Salvation is secure that if he suffer with his Master he shall reign with him Such a man is assured that there is so large a provision made for him in Heaven that it baffles all carnal objections and stifles the very sense or remembrance of pain for his Master is ascended to his Father's Right Hand not so much to glorifie his own Body as to intercede for us that we may be glorified there he is now our Advocate and from thence he shall come again at the last day to be our guide that where he is we may be forever with him nor can any thing hinder our Union with him to Eternity who have been united to him here in the Offices of Piety our natural corruptions cannot obstruct the Union our Saviour is the way nor can our ignorance do us injuries he is the Truth and the Attempts of death it self are vain and of no force he is the Life For as long as the Father and he are one and so they shall be to Eternity all the Power and Wisdom of the Godhead must dwell in him bodily and who can resist Omnipotence or outwit the only Wise God Especially when it is considered that his Goodness is commensurate to his Power and his Wisdom so that the meanest of his Servants when he strengthens them shall be able to do all things and the greatest of the Miracles that Christ himself did shall be less than what his Followers shall be able to do nor is it to be doubted how this can be Since the Prayers of a good man recommended in the Name and upon the account of the Merits of his Saviour answer all devout ends and purposes and for this end probably the afflictions of this life were made the Portion of Christianity that if our Duty did not our needs might bring us often on our Knees for God denies nothing where the love of the Supplicant is bright and ardent and makes it self illustrious in a life of Obedience for upon such a man the Holy Dove descends and becomes his Comforter his Companion and his Friend it instructs him when ignorant it relieves him if opprest it encourages and defends him when timerous it bestows all that is good and protects from all that is evil this Spirit is the Vicar unto the Bishop of Souls it was primarily designed to lead the Church into all Truth and to secure it from perishing under the persecutions of its Enemies and to supply the want of the bodily Presence of the Redeemer of Mankind this Spirit was to unriddle all the Mysteries of Religion and to reveal what was hid from the cognizance of Ages to make those on whom it should descend the darlings of God and to give them Heaven upon Earth in the Enjoyment of Holy Thoughts and a quiet Mind which none of the disturbances of this Life shall be able to ruffle or discompose When the Soul is fixt on this Foundation being put out of the Synagogue signifies nothing nor can Death drest in its most formidable shape create any terrors for our Master hath told us that as in the deepest of his sufferings the blest Angels ministred unto him so they shall to his obedient followers and that their resurrection shall succeed his for the greatest instances of mutual love are beneath the indearments that are berween Jesus and a good man the Branches are not so firmly joyned to the Vine as the devout Soul is to its Saviour it is a Member of his Body and as dear to him as his own Honour This Union neither distance of Place nor alteration of Circumstances can dissolve 't is a Union cemented by the Blood of God and is built on a Foundation that stands most sure it is built upon God's Knowledg who are his and upon his Servants departing from all iniquity but it is a Union that is better felt than described and no one knows the happiness of it but he who hath experimented it As long as this Friendship lasts the Christian is impowered to do every thing that may glorifie his Master and benefit himself and what himself cannot do by his own Abilities shall be supplied by the Interests of his Saviour and procured by his own intense Supplications but if any man wilfully dissolve this Concord like a Branch cut off from the stock he withers and dies and becomes fit for nothing but to be cast into Eternal Flames Now nothing can break this Union but Vice and Iniquity for that which makes the Holy Jesus the only Beloved of his Father is his Obedience to the Divine Laws and his Passionate love to the world that engaged him to dye for it and whoever loves God and his Neighbour shall be made Partaker of all his Favour and his Heart shall be filled with Joy and can there be a more cogent Argument than this to endear Religion to a well inclined mind To be made the Friends of God the Elect and Beloved of the Saviour of the World the Pupils of the Spirit of Truth and Peace to have one Comforter to redeem them and another to sanctifie them and to have the Honour of being God's Ambassadors and the Witnesses