by his Father It pleased God to give him up to the cruelties of wicked men and the sorrows of death and that his Divine Nature though personally and inseparably united to his humanity should for a time suspend the effects of its beatifying union and leave him suffer as a man in soul and body the greatest pains without the least comforts They that saw our Crucified Saviour suffer so patiently as not to open his mouth to complain might have thought that he had no sense of pain therefore he crys out so bitterly My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why dost thou suffer me to be plung'd into this gulf of sorrow so that I have nothing but anguish within and without Why dost thou suffer me to be almost overwhelm'd by so great a distress and art so far from helping me and from the words of my complaint Psal 22. Lord we had deserved to sink and evermore to cry and groan in the bottomless pit and to rescue us Thou art pleas'd to descend very low and with strong crying and tears to say de profundis clamavi out of the depths have I cryed unto thee Psal 130. O Lord hear my voyce be pleased to hear us dearest Lord when we call upon thee and make thy voice sink into our hearts and there find a cheerful admission and a constant and sincere obedience §. 12. The height Now we have only the heigth of the Cross to look on that is the sublimity the greatness of the torments of Christs crucifixion that in this sense his Cross was very high appears already by what hath been said and yet we may consider further that he being conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost of a most pure Virgin was therefore of a most healthful constitution so that his senses being very quick and apprehensive were sensible of pain beyond other men's and so all the blows and wounds he receiv'd and his being nail'd and stretch'd three long hours on the Cross as upon the rack must needs have been a most exquisite torture Also the vigor of his nature being neither weakned nor spent by age or distempers he being full of strength and in the flower of his age was capable to taste the smart and sharpness of his pain to the very last moment of his life and so 't is written by S. Luke that he cryed with a loud voice when he gave up the ghost to shew that he was still very strong and that his death was bitter and violent to extremity There was likewise an invisible Cross which afflicted his soul and made it sorrowful even unto death his heart was like wax Psal 22. melted in the midst of his bowels and in the midst of so many and such intollerable pains his murtherers shook their heads made mouthes at him scoft at his sorrows by cruel and insulting mockeries and by their tongues and derisions aggravated those sufferings which their hands could hardly increase but that the Cross of Christ was higher in the greatness of it's pains than that of any Martyr of any man that ever suffered is evident enough only by considering who it was that was crucified on it for it was more that JESUS being perfect God as well as Man should shed one drop of blood than that all Men and Angels should for Millions of years bear the greatest torments Lord we were wonderfully made by thy power but we are yet more wonderfully redeem'd by thy mercy Lord what is man that thou shouldst thus be mindful of him or rather what is man that he is unmindful of thee §. 13. What an infinite love is exprest by the Cross Now we have seen the whole frame of the Cross writ all over in blood with characters of love expressions of the greatest kindness for a testimony that JESUS lov'd us unto death Not any sorrow or anguish in his soul not any gap or wound in his body but are as many mouthes to cry aloud in the ears of all men Behold what manner of love God had for his enemies his sinful and unworthy creatures to suffer such things to die in such a manner for to redeem them and make them happy Now let us if we can comprehend the breadth and the length O dilectio quam magnum est vinculum tuum quo ligari potuit Deus Idiot the heighth and the depth of the love of JESUS that love which bound him much harder than the cords of the Jews and nail'd him to his cross much faster than those Irons which pierc't his hands and feet for he that could with one word cast his enemies to the ground could easily have broke their bands and escap't from them but that his love did constrain him and make him desirous and willing thus to die What man would suffer one half of what Christ did for his dearest Benefactor And then how immense and wonderful was that charity which he exprest in suffering the ignominy and pains of the Cross for those that were his enemies and had highly injur'd him and from whom he could expect no reward but only to be lov'd again Let us therefore remember it throughout this whole book or rather throughout our whole life that we have been redeem'd from eternal despair and misery and from our vain and sinful conversation not by any corruptible thing as silver and gold but by the precious Blood of Christ shed with great pain and great ignominy §. 14. Of the eternal happiness Jesus merited for us by his death This love of JESUS is more already by far than ours can answer Could our hearts burn perpetually with those brightest flames of love which beatifie the Cherubims could they contain all the most passionate affections of all Saints both in heaven and earth yet we could not love JESUS so much as he deserves for having died to save us from eternal death and yet he did more he suffer'd death that we might have life that we might have eternal life Not only that we might not be intirely miserable but also that we might be perfectly happy Heaven is the purchase of the Blood of Christ as well as Redemption from hell God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us when we were dead in trespasses and sins hath quickned us together with Christ and hath rais'd us up Ephes 2.5 together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Let us meditate a while upon that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory reserv'd in heaven for us 2 Cor. 4.17 and in it consider the same dimensions as in the price wherewith it was bought the Cross of our Saviour and it will greatly press and increase our obligations to love him It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Paul calls it each word is a part of its dimension First the Breadth it comprehends all joys and pleasures all things that are good and desirable all that can yield satisfaction and create
the horrors and torments of Hell hath laid on thee at least as great obligations to love him as if he had brought thee out of it after thou hadst been long detain'd therein Therefore I desire thou wouldst bring thy thoughts back again to that unpleasant abode and consider thy self as if thou wert shut up in that dismal dungeon and then express what thou wouldst give to be releast what thou wouldst do for him that should bring thee out of that horrible and bottomless pit I know that they that are afflicted with sharp pains and grievous sicknesses would purchase health with all the wealth they have and I believe no reward would hire a man to hold his hand in the fire but for one hours time therefore I doubt not but that if it were in a mans power he would give this and a thousand more worlds to be brought out of an ever-burning furnace and I am perswaded that if thou wilt suffer thy fansy to be active in framing the black and dreadful scene of hellish horrors about thee thou wilt then heartily say were I owner of the whole universe I would joyfully give it to come out of these ever-burning flames which torment my body and to be freed from this never dying worm the remorses of my guilty conscience which torture my soul but because I have nothing freely would I give my self to him that should bring me out of this woful place O I would follow him any where do any thing that he should command me imbrace his feet kiss the ground they tread on and give him all the demonstrations of a sincere and passionate Love Well thy petition is granted before 't was presented the Love and Mercy of JESUS hath prevented thy request and distress New make good thy vows and resolutions Love and Serve JESUS thy Redeemer and give thy self up wholly to him I know that many may be good Christians without being snatch't out of the fire without these terrors and affrightments but I am shewing what our condition had been without a Saviour what is that gulf of perdition whence JESUS hath sav'd us if we will be saved by him and I mention these terrors of the Lord as S. Paul calls them to perswade men to be motives of an active and vehement Love For 't is too observable that few men seriously consider what Redemption means what it was we were redeemed from else they could no◠be so indevout so disobedient so unthankful to their Saviour S. Paul supposing as I do here that without Christ we were already dead and perish't makes it the reason of that Constraining Love which enabled him and other Primitive Christians to suffer so patiently and act so zealously for JESUS the love of Christ saith he constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead as if he should say we were certainly dead irrecoverably lost had not Christ died to purchase life and salvation for us therefore we cannot chuse but love him and it is no wonder if that love be strong and if we are govern'd and acted by it That thou maist therefore love affectionately and live devoutly consider seriously that death the misery of that condition wherein thou wert and ever must have been hadst thou not a JESUS I might add that we were delivered from the power and slavery as well as from the condemnation of sin but this is included in the other it being impossible to be saved from the wrath to come without bringing forth fruits meet for repentance and as it is mercy and grace on God's part so on ours it is matter of duty and earnest indeavour and must be the result and effect of our love first that we offend not and then that we serve diligently and faithfully him that redeemed us from our vain conversation and gave himself for us that we being dead unto sin might live unto righteousness §. 7. How we were Redeemed A further ingagement to love and obey will be to consider the manner how our redemption was effected and the price that was paid for it thus The Blessed Son of God the Second Person of the Ever-glorious Trinity undertook that work himself which none else could perform for us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary In praesepe jacet sed mundum continet ubera sugit sed angeles paseit Aug. Ser. de purific 2. and was made man In this act of his miracles and mercies seem to vie one with another that the God of Eternity should be born in time that the Creator of all things should be the Son of a Creature that the most highest should abase himself to the low condition of a servant that God should become an infant is a miracle of Love which we can admire and adore but never fully comprehend The greatness of God is unsearchable his excellencies and perfections are incomprehensible he is infinitely good powerful wise and holy Man contrariwise is in himself wicked and weak ignorant impure and miserable there is so great a disproportion betwixt God and man Haec est mensura amoris non solum quantum fecit nos quanta fecit pro nobis sed quantillus factus est pro nobis so wide so immense a distance that nothing less than an infinite love could have fill'd up the gulf betwixt those two so different natures and united them into one person 'T was never seen that a shepherd would creep upon all four and cover himself with a sheep-skin to call his flock out of danger and to expose himself for it but the good shepherd did much more When he came to lay down his life for his lost and wandering sheep and gather them into his fold he took on him not only the likeness but the very nature of them he became the lamb of God that he might be the shepherd of mankind Though he was infinitely more above man then men are above beasts yet he became the son of man that he might become the Saviour of men 'T was never seen that a Sovereign Prince would seek to reduce to loyalty the most abject of his rebellious subjects by mixing blood with them uniting their families together but behold the Supreme Monarch of heaven and earth contracts a near affinity with his ungrateful rebels who are as vile and miserable as they are criminal that he may free them from their guilt and win them to their duty and their happiness Proud and wretched sinner thou wouldst be so far from entring into the kindred of meaner persons those that are much thine inferiors that thou canst hardly indure to be in their company and behold the most Glorious and Holy God thine offended Sovereign is become thy near relation is become thy Brother that he may win thine affections and become thy Saviour His life all along was a continuation of his great mercy and humility he
affections natural love that powerful passion whereby all things and all men are govern'd §. 21. Of the properties of love The first Though the properties of love in general be better known by experience than they can be by discourse Ineffabilem prorsus ego sentio amorem Dei qui sentiri magis quam dici possit Basil yet it may serve to good purpose to say something of them the first whereof is that love always imbraceth what is good either in truth or appearance for Man's inclinations are still the same as they were in the state of innocence though much depraved we still pursue after what we think will make us happy only we mistake Like the bramble in the fable which having lost a rich freight of the finest silks and now takes hold of the coarsest stuffs to recover its loss so have all men a secret sense that they are faln from a state of felicity and have lost a jewel of infinite value which still they esteem and love though they know it not and therefore now to recover the eminency of their first station they are climbing upon every mole-hill petty mountains of ambition to recover their lost jewel they pick up every pebble stone where they see a glimpse of beauty where they relish any thing of goodness there they set their love and affection as if that were the summum bonum which is but an imperfect shadow of it so that we are like an infortunate lover who being seiz'd by a phrensy forgets and forsakes his Mistress and dotes on her picture We neglect God and fall in love with those things that have the least impress of his perfection and then like Idolaters we pay that worship to the work which is due to the maker only Therefore ought we to take great heed that we be not taken with every seeming beauty or goodness but that we examine whether that be the thing which will make us intirely happy and beyond which we shall wish for nothing For if it be not we must pass it by and seek further and never rest nor set our hearts on any thing till we have found that true and perfect good most obvious and easie to be found which being lov'd will be certainly possest and being possest will make us perfectly happy and that is God alone It is the meditation of S. Augustine Amaturus honorem forte non perventurus quis me amavit non ad me pervenit quisquis me quaerit cum ipso sum c. Tract 10. in Ep. Johan Thou maist seek after honours and not obtain them thou maist labour for riches and remain poor thou maist dote on pleasures and have many sorrows but our God the Supreme Goodness saith Who ever sought me and found me not who ever defir'd me and obtain'd me not who ever lov'd me and mist of me I am with him that seeks for me he hath me already that wisheth for me and he that loveth me is sure of me the way to come to me is neither long nor difficult love makes me present to every lover §. 22. The second A second property of love is that it never rests and is never satisfied until it be possest of the beloved object This makes abused worldlings so busie so perpetually restless and active about the purchase of their beloved vanities and this makes devout Christians like S. Paul Phil. 3. never to count themselves to have apprehended but forgetting the things which are behind and reaching forth to those that are before to press forward towards the mark the price of their high calling the object of their love and most passionate desires This restlessness and activity of love found work enough for the Fathers of the Desarts whose indefatigable pains to mortifie their sinful appetites whose unwearied diligence to serve God whose swift and violent motion heaven-ward is the object of our wonder and upbraids our sloth and negligence They were almost wholy freed from the necessities of the body which is the endless task and work of other men and yet they were always imploy'd they had almost nothing to do and yet were never idle the love of Eternity the love of JESUS kept them in action they dwelt in peace and yet were never at rest Our heart which is the seat of love can never be quiet till it returns within Gods imbraces till it be possest of that infinite good which all men love though but a few know it See the several plots and undertakings of men in the world 't is love sets them at work 't is to obtain what their blind affections run after that they are so assiduous and so laborious See the prayers and pious exercises the self-denial and mortifications the manifold acts of charity and the great patience of Christians in the Church 't is love also hath set them their task and makes them so diligent so watchful till they have fulfil'd it We sometimes wipe the tears from our eyes and our sorrows admit of joyful intervals our anger doth not last always and sometimes hatred is asleep Habet omnis amor vim suam nec potest vacare amor in anima amantis Aug. but love like the heart wherein it dwells can never cease to act and move till it ceaseth to be where ever love is it shews it's life and power and is always doing §. 23. The third In the third place as love is active so it is effective it doth not spend it self in useless and insignificant attempts it 's strength is great as well as it's indeavours Great are the dangers and difficulties which love overcomes it carries the ambitious lover of honour through many uneasie perils to a fading laurel it carries the covetous lover of riches through the most hard and slavish labours to his false and treacherous mammon and it carries likewise the devout lover of JESUS through obedience and self-humiliation through briers and uneasie crosses through patience and the greatest sufferings to the injoyment of his Beloved Love can do all things since it brought God down from heaven to become man and die for man Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Rom. 8.35 c. saith S. Paul Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us for I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord As much as to say that the power of love is irresistible that it answers all objections and conquers all obstacles notwithstanding mans high provocations and great unworthiness love made the Almighty lay down the arms of his just vengeance and open his bosom of mercy to give his dear and onely Son
to cut off my right hand and pluck out mine eye when they offend is more than barely to resolve Gal. 5.24 and promise high and proceed no further They that are Christs have not only verbally renounc'd but actually crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts therefore now I have given up my self to Christ and desire ever to be his I must pray heartily and watch diligently against my sins those especially that are most pleasing and customary to me I must like S. Paul not fight in the air against generals but keep under my body be temperate in all things and strive to the utmost for the incorruptible crown I must use that violence to my self such harsh applications acts of penance and mortification of my own or the Spiritual Physicians appointment as are fit and requisite to cure my distemper to expel or reform that evil inclination which is inconsistent with my love to JESUS To that end it will be very useful frequently to meditate on the passion of Christ the day of our change our appearance in judgement the joys of heaven the torments of hell and the amazing consideration of Eternity and I am perswaded and will therefore speak it plain though to the dislike of most Dissenters that it might be very profitable a great token of sincerity and an excellent instrument of reformation to acquaint the Spiritual Judge and Physician with the state of our Conscience and the distempers of our souls to submit to his impositions to follow his counsels and carefully observe his prescriptions This is recommended to us by Divine Authority the general practice of the Christian Church while of late and the greater Piety of our Ancestors and it would be a good remedy against our ignorance the wrong judgment we make of our selves our self-love and partiality our inward doubts and tormenting fears and our reigning lusts and most common temptations Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown but we an incorruptible He that would vanquish his antagonist was in the first place to vanquish himself to indure hardship and severity and use all indeavours for the victory for a fading garland so he that will overcome his lusts and master himself and obtain that heavenly crown which never fadeth must use great industry many arts all means that can conduce to that end §. 31. Love will work the best Reformation But the voluminous directions of Casuists and Confessionists cannot reach all cases and all particulars to shorten our labour therefore let the love of JESUS do the work of self-reformation and it will be soonest and best done Love will find out the most effectual means for the extermination of our sins and love will use them to the best purpose Certain it is that love in all instances sets men upon acts of self-denial as great Generals and many more who forego the peaceable injoyment of the comforts they might have at home and expose themselves to dangers because they love honour merchants who forsake their dearest relations and run through many great troubles and perils because they love gain and the more generous love of friendship which hath caus'd many to chuse great inconveniences and even death to serve their friends and therefore certain it is also that the love of JESUS will make his yoke and even his cross easie will make us deny our selves and forbear what displeaseth him though otherwise pleasing to us That men might be without excuse God hath made a short work upon the earth Vt nemo habet excusationem in die judicii voluit Dous sicut scriptum est consummare abbreviare verbum super terram Aug. de Doct. Christiana l. 1. c. 1. saith S. Aug. by contracting his immensity into the narrow dimensions of man he hath abbreviated his doctrine and our talk JESUS is the Center and the sum of our Faith and Religion and the love of JESUS is the content of our duty I have determined 1 Cor. 2.2 saith S. Paul not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified 1.24 and we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them that are called Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God that is in whom God fully reveals his will and gives us full power to fulfil it Gal. 6.14 Therefore saith the Apostle God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of Jesus Christ my Lord by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world The knowledge and love of JESUS our Crucified Saviour is the most proper means to teach us our duty the greatest motive to undertake it and the best instrument to perform and effect it withal it will kill our lusts crucifie the members of the body of sin and carry us through the labours and difficulties of penitence and sincere amendment it will be the fulfilling of repentance as it is the fulfilling of the law For as love is strong to overcome strong enemies to kill the greatest sins so it is wise and quicksighted to see and to find out the least A loving friend will not only not slander and defame his friend not rob or strike or murther him but will forbear all words and actions which might bring him the least grief or inconvenience love will not only not give the greatest provocations but even not disoblige or displease in the least instances And so if my love to JESUS be sincere it will not only keep me from confederation with his profest and greatest enemies but even make me shun and forsake the most secret and contemptible of them I mean that the love of JESUS will never suffer me to entertain any the least sin and whenever I find that I have been unhappily seduc'd to commit any it will cause me to grieve and sadly to repent that I have displeased my dearest Saviour and wounded that tender love I have for him And indeed it is reported of many devout persons great lovers of JESUS that they would sorrow and weep for ordinary failings for small omissions more than others would for much greater sins Divine Love like a bright burning flame will feel a commotion and disturbance by the least drop of water that falls upon it a small irregularity will be more grievous to a pious lover of JESUS than great crimes to another Therefore he that could say the love of Christ constraineth us would also highly complain and groan under the sense of our unavoidable imperfections Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Nothing will make us more sensible of our least and most common sins than the love of JESUS it will make us angry at and impatient of them and earnest and severe in reforming of them §. 32. The exercise of repentance So then as I profess my self a
and often to consider what God is what he hath done what he doth and what he will do for us if we love him sincerely as also what we are whence we come whither we go and how easie it is for us to be eternally happy if we will set our affections upon God who deserves them so infinitely Doubtless inconsideration is the cause why God is not loved It is not possible men could resist the charms of his love if they would open the eyes of their mind and of their faith to view them But how few are there that do it How fully is the prophesie fulfill'd Mat. 24.12 Iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold To how many Christians might our Blessed Saviour say as once to the Jews I know you Joh. 5.42 that you have not the love of God in you How justly might now S. Paul complain Phil. 2.21 all men seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christs And how justly might our Blessed Lord the great lover of men complain in the words of his Apostle I will gladly spend and be spent for you or rather I have gladly spent and been spent for you though the more abundantly I love you 2 Cor. 12.15 the less I be loved Want of love is a very sad general evil among Christians in these worst of times and I hope some will be by me perswaded not carelesly to say that they shall do as well as others but as wise men would in pestilent times carefully to provide Antidotes to prevent or cure the infection But alass how should I perswade others de ingratis etiam ingrati queruntur Physician cure thy self I help to propagate the distemper and therefore am very unfit to prescribe against it Shall the unthankful teach gratitude Shall the Pharisee perswade others when he saith and doth not If it be as one saith qui non ardet non accendit that he that burns not with the Divine Fire of love cannot inflame others with it then I may well cry out with him vae mihi frigenti wo is me unhappy creature who am so far from burning that I am almost quite cold and indeed I know and grieve the defects and imperfections of my love and have writ for my self more than for any others and I heartily wish better hearts and pens would treat of this subject and help that way amongst others to reinkindle that almost extinct fire of charity and devotion in the hearts of men and in mine own who would thankfully use their assistance and heartily pray for a reward to them I have no more to say by way of Preface but that if I have been so unhappy as to write any thing contrary to the Doctrine of the Church I disown and retract it before hand and would blot it out with my blood as for particular persons who may find fault with any thing herein I desire them to pass it by It matters not much if they like not every passage and expression if they do but follow what they judge to be good and approve my design and love Jesus with all their hearts it will be enough for their profit and my satisfaction 1 John 4.9 He that loveth not knows not God for God is Love Claustrum Animae THE Reformed Monastery Or the Love of JESUS §. 1. Of the benefits of God to mankind IT were as easie to find out the bottomless depth of the inexhaustible fountain of the Divine Bounty as to tell the Streams which run from it Gods mercies are over all his works and all things that are made are a demonstration as much of his goodness as of his being I will not therefore undertake to number what is innumerable or to express what we cannot so much as comprehend but only insist briefly upon some of the most general benefits of God to mankind and in the representing of them endeavour to make us read our duty and to inflame our hearts with love §. 2. Of Creation First It is God that hath made us and not we our selves we owe him our very being thine hands have made and fashioned me saith David thine eyes did see my substance being yet imperfect Psal 119.13 and in thy book were all my members written Let us say therefore with the same Prophet 134.16 I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made and let us with him fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker You know that by the Laws of God and of all Nations there is an indispensable obligation upon all children to love and honour their Parents because they brought them into the world now certainly the obligation doubles upon every man in respect to his Father which is in heaven for our natural parents were but second causes under him his own power it was that form'd and created us they ingendred our mortal bodies only he is the Father of Spirits he himself gave being to our immortal souls Therefore let every man pay to his Maker those duties he would expect from his child Mal. 1.6 if I am a Father saith God where is mine honour If from our heavenly Father we have receiv'd our life and being let us pay that respect and love and obedience to him which thereby are become his due But there is yet more in this Creation is not a transient act the same power that once gave us our being doth still exert it self in the continuation thereof When a child is born he subsists by himself his parents need not take any care that he returns not to his pristine condition but we have the same dependance upon God in our preservation as we had in our creation should he withdraw his Almighty hand we should return to our first nothing in him we live and move and have our being Therefore we are the more bound to serve and love him that he not only made us to be but gives us as it were a new being every moment by continuing our life and duration by that Almighty will whereby he effected our first production Now if we consider further not only that God made us but what he made us it will yet inforce those bonds of duty which Creation tied upon us For it was in our Makers power either to make us vile and abject as the vilest of beasts or to deny us those faculties and abilities which are most honourable and most useful to our nature but he made us Men the most wonderful of his creatures in us he joyn'd what heaven and earth had most excellent an immortal Spirit created after his image with the most elaborated the most perfect of material things Take a view of the marvellous organs of thy senses of the curious contrivance of those joints and ligaments which unite thy several members of those various and delicate channels which contain thy blood and spirits in a word of all the parts and passions of thy body which are all made for
happiness to a man even that incomprehensible and increated goodness which is the inexhaustible fountain of perfect Bliss and Felicity in whose presence there is fulness of joy at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Secondly It 's Heigth It is above the regions of the air in the highest heavens the sublimity and greatness of it's glory is exprest by being like the Angels of God by shining forth as the Sun by a kingdom a crown incorruptible a crown of life and sitting with the Son of God in his throne Thirdly it's Depth It is pure and unmingled it admits of nothing afflictive neither death nor sorrow neither hunger nor thirst neither pain nor anguish all tears are wip'd from their eyes There is the absence of all evil and the presence of all good therefore 't is called the joy of our Lord than which nothing can express a greater for God is intirely and perfectly happy and so incapable of any sorrow that the least sight of the Beatifical vision would turn hell it self into a paradise Fourthly and lastly Its Length It 's never ceasing duration it admits of no end or period it is everlasting it is eternal it is for ever and ever after as many millions of years as there is drops of water in the sea it will but begin and after as many thousands of millions more it will be no neerer ending then it was at first still eternal and ever eternal This is that Bliss which we had forfeited by sin and are reintitled to by the passion of Christ that Bliss which if often and duly consider'd would make us despise the world long for heaven love affectionately and serve diligently that JESUS who offers it to us and died to purchase it Wherefore S. Paul prays so earnestly for the Ephesians that God would give them the Spirit of Wisdom and revelation the eyes of their understanding inlightned Ephes 1.18 that they might know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of his glory of his inheritance in the Saints That we might once be possest of this bliss as well as deliver'd from hell was the Cause why JESUS descended down from heaven became poor took on him the form of a Servant and humbled himself unto death even the death of the Cross for the joy that was set before him Heb. 12.2 he despised the shame and endured the Cross saith S. Paul That joy we may say was not the injoyment of heavenly bliss for himself 't was his without suffering there was no need he should bear the Cross for to obtain it he had a sure title to it by nature the joy therefore that was set before him was the joy of saving us the joy of rescuing us from the jaws of death the gulf of eternal perdition the joy of paying the price of our Redemption the joy of making us capable of eternal joys the joy of purchasing the glories and felicities of heaven for us in a word the joy of shewing us his love and expecting the returns of ours This was the joy why he despised the shame because his shame should raise us to glory this was the joy why he indured the Cross because his Cross should exalt us to a happy and honourable Throne This meditation of the great and manifold benefits of God and the wonderful love and charity he hath shewed us in JESUS we may and should prosecute much farther in all instances for 't is infinite and never enough to be consider'd and admir'd But Reader if that little I have here set down doth not affect thee and if being affected with it thou dost not resolve to return to God all possible acknowledgments and demonstrations of a grateful love Haeece via a meris est vera non ficta via cordialis non verbalis via fructuosa non ociosa via non solùm sermonis sed etiam operis Idiot then read no further for as what precedes is matter of mercy from Gods part so what follows is matter of duty on thine I shall now infer that we must love God because he first loved us and that if the love of JESUS to us hath made him bear our Cross our love to him must make us bear his yoke if he died for us because he loved us then we must live to him to make it appear that we love him Our love to Christ saith an excellent late Author is not a subtil airy and metaphysical notion Sherl 412. as some represent it but is a vital principle of action which governs our lives and makes us fruitful in good works thus it should be at least and thus I intend it the tryal of love is obedience if ye love me saith our Blessed Saviour keep my Commandments §. 15. What all these benefits require from us Now then we are to consider that God giving knowledge of salvation to men hath also thereby proclaim'd their duty Manifesting his love he hath ingag'd and requir'd theirs as our being call'd to be Christians makes a great and real change as to the happiness of our condition a great and real change it ought also to make as to the holiness of our conversation Therefore S. Rom. 2.16 Paul calls the Gospel the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth and he prays for the Ephesians Ephess 3.18 that they might know the love of Christ that so they might be fill'd with all the fulness of God as to say that the knowledge of the love of Christ is exceeding powerful and efficacious and would replenish them with all graces and vertues for this cause he sets so high a value upon the excellency of this knowledge Phil. 3.8 esteeming all the world but dung in comparison of it and he exhorting the Cretians to be ready to every good work puts them in mind that they who were once disobedient deceived serving divers lusts had been deliver'd from that unhappy condition by the appearance of the love of God our Saviour towards man Tit. 3. as in other places he exhorteth Christians to walk worthy of their calling worthy of the Gospel thereby declaring that the manifestation of the Divine Love in the Preaching of the Gospel was the promulgation as of their happiness so of their duty whereby they were rescued as well from living as from perishing in their sins 'T is the appearance of that grace of God which bringeth salvation Tit. 2.11 that teacheth men to live soberly righteously and godly and 't is the receiving and crediting that Heavenly Doctrine that quencheth the fiery darts of Satan that purifies the heart and overcomes the world so that the bare belief of the truth of the New Testament is a strong and indispensable obligation to a cheerful universal and persevering obedience to all its precepts the very profession of being Christians doth strictly bind us to the performance of all Christian duties But the necessity of a Holy Faith and
to man for a Saviour Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And likewise man is enabled or rather forc't by love to do and suffer any thing as soon as Divine Love enters a mans heart of proud it makes him humble of lustful and intemperate it makes him chaste and sober of covetous it makes him charitable of dainty and effeminate it makes him a Martyr No ill habits so deeply rooted but love can pluck them up no cross so heavy but love can bear it Many waters cannot quench love saith Solomon neither can the floods drown it Cant. 8.7 No the strongest torrent of affliction is but like drops of water sprinkled upon the fire it increaseth the flames and ardency thereof 6. Love is as strong as death and death is very strong Magnum verbum fortis ut mors dilectio magnificentius exprimi non potuit fortitudo charitatis quis enim morti resistat ignibus undis ferro regibus resistitur venit una mors quis ei resistit nihil illa fortius propterea viribus ejus charitas comparatur Aug. in Psal 121. stronger than all visible creatures We daily fight against death and beat it back by rest and food and Physick we dispute the victory with it many years but it is ever victorious at last so is love it never gives over till it hath conquer'd all oppositions it 's courage increaseth together with difficulties the more obstacles in its way the greater it's indeavours the more fierce it's contentions Death severs a man from himself and disunites what seems inseparable love also takes the lovers soul from him and unites it to the beloved so that he lives more in what he loves than in himself love is as strong as death Death converts the greatest sinners or at least keeps them from sinning at all any longer so doth love it certainly mortifies all even the most reigning sins it will not suffer them to sin that love God We can tame wild beasts by industry overcome the barrenness of the earth by labour resist the angry elements by Art and Physick no evil but hath a remedy only death hath none there is no striving against it so that nothing can better express the irresistible power of love than to say that it is as strong as death §. 24. The fourth The last property of love I shall now mention is that love sweetens bitter things makes our labours pleasant and even our sufferings delightful How heavy is that yoke which is impos'd by an ungrateful hand the Souldier prest to the service can hardly bear his arms but he that is inrol'd by love thinks them light and bears them with pleasure the slave that works in the Mines counts his very life a burthen the niggard that works much harder likes well his drudgery because the love of riches is his task-master he that serves his master out of fear works faintly and with a heavy heart he that serves him out of love doth it diligently and yet with chearfulness the Christian pilgrim who is driven heaven-ward with fears and terrors goeth on with much reluctancy and a sorrowful heart he that is drawn with the cords of love follows with joyfulness minds not the ruggedness of his way and even rejoyceth in his weariness because it brings him nearer and nearer to his beloved he that could say the love of Christ constraineth us could say also we rejoyce in tribulations 'T was the love of JESUS made primitive Christians work hard and suffer much Nullomodo sunt oncrosi labores amantium sed etiam ipsi delectant sicut venantium piscantium interest ergo quid ametur nam in eo quod amatur aut non laboratur aut laber amatur Aug. with comfort and unspeakable joy and 't is for want of that sweet and Divine Love that Christians now find sorrow and great difficulty in that little they do or suffer for JESUS The labours of love are ever pleasant nothing is hard that love binds upon us §. 25. A farewel to all sinful desires These considerations are now to be reduc'd into practice And so I come to enter upon the work and labour of love Heb. 6.10 I come to profess my self a lover of JESUS and so to approve my self by deeds and actions The love of JESUS hath prevail'd I find my heart wounded I can no longer resist the charms of his love he hath woed me so long and with so much kindness that now my heart is his I will love him because he first loved me Now it repenteth me that ever I rejected his sute that ever I was unkind to him it grieveth me that ever I countenanc'd and prefer'd his rivals the lusts of sensuality covetousness and pride which I renounc'd in my Baptism I will now exclude them wholly this is the first mark JESUS shall receive of my sincere affection to him that I will entertain nor caress no longer those his enemies with whom I have had an unhappy intelligence for too long a time henceforth if they come near me I will indeavour to drive them away if they come after me I will flee if they persevere in their attempts they shall get nothing else but shame and denials Away from me then ye wicked spirits with all your tempting allurements worldly vanities deceitful riches sensual pleasures I remember that I renounc'd you all when first I gave up my name to JESUS when he first began to shew and seal his love to me and to ingage mine I then renounc'd the devil and all his works the vain pomp and glory of the world with all covetous desires of the same and the carnal desires of the flesh I now remember those my ingagements and grieve that I have not kept them and therefore will hate you the more that you made me forget my promises and break my holy vows Now will I be reveng'd of you ye proud and ambitious designs lustful thoughts greedy desires of wealth I will now kill and crucifie you Henceforth it shall be my honour that I am a Servant of JESUS it shall be my delight and pleasure that I am a lover of JESUS and it shall be my wealth that he is mine as I am his JESUS hath done and suffered much to declare his love and to deserve mine he hath come down from heaven and humbled himself to my mean and low condition he hath liv'd poor and despised he hath been afflicted and persecuted he hath died for me hereby I know that he loves me because he laid down his life for me but ye his unworthy rivals never gave me any assurance of your affection never did or suffered any thing for me JESUS expos'd himself to shame that I might become glorious indur'd pains that I might have pleasures he became poor that I might be enrich'd but covetousness offers me riches to pierce
further than only to stir up our dull affections and raise holy passions in us But if we sincerely forsake our sins and evidence our love to JESUS 't is not greatly material what means or instruments we use §. 28. Meditation on the passion My love is crucified said that loving and holy Martyr Ignatius declaring how earnestly he wish't to die for JESUS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so considering the passion of JESUS I meditate with him My love is crucified my dearest Saviour dies in most bitter pains he hath been rudely bound and drag'd from place to place he hath been stript tied to a post and whipt like a vile slave he hath been buffetted and caned and abus'd with all manner of contumelies and now I see him crown'd with thorns all over spittle and blood I see him stretch'd upon the cross where his hands and his feet are nail'd his head hangs down I read in his pale face and his weeping eyes the extremity of his pain the anguish of his wounded soul Lord art thou he whom my soul loveth O Domine Jesu Christe si intelligentia quam mihi dedisti uti vellem sicut deberem cernerem manifeste quo modo imo quam sine modo à me creatura tua amari merueris qui prior dilexisti me tantus tantum gratis tantillum talem ingratum Idiot art thou my dearest JESUS were it my father my brother my friend or my benefactor that should suffer this undeservedly how would I pitty them but should they suffer this upon my account Lord I could not outlive such a sight if nothing else love would certainly wound my soul to death But behold it is so this crucified this dying man is my father he gave me my being he is my brother he came down from heaven and took humane flesh that he might have that relation to me he is my friend he lays down his life to save mine he is my greatest benefactor from him I receive all I have all the blessings the good things I injoy I owe to his kindness But heark methinks I hear him speak to me these pathetick these moving words Christian dearest Christian for whom here I die consider seriously imprint it in thine heart what in my words what in my mysteries thou readest of my suffering for thee consider who I am what I indure and to what end I am the eternal Son of God whom the Angels adore I became Man to make thee partaker of the Divine Nature I am infinitely rich the whole universe is mine I became thus destitute of all things to purchase true riches for thee I am of an Almighty Power the whole world was made and subsists by me I am now weak to make thee strong I am overcome of mine enemies to make thee conquer thine I am crown'd with glory and cloth'd with Majesty I now wear these thorns and am become naked to clothe thee with robes of righteousness and Crown thee with a Royal Diadem I am the inexhaustible fountain of joy and happiness I now indure sorrows and miseries to make thee joyful and happy I am infinitely pure and innocent I am become a sacrifice for sin to merit thy pardon and to sanctifie and make thee holy I am the Author of life the first and the last I now die to make thee live for ever nothing but love moves me thus to suffer for thee This us'd to be written under Crucifixes Aspice serve Dei sic me posuere Judaei Aspice mortalis pro te datur hostia talis Aspice devote quoniam sic pendeo pro te Introitum vitae reddo tibi redde mihi te In cruce sum pro te qui peceas desine pro me Desine do veniam dic culpam corrige vitam and nothing but love I require for it Dearest soul thy sins are more grievous to me than my wounds add not sorrow to my sorrow by remaining impenitent deny not this request to thy dying bleeding Saviour that thou wouldst mortifie thy lusts and forsake thy sins all that is past I heartily forgive if thou becomest true penitent I freely give my self for thee and beg that thou wouldst give thy self to me §. 29. Protestations of love to JESUS What shall I say now dearest Lord Words cannot answer thee I am amaz'd I am astonished I know not how to speak my tongue cannot express what my heart feels Lord I will say nothing I will answer with sighs and tears with devout affections by resigning and giving up my body and soul to thee I will answer by obedience by actions by now falling to work to reform my life to mortifie my sinful lusts to cut off the members of the body of sin Sweetest JESU I will love thee with all the affections my heart can entertain no bosome sin shall be so dear to me but for thy sake I will heartily part with it no lust shall be so pleasing but I will kill it at thy request and command even my natural desires and inclinations will I gladly deny when they come in competition with that duty and love I owe and ever will pay JESUS sect 30. Of a sincere amendment But fickle and unhappy creatures that we are we often promise well but seldome stand to our ingagements our resolutions are good and our performances very defective The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak I must not therefore rest in generals but I must resolve more especially against those sins I am inclined to and not only against them but also upon the means whereby I may overcome and mortifie them as avoiding the occasions and inticements inflicting on my self such severities as may be proper remedies and tying my self to such pious exercises as I know will drive away the temptation To forsake my sins is not to forbear drunkenness when perhaps I am not inclined to it or to avoid swearing when I look upon it as an unpleasing and unprofitable sin or to hate covetousness when by nature I am liberal but knowing what sin pleaseth me most what vice my temper inclines me to and what temptation is most strong and importunate upon me by my calling or my company against that to fortifie my self and imploy the utmost of my strength against that to watch and pray and use sincere and earnest indeavours To forsake my sins is not to say I will forsake them Some men when they are call'd upon by fear adversity or the secret voice of God within them are forward enough to ingage with the Elder Brother in the Gospel Lord I will go and work in thy vineyard but their hot zeal and hasty promise soon decays into negligence and at last into a cold denial Though I resolve against my natural corruptions never so seriously that will not subdue them without I use proper means for it to take up my cross and follow Christ to forsake all for him to deny my self to take the kingdom of heaven by force
of hell and I will remember him who for me was crucified and with whom my love hath crucified me and that now is the time to make it appear that I love him to justifie the sincerity of my protestations and so for covetousness pride intemperance and all such temptations I will reject their attempts and profers with indignation as a true friend would scorn the solicitations to betray his friend What shall I be false to him I love to him that loveth me who hath shed his bloud for me and to whom I have often protested that I would die for him shall I break the sacred bonds of love and my most sacred vows and put my soul into a state of regret unquietness shame and sorrow for this vile transitory profit or pleasure O my dearest JESUS thou knowest that I love thee I beseech thee make that love victorious against thine enemies and mine I would die rather than deny thee for any interest in the world and I hope thou wilt not deny me at the last day but own me among thy faithful friends Lord I serve thee not for nothing great are the reasons why I should obey thee thou hast done much for me and from thee I still expect much infinite rewards for such due and poor services Lord let me die before I deliberately sin against thee §. 37. To do what we do cheerfully Thus by love I resolve to conquer my self to deny and mortifie my lusts by love I will strive to overcome all unlawful desires all sinful motions and then I shall rejoyce in the victory It shall not make me peevish and morose churlish and severe to others but rather cheerful and contented gentle and affable so that it shall be seen by my outward deportment how much pleasure and tranquillity my soul hath inwardly that I rejoyce in what I do for Christ that it is delicious to me to deny my self for his sake to oblige so great so true so generous a friend as JESUS who hath done all acts of friendship for me and owns me for his friend I call you not servants but friends Job 13.14 ye are my friends indeed if ye do whatsoever I have commanded you Those that are accounted gallant men in the world will venture their lives to second a friend in an idle and unchristian quarel and their wounds they bear with courage and count them honourable 'T was to serve a friend How much more should I rejoyce in that violence I offer to my appetites and unruly desires for to please and serve my heavenly my best my dearest friend whom I can never love so much as he deserves and in loving of whom I am infinitely happier than if I should injoy all the pleasures of sin as long as I live I only grieve and am displeas'd that I can do so little for him that I can requite his love no better I know that many persons have done far more for their less-deserving friends than I do for JESUS §. 38. A singular example of humane love It is reported by Greek historians of two loving sisters Eudoxia and Irenea daughters to the last unhappy Prince of Morea Niceph. Gregor Chalcondys who with his life lost his crown and countrey that an uncle saved them from the general desolation and captivity which soon succeeded the lost battel and carried them to old Andronicus their kinsman then Emperor of Constantinople There with pity they found a kind well-come and as great respects as they could wish Their beauty their vertues and accomplishments surpast their princely birth and were as eminent as their fortune was low so that young Andronicus who was to succeed in the Empire was in process of time taken with Eudoxia lov'd her passionately and obtain'd the Emperors consent to marry her This caus'd great troubles to Irenea who lik'd it well as she lov'd her sister but could not but grieve at it as she lov'd the Prince for unhappily she had settl'd her affections on him Upon this she fell sick and almost to death and it being observ'd that some distemper in her mind caus'd the distemper of her body her sister protesting of her love to her assuring her that Eudoxia should have only the title and the trouble but Irenea the priviledges and the power of an Empress conjur'd her to declare what caus'd her discontent Having understood what it was and grieving that she should be the occasion of her sisters danger and sorrow she presently took from her head a jewel the Prince had given her in form like a half-moon and with it she so wounded and disfigur'd her face that she cur'd the Prince of his love as she designed and afterwards retir'd to Galliopoli where she entred a Cloister and devoted the rest of her life to God The Prince finding in Irenea what he had lost in Eudoxia soon after entertain'd the same passion for her he had for her sister but Irenea remembring her sisters generosity forgot her affection to the Prince considering what Eudoxia had voluntarily suffer'd for her how great how tender a love she had exprest in what she had done resolves to forsake Andronicus to forego her ease and pleasure and what she had so earnestly desir'd rather than be ungrateful Whereupon she steals away from the court goes to Galliopoli enters her sisters Cloister and having exprest to her her love and acknowledgments she takes the same vows and resolves to live and die to God and with her beloved sister This story makes me grieve and blush that so little gratitude should be paid to JESUS for greater benefits for that incomparable love he hath shewed men in dying for them that I my self should so ill requite his much greater kindness so poorly and imperfectly return his most wonderful love What shall I think it much to refrain my intemperance for his sake who for mine fasted long and often and tasted vinegar and gall shall I think it much to mortifie my pride and anger for him who for my sake despised the shame of the cross and return'd nothing but meekness to the greatest provocations shall I think it much to refrain my worldly covetous desires for him who for me became poor naked destitute of all things though he were Lord of all shall I think it much to deny my self some momentary sensual pleasures for him who carried my sorrows who shed his blood and was crucified to save me No my dearest JESUS thy love hath overcome me I will be no more what I have been henceforth it shall be my wealth my delight my glory and ambition to serve and obey thee to be loving to be faithful to thee §. 39. The design of Religion is to make us better This change and Reformation is what our Religion requires The Scripture supposeth it in all that have imbrac'd Christianity and is earnest and pressing in its exhortations to it We beseech you Brethren and exhort you by the Lord JESUS 1 Thes
4.1 that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God 2. so ye would abound more and more for ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord JESUS for this is the will of God even your sanctification Again Eph. 4.20 but ye have not so learned Christ as to follow the greediness and lusts of the Gentiles If so be that ye have heard of him and have been taught by him 21 c. as the truth is in JESUS that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness And in another place this change being so absolutely necessary is absolutely suppos'd to be wrought in us If ye are risen with Christ seek those things which are above for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth Coloss 3.1 fornication uncleanness 2 c. inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry in the which ye walked sometime when ye lived in them but now you also put off these anger wrath malice blasphemy evil communication out of your mouth lie not one to another seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him Here is nothing to countenance those frightful fanatical pangs of the New-birth which proceed from Enthusiasm or melancholy nothing to countenance the fansieful applications of a borrowed or rather snatcht-away righteousness but a real change in our affections and our manners is suppos'd and recommended And indeed Tit. 2.11 that grace of God which bringeth salvation teacheth none of these odd and new-devised doctrines but that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts 12. we should live in this present world soberly righteously and godly which is the sum of our duty that we should be temperate in our bodies and minds just and charitable in our intercourse with other men and pious in our minds devout in acts of Religion and worship to God The learning and practising this lesson is that and that alone whereby the offered salvation is obtained and laid hold on §. 40. A protestation of being faithful unto death So now I must remember that I am not mine own I am his that made and redeemed me I am his to whom I have given my self when I undertook manfully to fight under his banner against sin the world and the Devil to me is addrest that exhortation Thou O man of God flee these things strifes disputes and covetousness before mentioned and follow after righteousness godliness faith 1 Tim. 6.11 love patience meekness fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life 12. I am become a Souldier of JESUS to me S. Paul speaks as well as to Timothy 2 Tim. 2.3 Thou therefore indure hardness as a good Souldier of JESUS Christ no man that warreth intangles himself with the affairs of this life 4. that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a Souldier If I were in the Militia of any other Prince I might indure hardness enough before I could obtain his favour or indeed be taken notice of heat and cold hunger thirst and weariness sleepless nights and perpetual dangers all this and much more I might indure many years and not be look'd upon here my General prevented me with his kindness he first fought against mine enemies he first loved me and indured hardship for me and he notes every thing I suffer for him sets it down and assigns a reward to it Under another commander I might do brave actions behave my self valiantly and yet not be seen here my General hath always his eyes upon me he incourageth me and rejoyceth to see my fortitude he is always ready to help me and is most delighted when he sees me zealous and diligent I might fight long enough for an earthly King I could only get a poor subsistence or an empty fame but never so much as one province of his dominions here fighting for my heavenly King I shall get unvaluable treasures immortal glory and a kingdom which shall have no end Rev. 3.21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne I will therefore never again fight against the captain of my salvation and I will never forsake him I will often renew my vows often swear allegiance to him upon that sacred blood which he shed for me and which he gives me to comfort and strengthen my heart I will daily think on those things that may increase my zeal and diligence and help me to resist temptations and I will suffer any thing use all means possible to perform these resolutions and approve my self unto death a lover of JESUS 1 Cor. 16.22 if any man loves not the Lord JESUS let him be Anathema Maranatha FINIS Claustrum Animae THE Reformed Monastery OR THE LOVE OF JESUS The Second Part. LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in S. Paul's Church-yard the West-End MDCLXXVI THE PREFACF I Have now gone through half of my task the negative part of our Baptismal vow and of our duty and would to God Reader I had inkindled of the Divine fire of love in thy heart and mine but enough to secure us from works of darkness enough to quench and to consume our lusts I would not doubt but it would soon burn light inflame our hearts with a pious zeal and make us so fruitful in good works that men seeing them would glorifie our father which is in heaven I may with a just cause complain of my self concerning this Tractate of mine Eras Epist ad Volus as one did of Erasmus about his Enchiridion that there is more piety in the book than in the Author and withal I may complain of the book also that it is many ways defective that is it supposeth many things previous to the use of it Christian instruction a pious mind pious books pious meditations all helps and instruments of Religion and Holy Living and even in what it handles it falls far short of what the subject would bear The caution therefore I would give is this that no person would think that no other appetites are to be restrain'd no other sins forsaken than those I mention or that no other means to master our lusts and secure our duty are to be us'd than those I specified or that no other acts and expressions of love are to be given than those I have prescrib'd No my design is not to run over particulars and indeed 't is next to impossible for love hath a general intendance over all actions That little I have said concerning Self-Reformations abstaining from that which is
loving father who jealous of his sons affection would have none to tend him but such as wear his livery would have the picture of himself hang in every room and all the goods in the house markt with his name and cypher So God who loves men tenderly and desires to be by them lov'd again hath put something of himself in all the creatures he hath appointed to serve us that which way soever we turn our eyes we might be put in mind of him he hath stampt his name in more or less legible Characters upon all the goods and utensils of this his great house the world wherein he hath plac'd us And now shall we do like a simple child who turning his back upon his father should look and smile on his picture and caress it and wait upon it and ask it blessing while he slights the original So absurd a thing would be counted madness and move pity or laughter but when we act the same folly in loving the world whilst we despise God we are highly criminal we highly provoke our heavenly Father thus to return to him contempt disobedience for the gracious tokens of his love From hence it follows that as we should love God above all and all things things in him and for him we should also love those things most which have most of his impress and likeness Therefore man who is created after Gods image should be by us lov'd above all other creatures and that part of man which is chiefly adorn'd with the likeness of God should have the greater share of our affection God himself values humane souls at a high rate because they are like him as appears by what he hath done and suffered to save them And for the same reason also we should pay to the souls of men the best part of that kindness we owe them and if we do not we give our friends no greater love than children to their puppets for they dress them fine and lay them soft and kiss and imbrace them Just as they who aim at nothing more than to make their friends merry to wish them toys and gaudy things and to see them at ease A fondness inexcusable in rational creatures especially in Christians who know the worth of an immortal soul and the great concern of Eternity and yet seek only to gratifie the material part of their friends which is subject to corruption and to ingage their affections to the world which passeth away and they must soon leave As if when King Edward the first was hastning out of the Holy-land hither to receive the Crown which expected him his friends had staid him by the way and invited him to rest and case and provided for him all Princely delights and entertainments and retarded his coming so long till he had forgot or lost his right and his kingdom What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul and what shall a man give in exchange for his soul We are indeed much commanded to love one another and in this consisteth one great half of our Religion all justice and charity and all the duties of the second Table To love our brother as we ought is the best demonstration of our love to God 1 Joh. 4.20 for he that says he loves God and hateth his brother Rom. 13.10 is a liar saith S. John and love worketh no ill to his neighbour Mat. 19.19 and is therefore the fulfilling of the law saith S. Paul but a man is to love his neighbour as himself and therefore as he is most oblig'd to seek for himself the kingdom of God and its righteousness so should he in the first place indeavour to procure it to his friend Or else we are to love one another as Christ hath loved us Joh. 13.33 and that was in redeeming our souls and purchasing for us heavenly joys and eternal life not in providing ease and sensual pleasures to our bodies here in this world The result of this is that in the first place we should love God infinitely and for his own sake and that in the next we should love those things most which have a nearest relation to God Grace and Vertue Religion Holiness and Men especially their Souls which are an image of the Deity especially sanctified souls which are most like God Afterwards our lesser love for less Divine Objects may be reasonable and innocent and however we have secur'd a great duty and a great happiness Mar. 13.33 To love God with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the soul and with all the strength and to love his neighbour as himself is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices §. 14. 'T is most just and easie to love God A second consideration may be that it is most just and easie to love God That it is most just is shown all along this discourse wherein I have represented the more general and most excellent benefits of God to mankind all the which challenge and deserve the greatest love our hearts are capable of God had requir'd of his people that the first-born and the first fruits should be consecrated to him thereby to acknowledge him the author of all their blessings and the giver of all their increase Now the first-born of our souls the first-fruits of our hearts is love which God who gives us all things demands as an acknowledgment from us thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul We therefore commit a greater sacriledge if we deny him so just a tribute than if a Jew had rob'd him of his first grapes or his first ears of corn But it is so much the more just in that it is most easie to love God Infinite perfections an abyss of goodness whence rivers and oceans of good things do perpetually flow one would think should swallow up the hearts and affections of men as indeed it doth of all that duly consider it And more perfectly of beatified Saints and of those blessed spirits who minister before his throne and are all flame for him Besides 't is natural for men to love what is theirs propriety begets or increaseth love Now God is our God he hath given himself for us he doth now and will more intirely hereafter give himself to us he made us for the injoyment of himself and for that purpose he hath redeem'd us and that we might all say with David O God thou art my God that God might shew his kindness and indear himself to us and assert our right to him he hath assum'd the names of those relations who love us best whom we love most tenderly and whom we count most ours God the Father is pleas'd to be call'd our Father God the Son our Brother and God the Holy Ghost our Comforter as it were our friend thereby to express that affection which he hath for us and the propriety which
dividit inter filios regni aeterni filios perditionis Aug. de Trin. lib. 15. cap. 18. for that love it is makes the difference betwixt sincere and false Christians betwixt those that shall be heirs of salvation and those that shall go to perdition betwixt heaven and hell Many priviledges may belong to the tares while they grow in the same field with the wheat many Sun-shiny-days they may have and many drops of dew and rain may fall upon them but they are not rooted and grounded in love therefore they are pluck'd up and withered and burn'd Many gifts of the Divine Spirit wicked men may receive they may prophesie and do miracles in Christs name they may excel in some vertues but the grace of Charity they never receive the love of God never dwells in their hearts Thou maist be Baptized saith S. Aug. Habere Baptismum malus esse potes habere c. Tract 7. in Epist Johan and yet not be good thou mayst have knowledge and remain vicious thou maist be call'd a Christian and be none but thou canst not love God and be wicked thou canst not love God but thou must be holy and happy Thus we see love affords the greatest pleasure and the greatest safety this world is capable of The love of JESUS is a precious jewel precious beyond gold and the best of pearls Charitas est amor rerum quas nonnisi volentes amittimus Aug. he that hath it hath an infinite treasure and it is so much the more to be valued because we may acquiesce in its possession we can never lose it except we will We may lose our riches and we may lose our health we may lose our learning and our eloquence we may lose our friends and our lives but the love of God we can never lose without our consent no time no fortune no Tyrant can snatch it by force out of our hearts Verum bonum illud est quod non potes invitus amittere Aug. as 't is never given against our will so against our will it can never be taken away Charity never faileth Quinquagesima Sunday O Lord who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth send thy Holy Ghost and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity the very bond of peace and of all vertues without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee grant this for thine only Son JESUS Christs sake Amen §. 18. Love brings a lasting joy and peace to the Soul The fourth and last consideration is that the love of God is the solid joy and lasting Tranquillity of the Soul No tormenting fear or sadness can harbour in a heart that loves God the Motto of love might well be that of a late order of Knighthood at Mantua mean't of the Holy Chalice Nihil isto triste recepto grief and the love of God are incompatible no sadness should enter that breast wherein dwells Divine Love I need not treat at large of those many doubts and terrors concerning future happiness which grieve and almost distract the hearts of many Christians to prove that it is a happy thing to be freed from them there are few but are so far acquainted with them as readily to assent to it it will be more to purpose to shew that the love of God is the best remedy against them the best balsom to heal a wounded spirit Some persons from their poverty bodily pains or other afflictions draw this most afflictive inference that God is not their friend and that therefore their condition is dangerous and very bad if not quite desperate and this adds such a weight to their cross that they have no strength to bear it but are ready to sink whereas the love of God hath enabled thousands to bear a heavier with patience with fortitude and men with cheerfulness I take pleasure in infirmities and distresses and necessities for Christs sake said S. Paul that great lover of JESUS He that would suffer for God will suffer from God he that would die and be crucified for JESUS will willingly bear that cross which JESUS lays upon his shoulders And indeed 't is a greater vertue meekly and thankfully to accept of that correction wherewith God visits us than voluntarily to inflict the greatest sufferings on our selves what proceeds from God is ever best for us and most pleasing to him No Patient will question the love of that Physician who is his intimate friend for that he makes incisions and applies causticks upon him and makes him drink bitter potions he will not suspect his friends affection he will not doubt but that 't is for his good after this manner he that loves God will receive afflictions from him and gratefully acknowledge with David I know that of very faithfulness thou hast caus'd me to be troubled Knowing that all things work together for the good of them that love God he will harbour no thoughts of diffidence nor question Gods loving kindness to him but rest satisfied that while he loves God nothing can hurt him and that whatever happens is certainly for his greatest advantage But 't is not always the storms of adversity that bring those dark and dismal clouds on the minds of men they come sometimes in fair weather in the greatest prosperity Whence 't is in vain to examine better it is to drive them away for they are as mischievous as black They cast a damp upon mens spirits they freeze their hearts in such a manner that they can receive no spiritual joy they so weaken their hands and feet that they can hardly work for God or walk in his ways so that their condition is sad indeed not because God is their enemy but because they being unreasonably afraid of it are thereby hindred from being his friends To this evil none can prescribe a better remedy than love let such persons love God heartily and all these terrors will vanish away like the vain images of a terrible dream when one awaketh Love begets love therefore we should love God because he first loved us and love begets a confidence of being lov'd again so that if we love God we shall not long doubt but that we are lov'd by him and then all is well And if at first our hearts do not melt into devout affections and are not replenish'd with the sweetness and comfort of love let us not be dismay'd at it nor too much study our own disturbed thoughts and apprehensions but let us continue to give God demonstrations of love to abstein from what he forbids and to do that which he commands or that which will please him though uncommanded and then either holy joys and extasies will come or it will be as well without them No man is afraid of his friends nor of those whom he serves and obligeth we easily suppose that they love us whom we love and that they to whom we do good will be kind to us
therefore let us shew to God all the love we can and by words and actions protest that we seek to please him and our hearts will soon be possest with a blessed assurance that we are dear to him and he will never be cruel and severe to us 'T is reported of a Religious Person whose soul was griev'd and wounded with doubts and fears and with sadness that while he was one day weeping and praying thus O that I were sure that I shall persevere and never fall from God O that I were sure that God loves me and that I shall one day see his Blessed Face how zealous then should I be in mortifying my sins and doing my duty how cheerfully should I serve God every day and take pleasure in suffering for him how would I despise the world and its vanities and fix my thoughts and affections on things above while he was thus expressing the sorrows of his troubled mind he heard the whispers of a secret voice which told him fac quod faceres do now what thou wouldst do if thou hadst all those assurances With this he found himself so affected and refresh'd that he took it as an Oracle from heaven and in obeying of it found those comforts he begg'd Better counsel I cannot give thee fac quod faceres do what thou wouldst do if thy diffident timorousness and jealousies were confuted by a voice from heaven and they 'll soon be remov'd Let thy meek submission thy sincere obedience and thy free-will-offerings speak thy love to God and thou shalt soon find thy self perswaded that God loves thee dearly and that thy condition is safe and happy Other assurance we are not to expect in this world and this is not to be obtain'd any other way should thy comfort proceed from any thing else but thine humble and devout love to God it would be fansie and presumption whereas so it is well-grounded and never can deceive thee 1 Joh. 4.18 There is no fear in love saith Divine S. John but perfect love casteth out fear 't is never otherwise grace and nature joyn together to make the effect infallible that a Holy Love should ever produce a Holy Peace if we love indeed and in truth 1 Joh. 3.18 thereby not by new and secret revelations we shall know that we are of the truth and we shall assure our hearts before God Love may well work confidence and joy in our souls for it injoys already what it loves it is affectuosa unitas unitiva affectio love is inseparable from its object and the essence thereof consists in their union if not unity Though God be exalted infinitely above all things in a sphere of Glory and Majesty so high that the Cherubim with their many wings cannot flie up to it Qui mente integra Deum desiderat profecto jam habet quem amat Greg. Mag. yet thither love sores up and takes God and holds him as his own so that every one that loves God is already possest of him and may say with the spouse I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine Cant. 6.3 We come to God by love S. Aug. amando non ambulando and to him we are united by love Magna res est amor quo anima per semetipsam fiducialiter accedit ad Deum c. amore Deo conjungimur therefore love is a great thing saith that devout father it brings the soul to God with an holy confidence and makes it trust in him and cleave stedfastly to him and rejoyce in him and represent her needs and beg his mercies with fiducial and devout affections And this is so great a truth that death it self with its pains and sorrows alters nothing of it even then in the last agonies the love of God sweetens the bitter cup and still entertains the soul with joy and holy comforts It was the saying of S. Aug. that because the soul hath willingly forsaken God whom she should love infinitely she is forc'd therefore with grief and regret to forsake her body which she loves too much and that because she voluntarily departed from God who is her life Aug. de Trin. lib. 4. cap. 13. she therefore departeth from the body whose life she is with sadness and much reluctancy Now we may say that when the soul returns to God by love Charitis libertatem donat timorem pellit c. S. Bern. she is freed from this punishment and restor'd to her first liberty she is willing to die for to be with Christ and then comes a cheerful cupio dissolvi O when shall I come and appear before God Happy is he who living doth so manifest his love to God by Piety and Charity that dying he can say with Theodosius Dilexi love hath been the business and delight of my life I have daily indeavour'd by my actions to declare the sincerity of my love to God he is doubtless of the number of those that love the appearing of JESUS and so he goes out to meet him with joy and confidence expecting a kind reception from him Nemo se amari diffidat qui jam amat libenter Dei amar nostrum quem praevenit subsequitur c. Bern. whom having not seen yet he lov'd and worship'd and serv'd affectionately Let no man that loves God doubt of God's Love to him for he that lov'd us when we were his enemies so as to die for us will much more love us when we have for him the hearty affections of friends It is the joy of heaven the joy of the Holy JESUS when his loving kindness hath won and conquer'd our hearts and 't is our greatest joy 't is for us a heaven upon earth when we love him faithfully and fervently with all our souls and affections The love of God brings that peace to the soul which the world can neither give nor take away Her sins which are many Luke 7.47 are forgiven because she loved much §. 19. The Close Now who can refuse to love God when 't is a thing so just and reasonable so pleasant and easie so safe and advantageous something of necessity we must love every mans heart is full of that passion and every mans life is govern'd by it 't is but considering who hath done most for us and whom we are most oblig'd to love who is most lovely and who will best reward our love and we shall soon understand that God is to be lov'd above all things infinitely without measure and if we love our selves as we should we shall easily remove our affections from the world to set them upon God and Eternity upon JESUS and his kingdom Love as we have seen will make it easie and delightful to do our duty Onus sine onere portat Kemp. will make the yoke of Christ light and enable us with strength and courage to bear our cross cheerfully like Christians it will lead us the shortest and the safest way to