up to God thus at least he intended it but by our depravation and folly they became obstacles in our way to him they turn us from the path to life and happiness and as the Wiseman saith Wisd 14.11 The creatures of God become stumbling blocks to the souls of men and a snare to the feet of the unwise Of the unwise he saith such as will not take God for their guide such as turn their eyes from his glorious light to enjoy the shade and obscurity of creatures thereby falling in love with darkness and so becoming uncapable of ever abiding the divine saving light 2. Now if all creatures are created for this to be as helps and means whereby we may obtain our end then are we to take off our affections from them to place them upon the Creator who is the end we should aim at For the end should be lov'd and desir'd without end and without competitor in goodness being independent supreme and alone satisfactory whereas means have no farther goodness than as they help to obtain the end A Christian should therefore refer to God all his thoughts and words and actions and that not lazily or verbally only but with a strong affection and with a pure heart avoiding thereby the cheat men often put upon themselves in being deceiv'd with their own formalities and specious pretences when even in Religion and spiritual exercises they often seek and please themselves rather than God Upon this account the Scripture calls the way to life straight and narrow because depraved man refers all to himself and can hardly follow the pure and direct ways which God prescribes being naturally averse to an upright intention But when this aversion is once overcome by an assiduous diligence and delight in the law of God then divine commandments are not grievous the way to life is wide and the yoke of Christ is light and pleasant CHAP. XI That men trifling about things Eternal and being earnest about the World is the cause why so many attain not their main end 1. THat the number of fools is past number was rightly affirmed by the Wise man For indeed infinite multitudes of men trifle away their days so simply act so childishly or rather so much like mad men that their intolerable follies cannot be sufficiently deplor'd They set the flesh above the spirit they prefer time to Eternity and Earth to Heaven till the unhappy Comedy of their sinful lifâ— ends in a sadder Tragedy of death and they go down to Hell in a moment If a suit at law is to be determin'd or an estate gain'd or a place of honour obtain'd then they spare no cost nor labour no search no diligence no study but if Heaven is to be purchast and eternal life and glory made sure then no man stirs they are all asleep and unactive no regard no care is had of it 2. In things that touch and afflict the body as hunger and thirst heat and cold pains and infirmities our senses are quick and can never be deceiv'd and therefore with all our might and industry we presently occur to those evils and endeavour to remove them But if our soul suffers under the same or the like spiritual evils we are not sensible and we care no more than if that nobler part of us whereby we live and are rational and like to Angels had no being at all And this because the flesh hath got the upper hand and we value this sport uncertain life more than life eternal and we make it our first and sole employment to rescue that carcass from death for a few moments which certainly must soon become its prey 3. One cause of these preposterous doings is the gross and brutish ignorance or rather inconsideration of too too many who will neither know nor consider to what end man was created what it is he should seek and design in the whole course of his life and what way he should take that he may not miss of his great aim Jer. 12.11 The whole land is made desolate because no man lays it to heart i. e. because no man considers wisely Another cause of this mischief is the great number and power of those Enemies that perpetually assault us whose snares no man can possibly avoid without God breaks them and delivers him for we are continually besieg'd by a frail flesh a flattering world and legions of devils who seek to devour us 4. Lastly our folly and misery proceeds partly from our blindness the whole World being in darkness we want light to guide us and yet will not beg it of God and pray him devoutly he would lead us aright who alone is able and willing to do it and partly from our sloth and inconstancy for we are vertuous in wish and not in effect because we are lazy to work and when it comes to the practice we find difficulties and being soon tir'd and disheartned hastily give over before we have effected any thing All Christians no doubt would be glad to come at last to Christ but they have no heart to come after him they would be glad to enjoy him but care not to imitate him fain would they come to him but not follow him Men would obtain riches without labour and Crowns without fighting they like well of rewards but they would take no pains GHAP. XII How men suffer themselves to be deceiv'd by a fair out-side and false appearance of good 1. THis World's felicity put all together with all those things that are most esteem'd by the generality of mankind the whole is but like a coarse picture which seems to have something pleasing and inviting when you look upon 't with a false light or in a place somewhat obscure or with a small blind candle such as is the dim and deceitful light of present time but if you bring forth the picture and view it before that glorious sun that shines for ever the radiant brightness of Eternity there it will appear deform and unfinish'd a dark and imperfect shadow which represents nothing a confused heap of strokes and lines drawn without order or design For though the light of the Gospel enlightens the World yet it remains in darkness men will not see the glorious discoveries which the Gospel makes The light shined in the darkness but the darkness comprehended it not 3. Yet that light it is and none else that clearly shews the great difference betwixt good and evil btwixt vile and precious betwixt truth and appearances how we may know and chuse the one from the other By this blessed light of Christianity which dwells in the heart and instructs it and abides for ever by it we are taught not to cleave to the creatures because of their attractive beauty but so to consider their perfections as to be by them led to the fountain whence they proceed to the love and admiration of the glorious maker of all things And the same divine light it is makes me see
the cause why so many are not so perfect and holy as their Christian faith requires and would enable them to be that they are not sincere but want truth in the inward parts The false opinions of the World are of greater power with them than the precepts and the examples of Christ and those moral virtues which nature it self recommends are commonly made sin or subservient to it by the depraved judgments and customs of men We therefore that live in a crooked and perverse generation among corrupt and deceived persons ought seriously and often to make this inquiry whether we our selves do know the right way and whether we truly follow it Now that way which is the way of truth is one and altogether unchangeable and they that will keep it without change must not look to the World but up to Heaven must not follow the example of men but must directly follow God who alone is the way the truth and the life CHAP. XXV That a hearty affection is the life of good actions 1. WE must have a special care that the sensitive part of us have not the principal concern in our good works and that we be not led by sense in our actions for sense is the great deceiver the fountain of error therefore 't is said that the mortification of sense is the life of truth And hence it is that we cannot be confident ever to have done any thing perfectly good and without defect because that we bear a part in our best works and as far as they proceed from us they are stain'd with imperfection although they be done upon Gods account and by the impulse and assistance of divine Grace Thus it was said to the Angel or Bishop of Sardis Rev. 3.2 I have not found thy works perfect before God and thus it might be said to any other For our Prayers Fastings and Alms and such like good works though they may appear complete before men who see nothing but the outside yet before God who searcheth the heart they are defective and cannot be acceptable in the least except they be done with a pure and sincere intention to please him 2. Of ten Virgins mentioned in the Gospel five foolish were excluded from the wedding not but that they were Virgins and had lamps that is works but because they wanted the oil of good intentions and holy affections This may well be the case of every one of us our works will be dead before God and unpleasing to him except we breath life into them by our inward sanctified spirit and fervent love to God In outward acts and appearance all Christians are almost alike but as the hand of a watch is mov'd by the hidden springs and as the colour of the face depends on the secret constitution of the body so the good are distinguisht from the bad by their inward spirit or the hidden man of the heart for the Kingdom of God is within us CHAP. XXVI Whence the goodness of our works proceeds 1. AS many that eat much yet are feeble and infirm and lean because they overcharge their stomach so that their nourishment is not well concocted and as many that eat very moderately yet because they digest well are strong and healthy and long-liv'd So likewise some Christians there are that do many good things and yet themselves become little better because they go not the right way to work They think that by doing much they must become great proficients though they do it remisly and incuriously whereas to do our duty every day with greater fervency and exactness is the right way to perfection a few things well done profit more than heaps of works done negligently 2. For so there are others that compared to these first do but little and yet increase much in the love of God because they endeavour always to work with greater affection and a more upright intention so that at the end of every good action they may in some manner use that expression of Christ on the Cross Joh. 19.30 It is finished I have in this as far as was possible done what God required of me as perfectly as my infirmity would allow and his free grace enabled me who gives us to will and to do and without whom we can do nothing They so spend each day that at night they can say It is finished and they so spend their whole life that when 't is ended they can say with an holy and humble confidence I have now perfected that work which God had appointed me to do He that lives so lives like a Christian and he shall not fear in the evil day CHAP. XXVII How useful and comfortable is the consideration of God being always present 1. NOthing will more prevail to make perfect our works as much as is possible than to consider that God is present every where and that from him and in him all things have their being power and motion This is the most pressing Argument why we should always act with the greatest circumspection that God sees the things that are in secret and we can never be hid from his eyes that in him we live and move and have our being and that he never forsakes us till we forsake him to turn our affections upon the creatures For this is the unhappy effect of our original corruption that our senses are so affected and pleased with material things present that our mind is drawn from the contemplation of Gods presence and things as yet invisible whereas if the love of this world did not bear too great a sway in our heart we could see God in every place holy affections would always see him who is the Author of all holiness according to the saying of our Blessed Saviour Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God 2. For indeed 't is not to be exprest how sweet and comfortable is the goodness of God which he hath laid up for them that fear him but laid up it is none have a sense of it but they that love God they alone taste and see how gracious the Lord is For 't is not enough to have a treasure we must know we have it before we can be rich and we must know the use and the worth of it Now such a treasure we have within us as is of an inestimable infinite value and yet we seem not to know it for we run after motes and shadows and catch at painted drops that cannot quench our thirst as the Psalmist saith O ye sons of men how long will ye love vanities and seek after lies Thus we are cheated and understand not our own happiness for God is present to us every moment and we could always enjoy him we are rich and we know it not 3. We could if we would anticipate the joys of Heaven we could now have a taste of the felicity of beatified Saints but that we indulge Sense to the prejudice of the Soul we
an opportunity of doing some good therefore we should despise nothing because almost every thing puts it in our power to exercise some virtue and do something to please God We should rather observe every motion of our heart and mind to rectifie the least irregularity of our affections and take all occasions to mortifie pernicious self-will and self-love No man of a sudden grows wicked but he that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little Eccl. 19.1 2. Every human comfort though never so innocent yet in some manner excludes the divine but he that can pass by all outward things and entertain himself with Christ chuse him for his onely portion who alone is all-sufficient his joys shall be solid and lasting As Philosophers say that whensoever you take one body another succeeds in its place lest there should be a vacuum in nature So and much more certain it is that when the soul empties it self of all affection to creatures it is soon replenish'd with God and all divine consolations But alass 't is to be confest that we having used our selves from our infancy to delight in material things which are present and perceived by sense we afterwards grow very unapt to entertain and please our selves with objects Spiritual and Supernatural which are far out of sight and can be apprehended but by Faith only Hence it is that we lie groveling on the ground and attend to nothing but the dictates of flesh and bloud and remain inconstant and unable to raise up our selves above our depressed nature until having shook off the vain comforts of transitory things We turn our selves to God and settle our rest in him who is our peace and our joy and the end and center of all things CHAP. III. That Self-denyal and the Cross is absolutely necessary to all Christians 1. THE Life of every Christian should be a perpetual Self-crucifixion yet the deliciousness of the Cross is understood but of very few such as have been intimately acquainted with it They only know that have tryed how much pleasure follows contrition and self-abnegation insomuch that they find it most bitter when they any ways depart from their humble penitent temper to return to the life of sense The World indeed counts them unhappy because commonly they are poor afflicted and despised but they rejoyce in their tribulations and find themselves happy being well pleased with what happens to them because they desire most of all that God's will may be done in all things Is it his pleasure to make Poverty their lot they freely accept of it Will he have them afflicted they submit Are they to be scorn'd and disgrac'd they are not unwillign come what will they like it therefore they are most happy that have all things at will As for the wicked that seek after the pleasures of sin though they have what they wish and appear prosperous to envy and admiration yet they really are unhappy because they wish what they should not what is unjust and dishonest and will bring sorrow at last 2. The Cross is the Center of our holy Religion the most mysterious and profitable doctrine of it both for belief and practice he that seeks not for the Cross when he becomes a Christian understands not as yet what the Gospel designs Christ at first conceal'd many things from his Disciples because they could not hear them yet weak and ignorant as they were he acquainted them with the scandal of his Cross and ignominious passion St. Paul likewise to the new Converts would give milk and not meat yet notwithstanding would preach to them Jesus Christ Crucified to the Jews an offence and to the Gentiles foolishness nay he himself with all his learning profest that he did not care to know any thing save Jesus Christ and him crucified And the Primitive Church for some time conceal'd many things from the Catechumens and yet never the Cross of Christ Nay every Christian is and was of old signed in his forehead with the sign of the Cross in token he should not be ashamed of Christ crucified And God forbid we should glory in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ who is made unto us wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption 3. As he hath redeemed us by the Cross so none can receive the benefit of his Redemption but by bearing the Cross Hence the absolute necessity of patience and self-denyal so that whoever doth not renounce himself cannot be Christ's Disciple If any one saith he will come after me let him take up his Cross and follow me and if he doth not hate that is be ready to forsake father and mother wife and children and even his own life he cannot be my disciple for whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it Mat. 16.25 He doth not only say that a Christian must deny pride intemperance luxury injustice pomps and riches and such things that are without us but himself he must deny himself that is his natural desires and affections his own will the suggestions of his own carnal mind These he must oppose and mortifie and overcome Crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts and make his life an image and representation of the Crucifixion of Christ These things are hard to flesh and bloud but in them consists our Faith and our Salvation CHAP. IV. That Self-denyal is the Character and the principal duty of a Christian 1. IN the Spiritual building Self-denyal is the first Stone for what will raptures and high-flown thoughts signifie what will avail communions and familiar acquaintances with God and what the precisest virtue if in all these we seek our selves aim at our own glory and puft up with Pharisaical pride do despise others He is wiser than all the Philosophers who in his heart owns himself simple and ignorant he is higher than the greatest Monarchs who reputes himself the meanest of men Our virtue perfection and safety consist not in lofty expressions nor yet in things wonderful and extraordinary but in the Cross in bearing reproaches in self-abjection and no man can obtain here true vertue and sanctification and hereafter glory except renouncing his own desires he prepare himself to suffer and be made conformable to Christ Crucified Yet we must observe that as Simon the Cyrenian did bear the Cross of Christ and yet not die with him so many bear a heavy Cross without true mortification in what they suffer they have some other design than to glorifie God and to submit to his blessed will 2. Who would think that self-self-love should be found in the Cross which it abhors so much Yet so it is not a few there are who willingly or otherways can indure much that they may boast of it that they may be seen and praised by men Such men indeed do bear the Cross but they will not be crucified with Christ they deny and afflict themselves
most gracious Providence and interpret the most afflictive events as signs of his care and good will for us casting our selves into the arms of his infinite mercies and suffering him to fit us for himself by what means he pleaseth 4. Slanders Treacheries Oppressions Losses Rapes Thefts Sicknesses Plagues Famines and all other calamities publick or private they are all sent and appointed by God for to punish or reclaim wicked men or else to exercise and perfect the Righteous therefore under the sense or apprehension of any of these let a Christian humble himself and worship and say with patient Job Blessed be the name of the Lord. Masters commit their work and their affairs to trusty servants and yet acquaint them not with their secret intents and all the train of their designs so should we like faithful and humble servants yield to God chearfully an active or passive obedience in all things unconcern'd for the final event how in any particulars God will dispose of us or of others taking that to our selves which our Blessed Lord told St. Peter once What is that to thee follow thou me follow me whatever happens and mind nothing else If thou art entred upon a good design some profitable undertaking and canst not go on with it by reason of sickness or some other hindrance which thou canst not help grieve not and be not dejected for God knows what is best for thee follow him wheresoever he calls Thus if we would meekly entertain Gods will and be guided by it Peace and Tranquillity would dwell in our hearts and perturbations could have no access to the place wherein God dwells and reigns CHAP. XXXI Of the Resignation of our selves to God in all things 1. 'T IS good to wish that God would afflict us and that we may suffer for him and from him but 't is yet better to be wholly devoted to him so as to follow without anxiousness or reluctancy whithersoever he is pleased to lead Natural life shews it self by the acts of sense and motion Spiritual life by the cessation of those acts when we no longer live our selves but Christ lives in us For he that truly forsakes himself and transfers the motions of his mind and the liberty of his will to God lives here as a new born Infant without choise or desires of his own having wholly permitted himself to the Divine guidance he is free from himself and lives the life of Grace In all cross accidents he looks and rests upon Providence and of all the World calls nothing his own because he himself is not his own but Gods in whose hand he is as an instrument to be done with and put to such use as the Master shall please He is not curious and inquistive after Divine secret Counsels but he adores them and believes them to be always just and equitable and therefore in what matter and for what cause soever God is pleased to determine any thing he assents and yields and thinks it best 2. He depends upon God for all the concerns of Nature of Grace and Glory and divesting himself of his own liberty he chuseth Gods will and makes it his own And whereas by natural corruption man hath too much complacency in himself and delights in the best acts of his will rather as his own than as good whence proceed many troubles he that hath parted with his own will to make it one with Gods suffers no grief in himself nor any creature but always rejoyceth in his acquiescence to the Divine pleasure At best if natural affections cannot be quite subdued yet this prevails and the man easily overcomes his sorrows and finds in God peace and satisfaction None can resist the Almighty he doth whatsoever pleaseth him and his will must absolutely take place in all things therefore better it is willingly to follow than be drag'd better it is to comply with than to be forc'd by it 3. Our content and tranquillity consists in our meek subjection to the will of God And even if we have fallen into great and mischievous sins though we are seriously to repent to chastise and afflict our selves yet we must not give way to distracting perturbations and a tedious and confused spirit but rather we must humbly implore the Divine mercy which permitted us to fall that we might not be high-minded but fear and be sensible of our own frailty in our fall and of the Divine Grace when we rise up again and stand we must patiently wait upon God and beg for Pardon and the return of his favour with a contrite heart and without impatience or amazement make it our diligent study and indeavour to mortifie our sins and amend our lives A faithful and wise servant under God seeks and desires nothing but that his Lords commands may be fulfilled he will always be disposed to say from his heart Thy will be done I am ready to do and suffer thy pleasure Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Mat. 11.26 Wilt thou grant me health and plenty and inward peace and joy or wilt thou have me be poor and sickly and to live in mournful sadness and spiritual driness thy will be done do with me what thou pleasest for I am wholly thine 4. This preparedness of mind and indifferency to all things that God shall please to send will free a man from all anxious troubles and fears and from being cast down nay will make him undaunted always peaceable or always victorious in all adversities We are forbidden by our Saviour Christ to be solicitous about food and raiment how much more about superfluous things which minister only to vanity We must do our duty and leave all to God and rest our selves upon his gracious and Almighty will for even the peace of the Soul is lost if it be sought too anxiously Too much care and inquisitiveness after things to come betray a timerous and unsettled mind not yet resign'd to God and are the effects of self-self-love afraid to suffer any thing God who sees all things from above knows what is best for every man and he sweetly and powerfully disposing all things takes a special care of that man that depends and relies upon him CHAP. XXXII That the Hope of our Salvation must rest upon God 1. A Man guided by the Christian wisdom will not only as the Gospel commands leave all temporal things to Gods disposal taking no thought for the morrow but also commit his Soul and Salvation to him who never faileth them that trust in him In this hope and in conforming his will to Gods will he will work out his Salvation admiring and reconciling together the Divine Justice and Mercy and yet not seeking to enter into the deep abyss of Gods secret judgments and decrees a bold presumption which belongs to none but to wicked impenitents whose desperate Lives make their Souls desperate because they will not leave their sins and return to God 'T is true indeed
he knows the more that desire increaseth and then he rejoyceth in himself and is much delighted with his great learning when he thinks he knows much and hath a great insight into the profoundest of divine mysteries and so he comes to love his knowledge more than God the object of it Thus the Philosophers as St. Paul reproves them when they knew God yet they glorified him not as God but became vain in their imaginations much admiring themselves and their discoveries And thus also many Christians value more what they know and what they can discourse of God and Religion that they value both him and it They speak great things of the love of Christ and they love themselves for so speaking In that knowledge they have of God as in a mirror they view themselves especially and take little notice of the glass they admire the vision their own act more than the object which is seen But God must be lov'd and worshipt in spirit and in truth in singleness and simplicity without any respect to our selves 2. As a Country-man plain and unlearned who daily sees the Sun is more in love with the light of it than a blind Philosopher who can talk many things concerning the nature and the causes and effects of light so an honest pious man without Scholarship by an active practical Faith shews more love to God than the profound Divine by his subtleties and high speculations And as a learned man in Northern Countries where no Vines can grow may learnedly discourse of their fruit and the properties of it and yet not have such an intimate acquaintance with the nature and strength of the wine as the plain vine-dresser that drinks it daily so may a Religious illiterate man have a greater insight into divine mysteries and a more relishing apprehension of them than many a man of great fame and learning For experience goes beyond all theory and love passeth knowledge and we much sooner come to God by affection than by studious inquiries 3. We must not only therefore inform our understanding but if we desire to love God fervently we must ingage our affections and give our selves to Prayer Proficiency in goodness will make us know more of God and to better purpose than proficiency in knowledge Goodness will make us love and love will bring us into Gods secret place where we shall see more and with more delight than all notional learning can shew us What we can know of God in this our exile is but little but we may love him as much as we will he grants us that power and as our love increaseth our labour will grow less and our obedience more perfect But many had rather seek God whom they never find than love and thereby enjoy him CHAP. XLII That by Love Holiness is to be perfected 1. IT is a commandment of God both in the Law and the Gospel be ye Holy for I am Holy That is that we should be pure and without the unclean mixture of the creatures For as Lead in Silver and dirt upon white robes will debase and stain so if we ingage our Souls to the world to things beneath them we make them vile and unclean whereas if we list them up to God by a hearty love we make them pure and beautiful A heart whence all sensual and earthly things are excluded and whose affections cleave to God by the unions of love may with joy and confidence say with the Apostle Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famin or nakedness or peril or sword Nay in all these things we are more than 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 Rom. 8.35 2. Fasting and Alms and Corporal Austerities the use of Sacraments and all such means are great helps towards Sanctity but they all profit nothing without Charity No not Martyrdom it self saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 13.3 The exercise of some other vertues may be sometimes dispenc'd withall as the poor from Alms-giving and weak and sickly people from fasting and rigorous discipline but to love God and our neighbour which is the end of all other precepts and the fulfilling of the Law every one is always oblig'd no man at no time can be any ways hindred or excused obstacles and difficulties may stop the progress of other vertues but they increase Love Love is within in the heart and will there God hath placed it there God looks for it and there nothing can obstruct or stifle it except we will our selves Love alone is necessary and alone sufficient to make us holy It is the first and great Commandment pleasant and easie beyond all others for what more pleasant than to love and who dares say I cannot love 3. He that heartily loves God who is one loves all things in one and one in all things for he loves not God truly that loves any thing which he loves not in God and for God There is nothing above there is nothing equal to God and if at any time we turn our affections from him they fall upon inferior objects upon earthly things whose weight doth sink and press them down and our hearts are never at rest and liberty till they return to God from whom they ungratefully departed That we may therefore be truly sanctified we must forsake our selves and all created things and return as high as to that first principle of sanctity that God from whom we had our origin and then cleaving stedfastly to him by a devout love we shall become one with him in life and holiness and felicity CHAP. XLIII That the Consideration of the fewness of the Chosen ought to make us very wary and diligent 1. NOthing can sooner startle a man out of his slumber and security and â—edge him on to amend and order his life by the Gospel Rules than the due pondering of the dreadful saying of Christ Mat. 20.16 That many are called but few are chosen For no man knows whether he be called by that secret election which intitles him to glory and justification No man knows either love or hatred by all that is before him all promises for the life to come are conditional nothing but our sincerity in fulfilling the conditions can give us any ground of assurance And yet how defective are we in this how uncertain is it that we shall persevere and who can search and see into the deep secret of his Election here the Apostle who had been once in Paradise cryes out and wonders O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out Rom. 11.33 In this great danger and