made but that at least he knows that he is and that he loves something If he then sees something in the dark state wherein he is and finds something on Earth that deserves his Love If God be pleas'd to infuse into him some Beams of his Essence wherefore should it be thought strange that he should be made capable of knowing and loving him as he shall be pleas'd to communicate himself to him These kinds of reasoning therefore are very presumptuous though they seem to be grounded on a kind of Humility yet it is not sincere nor reasonable unless it makes us confess that not knowing of our selves what we are we cannot know it of any but God. §. V. The submission and use of Reason 1. THe farthest Reason can go is to confess that there are infinite numbers of things that are above it It is very weak if it proceeds not so far 2. * One must know to doubt where there 's cause to doubt assure where there is cause and submit when one ought who doth not these things don't understand the force of Reason There are many that do not observe these three Principles either they assure all as demonstrable in not rightly knowing what demonstration is or in doubting of all not knowing where to submit or in submitting to all not knowing where to judg 3. * If all be submitted to Reason our Religion would have nothing mysterious and supernatural in it if the Principles of Reason are violated our Religion would be absurd and Rediculous 4. * Reason saith St. Austin would never submit if it did not judg that there are certain occasions wherein it ought to submit It is therefore just it should submit when it judges that it ought to submit and that it should not submit when upon good grounds it ought not to submit but great care must be taken of not being deceiv'd 5. * Piety is very different from Superstition To advance Piety to Superstition you destroy it Hereticks charge us with superstitious submission it were to do what they charge us with if we requir'd this submission in things indifferent There is nothing so conformable to Reason as to lay aside Reason in matters of Faith and nothing more contrary to Reason than the disusing of Reason in things that do not concern Faith These are two extreams alike dangerous to exclude Reason and to admit nothing but Reason 6. * Faith teaches things which Sense doth not but never nothing contrary to it it is above but not contrary to Reason §. VI. Faith without Reasoning IF we see a Miracle say some Men we would be converted They would not speak in this manner did they know what Conversion means They think there is no more in it but to believe there is a God and that to Worship him consists only in certain Forms of Words much like those the Gentiles used to their Idols True Conversion consists in humbling our selves before that Soveraign Majesty we have so often provok'd and who might justly every Minute destroy us to confess that we can do nothing without him and that we have deserv'd nothing but his displeasure it consists in acknowledging that there is a great enmity betwixt God and us and that without a Mediator we could have had no access nor favour Do not think it strange to see common People believe without Reasoning God works in them a love of Holiness and a hatred of themselves he inclines their heart to believe One shall never believe with a true saving Faith unless God inclines the Heart and as soon as he inclines it one shall believe And it is what the Prophet David knew very well when he said Inclina cor meum Deus in testimonia tua Those that believe without having examin'd the Proofs of Religion it is because they have an inward Holy Disposition and that what they hear said of our Religion is wholly conformable to it They feel that God has made them they will love none but him they will hate none but themselves they find their own weakness and that they are unable to go to God and that if God don't vouchsafe to come to them they can have no Communion with him and they find it is said in our Religion that we must love God and hate our selves but being wholly depraved and uncapable of coming to God God became Man to unite himself to us There needs nothing more to perswade Men who have this Disposition in their Heart together with this knowledg of their incapacity and Duty Those whom we see to be Christians without the knowledg of Prophesies and Proofs do nevertheless judg as well as those that have this Knowledg they judge by the heart as the others do by the understanding It is God himself that inclines them to believe and therefore they are very effectually perswaded I grant that one of these Christians that believes without knowing the Proofs may not it may be know so well how to convince an Infidel who may say so much of himself But those that understand the Proofs of Religion can easily prove that a believer is truly inspired of God although he cannot tell how to do it himself §. VII That it is more advantageous to believe than not believe what is taught by the Christian Religion Advertisement MOst of what is contained in this Chapter concerns only certain Persons who not being satisfy'd with the Proofs of Religion and much less with the Reasons of Atheists remain in suspense betwixt Faith and Infidelity the Author pretends only to shew by their own Principles and the light of Natural Reason that they should judg it is their Intrest to believe and that 't were their wisest course so to do did this choice depend of their own Will. Whence it follows that till they have found means to convince them of the Truth they should do what may most tend that way and avoid all those Courses which hinder them from getting true Faith which are principally Passions and vain Amusements 1. UNity joyn'd to Infinity adds nothing to it no more than a Foot does to an infinite Measure the Finite disappears in presence of the infinite and becomes nothing so doth our Wisdom in the sight of God and our Righteousness before the Divine Holiness There is not so great a disproportion betwixt Unity and Infinity as there is betwixt our Righteousness and that of God. 2. * We know there is an Infinite Being but are ignorant of his Nature as for Example we know it is false that Numbers are Finite then it is true there is an Infinity in Number but we know not what it is It is false that 't is even it is false that 't is odd for in adding the Unity it changes not Nature So we may plainly see there is a God and not know what he is and you ought not conclude there is no God because we do not perfectly know his Nature To convince you of his existence I
would only have render'd them squallid and would have depriv'd them of their greatest Ornament which is to say much in a few Words An Instance may be seen hereof in one of the Fragments of the Chapter of the Proofs of Jesus Christ by Prophecies pag. 85. conceiv'd in these Words The Prophets spake of particular things and of the Messias to the end that the Prophecies of the Messias should not be without Proofs and that particular Prophecies should not be without Fruit. In this Fragment he shews the Reason wherefore the Prophets that only look at the Messias and that should chiefly have Prophesy'd of him and of his Reign nevertheless often foretold particular things which seem'd but little to concern their Design He says it was to the end that these particular Events being Daily accomplish'd in the sight of all Men just as they were foretold they were undoubtedly own'd for true Prophets and by that means the certainty of what they Prophesy'd of the Messias was not in the least to be question'd So that by this means the Prophecies of the Messias did in some sort inferr their Certainty and Authority from these particular Prophecies which were verifyed and accomplished and these particular Prophecies thus serving to prove and Authorize those of the Messias they were not unfruitful and useless this is the Sense of this Fragment being explain'd It appears also necessary to undeceive some Persons that happily may expect herein to find Proofs and Geometrical Demonstrations of the Existence of God of the Immortality of the Soul and several other Articles of the Christian Faith this was not Monsieur Pascall's Aiâ—â— He design'd not to discover these Truths of Christian Religion by such kind of Demonstrations grounded on evident Principles able to convince the most obdurate Persons nor by Metaphysical Disputations which for the most part rather divert than perswade the Mind Nor by common places drawn from the divers Effects of Nature but by Moral Proofs which more touch the Heart than the Understanding that is he endeavour'd more to affect the Heart than to convince or perswade the Judgment knowing very well that Passions and Evil habits which corrupt the Heart and the Will are the greatest hindrances that obstruct our Faith and that if those Lets can be remov'd it would be no hard matter to convey into the Understanding those Reasons which may effectually convince it One shall be easily convinc'd of the Truth hereof in Reading this Treatise But Monsieur Pascall has explain'd himself in one of his Fragments found amongst his Papers not Inserted in this Collection Thus he speaks in this Fragment I will not here undertake to prove by Natural Reasons the Existence of God or the Trinity or the Immortality of the Soul nor other things of this Nature not only because I should not think my self able to find in Nature sufficient to convince obstinate Atheists but also because this Knowledge without Jesus Christ is useless and barren Though a Man should be perswaded that the proportion of Numbers are Truths Immaterial Eternal and depending of a former Truth wherein they subsist and which is called God yet I should not think such a one much advanc'd in his Salvation It may be some will think strange to find such a great Variety of Thoughts in this Collection some of which seem so little to relate to the Subject Monsieur Pascall undertook to Write of to this may be reply'd that his Design was far greater than many do imagin and that he did not just Limit himself within the Bounds of Confuting the Arguments of Atheists and of such as deny some Articles of the Christian Religion The great Love and singular Esteem he had for Religion so wrought with him that he could not only admit that it should be wholly destroy'd but also endeavour'd it should not be injur'd nor corrupted in any part of it so that he bid open defiance to all those that oppos'd either the Truth or Holiness of it that is as well Atheists and Infidels as Hereticks who refuse to submit the false Lights of their Reason unto Faith and that do refuse to believe the Truths which it teacheth us also he doth the like to Christians and Catholicks who being within the Pale of the Church do not however Live according to the Purity of the Gospel Precepts which is the Rule and Pattern by which we ought to direct and govern all our Actions This was his main Design and it was vast and large enough to comprehend most of the things contain'd in this Collection Nevertheless some few may be found that have but little relation thereunto and which indeed were not intended for it as for Example most of those that are in the Chapter of Divers Thoughts which indeed were found amongst Monsieur Pascall's Papers and were thought fit to be added to the others for this Book is not Publish'd barely as a Work made against Atheists or touching Religion but as a Collection of Thoughts touching Religion and some other things There remains no more to end this Preface but to say something of the Author having spoke of his Work I not only think this to be necessary but also believe that what I intend to say will be useful to shew how it was Monsieur Pascall came to have so high an Esteem and Love for Religion as to undertake the Design of this Work. It has already been shewn briefly in the Preface of the Treatises of the Weight of Liquors and of the Weight of Air how it was that he passed his Youth and the great Progress he made in a short time in all human and prophane Sciences that he set about and especially in Geometry and the Mathematicks the strange and surprising way that he learn'd them at Eleven or Twelve years old the little Works he sometimes perform'd which always surpass'd the strength of a Person of his Age the Wonderful and Prodigious Effect of his Understanding and Wit which appear'd in his Machine of Arithmetick invented by him when he was but Nineteen years of Age And to conclude the Learn'd Experiments of Vacuity which he perform'd in Presence of several Persons of Learning and Quality of the City of Roüan where he Resided whilst his Father Monsieur Le President Pascall was Employ'd there in the Kings Business as Intendent of Justice so that I 'll omit relating any of that in this place and shall only repeat in few Words how he slighted all these Honours and how it was that he passed the latter Years of his Life wherein he shew'd no less the Greatness and Solidity of his Vertue and Piety than before he had shewn the Vastness and Admirable depth of his Wisdom In his Youth by Gods particular Care and Goodness he had been preserv'd from all those Vices whereunto most young People are Subject and what is not very usual to so great a Wit as his he was never inclin'd to Novelty in what related to Religion having ever
had need of my Brothers assistance he presently imbraced it with so much affection that I had no cause to doubt of the greatness of his love to me and mine so that I imputed to the pain of his sickness that coldness with which he receiv'd the diligence I used to divert him and this riddle was not known to me till the very day he died that a Person very considerable for his Quality and Virtue with whom my Brother held a very intimate and pious intercourse told me that amongst other things he observ'd this maxim that he never desir'd any body should love him with delight that 't was a faillure whereon we don 't sufficiently enough examine our selves not being aware of the danger of it not considering that suffering and increasing those delights one took up the heart which belonged to God only that 't was to rob God of the thing which he prised more then all things else We plainly discern'd this principle was deeply engraven in his heart for to think of it the oftner he wrot it on a piece of Paper which lay by it self in these terms It is unjust one should settle their delight on any thing here below although it be done with pleasure and willingly I should deceive those in whom I should create this desire for I am not the happyness of any body and have nothing that might satisfie them am not I ready to dye and so the object of their delight shall soon perish as I should be too blame to make any believe a lye though it were in my power and that any should do it with pleasure and would think to oblige me in it So also I should be too blame if I should make any to love me and if I should draw people to love or delight in me I ought to tell those that are ready to yield to believe a lye that they should not do it whatever benefit should accrue to me by it and also that they should place no delight in me for they ought to spend their life and their care in seeking God and pleasing him This was the manner that he instructed himself and that he so strictly observed that I my self knew not of it but by chance by this may partly be discovered the light which God gave him towards the perfecting of a Christian Conversation He had so great a Zeal for the Glory of God that he could not suffer it to be offended in any thing whatsoever this made him so earnest in the Kings Service that in the troubles at Paris he blamed every body and called the reason that was given for that Rebellion nothing else but meer pretences and said that in a settled Common-wealth as Venice is 't were a great Sin to think of setting up a King and to suppress the Liberty God had given the People but in a State where Monarchy is settled the respect due to it cannot be violated without being guilty of a kind of Sacrilege seeing 't is not only a resemblance of the Power of God but a Participation of that Power to which one cannot resist without the breach of Gods Command and that so one cannot too much exaggerate this Crime besides that 't is always attended with Civil Wars which is the greatest Sin one can commit against his Neighbour and he observ'd this Maxim so punctually that in those times he refused very great Offers to comply with it He would often say he had as great aversion for that Sin as for the Sin of Murder or Robbing on the High-way and that there was nothing more contrary to his Naturè and to which he had less temptation These were his Thoughts towards the King and he was no Friend to those who were of any other mind and what shewed that 't was not out of humour or self-will was that he had an admirable sweetness of Temper for all that offended him in his Person so that he never made any difference betwixt them and others and he so fully forgot those that regarded himself only that unless the particular circumstances of things were repeated he would not remember them And as this was sometimes wondred at he said don't think it strange 't is not of Virtue 't is by meer forgetfulness I don't at all think of it Nevertheless 't is most certain it may hardly be seen that the Offences that only regarded his Person made no great impression on him seeing he so easily forgot them for his Memory was so good that he often said that he never forgot any thing that he had a mind to remember He used this mildness in things most displeasing to him to his last end For a little before his Death being offended in a thing that was very sensible to him by a Person he had done great Kindnesses for and having at that time received a kindness from this Person he thankt him with so many Complements and Civilities as could be yet it could not be through forgetfulness seeing 't was at the same time but it was indeed because he would not think of revenging Injuries done to his own Person These particular Inclinations of his that I have but slightly touched you will see hereunder mentioned in a Paper writ by his own Hand I love Poverty because Jesus Christ lov'd it I love Riches because thereby we have means to relieve those that are in distress I am Faithful and True to all the World. I do not do evil to those that injure me but I wish them to be in the condition I am in wherein they may receive neither good nor evil from any Man. I endeavour to be always True Sincere and Faithful to all Men and I have a tenderness for those God has more nearly related unto me and whether I am alone or in the sight of Men in all my Actions I have God ever in my sight who shall judge me for them and to whom I consecrate them These are my Thoughts and every day I bless my Redeemer who has put them in my mind and that of a weak miserable Creature full of Frailty Haste Pride and Ambition has by his Grace made me a Man free from those Evils to whose Grace I ascribe it there being in me nothing but Misery and Horror Thus it was he employ'd himself that having always before his Eyes the way of God it so conducted him that he never stray'd from it the great light he had together with his great Wisdom did not hinder the sight of that great Meekness which shined through the whole Course of his Life and that made him exactly to observe all things that related to Religion He very much loved the whole Divine Service especially the little hours they being compos'd of the 118. Psalm wherein he found so many admirable things that he was much delighted in repeating them when he discoursed with his friends of the Excellency of this Psalm he was so transported that he seem'd to be above himself and this Meditation made
things of the World But Desire enjoys God and useth the World whereas on the contrary Charity useth the World and enjoys God. Now it is the end that denominates things all that hinders us to attain to it is called Enemy so that the Creatures though good are Enemies of the Just when they divert them from God and God himself is looked upon as an Enemy by those whose Lusts he interrupts So that the word Enemy relating to the latter end the Just understood it of their Passions and Carnal Men understood by it the Babylonians so that these Terms were only obscure to the unjust and 't is what is said by Isaiah Signa legem in Discipulis meis and that Jesus Christ shall be a stone of stumbling but blessed are those that shall not be offended in him The Prophet Hosea also saith plainly Where is the wise and he shall hear my words for the ways of God are straight the just shall walk in them but the wicked shall fall Nevertheless this Testament made after this manner light to some and dark to others did clearly shew in those whom it darkned the truth which was to be known by others for the outward visible things they received of God were so great and Divine that it was evident enough he had the power to give them the invisible things and also the Messias 13. * The time of the first coming of the Messias is foretold that of his second coming is not foretold because his first coming was to be privately whereas his second is to be more publick and so manifest that even his Enemies shall know it But as he was to come obscurely and to be known only by such as search'd the Scriptures God so dispos'd things that all contributed to make him known the Jews proved him in receiving him for they were the keepers of the Prophesies and they proved him also in not receiving him because therein they accomplished the Prophesies 14. * The Jews had Miracles Prophesies that they see accomplish'd and the Doctrine of their Law was to Love and Worship one God it was also perpetual it had therefore the Marks of the true Religion and so it was But you must distinguish betwixt the Doctrine of the Jews and the Doctrine of the Law of the Jews Now the Doctrine of the Jews was not true though it had Miracles Prophesies and Perpetuity because it wanted this other Point of not Adoring and Loving but God only The Jewish Religion should be consider'd differently in the Tradition of their Saints and the Tradition of the People The Moral and Felicity of it areridiculous in the Tradition of the People but they are incomparable in their Saints the Foundation is admirable It is the antientest and most authentick Book in the World And whereas Mahomet to make his Religion subsist forbid its being Read Moses to Establish his commanded that all the World should Read his 15. * The Jewish Religion is wholly Divine in its Authority in its Duration in its Perpetuity in its Moral in its Conduct Doctrine and Effects c. It was form'd on the pattern and likeness of the Messias and the truth of the Messias was acknowledg'd by the Jewish Religion which was the Type of it The truth was only in Type amongst the Jews in Heaven it is openly seen in the Church it is vail'd and known by relation to the Figure the Figure was taken from the Truth and the Truth was known by the Figure 16. * Whosoever judges of the Jews Religion by the exteriour cannot rightly understand it It is visible in the Holy Records and in the Tradition of the Prophets who have sufficiently shew'd that they did not understand the Law by the Letter so our Religion is Divine in the Gospel and Apostles but in those that corrupt it it is quite disfigur'd 17. * There were two sorts of Jews one soâ—t had only vain Pagan Affections the others had Christian Desires 18. * The Messias according to the Carnal Jews should be a great Temporal Prince according to Carnal Christians he came to exempt us from loving God and to give us Sacraments that operate without us neither of these is the Christian nor Jews Religion 19. The true Jews and Christians believ'd a Messias that enjoyn'd them to love God and by this Love to triumph over their Enemies 20. * The Vail which is over the Scriptures to the Jews is also to bad Christians and to all such as abhor not themselves but how easily do we understand them and know Jesus Christ when we truly censure and abhor our selves 21. * The Carnal Jews keep the midle betwixt Christians and Pagans the Pagans know not God and love only Worldly things the Jews know the true God and love the World only Christians know the true God and do not love the World. Jews and Pagans love the same Riches Jews and Christians know the same God. 22. * It is visibly a People made expresly to be Winesses to the Messias they keep the Records and love them but don't understand them and all this is foretold for it is said Gods Law is given into their Custody but like a Book seal'd 23. * Whilst the Prophets were in being to defend the Law the People were negligent but â—ince there have been no Prophets Zeal has succeeded which is an admirable Providence §. XI Moses 1. THe Creation of the World beginning to be far off God provided a Contempoâ—ary Historian and appointed a whole Nation â—o keep this Book to the end this History might be the most Authentick History in the World and that all Men should be inform'd of a thing so necessary to be known and which can be known by no other means 2. * Moses was very Wise and Learned that 's certain had he then had a design to impose on the World he would have done it in such a manner as that he might not have been accus'd of deceit He has done the quite contrary for had he told Lyes there had not been a Jew but would have discover'd his Imposture Wherefore for Example did he make the Lives of the first Men so long and so few Generations He might have hid himself in a multitude of Generations but he could not in so few for 't is not the number of Years but the multitude of Generations which render things obscure Truth doth not vary but by the change of Men. Nevertheless he places two things the most memorable that ever hapned viz. the Creation and the Deluge so near one another that they almost touch by the fewness of Generations he places betwixt them so that when he wrote these things the remembrance of them was fresh in the Mind of all the Jews 3. * Shem who saw Lamech who saw Adam did at least see Abraham and Abraham saw Jacob who saw those that saw Moses therefore the Deluge and the Creation are true This concludes amongst certain Persons who know it very
much more exclude us from the knowledge of things there being nothing so inconceivable as to say That the matter is able to know it self It is this Composition of Body and Soul that has caus'd almost all the Philosophers to mix the Ideas of things and to attribute to Bodies that which appertains to the Soul and to the Soul those things which can only relate to the Body for they affirm confidently that Bodies tend downwards that they tend to their Center that they shun their destruction that they dread vacuity that they have Inclinations Sympathies and Antipathies that they are every thing that belongs only to Spirits and speaking of Spirits they consider them as in a place and treat them of moving from one place to another which are things that appertain only to Bodies c. Instead of receiving the Idea of things in us we colour with the Qualities of our mixt Being all the single things we behold Who would not believe in seeing us make all things of Body and Soul but that mixture should be easily enough understood by us Nevertheless 't is the thing we least of all understand Man is to himself the most prodigious Object of Nature for he can't conceive what thing the Body is and much less what his Soul is and least of all how the Body and Soul come to be united together this is the greatest of his Wonders and yet 't is his very Being Modus quo corporibus adhaeret Spiritus comprehendi ab hominibus non potest hoc tamen homo est 28. * When in things of Nature the knowledge whereof is not necessary to us there are some things the certainty whereof we do not know it may not be hurtful that there should be a common Error that may fix the Mind of Man as for Instance the Moon to which is attributed the change of Seasons the progress of Sicknesses c. for 't is one of the greatest weaknesses of Man to have a restless Curiosity to know things out of his reach and I don't know if it be not less hurtful to him to be in an Error in things of this Nature than to rest in this unnecessary Curiosity 29. * If Thunder should only fall in low places Poets and those that know only to discourse of things of this Nature would want Proofs 30. * This Dog is mine said those poor Children That 's my place in the Sun This is the beginning and Image of the Usurpation of all the Earth 31. * Wit has one sort of proceedings which is by Principles and Demonstrations the Heart has another One don't prove that one should be loved by relating in order the causes of Love that would be ridiculous Jesus Christ and Saint Paul chose rather to follow this way of the Heart which is that of Charity rather than that of Wit for their Principal aim was not to instruct but to cherish Saint Austin did the same this order consists chiefly in inlarging upon each Point that relates to the end to make it more visible 32. * One commonly fansies Plato and Aristotle to be always in their Robes and grave serious Persons whereas they were good Fellows that laugh'd and made merry with their Friends And when they wrote their Laws and Treatises of Policy it was in their Pastimes and Diverting themselves It was the least Serious and least Philosophical part of their Life the most Philosophical part was to live plain and quietly 33. * There be some that do wholly veil Nature there 's no King amongst them but an August Monarch No Paris but a Capital of the Kingdom sometimes Paris must be called Paris and other whiles it must be called the Metropolis of the Kingdom 34. * When in a Discourse one finds Words repeated and going to alter them one finds them so fit that it would spoil the Sense then they must be let alone this is the distinction and 't is only blind Envy that don't know this Repitition is proper in that place for there 's no general Rule 35. * Those which make Antitheses in forcing Words are like those which make false Windows for Symmetry their Rule is not to speak true but to make true Figures 36. * One Language in regard to another is a Cypher where Words are changed into Words and not Letters into Letters And so an unknown Language may be Decypher'd 37. * There is a Model of Fancy and Beauty which consists in a certain likeness betwixt our weak or strong Nature such as 't is and the thing that pleases us All that 's formed after this Model pleases us House Song Discourse Verse Prose Women Birds Rivers Trees Chambers Cloths All that is not after this Model dislikes those that have any apprehension 38. * As some say Poetical Beauty so one should also say Geometrical Beauty and Beauty Physical nevertheless 't is not said so the Reason is because one knows what the Object of Geometry is and what the Object of Physick but 't is not known wherein consists that sweetness which is the Object of Poetry One does not know what that natural Model is that must be imitated and for want of this knowledge they have invented some odd Terms Golden Age Wonder of our Age Fatal Rays Bright Star c. and this kind of stuff is called Poetical Beauty But who should fancy a Woman drest up after this Model would see a pretty kind of Lady cover'd all over with Looking-glasses and Tinâ—il Chains and instead of finding her to ones Mind one could not chuse but laugh at the sight because one knows better wherein a Womans dress consists than the garb of Poetry But it may be those that don't understand it may admire her in this Equipage and in many Villages she would be thought to be a Queen therefore some call Songs made after this Model the Country Queen 39. * When a natural Discourse sets forth a Passion or Effect one finds in themselves the Truth of what one hears which was in it before one knew it and one finds themselves inclin'd to love him that made us know it for â—e shews us not his good but our own and so this kindness makes us love him besides that this community of knowledge that we have with him necessarily inclines the Heart to love him 40. * There must be in Eloquence Sweetness and Reality and this pleasingness must be real 41. * When one finds a natural Stile one is surpris'd and ravish'd with it for one thought to see an Author and one finds a Man whereas those that are Judicious and that seeing a Book thinking to find a Man are surpris'd to find an Author plus poeticè quà m humanè locutus est Those do much honour Nature that tell her she can speak of all things and even of Theology 42. * The last thing one finds in composing a Book is to know what part to set foremost 43. * In Discourse one should not turn the Mind from
its own sake nor for the sake of any thing it has for there is nothing in it but deserves thine Anger but for the Pains it endures which alone can be worthy of thy Favour Love my Sufferings Lord and let my Sorrows invite thee to visit me But to finish the preparation of thine abode Grant O my Saviour that if my body has that in common with thine that it suffers for mine Offences my Soul may also have that in common with thine too that it might be in sadness for the same Offences and that so I may suffer with thee and as thou didst in my Body and in my Soul for the Sins which I have committed XI Grant me the Grace Lord to join thy Consolations to my Sufferings that I may suffer as a Christian I don't desire to be free from Sufferings that 's the recompence of Saints but I desire not to be abandon'd to the Sorrows of Nature without the Comforts of thy Spirit for that 's the Malediction of Jews and Infidels I don't desire to have a fulness of Consolation without any Suffering for that 's the Life of Glory neither do I desire to be in a fullness of Evils without Comfort this is the State of Judaism But I desire Lord to feel altogether the sadness of Nature for my Sins and the Comforts of thy Spirit by thy Grace for that 's the true State of Christianity Let me not feel sadness without Consolation but let me feel sadness and Comfort both together that I may at length attain to feel only thy Consolations without any Grief For Lord thou didst let the World languish without consolation before the coming of thy only Son now thou comfortest and softenest the Sufferings of thy Children by the Grace of thy beloved Son and thou wilt fill with perfect Happiness thy Saints in the Glory of thine only Son These are the admirable steps by which thou conductest thy Works Thou hast drawn me out of the First make me to pass through the Second to arrive at the Third Lord it is what I heartily beg of thee XII Suffer not that I may be in that distance from thee that I may consider this Soul sorrowful unto Death and this Body pressed by Death for my Sins and not rejoice to suffer both in my Body and in my Soul For what is there more shameful and yet more common in Christians and even in my self than whilst thou didst sweat Blood to expiate our Offences we live in Pleasures That Christians who make Profession to belong to thee that those who by Baptism have renounced the World solemnly in the Face of the Church to Live and Die with thee that those that make Profession to believe the World Persecuted and Crucified thee that those that believe thou didst expose thy self to Gods anger and to the rage of Men to ransom them from their Sins that those I say that believe all these Truths that consider thy Body as the Sacrifice that was deliver'd for their Salvation that consider the Pleasures and Sins of the World as the only Subject of thy Sufferings and the World it self as thy Executioner yet should seek to Pamper their Body with these same Pleasures in this same World and that those that cannot without horror see a Man imbrace and cherish the Murderer of their Father that gave himself to Death to restore them to Life how they can live as I have done with full delight in the World which I very well know was the Murderer of him that I acknowledge to be my Father and my God and that gave himself to the Death for my Salvation and that bore in his Body the Punishment due to my Sins It is just Lord that thou shouldst put a stop to such Sinful Delights as those were wherein I rested under the Shadow of Death XIII Take therefore from me Lord the sorrow which self-Self-love might give me for my own Sufferings and by reason that Worldly things don't succeed according to the Inclinations of my Heart that tend not to thy Glory But be pleased to cast me into a sorrow conformable unto thine let my Sufferings in some measure pacifie thine Anger Make them be an occasion of my Conversion and Salvation Let me not henceforth desire Health nor Life but that I may employ and end them for thee and with thee and in thee I don't ask Health nor Sickness nor Life nor Death but that thou wouldest dispose of my Health and Sickness of my Life and Death for thy Glory and my Salvation and for the good of thy Church and Saints of which I hope by thy Grace to make a part Thou only knowest what is expedient for me thou art the absolute Disposer of all things do what seems good in thy sight Give unto me take away from me but conform my Will to thy Holy Will and that in an humble and perfect submission and Holy confidence I may prepare my self to receive the Decrees of thine Eternal Providence and that I may equally adore all things that proceed from thee XIV Grant O my God that in a constant Uniformity of Mind I may receive all sorts of Events because we don't know what to ask for and that I cannot desire one thing rather than another without Presumption and without making my self a Judge and liable to answer the consequences which in thy Wisdom thou hast justly hid from me Lord I know I know but one thing which is That 't is good to serve thee and that 't is ill to offend thee besides this I don't know which is worst or best in any thing I can't tell which is best for me Health or Sickness Riches or Poverty or any thing else in the World these things pass the Skill of Men and Angels to discern and are hid in the secrets of thy Providence which I humbly adore and will not presume to pry into XV. Grant therefore Lord that such as I am I may conform my self to thy Will and that being sick as I am I may glorifie thee in my Sufferings without them I cannot attain to Glory and thou thy self my Blessed Saviour wouldst not arrive thereunto by any other way It is by the marks of thy Sufferings that thou wert known to thy Disciples and it is by Sufferings that thou dost also know those that are thy Disciples acknowledge me therefore for thy Disciple in the Pains which I suffer both in my Body and Mind for the Offences which I have committed And because nothing is well pleasing to God but what is offerr'd up by thee conform my Will to thy Will and my Sufferrings to those which thou hast suffered grant that mine may become thine unite me unto thee fill me with thy self and thy Holy Spirit Enter into my Heart and Soul to bring thither my Sufferings and to continue to maintain in me what is yet behind to suffer of thy Passion which thou dost fulfil in thy Members until the full consummation of thy Body
be as all that ever he see till then is really inferiour to him and indeed if there were nothing else but that 't is the only thing obliges Men to know there 's but one only God and has taught to love him and to do all for his Glory it is the only Book deserves to be heeded and rely'd upon For having nothing but what we receive from God neither Motion Life nor Being we ought to do nothing but what should tend to him and all our Actions are Good or Evil but as they lead unto or depart from this End. I speak not of those that are only of the Body and wherein our Will is not concern'd those cannot properly be said to be ours and are only a part of the Motions of this great Body of the Universe which Glorifie God in their own Way But as for those we do because we will do them there are not any that we must not give an account of and therefore should mark that we ought to Will only what he Wills That all Created Beings those that think and those that think not should be in a continual Submission to the Will of their Maker who could have no other design in Creating them But as 't would not be to much purpose to fulfil this Will if one did it not out of pure Love and that 't were done but as Beasts do it God has been pleas'd to put into Man a Superiour Power capable to Elect and Love and that tending always to the part it loves best it might draw after it all the rest and may make to him a voluntary Sacrifice of the whole Man. This in few Words is the Idea of a good Religion or there is no such thing or it ought herein to consist for Admiration Fear and Adoration it self separate from Love are no better than dull and dead things wherein the Heart is no way concern'd and cannot produce such a dependance as that ought to be which the Creature has upon its Creator Nevertheless what other Religion besides the Christian ever placed in this Love the very Essence of its Worship This very defect me thinks should make them all be lookt upon to be false I see nothing should hinder the Inventors of them to perceive that a Supernatural blindness that proceeds even from God kept secret from us that very Cause by which those false Religions are so clearly discern'd Neither would it be any great matter that this Book did clearly shew Man to himself if it did not also fully instruct him in the Order of the World and if it did not clearly unfold those difficult Questions which have so much puzzl'd the greatest Wits of the World. Wherefore for Instance is there seen such a strange difference betwixt Men who are all of one and the same Nature how comes it to pass that the Soul or Thought which is the most Innocent of all things should be so variable If they receive it from a Superior Being Wherefore do they teach that some have it Great and others Mean that some have it full of Light others full of Darkness Some have it Sincere and True and that in others 't is inclin'd to Vice and Injustice and that with so great difference and mixture of these Qualities one with the other and also of those which are opposite to them that there are not two Men in the World that resemble one another nor any one Man that differs not from himself every Moment If the Soul be transmitted from Parents to their Children as most Philosophers taught from whence could this diversity proceed How comes it to pass that a Wise Father gets a Foolish Son How can a Wicked Child proceed from a Vertuous Father How can the Children of the same Father be born with such different Inclinations Don't all these Difficulties sease by the Corruption of the Nature of Man whom this Book teaches to be fallen from his first State And are they not necessary Consequences of the subjection of the Soul to the Body which cannot be lookt upon but as a Punishment and that makes it depend on the Place of ones Birth of Complexion Education Custom and several other things of this kind which have little relation to it Whence proceeds also the Confusion which is seen in the World which made some Philosophers doubt of a Providence and which plainly shews there is one to those who look on it with other Eyes than those of Faith as being a greater Chaos than that the Pagans fansy'd their Gods had drawn it from Wherefore is it the Wicked do almost always Flourish And wherefore is it that the Righteous are always Miserable and Oppress'd Wherefore is there such a mixture of Rich and Poor of Sick and Healthy of Oppressed and Tyrants What did those do to be born Happy and to have all things to their Mind And how is it these have deserv'd to come into the World only to Suffer Wherefore is it God has permitted there should be so many Errors so many Opinions Manners Customs and different Religions All this is shewn by a very few Principles that are found in this Book and by these amongst others that this is not the place God is pleas'd to have the difference made betwixt the Bad and the Good which would be too visible if the one were always Happy and the others always Afflicted neither is this the place of Recompence that Day is to come in the mean while God will have things lie secret If he suffers Men to go on in their Courses if he lets them run after the Desire of their Heart and that he will discover himself but to a little number of Persons 't is his own good Pleasure for 't is such he will make worthy and capable of true Vertue Is it not herein also this Book is amiable and worthy of the highest esteem It is not only the sole Book that has fully reveal'd the Misery of Man but 't is also the only one that has discover'd to them the Notion of true Happiness and promis'd apparent Remedies of their Miseries If it humbles us in shewing our Condition yet more wretched than it seems to us it also Comforts us in teaching that 't is not quite past hope It may probably give us some hope but the thing is well worth experimenting and the good it promises does at least quicken our hope in that it don't appear wholly unlikely whereas one need only cast a transient glance on all that hitherto has been call'd true Happiness to see the Vanity and Falseness of it who also can but admire that those who wrote this Book have taken such different ways and that they have taken a Course so far from others in the Remedies they prescribe to Men. This is a sign they plainly see the Weakness and Vanity of all those which Philosophers with so much Confidence and little Success have given us and by consequence that the Writers of the Holy Scriptures understood