shall be false though never so clear in it self lest these beloved sins should suffer any harm But if there were any honesty in mens hearts if they were void of guile they would be able to see this without the help of so many testimonies out of holy writ that it was not a thing worthy of the Son of God to come and dye for any less end then to make the World better and render it obedient to the Creator For what do you mean I beseech you when you say that Jesus satisfied for your sins What was it do you think that he gave satisfaction unto Was it not all those Glorious Attributes of God his Wisdom his Truth his Justice his Holiness saving the Honour of which he might now pass by the offences of returning sinners Was it not that the credit of all these might be maintained and yet the rebels not perish That the Sentence might not be executed and yet the Authority of the Laws be preserved There is nothing plainer then that this death of Christ did do great honour to God in the face of the World asserted his right gave countenance to his Authority proclaimed his righteousness and purity was a not able testimony on his behalf against sinners and so there could be nothing more powerful to move God to grant a pardon to those rebels that would submit to him since now he should lose nothing by it but that which he had a mind to give away and not demaund viz. the penalties which they had incurred by the breach of his Laws But is it not manifest then that God cannot love sin nor be friends with sinners until they amend Did not the death of Christ shew that his nature is such that he cannot indulge men in their trespasses Is it not apparent that it was not fit to pardon even penitent and returning offenders unless he shewed his displeasure at their offences Did he not take care to secure his Authority when he issued out a pardon There is nothing more visible And if Hypocrisie had not over-run us and thrust true Reason as well as Religion out of doors men would easily see that Christ could not dye meerly to procure us a pardon much less that men might sin with more security and without any fear of punishment No natural reason tells us that men must needs be hateful to God while they are unlike him that all the Blood of Christ cannot wash them and make them lovely as long as they continue in actual rebellion against him His very nature is against such men his Wisdom is an enemy to them For how should he maintain any Government in the World if he himself should be the cherisher of Traitors if he should take care for their protection and set up a Sanctuary to which they may boldly fly if he should make the Altar of the Cross a refuge where they may find Salvation and Safety who are the opposers of his Authority It cannot be that God should be so liberal as to give away all his own right He cannot quit his title and claim unto our universal obedience It is impossible that Christ by his death should repeal all the Laws of God and absolve us from our duty There is no question he intended to strengthen them when he made a relaxation And when he procured a dispensation he did more establish and secure that which is not dispensed withall It is a rule of Reason that all exceptions do confirm the Law They tell us that it is not to be extended to any further indulgence And therefore Christ dying that the punishment might not be executed this is all the remission that we are to expect and not that God should remit all our duty to him It is very easie if men were well disposed to read at once in the death of Christ the greatest Love of God to us and the greatest Love to his Laws His Love to us appears in that he would for our good and that we might not be eternally undone lay aside his own right which he hath to punish forgive us a debt which we were not able to pay alter his Law and abate the strictness of it dispense with the execution of the Old Law and make a New one of Grace and Favour and that he might do so and save both us from dying and his Law from contempt by our escape that he would provide such a wise remedy as this of his Sons dying for us Herein was his Love indeed manifested and we can never sufficiently admire it that he would have him dye rather than us that he would have him suffer that we might be delivered But then this also plainly tells us the great Love that he bears to Holiness to his Laws and to our Duty which he took care should not be injured by this favour and remission Though he would not have all dye out of love to us yet he would have one lest we should still continue in the love of sin Though he would not have every one of us suffer for the breach of his Laws yet he would have Christ suffer that we might not take the boldness still to break them This death of his Son reduced things to an excellent temper providing that neither we nor God might be damnified That we might not suffer for what we have done and that he might not suffer by our doing still the same That he might be what he is and we become what we ought That the old Original Laws which require our obedience might remain in force and the rigour of them not be executed for our disobedience That he might part with some of his right and yet recover all the rest In one word that he might be moved to let go his right to punish us and we not moved to be careless in yielding him the rest of his right which he hath to our hearty and constant obedience I wish heartily that you and every body else would seriously consider this and not expect that God should not require your service and obedience for it is so much his due that for the sake of his Son he cannot part with his right and claim unto it Nay I have a bolder thing to say than all this and that is That the Death of Christ is so far from intending our pardon only that it is not the chiefest thing that he intends Of the two the purifying of our hearts and lives was more in his design than the forgiveness of sin and this was but in order to the other So much you may easily gather from many of those places of the Holy Writings which were mentioned before for though he bare our sins in his own body on the Tree yet it was for this end this was the ultimate scope of it that we being dead to sin might live unto righteousness And so another Apostle saith He gave himself for our sins Gal. 1.4 that he might deliver us from this present evil
by a true and passion Friendship to learn the greatest Love to God And that he is to be studied and admired in all his Creatures as well as in his Son Christ p. 453 CAP. XXXVII How after this the Pilgrim fell into a conceit that he did not profit in Vertue and how his Guide rid him of it That we must not make too much haste to perfection but go leisurely in our way How afterward he feared that he should never hold out to the end of his journey Of the confident zeal which some men are possessed withall A beginning of a new discourse about Faith p. 474 CAP. XXXVIII A Discourse with an Acquaintance of the Pilgrims about resting on Christ for Salvation The wilfulness and unskilfulness of some Guides in the way to Jerusalem For what end Christ dyed and so what it is that our Faith is principally to respect That Christ is a means to our end and therefore Faith must go further than his person p. 498 CAP. XXXIX The joy which the Pilgrim conceived in this discourse and how much he applauded his happiness in having such a Friend The Serenity of his Condition after all these Clouds And how nothing troubled him but only that he could do so little to testifie his love to his Guide who easily gave him satisfaction by shewing the true grounds of Friendship p. 515 ERRATA PAge 26 l 8 r its bowels p 59 l 27 r passage p 62 l 5 r on high p 90 l 20 r pertaker p 118 l 29 r were filled p 141 l 9 r he desires p 173 l 9 r charms p 177 l 16 r let you p 202 l 1 r cover them p 219 l 8 r rellishes p 229 l 9 r chearfully p 232 antepen r preposterous p 257 l 3 r any man p 258 l 24 dele is before any p 259 l 19 r an Age. p 267 l 8 r trouble p 268 l 18 r then p 272 l 10 r desarts p 295 l 12 r arise p 299 l 11 r longings p 303 l 22 r taught p 314 l 3 r hither p 327 l 24 r disputers p 330 l 23 r Globe of earth p 344 l 6 r Wolf p 361 antep r thou p 386 ult dele great p 432 l 23 r giserne p 455 l 8 r passionate p 459 l 17 r its p 465 l 10 dele that p 480 l 24 r great p 479 penult r will and nill p 501 l 31 r too much p 512 l 5 r needs p 523 l 1 r were THE PARABLE OF THE PILGRIM CAP. I. The occasion and intention of this Pilgrimage with the time when it was undertaken IT will contribute so little either to the profit or delight which I design you in the reading this History to know the punctual years and daies wherein every thing therein contained was done that it will be a commendable thrift to spare my self the labour of that accuracy It will be sufficient to let you understand that no great number of years have passed since a man who now calls himself PHILOTHEUS but by others is called THEOPHILUS being weary of the Country where he dwelt and finding no satisfaction in any thing that he enjoyed took a resolution to shift his seat and to seek for that of which he felt as great a desire as he did a want in some other Land Many strange Countries there were which he visited in pursuance of this purpose many steep hills he climbed and many dangerous praecipices he narrowly escaped he committed himself not once or twice to the anger of the Sea expecting to be brought to the Port which he so much wished But still he was as far from the accomplishment of his desires as when he first launched out and found all his pains rewarded with nothing but weariness and tired spirits If it was the intention of this Paper to recount all his adventures and the several issues of them which are enough to fill a volume the story I believe would not be altogether useless nor without that pleasure which such relations are wont to yield to those that read them But having resolved for divers causes to begin the History of his life there where he began to enjoy a taste of happiness I shall reflect no further upon the former part of it than only to tell you in what case that blessed hour found him You must know then that after many tedious journeys and as many disappointments his leggs beginning quite to fail him and to deny him so much as their support he sate down upon the ground in a deep melancholy and such a great heaviness of mind that it was feared he would sink lower and go no further to seek a grave His countenance was so altered that there were very few marks remaining of the same man he was before His looks were dejected his eyes grew hollow his complexion turned sallow and in short his blood was so impoverished of spirits that his flesh fell to the very bone and his cheeks in a despair of any other comfort seemed to desire to meet and kiss and so bid the world farewel In this dismal estate he continued but too many daies and according to the nature of that thoughtful humour which now had gained the supreme power over him he mused on divers things and contrived several new journeys in his fancy which yet he saw at the same moment would only contribute more to his affliction and nothing at all to the amendment of his condition But at last as if he had been admonished by some courteous Angel which he fancied then flew by him and gave him a small touch with his wing he felt a thought stir in his soul remembring him of a place called Jerusalem which he had totally forgot in all his travels and never so much as dreamed of directing his course unto His heart you may easily think leapt at this sudden stroke and his pulse beat at no ordinary rate for having heard by some means or other in times past very much discourse of the beauty and the pleasant situation of that City of the sweet temper of the Inhabitants and the many goodly things that were to be seen and enjoyed there above all other places he was instantly possessed with a strong desire to remove his seat thither and to seek his fortune as we commonly speak in another world And pondering seriously with himself the little or no contentment which he had taken in his best condition here together with the hopes which fluttered in his soul of bettering himself there his present weakness could not hinder him from being inspired with a conceit that he should be able to travel thither nor repress his desires from growing into a kind of passion to be at that place whither his thoughts did run before him without his leave and could not be perswaded to stand still for one moment Such is the nature of any excellent good when it presents it self to us and fanns our souls with any hopes of obtaining
bestowed if it were for nothing else but to see this Illustrious Person especially to behold him in all his glory and his highest exaltation who is the Patron of all good souls the great Protector of all Pilgrims the Guide and Rest too of all noble Travellers and who bears a particular affection to your self who hath suffered so much for you who hath sent you so many messages of his Love who hath endeared himself to you by a thousand favours and was never contented till he brought you to himself that you might be there where he is and behold the glory which his Father hath given to him There he intends to entertain all pious men with an everlasting Supper to make them a never-ceasing Jubilee and treat them with such sumptuous magnificence that there will not be tongues enough among them all to publish his praises and their own thankfulness Only you must remember that the entertainment he will give them is himself and that they will feast eternally upon his blessed face Their happiness will be to see God to behold the glory which is given to our Lord that is to know him and to be filled with his Wisdom Love and Likeness And here lest I should not be understood and you should imagine the happiness of seeing God and his Son to be less than it is let me stop a while to explain this part of my description to you before I pass unto the rest You must not then conceive that the pleasure of Jerusalem is to sit whole Ages and meerly to gaze upon the Divinity or that they who enjoy the repose of that happy place do nothing else but feed their eyes with the beauties of our Saviours face No these are the fancies of low and uninstructed minds who know no higher enjoyments than those of sense To see God will be to have such a knowledge of him as gives our hearts a powerful touch and strikes them with such a lively sense of him that he turns them perfectly into his nature and transforms them into the likeness of his divine excellencies This glorious object doth as I may so speak diffuse and spread it self all over inamour'd souls and by a living heat doth animate them into the same disposition with it self The beauty on which they fix their eyes doth imprint its own form upon their hearts and makes them fair and beautiful with the same lovely qualities which they delight to behold They do not busie themselves there as men imagine in gaping upon the splendor and the many ornaments of that place but they themselves become a part of its glory and are changed into that on which they fasten their eyes They do not spend their time only in looking upon God and curiously prying into him but they receive him into their hearts and he enters into their souls He doth not guild them with his beams but they themselves become Light in the Lord. There is not a glory only cast about them but they receive such rayes of light from his face as dart into their very hearts and shine thorow their whole souls so that they also become luminous and bright They are so ravished with his Goodness that they are made Good They are so affected with his Wisdom that they become Wise The sense they have of his incomparable Purity renders them more Holy and his dear Love so over-masters their souls that they conform in all things to his hearts desire and it seems as if both their hearts had but one and the same motion In short my meaning is that they are not happy at Jerusalem by any external injoyment of God which is all the vulgar conceit doth reach when we speak of seeing his glory but they are inwardly moved by a powerful efflux from him which quickens them into the same thoughts will and desire with himself Their souls are not outwardly painted with him and some colours as it were of his Wisdom living Images of God and really changed into a true resemblance of that which they behold It is not some glory that appears before them which makes them blessed but they are made all glorious within and become themselves God-like creatures They do not behold the Divinity only without themselves but they see God within them and looking into their own souls there they find him and are happy in him And let me add this by the way as I pass to other things that such a knowledge and participation of God you must pursue in this world if you mean to come to Jerusalem You must here be partakers of a Divine Nature and now be transformed by the renewing of your mind proving what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God But I think it is time to lead you to other Spectacles which are worthy your sight and to tell you that in this City all the glorious Ministers of State to the King of Kings have their Mansion-houses and Noble Palaces All the Heroes of ancient daies do here make their abode Nay all the spirits of just men that are made perfect do here inhabit and have their constant residence And all those glittering Angels and those brave minds that ever flourish in this heavenly Court I believe you will think sufficient of themselues if there were nothing else to render this a very splendid place The Laws indeed of which are such that none can be permitted to live there but Noble men persons of high birth and illustrious descent for they are all called the Sons of God But that which gives them this Nobility and stamps such an honourable title upon them is not such poor things as swell the men of our world into an aiery and imaginary greatness but the height of their minds the purity of their hearts and the excellent qualities wherewith they are endowed which intitle them to the kindred of God Insomuch that the meanest Pilgrim on the earth that is found worthy by reason of his virtuous disposition and generous spirit to be admitted a Citizen of Jerusalem instantly becomes Noble and is inrolled among the Princes of heavenly Progeny Into this blessed society then when once you are received How delightful do you think their company and acquaintance will prove Are you not highly pleased now with a rare History and could you not lend your ears for a whole day to hear the adventures of some one famous person And yet these are nothing to the pleasures that they can entertain you withall There were never such things yet reported as the Inhabitants of Jerusalem will be ready to impart and communicate with you Who can tell you a long story of the Love of God and make a never-ceasing relation an endless history of all the rare passages of his providence throughout the whole world They can present you with a thousand Abrahams and as many Josephs whose adventures were so strange that fiction is not able to invent any thing so surprising Nay out of those Countries
an one as follows He is a person that relyes upon his Masters merits and depends only on the worth and sufficiency of his Lord. He trusts in his goodness for a pardon of all his faults and hopes he will esteem him a good servant because he is a good Master He leans upon his arm and clasps fast about him and is resolved not to let him go till he have paid him his wages He embraces him kindly and hopes he will account him righteous because he is so himself And in one word He applyes to himself all the good works that his Master hath performed and prayes to be excused if he do not his business because that his Lord can do it better Is not this a very ridiculous description or would you be content to be thus served Do not imagine then that God will be served after this fashion or that such an ill-favoured notion as this is the best that can be found to compose the definition of a true believer But first do all that you can and then acknowledge your self an unprofitable servant Let it be your care to follow your work and then rely only upon the goodness of our Lord to give you a reward Be sure that you be inwardly righteous and then no doubt the righteousness of Christ will procure you acceptance and bring you to that happiness which you can no wayes deserve CAP. XVII What place Prayer Hearing of Sermons Reading of Good Books Receiving the Sacrament have in the Religion of Jesus And of what use they are to Pilgrims AND that you may be able to make a better judgement of what I have said and I may also return to the occasion and beginning of this discourse let me intreat you to consider well the nature and ends of Prayer to God It is manifest from the life of Jesus that it is but a part of that duty and obedience that we owe to God and yet it is a powerful means to bring us to all the rest It is the converting and turning about of our minds and hearts to the original of our Being It is our reflecting and looking back upon him from whom we came It is our circling and winding about as Heathens themselves have well conceived to that point from which we took our beginning that we may be fast united to God and never be divided from him It is an acknowledgement of God in all his perfections An expression of our dependance and subjection an oblation of our selves both soul and body to him Think therefore to what purposes it most naturally serves for it being a thing of daily use you may judge thereby what the great business of Christianity or Believing is Doth it minister chiefly to our confidence of being saved and are we to swell our selves by this breath with great hopes that we are beloved of God Or rather is it not most properly subservient to the putting of us into a state of Salvation and the rendring us fit objects of the Divine Love It is not intended to inspire us with conceits that we are the children of God but to breathe into us the spirit of sons and to impress upon us the image of him upon whom we fix our eyes It is the elevation of our minds to him and the fastning of our eyes upon him in order to our being made more like him It is the oblation of our selves to his uses and service and not a giving of our selves to be saved by him Here we place our minds in the brightness of his heavenly light Here we expose our cold affections to the warmth and heat of the Sun of righteousness We behold our Lord most clearly in these devout Meditations and by the frequency of them we shall learn his carriage and gestures and conform all our actions to the excellent model of his I beseech you descend into your own heart and if you know what it is to pray tell me what Faith it is which you feel then most stirring in your heart Is it only a relyance on Christ and an application of his merits to your soul Or is it not rather a vigorous application of your mind to him that you may feel him more begetting and promoting his life in your heart Is it not a strong desire to be touched by him to be impressed with his likeness to be joyned to him and made one spirit with him and in one word that you may be made more ready and disposed to every good work I will evidently convince you that this is the great end of Prayer and consequently the main work of believing on the Son of God We are you know of kin to two Worlds and placed in the middle between Heaven and Earth With our Heads we touch the one and with our Feet we stand upon the other Man is the common term wherein these two meet and are combined By his superiour faculties he holds communion with the inward and spiritual world and by his lower he feels the outward and corporeal But there is a great difference between the correspondence which we hold with one and that which we maintain with the other For to this sensible World we lye open bare but between us and the invisible World there is a gross cloud and vail of flesh which interposes Or to speak more plainly Our senses have nothing that comes between them and their objects to hinder their free approach to them whereas our understanding hath those very objects wherewith they are prepossessed to interrupt the light of coelestial things which shine upon it The outward man is continually exposed to the strokes of the things of this outward World and without any difficulty or pains is moved by them but our Mind is not so patent to the things of the other nor is our Will so easily inclined by them For they being already impressed and engaged by sensible objects these lye between us and the higher Regions and they having enjoyed a long familiarity with them before we received notice of any thing else beside it will require some labour to bring us and those Nobler objects together In short the senses have nothing else to do but only to receive those things which present themselves before them nor are they solicited by any other enjoyments But our minds and wills are haled two waies and solicited by this World as well as by the other so that to perceive that which is Divine we must remove this out of the way and pull our souls from those thoughts and desires wherein these lower things have intangled our hearts Unless our Understanding draw her self aside to the contemplation of Divine Truths and thereby carry the Will to the taste of an higher Good it cannot be avoided but that we become meer men of this World and by being wholly carnal lose our acquaintance with the other caelestial Country We shall be altogether fraught with fleshly opinions and affections and have nothing remaining in us of
can God do for you than to make you wise and holy as he himself is No man would have reason to thank God more than you if you would but understand this among the rest of the Truths which blessed be his Name you are well acquainted withall That it is no sign God doth not love you when you are not transported with sensible Joyes and that your passions which are otherwise quiet ought not to be disturbed for want of them There is no cause I assure you that they should for it will not be demanded at the last day What comforts you have enjoyed but rather what discomforts you have suffered without failing in your duty or slackning your Obedience You have heard I believe very often the Story of the Prodigal Son who having wasted all his Patrimony in riotous courses yet returning to his Father was received with such joy as was to the admiration of those who knew not the reason of it He caused him to be cloathed with the best Sute of Apparel that was in his Wardrobe he made him a present of a Ring to assure him of his affection there was a great Feast prepared there was nothing but musick and singing and dancing to be heard and we may very well think that He also gave him many imbraces now that he was at home who had met him with so much passion when he was yet afar off And yet at the same time he had another Son that was both elder and more dutiful one that had never forsaken him that had served him many years that had never offended him in word or deed for whom there was no such chear provided But Would you have joyned with this elder Brother in his complaints if you had been present at such a meeting because he was not treated after this fashion Would you haue judged it very unreasonable that a person of greater desert should have no such Banquet made to entertain him Or would you have concluded that the Father had more love for this dissolute youth than for so stayd and sober a man as he that alwayes obeyed him It is possible you might have run into this mistake till you had heard the Father say My Son thou art alwayes with me and all that I have is thine and then you would not have had a word to reply unless it had been a great many thanks for the high esteem that he had of him You may easily apply all this to your self and considering that you are now grown up in the Love of God and inriched with the knowledge of Christ and possessed of so many heavenly vertues not expect to be caressed in the same manner as the younger children are nor repine for the want of that comfort of which you are able by the Grace of God to provide your self otherwayes Your eyes are enlightened to know what is the hope of Christianity and what the riches of the Glory of that Inheritance is to which you are called You see the title also that you have to those great treasures You know what that mighty Power is which wrought in Christ when God raised him from the dead whereby you are assured of the truth of all the Promises and have a good foundation of your hope You have received the Witness of the Spirit which was powred upon the Apostles and Prophets and is the earnest of the Inheritance You have had the grace also to be obedient to God which qualifies you for those divine enjoyments And therefore what cause is there for your discontents who are so fairly endowed All things are yours there is nothing that is good for you but it is at your command if I may speak after our manner even those sensible comforts too if by reason of any great distress you should stand again in need of them But since they are most proper to Beginners and the entertainment of those who enter upon the Spiritual Race do not murmure that you are without them since it is an argument of your proficiency in the Knowledge and Grace of our Lord and you have greater benefits granted you which if they be regarded will yield far more solid contentment And that you may see what satisfaction lyes already in your own breast I beseech you consider what greater pleasure can you be capable of than to find your will submitted to God to overcome enemies to wade thorow discouragements unless it be this to know that God is well pleased with you And that is a thing which he will soon satisfie you in if you can but satisfie your self in the former for the Lord loveth the righteous and he taketh pleasure in them that fear him in them that hope in his mercy Nay I cannot but perswade my self that you believe God is more pleased to see us obey him in the weakest manner than meerly to see us full of consolations which the most sensual man in the world would be very glad to enjoy And as for me I take it also to be more acceptable to him if against the desires of sensuality and self-will and yet without these Joyes we do what he commands than if we did the same without any opposition and when we have the Wind and Tyde of these pleasures to help us forward Tell me therefore why we our selves should not be at least as well pleased with what we do in a state of sadness and dulness of soul since we are sure such works are not infected with any self-interess but performed out of clear and pure obedience to God It is pitty that pious and sincere-hearted men should be tormented in this sort that you now are And therefore as I prayed you before for the Love of God so I intreat you now for the love of your self that at least you would rest contented if you cannot be well pleased with any state whereinto you shall fall as long as therein you may do well and cannot be hindred from obeying God as far as he requires And besides this Ought it not to please us that God will take any course to cure us of our diseases That which you think is a sickness may be but a means to prevent some worse distemper which he discerns though you cannot to be a growing He sees that one man will grow vain and boast himself of these Joyes not having an heart able to bear the weight of Divine Favours Another he sees will proceed to over-much confidence of his good estate by reason of these consolations and lay a greater weight upon them than they can bear And as for a third he sees perhaps some little Pride peeping up in his soul and that he is ready from hence to set an higher esteem upon himself than other folks Nay there may be great danger lest many souls should totally putrifie if they were alwayes fed with these sweets and therefore he thinks it best to give them some myrrhe by the bitterness of which to preserve them from corruption They
perform And have made your self so inseparable to me as if it was but one life which you and I lived I ought to value you as much as my self and for as much as my person is dearer to me then all my worldly goods I ought to esteem the benefits you have done my mind more then if you had given me a mass of treasure and possessed me of the fairest estate which the eye of the World hath ever seen CAP. XXXIII How they chanced to see a very Poor man entertaining himself with much pleasure under a Tree Whence arose a discourse of Contentment and the means to attain it Of Humility and Charity That notwithstanding all our Charity we must not think to have the World so good as we would wish it I Know not to what length he meant to continue these acknowledgments if a new accident had not put an end to his speech For as he was going to extoll the nobleness of his disposition as well as the tenderness which he observed and had just uttered these words you scarce know how to keep a measure when there is occasion to be kind your favours seem defective unless they exceed they were on a sudden encountred with another delighful spectacle which quite diverted his thoughts from what he was about to say For as they passed by a fair field they espied a poor man in very ragged clothes under a large Beach Tree who was listning to the Musick which the Birds made in the neighbouring grove and sometimes whistled himself to bear them company in their melodies A long time they saw him thus entertain himself and at last he pull'd out a piece of bread and cheese which with eyes lifted up to Heaven he seem'd to acknowledge a liberal dinner And at the end of it he went and pledged the Birds in a little stream that ran by him giving God thanks again that had provided food for all his Creatures They were much taken with the innocence of his looks and the contentment which they thought they read in his face which bred a great desire in them to know him better and see something more of a Vertue hid under rags And so approaching nearer to him and giving him the ordinary salutations which the time of the day required they entred into discourse and in conclusion enquired of his condition and how he came to lead so merry a life being in appearance so destitute and low in his Worldly fortunes The poor man made no scruple to discover his heart to them but being of a free and open disposition and not caring who was privy to his thoughts most readily accorded to answer their desires And he plainly told them that the occasion of the present satisfaction which perhaps they saw him express was to hear the Birds so merry who neither sow nor reap nor have any barns wherein to lay up their food I could not chuse said he but bear a part with them in their Mirth and think my self at least as rich and happy as those silly creatures The World I see is as full for me as it is for them All places are crowded with the blessings of God and I know not where he should bestow more they are so very full A few of them also will serve my turn for my wants are but a few And a few things sure are easily obtained and cannot be long in getting We need not go far to seek enough for there is no scarcity of a little and a little will suffice And thanks be to God I was never yet at any great trouble to procure this little number of necessary things At present my wants are all supplyed and I have no reason to doubt but they will be so for the time to come For sure there is a God and he must needs take care of his Creatures and I imagine it is no pride which will not become me in this Poverty to think my self one of the better sort and therefore conclude that I shall not want There is nothing so much comforts me as the thoughts of his Fulness of his Wisdom of his Goodness Power and Presence to all places which make me confident that at present I enjoy what is most convenient for me and that I shall never fail to do the like through all my life And if I doubted of any of these that instance of his Love and Care in sending his own Son into the World would rid me of all my scruples For if he spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him give us all things For the comforts of this belief I continually render my thanks to God and you cannot conceive any greater contentment than that which I find in admiring and praising his eternal Goodness Nay I can never me-thinks give him thanks enough for letting me enjoy the use of my eyes my tongue my hands and feet for these are greater things than all that I want and by these and his blessing I may make provision for my wants There are many I see in the World are poorer by half than my self I possess so much more than they as all those things which I have now numbred O how rich do I esteem my self in compare with the blind and the dumb and the lame But I should be much ashamed if among all those who have less than I there should be found men that have more contentment And I consider with my self sometimes should those poor Souls murmure what is it that I should say to give them content and that very thing I say to my self I make the experiment first upon my own mind and if it can do nothing there to comfort me who am in better condition I think it unreasonable to propound it unto them And sometimes on the other side I cast mine eyes on them that have more and see that they are as far from content as those who have nothing at all from whence I conclude that it is not to be found in all the World but in our selves and there I may find it without the abundance that they enjoy I perceive also that Poverty is not without its benefits and that it is deservedly called the Mother of Sobriety the Nurse of Arts the Mistress of Wisdom the Spur to Industry and the School to which we are put to learn the Knowledge of our selves and the dependence we have on an higher Cause Beside all which I use to call it my Sanctuary which no body will presume to rifle Here I am safe for all men hate to hurt the poor There is no Antidote of greater vertue as I have heard men say against poison than this condition wherein I am They are the Vessels of Gold and not of Earth and Wood wherein such deadly potions are wont to be mingled Nay this Musick which you saw me lissening to this Musick of Gods own creating gives me the greater ravishment because I consider that none
kiss that he should at any time bestow upon them Here was a liberal grant indeed You see what your holy Father can do if he list by little trifles of his own making And therefore all that I am able to conclude is only this that nothing can work any more then the Pope will let it no not the blood of Jesus Christ And that he was more stern in those dayes when the English were enslaved to him and now he is grown better natur'd and studies by his kindness to oblige his subjects lest they should all shake off the yoke he layes upon them Or if you had rather so conceive it there is nothing that he can part withall unless you pay for it only now and then he affords you a better pennyworth and lets you have more for your money then at other times that he may gain your custom and induce you to trust him so much as to suffer him to use you as he pleases And truly he used our forefathers so hardly that I wonder they continued his chapmen so long He put such base commodities such counterfeit ware into their hands that I cannot tell what should keep them from discovering the cheat I am ashamed when I think what fools he made of them and how he used them like little infants imposing what he thought good upon their belief It makes me blush to reflect on all the toyes wherewith he gull'd them of their money He seems to have had them in such servitude that he had scarce left them any Souls of their own but rifled them of all their reason For was it not a strange sottishness to believe that he had bottled up the blood of Christ which we know was carried into the Heavens with Him that He might appear therewith before God for us and perfect our expiation And yet there were a thousand of these tales that passed for currant truth Nay a Frier of Gaunt was wont to say that these godly frauds and cosenages were the Milk which St. Paul gave to Babes as being unable to digest the harder meat Since He intended therefore to keep the World alwayes in its swadling clouts those Nurses to whom he committed his children fed them with little else but this Milk Of which their Bottles were so full that it was held by wise men as good an argument to say Walsingh Rich. 2. He is a Frier therefore he is a Lyer as to say This is White therefore it hath a colour It would be only to deflowre the time or else I could give you a large catalogue of their forgeries And if this little that hath been said will not serve to open your eyes to see the fraud you may go on to traffique with Rome as those before you have done But if it vend such Merchandise as this me-thinks you should judge it no more to your profit to go thither then into Turky and that City should be as little in your thoughts as the earthly Jerusalem CAP. XXXVI How the Pilgrim had a fair sight of the heavenly Jerusalem and what insued thereupon How easie it is by a true and passion Friendship to learn the greatest Love to God And that he is to be studied and admired in all his Creatures as well as in his Son Christ THE young man was glad to hear him speak these words because they lookt like a conclusion And therefore pulling him by the sleeve he pray'd him not to wait for their answer but leave them to muse of what he had represented so plainly to their minds And I wish said he turning towards them that if you regard not his discourse there was some such person here as St. Gregory to whom you bear a reverence that he might tell you what he thought of your intended Pilgrimages to Rome Loretto and such like places No doubt he would inveigh more sharply against them then those into Palaestine Think I beseech you upon his words and if you be not pleased to go along with us yet for bear at least these needless though expensive journies and reserve your money for some uses that will turn to a better account And so having civilly taken their leaves of each other He and his Guide held on their way to that Holy place where Jesus himself now resides Several things they discoursed of and many good things they did as they went along till at last having gained the top of an high hill which without some difficulty could not be climbed they met with a knot of more excellent persons who recompensed for the tediousness of that company into which they had lately faln The Spectacle which presented it self was no less wonderful then it was new For there they beheld sundry Pilgrims like themselves who had placed their bodies though in several postures as if they never meant to stir from that place unless it was to be carried directly up to Heaven Some of them were faln upon their knees and with their hands upon their breasts their eyes elevated toward the skies and a very smiling countenance they seemed not so much to ask as to possess something that they dearly loved and for which they rendred thanks to God Others of them stood gazing upon their tip-toes with their mouths open and their eyes so fixed as if their Souls were gone half way out of their bodies to fetch in something which they hungred to receive And others also stretched out their arms to such a length as if either they saw that thing coming to them or else they thought them to be wings whereby they could fly to that which they lookt so greedily upon For this they observed after a careful view of them that every one directed his eyes the same way as if they waited for the very same good to descend into their embraces And therefore these two persons being not so much startled as ravished at this strange sight thought it was best for them to do so too and to try if they could make any discovery of that which attracted all these eyes and hearts unto it And they had not done so very long but by the advantage of this Mountain and the clearness of the air and the steadiness of their eyes and the quiet and silence wherein they all were they had a very fair prospect of the Heavenly Jerusalem Now you may be sure our Pilgrims heart skipt for joy and he began to bless the happy day which brought him hither vowing that it should be markt in his Calender for an Holy-day as long as he lived For he was not only assured hereby that there was such a place but he discovered something of the felicities of it which here met him with a delitious entertainment It did not seem to be situate in a Region like to any that he had as yet beheld but in one so clear and pure that the sky is but a smoky vapour in compare with it There was no cloud that durst be so bold as to
also And he that hath begun a good work in you will perfect it no doubt till he come to give you his rewards I know you will tell me that you do not question his faithfulness and stedfastness to his friends but you have been unkind to him and so have forfeited his good esteem and Love And let it be so since it is your pleasure that you have not behaved your self so gratefully as you ought But is he of such a disposition that he can never be won to a Reconciliation I pray have a care what you say for fear you make good men better than God who are wont to forgive their Brother when he repents not only seven times but seventy times seven And say I beseech you hath he not pardoned you heretofore very lovingly when you humbly and obediently intreated him to pass by your offences When you were one of the World did he not then draw you to himself without your desire and over-matched your sins by his infinite omnipotent Goodness What should hinder then his kindness and clemency towards you now that you are become a man separate from the World If the Mire and Dirt wherein we wallowed could not hinder but he would needs take us in his arms and place us in his bosome will he shake us off and throw us out from thence now that we are washed and made clean Will he not rather wipe off a speck of Dirt that hath light upon us than cast us down into the Mire again Can you think that he who took in strangers to his house and gave them kind entertainment will turn his Children out of doors After we have done him so many services and laboured for his Love will he thrust us out in an heat of anger and quite casheere us his family O absurd suspition A jealousie unworthy of such an excellent Father and unbecoming Sons that have so nobly and tenderly been brought up by him If you were to treat with a person like your self you must first think him very bad or else you would not be so injurious as to harbour such thoughts of him You must judge him very froward who will fall out with you upon every sleight occasion and never return with you into grace any more Do not impute then a thing so unnatural unto God nor so much wrong his infinite Goodness as to take Him to be of so harsh a disposition that we must never expect his favour more if we chance but to offend him No if you can but believe that he loves himself you need not fear that he should thus abandon you You have cost him too much that he should so easily part with you He hath bought you at so excessive a rate that you may be assured he will not willingly lose you The breeding of you hath stood him in so much care that he will not spare a little more to keep you And if you are thus secure of God's Love I pray tell me what you think should separate you from him Can you really think that you your self shall have a mind to leave him and return back to the World from whence you came You cannot I am confident remain two minutes in this perswasion if you be not forsaken of your Reason and left to the impostures of Fancy and wild Imagination For what is that can dissolve that league of Friendship that is so solemnly and religiously sworn betwixt you Is there any thing in him that can disgust you and make him seem less amiable in your eyes Can you fear that his conversation may grow tedious and prove a burden to you in the conclusion or what prejudice can you receive by loving of him seeing you believe that All Good is in him and that he calls us to his own Kingdom and Glory I am verily perswaded you think that you cannot cease to love me to whom you profess your self so much beholden And yet what am I in compare with Him or what obligations have you received from me that can be so strong to hold you as those that he hath laid upon you I may change and not be so good as I am or not so full of love to you Some damage may appear that you may be in danger to receive by loving me which I can never be able to repair But there is not so much as a shadow of turning in him He is alwayes the same Fulness and the same Love infinitely desirous of our Happiness And as for any loss that we may possibly sustain for his sake it cannot be so great but he can make us a recompence for it incomparably greater Do not hold your self then in such suspition unless you can think that you have taken a wrong measure of him especially since you are of opinion that you cannot but love me to the end and also have so lately told me that you was satisfied the love of me would teach you to love God the better I should proceed to remember you also that the wayes of Vertue which you have to tread are so pleasant that you will not be inclined to relinquish them and divert into any other path and that you can never think sit so to disparage this noble life as to leave it after you have made a very long trial of it and that you will not endure to retreat with so much shame as you will necessarily draw upon your self by abandoning a course which you have so highly commended All this I say and much more I should call to your mind but that you seem to discharge me of that trouble by the chearfulness which I observe to return into your countenance I see that you begin to believe that you shall persevere and that you recover your antient comfort That stronger is he who dwelleth in you then he who dwelleth in the world The Devil begins already to fly from you and by the light of these truths we have chased away the cloud that hung over you Carry them therefore I intreat you ever in your mind and let me hear no more of these dejections of spirit which are as unreasonable as they are uncomfortable both to your self and others I 'le say no more of this matter after I have told you a story of an antient Pilgrim in the way to Jerusalem to which therefore you had best attend It is St. Peter I mean who you know had a mind to walk with our Saviour upon the water which was no easie thing to do and yet by the power of his Master was indued with such a vertue as to tread safely upon that yielding element He went a pretty way while the face of the water was smooth and even and it seemed nothing different from the solid earth Untill the wind began to be loud and the plain way upon the water was turned into Hills and Dales we hear of no shrikes but then he cryed out and his heart and his feet began to sink together But was
go about the business But the Joy of our Pilgrim was far greater both for this acquaintance of his and for himself He thought that all his life would be little enough wherein to thank him that he had turned the mention of his weaknesses and frailties into the occasion of so great a benefit unto them both I was going to tell you said he when the Father had done that I knew not whether I should begin to thank our Lord or you first for this great kindness to me But I think I need not stand in doubt for you are so like him that if I commend your Charity and render you thanks for it I do a real honour thereby to him You have been the Ease of mine heart the Guide of my mind the Pilot of my soul the security and stay of my life my second and better self my Tutelar Angel whereby I have been defended from innumerable dangers And when I say so I acknowledge God to have been all this who by your hands hath imparted these favours to me I know that I stand indebted to his Fatherly Goodness for so many Blessings that I know not where to end the account But for the beginning I cannot but next to the favours his Son hath brought us place the gift of your Friendship You will suffer me now sure to please my self a little and to glory in it though heretofore you suppressed my thoughts as they were issuing forth I know very well at what rate my neighbours esteem riches and how proud they grow if they can shew you Gold and Jewels But if Heaven had asked me what Jewel it pleased me to be presented withall I would have answered Give me a Friend Send me an honest Friend This is my Riches my Treasures my most precious Jewel It is not possible there should be any thing given me of equal value I am so proud of it that it tempts me to be vain-glorious and to proclaim to the World how wealthy I am And if we may judge of the price of things by their scarcity am I not in the right What is there more rare than this pure Friendship Where shall we find two men that have one heart and love without any interest Must we not go back to the Golden Times and have recourse to the Age of Poetry to find such an happy pair What place is not filled with that old complaint O Friends no body is a Friend There are few hearts that are not double few tongues that are not cloven They that are not treacherous are too weak and they that are not weak yet are too wise to be tyed in this Sacred Bond. How can you blame me then that I think my self some-body now that I am possessed of so great a Treasure which besides its rarity is to be highly esteemed for its stability and lasting nature It is not subject to the change of fortune nor the rust of time nor the violence of men nor can it be lost by my own negligence for a small care will serve to keep a true friend Let others go and beg of great Men their favour let others glory in the preferment they already enjoy I envy not their happiness may heaven but please to preserve my Friend It is the custom of many I see to fetch the causes of their felicity or unhappiness from the heavenly bodies and to ascribe what they suffer or enjoy here below to some good or malignant influences from above But as for me I do not think there is any Planet so lucky as a faithful friend as on the contrary none so malitious as a false-hearted companion Let them who list then observe the stars and their favourable aspects I will seek upon earth for that which must make me happy Let them observe how Jupiter and Mercury look upon them in all their affairs it imports most to me to mark what men I converse withall And you are the person Sir whom I six my eye upon and whos 's good aspect and charitable influence I still implore Do you accompany me alwayes in my travels be you my Mercury in my journey and in this conjunction I shall not fear any evil that may threaten me nor despair any more of finishing that which is so happily begun This is the sum of my desires that you would ever exercise your wonted pitty towards me and pardon my follies For the whole stock of comfort that I am furnished withall can only serve for a meaner affliction then the loss of your love would prove unto me And yet I hope that I shall not be altogether so troublesome to you in the rest of my journey but rather become your joy It shall be my daily petition that I may spend my dayes in that evenness and steadiness of mind wherein I find my self fixed by your means That I may be humble and wait patiently upon the Lord and be of good courage believing that he will strengthen mine heart and that one day I shall in Sion appear before God To which good prayer the Father instantly said Amen wishing that he might ever find him in this good temper and that he would likewise remember the counsel of the Apostle who bids us Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes For there is not a more evident token and apparent sign of true Wisdom and profiting in Vertue then a constant serenity and unconstrained rejoycing And truly said he I think I need not do so little as desire this for you but may be bold to turn my wish into a confidence for I am apt to prophesie that after so many conflicts you will go in more peace to Jerusalem And so it proved as I have since heard and after this he every day had a view of that blessed place The sky indeed was sometimes a little cloudy which rendred the sight of it more duskish and obscure yet he kept a calm in his mind in his greatest dulness and hoped for Sun-shine dayes which came a great deal sooner by not raising a new and thicker cloud through the storms of his own passions But I cannot say for the present what the ensuing part of their travels were my own observation here having an end Only thus much I observed before I parted that he who once was afraid that he loved his friend too much fell into a suspition of himself that he did not embrace him with such an affection as he deserved And that after all these contrary humours the temper of their friendship was so excellent of such consistency and so well setled that as nothing could disorder it so nothing but death alone could divide it and death it self they were confident could never put an end to it And indeed this was the thing that I left them in expectation of and which they were constantly indeavouring to prepare themselves for as that which would not destroy but perfect their love This they often talkt of knowing that it would never come the sooner for