me out of this calamitous Estate this deplorable nothing Disengage me from under this Burthen of Mortality and corruption so as I may walk lightly and chearfully or rather I may fly swifth even to thee Pardon all my Sins that they may not terrifie me and banish me from thy Throne Stop the course of my Iniquities that they may not hinder my Prayers from mounting up before thee Let me not still continue to render my self unworthy of thy Favours by the ill usage I make of thee nor to grieve thy holy Spirit by the uncleanness of my Life that only can inspire me with the Ardour I seek after That only can render my Soul devout and it 's presence only can warm my Affections But will it be pleas'd to bring it's light into a Soul so polluted and so dark as mine Prepare for thy self O my God a lodging within me worthy so great a Guest and Stranger that it may come and enliven me that I may live and love-thee that I may burn with the Fire of thy Love and with that of Devotion CHAP II. Touching the love of the World the second Source of Indevotion BEhold one of the great reasons why there are so few Devout in the World It is because all are in love with the World and this Love is one of the most efficacious Temptations wherewith the Devil serves himself to distract and call us elsewhere This love has pierced our very marrow and entrails and seeing 't is the master of our Heart can the love of God dwell there can darkness and light can Fire and Water Life and Death be comparable together In him that loveth the World the love of the Father does not dwell Where there is no love of God how can there be any of Devotion which is nothing else but love what is it that makes up the fire and the zeal of Devout People but Love What is it that makes the desires spring up of union with God in Devout Souls but Love what makes us find a Gusto in the possession the same Love What does indue good Souls with a readiness and alacrity to serve God Is it not Love that renders every thing easie to him that loves But as much as the love of God succours and helps Devotion so much does the love of the World cruelly cross it It extinguishes heat it stifles the desires it estranges from God it takes away the taste of heavenly things it purloins the heart from it self and carries it elsewhere Lot's Wife advances towards the Mountain but hath her heart in Sodom she turns her Eyes thither The superiour part of the Soul which is in love with Heaven makes some efforts to lift it self up to God but this same lower part wherein the Passions reign turns its eyes towards the World and wheedles the heart out of the Commerce whereinto it entred with its God Rachel in craving her fathers house carries along with her his antick Images In quitting the World to enter into our Closets we bring with us its Idols that is its Ideas and vain Images and from thence proceed our distractions and those unhappy thoughts that traverse us in the midst of our Devotion These are the Idols of Gold Silver the Devils of Ambition and Covetousness which an hundred times pass and repass in our mind in a quarter of an hour to distract us When we come to Prayer our head is filled with a thousand I deas of good and evil of Desires and Fears of Dangers and distrust of hopes and despair of Joys and Divertise ments and a thousand other vain Objects A Soul at this rate taken up and imploy'd can it give place to the Ideas of God's greatness of his Majesty Goodness Mercy and Love Faith Repentance Charity Zeal Hopes Acknowledgments and a thousand other Vertues which compose or at least help Devotion can they agree well with these Emotions that the commerce of the World communicates to us We scarce ever think of things but such as possess our hearts if we lov'd â—â—e Worldless t would not come so often into ourminds We are hurried away with it it is a Demon we know â—ot how to lay we cannot find a Sanctuary against its â—ersecutions the solitude and affrightful Objects of the â—esert cannot banish it An Antient tells us that â—mid his Macerations his mind sometimes transported him out of his Solitude into the company of young Women a dancing I say then we ought to imploy 〈◊〉 our strength to dry up this second source if we â—ould be Devout My little children love not the World or the things that are in the World We should Crucifie â—he Old-Man if we would present our selves to God a â—ving holy and acceptable Sacrifice which is our reasoâ—able Service So that one of the most profitable Meâ—itations by which we can prepare our selves for â—rayer is that of the Worlds vanity It is good to enâ—er into our selves to consider the brevity of humane â—â—fe the inconstancy of the Worlds Glory which flouishes in the morning and fades and withers in the eveâ—ing It is good to repeat frequently to our heart â—hat the Holy Spirit has said heretofore All flesh 〈◊〉 as Grass and all the Glory of man as the flower of â—rass the Grass withereth and the flower thereof fadeth â—way As for man his days are as Grass as a flower of be field so he flourisheth for the wind passeth over it and 〈◊〉 is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more Man that is born of a Woman is of few Days and full of couble he cometh forth like a Flower and is cut down 〈◊〉 fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not His riches â—anish away and his Sins continue his honours abanâ—on him but his torments do not quit him Thus by â—rying with a loud voice Vanity of Vanities in an heart â—nfected by the bad Air of the World it may chase away those worldly thoughts and fright away those â—irds which come to spoil our Sacrifices and devoureth good seed of Piety which the Heavenly sower had 〈◊〉 into our hearts Meditation HOw miserable am I I can stouth cry Vanity of Vanities to my Heaâ—â— depraved and corrupted with the love 〈◊〉 the World and yet still it is never thâ— better I am sufficiently persuaded of aâ—â— that is told me I know mighty well thâ—â— the World is only made up of appearances I know it hath very much Gall anâ— Wormwood for a little Honey I knoâ— that Pleasures are Twists that snarl anâ— intangle the Soul and train it to Death But I am not yet acquainted how theâ— knowledges remain in my understanding and make no manner of Impression upoâ— my Will I believe I see and I do nothing I see a thousand and a thousand People which the World plunges into corruption and brings to Hell I see it is a great enâ— my of my Saviour and that the chief thinâ— which it compasses upon them that givâ— themselves
my self before thee with little reverence PART II. Of the Sources of Indevotion CHAP. I. Of Impurity of Life The first Source of Indevotion SInce Indevotion is so great an evil let us try to find out its sources that we may cut up this evil by the very Roots Now one of the principal ones is Impurity of Life nothing disconcerting an heart so as an evil Estate of Conscience nothing more extinguishing the fire of Piety than the loathsom and muddy waters of Sin Fire does not easily take in things soak'd in water Devotion cannot easily be brought to fit Souls penetrated with Vice one flame puts out another and the fire of Covetuousness choaks that of Zeal as the flame of Gunpowder extinguishes that of a Candle Devotion is a certain alacrity of heart that disposes us to draw neaâ— to God with confidence but how should we have this Disposition when we are guilty of the Vice in going to present God with such offerings as we our selves know ought to be abominable to him for we know that God does not care for a sullied and unclean Sacrifice Go says he I hate I despise your solemn feasts your meat-offerings and sat beasts I receive them as the price of Whoredom as the bloud of a Swine and as a Dogs head Alas the most spotless man is not enough so to present himself before God with Assurance and the Prophet could say Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts 'T is impossible therefore that he who has not the Wedding-Garment on whose Vestment is stained with the spots of the Flesh must needs be put into a vast consternation in thinking of him before whom the Stars and the Angels are unclean And how can this Fear or to speak better this Horour agree with Devotion which is all love and all assurance Let us go with confidence says the Apostle St. Paul to all devout Souls to the Throne of Grace that we may find mercy in the time of need To bring to God a criminal Conscience is to bring to him a witness against our selves to make our own process 't is to deliver us up into the hands of his severe Justice We need not therefore be startled if the wicked be Indevout and fly the presence of God And since Impurity of life wou'd do nothing else than take away the Hopes of being heard This would be enough to hinder and stifle all Devotion All the Vertues are interessed and he that would take away hope takes their very life away How then can a wicked creature that knows God will not hear him pray devoutly When you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when you make your prayers I will not hear your hands are full of Blood It is for this reason that St. Paul would have us lift up pure hands without wrath and murmuring And David says If I had Iniquity in me the Lord would not have heard me 'T is for this cause he professes elsewhere that he washes his hands in Innocency before he goes to Gods Altar And why should God have any regard to the Prayers of those that have none for his Commandments upon these Principles the wicked man says to himself why should I present my self before God Have not my Iniquities barr'd up against me the Gates of Heaven and why should I go to ask of him that is resolved to refuse me Unprofitable Devotions wou'd these be and submissions that wou'd only serve to hasten my Punishment I cannot have the impudence to desire any thing without promising to my self somewhat but I am resolved to bridle nothing within me and to continue in this way of living 'T is better therefore that every one holds where he is Devotion is of a great extent it takes up the whole heart it cannot dwell in a Soul divided betwixt Avarice Ambition Violence Pleasure and the love of the World Wherefore if you sometime see those worldly Persons who refuse nothing to their heart to have their Days of Devotion well regulated and even sometimes to shed more Tears and fetch up more sighs than the Faithful you may without hesitating conclude that these are Hypocrites and pretended Zealots who would pay God with Phisiognomy and Posture and cheat the World with fine Appearances Perhaps some there are who believe they are not such badly devout People when they attone for a Months Debauch with a day of fasting But they deceive themselves for true Devotion is not unequal nor full of Sallies It does not resemble those Summer-Torrents which roul with a head-long impetuosity and do not continue but for a day So that holiness of Life is a preliminary of absolute Necessity to obtain Devotion This Vertue is one of the most excellent Graces that we receive from Heaven one of the most precious Gifts of the holy Spirit but 't is a Pearl which is not to be cast before Swine 'T is an Ennamel only to be layed upon Silver or Gold 'T is in one word a Favour communicated only to priviledged Souls that is to say to the pure and clean in heart But as we shall have occasion to touch again upon this subject in another Rencounter we will not drain it dry here Meditation WHo can express the Evils and the Disorders that Sin has caused in my Soul Who can recount all the Mischiefs wherein the Impurity of my heart ingages me Over and above all other Evils it brings me this too it renders me incapable of Devotion Sin has put a separation between my God and my self and therefore I am dead for God is my life and the Soul of my Soul I am blind for God is my Light Separated from him I am poor for he is my Treasure and makes up all my Riches I am naked for he alone gives me Rayment Sick I am for my health and strength comes from that Sun of Righteousness who carries healing in his wings Sin has rob'd me of him and has ecclipsed him as to me and I continue languishing away being far from the Principle of my Life In this faintness I know not how to produce those vigorous movements of Devotion that elevate the Soul and carry it towards Paradice Sin is a thick foggy heavy Wet that sticks to my Wings it is a Weight which oppresses me arrests all my Soarings and renders all my efforts useless I feel a Laâ— in my Members which Wars and oppoâ—ses it self to the Law of my Mind and makes me the slave of Sin Insomuch aâ— I do not the Good that I would yet I do the Ill that I would not Prayer O Divine Sun of my Soul break out and Dissipate these Clouds Thou great Deliverer break these Irons open this Prison and free me from this Bondage and Captivity Thou art most pure let me not be unclean Almighty let me not be miserable All Life let me not be dead Draw
they mingle themselves in all companies they would be ingaged in all sorts of Pleasures They are seen in Balls and Comedies trembling with weakness they cannot see to distinguish red from black nor four from two but play they will at Cards and Dice with Spectacles In sum after having been the Idols of the World they punnish it for the crimes they have made it commit they become its punishment and its curse These are the Spectres and Phantomes that follow it It flyes them and has 'em in horrour and detestation Are men more wise than Women Do not we see of the other old sinners that have their members worn and wasted by Debauchery but whose concupiscence within is as young and boyling as ever Their inclinations are always vitious but their members can no more obey as the Servants of their beastly pleasures While I look upon these men I represent to my self what Happiness after the burning of an house when the great fire is over we along time after see Sparkles and points of flames break out of an huge mass of Ashes so as by this we ghess the fire is still in and that it only wants Fuel and Matter We may say that these old men are now but a little heap of hot Embers and of the Relicks of the Conflagration but from amidst these Ashes we see the wild and sudden sparks of concupiscence jetting out one after another whereby 't is plain that the love of Voluptuousness is still alive within and the body wants only strength to act All men therefore hold clearly for Pleasure They are not contented to defend it by plurality of Voices they would maintain it by reasons God and Nature say they make nothing in vain The earth is covered with living creatures the Sea filled with Fishes the Air peopled with Birds and the Universe is full of Delights Is it possible say they that God has made so many things for our use to keep us from the use of them has the author of Nature made so many sensible Wonders to fill the Senses with illusions and to excite criminal passions has the finger of God writ upon every Creature Touch me not At this rate the condition of Man is now very forlorn and miserable when he was in Paradise he had but one Tree whose Access was not permitted him and lo all the good things of the World are become so many reserved and Mortal fruits which no one is suffered to touch without incurring his Death And does this shew God's wisdom and goodness to have placed me among so many objects of Temptation if I cannot yield without sinning Is not there a natural Bond and connexion betwixt Love and Beauty betwixt the desirable things and the Desires And why should God have made so many good and desirable things if he would keep me from the injoyment and desire of them Alas say they Are there not enow unavoidable things but we must seek such as can be avoided and since worldly goods If they be not the rewards of the Blessed yet are the comforts of the unhappy why will we not injoy those Pleasures which are the sweetning refreshments of our pains If you take joy away from the Soul do you not withall take Life away too do ye not bury it alive do you not make of mans life a sad and gloomy night in a word do not you render Man the most miserable of all Creatures they say Lastly that religion is not to serve not so horridly beset with Thorns as some would make one believe If we ascend even to the Source we find it say they more pure and more dissengaged from those rigors wherewith Superstition has invested it the Saints have had their Debauches they have thank'd God he has given them a Table cover'd with delicious meats a full bowl and overflowing Cup. They have said that Wine was intended to make glad the heart of man our Lord Jesus Christ the Author of the true Religion had his Feasts and was frequently at such he was at the marriage in Cana of Galilee and there he made excellent Wine to please the Guests Thus do they plead for voluptuousness and the unhappiness is that these maximes do not obtain only in the World they try to bring them into the Church They have put Guides and Directours that dress up a Religion of Flowers and cry Prepare the way make the Paths plain Enlarge the ways and make a great road that all the World may come into it These make our Devotions easy and they cry My Yoke is easy and my burthen light Love renders the Yoke of our Lord easy for it is altogether sweet and easy to him that loves but these ill Doctors render their yoke easy in dispensing with the love of God and permitting the Love of the World and the search after pleasing the Senses And this is the reason why both in the Church and in the World there are so few Devout because there are so many voluptuous persons Meditation ALas what a wretched Creature I am I do not the good I would but the evil I would not that do I. I understand well the strength of Reasons on Piety's side that call upon me to renounce the vain pleasures of the Earth The weakness I perceive in the reasonings of the advocates of Pleasure But those good reasons of Piety find the Gate lockt For that my Heart revolts against them and the bad reasons that maintain the use of sensuality enter easiely since they are allyed to the Corruption of my Heart My Flesh is loath to find the Reasons of Piety so strong it had rather those for voluptuousness were the better And on the other part my Mind is troubled while it sees the force of truth to perceive in it that resistance against being overcome I seriously bemoan this that in viewing the weakness of Reasons which draw me on Pleasure's side yet nevertheless I should suffer my self to be carryed away as if they were very strong for when all is done Piety and Reason may joyn their forces but it is Passion becomes victorious O my Soul thou idolatrizest sensuality thou mayest indeed change place but thy Gods thou ever carryest along with thee If thou renouncest some Pleasure thou dost not quit thy Idols thou dost nought but change for the Love of Pleasure finds the means to lose nothing when one object is taken away from it it straight casts its self upon another Judge â—hen of what nature can thy Devotions be seeing thou dividest 'em alwayes between â—his Idol and the true God Take one side O my Soul choose and take that good part which shall not be taken away from thee â—hou canst not serve two masters the World â—nd God It may be thou blessest thy self â—n that thou hast forsaken the Pleasures of Youth in that thou lovest not Play nor Balls nor Comedyes any more But thou dost not percieve that thy Corruption tyes â—hee to other Objects and thou
flesh and bloud and tastes nothing but what flatters this Flesh and Bloud And therefore among sensual Pleasures there are permitted our Devout Person only those which are moderate The Senses love to receive strong impressions of Objects provided there be no wound in the case the imagination loves also to be powerfully moved But all these emotions make such mighty impressions upon the Soul as it hardly can come to it self again And therefore they ought carefully to be avoided But if we would have more sensible proofs that the heart the passions and the senses are not to be consulted about the choice of Pleasures let us hear experience and cast an eye upon the disorders of the world Such are the consequences of this blindness in men who follow their own heart and senses in the choice of Goods and Pleasures Why did the first Woman lay hold on the forbidden fruit because it was good and pleasant to the eye she hearkened to her Heart and Senses How did corruption arise to that high pitch in the World that it forced God's Justice to bring upon it a terrible Deiuge Because the Sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair they stopt their Ears to the voice of God which call'd upon them they heark'ned to the sollicitations of their own sensual heart they took them Wives of all which they chose and corrupted themselves with them Did not David commit Adultery and Murder in a little time because he gave ear to his senses and heart and let his passions seduce him did not Solomon become an Idolater because his sinful love for Women having blinded his eyes separated him from God and stopt the Ears of his Soul so as his mind heard only the voice of his Passions and his Senses Lastly did not St. Peter deny his Lord and Master for that his heart his senses his imagination made him see present Death in an affrightful posture and he consulted neither God nor his own reason We seem here to blend and confound Innocence with Sin in speaking of our Heart and our Senses as common Sources of our errours Since that the Senses may seem rather to be unhappy and unfortunate than Criminal and Sinful True the Senses are subject to two unhappinesses The first is to be forced to receive Objects which are sinful and capable of transferring Images of corruption to the Heart such are evil Examples scandalous Actions and Words The other misfortune of the Senses is that they take in innocent Objects and sometimes in an innocent manner and these Images do spoyl and corrupt themselves in the Heart Nevertheless I think we ought not to separate the Senses from the Heart they make but one and the same thing This is a Match at the end of which lies a great heap of Gun-powder The Hear and the Imagination are the inward extremity of this Match they are the Magazine of Powder The Senses are the other end to which the Objects set fire This Fire slides or rather it flies along the Match It enkindles the Imagination and puts the Heart into a flame And therefore the holy Spirit puts for the same thing To walk in the ways of ones heart and in the sight of ones Eyes In short if we would be perfectly assured that our Heart and Senses are evil Counsellors in this affair hear what the holy Scripture saith it considers our Heart as the root of all our Evils Every imagination of the thoughts of Man's heart is only evil continually The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts false Witness Blasphemies These are the things which defile a Man The holy Ghost represents the Heart to us as blind wrapt up in a thick Cloud and profound darkness it speaks of it as of a kind of Death it is of the Earth it is carnal How then canan Heart thus composed and fram'd judge of the true Goods and Pleasures How can there come any thing good from a poysoned Spring And thus we see that the Wife man puts this Maxime among the members of those we are to detest and abominate Walk in the ways of thine Heart and in the sight of thine Eyes I should end here were it unnecessary to take off one Scandal that may be taken at what we have said that sensual Pleasure is a Good and even a Good for the Soul For in a word if the Soul be that not only which perceives and which tastes Pleasure and if Pleasure be a Good 't is a Good of the Soul If it be a good then some will say we are to seek and love it It 's not sufficient to answer that this is a Good of the Body only that is not absolutly true 't is in some sort the good of the Soul because the Soul tastes it Further if this Good were only for the Body yet it does not follow it should therefore be of necessity unlawful since we are not always forbidden to seek the Good of the Body But we ought not only to consider a thing in its self to know whether it be good or bad we must consider it in its causes and its effects in what precedes it what may be the consequence of it I mean that the Pleasure which comes to the Soul by the Body is a sort of Good considered in it self Look upon its Source and see to what it produces The Source is Sin is Impurity is Rebellion against the law of our Creator What it produces is a disunion between God and our Soul 't is a pawning our selves to Death 't is the pain of everlasting burnings How can we under the Idea of a Good conceive a thing which is incompast about by so many moral Impurities and such real Mischiefs If therefore bodily Pleasure can be called a Good with respect to the present sentiment of the Soul it 's an Evil in all other regards it 's an Evil to speak Absolutely and therefore the wifest men of all Ages have plac'd it among the false Goods for a true Good ought to be good on every side we view it The Soul then has no true Pleasure but what arises from its union with God And this union is fortified according to the measure that we loosen our selves from sensible things and are united to God by the knowledge of his Truth Not of those Verities which Philosophy seeks after and never finds with any certainty but of those Divine truths which Faith discovers to us of those wholsome Verities which are the Candle of the Soul Thy Word is a Lamp to my Feet and a light to my Paths It enlightens the Eyes and makes wise the simple The second Bond whereby we are united to God is Virtue the Practice of which renders us like to our Creator renews his Image in us and makes us to be the Copies of that Beauty whereof he 's the original the third cord is
such an one in the rank of counterfeits But if the Life in all respects be unreprovable 't is a Sin worthy of all the flames in Hell to judge that the Devotion is feign'd 't is a sort of Sin against the Holy Ghost like to that which the Pharisees were guilty of against our Saviour in accusing him that he did through the help of the Devil what he did by the Finger and Spirit of God These prophane men do the same thing to the evil spirit of Hypocrisie they attribute the immediate works of God's Spirit But say some tho these same devouts appear regular in their Life it 's because they ave the Address Dexterity and Knack not to discover their impurities the love of their Reputation engaging 'em to use such Precautions as hinder the publick from taking notice of their crimes But is not this to violate all sorts of Rights to invade even those of God himself to undertake to see into the Heart Is it not to violate the asâ—lums of Secresie to judge boldly of what doth not appear to the World Is it not to goe against all the rules of good Sense to judge a man is wicked because he appears to be good To conclude I say if we were to declare for the Hypocrite or the prophane Libertine the latter is to be banisht rather than the former The Hypocrite at least has the moity of a Christian tho he hath but the least part his Externals make to Edification and his false Godliness may enkindle what is true But the Libertine hath it neither within nor without he offends God scandalizes his Neighbour he undoes others as well as himself I shut up all then with counselling our devout Person to affect nothing yet to take heed of hiding his Devotion under the Veil of Indifference for the satisfaction of Libertines to be an exact Frequenter of holy Assemblies to hear with Attention to pray with Ardour not to dispense himself from the external Actions of Humility but without being excessively given to Appearances After this let him set himself above the Judgment of indevout People God who sees the sincerity of his Heart will reward him and punish those rash Judges most severely Meditation WHat Extravagance is it to fear more the rash Judgment of Men than the just Judgment of God! yet my own Heart reproaches me with this Sin How oft have I found my self inclined to do Good and yet have been stopt by a â—neaking Shame I avoid making my self remarkable for Singularity and therefore generally I follow the Crowd How oft have I been willing to speak of good things and yet lent an eat to Conversations either vain or sinful I have not only lent 'em an ear but I have mix'd my self with them How frequently have I met with prophane People whose Words I detested so full of Profaneness and Blasphemy yet I suffer'd and approv'd them by my Silence How many times have I happened to condemn certain sorts of Pleasures â—ntirely and yet to suffer my self to be ingaged in them not daring to say No. Oh most pernicious Torrent of Custom who can have Strength enough to resist thee Wilt thou never be dried up Never till thou shalt have drawn in the children of Eve into that vast and perillous Sea where even those are scarce able to save themselves who pass over it upon the Wood of the Cross of Jesus Christ Alas O my Soul if thou follow the Crowd thou wilt perish with it though thou goest to Hell with Company thou wilt be never the less damn'd the Society and Multitude of the Unhappy does not diminish their Pains therefore hunt not after the Approbation and Praise of Men at the expence of thy own Salvation and Conscience 't is too dear buying Wind and Smoak What signifies it what Men think of thee so God who seeth thy Heart judges well of thee In this World Sins carry their own Reward and illustrious Vices are praised but comfort thy self in the assurance Another World will come wherein every one will have his due Then the rash Judgments of Men will be null'd by the righteous Judgment of God The Lord Jesus Christ will confess thee before his Father and the Holy Angels he will say to thee Enter thou good and faithful Servant into the Joy of thy Lord. In the Presence of Heaven and Earth Angels and Men he will rebuke those rash People who are always violating that Commandment of Equity Judge not that ye be not judged Seek then O my Soul seek to be approved of God walk uprightly before him be not a slave to Custom conform not thy self to the Manners of this wicked World think constantly on him in whose Sight thou walkest and will be the Rewarder of thy Labours and the Avenger of the Offences and Trespasses thou shalt commit Keep thy self from the Society of prophane People that thou may'st not be infected with their Contagion and since thou canst not overcome their ill Habits by thy good Example take heed lest their bad Example does not surmount thy good Habits of Virtue Prayer O MY Blessed Redeemer come to my help The Stream carries me away the Torrent hurries me I do swim I make endeavours but am carried on and engage my self more and more in the flood of Corruption which runs through the world I condemn the vanity of Words and Actions and ill Customs which are at a distance from Christian Modesty Simplicity Sobriety and Purity Nevertheless I let my self loose to them Take me by the right hand O Lord Jesus conduct me by thy good Spirit in this rugged and difficult path The World is a dangerous Sea it is always beaten with Tempests and no calm is seen there It is full of Shelves and Rocks famous for a prodigious number of Shipwracks O Lord Jesus be thou my Pilot be thou my North-star in this perillous Navigation that I may escape so many abysses which continually open their gaping mouth upon me Shine upon me in this darksome night that I may not wander and that leaving on one hand the paths so beaten and so frequented by Worldlings I may walk in the High-Way as forsaken and untrod as I perceive it is that I may walk in the Ways of Godliness Righteousness and Devotion which thou hast markt out to me that by those good roads I may advance perpetually in leaving the World and Sin behind me that I may press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in thee and that I may at last arrive at that blessed place at that Haven where I shall be under Covert from all storms at that Haven where I shall see thy face in Righteousness where I shall be filled with thy Resemblance where I shall see thee without end where I shall possess thee without ever being satisfied and where I shall be happy to all Eternity THE END
are methinks the movements that compose Devotion but we must observe that in all People they are not evermore in the same degree Always some one of them does Reign sometimes Joy bears sway another while Grief oftentimes Alacrity other times the Desires And hence it comes to pass that if we consult the Devout upon the nature of Devotion they will answer us very differently because every one will say that he feels within himself and that every one feels within himself things very different from those of other men It happens also that one and the same Soul feels a different Devotion at divers times the Motions whereof we have spoken ruling by Turns To day a faithful Person shall be fill'd with hope in the view of a blessing to come and to morrow with joy in the possession of the present good One time by reason of his Sins Sadness shall domineer another time the Desires shall reign and this alteration proceeds from the diversity of Estates wherein the Conscience finds it self and the variety of Prospects which Meditations presents it withall in considering God some times with respect had to his Love and Mercy other times to his Severity and Justice Frequently too he will eye his Conscience both in its strongest and in its weakest parts and this may change some things in the Agitations of his Devotion Chearfulness likewise which seems to be the very Essence and Soul of this Virtue is not inseparable from it and sometimes the most heav'nly Souls find themselves under a gloomy and sad weight But when this Briskness is absent its place is possest by a stinging Displeasure for its Absence Meditation ALas my Soul how ignorant art thou in things Divine The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him These are profound Abysses which thou canst not sound Thy light is nothing but darkness But yet astonishing it is not that thou knowest not heavenly things which God has reserv'd to himself and lockt up in his own Breast 'T is more strange thou knowest not what God does in this and art ignorant of those Divine things which are in thy Heart Vain and haughty as thou art with the advantages which Nature has given thee above the visible Creatures thou saiest thou art an incarnate Angel say rather that thou art an Angel imprisoned in a dark and dismal mansion who knowest but in part and see'st but in part obscurely and as in a Glass through the thick veil of Flesh and Blood Prayer O My God thou Father of Lights from whom cometh every good and perfect gift open mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law I am a Stranger upon Earth and a Sojourner Oh! hide not from me thy Commandments I am inquiring into the Nature of Devotion I shall not be able to know it without thee In vain shall I search for it in the works of another unless I find it in mine own Heart I do not find what I seek for there where then shall I find it Even in thee my God who art the Source of what I look for Raise therefore in my Heart those flames of Zeal and Piety that being filled therewith my Soul may not need but to study it self to attain this knowledge and after the attainment may be able to love it and make others do so too Let it sparkle and shine in all my Words and Actions like a Torch that lights my Neighbours and let it kindle in them the holy flames of Devotion CHAP. II. Of the Effects of Devotion IN speaking of the nature of Devotion in the precedent Chapter we insinuated all its Effects but it will not be amiss nor unprofitable to unfold them a little more for these Effects well understood will lead us to the knowledge of the Cause and serve us for a Touch-stone whereby pious Souls may try both the purity and the progress of their Devotion The first of these effects is a vehement Passion to converse with God and pour forth our grief into his Bosom to hear his Word and to receive the Gages of his Love in his Sacraments You see this Disposition in David who sighs after the House of God and finds nothing in his Exile more insupportable than his Banishment from the Court of the Lord's House Jealous he is of the Condition of the Swallows that build their Nests there He would be a Door-keeper in this house and never stir from thence My Soul hath a desire to enter into thy Courts says he I have asked one thing of the Lord that I may dwell in his house all the days of my life He avows that the hopes of seeing God again in his house do sustain him and keep him from falling into Despair I had fainted unless I had believed to see the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living The faithful Soul has no less Passion for the Solitude of its Closet than David had for the Temple of his God It looks upon those hours as lost which 't is obliged to throw away upon the World and as soon as it can withdraw it self from the hurry and bustle of Affairs it runs to the Bosom of its God as the Hart to the Water-brooks as a covetous Person to the search of Riches as a Courtier watches for the Hour and Place to see his Prince and to be seen and receive from him considerable Favours A second Effect is a Joy which we may call inconceivable when the Devout in their Devotions feel their Heart display'd and the Holy Ghost appears with all the Riches of his Grace and all the Treasures of his Consolations If any one should inquire of such a Soul why it is so satisfied perhaps it would be an hard matter for it to tell him but the true cause of this Joy is That God does exert in it his comfortable and wholsom Rays which are ever accompanied with a plenary Happiness The Pleasure which an avaricious man takes in counting his Money which the ambitious taste in hoping for new Grandeurs which the Epicurean finds in his Feasts and Debauches all this I say is unsavoury and of a bad taste in comparison of that Joy which the pious Soul perceives in communicating with its God This is an Ocean which overwhelms and drowns all the Perplexities and Troubles of the Flesh The Persecuted find here their Sanctuary the Poor Riches the Sick-man Health the Contemptible Glory the Humble Grandeur and the Miserable a general Oblivion of all his Calamities This is that wherein a Soul tired with the World finds that heavenly Repose which makes it with Indignation and yet with Pity look upon the cruel Agitations of worldly men that are tied to the racking Wheels and Stones of Ixions and Sisyphus's that is to say to Labours that always return and never have an end Hence springs another effect of Devotion namely To forget this World When the Devout Person shuts the door
Heart of mine is made I think of Marble and Ice How is' t possible it should continue insensible amidst so many Objects which are capable to move it How can it be ungrateful when it is invironed with so many Favours from Heaven How is it possible it should not tremble before him whose Presence makes the Angels to tremble Why does not my Soul that is changed and destitute of all Good run with ardour to a Source so pure and so refreshing One Tear I cannot draw from my Eyes nor one Sigh from my Heart Every day I present my self before my God with dry Eyes with an humble Body but with a proud Soul and frequently with so great an Air of Negligence that the Tone of my Voice the Posture of my Members and generally all that is seen and heard in me speaks my Indevotion When have I insulted over my own Heart how often have I said to my self thou wicked Soul why dost thou not quake and shiver within me why dost thou not fear him whom none can fear enough and why dost thou not love him infinitely who has infinitely loved thee If thou lov'dst and fear'dst this God as thou oughtest this God soveraignly adorable whom the Angels love and fear thou cou'dst not be cold in his Service nor adore him in so languishing a manner Prayer ALas my God! thou seest how I groan under the burthen of my Corruption anâ— of my Indevotion Help me then to rid my self of 'em so that those motions of Piety and Zeaâ— which thou lovest so much may henceforth be as frequent in my Soul as they have been rareby till this preseâ—â— that the movements of my Devotion may not resemble those Sparks which flye up from a great company of Embers and then grow cold and are extinguished but be of those pure slames which burn perpetually even in the midst of Water and resist the Stormâ— and Tempests of Temptation Corruption and bad Examples And that being far from suffering my self to be carried away by the Torrent of Corruption and Indevotion which obtains even in the Sanctuary I may cause my Righteousness to shine like a Candle in the midst of Darkness CHAP. V. That Indevotion is a far greater crime than it is commonly thought TOuching the indevotion of the Profane I do no speak but of those that would be called thâ—t children of God I speak of all those neglects and coldnesses of all those distractions and vain and carnal thoughts which traverse the excercises of Piety The principal reason of the commonness of this crime is the opinion which people have that it is a very small fault There is nothing which they do not say and imagine to flatter themselves in this Vice One says 't is the nature of the Soul to be active and boyling we cannot fix it upon one only object it takes fire and evaporates even when we believe we can holdit It is say they a Malady of the Soul of which it self is not culpable Ah! certainly if it were an evil intirely unvoluntary it would very well deserve we should deplore the misery of the Soul 'T is a sign of a strange Irregularity and a proof that Sin is caused within by great disorders If you see a man in the midst of a discourse of good sense wander all on a sudden and speak a thousand impertinences and extravagant things will not you say he has a Desultory wit and an ill-biass'd Spirit Is it not a proof of a great Disorder in the heart to perceive ones self in the midst of ones devout thoughts to evaporate to go and take a leap from ones self and the Subject to fall into a thousand Chimerical imaginations But further I say there is as much of a crime as of misery in this Evil. It 's sufficient to know that Sin is the cause of this disorder to be assured there is sin in it The Product of a criminal cause cannot be Innocent and I fancy that the inferiour part of the Soul being corrupted by Sin is like to marrish and fenny places from whence Vapours are continually elevated to Heaven which oftentimes obscures the Sun Our passions 't is true do raise up the Clouds of vain and evil thoughts that rob our hearts of the Suns sight but what of this does it not follow that this is not a great evil do not all crimes come from this Source and are they therefore the less to be condemned We imagine that the mind of man cannot be fixt which is false and a thousand Experiments can shew us the contrary Were you to appear before a great Prince to defend your Life you would think so eagerly and earnestly upon the business that no other thing would be allowed admittance into the thoughts in speaking to him you wou'd not suffer the least Distraction The Niggard that counts his Treasures does not hear when any one comes to knock at the Door of his Cabinet A man that is upon an important Affair and gives up his mind to it never finds these wandrings of Imagination It 's true then that it is possible to hinder this Levity of mind whereof we complain as of an incurable evil Thus in the vice of Indevotion there 's a sort of Pride of being unwilling to humble our selves worthily before God in whose presence all Nature trembles I would fain know whether a King would take it well that in doing him Reverence one should turn his back upon him or that one should do him Homage with an air of disdain and this is what we do to God We give him not the very Moity of our heart To slight and despise him whom the Angels adore can it be call'd a Peccadillo The Lord reigneth let the Earth be moved are very rare words in our mouth And seeing that God does not immediately avenge himself on the great contemners of his Majesty without fear we take up an habit of defying him Unquestionably if there were nothing else in Indevotion besides the crime of Disobedience 't would be enough to render us worthy of all the most severe punishments We know mighty well that God commands us Ardour and Zeal and we cannot be ignorant how he calls us to take the Kingdom of Heaven by Violence We hear it said every day that he casts up the Luke-warm out of his mouth We read every where that the way of the Faithful ought to be in a swift Course and not a slow walk And in short we know very well that he would have us be eaten up with the Zeal of his House Maugre all these Commands and Orders still cold we are and languishing Who then shall be obey'd if God be not He who maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flaming fire he who hath so many means to revenge himself upon Rebels and to reward the Obedient he lastly whose commands are ever just and ever holy Let no one tell me then that this is a light fault since 't is a
To remember him to whom we speak Can we doubt also that our slackness does not come from the little love we have for God One friend does not visit another nor a lover his mistress with such an air of negligence as we show in Gods Service If we were kindled with Love all our motions would receive impressions from that heavenly fire In a word if the hope of glory had touch'd our hearts we should not go so slowly to him of whom we think to receive coelestial happiness But I know not whether this can be counted among the Sources of Indevotion since that the want of Faith Hope and Charity is Indevotion it self To conclude we must confess that we often find our selves in some certain Indispositions of Heart whereof we can render no account nor reason to day we are all Fire to morrow all Ice An upright Soul instantly pursues and awakens its self thinks on every thing that may inflame it It examins its own Conscience to see whether it hath committed any thing to dissorder its heart and grieve the spirit of Grace it finds nothing whereof it can accuse its self and knows not from whence it hath this coldness Whence then proceed these inequalities Perhaps from the changable nature of man who is not always himself and peradventure from the Temperament too as well as the disposition of the Air. As the Soul imprisoned in the Body does not act but by its Organs and depends extreamly on the motion of its humours it 's very manifest that Devotion also depends on these dusty Springs and Wheels whose pace is frequently seduc'd and spoyl'd And it may be the Devil finds his time and amidst the good seed sows his Tares in our field In some perhaps God's holy Spirit the author of every good thought has hid himself for sometime This drought and barrenness of the Soul may proceed from that God hath lock'd up the Sources of those Waters springing up to eternal Life However it be this mischief does cause much trouble to devout Souls We need not for a cure imploy any other remedy but Prayers and Tears The Soul must say Come Lord Jesus come thou Son of my Soul disperse this darkness make the morning Starr to rise in mine heart Why dost thou hide thy self I have sought thee in the night and found thee not Open thy fountains and make thy Rivers of Water to flow on me that I may quench my thirst and be refreshed make haste O God of my Salvation Meditation WHAT Negligence is this I find in my self I take a great deal of pains to do all things well which respect the present Life but I take very little care of doing the only and main thing well for which I ought to Labour To make a progress in an Art I exercise it often I consult Masters I make reflection on my Faults that I may not fall into 'em again But alass my Soul thou dost not use thy self so in the Exercises of Devotion Very rarely it is thou dost them And frequently without Reflection and therefore thou dost them ill Thou dost them rarely because thou dost them without Pleasure And thou dost them without any good because thou dost them in a careless Fashion and not with thy whole Bent of Heart Return to 'em often and thou shalt find such Delights in them as the Heart of Man cannot conceive Prayer O my God my divine Saviour open the fountains of thy Grace and let Rivers flow upon me Make me sensible of the advantage of possessing thee and the pleasures of enjoying thee so that I may not draw my self both seldom and difficultly to the places where thou speakest to me and I to thee in thy Temple or in the retreat of my Closet Draw me that I may run after thee When I design to approach thee by the actions of my Devotion be not thou far from me I know I am unworthy thou should'st come under my Roof 'T is not long since mine heart was a den of Thieves and the haunt of unclean spirits but these filthy Guests have left some remainder of Impurities behind them which render this Tabernacle unworthy of thy Holiness Nevertheless thou Sun of my Soul whose rayes cannot be soil'd nor defil'd by the impurity of the places through which they pass pierce even to my Marrow put thy Fire within me which may purge me and kindle me with the flames of thy Love If I sleep in security awaken me if I tumble into neglect and happen to break off the holy exercises of Piety so necessary to conserve Devotion knock at the Door of my heart to make me vigilant and watchful and if the hammer of thy word be not sufficient spare not even that of Afflictions Rent me in-pieces rather than leave me in my own natural hardness for thy blows will not wound my head they will be to me sweeter than Balm Come to my help O my redeemer to accomplish the victory over my Infirmities I am heavy and material make me spiritual and heavenly The motions of Grace and of Devotion which lift me up on high are opposite to the motions of Nature that pull me down In this Duel tost I am grievously and turmoild betwixt two contraries Nature hath the Insolence to oppose Grace and this Combat makes the exercises of my Devotion to be so few But render them O holy Spirit easy and pleasant to me that I may return to them frequently PART III. CHAP. I. That Pleasure is the mortal enemy of Devotion what are the Sentiments and maximes of the world about Pleasure and Voluptuosness WE have examined the Sources of Indevotion and have indeavoured to stop and stem them But among all the rest one there is more lively more green and more abounding in Impurites and by consequence more an enemy to Piety and that is the Spirit of the World and after having well thought on 't we find that this Spirit of the World is the love of pleasure and sensual voluptuousness Experience lets us see that this Spirit is such an enemy to Devotion as 't is impossible to be animated with it and to be Devout This perpetual use of sensual Pleasures does fix the Soul so strongly to Matter as it becomes incapable of any Elevation The more we have of union with sensible things the more we are disunited from God We ought therefore to turn on this side our greatest industry and indeavours to strive to bring the Soul back to God and make that strong application cease it hath for Material things so as it may lean and adhere to God and imploy its self about him Upon which account although the overgreat sensibility we have of earthly pleasures has had its Chapter above among the other Sources of Indevotion we believe we have not sayd enough upon so great and so important a Subject This is a monster too redoutable to be beat and quell'd by the By and with so much negligence If we could
Prayers let thy meat be to do both night and day the will of thy Father which is in Heaven Abstain as he did from all the pleasures of the World take his Cross upon thee and mortifie thy Sin in thy flesh since thy Saviour has mortified it in his If any one loves me says he let him come after me and follow me Alas my Soul how far off art thou from him how imperfect thy imitation and how much dost thou sink below thy example But lose no courage labour walk on let the things alone that are behind and tend to those which are before The holy Ghost that was sent by thy Saviour will conduct thee in the most difficult path as in a smooth and even Country If thou can'st not attain the perfection of that great Example God has set before thine eyes at least approach as near to it as thou art able For in short if thou wouldst be happy with him thou must with him be righteous and holy Thou must enter in at the strait Gate and walk in the way of Mortification to arrive at that life whereof he is both the Author and the Source The Soul of thy Saviour did not only continue void of all sensual Pleasures but it was penetrated by the most piercing Dolours To imitate him renounce fleshly pleasures and submit thy self to the Anguishes of Repentance Prayer O My divine Redeemer my Jesus my Saviour and my God thou wouldst I should imitate thee Thou hast said unto me Learn of me and thy Apostles say Look up to Jesus the Author and finisher of your Faith be ye Imitators of us as we are of Christ It is fit O my Saviour I should imitate thee Thou hast taken mine infirmities that I might glory in possessing thy Vertues But if this be glorious how difficult is that I can do all by thee who strengthenest me and I can do nothing by my self Give me therefore grace necessary to fulfil that which thou commandest me and after this command whatever thou wilt Thou hast made thy self like unto me in taking upon thee my flesh make me like unto thee by giving me thy Spirit I am thy Image O my God but a defac'd corrupted one over which the Devil has display'd his infamous Characters Cleanse me again and repass the Pencil of thy Grace over those effaced Lines of this Image and wash away all the impurities which the World has poured upon it If I cannot follow thee draw me that I may run after thee Give me the wings of thy love that I may flye to thee give me O my Saviour the desire of imitating thee for I would imitate thee I will it O my God but it does not come from a victorious but a slavish will I will it but I do it not and I see by this that I will it not Lord give me both to will and to do My flesh thinks the way thou hast walk'd in rough and uneasie it recoils and starts back at the sight of those Difficulties how wanton loose and wicked is this unhappy Flesh How would it have done hadst thou indispensibly commanded it to walk in the way of thy fore-runner John Baptist to dwell in the Wilderness to have for ones habitation a Grott at the foot of a Mountain or the Trunk or shadow of an old Oak to have a Rayment of hair to dine on Locusts and a little wild Honey for a great meal If thou didst not lead this sort of life thy self 't was to spare us and not make us imitate a life almost inimitable These are only the outfides of Piety which may sometimes be the mantle of Hypocrisie but thou hast given me to imitate the greatest Examples of real solid and internal Vertues If thou command'st me not to wear an hair Garment thou will that I should put on holiness and righteousness bowels of mercy and a patient mind If thou dost not send me into the Desart thou wouldst have me retire into the secret of the heart for to conversewith thee and comprehend the Truth which thou wouldst reveal unto me If thou oblige me not to eat only Locusts at least 't is thy good Pleasure I should oftentimes eat the Bread of Tears and mingle my Drink with weeping Thou wouldst that I make my repasts near the fountain of Haran upon Jacobs Well profound in mysteries full of living Water Consolation and Joy that I seek my delights in thee O my Saviour who art the fountain of Water bubling up to eternal life Thou wouldest that I feast my self with thy Love and that I find no Pleasure but in thee Do this therefore O blessed Jesus Take the taste away from me of all the Wordly pleasures make mine heart to be intirely imployed about these that in imbracing thee I may taste a Pleasure that may so fill the capacity of my Soul as it may cry out in the sense of that sweetness I am filled as it were with marrow and fatness CHAP. IV. What may be accounted innocent Pleasure That Devotion is no disquieting and uneasie thing nor an Enemy to Pleasure IN the foregoing Chapters I have proved that the Spirit of Devotion is an Enemy to sensual Pleasures and not only to those Pleasures which 't is confest on all hands are criminal but to those too that we call innocent ones In this rank I have placed the continual Divertisements whereunto the higher part of mankind give ' emselves up It is time now to explain and unfold a question which may be started here To know whether it be necessary to renousce all sort of Pleasure to be Christianly and truly pious Now in one word the answer cannot be return'd it being one of the most nice and delicate matters in Christian Morality I say therefore first of all That Devotion is no Enemy to Joy it suffers us to distinguish betwixt innocent and sinful Pleasures it is neither fierce nor brutish It ought to be courteous civil sweet and modest It flies softness nor does it invest it self with flowers yet it affects not to appear beset with Thorns nor habilimented with Prickles In short 't is not necessary That a faithful person to be sincerely devout should nourish in himself a pensive and lumpish melancholy On the contrary Piety is all gay and free The Heart of the righteous man is a continual Feast Our Lord Jesus would not have us affect a gloomy Visage or an abased Air he commands us even when we fast and are mortifying our selves to anoint our Heads when we must be seen by men that we may avoid Ostentation in our Piety To know what are innocent Pleasures we are to disâ—nguish with exactness and make a short but general Review over all sorts of Pleasures First all the Pleasures are either of the Mind or of the Senses Among the Senses some are more visible yed to matter others are more disengaged from them Of the first order are the Taste and Touch Of the latter he Sight
has been a long time abus'd But above all let us consider how strong the Habits of Luxury and Debauchery do become when we permit them to take Root and let 'em arrive even to old Age. The young Plant which might be pluck'd up with one hand is now a trunck of immense Greatness which resists the Hatchet and Wedge This little Monster the love of Voluptuousness which might have been easily stifled at its Birth is become so great and so terrible as there is now no attacking nor fighting with it Sins simply considered do not become more strong by Age their number is multiplied These are Snow-Balls that wax bigger and bigger in rowling these are Torrents which swell bigger the farther they remove from their Spring-head 't was an easie matter at first to pass over them on foot but now one cannot cross them by swimming Now the number of multiplied Sins augments the difficulty of Devotion and Conversion We read in the Life of the Holy Fathers That an Angel made one of those solitary Inhabitants of the Desart to see in a Vision an old Man that cut Wood in the Forest to get a Burthen for his Back with design to carry them away When the Fardle was extreamly big he essay'd to lift it up upon himself but finding it too heavy he let it fall to the ground and fell a cutting new Wood and added it to his Burthen whereupon he endeavoured again to lift it up but that was more impossible for him than before Nevertheless it tumbling down again he put more Wood to it still and this he did several times The solitary Person admir'd the Folly of this old Man till the Angel took up his Speech and said Thou see'st this old Man he is the Emblem of Worldlings they heap Sins upon Sins a design of lifting themselves up to God comes across presently they sink under the burthen of their Sins They begin again to commit new Crimes as if this burthen by encreasing would become much lighter When they have push'd on their Excesses a good way a new desire of devoting themselves to God overtakes them but the burthen of their Sins is become very great and consequently the motions of Elevation are the more difficult This Parable was composed for our Subject and against those unhappy People that dedicate their youthful years to the Pleasures of the World and remit the practise of Devotion and the lifting up of their Souls to God to another time St Austin in expounding the History of Lazarus his Resurrection asks why our Lord employs Sighs Tears Prayers and a loud voice to raise him again from the dead which he did not do for the others whom he reviv'd as for the young man of Naim whose biere he toucht only and Jairus's Daughter to whom he only said Talitha Cumi Maid arise 'T is says he because Lazarus had been dead four days Our Lord would give us an Image of the Difficulty to be met withall in a smners Conversion when he is confirm'd in his sin The first day says that Father is that of Pleasure which we taste in the sin The second is that of Consent The third is that of Love and Application to the pleasure of the sin and the fourth is mere Custom and Habit. When we are come to this we cannot be raised again we cannot be converted to God but by Cries and Tears and the Voice of the Lord fruitfal in Miracles This methinks makes us comprehend well the interest we have to think on God in due time and to consecrate our Youth to Devotion 〈◊〉 know very well that the end obtains the Crown but I know too that 't is of the highest importance to begin well that we may end happily An Arrow which wanders and slides from towards the Butt just as it parts from the Bow will be found at a monstrous distance from the Butt before it comes to its journeys end One that in his youth is plung'd into debauchery and abandons himself to sensual pleasures will find himself far remov'd from God in his old age he must take a great deal of trouble to bring himself back again from such an Aloof And therefore I conclude with the wise man Young man Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth Meditation WHY dost thou delay O my Soul after these Considerations Dost not thou apprehend the necessity there is of consecrating thy self without any shifting or lingring to the service of thy God Thou evermore sayest to morrow to morrow but this morrow never comes and the day of thy Separation from the body will come in an hour when thou lookest not for it When thy God calls upon thee thou tellest him the Words of a slothful and sleepy Person Presently I say presently St. August Confess l. 8. cap. 5. let me alone a little but one Moment longer but this presently never comes and this Moment is an everlasting one I see thou art displeas'd at obliging thee to give up thy self so soon to God This is too soon say'st thou to begin and will it not be time enough some years hence Wicked and ungrateful canst thou think too soon on thy God It is just thou shouldst think of him assoon as thou beginnest to be and to know thy self since he thought on thee and thy Salvation from Eternity His Essence had no beginning and his Love for thee had none too Both Eternal What didst thou do to this great God to engage him to love thee so long a while before He lov'd thee before thou wast amiable He saw thee in thy Nothing and in the Abysse of thy Corruption and from all Eternity he prepared means for thee to get out of that Abysse he prepared thee a Redeemer He did not reserve one moment in Eternity which he has not given thee and thou would'st retrench from him many years of this short and uncertain Life whereof thou hast the use here below Perhaps thou wilt say that it would not be unjust if thy time were divided betwixt thy God and thee and that it is hard to give all one hath without reserving any thing to ones self But dost not thou consider that thy God has given thee all things He has given thee the Heaven and the Earth the Fields Rivers Fountains Plants Trees and Fruits hath he reserv'd any thing to himself Has not he given himself too entirely to thee has he not given thee his only Son and still has not he given him up to Death it self for thee wouldst not thou then be very ungrateful O my soul if thou wouldst divide with God and rob him of any thing which thou hast But alas when thou thinkest and speakest thus thou dost not well understand thy own interests Thou supposest that thou losest from thy self all the time thou givest to thy God whereas on the other side thou savest only those moments from ship-wrack which thou consecratest to him All the rest of thy time is lâ—st being
as a barren and dry Land â—ere no Water is when shall I come and appear before God But alas I find not in me these thoughts and motions I find there a great barrenness and as it were a general privation of Heavenly Graces I meet only with some languishing desires that perish in the moment of their birth My Faith is wavering my Charity cold my Hope weak my Zeal almost extinct and my Devotion luke-warm A waken thy self immediately O my Soul if thou wouldst be united to thy God if thou would'st love him and be beloved by him 〈◊〉 thou wouldst have him kindle the pure Flames of Devotion in thy Soul thou must will it desire it ask it This Good this great Good deserves that thou shouldst make the first steps and get before it Do not say unto me that thou art shackled up in unhappy Chains and the Flesh calls and perswades thee to the contrary that thou wouldst but thou canst not be Pious that thou wouldst this moment but thou canst not will it any time long Alas if thou willest it O my Soul it may be done these Chains of thy will are voluntary Chains these bonds are evil Habits and ingagements in Corruption which are so far from lessening thy Sin that they render thee the more culpable In this sort of thingâ— we do all that we will and when we do not that which we will 't is because we will it with a most imperfect will Prayer O Most merciful Saviour I am very sensible I am not truâ—â— Devout because I have not the will to be so but alaâ—â— though the Cords that tye up my will to work evil be voluntary yet they are not the less strong nor the less easie to be dissolved My corruption is in my Will and therefore 〈◊〉 cannot conquer it by my will alone Thy Grace is sufficienâ— for me but without it I can do nothing Come then coâ—my Deliverer and break these Chains under which I groan I will not let thee go till thou hast blessed me Create in me a pure Heart and renew a right Spirit within me Let thy free Spirit sustain me It would be in vain to seek counseâ— â—nd aid to promote and succour my Devotion Without thee â—esigns fail of their success and councils are unprofitable We can scarce guard Cities or build Houses unless thou â—â—tchest unless thou put to thine hand all our cares and â—â—our becomes vain Hear my Prayers O God and let not 〈◊〉 Meditations be fruitless Quicken the Divine word of thy â—ly Spirit that it may enkindle my heart as a Fire and â—â—at I may be forthwith delivered from those coldnesses â—â—ich rack and torture me so as I may be filled with Dâ—â—â—tion as much as I can wish to be so CHAP. II. The second general Advice To lead an holy Life and practice all the Vertues WE have already said somewhat of the necessity of living well to become truly devout but the Subject is too important to make a halt or stop there â—nd therefore let us now consider that there is no â—â—ion more streight than that of a faithful Soul with â—s God in the acts of Devotion 't is a secret comâ—erce 't is to see God face to face and speak with â—im as one intimate Friend speaks with another All â—â—at is conceiv'd of the Union betwixt the Husband and â—â—e Wife between the Father and the Son betwixt the â—ody and a Member is not strong enough to represent 〈◊〉 us the Union of a Soul that flies to Heaven upon â—he Wings of Hope and Faith and to which God disâ—â—vers the inestimable treasures of his Love God â—nters into it and it into God and so they beâ—â—me one But who doth not see that to smooth â—he way to himself towards so strict an union he must be â—ure even as he is Pure the heavenly Lamp suffers no â—ening nor mixture of Day or Night God who is â—ight cannot be united to a Soul that is in Darkness If there be any Vertue for which we are owing to the Holy Ghoft's presence in us it is Devotion Now we know well enough by what we may obtain this presence of the H. Spirit 'T is not by the magnificence of the house but its neatness when the evil Spiriâ— goeth out of the house and at his return findeth iâ— swept and garnished he returns asham'd and cannot enter thereinto without the help of six other Spirits more wicked than himself That which drives the evil Spirit away attracts the holy one and he does not make our heart to be his Temple unless we banisâ— thence all Impurity Moses carves and polishes two Tables of Stone God engraves his Law thereon A Painter cleanses his linnen-cloth before he draws oâ— it the Picture of a Prince We have two carnal tables of the Heart the Understanding and Will but we are not to hope that God will write his Laws or the H. Ghost paint his Image thereon unless they be neaâ— and polished Thou devout and pious Soul which wishest to see God abiding in thee and his love in thy heart cleanse the table of thy Understanding from those many Errours Prejudices fond Imaginations and evâ—â— thoughts cleanse the table of thy Will from those sinful Inclinations and vicious Habits When both these tables shall become blank and white undoubtedly God will come to paint and engrave his Image thereon Devotion is an entrance into Gods Cabinet 〈◊〉 brought me says the Spouse to the Banquetting-house but no one enters there unless he have the Weddingâ— Garment on and be gracefully deck'd with Faith Hope and Charity unless he put on the Lord Jesâ—â— Christ and the Bowels of Mercy of a meek Mind 〈◊〉 Righteousness and Holiness Devotion is an Elevationâ— of the Soul and Sin a Clog to it If we burthen the Soul with these Weights how shall it lift it self up We are therefore to discharge our Heart of one Sin to day to morrow of another to subdue Covetousness one day to attack Pride another Ambition and the more thy Heart is thus engag'd the more free will thy Devotion be Above all we ought to remember that our Heart is the most delicate and tender part of â—s there 's no need of putting it into Disorder We â—overthrow it with Age but to re-establish it is the â—â—nost Difficulty It is the eye of the Soul any chip â—ny grain of Dust is able to destroy it It is Milk which is corrupted by the Air 's Motion only and by Thunder 't is a Lute that is put out of Tune by unseaâ—â—â—able Distempers of the Air and certainly true Sanctification has more parts than a Lute hath strings so that this holiness of the Heart is ruined by the disorder of one of those parts as one bad Sound destroys â—ll the Harmony of a Consort and therefore with a â—onderful Care we ought to guard our Heart and every part thereof The Soul resembles a Sea and it's Passions the Winds If you do
an hundred other Lessons But all this is nothing to compare with the Knowledge to be had from the reading of that other book which God hath dictated to his Prophets and Apostles 'T is there thou mayest see the Abysses of the Divine Wisdom the infinity of his Love and the depths of his Mercy Without engaging thy self very deep in these Abysses what Fruit canst thou not reap from the Death of my Saviour and the Contemplation of his Cross thou wilt learn there how thou art to love for that is the School of Love thou wilt view thy Divine Saviour eaten up with the zeal of God's House burnt with the Flames of Charity He so loved the World that he gave himself up to Death for the World and that to a shameful cruel and tormenting death even that of the Cross He expos'd himself to all the arrows of God's Wrath he suckt the venom and underwent the weight of his Indignation and for whom for his Enemies 'T is thus O my Soul thou must Love This is but a very small part of the things thou mayst learn in that heavenly Book Prayer BVT O Lord I read in vain I meditate without success O my Sun infuse thy Rayes into my Heart open mine Eyes that I may see the wond'rous things of thy Law Make thy Word to be in me like a two edged Sword piercing even to the dividing of my Soul my Joynts and Marrow Thy Word is truth sanctifie me by thy Truth Let my Heart burn within me when thou speakest and declarest to me the Scriptures Let me receive thy word with a thirsty Soul and let it become unto me a Spring of living Waters bubling up to Eternal Life that I may be conducted by the Rivers of thy Grace to the Ocean of Glory CHAP. IX The fourth particular help to Devotion The use of Prayer I Do not design here to make any Commendation of Prayer nor to display all it's Uses which both the Antients and Moderns have done very Amply I shall only say that 't is one of the surest means to purifie the Soul since there is no Action whereby we approach nearer to God no time wherein he communicates himself more to us He hath been very often observ'd to give his Extraordinary inspirations in Prayer In praying St Peter fell into an Extasie Paul was ravisht to the third Heaven Cornelius in his Prayers receiv'd the Vision of an Angel Monica St Austin's Mother after her Prayers and Tears for the Salvation of her Son had in her dream that excellent Revelation of his Conversion An Angel tells her Afflict not thy self thy Son is with thee As God is the Sun of our Soul and jets his beams perpendicularly into our Hearts he must necessarily clarifie and heat them he disperses the vapours of the Inferiour part and draws his own Image there Now this Communication of the Raies of Grace is never made more than in Prayer I shall not stay to examine any further the Conditions with which Prayers should be made to be Devout it 's already shown enough that they ought to be Attentive Persevering and Ardent I shall only give here two Advices the one to avoid Weariness the other to avoid Distraction First I say that few Souls are capable of long Prayers For to render a Prayer perfectly devout there 's need of an extreme Contention of Mind an extraordinary Elevation and an entire loosening ones self from the World Now these Actions do a kind of Violence to the Soul which naturally tends to a releasing of it self and therefore they cannot be of any long Continuance If we give no relaxation to the Heart it takes it and rambles some where or other in spite of our teeth so as I would have the exercises of Devotion to be long tho divided into little spaces of time that they have many parts and each of 'em be short Devotion is composed of three principal Acts Reading Meditation and Prayer each of these need not be done presently so as to follow one another but they may be mingled for we must allow some grains to the Souls Weakness and we must keep it from disgust by variety A little reading may be the first degree of it's Elevation a little meditation on that reading will lift it a degree higher and after the reading and meditation a short Prayer will lead it to the highest degree of forgetting the World after which it will return wholly new to reading and Meditation in the same order In Prayer it will fly through the Air by the force of its own Wings and at its return to reading it will do like those Birds that weary with flying come to repose themselves not on the Earth but some very high Tree of their own choice so our devout Soul will come to rest it self not by falling on the Earth for 't will never set foot there nor permit the mind to return to the World but it will continue elevated upon the Props of the holy Prophets and Apostles Vr and Aaron will sustain it lifted up towards the Heaven and from thence taking its flight it will by little and little rise upon the Wings of Meditation untill it return by Prayers whither it was first lifted up This method undoubtedly will give it time to renew its strength it cannot hold out long if its course be push'd on to the utmost of its vigour but by taking breath and marching fairly on from time to time it will make a very great advance in a day The other Direction I would give regards those who having not been busied about the operations of the Mind are less proper for the great Elevations These People ordinarily make their Devotions in Prayers pronounced by heart from which way Distractions are almost inseparable These I would counsel to endeavour to untye themselves from Words and hold only to the Sense I do not mean that in their Family-Prayers they should dispense themselves from their Forms I know very well that all the World has not the gift of forming their thoughts and putting them into an order which may edifie the Publick but for the Devotions of the Closet they are rather to be made by Heart than by the Tongue When the Imagination does not make some endeavour for the production of its Thoughts and the choice of its Words in following the beaten Road which it fears not to lose it never fails of going somewhither else as having nothing to do in the place where we would retain it but when it gives Attention to the manner in which is necessary to express the things which the Heart has conceiv'd the Heart and the Imagination uniting their Forces make up a compleat Attention I cannot endure to hear some say That all the World is not capable of composing all are not able to compose for Men but to compose for God they are able Let us make never such Efforts to speak well we stammer in the Mouth before the Lord and
duties of Piety we cannot be in the Kitchin and the Closet at the same time and while the Soul is employ'd in its Rooms about seething and digesting its Victuals and distributing its Nourishment it is not in a state to be transported in places destin'd to Contemplation and Meditation It lyes groveling beneath thick Clouds and foggy Vapours which render the heart unfit to lift it self up The abundance of delicious meats says a Father send smoky Exhalations like Clouds that interrupt the Illumination which is made in the understanding by the Holy Ghost Wherefore Moses that he might see God without a Cloud stayed forty days upon the Mount without eating or drinking with design that the superiour part of his Soul might remain disengag'd from Trouble and the Obscurities of the lower part Ease and Abundance of Bread cause the sins of Sodom and Uncleanness of of Life is the consequence of the mouth 's Excess After the use of many delicate meats and drinks the blood is all over inflam'd which gives a Disposition to all carnal Actions and an Inclination to worldly Joy which is ever immoderate The People sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play We must therefore of absolute necessity observe the Rules of Sobriety and nourish the Body only for Life's sake We must give it what is necessary and deny it superfluities that it be never able to rebell against us And frequently we must retrench even the necessary things that we may master it the more for the Flesh when kept under contributes much to make the heart contrite and the less tye the Soul has to the Body the more easily it lifts it self up to God When we fast our Devotions are not interrupted by sleep they are not corrupted by involuntary Motions they are not viciated by dishonest Thoughts In the mean while touching the practice and use of Fasting divers advices may be given First we are not to hold it for a part of Devotion and as a worship wherewith we serve God For the Kingdom of Heaven is neither meat nor drink it is only an help to Devotion This first consideration furnishes us with an other which is that we use not fasting as Devotion it self for to fast whilst we are travelling or about our Employments is no work of great merit or great use The first consideration has a third still that springs from it and that is that Fasting is not to be employ'd no farther in Devotion than as it may be an aid to it and by consequence we cannot give any certain rules either for the Practice or the Duration of it Some tempers there are so weak that fasting is so far from being an help to Devotion as it may be a great lett to it because it immediately casts the body into a certain negligence which hinders the Soul from soaring up Again there are those can't be tamed but by long mortifications and these ought not to spare themselves Others master ' emselves more easily and these must know themselves but nevertheless they are to take care that the weakness of their body do not serve for a pretext to dispence themselves from necessary mortifications Yet we cannot approve those cruelties which some use towards the body in treating it like a declared Enemy without sparing either Fire or Sword We put not on here the Spirit of Controversie we leave every one to his own Conscience We say only that altho those excesses be not new they are never the better for all that Eccesiastical History supplies us with examples enow I confess of these extravagant Mortifications But I had rather stand to the dicision of St. Basil who is not to be suspected in this cause since he was a great Associate in Fastings and Mortifications However he repeats many times the precept of Mediocrity and insists very long upon it He denyes his Virgins and his Hermits the use of excessive Mortifications even to his saving in the Book of Virginity that the burthen of heavy and excessively pamper'd Flesh does not bring more incumbrance to the elevation of the Soul than the weakness of a sick Body thinn'd by a long and excessive Mortification And therefore he expresly orders That necessity be the rule of Fasting and Abstinence And now follows another necessary Direction upon this Subject That bodily Mortification and Fasting does not reach to the very bottom of the Soul nor mortifie all sort of Vice An Ancient said That the Devil being not able to lay hold or take Possession of a Body master'd by great Mortifications seizes upon the Soul all naked and by it and in it begins and consummates the carnal Desires If the Soul without the Body be capable of acting and committing bodily Sins though Mortification be in the way how shall it heal it self by this means of those Diseases which are intirely in it as Envy Pride and self-Self-love So we see these Passions reign very often and very imperiously in those Men of Scourges and Sackcloth This so bloody War which is wag'd against the Body and in appearance renounces all Self-love can be no more in the most part than a Self-love very delicate which leads to Glory by extraordinary Paths that it may arrive there the more surely From all this I conclude that the Mortification which St. Paul requires of us when he says Mortifie your Members which are upon the Earth and that which we have judged necessary for Devotion goes much farther than bodily Mortification To stifle that Self-love that Pride those Jealousies Harreds Envyings and even Ambition and Covetousness there is need of another sort of Fasting that is an Abstinence from all Actions which may nourish those Vices So I conclude this Chapter with those incomparable Words of the Father Beware of defining the excellence of Fasting by a sole Abstinence from Meats and Drinks for true Fasting consists in abstaining from Evil. Thou dost not eat Flesh but thou tearest thy Brother in pieces thou abstainest from Wine but thou abstainest not from doing Outrage thou waitest till the Evening to eat but thou spendest the day in a Law Suit Woe to those that are drunk though not with Wine Anger inebriates the Soul and as well as Wine casts it out of the limits of Reason Meditation THIS of wine I confess is a most dangerous Drunkenness and Gluttony is a most filthy sin These sins are great Enemies to Devotion and therefore Fasting Abstinence and Sobriety are very necessary to succour and nourish Piety But O my Soul take care of thy self these vices regard the body chiefly There is another sort of Drunkenness and Gluttony which immediately concerns the Soul and is it may be still more dangerous this Drunkenness is Pride and this Gluttony is Avarice and Ambition How many Souls do I see in the World made drunk with Vanity and an high Opinion of themselves They are fly-blown with Pride that all the Earth cannot contain them they stretch themselves so far