Death of Christ 1 Cor. 15.3 2ly That to the applying the Merits of Christ's Passion to us there are required some Conditions on our part Phil. 2.12 namely our Assenting and Co-operating with God's Grace 3ly That by such Application not only our sins are remitted Eph. 2.5.4.25 but we receive the Grace of Regeneration changing us in our minds implanting us into Christ enabling us to good works Rom. 2.13 Joh. 1.12 to become doers of the Law Sons of God c. The manner of such our Regeneration and of the Divine Assistance is thus First Mat. 28.19 Eph. 5.26 When we are Baptized into Christs Church not only past sins are washed away supposing us rightly disposed thereunto but also a new Power and Ability Supernatural of Living holily for the future is conferr'd and superadded Tit. 3.5 c. Acts 11.16 The Holy Ghost being then personally given us and God's Grace Efficaciously planted in us for newness of Life Rom. 6.4.7.6 and bringing forth Good Works By the Assistance of this Grace therefore our corrupt Nature is so perfectly restored and made capable of all Vertue that we may and are obliged also therewith totally to subdue our Lusts so as to live free from the habit even of unclean thoughts Gal. 5.24 and from the commission of all unclean Acts at least of those greater before mentioned which we are sure from God's own Word exclude the Kingdom of Heaven By this new principle of Grace Eph. 5.5 which worketh with us and without which our working signifies nothing a real Holiness Facility to Good is conveyed into our Souls our Understanding is Illuminated so as readily to embrace the Holy Mysteries of Christ's Religion which are above it above it 's natural Knowledge and Reach and past it s ever finding out but by Revelation Our Will from time to time inspired with new and divine Affections and at length influenced at least in some Persons with an impatient Love of God above all other things And the same Holy Spirit which thus Acts and Assists within us interceeds also for us Rom. 8.26 with groans which cannot be uttered groans irresistably prevalent at the Throne of Grace To the first Grace therefore given us at our Baptism if we make a right use of it more and more is added to every one that hath improved his one Talent more shall be given Mat. 25.29 and he shall have abundance And sometimes to the same well-disposed Person are conferred several Talents several different Gifts for God's greater glory of the same Holy Spirit but yet the most excellent Grace which we are above all to covet 1 Cor. 12.31 as being that without which all other Graces signify nothing to us is 1 Cor. 13.13 Charity or the Love of God Which is the most effectual remedy of all our Lusts or false Loves and when once obtained does in a manner the whole work of a Christian it felf because by its secret Energy it centers all our Affections in our Lord so as sweetly to compell us to seek in all things a punctual Observance and conformity to his holy Will and in nothing to displease him with whom our Soul being ravished is sick of love for him and languisheth with a perpetual desire Cant. 5.8 either 1st of suffering for him thereby at once to shew the Truth of our love and to purify us as Gold in a burning Furnace Or 2ly of praying to Him the only way of Conversing with him upon Earth Or 3ly Of fully enjoying him in Heaven even though it were through Martyrdom it self Which great Vertue shined most Eminently in St. Mary Magdalen whose sins which were many were therefore forgiven her because she loved much And her chosing to sit at the feet of Jesus to hear his words our Saviour himself calls the unum necessarium the better and sublimer part of a Christian which nothing can take away And albeit this love of God inferrs and comprehends the love of our Neighbour and of our selves and of all things that belong to God yet these not after the fashion of the World but only as consistent with and much encreasing and enflaming our love of God So that by shewing our love to God as we are obliged all the ways that we can we are continually enlivening and augmenting it and still think it little and unworthy of eternal life and that it is want of our Endeavours and not of God's Grace which hinders us from attaining still higher Spiritual Gifts and a more intense love of our Lord every little Inclination in us to any thing else if not throughly mortifyed being enough to retard our progress in this true way to perfection This one thing I do says St. Paul to his Philippians forgeting those things which are behind already obtained and reaching forward to those things which are before not yet obtained I press toward the Mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.13 And if so great an Apostle when he had so far attained as perhaps none farther in the Love of God and Self-mortifications witness his Watchings 2 Cor. 6.5.11.23 Fastings Labours Stripes Imprisonments Deaths was still pressing forward much more ought we to mend our pace who are so far behind so far from perfect Charity and perfect Chastity as to be still wallowing in our â—usts still hankering after the Gratifications of Sense We ought not only to be mindful of the powerful Assistances God hath afforded us to Purity and Holiness but also actually to make use of them for that very end and purpose those Assistances of the Holy Spirit being such as continually war against the Flesh Col. 3.1 stirring us up to seek those things that are above and supernatural and so after an ineffable manner if we endeavour to correspond to them unite us to Christ and God and bring down Heaven into our Souls quenching in us the thirst to all sensual Pleasures making them by degrees seem more and more contemptible to us and at length odious Quas sordes quae dedecora c. what filthiness did they Suggest what disgrace and dishonour says St. Austin in his Confessions concerning his formerly beloved but then much more hated Lusts The way therefore to experience the good of Christianity is resolutely to enter upon practising Christian Vertue by a more strict observance of Gods Laws and purging our selves from the contrary Vices For none how learned soever can truly know God but they that serve him And a poor Shepherd that faithfully serves him will by experience know more of God in his chiefest Excellencies than a Doctor of the Chair that does only talk of him And as the Grace of God is the principal Instrument of a good Christian Life so the next to that is frequent examining our Consciences once or twice a day that so we may learn to know by little and little how to
written and allowed of by the Ancient Fathers and the whole Church of God in all Ages And then as to the necessity of Prayer if we consider our many wants Temporal and Spiritual to be relieved many sins wherein we still offend God to be pardoned many Temptations and Dangers from which to be preserved many Benefits and Assistances received and all these with a respect also to our Fellow Christians we cannot but acknowledge every moment of our Lives had we no other necessary Duties too little to be spent in this one Great Duty of Continual Prayer 1 Thess 5.17 Our good Lord assist us by his Holy Spirit in the diligent and sincere performance thereof The other Chief Means of our obtaining Divine Assistances against our Lusts is 2ly Frequen Communicating as many good Christians now do and the Primitive Christians did almost every day I do not intend here to treat largely of this Holy Sacrament there being many good Books Written designedly on that Subject but only recommend to the Reader without medling with God's power therein which transcends all Humane Conception and Comprehension the Immense Benefit of this Holy Mystery to each worthy Communicant in reference to his particular Necessities For obtaining Remission of this or that Sin a Remedy of this or that Infirmity a Deliverance from this or that Affliction for receiving a Benefit or giving thanks for a Benefit received for helping our Neighbour for encreasing the Holy Spirit and Love of God in us Because as by one Spirit in Baptism We are made one Mystical Body of Christ 1 Cor. 12.13 so likewise in the Eucharist are we made to drink into the partaking of one Spirit The Blessed Eucharist being as necessary for the continuing and encreasing as Baptism for the first receiving the Holy Spirit Because also this is that particular Nourishment instituted by Christ for the preserving our Body and Soul to Everlasting Life that particular Pledge and Assurance of our Resurrection that true Bread from Heaven which mystically also Incorporates us into Christ and makes us continue and grow up into perfect Members of his Body that so thus partaking of the Nature and Spirit of the Second Adam the Heir of all things we may become with him Sons of God Heirs of Eternal Life as we were by the First Adam of Eternal Death That true Heavenly Bread lastly so Exalting and Assimulating our Nature into Christ when worthily Communicating as to make us one with him as he and the Father are one According to our Saviour's Prayer when he was Instituting this Blessed Sacrament I pray thee Father John 17. that they may be one as we are one O Blessed Union between poor Man and his Maker O happy those Souls who here worthily feed on this Heavenly Bread the only true Nourishment of the Life of Grace enabling them in the Strength thereof to walk even to the Mount of God the Life of Glory The Conclusion THE Summ of this Discourse is The Sins of the Flesh are most dangerous because most natural to us And by reason of their filthiness most loathsome to Almighty God and most severely punished by him For not only those of the greater magnitude Fornication Adultery Incest Sodomy Beastiality are followed with God's most Tremendous Judgments but also we find in Scripture Vncleanness and Laciviousness Gal. 5.19 Eph. 5.3 destinct from the foregoing and of a less denomination every where joyned with such Sins as exclude the Practisers thereof from the Kingdom of Heaven The way to prevent such Sins and to avoid the punishment of them is To mortify our Passions our Memory and Imagination to beware of impure Suggestions cheirsh Holy Inspirations and avoid all the occasions of such Sins to Improve lastly the Grace of God in us by Assiduous Prayer daily Examination of our selves perfect Repentance frequent Communicating and all other holy means pressing still farther to higher and higher Gifts particularly to the attaining that most excellent Gift of Charity which makes us love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves hate even our own Lives for love of Him who first loved us undergoing the the greatest sufferings with Thankfulness and Complacency performing all our Actions on purpose to please him referring them to his Honour offering them up to his Praise and Glory To whom Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Honour Praise and Glory to all Eternity Amen God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4.24 Grace and Truth i. e. means of Salvation came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves but to him who dyed for them Gal. 4.6 2 Cor. 5.15 Wretched is that man who is all for the good things of this Life a good House good Apparel good Provision c. and is content to have a bad Soul Int. Christ Some Short Directions and Heads of Meditation for the Persons Concerned in the Preceeding Discourse CHAP. I. Of Meditation it's Requisites and how it differs from Contemplation MEditation is called the first Essential part of Prayer leading to Contemplation Thanksgiving Petition c. in which all the Principal Faculties of the Soul the Memory Vnderstanding Will and Affections are severally employed The Memory recollects the matter to be Meditated upon and also placeth the Soul in the Divine Presence The Vnderstanding judgeth of the Subject and its Vertues and accordingly proposeth it to the Will The Will excites in us divers Acts and Affections either of Love Affiance Gratitude c. towards God Or of Hatred Compunction desire of doing better c. towards our selves which is indeed the main Scope and end of Meditation Then follows our Praying and representing to Almighty God our Miseries Necessities Temptations which we most earnestly beg him to redress for his own Love and Compassion's sake and the Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ But when the Faculties of the Soul are unactive or slow in their Operations as it often happens they are to be excited by the help of good Books which ought always to be at hand when we Meditate and in all such holy exercise we are to approach the Divine Presence with our greatest Reverence and Humiliation And it is also necessary before every Meditation to make a strict Examen of Conscience 1. What Benefits we have received that day from Almighty God for which we are to return Thanks 2. What Sins we have that day committed running through every hour in thought word and deed for which we are to beg pardon 3. We are to resolve upon an amendment in every particular by the Grace of God After such strict Examination of all our Thoughts Desires Words and Works judging our selves that we be not judged of the Lord and Confessing our Sins in the bitterness of our Soul as the Church requires and taking also
18 Punishments dreadfel and sudden Pag. 19 Flood Fire and Brimstone Sword Loss of Kingdoms c. and what exceeds them all eternal Death Pag. 19 20 21 CHAP. IV. Of the chastity of Marriage and of the purity of a Single Life Pag. 23 68 Marriage very honourable compared to that of Christ with his Church Pag. 24 Many degrees of Conjugal chastity ibid. Some abstain for a shorter time upon the account of some Solemn Devotion Communicating c. Pag. 24 25 Some longer for good ends also Pag. 25 26 Some their whole life by consent for the better serving of God Pag. 26 27 Of a Single Life's being 1st more pure than chast Marriage it self Pag. 27 28 29 2ly Freer from Worldly distractions c. Pag. 29 30 More sensible of God's presence Pag. 34 The Gift of Continency attainable by all sincere endeavourers Pag. 35 36 Fitter for Contemplation Pag. 33 36. More Heroical Pag. 37 The reward in Heaven greater ibid. Of the purity of the Soul Pag. 38 The sins more immediately opposed Pride c. with the Remedies Humility c. only barely named ibid. A blind Understanding and perverse Will the causes Pag. 39 Rebellion according to St. Judes Description Pag. 39 40 Some Rules for the preventing and curing the sins of the Flesh Pag. 41 c. CHAP. V. The first Rule of our Affectiens c. Pag. 42 Of th Passion of Love ibid. If wrong placed ruins us Pag. 44. If rightly placed makes us happy ibid. Of the Memory and Imagination Pag. 41 The Store-house of the Soul Pag. 46 When advantageous ibid. When Destructive to us ibid. The outward Senses must be watched Pag. 47 Several ways of getting rid of Temptations from them by meditating upon our Saviour's Passion the 4 last things c. Pag. 48 49 c. CHAP. VI. The Second Rule Of Suggestions Pag. 52 Whence they proceed ibid. What to be done if they tempt to habitual sin Pag. 53 Using external Actions Pag. 54 Delaying the Execution bid Concerning strong resolutions Pag. 53 54 Resolutions Conditional upon a Forfeiture Pag. 56 Resolution of returning and repenting upon a relapse Pag. 58 Telling the Temptation to some other Pag. 60 61 CHAP. VII The third Rule The Occasions of Lust c. to be avoided Pag. 62 1st No making provision for the Flesh to c. ib. Temperance in meat and drink Pag. 63 64 65 c. Frequent fastings ibid. Moderate sleep and sometimes watchings Pag. 66 67 2ly Lewd Company to be avoided Pag. 70 No conversing with such Pag. 71 This for our own security and their good Pag. 73 No eating c. with them when obstinate ibid Cases of Necessity excepted c. Pag. 74 The Church in her Councils and Canons very strict in this matter Pag. 75 Lewd Books also dangerous Companions Pag. 75 Good ones the best Companions in the World Pag. 76 3ly Infamous places to be avoided ibid Whether single houses or whole cities Pag. 77 No cohabiting with lewd Persons ibid. A caution concerning Discourses Pag. 79 80 81 Especially in much Company ibid CHAP. VIII The fourth Rule Of Divine Assistances c. Pag. 82 Three things prenoted ibid. The first Grace given at Baptism Pag. 83 More added upon our using the first well Pag. 85 Of the Grace of Charity or the love of God Pag. 86 87 The force of Spiritual Gifts against the Flesh Pag. 89 How to Experience the good of Christianity ibid. Of frequent Examination of Conscience Pag. 90 The Subtility of the Devil Pag. 92 2ly The means of obtaining divine assistances Pag. 93 1st Prayer Repentance Pag. 93 94 c. 2ly Frequent Communicating Pag. 98 c. The Summ of the whole Pag. 102 Some short Directions and Heads for Meditation c. CHAP. I. OF Meditation its Requisites and how it differs from Contemplation Pag. 105 CHAP. II. Of the Subject of Meditation with Heads for the first Week Pag. 111 CHAP. III. Heads of Meditation for the Second Third and Fourth Weeks Pag. 121 CHAP. IV. Meditations for the Fifth Week Pag. 130 The Letany of Christian Vertues taken out of the Holy Scriptures c. Pag. 139 A CHECK TO DEBAUCHERY CHAP. I. Of grosse Carnal Sins in General THE spiritual Man and good Christian hath no greater Enemies than those he carrieth about with him his own depraved Appetites and inordinate Desires especially to sensual Pleasure and carnal Delights for which Flesh and Blood so strongly plead These the more common and the less heeded they are so much the more dangerous to and more destructive of the Soul There are no Temptations so vigorously assault us or so easily beguile us as these Which are therefore said by the Prophet to seize and take away the Heart Hos 4.11 and the Desire of them entreaseth the more we descend to a particular thinking or discussing of them even tho it be with a design to leave them They make so strong an Impression have so much of Force and Stratagem together that there is no Conquering of â—â—em by our contending with them but by our running away from them So many wiles and secret devices so many promises and specious pretences so many windings and turnings which the Wise Man calls the way of a Serpent upon a Rock Prov. 30.19 the way of a Man with a Maid that it is next to impossible to find them out And that because 1. Being born in Sin our very Nature is depraved And 2. inbred Lust when not subdued in us so Captivates and Incarnates the Soul as to restrain its liberty of Reasoning or thinking upon any thing else This therefore is the greatest Temptation and the vanquishing of it the great perfection of a Christian 1 Thess 4.3 Hence it is that Almighty God in pity to frail man hath provided him whosoever likes not to follow our Lord's Counsel of a single life a lawful remedy of his Lusts by Marriage Mat. 19 12. 1 Cor. 7.2 upon condition he live within the bounds of it and not endeavour the satiating his desires any other way or with any other Person than his own Wife But alas how contrary to this is the practice of the present Age wherein a Vertuous single Life is almost grown Scandalous and Marriage will hardly be allowed to be Honourable save only upon the account of Legitimating Heirs and keeping up Families Nay is it not rather reckoned as more Gentile even amongst Persons of Quality to their shame and dishonour be it spoken to have variety of Misses as they are pleased to call their lewd Prostitutes tho themselves perhaps very well married And then amongst others of less plentiful Fortunes Marriage tho stiled by the Holy Ghost Honourable is looked upon as a mean and despicable thing and little less than utter undoing Because forsooth they cannot then so near equal their Betters their elder Brothers and the like in Eating and Drinking and Cloaths and other Formalities of worldly Grandeur Whereas now they can
driving out all those mighty Nations from Canaan and destroying them and giving their Land to the Children of Israel for a possession was it not for these abominable sins See the eightenth Chapter of Leviticus Lev. 18. whereafter variety of those sins rehearsed such as are not fit to be named amongst Christians but with horror and detestation of them it follows Verse 27. For all these abominations the Name God himself there gives to these loathsome sins have the Men of the Land done before you and the Land is defiled and therefore in the Verse following this defiled Land is said to have spewed out the Inhabitants thereof who defiled it In like manner the Destruction of the Shechemites the Death of Sampson of Amnon the Judgment of God upon the Three and twenty thousand of the Children of Israel 1 Cor. 10.8 who fell in one Day at Baal-Peor before they entered Canaan were they not for such Sins as these And for the like Sins even for one luxurious adulterous Act was not the whole Tribe of Benjamin cut off Judg. 20. except only Six hundred Men I might here add the remarkable Wars and Slaughters that suddenly followed upon David's Adultery as also the rending of the ten Tribes from Solomon as a Judgment for his being seduced to the Toleration of Idolatry by his exorbitant Lusts and unlawful Marriages and many more the like sad Examples even out of the Annals of our own and other neighbouring Countries And here also I might set down more at large God's particular Denunciations against such Sins by the Mouth of all his Prophets sometimes inflicting his great Judgments Plague Pestilence Famin Sword removing his Candlesticks c. But I think what is already said is enough to shew that these Sins of Uncleanness tho seeming most excusable and natural to Man are most abominable and loathsom in the sight of God Especially since by the new Contract that is made between us and our Lord we are become in a more peculiar manner Eph. 5. the Spouse of Christ and are therefore to keep our selves Chast and Holy We are become likewise by a particular and higher degree of Sanctification the Temples of the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. 6.19 and are therefore not sacrilegiously to violate 'em but to cleanse them from all Filthiness 2 Cor. 7.1 so perfecting that Holiness which becomes God's House for ever Ps 92.5 And this at our utmost Peril For these Temples saith St. Paul whoso defileth 1 Cor. 3.17 him will God eternally destroy And a great Moralist that lived at the same time with Saint Paul and probably also was made a Christian by him with some others of Nero's Houshold says in a manner the same thing according to Lactantius De Div. Instit Lib. 6. C. 25. The most agreeable Temple we can build for God is to consecrate him in our Hearts And therefore to build otherwise would be to ruin our selves to all Eternity which transcendently exceeds all temporal Punishments put together CHAP. IV. Of the Chastity of Marriage and the Purity of a single Life THus far concerning First The Impurity and Filthiness of the Sins of the Flesh with their Oppositeness to the Purity and Holiness of Almighty God and the defilement and dishonour they bring to the Persons that commit them And Secondly the severe Punishments and tremendous Judgments of Almighty God towards such Sins above others But I would not by any means be thought so to have censured in the beginning of this Discourse the present Age as if there were not many amongst the married Persons whom God hath reserved to himself even in our own Nation most inviolably constant to one another and that live strictly within the Bounds and Obligations of that honourable State And some also of the Unmarried that live single out of Choice not Necessity upon the account of Vertue and Religion not Licentiousness and Luxury And many also who after one Marriage abstain from a Second upon the same serious account as did those Widows in the Primitive times of Christianity 1 Tim. 5. who were for that very reason taken into the Charity and Service of the Church MARRIAGE Marriage is Honourable in all and the Bed undefiled with sin Eph. v. 32. So Honourable that St. Paul compares the Union of Man and Wife with that of Christ and his Church But yet doubtless conjugal Chastity hath many Degrees in it and in some is far more pure than in others More pure in those who for better performance of Holy Duties or in Times of Humiliation such as Lent Ember-Weeks c. before receiving the Blessed Sacrament and the like abstain and separate that they may give themselves to Fasting and Prayer So in the Old Testament Exod. 19.15 1 Sam. 21.4 before the descent of the Lord upon Mount Sinai the People were commanded three days Sanctification and not coming at their Wives Women kept from the Young Men for about three days and the Vessels of the Young Men Holy i. e. from their Wives And in times of more earnest Addresses to God this separation from Carnality was continually used amongst the Jews as appears from the Prophet Zechary Zech. 7.3 But Conjugal Chastity is still more pure in those who being separated for a longer time either upon the account of Sickness in one Party or by necessary absence of either of them about Worldly Affairs in Journeys Publick Employments Embassies or being taken Captive by an Enemy and the like yet both continue constant and faithful to one another and this perhaps for many years notwithstanding the many strong Temptations the world presents So in the Case of Divorcement or of a resolved Separation by consent many there are who take from hence an occasion of being more diligent in the Service of God and afterwards perhaps of removing themselves out of all danger of being ensnared and ruined by the Sollicitations of Sense And so likewise after Espousals some there have been tho' not many who according to the Transcendent Example of our Blessed Lady and her Espoused Husband St. Joseph have never proceeded any further but instead of Consummating the Marriage have transferred their Love and Affection to our Lord. So St. Austin treated with his Spouse and after having once vanquished himself and his exorbitantly Incontinent Desires of which himself so much complains and in his Confessions Laments so as to be content even without Marriage it self became a most Holy Bishop and one of the most Glorious Lights in the Church of God that ever the World saw since the times of our Saviour and his Apostles And in our own Nation King Edward commonly called the Saint lived together with his Queen a holy Virginal Life as Surius shews out of a very Ancient Manuscript As did also Henry the First Emperour Bolislaus the modest King of Poland Alphonsus II King of Castile Peter Vrceoli Duke of Venice with may others And St. Austin
distinguish between the motions of Grace and those of Nature what are Temptations and what not and here the Judgment of some wise conscientious man more skilful than our selves is to be taken in least we should place our greatest Consolation as the Soul always does in something in any thing that is not God We are to think our selves below all and that there are none more frail than our selves to empty our selves of all affections to Earthly things and to have no propriety or desire that shall in the least wise hinder our love to God from being pure To leave our Lusts and that forever which tho' with St. Austin we may find difficult yet with him also we shall thereby find our selves freed from a Chain To be so indifferent lastly to joy or sorrow Temptation or quietness Life or Death and all things in this World as to expect no Consolation here but what flows from the Cross This is dying to our selves and all Creatures that we may be united to God which the Holy Scriptures call partaking of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 turning our heart to God conformity to his Holy Will walking in the Truth serving him with a pure mind i. e. without anxiety or Expectation of reward rejoicing in him acquiescing in him 2 Pet. 3.1 going out of our selves into him by a perfect Abnegation of our selves Mark 8.34 referring all things to his Glory and making him all in all to us 1 Cor. 25.28 Eph. 1.6 which is the perfection of Religion as may be seen more at large in Thomas a Kempis and other Spiritual Books But then in our endeavouring after this perfection we must beware of the highest cunning and must subtile Device of the Devil which the Scripture calls his transforming himself into an Angel of Light And that is either 1st By his stirring up in us a secret self-conceit of our good Actions as if they could not possibly be mended Or 2ly His throwing in some little specious Reasonings and Fallacies to make us abate or alter them as he always pretends for the better and for God's greater Glory For example in the exercise of our Charity towards our Neighbour to corrupt that Divine Love he usually suggests something from Reason to induce us to change Divine into Rational then something from Nature to change Natural into Carnal then something from our Flesh alone to change Rational into Natural till by degrees he renders that love in us which was at first Divine and Pure altogether impure and unchast and most opposite and most displeasing to Almighty God But yet for the most part he takes care not to deface all Vertue in his Servants that neither themselves nor others may easily discern the wickedness he intermixes and so be frightned into Repentance Such are the Wiles of the Roaring Lyon who continually goes about seeking how to devour and make a prey of us 1 Pet v. 9. Whom we are commanded to resist stedfast in the Faith with all sobriety and watchfulness But do thou O Lord have mercy on us and strengthen us to overcome him Secondly The means now of obtaining farther Assistances of the Holy Spirit besides what we receive in Baptism are chiefly 1st Prayer our own and other mens Phil. 1.19 2ly Frequently Communicating If we would for Example obtain in opposition to our Lusts those false Loves that most excellent Gift of loving God above all things which is the only true love and doing every thing to please him we must First Pray for it And this we cannot do with that earnestness and integrity we ought before we sincerely repent of our False Loves our Darling Lusts For God hears not unrepenting Sinners and admits of no Rivals in our Affections he will have our whole heart or none Then after our deep sorrowing for those Heinous Sins and what sins are not heinous Even so sorrowing as not to be content without the Absolution of the Church See Bishop Andrews's Sermon on John 20.23 Whose sins ye remit Joh. 20.23 c. to be ready to submit to her severest Discipline for the good of our Souls See the Preface to the Commination in the Common-Prayer Book in great Humility and Lowliness of Mind and Self-abjection and with a stedfast Lively Faith also that God both Can and Will answer our Request if it be for our Good we may again and again discover to him our particular Follies which he already knows but yet expects to be as it were anew Informed of them by us bemoaning our vileness and opening to him our present wants with all the Motives which we can think will cause true Contrition in us and incline Him also to Grant our instant Petition We desire for the purpose what he commands us the loving Him above all things Let us lay before Him besides our own weaknesses and Infirmities his Perfections Beauty Wisdom Love and Mercy towards us which one would think were enough to excite our love to him without his commanding us to love him who are most unworthy of his love So many Blessings so many Deliverances both Temporal and Spiritual will they not move us Hath he not Redeemed us from all our Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil taught us what to do and what to refrain given us tender Consciences the greatest Blessing upon Earth to admonish us Enabled us by his Holy Spirit to perform what he requires And yet when we continue vitious is he not still patient and long-suffering for our Repentance Preventing our Conversion with his Grace renewing his Image in us and making us again capable of Immortality and Glory For all which Benefits and Ten Thousand more can we do less than pray we may hate our Selves our Lusts and all things else and become Dead to sensuality and the World for love of him who first loved us even to Death Some there are and always have been who by Assiduous Praying having attained to the love of God think Prayer the greatest pleasure of their whole Life and themselves never well but when they are thus conversing with Almighty God whom they reverentially apprehend to be always with them either before or within them And are continually offering to him his own most precious Gifts which he therefore vouchsafes them that they may have something valuable and worthy to offer And so by their Devotions they also prepare their Souls for the receiving those particular Graces for which they pray and of which they stand in need The Power and Prevalency of Prayer whether Vocal or Mental with Almighty God and the great benefits to ourselves and others from the several parts thereof Self-Examination Confession Thanksgiving Petition Praise Resolution Intercession Oblation and every kind of Devotion wherein we either speak to God or God to us together with proper Forms and Directions for every occasion the Reader may amply learn from the publick Liturgies Manuals Catechisms Lives and Devotions of holy Men c
his whole Life and who also humbled himself to death even the death of the Cross And we are to be like him meek and humble Reflect The undeserved Favours of Almighty God The Ingratitude of our repeated sins The behaviour of the poor Publican The Example of our Lord himself Great Lessons of Humility Saturday Of the Advantage of being Christians We live under the Covenant of Grace which is founded in Remission of sin and upon promises of eternal rewards to the observers of it who are also enabled to observe it We are redeemed from all our Enemies so as not to fear them Death it self being now only a Passage to immortality Are we not also made Sons of God Members of Christ Kings and Priests and Coâ—heirs with our Elder Brother of an Eternal Inheritance Sunday Of the Benefits of the Holy Ghost By him who was sent by our Saviour we are begotten and born again and made new creatures By him Illuminated to understand the Mysteries of our Redemption By him the Love of God is spread abroad in our hearts so as to love even our Enemies for God's sake He purifies and cleanses us from all filthiness He Interceeds for us and teaches us how to pray He comforts and supports us in all our afflictions with his peace and joy He is the Seal of the Divine Promises and the Foretaste of Heaven The great power of God in us over Sacan and all his Instruments And by his Vertue and Efficacy our Bodies also will be Spiritualized and we raised to Immortality and Glory Reflect This Comforter abides with us for ever and is grieved when-ever we do any thing to chase him from us To these few Heads of Meditation taken chiefly out of Holy Scripture might be added infinite more concerning God's Attributes Gifts Miracles c. with innumerable more passages both of the Old and New Testament but these are thought sufficient to shew the manner of Meditation which is so considerable a part of Religion and to serve also as a Succidaneum to those that have not the opportunity of larger Books which is all that was intended by the Collecter of them Let the words of my Mouth and the Meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my Strength and my Redeemer Psal 19. I meditate on all thy works Ps 143.5 In his Law doth he meditate day and night Ps 1.2 The Letany of Christian Vertues taken out of the Holy Scripture and the several Texts Annexed O GOD the Father of Heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the World Have mercy on us O God the Holy Ghost Have mercy on us O Sacred Trinity one God Have mercy on us O Lord just and good Heb. 11.6 and a rewarder of all those that seek thee diligently Have mercy on us Who createdst our First Parents in Innocency and Holiness Gen. 2. after thine own Image and gavest a Testimony to the offerings of just Abel Gen. 4. Have mercy on us Who savedst in the Ark from the Flood Gen. 7. Noah a Preacher of Justice and deliveredst from the Fire Just Lot vexed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked Gen. 19. Have mercy on us Who gavest the Promise to Abraham Gen. 22. found Faithful after many tryals Have mercy on us Gen. 29. Who deliveredst Jacob endued with a wonderful patience and confidence in Adversities from all evils and gavest a joyful end to thy Servant Job Job 42. that Pattern of Patience Have mercy on us Gen. 39. Who rewardedst the singular Modesty and Chastity of Joseph with the Rule over Egypt Gen. 41 Have mercy on us Num. 22. Who chosedst Moses the meekest Man upon Earth to be Ruler over thy People and Electedst Joshua Deut. 31. notable for Valour and Constancy to lead thy People into the Land of Promise Have mercy on us Who gavest the Priesthood to the Sons of Levi for their great Courage in vindicating thine Honour Exod. 32. and deliveredst from all dangers the Prophet Elias for his incomparable Zeal for thy true Worship against the false Prophets 1 King 18. 2 King 2. and at length tokest him up into Heaven Have mercy on us Who set Samuel Judge over thy People 1 Sam. 7 12 a lover of Justice and free from Bribes And liftedst up David 1 Sam. 16. a man after thine own heart in the faithful Service of thee to be King of Israel Have mercy on us Who replenishedst Solomon 1 King 4. humbly begging Wisdom of thee both with it and many other Graces And Adornedst Daniel and his Companions Dan. 1. being singularly Temperate and Sober with Wisdom and Beauty Have mercy on us Who didst chuse the Blessed Virgin Mary Luk. 1. Adorned with singular Chastity Humility Obedience and all other Vertues to be the Mother of thy Son Have mercy on us Mat. 3. Who sentest John Baptist a Forerunner of thy Son a Preacher of Penitence and of great Austerities and Abstinencies Have mercy on us John 17. 1 Pet. 2.21 Who sentest Jesus Christ thy only begotten Son into the World the Pattern of all Holiness that we should follow his Example Have mercy on us Eph. 1. Who hast chosen us in him before the Foundations of the World that we also should be Holy and Unblame able in thy sight Have mercy on us Who hast Predestinated us that we should be made conformable to the Image of thy Son Phil. 3. Eph. 2. and hast created us in him to good Works which thou hast ordained that we should walk in them Have mercy on us Who hast Redeemed us from our vain Conversation by the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. and hast Regenerated us by thy Word unto a lively hope of an Eternal Inheritance Have mercy on us O Jesu 1 Pet. 2. who knewest no Sin neither was Guile found in thy Mouth 1 Joh. 3. but appearedst to take away the Sins of the World Have mercy on us 1 Pet. 2. Jesus who barest our Sins in thy Body on the Cross that we being dead unto Sin may live unto Justice and Holiness Have mercy on us Col. 1. Who hast delivered us out of Darkness into Light from the power of Satan Acts 26. into thy Kingdom and hast bestowed upon us the Remission of Sins and an Inheritance amongst thy Saints Have mercy on us Mat. 19. Who promisedst thy Disciples that forsook all for thee Joh. 21. Twelve Thrones Judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel who committedst unto St. Peter notably confessing and loving thee the feeding of thy Sheep Have mercy on us Joh. 20. Who vouchsafedst to St. John notable for Chastity the singular privilege of thy Love Have mercy on us Who sendest thy Holy Spirit Rom. whereby Divine Charity is spread abroad in our hearts Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Lord Be merciful and
grant unto us O Lord The Vertue of Humility Mat. 18 Luk. 21 Mark 5. Heb. 13. and Patience Spiritual Poverty and Meekness Longanimity and obedience to those that are set over us Grant unto us O Lord A quiet mind and contented with our present Condition 1 Pet. 3. Heb. 13. Rom. 14. true peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Grant unto us O Lord Temperance and Modesty Gal. 5. 1 Tim. 2. Sobriety and Chastity a true love of Thee and our Neigbours Mat. 22.38 the Contempt of our selves and the things of this World 1 Tim. 6 17 2 Cor. 9. Bounty and Compassionate Affections 1 Pet. 3.8 Grant unto us O Lord Diligence and constant Vigilancy 2 Pet. 1.5 1 Pet. 4.7 Mat. 5.6 1 Cor. 7.11 Acts 28.15 Mat. 10.22 a Hunger and Thirst after Holiness Zeal and Fervour of Spirit Christian Fortitude and Perseverance to the End Grant unto us O Lord. We Sinners beseech thee to hear us O Lord. Rom 5.10 That being reconciled to God Col. 1.20 by the death of Christ we may present our selves Holy Jam. 1. Unspotted and Unblamable before him that we may walk worthy of God 1 Thes 2.12 Phil. 4.18 in all things well pleasing fruitful in good works and encreasing in the knowledge of God Col. 1 10. We Sinners beseech thee c. Col. 3.10 That whatsoever we do in word or deed we may do all to the Glory of God that we make not void thy Grace 2 Cor. 2 21 or receive it in vain We Sinners beseech thee c. That we be careful to sanctify our Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts 1 Pet. 3.15 Phil. 2.21 that we seek not our own things but before all the things of Jesus Christ We Sinners beseech thee c. That looking up to Jesus who suffered Heb. 12.2 3. we be not wearied and faint in our minds 1 Tim. 6.11 but considering the Conversation of the Saints imitate their Faith and Patience We Sinners beseech thee c. That as Souldiers we entangle not our selves in the things of this World 1 Joh. 2.15 but having Food and Rayment let us be content therewith 1 Tim. 6.8 We Sinners beseech thee c. That by good Works we make our Faith and Election sure 2 Pet. 2.10 that we do good whilst we have time Gal. 6.9 and faint not for that we shall reap in due season We Sinners beseech thee c. That we forbear one another in love Eph. 4.2 being careful to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Gal. 6.2 that we bear one anothers burthens and so fulfill the law of God We Sinners beseech thee c. That being Strengthned in all Vertue through the power of his Grace Col. 1.11 we give thanks to God with all Patience and Longsuffering We Sinners beseech thee c. 2 Pet. 3.14 That waiting for the coming of our Lord we be careful to be found in him pure and unspotted in Peace 1 Pet. 1.9 that we may receive the end of our Faith even the Salvation of our Souls and in the mean time work out our Salvation with fear and trembling Phil 12.12 We Sinners beseech thee c. O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the World increase our Faith O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the World infuse Hope O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the World enkindle Charity Our Father which art in Heaven c. Let us Pray O God who justifiest the ungodly we humbly beseech thy Majesty Graciously to defend with thy Heavenly Grace and assist with thy continual Protection us thy Servants relying on thy Mercy that constantly running in the Course of Vertue we may at length receive the Crown thereof and by no Temtations be withdrawn from serving thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ameâ— ERRATA PAge 3. Line 4. Almighty God P. 27. l. 7. many p. 29. l. 5. Primogeneal P. 34. l. 4. Blessings P. 38. l. 19. but that P. 40. l. 19. Fig-leaves P. 43. l. 9. deteriora c. P. 74. l 15. plainly P. 92. l. 21. Rational into Natural l. 23. Natural into Carnal P. 98. l. 21. frequent P. 103. l. 1. cherish P. 118. l. 21 exquisite Tortures l. 23. Almighty