it withall it will kill our lusts crucifie the members of the body of sin and carry us through the labours and difficulties of penitence and sincere amendment it will be the fulfilling of repentance as it is the fulfilling of the law For as love is strong to overcome strong enemies to kill the greatest sins so is it wise and quicksighted to see and to find out the least A loving friend will not only not slander and defame his friend not rob or strike or murther him but will forbear all words and actions which might bring him the least grief or inconvenience love will not only not give the greatest provocations but even not disoblige or displease in the least instances And now my soul I must apply this home and thereby examine how true are my resolves and protestations if my love to JESUS my Lord be sincere it will not only keep me from confederation with his profest and greatest enemies but even make me shun and forsake the most secret and contemptible of them I mean that the love of JESUS will never suffer me to entertain any the least sin and whenever I find that I have been unhappily seduced to commit any it will cause me to grieve and sadly to repent that I have displeased my dearest Saviour and wounded that tender love I owe him and profess ever to have for him And indeed it is reported of many devout persons great lovers of JESUS that they would sorrow and weep for ordinary failings for small omissions more than others would for much greater sins Divine Love like a bright burning flame will feel a commotion and disturbance by the least drop of water that falls upon it a small irregularity will be more grievous to a pious lover of JESUS than great crimes to another Therefore he that could say the love of Christ constraineth us would also highly complain and groan under the sense of our unavoidable imperfection O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.24 Nothing will make us more sensible of our least and most common sins than the love of JESUS it will make us angry at and impatient of them and earnest and severe in reforming of them Now therefore as I profess my self a sincere and affectionate lover of JESUS I am obliged to undo as much as may be what I have done amiss and to do it no more this earnestly and vigorously I must now resolve and beg the divine grace an assistance to perform it I must make amends and restitution to those I have any ways damnified in body goods or name and even ask their pardon for the injury and then bewail my sins grieve that I have offended my Divine and loving Master and beg his forgiveness and indeavour by tears and contrition to wash away the stain and spots wherewith my soul is polluted and displeaseth the holy eyes of the Holy JESUS And so to own and to love JESUS my Master binds upon me all the duties of holy penitence repentance must now be my my work and I must live like a true penitent Especially on Lent Fridays and such other times as the Church appointed and devout Christians use for mortification and more solemn devotion I must then and even every night call my ways to remembrance And besides those greater provocations wherewith I have offended my Lord in the days of my folly and inconsideration I ought also to take notice of those sins of daily incursion I last committed and weep over them all and beg for pardon and this I say especially on penitential days For though true contrition should always abide in the heart of every one that truly loves JESUS yet there are occasions and proper times to bring it forth when we are to make it our business to soften our hearts and make them melt into penitent tears Which must be done by religious exercises pious meditations and such acts of contrition as this My dearest JESUS I owe to thy kindest goodness my being and all the blessings I enjoy and I know that thou didst come down from heaven to die on the Cross that I might not die in hell to eternity to suffer a bitter and shameful death that I might live in eternal joys I hope to see thy glorious face one day I hope to receive a crown from thy gracious hands I hope to dwell in thy blissful society for ever Dearest Saviour if thou wert upon earth I would go all the world over to prostrate my self before thee to kiss the ground thy Holy Feet should tread to serve thee to shew my love and gratitude to thee Dearest Lord I would now joyfully give up my life for thee I would lose the last drop of my blood to please and glorifie thee I would die rather than deny thee Why then unhappy wretch that I am do I offend thee to whom I owe my self and all that I have Why do I wound thee by my transgressions who wast wounded for them by thy love Why do I grieve thee who purchasest eternal joys for me Why do I displease thee with whom I hope to live and dwell and from whom I expect mercy and salvation Why do I sin against thee whom I love with all my soul and why do not I live to thee for whom I would die Lord if what thou hast done and suffered for me be not able to win my heart what canst thou do more but O break and yield sinful heart of mine open the way to tears and grief and let the love of thy dearest Saviour enter and fill and ever possess thee CHAP. XXVIII That Love will sweeten as well as produce the truest penitence and that true wisdom not melancholly is the guide of sincere penitents SUch considerations and soliloquies as these will produce not only lacrymas doloris tears of grief but also lacrymas amoris tears of love and true contrition and moreover will make pleasant all the severities of repentance which are so unacceptable and so repugnant to nature those things that would be ungrateful as acts of justice on our selves or obedience and submission to a severe Master will become delightful as acts of love to a gracious beloved Lord. In amore nihil amari in love all things are sweet that are done or suffered for the sake of the beloved I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake saith S. Paul 2 Cor. 12.10 that great lover of JESUS not that those things are of their own nature pleasant whether inflicted by our selves or others 't was for Christs sake that he liked them He likewise that by self-denial and revenge on himself expressing his sorrow for his sins shews his love to JESUS is certainly delighted with the most afflictive of those voluntary sufferings as they are expressions of his love Accordingly 'tis said of some Religious persons that their watchings and fastings and all the severities to
there was none to help I wondred that there was none to uphold Isa 63. He was like a mild and defenceless lamb in the midst of ravenous wolves there were none about him but such as thirsted for his blood And no wonder if man forsook him when he was in some manner forsaken even by his Father It pleased God to give him up to the cruelties of wicked men and the sorrows of death and that his Divine Nature though personally and inseparably united to his humanity should for a time suspend the effects of its beatifying union and leave him suffer as a man in soul and body the greatest pains without the least comforts They that saw our crucified Saviour suffer so patiently as not to open his mouth to complain might have thought that he had no sense of pain therefore he cries out so bitterly My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why dost thou suffer me to be plunged into this gulf of sorrow so that I have nothing but anguish within and without Why dost thou suffer me to be almost overwhelmed by so great a distress and art so far from helping me and from the words of my complaint Psal 22. Lord we had deserved to sink and evermore to cry and groan in the bottomless pit and to rescue us thou art pleased to descend very low and with strong crying and tears to say de profundis clamavi out of the depths have I cried unto thee O Lord hear my voice Psal 130. be pleased to hear us dearest Lord when we call upon thee and make thy voice sink into our hearts and there find a cheerful admission and a constant and sincere obedience CHAP. XI The height of the Cross NOw we have only the height of the Cross to look on that is the sublimity the greatness of the torments of Christs crucifixion that in this sense his Cross was very high appears already by what hath been said and yet we may consider further that he being conceived by the Holy Ghost of a most pure Virgin was therefore of a most healthful constitution so that his senses being very quick and apprehensive were sensible of pain beyond other men's and so all the blows and wounds he received and his being nailed and stretched three long hours on the Cross as upon the Rack must needs have been a most exquisite torture Also the vigor of his nature being neither weakned nor spent by age or distempers he being full of strength and in the flower of his age was capable to taste the smart and sharpness of his pain to the very last moment of his life and so 't is written by S. Luke that he cryed with a loud voice when he gave up the ghost to shew that he was still very strong and that his death was bitter and violent to extremity There was likewise an invisible Cross which afflicted his soul and made it sorrowful even unto death his heart was like wax melted in the midst of his bowels Psal 22. and in the midst of so many and such intolerable pains his murtherers shook their heads made mouths at him scoft at his sorrows by cruel and insulting mockeries and by their tongues and derisions aggravated those sufferings which their hands could hardly increase but thaâ— the Cross of Christ was higher in the greatness of its pains than that of any Martyr of any man that ever suffered is evident enough only by considering who it was that was crucified on it for it was more that JESUS being perfect God as well as man should shed one drop of blood than that all Men and Angels should for Millions of years bear the greatest torments Lord we were wonderfully made by thy power but we are yet more wonderfully redeemed by thy mercy Lord what is man that thou shouldst thus be mindful of him or rather what is man that he is unmindful of thee CHAP. XII What an infinite love is exprest by the Cross NOw we have seen the whole frame of the Cross writ all over in blood with characters of love expressions of the greatest kindness for a testimony that JESUS loved us unto death Not any sorrow or anguish in his soul not any gap or wound in his body but are as many mouths to cry aloud in the ears of all men Behold what manner of love God had for his enemies his sinful and unworthy creatures to suffer such things to die in such a manner for to redeem them and make them happy Now let us if we can comprehend the breadth and the length O dilectio quam magnum est vinculum tuum quo ligari potuit Deus Idiot the height and the depth of the love of JESUS that love which bound him much harder than the cords of the Jews and nailed him to his Cross much faster than those Irons which pierced his hands and feet for he that could with one word cast his enemies to the ground could easily have broke their bands and escaped from them but that his love did constrain him and make him desirous and willing thus to die What man would suffer one half of what Christ did for his dearest Benefactor And then how immense and wonderful was that charity which he exprest in suffering the ignominy and pains of the Cross for those that were his enemies and had highly injured him and from whom he could expect no reward but only to be loved again Let us therefore remember it throughout this whole book or rather throughout our whole life that we have been redeemed from eternal despair and misery and from our vain and sinful conversation not by any corruptible thing as silver and gold but by the precious blood of Christ shed with great pain and great ignominy CHAP. XIII Of the eternal happiness merited for us by the Cross of Christ and measured by it THis Love of JESUS is more already by far than ours can answer Could our hearts burn perpetually with those brightest flames of love which beatifie the Cherubims could they contain all the most passionate affections of all Saints both in heaven and earth yet we could not love JESUS so much as he deserves for having died to save us from eternal death and yet he did more he suffered death that we might have life that we might have eternal life Not only that we might not be intirely miserable but also that we might be perfectly happy Heaven is the purchase of the Blood of Christ as well as Redemption from hell God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us when we were dead in trespasses and sins hath quickned us together with Christ and hath raised us up and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.5 Let us meditate a while upon that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory reserved in heaven for us 2 Cor. 4.17 and in it consider the same dimensions as in the price wherewith it was bought the Cross of
and all little enough to keep it in any vigor These voluntary observations should not lead them to scruple or censoriousness that are pleased to use them and should not be clamoured against by others indiscreetly and uncharitably for in themselves they are adminicula pietatis handmaids to devotion and holy contrition And they that know themselves are sensible that they want all possible helps to stir them up and relieve their dulness When our understandings are convinced we have not quite done means must be used also to affect the fancy and to ingage the affections And he had need be very sure of his strength that refuseth the assistance of all auxiliaries CHAP. XXV A passionate Meditation on the Passion of our Blessed Saviour MY love is crucified said that loving and holy Martyr Ignatius declaring how earnestly he wished to die for JESUS and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 considering the passion of JESUS I meditate with him My love is crucified my dearest Saviour dies in most bitter pains he hath been rudely bound and drag'd from place to place he hath been stript tied to a post and whipt like a vile slave he hath been buffeted and caned and abused with all manner of contumelies and now I see him crowned with thorns all over spittle and blood I see him stretched upon the Cross where his hands and his feet are nailed his head hangs down I read in his pale face and his weeping eyes the extremity of his pain the anguish of his wounded soul Lord art thou he whom my soul loveth O Domine Jesu Christe si intelligentia quam mihi dedisti uti vellem sicut deberem cernerem manifeste quo modo â—â—o quam sine modo a me creatura tua amari merueris qui prior dilexisti me tantus tantum gratis tantillum talem ingratum Idiot art thou my dearest JESUS were it my father my brother my friend or my benefactor that should suffer this undeservedly how would I pity them but should they suffer this upon my account Lord I could not outlive such a sight if nothing else love would certainly wound my soul to death But behold it is so this crucified this dying man is my father he gave me my being he is my brother he came down from heaven and took humane flesh that he might have that relation to me he is my friend he lays down his life to save mine he is my greatest benefactor from him I receive all I have all the blessings the good things I enjoy I owe to his kindness But now my soul suppose that from his Cross thou shouldest hear him thus expressing his love and bespeaking thine Christian dearest Christian for whom here I die consider seriously imprint it it thine heart what in my words what in my mysteries thou readest of my suffering for thee consider who I am what I endure and to what end I am the eternal Son of God whom the Angels adore I became Man to make thee partaker of the Divine Nature I am infinitely rich the whole universe is mine I became thus destitute of all things to purchase true riches for thee I am of an Almighty Power the whole world was made and subsists by me I am now weak to make thee strong I am overcome of mine enemies to make thee conquer thine I am crowned with glory and clothed with Majesty I now were these thorns and am become naked to cloth thee with robes of righteousness and Crown thee with a Royal Diadem I am the inexhaustible fountain of joy and happiness I now indure sorrows and miseries to make thee joyful and happy I am infinitely pure and innocent I am become a sacrifice for sin to merit thy pardon and to sanctifie and make the holy I am the Author of life the first and the last I now die to make thee live for ever nothing but love moves me thus to suffer for thee and nothing but love I require for it Dearest soul thy sins are more grievous to me than my wounds Aspice serve Dei sic me posuere Judei Aspice mortalis pro te datur hostia talis Aspice devote quoniam sic pendeo pro te Introitum vitae reddo tibi redde mihi te In cruce sum pro te qui peccas desine pro me Desine do veniam dic culpam corrige vitam add not sorrow to my sorrow by remaining impenitent deny not this request to thy dying bleeding Saviour that thou wouldest mortifie thy lusts and forsake thy sins all that is past I heartily forgive if thou becomest true penitent I freely give my self for thee and beg that thou wouldst give thy self to me To this O my Soul with the greatest love and wonder thou maist thus reply What shall I say now dearest Lord Words cannot answer thee I am amazed I am astonished I know not how to speak my tongue cannot express what my heart feels Lord I will say nothing I will answer with sighs and tears with devout affections by resigning and giving up my body and soul to thee I will answer by obedience by actions by now falling to work to reform my life to mortifie my sinful lusts to cut off the members of the body of sin Sweetest JESU I will love thee with all the affections my heart can entertain no bosome sin shall be so dear to me but for thy sake I will heartily part with it no lust shall be so pleasing but I will kill it at thy request and command even my natural desires and inclinations will I gladly deny when they come in competition with that duty and love I owe and ever will pay my dearest JESUS Sweetest Lord it was I had deserved to be smitten to be covered with shame to be deprived of life and thou sufferest all these for me for me vile wretch for me my Lord was it for me O where shall I find such another friend or rather what shall I do to requite thy kindness and mercy I can give thee nothing but love and thanks and that will I do O my Blessed Lord who wast spet upon I humbly worship thee Thou wast reviled like a vile slave I praise thee and own my self thy servant The Jews refused thee for their King but thou art mine thou art my Blessed Master I care not what becomes of me here so I may come to bless and adore thee for ever Lord if there is a place where thou art not loved and magnified let me never come into it Assist me dearest Lord let no pleasure or pain no fear or hope no profit or loss no temptations within or without ever make me to offend thee O ye Spirits and Souls of the Righteous praise ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever O that I could but join with you to express worthily my thanks and gratitude O that all the world would join with me to praise and glorifie the Lord that died for us Blessed JESU cleanst
God thine offended Sovereign is become thy near relation is become thy Brother that he may win thine affections and become thy Saviour His life all along was a continuation of his great mercy and humility he went about doing good healing all manner of diseases Corporal and Spiritual giving excellent instructions and great examples of vertue But what we now consider and what should most affect us is that for our sakes he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief all the time of his abode here below At his first entrance into the world he was degraded even below the condition of the meanest infants being born in a Stable and laid in a Manger eight days after he began to be numhred among the transgressors receiving the bloody and painful Sacrament of Circumcision which belonged only to sinners in his youth he lived in poverty and obscurity and was subject to his Parents when he manifested himself to the world then he perpetually endured the contradiction of sinners besides that he lived upon alms becoming poor for us who was Lord of all he wanted even time to eat what the charity of pious persons afforded him and had not so much as a place where he might rest his head He was tempted of Satan that he might succour those that are tempted he often watcht whole nights to Prayer and was often faint with tiresome journeys and hunger and thirst and what is yet worse he was daily persecuted by ingrateful men for whom he endured all this They slandered him with false imputations of being a glutton and a wine-bibber his kind and charitable affability in conversing with noted sinners was made matter of accusation as if he had consented to their evil deeds his Divine Doctrine was derided as if proceeding from madness the miracles which he wrought in their behalf were said to be done by sorcery and packt with Beelzebub and to all these disgraces and contumelies they would often have added violence and stoned him to death had he not escaped out of their hands by a hasty flight Lord thou hadst compassion on the multitudes because they had followed thee three days and had nothing to eat Mat. 15.32 and thou livedst above three and thirty years waiting upon thy base and fugitive servants who were become thine enemies seeking to prevent their ruine by the affiduity of thy care and kindness O sad ingratitude that we should be so soon weary in serving thee when thou wert so patient and indefatigable in acting and suffering for us for our happiness and our salvation CHAP. VII A consideration of the Cross in its four dimensions BUt if we desire to be rooted and grounded in love Eph. 3.17 and to comprehend with all Saints the immense charity of the Son of God which passeth knowledge which infinitely exceedeth all Learning in profitableness and excellency then measure the love of Christ by the dimensions of his Cross the breadth and the length the depth and the height thereof for therein love appears in its full extent so that nothing can be added to it That the eternal Son of God would become our Brother by becoming Man and would live in Poverty and Contempt was very much but that afterwards he would die for us in that manner as he did is the greatest wonder that ever the world saw And indeed there hapned more prodigies when he died than than at all other times of his humiliation the Sun hid himself darkness overspread the whole world the earth shook the stones and rocks were rent the graves were opened and the vail of the Temple was divided in twain Nature seemed to be amazed to see her God suffer and die upon a Cross greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend 't is true man cannot possibly domore I but JESUS did much more he was God then he became man that he might die for his enemies This is it whereof S. Paul speaks when he saith that it was never conceived or seen how great are the things which God hath prepared for them that love him We speak saith he the wisdome of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which none of the Prince of this world knew for had they known it they would never have crucified the Lord of glory but as it is written eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither is it entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him but God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit It appears that he speaks not of the bliss of heaven but of the crucifixion of our Blessed Saviour which to the Jews was a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness and which neither the senses nor the reason of man could ever comprehend but as a hidden mystery was made known to Christians by the revelations of the all-knowing Spirit of God To understand therefore as much as may be this never fully understood and never enough admired love of our Redeemer in dying for us let us in the first place view the Breadth of his Cross that is the variety of the torments he endured for us in the last stage of his uneasie pilgrimage CHAP. VIII The Breadth of the Cross or the manifold Sufferings of Christ for our Redemption WE may begin with the manner of his apprehension he was taken as if he had been a publick enemy to mankind a thief or a murtherer with swords and staves with rudeness and violence he was betrayed by one of his Disciples forsaken by the rest and then bound and dragg'd from place to place by those he had instructed and fed and in whose behalf he had wrought miracles He was called an impious blasphemer and voted guilty of death for confessing a great and necessary truth that he was the only Son of God Afterwards he was exposed a whole night to the indignities and mockeries of his insulting enemies they spet upon his sweet and glorious face they vailed him and smote his head and buffeted him and as if he had been a contemptible ideot to be made sport withal they bad him prophesie ghess who gave him the blows He was accused before the Roman Pretor as being a lewd malefactor a rebellious traitor who subverted the people and forbad to pay tribute to Caesar From thence he was sent to King Herod where he was set at nought and abused by him and his Souldiers and then sent back with scorn and contempt to Pilate Afterwards Barrabbas a seditious murtherer was preferred to him and a loud clamor raised by the people that he might be crucified and put to death Then was he whipt before their eyes tied to a post like a vile slave and exposed to the servile rods whiles they plough'd furrows upon his back as the Prophet spake the Souldiers took him platted a Crown of thorns and prest it on his head till the blood run of all sides of him they beat him with
profitable in some cases absolutely necessary and always well pleasing to God They are instruments of Religion whereby our lusts are subdued the body kept under and the Spirit it self mortified They are marks of the sincerity of our sorrows and our regret to have offended God And they are testimonials of our love to JESUS and our earnest desire to secure our duty to him for the future All this is attested and proved true not only by holy Scripture and the injunctions of the Christian Church but also by the practice and experience of all devout persons affectionate lovers of the Blessed JESUS CHAP. XXX A short Meditation for penitential days REmember that Fasting and Alms are the two wings of Prayer and that all three must unite their strength to raise our heavy hearts from this earth and lift them up to the regions of Love All three together ascended as a memorial before God to plead for Cornelius And our Blessed Saviour in one Sermon Mat. 6. joined them all three and assigned to them one reward Thus therefore meditate O my Soul on thy days of humiliation My Blessed Lord I know that I have been too much addicted to sensual pleasures and now to speak my grief for it here I mourn and afflict my self judging my self unworthy even of those refreshments thou hast allowed me I have too much served Mammon and been too greedy of the world and now I devote all I have to thee giving this as an earnest that all I have is thine and that now I will use it for my self with more moderation and spend it on others with greater charity that thou maist be acknowledged and glorified for thy gracious gifts and I may speak my dependence on thee My heart hath been too far from thee and for my negligence in thy service thou mightst justly blot my name out of the list of thy Servants but here I return to thee with tears and prayers begging that still thou wouldst be my Lord and Master and I may be more faithful and active in waiting upon thee I pour out my soul before thee desiring it may evermore cleave unto thee most affectionately and that no creature whatever may ever be able to draw me from that love and duty I owe thee Lord had I offended any earthly Prince that had power on me in that grievous manner as I have offended thy Divine Majesty I should be loaded with irons cast into a dungeon and never admitted to see his face and to beg his pardon But thou givest me liberty and invitest me to plead for my self to come and prostrate my self at thy feet to implore thy mercy to retract my folly and shew how much I am grieved for it and if I am sincere in this I am assured of thy pardon and that thou wilt receive me to favour again Lord I beseech thee as it is written in thy Book that I have sinned so therein let it be registred that I truly repent that I judge and punish my self and indeavour what I can to undo and recall it again Let the penance I here perform my sighs and tears my prayers and bitter sorrows intitle me to the merits of thy precious blood let them stand on record that I may be justified at the last day to have been a true penitent that here the judgments I have deserved may be turned from me that having been here numbred among thy Servants who duly own thee before men I may hereafter be numbred among thy Saints in glory everlasting And Lord let my love to thee be proportionable to my sins and thy great mercies that I also may hear that blessed voice much is forgiven thee because thou lovedst much and I may go and sin no more CHAP. XXXI That repentance must loook forward to the securing of our duty for the time to come With instances and resolutions to that effect BUT one great half of repentance is yet behind that which is most to be attended to that which I must chiefly design in all acts of mortification is that I return no more to those sins for the which I grieve and afflict my self I must not only grieve that I have not forsaken those lusts and vanities I renounced when I became a Christian but I must now actually f rsake them and perform my vows Except I do this my repentance is vain and my love not sincere True contrition doth include love and love includes an hearty obedience But here lies the difficulty The occasions and inticements of sin will doubtless come again my thoughts will now always be fixt upon Divine Objects my mind will return to the world my passions will be disorderly and my appetite unruly again how shall I stand and resist and be safe in the time of danger in the hour of trial and temptation this I must do this I resolve to do devoutly to lift up my Soul to JESUS my Master and beg his assistance to remember my ingagements and my protestations and consider how much I am bound to love and obey my Lord and Saviour rather than my lusts and how infinitely much I shall gain by it to summon all the strength and all the powers of devout Love to my aid and to use all those means I have before resolved upon for the resisting of temptations and doing my duty Thus when a provocation to anger is given and I find my heart rise and my spirits take fire and grow turbulent instead of giving way to the mischievous passion or suffering that it should proceed to hatred and revenge I will turn aside and check my self with the remembrance of my meekest Saviour who was led as a Lamb to the slaughter and opened not his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered the greatest injuries yet used no threatning leaving us an example that we should follow his steps I will remember how ill it becomes me to be angry with others who have so much reason to be angry with my self for having so highly and frequently provoked my God to anger I will consider how ill it becomes me to be revengeful and severe to others when all my hopes and all my happiness depend upon forbearance and mercy I will think of and fear that just exprobration of my Lord against the revengeful thou wicked servant shouldst not thou have had compassion on thy fellow servant as I had pity on thee and I will remember that it is JESUS who died for me JESUS for whom I would die who intercedes for mine enemies and so will rather rejoice that I have some of that kind of love to repay to my dearest Saviour which he shewed to me when I was his enemy If lust enticeth me to acts of impurity I will call to mind the corruption and dissolution of this vile body of sin I will think on my last account the day of judgment and the dreadful flames of hell and I will remember him who for me was crucified
are Gods workmanshep created in Jesus Christ unto good works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them Ephes 2.10 This then is the way wherein of necessity we must walk that as we ingaged and promised when we were baptized into Christ so we should live ever after which S. Paul expresseth thus As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him Col. 2.6 and again walk worthy of the Lord being fruitful in every good work Col. 1.10 This is the rule whereby we must order the course of our lives that our conversation be as becomes the Gospel of Christ that our conversateon be in heaven whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Phil. 1.27 and 3.20 that whatsoever things are true honest just pure lovely of good report any vertue any thing praise-worthy Phil. 4 8. may be our constant study and practice We must labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of our Lord because we shall all appear before him and receive according as we obey him now in his absence 2 Cor. 5.9 CHAP. X. Considerations to encourage us in the discharge of our Christian duty with a caution to the Reader ALL this and much more to the same purpose which I have read and observed in the Sacred Books of the new Testament hath convinced me that it is the design of Christian Religion to make me meek and humble sober and contented just and charitable devout and religious vertuous and holy this I own to be my duty and I will endeavour my self heartily to perform the same And that I may do it with cheerfulness and affection I will stir and quicken the holy fire of love in my heart by pious considerations When any duty to God or man calls upon me for action and performance and I find in my soul too much of dulness or reluctancy I will again by meditation suppose my dying Saviour present telling me how much he hath done and suffered for me and desiring me as I love him to do that duty which lies before me Christian if thou dost understand the greatness of my love which brought me here to die for thee if thou art sensible of it and wouldst make any return for it do this obey this command this may be the last thing thou shalt ever do for me this may be the last tryal of thy love sure it would grieve thee to have denied this small request to him that gives his life that gives himself for thee Or else I will suppose my self in the presence of my Divine Master sitting on his heavenly Throne with his glorified servants about him shewing me the crown he hath assigned to me and saying N. N. wilt thou deny to do this at my earnest request wiit thou be so unkind to me Sure I have deserved better at thy hands sure I who am much above thee have done much more for thee than that comes to but besides I would highly recompence thee These my friends I have rewarded with the bliss and glory they enjoy for having done such things for me and I would reward thee as bountifully here is eternal life eternal rest eternal glory for thy recompence as thou lovest me as thou lovest thy self obey that thou maist be happy To this what answer could I make but such as this Lord not only this but any thing else thou hast commanded I am willing to fulfil and obey I bewail my dulness and depraved nature that makes me so unready so unactive in thy service but Lord thou knowest that I love thee I would undertake any labour any trouble to make it appear I would die to justifie it Yet sweetest JESU I beg of thee to increase my love to increase it to such a degree that like thy heavenly attendants I may burn with that Divine fire and be all love to thee that so I may be always prepared and desirous to do thy will Stir up we beseech thee O Lord Sund. 25. after Trin. the wills of thy faithful people that they plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works may of thee be plenteously rewarded through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Christian I would here advise thee before I pass further That thou wouldst not judge of several things in this Book by thy present liking of them Devotional things are discerned more by the affections than by the judgment the relish of them doth depend upon the temper of the Soul And so those resolves and meditations which now it may be please thee not may hereafter be very acceptable when thou art otherwise disposed to be sure when thou art ready to leave the world and enter thy portion of Eternity If now therefore thou wilt bring thy mind to such a frame as then it will be in I need not fear but that what I have writ thou wilt also read and repeat heartily in the first Person for to that end I have thus contrived it to ingage thine affections to make thee speak as of thy self these soliloquies acts of love and acts of resolution which run throughout the whole discourse It may affect thee much and to good purpose frequently to confer with thy Soul and with thy Saviour about thy duty and thy happiness However be sure thou beest serious and sincere For certain it is that for thee N. N. by name JESUS was crucified and died and certain it is that thou thy self shalt die and be judged and rise again to an intolerable eternity if by carelesness and inconsideration thou hast been unmindful of thy Lord and thy soul or else rise again to eternal joys if thou hast sincerely loved and served JESUS If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his love John 15.10 CHAP. XI That Love will prompt us to free-will offerings and things it never doth enough THus much of necessity must be done my duty as well as my love constrains me to it Not to break negative precepts and to obey positive ones that is to cease from sin and to work righteousness is required of me if I do it by love I have made my task pleasant but yet a task it is which must be fulfilled Not but that there is mercy for sins against the New-covenant for the transgression of Gospel precepts there is joy in heaven at the conversion of a sinner whatever his sins have been and it ought greatly to indear God to us that he is so willing to forgive so desirous to have us repent that we may be capable of his pardon but whether soon or late whether after crying guilts or ordinary sins still I say there must be a true contrition a sorrow and repentance for our sins proceeding from the love of God and a sincere endeavour to please and obey him for the future and so thus far we are drawn by a moral necessity by the desire of our own happiness which is
shall soon understand that God is to be loved above all things infinitely without measure and if we love our selves as we should we shall easily remove our affections from the world to set them upon God and Eternity upon JESUS and his Kingdom Love as we have seen will make it easie and delightful to do our duty will make the yoke of Christ light and enable us with strength and courage to bear our cross cheerfully like Christians it will lead us the shortest and the safest way to heaven and make our journey pleasant it will make us dear to God and to his Saints and blessed Angels and fill our hearts with peace and comforts it will abide with us when we are forsaken by the world and all our friends can do us no good it will accompany us when we go from hence and open heavens gate and enter in with us there to perfect our happiness which it here began to be there our reward as it was here our work and our duty I may now upon too too just an account use the words of S. Bernard Non quod ego ista faciam dico sed quod facere vellem c. Ber. Med. what I have written is not what I do but what I should do what I grieve that I do not what I endeavour to do and what I wish all others might do But withall I shall plead for my self the advice of a Greek Father not to judge too severely of those who teach excellent lessons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Joh. Clim grad 26. § 18. great and profitable truths which they themselves learn and practise but very imperfectly because the usefulness of their instructions may make some amends for the defects of their performance Ephes 6.24 Grace be with all them that love our LORD JESUS CHRIST in sincerity Amen FINIS THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART THe Introduction Pag. 1. CHAP. I. Of the general Benefits of God to mankind and first of Creation Pag. 2 CHAP. II. How much we are obliged to God for our Preservation Pag. 5 CHAP. III. Of the positive Blessings of this life Pag. 8 CHAP. IV. What returns we should make for temporal Blessings Pag. 10 CHAP. V. Of the mercies of Redemption and first a consideration of the infinite miseries we were redeemed from Pag. 12 CHAP. VI. How graciously and wonderfully we were redeemed Pag. 19 CHAP. VII A consideration of the Cross in its four dimensions Pag. 23 CHAP. VIII The breadth of the Cross or the manifold Sufferings of Christ for our Redemption Pag. 25 CHAP. IX The length of the Cross Pag. 29 CHAP. X. The depth of the Cross Pag. 31 CHAP. XI The height of the Cross Pag. 33 CHAP. XII What an infinite love is exprest by the Cross Pag. 35 CHAP. XIII Of the eternal happiness merited for us by the Cross of Christ and measured by it Pag. 37 CHAP. XIV That the mercies of our Redemption challenge our love and hearty obedience Pag. 42 CHAP. XV. An invitation to enter the Cloister of Love Pag. 44 CHAP. XVI The Vow to be taken at the entrance of Loves Monastery Pag. 47 CHAP. XVII Considerations of the nature of Love and first of Self-love Pag. 50 CHAP. XVIII That the Love of JESVS requires we should mortifie self-love Pag. 55 CHAP. XIX How great a vertue is Divine Charity or the Love of God Pag. 58 CHAP. XX. That love always pursues what it thinks good and is never satisfied till it hath obtained it Pag. 62 CHAP. XXI That Love is strong and effective and sweetens all labours Pag. 66 CHAP. XXII A farewel to all sinful desires Pag. 70 CHAP. XXIII That the love of JESVS and the love of Sin can never consist together Pag. 76 CHAP. XXIV Of outward helps and instruments of love and obedience Pag. 78 CHAP. XXV A passionate Meditation on the Passion of our Blessed Saviour Pag. 83 CHAP. XXVI Of a sincere amendment which must be wrought by proper means Pag. 88 CHAP. XXVII Love the best instrument of Self-Reformation and true penitence with an act of hearty contrition Pag. 92 CHAP. XXVIII That Love will sweeten as well as produce the truest penitence and that true wisdom not melancholy is the guide of sincere penitents Pag. 98 CHAP. XXIX That severities and mortifications well regulated are subservient to Repentance and the Love of JESVS Pag. 103 CHAP. XXX A short Meditation for penitential days Pag. 105 CHAP. XXXI That repentance must look forward to the securing of our duty for the time to come With instances and resolutions to that effect Pag. 108 CHAP. XXXII A singular example of humane Love with a short reflection upon it Pag. 113 CHAP. XXXIII Some Scriptures to shew the necessity of departing from Sin according to our Baptismal Vow With some protestations to conclude this first Part. Pag. 116 THE CONTENTS OF THE SECOND PART CHAP. I. THat Love obligeth us also to fulfil the positive part of our Baptismal Vow with a protestation of obedience to it Pag. 1 CHAP. II. How great a happiness in Eternity follows our love and obedience Pag. 5 CHAP. III. That to win our hearts and duty God propounds great rewards to us Pag. 8 CHAP. IV. That Love hath a secret pleasure and reward in it self with a meditation to that purpose Pag. 11 CHAP. V. Reflections on the vanity of temporal things with some holy resolves and ejaculations Pag. 14 CHAP. VI. That Christ having bought us hath now a just title to our love and service Pag. 18 CHAP. VII How much we are ingaged to serve our Blessed Lord with renewed promises to do it faithfully Pag. 20 CHAP. VIII Meditation to excite us to a sincere and fervent love Pag. 23 CHAP. IX Christianity absolutely requires our love and strictest obedience Pag. 28 CHAP. X. Considerations to encourage us in the discharge of our Christian duty with a caution to the Reader Pag. 32 CHAP. XI That Love will prompt us to free-will offerings and thinks it never doth enough Pag. 36 CHAP. XII That our obedience to the Church is an excellent expression of our love to Christ Pag. 43 CHAP. XIII Of several voluntary Oblations Pag. 46 CHAP. XIV The true notion of Free-will Offerings vindicated with an Exhortation to abound in the work of the Lord. Pag. 50 CHAP. XV. Meditation on the Exaltation of the Blessed JESVS Pag. 57 CHAP. XVI Two general directions about the manifesting of our love to God Pag. 62 CHAP. XVII The two former Rules explained and enlarged Pag. 68 CHAP. XVIII Some more particular directions how to order our lives by the love of JESVS Pag. 74 CHAP. XIX That upon all accounts God should be loved above all things Pag. 78 CHAP. XX. That as it is most just so it is most easie to love God Pag. 84 CHAP. XXI An Objection answered which might be raised against this Book and its Subject Pag. 88 CHAP. XXII The second Objection concerning the love of JESVS answered Pag. 91 CHAP. XXIII That it is most pleasant and safe to love God Pag. 97 CHAP. XXIV That love brings the most lasting joy and satisfaction to the soul Pag. 105 CHAP. XXV The Conclusion Pag. 113 Books printed for Henry Brome Bishop Wilkins Natural Religion Dr. Comber on the Common Prayer in 4 Vol. Guide to Eternity Precepts and Practices for Christian Life Christianity no Enthusiasm or the several kinds of Inspirations and Revelations pretended to by the Quakers tried and found destructive to Holy Scripture and true Religion In Answer to Thomas Elwood's defence thereof in his Tract miscalled Truth prevailing c. Dr. Glanvill of Preaching Help to Prayer c. An Historical Account of the Reforma here in England Everlasting Fire no Fancy Dr. Ford in Gods Judgments Mr. Camfield's Discourse of Angels Dr. Woodford's Paraphrase on the Psalms his Divine Poems