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
and 1.6 Blessed Lord I rejoice that thou hast the disposal of me I willingly submit my self to thy good pleasure both to obey and to suffer I desire that my heart and all my affections may wholly be subject to thee O why is thy name dishonoured thy Church persecuted thy holy Religion despised or perverted and thou thy self rejected and rebelled against even by many of them that have sworn allegiance to thee O that it were in my power to advance thy Kingdom here among my Fellow-Servants to bring all men in subjection to thee But first my Blessed Lord let me sincerely submit to thy will in all things Let never one of my words or actions send thee that impious message of the rebellious Citizens We will not have this man to reign over us Luk. 19.14 but now thou art absent I beseech thee let me observe thy laws and own and reverence thy power in them to whom thou hast imparted it thy Church and Ministers Thou art my King dearest JESU let me never see that hour that I shall not heartily love and humbly obey thee Consider O my Soul how great is the happiness and honour to be one of the retinue of so great so good a Master Let nothing cast thee down thou shalt certainly reign above if thou art faithful here below Jacob and his sons were in fear to perish with hunger because they knew not that Joseph did reign in Aegypt but my timorous heart why shouldst thou fear any thing when thou knowest that JESUS doth reign in heaven God hath given him power over all flesh that he might give eternal life to all that will sincerely give themselves to him If thou art his thou canst not want to be protected and provided for All his servants are certainly prefer'd all his souldiers come to be Kings the Crown of life the Kingdom of heaven the glories of eternity are the recompences laid up for his humble subjects Live and Reign sweetest JESU for ever When I do consider that Legions of Angels millions of blessed Souls perpetually adore thee with the greatest extasie of love and divine joy that all pious men throughout all the world express their love and gratitude by daily worshipping and obeying of thee that all thy wicked enemies are seiz'd with fear and trembling before thee When thus I see thee blessed Lord with the eyes of my faith on the Throne of highest Majesty encircled with glory and power I then disdain the world and am raised above my self transported with pleasure to see thy labours and sufferings thus justly rewarded to think that mine for thee shall have the same reward according to the utmost of my capacity And now my gracious Lord this I make my request if I can add nothing to thy highest glory yet let me enter in and partake of thy joy for they that love thy name shall be joyful in thee Psal 5.12 CHAP. XVI Two general directions about the manifesting of our love to God IT is a Maxim in Morals quod cor non facit non fit what the heart doth not is reputed as not done it can deserve neither praise nor reward and it can signifie nothing to any purpose of vertue Now the heart is the fountain of humane affections and the seat of love so that the meaning is that what is not done out of love is insignificant and wholly unacceptable Which truth holds in Religion also God earnestly requires the heart of all his worshippers and without it he doth accept neither their services nor their oblations Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart Deut. 6.6 Love therefore must carry us through the whole course of our lives through all our duty that our actions bearing its stamp and signature may be pleasing to God and to us profitable So that in the discharge of our several callings in our intercourse with others at home or abroad and in the most common actions of our lives still we must act as being acted by a sincere love to God It is one of the best of those ancient Rules which were given to ascetick persons Let charity which abides for ever In omnibus quibus utitur transitura necessitas superemineat quae permanet charitas Reg. Aug. influence and govern the use we make of time and other transitory things let it go along with us in all our ways and we shall certainly go right But this like other general Rules will signifie nothing except it be applied to particulars My love to JESUS must appear in what I do this day and what I shall do to morrow The justice and charity of the words I speak and the work I am about must justifie it that indeed I own JESUS for my Lord his Gospel for my Rule and his love for my comfort and encouragements Let charity which abides for ever direct us in our use of transitory things It is the advice of some spiritual directors that we would single out some one eminent Christian vertue to the study whereof we should more particularly addict our selves and examine our growth in grace by our proficiency in it This may be much for our ease and for our advantage For the Duties and Graces of our Religion are very numerous not to be attained and attended to all at once and as they stand together whereas if we make choice of any one single which leads us to all the rest and includes them all our Christian advancement will be with greater speed and less difficulty and we shall be masters of all other vertues by having bent our strength and endeavours on the practice of one Such a one I am sure is the love of God the love of the Blessed JESUS which if well followed and attended to will bring us to the highest perfection to which any Christian can arrive in this life Let it therefore be our chiefest care to beget and entertain in our hearts that most blessed love and then to express and perfect it by these two general Rules 1. In all our actions to have respect to Gods will and to seek to fulfil it rather than our own This is recommended to us by the Example of our Blessed Saviour who professed that he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him and this was his great demonstration of love to the Father That the world may know that I love the Father Probatio dilectionis exhibitio est operis Greg. and as the Father gave me Commandment even so I do arise let us go hence Joh. 14.31 He would go and deliver himself into the hands of his crucifies rather than not comply with that order he had received from God his Father And thus if we chuse Gods will where it is most contradictory to our own desires we shall make it appear that indeed we love him Abraham was
love God above all and all things things in him and for him we should also love those things most which have most of his impress and likeness Therefore man who is created after Gods image should be by us loved above all other creatures and that part of man which is chiefly adorned with the likeness of God should have the greater share of our affection God himself values humane souls at a high rate because they are like him as appears by what he hath done and suffered to save them And for the same reason also we should pay to the souls of men the best part of that kindness we owe them and if we do not we give our friends no greater love than children do their puppets for they dress them fine and lay them soft and kiss and embrace them Just as they who aim at nothing more than to make their friends merry to wish them toys and gaudy things and to see them at ease A fondness inexcusable in rational creatures especially in Christians who know the worth of an immortal soul and the great concern of Eternity and yet seek only to gratifie the material part of their friends which is subject to corruption and to ingage their affections to the world which passeth away and they must soon leave As if when King Edward the first was hastening out of the Holy-land hither to receive the Crown which expected him his friends had staid him by the way and invited him to rest and ease and provided for him all Princely delights and entertainments and retarded his coming so long till he had forgot or lost his right and his Kingdom What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole word and lose his soul and what shall a man give in exchange for his soul We are indeed much commanded to love one another and in this consisteth one great half of our Religion all justice and charity and all the duties of the second Table To love our brother as we ought is the best demonstration of our love to God for he that says he loves God and hateth his brother is a liar saith S. John 1 Joh. 4.20 and love worketh no ill to his neighbour and is therefore the fulfilling of the law saith S. Paul Rom. 13.10 but a man is to love his neighbour as himself Mat. 19.19 and therefore as he is most obliged to seek for himself the kingdom of God and its righteousness so should he in the first place endeavour to procure it to his friend Or else we are to love one another as Christ hath loved us Joh. 13.33 and that was in redeeming our souls and purchasing for us heavenly joys and eternal life not in providing ease and sensual pleasures to our bodies here in this world The result of this is that in the first place we should love God infinitely and for his own sake and that in the next we should love those things most which have a nearest relation to God Grace and Vertue Religion Holiness and Men especially their Souls which are an image of the Deity especially sanctified souls which are most like God Afterwards our lesser love for less Divine Objects may be reasonable and innocent and however we have secured a great duty and a great happiness To love God with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the soul and with all the strength and to love his neighbour as himself is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices Mar. 13.33 CHAP. XX. That as it is most just so it is most easie to love God A Second consideration may be that it is most just and easie to love God That it is most just is shewn all along this discourse wherein I have represented the more general and most excellent benefits of God to mankind all the which challenge and deserve the greatest love our hearts are capable of God had required of his people that the first born and the first fruits should be consecrated to him thereby to acknowledge him the author of all their blessings and the giver of all their increase Now the first-born of our souls the first-fruits of our hearts is love which God who gives us all things demands as an acknowledgment from us Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul We therefore commit a greater sacriledge if we deny him so just a tribute than if a Jew had rob'd him of his first grapes or his first ears of corn But it is so much the more just in that it is most easie to love God Infinite perfections an abyss of goodness whence rivers and oceans of good things do perpetually flow one would think should swallow up the hearts and affections of men as indeed it doth of all that duly consider it And more perfectly of beatified Saints and of those blessed spirits who minister before his throne and are all flame for him Besides 't is natural for men to love what is theirs propriety begets or increaseth love Now God is our God he hath given himself for us he doth now and will more intirely hereafter give himself to us he made us for the enjoyment of himself and for that purpose he hath redeemed us and that we might all say with David O God thou art my God that God might shew his kindness and indear himself to us and assert our right to him he hath assumed the names of those relations who love us best whom we love most tenderly and whom we count most ours God the Father is pleased to be called our Father God the Son our Brother and God the Holy Ghost our Comforter as it were our Friend thereby to express that affection which he hath for us and the propriety which we may claim in him Sure 't is an easie thing to love them that love us Nimis durus est animus qui amorem etsi uâ—tro non impendat nâ—lit tamen rependere Aug. and where God hath exprest so much love 't is strangely unnatural if we are not affected with it Every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts saith the Wise man Prov. 19.6 Now what gifts hath our God given us or rather what gifts hath he not given us and what perverse violence do they offer nature that seek to confute Solomons saying in this instance where it should be most true Certainly 't is an easie thing to love infinite perfections an infinite goodness one that ever did and ever doth us gâ—od from whom we daily receive favours so great and so many that we can tell neither their worth nor number Wherefore S. Aug. saith that to love G d is so natural Potes mihi dicere non habeo quod tribuam egenti non possum jejunare non possum fl re Numquid potâ—s mihi diâ—ere charitaâ—em habere non possum c. so easie so infinitely just and so much our duty that to omit it can admit of no
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
me whilst I obey what he hath commanded I do what is infinitely my duty what his love to me challengeth and what my love to him desires to return Had I ten thousand years to live and could I serve him all that while and do nothing else I could not repay him for the least part of that great ransom he hath paid for me neither could I deserve any thing of those great wages which he will give me but my life is but short and he allows me time for other things even for pleasure and recreation I have therefore a most gracious Master and therefore I resolve and promise to do what he requires of me I will except at nothing he commands it shall be my joy to pay my duty to him I will make it appear that I serve out of love and affection O my dearest JESUS would my heart did feel what it should Qui viget affectu non gemâ—t imperie would I could express what it feels and would I could perform as much as I express But O my Blessed Lord how frequently and unhappily do I forget that thou art my Master and I thy servant that my chiefest business is to do thy will and that my greatest happiness as well as duty is to obey thee Is it not because I also forget that thou didst redeem me from a most wretched slavery that thou didst pay an immense price for me that thou becamest a servant for me before thou requiredst any service from me and that thou didst first love me before thou dist intreat my love O thou great Lover and Saviour of men I wholly give my self to thee body and soul heart and affections I desire to be thine I pray that thou wouldst make me to be thine and that thou wouldest own me for thine that so thou maist be mine to eternity Wouldest thou know saith S. Aug. what thou must give for heaven give thy self Aliud non quaerit precium nisi te ipsum tantum valet quantum es te du habebis illud Manual that is the price nothing less will serve that alone is accounted sufficient heaven is worth just what thou art give thy self and thou shalt certainly have it Do not men seek to serve and oblige great persons expecting to be by them gratified are they not ambitious to wait upon Princes in regard of an honourable stipend and why should I not count it the greatest Honour and preferment to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the salary he pays his servants is infinitely greater than any the greatest Monarch can give they oftentimes cast off with disgrace their most faithful officers my Lord is so far from so doing that he bears with the faults of his meanest servants and never turns out any that will live with him 'T is highly difficult to become a Prince his favorite many spend their time their wealth and themselves and never can get the least share in his affections but I am sure my heavenly Master loveth me I know it by what he hath done by what he daily doth and by what he hath declared he would do for me Although he hath bought me and so might well require the utmost I can do without any reward yet he hires me and gives me more infinitely more than I can earn or claim I will therefore be diligent faithful and zealous in fulfilling the work he hath appointed me I will often say to my self I am a servant and a lover of JESUS a servant and a lover of the Blessed JESUS I will every morning consider what can I do this day of what my Lord hath commanded me what duties of sobriety righteousness or godliness can I discharge to make it appear that JESUS is the Master I own and obey None of us liveth to himself and no man dies to himself for whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we die we die unto the Lord Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords for to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living CHAP. IX Meditation to excite us to a sincere and fervent love O MY Soul whither canst thou fly for to be secure and at rest thou dost converse with snares and temptations thou art taken up with cares and concerns that come to nothing whither canst thou retire to be free from dangers what place of leisure canst thou find wherein thou maist secure thy duty and thy happiness The Love of JESUS must be thy refuge thy Claustrum Animae a Cloister or shelter for thee to dwell in and be safe Thither retire under the banner of love Cant. 2.4 and there thou shalt want neither protection nor encouragement Ye that love the Lord hate evil he preserveth the Souls of his Saints he delivers them out of the hand of the wicked Light is sown for the Righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal 97.10 Consider what love hath done for thee and thou shalt easily believe that it can do much upon thee Love like active fire Omne agens omne amans vult sibi passum amatum assimilare turns all things into its likeness It vested the most perfect God with thy flesh and infirmities Because resemblance begets love Ne etiam similitudo deesset amori ecce immortalis mortalis factus est God would become like thee that thou mightest love him And if thou wilt entertain and follow the Love of JESUS it will make the become like him if thou wilt walk in love as he walked Eph. 5.2 it will make thee easily follow his footsteps and arrive to his perfect happiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Rom. Behold how great how wonderful a thing is Love Its power and perfection can not be uttered we want words for to express them In this was manifested the love of God towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him 1 John 4.9 He made thee with a word Qui te totum semel dicendo fecit in reficiendo dixit multa pertulit dura Bern. but to save thee he wrought many wonders and suffered many pains The Jews when they saw him weep for dead Lazarus behold said they how he loved him when thou seest him shed not only tears but his bloud also dying that thou maist live wilt thou not say behold how he loved me and then my soul what canst thou do but return love for love It is easie and it is profitable and it affords the greatest of pleasures to love him who thus loved thee If by a hearty sincere love thou canst dwell in the bosom and approach the heart of thy dearest Lord there thou shalt find the sweetest rest the purest joy the best of instructions and the greatest helps and incouragements to perfect holiness till thy happiness be perfect If with an unfeigned
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
be in the second place to be intent upon that and to do it well In what appears before the world commonly men put a varnish upon their actions and their behaviour when oftentimes at home they are loose tyranical and unjust But act in private and every where tanquam sub alicujus boni viri ac semper praesentis oculis said Seneca as always in the sight of God in the most publick view For your actions at home in your closet and in your family are noted and registred before God and 't is by the doing them well that you advance forward towards perfection and glory Hoc age hoc age was often cryed by a herald whilst the heathen worshipped their Gods Mind your business mind that you are about That we must do in all actions even them that relate only to this life diligently and faithfully to do them as well as we can The praise of an actor on the stage of this world is to act his part well and decently whatever it be and that must be our care to be just and exact in being a good servant or master artist or whatever it be In so being consists our perfection and the demonstration of our love to God So likewise in things that pertain to a better life when you pray read or meditate do it with a serious attention and the greatest application your mind is capable of Do it as if you were now to die and that were the last thing you shall ever do for God and for your own soul for if you be in haste in a hurry and in a distraction you wholly lose your time and your reward It is storied in some of the legends that at prayers S. Bernard saw divers Angels noting down the behaviour of the assistants some in golden letters some in ink and some in water only according to the devotion or negligence of them that prayed Though the relation looks much like a fable yet there is this truth in it that they certainly weary themselves to no purpose who serve God without attention and without fervour and do the business of their soul in a careless and trifling way As Mathematicians consider an abstract quantity not regarding whether of Gold or clay so it is not so much the matter of our actions as the manner of doing them that most recommends them to God and makes them expressions of our love to JESUS As for the second Rule of bearing patiently what ever happens It must be also extended to the meanest sorrows and vexations In all things let us be content that Gods will should take place Let us carefully secure our duty and afterwards let us care for no more leave the event to God and let him chuse for us It is to no purpose to resolve to bear evenly great calamities which perhaps shall never happen to gather a stock of patience against violent persecutions and the flames of martyrdom and mean while to be fretful and angry for every loss and trifling accident that crosseth our humour This is but self deceit and an imaginary patience stoutly to resolve upon great evils when they are far off and yield to lesser when present We are rather to remember the words of our Blessed Lord to take up our cross daily and follow him The word daily imports that the evils of every day are to be born with patience and a composed mind And that the wrongs and vexations we meet withall in our intercourse with others as well as great calamitie are our own proper cross which our Christian profession and love to JESUS obligeth us to bear and submit to When a rough-hewn plank is to be join◠to one that is even it must be plained and made smooth by great or smaller strokes at the workmans discretion our deform soul or crooked will is to be close united to God who is most equal and perfect therein consists our happiness we must therefore let him who is pleased to undertake that work polish and rectifie our soul and make them conformable to his blessed will by what means he pleaseth by great or lesser blows according as he knows to be expedient Let us follow the Prince of sufferings by love and imitation cheerfully bearing our cross whatever it be mindful of this profitable advice of the son of Sirach My son if thou come to serve the Lord prepare thy soul for temptation set thy heart aright and constantly endure and make not haste in time of trouble Whatsoever is brought unto thee take cheerfully and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate They that fear the Lord will not disobey his word and they that love him will keep his ways CHAP. XVIII Some more particular directions how to order our lives by the love of JESVS FROM the happy and safe cloister of love wherein thou art entred look not abroad upon that world that lies in wickedness Follow not the multitude to do evil for men take hand in hand Vae tibi slumen moris humani Aug. and betray one another to folly and ruine Gods benefits are lost upon the major part of them they have no sense of the divine mercies ungratitude is their proper character and their greatest guilt Rarae fumant felicibus arae all might easily be happy if they would love and be thankful Read the lives of primitive Saints and consider them that are now truly religious and good men Converse with them and with them learn to spend thy time carefully and well Time is short and precious spend it upon that that will turn to account when time shall be no more It leads to an endless eternity and it is given thee to make that eternity infinite in happiness as in duration Indulge not then to idleness for it will bring temptations upon thee and make them prevailing Labour watchfulness and prayer make us victorious over sin and win the incorruptible crown Use all means whereby thou maist be advanced in thy way to heaven thou canst never work out thy salvation with too much care and diligence 'T is good to make sure work in so great a concern Malo cautior esse quam fortior fortis enim saepe captus est cautus rarissime for multitudes perish through carelesness and presumption and the way to eternal life is streight and narrow But in the use of such means as I recommend take heed of deceiving thy self and resting in outward observations making that the end which is only a way to lead thee to vertue Thou maist carry thy Bible about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and read the Gospel and yet not be a good Christian Thou maist go up to the Temple to pray fast and give alms and profess the greatest strictness with the Pharisee Non Hierosolymis fuisse sed Hierosolymis bene vixisse laudandum Hieron and yet still be an hypocrite except thou dost truly love God Love therefore and often think that thou shalt die for that
of thâ—â— whom he serves and obligeth we eaâ—â—ly suppose that they love us whom we loâ—â— and that they to whom we do good will 〈◊〉 kind to us therefore let us shew to God 〈◊〉 the love we can and by words and actioâ—â— protest that we seek to please him and 〈◊〉 hearts will soon be possest with a blessed aâ—surance that we are dear to him and that 〈◊〉 will never be cruel and severe to us ' Tiâ— reported of a Religious Person whose soâ—â— was grieved and wounded with doubts and fears and with sadness that while he 〈◊〉 one day weeping and praying thus O thaâ— I were sure that I shall persevere and neveâ— fall from God O that I were sure thaâ— God loves me and that I shall one day see his blessed Face how zealous then would I be in mortifying my sins and doing my duty how cheerfully would I serve God every day and take pleasure in suffering for him how would I despise the world and its vanities and fix my thoughts and affections on things above while he was thus expressing the sorrows of his troubled mind he heard the whispers of a secret voice which told him fac quod faceres do now what thou wouldst do if thou hadst all those assurances With this he found himself so affected and refreshed that he took it as an Oracle from heaven and in obeying of it found those comforts he begged Better counsel I cannot give thee fac quod faceres do what thou wouldst do if thy diffident timorousness and jealousies were confuted by a voice from heaven and they will soon be removed Let thy meek submission thy sincere obedience and thy free-will offerings speak thy love to God and thou shalt soon find thy self perswaded that God loves thee dearly and that thy condition is safe and happy Other assurance we are not to expect in this world and this is not to be obtained any other way should thy comfort proceed from any thing else but thy humble and devout love to God it would be fansie and presumption whereas so it is well grounded and never can deceive thee There is no fear in love saith Divine S. John 1 Ep. 4.18 but perfect love casteth out fear 't is never otherwise grace and nature join together to make the effect infallible that a Holy Love should ever produce a Holy Peace if we love indeed and in truth thereby not by new and secret revelations we shall know that we are of the truth and we shall assure our hearts before God 1 Joh. 3.18 Love may well work confidence and joy in our souls for it enjoys already what it loves it is affectuosa unitas unitiva affectio love is inseparable from its object and the essence thereof consists in their union and in some manner unity as our Blessed Saviour praid for his that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Joh. 17.21 and that this is effected by love he adds ver 26. that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Though God be exalted infinitely above all things in a sphere of Glory and Majesty so high that the Cherubims with their many wings cannot flie up to it Qui mente integro Deum desiderat profecto jam habet quem amat Greg. Mag. yet thither love soars up and takes God and holds him as his own so that every one that loves God is already possest of him and may say with the spouse I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine Cant. 6.3 We come to God by love amando non ambulando and to him we are united by by love amore Deo conjungimur Magna res est amor quo anima per semetÌ„ ipsam fiducialiter accedit ad Deum c. S. Aug. therefore love is a great thing saith that devout father it brings the soul to God with an holy confidence and makes it trust in him and cleave stedfastly to him and rejoyce in him and represent her needs and beg his mercies with fiducial and devout affections And this is so great a truth that death it self with its pains and sorrows alters nothing of it even then in the last agonies the love of God sweetens the bitter cup and still entertains the soul with joy and holy comforts It was the saying of S. Aug. that because the soul hath willingly forsaken God whom she should love infinitely she is forced therefore with grief and regret to forsake her body which she loves too much and that because she voluntarily departed from God who is her life she therefore departeth from the body whose life she is with sadness and much reluctancy Aug. de Trin. lib. 4. cap. 13. Now we may say Charitas libertatem donat timorem pellit c. S. Bern. that when the soul returns to God by love she is freed from this punishment and restored to her first liberty she is willing to die for to be with Christ and then comes a cheerful cupio dissolvi O when shall I come and appear before God Happy is he who living doth so manifest his love to God by Piety and Charity that dying he can say with Theodosius Dilexi love hath been the business and delight of my life I have daily endeavoured by my actions to declare the sincerity of my love to God he is doubtless of the number of those that love the appearing of JESUS and so he goes out to meet him with joy and confidence expecting a kind reception from him whom having not seen yet he loved Nemo se amari diffidat qui jam amat libenter Dei amor nostrum quem praevenit subsequitur c. Bern. and worshipped and served affectionately Let no man that loves God doubt of Gods Love to him for he that loved us when we were his enemies so as to die for us will much more love us when we have for him the hearty affections of friends It is the joy of heaven the joy of the Holy JESUS when his loving kindness hath won and conquered our hearts and 't is our greatest joy 't is for us a heaven upon earth when we love him faithfully and fervently with all our souls and affections The love of God brings that peace to the soul which the world can neither give nor take away O sweet JESU O look thou upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name Psal 119.132 CHAP. XXV The Conclusion NOW who can refuse to love God when 't is a thing so just and reasonable so pleasant and easie so safe and advantageous something of necessity we must love every mans heart is full of that passion and every mans life is governed by it 't is but considering who hath done most for us and whom we are most obliged to love who is most lovely and who will best reward our love and we
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
a cup of water given for his sake should not go unrewarded and that their reward would be great bountiful and most excellent far above their deserts and even above their wishes and apprehensions an angelick nature a glory bright as the Sun it self an eternal life an heavenly an endless kingdom his own joys should be their portion and their recompence And we find also the Holy Apostles assuring those whom they brought to work in their Lords vineyard that they should certainly have their hire and be paid most generously for their work God will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory honour and immortality shall be rendred eternal life Rom. 2.6.7 Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour 1 Cor. 3.8 And S. Paul to incourage the Corinthians tells them that we Christians are entred into a race at the end whereof we may see the Laurel palmam in stadio positam a glorious prize an incorruptible crown if we will run and strive for it 1 Cor. 9.24 and he likewise tells the Ephesians that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall be receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free Eph. 6.8 S. Peter also teacheth that we should be moved and encouraged by the greatness of the promised reward to forsake our lusts and wholly devote our selves to God exceeding great and glorious promises are given unto 〈◊〉 that by these you might be partakers of the Diviae Nature having escaped the pollution that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 Christ is become the author of eternal salvation to themt obey him Heb. 5.9 And so the result of all these may be comprehended in the exhortation of S. Paul My beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 In this sense good works are meritorious in that they procure us a reward a reward infinitely greater than their own desert Let us not therefore as the Apostle exhorts be weary in well-doing for we shall reap in due season if we faint not Gal. 6.9 Let us compare together the returns of vice and vertue how unlike are the fruits of them and let us bear this short saying in our minds if we do ill the pleasure is soon past the grief and punishment abide long upon us if we do well the trouble is soon ended the joy and reward of it remain for ever Let us pray with S. Paul the Lord direct our hearts into the love of God and the patient waiting for Christ 2 Thes 3.5 who when he comes brings his reward with him and to this let us add this Collect of the Church Grant us grace O Lord so to follow thy blessed Saints in all vertuous and godly living that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for them that unfeinedly love thee through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen CAAP. IV. That Love hath a secret pleasure and reward in it self with a meditation to that purpose BUT Though it may encourage us to love that gracious God who gives so very much for that little we are able to do yet Love it self is not mercenary charity doth not seek her own saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 13.5 we may desire our promised reward and set our affections upon it as it is a demonstration of Gods infinite love and goodness or because it will be the expressing of our duty and thankfulness when we shall love and glorifie and adore God perfectly and for ever or rather because the reward is God himself who will be to every faithful servant his exceeding great reward Gen. 15.4 as well as to faithful Abraham rewarding sincere obedience with the fruition of himself being all in all to his Saints But still I say Love is not selfish but free and generous if nothing were to be gained by it it would have great satisfaction in shewing it self the work and labour of love is a noble pleasure to a pious heart When he thus reflects on his obedience and thinks with himself By the performance of this duty by this act of vertue I serve my dearest Lord I oblige my best friend I express my love to him whose infinite kindness to me hath conquered my heart whom I love as my own soul to whom I wholly give my self and for whom I desire both to live and die O happy soul who feelest what an exceeding joy it is to love JESUS or rather unhappy soul who canst shew so little love to JESUS Unhappy necessities of a frail body unhappy distractions of a troublesome world Why am I by you deprived of the continual pleasure of waiting continually on my Divine and most loving Master But blessed be my gracious Lord that I might have more opportunities of pleasing him and expressing my affections to him he hath made vertues of necessities he hath turned nature into grace and of humane duties he hath made acts of Religion In relieving mine own and others wants if I observe the rules of sobriety and charity he takes occasion thence to bless and reward me as if he were thereby glorified In discharging the duties of my place and calling if I am diligent and faithful though my work be never so mean he owns it as a service done to him Servants saith S. Paul obey your masters in all things and do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ Col. 3.22 23. If I am conscientious in all my ways and works he takes it as a mark of my love and part of my duty to him O that the constant course of my conversation might speak the sincerity of my affection to my blessed Lord. Dearest JESUS the Cross thou didst bear for me was heavy and painful to extremity but thy yoke is light and pleasant thy service is perfect freedom O let it be my delight and daily employment as it is my duty to serve and obey thee to follow thy blessed example and be instrumental in winning hearts to thee let me love thee so intirely that I may love nothing but thee nothing but for thy sake Fac precor Domine me gustare per amorem quod gusto per cognitionem sentiam per affectum B. Ansel quod sentio per intellectum Amen CHAP. V. Reflections on the vanity of temporal things with some holy resolves and ejaculations COnsider O my soul how deceitful how vain is this present world how inconstant and unsatisfying how vexatious and troublesome Doth not thine experience tell thee that the more thou lovest the best of earthly thing the more crosses and sorrows befal thee the more thou enjoyest of them the more weary thou art the farther from happiness and true contentment I have observed that
the dead are soon forgotten and that the world neither can nor indeed takes care to do any thing for its greatest slaves and admirers after they are gone and yet our greatest toil and vexation is to live here so as to please the world We are not pleased to have our wants supplied and to be free from pain except the world be pleased also That imaginary life which we live in the account of others is by far the more troublesome and the more uncertain for we are never well except others will think us to be so But O my soul why dost thou cumber thy self with so many things even with things that have no existence but in thine and other mens fancy one thing is necessary love God and seek his heavenly Kingdom and thou art rich and happy to the full Let thy thoughts wait one while on the most prosperous sinners in the world how empty is their soul how distracted their mind how restless their conscience Do they not live in a storm and hurry and at last sink into the grave with the greatest regret and bitterness and what would they not give in the day of vengeance that they might pass from the left to the right hand of their Judge Consider and tremble with what amazement and impotent rage they will struggle to change their place that they might change their doom But now turn and follow the just See their inward peace and their secret joy what comfort they have in their afflictions what hope in their lives what undaunted assurance in their death but who can express those endless pleasures those ravishing joys wherein they enter when they come to enjoy and see him face to face whom here they loved and sought after O my deluded heart be not deceived by vain appearances that is certainly true which shall be true at last and shall remain unchangeable to eternity If it be so that indeed thou must die and one of those two states must be thy portion for ever then put on now those affections which thou shalt certainly entertain when thou shalt be near to expire look upon things now as thou shalt at last and it will make thee wise and make thee see the Truth naked For that is certainly true which is true at last and all other appearancces are but varnish and illusion Dwell seriously upon this consideration and it will make thee clearly see that true wisdom is to love and fear God and the greatest happiness to live under his protection to be in his favour whose loving kindness is better than life That one consideration well weighed will make thee understand that there is no great worth or pleasure in those lusts and vanities thou didst renounce when thou becamest a Christian that thy vow was onely the renouncing of thy greatest misery 'T will make thee understand that it was no great hardship thou didst undertake when thou promisest to serve God and be a Souldier of JESUS under the Banner of the Cross That 't was only the obliging thy self to be truly happy and to enjoy perfect Freedom And now my soul considering that of necessity thou must either by sin serve the Devil and destroy thy self or by vertue and piety serve God and gain eternal bliss what shouldst thou do but intirely devore thy self to thy Blessed thy best Master Breathing out heavenward such Ejaculations as these My dearest Lord I was once brought and presented to thee when through the waters of Baptism I past into thy Family and became thy Servant Lord I do here repeat the same oblation and now again yield my self to be thine Here I do from my heart disown and bewail all those acts of mine whereby at any time I have disowned or displeased thee could the shedding of my blood recal or expiate them I could freely pour it out and die Wherein soever I have behaved my self as if I were not thine I here what I can retract it with regret and sorrow Lord pity my weakness and pardon my folly and let me be received again into the number of thy Servants I am ready to do or suffer any thing thou shalt please so I may still belong to thee O let our first contract my Baptismal ingagement stand notwithstanding my breach of it I resolve now to mind and observe it better assist me sweet JESU and let me ever live to thee Lord now I as heartily yield up my self to thee that I may love and obey thee as I shall when I die that thou maist save me I had rather serve thee than be the greatest Prince on earth I had rather obey thee than command all mankind I prefer thy favour to all the riches of this world I had rather suffer and even die for thee than without thee to have all the pleasures and the joys of this life Lord I will love and serve thee for ever CHAP. VI. That Christ having bought us hath now a just title to our love and service LOVE regards not so much what is commanded as who it is that commands it if it be the Beloved requires any thing love doth it chearfully without reluctancy another with earnest begging should not have that granted which the least word of a friend shall obtain The commands of Christianity are easie and most rational in keeping of them consisteth our present and future happiness Yet the true lover of JESUS looks farther he considess that it is his Lord and Saviour who would have him obey he to whom he belongs to whom he owes himself and infinitely more for every Christian-owes JESUS to JESUS who gave himself for him The old saying was emendus cui imperes buy your slaves buy those that will be commanded by you none of us can say so to the God whom we serve for he hath indeed bought us Ye are not your own saith S. Paul ye are bought with a price thence it is strongly infer'd therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods We are not at our own dispose our Divine Master hath a most just propriety in us we are wholly his and would to God we were his as much by affection and resignation as by right the price he hath paid for us is no less than himself he hath given his life that ours might be his We were redeemed from our vain conversation by the precious blood of Christ who died for us that we might live to him He could get nothing by that dear purchase but our love only for we were his before it is he that made us only we had estranged our selves from him and placed our love on other things and he could not count us his own while we loved him not CHAP. VII How much we are ingaged to serve our Blessed Lord with renewed promises to do it faithfully I Must therefore consider whose I am I am Christs by a strong and incontestable title while I serve hfm I do that proper work which belongs to
with him They made it appear by their patient cheerful and magnanimous sufferings that they valued nothing but JESUS and Eternity We are not now exposed to the same dangers for the profession and belief of Christianity but we may make our love and zeal appear by our contempt of the world and aspiring after heaven by our charity to men and abounding in the work of the Lord by keeping the Commandments as well as dying for the Creed the same Lord and Saviour that requires our Faith to the one demands our obedience to the other And now if we spend our time in the hearty observance of our Lords Precepts and intimations in doing and inlarging our duty to the utmost of our power if we thus confess him before men by living to him then are we prepared to die for him and he will certainly own us as much as if we had Our Crown now this way may be enriched and our love shewn and perfected as well as by the flames of Martyrdom And O happy we that we can come and more happy yet if we do come to sing Allelujah and eternally praise our gracious Redeemer with the noble Army of Martyrs where the love we had here shall fill our hearts with divine joy Vbi tota virtus erit O anima videre quod amas summa felicitas amare quod vedes Aug. and be increased to the proportions of our endless and unspeakable Bliss The Lord direct our hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for JESUS our Master 2 Thes 3.3 I need not here insert cautions against vain glory and self complacency after we have done the most we are able for if it proceeds not from the love of God it is nothing worth and if it doth it will never bring pride nor vanity Charity vaunteth not it self and is not puffed up 1 Cor. 13.4 Only in the words of a pious Saint If we had died a thousand times for JESUS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. S. Johan Clim Grad 23. 11. yet we should not have repaid him the least part of what we owe his infinite mercy and condescension for vast is the difference betwixt the blood of God and the blood of his creatures and servants if we judge according to the dignity and not to the substance of it What hast thou that thou hast not received remember what JESUS saith to all Christians He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me Mat. 10.37 and whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple Luk. 14.33 We can never do too much for JESUS but we may easily do too little though the most we can do will never merit heaven yet the least shall not obtain it 't is safe and impossible to exceed but 't is easie and dangerous to be defective O God who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass mans understanding Sixth Sund. after Trin. pour into our hearts such love towards thee that we loving thee above all things may obtain thy promises which exceed all that we can desire through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen I have now assigned Love its full task to repent and mortifie our lusts to serve and obey God and to abound in good works even free-will offerings I have no more for it to do I would only have it to encrease to grow towards perfection to be constant and to endure unto the end To help this forward I have here added a meditation on the exaltation of our Blessed Saviour some useful directions for the ordering of our lives and four concluding Considerations whereby to assist direct and encourage the sincere lover of JESUS in the discharge of this great and blessed duty the work and labour of Love Let us consider one another to provoke unto Love and to good works Heb. 10.24 CHAP. XV. Meditation on the Exaltation of the Blessed JESVS LIve and reign sweetest JESU for ever My dearest Lord I heartily â—ejoice in that great power and glory to â—hich now thou art exalted When I conâ—â—der what thou didst do to rescue us from Misery and to make us happy how thou didst lay by thy glories to intitle us to them becamest poor to pay our debt becamest weak to die and to vanquish our enemies When I consider this Ita ne summus omnium unus factus est omnium quis hoc fecit amor dignitatis nescius dignatione dives affectu potens suasu efficax quid violentius triumphat de Deo amor Bern. I cannot but admire the greatness of thy charity whereby thou wert moved thus to relieve and succour us in suffering and abasing thy self I cannot also but be transported with joy that in thy conflict with our enemies thou didst obtain the victory and thereby a Kingdom that shall have no end Lord if thou hadst perished in our quarrel if death had still detained thee what grief what remediless anguish had it been to our souls not only to see our hopes frustrated but also to see him opprest and overcome who with so much pity and generosity ingaged for our deliverance But thou livest dearest Lord thou art triumphant thou hast got the keys of death and of hell Thou art the head and Saviour of the Church Thou art the Judge of all men Thou art the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords Thou sittest at the right hand of the Majesty on high above all principalities and powers All power is given to thee in heaven and in earth At thy Name O Blessed JESU every knee must bow and that we do most willingly gladly acknowledging that thy name is exalted above every name Thou alone hast redeemed and hast power to save us Thou alone hast the might and right to command us Unhappy they that will not worship thee and submit to thy government Unhappy they that impart thine honour to created beings and will not wholly depend upon thee Blessed be God that we have a Saviour whom without idolatry we may love and worship to whom we may offer our humble petitions and at whose feet we may prostrate our selves Blessed be God that he himself would become our Saviour Had an Angel or man been able and deputed to work our Redemption our love and gratitude might have been excessive and provoked God to jealousie But now Blessed JESU we cannot humble our selves too low before thee we cannot exalt thee too high we can never exceed in paying our acknowledgments to thee Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Unto him therefore that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen Rev. 5.12
will much increase thy diligence and thy sincerity Many in the Church of Rome put on when they die a Fryers habit and much confide therein do thou put on by times thy dying thoughts consider seriously and steal time as often as thou canst to sequester thy self from the world Gods secret voice is not heard in the croud and no man meditates in the Market Retire and think of death and put on the affections of a penitent humility shame and sorrow for thy past follies care and watchfulness for that rest of time which God gives thee to destroy thy sins Deus dat spatium ut pereant crimina non homines Prosp Aquit and to save thy soul S. Austin on his death bed would always have the penitential Psalms saying that every Christian must die a penitent Nominem Christianum absque poenitentia mori oportere So must he live that would live well for contrition and mortification will make thee charitable and contented will make thee despise the world and chuse the best and safest course of life Optimam vitae rationem deligendam brevi consuetudine fiet jucunda which if some thing hard at the first will soon by use become easie When men have an opportunity to eat and drink to obtain profit or pleasure they seldom neglect it and put it off to uncertain delays Now thou canst if thou wilt serve God shew thy love to JESUS and make sure of heaven defer it not till time be past or be worse Think what thou wouldst advise thy friend to do and do thou act accordingly Often think upon thy reward and look up to heaven hope sets the world at work Jacob's drudgery fourteen years seemed but a few days to him because he had Rachel before his eyes and loved her affectionately Gen. 29.30 All is not to be done to day go on in the way of love and duty Our life is a course not a leap therefore faint not and be not displeased with thy self Nunc paululum laborando manibus nunc genibus flexis orando deinde corpus reficiendo post quiescendo rursus iterum operando Anthoni sic fac tu salvus eris if thou hast not yet done what must not be finisht till thy life be so S. Anthony's impatience was thus reproved and cured by an Angel work now afterward pray then refresh thy wearied nature and after that return again to thy labour and devotion Let this be thy course all thy way and salvation shall be thy end Thus betwixt grace and nature betwixt labour and Religion distribute thy time and in all these let the love of JESUS accompany and direct thee and it will certainly bring thee to his glory after thou hast in this manner lived in his favour thou shalt enter into his joy I love them that love me saith the Lord and they that seek me early shall find me Prov. 8.17 CHAP. XIX That upon all accounts God should be loved above all things THE first Consideration is that it is most unjust and unreasonable to love any creature to the prejudice of the Creator As all things hare their being from God so they have from him all the goodness and beauty which makes them lovely to us and God drawing upon visible objects fair copies of his invisible perfections designed to be loved in them or that they should be loved in him and for his sake If men being delighted with the beauty of the heavenly host took them to be gods let them know how much better the Lord of them is for the first Author of beauty hath created them for by the beauty and greatness of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seen Wisd 13.3 Beauty and goodness are the proper object of love and therefore God who is the first and supreme beauty and goodness should be loved before all things We indeed reverence Princes in their seals and arms in their meanest servants clothed with their livery but should a subject set up these in the royal Throne and transfer to them or even to the greatest Favorite those special honours which belong to the Prince only he should justly be deemed a Rebel and his proceedings would be as unjustifiable as the disloyal distinction of taking arms by the Kings Authority against his Person Yet such are the proceedings of all disorderly lovers I mean of all sinners who setting more of their affections upon the creatures than upon God the Creator pay them afterwards a greater veneration than they do to him having exalted honours pleasures and riches into the Imperial chair they do more for them than for the Sovereign himself nay they obey them to their prejudice and against his express command Thus vicious unreasonable men burn in the shade and freeze where the Sun shines they dote upon inferior beauties and neglect the highest and most perfect they take fire at dark shadows and find no heat in the brightest light Great men have a respect paid them in their degenerating posterity great Artists are respected in their liveless children we highly honour unhappy Pagans in those labours of theirs which adorn our closets and libraries God only is dishonoured in his works the more perfect he hath made them the more injurious they prove to him Phidias and Apelles are remembred with veneration in a fine picture or Statue God only is ingratefully forgotten in a lovely creature whereof he is Maker An absurd impiety this is Absurdum est genu posito simulacra adorare suspicere fabros vero qui ea feceâ—unt contemnere which Seneca reproved in his fellow heathen to worship and deifie the carved image and to take no notice of the Carver that made it God hath done like a loving father who jealous of his sons affection would have none to attend him but such as wear his livery would have the picture of himself hang in every room and all the goods in the house marked with his name and cypher So God who loves men tenderly and desires to be by them loved again hath put something of himself in all the creatures he hath appointed to serve us that which way soever we turn our eyes we might be put in mind of him he hath stamped his name in more or less legible Characters upon all the goods and utensils of this his great house the world wherein he hath placed us And now shall we do like a simple child who turning his back upon his father should look and smile on his picture and caress it and wait upon it and ask it blessing while he slights the original So absurd a thing would be counted madness and move pity or laughter but when we act the same folly in loving the world while we despise God we are highly criminal and we highly provoke our heavenly Father thus to return to him contempt and disobedience for the gracious tokens of his love From hence it follows that as we should