These hinder men from going on from virtue to virtue and like a Moth eate away the beauty and splendour of their virtues Indeed while you go on in these little sins you cannot rationally suppose that your Names are written among the Candidates of Heaven for Conversion makes the Soul cautious even of the appearance of sin and he is yet a stranger to the work of Grace that hath not learn'd to avoid the occasions of evil and he certainly begins at the wrong end that begins to subdue his obduracy and hardness in sin by suppressing the outward act for it is the evil thought that causes delight delight consent consent action action habit habit custom custom perseverance and perseverance hardness therefore he that means to crush the corruption must begin at the little sin the evil thought or else he doth but beat the air and like the Boy in the story that thought to pour out the Sea into a Nut-shell attempt impossibilities Christians The Day will come when every thing shall be call'd by its proper name and O how will you be surpriz'd when the sins you look'd upon as inconsiderable and unworthy of your deep repentance and circumspection shall be represented in Magnifying Glasses and appear as they are indeed dreadful and terrible Wo to them that call evil good and good evil saith God Esay 5. 20. a threatning pronounced not only against such as give Virtue the name of Vice and Vice the name of Virtue but such also as make of great sins little ones and of little ones none at all This was the trade of the Pharisees and what serious Man can read the Judgments denounc'd against them by the Son of God and not be afraid of being guilty of their Errour Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked Men and touch nothing of theirs lest ye be consumed in all their sins cry'd Moses to the Children of Israel in the case of Korah Numb 16. 26. A Watch-Word I may give unto every one of you Do you know what terrour what anguish what plagues our Great Master hath threatned the Pharisees for their disregarding of little sins and will you participate of their ruine Come Christians believe the Word of God before your deceitful hearts That will tell you what is offensive to God and shew you that even the least sin deserves tears more than laughter and sorrow more than mirth and divertisement That will tell you that even these Children of Edom must be dasht against the stones if you would have peace within and that as dead Flies cause the Ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour so doth a little Folly him that is in reputation for Wisdom and Honour Eccles. 10. 1. That will tell you that a little Leaven leavens the whole lump and the only way not to be under a temptation of sitting down in the scorners Chair is not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly And to this purpose Barlaam in Damascene advises his Convert Josaphat Before all things in this exercise thy self even in the sedulous destruction of all thy evil thoughts that nobler conceptions may enter into thy mind and thy Soul may become a habitation of the Holy Ghost for from thoughts we come to actions and whatever work we undertake it hath its rise in our minds and as small as its beginning seems to be by degrees it grows bigger and by silent steps swells to a vast magnitude And for this cause let no evil custom exercise dominion over thee but while the shrub of sin is young and tender pull up the little root lest being grown strong and lusty it be past thy skill to eradicate it for from hence it is that greater sins get access to our hearts because we apply no early remedy to the lesser errours such as are roving thoughts immodest speeches and evil conferences and as it is in wounded Bodies if the slighter hurts and bruises be neglected the wound festers and gathers corruption and many times brings on death and excessive torments so he that 's careless of little sins calls for greater to attend him Christians There is not one Soul in Heaven now but what watch'd against such little sins when they sojourned here and if they did not mind them for some time yet they were forced to repent of them and to subdue and leave them before ever they saw the face of God in Glory If this Heaven be worth your care if this Glory be worth your pains if this Everlasting Rest be worth your endeavours O say not of any sin as Lot of Zoar Is it not a little one and my Soul shall live You may as well say I will break my Neck a little and I will cut my Throat a little and I will burn my self in Hell a little as harbour the smallest sin O Tremble at any thing that looks like it Beware of these Foxes these little Foxes that spoil the Vines Trust not these Vermin but destroy them utterly This is the way to keep your Garments white and to fit your selves for the Wedding of the Lamb and for those Mansions at which no unclear thing must enter Learn to die to the World for it 's your fondness to that which blinds you dulls you darkens your Understanding and perverts your Affections raises clouds and mists before your eyes that you cannot see your duty or your sins and eclipses the light of your minds that you can see nothing but grosser offences if you would have that Sun shine out clearly you must not suffer this Moon to interpose between your sight and it This Moon is your love to the World which will put other constructions other interpretations on your sins than your naked Reason would do Set the Goodness of God before you Reflect much on his Favours Ruminate upon his Mercies The Divine Goodness is of a melting constraining nature and the more lively you represent it to your minds the more it will compel you to part even with the least transgression Fancy you hear God pleading with you Sinner What Iniquity hast thou found in me Thou owest thy Life and Being to me and all the Blessings thou hast are mine Canst thou be so unkind so inhumane so ingrateful as not to crucifie so small a sin for my sake If I should withdraw my presence from thee take away all I have given thee wouldst not thou complain and mourn But what mean these Provocations Why dost thou compel me to cast thee off Look back and see whom thou dost offend by these thou callest little sins It is thy greatest Benefactor and is not he worth pleasing that hath greater things in store to bestow upon thee if the favours he hath already showred down upon thee can make thee intirely his Think you hear such a Voice behind you Compare your losses with your gains Your little sins are commonly your gainful sins they are sins wherein your carnal ease and
day long he abstain'd from Meat and drink and being hungry at night would not suffer his Servants to set either Bread or Wine or any curious dishes upon his Table but caused some Coleworts and common Herbs of the Field macerated for some days in Vinegar to be brought up to him and of these he did eat and his drink was water nor did he eat of this Food to satiety but having tasted a little would give over again scarce taking so much as would suffice nature 3. And having laid down these Rules my Reader will suppose that I would not have mentioned them but with an intent to exhort him to the frequent use of this holy Abstinence the third particular I promised to offer to your consideration The Grecians at this day scarce take us who call our selves Protestants for Christians because we fast so little thinking it impossible to be followers of the Primitive Church and not to imitate them in this Exercise The truth is it is a thing so â—iâ—tle practised among us except it be now and then when we are put upon 't by the Magistrate in some imminent danger that he that knows any thing of the antient Church may wonder how we come to leave out so considerable a part of devotion Fasting hath got so ill a reputation among us because the Roman Church hath miserably perverted the use of it that the generality are afraid to venture upon it for fear they should be guilty with Lot's Wife of looking back towards Sodom from which they are escaped But most certainly this Exercise is a Christian Exercise in despight of all those abuses and was practised in the antient Church as surely as the present Church of Rome is departed from that antient way of holiness Go through the whole Nation you will not see one Family in twenty set themselves to seek the Lord by a solemn Fast through the whole year and I dare say there are thousands that never heard or considered that it was their duty Gluttony and Luxury and Eating and Drinking heartily are made such necessary attendants of Mens lives that they think should they fast one whole day and spend the whole day in Confessions and Prayers they should certainly die at night It 's a sign they have a high esteem for Religion all this while sure they do not think their Souls worth any thing that do not or will not refresh them now and then by such Abstinence for the Soul never feeds better than when the Body fasts Hear this ye drowsie lazy careless Christians what do you call your selves Christians for if you will not do as the antient Christians did What made the first Planters of the Christian Religion fast so often if they had not apprehended it exceeding necessary Were they Fools for doing so or if they had not judged it highly expedient would they have been so weak as to have made it their most frequent Exercise Can you think that Gods Spirit will ever visit you while you mind nothing so much as your Belly Is fullness of Bread the way to be fill'd with the Holy Ghost Do you ever hope to overcome the Lusts of the Flesh without this Exercise Do you think your evil desires will ever die without you chastise them by fasting into better manners Do you think the World and its Glories will ever become contemptible in your eyes if by such Abstinence now and then you do not learn to despise it Do you think you will ever become eminent Saints while you are all for eating and drinking Hath God denied himself so far as to deliver up his Son for you and cannot you deny your selves in a little Meat and drink for his sake that you may take his death and passion into greater consideration Do you think God is so fond of you that he 'll make you partakers of the Divine Nature while you know not what denying the Body means Do you think you will ever get any great portion of Grace while you think much of attending the Lord in such mortifications Do you think your minds will ever pierce into the Mysteries of Gods love without such Humiliations Do you think you will ever be admitted to those high degrees of Gods favour that the Saints of old arriv'd to without such abasement Do you think your eyes will ever be as clear as theirs while your Fasts are not as strict as theirs Do you think you will ever feel that joy they felt without such preparatives To add some other Motives and encouraging Arguments 1. By eating we were lost and by fasting we must recover Had Eve fasted and abstained from the forbidden Tree fasting would have been needless and superfluous now and if fasting was necessary in Paradice shall it not be more needful now Of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat said God Gen. 2. 17. If the Medicine was wholesome before we were sick how much more wholesome must it be now we are so Was it expedient before our Lusts were in Rebellion against our Reason And shall it not be more expedient now that they war against the Soul Had Adam hearkn'd to this Voice of God he had never heard that more dreadful word Earth thou art and to Earth shalt thou return It was want of fasting brought death and trouble and anguish into the World and if things are cured by contraries hot things by cold and cold by hot that first Luxury had need be expiated and cured by Abstinence 2. Fasting thus we imitate the Holy Angels they eat not they drink not and yet they praise God day and night they have indeed Bread to eat but that Bread is no other but the light of Gods countenance which continually feeds and nourishes them into the highest happiness When I say we imitate them I press no such imitation as that Monk pretended to that would needs live like the Angels of God and went into a barren Wilderness taking no provision with him believing that God would feed him without a Metaphor with Angels Food but finding after a few days that for want of convenient Food he was ready to faint and die away he returned to his friends again and one of them hearing him knock and calling open the door for I am such a one It 's impossible said his friend for such a one is become an Angel if thou art an Angel what dost thou stand knocking here for But he continued knocking confested his weakness and begg'd of him to let him in and give him somewhat to support nature and that he might recover strength I mean no such imitation but as fasting makes our Souls fly up more vigorously to Heaven and fits us for divine contemplations and heavenly meditations so far we may be said in this Exercise to imitate those blessed Spirits whose contemplations of the divine goodness are always sprightly and ravishing 3. Frequent fasting is that which will preserve health and life better than
had so well deserved at the hands of God by his Righteousness and severity of Life that if he had been so minded he could have Redeemed all the Men and Women that should be born after him from the everlasting Wrath of God and if his Son Eleazer should but join the Merits of his Righteousness with his they might go near to save the whole World from being condemned in the last day This is Bedlam-talk and yet it were to be wish'd that the Church of Rome did not participate of this madness when they talk of the Treasury of their Church the Merits of their Saints and their Works of Super-errogation whereby they free many Souls out of Purgatory and how such a wicked Man wrapt up in a Monks Habit at his death hath been immediately transported into Heaven c. One would admire how men in their Wits can talk at this Rate but that I see even David could feign himself mad at the Court of Achish for his Interest and then no marvel if these Men finding what grist this Doctrine of Merits brings to their Mill venture to be extravagant in their expressions concerning it II. Whenever these severities are used they must not be used to give God satisfaction for the sins we have committed To give God satisfaction by any thing but the Cross and death of Christ is an expression which should sound harsh in a Christian Ear and be banish'd from the confines of Divinity Here the Church of Rome exceeds and deviates again from the Primitive Rule and while they look upon these severities as satisfactions given to God for the guilt of the temporal punishment that remains after remission of sins they seem to follow no Rule but that of their own fancy for the Scripture is a Stranger to this notion of satisfaction and though David and other Saints have used these severities yet we never read that they intended them as satisfactions to God whom they had offended but had other ends in them such as we shall name as we go along It 's not to be denied but that the Fathers use the word satisfaction often when they discourse of such mortifications but by those satisfactions they do not mean satisfactions given to an offended God but to the Church and the People of God as signs whereby our fellow-Christians may conclude that our Repentance is real and free from Hypocrisie Nor III. Must they be used in hopes that God will dispence with our sins for the future much less that he will pass by those that we have committed without sincere repentance meerly for these severities Alas it's easier to punish the Body than to leave a sin and while the Sinner can enjoy his Lusts what need he care if for a day or two he is a little rigid and unkind to his Flesh that unkindness will quickly wear out again and the body fitted for commission of new offences God doth not value these severities at this rate a penitent heart is more pleasing to him than a thousand Lashes and a Soul that grieves for offending a Gracious God looks lovelier in his eyes than a bloody Side or the imaginary Wounds of S t Francis He that thinks that God will let him sin because he whipt himself on such a day takes God for some Heathen Deity and indeed to lay a greater stress upon afflicting the Body then upon forsaking of sin is to contradict that notion the Holy Ghost delivers of God that he must be worship'd in spirit and in truth Nor IV. Must they be used with an unwilling mind where the inward repentance of the Soul makes the Will resolute in the use of them they may pass for excellent Offerings but being performed by force or meerly because a Superiour commands them this evacuates the virtue of the affliction Hence those among the Papists that either suffer themselves to be hired to perform the Ceremony of Self-affliction on Good-Friday or being once engaged in such an Order use them not out of any sense of Sin within but because the Rule of their Order doth oblige them to it whatever Conceits they may entertain of the Opus operatum or Work it self God still looking to the spring from which all these mortifications flow they prevail no more than the Indians going to Church meerly because their Masters force them prevail with him to send his Spirit into their Hearts crying Abba Father Nor V. Is it fit that weak or sickly persons should use them Though many Christians in the Primitive times would thus afflict themselves notwithstanding their bodily infirmities yet we find 1 Tim. 5. 23. that in these cases men must use moderation The Body being disabled I do not see how the Soul can perform those noble Operations she is other wise capable of no more than a Workman whose tools are nought can promise you an excellent piece of Manufacture The Body is a Servant of the Soul and we know if our Servants be out of order our Work must be left undone Strong and healthy Bodies will bear it better and if they loose something of their florid complexion there is no great hurt done Mortification to some Bodies would be a preservative of health and such voluntary afflictions would spend many of those superfluous humours that disorder them In all these severities men must be their own Physitians and consider what their Bodies are able to bear and what they are not And yet lazmess and softness of life and love to Carnal ease must not make us pretend that our Bodies will not bear them This is best known after we have had experience and when we foresee a signal danger it will then be time to forbear them Our Bodies are able to endure a great deal more than we are willing to believe and the reason why people are weary of any thing that 's irksome to Flesh and Blood is because they lie buried in Lust and Sensuality He that is weak already had not need make himself weaker than he is and Sickness is for the present severity enough to subdue in us all disorderly Affections and in these Cases it 's infallibly true what the Apostle saith that bodily exercise prosits little 1 Tim. 4. 8. And as these severities are not fit to be used by sickly and weakly persons so neither must they be used by the Strong to the distervice of their Souls In a word the Body must not be used so coursly as to make it useless to the Soul and therefore the Saints of old observ'd most truly that our Bodies are like Garments if you take care of them they will last a great while but if they be totally neglected they will wear out in a very short time To mortifie the Body is one thing to kill it is another and he that would not be guilty of Self-murder must not be too lavish in these severities It was a good answer of S t Anthony the Hermit to a Huntsman that had
Commands and though what I have 〈…〉 not so much a Translation a◠a Paraphrase and the Liberty I have taken to resect some things that were needless and to add here and there some passages out of ancient Authors as were proper and necessary seem to be bold and unusual yet as it is you have it and I was the more willing to let it go abroad in company of this Book because it may serve to illustrate some passages in the Exercises I have been describing It is in a manner impossible to consider the first beginning and original of the Church and to reflect on the Cradle as it were and Swadling Cloaths of that Body whereof we are Members without speaking something like Paradoxes and Mysteries The first Christians though newly Born yet there is nothing to be seen in them that 's any way Childish or so mean as to offend a Judicious Eye or unworthy of the esteem and approbation of the gravest Philosopher and the Church in that Age though an Infant yet from it's Birth was so lusty and vigorous that though like Hercules it never crush'd Snakes and Vipers in its Cradle yet its Attempts and Enterprizes were more Masculine for it conquer'd Tygers Lyons and what is worse Fire and Flames and the sharpest Torments It knew nothing of the infirmities and weaknesses of a tender Age but did in its Youth things becoming the seriousness and sobriety of the oldest Men. And though its growth was prodigious and its Merits encreased with its Years yet even upon its first entring into the World its bigness and vastness seemed to vie with that of the Earth for it introduced a new World into the Universe Such was the Beginning and first Institution of the Christian Church that in it we find Men who voluntarily became little Children Children who in Wisdom exceeded Patriarks Virgins who had the Prudence and Gravity of Matrons and Matrons endowed with Virginal Modesty Chastity Men of gray Hairs and old in Years but Children in Malice Pride and Ambition and it was hard to say which were the Old and which the Young Disciples for the younger sort strove to equal if not exceed the elder in Devotion Holiness was their Ornament and Men were counted Great as they arriv'd to high Degrees of Piety and the more Religious any Man was the greater Majesty and Respect he was thought worthy of The Light they came attended withall fill'd the World as the Sun doth the Universe which comes forth from its Eastern Conclave and presently diffuses and spreads its Light over all the surface of our Hemisphere So soon did the World feel the influences and operations of these new Stars and were forced to acknowledge their Divine Power and Virtue for they pressed through the Chaos Mankind lay in as Souls do pierce through Bodies and the Life Sense and Understanding they taught them was wholly New so different from what was in the World before that Men gaz'd at the Spectacle and lost themselves in the Admiration What advantages the Soul can be supposed to give the Body the same did the first Christians afford to the benighted World and whatever inconveniencies the Body puts the Soul to the same did the besotted World bring upon the first Christians for as the Soul tenders the Bodies Welfare so did they the Worlds as the Soul directs the Body to do things rational so did they the World as the Soul restrains the Body from doing mischief to it self so did they the World and as the Soul makes the Members of the Body Instruments of Righteousness so did they attempt to reform the deluded World into Holiness On the other side as the Body afflicteth the Soul so did the World persecute those first Christians as the Body makes the Soul live uneasie so did they incommode these excellent Men as the Body puts ill Constructions on the actions and admonitions of the Soul so the World did put the same on theirs and as the Body seems to long for nothing so much as the ruine of the Soul so the destruction of those Saints was the great thing the World then did aim at Of such Persons was this Church made up who had not their original out of the Brain of Jupiter as the Poets fable of Minerva but from the Bloody and Wounded Side of the Crucified JESUS The Water and Blood which flowed from those Wounds was that which gave them Being and though their Principle was Water yet it had this Virtue that it made them all fiery and fill'd them with Zeal and Holy Flames and as in the beginning of the Gospel their Lord and Master was born of a Woman without a Man so came they from a Man without a Woman and the Miracle of their Birth was in a manner as great as their Masters for the Holy Ghost that impregnated the Blessed Virgin baptized them too and the same Spirit that raised the Mighty JESUS from his Grave quickned their Mortal Bodies and transformed them into new Creatures They were a Commonwealth made up of Great and Low of Rulers and Underlings of Governors and Subjects and yet nothing was more hard than to distinguish one from the other for whatever the difference might be they esteemed one another equal and by their carriage one would have concluded that they had been all of the same degree and condition Their Pastors and chief Men were more known by their Munificence and Good Deeds than by their Coats of Arms or Splendor of their Offices They seemed to be all of the same Kindred for the Aged they honoured as Fathers and the Youths they tendred as their Children Those of the same Age call'd one another Brethren and these were the names they gave one another and in these Titles they gloried more than Men now-days do in the lofty Epithets of Duke Earl Baron Knight or Gentleman You might see amongst them abundance of Mothers that never had any Children and Virgins took care of innocent Babes as if they had been Mothers No Family complained of Barrenness or Unfruitfulness for they never wanted Children to provide for and those that had none of their own would be sure to find some to take care of None wanted Paternal Care while so many Fathers studied to do good and Men were readier to Give than others were to Ask and seemed to be sorrowful if they had not Objects upon which they might exercise a Paternal Charity There was hardly a Widow among them that complained of Solitariness or sought Comfort in a second Husband and second Marriage was counted little better than Adultery Their Widows were the same that they were whil'st their Husbands lived and finding that upon their Husbands death they were become Sisters of many Brethren they aimed at no other Contract but that with Christ who if they were found wothy would as they thought marry them at last to the Service of the Church where they might exercise that Maternal Care to the Poor and
exceeding strict and they so emaciated their Bodies by these rigors that their Faintness Weariness and Sackcloth and Ashes seem'd to force Heaven to Pity and Compassion In short whatever was Voluptuous they hated and look'd upon as unsuitable to the Crucified JESUS and so improper for that perfect Wisdom they aimed at that they proscribed it as an Enemy and shunned it like the rankest Poison and admitted no more of it but what was just necessary for the support of that Life the Great Creator had given them to spend to his Glory And though they never had studied Pythagoras yet both their Faith and Reason told them that as the Body waxes stronger by the death of the Soul so the Soul becomes more valiant and lively by the death of the Body This made them Conquerors of those Pleasures of the Flesh which in all Ages have weakned the bravest Men into Women melted Hearts of Iron and conquered the greatest Conquerors of the World To suppress such satisfactions of the Flesh they were so watchful so couragious so magnanimous that they seemed Angels more than Men and were actually nearer to God to whom they lived than to the World in which they lived In their lives Chast and Modest in their Married estate Moderate and Holy and not a Man came near his Wife after he perceived or had notice that she was with Child till she was deliver'd and even then when they came together their thoughts were so innocent that they proposed no other end but Procreation of Children to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord. In the very Works of their Calling they would sing of Christ and converse with Spiritual Objects even in their Sleep and Dreams and consequently were always ready for Prayer and holy Ejaculations so addicted to the love of Goodness that they could not endure a vitious Person and if they met with any such in their Assemblies did thrust him out from their Communion and made it Criminal for any Christian either to Eat or Drink or Converse or Talk or keep Company with him They took particular notice of him who taught any thing contrary to the Doctrine of their Pastors and no Plague-sore was shunn'd more than a new up-start Principle If they heard any thing contrary to the Faith deliver'd to the Saints they either stopt their Ears or made haste to be gone from the place the dangerous Tenet was publish'd in New Fangles were that which their Teachers seriously warned them against and the great Character of Heresie was that the Doctrine was New and unknown to the Apostles To continue this Purity of Doctrine in their Church their custom was to read the Scripture and to hear it explain'd by their Pastors in publick Congregations and though they read it at home yet they were fearful to explain any thing but what they had heard their Pastors explain in publick before and according to their Expositions they understood those Oracles It was a very common thing in those days both for Laymen and Clergymen to learn the Bible without Book and many of them had the Word so ready that nothing could befal them but they had a Plaister or Medicine ready from that inexhaustible Treasury From hence their Souls got more than ordinary strength and nourishment and their Minds receiv'd that vivacity and quickness that it gave life even to their Bodies starved almost through Watching Fasting and other voluntary Penalties Of their Teachers they were so observant that without them they would begin nothing and go no where without their Letters of Recommendation Without their Advice they would not Marry nor do any thing considerable in their Civil Affairs without asking their Counsel Approbation for they looked upon them as their Fathers and as Religion had made them so so they thought the obligation to consult them upon all occasions was the stronger These they received into their Houses as the Saints of old did Angels with Joy and Trembling and whenever they met them though upon the Road or in the Streets they would fall down and kiss their Feet and refuse to rise till they had given them their Blessing and Benediction to which Blessing they said Amen and rose again and so parted with a Kiss They thought it no small happiness to lodge their Pastors at their Houses for when they had them they believed they had got some good Spirit in their Houses and with them they pray'd and hop'd that now their Prayers could not miscarry when joined with the Incense of those who had so often moved God to be merciful to a whole Congregation For this reason they were desirous to entertain Pious men in general to do them good and to relieve them as they did their Domesticks for they thought the presence of such Men a Blessing to their Families and a Protection from innumerable Evils that might otherwise befal them From the Unity and Peaceableness of their Teachers it was that the Christians then though very numerous continued unanimous in the Primitive Doctrine and Discipline and though the several Assemblies might differ in Rites and Ceremonies yet the mighty love they bore one to another constrain'd them to over-look those differences and though they varied in some outward Acts of Worship yet their Affections were so strongly glewed together that nothing but death could break the League or AAmity If one Neighbour chanced to quarrel with another and they broke forth into Contention and Enmity they were so long excluded from the Prayers of the Assembly till they had cordially reconciled themselves one to the other This punishment was then thought great and grievous and Men were so uneasie under these Excommunications that the fear of them kept them from Animosities and rather than undergo such Censures would suffer themselves to be defrauded and when they were beaten would not beat again when reviled would not revile again and when abused would not abuse again nay look upon an unjust Calumny as a piece of Martyrdom and therefore bear it undauntedly Those that knew themselves guilty of a great Sin durst not appear in the publick and they that were fallen into any notorious Errors durst not so much profane the Prayers of the Church as to appear there with the rest of the Assembly So great was the dread of Gods Majesty in those days that even a desperate Offendor was afraid of taking Gods Covenant in his Mouth while he hated to be reformed Their meeting or coming together to Pray they esteemed a thing so Sacred that no Frowns no Thunders no Threatnings of Tyrants could make them forbear and being Conscious of their innocence they justly thought their enemies might by their Authority forbid but could not with any colour of Reason prohibit their Assemblies This made them flock to their Oratories though it was death to go and Parents with their Children would run though the next news they were like to hear was Christianos ad Leones Throw those Dogs to the
of God not only naturally and born so but bought with a Price and therefore have nothing to do with disposing of our selves but are entirely at his Devotion and Will who bought us for that purpose Except we do so we are Rebels and slight the vast Love that condescended and stooped to make us happy and we mistake the nature of our Being and the end of the Gospel if we think we may do what we have a mind to Nor doth this make us Slaves but perfect Freemen and we are never so much at liberty than when we chearfully go on from one Virtue to another The Truth certainly makes us Free and the Soul doth but lie shackled and a Prisoner till its Wings serve her to mount up by Contemplation to the Regions of Glory It is then freest when like the Bee it can fly from one Flower of Grace unto another and when it can nimbly run in the way of Gods Commands it may then be truly said to have thrown away its Chains and Manacles This made Paul and Silas Free when Bound and under Custody and their joyful Hallelujahs in a Dungeon proclaimed their Liberty to be equal to that of Angels Till we learn to exercise our selves unto Godliness we are Slaves though clad in Purple and pittiful Vassals though deck'd and adorn'd with the richest Oriental Pearls Godliness must make us Kings and if ever we inherit the Crown of Glory this is it must set it on our Heads The Kings Daughter is all Glorious within and his Eyes behold the Upright The Furniture God likes is good Works and Devotion the Trappings he delights to look upon No Jewels so amiable in his Eye as the Graces of a holy Soul and her Virtues are the only embroidery he is pleased with Her breathings and Pantings after a Crucified Redeemer are the fine Linnen he loves to see her in and her hunger and thirst after Righteousness the Silks and glorious Garb which he opens the Windows of Heaven to behold This Vesture like the Israelites Garments in the Wilderness never decays and no wonder for it is so like the Garb Men wear in Heaven that all the difference is only this that the Coelestial exceeds this in Perfection the Ground is the same but the Gloss of that above is more dazling and less subject to spots and infirmities When will the dull World learn this Truth When will poor unconverted Sinners be convinced of their gross Mistakes When will they see the Charms that are in Godliness and fall in love with it When will they believe our report and think that we are the best Friends they have Can nothing open your Eyes but Hell Can nothing move you but Viols of Wrath Can nothing prevail with you but a consuming Fire Shall this World delude you Shall your Flesh beguile you Shall a few Lusts blind you Will nothing make you wise but experience of Gods Indignation Will you count that Godliness your shame which the Saints of old did esteem their glory Are you afraid of your own Bliss Are you afraid of the love of God Doth Gods willingness to receive you fright you Are his embraces such dreadful things that you shun them Are his Smiles odious Do his Courtships strike terror Are you loath to converse with infinite Beauty Can the Creature be more lovely than the Creator Can the Stream be more pleasant than the Fountain Can sublunary Objects afford any comfort and is it possible that he that made those comforts should not yield far greater satisfaction Have you drudged so long in the Devils Service and are not you weary yet Have you minded your Bodies so long and do not you think it time yet to prevent the ruine of your Souls O Jerusalem wilt not thou be clean When shall it once be When shall the Ark be set up When shall Dagon fall When shall the Spices flow When shall the Fig-tree blossom When shall the Vine put forth her tender Grapes Wisdom hath builded her House she hath hewen out her seven Pillars she hath kill'd her Beasts she hath mingled her Wine she hath also furnished her Table she hath sent forth her Maidens she cryeth upon the highest places of the City whoso is simple let him turn in hither as for him that wants understanding she saith to him Come eat of my Bread and drink of the Wine which I have mingled Forsake the foolish and live and go in the way of Understanding Prov. 9. 1 7. THE CONTENTS The Ordinary Exercises of Godliness I. TO Pray Always II. Every Morning to resolve to tye our selves to certain Rules of living that Day III. Every Day to spend Half an hour or some such time in thinking of Good things IV. To study deep Humility V. To bridle our Tongues VI. To watch against little Sins VII To keep a strict Guard over our Eyes VIII To make good use of the Virtues and Vices of our Neighbours IX To put a charitable interpretation upon what we see or hear X. Conscientiously to discharge the Duties of our several Callings and Relations XI To resist all sorts of Temptations XII To stand in awe of God when we are alone and no Creatture sees us XIII To do all things to Gods Glory XIV To stir up and exercise the Graces God hath given us XV. Every night before we go to Bed to call our selves to an Account for the Actions of the Day The Extraordinary Exercises of Godliness I TO enter into solemn Vows and Promises II. To subdue the Body by Fasting III. To use Watching or Abstinence from Sleep IV. To apply our Selves to Self-revenge ERRATA PAg. 70. l. 10. r. is p. 78 l. 8. r. wherever p. 116. l. 20. r. In the Holy Ghost p. 329. l. 1. r. later p. 329. in the Margent r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 336. in the Margent l. 3. r. Sixt. 4. p. 353. l. 5. r. Governours p. 424. l. 2. r. Homer p. 461. l. 13. r. Discretion p. 478. in the Margent l. 3. r. Fronto's p. 348. l. 27. r. Constantius p. 344. l. 6. r. dispence with an Oath and not with a Vow p. 394. in the Margent l. 8. r. loc cit p. 415. l. 25. r. his Devotions In the Hebrew words now and then the Letter ט is mistaken for מ and מ for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ז for ו and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Other Literal Faults the Reader may correct at his leisure The Best Exercise 1 TIM 4. 7. Exercise thy self rather unto Godliness THis Chapter is partly Prophetical partly Doctrinal partly foretelling what would come to pass in the last days partly intimating what work a Man who looks for another life hath to do while he sojourns on this side Heaven In the Prophetick part he acquaints his Trusty Disciple the Bishop of Ephesus with the strange degeneracy and corruption of Religion that would ensue in after-Ages when he should be dead and gone how Men under a
face of Him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb How all things then will look with another face How the humble self-denying Christian that is now the hissing and off-scouring of the world will then be exalted above all Heavens and seated in the same Throne with the Son of God and how all those mighty nothings that scorn and laugh now at the Religious Soul will tremble in that day like an Aspen leaf and wish that they had consider'd the things which belong'd to their everlasting Peace while the Candle of the Lord shined over their heads and God caressed them to their happiness On Tuesday we may take God's various Mercies and Providences into serious consideration What preservations What deliverances we have met withal What care God hath taken of us from time to time how he hath been with us when we have gone through the Water and when we have passed through the Fire hath commanded the Flames not to kindle upon us How ready he hath been to assist us in the fiery Furnace How miraculously he hath appeared in our rescue when the Figtree hath not blossom'd when there hath been no Fruit in the Vine and when the labour of the Olive hath failed and when all Creature-comforts have failed how often he hath been our strength and our portion our refuge and our hiding place How kind he hath been in causing us to be born in a Christian Countrey and in a Religion free from those gross errors and superstitions that other nominal Christians do sink into What a mercy his Word his Gospel and all his Laws and Revelations are What assistance what Comfort what checks of Conscience what motions of Gods Spirit we have found and how God hath done more for us than we have been able to think or to express On Wednesday we may take a view of our Death and the hour of our departure out of this World How certain Death is how frail our Lives how soon this frame may be dissolved how easy a thing dispatches us how the approaches of Death have made the stoutest sinner tremble how dreadful and terrible it will be to those who have set their Heart upon the Riches and Pleasures of this World how wise a thing it is to prepare for it before the evil days come how joyful it will be if it find us prepared for the stroke and prepared for that life we must enter into when we quit this present how welcome Death is to a Holy Soul how cheerfully a Pious man can say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace how upon our death there depends Eternity how foolish it is to slight Grace and Mercy till death forces us to embrace and wish for it how Death will marr our Beauty deface our Glory and lay all our grandeur in the dust how Death is the birth-day of a sincere Believer brings him into a new world a world of joys and endless satisfactions and is to him an entrance into Paradice a door into the Garden of Eden where no good shall be absent and no evil present On Thursday we may Piously survey the Torments of Hell how just they are how great they are how terrible they are how the unhappy Prisoners there roar for a drop of Water to cool their burning Tongues how they lie tormented in those Flames wishing in vain for some Glorified Spirit to relieve them for some comfort from the Mansions of Glory to drop down upon them what howling what gnashing of Teeth there is in that outward Darkness how Men there gnaw their Tongues for pain and Blaspheme the God of Heaven because of their Sores and Anguish how endless those Calamities are how glad those wretched Captives would be if there might be hope of their deliverance after some Millions of Ages how many that have made a Jest of these Torments have felt them in good earnest and those that have disputed the Justice of God in inflicting them have to their cost found that there is no playing with a Consuming Fire how Men in that Tophet wish when it is too late that they had bethought themselves and submitted themselves betimes to Christ's Government before those evil days had come upon them how easie every Precept of the Gospel will then seem to them how all Pretences of Difficulty and Impossibility will vanish when they shall lie upon the Wrack and find by sad Experience that it was easier to deny themselves in their Sinful Pleasures and easier to Watch over their Hearts then to endure such Agonies On Fryday we may cast our eyes upon the Passion and Death of Christ how he was Mock'd Derided Crown'd with Thorns and Crucified to purchase an Eternal Redemption for us What a wonderful Love it was to suffer all this for Enemies that they might be reconciled to God and become his Friends What a dreadful spectacle it was to see Infinite Majesty Annihilated Infinite Beauty Defaced Infinite Happiness Tormented and Eternity Dying and droping into the Grave What Patience what Meekness what Submission what Gentleness he expressed under all those Injuries to shew us an Example and to oblige us to follow his steps How heavy the burthen of our Sins was that could make the Son of God cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me What a mighty Argument that Love is to Love him Fervently How Inexcusable that Man makes himself that believes this Love and yet will not be perswaded by it to obey and conforme himself to his Will How mysterious this Love is that the Sinner should Transgress and the Righteous be Punished for him That the Innocent should suffer for the Nocent the Judge for the Malefactor the Master for the Servant God for Man What Ingratitude it must be to trample on the Blood of Christ or to put him to open shame again or to make light of Salvation when God hath Purchased it at so dear a rate how by his Death we Live by his Stripes we are heal'd by his Wounds we are cured by his Reproaches we are advanced to Glory and by his being made a Curse for us we escape the Curse of the Law How after so much Charity we have all the reason in the world to prize him and to count all things dross and dung in comparison of him to delight in him to love him to prefer him before the World and to follow the Lamb whethersoever he goes On Saturday we may lay our sins before us when and where and how often and how long and how wilfully we have rebell'd against our best and greatest friend What Light we have resisted What motions of God's Spirit we have slighted What checks of Conscience and convictions we have smother'd What exhortations and admonitions we have baffl'd What we have done against the First Table What against the Second What against God and what against our Neighbour How we have mispent our time and trifled away our precious hours How vile how
There is no dallying with such objects To see whether I am able to resist the Temptation is to sin for Tryals sake and he is certainly safer that looks another way Our greatest wisdom is to suspect our own frailty and the best way to keep Sin out of the Mind is to keep it out of the Eyes What sin we have formerly fallen into we may fall into again and he that knows not but he may had best put himself out of all danger and that is by not looking upon the enticing object and though it is not necessary to run away from it in great fury as Paulus in Cassian did from the sight of a Woman yet it 's expedient to get as fast as we can from the confines of that Fire which is so apt to put our passions into a Fever 3. In checking the least disorder which our Seeing may cause in our Minds and Passions It 's possible we may be surpriz'd and the object we behold unawares may dart a covetous or envious or lascivious thought into our minds and that spark may fall upon the passions but here the poison must be presently vomited up again and the seed of evil dissipated and our Souls clear'd of the dangerous guest the sudden thought drown'd in the waters of Repentance and greater cautiousness for the future must be used and the Child thus burnt must learn to dread the fire where this is neglected and men are careless of this Exercise their Souls are in danger of being consumed for those sparks if let alone will soon put all into a doleful conflagration so necessary is it to resist the beginnings of these impurer steams and exhalations and the Vipers bite can do no great harm if something be applyed presently to stop the inflammation The first disorder is soon check'd when the greater tumult cannot be quell'd or allay'd but with very great pains and difficulty 4. In making greater use of the eyes of our Minds than those of our Bodies Matth 6. 22. When St. Anthony the Hermit had a mind to comfort the Excellent but blind Dydimus of Alexandria he thus addressed himself to him Let it not trouble thee that thou hast lost thy outward or carnal eyes for in being deprived of them thou wantest only such eyes as Mice and Flies and Lizzards have but rejoyce that thou hast Eyes of Angels whereby God is seen and a vast light of knowledge is kindled in thy Soul Indeed were these Eyes but exercised more those of the Body would have no such evil influence upon the Soul The intellectual Eye looks beyond the Clouds transcends the Sky and sees through all the Mists and Foggs of this present World into Eternity This beholds the satisfactions of another World and surveys the Treasure God hath laid up for them that fear him This sees the goodness of God and causes otherguise Delights than the Butterflies and Glow-worms of earthly Glories do This looks up to the everlasting Hills and as the Eyes of Servants look unto the hands of their Masters and as the Eyes of a Maiden look unto the hand of her Mistriss so this waites upon the King of Heaven till he is pleased to answer in the still voice of Love and Mercy This scorns to stoop so low as to see what Swine and Moles do here on earth and takes a view of Gods Paradise and of the blessed Shades under which the Heirs of Glory rest without Disturbance or Molestation and he that sees with this eye opens this often and delights to behold objects suitable and agreeable to its sublime and wonderful Fabrick doth stupifie the pleasures his corporal eyes suggest and so qualifies them that they make no more impression than Arrows shot against a brazen Wall or Fortress made of Iron In these particulars this Exercise consists and this is it we press upon you this is it we exhort you to and intreat you to employ your selves in as you would not bear the name of Christians in vain We do not bid you with Eusebius in Theodoret to shut your eyes against the Flowers of the Field or against the Stars of Heaven and to put weights of Iron about your Necks to keep your Eyes fixed upon the ground we do not perswade you with Pachomius so to tye your selves up from the sight of all Mankind as not to look upon so near a Relation as a Sister Simeon Stylita and Theodorus would not see their own Mothers John the Hermit for Fifty years together saw none of the Female Sex one Sarah lived Threescore years by a River and never look'd upon it one Marcus saluted his Mother and one Pior his Sister with their eyes shut Sylvanus on Mount Sinai was so afraid of having his mind distracted with vain thoughts that he would not so much as look upon the Trees that grew in a Garden before him but such superstitious doings we do not set before you as patterns to imitate but the thing we would have you learn to be masters of is that modesty of the eyes that serious Look that care of your Senses that you may not look upon any thing that 's like to breed vain thoughts in your understanding your Eyes are Sacred things The Egyptians represented God by them and the Type should ever answer to the Antitype As God therefore is Holy so should the Eye be that represents him Would you know what makes your Mind so frothy and your Souls so weary of Gods Service Why your Eye is never weary of seeing objects that feed your sensuality What is it makes you so averse from reading Books that Treat of God and Happiness Why your eyes delighting so much in reading Romances and Play-Books What damps or dulls your admiration of Gods providences Why your eyes being so much taken with vain shews and representations What makes you that you are no more enamour'd with him that 's altogether lovely Why your eyes are so entirely fix'd on the Flesh and on the World How should you love that which you see but seldom How should you hunger and thirst after that which you care not how rarely you cast your eyes upon you fancy Religion doth not reach so far as the eyes and think that God hath given you eyes on purpose to look on all things that are visible you are not aware of the Serpent that lies in the Grass you look upon and all is harmless to you that comes within the verge of sight but these are not thoughts of Men that have learn'd Christ these are not reasonings of Men that have laid up their portion in another world this is the sense of Men that grovel in the Dust and know not what it means to walk after the Spirit your God that knows your frame would never have made a Law to regulate the Sight but that he knew that was the hole at which the Scorpions creep in that prey upon the Soul Stop up this Fountain and you need not fear
Accomplishments fall short of its Glory and he that hath it offers a more acceptable Sacrifice to God than he that kills the Cattle upon a Thousand Hills and lays them upon his Altar This is the Livery of the Citizens of Heaven and that which makes Saints and Angels so happy is their perfect Charity Our love to God is nothing but froth and smoak without it and he 'll never believe that we prize his favour while we are loath to venture on a duty he is so much in love with This makes a Man a living Man without this Religious Societies are no better than Hells as St. Jerom phrases it and the Inhabitants of Convents no better than Devils Put on Sackcloth tear your Flesh fast your selves to Death lie on the hard Ground walk in black pray whole days together without Charity you are not yet arriv'd to the Perfection of Apostolical Holiness X Exercise Conscientiously and faithfully to discharge the Duties of our several Relations Callings and Conditions an Exercise injoyn'd Ephes. 6. 1 2 3 4 5 9. Col. 3. 18 19 20 21 22. Col. 4. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 17 18. Tit. 2. 2 3 4 6 9. Hebr. 13. 17. 1 Tim. 3. 2 3 9 12. Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Let a Christian work never so hard if he make not this conscientious discharge part of his work he works as those that built the Tower of Babel to no purpose rolls Sisyphus's Stone and like Subterraneous Spirits that are to be seen in Mines with great labour and industry does nothing What I mean by several Relations Callings and Conditions no Man can be ignorant of that hath heard of such Names as Father and Mother Parents and Children Masters and Servants Husbands and Wives Tutors and Scholars Magistrates and Subjects Ministers and People Rich and Poor Old Men and Young Men Bond and Free Noble and Ignoble Tradesmen and Gentlemen If the Exercise commanded in the Text be universal then certainly all these have their Task all these are bound to exercise themselves in Duties belonging to the relation or condition they are in And 1. How do I exercise myself unto Godliness as a Father or Mother of Children except I shew them a good example except I behave my self decently gravely soberly and modestly before them that they may learn nothing that 's ill by my carriage Except I breed them up in the fear of God talk to them of the odiousness of Sin and beauty of Holiness instruct them in the ways of God and pray with them and for them except I provide for them not only for their Bodies but their Souls too except I admonish them in the Lord check them for their sins reprove them for their faults and correct them early for any undecent action or expression except I oblige them to use reverence and respect to their Father that begot them and their Mother that bore them except I instil conscientious Principles into them Principles of Justice Honesty Goodness Meekness Patience and giving every one their due except I enquire into their Devotion whether and how they read and pray and hear except I watch their actions their eating and drinking sleeping working writing studying playing and see whether they keep within bounds or no except I examine them what progress they make in Piety whether they make conscience of secret duties whether they are respectful and obedient to the Ministers of the Word of God whether they be attentive in hearing Sermons whether they delight in keeping the Lord's Day holy and what apprehensions they have of their spiritual and eternal condition how they spend their time and whether they apply themselves to those Virtues they read and hear of whether they do not indulge themselves in pride or lying or envy or hatred or revengeful desires whether they are tractable and live up to the Rules and Precepts I give them 2. Then I exercise my self unto Godliness as a Child as a Son or Daughter when I follow the good Instructions of my Parents when I obey them in every lawful thing when I have an honest desire to please them and a filial fear of their displeasure when I do not lose my respect to them though I am got out of their jurisdiction nor deride them for their infirmities but like the Sons of Noah cover their nakedness with the Cloak of Charity when I speak of them and to them with reverence when I take their admonition and correction kindly when I seek to promote their honour credit and reputation when I attend to their good counsels and am guided by their discretion and wisdom and good example when I imitate them in their seriousness and when I hearken to their Instructions and do not forsake their Law when I neither Marry nor settle my self in the World without their advice and am govern'd by their direction more than by mine own determination when I express my grateful resentment of their kindnesses and study how I may requite their paternal care and love when I interpret all they do or say candidly when I respect them though they are poor and bear the same love to them if they be sunk into a low condition that I would have done if they had been advanced to the highest pitch of prosperity when I relieve them in their distress support them in their want and like Aeneas carry them out upon my shoulders to save them from fire and danger when like that happy Daughter in Pliny I feed them with mine own blood and like the Children of Catania of old rather endanger my self than see them perish when in their unlawful commands I shew passive obedience and where I cannot obey them for Conscience sake suffer their anger and the effects of it patiently without traducing of them or exposing them to the scorn and laughter of Men when like the Rechabites I obey them in things lawful yet difficult and suffer not the uneasiness or hardness of the task to discourage me from acting according to their Prescriptions 3. How can that Man be said to exercise himself unto Godliness as a Master of a Family that is himself a slave to sin and to the Devil that either drinks or swears or cheats or lyes and in stead of discouraging his Servants from any of these sins doth rather tempt and entice them to these transgressions That is regardless of his great Master in Heaven to whom ere long he must give an account of his Stewardship That is indifferent what becomes of his Servants Souls and is not much concern'd whether they are ever like to get to Heaven so they do but do their business well on Earth That makes nothing of God's Commands and lives as if the Precepts of the Lord Jesus did not belong to him That gives himself to laziness and idleness and thereby teaches his Servants to do so too That makes no Conscience of redeeming the
every Lesson that 's deliver'd in publick and when they hear Sinners reprov'd and condemn'd cry with the Disciples of our Lord Master is it I But our Business for the most part being with men who like wanton Children will scarce eat the Meat that 's cut for them and are so choak'd with the Cares and Riches and Enjoyments of this World that the loudest Thunders of God make no impression on them and fancy because they are not particularly named in the Bible that therefore the Commands there given do not belong to them we are forced to make the way they are to walk in as easie as we can remove the Stones out of it and tell them every step of the way in hopes that all these pains may work upon their good Nature and oblige them to break loose from the Kingdom of Sin and Darkness And therefore 1. If the Actions and Motions of our outward and inward man be made the Rule of this Daily Self-examination the particular questions that must be proposed to our Hearts at night must be such as these To begin with the Senses As for the Ear Have not I this day heard some ill immodest unsavoury Expressions used by others and hath it been a grief to me hath it been a trouble to my Soul to think that my God was abused and dishonoured by it Have not my Ears been open to corrupt and vain communications Have not I been tickled with some obscene or filthy Story I have heard Have I heard my Neighbour reviled or ill spoken of and have I done the duty of a Friend and justified his innocent Behaviour Have I heard this day of any undecent deportment of any of my Family and have I reproved them for it or admonished them to amendment of life Have not I been pleased with the Commendations I have heard men pass upon me and hath not their applause tempted me to vain-glory Have I heard of losses I have had with Patience Have I heard a man speak disgracefully of me without being enraged at the Calumny Have I heard men entice me to sin and have I abhorred the invitation Have I heard men Swear and Curse and have I been concern'd at the greatness of their Sin On the Lords day especially Have I heard the Word this day with seriousness Did I come to Hear with Resolutions to Practice what I heard Was my Heart affected with the happy Message of Grace and Pardon Was not I more taken with the Ministers delivery than the great things he spoke of Was it custom that obliged me to go and hear or was it a fervent desire to be edified and built up in my most holy Faith Do I feel in my self any Purposes at this present to do as I have been advised to day Did I prepare my self for hearing the Word by suitable Thoughts and Contemplations of that awful Majesty before whom I was to appear Did I feel any heat in my Hearing which was ready to consume the Straw and Stubble of my carnal Affections Did I find any sweetness in the Word of God I heard to day Was my heart ravisht when I heard the joyful news of Christs Redemption to day Was my Soul affected with the love of God when I heard it described to day at the Receiving of the Holy Sacrament Have I done my duty at home Have I made my Servants and Children hear what the Lord their God requires at their hands As for the Eye Have I this day lifted up mine Eyes to Heaven and taken notice of Gods Providences Have not I fed mine Eyes with some unlawful Spectacle Have not I seen men sin and laught at it Have not I beheld immodest Actions and been delighted with them Hath not the sight of such a Vanity transported me into admiration of it Have I read a Portion of the Holy Scriptures to day and remembred to apply the things I read of to mine own Conscience Have I been enflamed with the goodness of the men I have read of Have the Duties and Precepts I have read caused in me a willingness to perform them Have I beheld the Finger of God in the Blessings I have received to day Have I taken notice of Gods goodness to me and mine and stood amazed at it Have I look'd upon the Works of God to day upon Trees and Herbs and Flowers and admired the Wisdom Glory and Bounty of God As for the Tongue and Lips Have I wilfully spoke evil of no man to day Have not I rendred Railing for Railing and Threatning for Threatning Have I been careful to drop something of God in the company I have been in Did not I Eat and Drink to day more to please my Appetite then to repair the decay'd strength of my nature that I might be more serviceable to God and my Neighbour Did I take occasion to speak of something that 's good at my Table And when I craved a Blessing was not my mind more intent upon the Meat before me than on the Great God above me Have not I been intemperate to day Did not I Eat and Drink more than Nature required Have I Pray'd with my Family to day and did that Prayer proceed from an humble sense of our Spiritual Wants and Necessities Have not I said something whereby my Neighbour might suffer in his Credit and Reputation Have I dropt never a Lye in my Shop or Trade or in company either in Jest or for some Advantage or to please Men Have not I rashly made or falsly broke a Promise Have I in my Addresses and Answers shew'd all Meekness unto all Men Have not I talk'd Surly or Proudly to a Man because he was Poor Have not I disdain'd to speak to him because he went in Rags Have I avoided foolish Talk and when I have been tempted to break a Jest which was either Smutty or might be some way prejudicial to my Neighbour have I suppressed it and been more ambitious of being Grave and Modest than of the Reputation of being Witty As for the Hands and Feet whereby the Scripture usually expresses Mans actions Have I been diligent in the Duties of my Calling to day Have I defrauded no Man deceived no Man Have I dealt uprightly and honestly with all Men Have I shunn'd that company which I was afraid would draw me into Sin Have not I complyed with some sinful Action of the Company I have been in Have I some way or other shewn my abhorreney and detestation of their Sins Have I really endeavour'd more to please God than Men What good have I done to day Have not I taken more pains and care to dress my Body than I have done to beautifie my Soul Have not I been more curious about my Cloaths than about my Graces Have not I been more careful to make my Face pleasing to Spectators than I have been to approve my self to God Have not I lost somewhat of the Life of Religion by going into such Society Have not I spent
so backward to this Exercise What makes you go to it as Malefactors do to the place of Execution What makes you shun this Watch-tower as if it were as bad as the Valley of Hinnom You are sick desperately sick why should you be loath to know it God tells you that you are sick the Ministers of the Gospel tell you that you are sick your own Consciences tell you that you are sick the Word tells you that you are sick and is it not worth enquiring whether you are so or no What if it should be so Do not you deserve to die that will not understand or be sensible that a mighty Distemper is upon you a Distemper that will certainly kill you if not prevented Had not you better believe God who cannot fright you with Bugbeares and believe your Ministers that seek your welfare and your Consciences that wish you may be happy and the Word that would open your eyes than a few Lusts that care not what becomes of you after a few years Revelling here The Exercise I exhort you to is so rational that one would think Motives are altogether needless yet to prevent that Plea that you know not why you should discommode your selves in this manner 1. This is exceeding profitable Work Profit is a mighty bait to you in other Concerns and why can it not be so here Yes I know the reason it would move and persuade you as much in the case before us if you could grasp and feel the Profit However you believe you have Souls as well as Bodies and since you grant your Souls do not stand for Cyphers sure you must allow that the Profit your Souls receive is of moment and deserves to be look'd after and the profit this Exercise yields is this It makes you acquainted with your selves Alas What doth it signifie to be acquainted with your Estates with the number of your Houses with the number of your Sheep and Oxen with your yearly Rent and what is like to come in from such a place and what is likely to come in from another how many Trees are upon your Grounds and what Portions you are able to give with your Children while you are unacquainted with your selves This Self-examination will tell you what it is that aileth you what you may trust to what the bent and byass of your Hearts is what is in the most secret recesses of your Souls whether God be in you and whether you are guided by his Spirit or whether Satan have taken possession of you whether you are in a safe or dangerous state where you are defective where you fail and where you do amiss what hopes you have and whether those hopes be well grounded whether your Faith be Gold or Dross whether you have a share in the Benefits of Christ's Death and Passion what God hath done for you whether he hath manifested himself to you what power he hath given you what influences he hath imparted to you what degrees of holiness what joy what comfort what peace he hath communicated to you what corruptions you must chiefly pray against what temptations you must watch against what sins are most likely to eclipse your glory what are the fittest means to mortifie your Lusts where your weakness lies where you lie most open to the Devils assaults where you must fortifie your selves c. All this you may come to know by means of this Exercise and if a General think it profitable to know the number of his Soldiers that he may sit down and consult whether he be able with Ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with Twenty thousand if a Master of a Family think it profitable to know what persons there are in his house how many and how qualified that he may proportion his Expences to their number if a Tradesman think it profitable to know what Goods there are in his Shop what Commodities in his Ware-house that he may gratifie his Customers if the Artificer think it profitable to know the motions of the Clock he hath made that he may be able to mend it when out of order if a Farmer think it profitable to know what Corn there is upon his Ground how his Barns are stored and whether his Fruit will turn to account or no that he may set such Prizes on it as it deserves certainly a Christian must needs think it profitable to be acquainted with himself for hereby he may prevent the day of Clouds and thick darkness and move God to repent himself of the evil which he hath said he will do unto him and do it not To know the Motion of the Sun and Moon and Stars is not so profitable as to know my self and to be sensible of mine infirmities gives me far greater light than if I were skill'd in all the virtues of Plants and Shrubs and Minerals If I know my self I take the readiest way to know God too and we are assured that to know him and Christ whom he hath sent is to have eternal life The Heathens had reason to cry up Chilon for making this the principle of all Virtues Know thy self and indeed he that cares not for knowing the constitution and complexion of his inward man is a Sot and weake in his Intellectuals than Thales who while he was poring on the Stars above fell into a dangerous Pit below Had a man read all the Books in the World and yet took no account of himself in Gods sight he would pass for a very ignorant man and the day of Judgment would find him a Fool though he had been Keeper of Ptolomy's Library St. Bernard saith most truly Let thy Meditation and Contemplation begin at thy self Be not searching in vain into things without thee while thou neglectest thy self If thou art Wise thou loosest thy Wisdom if thou art a Stranger to thy self and though thou knowest all Mysteries the Secrets of the Earth and the deep things of the Sea while thou art unknown to thy self thou art like a Man that builds a House without laying the Foundation and instead of erecting a Fabrick prepares for ruine and destruction Whatever thou erectest without thy self will be but like a heap of dust which the Wind will soon scatter and disperse abroad but learning to know thy self thou drinkest of thine own Fountain and this is to sit down in the lowest place that thou may'st be exalted in due time 2. Where men dare be so just and kind to themelves as to Commune with their own hearts about the Words Thoughts and Actions of the day there they discover that the Word of God is fallen on good ground and that they do receive it in a good and honest Heart and keep it and bring forth Fruit with patience Upon this qualification depend all the Blessings of the Bible No man must ever hope to be saved that is not wrought upon by the Word of God where this makes no impression men are given up to
with Bathsheba while Solomon was busie in building the Temple his Women could not seduce his Heart while Sampson was fighting with the Philistines Dalilah could not entice him so here while you are busie in these Exercises you cannot be taken Captive by the Devil There are indeed men that are worthy of their Hire but then they are Labourers not Loiterers and though Christ promised refreshment yet it is to those alone who have tired themselves with Working and take their Masters Yoak upon them and learn to exercise themselves as he did Mat. 11. 28. These Exercises will make you capable of being admitted to a very great intimacy and friendship with the Infinite Majesty of Heaven The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him saith the Man that had found it by experience Psal. 25. 14. Through these Exercises the Soul comes to be defecated from her dross from carnal Lusts and Affections and is made fit company for the Deity for so enamoured is God with these Exercises that the Soul that runs in this Race is in a capacity of drinking of the Rivers of Gods Pleasures O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Ps. 31. 19. Gods Goodness is a Treasure inexhaustible a Subject so full of Charms that the more a man thinks of it the more he may the thoughts of it put the Soul into a kind of Fever for the more she drinks of this living water of life the more she may other Arts and Sciences a man may bring to perfection and see the utmost of them but Gods Goodness there is no coming to the top of it the Soul that contemplates it this hour sees in it new Mysteries the next and he that is ravished with the contemplation of it to day is ready to loose his Reason in the admiration of it to morrow It is a Fountain of Life which sends forth a thousand Streams and yet is as full as ever It is the hiding place of a Holy Soul and the Scripture means nothing else by Gods Banquetting-House but his Goodness This enriches the Soul beyond all the Wealth that the World boasts of and I know not what name to give to its Influences for like the heat of Fire they can only be felt but cannot be painted It is the sweetest Labyrinth for a Man of Thoughts to loose himself in and the more a man is lost in it the greater pleasure he feels and lies softer than the Sybarite upon his Bed of Roses Humane Tongue is not able to describe it and the safest way is to stand amazed at it and to say nothing silence being the truest sign of admiration Not one in an hundred knows what it means and nothing but a Beam of Heaven let into the Mind can give the Soul any lively apprehensions of it It is a thing that affects the whole Body as well as the Soul and if the Soul feels what it is its ready to wish for more Souls and Bodies to participate of the satisfaction Thousands feed upon this goodness yet have no sense of it and were all men sensible of it there is not one would go to Hell or turn Proctor for the Devil If it be seen clearly it charms and the Understanding that beholds it without a Glass and with open face must protest it is the sweetest and most reviving Cordial imaginable This lively sense of his Goodness the Almighty vouchsafes to those that thus exercise themselves unto Godliness for these are the men that fear him The Lord is their Shepherd and they shall not want they shall not want a friend in adversity when Lovers and Friends are put far from them and their acquaintance into darkness God will be their Friend when they have no person to advise or to consult with or to make their complaints to he will guide them by his Counsel when their Flesh and their Heart faileth and all Creatures fail them God will be their Strength and their Portion for ever He 'll hear their cry they shall unbosome themselves unto him and he 'll bow down his Ears to them tell their wandrings put their tears in his Bottle and write all their sighs and groans in his Book What a comfort is it to have a Bosom-friend here on Earth to whom we can speak our Minds who'll bear the Burthen with us and compassionate and pity us and to whom we can unlock and open the very inside of our Hearts But then what a comfort must it be to have God for my Friend whom I can have recourse too in all my Necessities make my moan to and tell him how my Heart is griev'd who will not laugh at my Calamity nor mock when my fear comes whose Bowels yearn over me who will advise me for the best bid me lay my wearied head in his Bosom direct me to the breasts of consolation from which I may suck life and vigour deal sincerely with me act for me speak for me and contrive my good and be concerned for me as if my Necessities were his own Such honour have all his Saints so kind so good so wonderfully kind is God to all such as exercise themselves unto Godliness they shall want nothing that 's necessary either for Soul or Body Their Souls shall be fed with the Promises of the Gospel guided by the Eternal Spirit provided for from the Store-house of Grace and Mercy nay their Bodies shall never want and God will either bless their Industry and Labours of their Callings as he did S t Paul's diligence 2 Thess. 3 8. or turn the Hearts of other men towards them who shall relieve them assist them receive them and redress their Grievances as he did in the Case of Onesimus Philem. v. 12. or send an Angel from Heaven to feed them as he did Elijah 1 Reg. 19. 5. Nay suppose that it should be expedient for Gods Glory that they suffer want of Necessaries yet even then they shall not want Grace to support them Courage to bear up under it Joy to keep their Heads above Water and Resolution to trust in him though the Lord should kill them as we see 2 Cor. 12. 9 Alas What can they want while God supports them God! that Horn of Plenty that Ocean of Goodness that Sea of Kindness that Perfection of Beauty that comprehensive Light that inexhaustible Fountain of Bliss that Centre of Happiness that Rock of Ages that Spring of Comfort that Treasure of Beatitude that Store-house of Provision whose Years do not fail whose Munificence never decays who can never be Poor whose Liberality is infinite who Gives before Men Ask who is Present when he seems to be Absent whose Love no Rhetorick can explain whose Riches the Tongues of Angels cannot reach and you may as well say that Solomon in all his Glory was in Want as think that they whose Shepheard God is can be in Want They want no other Shepheard but him no other Comforter
but him no other Riches but him no other Pleasure but him no other Friend but him no other King no other Master no other Father but him if they want a Father he 'll be more to them than a Father if they want a Mother a Sister or a Brother he will be more to them than all these can be as they that have the Light of the Sun have more than if they had an hundred Candles in the room for they have him who is All-in-all so that in their very wants they can rejoice in him in their very Misery they can boast of him in their danger confide in him in their necessities roll all their cares upon him and when Heaven and Earth are like to be confounded and mingled together look up and cry God is our refuge a present help in the time of trouble therefore will we not fear though the Earth be moved and though the Hills be carried into the mid'st of the Sea Psal. 46. 1. What if they have not the outward Comforts of this present World the Reward God intends them lies beyond this Earth These outward Conveniences are Rewards too low and mean for God to bestow and there would be no difference between such men and those that have their Portion in this life should God heap upon them such Blessings of his Left-hand God lets them want these outward ornaments on purpose to let the World know that he hath nobler things in store for them not but that sometimes even those that are diligent in these Exercises have much of this Worlds Goods but that doth not make them a whit the happier but only encreases their Account and obliges them to greater Liberality and greater circumspection in their Stewardship Behold Christians To what still Streams to what pleasant Pastures these Exercises lead you what a rich Table they prepare for you in the presence of your Enemies how they Anoint your Heads and make your Cups run over These Exercises attract the noblest Spectators imaginable Have not you read have not you heard what the presence of a Monarch can do with Wrestlers and Men of Activity What valiant Acts have some men performed in the Olympick Games whence the word Exercising unto Godliness borrows its name when some great Princes have look'd on Men have attempted to do more than Men when the presence of a King hath enliven'd their endeavors and as tedious as these Exercises may seem to some of you yet is not the company that beholds your fight and labours motive enough to descend into the field Behold the Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity becomes a Spectator The Father is present to applaud the attempt The Son present to encourage it The Holy Ghost present to crown it and round about the Throne of this bright Majesty stand the Myriades of Angels and they all look on Christian fancy thou seest David fighting with Goliah in a Vally between two vast Mountains while on the one there lies encamped the Army of the Philistines on the other the Host of Israel think what Courage and Resolution it must infuse into the young Soldiers heart to see himself gazed and stared on by two Armies of Friends and Enemies Why thy Condition while thou exercisest thy self unto Godliness is the same thou standest in this Vally of Tears on one Hill stands the Great God of Heaven and Earth with all the Host of Heaven and beholds what thou art doing on the other are spread all the Legions of Hellish Furies ready to triumph in thy fall Can there be a greater encouragement than to see a Glorious God before thee ready to set the Lawrel on thy Temples if thou darest follow after that thou may'st apprehend that for which thou art also apprehended of Christ Jesus Nay he calls to thee from the Hills of Heaven Fear not for I have redeem'd thee I have call'd thee by thy name thou art mine when thou passest through the Waters I will be with thee and through the Rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee and shall not this tempt thee to do more then thy careless Neighbours more than nature will agree to more than thy sensual Appetite will like of more than the sober Heathens do and shall not this make thy Righteousness surmount that of Hypocrites and painted Sepulchres Arise and depart for here is not thy rest Rest Ay that 's the glorious Fruit of this Tree of Life that 's the comfort which these Exercises end in The weary day-labourer after his toilsome Work in the Field the Seaman after his hard tugging at the Oar and labouring in Storms and Tempests does not rest so sweetly as he that exercises himself day and night unto Godliness for he rests on the down of Angels on the Wings of Cherubims on the Breast of Jesus and shall rest ere long in Abraham's Bosom in the Bosom of Glory in the Bosom of Everlasting Mercy where life is to be found in its perfection life without sorrow life without fear life without corruption life without disturbance life without change life without deformity life without discontent life without dishonour life without envy life without decay where no Adversary comes to molest it no Sin to spoil its Beauty no Temptation to break its order no Devil to discompose its Harmony where the day is everlasting the Hours measured by Eternity and Months and Years by infinity of Bliss and Glory Go to now ye careless Men that are more frighted by these Exercises than by all the terrors of the burning Lake As laborious as these Exercises seem to be without them expect no Rest no Peace no Tranquility for there is no peace saith my God unto the Wicked Expect Grief Trouble Anguish despairing Thoughts a turbulent Soul an affrighted Conscience for these must certainly be the Portion of your Cup one day How should your life end in rest who never tried your strength in these Exercises Lift up your Eyes and behold the man that exercises himself unto Godliness Hear what becomes of him at his death Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Rev. 14. 13. There remains therefore a Rest for the People of God a Rest which Tempests cannot shake Storms cannot annoy Frosts cannot chill and Heats cannot consume a Rest where there is Joy without Mourning Tranquillity without Labour Honour without a Period Wealth without danger of loosing it Beatitude without the least shadow of Calamity What Songs What Hymns What Musick What Praises What Hallelujahs What Melody What Harmony is to be met with there where the Citizens of Heaven are all Organists and the Spirits of Men made perfect join in perpetual Concert to sing Salvation to our Lord and to the Lamb for ever and ever Where Bitterness and Gall have no
place where Wickedness and Malice must never look in where Want and Poverty must for ever cease where Quarrelling and Accusing and Impleading one another will all have done where all Violence and Discord dies and all Grief and Pain and Anguish is swallow'd up in an Eternal Jubilee We read of Men as of Diocletian of Spartacus of Aeneas of Rustan of Mahomet that from Shepheards and mean Men have come to be great Lords and Emperors but this is nothing to the happiness that he can be confident of that seriously exercises himself in the Task I have laid down the time will come I see the joyful day approaching I see it by the Eyes of Faith when this humble Soul this laborious Saint this Self-denying Christian this contemptible Man shall change his Rags into Purple Robes and be translated from a momentary Sorrow to an Eternity of Rest and Satisfaction where the Lamb that is in the mid'st of the Throne shall feed him and shall lead him unto living Fountains of Waters and God shall wipe all Tears from his Eyes Then shall be fulfilled the saying that is written they that Sow in Tears shall Reap in Joy he that goeth forth and Weepeth bearing pretious Seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his Sheaves with him While young Hercules saith the Apologue was doubting within himself which way he should take whether that of Vice or the other of Virtue behold there appeared to him two Women one gloriously apparell'd with tempting Looks and gay Attire and a flowing Mantle that wanton'd in the Air promising him present satisfaction and whatever his sensual Appetite could desire but saying nothing of what would be the exit or consequence of all this the other stood aloof with a meager Face in a ragged Garb and torn Cloaths promising nothing but Sweat and Labour and danger at first but behind her was a Scene of Triumph and at the end of her Swords and Daggers hung Pearls and Rubies and the richest Stones The valiant man soon smelt out the Cheat of the former and resolutely chose to become a Disciple of the other Thus acts the Man that exercises himself unto Godliness he slights Pleasure and embraces Labour for he knows that bitter beginnings will have a glorious end and as Jason fought his way through Serpents and Wild Bulls to get the Golden Fleece and became Master of it so he swims contentedly through a Sea of Wormwood to find a new World of sweetness and satisfaction and the years during which he serves for this Rachel seem to him but as so many days for he loves what he sees not and believes what he cannot grasp yet believing he rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of Glory Hitherto I have discoursed of the ordinary constant and daily Exercises of a Christian. The extraordinary follow in order and they are 1. Vowing 2. Fasting 3. Watching and 4. Self-Revenge I call them Extraordinary because they are to be used but now and then when either some great corruption is to be subdued or our Devotion wants quickning or when God's Glory requires it or when our Neighbours welfare and edification is to be signally promoted To make these Exercises daily and constant were the way to ruine the body and to obstruct the Soul in her flights to heaven and instead of honouring God to render our selves incapable of his Service They are in the nature of Salt and Vinegar to give a rellish to our Spiritual Food but they would be but ill Meat were they made our Dyet Some that have attempted to make them their daily Employment have exposed themselves to the Devils Tyranny and by going farther than God design'd or requir'd have been suffer'd to fall into unspeakable inconveniences That using severities upon our selves is sometimes necessary is evident from hence because our Bodies naturally are enemies to our Souls and nothing is so great a clog to our Spirits as our sensual Appetite The more the Body is denied the freer is the Soul in her Motions and the less the Flesh is reguarded the more the Spirit soares and mounts up to its Center It is certainly our indulging our carnal ease so much that makes us dull and lazie in God's Service and had we the art of crossing Flesh and Blood our Duties would be perform'd with greater life and fervency But here the Golden mean must be used and to avoid extremes is without doubt the safest way we can walk in As a man by a total neglect of these Exercises will make but a very slow progress in Religion so he that uses them too much may fall into divers Snares and Temptations Discretion must be the Rule and Prudence the Guide in things of this nature Those that want this compass must suffer themselves to be entirely guided by wiser Men and Laymen whose occasions will not permit them to consider of every step of the way must here resign themselves to the guidance and conduct of serious and able Ministers who if they have any sense of the power of Godliness will be ready to rejoice at the Work and readily direct them that they may get safe to Heaven I do not deny but that these Exercises have been and are abused in the Church of Rome but shall their perverting the Primitive Institution make us regardless of the Duty and because they go beyond the just bounds of these Severities must they therefore be quite laid aside and despised as useless Whoever rejected Wine because Men make themselves drunk with it Or did ever any man forswear eating Meat because the Glutton eats till he makes himself sick with it I shall speak distinctly of these Extraordinary Exercises and in each of them lay down certain Rules that must be observed in the practice to free them from the brand of Will-worship Superstition or sinful voluntary Humility I. Extraordinary Exercise And this is Making Vows An Exercise used and practised by the Saints before the Law Gen. 28. 20. under the Law Psal. 116. 14. 18. and under the Gospel Act. 18. 18. Act. 21. 23. 24. and commanded Psal. 76. 11. That a Vow is a deliberate voluntary solemn Promise made to Almighty God of things Lawful and Possible is so known a thing that I need not insist much upon the definition Every purpose is no Vow nor is a bare intention to do such a thing to be reckoned among these greater obligations of the Soul A Vow made in drink is a Sin but no Vow because a Vow requires the presence of Reason and deliberation and the same may be said of a Vow made in the heighth of Anger and Passion To oblige my self by a Vow to do a thing that is forbid by the Law of God is Impiety or to Vow a thing which lies not in my power to perform is Folly and Distraction Not to repent of such Vows is to continue in Sin and the longer the repentance is deferred the more we aggravate our condemnation Of
your more frequent Exercise and to this purpose it will be conveient to speak something of the time and occasion when this Exercise is most proper 2. how it must be managed and 3. what it is that makes it necessary 1. Of the time and occasion when this Exercise may be most proper and here the best Rule to go by is the Scripture and the Examples of Saints and these will inform us that it is proper at any time and the oftner the better but particularly I. When we lie under some Temporal Afflictions whether that Affliction consist in losses or in the malice hatred or ill-will of Men or in some other crosses and disappointments that may befal us in this World In such cases David ever had recourse to this Exercise as we see Ps. 69. 10. 11. and acknowledged the justice of God confessed God did him no wrong in suffering such troubles to seize upon him pray'd for mitigation of his misery or for deliverance and he fasted on purpose that his Prayers might be more piercing The same thing he did when his Child lay sick 2 Sam. 12. 16. He besought God for the Child and fasted and lay all night upon the Earth Fasting is an acknowledgement of our vileness and he that abstains from Meat and Drink upon a Religious account confesses that he hath deserved to be starved to death and it is natural for Mankind to believe that such humiliations and abasements are prevalent with the Deity II. When any of our Friends or Relations or Neighbours fall into more than ordinary trouble our compassion and tenderness to their disconsolate estate is best expressed by fasting and supplications and in this also David's example is remarkable who went so far in his charity as to fast even for seeming friends but real enemies Psal. 35. 13. But as for me when they were sick my cloathing was Sackcloth I humbled my Soul with fasting and my Prayer returned into my own Bosom i. e. was answered and heard and they were deliver'd Selfishness hath so prevailed in the age we live in that we think it scarce worth the trouble of a Fast to procure God's mercy for our selves much less for others Good Lord What an unbelieving World is this Men believe not that God will work any mighty work upon their fasting and therefore slight it Heretofore men believ'd it and saw wonders and God blessed them and was entreated not only for them but for their Neighbours and Relations too III. When we would be rid of any inordinate Lust or Affection Fasting in these cases weakning the Body weakens such Lusts and Affections too which have too great dependence upon the body and are more vigorous as the Body is pamper'd and gratified and what Christ says of that evil spirit Matt. 17. 21. may be most truly applied to such Lusts This kind goes not out but by Fasting and Prayer These Lusts are certainly enemies to our Souls for they war against them in S t Peter's Phrase 1 Pet. 2. 11. and as a General that means to take a strong Town cuts off their Provision and will not suffer any Corn or other Commodities to be carried thither whence it comes to pass that the enemy must necessarily at last yield himself so inordinate Lusts must be starved out and if you bring a famine upon them you take away their strength and deprive them of their courage and briskness said Moses in Ruffinus for what is stronger than a Lion yet let him want his Food and he becomes as weak as the feeblest Animal IV. When we stand in need of Grace or of some Virtuous Habit or of Conquest of some particular temptation In this case Abstinence is exceeding profitable not that our empty stomacks do in their own nature contribute towards it but the Abstinence fits us for seriousness that seriousness for earnestness that earnestness for Gods favour And therefore it was that the Angel told Daniel Dan. 10. 12. From the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand and to chasten thy self before thy God thy words were heard to shew that fasting fits the Soul for fervent Prayer and God denies nothing to such intercessions Jam. 5. 16. and indeed where men can so esteem the Grace of God as to take pains for it Gods arms are ever open to them for what the Heathens observed long ago holds true still To the industrious God denies nothing Nothing discovers our esteem of a thing so much as our contentedness to undergo some hardship for it and while we deny our Bodies often the satisfaction they crave they learn by degrees to be more obedient to Faith and Reason and consequently are less impediments to those Graces which require a Soul that can live above sence and sublunary objects Hence David to learn contentedness in adversity though exceeding dry yet would not drink the water that his Grandees fetcht for him from the Well of Bethlehem 2 Sam. 23. 16. and in imitation of him some in the Primitive Church to learn chearfulness in want when they have almost longed for a certain sort of Food and have got it yet have been unwilling to taste of it though their appetite was eager after it and for this very reason I think it was that the Pythagoreans used to sit down at a Table full of the greatest dainties and varieties and with coming stomacks too and in the mid'st of their hunger and greediness after Meat rise from Table and forbear eating or cause all to be taken away and continue fasting and all to learn self-conquest and to get their Souls more raised above the World V. When we undertake any great Work or Office it 's very fit to consecrate it with a Fast. So Christ entered upon his Office of Prophet with Fasting Mat. 4. 1 2. and S t Paul and Barnabas when ordain'd to be Preachers of the Word began that tremendous Work with Fasting and prayer Act. 13. 3. a thing so decent that the very Heathens have seen the necessity of it which was the reason why those that were going to consult the Oracle were obliged to fast and those that were to be admitted to Sacrifice or Minister to the Aegyptian Isis were commanded to fast ten days and those that were to be Priests of Jupiter were ordered to abstain from all Flesh and things that were heated by fire and they among the Indian Philosophers that were initiated into the Service or Worship of the Sun durst drink neither Wine nor eat any Flesh and Amphiaraus laid it down as a Rule that those that came to receive and give the true and clear meaning of the Oracles must debar themselves of all Food one whole day and three days besides of Wine VI. When the Church of God is groaning under persecution or some other grievous oppression This obliged the man of desires the Prophet Daniel to retire frequently seeing the Temple and City of Jerusalem lie desolate and in
rubbish he fasted often deprecating Gods Wrath and indignation against his People Dan. 10. 3. and on the same account S t Cyprian applied himself to this Exercise when the Church was grievously afflicted by the Pagans and good reason that he who is a Member of the Church should make the Churches concern his own and burn as it were when that burns and be weak when that is weak and be afflicted when that is afflicted So much the relation every private Christian hath to that mystical Body doth import without which he is no Member but an excrement of that body as Warts and Wens are in Bodies natural deformities rather than ornaments and which merit resection more than conservation VII When a Sinner first turns from his evil ways Nothing can beautifie his Soul more than this Abstinence whereby he confesses his demerit that God might justly take away his holy Spirit for ever from him the true Food of his Soul and that which must preserve him unto Salvation So much the Prophet Joel intimates when he bids such men as in good earnest turn to God make fasting part of that mortification Joel 2. 12. Turning to God is giving what demonstration we can of the sincerity of our repentance and hatred of sin and abhorrency of our selves So that fasting being part of that demonstration it must not be left out Ahab himself though a notorious Hypocrite yet was sensible that there could be no turning to God without this Exercise which made him when he heard the Words of Elijah apply himself to repentance and to give some demonstrations of its being extraordinary and as he thought sincere He rent his Cloaths and put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly 1 Kings 21. 27. VIII Where a man hath been guilty of some notorious Sin as Murder Adultery Fornication Oppression Blasphemy Atheism c. and repents it 's fit he should keep a Fast now and then to represent unto himself the dreadfulness of his sin and the infinite patience of God and what a mercy it is that God hath turned him from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God Such sins eat deep into the Soul and they had need be remembred often and our detestation of them had need be expressed frequently by holy Abstinence They are enough to damp all hopes of comfort enough to deprive us of Gods Presence by Grace and of his presence by Glory They are sins that let in all the Host of Hell and the Soul must fall very low before the Devil can have such mastery over her The horror of such sins requires frequent compunctions frequent compunctions are caused by frequent Abstinence and that makes fasting necessary on such occasions In all probability David's Fasts were more frequent than ordinary after his commission of Murder and Adultery and when we hear him complain My knees are weak through fasting Ps. 109. 24. and I wept and chasten'd my Soul with fasting Ps. 69. 10. We may justly conclude that these Exercises had relation to the sins we have mentioned 2. And having said so much of the time when this Exercise may be most proper I must in the next place let you see how it must be managed And 1. As I said in the beginning In such Fasts there must be a forbearing of all Meat and Drink To forbear Flesh and to eat Fish is no Fast at all for this is but changing one delicacy for another and the same may be said of Wine and Sweetmeats which the Papists make use of in their Fasts while they will taste no Broath no Eggs nor any thing that hath relation to Flesh. These at the best are Mock-fasts and are so far from serving to elevate the mind that the fumes of such dainties oppress it as much as flesh will do The antient Christians indeed used their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes in their Fasts especially in the week before Easter which consisted in eating those things which had little or no juice in them but that was but just to support nature from fainting there being little nourishment in them and in imitation of those Christians a man may in his Fasts make use of Bread and Water or Small-beer if nature will bear no emptiness and yet may be truly said to Fast because it is an Abstinence from all pleasant Food but to fast in Wine and Fish is to play the Epicure not the Hermit 2. These Fasts must not be broke till the evening The Grecians and Coptite Christians at this day seldom extend their Fasts beyond three or four of the clock in the afternoon and usually break them when evening Prayer is ended and though the Primitive Christians used to do so on their weekly Fasts i. e. on Wednesdays and Fridays yet in other Fasts they protracted and prolonged them even to Sun-set and some to a much longer time as I shew'd before Those that did heretofore fast only till three of the clock in the afternoon it 's like might take that custom from Cornelius Act. 10. 30. who seems to say that he was fasting till the ninth hour which is the time we speak of though others think that he fasted four days together But the usual measure of such Abstinence is the evening or when the Artificial day is at an end 3. In such Fasts our particular sins and neglects must be thought upon confessed lamented aggravated and deplored for such days are true humiliation days and nothing is like to make us so humble as the consideration of our offences and demerits and the wrath of God which is due to us thereupon sin if seriously viewed in all its consequences will certainly appear very dreadful odious and intolerable and will shew us what monstrous Creatures we are and that 's enough to humble us even into hatred of our selves and accordingly this was the custom of old Neh. 9. 1. 16 17. Dan. 9. 3. 4. 5. and that 's the reason why such Fasts are sometimes express'd by mourning and weeping only because mourning for sin which hath provok'd the Almighty must be one principal part in this Exercise Zach. 7. 3. 4. In such Fasts deprecations must be made for the Nation we live in and indeed for all Mankind for such humiliations must infuse tenderness and compassion into us if they do not they are not of the right stamp If I am truly sensible of mine own sins I cannot but pity my Neighbours my Relations my Acquaintance and other men who are involv'd in the same misery and are as liable to the anger of God as my self and if I have any pity any compassion for my self I cannot but have pity for others too but how doth my pity shew it self but by becoming an intercessour for them as well as for my self and though I am the principal person that want mercy on such occasions yet my fellow Christians must not be left out except I can see men drowning
without being concern'd whether they have a deliverer or no. 5. In such Fasts the Word of God must be diligently read and read with great attention especially such portions of Scripture as contain some of the severest threatnings of God and his Commands which we have been most negligent of and upon such passages reflections must be made and those Threatnings and Commands applied to our selves and our hearts asked how they feel themselves under these comminations and whether they are sensible of their Errors as the Eunuch of the Queen of Aethiopia said to Philip Of whom doth the Prophet speak of himself or of another man Act. 8. 34. so when these threatnings occur the interrogation must be Of whom doth God speak of me or of another Am not I guilty of the same sin and may not I justly think he speaks of me as well as of another 6. With these Devotions in such Fasts praises of God may be mingled now and then and Gods various Blessings laid open to our view that we may learn to admire his goodness and our strange ingratitude and in this the Israelites in Nehemiah are our Precedents of whose Fast we read that they divided the day of their Fast into four parts one part they consecrated to confessions of Sin the second to reading the Word of God the third to thanksgiving and praising God the fourth it 's like to begging Blessings Spiritual and Temporal for themselves and for their brethren Nehem. 9. 1 2 3. An excellent pattern and which if follow'd may keep us from being tired with devotion on such occasions 7. In such Fasts holy serious and gracious thoughts are absolutely necessary thoughts suitable to that mortification and the great concern we are about for as we need not lie upon our faces all day but may lawfully rise sometimes and walk so in that walk or while we are not reading or praying our minds must be busie with contemplations of our spiritual wants and the ways and means how they may be supplied our eyes must be fixed upon Heaven and God's justice and vengeance survey'd with an impartial eye till it makes us wish with Jeremy O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the iniquities of my sins Jerem. 9. 1. 8. Alms and Works of Charity must accompany such Fasts for thus we are taught Es. 58. 6. 7. Is not this the Fast that I have chosen To undo the heavy Burdens to deal thy Bread to the hungry and that thou bring the Poor that are cast out to thy house In such Fasts we come to beg a considerable Alms of God and God is resolv'd to observe his own Rule With what measure you mete with the same it shall be measured to you again and that the merciful shall obtain mercy What pity can we expect from God at such times while we shut up our bowels of compassion to the needy Though we our selves fast yet that 's no Rule for them that are in distress and want daily Food and we then fast with some comfort while we make them eat that are destitute of necessaries and conveniences 9. In such Fasts we must have no ill designs He that with Jezehel fasts to circumvent an innocent Naboth fasts not to God but to the Devil and he who hath some interest or intrigue to carry on and can effect it by nothing so easily as by a Fast and Humiliation to bring people into a good opinion of him takes strange pains to make God his implacable enemy To provoke God by downright works of darkness is all one would think that wickedness can aim at but to convert Religion into sin and by a Fast to hold a Candle to the Devil is a Villany which hath no name and therefore the punishment due to it can have no bounds no measure He that Fasts upon the account of the great injustice and oppression he hath been guilty of in hopes that God will let him enjoy the estate or means he hath wrongfully gotten without restitution observes a lesser Command and breaks a greater The design in such Fasts must be no other but to cloath our Souls with greater righteousness and to get our hearts fill'd with greater zeal to Gods glory To think that a Fast will excuse my sin or Abstinence serve for a cloak to cover my unlawful desires or make my Lusts and wilful Follies pass for Peccadillo's in Heaven are thoughts which require no other confutation but God's thunder and where people can think so ill of God and Religion there is no other way to convince them but by Viols of wrath and cups of trembling and astonishment 10. In these Fasts new Resolutions must be made against those sins we find our selves very prone and inclined too without this our Fasts are but cold services and our Abstinence but a formality It 's therefore well observed by the Jewish Doctors that it is not said â—â— the Ninevites that God saw their Faâ—â—ng and their Sackcloth but their Worâ—â— and that they turned from their evil ways Without such Resolutions we only fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness as it is said Es. 58. 4. but do not fast to God If we have been defective in any duty new resolutions must be made against the neglect new resolutions to be more careful in the performance new resolutions to watch more and to overcome our selves This is to renew our Covenant with God and when we do so God will be found of us 2 Chron. 15. 12. 15. To weaken our Bodies in fasting while our sins continue vigorous and strong is only a seeming imitation of a Nation that doth righteousness and forsakes not the Ordinances of God but no real following after righteousness as God complains of the Jews Es. 58. 2. XI Our intent in such Fasts must be to fit our selves for the influences of God's Spirit One great reason why the Christians of old had so plentiful a Portion of God's Spirit vouchsafed to them was without doubt their great Temperance and Abstinence which makes the Soul more agile and lively and consequently quickens her understanding and prepares her for those communications of the Deity I can lay no very great stress upon the place because it concerns a particular person yet it is remarkable however that the Evangelist speaking of S t John the Baptist's Abstinence immediately subjoins the priviledge we speak of Luke 1. 15. He shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost as if Abstinence attracted that invisible in-influence and God loved to converse more with persons that are enemies to pampering of their Bodies than with those that delight in corporal Food and choicer Diet. Indeed the more the Body is cherish'd the more sleepy will the Soul be and the less it is cocker'd and pleased the
to loosness and debauchery hoarded up no Money purchased no Lands but lived altogether upon the labour of their hands and nothing in the World could oblige them to have a hand in making Spears or Swords or Arrows or Breast-plates or Arms or any other Instruments of War because they said God had ordered Mankind should live peaceably They despised Riches Honours Pleasures delicate Dishes and lived upon little contented with a course Diet and aiming at nothing in this World but Food and Raiment if ten of them met none would speak till he had first obtain'd leave of the other nine and they ever wore but one Coat and wore it so long till it was quite worn out and then they thought of purchasing another and all this they did that might learn to die to the World and live like men that had Souls to be saved The Pharisees went much farther in these severities even to Superstition Besides the first Fruits they paid double Tithes and besides these Tithes they gave away the Thirtieth and the Fiftieth parts of their Incomes to the Church or the Treasury for the Poor they lay on hard Beds had sometimes no other Pillows but Cylinders and many times Pillows fill'd with Straw and Nails and sharp Stones that they might not sleep too long but awake to Prayers some would knock their heads against a Wall and others hurt their feet in going along the Streets because they walk'd with their eyes shut being loath to look upon a Woman and others as Christ saith would compass Sea and Land to make a Proselyte disfigure their Faces and look very ruefully insomuch that they seem'd Skeletons rather than Men. Though they had Wives yet they would tye themselves to Continence and Chastity some for four some for nine some for ten years and keep themselves undefiled from all carnal pollution Whether S t Paul learn'd the severities be used upon his body in the School of the Pharisees at the feet of Gamaliel we cannot tell but that he used them seems to be very plain from 1 Cor. 9 27. I keep under my body and bring it into subjection where the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a learned Critick of our own observes is very emphatical and signifies to strike under the eye or to give one a blew eye as Wrestlers in the Isthmian games that cuffed one another and wounded one another though it is uncertain whether the Apostle proceeded so far in this mortification as to wound himself or beat himself to that degree that those Agonists did yet it is more than probable that he did afflict his body and sought to keep it under as a Servant or as a Wrestler doth his fellow that it might not be able to strike again and undertook such austerities as made his Soul more than a Conqueror Indeed Christ himself lived but poor destitute and afflicted and had not where to lay his head and whether it was in imitation of Christ that they would be conformable to him in all things or whether it was out of emulation of the Jews that it should not be be said that the Essenes and Pharisees did more than they the Christians about that time and in the succeeding ages seemed to think themselves obliged to put their Bodies to some afflictions and severities in this World for the glories of another which made Nicholas the Deacon whom we read of Act. 6. 5. instil this Principle into his Disciples that they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abuse or mortifie the Flesh use their Bodies coursly that they might be more active in Spiritual Concerns and the same Doctrine saith Eusebius was taught by the Apostle Matthias and though many have slander'd Nicholas and branded him as an Apostate and the Author of a Heresie mentioned Rev. 2. 15. and as one that gave way to promiscuous copulations and made Scortation a venial sin yet the holy man hath been wronged as appears by Eusebius and Clemens Alexandrinus and it 's very likely that those who call'd themselves Nicolaitans having heard Nicolas use that Motto that the Flesh must be abused defended their impure Doctrine with that saying and from thence were call'd Nicolaitans whereas Nicolas understood no more by it than that Flesh must be subdued and bridled by such severities as we are able to bear that our Faith and Hope may become more lively and our inward and outward Man more expedite for Heaven If they be Christians that Philo speaks of in his Book of a Contemplative Life Eusebius and S t Jerome think so S t Mark the Evangelist it 's like instructed them in these severities for they used them and were the wonder of the World and who knows not how the succeeding ages pressed this Self-revenge upon all those that were fallen either into Adultery or Idolatry or Murder and repented and what severities they inflicted on them how they obliged them to stand in a torn Garment at the Church door and made them weep and fall down before the believers that enter'd into the Church and beg of them to pray for them how after this severity they placed them among the Catechumenes then gave them leave to receive the Blessing of the Congregation and when they haâ—◠〈◊〉 through all this Discipline they gave 〈◊〉 leave at last to join with believers in their Prayers and Sacraments Tertullian who lived about the year 203. after Christ expresses these severities thus Repentance is a Discipline of Humiliation and Prostration and enjoins such a câ—â—â—â—â—sation as provokes and allures Gods mercy It determines what Meat the Penitent must eat what Cloaths he must wear it bids him go and wallow in Ashes lie in Sackcloath throw dust upon himself let his Soul melt into grief and treat those Members scurvily that have been Instruments in sinning to eat and drink nothing that 's pleasing to the Pallate but only so much as will keep Soul and Body together to Pray to Weep to Sigh to Howl to Roar to fall down at the knees of Gods Ministers and to beg of all he meets with to supplicate to God for him This is Repentance If you repent you must saith Pacianus weep before the Church lament your lost and sinful life in a sordid Garment you must pray and roll on the Earth if any invite you to the Bath or some such Divertisement you must refuse to go if any bid you to a Feast you must say these things are for the happy I have sinn'd against God and am in danger to perish for ever what should I do at Banquets who have wrong'd the Lord you must take the poor by the hand beseech the Widow lie at the feet of the Presbyters and beg of the Church to forgive you and you must do any thing rather than perish And accordingly Natalius the Confessor when corrupted with Money he had suffered himself to be made a Heretical Bishop and afterward by a signal
Providence became sensible of his Error the first thing he did was to put Sackcloth and Ashes upon himself and to break forth into a large stream of Tears and fall down at the feet of Bishop Zephirinus and of the whole Clergy nay and of the Laity too and to entreat them to weep with him and seek Gods Face and the restoration of his favour to him and therefore the Author of the Sermons of Saints in S t Austin's Works tells us Repentance for Crimes and greater Sins must be attested by strong Cries and Tears by Roaring and Howling by voluntary Separation from the Communion of Saints by Mourning by a long continued sorrow It 's necessary that he who hath sinn'd to the scandal of many should repent to the edification of many We must mourn on such occasions for the loss of our Souls as we bewail the dead Carcasses of our Friends If a man have lost a Wife or a Son or a Woman her Husband they tear their hair beat their Breast continue in sadness and shed Tears a great while together Thus must we deal with our forlorn Souls Shall we take on thus for dead Flesh which we cannot raise to life again And shall we not mourn for a Soul that hath been dead and may by repentance be brought to life again And upon this Account Theodosius as great an Emperor as he was repenting of the slaughter committed by his order upon the Thessalonians fell down upon his Face in the Church his Soul with David cleaved to the dust he tore his Hair beat his Forehead and wash'd the Ground with his Tears Be contented saith St Ambrose to the Virgin that had suffer'd her self to be defloured to undergo any Labour any shame any disgrace in the World so thou can'st but escape eternal Fire judge thy self with rigour and severity break loose from the cares of this life count thy self dead think how thou may'st revive and live again Put on a mourning Garment chastize thy polluted Members with due severities Cut off thine hair which hath given occasion to Luxury Let thine Eyes run down with Tears which have look'd lasciviously upon Man Let thy Face grow pale which once look'd fiesh and lively with impudence macerate thy Body put on a careless Dress crucifie thy Senses fright the people with thy Ashes and Hair-cloth let thy Heart melt like wax let this be thy Life thus order thy Conversation let this be the Dress of thy Repentance and then thou wilt dare to hope if not for Glory yet for freedom from eternal punishment And the like advice he gives to the Man that deflour'd her Get thee into the Prison of Repentance gird thy Bowels with Chains macerate thy self with Sighs beg the help of Saints throw thy self down at the feet of the Elect banish all blandishments from thy Soul and by continual Weeping and Mourning cleanse thy Heart To this purpose speaks the Author of the Epistle to Susanna in St. Jerome's Works the greatness of the Wound in the Conscience must ever be answered by the greatness of Repentance and Repentance is not a matter of Words but Actions And you then perform it if you set before you the Glory from which you are fallen the Book of Life from which your name hath been blotted out and the outward darkness where there is howling and gnashing of Teeth and which you are become obnoxious to And having fixed this Principle in your Soul that Repentance is the only refuge after Baptism you must think no Labour no Rest no Pains too much nothing undecent or unhandsome to be freed from everlasting Torments Think on these things and become a severe Judge of your own Actions In the first place you must bid farewel to all the cares of this World and look upon your self as dead to this Earth and let your only study be how to rise to life again Then take and put on a mourning Weed and punish thy Mind and Members with daily castigations Cut off thy hair which hath been the occasion of thy Luxury From thine Eyes let bitter Tears flow down because by them thou hast defiled thy Soul Let thy Face grow pale which thy sins have given a chearful lovely colour to Strow Ashes on thy Body let Hair-cloth sting thy Flesh let thy Heart melt like Wax within thee crucifie thy Senses which have let in the Poison This is the Process of Repentance and doing so though thou may'st not hope for any high degree of glory yet thou may'st be confident thou wilt be freed from everlasting anguish so Nineveh escaped her ruine In this manner was the mighty David justified He that spares not himself him will the Almighty spare Great sicknesses must have signal Cures great Crimes require great Satisfaction On these Planks thou may'st swim out of the gulfe of Perdition These are the Agonies the Pangs of a true Repentance Of this Theodorus was so sensible that being fallen into Fornication and become sensible of his great transgression he went and retired from the World shut himself up in a Cave lived there the remainder of his days upon Bread and Water and spent his time in Fasting in Prayer and in watering his Couch with his Tears and indeed this advice was duly follow'd by the noble Paula though she was guilty of no such Crime After her Husbands decease she could never be perswaded to sit down at Table with a Man though never so holy Even in a Fever she would not lie upon a soft Bed but on the Ground upon a Mat. She bewailed and wept over her little Sins as much as if they had been the greatest Crimes and when S t Jerome exhored and admonish'd her not to spoil her Eyes with weeping but preserve them for reading the holy Scriptures No said she this Face of mine must be besmeared with dirt which formerly I have painted and patched My body must be afflicted and used coursly which formerly hath been given to Carnal ease and wordly delights my frequent laughter must be revenged with perpetual weeping My soft Linnen and my pretious Silks must be changed into uneasie Sack cloth and I who have endeavoured to please the World and my Husband must now learn to please Christ entirely S t Jerome himself was not backward in this Exercise I wrapt my self up in Sackcloth saith he and struck the Members of my Body which would scarce hang together to the ground I remember I cryed aloud sometimes I joined the night to the day and mourned and did not give over beating of my body till the Lord rebuking Satans Angel shed into my Soul Peace and tranquillity And of the same Judgment was St. Chrysostome who to fit himself for the holy Ministry as soon as he was made Reader retired into a Mountain where joining himself to a Syrian Hermit he learn'd Austerity Continence Chastity and Mortification In this condition he spent four years and then to subdue the Lusts
taken notice of his former austerities and saw him laughing and merry with his Brethren that came to see him and was scandalized at it Bend thy Bow saith he he did so Bend it more he obey'd him Bend it yet more No answered the Huntsman then it will break Just so saith he is it with these severities too much of them spoils all but the moderate use of them may preserve both Soul and Body to Eternity I do not believe it was possible without a Miracle for Besarion to stand forty nights in a Hedge of Thorns that continually prick'd him though some do confidently report it and if he did so I do not see of what use his Body could be to his Soul after such Torments Nor do I know what to say to that man in Dionysius that being at Prayer and a Scorpion biting him and shedding Poison into his Foot insomuch that it swell'd immediately pain'd him exceedingly and convey'd the infection to his very Heart yet would not move from his place nor take care to resist the noxious Animal till he had done his Prayer for though he was restored to his former Health by the Prayer of Pachomius yet no rational Man can think well of such severities where men may prevent their death and will not and I know not whether it be not tempting of God rather than trusting him where he hath put the means to save our lives into our hands and we neglect them Nor VI. Must the stress of Repentance be laid on these severities This I have already touch'd upon and I cannot but mention it again because without great care and watchfulness men are apt to be deluded by the Devil into misconstruction of this Exercise as if God were more pleased with this Exercise than with the Repentance Men may possibly be pleased with these outward Austerities more than with inward Reformation but God who sees further cannot His piercing eye looks through the Bowels and if the Root be sound loves all the Branches that spring from it if the Foundation be good casts a favourable Eye on all the Ornaments of the Structure This Root this Foundation is a sincere Repentance or a Heart enamour'd with the Beauty of Holiness If this Rod buds and blossoms and bears such Fruit it is accepted in Christ Jesus without a contrite Heart severities are but a deceitful Bush whereby Men are deceived into a good opinion that there is excellent Wine to be found in the House but find nothing but Gall and Vinegar a stately Gate to a Swine-stye and paint laid on upon a homely Face which makes the Mortification ridiculous And therefore VII These severities must be only demonstrations of the sincerity of our Repentance when they are used they must be used to convince our selves and others that we do in good earnest abhor the sins we have been guilty of When our Hearts grieve for the provocations we have given to the Almighty and temptations come in and our frighted Consciences would make us believe that our sorrow is but counterfeit there is no better way to dash and beat back the despaining suggestion than by offering some violence to our Bodies for being naturally lovers of ease and softness when we can thus deny our selves and can be reveng'd for our sins upon our selves we give very good evidence that what we profess is 〈◊〉 and that our Tears are flowing from a Heart sensible of the Majesty and Purity of the Great Creator And this was the reason why the noble 〈◊〉 repenting of her being married to another Husband while the former from whom she had been divorced was living came into the Church with her Haiâ— dishevelâ—d with her Hands and Neck and Lips all diâ—ty and bemired with lying in Dust and Ashes for some time and for this S t Jerome commends her highly because hereby she discover'd the reality and sincerity or her Repentance VIII These severities are of great use in our endeavours to despise the World and to lead a truly Spiritual Life Indeed our love of the World hath need of 〈◊〉 coâ—â—osives It 's a Distemper which is 〈◊〉 to be dispell'd by flatrery 〈◊〉 is it cured by a few angry words such as Eli gave his two Sons Hophni and Phinees Without it be corrected and and lash d the Weed will over-run the Ground and endanger the Soul even in the mid'st of ordinary devotion The Body is ever a Bosome-friend to this love of the World and therefore if the Body be proceeded against with harshness this love feels the smart and begins to abate in its Grandeur and Loftiness The Body being put to pain it 's satisfaction faint and it begins to lower it's Top-sails and to dwindle away into nothing such Mustard being laid on these Breasts the Child soon gets an aversion from sucking them and this bitternes drives the Soul to seek for sweeter Object in Heaven And upon this account it was that Sylvanus the Bishop of Philippoâ—olis went always in Sandaâ—s made of Hay even in the City of Constantinople and the Rural Bishops in the Diocess of Rome denied themselves of all Wordly Rotinue and Splendour while those of Rome lived in all the Pomp and Bravery the World could afford IX Either to subdue a corruption or to prevent yielding to a sin these severities may be very helpful Such severities fright away the corruption and make Satan himself stand amazed at what we are going to do Seeing the love of God so strong in us that for his sake we can put our selves to great inconveniencies he departs and finding that Gods favour is dearer to us than our ease and interest his next conclusion is that he must find out other Subjects to impose and Work upon When Hilarion applied himself to the subduing of his Lusts he spake to his Body Come thou Beast I will not feed thee with Barley but with Chaff I 'll so order thee that thou shalt not kick I 'll subdue thee with the hunger and thirst I 'll lay Weights upon thee I 'll afflict thee by Heats and Colds that thou shalt long for Victuals more than for Lustful Objects And so he did labouring hard when the Sun shin'd hottest and praying and singing all the while he was at Work and thus he became Master of his Passions In the same manner Zenon travelling one day through Palaestina and seeing a Bed of excellent Cucumbers a Fruit he naturally loved and finding temptations in his Breast to steal some from the Owner it came into his Mind that Thieves when taken by the Magistrate are usually tormented I must therefore saith he try whether I can endure Torments before I steal and accordingly he laid this punishment upon himself for coveting another mans Goods and stood five days in the Sun frying his Body in the intolerable heat and being able to endure it no longer I see saith he I must not steal for I cannot endure Torments and so he passed on
Needy which formerly they used to express to their own Children Here you should see none Rejoycing that he had any thing of his own for whatever he had he look'd upon his Fellow-Christians as Co-heirs and was so well contented that they should inherit with him that he thought that which he had a Burthen if his Neighbours were not to share in his Possessions This present Life was the least thing they minded while that to come engrossed their Thoughts and Considerations They were so entirely Christians that in a manner they were nothing else and cared not for being any thing else lest if they should be something else they should be suspected of deviating from their Masters foot-steps Hence it was that the Pagans accused them of Unrighteousness and Unprofitableness as if they were dead Weights in the World contributing nothing to the welfare and prosperity of Mankind and as if they stood for Cyphers in Humane Societies though none were more ready to communicate of the Profit of their Labours to others than they and did therefore on purpose keep close to their Calling and Profession that they might be able to relieve the Needy And though they were loath to take upon them the Employment of Magistrates and Governors lest the Emperors and Gods Commands should clash and they lye under a temptation of obeying Man more than God yet whenever they were thought worthy to bear Office in the Church they readily embraced the Charge that they might be in a greater capacity to improve the Talents God had given them to his Glory and his Peoples good and were pleased with the Trouble of the Office that the World might see they had no design of Gain or Worldly Interest in the Administration They spake little but their Thoughts were always Great and Heavenly and as they look'd upon sublunary Objects as too mean for their lofty Minds to rest on so their care was to keep the Eyes of their Understandings fix'd on that World which fades not away In the eye of the World they were Pythagoreans and a kind of Dumb-Men but when they met one with the other and CHRIST was named perfect Peripateticks and no Philosophers would be freer in their Discourses than they Their business was to live not to talk great Matters and the name Christian did so charm them that though there were various degrees of Men among them Ecclesiasticks Lay-men Virgins Widows Married Persons Confessors Martyrs and Friends yet the name Christian swallowed up all and in this they triumph'd beyond all other Titles in the World which made Attalus in Eusebius when the Governor ask'd him what Countryman he was who his Father and Mother were what Trade Profession and Employment he was of whether he was Rich or Poor give no other answer but this That he was a Christian. And the same did the excellent Blandina And by this answer they gave the World to understand that their Kindred Pedigree Nobility Trade Profession Blood c. did all consist in this one Thing and that beyond this there could be no greater Honour and Dignity Their Communications or Answers in common Discourse were Yea Yea and Nay Nay An Oath they shunn'd as much as Perjury and a Lye among them was more rare than a Sea-monster is to the Inhabitants of a Continent for they said that in their Baptism they were Signed with the Mark of Truth and that they could not be Servants of the God of Truth if they should yield but to the least appearance of Falshood Christ was the charming Word among them and they heard nothing with greater joy than that glorious Name His Death and Sufferings raised their Souls and his Cross was more Pretious to them than Rubies Hereby they learned to despise the World and the Marrow Virtue and Efficacy of their Religion was the Death of JESUS This Death they remembred not only in the Sacrament but at their common Meals and when they refreshed their Bodies with Meat and Drink they talked of that Meat which would feed them into Everlasting Life and herein they walked contrary to the custom of the Drunkards of old who used to carry a Death's Head with them to their drunken Meetings and set it upon the Table and with the sight of that and remembrance of what they must shortly come to encouraged themselves in Drunkenness The first Christians remembred indeed the Death of Christ at their ordinary Tables but it was to make Pain and Torment and Death and the Cross familiar to them for the Afflictions of this Life they looked upon as the Midwives that promoted their new Birth and the best Companions of their Faith and the faithfullest Nurses of their Hopes In the Cities and Towns where they lived none was unknown to the other for they Pray'd together heard the Word together met frequently at Meals together and were continually helpful one to the other Infomuch that where-ever they met they knew one another and when they durst not with their Lips yet with their Eyes and Gestures they would salute one another send Kisses of Peace one to another rejoice in the common Hope and if permitted assist one another in Adversities This is one of us saith such a Saint for we have seen him in our Oratories we have Pray'd with him we have been at the Lords Table together we have heard the Scriptures read together we have kneeled together we have been instructed together O happy Kindred which comes by Prayer and Communion of the Body and Blood of JESUS O blessed Relations where Men are not called Brothers of the Sun or of the Stars as the antient Tyrants styled themselves but Brethren of CHRIST Children of GOD and Citizens of Heaven When a Christian who was a Stranger came to them before ever he shew'd his Testimonials they knew him by his lean Visage and meager Face which his frequent Fasting had brought him to by the Modesty of his Eyes by the Gravity of his Speech by his Gate and Habit and mortified Behaviour for something Divine did shine through their looks and one might read the Characters of the Spirit in their Countenance Nor is it very strange that a good Man should be known by his Carriage for to this day a serious Person though he says nothing something in his Lineaments and Features and Postures will betray the inward Zeal and Sincerity of his Soul and his deportment will discover there is something more than ordinary in him as much as the Roman Senator was betray'd by the Perfumes about him Whenever they were thrust into the Croud of Malefactors their Fellow-Christians soon guessed who they were for they hastned with Meekness to their Martyrdom and without expressing any impatience or indignation submitted their Necks to the stroak of the Axe prepared for them They used to look frequently up to Heaven and one might by their smiles see that between God and them there was more than ordinary Correspondence Sometimes they would provoke the Executioners to