like must necessarily be joyned with like p. 9. The same which I have said of Pythagoras may in effect be said of SOCRATES also both as to the Disposition of his Mind as to his Travels for acquiring of Knowledge and as to his Principles from the Observations and Confessions of such as were no Friends to Mystick Theology They were Scholars in the same Schools and received the Tradition of the same Doctrine as did Plato also from thence and from them so that I may dispatch this in a few Observations of what is known and confessed concerning him That he had as clear Notions as any touching God his Nature Unity and other Sacred Mysteries which he could never have attained unto but by some borrowed Tradition c. That he asserted That Virtue is neither by Nature nor by Teaching but by Divine Inspiration and that all true Knowledge of God comes by Divine Infusion and called God his Tutor That while Man is subject to and under the Impression of Corporal Images sensible Forms and terrene Affections he is not rightly disposed for Divine Contemplation which requires a Mind defecated c. That Divine things and Mysteries cannot be comprehended but by a refined Judgment by such as have their Souls abstracted from all Corporal Images Impressions and Affections and therefore Men should be very intent on getting a Reformed Life that the Mind being exonerated of its depressing Lusts might by a natural Vigour lift up it self to Eternals and by that Purity of Intelligence contemplate the Nature of that Eternal Incommunicable Light where the Causes of all created Natures live in Stability v. Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 8. c. 3. And as to his own Life That he instituted his whole Life even from his Childhood by the assistance of his Divine Inspiration which he called a Daemon a Voice a Sign And that Plato reports of him that he stood a whole day without any alteration in the same posture his Mind being abstracted with pure Contemplation and that Favorinus in A. Gellius saith that he did this often And now to return to our principal Author and the Words of PLATO in him which are these Being often in the Depth of Contemplation my Body being left behind I seemed to enjoy the Chief Good with incredible pleasure Wherefore I stood as it were astonished finding my self to be a part of the upper World and to have obtained Immortality with the clearest Light which cannot be expressed with Words nor heard with Ears nor understood by the Thoughts of Men and then he describes the Sadness he felt at the decay of that glorious Light and the pleasure which returned with his former Extasies The Words are At last my Intellect being wearied with this Contemplation fell back into phantasie and then that Light failing I became somewhat sad But again having left my Body returning thither again I perceived my Mind abounding with Light and that flowing then into the Body then raised above it Nor of Plato himself doth our Author take any more notice then of that one passage but of the later Platonists Plotinus Jamblicus Porphrygius and Proclus who as he saith out of Psellus did wholly approve of the Chaldaick Theology he gives us some larger Tasts and particularly The short account of Plotinus his Hypothesis is this That the Soul of Man being immersed in the Body suffers very much by reason of its Vnion with it by which means it is drawn to the Affections of the Body and to a Conversation with Sensible things and so becomes Evil and Miserable That its Good and Happy Condition lyes in being like to God not in regard of Vnderstanding but a State of Quiescency That the Practice of the Virtues of the Active Life is insufficient for Assimilation to God but in order to it those which are properly Intellectual are most necessary whereby the Soul draws it self off from the Body Thus for the Soul to act by its self is Wisdom Introversion is Temperance Abstraction from Matter is Fortitude to follow Reason is Justice That by the Practice of these the Soul purifies its self i. e. casts off the things without its self and so recovers its Purity by bringing those things into Light again which lay hid under the rubbish of Sensible things before so that the Soul did not know them to be there but for the Discovery of them it was necessary for the Soul to come near a greater Light than its self and to bring the Images which are in it to the true Originals The way of Purifying the Soul he calls by the Names of Abstraction and Recollection which he else-where expresses by awakening the Soul out of Sleep wherein it was disturbed by sensible Images not as though the Soul had need of any other way of Purifying but only restraining it to its self by taking away that load of Matter which oppressed it and then it naturally endeavours after the nearest Vnion with the first Being which he calls the True Being and the super-Essential Being And he saith When the Soul endeavours after this Vnion it must lay aside all sensible and intellectual Images of things and make use only of the purest and supream part of the Mind or the Fund of the Spirit that God then is not to be considered under the Notion of Being but as something above Being and that we are not either to affirm or deny any thing of Him that Our Contemplation of Him is not by Knowledge or any Intellectual Operation but by a Divine Presence which far exceeds any Knowledge for Knowledge he saith hinders Vnion therefore we must go beyond Knowledge and be abstracted from all other Objects and be united to Him only by the Power of Divine Love from whence follows a clearer Light in the Soul And in this State saith he there is not only a Cessation of Passion but of Reason and Vnderstanding too neither is the Person himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like one in a Rapture or an Extasie he enjoys God in that State of Quiescency as in a silent Wilderness which he calls being in God and in other places seeing God in themselves being the same with God being one with God and which is the highest of all being God which is the perfect State of Dei-formity Of Porphyry who was a Disciple and Confident of Plotinus the same Author gives us this account That he looked upon the Theurgick Way as lyable to deceit and not capable of advancing the Soul to highest Perfection Which Theurgick Way lay in the initiating of Men in some Sacred Mysteries by partaking of certain Rites and Symbols by which they were admitted to the Presence of some of their Deities the End whereof as they pretended was reducing the Souls of Men to that State they were in before they came into the Body So St. Austin tells us from Porphyry That they who were purified after this manner did converse with glorious appearances of Angels which they were fitted
it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For saith he though there be many Intellectual Powers in us yet it is by this only that we can be united to the Divinity and be made partakers of it For we cannot reach the Divine Being either by our Senses or by Opinion or by Apprehension no nor yet by Ratiocination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It remains therefore that if the Divine Nature can any ways be known by us it must be by the Essence of the Soul For the Soul being drawn into its own Vnity and removing from it self the Multiplicity of its Powers it ascends to the greatest height of true Contemplation While the Soul looks about on things below it it sees nothing but Shadows and Images of things When it comes to a State of Introversion then it sees its own Essence and Operations of the Vnderstanding But when it searches deeper then it finds the Mind within it self and the several Orders of real Beings When it goes yet farther into the most secret Closet of the Soul there it contemplates as it were blindfold the Divine Beings and the first Idea's or Vnities of Beings And this saith he is the most excellent Operation of the Soul in the Rest or Quiescency of its Powers to stretch it self toward the Divine Nature and dance as it were round it and to raise up the whole Soul towards this Vnion with it and abstracting it self from all Inferior Beings to rest upon and be conjoyned with that Ineffable and Super-essential Being And by this means the Soul comes to have the truest Vnderstanding of all things All these Notions saith our Author both among the Chaldeans and the Platonick Philosophers are built upon a very ancient Hypothesis but very different from that of Christianity which Hypothesis being granted this Mystical Divinity appears with some face of Reason and colour of Probability It was this That the Souls of Men did exist in another World long before they came into the Body that in their Descent to the Body they had an Aetherial Vehicle joyned to them which upon the conjunction of the Soul and Body became the Means of Communication between them and takes up its chief Seat in the Brain which is the same which we call the Imagination that the Soul being in this state is apt to be much inveigled with Kindness to the Body and so forget its Return home that the Body is capable of doing the Soul mischief no other way being it self under the power of Fate then as it draws it downward that the Mind being the upper part of the Soul is always acting but we know not its operations but only by the Impressions they make upon the Phansie that the Mind hath the true Idea's of things within it self but we are deceived by the Representations conveyed by our Imagination and therefore our Ratiocination is very short and uncertain that our only way of Recovering our Souls is by drawing them off from the Body and retiring into themselves and that upon this the Mind hath the Divine Being so nearly conjoyned to it that it passeth into a Divine Nature and recovers its former State when it parts from the Body But because it is not to return alone without the Aetherial Vehicle it brought with it therefore the Chaldeans and Egyptians had several Sacred and Symbolical Rites for the purifying of the Vehicle as they called it which they made necessary for this End and with them Jamblicus joyns but Porphyry thought them not necessary but that Philosophy and meer Contemplation would purifie enough without it This is the true Account of their Hypothesis as may be fully seen in Hierocles and Synesius without going farther and was the first Foundation of Mystical Divinity which I will not deny to be well enough accommodated to it But it is as remote from Christianity as the Hypothesis it self is This is said by our Author to disparage Mystical Divinity because he supposeth it will not be consented to by any that are Friends to it But how doth it appear that this Hypothesis was the first Foundation of Mystical Divinity which for any thing he hath shewed to the contrary may be more ancient than it His bare affirmation in his own Case certainly is not to be admitted for Proof But in case that were admitted how is that different from Christianity for he would not say contrary though no doubt many of his Readers would be apt to take it so The Jews did believe it before our Saviour's time the Apocrypha doth favour it the Apostle's Question concerning the Man who was born Blind doth favour it nor doth our Saviour's Answer at all contradict it but rather suppose it and it hath been asserted by Learned Men both of the Church of England and other Protestants from Proofs of Scripture as well as Reason His Conclusion also is observable that Mystical Divinity is as remote from Christianity as the Hypothesis it self such another cautious Expression not to expose himself but by which the generality of his Readers may easily be imposed upon Truth is a very venerable thing and Divine matters ought to be treated with great Reverence the very Heathen Mysticks would have thought so whatever our Rationatists think Besides these ancient Philosophers our Author takes notice of the like Notions and Practices among other Gentiles even at this day but of what antiquity amongst them he saith not It is taken from a Letter of Monsteur Bernier to Monsieur Chaplain dated 4 Octob. 1667 concerning the Gentiles of Indostan wherein he gives an account of certain Orders of Religious among them who make Vows of Chastity Poverty and Obedience living in Convents under Superiors who are commonly called Jauguis i. e. united to God who used themselves to many Hardships and were looked on as so many Eremites by the People being accounted true Saints illuminated and perfect Jauguis These are People that have entirely abandoned the World and sequestered themselves into some very remote Corner or Garden like Eremites without ever coming to the Town If you carry them any Meat they receive it if they do not 't is believed that they can live without it and subsist by the sole Favour of God in perpetual Fasting Prayer and profound Meditations for they sink themselves so deep into these Raptures that they spend many hours together in being insensible and beholding in that time as they give out God himself like a very bright and ineffable Light with an unexpressible Joy and Satisfaction attended with an intire Contempt and forsaking of the World For thus much one of them that pretended he could enter into this Rapture when he pleased and had been often in it told me and others that are about them affirm the thing with so much seriousness that they seem to believe it in earnest that there is no Imposture in it To these others might be added who have had the like Notions and used the like Exercises as well anciently as at this time
Prayer that is using the Discourse of the Understanding and Meditations as also Vocal Prayer then which Step Sancta Sophia observes many go no further but end their days in it that is in such Meditations is taken up the most part of their Devotions 2. The second Step is the Exercise of the Will and Affections which after long practice breaks forth into continual Aspirations and Elevations thereof 3. The Third is Divine Inaction or the extraordinary and supernatural and more sensible Operations of God's Spirit in the Soul wherein God acteth more than she and which are not in her power at all to procure sooner or retain longer then God pleaseth of which much hath been said before 4. After which usually in the Intervals of those Coelestial Visits do follow great Desolations of Spirit as the Experienced have described them partly arising from the sense of her Loss and an impatient longing after these Favours once tasted and partly out of a great nauseating and disrelish that she hath now of those entertainments of the Creature from which she formerly received some Content Such we may imagin was that of the Prophet David when he said Heu mihi quia incolatus meus prolongatus est And Concupiscit deficit anima mea in atria Domini And after a Non movebor in aeternum Psal 29. an Avertisti faciem tuam factus sum conturbatus § 63. But not only this but God also sometimes withdraws even from his greatest Saints and that for some long duration of time any sensible assistance at all of his Grace leaving the Soul as it were in its pure Naturals and as if he were quite departed from it in great Aridity Obscurity Solitude Pressure and Heaviness disgusted with all things she knows not why performing still her Devotions and accustomed Duties of Piety and the Service of God as formerly but without any sensible comfort in such Performance Meditation Aspiration Reading very difficult sterile insipid and seeming without Fruit only forbearing her Consent to any Sin Vanity or Sensuality and not seeking any secular Consolations Much discouraged also at such times many are in imagining that God hath so deserted them for Failings in their Duty or for something wherein they have offended his Divine Majesty which doubles this Anguish Or if not this at least they imagin it to be caused by some great Indisposition of Body as it is granted sometimes partly it may so as some begin therefore to dispense for a time with the former Exercises of their Devotion and other pious Employments But notwithstanding many times in these the poor Soul is mistaken and this strange dejection of Spirit comes without any such respects meerly from the sole Will of God and is the ordinary course of his proceeding with those also who are by his former Graces well grounded and arrived to some degree of Perfection and is sent only for their much greater Advancement therein and the rendring them more capable of higher Favours and therefore ought as such to be entertained with all Equanimity Patience Resignation and Conformity to his Will These Consolations and Desolations take as it were their certain turns in them as they do in a lesser degree in all the Regenerate they have by course a Day and a Night an Ascent towards God and a Descent and decadence into themselves a Vivification by and in him and a Mortification in themselves a Summer wherein the Branches shoot forth and Fruit comes to Maturity and a Winter when the Root spreads more and the Tree becomes more surely fixed To all God's Children do these Vicissitudes happen but these in a higher degree to the further advanced in Perfection and the greatest Favours are preceeded with greater Desolations and these ordinarily proportioned one to the other And always necessary less or more are such Purgations and Refinings of the Soul by these interior Crosses because always something in them is amiss and as yet imperfect Our natural Corruption is still producing something in us to be amended and some Self-will and Self-love to be parted away by this sharp Remedy whilst we are in this Life And the Benefit of these Desolations if rightly complied with as well as of Divine Consolations is very great in many respects § 64. For herein it is that the Soul comes most perfectly to know it self and all other Creatures to see its own Nothingness and to be most perfectly purged and cleansed from all Self-love and Propriety and herein it is most especially taught non quiescere in donis Dei sed in Deo and Adorare Deum in Spiritu Veritate not in Devotione and Exercere se ad Deum in adversis sicut in prosperis the seeking Gust and Suavity and Consolations even in Spiritual things being one of its Imperfections since these are not God himself Herein it is that the Soul is preserved amidst such Divine Favours which are apt to inflate it in a due and necessary Humility Angelus Satanae colaphisans ne magnitudo Revelationum extollat me saith the Apostle after his Rapt Herein its true Love and Adherence to God Qui veniendo adjuvat and then derelinquendo probat Donis firmat and then Tribulationibus tentat saith St. Gregory Moral l. 20. c. 19. its Perseverance and Loyalty are especially discerned in keeping constant in the Service of him when deprived of all Consolation in it avoiding any application to the Comforts of the Creature when God hath thus as it were dismissed and cast it off But resigning it self and loving its Misery for his Sake and because it is his Will that it should be so An Exercise wherein our Lord himself was pleased to be tried that he might become a merciful High Priest before God and experimentally that he might compassionate our Infirmities in the great Desolation he underwent in the Garden the Night before his Passion Heb. 4.15 2.17 Where caepit pavere taedere saith the Evangelist Matt. 26.37 38. And that sad Expression came from him Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem Tarry here and watch with me Mark 14.34 Yet these Desolations also in a Soul thus far advanced in Grace are not void of a mixture of Joy and Satisfaction that it hath always in God's Will being performed in them which Will of God now in whatever happens is a constant Consolation to it and the Apostles Precept 1 Thess 5.16 17. of Semper gaudete is thus accomplished in such a Soul as well as his orate sine intermissione and go together For there cannot want Content where the Mind hath its Desire nor doth such a Mind want this that is unanimous with the Divine Will the want of which Conformity is only from the loving of something that is against his Will Worldly Sorrows saith St. Gregory affligentes cruciant but these Spiritual reficiunt dum affligunt In the one is In afflictione maeror but in the other In merore laetitia Moral l. 23. c. 13. Nay
imparting himself to the Soul that is prepar'd for that Happiness by Divine Love Humility and Resignation in the way of a Vital Touch and Sense is a thing possible in it self and will be a great part of our Heaven That Glory is begun in Grace and God is pleased to give some excellent Souls the happy Antepast That holy Men in ancient times have sought and gloried in this Enjoyment and never complain so sorely as when it was with-held and interrupted That the Expressions of Scripture run infinitely this way and the best of modern good Men do from their own Experience attest it That this spiritualizeth Religion and renders its Enjoyments more comfortable and delicious That it keeps the Soul under a vivid sense of God and is a grand Security against Temptation That it holds it steddy amidst the Flatteries of a prosperous State and gives it the most grounded Anchorage and Support amidst the Waves of an adverse Condition That 't is the noblest Encouragement to Vertue and the highest Assurance of an happy Immortality I say I considered these weighty Things and wonder'd at the Carelessness and Prejudice of Thoughts that occasion'd my suspecting the Reality of so glorious a Priviledge I saw how little Reason there is in denying Matters of inward Sense because our selves do not feel them or cannot form an Apprehension of them in our Minds I am convinc'd that things of gust and relish must be judged by the sentient and vital Faculties and not by the noetical Exercises of speculative Vnderstandings And upon the whole I believe infinitely that the Divine Spirit affords its sensible Presence and immediate Beatifick Touch to some Rare Souls who are divested of carnal Self and mundane Pleasures abstracted from the Body by Prayer and Holy Meditation spiritual in their Desires and calm in their Affections devout Lovers of God and Vertue and tenderly affectionate to all the World sincere in their Aims and circumspect in their Actions inlarged in their Souls and clear in their Minds These I think are the Dispositions that are requisite to fit us for Divine Communion And God transacts not in this near way but with prepared Spirits who are thus disposed for the Manifestation of his Presence and his Influence and such I believe he never fails to bless with these happy fore-tasts of Glory But for those that are Passionate and Conceited Turbulent and Notional Confident and Immodest Imperious and Malicious that doat upon Trifles and run fiercely into the ways of a Sect that are lifted up in the Apprehension of the glorious Prerogatives of themselves and their Party and scorn all the World besides for such I say be their Pretensions what they will to Divine Communion Illapses and Discoveries I believe them not their Fancies abuse them or they would us For what Communion hath Light with Darkness or the Spirit of the Holy One with those whose Genius and Ways are so unlike Him But the other Excellent Souls I described will as certainly be visited by the Divine Presence and Converse as the Chrystalline Streams are with the Beams of Light or the fitly prepared Earth whose Seed is in it self will be actuated by the Spirit of Nature There is a late Writer of no mean Learning and Parts and Authority too among those of his own Party who reckons the Despising of the Holy Spirit and his Operations now to be a Sin of the same Nature with the Apostacy of the Jews by Idolatry of old and afterwards by rejecting of our Saviour at his coming and yet in detestation of Enthusiasm utterly abandons all Impulses and Motions to Things and Actions which are not acknowledged Duties in themselves evidenced by the Word of Truth c. under the Name of Irrational Impressions and violent Inclinations and what some Men intend by Impulses he says he knows not Indeed they who reject all such things reject they know not what And did they thereby only hurt themselves it might be thought a just Punishment but such confident Assertions in Print may not only be hurtful to Men but also injurious to the Wisdom and Goodness of God which is not to be limited by Mens Conceits The Jews heretofore had the Favour to inquire of God and receive Answers and Direction in their special Exigences and if the Christians are not allowed that Favour now it may be thought that the State of Christians is inferior to that of the Jews then in a Matter of great Importance or that the Christians now are as the latter Jews were fallen from the Integrity of the true Christian State Nor can I conceive any reason why Christians should not have some such Means for this purpose as the ancient Jews had but that every Christian ought to have a Divine Oracle in his own Breast by the Residence of the Spirit of God there if we were indeed such as our Profession doth require and oblige us to be that is truly Spiritual and Heavenly-minded It doth therefore concern us to inquire whether the Fault be not in our selves if God doth not answer us as it was with Saul when God was departed from him rather than to dishonour our Profession by arguing against the Truth to cover our Shame and since the Lord's Ear is not heavy that it cannot hear whether our Sins have not interposed between our God and us that he will not hear Certainly we often need a Wisdom more than Humane in many Cases wherein the General Prescripts are not sufficient For as many things are lawful which may not be expedient so many things may be expedient or necessary which may not be acknowledged Duties in themselves evidenced by the Word of Truth the written Word and to the successful Performance of acknowledged Duties certain Circumstances may be and often are so necessary that unless duly observed all Endeavours would be frustrate and all these Expediences and Circumstances may be and frequently are such as are not discernable by us Mortals without some Notice from more Intelligent Beings If therefore the All-seeing Wise and Gracious God be pleased either immediately by his own Spirit or mediately by any of the Invisible Ministers of his Providence to afford any such Divine Favours to such Mortals as are duly disposed for the same if taking notice of the Sincerity of his Servant he be pleased by any secret Impression upon his Heart or Mind or other Notices to conduct him in these things or in any thing of his Will and Pleasure though without manifesting the Reasons of it to exercise his Reasonable Creature to the Subjection of his Intellect to the Divine Wisdom as well as his Will to Obedience to his Pleasure as he who after competent Experience of this should be disobedient to any such Notice would certainly incurr Sin more or less and justly deserve Correction so it would be no less Impiety against that Holy Majesty and Mischief to Men to raise amongst them any Scandal or Prejudice against it and thereupon
know not but this I know by Experience in others and even while this is Printing that there is great need of Good Admonition For I find by divers such Experiences that God is pleased at this time to give some sensible Notices of his Conduct to many who are in some sort in the Case of Samuel 1 Sam. 3.7 who then did not know the Lord neither was the Word of the Lord yet revealed to him and when they come to the Priest who should be as Eli to them to direct them how to behave themselves are by him put quite out of the Way and either dismissed to the Physician to be cured of Melancholy or advised to some cheerful innocent Conversation or to mind their Business in their Callings or to reject the Impressions they feel as Fancies and vain Fears and Scruples And many Cases there are wherein some of these Directions might be proper but there are many others wherein they are all quite out of the Way and wherein great Faults have been to my knowledge and I doubt are daily committed by Learned and otherwise able and good Men partly through Ignorance in these Matters or common Prejudice against them partly for fear of incouraging what they see many abuse to their own hurt and to the Scandal of others and partly for fear of bringing upon themselves the Censure and Reproach of inclination to Fanaticism or Enthusiasm and thereby at once the Grace and special Favour of God is rejected the poor Soul greatly disappointed at least if no worse happen to it and the Director must be accountable for both But to make a matter of so great Importance the more plain it may not be amiss to propose an instance or two of some Cases A Person wants an Employment and an Employment is offered but the Person hath strong Impressions either not to accept it or not to continue it being otherwise supplyed for the present and thereupon repairs to some noted Divine for Advice The Divine considers that the Person needs an Employment and upon Examination can discover nothing unlawful in the Employment nor unfit for the Person and thereupon confidently adviseth to reject the Impression and embrace and continue the Employment Such Advice as this proves in the event to one unsuccessful all his time to another his Ruine and Vndoing as to his Temporal Estate to another the Occasion of the Loss of his Life and to another the hazard if not loss of his Soul and all this by such Means and Occasions as could not be foreseen or discovered by any Mortal but are plainly seen and foreseen by some kind invisible Friends concerned for us Again a young Woman who is not at all proud if we will believe her only she desires to be like other-Folks but she finds something within her that tells her or suggests that she 'll be damned if she wear such a Dress Hereupon she goes for Advice to a Divine He being more cautious in such cases tells her that since she may both lawfully and decently wear another meaner or plainer she should have a care that she doth not reject such Motions in her Mind For many times things which are not damnable Sins in themselves may be Occasions and Inlets to such as are and Hindrances of Graces and so produce such unhappy consequence at last But not liking this Advice away she goes to another of greater note and he tells her that since that Dress is not unlawful it cannot be a Damnable Sin to wear it and therefore whatever it was it could not be the Spirit of God that did so fright her but she must have a care of such things lest she run into Fanaticism and I know not what And this she likes and follows till the tricking up of her Natural Beauty proves a Snare to her self and others the kind Impressions which she formerly had upon occasion cease her Devotion grows cool and she relapseth again into the common Course of the World and what will be the end of it God knows What I have had experience of in my self and my own Family partly for want of due regard to such Notices and too much yielding to Motives of Moral Prudence and partly by such unhappy Resolutions of Cases by others would be too long to relate particularly I have had no less than four Sons undone in this City all as likely Youths as any and all after their disappointments by their Behaviour gaining the Favour and Kindness of all they conversed with and in the placing of them spared neither Cost nor Pains nor Care and took the best Advice I could have at first made choice of such for Masters as I expected to act upon Principles of Religion afterward such as I expected Friendship at least Moral Honesty and Humanity from them but was disappointed in all And I know assuredly that all did proceed from such Causes as I have in general mentioned already and had notice of it in general before It is a great Vnhappiness to this Church and Nation at this time that we have so few of any considerable Experience in these things especially among those who should be Guides to others And it is their Great Sin and without due Repentance will prove Damnation to many that they have been so bug-beared by a fluttering Sadducean Atheistical Humour and base prudential Compliance of some of greater Name than genuine Christian Vertue as to be ashamed or afraid to assert or own so great and noble a Principle of the Religion they profess And therefore besides my own special Obligations and concern for the Honour and Service of God and of our Holy Religion Pity to the many Souls which I perceive destitute of true Spiritual Direction and Indignation at the Baseness Folly and Madness of so many Prudentialists amongst us hath made me for some time to long for an Opportunity to bear my Testimony in the Case The Motive in my collecting the other Discourse which though written last and by the by according to its proper order is here first was to detect a Misapplication of Truth and retort his Argument against himself who had so grossly and rudely treated the Business of Fanaticism without due regard to that Sacred Principle of Religion which is pretended in it or to the most noble and heroick Professors and Observers of it But in this degenerate Age God hath not left himself without Witness but raised up some of a more generous Spirit such as Mr. Smith of Cambridge the late profound Dr. Cradoc whom I much esteemed for his Generosity as well as Judgment in Preaching up this Doctrine who told me he had Preached 20 or 30 Sermons upon it and that if we deny that we may burn our Bibles for he knew not he said what Religion would signifie without it and the Learned Mr. Matthew Scrivener who hath left us a Discourse concerning Mystical Divinity Intituled The Method and Means to a true Spiritual Life and others to say
by Enquiring In what manner God appears Whether an appearance of Fire come before Him Whether he fills up and acts the whole Soul so that there is a Cessation of all its own Acts For this he makes the main Character of a Divine Inspiration that the Persons are wholly taken up and possessed by the Deity from whence follows an Extasie and alienation of the Senses But if either the Soul acts or the Body moves then he saith it may be a false Inspiration No Man can express himself more emphatically concerning the Excellency of Contemplative Prayer than Jamblicus doth This quickens the Mind inlargeth its Capacity opens the Secrets of the Divinity and fits it for Conjunction and Vnion with God and never leaves Men till it hath carried them to a State of Perfection and by degrees doth alter and change Men that it makes them put off Humane Nature and bring them into such a State of Dei-formity that they become Gods The first degree of Prayer saith he brings to a State of Recollection and hath some Divine Contact which helps our Knowledge The second carries the Soul to a nearer Communion with God and excites the Divine Bounty to freer Communications to it But the third is the Seal of the ineffable Vnion which makes our Mind Soul to rest in God as a Divine Port or Haven And he concludes his Book with saying That this Vnion with God is Man's greatest Perfection and the End of all Religion among the Egyptians whose Mysteries his Design was to explain and vindicate Many other Passages might be produced out of him concerning the Knowing of God by Divine Contact and the Insufficiency of any Act of the Mind for this ineffable Vnion but these are enough to shew how well acquainted Jamblicus and if we believe him the Egyptians were with the profoundest Secrets of Mystical Divinity There is a Book translated out of Arabick intituled Of Divine Wisdom according to the Egyptians wherein are many things to this purpose but our Author takes notice but of one passage in it which he sets down as the Words of Plato But before we come to Plato it is fit to be noted that PYTHAGORAS and the PYTHAGORIANS could not but be well acquainted with this Mystical Theology though they did not ordinarily deliver it in such express terms but in a more occult manner For it is known confessed That Pythagoras himself was from his Youth greatly inclin'd to an Inquisition into Religious Rites and Mysteries That he travelled into Egypt to hear their Priests was there 22 Years had recommendations from the King to the Priests and was permitted to acquaint himself with all their Learning entred into the Egyptian Adyta and was instituted in things unexpressible touching the Gods gave himself exact Information concerning Persons and Things not omitting any Person eminent at any time for Learning or any kind of Religious Rites or any Place where he conceived he might find somewhat extraordinary That he went thence to Babylon and continued there 12 Years conversed with the most Eminent of the Chaldeans as also with the Persian Magi who entertained him very courteously gave him insight into their more hidden Mysteries and Religious Rites and without doubt with the most Eminent for Knowledge of the Jews in both places and likely enough as Selden and others think with Ezekiel in particular That he made Theology or the Knowledge of God the First most Universal Being the Centre of all his Philosophy That he was by way of Eminency call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he treated chiefly of God his Nature and Worship That he was a great Devoto or Advocate for God his Worship and Sacred Institutes That the Confederation of his Coenobium for so they called it or College had reference to some Divine Temperament and to Union with God and to Unity with the Divine Soul That the Institutions of his Society and Sect for the Admission and Probation of Disciples distinction of Persons Reverence to their Elders Celibacie Communion of Goods Retirement from the World c. were very much the same with those of the Esseans and the Christian Coenobites afterward That of the differing Sects afterward none did Pythagorize more than Plato especially in Divine matters as Aristotle and Laertius have observed yea that the choicest of his Metaphysick Contemplations seem to be traduced from Pythagoras and his Followers and that Plotinus did more clearly explicate the Principles of the Pythagorick Philosophy as well as of the Platonick And from all this put together we may very reasonably conclude especially if we take in what is related by Jamblicus That he continued 3 days and 2 nights at one time in the same Posture without taking either Meat or Drink or Sleep lib. 1. cap. 3. That he must have been well acquainted with this Mystick Theology which was in such Esteem with both those from whom he received Instructions and those who received from him and that in Plotinus and others we read the Pythagorick as well as Platonick Principles and that in both was a mixture of the Judaick and what was derived by all from the Common Parent Noah To this I will add only a Passage or two of his out of Demophilus Being born of God and rooted in Him let us cleave to our Root For the Streams of the Waters and the Sprouts of the Earth if they be cut off from their Root are dry'd up and wither away p. 11. Is not this the very Doctrine of our Saviour The True Light which lighteth every Man who cometh into the World of being born of God and abiding in the Vine It cannot by any means be that one and the same Person should apply himself to Pleasures to the Body to the getting of Riches and also to God And is not this also the very Doctrine of our Saviour Ye cannot serve God and Mammon But he goes on For he who is given to Pleasures the same will also be careful for the Body but he who is careful for the Body he will also study to get Riches and he who studies to get Riches will necessarily be Vnjust But he who is Vnjust is both impious toward God and unjust toward Men and therefore although he sacrifice whole Hecatombs he is but the more impious and far from God and all Religion and deliberately Sacrilegious Wherefore it behoveth to avoid every voluptuary Person as impious and sacrilegious p. 12. You cannot well say that he is a happy Man who relies upon Friends or Children or any transitory and fading thing for all these are instable things But to rely upon ones self and upon God that only is firm and stable p. 12. A wise Man sent hither Naked will naked or stript of all invoke Him who sent him for God hears him only who is not incumbred with Impertinences p. 9. A Divine Sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solidly joyns us to God For
to see but Porphyry himself as he did not utterly reject this Lower and Symbolical way so he said That the Highest Perfection of the Soul was not attainable by it but it was useful for purifying the Lower part of the Soul but not the Intellectual By the Lower part he understood the Irrational which by the Theurgical Rites might be fitted for Conversation with Angels but the Intellectual part could not be elevated by it to the Contemplation of God and the Vision of the things that are true And herein he placed the utmost Perfection of the Soul in its return to and Union with God in this upper part or Fund of the Soul for the utmost the other attained to was only to live among the Aetherial Spirits but the Contemplative Souls returned to the Father as he speaks which as many other of his Notions he borrowed from the Chaldaick Theology To shew what this Intellectual or Contemplative Life was that should bring Mens Souls to this State of Perfection Porphyry writ a Book on purpose Of the Return of the Soul as St. Austin tells us who quotes many passages out of it and this particular Precept above all the rest That the Soul must fly from all Body if it would live Happy with God which is all one with Abstraction of Mind and pure Contemplative Life In that Book he complains that there was no Perfect Way yet known to the World for this End not the Indian Chaldaick or any other But what that was which he meant appears by what he saith near the end of the Life of Plotinus where he hath these Words The Scope and End of his Life was Vnion and Conjunction with God over all and four times saith he when I was with him he attained to this Vnion by an unexpressible Act of the Mind which he before sets forth by a Divine Illumination without any Image or Idea being above the Vnderstanding and all intelligible things And he saith of himself that he was once in this State of Vnion when he was 68 Years of Age. Which Holstenius understands of an Extasie he then fell into and imputes it to the depth of his Melancholy joyned with his abstracted and severe Life his frequent Watchings and almost continual Exercise of Contemplation For all these things were remarkable in him and Eunapius saith of him That he was so little a lover of the Body that he hated his being a Man and being in Sicily he was almost famished by Abstinence and shunned all Conversation with Mankind as he begins the Life of Plotinus That he was like one ashamed that his Soul was in a Body So that we find the Foundation here laid saith our Author not only for the Mystical Vnion but the Abstraction of Mind necessary in order to it and that it doth not lye in any Intellectual Operations but rather in a Cessation of these Acts is likewise expressly affirmed by Porphyry Many things saith he are said of Vnderstanding things that are above the Mind but the Contemplation of those things is better performed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 otio vacatione Intellectûs as Holstenius renders it rather by the Rest and Cessation of Operation in the Vnderstanding than by the Exercise of it as many things while a Man wakes are said of him that he does when he sleeps but the Knowledge and Perception of them is by Sleep for things are best understood by Assimilation And elsewhere he saith That our manner of Vnderstanding all things is different according to their Essence those things above the Mind are to be known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the way of unknowing and after a super-essential manner where we see the very Phrases of Dionysius used by him and in many places he speaks of the Minds abstracting and loosing it self from the Body and drawing it self nearer to the First Being of the Souls being in God of the pure and clear Light which follows the Abstraction of the Mind of the State and Life of Contemplation and the Virtues necessary thereto such as Abstinence from the Actions of the Body and from Affections to it which saith he raise the Mind to the super-essential Being And he very much disparages the Active and Political Life in comparison with this the End of one being only Mens living according to Nature but of the other Assimilation to God He that lives according to Practical Virtues is only a Good Man but he that lives the Life of Contemplation is a God From whence we understand the Deiformity of the Mystical Divines being attainable by the Life of Contemplation The Way laid down by him for Purifying the Soul is this 1. The Foundation of it is for the Soul to know it self i. e. to consider that it is in a strange place and bound to a thing of another Substance 2. Recollection or gathering it self up from the Body to be free from the Affections of it In order to which he adviseth to deny the Body in its Appetites and Pleasures and to shew as little Care of it and Concernment for it as may be by degrees to lessen all sense both of Pleasure and Pain and so to come at last to a Freedom from the Passions of the Body Then he describes the Superlative Being and saith that it is neither Great nor Little but above both and is neither Greatest nor Least but above all and that his Presence is not Topical but Assimilative and that the only Way for our Souls to recover themselves is to bring them into themselves by which Means the True Being is present with them and we become united to God Which Vnion of the Soul with God Holstenius thinks it very probable that Porphyry understood by the Book which he mentions in the Life of Plotinus called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sacred Nuptials because both Plotinus and he supposed this Union to be wrought by the Power of Divine Love as well as the Mystical Divines and Porphyry saith upon the reading of it some thought him Mad because there were several things spoken in it after a Mystical and Enthusiastical manner for which he was highly applauded by Plotinus Jamblicus was Porphyry's Disciple but out of him our Author recites no more than what is set down before concerning the Egyptian Mysteries but out of PROCLVS another Platonick Philosopher who lived long after these and of whom Marinus gives this Character towards the Conclusion of his Life That his Soul was so recollected and drawn into its self that it seemed to be separated from the Body while it remained in it he hath this passage In the beginning of his Theology saith he he distinguisheth between that Intellectual Faculty in us whereby we are capable of Vnderstanding the Nature and Difference of Intelligible Idea's and that which he call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Summity as the Mysticks speak and pure Fund of the Spirit which he saith is alone capable of the Divine and Mystical Vnion so he calls
his management hath not given too much Advantage or at least Occasion to the common Adversaries Infidels and Deists But as to this cause O. N. hath so fully answered all Cavils at the Terms of Art that it seems he left little to be replyed to and therefore for Answer our Author is reduced to these two shifts 1. To inculcate the Unintelligibleness of Mystick Theology from the cessation of the discursive Faculty at the time of Contemplation which is all that the Mystick Writers intend as if all Men in the very act of intent listening to Sounds or beholding something extraordinary did not the like in a great measure 2. To make a great Bravado as if he had the Authority of the whole Church of Christ against all Visions immediate Revelations Extasies c. in the case of Montanus Whereas what was condemned in Montanus and his Companions was not the pretending to Visions and Revelations but pretending such to be Divine which were not but Diabolical as appeared both by the Manner and by the Matter being Heresie as is very plain in the ancient Writer in Eusebius l. 5. c. 16. When the Faithful throughout Asia had met often and in many places of Asia upon this account and had inquired into this New Doctrine and determined it to be prophane and rejected this Heresie they were expelled out of the Church And before he relates how Montanus his Ambition gave the Enemy an Entrance into himself and he was filled with the Devil and of a sudden possest with a furious and frantick Temper of Mind c. So he saith of Theodotus that he was possest with a false Extasie which plainly implies true ones believed then contrary to what our Author doth pretend To say that it hath no Foundation in the Christian Doctrine and yet to pass by so many Testimonies of Scripture produced for it with no better answer than what amounts to a Concession deserves no other reply than only to note it To mistake and mis-represent Mens Words through Ignorance is a Fault but more especially in Men pretending to Learning and Knowledge yet hath that some excuse by reason of the Humane Infirmity incident to all But to do it wilfully deliberately and seeking Occasions is not only different from but contrary to the Spirit of Christianity But what is it then if it be in despight of that which is really true and the Operations of the Spirit of Grace To say that the Case of Montanus was the very Case of Mystical Vnions and that the Spirit of Montanus was rejected in the Christian Church as a Fanatick Enthusiastical Spirit as if the Case of Mystical Unions was the Case of that Spirit so rejected with other expressions to like purpose are fit to be considered afterward if they were not well considered before-hand There is a passage which he recites out of the Spiritual Exercises of the Jesuites p. 31 32. edit 1574. viz. It is the great Perfection of a Christian to keep himself indifferent to do what God shall reveal to him and not to determine himself to do what he hath already revealed and taught in the Gospel which is very gross indeed if the meaning be what he would have us to believe and indeed so gross that it is not to be believed to be their meaning if it be to be found there and fairly translated but since it is capable of another construction viz. not to confine ones self to what is revealed in general but to be indifferent as to things not determined but lest indifferent to do as God shall direct I know not what can be said of any weight against it Such a Construction had been but according to their own Rule Christianum unumquemque pium debere promptiore animo Sententiam seu Propositionem obscuram alterius in bonam trahere partem quam damnare c. Exercit. Spirit p. 65. edit Ant. 1676. 8o. which had been more worthy of our Author's Observation Nor do I see any reason to alledge as an Instance or Proof of their Fanaticism that Custom of Ignatius and his Companions related by Orlandinus lib. 1. n. 111. viz. In any matter of Debate they were to joyn together in Prayer and after seeking God what Opinion the most were of that they resolve upon Where was the Fault in this in joyning in Prayer or in agreeing with the Majority If the Odium of the Name will excuse any thing with the vulgar yet it becomes neither Christianity nor Ingenuity nor is it consistent with true Prudence to condescend to such mean Objections Over-doing doth often spoil a good Work and disparage and discredit the Author The Errors and Miscarriages of Devout People ought to be pitied mentioned with Grief and not exposed beyond Truth or Necessity For that makes sport for the Devils and wicked Men gives Scandal to weak Men promotes Uncharitableness and Irreligion and discomposeth and disordereth the Spirit of him that doth it He who judgeth others ought to take care that they rise not up in Judgment hereafter against himself How will that Fanaticism which carries Men to the farthest part of the World for the Conversion of Infidels to Christianity rise up in Judgment against them who suffer their own Parishes and Diocesses of professed Christians at home to sink into Insidelity for want of due Care and sufficient Instruction And how will the Excess of Devotion if it be so in some Spiritual Writers rise up in Judgment against such as will be found to have given occasion to Tepidity Carelessness and Neglect of the most Spiritual Exercises of Religion NOTES and OBSERVATIONS to discern Illusions from Divine Inspirations THERE is another part of the Quarrel which our Author hath to this Mystical Divinity besides that that it is unintelligible as he says viz. That it leads Persons into strange Illusions of Fancy which he takes to be a great Injury not only to those Melancholy Souls that are led through this Valley of Shades and Darkness but to the Christian Religion it self Which if true is a just Cause of Quarrel indeed But if well consider'd no greater Cause than others have against the Holy Scriptures because some wrest them to their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 It is true many Persons have been impos'd upon by their own Fancies and many more by Satan transformed into an Angel of Light but must we therefore deny that there are any true Divine Illuminations Inspirations Motions or Communications It is therefore very necessary to be well considered How they may be distinguished And because O. N. in the Book which our Author answers hath a Discourse on that Subject which hath passed his Examination without any hard censure which is an implicit Approbation that may not improperly here be added FOR the discerning of such Illusions proceeding from Satan from the true Inspirations of God's Holy Spirit we affirm That many Notes and Observations there be whereby they may be known if not certainly whether Divine as
only interiourly in the Soul and it was the Holy Spirit only that in all these gave the Evidence to it self A certain Assurance then it cannot be denyed that some at sometimes may have of Divine Operations in them But yet it is not affirmed here that all Persons less advanced in Prayer and Purity of Life or also the greatest Saints at all times discern the Operations of the Holy Spirit within them so clearly in this sort of Actions as not to be sometimes mistaken and it is sufficient that Persons piously disposed and frequent in Prayer may have a rational presumption of it as hath been said Neither is any more communicated unto them perhaps for the better preserving of their Humility And that no absolute Certitude is herein to be expected is a thing often confessed by Sanctae Sophia See 1 Vol. p. 139. and p. 137. § 23. 4. But in case such Divine Inspirations be sometimes mistaken yet can no damage come thereby I mean as to committing any Sin 1. The Subject of them we speak of here being Matters in themselves indifferent and on any side lawful See Sancta Sophia 1 Vol. p. 143. 2. No Command of Superiors in these any way neglected 3. No Neglect besides using Prayer in practising any other means of making a secure Choice either in weighing Reasons on all sides or taking Advice from others Only the devout Soul in using these endeavours yet relies not on them but on the Directions of God's Holy Spirit working continually in the Regenerate both by prevenient and subsequent Grace makes no sudden Resolutions nor rushes hastily upon any Action but diligently hearkens first to this internal Guide what it may tell her is best desiring faithfully all natural Passions and Self-love laid aside to correspond with all its Motions the careful Observers of which with a pure Intention of Mind may be justly presumed seldom to want them though they do not so certainly know them and mean while such Persons if not free always from Mistakes yet are secure in this sort of Actions we speak of from entertaining any sinful Enthusiasm or such as any other Person except by Divine Inspiration can either censure or discover § 24. Here the Author proceeds to another Discourse which being no less necessary for this purpose than pertinent to the Subject of Mystick Divinity it may be both proper for this place and also useful and grateful to many devout People to add part of it It is of Directions given by Spiritual Writers concerning Prayer and Devotion FIRST for Preparation for Prayer they are advised 1. to a serious Endeavour at all times to keep their Conscience clear from all Sin even the least as much as Humane Frailty permits and to a Care of avoiding the Occasions thereof without which Endeavours our Devotions cannot be acceptable to God as to the receiving from him any great plenty of his Grace And 2. at times of Prayer to Abstraction from all Secular Business Recollection of the Mind and Thoughts from all Creatures and all Objects of the Exterior Senses And then to begin at first with Forms for all Occasions of Vocal Prayer where Novices saith he begin and which the most perfect also frequently return to § 25. From these they are led on to Mental Prayer in which the Cessation from External Action renders the Inward more attent and affective more free from Distraction of the Senses and from the Wandring of the Thoughts For this many useful Subjects of Meditation are recommended chiefly touching our own Misery the Mysteries of our Salvation and the Divine Perfections 1. Of their Natural Condition the Heinousness of Sin the Divine Justice the bitter Passion of our Lord in Satisfaction for Sin the Terrors of Death Judgment and Hell to plant in them the Due Fear of God and advance in them all sorts of Mortification and Purification from all Habits of Sin 2. Of the Life of our Lord and the Lives of his Saints for Imitation and Growth in Vertue And 3. of the Divine Perfections and Benefits both received and promised of the Graces and Operations of the Holy Ghost in us and the Abilities for doing Good and pleasing God restored to Man by it if attentively observed and obeyed to advance them in all Spiritual Grace and Christian Perfection and to enkindle in them an ardent Love of God the Acquisition of which Love and not of Knowledge being chiefly designed in them § 26. When by the Practice of these Meditations they are well prepared they are directed by laying more aside their former Reasonings and Discoursings of the Brain with the frequent stroaks of which they have already kindled this Fire in the Heart how to exercise these Affections now in that Lesson of Loving God with all the Heart and all the Soul and all the Mind and all the Strength Luke 10.27 in a more simple and quiet Intuition and Contemplation Advertency and Admiration of the Divine Beauty and Perfections and in more fervent and amorous Colloquies with God in Praising Thanking Solacing her self with him whilst she casts her eye upon his infinite Mercies past and promised in many Resolutions for the future to serve him better and no more so to grieve and offend him in offering all she hath she can do or suffer to his Service and in putting her self in a posture of Silence and Attention to hear what he may be pleased to speak to and in her speak to her not only in Guiding and Admonishing in all necessary Duty but also in things indifferent or also good but not necessary when several of them happen to fall under deliberation in which she also desires to be instructed by him that she may still chuse and do that which may better please him and wherein his Holy Will may be more perfectly accomplished § 27. Which Acts of Love when once to a competent degree facilitated in us as they fill the Soul with great Consolations so they exceedingly help to advance it in all Christian Duties and Vertues For Love will not be idle and works in us now with much more Fidelity and Alacrity as doing all things not out of Fear but Affection and not to obey but please her Beloved and gain from him also a reciprocal Love And when a Soul is arrived so far through the constant Exercise and Custom of Prayer and other Mortifications necessary to it that these Acts of Love and of the Will of which there are many several Degrees surpassing one another are rendered easie and frequent and upon every Occasion speedily resumed without any or much preceedent meditation which Acts before were difficult and rare And when the Soul by reason of the greater Sweetness she finds in this latter affective Meditation as I may call it returns not to the former inventive Meditation without some reluctance this is the first Entrance into that which is stiled a State of Perfection such as Humane Industry attains namely wherein the Will assisted
with Grace excites it self to these Acts of Love and simple Contemplation Of which Practice thus St. Bernard De interiori Domo c. 14. Jam fortasse ascendisti jam ad cor tuum rediisti ibi stare didicisti nec hoc sufficiat tibi Disce habitare mansionem facere qualicunque mentis vagatione abstractus fueris illuc semper redire festina Absque dubio per multum usum quandoque tibi vertetur in oblectamentum in tantum ut absque ullâ laboris difficultate possis ibi assiduus esse quin imo poena potius tibi sit alibi quam ibi moram aliquam facere Thou hast now perhaps ascended thou hast now returned to thy Heart and hast learned to stand there Nor let this suffice thee Learn to dwell learn to make thy abode there And with whatever Wandering of Mind thou shalt be withdrawn make haste always to return thither Without doubt by much use it will at one time or other be turned to Delight to thee insomuch that without any laborious Difficulty thou may'st be there continually yea rather it will be a Pain to thee to make any stay any where else than there Thus He yet is the Soul not directed here to remain idle stupid or unactive but to return to its wonted Meditations and if neither fitly disposed for these to Vocal and set Forms of Prayer or also to Reading when the Sweetness of such Contemplation ceaseth § 28. Devout Souls advanced hitherto are directed and provoked to yet much higher flights and by their continued Devotions to prosecute a further Fruition of that Object which hath no bounds To this purpose for their Encouragement is declared to them from Persons experienced therein the many rich Rewards of Prayer the Supernatural Elevations that God is pleased to advance some Souls to who have been much practised in this Holy Exercise and the more free and familiar Manifestations of himself that he makes to them in several manners mentioned before wherein the Soul doth not now act so much as in a great Quietness Silence and rest of its former natural Operations is more immediately moved and acted by a more special Presence of God in it who sometimes with the Touches and Influences of an extraordinary Grace doth illuminate inflame and ravish the Soul and causeth in it an ineffable and transporting Delight in Contemplating what is shewed to it of the Divine Beauty and Perfections perceiving in it self a most ardent Love and this Supernaturally infused when also are communicated to it many times Coelestial Secrets and Divine Mysteries and future Events by internal Words and Revelation All which things are received by it with a great Tranquility and Attention and Cessation of the Natural use of its Faculties Sensitive or Intellectual Nor seems it in its own disposal whilst it hath these Touches but both doth and must see and think only what his Divine Majesty will have it and this only so long as he pleaseth Nor can any of these things by any Art or Industry of the Soul be attained or procured when she will but all is Supernatural and as well above the Operations of common Grace in us as of Reason In which Supernatural and Extraordinary Divine Impressions upon the Soul the Experienced also observe two sorts of Motions in it Either a very intimate Retreat and Recollection of the Soul from Exterior Objects as it were into some interior part of it self removed from the Thoughts or Remembrace of Creatures or Worldly things which is often joyned with a Retiring also of the Vital Spirits more or less from the outward parts of the Body left sometimes in such Recollection without Sense Motion or Heat Alienatio Mentis à Sensibus Corporis S. Augustin in Psal 67. calls it ut Spiritui quod demonstrandum est demonstretur Such perhaps was that Extasie of St. John when he is said to have been in the Spirit Rev. 1.10 Or 2. an Elevation Rapt or Flight of the Soul as it were above it self and as if it were to depart presently out of the Body and the Person to suffer a present Dissolution Avolatio Mentis as S. Bernard expresseth it Such seems that of St. Paul 2 Cor. 12. § 29. These things are not handled as Rules of Devotion but as a Reward of it and as things only in God's not our Power Yet are these Rich Gifts of God and Pregustations of the State in the World to come recommended to signifie the many noble Effects and powerful Influences which such Favours have upon those who receive them as to the compleating them in all Christian Perfection that is in the perfect Love of God all these Divine Inactions tending still to a clearer Manifestation of God to the Soul and so to the wounding it more deeply with the Love and Longing after him and after the Suffering and Doing any thing with all Alacrity for him and the Graces that are received disposing us still to others higher if the Soul correspond to them as she ought If I persevere saith S. Bernard in Cant. Serm. 69. speaking of these Favours to correspond to this Condescention as much as I can with meet Affections and Actions and the Grace of God be not in vain in me the Father and the Son will ever make their Abode with me We are also told That though upon no Preparations and Predispositions in us whatever such Favours do necessarily follow yet without these God doth not usually grant them That Active Contemplation is the ready way to Passive and That though in the higher degrees of them they are but rare and given to few yet in some inferior degree they are communicated to many and however That an Active Contemplation and Fruition of God by Love spoken of before and the Great Advancement in all Christian Vertue gain'd thereby if we be admitted to no higher things of which true Humility always esteems its self unworthy is a sufficient Recompence in this World for any Pains of ours in Purging of our Life and close Attendance on God in Solitude and Prayer which is undertaken for it Lastly since such Christian Perfection chiefly contains in and depends upon the Exercise of the Affective part of the Soul and not on high Knowledge or Speculation therefore it is recommended as attainable by all Sexes and Conditions and all are equally encouraged in the Prosecution of it For the Grace of Contemplation as S. Gregory observes in Ezek. hom 17. is not given to the high and not given to the low but this do often the highest and often the lowest more often those who are remote that is from Worldly Cares but sometimes those who are in a Married State receive § 30 31. More of this he hath afterward which I shall here add as followeth Of the Steps in order to the highest State of Perfection which this Life arrives to mentioned in Sancta Sophia p. 32. 1. The first is the way of External and Imaginary Exercises of
signal to all the World by his special Government over them by Miracles Signs and Wonders by giving them Laws from Heaven in great Majesty and Terrour by committing to them the Divine Oracles by raising up Prophets and Men specially inspired by an Extraordinary Spirit and by effusing among them a greater Measure of the Influence of his Sacred Spirit For that I may say it once for all it hath been always the Method of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness when he sends out the greater Measure of this Influx whereof I speak the Divine Providence accompanies that Efflux with suitable external Means to render it the more effectual and the more agreeable to the manner of the Reception of the humane Understanding But when the Messias came into the World with the Message of the Glorious Gospel the Sun was as it were in its Meridian and as the means of Illumination and Conversion of the World unto God was more effectual and universal so was also the Efflux and Irradiation of the Divine Influence upon the Souls of Men more vigorous diffusive and universal And as the miraculous Gifts of the Spirit of God appeared in the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles the Gifts of Tongues of Healing Diseases of Prophecy and the like to confirm and establish Mens Minds in the Faith Belief and Obedience of the Gospel so neither was this all but the secret and effectual Influence of the same Blessed Spirit appeared in Illumination of the Minds of Men in persuading and mightily subduing their Wills to the Belief and Obedience of the Truth in converting Mens Minds unto God and placing them in their just and due Habitude to Almighty God And this according to the various Workings thereof is sometimes called the Spirit of Regeneration the Spirit of Renovation the Spirit of Sanctification the Spirit of Holiness the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication the Spirit of Life c. according to the various Energies that this great Effusion of the Influences of the Blessed Spirit had upon the Minds of Men. And this great and more diffusive and effectual Effusion of this Influence under the Gospel was no other than what was prophesied of by the ancient Prophets Isa 25.7 I will destroy in this Mountain the covering cast upon the Face of all People Isa 11.9 The Earth shall be filled with the Knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea Isa 54.13 All thy Children shall be taught of the Lord. Isa 59.20 This is my Covenant that I will make with them my Spirit that is upon thee and the Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart from thee nor from thy Seed nor from thy Seeds Seed Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and keep my Judgments and do them Isa 44.3 I will pour out my Spirit upon thy Seed Joel 2.28 I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh And this Energy of the Divine Influence appears 1. By a secret Irradiation and Illumination of the Understanding 2. By a powerful Persuasion and Inclining of the Will both which as they were with a more vigorous and effectual Dispensation under the first breaking out of the Light of the Gospel so they do accompany the Publication of it unto this day and shall unto the end of the World though by reason of the Corruption of the Lives and Manners of Mankind not with equal Success in all Ages We have here the Judgment and Belief of this Great and Good Man of a Divine Efflux upon the Understandings and Wills of Men and that even among the Heathen those so famed for Wisdom Justice Piety and Knowledge were Illuminated and Guided by a Divine Influence And we have here also the Ground of this his Judgment 1. Observations in Nature 2. The Sentiments of Learned and Understanding Men Philosophers in all Ages 3. The Authority of the Sacred Scriptures to which he elsewhere adds his own Experience And whereas he had in some things changed his Opinion as he saw cause from what it was in his younger time this he received early as appears by some of his First Writings and retain'd constantly to the last as appears by his Treatise of Humility which he wrote upon my Motion not long before his last Sickness In his Treatise of Wisdom and the Fear of God after other particulars of the Wisdom of the Fear of God he adds in the 10th place But besides all this there is yet a Secret but a most Certain Truth that highly improveth that Wisdom which the Fear of the Lord bringeth and that is this That those that truly fear God have a Secret Guidance from a higher Wisdom than what is barely Humane namely by the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom that doth really and truly but secretly prevent and direct them And let no Man think that this is a piece of Fanaticism Any Man that sincerely and truly fears Almighty God relies upon Him calls upon Him for his Guidance and Direction bath it as really as the Son hath the Counsel and Direction of his Father and though the Voice be not audible nor the Direction always perceptible to Sense yet it is equally as real as if a Man heard the Voice saying This is the Way walk in it And this Secret Direction of Almighty God is principally seen in Matters relating to the Good of the Soul but it may also be found in the Great and Momentous Concerns of this Life which a Good Man that fears God and begs his Direction shall very often if not at all times find And in his Treatise of Humility speaking of this Guidance and Direction of Almighty God in relation to a double End 1. The Salvation and Happiness of the Soul 2. In all the Walk and Concern of this Life as to this latter he saith The Air doth not more naturally yield to our Attraction in Respiration or to insinuate it self into those spaces that are receptive of it than the Divine Assistance Guidance and Beneficence doth to the Desires Exigencies and Wants of an humble Soul sensible of its own Emptiness and Deficiency and imploring the Direction Guidance and Blessing of the most Wise and Bountiful God And then adds I can call my own Experience to witness that even in the External Actions Occurrences and Incidences of my whole Life I was never disappointed of the best Guidance and Direction when in Humility and Sense of my own Deficiency and diffidence of my own Ability to direct my self or to grapple with the Difficulties of my Life I have with Humility and Sincerity implored the Secret Direction and Guidance of the Divine Wisdom and Providence This he speaks of the secret Guidance by the Spirit of Truth by Illumination of the Understanding and Inclination of the Will but there is another Secret Guidance by a Providential Disposal of Occurrences which he doth not here exclude yet seems more especially to intend
or reproach it but plainly to assert the Truth and shew them wherein and by what Means they are misled from it 1. That the Spirit of God is the most precious and desirable thing in the World and absolutely necessary but it is to be desired principally to transform us into its own Nature to lead us into all necessary Truth to endue us with Power to overcome all our Corruptions and all Temptations and to adorn us with all those Graces which ennoble Humane Nature and raise it above its self and so make us Christians indeed and to conduct us in all the important Occurrences of our Lives but to desire it for Matters of Ostentation to glory in Divine Communications or over-earnestly seek after the Consolations through impatience of bearing the Spiritual Cross are great Signs that such Souls are either quite out of the way or have made but little Progress 2. That Satan is often transformed into an Angel of Light and therefore we must be careful to try the Spirits 3. That whatever is contrary to Sound Doctrine 1 Tim. 1.10 2.1 to the Doctrine which is according to Godliness ibid. 6.3 the Doctrine taught by the Apostles Rom. 16.17 Gal. 1.8 to the Faith once delivered to the Saints Jud. 3. cannot be from the true Spirit the Spirit of Christ 4. That such Spirits as lead into Divisions Separations and Sects lead out of the way of the True Spirit of God and whatever lead into contempt or disrespect of the Sacred Scriptures or any of the Ordinances or Institutions of Christ are certainly Spirits of Antichrist how specious soever their Pretences may be for the Conscientious and Reverend Use of these are the very Means whereby Souls are prepared for the Communication of the Spirit of God and whereby it is ordinarily communicated to them Cui Veritas comperta sine Deo Cui Deus cognitus sine Christo Cui Christus exploratus sine Spiritu Sancto Cui Spiritus Sanctus accommodatus sine Fidei Sacramento saith an ancient and eminent Christian Tertul. de Anima c. 1. To whom is Truth discovered without God To whom is God known without Christ To whom is Christ manifest without the Holy Spirit To whom is the Holy Spirit granted without the Sacrament of Faith that is Baptism 5. And more particularly in respect to some amongst us That they who assert this Doctrine without Distinction or Caution are not much to be regarded and if they be Men of Learning and may be presumed not to be ignorant what Cautions and Rules are given by Learned and Experienced Christians to distinguish the Impostures of Evil Spirits from the Conduct or Motions of the Good are much to be suspected to serve another Interest then what they pretend to those they mislead and that they all expose People to the Delusions of Evil Spirits which readily embrace such Advantages 6. That there were special Reasons why God ordered Moses to smite the Waters and the Dust with the Rod and to take handfuls of Ashes from the Furnace and sprinkle it towards the Heaven and to erect the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness c. to produce the intended effects and why our Saviour made Clay with Spittle and anointed the Eyes of the Blind Man and then bad him wash and many other such things for which perhaps no Man did nor doth know the reason and yet undoubtedly if these Orders had not been observed the Effect had not follow'd 7. That it is but reasonable that God should give Orders without declaring the Reason for Tryal and Exercise of the Subjection of the Intellectual Faculties of his Creatures and that in such Case if the Orders be not observed it is not likely the Effect should follow and that if there were no more than this Exercise of humble Submission to the Wisdom of God in the Christian Sacraments it could not be imagined to be the Spirit of Christ that should lead People to despise or neglect these Orders and Institutions of Christ But in them there is more for Instance in that of Baptism it is the Solemnity and external Act of Declaration of our Engagement in Covenant with Christ and the Refusal of it is as much as to refuse to Seal and Deliver a Bond which whoever should refuse to do and yet pretend to give Bond might be looked upon as a Knave or a Cheat and in that of the Holy Communion there is a great and Solemn Duty of Recognition of the absolute Dominion of the Father by Right of Creation and of the Son by Right of Redemption over us and all we are and have a Symbolical Oblation of our selves and of all we have to God in a Commemorative Sacrifice and Representation of the Passion of Christ before the Father as the Great Propitiation for the Sins of the World of as full import to all intents and purposes to Christians as were all the Sacrifices of the Jews to them which were but Types of the same a Holy Rite of Address to God the Father by Christ the Mediator through the Merit and Satisfaction of his Passion by which alone our Prayers and Thanksgivings have acceptance with him and of Spiritual Communion with God in Christ whereby a Divine Power and Vertue is as really communicated to Souls duly disposed as Vertue went out of him and healed the People and the Woman who touched the Hem of his Garment And these have been the Sentiments and this the most solemn and peculiar Worship of the Christian Church all over the World from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same performed every day in most of the great Churches and every Lord's-Day in all from the times of the Apostles till the last Age. It is an Ordinance of so great Honour to our Saviour and Benefit to Souls duly dispos'd that there can hardly be a greater Evidnece of the Prevalence of the Spirit of Antichrist and of Satan transformed than Disrespect and Neglect of it under pretence of a more spiritual Worship For nothing can be more grievous to that envious and malicious Spirit than to see that Passion which he had most maliciously procured to be so honoured all over the World and applyed to his Confusion and therefore hath he oppos'd it with all the Subtilty and Malice he could possible Besides for People to slight it under pretence of Christ being come to them in the Spirit is a manifest and dangerous piece of Spiritual Pride so to set up themselves above the Primitive Christians and St. Paul himself who had so great a Manifestation of the Spirit with them and therefore another pregnant Evidence of the Spirit of Delusion And if we do well consider what decays of Charity and Unanimity among Men and of Piety and Devotion to God hath in all parts attended the Neglect of this Holy Ordinance that may be another Evidence of what Spirit they are of who do neglect it whatever their Pretences be But for all Separatists