to righteousness unto holiness as it is written Be ye holy for I am holy saith the Lord. Lev. 11.45 3. Now as Christianity checks and restrains self-love so doth self-love keep men from understanding and approving the Christian doctrines for how can he that seeks and loves himself rightly apprehend that whatever the world dotes upon is meer vanity that Estates and Honours bring great vexations and great slavery that to forgive Enemies and do good to them that hate us is the part of a noble and generous mind that 't is better to despise than to possess riches that 't is more honourable to be subject where God commands than to bear rule and to domineer that for a man to restrain his appetite and conquer himself is more glorious than to win battels and take fenced Cities These are Paradoxes hard and incredible sayings to the self-lover whose fondness of himself ties him fast to this earth to whatever can be useful and any ways pleasant to the flesh whereas the Children of God live to God being not led and govern'd by the flesh but by the spirit they live in the flesh but not after the flesh some of their actions are natural whilest they are in the body yet they proceed from a supernatural principle and are designed to a nobler end for they continually deny themselves and mortifie all sensual unruly desires Self-lovers hold a great regard should be had to the flesh 't is true but it must be such as Christ hath taught us to keep it under otherwise Saint Paul hath declar'd that to be carnally minded is death CHAP. XXXI That Self-love is that Babylon out of which God hath called us 1. GOD at first placed man in Paradise but Adam in whom we all sinned transported us into this world out of Paradise out of Jerusalem into Babylon out of our freedom into slavery out of integrity into corruption out of our countrey into banishment and out of life into death Thus from truth and perfection we fell into vanity we are now like unto vanity nay every man is but vanity as the Psalmist saith Psal 39.6 Man is vain in his body which ends in death and corruption vain in his soul which being inslav'd to sin is obnoxious to death eternal and vain in all his outward enjoyments which all perish or must be forsaken when he dies Yet man strangely dotes on this vanity he passionately runs after these transitory things which are all cheats and lies whereby he is drawn into thousands of pernicious errors and out of the Heavenly Jerusalem into a Hellish Babylon 2. Now these two Cities are built by two sorts of love to love God so as to despise our selves makes the City of God and to love our selves so as to despise God makes the Devils Babylon the City of this World The way to this is broad and short to that is streight difficult and long because dull and earthly as now we are we more easily fall on the earth and descend down to Hell than we can raise up our selves and ascend to Heaven Let every man therefore examine himself and find out what he chiefly loves for if he loves God so as to deny himself he is doubtless a Citizen of the Jerusalem which is from above but if he loves himself so as to prefer his own desires to God 't is plain he belongs to that Babylon out of which God hath called his Children For thus the Scripture cries aloud Go ye forth of Babylon and remove out of the midst of her Isa 48.20 Jer. 50.8 and again the Psalmist Psal 137.8 O Daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones We come out of Babylon when we leave the confusion of sin forsaking our disorderly course of life and we dash the children of Babylon against the stone when our love to Christ overcomes our ill desires and ill inclinations Self-love is the death of the Soul and the love of God is its life therefore he doth not truly love himself who by self-love destroys himself CHAP. XXXII How men naturally seek themselves even in their best works 1. IT may seem strange to observe that whereas mens opinions and inclinations are so various and different yet all men are agreed in this that none appears vile to himself none is willing to yield and submit to others none though never so mean but thinks himself somebody and is desirous to be taken notice of every one seeks to be higher than others every one is indulgent to himself and severe to others all men will have their will and their saying all applaud to their own inventions and conceits and censure others they count their own follies wisdome and notwithstanding their great ignorance there is nothing but what they think to know They carefully hide their own faults and pretend to those virtues they know they have not And what is most of all to be wonder'd at even good men who endeavour to please God and seem to aim at nothing but his honour and glory Even they sometimes in their best actions by a secret and natural instinct almost unknown to themselves seek their own comfort and complacency most of all and the more excellent are their works the more subtil and undiscernable is this snare which self-love sets to the most spiritual 2. What better than to obey God to read his Sacred Word and preach it to receive and administer his Holy Sacraments Yet these duties are commonly stain'd with some secret desire of praise and except the Christian be very watchful over his own heart he may easily lose his better reward Though I speak with the tongues of men and Angels saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.1 and have not Charity I am become like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal And though a man should give all his goods to the Poor and even his Body to be burnt yet without Charity without the love of God hath purified his heart it will profit him nothing According to the saying of the Prophet Haggai 1.6 Ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but ye are not filled with drink and he that earns wages earneth wages to put into a bag with holes for thus good works avail nothing if done out of respect to our selves and not to please God This being therefore the bent of our corrupt nature to draw us to our selves we ought carefully to examine our selves and search the hidden corners of our hearts that there lurk not in them some ill purpose of vain-glory or self-interest to mix with our best actions either first or last This is the Rule of a true Christian Life always to seek and love the things of God and never his own CHAP. XXXIII Things which every Christian is bound to know in order to obedience 1. EVery Disciple of Christ ought to know those Divine and Human Laws under which he lives and the which he is
that passion which carryed away the Heart coming to abate it returns to its former and more pleasing affections and soon repents of its Repentance Some seek themselves more than God in their Prayers because therein they find some refreshments and Spiritual delights and some seek after abstractions and extatick raptures to be therein raised up to Heaven and know great mysteries but all these will signifie nothing without Contrition and Humility The great benefit of Prayer is to find the World lose its power and its repute in our Hearts and to find our wills more resign'd to God to patience and to obedience He Prays best that desires to know nothing and to obtain nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified 3. It is a common error to think that meditation is a thing exceeding difficult when indeed every man is daily occupied about it for to meditate is to revolve and view things in our minds and that we always do vain and worldly and often sinful things Why cannot we then as well consider the mysteries of Faith and the concerns of our Salvation Sure we could easily if we would seriously endeavour to expel the world out of our hearts then there would be room for the things of God and we could fix our thoughts upon them Want of this makes us unfit for Prayer and unwilling to be crucified to the World and to bear the Cross and Reproach of Christ We pretend indeed that our occupations are necessary and perhaps good and profitable so that we have a good warrant to dispense with prayer and meditation but there is a time for all things and however the business of the Soul is our chiefest concern and 't is a great folly to neglect it upon any account 4. The body without nourishment soon decays into weakness and death so doth the Soul without its proper food which is prayer and it wants it the more frequently in that it hath many more and greater necessities than the body hath For heat and cold hunger thirst and sickness and whatever afflicts the body doth also vex and prey upon the Soul which is compatible with it and besides that the Devil the World and the Flesh it self are all Enemies to the Soul and daily conspire its ruin and it hath no strength nor defence nor comfort but from prayer only We ought therefore always to pray and devoutly to call upon God in the inner-man in the inward recesses of our Souls which are the Temple of God wherein he is pleased to dwell We need not always words in our private Closets God sees our thoughts and hears our secret desires Yet they may use books to good purpose that are not used to mental prayer And however the publick Devotions of the Church ought to be said and sung aloud and to be constant and unalterable That all the Faithful may agree in them and edifie one another by joyning their voices as well as minds to send up their praises and petitions to God Yet still the heart is the house of prayer and the Kingdom of God is within us CHAP. XLIII How to Pray and avoid distractions and fix the intention 1. THat our Prayer may be truly good and acceptable we must endeavour to ask all things out of love to God For though a thing be good in it self yet the surest and better way it is to desire and demand it upon Gods account because it will please him that Self-love may not be the principle and purpose of our petitions The ground on which our prayer must rest is a lively Faith and a sense of the presence of God whom we must approach with an humble simplicity as much as may be like an Infant brought to his Mothers breast He is not altogether intent to his devotion that considers himself praying for whilest he reflects on his prayer his mind is diverted from God to whom he prays and sometimes he is distracted indeavouring to avoid distraction Therefore I say simplicity is best in prayer to think of nothing but God to look to none but him whom we worship 2. For his mind shall hardly be drawn to other objects that shall consider God as present the immensity of divine perfections will absorb his thoughts they shall sail in that boundless Ocean and find no limits and all other things but God will be out of sight But the perfection of this is reserv'd for a better State here we must expect distractions and if we duly strive against them they shall not make our prayers to be unprofitable For God will hear them and assist us whilest we contend with our infirmities Yet we shall sooner be freed from ill and idle thoughts by slighting them and taking off our minds from attending to them than by fencing and fighting against them for sometimes whilest we stand to confute them they make the deeper impressions on perplext and timorous hearts A Prayer dry without relish and comfort is the more acceptable to God in that it is unpleasing to Nature 3. As Travellers always bear in mind the place whither they would go so they that pray should always be mindful of the design of Prayer which is to be united to God as much as is possible in this life to have our will made conform unto his in all things to aim at any thing but this is to lose our labour Now prayer may be said to be of two sorts the one common and ordinary perform'd by our endeavour and diligent application together with the assistance of Grace For no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit the other extraordinary and infused more secret and mysterious with sighs unutterable We may beg the gift of both for God is free and very gracious yet we must apply our selves to that which is more common and wherein we have a part to act which consisteth in a blessed disposition to lift up our Soul to God and entertain holy affections and pour out our hearts before him This God is ready to grant to such as trust in him and are of a meek and humble Spirit for every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights Therefore ought we to begin our prayers with an humble acknowledgement of our being nothing but misery and impotency and wretched sinfulness and withall we should take care to fix our intention aright that God may be glorified and his will may be done and we may cheerfully fulfill it Now this is the Will of God even your Sanctification CHAP. XLIV The great advantages of Prayer 1. WHat is written concerning Wisdome may very well be said of Prayer Wisd 7. I prefer'd her before Scepters and Thrones and esteemed Riches nothing in comparison of her I loved her above health and beauty and chose to have her instead of light for the light that cometh from her never goeth out All good things together came to me with her and innumerable riches in her hand and
up to God thus at least he intended it but by our depravation and folly they became obstacles in our way to him they turn us from the path to life and happiness and as the Wiseman saith Wisd 14.11 The creatures of God become stumbling blocks to the souls of men and a snare to the feet of the unwise Of the unwise he saith such as will not take God for their guide such as turn their eyes from his glorious light to enjoy the shade and obscurity of creatures thereby falling in love with darkness and so becoming uncapable of ever abiding the divine saving light 2. Now if all creatures are created for this to be as helps and means whereby we may obtain our end then are we to take off our affections from them to place them upon the Creator who is the end we should aim at For the end should be lov'd and desir'd without end and without competitor in goodness being independent supreme and alone satisfactory whereas means have no farther goodness than as they help to obtain the end A Christian should therefore refer to God all his thoughts and words and actions and that not lazily or verbally only but with a strong affection and with a pure heart avoiding thereby the cheat men often put upon themselves in being deceiv'd with their own formalities and specious pretences when even in Religion and spiritual exercises they often seek and please themselves rather than God Upon this account the Scripture calls the way to life straight and narrow because depraved man refers all to himself and can hardly follow the pure and direct ways which God prescribes being naturally averse to an upright intention But when this aversion is once overcome by an assiduous diligence and delight in the law of God then divine commandments are not grievous the way to life is wide and the yoke of Christ is light and pleasant CHAP. XI That men trifling about things Eternal and being earnest about the World is the cause why so many attain not their main end 1. THat the number of fools is past number was rightly affirmed by the Wise man For indeed infinite multitudes of men trifle away their days so simply act so childishly or rather so much like mad men that their intolerable follies cannot be sufficiently deplor'd They set the flesh above the spirit they prefer time to Eternity and Earth to Heaven till the unhappy Comedy of their sinful lifâ— ends in a sadder Tragedy of death and they go down to Hell in a moment If a suit at law is to be determin'd or an estate gain'd or a place of honour obtain'd then they spare no cost nor labour no search no diligence no study but if Heaven is to be purchast and eternal life and glory made sure then no man stirs they are all asleep and unactive no regard no care is had of it 2. In things that touch and afflict the body as hunger and thirst heat and cold pains and infirmities our senses are quick and can never be deceiv'd and therefore with all our might and industry we presently occur to those evils and endeavour to remove them But if our soul suffers under the same or the like spiritual evils we are not sensible and we care no more than if that nobler part of us whereby we live and are rational and like to Angels had no being at all And this because the flesh hath got the upper hand and we value this sport uncertain life more than life eternal and we make it our first and sole employment to rescue that carcass from death for a few moments which certainly must soon become its prey 3. One cause of these preposterous doings is the gross and brutish ignorance or rather inconsideration of too too many who will neither know nor consider to what end man was created what it is he should seek and design in the whole course of his life and what way he should take that he may not miss of his great aim Jer. 12.11 The whole land is made desolate because no man lays it to heart i. e. because no man considers wisely Another cause of this mischief is the great number and power of those Enemies that perpetually assault us whose snares no man can possibly avoid without God breaks them and delivers him for we are continually besieg'd by a frail flesh a flattering world and legions of devils who seek to devour us 4. Lastly our folly and misery proceeds partly from our blindness the whole World being in darkness we want light to guide us and yet will not beg it of God and pray him devoutly he would lead us aright who alone is able and willing to do it and partly from our sloth and inconstancy for we are vertuous in wish and not in effect because we are lazy to work and when it comes to the practice we find difficulties and being soon tir'd and disheartned hastily give over before we have effected any thing All Christians no doubt would be glad to come at last to Christ but they have no heart to come after him they would be glad to enjoy him but care not to imitate him fain would they come to him but not follow him Men would obtain riches without labour and Crowns without fighting they like well of rewards but they would take no pains GHAP. XII How men suffer themselves to be deceiv'd by a fair out-side and false appearance of good 1. THis World's felicity put all together with all those things that are most esteem'd by the generality of mankind the whole is but like a coarse picture which seems to have something pleasing and inviting when you look upon 't with a false light or in a place somewhat obscure or with a small blind candle such as is the dim and deceitful light of present time but if you bring forth the picture and view it before that glorious sun that shines for ever the radiant brightness of Eternity there it will appear deform and unfinish'd a dark and imperfect shadow which represents nothing a confused heap of strokes and lines drawn without order or design For though the light of the Gospel enlightens the World yet it remains in darkness men will not see the glorious discoveries which the Gospel makes The light shined in the darkness but the darkness comprehended it not 3. Yet that light it is and none else that clearly shews the great difference betwixt good and evil btwixt vile and precious betwixt truth and appearances how we may know and chuse the one from the other By this blessed light of Christianity which dwells in the heart and instructs it and abides for ever by it we are taught not to cleave to the creatures because of their attractive beauty but so to consider their perfections as to be by them led to the fountain whence they proceed to the love and admiration of the glorious maker of all things And the same divine light it is makes me see
they walk and covers their misery and danger so that they neither see nor fear the dreadful tribunal of that just Judge who will condemn all Apostates that turn from the right way They walk saith the Apostle in the vanity of their mind having the understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart being past feeling they have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness Ephes 4.17 They count their life a market for gain and say we must be getting every way though it be by evil means Wisd 15.12 And then it often happens by a just judgment that their faith comes to be as debaucht as their life that having long said it by their wicked deeds they at last say it in their heart that there is no God 3. I have already and cannot too often note the cause of this evil that is Adam who by his sin not only lost the uprightness of his will but also the true light of his understanding so that in him who was the stock and root whence all men grow we were depriv'd of both And now this corruption of the will inclines man to self-love vain glory and an imperious pride to covetousness sloth sensuality and looseness And in the darkness of the understanding exposeth him to ignorance and false apprehension of things to doubts errors and lies and makes him have an aversion to good and serious thoughts Thus man is become earthly weak and distemperd unable to resist the sinful motions of his own heart and unable to know or to attain true felicity but rather as it is written His ways are always grievous and God's judgments are far above out of his sight Psal 10.5 And he now being alienated from God to whom all things should be refer'd is also a stranger to virtue which consists in the intention in being design'd to please God rather than in the act But that Soul which by the Grace of our Blessed Jesus is redeem'd from this power of Satan and slavery to sin is also enabled to cleave stedfastly to God in whom it enjoys Peace and joy and full satisfaction all that can make him intirely happy for he is unreasonable and too unsatiable to whom God is not sufficient CHAP. XVI Another reason why so many miss of their end their living too much by sense 1. WHereas reason it self teaches and all men freely confess that things to come should be prefer'd to things present heavenly things to things earthly and things eternal to things that last but for a short time 't is hard to conceive why so many who believe and acknowledge this yet by their actions strongly deny it In worldly matters and such as concern this present life they are very active very wise and very laborious in others they seem to have neither sense nor reason If you speak to them of God of Holy-Living and Life Eternal they understand you not or they presently forget what you said Things material and perishing are sensible and therefore more regarded and set by though oftentimes experience will force them to know that all human concerns are flitting uncertain and very deceitful yet men follow sense and they soon return to embrace those things which custom and a familiar converse hath made dear to them 2. The fall as I said of our first Parents is the head-spring whence all this mischief flows from it proceed all temptations as also the darkness and inconstancy of our minds but the more immediate cause of it which I now consider is the imbecillity depravation and weakness of the faculties of our souls which have no right apprehension of the things of God and but an imperfect confused notion of the amazing concerns of Eternity The loveliness of virtue and the great deformity of sin the terrors of death and the dread of God's righteous judgments the joys of Saints above and the grievous torments of the wicked in hell these are but words which we hear we have dark and narrow conceptions of them we understand not of how great an importance they are and therefore we are not so affected with them as to be made wise unto salvation Of things offer'd to our consideration we only mind that least outward part which falls under the reach of sense but we attend not to that which is less sensible though more considerable and apt effectually to work upon the mind Thus in sin we look most of all to what 's temporal we are more concern'd for the impairing of our same and the diminution of our worth or self-complacency than for having offended God and made our selves obnoxious to an infinite pain Likewise in a dying man we most observe what is in view outward symptomes and accidents little regarding the more essential adjuncts which concern the soul and are of far greater moment And we conceive of the last judgment and the unquenchable flames of Hell which are imperceptible to sense as of things which are nothing to us and which we have no interest to mind 3. The same deception also extends it self to things present which gratifie our appetite we take notice only of that outside which pleaseth us and so deplorable is our sottish mistake that we count our selves very happy to enjoy that for a moment which must make us eternally miserable Every man knows his Soul is immortal and many Philosophers have writ great things upon that subject but where are they that are solicitous for its well-being after death Do not most men neglect their soul and live as if it were to die with the body The mischief is that generally men live neither by faith nor by reason they follow blindfold and brutishly just as sense leads them avoiding carefully what is now troublesom to the flesh as if nothing else were to be done here and nothing else fear'd hereafter CHAP. XVII That we being the Children of God ought to be guided by his Spirit and by the example of Christ 1. IF a man should rightly understand and seriously consider that God by a gracious adoption owns him for his son that he is redeem'd by the Bloud of Christ and born again by Holy Baptism into the hope of Eternal Life he would doubtless esteem it his noblest title and his greatest honour he would despise all earthly advantages and mind and value nothing but what is Divine and Eternal and passionately desiring to come to his Father he would do nothing unworthy of him As he that acts the King on the stage though it be but a vain shew to delight vainer people yet is careful to do and to speak nothing but what befits a King so and much more careful should a Christian be to do nothing unworthy of that honourable name which makes him a brother and disciple of Jesus and an heir of his Heavenly Kingdom And as a picture-drawer when he is upon a great design fixes his
I rejoyced in them all because she goeth before them and I knew not that she was the mother of them she is a Treasure unto men that never faileth which they that use become the friends of God For indeed Prayer is a fountain of grace a parent and nurse to all virtues it increaseth the joy of them that rejoyce and giveth comfort to sad hearts it is the light of the understanding and the food of the Soul and the procurer of all happiness Prayer appeaseth Gods Wrath obtains pardon for our faults overcomes our sins delivers us from dangers inkindles the holy fire of divine love in our hearts and is an act of all virtues together It is an Act of Faith for thereby we declare our belief of God's being present ready to hear our prayers able and willing to grant our devout petitions Hope also is quickned and confirm'd for by Prayer we relie upon God and profess our trust in his infinite mercy And Charity likewise is increast whilest we consider and call upon the divine incomprehensible goodness we are inflam'd with the love of it and other things lose their esteem with us 2. Devotion teacheth us to fulfil all Righteousness and to weigh things wisely in the balance of the Sanctuary Prayer is an Act of Courage and Christian Fortitude whilest we resolve to serve God and be faithful to him whatever we suffer for it It is also an Act of Temperance for the devout heart having a foretast of Heavenly joys despiseth the World and all its pleasures Prayer gives a clearer sight of things Eternal and manifests the secrets of Divine Wisdom By it the Soul approaching God is penetrated by his light and so learns the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven By it we exercise our Charity whilest we pray for others our fear of God whilest we humble our selves at his feet and our love and constancy to our Dear Redeemer whilest we profess we would die rather than displease or deny him And so Prayer is an abstract of many Virtues and he that Prays much is much a Christian The End of the First Part. PRECEPTS AND Practical Rules FOR A truly Christian Life BEING A Summary of Excellent Directions to follow the narrow way to BLISS PART II. Written Originally in Latin By JOHN BONA Englished by L. B. LONDON Printed by A. C. for H. Brome at the Gun in S. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXVIII PRECEPTS AND Practical Rules FOR A truly Christian Life PART II. Of the moderation of our affections and the study and indeavour after true Virtue CHAP. I. That Voluptuousness and Vanity are to be avoided and Truth sought for in things Eternal after Christ's Example 1. ALL men generally commend and desire truth but few know where it dwells and should they know it they would love and pursue nothing else But certain it is that truth is not in things Earthly and perishing because they soon decay into nothing whereas truth alters not but abides for ever We must seek it therefore in things immortal which have a constant being and remain to Eternity Truth is to be found in Virtue which is the Image or Transcript of it and varies not according to the circumstances of Human Life but continues the same in all conditions always above vanity always absolute Regent over all Passions and sensual desires 2. That man is acquainted with truth whose mind and affections are guided by reason and his reason by revelation by Faith by the Spirit of God Whereas he that is a Caitif to his Lusts and a Slave to his Passions is altogether vain being tossed by continual troubles and contrary perturbations sometimes fears and sometimes desires sometimes anxious thoughts or perhaps vain joys now grief for losses by and by greedy pursuits after new acquists grievous vexation now for being injur'd worse soon after in seeking for revenge These unruly passions are the springs of all our miseries and the off-spring of vanity and voluptuousness the great disturbers of our Peace and tormentors of our unhappy Souls Vanity begets impatient desires of being honour'd and esteem'd high conceits of our selves contempt of others and a secret aversion to Truth Voluptuousness inclines men to ease and sports to the Lusts of the Palat and the lower belly to all things that can please the body and gratifie a sensual mind Hence looseness and dissolution and worldly mindedness whilest the Soul estranged from God pursues after outward comforts seeks after Vain-glory idle talk and idle pastimes and is altogether taken up with toys and vanities 3. These are the things that make the Christian Laws the Gospel-Rules unacceptable to the World to all carnal men that the Gospel injoyns nothing more than Humility and corrupt nature inclines them to Pride the Gospel requires broken penitent hearts and reformation and men abhor nothing more So that without Faith 't is impossible to find out and imbrace those great and saving truths Faith is our victory over the World The Blessed Son of God to attest the truth of this his Heavenly Doctrine that we must take off our affections from the World confirm'd it by his Life and Example as well as by Miracles For whereas men labour to be rich he chose to be poor whereas they aspire after dominion and high dignities he fled and hid himself when the Jews would have made him King men think it most grievous to bear injuries and he patiently suffered the greatest they will not abide to be ill spoken of and he was most falsely and unjustly condemn'd His sufferings and his conversation were our lesson and instruction and we never sin but when we seek those things he despised and flee from that which he willingly indur'd He doubtless is much abused and deceiv'd that thinks felicity consists in what Christ taught us to despise CHAP. II. That to attain Perfection nothing must be neglected 1. YOU shall hardly find a perfect Christian because they commonly that have overcome the greater sins neglect the lesser they will not watch and offer violence to themselves for small matters as they count it and by degrees they approach the brink of the Precipice and perchance afterwards get a grievous fall Heinous and crying sins affect us with horror at first sight but we easily admit of ordinary failings None will be so desperate as to cast away all his hopes and spend his whole stock of Grace at a time as none would be so mad as to send his whole Estate going in one day No men use to say this is no great cost this will hardly at all sink the bag or in another case 't is but one glass one bit more that can do me no hurt but by little and little they at last spend all and come to poverty or else they surfeit and are drunk and likewise the same fate in Spiritual things attends the same neglect and unwariness Occasions of heroick virtue and doing God extraordinary service do seldome occur but almost every moment we have
an opportunity of doing some good therefore we should despise nothing because almost every thing puts it in our power to exercise some virtue and do something to please God We should rather observe every motion of our heart and mind to rectifie the least irregularity of our affections and take all occasions to mortifie pernicious self-will and self-love No man of a sudden grows wicked but he that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little Eccl. 19.1 2. Every human comfort though never so innocent yet in some manner excludes the divine but he that can pass by all outward things and entertain himself with Christ chuse him for his onely portion who alone is all-sufficient his joys shall be solid and lasting As Philosophers say that whensoever you take one body another succeeds in its place lest there should be a vacuum in nature So and much more certain it is that when the soul empties it self of all affection to creatures it is soon replenish'd with God and all divine consolations But alass 't is to be confest that we having used our selves from our infancy to delight in material things which are present and perceived by sense we afterwards grow very unapt to entertain and please our selves with objects Spiritual and Supernatural which are far out of sight and can be apprehended but by Faith only Hence it is that we lie groveling on the ground and attend to nothing but the dictates of flesh and bloud and remain inconstant and unable to raise up our selves above our depressed nature until having shook off the vain comforts of transitory things We turn our selves to God and settle our rest in him who is our peace and our joy and the end and center of all things CHAP. III. That Self-denyal and the Cross is absolutely necessary to all Christians 1. THE Life of every Christian should be a perpetual Self-crucifixion yet the deliciousness of the Cross is understood but of very few such as have been intimately acquainted with it They only know that have tryed how much pleasure follows contrition and self-abnegation insomuch that they find it most bitter when they any ways depart from their humble penitent temper to return to the life of sense The World indeed counts them unhappy because commonly they are poor afflicted and despised but they rejoyce in their tribulations and find themselves happy being well pleased with what happens to them because they desire most of all that God's will may be done in all things Is it his pleasure to make Poverty their lot they freely accept of it Will he have them afflicted they submit Are they to be scorn'd and disgrac'd they are not unwillign come what will they like it therefore they are most happy that have all things at will As for the wicked that seek after the pleasures of sin though they have what they wish and appear prosperous to envy and admiration yet they really are unhappy because they wish what they should not what is unjust and dishonest and will bring sorrow at last 2. The Cross is the Center of our holy Religion the most mysterious and profitable doctrine of it both for belief and practice he that seeks not for the Cross when he becomes a Christian understands not as yet what the Gospel designs Christ at first conceal'd many things from his Disciples because they could not hear them yet weak and ignorant as they were he acquainted them with the scandal of his Cross and ignominious passion St. Paul likewise to the new Converts would give milk and not meat yet notwithstanding would preach to them Jesus Christ Crucified to the Jews an offence and to the Gentiles foolishness nay he himself with all his learning profest that he did not care to know any thing save Jesus Christ and him crucified And the Primitive Church for some time conceal'd many things from the Catechumens and yet never the Cross of Christ Nay every Christian is and was of old signed in his forehead with the sign of the Cross in token he should not be ashamed of Christ crucified And God forbid we should glory in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ who is made unto us wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption 3. As he hath redeemed us by the Cross so none can receive the benefit of his Redemption but by bearing the Cross Hence the absolute necessity of patience and self-denyal so that whoever doth not renounce himself cannot be Christ's Disciple If any one saith he will come after me let him take up his Cross and follow me and if he doth not hate that is be ready to forsake father and mother wife and children and even his own life he cannot be my disciple for whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it Mat. 16.25 He doth not only say that a Christian must deny pride intemperance luxury injustice pomps and riches and such things that are without us but himself he must deny himself that is his natural desires and affections his own will the suggestions of his own carnal mind These he must oppose and mortifie and overcome Crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts and make his life an image and representation of the Crucifixion of Christ These things are hard to flesh and bloud but in them consists our Faith and our Salvation CHAP. IV. That Self-denyal is the Character and the principal duty of a Christian 1. IN the Spiritual building Self-denyal is the first Stone for what will raptures and high-flown thoughts signifie what will avail communions and familiar acquaintances with God and what the precisest virtue if in all these we seek our selves aim at our own glory and puft up with Pharisaical pride do despise others He is wiser than all the Philosophers who in his heart owns himself simple and ignorant he is higher than the greatest Monarchs who reputes himself the meanest of men Our virtue perfection and safety consist not in lofty expressions nor yet in things wonderful and extraordinary but in the Cross in bearing reproaches in self-abjection and no man can obtain here true vertue and sanctification and hereafter glory except renouncing his own desires he prepare himself to suffer and be made conformable to Christ Crucified Yet we must observe that as Simon the Cyrenian did bear the Cross of Christ and yet not die with him so many bear a heavy Cross without true mortification in what they suffer they have some other design than to glorifie God and to submit to his blessed will 2. Who would think that self-love should be found in the Cross which it abhors so much Yet so it is not a few there are who willingly or otherways can indure much that they may boast of it that they may be seen and praised by men Such men indeed do bear the Cross but they will not be crucified with Christ they deny and afflict themselves
but because they will not trust God for their reward they have none at all they lose their labour and themselves Many others there be that complain that their affairs and necessary employments abroad keep them from minding what is good by depriving them of their inward peace but the things that disturb the tranquillity of the Soul are from within because we will not break with our selves because we are too sensual and too much seek our ease and advantage From hence proceeds that inward and vexatious war betwixt the Spirit and the Flesh which can never cease till Reason and Religion reign in us and the inferior appetites be brought to obedience and perfect subjection to the higher rational faculties 3. If a man had a friend so dear and intimate that he could not eat nor rest nor live one day without him and a faithful and creditable Monitor should tell him that his pretended friend is false and treacherous and designs to ruin and to murther him would not his love presently cease and be turned to hatred and thoughts of revenge Christian Reader such a friend is our flesh we gratifie and indulge it and use it with the greatest kindness and at the same time under pretence of friendship it deceives us and designs to deprive us of immortal life and to bring to Eternal death Yet this false friend sleeps in our bosome we are not to war with strangers and with far distant Enemies but with one that dwells with us at home and accompanies us wherever we go and always lies in wait to take advantage of us and do us mischief Let a man forsake himself and come out of himself and then he will find no obstacles in his way to Heaven CHAP. V. How we must fight our corrupt nature and depraved affections 1. WE must be very careful to observe what is the object of our love or fear and what of our joy or sorrow for these four affections have the absolute power of our heart and God by them is the master of it when we love and fear nothing but him and for him and when he is the cause and the measure of our joy or sorrow When these motions of our mind are disorderly and tend where they should not we become unruly like beasts but when they are ordered and directed right then they are highly serviceable and they make us holy and happy like Angels For in this consisteth the perfection and happiness of man to have his affections and desires guided by truth and reason for then his love and his joys become instruments of bliss and virtue whereas the same affections when guided by corrupt nature alone become pernicious and vexatious degenerate into wild lusts monsters which we must always fight and with our utmost strength indeavor to conquer 2. But to this purpose it will not suffice that we in general indeavour to reform and keep under our appetites and unruly passions for corrupt nature is well enough pleased with all the apparel and formalities of mortification self-denyal and victory over sinful passions and Philosophers grow in love with the fair Ideas of virtue in this pompous attire and many in this have deceiv'd themselves and boasted of conquest over their evil inclinations because they find not in themselves an aversion to vertue and good desires But when it comes to tryal indeed and they are no longer to fight with the notion of sin in general but with a present urging lust with a pressing uneasiness and necessity with some provocations to anger or to impatience then it appears how vain how weak and insignificant were their great thoughts and fine resolutions Better it is therefore carefully attend to every particular occasion of vanquishing our selves and restraining our depraved appetites and to do it seriously and to purpose for so by degrees we shall rectifie and amend every defect and bring all our passions and desires under the power of right reason or Christian Religion 3. But this is not to be done without an ever-watching diligence an unwearied patience a great application and a persevering courage and labour that by offering a perpetual violence to our evil propensities as they shew themselves we may go to the root of them and quite pull them up For now in our state of depravation every holy affection and the lifting up of our Soul to God is violent being against nature against the bent of our sensual appetites so that we must renew our indeavours and add new vigor to them every moment else we fall down and nature easily prevails and we soon return to our selves 4. As weeds in gardens may be pull'd up and yet not hindred from growing again of themselves so by care and by keeping a strict hand over our vicious affections we may so keep them under that we shall think they are quite destroy'd but do what we can the ground of our corrupt nature will always be apt to produce ill weeds and sin of it self will be growing again so that we must never give over fighting never cease to mortifie and purifie our selves whilst we live And yet if by God's assistance we can once do some one noble act of Christian vertue report one noted victory over our selves that alone may be sufficient to assert and enlarge our liberty and obtain us grace whereby we shall afterwards easily overcome all our aversions to vertue Some holy men have been so encouraged and strengthned by one great and difficult triumph that afterwards without fear and with little trouble or danger they have overcome all enemies and oppositions So great a thing it is to fight with fortitude and maintain once a noble contention till we have conquer'd CHAP. VI. Of the right use and moderation of our outward Senses 1. BEcause the eyes commonly are an inlet to sin we ought to turn them from tempting objects with the same care and quickness as a man would remove out of a house infected with the Plague Now human eyes wherewith created things are beheld may be said to be of three sorts The first altogether Sensual or natural when viewing the outward beauty of an object we are pleased with it and consider no farther The second may be call'd Rational or Philosophical when we making reflections upon the symmetry and other properties of things visible are moved thereby to search and to know the nature of them And the third we may say are Christian or Religious when by the beholding of creatures we raise up our Souls to the love and contemplation of the Creator With these eyes pious Souls viewing the beauties of the universe are led to the consideration of its glorious maker who is the fountain of all beauty and perfection as the author of all subsistence and being 2. Now as the life of the body depends upon its union with the Soul so doth in some manner the life of our senses depend on the presence of their proper objects as things visible to the eyes
audible voices to the ears The pleasure which those senses receive from a beautiful sight or a sweet harmony may be called their life and their death or mortification in proportion to this is their being deprived of those objects whereon they act with delight which deprivation is very useful if not altogether requisite to arrive to a state of vertue and sanctification For nothing is more destructive of a Christian Life than a life of sense the imagination being as it were in the middle betwixt the soul and the senses when these work upon her as they are moved by outward objects she likewise works upon the soul and draws it to assent to the voluptuousness of lower faculties and this is not to be avoided without we bar our senses by a strict restraint from those things which affect them with sinful delights 3. In this consists the death of sense which is to be considered as twofold the first Natural when there is such a real separation betwixt sense and its object that they cannot possibly meet The second Moral when sense perceives but enjoys not its object being restrain'd from the pleasure of it The first some judge to be less difficult and more safe it being easier to avoid all occasions of sinful pleasure than to keep a due moderation when we ingage in them but in this discretion and due measures are to be observ'd The second is accordingly thought to be more dangerous because sensual pleasures are very inticing and insinuating and are known by sad experience to have a great prevalency over the Soul and nobler affections 4. And then farther it is to be consider'd that we suckt the poyson of voluptuousness together with our milk from our very infancy we learn'd to indulge sense and though we have often experimented that its delights and satisfactions are short and vain and unsatisfying and withal pernicious and highly afflictive to the Soul yet still we have the same notions of them they stick close to our mind and those pleasing though false apprehensions which first entred our hearts will not be rectified nor be gone till we have a long time used serious reflections and considerations till by many acts of self-denyal and contrary virtue we have imprinted in our minds the true principles of Christianity God is a Spirit and a spiritual life is the way to him to chastize and restrain the fancy to keep under the body and be guided by divine precepts is the way to spiritualize our selves and to come to God CHAP. VII Of denying our Sensual appetites especially Intemperance 1. IT is no difficult matter for a man who truly loves and fears God and studies to please him to despise and forsake all worldly pleasures pomps and vanities but to abstain from all food is not to be done for by it our bodies are rescued from death and the necessity of it returns upon us daily But because there is something of delight in the satisfying of this need there is danger also lest luxury mingle with it and pleasure which may follow after be the leading cause to our refection therefore though we cannot wholly forbear eating and drinking yet we must take great heed of the voluptuousness of it that necessity be not the pretence and pleasure the design of eating Nature is satisfied with a little but greediness or daintiness are always craving and sometimes we know not whether want or wantonness call for food and we are glad and willing to mistake that we may have an occasion to gratifie the unruly appetite In these we must daily watch our selves because these temptations do daily return and we must diet our selves with such moderation that we may nourish our bodies and not feed our lusts Plain abstemious and frugal food is the health of Soul and Body and he that pampers not his flesh by the quality or quantity of his meat and drink may easily master all carnal desires 2. To seek after feasts and dainties and to make them the matter of our discourse and our meditation is the part of an Epicure of one whose God is his belly and who minds earthly things but a Christian should be indeed and also live as a penitent pressing necessity should bring him to his table and thither he should come as if bread and water were his onely allowance that whatever is superadded may relish better and he may be more content and thankful and also moderate This we might easily do if we would duly consider how abstemious primitive Christians were how much our blessed Lord fasted and how for us he tasted vinegar and gall This if we would often call to mind and seriously set our selves to the imitation of their Blessed examples our conversation would be in Heaven and our thoughts would be far enough from dwelling in caves and kitchins As for the other fleshly lusts which also war against the Soul all occasions to them are to be avoided and idleness also a strict watch over our senses must be kept the rules of a severe modesty must be observed and especially we must shun all frequent and familiar converse with the other Sex for this without our knowledge and against our will kindles a dangerous and secret fire And lastly we must take great heed that we be not confident of our selves for in such a slippery way he is in some manner already fallen that fears not to fall CHAP. VIII Of Talkativeness and Silence 1. THE Evils of the tongue are past number therefore saith the wise man Prov. 10.19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin but he that restraineth his lips is wise Indeed talkativeness is a fountain and a torrent of iniquity It is a mark of ignorance it betrays much folly and is a great enemy to serious thoughts and recollection Mens words for the most part proceed from something of Pride for they commonly speak to teach others and to shew their own wisdom and great parts Every one thinks he knows much and to make it appear and be thought somebody he commonly outs with more than he knows As bad air drawn in doth in time affect infect the body so doth the breath of many words much prejudice the Soul It dissolves the spirit and breeds quarrels and contentions and utters lies and detractions and brings forth loose unseemly jesting and jeering and evils of all sorts In vain doth he indeavour to be devout and to have peace within who doth not refrain his tongue and set a watch before his lips In vain doth he endeavour to amend himself that censures and speaks ill of others This is a snare wherein many are caught to be indulgent to themselves and severe to others to boast and magnifie what is theirs and slight as much what relates to others Few there are that wholly renounce to this vice few that lead so uncorrupt a life as not willingly to tax others corruptions The propensity to this sin is so great that many counted good Christians
who have overcome divers temptations and mortified their other lusts yet fall here and cannot bridle their unruly tongue the last gin the Devil sets to catch Souls and it hath been observ'd by men of great piety and great experience that a great talker was never very good or never persever'd to be so 2. Silence therefore which sequesters us from mens vain converse that we may entertain our selves with God silence which sanctifies all our persecutions sorrows and infirmities must needs be highly advantageous to every one that makes a right use of it For when in any case we suffer wrongfully and yet hold our tongues we then offer to God our Souls and Bodies goods and good names as a sacrifice we follow the example of Christ who opened not his mouth but was led as a lamb to the slaughter and we possess our Souls with patience and free our selves from clamours and perturbations Sometimes indeed a just defence of our selves may be requisite but we must be very cautious that we exceed not the due bounds of Christian meekness and humility And yet this can happen but seldome as when we are called to answer by the Magistrate when the slander would make us uncapable of exercising or useless in the exercise of a publick office or when it would be others detriment in these cases we may speak with truth and meekness in others we had best hold our tongue And that it may be to purpose we must also refrain and quell our inward passions that the tumult within make not the outward peace insignificant I kept silence even from good words saith the Psalmist if from good words sometimes we must refrain much more always from vain and ill language He is a wise man that can hold his tongue for 't is less difficult to knâ—â— how to speak well than how to be silent CHAP. IX Of true and false delights and of self-complacency in virtue 1. VIrtue alone is the true and lasting pleasure of rational creatures other things are pleasant but in appearance and for a short uncertain time and according to mens various opinions for worldly pleasures proceed not from reason which is constant and common to all but from corrupt appetites which always do change and differ As a sick Palat cannot rightly discern of the relish of meats no more can a vicious man feel and understand what is true pleasure which proceeds only from virtue to which he is too much a stranger Sensible delights indeed by natures instinct are pleasing to all and few justly know how to use and when to refuse them But man was created to a nobler end than only to gratifie sense he was made for the sight and the fruition of God the last and sovereign good 'T is true indeed we cannot contemplate truth and spiritual things but by the help of those Ideas and representations which we have from sense and our rational faculties cannot well discharge their function when the organs of the body are discomposed and therefore we must have such care of our bodies as may render them fit instruments for our souls and preserve them so 2. But we sin grievously and pervert the order which God and nature have appointed if we make bodily pleasure the end of our natural actions whereas we should design them and make them subservient to those nobler offices for which we were created after God's Image I confess we cannot long subsist without some pleasure corporal or spiritual and we cannot divide our Souls equally betwixt both but then this obligeth us to aspire the more after heavenly joys and to delight our selves so much the more in God in the sense of his favour and the hope of his glory that we may despise and disrelish the pleasures of sense and vanity 3. But let it be observ'd also that some love vertue more for its glory than its goodness sake they aspire after God because it is a thing high and transcendent they live a strict and severe life because it denotes a brave and generous spirit they preserve inward peace because it is pleasant they inquire after the way to Heaven and to that purpose consult many Books that they may enlarge their knowledge and satisfie their curiosity and they walk in the narrow way to perfection that they may delight in themselves and admire their own excellencies All this these men do for to please and magnifie themselves when they think most of all to serve God they only serve to their own pride and when at last they shall expect great rewards they shall find their hands empty of good works and their hearts full of nothing but Self-love God is therefore to be sought with humility with singleness of heart and a sincere Spirit he is to be lov'd above all things and for his own sake This life is the valley of the shadow of death a state of warfare a place of perpetual labour rest and peace and joys eternal are reserv'd for a better life CHAP. X. That we are led too much by Opinion 1. THat we generally live by opinion is known and acknowledg'd but how great is the force and the prevalency of it is not perhaps so well understood Opinion in many cases and after a strange way doth exercise a great power or rather tyranny over men It makes them as it pleaseth healthy or sickly poor or rich miserable or happy for no man is either of these but as he thinks himself Opinion brings joy or sorrow not so much according to the reality of good and evil as according to the fancy for experience tells us that what we wish'd or fear'd was nothing so pleasant or grievous as we imagined More than that Opinion not only gives a kind of present being to things that are future but also unites together things that are far distant and makes us feel in one moment the goods or evils of many years to come and which perhaps shall never be Opinion alone for the most part brings credit and praise to men and their actions and if all the dignities and the riches of the world were united together they could not content one single man except his opinion were also satisfied Hamans wealth was exceeding great and he was first in the Court of King Ahasuerus and yet he thought himself the unhappiest of men because Mordecai a poor Captive would not stand up and honour him when he came into the Palace 2. Another great mischief of opinion is this that it lengthens the present time and makes its duration in some manner interminable as if our life and worldly enjoyments were to have no end and that contrariwise it contracts Eternity and lessens to almost nothing those incomprehensible amazing everlasting ages that follow this uncertain life Men also commonly take an account of moral good and evil by the measures of opinion and whilst they seek to avoid one extreme they too often fall into another As some from a dull lazy life become
by pride except he were always mindful of his peril and his infirmity and except diffident of himself he still made it his business to work out his Salvation with fear and trembling The true wisdome and safety of Christians is to learn to be humble CHAP. XXVI From God we turn'd away by Pride to him we must return by humility 1. PRide the first and the worst of sins took beginning when the Rebellious Angels proud of their excellency list up themselves against God saying in their cursed ambitious thoughts as the Prophet Isaiah is thought to mean Isa 14.13 I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will be like the Most High With the same wickedness mankind came to be infected when by the Serpents fraud Adam was perswaded to aspire to the being like his Maker happy in himself without dependance for The beginning of Pride is when one departeth from God and his heart is turned away from his maker Ecclus. 10.12 And so Pride is the beginning of Sin and that with its appendant miseries is the inheritance we all derive from our first Parents to seek and regard our selves in every thing to forsake God and aim at our own glory and excellency 2. That we may therefore return to God from whom we are fallen by Pride we must go back in the way of humility the basis or foundation whereof is the sense of our frailty and misery the sincere acknowledgment that we owe nothing to our selves and that we are nothing and can do nothing For God created mans body out of the Earth and breathed into him a Soul made out of nothing and man was adorned with many graces and was holy and happy but by sin he defaced Gods workmanship forfeited all his gifts and so foully defiled himself that nothing in nature can make him clean again Nay though by the mercies of our Redemption man hath been restored to the possibility of bliss and holiness yet by his choise and his free-will he would remain in his former state of sinfulness and misery should not the Divine Grace actually bring him out of that unhappy condition sanctifying his heart and bringing him into the liberty of the Sons of God 3. For who but Christ by his Free-Grace can chuse and bring a man out of that mass or heap of perdition wherein we are all involv'd by nature If any one puffed up with Pride answer that his Faith his Prayers is Righteousness have made the difference betwixt him and them that remain in their corruption the Apostle replies upon him but What hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not receiv'd it 1 Cor. 4.7 Again saith he in another place 2 Cor. 3.5 We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God And Without me ye can do nothing saith our Blessed Saviour that no flesh should glory before him but as it written He that glories should glory in the Lord. Sinners can have no just cause to glory in themselves neither can the Just glory but in him to whom they sing with the Psalmist Thou O Lord art my glory and the lifter up of my head Psal 3.3 4. But may not a man glory that he hath not rejected Gods gracious offers This if he did would be the same folly as if a man should boast that whereas he could have made himself miserable and drown'd himself if he would yet he had not done it But yet even our receiving Gods free benefits proceeds from a new mercy which were it denyed us and should Grace withdraw from us her light and assistance we should neither value the gifts of God nor know how to use them aright We must therefore mortifie the desire of our own glory as we desire God would make and account us righteous let the sincere love of God make us despise the praise of men let truth take place we have no cause to glory in any thing for nothing good is our own This is the ground and the perfection of all true vertue to know and be truly perswaded that we are and have and can do nothing of our selves for it is God that works in us to will and to do Therefore let us fear and beware for God who gives grace to the humble doth take it away from the Proud CHAP. XXVII The Character of a proud man 1. PRide is a swelling or lifting up of the mind whereby the man would reach and stretch himself beyond his narrow bounds and attribute that to himself which is not his own This is joyn'd with an high conceit of himself and of his great worth which he indeavours to propagate to others boasting upon all occasions his birth dignities and riches and those accomplishments of body and mind which he thinks make him great and mighty and much superior to others This opinion gets strength and the mans Spirit grows more high and arrogant if he hath withal great Riches and a great Retinue stately Houses and Garments Gold Jewels and all such Ornaments as are the effects and the signs of mens vanities Then he must have great Titlet loud Applauses and much Reverence from others to testifie that they acknowledge him for their Superior And these he counts the sovereign happiness of this life and as for life Eternal he minds it not and he cares not for it 2. Hence proceeds a great aversion and hatred against all things that betray his weakness and defects and this being in any thing inferior to others Hence Anger and sullen discontent when any thing happens or is discover'd which reflects some disgrace and lessens his excellency Hence a perpetual fear lest what he undertakes should not succeed to his credit For indeed all men generally seek to be seen and to be commended even ordinary people in the meanest imployments seek to excell others of the same calling and to make an ostentation of their skill Nay the Philosophers themselves affected praise whilst they spake against it and they aim'd at glory writing brave things for the contempt of it The infection of Pride runs secretly and is hardly to be discern'd and when the best of men think to have plucked up by the root that cursed plant out of their hearts yet there remain small slips and strings which will bud forth though they cannot be found out We must therefore love and follow the truth and utterly despise vain shews and false praises and with a strict observation and the fear of the just and all-seeing God we must kill and stifle all proud and vain-glorious thoughts As smoke rising out of a furnace becomes a great cloud and darkens the Sun but being but smoke is soon blown away so he mounts up aloft that is high-minded and proud and diffuseth himself to obscure others and thereby grows thin and
grounded upon humility but if this fails vertue is but Hypocrisie a vain oftentation and an empty name He gathers dust before the wind that is not humble and yet would be vertuous 3. But he is to be counted truly humble who is more lowly than the lowest condition and higher than the highest who is not lift up with honours nor swelled with the wind of mens applauses and who is never so much afflicted and disgrac'd but he is perswaded he deserves much worse He is truly humble who is willing to be vile in the eyes of others as he ever is in his own who if he hath advanc'd an untruth is not asham'd to retract it and to ask pardon of others if by surprize or any other way he hath offended them in word or deed this is known to good men to be a great self-denyal He is truly humble that is careful to do nothing for which he may justly be despised and yet he is content to be so and meekly bears with reproches grieving for the offence to God but rejoycing in his own abasement He whose most innocent actions are misunderstood and misreported who is disappointed of his due reward and requited evil for good and yet is patient and contented makes it appear that he neither values himself nor his best actions The humble man is silent of himself and dead to the world and when he is forsaken and persecuted yet in God he finds refuge and comfort He is decently courteous and obliging to all persons even to them that are his inferiors He compares what is natural to him to the gifts of God in others his imperfections to their vertues and so entertains always mean thoughts of himself and is content to have others prefer'd before him and to sit low and be conceal'd in his humility I might add that humility will make a man obedient to his superiors meek and peaceable under Government and always ready to believe better of the goodness and wisdome of his Rulers than of his own but these must suffice 4. This is a rude draught and but an imperfect Image of that lovely creature called an Humble Christian whereby yet a man may discern how unlike he must be to the original that comes not near to the copy That is how far he is from being master of that blessed vertue which Christ our Blessed Lord did so much recommend to his followers by his lowest and wonderful humiliation In the exercise of humility there is no danger of excess we can never be too humble but we may easily not be humble enough here the danger is great as the crime also As he that would come in at a door which is low of entrance if he bows himself more than needs there is no harm done but if he comes too upright and never so little too high he must bruise his head if not break his skull so the lowest humility will never hurt the Soul but the least Pride may destroy it Let a Christian therefore to avoid this danger not onely not exalt himself but even not equal himself to others For in so doing he shall best imitate the Blessed Jesus who being Son of God yet took on him the form of a servant that be might shew to us the true form of humility CHAP. XXX Of the Conformity of our Will to Gods 1. WE can offer to God nothing more pleasing no victim better and more acceptable than our own will intirely to resign that to God and desire that in all things it may be subject and conformable to his blessed will is that living and holy sacrifice wherein God delights which none but a Pious man can offer and which is the highest act of Religion we can perform on Earth For in this submitting and conforming our will to the Divine pleasure we offer not to God any one particular thing alone but our whole selves Body and Soul and all that we have without any reservation Therefore we should make that our daily study thus to deny and forsake our selves to empty our hearts of all self-desires and self-affections that even here God may be all in all in us and we may be wholly devoted to him prepared and willing to be in all things disposed of by him according as he shall think good For God will not work in us his good and acceptable will if we have a will of our own distinct from and contrary to his he requires the whole heart and he that gives less gives nothing It may be allowed indeed to human frailty that we should wish and will after the manner of men but then we must soon recollect our selves and lifting up our heart to God lay our will in the dust that we may acquiesce in him and cleave to him who being the Sovereign hath absolute dominion over all He is the Creator we are his Creatures he is the Lord we are all his Servants he is Omnipotent we are weak and infirm we must therefore restrain our own and give up our selves wholly to his Blessed will saying in all contingencies Not as I will O Lord but as thou wilt 2. Thus Prayed our Blessed Redeemer when he acted for us and suffered in our stead not that he whose Godhead is one with the Father could will any thing contrary to him but to teach us how to behave our selves in resigning all our desires to God Therefore he also taught us to make it our daily Prayer Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven that as the Angels are always ready to fulfil God's will we may be so likewise in all things desirous to be obedient to his laws and dispensations That that unhappy fight and contention may be taken away of which the Apostle speaks Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh That so God's will may be obeyed by the whole Man Body Soul and Spirit without any opposition or reluctancy and Nature may be governed by Grace and Human affections be changed into Holy Charity for this is the will of God even our Sanctification There is one onely God and he that cleaves to him is one with him in Spirit and in Will and cannot but be Holy and Happy 3. There is not a more excellent duty than to receive whatever happens as coming from Gods hand with a quiet and a contented mind casting all our care upon him for he careth for us 1 Pet. 5.6 There is no true evil but the evil of sin all other things so counted do proceed from God Prosperity and Adversity Life and Death Poverty and Riches come of the Lord saith the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 11.14 Therefore God saith by his Prophet Isa 45.7 I form the Light and create Darkness I make Peace and create Evil I the Lord do all these things Whereas therefore all things even those that seem to be most accidental depend upon Gods most wise determinations and secret counsels we must submit our selves to his