much farther concerning them word for word saying This sort of Men indeed is diffused far and wide over the whole World For it was requisite that both Greeks and Barbarians should be partakers of so excellent a Benefit Egypt especially is full of them throughout all its Divisions but most of all about Alexandria But from all places the principal of them retire themselves into a most commodious place above the Lake Maria situate upon a little rising Hill excellently well seated both for Wholsomeness of Air and Conveniency of Abiding as into the Country of the Therapeutae Then after he has described their Houses after what manner they were built he speaks thus of the Churches they have in divers Places In every House there is a Chappel called a Semnaeum and Monasterium in which alone by themselves they perform the Mysteries of an Holy Life They bring in thither neither Meat nor Drink nor any Corporal Provisions or Necessaries but only the Law and the divine Oracles of the Prophets and Hymns and such like whereby Knowledge and Piety are increased and perfected And a little while after he says All the interval of time from Sun rising to the Evening they spend in Meditations of Philosophy For reading the Holy Scriptures they Philosophize after their Countrey way and expound Allegorically For they suppose that the Words are only Notes and Marks of some things of a Mystical Nature which are to be explained Figuratively They have Writings of some ancient Persons who have been heretofore famous Leaders of their Sect and have left them many Monuments of that Learning which consists in dark and secret Expressions which they using as original Platforms do imitate thereby that Course of Study These certainly seem to be the Words of such a Man as had heard some of our Religion expounding the Holy Scriptures And it is very likely that the Writings of those ancient Persons which he says they had were the Gospels and Writings of the Apostles and certain Expositions of the ancient Prophets of which sort many are contained both in other Epistles of Paul and also in that written to the Hebrews Afterwards Philo thus writeth concerning the New Psalms composed by them They do not only spend their time in Contemplation but they compose Songs and Hymns to the Praise of God of all sorts of Meeter and Musical Verse which they write in grave and seemly Rhymes He relates many other things of them in that Book I mentioned But I judged these fittest to be selected and pickt out in which certain Marks of Church Discipline are proposed But if any one should think what Philo here says to be in no wise proper to the Evangelical Politie but may be adapted to others besides those I have mentioned he will certainly be convinced by Philo's following Words in which if he shall duly weigh the Matter he will receive a most undoubted Testimony of this thing Now he writes thus Having first laid Temperance as a certain foundation they build thereupon the other Virtues For none of them takes either Meat or Drink before Sun-set for they hold it requisite to spend the Day in the Study of Philosophy and the Night in making necessary Provision for the Body Therefore they allot the whole Day to study but allow a very small portion of the Night for Bodily Provision Some of them forget to eat for Three Days together so great is the desire of Knowledge that possesses them But some others of them are so well pleased with and feed so richly and deliciously upon the Banquets of Wisdom which sets before them wholsome Precepts as a most sumptuous Feast that they are wont scarce to tast any necessary Food in twice that space to wit in Six Days time We suppose these Words of Philo to be evidently and without all doubt spoken concerning those of our Religion But if after all this any one shall still persist in a peremptory denyal of these things he will at length recede from his obstinate difficulty of Belief being perswaded to submit to such manifest Demonstrations as are no where to be found but in the Christian Religion composed according to the Rule of the Gospel Philo says further therefore That among these Men of whom we speak there are certain Women conversant many of which continue Virgins being old not out of Necessity like some of those amongst the Grecian Priests but voluntarily preserving their Chastity out of an ardent Affection to and Desire of Wisdom in the Embraces and Familiarity whereof they earnestly affect to spend their Lives having despised all Bodily Pleasures and desiring earnestly not a Mortal Issue but an Immortal which that Mind only that loves and is beloved of God can of it self bring forth After many other Expressions he speaks yet more plainly thus Their Expositions of Holy Writ are figurative by way of Allegories For these Men suppose the whole Law to be like a Living Creature the bare Words whereof are as it were the Body and the invisible Sense that lies hid under the Words resembles the Soul Which sence this Sect have and do make it their Religion earnestly to search into and contemplate beholding in the Words as in a Glass the admirable beauty of the Meaning There is no necessity of adding farther here an account of their Assemblies of the distinct Apartments of their Men and Women and of their several Studies and Holy Exercises now in use amongst us more especially about the Feast of our Lord's Passion when we are wont to practise them in Fastings Watchings and attentive Reading of Holy Scriptures All which the Man we have so often mentioned does relate in his Writings accurately after the same manner in which we only at this time observe them Especially he mentions the Vigils of the great Solemnity the Holy Exercises therein and the Hymns we are wont to recite And how when one has begun to sing a Psalm harmoniously and gravely the rest silently hearkening do after sing out in Chorus the latter parts only of the Verses And how throughout those Days lying in Straw upon the Ground they wholly abstain from Wine as he has said in these express Words and eat nothing that has Blood in it Water is their only Drink and their Food is Bread with Salt and Hyssop Farther he describes the Order and Degrees of their Governours to wit those who perform the Ecclesiastical Offices then the Ministrations of the Deacons and lastly the Episcopal Presidency over all He that desires to know these things more accurately may be therein informed from the fore-mentioned History of Philo. It is therefore apparently evident to every one that Philo writing thus did mean thereby those first Preachers of the Evangelical Doctrin and Discipline at the beginning delivered by the Apostles Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus concerning the same Har. 29. § 5. HAving said that the Christians were at first called Nazarens as Act. 24.5.2.22 and for some time Jesseans whether from the
may be illustrated by the Contemplation of God is required a Pure and Sound Mind For as in a Looking-Glass sordid and impure the Form of a Face cannot be represented so neither in a foul and unclean Mind the Splendor of God Ni. Whoever knowing that they are only Mind have passed the bulk and grossness of the Body and have purged their Mind from the Stain of Vices and rendered it fit and meet for the Reception of the First or chief Mind and Creator of all things God is united to them For when the Mind is Pure and Incorrupt he doth converse with the Mind without any thing intervening and by it hath Communion with the Soul as again by this he is joyned to the Body But he is united not as He is but as We are capable of that Union And hence at last he becomes known Nor can any one otherwise know God unless he open his Soul to Him and receive him in it Psellus God doth so much become known to Men as he is familiarly joyned to them who by Vertue are joyned to Him For according as is their Ascent he doth descend And how much Man doth approach to God so much also doth God become known to Man imparting the Knowledge of himself according to the proportion of Purity that is in every one See whether the Spiritual and Divine Gradation will raise us For from the Incomprehensibility of the Divine Nature as from the first step of a Ladder we are raised to Admiration of him as to the second step again from Admiration we ascend to more earnest Desire then from Desire are we raised up to Purgation and from hence further to Likeness with God and lastly we arrive to converse familiarly with God and know Him more perfectly by Vnion Then when we are made Deiform doth the true and natural God converse familiarly with those who by Grace are call'd Gods infusing the Divine Fulgers of his Knowledge in us as every one is purified Nicetas To be made God is to be partaker of Divine Illumination but not to pass into the Divine Essence Since we are set in the Confines between God and Matter if we decline to Matter we are Gross and Material if we tend toward God we are call'd Divine and thereupon Gods Nicetas St. Austin concerning the same THE Life of the Body is the Soul the Life of the Soul is God The Spirit of God dwells in the Soul and by the Soul in the Body that our Bodies also may be the Temple of the Holy Spirit whom we have from God Ser. 18. de verb. Apost c. 6. It is not unreasonable to say That the Incorporeal Soul is so illuminated with the Incorporeal Light of the Simple or pure Wisdom of God as the Body of the Air is illuminated with the Corporeal Light and as the Air grows dark upon the departure of that Light 11 de Civ Dei c. 10. Minds are to Souls as their Senses but of Sciences whatever things are most certain they are such as are those things which are illustrated or shined upon by the Sun that they may be seen as the Earth and all Earthly things But God is he who doth illustrate but I Reason am so in Mind as the Aspect is in the Eyes The Eye of the Soul is the Mind pure from all stain of the Body that is remote and purged from all desires of Mortal things c. 1 Soliloq c. 6. It is a great and very rare thing with the Intenseness of the Mind to transcend all Creature corporeal or incorporeal being considered and found mutable and to approach to that unchangeable Substance of God and there learn from Him that none but he made all Nature which is not Himself For so God speaks with Man not by any corporal Creature sounding in corporal Ears c. but he speaks by the very Truth it self if one be fit to hear with the Mind not with the Body 11 de C. D. 2. v. ibid. Coq When the Soul sees that singular and true Beauty it will the more love it But unless it fix on it its Eye with a mighty Love and decline not any whether from beholding it it cannot remain in that most Blessed Vision 1 Solil c. 7. One thing there is that I can prescribe thee I know no more That these sensible things are wholly to be forsaken and that we must greatly beware while we act this Body that our Wings which we need have intire and perfect be not hindered by any of their Birdlime that we may fly away from this Darkness to that Light c. Therefore when thou shalt be such that nothing of Earthly things doth at all delight thee believe me in that moment in the same point of time thou shalt see what thou desirest c. 1 Soliloq c. 14. Thou dost desire to see and imbrace Wisdom as it were naked without any thing of covering so as she doth not suffer herself except to very few and her most choice Lovers c. It is a certain ineffable and incomprehensible Light of Minds that vulgar Light c. ibid. c. 13. Confide constantly in God and as much as thou canst commit thy self intirely to Him Do not be willing to be as it were thine own but profess thy self to be a Servant of the most Gracious and Bountiful Lord. For so will he not cease to raise thee to Himself and will permit nothing to befall thee but what shall profit thee though thou knowest it not 1 Soliloq 14. Hear me my God hear me after that manner of thine known to very few Command I beseech thee whatever thou wilt but heal and open my Ears that I may hear thy Voice Heal and open my Eyes that I may see thy Becks Say to me which way I shall look that I may behold Thee c. 1 Soliloq c. 1. Being admonished to return to my self I entred into my most inward parts thou being my Leader and I could do it because thou wast become my Helper I entred and I discerned with the Eye of my Soul such as it was above the same Eye of my Soul above my Mind the unchangeable Light of the Lord not this vulgar and visible to all Flesh Nor was it as of the same kind greater as if it grew more and more clear than it and filled all with its Greatness This was not that but another quite another from all those Nor was it so above my Mind as Oyl above Water nor as Heaven above Earth but superior because he made me and I inferior because I was made by it He who knoweth Truth knoweth it and he who knoweth it knoweth Eternity Charity knoweth it O Eternal Truth and true Charity and dear Eternity Thou art my God for Thee do I sigh day and night And when I first knew Thee thou didst assume me or take me up that I should see it to be which I did see and my self not to be who did see And thou
transgress notoriously they thrust out of their Company And who-ever is so punished for the most part dieth a miserable Death for it being not lawful for him to eat with any Stranger he is reduced to feed on Grass like Beasts and so he perisheth through Famine For which cause oftentimes they are moved with Compassion to receive many into their Order again when ready by Famine to yield up the Ghost judging them to have endured Penance enough for their Offences who with Famine were almost brought to Death's door They are very severe and just in their Judgments and to decide any Matter there is never fewer of them than an Hundred and that which is by them agreed upon is irrevocable Next after God they reverence their Law-giver insomuch that if any one revile him they forthwith condemn him to Death They take it for a great Duty to obey their Elders and what is appointed by many so that if Ten of them sit together no Man of them must speak without he be licensed thereto by Nine of the Company They account it a great Incivility to be in the midst of the Assembly or on their right hand And they are more severe than any other Jews in observing the Sabbath for they do not only abstain from dressing Meat which they dress the Evening before that Day but also they may not remove any Vessel out of its place nor satisfie the Necessities of Nature Upon other Days they dig a Pit a foot deep in the Ground with the Hatchet which as we before said every one at his Entrance into their Order hath given him and then covering themselves diligently with their Garment as if they feared to be Irreverent to the Light of Heaven in that Pit they ease themselves and then cover their Ordure with the Earth they took out of the Pit and this they do in the most secret places And though this purging of their Bodies be natural yet do they by washing purifie themselves after it as after great Uncleanness Furthermore amongst themselves they are divided into Four Orders according to the time which they have continu'd this Exercise of Life and they that are Juniors bear such respect to their Seniors that if they do but touch one of them they are obliged to purifie themselves as though they had touched a Stranger They are long liv'd so that most of them live an Hundred Years which I judge is by reason of their well-ordered Diet and their Temperance They contemn Adversity and by Constancy and Fortitude triumph over Torments They preferr an honourable Death before Life The Wars which the Jews made against the Romans shew'd what invinsible Courage and Hardiness they have in all things for they suffered the Breaking of the Members of their Bodies Fire and Sword and all kind of Tortures rather than be brought to speak the least Word against their Law-giver or to eat Meats forbidden They could not be forced to any of these neither would they entreat the Torturers nor shew any Sorrow amidst their Torments Yea in the midst of their Pains they scoffed at their Tormentors and joyfully yielded up their Souls as though they hoped to pass to a better Life For it is an Opinion amongst them That the Body is mortal and corruptible but the Souls remain ever immortal and being of a most pure and etherial Substance wrap themselves in Bodies as in Prisons being drawn thereunto by some natural Inclination But when they are delivered out of these carnal Bonds then presently as freed from a long Bondage they joyfully mount into the Air. And of the Good Souls they say as did the Grecians that they live beyond the Ocean in a place of Pleasure where they are never molested with Rain nor Snow nor Heat but have always a sweet and pleasant Air. But the Wicked Souls as they say go into a Place very tempestuous where there is always Winter Weather always Lamentations of those who for ever are to be punished For I judge that the Greeks are of this Opinion when they say there is an Isle for the Virtuous whom they call Heroes and Half-Gods and that the Souls of the Wicked go to a Place in Hell where it is feigned that some are tormented as Sysiphus Tantalus Ixion and Titius Those Esseans also believe that they are created Immortal that they may be induced to Vertue and averted from Vice that the Good are rendred better in this Life by the Hope of being Happy after Death and that the Wicked who imagin they can hide their Evil Actions in this World are punished for them in the other with Eternal Torments This is the Esseans Opinion touching the Excellence of the Soul from which we see very few of those depart who have once embraced it There are also some among them who promise to foretell things to come which Faculty is obtained as well by the Study of Holy Books and Ancient Prophecies as by the Care they take of sanctifying themselves And their Predictions seldom fail They are at least Four Thousand in Number who have neither Wives nor Slaves supposing that Women are the occasion of Injustice and Slaves do cause Insurrections and living apart by themselves they serve one another and chuse out certain upright Men among the Priests to gather the Fruits and Revenues of the Land to the end they may be maintained and nourished thereby In a Word they follow the same Course of Life that they do who are called Plisti among the Danes There is another sort of Esseans agreeing with the former both in Apparel Diet and kind of Life and Observance of the same Laws and Ordinances only they differ in the Matter of Marriage Affirming that to abstain from Marriage tends to abolish Man-kind For say they if all Men should follow this Opinion presently all Man-kind would perish Notwithstanding these People use such Moderation that for Three Years space they observe the Women they intend to Marry and then if they appear sound enough to bear Children they Marry them None of them lye with their Wives when they are with Child to shew that they do not Marry to satisfie Lust but to have Children When their Wives wash themselves they are covered with a Garment as the Men are And this is the Manner and Custom of this Sect. OF THE ESSEANS OUT OF PHILO 'T IS a strange and lamentable thing to consider what a continual Faintness and how much Listlessness we find in our selves to those things which we should prosecute with the greatest Vigour as being the nearest related to us and most proper for us 'T is this Sluggishness which putrefies all the Seeds of Integrity that are in our Natures On the contrary we have an unsatiable longing after and desire of those things of which 't is fitting we should be devested Hence it is that both the Sea and Land are full of Wealthy and Vain-glorious and Voluptuous Men. Whereas the Number of Wise and Righteous and Good
like the same way of Living They have all one Refectory common Banks and Expences and common Cloaths common Victuals and common Lodgings One common united Roof and one and the same common Diet and Table is what you can't find amongst any others of them and perhaps no where else at all In the Evening when they have received their Hire they don't keep it to themselves but bring it and cast it in in the midst before all for the common Benefit of those who want to make use of it Those also that are Sick are not neglected because they are not able to help themselves having common Banks laid up in readiness for the Healing the Sick so that they may be at extraordinary Expence on such extraordinary Occasions without fear They revere honour and take great Care of their Elders maintaining and cherishing them in their Old Age by their Manual Labour and many other means in all Plenty and Security OF THE THERAPEUTS OUT OF PHILO HAving spoken concerning the Esseans who were zealous of and studiously exercis'd in an Active Life more exactly than all or to speak indeed more tolerably than very many others I come now keeping close to the thread of my Design to speak as much as is true and pertinent concerning those who have embrac'd a Contemplative way of Living And here I shall add nothing of my own to set off my Narrative as Poets and Oratours whose ends of Writing are mean and who are at a loss for good and excellent Matter 'T is Truth and that only which I unfeignedly love and salute how unwelcome soever this Method may be to the Artificial Speaker But in my Entrance on this Subject I find a great Contest with my self however the Greatness of the Vertue of those Men ought not to be the Cause of Silence in those who don't think it fair that what is admirable should be conceal'd What the Purpose of these Philosophers was their very Name discovers for they are called Therapeuts and Therapentesses from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either from Healing and more truly than other Physicians since they profess a nobler Medicinal Art than that profess'd in the City for that only heals Bodies but this cures Souls of Diseases very severe and hard to be cur'd Souls beleagur'd and oppress'd with Pleasures and Lusts Griefs and Fears irregular Desires and Follies and Iniquities and an infinite Multitude of other Passions and Vices Or from Worshipping because they have been taught by Nature and Holy Laws to worship the Being which is Better than Good and Smpler than One and Ancienter than Vnity Those that enter upon the way of Living which the Therapeuts use don't do it out of Custom or at the Instigation of any Persons but because they are ravish'd with an Heavenly Love and struck powerfully by the Deity and feel Spiritual Exultations of Joy in their Souls and will not be at rest till they see the Object they long for Wherefore because through their desire of an Immortal and Blessed Life they reckon themselves Dead to this Mortal Life they leave their Estates to their Sons or Daughters or any other Relations making them their Heirs cheerfully and with a free Mind Those of them which have not Relations leave them to their Friends and Acquaintance The Greeks celebrate Anaxagoras and Democritus because they being smote with the Love of Philosophy let their Estates be devour'd by Sheep I admire those Men because they themselves were above Riches But How much better were those who not suffering their Estates to be devour'd by Cattle apply'd a Remedy to the Needs of Men and made the Indigent Rich for that was an inconsiderable not to say Mad Act for which Greece admir'd those Men But this is a sober Custom which shews much Consideration Prudence Humanity and Sweetness of Disposition What can Enemies do more than devour and make the Countries of their Enemies bare of Corn Fodder and Trees that being brought into the straits of Necessity they may yield Just thus did Democritus serve his Kindred contriving as it were with his own Hands Streights and Poverty for them not designedly perhaps but by not fore-casting and having in his Eye the Benefit of others How much better are these though the Efforts of their Affections for Philosophy were not less than his These preferr'd an extensive Concern and Generorosity of Mind before Contempt of their Friends benefitting others with their Estates and not making a corrupt use of them that they might benefit both themselves and others others by ample Estates themselves by Philosophizing because the Cares of Money and Lands devour much Time But 't is an excellent thing to be frugal of Time since as the Physician Hippocrates said Life is short but Art long But to proceed in our Narration When they quit their Estates and are no longer caught by any Baits they depart without ever turning back and leave their Brethren Children Wives Parents numerous Relations friendly Intimacies and Engagements and the Countries in which they were bred and born because Custom and Familiarity are very attracting and have the greatest Power to ensnare And when they do thus they do not remove into another City like miserable unfortunate Servants who instead of Exchanging Slavery for Liberty only exchange their Masters for indeed such are they who part with one Estate to purchase another in some other City for every City much inhabited though it be govern'd by Good Laws is full of unspeakable Tumults and Hurries which any one that is once led by Wisdom can't away with But they live and exercise themselves without Walls in Gardens and By-Fields seeking after Solitude not out of a morose affected Disgust against Men but because they are sensible Mixtures are unprofitable and hurtful by reason of the Dis-agreeableness of their Manners This sort of Men are in all parts of the habitable World and indeed 't was but fitting that both Greece and the Barbarous World should partake of this perfectly good Sect. They abound in Egypt in every one of their Provinces and especially about Alexandria But the principal of them retire as to their own Countrey from all Parts to a Colony of Therapeuts at a commodious Place about the Lake Maria situate upon a little rising Hill and very convenient both for Security and good Temperature of Air. As for Security that Place is best which is surrounded with Neighbouring Villages and Cottages And as for good well-tempered Air continual Gales which proceed from a Lake that lies open to the Sea and that part of the Sea which is nigh furnish them with that for the Sea sends fine thin Gales and the Lake which lies open to the Sea thick fat Gales which two so curiously mingled together make a very Healthy Air. The Houses in which they live together are very mean and slight and just serve for Defence against two very necessary things the Scorching of the Sun the cold Crudeness of the Air But they
all of them before they sit down to eat standing in a very decent Order with all Gravity do with their Eyes and Hands lifted up to Heaven their Eyes because they have been taught to see things so worthy of Veneration their Hands to signifie that they are not guilty of Eating any Food before out of pretence of Necessity pray to God that their Banquetting may please Him and be according to his Mind or according to understanding The Seniors sit down according to their Admissions for they don't reckon those who have liv'd many Years and are very Ancient the Seniors there but on the contrary they look upon them as Young Children if they have but lately been enamour'd with that way of Living but they count those who began betime in the Flower of their Age to betake themselves to the Contemplative part of Philosophy which indeed is the best and Divinest part their Seniors though their Youth be not yet expir'd The Women also are at the Feast with them many of which are very Ancient and Virgins out of pure Love to Purity not out of Necessity as some of the Priestesses amongst the Greeks who live so upon that Account rather than out of free Choice No these live so because of a true Zeal for and desire of Wisdom for having a fervent desire to live by Wisdom they make no account of Bodily Pleasures neither do they desire Mortal but Immortal Off-springs which only a Soul that truly loves God is able to bring forth out of its self for 't is God who has shed into it the Intellectual Rayes of the Father by which 't will be able to contemplate the Decrees of Wisdom When they sit together the Men sit on the Right hand and the Women on the Left If any one supposes that softer Seats than ordinary though not so costly were prepared for such Noble Virtuous Exercisers of Vertue let him know that they have cheap sort of Carpets made of some Leaves and Barks of Trees that grow there on which they lean a little for they remit something of the hard way of Living that the Lacedaemonians use though in all respects they study Frugality and have a strong Antipathy against the Philtres of Pleasure They are not waited upon by Slaves for they look upon the keeping of Servants to be a Custom against Nature for she made and brought forth all Men free But the Iniquity and unreasonable Covetings of those who have affected Inequality the Ring-leader of all Mischief have brought Camps into the World and set the stronger Men on Fire to exert their Strength against the Weak Here as I said is no Servant but Free-Men give all necessary Attendance which they do heartily and with all readiness even to the Prevention of Request for the Juniors of the Company which are appointed from Meal to Meal do with all Diligence serve those who have arrived to a great pitch of Vertue just as Natural Sons do with great Pleasure and Emulation serve their Parents reckoning these their common Parents to be nearer related to them than their Parents by Blood since nothing is nearer than Integrity to those who have right Minds Those that wait come with their Garments loose about them lest there should be the least Appearance of Servility amongst them at this Feast I know some will laugh at the Hearing of this but they are such as do those things for which they ought to weep and lament At those Feasts no Wine is brought in but only very clear Water cold Water for the most and warm Water for the Tenderest of the Old Men. Their Table is pure from all Bloody Creatures Loaves are their Meat and Salt is their Sauce The most dainty of them indeed make it more palatable with Hyssop for Right Reason charges them like Priests to sacrifice Sacrifices without Wine and to live upon them for Wine is an incentive of Folly and chargable Dishes provoke Lust which is the most Insatiable of all Beasts And so much for the First part After the Guests are sat in the Orders fore-mentioned the Waiters do stand decently in Order ready to serve There is no Drink brought but every one calls for it as he wants it and which is more than any thing already mentioned no one dares Belch or fetch his Breath indecently But some body either offers a Query upon some place of the Holy Scriptures or solves something propos'd by another without any Solicitude about the manner of the Solution for not one amongst them desires Fame by fine Speaking But every one loves to see another more exact and when they see him so not to envy him though they are not so accute themselves They have all the like Desire to learn Sometimes one of them takes more time when he teaches repeating and dwelling upon what he says that he may imprint his Notions on their Souls for many times the Mind of the Auditors being not able to keep pace with the Interpretation of one that speaks too closely or too fast falls short of comprehending what is said the rest look with their Faces upright upon him who speaks in one and the same Posture and give Notice of their Understanding and Comprehending what they hear by a Nod or a Look They discover their Commendation by the continued Cheerfulness of their Aspect but a Doubt is signify'd by a stiller Motion of the Head and their Right hand 's little Finger The Juniors also that wait give no less Attention than those that sit at Table Their Expositions of the Holy Scriptures are Allegorical Hints for the whole Constitution of their Law seems to them like an Animal in which the literal Expressions are the Body and the invisible Sense infolded in the Words the Mind wherein the Reasonable Soul begins distinctly to consider the Properties thereof as through the Perspective of the Names after it having beheld the admirable Beauties of the Notions and unveil'd the Symbols has brought to light the deeper or more recondite Sense to those who from a small hint are capable of tracing obscure Truths by the Light of those that are manifest After the President seems to have made a sufficient Discourse so as that his Applications successfully hit what he aim'd at and the Attention of the Auditours perceive his meaning they all give an Humm thereby signifying that they are pleased and choose for the future to put his Advice in Execution After this he rises up and sings an Hymn in Praise of God which is either of his own or some ancient Poets composure for their Poets have left them Measures and Songs of all sorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trimetres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Introits or Processional 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laudatory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrifical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Altar-Songs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stationary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Choiral with Stanza's of various Measures some of which are us'd with their Faces turn'd from and others with
confide in his own Judgment and Determination or Doctrin For since all Arts and Disciplines found out by humane Ingenie and which are of no more benefit than for the Commodities of this temporal Life though they may be handled with the Hand and seen with the Eyes yet can they not rightly be comprehended by any one without the Teaching of an Instructor How improper is it to believe that this only should not need a Teacher which is invisible and occult and which is not seen-through but with a most pure Heart wherein an Error produceth not a temporal Damage nor what is easily repaired but perdition of Soul and perpetual Death For it hath a Conflict Day and Night not against visible but invisible Enemies and not against one or two but against innumerable troops a Spiritual Combat the Case of which is so much the more pernicious to all by how much both the Enemy is more mischievous and the Encounter more secret And therefore is the Trace of the Seniors always to be followed with the utmost Diligence and to them are all things which arise in our Hearts taking away the Veil of Bashfulness to be related cap. 11. v. sup p. 79. Abbot Cheremon concerning the Wonderful things which the Lord doth in a special manner operate in his Saints Cass Coll. 12. cap. 12. GREAT indeed and wonderful are the things nor throughly known to any Man except only to those who have experience of them which the Lord with ineffable Liberality gives to his Faithful ones even in this Vessel of Corruption Which the Prophet viewing in Purity of Mind as well in his own Person as in the Person of those who come into this State and Affection cryed out Great are thy Works and that my Soul knoweth very well Otherwise could not the Prophet be thought to have said any rare or great matter if he be thought to have pronounced this either with other affection of Heart or concerning other Works of God For there is no Man who doth not acknowledge the Works of God to be wonderful even from the very Vastness of the Creation But of those things which by his daily Operation he doth produce in his Saints and with a special Bounty doth pour out unto them no other can be sensible but the Soul of them who enjoy it which in the secret of its Conscience is so the only Judge of his Favours that it not only cannot with any Speech relate them but not so much as in Sense and Thought comprehend them when descending from that inflamed Fervour it sinks down to material and terrene Prospects For Who would not admire the Works of God in himself when he sees the insatiable Greediness of the Stomach and the costly and pernicious Luxury of the Palate so restrained in Him that he seldom and unwillingly takes scarce so much as a little and that very mean Food Who would not be amazed at the Works of God when he feels that fire of Lust which he before believed to be natural and in a manner inextinguishable to become so cool'd that he doth not feel himself incited so much as with a simple motion of his Body How could any but revere the Power of the Lord when he should see Men before fierce and desperate who were provoked even by officious or well-meant Services to the greatest Fury of Anger to have come to so great Lenity and Gentleness that now they not only are not moved with any Injuries but even when any are done them do with great magnanimity rejoyce Who would not plainly admire the Works of God and with his whole Heart cry out I have known that great is the Lord when he seeth himself or another of Greedy become Liberal of Prodigal Frugal of Proud Humble of Nice and Curious Carleless and Homely and even choosingly enjoying Want and Scarcity of temporal things These indeed are the wonderful Works of God which the Souls of the Prophets and such experienced Persons do know in a peculiar manner being amazed with the Intuition of so wonderful a Contemplation These are the Prodigies which the Lord hath plac'd upon Earth which the same Prophet considering calls all People to the admiration of them Come and see the Works of God the Prodigies which the Lord hath placed upon the Earth c. For what can be a greater Prodigy then in a very little moment for Men of greedy Publicans to become Apostles of fierce Persecutors most patient Preachers of the Gospel so as to propagate that Faith which they did persecute even with the Effusion of their Blood These are the Works of God which the Son declares that he with the Father daily doth work c. Concerning this saving Work of God the Prophet prays to the Lord saying Confirm O God this which thou hast wrought in us And to pass by abscondite Dispensations of God which the Mind of all the Saints doth every moment perceive peculiarly exercised within themselves that Coelestial Infusion of Spiritual Rejoycings in which a dejected Mind is raised with the Alacrity of an unexpected Joy and those unknown Excesses of Heart and as ineffable as unheard-of Solaces of Joys with which sometimes drooping in a listless Stupidity we are raised as out of a deep Sleep to most fervent Prayer this I say is the Joy of which the blessed Apostle speaks Which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath come into the Heart of Man that is of him who is still a Man stupified with Earthly Vices and sticks in Humane Affections and perceives nothing of those Gifts of God At last the same Apostle adds as well concerning himself as those like him who have departed from Humane Conversation But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit v. Cyp. Ep. 2. THese things I thought fit to collect cut of much of this kind to give a Tast of the Manners and Spirit of these Holy People and lest those who are little acquainted with these things should imagin that they were the meer Phansies of Melancholy Monks I will here add a Tast of the Sentiments of some others and instead of many of two Eminent Bishops Men of greatest Reputation both for Learning and Virtue St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Austin Bishop of Hippo But first to begin with St. Gregory Nazianzen it will not be amiss to add here to those before his Character of the Holy Monks of his time St. Gregory Nazianzen concerning the Lives and Exercises of MONKS in his time Orat. 9. to Julian the Comptroller of the Customs upon the Discharge of the Monks MY Speech presents to you the Poor the whole Choir of Priests the Choir of Philosophers Monks who are tied down by no Band who possess only their Bodies nor them wholly have nothing for Caesar but all for God Hymns Prayers Watchings Tears a Possession not to be seized on viz. to be dead to the World alive to Christ to have killed the Flesh to have drawn the Soul from the
Body Sparing these or rather purely restoring to God the Worshippers and Disciples of God and Contemplators of Coelestial things the first Fruits of our kind the Pillar the Crown of Faith the precious Pearls the Stones of that Temple whose Foundation and Corner Stone is Christ the noble Accomplishments of the Church most nobly indeed both for them and for thy self and for us all hast thou taken Care And such Riches should I rather wish thee from us than Treasure of much Gold and Silver now appearing and after a little while not being at all But what he observed in them he else-where expresseth more copiously as with great Approbation Applause and even Admiration in these Particulars Watchings Fastings Prayers Tears brawny Knees knocking 's of the Breast deep Sighs nocturnal Stations travel of the Soul to God soft Weepings at Prayers a Medicine of Compunction to those who hear it Singing Glorifying Meditating on the Law of the Lord day and night carrying Exaltations of God in their Mouths And also those noble Testimonials and Indications of a Life according to God silent Preachers Hair foul and uncombed Feet naked and like the Apostles wearing nothing dead decent Shaving Rayment reproving Arrogance a Girdle becoming an undeck'd Body keeping the Coat from hanging loose but so as though it did not gird it an even Pace an unwandering Eye a pleasing sort or rather powerful way of Smiling which checks the Excess of Laughter Discourse guided by Reason Silence more venerable than Speech Commendations seasoned with Salt not to flatter but to excite to Proficience a sort of Reproving more desirable than Praise a Mean in Compunction and Relaxation and a Mixture and Temperature of both Lenity with Authority and Authority with Modesty so that neither is debased but rather recommended by the other due Measures of Converse and Retirement of Converse to help others of Retirement to get insight into the Mysteries of the Spirit a Converse preserving Solitude or Recollection in Society and Retirement retaining Brotherly-kindness and Charity in Solitude And which are yet Greater and Sublimer things than these Riches in Poverty Possession in Pilgrimage Glory in Disgrace Power in Weakness Fruitfulness in Celebacie if Divine Off-springs be better than what have beginning from the Flesh They are such as live deliciously by refusing Delights and Mean for the sake of Heavenly things have nothing in the World and yet are above the World who are out of the Flesh and yet in the Flesh Whose Portion is the Lord who are Poor for the sake of a Kingdom and Kings for their Poverty These my Wealth and Banquets while present made me exult for Joy and if absent stopp'd the brisk Circulation of my Blood Thus far his Character of these Holy Men And now for a Tast of his Contemplation of which we have a Touch here where he sets out the End of Retirement to get Insight into the Mysteries of the Spirit St. Gregory Nazianzen concerning Divine Contemplation Orat. 42. I Will Stand saith the admirable Habakkuk upon my Watch and I with him to day upon the Power and Speculation given me by the Holy Ghost and will contemplate and know what is shewed and what is spoken to me I being to speak of the great Sacrifice and of the greatest of Days cannot but have recourse to God Here will I begin and purge ye me your Mind and Hearing and Understanding who-ever relish these things for as much as a Speech of God is Divine so shall ye depart with a Savour of things which do not fade God Was always and Is and Shall be or rather Is always For Was and Shall be are fragments of Time with us and of a fading Nature But he always Is and so doth he name Himself speaking to Moses in the Mount For he containing All in Himself hath a Being neither beginning nor ceasing as a certain Ocean of Essence immense and boundless exceeding all conception both of Time and Nature represented with the Mind alone and that but very faintly and obscurely not from what are in Him but from what are about Him one Conception being collected after another into some one Image of the Truth flying before it be laid-hold-on and running away before it be apprehended illustrating only the Principal part of us and that purified as the Lightning strikes the Sight without remaining that as it seems to me he may with what is comprehensible draw us to Himself for what is altogether incomprehensible is neither hoped nor attempted and with what is incomprehensible may become admired being admired may be the more desired being desired may purifie us and purifying make us Dei-form or God-like and these things perfected he may as with Familiars converse with us God to God's united and made known c. To make this remarkable Discourse the more plain and intelligible it may be fit and necessary to add some brief Notes out of the Greek Commentators Nicetas and Psellus upon it The Sense of the Prophet's Words is this I will keep my Mind Pure and Intire from all Worldly Care and will fly into a certain Security very firm and as a Thought raised on high and thence will I observe what God will speak to me c. Nicetas n. 1. Stand signifies Firmness and Constancy and a State unmoved and unmoveable to meaner things Speculate an accurate and agreeable Contemplation and Knowledge and that Impetus or Earnestness wherewith the Mind is carried to those things which come to our Knowledge For so he who doth emerge out of the Grossness of corporal things at first goes the middle way which is called Animal but afterward the more sublime which is called Spiritual Psell The Watch or Guard is the Manner of every ones Soul according to which he doth receive Divine Visions in a certain proportion For if any one shall raise himself by higher Contemplation he will err He calls it Power because every Soul raised up to a Divine Simplicity and conversing immediately with Divine Visions themselves useth those kind of Sights freely and according to this Power condescending to the Capacity of his Auditors c. He calls it Speculation because the Soul doth not measure Divine Visions by the Will but by the Intellective Faculty and Measure of its Purgation Psell 9. What the Sun is in Sensibles that God is in Intellectuals For as It doth illuminate the visible World He doth in like manner the Invisible Moreover as It makes those who look upon it bright so He makes them Divine and Deiform Nicetas The Presence of Spiritual Light and Divine Splendor converts the Mind of those who are judg'd worthy of such a Glory and Contemplation from many and various Opinions and Imaginations to that which truly is that is to God c. Nicetas For what the Eye is in the Body this the Mind is in the Soul As therefore to behold the Lightning when it breaks out there is need of good Eyes so also for this that we