thy life but I cannot utterly despair of thee though thou wilfully do so of thy selfe as yet for I should be then guilty of thy own folly and peevishnesse by my distrust Which is a sin I will not commit For though I see thee strangely fallen I will still trust in Gods mercy and grace to thee and doubt not but to see thee in a happy condition clear'd and purg'd of all that fatall malignancy thy carelesse soule has now contracted and behold thee perfectly reconcil'd to vertue godlinesse and the favour of God CHAP. XII The story of the Ninivites repentance the proeme to Saint Chrysostomes farther urging Theodorus to his conversion collecting thence that greatest sinners may return to God he prosecutes his perswasions alledging that many so converted have become the best and most zealous people THE Ninivites hearing that threatning and sharp crying out of the Prophet Jonah Jonah 3. 4. Yet forty daies and Nineveh shall be destroyed were not so discourag'd and dismai'd at so terrible warnings of their approaching destruction from the fierce anger of an incens'd omnipotent God but they would yet trust to his mercy Though the decreee of his vengeance was not conditionall but positive Niniveh shall be destroy'd without admittance of any clause to foment a hope in them for the words of the Prophet were not disjoynted but a plain and direct sentence of judgement yet they submit with humble penitence ver. 9. For say they who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that wee perish not ver. 10. And God saw their workes that they turned from their evill ways and God repented of the evill that he said that he would do unto them and he did it not See how those barbarous rude and mad people apprehended their imminent destruction togther understood the possibility of their deliverance having their hearts set upon his infinite mercy in his greatest wrath and rage against them Let us then that are Christians and nursed up in the knowledge of our Lords benignity who are instructed and disciplin'd in his word and know many the like examples stir up our soules to sincere repentance and not be less then them in our confidence of his goodness and mercy For he it is whose sacred spirit has told us Isa 55. 8 9. That his thoughts are not our thoughts neither are our waies his waies For as the Heavens are higher then then the Earth so are his waies higher then our waies and his thoughts then our thoughts Servants of men erre from the duty they owe their masters and commit foul faults against them yet if they grow sorrowfull and recant that disobedience they are againe received into their masters good opinion and sometimes with advantage of preferment God our gratious Lord and master whose thoughts and waies exceed those of men will deale as favourably Nay far more mercifully with us If the intent of his creating us had been to damn us then thy despaire were reasonable and just nor couldst thou do otherwise then doubt of salvation when none were prepar'd for thee But God having made thee out of his goodnesse and created thee to good ends no less then that thou mightst enjoy everlasting happinesse and to that intent his great workes continue in thee if thou willfully denie not to perceive it what should make thee thus diffident or in the least to mistrust his mercy When we have the most incens'd him then ought we most carefully to look to our selves most diligently and couragiously to resist all issuing temptations present and most bitterly lament our easie yielding to those past which so miserably overcame us so shall wee be able to give a manifest testimony of our perfect change For nothing more provokes our Lord then our obstinacie and denyall to returne into the right way For to do ill is but humane weaknesse to persevere Diabolicall malice Consider how horrid a thing it was which wee read in the Prophet that Iudah call'd back in the race of her vild whoredomes would not return to the Lord Jer. 3. 7. And I said after shee had done all these things turn thou unto me but she returned not The Lord strives with us to show how mercifully he is inclin'd to our salvation many are his promises to those who return into the right way forsaking the Meanders and by-paths of iniquity When hee saw Israels promises of repentance that they began to prepare their hearts to fear him and to keep his Commandements his promise was that it should bee well with them and their Children for ever Wherefore Moses joyns the reward with the command when hee bids them to keep the Commands of the Lord and his statutes which he commands saies he for their good Deut. 10. 13. And immediately before he commands us to fear him to walk in his waies and to love him Which is most remarkable that the God of Heaven should earnestly seek their loves who so wretchedly offend him Wherefore ought wee to love him who desires to belov'd of us who woes us and does us all things to win our affections Nay who spar'd not his onely begotten Son for us but gave him up and delivered him to the ignominious death of the Crosse that we might be reconcil'd to him And what think you so loving a Father will do for them he has purchas'd at so dear a rate Nay and what lies on our duty which is humiliation and repentance even that he presses on us if wee were not insensible of our own miseries the evill of our own miseries the evill of our own condition would invite us to As he speakes by the Prophet Isaiah 43. 26 Tell thy sinns first declare thou that thou maist be justified Which the Lord speakes desiring to make our affections vehement that so with freenesse and openness of heart we may deliver our selves up to his mercifull kindnesse Infinite is this love of our Lord while we anger and provoke him while we abuse his goodnesse and his patience all this ingratitude cannot extinguish his love and when hee laies open to us the injuries wee offer his divine Majesty he does it but to dilate on his love and so to tye our affections nearer to him and demands of us nothing but penitent acknowledgment If then to confesse our sinnes unto him bring with it so much comfort as the promise of justification how great will our joy be when our workes are rendred acceptable in the sight of God and all the filth and uncleannesse of them washt quite away And if this way to him were not accessible after we err'd and leudly strai'd from the paths of righteousnesse how few of many soules now glorified in Heaven had ever seen their salvation It is worthy all mens observation seriously to consider the returne of many desperate sinners who after the reconcilement of their enormous soules to grace have strangely excell'd in piety and outshin'd those who were in
very Wildernesse wild and desolate stript and naked rob'd and spoil'd of all thy riches and sumptuous Ornaments which were once so miraculously and divinely eminent in thy pious life that they were above humane faith these I say are ravish'd from thee and more to augment our sorrow wee see thee ruinated like a desert full of dangers which no body undertakes to keep Thou hast no Vertue left to bar the doors against assaulting temptations but lyest open to every corruption and wicked determination of thy fancy Whether it be pride or lust or drunkennesse or avarice what sin soever the Devill commands to storme thee there is nothing that defends the breach nothing that guards thy unman'd soule Yet once how much of heaven hadst thou in thee whilst like it the purity of thy thoughts was inaccessible to all manner of ill Mee thinks I speak wonders not to be believ'd by those who see thee in this thy forlorne and desperate condition which makes me pray lament and mourn continually that I may see thee return again to thy former integrity and piety which may perhaps seem to humane apprehension impossible but all things are easie in the hands of God For he it is that lifteth the beggar from the dust and exalteth the needy from the Dunghill that he may sit with Princes even with the Princes of his people Hee it is that maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful Mother of Children Ps. 113. On this infinite and unsearchable love of our God to us build thou thy hopes and thou wilt find an impossibility a strange incapacity within thy self to despair at any time grace still working in thee to change thy heart into better and better desires For if the Devill had the power to pluck thee from so eminent a top and glory of Vertue into this Abysse of wickednesse Much more easily can our Omnipotent God raise thee up again restore thee to thy former liberty and honor and and not onely set thee free from this base captivity but make thy happinesse greater then ever yet it was Onely I beseech thee resolutely to break all snares that shall be lay'd in the way of thy return Let not thy hopes which are so full of certainty be cut off by any destructive fear or timorous perswasion lest those punishments light on thee which are due onely to the desperately wicked For neither the number nor the greatnesse of our sins does absolutely condemn us to a condition irrecoverable But resolv'd settlednesse and an intollerable composednesse in impious waies are the sure manifest signes of a soul so fall'n that it shall never rise again Wherefore Solomon does not speak generally of every man who transgresseth Pro. 18. but names that wicked man who when he comes into the depth of evill contemns his mercy It is onely a wicked purpose never to leave sin that plunges men into this dangerous Gulfe of despair and iniquity from whence they can never so much as look back and much more difficultly return For the deceiving weights of wickednesse lie like a heavy Collar on the necke of the soul and forcing our eyes upon the Earth forbids them to look up to our Lord that made them Know then it is the part of a generous and truly daring Christian spirit not to endure the Tyrants yoake valiantly to combate and destroy those officious guards his watchfull malice sits over us And with the Prophet to acknowledge our obedience there onely where it is onely due saying with him As the eyes of a Mayden unto the hand of her Mistresse so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God untill he have mercy upon us have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us for we are exceedingly fill'd with contempt Ps. 123. These are divine exhortations these are the doctrines of the most heavenly Philosophy we are fill'd with contempt we are shaken with infinite violent stormes of sad events Yet shall not this debar us from looking up to our God and imploring his assistance Nay till our Lord has granted our Petitions we must put on the confidence of importunate beggars and not let our prayers cease til our requests are granted This is the true Character of a pious daring soul not to be baffled from his hopes by the violence of ill successe not to start out of the way or goe back because as yet he has not found the expected issue of his prayers but to endure to the last till the Lord have mercy on him according to the precept and example of the Prophet David CHAP. II. The Devills endeavours and practices to undermine our hopes and raze the Foundation of our eternall happinesse The comparison betwixt a dying body and a perishing soul with an exhortation to be couragious in our conflicts with the Devill THE wily subtilty of Satan aimes at nothing more then to inveigle us in a Labyrinth of despair still feeding our naturall tottering inclinations with change and variety of doubts and once unsetled we are his certain prey for irresolution excludes us from our expectations in Heaven and relyance upon the benignity of our most mercifull God and Father it violently and too insensibly drives us from our hopes our surest Anchors By it wee lose the very essence of our lives the guide which leads us to God the Pilot which steers our forlorne and shipwrack'd soules into the Haven of Salvation For resolution and a constant hope never fail of assurance in the end by hope saies the word wee shall be sav'd that will to the last preserve us Hope is a stronge and Golden Chain let down to us from Heaven taking fast hold on it wee learn to subdue our soules most desperate rebellions Which our benign Lord finding us sure link'd to it has promis'd to raise and lift us by it above all the dangerous billowes of this present miserable life Whilst he who through idlenesse neglects to make his hold sure to this golden Anchor sinks and is certain to drown and perish in the deeps of his own wickednesse Which Satan that subtle Fox so well know's that he then makes his Hel-Harvest when he sees us laden with sin and overprest with the weight of our guiltiness this is the time hee so diligently watches for then falls he on us and presses our declinings with arguments of the immensity of our offences and deceives us with his cunning aggravations Then suggests he to our soules horror and despair in their extreames as there were no salvation left to us and the doors of mercy were lock'd against our cryes for ever And once in this dejected and base low condition how prone and precipitate is our descent into Hel forc'd still violently downwards by unresisted desperation having weakly lost our hold on hope that Golden Chain wee sink perpetually in the deepes both of sin and misery Thus is it with thee Theodorus who hast cast off thy obedience and subjection to a meek and mercifull Lord quite
rejecting his commands and art become a slave under the outragious Empire of that Tyrannous enemy to mankind who never rests day nor night from ensnaring us our selves to fight against our own hopes and expectations of Heaven Thus hast thou flung off a light and easie burthen freed thy self from a mercifull yoke to fasten thy neck in linkes of Iron And what is both base and ridiculous hast laid a Mill-stone the Asses burthen on thy owne shoulders What wilt thou think to do in the future that at present suffers thy most miserable soul to be swallow'd in this impetuous Gulfe of lusts Nay that wilfully has brough a kind of necessity on thy self which continually compels thee to fall into deeper extreams The woman in the Gospels when she had found her lost groat call'd all her neighbours together to partake of her joy with her saying Rejoyce with me because I have found the lost groat Lu. 15. 8. Thus will I call your friends and mine together but to a different end and purpose I will not bid them rejoyce with me but grieve and weep lament be truly sorrowfull and mourn with me For our losse is grievous and insupportable greater then if we had lost never so great a treasure or Magazine of Gold or Diamonds For we have lost a friend not to be valewed who sailing with us through this vast Ocean I know not by what means is fallen overboard and sunk into the bottomlesse Gulfe of perdition If any man should offer to disswade mee from my lamentations I would answer him with this passionate expression of the Prophet Isaiah Let me alone I will weep bitterly you cannot comfort me Is 22. Such is the sorrow which draws this flood of tears from my eyes Such a sorrow as doubtlessely would not shame Saint Peter or Saint Paul to own it though in such excesse as they denyed themselves all consolation or perswasion to the contrary They who deplore the naturall decreed death of the body may perhaps find coÌ„forters who by the strength of reason and argument may without much labour restore their dâ—ooping spirits to settledness tranqulity by religious precepts gently quiet and palliate their griefes But who can plead gainst his just deploring who laments the death of a soul fallen into perdition dead in sin and pierc'd with ten thousand arrows venom'd with Hells malitious poyson the beauty form and grace of most eminent Vertues and devotions lost and extinct in him These administer matter justly to provoke lawfull and lasting tears What flinty heart What rockie soul could in an agony so moving forbear lamentings or entertain an apparition of any delusion should forbid him his just sorrow At the fall of the body it is humane though not altogether rebellious to weep At the falling of a soul the extreamest lamentation is the greatest evidence of the truest piety He who had on Earth possession of Heaven in so much as hee contemn'd abhor'd and laught at the vanity of the World hee who beheld the greatest beauty but as a statue of stone or a fair picture That he who despis'd Gold as dirt pleasures and vanity as mire He it is who most unexpectedly falling into a raging feaver of burning lusts has lost his comliness and his courage is now turn'd a slave to his own bestiall appetites Shall not we then grieve for him shall we cease our lamentations till he return to himselfe again it is no more then our duty and tye of Christian charity if we have any sense of pitty or humanity in us What alas is the destruction of the body but an accomplish'd course in the order of nature yet such a losse finds dayly mourners and lamenters What ought we then to doe for his perishing soul which manifestly appears resolv'd on eternall damnation if our prayers bring him not to repentance but that he finish his course in obstinate sinning and obduratenesse of heart For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee thanks Psal. 6. How great a sin then is it against the rules and Laws of charity not to resent with the greatest pitty a soul thus everlastingly perishing Violent cries and abundance of tears cannot possibly recall the dead But frequent experience teaches us that a soule dying here in sin is not wept for in vaine For the humble requests of brotherly charity plead so effectually before the Throne of mercy that many hardned in obstinate impenitency have melted into floods of tears and have ow'd thee thanks for their contrition to the importunity of other mens prayers And by such meanes many both in our daies and the daies of our forefathers who have deserted the paths of righteousnesse and run headlong astray out of the waies of piety which is a spirituall dying at length have risen again with such heavenly alacrity their fall so hid and obscur'd by the glory of their rise that they have purchas'd the palme of recompence and crowned with the wreath of victory have triumph'd Conquerors on earth till they were summon'd to be numbred with the blessed for all eternity Yet infinite such examples prevail not with a man who wilfully continues in the flames and fires of his lusts Such a wretched perversenesse withstands his recovery and pleads an impossibility of mercy against him But if he chance to get a little way out of the fire and by degrees leave it still farther behind him the dimnesse which the flames caused will be taken from his eyes then how plainly wil he discern the way of salvation to be accessible and very plain smooth and easie having obtain'd grace for his guide And conquer'd those Troops the Devill laid in ambush for him But hee who wants the courage to undertake the combat in vain desires the conquest He may that 's willfull stay and burn in the fire nay shut the doors against himself that are open for him And whatman who is thus sotishly his own enemy can design any thing nobly and virtuously Wherfore this our common enemy makes it his onely businesse leaves nothing unattempted which may render us diffident of grace and mercy Nor needs he much labour to compasse that his end if we lie prostrate at his feet and take no counsell or resolution or order the battail against him it is an easie conquest to overcome us But he who violently breaks his fetters and betakes himself to the use of his strength with courage He I say who in so desperate a condition allows himselfe no cessation but with a continuall violence maintains the battell against him though hee have before lost the day a thousand times shall then recover his losses and gloriously triumph in his enemies overthrow When he who is dejected with despair and permits his spirits to fail and languish can never hope for conquest how can he overcome who makes no resistance at all but fearing the encounter lays down his armes and submits to his enemy CHAP.
consuming fire and a mighty tempest shall be stirred up round about him He shall call the Heavens from above and the Earth that he may judge his people The Prophet Isaiah dilates thus on this dreadfull appearance Isaiah 13. 9. Behold the day of the Lord commeth cruel both with anger and fierceness to lay the land desolate and to destroy the sinners out of it for the starrs of Heaven Orion and the constellations there shall not give their light The Sun shall be darkned in his going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine And I will punish the whole Earth for their evils and the wicked for their iniquitie and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible And those that are left shall be more precious then fine Gold such a man shall be more esteem'd then a precious stone of Ophir for the Heavens shall be shaken and the Earth shall be removed out of her place for the anger of the Lord of Sabbath in the day when his wrath shall come And in another place the same Prophet The windowes of Heaven shall be opened and the foundations of the Earth shall be shaken the Earth shall be utterly broken down the Earth shall be cleane dissolved the Earth shall be moved excedingly it shal reel to and fro like a drunkard it shal be removed like a Cottage and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it and and it shall fall and not rise again Isa. 24. 18. For their iniquities have prevail'd against them To these adde the Prophet Malachi Behold saies he the Lord Almighty cometh but who shall abide the day of his comming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like a refiners fire and like fullers sope and he shall sit as a refiner of silver and gold Mal. 3. 2. And again saith he the day of the Lord commeth consuming like a furnace and it shall burn them up Mal. 4. 1. And they who are proud and all that do wickedly shal be as stubble the day commeth saith the Lord Almighty it shall leave them neither root nor branch And to the same purpose does the vision of the Prophet Daniel alarum us with the terrors of that day I beheld saith he till the Thrones were placed and the antient of daies did sit whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like the pure wooll his Throne was a flame of fire and his wheeles burning fire A fiery streame issued out before him Thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him The judgement was set and the Bookes were opened Dan. 7. 9. And a little after thus speakes the Prophet ver. 13. I saw a vision in the night and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of Heaven and came to the antient of daies and they brought him near before him And there was given him Dominion and glory and a Kingdome that all People Nations and languages should serve him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which cannot passe away and his Kingdome a Kingdome which cannot be destroyed ver. 15. I Daniel was grieved in my spirit and the visions of my head troubled me Let us consider these menaces of holy writ and instruct our soules how in that day the glory of Heaven shall be revealed the clouds shal separate the whole firmament open parting like a curtaine before a screen and discovering to us the Majestick prospect within which will fill all things created with fear amazement and horror Then shall the Angells themselves be full of fear with the Archangells Thrones and â—owers of Heaven not for themselves but because their fellowservants are brought to judgement and to give their strict accompt of their past life in this world For if they under whose tutelage we are grieve at the judgement pronounced against one sole City under their charge what will be the generall affrights and horrors when the Son comes against the whole world for though themselves they know exempt from the danger they will have a sence of them brought before a Judge whose alseeing eye needs no proof of witnesse or accusation Who will force the guilty to accuse themselves and lay their own offences open when every delinquent to Heavens justice shall produce his owne deeds his words and thoughts to condemn himself Will not this mighty and just severity of our Lord astonish the very powers of Heaven themselves If it had not in it the horror of an inundation of a river of fire and those terrible affrighting Angells ministers of his justice which assist the fury and rage of his revenge How would it move men to see the workmanship of the same creation call'd some to be highly preferr'd and honour'd Nay had in great admiration while others are blinded with disgrace lest they should see the glory of God Can you imagine a more tormenting Hel then this When the thought of that Heaven we have lâ—st will more sensibly cruciate our soules from the torments of that Hell wee suffer in The infinite losse our wilfully erring and self-abusing soules bring to themselves in the forfeiting those excellent great blessings ordain'd them are impossible to be apprehended by thought or in words comprehended Sad will be the experience of it to the impenitent Wherefore I beseech thee set before thy eyes the different ends of piety and impiety Behold the impious overwhelm'd with horrors and unspeakable punishments and even then when the truly pious children of God shall be cloath'd with immortality and eternall glories When the damn'd shall be deliver'd to cruell tormenting furies the blessed shall be adorn'd with crownes accompanied with Angells singing and rejoycing before the Kings Throne thus shal it be with them who on Earth have done good and justice and are found worthy of eternall life CHAP. X. The joyes of Heaven prosecuted give occasion to discourse of the felicities and blessings God has promis'd our soules the excellencies Wherewith they are enricht with and the vile contempt wee have of them preferring our bodies their slaves before them THE joyes of Heaven are beyond our dull perceptions while wee are loaden with earth in vain it were to undertake labour of their description Ineffable are those pleasures and delights the great profits unvaluable which will then bee ours in eternall possession when we are received into the number of the Saints glorified for ever When the immortall soule shall be invested with her own glory and eas'd of all her yoakes in happy freedome enjoy the pleasure to behold her Lord It cannot it cannot I say be exprest how great the extasies of her joyes must bee when she shall not onely be ravish't with contentments of her glorious condition for the present but rest likewise secur'd of their eternity that without lessning or decay but rather with encrease they shall endure for ever Nor is this
for them a better City or a more glorious Temple then the old Haggai 2. 9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater then the former saith the Lord of hosts in this wil I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts See thus often defil'd with her abhominations the Lord will not exclude this City from repentance nor shut the doors of his â—lemency against her No he will not nor will he forsake thee for ever though thy desperate condition by the suggestions of the Divell would perswade thee to it but with infinite desire and affection receive thee into mercy if thou returnest to him and he will lovingly embrace thy soule again though thus sunk in the deeps of wickednesse For no man no man I say though passionate even to madness can so truly affect the greatest beauty of the world as our Lord does the soul of man And if we look narrowly into the daily expressions of his love to every particular soul this truth will shew it self as clear to us as the light of the day And the Scriptures abound in testimonialls of this his infinite love to us Observe in Jeremiah and throughout the Prophets how the Lord has been wearied nay contemn'd and despised by his yet has restor'd the desertors and plac'd them again in his high favours this witnesse he bears of himself in the Gospell when he saies Mat. 23. 37. O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and you would not And Saint Paul 2 Cor. 5. 19. God saith he was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation Now when we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us wee pray you in Christs stead be reconciled to God O let us lay these invitations to our hearts and the minute wee read them believe the holy Ghost calling us Nor let us think it enough that wee believe aright for alas infidelity is not the onely bane of the soul to believe well availes us nothing if we live ill if wee purifie not our soules from uncleannesse and bid a farwell to that lewdnesse of life which so incenses the mighty anger of the Lord against us Because that the fleshly mind is enmity against God for it is not obedient to the Law of God neither can be Rom. 8. 7. The concupiscence of the flesh stands like a separating wall betwixt our soules and mercy which wee must utterly raze and destroy or never hope to have a free passage to that happy reconciliation which will crown our soules with triumph and honor and make them lovely and acceptable to God himself Thou art now bewitcht with thy Hermion's face and thinkst nothing in the world comparable to such an excesse of beauty believ'st the Earth bears nothing like it thy selfe if thou pleasest maist be far more lovely then she nay excell her more then starres of Gold and inestimable workmanship doe images of clay and dirt If men are naturally amaz'd and ravisht with the sight of some extraordinary beauties how will they be extrasied with the splendour of a soule in glory For indeed the substance of the greatest beauties though in a greater excellence of composure is the same with the meanest and most contemptible things of nature And are nourisht by the same meanes and subject to the same decay if not preserv'd by most common contemptible and inferiour supplies What is the inside of her killing glittering eyes What lies under that sweet and lovely outside of thy Hermion's surpassing graces or her purpled cheeks If thou art once redeemed from thy dotage thou wilt confesse the greatest beauty but a Sepulcher fairly whited and painted over every thing within it being decreed to the certainty of ruine and dissolution for there is nothing soe lovely that turnes not into loathsome putrifaction But what was that former grace and beauty whilst thou wert in thy integrity in which thou didst so infinitely excell that was of another composition above al the glorious things of this world as much as the Heavens exceed the Earth in splendour nay far more glorious then the Heavens themselves for though the soul be undiscernable and wee are altogether strangers to her excellencies wee may behold her in the elevated expressions of those whose pious zeales have left their attempted descriptions to inflame us with the favour they had to possesse their thoughts with so amiable desires as the contemplation of future glory which they have severall waies aim'd to know especially by soaring high as they were able into the natures of Angelical and heavenly substances CHAP. XI Saint Chrysostome continues 〈◊〉 the glorious nature of the soul and from that excellence prosecutes his perswasives to Theodorus still striving to overcome the rebellions of his lusts with exhortation and pressing arguments HEar him whose desires would have showne the excellent substance of an happy soul but finding it unequall to all comparison he betakes himselfe first to illustrate it by an assimulation to the nature of metals whose gross being was too heavy in the purest of their extractions to give him a sufficient hint and light of it thence he rayses his contemplations and attempts his comparison with the brightness of lightning and next of Angelicall bodies whose glorified essence he finds of a nature so abstracted from our knowledge that he cannot expresse the curiosity and subtilety of their essences so transplendent are they And such shall the blessed be in their glory Mat. 22. They shall be as the Angells in Heaven saies our Saviour to the Sadduces In fine all examples deriv'd from materiall things can never expresse the beauty of a soule Heaven excells all the glories of the Earth fire surpasses water the starres in lustre excell the most pretious stones wee may admire the rainbow in Heaven the violets and lillies withall the pride and variety of the fields which are all nothing in a manner if compar'd with the glories of the soule and those ineffable honors she shall be clothed withall in the day of her blisse Let us not forfeit so much happinesse which a lively faith and constant hope can secure us Nay for this wee must wade through all the inconveniencies of this miserable world 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory And as blessed Saint Paul teacheth us It is really easie to beare the greatest afflictions looking to the reward of our sufferings So is it equally easie to overcome the petulant passions of our lusts and the same reward is appointed for both the conquests For when I would draw thee from thy dissolute courses I invite thee not to dangers nor the horrors of eminent death nor to perpetuall plagues
and scourges to no afflictions abroad nor strife at hope no prisons or Irons no hazard of shipwrack no violence of theeves or thy own familiarsnares no hunger cold nor nakednesse neither to scorching fire And alas wilt thou dread my exhortations I impose no bitter task on thee but on the contrary earnestly desire thee to set thy self free from a most tyrannicall captivity And when thou art ransom'd from this bondage of thy sinns to the happy liberty thou didst once enjoy thy eyes opened to behold what true bliss is Thou wilt confesse the merited paines of a dissolute life the unquiet and tormenting afflictions of a mind given over to carnall lusts and what the happinesse and content of such a godly life is as thou didst formerly leade It were no greater wonder that an Athiest who believ'd no resurrection from the dead should lie lull'd in his lethargick bestialitie without any sence of his condition But that believers that Christians who look after expect and foresee what is decreed both to the good and bad for them to live thus miserably unconcern'd in their own calamities nothing at all awakened with the remembrance of their future hopes or fears is most heavy dul and sencelesse stupidity When with their lipps men shall professe themselves believers but look into their waies they are by many degrees worse then infidells and commit greater abhomination then they For amongst the very heathens themselves there cannot be greater monsters in sinns then are some Christians Nay what is more which should severely advise us to amend amongst them there are often eminent examples of lives led morally so well that they are fit to be look'd upon for our instruction with what shame then shall we cover our faces when the actions of heathens and aliens to God may be precepts Merchants who have suffer'd great damages and losses fall not from their hopes but try the Seas again though there be the same danger of stormes and shipwrack which they know their greatest skill and care cannot sometimes avoid And shall we base unworthy cowards that suffer by sin and wickedness not dare the recovery of our lost soules nor attempt our future preservation though wee fall into dangerous lapses being wee know we are forbid to despair in the greatest extremities When indeed no evill has power over us unlesse we willingly our selves consent unto it And why remain we then so insensibly stupid why use we not our hands in this combat but lie as if they were tyed behind us or what is worse if they are employ'd it is against us our selves what madnesse is this that men entring the lists to fight their adversaries turne all their blowes upon themselves The Divell lies in ambush for us diligently observing the advantages hee has over humane weaknesse to make us destroy our selves Wee must have courage then with undaunted spirits to meet the cunning assaltant on every attempt against us or with our own negligence and carelesse fears he ruins us for ever As thou art fallen Theodorus so likewise fell blessed David he to adultery added the heynous murther of innocent Uriah But what follow'd did he lie under the burthen of his iniquities did not he attempt to rise again but overcome by Satan lay prostrate to his fury No! he couragiously resumes his arms against his enemy and fought him with so prevailing courage that his children after him were the trophies of his victory and receiv'd the benefits of his conquest For when Solomon his Sonn's heart was turn'd after other Gods by means of his wives 1 Kings 11. When he went after Ashtoreth the Goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon c. When he had with all his abhominations provok'd the Lord it is recorded in holy writ that for Davids sake God rent not his Kingdome from him ver. 11. I will surely rend thy Kingdome from thee and will give it to thy servant Notwithstanding in thy daies I will not do it for David thy fathers sake but I will rend it out of the hands of thy Son Howbeit I will not rend away all thy Kingdome but will give one tribe to thy Son for David my servants sake So likewise in the daies of Hezekias though he himself were a just man does the Lord alledge the same cause of his mercy to Jerusalem 2 Kings 19. 34. I will defend this City to save it for mine own sake and for David my servants sake Thus did the Lord continue the remembrance of Davids hearty penitence to shew us how effectually true repentance finds accesse to the tribunall of Heaven This servant of the Loreds disputed not against his redemption had he had the desperate opinion thou seemest to be of now that hee could not be reconcil'd to God He would have said perhaps God has done me mighty honors he has chosen me into the number of his Prophets has given me Empire and Dominion over my brethren and deliver'd me out of mighty dangers and how can I hope for his mercy whom after so manifold blessings I have thus infinitely offended Had the Prophet permitted such desperate conceptions to overcome him he had not onely excluded himselfe from Gods favour in that his sad condition at the present but had blotted out the remembrance of all his former life As the wounds of the body neglected grow altogether incurable so those of the soul if we seek not for their remedie lapse us into eternall perdition yet such is our folly that in the least distempers of our bodies we refuse no paines no troubles but submit to any tortures art can prescribe for our recovery but obstinately werefuse the medicins of our sick souls nay though wee are so ill that we are beyond all cure with what a longing desire we are attentive to what the Physician speakes in the last extreames willing to hear of comfort But in the disease of our soules wee despair and languish before we see reason for it since the most dangerous wounds there are not incurable And where the nature of the sicknesse is really desperate wee continue our hopes but miserably despaire where there is no need And where we are absolutely forbid it we are willfully diffident putting on the vanity of a confidence when 't is ridiculous and beyond all hopes but such is our naturall fond inclination to our bodies that wee look on their decayes with horror and affrightment and in the hazards of our pretious soules are sottishly insensible Me thinks in such a state those words of Christ may awake our heavy dull spirits Mat. 10. 28. Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill soul but rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell If these be not prevalent with thee to perswade thee as yet to return to thy integrity I shall labour in anguish and affliction of soul for thy deferring so long so acceptable and necessary a task as thy reforming
to receive the fruit there of Who ever propounded to himself if hee were wise to labour in vain and get no reward for his paines Can he likewise who sows hypocriticall tears prayers and confession of his transgressions without a lively hope and confidence in Gods mercies ever think to refrain from his sinns no! he must needs still remain under the curse of desperation For as a husbandman who once despaires of his croppe neglects to prevent the destruction of his Corn So hee who sows a seeming repentance though with tears in his deluding eyes yet expecting no profit by it will not at all take care to banish those malignant inclinations from his soul which utterly destroy his reconciliation to God Alas what is it to repent if we persevere in our wickedness Eccl. 34. For when one buildeth saith the Scripture and another pulleth down what profit have they but labour Hee that washeth himself after touching a dead body if he touch it again what availeth it him So is it with a man that praies and fasts for his sinns and goeth againe and doth the same who will hear his prayer or what doth his humbling profit him No! who ever diverts from righteousness to sin the Lord will prepare for him a sword Proverbs 26. 11. And as a dogge returning to his vomit becomes odious so does a fool who by his own wilfulnesse renewes his sinns CHAP. XIV The summe and conclusion of this treatise IT is not sufficient for a perishing soule barely to accuse it self of sin but the substance as well as the forme must concurre for the efficacie of repentance to justification Our contrition must beare a manifest accompt of our shame and detestation of sin with a solid resolution against all relapses Hypocrisy is a maske so easily put on that it is ordinary and common throughout the whole world seemingly to condemn our selves of our evill waies infidells do it with much appearing detestation of their iniquities Many men and women in the very scene while they are acting their wickednesse will acknowledge their basenesse when they consider the following shame though they determine not to seeke after gathering the fruit of true repentance or diving home to the perfections and ends of confession which are amendment and resolution Vain and of no effect are those acknowledgements which proceed neither from compunction of soul nor are accompanied with tears truely bitter and heart-breaking contrition which are the onely evidences of a resolv'd change And yet there is something like this in the world which is not it there are some demure Devills which speak like Saints making their hearers believe by their grace and elegant setting forth themselves they are what they never intend to be While they seek onely the reputation and honor to be accounted good Which is the most easie delusion possible for who can judge of that which is presented to him in contrary colours for the crime would not be the same if another man knew the truth of it and how to tell it as when the offender delivers it for such as he would have it believ'd There are another sort of dull sinners who are so sencelesse grown with their despair and closed with the deadnesse of their condition that they respect neither good opinion nor bad and will tell stories of their own shame with as much venome as their detractors would believing their glory the greater the more wicked they make themselves God forbid I should live to see thee like any of these either a demure Hypocrite dissembling the righteous man whilst thou art rotten within or so vile a wretch as would not be content to sin unlesse he had the pleasure to boast of it What thou art chiefly exhorted to by my counsell my belov'd Theodorus is to pluck up by the rootes from the very bottome of thy heart all diffidence in Gods mercy and all despair Now let us inquire what is the root and mother of despair It is a stupid faintnesse of mans heart a deprivation of courage in our spirits which may most properly be call'd not onely the root or mother of desperation but the nurse of it As putrifaction in a dead carkasse breeds wormes and those wormes encrease in that putrifaction so mutually does his faintnesse of heart combine with that despair it self bred and is the nursing cause of its encrease So doe they alternately administer nutriment to all the incurable plagues of our soule It must then be thy part to overcome this dull stupidity atd faintnesse in thee and thou wilt find that having resum'd a Christian courage and resolv'd confidence in God Thy despair will quickly vanish For he that faints not cannot despair and he that abjures not his hopes of salvation cannot faint or cowardly submit to his own eternall destruction Thy resolution must part with these associates benumm'd faintnesse and dangerous despair For where these keep possession the soul loses her uniformity and gracefull essence becomes every thing turnes into every monstrous shape that varietie of sins can put upon her And who is hee we may truly judge to be in this sad condition ' It is thus answered it sometimes happens that a man may repent and seem to correct some of his known and grossest enormities and in the meane time sinns again goes on still insensibly encreasing the weight and burthen of his former transgressions whose guilt is never perfectly taken away till absolutely amended and this in time proves the greatest cause of desperation This is truly to builde with the one and pluck down with the other hand and on this he must alwaies think seriously who by entire reformation intends his souls good For if we look not to the scales all our good deeds our prayers and our tearâ—s will prove too light if such a continuall weight of sinne through our negligence be crept into the contrary ballance and from hence will follow our eternall damnation But let us still be exercis'd in good deeds and the conscience of discharging our duties according to our power will be a coat of male upon us and bear off all the darts and arrowes of Hell's malice that they shall not be able to harme us For such is the favour of God to good deeds that they who have done some good on earth and yet escape not the severity of condemnation shall have their pains mitigated and find some consolation even in the cruelty of torments But he who never did any good deed and can give no other accompt but of a wild reckoning of a life still continued and ended in sin what tongue can expresse the extremity of torments that forlorne soule is condemn'd to There will be at last a tryall of good and bad deeds if the former weigh down the scales but a little they will very much secure the owner nor will he suffer punishments equall to the ills hee has committed But the weight of sin without any counterpoise of vertue sinkes us into
the deepest abysse of Hell Nor does this discourse alone aver this For the records of holy writ most amply testifie the same The Evangelist Saint Matthew shewes it Matth. 16. 27. He shall render saith he every man according to his workes Nor in Hell onely but in Heaven also shall there be difference of reward John 14. 2. In my Fathers house are many mansions saies our blessed Saviour And again 1 Cor. 15. 41. There is one glory of the Sun another of the the Moon another of the Starrs for one Star differeth from another Star in glory so likewise in the Resurrection of the dead Let him who considers this value the expence of his labour and be continually employ'd in good deeds If we attain not the glory of the Sun or the Moon wee get to be little starrs if we discharge the duty of good Christians so far as to get there at all If we shine not in glory like Diamonds or like Gold wee may like Silver But we must be carefull we are not found of materialls fitter for the fire then a place in his Heavenly mansions And if wee are not able to discharge the highest actions of perfection let us not neglect the due observance of lesser things which we may perform For it is most desperate madnesse to do no good at all because we are not in the state of the most excelling perfection For as worldlings grow rich by saving every little trifle encreasing their store so are spirituall riches attain'd by a circumspect laying hold on every occasion wherein we may serve our Lord It is wonderfull and something strange to humane sence that God has appointed so great a reward as the Kingdome of Heaven to him that shall but give a cup of cold water in his name yet are men so foolish that unlesse they can atchieve the greatest they neglect lesser matters which are likewise very profitable He that neglects not his duty in things but small in their appearance will learn to be able to performe greater But he that is negligent in a little will be a weak discharger of greater duties And to prevent this humane inclination Christ has left us great proposalls of certain reward for things to be compast with very little trouble What is more easie then to pay the labourer his hire which is but a part of thy own gain and yet large are the promises of our Lord for that See then the way to lay hold on Everlasting salvation enter into it delight in our Lord pray incessantly unto him again submit thy self to his easie yoak take on thy shoulders the light burthen thou bearst in a more happy condition and let the end of it prove worthy the beginning of thy life Do not O do not despise such infinite riches which freely flow unto thee And they are all for ever lost to thee if thou perseverest to exasperate our Lord with those ill courses thou art in For if thou yet stopst the channells and hinder'st this deluge in time before it has made too great a breach thou maist repaire thy losses to thy great advantage When thou hast considered and meditated seriously on this as thou oughtest fling away the filth and mud which hangs upon thy soule rise from out of the mire wherein thou hast wallowed And see how formidable thou wilt be to thy adversarie who believ'd he had cast thee down never to rise again it will amaze him to see thee again provoke him to the battaile surpriz'd with thy recovery and astonisht at such an undaunted resolution how fearfull will the coward the Devill be to attempt again the ensnaring thee If other mens calamities be proper lessons for us shall not all our owne instruct us I believe that I shall see this shortly in thee and that thou wilt appear in the sight of Heaven a person restor'd to grace a more excellent and clearer soul then ever thou were one that shall give testimonies of such perfection and integrity that thou maist be ranckt amongst the best men if not preferr'd before them Onely despair not fall not againe This is my counsell do thou as my custome is When ever I hear any thing from others may profit me I make no delay to embrace and follow it and if thou receivest with a good purpose these my admonitions thy sick and languishing soule will need no other Physick FINIS Erata Page 1. l. 5. for this r. the l 7. of dissolute r. of a dissolute p. 3. l. 4. of sin r. of any sin l. 13. for for prepared r. so prepared l. 20. for committing every thing that was dedicated r. committing every thing to the flames that was dedicated p. 6. l. 7. for intollerable r. in alterable p. 9. l. 5. r. linkd to p. 12. l. 16. for rebellious r. religious p. 14. l. 15. for wretched r. wretches p. 23. l. 1. leave out and promised p. 24. l. 6. r. like a loving father p. 26. l. last for peruses r. persues p. 31. l 11. for confidences r. consciences p. 44. l. 28. r. delights for lights p. 46. l. 17. for again r. gone again p. 60. l. 7. r. there appeared not p. 62. l. 22. for receive r. conceive p. 67. l. 11. for screen scaene p. 70. l. 4. for undertake labour r. undertake the labour p. 72. l. 5. for choosed r. crost p. 79. l. 12. for Hermions r. Hermiones p. 79. l. 17. for starrs r. statues p. 80. l. 7. for Hermion's r. Hermione's p. 84. l. 6. for hope r. home ibid. l. 23. for greater r. great p. 87. l. 3. for were r. wore p. 103. l. 13. Chap. is intitled the 5. ibid l. 3. I knew a young Phoenix r. I knew a young man Phoenix p. 104. l. 3. for religions r. religious Reader this multitude of faults in so small a treatise I can attribute to nothing but my own ill hand which deceived the printer which I entreat thee to correct The Contents of every Chapter CHAP. I. SAint Chrysostome passionately describes the great esteem and value we ought to have of our own soules and on that basis he raises the fabrick of this treatise to perswade Theodorus plung'd into extream sinns and bewitch't with the vanity of a dissolute life to return to vertue and piety in which he had once been an eminant example CHAP. II. The Devil endeavours and practices to undermine our hopes and raze the foundation of our eternall happiness The comparison betwixt a dying body and a perishing soul with an exhortation to be couragious in our conflicts with the Devill CHAP. III. Gods mercie to the greatest sinners an argument against despair CHAP. IV. The example of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon a cohaerence to the preceding Chapter CHAP. V. That sincere repentance is alwaies acceptable to God declar'd out of Holy writ by example precept and parable CHAP. VI That we ought carefully to cleanse our soules from the filth of sin which must by no meanes be slighted or neglected since in this word we cannot presume on to morrow every thing is so subject to mutability And then the pleasures of the Earth being so short and so quickly vanishing we ought to fix our thoughts upon that eternity in which we shall be crown'd with glory or plagued in torments CHAP. VII Hell fire expos'd to the terror of the impenitent with the torments and the certainty thereof CHAP. VIII Of the beatitude of the Saints glorified in Heaven pressing Theodorus farther to amendment by arguing that Heaven is rather to be sought after then Hell to be fear'd the glory of the one being a more moving object then the terriblenesse of the other CHAP. IX Of the day of judgement CHAP. X. The joyes of Heaven prosecuted give occasion to discourse of the felicities and blessings God has promis'd our soules the excellencies wherewith they are enricht and vile contempt we have of them preferring our bodies their slaves before them CHAP. XI Saint Chrysostome continues here the glorious nature of the Soule and from that excellence prosecutes his perswasions to Theodorus still striving to overcome the rebellions of his lusts with exhortations and pressing arguments CHAP. XII The story of the Ninivites repenpentance the proeme to St. Chrysostomes farther urging Theodorus to his conversion collecting thence that the greatest sinners may return to God he prosecutes his perswasives alledging that many so converted have become the best and most zealous people CHAP. XIII Sant Chrysostome relates a story of Phoenix a young Gentleman of his time another of an Hermit another of a Disciple of Johns the Son Zebedeus and of Onesimus out of Saint Paul with which he continues his perswasives to fallen Theodorus CHAP. XIV The sum and conclusion of this treatise FINIS No comparison betwixt the death of the body and the soul St. Chrysostom's application to Theodorus The Hermet The schooler of John In Eusebius Eccles. Hist. lib. 5. c. 2.