Liquor which by long labour and many Operations you have fetcht out of a number of excellent Herbs or Spices or other rare Ingredients For though you must not have recourse to them every day yet there may be a season you see when they will do you so high a pleasure that you may owe your life or your chearfulness to them They may stand you at least in so much stead as to preserve you from utter distast of your self and despair of Gods favour when you are apt to droop nay sink under the weight of your Body or any other load that lies very heavy upon you Chear up your Soul then with some of its own sublimer thoughts and turning your self to the Father of Mercies say A PRAYER O My God What pledges of thy Love are these which I have received already from Thee How precious are thy thoughts towards me and how dear and precious have they been in mine eyes O how great is the summe of them I see I see how gracious thou art I am not without many tokens of thy readiness to help me and of thy kind intentions to promote me by patient continuance in my duty to everlasting happiness O how sweet is the remembrance of that time when thou wast pleased to visit me and inspire my heart with devout affections to thee How joyful hast thou made me with the light of thy countenance which is better than life it self Accept of such thanks as I am now able to offer thee for thy abundant goodness to me Blessed be thy goodness that I have not lived all my days as a stranger to thee that my Soul hath not always grovelled on the earth but been lifted up sometime unto Heaven Blessed be thy goodness that it hath not lay'n continually as a barren Wilderness but been fruitful in some good thoughts and pious affections and zealous resolutions and worthy designs to do thee honour and service in the World O that this remembrance of thy past loving-kindness and of the powerful operations of thy holy Spirit in my heart may at this time mightily move and excite me to the like devout expressions of my love to thee O that I may feel it renewing my strength or reviving my Spirit at least to a comfortable hope in thee that thou wilt never utterly forsake me There is all reason I confess most thankfully that I should confide in thee and wait upon thee still with a stedfast faith for fresh influences from Heaven to make me howsoever persevere with a constant mind notwithstanding all the discouragements I conflict withall in a careful and exact observance of all thy commands This I know is the best proof of my love to thee And therefore help me as to pray always so to exercise my self in works of mercy to do justly to be clothed with humility to preserve my body and soul in purity and to discharge all the duties of my place and relations with an upright heart willing mind And when thou graciously vouchsafest to enlarge my Spirit in abundance of delightful thoughts of thee and to raise me to the highest pitch of love to thee O that it may not only please me but make me better Lift me up thereby above all the temptations of this World and quicken me to be the more fruitful in all good works and to excell in vertue to increase especially and abound so much in love towards my Brethren and towards all Men that my Heart may be established unblameable in Holiness before Thee my God and Father 1 Thess 3.12 at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints Amen VIII AND here I cannot but commend to you frequent Meditation and serious consideration which you might expect to have heard of before as of singular use for the continuance either of your diligence or of those delectable affections in it For the Soul is a thing so entire in it self that if one part be strongly moved the other will be so too just as when the Nave of a Wheel turns round it makes the outermost circumference to circle about with it Much is said by many on this subject and therefore I shall only direct you how to Meditate when you are dull and unfit as you imagine for any thoughts When we discourse you know with a Servant and desire to affect him with what we say if he be stupid and heavy and seems not at all to be concerned in our words then we are wont to make use of interrogations beseechings objurgations exclamations corrections of our selves admirations and such like ways to rouse his apprehension For we find that if an object touches any of our senses gently and softly we mind it not while we are intent upon other matters but if it strikes us with some smartness and comes with a vehemency and importunity it alarmes the whole Soul and makes it not only hear but demand what 's the matter And thus it is in our discourses if they barely present themselves before Mens Souls that are otherwise ingaged they regard them not unless by some such form of speech as I have mentioned they put on some sharpness and be armed with some Authority If we speak for example to one that hath committed a fault in such terms as these Indeed you are very much to blame You ought not to have done thus it is contrary both to God and to your self the World will cry shame of you no body will endure you c. He stands perhaps as if he were marble and had been composed of insensible materials But if we say what did you mean when you did such or such an action Whither were your wits and your conscience gone Could you do thus and not tremble at Gods displeasure Nay answer me do you think that God is an Idol who regards you not and cannot strike Oh that any Man should be so sottish that he should be such an ill Friend to himself Ill Friend did I say such a desperate Enemy I meant such a fury such a Devil to his own Soul c. This kind of language it is likely may make him seem a Man one that is made of flesh and not of stone In such like manner then may you learn to Meditate alone by discoursing with your own Soul after the way of expostulation chiding reprehension and such like wherein there is great variety and therefore great easiness and no less pleasure It was a more awakening expression for David to say Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me XLII Psal 5 than if he had only said I do not do well to be dejected on this fashion it is to no purpose to afflict and trouble my self far better and more seemly were it for me to rest contented And the repetition of this again V. 11. and XLIII 5 gives it a greater force and adds a sharper edge to it than if it had been but a single question And
enjoyments of this life which make more strong impressions on our body than the other on our Spirit The glass through which we look upon this lower world makes every thing we desire appear exceeding great nay multiplies and increases it to vast dimensions but when we cast our eyes upward towards our heavenly countrey alas things appear there as if we had turn'd about the perspective so little so remote so like nothing that we can scarce discern them or retain any remembrance of them We have a kind of opinion and half perswasion concerning these inward and intellectual objects but we have a sense and full apprehension of our outward enjoyments Now though opinion may govern us and we may follow it while there are no considerable impediments to oppose it yet when any difficulty arises or something crosses our way to which we stand very much affected it will soon submit it self and leave us to our new inclinations because it is but an opinion We must confirm our souls therefore in a full belief of those spiritual things which thus differs from a bare opinion of them The one is grounded only upon probable reasons or on good reason but half considered and feebly assented unto the other upon clear and manifest evidences well digested and fully entertained So that the one leaves us weak and wavering because it leaves us half in and half out of the arms of Truth but the other makes us firm constant and unmoveable because it puts us compleatly and intirely into its embraces All those times then which are so favourable as to let your mind be free and unclog'd spend some of your retired thoughts in the company of immaterial beings and approach so near them that you even feel and handle them and remain perswaded they are no less real than those which you see and hear and touch with your outward man By which means they will infinitely more engage your affections and tie your heart unto them than any thing else can do because of the vast disproportion which every one acknowledges supposing their existence between them and all that you love in this sensible world 1. Think first of all that your Body is but the clothes and garments of your Soul and that this indeed is the man And undress your self in your own thoughts strip your self of these robes and conceive that you are only a naked Spirit This you can do and thereby you will both make your Soul think more of it self and you will likewise plainly prove it is quite distinct from your body in whose society though it live yet is not of its lineage but of another nature and original For nothing can think it self not to be since by its very thinking so it proves that it hath a being But we can quite put off all thoughts that we have this body hanging about us and the Soul can think it self to be what now it is though it look not through these eyes nor speak with this tongue nor write with these hands nor have any other thing about it but its own thoughts And therefore it is not such a thing as this Body but some better and more noble substance It is that which tells you that you have a Body If you believe it you have reason to believe withal that it self is some other being of more force and longer continuance because you can now think you have castoff your body and conceive it lying in the dust your soul still remaining as it is full of these and other such like thoughts but you can never think you have no soul because even by that conception you prove that you have and shew your self to be a thoughtful thing 2. When you have thus therefore discoursed your self into some feeling of your Soul think in the next place very seriously that whatsoever you clearly apprehend by this though it be perceived by none of your outward senses yet is no less real and certain than what you use with them Disbelieve your eyes and think that your ears bring you a false report rather than doubt of any thing which your mind doth plainly and distinctly perceive Though you cannot but yield an assent to the relation which any of your senses make you yet since the mind is the more excellent Principle and it hath a most certain existence give the greatest credit to what it affirms when none of them can afford you any evidence 3. And then you will presently find that your mind asserts nothing so strongly as the being of a God without whom it could not be Perswade your self therefore as confidently of him as you do of that which your eyes behold Though your eyes see him not as they do the Sun yet say to your self my Soul doth which gives as sound an evidence on his behalf as my eyes do for the Sun That great Light and all the rest of those Globes of Fire which I see in the Skies declare him as clearly to my mind as they do themselves to my outward Sense I cannot think of them nor of my self nor of any thing else in this great World but a Divine Being presents it self before me by whose incomparable wisdom and Almighty goodness they were at once produced and set in this beautiful and useful order in which I behold them Exhort your self therefore to look about you as often for this end as you are apt to do for other little purposes that you may see God in this goodly Temple which he hath built himself for his own glory Set your Soul in that Divine Presence which fills all things Open your eares listen to the wide World and hear as Gregory Nazianzen excellently speaks that great and admirable Preacher of his Majesty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 43. Is it possible as Athanasius well reasons to come into a great City consisting of a Multitude of Inhabitants of different sorts great and small rich an◠poor old and young Men Wome◠and Children Slaves Souldiers an◠Tradesmen and to see all things ordered so handsomely that every on◠of these though opposite in their inclinations agree and conspire together for the common good the Rich not grieving the Poor nor the strong oppressing the weak nor the young rising up against the aged Can one possibly I say behold all this and not conclude that there is a wise and powerful Governour there though we see him not by whose Authority they enjoy this happy concord Why then should we not draw the same Conclusion from the sight of this great World composed of divers contrary Beings moving several ways and to distant ends but making as good harmony alltogether as the various strings of a Lute whose sweet Musick coming to our eares proves there is some excellent Artist Orat. contra Gentes though hid from our eyes by whom they are tuned and touched Confusion is a sign of anarchy but order demonstrates a Governour 4. If then there be a God
but the good are best instructed by their enjoyments Ingrateful People think of God when he takes away his blessings from them but ingenuous and thankful minds have a great regard to him when his favours are in their hands Nor do they only think it a duty but feel it a pleasure to reflect on the bounty of their great Benefactor which endeares the practise of it and makes it still both more facile and more frequent In so much that in the use of all these outward and carnal things a pious heart may soon learn to turn its thoughts and raise up its affections to a more spiritual good and nobler fruitions Do you not observe how the Holy Ghost is wont to express the joyes of the World to come by such pleasures as are most acceptable to us here What is the reason of it if it be not in compassion to the weakness of our apprehensions and to let us see that all bodily delights administer occasion for pious thoughts and holy desires after diviner enjoyments God would preserve us from sinking into a fleshly sense by our daily conversation with and use of fleshly things He shows us how we may lift up our minds even by those things which are apt to depress them and take an advantage from these inferiour comforts to climb up towards those higher satisfactions Hence it is that the happy enjoyments of the other World are compared so often to the pleasures of eating and drinking whereby our hunger and thirst is asswaged and our bodily life supported Yea to a Feast which is a more liberal entertainment of that kind and is the meaning of that phrase in the Gospel which represents Lazarus carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome placed that is in the uppermost Room at that Heavenly Feast and treated as the noblest and most beloved guest Yea to a Marriage-Feast which being a time of the greatest joy Men are wont to make the largest provision of good chear that their friends may rejoyce together with them And lastly to a Marriage-Feast made by a King a Royal entertainment such as a Monarch would make at the Wedding of his Son All which may serve to provoke good minds to look up above such things as these which are most enticing in this World and to be so far from being swallowed up in sensual pleasures as to give themselves thereby a more lively taste of that excessive joy which God will impart unto them when they shall live with him and be feasted by him in his Heavenly Kingdom The like benefit you may reap from all other things which you converse withall and though the World will attract your thoughts to it and imploy a great many of your hours yet you may draw at last something from thence which will pay you well for the time which you have spent upon it As for Example when you look about you and behold the delightful Objects wherewith you are inviron'd on every side which present themselves continually to your Eyes or your Eares or your Tast or other of your Senses you may think with your self 1. If God have provided such a multitude of pleasant things for the entertainment of this poor body in this present life What are the joys and delights which he hath prepared for my better part in the life which is to come This is the World of Bodies the other of Souls and Spirits Therefore if this little Carkase which is but as the Grass of the Field be so well accomodated if there be so many rare things in the Earth and the Sea and the Air for its refreshment and pleasure What may I not expect hereafter for my mind in those Celestial those spacious Regions which I see above O the inconceivable felicity which is provided in the Paradise of God for this more wide and capacious Spirit which beares his own Image and like himself is to live for ever 2. Again you may think with your self if there be such pleasure to be found in a Creature O what is there then in the Creator of all If the sight of the Sun the Moon the Stars and all the rest of the beauties of this World be so glorious What will it be to see my God to be filled with that wisdom which contrived and with that goodness which produced this vast this goodly and comely Fabrick If the melodies of Musick be so charming O what an ecstasie of joy will it cast me into to hear God himself say I love thee I delight in thee for ever If the love of a true Friend do so much ravish and transport my Spirit what pleasure is it that I shall feel when my Soul shall love him as much as its most enlarged Powers will enable it and know how much I am beloved by him There is a delicious Meditation in St. Austin to this effect who thus speaks to God in one of his Confessions Lib. 10. Cap. 6. I love thee O my God thou hast smitten my heart with thy Word and I have loved thee Nay the Heavens and the Earth and all things contained therein admonish me on every side that I should love thee and they cease not to say the same to all Men else so that they are inexcusable if they do not love thee But what do I love when I love thee Not the beauty of a Body not the grace and comeliness of time not the brightness of light and yet O how friendly and agreeable is that to these eys not the sweet melodies of well-composed Songs not the fragrant odors of Flowers or unguents or costly Spices not Manna not Honey not the embraces of the dearest and most lovely Person these are not the things that I love when I love my God And yet I love a certain light and a certain voice and a certain grateful odor and a certain food and a kind of embracement when I love my God the true light the melody the food the satisfaction and the embracement of my inward man Where that shines to my Soul which no place can contain where that sounds which no time can snatch away where that scents which no Wind can disperse and scatter abroad where I taste that which eating cannot diminish where I cleave to that which no fulness no satiety can force away This is that which I love when I love my God And what is this I askt the Earth and it said I am not I askt the Sea and the Deeps and all living Creatures and they answered We are not thy God look above us and enquire after him for here he is not I askt the Air and all its Inhabitants yea the Heavens the Sun Moon and Stars and they confessed We are not him whom thy Soul seeketh And I spake to all things whatsoever that stand round about the Gates of my Flesh saying Ye tell me that ye are not my God but tell me something of him And they all cried out with a loud voice He made
be performed at another time so they will not wait upon us and stay our leisure and that as they pass away so we know not when they will come again For May as the Proverb is comes not every Moneth and a fit opportunity lies not in every lock of Times head And if there should yet it is bald behind and we cannot call back that which is gone which may be better than will be presented to us again And if we find by experience that these occasions do excite our Souls then the observing and embracing them will be an excellent means to keep us from dulness because it is likely that God will favour us with more of them when he sees that we use those well which he hath given us already But yet you ought to be cautious that this do not prove matter of scruple and perplexity to you if you neglect an occasion when you are otherwise necessarily employed For both prudence and the forwardness of our affections and every thing else must give way to a real necessity and of two necessary things that seems to be most necessary in which we are already engaged Make therefore a short Address to God and both comfort and quicken your self after this manner when you are dull and indisposed or otherwise apt to be perplexed upon such accounts as these A PRAYER O My God whose Name is most excellent in all the Earth and ought to be celebrated with the highest and continual Praises of Men and Angels How happy are they whose minds are ever delighted in the thoughts of Thee and whose hearts constantly burn with ardent affection and devotion to Thee It is some satisfaction to think of that vehement love wherewith the Holy Spirits above perpetually acknowledg thy bounty to them to us and to all thy Creatures and to feel my self desirous if it were possible to accompany them at all times with the like affections of a most chearful and joyful heart in that Heavenly employment Accept I most humbly beseech thy Divine Goodness of these sincere desires that thou hast wrought in me Graciously accept of these pantings of my Soul after a freer and more delightful converse with Thee And pitty the great weakness and dulness of my nature which will not permit such ardours of love to continue always as by thy grace I sometimes feel in my heart towards Thee Pitty O pitty and take compassion upon me when I am so heavy as not to be able to lift up mine eyes towards Heaven or when I move so slowly and faintly as if I had no lift to serve thee in the works of piety righteousness and charity O that I may feel my spirit stirred with a greater zeal and carried with stronger desires at all other times when I am better disposed for thy service that then I may run the ways of thy Commandments when thou hast enlarged my heart And endue me likewise with prudence equal to that uprightness and integrity of heart which I hope I shall always carefully preserve That I may neither neglect any occasion of exciting and expressing a most fervent love to Thee nor dispirit my self by an indiscreet heat and forwardness to the performance of any part of my Christian duty Dispose me but to be ever serious resolved stedfast and watchful to be always well or innocently imployed and to be still going on with continued and constant motions to perfect holiness in thy fear and I shall hope by thine Infinite grace to finish my course at last with joy and to arrive at the happiness of that blessed company who as they do thy Commandments hearkning to the voice of thy Word so they are not weary in their obedience to Thee but with incessant Praises and Thanksgivings serve Thee World without end Amen V. YOU see already how necessary it is well to understand our selves and therefore lest you should think the pleasures of Religion to be other than they are it will concern you My Friend in the next place to Distinguish carefully between those consolations that are spiritual and those that are sensible For your receiving benefit by this Rule you must consider that the spirit of man being as I said joyned to a body and made a member of this World and yet belonging to another Country hath several sorts of faculties which we call its upper and lower powers whereby it converses with both With the former which are the mind understanding and will it hath entercourse with God and Invisible things and is fitted to improve all lower objects to an heavenly end with the other which we call sense imagination and sensitive appetite we can maintain acquaintance with nothing but this outward World Or rather this one Soul of Man is fitted with Capacities of such different kinds that it can hold correspondence with God and the higher World and likewise with the goods of the body in this World which is sensible to us Now such a friendship there is between the Soul and the Body by reason of their nearness and between the upper and lower faculties of the Soul if you so conceive of it by reason as I may call it of their oneness that they do mutual good offices for each other when they are able And as the Soul lends such a great part of it self to serve the Bodies necessities so the bodily spirits likewise are ready to assist the Soul in their better Moods to a freer pursuit of its own concernments in its motion towards God and the things above And more than this the pleasures of the one redound to the other what the Soul doth for the Body returning upon the mind it self and the bodily spirits likewise oft-times feeling the contentment of which the mind tasteth Hence it is that by discreet use of bodily enjoyments and due attendance to the outward Mans moderate satisfaction the spirits ofttimes are made so mild and sweet so chearful and compliant that the Mind finds them more ready and forward to accompany it in the contemplation of Diviner objects and it serves it self the more by serving the Body for a while And on the contrary part when the mind converses with Heavenly things they so powerfully touch it at certain Seasons that they make a motion there all over even as far as the very skirts of its Territories The Heart is glad the Spirits leap and dance for joy and the very blood in our Veins runs the smoother for it Now while we have this sensible delectation in the borders of our Soul by the agitation of the Animal Spirits to which the mind communicates its resentments there is no part of us but can be well content to accompany the mind in its devotions and they will not be enclined to with draw their attendance from these delightful services But on the other side if the Mind through incapacity it is like of the Body to receive them cannot impress its perceptions upon the Spirits nor make such a warmth and
which is the only thing that can give any value to them It is a shame that I should groan or go heavily under the sweet the easie and gentle Yoke of my most loving Saviour none of whose Commandments are grievous but all his wayes pleasantness and his pathes peace But there is nothing more frightful than to think that I have at any time opposed his will and thrown off the light burden of obedience which he layeth on me I adore thy pardoning mercy and wait on thee likewise for power from above to save me from reproaching his Religion by so much as any unwillingness to obey him I implore thy Divine Inspirations to preserve in my heart that delightful sense of Thee which may render it no less my contentment than my duty to follow Jesus in his humility and condescension of spirit in his meekness and patience in his kindness and tenderness in his holiness and purity in his love to thee and to all man-kind in doing good and suffering evil in resolved denyal of my own will when contrary to thine and in every thing giving thanks to thee O Father of Mercies which is thy will concerning us in Christ Jesus To whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen VII AND having thus poured forth your Soul to God you may feel your self sometimes so mightily moved that your heart runs out with much pleasure in abundance of pious thoughts and holy affections which you are not wont to find at other times And then My Friend let me tell you it would be of singular use if you would set down those extraordinary thoughts and passionate effusions of your Soul which you feel in your greater enlargements These are as so many Records which you have to show of the Spirits prevalency and triumph over the dull flesh They are the flights of your Soul whereby you see to what it aspires and how great and happy it may be when God pleases They are the tokens of Gods love whereby he would indear himself to your heart And you may look upon them as if they were Golden Chains let down from Heaven to draw and attract you thither and bind you fast but willingly to your duty It is great pity to throw away such sweet flowers after once smelling of them to lay by such good thoughts as we do a common Book after the first reading I would wish you to find some safe repository for them and to lay up carefully such expressions of your mind in Meditation or Prayer as are most lively and affecting and to fetch them out for your use when any dulness or straitness shall oppress you As a good Student when he reads a Book though he may let pass the most of it which he knew before yet remarks and preserves in his Notes the choicest parts in which he finds great strength of reason or sharpness of wit or may be any ways useful to him in his design so would I have you mark those passages in your converse with God and Divine things which have in them some fulness of sense some liveliness of conceit some elevation of mind and are so much beyond the ordinary strain of thinking as if they were some beam of light darted from an higher hand or the utmost endeavour of the Soul to be with God When you find I say your conceptions so fit and proper that you seem to behold the bare face of truth when some thing smites your heart with such a force of reason that you are constrained to yield or when such an holy breath comes into you that your Soul swells and grows too big for your body let them be noted as carefully as the Moneth and the Day was by your Parents which brought you into the World or as you remember the happy time when God bestowed some singular blessing on you which made this World a more comfortable place than otherwise you should have found it Examples you know are wont to move us much and therefore of what power may we suppose it to be when we can propound our selves for an Example to us This Copy as I may call it of our selves besides that it will make us blush at another time to see how unlike we are to our selves will also excite us to recover the same countenance and aspect that once we had and make some colour come into our Faces and warmth into our Spirits when we are pale and cold in the service of God It will remember us likewise of the pleasurable motions that were then in our hearts and remembrance is the way to call them back again It will furnish us also with some matter for our thoughts when they are barren and can bring forth nothing For though reading of some good Book in this case may be very advantageous to us yet nothing can more assist us than a Book of our own making the births as I may term them of our own mind Both because they best sute with our notions and can soon find the place where they lay before and because they will remember us also of Gods grace and goodness to us so that either shame or love or hope will make us strain to do the same again or to excel our selves When no thoughts will stir within we must call for some helps without to move us and what is there that will so easily enter as that which was once within us before Nothing sure can better fit us than that which our own Souls have cut out and shaped for themselves As a Chymist therefore that is drawing out the more retired spirits of things if he grows faint in his work takes a drop or two of his own extracts to bring his Soul back again so should we do when our liveliness begins to forsake us and our Soul complains of its weak and fainting Fits We must pour in some of those thoughts which we have formerly drawn out of our hearts which are as it were the quintessence of our Souls and the very spirits of our Devotion that they may recall the life that is flying away And tell me I beseech you what a reviving it is but to think that we once had such thoughts in our mind What a Cordial is it to the languishing Soul to feed as I may say upon its own Honey and taste of its own sweetness How greedily will it embrace and how gladly will it smile upon the Children of its own Womb How pleasant will it be but to hope that it may become fruitful again as well as it was before to behold the Picture of what it may be as well as of what it hath been in former times Save therefore some of these and let them not all be spilt as they distill from your Soul Lay them up in store considering the time may come when your Soul will be glad to have them restored to it and will receive them as so many drops of Balm Keep them by you as you do some precious
ADVICE TO A FRIEND DEPRESSA RESVRGO ECCLUS xiv 13. Do good unto thy Friend before thou dye GREG. NYSSEN 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 London Printed for R. Royston Book-seller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXIII AN ADVERTISEMENT FROM THE PVBLISHER TO THE READER Reader I Have nothing to say either of this Boâ—k or of its Author But only desire the Reader if he like the Counsels which are here given for the promoting and better ordering of Devotion and for the preserving of a pious Soul in peace and chearfulness that he would be so kind and faithfull to himself as to follow them And the hope I have that after a perusal they will invite him so to do makes me secure the Author will not be displeased to see that exposed to publique view which was at first intended only for a private Persons use For if the Advice be good the more common it grows so much the better it is and it will not be the less mine when it is gone into other hands Plato I am told calls Love the Ornament of all both of the Gods and of Men the fairest and most excellent Guide whom every man ought to follow and celebrate with Hymnes and Praises And what is there in which we can better express and declare it to others than in communicating to them that which we hold in highest esteem our selves It was that which first produced this Treatise and from thence it comes abroad That which the same Person saith is the Father of delights of mirth of whatsoever is gracefull and desirable was the Parent of this Book And therefore let it be accepted with the same kindness wherewith it was writ and is now Printed Let all the faults if you find any be overlookt with a friendly eye and do not discourage so excellent a vertue as Friendship to which we owe the best things in the World by severe and harsh censures of any thing that it produces But I need not I think be solicitous about this the pious design of the Book being sufficient to give it protection if it cannot gain it approbation It hurts no body and therefore may pass it self with more safety and it offers its service to do every body good which me thinks should be taken kindly even by those who stand in no need of it As for those who shall make use of it and find any benefit by it they will complain perhaps only of the Author's thriftiness and wish he had been more liberal of his Advice And so it 's like he would if he had not consulted his Friends ease more than his own and considered rather what would be usefull than what would make a great show You will take a wrong measure of his kindness if you judg of it by the bulk of the Book which was purposely contracted into a little room that it might be a constant Companion and as easie to carry in mind as it is to carry in ones hand And let the defects of it be what they will they may be supplied out of one of the Rules you here meet with if you please to make use of it which is to chuse a good Guide from whom you may receive further Advice in any thing that is necessary for your Progress in Piety or for the setling your Conscience in peace And that we may none of us ever want such a faithful and skilful Person to conduct us and that we may receive a benefit by these and all other good Counsels let us heartily joyn in that Prayer to God which is the Collect for this Day and add it often to the ensuing Devotions Leave us not we beseech Thee destitute of thy manifold Gifts nor yet of Grace to use them alway to thy Honour and Glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen St. Barnabie's Day 1673. IMPRIMATUR Sam. Parker R. Rmo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no Gilberto Divinâ Providentiâ Archi. Ep. Cant. à Sacris Domesticis Maii 14. 1673. Ex Aed Lambeth ADVICE TO A FRIEND My Friend MAN bears some resemblance and may not unfitly be compared to a Diamond or such like precious stone whose darker parts confess that it is of the earth but the brighter look as if it had borrowed some rayes from the Sun or Stars He is a substance I mean consisting of a terrestrial Body and celestial Spirit with his Feet he touches the earth but with his Head he touches Heaven Though the neighbourhood knows whence his Body came and remembers the time perhaps when it lay in the dark Cell of his mothers womb yet his Soul doth absolutely deny that it is of so mean extraction And casting its eyes upward calls to mind its high descent and parentage and takes it to be no presumption to affirm that we are the off-spring of God He cannot therefore but find in himself propensions and desires not only different from but contrariant to each other For since two worlds meet in him and he is placed in the confines of heaven and earth his will must needs hang between two widely distant goods the one propounding pleasures to his body and the other to his mind And though once there was a time when these two preserved such a friendship and gave such due satisfaction to one anothers just interests and inclinations that they did not break out into an open war yet this peace lasted not so long as to let us feel the blessings and happiness thereof But that part whose kindred and acquaintance was in this world apprehended the first occasion that offered it self to quarrel with the other whose native countrey was not so visible through walls of flesh and denying to consent unto it plainly rebelled and entred into a state of hostility against it This it might do with the more ease because two parts of those three into which the Soul is ordinarily divided stand very much affected to the Body and its concernments The Desiring part that is always ready to run to any thing and embrace it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath the appearance of a bodily good the Angry part that is no less forward to shun and to make defence against whatsoever seems to be a bodily evil to the Rational is committed the direction and government of these which that it may manage aright it is to maintain a constant conversation with an higher good to which all the lower desires and passions ought to be subordinate and subject These are handsomely compared by a noble Greek Philosopher to the Three Ranks or Orders of men that are in a City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proclus L. 1. in Timaeum The Servants the Souldiers and the Magistrates The first of which are to do all the work and make such provisions as are necessary for its support The second serve for a guard to protect and defend it from all dangerous assaults And the third sits in Counsel pronounces Judgment issues out Orders makes Rules and gives
direction how both shall be employed But so it falls out that as the Slaves and the Souldiers sometimes prove mutinous and unruly and combining their forces together make themselves masters of the Conservators of the true peace and liberty so have the violent desires that are in us of enjoying a sensual good and of avoiding all outward evils and inconveniencies grown to such a head-strong and unbridled humor that they have overtopt reason and refuse to hearken to the authority and to obey the dictates of our understanding Many wayes have been tryed both by God and Man to reduce them to a good agreement again But though all fair satisfaction hath been offered and is allowed to the lower part it would not yield to a surrender of that power and soveraignty which it hath usurped As a company of Factious people that strive for superiority over their Governours when they have compassed their designs and possessed themselves of the throne are with more difficulty suppressed than they were before kept in subjection So it is with the multitude of mens furious lusts and passions now that they have dethroned reason advanced themselves into the seat of Government Having tasted very strongly of a sensual good and felt the sweetness as they take it of being absolute they are loth to be denyed the license which they have so long enjoyed and will by no means grant any obedience to be due to an higher power God was pleased therefore to manifest himself in our flesh to countenance the claim and assert the title of our Mind and Understanding and by shewing its undoubted right of Government to take up this controversie and put an end to these sad contests which have hapned to the ruin of mankind In the Lord Jesus there appeared such an absolute and constant dominion of the Spirit as in the first Adam after his fall there did of the Flesh And he came not only to give us a glorious Example to overawe all unruly motions in us by his divine Authority and to inspire our feeble Spirits with some courage by his great and precious promise of eternal life but to comfort us by his Death Resurrection and Exaltation at the right hand of the Majesty on high with the hopes of a mighty power from above to aid and assist us in our Christian conflict with all unreasonable desires This he actually sends into our souls to give them sufficient force and ability for the doing of their duty redeeming themselves from this slavery and recovering their ancient rights and liberty And in all those who attend unto his holy Counsels and receive his Divine grace and are renewed and led by his good Spirit there appear many happy tokens of the Souls victory and they are daily winning new conquests over the flesh with all the affections and lusts thereof The heavenly good seems so great in their eyes that they cannot upon any terms think of submitting their souls any longer to attend wholly or chiefly upon the pleasures and satisfactions of the lower man The mind is furnished with such right opinons the Will is become so tractable and compliant with their resolutions the Affections grow so subject and obedient to the orders and commands of both in short God and his will is so seriously loved and their Spirit strives so earnestly after the ardors and fervent Devotion of love that the ancient Government is again restored its lost authority rights and royalties are manifestly recovered and they live in good hope to be more than conquerors over all temptations from the World the Flesh and the Devil aspiring to an humble rejoycing glorying and triumph over all these enemies But notwithstanding all this these men remain still both flesh and spirit The Body is not destroyed the goods wherein it delights have not altered their nature its habitation is not removed from their neighbourhood and it retains the same inclination to them and they are often remembring it of its forepast fruitions and which is worst of all the Soul cannot presently recover its perfect health and soundness but feels the maimes and the bruises that it got when it was formerly beaten down and oppressed by them Hence it comes to pass that for some time at least there are many motions made for a revolt and every thing in the world is tampering with the heart to corrupt and bring it over again to their party and the mind it self in some fits almost wearied with their importunity may be ready to lend half an ear to these solicitations There is not such a perfect peace established but there will be some endeavours of the fleshly part to resume its power and get into its hand its pretended liberty Yea by the violence of many outward accidents the mind may sometimes fall into a dream and be tempted to muse whether there be sufficient reason to prefer those future and unseen goods before present enjoyments The Will may begin to bend it self to some civil carriage and fair complyance with the flesh the Affections being much wooed and complimented may feel themselves in danger to be inveigled or the heat at least and liveliness of Devotion may in such a condition be much abated and impaired And indeed it is not to be expected that the Body should go along as nimbly as the Spirit would have it towards a good with which it is not acquainted All that the Mind can do is to take a very great care that it move it self with as slow a pace towards that good to which the other is most inclined That we love these outward things cannot be blamed but it will require much diligence to keep our hearts from doting on that for which we naturally have no small affection That we hold some acquaintance with them can by no means be avoided but that we grow not too familiar with them ought to be our prudent care and cannot without some difficulty be prevented There will some kindnesses pass between us and we cannot deny the Body these sensible pleasures but that our Souls should thereby suffer themselves to be undermined and their interest betrayed there is no small danger For while the Good of the body is near at hand and the Good of the soul is at some distance while that which is near seems great and that which is remote seems small while the one is present and the other future while things present call upon us and we must earnestly call for things future while the one is alwayes before us and the other comes but at certain seasons while the one is of old and the other but of a late acquaintance we having been bred up with the one and being but brought to the other the one coming first and the other thereby prejudiced as long I say as there are these plain advantages on the one side if we use not attentive diligence to give the soul just and true information they will prevail with it inconsiderately to slight the
far greater advantages on the other Just as you see sometimes a wild-headed and unthrifty Heir though there be no comparison between his future inheritance and a small sum of present money yet for the pleasing of a violent passion sells the reversion of an estate which after some years would make him very rich and happy So do souls that are not serious and deliberate heedlesly resign for mere trifles their apparant title to such things as are of most importance to their true and lasting felicity Though the possessions of the other world be as far beyond all our enjoyments here as this world is above nothing yet because these things here are present and because they are ever soliciting and offering themselves to us and because they entertain our desires with pleasure and because they put us to little pains to give our selves the fruition of them they are wont to prevail with sleepy and careless minds to purchase them though they part with all their interest in the other world as the price of the bargain From hence there grows a necessity of that precept of vigilance and watchfulness which our Lord Christ hath given his Souldiers lest through subtle insinuations or frequent and violent assaults this old enemy get up again and establish it self in a new and more grievous tyranny Augustus deservedly reproved the folly of Alexander who as the story goes was troubled in his mind for want of imployment after the conquest as he imagined of the whole world for he should have considered said that great Emperour that there is no less pains and wisdom requisite to keep a possession than there is to win it We must not think that we have ended our warfare when we have reduced the flesh to some terms of obedience and peace but the strongest soul will find it necessary to keep a constant guard or else that enemy whose weakness consists in our watchfulness will succeed in its indeavours to get all into its hands once more and settle it self in that throne from whence it was so happily depos'd Whensoever we grow remiss the experience of all the world tells us our souls lose as much in a week as they have been acquiring by a whole years labour To fall down is very easie and we tumble apace but we cannot climb the hill without difficulty and by little steps and slow motions we advance towards the upper world and the celestial blessedness which will cost us much patience and unwearied industry before we approach it But what will keep the Mind may you demand from this remisness what remedies can you prescribe to preserve a feeble spirit from being stupified and lull'd asleep sometimes with these gaudy Poppies these fair and soft enjoyments which appear every where and continually surround us who is able to keep a perpetual watch and never take a nap In such a long work who can chuse but be sometimes weary When I consider my own infirmity and the enemies strength my natural love to these worldly things and their restless importunity the length of my journey and my aptness to be tired and especially when I see so many seeming Champions that have been overcome so many that did run well who have grown slack or retired I am afraid may your heart say that I shall never hold out to the end and maintain the ground stedfastly on which I stand And indeed it must be confessed that the spirit is not alwayes alike able to make a valiant resistance and couragious opposition But what through the defect and disorder of the bodily instruments which it uses and what through strange occasions and unusual accidents that it meets withal to surprise it and what through the strength of some one object either of joy or grief or such like that seises mightily upon the imagination and what through its own timorousness which makes the enemy grow confident and what through the want now and then of those delectable motions of Gods good Spirit and those heavenly consolations wherewith it hath been transported it may fall into some listlesness and dulness and grow so faint that it hath but little heart to maintain its Christian warfare But yet for all this you ought not to despond nor be quite discouraged at the thoughts that you may possibly one day find your self in these unhappy circumstances You are not left without a Remedy either for the preventing of the fall of your soul into this condition or for the delivery and raising of it up should it chance to slide into it or for its safety and preservation that it may receive no harm whilst it lies therein and can for the present meet with no means to rid it self of so great a burthen This little Book comes to bring you some relief and lend you some support and aid in such a case It hath no other business but to give your soul the best assistance that mine can afford it for its security that whatsoever assault may be made upon you whatsoever weaknesses you may feel in your self and whatsoever advantage the enemy may make of them the flesh notwithstanding may never be able to draw you back again underits power but your Spirit may stand fast in its pious resolution and come off with victory and triumph at the last And let the Divine Spirit of Wisdom and Grace I humbly beseech the Father Almighty so guide my Pen that your Soul may receive no less benefit by the reading of these Papers than mine doth contentment in the writing of them and that the Good they do you may be proportionable to the Love from whence they come Amen I. AND in the first place let me advise you to bring your self into as great an acquaintance and familiarity as ever you can with unseen and spiritual things and to make your mind so sensible of them that they may seem the most real and substantial beings You easily discern how sutable this Counsel is to the foregoing discourse and you can tell your self how much of our listlesness and want of spiritual appetite proceeds from hence that these outward things press continually very hard upon us and make us feel that they have a being and a solid subsistance but the other rarely touch us with any force and so appear as if they were only in our fancy Our soul seems to us in our careless thoughts as if it were but a breath or a thin vapour But our Body we perceive to be a massy bulk of whose concerns we are therefore very apprehensive The Divine being though the cause of all others seems but like a shadow on whom our Soul having no fast hold it is no wonder that we rather catch at those things which we can grasp and feel to have some substance in them The report of immortal life and bliss in heaven comes to us like a common story of which there is some probability but no certainty and that inclines us to close so greedily with the
and make provision for its Lusts and Pleasures Rescue it from that thraldome and assert its liberty which is no such difficult undertaking since rightly to understand it self is sufficient for its safety and preservation And to say the truth the necessity of this Exercise is no less apparent than the benefit We had need acquaint our selves thoroughly with those Spiritual and Heavenly Beings and make them very familiar to us because these outward Objects are so near us and have gained such an interest in us that even when we are thinking of the other they will busily interpose themselves and are able in an instant to obtrude their Company though then very troublesome upon us How oft do our minds turn aside to speak with them in the midst of our Prayers How will our thoughts be discomposed at the sound of a Bell the creaking of a Door the buzzing of a Fly or some such weak and contemptible thing that affects our Senses When we are bowed down before God when our Hands and Eyes are lifted up to Heaven how doth the Memory of Yesterdays enjoyments or the fear of to Morrows troubles besides the thoughts of the present Days business start up and interrupt us we know not how or on what occasion The uneasiness of our bended Joynts the biting of a Flea the prick of a Pin some Word which we then speak any fancy that rises up by the natural motion of our Spirits will trouble our minds in our Devotion and carry us away from God It concerns us therefore very highly to work our minds into a stronger and more delightful Sense of Him and of all Spiritual enjoyments since our familiarity with the other is so intimate that the very least of them is in favour enough with us to give us an avocation from this better Company even when we are ingaged in it In order to this and all things else you know very well how necessary it is to implore the assistance of Gods grace and to beseech his Infinite Goodness that he will be pleased to represent himself more clearly than you can do unto your mind and lift it up above toward the Happiness of the other World Which you may do in some such words as these A PRAYER O God I believe that thou art and that nothing could have been without Thee who fillest all things and art every where to be seen and felt by observant minds who diligently seek Thee Vouchsafe I most humbly beseech Thee to behold a Soul that seriously aspires towards Thee and whom thou hast already filled with earnest desires to be united in Eternal love to Thee but is pulled down alas by this earthly body and in danger to sink without thy mighty aides into too great a love of these lower goods which here surround me Draw near O Father of Spirits present thy self so clearly to me and touch my mind with such a powerful sense of Thee that it may be lifted up above all earthly things and my heart may always incline towards Thee and be possessed with a constant and most ardent love of Thee Awaken in me on all occasions a lively remembrance of the worth and dignity of that Immortal Spirit which thou hast breathed into me And raise it up to as lively a belief and hope of that Eternal bliss into which Jesus our Lord is entred for us Fix my mind upon that unseen felicity and keep it in such a stedfast and delightful contemplation of it that nothing here on Earth may be able to tempt me down into an inordinate desire after it and love unto it O what glorious objects appear before me surpassing all that mine eyes behold now that my thoughts are retired a little from this outward World O what shadows do all things here seem in compare with those Heavenly enjoyments which thou presentest to me What longings do I feel excited in my heart after Thee What desires to be always with thee and to be filled still with a stronger sense of Thee O thou who art the beginner and finisher of all goood be pleased to assist my holy endeavours to withdraw my mind more and more from these sensible things that it may have a clearer sight of its Heavenly Country from whence it comes and whither it desires to return and there live for ever Preserve it thereby from the power of all temptations here and enable me to prepare it to be presented unto Thee by my Saviour adorned with that Faith Purity Patience Righteousness Mercy and such like Heavenly qualities as will dispose me for the Company of the Blessed I sigh to think O my God of the weakness of my mind which is so easily distracted and turned aside in these my addresses to Thee Pity me good Lord and knit my thoughts and affections to a closer attendance on Thee Help me to gather my mind into it self and there to enjoy thy Divine Presence with less disturbance from this outward World O that all things here may rather bring thee to my mind than carry it away from thee Dispose me so to observe the foot-steps of thy wise and mighty Goodness in all thy Creatures that I may perpetually acknowledg thee and then especially be born away far above all other things in high admiration of Thee and servent affection to Thee when I am thus prostrate in humble adoration of thy Divine Majesty And when I am so feeble as to wander after little things even while I am presenting my self before thee and offering my heart to thee Help me to long the more earnestly after that happy state wherein I shall with more steady thoughts and intire devotion give everlasting praises to Thee Amen II. NOW that you may the better preserve in your Soul these ardent desires and that they may not dye for want of continual fewel to feed and nourish them let me advise you My Friend in the next place to represent to your self as often and as sensibly as you can the incomparable greatness of that invisible happiness in the World to come In which that I may assist you as much as I am able I will direct you to such an easy way of managing your thoughts that you may pursue this counsel with no great pains and labour Justin Martyr observes in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew that therefore God laid such restraints upon that Nation and forbad them for instance the use of certain Meats the oftner to put them in mind of himself even in the most common actions of humane life and to make them remember they were under his Government and subject to his Supreme Authority which they were too prone to forget And will it not be a great shame if in these riper Ages of the World the free use that God hath given us of all things should not teach us as much as those restraints and abridgments of their liberty did them in the infancy of Divine knowledge Ill natures are taught most by their wants
us Look therefore how great how goodly how glorious how beautiful and pleasant we are and he is incomparably more bright more sweet more harmonious more filling and contenting than the whole World which is but his Creature And having thus a little raised up your mind above all things visible you may proceed to a new Meditation in this manner 3. If a Soul inclosed in this Body can see and apprehend so much of God O what a sight of him shall it have when it is freed from these Chaines If whilst we look out of these Windowes of Sense such a glorious Majesty presents it self before us in what an amazing splendor will the Divinity appear when there is nothing to interpose between us and its incomparable beauty If whilst there are so many other things to imploy our thoughts he discover so much of himself to us What will he do when we shall be alone with Him and seeing face to face shall know as we are known Is it not a Miracle to see so much light conveyed to us through so little a hole as that of the eye to behold so much of the Heaven and the Earth at once and such a company of beautiful objects crowding in together at so narrow a passage without any disturbance or discomposure O what an admirable pleasure then as Seneca discourses with himself will the Soul be surprised withall when it shall come into the Region of light when it shall be all surrounded with this glorious Body when on every side as we may conceive it shall take in light and be adorned and clothed with it as with a Garment And may we not with greater reason meditate on this manner when we think of God the Creator of light and of all those goodly things which it discovers to us Ought we not to say to our selves O what wisdom what greatness what riches of goodness is this which showes it self in all his works of wonder What a World of things hath he comprised in this one little Being which calls it self Man whose mind is circumscribed and yet extends it self beyond the limits of this sensible World which remaining in this body swiftly runs and takes its circuit and views all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and united to these Senses abstracts it self from them and goes to the Father of Spirits whom it meets with every where Is it thus active thus busie thus capacious discerning whilst it is thrust up in such a close and little Room as this poor Body and shall it not be more vigorous more piercing more inlarged when it is set at liberty from this imprisonment It will then sure stretch it self to receive more of him it will see him more clearly and comprehend him more fully admire him with more improved and extended thoughts and love him with a more ardent flame and feel more of his wisdome more of his goodness pressing in upon it and filling of it with infinite joy and satisfaction 4. Again you may think with your self if God bestow so many goodly things even upon the wicked then what shall be the portion of the just Do not the worst of men possess great plenty of his blessings Doth he not entertain them here with strange variety of delicious enjoyments Are they not so liberally and abundantly provided for that Silver and Gold and Jewels are theirs and all Creatures in the Earth and the Air and the Water are pressed for their Service O what Treasures what Riches of Glory what excess of Joy then will God confer on those who are most dear unto Him If he treat his Enemies in this manner how sumptuously will he entertain his Friends If he let such Rebels live in a Palace so stately so richly furnisht as this great World is which he hath built for good and bad what Mansions may we think are those which are peculiarly prepared for them who live in faithful obedience to him 5. And think again if God hath made this Building wherein we dwell so sumptuous though it be to continue but for a time O how glorious are those Mansions which are Eternal in the Heavens If he hath bestowed so much cost on that which waxeth old and shall vanish away what are the Ornaments of that which shall never decay Is not this very mortal Body which we inhabit very fearfully and wonderfully made Is it not contrived with admirable art and curiously wrought in the lowermost parts of this little World O how beautiful then will that Body be which is from Heaven and shall never be dissolved but remain Immortal there With what lustre shall we shine when this vile Body shall be changed and made like to the glorious Body of Christ our Lord 6. And cannot you easily make your self believe the inconceivable splendor of that place where God himself more particularly dwells since he hath made for us so fair and goodly an Habitation Heaven you know is called his dwelling-place and our blessed Lord calls it his Fathers House where there are many Mansions for all his beloved Ones O how beautiful how glorious how full of Majesty must this needs be seeing we and other of his lower Creatures live in a World which is so richly adorned and so fairly beautified both above and beneath Do you not see how the roof of this Palace if I may so speak wherein we are is all gilded with innumerable Stars how the Floor of it is overlaid with wonderful variety of pleasant Plants and lovely Flowers O how glistering O how refulgent then is that place may you think with your self in which the Lord of Heaven and Earth himself is pleased in a special manner to reside where he keeps his Court where all the Angels minister to Him where he shows the Greatness of his Glory and where our blessed Saviour sits at the Right Hand of the Throne of that Majesty on High 7. And when was it that he brought you into this delightful Dwelling so rarely furnish'd and richly adorn'd Was it not as soon as you were born before you could know to whom you were beholden or could give him any proof of your love and fidelity Think with your self then and say If God hath granted us such a World of good things by way of gift O what is that which he will bestow when he shall come to reward If before we do our duty to him I mean he is so bountiful nay opens his Hand so wide and fills every living thing with good though they cannot acknowledg him what blessings will he pour forth what liberality will he express when he comes to recompence our faithful services and give us according to our works For we see that gracious Princes who grant many immunities and priviledges to their subjects only because they are their subjects do not fail to raise and advance their good and valiant subjects who have performed some noble acts in their service to eminent Honours and High Places Now since
you In brief This is an holy Feast where our Lord not only makes you good chear for the present but renews your decayed strength and begets in you a greater liveliness for the future One great end of the institution of publique Feasts among all Nations in the World was for the maintaining of unity love and friendship among the People that lived under the same Laws and for the recreating of those who were tired with their constant labours And it is the design we likewise see of our private Feasts which are times of ease and refreshment for our neighbours and preserve also good will among them according to that of Ben Syra a famous Person among the Jews Spread the Table and contention ceases We are all good Friends at a Feast Upon which account Plato was of Opinion that their Gods themselves in much pitty to Man-kind whose life is full of labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Lib. 2. de Leg. did appoint those Festival times for them that they might have a little relaxation and be incouraged by those publique joyes to proceed without any murmuring in their several imployments We are very sure that God hath instituted by his particular command this Holy Feast like to which none ever was and which we may celebrate as oft as we please upon the Body and Blood of his dear Son Whereby a great love sure will be begot in our hearts to him and his service whose guests we are and at whose cost the entertainment is made meerly out of his extraordinary grace and royal favour towards us This sure will be a singular refreshment and restorative to our spirits when we grow weary and almost spent in the work of our Lord. The sweetness of this will be like Wine to the Heart or like Marrow and Fatness to the Bones It will stir us up when we are listless and comfort us when we are sad and put life into us when we are dead and make us not only able but willing to be Religious being both our pleasure and our food Seneca speaking of times of relaxation and rest from labours saith he knew some great Men L. de tranq animi who once a Moneth would give themselves a Day of play and others that every Day would allow some Hours wherein they would not so much as write a Letter or meddle with any thing that had the show of business If we in like manner did though not every Day yet every Moneth take this sweet repast if out of love to Christ and consideration of our own necessities we did lay aside all other thoughts and give up our selves to those delightful Meditations which here present themselves unto us it would ease us of many cares and troubles and make us more chearfully do the will of God at other times and dispose us to attend the whole business of Religion as the pleasure rather than the labour of our life But if you be cast into a place where you have not the opportunity so frequently to celebrate the remembrance of Christ's death by receiving the outward and visible signs and pledges of his Divine Grace then you may the oftner communicate with him spiritually in your own heart and represent his dying love as lively as you can to it in your retired thoughts Beseeching him to accept of your unfeigned desires to make him your publick acknowledgments and to joyn with all those pious Souls which are then met together throughout the Christian World to show forth his praise and to offer up themselves in holy love to him and to our blessed Redeemer Christ Jesus For which purpose I would advise you to make use of all such Meditations Prayers and Thanksgivings as are wont to attend those Solemnities altering only those words which relate to your actual receiving at the Table of the Lord. The profit of such a frequent remembrance of our Lord one way or other will be exceeding great for the securing your duty and the making all those Counsels which I have given you the more effectual It will put you in mind of the worth and dignity of your Soul for which Christ hath done and suffered so much and on whom he bestows such precious tokens of his love It will quicken your love to him which is the life of Religion You shall taste how sweet it is beyond all comparison to be Religious whereby we have such hope in God There you shall be remembred how gainful it is to be good beyond all the purchases of this World for Christ imparts himself to you and all his benefits There you pray with the greatest devotion and offer up Spiritual Sacrifices and you represent also the Sacrifice of Christ to prevail for blessings for you And there you are most likely to have the most plentiful communications of God's Holy Spirit to you and to feel your Heart dilated in the largest affection unto Him There you confirm your promises to God and he seales his to you You cannot there be of another judgment if you would than this that since Christ dyed to give you life you ought not henceforth to live to your self but unto him which dyed for you and rose again This I make no doubt is one reason why those promises wherein Men stand engaged to God are no better performed because they do not frequently repeat this holy action in the exercise of which they find their hearts at present fully resolved for God and goodness This is the cause that they waver again and all their Promises and Vows wherein they bind themselves fall off like cords of vanity Whereas did they upon all occasions communicate with our Saviour they would find their resolutions grow so strong and stedfast that no temptation would be able to break them They would be like Bands of Iron or Chains rather of Gold that would hold them for ever to their duty You have heard I believe the story of Mithridates who by often use of the Antidote which he invented so fortified his Spirits that they resisted the force of all Poyson Insomuch that when to avoid the Roman slavery he would have dispatched himself by a strong venemous draught he was not able to effect it Such a soveraign vertue you will find in the frequent devout receiving of the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood It will secure the life of your Soul confirm your strength arm you against the bitings of the old Serpent and make it in a manner impossible for you to be impoisoned by any naughty affections But I have writ so much on this Subject in other Books already that I need not say any more of it here You find I hope those Treatises useful to the stirring up Devotion and to the making a Soul more forward and unwearied in Gods service And there likewise you may meet with a particular Prayer for Love to the Holy Communion wherefore let me proceed without any stop to the next Advice XIII IF