A CHECK TO Debauchery, AND OTHER CRYING SINS Of these TIMES. WITH Several useful Rules for the attaining the contrary Virtues: To which are annexed some Directions and Heads for Meditation and Prayer, taken out of Holy Scripture. Except the Lord had left unto us a very small Remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Is. 1.9. Oct. 26. 92. Imprimatur Edm. Bohun. LONDON, Printed for Richard Butt in Princes-street near Covent-Garden; and are to be sold by Randal Tailor near Stacioners-Hall. 1692. A LETTER TO A FRIEND. SIR. I make you this small Present, as knowing a Gentleman ought to be as zealous for Virtue as he is for Honour; and to show his Courage chief in conquering himself. Your Example influences very far, being so well known, and so well beloved: And I need not tell you how many, out of mere Emulation, are apt enough to become your Creatures and Followers. The Conversation of some Gentlemen is not so innocent as becomes their Quality, and as it ought to be: But it is commonly either Drollery, or, hard drinking. In the former, they neither spare Friend nor Foe; have no regard to Modesty or good Manners; and many times not to sacred Things themselves: And in the latter they are obnoxious to all other, even the greatest Sins. It is Solomon's Observation concerning Drunkenness, that it leads to Whoredom and all Lewd things, and renders Men more insensible than Beasts; and yet (so great is the sottishness of its followers) they will seek it still and not refrain; Prov. 23.33. etc. Those false Maxims so much in Vogue with some, God will deal with me as a Gentleman, a Soldier, a Courtier and the like, so often urged in Excuse of a Vicious Life, were invented by the Common Enemy of Mankind to justle out the Laws of God, and to render all good Instructions of Pious Men ineffectual. Whereas the H. Scripture assures us, That God is no respecter of Persons, but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness [i. e. becomes and does the duty of a Christian] is accepted of him and none others; Acts 10.34, 35. John 3.18. And if we profess to know God, and deny him in our Works, we are no better than Infidels; and if we say we do know him and not keep his Commandments we are Liars, let our Quality or Station be what it will. Tit. 1.16. Many Saints now in Heaven, were indeed, not always so upon Earth; but then resolutely reforming themselves and retracting their past Course of Life (the Divine Grace and assistance being never wanting to such) they afterwards by incessant virtue became great Instruments of God's Glory in the Salvation of innumerable Souls. This is more or less applicable to every Man whilst he lives in this World; who hath always some fault or other (if not ill habit) to retract, which by God's assistance he may do when he pleases; and it is his greatest wisdom not to delay his Endeavours, as the contrary his greatest folly. I hope therefore you will not think me your Enemy because I tell you the truth: Who am on the contrary, Sir, Your Faithful Friend in this highest point of Friendship, and most ready to serve you in any thing conducing to your eternal happiness, at least my poor Prayers shall not be wanting SIR, Your most Sincere Humble Servant. L. D. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER. Courteous Reader, THese Collections were designed chief for the good of myself and some particular Friends, but may perhaps be of service towards the awakening and exciting others to endeavour the pulling down those abominable sins which walk our Streets at Noon day, with a Whore's forehead unmasked; and inhabit with us in our very Gates, even in the most Eminent and most frequented places of our Cities, without any notice taken of them, unless it be to Caress and Encourage them. The wiser Heathen would have thought such gross sins a reproach to Reason, and a Disgrace to Humane Nature; and therefore, for Christians to spend their whole lives here in them, and expect Heaven at the last (which is the reward only of Virtue and Holiness) would be the greatest folly and madness in the World. The way to Salvation is now by Grace, not by weak Nature; by what is revealed to ●● to be the will of God, not what we can think, or can know any other way; by Faith, the evidence of things not seen by the Light of Nature, yet most certain to us, not by sight or blind Reason; by denying, not pleasing ourselves. Paradise is not to be gained the same way it was lost, but the contrary: Not by eating, but by forbearing to eat the forbidden Fruit. Not that ceasing to do evil is sufficient to make us happy, unless we also learn to do well; we must besides bridling our Appetites, perform such daily duty to God as he requires of us: Go on from Grace to Grace, from Virtue to Virtue, from one degree of Holiness to another, till we come to the measure of the Stature of the fullness of Christ. The first and principal step however to Virtue is the ceasing to be Vicious; and this cannot be done without renouncing all sensuality, and subduing our Lusts. In order to which we are to pray for the assistance of God's Grace, to consult good Men and good Books, and resolve to follow their Example and Directions: And if this short Treatise should conduce any thing towards the reclaiming of but one single Sinner from a lewd, sensual, debauched Course of Life, to become a sober, chaste, sincere Christian, it would be thought more than a sufficient recompense to Courteous Reader, Your Faithful Friend for the Good of your Soul. L. D. The Contents. CHAP. I. OF Gross Carnal Sins in General. Pag. 1 Marriage a lawful Remedy. Pag. 3 And so also our Lord's Counsel of a Single Life. Ibid. The practice of the present Age too contrary to both. ibid. CHAP. II. Of the impurity and filthiness of such sins. Pag. 6 They proceed wholly from ourselves. Pag. 7 Natural Infirmities no sins. Pag. 6 Opposite to God's own Holiness. ibid. A particular mark set upon them in Scripture. Pag. 8 Opposite to the cleanness and sanctity which ought to be in the Body as well as in the Soul of every Christian. Pag. 9 Diseases, Sores, etc. are not the uncleanness her meant. ibid., The Body, the Temple of the Holy Ghost, a Member of Christ, his Spouse, purchased with his precious Blood, therefore to be kept holy. Pag. 10, 11. Fornication, etc. Dishonourable and Disgraceful to the committors thereof. Offers the greatest indignity to Christ's Incarnation. Pag. 12 Filthy Discourse tending thereunto to be avoided. ibid. A Natural shame accompanies such sins. Pag. 14 The Habit thereof changes Men into Beasts. Pag. 15 These were the sins the Heathen sell into when abandoned by God for their Idolatry. Pag. 15, 16 CHAP. III. Of the punishments of such sins. Pag. 17 God a revenges of such sins himself. Pag. 18 Punishments dreadfel and sudden. Pag. 19 Flood, Fire and Brimstone, Sword, Loss of Kingdoms, etc. and what exceeds them all, eternal Death. Pag. 19, 20, 21 CHAP. IV. Of the chastity of Marriage and of the purity of a Single Life. Pag. 23, 68 Marriage very honourable, compared to that, of Christ with his Church. Pag. 24 Many degrees of Conjugal chastity ibid. Some abstain for a shorter time upon the account of some Solemn Devotion, Communicating, etc. Pag. 24, 25 Some longer for good ends also. Pag. 25, 26 Some their whole life (by consent) for the better serving of God. Pag. 26, 27 Of a Single Life's being, 1st. more pure than chaste Marriage itself. Pag. 27, 28, 29 2ly. Freer from Worldly distractions, etc. Pag. 29, 30 More sensible of God's presence. Pag. 34 The Gift of Continency attainable by all sincere endeavourers. Pag. 35, 36 Fit for Contemplation. Pag. 33, 36. More Heroical Pag. 37 The reward in Heaven greater. ibid. Of the purity of the Soul. Pag. 38 The sins more immediately opposed, Pride, etc. with the Remedies, Humility, etc. only barely named. ibid. A blind Understanding and perverse Will the causes. Pag. 39 Rebellion according to St. Judes' Description. Pag. 39, 40 Some Rules for the preventing and curing the sins of the Flesh. Pag. 41, etc. CHAP. V. The first Rule, of our Affectiens, etc. Pag. 42 Of th' Passion of Love. ibid. If wrong placed ruins us. Pag. 44. If rightly placed makes us happy. ibid. Of the Memory and Imagination Pag. 41 The Storehouse of the Soul Pag. 46 When advantageous. ibid. When Destructive to us. ibid. The outward Senses must be watched Pag. 47 Several ways of getting rid of Temptations from them, by meditating upon our Saviour's Passion, the 4 last things, etc. Pag. 48, 49, etc. CHAP. VI The Second Rule, Of Suggestions. Pag. 52 Whence they proceed. ibid. What to be done if they tempt to habitual sin. Pag. 53 Using external Actions. Pag. 54 Delaying the Execution bid. Concerning strong resolutions Pag. 53, 54 Resolutions Conditional upon a Forfeiture Pag. 56 Resolution of returning and repenting upon a relapse. Pag. 58 Telling the Temptation to some other. Pag. 60, 61 CHAP. VII. The third Rule, The Occasions of Lust, etc. to be avoided. Pag. 62 1st. No making provision for the Flesh to, etc. ib. Temperance in meat and drink. Pag. 63, 64, 65, etc. Frequent fastings ibid. Moderate sleep and sometimes watch, Pag. 66, 67 2ly: Lewd Company to be avoided, Pag. 70 No conversing with such, Pag. 71 This for our own security and their good, Pag. 73 No eating, etc. with them when obstinate, ibid. Cases of Necessity excepted, etc. Pag. 74 The Church in her Councils and Canons very strict in this matter, Pag. 75 Lewd Books also dangerous Companions Pag. 75 Good ones the best Companions in the World Pag. 76 3ly. Infamous places to be avoided ibid. Whether single houses or whole cities, Pag. 77 No cohabiting with lewd Persons, ibid. A caution concerning Discourses, Pag. 79, 80, 81 Especially in much Company, ibid. CHAP. VIII. The fourth Rule. Of Divine Assistances, etc. Pag. 82 Three things prenoted. ibid. The first Grace given at Baptism. Pag. 83 More added upon our using the first well, Pag. 85 Of the Grace of Charity or the love of God. Pag. 86, 87 The force of Spiritual Gifts against the Flesh, Pag. 89 How to Experience the good of Christianity, ibid. Of frequent Examination of Conscience. Pag. 90 The Subtlety of the Devil. Pag. 92 2ly. The means of obtaining divine assistances, Pag. 93 1st. Prayer, Repentance, Pag. 93, 94, etc. 2ly. Frequent Communicating, Pag. 98, etc. The Sum of the whole. Pag. 102 Some short Directions and Heads for Meditation, etc. CHAP. I. OF Meditation, its Requisites, and how it differs from Contemplation. Pag. 105 CHAP. II. Of the Subject of Meditation, with Heads for the first Week. Pag. 111 CHAP. III. Heads of Meditation for the Second, Third, and Fourth Weeks. Pag. 121 CHAP. IV. Meditations for the Fifth Week. Pag. 130 The Litany of Christian Virtues, taken out of the Holy Scriptures. etc. Pag. 139 A CHECK TO DEBAUCHERY. CHAP. I. Of gross Carnal Sins in General. THE spiritual Man, and good Christian, hath no greater Enemies than those he carrieth about with him; his own depraved Appetites and inordinate Desires, especially to sensual Pleasure and carnal Delights, for which Flesh and Blood so strongly plead. These, the more common, and the less heeded they are, so much the more dangerous to, and more destructive of, the Soul. There are no Temptations so vigorously assault us, or so easily beguile us as these: Which are therefore said by the Prophet to seize and take away the Heart; Hos. 4.11. and the Desire of them entreaseth the more we descend to a particular thinking or discussing of them, even though it be with a design to leave them. They make so strong an Impression, have so much of Force and Stratagem together, that there is no Conquering of ●●em by our contending with them, but by our running away from them: So many wiles and secret devices; so many promises and specious pretences; so many wind and turn which the Wise Man calls the way of a Serpent upon a Rock, Prov. 30.19. the way of a Man with a Maid, that it is next to impossible to find them out: And that, because, 1. Being born in Sin our very Nature is depraved: And, 2. inbred Lust, when not subdued in us, so Captivates and Incarnates the Soul as to restrain its liberty of Reasoning or thinking upon any thing else. This therefore is the greatest Temptation, and the vanquishing of it, the great perfection of a Christian. 1 Thess. 4.3. Hence it is that Almighty, God in pity to frail man, hath provided him (whosoever likes not to follow our Lord's Counsel of a single life) a lawful remedy of his Lusts by Marriage; Mat. 19 12. 1 Cor. 7.2. upon condition he live within the bounds of it, and not endeavour the satiating his desires any other way, or with any other Person than his own Wife. But alas, how contrary to this is the practice of the present Age, wherein a Virtuous single Life is almost grown Scandalous; and Marriage will hardly be allowed to be Honourable, save only upon the account of Legitimating Heirs and keeping up Families. Nay is it not rather reckoned as more Gentile, even amongst Persons of Quality (to their shame and dishonour be it spoken) to have variety of Misses (as they are pleased to call their lewd Prostitutes) though themselves, perhaps, very well married? And then, amongst others of less plentiful Fortunes, Marriage (though styled by the Holy Ghost Honourable) is looked upon as a mean and despicable thing, and little less than utter undoing: Because, forsooth, they cannot then so near equal their Betters, their elder Brothers, and the like, in Eating and Drinking, and , and other Formalities of worldly Grandeur. Whereas now they can live without Care, or any sort of Seriousness; keep what the World calls the best Company; have their choice of Women and Wine, and deny themselves nothing of Sensuality: And all this (as the World now goes) without running any great Hazard of losing their Reputation; but not of losing their immortal Souls, which sure ought most to be regarded by them. To these supine Christians, and Slaves to their own Lusts, who know better, but yet, as it were in their own Defence, take the Liberty, not only of living Counter to, but also of drolling upon, all that is serious or sacred (even the Holy Scriptures, and our blessed Saviour himself) rather than be stopped or checked in their Career, or in the leastwise hindered the following the full Swinge of their own unbridled Appetites, and ungovernable Wits, I can only propose; First, The Impurity and Filthiness of such Sins; and, Secondly, The severe Punishments that inseparably attend them. CHAP. II. Of the Impurity and Filthiness of such Sins. Passion's, Frailties, and Infirmities, are the common Plea and Pretence of Sinners: Whereas the defect and proneness of our Nature to sin, is in itself no Sin, so long as not complied withal; and besides, is abundantly repaired, and supernatural Assistance recovered by the Incarnation of our Saviour, and the Means he hath afforded us to a holy Life, if we are not wanting in the Application. The loss of our Innocency hath not deprived us of any of our Faculties. Our Understanding and Will are still the same, and we have the same freedom to choose the Good and reject the Evil; nor is the divine Assistance (God be thanked) denied to any that seek it. So that the Commission of Sin is entirely from ourselves, (Perditio tua ex te, Thy Destruction is from thyself, Hos. 13.9. says the Prophet) and the preventing of it wholly in our own power. And one would think we should not readily fall in love with so great deformity. My present Subject however is, those grosser Sins, the Sins of the Flesh; as being most rise amongst us and such as destroy all seriousness, the foulness and filthiness whereof appears 1st. From the great offence they give to God's own Holiness and Purity: To which every evil, even in Thought, is opposite; Sanctity being his great and most proper Attribute, than which the Seraphims could find none greater when they sung, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabbaoth. Besides the Divine Nature being absolute Purity without any Mixture or Composition whatsoever; and being also absolute Perfection, so that no defect or want of any good thing is in him; it must needs be, that what is contrary to those, as is all imperfection and evilness, must also be opposite to him: Which speaking according to the manner of men, is to be displeasing, to be grievous, to be loathsome and odious to him; but most of all these grosser sins. And this we know also from God's putting all along in Scripture a particular mark of his displeasure upon them; setting them in the front as the Captains and Ringleaders of the rest. These are the members we are to mortify upon Earth, Col. 3.5. Fornication, Uncleanness, inordinate Affection, evil Concupiscence, etc. So again: 1 Cor. 6.9. be not deceived neither Fornicators, etc. nor Adulterers, Rom. 1 24, etc. Thess. 4.5. Eph. 4.1. nor Effeminate Persons, nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind, etc. shall inherit the Kingdom of God. These are the sins with which the Gentiles when they offended God most of all, before the light of the Gospel shone amongst them, stand every where in Scripture principally charged. Nay so great an offence are these sins to the Holiness of Almighty God that he seems to equal them to the greatest sin of all. 1 Cor. 6.9. Rev. 22.15. Col. 3.5. And therefore in Holy Write, we find them ordinarily linked together with the sin of Idolatry: And sometimes also with Covetousness, taken in its largest sense for Coveting either Persons or Riches, which last is said also to be Idolatry: And the former may be called so too for the same reason, because it is hard to say which of the two, Harlots or Money, is most powerful and most idolised in this lower World. The Impurity and filthiness of Fornication and other grosser sins of the Flesh appears yet farther from their oppositeness to that Holiness and Cleanness which ought to be in the Body, as well as in the Soul, of all those who profess themselves Members of Christ. Not that this filthiness of the Flesh is any External Deformity in the Body, or any Diseases, Ulcers or Sores: For we find Job, Lazarus, and many other great Saints who had been well pleasing in God's sight, were before men very loathsome Persons. But it is a real defilement of the Body, as the Body is the honourable Instrument and Associate of the Soul, and aught by it to be employed to a more noble end, even together with the Soul to be employed to the Glorifying God, and one day also to be presented with it before him in his Heavenly Tabernacle. 1 Thess. 4.4. This is the will of God (saith St. Paul) even your Sanctification, that you should abstain from Fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his Vessel (i. e. his body) in Sanctification and Honour, Vers. 7. not in Lust of Concupiscence, for God hath called us not to uncleanness, but unto holiness. And the same Apostle in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 6.20. addresses himself to the Men of this Age, as well as those of all others, after a most prevailing manner, Know you not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, and not your own, or at your own disposing, for ye are bought with a price, the precious Blood of our Lord [to be also his Spouse and his Members] therefore aught to glorify God both in Body and Soul which are God's. And is there not good reason that after being purchased (even our body as well as soul) at so dear a rate as the Inestimable Blood of our Lord, we should at least in gratitude sanctify and devote ourselves wholly to his honour and service? But to compel us to it, unless we will deny ourselves to be Men and rational Creatures, the Apostle's Argument here and in his other Epistles, runs thus: The Church is the Spouse of Christ, Eph. 5.29, 30, etc. 1 Cor. 6.17.6 13. whom he bought and purchased to himself with his own Blood and Life, whom he Cherisheth also with the like care as the same Flesh and Bone, and the same Spirit with himself. And for the same reason is now our Body as well as our Soul, for the Lord, and the Lord for the Body. If therefore the Wife have not power over her own Body, but the Husband; no more hath Christ's Spouse, the Church, or we her Members, 1 Cor. 7.34. power over ourselves, but Christ. And tho' it be said only of Virgins that they more especially care for the things of the Lord, how to please him in every thing, and so become Holy both in Body and in Spirit; yet are Married People also, as the Circumstances of their Stations will permit, obliged to care for the things of the Lord above all other things; for the Spouse of Christ, the Church, being a chaste Virgin (as St. Paul calls her) we that profess ourselves Members of that spotless Church, 2 Cor. 11.2. whether we be married or unmarried, ought also to be chaste, and neither in action or thought make the Members of Christ the members of an Harlot. The same Apostle in his first Epistle to the Corinthians Argues still more against Fornication: 1 Cor. 6.18. Fly Fornication (saith he) and why so? For every other Sin that a Man doth is without the Body, i. e. doth not so immediately touch the body with any proper Infamy or so entirely remove it from under the power of our Lord: But he that committeth Fornication (and much more if Adultery, etc.) sinneth against his own body, i. e. dishonours it the most he can by degrading himself to so base an Alliance as to become one and the same with that vile nasty Creature with whom he sinneth, and so from a pure Member of Christ, he renders himself the filthy Member of an Infamous Harlot, or something worse. I here add that this sin offers also the greatest Indignity to the Incarnation of the Son of God imaginable, who did therefore take upon him our Flesh to exalt it into his own nature (his Heavenly Image) that no such filthiness might any longer inhabit in it. To prevent which vileness in us, the same Apostle also peculiarly concerning this sin, or any filthy Discourse tending towards it, giveth charge that it should not be so much as named amongst such as would pass for Christians. But Fornication (saith he to the Ephesians) and all Uncleanness, Eph. 5.3, 4. etc. let it not be so much as once named amongst you as becometh Saints. Nor Filthiness, nor Foolish Talking, nor Jesting, which are not Convenient: And the Apostle there assures us that no Whoremonger or unclean Person hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God. Besides, the Seal of the Covenant of Grace with Abraham, was it not ordered by God to be so particularly placed upon all the Faithful as to become in a manner a punishment of their Lusts? And is there not a Natural shame upon every man in the committing of those sins, or any thing like them tho' lawful? So as that the light of the Sun, the sight of a pious Picture, the coming in of a little Child, or almost any of God's Creatures, even a pious thought (which proceeds also from God) is sufficient sometimes to overawe, prevent, and put by, the most hardened Sinner from embracing the Temptation. And is it not a burning shame that the presence of Almighty God and His. Holy Angels, who (with perfect hatred of all Impurities) are continually looking upon us and dissuading us to the contrary, should not be much more prevalent with us against such enormous wickedness? But yet so strong are the habits of such Sins as in a manner to dispoil us of all shamefacedness, and wholly to alter and corrupt the Nature and Reason of those Persons in which they are; insomuch that the Practisers but of one Species of them are called in the Revelations by the name of Dogs; Rev. 22.15. Phil. 3.2. and so are the Gnostics by St. Paul, for their being guilty of some such like impurities: As if the Custom and Beastliness of such sins did utterly depose men from their manhood and change them into Dogs. And lastly, not to omit the greatest Argument of all of the Deformity and Filthiness of the sins of the Flesh, Rom. 1.16. we find in the Epistle to the Romans, when God had abandoned those Heathens that had first forsaken him to follow their own Imaginations (since they would not hearken to his Commands which were Holy, Just, and Good) they committed such monstrous, unnatural Lusts that were the greatest disgrace to Humane Nature that possibly could be: Men with Men, and so Women also, committing those things that were unseemly and unbefitting rational Creatures. God grant that we be not so left to ourselves, so given over to our own hearts Lusts, a certain sign of God's highest displeasure, and a forerunner of his heaviest Judgements! CHAP. III. Of the punishments of such Sins. TO those dissolute, unthinking Wretches, who will not by the preceding Arguments be prevailed on to leave their lewd, unmanly Course of Life, I shall propose, in the second place, the Terrors of the Lord to persuade them, the severe Punishments which inevitably attend such sins, that the Practisers thereof may most rightly measure the greatness of their faults (which they make Natural, and for that reason excusable,) by the great revenge God himself takes of them. Thus St. Paul warns his Thessalonians to abstain from the Fornication of the Gentiles, 1 Thess. 4.6, 7. the defrauding our Brother of his Wife, &c And what is the reason, because, the Lord (saith he) is the avenger of all such, all manner of Lusts, even those committed only in the heart. And so in his Epistle to the Hebrews he pronounceth the same thing, Heb. 13.4. Marriage is Honourable, and the bed undefiled, but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will Judge. And in detestation of such unlawful Lusts, the Lord appointed under Moses' Law, That a Bastard should not enter into the Congregation of the Lord, Deut. 23.2. until the tenth Generation. And does not the Prophet Jeremiah most particularly threaten in God's Name such Sinners for their Assembling in Troops into Harlot's Houses, and running like fed Horses after their Neighbour's Wives, Shall I not Visit for these things (saith the Lord), Jer. 5.7. and shall not my Soul be avenged of such a Nation as this? Those Expressions, The Lord is the Avenger, God will Judge, the Lord appointed, shall I not visit, plainly show that God taketh the punishing all such abominations into his own hands, that they may be sure not to go unpunished even in this Life. But this is not all, we find in Sacred Scripture God inflicting on these sins not ordinary punishments, but such fearful Judgements to which none other can be compared. The drowning of the whole World (about a Thousand Years after its Creation, when all Flesh, excepting some very few Persons, had corrupted their ways) was it not to wash away its pollution from these sins with a Flood? And how many thousand Souls better than ourselves perished in that Deluge? The dreadful Raining of Fire and Brimstone from Heaven upon those miserable brutish Cities, Sodom and Gomorrha, and the Cities about them (which yet perhaps were not so bad as some Cities even amongst us) was it not to purify their Land (which was once a Paradise upon Earth) from those loathsome sins by Fire? The driving out all those mighty Nations from Canaan, and destroying them, and giving their Land to the Children of Israel for a possession, was it not for these abominable sins? See the eightenth Chapter of Leviticus, Leu. 18. whereafter variety of those sins rehearsed (such as are not fit to be named amongst Christians but with horror and detestation of them) it follows, Verse. 27. For all these abominations (the Name God himself there gives to these loathsome sins) have the Men of the Land done before you and the Land is defiled; and therefore in the Verse following, this defiled Land is said to have spewed out the Inhabitants thereof who defiled it. In like manner the Destruction of the Shechemites, the Death of Samson, of Amnon, the Judgement of God upon the Three and twenty thousand of the Children of Israel, 1 Cor. 10.8. who fell in one Day at Baal-Peor, before they entered Canaan, were they not for such Sins as these? And for the like Sins (even for one luxurious, adulterous Act) was not the whole Tribe of Benjamin cut off, Judg. 20. except only Six hundred Men? I might here add the remarkable Wars and Slaughters that suddenly followed upon David's Adultery: as also the rending of the ten Tribes from Solomon, as a Judgement for his being seduced to the Toleration of Idolatry, by his exorbitant Lusts and unlawful Marriages; and many more the like sad Examples, even out of the Annals of our own and other neighbouring Countries. And here also I might set down more at large God's particular Denunciations against such Sins, by the Mouth of all his Prophets; sometimes inflicting his great Judgements, Plague, Pestilence, Famine, Sword, removing his Candlesticks, etc. But I think what is already said is enough to show that these Sins of Uncleanness, though seeming most excusable, and natural to Man, are most abominable and loathsome in the sight of God: Especially, since by the new Contract that is made between us and our Lord, we are become in a more peculiar manner, Eph. 5. the Spouse of Christ; and are therefore to keep ourselves and Holy: We are become likewise by a particular and higher degree of Sanctification, the Temples of the Holy Ghost, 2 Cor. 6.19. and are therefore not sacrilegiously to violate 'em, but to cleanse them from all Filthiness, 2 Cor. 7.1. so perfecting that Holiness which becomes God's House for ever: Ps. 92.5. And this at our utmost Peril, For these Temples (saith St. Paul) whoso defileth, 1 Cor. 3.17. him will God eternally destroy. And a great Moralist that lived at the same time with Saint Paul (and probably also was made a Christian by him, with some others of Nero's Household) says in a manner the same thing (according to Lactantius, De Diu. Instit. Lib. 6. C. 25.) The most agreeable Temple we can build for God, is to consecrate him in our Hearts: And therefore to build otherwise would be to ruin ourselves to all Eternity, which transcendently exceeds all temporal Punishments put together. CHAP. IU. Of the Chastity of Marriage, and the Purity of a single Life. THus far concerning, First, The Impurity and Filthiness of the Sins of the Flesh, with their Oppositeness to the Purity and Holiness of Almighty God, and the defilement and dishonour they bring to the Persons that commit them: And, Secondly, the severe Punishments and tremendous Judgements of Almighty God towards such Sins above others. But, I would not, by any means, be thought so to have censured in the beginning of this Discourse, the present Age, as if there were not many amongst the married Persons, whom God hath reserved to himself (even in our own Nation) most inviolably constant to one another, and that live strictly within the Bounds and Obligations of that honourable State: And some also of the Unmarried, that live single out of Choice, not Necessity; upon the account of Virtue and Religion, not Licentiousness and Luxury: And many also, who after one Marriage, abstain from a Second, upon the same serious account; as did those Widows in the Primitive times of Christianity, 1 Tim. 5. who were for that very reason taken into the Charity and Service of the Church. MARRIAGE. Marriage is Honourable in all and the Bed undefiled with sin: Eph. v. 32. So Honourable that St. Paul compares the Union of Man and Wife with that of Christ and his Church: But yet doubtless conjugal Chastity hath many Degrees in it, and in some is far more pure than in others. More pure in those who for better performance of Holy Duties; or in Times of Humiliation, such as Lent, Ember-Weeks, etc. before receiving the Blessed Sacrament, and the like, abstain and separate, that they may give themselves to Fasting and Prayer. So in the Old Testament, Exod. 19.15 1 Sam. 21.4. before the descent of the Lord upon Mount Sinai, the People were commanded three days Sanctification, and not coming at their Wives. Women kept from the Young Men for about three days, and the Vessels of the Young Men Holy [i. e. from their Wives.] And in times of more earnest Addresses to God, this separation from Carnality was continually used amongst the Jews as appears from the Prophet Zechary. Zech. 7.3. But Conjugal Chastity is still more pure in those, who being separated for a longer time, either upon the account of Sickness in one Party, or by necessary absence of either of them about Worldly Affairs, in Journeys, Public Employments, Embassies, or being taken Captive by an Enemy and the like, yet both continue constant and faithful to one another, and this perhaps for many years, notwithstanding the many strong Temptations the world presents. So in the Case of Divorcement, or of a resolved Separation by consent, many there are who take from hence an occasion of being more diligent in the Service of God, and afterwards perhaps of removing themselves out of all danger of being ensnared and ruined by the Solicitations of Sense. And so likewise after Espousals, some there have been, tho' not many, who according to the Transcendent Example of our Blessed Lady and her Espoused Husband St. Joseph, have never proceeded any further, but instead of Consummating the Marriage, have transferred their Love and Affection to our Lord. So St. Austin treated with his Spouse, and after having once vanquished himself and his exorbitantly Incontinent Desires (of which himself so much complains, and in his Confessions Laments) so as to be content even without Marriage itself, became a most Holy Bishop, and one of the most Glorious Lights in the Church of God that ever the World saw since the times of our Saviour and his Apostles. And in our own Nation King Edward (commonly called the Saint) lived together with his Queen a holy Virginal Life, as Surius shows out of a very Ancient Manuscript. As did also Henry the First Emperor, Bolislaus (the modest) King of Poland, Alphonsus TWO King of Castille, Peter Vrceoli Duke of Venice, with may others. And St. Austin in his 45 Epistle encourageth a chaste Married Couple to persist unalterably in their Holy Intention of abstaining, by urging to them some great Examples, and telling them that Wedlock may still be maintained without Carnality, by preserving entire the affection of the mind. Since then those Marriages are to be Esteemed most which come nearest to a Single Life, Single Life. and allow most time for Devotion; and since also there are none in a Married State so pure as to propose nothing else by Marriage, but the having of Children and bringing them up in the fear of God and so filling Heaven with immortal Souls, without any mixture of gross sensual Pleasure and Carnal Satisfaction to themselves; and that many times beyond the bounds fixed and allowed by almighty God, who ordained Man and Wife to be helps to one another chief in spirituals; it must be granted in favour of those few (few Comparatively speaking) who in Colleges, Inns-of-Court and the like, make choice of a Single Life, that such a manner of Life (when truly Virtuous) hath the Pre-eminence of the Married State (ordinarily speaking) even in its greatest purity. For 1st. though the Married-bed be undefiled i. e. with sin, yet is the Virgin's Bed more undefiled, more Angellike in respect of Corporeal purity. Luk. 20.35. And therefore hereafter not to Marry, nor be given in Marriage, but to be like the Angels of God, is reckoned as a thing more Honourable for the body. Concupiscence indeed hath a share in the Single Life as well as in the Married: But before the fall there was no such thing in humane Nature as Concupiscence; and since the fall it is manifest the Single Life aims at a higher Degree of that Primogeneral. Virginal purity that was in Man in the State of Innocency: What else can be the meaning of that Expression of St. Paul, 1 Cor. 7.34. The Virgin careth, etc. that she may be holy both in Body and Spirit? Holy, that is certainly more holy and more pure than she could have been in a Married state. 2ly. The Single Life is free● from Distractions, Worldly Cares and Impediments than the Married Life can be. When a Man hath double Obligations relating to this World, and the next, and both of them require the greatest part of his time, he is as it were divided between two, and knows not which to attend to first, or how to quit his Obligations to one without incurring the displeasure of the other. Whereas if a Man have his Liberty (which when we can have we are rather to use it 1 Cor. 7.21.) and is not entangled with the present World, hath no Wife or Family and none to take care of but himself, what can hinder him from Dedicating himself, his time and all that he can do or suffer to the Glory and Service of God? I would have you (saith the Holy Spirit by St. Paul to his Corinthians) be [as much as may be] without carefulness; 1 Bor. 7.32. especially the Pastors and Watchmen of God's Church, who are to give an account of the Souls committed to their charge. Heb. 13.17. And it follows in the same Verse, He that is unmarried careth for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but he that is Married careth for the things of the Wo●ld, how he may please his Wife, and so she that is Married how she may please her Husband: And yet the Married (both Men and Women) must endeavour also to please the Lord (who hath an absolute power over them precedent to all others) and so are divided in their thoughts and cannot attend upon the Lord [in Prayer and other holy Duties] without great distraction and solicitude. For indeed nothing can be more contrary to Spiritual Exercises (such as Prayer, Fasting and the like) than Carnal Pleasures; which by the very Excesses they feed upon, and are therewith kept alive, discompose our Temper, and divide and divert our Love and Affections to the Creature, which are always best spent upon and consecrated to the Creator himself. The Prophet Elijah, who was the first that set up the Standard of Virginity upon Mount Carmel, was also himself a true Emblem of it, as being all Fire and Zeal for the service of God, Prophesying and Preaching the Truth boldly, even at Court, without having any regard either to worldly interest or his own safety: And therefore after a Pure, Virginal, Angelical Life here, God Translated him by an extraordinary manner that he should not see Death. 2 King. 2.11. Gen. 5.22, 24. Which indeed happened also to Enoch a Married Person, for his walking with God and giving a good Example in those early days of Religion, before the World was come to such perfection as to know the Excellency of Virginity and the Single Life; and besides that good Patriarches Family being then perhaps the only Church of God, he might justly think the increasing of it to be then of absolute necessity: Especially since even in our times there are not wanting some Eminent Persons, who Mary for no other end than to raise up Godly Families that shall imitate themselves in Piety and Devotion, and in walking like Enoch with God. Which nevertheless, tho' it be the most perfect Scope of Marriage, yet comes not up to the Purity and Perfection of Virginity and the Single Life, that is always sitting at the feet of Jesus, and incessantly attending on the service of God. It is upon this very account that St. Paul in his comparing these two States together in his 1st. Epistle to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 7.38. gives the preference to a single Life before Marriage. He that giveth her in Marriage doth well, but he that giveth her not in Marriage doth better. And so of a Widow, Vers. 40. the same Apostle pronounceth her happier in his Judgement if she so abide. Better and happier then is the Single Life to those that can live continently (and who ever used the means of Fasting, Prayer, frequent Communicating, avoiding Occasions, etc. with sincerity and failed?) because such being freed from Worldly cares, which occasion distractions, their Affections and Understanding are better disposed for meditating and contemplating on Divine things, and for receiving more and more Gifts and Graces of the Holy Spirit, and so may be said to live more sensible of the Presence as well as the Blessing of Almighty God, which is the only happiness (in this vale of miseries) of humane life. And such Single Persons as are of meaner Understandings, and so not capable of these higher matters, have yet by living Single more leisure for Works of Charity towards their Neighbour, which are altogether as acceptable to God, but yet not without the other necessary Duties even of the most ignorant Christians, such as daily Prayers, frequenting the Blessed Sacrament, Spiritual Pastors, etc. which ought not to be omitted upon any even pious Pretence whatsoever. The Encomiums of a Single Life are endless. St. Paul recommends it to all Christians (much more than to the highest rank of them) 1 Cor. 7.32, 35. before the pleasures of Marriage (to avoid the great Carefulness and Distractions that necessarily attend that State:) Even to those also that after enjoyment have left their Wives (i. e. by mutual consent) upon the same Spiritual account. And when our Saviour saith, There be some who have made themselves Eunuches (by embracing a Single Life) for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake, [i. e. For the better serving God in any way.] He who is able to receive it, let him receive it, what is it but a Recommendation to his followers (particularly to his Disciples and Guides of his Church) of that happier Condition? And as to that popular pretence of multiplying the World and continuing a Succession of Generations, that is not the care of Man but of God; and Individual Persons (as many as are so resolved in their minds) may safely choose the better State in order to their own greater happiness without fearing the ruin of the World to ensue. And indeed our Saviour (the fountain of all Purity) by that Expression of making themselves Eunuches, seems to grant (as St. Crysostome observes) the power of living a Virtuous Single Life, a life of Eunuchism, to all sincere endeavourers. And St. Paul also when he reckons up to his Corinthians, his own good Actions and Labours, 2 Cor. 6.6. inserts amongst them Pureness or Chastity; which he would not have done if he had thought it the mere Gift of God without any concurrence or acquisition of his own Watch and Fast and Prayers. If then those Married Persons are commended and promised a Reward who keep themselves within the bounds of Marriage, chaste from Adultery, Uncleanness, and all unlawful Carnal Pleasures; and those also a higher Reward who Renounce the pleasures of Marriage and leave their Wives (consenting thereunto) for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake, that they may love God the more entirely with all their Heart, all their Soul and all their Strength, (which is the great Commandment of all); what shall be done with those Virgins that have with much pains and difficulty abstained, not only from unlawful, carnal Pleasures, Fornication, etc. but also from the lawful, those of Marriage? It is certainly more Heroical (as a Holy Man observes) with Virgins wholly to repel the importunities of the Flesh, than with the Married only lawfully to satisfy them: A greater virtue to subdue, than only to moderate the most Violent of our Passions. Their reward therefore in Heaven must be proportionably greater, answerable to the several greater Degrees of Purity to which they have here attained. Of them it is said in the Revelations (at least of those of the highest degree of Virginal Purity) These are they who were not defiled with Women, Rev. 14.4. for they are Virgins: And they are there also called, The first Fruits unto God, and unto the Lamb: And their Transcendent reward is, They follow the Lamb whethersoever he goeth. And of whom else is it said, but of the most pure Virgin-Mother of our Lord, That all Generations shall call her Blessed. Luke 1.48. If it should here be objected, That in this Discourse there is little or nothing said concerning the sins of the Flesh being also contrary to the Purity of the Soul as well as of the Body; it is answered, That such sins are more directly opposite to the purity of the Body, as being committed in it, and cannot be committed without it, and are thence called the sins of the Flesh: Care therefore being taken of the Purity of the Body, the Purity of the Soul is included as to these sins. Not but there are other sins called Spiritual, more proper to the Soul and more directly opposite to its purity, and more dangerous also, because not so easily discernible by us as are the sins of the Flesh, such as Pride, Hypocrisy, Ambition, Envy, Wrath, Contentions of Argument, Disobedience to Superiors, Rebellion, Witchcraft, Curiosity of Science, Schism, Heresy, and the like, which together with their chief Remedies, Humility, Lowliness of Mind, Submission of Judgement, Contentedness, etc. would be sufficient matter for so many different Discourses. And I might here insert how far an obstinate Blindness, Ignorance or Error in the Understanding, and a Peevish Perverseness in the Will, may be said to be the chief, if not the only, Causes of these subtler and more Spiritual wickednesses of the Soul. But at present it shall suffice to have given some short account of the abominable sins of the Flesh, and the sad Consequences thereof; Superadding only (which I could not omit) what is so particularly marked out to us by St. Judas concerning Rebellion: Jud. v. 8. The Heads and Contrivers of which, he calls, Filthy Dreamers, that defile the Flesh, despise Dominion, and speak evil of Dignities. This Character is so plain that I need not point out the Persons concerned in it. For who are these Filthy Dreamers, but those who pretend Revelations and Illuminations from God to serve their own Lusts, who forsaking the Guides and Governors God hath set over them; and setting up for their own Passions, either of Revenge, or Covetousness, or Ambition and the like; and finding no encouragement either in God's Word or from good Men for what they do, perhaps do persuade themselves, at least pretend to others, that they have new Advices, new Instructions, new Lights from Heaven: And vainly puffed up in their Fleshly mind, do think to shelter themselves and their wickedness under a pretext, under the Fige leaves of Godliness and Spirituality; till like Corah and his Company Dreaming themselves holy, Num. 16.31 and offering to God false Fire, they are suddenly swallowed up, even before they can awake out of their filthy Dream. I proceed next to the Cure and Prevention of the Sins of the Flesh, by observing to the serious Reader, some few useful Rules out of those many, Prescribed by Pious and Learned Men for the direction of themselves and others. CHAP. V The first Rule, Of our Affections, Memory and Imagination. FIrst we must endeavour to know our own Passions and Inclinations, which if not rightly Governed, do in a manner bias the Soul to what they please, and are for that reason narrowly to be watched; especially the Passion of Love, as being the very Source of all the rest. For if our Love and Affection be once fixed and chained to any one object, it grows then unruly: All other Passions and Reason itself must give way to it. Its Bands are strong, Cant. 8.6. strong as death, saith the Spouse in the Canticles; Death that swallows all. All our Faculties and Powers become Vassals to this Passion (even our fears often proceed from our too great love), it hurries them on and when not rightly placed, it never stops but in our ruin: Forcing us many times against our minds (video meliora proboque, deteriora, etc.) to transgress our duty to God and ourselves, to lay aside our Liberty and Manhood together, and become Dogs, Swine, absolute Slaves to our Lusts, and so wholly defacing the glorious Image of God engraven in us, transforms us into Vessels of Dishonour fitted and prepared by our own folly for Eternal Destruction. The Young Man that is deceived and enticed by a Whore (who invites him in with a Stolen Waters are sweet, Bread eaten in a corner is pleasant, or some such little Inveigling Devices of the Devil;) follows her (says the Wiseman) As an Ox goeth to the Slaughter (i. e. with Greediness, as thinking he is going to a fresh Pasture;) and as a Fool to the Correction of the Stocks, without any foresight at all; Prov 5.5.9.18. not knowing that he is in any danger till a Dart strike thro' his Liver. Where as her house is the ready way to the Grave, going down to the Chambers of Death, and her steps layhold on Hell. Behold the dreadful end of a sinful dishonourable Love: Which well considered is certainly the best Remedy to stop the Foolish beginnings thereof: And to cause Virgins to fly to their Veil to secure their Beauty from occasioning their ruin, and to take Adulteries out of their bosom and beware of the Curiosity which is always Criminal. But then on the contrary if this powerful Passion of Love be rightly managed, so as to be once fixed upon its true object, Almighty God, and to hate for love of him all sin, and with St. Paul, Phil. 3.8. count all things loss and dung to gain Christ; it then surmounts all difficulties and casts out all fears, and renders the whole duty of a Christian easy, and Sufferings and Persecutions for Christ's sake desirable, that he may thereby more please God and become more conformable to our Lord, of which more afterwards. Secondly, Our Memory and Imagination are to be mortified. We must not suffer ourselves to ruminate and feed our Fancies upon past sensual Pleasures (our own or other men's;) for that is next to our Acting them over again. Thus the Israelites, when they were delivered by God himself from the midst of a sinful Nation, and miraculously fed in the Wilderness with Manna from Heaven, Num. 11.5, 6. longed and lusted after the fleshpots of Egypt, and so displeased Almighty God more by wishing for them again than when they actually enjoyed them. So St. Peter Compares a Christians returning to the Filthiness, from which he hath once escaped, 2 Pet. 2.22 to a Dogs returning to his vomit, and a Swine that is clean to her wallowing in the mire. And our Saviour himself hath particularly forewarned us. Luk. 9.62. That whosoever hath put his hand to the Plough [i. e. professed himself a Christian] looking back [with any delight to his former sinful course of life] is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. We are therefore most carefully to mind these two Faculties, especially considering they are the very Storehouse of the Soul: (See St. Austin in his Confessions (lib. 10.8.) concerning the boundless Capaciousness of the Memory for the comprehending the Images of all things that can any way fall under Man's Consideration:) Which therefore if filled with filthy Ideas, obscene Representations, and the like, most of all disturb and distract us, and are the greatest hindrance to Piety imaginable; and indeed the main Engine by which the Devil works (according to the power now left him) his malicious designs upon us. Whereas on the contrary if they be filled with good Objects, devout Representations, they do unavoidably cause great Piety and Devotion in us, and our hearts cannot but be set upon such Rich, Heavenly Treasure: Because our Imagination alone hath so great influence upon us either to good or bad, that such as our Fancy is, such is our Love, and such is the whole Man. Every one is drawn (trahit sua quemque, etc.) by some forcible Fancy, something that pleases, and according as that is thereafter are our thoughts: It is well therefore if that something be either Truth or Justice, or Beatitude and Eternal Life, the only true End and Scope of a Christian. Now in our watchfulness over these two faculties we are to have a particular Eye, 1st. to Our outward Senses. Not suffering them to approach, at least not dwell upon, sinful Objects; but removing them presently from us or us from them. For not Arguing with, but rather running away from them is the surest Remedy against the Temptations of all sensual Objects; it being much easier to keep ourselves from any knowledge or experience of them, than after experiencing them (so great is the Pravity of our Nature) from longing after them, especially those which are Incitements to Lust. A Whorish Woman (saith Solomon) will hunt for the precious Life of a Man; Prov. 6.26, 27. and you may as safely take fire into your bosom, or walk upon hot burning Coals as Converse with her, or even look upon her without having first made a Covenant with your Eyes. When therefore our Circumstances are such that we cannot well avoid the presence of a Tempting Object, our best Expedient is, 2ly. To retire immediately into ourselves to Discourse with God (who stands always knocking ready to be admitted and to enter with us into our Soul) and particularly to pray and beseech him either to remove the present Temptation or preserve us from it. Rev. 3.20. Or (the sooner to put it out of our mind) we may recite any Affectionately pious Devotions or Psalms, we have ready stored up in our Memory, which will make our Intention (not capable of long minding two things at once) unawares quit its former sinful object. Or we may consider with ourselves the bitterness and sting sin (whatsoever) committed leaves behind it, by reason of the uncertainty of our true Repentance and Sincere Reformation of Life. Or we may meditate on the Dolorous Passion of our Saviour which rend the very Rocks; Heb. 6.6. or any part of his sufferings in the Garden, at the Pillar, upon the Cross; and that Voluntarily to sin is as much as in us lies to Crucify him afresh. Or on some one of the Four last things. On Death, which puts an end to all Earthly pleasures in a moment, and separates a wicked Soul not only from the Body, but from God forever. On the last Judgement, when the dreadful Sentence on Drolling Debauchees and all Impenitents will be, Go ye Cursed. Mat. 25.41 On Hell, That everlasting Fire whither the Cursed are to go. Or lastly, On the Unspeakable Joys of Heaven, which may be so advantageously represented to the Soul as to drive out the thoughts of all other pleasures. For there the Blessed have their Knowledge perfected, Ps. 63.5. their Afflictions rewarded more than they were in the least worthy. Rom. 8.18 Rev. 22.4.4.8. They possess all Riches, all Honour, enjoy all Pleasures, are ravished with the Beauty and Holiness of our Lord; Eph. 4.10. Joh. 17.21, 23. filled with the fullness of God, made one with Christ and with God: Which are those high things so far surpassing our Understanding that (according to St. Paul) Eye hath not seen, 1 Cor. 2.9. 2 Cor. 12.4. nor Ear heard, nor hath it ever entered into the heart of Man to conceive them. And if none or all of these Meditations and innumerable others relating to our Saviour and another World (with which the Holy Scriptures and other good Books amply supply us) cannot prevail to secure us, it is certainly much better rudely to quit the Company and leap out of the flames, than to stay out of Complaisance to be burnt in them. CHAP. VI The Second Rule, Of Suggestions. THE Second Instruction is, To take great care of Suggestions, and to observe from what Principle or Cause they proceed: Whether, 1st. From ourselves, or our own Lusts; Or, 2ly. From the Devil; Or, 3ly. From the H. Spirit of God; and accordingly we are either to entertain or reject them. Now it is not easy, even for the greatest Asceticks to discern upon all occasions from which of these Principles a Suggestion arises; but if it be such as tempteth us to any Notorious sin, any Filthy uncleanness, we may presently know from whence it comes. And then it is much better and easier to suppress it in its very beginning, to stifle it in the Embryo before it be conceived in us by our consenting to it, or at least before it break forth into any outward action, which when finished brings forth Death. Jam. 1.15. Filthy, unclean Suggestions we cannot always prevent, but we may refuse consenting to them, or taking any delight in them; and so suppress and keep them under (by God's Assistance) till at length we Totally extinguish them. O that God's Holy Spirit would take such full possession of my heart as not to suffer any unclean Suggestion to enter there! But if the sin to which we are tempted be habitual to us, or the sin which doth most easily of all others beset us, Heb. 12.1. we are then to bend all our forces against it, make the strongest resolutions we can, for some short time at least, suppose for a day, and so renew our resolutions every Morning (the known practice of a Renowned Bishop of the Church of England in Point of Matrimony) taking particular Notice how often it assaults us, and in the midst of the Temptation using some external action (if nothing but violence will do) such as throwing ourselves down upon our knees or face, beating our Breast, supplicating our Lord with sighs and tears (when God pleases to give them) for his assistance, who hath promised that he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able, 1 Cor. 10.13. but will with the Temptation make a way for our Escape, or enable us to bear the pressure of it. At least, it is wisdom to delay the Execution of the foul Act to which we are tempted, for by deferring it, our reason may gather new forces, our Passions abate; or some External Accidents may intervene: Some pious reflection of our own may occur; or some good Friend may come in, to whom we may impart our deplorable Condition and ask his good Advice, who at such a time is much better able than we ourselves to give it; and in this sense chief it is that the bearing one another's burdens is the fulfilling of the Law of Christ. Gal. 6.2. After the vanquishing of such a Temptation, and the leaving as far as we can our own Nature to go over to Grace, there usually comes an Angel to comfort us, or what is better, some holy Inspiratons of the Divine Spirit to incline us (who of ourselves cannot so much as think a good thought) to thank God for our deliverance, 1 Cor. 3.5. and to pray for more Grace and Strength against another time. Such holy Inspirations we must take care not to repel; for that would be more or less to Resist, Grieve, and Quench the Holy Spirit of God in us: But on the contrary we must Cherish all good Thoughts, and by them endeavour to introduce, by little and little, Virtues instead of our ill Habits. When once we intent to begin a new Course of Life, we must not in the least consult with Flesh and Blood, but rather fall immediately upon it. If at any time, why not now, if not now, perhaps never? Was the saying of St. Austin. And in the acquiring of any Virtue, suppose Continency, Chastity or the like, we may (with the same Father) boldly throw ourselves upon God who will not withdraw himself to let us fall, Projice te in Deum, etc. But yet our own sincere Endeavours after a pure mind and right intention must not be wanting, to which God always gives a Blessing tho' we are not always sensible of it. Now some perhaps may think Solemn Resolutions to one Just beginning to break a long custom and habit of any filthy sin to be both Rash and Dangerous, because when once broken (as many times first Resolutions are, the ill habit being as yet much stronger than the good one to be introduced) the overgrown Sinner is apt to be either too much discouraged and so fall into despair; or to be more hardened in his most shameful Vice, and so Incorrigibly go on still in his old wont Road of Debauchery: It may therefore be much safer for a beginner to make a limited Conditional Promise and such as is Releasable upon a Forfeiture. Suppose (for Example) we resolve to abstain from such a filthy sin, from such lewd Company, for so long a time, or if we do not we will indispensibly pay so much Money to be given to the poor, say so many Prayers, fast so many Meals, shut up ourselves so many Days from all Company, and the like (and this besides and over and above the necessary requisites of our Repentance); which present forfeiture or punishment (in our Purse or otherwise) many times hath a greater Influence upon us towards the breaking off a Debauched Custom, than either the fears or hopes of what may and certainly will happen to us (according to our deserts) in another World. Moreover, the resolving upon such a Penalty for the Forfeiture as does really afflict the Body, such as Fasting, long Retirement, Watching, etc. or diminishing our beloved treasure and substance, by giving large Alms to Prisons, Hospitals, poor Housekeepers, etc. will certainly fix in our memory an hatred of the sin, and so mind us of every Suggestion of it, and deter us from embracing it: because, if a temporal punishment be immediately to follow it much lessens the desire of the imaginary pleasure, and oftentimes occasions the reflecting also on the future real punishment, eternal Death, which is the final Doom and the Inseparable wages of all unrepented, Rom. 6.23. unforsaken sin. But then to every good purpose we must not forget to join this Resolution also, that if we should at any time by infirmity, or surprise, relapse into the detestable sin against which we have resolved (for he that stands must take heed lest he falls, Rom. 11.21. and be not high minded but fear) we will not however abandon ourselves to it, but on the contrary renew and make stronger Resolutions against it with severer Penalties annexed, and so valiantly continue on the fight till it shall please God to give us the Victory. Such voluntary Mortifications are likewise Efficacious not only for the taming and keeping under the body, but for the obtaining also from God (by our thus siding and taking part with his Divine Justice against our sins) the particular Gift and Grace of which we stand in need. Some unclean Lust is not to be subdued, Mat. 17.21. some Devil not cast out without Fasting as well as Prayer. Our sparing Self-Mortifications, is like sparing the Rod to the Child, but the using of them is the ready way to prevent God's Judgements from falling upon us in particular; or upon our Country for our sakes, and by reason of our sins, or to remove them when begun Thus Ezra and his People fasted and besought God, Ezra 8.21. and he was entreated for them. And so another time Queen Esther and the whole Jewish Nation just as they were going to be Massacred, Est. 4.16. were preserved by the same means of Fasting and Prayer. The Ninevites also were spared upon the same account of their great Humiliation, Jon. 3.10. And so the Prophet Daniel attained to so great Knowledge and Wisdom, and so high a degree of the Divine Favour, by his long fasting and mourning and praying for God's only Church and People; Dan. 1.17. Dan. 10.3. And indeed I know no other way of stopping God's Judgements, even when they are breaking out upon us, than by thus applying ourselves to Mollify his Justice that we may not fail of his Mercy. But yet the greatest Humiliation of all, and most Beneficial, Jam. 5.16. is the telling our sins to one another as often as we commit them, particularly to our Spiritual Pastors, which will be apt to awe us (if not hardened) from sinning in that kind any more; and our Pastor by his good Directions, Prayers, and the power with which Almighty God hath entrusted him, is able (with our concurrence) to administer the best Remedy to all our sins. And then another Person, tho' he were not more Learned, being no way concerned or interested in our Affairs, must needs be more void of Passion, more Impartial, and Consequently can better Judge of us, better Direct and Guide us than we ourselves O that we could thus die to all things but God, and take no pleasure but in Self-denials and Mortifications for the sake of Jesus: From whence flows that Humility & Purity of heart, Mat. 5.8. to which our Saviour hath Emphatically annexed the Blessedness of seeing God CHAP. VII. The Third Rule, Of the Occasions of grosser Sins. THirdly, We are to avoid the Occasions of the sins of the Flesh. Some of them I shall name. 1st. The making Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof. Rom. 13.14. Strong Meats, strong Drinks, high Sauces are not convenient, as being many times very hurtful to the Memory and Understanding, always heightening and disordering the Passions. Be not drunk with Wine (saith St. Paul to his Ephesians) wherein is Excess: Eph. 5.18. And in Excess a Man knows not what he does, but is ready to go along with his Company, and to commit with them the greatest lewdness and outrage whatsoever, under the pretence of a Frolic. Leu. 10.9. Wherefore Priests under the Old Law, in the time of their Attendance on God in the Execution of their Function, were forbidden such things. And all Christians now are in some manner God's Priests. Rev. 5.10. Great Caution therefore is to be taken of Invitations and public Entertainments. It is much safer to eat alone, or with few and those Abstemious Persons. And then rather mean Diet to be chosen than Delicacies, (poor People's Children we see thrive best;) often calling to mind the hard fare of our Lord and his poor Disciples (whom he chose poor) Who fed on Ears of Corn, Barley-Bread, Mat. 12.1. Joh. 6.9. Fish, an Honeycomb, Water, and the like, and St. John Baptist, upon Locusts and Wild-Honey, and the holy Men of Egypt (according to St. Jerom) upon much harder Fare. Often remembering also, the All-satisfying Food promised us in Heaven, which will keep us from ever hungering or thirsting any more. Blessed are they that shall eat Bread in the Kingdom of God. Luk. 14.15. Rev. 19.9. And Blessed are they that are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Lord evermore give us that Heavenly Bread that never perishes, and that Heavenly Water also which shall be in us a well of Water Springing up to everlasting Life. The great reason why we ought (if we intent to avoid the sins of the Flesh) to take particular care of living Temperate in our Diet, and of observing frequent Fast, especially the Solemn Fasts of the Church, is, because by our Eating and Drinking the Flesh arms and furnishes itself as it were with new Provisions for fight against the Spirit: New Matter and Fuel is administered to Concupiscence, and the Brain many times so heated as not to be able to make a right Judgement of things. It was after a great Dinner when Herod for the sake of a Dancing. Mar. 6.21. Girl, consented to the beheading of the Venerable and St. John Baptist, as having been an open Enemy to his Incestuous Marriage. It was in Drunkenness when Lot committed double Incest with his Two Daughters. Gen. 19 Hos. 4.11. Rom. 13.13. And we find all along in Scripture, Drunkenness and Gluttony inseparable Companions of Lust. And then the necessary Repairs of our Body returning so often, we are obliged in a manner to be continually upon our Guard, and to put a Knife to our Throat (as the Wise Man adviseth) that we be not overcome by our Appetite. This Concupiscence in Eating and Drinking (by reason of the daily necessities of the Body) is no such thing (says St. Austin in his Confessions) which we can resolve to cut off at once and touch no more as we may do other things. Eat and Drink we must, yet not to Excess. The reins therefore of the Throat are to be held with a moderate hand between too little and too much; And who is he O Lord (says the same Father) that is not sometimes transported beyond the Lists of Necessity? Whoever he be, a great one he is, let him magnify thy Name. So that in one word our living temperate and watching over our Appetite, so as to thwart it in every thing, is the taking away the chief and most principal occasion of Lust, and as I may say the quenching of it in its very Cause. Fraena gulam, etc. Bridle your Appetite (says Thomas a Kempie) and you will the more easily bridle every Inclination of the Flesh. To Temperance in Meat and Drink, and frequent Fast, we may add Watching and Moderating our Sleep, which (as Experience shows us) very much tames the Flesh (as it does even the wildness of the most savage Beasts) and in a manner produceth the same effects upon it as Fasting, renders us less disposed to sensual Mirth, and more inclined to Silence and Recollection. When in Bed, if we cannot sleep, Praying and Medirating is necessary, and sometimes rising from our Beds (when we cannot otherwise drive away impure Thoughts), and passing the whole Night under God's wing in Devotions without any sleep at all, according to the Examample of our Lord, Luk. 6.12. 2 Sam. 12.16. his Apostles, King David and other Saints. For lazy Sleep, and indeed all manner of Sloathfulness, is so near a kin to Lust that nothing can break it off but violence and strong resolutions against it: Forcing ourselves out of our Chair or Couch to some Virtuous Action, or Pious Company, or the ordinary business of our Employments, or what is much better, to our Prayers And it is worth all our pains and trouble, if it were only for preserving our Chastity: To which Virtue alone the Two great Monarches of the World, Cyrus and Alexander, seem to have owed the success of their Arms; and the Apostate Julian (when he had left all other Virtues) most truly owned that this Queen of Virtues made Lives more Beautiful than Painters Can Faces Fair; and the Reason given by Salvian of the Goths gaining the Empire of Rome is, That they were a Nation far more chaste, and sent on purpose by God to chastise the Effeminacy of the Romans: And yet that Virtue in them so Eminent, how far short came it of true Christian Chastity, which ought to be embraced for the sole sake of Christ, and accompanied also with all other Christian Virtues which they wanted. The Truth is, to sleep and loiter away our time (which is one of the most precious Talents with which Almighty God hath entrusted us) is altogether mispending of it; and so is also the passing of it in Drunkenness, high Gaming, etc. from whence naturally proceeds Swearing, Cursing, Damning ourselves and others, all which are far worse than Idleness itself. A diligent Employment therefore, such as together with our Prayers, and the Exigences of Nature, (not exclusive of some short innocent Diversions) measures out all our time, is absolutely requisite even to the greatest Personages: And the more of it that is spent in the Immediate Service of God the better, as coming nearer the eternal Employment of the Blessed in Heaven. But of all the Labours, the resisting Temptations and our Passions, and all encouragements to Sloth and Idleness, (so frequently recommended to us in Holy Scripture under the Name of Vigilancy and Watching) is the greatest and most worthy a Man; and time is never b●●ter spent than in so doing. Blessed is that Servant whom our Lord when he cometh shall find so Employed. Mat. 24.46. Secondly, Lewd and Debauched Company, and Filthy Conversation, is also to be avoided as a principal occasion of Lust. It was an observation of the Moralist Seneca long ago concerning the Temper of the World in general: That he could never go abroad in it one day and return home again at night with the same manners he carried out with him; but was still rifled of some Virtue or other, and rendered either more ambitious, or more luxurious and the like. Which holds much truer of Lewd and Debauched Company , who are the very Scum and Reproach of Mankind, setting up (as the Infidels did the Statues of Venus and Adonis in the place of the Holy Cross) Debauchery in the place of Piety, and having accustomed themselves to Fleshly Lusts, perfectly hate all Spiritual Actions and Persons whatsoever, and knowing the Judgement of God against the Committers of such things, yet not only do the same, but take pleasure in them that do them; whose very words also, and sometimes breath is contagious; & many times, to keep up & maintain their lewd Courses, they are forced to become common Mercenaries in all sorts of Wickedness to buy themselves bread (as is notoriously evident to the whole World); and you cannot converse with such without being in danger, either, 1st. of partaking of their sins (which they think only necessary accomplishments to fit one for their Company) even by not reproving them; or, 2dly of being infected by their ill Example, they always crying up Liberty and Luxuty against Mortification and Chastity: Eccl. 13.2. 1 Cor. 15.33 Whereas there is no touching of Pitch without being defiled therewith, no having Communication with ill manners without being insensibly corrupted by them. Our Conversation therefore is more safe with Virtuous Persons: And those rather few than many; such as may either better us, or we them. But as for open, lewd, profane Livers, who publish their sin as Sodom, glory in their shame, boast of their Debaucheries as so many great Achievements (as if the Christian Hero was to be known by often violating, not by defending the Bulwarks of Chastity) and being perhaps Gentlemen think they are above all Ordinances whatsoever; and so having removed all Landmarks between good and evil, and owning no Obligation to a Supreme Power, besides what is Suggested from Nature, profess themselves downright Libertines, and count it their greatest Excellency to have neither Virtue nor Religion (which they call Chains and Fetters; whose death however is commonly in Despair): We are strictly forbidden having any Society with such. I have written to you (says St. Paul to his Corinthians) not to keep Company if any Man that is called a Brother be a Fornicator, etc. or a Drunkard, etc. with such a one no not to Eat. And this, 1st. in order to the bettering of him by making him ashamed. Or at least, 2ly. for the preserving ourselves from being insensibly corrupted by him. Or, 3ly. from giving Scandal to others by our frequenting such ill Company. Thus St. Austin's Religious Mother carried herself towards her own Son, who till he had Renounced his Manichaean Heresy and Vicious Life together, and become a good Christian, would not so much as eat with him; though nevertheless when alone she was almost always in prayers and tears to God for him, till she had obtained his Conversion. It is a saying of Matchiavil, That the ready way to ruin a State or Kingdom is to fill it with ill manners. Good reason then for good Men to take care how they Converse with ill, and to suspect all they do not know; least at length, not only themselves but the Public also be endamaged by it. But than Cases of necessity are to be exempted, when either we or they cannot subsist or perform our ordinary Duties without our coming together; or there is high Probability of our Reforming them by our Conversing friendly and virtuously with them. Otherwise we are forbidden all manner of Conversation with such notorious Sinners, so long as they continue the Custom and Practice of their lewd and wicked Courses and seem obstinately resolved so to do: Because our siding and herding with such is plainlly the declaring ourselves on the Devil's side, open Enemies to God and all goodness And for this reason it is that the Church of Christ (like a most wise Mother) hath in all Ages taken strict care to secure her obedient Children from the Infection of the Disobedient, by making severe Canons against Praying, Communicating, and (in some Cases) speaking with the Perverse, whether their Errors were in Faith or Practice. Because she not discerning the hearts of her Children, can only levelly her Censures against their External Profession as she perceives them faulty either in Doctrine or Manners; and those that will not be restrained, must blame, not her, but themselves, if they incur her anathemas instead of her Blessings. Can. Apost. See Can. Apost. 11, 12, 13. Conc. Laod. Can. 33, 38, 39 Concil. Carthag. 4. Can. 72, 73. St. Aug. Ep. 48. and Ep. 152. To Lewd and Debauched Company we may add lewd Books, as the worst and most dangerous Companions of all: Because they usually take us alone, and when perhaps least upon our Guard. By lewd Books I mean nasty Ribaldry, Novels, Poems, Songs, Pictures, Romances, and many of our Modern Plays (which of that kind are so much the worse as their Language is better) the Authors whereof (even when they become Penitents) can never (ordinarily speaking) make a sufficient Satisfaction to God and the World, without a Solemn Retractation of them. Many unwary, both Men and Women, have been ruined by them, none bettered, because indeed they with all the Pomp imaginable recommend the Debauchery they pretend to expose; and if you observe it, always speak more wittily for, than against the Vice they are describing. But as bad Books are the worst, so good Books are the best Companions in the World: The safest retreat from ill Company, more advantageous than the best, and the greatest Felicity on this side of Heaven. In omnibus requiem quaesivi, etc. I sought my quiet in all things of this Life, but could not find it, only in Angelo cum libello, with a little good Book in a convenient Nook. 3ly. Infamous Places (infected with the whole herd or any one of these abominable sins), notwithstanding their being grown almost into a Fashion amongst us, are to be most watchfully avoided by us, whether they be single Houses or whole Cities. No trusting to the smooth words of an Harlot, who layeth in wait at all the Corners of the Streets, Prov. 7.5.10.16. enticing whom she can to her house; pretending all things are made ready for them, when at the same time she intends only to make a prey of them. And the same Wiles & Crafts may be observed in common Drunkards and all profligate Sinners, who are also very dexterous in using their Witticisms and little Artifices to deceive and draw in others. Thomas a Kempis adviseth against too great Familiarity with any (especially Women) how good soever, much more with lewd Persons, or Cohabiting with them. No safe venturing into their Houses where this Leprosy hath been spread: No secure coming into Sodom, even for an Angel. Righteous Lot, or any good Man, must not stay there when he cannot convince them, lest he be consumed with them. And I suppose Tyre and Sidon, and the other Cities about them, to have been in the same condition. And yet we find our Saviour pronouncing greater Woes upon some other Cities (in his time of Conversing visibly upon Earth) that had received greater mercies, greater means of Salvation; We to thee Chorazin, Mat. 11.21. woe to thee Bethsaida: If the mighty works that have been done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repent long ago, sitting in Sackcloth and Ashes. Therefore it shall be more tolerable for those Cities in the day of Judgement than for you. And I pray God those Woes may not reach our ungrateful Cities, which have seen so many of God's mighty Works, and felt so many of his Fatherly Corrections, yet are still so overrun with all sorts of uncleanness and sensuality (as too many profligate Wretches will tell you without blushing) that we cannot expect less than that the utmost of the Divine Vengeance should forthwith after an extraordinary manner (as lately upon Jamaica) be poured out upon us. God's ordinary dreadful Judgements, such as Plague, Fire, Sword, Poverty, have not reclaimed us, and nothing now (as it seems to me) but a speedy Exemplary Repentance, like that of Nineveh, can avert our ruin. Our good Lord give us such true, universal, over-prevailing Repentance, before it be too late. Before I conclude this Chapter, give me leave to add one Caution more concerning Discourse, as being the most dangerours' Occasion of the filthiest sins. All levity therein, foolish Talking, Jesting, Buffoonery, Superfluous Facetiousness, Affectation of Wit and the like, must be avoided; because they tend wholly to the pleasing of men, and that many times not without grossly offending of God: and woe to them that (in such manner) Laugh now, for they shall eternally weep hereafter. Luk. 6.25. It is good Advice therefore which is given by a very Learned Person upon this Point, to use an Holy Reservedness in our Conversation, even with intimate Friends, and not to turn our inside outward, or to speak all that comes in our thoughts. Because, having many imperfections most of our thoughts must needs be weak and unrefined, and we apprehend at first sight according to Nature, not Grace, unless some Preconsideration be used. And in much Company we are to accustom ourselves rather to silence (sometimes imposing it upon ourselves if given to talk much) so far forth as is consistent with our Duty and Common Civility: And not to permit the lewd or idle Discourse of others to interrupt (as little as may be) our Praying continually, 1 Thess. 5.17. always giving thanks, rejoicing always in the Lord, which is the true Life and perfection of a Christian. The Guarding thus our own Tongues well and Watching other men's, cuts off perhaps the greatest occasion of our corrupting or being corrupted: As may be seen more at large in the many particular Discourses upon this Subject, to which I refer the Reader. Subjoining only the warning our Saviour hath given us, That of every idle word we speak (much more of our Perjuries, Mat. 12.36, 37. Obstinacies, palpable Lies and Blasphemies) we must give an account at the day of Judgement, and that according to our words we shall either be Condemned or Justified. God grant we may not out of our own mouths be condemned in that terrible day. CHAP. VIII. The Fourth Rule, Of Divine Assistances and the means of obtaining them. FOurthly, The last Rule I shall mention is, The being mindful of the Powerful Assistances afforded Christians above all others in the Conquering their Lusts, and of the means also of obtaining those Assistances. For it is to be noted, 1st. That no one Sin is Pardoned but by the Death of Christ. 1 Cor. 15.3. 2ly. That to the applying the Merits of Christ's Passion to us there are required some Conditions on our part, Phil. 2.12. namely our Assenting and Co-operating with God's Grace. 3ly. That by such Application not only our sins are remitted, Eph. 2.5.4.25. but we receive the Grace of Regeneration, changing us in our minds, implanting us into Christ, enabling us to good works, Rom. 2.13. Joh. 1.12. to become doers of the Law, Sons of God, etc. The manner of such our Regeneration and of the Divine Assistance is thus. First, Mat. 28.19. Eph. 5.26. When we are Baptised into Christ's Church, not only past sins are washed away (supposing us rightly disposed thereunto) but also a new Power and Ability Supernatural of Living holily for the future is conferred and superadded: Tit. 3.5, etc. Acts 11.16 The Holy Ghost being then personally given us, and God's Grace Efficaciously planted in us for newness of Life, Rom. 6.4.7.6. and bringing forth Good Works. By the Assistance of this Grace therefore our corrupt Nature is so perfectly restored and made capable of all Virtue, that we may and are obliged also therewith totally to subdue our Lusts; so as to live free from the habit even of unclean thoughts, Gal. 5.24. and from the commission of all unclean Acts, at least of those greater before mentioned, which we are sure (from God's own Word) exclude the Kingdom of Heaven. By this new principle of Grace, Eph. 5.5. which worketh with us, (and without which our working signifies nothing) a real Holiness, & Facility to Good, is conveyed into our Souls; our Understanding is Illuminated so as readily to embrace the Holy Mysteries of Christ's Religion which are above it, above it's natural Knowledge and Reach, and past it's ever finding out but by Revelation: Our Will from time to time inspired with new and divine Affections and at length influenced (at least in some Persons) with an impatient Love of God above all other things. And the same Holy Spirit, which thus Acts and Assists within us, intercedes also for us, Rom. 8.26. with groans which cannot be uttered: groans irresistably prevalent at the Throne of Grace. To the first Grace therefore given us at our Baptism, if we make a right use of it, more and more is added (to every one that hath [improved his one Talent] more shall be given, Mat. 25.29. and he shall have abundance:) And sometimes to the same well-disposed Person are conferred several Talents, several different Gifts (for God's greater glory) of the same Holy Spirit; but yet the most excellent Grace which we are above all to covet, 1 Cor. 12.31. as being that without which all other Graces signify nothing to us, is, 1 Cor. 13.13 Charity or the Love of God: Which is the most effectual remedy of all our Lusts or false Loves, and when once obtained does in a manner the whole work of a Christian it , because by its secret Energy it centres all our Affections in our Lord, so as sweetly to compel us to seek in all things a punctual Observance and conformity to his holy Will, and in nothing to displease him, with whom our Soul being ravished is sick of love for him and languisheth with a perpetual desire, Cant. 5.8. either, 1st. of suffering for him (thereby at once to show the Truth of our love and to purify us as Gold in a burning Furnace;) Or, 2ly. of praying to Him (the only way of Conversing with him upon Earth); Or, 3ly. Of fully enjoying him in Heaven, even though it were through Martyrdom itself. Which great Virtue shined most Eminently in St. Mary Magdalen, whose sins which were many were therefore forgiven her, because she loved much: And her choosing to sit at the feet of Jesus to hear his words, our Saviour himself calls the unum necessarium, the better and sublimer part of a Christian, which nothing can take away. And albeit this love of God infers and comprehends the love of our Neighbour, and of ourselves, and of all things that belong to God, yet these not after the fashion of the World, but only as consistent with and much increasing and enflaming our love of God. So that by showing our love to God (as we are obliged) all the ways that we can, we are continually enlivening and augmenting it, and still think it little and unworthy of eternal life; and that it is want of our Endeavours, and not of God's Grace, which hinders us from attaining still higher Spiritual Gifts and a more intense love of our Lord; every little Inclination in us to any thing else, if not throughly mortified, being enough to retard our progress in this true way to perfection: This one thing I do (says St. Paul to his Philippians) forgetting those things which are behind [already obtained] and reaching forward to those things which are before [not yet obtained] I press toward the Mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phil. 3.13. And if so great an Apostle, when he had so far attained as perhaps none farther, in the Love of God and Self-mortifications (witness his Watch, 2 Cor. 6.5.11.23. Fast, Labours, Stripes, Imprisonments, Deaths) was still pressing forward; much more ought we to mend our pace who are so far behind, so far from perfect Charity and perfect Chastity as to be still wallowing in our ●usts, still hankering after the Gratifications of Sense. We ought not only to be mindful of the powerful Assistances God hath afforded us to Purity and Holiness, but also actually to make use of them for that very end and purpose; those Assistances of the Holy Spirit being such as continually war against the Flesh, Col. 3.1. stirring us up to seek those things that are above and supernatural; and so after an ineffable manner (if we endeavour to correspond to them) unite us to Christ and God and bring down Heaven into our Souls, quenching in us the thirst to all sensual Pleasures, making them by degrees seem more and more contemptible to us and at length odious: Quas sordes, quae dedecora, etc. what filthiness did they Suggest, what disgrace and dishonour? says St. Austin in his Confessions concerning his formerly beloved, but then much more hated, Lusts. The way therefore to experience the good of Christianity, is resolutely to enter upon practising Christian Virtue by a more strict observance of God's Laws, and purging ourselves from the contrary Vices. For none (how learned soever) can truly know God, but they that serve him: And a poor Shepherd, that faithfully serves him, will by experience know more of God in his chiefest Excellencies, than a Doctor of the Chair that does only talk of him. And as the Grace of God is the principal Instrument of a good Christian Life; so the next to that, is frequent examining our Consciences, once or twice a day; that so we may learn to know by little and little how to distinguish between the motions of Grace and those of Nature, what are Temptations and what not (and here the Judgement of some wise conscientious man more skilful than ourselves is to be taken in) lest we should place our greatest Consolation (as the Soul always does in something) in any thing that is not God. We are to think ourselves below all, and that there are none more frail than ourselves; to empty ourselves of all affections to Earthly things, and to have no propriety or desire that shall in the least wise hinder our love to God from being pure: To leave our Lusts and that forever, which tho' with St. Austin we may find difficult, yet with him also we shall thereby find ourselves freed from a Chain: To be so indifferent, lastly, to joy or sorrow, Temptation or quietness, Life or Death, and all things in this World, as to expect no Consolation here but what flows from the Cross. This is dying to ourselves and all Creatures, that we may be united to God; which the Holy Scriptures call partaking of the Divine Nature, 2 Pet. 1.4. turning our heart to God, conformity to his Holy Will, walking in the Truth, serving him with a pure mind (i. e. without anxiety or Expectation of reward) rejoicing in him, acquiescing in him, 2 Pet. 3.1. going out of ourselves into him by a perfect Abnegation of ourselves, Mark 8.34. referring all things to his Glory and making him all in all to us, 1 Cor. 25.28 Eph. 1.6. which is the perfection of Religion, as may be seen more at large in Thomas a Kempis and other Spiritual Books. But then in our endeavouring after this perfection we must beware of the highest cunning and must subtle Device of the Devil, which the Scripture calls his transforming himself into an Angel of Light. And that is either, 1st. By his stirring up in us a secret self-conceit of our good Actions as if they could not possibly be mended. Or, 2ly. His throwing in some little specious Reasonings and Fallacies to make us abate or alter them (as he always pretends) for the better and for God's greater Glory. For example; in the exercise of our Charity towards our Neighbour, to corrupt that Divine Love, he usually suggests something from Reason to induce us to change Divine into Rational; then something from Nature to change Natural into Carnal, than something from our Flesh alone to change Rational into Natural, till by degrees he renders that love in us, which was at first Divine and Pure, altogether impure and unchaste and most opposite and most displeasing to Almighty God. But yet for the most part he takes care not to deface all Virtue in his Servants, that neither themselves nor others may easily discern the wickedness he intermixes, and so be frighted into Repentance. Such are the Wiles of the Roaring Lion who continually goes about seeking how to devour and make a prey of us: 1 Pet v. 9 Whom we are commanded to resist steadfast in the Faith with all sobriety and watchfulness: But do thou O Lord, have mercy on us and strengthen us to overcome him. Secondly, The means now of obtaining farther Assistances of the Holy Spirit, besides what we receive in Baptism are chief, 1st. Prayer, our own and other men's. Phil. 1.19. 2ly. Frequently Communicating. If we would (for Example) obtain in opposition to our Lusts (those false Loves) that most excellent Gift of loving God above all things (which is the) only true love) and doing every thing to please him, we must First, Pray for it. And this we cannot do with that earnestness and integrity we ought, before we sincerely repent of our False Loves, our Darling Lusts. For God hears not unrepenting Sinners, and admits of no Rivals in our Affections, he will have our whole heart or none. Then after our deep sorrowing for those Heinous Sins (and what sins are not heinous?) Even so sorrowing as not to be content without the Absolution of the Church. (See Bishop Andrews' Sermon on John 20.23. Whose sins ye remit, Joh. 20.23. etc.) & to be ready to submit to her severest Discipline for the good of our Souls (See the Preface to the Commination in the Common-Prayer Book,) in great Humility and Lowliness of Mind and Self-abjection, and with a steadfast Lively Faith also, that God both Can and Will answer our Request if it be for our Good, we may again and again discover to him our particular Follies (which he already knows, but yet expects to be as it were anew Informed of them by us) bemoaning our vileness, and opening to him our present wants with all the Motives which we can think will cause true Contrition in us, and incline Him also to Grant our instant Petition. We desire (for the purpose) what he commands us, the loving Him above all things. Let us lay before Him, besides our own weaknesses and Infirmities, his Perfections, Beauty, Wisdom, Love and Mercy towards us, which one would think were enough to excite our love to him without his commanding us to love him who are most unworthy of his love. So many Blessings, so many Deliverances both Temporal and Spiritual, will they not move us? Hath he not Redeemed us from all our Enemies, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil? taught us what to do and what to refrain? given us tender Consciences (the greatest Blessing upon Earth) to admonish us? Enabled us by his Holy Spirit to perform what he requires? And yet when we continue vicious, is he not still patiented and long-suffering for our Repentance? Preventing our Conversion with his Grace, renewing his Image in us, and making us again capable of Immortality and Glory? For all which Benefits, and Ten Thousand more, can we do less than pray we may hate ourselves, our Lusts and all things else, and become Dead to sensuality and the World for love of him, who first loved us even to Death? Some there are and always have been, who by Assiduous Praying, having attained to the love of God, think Prayer the greatest pleasure of their whole Life, and themselves never well but when they are thus conversing with Almighty God (whom they reverentially apprehend to be always with them, either before, or within them:) And are continually offering to him his own most precious Gifts, which he therefore vouchsafes them that they may have something valuable and worthy to offer: And so by their Devotions they also prepare their Souls for the receiving those particular Graces, for which they pray, and of which they stand in need. The Power and Prevalency of Prayer (whether Vocal or Mental) with Almighty God, and the great benefits to ourselves and others from the several parts thereof, Self-Examination, Confession, Thanksgiving, Petition, Praise, Resolution, Intercession, Oblation, and every kind of Devotion wherein we either speak to God or God to us, together with proper Forms and Directions for every occasion, the Reader may amply learn from the public Liturgies, Manuals, Catechisms, Lives, and Devotions of holy Men, &c written and allowed of by the Ancient Fathers, and the whole Church of God in all Ages. And then, as to the necessity of Prayer, if we consider our many wants, Temporal and Spiritual, to be relieved; many sins, wherein we still offend God, to be pardoned; many Temptations and Dangers from which to be preserved; many Benefits and Assistances received; and all these with a respect also to our Fellow Christians; we cannot but acknowledge every moment of our Lives (had we no other necessary Duties) too little to be spent in this one Great Duty of Continual Prayer. 1 Thess. 5.17. Our good Lord assist us by his Holy Spirit in the diligent and sincere performance thereof. The other Chief Means of our obtaining Divine Assistances against our Lusts; is, 2ly. Frequen Communicating (as many good Christians now do, and the Primitive Christians did almost every day). I do not intent here to treat largely of this Holy Sacrament (there being many good Books Written designedly on that Subject,) but only recommend to the Reader (without meddling with God's power therein which transcends all Humane Conception and Comprehension) the Immense Benefit of this Holy Mystery to each worthy Communicant in reference to his particular Necessities. For obtaining Remission of this or that Sin; a Remedy of this or that Infirmity; a Deliverance from this or that Affliction; for receiving a Benefit, or giving thanks for a Benefit received; for helping our Neighbour; for increasing the Holy Spirit and Love of God in us. Because, as by one Spirit in Baptism, We are made one Mystical Body of Christ, 1 Cor. 12.13 so likewise, in the Eucharist, are we made to drink into [the partaking of] one Spirit: The Blessed Eucharist being as necessary for the continuing and increasing, as Baptism for the first receiving the Holy Spirit. Because also, this is that particular Nourishment instituted by Christ for the preserving our Body and Soul to Everlasting Life; that particular Pledge and Assurance of our Resurrection; that true Bread from Heaven, which mystically also Incorporates us into Christ, and makes us continue and grow up into perfect Members of his Body, that so thus partaking of the Nature and Spirit of the Second Adam, the Heir of all things, we may become with him Sons of God, Heirs of Eternal Life, as we were by the First Adam, of Eternal Death. That true Heavenly Bread, lastly, so Exalting and Assimulating our Nature into Christ (when worthily Communicating) as to make us one with him, as he and the Father are one: According to our Saviour's Prayer when he was Instituting this Blessed Sacrament. I pray thee Father, John 17. that they may be one, as we are one. O Blessed Union between poor Man and his Maker! O happy those Souls who here worthily feed on this Heavenly Bread, the only true Nourishment of the Life of Grace, enabling them in the Strength thereof to walk even to the Mount of God, the Life of Glory. The Conclusion. THE Sum of this Discourse is, The Sins of the Flesh are most dangerous, because most natural, to us: And by reason of their filthiness most loathsome to Almighty God, and most severely punished by him. For not only those of the greater magnitude, Fornication, Adultery, Incest, Sodomy, Beastiality, are followed with God's most Tremendous Judgements; but also we find in Scripture Uncleanness and Laciviousness, Gal. 5.19. Eph. 5.3. destinct from the foregoing, and of a less denomination, every where joined with such Sins as exclude the Practisers thereof from the Kingdom of Heaven. The way to prevent such Sins and to avoid the punishment of them, is, To mortify our Passions, our Memory and Imagination; to beware of impure Suggestions, cheirsh Holy Inspirations, and avoid all the occasions of such Sins; to Improve, lastly, the Grace of God in us by Assiduous Prayer, daily Examination of ourselves, perfect Repentance, frequent Communicating and all other holy means; pressing still farther to higher and higher Gifts, particularly to the attaining that most excellent Gift of Charity, which makes us love God above all things, and our Neighbour as ourselves; hate even our own Lives for love of Him who first loved us, undergoing the the greatest sufferings with Thankfulness and Complacency, performing all our Actions on purpose to please him, referring them to his Honour, offering them up to his Praise and Glory: To whom Father, Son and Holy Ghost, be all Honour, Praise and Glory to all Eternity, Amen. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in Spirit and in Truth, Joh. 4.24. Grace and Truth [i. e. means of Salvation] came by Jesus Christ, Joh. 1.17. God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, that they that live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but to him who died for them, Gal. 4.6. 2 Cor. 5.15. Wretched is that man who is all for the good things of this Life, a good House, good Apparel, good Provision, etc. and is content to have a bad Soul. Int. Christ. Some Short Directions and Heads of Meditation for the Persons Concerned in the Preceding Discourse. CHAP. I. Of Meditation, its Requisites, and how it differs from Contemplation. MEditation is called the first Essential part of Prayer, leading to Contemplation, Thanksgiving, Petition, etc. in which all the Principal Faculties of the Soul, the Memory, Understanding, Will, and Affections, are severally employed. The Memory recollects the matter to be Meditated upon, and also placeth the Soul in the Divine Presence: The Understanding judgeth of the Subject and its Virtues, and accordingly proposeth it to the Will. The Will excites in, us divers Acts and Affections, either of Love, Affiance, Gratitude, etc. towards God: Or of Hatred, Compunction, desire of doing better, etc. towards ourselves, which is indeed the main Scope and end of Meditation. Then follows our Praying and representing to Almighty God our Miseries, Necessities, Temptations, which we most earnestly beg him to redress for his own Love and Compassion's sake, and the Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But when the Faculties of the Soul are unactive or slow in their Operations (as it often happens) they are to be excited by the help of good Books, which ought always to be at hand when we Meditate: and in all such holy exercise we are to approach the Divine Presence with our greatest Reverence and Humiliation. And it is also necessary before every Meditation, to make a strict Examen of Conscience 1. What Benefits we have received that day from Almighty God; for which we are to return Thanks. 2. What Sins we have that day committed (running through every hour) in thought, word and deed; for which we are to beg pardon. 3. We are to resolve upon an amendment in every particular by the Grace of God. After such strict Examination of all our Thoughts, Desires, Words and Works, judging ourselves that we be not judged of the Lord; and Confessing our Sins in the bitterness of our Soul as the Church requires, and taking also revenge of ourselves according to the Example of St. Paul's Penitent amongst the Corinthians, we shall by such fifting our Consciences be the better able to sever the Wheat from the Chaff, and know also what is fittest to offer to Almighty God, what to pray for, and what also to meditate upon. In which particular Examen of our Consciences (wherein we are to endeavour to produce Acts of Contrition, Self-confusion, Humility, Resolutions of amendment, Resignation, etc.) we must observe to what Vice we are most inclined, and be sure to bend all our Forces against it; for that Captain-Imperfection being Conquered, the rest will easily submit: And in the next Examen, we must Impartially inquire whether our relapses in that kind are as frequent as formerly, and so continue on the Fight with new Fervour, Vigour and Constancy, till it shall please God to give us the Victory. Now the difference between Meditation and Contemplation is said by holy Men to be as follows. 1. We Meditate when by the help of the Understanding we seek and cast about, and at length fix our thoughts upon such Truths and Reasons as are in our present Circumstances, most apt to move and affectionate the Will, to the embracing the Love of God, Christian Virtues, Works of Piety, etc. but sometimes the Inclinations of the Will (the Holy Spirit operating more principally in that by Love, than in the Understanding by Illumination;) preceded the Acts of the Understanding, tho' most commonly it is the other way, the Will and Passions not easily moving without the Reasoning of the Understanding to excite them. 2. We Contemplate when we steadfastly and unmovably behold God by Faith, believing that he is really with us and within us (as he truly is); and so leaving all other Objects, Ideas, and Discourses, we Internally look on him as present, love him in silence, and feed on his All-satiating Sweetness. And this Contemplation is either by the help of Sensible Ideas, or Intelligible, or surmounts them both, which is the highest sort of Prayer. But this is not my business at present, I intending only some short Meditations, such as the Reader may easily carry about with him, even in his Memory. CHAP. II. Of the Subject of Meditation, with Heads for the first Week. THE Matter and Subject of Meditation may be any thing whatsoever Divinely revealed, or that any way conduceth to our Salvation. But most commonly it is adapted to the Three Degrees of Christians, the lower, the middle, and the highest. Some Learned Men recommend the method of the Church in her Liturgies, beginning with Advent, Nativity of our Saviour, and so on to his Preaching, Passion, Resurrection, Ascension, sending the Holy Spirit, taking in the Epistles and Gospels of all the Dominica's and holidays. This Rule is Chief observed by the Clergy. Others advise the Selecting some certain number of pious Subjects for every day in the Week, and keeping to them only, and this seems also a very useful way of Meditation. Heads of Meditation for the first Week. Monday Of the Chief end of Man. Consider, 1. Why he was Created; namely, to praise and glorify God▪ 2 How far this is observed or transgressed by us, and how far the ample means offorded thereunto abused. Reflection 1. Give God Thanks. 2. Ask Pardon. 3. Promise Amendment in every particular as need requires. Tuesday. Of God's Benefits. Consider, our Being from God, Preservation, Redemption, Sanctification, Spiritual Gifts, and Graces, the Holy Sacraments, Eternal Life, etc. All that God gives is freely out of his own Goodness, not for his own but our profit. Reflex. 1. Give great Thanks with all possible Humility. 2. Offer up yourself, all your Thoughts, Words, Actions and Affections to God, to be sincerely directed to his Glory only. Wednesday. Of your Sins. Consider, 1. Who it is you have offended, viz. God most Munificent, who hath done so many and so great things for you, and promised more and greater. 2. God Omniscient, who sees all things most clearly. 3. God Omnipotent, who can destroy you in a moment, and none is able to resist him. 4. God most Pure, who abhors all sin; and for that Reason threw the fallen Angels out of Heaven for one single Sin. Adam out of Paradise, and condemned him to above 900 Years Penance for one single disobedience. Reflect. What then will become of Impenitent Sinners? And how great Reason to Fear and Tremble at so great Power and Justice of God Consider, 2. Who thou art that offendest and resistest so great a God? A most vile & inconsiderable Worm. The whole World in God's sight is but as a drop of the morning dew. Sapient. 11. What is man then so minute a Particle of that Drop? Who is indeed nothing of himself, and compared to Infinity bears no Proportion. Reflect. How great the Clemency of God in bearing so long with so great Sinners, and yourself the Chief, and very greatest of all. Consider, 3. For what Cause you offended God? For some very vile thing, some vain Honour, some beastly pleasure; and that knowingly and wilfully, not out of Ignorance or Infirmity. Reflect. Detest thy Foolishness before God. Acknowledge thy Fault. Beg mercy. Thursday. Of Death, Consider. 1. The certainty of it, and the uncertainty of the time. Recollect all the sudden Deaths you have ever seen, heard, or read of, and conclude it the greatest madness and folly in the World to live on in such a State in which you would not die. Reflect. You can die but once, and if not well your loss is irreparable. Consider. 2. Of what things Death deprives you. Of all External things, Riches, Pleasures, Honours, Friends, for which and whose sake you have so often offended God. And that nothing will accompany you to the other World, but your works whether good or bad. Reflect. Imagine what a wicked man restored to Life from Hell-fire would do, and that do you. Consider, 3. The State of your Body and Soul. Your Body (for which you have been so Solicitous) will be carried out to be meat for the Worms, your Soul immediately hurried to Judgement by the Angels, and from thence by an unknown way to an eternal State either of bless, or misery, according to the Actions done in the Flesh. Reflect. Use now all possible means by yourself and others to make Christ (who is to be your Judge) become propitious to you: And pray to God for Grace that you may now both know and do what upon your Deathbed and at the Judgement Seat you will wish you had done. Friday, Of the last Judgement. Consider, 1. The particular Judgement that passeth upon every man at his Death, and remains unalterable. 2. The dreadfulness of the last general day, when the Heavens will be rolled together as a Scrol, the Sun itself darkened, the Moon not give her light, the Stars fall from their Orbs, the Earth quake, the Mountains and Islands remove out of their places, and men's hearts fail them for fear. 3. An Universal appearance of all the Sons of Adam (the Earth and Sea giving up their Dead) and a particular Examination of them according to God's unerring Books which will then be opened. Consider, 4. The Difference that will then be between the Good and Bad. The Good (having Co-operated with God's Grace) shall be Clothed with Glorious Bodies, and placed on Christ's Right Hand. The Bad (not Co-operating with God's Spirit) Clothed with Corruption, and placed on Christ's Left Hand. And the Consciences and Thoughts of all hearts will be then laid open. Reflect. What shame, & confusion will it then be to the Impenitent, when out of their own Mouths and Consciences they will be both Accused and Condemned! Consider, 5. How astonishing it will be to the Wicked, to hear the Sentence of the Judge, Go, ye Cursed, into everlasting Fire. And how joyful to the Righteous to hear, Come, ye blessed, possess the Kingdom prepared for you, etc. Reflect. Make firm Purposes to live well, and in virtuous Circumstances; and entreat the Judge to be propitious to you, and that you may always bear in mind this terrible Judgement and Sentence to escape it, which is said to have occasioned the Institution of the severest Order of Christians in the World. Saturday. Of Hell. Consider, 1. What a Punishment it would be to be bound Hand and Foot, and cast into a hot fiery Furnace, there to remain burning and unconsumed, though but for a short time: And as every Member of the Body, so every Power and Faculty of the Soul receive its peculiar Torment. Consider, 2. How hard and unsupportable it must needs be to be Slaves to the Devils and Companions of the damned, amidst the most exquisite, Tortures, and incessant Blasphemies and Curse of Almighty God. Consider, 3. How long these Torments will last. If after some Thousands of Years there were to be an end, it would somewhat lessen them: But after an Hundred thousand Years succeeds an Eternity that cannot be measured. Reflect. How foolish is it to choose such endless Torments for a transitory Pleasure. Endure any Punishments here to avoid them. Here cut, here burn, but save me in the World to come, was St. Austin's Prayer. Entreat Almighty God that you may be so awed by them, whilst living, that you may not deserve to experience them when dead. Sunday. Of the Joys of Heaven. Consider, 1. The Place and the Company. How great Joy it must needs be to inhabit in the City of God, the heavenly Jerusalem; and converse with the holy Angels, and all the Saints which have been from the beginning of the World: Who having the same Charity one for another (being all filled with the same holy Spirit) rejoice in every one's Good as if it were their own. Consider, 2. The greatness of the Reward. The Body itself will be spiritualised, and all its Senses and Powers exalted and adorned with most admirable Gifts. And the Soul enabled to see and know God as he is, and to love and enjoy him to all Eternity, which is the only true Blessedness. And though there be far different degrees of Glory, yet no Envy, but on the contrary Rejoicing. See the preceding Discourse. Reflect. Give God thanks, who hath given you to hope for, and made you capable of this Glory; and humbly implore him mercifully to preserve you (though ungrateful) in true Virtue and holy Living, that you may at length come to that glorious Place, and there praise and magnify him to all Eternity. CHAP. III. Heads of Meditation for the Second, Third, and Fourth Weeks. Second Week. MOnday. Of the Incarnation of our Saviour. His leaving the Bosom of his Father, and taking upon him Humane Nature Voluntarily, and yet by consent of the whole Trinity. A Mercy denied to the fallen Angels: And a Mystery which the good Angels desired to look into. Tuesday. Of the Visitation of the ever-Blessed Virgin, and the Salutation of the Angel. Hail, etc. Wednesday. Of the Nativity of our Lord in a Stable, yet honoured with Miracles. Thursday. Of the Shepherd's Vision, the Angel's Hymn, the coming of the Three Kings by the Guidance of a Star or Angel. Friday. Of the Offering up of our Saviour in the Temple. The Humility of the Mother of our Lord, being not obliged to any such Oblation. Old Simeon's Prayer, Lord now lettest, etc. He could not die till he had seen the Lords Christ. Saturday. Our Saviour's Baptism and the Testimony the Father and the Holy Spirit than gave of his Divinity. Sunday. Of our Lord's Transfiguration and the Consolation the Three Disciples also took therein. It is good for us to be here, etc. The Third Week. MOnday. Of the Eight Beatitudes, the Sum of Christian Perfection; placing happiness in things seemingly most contrary to it, such as Poverty, Persecution, etc. But yet the true and only way to Blessedness, declared to be so by him who is Wisdom itself, and who himself also became our Example in sufferings. Tuesday. Of the Lord's Prayer; containing all the good things we are to pray for, and all the evils we are to pray against. Wednesday. Of the Rich Glutton and the ten Virgins. The difference between Dives and Lazarus, both in this World and the other: And between the ten Virgins in the other World, notwithstanding their seeming equality in this. Thursday. Of the Conversion of Mary Magdalene and the Woman of Samaria. Both of them great Sinners. The former possessed with seven Devils, and the latter lived in Fornication. But their Repentance was as remarkable as their Sins: And their after life as Virtuous, as their former had been Vicious. Friday. Of the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda; and of the Man born blind. Both cured by our Saviour: And both afterwards openly Confessed him. To leave our sins and follow Christ, takes away the Cause of Sin: For there is a Lameness and Blindness also in the Soul. Saturday. Of the Prodigal Son, and the Man that fell among Thiefs. The Prodigal was received by his Father upon his returning and repenting. The poor Man fell among Thiefs by his leaving his right way, Jerusalem for Jericho, God for his pleasure, the Church for the Company of Thiefs and Robbers. Reflect. Conversion to God's Church and Repentance the only Remedy. Sunday. Of our Saviour's raising from the Dead Lazarus, the Son of the Woman of Naim, the Daughter of Jairus. One of them was newly dead, the second carried out, the third three days buried. The newly dead immediately upon our Saviour's speaking, rose and walked & was perfectly cured, the rest not so soon. Reflect. So it fairs with Sinners. More difficulty for habituated Sinners to rise to a Life of Grace. The Fourth Week. MOnday. Of the Institution of the Blessed Eucharist. He that Eats worthily of this Bread shall live for ever, shall overcome his Lusts, be filled with Celestial Joys, etc. But he that Eats unworthily eats his own Damnation (if he dies in that condition) not discerning the Lord's Body. Tuesday. Of our Saviour's Passion in General. Who it was that suffered? The Son of God, God himself, Innocent, etc. What and how grievous things he suffered? So many griefs. So great Ignominy. He hath born our griefs. Behold the Man. Behold and see, were there ever sufferings like his? And all this for his Enemies, (ungrateful sinners, and me in particular) to Reconcile them to God. Reflect. Oh the Obedience, Humility, Patience, Perseverance, Charity of his sufferings! Wednesday. What passed in the Garden. His Agony. His Soul was heavy even to Death. He sweat drops of Blood. He Prayed against the bitter Cup, but with a Resignation to his Fathers Will. Thy will not mine be done. And soon after with unparallelled Fortitude surrendered himself, If you seek me let these go their ways, desiring to tread the Wine-press of God's Wrath alone. Thursday. Our Saviour's Usage before Annas, Caiphas, Herod, and Pilate. Before Annas Questioned for his Doctrine. In Caiphas' house false Witnesses were brought against him. He was kept Prisoner there all Night. Mocked by the Soldiers and others. Denied by Peter. Before Herod despised. Before Pilate first declared Innocent, but afterwards Condemned by him for Treason, to please the People and secure his own Interest with them. St. Peter's Repentance very speedy. But the Obstinacy of the Jews continues to this very day. Friday. Our Saviour's Usage at the Pillar; his Crown of Thorns; his Journey to Mount Calvary bearing his Cross; his barbarous Crucifixion, the Wounds he received; the sweet words he uttered, Father forgive them, etc. yet the Rocks were more Compassionate than the Jews and We. Saturday. Of our Saviour's Burial. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, his Blessed Mother and St. Mary Magdalene, and some other Honourable and Holy Persons were concerned in it. They washed his Wounds with their holy Tears, and Embalmed his Body with their Sighs and Prayers and Richest Odours. He made his Sepulchre with the Rich and Honourable, but yet the malicious Jews sealed the Stone, and set a Watch to prevent, if possible, his rising again to Glory. Sunday. Of our Saviour's Resurrection, Ascension, and sending of the Holy Ghost. 1. The manner of his Resurrection. His Conversing Forty days upon Earth, Comforting his Friends, Strengthening his Disciples, and giving them charge over his Flock. 2. his Ascension into Heaven, sitting on the right hand of God, that our Hearts and Affections might thither also ascend. 3. His sending the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, his Disciples having Fasted, Watched and Prayed continually day and night for ten days before. Reflect. His Resurrection the first Fruits and earnest of ours. His Ascension to draw us and our affections after him. His sending the Holy Ghost that the same Spirit that raised up him the Head, might also quicken us his Members. CHAP. IV. Meditations for the fifth Week. MOnday. Of the Nobility of the Soul. 1. Created by God after his own Image. 2. God giveth his Angels Charge over it. As the Hills stand about Jerusalem, so standeth the Lord round about them that fear him. 3. Of so great value is the Soul that our Saviour left the Bosom of his Father to redeem it, even with the price of his Blood. Tuesday. Of a pure Conscience, a right Faith, and doing all things for God's Honour. These Three constitute the good Christian, for the Life we now live is by Faith. And the pure in heart shall see God; shall have a clear and more naked perception of him even in this Life. No Image or Idea can represent a Spirit, such as God is. He is Purity itself, perceptible only to the pure in Heart after an ineffable manner, and void of all sensible Ideas. Reflect. The purging therefore our Consciences is to be carefully minded. Wednesday. Of the Presence of God. With the thoughts of this so great Presence, many holy Persons have preserved themselves from sin. Enoch walked with God and was translated. Abraham walked before God and was perfect. King David set God always before him, that he should not sin. So Elijah and Elisha, God liveth, in whose sight and presence I stand. And nothing more certain than that God filleth and worketh in all his Creatures. In him we live and move and have our being, and all things subsist and are upheld by his immediate hand. But he more nearly dwells and inhabits in every good Man, and directs him by the Interiour Language of his Inspirations and gives him leave also to Communicate to him as to a most faithful Friend all his Wants, Desires, Resolutions, Infirmities, Temptations, etc. And the oftener he recollects his Faculties from external objects, and retireth into himself to God so much the better, and his progress in holiness greater and more easy. Reflect. How great a folly therefore is it to live insensible of the Assistance of so great a presence so near us, even within us! Thursday. Of the Conjunction of the Soul with God. Which consists in a Conformity of our Will to the Divine. We must Will the same thing with God and the same means to it. My Son give me thy heart, says God by Solomon. It is good for me to cleave to God, says David. And St. Paul nothing could. separate from Christ: Neither Life, nor Death, etc. 2. Such a Person is always Examining his Conscience, Keep's a strict guard that his thoughts wander not abroad, or be over long busied in outward Affairs, for fear of losing that presence, that Consolation he always carries about with him in his Soul. Prayers, Meditation, Contemplation, Recollection, the Holy Sacraments, are in a manner the entertainment of his whole Life. Reflect. All these things are irksome and nauseous to the Carnal, Worldly Man. Friday, Of Humility. 1. The Humble man retains a true sense of God's Favours. What great things he hath both done and suffered for him, and that out of a free and most amazingly generous Goodness, without any the least merit on his side. And on the contrary what returns he hath made, how many and how great wickednesses committed against that good God. So that he knows not which way to turn himself: Thinks no place vile enough for him, who for his sins deserves the greatest Afflictions, the greatest Torments. He hath no way but to humble himself before God, with Confusion of Face, and Offer and Resign himself wholly to his boundless Mercy, to deal with him as his Compassion pleases. 2. The true Humble Man is Servant of all; Especially his lawful Governors and Teachers, to whose wiser Judgement he readily submits his own less wise: As knowing they have more ability to judge than himself, and more assistance also promised not to mistake. To these therefore he submits as to Christ himself, being commanded so to do; Ezek. 33.7, 8. Heb. 13.17. 3ly. Being contemned he rejoiceth; being honoured he refers the honour to God, and so all other Benefits he receives. But the shame of his sins he takes to himself; and confesses with the poor Publican that he is not worthy to lift up his eyes to Heaven. 4ly. What humilty can equal that of our Lord in all his whole Life, and who also humbled himself to death, even the death of the Cross? And we are to be like him, meek and humble. Reflect. The undeserved Favours of Almighty God. The Ingratitude of our repeated sins. The behaviour of the poor Publican. The Example of our Lord himself. Great Lessons of Humility. Saturday. Of the Advantage of being Christians. We live under the Covenant of Grace, which is founded in Remission of sin, and upon promises of eternal rewards to the observers of it, who are also enabled to observe it. We are redeemed from all our Enemies so as not to fear them: Death itself being now only a Passage to immortality. Are we not also made Sons of God, Members of Christ, Kings and Priests, and Co●heirs with our Elder Brother of an Eternal Inheritance. Sunday. Of the Benefits of the Holy Ghost. By him (who was sent by our Saviour) we are begotten and born again and made new creatures. By him Illuminated to understand the Mysteries of our Redemption. By him the Love of God is spread abroad in our hearts, so as to love even our Enemies for God's sake. He purifies and cleanses us from all filthiness. He intercedes for us and teaches us how to pray. He comforts and supports us in all our afflictions with his peace and joy. He is the Seal of the Divine Promises and the Foretaste of Heaven. The great power of God in us, over Sacan and all his Instruments. And by his Virtue and Efficacy, our Bodies also will be Spiritualised and we raised to Immortality and Glory. Reflect. This Comforter abides with us for ever, and is grieved we do any thing to chase him from us. To these few Heads of Meditation (taken chief out of Holy Scripture) might be added infinite more concerning God's Attributes, Gifts, Miracles, etc. with innumerable more passages both of the Old and New Testament; but these are thought sufficient to show the manner of Meditation (which is so considerable a part of Religion) and to serve also as a Succidaneum to those that have not the opportunity of larger Books, which is all that was intended by the Collecter of them. Let the words of my Mouth and the Meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer, Psal. 19 I meditate on all thy works, Ps. 143.5. In his Law doth he meditate day and night, Ps. 1.2. The Litany of Christian Virtues, taken out of the Holy Scripture and the several Texts Annexed. O GOD the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us. O God the Son, Redeemer of the World, Have mercy on us. O God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us. O Sacred Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us. O Lord just and good, Heb. 11.6 and a rewarder of all those that seek thee diligently; Have mercy on us. Who createdst our First Parents in Innocency and Holiness, Gen. 2. after thine own Image; and gavest a Testimony to the offerings of just Abel; Gen. 4. Have mercy on us. Who savedst in the Ark from the Flood, Gen. 7. Noah, a Preacher of Justice; and deliveredst from the Fire Just Let vexed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked; Gen. 19 Have mercy on us. Who gavest the Promise to Abraham, Gen. 22. found Faithful after many trials; Have mercy on us. Gen. 29. Who deliveredst Jacob, endued with a wonderful patience, and confidence in Adversities, from all evils; and gavest a joyful end to thy Servant Job, Job 42. that Pattern of Patience; Have mercy on us. Gen. 39 Who rewardedst the singular Modesty and Chastity of Joseph with the Rule over Egypt; Gen. 41: Have mercy on us. Num. 22. Who chosedst Moses the meekest Man upon Earth to be Ruler over thy People; and Electedst Joshua, Deut. 31. notable for Valour and Constancy, to lead thy People into the Land of Promise; Have mercy on us. Who gavest the Priesthood to the Sons of Levi for their great Courage in vindicating thine Honour; Exod. 32. and deliveredst from all dangers the Prophet Elias for his incomparable Zeal for thy true Worship against the false Prophets; 1 King. 18. 2 King. 2. and at length tookest him up into Heaven; Have mercy on us. Who set Samuel Judge over thy People, 1 Sam. 7 12 a lover of Justice, and free from Bribes: And liftedst up David, 1 Sam. 16. a man after thine own heart, in the faithful Service of thee, to be King of Israel; Have mercy on us. Who replenishedst Solomon, 1 King. 4. humbly begging Wisdom of thee both with it and many other Graces: And Adornedst Daniel and his Companions, Dan. 1. being singularly Temperate and Sober, with Wisdom and Beauty; Have mercy on us. Who didst choose the Blessed Virgin Mary, Luk. 1. Adorned with singular Chastity, Humility, Obedience, and all other Virtues, to be the Mother of thy Son; Have mercy on us. Mat. 3. Who sentest John Baptist a Forerunner of thy Son, a Preacher of Penitence, and of great Austerities and Abstinencies; Have mercy on us. John. 17. 1 Pet. 2.21. Who sentest Jesus Christ, thy only begotten Son into the World, the Pattern of all Holiness, that we should follow his Example; Have mercy on us. Eph. 1. Who hast chosen us in him before the Foundations of the World, that we also should be Holy and Unblame able in thy sight; Have mercy on us. Who hast Predestinated us that we should be made conformable to the Image of thy Son; Phil. 3. Eph. 2. and hast created us in him to good Works, which thou hast ordained that we should walk in them; Have mercy on us. Who haste Redeemed us from our vain Conversation by the precious Blood of Christ, 1 Pet. 1. and hast Regenerated us by thy Word unto a lively hope of an Eternal Inheritance; Have mercy on us. O Jesus, 1 Pet. 2. who knewest not Sin neither was Guile found in thy Mouth, 1 Joh. 3. but appearedst to take away the Sins of the World; Have mercy on us. 1 Pet. 2. Jesus who barest our Sins in thy Body on the Cross, that we being dead unto Sin, may live unto Justice and Holiness; Have mercy on us. Col. 1. Who hast delivered us out of Darkness into Light, from the power of Satan, Acts 26. into thy Kingdom, and hast bestowed upon us the Remission of Sins and an Inheritance amongst thy Saints; Have mercy on us. Mat. 19 Who promisedst thy Disciples, that forsook all, for thee, Joh. 21. Twelve Thrones Judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel; who committedst unto St. Peter, notably confessing, and loving thee, the feeding of thy Sheep; Have mercy on us. Joh. 20. Who vouchsafedst to St. John notable for Chastity, the singular privilege of thy Love; Have mercy on us. Who sendest thy Holy Spirit, Rom. whereby Divine Charity is spread abroad in our hearts: Have mercy on us. Be merciful, and spare us, O Lord: Be merciful, and grant unto us, O Lord, The Virtue of Humility, Mat. 18, Luk. 21, Mark 5. Heb. 13. and Patience; Spiritual Poverty and Meekness▪ Longanimity and obedience to those that are set over us: Grant unto us, O Lord, A quiet mind and contented with our present Condition, 1 Pet. 3. Heb. 13. Rom. 14. true peace and joy in the Holy Ghost: Grant unto us O Lord, Temperance and Modesty; Gal. 5. 1 Tim. 2. Sobriety and Chastity; a true love of Thee and our Neighbour's; Mat. 22.38 the Contempt of ourselves and the things of this World, 1 Tim. 6 17 2 Cor. 9 Bounty and Compassionate Affections: 1 Pet. 3.8. Grant unto us, O Lord, Diligence and constant Vigilancy; 2 Pet. 1.5. 1 Pet. 4.7. Mat. 5.6. 1 Cor. 7.11 Acts 28.15 Mat. 10.22 a Hunger and Thirst after Holiness: Zeal and Fervour of Spirit; Christian Fortitude and Perseverance to the End; Grant unto us, O Lord. We Sinners beseech thee to hear us, O Lord. Rom, 5.10. That being reconciled to God, Col. 1.20. by the death of Christ, we may present ourselves Holy, Jam. 1. Unspotted, and Unblamable before him, that we may walk worthy of God, 1 Thes. 2.12 Phil. 4.18. in all things well pleasing, fruitful in good works, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Col. 1, 10. We Sinners beseech thee, etc. Col. 3.10. That whatsoever we do in word or deed, we may do all to the Glory of God; that we make not void thy Grace, 2 Cor. 2, 21 or receive it in vain; We Sinners beseech thee, etc. That we be careful to sanctify our Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts, 1 Pet. 3.15 Phil. 2.21. that we seek not our own things, but, before all, the things of Jesus Christ; We Sinners beseech thee, etc. That looking up to Jesus who suffered, Heb. 12.2, 3. we be not wearied and faint in our minds; 1 Tim. 6.11 but considering the Conversation of the Saints, imitate their Faith and Patience; We Sinners beseech thee, etc. That as Soldiers we entangle not ourselves in the things of this World; 1 Joh. 2.15 but having Food and Raiment let us be content therewith; 1 Tim. 6.8. We Sinners beseech thee, etc. That by good Works we make our Faith and Election sure; 2 Pet. 2.10 that we do good whilst we have time, Gal. 6.9. and faint not, for that we shall reap in due season. We Sinners beseech thee, etc. That we forbear one another in love, Eph. 4.2. being careful to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; Gal. 6.2. that we bear one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of God; We Sinners beseech thee, etc. That being Strengthened in all Virtue through the power of his Grace, Col. 1.11. we give thanks to God with all Patience and Long-suffering; We Sinners beseech thee, etc. 2 Pet. 3.14. That waiting for the coming of our Lord, we be careful to be found in him pure and unspotted in Peace, 1 Pet. 1.9. that we may receive the end of our Faith, even the Salvation of our Souls; and in the mean time work out our Salvation with fear and trembling; Phillip 12.12. We Sinners beseech thee, etc. O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the World, increase our Faith. O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the World, infuse Hope. O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the World, enkindle Charity. Our Father which art in Heaven, etc. Let us Pray. O God, who justifiest the ungodly, we humbly beseech thy Majesty Graciously to defend with thy Heavenly Grace, and assist with thy continual Protection, us thy Servants, relying on thy Mercy; that, constantly running in the Course of Virtue, we may at length receive the Crown thereof, and by no Temtations be withdrawn from serving thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ame● ERRATA. PAge 3. Line 4. Almighty God,. P. 27. l. 7. many. p. 29. l. 5. Primogeneal. P. 34. l. 4. Blessings. P. 38. l. 19 but that. P. 40. l. 19 Fig-leaves. P. 43. l. 9 deteriora etc. P. 74. l 15. plainly. P. 92. l. 21. Rational into Natural. l. 23. Natural into Carnal. P. 98. l. 21. frequent. P. 103. l. 1. cherish. P. 118. l. 21 exquisite Tortures. l. 23. Almighty.