THis designation doth give you The Occa­sion of this Dis­course. a Title to all the Endeavours whereby I can serve your In­terests; and your Pious Incli­nations do so happily conspire with my Duty, that I shall not need to step out of my road to gratifie you; but I may at once perform an office of Friendship, and discharge an exercise of my Function, since the advancing of Virtue and Holiness (which I hope you make your greatest study) is the [Page 2] peculiar business of my Imployment: This therefore is the most proper in­stance wherein I can vent my affection, and express my gratitude towards you, and I shall not any longer delay the performance of what promise I made you to this purpose: for though I know you are provided with better helps of this nature, then any I can offer you; nor are you like to meet with any thing here which you knew not before, yet I am hopeful, that what cometh from one whom you are pleased to honour with your Friend­ship, and which is more particularly designed for your use, will be kindly accepted by you, and God's Providence perhaps may so direct my thoughts, that something or other may prove useful to you. Nor shall I doubt your pardon, if for moulding my discourse into the better frame, I lay a low foun­dation, beginning with the Nature, and Properties of Religion, and all along give such way to my thoughts in the prosecution of the subject, as may bring me to say many things which were not necessary, did I one­ly [Page 3] consider to whom I am wri­ting.

I cannot speak of Religion, but I Mistakes about Re­ligion. must regrate that among so many pre­tenders to it, so few understand what it means; some placing it in the Un­derstanding, in Orthodox Notions and Opinions, and all the account they can give of their Religion, is that they are of this or the other perswasion, and have joyn'd themselves to one of those many Sects whereinto Christendom is most unhappily divided: Others place it in the outward man, in a constant course of external duties, and a model of performances, if they live peace­ably with their Neighbours, keep a temperate dyet, observe the returns of Worship, frequenting the Church, or their Closet, and sometimes extend their hands to the relief of the Poor, they think they have sufficiently ac­quitted themselves: Others again put all Religion in the affections, in raptu­rous heats, and extatick devotion, and all they aim at, is to pray with passion, and think of Heaven with pleasure, and to be affected with those kinde, and [Page 4] melting expressions wherewith they court their Saviour, till they perswade themselves that they are mightily in love with him, and from thence assume a great confidence of their salvation, which they esteem the chief of Chri­stian Graces. Thus are these things which have any resemblance of Piety, and at the best are but means for ob­taining it, or particular exercises of it, frequently mistaken for the whole of Religion: nay sometimes Wickedness and Vice pretends to that name; I speak not now of those gross Impieties wherewith the Heathens were wont to worship their Gods; there are but too many Christians who would con­secrate their vices, and hallow their corrupt affections, whose rugged hu­mour, and sullen pride must pass for Christian severity, whose fierce wrath, and bitter rage against their enemies must be called holy zeal, whose petu­lancy toward their Superiours, or re­bellion against their Governours must have the name of Christian courage and resolution.

But certainly Religion is quite an­other What Re­ligion is. [Page 5] thing, and they who are ac­quainted with it, will entertain far different thoughts, and disdain all those shadows and false imitations of it: They know by experience that true Religion is an Union of the Soul with God, a real participation of the Di­vine Nature, the very Image of God drawn upon the Soul, or in the Apo­stle's phrase, it is Christ formed within us. Briefly, I know not how the nature of Religion can be more fully expres­sed than by calling it a Divine Life; and under these terms I shall discourse of it, shewing first how it is called a Life, and then how it is termed Di­vine.

I choose to express it by the name Its Perma­nency and Stability. of life, first because of its permanen­cy and stability: Religion is not a sud­den start, or passion of the Mind, not though it should rise to the height of a rapture, and seem to transport a man to extraordinary performances. There are few but have convictions of the necessity of doing something for the salvation of their Souls, which may push them forward some steps, with a [Page 6] great deal of seeming hast; but anon they flagg and give over; they were in hot mood, but now they are cooled; they did shoot forth fresh and high, but are quickly withered, because they had no root in themselves. These sud­den fits may be compared to the vio­lent and convulsive motions of Bodies newly beheaded, caused by the agita­tions of the animal spirits, after the Soul is departed, which however vio­lent and impetuous, can be of no long continuance; whereas the motions of holy Souls are constant and regular, proceeding from a permanent, and lively principle. It is true, this Di­vine life continueth not alwayes in that same strength and vigour, but many times suffers sad decays, and holy men find greater difficulty in resist­ing temptations, and less alacrity in the performance of their duties; yet it is not quite extinguished, nor are they abandoned to the power of these corrupt affections, which sway and over-rule the rest of the world. Its free­dome and uncon­strained­ness.

Again, Religion may be designed by the name of Life, because it is an [Page 7] inward, free, and self-moving prin­ciple, and those who have made pro­gress in it, are not acted only by ex­ternal Motives, driven meerly by threatnings, nor bribed by promises, nor constrain'd by Laws; but are pow­erfully inclined to that which is good, and delight in the performance of it: The love which a Pious man car­ries to God, and goodness, is not so much by vertue of a Command en­joyning him so to do, as by a new Na­ture instructing and prompting him to it; nor doth he pay his devotions, as an unavoidable tribute only to ap­pease the Divine Justice, or quiet his clamorous Conscience; but those Reli­gious exercises are the proper emana­tions of the divine life, the natural employments of the new born Soul; he prayes and gives thanks, and re­pents, not only because these things are commanded, but rather because he is sensible of his wants, and of the Di­vine goodness, and of the folly and misery of a sinful life; his charity is not forced, nor his alms extorted from him, his love makes him willing to [Page 8] give; and though there were no out­ward obligation, his heart would devise liberal things: injustice or intemperance, and all other vices, are as contrary to his temper, and constitution, as the basest actions are to the most generous spirit, and impudence and scurrility to those who are naturally modest: so that I may well say with St. John, Who­soever 1 Joh. 3. 9. is born of God doth not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Though holy and religious persons do much eye the Law of God, and have a great regard unto it, yet is it not so much the sanction of the Law, as its reasonableness, and purity and good­ness which doth prevail with them; they account it excellent and desirable in its self, and that in keeping of it there is great reward: and that Di­vine Love wherewith they are acted, makes them become a Law unto them­selves.

In a word, what our blessed Saviour said of himself, is in some measure ap­plicable to his followers, that it's their meat and drink to do their Father's Joh. 4. 34. will: and as the natural appetite is carried out toward food, though we should not reflect on the necessity of it for the preservation of our lives; so are they carried with a natural and unforced propension toward that which is good and commendable. It is true, external motives are many times of great use to excite and stir up this inward principle, especially in its infancy and weakness, when it's often so languid, that the man himself can scarce discern it, hardly being able to move one step forward, but when he is pusht by his hopes, or his fears, by [Page 10] the pressure of an affliction, or the sense of a mercy, by the authority of the Law, or the perswasion of others: Now if such a person be conscien­tious and uniform in his obedience, and earnestly groaning under the sense of his dulness, and is desirous to per­form his duties with more spirit, and vigor: these are the first motions of the divine life, which though it be faint, and weak, will surely be cherish­ed by the influences of Heaven, and grow unto greater maturity: but he who is utterly destitute of this inward principle, and doth not aspire unto it, but contents himself with those per­formances whereunto he is prompted by Education or custom, by the fear of Hell, or carnal notions of Heaven, can no more be accounted a religious person, than a Puppit can be call'd a Man. This forced and artificial reli­gion is commonly heavy and languid, like the motion of a weight forced upward, it is cold and spritless, like the uneasie complyance of a wife mar­ried against her will, who carries du­tifully toward the husband whom [Page 11] she doth not love, out of some sense of Virtue or Honour: Hence also this religion is scant and niggardly, especially in those duties which do greatest violence to mens carnal incli­nations, and those slavish spirits will be sure to do no more, than is absolute­ly required, 'tis a Law that compels them, and they will be loath to go be­yond what it stints them to, nay, they will ever be putting such glosses on it, as may leave themselves the greatest liberty; whereas the Spirit of true Religion is franck and liberal, far from such peevish and narrow reckoning; and he who hath given himself intirely unto God will never think he doth too much for him.

By this time I hope it doth appear, Religion a Divine Principle. that Religion is with a great deal of reason termed a Life or vital princi­ple, and that it's very necessary to distinguish betwixt it, and that obe­dience which is constrained, and de­pends on external causes: I come next to give an account why I designed it by the name of divine life, and so it may be called, not only in regard of [Page 12] its fountain and original, having God for its Author, and being wrought in the Souls of men by the power of his Holy Spirit; but also in regard of its nature, Religion being a resemblance of the Divine perfections, the Image of the Almighty shining in the Soul of Man: nay it is a real participation of his Nature, it is a beam of the Eternal Light, a drop of that Infinite Ocean of goodness, and they who are eudued with it, may be said to have God dwell­ing in their Souls, and Christ formed within them.

Before I descend to a more particu­lar What the Natural Life is. consideration of that Divine Life wherein true Religion doth consist, it will perhaps be fit to speak a little of that natural or animal Life which pre­vails in those who are strangers to the other: and by this I understand no­thing else, but our inclination and pro­pension toward those things which are pleasing and acceptable to Nature: or self-Love issuing forth and spreading it self into as many branches as men have several appetites and inclinations: The root and foundation of the animal [Page 13] life I reckon to be Sense taking it large­ly, as it is opposed unto Faith, and im­porteth our perception and resentment of things, that are either grateful or troublesom unto us. Now those ani­mal affections considered in them­selves, and as they are implanted in us by nature, are not vitious or blame­able; nay they are instances of the Wisdom of the Creator furnishing his Creatures with such appetites as tend to the preservation and welfare of their lives: these are instead of a Law unto the brute Beasts, whereby they are directed towards the ends for which they were made; but Man being made for higher purposes, and to be guided by more excellent Laws, becomes guil­ty and criminal when he is so far tran­sported by the inclinations of this low­er Life, as to violate his duty, or neglect the higher and more noble designs of his creation: Our natural affections are not wholly to be extirpated and destroyed, but only to be moderated and over-ruled by a superiour and more excellent principle: In a word, the difference betwixt a religious and [Page 14] wicked man, is, that in the one the Di­vine life bears sway, in the other the animal doth prevail.

But it is strange to observe unto The diffe­rent ten­dencies of the natural life. what different courses this natural principle will sometimes carry those who are wholy guided by it, accord­ing to the divers circumstances that concur with it to determine them: and the not considering this doth fre­quently occasion very dangerous mi­stakes, making men think well of themselves by reason of that seeming difference which is betwixt them and others, whereas perhaps their actions do all the while flow from one and the same original. If we consider the na­tural temper, and constitution of mens Souls, we shall find some to be airie, frolick and light, which makes their behaviour extravagant and ridiculous; whereas others are naturally serious and severe, and their whole carriage composed into such gravity as gains them a great deal of Reverence and Esteem: some are of an humurous, rugged, and morose temper, and can neither be pleased themselves, nor en­dure [Page 15] that others should be so; but all are not born under such sowre and unhappy Stars, for some persons have a certain sweetness and benignity root­ed in their natures, and they find the greatest pleasure in the endearments of Society, and the mutual compla­cency of Friends, and covet nothing more than to have every body obli­ged to them: And it is well that Na­ture hath provided this complectional tenderness to supply the defect of true charity in the world, and to incline men to do something for one another's welfare. Again, in regard of Educa­tion some have never been taught to follow any other rules, than those of Pleasure or Advantage; but others are so enured to observe the strictest rules of decency and honour, and some instances of Virtue, that they are hardly capable of doing any thing which they have been accustom'd to look upon as base and unworthy.

In fine, it is no small difference in the deportment of meer natural men that doth arise from the strength or weakness of their Wit or Judgment, [Page 16] and from their care or negligence in using them: intemperance, and lust: injustice and oppression, and all those other impieties which abound in the world, and render it so miserable, are the issues of self-love, the effects of the animal life, when it is neither over­powered by Religion, nor govern'd by natural reason; but if it once take hold of reason, and get judgment and wit to be of its party, it will many times disdain the grosser sort of vices, and spring up unto fair imitations of Virtue and Goodness: if a man have but so much reason as to consider the prejudice which intemperance and inordinate lust doth bring unto his health, his fortune and his reputation, self-love may suffice to restrain him: and one may observe the rules of Mo­ral Justice in dealing with others, as the best way to secure his own in­terest, and maintain his credit in the world. But this is not all, this na­tural principle by the help of reason may take a higher flight, and come nigher the instances of Piety and Re­ligion: it may incline a man to the [Page 17] diligent study of Divine Truths: for why should not these as well as other speculations be pleasant and grateful to curious and inquisitive humors: it may make men zealous in maintain­ing and propagating such opinions as they have espoused, and be very desi­rous that others should submit unto their Judgment, and approve the choice of Religion, which themselves have made: it may make them delight to hear and compose excellent discour­ses about the matters of Religion; for Eloquence is very pleasant whatever be the subject: nay some it may dispose to no small height of sensible devo­tion: the glorious things that are spo­ken of Heaven may make even a car­nal heart in love with it: the Meta­phors and Similitudes made use of in Scripture of Crowns and Scepters, and Rivers of pleasure, &c. will easily affect a man's fancy, and make him wish to be there, though he neither understand nor desire those spiritual pleasures which are described and shadowed forth by these: and when such a per­son comes to believe that Christ has [Page 18] purchased these glorious things for him, he may feel a kind of tenderness and affection towards so great a Bene­factor, and imagine that he is mightily inamoured of him, and yet all the while continue a stranger to the holy temper and spirit of the Blessed Jesus, and so instead of a Deity he may im­brace a cloud: and what hand the na­tural constitution may have in the rapturous devotions of some melan­choly persons, hath been excellently discovered of late by several Learned and Judicious Pens.

To conclude, there is nothing pro­per to make a man's life pleasant, or himself eminent and conspicuous in the World, but this natural principle assisted by Wit & Reason may prompt him to it: and tho I do not condemn these things in themselves, yet it con­cerns us nearly to know and consider their nature, both that we may keep within due bounds, and also that we may learn never to value our selves, on the account of such attainments, nor lay the stress of Religion upon our na­tural appetites or performances.

[Page 19]It is now time to return to the con­sideration Wherein the Divine Life doth consist of that Divine Life where­of I was discoursing before, that life which is hid with Christ in God, and therefore hath no glorious shew or ap­pearance in the world, and to the na­tural spirit will seem a mean and in­sipid notion. As the Animal life con­sisteth in that narrow and confined love which is terminated on a mans self, and in his propension towards those things that are pleasing to Na­ture; So the Divine Life stands in an universal and unbounded affection, and in the mastery over our natural incli­nations, that they may never be able to betray us to those things which we know to be blamable: The root of the divine life is Faith, the chief branches are Love to God, Charity to Man, Pu­rity, and Humility: For (as an Excel­lent Person hath well observed) how­ever these names be common and vul­gar, and make no extraordinary sound, yet do they carry such a mighty sence, that the tongue of Man or Angel can pronounce nothing more weighty or excellent. Faith hath the same place [Page 20] in the Divine life which Sense hath in the natural, being indeed nothing else, but a kind of sense, or feeling perswa­sion of Spiritual things: It extends it self unto all Divine Truths; but in our lapsed estate, it hath a peculiar re­lation to the declarations of God's mer­cy and reconcileableness to Sinners through a Mediator, and therefore re­ceiving its denomination from that principal object is ordinarily termed, Faith in Jesus Christ.

The Love of God is a delightful and affectionate sence of the Divine per­fections, which makes the Soul resign and sacrifice it self wholly unto him, desiring above all things to please him, and delighting in nothing so much as in fellowship and communion with him, and being ready to do or suffer any thing for his sake, or at his plea­sure: though this affection may have its first rise from the Favours and Mer­cies of God toward our selves, yet doth it in its growth and progress transcend such particular considerations, and ground it self on his infinite goodness manifested in all the Works of Crea­tion [Page 21] and Providence. A Soul thus possessed with Divine Love, must needs be inlarged towards all Mankind in a sincere and unbounded, affection be­cause of the relation they carry unto God being his Creatures, and having something of his Image stamped upon them: and this is that Charity I named as the second branch of Religion, and under which all the parts of Justice, all the duty's we owe to our Neigh­bour are eminently comprehended: for he who doth truly love all the world will be nearly concerned in the interests of every one, and so far from wronging or injuring any person, that he will resent any evil that befals to others, as if it happened to himself.

By Purity, I understand a due ab­stractedness from the body, and maste­ry over the inferiour appetites: or such a temper and disposition of mind, as makes a man despise & abstain from all pleasures and delights of sence or fancy which are sinful in themselves, or tend to extinguish or lessen our re­lish of more divine and intellectual pleasures, which doth also infer a re­soluteness [Page 22] to undergo all those hard­ships he may meet with in the per­formance of his duty: so that not only Chastity and Temperance, but also Christian Courage and Magnanimity may come under this head.

Humility imports a deep sence of our own meanness, with a hearty and affectionate acknowledgment of our owing all that we are to the Divine Bounty, which is alwayes accompa­nied with a profound submission to the Will of God, and great deadness toward the glory of the world, and applause of men.

These are the highest Perfections that either Men or Angels are capable of, the very foundation of Heaven laid in the Soul, and he who hath attain'd them needs not desire to pry into the hidden Rolls of God's Decrees, or search the Volumes of Heaven to know what's determined about his everlasting con­dition, but he may find a Copy of God's Thoughts concerning him writ­ten in his own breast: his love to God may give him assurance of God's fa­vour to him, and those beginnings of [Page 23] happiness which he feels in the con­formity of the powers of his Soul to the Nature of God, and compliance with his Will, is a sure pledge that his felicity shall be perfected, and conti­nued unto all Eternity: And it is not without reason that one said, I had rather see the real impressions of a God­like Nature upon my own Soul, then have a Vision from Heaven, or an Angel sent to tell me that my name were inroll'd in the Book of Life.

When we have said all that we can, Religion better un­derstood by actions, than by words. the secret Mysteries of a new Nature, and Divine Life can never be suffici­ently expressed, language and words cannot reach them; nor can they be truly understood but by those Souls that are enkindled within, and awake­ned unto the sense and relish of Spiri­tual things, There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth this understanding: The power and life of Religion may be better expressed in actions than in words, because actions are more lively things, and do better represent the inward principle whence they proceed, and therefore we may [Page 24] take the best measure of those graci­ous indowments, from the deport­ment of those in whom they reside, especially as they are perfectly exem­plified in the holy life of our Blessed Saviour, a main part of whose business in this world was to teach by his pra­ctise what he did require of others, and to make his own conversation an exact resemblance of those unparalell'd Rules which he prescribed: So that if ever true Goodness was visible to mor­tal eyes, it was then when his presence did beautifie and illustrate this lower world.

That sincere and devout Affection Divine Love ex­emplified in our Sa­viour. wherewith his Blessed Soul did con­stantly burn toward his Heavenly Fa­ther, did express it self in an intire re­signation to his Will, it was this was his very meat to do the will, and finish the work of him that sent him; this was the exercise of his Childhood, and the con­stant imployment of his riper age; he spared no travail or pains while he was about his Father's business, but took His Dili­gence in doing Gods Will. such infinite Content and Satisfaction in the performance of it, that when [Page 25] being faint and weary with his Jour­ney he rested him on Jacob's Well, and intreated a drink of the Samaritane Woman, the success of his Conference with her, and the accession that was made to the Kingdom of God, filled his Mind with such delight, as seemed to have redounded to his very Body, refreshing his spirits, and making him forget the thirst whereof he com­plain'd before, and refuse the meat which he had sent the Disciples to buy: Nor was he less patient and submissive His Pati­ence in bearing it. in suffering the Will of God, then dili­gent in doing of it: he endured the sharpest Afflictions, and extreamest Miseries that ever were inflicted on any mortal, without a-repining thought, or discontented word: for tho he was far from a stupid insensibility, or a phantastick or Stoical obstinacy, and had as quick a sense of pain as other men, and the deepest apprehension of what he was to suffer in his Soul (as his Bloody Sweat, and the sore amaze­ment and sorrow which he profest do abundantly declare) yet did he intirely submit to that severe dispensation of [Page 26] Providence, and willingly acquiesced in it.

And he prayed to God, that if it were possible (or as one of the Evange­lists hath, if he were willing) that Cup might be removed; yet he gently added, nevertheless not my will but thine be done. Of what strange importance are the expressions, Joh. 12. 27. where he first acknowledgeth the anguish of his spi­rit ( Now is my Soul troubled) which would seem to produce a kind of de­murre, ( And what shall I say,) and then he goes to deprecate his Sufferings, ( Father, save me from this hour;) which he had no sooner uttered, but he doth, as it were, on second thoughts recall it in these words, But for this cause came I into the world; and concludes, Fa­ther glorifie thy Name. Now we must not look on this as any levity, or blame­able weakness in the Blessed Jesus, he knew all along what he was to suffer, and did most resolutely undergo it; but it shews ns the unconceiveable weight and pressure that he was to bear, which being so afflicting and contrary to Nature, he could not think [Page 27] of without terrour; yet considering the Will of God, and the glory which was to redound to him from thence, he was not only content but desirous to suffer it.

Another instance of his Love to God, His con­stant De­votion. was his delight in conversing with him by Prayer, which made him fre­quently retire himself from the world, and with the greatest Devotion and Pleasure spend whole Nights in that Heavenly Exercise, though he had no sins to confess, and but few secular In­terests to pray for; which alas! are almost the only things that are wont to drive us to our devotions: nay, we may say his whole Life was a kind of Prayer, a constant course of Commu­nion with God: if the Sacrifice was not alwayes offering, yet was the fire still kept alive: nor was ever the Bles­sed Jesus surprized with that dulness or tepidity of spirit which we must many times wrestle with, before we can be fit for the exercise of devotion.

In the second place I should speak His Chari­ty to men. of his Love and Charity toward men; but he who would express it, must [Page 28] transcribe the History of the Gospel, and comment upon it, for scarce any thing is recorded to have been done or spoken by him which was not de­signed for the good and advantage of some one or other; all his Miraculous Works were instances of his Goodness as well as his Power, and they bene­fited those on whom they were wrought, as well as they amazed the beholders. His Charity was not con­fined to his Kindred, or Relations; nor was all his kindness swallowed up in the endearments of that peculiar friendship which he carried toward the beloved Disciple, but every one was his Friend who obeyed his holy Commands, Joh. 15. 4. and whosoever did the will of his Father, the same was to him as his Brother, and Sister and Mo­ther.

Never was any unwelcom to him who came with an honest intention, nor did he deny any request which tended to the good of those that asked it: So what was spoken of that Roman Emperour, whom for his goodness they called the Darling of Mankind, [Page 29] was really performed by him, that never any departed from him with a heavy countenance, except that rich Youth, Mark 10. who was sorry to hear that the Kingdom of Heaven stood at so high a rate, and that he could not save his Soul and his Money too; and certainly it troubled our Saviour to see that when a price was in his hand to get wisdom, yet he had no heart to it; the ingenuity that ap­peared in his first address, had already procured some kindness for him; for it is said, And Jesus beholding him loved him: But must he for his sake cut out a new way to Heaven, and alter the nature of things which make it im­possible that a covetous man should be happy?

And what shall I speak of his meek­ness, who could encounter the mon­strous ingratitude and dissimulation of that miscreant who betrayed him, in no harsher terms then these, Judas betrayest thou the Son of Man with a Kiss? What further evidence could we desire of his fervent and unbound­ed Charity, then that he willingly [Page 30] laid down his life even for his most bitter Enemies, and mingling his Pray­ers with his Blood, besought the Fa­ther that his Death might not be laid to their charge, but might become the means of Eternal Life to those very persons who procured it?

The Third Branch of the Divine His Purity. Life is Purity, which, as I said, con­sists in a neglect of worldly enjoy­ments and accommodations, and a re­solute enduring of all such troubles as we meet with in the doing of our du­ty: Now surely if ever any person was wholly dead to all the pleasures of the natural Life, it was the Blessed Jesus, who seldom tasted them when they came in his way; but never stept out of his road to seek them: though he allowed others the comforts of Wed­lock, and honoured Marriage with his Presence, yet he chose the severity of a Virgin Life, and never knew the Nuptial Bed: and though at the same time he supplyed the want of Wine with a Miracle, yet he would not work one for the relief of his own hunger [Page 31] in the Wilderness: So Gracious and Divine was the temper of his Soul in allowing to others such lawful grati­fications as himself thought good to abstain from, and supplying not only their more extream and pressing ne­cessities, but also their smaller and less considerable wants. We many times hear of our Saviour's sighs, and groans, and tears; but never that he laught, and but once that he rejoyced in spirit; so that through his whole Life he did exactly answer that Cha­racter given of him by the Prophet of old, That he was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs: Nor were the troubles and disaccommodations of his Life rather his fate than choice, for never did there any appear on the Stage of the World with greater ad­vantages to have raised himself to the highest secular felicity: he who could convene such a prodigious number of Fishes into his Disciples Net: and at another time received that tribute from a Fish which he was to pay to the Temple, might easily have made him­self the richest Person in the world; [Page 32] nay without any money he could have maintained an Army powerful enough to have Justled Caesar out of his Throne, having oftner than once fed Seven Thousand with a few loaves and small fishes: but to shew how small esteem he had of all the Enjoyments in the world, he choosed to live in so poor and mean a condition, that though the Foxes had holes, and the Birds of the Air had nests, yet he who was Lord and Heir of all things, had not whereon to lay his head: He did not frequent the Courts of Princes, nor affect the acquaintance and converse of great Ones, but being reputed the Son of a Carpenter, he had Fisher-men, and such other poor peo­ple for his Companions, and lived at such a rate as suited with the mean­ness of that quality.

And thus I am brought unawares to speak of his Humility, the last branch His Humi­lity. of the Divine Life, wherein he was a most Eminent Pattern to us, that we might learn of him to be meek and lowly in heart: I shall not now speak of that infinite condescention of the Eternal Son of God, in taking our Nature up­on [Page 33] him; but only reflect on our Sa­viour's lowly and humble deportment while he was in the world. He had none of those sins and imperfections; which may justly humble the best of men; but he was so intirely swallow­ed up with a deep sense of the infinite Perfections of God, that he appeared as nothing in his own eyes, I mean in so far as he was a Creature. He considered those Eminent Perfections which shined in his Blessed Soul as not his own but the gifts of God; and there­fore assumed nothing to himself for them, but with the profoundest humi­lity renounced all pretences to them: hence did he refuse that ordinary com­pellation of Good Master, when ad­dress'd to his humane Nature by one who it seems was ignorant of his Di­vinity: Why callest thou me Good (saith he) there is none good, but God only. As if he had said, The goodness of any creature (and such only thou takest me to be) is not worthy to be named or taken notice of, 'tis God alone who is originally and essentially Good. He never made use of his Miraculous Pow­er [Page 34] for vanity or ostentation; he would not gratifie the curiosity of the Jewes with a sign from Heaven, some Prodi­gious appearance in the Air: nor would he follow the advice of his Country­men and Kindred, who would have had all his great Works performed in the eyes of the World for gaining him the greater fame; but when his Charity had prompted him to the relief of the miserable, his humility made him ma­ny times enjoyn the concealment of the Miracle; and when the glory of God, and the design for which he came unto the world, required the publica­tion of them, he ascribed the honour of all to his Father, telling them, That of himself he was able to do nothing.

I cannot insist on all the instances of Humility in his deportment towards men: his withdrawing himself when they would have made him a King, his subjection not only to his Blessed Mother, but to her husband during his younger years, and his submission to all the indignities and affronts, which his rude and malitious Enemies did put upon him, the history of his holy [Page 35] Life recorded by those who conver­sed with him, is full of such passages as these: and indeed the serious and attentive study of it, is the best way to get right measures of humility, and all the other parts of Religion, which I have been endeavouring to de­scribe.

But now that I may lessen your trouble of reading a long Letter by making some pauses in it; Let me here subjoyn a Prayer that might be proper when one who had formerly entertain'd some false notions of Re­ligion, begins to discover what it is.

[Page 38]ANd now, my dear Friend, having The Excel­lency and advantage of Reli­gion. discovered the nature of True Religion, before I proceed any further, it will not perhaps be unfit to fix our Meditations a little on the Excellency and advantages of it, that we may be excited to the more vigo­rous and diligent prosecution of those Methods whereby we may attain so great a felicity. But alas! what words shall we find to express that inward satisfaction, those hidden pleasures which can never be rightly under­stood, but by those holy Souls who feel them? a stranger intermeddleth not Prov. 14. 10. with their joy. Holiness is the right temper, the vigorous and healthful constitution of the Soul: its faculties had formerly been enfeebled, and dis­ordered so that they could not ex­erce their natural functions: it had wearied it self with endless tossings, and rollings, and was never able to [Page 31] find any rest: now that distemper is removed, and it feels it self well, there is a due harmony in its faculties, and a sprightly vigour possesseth every part: the understanding can discern what is good, and the will can cleave unto it, the affections are not tyed to the motions of Sense, and the influence of External objects; but they are stirred by more Divine impressions, are touched by a sense of invisible things.

Let us descend, if you please, into The Ex­cellency of Divine Love. a nearer and more particular view of Religion in those several branches of it which were named before: let us consider that love and affection where­with holy Souls are united to God, that we may see what Excellency and Felicity is involved in it. Love is that powerful and prevalent passion, by which all the faculties and inclinati­ons of the Soul are determined, and on which both its perfection and hap­piness doth depend. The worth and excellency of a Soul is to be measured by the object of its love: he who lo­veth mean and fordid things, doth [Page 40] thereby become base and vile; but a noble and well-placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit unto a confirmity with the perfections which it loves: The images of these do fre­quently present themselves unto the Mind, and by a secret force and ener­gie insinuate into the very constitu­tion of the Soul, and mould and fashion it unto their own likeness: Hence we may see how easily Lovers or Friends do slide unto the imitation of the per­son whom they affect, and how even before they are aware, they begin to resemble them, not only in the more considerable instances of their deport­ment, but also in their voice and ge­sture, and that which we call their meen and air; and certainly we should as well transcribe the vertues and in­ward beauties of the Soul, if they were the object and motive of our love: but now as all the Creatures we converse with have their mixture and alloy, we are alwayes in hazard to be sullied, and corrupted by placing our affection on them: Passion doth easily blind our eyes, that we first approve, and then [Page 41] imitate the things that are blameable in them: The true way to improve and ennoble our Souls, is by fixing our love on the Divine Perfections, that we may have them alwayes before us, and derive an impression of them on our selves, and beholding with open face as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we may be changed into the same Image from glory to glory: he who with a generous and holy ambition had raised his eyes toward that un­created Beauty and Goodness, and fixed his affection there, is quite of an­other spirit, a more excellent and heroick temper than the rest of the world, and cannot but infinitely dis­dain all mean and unworthy things, will not entertain any low or base thoughts, which might disparage his high and noble pretensions. Love is the greatest and most excellent thing we are masters of, and therefore it is folly and baseness to bestow it unwor­thily; it is indeed the only thing we can call our own, other things may be taken from us by violence, but none can ravish our love; if any thing else [Page 42] be counted ours, by giving our love, we give all, in so far as we make over our hearts and wills, by which we possess our other enjoyments: it is not possible to refuse him any thing, to whom by love we have given our selves; nay since it is the priviledge of gifts to receive their value from the mind of the giver, and not to be mea­sured by the event, but by the desire; he who loveth may in some sense be said not only to bestow all that he hath, but all things else which may make the beloved person happy, since he doth heartily wish them, and would really give them, if they were in his power: in which sense it is that one makes bold to say, That Divine Love doth in a manner give God unto himself, by the complacency it takes in the happi­ness and perfection of his Nature: But though this may seem too big an ex­pression, certainly love is the wor­thiest Present we can offer unto God, and it is extreamly debased when we bestow it another way.

When this affection is misplaced, it doth often vent it self, in such expressi­ons, [Page 43] as point at its genuine and proper object, and insinuate where it ought to be placed: The flattering and blas­phemous terms of adoration, wherein men do sometimes express their Pas­sion, are the language of that affection which was made and designed for God: as he who is accustomed to speak to some great Person, doth perhaps unawares accost another with those Titles he was wont to give to him: But certainly that Passion which ac­counteth its object a Deitie, ought to be bestowed on him who is really so: Those unlimited submissions, which would debase the Soul, if directed to any other, will exalt and ennoble it, when placed here: those chains and cords of love are infinitely more glo­rious than liberty it self; this slavery is more noble than all the Empires in the World.

Again, as Divine Love doth advance The Ad­vantages of Divine Love. and elevate the Soul, so it is that alone which can make it happy: the highest and most ravishing pleasures, the most soiid and substantial delights, the hu­mane Nature is capable of, are those [Page 44] which arise from the endearments of a well-placed and successful affection. That which imbitters Love, and makes it ordinarily a very troublesom and hurtful Passion, is the placing it on those who have not worth enough to deserve it, or affection and gratitude to requite it, or whose absence may deprive us of the pleasure of their con­verse, or their miseries occasion our trouble: To all these Evils are they ex­posed, whose chief and supream affecti­on is placed on Creatures like them­selves; but the Love of God delivers us from them all.

First, I say, Love must needs be mi­serable, The worth of the Ob­ject. and full of trouble and disquie­tude, when there is not worth and excellency enough in the Object to answer the vastness of its capacity: so eager and violent a Passion cannot but fret and torment the spirit, when it finds not wherewith to satisfie its cra­vings; and indeed so large and un­bounded is its nature, that it must be extreamly pinched, and straitned, when confined to any Creature: no­thing below an Infinite Good can af­ford [Page 45] it room to stretch it self, and exerce its activity and vigour: what is a little skin-deep beauty or some small degrees of goodness to match or satisfie a Passion which was made for God, designed to embrace an Infinite Good: No wonder Lovers do so hard­ly suffer any Rival, and do not desire that others should approve their pas­sion by imitating it: they know the scantness and narrowness of the good which they love, that it cannot suffice two, being in effect too little for one: Hence Love which is strong as death oc­casioneth Jealousie which is cruel as the grave, the coals whereof, are coals of fire, which hath a most violent flame.

But Divine Love hath no mixture of this gall: when once the Soul is fixed on that Supream and All-suffi­cient Good, it finds so much perfection and goodness, as doth not only answer and satisfie its affection, but master and over-power it too: it finds all its love to be too faint and languid for such a noble object, and is only sorry that it can command no more, it wish­eth [Page 46] for the Flammes of a Seraph, and longs for the time when it shall be wholly melted and dissolved into love: and because it can do so little it self, it desires the assistance of the whole Creation, that Angels and Men would concur with it in the admiration and love of those Infinite Perfections.

Again, Love is accompanied with The cer­tainty to be beloved again. trouble, when it misseth a suitable re­turn of affection: Love is the most valuable thing we can bestow, and by giving it, we do in effect give all that we have; and therefore it must needs be afflicting to find so great a gift despised, that the Present which one hath made of his whole Heart, cannot prevail to obtain any favour for him: Perfect love is a kind of self-derelicti­on, a wandering out of our selves, it's a kind of voluntary death, wherein the lover dyes to himself, and all his own interests, not thinking of them, nor caring for them any more, and minding nothing but how he may please and gratifie the party whom he loves: thus is he quite undone unless [Page 47] he meet with reciprocal affection, he neglects himself, and the other hath no regard to him; but if he be belo­ved, he is revived, as it were, and liveth in the soul and care of the person whom he loves, and now he begins to mind his own concernments, not so much because they are his, as because the beloved is pleased to own an in­terest in them: he becomes dear unto himself, because he is so unto the other.

But why should I enlarge in so known a matter, nothing can be more clear than that the happiness of Love de­pends on the return it meets with; and herein the Divine Lover hath un­speakably the advantage, having pla­ced his affection on him whose Nature is Love, whose Goodness is as Infinite as his Being, whose Mercy prevented us, when we were his enemies, there­fore cannot choose but imbrace us, when we are become his friends: it is utterly impossible that God should hide his Face, and deny his Love to a Soul wholly devoted to him, and which desires nothing so much as to serve and [Page 48] please him: he cannot disdain his own Image, nor the heart in which it is en­graven: Love is all the tribute which we can pay him, and it is the Sacri­fice which he will not despise.

Another thing which disturbs the The Pre­sence of the belo­ved per­son. pleasure of Love, and renders it a mi­serable and disquiet Passion, is absence and separation from those we love: it is not without a sensible affliction that friends do part, though for some little time, it is sad to be deprived of that society which is so delightful, our life becomes tedious, being spent in an impatient expectation of the happy hour wherein we may meet again: but if death have made the separation, as sometime or other it must, this oc­casions a grief scarce to be parallelled by all the misfortunes of humane life, and wherein we pay dear enough for the comforts of our friendship. But O how happy are those who have pla­ced their love on him who can never be absent from them: they need but to open their eyes, and they shall every where behold the traces of his Pre­sence and Glory, and converse with [Page 49] him whom their Soul loveth; and this makes the darkest Prison, or wil­dest Desart, not only supportable; but delightful to them.

In fine, a Lover is miserable if the That Di­vine Love makes us partake in an infinite happiness. person whom he loveth be so: They who have made an exchange of hearts by love, get thereby an interest in one anothers happiness and misery: and this makes Love a troublesome Pas­sion, when placed on Earth. The most fortunate person hath grief enough to marre the tranquillity of his friend, and it is hard to hold out, when we are attacked on all hands, and suffer not only in our own person, but in an­others. But if God were the Object of our Love, we should share in an infinite happiness without any mix­ture, or possibility of diminution: we should rejoyce to behold the Glory of God, and receive comfort and pleasure from all the Praises wherewith Men and Angels do Extol him: It should delight us beyond all expression to consider, that the Beloved of our Souls is infinitely happy in himself, and that all his Enemies cannot shake or un­settle [Page 50] his Throne: That our God is in the Heavens, and doth whatsoever he pleaseth.

Behold on what sure foundations his happiness is built, whose Soul is possessed with Divine Love, whose will is transformed into the Will of God, and whose greatest desire is that his Maker should be pleased: O the peace, the rest, the satisfaction that attendeth such a temper of mind!

What an infinite pleasure must it He that lo­veth God finds sweetness in every dispensa­tion. needs be, thus as it were to lose our selves in him, and being swallowed up in the overcoming sense of his good­ness, to offer our selves a living Sacri­fice alwayes ascending unto him in flammes of love: never doth a Soul know what a solid Joy and substantial pleasure is, till once being weary of it self, it renounce all propriety, give it self fully up unto the Author of its being, and feel it self become a hal­lowed and devoted thing, and can say from an inward sense and feeling, My Beloved is mine, (I account all his in­terest mine own) and I am his: I am content to be any thing for him, and [Page 51] care not for my self, but that I may serve him,) a person moulded unto this temper, would find pleasure in all the dispensations of Providence: Tempo­ral Enjoyments would have another relish, when he should taste the Divine Goodness in them, and consider them as tokens of Love sent by his dearest Lord and Maker: And chastisements though they be not joyful but grie­vous, would hereby lose their sting, the rod as well as the staff would com­fort him: he would snatch a kiss from the hand that were smiting him, and gather sweetness from that severity: nay he would rejoyce that though God did not the will of such a worth­less and foolish creature as himself, yet he did his own Will, and accomplished his own designs, which are infinitely more holy and wise.

The Exercises of Religion which to The duties of Religion are delight­ful to him. others are insipid and tedious, do yield the highest pleasure and delight to Souls possessed with Divine Love: they rejoyce when they are called to go up to the house of the Lord, that they may see his power and his glory, as they have Psal. 63. 2. [Page 52] formerly seen it in his Sanctuary: They never think themselves so happy, as when, having retired from the world, and gotten free from the noise and hurry of affairs, and silenced all their clamorous passions, those troublesom guests within, they have placed them­selves in the presence of God, and en­tertain Fellowship and Communion with him: they delight to adore his Perfections, and recount his Favours, and to protest their affection to him, and tell him a thousand times that they love him, to lay out their trou­bles or wants before him, and disbur­then their hearts in his Bosom: Re­pentance it self is a delightful exer­cise when it floweth from the princi­ple of love, there is a secret sweetness which accompanieth those tears of remofse, those meltings and relentings of a Soul returning unto God, and regrating its former unkindness: The heightned endearments of Lovers new­ly reconciled after some estrange­ments of their affections, are a very imperfect shadow and resemblance of this.

[Page 53]The severities of a holy Life, and that constant watch which we are ob­liged to keep over our hearts and ways, are very troublesom to those who are only ruled and acted by an External Law, and have no law in their Minds inclining them to the per­formance of their duty; but where Di­vine Love possesseth the Soul, it stands as Sentinel to keep out every thing that may offend the Beloved, and doth disdainfully repulse those temptations which assault it: it complyeth cheer­fully, not only with explicite Com­mands, but with the most secret No­tices of the Beloved's pleasure, and is ingenious in discovering what will be most grateful and acceptable unto him: it makes Mortification and Self­denial almost change their harsh and dreadful names, and become easie, sweet and delightful things.

But I find this part of my Letter swell bigger than I designed, (indeed who would not be tempted to dwell on so pleasant a Theme) I shall endea­vour to compensate it by brevity in the other Points.

[Page 54]The next Branch of the Divine Life, The Ex­cellency of Charity. is an Universal Charity and Love: The Excellency of this Grace will be easily acknowledged; for what can be more noble and generous than a Heart in­larged to imbrace the whole World, whose wishes and designs are levelled at the good and welfare of the Uni­verse, which considereth every man's interest as it's own? He who loveth his Neighbour as himself, can never en­tertain any base or injurious thought, or be wanting in expressions of boun­ty: he had rather suffer a thousand wrongs, than be guilty of one; and ne­ver accounts himself happy, but when some one or other hath been benefited by him: the malice or ingratitude of men is not able to resist his love; he overlooks their injuries, and pities their folly, and overcomes their evil with good, and never designs any other revenge against his most bitter and malitious Enemies, than to put all the obligations he can upon them, whe­ther they will or not: Is it any wonder that such a Person be reverenced and admired, and accounted the Darling [Page 55] of Mankind? This inward goodness and benignity of spirit reflects a cer­tain sweetness and serenity upon the very countenance, and makes it ami­able and lovely: it inspireth the Soul with a noble resolution and courage, and makes it capable of enterprising and effectuating the highest things: Those Heroick Actions which we are wont to read with admiration, have for the most part been the effects of the Love of ones Country, or of par­ticular Friendships, and certainly a more extensive and universal affection, must be much more powerful and ef­ficacious.

Again, as Charity flows from a Noble The Plea­sure that attends it. and Excellent temper; so it is accom­panied with the greatest Satisfaction and Pleasure: it delights the Soul to feel it self thus enlarged, and to be delivered from those disquieting as well as deforming Passions, Malice, Ha­tred, and Envy; and become Gentle, Sweet, and Benign: had I my choice of all things that might tend to my present felicity, I would pitch upon this, To have my heart possessed with [Page 56] the greatest kindness and affection to­wards all men in the World, I am sure this would make me partake in all the happiness of others, their inward en­dowments and outward prosperity, every thing that did benefit and ad­vantage them, would afford me com­fort and pleasure: and though I should frequently meet with occasions of grief and compassion, yet there is a sweetness in commiseration which makes it infinitely more desireable than a stupid insensibility: and the consideration of that Infinite Goodness and Wisdom which governs the world, might repress any excessive trouble for particular Calamities that happen in it: and the hopes or possibility of mens after-happiness, might moderate their sorrow for their present misfor­tunes. Certainly next to the love and enjoyment of God, that ardent Chari­ty and affection wherewith blessed Souls do imbrace one another, is justly to be reckoned as the greatest felicity of those Regions above, and did it universally prevail in the world, it would anticipate that blessedness, and [Page 57] make us taste of the Joyes of Heaven upon Earth.

That which I named as a Third The Ex­cellency of Purity. Branch of Religion was Purity, and you may remember I described it to consist in a contempt of sensual Plea­sures, and resoluteness to undergo those troubles and pains we may meet with in the performance of our duty: Now the naming of this may suffice to recommend it as a most Noble and Excellent Quality: There is no slave­ry so base as that whereby a man be­comes drudge to his own Lusts; nor any Victory so glorious as that which is obtain'd over them: Never can that person be capable of any thing that is Noble and Worthy, who is sunk in the gross and feculent pleasures of Sense, or bewitched with the light and airy gratifications of fancy; but the Reli­gious Soul is of a more Sublime and Divine temper, it knows it was made for higher things, and scorns to step aside one foot out of the ways of Ho­liness, for the obtaining of any of these.

[Page 58]And this Purity is accompanied The De­light it af­fords. with a great deal of Pleasure: what­soever defiles the Soul, disturbs it too; all impure delights have a sting in them, and leave smart and trouble be­hind them: Excess and Intemperance, and all inordinate Lusts, are so much Enemies to the health of the Body, and the interests of this present life, that a little consideration might oblige any rational man to forbear them on that very score: And if the Religious per­son go higher, and do not only abstain from noxious pleasures; but neglect those that are innocent, this is not to be look'd upon as any violent and un­easie restraint, but as the effect of bet­ter choice, that their Minds are taken up in the pursuit of more sublime and refined delights, so that they cannot be concerned in these: any person that is engaged in a violent and passionate affection, will easily forget his ordinary gratifications, will be little curious about his dyet, or his bodily ease, or the Divertisements he was wonted to delight in: No wonder then if Souls overpowered with Divine Love de­spise [Page 59] inferiour pleasures, and be almost ready to grudge the Body its necessary attendance for the common accom­modations of life, judging all these impertinent to their main happiness, and those higher enjoyments they are pursuing. As for the hardships they may meet with, they rejoyce in them, as opportunities to exercise and testifie their affection: and since they are able to do so little for God, they are glad of the honour to suffer for him.

The last Branch of Religion is Hu­mility; The Ex­cellency of Humility. and however to vulgar and carnal eyes this may appear an abject, base and despicable quality, yet really the Soul of man is not capable of an higher and more noble endowment: It is a silly ignorance that begets pride, but Humility arises from a nearer ac­quaintance with excellent things, which keeps men from doating on trifles, or admiring themselves be­cause of some petty attainments: No­ble and well Educated Souls have no such high opinion of Riches, Beauty, Strength, and other such like advan­tages, [Page 60] as to value themselves for them, or despise those that want them: and as for inward worth and real good­ness, the sense they have of the Di­vine Perfections, makes them think very meanly of any thing they have hitherto attain'd, and be still endea­vouring to surmount themselves, and make nearer approaches to those in­finite Excellencies which they ad­mire.

I know not what thoughts people may have of Humility, but I see al­most every person pretending unto it, and shunning such expressions and actions as may make them be accoun­ted arrogant and presumptuous, so that those who are most desirous of praise, will be loath to commend themselves. What are all those com­plements and modes of Civility so fre­quent in our ordinary converse, but so many protestations of our esteem of others, and the low thoughts we have of our selves? And must not that Humility be a noble and excellent en­dowment, when the very shadows of it are accounted so necessary a part of good breeding.

[Page 61]Again, this Grace is accompanied The plea­sure and sweetness of an hum­ble tem­per. with a great deal of happiness and tranquility: the proud and arrogant person is a trouble to all that converse with him, but most of all unto him­self: every thing is enough to vex him; but scarce any thing sufficient to content and please him: he is ready to quarrel with every thing that falls out, as if he himself were such a con­siderable person, that God Almighty should do every thing to gratifie him, and all the Creatures of Heaven and Earth should wait upon him, and obey his will: The leaves of high Trees do shake with every blast of wind; and every breath, every evil word will disquiet and torment an arrogant man: but the humble person hath the ad­vantage when he is despised, that none can think more meanly of him, than he doth of himself, and therefore he is not troubled at the matter, but can easily bear those reproaches which wound the other to the Soul: and withal as he is less affected with inju­ries, so indeed he is less obnoxious unto them: Contention which cometh of Pride [Page 62] betrayes a man into a thousand incon­veniencies, which those of a meek and lowly temper are seldom meeting with: True and genuine humility be­getteth both a veneration and love among all, wise and discerning persons, while Pride defeateth it's own design, and depriveth a man of that honour it makes him pretend to.

But as the chief Exercises of Humi­lity are those which relate unto Al­mighty God, so these are accompany'd with the greatest satisfaction and sweetness; it is impossible to express the great pleasure and delight which Religious persons feel in the lowest prostrations of their Soul before God, when having a deep sense of the Di­vine Majesty and Glory, they sink (if I may so speak) unto the very bottom of their beings, and vanish and dis­appear in the presence of God, by a serious and affectionate acknowledg­ment of their own nothingness, and the shortness and imperfections of all their attainments, when they under­stand the full sense and emphasis of the Psalmist's exclamation, Lord, what [Page] is Man? and can utter it with the same affection: neither did ever any haugh­ty and ambitious person receive the praises and applauses of men with so much pleasure, as the humble and re­ligious do renounce them, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name give glory, &c.

Thus I have spoken something of the Excellencies and Advantage of Religion in it's several Branches; but should be very injurious to the Sub­ject, did I pretend to have given any perfect account of it. Let us acquaint our selves with it, My dear Friend, Let us acquaint our selves with it, and ex­perience will teach us more than all that ever hath been spoken or written concerning it. But if we may suppose the Soul to be already awakened unto some longing desires after so great a Blessedness, it will be good to give them vent, and suffer them to issue forth in some such aspirations as these,

[Page 66]I Have hitherto considered wherein The de­spondent Thoughts of some newly a­wakened to a right sense of things. True Religion doth consist, and how desirable a thing it is; but when one sees how infinitely distant the common temper and frame of men is from it, he may perhaps be ready to despond, and give over and think it utterly impossible to be attain'd: he may sit down in sadness, and bemoan himself and say in the anguish and bitterness of his spirit, ‘They are hap­py indeed whose Souls are awakened unto the Divine Life, who are thus renew'd in the spirit of their minds; but alas! I am quite of another con­stitution, and am not able to effe­ctuate so mighty a change: if out­ward observances could have done the business, I might have hoped to acquit my self by diligence and care; but since nothing but a new Nature can serve the turn, what am I able to do? I could bestow all my Goods [Page 67] in Oblations to God, or Alms to the Poor, but cannot command that Love and Charity, without which this expence would profit me no­thing: This gift of God cannot be Act. 8. 20. purchased with money: if a man should give all the substance of his house for love it would utterly be Cant: 8. 7. contemned: I could pine and mace­rate my body, and undergo many hardships and troubles, but I cannot get all my corruptions starved, nor my affections wholly wean'd from Earthly things: there is still some worldly desires lurking in my heart, and those vanities that I have shut out of doors, are alwayes getting in by the windowes. I am many times convinced of my own meanness, of the weakness of my body, and the far greater weakness of my Soul; but this doth rather beget indigna­tion and discontent, than true hu­mility in my spirit: and though I should come to think meanly of my self, yet I cannot endure that others should think so too. In a word, when I reflect on my highest and most spe­cious [Page 68] attainments, I have reason to suspect that they are all but the ef­fects of Nature, the issues of Self­love acting under several disguises: and this principle is so powerful and so deeply rooted in me, that I can never hope to be delivered from the dominion of it: I may toss and turn as a door on the hinges, but can ne­ver get clear off, or be quite un­hing'd of Self, which is still the cen­ter of all my motions: So that all the advantage I can draw from the dis­covery of Religion, is but to see at a huge distance that felicity which I am not able to reach; like a man in a shipwrack, who discerns the Land, and envies the happiness of those who are there; but thinks it impossible for himself to get ashoare.’

These, I say, or such like despond­ing The un­reason­ableness of these Fears. Thoughts may arise in the Minds of those persons who begin to conceive somewhat more of the Nature and Ex­cellency of Religion than before: they have spy'd the Land, and seen that it's exceeding good, that it floweth with [Page 69] milk and honey; but they find they have the Children of Anak to grapple with, many powerful lusts and cor­ruptions to overcome, and they fear they shall never prevail against them. But why should we give way to such discouraging suggestions? why should we entertain such unreasonable fears, which damp our spirits and weaken our hands, and augment the difficul­ties of our way? Let us encourage our selves, my dear Friend, let us encourage our selves with those mighty aids we are to expect in this Spiritual War­fare, for greater is he that is for us, then all that can rise up against us; The Eternal God is our refuge, and un­derneath Deut. 33. 27. are the Everlasting Arms. Let us be strong in the Lord, and the power of his might, for he it is that shall tread down our Enemies: God hath a tender regard unto the Souls of men, and is infinitely willing to promove their welfare: he hath condescended to our weakness, and declared with an Oath, that he hath no pleasure in our de­struction: There is no such thing as despight or envy lodged in the Bosom [Page 70] of that ever Blessed Being, whose Name and Nature is Love. He crea­ted us at first in a happy condition; and now when we are fallen from it, he hath laid help upon One that is Mighty to Psal. 89. 19. Save, hath committed the Care of our Souls to no meaner Person than the Eternal Son of his Love; It is he that is the Captain of our Salvation: and what Enemies can be too strong for us, when we are fighting under his Banners. Did not the Son of God come down from the Bosom of his Fa­ther and pitch his Tabernacle amongst the Sons of Men, that he might reco­ver and propagate the Divine Life, and restore the Image of God in their Souls: All the Mighty Works which he perform'd, all the Sad Afflictions which he sustain'd had this for their scope and design, for this did he labour and toil, for this did he bleed and dye: He was with child, he was in pain, and hath Esay 26. ver. 19. he brought forth nothing but wind, hath he wrought no deliverance in the Earth? Shall he not see of the travel of his Soul? Esay 53. ver. 11. Certainly it is impossible that this Great Contrivance of Heaven should [Page 71] prove abortive, that such a mighty undertaking should fail and miscarry: It hath already been effectual for the Salvation of many Thousands, who were once as far from the Kingdom of Heaven as we can suppose our selves to be, and our High Priest continueth Heb. 7. 24, 25. for ever, and is able to save then to the uttermost that come unto God by him: He is tender and compassionate, he know­eth our infirmities, and had experience of our temptations, A bruised reed will Matth. 12. 20. he not break, and a smoaking flax will he not quench, till he send forth Judgment unto victory. He hath sent out his Ho­ly Spirit, whose sweet but powerful breathings are still moving up and down in the World, to quicken and revive the Souls of men, and awaken them unto the Sense and feeling of those Divine things for which they were made, and is ready to assist such weak and languishing Creatures as we are in our Essay's towards holiness and felicity: and when once it hath taken hold of a Soul, and kindled in it the smallest spark of Divine Love, it will be sure to preserve and cherish, and [Page 72] bring it forth into a flame, which ma­ny waters shall not quench, neither Cant. 8 7. shall the floods be able to drown it: when ever this day begins to dawn, and the Day-Star to arise in the heart, it 2 Pet. 1. 19. will easily dispel the powers of dark­ness, and make ignorance and folly, and all the corrupt and selfish affecti­ons of men flee away as fast before it as the shades of the Night, when the Sun cometh out of his Chambers: for the path of the Just is as the shining light Prov. 4. 18. which shineth more and more unto the per­fect day: They shall go on from strength Psal 84 7. to strength, till every one of them appear before God in Sion.

Why should we think it impossible that True Goodness and Universal Love should ever come to sway and prevail in our Souls? Is not this their Primitive state and condition, their native and genuine constitution as they came first from the hands of their Maker. Sin and corruption are but usurpers, and though they have long kept the possession, yet from the begin­ing it was not so. That inordinate Self­love which one would think were [Page 73] rooted in our very being, and inter­woven with the constitution of our Nature, is nevertheless of forraign ex­traction, and had no place at all in the state of integrity: we have still so much reason left us to condemn it: our Understandings are easily convinced that we ought to be wholly devoted to him from whom we have our be­ing, and to love him infinitely more than our selves, who is infinitely bet­ter than we, and our wills would rea­dily comply with this, if they were not disordered and put out of tune: and is not he who made our Souls able to rectifie and mend them again? Shall we not be able by his assistance to van­quish and expel those violent intru­ders, and turn unto flight the Arms of Heb. 11. 34. the Aliens.

No sooner shall we take up Arms in this holy Warr, but we shall have all the Saints on Earth, and all the Angels in Heaven engaged on our party: the holy Church throughout the World is daily interceding with God for the success of all such endeavours, and doubtless those heavenly Hosts above [Page 74] are nearly concerned in the Interests of Religion, and infinitely desirous to see the Divine Life thriving and prevail­ing in this inferiour World; and that the Will of God may be done by us on Earth, as it is done by themselves in Heaven; and may we not then encou­rage our selves as the Prophet did his Servant, when he shewed him the Hor­ses and Chariors of fire, Fear not, for they that be with us are more then they 2 King 6. 16, 17. that be against us.

Away then with all perplexing fears We must do what we can, and de­pend on the Divine assistance. I Chron. 22. 16. and desponding thoughts: to under­take vigorously, and rely confidently on the Divine assistance is more than half the conquest: Let us arise and be doing, and the Lord will be with us. It is true Religion in the Souls of men is the immediate work of God, and all our natural endeavours can neither produce it alone, nor merit those su­pernatural aids by which it must be wrought: The Holy Ghost must come upon us, and the power of the Highest must overshadow us, before that holy thing can be begotten and Christ be formed in us: but yet we must not ex­pect [Page 75] that this whole work should be done without any concurring endea­vours of ours: we must not lye loiter­ing in the ditch and wait till Omnipo­tence pull us from thence: no, no, we must bestir our selves and actuate these powers which we have already recei­ved: We must put forth our selves in our utmost capacities, and then we may hope that our Labour shall not be in 1 Cor. 15. 58. vain in the Lord. All the art and in­dustry of Man cannot form the smal­lest herb, or make a stalk of Corn to grow in the field; it is the energy of Nature, and the influences of Heaven which produce this effect; it is God who causeth the grass to grow, and herb Psal. 104. 14. for the service of man; and yet no body will say that the Labours of the Hus­band-man are useless or unnecessary: So likewise the humane Soul is imme­diately created by God; it is he who both formeth and enliveneth the child, and yet he hath appointed the Mar­riage-bed as the ordinary mean for the propagation of Mankind. Though there must intervene a stroak of Om­nipotence to effectuate this mighty [Page 76] change in our Souls; yet ought we to do what we can to fit and prepare our selves, for we must break up our fallow ground and root out the weeds, Jer. 4. 3. and pull up the thorns, that so we may be the more ready to receive the Seeds of Grace and the Dew of Heaven. It is true, God hath been found of some who sought him not; he hath cast him­self in their way who were quite out of his; he hath laid hold upon them, and stopt their course on a sudden; for so was S. Paul converted in his Jour­ney to Damascus: but certainly this is not God's ordinary method of dealing with men, though he hath not ty'd himself to means, yet he hath tyed us to the use of them; and we have ne­ver more reason to expect the Divine assistance, but when we are doing our utmost endeavours. It shall therefore be my next work to shew what course we ought to take for attaining that blessed temper I have hitherto descri­bed. But here if in delivering my own thoughts, I shall chance to differ any thing from what is or may be said by others in this matter, I would not [Page 77] be therefore thought to contradict and oppose them, more than Physitians do when they prescribe several Remedies for the same Disease, which perhaps are all useful and good: Every one may propose the Method which he judgeth most proper and convenient, but he doth not thereby pretend that the Cure can never be effectuated, un­less that be exactly observed: I doubt it hath occasioned much unnecessa­ry disquietude to some holy persons, that they have not found such a regu­lar and orderly transaction in their Souls, as they have seen described in Books; that they have not passed through all those steps and stages of Conversion, which some, who perhaps have felt them in themselves, have too peremptorily prescribed unto others: God hath several wayes of dealing with the Souls of men, and it sufficeth if the work be accomplish'd, whatever the Methods have been.

Again, Though in proposing Di­rections, I must follow that order which the nature of things shall lead to; yet I do not mean that the same [Page 78] method should be so punctually obser­ved in the practise; as if the later Rules were never to be heeded till some con­siderable time have been spent in pra­ctising the former: The Directions I intend be mutually conducive one to another, and are all to be perform'd as occasion shall serve, and we find our selves inabled to perform them.

But now that I may detain you no We must shun all manner of Sin. longer, if we desire to have our Souls moulded to this holy frame, to become partakers of the Divine Nature, and have Christ formed in our hearts, we must seriously resolve and carefully endeavour to evite and abandon all Vitious and Sinful practises. There can be no Treaty of Peace, till once we lay down these weapons of Rebellion wherewith we fight against Heaven: nor can we expect to have our distem­pers cured, if we be daily feeding on poyson: Every wilful sin, gives a mortal wound to the Soul, and puts it at a greater distance from God and goodness; and we can never hope to have our hearts purified from corrupt [Page 79] affections, unless we cleanse our hands from vitious actions. Now in this case we cannot excuse our selves by the pretence of impossibility; for sure our outward man is some way in our power, we have some command of our feet and hands, and tongue, nay and of our thoughts and fancies too, at least so far as to divert them from im­pure and sinful objects, and to turn our Mind another way: and we should find this power and authority much strengthned and advanced, if we were careful to manage and exercise it. Mean while I acknowledge our cor­ruptions are so strong, and our tempta­tions so many, that it will require a great deal of steadfastness and resolu­tion, of watchfulness and care to pre­serve our selves even in this degree of Innocence and Purity.

And first let us inform our selves We must know what things are sinful. well, what those Sins are from which we ought to abstain. And here we must not take our measures from the Maxims of the World, or the practises of those whom in charity we account [Page 80] good men: most people have very light apprehensions of these things, and are not sensible of any fault un­less it be gross and flagitious, and scarce reckon any so great as that which they call Preciseness: and those who are more serious, do many times allow them selves too great lati­tude and freedom: Alas! how much Pride and Vanity, and Passion, and Hu­mour, how much weakness and folly and sin doth every day bewray it self in their converse and behaviour: It may be they are humbled for it, and striving against it, and are daily gain­ing some ground; but then the pro­gress is so small, and their failings so many, that we had need to choose an exacter Pattern. Every one of us must answer for himself, and the practises of others will never warrant and secure us: It is the highest folly to regulate our Actions by any other standard, than that by which they must be Judg­ed: If ever we would cleanse our way, Psal. 119. 9. it must be by taking heed thereto accord­ing to the Word of God: and that Word which is quick and powerful, and sharper [Page 81] then any edged sword, piercing even to Heb. 4. 12. the dividing assunder of soul and spirit, and of the joynts and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, will certainly discover many things to be sinful and heynous, which pass for very innocent in the eyes of the World: Let us therefore imitate the Psalmist, who saith, Concerning the Psal. 17. 4. works of men, by the words of thy lips, I have kept my self from the path of the de­stroyer. Let us acquaint our selves well, with the strict and holy Laws of our Religion: Let us consider the Discourses of our Blessed Saviour, (especially that Divine Sermon on the Mount) and the Writings of his holy Apostles, where an ingenuous and un­byassed Mind may clearly discern those limits and bounds by which our acti­ons ought to be confined. And then let us never look upon any Sin as light and inconsiderable; but be fully per­swaded, that the smallest is infinitely heynous in the sight of God, and pre­judicial to the Souls of Men; and that if we had the right sense of things, we would be deeply affected with the least [Page 82] Irregularities, than now we are with the greatest Crimes.

But now amongst those things which We must resist the Temptati­ons to Sin, by consi­dering the Evils they will draw on us. we discover to be sinful, there will be some, unto which, through the disposi­tion of our Nature, or long custome, or the indearments of pleasure, we are so much wedded, that it will be like the cutting off the right hand, or pulling out the right eye, to abandon them. But must we therefore sit down and wait till all difficulties be over, and every temptation be gone: this were to imitate the fool in the Poet, who stood the whole day at the River side till all the water should run by. We must not indulge our inclinations, as we do little Children, till they grow weary of the thing they are unwilling to let go: We must not continue our sinful practises in hope that the Divine Grace will one day overpower our spi­rits, and make us hate them for their own deformity.

Let us suppose the worst, that we are utterly destitute of any Supernatu­ral Principle, and want that taste by [Page 83] which we should discern and abhor perverse things; yet sure we are ca­pable of some considerations which may be of force to perswade us to this reformation of our lives: If the in­ward deformity and heynous nature of Sin cannot affect us; at least we may be frighted by those dreadful conse­quences that attend it: That same selfish principle which pusheth us for­ward unto the pursuit of sinful Plea­sures, will make us loath to buy them at the rate of everlasting misery: Thus we may encounter Self-love with its own weapons, and imploy one natu­ral inclination for repressing the ex­orbitancies of another. Let us there­fore accustom our selves to consider seriously what a fearful thing it must needs be to irritate and offend that in­finite Being on whom we hang and depend every moment, who needs but to withdraw his Mercies to make us miserable; or his assistance to make us nothing: Let us frequently re­member the shortness and uncertainty of our lives, and how that after we have taken a few turns more in the [Page 84] World, and conversed a little longer amongst men, we must all go down unto the dark and silent graves, and carry nothing along but anguish and regret of all our Sinful enjoyments, and then think what horror must needs seize the guilty Soul, to find it self naked and all alone before the Se­vere and Impartial Judge of the world, to render an exact account not only of its more important and considerable transactions; but of every word that the Tongue hath uttered, and the swif­test and most secret thought that ever passed through the Mind. Let us some­times represent unto our selves the terrors of that dreadful day, when the foundations of the Earth shall be sha­ken, 2 Pet. 3. 10. and the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the present frame of Nature be dissolved, and our Eyes shall see the Blessed Jesus who came once into the World in all Humility to visit us, to purchase par­don for us, and beseech us to accept of it, now appearing in the Majesty of his glory, and descending from Heaven [Page 85] in a flaming fire to take vengeance on those that have despised his Mercy, and perished in rebellion against him: when all the hidden things of darkness shall 1 Cor. 4. 5. be brought to light, and the counsels of the heart shall be made manifest: when those secret impurities and sub­tile frauds whereof the World did ne­ver suspect us, shall be exposed and laid open to Publick view, and many thousand actions which we never dreamed to be sinful, or else had alto­gether forgotten, shall be charged home upon our Consciences with such evident convictions of guilt, that we shall neither be able to deny nor excuse them. Then shall all the Angels in Heaven, and all the Saints that ever liv'd on the Earth approve that dread­ful Sentence which shall be passed on wicked men, and those who perhaps did love and esteem them when they liv'd in the World, shall look upon them with indignation and abhorrence, and never make one request for their deliverance. Let us consider the Eternal punishments of damned Souls which are shadowed forth in Scripture by [Page 86] Metaphors taken from those things that are most terrible and grievous in the World, and yet all doth not suffice to conveigh unto our Minds any full apprehension of them: when we have joyned together the importance of all these expressions, and added unto them whatever our fancy can conceive of Misery and Torment, we must still re­member that all this comes infinitely short of the truth and the reality of the thing.

It's true, this is a sad and melancho­ly subject, there is anguish and horror in the consideration of it; but sure it must be infinitely more dreadful to endure it; and such thoughts as these may be very useful to fright us from the courses that would lead us thither, how fond soever we may be of sinful pleasures, the fear of Hell would make us abstain: our most forward inclina­tions will startle and give back when pressed with that Question in the Pro­phet, Who amongst us shall dwell with Isa. 33. 14. everlasting burnings.

To this very purpose it is that the terrors of another World are so fre­quently [Page 87] represented in holy Writ, and that in such terms as are most proper to affect and influence a carnal Mind: These fears can never suffice to make any person truly good; but certainly they may restrain us from much Evil, and have often made way for more ingenuous and kindly impressions.

But it will not suffice to consider We must keep a constant watch over our selves. those things once and again, nor to form resolutions of abandoning our sins, unless we maintain a constant guard, and be continually watching against them. Sometimes the Mind is awakened to see the dismal conse­quences of a Vitious life, and straight we are resolved to reform: but alas! it presently falleth asleep, and we lose that prospect which we had of things, and then temptations take the advan­tage, they solicite and importune us continually, and so do frequently en­gage our consent before we are aware. It is the folly and ruine of most people that they live at adventure, and take part in every thing that comes in their way, seldom considering what they are about to say or do: If we would [Page 88] have our resolution take effect, we must take heed unto our ways, and set a watch unto the door of our lips, and examine the motions that arise in our heart, cause them tell us whence they come, and whither they go; whether it be Pride or Passion, or any corrupt and vitious humour that prompteth us to any design, and whether God will be offended, or any body harm­ed by it. And if we have no time for long reasonings, let us at least turn our eyes toward God, and place our selves in his Presence to ask his leave and ap­probation for what we do: Let us consider our selves under the All-see­ing Eye of that Divine Majesty, as in the midst of an infinite Globe of light, which compasseth us about both be­hind and before, and pierceth to the innermost corners of our Soul: the Sense and remembrance of the Divine Presence, is the most ready and effe­ctual mean, both to discover what is unlawful, and to restrain us from it: There are some things a person could have a shift to palliate or defend, and yet he dares not look Almighty God [Page 89] in the face and adventure upon them. If we look into him we shall be light­ned; if we set him alwayes before us, he will guide us by his Eye, and instruct us in the way wherein we ought to walk.

This Care and Watchfulness over We must often exa­mine our Actions. our Actions, must be seconded by fre­quent and serious reflections upon them, not only that we may obtain the Divine Mercy and Pardon for our Sins, by an humble and sorrowful ac­knowledgment of them; but also that we may reinforce and strengthen our resolutions, and learn to decline or re­sist the temptations, by which we have been formerly foyl'd. It is an advice worthy of a Christian, though it did first drop from a Heathen Pen; That before we betake our selves to rest, we renew and examine all the passages of the day, that we may have the com­fort of what we have done aright, and may redress what we find to have been amiss, and make the shipwracks of one day be as marks to direct our course in another. This may be called the very art of Virtuous living, and would con­tribute [Page 90] wonderfully to advance our reformation, and preserve our inno­cency. But withall we must not for­get to implore the Divine assistance, especially against those Sins that do most easily beset us: and though it be supposed that our hearts are not yet moulded unto that Spiritual frame, which should render our Devotions acceptable, yet methinks such consi­derations as have been proposed to de­ter us from Sin, may also stir us up to some natural seriousness, and make our Prayers against it as earnest at least, as they are wont to be against other Calamities: and I doubt not God who heareth the cry of the Ravens, will have some regard even to such Petitions as proceed from those natu­ral Passions which himself hath im­planted in us: besides that those Pray­ers against Sin will be powerful en­gagements on our selves to excite us to watchfulness and care, and common ingenuity will make us asham'd to re­lapse unto those faults, which we have lately regrated before God, and against which we have begged his assistance.

[Page 91]Thus are we to make the first essay It is fit to restrain our selves in many lawful things. for recovering the Divine Life, by re­straining the natural inclinations that they break not out into sinful practi­ses: but now I must add, that Chri­stian Prudence will teach us to ab­stain from gratifications that are not simply unlawful, and that not only, that we may secure our innocence, which would be in continual hazard, if we should strain our liberty to the utmost point, and be always walking on the Marches, but also that hereby we may weaken the forces of Nature, and teach our appetites to obey; we must do with our selves as prudent Parents with their Children, who cross their wills in many little indifferent things, to make them manageable and submissive in more considerable in­stances: he who would mortifie the pride and vanity of his spirit, should stop his ears to the most deserved prai­ses, and sometimes forbear his just vindication, from the Censures and aspersions of others, especially if they reflect only upon his prudence and conduct, and not on his Virtue and [Page 92] Innocence: He who would check a vindictive humour, would do well to deny himself the Satisfaction of repre­senting unto others the Injuries which he hath sustain'd; and if we would so take heed to our ways, that we sin not with our tongue, we must accustome our selves much to solitude and si­lence, and sometimes with the Psalmist Hold our peace even from good, till once we have gotten some command of that unruly member. Thus, I say, we may bind up our natural inclinations, and make our appetites more moderate in their cravings, by accustoming them to frequent refusals: but it is not enough to have them under violence, and restraint.

Our next Essay must be to wean We must strive to put our selves out of love with the World. our affections from created things, and all the delights and entertainments of the lower life, which sink and depress the Souls of men, and retard their mo­tions toward God and Heaven: And this we must do by possessing our Minds with a deep perswasion of the vanity and emptiness of worldly en­joyments. This is an ordinary theme, [Page 93] and every body can make declamati­ons upon it; but alas! how few un­derstand and believe what they say: These Notions float in our Brains, and come sliding off our Tongues, but we have no deep impression of them on our spirits, we feel not the truth which we pretend to believe: We can tell that all the glory and splendour, all the pleasures and enjoyments of the World, are vanity and nothing; and yet these nothings take up all our thoughts, and ingross all our affecti­ons, they stifle the better inclinations of our Soul, and inveigle us into many a Sin: it may be in a sober mood, we give them the slight, and resolve to be no longer deluded with them; but these thoughts seldom out-live the next temptation, the vanities which we have shut out at the door get in at a postern: there are still some preten­sions, some hopes that flatter us; and after we have been frustrated a thou­sand times, we must continually be re­peating the experiment: The leaft difference of circumstances is enough to delude us, and make us expect that [Page 94] satisfaction in one thing, which we have missed in another: but could we once get clearly off, and come to a real and serious contempt of worldly things, this were a very considerable advancement in our way: The Soul of Man is of a vigorous and active na­ture, and hath in it a raging and un­extinguishable thirst, an immaterial kind of fire, always catching at some object or other, in conjunction where­with it thinks to be happy; and were it once rent from the World, and all the bewitching enjoyments under the Sun, it would quickly search after some higher and more excellent Ob­ject, to satisfie its ardent, and impor­tunate cravings, and being no longer dazel'd with glistering vanities, would fix on that Supream and All-sufficient Good, where it should discover such beauty and sweetness as would charm and over-power all its affections: The love of the World, and the love of God, are like the scales of a ballance, as the one falleth, the other doth rise: when our natural inclinations prosper, and the creature is exalted in our Soul, [Page 95] Religion is faint, and doth languish; but when earthly objects wither away, and lose their beauty, and the Soul begins to cool and flagg in its prosecu­tion of them, then the seeds of Grace take root, and the Divine Life begins to flourish and prevail. It doth there­fore nearly concern us to convince our selves of the emptiness and vanity of Creature-enjoyments, and reason our heart out of love of them: let us Seriously consider all that our Reason or our Faith, our own Experience, or the observation of others can suggest to this effect. Let us ponder the mat­ter over and over, and fix our thoughts on this truth, till we become really perswaded of it: amidst all our pur­suits and designs, let us stop and ask our selves, For what end is all this? At what do I aim? Can the gross and muddy pleasures of Sense, or a heap of white or yellow Earth, or the esteem and affection of silly creatures like my self satisfie a rational and immortal Soul? Have I not tryed these things already? Will they have a higher re­lish, and yield me more contentment [Page 96] to morrow than yesterday, or the next year than they did the last? There may be some little difference betwixt that which I am now pursuing, & that which I enjoy'd before; but sure my former Enjoyments did shew as plea­sant, and promise as fair before I at­tain'd them: like the Rain-bow they looked very glorious at a distance, but when I approached, I found nothing but emptiness and vapor. O what a poor thing should the life of man be, if it were capable of no higher enjoy­ments!

I cannot insist on this subject, and there is the less need when I remem­ber to whom I am writing. Yes (my dear Friend) you have had as great Experience of the emptiness and va­nity of humane things, and have at present as few worldly engagements as any that I know: I have sometimes reflected on those passages of your life wherewith you have been pleased to acquaint me: and methinks through all I can discern a design of the Divine Providence to wean your affections from every thing here below: The [Page 97] Tryals you have had of those things which the World dotes upon; hath taught you to despise them, and you have found by experience that neither the endowments of Nature, nor the advantages of Fortune are sufficient for happiness: that every Rose hath its thorn, and there may be a Worm at the root of the fairest Gourd, some secret and undiscerned grief which may make a person deserve the pity of those who perhaps do admire or envy their supposed felicity: If any earthly comforts have got too much of your heart, I think they have been your Relations and Friends, and the dearest of those are removed out of the World, so that you must raise your Mind towards Heaven, when you would think upon them: Thus God hath provided that your heart may be loosed from the World, and he may not have any Rival in your affection, which I have alwayes observed to be so large and unbounded, so noble and dis-interessed, that no inferiour object can answer or deserve it.

[Page 98]When we have got our corruptions We must do those outward Actions that are command­ed. restrain'd, and our natural appetites and inclinations towards worldly things in some measure subdued, we must proceed to such exercises as have a more immediate tendance to excite and awaken the Divine Life: And first let us endeavour conscientiously to perform those duties which Religion doth require, and whereunto it would incline us if it did prevail in our Souls: If we cannot get our inward disposi­tion presently changed, let us study at least to regulate our outward deport­ment: if our hearts be not yet in­flam'd with Divine Love, let us how­ever own our alleagiance to that infi­nite Majesty, by attending his Service, and listening to his Word, by speak­ing reverently of his Name, and prai­sing his goodness, and exhorting others to serve and obey him: if we want that charity and those bowels of com­passion which we ought to have to­wards our Neighbours, yet must we not omit any occasion of doing them good: If our hearts be haughty and [Page 99] proud, we must nevertheless study a modest and humble Deportment: These external performances are of little value in themselves, yet may they help us forward to better things: The Apostle indeed telleth us, that bo­dily exercise profiteth little; but he seems not to affirm that it is altogether useless, it is alwayes good to be do­ing what we can, for then God is wont to pity our weakness, and assist our feeble endeavours: and when true Charity and Humility and other Gra­ces of the Divine Spirit come to take root in our Souls, they will actuate themselves more freely and with the less difficulty that we have been ac­customed to express them in our out­ward conversations. Nor need we fear the imputation of hypocrisie, tho our actions do thus somewhat out-run our affections, seeing they do still pro­ceed from a sense of our Duty, and our Design is not to appear better then we are, but that we may really become so.

[Page 100]But as inward acts have a more im­mediate We must endeavour to form internal Acts of Devotion, Charity, &c. influence on the Soul to mould it to a right temper and frame; so ought we to be most frequent and sedulous in the exercise of those. Let us be often lifting up our hearts to­wards God; and if we do not say that we love him above all things, let us at least acknowledg that it is our Du­ty and would be our Happiness so to do: Let us regrate the dishonour done unto him by foolish and sinful men, and applaud the Praises and Adorati­ons that are given him by that Blessed and Glorious Company above: Let us resign and yield our selves up unto him a thousand times to be governed by his Lawes, and disposed upon at his pleasure: and though our stubborn hearts should start back and refuse, yet let us tell him we are convinced that his Will is alwayes Just and Good, and therefore desire him to do with us whatsoever he pleaseth whether we will or not. And so, for begetting in us an universal Charity towards men, we must be frequently putting up [Page 101] wishes for their happiness, and bles­sing every person that we see; and when we have done any thing for the relief of the miserable, we may second it with earnest desires that God would take care of them, and deliver them out of all their distresses.

Thus should we exercise our selves unto godliness, and when we are im­ploying the powers that we have, the Spirit of God is wont to strike in, and elevate these acts of our Soul beyond the pitch of Nature, and give them a Divine impression: and after the fre­quent reiteration of these we will find our selves more inclined unto them, they flowing with greater freedom and ease.

I shall mention but two other Means Considera­tion a great instrument of Reli­gion. for begetting that Holy and Divine temper of spirit, which is the Subject of the present Discourse: And the first is a Deep and Serious Consideration of the Truths of our Religion, and that both as to the certainty and impor­tance of them. The assent which is ordinarily given to Divine Truths is very faint and languid, very weak and [Page 102] uneffectual, flowing only from a blind inclination to follow that Religion which is in the fashion, or a lazy in­differency and unconcernedness whe­ther things be so or not: Men are un­willing to quarrel with the Religion of their Countrey, and since all their Neighbours are Christians, they are content to be so too: but they are sel­dome at the pains to consider the evi­dences of those Truths, or to ponder the importance and tendency of them: and thence it is that they have so little influence on their affections and pra­ctise: Those spriteless and paralitick thoughts (as one doth rightly term them) are not able to move the will, and direct the hand. We must there­fore endeavour to work up our Minds to a Serious belief and full perswasion of Divine Truths, unto a Sense and feeling of Spiritual things: Our thoughts must dwell upon them till we be both convinced of them, and deeply affected with them: Let us urge forward our spirits, and make them approach the invisible World, and fix our Mind upon immaterial [Page 103] things, till we clearly perceive that these are no Dreams, nay that all things are Dreams and Shadows be­sides them: When we look about us and behold the beauty and magnifi­cence of this goodly frame, the order and harmony of the whole Creation, let our thoughts from thence take their flight toward that Omnipotent Wisdom and Goodness which did at first produce, and doth ftill establish and uphold the same: When we re­flect upon our selves, let us consider that we are not a meer piece of Orga­nized matter, a curious and well-con­trived Engine, that there is more in us then flesh, and blood, and bones, even a Divine sparkle, capable to know, and love, and enjoy our Maker; and tho it be now exceedingly clogged with its dull and lumpish companion, yet ere long it shall be delivered, and can subsist without the body, as well as that can do without the Cloathes which we throw off at our pleasure. Let us often withdraw our thoughts from this Earth, this Scene of Misery and folly and sin, and raise them to­wards [Page 104] that more vast and glorious World, whose Innocent and Blessed Inhabitants solace themselves Eternal­ly in the Divine Presence, and know no other passion, but an unmixed Joy, and an unbounded Love: and then con­sider how the blessed Son of God came down to this lower World to live a­mong us and dye for us, that he might bring us to a portion of the same feli­city; and think how he hath over­come the sharpness of death, and open­ed the Kingdom of Heaven to all Belie­vers, and is now set down on the right hand of Majesty on high, and yet is not Heb. 1. 3. the less mindful of us, but receiveth our Prayers, and presenteth them un­to his Father, and is daily visiting his Church with the Influences of his Spirit, as the Sun reacheth us with his Beams.

The Serious and frequent conside­rarion of these and such other Divine To beget Divine Love, we must consi­der the ex­cellency of the Divine Nature. Truths, is the most proper Method to beget that lively Faith which is the Foundation of Religion, the spring and root of the Divine Life. Let me fur­ther suggest some particular subjects [Page 105] of Meditation for producing the Seve­ral branches of it. And first to in­flame our Souls with the love of God, let us consider the excellency of his Nature, and his Love and Kindness to­wards us. It is little we know of the Divine Perfections, and yet that little may suffice to fill our Souls with ad­miration and Love, to ravish our af­fections as well as to raise our Won­der, for we are not meerly Creatures of Sense that we should be uncapable of any other affection but that which entreth by the Eyes: The character of any excellent Person whom we have never seen will many times in­gage our Hearts, and make us hugely concerued in all his adventures: and what is it I pray you that engages us so much to those with whom we con­verse? I cannot think that it is meer­ly the colour of their face, or their comely proportions, else we should fall in Love with statues and pictures, and flowers: these outward accomplish­ments may a little delight the Eye, but would never be able to prevail so much on the Heart, if they did not re­present [Page 106] some vital Perfection: we ei­ther see or apprehend some greatness of mind or vigor of Spirit, or sweet­ness of disposition, some sprightliness or Wisdom or Goodness which charms our spirit and commands our Love: now these perfections are not obvious to the Sight, the Eyes can only discern the signs and effects of them: and if it be the understanding that directs the affection, and vital perfections prevail with it, certainly the excellency's of the Divine Nature (the Traces where­of we cannot but discover in every thing we behold) would not fail to engage our Hearts if we did seriously view and regard them: shall we not be Infinitely more transported with that Almighty Wisdom and Goodness which filleth the Universe, and displays it self in all the parts of the creation, which establisheth the Frame of Na­ture, and turneth the mighty Wheels of Providence, and keepeth the World from disorder and ruine; then with the faint rays of the same perfections which we meet with in our fellow­creatures? Shall we doat on the scat­tered [Page 107] pieces of a rude and imperfect picture, and never be affected with the original beauty? This were an un­accountable stupidity and blindness: whatever we find lovely in a friend or in a Saint ought not to engross but to Elevate our affection: we should conclude with our selves, that if there be so much sweetness in a drop, there must be Infinitely more in the Foun­tain; if there be so much splendor in a ray, what must the Sun be in its Glo­ry?

Nor can we pretend the remoteness of the object, as if God were at too great a distance for our converse or our Love: he is not far from every one of us, for in him we live and move and Act. 17. 27. have our being: we cannot open our Eyes, but we must behold some ve­stige of his Glory, and we cannot turn them toward him, but we shall be sure to find his intent upon us, waiting as it were to catch a look ready to inter­tain the most intimate fellowship and communion with us. Let us there­fore indeavour to raise our minds to the clearest conceptions of the Divine [Page 108] Nature: Let us consider all that his works do declare or his Word doth dis­cover of him unto us, and let us espe­cially contemplate that visible repre­sentation of him which was made in our own Nature by his Son; who was the brightness of his Glory, and the ex­press Heb. 1. 3. Image of his Person, and who ap­peared in the World to discover at once what God is, and what we ought to be: Let us represent him unto our minds as we find him described in the Gospel; & there we shall behold the Per­fections of the Divine Nature though covered with the vail of humane In­firmities: and when we have fram'd unto our selves the clearest Notion that we can of a Being Infinite in Pow­er, in Wisdom, and Goodness, the Au­thor and Fountain of all Perfections, let us fix the Eyes of our Soul upon it, Lam. 3. 31. that our Eyes may affect our Heart, and while we are Musing the fire will Psal. 39. 3. burn.

Especially if hereunto we add the We should meditate on his Goodness and Love. consideration of Gods Favour and Good-will towards us: nothing is more Powerfull to engage our affecti­on [Page 109] then to find that we are beloved: expressions of Kindness are alwayes pleasing and acceptable unto us, though the person should be other­ways mean and contemptible: but to have the love of one who is altogether lovely, to know that the Glorious Ma­jesty of Heaven hath any regard unto us, how must it astonish and delight us, how must it overcome our Spirits, and melt our Hearts, and put our whole Soul unto a Flame. Now as the Word of God is full of the expres­sions of his Love towards Man, so all his Works do loudly proclaim it: he gave us our being, and by preserving us in it, doth renew the donation eve­ry moment: he hath placed us in a rich and well furnished World, and li­berally provided for all our necessities: he raineth down blessings from Hea­ven upon us, and causeth the Earth to bring forth our provision: he giveth us our Food and Raiment, and while we are spending the productions of one year, he is preparing for us against another: he sweetneth our lives with innumerable comforts, and gratifieth [Page 110] every faculty with suitable objects: The Eye of his Providence is alwaies upon us, and he watcheth for our safety when we are fast a sleep, neither minding him, nor our selves. But least we should think these Testimo­nles of his kindness less considerable because they are the easie issues of his Omnipotent Power, and do not put him into any trouble or pain, he hath taken a more wonderful Method to en­dear himself to us: he hath testified his affection to us, by suffering as well as by doing; and because he could not suffer in his own Nature, he assumed ours: The Eternal Son of God, did cloath himself with the Infirmities of our flesh, and left the companie of those Innocent and Blessed Spirits, who knew well how to Love and adore him, that he might dwell among Men, and wrestle with the obstinacy of that rebellious race, to reduce them to their Alleagiance and felicity and then to offer himself up as a Sacrifice and Propitiation for them. I remember one of the Poets hath an Ingenious fancy to Express the Passion wherewith he [Page 111] found himself overcome after a long resistance, that the god of Love had shot all his Golden arrowes at him, but could never pierce his Heart, till at length he put himself unto the bow and darted himself straight into his breast: Methinks this doth some way adumbrate Gods Method of dealing with Men: he had long contended with a stubborn World, and thrown down many a blessing upon them, and when all his other gifts could not pre­vail, he at last made a Gift of himself, to testifie his affection, and conciliate theirs. The account which we have of our Saviours Life in the Gospel doth all along present us with the story of his Love, all the pains that he took and the troubles that he endured were the wonderfull effects and uncontrollable evidences of it. But O that last, that dismal Scene! Is it possible to remem­ber it and question his kindness, or deny him ours? Here here it is (my dear Friend) that we should fix our most serious and solemn thoughts, that Christ may dwell in our Hearts by Faith, Eph. 3. 17, 18, 19. and we may be rooted and grounded in [Page 112] Love, comprehending with all the Saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height: and knowing the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that so we may be filled with all the fulness of God.

We ought also frequently to reflect on those particular Tokens of Favour and Love, which God hath bestowed on our selves, how long he hath born with our follies and sins, and waited to be gracious unto us, wrestling, as it were, with the stubbornness of our hearts, and essaying every method to reclaim us: We should keep a register in our Minds of all the eminent Bles­sings and Deliverances we have met with, some whereof have been so con­veyed that we might clearly perceive they were not the issues of chance, but the gracious effects of the Divine Fa­vour, and the signal returns of our Prayers. Nor ought we to imbitter the thoughts of these things with any harsh or unworthy suspition, as if they were designed on purpose to enhaunce our guilt, and heighten our eternal Damnation, No, no, my Friend, God [Page 113] is Love, and he hath no pleasure in the ruine of his Creatures: if they abuse his goodness, and turn his grace into wantonness, and thereby plunge themselves into the greater depth of guilt and misery, this is the effect of their obstinate wickedness, and not the design of those benefits which he bestowes.

If these considerations had once be­gotten in our hearts a real Love and Affection towards Almighty God, that will easily lead us unto the other Bran­ches of Religion, and therefore I shall need say the less unto them.

We shall find our hearts inlarged in To beget Charity, we must remember that all men are nearly re­lated unto God. Charity towards men, by considering the relation wherein they stand unto God, and the impresses of his Image which are stamped upon them. They are not only his Creatures, the work­manship of his hands, but such of whom he taketh special care, and for whom he hath a very dear and tender regard, having laid the designs of their hap­piness before the foundations of the World, and being willing to live and converse with them to all the Ages of [Page 114] Eternity: The meanest and most con­temptible person whom we behold is the off-spring of Heaven, one of the Children of the Most High; and how­ever unworthily he might behave himself of that relation, so long as God hath not abdicated and disowned him by a final Sentence, he will have us to acknowledge him as one of his, and as such to embrace him with a sincere and cordial affection. You know what a great concernment we are wont to have for those that do any wayes be­long to the person whom we love, how gladly we lay hold on every opportu­nity to gratifie the Child or Servant of a Friend; and sure our Love to­wards God would as naturally spring forth in Charity towards men, did we mind the interest that he is pleased to take in them, and consider that every Soul is dearer unto him, than all the material World; and that he did not account the Blood of his Son too great a price for their Redemption.

Again, as all men stand in a near re­lation That they carry his Image up­on them. to God, so they have still so much of his Image stamped on them, as [Page 115] may oblige and excite us to love them: In some this Image is more Eminent and conspicuous, and we can discern the Lovely Treats of Wisdom and Goodness; and though in others it be miserably sullied and defaced, yet is it not altogether razed, some linea­ments at least do still remain: All men are endued with Rational and Immor­tal Souls, with Understanding and Wills capable of the highest and most excellent things; and if they be at pre­sent disordered and put out of tune by wickedness and folly, this may indeed move our compassion, but ought not in reason to extinguish our Love. When we see a person of a rugged hu­mour and perverse disposition, full of Malice and Dissimulation, very foolish and very proud; it is hard to fall in love with an object that presents it self unto us under an Idea so little grate­ful and lovely: but when we shall con­sider these evil qualities as the Diseases and Distempers of a Soul which in it self is capable of all that wisdom and goodness wherewith the best of Saints have ever been adorned, and which [Page 116] may one day come to be raised unto such heights of perfection as shall ren­der it a fit companion for the holy An­gels, this will turn our aversion into pity, and make us behold him with such resentments, as we should have when we did look on a beautiful body that were mangled with wounds, or disfigured by some loathsome disease; and however we hate the vices, we shall not cease to love the man.

In the next place for purifying our To beget Purity, we should consider the Digni­ty of our Nature. Souls, and dis-intangling our affecti­ons from the Pleasures and Enjoyments of this lower life, let us frequently pon­der the excellency and dignity of our Nature, and what a shameful and un­worthy thing it is for so noble and di­vine a Creature as the Soul of Man, to be sunk and immersed in bruitish and sensual Lusts, or amused with airy and phantastical delights, and so to lose the relish of solid and spiritual pleasures, that the Beast should be fed and pampered, and the Man and the Christian be starved in us. Did we but mind who we are, and for what we were made, this would teach us in a [Page 117] right sense to reverence and stand in awe of our selves, it would beget a ho­ly modesty and shamefacedness, and make us very shy and reserved in the use of the most innocent and allowable pleasures.

It will be very effectual to the same We should meditate oft on the Joys of Heaven. purpose, that we frequently raise our Minds toward Heaven, and represent to our thoughts those Joyes that are at God's right hand, those pleasures that 1 Joh. 3. 3. endure for evermore; for every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure. If our Heavenly Country be much in our thoughts, it will make us as strangers and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the Soul, and keep our selves unspotted in this world, that we may be fit for the enjoyments and felicities of the other. But then we must see that our Notions of Heaven be not gross and carnal, that we dream not of a Mahometan Para­dise, nor rest on those Metaphors and Similitudes by which these joys are sometimes represented, for this might perhaps have a quite contrary effect, it might intangle us further in carnal [Page 118] affections, and we should be ready to indulge our selves a very liberal fore­taste of those pleasures wherein we had placed our everlasting felicity: but when we come once to conceive aright of those Pure and Spiritual plea­sures, when the happiness we propose to our selves is from the sight and love and enjoyment of God, and our minds are filled with the hopes and fore­thoughts of that Blessed Estate, O how mean and contemptible will all things here below appear in our eyes? with what disdain will we reject the gross and muddy pleasures, that would de­prive us of those Coelestial enjoyments, or any way unfit and indispose us for them.

The last Branch of Religion is Hu­mility, Humility ariseth from the considera­tion of our failings. and sure we can never want matter of consideration for begetting it: all our wickednesses and imper­fections, all our follies and our sins may help to pull down that fond and over­weening conceipt which we are apt to entertain of our selves. That which makes any body esteem us, is their knowledg or apprehension of some lit­tle [Page 119] good, and their ignorance of a great deal of evil that may be in us: were they throughly acquaint­ed with us, they would quickly change their opinion: The thoughts that pass in our heart in the best and most serious day of our life being ex­posed unto publick view, would ren­der us either hateful or ridiculous: and now however we conceal our fail­ings from one another, yet sure we are conscious to them our selves, and some serious reflections upon them, would much qualifie and allay the vanity of our spirits: Thus holy Men have come really to think worse of themselves, than of any other person in the world: not but that they knew that gross and scandalous Vices are in their nature more heynous than the surprisals of tentation and infirmity; but because they were much more intent on their own miscarriages, than on those of their Neighbours, and did consider all the aggravations of the one, and eve­ry thing that might be supposed to di­minish and alleviate the other.

[Page 120]But it is well observed by a Pious Thoughts of God, give us the lowest thoughts of our selves. Writer, That the deepest and most pure Humility doth not so much arise from the consideration of our own faults, and defects, as from a calm and quiet Contemplation of the Divine Purity and Goodness: Our spots never appear so clearly, as when we place them before this Infinite Light; and we never seem less in our own eyes, than when we look down upon our selves from on high: O how little, how nothing do all those shadows of per­fection then appear for which we are wont to value our selves! That humi­lity which cometh from a view of our own sinfulness and misery, is more tur­bulent and boysterous; but the other layeth us full as low, and wanteth no­thing but that anguish and vexation wherewith our Souls are apt to boyl when they are the nearest object of our thoughts.

There remains yet another Mean for Prayer another Instru­ment of Religion. begetting a Holy and Religious dispo­sition in the Soul, and that is fervent and hearty Prayer. Holiness is the [Page 121] Gift of God, indeed the greatest gift he doth bestow, or we are capable to receive, and he hath promised his ho­ly Spirit to those that ask it of him: in Prayer we make the nearest approa­ches unto God, and lye open to the influences of Heaven: Then it is that the Sun of Righteousness doth visit us with directest rayes, and dissipateth our darkness and imprinteth his Image on our Souls. I cannot now insist on the advantages of this exercise, or the dispositions wherewith it ought to be performed; and there is no need I should, there being so many Books that Treat on this subject: I shall only tell you, That as there is one sort of Prayer wherein we make use of the voice which is necessary in publick, and may sometimes have its own ad­vantages in private, and another wherein though we utter no sound, The ad­vantages of mental Prayer. yet we conceive the expressions and form the words, as it were, in our Mind, (which I presume is most com­monly used in private devotion) so there is a third and more sublime kind of prayer, wherein the Soul takes a [Page 122] higher flight, and having collected all its forces by long and serious Medita­tion, it darteth it self (so to speak) to­wards God in sighs and groans and thoughts too big for expression: As when after a deep Contemplation of the Divine Perfections appearing in all his Works of Wonder, it addresseth it self unto him in the profoundest adoration of his Majestie and Glory: or when after sad reflections on its vileness and miscarriages, it prostrates it self before him with the greatest confusion and sorrow, not daring to lift up its eyes, or utter one word in his presence: or when having well considered the beauty of holiness, and the unspeakable felicity of those that are truly good, it panteth after God, and sendeth up such vigorous and ar­dent desires as no words should be suf­ficient to express, continuing and re­peating each of these acts as long as it finds it self upheld by the force and im­pulse of the previous Meditation.

This mental Prayer is of all other the most effectual to purifie the Soul, and dispose it unto a holy and religious [Page 121] temper, and may be termed the great Secret of Devotion, and one of the most powerful instruments of the Di­vine Life: and it may be the Apostle hath a peculiar respect unto it when he saith, that the Spirit helpeth our infir­mities, making intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered, or, as the Original may bear, that cannot be worded: Yet I do not so recommend this sort of Prayer, as to supersede the use of the other: for we have so many several things to pray for, and every petition of this nature, requireth so much time, and so great an intention of spirit, that it were not easie therein to overtake them all: to say nothing that the deep sighs and heavings of the heart which are wont to accompany it, are something oppressive to Nature, and make it hard to continue long in them: But certainly a few of those inward aspirations will do more than a great many fluent and melting ex­pressions.

Thus (my dear Friend) I have briefly proposed the Method which I judge [Page 124] proper for moulding the Soul unto a Religion is to be ad­vanced by the same means by which it is begun, The use of the Holy Sacrament. holy frame; and the same means which serve to beget this Divine Temper, must still be practised for strengthning and advancing it: and therefore I shall recommend but one more for that purpose, and 'tis the frequent and con­scientious use of that holy Sacrament, which is peculiarly appointed to nou­rish and increase the Spiritual Life, when once it is begotten in the Soul: All the Instruments of Religion do meet together in this Ordinance; and while we address our selves unto it, we are put to practise all the Rules which were mentioned before: Then it is, that we make the severest Survey of our Actions, and lay the strictest Obli­gations on our selves: Then are our Minds raised to the highest contempt of the World, and every Grace doth exercise it self with the greatest activi­ty and vigour: all the subjects of Con­templation do there present them­selves unto us with the greatest ad­vantage; and then, if ever, doth the Soul make its most powerful Sally's towards Heaven, and assault it with [Page 125] a holy and acceptable force. And certainly the neglect or careless per­formance of this Duty, is one of the chief causes that bedwarfs our Reli­gion, and makes us continue of so low a size.

But it is time I should put a close to this tedious Letter, which is grown to a far greater bulk then at first I in­tended: If these poor Papers can do you the smallest service, I shall think my self very happy in this Underta­king; at least I am hopeful you will kindly accept the Sincere Endeavours of a Person who would fain acquit himself of some part of that which he owes you.