READINGS 
 
 FOR EVERY DAY IN LENT 
 
READI]^GS 
 
 FOB 
 
 EVERY DAY IN LENT. 
 
 COMPILED FEOM THE "TOjTINGS OF BISHOP 
 JEEEMY TAYLOR. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF "AMY HERBERT," "THE CHILD* 8 FIRST HISTORY 
 OF ROME," ETC. 
 
 H. B. DURAND, No. 11 BIBLE HOUSE. 
 1867. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following pages have been compiled prin- 
 cipally for the use of those young persons who 
 are not likely to be well acquainted with the 
 voluminous works of Bishop Taylor. 
 
 The subjects selected have been such as 
 seemed naturally to lead from Eepentance and 
 Self-examination to growth in Grace and Chris- 
 tian Perfection ; the Sunday meditations being 
 of a different kind, and connected with events 
 in the Life of our Blessed Lord. Yery little has 
 been taken either from the " Golden Grove " or 
 the "Holy Living and Dying;" those works 
 being generally well known. 
 
 The endeavor to concentrate our thoughts 
 upon some definite subject can scarcely, at any 
 time, be made without profit ; and it is humbly 
 trusted, that those who may strive with prayer 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 and earnest purpose of heart to fix in their 
 minds the ideas suggested for each day, during 
 the coming season of Lent, will find themselves, 
 at the close of it, better enabled to live accord- 
 ing to the measures of that " Faith which is a 
 certain image of Eternity, which beholds Heaven 
 at present, and sees how blessed a thing it is to 
 die in God's favor, and to be chimed to our 
 grave with the music of a good conscience."* 
 
 * Bp. Taylor's Sermon on the Flesh and the Spirit. 
 Feb. Ist, 1851. 
 
READINGS FOR LENT. 
 
 ASH-WEDNESDAY. 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 '* Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." 
 Matt. iii. 8. 
 
 Fkom the beginning of time till now, all things 
 which have come from God have been nothing 
 but emanations of His goodness, clothed in vari- 
 ety of circumstances. He causes us to be born, 
 that we may be capable of His blessings; He 
 causes us to be baptized, that we may have a title 
 to the glorious promises evangelical ; He gives 
 us His Son, that we may be rescued from hell; 
 and since the best of men, in the midst of all the 
 great advantages of laws, and examples, and 
 promises, and threatenings, does many things he 
 ought to be ashamed of, and needs to repent of, 
 the very design of our birth and education in the 
 Christian religion is, that we may recover of and 
 cure our follies by the antidote of repentance. 
 
 To have our infirmities excused and our sins 
 forgiven, oui* habits lessened and our malice 
 
8 ASH-WEDNESDAY. 
 
 cured, after we were wounded, and sick, and 
 dead, and buried, and in the possession of the 
 devil ; this was such a blessing, so great riches of 
 the Divine goodness, that it was taught to no 
 religion but the Christian — revealed bj no law- 
 giver but Christ. 
 
 It is the greatest and the dearest blessing that 
 ever God gave to men, that they may repent ; 
 and therefore to deny it, or delay it, is to refuse 
 health brought us by the skill and industry of 
 the physician ; it is to refuse liberty indulged to 
 us by our gracious Lord. 
 
 The duty of repentance is indispensably re- 
 quired in the danger of death ; and he that does 
 not repent when he is arrested with the proba- 
 bility of so sad a change, is uncharitable to him- 
 self, and a murderer of his own soul. But so is 
 he, in his proportion, who puts it off one day; 
 because every day of delay is a day of danger ; 
 and, certainly, it was none of the least reasons 
 of God's concealing the day of our death, that 
 we might ever stand ready. This is plainly 
 enough taught us by our blessed Saviour, la- 
 boriously persuading and commanding us not to 
 defer our repentance, by His parable of the rich 
 man, who promised to himself the j)leasures of 
 many years. He reproved that folly with, a 
 " Fool, this night thy soul shall be required of 
 thee." 
 
 And it may be any man's case. 
 
REPENTANCE. 9 
 
 Think it not, therefore, a hasty command- 
 ment, that we are called upon to repent to-day. 
 It was too much that yesterday passed by you : 
 it is late enough, if you do it to-day. 
 
 Nothing, indeed, hath made more ample har- 
 vests for the devil, than the deferring of repent- 
 ance upon vain confidences, while we imagine 
 that a few tears, and scatterings of devotion, are 
 enough to expiate the baseness of a long impiety. 
 But repentance implies in it the duty of a life, 
 or of many and great, of long and lasting parts 
 of it. It implies a deep sorrow as the beginning 
 and introduction of this duty. !N'ot a superficial 
 sigh, or tear; not a calling ourselves sinners and 
 miserable persons: but a hearty, pungent sor- 
 row ; a sorrow that shall so irreconcile us to sin, 
 as to make us rather choose to die than to sin. 
 
 For repentance is a great volume of duty, and 
 godly sorrow is but the frontispiece, or title- 
 page ; it is the harbinger or first introduction to 
 it ; or, if you will consider it in the words of St. 
 Paul, " Godly sorrow worketh repentance." Sor- 
 row is the parent, and repentance is the product. 
 Ahab had a great sorrow ; but it wrought noth- 
 ing upon his spirit; it did not reconcile his affec- 
 tions to his duty, and his duty to God. Judas 
 had so great a sorrow for betraying the innocent 
 blood of his Lord that it was intolerable to his 
 spirit, and he "burst asunder in the middle." 
 And if mere sorrow be repentance, then hell is 
 
10 ASH- WEDNESDAY. 
 
 full of penitents ; for there is weeping, and wail- 
 ing, and gnashing of teeth, for evermore. 
 
 Let us, therefore, beg of God, as Caleb's daugh- 
 ter did of her father, " Thou hast given me a dry- 
 land, give me also a land of waters, a dwelling- 
 place in tears, rivers of tears." " That," as St. 
 Austin's expression is, "because we are not 
 worthy to lift up our eyes to heaven in prayer, 
 yet we may be worthy to weep ourselves blind 
 for sin." The meaning is, that we beg sorrow 
 of God ; such a sorrow as shall be an effective 
 principle of arming all our faculties against sin, 
 and heartily setting upon the work of grace, and 
 the persevering labors of a holy life. I shall 
 only add one word to this : that our sorrow for 
 sin is not to be estimated by our tears and our 
 sensible expressions, but by our active hatred 
 and dereliction of sin ; and is many times nnper- 
 ceived in outward demonstration. 
 
 Let us remember, besides, that repentance is 
 not only an abolition and extinction of the body 
 of sin, a bringing it to the altar, and slaying it 
 before God and all the people; but we must 
 also " mingle gold and rich presents," the obla- 
 tion of good works and holy habits, with the 
 sacrifice. 
 
 In Ezekiel xviii. 21, you shall find it thus 
 described; "But if the wicked will turn from 
 all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all 
 My statutes, and do that which is lawful and 
 
REPENTANCE. 11 
 
 right, he shall surely live — he shall not die." 
 Or, as it is more fully described in Ezekiel 
 xxxiii. 14, 15: ''When I say unto the wicked, 
 thou slialt surely die ; if he turn from his sin, 
 and do that which is lawful and right ; if the 
 wicked restore the pledge, give again that he 
 hath robbed, walk in the statutes of life without 
 committing iniquity ; he shall surely live, he 
 shall not die." Here only is the condition of 
 pardon ; to leave all your sins, to keep all God's 
 statutes, to walk in them — to abide, to proceed, 
 and make progress in them ; and this without 
 the interruption of a deadly sin, " without com- 
 mitting iniquity." 
 
 JSTeither is the duty of repentance to be bought 
 at an easier rate in the "New Testament. You 
 may see it described in 2 Cor. vii. 10, 11 : " God 
 ly sorrow worketh repentance." Well, but what 
 is that repentance which is so wrought? This 
 it is : " Behold this selfsame thing, that ye sor- 
 rowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it 
 wrought in you, yea, what clearing of your- 
 selves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, 
 yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, 
 what revenge !" These are the fruits of that 
 sorrow that is effectual : these are the parts of 
 repentance : " clearing ourselves," of all that is 
 past, and great carefulness for the future ; " an- 
 ger" at ourselves for our old sins, and "fear" 
 lest we commit the like again ; " vehement de- 
 
12 ASH- WEDNESDAY. 
 
 sire" of pleasing God, and "zeal" of holj ac- 
 tions; and a "revenge upon ourselves for our 
 sins," called by St. Paul, in another place, " a 
 judging ourselves, lest we be judged of the 
 Lord." 
 
 Since then repentance is a duty of so great 
 and giant-like bulk, let no man crowd it up into 
 so narrow room, as that it-be strangled in its 
 birth, for want of time and air to breathe in. 
 
 A child, who hath a great way to go before 
 he be wise, may defer his studies, and hope to 
 become learned in his old age, and upon his 
 death-bed; as well as a vicious person may think 
 to recover from all his ignorances, from all his 
 false principles and evil customs, from his wick- 
 ed inclinations and ungodly habits, from his 
 fondnesses of vice and detestations of virtue, 
 upon his death-bed (I say), when he hath no 
 natural strength, and as little spiritual; when 
 he is criminal and impotent, hardened in his 
 vice and soft in his fears; when he is sick and 
 amazed, and timorous and confounded, and im- 
 patient, and extremely miserable. 
 
 And it will be a vain question to ask : Must 
 a man repent a year or two, or seven years, or 
 ten, or twenty, before his death ? Or what is 
 the last period after which all repentance will 
 be untimely and ineffectual? To this captious 
 question I have many things to oppose. 
 
 1st. We have entered into covenant with God, 
 
REPENTANCE. 13 
 
 to serve Him from the daj of our baptism to 
 the day of our death. He hath " sworn this 
 oath to us, that He would grant unto us, that 
 we being delivered from fear of our enemies, 
 might serve Him without fear, in holiness and 
 righteousness before Him, all the days of our 
 life." Now, although God will not forget our 
 infirmities, but pass by the nakedness of au 
 honest, a watchful, and industrious person ; yet 
 the covenant He makes with us, is from the day 
 of our first voluntary profession to our grave ; 
 ^and according as we by sins retire from our first 
 undertaking, so our condition is insecure. 
 
 2d. Scripture, describing the duty of repent- 
 ing sinners, names no other time but " to-day :" 
 " To-day^ if ye will hear His voice, harden not 
 your hearts." 
 
 3d. The duty of a Christian is described in 
 Scripture to be such as requires length of time 
 and a continual industry. "Let us run with 
 patience the race that is set before us;" and 
 " consider Him that endured such contradiction 
 of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied 
 and faint in your minds." So great a prepara- 
 tion is not for the agony and contention of an 
 hour, or a day, or a week ; but for the whole 
 life of a Christian, or for great parts of its abode. 
 
 He that lives well from his younger years, 
 and enters into the courses of a sober life early, 
 diligently, and vigorously, shall find himself, 
 
14 ASH-WEDNESDAY. 
 
 after the studies and labors of twenty or thirty 
 years' piety, but a very imperfect person ; many 
 degrees of pride left unrooted up, much indevo- 
 tion and backwardness in religion, many temp- 
 tations to contest against, and some infirmities 
 which he shall never say he hath mastered. 
 And if we do but consider this, we shall find 
 the work of a holy life is not to be deferred till 
 our days are almost done, till our strengths are 
 decayed, our spirits are weak, and our habits 
 confirmed. For what is very hard to be done, 
 and is always done imperfectly, when there is 
 length of time, and a less work to do, and more 
 abilities to do it withal ; when the time is short, 
 and almost expired, and the work made difiicult 
 and vast, and the strength weaker, and the 
 faculties are disabled, will seem little less than 
 absolutely impossible. 
 
 I shall end this general consideration with the 
 •question of the Apostle : " If the righteous 
 scarcely be saved," — if it be so difiicult to over- 
 come our sins, and obtain virtuous habits — diffi- 
 cult, I say, to a righteous, a sober, and well- 
 living person, — "where shall the ungodly and 
 the sinner appear ?" 
 
 He that hath lived in sin will die in sorrow. 
 
EEPENTANCE. 15 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Almiglit.j God, Father of Mercies, Judge 
 of all the world, who hast in our Lord Jesus 
 Christ established the covenant of repentance, 
 and promised pardon to all of them that confess 
 their sins and forsake them, be pleased to work 
 in me what Thou hast commanded should be in 
 me. Give me, O Lord, the grace of an earnest 
 sorrow — turn my sin into repentance, and let 
 my repentance proceed to pardon; and teach 
 me so diligently to watch over all my actions 
 that I may never transgress Thy holy laws wil- 
 lingly, but that it may be the Avork of my life 
 to obey Thee, the joy of my soul to please Thee, 
 and the perfection of my desires to live with 
 Thee in the kingdom of Thy grace and glory, 
 through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 
 
FIRST THURSDAY IN" LEKT. 
 
 GODLY FEAR. 
 
 *' Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with 
 reverence and godly fear ; for our God is a consuming fire." 
 
 Heb. xii. 28, 29. 
 
 " Our God is a consuming fire." He was so 
 to them tliat brake the law, but He will be 
 much more to them that disobey His Son. He 
 made great changes then ; but those which re- 
 main are far greater, and His terrors are infi- 
 nitely more intolerable ; and therefore, although 
 Christ came not in the spirit of Elias, but with 
 meekness and gentle insinuations, soft as the 
 breath of heaven, not willing to disturb the soft- 
 est stalk of a violet, yet His second coming shall 
 be with terrors such as shall amaze all the world, 
 and dissolve it into ruin and a chaos. 
 
 The effects of this consideration are reverence 
 and godly fear. They are the duties of every 
 Christian : they are the graces of God. 
 
 I shall not here insist upon the general rea- 
 sons of fear which concern every man, though 
 it may be most certain that every one hath 
 cause to fear, even the most confident and holy ; 
 
GODLY FEAR. IT 
 
 because his way is dangerous and narrow, 
 troublesome and uneven, full of ambushes and 
 pitfalls ; and I remember what Polynices said, 
 in the tragedy, when he was unjustly thrown 
 from his father's kingdom, and refused to treat 
 of peace but with a sword in his hand — " Every 
 step is a danger for a valiant man, when he 
 walks in his enemy's country." And so it is 
 with us ; we are espied by God and observed by 
 angels; we are betrayed within and assaulted 
 without; the devil is our enemy, and we are 
 fond of his mischiefs ; he is crafty, and we love 
 to be abused ; he is malicious, and we are cred- 
 ulous ; he is powerful, and we are weak ; he is 
 too ready of himself, and yet we desire to be 
 tempted ; the world is alluring, and we consider 
 not its vanity; sin puts on all pleasures, and 
 yet we take it though it puts us to pain. In 
 short, we are vain and credulous, and sensual 
 and trifling; we are tempted and tempt our- 
 selves, and we sin frequently and contract evil 
 habits, and they become second natures and 
 bring in a second death, miserable and eternal. 
 Every man hath need to fear, because every 
 man hath weakness, and enemies, and tempta- 
 tions, and dangers, and causes of his own. But 
 I shall only instance some peculiar sorts of men, 
 who, it may be, least think of it, and therefore 
 have most cause to fear. 
 
 Fii*8t are those of whom the Apostle speaks : 
 
18 FIKST THUKSDAT IN LENT. 
 
 " Let him that thinketh lie standeth take lieeJ 
 lest be fall." In persons of ordinary, even 
 course of life, we find in it too often that they 
 have no checks of conscience, or sharp reflec- 
 tions upon their condition. They fall into no 
 horrid crimes, and they think all is peace round 
 about them. But you must know, that as grace 
 is the improvement and bettering of nature, so 
 it grows in natural measures by supernatural 
 aids. It hath its degrees, its strengths and 
 weaknesses, its promotions and arrests, its sta- 
 tions and declensions, its direct sicknesses and 
 indispositions. And there is a state of grace 
 that is next to sin. It inclines to evil, and 
 dwells with a temptation ; its acts are imperfect, 
 and the man is within the kingdom, but he lives 
 in its borders. These men have cause to fear, 
 Tliese men seem to stand, but they reel indeed, 
 and decline towards danger and death. "Let 
 these men (saith the Apostle) take heed lest 
 they fall," for they shake already. Such are 
 persons whom the Scriptures call "weak in 
 faith." I do not mean new-beginners in reli- 
 gion, but such who have dwelt long in its con- 
 fines, and yet never enter into the heart of the 
 country ; such whose faith is tempted, whose 
 piety does not grow ; such who yield a little ; 
 people that do all they can lawfully do, and 
 study how much is lawful, that they may lose 
 nothing of a temporal interest ; people that will 
 
GODLY FEAR. 19 
 
 not be martyrs in any degree, and yet have 
 good affections ; and love the cause of religion, 
 and yet will suffer nothing for it. These are 
 such of which the Apostle speaks : " They think 
 they stand ;" and so they do, upon one leg ; that 
 is, so long as they are untempted ; but when the 
 tempter comes, then they fall and bemoan them- 
 selves, that by losing peace they lost their inher- 
 itance. There are a great many sorts of such 
 persons. Some, when they are full, are content, 
 and rejoice in God's providence, but murmur 
 and are amazed when they fall into poverty. 
 They are temperate and sober, if you let them 
 alone at home ; but call them abroad, and they 
 will lose their sober thoughts. These men, in 
 these estates, think they stand ; but God knows 
 they are soon weary and stand stiff as a cane, 
 which the heat of the Syrian star or the flames 
 of the sun cannot bend — but one sigh of a north- 
 ern wind shakes them into the tremblings of a 
 palsy. 
 
 They also have great reason to fear whose re- 
 pentance is broke into fragments, and is never 
 a wliole or entire change of life. I mean those 
 that resolve against a sin, and pray against it, 
 and hate it in all the resolutions of their under- 
 standing, till that unlucky period comes in 
 which they use to act it ; but then they sin as 
 certainly as they will infallibly repent it when 
 they have done. There are a very great many 
 
20 FIEST THTJKSDAT IN LENT. 
 
 Cliristians who yet feel tins feverish repentance 
 to be their best state of health. They fall, cer- 
 tainly, in the returns of the same circumstances, 
 or at a certain distance of time ; but God knows 
 they do not get the victory over their sin, but 
 are within its power. For this is certain : they 
 who sin and repent, and sin again in the same 
 or like circumstances, are in some degree under 
 the power and dominion of sin. Though it be 
 the least habit, yet a habit it is. Every course, 
 or order, or method of sin ; every constant or 
 periodical return ; every return that can be 
 regularly observed, or which a man can foresee, 
 or probably foretell, — even then, when he does 
 not intend it, but prays against it, every such 
 sin is to be reckoned, not upon the accounts of 
 a pardonable infirmity, but it is an evil state ; 
 such a thing as the man ought to fear concern- 
 ing himself, lest he be surprised, and called 
 from this world before this evil state be altered ; 
 for if he be, his securities are but slender, and 
 his hopes will deceive him. And let it be con- 
 sidered what growth that repentance can make 
 that is never above a week old, that is forever 
 in its infancy, that is still in its birth, that never 
 gets the dominion over sin. 
 
 Tliey have great reason to fear concerning 
 their condition ; who, having been in the state 
 of grace ; who, having begun to lead a good life, 
 and given their names to God by solemn delib- 
 
GODLY FEAR. 21 
 
 erate acts of will and understanding, and made 
 some progress in the way of godliness, if they 
 shall retire to folly, and unravel all their holy 
 vows, and commit those evils, from which they 
 formerly ran as from a fire, or inundation. Their 
 case hath in it so many evils, that they have great 
 reason to fear the anger of God and concerning 
 the final issue of their souls. For, to return to 
 folly hath in it many evils beyond the common 
 state of sin and death ; and such evils which are 
 most contrary to the hopes of pardon. 
 
 Above all, they have great reason to fear 
 whose sins are not yet remitted; for they are 
 within the dominion of sin — within the kingdom 
 of darkness. In this case, it is natural to fear. 
 For if men consider their condition, and know 
 that all the felicity, and all the security, they 
 can have, depends upon God's mercy, pardoning 
 their sins, — they cannot choose but fear infinite- 
 ly, if they have not reason to hope that their sins 
 are pardoned. 
 
 But " whatsoever is terrible, is destructive of 
 that thing for which it is so ;" and if we fear the 
 evil efi*ects of sin, we ought to fear its alluring 
 face too. Let us be so afraid that we may not 
 dare to refuse to hear Him, whose throne is 
 heaven, whose voice is thunder, whose tribunal 
 is clouds, whose seat is the right hand of God, 
 whose word is with power, whose law is given 
 with mighty demonstration of the Spmt ; who 
 
22 FIRST THUKSDAT m LENT. 
 
 shall reward with heaven and joys eternal, and 
 who punishes His rebels, that will not have Him 
 to reign over them, with brimstone and fire, with 
 a worm that never dies, and a fire that never is 
 quenched. Let ns fear Him who is terrible in 
 His judgments, just in His dispensation, secret 
 in His providence, severe in His demands, gra- 
 cious in His assistances, bountiful in His gifts, 
 and is never wanting to us in what we need. 
 And if all this be not argument strong enough 
 to produce fear, and that fear great enough to 
 secure obedience, all arguments are useless, all 
 discourses are vain, the grace of God is ineffec- 
 tive, and we are dull as the Dead Sea, inactive 
 as a rock, and we shall never dwell with God in 
 any sense, but as " He is a consuming fire," that 
 is, dwell in everlasting burnings. 
 
 PRATER. 
 
 O Lord God, who hast promised to multiply 
 Thy blessings upon them that fear Thee, teach 
 me the fear of the Lord ; and let Thy Spirit so 
 assist me, that I may walk in Thy ways with 
 great carefulness in all my actions, and much 
 diligence to perform Thy holy will ; that I may 
 receive the blessings of the righteous, and may 
 rejoice in the peace of Tliy Church, waiting for 
 the consummation of glory in Thy eternal king- 
 dom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
riEST FKIDAY m LENT. 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 " For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, 
 which cannot be gathered up again ; neither doth God respect 
 any person." 2 Sam. xiv. 14. 
 
 "When our blessed Saviour and His disciples 
 viewed tlie temple, some one among them 
 cried ■ out : " Master, behold what fair, what 
 great stones are here!" Christ made no other 
 reply, but foretold their dissolution : " The time 
 shall come, that there shall not be left one stone 
 upon another." Tlie whole temple, and the re- 
 ligion, the ceremonies ordained by God, and the 
 nation beloved by God, and the fabric erected 
 for the service of God, shall run to their own 
 period, and lie down in their several graves. 
 Whatsoever had a beginning can also have an 
 ending ; and it shall die, unless it be daily 
 watered with the purls flowing from the foun- 
 tain of life, and refreshed w^ith the dew of heaven 
 and the wells of God ; and, therefore, God had 
 provided a tree in paradise, to have supported 
 Adam in his artificial immortality. Health and 
 life were to descend upon him from heaven, and 
 
24 FIRST FEIDAY IN LENT 
 
 he was to suck life from a tree on earth ; himself 
 being but engrafted into a tree of life, and adopt- 
 ed into the condition of an immortal nature. But 
 he that in the best of his days was but a scion of 
 this tree of life, by his sin was cut off from thence 
 quickly, and planted upon thorns ; and his por- 
 tion was forever after among the flowers, which 
 to-day spring and look like health and beauty, 
 and in the evening they are sick, and at night 
 are dead, and the oven is their grave. And as 
 before, even from our first spring from the dust 
 on earth, we might have died, if we had not 
 been preserved by the continual flux of a rare 
 providence ; so now, that we are reduced to the 
 laws of our own nature, " we must needs die." 
 
 It is natural, and therefore necessary ; it is 
 become a punishment to us, and therefore it is 
 unavoidable ; and if a man can be stronger than 
 nature, or can wrestle with a decree of heaven, 
 or can escape from a Divine punishment by his 
 own arts, so that neither the power nor the 
 providence of God, nor the laws of nature, nor 
 the hands of eternal predestination can hold him, 
 then he may live beyond the fate and period of 
 flesh, and last longer than a flower ; but if aU 
 these can hold us and tie us to conditions, then 
 we must lay our heads down upon a turf, and 
 entertain creeping things in the cells and little 
 chambers of our eyes and dwell with worms, till 
 time and death shall be no more. 
 
DEATH. 26 
 
 " "We must needs die." That is our sentence 
 But that is not all. "We are as water spilt 
 on the ground, which cannot be gathered up 
 again." 
 
 Stay — we are as water, weak and of no con- 
 sistence ; always descending, abiding in no cer- 
 tain place, unless where we are detained with 
 violence ; and every little breath of wind makes 
 us rough and tempestuous, and troubles our 
 faces ; every trifling accident discomposes us. 
 And as the face of the waters, wafting in a 
 storm, so wrinkles itself that it makes upon its 
 forehead furrows deep and hollow like a grave ; 
 60 do our great and little cares and trifles first 
 make the wrinkles of old age, and then they dig 
 a grave for us. There is in nature nothing so 
 contemptible, but it may meet with us in such 
 circumstances that it may be too hard for us in 
 our weaknesses ; for men die without rule, and 
 with and without occasion. A man in a long 
 consumption is fallen under one of the solemni- 
 ties and preparations to death ; but at the same 
 instant, the most healthful person is as near 
 death upon a more fatal and a more sudden, but 
 a less discerned cause. There are but few per- 
 sons upon whose foreheads every man can read 
 the sentence of death, written in the lines of a 
 lingering sickness ; but they sometimes hear the 
 passing bell ring for stronger men, even long 
 before their own knell calls at the house of their 
 
26 riEST miDAY in lent. 
 
 mother to open her womb, and make a bed for 
 them. 
 
 No man is surer of to-morrow than the weak- 
 est of his brethren ; and there is no age of man 
 but it hath, proper to itself, some posterns and 
 outlets for death, besides those infinite and open 
 ports out of which myriads of men and women 
 every day pass into the dark, and the land of 
 forgetfulness. 
 
 Infancy hath life bnt in e&igj^ or like a spark 
 dwelling in a pile of wood: the candle is so 
 newly lighted, that every little shaking of the 
 taper, and every ruder breath of air, puts it out 
 and it dies. Childhood is so tender, yet so un- 
 wary ; so soft to all the impressions of chance, 
 and yet so forward to run into them, that God 
 knew there could be no security without the 
 care and vigilance of an angel-keeper ; and the 
 eyes of parents and the arms of nurses, the pro- 
 visions of art and all the effects of human love 
 and providence, are not sufficient to keep one 
 child from horrid mischiefs, from strange and 
 early calamities and deaths, unless a messenger 
 be sent from heaven to stand sentinel, and watch 
 the very playings and sleepings, the eatings and 
 drinkings, of the children. 
 
 Neither in the middle way is the case altered. 
 
 For there are so many diseases in man that are 
 
 , not understood ; — so many new ones every year ; 
 
 • — the symptoms are oftentimes so alike ; — some- 
 
DEATH. 
 
 27 
 
 times so hidden and fallacious ; — sometimes none 
 at all; — and then the diseases in the inward 
 parts of the body are oftentimes such to which 
 no application can be made ; and all this while 
 the men are sick, and they take things that 
 certainly make them sicker for the present, and 
 very uncertainly restore health for the future ; 
 while besides nature and chance, and the mis- 
 takes of art, men die with their own sins, and 
 then enter into the grave in haste and passion, 
 and pull the heavy stone of the monument upon 
 their own heads. 
 
 We throw away our lives as if they were un- 
 profitable (and, indeed, most men make them 
 so) : we let our years slip through our fingers 
 like water ; and nothing is to be seen, but like 
 a shower of tears upon a spot of ground ; — 
 there is a grave digged, and a solemn mourn- 
 ing, and a great talk in the neighborhood, and 
 when the days are finished, they shall be ; and 
 they shall be remembered no more. And that 
 is like w^ater too, — when it is spilt, " it cannot 
 be gathered up again." 
 
 There is no redemption in the grave. 
 
 Men live in their course and by turns ; their 
 light burns awhile, and then it burns blue and 
 faint ; and men go to converse with spirits, and 
 then they reach the taper to another; and as 
 the hours of yesterday can never return again, . 
 so neither can the man w^liose hours they w-ere, 
 
28 FIRST FKIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 and who lived them over once, — he shall never 
 come to live them again, and live them better. 
 
 " Neither doth God respect the person of any 
 man :" the rich is not protected for favor, nor 
 the poor for pity ; the old man is not reverenced 
 for his age, nor the infant regarded for his ten- 
 derness. Youth and beauty, learning and pru- 
 dence, wit and strength, lie down equally in 
 the dishonors of the grave. All men, and all 
 natures, and all persons, resist the addresses 
 and solemnities of death, and strive to preserve 
 a miserable and unpleasant life ; and yet they 
 all sink down and die. For so have I seen the 
 pillars of a building assisted with artificial props, 
 bending under the pressure of a roof, and per- 
 tinaciously resisting the infallible and prepared 
 ruin, till the determined day comes, and then 
 the burden sunk upon the pillars, and disordered 
 the aids and auxiliary rafters into a common 
 ruin, and a ruder grave. 
 
 Let us not think to be excepted or deferred. 
 We have lived so many years, and every day 
 and every minute we make an escape from 
 those thousands of dangers and deaths that en- 
 compass us round about ; and such escapings 
 we must reckon to be an extraordinary fortune ; 
 and, therefore, that it cannot last long. Yain 
 are the thoughts of man, who, when he is young 
 ,or healthful, thinks he hath a long thread of 
 life to run over, and that it is violent and strange 
 
DEATH. 29 
 
 for young persons to die, and natural and proper 
 only for the aged. That is more natural which 
 hath more natural causes, and that is m_ore 
 natural which is most common. But to die 
 with age is an extreme rare thing ; and there 
 are more persons carried forth to burial before 
 the five-and-thirtieth year of their age than after 
 it ; and, therefore, let no vain confidence make 
 you hope for long life. If you have lived but 
 little, and are still in youth, remember that now 
 you are in your biggest throng of dangers, both 
 of body and soul. But if you be old, you have 
 escaped long and wonderfully, and the time of 
 your escaping is out. You must not forever 
 think to live upon wonders, or that God will 
 Work miracles to satisfy your longing follies, and 
 unreasonable desires of living longer to sin and 
 to the world. 
 
 Go home and think to die ; and what you 
 would choose to be doing when you die, that do 
 daily : for you will all come to that pass to re- 
 joice that you did so, or wish that you had. 
 That will be the condition of every one of us, 
 for ^' God regardeth no man's person," 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Eternal and most Holy Saviour, who by 
 death hast overcome death, and made it to be-, 
 come one of the gates of heaven ; let Thy grace, 
 3» 
 
30 rmsT fkiday in lent. 
 
 I beseech Thee, accompany me all the days of 
 my life, and grant me so perfectly to obey Thy 
 commandments, that Thou mayest be gracious 
 unto me in the pardon of my sins, and that I 
 may die the death of the righteous in the com- 
 munion and peace of the Church. And when 
 my days are gone, and my years are brought to 
 an end, like a tale that is told, let my soul rest 
 with Thee in safety and joy, waiting for the 
 glories of Thy kingdom ; O Gracious and Mer- 
 ciful Eedeemer. Amen. 
 
FIEST SATUKDAY m LENT. 
 
 THE JUDGMENT DAY. 
 
 " For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that 
 everyone may receive the things done in his body, according 
 to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor. 
 V. 10. 
 
 I HAVE read a story, that a young gentleman, 
 being passionately by his mother dissuaded from 
 entering into the severe courses of a religious 
 life, broke from her importunity by saying, " I 
 am resolved, by all means, to save my soul." 
 But when he had undertaken a rule with pas- 
 sion he performed it carelessly and remissly, and 
 was but lukewarm in his religion, and quickly 
 proceeded to a melancholy and wearied spirit, 
 and from thence to a sickness and the neighbor- 
 hood of death. But, falling into an agony and a 
 fantastic vision, dreamed that he saw himself 
 summoned before God's angry throne, and from 
 thence hurried into a place of torment, where, 
 espying his mother, full of- scorn, she upbraided 
 liim with his former answer, and asked him why 
 he did not save his soul by all means, according 
 as he undertook. But when the sick man 
 
32 FIEST SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 awaked, and recovered, he made his words good 
 indeed; and prayed frequently, and fasted se- 
 verely, and labored humbly, and conversed 
 charitably, and mortified himself severely, and 
 refused such secular solaces w^hich other good 
 men received to refresh and sustain their infirm- 
 ities, and gave no other account to them that 
 asked him but this : " If I could not in my dream 
 endure my mother's upbraiding my follies and 
 weak religion, how shall I be able to suffer, that 
 God should reject me at doomsday, and the an- 
 gels reproach my lukewarmness, and the devils 
 aggravate my sins, and all the saints of God de- 
 ride my follies and hypocrisies ?" 
 
 The effect of that man's consideration may 
 serve to actuate a meditation in every one of us, 
 for we shall all be at that pass, that unless our 
 shame and sorrows be cleansed by a timely re- 
 pentance, and covered by the robe of Christ, we 
 shall suffer the anger of God, the scorn of saints 
 and angels, and our own shame in the general 
 assembly of all mankind. 
 
 " We must all appear before the judgment 
 seat of Christ, that every one may receive the 
 things done in his body, according to that he 
 hath done, whether it be good or bad." 
 
 This is that which the Apostle, in the next 
 verse, calls " the terror of the Lord." It is His 
 terror, because Himself shall appear in His dress 
 of majesty and robes of justice; and it is His 
 
THE JTJDGMENT DAY. 33 
 
 terror, because it is, of all things in the world, 
 the most formidable in itself, and it is most fear- 
 ful to us ; where shall be acted the interest and 
 final sentence of eternity. 
 
 For the persons to be judged are you, and I, 
 and all the world ; kings and priests, nobles and 
 learned, the crafty and the easy, the wise and 
 the foolish, the rich and the poor, the prevailing 
 tyrant and the oppressed party, shall all appear 
 to receive their sentence ; and this is so far from 
 abating any thing of its terror and our dear con- 
 cernment, that it much increases it; since in 
 final and extreme events, the multitude of suffer- 
 ers does not lessen but increase the suffering. 
 
 He that stands in a churchyard in the time of 
 a great plague, and hears the passing-bell per- 
 petually telling the sad stories of death, and sees 
 crowds of infected bodies passing to their graves ; 
 and others sick and tremulous; and death, dressed 
 up in all the images of sorrow, round about him; 
 is not supported in his spirit by the variety of 
 his sorrow. And at doomsday, when the terrors 
 are universal — besides that it is itself so much 
 greater, because it can affright the whole world 
 — it is also made greater by communication and 
 a sorrowful influence. And that shriek must 
 needs be terrible, when millions of men and 
 women, at the same instant, shall fearfully cry 
 out, and the noise shall mingle with the trumpet 
 of the archangel, with the thunders of the dying 
 
34 FIRST SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 and groaning heavens, and the crash of the dis- 
 solving world ; when the whole fabric of nature 
 shall shake into dissolution and eternal ashes. 
 
 But this general consideration may be height- 
 ened by other circumstances. 
 
 Consider what an infinite multitude of angels, 
 and men, and women, shall there appear. It is 
 a huge assembly when the men of one kingdom, 
 the men of one age in a single province, are 
 gathered together into heaps and confusion of 
 disorder ; but then, all kingdoms of all ages, all 
 the armies that ever mustered, all the world 
 that Augustus Caesar taxed, all those hundreds 
 of millions that were slain in all the Roman 
 wars ; all these, and all that can come into 
 numbers, and that did descend from the loins 
 of Adam, shall at once be represented. To 
 which account, if we add the armies of heaven, 
 the nine orders of blessed spirits, and the infinite 
 numbers in every order, we may suppose the 
 numbers fit to express the majesty of that God, 
 and the terror of that Judge, who is the Lord 
 and Father of all that unimaginable multitude. 
 
 And this infinite multitude of men, women, 
 angels, and devils, must needs have influence 
 upon every spirit that shall there appear. For 
 the transactions of that court are not like ora- 
 tions spoken by a Grecian orator in the circles 
 of his people — heard by them that crowd near- 
 est him ; or that sound limited by the circles of 
 
THE JUDG5»rENT DAT. 35 
 
 air, or the inclosure of a wall : but every thing 
 is represented to every person, and that then 
 shall be spoken by the trumpet of an archangel 
 upon the house-top — the highest battlements of 
 heaven, which thou didst act secretly. 
 
 That all may think themselves concerned in 
 this consideration, let us remember than even the 
 righteous and most innocent shall pass through 
 a severe trial. He that hath the greatest cause 
 of confidence, although he runs to no rocks to 
 hide him, yet he runs to the protection of the 
 cross, and hides himself under the shadow of 
 Divine mercies; and he that shall receive the 
 absolution of the blessed sentence, shall also 
 sufi'er the terrors of the day, and the fearful cir- 
 cumstances of Christ's coming. And if St. Paul, 
 whose conscience accused him not, yet durst not 
 be too confident, because he was not hereby 
 justified, but might be found faulty by the 
 severer judgment of his Lord ; how shall we 
 appear, with all our crimes and evil habits 
 round about us ? 
 
 But the matter is still of more concernment. 
 Tlie Pharisees believed that they were innocent, 
 if they abstained from criminal actions, such as 
 were punishable by the judge; and many Chris- 
 tians think all is well with them, if they abstain 
 from such sins as have a name in the table of 
 their laws. But, because some sins are secret 
 and not discernible to man; others are public 
 
36 FIRST SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 but not punished, because they were without 
 external mischiefs, and only provocations against 
 God ; men think that in their concernments they 
 have no place. Such are jeering, and many in- 
 stances of wantonness and revelling, doing petty 
 spites, and rudeness, and churlishness, lying, 
 and pride; and some are very like virtues, as 
 too much gentleness and slackness in govern- 
 njent, or too great severity and rigor of animad- 
 version or bitterness in reproof of sinners. But 
 when the day of judgment comes, these shall be 
 called to a severe account ; for the Judge is om- 
 niscient, and knows all things ; and His tribunal 
 takes cognizance of all causes, and hath a coer- 
 cive for all. 
 
 Then shall men that belong not to the portion 
 of life have three sorts of accusers. 
 
 1st. Christ, Himself, who is their Judge. 
 
 2d. Their own conscience, whom they have 
 injured and blotted with characters of death 
 and foul dishonor. 
 
 3d. The devil, their enemy, whom they served. 
 
 Christ shall be their accuser — and the accusa- 
 tion will be nothing else but a plain represen- 
 tation of those artifices and assistances, those 
 bonds and invitations, those constrainings and 
 importunities which our dear Lord used to us, 
 to make it almost impossible to lie in sin, and 
 necessary to be saved. For God did not only 
 give His Son for an example, and the Son gave 
 
THE JUDGMENT DAY. 37 
 
 Himself a price for us, but both gave tlie Holy 
 Spirit to assist us in mighty graces ; and we are 
 to be happy hereafter, if we suffer God to make 
 us happy here ; and things are so ordered, that 
 a man must take more pains to perish than to 
 be happy. And as our conscience will then 
 represent all our sins to us, so the Judge will 
 represent all His Father's kindnesses, as N^athan 
 did to David, when he was to make the j ustice 
 of the Divine sentence appear against him. 
 
 Our conscience shall be our accuser — we shall 
 be condemned for the evils that we have done,, 
 and shall then remember; God, by His power, 
 wiping away the dust from the tables of our 
 memory, and taking off the consideration, and 
 the voluntary neglect, and rude shufflings of 
 our cases of conscience. For all things are laid 
 up safely ; and though we draw a curtain of a 
 cobweb over them, and sew fig-leaves before 
 our shame, yet God shall draw away the curtain, 
 and forgetfulness shall be no more. 
 
 The devils will be our accusers — and they 
 will do it with malicious and evil purposes; 
 and therefore God, who delights that His mercy 
 should triumph, and His goodness prevail over 
 all the malice of men and devils, hath appointed 
 One whose office is to reprove the accuser, and 
 to resist the enemy — to be a defender of their 
 cause who belons* to God. 
 
 The devil shall accuse the brethren, that is, 
 4 
 
38 FIRST SATUKDAY IN LENT. 
 
 the saints and servants of God, and shall tell 
 concerning their follies and infirmities, the sins 
 of their youth, and the weakness of their age — 
 the imperfect grace and the long schedule of 
 omissions of duty — those things which them- 
 selves, by strict examination, find themselves 
 guilty of, and have confessed. 
 
 But the Holy Spirit, that maketh intercession 
 for us, shall then also interpose, and against all 
 these things shall oppose the passion of our 
 blessed Lord; and upon all their defects shall 
 cast the robe of His righteousness; and the sins 
 of their youth shall not prevail so much as the 
 repentance of their age ; and their omissions be 
 excused by probable intervening causes, and 
 their little escapes shall appear single and in 
 disunion, because they were always kept asun- 
 der by penitential prayers and sighings ; and 
 their seldom returns of sin by their daily watch- 
 fulness; and their often infirmities by the sin- 
 cerity of their souls ; and their scruples by their 
 zeal ; and their passions by their love : and all 
 by the mercies of God and the sacrifice which 
 their Judge offered, and the Holy Sj)irit made 
 •effective by daily graces and assistances. These, 
 therefore, infallibly go to the portion of the right 
 hand, because the Lord our God shall answer 
 for them. 
 
 " But as for the wicked, it is not so with 
 them ;" for cannot the accuser truly say to the 
 
THE JUDGMENT DAY. 39 
 
 Judge concerning such persons : "Thej were 
 thine by creation, but mine by tlieir own choice. 
 Thou didst redeem them indeed, but they sold 
 themselves to me for a trifle, or for an unsatis- 
 fying interest. Thou diedst for them, but they 
 obeyed my commandments. I gave them no- 
 thing — I promised them nothing but the plea- 
 sure of a night, or the joys of madness, or the 
 delights of a disease. I never hanged upon the 
 cross three long hours for them, nor endured 
 the labors of a poor life thirty-three years to- 
 gether for their interest ; only when they were 
 Thine by the merit of Thy death, they quickly 
 became mine by the demerit of their ingrati- 
 tude ; and when Thou hadst clothed their soul 
 with Thy robe, and adorned them by Thy graces, 
 we stripped them naked as their shame, and 
 only put on a robe of darkness ; and they 
 thought themselves secure, and went dancing 
 to their grave, like a drunkard to a fight, or a 
 fly unto a candle ; and, therefore, they that did 
 partake with us in our faults, must divide with 
 us in our portion and fearful interest !" 
 
 I shall only add what the patriarch of Alex- 
 andria told an old religious person in his her- 
 mitage. Having asked him what he found in 
 that desert, he was answered only this ; " To 
 judge and condemn myself perpetually; that is 
 the employment of my solitude." The patriarch 
 answered: "There is no other way." By ac- 
 
40 FIKST SATURDAY IN" LENT. 
 
 ciising ourselves we shall make the devil's malice 
 useless, and our own consciences clear, and be 
 reconciled to the Judge by the severities of an 
 early repentance, and then we need to fear no 
 accusers. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Lord our King, Lord of the whole earth, 
 Judge of all the world, from whom cometh both 
 pardon and punishment, have mercy upon me 
 now, at the hour of death, and in the day of 
 judgment. Sanctify me with Thy grace that I 
 may rejoice in the remembrance of Thy holi- 
 ness ; and in the Day of great terror, when a fire 
 shall go forth from thy presence to burn up Thy 
 enemies on every side, preserve me from eternal 
 darkness, and grant me the light of Thy Coun- 
 tenance, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
FIEST SUKDAY IN" LENT. 
 
 THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 ** Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to 
 be tempted of the devil." Matt. iv. 1. 
 
 No sooner had the voice of God pronounced 
 Jesus to be the well-beloved Son of God, but 
 the devil thought it of great concernment to 
 tempt Him, with all his malice and his art ; and 
 that is the condition of all those, whom God's 
 grace hath separated from the common expecta- 
 tions and societies of the world : and therefore 
 tlie son of Sirach gave good advice : " My son, 
 if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thj soul 
 for temptation." For not only the spirits of 
 darkness are exasperated at the declension of 
 their own kingdom, but also the nature of those 
 graces which holy persons exercise in their 
 lives is apt to be interrupted by weariness, to 
 grow insipid by tediousness of labor, to be 
 omitted by the diversions of society and secular 
 occasions ; so that to acquire every new degree 
 of virtue, to continue the holy fires of zeal in 
 their just proportion, and to reject the invita- 
 tions of the world, which are the proper em- 
 
42 rmsT Sunday in lent. 
 
 ployment of the sons of God, is a perpetual 
 difficulty ; and every possibility of prevaricating 
 the strictness of a duty, is a temptation and 
 insecurity to them who have begun to serve 
 God in hard battles. 
 
 The Holy Spirit did drive Jesus into the 
 wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And 
 though we are bound to pray instantly, that we 
 fall into no temptation, yet if, by Divine per- 
 mission, we be engaged in an action or course 
 of life that is full of temptation and empty of 
 comfort, let us apprehend it as a designation of 
 that way in which we must glorify God ; but 
 no argument of disfavor ; since our dearest 
 Lord, the most Holy Jesus, who could have 
 driven the devil away by the breath of His 
 mouth, yet was, by the Spirit of His Father, 
 permitted to a trial and molestation by the 
 spirits of darkness. And this is St. James's 
 counsel : " My brethren, count it all joy when 
 ye enter into divers temptations ; knowing that 
 the trial of your faith worketh patience." 
 
 As soon as it was permitted to the devil to 
 tempt our Lord, he, like fire, had no power to 
 suspend his act, but was as entirely determined 
 by the fulness of his malice as a natural agent 
 by the appetites of nature ; that we may know « 
 to whom we owe the happiness of all those 
 hours and days of peace, in which we sit under 
 the trees of paradise and see no serpent encir- 
 
THE TEMPTATION OF CKEIST. 4S 
 
 cling the branches, and presenting us with fair 
 fruit to ruin us. It is the mercy of God we 
 have the quietness of a minute ; for if the devil's 
 chain were taken off he w^ould make our very 
 beds a torment, our tables to be a snare, and 
 every sense should have an object of delight 
 and danger. But the Holy Jesus having been 
 assaulted by the devil, and felt his malice by 
 the experiments of humanity, is become so mer- 
 ciful a High Priest, and so sensible of our suffer- 
 ings and danger, by the apprehensions of compas- 
 sions, that He hath put a hook into the nostrils 
 of Leviathan ; and although the relics of seven 
 nations be in our borders, and the fringes of our 
 country, yet we live as safe as did the Israelites, 
 upon whom sometimes an inroad and invasion 
 was made, and sometimes they had rest forty 
 years ; and when the storm came, some remedy 
 was found out by His grace, by whose permis- 
 sion the tempest was stirred up. And we find 
 many persons, who, in seven years, meet not 
 with a violent temptation to a crime, but their 
 battles are against impediments and retardations 
 of improvement. For God impedes the devil's 
 rage, and infatuates his counsels ; He diverts his 
 malice and defeats his purposes ; He suffers him 
 to walk in solitary places, and yet fetters him, 
 that he caijnot disturb the peace of a child ; He 
 hath given him mighty power, and yet a young 
 maiden that resists him shall make him flee 
 
4A FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT. 
 
 away ; He gave him power over the winds, and 
 made him prince of the air; and yet the breath 
 of a holy prayer can drive him as far as the ut- 
 most sea ; and it is by the grace and mercy of 
 God, put into the power of every Christian, to 
 do that which God, through Jesus Christ, will 
 accept to salvation; and neither men nor devils 
 shall hinder it, unless we list ourselves. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 the Giver of all grace, the Author of all ghostly 
 strength, hear, I beseech, my prayers and sup- 
 plications, and deliver me from all temptations 
 of the world, the .flesh, and the devil. Let me 
 never want Thy help in my needs, nor Thy 
 comfort in the day of danger and calamity ; but 
 60 strengthen me with Thy grace, that I may 
 fight a good fight, and conquer, and finally be 
 crowned with a crown of righteousness, through 
 the mercies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ. Amen. 
 
FIEST MOIJTDAY m LENT, 
 
 SELF-EXAMINATION. 
 
 " Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your 
 own selves." 2 Cor. xiii. 6. 
 
 " It is the beginning of wisdom to know a 
 man's own weaknesses and failings in things of 
 greatest necessity ;" and we have here so many 
 objects to furnish out this knowledge, that we 
 find it with the longest and latest, before it be 
 obtained. A man does not begin to know him- 
 self till he be old, and then he is well stricken 
 in death. A man's heart being at first like a 
 plain table — unspotted, indeed, but then there is 
 nothing legible in it. As soon as ever we ripen 
 towards the imperfect uses of our reason, we 
 write upon this table such crooked characters, 
 such imperfect configurations, and stain it with 
 so many blots and vicious inspersions, that there 
 is nothing worth the reading in our hearts for a 
 great while ; and when education and ripeness, 
 reason and experience. Christian philosophy and 
 the grace of God, have made fair impressions, 
 and written the law in our hearts with the finger 
 of God's Holy Spirit, we blot out this handwrit- 
 
46 FIRST MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 ing of God's ordinances, or mingle it with false 
 principles and interlinings of our own ; we dis- 
 order the method of God, or deface the truth of 
 God. 
 
 Our hearts are blind, wilfully blind. "We are 
 false ourselves, and dare not trust God. We 
 love to be deceived, and are angry if we be 
 told so. We love to seem virtuous, and yet 
 hate to be so. "We believe things, not for their 
 reasons and proper arguments, but as they serve 
 our turns, be they true or false. We are busy 
 in the faults of others, and negligent of our own. 
 We live the life of spies, striving to know others, 
 and to be unknown ourselves ; and if I should 
 gather the abuses, and impieties, and deceptions 
 of the heart into one table, I fear they would 
 seem remediless, and beyond the cure of w^atch- 
 fulness and religion. 
 
 Indeed, they are great and many ; but the 
 grace of God is greater ; and " if iniquity , 
 abounds," then " doth grace superabound," 
 and that is our comfort and our medicine. 
 But let us w^atch our heart at every turn — let 
 us suspect it as an enemy: let us "judge our- 
 selves, that we be not judged of the Lord ;" for 
 our examination of ourselves w^ill prevent the 
 horrors of the eternal scrutiny ; our condemna- 
 tion of our sins will prevent God's condemnation 
 of us for them ; and when we examine so as to 
 judge, and so condemn our sins that we approve 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 47 
 
 ourselves to God and our own consciences — 
 tlien we have examined rightly. 
 
 Some sins are so notorious, that they go be- 
 fore unto judgment and condemnation, and 
 they need no examining ; and whatsoever is 
 not done against our wills, cannot be besides 
 our knowledge, and so cannot need examina- 
 tion, but remembering only. And, therefore, 
 T do not call upon the drunkard to examine 
 liimself concerning temperance ; or the oppres- 
 sor concerning his cruel covetousness ; or the 
 customary swearer concerning his profaneness. 
 'No man needs much inquiry to know wliether 
 a man be alive or dead when he hath lost a 
 vital part. But this caution is given to the 
 returning sinner, to the repenting man ; to him 
 that weeps for his sins, and leaves what was 
 the shame of his face and the reproach of his 
 heart. 
 
 For we are quickly apt to think we are washed 
 enough ; and having remembered our falls, we 
 groan in method, and weep at certain times; 
 we bid ourselves be sorrowful, and tune our 
 heart-strings to the accent and key of the pres- 
 ent solemnity ; and as sorrow enters in a dress 
 and imagery when we bid her, so she goes away 
 when the scene is done. Here, here it is that 
 we are to examine — whether show^s do make a 
 real change ; whether shadows can be sub- 
 stances and whether to begin a good work 
 
48 FIKST MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 splendidly can effect all the purposes of its 
 designation. 
 
 And, in this examination, take no accounts of 
 yourself by your thoughts and resolutions in the 
 days of religion and solemnity ; but examine 
 how it is with you in the days of ordinary con- 
 versation, and in the circumstances of secular 
 employments. For he that puts on fine clothes 
 for one day or two, must not suppose himself to 
 be that prince which he only personates. "We 
 dress ourselves upon a day of religion, and then 
 we cannot endure to think on sin ; and, if we 
 do, we sigh ; and when we sigh, we pray, and 
 suppose that if we might die upon that day, it 
 would be a good day's work, for we could not 
 die in a better time. But let us not deceive 
 ourselves. That is our picture that is like us 
 every day in the week; and if you wear the 
 same habits of virtue every day in the week 
 as you put on upon a Communion day, you 
 have more reason to be satisfied than by all the 
 extemjDore piety and solemn religion, that rises 
 at the sound of a bell, and keeps her time by 
 the calendar of the Church more than by the 
 laws of God. 
 
 Try, also, whether your resolutions are likely 
 to hold ; but here you must not rely upon words, 
 but place yourself in the scene and circum- 
 stances of your temj)tation, and try whether 
 you be likely to hold out, when sin comes with 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 49 
 
 all the offers of advantage. You resolve against 
 all intemperate anger, and you deny the im- 
 portunity of many trifling occurrences ; but 
 consider, if you be provoked, and if you be 
 despised, can your flesh and blood endure it 
 then ? It is nothing to despise a cheap sin and 
 a common temptation, but art thou strong 
 enough to overcome the strongest argument 
 that thy sin hath ? 
 
 Examine thyself here wisely and severely; 
 but only by what is likely to fall upon you 
 actually. Do not ask yourself whether you 
 would endure the rack for God, or the applica- 
 tion of burning basins to the eyes, or the tor- 
 ment of a slow fire, or whether you had rather 
 go to hell than commit a sin; this is too fan- 
 tastic a trial. And when God — it may be — 
 knowing your weakness, will never put you to it 
 really, do you not tempt yourself by fancy and 
 an afliictive representment. He that tries him- 
 self further than he hath need of, is like Pal se- 
 men's shepherd, who, fearing the foot-bridge 
 was not strong enough — to try it, loaded it so 
 long, till, by his unequal trial, he broke that 
 which would have borne a bigger burden than 
 he had to carry over it. Some things will better 
 suffer a long usage than an unequal trial. 
 
 But when any man hath thus examined him- 
 self, by whatsover signs he is usually made con- 
 fident, let him be sure to make abatements of 
 5 
 
50 riEST MOKDAT IN LENT. 
 
 his confidence, if lie have fonnd that he hath 
 failed already, in despite of all his arts and all 
 his pnrposes. 
 
 He that hath broken his word with me, when 
 it was in his power to keep it, hath destroyed 
 my confidence in him ; and if we have failed of 
 our promises to God for many times, though we 
 have great reason to rejoice in God's long-suf- 
 fering and infinite patience, yet, by any signs 
 which can be given, we have no reason to trust 
 ourselves. 
 
 Above all, let us betake ourselves, in our 
 examinations, to the solid and material practices 
 of a religious life. Many times we have seem- 
 ing peace, when our open enemies are changed 
 into false friends, and we think ourselves holy 
 persons, because we are quit of oj)en crimes, and 
 yet we are dying with spiritual. It is an easy 
 thing to reprove a murderer, and to chide a 
 foolish drunkard; to make a liar blush, and a 
 thief to run away. But you may be secretly 
 proud, when no man shall dare tell you so ; and 
 have a secret envy, and yet keep company with, 
 the best and most religious persons. A little 
 examination will serve your turn to know wheth- 
 er you have committed adultery, or be a swear- 
 er; but to know whether your intentions be 
 holy, whether you love the praise of men more 
 than the praise of God, whether religious or 
 secular interest be the dearer, whether there be 
 
SELF-EXA^nNATIOX. 51 
 
 any liypocrisj or secret malice in your heart, 
 liatli something of more secret consideration. 
 
 These things must be examined; not that it 
 can be thought that a man can ever be without 
 fault, but that he must cherish none; he must 
 leave none unexamined; he must discover as 
 much as he can, and crucify all that he can dis- 
 cover. He that prays often, and reproaches him 
 that does not ; and gives alms, and secretly un- 
 dervalues him that cannot ; or is of a right opin- 
 ion, but curses him that is of the wrong; or 
 leaves his ambitious pursuits and vain-glorious 
 purposes, but sits at home and is idle ; is like a 
 man w4io stands by a fire in a wide and a cold 
 room : he scorches on one side, and freezes on 
 the other ; whereas the habits of virtue are like 
 a great mantle, and the man is well and warm 
 all over. And when from crimes which brino: 
 shame, a man falls into spiritual crimes, which 
 most men let alone, he causes no joy before the 
 angels ; and because he does not examine wisely 
 and judge severely, he is discerned by God, and 
 shall be judged, when to be "judged," means 
 all one with being condemned. 
 
 PKAYEK. 
 
 O Eternal and most Glorious God, who dwell- 
 est on high, and yet humblest Thyself to behold 
 the things that are in heaven and earth. Thou 
 
52 riEST MOKDAY IN LENT. 
 
 hast searcTied me, O Lord, and known me ; 
 Thou understandest mj thoughts afar off, and 
 art acquainted with all my ways. Be pleased 
 to impart unto Thy servant a ray of thy heav- 
 enly light ; open mine eyes that I may see the 
 wondrous things of Thy law. Set all my sins 
 before my face, that I may speedily, and earn- 
 estly, and perfectly, repent and forsake them all. 
 Give me a sight of my infirmities, that I may 
 watch against them ; discover to me all my evil 
 principles, that I may reform them ; and what- 
 sover is wanting in me, whereby I may please 
 Thee and perfect my duty, I beg of Thee to 
 reveal that also unto me ; so that approving my 
 actions to my conscience, and my conscience to 
 Thy law, I may be approved by Thee in the 
 great day of examination of all the world ; 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
[ 
 
 FIEST TUESDAY m LENT. 
 
 THE LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
 all thy Boul, and with all thy mind." Matt. xxii. 37. 
 
 The first commandment Christ often repeated 
 and enforced, as being the basis of all religion. 
 "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord;" 
 and '' Thon shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
 thine heart ; and with all thy soul, and with all 
 thy mind, and with all thy strength." This is 
 the first commandment; that is, this compre- 
 hends all that which is moral and eternal in the 
 first table of the decalogue. 
 
 Love is the greatest thing that God can give 
 us: for Himself is love; and it is the greatest 
 thing we can give to God ; for it will also give 
 ourselves, and carry with it all that is oui-s. 
 The Apostle calls it the bond of perfection ; it is 
 the old, and it is the new, and it is the great 
 commandment. It does the work of all other 
 graces, without any instrument but its own im- 
 mediate virtue. For love does all things which 
 may please the beloved person ; it performs all 
 6« 
 
54: FIRST TUESDAY IN" LENT. 
 
 his commandments ; it does all the intimations 
 and secret significations of his pleasure ; it gives 
 away all things, that so it may advance the in- 
 terest of the beloved person ; it snflfers all things 
 that are imposed by its beloved, or that can 
 happen for his sake, or that intervene in his 
 service, cheerfully, sweetly, willingly. Love is 
 also impatient of any thing that may displace 
 the beloved person ; it contracts the same rela- 
 tions, and marries the same friendsliips and the 
 same hatreds : and all affection to a sin is per- 
 fectly inconsistent with the love of God; for 
 that allows not to itself any infirmity which it 
 strives not to master ; aiming at what it cannot 
 yet reach ; desiring to be of an angelical purity, 
 and of a perfect innocence, and a seraphical 
 fervor, and fears every image of offence. This 
 is the curiosity and niceness of Divine love ; this 
 is the fear of God, and is the daughter and pro- 
 duction of love. 
 
 The consideration of God's goodness and 
 bounty, the experience of those profitable and 
 excellent emanations from Him, may be, and 
 most commonly are, the first motive of our 
 love ; and if besides these we consider the im- 
 mensity and vastness of the love of God, in giv- 
 ing us His Son, in forgiving our sins, in adopting 
 us to glory, and ten thousand times ten thousand 
 little accidents and instances, happening in the 
 doing every of these ; it is not possible but, for 
 
THE LOYE OF GOD. 55 
 
 SO great love, we should give love again ; for 
 God, we should give man ; for felicity, we 
 should part with our misery. 
 
 It was love that preserved the noblest of God's 
 creatures here below. Poor Adam being banish- 
 ed and undone, went and lived a sad life in the 
 mountains of India, and turned his face and his 
 prayers towards Paradise. Thither he sent his 
 sighs ; to that place he directed his devotions ; 
 there was his heart now, where his felicity some- 
 times had been. But he knew not how to return 
 thither, for God was his enemy ; and by many 
 of His attributes opposed Himself against him. 
 In the midst of these sadnesses, God remembered 
 His own creature, and pitied it. His justice 
 bowed down to His mercy ; and all His power 
 passed into mercy ; and His omniscience con- 
 verted into care and watchfulness, into provi- 
 dence and observation, for man's avail; and 
 Heaven gave its influence for man, and rained 
 showers for our food and drink ; and the attri- 
 butes and acts of God sat at the foot of mercy, 
 and all that mercy descended upon the head of 
 man. 
 
 Thus it was that God punished us, and visited 
 the sin of Adam upon his posterity. He threat- 
 ened we should die, and so we did — but not as 
 we deserved. We waited for death, and stood 
 sentenced, and are daily summoned by sicknesses 
 and uneasiness ; and every day is a new reprieve, 
 
6Q FIKST TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 and brings a new favor — certain as the revolu- 
 tion of the sun upon that day ; and at last, when 
 we must die by the irreversible decree, that death 
 is changed into a sleep, and that sleep is in the 
 bosom of Christ, and there dwells all peace and 
 security, and it shall pass forth into glories and 
 felicities. 
 
 Tlie consideration of these Divine excellences 
 and mercies must be infinitely sufficient to pro- 
 duce in us love to God, inviting us to give Him 
 a whole and undivided afi^ection, having love for 
 nothing else, but such things which He allows, 
 and which He commands or loves Himself. 
 
 " This is love, that we keep His command- 
 ments." 
 
 But the difficulty and question of this duty lies 
 in the intention. For it is not enough to serve 
 God with every capacity, passion, and faculty ; 
 but it must be every degree of every faculty ; 
 all the latitude of our will, all the whole inten- 
 tion of our passions, all the possibility and ener- 
 gy of our senses and understanding ; which, 
 because it is to be understood according to that 
 moderate sentence and account which God re- 
 quires of us, let us observe — that the intention of 
 the love to which we are obliged, requires not 
 the degree which is absolutely the greatest, and 
 Bimply the most perfect. For there are degrees 
 of grace, every one of which is pleasing to God, 
 and is a state of reconciliation and atonement. 
 
THE LOVE OF GOD. 57 
 
 Two talents sliall be rewarded, and so shall five, 
 both in their proportions. David prayed " seven 
 times a day," and Daniel prayed " three times ;" 
 and both were beloved of God. And our blessed 
 Lord Himself, who never failed of any degree of 
 His obligations, yet at some time prayed with 
 more zeal and fervor than at other times, as a 
 little before His passion. Since, then, at all 
 times He did not do actions of that degree, 
 which is absolutely the greatest, it is evident 
 that God's goodness is so great, as to be content 
 with such a love which parts no share between 
 Him and sin ; and leaves all the rest under such 
 a liberty, as is only encouraged by those extra- 
 ordinary rewards and crowns proportioned to 
 heroical endeavors. 
 
 Tlie advice which, in this case, is safest to be 
 followed, is, that we employ our greatest indus- 
 try that we fall not into sin, and actions of a for 
 bidden nature ; and then strive, by parts, and 
 steps, and with much wariness in attempering 
 our zeal, to superadd degrees of eminence, and 
 observation of the more perfect instances ot 
 sanctity. 
 
 Again. — Our love to God consists, not in any 
 one determinate degree, but hath such a latitude 
 as best agrees with the condition of men, who 
 are of variable natures, and different affections 
 and capacities. For some are of malleable na- 
 tures, others are morose ; some are of healthful 
 
58 FIKST TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 and temperate constitutions, others are full of 
 fancy, full of appetite ; some have excellent 
 leisure and opportunities of retirement, others 
 are busy in an active life, and cannot with ad- 
 vantage attend to the choice of the better part ; 
 some are peaceable and timorous, and some are 
 in all instances serene ; others are of tumultuous 
 and unquiet spirits ; and these become opportu- 
 nities of temptation on one side, and on the 
 other, occasions of a virtue ; but every variety 
 of circumstance hath influence upon morality, 
 and therefore their duties are altered, according 
 to the infinite alteration of accidents and possi- 
 bilities. 
 
 Lastly. — Our love to God must be totally ex- 
 clusive of any affection to sin. We must prefer 
 God as the object of our hope ; we must choose 
 to obey Him rather than man ; and we must do 
 violence to our strongest passions, when they 
 once contest against a Divine commandment. 
 
 If our passions are thus regulated, let them be 
 fixed upon any lawful object whatsoever if, at 
 the same time, we prefer heaven and heavenly 
 things ; that is, would rather choose to lose our 
 temporal love than our eternal hopes ; then — 
 although we feel the transportation of an earthly 
 love towards a wife, or child, or friend, actually 
 more pungent and sensible than passions of re- 
 ligion are — they are less perfect, but they are 
 not criminal. 
 
THE LOVE OF GOD. 59 
 
 Only this. — "We must ever have a disposition, 
 and a mind prepared to quit our sensitive and 
 pleasant objects, rather than quit a grace or 
 commit a sin. 
 
 The state of the love of God is that which we 
 actually call the state of grace. 
 
 When Christ reigns in us, and sin does not 
 reign, but the spirit is quickened, and the lusts 
 are mortiiied ; when we are habitually virtuous, 
 and do acts of piety, temperance, and justice — 
 frequently, easily, cheerfully, and with a succes- 
 sive, constant, moral, and humane industry, ac- 
 cordino^ to the talent which God hath intrusted 
 to US in the banks of nature and grace — then we 
 are in the love of God — then we love Him with 
 Exl our heart. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Lord, my God ! Fountain of all true and 
 holy love ; who hast made me, and preserved me, 
 and sanctified me, that 1 might love Thee. Give 
 to Thy servant such a love, that whatsoever in 
 Thy service may happen contrary to flesh and 
 blood, I may not feel it ; that when I labor, I 
 may not be weary ; when I am despised, I may 
 not regard it ; that humility may be my sanc- 
 tuary, and mortification of my passions the ex- 
 ercise of my days ; and the service of my God 
 the joy of my soul; that loss to me may be 
 
60 riKST TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 gain, so I win Christ ; and death itself the en- 
 trance of an eternal life, when I may live with 
 Him, my Strength and my Kefuge, my God and 
 everlasting Hope, the blessed Saviour of the 
 world, Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
SECO^^D WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 " Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." 
 
 Matt. xxi. 22. 
 
 Prayer is the great secret of onr religion; the 
 effect, and the exercise, and the beginning, and 
 the promoter of all graces, and the perfection 
 and consummation of many. And since prayer 
 can obtain every thing, it can open the windows 
 of heaven, and shut the gates of hell — it can 
 put a holy constraint upon God, and detain an 
 angel till he leave a blessing — it can open the 
 treasures of rain, and soften the iron ribs of 
 recks, till they melt into tears and a flowing 
 river — prayer can unclasp the girdles of the 
 north, saying to a mountain of ice, " Be thou 
 removed hence, and cast into the bottom of the 
 sea ;" — it can arrest the sun in the midst of his 
 course, and send the swift-winged winds upon 
 our errand; and all those strange things, and 
 secret decrees, and unrevealed transactions, 
 which are above the clouds, and far beyond the 
 regions of the stars, shall combine in ministry 
 and advantage for the praying man ; — it cannot 
 6 
 
62 SECOND WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 be but we sboulcl feel less evil and mTicb more 
 good than we do if onr prayers were right. 
 
 But the state of things is thus — it is an easy 
 duty, and there are many promises, and we j 
 do it often, and yet we prevail but little. Is it 
 not a strange thing that our friends die round 
 about us, and in every family some great evil 
 often happens, and a Church shall suffer perse- 
 cution for many years together without remedy, 
 and we cannot rescue the life of a servant from 
 his fatal grave ; — and still we pray, and do noo 
 change the course of Providence in a single 
 instance many times, whether the instance be 
 of little or great concernment ? 
 
 What is the matter? We patiently suffer 
 our prayers to be rejected, and comfort our- 
 selves by saying, that it may be, the thing is 
 not fit for ns ; or to be denied, is better. This 
 is very true, but not always when we are de- 
 nied; for it is not always in mercy, but in 
 anger ; very often we are denied, because our 
 duty is ill-performed. For if our prayers were 
 right, the Providence of God would often find 
 out ways to reconcile His great ends with our 
 great desires ; and we might be saved hereafter, 
 and yet deHvered here besides ; and sometimes 
 we should have heaven and prosperity too, and 
 the cross should be sweetened, and the days of 
 affliction should, for our sakes, be shortened. 
 Let us rectify our prayers, and try what the 
 
PKAYER. 63 
 
 event will be ; it is worth so mncli, at least. 
 Kow, in this there are several lines of duty, by 
 which we can well examine ourselves. 
 
 Examine whether or no the form of your 
 prayer be the rule of your life. Whosoever 
 prays to God while he is in a state or in the 
 affection to sin, his prayer is an abomination to 
 God. God can never accept an unholy prayer, 
 and a wicked man can never send forth any 
 other. The waters pass through impure aque- 
 ducts and channels of brimstone ; and, there- 
 fore, may end in brimstone and iire, but never 
 in forgiveness and the blessing of an eternal 
 charity. 
 
 But many times good men pray, and their 
 prayer is not a sin : but yet it returns empty ; 
 because, although the man may be, yet the 
 prayer is not, in proper disposition. 
 
 Indifferency and easiness of desire is a great 
 enemy to the good man's prayer ; for although 
 God doth very frequently give us beyond the 
 matter of our desires, yet He does not often 
 give us great things beyond the spirit of our 
 desires — beyond the quickness, vivacity, and 
 fervor of our minds. For there is but one thing 
 in the world that God hates besides sin — that 
 is, indifference and lukewarmness ; which ' al- 
 though it hath not in it the direct nature of 
 sin, yet it hath this testimony from God that it 
 is loathsome and abominable. Tlie reason of 
 
64: SECOND WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 it is, because liikewarmness, or an indifferent 
 spirit, is an nndervaluing of God and religion. 
 He that is lukewarm always, understands the 
 better way, and seldom pursues it ; he hath so 
 much reason as is sufficient, but he will not 
 obey it ; his will does not follow the dictates of 
 his understanding, and therefore it is unnatural. 
 It is like the fantastic fires of the night, where 
 there is light and no heat ; and therefore may 
 pass on to the real fires of hell, where there is 
 heat and no light; and therefore though an act 
 of lukewarmness is only an indecency and no 
 sin, yet a state of lukewarmness is criminal. 
 
 If our prayers be for temporal things, I shall 
 not need stir up your afi'ections to be passionate 
 for their purchase. We desire them greedily, 
 we run after them intemperately, we are kept 
 from them with huge impatience, we are de- 
 layed with infinite regrets. But then for spir- 
 itual things, for the interest of our souls, and 
 the affairs of the kingdom, we pray to God 
 with just such a zeal as a condemned man 
 desires his executioner quickly to put him out 
 of his pain, by taking away his life. And yet 
 the things of religion and the Spirit are the 
 only things that ought to be desired vehemently 
 and pursued passionately — they are the pur- 
 chases of Christ's blood, and the effect of His 
 continued intercession ; the fruits of His bloody 
 sacrifice, and the gifts of His healing and saving 
 
PRATER. 65 
 
 mercy ; and if we can have fondnesses for things 
 indifferent or dangerous, our prayers upbraid 
 our spirits when we beg coldly and tamely for 
 those things for which we ought to die ; which 
 are more precious than the globes of kings, and 
 weightier than imperial sceptres ; richer than 
 the spoils of the sea or the treasures of the In- 
 dian hills. 
 
 Christ prayed with "loud cryings," and St. 
 Paul made mention of his scholars in his pray- 
 ers night and day. Let not your offices and 
 the custom of praying put thee in mind of thy 
 need, but let thy need draw thee to thy holy 
 offices. Desire what you pray for ; for certain 
 it is, you will pray passionately if you desire 
 fervently. Prayers are but the body of the 
 bird ; desires are its angel's wings. 
 
 Under the title of lukewarmness and tej)idity 
 may be comprised also these cautions : that a 
 good man's prayers are sometimes hindered by 
 inadvertency, sometimes by want of persever- 
 ance. For inadvertency, or want of attendance 
 to the sense and intention of our prayers, is 
 certainly an effect of lukewarmness, and a 
 certain companion and appendage to human 
 infirmity ; and is only so remedied as our 
 prayers are made zealous, and our infirmities 
 pass into the strengths of the Spirit. But con- 
 cerning perseverance — the consideration is some- 
 thing distinct. For when our prayer is foi a 
 6» 
 
G6 SECOND WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 great matter and a great necessity strictly at- 
 tended to, yet it is without fruit, because the 
 desire lasts not, and the prayer lives like the 
 repentance of Simon Magus, or the trembling of 
 Felix, or the Jews' devotion for seven days of 
 unleavened bread during the passover or the 
 feast of tabernacles. There are many that pray 
 against a temptation for a month together, and, 
 so long as the prayer is fervent, the man con- 
 sents not all that while ; but when the month is 
 gone, and the prayer is removed or become less 
 active, then the temptation returns and prevails. 
 But let us take heed ; for whatsoever temptation 
 we can be troubled withal by our natural tem- 
 per, or by the condition of our life, so long as 
 we have capacity to feel it, so long we are in 
 danger, and must " watch thereunto with prayer" 
 and continual diligence. And when your temp- 
 tations let you alone, let not your God alone ; 
 but lay up prayers and the blessings of a con- 
 stant devotion against the day of trial. 
 
 The prayer of a good man is also hindered 
 from obtaining its effects by a violent anger, 
 and a violent storm in the spirit of him that 
 prays. Prayer is the peace of our spirit, the 
 stillness of our thoughts, the evenness of recol- 
 lection, the seat of meditation, the rest of our 
 cares, and the calm of our tempest : prayer 
 is the issue of a quiet mind, of untroubled 
 thoughts ; it is the daughter of charity and the 
 
PRAYER. 67 
 
 sister of meekness ; and he tliat prays to God 
 with an angry, that is, with a troubled and dis- 
 composed spirit, is like him that sets up his 
 closet in the out-quarters of an army, and 
 chooses a frontier garrison to be wise in. An- 
 ger is a perfect alienation of the mind from 
 prayer, and therefore is contrary to that atten- 
 tion which presents our prayers in a right line 
 to God. 
 
 For so I have seen a lark rising from his bed 
 of grass, and soaring upwards, singing as he 
 rises, and hopes to get to heaven and climb 
 above the clouds ; but the poor bird was beaten 
 back with the loud sighings of an eastern wind, 
 and his motion made irregular and inconstant, 
 descending more at every breath of the tempest 
 than it could recover by the libration and fre- 
 quent weighing of his wings, till the little crea- 
 ture was forced to sit down and pant, and stay 
 till the storm was over; and then it made a 
 prosperous flight, and did rise and sing, as if it 
 had learned music and motion from an angel, 
 as he passed sometimes through the air about 
 his ministries here below. So is the prayer of 
 a good man, when his affairs have required 
 business, and his business was matter of disci- 
 pline, and his discipline was to pass upon a 
 sinning person, or had a design of charity, his 
 duty met with infirmities of a man, and anger 
 was its instrument ; and the instrument became 
 
68 SECOND WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 stronger than the prime agent, and raised a 
 tempest and overruled the man. And then his 
 prayer was broken, and his thoughts were 
 troubled, and his words went up towards a 
 cloud, and his thoughts pulled them back again, 
 and made them without intention : and the good 
 man sighs for his infirmity, but must be con- 
 tent to lose the prayer ; and he must recover it 
 when his anger is removed, and his spirit is be- 
 calmed — made even as the brow of Jesus, and 
 smooth like the heart of God — and then it 
 ascends to heaven upon the wings of the Holy 
 Dove, and dwells with God, till it returns, like 
 the useful bee, laden with a blessing and the 
 dew of heaven. 
 
 Lastly. — The prayer of faith only is available. 
 He is the right supplicant, but a very rare one, 
 that hath no diffidence in his heart — that comes 
 close up to oYir Saviour's rule : " Whatsoever 
 things ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye 
 receive them, and ye shall have them." Yet 
 the Lord will not cast them off who do not reso- 
 lutely promise success unto themselves in the 
 instant of their present supplications, but bear it 
 thus between faith and doubting : " Whether I 
 shall succeed in this or that, I am not confident ; 
 but of this I am most assured — that I shall be 
 the better for my prayers." 
 
 Only as a beginning, attribute unto God that 
 He is Almighty, and can do above all that we 
 
PRAYER. 69 
 
 can ask or think ; and remember, so mucli faith, 
 so much efficacy — so much confidence, so much 
 comfort in prayer. 
 
 PRATER. 
 
 O Holy and Eternal God, who hast com- 
 manded us to pray unto Thee in all our necessi- 
 ties, and to give thanks unto Thee for all our 
 instances of joy and blessing, give unto me, 
 Thy servant, the spirit of prayer and supplica- 
 tion. Sanctify my heart, that I may be gra- 
 cious in Thine eyes ; grant me the humility of a 
 servant, that I may have the hope and confi- 
 dence of a son. May my thoughts be sober and 
 collected; and may Thy Holy Spirit enkindle 
 in me great fervor and unwearied industry; 
 that my prayers, being united to the interces- 
 sion of Thy Blessed Son, and hallowed by His 
 merits, may ascend thither where Thy glory 
 dwells, and from whence eternal benediction 
 descends upon the Church. 
 
 Grant this, O Merciful Lord ! for His sake, our 
 only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. 
 
seco:nd thuesday m le:^t. 
 
 CONVERSATION. 
 
 **Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but 
 that which is good to the use of edifying." Ephes. iv. 29. 
 
 By the use of the tongue, God hath distin- 
 guished us from beasts ; and by the well or ill- 
 using it, we are distinguished from one another. 
 And though silence be as innocent as death, 
 harmless as a rose's breath to a distant passen- 
 ger, yet it is rather the state of death than life ; 
 while only speaking is the instrument of spirit- 
 ual charity, and is a glorification of God ; and, 
 tlierefore, since nature hath taught us to speak, 
 and God requires it, and our thankfulness obliges 
 us, and our necessities engage us ; it concerns us 
 to take care that nature be changed into grace, 
 necessity into choice ; that while we speak the 
 greatness of God, and minister to the needs of 
 our neighbor, and do the works of life and relig- 
 ion — of society and prudence — we may be fitted 
 to bear a part in the songs of angels, when they 
 shall rejoice at the feast of the marriage supper 
 of the Lamb. 
 
 We are all naturally lovers of speech, more 
 
CONVERSATION. 71 
 
 or less ; and because there is no rule or just 
 measure for the quantity, and it is as lawful, 
 and sometimes as prudent, to tell a long story 
 as a short, and two as well as one, and some- 
 times ten as well as two ; all such discourses are 
 to take their estimate by the m.atter and the end, 
 and can only be altered by their circumstances 
 and appendages. Yet, though no man can say, 
 that much sj)eaking is a sin, yet sin goes along 
 wdth it, and is an ingredient in the whole com- 
 position. For it is impossible but a long and 
 frequent disco.urse must be served with many 
 passions, and they are not always innocent. For 
 he that loves to talk much, must scrape mate- 
 rials too^ether to furnish out the scenes and lono: 
 orations; and some men furnish out their dia- 
 logues with the lives of others ; either they de- 
 tract or censure, or they flatter themselves, and 
 tell their own stories w^th friendly circum- 
 stances ; and the man entertains his friend wdth 
 his own panegyric : or the discourse looks one 
 way and rows another, and more mind the design 
 than its own truth. 
 
 And hence it comes, that at every corner of 
 the mouth a folly peeps out, or a mischief creeps 
 in. A little pride and a great deal of vanity 
 will soon escape, while the man minds the se- 
 quel of his talk, and not that ugliness of humor, 
 wdiich the severe man that stood by did observe, 
 and was ashamed of. Do not many men talk 
 
72 SECOND THTJESDAT IK LENT. 
 
 themselves into anger, screwing themselves np 
 with dialogues of fancy, till they forget the com- 
 pany and themselves ? And some men hate to 
 be contradicted or interrupted : and some men 
 being a little conscious, and not striving to 
 amend by silence, they make it worse by dis- 
 course. A long story of themselves — a tedi- 
 ous praise of another, collaterally, to do them- 
 selves advantage — unseasonable repetition- of 
 that which neither profits nor delights — sconi 
 and reproach begun upon questions which con- 
 cern neither of the litigants — strivings for what 
 is past, and for what shall never be : these are 
 the events of the loose and unwary tongue, 
 which are like flies and gnats upon the margin 
 of a pool : they do not sting like an asp, or bite 
 deep as a bear ; yet they can vex a man into a 
 fever and impatience, and make him incapable 
 of rest and counsel. 
 
 There is no way for the cure of this evil, but 
 the direct obeying of a counsel and submitting 
 to the precept, and fearing the Divine threaten- 
 ings ; always remembering, that " of every word 
 a man. sj^eaks, he shall give account at the day 
 of judgment." 
 
 I pray God show us all a mercy in that day, 
 and forgive us the sins of the tongue. Amen. 
 
 We have seen the vanities and evil fruits of 
 
 the easy talker ; but above all the abuses which 
 
 vev .dishonored the tongues of men, nothing 
 
CONVERSATION. 73 
 
 more deserves the whip of an exterminating 
 angel, or the stings of scorpions, than profane 
 jesting. He that makes a jest of the words of 
 Scripture, or of holj things, plays with thnnder, 
 and kisses the mouth of a cannon just as it 
 belches tire and death. Some men use to read 
 Scripture on their knees, and many with their 
 heads uncovered, and all good men with fear 
 and trembling, w^ith reverence and grave atten- 
 tion. " Search the Scriptures, for therein ye 
 hope to have life eternal." And " all Scripture 
 is written by inspiration of God, and is fit for iur 
 struction, for reproof, for exhortation, for doc- 
 trine," not for jesting; but he that makes that 
 use of it, had better part with his eyes in jest 
 and give his heart to make a tennis ball. 
 
 "Let no corrupt communication proceed out 
 of your mouth, but that which is good to the 
 use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the 
 hearers." First, we are taught how to restrain 
 our tongues, and then we are called to employ 
 them in religion. " AYe must sj^eak that which 
 is good, that it may minister grace ;" that is, 
 favor, complaisance, cheerfulness, and be accept- 
 able and pleasant " to the hearer." Our conver- 
 sation must be as far from sullenness as it ought 
 to be from lightness, and a cheerful spirit is the 
 best convoy for religion. And though sadness 
 does in some cases become a Christian, as being 
 an index of a pious mind, yet it serves but one 
 7 
 
74 SECOND THUKSDAT IN LENT. 
 
 end, being useful in the only instance of repent- 
 ance; and liatli done its greatest works, not 
 when it weeps and sighs, but when it hates and 
 grows careful against sin. And if friendly mirth 
 can refresh the spirit, and take it off from the 
 vile temptation of peevish, despairing, uncom- 
 plying melancholy, it must needs be innocent 
 and commendable, and we may as well be re- 
 freshed by a clean and a brisk discourse as by 
 the air of Campanian wines ; and our faces and 
 our heads may as well be animated and look 
 pleasant with wit and friendly intercourse, as 
 with the fat of the balsam-tree ; and such a con- 
 versation no wise man ever did or ought to re- 
 prove. 
 
 We must speak "that which is good." All 
 they, therefore, . who will comply with God's 
 method of graciousness, and the necessities of 
 their brethren, must endeavor by all means, and 
 in all their own measures and capacities, to lay 
 up treasures of notices, and instructions in their 
 brother's soul : that by some argument or other, 
 they may be met withal, and taken in every cor- 
 ner of their conversation. 
 
 Our conversation must also be " apt to com- 
 fort" the disconsolate, and than this, men in 
 present can feel no greater charity. For, since 
 half the duty of a Christian in this life consists 
 in the exercise of passive graces ; and the infi- 
 nite variety of Providence, and the dissatisfaction 
 
CONVERSATION, 75 
 
 and emptiness that are in things themselves, do 
 call us to the trial and exercise of patience, even 
 in the days of sunshine ; — and much more in the 
 violent storms that shake our dwellings, and make 
 our hearts tremble ; — God hath sent some angels 
 into the world, whose office it is to refresh the 
 sorrows of the poor, and to lighten the eyes of 
 the disconsolate. He hath made some creatures 
 whose powers are chiefly ordained to comfort ; 
 wine and oil and society, cordials and variety ; 
 and time itself is checkered with black and 
 white ; stay but till to-morrow, and your present 
 sorrow will be weary, and will lie down to rest. 
 
 But this is not all. The third Person of the 
 Holy Trinity is known to us by the name and 
 dignity of the " Holy Ghost the Comforter," and 
 God glories in the appellative that He is the 
 " Father of mercies, and the God of all com- 
 fort ;" and therefore, to minister in the office, is 
 to become like God, and to imitate the charities 
 of heaven. 
 
 And certain it is, that there is nothing greater, 
 for which God made our tongues, next to reciting 
 His praises than to minister comfort to a weary 
 soul. And what greater measure can we have, 
 than that we should bring joy to our brother, 
 who with his dreary eyes looks to heaven and 
 round about, and cannot find so much rest as to 
 lay his eyelids close together: than that thy 
 tongue should be tuned with heavenly accents, 
 
76 SECOND THTJESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 and make the wearj soul to listen for light and 
 ease ; and when he perceives that there is such 
 a thing in the world as comfort and joy, — to be- 
 gin to break out from the prison of his sorrow, 
 at the door of sighs and tears, and by little and 
 little melt into showers and refreshment ? 
 
 This is glory to thy voice, and employment fit 
 for the bri*ghtest angel. 
 
 But so have I seen the sun kiss the frozen 
 earth, which was bound up with the images of 
 death, and the colder breath of the north ; and 
 then the waters break from their inclosures, and 
 melt with joy, and run in useful channels ; and 
 the flies do rise again from their little graves in 
 walls, and dance awhile in the air, to tell that 
 there is joy within, and that the great mother of 
 creatures will open the stock of her new refresh- 
 ments, become useful to mankind, and sing 
 praises to her Redeemer. So is the heart of a 
 sorrowful man under the discourses of a wise 
 comforter. He breaks from the despairs of the 
 grave, and the fetters and chains of sorrow ; he 
 blesses God, and he blesses thee, and he feels his 
 life returning. For to be miserable is death, but 
 nothing is life but to be comforted ; and God is 
 pleased with no music from below so mu'ch as 
 in the thanksgiving-songs of relieved widows— 
 of supported orphans — of rejoicing, and comfort- 
 ed, and thankful persons. 
 
 It is a fearful thing to see a man despairing. 
 
CONYEESATION. YT 
 
 !N'one knows the sorrow and the intolerable an- 
 guish but himself ; and so are all the loads of a 
 wounded spirit — when the staff of a man's 
 broken fortune bows his head to the ground, 
 and sinks like an osier under the violence of a 
 mighty tempest. But therefore, in proportion 
 to this, I may tell the excellency of the employ- 
 ment, and the duty of that charity, which bears 
 the dying and languishing soul from the fringes 
 of hell to the seat of the brightest stars, where 
 God's Face shines, and reflects comforts forever 
 and ever. 
 
 This is indeed discoursing to the edification oi 
 our needs, and the greatest and most holy char- 
 ily- 
 
 PRATER. 
 
 Lord God, who hearest the prayers of all 
 those that call upon Thee ; sanctify, I beseech 
 Thee, my heart and my lips, that my words may 
 be holy and profitable, and my conversation an 
 incentive to the ways of peace and righteousness. 
 Deliver me from turbulence and anger, and grant 
 that in the midst of a crooked and perverse gen- 
 eration, I may be kept from all slander and evil 
 speaking, so that I may never draw down upon 
 me the sharp arrows of Thy vengeance, and the 
 burning coals of Thy wrath : but that in the eter- 
 nal retribution of the saints. Thou mayest deal 
 with Thy ser^^ant according to Thy loving mercy, 
 through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. 
 7» 
 
seco:n'd feiday in lent. 
 
 B^VERENCE FOR HOLY DAYS AND HOLY PLACES. 
 
 " Ye shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary ; I am 
 the Lord." Levit. xix. 30. 
 
 So long as the law of the Sabbath was bound 
 upon God's people, so long God would have 
 that to be the solemn manner of confessing His 
 goodness, His omnipotence, and His wisdom. 
 But when — the priesthood being changed — there 
 was a change also of the law, the great duty re- 
 mained unalterable in changed circumstances. 
 "We are eternally bound to confess God Almighty 
 to be the Maker of heaven and earth, but the 
 manner of confessing it is changed from a Jew- 
 ish rite to a Christian duty. We profess it iij our 
 creed, we confess it in our lives, and we do also, 
 upon great reason, comply with the Jewish man- 
 ner of confessing the creation, so far as it is in- 
 strumental to a real duty ; for we keep one day 
 in seven, and so confess the manner and circum- 
 stance of the creation, and we rest also that we 
 may tend holy duties. 
 
 But we truly represent God's rest when we 
 confess and rejoice in God's works and God's 
 
EEVERENCE FOR HOLT DAYS, ETC. 79 
 
 gloiy. This the Christian Church does upon 
 every day ; but especially upon the Lord's day, 
 which she hath set apart for this and all other 
 offices of religion, being determined to this day 
 by the resurrection of her dearest Lord : it be- 
 ing the first day of joy the Church ever had. 
 And now, upon the Lord's day, we are not tied 
 to the rest of the Sabbath, but to all the work 
 of the Sabbath ; and we are to abstain from 
 bodily labor, not because it is a direct duty to 
 us, as it was to the Jews, but because it is neces- 
 sary in order to our duty, that we attend to the 
 offices of religion. He who keeps the day most 
 strictly, most religiously, he keeps it best and 
 most consonant to the design of the Church, and 
 the ends of religion, and the interests of his soul. 
 Deeds of charity, visiting sick persons, hospi- 
 tality to our poor neighbors, friendliness and ci- 
 vility to all, any act of direct religion to God, or 
 of ease and remission to servants, or whatsoever 
 else is good in manners, or in piety, or in mercy, 
 are acts of religion proper to the day ; and al- 
 though those who labor hard in the week must 
 be eased on the Lord's day, yet let their refresh- 
 ments be innocent, and charitable, and of good 
 report, and not exclusive of the duties of re- 
 ligion. We must, however, preserve our Chris- 
 tian liberty, and not be entangled in a yoke of 
 bondage ; for even a good action may become a 
 snare to us, if we make it an occasion of scruple, 
 
80 SECOND FKIDAT IN LENT. 
 
 binding loads upon the conscience, not with the 
 bands of God, but of men, and of fancy ; or of 
 opinion and tyranny. 
 
 The Lord's day, being the remembrance of a 
 great blessing, must be a day of joy, festivity, 
 spiritual rejoicing, and thanksgiving. Let us 
 not, therefore, fail to be present at the public 
 hours and places of prayer, entering early and 
 cheerfully. God hath put His jN'ame into all 
 places appointed for solemn worship. " In all 
 places where I record My Name, I will come 
 imto thee and bless thee ;" and God's N'ame is 
 not a distinct thing from Himself — not an idea ; 
 the expression therefore cannot be understood 
 to any other purpose, but that in such places "He 
 gives special blessings and graces, or that in 
 those places He appoints His 'Name, that is 
 Himself, especially to be invocated. 
 
 In consecrated places God Himself is present 
 to be invoked; that is, there He is most de- 
 lighted to hear the prayers we make unto Him. 
 For all the expressions of Scripture, of God's 
 house, the tabernacle of God, God's dwellings, 
 putting His Name there. His sanctuary — are 
 resolved into that saying of God to Solomon, 
 " I have sanctified the house which thou hast 
 built;" that is, the house which thou hast de- 
 signed for My worship, I have designed for youi 
 blessing; w^hat you have dedicated, I have accept- 
 ed ; what you have consecrated, I have hallowed. 
 
ETC. 81 
 
 Let us consider, also, that holy places being 
 the residence of God's ;N"ame upon earth, God 
 hath sent His agents to possess them in person 
 for Him. Churches and oratories are regions 
 and courts of angels ; and they are there, not 
 only to minister to the saints, but, also, they 
 possess them in the right of God. 
 
 St. Paul makes use of the argument to press 
 women to modesty and humility in churches, 
 " because of the angels." And upon the same 
 stock, St. Chrysostom chides the people of his 
 diocese for walking, and laughing, and prating 
 in churches. "The church is not a shop of 
 manufactures or merchandise, but the place of 
 angels and of archangels — the court of God, 
 and the image or representment of heaven 
 itself." 
 
 For if we consider that Christianity is some- 
 thing more than ordinary — that there are mys- 
 teries in our religion, and in none else — and 
 that God's angels are " ministering spirits for 
 our good ;" either we must think very low of 
 Christianity, or that greater things are in it 
 than the presence of angels in our churches. 
 And yet, if there were no more, we should do 
 well to behave ourselves there with the thoughts 
 and apprehensions of heaven about us ; always 
 remembering that our business there is an er- 
 rand of religion, and God is the object of our 
 worshippings ; and therefore, although by our 
 
82 SECOND FEIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 weakness we are fixed in the lowness of men, 
 yet because God's infinity is our object, it were 
 very happy if our actions did bear some few 
 degrees of a proportionable and commensurate 
 address. 
 
 " Eeverence My sanctuary," are the words of 
 God to His people. And what God loves in an 
 especial manner, it is most fit we should esteem 
 accordingly. God loves the gates of Sion more 
 than all the dwellings of Jacob. And it was no 
 unhandsome expression of reverencing God's 
 sanctuary that pious people ever used in be- 
 stowing costly and fair ornaments upon it ; for 
 so all the Christians did: as soon as themselves 
 came from contempt and scorn, they raised 
 Christian oratories to an equal portion of their 
 honor ; and by this way they thought they did 
 honor to God. 
 
 IS'ot that a rich house, or a costly ofi'ertory, is 
 better in respect of God ; for to Him all is alike ; 
 and be the oflfer never so contemptible, it is a 
 rich devotion that gives the best we have. If 
 all the wealth of the Levant were imited into 
 a present, it were short of God's infinity; yet 
 such an ofiPertory, or any best we have, makes 
 demonstration, that if we had an offering infi- 
 nitely better we should give it, to express our 
 love, and our belief of God's infinite merit and 
 perfection. 
 
 And, indeed, since God gives to us more than 
 
REVERENCE FOR HOLT DATS, ETC. 83 
 
 enough, beyond our necessities — much for our 
 conveniency, much for ease, much for repute, 
 for content, for pleasure, for ornament, — we 
 should deal unworthily -with God Almighty, 
 if we limit and restrain our returns to Him, by 
 confining them within the narrow bounds of 
 mere necessity. 
 
 God hath nowhere expressed that He accepts 
 of a cheaper offering but when we are not able 
 to give Him better. When the people brought 
 offerings more than enough for the tabernacle, 
 Moses restrained their forwardness, by saying, 
 " it was enough ;" but yet commended the dis- 
 position highly, and washed it might be per- 
 petual. But God chid the people when they let 
 His house lie waste, without reparation of its 
 decaying beauty ; and therefore sent famines 
 upon the land, and a curse into their estate, 
 because they would not, by giving a portion to 
 religion, sanctify and secure the rest. 
 
 For I consider that those riches and beauties, 
 in churches and religious solemnities, which add 
 nothing to God, add much devotion to us, and 
 much honor and efficacy to devotion. For since 
 impression is made upon the soul by the inter- 
 vening of corporal things, our religion and our 
 devotion of the soul receives the addition of 
 many degrees by such instruments. And it is 
 strange, that we should bestow such great ex- 
 penses to make our own houses convenient 
 
84 SECOND FKIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 and delectable, that we may entertain ourselves 
 with complacency, and yet think that religion 
 is not worth the ornament, nor our fancies fit 
 to be carried into the choice and prosecution 
 of religious actions, with sweetness, entertain- 
 ments, and fair propositions. If we say that 
 God is not the better for a rich house, or a 
 costly service ; we may also remember that 
 neither are we the better for rich clothes : and 
 the sheep will keep us as modest, as warm, and 
 as clean as the silk-worm. And if we reply 
 that they help to the esteem and reputation of 
 our persons, and the distinction of them from 
 the vulgar ; how great a shame is it if we study, 
 by great expenses, to get reputation and acci- 
 dental advantages to ourselves, and not by the 
 same means to purchase reverence and esteem 
 to religion ! 
 
 As in princes' courts the reverence to j^rinces 
 is quickened and increased by an outward state 
 and glory, so also it is in the service of God. 
 And when I consider that saying of St. Gre- 
 gory, that the church is heaven within the tab- 
 ernacle — heaven dwelling among the sons of 
 men ; and remember that God hath studded all 
 the firmament, and paved it with stars, because 
 He loves to have His house beauteous, and 
 highly representative of His glory; I see no 
 reason why we should not "in earth do the 
 works of heaven." 
 
EEVEKENCE FOR HOLY DAYS, ETC. 85 
 
 But tlie best manner to reverence the sanc- 
 tuary, is by the continuation of such actions 
 which gave it the first title of holiness. " Ho- 
 liness beconieth Thine house forever," saith 
 David. The best ornament and beauty of a 
 church is a holy priest and a sanctified people. 
 
 Every small sin is an unwelcome guest, and 
 is a spot in those feasts of charity which enter- 
 tain lis often in God's house. 
 
 But there are some (and all great crimes are 
 such) which desecrate the place, stop the ascent 
 of our prayers, obstruct the current of God's 
 blessing, turn religion into bitterness, and de- 
 votion into gall. He that shows not the mer- 
 cies of alms, of forgiveness and comfort, is for- 
 bidden to hope for comfort, relief, or forgive- 
 ness from the hands of God. A pure mind is 
 the best manner of w^orship, and the impurity 
 of a crime is the greatest contradiction to the 
 honor and religion of holy places. 
 
 And, therefore, let us imitate the precedent 
 of the most religious of kings : "I will wash my 
 hands in innocence, O Lord, and so will I go to 
 Thine altar;" always remembering those final 
 words of St. Paulj " He that defiles a temple, 
 him will God destroy." 
 
 PKAYEK. 
 
 O Eternal God, who dwellest not in temples 
 made with hands, and yet art pleased to mani- 
 
 8 
 
86 SECOND FRrDAY IN LENT. 
 
 fest Thy presence amongst the sons of men ; 
 make my body and soul to be a holy temple, 
 purified for the habitation of Thy Holy Spirit. 
 Cast out of it, O Lord ! all worldly aifections, 
 all covetous desires ; let it be a place of prayer 
 and holy meditation; of pure intentions, and 
 zealous desires of pleasing Thee : so that, loving 
 Thee above all the world, and worshipping Thee 
 continually in humblest adoration, I may be pre- 
 pared to glorify Thee to all eternity in heaven, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
SECOI^D SATUKDAY IN LEI^T. 
 
 OBEDIENCE. 
 "To obey is better than sacrifice." 1 Sam. xv. 22. 
 
 There are certain excellences, either of habit 
 or consideration, which spiritual persons use to 
 call general ways ; being a dispersed influence 
 into all the parts of good life. Such are the 
 consideration of the Divine Presence, the ex- 
 ample of Jesus, right intention ; and such also 
 is the virtue of obedience, which perfectly unites 
 our actions to God, and conforms us to the Di- 
 vine "Will, which gives quietness and tranquillity 
 to the spirit, and is an antepast of paradise, 
 where their jubilee is the perpetual joys of obe- 
 dience, and their doing is the enjoying of the 
 Divine pleasure. 
 
 But, by obedience, I do not here mean the 
 exterior execution of the work ; but the sacrifice 
 of our proper will to God — a choosing the duty, 
 because God commands it. This was the obe- 
 dience the holy Jesus paid to His heavenly Fa- 
 ther — so voluntary, that it was meet to Him to 
 do His Father's will: and we also shall best 
 know that our will is in the obedience, by our 
 
88 SECOND SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 prompt undertakings, by onr cheerful mana- 
 gings, by our swift execution ; for all degrees of 
 delay are degrees of unwillingness. And, there- 
 fore, he who deliberates beyond his first oppor- 
 tunity brings fire and wood, but wants a lamp 
 for the sacrifice; and, unless he ofi'er up his 
 Isaac, his beloved will, he hath no ministry 
 prepared for God's acceptance. 
 
 But besides the willingness to do the acts of 
 express command, the readiness to do the inti- 
 mation and tacit significations of God's pleasure 
 is the best testimony in the world that our will 
 is in the obedience. And, therefore, God hath 
 furnished us with instances of uncommanded 
 piety, to be a touchstone of our obedieiice. He 
 that does but his endeavor about the express 
 commands, hath a bridle in his mouth, and is 
 restrained by violence ; but a willing spirit is 
 like a greedy eye, devours all it sees, and hopes 
 to make some proportionable returns and com- 
 pensations of duty for his infirmity, by taking in 
 the intimations of God's pleasure. 
 
 But God requires that our obedience should 
 have another excellency to make it a becoming 
 present to the Divine acceptance ; it must be 
 universal. We must do all that lies before us, 
 all that is in our hand. A right heart alone 
 will not do; or, rather, the heart is not right 
 when the hand is wrong. It is strange that this 
 should be needful to be pressed among Chris- 
 
OBEDIENCE. 89 
 
 tians; but so it is. Upon a pretence that we 
 must serve God with the mind, some are such 
 fools as to think that it is enough to have a good 
 meaning. And because we must serve God in 
 the spirit, therefore they will not serve God with 
 their bodies ; and because they are called upon 
 to have the power and life of godliness, they 
 abominate all external works as mere forms; 
 and because the true fast is to abstain from sin, 
 therefore they will not abstain from meat and 
 di-ink even when they are commanded ; which 
 is just as if a Pharisee, being taught the circum- 
 cision of the heart, should refuse to circumcise 
 his flesh ; and as if a Christian, being instructed 
 in the excellences of spiritual communion, should 
 wholly neglect the sacramental. 
 
 Let us give no indulgence to ourselves to 
 recede from a rule in any matter whatsoever ; 
 for the veriest minute of obedience is worth our 
 attention, as being by God esteemed the trial of 
 our obedience in a greater affair ; and he that 
 will prevaricate when the matter is trifling, and, 
 by consequence, the temptations to it weak and 
 impotent and soon confuted, will think he may 
 better be excused when the temptations are vio- 
 lent and importunate ; as it commonly happens 
 in affairs of greater importance. And it is no 
 small temptation of the devil, soliciting of us 
 not to be curious of scruples and grains, nor to 
 disturb our peace for lighter disobediences ; per- 
 
 8- 
 
90 SECOND SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 suading us that something must be indulged to 
 public manners, something to the civilities of so- 
 ciety, something to nature : for although smaller 
 disobediences expressed in slight misbecoming 
 actions, when they come by surprise, are not 
 esteemed as instruments of separation from 
 God's love ; yet, when they come by design, 
 and are acted with knowledge and deliberation, 
 the malice of the agent heightens the smallness 
 of the act, and makes up the iniquity. 
 
 He that extends his recreation an hour beyond 
 the limits of Christian prudence is accountable 
 to God for that improvidence and waste of 
 time ; but he that shall misspend a day, and, 
 because that sin is not scandalous, shall throw 
 away a week, still adding to the former account 
 upon the first stock, will at last be answerable 
 for a habit of idleness, and will have contracted 
 a vain and impertinent spirit. 
 
 Lastly. — It concerns the niceness and pru- 
 dence of obedience to God, to stand at farther 
 distance from a vice than we usually attend to. 
 If you will be secure, remove your tent — dwell 
 farther off. Christ's commandments extend our 
 duty, not only to what is named and what is 
 not named of the same nature and design, but 
 that we abstain from all such things as are like 
 to sin. I cannot say that this dress, or this gar- 
 ment, or this standing for place, is the direct sin 
 of pride ; but I am sure it looks like it in some 
 
OBEDIENCE. 91 
 
 at least, the letting it alone is much 
 better, and is veiy like humility. And certain 
 it is, that he is dull of hearing who understands 
 not the voice of God, unless it be clamorous in 
 an express, and a loud commandment ; pro- 
 claimed with trumpets and clarions upon Mount 
 Sinai: but a willing and an obedient ear under- 
 stands the still voice of Christ, and is ready to 
 obey His meaning at half a word ; and that is 
 the righteousness evangelical. 
 
 The Christian that resolves to do every thing 
 that is lawful will many times run into danger 
 and inconvenience, because the utmost extremity 
 of lawful is so near to that which is unlawful, 
 that he will often pass into unlawful undiscern- 
 ingly. 
 
 Virtues and vices have not, in all their in- 
 stances, a great landmark set between — ^like 
 warlike nations, separate by prodigious w^alls, 
 vast seas, and portentous hills; but they are 
 oftentimes like the bounds of a parish — men 
 are fain to cut a cross upon the turf, and make 
 little marks and annual perambulations for me- 
 morials. So it is in lawful and unlawful ; by a 
 little mistake a man may be greatly ruined. 
 
 He that will do all he thinks he may lawfully 
 had need have an infallible guide always by 
 him, who should, without error, be able to an- 
 swer all cases of conscience which will happen 
 every day in a life so careless and insecure. 
 
92 SECOND SATUBDAY IN LENT. 
 
 Beside all this, lie that thus stands on his terms 
 with God, and so carefully husbands his dutj, 
 and thinks to make so good a market of his 
 obedience that he will quit nothing which he 
 thinks he may lawfully keep, shall never be ex- 
 emplar in his life, and shall never grow in grace, 
 and therefore shall never enter into glory. 
 
 But now, because I ought not to conceal any 
 thing from you that must secure our title to the 
 kingdom of heaven, there is this to be added — 
 that in keeping of God's commandments, every 
 degree of internal duty is under the command- 
 ment, and therefore, whatever we do, we must 
 do it as well as we can. Now he that does his 
 duty with the biggest affection he can, will also 
 do all that he can ; and he can never know that 
 he hath done what is commanded, unless he 
 does all that is in his power. 
 
 A Christian is to take his measures of duty 
 according to the rate of his contrition and his 
 love, his religion and his fear, his danger and 
 his expectation. And let him measure wisely ; 
 — his sorrow pouring in, and his fears thrusting 
 it down, and it were very well if his love also 
 would make it run over. 
 
 For deceive not yourselves, there is no meas- 
 ure but this : so much good as a man does, or 
 60 much as he would do, if he could ; so much 
 of religion and so much of repentance he hath, 
 and no more. 
 
OBEDIENCE. 93 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Holy and most Merciful Saviour, who wast 
 obedient even to the death of the cross, teach 
 me to show forth mj thankfulness by obeying 
 Thee, and walking in Thy laws. Let me not 
 follow my own imaginations ; but may my 
 heart humble itself to the wisdom of Thy com- 
 mandments. Grant me to be indifferent in my 
 desires, and submissive to the will of those 
 whom Thou hast set over me ; so that, resigning 
 myself to Thy good pleasm-e, Thou mayest hear 
 me when the storms of trouble fall upon me, 
 and bring me, through the merits of Thine own 
 obedience, to the glories of Thy eternal king- 
 dom. Amen. 
 
SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT. 
 
 THE FIRST TEMPTATION. 
 
 "And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If thou be the 
 Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." 
 
 Matt. iv. 3. 
 
 The devil's first temptation of our Blessed 
 Lord was upon the instances and first necessities 
 of nature. Christ was hungry, and the devil 
 invited Him to break His fast upon the expense 
 of a miracle, by turning the stones into bread. 
 But the answer Jesus made was such as taught 
 us, that since the ordinary providence of God is 
 sufficient for our support, extraordinary ways of 
 satisfying necessities are not to be undertaken ; 
 but God must be relied upon, His time attend- 
 ed, His manner entertained, and His measure 
 thankfully received. Jesus refused to be re- 
 lieved, and denied to manifest the Divinity of 
 His person, rather than He would do an act 
 which might be expounded a disreputation of 
 God's Providence. And therefore it is an im- 
 provident care, and impious security, to take 
 evil courses and use vile instruments to furnish 
 our table and provide for our necessities. 
 
 God will certainly give us bread ; and till He 
 
THE FIEST TEMPTATION. 95 
 
 does, we can live in the light of His counte- 
 nance, by the refreshment of His promises ; for if 
 God gives not provisions into our granaries, He 
 can feed us out of His own — that is, out of the 
 repositories of charity. If the flesh-pots be re- 
 moved. He can also alter the appetite; and 
 when our stock is spent, He can also lessen the 
 necessity ; or if that continues, He can drown 
 the sense of it in a deluge of patience and resig- 
 nation. Every word of God's mouth can create 
 a grace, and every grace can supply two ne- 
 cessities, both of the body and the spint ; by 
 the comforts of this to support that, that they 
 may bear each other's burdens and alleviate the 
 pressure. 
 
 But the devil is always prompting us to 
 change our stones into bread, our sadnesses into 
 sensual comfort, our drynesses into inundations 
 of fancy and exterior sweetnesses. For he 
 knows that the ascetic tables of mortification 
 and the stones of the desert are more health- 
 ful than the fulnesses of voluptuousness and 
 the corn of the valleys. He cannot endure 
 we should live a life of self-denial. If he can 
 get us but to satisfy our senses, and a little 
 more freely to please our natural desires, he 
 then hath a fair field for the battle ; but so long 
 as we force him to fight in hedges and morasses, 
 encircling and crowding up his strengths into 
 disadvantages, by our stone walls — our hard- 
 
96 SECOJSTD SUNDAY IN LENT. 
 
 nesses of discijjjline and rudenesses of mortifi- 
 cation; we can with more facilities repel his 
 flatteries, and relieve fewer incommodities of 
 spirit. 
 
 But thus the devil will abuse us by the im- 
 potency of our natural desires; and therefore 
 let us go to God for satisfaction of our wishes. 
 God can, and does, when it is good for us, 
 change our stones into bread ; for He is a Father 
 BO merciful, that, " if we ask Him a fish, He will 
 not give us a scorpion ;" " if we ask Him bread, 
 He will not give us a stone ;" but will satisfy- 
 all our desires by ministrations of the Spirit; 
 • — making stones to become our meat, and tears 
 our drink ; which, although they are unpleasant 
 and harsh to natural appetites, yet, by the oper- 
 ation and influences of God's Holy Spirit, they 
 are made instruments of health, and life, and 
 salvation. 
 
 PKATEE. 
 
 O Almighty Father of men and angels, who 
 hast, of Thy great bounty, provided plentifully 
 for' all mankind, that we may praise Thee, and 
 rejoice in Thy mercies ; be gracious unto Thy 
 servant yet more, and teach me to hunger after 
 the food of angels, and account it meat, and 
 drink, and pleasure to do Thy will, so that in 
 the strength of Tliy grace I may walk in the 
 
THE FIRST TEMPTATION. 97 
 
 patlia of Thy commandments all the days of my 
 life, and finally be made a partaker of my Re- 
 deemer's glory through the same Jesus Chi-ist 
 our Lord. Amen. 
 
SECOND MOISTDAY IN" LENT 
 
 TEMPER. 
 
 " Be ye angry, and sin not ; let not the sun go down upon your 
 wrath." Ephks. iv. 26. 
 
 ^' Thou shalt do no murder." So it was said 
 to tliem of old time. He that kills shall be 
 guilty of judgment; that is, he is to die by 
 the sentence of the judge. To this Christ makes 
 an appendix: "But I say unto you, He that 
 is angry with his brother without a cause shall 
 be in danger of the judgment." This addition 
 of our blessed Saviour, as all the other, which 
 are severer explications of the law than the 
 Jews admitted, was directed against the vain 
 and imperfect opinion of the lawyers, who 
 thought to be justified by their external works ; 
 supposing, if they were innocent in matter of 
 fact, God would require no more of them than 
 man did. 
 
 But our blessed Saviour tells them that such 
 an innocence is not enough. God requires more 
 than exterior piety, placing justice not in legal 
 innocency, or not being condemned in judgment 
 of the law and human judicature; but in the 
 
TEMPER. 99 
 
 rigliteoiisness of the spirit also : for the first 
 acquits us before man, but by this we shall be 
 held upright in judgment before the Judge of 
 all the world. And, therefore, besides absti- 
 nence from murder or actual /WOunds, Christ 
 forbids all *' anger without cause against our 
 brother ;" that is, against any man. 
 
 By which not the first motions are forbidden, — 
 the twinklings of the eye, as the philosophers 
 call them ; for it is impossible to prevent them, 
 unless we could give ourselves a new nature, 
 any more than we can refuse to wink with our 
 eye when a sudden blow is offered at it. But 
 by frequent and habitual mortification, and by 
 continual watchfulness, and standing in readi- 
 ness against all inadvertencies, we shall lessen 
 the inclination, and account fewer sudden irrep- 
 tions. A wise and meek person should not 
 kindle at all, but after violent and great col- 
 lision ; and then, if like a flint he sends a spark 
 out, it must as soon be extinguished as it shows, 
 and cool as soon as sparkle. 
 
 The causes of allowable anger are, when we 
 see God dishonored, or a sin committed, or any 
 irregularity or fault in matter of government; 
 a fault against the laws of a family or good 
 manners, disobedience or stubbornness. In such 
 cases we may " be angry." But then we may 
 also sin, if we exceed in time, or measure of 
 degree. 
 
100 SECOND MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 For altliough to be angry at the presence of 
 certain objects is natural, and therefore is in- 
 different, because He that is an essential enemy 
 to sin never made sin essential to a man ; yet, 
 unless it be also transient, and pass off at tlie 
 command of reason and religion, it quickly be- 
 comes criminal. The meaning is, that it be no 
 more but a transient passion, not permanent at 
 all; but that the anger against the man pass 
 into indignation against the crime, and pity of 
 the person, till the pity grows up into endea- 
 vors to help him. 
 
 The measure of the degree is to be estimated 
 by human prudence, that it exceed not the 
 value of the cause. Moses' anger, though for 
 God and religion, was reproved, because it went 
 forth into a violent and troubled expression, 
 and showed the degree to be inordinate. For 
 it is in this passion as in lightning, which if it 
 only breaks the cloud and makes a noise, shows 
 a tempest and disturbance in nature, but the 
 hurt is none ; but if it seizes upon a man, or 
 dwells upon a house, or breaks a tree, it be- 
 comes a judgment and a curse. 
 
 He who is angry with a servant's unwariness 
 or inadvertency, or the remissness of a child's 
 spirit and application to his studies, or on any 
 sudden displeasure, it is not in any sense guilty 
 of prevaricating the .sixth commandment, un- 
 less, besides the object, he add an inequality of 
 
TEMPER. 101 
 
 degree, or unliandsome circumstance or adjunct. 
 But since to reprove a sinning brother is, at the 
 best, but an unwelcome and invidious employ- 
 ment, though it may also be understood to be 
 full of charity ; yet, therefore, we must not 
 make it to be hateful by adding reproach, scorn, 
 violent expressions, scurrility, derision, or bitter 
 invectives. "Wlien our dearest Lord reproved 
 St. Peter, He looked upon him when the sign 
 was given with the crowing of the cock, and so 
 chid him into a shower of penitential tears. 
 
 The sum is this : there are no other bounds 
 to hallow, or to allow and legitimate anger ; but 
 that, 1st, the cause be religion, or matter of 
 government : 2d, that the degree of the anger, 
 in prudent accounts, be no bigger than the 
 cause : 3d, that if it goes forth, it be not ex- 
 pressed in any action of uncharitableness, or 
 unseasonable violence : 4:thj whether it goes forth 
 or abides at home, it must not dwell long any- 
 where ; nor abide in the form of a burning coal, 
 but at the most of a thin flame, thence passing 
 into air, salutary and gentle, fit to breathe but 
 not to blast. 
 
 The remedies against anger, which are pre- 
 scribed by masters of spiritual life, are partly 
 taken from rules of prudence, partly from piety, 
 and more precise rules of religion. Do not 
 easily entertain, or at all encourage, or willingly 
 hear, or promptly believe, tale-bearers and re- 
 9« 
 
102 SECOND MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 porters of other men's faults : for oftentimes we 
 are set on fire by an ignis fatuus, a false flame, 
 and an empty story. Find out reasons of ex- 
 cuse, to alleviate and lessen the ignorances of a 
 friend, or carelessnesses of a servant. Extirpate 
 petty curiosities of apparel, lodging, diet, and 
 learn to be indifferent in circumstances ; and if 
 you be apt to be transported with such little 
 things, do some great thing, that shall cut off 
 their frequent intervening. A gentle answer is an 
 excellent hinderance to the progresses of anger, 
 whether in thyself or others. For anger is like 
 the waves of a troubled sea : when it is cor- 
 rected with a soft reply, as with a little strand, 
 it retires, and leaves nothing behind it but froth 
 and shells ; no permanent mischief. 
 
 It is certain, peace was so designed by the 
 Holy Jesus that He framed all His laws in com- 
 pliance to that design ; and whosoever obeys these 
 laws bears with the infirmities of his relatives 
 and society, seeks with sweetness to remedy 
 what is ill, and to prevent what it may produce. 
 
 Let us be careful therefore to stifle little things, 
 that as fast as they spring they be cut down and 
 trod upon ; for if they be suffered to grow by 
 numbers, they make the spirit peevish and the 
 society troublesome. In the frequent little acci- 
 dents of a family, a man's reason cannot always 
 be awake ; and when his discourses are imper- 
 fect, and a trifling trouble makes him yet more 
 
TEMPER. 103 
 
 restless, he is soon betrayed to the violence of 
 2:)assion. Let us not therefore tempt each other's 
 affections when they are in that state of danger, 
 and at all times let us be sure to abstain from all 
 those things which by experience or observation 
 w^e find to be contrary to each other. They that 
 govern elephants never appear before them in 
 white ; and the masters of bulls keep from them 
 all garments of blood and scarlet, as knowing 
 that they will be impatient of civil usage and 
 discipline when their natures are provoked by 
 their proper antipathies. 
 
 But in the way of more strict religion, it is 
 advised, that he who would cure his anger 
 should pray often. 
 
 It is St. Austin's counsel to the Bishop Auxil- 
 ius, that, like the Apostles in a storm, we should 
 awaken Christ, and call to Him for aid, lest we 
 shipwreck in so violent passion and impetuous 
 disturbance. 
 
 Propound to thyself the example of meek and 
 patient persons, remembering always that there 
 is a family of meek saints, of which Moses is the 
 precedent ; a family of patient saints under the 
 conduct of Job. Every one in the mountain of 
 the Lord shall be gathered to his own tribe, to 
 his own family, in the great day of jubilee :• and 
 the angry shall perish with the effects of anger ; 
 and peevish persons shall be vexed with the dis- 
 quietness of an eternal worm, and sting of a vex- 
 
104: SECOND MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 atious conscience, if they suffer here the trans- 
 portations and saddest effects of an unmortified, 
 habitual, and prevailing anger. 
 
 He that lives charitably, whose employment 
 is religion, whose affections are fear and love, 
 that man can long and pray for the hastening of 
 the coming of the day of the Lord. For the por- 
 tion of the good at that day shall be so great, that 
 after all the labor of love and enduring affronts, 
 and the continual cares of our whole duration and 
 abode here, it rewards it all and gives infinitely 
 more. 
 
 It is a day of recompenses, in which all our 
 sorrows shall be turned into joy — the cross into 
 a crown ; loss, and affronts, and inconveniences, 
 into sceptres, and hymns, and rejoicings, and 
 hallelujahs; and such good things which are fit 
 for us to hope, but too great for us to discourse 
 of while we see " as in a glass darkly" and im- 
 perfectly. 
 
 PEATEK. 
 
 O Almighty Judge of men and angels, whose 
 anger is the minister of justice, not lightly arising, 
 but falling heavily ; give to Thy servant a meek 
 and gentle spirit, that I may be slow to anger, 
 and easy to mercy and forgiveness. Let me not 
 be moved with every trifling mistake in the con- 
 versation and intercourse of others ; but may my 
 
TEMPER. 105 
 
 anger ever be upon a just cause, measured with 
 moderation, and expressed with charit j. Teach 
 me always to be ready to confess my own errors, 
 apt to make amends, and desirous to be recon- 
 ciled. Let no sickness or disappointment, no 
 employment or weariness, render me ungentle 
 or unthankful to them that minister to me ; but 
 in all things make me like unto my Saviour — 
 humble, merciful, and meek ; that so I may 
 escape Thy anger which I have deserved, and 
 may dwell in Thy love, and be Thy child and 
 servant forever ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 Amen. 
 
SECOI^D TUESDAY m LEISTT. 
 
 SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 ** But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection." 
 1 Cor. ix. 27. 
 
 Fkom the beginning of days man hath been 
 so cross to the Divine commandments, that in 
 many cases there can be no reason given why 
 a man should choose some ways, or do some ac- 
 tions, but only because they are forbidden. I 
 shall not need to instance in particulars, when 
 the whole life of man is a perpetual contradic- 
 tion ; and the state of disobedience is called 
 the " contradictions of sinners." Even the man 
 in the Gospel, that had two sons, they both 
 crossed him, even he that obeyed him, and he 
 that obeyed him not : for the one said he would, 
 and did not ; the other said he would not, and 
 did. And so do we : we promise fair, and do 
 nothing ; and they that do best are such as 
 come out of darkness into light, — such as said, 
 '' they would not," and at last have better be- 
 thought themselves. There are some enemies 
 whom God hath commanded us not to love, and 
 those we dote on ; we cherish and feast them, 
 
SELF-DENIAL. 107 
 
 and as St. Paul, in another case, " upon our un- 
 comely parts we bestow more abundant come- 
 liness." For whereas our body itself is a ser- 
 vant to our soul, we make it an heir of all 
 things, and treat it here already as if it were 
 in majority; and make that which at the best 
 was but a weak friend, to become a strong 
 enemy. And hence proceed the vices of the 
 worst, and the follies and imperfections of the 
 best. The spirit is either in slavery or in weak- 
 ness ; and when the flesh is not strong to mis- 
 chief, it is weak to goodness ; and, even to the 
 Apostles, our Blessed Lord said, " The spirit is 
 willing, but the flesh is weak." 
 
 Our natural weakness appears best in two 
 things, even in the two great instances of temp- 
 tations, pleasure and pain ; in both which the 
 flesh is destroyed, if it be not helped by a mighty 
 grace, as certainly as the canes do bow their 
 heads before the breath of a mighty wind. 
 
 But it is no better in any thing else ; for na- 
 ture is weak in all its strengths, and in its 
 fights, at home and abroad, in its actions and 
 passions. We love some things violently, and 
 hate others unreasonably ; any thing can fright 
 us when we would be confident, and nothing 
 can scare us when we ought to fear ; the break- 
 ing of a glass puts us into a supreme anger, and 
 we are dull and indifierent as a stoic when we 
 see God dishonored. We passionately desire 
 
108 SECOND TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 our preservation, and yet we violently destroy 
 ourselves and will not be hindered. "We cannot 
 deny a friend when he tempts us to sin and death, 
 and yet we daily deny God when He passion- 
 ately invites us to life and health. 
 
 Even when the state is changed, in the be- 
 ginning of the state of grace, we find a long 
 weakness upon us, because we are long before 
 we begin, and the flesh was powerful and its 
 habits strong. If we mean to pray, the flesh 
 thrusts in thoughts of the world ; and our 
 tongue speaks one thing, and our hearts mean 
 another ; and we are hardly brought to say our 
 prayers, or to undertake a fasting day, or to 
 celebrate a Communion : and if we remember 
 that all these holy actions should be done, and 
 that we have many opportunities of doing them 
 all, and yet do them very seldom, and then very 
 coldly, it will be found at the foot of the account, 
 that our flesh and our natural weakness prevail 
 oftener than our spiritual strengths. 
 
 The spirit is also abated and interrupted by 
 the flesh, because the flesh pretends it is not 
 able to do those ministries which are appointed 
 in order to religion. We are not able to fast ; 
 or, if we watch, it breeds gouts and catarrhs ; 
 or, we cannot sufi'er pain; and sorrow breeds 
 death ; and therefore our repentances must be 
 more gentle, and we must support ourselves in 
 all our calamities ; for we cannot bear om* 
 
SELF-DENIAL. 109 
 
 crosses without a freer refreshment, and this 
 freedom passes on to a license ; and many mel- 
 ancholy persons drown their sorrows in sin and 
 forgetfulness, as if sin were more tolerable than 
 sorrow, and the anger of God an easier load 
 than a temporal care. Here the flesh betrays 
 its weakness and its follies. 
 
 And what shall we do to secure our duty, and 
 to be delivered of ourselves, that the body of 
 death, which we bear about us, may not destroys 
 the life of the spirit ? 
 
 In order to which, I shall consider that since 
 it is our flesh and blood that is the principle 
 of mischief, we must not think to have it cured, 
 by washings and light medicaments. A fight, 
 and actual war against all the temptations and 
 offers of self-indulgence, in all evil instances 
 and degrees, consists, besides prayer, in using- 
 all arts and industry of fortifying the spirit, and: 
 making it severe, manly, and Christian. For- 
 sobriety is the bridle of the passions, and tem- 
 perance is the bit and curb of that bridle ; and 
 fasting, though — when considered in itself, with- 
 out relation to spiritual ends, — it is a duty 
 nowhere enjoined or counselled ; yet Chris- 
 tianity hath to do with it, as it may be made 
 an instrument of the spirit by subduing the 
 lusts of the flesh, or removing any hindrances- 
 of reliorion. 
 
 In the pursuance of this discipline of the body,. 
 10 
 
110 SECOND TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 tlie doctors of the Church and guides of souls 
 have not unusefully prescribed other annexes 
 and circumstances ; as that all the other acts of 
 deportment be symbolical to it. K we fast that 
 we may pray the better, let us remove all secu- 
 lar thoughts for that time ; for it is in vain to 
 alleviate our spirits of the burden of meat and 
 drink, and to depress them with the loads of care. 
 If for repentance we fast, let us be most curious 
 that we do nothing contrary to the design of re- 
 pentance, knowing that a sin is more contrary to 
 repentance than fasting is to sin. And let all 
 our actions also pursue the same design, helping 
 one instrument with another, and being so zeal- 
 ous for the grace, that we take in all the aids we 
 can to secure the duty. For to fast from flesh 
 and to eat delicate fish; not to eat meat, but to 
 drink rich wines freely ; to be sensual in the ob- 
 jects of our other appetites, and restrained only 
 in one ; to have no dinner, and that day to run 
 on hunting or to play at cards; are not hand- 
 some instances of sorrow, or devotion, or self- 
 denial. 
 
 And let us be careful in all instances, that we 
 yield not to the weakness of the flesh, nor listen 
 to its fair pretences ; for the flesh can do more 
 than it says — we can do more than we think we 
 -can ; and if we do some violence to the flesh, for 
 the interest of our spirit, Ave shall make our flesh 
 useful, and the spirit strong. Let us however 
 
SKLF-DENIAL. Ill 
 
 be careful that our fast be reasonable, serious, 
 and apt to the end of our designs ; let it not de- 
 stroy the body, or retard the spirit, or violate our 
 health, or impede us in any part of our necessary 
 duty. Let us do it like honest persons and just, 
 without artifices and hypocrisy ; but let us also 
 do it like wise persons, that it be neither in itself 
 unreasonable, nor by accident become criminal. 
 
 And as ^' the grace of God that bringeth sal- 
 vation hath appeared to all men, teaching us 
 that we should live soberly in this present 
 world," let us also accustom ourselves to cut off 
 all superfluity in the provisions of our life ; for 
 our desires will enlarge beyond the present pos- 
 session, so long as all the things of this world are 
 unsatisfying. 
 
 Let us look upon pleasures, not upon that side 
 that is next the sun, or where they look beau- 
 teously ; that is, as they come towards us to be 
 enjoyed; for then they paint, and smile, and 
 dress themselves up in tinsel and glass, gems 
 and counterfeit imagery : but when they begin 
 to go off, then let us behold them in their naked- 
 ness and weariness. 
 
 Let us often consider and contemplate the 
 joys of heaven, that, when they have filled our 
 desires which are the sails of the soul, we may 
 steer only thither, and never more look back to 
 Sodom. For when our souls dwell above, and 
 look down upon the pleasures of the world, they 
 
112 SECOND TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 seem like things at a distance, little and con- 
 temptible ; and men running after the satisfac- 
 tion of their appetites seem foolish as fishes, 
 thousands of them running after a rotten worm 
 that covers a deadly hook ; or at the best but 
 like children, with great noise pursuing a bub- 
 ble rising from a walnut-shell, which ends sooner 
 than the noise. 
 
 Above all, let us watch every thing of our- 
 selves as of suspected persons, and magnify the 
 grace of God, and be humbled for our stock and 
 spring of follies. And let us look up to Him 
 who is the Fountain of grace and spiritual 
 strength ; and pray that God would give us 
 what we ask, and what we ask not. For we 
 want more helps than we understand, and we 
 are nearer to evil than we perceive ; and we 
 bear sin and death about us, and are in love 
 with it ; and nothing comes from us but false 
 principles, and weak discourses, and startings 
 from our holy purposes, and care of our bodies 
 and of our palates. These are the employments 
 of our lives : but if we design to live happily, 
 and in a better place, it must be otherwise w^ith 
 us ; we must become new creatures ; and have 
 new strengths, which we can only derive from 
 God, whose grace is sufficient for us, and strong 
 enough to prevail over all our follies and in- 
 firmities. 
 
SELF-DENIAL. 113 
 
 PRATER. 
 
 O Holy and Eternal Saviour, wlio didst for 
 our sake fast forty days and forty nights, and 
 hast left to us Thy example, and Thy prediction, 
 that, in the days of Thy absence from ns, we. Thy 
 servants, and children of Tliy bride-chamber, 
 should fast ; teach me to do this act of disci- 
 pline, so that it may become an act of religion. 
 Enable me to deny my appetites, and accustom 
 myself to the yoke, that I may have no desires 
 but of Thee ; and that the outward man may by 
 degrees resign itself to the entire dominion of the 
 soul, and may pass from vanity to piety, from 
 weakness to ghostly strength, from darkness to 
 light, until both body and soul shall reign with 
 Thee in the glories of eternity, O Holy and Eter- 
 nal Saviour. Amen. 
 
 10« 
 
THIED WEDNESDAY IK LENT. 
 
 CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY. 
 
 ** Be ye therefore wise as stsrpents, and harmless as doves." 
 Matt. x. part of verse 16. 
 
 Our Blessed Saviour having prefaced con- 
 cerning prudence, adds to the integrity of the 
 precept, and for the conduct of our i-eligion, that 
 we be simple as well as prudent, innocent as 
 well as wary. A true simplicity is that which 
 leaves to man arms defensive, his castles and 
 strong forts; but takes away his swords and 
 spears, his anger and his malice, his peevishness 
 and spite. It wants craft or deceit, but wants 
 no prudence or caution ; and that is truly Chris- 
 tian simplicity, or the sincerity of an honest, and 
 ingenuous, and a fearless person : and it is a rare 
 band, not only of societies and contracts, but 
 also of friendships and advantages of mankind. 
 
 The first office of a Christian simplicity con- 
 sists in our religion and manners ; that they be 
 open and honest, public and justifiable, the same 
 at home and abroad. For besides the ingenu- 
 ousness and honesty of this, there is an indis- 
 pensable and infinite necessity it should be so ; 
 because whoever is a hj^ocrite in his religion 
 
CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY. 115 
 
 • 
 
 mocks God, presenting to him the outside and 
 reserving the inward for His enemy ; which is 
 either a denying God to be the searcher of our 
 hearts, or else an open defiance of His omnis- 
 cience and His justice. 
 
 It may sometimes concern a^man to seem re- 
 ligious; but it always concerns us to be re- 
 ligious ; and we may reasonably think, that if 
 the colors of religion so well do advantage to 
 us, the substance and reality would do it much 
 more. For if the face of religion could do a 
 good turn, which the heart and substance does 
 destroy, then religion itself were the greatest 
 hypocrite in the world, and promises a blessing 
 which it never can perform. 
 
 'No : w-e shall be sure to feel the blessings of 
 both the worlds, if we serve in the offices of re- 
 ligion, devoutly and charitably, before men and 
 before God : doing before men things that are 
 truly pleasing to God; turning our heart out- 
 ward and our face inwards, that is, conversing 
 with men as in the presence of God ; and in our 
 private devotions towards God, being as holy 
 and devout as if we prayed in public, and in 
 the corners of the streets. A sincere religion 
 requires that we do nothing for ostentation, but 
 every thing for conscience. We may be obliged 
 in conscience to publish our manner of lives ; 
 but then it must be not that we may have a 
 popular noise for a reward, but that God may 
 
116 THIRD WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 k 
 
 be glorified by our public worsliippiugs, and 
 others edified by our good examples. 
 
 Another thing to be added, as an instance to 
 the simplicity of religion, is, that we never deny 
 our religion, or lie concerning our faith, nor 
 tell our propositions and articles deceitfully, 
 nor instruct others with fraud; but that when 
 we teach them, we do it honestly, justly, and 
 severely; not always to speak all, but never to 
 speak otherwise than it is, nor to hide a truth 
 from them, whose souls are concerned in it that 
 it be known. 
 
 Religion hath strength enough of its own to 
 support itself ; it needs not a devil for its advo- 
 cate ; it is the breath of God, and as it is purer 
 than the beams of the morning, so it is stronger 
 than a tempest, or the combination of all the 
 winds, though united by the prince that ruleth 
 in the air. And he that tells a lie for his re- 
 ligion, or goes about by fraud and imposture to 
 gain proselytes, either dares not trust his cause 
 or dares not trust God. 
 
 True religion is open in its articles, honest in 
 its prosecutions, just in its conduct, innocent 
 when it is accused, ignorant of falsehood, sure 
 in its truth, simple in its sayings. It can dis 
 semble nothing of itself; it cannot tell or do a 
 lie ; but it can become a sacrifice. A good man 
 can quit his life, but never his integrity. 
 
 Christian simplicity relates also to j)romises 
 
CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY. 117 
 
 ana acts of grace and favor ; and its caution is, 
 that all promises be simple, ingenuous, agree- 
 able to the intention of the promiser, truly and 
 effectually expressed, and never going less in the 
 performance than in the promises and words of 
 the expression. All promises of kindness and 
 civilities are tied to pass into performance, 
 though they may oblige to some small inconve- 
 nience, yet never to a great one : as " I will 
 visit you to-morrow morning, because I prom- 
 ised you, and, therefore I will come, although 
 I have not slept my full sleep ;" but if I be in a 
 fever, or have reason to fear one, I am dis- 
 obliged. For the nature of such promises bears 
 upon them no bigger burden than can be ex- 
 pounded by reasonable civilities, and the com- 
 mon expectation of kind, and the ordinary per- 
 formances of just men. 
 
 Promises in matters of justice or in matters 
 of grace must be so ingenuously expressed that 
 no condition is to be reserved or supposed in 
 them to warrant their non-performance, but 
 impossibility, or, that which is next to it, an 
 intolerable inconvenience. But it is not against 
 Christian simplicity to express our promises in 
 such words, which we know the interested man 
 will understand to other purpose than I intend^ 
 so it be not less that I mean than he hopes for. 
 
 When our blessed Saviour told His disciples 
 that "they should sit upon twelve thrones," 
 
118 THIRD WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 i 
 
 they presently thought they had His bond for a 
 kingdom, and dreamed of wealth and honor, 
 power and a splendid court ; and Christ knew 
 they did, but did not disentangle His promise 
 from the enfolded and intricate sense, of which 
 His words were naturally capable ; but He per- 
 formed His promise to better purposes than they 
 hoped for. They were presidents in the conduct 
 of souls, princes of God's people, the chief in 
 Bufferings, stood nearest to the cross, had an 
 elder brother's portion in the kingdom of grace, 
 were the founders of churches, and dispensers of 
 the mysteries of the kingdom, and ministers of 
 the Spirit of God ; and " their names were writ- 
 ten in heaven." And this was infinitely better 
 than to groan and waste under a head pressed 
 with a golden crown and pungent cares ; and to 
 eat alone, and to walk in a crowd, and to be 
 vexed with all the public and many of the pri- 
 vate evils of the people, which is the sum total 
 of an earthly kingdom. 
 
 This is God's dealing with mankind : He 
 promises more than we could hope for; and 
 when He hath done that. He gives ns more 
 than He hath promised. And so also must we, 
 imitating that example, and transcribing that 
 copy of Divine truth, always remembering that 
 " His promises are yea and amen." 
 
 Lastly, Christian simplicity teaches openness 
 and ingenuousness in contracts, and matters of 
 
CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY. 119 
 
 buying and selling, covenants, and associations. 
 A man may be deceived by deeds and open 
 actions, as well as words ; and therefore it con- 
 cerns our duty, that no man, by an action or 
 purpose done to make his brother believe a lie, 
 abuse his persuasion and his interest. In all 
 cases of bargaining, although the actions of 
 themselves may receive naturally another sense, 
 yet I am bound to follow that signili cation 
 which may not abuse my brother or pollute my 
 own honesty. If I exchange a thing which he 
 understands not, and is by error led into this 
 mistake, and I delude him and amuse his eye, 
 by me he is made worse. 
 
 And as our actions must be of a sincere and 
 determined signification in contract, so must our 
 words, in which the rule of the old Roman hon- 
 esty was this : " every one that speaks is to 
 speak but once ;" that is, " but one thing," be- 
 cause commonly that is truth ; truth being but 
 one, but error and falsehood infinitely various 
 and changeable. 
 
 Neither is it lawful so much as to conceal the 
 secret and undiscernible faults of the merchan- 
 dise ; in all cases it must be confessed in the 
 price or in the words. And certain it is tha"^ 
 ingenuousness is the sweetest and easiest way, 
 while he that secures his own profit, and regards 
 not the interest of another, is more greedy of a 
 full purse than a holy conscience. 
 
120 THIRD WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 Men, by simplicity, converse as do the angels ; 
 they do their own work, and secure their proper 
 interest, and serve the public and do glory to 
 God. He is a good man with whom a blind 
 man may safely converse : to whom, in respect 
 of his fair treatings, the darkness and light are 
 both alike. And let us remember that the 
 rewards of craft are but a little money, and a 
 great deal of dishonor, and much suspicion, and 
 proportionable scorn. But the crown of justice 
 is a fair life, and a clear reputation, and an in- 
 heritance there where justice dwells since she 
 left the earth, even "in the kingdom of the 
 Just," who shall call us to judgment for every 
 word, and render to every man according to his 
 works. 
 
 And what is the hope of the hypocrite, though 
 he hath gained, when the Lord taketh away his 
 soul? 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Lord my God, let Thy mercy, I beseech 
 Thee, preserve me in holiness and innocency, 
 that I may lead an uncorrupt life, with humil- 
 ity, and truth, and justice. Let me never break 
 my trust, nor invade my neighbor's right, but 
 grant me so to do good unto all men, and espe- 
 cially to them that fear the Lord, that I may 
 
CHRISTIAN SmPLICITT. 121 
 
 always remain in Thy favor, and at the end of 
 my weary pilgrimage, may take my rest upon 
 Tliy holy hill, and dwell in Thy tabernacle, 
 where Thou reignest in glory, God Eternal, 
 world without end. Amen. 
 
THIRD THURSDAY IN LE]N'T. * 
 
 SLANDER AND FLATTERY. 
 
 "Thou shalt not bear false witness against tliy neighbor." 
 
 ExoD. XX. 16. 
 
 "Life and death are in the hand of the 
 tongue," said the Hebrew proverb ; and slander, 
 which is the direct mnrder of the tongue, was 
 esteemed so vile a thing, that when Jezebel 
 commanded the elders of Israel to suborn false 
 witnesses against l^aboth, she gave them in- 
 structions to " take two men, sons of Belial ;" 
 none else were fit for the employment. This 
 was it that humbled Joseph in fetters, and " the 
 iron entered into his soul ;" but it crushed him 
 not so much as the false tongue of his revenge- 
 ful mistress, " until his cause was known, and 
 the word of the Lord tried him." This was it 
 that slew Abimelech, and endangered David ; 
 that thrust Jeremy into the dungeon, and carried 
 our Lord to His cross ; and therefore against the 
 dangers of a slandering tongue, all laws have so 
 cautiously armed themselves, that, besides the 
 severest prohibitions of God, often recorded in 
 both Testaments, God hath chosen it to be one 
 
SLANDER AND FLATTERX. 123 
 
 of His appellatives, to be the defender of tliern 
 whose inuocency and defenceless state make 
 them most apt to be undone by this evil spirit ; 
 I mean widows, the poor, and the oppressed. 
 
 " A false tongue or a foul lie against a man's 
 reputation," said Cicero, " is like a poisoned 
 arrow ;" it makes the wound deadly, and every 
 scratch to be incurable. It lies in the face of 
 heaven, and abuses the ears of justice ; it op- 
 presses the innocent, and is secretly revenged 
 of virtue ; it defeats all the charity of laws, and 
 arms the supreme power, and makes it strike 
 the innocent; it makes frequent appeals to be 
 made to Heaven, and causes an oath, instead of 
 being the end of strife, to be the beginning of 
 mischief; it calls the name and testimony of 
 God to seal an injury ; it feeds and nourishes 
 cruel anger, but mocks justice, and makes mercy 
 weep herself into pity, and mourn because she 
 cannot help the innocent. Let no calumny, 
 therefore, no slandering, detracting communica- 
 tion, proceed out of your mouth. 
 
 The first sort of this is that which the Apostle 
 calls whisjpering^ which signifies to abuse our 
 neighbor secretly, by telling a private story of 
 him. These are those which the Holy Scrip- 
 tures note by the disgraceful name of " talebear- 
 ers." "Thou shalt not go up and down as a 
 talebearer among the people;" for "there are 
 six things which God hates (saith Solomon), 
 
124: THIRD THURSDAY IN LENT. 
 
 yea, the seventh is an abomination unto Him ;" 
 and that is a whisperer, or talebearer, that 
 "soweth contention amongst brethren." The 
 dearest friendships in the world cannot be se- 
 cure where such whisperers are attended to; 
 and no man's interest or reputation, no man's 
 peace or safety, can abide where this nurse of 
 jealousy, like the earwig, creeps in at the ear, 
 and makes a diseased noise and a scandalous 
 murmur. 
 
 But such tongues as these, where they dare, 
 and where they can safely, love to speak louder ; 
 and then it is detraction — when men, under the 
 color of friendship, will certainly wound the 
 reputation of a man, while by speaking some 
 things of him fairly, he shall, without suspicion, 
 be believed when he speaks evil of him. Such 
 was he that Horace speaks of: "Capitolinus is 
 my friend, and we have long lived together, and 
 obliged each other by mutual endearments, and 
 I am glad he is acquitted by the criminal judges ; 
 yet I confess I wonder how he should escape — 
 but will say no more, because he is my friend." 
 This is that which the Apostle calls " a crafty 
 and deceitful way of hurting," and renders a 
 man's tongue crafty and venomous as the tongue 
 of a serpent, that bites even though he be 
 charmed. 
 
 Tlie devil is an accuser of the brethren, and 
 the calumniating, slandering, and undervaluing, 
 
SLANDER AND FLATTERY. 125 
 
 detracting tongue does liis work. But there is 
 a tliird sort of filthy communication by which he 
 does more mischief ; by which he undoes souls ; 
 by which he is worse than " an accuser." For 
 though he accuses maliciously and aggravates 
 bitterl}^, and, with all his power, endeavors to 
 represent the separate souls to God as polluted 
 and unfit to come into His presence ; yet this 
 malice is inejffective, because the scenes are 
 acted before the wise Judge of men and angels, 
 who cannot be abused ; before our Father, and 
 our Lord, who knows whereof we be made, and 
 remembereth that we are but dust : before our 
 Saviour and our Elder Brother, who hath felt 
 our infirmities, and knows how to pity, to ex- 
 cuse, and to answer for us. But though this 
 accusation of us cannot hurt them who will not 
 hurt themselves, yet this malice is prevailing 
 when the spirit of flattery is let loose upon us. 
 This is the most contrary thing to charity in the 
 whole world ; and St. Paul noted it in his char- 
 acter of charity : " Charity vaunteth not itself;" 
 so we translate it, but certainly not exactly, for 
 it signifieth " easiness," complying foolishly, and 
 flattering. '^ C\\2iviiy flattereth not." 
 
 For if to call a man " fool and vicious," be so 
 high an injury, we may thence esteem what a 
 great calamity it is to be so : and, therefore, 
 he that makes him so, or takes a course he shall 
 not become other, is the vilest enemy to his 
 
126 THIRD THURSDAY IN LENT. 
 
 person and his felicity. And this is the mis- 
 chief that is done by flattery : it is a design 
 against the wisdom, against the repentance, 
 against the growth and promotion of a man's 
 soul. 
 
 For this, indeed, is a calamity that undoes 
 many. We so love our peace, and sit so easily 
 upon our own good opinions, and are so apt to 
 flatter ourselves, and lean upon our own false 
 support, that we cannot endure to be disturbed 
 or awakened from our pleasing lethargy. For 
 we care not to be safe, but to be secure ; not 
 to escape hell, but to live pleasantly. We 
 are not solicitous of the event, but of the way 
 thither ; and it is sufficient if we be persuaded 
 all is well. In the mean time we are careless 
 whether indeed it be so or no, and therefore we 
 give pensions to fools to cozen us of felicity. 
 
 But this evil puts on several shapes, which 
 we must discover, that they may not cozen us 
 without our observation. For all men are not 
 capable of an open flattery; and, therefore, 
 some will dress their hypocrisy and illusion so 
 that you may feel the pleasure, and but secretly 
 the compliance and tenderness to serve the ends 
 of your folly. 
 
 Some will dispraise themselves, that their 
 friend may think better of himself, or less 
 severely of his fault. Others will reprove their 
 friend for a trifle, but with a purpose to let him 
 
SLAl^DER AND FLATTEET. 127 
 
 understand that this is all ; for the honest man 
 would have told his friend if it had been worse. 
 
 Some flatter bj imitation ; others pretend 
 rusticity and downright plainness, and upon the 
 confidence of that, humor their friend's vice, 
 and flatter his ruin. They pretend they love not 
 to dissemble, and therefore they cannot hide 
 their thoughts ; let their friend take it how he 
 will, they must commend that which is com- 
 mendable ; and so, man, that is willing to die 
 quietly, is content with the honest-heartiness 
 and downright simplicity of him, that with an 
 artificial rudeness dressed the flattery. 
 
 Some will laugh and make a sport of a vice, 
 as if damnation were a thing to be laughed at, 
 and the everlasting ruin of his friend were a 
 very good jest. 
 
 Thus the evil spirit puts on shapes enough : 
 none to afiright the man, but all to destroy 
 him ; and yet it is filthy enough, when it is 
 invested with its own character. 
 
 I have this one thing only to insert, and then 
 the caution will be sufficient; viz., that we do 
 not think all praise given to our friend to be 
 flattery, though it be in his presence. For 
 sometimes praise is the best conveyance for a 
 precept, and it may nourish up an infant virtue 
 and make it grow up towards perfection, and 
 its proper measures and records. 
 
 It is not the office of a friend always to be 
 
128 THIRD THUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 sour, or at any time morose ; but free, open, 
 and ingenuous, candid and humane ; not deny- 
 ing to please, but ever refusing to abuse or 
 corrupt. Only since self-love is the serpent's 
 milk that feeds this viper, flattery, we should 
 do well to choke it with its mother's milk ; I 
 mean, learn to love ourselves more, for then we 
 should never endure to be flattered. For he 
 that, because he loves himself loves to be flat- 
 tered, does, because he loves himself, love to 
 entertain a man to abuse him, to mock him, 
 and to destroy him finally. But he that loves 
 himself truly, will suffer fire, wdll endure to be 
 burnt, so he may be purified ; — put to pain so 
 he may be restored to health. For, " of all 
 sauces" (said Evenus), sharpness, severity, and 
 " fire," are the best. 
 
 PRATEE. 
 
 O Almighty God, whose goodness endureth 
 daily, extend Thy gracious favor towards me 
 Thy servant, and keep me from the wicked- 
 ness of a false tongue, from the sins of malice 
 and flattery ; that being nourished by Tliy 
 grace, and watered with the dew of Divine 
 Blessing, I may abound in peace, and bring 
 forth the fruits of tender mercy ; and by the 
 
SLANDER AND FLATTERY. 129 
 
 aid of Thy Heavenly Spirit, and for the merits 
 of my Merciful Eedeemer, may attain to Thy 
 everlasting kingdom, there to reign with Thee 
 who reign est eternally, one God, world without 
 end. Amen. 
 
THIED FEIDAY IN LENl. 
 
 COVETOUSNESS. 
 
 *' Take heed, and beware of covetousness : for a man's life con- 
 sisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possess- 
 eth." St. Luke xii. 15. 
 
 Unless the Spirit of God rule in our hearts, 
 we are none of Christ's ; but He rules not where 
 the works of the flesh are frequently, or mali- 
 ciouslj, or voluntarily entertained. All the 
 works of the flesh, and whatsoever leads to 
 them; all that is contrary to the Spirit, and 
 does either grieve or extinguish Him, — must 
 therefore be rescinded, and utterly taken away. 
 Concerning which, Christ and His Apostles have 
 left us catalogues as lights and watch-towers, 
 to point out the rocks and quicksands where om' 
 danger is. 
 
 Among them may be mentioned covetous- 
 ness — or inordinate, unreasonable desires. For 
 the word does not only signify the designing 
 and contrivances of unjust ways of purchasing, 
 which is not often separated from covetous de- 
 sires; but the very thirst, or greediness; the 
 secret and impatient desires of having abun- 
 
COTETOrSXESS. 131 
 
 dance. It will not be hard to discern and to 
 reprove this sin of desires in them that are 
 guilty of it, though they will not think or con- 
 fess what is, or what is not, abundance. For 
 there is not easily to be found a greater testi- 
 mony of covetousness, that the error concerning 
 the measure of our possessions. He that is not 
 easy to call that abundance, which by good and 
 severe men is thought so, desires more than he 
 should. When any thing is over and above the 
 needs of our life, tliat is too much ; and to de- 
 sire that, is covetousness, saith St. Luke. " Take 
 heed and keep yourselves from covetousness: 
 for our life consisteth not in abundance." 
 
 " Covetousness," the Apostle says, '^ is idola- 
 try ;" that is, it is an admiring money for itself, 
 not for its use. It relies upon money, and loves 
 it more than it loves God and religion ; and it is 
 '' the root of all evil." It teaches men to be 
 cruel and crafty, industrious in evil, full of care 
 and malice. It grinds the face of the poor, and 
 undoes those who specially belong to God's pro- 
 tection. " For he," saith St. Hierom, " defrauds 
 the poor of their right, who detains from them 
 beyond his own necessary, prudent, and conve- 
 nient supplies." This is intended to be a re- 
 trenchment of all vain expenses, costly feasts, 
 rich clothes, pompous retinue, and such excres- 
 cences of expense which of themselves serve no 
 end of piety or just policy; but by wise and 
 
132 THIKD FRIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 temperate persons are esteemed imnecessary, 
 and without which the dignity and just vahie of 
 the person may still be retained. Whatsoever 
 is vainly spent was the portion of the poor; 
 whatsoever lies in our repository, useless and 
 superfluous, is the poor man's inheritance ; and 
 certainly there is not any greater baseness than 
 to suffer a man to perish, or be in extreme want 
 of that which God gave me for him, and beyond 
 my own needs. 
 
 But in taking this estimate concerning our 
 excrescences, we are to proceed according to 
 the rules of prudence, not making determina- 
 tions in grains and scruples, but in the greater 
 actions and accountable proportions of our es- 
 tates. And if any man, seeing great necessities 
 of indigent and calamitous persons, shall give 
 beyond his ability, he had the Philippians for 
 his precedent, and he hath God engaged for his 
 payment, and a greater share in heaven for his 
 reward. Only this: as we are to provide for 
 ourselves, so also for our family and the rela- 
 tives of our charge ; not only with a provision 
 of the present day's entertainment, but also for 
 all nearer, probable, and expected events — such 
 as are portions for our children and dowries for 
 our daughters. This must not be extended to 
 care and reservations for all possible and far 
 distant events ; but so much is to be permitted 
 to the Divine Providence as our present duty 
 
COVETOUSNESS. 133 
 
 gives leave. He that is in debt is not excused 
 from giving alms till his debts are paid, but only 
 from giving away such portions which should 
 and would pay them, and such which he in- 
 tended should do it. There are crumbs from 
 the table, and the gleanings of the harvest, and 
 the scatterings of the vintage, which in all es- 
 tates are the portions of the poor — which, being 
 collected by the hand of Providence and united 
 wisely, may become considerable to the poor, 
 and are the necessary duties of charity. And 
 let us ever remember, that if we increase in our 
 estate, we also should increase in charity ; that 
 in this also may be verified what is written : 
 " He that hath much had nothing over, and he 
 that had little had no lack." 
 
 If question be made concerning the persons 
 who are to be the objects of our alms, our rule 
 is plain and easy ; for nothing is required in the 
 person capable of alms, but that he be in misery 
 and want, and unable to relieve himself. " K 
 any one will not work," saith St. Paul, " neither 
 let him eat ;" for we must be careful that our 
 charity, which is intended to minister to poor 
 men's needs, do not minister to idleness and the 
 love of beggary, and a wandering, useless, and 
 unprofitable life. But abating this, there is no 
 other consideration that can exempt any needy 
 person from participation of your charity ; not 
 though he be your enemy, not though he be an 
 
 12 
 
134: THIRD FRIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 unbeliever, not thongli lie be a vicious person — 
 provided only the mere necessities be supplied. 
 This I the rather insert, that the pride and su- 
 percilious austerities of some persons become 
 not to them an instrument of excuse from min- 
 istering to needy persons, upon pretence their 
 sins brought them into that condition. For 
 though the causes of our calamities are many 
 times great secrets of Providence, yet suppose 
 the poverty of the man was the effect of his 
 prodigality, or other baseness, it matters not, as 
 to our duty, how he came into it, but where he 
 is; lest we also be denied a visit in our sick- 
 nesses, and a comfort in our sorrow, or a coun- 
 sel in our doubts, or aid in any distress, upon 
 pretence that such sadness was procured by our 
 sins; and ten to one but it was so. 
 
 The manner of giving alms is an office of 
 Christian prudence ; for in what instances we 
 are to exemplify our charity, we must be deter- 
 mined by our own powers and others' needs. 
 The Scripture reckons entertaining strangers, 
 visiting the sick, going to prisons, feeding and 
 clothing the hungry and naked : to which, by 
 the exigence of the poor and the analogy of 
 charity, many others are to be added. For he 
 that does his alms, and resolves that in no case 
 he will suffer inconvenience for his brother — 
 whose case, it may bo, is intolerable — should 
 do well to remember that God, in some cases, 
 
COYETOUSNESS. 135 
 
 requires a greater charity ; and, it may be, we 
 shall be called to die for the good of our brother. 
 And when we are snch good husbands in our 
 religion, that we will serve all our conveniences 
 before the great needs of a hungry and afflicted 
 brother, God oftentimes takes from us that which 
 with so much curiosity we would preserve, and 
 then we lose our money, and our reward too. 
 
 And oh ! what fools are they who, for one 
 ]3oint of earth, lose so many leagues of heaven ! 
 — who, for short pleasures, lose things immense 
 and durable. If all the earth were of gold, 
 and all the rivers of balsam, and all the rocks 
 of precious stones, wouldst thou not say that 
 this is a great treasure ? Know, that a treasure, 
 which exceeds gold as far as gold doth dirt — 
 balsam, water — or precious stones, pebWes — re- 
 mains as a reward for the just. 
 
 How poor and narrow a heart must that 
 Christian have who confines his love to things 
 present, sweating and toiling for a small part of 
 the goods of this world, which itself is so little ! 
 
 Let not us, who are to die to-morrow, afflict 
 ourselves for that which may perish sooner than 
 we. Let us not toil to enjoy that which we are 
 shortly to leave; but let us lay up our treas- 
 ures in heaven, — that Kingdom of the Blessed, 
 where the riches, joys, and comforts are eternal 
 and can never be taken from us. 
 
 My soul, O Lord my God, thirsteth after 
 
136 THIRD FKIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 Thee. I will behold Thy face in righteousness ; 
 for in Thy presence is fulness of joy ; at Thy 
 right hand there are pleasures for evermore. 
 "Whatsoever I can wish for, is present with Thee ; 
 whatsoever can be desired, is in Thee in abun- 
 dance. Thou shalt make me drink of the river 
 of Thy pleasures ; for with Thee is the fountain 
 of life, and in Thy light I shall see light. 
 
 PRATER. 
 
 O Almighty God, Eternal Treasure of all 
 good, who fillest all things living with plenteous- 
 ness ; teach me, in Thy mercy, so to seek the 
 kingdom of God and its righteousness, that I 
 may live in this world like a stranger, with affec- 
 tions set upon heaven. Let Thy Providence be 
 my store-house, and my own necessity the limit 
 of my desires. Give me a heart, compassionate 
 to the poor, and liberal to the needy ; and let 
 my striving be to gain Thy favor, to do good 
 to others, to give to them that want ; and to re- 
 ceive from Thee pardon and support, perse- 
 verance and glory, through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Amen. 
 
THIED SATUEDAY IN LENT. 
 
 GROWTH IN GRACE. 
 
 " Bat grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter iii. 18. 
 
 Of old, men looked upon themselves as tliej 
 stood by the examples and precedents of mar- 
 tyrs. They compared their piety to the life of 
 St. Paul, and estimated their zeal by flames of 
 the Boanerges. Religion began all their actions, 
 and prayer consecrated them, and they ended 
 in charity, and were not polluted with design. 
 They despised the world heartily, and pursued 
 after heaven greedily ; they knew no ends but 
 to serve God, and to be saved. Till Satan — 
 full of envy to see such excellent days — mingled 
 covetousness and ambition within the throngs 
 and conventions of the Church; and then mu- 
 tual confidence grew less, and so charity was 
 lessened ; till at last it came to that pass where 
 now it is — that we should think religion in a 
 good condition, if that men did offer up to God 
 but the actions of an ordinary, even, and just 
 life, without the scandal and alloys of a great 
 impiety. 
 
 12» 
 
138 THIKD SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 But because such is the nature of things, that 
 either they grow towards perfection or decline 
 towards dissolution, there is no proper way to 
 secure it but bj setting its growth forward. 
 For religion hath no station or natural periods ; 
 if it does not grow better it grows much worse ; 
 not that it always returns the man into scanda- 
 lous sins, but that it fixes him in a state of indif- 
 ference and lukewarmness ; and he is more 
 averse to a state of improvement, and dies in an 
 ignorant and unrelenting condition. 
 
 " But grow in grace ;" — that is the remedy, 
 and that would make us all wise and happy; 
 blessed in this world, and sure of heaven. 
 
 The first part of this duty is, to make religioa 
 to be the business of our lives ; for this is the 
 great instrument which will naturally produce 
 our growth in grace and the perfection of a 
 Christian. For a man cannot, after a state of 
 sin, be instantly a saint ; the work of heaven is 
 not done by a flash of lightning, or a dash of 
 affectionate rain, or a few tears of a relenting 
 pity. God and His Church have appointed 
 holy intervals, and have taken portions of our 
 time for religion, that we may be called off from 
 the world, and remember the end of our crea- 
 tion, and do honor to God, and think of heaven 
 with hearty purposes and peremptory designs to 
 get thither. But as we must not neglect those 
 times which God hath reserved for His service, 
 
GROWTH IN GRACE. 139 
 
 or the Cliurcli hath prudently decreed, nor yet 
 act religion upon such days with forms and 
 outsides, to comply with customs or to seem re- 
 ligious, so we must take care that all the other 
 portions of our time be hallowed with little re- 
 tirements of our thoughts, and short conver- 
 sations with God, and all along be h-allowed 
 with holy intention ; that " whether we eat or 
 drink, sleep or wake, we may do all to the glory 
 of God." 
 
 Eemember that God sent you into the world 
 for religion. We are but to pass through our 
 pleasant fields, or our hard labors ; but to lodge 
 a little while in our fair palaces, or our meaner 
 cottages ; but to bait in the way, at our full 
 tables or our spare diet. But then only man 
 does his proper employment when he prays and 
 does charity, and mortifies his unruly appetites, 
 and restrains his violent passions, and becomes 
 like to God, and imitates His holy Son. Then 
 he is dressing himself for eternity, where lie 
 must dwell or abide, either in an excellent, 
 beatifical country, or in a prison of amazement 
 and eternal horror. Without much time, and a 
 wary life, and a diligent circumsj)ection, we 
 cannot mortify our sins, or do the first works 
 of grace. I pray God we be not found to have 
 grown, like the sinews of old age, from strength 
 to remissness ; from thence to dissolution, and 
 infirmity, and death. 
 
140 THIKD SATUKDAl' IN LENT. 
 
 The second step of our growth in grace is, 
 when virtues grow habitual, apt, and easy, in 
 our manners and dispositions. Some persons 
 there are who dare not sin ; they dare not omit 
 their hours of prayer, and they are restless in 
 their spirits till they have done ; but they go to 
 it as to an execution ; they stay from it as long 
 as they can, and they drive, like Pharaoh's 
 chariots with the wheels off, sadly and heavily. 
 But he that is grown in grace, and hath made 
 religion habitual to his spirit, is not at ease but 
 when he is doing the w^orks of the new man ; he 
 rests in religion, and comforts his sorrows with 
 thinking of his prayers ; and in all crosses of the 
 world he is patient, because his joy is at hand to 
 refresh him when he lists, for he cares not so he 
 may serve God; and if you make him poor 
 here, he is rich there, and he counts that to be 
 his proper ser\dce — his work, his recreation, his 
 reward. 
 
 He also is well grown in the state of grace, 
 who is more patient of a sharp reproof than of 
 a secret flattery ; who admits the reprover's ser- 
 mon or discourse without a private regret ; and 
 hath no secret murmurs or unwillingness to the 
 humiliation, but is only ashamed that he should 
 deserve it. But if to this he adds, that he vol- 
 untarily confesses his own fault, then it is cer- 
 tain he is not only a professed and hearty enemy 
 against sin, but a zealous, and a prudent, and 
 
GROWTH IN GRACE. 141 
 
 an active person against all its interests ; and 
 never counts himself at ease but while he rests 
 upon the banks of Sion, or at the gates of the 
 temple. He reckons it no objection to be abased 
 in the face of man, so he may be gracious in the 
 eyes of God ; and that is a sign of a good grace 
 and a holy wisdom — that man is " grown in the 
 grace of God and in the knowledge of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." I did the rather insist upon this 
 particular, because it is a consideration of huge 
 concernment, and yet much neglected in all its 
 instances and degrees. 
 
 He that is grown in grace, and in the know- 
 ledge of Christ, esteems no sin to be little or 
 contemptible — none fit to be cherished or in- 
 dulged to. It is a sign of a tender conscience 
 and a reformed spirit, when it is sensible of 
 every alteration ; when an idle word is trouble- 
 some ; when a wandering thought puts the 
 whole spirit upon its guard ; when too free a 
 merriment is wiped ofi* with a sigh, and a sad 
 thought, and a holy prayer. A man's spirit is 
 naturally careless of baser and uncostly mate- 
 rials ; but if a man be to work in gold, then he 
 will save the dust of his filings, and sufi'er not a 
 grain to perish ; and when a man hath laid his 
 foundation in precious stones, he will not build 
 vile matter, stubble, and dirt upon it. So it is 
 in the spirit of a man ; if he have built upon 
 the Rock, Christ Jesus, and is grown up to a 
 
142 THIRD SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 good stature in Christ, he will not easily dis- 
 honor his building, or lose his labors, by an 
 incurious entertainment of vanities and little 
 instances of sin. 
 
 'No man is grown in grace, but he that is 
 ready for every w^ork — that chooses not his em- 
 ployment — that refuses no imposition from God, 
 or his superior. As to be universal in our obe- 
 dience is necessary to the being in a state of 
 grace, so readily to change employment from 
 the better to the worse, from useful to seemingly 
 improfitable, is a good character of a well-grown 
 Christian. Can you be willing to all that God 
 is willing, and suffer all that He chooses, as 
 willingly as if you had chosen your own fortune ? 
 In the same degree in which you can conform 
 to God, in the same you have approached to- 
 wards that perfection, whither we must, by 
 degrees, arrive, in our journey towards heaven. 
 
 Concerning all w^hich I have a caution or two 
 to interpose : — The grow^th of grace is to be es- 
 timated as other moral things are, not according 
 to the growth of things natural. Grace does not 
 grow by observation ; and a man cannot call 
 himself to account for the growth of every day, 
 or week, or month. In the greater portions of 
 our life, in w^hich we have had many occasions 
 to exercise and improve our virtues, we may 
 call ourselves to account; but it is a snare to 
 our consciences to be examined in the growth 
 
GROWTH IN GRACE. 143 
 
 of grace in every short revolution of solemn 
 duty, afi against every communion or great 
 festival. And, in considering our growth in 
 grace, let us take more care to consider matters 
 that concern justice and charity, than that con- 
 cern the virtue of religion ; because in this there 
 may be much, in the other there cannot be 
 easily any illusion. That is a good reHgion that 
 believes, and trusts, and hopes in God, through 
 Jesus Christ; and for His sake does all justice 
 and all charity that he can ; and our Blessed 
 Lord gives no other description of love to God, 
 but obedience and keeping His command- 
 ments. 
 
 He that, by the proper significations of a 
 growing grace, does not understand his own 
 condition, must be content to work on, without 
 consideration of particulars. He must pray 
 earnestly, and watch diligently, and (insult 
 with prudent guides, and ask of God great mea- 
 sures of His Spirit. 
 
 And if he understands not his present good 
 condition, yet if he be not wanting in hearty 
 purposes, he shall then find that he is grown in 
 grace, when he springs up in the resurrection 
 of the just, and shall be engrafted upon a tree 
 of paradise, which beareth fruit forever ; — 
 glory to God, rejoicing to saints and angels, 
 and eternal felicity to his own pious, though 
 undiscerning, soul. 
 
14:4 THIRD SATTJEDAT IN LENT. 
 
 PEATEE. 
 
 O Eternal God, Lord of heaven and earth, 
 Father of men and angels ! I do adore Thy in- 
 finite goodness, by which Thou hast dealt with 
 us ; not with the dominion of a Lord, but with 
 the gentleness of a Father. Oh ! let the remem- 
 brance of Thy loving-kindness be so imprinted 
 in my heart, that I may fear more, and love 
 more every day; hating sin, crucifying all its 
 affections and desires ; and so pressing forward 
 to the mark of my high calling in Christ Jesus, 
 that, for His sake. Thou mayest be pleased to 
 pardon, to sanctify, and to preserve Thy servant 
 forever. Amen. 
 
THIED Sm^DAT IK LEKT. ' 
 
 THE SECOND TEMPTATION. 
 
 " Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth 
 Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, If Thou 
 be the Son of God, cast Thyself down : for it is written, He 
 shall give His angels charge concerning thee : and in their 
 hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash 
 Thy foot against a stone." Matt. iv. 5, 6. 
 
 The devil, perceiving Jesus to be a person of 
 greater eminence and perfection than to be 
 moved by sensual and low desires, made a second 
 assault by a temptation something more spirit- 
 ual, and tempted him to presumption and indis- 
 creet confidence, that God might secure him by. 
 the ministry of angels, and so prove His being 
 the Son of God. But this v^as an invitation to 
 no purpose, save only that it gave occasion to 
 this truth — that God's providence secures alL 
 his sons in the way of nature, and while they 
 are doing their duty ; but loves not to be tempted, 
 to acts unreasonable and unnecessary. 
 
 God will protect His servants in or from all 
 
 evils happening without their knowledge, or 
 
 against their will ; but not from evils of their 
 
 own procuring. For the caresses of God's love 
 
 13 
 
146 THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT. 
 
 to His saints and servants are security against 
 all but themselves. Tlie devil and all the world 
 offer to do them mischief; but then they shall 
 be safe, because they are innocent. If they 
 once offer to do the same to themselves, they 
 lose their protection because they lost their 
 prudence and their charity. And here it will 
 concern us to take heed that our ends be none 
 in eminency above others. For those, who by 
 their eminent employment are set upon a pin- 
 nacle of the temple, have need to take care 
 that the devil tempt not them to a precipice. 
 A fall from so great a height will break the 
 bones in pieces ; and yet there also the station 
 is less firm, the posture most uneasy, and the 
 devil busy and desirous to thrust us headlong. 
 A life common and ordinary, without affecta- 
 tion or singularity, is the most prudent and safe. 
 Every great change, every violence of fortune, 
 all eminences whatsoever, whether of person, 
 or accident, or circumstance, puts us to a new 
 trouble, requires a distinct care, creates new 
 •dangers, marks us out the object of envy, makes 
 'Our standing more insecure, and our fall more 
 ^contemptible and ridiculous. But an even life 
 rsj^ent with as much rigor of duty to God as 
 ought to be ; in taking upon ourselves ordinary 
 offices, in frequenting public assemblies, per- 
 forming offices of civility, receiving all the rites 
 of an established religion, complying with na- 
 
THE SECOND TEMPTATION. 147 
 
 tional customs and hereditary solemnities of a 
 people ; in nothing disquieting public peace, or 
 dissolving the ligaments of charity, or breaking 
 laws, and the great relations of the world, out of 
 fancy and singularity, is the best way to live 
 holily, and safely, and happily ; safer from sin 
 and envy, and more removed from trouble and 
 temptation. 
 
 St. Hierom observes well, that the devil, in- 
 tending mischief to our blessed Saviour, invited 
 Him ''to cast Himself down." He may per- 
 suade us to a fall, but cannot precipitate us with- 
 out our own act. And it is an infinite mercy in 
 God, that the devil, who is of malice infinite, is 
 of so restrained and limited a power, that he can 
 do us no ghostly disadvantage, but by j^ersuad- 
 ing us to do it ourselves. For, let the tempta- 
 tion be never so strong, every Christian man 
 hath assistances sufficient to support him, so as 
 that, without his own yielding, no temptation is 
 stronger than that grace which God offers him : 
 for, if it were, it were not so much as a sin of 
 infirmity ; it were no sin at all. 
 
 PRAYEE. 
 
 O Holy Saviour, who didst fulfil all right- 
 eousness, and live a life of evenness and obedi- 
 ence, submitting Tliyself to all rites and laws of 
 Divine ordinance ; give me grace to live in the 
 
148 THIKD SUNDAY IN LENT. 
 
 fellowsliip of Til J Holy Church — a life of piety, 
 and without singularity. Strengthen me with 
 the influence of Thy Sacraments and rites ; en- 
 able me to serve Thee with a never-failing love 
 in the actions of a holy life ; and grant that I 
 may ever continue a child of God, and at length 
 be made a partaker of Thy immortal inheritance, 
 for Thy mercy's sake, and for the honor of Thy 
 name, which is, and shall be, adored forever. 
 Amen. 
 
THIED MONDAY m LEISTT. 
 
 THE LIFE OF CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE. 
 
 " Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should 
 follow His steps." 1 Peter ii. 21. 
 
 It is reported in the Bohemian story, that St. 
 Wenceslaiis, their king, one winter night going 
 to his devotions, in a remote church, barefooted 
 in the snow and sharpness of unequal and 
 pointed ice, his servant Podavious, w^ho waited 
 upon his master's piety, and endeavored to imi- 
 tate his affections, began to faint through the 
 violence of the snow and cold, till the king 
 commanded him to follow him, and set his feet 
 in the same footsteps wliich his feet should mark 
 for him. The servant did so, and either fancied 
 a cure or found one ; for he followed his prince, 
 helped forward with shame and zeal to his imi- 
 tation, and by the forming footsteps for him in 
 the snow. In the same manner does the Blessed 
 Jesus ; for, since our way is troublesome, ob- 
 scure, full of objection and danger, apt to be 
 mistaken and to affright our industry. He com- 
 mands us to mark His footsteps, to tread where 
 His feet have stood; and not only invites us 
 13-5 
 
150 THIRD MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 forward hv the argument of His example, but 
 He liath trodden down much of the difficulty, 
 and made the way easier and fit for our feet. 
 For He knows our infirmities, and Himself hath 
 felt their experience in all things but in the 
 neighborhoods of sin; and therefore He hath 
 proportioned a way and a path to our strengths 
 and capacities, and, like Jacob, hath marched 
 softly, and in evenness with the children and 
 the cattle, to entertain us by the comforts of 
 His company, and the influences of a perpetual 
 guide. 
 
 "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ," was a 
 precept of the Apostle. The similitude declares 
 the duty : as a garment is composed and made 
 of the same fashion with the body, and is ap- 
 plied to each part in its true figure and com- 
 mensuration, so should we put on Christ, and 
 imitate the whole body of His sanctity, and ex- 
 press Him in our lives, that God, seeing our 
 impresses, may know whose image and super- 
 scription we bear; and we may be acknowl- 
 edged for sons, when we have the air and fea- 
 tures and resemblance of our Elder Brother. 
 For we, who believe that Jesus was perfect 
 God and perfect man, do also believe, that one 
 minute of His intolerable passion, and every 
 action of His, might have been satisfactory, 
 and enough for the expiation and reconcilement 
 of ten thousand worlds, and God might, upon a 
 
THE LIFE OF CKRIST OUR EXAMPLE. 151 
 
 less effusion of blood, and a shorter life of merit, 
 if He had pleased, have accepted human nature 
 to pardon and favor. But that the holy Jesus 
 hath added so many excellent instances of holi- 
 ness, and so many degrees of passion, and so 
 many kinds of virtue is, that He might become 
 an example to us, and reconcile our wills to 
 Him, as well as our persons to His Heavenly 
 Father. 
 
 And, indeed, it will prove but a sad co.isider- 
 ation, that one drop of blood might be enough 
 to obtain our pardon, and the treasures of His 
 blood running out till the fountain itself was 
 dry, shall not be enough to procure our con- 
 formity to Him ; that at a smaller expense God 
 might pardon us, and at a greater we will not 
 imitate Him. The least of our wills cost Christ 
 as much as the greatest of our sins. And there- 
 fore He calls himself " the Way, the Truth, and 
 the Life ;" that as he redeems our souls from 
 death to life, by becoming Life to our persons, 
 so He is the Truth to our understandings, and 
 the Way to our will and affections, enlightening 
 that, and leading these in the paths of a happy 
 eternity. 
 
 The imitation of the life of Jesus is a duty of 
 that excellency and perfection, that we are helped 
 in it, not only by the assistance of a good and a 
 great example — which possibly might be too 
 great, and scare our endeavors and attempts — 
 
152 THIED MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 J3ut also by its easiness, compliance, and propor- 
 tion to ns ; for Jesus, in his whole life, conversed 
 with men with a modest virtue, which, like a 
 well-kindled fire fitted with just materials, casts 
 a constant heat. His piety was even, constant, 
 unblamable, complying with civil society, with- 
 out prodigious instances of actions greater than 
 the imitation of men. For if "we observe our 
 Blessed Saviour in the whole story of His life, 
 although He was without sin, yet the instances 
 of His piety were the actions of a very holy but 
 of an ordinary life ; and we may observe this 
 difference in the story of Jesus from ecclesiasti- 
 cal writings of certain beatified persons, whose 
 lives are told rather to amaze us, and to create 
 scruples, than to lead us in the evenness and se- 
 renity of a holy conscience. Such are the pro- 
 digious penances of Simeon Stylites, the absti- 
 nence of tbe religious, who retired into the 
 mountain Mtria, but especially the stories of 
 later saints in the midst of a declining piety and 
 aged Christendom. 
 
 But we must know that not every thing which 
 Christ did is imitable by us ; for some excellent 
 acts of His were demonstrations of divinity. 
 Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights ; but 
 the manner of our fastings hath been in all ages 
 limited to the term of an artificial day. "VYe 
 never heard that Jesus laughed, and but once 
 that He rejoiced in spirit ; but the declensions 
 
THE LIFE OF CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE. 153 
 
 of oui' natures cannot bear the weight of a per- 
 petual grave deportment, without the intervals 
 of refreshment and free alacrity. 
 
 Tlie instances are not many; and we may 
 • establish this for a rule and limit of our imita- 
 tions : whatsoever He commanded, and whatso- 
 ever He did, of precise morality or in pursuance 
 of the laws of nature, in that we are to trace 
 His footsteps : and in these His laws and His 
 practice differ but as a map and a guide, a law 
 and a judge, a rule and a precedent. Jesus's 
 going up to Jerusalem to the feasts, and His 
 observation of the sabbaths, teach us our duty 
 in celebration of festivals constituted by a com- 
 petent and just authority. For that which gave 
 excellency to the observation of Mosaical rites 
 was an evangelical duty ; and the piety of obe- 
 dience did not only consecrate the observations 
 of Levi, but taught us our duty in the constitu- 
 tions of Christianity. 
 
 And as the Holy Jesus did some things which 
 we are not to imitate, so we also are to do some 
 things which we cannot learn from His exam- 
 ple. For there are some of our duties which 
 presuppose a state of sin ; and some suppose a 
 promptness to it. Such are all the parts and 
 actions of repentance, the duties of mortification 
 and self-denial. Some states of life also there 
 are which Jesus never led ; such are those of 
 temporal governors, kings, and judges ; in the 
 
154 THIRD MONDAY m LENT. 
 
 course of which lives many cases do occur, 
 which need a precedent, and the vivacity of an 
 excellent example ; especially, since all the rules 
 which they have, have not prevented the sub- 
 tlety of the many inventions which men have 
 found out, nor made provision for all contingen- 
 cies. Such persons, in all their special needs, 
 are to govern their actions by analogy to the 
 holiness of Jesus ; considering what might be- 
 come a person professing the discij)line of so 
 holy a Master, and what He would have done 
 in the like case ; taking our heights by the ex- 
 cellence of His innocency and charity. 
 
 But now, from these particulars, we shall best 
 account to what the duty of the imitation of 
 Jesus does amount; for it signifies, that "we 
 should walk as He walked," tread in His steps ; 
 with our hand upon the Guide and our eye upon 
 His rule ; that we should do glory to Him, as 
 He did to His Father ; and that w^iatsoever we 
 do, we should be careful that it do Him honor ; 
 there being no better imitation of Him than in 
 such actions as do Him pleasure, however He 
 hath expressed the precedent. He that gives 
 alms to the poor, takes Jesus by the hand ; he 
 that patiently endures injuries and affronts, 
 helps Him to bear His cross ; he that comforts 
 his brother in affliction, gives a kiss of peace to 
 Jesus; .he that bathes his own and his neigh- 
 bor's sins in tears of penance and compassion, 
 
THE LIFE OF CIIEIST OUR EXAMPLE. 155 
 
 washes liis Master's feet. "We lead Jesus into 
 the recesses of our heart by holy meditations; 
 and we enter into His heart, when we express 
 Him in our actions: for so the Apostle says, 
 " He that is in Christ, walks as He also walked." 
 He that considers with what effusions of love 
 Jesus prayed, what fervors and assiduity, what 
 subordination to His Father, and confoj-mity to 
 the Divine pleasure, were in all His devotions — 
 is taught and excited to holy and religious pray- 
 ers. Tlie rare sweetness of His deportment in 
 all temptations and violences of His passion, His 
 charity to His enemies. His sharp reprehensions 
 to the Scribes and Pharisees, His ingenuousness 
 towards all men, are living and effectual sermons 
 to teach us patience, and humility, and zeal, and 
 candid simplicity, and justice, in all our actions. 
 Let us therefore press after Jesus, as Elisha 
 did after his master, with an inseparable prose- 
 cution, even whithersoever He goes; that, ac- 
 cording to the reasonableness and proportion 
 expressed in St. Paul's advice, " As we have 
 borne the image of the earthy, we may also 
 bear the image of the heavenly." When St. 
 Laurence was in the midst of torments, he made 
 this to be the matter of his joy and eucharist, 
 that he was admitted to the gates through which 
 Jesus had entered ; and, therefore, thrice happy 
 are they who Avalk in His courts all their days. 
 And it is yet a nearer union and vicinity to im- 
 
156 THIRD MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 print His life in our souls, and express it in our 
 exterior converse ; and tliis is done by him only 
 who despises all those gilded vanities which He 
 despised, that fears none of those sadnesses 
 which He suffered, that practises those doc- 
 trines which He taught, and hopes for the ac- 
 complishment of all His promises. 
 
 And this is truest religion, and the most sol- 
 emn adoration. 
 
 PKAYEE. 
 
 O Gracious and Eternal Saviour, whose sanc- 
 tity shineth gloriously in every part of Thy life, 
 grant that my will and my affections may be so 
 conformed to Thy precepts, that I may express 
 Thy image in all the parts of a holy life. Help 
 me to imitate Thy devotion in prayer. Thy con- 
 formity to God, Thy zeal and meekness, Thy 
 patience and charity, that I may grow up with 
 the increase of God, till I come to the full mea- 
 sure of the stature of Christ, and at last in Thy 
 light may see light, blessed and holy Saviour, 
 Jesus. Amen. 
 
THIED TUESDAY IN LEKT. 
 
 CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS. 
 
 "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man 
 have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so 
 also do ye." Col. iii. 13. 
 
 Long-suffering. — ^In this one word are con- 
 tained all the treasures of the Divine goodness : 
 here is the length and extension of His mercy. 
 God is provoked every day, by the obstinacy of 
 the Jews, and the folly of the heathens, and the 
 noo:li2:ence and vices of Christians : and He that 
 can behold no impurity is received in all places 
 with stained souls, and the actions and issues of 
 misbelief and an evil conscience ; and men con- 
 tinue ten years, and twenty, and thirty, in a 
 course of sinning, and they grow old with the 
 vices of their youth ; and yet God forbears to 
 kill them, and to consign them to an eternity of 
 horrid pains, still expecting they should repent 
 and be saved. God also excuses a sinner often- 
 times, and takes a little thing for an excuse. He 
 forgets our sin, and puts it out of His remem- 
 brance. He makes penitence to be as pure as 
 innocence to all the effects of pardon and glory, 
 14 
 
158 THIKD TUESDAY IN" LENT. 
 
 and He pardons even before we ask ; for He 
 tliat "bids ns ask for pardon, hath in design and 
 purpose done the thing ah-eady. He hath done 
 all that belongs to God ; that is, all that concerns 
 the pardon. There it lies ready ; it is recorded 
 in the book of life ; it wants nothing but being 
 exemplified, and taken forth ; and the Holy 
 Spirit stands ready to consign and pass the 
 privy signet, that we may exhibit it to devils 
 and evil men when they tempt us to despair or 
 sin. 
 
 Moreover, God pardons the greatest sinners, 
 and has left them upon record ; such were St. 
 Paul a persecutor, -and St. Peter that forswore 
 his Master ; Mary Magdalene with seven devils, 
 and the thief upon the cross ; and God proclaim- 
 ed in a cloud before the face of all Israel, and 
 made it to be His name : " The Lord, the Lord 
 God, merciful and gracious :'' " He is ready to 
 forgive," and upon this stock thrives the interest 
 of our great ho23e, the hope of a blessed immor- 
 tality. 
 
 And because it is infinitely reasonable, that 
 he that needs a great pardon should not stick at 
 the giving a little ; and he that desires to be like 
 God should do like Him ; therefore in this, as in 
 all other things, we must follow God's example : 
 for in this alone He else will follow ours. If we 
 will forgive. He will ; if we will not, neither will 
 He ; for He makes His spear as long, and His 
 
CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS. 159 
 
 anger as lasting, as we do ours. " He that re- 
 vengetli," saitli the famous Bensirach, " shall 
 find vengeance of the Lord, and He will surely 
 keep his sins in remembrance. Forgive thy 
 neiglibor the hurt that he hath done unto thee ; 
 so shall thy sins also be forgiven wdien thou 
 prayest. One man keepeth anger against an- 
 other ; and doth he seek healing from the Lord ? 
 He showeth no mercy to any man that is like 
 himself ; and doth he ask forgiveness for his own 
 sins ? If he that is but flesh, nourish hatred, w^ho 
 will entreat for pardon of his sins ?" The duty is 
 plain, and the reason urgent ; the commandment 
 express, and the threatening terrible, and the 
 promises excellent. For concerning every one 
 of our brethren it is equally true, that he is an 
 excellent creation, that he is thy brother, that 
 he is heir of the same hopes, born to the same 
 inheritance, descended of the same father, nursed 
 by the Church, which is his mother and thine ; 
 that there is in him God's image, drawn by the 
 same hand, described in the same lines. God 
 hath made many decrees for him, and the angels 
 minister to him, and Christ died for him, and his 
 soul is very precious in the eyes of God, and why 
 shouldst thou despise, and why shouldst thou 
 stand out against all this ? 
 
 The wise man says, "That for some things 
 there will be no returning again ;" a blow, in- 
 deed, or an evil word, may be pardoned ; but 
 
160 THIRD TIJESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 for "upbraiding and pride, and disclosing se- 
 crets, and a treaclierous wound, every friend 
 will depart, and never return again." But even 
 these also, and greater than these, must be par- 
 doned, unless we would prescribe a limit to 
 God's mercy, in the remission of our own sins. 
 He will pardon every sin of ours, for the pardon 
 of which we can rightly pray ; but yet we must 
 pray for it, and hope it upon no measures, but 
 those of our forgiveness. 
 
 Every man that hath received injuries, be 
 they ever so great, must have a mind perfectly 
 free from all intentions of revenge, in any in- 
 stance whatever. 
 
 He must so forgive as never to upbraid the 
 crime any more, and so pardon as that he en- 
 deavor to make his enemy to be his friend. 
 
 Yet more, he that would be truly charitable 
 in his forgiveness must so pardon liis enemy 
 that he restore him to the same state of love 
 and friendship as before. This is urged by St. 
 Bernard, as the great imitation of the Divine 
 mercy. God hath so freely, so entirely par- 
 doned our sins, that He neither condemns by 
 revenging, nor confounds by upbraiding, nor 
 loves less by imputing. He revenges not at 
 all ; He never upbraids ; and when He hath 
 once pardoned. He never imputes it to any evil 
 purposes any more. 
 
 I should be thought severe if I should say 
 
CHRISTIAN FOKGIYENESS. 161 
 
 that " the true forgiveness and reconciliation 
 does imply a greater kindness after than be- 
 fore ;" but such is the effect of repentance, and 
 so is the nature of love. But this depends not 
 upon the injured person alone, but upon the 
 return and repentance of him that did it. For 
 no man is the better with God for having sinned 
 against Him ; and no man, for having injured 
 his brother, can be the better beloved by him. 
 But if the sinner double his care in his repent- 
 ance, and if the offending man increase his 
 kindness, justice, and endearments, in his re- 
 turn to friendship, then it is the duty of charity 
 60 to pardon, so to restore as the man deserves. 
 And this is that which our blessed Saviour says : 
 " If he shall return, and say, ' I repent,' thou 
 shalt forgive him." For those very enemies 
 that cease not still to persecute with evil we 
 must pray ; we must bless them ; we must 
 speak as much good of them as occasion and 
 justice do require : but for them that repent, 
 and ask pardon, and make amends as they can, 
 the proper office of thy charity is to pity thy 
 brother's infirmity, to accept his sorrow, to re- 
 move suspicion from him, to entertain no jeal- 
 ousies of him, but, in all things, trust him where 
 charity is not imprudent. 
 
 For it is not always safe to employ a person 
 that hath deceived m.y trust and done me wrong. 
 
 If he offended by pride, by anger, by covetous- 
 14C- 
 
THIRD TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 ness, it is not enough that he say, " Sir, forgive 
 me, I will make you amends." It is enough to 
 make you pardon him, and perfectly to be 
 reconciled to him ; but, unless his repentance 
 hath destroyed his covetousness, his anger, or 
 his pride, the evil principle remains, and he will 
 injure thee again. Therefore, to trust or employ 
 him in such instances, in which he formerly did 
 injure thee, is not prudent nor safe. Only be 
 careful that you do not mistake jealousy for 
 prudence, and so lose the rewards of charity ; 
 lest, when we think ourselves wise, we become 
 fools. 
 
 But if we ask how long, and how often, must 
 w6 proceed in our forgiveness, and accept of 
 the repentance of injurious persons, we need no 
 answer, but the words of our blessed Saviour : 
 " If thy brother trespass against thee, seven 
 times in a day, and seven times in a day turn 
 again to thee, saying *I repent,' thou shalt 
 forgive him." And, though he that sins fre- 
 quently, and repents frequently, gives great 
 reason to believe that his repentances are but 
 pretended, and that such repentances before 
 God signify nothing ; yet that is nothing to us. 
 It may be they are rendered ineffectual by the 
 relapse, and that they were good for the present, 
 as Ahab's was : but whether they be or be not, 
 yet if he be not ashamed to repent so often, we 
 must think it no imprudence to forgive. And 
 
CETEISTIAN FOKGIVENESS. 163 
 
 if anv man think it hard so often to he tried to 
 accept his repentance, let him understand that 
 it is because liimself hath not yet summed up 
 his own accounts, nor beheld with amazement 
 the vast number of his sins. He that hath, in 
 deepest apprehension, placed himself before the 
 dreadful tribunal of God, or felt the smart of 
 conscience, or hath been affrighted with the 
 fears of hell, will, not be ready to afflict his 
 brother for a trifle, because he considers his 
 own dangers of perishing for a sum which can 
 never be paid, if it never be forgiven. 
 
 And because we are now upon the title of 
 charity, I am to add, that, if the criminal does 
 not come for pardon, the offended person must 
 offer peace. By so doing we imitate God, 
 whom, though we have so often, so infinitely 
 offended, yet He thought thoughts of peace, 
 and sent to us ambassadors of peace and min- 
 istps of reconciliation : and it is no shame to 
 thee to offer peace to thy offending brother, 
 when thy God did so to thee, who was greatly 
 provoked by thee, and could as greatly have 
 been revenged. Peter Comestor tells us of an 
 old tradition of the ancients, that, " forty years 
 before the day of judgment, the bow which 
 God placed in the clouds shall not be seen at 
 all :" meaning that since the rainbow was placed 
 there, as a sign of mercy and reconcilement — 
 when the sacrament of mercy and peace shall 
 
164 THIRD TTJESDAT IN LENT. 
 
 disappear — then God will come to judge the 
 world in fire, and an intolerable tempest, in 
 which all the uncharitable, unforgiving persons, 
 shall forever be confounded. 
 
 Remember always what the Holy Jesus hath 
 done for thee. I shall represent it in the words 
 of St. Bernard: "O Blessed Jesus, we have 
 heard strange things of Thee — all the world 
 tells us such things of Thee, that must need 
 make us run after Thee. They say that Thou 
 despisest not the poor, nor refusest tli£ returning 
 sinner. We are told that Thou didst pardon the 
 thief, when he confessed his sin, and confessed 
 Thee: and Mary Magdalen, when she wept; 
 and didst accept the Syrophoenician when she 
 prayed ; and wouldst not give sentence of con- 
 demnation upon the woman taken in adultery, 
 even because she looked sadly, and was truly 
 ashamed. Thou didst not reject him that sat at 
 the receipt of custom, nor the humble publican, 
 nor them that persecuted Thy disciples, no, nor 
 them that crucified Thee. These are Thy pre- 
 cious ointments, apt, with their sweetness, to 
 allure all the world after Tliee, and with their 
 virtue to heal them. After Thee and Thy sweet 
 odors, O blessed Jesu, we will run." Happy is 
 he that says so, and does so ; transcribing His 
 example into our conversation ; for we can no 
 way please Him but by being like him : and in 
 
CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS. 165 
 
 tlie blessings of Christ, the uncharitable ana 
 revenging man shall never have a portion. 
 
 PRATER. 
 
 Blessed Saviour, who of Thine infinite pity 
 didst descend from heaven to earth that Thou 
 mightest reconcile us to Thy Father, and hast 
 commanded us to love them that hate us, and 
 to pray for them that are our enemies ; grant 
 that the spirit of love and of forgiveness may 
 triumph in me over all anger and malice and 
 revenge, that I may be the child of God, and in 
 the day of restitution of all things may receive 
 the portion of the charitable, even the rewards 
 of Thy Right Hand: through Thy merits and 
 Thy mercy, Holy and Gracious Saviour 
 Amen. 
 
rouETH wedot:sdat in le:n"t. 
 
 GRATITUDE FOR DAILY MERCIES. 
 
 " Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall un- 
 derstand the loving-kindness of the Lord." Psalm cvii. 43. 
 
 Man- having destroyed that which God de- 
 lighted in, that is, the beauty of his soul — fell 
 into an evil portion ; and, being seized npon by 
 the Divine justice, grew miserable, and con- 
 demned to an incurable sorrow. But he who 
 thus stood condemned and undone, under all 
 the other attributes of God, was saved and res- 
 cued by His mercy ; that it may be evident that 
 God's mercy is above all His works, and above 
 all ours — greater than the creation, and greater 
 than our sins. 
 
 We looked for a judge, and behold a Saviour! 
 "We feared an accuser, and behold an Advocate ! 
 "We sat down in sorrow, and rise in joy. And 
 all that God restored to us after the forfeiture of 
 Adam, grew to be a double kindness ; it became 
 the expression of a bounty which knew not how 
 to repent — a graciousness that was not to be 
 altered, though we were. 
 
 God's mercies, or the mercies of His giving, 
 
GRATITUDE FOR DAILY MERCIES. 167 
 
 came first upon us, by mending our nature ; for 
 Christ hath clone us more grace and advantage 
 than we lost in Adam. Man's living soul is 
 changed into a quickening spirit, and Christ hath 
 carried him his human nature above the seats of 
 angels, to the place whither " Lucifer, the son of 
 the morning," aspired to ascend, but in his at- 
 tempt, fell into hell. 
 
 And, whereas, in this life our constitution is 
 weak, and our bodies apt to imperfection, and 
 evil accidents — God hath in His infinite mercy 
 provided for every condition, rare suppletories 
 of comfort and usefulness, to make recomj^ense 
 for those natural defects, which were apt to 
 make our persons otherwise contemptible, and 
 our conditions intolerable. God gives to blind 
 men better memories ; want of children He 
 recompenses with freedomi from care; he that 
 wants one eye hath the force and vigorousness 
 of both united in that which is left him ; and 
 whenever any man is afliicted with sorrow,. his 
 reason and his religion, himself and all his 
 friends, run in to comfort him ; and he may, if 
 he will observe wisely, find so many circumstan- 
 ces of ease and remission, so many designs of 
 providence, and studied favors, that in the whole 
 sum of afi'airs, it often happens that a single 
 cross is a double blessing; and that even in a 
 temporal sense, '' it is better to go to the house 
 of mourning" than of joys. 
 
168 FOURTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 God hatli sent no greater evil into the world 
 tlian that, " in the sweat of our brows we shall 
 eat our bread ;" and in the difficulty and agony, 
 in the sorrows and contention of our souls, we 
 shall "work out our salvation." 
 
 But this labor and sweat of our brows is so 
 far from being a curse, that without it, our very 
 bread would not be so great a blessing. Is it 
 not labor that makes the garlic and the pulse, 
 the sycamore and the cresses, to be savory and 
 pleasant, as the fle^i of the roebuck, or the 
 milk of the kine ? If it were not for labor, men 
 neither could relish so pleasantly, nor sleep so 
 soundly, nor be so healthful nor so useful, so 
 strong nor so patient. And besides these ad- 
 vantages, the mercies of God liave found out 
 proper and natural remedies for labor ; — nights 
 to cure the sweat of the day — sleep to ease our 
 watchfulness — rest to alleviate our burdens — ■ 
 and days of religion to procure our rest ; and 
 things are so ordered, tliat labor is become a 
 duty, and is therefore necessary ; not only be- 
 cause we need it for making provisions for our 
 life, but even to ease the labor of our rest; 
 there being no greater tediousness of spirit in 
 the world than want of employment and an in- 
 active life. 
 
 But then for the other part of the severe law, 
 that we must work out our spiritual interest 
 with the labors of our spirit : this hath also in 
 
GRATITUDE FOR DAILY MERCIES. 169 
 
 it a great ingredient of mercy, or rather is noth- 
 ing else than a heap of mercy in its entire con- 
 stitution. For if it were not for this, we had 
 nothing of om* own to present to God, for noth- 
 ing can distinguish man from man, in order to 
 beatitude, but choice, and election ; and nothing 
 can ennoble choice but love, and nothing can 
 exercise love but difficulty. And therefore, 
 whenever any of you are tempted violently, or 
 grow weary in your spirits with resisting the 
 petulancy of temptation, you may be cured, if 
 you will please to remember and rejoice, that 
 now you have something of your own to give to 
 God — something that He will be pleased to ac- 
 cept — something that He hath given thee, that 
 thou mayest give it Him. 
 
 As an appendage to this instance of Divine 
 mercy, we are to account that God brings good 
 out of evil; which is that solemn triumph which 
 mercy makes over justice, when it rides upon a 
 cloud, and crowns its darkness with a robe of 
 glorious light. It is a sad calamity to see a 
 kingdom spoiled, and a church afflicted; re- 
 ligion made a cause of trouble, and the best 
 men persecuted; government confounded, and 
 laws ashamed. And what shall make recom- 
 pense for this heap of sorrows whenever God 
 shall send such swords of fire ? Even the mer- 
 cies of God, which shall then be made public ; 
 for men shall grow wiser and more holy, and 
 15 
 
170 FOURTH WEDI^SDAY IN LENT. 
 
 be taught patience by their suffering, and 
 charity by their persecution, and at last, the 
 secret worm that lay at the root of the plant 
 shall be drawn forth and quite extinguished. 
 Do not think the Judge condemns you, when 
 He chides you ; nor think to read thy final sen- 
 tence by the first half of His words. Stand 
 still, and see how it will be in the whole event 
 of things. Let God speak His mind out ; for 
 it may be, this sad beginning is but an art to 
 bring in the blessing. 
 
 Let us also consider that God, having secured 
 us from the evils of nature, and represented 
 Himself to be our Father, which is the greatest 
 expression of an unalterable kindness. He next 
 makes provision for us to supply all those ne- 
 cessities which Himself hath made. Is not all 
 the earth our orchard and our granary, our 
 vineyard and our garden of j)leasure ? and all 
 the face of heaven is a repository for fruitful 
 showers and fair refreshments. When God 
 made provisions for His other creatures. He 
 gave it of one kind, and with variety no greater 
 than the changes of day and night; but man 
 hath all the food of beasts, and all the beasts 
 themselves that are fit for food, and the food of 
 angels, and the dew of heaven, and the fatness 
 of the earth. And in the covering our sin and 
 clothing our nakedness, God passed from fig- 
 leaves to the skins of beasts, from leather to 
 
GRATITUDE FOE DAILY MERCIES. 171 
 
 wool, from thence to the warmth of furs and 
 the coolness of silks ; and God uses ns as Jo- 
 seph did his brother Benjamin; we have many 
 changes of raiment, and our mess is five times 
 bigger than the provision made for our brothers 
 of the creation. Is it not a great thing, also, 
 that God hath made such strange provisions for 
 our health ? It was a huge diligence and care 
 of the Divine mercj that discovered to man such 
 infinite differences of plants, and the strange 
 efi'ects of accidental mixtures, which the .art of 
 man could not suspect ; being bound up in the 
 secret sanctuaiy of hidden causes and secret 
 natures, and being laid open bj the concourse 
 of twenty or thirty little accidents, all which 
 were ordered by God as certainly as are the 
 first principles of nature, or the descent of sons 
 from the fathers in the most noble families. 
 
 And if God is so merciful in making fair pro- 
 visions for our less noble part, in order to the 
 transition towards our country, we may expect 
 that the mercies of God have rare arts to secure 
 to us His designed bounty in order to that which 
 ought to be our portion forever. And here I 
 consider, that it is an infinite mercy of the Al- 
 mighty Father of Mercies, that He hath ap- 
 pointed to us such a religion, that leads us to a 
 huge felicity through pleasant ways. The very 
 charity, and love, and mercy, that is commanded 
 in our religion, is in itself a great excellency, 
 
172 FOUBTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 not only in order to heaven, bnt to the comforts 
 of the earth too. He that sent charity and 
 friendships into the world, intended charity to 
 do its effect both npon the loving and beloved 
 person. Every man rejoices twice when he 
 hath a partner of his joy, for a friend shares my 
 sorrow, and makes it but a moiety; but he 
 swells my joy, and makes it double. 
 
 And upon this account I may also reckon the 
 little streams of comfort which God hath made 
 to issue from that religion to which God hath 
 obliged us ; such as are the glories of converting 
 souls, of rescuing a sinner from hell, of a miser- 
 able man from the grave, — the honor and noble- 
 ness of being a good man, — the noble confidence 
 and bravery of innocence, the ease of patience, 
 — the quiet of contentedness, — the rest of peace- 
 fulness, — the worthiness of forgiving others, — 
 the greatness of spirit that is in despising riches, 
 — and the sweetness of spirit that is in meekness 
 and humility. These are Christian graces in 
 every sense ; favors of God, and issues of His 
 bounty and His mercy. And God hath made 
 them necessary ; He hath obliged us to have 
 them, under pain of damnation ; He hath made 
 it so sure to us to become happy, even in this 
 world, that if we will not. He hath threatened 
 to destroy us. You see the largeness of this 
 treasure, but we can see no end. God's own 
 words, describing mercy in all those dimensions, 
 
GRATITUDE FOR DAILY MERCIES. 173 
 
 can alone signify to us its greatness and infinity. 
 His mercy '' is great," His mercies " are many," 
 His mercy "reacheth unto the heavens," it 
 " fills heaven and earth," it is " above all His 
 works," "it endureth forever." 
 
 The result of this consideration is, that as we 
 fear tlie Divine judgments, so we adore and 
 love His goodness, and let the golden chains of 
 the Divine mercy tie us to a noble prosecution 
 of our duty and the interests of religion. For 
 he is the worst of men whom kindness cannot 
 soften, nor endearment oblige, whom gratitude 
 cannot tie faster than the bands of life and 
 death. Fear is stronger than death, and love is 
 more prevalent than fear, and kindness is the 
 greatest endearment of love ; and yet, to an in- 
 genuous person, gratitude is greater than all 
 these, and obliges to a solemn duty, when love 
 fails, and fear is dull and inactive, and death 
 itself is despised. 
 
 Let us take heed, for mercy is like a rainbow, 
 which God set in the clouds to remember man- 
 kind. It shines here as long as it is not hin- 
 dered ; but we must never look for it after it is 
 night, and it shines not in the other world. 
 
 If we refuse mercy here, we shall have justice 
 to eternity. 
 
 15« 
 
174: FOURTH WEDJq^ESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 PEATEE. 
 
 O most merciful God, whose mercies are high 
 as the heavens, great and many as the moments 
 of eternity ; till my soul, I beseech Thee, with 
 great apprehensions of Thy unspeakable bless- 
 ings, that my thankfulness may be as great as 
 my needs of mercy are. Let Thy loving-kind- 
 ness endure forever and ever upon me, and be- 
 cause I cannot praise Thee according to Thy 
 excellence, take my soul, in due time, into the 
 land of everlasting praises, that I may spend a 
 whole eternity in ascribing to Thy name praise, 
 and honor, and dominion. Grant this for Jesus 
 Christ's sake, our Lord and only Saviour. Amen. 
 
FOUETH THUESDAY IN LENT, 
 
 WATCHFULNESS. 
 " "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Mark xiv. 38. 
 
 God, who is the Fountain of good, did choose 
 rather to bring good out of evil than not to 
 Buffer any evil to be. He has disposed us in 
 such a condition that our virtues must be diffi- 
 cult, and our dangers proportionable ; in order 
 that our labor might be great, and our dangers 
 pass into security and honor. It is every man's 
 case, and we are so sure to be tempted, that in 
 the deepest peace and silence of the spirit often- 
 times is our greatest danger. JSTot to be tempted 
 is sometimes our most subtle temptation. AYe 
 must not, therefore, wonder that oftentimes it so 
 happens that nothing will remove a temptation ; 
 no diligence, no advices, no labor, no prayers ; 
 — not because these are ineffectual, but because 
 it is most fit the temptation should abide. For 
 certain it is, unless we first be cut and hewn in 
 the mountains, we shall not be fixed in the 
 temple of God. 
 
 St. Cyprian often observes, and makes much 
 
176 rOUKTH THUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 of the discourse, that the devil, when he intends 
 a battery, first views the strength and situation, 
 of the place. His sense, drawn out of the cloud 
 of an allegory, is this : The devil first considers 
 the constitution and temper of the person he is 
 to tempt, and where he observes his natural in- 
 clination apt for a vice, he presents him with 
 objects, and opportunity, and arguments fitting 
 to his disposition. It w^ere good, therefore, that 
 we w^ere conscious of our own weaknesses, and 
 by special acts fortify that part where we are 
 exposed to danger. We are sure enough to 
 meet a storm there, and we also are likely to 
 perish in it, unless w^e correct those natural dis- 
 positions, and reduce them to the evenness of 
 virtue, or the affections and moderf^tions of a 
 good nature. 
 
 But the devil also observes all our exterior ac- 
 cidents, occasions, and opportunities of action. 
 He sees what company we keep ; he observes 
 what degree of love we have to our wives, what 
 affection to our children, how prevalent their 
 persuasions, and to what degrees of determina- 
 tion they move us by their importunity. 
 
 The devil tempted Adam by his wife. It was 
 her hand made the fruit beauteous to Adam. 
 *' She saw it fair," of itself, " and so she ate ;" 
 but Adam was not moved by that argument ; 
 but, "The w^oman gave it me and I did eat." 
 She gave vivacity to the temptation, and efficacy 
 
WATCHFULNESS. 177 
 
 to the argument. Here, therefore, it is our safest 
 course, not to let our fondnesses convert into a 
 snare, but to make a retrenchment of all those 
 excrescences of affections which, like wild and 
 irregular suckers, draw away nourishment from 
 the trunk. 
 
 We also have ends and designs of our own — 
 some great purpose, upon which the greatest 
 part of our life turns. It may be, we are to 
 raise a family, to recover a sunk estate ; or else 
 ambition, honor, or a great employment is the 
 great hinge of all our greater actions ; and some 
 men are apt to make haste to be rich, or are to 
 pass through a great many difficulties to be 
 honorable : and here the devil will swell the 
 hopes and obstruct the passages ; making the 
 way to the purchase of our purposes so full of 
 employment and variety, that the multitude of 
 transactions may increase the danger and multi- 
 ply the sin. 
 
 To prevent the infinite inconveniences that 
 thrust themselves into the common -and great 
 roads of life, the best course is to cut our great 
 channel into little rivulets, making our ends the 
 more, that we may be indifferent to any — pro- 
 posing nothing great, that our desires may be 
 little. Thus, if we propound to ourselves an 
 honest employment or a great retirement ; a 
 work of charity abroad, or of devotion at home : 
 if we miss in our first setting forth, we return to 
 
178 FOUKTH THURSDAY ES" LENT. 
 
 sliore, where we can negotiate with content, it 
 being alike to iis either to traffic abroad with 
 more gain, or trade at home with more safety. 
 But when we once grow great in our desires, 
 fixing too earnestly upon one object, we either 
 grow impatient, or take ill courses and use un- 
 lawful means. We have seen the even and tem- 
 perate lives of indifferent persons continue in 
 many degrees of innocence ; but the temptation 
 of busy designs is too great, even for the best of 
 dispositions. 
 
 A further principle of temptation is, an opinion 
 of prosecuting actions of civility, compliance, 
 and society, to the neglect of a point of piety 
 and stricter duty. Good natures — persons of 
 humane and sweeter dispositions — are too apt 
 to dash on this rock of oifence; and therefore, 
 when we mingle in affairs, it will concern our 
 safety to watch, lest multitude of talk, goodness, 
 the delight of company, and facility of nature, 
 do by degrees draw us away from our guards 
 and retirement of spirit. For if we give way so 
 far as we think it tolerable, we instantly and un- 
 discernibly pass into unlawful and criminal. 
 
 In all the instances of this great evil, the very 
 stating the question right is above half the vic- 
 tory ; for it is a question between mistaken civil- 
 ity and certain duty. God and man are the par- 
 ties interested ; and to counterpoise the influence 
 of the sight of man, which being in a visible 
 
WATCHFULNESS. 179 
 
 communication, it is not in some natures to 
 neglect, there are all the excellences of God, the 
 severities of His judgment, and the sweetness and 
 invitation of His mercies ; besides the prudence, 
 wisdom, and satisfaction to the spirit, w^hen we 
 wisely neglect temptations, in compliance with 
 the purposes of God and our own felicities. 
 
 There are moreover some diseases more proper 
 to the particular state of religion. To young 
 beginners in religion, the devil represents the 
 difficulties of religion, and propounds the greater 
 examples of holy persons, and affrights them 
 with those mountains of piety ; that, by be- 
 lie\^ng no piety less than the greatest can be 
 good, they may despair of those heights and re- 
 tire into the securities and indifferences of a 
 careless life. But this is to be cured by those 
 instruments of piety, which in special are incen- 
 tives of the love of God ; and particularly by 
 consideration of the Divine goodness; "TVlio 
 knows whereof we are made, and remembers 
 that we are but dust," and will require of us no 
 more, than according to our powers and present 
 capacities. But most commonly young begin- 
 ners are zealous and hio-h, and the devil uses to 
 prompt them on ; not that he loves the piety and 
 tlie progress, but that he would engage the per- 
 son in imprudences. We shall observe new pen- 
 itents too often undertaking great austerities, 
 making tows, and casting bands upon their lib- 
 
180 FOIJKTH THURSDAY IN LENT. 
 
 ertj, and snares upon tlieir persons : but the 
 observation of the final accidents of tbese men 
 hath given proof of the indiscretion of such be- 
 ginnings ; the vow does not secure the piety, 
 but the weariness of the duty tempts to the 
 breaking of the vow. 
 
 I shall not need further to observe such temp- 
 tations which are direct invitations to sin ; such 
 as are security, too much confidence, pride, and 
 vanity : but it remains that I speak of such gen- 
 eral antidotes as are preventions, and good ad- 
 vices in general. 
 
 Holy Scripture, which is admirable and curi- 
 ous, in the cautions and securities of virtue, 
 does not determine its precepts in precise com- 
 mands; but also blocks up all the ways and 
 avenues of vice, commanding us "To make a 
 covenant with our eyes ;" to " Set a watch be- 
 fore our mouths;" to "Keep the door of our 
 lips ;" that sin may not come so near as to be 
 repulsed. 
 
 Possibly indeed, without fault, we may be 
 engaged in a temptation, but then we must be 
 diligent to resist the first beginnings. 
 
 If the temptation be to thoughts of impurity, 
 let the resistance be by flight ; for all consider- 
 ations of such subjects make the soul entertain 
 the fancy. Even the pulling pitch from our 
 clothes defiles the fingers, and chaste souls do, 
 even to death, resent the least image of impurity. 
 
WATCHFULNESS. 181 
 
 In other cases the following considerations 
 have the best and most univereal influence in 
 subduing temptation. 
 
 First. " Consideration of the presence of God," 
 who is witness of all our actions and a revenger 
 of all impiety. They w^ho are servants of the 
 eyes of God, and walk as in the Divine presence, 
 perceive the same restraints in darkness, and 
 closets, and grots, as in the light and midst of 
 theatres ; since the Divine presence hath made 
 all places holy, and we desecrate the ground 
 w^hereon we stand supported by the arm of God, 
 and enlightened by His eye when we sin in so 
 sacred a presence. 
 
 Meditation upon death is a second great in- 
 strument against temptation; "My soul is al- 
 ways in Thy hand, therefore do I keep Thy 
 commandments," said David. He looked upon 
 himself as a dying person, and that restrained 
 all his inordinations, and so he prayed — "Lord, 
 teach me to number my days that I may apply 
 my heart unto wisdom." And therefore the 
 Egyptians used to serve up a skeleton to their 
 feasts, that the vapors of wine might be re- 
 strained with that bunch of myrrh, and the 
 vanities of their eyes chastised by that sad ob- 
 ject. For when a man stands perpetually at 
 the door of eternity, and every day is building 
 of his sepulchre, and every night one day ot 
 our life is gone and passed into the possession of 
 IG 
 
182 FOURTH THUESDAT IN LENT. 
 
 death, it will concern us to take care that the 
 door leading to hell do not open upon us, that 
 we be not crushed to ruin bj the stones of our 
 grave, and that our death become not a con- 
 signation of us to a sad eternity. 
 
 But before, and in, and after all this, the 
 Blessed Jesus propounds prayer as a remedy 
 against temptations : '' "Watch and pray, that ye 
 enter not into temptation." For, besides that 
 prayer is the great instrument of obtaining vic- 
 tory by the grace of God, the very praying 
 against a temptation, if it be hearty, fervent, 
 and devout, is a denying of it, and part of the 
 victory. If temptation sets upon thee, do thou 
 set upon God ; for He is as soon overcome as 
 thou art, as soon moved to good as thou art to 
 evil. Only, remember, that when Israel fought 
 against Amalek, Moses' prayer and Moses' hand 
 secured the victory ; his prayer grew ineffectual 
 when his hands were slack ; to remonstrate to 
 us that we must co-operate with the grace of 
 God, praying devoutly, and watching carefully, 
 and observing prudently, and laboring with dili- 
 gence and assiduity. 
 
 PBATER. 
 
 O Blessed and most Holy Saviour, Fountain 
 of grace and comfort, grant me to be so careful 
 and watchful over my ways, that I may never 
 
WATCHFULNESS. 183 
 
 provoke Thee to anger, nor cause Thee to turn 
 Thy face from me. Support me in all my needs, 
 and teach me to seek Thee in all my trials ; that 
 I may walk in Thy footsteps, guided by Thy 
 hand, and enlightened by Thy favor, and may 
 at last dwell with Thee in the regions of light 
 and eternal glory, where I shall enjoy the bless- 
 edness of Thy presence forever, O Holy and 
 most Merciful Saviour. Amen. 
 
EOUKTH FEIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 CAEEFUL EMPLOYMENT OF TIME. 
 
 " Eedeeming the time, because the days are evil." 
 Ephes. v. 16. 
 
 All philosophers which have thought of the 
 nature of Time, and with much subtlety have 
 disputed what it was, at length come to con- 
 clude that they knew not what it is : the most 
 they can reach unto is, that no Time is long ; 
 and that can only be called Time which is pres- 
 ent, the which is but a moment. 
 
 We have only a moment in our power, and a 
 moment which is lost in the very instant in 
 which we think to grasp it. Let us cast our 
 eyes upon our life past ; let us consider what is 
 become of our infancy, childhood, and youth : 
 they are now dead to us. In the same manner 
 shall those ages of our life which are to come 
 die also; and with reason, therefore, may this 
 life be called the shadow of death, since, under 
 the shadow of life, death steals upon us. 
 
 Guerricus, a most famous divine, hearing the 
 
CAREFUL EMPLOYMENT OF TIME. 185 
 
 fiftli chapter of Genesis read, wherein are re- 
 counted the sons and descendants of Adam, in 
 these terms : " The whole life of Adam was 
 nine hundred and thirty years, and he died ; 
 the life of his son, Seth, was nine hundred and 
 twelve years, and he died," and so of the rest ; 
 began to think with himself, that if such and so 
 great men, after so long time ended in death, it 
 was not safe to lose more time in this world, 
 but so to secure his life, that losing it here, he 
 might find it hereafter. 
 
 For although we were certain to live yet a 
 hundred years longer, we ought not to spare 
 one minute from the gaining of eternity. 
 
 But since all our life we are dying, and this 
 minute in which I now write death divides with 
 me, and hath got the surer part and more certain 
 possession, and no man is sure that he shall not 
 die suddenly; therefore, if heaven be worth 
 securing, it were fit that we should reckon 
 every day the vespers of death, and that, ac- 
 cording to the usual rites of religion, it be begun 
 and spent with religious offices. It will become 
 also not only a duty, but a great providence, 
 to lay aside, for the services of God and the 
 businesses of the Spirit, as much as we can ; 
 because God rewards our minutes with long and 
 eternal happiness ; and the greater portion of 
 our time we give to God, the more we treasure 
 up for ourselves, and " no man is a better mer- 
 16» 
 
186 FOUUTH FEIDAT IN LENT. 
 
 chant than he that lays out his time upon God 
 and his money upon the poor." 
 
 But that we need not fear this instrument 
 to be a snare to us, or that the duty must end 
 •in scruple, vexation, and eternal fears, we must 
 remember that the life of every man may be so 
 ordered (and indeed must), that it may be a 
 perpetual serving of God. The greatest trouble 
 and most busy trade and worldly incumbrances, 
 when they are necessary, or charitable, or profit- 
 able in order to any of those ends which we are 
 bound to serve, whether public or private, being 
 a doing of God's work. 
 
 He that hath the fewest businesses of the 
 world, is called upon to spend more time in the 
 dressing of his soul ; and he that hath the most 
 affairs, may so order them, that they shall be a 
 service of God ; while, at certain periods, they 
 are blessed with prayers and actions of religion, 
 and all day long are hallowed by a holy intention. 
 
 For this grace is so excellent that it sanctifies 
 the most common action of our life. By it every 
 action of nature becomes religious, and every 
 meal is an act of worship and shall have its 
 reward in its proportion as well as an act of 
 prayer. Blessed be that goodness and grace of 
 God, which out of infinite desire to glorify and 
 save mankind, would make the very works of 
 nature capable of becoming acts of virtue, that 
 all our lifetime we may do Him service. 
 
CAREFUL EMPLOYMENT OF TIME. 187 
 
 "We must remember that we have a great 
 work to do, many enemies to conquer, many 
 evils to prevent, much clanger to run through, 
 many difficulties to be mastered, many necessi- 
 ties to serve, and much good to do ; besides 
 the needs of nature and of relation, our private 
 and our public cares, and duties of the world, 
 which necessity and the providence of God have 
 adopted into the family of religion. And idle- 
 ness is the greatest prodigality in the world ; 
 it throws away that which is invaluable in re- 
 spect of its present nse, and irreparable when it 
 is past, being to be recovered by no power of 
 art or nature. Wherefore let every man that 
 hath a calling be diligent in pursuance of its 
 employment — and let all the intervals or void 
 spaces of time be employed in prayers, readings, 
 meditating, works of nature, recreation, charity, 
 friendliness, and neighborhood. Never under- 
 take any trifling employment merely to pass 
 the time away : but remember that the time 
 thou triflest away was given thee to repent. in, 
 to pray for pardon of sins, to work out thy 
 salvation, to do the work of grace, to lay up 
 against the day of judgment a treasure of good 
 works that thy time may be crowned with 
 eternity. 
 
 In the midst of the works of thy calling often 
 retire to God in short prayers and ejaculations ; 
 for so thou reconcilest the outward work and 
 
188 FOrRTH FRIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 thy inward calling, the Church and the com- 
 monwealth, the employment of the body and 
 the interest of thy soul. Set apart some por- 
 tions of every day for more solemn devotion 
 and religious employment, which be severe in 
 observing ; and when the clock strikes, or how- 
 ever else you shall measure the day, it is good 
 to say a short ejaculation, that the parts and 
 returns of devotion may be the measure of your 
 time : and also, do so in all the breaches of thy 
 sleep, that those spaces, which have in them no 
 direct business of the world, may be filled with 
 religion. 
 
 As much as may be, cut off all impertinent 
 and useless employments of your life, unneces- 
 sary visits, long waitings upon great personages, 
 where neither duty, nor necessity, nor charity 
 obliges us ; all vain meetings, all laborious trifles, 
 and whatsoever spends much time to no real, 
 civil, religious, or charitable purpose. 
 
 Let not your recreations be lavish spenders of 
 your time ; but choose such which are healthful, 
 short, transient, recreative, and apt to refresh 
 you; but at no hand dwell upon them, or make 
 them your great employment : for he that spend- 
 eth his time in sports, and calls it recreation, is 
 like him whose garment is all made of fringes, 
 and his meat nothing but sauces ; they are 
 healthless, chargeable, and useless. 
 
 Lastly. Do not the work of God negligently 
 
CAREFUL EMPLOYMENT OF TIME. 189 
 
 and idly, for of that time only tlioii mayest be 
 most confident that it is gained, which is pru- 
 dently and zealously spent in God's service. The 
 proud and the covetous are to expect flames 
 and scorpions, pains and smart ; yet the lazy and 
 the imperfect, the harmless sleeper and the idle 
 worker, shall have the loss of all his hopes, and 
 the dishonor of the loss ; and in the sum of 
 afiairs, it will be no great difl'erence whether w^e 
 have loss or pain ; because there can be no 
 greater pain imaginable than to lose the sight of 
 God to eternal ages. And, indeed, if we con- 
 sider how many years are wholly spent before 
 w^e come to the use of reason ; how many years 
 more, before that reason is useful to us to any 
 great purposes ; how imperfect our discourse is 
 made by our evil education, false principles, ill 
 company, bad examples, and want of experience ; 
 that little portion of hours that is left for the 
 practices of piety and religious walking with 
 God, is so short and trifling, that were not the 
 goodness of God inflnitely great it might seem 
 unreasonable or impossible for us to expect of 
 Him eternal joys in heaven, even after the well 
 spending of those few minutes which are left for 
 God and God's service. 
 
 And w^hat an eternal repentance will follow 
 thee if thou makest not use of the occasion of 
 time, for the purchasing of the kingdom of 
 heaven! especially when thou shalt see that 
 
190 FOrRTH FEroAY IN LENT. ' 
 
 with so little ado tliou miglitest have gained that 
 everlasting glory, which, to satisfy a short pleas- 
 ure, thou hast lost forever. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Eternal God ! who hast created me to do 
 Thy work, and to serve Thee in this generation, 
 give me grace to glorify Thy name by the dis- 
 charge of all my duties ; take from me all sloth- 
 fulness, grant me a diligent and active spirit, 
 and enable me so to improve the talent intrusted 
 to me by thee, that at the coming of my Lord, 
 I may enter into His joy even for Thy mercy's 
 sake, and the sake of my Blessed Redeemer. 
 Amen. 
 
FOUETH SATUEDAY DT LENT. 
 
 FAITH. 
 " Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Heb, xi. 6. 
 
 If we consider upon what easy terms most of 
 us now are Christians, we may possibly suspect 
 that either faith hath but little excellence in it, 
 or we but little faith, or that we are mistaken 
 generally in its definition. For we are born of 
 Christian parents, made Christians at ten days 
 old; from thence we are taught to say our 
 Catechism as we are taught to speak, when we 
 have no reason to judge, no arguments to con- 
 test against a proposition in case we be cate- 
 chised into false doctrine ; and all that is put 
 into us we believe without choice, as children 
 use not to choose their language. And as oui 
 children are made Christians, just so are thou- 
 sands made Mahometans with the same neces- 
 sity, the same facility. So that thus far there 
 is little thanks due to us for believing the 
 Christian creed ; which puts us evidently upon 
 this consideration, that Christian faith, that 
 glorious duty which gives to Christians a great 
 degree of approximation to God by Jesus Christ, 
 
192 FOURTH SATIJEDAY IN LENT. 
 
 must have a great proportion of that ingredieut 
 which makes actions good or bad, that is, of 
 choice and effect. For the faith of a Christian 
 hath more in it of the will than of the under- 
 standing. Men believe the Eesurrection, but it 
 is because they are taught it in their childhood, 
 and thej inquire no further in their age. And 
 we find they commonly live at such a rate as if 
 they did neither believe nor care whether it 
 were so or no. Before this faith can enable 
 them to resist a temptation, they must derive their 
 assent from principles of another nature. They 
 must believe the doctrine, because it is said to 
 come from God ; and rely upon it, because it 
 brings to God ; trust it, because it is good ; ac- 
 knowledge it certain, because it is excellent; 
 that there may be an act of the will in it as well 
 as of the understanding, and as much love in it 
 as discourse. 
 
 And for others who can inquire better, their 
 inquiries must be modest and humble ; they 
 must not disbelieve an article in Christianity, 
 which is not proved like a conclusion in geom- 
 etry ; they must not be witty to object, and cu- 
 rious to inquire beyond their limit. For some 
 are so ingeniously miserable, that they will never 
 believe a proposition in divinity if any thing can 
 be said against it ; they will be credulous enough 
 in all the affairs of their life, but impenetrable 
 by a sermon of the Gospel ; they will believe the 
 
FAITH. 193 
 
 word of a man and the promise of their neighbor, 
 but a promise of Scripture signifies nothing, un- 
 less it can be proved like a proposition in the 
 metaphysics. If Sempronius tells them a story, 
 it is sufficient if he be a just man and the narra- 
 tive be probable ; but though religion be taught 
 by many excellent men, who gave their lives 
 for a testimony, this shall not pass for truth till 
 there is no objection left to stand against it. The 
 reason of these things is plain : they do not love 
 the thing ; their interest is against it ; they have 
 no joy in religion ; they are not willing or de- 
 sirous that the things shall appear true. TVhen 
 love is the principle, the thing is easy to the un- 
 derstanding, the objections are nothing, the ar- 
 guments are good, and the preachers are in the 
 right. 
 
 A humble, willing, and docile mind, and the 
 consideration of the Divine Omnipotence and 
 infinite Wisdom, and our own ignorance, are 
 great instruments of curing all doubting, and 
 silencing the murmurs of infidelity. For true 
 faith is full of ingenuousness and hearty sim- 
 plicity, free from suspicion, wise and confident. 
 1^0 man carries his bed into the field to watch 
 how his corn grows, but believes upon the gen- 
 eral order of Providence and natm-e, and at har- 
 vest finds himself not deceived. 
 
 In time of temptation, therefore, be not busy 
 to dispute, but throw yourself upon God ; nnd 
 
194: FOtJETH SATITEDAY IN LENT. 
 
 contend not with Him, but in prayer, which 
 hath a particular promise in this thing ; and be 
 sure to esteem all changes of belief, which oifer 
 themselves in the time of your greatest weakness 
 (contrary to the persuasions of your best under- 
 standing), to be temptations, and reject them ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 Moreover, the faith of a Christian hath in it a 
 fulness of confidence and relying upon God, a 
 trusting in, and a real expectation of, the event 
 of all the promises of the Gospel. We all pro- 
 fess that God is Almighty, that all His promises 
 are certain, and yet, when it comes to a pinch, 
 we find that man to be more confident that hath 
 ten thousand pounds in his purse, than he that 
 reads God's promises over ten thousand times. 
 "Men of a common spirit," saith St. Chrysos- 
 tom, " of an ordinary sanctity, will not steal, or 
 kill, or lie, or commit adultery ; but it requires 
 a rare faith, and a sublimity of pious afi'ections, 
 to believe that God will work a deliverance, 
 which to me seems impossible." 
 
 And indeed St. Chrysostom hit upon the 
 right. He had need be a good man, and love 
 God well that puts his trust in Him ; for those 
 we love we are most apt to trust. So that if 
 you are willing, even in death, to confess not 
 only the articles, but in affliction and death to 
 trust the promises ; if, in the lowest nakedness 
 of poverty, you can cherish yourselves with the 
 
FAITH. 195 
 
 expectation of God's promises, being as confident 
 of food and raiment, and deliverance or support, 
 when all is in God's hand, as you are when it 
 is in your o"wti ; if you can be cheerful in a 
 storm, smile when the world frowns, be content 
 in the midst of spiritual desertions and anguish 
 of spirit, expecting all should work together for 
 the best, according to the promise ; if you can 
 strengthen yourselves in God when you are 
 weakest, believe when you see no hope, and en- 
 tertain no jealousies or suspicions of God, though 
 you see nothing to make you confident — then, 
 and then only you have faith. 
 
 Lastly. Faith in the threatenings and com- 
 mandments of God must be the actual principle 
 and effective of a good life. 
 
 Let us consider the power and efficacy of 
 worldly belief. If a man believes that there is 
 gold to be had in Peru for fetching, or pearls 
 and riches in India for the exchange of trifles, 
 he instantly, if he be in a capacity, leaves the 
 wife of his bosom, and the pretty delights of 
 children and his own security, and ventures into 
 the dangers of waters and unknown seas, thirst 
 and hunger, pirates and shipwrecks ; and hath 
 within him a principle strong enough to answer 
 all objections, because he believes that riches 
 are desirable, and by such means likely to be 
 had. And if we did as verily believe that in 
 Heaven those great felicities, which transcend 
 
196 FOrRTH SATTEDAY IN LENT. 
 
 all our apprehensions, are certainly to be ob- 
 tained by leaving our vices and lower desires, 
 what can hinder us but we should at least do as 
 much for obtaining those great felicities as for 
 the lesser if the belief were equal ? For if any 
 man thinks he may have them without holiness, 
 and justice, and charity, then he wants faith. 
 Who can pretend to be a Christian and yet not 
 believe those words of St. Paul, " Follow after 
 peace with all men, and holiness, without which 
 no man shall see God ?" And yet if we do be- 
 lieve it, what do we think will become of us, 
 who neither " follow peace nor holiness," but 
 follow our anger and pursue our lust? Our 
 Blessed Saviour told us, that " With what meas- 
 ures we mete to others, it shall be measured to 
 us again ;" but who almost believes this and con- 
 siders what it means ? Will you be content 
 that God should despise you as you despise your 
 brother ? that He should be as soon angry with 
 you as you are with him? that He should strike 
 you as hastily, and as seldom pardon you, and 
 never bear with your infirmities, and as seldom 
 interpret fairly what you say or do, and be re- 
 venged as frequently as you would be? And 
 what think we of these sayings : " Into the 
 heavenly Jerusalem there shall in nowise enter 
 any thing that defileth or profaneth ; neither 
 whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a 
 lie." Do men believe God, and yet, doing these 
 
 I 
 
FAITH. 197 
 
 tilings, hope to be saved for all these terrible 
 sayings ? 
 
 Let us remember that he only by his faith 
 can be saved, who, by his faith, lives a life of 
 grace, whose faith is to him a magazine of holy 
 principles, whose faith endears obedience, and 
 is the nurse of a holy hope and the mother of a 
 never-failing charity. He shall be saved by his 
 faith, who by his faith is more than conqueror, 
 who resists the devil and makes him fly, and 
 gives laws to his passions, and makes them obe- 
 dient; who, by his faith, overcomes the world 
 and removes mountains — the mountains of pride 
 and vanity, ambition and secular designs; he, 
 whose faith opens the blind man's eyes, and 
 makes him to see the things of God ; and cures 
 the lame hypocrite and makes him to walk up- 
 rightly. "For these signs shall follow them 
 that believe," said our blessed Saviour ; and by 
 these, as by the wedding garment, we are fitted 
 for the heavenly Supper of the King. 
 
 PEAYEE. 
 
 O Lord God of infinite mercy, who hast sent 
 
 Tliy Holy Son into the world to redeem us from 
 
 intolerable misery ; let my faith, I beseech Thee, 
 
 be the parent of a good life, a strong shield to 
 
 repel the 'fiery darts of the devil ; and grant that 
 17» 
 
198 FOURTH SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 1 may be supported by its strength in all temp- 
 tations, and refreshed by its comforts in all my 
 sorrows, till from the imperfections of this life 
 it may arrive to the consummation of an eternal 
 and never-ceasing love, through Jesus Christ, 
 the Author and Finisher of our faith, to whom 
 with Thee, O Lord God, Father of heaven and 
 earth, and with Thy Holy Spirit be all glory, 
 and love, and obedience, and dominion, now and 
 forever. Amen. 
 
FOURTH SUKDAY m LENT. 
 
 THE THIRD TEMPTATION. 
 
 " Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high moan- 
 tain, and Bheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and 
 the glory of them ; and saith unto Him, All these things 
 will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me." 
 Matthew iv. 8, 9. 
 
 By this time the devil began to perceive that 
 Jesus was the Son of God, and designed to be 
 the King of all the world; and therefore re- 
 solved, for the last assault, to proffer Him the 
 kingdoms of the world ; thinking ambition more 
 likely to ruin Him because he knew it was that 
 which prevailed upon himself, and all those 
 fallen stars, the angels of darkness. That the 
 devil told a lie is most likely, when he said he 
 had power to dispose the kingdoms of the world ; 
 for, by proper inherent right, God alone disposes 
 all governments ; but it is also certain that the 
 devil is capable of a delegate employment, in 
 some great mutation of states ; and many proba- 
 bilities have been observed by wise personages, 
 persuading that the grandeur of the Roman Em- 
 pire was permitted to the power and managing 
 of the devil ; in order that the greatness of that 
 
200 FOIJETH SUNDAY IN LENT. 
 
 government, being in all appearance full of 
 advantage to Satan's kingdom, and employed 
 for the disimprovement of the weak beginnings 
 of Christianity, might give demonstration that 
 Christianity came from God ; since the great 
 permissions of power made to the devil, and 
 acted with all art and malice in defiance of the 
 religion, could produce no other effect upon it 
 but that it made it grow greater. 
 
 The Lamb of God that heard Satan with 
 patience tempt Him to do Himself a mischief 
 and to throw Himself headlong, could by no 
 means endure it when he tempted to a direct 
 dishonoring of God. Our own injuries are 
 opportunities of patience ; but when the glory 
 of God and His immediate honor is the ques- 
 tion, then is the occasion and precise minute for 
 the flames of a clear, shining, and unconsuming 
 zeal. But the care of God's glory had so filled 
 and employed all the faculties of Jesus, that he 
 took no notice of the offer ; and it were well 
 also that we had fewer opinions of the lustre of 
 worldly dignities, or at least that we, in imita- 
 tion of our blessed Master, should refuse to ac- 
 cept all the world, when it is to be bought of 
 the devil, at the expense of a deadly sin. For 
 that government cannot be very honorable 
 that makes us slaves to the worst of tyrants ; 
 and all those who, by injury and usurpation, 
 possess and invade others' rights, would do well 
 
THE THIRD TEMPTATION. 201 
 
 to consider that a kingdom is too dearly paid 
 for, if the condition be first to worship the devil. 
 When the devil could do no good, he departed 
 for a season. If he could ever have spied a time 
 of returning, he wanted not will nor malice to 
 observe and to use it ; and although Jesus was a 
 person without danger, yet I doubt not but the 
 Holy Ghost described that circumstance that 
 we should not have the securities of a deep 
 peace, when we have had the success of con- 
 querors. For a surprise is most full of horror, 
 and of more certain ruin ; so that we have no 
 security but a perpetual observation. That, 
 together with the grace of God (who takes care 
 of all His servants, and will drive away the 
 tempter when He pleases, and help us always 
 when we need), is as great an argument for our 
 confidence, and encouragement to our prayers 
 and address to God, as it is safety to our person 
 and honor to our victory. And let us account 
 it our honor, that the trials of temptation, which 
 is the greatest sadness of our condition, are 
 hallowed by the temptation of Jesus, and our 
 condition assured by His assistances, and the 
 assistances procured by our prayers most easily, 
 upon the advantage of His sufferings and com- 
 passion. And we may observe, that poverty, 
 predestination, and ambition are the three quiv- 
 ers from which the devil drew his arrows, which 
 (as the most likely to prevail) he shot against 
 
202 FOUETH SUNDAY IN LENT. 
 
 Christ. But now he shot in vain, and gave 
 proof that he might be overcome. Our Captain 
 hath conquered for Himself and us. 
 
 PRATER. 
 
 O Almighty God, Father and Lord of all the 
 creatures, who hast disposed all things as may 
 best glorify Thy wisdom, teach me humbly to 
 submit to Thy Providence, and to be content in 
 all changes of person and condition. Grant me 
 to be temperate in prosperity, and meek and 
 patient in adversity; let me have no fondness 
 for the vanities and possessions of this world, 
 but may I lay up my hopes in heaven, and the 
 consolations of the day of redemption, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 i 
 
rOUETH MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 HUMILITY. 
 
 " Let this miud be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." 
 Philippians ii. 5. 
 
 God descended from heaven to earth, from 
 riches to poverty, from essential innocence to 
 the disreputation of a sinner, from a master to a 
 servant, to learn ns that we should esteem our- 
 selves but just as we are, — ^low, sinful, miserable, 
 needy, and unworthy. And to this purpose St. 
 Bernard hath an affectionate and devout con- 
 sideration, saying, " That some of the angels as 
 soon as they were created, had an ambition to 
 become like God, and to aspire into the throne 
 which God had appointed to the Holy Jesus in 
 eternal ages. When God created man, pres- 
 ently the devil rubbed his leprosy upon him, 
 and he wuuld needs be like God too, and Satan 
 promised him that he should. But man had the 
 fate of Gehazi, he would needs have the talents 
 and garments of Lucifer, and he had also his 
 plague — he lost paradise for his pride." And 
 now, what might befit the Son of God to do, 
 
204 FOURTH MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 seeing man so lost, and God so jealous of His 
 honor? I see (saith He) that bj occasion of 
 Me, the Father loses His creatures, for they 
 have all aspired to be like Me, and are fallen 
 into the greatest infelicities ; behold, I will go 
 towards man in such a form, that whosoever 
 from henceforth would become like Me, shall 
 be so, and be a gainer by it. And for this cause 
 the Son of God came from heaven, and made 
 Himself a poor humble person, and by all the 
 actions of His life commented upon the present 
 discourse : " Learn of Me, for I am meek and 
 humble of heart." 
 
 Blessed be that mercy and bounty which 
 moved Almighty God to condescend to that so 
 great appetite we had of being like Him ; for 
 now we may be like unto God ; but it must be 
 by humility, of which He hath given us an ex- 
 ample powerful as miracles, and great as our 
 own pride and misery. 
 
 This act consists not in declamations and forms 
 of satire against ourselves, saying, I am a mis- 
 erable sinful creature ; I am proud, or covetous, 
 or ignorant ; for many men say so, who are not 
 willing to be thought so. E'either is humility a 
 virtue made up of wearing old clothes, or doing 
 mean or servile employments by voluntary un- 
 dertaking, or of sullen gestures, or artifices of 
 lowly expressions ; for these may become snares 
 to invite and catch at honor. But it consists in 
 
HUMILITY. 205 
 
 a true undei-stauding of our own condition and 
 a separating our own nothing from the good we 
 have received, and giving to God all the glorj, 
 and taking to ourselves all the shame and dis- 
 honor due to our sinful .condition. Humility is 
 of greater difficulty in persons pious, full of gifts, 
 and eminent in graces, who being fellow-workers 
 together with God, sometimes grow tacitly and 
 without notice given to coniide in themselves ; 
 and ascribe too much of the good action to their 
 own choice and diligence ; and take np their 
 crowns, which lie at the foot of the throne, and set 
 them upon their own heads. For a sinner to de- 
 sire to be esteemed a sinner, is no more humility 
 than it is for the son of a ploughman to confess 
 his father : but indeed it is hard for a man to be 
 cried up for a saint, to walk upon the spire of 
 glory, and to have no adherence or impure mix- 
 tures of vanity grow upon the outside of his 
 heart. But the true stating our own question, 
 and knowing ourselves, must needs represent us 
 set in the midst of infinite imperfections, laden 
 with sins, fond of trifles, full of ingratitude, and 
 all such things, which in every man else we look 
 upon as scars and deformities ; and if we would 
 esteem them with the same severity in ourselves, 
 it would make ns charitable in our censures, 
 compassionate and gentle to others, and, in all 
 accidents and chances to ourselves, to be content 
 and thankful, as knowing the worst of poverty 
 18 
 
206 FOURTH MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 and inconvenience to be a mercy, and a splendid 
 fortune, in respect of our demerits. 
 
 I have read, that when the Duke of Candia 
 had voluntarily entered into the incommodities 
 of a religious poverty and retirement, he was 
 one day spied, and pitied by a lord of Italy, who 
 out of tenderness wished him to be more careful 
 and nutritive of his person. The good duke an- 
 swered : " Sir, be not troubled, and think not 
 that I am ill provided of conveniences; for I 
 send a harbinger before, who makes my lodg- 
 ings ready, and takes care I am royally enter- 
 tained." The lord asked him, who was his 
 harbinger. He answered : " The knowledge of 
 myself, and the consideration of what I deserve 
 for my sins, which is eternal torments; and 
 when, with this knowledge, I arrive at my lodg- 
 ing, how unprovided soever I find it, methinks 
 it is ever better than I deserve." In order 
 to considering and reducing to practice these 
 thoughts, we should let no day pass without some 
 sad recollection of somewhat which may put us 
 to confusion, and mean opinion of ourselves ; 
 we should make confessions of our sins often to 
 God, and consider what all that evil amounts to, 
 w^hich we thus charge on ourselves. Look not 
 upon thy sins as scattered in the course of a long 
 life; now an intemperate anger, then too full 
 a meal; now idle talking, and another time, 
 impatience; but unite them into one continued 
 
HUMILITY. 207 
 
 representation, and remember that he, whose 
 life seems fair, bj reason that his faults are scat- 
 tered at large distances in the several parts of 
 his life, yet, if all his errors and follies were arti- 
 cled against him, the man would seem vicious 
 and miserable. 
 
 Learn also to bear contumelies evenly and 
 sweetly ; for " Christ's humble man desires not to 
 be honored by others." And he, who with some 
 regret and impatience hears himself scorned or 
 undervalued, hath not acquired the grace of hu- 
 mility ; which Serapion, in Cassian, noted to a 
 young person, who perpetually accused himself 
 with the greatest semblance of humility, but 
 was impatient when Serapion reproved him : 
 " Did you hope that I would have praised your 
 humility, and have reputed you for a saint ? It 
 is a strange perverseness to desire others to es- 
 teem highly of you for that in w^hich to yourself 
 you seem most unworthy." 
 
 Again : Christ's humble man is not greedy of 
 praise. When it is presented to him, he takes 
 no pleasure in it ; and if it be easy to want 
 praise when it is denied, yet it is harder to be 
 delighted with it w^hen it is offered. 
 
 " But as silver is tried in the melter, and gold 
 in the crucible, so is a man tried by the mouth 
 of him that praises him ;" that is, he is either 
 clarified from his dross, by looking on the praise 
 as a homily to teach, and an instrument to invite 
 
208 rOUETH MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 liis duty ; or else, if he be already pure, lie is 
 strengthened in the sobriety of his spirit, and re- 
 tires himself closer into the strengths and securi- 
 ties of humility. 
 
 " Christ's humble man is careful likewise never 
 to speak any thing that may redound to his own 
 praise," unless it be with a design of charity or 
 duty. A good name may give us an oppor- 
 tunity of persuading others to their duty ; but 
 although it is lawful to desire it in order to suit 
 good ends, whither it may serve, yet a great 
 name, and a pompous honor, and secular great- 
 ness, hath more danger in it to ourselves, than 
 commonly it can have of benefit to others, and 
 ordinary persons may not safely desire it : To 
 which I add this consideration, that the con- 
 tempt of honor, and the instant pursuit of 
 humility, is more effective of the ghostly benefit 
 of others, than honors and great dignities can be, 
 unless it be rarely and very accidentally. 
 
 Xever therefore be ashamed of thy birth, or 
 thy parents, or thy trade, or thy present em- 
 ployment, for the meanness or poverty of any of 
 them, and when there is an occasion to speak of 
 them ; such an occasion as would invite you to 
 speak of any thing that pleases you, omit it not, 
 but speak as readily and indifferently of thy 
 meanness as of thy greatness. 
 
 [N'either, w^hen thou art disgraced or slighted, 
 please thyself with supposing thou didst deserve 
 
HUMILITY. 209 
 
 praise, though they understood thee not : and 
 think not the advancement of thy brother a les- 
 sening of thy worth, but entertain their good 
 and glory with delight, and at no hand dis- 
 parage them, or lessen the report. 
 
 A humble man thinks himself, in some sense 
 or other, the worst in every company, where he 
 comes ; one is more learned, another is more 
 prudent, a third more honorable, or more char- 
 itable, or less proud. He observes their good, 
 and reflects only upon his own vileness ; he con- 
 sider^, that the evils done by others are out of 
 much infirmity or ignorance, but his own sins 
 are against a clearer light: or he remembers, 
 that his old sins before his conversion were 
 greater in the nature of the thing, or in certain 
 circumstances, than the sins of other men. So 
 St. Paul reckoned himself the chiefest of sinners 
 because formerly he had acted the chiefest sin of 
 persecuting the Church of God. 
 
 And if we need any incentives to the practice 
 of this grace, I can say no more, but that humili- 
 ty is truth, and pride is a lie ; that the one glori- 
 fies God, the other dishonors Him; humility 
 makes men like angels, pride makes angels to 
 become devils ; that humility is the way to glory, 
 pride to ruin and confusion ; humility makes 
 saints on earth, pride undoes them ; humility 
 beatifies the saints in heaven, and "the elders 
 throw theij- crowns at the foot of the throne ;" 
 18« 
 
210 FOURTH MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 pride disgraces a man among all the societies of 
 earth. God loves one, and Satan solicits the 
 cause of the other, and there is no one grace in 
 which Christ propounded Himself imitable so 
 signally as in this of meekness and humility ; 
 for the enforcing of which He undertook the 
 condition of a servant, and a life of poverty and 
 a death of disgrace, and washed the feet of His 
 disciples, and even of Judas himself, that His 
 action might be turned into a sermon to preach 
 this duty, and to make it as eternal as His own 
 story. 
 
 PEAYEK. 
 
 O Holy and most Gracious Saviour, who by 
 Thy example and Thy precept didst command 
 us to be meek and humble in imitation of 
 Thy great humility, be pleased to give me the 
 grace as Thou hast given me the command- 
 ment. Mortify in me all proud thoughts and 
 vain opinions of myself. Let me not boast 
 myself for what I have received ; and for what 
 is my own, teach me to be ashamed and hum- 
 bled. Let me go before my brethren in no- 
 thing but striving to do them honor, and Thee 
 glory ; never seeking my own praise ; never 
 delighting in it when it is offered ; that, de- 
 pisiug myself, I may be accepted by thee, in 
 
HUMILITY. 211 
 
 the honors with which Thou shalt crown Tliy 
 humble and despised servants, in the kingdom 
 of eternal glory. Grant this for Thy mercy 
 and Thy merit's sake, O Holy and Blessed Sav- 
 iour. Amen. 
 
FOUETH TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 CHRISTIAN COMFORT. 
 
 ** That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches 
 of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Je- 
 sus." Ephesians ii. 7. 
 
 The first time that the word comfort is found 
 in Scripture, is upon the birth of Noah; his 
 father says, This son shall comfort us. So, when 
 God did give Christ to be made man. He did, 
 as it were, say unto us, " This Son shall comfort 
 you, for His name is Jesus, and He shall save 
 His people from their sins." He that gave us 
 Him, hath given us all things with Him ; and 
 even now " We are sealed with the Holy Spirit 
 of promise, which is the earnest of our inherit- 
 ance ;" as the blossoms of the spring do not only 
 promise, but are God's earnest to represent the 
 fruits which will wax ripe in autumn. 
 
 For when our Saviour left the world, and as- 
 cended into heaven — for many reasons ; one was 
 " to give gifts unto men," which gifts, though 
 very many, are all united in their fountain — 
 the Holy Ghost. Of which legacy, Christ gave 
 warning before His death. ^'I will pray the 
 
CHRISTIAN COMFORT. 213 
 
 Father, and He shall give you another com- 
 forter, that He may abide with you forever. 
 Tliis Comforter, the Everlasting Spirit — to speak 
 after the phrase of man — is the proxy of Christ; 
 His representative in our hearts. And so it 
 was fulfilled; for when the Spirit descended in 
 great abundance upon the church, St. Peter 
 says, "This is that which is come to pass." 
 "Tliou hast made known to me the ways of 
 life ; Thou shalt make me full of joy with Tliy 
 countenance." And for the evidence of it, it is 
 said, "Tlie churches were edified, walking in 
 the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy 
 Ghost." Which text begets this note, that 
 Christian solace consists in two things, vrliich 
 we may call the root and the fruit. The root is 
 the Holy Ghost taking up His tabeniacle in us ; 
 so that " our body is the Temple of the Holy 
 Ghost which is in us :" and to walk by it, in 
 the fear of God, is the fruit of sanctification in 
 all manner of obedience. 
 
 Here I shall find work to heal the broken 
 in heart, who look upon the fniits of their lives 
 with no content in themselves, but are un- 
 solaced, and cast down, because neither in num- 
 ber nor in weight have they brought in that 
 which the Lord required. They look on their 
 ways, and they find them crooked: they look 
 on their heart, and they find it is not constant 
 to good purposes. To whom I rejoin: if this 
 
214 FOURTH TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 proceed from penitence, from quick sense of 
 sin, from humility, which is opposite to a self- 
 justifying, they have cause to praise God that 
 they are thus affected. Let them look narrowly 
 if this gold (for it may prove no worse) be cur- 
 rent, when it is brought to the touchstone ; then 
 they may lift up their eyes, and look cheerfully 
 towards Christ ; for it is no flattery to say, they 
 are under His grace and mercy. Deal clearly, 
 that you are astonished at your frailties, because 
 you think you can never work enough, never 
 shun sin enough ; and though your conscience 
 condemn you, God will afford you equity against 
 the rigor of conscience : for He that searcheth 
 the heart, "knoweth what is the mind of the 
 Spirit." We are conceived in sin, and it is so 
 intimate unto us, that we have no promise to be 
 so spiritualized in this life, that we shall not 
 often trespass. " God hath included all in sin, 
 all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon 
 all." But it is one thing to fall into sin, another 
 thing to run into it — one thing to be carried 
 away by the passions of it, another to covet, 
 another thing to abide in it without repentance. 
 And great odds between those that are given 
 over to please themselves in filthiness, and be- 
 tween them that labor and desire to please God, 
 though many times they attain not to perfect 
 that willingness. 
 
 "Do you often accuse yourself of a weak 
 
CHRISTIAN COMFORT. 215 
 
 faith in secret unto God?" I like it for a 
 good symptom ; for a hypocrite doth not use to 
 accuse himself. "And do you bewail your 
 want to the Lord, because you would have it 
 better supplied ?" that is a good sign too, for it 
 is the same as to thirst for the living God. 
 Remember, and be assured, that you could not 
 miss Christ so much, unless Christ were in you. 
 Because God loves you. He seems to leave you, 
 and withdraws out of the way for a time, be- 
 cause He would be found ; and makes you de- 
 sire to seek him, that you may liold Him the 
 surer to you when you enjoy Him. Do you 
 look dejectedly upon your faith, because you 
 apprehend it is not full of life in the root, nor 
 laden with fruit in godly practice ? Woe be to 
 them that are not sensible of those infirmities. 
 It is one of the best lessons in the l^ew Testa- 
 ment, '' Be strong in the grace that is in Christ 
 Jesus," but it is one of the hardest. God gives 
 a measure of faith to all in the covenant that 
 call upon him ; but we have this gift in earthen 
 vessels, and taint it with the aifections of our 
 carnal mind. The best faith is weak and waver- 
 ing, short-sighted, riseth and falleth like a tune 
 in music ; therefore to encourage a j)eri:)lexed 
 mind, hearken to Isaiah : " Say to them that are 
 of a sorrowful heart, Be strong, fear not." For 
 though it be but an infant faith, it is a true 
 faith ; as an infant is a true man in the essence 
 
216 rOUETH TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 of a man, though not a man in growth ; perfect 
 in the real being, though not in the degrees 
 wherein we must strive to grow up more and 
 more. Will the righteous God require more of 
 a sick and feeble servant than his best endea- 
 vors ? Will not Christ accept from us the same 
 that he did from Mary that broke the box of 
 ointment over his head : '' She hath done what 
 she could?" Let a contrite heart, that would 
 fain be righteous, remember the prayer of Ne- 
 hemiah : " Let thine ear be attentive to the 
 prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy 
 name ;" or the protestation of St. Paul : " We 
 trust we have a good conscience, in all things 
 willing to live honestly." " Well," says a for- 
 lorn sinner, " my sins may not be out of possi- 
 bility of mercy ; but it is almost as bad that 
 they are in an unlikehood to mercy, for they 
 are very heinous." As unto that confession that 
 your trespasses are very heinous, conceive so of 
 them and spare not : true repentance thinks no 
 sin to be a little one. But be it so really ; yet 
 Aaron was not free from idolatry — nor David 
 from adultery — nor Peter from abjuration of 
 Christ — nor Paul from persecuting the Church 
 — nor Mary Magdalen from indefinite scandal, 
 who yet all obtained mercy; for a pattern to 
 them, who hereafter should believe in Christ to 
 everlasting life. They were called l^ovatians 
 who blotted out the beginning of the eighth 
 
CHRISTIAN- COMFORT. 217 
 
 chapter of St. John's gospel, because the storj 
 tells us, that Christ dismissed the woman taken 
 in adultery with a gracious gentleness. Why 
 should not His procedure in judgment be like 
 His doctrine ? 
 
 It is easy to get the favor of a gracious and a 
 gentle nature among the sons and daughters of 
 men ; and the most generous are the most recon- 
 cilable. Then what possibility, nay, what readi- 
 ness may we find to be reconciled to God, 
 " merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in 
 goodness and truth ?" 
 
 The means which the Father hath appointed 
 are excellent, into which " the angels desire to 
 look" — to give us redemption and forgiveness 
 of sins through the blood of Christ, according 
 to the riches of His grace. We have trespassed 
 against our God, but there is hope concerning 
 this thing. "Forgiveness of sins" is put into 
 our creed. He that doth not believe it, hath no 
 creed nor Christianity in him. And so, also, it 
 is put into our prayer. And He that taught us 
 to pray, " Forgive us our sins," hath taught us 
 this comfort, that sins are pardonable. 
 
 " Be merciful unto my sin, for it is great," 
 says David. This is not the way to deal with 
 mortal judges when we stand at their bar ; but 
 this is the way to obtain propitiation from our 
 God : " Heal me, for I am sore wounded ; cure 
 me, for I am very sick ; be merciful to my sin, 
 19 
 
218 FOUETH TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 for it is very great." In the immense value of 
 the price of the blood of Christ, there is re- 
 demption for every sinner that repents and be- 
 lieves. 
 
 Oh, lose not a syllable of such comfort in this 
 discomfortable world! E"o sins can supera- 
 bound His grace, if we do not sin presumptu- 
 ously, — because grace abounds. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Lord, my Saviour, whose mercy is infinite, 
 and whose wrath endureth bnt the twinkling of 
 an eye, pity my infirmities, and keep my life 
 from them that go down into hell; and when 
 my soul is vexed with sadness, turn my heavi- 
 ness into joy, by teaching me to rejoice in Thee, 
 who art become our mighty Saviour, and most 
 merciful Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
FIFTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 CHRISTIAN JOY. 
 
 "Eejoice in the Lord alway ; and again I say, Eejoice." 
 Fhilippians iv. 4. 
 
 The Gospel is called " Spirit," because it con- 
 sists of spiritual promises and spiritual precepts, 
 and makes all men tliat embrace it truly, to be 
 spiritual men ; and therefore St. Paul adds an 
 epithet beyond this, calling it " a quickening 
 Spirit;" that is, it puts life into spirits, which 
 the law could not. "Ye are not in the flesh 
 but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God 
 dwell in you." 
 
 " In the Spirit ;" that is, in the power of the 
 Spirit. As persons encompassed with guards 
 are in their power, under their command, moved 
 at their dispose, so are men who are in the 
 Spirit. They believe as He teaches ; they work 
 as He enables ; they choose what He calls good ; 
 they are friends of His friends ; and they hate 
 with His hatred ; with tliis only difference, that 
 persons in custody are forced to do what their 
 keepers please, and nothing is free but their 
 wills ; but they that are under the command of the 
 
220 FIFTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 Spirit, do all things which the Spirit commands, 
 but do them cheerfully, and their will is now 
 the prisoner; but it is where it onght to be, 
 and where it desires to be, and it cannot easily 
 choose any thing else, because it is extremely in 
 love with this ; as the saints and angels in their 
 state of beatific vision cannot choose but love 
 God ; and yet the liberty of their choice is not 
 lessened, because the object fills all the capaci- 
 ties of the will and the understanding. IN'o man 
 will complain that his temples are restrained, 
 and his head is prisoner, when it is encircled 
 with a crown ; and when the Son of God hath 
 made us free, and hath only subjected us to the 
 service and dominion of the Spirit, we are free 
 as princes within the circle of their diadem; 
 our chains are bracelets, and the law is a law of 
 liberty, and " His service is perfect freedom ;" 
 and the more we are subjects, the more we 
 shall reign as kings ; and the faster we run, the 
 easier is our burden ; and Christ's yoke is like 
 feathers to a bird ; not loads, but helps to mo- 
 tion ; — without them the body falls. 
 
 A man that hath tasted of God's Spirit can 
 instantly discern the madness that is in rage, 
 the folly and disease that are in envy, the dis- 
 honor that is in breaking our faith and telling a 
 lie ; and understands things truly as they are — 
 that is, that charity is the greatest nobleness in 
 the world ; that religion hath in it the greatest 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 221 
 
 pleasures ; that temperance is the best security 
 of health ; that humilitj is the surest way to 
 honor. And all these relishes are nothing but 
 antepasts of heaven, where the laborers in God's 
 vineyard shall worship eternally ; w^here St. 
 Peter and St. Paul do wear their crowns of 
 righteousness, and the patient persons shall be 
 rewarded with Job, and the meek persons with 
 Christ and Moses, and all with God. The very 
 expectation of which is so delicious an enter- 
 tainment of all our reasonable appetites that a 
 spiritual man can no more be removed or en- 
 ticed from the love of God and of religion, than 
 the moon from her orb, or a mother from loving 
 the son of her joys and of her sorrows. 
 
 I have read of a spiritual person who saw 
 Heaven, but in a dream, but such as made a 
 great impression on him ; and when he awaked 
 he knew not his cell, nor could tell how night 
 and day were distinguished, nor could discern 
 oil from wine, but called out for his vision 
 again. And this lasted till he was told of his 
 duty and matter of obedience, and the fear of a 
 sin had disencharmed him, and caused him to 
 take care lest he lose the substance out of 
 greediness to possess the shadow. And if it 
 were given to any of us to see paradise or the 
 third heaven (as it was to St. Paul), could it be 
 that ever we should love any thing but Christ, 
 or follow any guide but the Spirit, or desire any 
 9=- 
 
222 FIFTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 thing but Heaven, or understand any thing to 
 be pleasant but what shall lead thither ? Now 
 what a vision can do, that the Spirit doth cer 
 tainly to them that entertain Him. They that 
 have Him really, and not in pretence only, are 
 certainly great despisers of the things of this 
 world. For the Spirit makes us to " esteem all 
 things as loss so that we may gain Christ." E"o 
 gain then is pleasant but godliness, no ambition 
 but longings after Heaven, no revenge but 
 against ourselves for sinning, nothing but God 
 and Christ. As the King of Sodom said unto 
 Abraham, " Secure but the souls to us, and take 
 our goods." 
 
 St. John spake a hard saying, but by the 
 Spirit of manifestation we are all taught to 
 understand it : " Whosoever is born of God 
 doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in 
 him, and he cannot sin because he is born of 
 God." Every sin is against a good man's na- 
 ture ; he is ill at ease when he hath missed his 
 usual prayers ; he is amazed if he have fallen 
 into an error; he is infinitely ashamed of his 
 imprudence; he remembers a sin as he thinks 
 of an enemy, or the horrors of a midnight ap- 
 parition ; for all his capacities, his understand- 
 ing, and his choosing faculties are filled up with 
 the love and the desires of God. And this is 
 the great benefit of the 'Spirit which God hath 
 
CHRISTIAN JOY. 223 
 
 given to us as an antidote against worldly 
 pleasures. 
 
 But the Spirit of God is also given to all who 
 truly belong to Christ as an antidote against 
 sorrows, against impatience, against the evil 
 accidents of the world, and against the oppres- 
 sion and sinking of our spirits under the cross. 
 There is a certain joy and spiiitual rejoicing that 
 accompanies them in whom the Holy Ghost 
 doth dwell, a joy in the midst of sorrow : a joy 
 given to allay the sorrows of secular troubles, 
 and to alleviate the burden of persecution. 
 This St. Paul notes to this purpose : " And 
 ye became followers of us and of the Lord, 
 having received the word in much affliction, 
 with joy of the Holy Ghost." Worldly afflic- 
 tions and spiritual joy may very well dwell 
 together ; and if God did not supply us out of 
 His storehouses, the sorrow of this world would 
 be more and unmixed, and the troubles of per- 
 secution would be too great for natural confi- 
 dences. For who shall make him recompense 
 that lost his life in a duel, and by what instru- 
 ments shall we comfort a man who is sick, and 
 poor, and disgraced, and vicious, and despairs 
 of any thing hereafter ? That man's condition 
 proclaims what it is to want the Spirit of God, 
 "the Spirit of Comfort." Now this Spirit of 
 comfort is the hope and confidence, the certain 
 
224 FIFTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 expectation of partaking, in the inheritance of 
 Jesus ; this is the faith and patience of the 
 saints ; this is the refreshment of all wearied 
 travellers, the cordial of all languishing sinners, 
 the support of the scrupulous, the guide of the 
 doubtful, the anchor of timorous and fluctuating 
 souls, the confidence and the staff of the peni- 
 tent. He that is deprived of his whole estate 
 for a good conscience, bv tne Spirit he meets 
 this couilbrt, that he shall find it again with 
 advantage in the day of restitution: and this 
 comfort was so manifest in the first days of 
 Christianity, that it was no unfrequent thing to 
 see holy persons court a martyrdom, with a 
 fondness as great as is our impatience and tim- 
 orousness in every persecution. 
 
 The man that is in a great joy cares not for 
 any trouble that is less than his joy ; and God 
 hath taken so great care to secure this to us, that 
 He hath turned it into a precept : " Rejoice ever- 
 more;" and "Eejoice in the Lordalway; and 
 again I say. Rejoice." But this rejoicing must 
 be only in the hope that is laid up for us. For 
 although God sometimes makes a cup of sen- 
 sible comfort to overflow the spirit of a man, 
 and thereby loves to refresh his sorrows ; yet 
 this is from a secret principle not regularly 
 given, not to be waited for, not to be prayed 
 for, and it may fail us if we think upon it; but 
 the hope of life eternal can never fail us, and 
 
CHRISTIAN JOT. 225 
 
 the joy of tliat is great enough to make us suffer 
 any thing, or to do any thing. 
 
 To death, to bands, to poverty, to banishment, 
 to tribunals — any whither in hope of life eternal ! 
 
 As long as this anchor holds we may suffer a 
 storm, but cannot suffer shipwreck. And I 
 desire you to observe how good a God w^e 
 serve, and how excellent a religion He has 
 taught, when one of His great precepts is that 
 we should ''rejoice and be exceeding glad." 
 God hath given us the spirit of rejoicing ; not a 
 sullen melancholy spirit ; not the spirit of bond- 
 age, or of a slave, but the Spirit of His Son ; 
 consigning us by a holy conscience to joys un- 
 speakable and full of glory. 
 
 PKATEE. 
 
 O God, whose mercy reacheth unto the hea- 
 vens, and Thy righteousness unto the clouds, 
 teach me to abhor every thing that is evil, and 
 to set myself in every good way ; that my trust 
 being under the shadow of Thy wings, I may 
 rejoice in Thy loving-kindness all the days of 
 my life ; and at last may be satisfied with the 
 plenteousness of Thy house, and in the light of 
 Thy countenance may see everlasting light, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
FIFTH THUESDAY IN LEI^T. 
 
 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 
 
 "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us 
 go on unto perfection." Heb. vi. 1. 
 
 When Hystaspes asked Cyrus the Persian why 
 he preferred Chrysantas before him, since he did 
 obey all his commands; the prince answered: 
 *' Chrysantas does not stay till he is called ; and 
 does not only what is commanded, but what is 
 best, what he knows is most pleasing." So does 
 every perfect man, according to the degrees of 
 his love and his perfection. " The righteousness 
 of a perfect man consists not in legal innocence, 
 but in love and voluntary obedience." This is 
 that charity which is the glory of Christianity, 
 the crown of all other graces. '' The servant 
 that must be called upon at every step, is but an 
 unprofitable and unworthy person :" to do only 
 what we are commanded will never bring us to 
 the portion and inheritance of sons. We must 
 do this cheerfully, and we must do more : ever 
 contend to please God with doing that which is 
 the righteousness of God, striving for perfection 
 till perfection itself becomes perfect : still obey- 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 227 
 
 ing that law of sons, " Love the Lord with all 
 thy heart,'' till our charity itself is crowned. 
 Every person therefore that is in the state of 
 grace, and designs to do his duty, must think of 
 what is before him, not what is past; of the 
 stages that are not yet run, not of those little 
 portions of his course he hath already finished. 
 For so did the contenders in the Olympic 
 games — never look behind but contend forwards : 
 and from hence St. Paul gives the rule I have 
 now described. " Brethren, I count not myself 
 to have apprehended : but this one thing I do, 
 forgetting those things that are behind, and 
 reaching forth to those things which are before, I 
 press toward the mark for the prize of the high 
 calling. Let therefore as many as be perfect, be 
 thus minded." Christian perfection is always 
 growing ; it stands not till it arrives at the crown- 
 ing of him that runs. And if St. Paul, who had 
 done so much, and suffered so much, was not 
 very confident, but that if he did look back he 
 might also fall back ; what shall we say, whose 
 perfection is so little, so infant and imperfect, 
 that we are come forwards but a little, and have 
 great spaces still to measure ? 
 
 Every man therefore that is, or desires to be 
 perfect, must endeavor to make up the imperfec- 
 tion or meanness of his services, by a great, a 
 prompt, an 'obedient, and a loving mind. Tliere 
 is a sort of working, and there are some such 
 
FrPTH THTJESDAT IN LENT. 
 
 servants wliicli our Lord uses, witli the usages of 
 sons, not of slaves or servants. " He will gird 
 Himself and serve them ;" " He will call them 
 friends, and not servants." These are such as 
 serve, as St. Paul expresses it, " in the simplicity 
 of their heart ; not with eye service ;" but hon- 
 estly, heartily, zealously and affectionately. 
 
 To be good according to the rigor of the law, 
 to do what w^e are forced to do, and to go to- 
 wards evil or danger as far as we can — these 
 are no good signs of a filial spirit, this is not 
 Christian perfection. God forbids unmerciful- 
 ness : he that is not unmerciful keeps the com- 
 mandment ; but he that, besides his abstinence 
 from unmercifulness according to the command- 
 ment, shall open his hand and his heart, and 
 give plentifully to the poor, — this man shall 
 have a reward ; he is among those servants 
 whom his " Lord will make to sit down, and 
 himself will serve him." God commands us to 
 pray. He obeys this, that constantly and de- 
 voutly keeps his morning and evening sacrifice, 
 offering devoutly twice a day. Lie that prays 
 thrice a day does better ; and he that prays seven 
 times a day hath done no work of supererroga- 
 tion, but does what he does in pursuance of the 
 commandment. 
 
 All the difference is in the manner of doing 
 what is commanded ; for no man can do more 
 than he is commanded. But some do it better. 
 
CHRISTIAN 'PEEFECTIOI^'. 229 
 
 some less perfectly; but all is comprehended 
 under this commandment of loving God with all 
 our hearts. Again, when St. Paul exhorted the 
 Corinthians to give a free contribution to the 
 poor saints at Jerusalem, he invites to do it nobly 
 and cheerfully, not as of constraint ; for God's 
 commandment named not the sum, neither can 
 the degree of affection be named ; but yet God 
 demands all our affection. And so, in all doubts, 
 to take the surest side ; to determine always for 
 religion, when without sin we might have de- 
 termined for interest ; to do all our duty by the 
 measures of love and of the Spirit, are instances 
 of this filial obedience, and are rewarded by a 
 persuasion and confidence of God's love to us, 
 enabling us to call Him Father as well as Lord. 
 
 Let no man, therefore, propound to himself a 
 limit of duty, saying he will go so far, and no 
 farther. For the commandment is infinite ; and 
 though every good man obeys it all the way of 
 his holy conversation, yet it shall not be finished 
 till his life is done. When the object is infinite, 
 true love is not at rest till it hath possessed what 
 is infinite. 
 
 I^either let any man boast himself in the most 
 glorious services and performances of religion. 
 For " humility without external works is more 
 pleasing to God than pride, though standing upon 
 heaps of excellent actions." " Boast not if thou 
 hast well obeyed," said one ; " the sun and the 
 20 
 
230 FIFTH THIJKSDAY IN LENT. 
 
 moon do so," and shall never be rewarded. 
 When ourselves and all our faculties are from 
 God, He hath power to demand all onr services 
 without reward ; and therefore, if he will reward 
 ns, it must wholly be a gift to us that He will so 
 crown our services. But He does not only give 
 ns all our being and all our faculties, but makes 
 them also irriguous with the dew of His divine 
 grace ; sending His only Son to call us to repent- 
 ance, and to die to obtain for ns pardon, and 
 resurrection, and eternal life ; sending His Holy 
 Spirit by rare arguments, and aids external and 
 internal, to help us in our spiritual contentions 
 and difficulties : while, besides these considera- 
 tions, many sins are forgiven to us, and the ser- 
 vice of a whole life cannot make recompense for 
 the intimate favor of receiving pardon. 
 
 This is so much the more material, if we con- 
 sider that the littleness of our services (if other 
 things were away) could not countervail the least 
 moment of eternity ; and the poor countryman 
 might as well have demanded of Cyrus to give 
 him a province for his handful of river-water, as 
 we can expect of God to give us Heaven as a 
 reward of our good works. 
 
 But although this rule, relying upon such 
 great and convincing grounds, can abolish all 
 proud expectations of reward from God as a 
 debtor for our good works, yet it ought not to 
 destroy our modest confidence and our rejoic- 
 
CHKISTIAN PERFECTION. 231 
 
 ings in God, who by His gracious promises hath 
 not only obliged Himself to help us if we pray 
 to Him, but to reward us if we work. For '' our 
 God is merciful. He rewardeth every man ac- 
 cording to his work," so said David ; according 
 to the nature and graciousness of the work, not 
 according to their value and proper worthiness ; 
 not that they deserve it, but because God for the 
 communication of His goodness was pleased to 
 promise it. " God promised freely, and pays 
 freely." " If, therefore, thou wilt obtain grace 
 and favor, make no mention of thy deservings. 
 And yet let not this slacken thy work, but rein- 
 force it, and enlarge thy industry, since thou 
 hast a gracious Lord," who of His own mere 
 goodness will so plentifully reward it. Spiritual 
 23ersons, therefore, and the nearest relations to 
 God, stand by Him but so long as they dwell 
 low and safe in humility, and rise high in noth- 
 ing but in labors, and zeal of souls and devotion. 
 And to that fervor and zeal, it is required that 
 we be constant and persevering. " Be faithful 
 unto death," said the Spirit of God to the angel 
 of the Church of Smyrna, " and I will give thee 
 a crown of life." This fire must never go out, 
 but it must be like the fire of Heaven, it must 
 shine like the stars. Though sometimes covered 
 with a cloud, or obscured by a greater light, yet 
 they dwell forever in their orbs, and walk in 
 their circles, and observe their circumstances, 
 
^32 FIFTH THURSDAY IN LENT. 
 
 but go not out by day nor night, and set not 
 when kings die, nor are extinguished when na- 
 tions change their government. So must the 
 zeal of the Christian be — a constant incentive to 
 his duty ; and though sometimes his hand is 
 drawn back by violence or need, and his prayers 
 shortened by the importunities of business, and 
 some parts omitted by necessities and just com- 
 pliances, yet still the fire is kept alive ; it burns 
 within when the light breaks not forth, and is 
 eternal as the orb of fire, or the embers of the 
 altar of incense. I shall only add what an old 
 spiritual person told a novice in religion, asking 
 him the cause why he so often suffered tedious- 
 ness in his religious offices : " Young man, thou 
 hast not seen the glories which are laid up for 
 the zealous and devout, nor yet beheld the 
 flames which are prepared for the lukewarm and 
 the haters of strict devotion." The Jews tell 
 that Adam, having seen the beauties and tasted 
 the delicacies of Paradise, repented and mourned 
 upon the Indian mountains for three hundred 
 years together ; and we, who have a great share 
 in the cause of his sorrows, can by nothing be 
 invited to a persevering, a great, and a passion- 
 ate religion, more than by remembering what he 
 lost, and what is laid up for them wliose hearts 
 are burning lamps, and are all on fire with Di- 
 vine love ; whose flames are fanned with the 
 wings of the Holy Dove ; and whose spirits shine 
 
CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. 233 
 
 and burn with that fire which the Holy Jesus 
 came to enkindle upon the earth. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Blessed Lord God, whose words are light 
 and life to the obedient and believing soul, let 
 Thy grace so purify my heart that I may be un- 
 defiled in Thy way, keeping Thy testimonies, 
 and serving Thee with my whole heart; that 
 my ways being made direct without wandering 
 into by-paths, I may at length attain to the 
 country of my inheritance, the land of glorious 
 and eternal promises, through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Amen. 
 
 20« 
 
FIFTH FKIDAT IN LEKT. 
 
 THE FIRST BEATITUDE. 
 
 " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs is the kingdom of 
 Heaven." Matt. v. 3. 
 
 The eight beatitudes, which are the duty of a 
 Christian, and the rule of our spirit, and the 
 special discipline of Christ, seem like so many- 
 paradoxes and impossibilities reduced to reason ; 
 and are indeed virtues made excellent by re- 
 wards, by the sublimity of grace and the mer- 
 cies of God, hallowing and crowning those 
 habits which are despised by the w^orld, and are 
 esteemed the conditions of lower and less con- 
 siderable people. They are states of suffering 
 rather than states of life : for the great employ- 
 ment of a Christian being to bear the cross, 
 Christ laid the pedestal so low, that the rewards 
 were like rich mines interred in the deeps and 
 inaccessible retirements, and did choose to build 
 our felicities upon the torrents and violences of 
 affliction and sorrow. Without these graces we 
 cannot get to Heaven ; and without sorrow and 
 sad accidents we cannot exercise these graces. 
 
 " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs is 
 
THE rmST BEATTTUDE. 235 
 
 tlie kingdom of heaven." Poverty of spirit is in 
 respect of secular affluence and abundance, or 
 in respect of great opinion and high thoughts. 
 That the first is one of the meanings of this text 
 is certain, because St. Luke, repeating this be- 
 atitude, delivers it plainly : " Blessed are the 
 poor;" and to it he opposes riches. And our 
 blessed Saviour speaks so suspiciously of riches 
 and rich men, that he represents the condition 
 to be full of danger and temptation ; and, if we 
 consider our vocation, St. Paul informs us, that 
 " not many mighty, not many noble, are called ;" 
 but " God hath chosen the poor of this world, 
 rich in faith." How " hard it is for a rich man 
 to enter into Heaven," our great Master hath 
 taught us, by saying, "It is more easy for a 
 camel to pass through a needle's eye." And 
 the reason is, because of the infinite temptation 
 which riches minister to our spirits; it being 
 such an opportunity of vices, that nothing re- 
 mains to countermand the act but a strong, 
 resolute, unaltered, and habitual purpose, and 
 pure love of virtue ; while poverty is the sister 
 of a good mind, and ministers aid to wisdom, 
 industry to our spirit, severity to our thoughts, 
 soberness, to counsels, and modesty to our de- 
 sires. 
 
 But it is not a mere poverty of possession 
 which entitles us to the blessing, but a poverty 
 of spirit ; that is, a contentedness in every state, 
 
236 FIFTH FRIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 an aptness to renounce all when we are obliged 
 in duty, a refusing to continue a possession 
 when we must for it quit a virtue or a noble 
 action, a divorce of our affections from those 
 gilded vanities, and a generous contempt of the 
 world. Poverty of spirit accounts riches to be 
 the servants of God first, and then of ourselves, 
 being sent by God, and to return when He 
 pleases, and all the while they are with us to do 
 His business. It is a looking upon riches and 
 things of the earth, as they do who look upon it 
 from Heaven, to whom it appears little and un- 
 profitable. And because the residence of this 
 blessed poverty is in the mind, it follows that 
 all that humility of mind which depauperates 
 the spirit, making it less worldly and more spir- 
 itual, is the duty here enjoined. For if a man 
 throws away his gold, as did Crates the Theban, 
 or the proud philosopher Diogenes, and yet 
 leaves a spirit, high, airy, fantastical, and vain, 
 pleasing himself, and with complacency reflect- 
 ing upon his own act, his poverty is but a cir- 
 cumstance of pride, and the opportunity of an 
 imaginary and secular greatness. Ananias and 
 Sapphira renounced the world by selling their 
 possessions; but because they were not "poor 
 in spirit," but still retained affections to the 
 world, therefore they " kept back part of the 
 price," and lost their hopes. The church of 
 Laodicea was possessed with a spirit of pride, 
 
THE FIRST BEATITUDE. 237 
 
 and flattered themselves in imaginary riches; 
 they were not poor in spirit, but they were poor 
 in possession and condition. These wanted hu- 
 mility, the other wanted a generous contem.pt of 
 worldly things ; and both were destitute of this 
 grace. 
 
 K we consider that God sent his only-begot- 
 ten and beloved Son into the world, in all the 
 dresses of poverty and contempt ; that person 
 must needs be vain, who thinks God will love 
 him better than He loved His own Son, or 
 that He will express His love any other or 
 gentler way, than to make him partaker of the 
 fortune of His eldest Son. 
 
 For in the birth of Christ are concentred the 
 prodigies of greatness and goodness, of wisdom 
 and charity, of meekness and humility. As 
 God, Christ's throne was in the Heaven, and He 
 filled all things by His immensity ; as man, He 
 was imprisoned in an imeasy cradle. As God, 
 He was seated upon a super-exalted throne ; as 
 man, exposed to the lowest estate of uneasiness 
 and need. As God, He was encircled with 
 millions of angels ; as man, in the company of 
 beasts. As God, He was the Eternal Tford of 
 the Father — eternal, sustained by Himself, all- 
 sufficient, and without need: and yet He sub- 
 mitted Himself to a condition imperfect, in- 
 glorious, indigent, and necessitous. 
 
 This consideration is apt and natural to pro- 
 
238 FIFTH FRIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 duce great affections of love, dutj, and ob"^- 
 dience, desire of union and conformity to His 
 sacred person, life, actions, and laws ; from 
 hence taking patterns of imitation, becoming 
 His disciples, and strictly observing the rules 
 of His lioly institution, — "sitting at the feet" 
 of this our greatest Master. 
 
 They that would be poor in spirit must there- 
 fore cast oif all inordinate affection to riches; 
 that is, in heart and spirit : they must quit 
 the possession of all riches, and actually do 
 so when God requires it, when the retaining 
 riches loses a virtue. They must be well 
 pleased with the whole economy of God, His 
 providence and disj)ensation of all things, being 
 contented in all estates ; employing that w^ealth 
 which God hath given in actions of justice and 
 religion ; being thankful to God in all temporal 
 losses, not distrusting God, or being solicitous 
 and fearful of want in the future. They must 
 also put off the spirit of vanity, pride, and 
 fantastic complacency in themselves, thinking 
 lowly or meanly of whatsoever they are to do : 
 they must prefer others before themselves, con- 
 tentedly receive affronts, deny their own will 
 in all instances of subordination to superiors, 
 and their own judgment in matters of difficulty 
 and question, permitting themselves and their 
 affairs to the advice of wiser men, and the de- 
 cision of those who are trusted with the cure of 
 
THE FIEST BEATITUDE. 239 
 
 tlieir souls : above all, they must empty them- 
 selves of themselves, and throw themselves 
 wholly upon God, relying upon His providence, 
 trusting Ilis promises, craving His grace, and 
 depending upon His strength for all actions, 
 and deliverances, and duties. 
 
 The reward promised is " the kingdom of 
 heaven. Fear not, little flock, it is your Fa- 
 ther's pleasure to give you a kingdom." 
 
 In this life, indeed, the servants of God must 
 live under the cross. " He that w^ill be My dis- 
 ciple, let him deny himself, and take up his 
 cross and follow Me," said our glorious Lord 
 and Master. And the prophetic precept we 
 see verilied by the experience of every day. 
 For here the violent oppress the meek ; and 
 they who are charitable receive injuries. The 
 Apostles who preached Christ cruciiied were 
 themselves persecuted, and put to violent 
 deaths ; and Christianity itself for three hun- 
 dred years was the public hatred ; and how 
 many millions of sighs does God every day re- 
 cord, while the oppressed and the poor pray 
 unto Him, worship Him, speak great things of 
 His holy name, beg for help that they may be- 
 come gracious in His eyes, and are so ; and yet 
 never sing in all their life, but when they sing 
 God's praises out of duty, with a sad heart and 
 a hopeful spirit, living only upon the future, 
 and sustained only by the hope of to-morrow's 
 
240 FIFTH FRIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 event ; knowing they shall never be happy till 
 " the new heavens and the new earth" appear. 
 
 Yet this is not to be so understood as if the 
 servants of God have not many refreshments, 
 and great comforts, and the perpetual festivities 
 of a holy conscience. But God, who intends 
 vast portions of felicity to His children, does 
 not reckon those little joys into the account of 
 the portion of His elect. The good things 
 which they have in this world are not little, if 
 we account the joys of religion, and the peace 
 of conscience among things valuable ; but 
 their good, and their prepared portion shall be 
 hereafter. As for the evil which they must 
 suffer and overcome, it is such a portion of this 
 life as our blessed Saviour had ; injuries and 
 temptations, poverty and labor, humility and 
 patience. It is well ; it is very well ; — and 
 who can long for, or expect better here ; when 
 his Lord and Saviour had a state of things so 
 very much worse than the worst of our calami- 
 ties? Bad as it is, it is to be chosen rather 
 than a better. It is Jacob's ladder upon which 
 the Saints and the King of Saints did descend, 
 and at last descend to heaven itself. It is a 
 sharp, but it is a short way to bliss. For it is 
 remarkable in the parable of Dives and Lazarus 
 that the poor man, the afflicted Saint, died 
 first. Dives being permitted to his purple and 
 fine linen, to his delicious fare, and (which he 
 
TIIE FIRST BEATITUDE. 241 
 
 most of all needed) to a space of repentance ; 
 but in tlie mean time, the poor man was rescued 
 from his sad portion in this life, and carried 
 into Abraham's bosom. The storm was quickly 
 over with the poor man, and the angel of God 
 brought the good man's soul to a safe port, 
 where he should be disturbed no more : and so 
 saith the Spirit, " Blessed are the dead which 
 die in the Lord." For to them, death hath not 
 only lost his sting, but brings a coronet in his 
 hand, which will invest and adorn the heads 
 of Saints, till the day come in which the crown 
 of righteousness shall be brought forth to give 
 them the investiture of an everlastino^ kingdom. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Blessed Saviour, Thou only Eedeemer of 
 our souls, who by Thy death and Passion, hast 
 delivered us from the place of hell ; give me 
 grace to put my whole trust in Thee, and in the 
 riches of Thy mercy and loving-kindness ; teach 
 me to despise the world and worldly things, and 
 to lay np my treasure in heaven, by charity and 
 actions of religion, that while I live here I may 
 have my conversation in heaven, and finally be 
 received into everlasting habitations, there to 
 enjoy the light of Thy presence, who livest and 
 reignest Eternal God, world without end. Amen. 
 21 
 
FIFTH SATURDAY m LENT. 
 
 THE SECOND BEATITUDE. 
 
 " Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be comforted." 
 Matt. v. 4. 
 
 " Blessed are tliey that mourn : for thej shall 
 be comforted." " Tribulation worketh patience ;" 
 and therefore, " we glory in it," saith St. Paul ; 
 and as men do well, and suffer evil, so they are 
 dear to God ; and whom He loves most He 
 afflicts most, and does this with a design of the 
 greatest mercy in the world. 
 
 The state of the Gospel is a state of sufferings, 
 not of temporal prosperities. All that Christ 
 came for, was, or was mingled with, sufferings ; 
 for all those little joys which God sent, either to 
 recreate His person, or to illustrate His office, 
 were abated, or attended with afflictions : God 
 being more careful to establish in Him the cove- 
 nant of sufferings, than to refresh His sorrows. 
 Presently after the angels had finished their 
 hallelujahs, He w^as forced to fly to save His 
 life ; and the air became full of shrieks of the 
 desolate mothers of Bethlehem for their dying 
 babes : God had no sooner made Him illustrious 
 
THE SECOND BEATITUDE. 243 
 
 with a voice from heaven, and the descent of 
 the Holy Ghost upon Him in the waters of Bap- 
 tism, hut He was delivered over to he tempted 
 and assaulted in the wilderness. His traustigu- 
 ration was a bright ray T)f glory ; but then also 
 He entered into a cloud, and was told a sad story 
 what He was to suffer at Jerusalem. And upon 
 Palm Sunday — when He rode triumphantly into 
 Jerusalem, and was adorned with the acclama- 
 tions of a King and a God — He wet the palms 
 with His tears, sweeter than the drops of manna, 
 or the little pearls of heaven that descended 
 upon Mount Hermon ; weeping, in the midst of 
 this triumph over obstinate, perishing, and ma- 
 licious Jerusalem. 
 
 But I need not tell, that Jesus, beloved of 
 God, was a suffering person ; that which con- 
 cerns this question most, is, that He made for 
 us a covenant of suffering. His doctrines were 
 such as expressly enjoin and suppose sufferings 
 and a state of affliction ; His very promises were 
 sufferings ; His beatitudes were sufferings ; His 
 rewards, and His arguments to invite men to 
 follow Him, were only taken from sufferings in 
 this life, and the reward of sufferings hereafter. 
 For, if we sum uj) the commandments of Christ, 
 we shall find humility — mortification — self-deni- 
 al — repentance — renouncing the world — mourn- 
 ing — taking up the Cross — dying for Him — 
 patience — and poverty — to stand in the chiefest 
 
244 FUTH SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 rank of Christian virtues, and in the direct order 
 to heaven. " He that will be My disciple must 
 deny himself, and take up his cross and follow 
 Me." If we will serve the King of sufferings — 
 whose crown was of thorns, whose sceptre was a 
 reed of scorn, whose imperial robe was a scarlet 
 mockery, whose throne was the cross — we must 
 serve Him in sufferings, in poverty of sj^irit, in 
 humility and mortification. 
 
 For Christ — who began, and lived, and died 
 in sorrows, perceiving His own sufferings to 
 succeed so w^ell, and that, " for suffering death, 
 He was croAvned with immortality" — resolved 
 to take all His disciples and servants to the 
 fellowship of the same suffering, that they might 
 have a participation of His glory ; knowing that 
 God had oj)ened no gate of heaven but "the 
 narrow gate" to which the cross was the way. 
 And since Christ, now being our High Priest in 
 heaven, intercedes for us, by representing His 
 Passion, that even in glory He might still pre- 
 serve the mercies of His past sufferings, for 
 wdiich the Father did so delight in Him ; He 
 also designs to present us to God, dressed in 
 the same robe, and treated in the same manner, 
 and honored w^ith " the marks of the Lord Je- 
 sus :" "He hath predestinated us to be con- 
 formable to the image of His Son." And if, 
 under a head crowned with thorns, we bring to 
 God members circled with roses, and softness, 
 
THE SECOND BEATITUDE. 24:5 
 
 and delicacy, triumphant members in the mili- 
 tant church, God will reject us ; He will not 
 know us Avho are so unlike our Elder Brother. 
 
 And, indeed, it is so glorious a thing to be 
 like Christ, to be dressed like the Prince of the 
 Catholic Church, who was a man of sufferings, 
 and to whom a prosperous and unafflicted per- 
 son is very unlike, that in all ages the servants 
 of God have put on the armor of righteousness, 
 on the right hand and on the left: that is, in 
 the sufferings of persecution, or the labors of 
 mortification ; by toleration or self-denial ; by 
 actual martyrdom or by aptness and disposition 
 towards it ; by dying for Christ or suffering for 
 Him ; by being willing to part with all when 
 He calls for it, and by parting with what we 
 can for the relief of His poor members. For 
 know this — there is no state in the Church so 
 serene, no days so prosperous, in which God 
 does not give to His servants'the powers and 
 opportunities of suffering for Him. Not only 
 they that die for Christ, but they that die ac- 
 cording to His laws, shall find some lives to 
 part with, and many ways to suffer for Christ. 
 To kill and crucify the old man and his lusts, to 
 mortify a beloved sin, to suffer affi'onts patient- 
 ly, to displease men rather than God, to be at 
 enmity with the world that you may preserve 
 friendship with God, to take pains in the cause 
 of religion, the " labor of love," and the crossing 
 
 21 « 
 
246 FIFTH SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 of your anger, peevislmess and morosity : these 
 are the daily sufferings of a Christian ; and if we 
 perform them well, will have the same reward, 
 and an equal smart, and greater labor, than the 
 plain suffering the hangman's sword. 
 
 " Judgment must begin at God's house," and 
 enters first upon the sons and heirs of the king- 
 dom ; and if it be not by the direct persecution 
 of tyrants, it will be by the direct persecution 
 of the devil, or infirmities of our own flesh. 
 And if God was fain to multiply miracles to 
 make Christ capable of being a '' man of sor- 
 rows ;" shall we think He will work miracles to 
 make us delicate ? He promised us a glorious 
 portion hereafter, to which, if all the sufferings 
 of the world were put together tlioy ai*e not to 
 be compared ; and shall we, with Dives, choose 
 our portion of "good things in this life?" If 
 Christ suffered so many things only that He 
 might give us glory, shall, it be strange that we 
 shall suffer who are to receive His glory ? How 
 little is the faith, and how much less is the 
 patience of Christians, if they shall think much 
 to suffer sorrow, since they so clearly see with 
 the eye of faith the great things which are laid 
 up for them that are " faithful unto the death." 
 The sufferings of the saints are the sum of Chris- 
 tian philosophy : they are sent to wean us from 
 the vanities and affections of this world, and to 
 create in us strong desires of heaven ; while God 
 
THE SECOND BEATITUDE. 247 
 
 causes ns to be here treated rudely, that we may 
 long to be in our country, where God shall be 
 our portion and angels our companions, and 
 Christ our perpetual feast, and never-ceasing 
 joy shall be our conditions and entertainment. 
 " O death, how bitter art thou to a man that is 
 at ease and rest in his possessions!" But he 
 that is uneasy in his body and unquiet in his 
 possessions, vexed in his person, discomposed in 
 his designs, who finds no pleasure, no rest here, 
 will be glad to fix his heart where only he shall 
 have what he can desire, and what can make 
 him happy. 
 
 And let us remember, the worst of evils that 
 happen to the godly is better, temporally better, 
 than the greatest external felicity of the wicked. 
 IS'ot only in the end of affairs, and at sunset, but 
 all the day long, the godly man is happy, and 
 the ungodly and the sinner are very miserable. 
 For the godly man is timorous, and yet safe ; 
 tossed by the seas, and yet safe at anchor ; im- 
 paired by evil accidents, and righted by Divine 
 comforts; made sad with a black cloud, and 
 refreshed with a more gentle influence ; abused 
 by the world, and yet an heir of heaven ; hated 
 by men and beloved of God. He quits a con- 
 venient lodging-room, and purchases a glorious 
 country ; is forsaken by his friends, but never 
 by a good conscience; he fares hardly, and 
 sleeps sweetly; he flies from his enemies, but 
 
2i8 FIFTH SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 hath no distracting fears ; he is full of thought, 
 but of no amazement ; it is his business to be 
 troubled, and his portion to be comforted ; he 
 hath nothing to afflict him but the loss of that 
 which might be his danger, but can never be 
 his good; and in the recompense of this, he hath 
 God for his Father, Christ for his Captain, the 
 Holy Ghost for his Supporter ; so that he shall 
 have all the good which God can give him, and 
 of all that good he hath the Holy Trinity for an 
 earnest, and a gage for his maintenance at the 
 present, and his portion to all eternity. 
 
 PKAYEE. 
 
 O Lord God, who dwellest in the heavens, 
 and in whose IS'ame standeth our help ; have 
 mercy upon me in all my trials, in contempt, in 
 poverty, in temptation and sorrow. Let me 
 never be distrustful of Thy Providence ; but 
 make me willing to follow after my merciful 
 Saviour, who suffered the contradiction of sin- 
 ners, and left sorrow and afflictions entailed 
 upon His Church ; and grant that, by suffering 
 with Him here, I may at last reign with Him 
 in glory, for the sake of His infinite merits. 
 Amen. 
 
FIFTH SUKDAY m LENT. 
 
 CHRIST'S JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. 
 
 " And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should 
 be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusa- 
 lem." Luke ix. 51. 
 
 He that hatli observed the story of the life 
 of Jesus cannot but see it, all the way, to be 
 strewed with thorns and sharp-pointed stones ; 
 and although by the kisses of His feet they be- 
 came precious and salutary, yet they procured 
 to Him sorrow and disease. It was " meat and 
 drink to Him to do His Father's will," but it 
 was " bread of affliction, and rivers of tears to 
 drink ;" and for these He thirsted like the earth 
 after the cool stream. For so great was His 
 perfection, so exact the conformity of His will, 
 so absolute the subordination of His inferior 
 faculties to the infinite love of God, that He 
 never considered the taste, but the goodness; 
 never distinguished sweet from bitter, but duty 
 and piety always prepared His table. And 
 now, knowing that His time, determined by the 
 Fathei', was nigh, He hastened up to Jerusalem. 
 " He went before" His disciples, saitli St. Mark, 
 
250 FIFTH SUNDAY EST LENT. 
 
 " and they followed Him trembliiigand amazed ;" 
 and yet, before that, when His brethren obsers^ed 
 He had a design of publication of Himself, He 
 suffered them "to go before Him," and went 
 up, as it were, in secret. For so are we invited 
 to martyrdom and suffering in a Christian cause, 
 by so great an example. The Holy Jesus is 
 gone before us, and it were a holy contention to 
 strive whose zeal were forwardest in the designs 
 of humiliation and self-denial ; but it were also 
 well, if, in doing ourselves secular advantage, 
 and promoting our worldly interest, we should 
 follow Him who was ever more distant from re- 
 ceiving honors than from receiving a painful 
 death. 
 
 Those affections, which dwell in sadness and 
 are married to grief, and lie at the foot of the 
 cross, and trace the sad steps of Jesus, have the 
 wisdom of recollection, the temper of sobriety, 
 and are the best imitations of Jesus and securi- 
 ties against the levities of a dispersed and a 
 vain spirit. 
 
 This was intimated by many of the disciples 
 of Jesus in the days of the Spirit, and, when 
 they had tasted of the good word of God, and 
 the powers of the world to come ; for then we 
 find many ambitious of martyrdom, and that 
 laid stratagems and designs, by unusual deaths, 
 to get a crown. And if these lesser stars shine 
 so brightly, and burn so warmly, what heat of 
 
CHRIST'S JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. 251 
 
 love may we suppose to liave been in tlie Sun 
 of Righteousness? If they went fast towards 
 the crown of martyrdom, yet we know that the 
 Holy Jesus went before them all. No wonder 
 that '*IIe cometh forth as a bridegroom from 
 his chamber, and rejoiceth as a giant to run his 
 course." 
 
 AVhen the disciples had overtaken Jesus, He 
 began to them a sad homily upon the old text 
 of suffering, which He had well-nigh for a year 
 together preached upon ; but, because it was an 
 unpleasing lesson, so contradictory to those in- 
 terests, upon the hopes of which they had enter- 
 tained themselves, and spent all their desii'es, 
 they could by no means understand it. But it 
 concerned Christ to speak so plainly, that His 
 disciples, by what was to happen within live or 
 six days, might not be scandalized, or believe it 
 happened to Jesus without His knowledge and 
 voluntary entertainment. He told them there- 
 fore of His sufferings, to be accomplished in 
 this journey to Jerusalem. And here the dis- 
 ciples showed themselves to be but men full of 
 passion and indiscreet affection ; and the bold 
 Galilean, St. Peter, took the boldness to dis- 
 suade his Master from so great an infelicity, 
 and met with a reprehension so great, that 
 neither the scribes nor the Pharisees, nor 
 Herod himself, ever met with its parallel. Jesus 
 called him Satan ; meaning that no greater 
 
252 FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 
 
 contradiction can be offered to tlie designs of 
 God and His holy Son than to dissuade ns from 
 suffering. 
 
 And if we understood how great are the 
 advantages of a suffering condition, we should 
 think all our daggers gilt, and our pavements 
 strewed with roses, and our halters silken, and 
 the rack an instrument of pleasure, and be most 
 impatient of those temptations which seduce us 
 into ease, and divorce ns from the cross ; as 
 being opposite to our greatest hopes and most 
 perfect desires. But still this humor of St. 
 Peter's imperfection abides among ns. He 
 that breaks off the yoke of obedience, and 
 unties the bands of discipline, and preaches a 
 cheap religion, and presents Heaven in the 
 midst of flowers, and strews carpets softer than 
 the Asian luxury, in the way, and sets the songs 
 of Zion to the tunes of Persian and lighter airs, 
 and offers great liberty of living, and bondage 
 under affection and sins, and reconciles Eternity 
 with the present enjoyment, he sliall have his 
 schools filled with disciples : but he that preaches 
 the cross and the severities of Christianity, and 
 the strictnesses of a holy life, shall have the lot 
 of his Blessed Lord ; he shall be thought ill of 
 and deserted. 
 
 For men, in all ages, will be tampering with 
 shadows and toys. The Apostles at no hand 
 could endure to hear that Christ's "kingdom 
 
was not of tliis world," and that their Master 
 should die a sad and shameful death ; and yet, 
 after Christ's time, when His disciples had 
 taken up the cross, and were marching the 
 King's highway of sorrow, the Gospel grew in 
 persecutions ; and as Christ's blood did cement 
 the corner-stones and the first foundations, so 
 the blood and sweat, the groans and sighings, 
 the afflictions and mortifications, of saints and 
 martyrs did make the superstructure, and must 
 at last finish the building. 
 
 PKAYER. 
 
 O Merciful Saviour, who for our sakes didst 
 give Thyself to be betrayed, tormented, spit 
 upon, crucified, and to die that Thou mightest 
 purchase for us redemption from the sting of 
 death, the miseries of hell, and the malice and 
 power of the devil; grant that those victories 
 which Thou hast obtained, may procure for me 
 peace and righteousness, and a crown of glory 
 in the heavens, where Thou livest and reignest 
 in the great congregation of saints and angels, 
 one God, world without end. Amen. 
 22 
 
FIFTH MOjSTDAT IN LEKT. 
 
 THE THIRD BEATITUDE. 
 
 " Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth." 
 Mait. v. 5. 
 
 " Blessed are the meek : for they shall possess 
 the earth :" that is, the gentler and softer spirits, 
 persons not turbulent or unquiet, not clamorous 
 or impatient, not querulous or discontented, not 
 nice or curious ; but men who submit to God, 
 and know no choice of fortune or employment 
 or success, but what God chooses for them, hav- 
 ing peace at home, because nothing from with- 
 out does discompose their spirit. In some, meek- 
 ness is an indifference to any exterior accident, a 
 :being reconciled to all conditions and instances 
 •of Providence, a reducing ourselves to such an 
 evenness and interior satisfaction, that there is 
 the same conformity of spirit and fortune, by 
 complying witli my fortune, as if my fortune did 
 •comply with my spirit. And therefore, in the 
 order of beatitudes, meekness is set between 
 mourning and desire, that it might attemper 
 those actions by indifference, which are apt to 
 the transportation of passion. The reward ex- 
 
THE THIRD BEATITUDE. 255 
 
 pressed, is " a possession of the earth ;" that is, a 
 possession of all which is excellent here below, 
 to consign him to a future glory, as Canaan was 
 a type of Heaven. For meekness is the best 
 cement and combining of friendship ; it is a 
 great endearment of ns to our company. It is 
 an ornament to have " a meek and quiet spirit," 
 a prevention of quarrels, and pacifier of wrath ; 
 it purchaseth peace, and is itself a quietness of' 
 sjDirit: it is the greatest affront to all injuries in 
 the world ; for it returns them upon the injuri- 
 ous, and makes them useless, ineffective, and in- 
 nocent; and is an antidote against all the evil 
 consequents of anger and adversity. 
 
 When the case of Christianity was at stake, 
 and the devil was to lose his kingdom, he stirred 
 up, and, as well as he could, he made active all 
 the power of Rome, and all the learning of the 
 Greeks, and all the malice of barbarous people, 
 and all the prejudice and the obstinacy of the 
 Jews, against this doctrine and institution. Yet 
 Christianity, — without violence or armies, with- 
 out resistance and self-preservation, without chal- 
 lenging of privileges or fighting against tyranny^ 
 — with its humility and meekness, with toleration 
 and patience, with obedience and. charity, with 
 praying and dying, did insensibly turn the world 
 into Christian, and persecution into victory. And 
 60 have I seen the sun, with a little ray of distant 
 light, challenge all the power of darkness; and 
 
256 FIFTH MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 without violence and noise, climbing up the hill, 
 hath made night to retire, that its memory was 
 lost in the joys of the morning. But if we will 
 certainly understand what is the reward of meek- 
 ness, we may best know it by understanding the 
 duty. And the acts of this Divine grace are — 
 to submit to all the instances of Divine provi- 
 dence, not repining at any accident which God 
 hath chosen for ns. To pursue the employment 
 of our calling in which we are placed, not de- 
 spising the meanness of any work, though never 
 so disproportionable to our abilities. To correct 
 all malice, wrath, evil-speaking, and inordina- 
 tions of anger, whether in respect of the object 
 or the degree. At no hand to entertain any 
 thoughts of revenge or retaliation of evil. To 
 be affable and courteous in our deportment to- 
 wards all persons of our society and intercourse. 
 I^ot to censure or reproach the" weakness of our 
 neighbor, but support his burden, cover and cure 
 his infirmities. To excuse what may be excused, 
 lessening severity, and being gentle in reprehen- 
 sion. To be patient in afflictions, and thankful 
 under the cross. To endure reproof, with shame 
 at ourselves for deserving it, and thankfulness to 
 the charitable physician that offers the remedy. 
 To be modest and fairly mannered towards our 
 superiors, obeying, reverencing, speaking honor- 
 ably of, and doing honor to aged persons, and ali 
 whom God hath set over us, according to their 
 
THE XHIKD BEATITUDE. 257 
 
 several capacities. To be humble in our exterior 
 addresses and behavior in churches and all holy 
 places. To be temperate in government, lest we 
 provoke to wrath those whose interest of person 
 and religion we are to defend or promote. To 
 do our endeavor to expiate any injury we did by 
 confessing the fact, and offering satisfaction and 
 asking forgiveness; but above all to learn our 
 duty from Him that gave it in commandment. 
 " Learn of Me, for I am meek," said the Holy 
 Jesus. To Him was promised, that " the utter- 
 most parts of the earth should be His inherit- 
 ance ;" yet He died first and went to heaven 
 before it was verified to Him in any sense, but 
 only of content and desire, and joy in suffering, 
 and in all variety of accident. And thus also if 
 we are meek, we may receive the inheritance of 
 the earth. For although the Christian hears the 
 promise of " the inheritance of the earth," yet 
 he must place his eye, and fix his heart upon 
 heaven, which by looking downward also upon 
 this promise, as in a vessel of limpid water, he 
 may see by reflection, without looking upwards 
 by a direct intuition. It is heaven that is de- 
 signed by this promise, as well as by any of the 
 rest ; though this grace takes in also the refresh- 
 ments of the earth by a suppletory design. 
 " Here we have no abiding city," and therefore 
 no inheritance; this is not our country, and 
 therefore here cannot be our portion, unless we 
 
 22« 
 
258 FIFTH MONDAY IN LENT. 
 
 choose, as did the i3rodigal, to go into a strange 
 country, and spend our portion with riotous liv- 
 ing, and forfeit our Father's blessing. 
 
 The devil, carrying our blessed Saviour to a 
 high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms 
 of all the world; but, besides that they were 
 offered upon ill conditions, they were not eligi- 
 ble by Him upon any. And neither are they 
 to be chosen by us for our inheritance and por- 
 tion evangelical : for the Gospel is founded upon 
 " better promises," and therefore, the hopes of 
 a Christian ought not to determine upon any- 
 thing less than heaven. And as a man, in all 
 countries, can see more of heaven than of the 
 earth he dwells on ; so also he may in this prom- 
 ise. For now is revealed to us " a new heaven 
 and a new earth, a habitation made without 
 hands, eternal in the heavens." And he under- 
 stands nothing of the excellence of the Christian 
 religion, whose aff'ections dwell below, and are 
 satisfied with a portion of dirt and corruption. 
 " If we be risen with Christ, let us seek those 
 things that are above, where Christ sitteth at 
 the right hand of God. But if a Christian de- 
 sires to take possession of this earth in his way, 
 as his inheritance, or portion, he hath reason to 
 fear it will be his all. We have but one inherit- 
 ance, one country ; and here we are strangers 
 and pilgrims. True it is, Christ promised to 
 him that should lose any interest for His sake, 
 
THE THIRD BEATITUDE. 259 
 
 the restitution of " a hundred-fold in this work! ;" 
 but whatsoever that be, it is to be enjoyed "with 
 ^persecution." 
 
 And, although when a meek man hath earthly 
 possessions, by his grace he is taught to use 
 them, and how to part with them; yet if he 
 hath them not, by the virtue here commanded, 
 he is not suffered to use any thing violent to- 
 wards the acquiring them, not so much as a 
 violent passion, or a stormy imagination, for 
 then he loses his meekness, and whatever he 
 gets can be none of the reward of this grace. 
 He that fights for temporals (unless by some 
 other duty he be obliged), loses his title. By 
 striving incompetently for the reward, he cuts 
 off that hand by which alone he can receive it. 
 For unless he be indeed meek, he hath no right 
 to what he calls " the inheritance of the earth ;" 
 and he that is not content to want the inherit- 
 ance of the earth when God requires him, is not 
 meek. 
 
 So that if this beatitude be understood in a 
 temporal sense, it is an offer of a reward upon a 
 condition we shall be without it, and be content 
 too : for, in every sense of the word, meekness 
 implies a just satisfaction of the spirit, and 
 acquiescence in every estate or contingency 
 whatsoever, though we have no possessions but 
 of a good conscience, no bread but that of care- 
 fulness, no support but from the Holy Spirit, 
 
/ 
 260 FIFTH MONDAY m LEXT. 
 
 and a providence ministering to onr natural 
 necessities by an extemporary provision. And 
 certain it is, the meekest of Christ's servants, 
 the Apostles and the primitive Christians, had 
 no other verification of the promise but this, 
 that "rejoicing in tribulation, and knowing how 
 to want, as well as how to abound, through 
 many tribulations they entered into the king- 
 dom of heaven." 
 
 PRATEE. 
 
 O Holy and most Merciful Saviour, who didst 
 triumph over sin and death ; subdue also I be- 
 seech Thee the pride of my heart, and bring 
 me under thy yoke ; that I may in all things 
 obey Thy laws. Teach me to submit myself to 
 my superiors, and to be a servant of my brethren 
 in their necessities, esteeming myself inferior to 
 all men by a deep sense of my own unworthi- 
 ness ; and grant that having conformed to Thy 
 example here, I may be admitted to thy glori- 
 ous inheritance hereafter, O Holy and Eternal 
 Saviour. Amen. 
 
FIFTH TUESDAY IN LE]^T. 
 
 THE FOURTH BEATITUDE. 
 
 "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteous- 
 ness : for they shall be filled." Matt. v. 6. 
 
 "Blessed are tliey that hunger and thirst 
 after righteousness: for they shall be filled." 
 This grace is the greatest indication of spiritual 
 health ; when our appetite is right, strong, and 
 regular, when we are desirous of spiritual nour- 
 ishment, when we long for manna, and " follow 
 Christ for the bread which came down from 
 heaven." ]^ow there are two sorts of holy re- 
 past which are the proper objects of our desires: 
 the redemption and pardon of us by Christ's 
 merits is the bread of life for which we must 
 hunger ; and the refreshment of the Spirit, who 
 is the spring and comfort of purity, is that drink 
 which we must thirst after. Some, to hunger 
 and thirst, best fancy the analogy and 2:>roportion 
 of the two sacraments, the waters of baptism 
 and the food of the eucharist ; some the bread 
 of the patin and the wine of the chalice. But 
 it is certain they signify one desire, expressed 
 by the most impatient and necessary of our 
 
262 FIFTH TUESDAY m LENT. 
 
 appetites, liungering and tliirsting. And the 
 object is, whatsoever is the beginning or the 
 way, or the end of righteousness, that is, the 
 mercies of God, the pardon of Jesus, the graces 
 of the Spirit, a holy life, a holy death, and a 
 blessed eternity. 
 
 If, therefore, we understand our danger, and 
 deeply resent the evil of our infirmities and 
 sinful state ; if we confess ourselves miserable, 
 and long for remedy, and would have it upon 
 any terms ; if we be hungry at our very heart, 
 and would fain have food and physic, health 
 and spiritual advantages, then we shall perceive 
 the blessings and fruits of our holy desires ac- 
 cording to those words of David : " The Lord 
 hath heard the desire of the poor, and His 
 ear hath hearkened to the preparation of their 
 heart." 
 
 " Come unto Me all ye that are weary and 
 heavy-laden," saith Christ. These are the wel- 
 come guests, for so saith God, " Open thy mouth 
 wide and I will fill it." For "He hath filled 
 the hungry with good things," said the holy 
 Yirgin Mother ; Christ is food and refreshment 
 to none else, for " the full He hath sent empty 
 away." 
 
 Now let us, by the aids of memory and fancy, 
 consider the children of Israel in the wilderness, 
 in a barren and dry land where no water was, 
 marching in dust and fire, not wet with the dew 
 
THE FOURTH BEATITUDE. 263 
 
 of heaven ; their whole state of abode and travel 
 a little image of the day of judgment when the 
 elements shall melt with fervent heat. 
 
 Tliese men, walking in fire, dry with heat, 
 and scorched with thirst, and made yet more 
 thirsty by calling upon God for water; sup- 
 pose, I say, these thirsty souls hearing Moses 
 to promise that he will smite the rock, and that 
 a river should break forth from thence : observe 
 how presently they ran to the foot of the spring- 
 ing-stone, impatient of delay, crying out that 
 " the water did not move, like light, all at 
 once :" and then suppose the pleasure of their 
 drink, the unsatiableness of their desire, the im- 
 mensity of their appetite — they took in as much 
 as they could, and they desired much more. 
 
 That thirst is a signification of our duty ; and 
 happy indeed is that soul which comes to the 
 springs of salvation, " as the hart to the water- 
 brook," panting and thirsty, weary of sin, and 
 hating vanity, and reaching out the heart and 
 hands to Christ. For they only can be confident 
 that their desires are right, who feel sharpnesses 
 and zeal in their acts of love. For in every 
 action of religion, God expects such a warmth 
 and a holy fire to go along, that it may be able 
 to enkindle the wood upon the altar, and con- 
 sume the sacrifice. Earnestness and vivacity, 
 quickness and delight, perfect choice in the ser- 
 vice and a delight in the prosecution, are all 
 
/ 
 264 FIFTH TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 tliat the spirit of a man can yield towards his 
 religion ; and though a lukewarm religion is 
 better than none at all — and if it be in motion, 
 God hates it not for its imperfection ; yet if it 
 stands still and rests there, it is a state against 
 the designs and against the perfection's of God. 
 
 Whatsoever evil returns we meet in our pray- 
 ers, when we ask for good things, is wholly by 
 reason of our cold desires. K our desires were 
 strong and fervent, our minds would in the same 
 proportion be present. We see it by a certain 
 and regular experience ; wdiat we love passion- 
 ately, we perpetually think on, and it returns 
 upon us, whether we will or no. And in a 
 great fear, the apprehension cannot be shaken 
 off; and therefore if our desires of holy things 
 were strong and earnest, we should most cer- 
 tainly attend our pra^^^ers. It is a more violent 
 affection to other tilings, that carries us off from 
 this ; and therefore if we love passionately, what 
 we ask for daily, w^e should ask with hearty 
 desires, and an earnest appetite, and a present 
 spirit. And however it be very easy to have 
 our thoughts wander, yet it is our indifference 
 and lukewarmness that make it so natural : and 
 you may observe it, that so long as the light 
 shines bright, and the fires of devotion and de- 
 sires flame out, so long the mind of a man stands 
 close to the altar, and waits upon the sacrifice ; 
 but as the fires die, and desires decay, so the 
 
THE FOURTH BEATITUDE. 265 
 
 mind steals away, and walks abroad to see the 
 little images of beauty and pleasure, which it 
 beholds in the falling stars and little glowworms 
 of the world. 
 
 There is, however, in this case, one help to 
 our confidence. For although no man is fer- 
 vent as he ought to be, but he that delights in 
 the service of God, yet this delight is not to be 
 understood as if it were always required that 
 we should feel an actual cheerfulness, and sen- 
 sible joy. This happens sometimes when God 
 pleases to entice, or reward a man's spirit, with 
 little antepasts of Heaven ; but such a delight 
 only is necessary, and a duty, that we always 
 proceed in the work of grace with a firm choice 
 and unabated election ; our joy must be a joy 
 of hope ; that is, a going forward upon such a 
 persuasion, as sees the joys of God laid up for 
 the children of men. 
 
 For the blessing and reward of this grace is 
 fulness or satisfaction ; which relates immedi- 
 ately to Heaven, because nothing here below 
 can satisfy us. The grace of God is our viati- 
 cum, and entertains us by the way ; but its na- 
 ture is to increase, not to satisfy the appetites ; 
 not because the grace is empty and unprofitable 
 as are the things of the world, but because it is 
 excellent, but yet in order to greater perfection. 
 It invites the appetite by its present goodness, 
 but it leaves it unsatisfied, because it is not yet 
 
266 FIFTH TUESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 arrived at glorj. And jet the present impel 
 fection in respect of all the good of this world's 
 possession is rest and satisfaction, and is imper- 
 fect only in respect of its future complement 
 and perfection ; and our hunger continues, and 
 our needs return, because all we have is but an 
 antepast. But the glories of eternity are also 
 the proper objects of our desires : that is the 
 reward of God's grace ; this is " the crown of 
 righteousness." 
 
 " As for me, I will behold Thy face in right- 
 eousness ; and after I awake up after Thy like- 
 ness, I shall be satisfied with it." 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Lord God of our fathers, who leddest Thy 
 people through the w^ilderness, for their sakes 
 turning rocks into a springing well, and making 
 the sea and the river to become dry land ; be 
 pleased to lead me through the desert of this 
 world with the light of Thy Holy SjDirit : and 
 from the rock, which for our sakes Thou didst 
 smite with Thy heavy rod — the rock Christ 
 Jesus — let water and blood stream forth to 
 cleanse and refresh me. Streno^then me with 
 the bread that came down from heaven, even 
 the flesh of Thy dear Son ; and grant that, being 
 nourished by that heavenly food, I may stead- 
 fastly walk in the wav of Thv commandments ; 
 
THE FOURTH BEATITin)E. 267 
 
 and when, through infirmity, I fall away, let 
 Thy gentle correction call me home, and guide 
 me to the border of Thy sanctuary, and the 
 mountain where Thou reignest over all crea- 
 tures, one God, world without end. Amen. 
 
SIXTH WEDI^ESDAT m LE]^[T. 
 
 THE FIFTH BEATITUDE. 
 
 " Blessed are the merciful: for they Bhall obtain mercy." 
 Matt. v. 7. 
 
 "Blessed are tlie merciful: for tliej shall 
 obtain mercy." Mercy is the greatest mark 
 and token of the holy and elect persons in the 
 world. "Put ye on, my beloved, as the elect of 
 God, the bowels of mercy, holy and precious." 
 For mercy is an attribute, in the manifestation 
 of which, as all our happiness consists, so God 
 takes greatest complacency and delights in it 
 above all His other works. "He punishes to 
 the third and fourth generations, but shows 
 mercy unto thousands." Therefore the Jews 
 say, that Michael flies with one wing and Ga- 
 briel with two : meaning, that the pacifying 
 angel, the minister of mercy, flies swift ; but the 
 exterminating angel, the messenger of wratli, 
 IS slow. And we are called to our approxima- 
 tion to God by the practice of this grace : we 
 are made "partakers of the Divine nature," by 
 being "merciful as our heavenly Father is 
 merciful." 
 
THE FIFTH BEATnUDE. 269 
 
 The Stoic pliilosopliers affirm it to be the 
 duty of a wise man to succor and help the 
 necessities of indigent and miserable persons ; 
 but at no hand to pity them, or suffer any 
 trouble or compassion in our affections : for 
 they intended that a wise person should be dis- 
 passionate, unmoved, and without disturbance 
 in every accident and object and concernment. 
 But the Blessed Jesus, who came to reconcile 
 us to His Fathei", and purchase us an entire 
 possession, did intend to redeem us from sin, and 
 make our passions obedient and apt to be com- 
 manded, even and moderate in temporal affairs, 
 but high and active in some instances of spirit- 
 ual concernment ; and in all instances that the 
 Spirit go along with the grace : that we must 
 be as merciful in our compassions, as compas- 
 sionate in our exterior expressions and actions. 
 
 Christian mercy must be a mercy of the whole 
 man — the heart must be merciful, and the hand 
 operating in " the labor of love ;" and it must 
 be extended to all persons of all capacities, 
 according as their necessity requires, and our 
 ability permits, and our endearments and other 
 obligations dispose of, and determine the order. 
 Clemens Alexandrinus affirms of the Pharisees, 
 that they hoped to be "justified by abstinence 
 from things forbidden ;" but if we will be " sons 
 of the kingdom," we must, besides this, love our 
 brother and do good to him ; and glorify God 
 
 23^' 
 
270 SIXTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 by a holy religion, in the communion of saints, 
 in faith and sacraments, in alms and counsel, 
 in forgiveness and assistances. Many persons 
 think themselves fairly assoiled, because they 
 are not of scandalous lives ; in the mean time, 
 like the Laodiceans, they are " naked and poor ;" 
 they have no catalogue of good things regis- 
 tered in heaven, no treasures in the repositories 
 of the poor ; neither have the poor often prayed 
 concerning them, " Lord, remember Thy ser- 
 vants for this thing at the day of judgment." 
 God, who made all things by His power, does 
 preserve them by His love ; but although it be 
 true, that God loves us first. He will not con- 
 tinue to love us, or proceed in the methods of 
 His kindness, unless we become like unto Him 
 in love. By our love and charity God will 
 pardon us, and He will comfort us, and He will 
 judge us, and He will save us ; and it can never 
 be well with us till love, that governs Heaven 
 itself, be the prince of all our actions and our 
 passions. " By this we know we are translated 
 from death to life, by our love unto our breth- 
 ren ;" that is the testimonial of our comfort. 
 " I was hungry, and ye fed me ; I was hungry, 
 and ye fed me not :" these are the tables of our 
 final judgment. " If ye love Me, keep My com- 
 mandments ;" that is the measure of our obe- 
 dience. '* In that ye have done kindness to 
 one of these little ones, ye have done it unto 
 
THE FIFTH BEATITIIDE. 271 
 
 Me :" that is the installing of the saints in their 
 thrones of glorj. " If thou bringest a gift to 
 the altar, leave it there ; go and be reconciled 
 to thy brother :" that is the great instrument 
 of our _being accepted. And to sum up all, 
 " Love is the fulfilling of the law." 
 
 I do not examine this duty by our alms 
 alone ; for although they are an excellent in- 
 strument of life, yet there are some who are 
 bountiful to the poor, and not charitable to 
 their neighbor ; and many keep a sin alive, 
 and make account to pay for it. They will not 
 be kind to their brethren, unless they be also 
 at the same time unkind to God. I have un- 
 derstood concerning divers vicious persons, that 
 none have been so free in their donatives and 
 ofierings to religion and the priest as they : and 
 the hospitals that have been built, and the 
 highways mended, at the price of souls, are too 
 many for Christendom to boast of, in behalf of 
 charity. But as others have charity without 
 faith, so these have charity without hope : " For 
 every one that hath this hope," that is, the hope 
 of receiving the glorious things of God j^rom- 
 ised in the Gospel, "purifies himself even as 
 God is pure." 
 
 You can best tell whether you have charity 
 to your brother by your willingness to do him 
 real benefit. There is no greater charity in 
 the world than to save a soul, nothing that 
 
272 SIXTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 pleases God better, nothing that can be in our 
 hands greater or more noble, nothing that can 
 be a more lasting and delightful honor, than 
 that a perishing soul, — snatched from the flames 
 of an intolerable hell, and borne to Heaven 
 upon the wings of piety and mercy, by the 
 ministry of angels, and the graces of the Holy 
 Spirit, — shall to eternal ages bless God and bless 
 thee ; Him, for the Author and Finisher of sal- 
 vation, and thee for the minister and charitable 
 instrument. That bright star must needs look 
 pleasantly upon thy face forever, which was by 
 thy hand placed there, and, had it not been for 
 thy ministry, might have been a sooty coal in 
 the regions of sorrow. IN'ow, in order to this, 
 God hath given us all some powers and minis- 
 ters by which we may promote religion and 
 the great interest of souls — counsels and pray- 
 ers, preaching and writing, passionate desires 
 and fair examples, going before others in the 
 way of godliness, and bearing the torch before 
 them, that they may see the way and walk in it. 
 Tliis is a charity that is prepared more or less 
 for every one ; and, by the way, we should do 
 well to consider what we have done towards it. 
 For as it will be a strange arrest at the day of 
 judgment to Dives, that he fed high and suffered 
 Lazarus to starve, and every garment that lies 
 by thee and perishes, while thy naked brother 
 does so too for want of it, shall be a bill of in- 
 
THE FIFTH BEATITUDE. 273 
 
 dictment against thy unmerciful soul ; so it will 
 be in every instance. In wliat thou couldst 
 profit thy brother and didst not, thou art ac- 
 countable. And then tell over the times in 
 which thou hast prayed for the conversion of 
 thy sinning brother; and compare the times 
 together, and observe whether thou hast not 
 tempted him, or betrayed him to sin, or en- 
 couraged him in it; or didst not hinder him 
 when thou mightest ; or — more frequently than 
 thou hast — ^humbly, and charitably, and zeal- 
 ously bowed thy head, and thy heart and knees 
 to God to redeem that poor soul from hell, 
 whither thou seest him descending with as much 
 indifference as a stone into the bottom of the 
 well. Remember the zeal of the Apostles. 
 They prayed for all men ; they wept to God for 
 the hardness of men's hearts ; they became all 
 things to all men that they might gain some ; 
 they travelled through deeps and deserts ; they 
 endured the heat of the Sirian star, and the 
 violence of Euroclydon, winds and tempests, 
 seas and prisons, mockings and scourgings, fast- 
 ings and poverty, labor and watching ; they 
 endured every man and wronged no man ; they 
 would do any thing good and suffer any evil, if 
 they had but hopes to prevail upon a soul ; they 
 persuaded men meekly, they entreated them 
 humbly, they convinced them powerfully ; they 
 watched for their good, but meddled not with 
 
274 SIXTH WEDXESDAY IN LENT. 
 
 their interest ; and this is the Christian zeal of 
 meekness, of patience, of charity. 
 
 The merciful shall obtain mercy ; mercy to 
 help them in time of need ; mercy from God, 
 who will not only give them the great mercies 
 of pardon and eternity, but also dispose the 
 hearts of others to pity and supply their needs, 
 as they have done to others. For the present, 
 there is nothing more noble than to be bene- 
 ficial to others, and to " lift up the poor out of 
 the mire," and rescue them from misery; it is 
 to do the work of God. And for the future, 
 nothing is a greater title to a mercy, at the day 
 of judgment, than to have shown mercy to our 
 necessitous brother ; it being expressed to be the 
 only rule and instance in which Christ means to 
 judge the world, in their mercy and charity, or 
 their unmercifulness respectively : " I was him- 
 gry and ye fed Me," or ye fed Me not ; and so 
 we stand or fall in the great and eternal scrutiny. 
 And it was the prayer of St. Paul (Onesiphorus 
 showed kindness to the great Apostle), "The 
 Lord show him a mercy in that day." 
 
 For a cup of charity, though but full " of cold 
 water, shall not lose its reward." 
 
 PKATEE. 
 
 O Blessed Saviour, Redeemer of the world, 
 whose property is always to have mercy ; make 
 
THE FIFTH BEATITUDE. 275 
 
 me, I beseech Thee, Thy servant, and give me 
 testimony that I am translated from death to 
 life, by charity and love to all my brethren. 
 Teacli me to have a care of my actions that I 
 may eschew evil, and a zeal of Thy name that I 
 may do good. Make me pitiful and compas- 
 sionate over the necessities of the poor, the sin- 
 ful, and the needy ; and give me grace and 
 power to help them and relieve their miseries ; 
 so that, being merciful as my heavenly Father 
 is merciful, I may receive such blessings as 
 Thou hast appointed for the charitable, even 
 comfort in all* my troubles, and pardon of all 
 my sins, through Thy mercies and blessed char- 
 ity, O most merciful Saviour and Kedeemer, 
 Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
SIXTH THUESDAY m LEKT. 
 
 THE SIXTH BEATITUDE. 
 
 " Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God." 
 Matt. v. 8. 
 
 " Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall 
 see God." This purity of heart includes purity 
 of hands ; " Lord, who shall dwell in Thy taber- 
 nacle ? even he that is of clean hands and a pure 
 heart ;" that is, he that hath not given his mind 
 unto vanity, nor sworn to deceive his neighbor. 
 It signifies justice of action and candor of spirit, 
 innocence of manners and sincerity of purpose ; 
 a heart free from all carnal affections, not only 
 in the matter of natural impurity, but also spirit- 
 ual and immaterial : — such as are heresies, which 
 are therefore impurities, because they mingle 
 secular interest or prejudice with persuasions in 
 religion ; — " a good conscience," that is, a con- 
 science either innocent or penitent ; and " faith 
 unfeigned," which excludes hypocrisy, timorous 
 and half persuasions, neutrality and indifferency 
 in matters of salvation. Chastity is the j)urity 
 of the body — simplicity is the purity of the 
 spirit ; both are the sanctification of the whole 
 
THE SIXTH BEATITUDE. 277 
 
 mail, for the entertainment of the spirit of purity 
 and the spirit of truth. 
 
 When the heathen offered a sacrifice to their 
 false gods, they would make a severe search to 
 see if there were any crookedness or spot, any 
 uncleanliness or deformity in their sacrifice. 
 And in like manner we must bring to God a 
 soul pure and spotless ; lest God, espying a soul 
 humbly lying before the altar, and finding it to 
 be polluted with the reproaches of a sin, He 
 turns away His head, and hates the sacrifice. 
 For God — who taught the sons of Israel in 
 figures and shadows, and required of the Leviti- 
 cal priests to come to God clean and whole, 
 straight, and with perfect bodies — meant to tell 
 us, that this bodily precept, in a carnal law, does 
 in a spiritual religion signify a sj)iritual purity. 
 God is never called a lover of bodies, but the 
 great lover of souls ; and he that comes to re- 
 deem our souls from sin and death, from shame 
 and reproach, would have our souls brought to 
 Him as He loves them. An unclean soul is a 
 deformity in the eyes of God ; it is indeed spirit- 
 ually discerned, but God hath no other eyes but 
 what are spirits and flames of fire. 
 
 There are indeed, in this valley of tears, but 
 few so happy souls as to triumph over all in- 
 firmities — we know of none ; and if God hath 
 any such on earth, they are peculiar jewels, 
 kept in undiscerned cabinets; yet all that in- 
 24 
 
278 SIXTH THURSDAY IN LENT. 
 
 tend to serve God heartily must aim at a return 
 to that state of innocence, to the possibility of 
 which Christ hath as certainly recovered us, as 
 we lost it by our own follies and the sin of 
 Adam. 
 
 In the matters of choice, in voluntary and de- 
 liberate actions, we must resolve not to sin at 
 all. In these things we must be more than con- 
 querors. But he that would be advanced beyond 
 the power and necessity of sinning, must also 
 take great caution concerning his thoughts and 
 secret desires. " Suffer not your thoughts to 
 grow up," for they usually come, as St. Basil 
 says, " suddenly and easily, and without busi- 
 ness ;" but take heed that you nurse them not. 
 Consider, that when sin is in the thought, it is 
 easily suppressed, and if it be stopped there, it 
 can go no further ; and what great mountain of 
 labor is it, then, to abstain from our sin ? Can- 
 not the thoughts of the heart be turned aside by 
 doing business, by going into company, by read- 
 ing, or by sleeping? A man may divert his 
 thoughts by shaking of his head, by thinking 
 any thing else, by thinking nothing. Every 
 man that loves God understands this, and more 
 than this, to be true ; and he that will not chas- 
 tise his thoughts to please God, how should it 
 be expected he will part with his goods, or cut 
 off a hand, or give his life for God? Christian- 
 itv, let us remember, is not so much a Divine 
 
THE SIXTH BEATITUDE. 279 
 
 institution as a Divine temper and frame ot 
 mind, and a man's heart may be in heaven long 
 before he sets his feet upon the goklen threshold. 
 
 The powers of sin seem insuperable to none 
 but to them that have not faith. Hear what 
 St. John saith : " My little children, ye are of 
 God, and have overcome the evil one ; for the 
 Spirit that is in you is greater than that which 
 is in the world." Christ's strength shall be 
 perfected in our weakness, and His grace will 
 be sufficient for us ; and He will, of His own 
 good pleasure, work in us to will and to do 
 thoroughly and fully, being sanctified through- 
 out to the glory of His Holy i^ame, and the 
 eternal salvation of our souls. 
 
 For a freedom from the cares of covetousness, 
 the shame of uncleanness, the fear of discovery, 
 and the stings of an evil conscience, which are 
 the portions of the several impurities forbidden 
 by this grace, will at leftgth consign us to the 
 reward of purity, the vision beatifical. 
 
 If we are " pure as God is pure, we shall" 
 also "see Him as He is." "When we awake 
 up after His likeness we shall behold His pres- 
 ence." There shall we see God as He is, with 
 all His infinite perfections, and the perfections 
 of all creatures which are eminently contained 
 in the Deity. 
 
 How admirable were that spectacle, where 
 were represented all that are, or have been, 
 
280 SIXTH THURSDAY IN LENT. 
 
 pleasant or admirable in the world ! and how 
 happy were he on whom all these were be- 
 stowed, together with a thousand years of life, 
 wherein to enjoy them : yet all these were 
 nothing in respect of the beatifical vision of 
 God, in whom those, and all the perfections 
 that either are or have been, or possibly can 
 be, are contained. "Whatever else is great and 
 delightful in tlie world, together with all the 
 pleasure and perfections that all the men of the 
 world have obtained, or shall obtain, to the 
 world's end, if they should give all these to one 
 person, it would have no comparison, and would 
 seem a loathsome thing, being compared to the 
 delight which will be enjoyed in seeing God for 
 all eternity. Griefs do more easily bereave us 
 of the sense of pleasures than pleasures do of 
 pain ; yet such is the greatness of that sovereign 
 joy in Heaven, that it alone is sufiicient to 
 drown all the grief and torments, both in earth 
 and hell; and there is no pain in the world 
 able to diminish the least part of it. 
 
 Let us, therefore, rejoice, who are Christians, 
 unto whom so great blessings are promised. 
 Let this hope comfort us, this joy refresh us ; 
 and let us now begin to enjoy that here which 
 we trust hereafter to possess ; for upon this we 
 ought to place all our thoughts, turning our 
 eyes from all the goods and delights of the 
 earth. From hence I will shut up the windows 
 
THTi: SIXTH BEATITUDE. 281 
 
 of my senses ; the things of earth seeming unto 
 me unworthy to be looked upon after the con- 
 temj)hation of the heavenly, in the hope whereof 
 I will only rejoice. 
 
 PKAYEE. 
 
 Almighty God, Holy and Eternal Father, who 
 art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity ; look 
 with pity upon Thy servant, and grant that no 
 impure thoughts may pollute the soul which 
 Thou hast sanctified ; no unclean words pollute 
 the tongue which Thou hast formed to sing Thy 
 praise. Seal up my senses from all vain objects, 
 occupy them wholly with religion, and enable 
 me so to possess my body in holiness, that I 
 may lay it down with hope, and receive it again 
 in a joyful resurrection, through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord. Amen. 
 
 24-'- 
 
SIXTH FKIDAY m LENT. 
 
 THE SEVENTH BEATITUDE. 
 
 " Blessed are the peacemakers : for they shall be called the 
 children of God." Matt. v. 9. 
 
 " Blessed are the peacemakers : for tliey shall 
 be called the children of God." The wisdom of 
 God is first pm*e, and then peaceable ; that is 
 the order of the beatitudes. As soon as Jesus 
 was born, the angels sang a hymn : " Glory be 
 to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will 
 towards men ;" signifying the two great errands 
 upon which Christ was dispatched in his lega- 
 tion from heaven to earth. He is " the Prince 
 of Peace." " Follow peace with all men, with- 
 out which no man ever shall see God." 
 
 The reward is no less than the adoption and 
 inheritance of sons. For the sons of peace are 
 the sons of God, and have a title to the inherit- 
 ance of sons ; to be heirs with God, and co-heirs 
 with Christ in the kingdom of peace, and essen- 
 tial and never-failing charity. 
 
 If, therefore, we live quietly and serenely in 
 our families and neighborhood ; if we endeavor 
 by all means to reconcile disagreeing persons, 
 
THE SEVENTH BEATITUDE. 283 
 
 and by afFabilitj and fair deportment to win the 
 love of our neighbors ; if, in trials of right, we 
 try to find out the most charitable expedient to 
 determine it ; if we are free and ingenuous in 
 reprehensions and fair expostulations with per-* 
 sons who we conceive have wronged us ; if we 
 are modest in our arguings, disputings, and de- 
 mands; if we abstain from affronts, submit to 
 our superiors, speak not evil of dignities, nor un- 
 dervalue their persons, nor publish their faults ; 
 and are careful not to busy ourselves in other 
 men's affairs ; then " the peace of God will rest 
 upon us." 
 
 Whatsoever does gender strife, the Apostle 
 commands us to avoid ; even zeal, therefore, 
 must be modified by the rules of prudence and 
 the allay of charity, that we quarrel not for 
 opinions, nor lose charity for a pretence of an 
 article of faith. Be more careful to establish a 
 truth than to reprove an error, and remember 
 that Christian religion loves not tricks nor arti- 
 fices of wonder ; but, like the natural and amia- 
 ble simplicity of Jesus, by plain and easy propo- 
 sitions, leads us in wise paths to a place where 
 sin and strife shall never enter: while contro- 
 versy is the food of contention, a spiritual law- 
 suit, and it can never be ended. For as long as 
 a word can be spoken against a word, and a 
 thing be opposite to a thing ; as long as places 
 are hard and men are ignorant, or knowing but 
 
284: SIXTH FKIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 in part, so long will the saw of contention be 
 drawn from side to side. " The kingdom of God 
 consists in wisdom and righteousness, in peace 
 and holiness, in meekness and gentleness, in ab- 
 stinence from evil and doing good to others ;" in 
 these things let ns place our labors, and nothing 
 else but such as these ; — things which promote 
 public peace and public good : things that can 
 give no offence to the wise and to the virtuous * 
 for these things are profitable to men and pleas- 
 ing to God. J^either let us trouble ourselves 
 that all the world is not amended according to 
 our pattern. See that you be perfect at home, 
 that all be rightly reformed there ; as for refor- 
 mation of the Church, God will never call you 
 to an account. Some things cannot be reformed, 
 and very many need not, for all thy peevish 
 dreams ; and after all, it is twenty to one but 
 thou art mistaken, and thy superior is in the 
 right, and if thou wert not proud thou wouldst 
 think so too. It is better to let things alone, 
 than to be troublesome to our superiors by an 
 impertinent wrangling after reformation. Chris- 
 tianity is a soft and gentle institution; it was 
 brought into the world to soften the asperities of 
 human nature, and to cure tlie barbarities of evil 
 men and- the contentions of the passionate ; and 
 if it were not that there are many who are men 
 of much religion and little godliness, it would 
 not be that there should be so many quarrels in 
 
THE SEVENTH BEATITUDE. 285 
 
 and concerning that religion, which is wholly 
 made up of truth and peace, and was sent 
 among us to reconcile the hearts of men, when 
 they were tempted to uncharitableness by any 
 other unhappy argument. Let us go to the 
 truth itself, to Christ — and he will tell us an 
 easy way of ending our quarrels : for we shall 
 lind Christianity to be the easiest and the hard- 
 est thino: in the world: it is like a secret in 
 arithmetic, infinitely hard till it be found out by 
 a right operation ; and then it is so plain, we 
 wonder we did not understand it earlier. 
 
 Our evil life is the cause of our controversies 
 and ignorances in religion and of the things of 
 God. Let God declare His mind never so 
 plainly, if men will not lay aside the evil prin- 
 ciple that is within, their open love to their 
 secret sin, they may kill an apostle, and yet be 
 so ignorant as to " think they do God good ser- 
 vice ;'' they may disturb kingdoms, and break 
 the peace of a well-ordered church, and rise up 
 against their fathers, and be cruel to their breth- 
 ren," and stir up the people to sedition, and all 
 this with a hard heart and a tender conscience, 
 with humble carriage and a proud spirit. 
 
 Many ways have been attempted to reconcile 
 the differences of the Church in matters of reli- 
 gion, and all the counsels of men have yet proved 
 ineffective. Let us now try God's method ; let us 
 betake ourselves to live holily, and then the Spirit 
 
286 SIXTH FKIDAT IN LENT. 
 
 of trntli will lead us into all truth. It can be no 
 good religion, whose principles destroy any duty 
 of religion. Any thing that is proud, any thing 
 that is peevish or scornful, any thing that is un- 
 charitable, is against that " form of sound doc- 
 trine" which the Apostle speaks of. l^either is 
 there any godliness in spending our time and 
 our talk, our heart and our spirits, about the 
 garments and outsides of religion : it is but an 
 ill sign of holiness when a man is busy in trou- 
 bling himself and his superior in little scruples 
 and fantastic opinions, about things not concern- 
 ing the life of religion, or the pleasure of God, 
 or the excellences of the Spirit. 
 
 Whoever shall oppose you, and the truth you 
 w^alk by, may better be confuted by your lives 
 than by your disputations. Passionate men are 
 to be taught the first elements of religion ; and 
 let men pretend as much learning as they please, 
 they must begin again at Christ's cross : they 
 must learn true mortification and crucifixion of 
 their anger and desires, before they can be good 
 scholars in Christ's school. It was an excellent 
 pi'overb of the Jews : " The Holy Ghost never 
 dwells in the house of passion. Truth enters 
 mto the heart of man when it is empty, and 
 clean, and still; but when the mind is shaken 
 with passion as with a storm, you can never 
 hear the voice of the charmer, though he charm 
 very wisely." So long as we know God only in 
 
 1«9 
 
THE SEVENTH BEATITUDE. 287 
 
 tlie ways of mean — by contentions learning, by 
 arguing and disputing — we see nothing but the 
 shadow of Him : but when we know Him with 
 the eyes of holiness, and the intuition of gracious 
 experiences, with a quiet spirit and the peace of 
 enjoyment ; then the mysteries of godliness shall 
 be opened unto us, and be clear as the windows 
 of the morning. 
 
 There is a sort of God's dear servants who 
 walk in perfectness, who "perfect holiness in 
 the fear of God." And they have a degree of 
 charity and divine knowledge more than we can 
 discourse of, brighter than the sun, and inde- 
 iicient as the light of Heaven. Christ is this 
 " brio^htness of God" manifested in the hearts of 
 His dearest servants. 
 
 But I shall say no more of this ; for it is to be 
 felt, and not to be talked of; and they that never 
 touched it with their fingers may secretly, per- 
 haps, laugh at it in their heart, and be never the 
 wiser. All that I shall now say is, that a good 
 man is united unto God, as a flame touches a 
 flame, and combines into splendor and to glory. 
 So is the spirit of a man united into Christ by 
 the Spirit of God. These are the friends of God, 
 and they best know God's mind, and they only " 
 that are so know how much such men do. know. 
 
 This is the highest round of the ladder, and the 
 angels stand u]3on it. They dwell in love and 
 contemplation ; they worship and obey, but dis- 
 
288 SIXTH FKIDAY IN LENT. 
 
 pute not ; and our quarrels and impertinent 
 wranglings about religion are nothing else but 
 the want of the measure of this state. 
 
 For our light is like a candle ; every wind of 
 vain doctrine blows it out, or spends the wax 
 and makes the light tremulous ; but the lights of 
 Heaven are fixed and bright, and shine forever. 
 
 PEATER. 
 
 O Almighty and most Gracious Father, who 
 art the Fountain of peace, and the Source of all 
 unity ; I pray unto Thee for peace, for love, and 
 for Thy salvation. Let a holy peace forever 
 dwell in my own conscience ; and vouchsafe to 
 me, and to all Christian people, to be of one 
 heart and one voice, the same faith and an 
 eternal charity ; and grant that, delighting in 
 Thee alone, we may be guided into the way of 
 peace; and at the last find rest in the inherit- 
 ance of Thy saints, through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Amen. 
 
SIXTH SATUEDAY m LEOT?. 
 
 THE EIGHTH BEATITUDE. 
 
 ** Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake : 
 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. v. 10. 
 
 " Blessed are they which are persecuted for 
 
 righteousness' sake : for theirs is the kingdom of 
 heaven." This, being the hardest command in 
 the whole discipline of Jesus, is fortified with a 
 double blessedness ; for it follows immediately, 
 " Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and 
 persecute you ;" meaning, that all persecution 
 for a cause of righteousness, though the afflic- 
 tion be instanced only in rej^roachful language, 
 shall be a title to the blessedness. Any suffer- 
 ing for any good and harmless action is a degree 
 of martyrdom : it being the greatest testimony 
 in the world of the greatest love, to quit that 
 for God which hath possessed our most natural, 
 regular, and orderly affections. It is a prefer- 
 ring God's cause before our own interest ; it is 
 a loving of virtue without secular ends ; it is the 
 crown of faith, the confidence of hope, and our 
 greatest charity. " Do this and live," was the 
 covenant of the law ; but in the Gospel, it is 
 
 25 
 
290 SIXTH SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 "Suffer this and live." "He that forsaketh 
 house and land, friends and life, for My sake, 
 is My disciple." And without the suffering of 
 saints, where were the exaltation of the cross, 
 the conformity of the members to Christ their 
 Head, the coronets of martyrs ? Where the trial 
 of our faith; or the exercise of long-suffering? 
 "Where the opportunities to give God the great- 
 est love? which cannot be but by dying and 
 suffering for Him. 
 
 For that a man's nature is capable of suffering 
 is its best advantage. By the sufferings of our 
 Lord and Brother we w^ere all rescued from the 
 portion of devils ; and by our sufferings we have 
 a capacity of serving God beyond that of angels ; 
 who indeed can sing God's praises with a sweet- 
 er note, and obey Him with a more unabated 
 will, and execute His commands with a swifter 
 wing and a greater power : but they cannot die 
 for God, they can lose no lands for him ; and 
 He that did so for all us, and commanded us to 
 do so for Him, is ascended far above all angels, 
 and is Heir of a greater glory. 
 
 They however that suffer any thing for Christ, 
 and are ready to die for Him, let them be care- 
 ful to do nothing against Him. For certainly 
 they think too highly of martyrdom, who be- 
 lieve it able to excuse all the evils of a wicked 
 life. A man may " give his body to be burned, 
 and yet have no charity:" and he that dies 
 
THE EIGHTH BEATITUDE. 291 
 
 without charity, dies without God ; for " God is 
 love." Many things may make a man willing 
 to die in a good cause — public reputation, hope 
 of reward, gallantry of spirit, a confident reso- 
 lution, and a masculine courage ; or a man may 
 be vexed into a stubborn and unrelenting suffer- 
 ing : but nothing can make a man live well, but 
 the grace and the love of God. He, therefore, 
 that suffers in a good cause, let him be sure to 
 walk worthy of that honor to which God hath 
 called him. Let him first deny his sins, and 
 then " deny himself ;" and then he may "take 
 up his cross and follow Christ," ever remember- 
 ing, that no man pleases God in his death who 
 hath walked perversely in his life- 
 He that suffers in a cause of God must also 
 be indifferent what the instance be, so that he 
 may serve God. Let us choose God, and let 
 God choose all the rest for us ; it being indiffer- 
 ent to us, whether by poverty or shame, by a 
 lingering or a sudden death, by the hands of a 
 tyrant prince or the despised hands of a base 
 usurper or a rebel, we receive the crown, and 
 do honor to God and to religion. And in no 
 case let us be forward to prognosticate evil to 
 our enemies ; but let us solace ourselves in the 
 assurance of the Divine justice, by general con- 
 siderations, and in particular pray for them that 
 are our persecutors. It is not always certain 
 that God will be angry with every man by 
 
292 SIXTH SATURDAY IN LENT. 
 
 whose hand affliction comes upon us; and let 
 us not therefore decree judgments from Heaven, 
 in cases where we have no word from Heaven ; 
 and thunder from our tribunals, where no voice 
 of God hath declared the sentence. But in such 
 cases, where there is an evident tyranny and in- 
 justice, let us do like the Good Samaritan who 
 dressed the wounded man, but never pursued 
 the thief. Let us do charity to the afflicted, and 
 bear the cross with nobleness, and " look up to 
 Jesus, who endured the cross and des]3ised the 
 shame ;" but let us not take upon us the office 
 of God, who will "judge the nations righteous- 
 ly," and when He hath delivered up our bodies 
 will rescue our souls "from the hands of un- 
 righteous judges." 
 
 Do not trouble yourself by thinking how 
 much you are afflicted, but consider how much 
 you make of it : for reflex- acts upon the suffer- 
 ing itself can lead to nothing but to pride or to 
 impatience, to temptation or apostasy. Look 
 not back upon him that strikes thee, but upward 
 to God that supports thee, and forward to the 
 crown that is set before thee ; and then consider, 
 if the loss of tliy estate hath taught thee to de- 
 spise the world : and if thy uneasy prison sets 
 thy soul at liberty and knocks off the fetters of 
 a worse captivity. " Thy will be done" is our 
 daily prayer, and that is of a passive significa- 
 tion ; " Thy will be done" upon us ; and if from 
 
THE EIGHTH BEATITUDE. 293 
 
 tlience also we translate it into an active sense, 
 and by suffering evils increase our aptnesses to 
 do well, we have done the work of Christians 
 and shall receive the rewards of martyrs. 
 
 And when God hath brought thee into Christ's 
 school, and entered thee into a state of sufferings, 
 remember the advantages of that state. Con- 
 sider how unsavory the things of the world ap- 
 pear to thee when thou art under the arrest of 
 death ; remember with wdiat comforts the Spirit 
 of God assists thy spirit ; set down in thy heart, 
 all those intercourses which happen between 
 God and thy own soul, the sweetnesses of reli- 
 gion, thy longings after Heaven, and all the 
 things of God. And if God restores thee to thy 
 estate, be not therefore less in love with Heaven, 
 nor more in love with the world. Let thy spirit 
 be now as humble as before it was broken, that 
 thou may est say with David, " It is good for me 
 that I have been afflicted, for thereby I have 
 learned thy commandments." "We may every 
 one live to have need of these rules ; and I do 
 not at all think it safe to pray against it, but to 
 be armed for it. 
 
 " If the righteous scarcely be saved," says the 
 Apostle, " where shall the wicked and the sinner 
 appear ?" Tliese words are taken out of the Prov- 
 erbs, according to the translation of the Septua- 
 gint. " If the righteous scarcely be safe" — the 
 words imply that he is safe; but by interme- 
 25« 
 
294: SIXTH SATUEDAY IN LENT. 
 
 dial difficulties ; he is safe in the midst of his 
 persecutions. And so have I often seen young 
 and unskilful persons sitting in a little boat, 
 when every little wave sporting about the sides 
 of the vessel, and every motion and dancing of 
 the barge, seemed a danger, Und made them 
 cling fast upon their fellows; and yet all the 
 while they were as safe as if they sat under a 
 tree, while a gentle wind shook the leaves into 
 a refreshment and a cooling shade. And the 
 unskilful, inexperienced Christian shrieks out 
 whenever his vessel shakes, thinking it always 
 a danger, that the watery pavement is not stable 
 and resident like a rock. And yet, all his danger 
 is in himself — none at all from without : for he 
 is indeed moving upon the waters, but fastened 
 to a rock. Faith is his foundation, and hope is 
 his anchor, and death is his harbor, and Christ 
 is his pilot, and Heaven is his country ; and all 
 the evils of poverty or affronts, of tribunals and 
 evil judges, of fears and sadder apprehensions, 
 are but like the loud wind blowing from the right 
 point — they make a noise, and drive faster to 
 the harbor. And if we do not leave the ship, 
 and leap into the sea ; quit the interests of reli- 
 gion, and run to the securities of the world ; cut 
 our cables, and dissolve our hopes; grow impa- 
 tient, and hug a wave and die in its embraces ; 
 we are as safe at sea — safer in the storm which 
 God sends us, than in a calm when we are be- 
 
THE EIGHTH BEATITUDE. 295 
 
 friended witli the world. And yet, after all this, 
 the good man " escapes but hardly" here ; but 
 it will be well enough hereafter. AYhen the 
 Christian's last pit is digged, when he is de- 
 scended to his grave and hath finished his state 
 of sorrows and sufferings ; then God opens the 
 rivers of life and never-ceasing felicities. And 
 this is that which God promised to his people : 
 " I hid My face from thee for a moment ; but 
 with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on 
 thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." 
 
 So much as moments are exceeded by eter- 
 nity, and the sighing of a man by the joys of 
 an angel, and a salutary frown by the light of 
 God's countenance, and a few groans by the 
 infinite and eternal hallelujahs ; so much are 
 the sorrows of the godly to be undervalued in 
 respect of what is deposited for them in the treas- 
 ures of Eternity. Their sorrows can die, but so 
 cannot their joys. And if the blessed martyrs 
 and confessors were asked concerning their past 
 sufferings and their present rest, and the joys of 
 their certain expectation, you should hear them 
 glory in nothing but in the mercies of God and 
 " in the cross of the Lord Jesus." Every chain 
 is a ray of light, and every prison is a palace, 
 and every loss is the purchase of a kingdom, and 
 every affront in the cause of God is an eternal 
 honor, and every day of sorrow is a thousand 
 years of comfort multiplied with a never-ceasing 
 
296 SIXTH SATTJEDAY IN LENT. 
 
 numeration ; davs withont nights, joys withont 
 sorrow, sanctity without sin, charity without 
 stain, possession without fear, society without 
 envying, communication of joys without lessen- 
 ing — and they shall dwell in a blessed country, 
 where an enemy never entered, and from whence 
 a fi'iend never went away. 
 
 PKATEK. 
 
 O Lord our God, who hast placed us in this 
 world like strangers and pilgrims, far from our 
 country and from rest ; have mercy, I humbly 
 beseech Thee, upon me and upon Thy whole 
 Church. Chasten us with Thy gentleness when 
 we sin against Thee ; be unto us a refuge in 
 trouble when we call upon Thee ; give us pa- 
 tience in the time of adversity ; and grant that 
 in the multitude of sorrows Thy comforts may 
 refresh us, and Thy mercies relieve us, and Thy 
 Hand lead us, for the sake of our Kedeemer, to 
 the land of glorious promises, there to reign with 
 Thee, who livest and governest all things, world 
 without end. Amen. 
 
SUKDAY KEXT BEFOEE EASTER. 
 
 CHRIST'S ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM!. 
 
 " And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on 
 him ; aud He sat upon him." Mark xi. 7. 
 
 Our blessed Lord, five days before His Pas- 
 sion, sent His disciples to a village to borrow an 
 ass, that He might ride in triumph to Jerusalem. 
 He had none of His own ; but yet He, who was 
 so dear to God, could not want what was to 
 supply His needs. And, in like manner, it may 
 be, God hath laid up our portion in the reposito- 
 ries of other men, and means to furnish us from 
 their granaries, and that their wardrobe shall 
 clothe us. And if we would give God leave to 
 make provisions for us in the ways of His own 
 choosing, and not estimate our wants by our 
 manner of receiving, being contented that God, 
 by any of His own ways, will minister it to us, 
 we should find our cares eased, and our thank- 
 fulness engaged, and all our moderate desires 
 contented, by the satisfaction of our needs. 
 
 And now begins that great triumph, in which 
 the Holy Jesus was pleased to exalt His office, 
 and to abase His person. He rode, like a poor 
 
298 SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE EASTER. 
 
 man, upon an ass, a beast of burden and the 
 lowest value, and yet it was not His own ; and 
 in that equipage He received the acclamations 
 due to a mighty prince, to the Son of the eternal 
 King ; telling us that the smallness of fortune, 
 and the rudeness of exterior habiliments, are 
 sometimes the outsides of a great glory ; and 
 that when God means to glorify or do honor 
 to a person, He needs no help from secular ad- 
 vantages. 
 
 He hides great riches in renunciation of the 
 world, and makes great honor break forth from 
 the clouds of humility; and victory to arise 
 from yielding, and peace to be the reward of 
 him that suffers all the hostilities of men and 
 devils. For Jesus, in this great humility of His, 
 gave a great proof that He was the Messias, and 
 the King of Sion ; because no other king en- 
 tered into those gates riding upon an ass, and 
 received the honor of " Hosannah," in that un- 
 likelihood and contradiction of unequal circum- 
 stances. 
 
 The blessed Jesus had never but two days of 
 triumph in His life : the one was on His trans- 
 figuration upon Mount Tabor, the other this 
 His riding into the holy city. But, that it may 
 appear how little were His joys and present 
 exterior complacencies, in the day of His trans- 
 figuration, Moses and Elias appeared to Him, 
 telling Him what great things He was to suffer ; 
 
Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. 299 
 
 and in this day of His riding into Jerusalem, 
 He wet the pahns with a dew sweeter than the 
 moistures upon Mount Hermon, or the drops of 
 manna. For, to aUay the little warmth of a 
 springing joy, He let down a shower of tears, 
 weeping over undone Jerusalem in the day of 
 His triumph ; leaving it disputable whether He 
 felt more joy or sorrow in the acts of love. For 
 He triumphed to consider that the redemption 
 of the world was so near, and wept bitterly that 
 men would not be redeemed. His joy was great 
 to consider that Himself was to suffer so great 
 sadness for our good ; and His sorrow was very 
 great to consider that we would not entertain 
 that good that He brought and laid before us by 
 His Passion. And thus Jesus — like a rainbow, 
 half made of the glories of light and half of the 
 moisture of a cloud, half triumph and half sor- 
 row — entered into that town, where He had 
 done much good to others, and to Himself re- 
 ceived nothing but affronts. Yet His tenderness 
 increased ^upon Him ; and that very journey, 
 which was Christ's last solemn visit for their 
 recovery. He doubled all the instruments of His 
 mercy and their conversion. He rode in tri- 
 umph ; the children sang Hosannah to Him ; 
 He cured many diseased persons ; He wept for 
 them, and pitied them, and sighed out the inti- 
 mations of a prayer, and stayed all day there 
 looking about Him towards evening; and no 
 
300 SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE EASTEK. 
 
 man would invite Him home, but He was forced 
 to go to Bethany, where He was sure of a hos- 
 pitable entertainment. I think no Christian that 
 reads this but will be full of indignation at the 
 whole city ; who, for malice or for fear, would 
 not, or durst not, receive their Saviour into their 
 houses. And yet, we do worse ; for now that 
 He is become our Lord, with mightier demon- 
 strations of His eternal power, we suffer Him 
 to look round about us for months and years 
 together, and possibly never entertain Him, till 
 our house is ready to rush upon our heads, and 
 we are going to unusual and stranger habita- 
 tions. And yet, in the midst of a populous and 
 mutinous city, this great King had some good 
 subjects ; persons that threw away their own 
 garments and laid them at the feet of our Lord ; 
 that, being divested of their own, they might 
 be re-invested with a robe of His righteousness, 
 wearing that till it were changed into a stole of 
 glory. 
 
 But I consider that the blessed Jesus had 
 affections, not less than infinite, towards all man- 
 kind ; and He w^ho wept upon Jerusalem — who 
 had done so great to despite Him, and within five 
 days, were to fill up the measure of their iniqui- 
 ties, and do an act which all ages of the world 
 could never repeat in the same instance — did 
 also, in the number of his tears, reckon our sins, 
 as sad considerations and incentives of His sor- 
 
301 
 
 row. And it would well become us to consider 
 what great evil we do, when our actions are such 
 as for which our blessed Lord did weep. He 
 who was seated in the bosom of felicity : yet He 
 moistened liis fresh laurels upon the day of His 
 triumph with tears of love and bitter alloy. His 
 day of triumph was a day of sorrow ; and if we 
 would weep for our sins, that instance of sorrow 
 would be a day of triumph and jubilee. 
 
 PKAYER. 
 
 O Holy Saviour, Eternal King of Sion, who 
 with great humility and infinite love didst enter 
 the holy city ; enter into, I beseech Thee, and 
 take possession of my soul, and enable me by 
 Thy aid to triumph over my sins, and lay my 
 victories at Thy feet, and at last follow Thee into 
 the heavenly Jerusalem, with palms in my hand, 
 and joy in my heart, and praises on my lips, re- 
 joicing in Thee through a glorious eternity, O 
 Holy and Eternal Saviour. Amen. 
 26 
 
mo:n"dat befoke eastek. 
 
 THE SUPPER AT BETHANY. 
 
 *'Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, 
 and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her 
 hair ; and the house was filled with the odor of the oint- 
 ment." John xii. 3. 
 
 'From. Jerusalem the Holy Jesus went to Beth- 
 any, where He had another manner of reception 
 than at the holy city. There He supped: for 
 His goodly day of triumph had been a fasting 
 day ; and there Mary Magdalen, who had spent 
 one box of precious ointment upon His feet, as 
 a sacrifice of eucharist for her conversion, be- 
 stowed another, in thankfulness for the restitu- 
 tion of her brother Lazarus to life, and consigned 
 her Lord to His burial. It was an unaccustomed 
 and large profusion, and Judas, an Apostle, one 
 of our Lord's own family, pretended it had been 
 a better religion to have given it to the poor. 
 But it was malice, and the spirit either of envy 
 or avarice in him that passed the sentence ; and 
 the event of that man gave the interpretation of 
 his present purpose. But Jesus entertained the 
 sincerity of that miraculous love, and Mary 
 Magdalen found her Lord to be her portion and 
 
THE SUPPER AT BETHANY. 803 
 
 her advocate ; and so liereafter when the devil, 
 the great accuser of God's saints, shall object 
 against the piety and religion of holy persons, 
 a cup of cold water shall be accepted unto 
 reward ; and an action, done with great zeal 
 and an intense love be acquitted from all its 
 adherent imperfections; Christ receiving them 
 unto Himself, and being like the altar of in- 
 cense, hallowing the very smoke and raising it 
 into a flame, and entertaining it into the em- 
 braces of the Armament, and the bosom ot 
 Heaven. 
 
 For Christ our Lord has made, and blessed, 
 and preserved, and sanctified us in order that 
 we might love Him. When our sins had sepa- 
 rated between us and our God, His love and 
 His passion. His holiness and His obedience, 
 reconciled us. He had the smart, but we the 
 ease ; His were the sufferings, but ours the 
 mercy; he felt the load of stripes, but from 
 thence a holy balm did flow upon us ; He felt 
 the thorns, but we shall bear the crown ; and 
 after He had paid the price we got the purchase. 
 And now hath He put upon our hearts the 
 sweetest and easiest yoke of love, to enable us to 
 bear His burden. 
 
 Abraham excelled in faith. Job in patience, 
 Isaac in fidelity, Jacob in simplicity, Joseph in 
 chastity, David in religion, Josiah in zeal, and 
 Manasses in repentance ; but Christ Himself con- 
 
304: MONDAY BEFORE EASTER. 
 
 versed with man, and taught him love. When 
 the trembling Christian shall say, " Woe is me ! 
 for I am a great sinner ; woe is me ! for I am 
 polluted, and of unclean lips;" let him remem- 
 ber that Mary Magdalen, the first time she came 
 to her Lord, was a suspected sinner, and a guest 
 unbidden ; and though a thousand years of tears 
 and sorrow, the purity of angels, the love of 
 saints, and the humiliation of the greatest peni- 
 tent, are not sufficient to make us- worthy to 
 dwell with Him ; yet was He pleased to receive 
 the weary sinner, the overburdened, conscience, 
 the afflicted, polluted soul, into His care and 
 conduct. His custody and cure. 
 
 For the Blessed Saviour, who did, for our 
 sakes, take upon Him our weaknesses and our 
 sufi'erings; who was hungry after the tempta- 
 tion of the devil — weary and thirsty in his dis- 
 course with the woman of Samaria; who did 
 weep over Lazarus — was afflicted in the garden 
 — nailed on the cross — pierced with a spear — 
 wrapped in linen, and laid in the grave ; so be- 
 came a merciful High Priest, and pitiful to our 
 infirmities. And when our faith is pure, and 
 our love unfeigned, and we weep truly for our 
 sins, though but with a shower no bigger than 
 the drops of pity ; if the degrees be great, Christ 
 will accept it into glory ; if it be little. He will 
 accept it into grace and make it bigger. 
 
 Great and infinite indeed are His glories; 
 
THE SUPPER AT BETHAKT. 805 
 
 infinite and glorious are Ilis mercies ! For 
 Heaven itself does wholly minister to our salva- 
 tion. God takes care of us, God loves us, God 
 will not suffer us to perisli ; and yet more, tlie 
 Son of God, wlio died for us, was so ready in 
 His mercy, that He did pardon us even before 
 we were redeemed. 
 
 For what is the secret of the mystery, that 
 the Eternal Son of God should take upon Him 
 our nature, and die our death, and suffer for our 
 sins, and do our work, and enable us to do our 
 own? He that did this is God. He, "who 
 thought it no robbery to be equal with God ;" 
 He came to satisfy Himself, to pay to Himself 
 the price for His own creatures. And when 
 He did this for us that He might pardon us, 
 was He at that instant angry with us? Was 
 this an effect of His anger or of His love, that 
 God sent His Son to work out our pardon and 
 salvation? Indeed, we were angry with God, 
 at enmity with the Prince of life ; but He was 
 reconciled to us so far, as that He then did the 
 greatest thing in the world for us : for nothing 
 could be greater than that God the Son of God 
 should die for us. Here was reconciliation 
 before pardon ; and God, that came to die for 
 us, did love us first before He came. 
 
 This was hasty love. But it went further yet. 
 For God pardoned us before we sinned. "When 
 He foresaw our sin, even mine and yours. He 
 
 26- 
 
306 MONDAY BEFORE EASTER. 
 
 sent His Son to die for lis. Our pardon was 
 wrought and effected by Christ's death above 
 eighteen hundred years ago ; and for the sins of 
 to-morrow, and the infirmities of the next day, 
 Christ is ah-eady dead, ah-eady risen from the 
 dead, and does now make intercession and 
 atonement. 
 
 For, as if God could not stay from redeeming 
 us. He promised the Redeemer to Adam in the 
 beginning of the world's sin; and Christ was 
 "the Lamb slain from the beginning of the 
 world ;" and the covenant of the Gospel, though 
 it was not made with man, yet it was from the 
 beginning performed by God as to His part, as 
 to the ministration of pardon ; and though God 
 laid His hand, and drew a veil of types and 
 secrecy before the manifestation of His mercies, 
 yet He did the work of redemption, and saved 
 us by the covenant of faith, and the righteous- 
 ness of believing, and the mercies of repentance, 
 the graces of pardon, and the blood of the slain 
 Lamb, even from the fall of Adam to this very 
 day; and will do till Christ's second coming. 
 He, therefore, who has given unto us His Son, 
 will He not with Him give us all things else 
 which are needful in order to His glory and our 
 salvation ? He who dwelleth in every sanctified 
 soul, and taketh it for His own; who giveth 
 occasion and createth good things, and produe- 
 
THE SUPPER AT BETHANY. 307 
 
 eth affections, and stirretli up the appetite, will 
 He not also satisfy all liolj desire ? 
 
 Oh ! let ns pray Him to give us such a love, 
 that we may love Him as well as any of His 
 •servants loved Him, and that He may love us 
 with that love which He beareth to the sons of 
 His house. For the love of Christ troubles 
 none, but is entertained by all that feel it with 
 joy and exultation. It gives liberty, and drives 
 away fear ; it feels no labor, but suffers all ; it 
 easies the weary, and strengthens the weak ; it 
 comforts themx that mourn, and feeds the hun- 
 gry; it is still more desired, and is ever more 
 desirable : and it will bring us to live in con- 
 formity to the will, and die in the favor, of our 
 God ; and rest in hope, and rise in glory, to the 
 participation of the blessings of a blissful immor- 
 tality, through the mercies of God in our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, our dearest Saviour, and ever glo- 
 rious and most mighty Redeemer. 
 
 PEATEB. 
 
 O Blessed Eedeemer, Lamb of God, that 
 takest away the sin of the world ; have mercy 
 upon me, a miserable sinner. Unworthy though 
 I am, yet Thy love never fails. Oh ! may Thy 
 infinite Arm of mercy be reached unto me ; 
 Thy holy Death, Thy Cross and Passion be in- 
 
308 MONDAY BEFORE EASTEE. 
 
 terposed between Thy judgments and my soul. 
 Lord ! I have been dead in tres23asses and sins, 
 but Thou art my resurrection and my life. 
 Henceforth grant me the purity of an angel, 
 the love of a seraph, and so establish my heart 
 in Thee, that giving to Thy service all my days 
 and all my powers, I may be beloved of Thee 
 with an eternal love, and may dwell one day in 
 Thy courts, even all the long day of Eternity, 
 for Thy infinite merit's sake. Amen. 
 
TUESDAY BEFOKE EASTER. 
 
 THE HUMILITY OF CHRIST. 
 
 " Whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that ser\^eth ? 
 is not he that sitteth at meat ? but I am amoiig you as he that 
 serveth." Luke xxii. 27. 
 
 The lioly Jesus went now to eat His last Pas- 
 chal supper, and to finish the work of His lega- 
 tion, and to fulfil that part of the law of Moses 
 in every of its smallest and most minute par- 
 ticularities, in which also the actions were sig- 
 nificant of spiritual duties : which He may 
 transfer from the letter to the spirit in our own 
 instances, that, as Jesus ate the Paschal lamb 
 with a staff in His hand, w^ith His loins girt, with 
 sandals on His feet, in great haste, with imleav- 
 ened bread, and with bitter herbs ; so we also 
 should do all our services according to the sig- 
 nification of these symbols, leaning upon the 
 cross of Jesus for a staff, and bearing the rod 
 of His government ; with loins girt with an- 
 gelical chastity, with shoes on our feet, that so 
 we may guard and have custody over our affec- 
 tions, and " be shod with the preparation of the 
 Gospel of peace ;" eating in haste, as becomes 
 
310 TUESDAY BEFORE EASTEE. 
 
 persons "hungering and thirsting after right- 
 eousness ;" doing the work of the Lord zealously 
 and fervently, without the leaven of malice and 
 secular interest, with hitter herhs of self-denial, 
 and mortification of our sensual and inordinate 
 desires 
 
 When the holy Jesus had finished His last 
 Mosaic rite, He descended to give example of 
 the first-fruits of evangelical graces. " He rose 
 from supper, laid aside His garment," like a 
 servant, and, with all the circumstances of an 
 humble ministry, " washed the feet of His dis- 
 ciples," beginning at the first, St. Peter, until 
 He came to Judas the traitor, that we might in 
 one scheme, see a rare conjunction of charity 
 and humility, of self-denial and indififerency, 
 represented by a person glorious and great, 
 their Lord and Master, sad and troubled. And 
 He chose to wash their feet rather than their 
 head, that He might have an opportunity of a 
 more humble posture, and a more apt signi- 
 fication of His charity. Thus God lays every 
 thing aside that He may serve His servants : 
 Heaven stoops to earth, and one abyss calls 
 upon another, and the miseries of man, which 
 were next to infinite, are excelled by a mercy 
 equal to the immensity of God. 
 
 St. Peter was troubled that the Hands of the 
 Lord should wash His servants' feet — those 
 Hands which had opened the eyes of the blind, 
 
THE HUMILITY OF CHRIST. 311 
 
 and cured lepers, and healed all diseases, and 
 when lift up to heaven were omnipotent, and 
 could restore life to dead and buried persons. 
 But it was no more than was necessary, for 
 they had but lately been earnest in dispute for 
 precedency, and this was not to be cured but 
 by some prodigy of example and miracle of 
 humility. And it seems, it is a great thing 
 that man should come to have just and equal 
 thoughts of himself, since God used such pow- 
 erful arts to transmit this lesson and engrave 
 it in the spirits of men, even descending from 
 heaven to earth to teach it us. 
 
 For when men had violated the natural law 
 and broken that which was written ; when they 
 had forgotten the Divine judgment manifested 
 in the deluge upon the old world, in fire from 
 heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, in many 
 plagues upon the Egyptians, in the slaughters 
 of the Philistines; and when the wrath of God 
 did hang over all the world for their iniquity ; 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, who in all things did 
 minister to His God and Father, both in the 
 creation of the world and in the excellent provi- 
 dence of it, resolved to become man. He, who 
 is the Lawgiver, would be subject to laws ; He 
 that is the Hio-h Priest would be made a sac- 
 rifice ; and the Great Shepherd of our souls 
 would be a lamb and be slain for us. Thus He, 
 who is the Maker of all that are born, was con- 
 
312 TUESDAY BEFORE EASTER. 
 
 ceived in the womb of a Yirgin ; He that is 
 void of all flesh was incarnate and made flesh ; 
 He was born in time, who was begotten from 
 eternity. 
 
 He conversed piously with men, and instruct- 
 ed them with His holy laws and doctrine ; He 
 cured every disease and every infirmity; He 
 did signs and wonders among the people ; He 
 slept, and ate, and drank, who feeds all the liv- 
 ing with food, and fills them with His blessing ; 
 He declared God's name to them who knew it 
 not; He enlightened our ignorances; He en- 
 kindled godliness, and fulfilled His Father's will, 
 and finished all which He gave Him to do. 
 
 All this when He had done, He was taken by 
 the hands of wicked men, by the treachery of 
 false priests and an ungodly people, and by the 
 permission of His heavenly Father, suffered 
 many things of reproach. He was delivered to 
 Pilate, who judged Him that is the Judge of 
 quick and dead, and condemned Him who is 
 the Saviour of all others. 
 
 Then He who is incapable of suffering, was 
 crucified ; and He died who is of an immortal 
 nature, that by His death and Passion He 
 might free them for whom He came, and might 
 dissolve the bands of the devil, and deliver men 
 from all His crafty malices. 
 
 Oh, consider now if it be not infinite impiety 
 to despise the riches of such goodness. Kemem- 
 
THE HUMILITY OF CHKIST. 813 
 
 ber that vast descent from the glorious bosom 
 of the Father to the womb of a poor maiden, to 
 the form of a servant, to the miseries of a sin- 
 ner, to a life of labor, to a state of poverty, to 
 a death of malefactors, to the grave of death. 
 Think if it were not a good desire, and yet but 
 reasonable, that we should be as humble in the 
 midst of our greatest imperfections and basest 
 sins, as Christ was in the midst of His fulness 
 of the Spirit ; for, if this example fails, we are 
 eternally lost in the mists of vanity, and enter 
 into the condition of those angels whom pride 
 transformed and spoiled into the condition of 
 devils. 
 
 Let us, therefore, being mindful of these 
 things which Christ did and suffered for us, 
 say, as did a good man of old : O Lord, Thou 
 hast overcome my pride. Thine example hath 
 mastered me. I deliver myself up into Thy 
 hands, never to receive liberty or exaltation but 
 in the condition of Tliy liamble servant. 
 
 For so, in Him shall we be taught, by His 
 strength enabled, by His grace prevented, by 
 His Spirit conducted, by His death pardoned, 
 by His resurrection justified, and by His inter- 
 cession defended from all our enemies, and set 
 forward on the way of holiness and life eternal. 
 27 
 
314: TUESDAY BEFORE EASTEE. 
 
 PKATEK. 
 
 Merciful Saviour, who wert pleased to de- 
 scend into a state of great misery, to reconcile 
 us to Thj Father, and didst with deep charac- 
 ters engrave humility into the spirits of Thy 
 disciples ; teach me, I beseech Thee, to imitate 
 Thy excellences and conform to Thy sufferings ; 
 give me the mourning and sadness of a true 
 penitent ; make me meek, patient, and resigned, 
 in all accidents and changes of Thy providence ; 
 let me be willing to be the servant of all men, 
 feeling for their necessities, and aiding them in 
 their sorrows; and grant that, despising the 
 world and its vanities, I may at length attain 
 the crown of righteousness, and reign with 
 Thee, O merciful Saviour, who art my hope 
 and my life, my glory and exceeding great re- 
 ward. Amen. 
 
WEDISTESDAY BEFOEE EASTER. 
 
 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show 
 the Lord's death till He come." 1 Coe. xi. 26. 
 
 When St. Joseph and the blessed Yirgiii- 
 Mother had for a time lost their most Holy Son, 
 they sought him in the villages and the high- 
 ways, in the retinues of their kindred, and the 
 caravans of the Galilean pilgrims ; but there 
 they found Him not. At last, almost despair- 
 ing, faint and sick with travel and fear, with de- 
 sires and tedious expectations, they came into 
 the Temple to pray to God for conduct and suc- 
 cess ; knowing and believing assuredly, that if 
 they could find God, they should not long miss 
 to find the Holy Jesus. And their faith de- 
 ceived them not : for they sought God ; and 
 found Him, that was God and man, in the midst 
 and circle of the doctors. But, being surprised 
 with trouble and wonder, they began a little to 
 expostulate with the Divine Child, why He 
 would be absent so long, and leave them (as it 
 must needs be when He is absent from us) in 
 sorrow and uncertain thoughts. This question 
 
316 WEDNESDAY BEFORE EASTER. 
 
 brouglit forth an answer whicli will be forever 
 useful to all : " How is it that ye have so 
 fondly looked for me, as if I were used to wan- 
 der in unknown paths, without skill and without 
 a guide ? Did ye not know that I ought to be 
 in My Father's House ?" Tliat is, there, where 
 God is worshipped, where He loves to dwell, 
 where He communicates His blessing and holy 
 influences : there, and there only, we are sure 
 to meet our dearest Lord. For God hath a 
 house below as well as above. Here is His 
 dwelling, and here are His provisions; hither 
 God sends His Son, and here His Son manifests 
 Himself. 
 
 And now, that we may know where to find 
 Him, we must be sure to look after Him. He 
 hath told us where He would be, behind what 
 pillar, and under what cloud, and present in 
 what sacrament ; and we must not look for Him 
 in the highways of ambition and pride, of wealth 
 and sensual pleasure. These things are not 
 found in the House of His Father, neither may 
 they come near His dwelling. But if we seek 
 for Christ, we shall find Him in the methods of 
 virtue, and the paths of God's commandments ; 
 in the houses of prayer, and the offices of reli- 
 gion : in the persons of the poor, and the retire- 
 ments of an afllicted soul ; in our penitential 
 sorrows, and in the time of trouble ; in pulpits, 
 and upon altars ; in the word, and in the sacra- 
 
THE HOLY CO]MMrNION. 317 
 
 ments. If we come hitlier as we ought, we are 
 sure to find our Beloved — Him whom our soul 
 lono^eth after. 
 
 Sure enough Christ is here; but He is not 
 here in every manner, and therefore is not to be 
 found by every inquirer, nor touched by every 
 hand, nor received by all comers, nor enter- 
 tained by every guest. He that receives Christ 
 must have a proper, that is a spiritual, instru- 
 ment, a purified heart, consecrated life, and a 
 hallowed mouth ; for a disproportionate instru- 
 ment makes the effect impossible, both in nature 
 and morality. Can a man bind a thought with 
 chains, or carry imaginations in the palm of his 
 hand ? Can the beauty of the peacock's train, 
 or the ostrich-plume, be delicious to the palate 
 and the throat? Does the hand intermeddle 
 with the joys of the heart? or darkness, that 
 hides the naked, make him warm ? Does the 
 body live as does the spirit ? Or, can the body 
 of Christ be like to common food ? 
 
 Indeed, the sun shines upon the good and 
 bad ; and the vines give wine to the drunkard 
 as well as to the sober man : pirates have fair 
 winds and a calm sea at the same time when 
 the just and peaceful merchantman hath them. 
 But although the things of the world are com- 
 mon to good and bad, yet sacraments and spir- 
 itual joys, the food of the soul and the blessing 
 of Christ, are the peculiar right of saints. The 
 27« 
 
318 WEDNESDAY BEFORE EASTEK. 
 
 rites of our religion are to "be handled by tlie 
 measures of religion, and the things of God by 
 the rules of the Spirit ; and, therefore, whoever 
 will partake of God's secrets must first look into 
 his own : he must first pare off whatsoever is 
 amiss, and not without holiness approach to the 
 Holiest of Holies ; nor eat of this sacrifice with 
 a defiled hand, nor come to this feast without 
 a nuptial garment. The Holy Communiofi, or 
 Supper of the Lord, is the most sacred and mys- 
 terious congregation of secret and holy things 
 and duties in our religion. And since all so- 
 cieties of Christians pretend to the greatest es- 
 teem of this, above all the rites or external parts 
 and ministries of religion, it cannot be otherwise 
 but that they will all speak honorable things of 
 it, and suppose holy things to be in it, and great 
 blessings, one Avay or other, to come by it : and 
 all the innumerable differences which are in the 
 discourses and consequent practices relating to 
 it proceed from some common truths, and uni- 
 versal notions, and mysterious or inexplicable 
 words, and tend all to reverential thoughts and 
 pious treatment of these rites and holy offices. 
 
 But he that desires to enter furthest into the 
 secrets of this mystery, and to understand more 
 than others, can better learn by love than by 
 inquiry. " He that keepeth the law of the Lord 
 getteth the understanding thereof," saith the 
 wise Bensirach. If he will prepare himself dili- 
 
THE HOLT COMMUNION. 319 
 
 gently, and carefully observe the dispensations 
 of the Spirit, and receive it humbly, and treat 
 it with great reverence, and dwell in the com- 
 munion of saints, and pass through the mystery 
 with great devotion and purest simplicity, and 
 converse with the purities of the sacrament fre- 
 quently, and with holy intention — this man shall 
 understand more by his experience, than the 
 greatest clerks can by all their subtleties. 
 
 For all comforts conspire to meet in the sa- 
 crament of the Lord's Supper. In it the story 
 of the love of our dearest Lord is written in 
 largest characters ; who not only was at that 
 instant ^busy in doing man the greatest good, 
 even then when man was contriving His death 
 and His dishonor; but tried to represent His 
 bitter Passion to us, without any circumstances 
 of horror, in symbols of pleasure and delight ; 
 that we may " taste and see how gracious the 
 Lord is," who would not transmit the record of 
 His Passion to us in any thing that might trou- 
 ble us. 
 
 The Body and Blood of our Saviour, which 
 He gave for the life of the world, these are th'^, 
 repast of this Supper, and these we truly par- 
 take. For there is not only the visible reception 
 of the outward signs, but an invisible reception 
 of the thing signified. There is far more than a 
 shadow, than a type, than a figure. Christ did 
 not only propose a sign at that hour, but also He 
 
320 WEDNESDAY BEFORE EASTEK. 
 
 gave us a Gift, and that Gift really and effec- 
 tually is Himself. For that which is promised, 
 and faith takes it, and hath it, is not fiction, 
 fancy, opinion, falsity, but substance and verity ; 
 and spiritual union is the most true and real 
 union that can be. 
 
 Happy indeed is that man that sits at the table 
 of angels, that puts his hand into the dish with 
 the King of all the creatures, and feeds upon the 
 Eternal Son of God, joining things below with 
 things above ; heaven with earth, life with death ; 
 that " mortality might be swallowed up of life," 
 and sin be destroyed by the inhabitation of its 
 greatest conqueror. 
 
 And now I need not enumerate any particu- 
 lars; since the Spirit of God hath ascertained 
 us, that Christ enters into our hearts and takes 
 possession, and abides there ; that we are made 
 temples and celestial mansions ; that we are all 
 one with our Judge, and with our Eedeemer; 
 that our Creator is bound unto His creatures 
 with bonds of charity, which nothing can dis- 
 solve, unless our own hands break them; that 
 man is united with God, and our weakness is 
 fortified by His strength, and our miseries wrap- 
 ped up in the golden leaves of glory. 
 
 Take, therefore, and eat, in remembrance of 
 Christ. Take, and fear not, as Peter did, say- 
 ing, " Depart from me, Lord ; for I am a sinful 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 321 
 
 man." It is tlie Lord's delight to seek and to 
 save that which was lost. Take, and take heed 
 you let not go your hold. Take, but not to hold 
 the pleasures of the world and your sinful lusts 
 in your grasp together. Pine not away with 
 the consumption of an evil conscience, but eat, 
 and be strong in the Lord and in His mercy ; 
 eat, to show the Lord's death. 
 
 For Christ could have said, "This is My 
 body slain ; This is My body crucified :" but He 
 had rather say, " This is My body broken for 
 yours ;" to show the great injuries of His suffer- 
 ings. To keep them in fresh and frequent medi- 
 tation, the Lord hath given us a palpable and 
 signal token ; a blessing twice, and twenty times 
 given, because it is given that it may never be 
 forgotten. They that love others, would live in 
 the memory of those they love. It is because 
 Christ loves us entirely, that He would be re- 
 membered of us. And no friend will say to 
 another, " Eemember me when I am gone ;" but 
 that he means reciprocally to remember his 
 friend to whom he spake it. If you will remem- 
 ber Christ, He will remember you. And the 
 thief on the cross will teach you, that it is good 
 to continue in His memory. " Lord, remember 
 me, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." 
 
 Consider the noble works of the Lord, espe- 
 cially this great work — ^how He suffered for us 
 
322 WEDNESDAY BEFOUE EASTEE. 
 
 unto death. Eemember seriously this one thing 
 as you ought ; and God will let you forget noth- 
 ing that will do you good. 
 
 Remember it: not only casting your eyes 
 back to the large histories of it in the Gospels, 
 as if that would suffice ; but zealously, practi- 
 cally — and then every thing else will come to 
 mind to perfect holiness. For to consider how 
 much Christ loved us, by how much He suffered 
 for us, will make us look upon sin with horror, 
 which begat such torment and ignominy to the 
 innocent Lamb of God. It will comfort our 
 weak faith, that He who hath done so great 
 things for us will not abandon us, and having 
 subdued our enemies, will not let them renew 
 the battle to overcome us. It will encourage us 
 to lay down our life for Him, who hath laid 
 down His life for us. 
 
 "'' My meditation of Him shall be sweet ; 1 
 will be glad in the Lord." He hath drunk up 
 the cup of sorrow, that I might drink of nothing 
 but the cup of salvation. 
 
 PEATER. 
 
 O Blessed and Eternal Saviour, who gavest 
 Thyself a sacrifice for our sins, and hast become 
 one with us, that we may live the same life, and 
 be partakers of Thy resurrection and immor- 
 tality ; grant, I beseech Thee, that Thy holy 
 
THE HOLY COlM^rUNIOTT. 323 
 
 sacrament may be to me life and health, a de- 
 fence and shield, a means of sanctiiication and 
 spiritual growth ; that receiving the Body of my 
 dearest Lord, I may be one with His mystical 
 Body, united with indissoluble bonds of a strong 
 faith, and a holy hope, and a never-failing charity, 
 and may at length pass from feeding upon Thee 
 spiritually to beholding Thy face eternally, 
 through Tliy mercy, Blessed and Eternal 
 Saviour. Amen. 
 
THUESDAY BEFOEE EASTEE. 
 
 THE GAKDEN OF GETHSEMANE. 
 
 '*And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His 
 sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the 
 ground." Ltjkk xxii. 44. 
 
 The farewell sermon of our Blessed Lord, 
 begun when Judas was gone out, was rarely 
 mixed of sadness and joys. For in it He dis- 
 coursed of the glorification of God in His Son, 
 of those glories which the Father had prepared 
 for Him ; and of His sudden departure, to a 
 place whither His disciples could not come yet, 
 but afterwards they sliould: meaning, first to 
 death, and then to glory." He commanded them 
 to love one another ; and foretold to Peter (who 
 made confident protests that he would die with 
 his Master), " that before the cock should crow 
 twice, he should deny Him thrice." He com- 
 forted them with the comforts of faith; and 
 then, arming them against future persecutions, 
 and giving them divers holy precepts, He gave 
 them His blessing, and prayed for them ; and, 
 having sung a hymn, " went forth with His dis- 
 ciples over the brook Cedron, unto the Mount 
 
THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. 325 
 
 of Olives, to a village called Gethsemane, where 
 there was a garden, into which He entered to 
 pray together with His disciples." " And taking 
 Peter, James, and John apart with Him, about a 
 stone's cast" from the rest, " He began to be ex- 
 ceeding sorrowful," and sad, " even unto death." 
 
 For now He saw the ingredients of His bitter 
 draught pouring into the chalice, and the sight 
 was full of horror and amazement. From an 
 evil heart, and a prevaricating spirit, all our 
 sins arise ; and in the spirit of Christ began His 
 sorrow, where He truly felt the full value and 
 demerit of sin, which we think not worthy of a 
 tear or a hearty sigh : but He groaned and fell 
 under the burden. And it were highly to be 
 wished, that, in the midst of our caresses and 
 levities of society, in our festivities and tri- 
 umphal merriments, when we laugh at folly 
 and rejoice in sin, we would remember, that 
 for those very merriments our Blessed Lord felt 
 a bitter sorrow; and not one vain and sinful 
 laughter but cost the Holy Jesus a sharp pang 
 and throe of passion. 
 
 " And He fell on His face, and prayed : O My 
 leather, if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
 Me." 
 
 God heard His prayer, but would not answer 
 Him in kind ; but when His prayer was full, 
 and His sorrow come to a great measure, He 
 sent His angel to comfort Him. 
 28 
 
326 THUESDAY BEFORE EASTER. 
 
 It was a great season for the angel's coming, 
 because it was a great necessity which was in- 
 cumbent upon our Lord; for His sadness and 
 His agony was so great, mingled and com- 
 pounded of sorrow and zeal, fear and desire, 
 innocent nature and perfect grace, that He 
 ^^ sweat drops " as great as if the blood had 
 started through little undiscerned fontinels, and 
 outrun the streams and rivers of His Cross. 
 
 What collateral designs and tacit significa- 
 tions might be designed by this mysterious 
 sweat, I know not. Certainly it was a sad be- 
 ginning of a most dolorous passion. We have 
 read of some persons, that the grief and fear of 
 one night hath put a cover of snow upon their 
 heads, as if the labors of thirty years had been 
 extracted, and the quintessence drank off in the 
 passion of that night. But if nature had been 
 capable of a greater or more prodigious impress 
 of passion than a bloody sweat, it must needs 
 Slave happened in this agony of the Holy Jesus, 
 in which He undertook a grief great enough to 
 make up the imperfect contrition of all the 
 saints, and to satisfy for the impeuitencies of all 
 vthe world. 
 
 And here, let us consider, that it was to us 
 ■Christ made this largess of His goodness ; to us, 
 to whom He made Himself a brother, paying 
 the scores of our sin and shame. If we could 
 consider this sadly, it might make us better to 
 
THE GARDEN OF GETIISEMAJTE. 327 
 
 understand our madness and folly in refusing 
 to be sorrowful, and to leave our sins, and to 
 make amends by a holy life. It cost our dear- 
 est Lord the price of His dearest blood, many 
 a thousand groans, millions of prayers and sighs, 
 that we might be admitted to repentance : and 
 surely it must be an infinite impiety to despise 
 the riches of such a goodness ; such a glorious 
 favor as is the issue of Christ's prayers in heav- 
 en, and of all His labors. His sorrows, and His 
 suflferings on earth. 
 
 For all that Christ suffered was to glorify His 
 Father by bringing souls to God ; and it must 
 needs be an infinite condemnation, that Christ, 
 thy Lord and Judge, should be tormented for 
 nothing; that thou wouldest not accept felicity 
 and pardon, when He purchased them at so dear 
 a price. How shalt thou one day look upon 
 Him that fainted and died for love of thee, and 
 thou didst scorn His miraculous mercies ? How 
 shall we dare to behold that lovely Face that 
 brought salvation to us, and we turned away 
 and fell in love with death, and kissed deform- 
 ity and sins? All the pains and passions, the 
 sorrows and the groiins, of Jesus, shall be laid 
 upon thy score, if thou hast refused the mercies 
 and designs of all their holy ends and purposes. 
 
 For things are so ordered, and so great a value 
 set upon our souls, since they are the images of 
 God and redeemed by the blood of the Holy 
 
328 THUKSDAT BEFORE EASTER. 
 
 Lamb, that tlie salvation of our souls is reck- 
 oned as a part of Christ's reward — a part of the 
 glorification of His humanity. Every sinner 
 that repents causes joy to Christ, and the joy 
 is so great that it runs over and whets the fair 
 browns and beauteous locks of cherubim and 
 seraphim, and all the angels have a part of that 
 banquet. Then it is that our blessed Lord feels 
 the acceptation of His holy sacrifice, the gra- 
 ciousness of His person, the return of His 
 prayers. And what man is there so vile that 
 will refuse to bring joy to his Lord, by doing 
 himself the greatest good in the world ? They 
 who refuse to do this are said to " crucify the 
 Lord of life again, and put Him to an open 
 shame ;" that is, they, as much as in them lies, 
 bring Christ from His glorious joys to the labors 
 of His life, and the shame of His death ; they 
 advance His enemies and refuse to advance the 
 kingdom of their Lord ; they put themselves in 
 that state in which they were when Christ came 
 to die for them ; and now that He is in a state 
 that He may rejoice over them (for He hath done 
 all His share towards it), every wicked man takes 
 his head from the blessing, and rather chooses 
 that the devil sliould rejoice in his destruction 
 than that his Lord should triumph in his felicity. 
 O consider, therefore, deeply, what Christ 
 hath done for thy soul ; what glories He laid 
 aside, with what meanness He was invested, 
 
THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. 329 
 
 wliat pains He suffered, what rare arts lie used 
 to save thee; and remember, that the guilt of 
 eternal damnation, which we have all incurred, 
 was a great and intolerable evil, and unavoid- 
 able if such miracles of mercy liad not been 
 wrought to take it quite away. 
 
 A greater love than this could not be ; and a 
 less love than this could not have rescued us. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Holy Saviour, who for our sakes didst suf- 
 fer immeasurable anguish and pain, that Thou 
 mightest purchase for us blessings upon earth, 
 and an eternal inheritance in Heaven ; dispose 
 me, I beseech Thee, by contrition, and by love, 
 to receive the benefit of Thy Passion. Pity me, 
 O Lord ; pity me. Turn Thy merciful eyes 
 towards me, O most merciful Redeemer; for 
 my sins are great, like unto Thy Passion ; full 
 of sorrow and shame, and a burden too great for 
 me to bear. O teach me to hate the cause of 
 Thy agony, and to love Thee to the uttermost 
 extent of my affections ; and grant, that in this 
 life, suffering the sorrows of a sad repentance in 
 the union and merits of Thy Passion, I may die 
 with Thee, and rest with Thee, and rise again 
 with Thee, and live with Thee forever in the 
 possession of Thy glories ; O most merciful and 
 gracious Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 28« 
 
GOOD FEIDAY. 
 
 THE CKUCIFIXION. 
 
 ' And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, 
 there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the 
 right hand, and the other on the left." Luke xxiii. 33. 
 
 When the sentence of death pronounced 
 against our blessed Lord was to be put in exe- 
 cution, the soldiers pulled oif the robe of mock- 
 ery, the scarlet mantle, which in jest they put 
 upon Him, and put on His own garments. But 
 they took not ofT the crown of thorns ; for so it 
 became the King of suffering not to lay aside 
 His imperial thorns, till they were changed into 
 diadems of glory. 
 
 And now was Abel led forth by his brother 
 to be slain ; a gay spectacle to satisfy impious 
 eyes. Sin laughed to see the King of heaven 
 and earth, and the great lover of souls, instead 
 of the sceptre of His kingdom, to bear a tree of 
 cursing and shame. But Piety wept tears of 
 pity, and knew they would melt into joy, when 
 she should behold that cross, which loaded the 
 shoulders of her Lord, afterwards set upon the 
 sceptres, and be engraved and signed upon the 
 foreheads of kings. 
 
TFIE CRUCIFrXTON. ^31 
 
 It cannot be thought, bat the ministers of 
 Jewish malice used all the circumstances of 
 affliction, which, in any case, were accustomed 
 towards malefactors, and persons to be cruci- 
 fied ; and therefore it was, that in some old 
 figures, we see our Blessed Lord described with 
 a label appendant to the fringe of His garment 
 set full of nails and pointed iron ; for so some- 
 times they afflicted j)ersons condemned to that 
 kind of death. The accidents of His journey, 
 and their malice, so crushed his wounded tender 
 body, that they were forced to lay the load of 
 the cross upon a Cyrenian, fearing that He 
 should die with less shame and smart than they 
 intended Him. And so He was pleased to take 
 man unto His aid, not only to represent His own 
 need, and the dolorousness of His Passion, but 
 to consign the duty unto man, that we must 
 enter into a fellowship of Christ's sufferings, 
 taking up the cross of martyrdom w^hen God re- 
 quires us, enduring affronts, being patient under 
 affliction, loving them that hate us, and being 
 benefactors to our enemies, mortifying our de- 
 sires, breaking our own will, not seeking our- 
 selves, being entirely resigned to God. These 
 are the cross and the nails, and the spear, and 
 the whip, and all the instruments of a Christian's 
 passion. And we may consider that every man 
 in this world shall, in some sense or other, bear 
 a cross. Few men escape it, and it is not well 
 
332 GOOD FEIDAY. 
 
 with tliem that do : but they only bear it well 
 that follow Christ, and tread in His steps, and 
 bear it for His sake, and walk as He walked. 
 
 By the precept of " bearing the cross," we are 
 not tied to pull evil upon ourselves, that we 
 may imitate our Lord in nothing but in being 
 afflicted, but it is required that " we bear our 
 own cross ;" so said our dearest Lord. For when 
 the cross of Christ is laid upon us, and we are 
 called to martyrdom, then it is our own, because 
 God made it to be our portion ; and when, by 
 the necessities of our spirit, and the rebellion of » 
 our body, we need exterior mortifications and 
 acts of self-denial, then also it is our own cross, 
 because our needs have made it so ; and so it is 
 when God sends us sickness, or any other calam- 
 ity which calls for our sufferance, and patience 
 and equanimity. For, "therefore Christ hath 
 suffered for us," saith St. Peter, " leaving us an 
 example, that we should follow His steps," who 
 bore His cross as long as He could ; and when 
 He could no longer. He murmured not, but sank 
 under it ; and then He was content to receive 
 such aid, not which He chose Himself, but such 
 as was assigned Him. 
 
 Jesus was led out of the gates of Jerusalem, 
 that He might become the sacrifice for persons 
 without the pale, even for all the world : and 
 the daughters of Jerusalem followed Him with 
 pious tears till they came to Calvary — a place 
 
THE CRUCIFIXION. 333 
 
 difficult in the ascent, eminent and apt for the 
 publication of shame, a hill of death and dead 
 bones, polluted and impure — and there beheld 
 Him stripped naked who clothes the fields with 
 flowers and all the world with robes, and the 
 whole globe with the canopy of heaven. And 
 60 must we be despoiled of all our exterior ad- 
 herences, that we may pass through the regions 
 of duty and divine love to a society of blessed 
 spirits and an immortal and beatified estate. 
 There they nailed Jesus with four nails, and 
 fixed His cross in the ground, — which, with its 
 fall into the place of its station, gave infinite tor- 
 ture, by so violent a concussion of the body of 
 our Lord, which rested upon nothing but four 
 great wounds, — where he was designed to suffer^ 
 a long and lingering torment. For crucifixion, 
 as it was a pain sharp and passionate, so it was 
 not of quick efi'ect towards taking away the life. 
 And now behold the Priest and the Sacrifice 
 of all the world laid upon the Altar of the Cross, 
 bleeding and tortured, and dying to reconcile 
 His Father to us. And he was arrayed with 
 ornaments more glorious than those of Aaron. 
 The crown of thorns was His mitre, the cross 
 His pastoral staff, the nails j)iercing His hands 
 were instead of rings, the ancient ornaments of 
 priests ; but as this object calls for our devotion, 
 our love, and eucharist to our dearest Lord, so 
 it must needs irreconcile us to sm, which, in the 
 
834 GOOD FEIDAT. 
 
 / 
 
 eyes of all the world, brought so great shame 
 and pain and amazement upon the Son of God. 
 
 In the midst of two thieves, three long hours 
 the Holy Jesus hung, clothed with pain, agony, 
 and dishonor — all of them so eminent and vast 
 that He, who could not but hope, whose soul 
 was enchased with divinity, and dwelt in the 
 bosom of God, and in the cabinet of the myste- 
 rious Trinitv, yet had a cloud of misery so thick 
 and black drawn before Him, that He com- 
 plained as if God had forsaken Him. But this 
 was the " pillar of the cloud" which conducted 
 Israel into Canaan. And as God behind the 
 cloud supported the Holy Jesus, and stood ready 
 to receive Him into the union of His glories ; so 
 His soul, in that great desertion, liad internal 
 comforts, proceeding from consideration of all 
 those excellent persons which should be adopted 
 into the fellowship of His sufferings, which 
 should imitate His graces, which should com- 
 municate His glories. And we follow this cloud 
 to our country, having Christ for our guide ; 
 and though He trod the way leaning uj)on the 
 cross, which like the staff of Egypt pierced His 
 hands ; yet it is to lis a comfort and support, 
 pleasant to our spirits as the sweetest canes, 
 strong as the pillars of the earth, and made apt 
 for our use by having been borne and made 
 smooth by the hands of our Elder Brother. 
 
 In the midst of all His torments, Jesus only 
 
THE CRUCIFIXION. 335 
 
 made one prayer of sorrow, to represent His 
 sad condition to His Father ; but no accent of 
 mnrnuir, no syllable of anger, against His ene- 
 mies. Instead of that. He sent up a holy, cliar- 
 itable, and effective prayer for their forgiveness, 
 and by that prayer, obtained of God that, within 
 fifty-five days, eight thousand of His enemies 
 were converted. And, by this instance, our 
 Blessed Lord consigned that duty to us, which, 
 in His sermons. He had preached, that we should 
 forgive our enemies, and pray for them ; and by 
 so doing, ourselves are freed from the stings of 
 anger, and the storms of a revengeful spirit ; and 
 we oftentimes procure servants to God, friends 
 to ourselves, and heirs to the kingdom of heaven. 
 Of the two thieves who were crucified together 
 with our Lord, the one blasphemed ; the other 
 had, at that time, the greatest piety in the world, 
 except that of the blessed Yirgin, and particu- 
 larly had such a faith, that all the ages of the 
 Church could never show the like. For when 
 he saw Christ " in the same condemnation" with 
 himself, crucified by the Romans, accused and 
 scorned by the Jews, forsaken by His own Apos- 
 tles, a dying distressed man doing at that time 
 no miracles to attest His divinity or innocence ; 
 yet then he confessed Him to be a Lord, and a 
 King, and his Saviour ; he prayed to Him, he 
 hoped in Him, and pitied Him ; showing an 
 excellent patience in this sad condition. And 
 
336 GOOD FEIDAT. 
 
 in this I consider that, besides the excellency of 
 some of these acts, and the goodness of all, the 
 like occasion for so exemplary a faith can never 
 occur ; and until all these things shall, in these 
 circumstances, meet in any one man, he must 
 not hope for so safe an exit, after an evil life, 
 upon the confidence of this example. 
 
 By the cross of Christ stood the holy Yirgin- 
 Mother, upon whom old Simeon's prophecy was 
 now verified ; for now she felt " a sword passing 
 through her very soul." She stood sad, silent, 
 and with a modest grief, deep as the waters of 
 the abyss, but smooth as the face of a pool ; 
 full of love, and patience, and sorrow, and hope. 
 IS^ow she was put to it, to make use of all those 
 excellent discourses her Holy Son had used to 
 build up her spirit, and fortify against this day. 
 ITow she felt the blessings and strength of faith, 
 and she passed from the griefs of the Passion to 
 the expectation of the Resurrection ; and she 
 rested in this death as in a sad remedy, for she 
 knew it reconciled God with all the world. 
 
 But her hope drew a veil before her sorrow ; 
 and though her grief was great enough to swal- 
 low her up, yet her love was greater, and did 
 swallow up her grief. But the sun also had a 
 veil upon his face, and taught us to draw a cur- 
 tain before the Passion, which would be the most 
 artificial expression of its greatness ; while, by 
 silence and wonder, we confess it great beyond 
 
THE CRUCIFIXION. 337 
 
 onr expression, or-, what is all one, great as the 
 burden and baseness of our sins. 
 
 And with this veil drawn before the face of 
 Jesus, let us suppose Him at the gates of Para- 
 dise, calling with His last words in a loud voice, 
 to have tliem opened, that " the King of glory 
 might come in." 
 
 PRATER. 
 
 Almighty and Eternal God, the Fountain of 
 all virtue, the Support of all holy hopes, the 
 Author of pardon, of life, and of salvation ; Thou 
 art the Comforter of all that call upon Thee ; 
 Thou hast concluded all under sin, that Tliou 
 mightest have mercy upon all. 
 
 Look upon me, O God, and have pity upon 
 me, lying in my misery, and shame, and sin, in 
 the fear and guilt of Thy wrath, in the shadow 
 of death and the gates of hell. Yery great are 
 my sins, yet infinitely less than Tliy mercies, 
 which Thou hast revealed to all penitent and 
 returning sinners in Jesus Christ. 
 
 O let the -cry of Thy Son's blood, who offers 
 an eternal sacrifice to Thee, speak on my behalf. 
 My conscience does accuse me, and Thy Holy 
 Spirit is grieved by me ; but Christ, my Saviour, 
 died for me, and Thou pitiest me ; and Thy Holy 
 Spirit still calls upon me. O draw me unto 
 Thee by the endearments of Thy mercies, by the 
 love of Thy Son, and the grace of Thy Spirit. 
 29 
 
338 GOOD FKIDAY. 
 
 I am not worthy, O Lord ; I am not worthy 
 to come into Thy presence. My sins, O Blessed 
 Saviour, joined in confederation with the high 
 priests, in treachery with Judas, in injustice 
 with Pilate, in malice with the people. 
 
 My sins and the Jews crucified Tliee ; my 
 hypocrisy was the kiss that betrayed Thee ; my 
 covetous and ambitious desires were the thorns 
 that pricked Thy sacred Head ; my vanity was 
 the knee that mocked Thee ; my anger and 
 malice, my peevishness and revenge, were the 
 gall which Thou didst taste ; my bitter words 
 were the vinegar which Thou didst drink ; and 
 my scarlet sins made for thee a purple robe of 
 mockery and derision : and where shall I, miser- 
 able sinner, appear, who have put my Lord to 
 death, and exposed Him to an open shame? 
 
 "Where should I appear, but before my Sav- 
 iour, who died for them that have murdered 
 Him, who hath loved them that hated Him, who 
 is the Saviour of His enemies, and the Life of 
 the dead, the Redemption of captives, and the 
 Advocate for sinners, and all that we do need, 
 and all that we can desire. 
 
 Grant, that in Thy wounds I may find my 
 safety ; in Thy stripes, my cure ; in Thy pain, my 
 peace ; in Tliy cross, my victory ; in Thy resur- 
 rection, my triumph ; and a crown of righteous- 
 ness in the glories of Thy Eternal Kingdom. 
 Amen, Amen. 
 
EASTER EYE]^. 
 
 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 
 " To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." Luke xxiii. 43. 
 
 OuE blessed Saviour told the converted thief, 
 that he should " that day be with Him in para- 
 dise." Kow, without jDeradventure, Christ spake 
 Bo as He was to be understood : meaning bj 
 " Paradise," that which the schools and pulpits 
 of the Eabbins did usually speak of it. By 
 j)aradise, till the time of Esdras, it is certain, 
 the Jews only meant the blessed garden in 
 which God placed Adam and Eve ; but in the 
 time of Esdras, and so downward, when they 
 spake distinctly of things to happen after this 
 life, they called the state of souls, expecting the 
 resurrection of their bodies, by the name of 
 " the garden of Eden." Hence came that form 
 of comprecation and blessing to the soul of an 
 Israelite, ''Let his soul be in the garden of 
 Eden." And in their solemn prayers, at the 
 time of their death, they were wont to say, 
 "Let his soul rest; and let his sleep be in 
 peace, until the Comforter shall come, and open 
 
340 EASTER EVEN. 
 
 the gates of paradise unto liim :" expressly dis- 
 tinguishing paradise from the state of the resur- 
 rection. 
 
 But although the state of separation may now 
 also be, and is by St. John called paradise, yet 
 the spirits of good men are not said " to be with 
 Abraham," but "to be with Christ." So St. 
 Stephen prayed, " Lord Jesus, receive my spir- 
 it ;" and St. Paul said, " I desire to be dissolved, 
 and to be with Christ ;" and upon this account 
 (and it is not at all unreasonable), the Church 
 hath conjectured that the state of separate souls, 
 since the glorification of our Lord, is much bet- 
 tered and advanced, and their comforts greater. 
 For, concerning the patriarchs, prophets, and 
 holy men of God, St. Paul affirms expressly, 
 that "the fathers received not the promises:" 
 God having provided some better things for us, 
 that they, without us, should not be made per- 
 fect. Their condition was a state of imperfec- 
 tion : they were placed in paradise, " in Abra- 
 ham's bosom :" but they sat in the regions of 
 darkness, expecting that great promise made to 
 Adam and the pjatriarchs — the promise of the 
 Messias. But when He that was promised 
 came, He preached to the " spirits in prison," 
 and " communicated to them the mysteries of 
 the Gospel," and taught them to look up to the 
 glories purchased by His Passion; and made 
 the term of their expectation be His second 
 
THE inter:mediate state. 34:1 
 
 coming, and tlie objects of their hope the glories 
 of the beatific vision. 
 
 For while the friends and disciples of the holy 
 Jesus, having devoutly composed his body to 
 burial, laid it in a sepulchre hewn from a rock 
 in a garden (which, saith Euthymius, was there- 
 fore done, to represent that we were by this 
 death returned to paradise, and the gardens of 
 pleasures and divine favors, from whence, by 
 the sin of Adam, man was expelled), in the dark 
 and undiscerned mansions there was a scene of 
 the greatest joy and greatest horror represented, 
 which yet was known since the first falling of 
 the morning stars. Those holy souls, whom the 
 prophet Zechariah calls "prisoners of hope," 
 lying in the lake where there is no water, that 
 is, no constant stream of joy to refresh their 
 present condition (yet supported wath certain 
 showers and gracious visitations from God), now 
 that they saw their Redeemer come to change 
 their condition, and to improve it into the neigh- 
 borhood of glory and clearer revelations, must 
 needs have had the joy of redeemed cajDtives, of 
 men forgiven after the sentence of death, of 
 men satisfied after a tedious expectation, enjoy- 
 ing and seeing their Lord, whom, for so many 
 ages, they had expected. 
 
 But the accursed spirits saw the darkness of 
 their prison shine with a new light, and their 
 ' empire invaded, and their retirements of horror 
 29* 
 
34:2 EASTER EVEN. 
 
 discovered, arid wondered how a man durst ven- 
 ture thither ; or, if He were God, how He should 
 come to die. 
 
 For as it is intimated in a parable, that be- 
 tween good and evil spirits, even in the state of 
 separation, there is distance of place ; certain it 
 is there is great distance of condition ; and now, 
 as the holy souls in their regions of light are full 
 of love, joy, hope, and longing for the coming of 
 the great day ; so the accursed do expect it with 
 an insupportable amazement. 
 
 But " blessed are the dead which die in the 
 Lord ;" for the souls of saints are with Christ. 
 And although our dead are like persons banished 
 from this world, yet they are not expelled from 
 God : they are " in the hands of Christ ;" they 
 are " in His presence ;" they are, or shall be 
 clothed with a house of God's making; "they 
 rest from their labors ;" " all tears are wiped 
 from their eyes," and all discontents from their 
 spirits ; and, in the state of separation, before the 
 soul be re-invested with her new house, their 
 spirits are with God, so secured, and so blessed, 
 and so sealed up for glory, that this state of in- 
 terval and imperfection is, in respect of its cer- 
 tain event and end, infinitely more desirable than 
 all the riches, and all the pleasures, and all the 
 vanities, and all the kingdoms of this world. To 
 which 1 add this consideration, that our souls 
 have the same condition that Christ's soul had in 
 
THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 343 
 
 the state of separation, because He took on Him 
 all our nature and all our condition ; and it is 
 certain Christ's soul, in the three days of his 
 separation, did exercise acts of life, of joy, and 
 triumph, and did not sleep, but visited the souls 
 of the fathers, trampled upon the pride of devils, 
 and satisfied those longing souls which were 
 prisoners of hope. And from all this we may 
 conclude, that the souls of all the servants of 
 Christ are alive, and therefore do the actions of 
 life, and proper to their state ; and therefore it is 
 highly probable that the soul works clearer, and 
 understands brighter, and discourses wiser, and 
 rejoices louder, and loves nobler, and desires 
 purer, and hopes stronger, than it can do here. 
 
 For the godly indeed descend into their graves, 
 and shall no more be reckoned among the living, 
 and they have no concernment in all that is done 
 under the sun ; but we must not so live as if our 
 dead were perished, but so as pressing forward to 
 the most intimate particij)ation of the communion 
 of saints. 
 
 Remember that we shall converse together 
 again ; let us therefore never do any thing of 
 reference, to them, which we shall be ashamed 
 of in that day when all secrets shall be discover- 
 ed, and when we shall meet again in the presence 
 of God. 
 
 For certain it is, that though our dead friends' 
 affection to us is not to be estimated according 
 
344 EASTER EYEN. 
 
 to our low conception, yet it is not less, but 
 mucli more than ever it was; it is greater in 
 degree, and of another kind ; and, although we 
 have liberty to contract new relations, yet I do 
 not find we have liberty to cast off the old, as if 
 there were no such thing as immortality of souls. 
 It is true they envy not, and they lie in. a bosom 
 where there can be no murmur ; but we should 
 do well to consider that although they are to us 
 like " water spilt ;" yet to God they are as water 
 fallen in the sea, safe and united in His compre- 
 bension and inclosures ; and that God watcheth 
 concerning all their interest, and will in His time 
 both discover and recompense. 
 
 The condition of the saints that sleep is more- 
 over well intimated by their being said to be 
 under the altar ; that is, under the protection of 
 Christ, under the powers and benefits of His 
 priesthood, by which He makes continual inter- 
 cession both for them and for us. This place 
 some of the old doctors understood too literally, 
 and from hence they believed that the souls of 
 departed saints were under their material altars. 
 But, better than this, their state is described by 
 St. John in these words ; " Therefore they are 
 before the throne of God, and serve Him night 
 and day in His temple ; and He that sits upon 
 the throne shall dwell among them." 
 
 "With which general words, as being modest 
 bounds to our inquiries, enough to tell us it is 
 
THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 345 
 
 rarely well, but enough also to cliastisc all curious 
 questions, let us remain content ; and labor with 
 faith and patience, with hope and charity, to be 
 made worthy to partake of those comforts, after 
 which, when we have long inquired, when at 
 last we come to try what they are, we shall find 
 them much better and much otherwise than w^e 
 imagine. 
 
 And now, let us awhile consider that God is 
 our God when we die, if we be His servants 
 while we live ; and therefore we may die with 
 confidence if we die with a good conscience. 
 We have no cause of fear, if we have just 
 grounds to hope for pardon. The Turks have 
 a saying, that the Christians do not believe 
 themselves when they talk such glorious things 
 of Heaven and the state of separation; for, if 
 they did, they would not be so afraid to die. 
 But they do not so well consider that Christians 
 believe all this well enough ; but they believe 
 better than they live ; and therefore they believe 
 and tremble, because they do not live after the 
 rate of going to Heaven. 
 
 It is no w^onder to see men so unwilling to 
 die, to be afraid to make their will, to be impa- 
 tient of the thought of death. He that is fit to 
 die must have long dwelt with it, must handle 
 it on all sides, must feel whether the sting l)e 
 taken out : he must examine whether " lie be 
 in Chi'ist ;" that is, whether he be a new crea- 
 
346 EASTEK EYEN. 
 
 ture. And, indeed, I do not so much wonder 
 that any man fears to die, as when I see a 
 careless and a wicked person descend to his 
 grave with as much indifference as he goes to 
 sleep — that is, with no other trouble than that 
 he leaves the world, but he does not fear to die ; 
 and yet, upon the instant of his dissolution, he 
 goes into the common receptacle of souls, where 
 nothing can be addressed to him but the con- 
 sequence of what he brings along with him, and 
 he shall presently know whether he be saved or 
 damned. 
 
 If we could now place ourselves, by holy 
 meditation, in the circumstances of that condi- 
 tion, and consider what we should then think, 
 it could not be but we must grow wiser on a 
 sudden, despise the world, betake ourselves to 
 a strict religion, reject all vanities of spirit, and 
 " be sober and watch unto prayer." 
 
 Now it is well with us, and we may yet secure 
 it shall be well with us forever ; but within an 
 hour it may be otherwise with any of us all, 
 who do not instantly take courses of security. 
 But he that does not, would, in such a change, 
 soon come to wish that he might exchange his 
 state with the meanest, with the miserablest, of 
 all mankind ; with galley-slaves and miners, 
 with men condemned to tortures for a good con- 
 science. 
 
 In the day of felling timber, the shrub and 
 
 I 
 
THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 347 
 
 the bramble are better than the tallest fir, or 
 the goodliest cedar: and a poor saint, wliose 
 soul is in the hand of Jesus, placed under the 
 altar, over which our High Priest, like the cher- 
 ubim over the propitiatory, intercedes perpet- 
 ually for the hastening of His glory, is better 
 than the greatest tyrant, who, if he dies, is un- 
 done forever. For, in the interval, there shall 
 be rest and comfort to the one ; and torment 
 and amazement to the other: and the day of 
 judgment will come, and it shall appear to all 
 the world, that they, whose joys were not in 
 this w^orld, were not, " of all men, most misera- 
 ble ;" because their joys and their life were hid 
 with Christ in God, and at the resurrection of 
 the just shall be brought forth, and be illustri- 
 ous, beyond all the beauties of the world. 
 
 "We have heard Moses and the prophets, let 
 us also hear the dead. Being dead, they yet 
 do speak, and call upon us to live well, and to 
 live quickly, to watch perpetually, and to work 
 assiduously ; for we shall descend into the same 
 shadows of death. 
 
 "Thou must leave thy rich land, and thy 
 well-built house, and thy pleasing wnfe ; and, of 
 all the trees of thy orchard or thy wood, noth- 
 ing shall attend thee to the grave, but oak for 
 thy coffin, and cypress for thy funeral." It 
 shall not then be inquired how long thou hast 
 lived, but how well. None below shall be con- 
 
348 EASTER EVEN. 
 
 cerned, whether thou wert rich or poor ; but all 
 the spirits of light and darkness shall be busy 
 in the scrutiny of thy life. For the good angels 
 would fain carry thy soul to Christ ; and if they 
 do, the devils will follow, and accuse thee there ; 
 and when thou appearest before the Righteous 
 Judge, what will become of thee, unless Christ 
 be thy Advocate, and God be merciful and ap- 
 peased, and the angels be thy guards, and a holy 
 conscience be thy comfort ? 
 
 There will to every one of us come a time 
 when we shall with great passion and great 
 interest inquire, how have I spent my days; 
 how have I laid out my money; how have I 
 employed my time; how have I served God; 
 and how repented me of my sins? And upon 
 our answer to these questions depends a happy 
 or an unhappy eternity. 
 
 Blessed indeed are they, that through Para- 
 dise pass into the Kingdom, who from their 
 highest hope pass to the greatest charity, from 
 the state of a blessed separation to the mercies 
 and gentle sentence of the "Day of Judgment," 
 which St. Paul prayed to God to grant Onesi- 
 phorus, and more explicitly for the Thessalo- 
 nians — "that their whole spirit, and soul, and 
 body, be preserved blameless unto the coming 
 of our Lord Jesus." 
 
 And I pray God to grant the same to me, and 
 all faithful people whatsoever. 
 
THE INTEKI^rEDIATE STATE. 349 
 
 PEATEK. 
 
 O Almighty God, with whom do live the 
 spirits of the just made perfect; look upon me 
 Thy servant, whose life is vanity, and whose 
 days pass away like a tale that is told. Give 
 me, O my God, Thy Spirit of wisdom and peace 
 to guide me in the ways of righteousness ; that, 
 being holy in my life, I may be blessed in my 
 death ; and my soul may be borne by Thy min- 
 istering spirits to the mansions of rest, to lie in 
 the bosom of my Lord, till by the trump of God 
 I shall be awakened in the resurrection of the 
 just, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 
 80 
 
EASTEE DAY. 
 
 THE EESURKECTION. 
 
 " Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits 
 of them that slept." 1 Cob. xv. 20. 
 
 The condition of man in this world is so lim- 
 ited and depressed, so relative and imperfect, 
 that the best things he does he does weakly; 
 and the best things he hath are imperfections 
 in their very constitution. Our very liberty of 
 choosing good and evil supposes weakness of 
 reason and weakness of love ; and our hope, 
 though it is the resurrection of the soul in this 
 world from sorrow and her saddest pressures, 
 and like the twilight to the day and the harbin- 
 ger of joy ; still it is but a conjugation of infirm- 
 ities, and because it is uneasy here, thrusts us 
 forward towards the light and glories of the 
 resurrection. 
 
 For as death is the end of our lives, so is the 
 resurrection the end of our hopes ; and as we 
 die daily, so we daily hope. 
 
 For God, knowing that the biggest endear- 
 ment of religion, the sanction of private justice^ 
 
THE KESURRECTION. 351 
 
 the band of pietj and holy courage — does wholly 
 derive from the article of the resurrection, — was 
 pleased not only to make it credible, but easy 
 and familiar to us ; and nature alone is a suffi- 
 cient preacher of this mystery. Night and day ; 
 the sun returning to the same point of east; 
 every change of species in the same matter ; 
 generation and corruption ; the eagle renewing 
 her youth, and the snake her skin ; the silkworm 
 and the swallows ; the care of posterity, and the 
 care of an immortal name ; winter and sum- 
 mer; the fall and spring; the faith of believ- 
 ers and the philosophy of the reasonable ; — all 
 join in its verification: and every night we 
 so converse with the image of death, that every 
 morning we find an argument of the resur- 
 rection. 
 
 Sleep and death have but one mother, and 
 they have one name in common. Charnel- 
 houses are but " cemeteries" or sleeping-places ; 
 and they that die are fallen asleep, and the res- 
 urrection is but an awakening and standing up 
 from sleep. In sleep our senses are as fast bound 
 by nature as our joints are by the grave-clothes ; 
 and, unless an angel of God waken us every 
 morning, we must confess ourselves as unable 
 to converse with men as we are now afraid to 
 die and to converse with spirits. 
 
 But, however, death itself is no more ; it is 
 but a darkness and a shadow, a rest and a for- 
 
352 EASTEK DAY. 
 
 getfulness. What is there more in death ? What 
 is there less in sleep ? For do we not see by 
 experience that nothing of equal loudness does 
 awaken us sooner than a man's voice, especially 
 if we be called by name ? and thus also it shall 
 be in the resurrection. Christ, Himself, shall 
 " descend with a mighty shout ; and all that are 
 in the grave shall hear His voice." We shall 
 be awakened by the voice of Man, because we 
 are only fallen asleep by the decree of God ; 
 and, when the cock and the lark call us up 
 to prayer and labor, the first thing we see 
 is an argument of our resurrection from the 
 dead. 
 
 Here, therefore, are the gi-eat hinges of all 
 religion. Christ is already risen from the dead, 
 and we also shall rise in God's time and our 
 order. Christ is the first-fruits ; He is already 
 risen : for He alone could not be held by death. 
 "Free among the dead." Death was sin's eld- 
 est daughter, and the grave-clothes were her 
 first mantle; but Christ was Conqueror over 
 both. And as His resurrection and exaltation 
 were the reward of His perfect obedience and 
 purest holiness ; so now, calling us to an imita- 
 tion of the same obedience and the same perfect 
 holiness, He prepares a way for us to the same 
 resurrection. But there is one thing more in it 
 yet: "Everyman in his own order; first Christ, 
 and then they that are Christ's." But what 
 
THE EESUKRECTION. 853 
 
 shall become of tliem that are not Christ's? 
 Why, there is an order for them too: first 
 they that are Christ's, and then they that are 
 not His. 
 
 There is a first and a second resurrection even 
 after this life. Blessed and holy is he that hath 
 his part in " the first resurrection ; for upon such 
 the second death shall have no power." As for 
 the recalling the wicked from their graves, it is 
 no otherwise, in the sense of the Spirit, to be 
 called a resurrection, than taking a criminal 
 from the prison to the bar is a giving of liberty. 
 The wicked shall see Christ, that they may 
 "look on Him whom they have pierced;" and 
 they shall hear the voice of God passing on 
 them the intolerable sentence : they shall come 
 from their graves, that they may go into hell ; 
 and live again that they may die forever. So 
 have we seen a poor condemned criminal, the 
 weight of whose sorrows sitting heavily upon his 
 soul hath benumbed him into a deep sleep, till 
 he hath forgotten his groans and laid aside his 
 deep sighings ; but on a sudden comes the mes- 
 senger of death, and unbinds the po^Dpy garland, 
 scatters the heavy cloud that encircles his miser- 
 able head, and makes him return to acts of life, 
 that he may quickly descend into death and be 
 no more. So is every sinner that lies down in 
 shame, and makes his grave with the wicked: 
 he shall indeed rise again, and be called upon 
 
 303 
 
354 EASTER DAY. 
 
 by the voice of the Archangel; but then he 
 shall descend into sorrows greater than the reason 
 and the patience of a man, weeping and shriek- 
 ing louder than the groans of the miserable 
 children in the Yalley of Hinnom. These in- 
 deed are sad stories, but true as the voice of 
 God and the sermons of the Holy Jesus. They 
 are God's words, and God's decrees ; and I wish 
 that all who profess belief of these would con- 
 sider sadly what they mean. If ye believe the 
 article of the resurrection, then you know that 
 in your body you shall receive what you did in 
 the body, whether it be good or bad. It mat- 
 ters not now very much whether our bodies be 
 beauteous or deformed ; for if w^e glorify God 
 in our bodies, God shall make our bodies glo- 
 rious. It matters not much, w^hether we live 
 in ease and pleasure, or eat nothing but bitter 
 herbs. The body that lies in dust and ashes, 
 that goes stooping and feeble, tliat lodges at 
 the foot of the cross, and dwells in discipline, 
 shall be feasted at the eternal supper of the 
 Lamb. 
 
 For God, when He restores the soul to the 
 body, will raise the body to such a perfection, 
 that it shall be an organ fit to praise Him upon. 
 Then also shall the soul be brought forth by 
 angels, from her incomparable and easy bed, from 
 her rest in Christ's holy bosom, and be made 
 perfect in her being, and in all her operations. 
 
THE RESURRECTION. 355 
 
 Then shall she see already all the records of this 
 world, all the register of her own memory. For 
 all that we did in this life is laid up in our 
 memories; and as soon as ever God shall but 
 tune our instrument, and draw the curtains, and 
 but light up the candle of immortality, there we 
 shall Und it all, there we «hall see all, and the 
 whole world shall see all ; then we shall be made 
 fit to converse with God after the manner of 
 spirits ; we shall be like to angels. 
 
 "We hope that from our beds of darkness we 
 shall rise into regions of light, and shall become 
 like unto God ; and what this can infer is very 
 obvious. If it be hard to believe a resurrection 
 from one death, let us not be dead in trespasses 
 and sins. Let us betake ourselves to an early 
 and an entire piety; that when, by this first 
 resurrection we have made the way plain before 
 our face, we may with confidence expect a happy 
 resurrection from our graves. 
 
 " K, when we were enemies," saith St. Paul, 
 " we were reconciled by His death ; much more, 
 being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life;" 
 plainly declaring, that it is a harder and more 
 wonderful thing for a wicked man to become 
 the friend of God, than for one that is so, to 
 be carried up to heaven and partake of His 
 glory. 
 
 But he who partakes of the death of Christ, 
 by mortification, and of His resurrection by 
 
356 EASTER DAT. 
 
 holiness of life and a holy faith, shall, according 
 to the expression of the prophet Isaiah, " enter 
 into his chamber of death," when !N^ature and 
 God's decree "shall shut the doors npon him, 
 and there he shall be hidden for a little mo- 
 ment," But then shall they that dwell in dust 
 awake and sing : with Christ's dead body shall 
 they arise ; the servants of His family ; the heirs 
 of His kingdom ; and the partakers of His glory. 
 Amen. 
 
 PKATEE. 
 
 O most Holy, most Glorious Saviour and Ke- 
 deemer, who, for our sakes, didst descend from 
 the glories of God to the labors of the earth, and 
 didst pass from a painful life to an ignominious 
 death, from the bitterness of death to the dark- 
 ness of the grave, and by Thy Divine power 
 didst raise Thyself from death to life again ; I 
 give Thee thanks for Thy infinite love to me 
 and to all mankind ; I acknowledge Thee to be 
 my Lord, and confess Thee to be my God; I 
 adore Thy majesty, and rejoice in Thy mercies; 
 and I humbly pray Thee to enable me, with Thy 
 Spirit, to believe all Thy doctrines, and to obey 
 all Thy commandments ; that after a holy and 
 religious life sj)ent in doing honor to Thy Holy 
 I^ame, I may be a partaker of Thy glorious 
 
THE RESUKRECTION. 357 
 
 resurrection, passing from decatli to life, from the 
 darknesses of the grave to the light of Heaven, 
 from an imperfect duty to the perfection of holi- 
 ness ; in the fruition of the joys of God, in Thj 
 Eternal Kingdom ; O most Holy, most Glorious 
 Saviour, and Kedeeiaer. Amen. 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDJiX. 
 
 Paqk 
 
 Beatitude, The First 234 
 
 , The Second 242 
 
 , The Third 254 
 
 , The Fourth 261 
 
 , The Fifth 268 
 
 , The Sixth 276 
 
 , The Seventh 282 
 
 , TheEighth 289 
 
 Careful Employment of Time 184 
 
 Christian Comfort 212 
 
 Forgiveness 157 
 
 Joy 219 
 
 Perfection 226 
 
 Simplicity 114 
 
 Christ's Entrance into Jerusalem 297 
 
 Journey to Jerusalem 249 
 
 Communion, The Holy " 315 
 
 Conversation 70 
 
 Covetousness 130 
 
 Crucifixion, The 330 
 
 Death 23 
 
 Faith 191 
 
 Garden of Gethsemane, The 324 
 
 Godly Fear 16 
 
 Gratitude for Daily Mercies 166 
 
360 INDEX. 
 
 Fagb 
 
 Growth in Grace 137 
 
 Humility 203 
 
 of Christ, The 309 
 
 Intermediate State, The 339 
 
 Judgment Day, The 31 
 
 Life of Christ our Example, The 149 
 
 Love of God, The .,.. 53 
 
 Obedience 87 
 
 Prayer .' 61 
 
 Repentance 7 
 
 Resurrection, The 350 
 
 Reverence for Holy Days, &c 78 
 
 Self-Denial 106 
 
 Self-Examination 45 
 
 Slander and Flattery 122 
 
 Supper at Bethany, The 302 
 
 Temper 98 
 
 Temptation of Christ, The 41 
 
 , The First 94 
 
 , The Second , 145 
 
 — , The Third 199 
 
 Watchfulness 175 
 
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