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 life-time we may do him service. day with a particular scrutiny, if there have been | observe, every action of nature becomes religious, any accident extraordinary; as long discourse, a feast, much business, variety of company. If nothing but common hath happened, the less examination will suffice: only let us take care, that we sleep not without such a recollection of the actions of the day, as may represent any thing that is remarkable and great, either to be the matter of | sorrow or thanksgiving: for other things a general care is proportionable. 23. Let all these things be done prudently and moderately, not with scruple and vexation. For these are good advantages, but the particulars are not Divine commandments; and therefore are to be used as shall be found expedient to every one's condition. For, provided that our duty be secured, for the degrees and for the instruments every man is permitted to himself, and the conduct of such who shall be appointed to him. He is happy, that can secure every hour to a sober or a pious employment but the duty consists not scrupulously in minutes and half hours, but in greater portions of time; provided that no minute be employed in sin, and the great portions of our time be spent in sober employment, and all the appointed days, and some portions of every day, be allowed for religion. In all the lesser parts of time, we are left to our own elections and prudent management, and to the consideration of the great degrees and differences of glory, that are laid up in heaven for us, according to the degrees of our care, and piety, and diligence. The benefits of this exercise. This exercise, besides that it hath influence upon our whole lives, it hath a special efficacy for the preventing of, 1. beggarly sins, that is, those sins, which idleness and beggary usually betray men to; such as are lying, flattery, stealing, and dissimulation. 2. It is a proper antidote against carnal sins, and such as proceed from fulness of bread and emptiness of employment. 3. It is a great instrument of preventing the smallest sins and irregularities of our life, which usually creep upon idle, disemployed, and curious persons. 4. It not only teaches us to avoid evil, but engages us upon doing good, as the proper business of all our days. 5. It prepares us so against sudden changes, that we shall not easily be surprised at the sudden coming of the day of the Lord for he, that is curious of his time, will not easily be unready and unfurnished. This grace is so excellent, that it sanctifies the most common action of our life; and yet, so necessary, that, without it, the very best actions of our devotion are imperfect and vicious. For he that prays out of custom, or gives alms for praise, or fasts to be accounted religious, is but a Pharisee in his devotion, and a beggar in his alms, and a hypocrite in his fast. But a holy end sanctifies all these and all other actions which can be made holy, and gives distinction to them, and procures acceptance. For, as to know the end distinguishes a man from a beast, so to choose a good end distinguishes him from an evil man. Hezekiah repeated his good deeds upon his sick-bed, and obtained favour of God; but the Pharisee was accounted insolent for doing the same thing; because this man did it to upbraid his brother, the other to obtain a mercy of God. Zacharias questioned with the angel about his message, and was made speechless for his incredulity; but the blessed Virgin Mary questioned too, and was blameless; for she did it to inquire after the manner of the thing, but he did not believe the thing itself: he doubted of God's power, or the truth of the messenger; but she, only of her own incapacity. was it which distinguished the mourning of David from the exclamation of Saul; the confession of Pharaoh from that of Manasses; the tears of Peter from the repentance of Judas: "for the praise is not in the deed done, but in the manner of its doing.P If a man visits his sick friend, and watches at his pillow for charity's sake, and because of his old affection, we approve it; but if he does it in hope of legacy, he is a vulture, and only watches for the carcass. The same things are honest and dishonest: the manner of doing them, and the end of the design, makes the separation." This Holy intention is to the actions of a man that which the soul is to the body, or form to its matter, or the root to the tree, or the sun to the world, or the fountain to a river, or the base to a pillar: for, without these, the body is a dead trunk, the matter is sluggish, the tree is a block, the world is darkness, the river is quickly dry, the pillar rushes into flatness and a ruin; and the action is sinful, or unprofitable and vain. The poor farmer, that gave a dish of cold water to Artaxerxes, was rewarded with a golden goblet; and he that gives the same to a disciple in the name of a disciple, shall have a crown: but if he gives water in despite, when the disciple needs wine or a cordial, his reward shall be, to want that water to cool his tongue. But this duty must be reduced to rules: P Seneca. Rules for our Intentions. 1. In every action reflect upon the end; and in your undertaking it, consider why you do it, and what you propound to yourself for a reward, and to your action as its end. 2. Begin every action in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: the meaning of which is, 1. That we be careful, that we do not the action without the permission or warrant of God. 2. That we design it to the glory of God, if not in the direct action, yet at least in its consequence; if not in the particular, yet at least in the whole order of things and accidents. 3. That it may be so blessed, that what you intend for innocent and holy purposes, may not, by any chance, or abuse, or misunderstanding of men, be turned into evil, or made the occasion of sin. 3. Let every action of concernment be begun with prayer, that God would not only bless the action, but sanctify your purpose; and make an oblation of the action to God: holy and well-intended actions being the best oblations and presents we can make to God; and, when God is entitled to them, he will the rather keep the fire upon the altar bright and shining. 4. In the prosecution of the action, renew and re-enkindle your purpose by short ejaculations to these purposes: "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, let all praise be given:" and consider, "Now I am working the work of God; I am his servant, I am in a happy employment, I am doing my Master's business, I am not at my own dispose, I am using his talents, and all the gain must be his:" for then be sure, as the glory is his, so the reward shall be thine. If thou bringest his goods home with increase, he will make thee ruler over cities. 5. Have a care, that, while the altar thus sends up a holy fume, thou dost not suffer the birds to come and carry away the sacrifice: that is, let not that which began well, and was intended for God's glory, decline and end in thy own praise, or temporal satisfaction, or a sin. A story told to represent the vileness of unchastity, is well begun: but if thy female auditor be pleased with thy language, and begins rather to like thy person for thy story, than to dislike the crime, be watchful, lest this goodly head of gold descend in silver and brass, and end in iron and clay, like Nebuchadnezzar's image; for from the end it shall have its name and reward. 6. If any accidental event, which was not first intended by thee, can come to pass, let it not be taken into thy purposes, not at all be made use of: as if, by telling a true story, you can do an ill turn to your enemy, by no means do it; but, when the temptation is found out, turn all thy enmity upon that. 7. In every more solemn action of religion, join together many good ends, that the consideration of them may entertain all your affections; and that, when any one ceases, the purity of your intention may be supported by another supply. He that 4 Qui furatur ut mochetur, machus est magis quam fur.ARIST. Eth. fasts only to tame a rebellious body, when he is provided of a remedy either in grace or nature, may be tempted to leave off his fasting. But he, that in his fast intends the mortification of every unruly appetite, and accustoming himself to bear the yoke of the Lord, a contempt of the pleasures of meat and drink, humiliation of all wilder thoughts, obedience and humility, austerity and charity, and the convenience and assistance to devotion, and to do an act of repentance; whatever happens, will have reason enough to make him to continue his purpose, and to sanctify it. And certain it is, the more good ends are designed in an action, the more degrees of excellency the man obtains. 8. If any temptation to spoil your purpose happens in a religious duty, do not presently omit the action, but rather strive to rectify your intention, and to mortify the temptation. St. Bernard taught us this rule for when the devil, observing him to preach excellently and to do much benefit to his hearers, tempted him to vain-glory, hoping that the good man, to avoid that, would cease preaching, he gave this answer only; "I neither began for thee, neither for thee will I make an end." 9. In all actions, which are of long continuance, deliberation, and abode, let your holy and pious intention be actual; that is, that it be, by a special prayer or action, by a peculiar act of resignation or oblation given to God: but in smaller actions, and little things and indifferent, fail not to secure a pious habitual intention; that is, that it be included within your general care, that no action have an ill end; and that it be comprehended in your general prayers, whereby you offer yourself and all you do, to God's glory. 10. Call not every temporal end a defiling of thy intention, but only, 1. when it contradicts any of the ends of God; or, 2. when it is principally intended in an action of religion. For sometimes a temporal end is part of our duty; and such are all the actions of our calling, whether our employment be religious or civil. We are commanded to provide for our family: but if the minister of divine offices shall take upon him that holy calling for covetous or ambitious ends, or shall not design the glory of God principally and especially, he hath polluted his hands and his heart; and the fire of the altar is quenched, or it sends forth nothing but the smoke of mushrooms, or unpleasant gums. And it is a great unworthiness to prefer the interest of a creature before the ends of God, the Almighty Creator. But because many cases may happen, in which a man's heart may deceive him, and he may not well know what is in his own spirit; therefore, by these following signs, we shall best make a judgment, whether our intentions be pure, and our purposes holy. Signs of Purity of Intention. 1. It is probable our hearts are right with God, and our intentions innocent and pious, if we set upon actions of religion or civil life with an affec See sect. I. of this chapter, Rule 18. X preached in Spain: and our blessed Saviour converted fewer than his own disciples did: and if thy labours prove unprosperous, if thou beest much troubled at that, it is certain thou didst not think thyself secure of a reward for your intention; which you might have done, if it had been pure and just. 5. He loves virtue for God's sake and its own, that loves and honours it wherever it is to be seen; but he that is envious or angry at a virtue, that is not his own, at the perfection or excellency of his neighbour, is not covetous of the virtue, but of its reward and reputation; and then his intentions are polluted. It was a great ingenuity in Moses, that wished all the people might be prophets; but if he had designed his own honour, he would have prophesied alone. But he that desires only, that the work of God and religion shall go on, is pleased with it, whoever is the instrument. tion proportionate to the quality of the work; that | James converted but eight persons, when he we act our temporal affairs with a desire no greater than our necessity; and that, in actions of religion, we be zealous, active, and operative, so far as prudence will permit; but in all cases, that we value a religious design before a temporal, when otherwise they are in equal order to their several ends: that is, that whatsoever is necessary in order to our soul's health, be higher esteemed than what is for bodily; and the necessities, the indispensable necessities of the spirit, be served before the needs of nature, when they are required in their several circumstances; or plainer yet, when we choose any temporal inconvenience, rather than commit a sin, and when we choose to do a duty, rather than to get gain. But he that does his recreation or his merchandise cheerfully, promptly, readily, and busily, and the works of religion slowly, flatly, and without appetite; and the spirit moves like Pharaoh's chariots, when the wheels were off; it is a sign, that his heart is not right with God, but it cleaves too much to the world. 2. It is likely our hearts are pure, and our intentions spotless, when we are not solicitous of the opinion and censures of men; but only that we do our duty, and be accepted of God. For our eyes will certainly be fixed there, from whence we expect our reward: and if we desire that God should approve us, it is a sign we do his work, and expect him our paymaster. 3. He that does as well, in private, between God and his own soul, as in public, in pulpits, in theatres, and market-places, hath given himself a good testimony, that his purposes are full of honesty, nobleness, and integrity. For what Helkanah said to the mother of Samuel, "Am not I better to thee than ten sons ?" is most certainly verified concerning God; that he, who is to be our judge, is better than ten thousand witnesses. But he, that would have his virtue published, studies not virtue, but glory. "He is not just, that will not be just without praise but he is a righteous man, that does justice, when to do so is made infamous; and he is a wise man, who is delighted with an ill name that is well gotten." And indeed that man hath a strange covetousness, or folly, that is not contented with this reward, that he hath pleased God. And see what he gets by it. He that does good works " for praise or secular ends, sells an inestimable jewel for a trifle; and that, which would purchase heaven for him, he parts with for the breath of the people; which, at best, is but air, and that not often whole some. 4. It is well, also, when we are not solicitous or troubled concerning the effect and event of all our actions; but that being first by prayer recommended to him, is left at his dispose: for then, in case the event be not answerable to our desires, or to the efficacy of the instrument, we have nothing left to rest in, but the honesty of our purposes; which it is the more likely we have secured, by how much more we are indifferent concerning the success. St. Seneca,- Ep. 113. St. Chrys. 1. ii de Compun. cordis 6. He that despises the world and all its appendant vanities, is the best judge, and the most secured of his intentions; because he is the farthest removed from a temptation. Every degree of mortification is a testimony of the purity of our purposes; and in what degree we despise sensual pleasure, or secular honours, or worldly reputation, in the same degree we shall conclude our heart right to religion and spiritual designs. 7. When we are not solicitous concerning the instruments and means of our actions; but use those means, which God hath laid before us, with resignation, indifferency, and thankfulness; it is a good sign, that we are rather intent upon the end of God's glory, than our own conveniency, or temporal satisfaction. He that is indifferent, whether he serve God in riches or in poverty, is rather a seeker of God than of himself; and he that will throw away a good book, because it is not curiously gilded, is more curious to please his eye, than to inform his understanding. 8. When a temporal end, consisting with a spiritual, and pretended to be subordinate to it, happens to fail and be defeated, if we can rejoice in that, so God's glory may be secured, and the interests of religion, it is a great sign our hearts are right, and our ends prudently designed and ordered. When our intentions are thus balanced, regulated, and discerned, we may consider, 1. That this exercise is of so universal efficacy in the whole course of a holy life, that it is like the soul to every holy action, and must be provided for in every undertaking; and is, of itself alone, sufficient to make all natural and indifferent actions to be adopted into the family of religion. 2. That there are some actions, which are usually reckoned as parts of our religion, which yet, of themselves, are so relative and imperfect, that, without the purity of intention, they degenerate; and unless they be directed and proceed on to those purposes, which God designed them to, they return into the family of common, secular, or sinful actions. Thus alms are for charity, fasting for temperance, u St. Greg. Moral. 8. cap. xxv. prayer is for religion, humiliation is for humility, austerity or sufferance is in order to the virtue of patience and when these actions fail of their several ends, or are not directed to their own purposes, alms are mispent, fasting is an impertinent trouble, prayer is but lip-labour, humiliation is but hypocrisy, sufferance is but vexation; for such were the alms of the Pharisee, the fast of Jezebel, the prayer of Judah reproved by the prophet Isaiah, the humiliation of Ahab, the martyrdom of heretics; in which nothing is given to God, but the body, or the forms of religion; but the soul and the power of godliness is wholly wanting. 3. We are to consider, that no intention can sanctify an unholy or unlawful action. Saul, the king, disobeyed God's commandment, and spared the cattle of Amalek to reserve the best for sacrifice and Saul, the Pharisee, persecuted the church of God, with a design to do God service: and they that killed the apostles, had also good purposes, but they had unhallowed actions. When there is both truth in election, and charity in the intention; when we go to God in ways of his own choosing or approving, then our eye is single, and our hands are clean, and our hearts are pure. But when a man does evil, that good may come of it, or good to an evil purpose, that man does like him that rolls himself in thorns that he may sleep easily; he roasts himself in the fire, that he may quench his thirst with his own sweat; he turns his face to the east, that he may go to bed with the sun. I end this with the saying of a wise heathen; "He is to be called evil, that is good only for his own sake. Regard not how full hands you bring to God, but how pure. Many cease from sin out of fear alone, not out of innocence or love of virtue;" and they, as yet, are not to be called innocent, but timorous. SECTION III. W The third general Instrument of holy Living; or the Practice of the Presence of God. THAT God is present in all places, that he sees every action, hears all discourses, and understands every thought, is no strange thing to a christian ear, who hath been taught this doctrine, not only by right reason, and the consent of all the wise men in the world, but also by God himself in holy Scripture. "Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth ?" "Neither is there any creature, that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do." y "For in him we live, and move, and have our being." God is wholly in every place; included in no place; not bound with cords, except those of love; not divided into parts, not changeable into several Several manners of the Divine Presence. The presence of God is understood by us, in several manners, and to several purposes. 1. God is present by his essence; which, because it is infinite, cannot be contained within the limits of any place; and because he is of an essential purity and spiritual nature, he cannot be undervalued by being supposed present in the places of unnatural uncleanness: because as the sun, reflecting upon the mud of strands and shores, is unpolluted in its beams, so is God not dishonoured, when we suppose him in every of his creatures, and in every part of every one of them; and is still as unmixt with any unhandsome adherence, as is the soul in the bowels of the body. 2. God is every where present by his power.b He rolls the orbs of heaven with his hand; he fixes the earth with his foot; he guides all the creatures with his eye, and refreshes them with his influence; he makes the power of hell to shake with his terrors, and binds the devils with his word, and throws them out with his command; and sends the angels on embassies with his decrees: he hardens the joints of infants and confirms the bones, when they are fashioned beneath secretly in the earth. He it is, that assists at the numerous productions of fishes; and there is not one hollowness in the bottom of the sea, but he shows himself to be Lord of it, by sustaining there the creatures, that come to dwell in it and in the wilderness, the bittern and the stork, the dragon and the satyr, the unicorn and the elk, live upon his provisions, and revere his power, and feel the force of his almightiness. 3. God is more specially present, in some places, by the several and more special manifestations of himself to extraordinary purposes. First, by glory. Thus his seat is in heaven; because, there he sits encircled with all the outward demonstrations of his glory, which he is pleased to show to all the inhabitants of those his inward and secret courts. And thus they, that " die in the Lord," may be properly said to be "gone to God;" with whom although they were before, yet now they enter into his courts, in the secret of his tabernacle, into the retinue and splendour of his glory. That is called walking with God; but this is dwelling, or being with him. "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ;" so said St. Paul. But this manner of Divine presence is reserved for the elect people of God, and for their portion in their country. ὁ Θεὸς περιέχε. τῇ βουλήσει τὸ πᾶν, μείζων τοῦ παντὸς ὥσπερ τῇ ουσίᾳ, οὕτως καὶ ἀξία. Resp. ad Orthod. 4. God is, by grace and benediction, specially | riously, and make it appear that he was an observer present in holy places, and in the solemn assemblies of our very thoughts; and that he only laid those of his servants. If holy people meet in grots and things by, which, because we covered with dust and dens of the earth, when persecution or a public negligence, were not then discerned. But when we necessity disturbs the public order, circumstance, and are risen from our dust and imperfection, they all convenience, God fails not to come thither to them; appear plain and legible. but God is also, by the same or a greater reason, present there, where they meet ordinarily, by order, and public authority: there God is present ordinarily, that is, at every such meeting. God will go out of his way to meet his saints, when themselves are forced out of their way of order by a sad necessity; but else, God's usual way is to be present in those places where his servants are appointed ordinarily d to meet. But his presence there signifies nothing, but a readiness to hear their prayers, to bless their persons, to accept their offices, and to like even the circumstance of orderly and public meeting. For thither the prayers of consecration, the public authority separating it, and God's love of order, and the reasonable customs of religion, have, in ordinary, and in a certain degree, fixed this manner of his presence; and he loves to have it so. 5. God is especially present, in the hearts of his people, by his Holy Spirit: and indeed the hearts of holy men are temples in the truth of things, and, in type and shadow, they are heaven itself. For God reigns in the hearts of his servants: there is his kingdom. The power of grace hath subdued all his enemies there is his power. They serve him night and day, and give him thanks and praise: that is his glory. This is the religion and worship of God in the temple. The temple itself is the heart of man; Christ is the high priest, who from thence sends up the incense of prayers, and joins them to his own intercession, and presents all together to his Father; and the Holy Ghost, by his dwelling there, hath also consecrated it into a temple; and God dwells in our hearts by faith, and Christ by his Spirit, and the Spirit by his purities: so that we are also cabinets of the mysterious Trinity; and what is this short of heaven itself, but as infancy is short of manhood, and letters of words? The same state of life it is, but not the same age. It is heaven in a looking-glass, dark, but yet true, representing the beauties of the soul, and the graces of God, and the images of his eternal glory, by the reality of a special presence. 6. God is specially present in the consciences of all persons, good and bad, by way of testimony and judgment; that is, he is there a remembrancer to call our actions to mind, a witness to bring them to judgment, and a judge to acquit or to condemn. And although this manner of presence is, in this life, after the manner of this life, that is, imperfect, and we forget many actions of our lives; yet the greatest changes of our state of grace or sin, our most considerable actions, are always present, like capital letters to an aged and dim eye: and, at the day of judgment, God shall draw aside the cloud, and manifest this manner of his presence more noto c Matt. xviii. 20. Heb. x. 25. Now the consideration of this great truth is of a very universal use, in the whole course of the life of a christian. All the consequents and effects of it are universal. He that remembers, that God stands a witness and a judge, beholding every secrecy, besides his impiety, must have put on impudence, if he be not much restrained in his temptation to sin. "For the greatest part of sin is taken away,' if a man have a witness of his conversation: and he is a great despiser of God, who sends a boy away, when he is going to commit fornication, and yet will dare to do it, though he knows God is present, and cannot be sent off: as if the eye of a little boy were more awful than the all-seeing eye of God. He is to be feared in public, he is to be feared in private: if you go forth, he spies you; if you go in, he sees you; when you light the candle, he observes you; when you put it out, then also God marks you. Be sure that, while you are in his sight, you behave yourself as becomes so holy a presence." But if you will sin, retire yourself wisely, and go where God cannot see; for no where else can you be safe. And certainly, if men would always actually consider, and really esteem this truth, that God is the great eye of the world, always watching over our actions, and an ever-open ear to hear all our words, and an unwearied arm ever lifted up to crush a sinner into ruin, it would be the readiest way in the world, to make sin to cease from amongst the children of men, and for men to approach to the blessed estate of the saints in heaven, who cannot sin, for they always walk in the presence and behold the face of God. This instrument is to be reduced to practice, according to the following rules. Rules of exercising this consideration. 1. Let this actual thought often return, that God is omnipresent, filling every place; and say with David,s" Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, thou art there," &c. This thought, by being frequent, will make an habitual dread and reverence towards God, and fear in all thy actions. For it is a great necessity and engagement to do unblamably, when we act before the Judge, who is infallible in his sentence, all-knowing in his information, severe in his anger, powerful in his providence, and intolerable in his wrath and indignation. 2. In the beginning of actions of religion, make an act of adoration, that is, solemnly worship God, and place thyself in God's presence, and behold him with the eye of faith; and let thy desires actually f S. Aug. de verbis Dominicis, c. iii. * Psal. xiii. 7, 8. h Boeth. I. v. de Consol. |