in Euchitarum ha resin ruimus omnes boni? Dic mihi, sancte Paule, quid tibi cum consuendis tentoriis, si pellibus, unà, operam dare non potueris et Deo? Ubi estis, Monachi sanctiores prisci ævi, qui, labore manuum vultûsque sudore, victum comparâstis; cumque votis opera, suis vicibus, commutanda censuistis? Certè non est quòd pietas nos faciat negligentes; aut verò frugalis diligentia, impios : debitus Deo cultus, vocationisque nostræ cura, ita non possunt non consistere, ut nisi horum utrique incubuerimus, cun. Deo ambulare nequierimus. Vix finita est illa farrago officiorum, qua charitas et justitia à nobis exposcunt; nolo Decalogi analysin ullam instituere: à suis ista classibus petenda sunt: illud modò monuerim, omnia quæ in illâ Lege uspiam occurrunt virtutum exercitamenta, totidem esse in sacro hoc stadio, seu passus, seu vestigia; quæ, suo quidem tempore ac loco, metiri tenetur quisquis ambulat cum Deo.

resy of the Euchites? Tell me, holy Paul, what hadst thou to do with making tents, if it were not possible, at once to attend to that employment and to wait on God? Where are ye, O ye holy Monks of the primitive age, who got your living, by the labour of your hands and by the sweat of your brow; and who thought that prayers and labour were regularly to succeed each other, at proper intervals? There is no tendency in piety to render us negligent; nor in prudent diligence to render us ungodly the worship due to God, and a proper care of our temporal concerns, are so far from being inconsistent with each other, that unless we attend with all due diligence to both of them, we cannot walk with God. I have not run over the whole catalogue of duties, which charity and justice require from us; it not being my design to make a descant on the Decalogue: I refer all, who are desirous to see a more full and particular account of them, to the writers that have professedly treated of this subject: I would here only observe, that all the exercises of graces which any where occur in that Law, are so many steps, or progressive motions, in this holy course; at which every one, that walks with God, is obliged, at all opportunities, to endeavour to arrive.

* Those ancient Heretics, the Euchites, were so called from a Greek word, that signifies Praying: for they did nothing but pray; insomuch that the accounts of their close application to that duty seem to us incredible. For though of those passages, in which our Lord said, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Luke xviii. 1. and the Apostle, pray without ceasing; 1 Thess. v. 17. the truet meaning undoubtedly is, that we never should, any day, or on any occasion whatsoever, omit the fixed and stated hours of prayer; yet they so constantly performed this duty, as to come, at last, to be ranked amongst the Heretics.—Again, the Euchites are said to believe, that it is not lawful to do any work, even to procure the necessary supports of life; and so call themselves monks, that they may live in a state of idleness, without any work or labour. Vide St. Augustinum De Hæresibus. Ed. Louvain, Par. 1586. Tom. vi. pp. 11, 12, et Suicerum in verbum suxirus. TRANSLATOR.

The Translator has no authority for limiting the injunction, in these passages, to stated hours of prayer. A heavenly mind, familiar with occasional and mental exercises of prayer, will know how to interpret these and similar passages, without falling into the error of the Euchites. EDITOR.

(b.) Universalem hanc sanctæ obedientiæ praxin assiduam, necessariò comitabitur solicita quædam, Mali omnis, quod tanto Numini displicere possit, Declinatio. Quisquis, ergo, cum Deo velit ambulare, fœdus secum facultatibusque suis omnibus et ineat oportet, et renovet jugiter, se nihil admissurum unquam, quod Deo suo offensam præbeat; cum mente quidem, nihil quicquam se cogitaturum mali; cum voluntate, se malo nulli assensurum unquam; cum sensibus, se nihil uspiam mali animo intromissuros: breviter, omnes et animæ potentiæ et partes corporis, districtissimæ obedientiæ legibus unà coercendæ sunt. Quòd si demum, post vigilantissimam cordis viarumque nostrarum custodiam, obtigerit aliquando, nos, sive tentationis impetu, sive impotenti quâdain naturæ nostræ perfidiâ, in peccatum abreptum iri; sequetur illico irrequietum studium conatusque, redintegrandæ sanctitatis, Deique redipiscendi : neque unquam acquiescet animus, donec, verâ festinâque pœnitentiâ, suavissimum divini favoris sensum recuperaverit. Frustrà quidem sperabimus, sic ambulare cum Deo ut parùm peccemus. Resipiscentiæ nostræ fuerit, infecta quasi reddere quæ fecimus malè; offensasque nostras ita penitùs abolere, ut non omnino fuisse vide

antur.

[2.] Atque hæc sancti hujusce motûs pars quasi exterior est. Est

(b.) A careful Avoiding of every Sin, which may displease so great a Being, will necessarily accompany this universal and constant practice of holy obedience. Whoever, therefore, would walk with God, must covenant with himself and with all his powers and faculties, which he must also continually renew, that he will never commit any thing, that may give offence to his God; with his understanding, that he will never think any evil; with his will, that he will never assent to the commission of any known sin; with his senses, that they shall never be the channels of evil into his mind: in a word, all the faculties of the soul and every member of the body, must be entirely restrained under the laws of a rigid obedience. But if at length, even after all this most vigilant care of our hearts and ways, it should happen, that we, either through the violence of temptation, or the treachery of our weak nature, should be hurried into sin; a restless desire and endeavour, to recover this sanctity, and to regain the favour of God, will immediately follow: nor will the mind ever be at rest, till it has, by a true and speedy repentance, recovered its most delightful sense of the divine favour. In vain shall we hope, so to walk with God as to be altogether free from sin. It will follow, however, on our repentance, that our evil deeds will be accounted as though they had not been done at all; and our offences so wholly obliterated, that they may seem as if they had never been committed.

[2.] But this is as it were only the external part of this holy mo

illi quiddam adhuc magis Intrinsecum, quodque, animæ loco, praxin hanc totam quasi actuat movetque.

(a.) Illud verò est divina quædam animæ dispositio, quæ efficit, ut, primo in loco, Nos Nostrasque Actiones quaslibet ad Deum sincerè Referamus; ad solam ipsius gloriam, simplici semper oculo, collimantes: quòd si nostra seu dignitas, seu utilitas, voluptasve sese aliquando interposuerit, operamque nostram flagitaverit; per hæc tamen omnia citraque, prospiciamus finem illum supremum, cui ista meritò subordinari gestiunt.

(b.) Secundò, ut Dedamus Nos totos Deo, nostraque universa; ad ipsius solius arbitrium, seu stare seu cadere paratissimi; susque

tion. There is something yet more Internal, and which, like a soul, moves and actuates this whole practice.

(a.) And this is that divine disposition of mind, which causes us, in the first place, sincerely to Refer Ourselves and all our Actions to God; always aiming, with a single eye, at his glory only and if either our honour, advantage, or pleasure should at any time interpose, and demand our attention; even in all these circumstances, to keep only that supreme end in view, to which they ought to be entirely subordinate.

(b.) Secondly, to Surrender up Ourselves, and all that we have, wholly to God; ever willing, either to stand or fall, according to his good pleasure alone; not * at all regarding man's judgment or

* This passage cost me a great deal of time and thought, before I could fix any consistent or even tolerable sense or meaning upon it; insomuch as my intention was to have omitted it entirely. At length, however, after several long applications to it, I hit upon that meaning contained in the latter clause of the words above, and with that meaning only it would undoubtedly have appeared in this translation had I not by accident been in company with some men of learning, who had read this Treatise, and knew that I had translated it; when one of them mentioned this passage as a difficulty, and desired to know how I had rendered it; and at the same time suggested, that he made no doubt, but that the Author had in his mind when he wrote it, this expression of St. Paul, or of man's judgment. 1 Cor. iv. 3. though he had not referred to it in the margin. I immediately had recourse to it, and strictly examined the original, and all the Latin and English versions of it that I had by me. And, from the Greek, which is n imò avgwins nμépas: the Vulgate, which reads, aut ab humano die; and the margin of our Bibles, both of the old and new translation, each of which in the text reads, of man's judgment, but the reference in the margin is, "Gr. man's day;" I concluded, there was good and sufficient reason to believe his observation to be just and right. Now, had our author used any other version in this place, the allusion might have been more easily discerned, and the difficulty had not been so great.

But as there is some difficulty in this passage, even as it stands in St. Paul (as appears from the many different renderings of it) as well as in our Author, I consulted the commentators also; who, I find, do generally agree, that by man's day, is meant man's judgment; as our and several other translators have rendered it. (I have therefore accordingly taken it in this sense here, as may be seen in the first clause above.) But, finding in Eskius that Theodorit had long since fixed the same sense and meaning upon these words, as they stand in the Apostle, as I had first given them here, I have retained that also in the second clause; as I am supported by so great authority; and as they each of them bear a consistent sense in this place.

deque habentes humanum diem; donec præstitutum mutationi nostræ tempus advenerit, patienter fideliterque expectantes.

(c.) Tertiò, ut Pleniorem Dei Fruitionem, perfectioremque cum ipso conjunctionem, vehementer usque sitiamus: neque verò possibile est, ut quis semel gustaverit quàm suavis sit Dominus, quin et flagrantissimo insuper proprioris cum ipso unitionis desiderio

teneatur.

Atque hæc quidem summa sit eorum, in quibus consistit omnis nostra cum Deo ambulatio; Præsentiæ, nimirum, Familiaritatis, Motûs. 2. Restat adhuc MODUS RATIOQUE sancti hujus itineris peragendi. Requiritur nempe, nisi frustrà pedes movere velle videamur, ut cum Deo nostro, unicè, rectà, alacriter, constanterque

ambulemus.

(1.) UNICE, imprimis; socium admittentes præterea neminem. Ingerit se quidem mundus satis importunè, comitatusque istius honorem ambitiosè efflagitat: nequit verò tolerare hoc Deus. Licet quidem illi, bonâ cum Dei veniâ, nos, uti à tergo sequatur, pro more servi: nobiscum ut sodalis iustar obambulet, parùm licebit un

opinion concerning us, --- nor what shall happen to us during the term of our short pilgrimage here; but waiting with faith and patience till the appointed time of our change shall come.

(c.) Thirdly, always vehemently to thirst after a more Full Fruition of God, and a more perfect and complete conjunction with him: for it is impossible, that any one who has once tasted how sweet the Lord is, should not be inflamed with the most earnest desire of a nearer union with him.

Now this is the sum of all those duties, in which the whole of our walking with God consists; namely, our Presence with him, Familiar Intercourse, and a progressive Motion.

2. There still remains the MANNER or METHOD of performing this holy journey. And to this it is required, unless we should be willing to move in vain, that we walk with our God, only, straight forwards, cheerfully, and constantly.

(1.) First, we must walk with God ONLY, admitting no other companion besides him. The world indeed presses itself on us with sufficient importunity, and ambitiously courts the honour of this society but God will not endure this. It may indeed, with God's gracious permission, follow us, like a servant, at a distance: he will never suffer it to join company with us, like a companion. Our

See St. Jerome, Grotius, Cornelius à Lapide, Aretius, Calvin, Marlorate, Parceus, Crellius, Slichtingius, Prizpcovius, Brenius, and Poole's Synopsis; but more particularly Estius, on the place.

I thought proper to make this remark here, lest, if any should compare this translation with the original, and not be aware of the allusion to the Apostle, they might be at a loss to know the reason why I have thus translated it. TRANSLATOR. In p. 267 of this volume, the reader will find the same use of the phrase, which the Bishop has here employed: "we pass very little to be judged of them, or of man's day;" meaning, doubtless, of man's judgment. I have, however, retained both the double sense of the Translator, and his reasons for giving it. EDITOR.

quam. Fatuitas nostra fortasse non inutile judicaverit, utrunque sibi comitem adjungere, et Deum et seculum: dedignatur verò hoc meritò Deus; cui odio est mundi hujusce malignitas universa. Boni autem siquid mundo forsan inest, licebit nobis illo sic uti, ut non fruamur; imò, sic uti, quasi non utamur interim. Audite, igitur, quicunque seculi hujus sive clientes sive comites indivulsi et esse et vocari mavultis, reclamâstis interea Deo; qui mammonis societatem æquè fastidiosè respuit ac vestram.

(2.) RECTA; non pede claudicantes; non errantes de viâ: etenim, si æquos cum Deo passus metiri possemus, miserè interea claudicantes, quod tamen prorsùs impossibile est, ejusmodi certè comitatus ignominiam Deus jure bono abominatur: indignabunda erat illa olim Eliæ cum Israelitis expostulatio; Usquequò claudicatis ves in cogitationes duas? 1 Reg. xviii. 21: absque honestà probi cordis sinceritate, frustrà quis cum Deo ambulare speraverit. Neque verò cum ipso ambulare possumus, nisi et semitæ nostræ non minùs rectæ sint, quàm pedes: nullam sanè, nisi rectam viam, incedere potest Deus; nos si devia sectari malumus, ambulamus soli: omnes quidem justitiæ calles, rectâ quâdam lineâ, tendunt ad cœlum; ubi peccatorum semitæ curvæ sunt et anfractuosæ, perque mille cæcos viarum meandros ad mortis usque cubicula tandem deducunt utriusque profectò viæ, ita sibi prorsùs adversæ, nunquam convenire nedum intersecare poterunt. Non potest non fieri, quin

folly may perhaps judge it not inexpedient, to make both God and the world our companions: but this is justly an abomination to God; who hates the utter wickedness of this world. But if there should chance to be any good in this world, we may so use it, as not to enjoy it; nay, we must so use it, as if we used it not. Hear, therefore, all ye who desire both to be and to be called the dependants or companions of this world, ye have in this renounced God; who scornfully disdains to hold society either with mammon or with

you.

(2.) We must walk with God STRAIGHT FORWARDS; not halting; not wandering out of the way: for, if we were even able to keep pace with God, while nevertheless we wretchedly halter, which however is absolutely impossible, God justly abhors the scandal of such company that expostulation of Elias with the Israelites was full of indignation; How long halt ye between two opinions? 1 Kings xviii. 21: in vain shall any one hope to walk with God, without the real sincerity of an honest heart. Neither can we walk with him, unless our paths be straight also: God cannot walk in any way, but the right; if we choose to go out of the way, we must walk by ourselves all the paths of righteousness tend, in a direct course, to heaven; whereas the paths of sinners are crooked and winding, and through a thousand dark meandrings lead at last to the chambers of death and both these ways are so directly contrary to each other, that they never can either meet together or cross each other. It