A SERMON preached before the KING, ON November the 13. 1686. Being the Feast of all the Saints of the H. Order of St. Benedict. By the Reverend Father Dom. PHIL. ELLIS, Monk of the same Order, and of the English Congr. Chaplain in Ordinary, and Preacher to Their MAJESTIES.  


Published by His Majesties Command.    
LONDON, Printed by Henry Hills, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, for his household and chapel. 1686.   

A SERMON preached before the KING On the 13th of November, being the Feast of all the Saints of the Holy Order of St. Benedict.  Qui non accipit Crucem suam, et sequitur me non est me dignus. Matth. 10.36. 
SAint John Chrysostom( most Sacred Majesty) speaking of the Devotion which the Church of his Age expressed to the Memory of the Saints, says, 
Nemo est qui nesciat, &c.  There is nothing more known than the Reason why the Faithful are invited to assist at their Solemnities, that due Honour may be paid to them who have set before our eyes such bright and glorious Examples of virtue, to excite us to a holy Emulation of their Glory, 
Chrysost. hom. 1. de Martyr.  Imitation of their virtue; Vt et illis debitus honor dicetur, et nobis Virtutis exempla, favente Christo, monstrentur. And if this be the Sum of all our Devotion, if this be the end of all the Honour we exhibit to the Saints, it is a folly to apprehended Superstition, when the Service is so reasonable, or to fancy dangerous Consequences from Justice and Piety. For tho' we do not rank this practise of Venerating the Saints among the necessary Duties of Religion, yet if we desire to be Imitators of them, 
1 Cor. 11.1.  as they were of Christ, as the Apostle advices in reference to himself, Reason and Experience tell us, the best way to Copy out their Lives, and express a resemblance of them in our own, is often to contemplate these Beautiful and perfect Originals. The Church therefore on these Occasions opens a double prospect to our view; On the one hand she shows what they suffered upon Earth; on the other, how largely they are rewarded in Heaven: Their Sufferings, to let us see the rigor of their trial; the Reward, to let us see the advantages of their Triumph: to the end that from the prospect of their Combat, we may draw Arguments of our Courage, Motives of our Sanctity; and from the consideration of their Triumphs, the hopes of our Glory. These two Views are admirably united in the words of my Text, where from the Negative, Who takes not up his across, and follows Christ, is not worthy of him, we learn, by the Rule of Contraries, who is worthy of him; He, only he, who takes up his across, and follows his Divine Leader. Taking up the across therefore is the Noviceship, carrying the across is the Profession, not only of the Monk, but of every Christian; and yet no more is required of the Monk, and yet no less of the Christian. I judge it therefore not improper, in an Age where Piety is at so low an Ebb, that it has left the Sands dry, almost without any hope of covering them again; where the practise of Religion is not only laid aside, but the very Sentiments of it almost worn out of our minds; where Christianity at its full growth, under Christian Princes and the show of public Exercise, is in effect returned to its state of Infancy, fallen into its primitive Obscurity, and banished into Deserts and Monasteries; while People in the World have indeed the Form of Godliness, assist at the Divine Service, join in the Formalities of Religion, but remit the Power thereof, the bearing the across, the pursuance of a penitential Life, to those who have renounced the World: I judge it not improper, I say,( with your Royal Permission and favourable Attention,) to dispute the case with these men, and to convince them from the highest Authority in Heaven and Earth, from Scripture and Fathers, and consequently from their own Reason and Belief, that the Secular Person has the same Obligations of tending to Heaven, as the Religious has; that all the Essential Duities are the same, the Method and Condition the same, Of taking up their across and following Christ. I accidentally touched upon this Matter the last time I appeared in this honourable Chair, 
Serm. upon Redeeming the Time.  and now it is my Business( I hope) to give them Satisfaction who found it not before. Let us beg the Divine Assistance, by the Intercession of these faithful Servants, who are now entred into the Joy of their Master; but we must apply ourselves in a particular manner to the Queen of Solitaries whose blessed Retirement was crowned with that Angelical Address, which deserves to be repeated by all who share in the fruit of it; Hail full of Grace, &c.  
THE Eloquent Father of the Greek Church,( in his 36 Hom.) sticks so close to the Letter of this Text, that he will allow it to be taken in no larger a sense than the Words sound, 
Carnem tuam morte affice& crucifige. Nam quod illic operatur ensis, hoc hîc faciat prompta animi alacritas. Chrysost. hom. 11. in Epist. ad Hebrae.[ in hunc loc.]  That every one is obliged to live not only in a Disposition and Preparation of mind to die for Christ, but also to provide for the most painful Death, even that of the across; where he places the Force not upon the actual Effusion of blood( for then the Precept would not be general) but upon the practise of Mortification, and the desire of Suffering for the Name of Christ. In this Sense the Current of Fathers and Divines understand it; Particularly St. Hilary and Euthymius say, it is meant of our dying to the World: A Death St. Paul glories in our Lord he had already undergone, 
Gal. 6.14.  before he had  shed his blood for the Profession of his Faith; The World, says he, is crucified to me, and I to the World: a Death he frequently urges and inculcates as necessary and universal: As necessary; 
Rom. 8.13.  If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live: where Mortification is expressed as the Conditional of Life eternal, 
Gal. 5.24.  Si mortificaveritis, vivetis: As universal; They who are of Christ, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts, the passions and appetites thereof: where the Position is general, and from which none are exempted, but they who have no part in Christ; Qui sunt Christi. Now let the Wordling tell me, he cannot support Mortification; and I must reply upon him, then he cannot be a Christian. Let the Lady tell me, she cannot deny her self that Liberty and Indulgence which suite with her State and Complexion, but I presume I shall not be thought rude for delivering the Message which the Holy Ghost has put into my mouth, 
1 Tim. 5.6.  and tell her in the Apostles Words, She that liveth in Delights, is dead while she liveth. Let the Courtier, if he pleases, object, he is not yet prepared for works of Supererogation, he is not ripe for mystic Divinity: but when he is grown weary of the World perhaps my ascetic Lectures may make him an Anchorite: But for the present, non omnes capiunt verbum istud, all do not take this word, 
Matth. 19.11.  and for his part he is one of them, and hopes to go to Heaven an easier way. An easier way than by following Christ! 'tis impossible: or following Christ, and not carrying his across! 'tis absurd. Non est me dignus; such an one is unworthy not only of being happy, but even of wearing the name of Christian; non est me dignus. For you will not find this discourse of our Blessed Redeemer addressed to Anchorites, or spoken to drive people out of the World, or limited to the Evangelical Counsels, or importing nothing beyond works of supererogation; The very style of it speaks it a positive Command, a Law without exception; If any one will come after me, 
Matth. 16.24. Marc. 8.35.  as St. Matthew words it; if any one will follow me, as St. Mark: Not directed only to the Disciples, as St. Matthew seems to imply, but according to St. Mark, Convocatâ turbâ cum Discipulis suis, calling together the multitude with the Disciples,( the ancient Form and Method of publishing Laws) he Enacts this Penal Statute, he declares it to the multitude in presence of his Disciples, and and to his Disciples under the Testimony of the multitude: Si quis vult me sequi: If any one will follow me, of what condition or quality soever, let him deny himself and take up his across. 
Luk. 9.23.  Dicebat autem ad omnes, says St. Luke, he said to all present, and by consequence to all who to the end of the World should embrace his Doctrine, that no body should be excluded, provided always, he take up his across.  
Such( Beloved Christians) are the terms of our warfare, the trial of our obedience, the proof of our fidelity, and the argument That we have not believed in vain. But since it is not in every bodies power, as I said before, to fulfil it according to the Letter, by carrying the Material across with his Blessed Master, or actually shedding his Blood with the Martyrs, we are to learn from the context the genuine and proper sense of the Law. And, to the purpose, each of the Evangelists inserts a declaratory cause: 
{αβγδ}.  abneget semetipsum: says St. Matthew. Let him deny himself, implying self-abnegation to be the catholic, the universal across, to which every one is obliged not only readily to submit, not only to bear it cheerfully, but also to take it up voluntarily, by the Spontaneous exercises of a mortified and penitential Life. Tyrants, Enemies, and Persecutors may force other Crosses upon our shoulders, but this of self-denial can be laid on by no body but ourselves. St. Mark puts the Equivalent, Deneget semetipsum, let him renounce himself, check his appetites, and kerb his inclinations, and bridle his passions. In fine, St. Luke gives a farther light, by the addition of a {αβγδ}, Let him take up his across daily, leading a dying life answerable to St. Paul's quotidie morior, 
1 Cor. 15.31.  which gave the Holy Fathers occasion to define the life of a Christian, 
Hieron. Epis. 27 ad Eustoch. Anselm. In Epis. ad Rom. 12.  a daily Martyrdom, tota vita Christiani, si secundum Evangelium vivat, quotidianum Martyrium est. S. Aug. Ser. 32. de Sanct.  
This indeed is a hard saying, a harsh sound, it is a thunderclap to one who has set up his rest here, or hoped the profession of Christianity, did not proscribe and exclude all pursuance of pleasures, or had persuaded himself that an insipid Moral life which consists more in not doing evil, than in doing good, never denying itself, never taking up its across; but on the contrary, flying all that is painful and troublesone, will entitle him to Heaven: This is the word of God sharper than a two-edged Sword, to those who would feign believe that Jesus Christ came to sand peace and repose on Earth. 
Matth. 10.34.  But he expressly tells us, he came not to sand Peace but the Sword; a Sword which separates the Son from the Father, the Daughter from the Mother, forcing them from one anothers embraces, and cutting asunder the strongest ties of Nature and Affection, making them forget their Native Country, and their Fathers house, 
Psal. 44.11.  ( obliviscere populum tuum,& domum Patris tui) to spend their life in a voluntary exile, or solitude, which is a banishment at home. For as one who takes not up his across and follows me, 
Matth. 10.37, 38.  says our Divine Leader, is not worthy of me: So he that loves Father or Mother more than me, does not take up his across, non est me dignus, for he is not worthy of me, says our Divine Legis-lator. This is the word, which from the tender age of Christian Religion, has peopled deserts, has turned the most frightful Cavern into Oratories, has rendered the most inhospitable Sands, and almost inaccessible Rocks, not only habitable, but even delightful. This in fine, is that word, which to the amazement of flesh and blood has brought down the most tender and delicate Daughters of Sion to sit in the dust, has driven the most tender and delicate complexions to macerate themselves with Fastings and Watchings, has summoned the Courtier from his easy life, and Princes to quit their Purple and splendour for Sackcloth and Ashes. And I am persuaded, were it considered in could blood, by the plurality of Christians, 
Nicephor. l. 9. Hist. Eccles. c. 14. Pallad. in Lausia. cap. 25.49. &c. Civitas in quâ plura erant Monasteria quam prophanae domus; ita ut omnes vici,& omnes anguli pleni essent Monachis divinas lands decantantibus.  it would soon convert our Houses into Convents, our Villa's into Monasteries, and reduce our Towns and Cities into the happy condition of Nitria, Memphis, and Thebais, where History tells us, there were almost as many Religious, as inhabitants. At least, it would inspire another use of our Riches, than to hang Walls, cover Tables, stuff Cabinets or Coffers; they should be no longer the nourishment of our Vanity or Avarice, while objects of Charity lye at our doors, meet us in the streets, or the widow and Orphan cry from the Garret, and the Seller, that you squander away in your very Equipage and Attire the ransom of your own Souls, and the blood of theirs; Sanguinem animarum pauperum.  
For, Christians, mistake me not, I did not invite you to hear a panegyric upon the Holy Monks, whose Festival we celebrate this day; for tho the Renown of the ancestors be the Glory of the Posterity, and among the Ancients, the Son was upon some occasions obliged to commend the Parent, and publish his Merits in an Anniversary Harangue to the people, yet this Roman virtue would savour of ostentation in a Christian, did not the Scripture warrant us to praise glorious Men, 
Eccli. 44.1.  and even our Parents in their Generations;& Parentes nostros in generatione suâ. I am sensible I might undertake this Province with little appearance of affectation or vanity, since there is scarce any one within these Walls, or even upon English ground who is not particularly interested in the Glory of the Benedictine Order; there is scarce an ancient Family, a Family of note which has not sent a Plant into this Nursery of Piety; there is not a Kingdom in the world, of what extent soever, has transplanted so many Saints into Paradise, the mayor part of which, as far as the Church could take notice of them, and History could transmit their Memory, were still of the Benedictine Order: There is neither Order nor Nation, 

1 St. Egbert first promoter of the German Mission, he reduces the Scottish Monks and Clergy to the due celebration of Easter, &c.  
2 By St. Maur and his Brethren.  
3 St. Amandus Apostle of Flanders and Gascony. 4 St. Willebrord first Arch-Bishop of utrecht with eleven others, Apostle of Holland, and the adjacent Provinces: St. Swibert Apostle of Westphalia, the two Ewaldi Martyrs, Apostles of the Frisons. 5 St. Boniface( alias Wilfrid) Apostle of Germany, created Arch-Bishop of Mentz, An. 745. St. Stephen Apostle of Swedeland, St. Bruno of Prussia and Lithuania, &c. 6 St. Nicholaus Anglus Apostle of Norway, &c. 7 Spain reduced from Arianism by St. Leander.  
V. Henr. ʋander lipe de monachat. St. Greg. contra carded. Baron.& Abb. Cajetanum de eod. V. Clem. Reyner Apostolat. Benedictin. Tract. 1. demonstr. 7. See the Testimonies of Sanders, Harpsfield, carded. Alan, Cotton, Selden, Spelman, cambden, ibid. pag. 201.   which has sent out so many Apostles to propagate the Christian Faith; 1 Scotland, 2 part of France and Ireland, 3 Flanders, 4 Holland, 5 Germany, 6 Norway, and almost all the Western Church on this side the Alpes, and 7 beyond the Pyraenean, aclowledge these illustrious Men, all Benedictins, and most of them our Native Countrymen for the Founders, next under Jesus Christ, or Restorers of their Religion. I need not put you in mind of your Relation to some of these celebrated Men, I need not mention a St. Austin, and a long Succession of Arch-Bishops of Canterbury almost uninterrupted till these latter times: 

Ex Regulari Concord. instituta in communi Concilio Episcoporum& Abbatum sub Edgaro Rege, Praeside S. Dunstano Archiepisc. Cant. ex Edmer Spicileg. edit. a Selden. Cuncti decreverunt ut Abbatum& Abbatissarum Electio, cum Regis consensu& consilio, S. Regulae ageretur documento: Episcoporum quoque electio, uti Abbatum, ubicunque in seed Episcopali Monachi Regulares conversantur, si Domini largiente gratiâ tanti profectus inibi monachus reperire potuerit, eodem modo agatur, nec alio quolibet modo, dum ejusdem sunt conversationis, a quoquam praesumatur. Si autem imperitiâ impediente, aut peccatis promerentibus, talis, qui tanti gradûs honore dignus sit, in eadem Congregatione reperiri non potuerit, ex alio noto Monachorum Monasterio, concordi Regis et Fratrum, quibus dedicari debet, Consilio eligatur.  
Le decret du Saint siege eut son effet,& depuis cet cathedral( de l'Eglise de Cantorbery) eut pour Clergè une Communautè de Moines. L'Archevesque de Cantorbery en estoit l'Abbé regulier,& il parvenoit a cette double charge par less suffrages de son Chapitre, qui usa de ce droit d'Election jusqu' an reign d' Henry VIII. P. Mabillon, Abreg. de l'Historie de l'Ordre liv. 3. ch. 2. Maihew Troph. Congr. Angl. To. 1. pag. 12.   Or a Melitus the first Bishop of this ancient and famous City: You know that in the Gospel they begot you: And thô the Sun of Justice did shine before upon some part of this iceland, yet, till the descent of these Luminaries upon it, your Ancestors, were not called to this admirable light, it was all night to them. And pray God, this Remnant of their Posterity, which by the favour of another Ethelbert, and of another 
Called by St. Greg. Aldiberga.  Bertha, ye behold Officiating at your Sacred Altars, may meet with some part of their success, under such Illustrious Examples; and may we, their unworthy Children, live up as near to the Sanctity of their Lives, as it is certain we keep up to the Purity of their Doctrine. I shall not speak of Men Famous in their ages for great literature and consummated Prudence, to whose Industry and Institution the Christian World owes the first public Schools and Universities, particularly the two Eyes of this Nation, our two Equal Sisters. It would be as tedious to relate, as stupendious to hear, how many Emperours and Kings, Queens and Emperesses this Order has received into its Bosom: How many Bishops and patriarches it sent forth, and even Supreme Pastors, 
V. Arnald. Wion. Magn. Theatr. pag. 1084. Henr. ʋander lipe Praep. Affligenien. Haeften. ejusd. monast. praepo. in proleg. in Reg. St. Ben. Menolog. Benedictin.  who governed' the Church, and filled St. Peter's Chair for more than 300 Years: An account of these things is to be met with in every History, they are known to the learned, and make but little to the Instruction of those who are not so: They are but the Fruits of their Labours, the Reward of their Sufferings, the Glory of their Posterity. But I am not designing a Catalogue of Honour, nor an Enumeration of their Prerogatives, but your Imitation of their virtues. Let us therefore take off our Eyes from the Beauty of the Fruit, the spreading of the Branches, and largeness of the trunk, to consider the Root whence all these perfections spring, which you will easily agree with me without much Disquisition, is their taking up of their across, and following Christ; but how far this may concern you, I am going to let you see more plainly in my second Part.  

SECOND PART.  
The H. Fathers and Ecclesiastical Writers expounding that Oracle of our blessed Master, 
Matth. 16.24.  If any Man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his across, and follow me; generally found a Religious Institute upon this Text, for without the Observance of it, no Religious Order can have a being or subsist. 
Trithem. l. 1 in Reg. S. Benedict.  And indeed the Three substantial Vows are divinely couched, and insinuated in these Words. If any Man will come after me, let him deny himself; Self-denial infers, and chiefly consists in Obedience: and take up his across; the greatest and properest Crucifiction of the flesh, is Chastity: and follow me, pauper pauperem, importing a divesting ourselves of all Property, and putting on a true Apostolical Spirit, which enables us to say with them, who in Act had but little to leave, Behold, we have left all things, because they retained nothing, even in Desire. I judge it unbecoming this Place, to go about to prove the lawfulness of making, or possibility of performing these Vows, which was never questioned but by those who had a mind to break them. They are in effect but the Repetition, with some Improvements, of what we all make in our Baptism, excepting that of perpetual Chastity, which the Examples of the Nazarites in the old Law, the constant practise and Doctrine of the New demonstrate not only to be possible, but also highly commendable, compared by our B. Original to the Life of Angels, who neither mary, nor are given in Marriage. But you may ask me, what all this relates to you, who have neither given up your Wills, nor your Liberty, nor renounced the possession of Riches, nor of Pleasures as far as they are Lawful. multum per omnem modum. It relates to you, not so much as to Religious, but very much still. For if you please to call to mind what I proved before, that the Substance of these Words, of denying yourselves, of taking up your across, and following Christ, is a positive Commandment, tho the Extension of them, the ultimum quod sic, to what degree one may deny himself, is but a Counsel, you will find the Monk concerned in them more as a Christian, than as he is Religious: and I suppose as Christians you will think your own Obligation equal to his. For there is no reason why it should be less, since in Jesus Christ there is neither Servant nor Freeman, but all are equally called to an equal burden; only you will find your own share more easy in appearance, but peahaps harder in performance.  
For if you inquire of the H. Fathers the best judges, because the best practitioners in a Religious Life, if you inquire of them in what the virtue and Essence of a Monk consists, they give you no other account, than what the Scripture inculcates to all the Professors of the Name of Christ. If S. 
S. Basil. Serm. 3. Excr.  Basil say it is the Duty of a Monk, to be always mindful of his End, to rejoice in Hope, to bear Affliction, to Pray without ceasing, to give Thanks in all things, to detest Arrogance and love Sobriety; it is no more than S. Paul exacts of every Christian, totidem verbis. If S. 
St. Bern. in spe. Monach.  Bernard teach that a Monk must be like Melchisedec without Father or Mother, or Geneology, that is dead to all the interests of Flesh and Blood, our Blessed Saviour protests that who does not hate Father and Mother, that is prefer his Service to the Inclinations of Nature, does not hate even his own Soul, Postpone his Secular Advantages and Propensions, to this great Duty, is not worthy of him. If St. Bernard define one who hates himself and loves Christ above all things, 
Serm. 15. de caend Domini.  to be a true Monk: Qui propter Christum seipsum odit,& supper omnia illum diligit, verè Monachus est; yet this is delivered by our Saviour as the Definition of a Christian. If St. 
St. Isidor. Pelus. l. 1. Ep. 260.  Isidore Pelusiota has reason to pronounce him a perfect Monk, si probus Monachus fieri studes, who lives not after his own manner, but will be accountable for his Actions to a superior, this is what the Apostle Commands every one, to obey your superiors and be subject to them, for they watch over you, as being to give an account for your Souls, which they cannot do if you will not submit your Lives to their Censure. If Humility, as St. Bern. 
St. Bern. de second. vitae. St. Machar. Hom. 15.  assures us, be the chief and Characteristical virtue of a Monk, St. Macharius,( Hom. 15.) marks it out as the sign of Christianity itself, signum Christianismi est ipsa bumilitas, says Macharius; suprema virtus Monachi est ipsa Humilitas, says St. Bernard. If a Monk be justly esteemed dead to the World, and therefore the Common Law takes no more notice of him, as to any advantage, than if he were not in being: So does the Law of Christ suppose every Christian dead to the World, so much the very Profession of our Faith imports, says St. Bern. that we live not to ourselves but to him who died for us: Haec est professio fidei Christianae, 
St. Bern. Serm. de verb. Psalm. 23.  ut qui vivit, jam non sibi vivat, said ei qui pro omnibus mortuus est. To be short, if a Monk who lives irregularly in his Convent, or casts off his Habit to enjoy what he cannot now lawfully use, deservedly forfeits that Honourable style: So St. Aug. in his admirable Book de vita Christiana ch. 11. warns us not to think him a Christian who performs few or no actions of Christianity, whose Conversation is not according to Justice, but tending to wickedness and impiety; 
Aug. de doct. Anist. c. 11.  ne illum Christianum putes: And elsewhere he tells us, he that is not a Christian is an Anti-christ; and gives us a general Rule how to discern true Christians from false: He is not a Christian who in his Life and Manners is contrary to Christ: non est Christianus qui vita& moribus contrarius est Christo. The same affirms the grave and Eloquent Salvianus: Christiani esse dicuntur& non sunt, 
Id. in spec. pec. c. 8.  they are said to be Christians but are not so, who by their Vices and Impurities render the very name of Religion Infamous.  
So far the Obligation is equal; let us now see wherein it is exceeding, and what is more required of the Religious Man than of the Secular. This must be done by comparing the Counsel with the Commandment, the special duty of the Monk with that which is common to him and the laic. If it be a Counsel to sell all and give to the Poor; it is a Commandment, 
Psalm. 62.10.  if Riches abound, set not your heart upon them. If it be a Counsel to dedicate ones self to the perpetual observance of Chastity, it is a Command, 
1 Cor. 7.29.  qui habent uxores, tanquam non habentes sint, let the married be as if they were not married; so great a Temperance and Restraint of the Affections and Passions is enacted by the Law of Christ. 
Nolite diligere hunc mundum.  If it be a Counsel to forsake the World, it is a Precept not to love it: If it be a Counsel to renounce ones Possessions, it is a Precept to renounce ones self: if it be a Counsel to take the monastic Habit, it is a Precept to take up the across, whatsoever your state and condition be, to take it up daily, whatsoever your Business or employment. So that upon balancing the two States, you will find yourselves infinitely disappointed, you will find the Life of the World more weighty and difficult than that of Religion; you will find the general Obligations the same, the Crosses more heavy and more frequent, but your necessity of bearing them, the very same, with this only diversity, that you must touch pitch, and not be defiled, you must use the the World and be as if you used it not, you must cherish Creatures, but not love them, you must taste of pleasures, but must not enjoy them: and if it be incomparably easier to abstain then to contain, so it is by one heroical Effort to leap the Pale, and escape out of the World, then to live in a continual Jeopardy, to stand ever upon the Guard, to have the sword at your Heart, and the Knife at your Throat; to tread the narrow Line upon the edge of virtue so near the brink of 'vice: for as S. Cyril of Alexandria observes, He that does every thing that is lawful, shall easily slip into what is unlawful. Whereas the great advantage of the monastic State, is placed in furnishing those who embrace it with better means to compass the general End: it strengtheners their Hands and puts better Arms into them, to fight against the Powers of Wickedness, it covers them with a Shield of proof against the most fiery Darts of Satan, it points them out a shorter cut to Happiness, by removing those Obstacles of Piety which so often occur in the World, and retard the course of virtue, and by filling up, and leveling the Trenches the World had made to keep us in, and the Pit-falls to ensnare us, that we may walk both more pleasantly and more securely.  
I know some will be very much surprised at this Doctrine, as having imbibed a quiter contrary Notion of a Religious Life, figuring it to themselves like a Prison, a heavy constraint and confinement, as intolerable to freeborn minds as Dungeons, Fetters and Manacles; surrounded with terror and Solitude, resounding with the stroke of Disciplines, and echoing with the Sighs of unfortunate People, who out of necessity, or persuasion, or force, are sold to a miserable Servitude, from which there is no Redemption. So like Hell do mistaken People picture the living Representation of Heaven, the New Jerusalem descended from above, or at least a Copy of that glorious Original, a Transcript of the Life of Angels, as far as Nature, mortal and suffering, and surrounded with Infirmities, can admit. Where the Praises of God, and the Service of their Neighbour is the whole Business of the Inhabitants; where Mortification is a Delight, because desired; Poverty is Riches, because Contentment; Obedience to the will of another is the greatest Pleasure, because attended with the greatest Security, and as easy in the practise, as it is judged impossible in the Theory: where the Simplicity of the Diet contributes much to the Innocency of the Life, of which it is an emblem; where people, says S. Austin, grow familiar with Death, and so little fear it, that they can hardly refrain from desiring it, and when that happy Hour comes, they receive it with open Arms, an expanded Brow, and a prepared Mind, having nothing to leave behind them, but the prison of flesh, no other tie to break then the Union between the Soul and the Body, no other Settlement to make then to bid adieu to their exile, and return home.  
Here others will be no less surprised then the former, as having been taught to entertain a very different Opinion of Monks, as Men ignorant, idle and unwieldy, devoted to their Ease, indulging their Appetites, and fit to be out of the World, because they could be of no Service in it. This judgement 'twas fit People should pretend to make of them when they began to covet their Possessions: when Avarice had opened their Eyes, it could do no less then discover them to be wicked Creatures, and Superfluous in Church and State, and prompt these Illuminate zealots to rectify the errors and Mistakes of their Ancestors, 
Benefits arising to the Common wealth from Monasteries. V. Apost. Benedict. p. 217. Damages which ensued upon their Suppression; bewailed by Learned Protestants. V. cambden in britain. 117. fuerunt etiam regnant Henrico octav.( Si fas sit meminisse) avitae pietatis monumenta, ad Dei Honorem, Fidei Christianae, bonarumque literarum propagationem,& pauperum sustentationem, Domus Religiosae &c. Statim circa ann. Henr. 8.36. in Remp. Angliae Ecclesiasticam, quasitorrens rupto aggere irruit, qui Gentis Ecclesiasticae partem maximam orb stupente,& Anglia ingemente, cum pulcherrimis Aedificiis funditús prostravit redditus distracti,& opes quas Christiana Anglorum pietas, ex quo primum Christo nomen dedisset, Deo consecraverat, quasi momento dispersae,& absit verbo invidia, prophanatae. V. Bp. Godwin ad ann. 1540. Sr. William Dugdale in Monast. passim.& Hist. Warwicksh. pag. 134. col. 1. But it was neither their devout& strict lives; nor their charitable allowances that could preserve them from the common ruin &c.  who by near a thousand years experience, found the Monks the Bulwark of Religion, and one of the most Serviceable Corporations to the public Weal. Poor Ignorant Antiquity was of Opinion, That the first and chiefest concern of Government, the very hinges on which it depends, was the Service of God. From performing which, with much personal Attendance, because the multipliplicity of Affairs and Necessities of Life did hinder most People, she set Men apart whose sole Function and Calling it should be to Pray for and Instruct the rest, the Examples of whose Lives should set a Beauty upon Piety, the stateliness of whose Churches, and convenience of Habitation should rescue it from Contempt. But these Men of Dissolution, finding large Barns, forgetting they were the Granaries of the Poor; seeing spacious Fields, never reflecting they were the Patrimony of Jesus Christ; beholding Manificent Edifices, never considering they were Castles and Fortresses against errors and Ignorance, within which Walls they themselves received, and to which their late Posterity was to owe it's Faith and Education; seeing ancient and well furnished Libraries, whence the greatest Men both in Church and State have issued, and whither they return'd in their Immortal Writings: Never minding, in fine, That those vast Piles of Building were the Mausolaeum's of their Ancestors, the surviving Monuments of their Piety, and the Repositories of their Sacred Dust; the Monks are to be charged with the Crimes of those who Condemn them; and their Houses razed to the Ground, 
V. Sr. Wil. Dugdale Hist. Warwickshire pag. 148. col. 1.157. col. 2.105. col. 1. & alibi passim.  to deface the Memory, not so much of that Institute, as, of the sacrilege committed upon it.  
But the loss of their Lands and Possessions was inconsiderable to them who had nothing their own, who were but the Dispensers of the public Charity: a loss more Calamitous to the public then to them, and not to be regretted by their Posterity, if the same Hands which pulled down their Houses had not buried their Innocence in the Rubbage. But this Posterity of theirs, which by a special Providence of God continues 
V. Apostolat. Clement. Reyneri Tract. 2. ubi haec veritas stabilitur. V. Breve Pauli. V. Pont. Max. ibid in Append. script. 8. & dat. 1612. Item aliud Breve ejusd. Pont. dat. 1619. ibid. script. 25. Item Bullam. Urbain. VIII. quae incipit Plantata. dat. ann. 1633. in Archiv. Congr. Matth. 18.18.  by an uninterrupted Succession to this very Day, through all the Revolutions and Changes which have swallowed up so many other Ecclesiastical Bodies and laid them in the dust, does willingly and freely Renounce all Titles or Rights which might possibly be inherent in the ancient and the present English Congregation of Monks, who acknowledge by my Mouth, that the Alienation of their Lands, how unjust soever in the beginning, and ensuing Confirmations of it, is now fixed by so full and uncontrollable Authority both of CHURCH and STATE, that they can by no Law ecclesiastical or CIVIL, be wrested out of the Hands of the present possessors, or their Heirs. The Church, and, in her Name, the supreme pastor, hath quitted all Pretensions, and preys that what she has loosed upon Earth, may be loosed in Heaven; and that every one concerned may enjoy as quiet a Conscience, as they do and shall to the end of the World, for her part, enjoy an undisturbed Possession. The supreme Civil Magistrate, and the highest Court in this Realm, have, even with her consent, passed it into Law, which nothing, but the same Power that made it, can repeal. As for the Monks themselves, they, ever obedient to the Spiritual and Temporal Powers, and tender of the Consciences of their fellow Christians, not only willingly and without reserve, submit to this double Injunction, but also add a separate renunciation of their own. They suppose no Judicious Person will question their Power to do it, more then a Conscientious person will question their Sincerity, that they have actually done it. That ecclesiastical as well as Secular Corporations and Communities can Alienate, is certain And least it should be doubted whether they have made use of this Power, in a Case Prudence and Charity, and even Self-preservation so much require they again SOLEMNLY PROTEST, They desire nothing should be restored but their REPUTATION, and to be thought by their Country-men, neither Pernicious, nor Useless Members to their Country. And when I have in view the Apostles of Religion in this Kingdom, the Planters, the Propagators and Preservers of it; a Sigebert, an Alfred, and an Ethelred, and many others, once Powerful Monarchs in this iceland, who postponed the Purple to the Cowl: when I contemplate a S. Erminburga, a S. Eanfleda, an Editha, an Eleonora, with many others, once Glorious Queens in this iceland, who preferred the Humility of a Monastique Habit, and obscurity of a Cell to the Pomp and splendour of a Court: When I behold, I say, so many Royal Advocates appearing in behalf of their Order, I will suppose so just a cause is gained, so reasonable a request is granted.  
But to conclude this Discourse, I must return to the first, in this Place the third sort of Men, who think as much too well of a monastic State, as the others do too ill, and would needs confine all the serious practise of Religion within the Walls of a cloister. Talk to them of doing Penance for their sins, they reply, That's the life of a Monk: Exhort them to Mortification, they sand you to Preach to those who have renounced the World: Tell them of Fasting and Praying, and parting with their superfluities, they cry, you drive us to despair. But I must needs advertise these People, that they are engaged in a more dangerous error, than the others, who vilify and contemn the Claustral Life. For those hope no Spiritual Advantage from it, and therefore stand upon their own bottoms: These hope too much, as if the Prayers and good Works of other Men, would exempt them from performing what is so Essential to a Christian, and indispensible to a Sinner. Whom then did Jesus Christ threaten, unless you Repent, you shall all perish? 
Luke 13.3.  Whom did he Command to Pray without ceasing? To Visit the Sick, to Comfort the Afflicted, to Relieve the Poor, to do Good to those that Persecute you, to Bless those that Curse you; and, in fine, to take up your across and follow him? If these Commands were directed to all, all who take them not home to themselves, are not worthy of him. Unhappy Men who think any thing too hard to compass Heaven! Foolish Men who think Eternal Glory may be purchased at a lower rate! Childish Men, who call this Doctrine the Subject of their despair, which is the only Foundation of their hope!  
Let us not accuse the weakness of our Nature; we have never tried what Nature assisted by Grace can do, what it can support, but we see it in the Examples of these Saints, once as infirm and frail as ourselves; they were formed of the same Earth, and by the same Hand, many of them indeed of a better mould, Vessels of greater Honour, but, to our Confusion, they stooped to Acts of Humility which the meanest of us thinks beneath him: And one of the Reasons why their relics are placed upon our Altars, is to put us in mind, that the persons we so much admire, are not above our Imitation.  
Let us not allege the inequality of our condition, and the difficulty of acquiring virtue in a Secular and distracted Life, since Divine Providence has set Patterns for every State within it's own verge: Neither do we so much revere a Sigebert or an Alfred in a cloister, as we Admire a Constantine, an Edward upon the Throne: Nor a Cunigundis in the Habit of a Nun, as a Bertha or Aldiberga in the State of a Mighty Queen. And thô there are no Court-Saints in Heaven, yet blessed be God, there are many Courtiers; not only a Cassiodorus who abandoned it, but an Ethelred with a Train of Nobles, thô but few in every age, who continued in it all their daies, yet a Court seems a Contradiction, at least a great Impediment to Sanctity, thrô the Vanities and Softness( to say no more) which are hardly separable from it, Ecce qui mollibus, &c. 
Matth. 11.8.  The Camp too hath produced many Confessors as well as Martyrs, as well those who took Arms for the safety of their King and Country, as others who laid down their Lives for Justice sake: Not only those who quitted the Military for the Monastical Cincture, but innumerable others who arrived to an eminent degree of Sanctity in that very Profession, in which, to the confusion of these times, most people loose what they had acquired before. In fine, S. Paul tells us there is a cloud of Witnesses to overthrow and baffle our weak Defence, Court Arguments, and Popular Excuses, 
Hebr. 12.1.  impositam habentes nubem Testium. You know a Cloud is not gathered in a Moment, neither is all the Rain or due which falls carried upwards wards again, and restored to it's former Elevation. The Sun Extracts and Sublimates the finer parts, and leaves the rest below. So does the Sun of Justice, he Raises every Soul according to the proportion of his Grace and her yielding to his Influence and following his Attractions: The grosser and more sensual minds he leaves in the Earth they love, and precipitates them whither their affections carry them. Amor tuus, pondus tuum, thy love is thy weight, says St. Austin; si terram amas, terra es: If you love the Earth, you are Earth; si coelum amas, coelum es, if you love Heaven, you are part of it, and shall be happy for ever in it; which I beseech, &c.   
FINIS.