Dire[J. 22· [ommunion witI> Departed Saints. Land of Promife, while our purfucrs are there overthrown and perilh. We lhould not be fo ftrangt to the World above, if we thus by faith converfed with the bleffed ones. ~· 22· DireC:t. 22. When yo« are overmuch troubled for r/Jt dwh of your Godly friend 1, loo~<, up 10 tiJat world of bl~ffed foulr, to n:hich they are tr:znflated, and think_. whethtr it he mt better for them to be there than here ? and whether )OH 1 are not boundby the Law of Love, to .rejoyce nfith them that art '""' ex,/trd. H•d webut a fight.of the world that th~y are in, and the company that they are gone ro, we lhould he lefs d1fpleafed With the w1ll of God, m d1fpofing of Ius own, into fo Glorious a flare. 9· 23. All thcfe improvements 'may be made by a Believer, of his daily convcrfe with the louh above : This is the Communion with them whi'h we mull hold on earth : Not by Praying to them, which_God hath never encouraged us to do; nor by praying for them ( For .though it be lawful eo pray for the Re[urrellim of rheir Bodies, and the perfelling of rheir bleffidneji rbereby, yet it being a thing of tJbfolHtt certaiuty as the day of Judgement is, we mull lie very cautelous in the manner of our doing this liwful act; it being atbing thattheir happine!S doth not at all depend on, and a thing which ,;Q.,.,orjhipper1 have lhnved themfdves fo forward to abufe, by llepping further into that which is unlawful\ as the horrid abu[es of the N•mes anddayes, and lhrines and relicts of real or fuppofed S..ints, in the Papal Kingdom [adly te(lifieth. ) But the necdfary part of our Commu– nion wit8 the SJin[S in Heaven, being of fo great importance to the Church on Earth, I ~ommend it to the due confidcration of the faithful, whether our forgetfulnefs of it is not to be much repented of, and whether it be not a work to be more ferioufly minded for the time to come. 9· 24· And I moft confe£s I know not why it lhould be thought unlawful to celebrate the memorial of the life or martyrdome of any extraordinary fervant of God, by an Anniverfary folemnity, on a fer appropriate day : It is but to keep the thankful remembrance of Gods mercy to the Church : and fure the life and death of fuch, is not the fmallefi of the Churches mercies here on earrh. If it be lawful on the:: 5 of November, to celebrate the memorial of our deliverance from the Powder-pl8t, I know not why it O.ould be thought unlawful to do the like in this cafe alfo: Provided, r. That it be not terminated in the honour of aSaint, but of the God of Saints for giving fo great a mercy to his Church. 2. That it be not to honour a S11in1 meerly as a Saint, but to fome extraordinary eminent Saint!: Oche1wife all that go to Heaven mufi have: Fefiivals kept in rcmc:mbrancc: ofthem; and fo we might have a million for a day. 'l• That it be not mab tqu•l with rhe Lord1 Day, but kept in fuch af,bordinatim to 1h111 D6y, as the Lift or det~tb of S11ints, is of inferiour and fubordinate rcfpect, to the work of Chrifi in mans Redemption. f· And if it be kept in a fpiritual manner to invite men to imitate the Holinefs of the Saints, and the wnllancy of the Martyrs, and not to encourage fen[uality and lloth. CHAP.
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