betweene Faith and profession but if his Workes bee good and godly thou maist boldly presume that the Sunne of righteousnesse is risen on him and hath with his beames of Religion enlightned him wherefore James saith Pure religion and undefiled before God and the father is this to visit the fatherlesse and widowes in their adversities and to keep himselfe unspotted of the world marke how he judgeth of Religion not by Faith but obedience and yet there is no Religion pure but by Faith because Faith is also to be tried by obedience in the sight of men as obedience by Faith before God And Christ useth the same direction Hereby shall all men know you are my Disciples if yee love one another and love as yee know containeth all duties of the Law and hence is Christs answer in the Gospell to such as shall say at the day of judgment Have not wee taught and preached and done great Workes in thy name Depart from me I know you not all yee workers of iniquity Christ looked not on their profession but practice There is a knowledge of the truth and that wee have from Faith beleeving in the Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and there is an experience of the truth when the vertue of these things beleeved doth worke in our lives as when by the power of Christs Death wee die unto sinne and by the power of his Resurrection wee arise unto newnesse of life and by the power of his Ascension are heavenly minded When wee are come to knowledge wee passe on to trust and confidence by applying to our selves the promises of the Gospell so when wee are come to this trust wee must passe on to experience and triall in our lives by imitating those things in our selves which Christ hath done for us this is that which Saint Paul saith wee all behold as in a mirrour the glory of the Lord with open face and are changed into the same Image from glory to glory as by the spirit of God God sheweth his face open to us in the Gospell wee behold it by Faith wee are changed into the same by speciall trust and confidence that the things there promised belong unto us as remission of sinnes the righteousnesse of Christ freedome from death and the gift of eternall life and wee passe from glory to glory by the experience spoken of when the vertue of the things wee beleeve doth worke in our lives and make us holy as he is holy and wee have both righteousnesse inherent and imputed and for this cause Paul speaking of the same matter to the Philippians doth not count himselfe perfect or to have as yet attained the full end of his calling for though he had begun in the first degree to beleeve and gone forward to the second for application yet had he much to doe in the last as long as it should please God to lend him life But you will say what doth the vertue of Christs Passion Resurrection and Ascension belong to us As the sap of the stock belongs to the graft so wee being grafted into Christ by a lively Faith that vertue of his whereby hee overcame death rose againe and ascended must needs grow up in us to bring forth like fruits and to signify this union he in other places is called the head and the faithfull members of the same body a vine and the faithfull branches of the vine and how this union is made betweene Christ and the faithfull the Sacrament of Christs blessed body and bloud doth not only represent but that it is done also as often as the faithfull doe rightly receive the same it doth testify and therefore there is not bare bread or a signe only but the body and bloud of Christ really yet not grosly as the Papists imagine but after a heavenly manner to the Soule to Faith neither is it necessary for this union and the benefit thereof that it should be locall so as Christs body must enter into ours but when Faith doth embrace Christ crucified for us that the Spirit whose power is not tied to distance of places make the faithfull man partaker of those gifts and graces of his redemption which can be no otherwise derived unto him but from the humane nature of Christ which suffered and as hee is a member of Christ Meditation 11. Of Merit THere is a great question betweene the Papists and us what workes please God best either such as are done to Merit or of duty they say workes done of duty have lesse zeale but belike they separate duty from love wee say workes done to Merit savor more of pride and cannot please God of themselves because they want duty and if wee should joine with them in an issue about zeale it might bee proved that their zeale for the glory of God is not so great which worke to Merit as the others Saint Paul as appeareth in his Epistle to the Philippians wrought not to Merit but of duty and love he which worketh to Merit must remember what is past and examine all his workes from the beginning to the end whether they be worhty that reward which he meanes to challenge but Saint Paul working of duty forgot what was past as though he had done nothing and his mind was only on that which he might be able to do farther as long as God would give him life according to that of our Saviour When yee have done all that you can say you are unprofitable servants as if he should say thinke so meanly of what you have done that you count it your duty to doe much more as long as you live even as much as you can and yet shall you be unprofitable servants both in respect of the grace used and not turned to the best advantage and in respect of the glory to bee received for which you can give no worthy recompence saving that it is the fathers will for my sake to give it to you what he hath promised he will in justice performe Belike Christ when he spake so much of duty meant to take zeale from workes nothing at all but to adde the more love and willingnesse which is the cause of zeale to the base and slavish mind a benefit past is of no force whereas the free and gentle heart is disposed towards a good turne received but because both they and wee agree thus farre that good workes are necessary let us rather busy our selves about doing well then disputing wittily God grant that I may remember I am a Christian if this bind me not to doe good nothing will if I doe unfeignedly what I can God will bee mercifull where I faile and Christ will rather want merits then I shall want reward Meditation 12. Pastorall cure THey which know what belongs to a flock are not ignorant of the care of a Shepheard or the necessities of Sheep neither is it an unworthy consideration for out of Shepheards have been taken Kings and Kings in time
must learne to wait on God from day to day it is thy obedience his glory if thou bee rich thy account will bee the harder to make Things themselves are not good to thee but in their lawfull use they serve not thy turne except thou serve God with them make not that a snare to entangle thee in vanity which is given thee for the exercise of vertue Alas why complainest thou when any crosse interrupts thy worldly proceedings and dost not feele the losse of spirituall grace whiles thou art thwarted in a good course by sinne why art thou so well pleased at good successe and dost not rejoyce rather for the good seedes of thy regeneration for the fruits of thy faith hope love zeale patience chastity meeknesse temperance sobriety and the rest for that thou hast found or art directed in the way to find the treasure of inestimable worth and value to wit the keeping of a good conscience this that thou dost not ought to make thee mourne and lament and thou shouldest not take comfort in that wealth which keeps thee from feeling thy dayly want and enjoying sound prosperity Meditation 20. Of Giving GAining is good if it bee to give for Giving is better God gaines nothing by any yet gives all that is his perfection the light of the Sun and Moone the influence of the Planets the sweetnesse of the aire the variety of seasons the fatnesse of the cloudes the fruitfulnesse of the earth the fulnesse of the Sea the vertue of herbes the beauty of flowers the profit of beasts and cattle the price of Gold Silver and pretious stones are nothing to him nay the redemption of mankind the gathering of the Saints the gifts of the Church the graces of men our regeneration sanctification prayers sacrifices and services are nothing to him for he is his owne perfection ours it is to gaine and give receive and bestow of all things besides God it may be said what have they which they have not received yea the creatures which have most as Angels and men have received most and are the more bound to the giver wherefore their first perfection is to receive but because to give to bestow is a farther extent of perfection and more answerable to the perfection of him which is the giver of all good therefore is it a better thing and as our Saviour said by Pauls report a more blessed to give rather then to receive a better good the chiefe good a better good that 's vertue the chief good that 's happinesse the life of every vertue is action and happinesse the perfection of actions and action of vertue is nothing else but a giving of good in some kind as the act of justice to give every one his owne of fortitude to give courage against death of temperance to give a measure to pleasures of prudence to give order to affaires of liberality to give gifts where and when it is convenient and therefore as wee say there is a kind of justice in all vertues so is there a kind of liberality though one kind of giving for his use and excellency be so specially called for he which giveth of his owne to relieve another doth it most freely without any consideration to move him besides the love of vertue and for the good which comes thereof is deemed a God amongst men for which cause Princes are by a speciall title termed Gods because as their places require them to doe all vertuous actions more then others so above all they are enabled to give liberally and by giving to helpe many he that doth good unto his neighbour according to the action of any vertue gives him his helpe more worth then goods and therefore gives in the true nature of giving and if his helpe be for the soule and the life to come the gift is greater then if it pertained to this life only and yet I know not how they which give out their goods freely to the comfort of others win a more deep affection and excellent reputation then they which doe good according to any other vertue yea a liberall man hath the commendation of all vertue hee is thought wise because he knowes the true use of riches valiant because he can overcome the covetous desire which rules too many just because hee willingly makes that to be anothers which is his owne because he thinkes it more due unto him for the good which may come thereof temperate because hee doth withdraw much from superfluity and excesse that he may have wherewith to doe others good and hee will spend the lesse to give the more Wee must gaine then that wee may give and wee must receive that wee may bestow and doe good with that wee have the one is blessed for the other and therefore the latter rather blessed then the other but hee which thinkes that to keepe in his gaines is the only way to doe himselfe good as if they were all lost if others should occupy with him hath as poore a trade as he which hid his talent in a napkin of which came no advantage for lack that it was not put out every Christian must know himselfe to bee as it were the stomach to digest and disperse those gifts which he receiveth to the good of Christs body Christ emptied himselfe to fill us hee being rich saith Paul for your sakes became poore that you through his poverty might bee made rich What he got of his Father by his holy life or patient death he bestoweth on us and what he might justly claime at our hands for his gifts bestowed on us he leaves to bee disposed by us to the good of our mother as the Tithes of our goods on the Ministers which watch not for his but our good Almes of our goods which the poore receive and hee accepteth and rewardeth as if they were bestowed on himselfe and if he bestow a spirituall grace on mee he looks not for the returne but puts it over to the brethren as when he said I have prayed for thee Peter that thy faith faile not strengthen thy brethren and for the good instruction which wee receive in the Church to our soules health hee bindes us to teach and exhort one another A Christian then hath a life both active and passive the one all in receiving the other all in giving he doth receive faith hope charity and all this while nature doth nothing grace doth all then after by grace he liveth in doing good according to his faith hope and love the first life brings him into the favour of God the second into the possession of his kingdome to doe thy selfe most good is to depart with thy goods unto others and in this cause they are kept better to serve thy turne then if they were in thine owne keeping for if thy treasure be in the hand of the poore Christ is thy treasurer who will make thee good account of all such expenses I speak strange things to the eares
and when thou wouldest doe any thing thy great weakenesse dost thou not oft thinke so I am well all is well what a hard charge is this to love my enemy how unsutable to policy what a crosse to my life thou dost preferre thy reputation before common peace thine owne advantages before thy brothers soules health and dost not consider how that thou maist not be well except thou doe well and doe well thou dost not if any thing in thee bee wanting why thy brother is not so too more thy particular depends upon the common God if it bee hard to love thy enemy yet it is godly and for Gods cause whose wisedome if wee follow let us bee counted fooles Thou knowest whose speech it is Am I my brothers keeper the wicked crush one another with such thoughts and specially are cruell to the good but they which are Christs quite and quiet one another with love oft times man is a keeper of beasts Why should not one man have care of each other if so why not much more of a brother if not of a brother of whom if of none he which keeps thy brother will not keep thee Meditation 28. A good conscience GOd is possessed by love and the profession of the truth maintained by keeping a good conscience A good beliefe must bee strengthned by a godly life and a godly life seasoned with a good beliefe they are as the two twinnes which did live together and die together The Christian is in this world as it were in a broad Sea his profession teacheth him that his Heaven is Heaven and there is no Card or Compasse can so well direct him in a good course unto it as a good conscience whose direction if once he leave he soone makes shipwrack of his profession for to use thy faith with a bad conscience is as it were to meet with a rock or whirle-poole in thy course and as it is said of danger they that love it shall fall into it so they which love the danger of an ill conscience fall by it by the just judgment of God into the gulph of divers errors contrary to their profession Dost thou desire to continue in this holy profession unto thy lives end I know thou dost then look well unto thy conscience All men are sinners by propagation that 's originall and by imitation that 's actuall and this is as true that every one doth best know his own sinne and is lesse privy to other mens sins wherfore the just man is the first accuser of himselfe for he presumeth as well of others as possibly he can and assumeth nothing to himselfe of all his goodnesse but freely consesseth that sinne is his owne for which he doth dayly aske pardon with the rest of Gods children as Forgive us our trespasses A Christian ought to bee that towards his Conscience which a cleanly huswife is in her house if shee see any filth in the floore or cobwebs in the walls or roofe shee takes the beasome in hand sweeps them out so ought wee still to have an eye on our Conscience and if there bee any thing offensive let us labour to remove it leaving nothing within which is not pleasing to God and comfortable to our selves then shall God delight to dwell in such a Conscience and wee shall delight to dwell at home in our selves the wicked because they have no care to keep cleane their Consciences when they returne home to themselves which is very seldome find all things out of order and unquiet which forth with makes them seek abroad for some outward comfort to forget the strife at home as they which are chidden out a doores by their curst wives these cannot abide to look on their owne faces but cast away the glasse which doth discover their deformity they are like bad debters which cannot abide to cast up their accounts and come to a reckoning whereas the good man findeth all his comfort laid up in his owne breast and hath there the light of cleare beames though all the world else be benighted Oh my soule if thy Conscience bee the Lords house how cleanly ought it to be kept above all other roomes if his temple how oughtest thon to perfume it with the sweet odours of holy thoughts meditations purposes resolutions and prayers the bells wherein should bee continuall thanksgivings to sound aloud the praises of thy God And this shall be thy warrant that doing as thou professest thou shalt bee still the more in love with thy profession Meditation 29. Consideration ALI the learned commend Contemplation Philosophers Divines but give me Consideration I find my selfe oft in danger for want not of knowledge but Conscience not of apprehension but reprehension I know that contemplation is a great help to consideration as much as wisedome is to prudence for that is an act of the one and this of the other and they are both compared one to the Sunne the other to the Moone one to the Well the other to the streame for prudence doth borrow her light from wisedome and her fruitfull streames issue from that fountaine yet like I better for my necessity the pipe which conveyeth the streame unto me then a conduit which holdeth the water whereof I have no use Contemplation is this conduit filled up from the well of wisedome but Consideration is the pipe by which prudence in a true levell doth bring this water home to my house use Contemplation is a beame of the understanding cast directly forth but Consideration a beame of the understanding turned and reflected on it selfe contemplation cleares my understanding Consideration orders my will Contemplation makes mee skilfull in the Theorick of goodnesse but Consideration perfect in the Practique of it Contemplation gives mee eies Consideration hands Contemplation stayeth it selfe within one bare proposition This God is good and here it beholdeth how many waies God is good of himselfe originally in himselfe effentially in his work in his word statutes judgments punishments corrections promises every way every where good yea when he suffereth us to bee evill but Consideration proceedeth farther to an application how this doth concerne himselfe that I ought to bee good and to seek that good which I want in him who is goodnesse it selfe and concludes with a resolution to use the meanes which may cause mee to be good Consideration is the exercise of conscience and reason mutually helping one another or a conscience grounded on reason which hath his owne light or is enlightned from above or is by teaching or by use and experience directed Consideration setteth before mee things past maketh mee provident for things to come and plucks mee by the eare not to neglect things present which it doth by comparing and matching all these together things past with things to come and conceiving a like forme in both doth by things already acted enter into a right course of action Contemplation hath generall grounds of truth from which many
I am bound to bee thankfull unto him in which I am to take comfort this is my duty to follow his calling to be obedient to his government herein standeth my eternall happinesse or bee it that I doe not beleeve or love God or live in his feare yet is not this in my power to amend or have I any just cause of excuse examine not Gods decrees by thine owne reason or those lawes of justice which wee are bound to observe feare his Majesty humble thy selfe before his presence seeke his mercy receive not grace in vaine there is no way to heaven but a holy life and hee that purposeth thou shouldest besaved doth call thee to faith and repentance If thou avoid the meanes to attaine unto either thou â—…est thy selfe out and art an â—…my to thine owne Soule if thâ—… come unto God he will not reject thee wherefore aske for grace that thou maist come without which thou shalt never come and it is necessary for thee to know this lest thou shouldest trust to nature and not seeke grace or despaire when thou seest thou canst not attaine unto it by thine owne strength Aske not how he is mercifull which saveth a few and condemneth many how he is just which by his will so bringeth it about that wee are all in the cause of damnation but beleeve it aske not why God doth not change the wills of wicked men with whom and in whom hee doth not cease to worke but reverence his decree whose judgments are just though unknowne But thou art much troubled and vexed to heare this doctrine and so are many others this trouble this vexation if thou belong to God shall turne to thy good for it shall so humble and cast thee downe that thou shalt wholly depend on God and give him his glory but if thou belong not to him thou shalt complaine and murmure more and more and be nothing the better nothing the neare for God will not cease to be God though wee beleeve not nor good though we be wicked But who will care to beleeve to amend his life to strive against sinne if it be not in us if without us God have disposed of us surely none of himselfe can or will they only doe whom God doth vouchsafe to enable The word of God which is his revealed and conditionall will is unto some the savor of life unto life and unto others the savor of death unto death to none the savor of life but to those that beleeve to none the savor of death but to those that beleeve not he will have all men to be saved if they will them selves and hee forsakes none but they that forsake him these things are for us to marke and observe yet to beleeve or not to beleeve to will salvation or to will it not doe depend upon a higher will whose law is unknowne to us wee must live by that which is revealed and adore that which is hidden from us so shall wee neither neglect our duty nor deprive God of his glory and majesty Meditation 5. Of Patience THere is none which can bee merry none rich none well friended none in authority none have ever good successe more safely then a Christian for in all these he useth a good conscience yet because such a streame of prosperity is dangerous to mans frailty hee is not to looke for his heaven here but elsewhere because he is now in triall not in triumph a pilgrim and not at home that many troubles must bee suffered either to purge him of vice or for his better exercise of vertue and both to Gods glory I see nothing more necessary for him then Patience a vertue which doth harden him to follow Christ willingly and quickly in bearing the Crosse and if wee consider our Saviours life wee may observe that he used no one vertue more then Patience not only in his Passion but in the whole course of his life which as it were nothing but a Passion throughout so was it but an exercise of his continuall patience wee must suffer many things of our adversaries which will oppose themselves to our vocation it is not in our power to put them by and take them quietly wee cannot without patience Yea which is worst of all God will seeme sometimes to be against us and taking from us inward consolation will leave us to sorrow and sadnesse of spirit as if we were forsaken these things befell unto our Lord who used Patience as the best remedy teaching us not only to beare his Crosse but how to beare it also till it shall please God to returne againe unto us with comfort Wee must have patience to beare great tentations as well as small and to beare them as long as it pleaseth God whether great or small great troubles will need great Patience and small troubles enduring long no small Patience Now the Christian is to be exercised grievously continually because God meanes to make him partaker of a great victory a great reward Faith is necessary for our entrance into the Church hope to nourish faith and love is the fruit of faith and briefe of all the Commandements see here the summe of divinity But without Patience wee cannot abide in the Church for being once offended wee shall lose them except we have Patience Why is it said Woe bee to him that hath lost patience belike it is the last losse If a Master of a Ship lose his Anchor or Maine-mast or a Saile those are great losses yet to be repaired but if it be said once he hath lost his Ship wee know hee hath lost all and perhaps himselfe too so if wee lose a time of Prayer or the exercise of reading and meditation an occasion of doing good if wee stagger in faith these are heavy losses indeed yet particular and recoverable but if it be said wee have lost Patience what meanes it but that wee have lost all and our selves too Wherefore well is it said Woe be unto him that hath lost Patience Patience is as it were the second concoction of all vertues and drawes from them whatsoever is for the strength and nourishment of a Christian life if this be weake in working our strength is small From faith Patience drawes confidence from Hope perseverance from Love cheerfulnesse They which are Saints in Heaven are said to have Palmes in their hands a resemblance of Patience by which they are victorious Patience is a remedy in those causes which nothing else can remedy Shew thy faith to the persecutor he will not suffer thee to enjoy it except thou wilt lose liberty goods friends and life what will become now of thy faith except thou have Patience shew thy charity to thine enemy hee will despise it hee will wrong thee still more and more what then will become of thy charity if thou have not Patience let it bee knowne that thou art an upright man the Devill will tempt thee outwardly and inwardly and what will become
past have not refused to be Shepheards and they which at this day doe rule in the State have this as no meane title of their authority to be stiled Shepheards of the people yea God himselfe doth vouchsafe to expresse the Government which he taketh over his people under the title of Shepheard and Christ Jesus our Lord who died for mankind is called the great Shepheard of our Soules And indeed the charge over a flock or people are much like wee in England have a great desire to deale on Sheep and it is one of the chiefest commodities in the Countrey they are so profitable their Wool is in great request at home and with strangers their bodies are good for meat or medicine yea their very excrement have their use they are gentle of nature not dangerous to be handled as other beasts which are armed to defend or offend howbeit in this doth not the resemblance hold so well but if you respect the weaknesse and necessities of Sheep it may notably expresse the care the faithfullnesse the diligence which God useth in governing his people God is desirous to rule his servants as a flock of Sheep not for any great profit he can make of them neither is it intended of him which needs it not or lookt for there where it cannot be had for though their bodies were of excellent imployment by creation yet what are they of themselves since Adams Fall but cages of uncleane Birds nests of sinne grievously tainted with a sicknesse that in Sheep makes carcasse and Wool unprofitable It is alone then for our profit that hee will have us under government the Laws which he makes are not for his owne good which is infinite goodnesse in himselfe but for ours neither the courses which wee undertake under his direction for his happinesse who is eternall happinesse himselfe but for ours True it is that he addeth unto his Law authority to make us the rather yeeld unto that which is for our benefit and from his authority doth proceed reward or punishment that wee may know hee commandeth not in vaine Moreover the government of men as they best know which know State matters is the men themselves being so variable full of discontent and malice above all Creatures if wee will count them tame because of reason wee shall find them wild and savage by evill course and custome of life notwithstanding God doth make them so his owne whom he rules as his flock that none shall be able to pull them out of his hands he will not lose one of the least of them he leaveth the ninety and nine to seek out the wandring and lost Sheep and when he hath found him layeth him on his shoulders with joy and returning home maketh merry with his Neighbours for the Sheep that was lost but is found he knoweth his Sheep and is known of them he will lay downe his life for his Sheep and will not forsake them he bringeth them into the sweet pastures of his holy Word and refresheth them with the coole Waters of his Spirit he hath a rod and a staffe the rod keeps in his Sheep and the staffe keeps out the Wolfe by all which it commeth to passe that no flock is in such state as his they have a comely order in their going forth a provident provision of needfull things and sure safety all about them happy is he that can say The Lord is my Shepheard he that is not of this fold is of the Devils wast Christ hath many promises of good to be done unto his flock and for his flockes sake it is he cannot abide the Wolfe of which one is no good Neigbour and the other a deadly enemy to Sheep I count him the Wolfe which is the knowne adversary and the Goat is the loose Christian the adversary hath a bloudy mind and the loose Christian is offensive by an ill life Meditation 13. Dulnesse of Spirit THere is no disease more dangerous to a religious Soule then dulnesse or heavinesse of Spirit which makes the ground of the heart so cold that the seed of grace lyeth for a time as it were dead and hath no growth it makes the Christian either fearfull or slow to doe good and layeth him open to tentations it ariseth from the corruption of nature which is froward increaseth by diseases and discontentments and groweth to a head by particular doubts and uncertainties it hath strange Symptomes even in those which have beene well schooled and trained up in Christianity it suggesteth and would perswade them well-neare that it is all as well with the godlesse as the godly that he is in as good cause that sweareth as he that feareth an oath that an upright conscience is but a ceremonious scrupulosity formality and complement may serve as well that the world is not so unworthy a thing as lightly to be set by and the joyes of Heaven belong rather to Angels then men it is offended at hearing or reading Gods word prayers good workes holy meetings and hath some exception against them all it will perswade thee in particular that God doth not regard or so much as respect thy service and close with thee this at last if thy calling bee so worthy as thou wouldst make it yet art thou unworthy of thy calling unfit and so farre from speeding in it that it were better for thee to doe any other thing or just nothing I know not whereunto I may better compare this disease then to that which in women yong with child they call Longing when the stomach stopt with ill humours the appetite is altered and the Patient importunately desireth strange meats so in this cause naturall inbred corruptions striving against grace and abounding within doe alter the godly appetite making Gods servant loath his ordinary diet and exercises as being uncomfortable unsavory and to affect strange things contrary to the health of the Soule They which travell by Sea when they see it once calme and on a sudden to dance and shake and know no cause why looke for a tempest shortly after so this dulnesse or heavinesse which is so unquiet and out of order goeth many times before some greater sinne let it be considered whether such a kind of dulnesse came not on David before his adultery and numbring the people on the Disciples before they forsooke their master and specially on Peter before he denied his Lord. I put a difference betweene this heavinesse or dulnesse of spirit and that hardnesse of heart deadnesse or benumming which is proper to the wicked in cause for that proceeds from customes and habits in sinne from wilfull stubbernesse this from the reliques of corruption yet abiding in Gods children in degree that is without sense or feeling Like a lethargy this hath some resistance and like the fit of an Ague in event that doth make them worse and in the end overcome them this the godly doe overcome and after grow the better advised The meanes to avoid
law had figures for the time of grace the law came by Moses so grace and truth is come unto us by Jesus Christ whose Gospell is Preached in all the world what divisions and strife are risen up about it as was foretold how many enemies hath it which with open force resist it how many false brethren which undermine it how many loose libertines which live under the shadow but will not be ruled by the power of it how doth faith waver and charity waxe cold the world sway and the Church suffer heresy prosper and truth pine If all the works of God hitherto have had their just course and time will he faile trow yee in the last act nay some part of this act is begunne already by the comming of Christ into the flesh for after this comming of him it is said He that beleeveth not in the Sonne of God is condemned already but the second comming of Christ shall be a full consummation Is he come in humility to suffer and save and will he not come in glory to put downe all his enemies I will not say oh foolish and slow of heart that were too mild for such mockers but oh hard hearted and desperate wretches who because they will not now beleeve the truth of a finall judgment shall hereafter feele the terror and punishment of eternall condemnation Meditation 36. Afflictions AFflictions are ever profitable to the godly but there are very few of such and it is commonly seene that men after a long and strong disease are much worse then before so that the fire of naughtinesse which for a while lay covered under the embers of their disease having gotten but a little vent breaketh forth the more forcibly and the floud of their corruption stopped for a while by the opposition of their paines having gotten some small passage doth recover his course with the greater violence It is very true that in our troubles wee can call our selves to account and pray to God with many vowes and promises of amendment but no sooner doth he remove his hand then wee start aside from our new resolutions and follow our old by as and how commeth this to passe because wee were brought unto it by constraint wee did complaine and cry but more for feeling of anguish and paine like beasts then any inward remorse or touch of conscience wee were not offended at our sinnes but wee are sorry for the losse of our health and liberty wee humble not our selves before the Lord but it is grievous unto us that his hand is heavy on us wee long not after the health of our soules but wee enquire after all meanes to remove the disease from our bodies therefore as soone as wee have our will satisfied in this respect and seele our strength returne wee get cut as men shut up long in Prison and forget all the good thoughts which came to us in extremity and as it fell out with the children of Israel that because they were neare the good land and might have entred into it by the conduct of God and would not therefore returned they back againe and their carcasses perished in the wildernesse so in this cause because wee were neare to amendment of life and might have beene partakers thereof through the mercy of God and would not therefore fall wee back to our old sinnes and in them wee perish A godly mind may thrive well in trouble but he that is not prepared before hand shall find little comfort in it the sunne which melteth the wax hardneth the clay spices when they are beaten smell the better but there are other things which never smell so ill as when they are most handled these sudden flashes terrify many but they enlighten none but such as live in the inward light Alas what an interest hath sinne in us when wee have once yeelded unto it wee beare not only the guilt of what is past but wee are ever after the more prone to doe the like againe So that there is no purgation so strong no Affliction of such force to cleanse us of it without the speciall gift of his heavenly grace which no sooner said but Lazarus comes forth Therefore are wee to look to our very beginnings and if wee have made any entrance to draw back with speed for sinnes of custome are like an old Gout which knowes no remedy yet despaire not at any time rather resist then give place if the tempter suggest unto thee the greatnesse of thy sinnes let it serve this way to make thee humble thy selfe more and to aske pardon if thou desire heartily to amend and commit thy cause to him which died for thee thy sinne cannot hurt thee for he which giveth the desire will bring it to effect but herein beware of hypocrisy if God point unto thee particularly by any Affliction take it as a medicine from thy heavenly Physitian for thy soules health and let it be more displeasing that thou hast offended God then that the crosse is offensive to thee seek the health of thy soule more then the removing of outward crosses and use all meanes to be such a one in health as thou didst desire to be in sicknesse in all Afflictions look not so much to the rod as to the â—miter who if thou take it patitiently doth correct thee in love if otherwise in anger and indignation Meditation 37. Humane society MAn is by nature sociable and framed thereunto by reason and speech whereunto he doth the more willingly apply himselfe though with some particular disadvantage because of the necessities of life which seeme to require Society for many commodities necessary to life are had in a Society not otherwise to be obtained this hath drawne men from wandring up and downe to certaine places of abode from dennes to houses from Woods to Townes and Cities from barbarous manners to civility and rather to commit themselves to the authority of an orderly government by Lawes for their safety then to languish in an idle and unprofitable loosnesse without the use of one anothers helpe and Society hence have beene erected so many States and Common-weales the glory of all ages But yet this Society how agreeable soever to mans nature doth not fully content it neither doth man find in man that which may satisfy his desire for man being made after the Image of his maker doth take more delight to see himselfe in the patterne of his first beauty then to see his owne face in the face of his brother and though he need not for this purpose the use of his eyes so much yet doth the soule more perfectly discourse and understand when it lifteth it selfe up to God then when it doth converse with man Againe the happinesse which wee are to receive in a humane Society doth proceed from the Society which wee must first seek for with God and from the duty wee owe unto him wee rightly learne how to frame ourselves in all inferiour duties