I think 't is probable their sufferings are not alwayes alike grievous nor yet their sins till then at the highest for though their executions be according to command yet their malice in the execution encreaseth their transgression and though they are now reserved in everlasting Chains under darknesse yet it is to the judgement of the last day when that everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels shall be ready for them 39 The Disciples might well marvell at that question of our Saviour Matth. 9.20 when he asketh Who touched me The people prest upon him and thronged him and he might rather ask Who touched him not than who did Alas those many thronged without consideration without design and as they prest without any purpose so to no purpose as without intention to be benefited so without benefit but the touching of Christ was a plot of the womans a project to be healed an act directed to that end for which cause the Scripture reports her healing not as casual but the result of her design and therefore records the discourse which she had with her own heart about it such touching of Christ had power to extract virtue from him and attract it to bring it out from him and bring it in to her whereas the other left him as it found him no diffusing of efficacy to those who were not prepared by any thought for it so great a difference is there between doing what we mind and not minding what we do the means of grace are seldome applyed to with design and desire of benefit that men are dismist altogether without what they came for but never marvel if those are sent away without any spiritual profit that came without any other design then to see and be seen 40 When our Lord in the storm is awaked by his Disciples Mark 4.38 they propose such a question as doth tacitely charg him with a neglect of their lives Master carest thou not that we perish I expected rather they would have minded him of his own danger than have complained that he minded not theirs for his jeopardy was greater being asleep and at least the same being embarqued with them in the same bottome But thus it often is with the servants of God in their distresses that they are apt to charge God foolishly and say of their sufferings as the wicked of their sins The Lord doth not see neither doth the holy One of Israel regard when as in all their afflictions he is afflicted and their griefs are his He hath entwisted their good with his interest and he that toucheth them toucheth the Apple of his eye then will the Lord be wanting to secure his own cause when he is careless whether those perish who uprightly serve him 41 When I read of the simplicity of John the Baptist I admire to hear that Herod feared him such a simple Fellow in such mean array with a Leather Girdle and Rayment of Camels hair poorly clad and meanly fed to be a terror to so great a Potentate if he had been in his Pontificalibus with his Cross-Keyes and Triple-Crown and the Thunderbolt of Excommunication in his hand he might have scared a Prince but saith the Text He knew him to be a just man and an holy What an honourable impression doth holiness fix upon the fore-heads of the righteous what an awe it begets in the greatest in the vilest even the very Rabshakehs while they scoffe they tremble That Image of God to which the Lion croucht when Adam was in innocency and the fierce Tiger did his homage where 't is renewed it makes the meanest honourable and brings to remembrance that God to whom the proudest must give up their accounts 42 John in the Revelation declareth his error in worshipping the Angel that shewed unto him those things Rev 19.10 We find him an impartial reporter against himself so great a fault set down without any the least extenuation not so much as a mistake pleaded the Angel indeed in his answer seems to imply that John thought him other than one of his fellow-servants but John himself calls him one of the seven Angels with the vials So free are the servants of God to take shame to themselves while others ransack far and neer to find out excuses to palliate their crimes or post them to others as Saul chargeth his sparing the spoils of Amaleck upon the people whose voyce he obeyed they are full and open in their confessions and ready to take that blame from which all would acquit them besides themselves they cry like David Lord I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these sheep what have they done But which is yet more we find John not long after faulty upon the very same account Rev 22.8 and it seems very probable if you compare Cap. 19. vers 10. with Cap. 21. vers 9. to the very same Angel he that had so clearly before discovered himself to be a fellow-servant and so seriously admonished him not to do it and so fairly directed him to the proper object of worship surely there is something in it that so holy a person as John so informed before hand and at the time of such divine Revelations should be set forth to us thus the second time failing but verily God foresaw what great idolatry there would be committed in the world by the worshipping of Saints and therefore by this action of Johns either fore-shewed it or presented a Caution against it a Caution indeed for how great an argument is it That Saints are not to be worshipped seeing they are but fellow-servants for can that Soveraign Lord endure that servants should be made his fellows or that fellow-servants should have such worship from their equals if not in present yet at least in future enjoyments 43 The Apostle Paul in that his reasoning the ease with his Corinthians 2 Cor 12.18 useth much of argument to excuse his not putting them to charges we might have expected rather something of Apology that he had been burdensome than that he had not but it is an ordinary Craft to charge the not requiring of those courtesies when the opportunity to do them are past as an unkindness which if requested when in their season would have been grumbled at but what cannot be reckoned as a down-right injury is yet imputed as a designe this not being burdensome as a crafty fetch to draw them in that they might be more securely and fully preyed upon afterwards by those whom he sent to gather his harvest after him as if Titus and the brother that came with him were appointed to do that which Paul would not so impossible is it for a Minister of the Gospel not to have been his good evil spoken of these very men that quarrelled with Paul because he put them not to charges were contented the false Apostles should bring them into bondage devoure them take of them buffet them on the face The vile exorbitants of lewd Teachers are more favourably suffered than the pious endeavours of religious Pastors wherein the edification of their flock is meerly intended 44 In that Treatment which our Saviour gives the multitudes that followed him he seems very impolitick in drawing Disciples after him to professe That who will be his Disciple must hate father and mother wife and children houses and Lands must take up the Crosse and follow him To give such hard Almonds to such soft Teeth was this the way a Countrey person would have taken another course he would have feasted his neighbours with good cheer and have soaked their hearts with strong liquor to have molified their affections have made their minds plyable this had been a likely way to have done good to have brought them fairly on but our Lord likes no Cupboard Suitors not those who follow him for the Loaves his servants must meet with storms therefore he is for such as will stand to their tackling 't is seldom therefore but the Lord quickly tryes what mettal they are of Those that draw Disciples after them they number their followers by the poll but our Lord as Gideon with his Army sends thousands away that are base and faint-hearted wherefore they are often alarmed and it never is that Godliness is long prosperous that those who are approved may be made manifest and they that are otherwise may not be hid 45 We do not read that the men which owned the Colt were any of the followers of Jesus yet assoon as they were told by the Disciples which were sent That the Lord had need of him without further dispute they let him go an invincible argument with cōsiderate men what could there be replyed in such a case had it been equall to have denyed Might not that Soveraign Lord require for his own use who supplyes so much for ours may he not justly take any thing that gives all What a ready complyance is there in particular natures to that which is more universall The heavy water will shift its Region and from the low valleys spout over the lofty mountains to avoid a Vacuum and the massy Iron forgot its weight and swam like Cork at the command of the Prophet and shall not every creature deny its private interest to serve him upon whose influence the whole world depends and it were better ten thousand worlds should perish then he should be in the least a sufferer And shall we boggle to part from those vile lusts upon his account concerning which it may be askt What profit had yet in those things Well may those generous Heroes be memorized now and to eternity who were willing to be blotted out of Gods Book and be accursed from Christ rather than the eminent concernments of divine glory should be impaired could these thus freely sacrifice their Hecatombs when we make so dainty of our Turtle Doves and young Pigeons FINIS
every day weare out the strength of sin 25 William Wickham begging of King Edward the Bishoprick of Winchester was told by him It was not fit for him he being no learned man to which he answered That in recompence thereof if his Majesty pleased to bestow it he would make many learned men which he effected by erecting Winchester Colledge How many of those goods dedicated to the incouragement of the learned have since the dayes of Henry the Eighth fallen into illiterate mens hands 't were well if they had so much of Wickhams conscience as to reimburse some of them at least to those primitive pious ends 26 A certaine person of that Parliament wherein the Statute for the releife of the poor passed and a great indeavourer for the procuring of that Act coming down into the Countrey askt his Steward what the people said of that Statute who answered that he heard a labouring man say that whereas formerly he was wont to worke six dayes in the week now he would worke but four which abuse of that good provision so affected that pious Patriot that it drew teares from his eyes in abundance Lord thou hast made many provisions in thy Word for my supportation and comfort and hast promised in my necessities thy supply and protection but let not my presumption of help from thee cause my neglect of any of those meanes for my Spirituall or temporall preservation which thou hast injoyned 27 The Sea called Sargasso though four hundred miles from any land and so deep as no ground is to be found by sounding yet abounds with an herb called Sargasso like Samper so thick that a Ship without a strong Gale can hardly make her way Lord if temptation from without be never so far removed yet the corruption of my heart doth continually send forth the bitter fruits of evill thoughts so that good purposes find very difficult passage but blow thou with the fresh gales of thy Spirit that my resolutions to serve thee may have a free course notwithstanding 28 A certain person pretending himself borne blind and cured of that defect by visiting the shrine of Saint Albon with great concourse of people admiring the Saint and praising his faith was brought before Humphrey called the good Duke of Glocester being at that place the very day of the cure who seeming to desire satisfaction on the perfectnesse of the cure askt the man What colour his gown was of he answered Purple and in that rightly and so of the colour of any other thing of which he was askt where by he discovered his own hypocrisie for said the Duke If the Saint hath given you your sight he hath not withall given you the knowledge of colours which is not attained but by experience Lord thou hast wrought a cure upon the eyes of my mind by enlightning them with thy truth but let me not render thy cure suspected by undertaking to discerne those Mysteries which are onely to be knowne by experience in heaven 29 Sir Edwin Sandys reporteth upon his own knowledge of devout Papists who have dared to perjure themselves in judgement presuming upon the present and easie remedy of confession Lord thou hast in thy Word discovered repentance and faith in the Bloud of thy Son as the meanes of blotting out of the sins of my soule and how apt is my heart to take liberty to sin with purpose of applying this remedy against the evill consequences of it but let me not so trample under my feet the Bloud of thy Covenant as an unholy thing but keepe me that such presumption may not prevaile over me 30 Upon the Coast of Norway the ayre is so subtilly peircing that it insensibly benums the members chills the bloud and brings certain death if not with speed prevented as our King James had experience when there he was a Royall Suiter to Queen Anne The ayre of ill company with a pestilent contagion doth seize the heart if not with a diligent and constant resistancy repelled Lord I would not willingly be where such a breath rageth lest like Joseph I learne to sweare by the Life of Pharoah but if by thy providence I am cast into such company let me be like Salt to season them and not be leavened by them 31 In the King of Persia's Court there was an allowance of severall Countries for the maintenance of his wives apparell one Countrey for the tire of their heads another for their necks and other for other parts of their bodies The English nation wants little now of being at that passe for if a Gentleman have twenty Farmes how many of them must be parcelled out for his wife one of them unlesse of good revenue not sufficing to furnish her with laced shooes and other tingling ornaments belonging to them And truly this vanity hath so far prevailed on both sexes that it starved the poore and driven all good hospitallity out of doores 32 Malhamut the King of Cambaia accustomed himself so to the eating of poyson that his breath was venomous to those that spake with him and those women which he used for his lust were never the subjects of a second dalliance but dyed in the congression Those that accustome themselves to sin their very company is contagious but a strict familiarity with them cannot be had without the greatest danger 33 Bajazet the great Turke being in his March against Tamerlane overheard a Shepherd sweetly tuning his Oaten pipe to whom he said Happy thou that art not distracted with these solicitous and weighty cares We oft admire the peace and contentedness of the meane estate but are more in love with the pomps and vanities of the wealthier like Alexander who said Vellem Diogenes esse si Alexander non essem 34 Apelles coming to the house of Protogenes and not finding him at home was by the servant required his name that he might tell his Master who was there to speake with him in answer to whom he askt for a pencill and therewith drew a line on a tablet there standing and bid him shew that to his Master when he came home at sight whereof by the Art exprest therein Protogenes knew none but Apelles hand did it Lord the impulses of thy Spirit of Satan and my own corruption make their accesses to my heart but without a name by which they may be knowne whose they be but if the lines drawne on the tablet of my heart be holy regular and conformable to the rules of thy Word I know then 't is thy hand that did it but if they impresse other Characters let them be disdained as none of thine and the doore shut against them as those that are minded to destroy 35 The Romane State never met with such disasterous fortune as when assailed at their own doores The Gaules and Hanniball afterward Warring upon them in Italy bringing their Common-wealth almost to an utter expiration because in forraigne Wars they fought much with Auxilliary strength beside their own
Successor Thus we daily see a greater disgust because of some petty differences in circumstantials where yet there is agreement in the vital part of fundamental truth and holy living then because of those notorious profanesses which unchristian a man and make him as an Heathen man and a Publican 191 A Crocodile out of the River Niger drew in with ihs tail nine slaves chained together and devoured them but the Chain not being digestible proved his destruction being found in him dead Lord at how great sins dare this heart of mine venture and at how long a train as the Ox drinketh down water in huge quantity and with great delight but there is a Chain of guilt with it surely deadly that can neither be vomited nor vented this makes me cry My bowels my bowels I am pained at my very heart but the comfort is there is Balm in Gilead and a Physitian there 192 At the siege of Rochel a certain Souldier from the walls observing the Duke of Anjou afterwards Henry the 3d. to stand viewing the Fortifications fired at him which one of the Esquires of his body perceiving in the very moment stept before him and saved the life of his Lord by the losse of his own Lord the arrows of thy vengeance are levelled at the Caul of my heart and it is justice that they should smite me under the fifth rib but let that Jesus who saves his people from their sins call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a middle person step between Let the chastisement of my peace be upon him and by his stripes let me be healed 193 Marcellus at the taking of Syracusa being greatly desirous to save the life of Archimedes gave strait charg through his army That every person should endeavour his safety but a Souldier breaking in upon him at his study not knowing him slew him How much better is it to be one of those marked out by him with the writers Ink-horn by his side how much greater security in being one of those who sigh and cry for the abominations done in the midst of the City how much more certain safety had Jeremiah Baruch and Ebedmelech when Jerusalem was stormed by Nebuchadnezzar being those to whom God had promised their lives for a prey 194 Fabius Maximus dying suddenly the day before the end of his Consulship Rebius sued to be Consull for the few hours of that year which remained Lord how short hast thou made our lives if compared with the Crow or Stag and how much shorter are they made by many crosse accidents and how much shorter doe we make them by our many intemperances and how much shorter yet are they made by thy just judgement when for our presumption and carelesness in thy worship we are sick and weak and some fall asleep and yet how fond are we of this little remnant that we often hazard an immortal soul for it But Oh do thou direct my aims to that which admits of no termination as to extent of time or enjoyment 195 Some Roman Souldiers flying from Amida when taken by the Persians wandred in the deserts almost choaked with thirst till they came to a deep well whence yet they had nothing to draw the water with till necessity found out this invention They pull'd off their shirts and cut them out into long slips which they tyed together making a bunch at the end by which through a manifold repetition squeezing the hunch they drew up water enough to quench their thirst When we come to the word to draw water out of the wells of salvation we are unfurnished of Pitchers for that purpose our ears are dull of hearing our hearts fat and hard to understand here a little and there a little a frequent repetition must be often applicatious for of much we carry away but a very little our judgements but a little informed our affections but a little rectified or elevated Alas alas they that think rare attendances wil serve the turn or that they shall be told but what they know manifest that they are not sensible of their own dullnesse nor consider that the Apostle Peter thought it meet to put those often in remembrance who knew those things and were established in the present truth 199 A certain person that had sold a street of houses and laid out the money in costly apparrel came to Court and being in a prease there cryed to them To make way for one that had an hundred Tenements on his back Lord thou hast said That thou art pressed under our sins as a Cart is pressed under sheaves and the burden of our iniquity brings down from thee a burden of punishment yet is the weight of sin fo far from being grievous that instead of lamenting the pressure we boast of the number but if we are not weary and heavy laden with the sense of our transgressions now they will at that day press us down into the lowest hell 200 Neer the Lake Agnano there is a Cave into which for the experience of Travellers the neighbouring Inhabitants are wont to put their Dogs which are no sooner in but they are as dead immediately with eyes set and tongues hanging out but taken thence presently and thrown into the Lake they recover for which cause those Dogs no sooner see a stranger coming but if not timely prevented away they get them packing to the adjoyning mountains not to be got again to make a new experiment Lord thou saidst In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death and we never descend into acts of iniquity but we are afresh dead in trespasses and sins and that irrecoverably if not washed by faith and repentance in the fountain opened for sin and for uncleannesse but if we have so escaped when temptation again presents it self shall we not get us packing by no means to be brought to another tryall 200 Cleopatra the wife of Cyricoenus having taken Sanctuary at Antioch after her husbands overthrow her Sister Gryphina the wife of Gryphus most importunately solicited her death and though Gryphus much perswaded her desivery yet she her self commanded the Souldiers in to dispatch her but a few dayes after the same Gryphina falling into the hands of Cyricoenus was by him made a sacrifice to his Wives Ghost They are not our times alone that by their mutability have taught men that great lesson of moderation all ages have witnessed That the Lord is at hand a just Judge to execute vengeance on those who have not by their miseration to others shewed their sense that they also are in the body even those whom God sent out to be his Executioners he hath afterward plagued because they did their work without pitty OCCASIONALL Observations 1 IN that emendation as 't is thought to be of the English Tongue by the addition of forreign words of divers Languages though possibly we may speak more finely yet not which is the end of speech more significantly but alwayes more laborioufly few
If vile and revengeful thoughts get room once in our hearts unlesse they be mortified with much contrition and holy sorrow they will shew themselves in sad effects notwithstanding all the bars that nature or reasn can lay upon them 71 I saw a Land-skip having Mountains and Trees and Castles and Groves which though particularly expressing that variety in a Landskip requisite yet those several things were so joyntly placed that together they represented a mans head Gods dealings with his people have such various aspects that they seem nothing lesse then to promote their benefit and appear nothing different from the distractions and confusions which befall other men yet are they by the divine providence so disposed that according to the Apostle they do co-operate to effect their good 72 I rode by a field which was very good ground but yet bear a pittyful crop not but that the Land was in very good heart and fit for an ample production but the husbandman presuming upon its strength had been wanting to give it that tillage as was requisite How many by too much confidence have miscarryed through presumption of their abilities ingaging in divine affairs with so cold preparation that they have come off poorly without that answer upon their spirits that might have been otherwise expected 73 I saw a vessel of water upon the ground and I observed it spread its self to every part to the searching of every cranny and filling of every crevice The new-birth is said to be by the water and the spirit the spirit in that birth being as water not only that it cleanseth the soul but that it diffuseth it self universally leaving not any part unsearched not any lust unmortified but ingaging the soul to cleanse from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit and perfecting holinesse in the fear of God 74 I had a Lamb whose Dam forsook it assoon as it was yeaned they brought it home and suckled it upon one of the Cows which in a few dayes grew as fond of it as of her own Calfe the Lamb grew up and applyed her self wholly to the Kine bleating after them if at any time she mist them and by no means associating her self with the sheep her natural companions When God made a Covenant with Abraham and his Seed he gives this as a reason Because he knew Abraham that he would teach his children and his household after him to keep the Commandements of the Lord Good education having so great an influence that it generally engageth men to a profession sometimes so introduceth grace that the time when conversion hath been wrought is not discovered and we may impute it somewhat to this cause that we find a series of religious persons in Davids family and some others Good cause to be perswaded that the faith which dwelt in the Grandmother Lais and Mother Eunice would be in the son Timothy also when from a child he had known the holy Scriptures 75 The beams of the Sun as they are scattered at large do not much heat when at the same time contracted in a burning-glasse they inflame combustible matter fitly placed The beams of Gospel light as they are diffused in publick preaching much affect not but if gathered together by recollection and applyed by serious consideration then is the soul like to take the holy fire of divine grace at them 76 I rode by a Garden where I saw store of grasse growing in the walks and other plants heaped one upon another in disorder which had a most ungratefull sight in that place which yet did not much amiss in the adjoyning field Those that have given their names to God they are his Garden and disorderly lusts raging there are much more provoking the eyes of divine glory then in those who are professedly profane the man without a wedding garment might have scap't at least without so severe an Animadversion if he had not intruded to that nuptiall feast 77 I had a Clove-Gilliflower of a very good sort which being set in a cold ground and not that care had of it that should have been the first and second years it bear Cloves but the third year only single white ones If the heart be planted with the generous purposes and the most noble resolutions yet will there be a forsaking of the first love and a degenerating into low and carnall complyances where there is not a constant culturage exercised and care had to keep up the bent of the soul and actuate grace for if the last things be not better then the first the latter end will be worse than the beginning 78 I saw two parcels of Cattel turned into one Close of ground where at their first meeting they shewed their distinction by their separation and hostility but after they had so entred common for a few dayes their opposition ceased and they mingled one with another without any difference There is nothing preserveth Faction like Separation a community in priviledges and preferments dissolves those distinctions and animosities which would have been still kept a foot by a diverse aspect The Pope in that great defection from him renewed in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth when he saw there was no likelihood of a present return yet kept his faction on foot by that Bull forbidding them any community with the Protestants in worship whereby that party was kept visible and entire which otherwise would have mouldred away and have been swallowed up of that which was more prevalent and they were preserved as Recusants that would have been lost as Papists 79 A Landskip having the particulars so disposed of as that together they represented a mans head being shew'd to many none apprehended it other then a Landskip as it seemed to be but being told that it was a mans head and seeing the reason of the representation and their fancy possest with it they could not apprehend it as any other When men unacquainted with the mystery of Godlinesse are conversant in the externall worship of God they are intent only upon the opus operatum and are taken up meerly with the outward performance but when the vail is taken off their hearts they then perceive there is a further design ordinances being so disposed by the divine grace that the result of them may be the inward man and the dedication of the affections of the heart to God 80 Being ingaged in a long and difficult employment and considering how much was yet to do I grew faint and half resolved to desert it but looking back and finding how many leaves were dispatched I took courage and resolved not to end till I had ended In my progress heavenward when I look forward and view those Legions of lusts from within to be fought with beside those oppositions from without which emerg daily and the many difficulties which on every side make that way strait I am even at a stand but when I turn mine eyes and behold how much the grace of God hath
the difference between esse and existere that yet are to seek in that great question what they shall do to be saved 95 Marcus Livius Governour of Tarentum for the Romanes when Hanniball tooke it kept the Castle till the City was recovered againe by Fabius who then envying the honour done to Fabius for that exploit said in open Senate that It was not Fabius but himselfe that was the cause Tarentum was taken againe Truth saith Fabius for if thou hadst not lost it I had not won it When man was at first created Liberum arbitrium was made Governour of that estate of innocency but Freewill quickly lost it onely some inconsiderable remnants of naturall light reserved now when glory is given to Christ for mans restoration Freewill steps up and boasts its selfe the cause of mans recovery but no otherwise certainly then that man had not needed to be restored if Freewill had not undone him first 96 Arostotle being sick his Physitians intending applications to him said That he desired to be cured not as a Farrier doth an Horse but as a man capable of an account of the way of the cure that apprehending the reason of those receipts he might the better comply with the distastfullness of those potions which should be received Well were it if in those cures which State Physicians have applyed in Religious causes they would not have dealt altogether by Club Law as if onely bruites had been their Patients but have done us the favour to let us see the reason of the cure that what we could not take as toothsome we might yet as wholsome 97 A certaine wealthy Matron having promised a young man to make him her Heire dyed leaving him inscribed in her Testament who providing a sumptuous funerall for her interment she in the very time of the solemnity being the seaventh day revived and lived divers yeares after to the tedious prorogation of his hopes whence arose that Proverb Mulieri ne credas ne mortuae quidem Lord how often have I been perswaded that this old man had been mortified but yet to the sadding of my heart I find it contrary to expectation revived Lord let not my hopes be disappointed though they be thus delayed and if this body of death do not die suddenly yet let it at last dye utterly 98 Vraba in Peru is of so rich a soile that the seed of Cucumbers and Melons sowne will beare ripe fruits in twenty eight dayes after How happy were it if such were the soile of my heart wherein the immorrall feed of the Word might produce its fruits with the like earlinesse fertility and plenty But alas how hinderly do all good purposes appeare how short of expectation of the time how long shall I be with you how long suffer you 99 Those Countries which are seated under the Line have then their Winter when the Suu is neerest them being then continually vexed with raines and stormes When the Sun of prosperity shines on men most 't is usually Winter in their hearts and the tempests of temptation rage most there then 100 The women in Brazill after their travell soone apply themselves to houshold affaires the husbands in their stead keeping their beds visited and comforted up with restorative broths So fareth it with those vagabond beggers who are well supplyed from doore to doore till they have full cheeks and toating Noses while the poore hous-keeper who is ashamed to beg lookes thin and faint the sweat of his browes being the bread of his family yet without our provision or pity 101 The Emperor Sigismunds Army in his expedition against the Turk were so elevated with confidence of their own number that they said if Heaven should fall they should be able to keep it off with their Halberts who yet were most of them miserably slaine by the Turkes and 't is observed that very few Armies have come off with victory that entred battell fledge upon the wings of selfe-confidence The Frech at Poictiers and Agincourt sold the prisoners before the day but found to their cost the Beare-skine was not to be divided before 't was taken Those that fight in that spirituall combate against sin Sathan and his instruments are then strongest against their enemies when they are weakest in themselves A faint hearted Saunders stands to his tackling in the fire when a confident Pendleton quits the field before any encounter In this warfare we are more then Conquerors but through him that hath loved us 102 William Gardiner who struck the Host out of the Cardinalls hand in Portugall when he had his right hand cut off took it up with his left and kissed it having his left cut off stooped down and kissed that also and being burnt afterwards by degrees rather roasted to death then burnt shew'd such magnanimity as was exceedingly admirable Thomas Benbridge suffering for the Gospell in Queene Maries daies when the fire seiz'd on him not being able to indure the smart thereof cryed I recant and so was taken out of the fire but afterward repenting his fact was the seaventh day after burned with much Christian constancy enduring the torment which through the ill making of the fire was very great God glorifies himselfe not onely in the courage but in the infirmity of his servants Gardiners resolution gave not more evidence to the truth then Benbridg's weaknesse questionably whether so much for Benbridg's soft nature shew'd that it abhorred torment and would faine have escaped the violence of fire but the evidence of truth was so much upon his spirit that seeing the deare things of the flesh and the concernments of the soule could not be joyned the flesh was necessitated though unwillingly to the terriblenesse of torment rather then the soule should deny the clearnesse of that light which shined into it 103 Galba lived in the Reigne of five Emperours in credit and fortunate under all of them but when Emperour himselfe quickly ruined and slaine happier under others Government then his own There is nothing to which the heart of man even in infancy shews more disgust then subjection to anothers Government That naturall jurisdiction that one man hath over another to advise and reprove is not without much reluctancy submitted to by any even then when the conscience witnesseth the debt of obedience to God the heart secretly wisheth the cancelling of that Bond and that there were no such superiority in God Yet what creature needeth so much Government as man other creatures conforme to those rules nature hath enjoyned Man is above all other exorbitant and never more happy then when most confin'd 104 The Chariot Horses of Claudius Caesar which he sent to the Circensan Games at the first starting threw their driver yet performed their course and won the Prize Those that are of meane parts and much exercise are able to do more when engaged then they of greater abilities and leste use 105 The Earle of Wiltshire sent Embassador with some others by
speaking to us in the Scriptures which is better 151 The Embassadors of the French King charging the Earle of Charalois in bitter termes with a confederacy with the Duke of Britaine the Earle many times intreating his Fathr Philip that he would give him leave to speak for himselfe the old Duke in the end said I have already answered for thee as me-thinketh a Father should answer for his Son but if thou hast a mind to speak thy selfe bethink thy selfe to day and speak to morrow and spare not The words which we are to speake to captious greatnesse need much premeditation that they may admit of no exception But Lord there is not a word in our mouthes which is not written in thy Book for which we must nor give an account to thy justice But Oh that therefore I were so wary as to set a watch before the door of my mouth that I offend not with my tongue 152 Two brothers travelling upon the road fell in discourse of a woman known to them both which one of them praised as very handsome the other thought her faire but not so faire which difference in Judgment though nothing pertinent to either yet grew to that passe as that they fell together by the ears and had slaine one the other if not accidentally parted How many different opinions are there among us Brethren of the same Religion as to fundamentalls so far from being necessary to Salvation that it is questionable whether they be any thing pertinent which yet we are so hot about that nothing but bloud will part us when the things for which we have quarelled would pose a good invention to tell you what tendency they have to the edifying of the Body of Christ 153 The Leigeors having broken the peace made with the Duke of Burgundy for performance of which they had given 300 Hostages it was debated in the Dukes Counsell what should be done with the Hostages The Lord of Contay advised to kill them all a person of great wisdome and moderation and never before observed to speak so cruelly How uncharitable is it to censure any man for one Act committed when a sudden passion or acrimonious humor may bias the mind quite beyond its accustomed tenor 154 Of those Hostages which they of Leige had given to the Duke of Burgundy for the performance of their Covenants with him upon their breach of which he sent home unharmed the greatest number proved unthankfull and tooke Arms against the Duke but five or six of them were so mindfull of the benefit they had received that by their meanes he entered Leige an enterprize so eminent that a servant of the Duke said he durst hardly have craved of Gods hands so great successe Excellent is it to do good and to communicate for though the subjects of our benefaction may many as in a Lottery prove blankes yet we may many times meet such a prize as may make ample amends 155 The City of Venice begetteth wonder in the beholders in this chiefly to see so many stately and magnificent structures lifting up their towring heads as if like the Poets Venus they had been begotten of the Seas foame and in that place ejected or else seated there by as great a miracle as that Faith should worke which should say to that mountaine be thou removed and set in the midst of the Sea The excellent and glorious vertues of the servants of God deserve our view and imitation but this makes them works of wonder that they have their seat in such hearts as are not unlikely onely but having in some respe4ct an impossibility to such productions 156 Ericthonius being lame in his feet first invented the Chariot to hide that imperfection and Pericles being long headed was therefore alwayes represented with an Helmet and our Queen Anne covered the Wen in her neck with a Ruff which she first brought in fashion How do we wish that the deformities of our bodies never were or might ever be hid a crooked leg or gibbous shoulder how it troubles us which yet if concealed can never be rectified but happy we if we were as sensible of the deformities of our souls for the remedying of which crookednesses the holy Spirit hath given us such strait rules to comply with 157 Ravillak that murthered Henry the fourth of France ☞ though in his execution he suffered most exquisite torments yet was observed never so much as once to name the name of God or any other way make shew of repentance Who would put off repentance to a dying bed in confidence to have it then at our call when sicknesse with the very presentations of death its selfe leaves that heart unmollified which custome in sin hath hardened 158 Alibiades went to one of his friends houses that had a great feast and bad one of his servants take away halfe the Plate that stood on the Cupboard wherewith the guests incensed said It was a bold and injurious part nay saith the Master very favourable hath he dealt with us that he hath left us any when he might have taken all Lord when thou cuttest off our suprfluities we are ready to repine that thou dealest hardly with us but what cause have we rather to acknowledge thy clemency and goodnesse that mayest take all and yet leavest us any thing that can claime nought 159 Fabius Maximus rode on horseback to his Son being Consull then disparching affairs of State in the Market place which the Son seeing senr an officer to command his Father to alight and come on foote if he had any thing to say to the Consull While all wonder at the unhandsomnesse of this Command the Father alights and hasting to his Son imbracing him applauds his magnanimity that he had preferred the honour and interest of the Common-wealth before that of a Father Lord thine is the Soveraigne interest of the world and happy we if the sense of that lye so much upon our hearts as that whatsoever is deare and precious to us else be made to vail Bonnet to thy concernments 160 A Lacedemonian having lost his Son and being reproved as indulging his sorrow in that he wept for him answered I am not so much to be reprehended Natura enim me flebilem fecit Lord if we much lament the losse of our deare relations let it not be the effect of our impatience but the issue of our affection 161 Dionisius being expelled Sicilia and banished to Corinth was asked What good the doctrine of Plate had done him who replyed To beare this adversity patiently Lord if the times any when should prove so disasterous as to prevent the more favourable effects of thy truth as instead of that love and veneration it should beget to render the professors of it the subjects of persecution yet let us never be disappointed of this fruit that we know how in patience to possesse our souls 162 Alexander being at Troy one offers to shew him Paris his Harpe I marry said
others affectionatly ministred to him and suffered Martyrdome for the truth with him 'T is an huge argument of a gracious heart to submit to reproof many that have been active for Christ have yet fallen off upon such an account Abner that more than once and more than any ventured his life for the house of Saul yet deserted it being checkâ— by Ishbosheth concerning Rispah 172 Vitellius in his passage to Rome after the victory obtained by Caecinua and Valens against the Othonians would needs see the place where the battel was fought which if but newly stricken yet would have rendred an horrid Spectacle so many mangled bodyes and divided joynts and carkasses of men and horses which careless death had there promiscuously scattered giving a sad representation but it being the fourtieth day after the corrupted gore and putrefaction of so many unburied bodyes made the sight beyond imagination horrible which yet Vitellius with delight beheld rejoycing in the slaughter of so many Citizens without the least discountenance or shew of miseration To how great hardness of heart and height of inhumanity doth custome in sin bring the soul what would be trembled at by those that are but beginners in iniquity is accounted sport by those flesht in ungodliness Let the young men arise and play before us said Joab Rare sport where the play-mates run their swords in each others side and fell down dead together 173 A certain person of our Countrey having a suit with another a long time for a small plot of ground not worth 40 pounds left by Will 500 pounds per annum for the maintenance of the suit after his death Oh the imperfection of our Laws or corruption of our Lawyers that any suit can admit of so tedious and costly a decision but alas did he look for peace in Heaven that would have a Civil war thus survive him 174 Alcibiades having done huge exploits for which the Athenians call'd him from bannishment and made him their General sending him out with a Fleet of an 100 sail they were so high-flown in their expectations from him that they looked to hear soon after his departure of the subduing of no small Countryes by him beyond all possibility of accomplishing which he not effecting but yet as much as in reason could be expected they change their former conceit of his sufficiency into suspicion of his fidelity and without more evidence condemned him Lord we are high in our expectations of great things from thee and are ready to murmur as if too straitly dealt with by thee not because thou givest us not what we have cause to expect but because we expect that which there is no cause thou shouldst give us 175 Harvey affirms the heart though the fountain of life yet to be without feeling which he proves by a Gentleman he had seen who by an Imposthume had an hole in his side through which not only the Systole and Diastole of the heart might be discerned but the heart it self touched with the finger which yet the Gentleman affirmed that he felt not 'T is an argument that such a soul is of eminent and publique conducement usefull to derive good to others that is less sensible of private injuries when those peevish spirits that are intent upon their particular affronts are taken up with their own to the neglecting of what they might benefit the publick by 176 In the reign of Nero there were very many undone not by their enemies only but by their friends who too solicitously intending their safety that very means rendred them suspected and became their ruine If Satan cannot destroy us as an enemy he indeavours it as a friend if he cannot fasten his remptations upon us under the notion of sin and the ugly hue of a direct opposition against God he alters his method and transformeth himself into an Angel of Light if he cannot perswade to a neglect of Gods service then to a superstitious worship of him he is like an enemy when he fawns and frowns and is ever not to be suspected only but resisted alwayes for he is ever the father of lyes 177 King Edward the second being taken by the Queens forces was committed to some persons to convey him to a place of safety who going about to shave him that he might not be known took cold water out of a ditch to wash him with saying That should serve his turn now to whom he answered That he would have warm water whether they would or no even his own tears Though the cruelty of enemies and calamity of persecuting times may deny us the many conveniences and deprive us of the advantages of this life yet do what they can they cannot deprive us of Gods favour if we deprive not our selves of it by a simple complyance 178 'T is siad of the Lyon that being proveked he beats himself with his own tail to raise his anger and incense himself that his spirits being stirred he might lay out himself more forcibly Those that are of melancholy and froward spirits when disasters befall them either by their too much poring on their present sufferings or misboding worse make those burdens heavier and like wind in rainy weather set them close and tye knots upon their Whipcord and pin their Rods to make them yerk the more severely 179 Richard the first being reproved by a Fryar and told That he had three Daughters which if he did not dispose of would undoe him Pride Covetousnesse and Leachery he answered If the were the businesse he would bestow them presently Pride to the Knights Tempplars Covetousnesse to the Cistercian Monks and Leachery to the Fryars Whe good advice is given us we enervate the strength thereof or pervert the use by quarrelling with or recriminating the person that gives it whereas if good counsel come from a Balaams Asse or the Devil himself reprove sin if the Conscience plead guilty reformation is a due debt 180 Demosthenes coming to Corinth with design to enjoy the famous Courtizan Lais she askt him so great a sum that he returned saying He would not buy repentance at so dear a rate Sinfull pleasure is never to be purchased at easie tearms sin being so full of iniquity that it never demands an equall compensation no less then a precious immortall soul will serve the turn in lieu of those pleasures which perish in the using and are no sooner found then lost 181 Edward the first before the death of his father with other Confederates undertaking a voyage to the Holy Land by the way they invaded Tunis where having taken a very great spoyl the rest purposed with their booty to return home which design the Prince withstanding but in vain said That as he had vowed a journey for the recovery of the Holy land so thither he would go though none but Fowen his Horse-keeper accompanied him It is good to have the heart in such tune as to joyn in concord with others in a religious
making an Oration to the people of Athens which was generally by them applauded said to a friend that stood by What unhandsomess hath slipt from me that this evil people so much approve of 45 Reading of a Book which treated of horseman-ship I found this Tetrastick If a Colt have four white feet keep him not a day If he have three white feet put him soon away If he have two white feet send him to thy friend If he have one white foot keep him to his lives end I could not devise the reason why the odds of white should be so great odds in the choice or what a black or white foot should conduce to the goodnesse of the horse but sometime after I had a gelding an able horse indeed but for that cause only not approved because he had three white feet for the white foot before was much more brittle and hoof-bound and far lesse than the other that was black so that he was never hard travelled but he complained of it whence I concluded that whitenesse in the hoof did either cause or argue brittleness and other faults besides There is no such Doctor as experience how much is the doctrine of Assurance inveighed against as an inlet to licentiousness as if that soul must be bold to sin that had certainty to be saved whereas to the soul that hath had experience of this affair there is nothing then the contrary more manifest for that Spirit which seals the soul to the day of redemption seals it by the impression of its own holinesse upon it begetting thereby in it an opposition to sin so as that if there were no hell to fear yet sin would be resisted as that which is contrary to that holy principle and destructive to this new creature yea this Spirit acts the soul to God as its highest and chiefest good for which cause it presseth after him with all acts of duty and serviceablenesse whereby it may more enjoy him and dreads sin more than death as being that which separates it from his God whom he loves and prizeth above life it self 46 The heart of Oake grows from the top to the bottom of the Tree as appears when if the upper part of a young Oak be cut off there will be heart to be seen but at the lower end not any Our zeal for wayes of worship or ought else should have its original upwards beginning in conviction of the judgement from cleer and apparent evidence of truth whereas that which is not according to knowledg is like a mettal'd horse but head-strong or like strong purges in unskilfull hands rather likely to kill then cure 47 When I observe how many sparks of fire may be stricken out of a little shiver of a Flint I have been ready to think that a Paradoxical expression as cold as a stone and have wondered it should not burn ones fingers but I considered that fire is generated or manifested but by contrition by which yet other is extinguished There are many persons of such meek and calm tempers that you would think they had no fire for you shall not discover any heat but let them be opposed in matters of Religion or otherwise 't is like the rubbing of a dry stick till it inflame by that opposition they gather heat and shew more sire then could possibly be imagined 48 At a Sermon I saw a person so earnest to write it that he left his devotion before the prayer was done to provide tackling ready for the purpose but as though he had been a Clock wound up for one hour assoon as the glasse was out his fit was over though the discourse were continued a little longer and more pertinent and usefull then the former part The Apostle saith The Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets so as that they are not impulst into disorder and confusion and as that is a preposterous worship wherein one service leaps over the back of another so is that a pursy devotion the pulses whereof are numbred exactly with the sands of the glasse and they have a carnall Religion who think not dayes and nights too tedious at Cards or a Tavern but would have been sadly put to it had they been Pauls Auditors when he preacht till midnight 49 Two Merchant ships met at Sea with 16 sail of Turks men of war against whom though it were impossible to make such resistance as to come off yet they were resolved to sell their lives at a dear rate therefore with utmost height of courage they fought them for a while which the enemy seeing and observing their resolution such as that their prize would not equall their losse they drew off and left them In that contest which our souls have with our spiritual enemyes he that fights most resolved comes off best weak resistance incourageth the assault and he that parlyes is like Eve in Paradise more than half lost the surest way to overcome is to resist stedfastly in the faith 50 Some English Merchants being in Africk and hunting there the wild Bore they had one in chase and almost tyred him so that he manifestly gave out when a lesser but a fresh one was difloged from the adjoyning thickets and joyned himselfe with the former by whose company he was so animated that he assumed new courage and strength so that he escaped the hunters hands We read in Acts 2.42 That the new Converts continued in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship not so much to shew their complyance to Christian discipline as to be fortified with that consociation Mal. 3.16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another The People of God in their troubles are not a little animated by the assistancy of fellow-sufferers Paul when he saw the Brethren took courage Acts 28.18 51 I was in a place where a story was painted in the windows it was very rare and curious but me-thought the workmanship did not make amends for the harm it did in darkning the windows whose principall use is to give light There are many Ceremonies which have a fine appearance when they are used in divine worship but me-thinks they make not amends for the harm they do in distracting the mind from that inward intention so principally required in divine adoration having a tendency rather as a Noble person said of a great Ladyes singing Mattens that it heightned or destroyed he knew not whether all the hearers devotion to delight the carnall then raise the affections of the inward man 52 Looking upon a Spinster I observed that if the Flax be drawn out too fine it breaks and is uselesse if too grossely it is gouty and unhandsome but the mean as the strength of the Flax will bear is best to the sight and for use The handling of any subject too finely is seldome profitably and too rudely is tedious and disgustfull but as the strength of the subject will bear like Bird-lime at a due rate takes most and holds