into the court of heaven The third is the book of the Scripture according to the prescript rule whereof our faith and good works shall be judged The word that I have spoken saith our Saviour shall judge them at the last day The fourth book containeth in it the testimonies of the poore which in the day of judgement shall receive us into an everlasting habitation The fifth book contains the inward testimonie of the conscience For the conscience is the book in which all sinnes are written The conscience is a great volume in which all things are written by the finger of truth The damned cannot deny their sinnes at the day of judgement because they shall be convinced by the testimonie of their own consciences They cannot fly from the accusation of their sinnes because the tribunall of the conscience is within and at home A pure conscience is the most cleare glasse of the soul in which she beholds God and her self A filthy eye cannot behold the splendour of true light Hereupon saith our Saviour Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God As a beautifull and fair face is pleasing to the eye of man So a pure and cleare conscience is acceptable in the sight of God But the putrified conscience begets never-dying worms Let us therefore in the present have a sense and feeling of the worm of conscience and labour to destroy it But let us not foster it lest it live with us for ever All other books were invented to mend this book What doth much science profit if there be a foul conscience Thou shalt be judged hereafter before the throne of God not by the book of thy science but by the book of thy conscience If thou wilt write this book right indeed write it according to the copy of the book of life Christ is the book of life Let the profession of thy faith be conformed to the rule of Christs doctrine and let the course of thy life be conformed to the rule of Christs life Thy conscience shall be good if there be puritie in thy heart truth in thy tongue and honestie in thy actions Use thy conscience for a lanthorn in all thy actions For that will plainly shew unto thee what actions in thy life be good and what be evil Avoid that judgement of thy conscience in which one and the same shall be both defendant and plaintiffe witnesse judge tormentour prison scourge executioner and slaughterer What escape can there be there where it is the witnesse that accuseth and where nothing can be hid from him that judgeth What doth it profit thee if all men commend theâ—â— and thy conscience accuse thee What shall it hurt thee if all men detract from thee and thy conscience defend thee This judge is enough to accuse judge and condemne every man This judge is uncorrupt and cannot be moved with prayers or corrupted with rewards Whithersoever thou goest and wheresoever thou art thy conscience is alwayes with thee and carrieth about her whatsoever thou hast laid up in her whether it be good or evil She keeps for the living and restoreth to the dead that which was committed to her keeping So it is true that a mans enemies are they of his own houshold So in thine own house and amongst thine own family thou hast those that do observe accuse and torment thee What doth it profit thee to live in all abundance and plenty and to be tormented with the whip of conscience The fountain of mans felicitie and misery is in his minde What doth it profit a man in a burning fever to lie upon a bed of gold What doth it profit a man tâ—â—mented with the firebrands of an â—â—conscience to enjoy all outward felicitie As much as we regard everlasting salvation so much let us regard our conscience For if a good conscience be lost faith is lost and if faith be lost the grace of God is lost and if the grace of God be lost how can we hope for everlasting life As the testimony of thy conscience is such judgement mayest thou expect from Christ. Sinners shall become their own accusers though none accuse them or bring ought against them As the drunkard while he is overwhelmed with wine hath no sense of the hurt which he receiveth by the wine but when he hath slept out his drunken fit then he feels the hurt So sinne whiles it is in action doth blinde the minde and like a thick cloud doth obscure the brightnesse of true judgement But at length the conscience is roused and gnaweth more grievously then any accuser There are three judgements The judgement of the world the judgement of thy self and the judgement of God And as thou canst not escape the judgement of God So neither canst thou escape the judgement of thy self although sometimes thou mayest escape the judgement of the world No walls can hinder this witnesse from seeing all thy actions What excuse can save thee when thy conscience within doth accuse thee The peace of conscience is the beginning of everlasting life Thou mayest more truely and heartily rejoyce in the midst of troubles having a good conscience then thou canst in the midst of thy delights having an evil conscience Against the backbiting of all that bear thee ill will thou mayest confidently oppose the defence and excuse of thy conscience Enquire of thy self concerning thy self because thou knowest thy self farre better then any other man doth At the last judgement what will the false praises of others profit thee or the backbitings of others without a cause hurt thee By Gods and thine own judgement shalt thou either stand or fall Thou shalt not stand or fall by the testimonie of others The conscience is immortall as the soul is immortall And the punishments of hell shall torment the damned as long as the accusation of conscience shall endure No externall fire doth so afflict the bodie as this inward fire doth inflame the conscience The soul which is burned is eternall and the fire of the conscience is eternall No outward scourges are so grievous unto the bodie as these inward whips of conscience are unto the soul. Avoid therefore the guilt of sinne that so thou mayest avoid the torment of conscience By true repentance blot thy sinnes out of the book of thy conscience that they may not be read at the judgement and that thou mayest not be afraid of the voice of Gods sentence Mortifie the worm of conscience by the heat of devotion that it do not bite thee and so beget eternall horrour Extinguish this inward fire by thy teares that so thou mayest attain to the joyes of an heavenly cooler Grant O Lord that we may fight the good fight keeping faith and a good conscience that at length we may come safe and sound into our heavenly countrey Meditat. XXXIIII Of the study of true humilitie What is a
life and the words of eternall life The cup of benediction is the communion of the bloud of Christ and the bread which we break is the participation of the Lords bodie We cleave unto the Lord Therefore we are one Spirit with him We are united unto him not onely by the communion of nature but also by the participation of his bodie and bloud I do not therefore say with the Jews How can this man give us his flesh to eat But rather crie out How doth the Lord distribute unto us his flesh to eat and his bloud to drink I do not prie into his power but do admire his benevolence I do not examine his majestie but I reverence his goodnesse His presence I beleeve the manner of his presence I know not I am certainly assured that it is most neare and inward We are members of his body flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones He dwelleth in us and we in him My soul desireth to dive by cogitation into this most profound abysse but cannot finde with what words to set forth and declare that goodnesse and therefore is altogether amazed at the sight of the greatnesse of the grace of the Lord and the glory of the blessed Meditat. XIX Of the mysterie of the Lords Supper Be wise Do not to farre enquire 'To that thou rather shouldst admire IN the Lords holy Supper there is set before us a mysterie to be trembled at and to be adored of us by all means There is the treasure and treasurie of divine grace We know that there was a tree of life planted by God whose fruit might have conserved our first parents and their posteritie by the fertilitie and felicitie thereof There was also placed in paradise a tree of the knowledge of good and evil But even that which was appointed by God for their salvation and life and for an exercise of their obedience became unto them an occasion of death and condemnation whilest they poore wretches obeyed the devils allurements and their own desires Here also is prepared a tree of life that sweet wood whose leaves are for medicine and whose fruit for meat The sweetnesse thereof doth take away the bitternesse of all evils yea of death it self Unto the Israelites was given Manna that they might be fed with heavenly food Here is that true Manna which came down from heaven to give life unto the world This is the heavenly bread and the angelicall meat of which whosoever eateth shall never hunger The Israelites had the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat where they might heare the Lord speak face to face Here is the true ark of the covenant that is the most sacred bodie of Christ wherein the treasures of all science knowledge and wisdome are laid up Here is the true mercy-seat in the bloud of Christ which makes us to be beloved in the beloved neither doth he speak unto us onely by his inward consolation but also dwelleth in us neither doth he feed us onely with heavenly Manna but with himself Here is the gate of heaven indeed here is the angels ladder For can heaven be greater then he that is in heaven Can heaven be more nearly united unto God then the flesh and humane nature which he hath assumed Heaven indeed is the throne of God But in the humane nature assumed by Christ resteth the holy Spirit God is in heaven But in Christ dwelleth the fulnesse of the divinitie Certainly this is a great and infallible pledge of our salvation He had no greater thing to give unto us For what is greater then himself What is so closely united unto him as his humane nature which is assumed into the fellowship of the most blessed Trinitie and made the treasurie of all heavenly goods What is so nearly conjoyned unto him as flesh and bloud And yet with these most heavenly nourishments doth he refresh us miserable worms and make us partakers of his nature And shall not he then make us partakers of his grace Who ever hated his own flesh How can the Lord then despise us whom he feedeth with his own flesh and bloud How can he forget those unto whom he hath given the pledge of his own bodie How can Satan be able to overcome us seeing that we are fed with heavenly food that we faint not in battel We are deare unto Christ because he bought us at so deare a price We are deare unto Christ because he feeds us with such deare and precious things We are deare unto Christ because we are his flesh and members This is the onely Panacea of all spirituall diseases this is the medicine of immortalitie For what sinne is there so great that the sacred flesh of God cannot expiate What sinne is so great that the quickning flesh of Christ cannot heal What sinne so mortall that is not taken away by the death of the Sonne of God What fierie darts of the devil can be so deadly that they cannot be quenched in this fountain of divine grace What so great stain of the conscience that this bloud cannot purge The Lord was present to the Israelites in a cloud and in fire But here is no cloud but the sunne of righteousnesse the present light of our souls Here is not felt the fire of Gods fury but the heat of his love neither doth he depart from us but makes his mansion with us Our first parents were brought into paradise that most sweet and fragrant garden the type of eternall beatitude that being put in minde of Gods bountie they might perform due obedience unto their Creatour Behold Here is more then paradise in this place For the creature is filled with the flesh of the Creatour The penitent conscience is cleansed by the bloud of the Sonne of God By the body of Christ are nourished the members of Christ the head The faithfull soul is fed with divine and heavenly dainties The sacred flesh of God which the angels adore in the unitie of person which the archangels reverence at which the Powers do tremble and which the Vertues admire is our spirituall food Let the heavens rejoyce and let the earth be glad but much more the faithfull soul upon whom such and so great benefits are bestowed Meditat. XX. Of serious preparation before we come to the Lords Supper A wedding garment put thou on Or keep from this communion HEre is no common cheere nor the feast of some ordinarie king but here is the holy mysterie of the body and bloud of Christ to be handled of us Therefore a due preparation is required lest we finde death in stead of life and receive condemnation in stead of mercy How did that most holy Patriarch so famous for the strength of his faith how did he fear and tremble when the Sonne of God appeared unto him in the
grace and remission of my sinnes Thy creatures accuse me the book of my conscience accuseth me both the tables of thy divine law accuse me Satan accuseth me day and night But take thou upon thee my patronage O sweet Jesus To thee the poore man is left bereft of all solace of the creatures All my refuge is placed in thy satisfaction for my sinnes and in thy intercession at the right hand of the Father for me My soul take thou the wings of the morning and like a dove hide thy self in the clefts of the rock that is in the wounds of Christ thy Saviour Hide thy self in this rock till the anger of the Lord be passed by and thou shalt finde rest and thou shalt finde protection and thou shalt finde deliverance therein Amen PRAYER VIII He by the effects of contrition argues us to be convicted of the hainousnesse of sinne HOly God and just Judge My heart is contrite and humbled my spirit is heavy and in a great strait by reason of the burden of my sinnes wherewith I am oppressed The courage of my heart hath failed and the sharpnesse of my eyes is decayed My heart is pressed and from thence gush out tears My spirit is oppressed and I forget to take my bread My heart is wounded and from thence gusheth out bloud and a fountain of tears Who knows how oft he offendeth Who knows the sorrow of the heart that is in a great strait by reason of offences My soul is dry and broken in pieces and thirsteth after the fountain of life O Christ feed me with the dew of thy Spirit of grace My heart that is in a great strait sigheth unto thee O thou true joy give unto me peace and quietnesse of heart that being justified by faith I may have peace with God My heart condemneth me But do thou absolve me who art greater then my heart My conscience accuseth me But do thou absolve me who hast fastned to the crosse the hand-writing of my conscience I offer unto thee O my God my contrite and humbled heart for a most acceptable sacrifice I offer unto thee my sighs as the messengers of true and serious contrition I offer unto thee my tears as abundant witnesses of my unfeigned grief In my self I despair In thee is my trust In my self I faint In thee I am refreshed In my self I feel straitnesse In thee again I finde enlargement I am troubled and burdened overmuch Thou shalt refresh me and give rest unto my soul. One deep calleth upon another The deep of my misery calleth upon the deep of thy mercy Out of the deeps do I cry unto thee Cast thou my sinnes into the deep of the sea There is no soundâ—esse in my flesh by reason of thy anger neither is there any rest to my bones by reason of my sinne For mine iniquities are gone over my head and become too heavy for me Cure my soul thou heavenly Physician that I be not swallowed up of eternall death Take the burden of my sinnes from me thou that hast taken it upon thy self on the crosse that I despair not under the intolerable burden thereof Have mercy on me thou fountain of grace and mercy Amen PRAYER IX He declareth the number and greatnesse of Gods benefits unto us and the grievousnesse of our sinnes HOly God and just Judge By how much the more benefits thou hast bestowed upon me by so much the more I grieve that I have so often displeased thee so loving a Father As many gifts as thou hast heaped upon me so many bonds of love hast thou sent over unto me Thou wouldest have bound me unto thy self but I have forgotten thee and thy beneficencie and linked sinne unto sinne Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee I am not worthy to be called thy sonne make me as one of thy hired servants I am altogether displeased with my self Make thou me altogether to please thee Thy large bounty and wonderfull patience have often invited me to repentance But hitherto I have been backward to come Thou hast often called me O most bountifull God by the preaching of thy word by the teaching of thy creatures by the punishment of the crosse and by inward inspiration But I have stopped the eares of my heart altogether at thy call All the faculties of my soul all the members of my bodie are thy gifts I ought therefore with all the powers of my soul and parts of my bodie be ready to do thee all holy service which is due unto theâ— But I have made them the more is my grief the weapons of iniquitie and unrighteousnesse The breath which I fetch is thine the aire which I suck in is thine the sun whose light I see daily is thine All these ought to have been unto me as furtherances and instruments to sanctitie of life But I have abused them the more is my grief to the slavery of sin Thy creatures I should have used to the glory of thee the Creatour But I have wickedly abused them to thy dishonour In the light of the sunne I should have put on the armour of light But therein have I committed the works of darknesse How much soever is added unto my life comes all from thy bountie Therefore my whole life ought to be employed in thy service on whom it doth wholly depend And yet I have scarce bestowed the least part thereof in thy service As many good inspirations as I have felt within me so many hand-maids of thy grace hast thou sent as ambassadours to invite me mosâ— lovingly to return unto thee by true repentance But alas how often have I stubbornly refused to give them audience But yet receive him who now at length returns unto thee with sighing and a contrite heart Sprinkle me with the bloud of thy Sonne that so being purged fâ—om all the pollutions of the flesh and the spirit I may become whiter then snow and with all thy elect praise thee in the heavenly Jerusalem world without end Amen PRAYER X. He considereth the severitie of Gods angeâ— against our sinnes in the death and passioâ— of Christ. HOly God and just Judge I behold thy Sonne hanging upon the crosse and pouring forth plentifull rivers of bloud I behold him and behold for very terrour I faint altogether My sinnes are those iron nails with which I have bored his hands and his feet My sinnes are â—hose pricking thorns with which his most sacred head which is to be reverenced of the angelicall powers was crowned My sinnes are those stinging thongs with which his most â—ure bodie the proper temple of Diâ—inity was scourged A cruel wilde â—east hath torn in pieces the heavenly Joseph and embrewed his coat with his bloud I miserable sinnner am that wicked beast for my sinnes did make an assault and rush upon thy most beloved Sonne If thy most obedient Sonne is so vexed
The law of sinne in my members is repugnant unto the law of mâ— minde which is renewed But givâ— unto me the Spirit of thy grace that I may captivate the law of sinne and not be captivated by the old flesh The flesh within me lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh The spirit indeed is ready but the flesh is weak Grant therefore unto my spirit the riches of thy strength and vertue that it may overcome the evil concupiscences of the rebellious flesh That whorish Dalilah with her allurements doth daily set upon me But strengthen thou me by thy Spirit in the inward maâ— that at length she overcome me not O how grievous and hard a thing is it for a man to fight against himself that is against his flesh How difficult and hard a matter is it for one to overcome a domestick enemie Unlesse in this combate thou dost arm me with thy heavenly strength there is great fear that I shall be constrained to yeeld unto this enemie by reason of her secret and hidden treacheries Presse burn â—aunce mortifie the old man that I may escape his fawning deceit and seducement Grant unto me that I may daily die in my self that by the allurements of the flesh I be not separated from the life that is in Christ. Kindle in my heart the fire of the Spirit that I may sacrifice unto thee the beloved sonne of all my evil lusts and mine own will Flesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdome of God Let them therefore die in me that I be not excluded from the kingdome of heaven They that live according to the flesh shall die But they which by the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the flesh shall live They that are Christs do crucifie the flesh with the lusts thereof Therefore strike thorow and crucifie my flesh O Christ thou that wast upon the altar of the crosse pierced thorow and crucified for me Amen PRAYER II. He prayes for the conservation and increase of faith THou hast lighted in my heart thou living and eternall God the light of saving faith which I humbly beseech thee of thy goodnesse and clemencie to keep and increase I often feel weaknesse of faith I often waver and am tossed with storms of doubts and fears Therefore I humbly call upon thee with thy blessed Apostles that thou wouldest vouchsafe to increase it My heart propounds unto thee a good word Thou wilt not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax I carrie my treasure in a vessel of clay The torch of faith I bear about me in a brittle vessel What else remains there but that with serious prayers and sighs I commend it unto thy custodie and daily pray unto thee for increase of the same In the darknesse of this life and present world make me partaker of the heavenly light of faith Thy word is light and life Grant unto me of thy mercie that by true faith I may stick unto thy word and be made by thee a sonne of light and life Against all the tentations of Satan against all oblocutions of the world yea against the cogitations of mine own heart let the comfort of thy word prevail in me One word of Scripture is of more worth then heaven and earth in that it is more firm then heaven and earth Effect in me by thy holy Spirit that I may firmly beleeve thy word and yeeld my reason and my senses to the obedience of faith Thy promises are of thy meer free grace neither do they depend upon the condition of my worth and merits I may therefore with most assured faith relie upon them and with my whole heart trust in thy goodnesse By faith Christ dwells and lives in my heart Conserve therefore in me the free gift of faith that my heart may be and alwayes remain the habitacle of Christ. Faith is the seed of all good works and the foundation of holy life Conserve therefore most bountifull Lord and confirm this in me that my spirituall harvest and dwelling suffer no losse Strengthen my faith that it may overcome the world and the prince of the world Increase the light thereof that it may daily cast forth more clear beams outwardly Conserve it in the midst of the darknesse of death that it may cast a light before me to true life Rule me by thy holy Spirit that I lose not this faith by consenting unto the lusts of the flesh and taking pleasure in sinne against my conscience But confirm in me that good work which thou hast begun that by perseverance of my faith I may obtain the inheritance of eternall life Amen PRAYER III. He prayes for the conservation and increasâ— of hope ALmighty eternall and mercifull God I beseech thee by the most sacred wounds of thy Sonne to uphold in me the prop of saving hope Sometimes my heart doth wave lik a ship in the midst of the sea But grant thou unto me the safe and firm anchor of immoveable hope Still the waves of tentations and doubts Thou that art the God of hope and all consolation As certain and immoveable as the truth of thy promise is so certain may the firmnesse of holy hope be in me I rest upon thy promises And thou wilt not leave me destitute of aid My confidence is in thy bountie And thou wilt not leave me destitute of comfort I know on whom I have beleeved and I am sure that he is able to keep that which is committed unto him by me against that day I am most certainly perswaded that thou which hast begun a good work in me wilt also finish it untill the day of Jesus Christ. There are three things that lift me up when I am prostrate that uphold me when I am falling that direct me when I am wavering to wit thy love in my adoption the truth of thy promise and thy power in performance This is the threefold cord that thou lettest down unto me into this prison out of my heavenly countrey that thou mayst lift me up and draw me unto thee unto the sight of thy glory This hope is the anchor of my salvation This is the way that leadeth unto paradise The meditation of thy command makes me hope The meditation of thy goodnesse suffers me not to despair of thy mercie the meditation of mine own frailtie suffers me not to hope and trust in my self or mine own power and merit By how much the lesse my hope is fastened on these frail and fluxible sands of present goods and humane aid By so much the more solidly and certainly it is stablished upon the firm and immoveable rock of thy promise and celestiall things Unite my heart unto thee that I may altogether withdraw my self from the woâ—ld and cleave unto thee with all my heart Unto thee I flee as unto the throne of grace and altar of mercie and ark of the covenant