aspiring sinne hath assayed and vndertaken the conquest and death of the Spirit And on the other side we finde the Spirit grieued yea fainting and gasping for life Let the soule and all the powers thereof rise vp in armes for the suppressing of the body of death and for the rescuing of life Eternall Not a common fire but the fire of Hell hath feized not vpon our common houses but vpon the Temples of the holy Ghost what haste or care can be great inough to rescue such vnualuable habitations from so abominable a desolation Let vs run therefore and that speedily into the water of Baptisme to quench the firie darts of Satan let vs steepe our soules therein vntil the flame of sinne bee extinguished our soules washed cleane restored to their former beautie yea made fairer then before For euen by sins may the Spirit take occasion to increase grace though not by the nature of sinnes but by the soueraignty of that Spirit which powerful aboue all things turneth all things to his owne aduantage of sinnes maketh a plaister against sinne and by falls makes vs more safe from falling The mightie Spirit of God is as powerfull as ouer when with AARONS rod wee bee changed into serpents God can turne vs againe into rods bearing blossoms and fruit But that we faile not in this precious Art which turnes Scorpions into medicines and iudgement in to mercy Let vs obserue the true rules of iust proceeding And first sitting downe in the Court of Meditation let the sin which hath laid violent hands on the Spirit bee brought before our consideration euen in the vglinesse thereof Let it appeare iust as it is ragged putrifide and lothsome without the couering of Fig-leaues euen of partiall and deceitfull pretences Now that we may the more carefully view and iudge our sinne let vs remember that this Iudgement is the Iudgement of God and not of Man wee sit as in Gods place to iudge our selues that God may not haue neede to sit himselfe in iudgement vpon vs. For if we doe not iudge our selues well God will come himselfe to iudge vs better he will by his punishments set our sinnes in order before vs and his punishments will be double One for the sinnes which wee haue committed another for the partiall and corrupt iudgement of the same sins Wherefore without shewing mercy on these Cananites which shew crueltie to vs by being thornes in our sides pricking vs vnto death let vs take our sinnes and strip them starke naked that euery part and circumstance of them may appear Hauing done this let vs in one sight euen in a view of comparison at once behold the purenesse and holinesse of our Maker expressed in his Law ioyning therewith the infinite loue which hath powred it selfe out vpon vs in his inestimable benefits And euen then let vs also look on our deformed sins so contrarie to his puritie and on our selues offending by those sinnes against so great a Goodnesse And when we thus haue seene so pure and so gracious a Creator and withall behold so impure vngratefull and rebellious creatures how can the soule chuse but flie into her owne face to teare herselfe in pieces for disobeying the voice and crossing the goodnes of a most pure and bountifull God The sinne being compared to the Law will appeare crooked and full of deformitie it will be called foolishnes and filthinesse because it transgresseth the Lawe of the highest wisdome and puritie In summe the Soule in zeale indignation and reuenge will pronounce iudgment against her selfe and her accomplice the body she will pronounce the body worthy of smart and punishment eternall and in testimony that she beleeues what she saies she will perchance chastise him with mourning fasting and aspetity which also may bee profitable to this end that the sinfull body tasting some degree of his owne deseruings may loath that sin which deserued to feele without end and measure the punishment which she for a season only and in measure inflicteth on it And on her selfe will shee likewise powre forth iudgement That she who was made to the Image of God and should haue guided her selfe and the body according to that Image for forsaking her function hath deserued to lose both the Image of God and the sight of God for euermore She iudgeth her selfe worthy to passe from the darknes of sinne vnto the darknes of punishment and eternall horrour And in testimony hereof she sets the Vnderstanding Will and Affections against themselues to accuse vpbrayd and lothe their owne filthines so that the soule which hath doomed her selfe to deserue eternall trouble ratifies her sentence on her selfe by a selfe-vexation But is this the end of Iudgement that soules may therby despaire and dye No surely But this humiliation and Prostration is the foote of the valley which they must descend into that will ascend to the height of the Mountaine of God We are the sonnes of death and to vs is appointed a space to abide in the valley of death That is our naturall and first walke and in it must we doe the homage of our naturall condition before we may comfortably looke vp to the bills from whence commeth our saluation In summe God wil haue our miserie consequently our neede of a Sauiour acknowledged before a Sauiour shall be imparted But hauing condemned our selues and our sinnes euen to the pit of hell and being as sicke of sorrow as we are of sinne then may we hopefully go to the Phisicion of our soules who came into the world only to cure the sicke and to giue them only Light who sit in darknes and the shadow of death Behold thou selfe-iudgeing and selfe-condemning Soule thou hast preuented the Iudge of the world thou hast done vpon thy selfe his worke of Iustice and hast left him nothing to doe but this worke of Mercie Accordingly hee offers thee the waters of Baptisme which are the waters of Life Wash and bee cleane And that thou mayest know how to wash vnto cleannesse know and consider the diuers conditions of thy filthines and the diuers operations of this Water proportionable to that diuers condition that so to thy seuerall kinde of defiling thou mayest fit a seuerall kinde of washing In thy sin thou hast contracted thy olde contrariety vnto God thou hast brought backe the flesh vpon the soule thou hast for the time healed vp the cut of Circumcision and art become one with thy flesh from which by Regeneration thou wert diuorced So by touching this Pitch is there come vpon thy soule a spot of thy old corruption and to this is added the guilt of a sinne which hath proceeded from this corruption So art thou in a double disease thou art defiled by the touch of thy flesh and thou are arrested seized by guilt the fruite of Sinne the fruit of the flesh Thou art filthy and thou art guiltie Now in the water of Baptisme there is also a double vertue fitted for
THE ARTE OF HAPPINES Consisting of three parts whereof The first searcheth out the happinesse of man The second particularly discouers and approues it The third sheweth the meanes to attayne and increase it BY FRANCIS ROVS Summa Philosophia est quae exquirit summum Bonum Mans chiefest wisedome is To find out his chiefe and soueraigne Good LONDON Printed by W. Stansby for Iohn Parker and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Ball. 1619. TO HIS MVCH HONORED FATHER S r. ANTHONY ROVS of Halton in Cornwall Knight SIR IF the Author and the work bee considered it is no hard matter to finde to whom the Author should first of all offer his worke A sonne cannot present his labours more fitly then to a Father especially when they bring with them so excellent a thing as Blessednesse And although I know you haue beene an ancient Trauailer in the path of Felicitie so that the commendation of your posteritie shall bee to follow your steps yet I am assured it cannot but bee a comfort to you to see some increase from aboue where your careful education hath planted watered below in which you haue farre exceeded the vsuall prouidēce of Fathers that ordinarily lookes no farther then the bodie pride and earth I cōfesse the outward shewes of this world had so farre transported me that I was very vnlikely to haue made this kinde of Matter the maine busines of my Time but I tooke ship to goe to Tarsus euen to forraine Countries and in mine owne beganne the studie of the Law vntill a storme from heauen chased mee away to the studie of Eternitie wherein I haue found so much comfort and assistance from aboue that the incouragement thereof is to mee in stead of a voice speaking in mine eare This is the way walke in it And in this way I desire to walke as stedfastly as bodily infirmitie and the necessarie distractions of this life will permit vntill my Time shall bee no more that so I may passe immediately from the contemplation of Felicitie vnto the fruition This felicitie I likewise wish vnto you with most humble and heartie prayer and that this worke following may giue some though small aduancement to it that so you may reape a little where you haue sown much From my house in Laurake Aprill 29. Your sonne in all dutie and obseruance FRANCIS ROVS TO MAN HAVING cast mine eyes on the frame of this World somwhat particularly considered the works which are wrought vnder the Sunne I beheld Man placed as the top and chiefe of the Creatures and I saw in Man the sparks of an excellent soule which might seeme to iustifie this his preeminence but withall hauing searched the depth and bredth of the life of Man to see what great actions this Eminent thing produced or what extraordinarie happines he enioyeth sutable to his excellence I finde generally that this Head of the World doth vsually spend himselfe in base works of Vanitie Labour and Wickednesse and is himselfe spent away by Miserie Sicknes and Death His actions are either no actions at all but idle foolish and superfluous recreations or meere labours for his owne body that hee may bee to morrow not better but the same that he was to day or that he may better his estate by making himselfe worse euen by the losse or diminution of his owne goodnesse and yet at last this estate which hee hath bought with himselfe will turne him out most vnkindly and vnthankfully from possessing it And as for Mans happinesse most commonly he sends it before him by proposing high and remote obiects to his desires which either he neuer ouertakes or if he doe it doth often vanish into Nothing as being made of meere Imagination or if it will needs seeme something being attayned yet it is at last digested into perfect Nothing when that and the Owner thereof are both deuoured by the wide mouth of Death that eates vp all the thoughts and workes of perishing Mankind But before Man arriues to this point of dissolution by which hee comes to bee rid of his vaine happinesse miserie sicknesse and mutuall vexation Man to Man being a continuall Hangman and Tormentor by smarting and still-returning stripes most often cut his little happinesse to lesser pieces and ouercome the slight and slender sweetnesse thereof with the inter-mingled gall of solide and substantiall griefe Now this being the state of Things what is all that we see and to what purpose is it Are wee here met together to play the Wretches and Fooles Is this our appointed taske to labour for Vanitie and to be imaginarily pleased and really tormented or to take great care and paynes to come to Nothing Is this the fruit of this huge masse of Creatures and of glorious Man the principall of them Surely if wee should lye downe in this opinion we might also lye downe in amazement wondring what we make here and why Man was created vnto so great folly and misery We might rightly cry out that in regard of this World the day of Death is better then the day of Birth and that not to bee at all is better then them both But here wee may not rest for then all the Creatures which we see would rise vp against vs like so many Aduersaries and Obiections For it were a great iniurie to the Creator to see and acknow ledge which acknowledgment is extorted euen from meere naturall men a great wisedome in the Matter and Forme of the Creatures and not to acknowledge a great wisedome likewise in the End of the Creatures that he which made euery thing so orderly in his parts should make a confusion in the whole and that he who hath made so excellent things for Man should make Man for basenesse vanitie and miserie Therefore I thought it most likely and safe to beleeue that the Creator had not fayled in his Creation but that the Creature had erred from the course and scope of his Creation and that Man by some fault of his owne was gone out of the way both in regard of imployment and happines which two in all probabilitie should be found in one path it being most agreeable to wisedome that a Creature should then be in the best and happyest case when hee doth the worke appointed him by his Creator Then also it seemed necessarie to inquire what was that right way from which Man had strayed euen to search what was the true end of Mans actions and the true scope of his desires his duetie and his felicitie What I haue met with in this search I haue here discouered and because there are three sorts of men which especially doe erre in the matter of happinesse for these especially haue I fitted the parts of this Discourse One sort of these are they That come blinde into the world and so goe out neither knowing nor caring nor asking what they haue to doe here nor what is chiefly good
should looke to God Man must turne his backe to the Creatures and his face toward God The Creatures must serue follow Man and Man must serue follow God And when God is serued in holinesse then shall he be inioyed in happinesse when God is proposed as the end of Mans being then shall God bee inioyed as the end of Mans desire CHAP. II. How Man fell from happinesse into miserie MAN being thus created with his duetie and happinesse written in him and set before him his businesse was by walking in the duetie to walke toward the happines To do this he was to looke vnto God as the rule of his obedience of whom also that little Image which hee carried about him was a representation and vpon the same God as the consummation of his felicitie In summe he was to walke with God vnto God and hauing pleased God in this world he was to enioy the pleasures at the right hand of God in the world aboue And now as Man was to see in God both what was good to be done and what was good to bee desired so also was hee to see by God what was the euill to bee left vndone and the euill to be lothed in regard of suffering For the same rule which sheweth vs rightnes serues also to find out crookednesse And accordingly as the Will of GOD was the rule of that which was good and righteous the goodnes of God was Mans good and happinesse so on the contrarie what was against Gods will was the euill of vnrighteousnesse or what was separated from Gods goodnesse or had an influence contrarie to it was the euill of miserie Thus was Man set with his countenance toward God to behold him as the highest marke ayme to whom he should fit his actions and affections Yea God and Man looked each on other God to Man for the seruice of loue Man to God for holinesse and happinesse And now because this most wise Creator knew that a Creature like a streame must haue continuance from the same spring from which it tooke beginning that the same hand must support him from falling which made him able to stand he gaue vnto Man a Tree of Life a most diuine Sacrament by the partaking whereof hee might haue truely eaten of that Word of God by whom Man was first made and who only is Life and is euen now the Tree of Life in the Paradise which is aboue In this Word is the Life and Light of Men and by the partaking of Him Man may continue in the Life and Light receiued from Him And if ADAM would haue eaten of this Tree hee might haue beene established in the state of righteousnesse and happinesse But that it might bee in the choice of Man to chuse Life or Death there was also set before him a Tree of death a Tree to which was annexed this curse That at what time soeuer Man eateth thereof he shall die the death And great reason there was that the Eater therof should die for it had a qualitie powred into it or annexed vnto it to ouerthrow all that the Tree of Life would haue preserued It carried with it a spiritual drunkenesse that would so captiuate the vnderstanding and turne about the will and affections that they should not looke to God as the rule of good euill to be done or vndone nor to the same God as the rule of that good and euill which is happines and miserie But this new fruit will teach Man to know good and euill after a new fashion For from the venom thereof there issueth a blind lust concupiscence which blotteth out the Image of God in the soule by which we once looked vnto God And this lust sitteth it selfe as God in this Temple of God When this fruit is eaten the vnderstanding wil and affections are to bee managed by lust yea euen the whole soule and body of man and that must bee good or euill which lust approoueth or disliketh God must be no longer the happinesse of man neither the absence or opposition of God the miserie of man God must be no longer the patterne of Mans obedience neither shall man care to walke with God vnto God nor to decline from the euill of suffering by declining from the euil of doing But lust that bestrideth the soule and body frameth vp new happinesse newe miserie euen newe good and euil to which the actions of Man must bee wholly leuelled euen to auoid the euill and to obtaine the good And this must be done with such authoritie that the precisenesse of the former course which fitted all actions to the rule of righteousnesse being trodden vnder foote as carrying with it a scrupulous basenesse these actions shall now onely and seriously bēe iudged Good or Euill which are apprehended and proposed by Lust. Let the things supposed good by this fleshly wisedome bee neuer so emptie of goodnesse yea the certaine meanes of miserie yet if this knowledge know them to be good and perswade the will and affections to imbrace them as good Man must mightily imploy himselfe for the attayning of them Accordingly if this new knowledge tell vs that worshipping of stocks murder yea miserie it selfe is good wee are bound to beleeue it yea to runne ouer the whole Countrie and sometimes out of the Countrie for the attayning and execution of such apprehensions of Good and Euill Neither doth this hold only in some men of extrauagant humours but it appeares since the eating of this fruit to bee a generall fruit of that eating For generally mankind is in bondage to this sensuall wisedome generally the liues of men are framed and leuelled thereby and commonly in the course of euery naturall man we shal find some one thing especially proposed as his chiefe good happines the contrary wherof is his chiefe euill and miserie neither of which are such as they be esteemed Yea the sway of this knowledge is so mightie that in many plaine and euident causes of good and euill the poore ruines of reason euen the broken remnants of Gods Image in the soule are put out of countenance and are ashamed to giue vp their verdict wherefore many times by men of vnderstanding for feare or flatterie euill is called good and good euill There are honourable Miseries which Reason plainly sees to bee miseries yet in the Court it is ashamed to call them so There are also glorious Murders which Reason knowes to be very butcheries yet among the lustie sonnes of this lustfull wisedome it is ashamed to say so There is a supposall of a God head or diuine power to dwell in a piece of wood or metall and this Reason sees to bee vanitie yet in some countries Kings bow to such imaginations and the Subiects must doe the same else for want of bowing they shall bee brought to breaking As in these so in infinite other things appeares mans mistaking of good and euill euen the good of
while it is Darknesse and therefore from the iustified sanctified is that wholly taken away But sorrow sicknesse temporall death and al other outward euils may cease to be euils yea they may bee turned into benefits and indeede are so by the excellence of him that dwelt in vs. But yet our Restorer ceaseth not in a meere deliuerie of vs from positiue euils but he goes farther in his bountie restoreth to vs a certaine abilitie of performing our dutie right of beholding our Creator yea a stabilitiein both which is more then formerly was giuen to Man As he freeth vs from Death so he giueth vs life as hee freeth vs from being disobedient to God so hee giueth vs an obediēce pleasing to God as he payeth for our defacing of Gods Image so he restoreth againe to vs the Image it selfe and finally as he taketh from vs the wrath and terrors of God so hee giues vs the pleasures and happinesse which are in the presence of God for euermore And all these benefits doth our Sauiour giue by one instrument or conueyance and by one action The meanes by which he bestowes and imparts his benefits is his Spirit and the action is Regeneration The Spirit of God is the breath and vertue of the Highest which cōmunicates life power to those whom hee vnites to himselfe euen as the Tree sends sappe into the graffe which it striueth to adopt after a sort and knit vnto it selfe By this Spirit is the vnitie and communitie betweene Christ and his members really performed forby this Spirit Christ liueth in his members and CHRISTS members liue in him Christ partaketh their miseries and takes them on himselfe and Christs members partake his Excellence and all the benefits of his being a Sauiour This Vnion is the knot of blessednesse it is the very graffing into the Tree of Life that which our first Parents lost both by eating and not eating hereby is recouered giuen to vs for by this Vnion we are one with God and GOD is one with vs which is the bond of perfection the action in which the Spirit of God entreth vniting is Regeneration or a new-making by which Man of sinfull and corrupt is made holy according to the Image of his Maker and from a slaue of sinne he is made an obedient sonne of God And now as wee beheld Man before in his miserie let vs behold Man restored to felicitie What euill can wee finde that is not taken away at least from being euill What good can we thinke of that is not supplyed in a greater degree then our thoughts can comprehend And if this bee not the true remedie of our miserie and our true exaltation to happinesse we are all lost for the world can shew vs no better After a supply of obedience to the Law and Iustice of God there is also a Sacrificé and satisfaction for the disobedience against the Law The greatest miserie of eternall death is vtterly taken away The euils of life are turned from punishments into exercises of the Spirit dwelling in vs or into chastisements of the corruption yet remayning with vs so are they benefits and no longer euils For the Spirit which is our life groweth by exercise as bodily strength doth by bodily labour and the sadnesse of the heart many times chasteneth profitably the remayning corruption of the flesh as frost doth the weedes As for corporall death which is commonly feared as the greatest euill it is turned into the greatest benefit For it is a dore both to goe out of this life of wretchednesse and to goe into a life of happines whereof the one is darkesome full of Serpents and hanted with spirits and the other glorious in light full of shining Angels and glorified Saints in Eternall blessednes As a dore in a partition betweene two roomes so is death between two liues it no sooner lets vs out of the one but it lets vs into the other so that we doe not so much goe out of life as go into Life for that onely deserues the name of life which is full of happinesse and that in perpetuitie and not that which is filled with miseries and whose speciall commendation is breuitie Therefore let it be farre from vs from henceforth to call that euil which deliuereth vs from miserie into felicitie Moreouer whereas we were in a continuall slauerie vnto corruption euen to that false knowledge of good and euill by which also we were obedient slaues vnto the Deuill the master and teacher of this knowledge Now that authoritie and command of corrupt and fleshly wisedome is broken downe foolishnesse sinne and the Serpent haue no longer dominion ouer vs neither are we at the direction of Lust to know and to doe onely what it teacheth and approueth Euils being thus altered and taken away from Man wee may also behold Man placed in his dutie which first and still is his way to happinesse Accordingly one and the same Spirit breatheth holinesse breatheth life and in the same seede whereby the Image of God isrenewed the life of God is communicated and by one new birth we are sons that is cōformable to God and Heires of God Thus are we most blessedly changed our miseries are cast behind our backs wee are placed in the path of dutie and therein we walke on to happinesse which stands as a marke before vs and here let vs settle our foot let vs fasten our steps in this path chalked out by the Spirit for the Spirit will both defend vs in this way and at last bring vs to the wayes end which is eternall felicitie In this path of the Spirit is perpetuall safetie and protection the Serpent cannot bite vs and if he doe bite his venom is turned into a medicine so that hee doth rather heale then poison For the Spirit is more good then any thing is euill it will sanctifie and blesse whatsoeuer befalleth vs and the malice of euils inflicted on vs is cured and made wholesome by the soueraign Spirit which dwelleth in vs. But perchance it will bee asked Why these seeming euils be not wholly taken away as well as altered it being better to the iudgement of Man that there were nothing bitter then that there should be a bitternesse though recompensed with sweetnesse Againe it may be asked why the remnant of corruption is so grent in Man that it leadeth Man captiue often to do that which he would not and the power of the Spirit is in so small a degree that hee cannot doe that which hee would To these and the like questions if the will of the Restorer were brought for an answere it might stand for an answere sufficient For it being Gods meere mercy to restore vs who can require him to shew vndeserued mercy in any other māner or degree then himselfe shall please But yet wee haue other reasons giuen one is that this place of our present being hauing been ouerthrowne made accursed by the fall of
man God lets it alone and suffers it to runne on in the course of miserie purposing to blot it out wholly by a last fire and reseruing perfection for the life to come Another that the wretchednesse of Man falne being continually felt may bee a continuall document and reacher of the weaknes of Man without God of the odiousnesse of sinne in the sight of God and the pointing of a finger to turn our eies from this wretched world to the happinesse which is aboue For present griefe is a sharpe spurre to the heart of Man prouokes him to runne hastily from these remnants of miserie vnto perfect felicitie Againe miserie sweetneth ioy and the sorrowes of this life shall like a darke vaile giue a lustre to the glorie of the next As for the strong remnant of corruption and the small portion of grace which is the second question wee must know that both by it and by the remnants of miserie God is mightily glorified and Mans glorie in the presence of GOD greatly increased For Gods glorie must needes be great when by a little seed of the Spirit he manageth steereth and guideth Man through a masse of corruption and a throng of outward euils into a Port of blessednesse The lesser the meanes and the greater the opposition the more is the glory of him who by little meanes doth ouercome a great opposition yea it is greater glorie to God to turne euils into good by ouer-mastering them then wholly to take them away And for our part our glorie shall be increased because wee haue serued Gods glorie in a bitter conflict and a difficult combat The more is the present labour the more shall be the future ioy the hardnesse of the Victorie shall increase the glorie of the triumph and opposition it selfe shall become our aduancement Accordingly the greatest seekers which commonly are the greatest finders of happinesse are vsually placed in the forefront of the battaile against the thickest presse of remayning euils and the push of most fierce and fierie temptations And surely while they suffer present euils for future glorie while they fight fearfull conflicts against remayning corruption and the king thereof that they may not impaire their future ioyes as thereby they preserue and increase these ioyes so bee they Heralds and Proclaymers of the exceeding happinesse of the presence of God they are the witnesses of God to the world that this world is nothing comparable to the next and that neither the miseries nor felicities of it are any way equal to that transcendent ioy which is to come Finally when corruption ouer-masters vs the sufficience of Gods grace doth releeue vs forgiuenesse supplying or couering the defects of infirmitie But yet Man is not quiet hee is not in good liking with this kind of happines for hee complayneth it is thin and ayrie and his fleshly palate hath more sauour in the taste of flesh then in the taste of a spirituall happinesse Againe he saith it is long in comming and a Man may bee wearie with looking for it before it comes To the first I grant indeede that the fleshly taste rellisheth not spiritual ioyes but yet are they not therefore the worse but the better For the grosnesse of the one and the puritie of the other are the causes of this dislike So doth the stomake of the country Swain despise the delicate and nice dyet of the finer Dames not that hee can finde any ill in it but because it is too slight to satisfie his grosse and mightie appetite This was truly patterned in the Israelites whose strong stomakes desired the Onions and Melons of Egypt but lothed the pure and excellent Bread of heauen Therefore this must be the rule in this matter euery appetite pleaseth it selfe most in an obiect fitting proportionable to it selfe and it is not the excellency of the obiect but the agreeablenesse that makes it delightfull According to this is that of the Poet the Lyonesse hunteth the Wolfe the Wolfe seeketh the Kid and the Kid delighteth in the greene grasse Wherefore I expect not that grosse flesh should find extraordinarie comfort in a most pure and spirituall glorie But a spirituall Man onely rellisheth spirituall things because they are onely agreeable to such a man Accordingly as farre as a man is spirituall so farre takes hee comfort in a spirituall happinesse which indeede is here but in part so that we do but looke as through some crany into the glorie of Heauen and we do loue this glorie but with a part of our affection yet in some Saints hath it beene so feruent that they haue sent challenges to Death in strong desires to bee dissolued and would haue built Tabernacles in this spirituall blessednes But when the Spirit of God in the great Day shall haue fully purged our soules and bodies with that diuine fire and refined our grosnesse corruption and drosse then to vs made fully spirituall shal the most high soueraigne Spirit bee the chiefe and soueraigne good for Man being made spirituall shall delight in Spirits chiefly in the chiefest And then these grosse pleasures desired now by grosse lusts shall be lothsome and contemptible as too base for so pure diuine Essences Wherefore if wee would take pleasure in things of excellence we must striue to raise our selues to their excellent degree we must lift our selues vp to a nature proportionable vnto them And by such an indenour wee shall purchase a higher station and a higher happinesse whereas otherwise we lye downe basely in our owne dregs complaine like Owles of the glorie of the Sunne when the fault is in our owne eyes wherefore let this bee the most commendable ambition of a truly-noble and generous Spirit to aduance his mind to a puritie and excellence proportionable to a supereminent obiect and happinesse And bee it reputed the quality of a base worthlesse and muddie thing to bring downe happinesse to his low groueling and grosse desires and when he cannot doe so to accuse it To the second Who is troubled so much with the delay of payment and the deferring of Happinesse for an answere I would aske him how long hee would willingly stay to bee Heire of a Crowne Here if I may speake for him I thinke hee would confesse that hee would bee contented if hee might haue it but seuen yeeres before his death Now I will desire him to stay but seuen yeeres more and then hee shall haue this Crowne that farre excels the other And to comfort him in this ods of expectation I can tell him that those who haue knowne and now worne both these Crownes haue made a far greater ods betweene them then a few yeeres patience preferring a day in the Courts of heauen before a thousand in the Courts of Princes But that wee may come lower doe not wee see it an ordinarie thing that a man continues thirtie yeeres in a course of learning that he may be a learned man but thirtie
haue set their rest on their Creatour and haue made him the end of their being and the meanes to the end euen a God to rule a Sauiour to redeeme and a happinesse to blesse these arise with the Image of God in their fore-heads God seeth his face in the face of their soules their workes also testifie the same for them These are clothed with pure White the Righteousnesse of Christ and the Righteousnesse of the Spirit with the first the Iustice of GOD is satisfied with the last the Mercie of God is pleased and by the last the first is adiudged to them They haue fed clothed and visited Christ in his hungry naked and imprisoned members these workes are the fruits of Loue and Loue is the fruit of Sanctification and Sanctification is an inseparable companion condition and witnesse of Iustification So by the works of Loue they are proued and approued to bee the sonnes of God who is Loue and if sonnes then also heires if heires they shall for euer dwell in the house of Glorie euen in the presence of God Their right to eternall Glory is by inheritance euen by being heires annexed with Christ but their admittance into their right is by the Euidences and Testimonies of the workes of Holinesse For it is a true Rule That none but the pure in heart can see God and againe None can be pure in heart but he must first be new begotten by God euen a sonne and heire of GOD. And now to these is sounded forth that most blessed voice which openeth the doore of eternall Felicitie a voice that consummateth that Supremest Marriage wherein Man is matched to the highest Essence the chiefest Blisse Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you In this Kingdome the ragged and filthy garment of the body of sinne the diseased infirmities of this sinful bodie the tears of oppression yea all griefe is wiped away And in stead of these Man is infinitely purified sublimated and so fitted for the presence of the highest Being In the Puritie of Holinesse hee is pure without blemish washed from guilt by the bloud of the Lambe and from corruption by the holy Ghost yea there is a new Light as a new Eye plāted in the vnderstanding exceedingly quickened and enlarged to a spacious view of Truth and Glorie Likewise new Vertue anoynteth and bedeweth the Will steeping and seasoning it in a Diuine Nature by which it excellently agreeth in harmonie with the will of God and is holy as hee is holy In the puritie of Substance the Soule shall be highly clarified vntill it be capeable of the vppermost and chiefest Light And the body shall bee lifted vp into a proportion with the Soule for the body shall then bee a spirituall Body euen a Body like a Soule euen so pure shall they both bee that they shall admit into themselues the beames of the Fountaine of Light vntill they bee filled with Light and Glorie God will bee their Sunne and hee will shine into them as into Christall and in his Light they shall haue the fulnesse of Light Then shall the Knowledge of Man ascend into Perfection farre aboue these poore pieced and patched knowledges which we call Arts and Sciences Euen the highest Degree of knowledge which in this mistie time of Ignorance Imperfection iustly holdeth the highest degree of Eminence shall then be the bottome and lownes of this new knowledge and then shall it be knowne that this kind of Learning is of vse much like to that of a Lanthorne It may doe vs seruice in this Night of Mans fall and corruption but in the Orient brightnesse of the Kingdome of Glorie the new light by surmounting it shall make it vselesse yea darken and discountenance it For whereas now wee doe but flutter about the branches and extremities of Wisdome then shall we behold Wisdome in the roote The Glorie and Fabrike of the Creature shall be seene in the Originall euen in the Creatour in whom it was first made within before it was made without In him shall wee reade the Resolution of all profitable vnknowntruths and his Wisdome shall bee a most perfect Oracle instructing all glorified and blessed Soules And with this Wisdome shall we also behold an infinite Treasure of Power and Almightinesse The right Hand and holy Arme of the Omnipotent God shall bee reuealed vnto vs and then shall wee wonder at this Power alone and not at the mightie Wonders which this Power hath done for then shal we plainly see that such Power might well worke such Wonders And while wee view and consider this Power the Power of GOD will point vs to the loue of God For so meane a thing as Man may well bee amazed at so infinite Power and Maiestie but that at once with the power there appeares an infinite Loue which tells the Soule that though Power not matched with Loue be a Terror yet tempred with loue it is the very Safetie Rest and Blisse of Soules beloued For as much power as there is in God so much is God able to blesse those whom hee loues and as much loue as there is in GOD so much willing is hee to blesse those whom by his Power hee is so much able to blesse Thus from Gods Wisdome his Power his Loue and his Light issue continuall obiects and spectacles of Ioy. Yet is not this all of that which cannot all be expressed For this whiles there flowes from the Deitie into the Heart of Man a most pleasant streame of the gladding Spirit wherein is the extremest power vertue of reioycing This is the new Wine of the Kingdome of Heauen which makes the Soule drunken with high comforts raptures and extasies which inward comforts meeting and clasping with outward ioyes fill vp a Man with an excesse of Ioy and Happinesse that he shall be euen swallowed vp and ouer-rauished with Ioy. And yet their Happinesse stinteth not for there is an addition of a most delectable and soule-pleasing Harmonie Harmonie is a chiefe pleasure and the most excellent Harmonie is the chiefest of this chiefe pleasure and the most excellent Harmonie is the chiefest of this chiefe Pleasure and the Harmonie of the most excellent Essences is the most excellent Harmonie and the most excellent Essences are Spirits and the Harmonie of Spirits is in the Kingdom of glory This Musike of Spirits exceedingly exceedeth the Musike of mortall voices yea that chiefe Musike of hearts which between men is called Friendship and betweene Man Wife is called Marriage-Loue is but a counterfeit resemblance and carries but some small rellishes of that Diuine and Celestiall Harmony For in the Quire of Heauen the Saints and Angels euen the blessed Spirits agree in a perfect Vnison of Truth and Loue. Their vnderstandings think one thing their hearts euen their wils loue themselues and their companions with one loue They delight themselues each in other especially all in God For as there is between themselues a perfect consent so there is also a true agreement between these Spirits and the chiefest Spirit which is the very top of pleasure and delight What perfection can be higher then that of the highest Creatour And how can a Creature bee more perfect then when he is consorted tuned to this highest perfection God speaketh to the hearts of these blessed Soules and the hearts of these blessed Soules thinke and vtter thoughts agreeable to the heart of GOD. God that saw his Workes of Creation that they were good and pleased himselfe in their goodnesse Now beholdeth his worke of Blessing and Glorification and reioyceth in the rest ioy which he hath giuen to his Beloued The glorified Soules behold and admire the Goodnesse and Mercie of God that gaue not only the workes of the six daies but the rest of the Seuenth to rebellious dust and sinful ashes In the infinite Loue of God their loue still steepeth and drowneth it selfe and the more it seeth the Loue of God the more it loues God and the more it loues God the more it is beloued And out of the feeling of this surpassing Loue of God breake out those Songs of Ioy and Voyces of Exultation Glory and Honour and Prayse bee to him that sitteth on the throne to the Lamb for euermore And Halleluiah For the Kingdome of the Lord God Almightie is come And Let vs be glad and reioyce and giue Glorie to God for the Marriage of the Lambe is come his Wife is readie and shee is arayed in pure and shining Silke And yet this felicitie is not all but that it may bee as long as it is large and as infinite in continuance as it is in extent there issues from the Deitie into the glorified Soules the sap and nourishment of an eternall Life The Tree of Life nourisheth eternally the branches of the same Tree Death is swallowed vp into victory and it selfe dyeth by the Word which is Life But the Soules partakers of God from him who is Eternall doe sucke Eternitie and so become that Kingdome whereof there is no end And yet this is not all of that inexpressible Felicitie but the greatest and chiefest is yet left in silence for that must needs be greatest which cannot enter into the heart of Man But let the transcendence of that which is vnknowne be a double spurre vnto vs in this Race of Happinesse one because it is transcendent another because vnknowne Let the Eminence prouoke our Ambitions the Secrecie our Curiosities Let vs desire and striue earnestly to enter into that which now by reason of wonderfull excellence cannot enter into vs. Let vs indeuour carefully to walke in the light of Grace which will bring vs to the full Reuelation of the yet inaccessible light of Glorie where Happinesse shall at once bee fully knowne and fully enioyed In the meane time it may be sufficient for me to discouer That the Soules seated in Beatitude passe their time which shall neuer bee past in the very top of Blisse and Delectation They laugh at sorrowes past and are secure for infinite ioyes to come God is theirs and they are Gods and in this Vnitie is the fulnesse of Felicitie FINIS