Universities Discharged himself of all publick Affairs and Attendants a quarter of a year before he died Desiring the Bishop of Winchester and Worcester to draw him out of the Word of God the plainest and exactest way of making his Peace with God in this present World adds That it was great pitty that Men know not to what end they were born into this World until they were ready to go out of it My Lord Bacon hath said at the latter end of his Life That a little smattering in Philosophy would lead a Man into Atheism but a thorough Insight into it would lead a Man back again unto a first Cause and that the first Principle of Right Reason is Religion in Reference to which it was the wisest way to live strictly and severely for if the Opinion of another would not be one yet the sweetest thing in this World is Piety Vertue and Honesty If it be true none are so miserable as the Loose the Carnal and Profane Persons who live a Dishonorable and Base Life in this World and are like to Fall into a most woful State in the next The E. of Arundel lying on his Death Bed said My Flesh and my Heart fail me and his Chaplain answered the next Words That God was the strength of his Heart and his portion for ever he would never fail him He answering tho all the World hath failed He will never fail me Sir Tho. Coventry Lord Keeper of the Great Seal hearing some Gallants jesting with Religion said That there was no greater Argument of a Foolish and Inconsiderate Person than to droll at Religion It is a sign he hath no regard of himself and that he is not touched with a Sence of his own Interest who playeth with Life and Death and makes nothing of his Soul. To examine severely and debate seriously of Religion is a thing worthy of a wise Man Whosoever turns Religion into Railery with two or three bold Jests rendreth not only Religion but himself Ridiculous in the Opinion of all Wise and Considerate Men because he sports with his own Life For a good Man saith If Principles were doubtful yet they concern us so nearly that we ought to be serious in the Examination of them Carolopator relateth how the excellent Painter Methoclius Drawing the last day the Heavens black the Earth on Fire the Sea in Blood the Throne of God environd with Angels in the Clouds wrought so upon Bogaris the barbarous Prince of Bulgaria that in a short time he yielded himself to God by an happy Conversion for he dreaming of the whole proceedings of that day amongst other things saw the things he made so light of by speaking thus I am the pleasure thou hast obeyed I am the Ambition whose Slave thou wast I am the Avarice which was the aim of all thy Actions Behold so many Sins that are thy Children Thou begottest them thou belovest them so much as to prefer them before thy Saviour Mr. John Bruen said At his Funeral he would have no Black for I love not said he any proud nor pompous Funeral neither is there any cause of Mourning but Rejoycing rather in my particular Immediately before his death lifting up his Hands he said The Lord is my Help my Portion and my Trust His Blessed Son Jesus is my Saviour and Redeemer Amen For so saith the Spirit to my Spirit Then come Lord Jesus and Kiss me with Kisses of thy Mouth and embrace me with the Arms of thy Love Into thy Hands I commit my Spirit Take me to thy own self Come Lord Jesus come quickly O come O come O come Mr. Brown of Norwich Phisitian entertained one Attribute of God to recreate his Devotion and that is Wisdome In which says he I am Happy for the Contemplation of this only I do not Repent me that I was brought up to Study the advantage I have over the Vulgar with the content and happiness I conceive therein is an ample Recompence of all my endeavours in what part of Knowledge whatsoever Wisdom is his most glorious Attribute no man can attain unto it yet Solomon pleased God when he desired it he is wise because he knoweth all things and he knoweth all things because he made them all Yet his greatest knowledge is in comprehending what he made not Himself and this also is the greatest Knowledge in man for this I do honour my Profession and Embrace the very Council of the Devil himself Had he read such a Lecture in Paradice as he did at Delphos we had better known our selves neither had we need to stand in fear of him I know he is Wise in all things he is Wise in all and Wonderful in what we conceive but farmore in what we comprehend not for we behold him but a squint upon reflex or shadow Our Vnderstanding is dimmer then Moses his Eye we are Ignorant of his Back-parts and his lower-side of his Divinity there to pry into his Councels is not only Folly in Man but Presumption even in Angels like us they are his Servants not his Senators he holds Councel but with that mystical One the Trinity where tho there be three Persons there is but one Mind that decrees without contradicion nor needs he any of his Actions to be begot with deliberation his Wisdom knows naturally what 's best his Intellect stands fraught with the superlative and purest Ideas of Goodness Consultation and Electi on which are two Motions in us make but one in Him his Actions sprung from his Power at the first touch of his Will There are Contemplations metaphysical my humble Speculations have another Method are content to trace and discover those Expressions he hath left in his Creatures and the obvious effects of Nature there is danger to confound these Mysteries no Sanctum Sanctorum in Philosophy the world to be Inhabited by Beasts but Study'd and Contemplated by Men. It is the debt of our Reason to Owe unto God the Homage we pay for not being Beasts without this the World is still as though it had not been or as it had been before the sixth day when as yet there was not a Creature that could conceive or say there was a World. The Wisdom of God receives small Honor from the Vulgar Heads that usually stare about with gross Rusticity admire his works Those highly magnifie him whose Judicious Enquiry into his Acts and deliberate Research into his Creatures return the duty of a Learned and Devout Admiration Therefore search whilst thou wilt and let thy Reason go To ransom Reason even to the Abyss below Rally the Scattered causes and that line Which Nature twists be able to untwine It is thy Makers Will for unto none But unto Reason can he e're be known The Devil knows thee but those Damned Metors Build not thy Glory but confound the Creatures Teach my endeavours so thy Work to read That learning them in Thee I may proceed Give thou my Reason that
are ever holding Holy things without feeling Bacon If Atheists say The World or its Materials were Made they must grant a GOD that made it If they say They were not Made they then assert an Eternal Being of it self that is they allow the Difficulties for which they pretend to deny a GOD. Cares WHen Men Believe weakly and Love GOD but little they can scarce find whether they Believe or Love at all and therefore remain in doubt To Remedy which follow your Duty till Grace be encreased ply your Work wait upon God in the use of his prescribed Means and he will undoubtedly bless you with Increase and strength of Grace If you would lay out those serious Affections in Praying and Seeking unto Christ and for more Grace you would in time Believe strongly and Love fervently and thereby put it out of doubt whether you Believe or Love or not Mrs. B. If by moderate and due Care we would resign up our Selves and Concernments into the Hands of God He would charge himself with us but if we will Immoderately Care and be so peremptory in our Designs and will not submit them to him then God is discharged and we must look to our selves You need not fetch the Misery of another Day and put to this it hath enough for its own Let them consider that fear Want that they want nothing so much as Faith A little more trusting in God and a little less sinful Foresight and needless Care would do well Our daily Defects and Disappointments procure Misery and Vexations He that would make Earth sure must first of all make Heaven sure Shall I by taking thought what I shall Eat and what I shall Drink here never fear Wanting or Begging a drop of Water hereafter Shall I be Solicitous for Cloaths and do not know but my Soul and Body may lie naked in the scorching Flames of the Wrath of God to all Eternity Besides that I have a Promise of God for outward things if I make it my business to look after Heavenly It s a very needless Care God provides Meat for me that I may not be taken off my Work to seek those things that are Heavenly Mat. 6.33 Christ Crucified the knowledge of it IT is a kind of Catholicon of universal Use and Conveniency in reference to this Life Am I in Want in Prison in Contempt in Banishment in Sickness in Death this Knowledge gives Contentedness Patience Chearfulness Resignation of my self to his Will who hath Sealed my Peace with him and Favor from him in the great Covenant of his Son I could live upon this tho' I were ready to Starve when I am assured that it is for my Good and the glory of his Name I shall be delivered if not I can be contented if my Jewel the Peace of God and my own Conscience by the Blood of Christ be safe if not in Wealth Honor greatness in Esteem in the World. This Knowledge teacheth me Humility as knowing of whom I have received it Fidelity as knowing to whom I must account for it and in all it teacheth me not to over-value it nor to value my Self the more by it or for it It makes Death not Terrible because a most sure Passage to Eternal Life Here I find a way to get my Sins Pardoned whereas all the World without this cannot contrive a Satisfaction for me I find such a Way to obtain such a Righteousness as is valuable with God and perfect before Him even the Righteousness of God in Christ and here I find the means the only means to avoid the Wrath to come the Terror of the Judgment of the Last-Day Everlasting Life to all Eternity which the blessed God and the Lord Jesus Christ all the blessed Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect The knowledge of Christ above all other Knowledge and Christ Crucified above all other Knowledge of Christ being the highest manifestation of his Love. J. Hale With all my Heart saith Calvin I embrace the Mercy of God which he hath used towards me for Jesus Christ's sake recompencing my Faults with the Merits of his Death and Passion that satisfaction being made by this means for all my Sins and Crimes and the remembrance of them may be blotted out I witness also and profess that I humbly beg of him that being washed and cleansed in the Blood of that highest Redeemer shed for the Sins of Mankind I may stand at his Judgments-Seat under the Image of my Redeemer Had Christ been God only he could not have Suffered had he been Man only he could not have Merited Christ's Blood was shed as well for Oblution as for Absolution Diffidence of ones Self and Dependance of Christ is the Motto of a Christian Counsel THe greatest Trust between Man and Man is the Trust of giving Counsel For in our Confidences saith our Lord Bacon Men commit the parts of Life their Lands their Goods their Children their Credit and some particular Affairs but to such as they make their Counsellors they commit the whole by how much the more they are obliged to Faithfulness and Integrity There is no such Flattery as of a Mans self and there is no such Remedy against that Flattery as the Liberty of a Friend Counsel is of Two sorts The one concerning Manners the other concerning Business For the first The best Preparative to keep the Mind in Health is the faithful Admonition of a Friend The calling of a Man's self to a strict Account is sometimes too piercing and corroding Reading good Books of Morality is a little Flat and Dead Observing our Faults in others is sometimes improper for our Case but the best Receipt best I say to work and best to take is the Admonition of a Friend Conviction IF you be troubled for Sin observe whether your trouble for it be inward as well as outward and reaches not only to open Sins but to secret Lusts to Inward and Spiritual Sins such as Hypocrisie Formality Lukewarmness Deadness and Hardness of Heart and if so this is a sure sign of the Work of the Spirit because the Trouble occasioned by these Sins bears a more immediate Relation to the Holiness of God who only is offended by them they being such that none else can see or know Covetousness HE that is Covetous when he is Old is as a Thief that Steals when he is going to the Gallows Bags of Gold to us when Saints will be but as a Bag of Pebbles when Men. Alexander of Hales says That Covetousness deserves the Hate of all for these Reasons First It is a Sin against Nature making the Soul Terrestrial which should be Heavenly Secondly For the many Curses against it in the Scripture Wo to them that joyn House to House c. Thirdly For the many Evils it subjects them unto It is the Root of all Evil. Fourthly It makes a Man a Fool O Fool this Night c. Fifthly It canses Strifes from whom are Strifes Sixthly It
Instinctive flight Whose weary Wings may on thy Hands still light Teach me to soar aloft yet so When near the Sun to stop again below Thus shall my humble Feathers safely hover And tho' ne'er Earth more than the Heavens discover And then at last when homeward I shall drive Rich with the Spoils of Nature to my Hive There will I sit like that Industrious Flie Buzzing thy praises which shall never Dye Till Death abridge them of exceeding Glory Bid me go on in a more lasting Story Will of God. SOME have satisfied themselves with this single Thought that 't is in vain to be troubled since things must not be as we will but as the Almighty Being pleases Cold comfort But God be thanked we have much better to Comfort us viz. That the World is not governed meerly by God's Will but by his Wisdom he disposeth of all things according to his good Pleasure but it pleaseth him to dispose of all things to the best He ruleth the World not only as an absolute Lord but as a loving Father It is a poor center of a Man's Actions Himself it is Earth for that only stands fast upon its own Center where all things that have Affinity with the Heavens move upon the Center of another which they benefit L. Bacon Seeming wise Men may make shift to get Opinion but let no Man chose them for Employment for certainly you had better take for Business a Man somewhat absurd than over formal Bacon 148. A Noble Lord at the time of his Death told his Son That he would leave him a Legacy out of David's Psalms Lord lead me into a plain Path for said he I would have you a plain Honest Man. To which I may add that excellent saying of the same Noble Lord The Wisdom of those young Men is most Excellent who by Providence and Discourse of Reason do so Order their Affairs that they stay not till Necessity and Experience force them to that Order which fore-sight would much sooner have taken Wrongs WRongs many times make way for better Fortune If Men slight us and despise us and speak evil and unjustly against us and take away our good Name yea if they take away our Estates c. if we be not angry nor fill'd with Despight nor retaliate their wrongs then it is not we but they that ought to be troubled The Word HE that Delights in the Word because it is Spiritual he is a Christian indeed the more Spiritual the Ordinances the more Spiritual they are the more doth a gracious Soul delight in them when the word comes close to the Conscience rips up the Heart and discovers Sin and yet delights in it notwithstanding this is a sign of Grace Also when Delight arises from that Communion that is to be had with God there this is from a Principle of Grace in the Soul. Mead 73. The Word was made Flesh to teach Patience and to perswade to Vertue Vide Scripture Mr. Knox was tempted by Satan to think that he merited for his great Service until God brought into his mind that of St. Paul What hast thou that thou hast not received Not I but the Grace of God that is in me Vnless says Luther My Adversaries can convince me by sound Arguments taken out of the Word of God I cannot satisfy my Conscience for I can plainly prove that both Pope and Councel have often erred grievously and therefore it would be an ungodly thing in me to assent unto them and to depart from the Holy Word of God which is plain and cannot err Cromwel from K. Henry the Eighth advises the Covocation That they conclude all Differences by the Word of God neither will his Majesty suffer the Scriptures to be wrested by false Glosses Papistical Laws or by any Authority of Doctors or Councels much less will he suffer any Articles not contained in Scripture but only founded on a Continuance of Time and Custom or by unwritten Verities as you were wont to do But the only way to Unity is to determine Acts and Things by the Rule of Gods Word as himself requireth In thy Zeal against others be mindful of thy own exceeding Sinfulness call to mind thy great Offences which when they are unfeignedly repented of give thee to understand what Cause thou hast to be Meek Humble and Patient towards all Men for Right Zeal is a Coelestial Fire the true temper and heat of all the Affections to God and Christ Qui non Zelat non Amat It is a Zeal kindled in the Soul by the Spirit of God who first knows it and then sets it on work It is a Zeal that hath the Word of God for its Guide directing it in its workings both in regard of its Object and End in Manner and Measure It is a Zeal that checks Sin and furthers an Heavenly Life It is a Zeal that makes God and the Glory of God its chief end and swallows up all by-ends The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up The Emperor Valence sent a Message to St. Basil promising him great Preferment if he would turn Nessorian but he replied i.e. These Speeches are fit to catch little Children that look after such things but we that are nourisht by the Holy Scriptures are readier to die a thousand Deaths rather than to suffer one Syllable or Tittle of the Scriptures to be altered Theodosius was wont to say That he accounted it a greater Honour that he was a Member of the Church than that he was the Head of the Empire It is reported That a Minister having reproved a Gentleman's Tennant for many Disorders yet would not forgo them for which he complained of him to his Landlord who advised him to admonish him once more and that if he did not then amend That he should then sanctify his Hand and give him a Box on the Ear. Full quickly waxeth cold Religious Fame Unless by Zeal we do uphold the same FINIS