rather comfort It is not always those that can speak loudest that speaks best but he that speaks wisest the empty barrel makes the greatest sound that Sermon 〈◊〉 not always best that hath most gaudy notions and rhetorical flourishes but that which savours most of Christ and the divine Eloquence of his holy spirit he is the best preacher that woos for Christ and not for himself and would set the crown upon his head and not his own it is not the best physitian that speaks most latine greek and hebrew but he that gives the surest and safest directions to recover health it is not the tickling of the fancy a preacher should so much minde as to speak convincingly to the conscience oh my soul judge not by the outward but the inward qualification neither cover hypocrisy by a mask of seeming sincerity for God will ere long pluck off such vizors slight no man meerly upon the account of poverty for God thinks never the worse of them admire no man meerly for his riches for God thinks never the better of him this is but to worship a golden calf the time is coming that the king must leave his robes behinde him and the beggar his rags and it is the inward qualifications that must distinguish between the one and the other Dives and Lazarus when they come to stand on even ground shall by these be tried and so must all by what means or titles soever they have been dignifyed distinguished or called it is our works and worth not our wealth will follow us whereever tâ—ou seest Christ in any own him for God will own him esteem grace in the soul more then money in the purse and the robes of righteousness above the most costly jewels a drachm of grace is worth thousands of gold and silver for thy councellors take the wisest not the wealthiest for wisdom and wealth many times dwell not together in the same house esteem that preacher best that speaks home to the heart and conscience not him that seeks to tickle the ear and please the fancy he that woos for Christ and not for himself and seeks to put the crown upon his head and not his own esteem that Sermon best where thou findest most of Christ and not that which is drest with gaudy notions and rhetorical flourishes which serve to darken and not illustrate the matter and are as king James was wont to say like red and blew flowers fine to look upon good for little but pester the corn a diseased man had rather have medicum sanantem quam eloquentem one that will rather do well then speak well oh my God should I cover my prophanness or hypocrisy with the vizor of seeming holiness thou wilt soon discover it and unmask me for thou searchest the heart and triest the reins and all things are open and apparent to thee Lord give me sincerity and truth in the inward part for this is thy gift make me such as thy own soul delights in let me not be deceived by my own deceitful heart nor think to deceive others for I cannot deceive thy all-seeing eye Upon the constant supply the vegetables need 33. Med. WHen I seriously considered that these beautiful creatures which now adorn the earth with their flowers and enamel it with their various shapes and colours and enrich it with their odours vertues and operations yet without a constant supply of mans labour pains and diligence and also of the influences of the heavens they would soon wither die and come to nothing some of them must be yearly set or sown or transplanted others preserved both from heat and cold and all need some manure care and pains weeding watering fencing or other cares this minded me of the condition of all earthy delights or enjoyments they must be renewed or they will soon vanish all things by sin are become subject to decay there is a vicissitude of earthly comforts and a constant change Mans life cannot be preserved without food and physick and other necessaries the four Elements fire air earth and water are so necessary that if eâ—â—her be denied mans life is at an end the houses we dwell in must be repaired or they will soon come to ruine and fall about our ears The most famous fabricks that ever the Sun saw are come to ruine The Piramides of Egypt the walls of Carthage the tomb of Mansolus or if there were any thing more famous or more durable yet time hath consumed and brought it to a ruinous heap the most impregnable castle the most invincible strong-hold if not repaired by labour and industry time levels with the ground we cannot say now of our garments as Moses of Israels cloaths Deut. 8.4 thy rayment waxed not old neither did thy foot swell this forty years it was not the worse for the wearing but as some imagine probably it grew as their bodies did they needed not to trouble themselves with anxious thoughts what to eat or what to drink or wherewith to be cloathed God brought them food to their tent-doors and provided rayment without their care or pains but with us all such comforts must be renewed with care and diligence with a care of the head though not of the heart or they will quickly be gone this consideration made me think what a great deal of confusion sin had brought into the world and subjected all things to vanity and vexation of spirit every thing saith Solomon is full of labour for as it brought death into the world so likewise all other miseries had it not been for sin we had never had aking head or aking heart or loss or cross or any thing to molest us and now every thing becomes a trouble man is born to trouble saith Job as the sparks fly upwards yet alass how doth the world bewitch men that they had rather be drudges and savages here and moil and toil and cark and care and live as it were in a dungeon and work as in the very fire then die and come to God this they make their portion this is their delight and all that they care for they sell their ease their pleasure and their very souls oh earth how dost thou bewitch us O satan how dost thou infatuate us oh heart how dost thou deceive us what disappointments doth foolish men meet with here and yet will take no warning we never did finde content and yet we are always promising our selves happinesse here where never any yet could finde it alass what proportion is there between a piece of gold and an immortal soul Oh my soul canst thou love this sin which hath brought all this misery and confusion into the world canst thou hug this viper in thy bosome which will sting thee to eternal death if not kil'd and mortified and canst thou place thy happiness in these vanishing perishing and withering vanities will these serve thy turn or boot thy needs or make thee happy can they pay thy debts or save thy
provided for thou art a thousand times in a worse condition then they are thou wast made for an higher end and fitted to do God better service but they never transgrest their makers will nor Creators laws as thou hast done and if thou art not regenerated and born again thou hadst better never have been born or else made a dog or toad or poor crawling worm whose misery ends with life when thine will begin at thy death these serve God better in their kinde then thou hast done Oh my God it was thy will there should be a difference between me and these irrational creatures thou hast indewed me with more noble faculties and didst create me in thy own image and madest me Lord over the work of thy hands but oh how soon was this image lost and I disabled for the work I was created for I became as a lost sheep O seek thy servant that I may be found I am the prodigal incline my heart to come home to my fathers house and open thy arms and heart to receive me give me in those qualifications that are necessary to thy service renew thine image in my soul pardon my transgressions and be favourable to my soul mortifie my corruptions then shall I be able to serve thee with chearfulness and shall have occasion to blese God that I was made a man and not a worm Upon an heap of Ants or Pismires 16. Med. FInding in the garden a heap of ants or pismires at the root of a tree which I look't upon as no friends but enemies to an orchard I disturbed them with my foot and they soon took the allarm whereupon I took notice how these painful creatures behaved themselves when thus disturbed they were all in a confusion some run this way and some that and no one knew where or how to settle and yet I observed every one laying hold of something and getting some burden upon his back though he knew not where to bear it I thought this confusion resembled a beseiged City when taken by the enemy or the Countrey when an enemy makes an incursion the inhabitants every one shifts for himself one runs this way another that to save himself and if it may be to secure his chiefest Jewels or that which he most values this minded me by the way that it was a Christians wisdome in all the incursions of satan and the inroads and assaults he makes upon us to secure the soul our chiefest Jewel and not leave it unguarded at his mercy this is our fort-royall which if taken we are undone but if safe though he take the out-works it matters not much if the castle be secure Let us store this therefore with provision and ammunition against the assaults of this treacherous enemy Again this confused stir that thus happened among these poor insects represented to me the hurlyburly that is abaoad in the world wherein are millions of men every one driving on some particular designe and yet go various ways to work some pursue after riches some honours and some pleasures and yet agree not on the way nor on the means to attain their end Those that aim at riches all tread not in the same steps some go a more plain way then others do and by labourious toiling carking care and pains seek to get it and are no ones foes but their own in spending so much time upon it that they neglect their greater concerns others by more subtill but less honest shifts cast their ground and think to take their prey before their neighbours these by lying cheating swearing forswearing cozening and circumventing make hast to be rich but cannot be innocent these ofttimes with the Eagle stealing meat from the altar bring a coal with it which fires their own nests ill-gotten goods seldome prosper and the third heir seldome enjoys them some in the pursuit of honour take the way of vertue and hunt after it by desert but these are but few yet this is the securest road others endeavour to ascend the steps of promotion by fawning and flattery and such indirect courses but though these are the most by far yet ofttimes they break their necks ere they come to the top of the ladder and are always set in slippery places the former way though least trodden and most painfull is the surest and safest for honour follows virtue as the shadow doth the substance others that pursue pleasure differ also some seek after more innocent delights others esteem none worth enjoying but what is the forbidden fruit and desperatly pursue such pleasures that perish ere they are budded and the end of that mirth is heaviness In a word some are building castles in the air and never live to finish them others are getting goods and know not who shall enjoy them others are raking together by hook or by crook and others are scattering abroad what is thus scraped together and spend all and know not who shall relieve them some are promising themselves content if they had a Lordship others if they had a Dukedome and some if they had a Kingdcm which if attained they are no nearer satisfaction then before and they are scarce warm in their places but death with a dash with his foot breaks the pitcher and spoils the sport and strips him of that in an hour that he hath been projecting for all his life and thus you see there is a confused hurly-burly in the world every man driving on his own designes and God all this while tacitly by this is a carrying on his designes perhaps quite contrary to theirs Or this tumultuous confusion amongst these little creatures may resemble a crowd in a market or fair some rush this way some that that he that stands at a distance and observes their motion thinks it is a confusion yet every man is carrying on some designe or other and moves accordingly Oh my soul lose not thy self thy pains thy precious time as many do in seeking honey in a wasps nest or that in the world which no man was ever yet able to finde there content satisfaction and happiness these are not sown in the furrows of thy field and therefore are not to be found in full bags and barns content grows not in natures garden and those that seek happiness beneath the moon are mistaken the enjoyment of God in glory is our compleat happiness and nothing else will give the soul content let the world say what it will to the contrary carking cares and fretting fears and Jealousies about earthly enjoyments are so far from being the way to it that it choaks the word which is the means to attain it the riches honours and pleasures the world affords which are the worlds Deity whereupon most men doat as much as the Ephesians did upon Diana's Temple bear no more proportion to true riches true pleasures and true honours then painted fire on the wall to true fire or a King upon a Stage to a King upon the throne
soul alass they cannot they cannot procure thee one days respite out of hell or one days freedome from sickness or from death they cannot give thee any satisfaction here for content grows not in the worlds garden there are indeed joys worth having pleasures worth minding and riches worth labouring for happiness that shall never have an end that are not subject to changes nor vicissitudes as earthly enjoyments are but they are to be sought for above in the enjoyment of God in whose presence alone true happiness dwells The happiness the world promiseth are meer delusions a little honey and many stings a little bitter sweet pleasures that perisheth ere it bud in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is heaviness their joy is but like the crackling of thorns under a pot soon in soon out if thou wilt trade let it be in a surer commodity and not with the merchant have fortunam rudentibus aptam thy estate depending winde and weather if thou wilt be planting let it be in a better soil and not where thorns and thistles are like to be thy reward there is a treasure to be had a pearl of great price to be bought Mat. 13.44 45. whosoever deals in these cannot lose by them in comparison of which pearls and diamonds and precious rubies are not to be named these are they that make the soul rich all other riches doth it no good this makes it rich to God and lovely comely amiable in his sight oh my God give me this treasure and it sufficeth though I have nothing else all other things I can spare Christ I cannot spare he is the breath of my life and the life of my soul let the world take their portion alass it is a miserable portion I envy them not but Lord put me not off with such pittifull poor things let me have an interest in Christ and communion with him let me lie for ever in his bosome and let the enjoyment of him be my portion let me be an inhabitant in the city of pearl where no dirty dog shall tread upon the pavement my heart pants after this as the chased hart after the water-brooks when Lord shall I come and appear before thee come Lord Jesus come quickly Upon the sudden withering of flowers 34. Med. WHen I beheld the beauty splendour and glory of several herbs and flowers and other vegetables when they were in their pride and in their prime and invited all eyes to behold them and to do them homage and when I considered withall how short-lived they were how soon they withered vanished and perished and their glory passed away and came to nothing I thought this was a fit embleme to set forth humane frailty and the worlds glory by for both are transitory and vain for man himself who is Lord of these flowers he soon fades and is withered as a flower yea many times in the flower of his age how frequently doth the Scripture compare man to the grass and to the flower of the field which this day flourisheth and to morrow fadeth their glorious beauty is as a fading flower and as the hasty fruit before the summer c. Esay 28.1 4. all flesh is grass and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass the grass withereth and the flower fadeth away 1 Pet. 1.24 man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble he cometh forth like a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not Job 14.1 2. Now they are fresh and flourishing and sudenly they decline now in the heigth of youthfull vanity and sudenly they pass away and the place that knew them shall know them no more if they live cares and fears sickness and old age succeed of which they are forc't to say they have no pleasure in them death it self many times calls men off the stage when they think they have but begun to act their parts and puts an exit to them and their work is done and their part ended But suppose life were more certain yet our earthly enjoyments and our happiness here are transitory and vain and all the felicity the world brags of is but a meer fancy and a very cheat at the best it is but a mixture of sweet and sowr a little honey and a great deal of gall and the end of that mirth is heaviness if the happiness be such what is the misery man himself is but a bubble how great soever he may seem and with what titles soever he be dignified and soon shall he be prickt by death and the winde let out and then a great bubble and a little one cannot be distinguished and all the pleasures which vain man takes in all his youthful follies is but like a bush of thorns and wisp of straw on fire make a sudden blaze and is forthwith extinguished they make a noise for a while and then vanish into smoak youthfull pleasures are soon over and carking care treads out their steps and old age makes them forgotten youth is like young lambs they leap and frisk awhile while they have the dug to run to when they are hungry but when they are once weaned and set to shift for themselves the sport is over so youth under their parents providence minde their sports but when once at their own provision cares and pains spoil the mirth and make it little minded The world also frowns and smiles upon the same man many times the same day and useth him as a tennisball now lifts him up and sudenly casts him down raiseth him to the top of honour and then plungeth him into the gulph of disgrace Now it shews him abundance of riches and then pincheth him with extremity of poverty now it mixeth him a cup with pleasure and presently fills it with gall and wormwood that which the world calls pleasures and for which so many sell their souls are but like those of the drunkard that last but while he is swallowing the drink and then succeeds belchings and vomitings sickness and sorrow wallowing in the mire and such like or like that of the adulterer which is often attended with pains aches rottenness filthy diseases not fit to be named and death it self and indeed these two beastly sins have much of that which the world calls pleasure but the effects shew it is wrong named sickness succeeds health and deformity beauty sorrow treads upon the heels of pleasure and adversity follows prosperity and there is a vicissitude and change in all humane affairs he is a stranger in the world that knows not these things David tells us Psal 37 35. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found whether he have reference to Saul and his family I know not yet in the next generation how was his
the Jewel we shall have the box if we buy the wine we shall have the cask and if we seek first the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof all other things shall be added Mat. 6.33 most men begin at the wrong end they make sure the world and think then all is safe and heaven sure but would they make heaven sure riches should not be wanting but most men think that scraping and keeping together is the way to be rich but the holy Ghost teacheth us that it is giving and laying out is the way Solomon tells us he that gives to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him Pro. 19.17 and he that gives to the poor shall not lack Pro. 28.27 so that not getting but giving is the way to wealth but he shall have judgement without mercy that will shew no mercy Jam. 2.13 rich men are Gods stewards he trusts them with his store-house to give their fellow-servants their meat in due season and blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall finde so doing Mat. 24.46 but if insteed of feeding them they feed themselves and eat and drink with the drunken and beat their fellow-servants their Lord shall come when they are not aware and shall give them their portion with hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth but all places are too full of such evil servants and so is hell too such dust-heaps are found in every corner but those unmercifull men shall have their portion with the devil and the damned Mat. 25.34 when the charitable Christian shall have a portion in glory we are all Gods servants and have some talents or other to improve in his service to his glory which if we do we shall not be without our reward there is none saith God shuts the door of my house for nought or kindles a fire upon my altar for nought Mal. 1.10 he hath lent us our riches and yet if we improve them and employ them as we ought they will become our own and we shall send them to heaven before us where they will be made up into a crown for us this is the only good they can do the soul but whatsoever is not thus improved is lost yea worse then lost for it will be put upon our account and required of us when we give an account of our stewardship It is a great mistake and so it will be found when men think they have an absolute propriety in what they enjoy and may dispose of it at their pleasure Christ bids the young man sell all that he had and give to the poor and he should have treasure in heaven Mat. 19.21 and rich men are charged to be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to give that they may lay up for themselves a good foundation against the evil day 1 Tim. 6.16 c. had rich men but Moses eye to see the wealth of heaven and the worth of it it were not hard for them to make such a choise as he did worldlings if they could have heaven without labour or cost they would accept of it if not they will not buy it at so dear a rate but Christians say as Mephibosheth let Zibah take all so I may enjoy the king oh my soul here is riches worth labouring for thou canst not buy this gold at too dear a rate the world thou maist and many do with the loss of the soul here thou canst not be disappointed whatever rate thou setst upon this treasure it is ten thousand times better lay hold upon this make heaven sure to thy self improve the world to a spiritual advantage then will thy riches encrease as the oyl in the cruse or like the bread in Christs hands or the water in a spring thy good works will follow thee to heaven when the world will leave her dearest minions oh my God let it be so say amen to my prayer let me have thee and I have all things necessary Upon mens misery labour and pains 73. Med. WHen I considered that man that was the chief of Gods workmanship and next to the angels the most glorious creature of the whole creation yea in his creation was made little lower then the angels and cloathed with honour and dignity Psal 8.5 and was made Lord over the works of Gods hands Gen. 1.26 yea God created him in his own image all these inferiour creatures were made for his sake and for his use and service he was their little Lord yea the angels themselves are ministring spirits sent out for the good of those that love God Heb. 1.14 the saints are the Church the spouse the bride the members of Christ and so seem to be in nearer union to him then the angels themselves some think the devils envied this and so fell from their own station thus you see how man in the creation was exalted to honour but on the other side I considered how man above all the rest of the creatures was more subjected to misery labour and slavery yea vexation of spirit then any other and many of them even worn out with carking cares and fretting fears with moiling toyling spending labour which tires their bodies breaks their sleep in the night when other creatures which were made for their use and are their servants rest secure and free from daily cares and nightly troubles many kindes of them are preserved without their pain all without their care or fore-cast the masters care for some and maintain them and God maintains the rest but it is not so with man he must eat his bread in the sweat of his brows how true is that of Joh chap. 5.7 man is born to labour as the sparks fly upwards all things are full of labour saith Solomon Eccl. 1.8 molestation and misery meet us at every turn the world saith one is a sea of glass for it is vanity mingled with fire for it is vexation Rev. 4.6 man is in a restless condition tossed to and fro like a football and here he hath no resting place when I sought out the cause of this why this noble creature should be thus subjected to trouble and sorrow more then any others I quickly found out it was Gods will and mans desert for had man continued in his primitive purity he had never had an aking head or aking heart or loss or cross or any thing to molest him but when he had sin'd God pronounced this sentence upon him in the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread which law never yet was reversed The beasts of the field never transgrest their makers law as man hath done and therefore never had such punishment threatned as man had though it is conceived they are sufferers for mans sin Rom. 8.20 had not sin gone before trouble and misery had never followed the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life and as sin brought death so also sorrow into the world
but like rotten shining wood many that have had lamps in their hands have had them blown out for lack of oyl Many have seemed like corn fresh and flourishing but proved like that on the stony ground or on the house-top never came to maturity when the winde turns they soon kick up their profession and steal away from their colours or when the sun of persecution is up wither oh my soul promise not thy self great things in the world neither content thy self with small things for eternity be as serious for grace as others are for gold and make as sure for heaven as others do for the world if thou wilt plant let it be in a better soil then maist thou expect a better encrease neither winde nor sun frost nor snow thunder nor lightning can blast or nip those flowers of paradice Lord take off my affection from the world and set them upon Christ then shall I never be disappointed of my hopes Upon leaves falling in Autumn 90. Med. WHen I observed in autumn after a nipping frost seconded by a gust of winde how fast the leaves fell from the trees that in a short time those that were cloathed in a lusty green began to look withered dead and dry and to put on their winter coat methought this resembled much our mortality when the autumn of age comes upon us these bodies of ours like leaves fall of themselves into deaths lap but seldom do they hang on so long some casual accident or other oft bears them down before they wither ofttimes some common calamity as the sword or pestilence or other contagious disease like a violent tempest doth bear all down before it two hundred thousand together in Ireland and very many in England death mowed down in a few days where they fell as leaves before the winde or as corn before the reapers hook it is noted that in one years space a hundred thousand fell in our chief city blown down by the blast of death and thus in all the world throughout men are swept away as with a sweeping storm some few are gathere in in a good old age but the most of men blown down while they are yet green the falling of these leaves did also seem to me to resemble the apostacy and downfall of hypocrites the house of whose profession is built upon the sand and cannot resist the winde and waves this is a foolish builder that neither sat down first to reckon the charges neither was at the cost to lay a firm foundation neither considered the rain would fall the windes blow and the flouds beat and overthrow his buildings they follow Christ as a dog follows his master tiâ—l he meets with carion and then turns him up as Orphah made a fair proffer of going along with Naomi but better considering returned back It is noted of the chesunt if it be not broken at the top when east into the fire it leaps out again so doth a hypocrite when he comes to be tried he is like a false jade in a teem which being put to a stress turns tail and tramples but the godly hold on and persist In the summer when the sun of the gospel shines upon them they hold on and look fresh and fragrant and seem to be not only members but pillars of the Church as the Apostles had a good opinion of Judas so that they rather mistrusted themselves then him and cryed out Master is it I so true believers rather mistrust themselves then those forward professors yet in persecuting times these fall as leaves before the winde and wither as the corn on the stony ground or that which grows upon the hose top and discover a fruitless bulk and withering root the stony ground received the word with joy and endured for a while but when the sun was up they were quickly offended Herod may hear the word gladly and endure for a time but being not sound at the heart he fals off a branch in a moist place though it have no root may for a while bud and leave but when heat comes will certainly wither and the leaves fall when Christianity is in credit many will cry Hosanah to the sun of David and when in contempt they will cry crucify a hypocrite will be catching at comforts as children do at sweet-meats ere they are soundly humbled and are stuffing themselves pillows with the promises that they may sin more securely when the Jews were in savour many turn Jews for fear of the Jews and when in danger their seeming friends prove their sorest enemies they are professors upon designe and they will be religious while religion suits their interest and promotes their advantage but when it hinders them they lay it aside as the workman doth the tool he needs not or will not serve his turn and takes another if profaness yea persecution serves his designe better he will make use of that if a few prayers or outside duties which are like to cost them little they are content to go to heaven this way but if it come to sufferings or forsaking any thing for Christ vadet Christus cum suo Evangelio let Christ go with his gospel and keep his heaven to himself for he will have none of it they will not buy heaven at so dear a rate The Gospel hath many swallow-friends which will be gone at the approach of winter when the corn is gone the rats leave the barn and when no secular advantage is in sight but rather storms appearing many professors will be no longer religious but Christ tells us he that loveth father or mother son or daughter more then him is not worthy of him Mat. 10.37 because he holdeth any one worthy of more love then Christ God will set no lower a rate on his son and glory he that will have this pearl must part with all Mat. 13.44.45 and he that doth so makes a good bargain we cannot buy this gold too dear or give too much for heaven and happiness he that thinks to grasp and hold both heaven and earth in the same hand and lodge them in the same heart may as well imagine he can reconcile fire and water and hide them together in the same bosome when two men walk together we know not whose servant it is that follows them but when they part the servant owns his own Master oh my soul take heed of dissembling with God that will not be mocked close with him and he will close with thee build upon the rock so shalt not thou be shaken and though at death thy body fall like a leaf yet thy root shall remain oh my God let me not deceive my self let me lay a good foundation then shall I stand in all storms Vpon a fruit-tree pelted with stones 91. Med. WHen I beheld a fruit-bearing-tree that was richly laden with the choisest fruit and perceiving that this tree above all the rest was preyed upon by the passengers for almost every one had a stick
thou provided another habitation against this shall be disolved and moulder into dust when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved hast thou a building not made with hands but eternal in the heavens hast thou acted thy part well upon the stage of the world that thou maist go off with applause â—f not … s better thou hadst not been born for if death meet thee unprepared as thy body moulders into dust so must thou down to everlasting darkness there to suffer eternally the demerit of thy sin Oh my God! take me not away before I be fit to be lodged in thy bosome kill me not before my sin be killed if any thing that is necessary be wanting Lord give it in and let me not be deceived in so great a thing as the salvation of my soul Let my sins die and let my soul live Let me see the funeral of my vices before others see the funeral of my body Vpon a Tuft of green Grass 3. Med. WAlking into the Garden as at other times to take the ayr I fastened my eyes upon a green tuft of grass that grew besides me the sight of it brought to my remembrance what I had often heard and read viz. that the damned in hell should suffer exquisite torments such as the tongue of men or angels are not able to express and that for as many millions of years as there are grass-piles upon the earth sands on the sea shoar stars in heaven and motes in the Sun and yet after all this long tract of time their torments shall be no nearer to an end nor they to a delivery then they were the first day they were cast in This made me a little to consider the number of piles that was in this little tuft and when I found it too hard for me to number them I considered what was this tuft to one pasture or that to one Parish or that to one County or that to one Kingdome or that to the whole world this made me to cry out Oh Eternity Eternity who can conceive of thee who can fathom thee Oh the horrible nature of sin that provokes a mercifull God to lay such heavy strokes upon his poor creatures Oh the love and pains of our dear Redeemer what did he suffer to quench those flames and discharge those debts for his people in suffering what was due for their sins and oh the madness of men and my own folly that knowing there is such a remediless gulf before us run on so madly towards it and that for momentary pleasures deceitfull riches worthless honour or filthy sin do venture the soul upon the pikes of danger Oh the misery of poor unregenerate wretches what will you do in the latter end who amongst us shall dwell with devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burning Esay 33.14 Tophet is prepared of old even for the King it is prepared the pile thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone doth kindle it Esaiah 30.33 Were a man compelled to lie upon a feather bed but one year without turning or stirring though other comforts were afforded how painful how tedious would that year seem but what is this one year to eternity or what is a featherbed to scalding lead and burning brimstone or what is that to hell torments Oh Satan how dost thou deceive us Oh world how dost thou insnare us Oh sin how dost thou bewitch us Oh heart how dost thou betray us to this deadly danger Oh earth how dost thou betray thy fastest friends and payest them off with pains for pleasure and buyest their souls for a thing of naught Oh Satan who would be thy servant if this be thy wages and yet how many fish come to thy net and how prosperous hast thou been when thou hast baited thy hooks with the world Oh my soul is Eternity such a fathomless gulf without bank or bottom how stands the case with thee art thou for everlasting joy or endless torment what interest hast thou in the one or what hopes to avoid the other what hast thou that a hypocrite cannot have or what dost thou that he cannot do God surely expects great difference in the work when there is so much in the reward give thy eyes no sleep nor thy eye-lids no slumber till thou hast some comfortable assurance of the love of God in the pardon of thy sins and the salvation of thy soul make peace with thy Creditour before thou art cast into prison otherwise there must thou remain till thou hast paid the utmost farthing If death surprize thee before thou art ready hell will be thy lodging get oyl trim up thy lamp get on thy wedding-garment that thou be not shut out into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth Oh my God! make me such as thy own soul delights in give me in the qualifications thou hast made necessary to Salvation thou knowest my wants Lord supply them my debts oh forgive them my corruptions Lord subdue them and binde up my soul in the bundle of life write my name in thy book and at last lay me up amongst thy Jewels Vpon a barren plat of ground 4. Med. WHen I perceived one plot in my garden fruitful and another barren and observed the difference between the one and the other how lovely how amiable how pleasant the fruitful plat seemed to me how fresh and fragrant how green and ardent it was how it was diapred with various coloured flowers beautiful and lovely and how lothsome unseemly and unhandsome the other lookt where nothing appeared but briars and thorns weeds and thistles with stones and rubbish which was a fit receptacle for toads and serpents and other venemous vermine I began to consider it was yet possible to reduce this plot into a better form and turn it to a better use And hereupon I caused the rubbish to be stockt up the weeds to be pluckt up and the stones pickt out and after I digged and manured it and had an effect answerable to my expectation for when it was sown with better seed it brought forth better fruit The unlovelinesse of this plot when overgrown with weeds and rubbish produced this following Meditation I thought it lively represented a heart barren of grace and goodnesse but fruitfull of briars and thorns sin and wickednesse which is more odious to God then this plot was to me and yet how lovely a fruit bearing Christian is in his eye the one is like a loathsome muck-heap which stinks the other like a watered garden that yields a sweet favour like a garden of spices Cant. 4.14 the one brings forth fruit for Gods basket the other fewell for the devils fire all the seed sown upon it is lost and choakt with briars and thorns and all the rain that falls upon it doth but make the weeds more rank and flourishing their grape is the grape of Sodom and of the fields of
instinct into them thus to cherish their young hath given them also so much knowledge as to fit them to do it Having spent some time in this Observation unobserved I thought to try her affections to her young ones a little further I approached the nest as if I intended to rob her of her young where I observed that poor creature naturally fearful and timerous with what boldness confidence and undaunted courage she opposed her self to her small power to have rescued her young ones out of my hand even to the hazard of her own life this plainly discovered to me the divine providence of the great householder that doth not only provide meat but also some one to give it in due season and to help those that cannot help themselves and puts such an instinct into such poor despicable creatures that they deny themselves to help their young ones and venture their lives for their safety and never leave them till they are able to help themselves and then forsake them as if they knew them not and that he gives such a blessing to the labours of these two poor wretches that such a numerous brood should be provided for and no doubt brings the prey to them by his providence this also may silence our Atheists and may make him lay his hand upon his mouth for what accidentall concurring of atomes can occasion this this made me also consider how degenerate a piece poor man is many of them having obliterated what the most savage animals have retained viz. this natural affection to their young so that we may take up that complaint against many in our times more deservedly then the Prophet doth against Israel Lam. 4.3 even the sea monsters draw out their breasts and give suck to their young ones the daughter of my people is become cruel like the Ostriches in the wilderness these forsake their children through the extremity of famine or for want of natural affection Rom. 1.31 there are many refuse to labour to maintain their charge the fouls of the air will rise up in judgment against these yea many waste and spend that riotously that is provided to their hands when these poor creatures pinch their own bellies to feed their little ones how many men and women endued with reason do so obliterate it that they expose their children wilfully to want and penury yea to plain beggery yea when the very bruits seek what they can to preserve their young and many venture their lives in their quarrel and set themselves between them and danger yet too many that bear the name of men and women have so far obliterated those principles nature hath imprinted in them that they often lay violent hands upon their own children and not only contrive their death but also effect it I would daily experience did not speak out this truth too lowd what assizes is there almost but some or other are tried for their lives upon this account But though some have a care of their childrens bodies there are but a few that make any provision for their souls though that be their master piece but suffer them to be eternally ruined Oh the stupendious folly of the most of men they train up their children as they do their horses teach them to drudge and then they think they have given them sufficient education many if they can leave them an estate though with a curse intailed upon it have their desires many are too tender of the body that have little care of the soul let that sink or swim but the time will come that the soul will be found the choisest jewel and the loss of that the greatest loss oh my soul be diligent in thy calling make provision for thy relations to thy power he that provides not for his family hath denyed the faith and is worse then an infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 be not without natural affections but that is not enough be not without spiritual affections see that they have mentem sanam in corpore sano though the body must not be neglected nor the things of the world slieghted yet know this is not the main a little grace is worth a great deal of gold keep a mean in earthly enjoyments between coveteousness prodigality fear not an extream in spirituals oh my God help me to regulate my life both to externals and internals by the rule of thy word and spirit Upon the prating of a Parrat 65. Med. HEaring a Parrat talk and prate and counterfeit mans voice and utter words which yet he understood not when I had considered of it I thought it was a lively embleme of an hypocrite for as this bird doth imitate man and counterfeits his voice so doth an hypocrite imitate a true Christian both in words and gestures speaks as he speaks and acts as he acts for what action or what duty can a Christian perform as to the external part of it which an hypocrite cannot doth not do As there is no hearb in the garden but there is some counterfeit of it in the field which resembles it so there is no grace in the heart of a believer but the devil hath its counterfeit and therefore it is a cunning thing to be a Christian and an easy thing to be deceived for what can a true Christian do for the bulk and materiality of duty but a hypocrite can do also yea sometimes seems to exceed him and as in duty so in conference and discourse it is hard to discern the one from the other hypocrisy may be spun with a fine thred and hardly discerned either in the cloath or colour from sincerity but it is often found out in the wearing to be but a cheat in storms and tempests it is apt to change colour and will not hold out but shrinks in the wetting there is indeed a difference now both in garb and language the one is truly beautiful the other is but paint and varnish which time makes to fade they speak it is true the same things but the one speaks what he knows and the other by hearsay both may discourse the deep mysteries of Religion as the parrat may mysteryes of state if taught but understand not what they say Can a true Christian discourse of redemption regeneration conversion adoption sanctification c. so can the other also but the one speaks what he feels the other not the Christian findes the marks and tokens of it in his own soul the other not can the one discourse of the workings of the spirit in the heart of a believer the actings of grace of communion with God c. so can the other can the one speak out his experiences of the goodness of God the vanity of the creature the bitterness of sin the comforts and directions of the spirit the beauty of holiness c. the other can counterfeit this also but all this while the hypocrites heart and tongue agree not he disclaims against that sin which he loves and pleads
a little clog at her foot I took notice how when she endevoured to mount up she was always hindred and pluckt back again and all her endeavours proved vain as prisoners that are in for flagitious offences have fetters shackles and great store of irons clapt upon them to prevent their escape and hinder their flight so it fared with this poor bird she had a weight that she could not lift I perceived she had a will to be gone but power was wanting she was not content with her slavery â—ut how to remedy it she knew not endeavours were not wanting but a wished success succeeded not I thought this much resembled the state of the poor soul by nature who was taken prisoner by satan at the fall and ever since kept under restraint and the devil leads her captive at his pleasure and he hath to secure his prisoner shackled and fettered her ever since for fear of an escape from which she cannot free her self but remains still under bondage nay the unregenerate man is so fettered and clog'd and as it were lockt to a post that he cannot stir or so much as lift up his eyes or heart to heaven and so infatuated withall that he cannot heartily desire his liberry or pray for it Satan hath put such a force upon him that he is content to have his ear bored and to serve him for ever he is so acquainted with his service that he thinks there is no better Master nor no better work he is like a bruit beast still grovelling upon the earth and thinks there is no greater happiness he is like Ulisses his men fabled by Circes charmes to be turned into swine and being put to their choise were content so to remain and not assume their human shape again so these are so bewitcht by Satan that they are unwilling to be Gods free men they know no other happiness then to have their swill and to wallow in the mire and are angry with them that would help them out they finde more pleasure in their drinking and drabbing then ever they did in praying and hearing upon these we may write the Lord have mercy upon them for they have a plague-sore running upon them they are sick to death and yet feel nothing ailing them there is but one physitian in the world can cure them and that must be with a plaister of his blood but we pass by these as yet wholly at the devils command and in his power But there are another sort of men that have this clog at the heel and that is the regenerate that have the skales of ignorance in some measure wiped from their eyes and have a principle of life in them yet are not free from this clog though they are weary and fain would be free but cannot and though their clog be lightned and many of their shackles and bolts knockt off yet cannot they mount up as they desire they cannot content themselves with their earthly enjoyments fain they would have a better portion yet corruption hangs so fast on they have much ado to mount up to take a veiw of their heavenly mansion they dare not espouse their souls to any creature-comfort and yet can maintain but little communion with their husband Christ if they do mount upon the wings â—f contemplation and get a Pisgah-sight of heaven and a veiw of those invisible things at Gods right hand yet how soon are they down again and much ado to get a glimps of Christ they are like a man that is looking at a star through an Optick-glass held with a palsey hand it is but now and then they can get a sight their corruption therefore that remains unmortified makes them cry out with the Apostle Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Oh my soul is not this thy condition how comes it otherwise to pass that thou prayest so coldly and hearest so drowsily praisest God so faintly and performest every duty so carelesly is not heaven worth the having and all the pains thou canst bestow about it is not thy soul worth the saving and eternity worth minding canst thou be zealous about trifles and negligent in things of greatest concernment sure there are heavy clogs lie upon thy heels that thou runnest no faster why art thou such a stranger to divine Meditation thou canst think of the world without weariness though it be from morning to night why then are thy thoughts of heaven so few and forced why art thou so soon tired in duty so soon weary of ordinances and so overly in them that many times thou hast scarce a glimps of Christ in a duty and but little communion with him at best why dost thou feed upon the husks of duty and content thy self with the bare performance though thou meet not with Christ in the duty will this feed thee will it make thee fat how comes it to pass so many vain thoughts roving imaginations impertinent wandrings are mixt with thy holiest dutys and most solemn services do not those evidence to thy face that corruption remains strong in thee and grace weak and why contentest thou thy self with these fetters and strivest not prayest not more against them Oh my God when shall I be freed from these when wilt thou knock off these bolts and free me from these fetters and inlarge my feet that I may run the ways of thy commandments then will my soul mount up to thee with chearfulness then shall I serve God without weariness or distraction oh fit me for my change and then come Lord Jesus come quickly give me oyl in my vessel grace in my heart and the wedding-garment of sincerity for my soul and then come at what hour thou pleasest Upon birds observing their seasons of coming and returning 70. Med. WHen I observed the cuckoe the swallow and many other sorts of birds how exactly they observed their seasons both in coming and returning and all other birds in their building and breeding how exact they were and lost not the opportunity nor neglected the season It brought to my minde Gods complaint against Israel his own people and thought how justly it might be charged against us Jer. 8.7 The stork of the heaven knows her appointed time the turtle the crane and the swallow know the time of their coming but my people know not the judgments of the Lord as if he should say these silly birds by a natural instinct without the use of reason know the times and seasons of their going and returning but my people that have greater helps and furtherances yet take no notice of the seasons of grace and of the times of their visitation he complains likewise Esay 1.3 the oxe knows his owner and the ass his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people do not consider and is not this Englands case few consider the time of their visitation or take notice of the footsteps of Gods departure Christ also
or stone a staff or stake to throw at it when those trees that were barren and worthless or brought forth fruit sowr or unsavory were let alone and none molested them when their better neighbours were rent and torn in pieces for their fruit sake this Observation made me think these fruit-bearing trees did much resemble a fruit-bearing Christian for none in the world are more liable to sufferings then they are and that for their fruits sake the more real fruit they bring forth and the more savoury fruit they bear the more danger they are in and the more blows they bear both from hand and tongue when others that are Christians graceless fruitless and worthless escape scot-free and not one molesteth them many a one that leads a lewd vicious and debaucht life who makes a trade of sin and lives in the constant breach both of divine and humane laws yet escapes all Courts of Judicature civil and Ecclesiastical and all other molestations and persecutions when an holy humble Christian is oft entangled in the briars and fleeced by those to whom he flys for succour yet here lyes the difference between a fruitful Christian and a fruitful tree the tree is beaten for the fruits sake but it is for love to it and so is robbed and pilled and beaten like a man that fals among thieves and is stript of his substance the other is beaten also for the fruit sake but it is in opposition to it and hatred of it in the one the passenger desires to enjoy it in the other to beat it down The best of men have met with the greatest opposition and the more eminent Christians have usually the more eminent opposers the devil will not suffer them to be quiet Jeremiah which was a great prophet and lived an upright and unblamable life was not free Jer. 20.7 I am in derision daily every one mocketh me I neither saith he lend upon usury neither do men lend to me upon usury yet every one curseth me Jer. 15.10 and it was not only tongue-persecution but that of the hand also which he suffered he was cast into a miry dungeon put into the stocks hated by the Princes and all his crime was he spake the word of the Lord what he had given him in charge to speak it was for his fruits sake that he was thus beaten The like we reade of David a man after Gods own heart he had more fruit then others and therefore had more stones thrown at him for his fruit sake Psal 69.18 they that sit in the gate speak against me and I was a song to the drunkards Psal 35.15 in mine adversity they rejoyced they gathered themselves together yea the abjects gathered themselves together against me and I knew it not they did tear me and ceased not with hypocritical mockers in feasts they gnashed upon me with their teeth he met with hand persecution also for Saul sought his life and hunted him as a partrich upon the mountains Holy Job the best man living in his age by Gods own testimony yet he was not free he was accused by the devil robbed by the Chaldeans and Sabeans forsaken by his friends disdained by his enemies tempted by his wife and scorned by the abjects Job 30.1 but now they that are younger then I have me in derision whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my stock ver 9. yet now I am their song yea I am their by-word they ahhor me they flee from me and spare not to spit in my face c. Elijah Elisha Amos do not escape Joseph Daniel and his fellows are hated for their fruit yea all the Prophets The Apostles also were made a gazing stock and suffered both reproaches and affliction Heb. 10.33 and those Worthys of whom the world was not worthy Heb. 11.35 c. they had cruel mockings and scourgings bonds and imprisonments they were stoned sawn asunder tempted c. and it was for fruit that Stephen had stones cast upon him but the disciple is not above his Master Christ himself though never man spake like him and never man did such works as he did yet never man did more unjustly suffer then he never man so abused with hand and tongue even to the taking away his precious life he was hated by the world and so shall all that bear his image As bats fly from the light so the blinde world cannot endure this sun of righteousness as it is said of some barbarous Nations under the Meridian they curse the sun when it ariseth for scorching them so wicked men cannot abide to have the sun shine too full in their faces light is come into the world but men love darkness because their works are evil and though they agree not among themselves yet all join together against the power of godliness like Herod and Pilate against Christ though dogs worry one another yet all set against the trembling hare though Ephraim be against Manasseth and Manasseth against Ephraim yet both are against Judah oh my soul if thou bear any good fruit expect some stick or stone to be thrown at thee and if thou meet with none expect there is little fruit to be seen or found or that it is not good nor savoury if thou dost suffer for well-doing rejoice that thou art accounted worthy and consider all thou canst suffer for Christ is but a chip or splinter of that cross which he bore for thee and leave not heavens road for a scoff or scorn lest in hell the devil deride thee for thy folly is thy good name more precious then his he was reprocht for thee and he that will not suffer a mock for Christ will hardly suffer death those that are ashamed of him here he will not own hereafter oh my God let me never leave the way for fear of the cross let me not think my bloud too good to shed for Christ that thought not his too good to shed for me Vpon fruit left on the trees after shaking 92. Med. IN the Autumn when fruit waxt ripe and the gathering time was come when the trees were shak't and the fruit gathered in yet I beheld there was here and there an apple pear or plum or other fruit still remaining on the trees which stuck fast notwithstanding the shaking and all the force and violence that had been used but these were but a few and those commonly the soundest and most durable This brought to my minde the command of God in the time of the law Lev. 19.9 10. and 23.22 Deut. 24.9 c. where God commands the Jews when they reaped their fields to leave some of the corners thereof standing and not to gather up the gleanings but to leave them for the poor and when they shak't their olives and other fruit trees to leave some clusters remaining and not to gather the fruit in clean that so it might be for the poor and needy of the land and for the stranger
better provided the soul here wears the body as a garment which when it is worn out the saints shall have a better suit they shall be choathed with the Lord Jesus Christ death will not spare the best there is no coming to paradice but under the flaming sword of this guardian that stands at the porch no wiping all tears from our eyes but with our winding-sheet assurance of Gods love makes a man even willing to die but the cook on the dunghill knows not the worth of this jewel oh the blindness madness and stupidity of man whose care is to lade himself with thick clay and to take care what he shall eat or what he shall drink or wherewithall he shall be cloathed and makes no provision for the soul but depends upon that for comfort that can do no good when most need is they can provide in the day for the night in the summer for the winter on the market-day for the whole week and at a Fair for the whole year and yet make no provision in life for death or in time for eternity if a coelestial habitation be not provided against those houses of clay our bodies wherein the soul lodgeth as a tenant at will be dissolved our lodging will be worse then with toads and serpents even with the devil and his angels in endless easeless and remediless torments oh my soul how fares it with thee or what preparation hast thou made long it cannot be before night comes where then will be thy lodging the earth then will be to thee as the waters to Noahs dove thou wilt finde no rest here for the sole of thy foot it is in heaven that the weary be at rest Job 3.17 oh my God enable me to clear up my interest in Christ who is the only sanctuary for a troubled soul Upon sickness spoiling all earthly delights 98. Med. WHen I had fitted things to my minde and began to take delight in the works of my hands when I began to sing a requiem to my self and my heart with Solomons rejoyced in all my labour Eccl. 2.10 yea when I had promised my self content in what I had done I was suddenly forced to say with wise Solomon Eccles 14. behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit nothing in themselves yet sufficient to vex and perplex us sin hath produced a confusion in the world and stampt vanity upon the creature every man saith David in his best estate is altogether vanity this is the impartiall verdict brought in by one that could best tell and to this I was forc't to subscribe for God immediatly humbled me for setting my affection upon creature-comforts and let me see the vanity of them by visiting me with a fit of sickness that I was taken off from setting my delight or taking satisfaction in or upon them or taking any pleasure in any thing that I had done nay I was troubled that I had not spent my time better and that I had not planted set or sown in a more fertile soil where I might have expected a more plentiful encrease and had a better crop this providence seemed to speak to me as Christ did to the rich man Luk. 12.16 c. that set his heart on his riches and was not rich to God thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee and then whose are these this shewed me more of the vanity of humane felicity then I had before observed I plainly saw there was a double uncertainty in all earthly felicity and in sublunary enjoyments for they themselves are very uncertain and many times short-lived and may leave us or we may by death be arrested and then we shall leave them God sometimes takes them from us they take themselves wings and fly away and shall we set our eyes upon things that are not Pro. 23.5 there is no solid substance in them though the foolish world call it by that name they are as transitory as a hasty headlong torrent but if they remain we shall remove for our life passeth away as a shadow or post or weavers shuttle and continueth not and then those winged fouls that now sit upon our trees shall sit upon other mens sometimes God blows upon them and blasts them that though we do enjoy them they prove but a vexation to us sometimes he disables us to use them and sometimes imbitters them to us mixing them with gall and wormwood that we can finde no pleasure in them and assuredly they will do us little good when we have most need suppose a man to have what the world can afford yea all the delights of the sons of men yea all that his heart can wish as Solomon had Eccl. 2.27 yet one hours sickness spoils all his mirth and robs him of all the comfort he promised to himself one fit of the collick gout strangury or other raging pain yea the extream pain of an aking tooth puts a man besides all these his enjoyments yet how greedily do men grasp after the world as if it included the highest degree of happiness and hug it in their bosome and lodge it nearest to the heart which will prove no better nay much worse then a bush of thorns if graspt too hard so this the harder it is handled the worse it hurts oh folish man cannot these earthly enjoyments give ease to an aking head or heart can they not mitigate the pains of the gout collick stone or strangury and can it be imagined they can ease the conscience or cure a sinsick soul if not what good can they do it could Judas Achitophel Spira and others fetch any comfort here in their extremity no no they are like Jobs friends miserable comforters at such a time what good will gold do at death and judgment this coin is not currant in the other world nay in this world it brings little content if God frown if one spark of hell-fire flash in the conscience all these things cannot extinguish it one drop of it will mar a whole cup of earthly delights that in the midst of laughter the heart will be sorrowful and the end of that mirth will be heaviness Pro. 14.13 nulla est sincera voluptas wicked men may dance to the timbrel and harp but suddenly they turn into hell Job 21.12 13. and their merry dance ends in a miserable downfall the candle of the wicked shall out in a snuff and what will all these outward enjoyments signify then Jobs flower Jonahs gourd and Davids green bay-tree will soon wither and their beauty will fade all these things will leave us at death many times before how much need then have we to make preparation before-hand of something that will stand us instead This sickness of mine also taught me how unfit a time this was for repentance and yet how many post it off till then oh how unfit was I to examine my heart and call my sins to minde to repent of them when racking pains brought
such a confusion upon me that my thoughts were distempered and distracted and I could not keep my heart intent upon any thing when all I could do was little enough to wrastle with my distemper this made me resolve and oh that I could hold on my resolution if ever I recovered I would remember my Creatour in the days of my health oh my soul seeing these outward things can do thee little good but if over-loved will do thee much hurt set but a little value upon them there is a treasure to be had that will hold out and pleasures that will endure which will keep up the head above water under sickness sorrow and death labour for this but ro spend time on that which one hours sickness will put us besides it is but labour lost oh my God give me that for my portion that will bear up my head and heart not only in sickness but in death it self Upon a rainy day 99. Med. IN a rainy and very tempestuous day being driven into the house by the violence of the storm and the tempest proving so violent furious that the house it self could hardly secure me from the fury of it This made me consider what a mercy it was in such a season to have a retiring place for shelter and how uncomfortable it would have been to me had I been forc't to have born the brunt of this raging storm and yet how little do we value these mercyes when we know not the want of them and how few return praise to God that hath given us houses that we builded not and vineyards that we planted not Deu. 6.11 saturity oft breeds security and fulness forgetfulness the moon at the full is furthest from the sun and ofttimes suffers ecclips by the interposition of the earth and so we are ofttimes like Jesurun that waxed fat and kicked or like full-fed hawks that will not know their master neither do we pitty those that want houses or whose houses at least are not able to secure them or keep them dry this put me in minde to bless my God that had made such a comfortable provision for me that I seldom suffered upon this account and to condole those whose condition was otherwise I considered how great a mercy rain and waters were that neither man nor beast nor tree nor plant that neither the rational the sensitive nor vegetative creature could subsist or live without it and how dear and precious it was to the Patriarks of old and in many places of the world at this day how scarce it was with the Israelites in the wilderness yea was and in many places is their constant if not only drink and many thousands have perished for want of it and how it would be prized of us did we want it yea how often when the showers of heaven are restrained do our fields languish and the fruits of the earth fail and yet who is it that is thankful when God gives us the former and the latter rain in its season and yet how much are we engaged to God in England above many other places we seldom are reduced to such straits as others are for want of water but have abundance of fresh rivers brooks and torrents yea springs and ponds in most parts of the land that man nor beast seldome want it how would such a mercy be prized in many places of the world and yet though water be such a mercy when it is abused God can turn it into a judgement he drowned the old world with it and overwhelmed the Egyptians in the Red Sea and many times in those Northern climats he punishes us with immoderate rain and showers which oft-times proves the cause of scarcity and want thereby teaching us that the greatest outward blessings if abused may be turned into curses and a fruitful land made barren for the wickedness of those that dwell therein Psal 107.34 Having spent some time on these considerations the storm continuing the present providence brought to my minde the words of Solomon Pro. 19.13 a foolish son is the calamity of his father and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping Pro. 27.15 a continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike c. this is like a tempest in the heaven most troublesome and most dangerous when a man comes home tired with his labour and travail and expects refreshing at his own house and there is entertained either with the continual dropping of rain upon his head or with an unbridled scolding tongue of an unreasonable wife both are troublesome both are uncomfortable a cross grained contentious yoak-fellow whether man or woman sowers all the comforts of life and renders that relation the most troublesome and uncomfortable of any in the world which would otherwise be the sweetest and most delightful of all others hence saith Solomon it is better live in a corner on the house-top then with a brawling woman in a wide house Pro. 21.19 a man had better abide abroad exposed to winde and weather or crib himself up in any little angle or corner then live with a contentious woman that is ever brawling and brangling for such turn conjugium into conjurgium marriage into mar-age and instead of love and amity they promote strife and emnity and multiply curses instead of prayers The marriage-relation is the most desirable or the most detestable of all others none is more delightful where love and unity is none is more hateful where strife and contention envy and hatred bears the sway and as family-peace is a desirable blessing and family-jars an unsufferable torment so peace among neighbours is a mercy and the contrary a sore judgement but many like the Salamander live in the fire they love to foment jars and contentions and are never so well as when they are sowing discord or working mischief Pro. 26.21 as coals are to burning coals and wood to fire so is a contentious man to kindle strife many men are like mad dogs they snarl at all and would if they could bite all and make them as mad as themselves some contentious Christians also there are that in this fire burn and consume their graces not their vices these grow in opinions and flourish with these leaves seldome in grace for their fruit is seldom seen or it is bitter and unsavoury they are ready to dis-roab all others of their graces that attain not to the same pitch of opinion with themselves but the Church is little beholding to them whose zeal sets all into a combustion but above all peace peace with God and peace with a mans conscience is most to be desired yea absolutely neecssary which cannot be had till we break our peace with sin and satan oh my soul study peace with all men and holiness without which you shall never see God study peace with thy relations but especially with thy God and if thy ways please him thy enemy shall be at peace with thee