hast believed so be it unto thee Never was any Faith unseen of Christ never was any seen without allowance never was any allowed without remuneration The measure of our receits in the matter of favour is the proportion of our belief The infinite Mercy of God which is ever like it self follows but one Rule in his gift to us the Faith that he gives us Give us O God to believe and be it to us as thou wilt it shall be to us above that we will The Centurion sues for his Servant and Christ saies So be it unto thee The Servants health is the benefit of the Master and the Masters Faith is the health of the Servant And if the Prayers of an earthly Master prevailed so much with the Son of God for the recovery of a Servant how shall the intercession of the Son of God prevail with his Father in Heaven for us that are his impotent Children Servants upon Earth What can we want O Saviour whiles thou suest for us He that hath given thee for us can deny thee nothing for us can deny us nothing for thee In thee we are happy and shall be glorious To thee O thou mightie Redeemer of Israel with thine eternal Father together with thy Blessed Spirit one God infinite and incomprehensible be given all Praise Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen Contemplations THE THIRD BOOK Containing The Widows son raised The Rulers son healed The dumb Devil ejected Matthew called Christ among the Gergesens or Legion and the Gadarene Herd To my right Worthy and Worshipful friend Mr JOHN GIFFORD OF Lancrasse in Devon Esq All Grace and Peace SIR I Hold it as I ought one of the rich mercies of God that he hath given me favour in some eyes which have not seen me but none that I know hath so much demerited me unknown as your worthy Familie Ere therefore you see my face see my hand willingly professing my thankfull obligations Wherewith may it please you to accept of this parcel of thoughts not unlike those fellows of theirs whom you have entertained above their desert These shall present unto you our Bountifull Saviour magnifying his mercies to men in a sweet variety healing the Diseased raising the Dead casting out the Devil calling in the Publican and shall raise your heart to adore that infinite goodness Every help to our Devotion deserves to be precious so much more as the decrepit age of the World declines to an heartlesse coldnesse of Piety That God to whose Honour these poor Labours are meant blesse them in your hands and from them to all Readers To his Protection I heartily commend you and the Right vertuous Gentlewoman your worthy Wife with all the Pledges of your happy affection as whom you have deserved to be Your truly thankful and officious Friend JOS. HALL The Widows son raised THE favours of our beneficent Saviour were at the least contiguous No sooner hath he raised the Centurion's Servant from his bed then he raises the Widows Son from his Biere The fruitful clouds are not ordained to fall all in one field Nain must partake of the bounty of Christ as well as Cana or Capernaum And if this Sun were fixed in one Orbe yet it diffuseth heat and light to all the world It is not for any place to ingrosse the messengers of the Gospel whose errand is universal This immortal seed may not fall all in one furrow The little City of Nain stood under the hill of Hermon near unto Tabor but now it is watered with better dews from above the Doctrine and Miracles of a Saviour Not for state but for the more evidence of the work is our Saviour attended with a large train so entering into the gate of that walled City as if he meant to besiege their Faith by his Power and to take it His Providence hath so contrived his journey that he meets with the sad pomp of a Funeral A woful Widow attended with her weeping neighbours is following her onely Son to the grave There was nothing in this spectacle that did not command compassion A young man in the flower in the strength of his age swallowed up by death Our decrepit age both exspects death and solicits it but vigorous youth looks strangely upon that grim Serjeant of God Those mellow apples that fall alone from the tree we gather up with contentment we chide to have the unripe unseasonably beaten down with cudgels But more a young man the onely Son the onely childe of his mother No condition can make it other then grievous for a well-natur'd mother to part with her own bowels yet surely store is some mitigation of loss Amongst many children one may be more easily missed for still we hope the surviving may supply the comforts of the dead But when all our hopes and joyes must either live or dy in one the loss of that one admits of no consolation When God would describe the most passionate expression of sorrow that can fall into the miserable he can but say oh daughter of my people gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thy self in the ashes make lamentation and bitter mourning as for thine onely Son Such was the loss such was the sorrow of this disconsolate mother neither words nor tears can suffice to discover it Yet more had she been aided by the counsel and supportation of a loving yoke-fellow this burden might have seemed less intolerable A good Husband may make amends for the loss of a Son had the root been left to her intire she might better have spared the branch now both are cut up all the stay of her life is gone and she seems abandoned to a perfect misery And now when she gave her self up for a forlorn mourner past all capacity of redress the God of comfort meets her pities her relieves her Here was no solicitor but his own compassion In other occasions he was sought and sued to The Centurion comes to him for a Servant the Ruler for a Son Jairus for a Daughter the neighbours for the Paralytick here he seeks up the Patient and offers the cure unrequested Whiles we have to doe with the Father of Mercies our afflictions are the most powerful suitors No teares no prayers can move him so much as his own commiseration O God none of our secret sorrows can be either hid from thine eyes or kept from thine heart and when we are past all our hopes all possibilities of help then art thou nearest to us for deliverance Here was a conspiration of all parts to mercy The Heart had compassion the Mouth said Weep not the Feet went to the Bier the Hand touched the coffin the Power of the Deity raised the dead What the Heart felt was secret to it self the Tongue therefore expresses it in words of comfort Weep not Alas what are words to so strong and just passions To bid her not to weep that had lost her only Son was to perswade her to be
was but a sport in respect of the torments in dying Lo here a Beast yea not Bestia but Fera a Savage beast yea worse then either Did ever man doe thus to beast If a Baptista Porta have devised a way to roast a Foul quick or some Italian executioner of gluttony have beaten a Swine dead with gentle blows to make a Cardinals morsel every ingenuous man is ready to cry out of this barbarous Tyranny yea the very Turks would punish it with no less then death yea if a Syracusan boy shall but pick out a Crows eyes those Pagans could mulct him with banishment Nay what beast did ever thus to man nay did ever one beast doe thus to another If they gore and grasp one another in their fury or feed on each other in the rage of their hunger that is all they do not take pleasure in saucing each others death with varieties or delaies of pain None but man doth thus to man and in none lightly but the quarrel of Religion False Zeal takes pleasure in surfeits of blood and can injoy others torment Hence are bloody Massacres treacherous Assassinations hellish Powder-plots and whatever stratagem of mischief can be devised by that ancient man-slayer from whose malicious and secret machinations good Lord deliver us As the enemies of the Church are Fera a Beast so they are coetus a Compaany yea a multitude Well may they say with the Devil in the possessed man My name is Legion for we are many a Legion of many thousands yea Gad for an hoast cometh an Hoast of many Legions yea a combination of many Hoasts Gebal and Ammon and Amalek the Philistins with them that dwell at Tyre Ashur also is joyned to them Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Church of the malignant a Church yea a world mundus in maligne Divide the world with our Learned Breerwood into thirty parts nineteen of them are Pagans and they are enemies Of those eleven that remain six are Mahumetans and they are enemies Of those other five that remain there is an Antichristian Faction that challenges universality and they are enemies Stand now with me upon the hill and take a survay of the enemies see them lye scattered like grashoppers in the valley and tell me whether the Church have not reason to say Lord how many are they that rise up against me Yet when all is done that no man may be discouraged if we have but our eyes opened with Elisha's servant to see the hoast of Heaven glittering about us we shall boldly say There are more with us then against us Yet if these that are against us were many and not united it were nothing A large showr loseth it self whiles the drops are scattered in the sands but many drops met make a torrent yea an Ocean Here is coetus their heads their hearts their hands are laid together And why do not we learn wit and will of those that hate us why are we several whiles they are conjoyned why should partial Factions and private fancies distract us when the main Cause of God is on foot Beleague your selves ye Christian Princes and Potentates combine your selves ye true-hearted Christians and be gathered by the voice of Gods Angel to a blessed and victorious Armageddon But why fera arundinis the beast of the reeds I do not tell you of S. Jerome's descant upon bestia calami the beast of the quill that is writers for falshood though these these are the great Incendiaries of the world and well worthy of the deepest increpation Here doubtless either the beasts of the reeds are the beasts that lye among the reeds as Cassiodorus hath given us an hint Leones domestica canneta reliquerunt The Lions have lest the reedy thickets or else the reed is here the spear or dart We know some regions yield groves of reeds ye would think them so many saplings or samplars at the least arborescere solent calami as Calvin These were of use in warre for darts or spears The vant-gard therefore of David's enemies are Spear-men or Darters for they were wont to dart their spears as you see in Saul 1 Sam. 20. 33. And why this In a sword-fight we come to close hand-blows such as a quick eye and nimble hand may perhaps avoid but the spear and dart strikes afarre off pierces where it strikes smites unseen unevitably For the remoteness violence irresistableness of the blow are the enemies of the Church described by the spear and dart where they cannot come they send dangerous emissaries headed on purpose to wound the best State to death felt ere they can be seen and so soon as they are felt killing What doe these but follow their General whose spiritual weapons are fiery darts Ephes 6. 16. Much and lamentable experience hath this State if ever any had of these mischievous engines of commotion that have been hurled hither from beyond the Alpes and Pyrenees What is the remedy but the same which is against the Devil the shield of prevention Stir up your vigilant care O ye great Leaders of Israel by the strict execution of wholesome laws to avoid the dint of these murderous subornations And when ye have done your best it must be the Lord of hoasts the great protectour of Israel that must break the bow and knap the spear in sunder Psal 46. 9. Their second title is Bulls for their ferocity for their strength The Lion is a more Lordly beast but the Bull is stronger and when he is enraged more impetuous Such are the Enemies of the Church How furiously do they bellow out threats and scrape up the earth and advance their crest and brandish their horns and send out sparkles from their eyes and snuffe out flames from their nostrils and think to bear down all before them What should I tell you of the fierce assalts of the braving enemies of the Church whose Pride hath scorned all opposition and thinks to push down all contrary powers not of men only but of God himself Let us break their bonds and cast their cords from us Who is the Lord that I should let Israel goe Where is the God of Hamath and of Arpad where are the Gods of Sepharvaim Hena and Ivah have they delivered Samaria out of my hand who are they among the Gods of the Countries that have delivered their country out of my hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand saith proud Rabshakeh 2 Kings 18. 34. Heark how this Assyrian Bull roars out Blasphemie against the Lord of Hoasts and all the rest of that wild herd have no less grass on their hornes stay but a while and ye shall see him with'd and halter'd and stak'd and baited to death Here only is the comfort of the poor menaced Church that the mighty God of Israel who sayes to the raging Sea Here shalt thou stay thy proud waves can tame at pleasure these violent beasts or break their necks with their own fury So
cometh Usurpation of others Rights violation of Oaths and Contracts and lastly erroneous Zeal are guilty of all these publick Murders Private mens injuries are washt off with tears but wrongs done to Princes and publick States are hardly wip'd off but with blood Doubtlesse that fearfull Comet did not more certainly portend these Wars then these Wars presage the approach of the end of the World The earth was never without some broils since it was peopled but with three men but so universal a combustion was never in the Christian world since it was O Saviour what can I think of this but that as thou wouldst have a generall Peace upon thy first coming into the World so upon thy second coming thou meanest there shall be a no lesse generall War upon earth That Peace made way for thy meek appearance this War for thy dreadfull and terrible XCVIII Upon a Childe crying IT was upon great reason that the Apostle charges us not to be children in Understanding What fools we all once are Even at first we crie and smile we know not wherefore we have not wit enough to make signs what hurts us or where we complain we can wry the mouth but not seek the breast and if we want help we can only lament and sprawl and die After when some months have taught us to distinguish a little betwixt things and persons we crie for every toy even that which may most hurt us and when there is no other cause we crie only to hear our own noise and are straight stilled with a greater and if it be but upon the breeding of a tooth we are so wayward that nothing will please us and if some formerly-liked knack be given to quiet us we cast away that which we have if we have not what we would seem to like We fear neither fire nor water nothing scares us but either a rod or a feigned bug-bear we mis-know our Parents not acknowledging any friend but the Taylor that brings us a fine Coat or the Nurse that dresses us gay The more that our riper years resemble these dispositions the more childish we are and more worthy both of our own and others censure But again it was upon no lesse reason that the Apostle charges us to be children in Maliciousness Those little Innocents bear no grudge they are sooner pleased then angry and if any man have wronged them let them but have given a stroke unto the Nurse to beat the offender it is enough at the same instant they put forth their hand for reconcilement and offer themselves unto those arms that trespassed And when they are most froward they are stilled with a pleasant Song The old word is that An old man is twice a childe but I say happy is he that is thus a childe alwaies It is a great imperfection to want Knowledge but of the two it is better to be a childe in Understanding then a man in Maliciousness XCIX Upon the beginning of a Sickness IT was my own fault if I look'd not for this All things must undergoe their changes I have enjoyed many fair daies there was no reason I should not at last make account of clouds and storms Could I have done well without any mixtures of sin I might have hoped for entire Health But since I have interspersed my Obedience with many sinfull failings and enormities why do I think much to interchange Health with Sickness What I now feel I know I am not worthy to know what I must feel As my times so my measures are in the hands of a wise and good God My comfort is he that sends these evils proportions them If they be sharp I am sure they are just the most that I am capable to endure is the least part of what I have deserved to suffer Nature would fain be at ease but Lord whatever become of this carkasse thou hast reason to have respect to thine own Glory I have sinned and must smart It is the glory of thy Mercy to beat my Body for the safety of my Soul The worst of Sickness is Pain and the worst of pain is but Death As for Pain if it be extreme it cannot be long and if it be long such is the difference of earthly and Hellish torments it cannot be extreme As for Death it is both unavoidable and beneficial there ends my Misery and begins my Glory a few groans are well bestowed for a preface to an immortal joy Howsoever O God thy messenger is worthy to be welcome It is the Lord let him doe whatsoever he will C. Upon the challenge of a Promise IT is true an Honest mans word must be his master when I have promised I am indebted and debts may be claimed must be payed but yet there is a great deal of difference in our ingagements some things we promise because they are due some things are onely due because they are promised These latter which are but the mere ingagements of Curtesie cannot so absolutely binde us that notwithstanding any intervention of unworthiness or misbehaviour in the person exspectant we are tied to make our word good though to the cutting of our own throats All favourable promises presuppose a capacity in the receiver where that palpably faileth common Equity sets us free I promised to send a fair Sword to my friend he is since that time turn'd frantick must I send it or be charged with unfaithfulness if I send it not O God thy Title is the God of Truth thou canst no more cease to be faithfull then to be How oft hast thou promised that no good thing shall be wanting to thine and yet we know thy dearest children have complained of want Is thy word therefore challengeable Far far be this wicked presumption from our thoughts No These thy promises of outward Favours are never but with a subintelligence of a condition of our capableness of our expedience Thou seest that Plenty or Ease would be our bane thy Love forbears to satisfie us with an harmfull Blessing We are worthy to be plagued with prejudicial kindnesses if we do not acknowledge thy Wisdome and care in our want It is enough for us that thy best Mercies are our dues because thy Promises we cannot too much claim that which thou hast absolutely ingaged thy self to give and in giving shalt make us eternally happy CI. Upon the sight of Flies WHen I look upon these Flies and gnats and worms I have reason to think What am I to my infinite Creator more then these And if these had my Reason why might they not expostulate with their Maker why they are but such why they live to so little purpose and die without either notice or use And if I had no more Reason then they I should be as they content with any condition That Reason which I have is not of my owne giving he that hath given me Reason might as well have given it to them or have made me as reason-lesse as