be written John 21.25 Also Lord He came to stifle by the impetuosity of his power and by the grandure of his merit our cursed enemy and to cut off the streame of the course of his puissance flying through the world He came as a great Royal Eagle from the heighth of heaven to descend on the earth and in favour of his own to scatter with the onely ayre of his vigerous clapping of his wings all the strength of Satan unworthy of his encounter He came as the Evening and close of our miseries and dawning of our felicity as the bright Sunne of men to comfort and strengthen them by his wholsome and pleasant influence He came as the morning which chaseth away the night and advanceth declaring the returne of the light as the holy Columbe of the world the solid pillar of the heavens the lively image of his charity and the divine foot-steps which giveth life And finally my God thy Christ our Saviour being upon the point to die would that the last act of his life should be the institution of the Holy Sacrament of his body which he celebrated in the company of his Apostles declaring unto them that all they who firmly believe in him shall have remission of their sinnes in the effusion of this blood and shall for ever possesse the Kingdome of heaven and to conferre on us an infallible assurance he elected for a seal and witnesse of his last will bread and wine to the intent that the faithful by these signes should be ascertained of the treasures which are acquired for them by his bounty But my Great God 'T is now that we must commemorate the excellent Sermon made to the Disciples for to instruct them and to render them capable of the participation of this Holy Sacrament 'T is here expedient to call to mind the words of him which thou pronounc't with thy voyce in the Mountain in the hearing of Saint Peter Saint James and Saint John this is my well-beloved Sonne hear him Jon. 6.53 He then said Verily verily â—â—â—y unto you that if you eat not the flesh of the Son of man and drink not this blood you shall have no life in your selves he who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life eternal and I will raise him up at the last day For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed he who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him As the Father who is living hath sent me and I live by the Father So he who eateth me Shall live also by me That is the bread which descended from heaven not as your fathers have eaten Manna and are dead who eateth this bread shall live for ever He spake these things in the Synagogue teaching in Capernaum But knowing that many of his Disciples found this saying hard he added doth this offend you what will you do then if you shall behold the Sonne of man astend there where he was at the beginning 'T is the Spirit that quickens the flesh is unprofitable the words which I speak to you are spirit and life And after he had finish't these instructions he made them partakers of his Holy Supper even as he hath declared by the hand of his blessed Apostle In the night wherein he was betray'd He took bread and having given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me Likewise also after Supper he took the Cup saying this Cup is the New Testament of my blood do this in remembrance of me For how often and whensoever you shall eat of this bread and drink of this Cup you shall shew forth my death even untill I come And in the end Lord his incomprehensible Charity and which exceeds all admiration having conducted him to the hour wherein by his death he would redeem our lives he became the saving hand which broke and opposed the blow and received the smart of the other members And be who was able as a Thunder-clap of heaven to overturne under his Tempest the highest Mountaines who could as a whirle-poole swallow all in an instant that opposed this power and as a whirle-wind sweep away all that was on the earth He said I who by the force of his Arme with one small motion can destroy all humane soules and with one onely glance of his Eye arme a million of Angels and overthrow under his feet the heaven and the earth submitted himself to the rage and brutishnesse of his people adopted above all people the first-born among men and whom thou defendest as the Apple of thine eye He permitted them to extend his members on the Crosse to wash our sins in his blood and in that flood which the Iron made to issue from his body And thus great God Thine only Son gave his life a ransome for us and delivered us from the curse of the law which had so long time held us slaves to sin He offer'd his body in sacrifice and by that holy oblation acquir'd for us the gifts and the fulnesse of his graces wherein the blessed shall eternally rejoyce 'T is this Christ who is worthy to take the Book of life Apoc. 5.9 and to open the seals thereof 'T is he who is the Lambe Apoc. 5.12 who meriteth to receive power strength Honour and Praise His death was the sacrifice of sacrifices the accomplishment and consummation of all ceremonyes which have been from the beginning of the world This is the sacrifice without renewing whereby the wrath of God is forever appeas'd his justice satisfied and the transgressions of men effac't 'T is that bright shining sacrifice in comparison whereof the foregoing were but obscure shadowes This is the only sacrifice full of Majesty which is alone the object of all sacrifices offered in time-past by all people adoring the true God All that which the oblations of Aaron and of our fathers have had of Propitiation and of sweet Odour were anticipated on the fulnesse of grace and on the infinite merit of this sacrifice so often made in all foregoing ages This is the eternal sacrifice fill'd with lively splendour which darts his Rayes and confers his Balme upon his to render them a sweet Odour before thee my God This is the sacrifice which hath placed them on the sacred seat of the Church and hath carryed them into the glorious Temple of the legitimate Spouse of Christ all Glittering with Divinity 'T is my God this sacrifice which hath conferred thy love on me which without intermission I observe to shine in the flames of my own wretchednesse and hath acquired for me the infinite Grandure of thy compassion which I have ever beheld firme in the glances of my extreame afflictions Also my God there was nothing but the puissant and victorious hand of thy Sonne which could sever the cords and the entangling which held us bound in the snares of
Satan There was none but he alone proper for so great an enterprize He alone who hath drawn us out of the path and slaughter of death to fill us with Triumphs He alone who is the Phaire and the Lanthorne who directs us to arive in a safe harbour and who hath ever his eyes open for our happinesse and watcheth over our affictions He alone who is the channel of perpetual sweetnesse which uncessantly distills on them who cast themselves into the Port of thy Clemency Great God The compasse of the Universs adores thy Grandure but as the glory of thy chiefest benefits are perpetually graved in the hearts of thy faithfull ones in whom by this holy sacrifice thou hast planted thy victorious lawrels Also it is requisite that I be the Temple in which for ever there may be chanting and sounding forth the Hymnes of thy Triumphs and that thou may'st be the sole object of my heart as thou art the cause of my repose and the end of my vowes as thou art the Redeemer and Conserver of my being what more beautyfull object my God can I enjoy then for ever to contemplate that Christ is the inexpugnable wall and Rampart of my life and that his charity heated with his watchfulnesse over me causeth without intermission to spring in thy compassions new sprouts of compassion This is the true Father of men who transported with the love of his children is offered for them in sacrifice and hath embraced their sorrowes and his death Up then my soul let thy thoughts be ravish't in the contemplation of this holy light of the world who shineth over the heaven and the earth and enlightneth with his flame the gloominesse of our most obscure night Up admire his compassion adore this Lamb without spot that holy Burnt-offering that eternal high Priest who hath given himself for thee Rejoyce thou oh my soul since thy clensing is so perfect and so pure since the merit of that death shall carry thee into the heavens Thou hast not my soul Heb. 7. one of those Sacrificers which are subject unto death made after the law of a carnal commandment who have need to offer continual sacrifices first for their own sinnes then for those of the people Thou hast one Sovereign high Priest made according to the power of an uncorruptible life and who hath one perpetual oblation one holy Priest Innocent separate from sinnes exalted far above all heavens who is consecrated for ever offering himself once to obtaine an eternal redemption The light of the world my soul chaseth the night and obscurity farre from thee but the knowledge of this sacrifice dissipateth all darknesse from thy eyes and renders thee capable happily to finish thy course on earth and attain with joy an aboad in Paradice Divine Trinity the only foundation of salvation Holy unity of three persons in whom consisteth all perfection and felicity whereof my soul can be render'd capable Grant me that I may worthily comprehend the majesty of this sacrifice and that all the dayes of my life I may meditate on its greatnesse Lord the Lamb is slain from the beginning of the world and both our fathers and we our selves have washed in one same blood and are redeemed by the same sacrifice 'T is what the Apostle saith our fathers were all under the cloud 1 Cor. 10.1 and have all passed throw the Sea and were all baptized in Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea and have all eaten of one and the same spiritual food and have all dranke of one and the same spiritual cup. For they drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them and that Rock was Christ So Lord the Patriarchs and Israelites have eaten and drank the same spiritual substance with us and have participated as we of the Communion of the body of the Saviour of the world The word Prophetick and Apostolick have the same efficacy Christ in the one and the other throw all equal to himself Their Sacraments giving them Jesus Christ to come to assume humane flesh and suffer for their sins and ours give to us the Saviour of the world come having taken flesh of the Virgin endured the Crosse and risen for our Justification The Manna and the water signified to them their future redemption and the bread and wine signifie to us the satisfaction of our Randsome acquitted by Christ come dead and risen after such a sort that we have but one like and same faith under divers signes Christ the only salvation of the Church in all its periods without the law under the law and under Grace He is prefigured in all the sacrifices exhibited in all Sacraments as well Old as New which are in all times unprofitable without Christ which is himself alone both the foundation and the sustance Abraham saw the day of the Lord and rejoyc't This great secret was revealed unto the Prophets who Publish't it through the world they were the signes of salvation to come Or Host and of the holy Bread which should be offered up for their sins and for our sakes the great Saviour of the world would rayse to the heavens at thy right hand the body which he had taken of the Virgin instituting the Sacrament of his body and of his blood to the intent that That which was once offered for the satisfaction of our sinnes should continually be honoured by a mystery Baptisme admitteth us into an allyance with God instead of ciricumcision The holy Supper instead of the Passeover nourisheth and entertaineth us Baptisme is called Regeneration that is to say a new birth The holy Supper The Communion of the body and blood of our Lord to nourish us to life eternal Of Baptisme water is the sign The blood of Christ the thing signified The water which washeth the staines of the body The blood which clenseth the sins of the soul In the holy Supper the bread and the wine are the signes The Body and the blood of Christ the things signified and signified most conveniently and properly by these signes of bread and wine for as much as the nourishment of our souls which is in Christ could not be better express'd than by that of our Body which converteth into their sustance that which they eate and drink So in the Sacrament of the Eucharist the bread which is blest and which is broken and given to eate and the cup which is blessed and given mee to drink represents to me The body and blood of Jesus Christ given and shed for me on the Crosse to me are the sacred Symboles and assured earnests that I am received into the communication of his body and of his blood which I spiritually enjoy by Faith in the Participation of the supper When I see the bread broken in the celebration of the supper I meditate with my self of his body which hath suffered death on the Crosse for the remission of my sinnes When I behold the wine poured into the cup I
call to my remembrance his blood shed for to acquire for me life eternal By the receiving the bread and the wine I enter by faith into a community into the society of the body and blood of the Son of God I draw life I draw absolution and am clothed again with his innocence and with his Justice By the vissible receiving which I performe of the bread and of the wine I am assured that I am spiritually united to Christ and made a Citizen of the Kingdome of heaven that he hath bequeath'd me and possessor of eternal life which he hath given me and in eating and drinking the bread and the wine at thy holy Table I am assured my God that I Participate of the body and of the blood of thy Son which I truely receive by faith and by which I participate of the Treasures and Heritage which he hath acquired by his death and which he hath bestowed on his faithful servants When I receive the bread and the wine I receive not only the Elements which are the figures and sacred signs of his body and of his blood but I receive by faith and in spirit the things themselves which are signified and represented Not that the bread and the wine of the Eucharist communicate to me his body and blood but thy goodnesse my God Thy truth Thy majesty Thy vertue and the efficacy of thy holy Spirit communicate and reach forth this body and blood to my understanding and my soul to be spiritually eaten and drank by faith The bread and wine serving to this purpose being sacred signes of his Body and of his blood which should be eaten by the operation of his holy Spirit without understanding any thing therein of sensual any thing corporeal ☜ any thing carnal and without searching here below and in our corporal mouths His true body with it's proper essentials with it's inseparable accidents with it's quantity and dimentions which is ascended to the heavens and set at the right hand of God where 't is requisite that the heavens contain him even until the restauration of all things Thus Lord I seek the body of Christ in heaven Acts 3.21 by faith I celebrate in the holy Supper the memory of his Death and of his Passion I declare it I esteem it and magnifie it even untill he come and I receive it not with a carnal mouth and corporal throat but after a Divine manner Sacramentally under a signifficant mystery with the mouth of my heart and spiritually by faith By faith which is the substance of things hoped for By faith whereby I really embrace his Body and blood and which bring to passe that in the holy Eucharist I am made partaker of it By faith which is the vessel and the hand whereby I receive thy Graces And as Lord 't is by faith that the Lamb was slaine from the beginning of the world 't is by faith that Abraham saw the day of the Lord 't is by faith that the Galatians have had Christ crucified before their eyes 'T is by faith that the Gospel gives me at this present eternal life Also Lord 't is by faith that in the celebration of thy holy Supper His body and his blood are present and subsistent in my heart in my spirit and in my soul 'T is by faith that I embrace his body and suck his blood which distilleth from his wounds And by means of this Sacramental eating and feeding on the body of the Saviour of the world and this spiritual drinking of his blood I am made bone of his bone flesh of his flesh I am incorporated in him I draw by faith eternal life from his flesh broken for me and from his blood shed for me I live of Christ and in Christ I live of his Justice instead that I should dye of my sinne I am justified by him sanctified in him to be eniivened and glorified in him By this holy Sacrament I am also admonished of my duty toward my Neighbour in regard as we are ransomed with the same blood made members of the same body and Dependants of one and the same Head and consequently one among our selves and by the Commandment of God and natural duty We all draw life from one and the same death nourishment from one and the same food and the self same cup. Up then my soul 't is here where thou oughts to Anchor and fix thy cogitations stay thy course and cast thy eyes upon the love of thy God 'T is here that thou oughtest to supplicate that Divine heavenly heart who onely bestowes motion upon men That only pulse and life of thy being 'T is the only base whereon thou foundest thy hope to inspire in thee the ardent flames of his Spirit and turn into thy heart the generous boylings of zeale heate and ardour toward him to the intent that thou mayest be a worthy partaker of that holy Sacrament which is the most singular consolation the most effectual remedy and greatest guift which he hath communicated to his upon the earth It 's the entyre Summe and Soveraign abridgment of his benefits it 's the certaine token of his infinite love the true treasure of his bounty Lord Eph. 1.7 thou hast ransomed me by the blood of thy Sonne according to the rickes of thy grace which thou causest plentifully to abound over me Instructing me in the secret of thy pleasure Thou hast informed me that 't is the bread of life by the which my soul is sustained That 't is the true Vine whereof I am a branch The gate of Honour and the rich assent which conducts me to the mount of Glory Thou hast called me to the communication of his body Hast applyed his merits to me made me his Co-heritor partaker of his Riches enjoying his celestial heritage In time-past I was not of thy people but now am I of the chosen generation of the Royal Priest-hood of the holy Nation of thy purchased people To th' intent I should set forth and magnifie thy grace and vertue my God who hast called me out of darknesse into thy merveilous light Thy Sonne is my only sacrifice my only oblation my onely Holocost by the vertue and merit whereof the heavens and all the treasures of heaven are open to me 'T is the onely remedy of my sin the onely spunge capable to efface my crimes 'T is the Sanctuary the Assillum of my salvation my heritage the joy and the Divine chaine sufficient to rayse me from these miserable places 'T is the tongue of succour who undertaketh my defence 'T is the sacred Anchor which stayeth my vessel and secureth it from ship-wrack and the prosperous Gale which freeth and delivereth me from the depths and Gulfes of the world If the food Lord which will sustaine me but one day obligeth me to praise thy Fatherly goodnesse how much more ought to be excited and enflamed my Devoyre to render thee thanks for the bread of life and for
of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil and with his rebellious throat hath swallowed at once the Apple and Death He hath swallowed the leprosie which hath corrupted the masse of all his blood and the poyson which hath penetrated through all the members issues of his body This Lord this fountaine which hath continued corrupt in all it's streames this is the gloomy and black cloud whence distills not one drop not infected 'T is Lord this cursed rebellion which hath constrained the heavens ever bright and serene before to conspire and confederate against man and to poure forth upon him deluges of blood and universal scourges to extirpate and exterminate the Posterity of this Ancestor 'T is this rebellion which hath caused man to totter from his first estate rendred him a slave of sinne and a prey of that roaring Lyon who graspeth his throat with his foot So soon as the prohibition was made sinne followed and by sinne we have all received a Decree of condemnation But great God thou hast rais'd up and restored thine through thy mercy Thou hast destroyed that cursed spirit who would glut himself with the blood of our entrals and hast born us upon thy wings as an Eagle his Ayry Thou hast brought back and renddred in a flourishing condition our soules who were languishing and abased unto death The deluge of our vices hath drawn a deluge of plagues upon us but the deluge of thy Compassions hath swallowed the deluge of these Maledictions Thou hast cleansed these streames of iniquity in a sorce perpetually flowing into life Thou hast healed these leprosies with a vermillion blood and corrected and abated the force of these poysons by a heavenly Antidote By the offence of one alone death reigned over men and by the merit of onely one men shall reigne unto life The transgression of Adam is fallen upon all to condemnation and the justice of Christ justifying is come also upon all to justification Many by the disobedience of one alone Rom. 5.17 were rendred sinners and by the obedience of one alone many are rendred just To the intent that as sinne reigned unto death grace should also reign unto eternal life 'T is Lord that which Thou hast so often foretold to our Fathers by the mouths of thy Prophets who have declared on the earth that thy Sonne should bear our sorrowes that he should charge on himself our afflictions that he should be pierced for our offences and bruised for our iniquities Thou hast caused all our out-rages to fall upon him and the wounds are come on him for the Transgressions of thy people As a Lamb is led to the slaughter neither hath he opened his lips Dan. 9.26 he is set as an oblation for the transgressions of them who have known him is cut off not for himself but for us Oh admirable Architect of the World who hast stretched out the heavens sustained the massive foundations of the earth and commanded the waters of the Ocean to distill gently through the veines of the Rocks for the nourishment of men Oh holy streame of our felicity the strength of our Might that the graces of thy divine goodnesse are singular the effect of thy providence marveilous in the conservation of men in having prepared for us by thy mercy this conciliation before the foundation of the World and from the beginning having prefigured this sacrifice by the Tree of life in the Terrestrial Paradise afterwards by the Paschal Lamb by the Manna by the loaves of propitiation by the bread which the Angel brought to the Prophet Eliah in the strength whereof it is said that he went even unto the Mountain to have instructed us that so much blood of Bulls and Goats which was spilt before thee and the ashes of an Heifer wherewith they besprinkled the unclean were prefigurations of that juslifying blood which was requisite to be poured on the earth to blot out our transgressions And lastly Lord after having often spoken to our Ancestors by thy Prophets Heb. 17. Thou wouldst speak to our fathers face to face by thy Son who is the brightnesse of thy glory who as the snow tumbling from heaven scattering it self to whiten our plaines so is he descended from on high to publish peace from the rising to the setting of the Sunne and to save those who were fallen among the precipices for for the punishment due to their offences The woman the first seduc'd sees her self a thousand times happier she did see her self a Virgin-Mother containing in her womb the Saviour of the World Oh happy day that thou art Remarkable among us for having first beheld and having first caused us to see the well-beloved Son of God the Father and the Redeemer of the faithful And you bright Services that you are precious having given growth to the body who hath suffered for our sinnes and who since is risen with so much glory And thou earth thou art happy to have nourish't within thy bosome and seen to march upon thy face the Saviour of the World The Sages conducted by the Star hasted to prostrate themselves at thy feet thy Angel in giving advice to the Shepherds and the multitude of the heavenly Host leaping for joy lifted up their voyces to thy honour saying Glory be to God on High in Earth peace good will toward men Acts 5.3 Then Lord he whom thou hast raised up by thy right hand for a Prince and Saviour to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sinnes appeared in the flesh that so the flesh might live and by his humanity thy Clemency might approach us which before was with-drawn Thou hast sent him as a Bright Sun to enlighten all the compasse of the Earth He appeared cloathed with humane flesh but all repleat and all shining with Divinity The Power of His Vertue was manifest to the eyes of all the people The most impetuous stormes and billowes of the Ocean gave way unto the sole power of His word The tempestuous whiâ—le-whinds which troubled the serenity of the aire gave truce to their whistlings roarings at the only waging of his hand and acknowledg'd that they ought him respect and silence and that all things should be prepared to receive His Commands Men captiv'd under the power of the Devil were enlarged with the onely glance of His eye The most inveterate maladies departed at the only touch of His garment and the bodies mouldering under the obscurity of the Coffin rose again at his voyce in the Tombe His life was nothing but an open Book of Doctrine with a multitude of miracles and favours toward men The limits of his Course were so pleasant they were so bright with the beames of his compassion so glittering with his triumphs over the enemy of men The History is therein so rich that the excesse takes away and obstructs the description And that the world as saith his Beloved Apostle is not sufficient to contain that which might
this spiritual wine which giveth me an eternal Paradice which returneth me from death to life which giveth me so perfect a recovery that there remaines no scar in my ulcers which conducts me unto an estate wherein I shall not more suffer the temptations and approaches of sinne where I shall be no more subject to change where I shall be a Citizen of the Kingdome of heaven I prostrate my self then before thee my God who art my Judge my Creatour and Redeemer all in one give me I beseech thee both heart and lips and that I may adore thee with all the affections and all the faculties of my soul Drive away my disobedient humours fill me with true zeal and with sincere intentions to thy service and scatter far from me these desires of the world who entangle themselves in my cogitations and thwart my holy resolution I am happy my God Isa 22.7 to enjoy that which so many Kings Nahum 1.15 and so many Prophets desir'd to behold I am happy to possesse that holy Heritage which they having but obscurely seen and saluted by faith they have cryed out with vehement desire Rom. 10. â— 15.5 Oh how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Ghospel I am not Lord in the extremity of the poor Paraletick who attended so many yeares to have the first place in the Bath troubled by thy Angel I receive immediately my recovery of the blood of my Saviour and there is no need that one more sound than my self take me in his armes to embrace and carry me into the water For the Faith which thou hast given me lifts me up even unto heaven She thither conducts my soul which washeth her self in this pretious blood and comes forth clean and white I sinne continually and have cause of humiliation and to dread and apprehend Death and Hell and I am ever cheered with hope by the memory of that Eternal Sacrifice But my God make me so perfect that I receive not thy Manna unworthily that I take it not in contempt of thy Word and thy glory to be punish't in thy wrath as he who was devoured of a Lyon having contrary to thy command eaten bread in the house of the false Prophet to be punish't as he who was bound and cast into darknesse inasmuch as he came to the marriage without being cloathed with a Wedding garment Lord I know that 't is recorded in the Gospel that who so eateth of this bread and drinketh of this cup unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of Jesus Christ thy Son But my God Thou art Wonderful in thy mercies Thou rejectest no man Thou abhorrest not the Thief who confest thee nor the sinner who wept nor the Canaanite who accused her self Mary Magdalen nor the Disciple who denied Jesus nor even they themselves who persecuted thee insomuch as they repented And I Lord I confesse my sinnes I condemne them I accuse my self I beg thy pardon I entreat thee to behold thy goodnesse not my demerit Lord Thou hast vanquish't death thou hast raised my soul from the grave thou hast drawn me out of the pit thou hast opened to me the gates of eternal life Supply then my defaults with thy blessings and grant me that in thy Temple in the Assembly of thy faithful ones I may worthily receive with faith this heavenly food and this spiritual drink and that I take with zeal and reverence the bread and wine which are presented to me by him who hath the honour to preach thy Word and whose mouth is the breast of thy Church A Thanksgiving after the receiving of the Sacrament My Soul blesse the Lord who dayly filleth and loadeth thee with his treasures Blesse God who causeth the sweet dew of his Clemency to distill on thee My Soul blesse the Saviour of the World who hath loved us who hath washed our sinnes in his blood who hath made us Kings and Priests to God his Father Blessed be the Lamb who sitteth upon the Throne Apoc. 5 13 to whom shall resound prayses for ever under the Vaults of heaven and his Sacred Name shall be Celebrated and Magnified from age to age Oh my glorious God how much satisfaction do I receive in casting and overthrowing my self at thy feet how happy am I to approach thy holy Table 'T is thou oh my God who hast tamed the Hidra of my miseries who hast preserved me from the devouring knives of the Devil who hast succoured me in my bloody agony who hast recented my afflictions seeing me exposed to the Savageness of the infernal Tygers who had reduc't me to the cruel darts of death I was buried in despair and in the grave swallowed and overwhelmed in the jawes of a miserable servitude overtaken with the storme of so many mis-fortunes But my God by thy singular compassion though I bedewed not my face with tears nor filled the ayre with my complaints Thou hast restored me to my first condition thou hast imbellish't me with-the splendour of the graces of thy countenance and pollish't me with the first lustre of my natural beauty I was overwhelm'd under my proper ruine I was entomb'd in the gulfe di gged with my own hands I had cast my self within the horrible Den of Satan but thou hast restored me thou hast lifted me up and delivered me from my extremities I was captive and now the gate of liberty is open to me my vessel was on every side batter'd with the Tempest It was ready to split it self against the bancks and now saileth gloriously on the water and cuts and divides the waves driven by a prosperous gale I was the prey of Satan and now triumph through thy mercies above all his temptations above all his ambushes and all his powers I cry out now Lord with Simeon let thy servant depart in peace according to thy Word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before all men to be the enlightning of all Nations and glory of thy people Israel Lord I render thee such thanks as I am able not such as I ought I am oblidg'd to magnifie thy Name for ever with a thousand sacrifices of praise to humble my self all contrite at thy feet to enflame my heart with repentance and sacrifice the ashes to thee Thou hast cleansed me wash't me from my offences made me approach thy holy Table and partaker of thy merits there remaines nothing after this Sacrament but to be united to thy glory Grant me Lord that I may submit to thy pleasure the remainder of my dayes Grant me repentance of my offences not for a day but which may last even unto my Sepulchre that I may continually addresse my vowes to thee that I may exalt thee without ceasing and that for ever I may be at thy feet to do thee homage as my God my Soveraign and my Redeemer Grant me Lord that I may be attentive to the reading of thy holy Scriptures to the
without the desolution of the whole Body But then when our well-fare requires that so it must be it 's better to perish in part then entyrely to lose one than both our eyes of't-times a member spar'd costs the life If we be alwayes heated with Prosperity if we ever live at our ease what a multitude of designs would take up our thoughts and interpose that we lift not up our soules to that which is on high with how little difficultie will we permit our selves to slip into vices and to be partakers of all the vanities of the word That little interval we have enjoyed gives us full assurance the example of very many removes all doubt We are slothful to our safety we must be prest to it we are slack and advance not but by constraint The Eagle hovers round about her young to teach them to rayse themselves from the earth he lets some dayes passe without feeding them to the intent that hunger may compell them to seek out their food and for the utmost remedy He beats them he corrects their sloth with strokes both with his beak and wings Even so the great God delivers his Ordinances into our hands to observe them He commands us to obey them he summons he threatens us and in conclusion when bare words makes no impression in our hardned hearts He puts us forward and constraines us through sundry afflictions He deals by us as a Father who hastily snatches the Knife out of the hand of his childe fearing he should hurt himself and forbeares not for his crying As the Father who retyres his sonne from the brinck of the River and in with-drawing him corrects him to the end he should not return again He chastiseth us to the intent we should resent our offences he leads us off beating us and ever addes some surcharge to our afflictions thereby to humble us During our prosperity we pride our selves beholding every thing with a scorneful eye we value none but our selves and think not of ought but our content and felicity And as bodies that are fatted languish under their proper weight and stoop beneath the burthen and charge of themselves in like manner our overmuch and continual repose drowns us in pleasures and lessons in delights the first glances men observe to blaze of our zeal and ardure to pursue the path of the children of God The skilful Physician sometimes breaths a veine not for present necessity but to prevent and remove the cause of that malady he judges approaching In like manner God afflicts us to turn us from vices which we are ready to embrace And so he prunes off many branches of a plant to the intent it may become more fruitful we undergo afflictions to the intent we may fructifie the more and that we may increase our zeal That we may preserve our selves dextrous and strong we accustome our selves to Justs Turneys we counterfeit war in a full absolute peace and to preserve our soules ever amiable alwayes healthy do we refuse adversity afflictions and tryals we conceive not of our felicity but by the same measure that we recent evil ☞ we joy not in heaven but so far as earth torments us we embrace not God but in the same degree that men afflict us Men distinguish the children of God by their scars their songs are sighths their garments sable mourning and gloomy their Edifices Prisons and the Grave Men send the stout Souldier to the assault they plant him in the midst of the breach they place him in the mouth of the Cannon the Loyal in battel against difficulties losses and vexations The Courage of the Souldier softens and relents during the truce his generosity abates if he be long absent from the Field of battel In like-sort the zeal of Gods Children languisheth and consumeth it self in time of prosperity He there signalizeth himself by the scars in his front and by the wounds received for default of his Armes This here by afflictions proceeding from the hand of the Omnipotent God All his adversities are advertisements these rubarbs are healthful nourishments and bitternesses tending to pleasantnesse we may not imitate the Caterpiller converting flowers into poyson the Anvil which hardens it self against the Hammer The sonnes of earth who sinke in despaire The valiant brow searches the glory of Lawrels and Palms for testimonies of their courage the true believers suffer the honour of crosses of griefs and tryals for signes of their faith Let 's then quit the Field to these Panick these feeble amasements overthrowing them under our weapons enduring them with a cheareful aspect since 't is the pleasure of God that afflictions as pointed arrowes should be fixt in our bodies Suffering with constancy if his heavy hand presseth us on abates us dismembers us and hence forward being rather apt to penance than plaints Being of good courage he is ever a spectatour of his own who strugle and contest against calamity He is ever at hand to yield them courage by their sides to aid and assist them He was by Job stretcht out on the Dunghill He accompanied the three Children in the Furnace He descended with Daniel into the innermost crannies of the Den of Lyons He was near Elias in the Desart with Saint Peter in the Prisons with such a multitude of Martyrs in the midst of the flames This labour is an exercise of true Courage in the sweat whereof men finde felicity The end the aime whereunto we are call'd is so excellent and admirable that we are oblidg'd to embrace all enterprises which may conduct us thither Then let these Ignominies these faded withered things these dolours be our Lawrels our Palmes our Crowns let them be the marks of our vertue engraven on our bodies Let us chearefully receive these Presents from the hand of God let 's relish these wholsome medicines let 's embrace if it be the pleasure of God wounds Martyrdome and Death What then If for his honour and glory if the more to publish the Name and Merit of the Saviour of the World He delivers us into the hands of these Barbarians who oppose publick afflictions and the horrour of death to check the progresse of the Name of Christ who seek not their glory but by the measure and proportion of their cruelty against persevering Christians if he deliver us into the power of these Butchers who imagine the heavenly Field is husbanded as ours by the labour and assistance of the Iron who persecute us by publick punishments by the astonishment of flames by the horrour of Gibbets and of Pillaries surfeting of blood and carcasses and by the dread of Butchers prepared to death and destruction What Shall we not conserve this precious earnest this holy gage this divine faith planted in our hearts by the powerful operation of the Omnipotent Spirit Shall we not inviolably observe this sacred oath of fidelity given to Jesus Christ at our birth What Shall we not freely lavish out our blood
on so glorious an occasion What That we renounce not our faith our salvation shall we not advance boldly to death whereby we shall passe to immortality let not these Barbarians then imagine by the fear of their torments to wrest from us any expressions loose and unworthy of Christians Faith is the greatest gift which men have received from the hand of God Faith is of such vast importance that it must out-ballance every humane consideration when it concernes our faith we must suffer none to be more Eminent more Gallant more Generous than the Christian nothing more scorning and contemning the Sword more despising the flames more contemning death 't is necessary that we bedew and besprinkle her with our blood and restifie it with our death 't is expedient that it augment our zeal in the Prisons that we professe and affirme it before Magistrates to reinforce it in Martyrdome Rendering our selves like green Trees who bowe themselves on one side when men would force them to yield to the other stiffning themselves proportionably as men would bend them Imitating the Diamond which obstinately resists both the iron and the fire as the gold who spreads well but wasts not which loseth his drosse but not his weight his scurse but not his substance like the quick-silver the which the more men presse it to collect it together the more he is constrained the more he is excited to obtain his liberty and free goes vanishing and spreading into a multitude of particles Do we make any difficulty to enter upon tryal of the constancy of a true Christian Feare we the ran-counter of so rare so precious a Prize for which so many of our Fathers have improved and fatned the earth with their bodyes and run so cheerefully to Martyrdome to joyne themselves eternally to God Let 's maniest that we are true shoots of those Ancient stocks which have produc't such admirable and pleasant fruit Let 's declare that we are successors of the splendor of their faith 'T is for this fayre occasion that they have esteem'd it so honourable to suffer 'T is by this staire and assent that they are mounted into heaven by this Road that they are past into eternal beatitude Let 's then hereafter be alwayes ravish't ever taken with a Divine fervour not having other aime nor object than what concernes the glory of the great God and the salvation of our souls for the rest of the world have not other esteeme than so farre forth as it shall serve to advance and attaine it It 's not onely permitted to us to beleeve in Christ but also to suffer for him Consider with our selves that we have to struggle against flesh and blood against Principalities and Powers and the Signeories of the world If God will not nourish us in the shadow if he calls us to the tryal let 's glory in tribulations supporting our selves with constancy And although that our enemies give us many assaults yet for all that the glory the crown belongs not to them God afflicts and visits God imploies those that he loveth and those whom he seemeth to favour He reserveth to Desolation Chastisements correct us and impunity carries away them St. Paul saith that he gave not place by submission no not for a moment to the intent that the truth of the Gospel might be permanent He saith that he made reckoning of nothing that his life is not precious to him Cal. 2.5 to the end that he may finish his course in the Grace of God Acts 20.22 Moses refused to be called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter choosing rather to be afflicted with the people of God Heb. 11.24 than to enjoy the pleasures and delights of sinne for a season better affecting the service of God than to possesse the riches of Egypt Daniel delighted rather to expose himself to the savagenesse of the Lyons He chose sooner to be cast into their Den wherein he expected to be in an instant dismembred than to abstain for thirtie dayes to adore God with his windowes open as he did afore time The three children rather elected to be cast into the ardent flames than to bow before the Idol Eleazer gray and bald and that Mother fearing God with her seven Children suffer'd Martyrdome and death rather than to infringe the Commandment of God by permitting swines-flesh to enter their mouths It 's most certain that there is but one path to arive at felicity but one only heavenly Collume whereon we must take place but one only Arke wherein we must be enclosed to avoid the Deluge All other wayes how Contiguous how neare how like soever they be lead directly into the Jawes of the Divel All other vessels but that of Noah split being swallowed by the waves The truth of the Gospel is publish't by the voice of the Apostles proved by Myracles sealed by the blood of Martyrs and acknowledged by the evil spirits What shall we be so very detestable as to bely the holy writ to reject our salvation to dissavow our Saviour He descended for us hath suffered for us hath dyed for us shall we make difficulty to confesse him to suffer for him to dye for him No No let our speeches ever agree with our thoughts let our thoughts be always the same with our words Let 's not cast our selves by the sound of our lips into the snares of Satan that the fear of torments cause us not to renounce heaven that the dread of death make us not to abandon Jesus Christ and his heritage that our Timidity occasion not a sad shipwrack in the very harbour not changing our affections with fortune nor varying our Face like as a Masse of wax nor our habitation as the wandring foul for the cold Let not the bands of the vanity of the world so eclips our sight that we discern not our offence that our designes stifle and extinguish not the bright sparkles of our soules that our desires deprive us not of our Salvation We have tasted the heavenly gift let not an Emotion and light distemper cause us to disgorge and vomit it we are pure let 's not fill our selves with Ordure we are clean let 's not defile our selves in the myre Electing rather a glorious and honourable grave than a lothsome infamous life Let 's rather instantly dye with a sound and entyre spirit let 's finish now our voyage and life with God than here for a short space with the world with dispayre with Satan Who would preserve himself by quitting the Helme suffereth shipwrack who imagins to recoyle one step tumbleth into a bottomlesse deep who retyres from Paradise precipitateth himself into hell God hath not ordained all to be out-rag'd for his holy Name all are not capable God hath not marked all the inhabitants of the earth with the badge of his Sonne few are treated like the Master There 's but one plant taken of the stock of the plant one bunch of the bunch a few grapes
Temple of my God Rev. 3.12 and he shall never go forth more and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the City of my God which is the new Jerusalem Who overcometh Rev. 3.21 I will cause to sit with me upon my Throne even as I also have overcome and am set with my Father in his Throne What hinders us now what doth obstruct us then to bear afflictions and miseries with constancy who hinders to surmount and overcome these things Is it this World are they our riches Alas why change we not chearfully and willingly our lands our habitations and our lives for repose for felicity for eternal beatitude Our life is short wherefore for so short a time do we renounce a perpetuity of blessednesse of the ages of Paradise Our life passeth in an instant why for to preserve a few dayes do we precipitate our soules in the Abisme Our life is precious to God he holds it he keeps it in his hands i◠he dispose it 't is for his honour 't is for our preservation ☞ why deny we him this glory and to our selves this profit Do we dread torments there is more of grief and anguish to finish ones life by a long and continued distemper than by a violent stroak death is more languishing and tormenting in a bed than in the sight of heaven in an assembly The Feavers Convulsions Catarrhs are more insupportable and fatal than torments Christ is present he exhorts us he offers himself to us he invites us he spreads his armes to receive us he will open the heavens for our consolation as to Saint Steven than when the enemies of the Gospel stoned him He will assist us with his strength and augment our courage as he hath done to so many Martyrs who have endured for his name Let us not then loyter any longer committing our selves into his hands The Lawrels and the Palmes never cast their leaves the true Children of God never quail The love of heaven doth so ravish them they are after such a manner fil'd with that divine fury so that when nothing remaines to them but their heart wherewith they are accustomed to contemne the most dreadful things that continues sound even to the end of their lives their souls are invincible untameable free and generous Let 's suffer then with patience lifting up our hearts to heaven Let those savage Beasts which are not satisfi'd but with blood and wounds who are not asswaged but with murthers who are not delighted but with the sounds of racks having nothing agreeable but to dismember Christians Let us suffer if it be the pleasure of God to deliver us into the hands of these Butchers if they cause our bodies to stoop under the weight of Martyrdome Let us suffer if they redouble their rage if they do not forbear any kind of cruelty and as Lyons Whelps fil'd with flesh they feed their eyes on our dead bodies and dabble their hands in our bloody effusions God will assist us with his power and will raise us by his Omnipotent Spirit when 't is for the honour of his Name above the racks and flames The most cruel torments shall not be considerable to us the greatest most ponderous punishments shall be pleasant unto us these cruelties cannot astonish us death it self shall be life Our faith shall sustain our bodies seeing them torn it shall the more encourage us to suffer Our holy zeal shall delude the most sowre afflictions will cause us to advance into flames without amazement we shalconsume our selves with satisfaction embracing Martyrdome We shall imitate those Martyrs who for such a subject have endured a thousand afflictions have a thousand times spilt their blood have sustained a thousand flames These Martyrs whose Names and Renowns have found the earth too narrow to comprehend them These Martyrs who have magnifi'd Christianity by their blood who have accepted Martyrdome for their Crown These Martyrs who by a few torments are gone for ever into Supreme felicity Up then Barbarians what havock and slaughter soever you make of our bodies we remain firme and resolv'd to die Our bodies are vanquish't our spirits remain Conquerors You shall behold us languish full of delight in a divine Martyrdome You shall see our blood boyling with devotion to distill and trickle into the flames That our death shall be lovely and beautiful to be for ever famous to Christianity That our bodies shall be blessed to be consumed for the glory of the Saviour of the World That our blood shall be precious to witnesse and trace out the way to heaven That those flames shall be exquisite which set a lustre on the truth in the eyes of a throng and croud of poor Ignorants That our ashes shall be pretious to celebrate publish and to spread the Gospel among men If the earth be glutted with our blood the example of our Martyrdome will make us re-created by Miriads if they consume us as the Phenix we shall be renewed within our ashes Meditations for one that is sick FRail Creature in the midst of thy imaginations thou wastest and consumest thy self thou straglest thou wanderest and losest thy self amongst the vanities of the World Thou runnest out of knowledge in these slippery paths without understanding thy feeblenesse without considering that at the first step upon the first advance thou mayst stumble that a sprain may turn thee quite short and that thou hast no sooner weighed anchor than thou art in danger of Ship-wrack thy health hath puft thee up thy courage hath raised thee up precipitating thee into pleasures and delights and suddenly a chilnesse surpriseth thee some heat a pain in the head thou art dejected thou tremblest thou doubtest whether it be some light distemper or rather a disease tending unto death O Lord the World to this moment hath possessed me her delusions have intoxicated me at this instant my sinnes stare in my face as if I were awaked from a prosound slumber I begin to recover my spirits my eyes retort their looks upon my self to behold my weaknesse and my body tyred and consum'd with the feavour which is mixt with my blood and with the pain which torments it is constrain'd to acknowledge her misery to reject her Presumption Lord these fogs which obscure heaven to me begin to fall off my Soul so long blinded recovers some glimmering I have lived to this very instant swimming and floating at the pleasure of the Tide give me grace that I may arrive at the Port I have passed my time in darknesse give me light in the rest of my dayes Poor Carcasse thy Original is in infection thy habitation in a station fil'd with tempests with diseases with torments with bloody wars in a place common to the savage beasts upon an ingrateful earth out of which thou can'st extract nothing but with the Plow-share and edge of the Iron For thy end thy flesh is the prey and triumph of wormes thy
of the world the executioners of my life I have been immoderate and excessive in every thing which is contrary to thy pleasure without having other bound than an imbicility to advance farther My memory Lord is not sufficient to comprehend and enumerate such a multitude of crimes and I now have more bashfulnesse to nominate them than I had shame to act them Also Lord what need the trouble to recount them seeing they present themselves they oppose themselves against me accusing and confounding me seeing that the least but lately committed is sufficient for my damnation without the trouble to search after the past which serve not but for astonishment how the nature of man could invent and commit so many mischiefs Behold them Lord they fail not to passe into my remembrance and as an heavy burthen presse me so sore that I am ready to yield to give my self up to dispayre and to lose my self Lord I cannot so much as deny them I have committed them they were acted in thy sight in thy presence with a feeble fearful and astonish't voyce I acknowledge them and am vanquish't the fear that I have beholding their great number hath frozen my heart and appaled my countenance And on the contrary considering the rigour and strictnesse of thy judgments my sense fails me and I attend nothing but the hour of punishment I will willingly lye down instantly half quick in my grave and in expiring draw the earth over me to the intent I may remove my self from before thy Justice so much do I dread that thy hand will wax heavy against me to destroy me I am like the poor Publican who durst not lift up his eyes towards thee I dare not so much as entertain any imagination of remission for a criminal so culpable I dispayre to avoid them even as undergoing the exemplar-punishment of my abominable practises The depravity of my manners renders the severity of thy censures sharp against me and I know that no man hath place in thy eternal felicity but those that are clensed from sin who are not fullyed with the spots of iniquity who have submitted and dedicated to thy service their hearts and their toungs as for me I have done quite otherwise Neverthelesse Lord thou wilt not bruise in thine indignation those whom thou hast created after thine own Image Thou wilt not precipitate into the gulf and forsake abandoned to the roring Lyon those who are graffed and regenerated in that great Mediatour in the grand Saviour of the world On the contrary Good God! Thou hast commanded us to pray to thee in his name Thou hast promised to hear us in his name Thou hast assured us that when our sins are as red as vermillion nevertheless thou wilt make them as white as wool seeing we have recourse to that Treasure of our Justification to that only Redeemer to that only Authour of our salvation Now O Saviour of the world O Precious Stone O Spirit of my Spirits I embrace thee I discharge the burthen of my sins upon thee I ease my self upon thee Thou art purposly descended here below thou art clothed with out flesh thou hast made thy self man to the intent that I might be able to speak to thee Thou hast stretc'h forth thy limbs on the Crosse thou hast shed thy blood thou haft seen it distil from thy wounds all vermillion to heal my mortal sores to dround my sinnes to cloath me again with innocence Thou hast suffered death to give me the life Thou hast made thy self the oblation and most immaculate offering to take upon thy self the pains which I have meritted Thou hast yielded thy self captive to set me at liberty of immortal thou hast made thy self mortal to the intent that of mortal to render me immortal Thy vertue ever flourisheth that never waxeth old display it over me approach touch my sins and they shall dissolve away as wax before the beames of thy Sun they cannot remain near thee thy sight shall be their flight thy presence their dissipation Thou shalt efface their steps and their straglings Thy hand can bruise the gate of hell thy hand can lift me up into the heavens and make me to ascend by the ladder that appeared to Jacob Lord I cannot sufficiently comprehend thy infinite goodnesse towards persons so vile and unworthy If I contemplate the excellence of thy Divinity in thy descent unto the earth or whether I consider them to whom thou art come I admire the Grandure of thy charity and farther Ruminating thereon I call to mind the happinesse of thy humane condition The Creatour of heaven and of earth The Omnipotent who is not displeas'd but with man is descended for man and made himself man is come to save him from the torture of the fire and the horrors of hell and hath taken his forme the Physitian is hasted to the succour of the diseased the Master to ransome the slaves the streight path presents it self to the straglers Life offers it self to the carcasses enclosed under the Tombs the Shepheard is descended from the top of the mountain to seek the straying sheep He hath again lifted them up on high and enclos'd them in his Fold The Hen hath gathered her chickings under her breast hath made a shield with her wings to protect them from the Ravenous Kite Now good God drive far from me those doubts which Satan goes about to frame in me assure me comfort my spirit fortifie my faith redouble it's strength make her to vanquish all fears all the dispayres which he would suggest unto her Enable her to repel all allutements and assaults of all his temptations She must not longer be affraid she may not longer tremble hell can have nothing against me seeing thine only Sonne hath taken my sinnes upon him because he hath wash't me with his pure blood after it hath pleas'd thee to allow on mine account the value of his satisfaction If thou art pleas'd Lord to proceed with me according to my deserts I should be far distant from any such happinesse my salvation would be desperate There was never any contention with so much disproportion the weapons are too unequal my fault is extreame so is thy Justice But Lord thy mercy is infinite thy goodness surpasseth my mallice Thou coverest my faults with the body of thy Son by his merit thou hast satisfied thy Justice Thou hast given me life there thou concervest me I hold of thy clemency Lord Thou hast spoken by the mouth of thy Prophets that thou art nigh to such as are of a broken heart and that thou deliverest such which have contrite spirits Lord thou contemnest not the afflicted thou hidest not thy face from them forget not then my oppression forget not my afflictions which are violent and permanent forget not the sorrowes of my heart which are augmented Lord my Soul is consumed even to the dust my belly cleaves to the earth Hear then my God myclamour and my supplication and