Estates to make them idle neither do Rents or Riches exempt any man from business It is a perverting of the end of Talents to wrap them up in Napkins No man need to complain for want of work whil'st there are so many businesses besides worldly business to keep men from being idle O Eternal Spirit of Life and Power inspire me with a Divine activity that I may account it nothing different from death to live unprofitably nothing different from a judicial sentence to bind my self hand and foot by my own â—lothfulness MEDITAT LV. Of Easefulness UNder the Head of Worldly Pleasure and as being much of Kin to Idleness I must now meditate a while upon Eâ—sâ— Carnal Easâ— Idleness is opposed to Action Ease to Suffering Idleness is freedom from Businesâ— Easâ— is freedom from Adversity or any thing that is grievous to the Senses as Sickness Losses Poverty Restraint Trespasses and Injuries in word or deed c. To prefer Freedom from any of these sensual Adversities before submission to the Will of God a sanctify'd use and improvement the exercise of Patience Charity Fortitude and Constancy under them is sensual and denominates a man a Lover of the world of worldly Ease I do premise which every body sure knows that we are to value our selves by our Souls not by our Bodies or secular Concernments And to prefer the Body before the Soul is all one as to prefer the World before God For that certainly is most to be loved and preferred that makes most for the perfecting of the Soul in a Christ-like Nature He that thinks himself too good so much as to be laught at or spoken ill of is a very neâ—h Christian To be shie to venture upon any Affliction to dare to venture nothing for 〈◊〉 sake not to take up any Cross is a Character of a person far from a true Discipleship For the true Disciples are described by their taking up their Cross and following their Lord. The Captain of our Salvation valued Subjection to the Will of God and Charity for the Souls of men before Sensual Ease when these came in competition he accounted him a Devil who cry'd Master spare thy self It was indeed in his power to have spared himself but he was an hardy Captain and would not save himself rather than betray us It is true Nature desires Ease from Adversity the Soul has a wonderful Sympathy with and Kindness for the Body But those soft and delicate persons that cannot endure that the flesh or any fleshly interest should smart though it be the Will of the Sovereign Wise God though this Plaister might work a Cure though Affliction might bring forth the pleasant fruits of Righteousness are strangely immur'd in flesh and sunk into Sense MEDITAT LVI Of Fear of Sickness UNder this Head of Easefulness I may seasonably meditate of Fear of Sickness And here I cannot deny but that Sickness is troublesome to the Senses yea I think I may confess that the Soul cannot but sympathize with the Body for there is a strange and unaccountable dearness which springs from their conjunction But yet the Soul hath an health belonging to it distinct from the Body called in Scripture The spirit of a sound mind The Souls Ease and Eucrasie lies in Subjection to the Will of God she ought to value her own Ease more than that of the Body to prefer Patience before Health or Recovery We know that Patience is Divine and that Health is but a worldly good and also that that may be wholsom to the Soul which is grievous to the Senses So that to be afraid of and to stand in awe of Sickness is a preferring of carnal Ease before spiritual and before the Will of God and to be more solicitous for recovery than for a sanctification and improvement is sensual Much more then to flie to undue means for prevention is a manifest preferring of the worldly fleshly interest before God and his Holy Authority It is possible it is seemly to be so master'd with the sense of the Purity and Perfection of the Divine Will as to be well pleased wiâ—h Diseases to overlook pain to embrace a Dungâ—il to hug the Worms that fill our Sores as if they were our Sister and Mother Art thou so delicate a thing O my body that thou must not be touch'd Are you my Senses so sacred that you must not be grated upon nor your interest violated Oh take heed of the young man Aâ—salâ—m though he be a Traytâ—r a Rebel an incestuous Fratriâ—â—de yet he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proper Gentleman a goodly young Prince deal tenderly with him yes by all means My Soul thou haâ—â— smarted and dost smart daily for the treacher â—â—sness and flattering insinuations of the bodily Senses yea they affect the dominion of the Soul and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—throne Reason And must they be thus humor'd and cocker'd Ay do breed up a Bird to pick out thy own eyes Lord Is it true that no Sickness is joyous But though Sicknes be not joyous yet sure there may be joy in and under Sicknesâ— is well as in the spoil of Goods or in Reproaches And I do remember those that took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods and those that rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for the Name of Jesus Let me be lame all my days and a Criple so I may be the King's son and eat at the King's Table continually Let me keep my Bed all my days so thou Lord wilt but please to make it and thy Holy Spirit will vouchsafe to rest with me Let the pleasure of Submission Self-Examination and Resignation out-weigh the pain of the Gout or Stone or Strangnry If the Devil meant it of all men indifferently without exception good as well as bad Job as well as other men when he said All that a man hath will he give for his life he is a Lyar and a Slanderer and Divines do ill to justifie the Father of Lyes in this matter and to say as some do That he was in the right All that a man hath What I warrant he will give his Soul to the Devil for recovery from Sickness will he He will part with his integrity make shipwrack of a good Conscience he will curse God Thou lyest Sathan Job himself prov'd thee a Lyar who held fast his integrity although thou movedst God against him to destroy him And many of the Servants of God do confute thee who have refused to accept of recovery from Sickness upon sinful terms or by sinful means and instead of giving all that they have Soul and all for Life would not part with the peace of their minds nor the purity of their Consciences to purchase health MEDITAT LVII Of Fear of the Less of Friends ANother thing grievous to the Sensual Life is the death of Friends and beloved Relations This I foresee will fall under a following Meditation therefore I will but lightly touch upon it here although a
place in the Creation shall I assign to that man that loves the lowest things for by loving he makes himself lower than they and it will puzzle all Philosophy to tell where to place that man that is lower than the lowest Shake off these shameful Fetters O my Soul burst this Yoke thou art call'd to liberty renounce this Ahominable servitude and reckon that if for an Hand-Maid to be Heir to her Mistress is a matter of Pride for a Mistress to eâ—slave her self to her Hand-Maid is matter of shame and reproach The gracious Creator hath plac'd thee in a noble degree and rank of the Creatures the lines are fallen to thee in a good place do not wilfully degrade thy self by forsaking thy station and thrusting thy self down below the lowest to thy eternal disparagement and amazement Lest whilst thou stand'st in a mixture of disdain and pity beholding the mighty Nebuchadnezzar herding himself with the Oxen thou plunge thy self into a more dishonourable condition then this and suffer thy self to be ridden by thy own Beast MEDITAT XXXVIII From the Consideration of the Nature of the Love of the World Idolatrous and Adulterous HAving briefly considered what the World is and what Love is I will now put them together and a little consider what Worldly Love is And indeed I cannot think of any thing abominable but I find it to be that Methinks I hear the Pathetical words of the blessed one fouâ—â—â—â—g in my ears Oh do not that abominable thing that I hate Jer. 44. 4. It seems that all sin is abominable and hated of Gods Soul But if one thing may be said to be more abominable than another I doubt not but Predominant Worldly Love is the most abominable of all things as having in it the nature of all those things which are of all sober Judges accounted most abominable I will confine my self to five or six of the worst that I can think of And here I will begin this black Roll with Idolatry This is confest by all Christians to be an abominable thing insomuch that that very part of the Christian World which we most suspect of it are as studious to excuse it as they are bold to commit it And there is a great deal of reason why all men professing the knowledge of the true God should abominate Idolatry when they hear him in his Word so passionately charging the World against it so terribly threatning the Commission of it and read what lamentable Devastations he made amongst the Jews because of it which the Prophet excuses by a strange expression The Lord could no longer bear because of their Idolatry Jer. 44. 22. But as abominable as it is the Love of the World is in it What the Apostle says of one Branch of it by the same Argument that Covetousness is Idolatry Pride and Sensuality are no better The highest Act of Worship is Love consequently he that loves the praise of Men more than the praise of God that is a lover of Pleasures more than of God is a down right Idolater Gold and Silver need not to be made into Images to be objects of admiration He that loves and delights and trusts in them chiefly has given the Worship peculiar to God to them and made them his God already Idols may be and commonly are set up as properly in the Heart as in Houses Ezek. 14. 3. and Idolatry as well committed by the inclinations of the Will as by the bending of the Knee There cannot be more palpable Idolatry in the world than making that a God to ones self which is none Is not the Sensualist an Idolater in the most proper speech whose Belly is his God as the Apostle phraseth it By the like propriety of speech one may say of the proud Gallant that he makes his Back his God nay an Horse an Hawk or an Hound may be as truly an Idol to a Christian as a Calf is to an Egyptian A second abominable thing that I think of is Adulâ—â—ry Whatever favourable Opinion this Wicked and Wanton Age has entertain'd of this Vice I 'm sure the Holy God accounts it abominable and ordained in his Common-wealth of the Jews that the Adulterors should be stoned to Death Such is the Opinion that God has of Adultery that he most usually by his Prophets compares that incomparable sin of Idolatry to it and calls it going a Whoring after other Gods It must needs be a foul pattern by which that Monster of Idolatry is drawn And is not the love of the World Adultery Is not the heart of Man as much dedicate and due to God as any Mans Wife is peculiar to him Do Men justly complain of great wrong done to them and may not God as justly complain of the alienation of Hearts May not God reasonably be offended that such a vile thing as Mundanes should be his Rival and defile the Heart of Man which he esteems his greatest Jewel It 's plain by the judgement of the great Searcher of Hearts that she that lusts after another Man more than her own Husband is a Whore and has already committed Adultery with him in her Heart It must needs be that the Soul that lusts after and cleaves to any Object more than to God to whom Souls are most nearly related and to whom they are most firmly bound is abominably Unchast and Adulterous in her loves Souls have no way of playing the Whore but by mis-loving and by how much the meaner the Object of their love is so much the groffer and more shameful their Adultery So that the Soul Prostituting it self to the World is not only Adulterous but indeed Sodomitical in this Conjuction For t is all one with lying down before a Beast which is forbidden by the law abhorr'd of Nature and damned by the gentile Theology under the Fable of Pasiphae and her Bull and their Monstrous off spring the Minotaur Vencr is Monument a nefandae MEDITAT XXXIX Of the Blasphemy and Sacriledge of Worldly Love A Third abominable thing that I think of is Blasphemy To speak evil of God injuriously reproachfully of the Deity may justly be accounted horrible amongst the Servants of the true God when it was judged abominable even by the Heathens whose Gods themselves were abominable Paul's Companions had like to have been pull'd in pieces by the Zealous Ephesians for disparaging Diana and the onely way that the Town Clark could take to appease the multitude was to tell them whatsoever people said of her Diana was a very brave Goddess and to deny that Paul's Companions were Blasphemers of her for he knew well enough that if such a horrible thing as Blasphemy were prov'd against them the people would not have stay'd for any Judicial Sentence to be past upon them Now there is a Blasphemy of the Heart as well as of the Tangue So the Fool Blasphemes who says in his heart there is no God and so do all they that either â—scribe to God
fair opportunity be given for it It is the part of a delicate sensual Soul a Lover of the World to fear the removal of his dearest Friend to prefer their Lives and Companies before the Will of God and its being done I do willingly grant that Friends and Relations are to be loved and delighted in yea I think of all sensual Pleasures this is the most innocent and the least beastly though some Beasts are very fond of their Relations and others are great lovers of Society and good men have been more apt to fall into Fits of this Sensuality than any other that I can think of Any one that reads the Story of Jacob and Joseph and Benjamin of David and Absalom and Adonijah will be apt to think so Nay indeed it were a part of gross Beastliness not to leave off sorrowing for the Asses and cry What shall â— do for my Son Alas lest the proper young man Saul should be lost Yet as Relations are to be loved onely in God so they are readily to be quitted and forsaken for him or at his command His Will ought to be dearer to us than their company Many are so fond of their Children that they cannot abide to look off them They contemplate them by day dream of them by night This love as great as it seems to be is not perfect for it hath fear in it and this fear hath torment I will not here say how evil this Love is but I am sure these People are ill prepared to forsake Children for Christ's sake Abraham was not so fond of his onely Isaac No he shall die if he were a thousand Isaacs if God call for him Nay he shall die by his hands rather than he will gain-say the Will of God Every good Christian is of the same temper of the same predominant disposition to be willing to give up Isaac And no doubt but that if we had the same command the same thing would be our indispensible Duty But alas Qâ—otusquisque est Abrahamus How few Abrahams does this Age afford If we sit loose from Husbands Wives Children â—â— we be in a chearful disposition of resigning them at all times it is an act of Faith as acceptable as Abrahams A Man may offer up his Son though he do not bind him upon the Altar as there are many Martyrs that were never brought to the Stake The 3 young men in Daniel were as properly Martyrs in venturing upon the fiery Furnace as if they had been burnt To mortifie this worldly Fear let us believe and consider That whatever is lovely in Children will still live and may be as well enjoy'd in God as if they were alive Besides it is worth the while to ask Who knows how those Children will prove If we had a Prophet here perhaps he would answer us as he did Eli 1 Sam. 2. 33. The Child of thine that shall not be cut off shall be 〈◊〉 â—onsâ—me thine eyes and to grieve thine heart But I shall wave the further prosecution of this and adjourn it till I come to consider of the worldly love of persons MEDITAT LVIII Of the Fear of Poverty and Loss of Goods POverty is formidable to Men not so much I suppose because it is deadly few fearing to be so poor as to starve as because of the disgrace that attends it Nil habet infoelix paupertas durius in se Quam quod ridiculos homines facit But this is a Cross that we must be ready to take up if we will approve our selves to be Lovers of God Disciples of Christ Moses took it up and his Countreymen the believing Hebrews took it up Of later Times the Noble Marquess Caracciola took it up It is a Tribulation which all that will enter into the Kingdom of God must be content to pass thorough if it lie in their way To use sinful shifts or comply with sinful terms to avoid Poverty denominates a Lover of the World Lord what lying flattering deceiving and disingenuous stifling of Conscience is used to prevent Poverty And is there any thing in it so formidable May not a man be all that which is good and happy and yet poor May he not be wise and poor virtuous and poor poor and blessed Blessed are the poor c. Nay are there not many Immunities in Poverty a â—â—eedom from many temptations temptations to Pride Luxury and Oppression which do attend a rich condition Are there not in it many advantages to Virtue to Humility Contempt of the World dependance upon God 〈◊〉 thirâ—â—ing after Eternal Life But when I 〈◊〉 â—â—verty hinders nothing that Riches can help us in a poor man may be as learned valiant virtuous wise yea and as charitable too as the rich It will be reply'd Oh but he cannot be so well esteemed of The poor is neglected and hated of his Brethren the poor mans wisdom is not regarded I answer No matter for that if it deliver the City regarded or not regarded For what is the regard and valuation of men This very respect to Estimation Acceptance and Honour is one of the worldly Lusts to be mortify'd so far is it from being able to justifie the worldly fear of Poverty Blessed Jesus who willingly becam'st poor to make me and many rich thou hast taken the sting out of Poverty â—ay thou hast sanctify'd thou hast enrich'd it Thou left'st all to come seek me make me willing to leave all to follow thee make me able to follow thee even in leaving all for thee MEDITAT LIX Of Fear of Persecution TO be shie and delicate in venturing upon Persecution Restraint Wrongs for Truth and the Gospels sake and to prefer deliverance from these before the Will of God before a sanctify'd use of them and exercise of grace under them denominates a Lover of the World Whosoever represents Persecution taking in the loss of Estate Goods good Name favor of the World Liberty of Life to himself so formidable as that for fear of it he will deliberately forsake God deny his Truth profess Error or Falshood go contrary to and continue in a contradiction to the known Word of God and the Sentiments of his Conscience is a Lover of the World Persecution is a Cross that every faithful Disciple of Christ must be ready to take up when ever his Master calls him to it Holy Paul was ready to take it up in the whole weight of it Not only to be bound at Jerusalem but to dye for the Name of the Lord Jesus The believing Hebrews took it up They might have escap'd Persecution by denying Christ but they were not so nesh although they were but young Christians They would not accept of deliverance Heb. 11. 35. And the same is the predominant temper of all the genuine Disciples of Christ Whosoever will not forsake House and Lands for my sake is not worthy of me Who would value such a Friend that will not so much as put his Nose into a Storm to help