of his lips he returns to his earth f Ps 146.4 and that very day his thoughts and his reasons of State must perish All his skill in Botanicks could not extract such an ens primum or a quintessence from his Cedars in Lebanon to prolong his life a moment beyond the appointed g Job 14.5 moneths and the bounds which he could not passe No nor holy Poul could not strengthen the stakes of his Tabernacle or keep its curtains from trembling but an East wind from the Roman wildernesse h smites it down to the ground Act. 18.3 and all his i skill in Tent-work could not raise it He therefore counts upon his house with God not made with hands k 2 Cor. 5. â— eternal in the Heavens and groans earnestly to be clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of Life Q. But why must Saints dye hath not Christ paid a ransome to purchase them from death Must Daniel the man of desires be led into this second Captivity Must John the beloved Disciple though he scape the boiling Oyl and rocky Patmos come down to his Tomb at Ephesus and walk in this six-foot Valley yes even he that lay in the bosome of Christ must also sleep in the bosome of the grave A. 1 To this may be replyed 1 Downam of Justifie p. 6. Edit fol. Lond. 1639. That Justification is a continued act of divine grace terminative quoad 1 nos in respect to us it lasts from our first conversion to the declarative sentence of absolution at the day of Judgment Indeed in respect to God who is actus purissimus a most pure and absolute act and sits down without any succession of times in the glorious noon of Eternity our justification admits no degrees It is not instill'd into us drop by drop in respect to him but so soon as a man doth truly believe he stands truly and perfectly righteous in the sight of God The Covenant of Grace is ratified simul semel together and at once at the Throne of God in the name and vertue of Christs righteousness so soon as ever we truly believe but 't is applied manifested and compleated to us in the successive methods of effectual vocation sanctification and finall redemption at the great day For while we continue sinners we have continuall need of justifying grace David as to fresh Commissions stood in need of a Ps 51.7 purging with Hysop from his leprous sins to receive an atonement Lev 14.6 19. and to have the Seal of the b Ps 32.5 forgiveness of the iniquity of his sin upon his acknowledgment and confession For as to us God is not said to remit those sins that are not yet committed but such c Rom. 3.25 as are past We are taught therefore by our Lord to pray d Mat. 6.11 12. Act. 5.31 every day forgive us our trespasses We sin dayly and must confess dayly and pray dayly for repentance and pardon Yea God himself in that Evangelicall promise by Esay assures us e Isay 43.25 I even I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delens am blotting out your trangressions for mine own sake and will not remember your fins to comfort us against tentations about daily infirmities Do we sin every day and is the truth not in him nay does he make him a lyar that saith f 1 Joh. 1.10.8.2.1 he hath no sin then we have need of a dayly Advocate to plead for us at the right hand of the Father a high Priest that g Heb. 7.24 continueth evir and h V. 25. liveth â—vâ—â— to i Heb. 9 24 appear in the presence of God and to make intercession for us By virtue whereof he k Joh. 14.2 3. prepares the heavenly Mansions in the Temple of Glory for us and us for them Then he will come again and receive us unto himself that where he is we may be with him and behold his glory And when this Prince of life the Judg of quick and dead shall appear he will pronounce that finall justifying and glorifying sentence l Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father m Ps 32.1 2. for blessed are they indeed to whom the Lord then imputeth not iniquity come and inherit the Kingdome prepared for you Then shall our justification be compleat in all its points at that joyfull declaration of Christ upon his Tribunall in Judgment No marvell then a Rom. 8.10 11. If the bodies even of Saints shall dye 'T is because of sin though the spirit be life because of righteousnesse But then shall all our sins be finally blotted our and cast behind his back in the b Mic. 7.19 depths of the Sea when those times of b Act. 3.19.20.21 refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord when he shall send Jesus Christ at the great Restitution whereof he hath spoken by all his holy Prophets since the world began Then shall Onesiphorus according to the prayer of Paul c 2 Tim. 1.18 find mercy in that day at the hand of Christ That day of full d Eph. 1.14 and 4.30 Redemption hath not yet appeared when the e Mat. 13.43 righteous shall shine forth in the Kingdome of their Father with everlasting joy upon their heads A. 2 Again Death was decreed and determin'd of God to seize upon faln sinners in all it kinds and yet we never find that doleful sentence repeal'd as to temporall dissolution in any promise f Joh. 11.25 I am the Resurrection and the Life saies Christ he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Yea our blessed Lord in his Sermon at Capernaum no less g Joh. 6. then four terms comforts his Disciples with the Doctrin of the Resurrection not that they should not dye but that he would raise them up at the last day Nay even to John himself Jesus h Joh. 21.23 said not that he should not dye But if I will that he tarry till I come what 's that to thee Peter No! both holy Peter and holy John Death is ordain'd as a means to purge and cleanse their bodies from the soil and filth of sin and to fit those sanctified Vessels for the life of glory A. 3 Saints therefore must look upon death with no other aspect then as the greatest bodily affliction which shall or can befall them and that it hath the same ingrediency though in a deeper measure with all the bitter Cups of triall which the Father is pleased to put into their hands They have one common reason and one common end to make them partakers of his holiness Sickness of the holinesse of Grace and Death of the holiness of Glory But are not Saints the members of Christs body Is the head glorified and must the Members pass this State of exinanition Must believers dye Yes and good reason too Should not the members be conformable to their head Ought Christ
sting of death its venome and poyson be pull'd out by the death of Christ yet our mortality is not abolished Although our Lord hath brought f 2 Tim. 1.10 life and immortality to light through the Gospel in its revelation and consignation to every believer yet not as to its compleat fruition till the day of Christ Then shall this mortall put on immortality and death shall be swallowed up in victory and then shall we render eternall thanks to the Father for giving us this victory g 1 Cor. 15.57 through our Lord Jesus Christ For reign he must till this last enemy also be put under his feet To conquer over death by rising brings more honour to God then to keep our foot from the grave or else Divine Wisdome would not run that course One's th' effect of powerfull manutenency But the other of creating omnipotency Hence as Christ the Naturall so shall Saints be declared the Adopted sons of God a Rom. 1.4 with power by the resurrection from the dead by reason of which union God will also raise them up like their glorious and mysticall head b Act. 2.24 by loosing the pains of death it being impossible for them likewise to be held by it For Christ being risen from the dead is become c 1 Cor. 15.20 the first fruits of them that sleep Our blessed Lord rose at the Passe-over and they shall rise at the day of Pentecost He rose as the head they as members all in their own order shall rise to glory Obj. But some may say Did not Enoch and Elias leap over this Valley of death into heaven Ans True but their translation moved upon the wheels of transmutation equivalent to death as they also who are found alive at the coming of Christ Though they passe not through the strainer of the grave yet they undergo the percolation of a change As the heavens shall d Ps 102.26 perish when they be changed and passe e 2 Pet. 3.10 away with a great noise and the Elements melt with fervent heat neverthelesse we look for new heavens and a new earth not in substance but in quality Even so Elijah though riding to heaven in a chariot of fire and the living f 2 Cor. 15.51 1 Thes 4.17 Saints at our Lords coming in a chariot of aire yet are all by a marvellous change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.5 translated to the vision of God CHAP. VI. Of the Formidable evills in the Valley of Death AS in a Land-skip let us take a quick prospect of those fatall and tremendous evills which cock their Helmets and make bare their Gorgon faces at the entrance in the passage and the utmost end of this direfull Valley 1. At the Entrance when these brazen gates flee open The soul bewitching comforts to which we must bid a longum vale an eternal farewell and those wracking pains which must be felt not on a Palate of Ivory but a Bed of Iron in which this Gyant Procrustes tortures all he catches must needs shoot barbed arrows into the Livers of all impenitent sinners The Phylosopher teaches h Aristot Rhet. l. 7. c. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that change is the sweetest of all things It must be in things to the better or equall at least in goodness to precedent injoyments else 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bitterest of all To have been fair strong healthfull rich and happy sharpness the edge of present misery cuts the deeper Is not this a dead fly in the box of oyntment a gourd in the pot a snake in the grasse that poysons the joy of all thy comforts Must the amorous smiles of all thy sinfull pleasures corrupt into doleful howlings Here 's the parting style when the sweet embraces of the dearest conjugall relations must surrender up to mortall gripings Here livid and fainty kisses must take leave of pretty children his own bowels pignora chara nepotes those choice pledges of a mans survivall unto himself The friend that 's nearer than a brother must now shake hands and look back to little purpose at this dolesome and dark good-night His fine houses and fair possessions his fruitfull orchards of his own planting and his pleasant gardens with all its rills and fishponds his flowry meadows and beautifull prospects his gamefull parks and woody forrests his dutifull and toiling tenants must all come to his bedside and shake their heads and with dry eyes bid good-even to their old foolish rent-wracking covetous Landlord Then all these flashy thorny joyes that made so great a crackling under his pot having shot some splinters in his eyes and more in 's heart will leave him in thick darkness Then all his false parasites and trencher-guests for a sorry ring else hardly will march with him to the pits side and forsake his memory when closed in a cold stone Besides 't will gawl him to the heart in that hour to think what a feather cap fool a Eccles. 2.19 he leaves for his heir that will turn upon his left heel and twit the miser when he sees his chests all lined with gold and sorrow for nothing but that he shall never more have so true a drudge Then out goes the young Ruffian with the fork upon his shoulder to France and Venice to learn carriage among Whores Banditos and riotous persons till penury forces his belly to fellow common with a Luk. 15.30 16. Swine and quatrell with hogs for their husks and at length can hardly crawl home to the Surgeons Shop Are not these sweet Flowers for his memory to smell to And a soveraign Cordiall against the assaults of Death But were this all 'T were no match for a Roman Spirit No no! proud worldlings before departure often conflict with fearfull torments Agags b 1 Sam. 15 32. bitternesse of death arrests their souls and make their Spirits stagger The c Ps 18.4 116.3 pains of Death and of Hell get hold upon them These deadly sorrows switch them with such smart lashes Ut se sentiant mori as to leave lingring pains with strong and biding Convulsions Like Tiherius that cruell Tyrant when tormenting of Asinius Gallus told him he was not yet reconciled and therefore would not permit him to dye d Dion .. Cass in Tiber p. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he might count life a punishment and death a great benefaction Like the stroke of these c Rev. 9.6 Scorpions when men shall seek death but not find it and shall desire to dye but Death shall flee from them So sharp and pungent are these invenomed shafts f Job 7.15 that the soul chooses Strangling and death rather then life They are called g Act. 2.24 12. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pains of death the acute pains of a woman in travell when God shall h Job 33.19 chasten men with pains upon their Beds and the multitude of
pray him to stay a while till they have caught the fish of profit and honour They put off repentance till gray hairs and proffer sacrifices of threescore yeer old when they are rich enough to believe with a bag of gold by their sides and have fortified faith with the security of a great purchase against all the issues of Providence Then they 'l promise to build a fair Alms-house and cut their Coat of Arms upon the Frontispiece for a good Example I know there be many Gallios f Act. 18.17 that care for none of these things of Felix his temper that appoint g Ch. 24.25 Paul a more convenient season They count them sour cynicall that warn'd them of death and the wrath to come but oh how sour doe themselves look when the fear of death assaults them and conscience bites like an Adder for scorning former advice about circumspect walking and redeeming of precious time But O fool is it not better to be prickt with the goad of wisdome to hear rather verba pungentia quam palpantia smarting and searching words to Salvation then sinoath and oyly words to lamnation that Sermon that pricks not but delights the hearer is not the word of wisdome Hierom. in Eccles. 12.11 p. S 3 T. 7 Is it not safer to hear this Bell now ring in thine ear then in Hell Is it not more convenient to hear Paul preaching in his chain then for thee to tremble in thy chains for the dreadfull sentence at the Tribunall of Christ Then hoarding up of riches will not profit in that day of wrath nor fine fashions ward off the stroak of Christs iron rod Ps 2. Will griping gains or soft raiment lay up a good foundation for the time to come Can men dye with any safe reflections of comfort upon the actings of sin Can such appeal to God at death that they sincerely love him when they love h Jam. 4.4 his enemies so profusely Let not these frothy things be entertain'd by such as would fain dye peaceably Would ye sleep in the bosome of Christ happily then walk in his eye holily Live in the love of God and you may appeal safely at death and long for his Salvation I have a Gen. 49.18 waited for thy salvation O Lord saies dying Jacob. But how comes in this pious ejaculation of Jacob may some say at his blessing of Dan unless the holy Patriarch in the midst of other matters at the benediction of his children should seem to have fallen suddenly into a trance of joy through a quick glance upon his former waiting and that now he saw this glorious salvation neer at hand Others when they are curvetting upon their winged Coursers after worldly games and pleasures Dan's Serpent of judgment and the Adder of Death bites their heels in the path and the riders fall backward Then oh how earnest they are for dying the death of the righteous Alas the Time 's now past for such to long for that salvation on any good grounds who by faith and prayer never waited for it But in Jacobs glasse we may see the frame of a Saints heart and the heavenly strain of his song at death who in the midst of the compiling his will and testament concerning that which his soul loved and had long expected he breaks forth in the extasie of a joyfull appeal now when he sees it approaching Lord this is what I wait for this my soul longs and hankers after to enâ—â—â—â— a Pnbliul in Hodaep Hierosol l. 1. vid. pâ—â—ef ad Pâ—â—â—veli peregran Hieâ—osol * 3. edit Antwerp 1614 Aâ— it 's reported of a Jerusalem Pilgrim being at Mount Olivet that in the midst of his kisses of Christs supposed soot prints between devour sobs and sighs and tears he expired his last breath When the Soul cries out with David Now Lord b Ps 39.7 what wait I for my hope is in thee Or as Simeon Lord Now c Luk 2.29 let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy ordained and my beloved Saviour with his salvations Now my hope thus long deferr'd shall sprout up into a Tree of Life and feed my soul with the pleasant fruits of thy salvation This Rock of the Covenant shall pour out the chrystall streams from the Throne of God and the Lamb. Jacob and Simeon sing the same new song of the Lamb and fall asleep sweetly in the same armes Their love to Christ bubbled up into warm appeals the sails of their joy were swell'd with fresh gales of the spirit while they steer under the top-gallant of assurance into the haven of enjoyment They lye down on the pitch of Nebo on the very peak of Pisgah in a beautifull view of the delicious Landskip of the fat vallies and the rivers of milk and honey that run among the mountains of Canaan They begin to cast away the glasse and see more immediately to resolve the riddle the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 13.12 and expound it by vision When Saints like Peter can passionately pour out their Souls into the breast of Christ a Joh. 21.17 Lord thou who knowest all things knowest that I love thee this contestation this blessed appeal will keep Peter from ever sinking in the mortall sea of Tiberias and hold up the chin of a Saint through the greatest floods and billows of tentation yea of death it self and waft them safely into the bosome of Christ triumphing Section 4. The fourth and last appeal is about the presence of God with us I have spoken already to the sense of divine communion in a former chapter and shall now only treat in brief about our appeal concerning it David had a sense of it that was his comfort and conquest but now he declares it that 's his triumph Lord thou hast been with me and thou knowest it and my soul knows it and I sensibly feel that thou art still with me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu mecum Thou with me saies the Hebrew restraining the divine presence to no certain time Thou standest with me by me on my side I will fear no evill The Lord stood by Paul in a tempest and said c Act. 27.24 fear not Paul and Pauls all in a calm The Syrtes or quicksands of Lybia the Euroclydons or most furious winds the rowling mountains of water fright not his faith When Sun Moon and Stars are mantled in Stygian darkness for many daies while others wish for day Paul enjoyes it No dangers terrifie a Saint when God is present The King of Terrors is subject to the King of Saints and gives up the keys of his Castle to this Lord Paramount and layes down the Mace at his Feet Si fractus illabatur orbis c. Though mountains be hurried into the heart d Ps 46.3 of the Sea the waters roar and the great hills shake with the swelling
with us his Crook and his Staffe shall comfort us d Bochar◠de animal l. 2. c. 44. col 459. part 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Shebet pedum pastorale e Mich. 7.14 Lev. 27.32 his Shepheards Crook to guide and conduct to the Pastures of Glory his Mishgnan his staffe to beat off wild beasts and enemies that might assault and annoy us CHAP. II. Of the Valley of Death DEath 't is compar'd to a Valley to a Valley of shadow to a walk in a Valley to a night walk in this shady Valley of Kidron 1. Death is compared to a Valley While men are alive their feet are set upon a Rock on a high Mountain on the towring Pinnacle of a Temple and oh how hard it is for any to perswade themselves that they shall once step down the precipice into this Valley Every one thinks he may live to morrow be he never so old and the morrow of his thoughts can see no evening But down he must and visit the dark land of his forefathers mansions In the Valley of Kidron were the a Jer 31 40. Jewish Sepulchres on the East-side of the City between the aspiring Mountains of Moriah and Olivet Here the Ravens of the Valley pickt out the b Prov. 30.17 Eyes of disobedient Children Did Jews or Romans who had also their Tombes in the c Liv. Dec. 3. l. 6. Esquilian Mountains on the East of Rome turn their faces to the rising Sun in hope of a resurrection to a future life whatever glances might in spirit their Customes Into this Valley they must all descend and run their appointed race Into this Valley of Kidron through the water-gate was conveyed the Soil and Offall and Filth of the City probably most of their Sewers and Drains had here their vent Here all the d Ashes and refuse of the Sacrifices Jea 31.40 all the recrements and purgations of the Temple found a Lay-stall Death and the grave cover all It s a high pitch of Grace to be humbled unto the death to mingle the dust of our noble bodies with such off-scourings and sullage to converse with the records of rottennesse But so 't is with a Saint he submits his will and yields up his spirit to God To putrifie a while in the Valley of Hinnom that by Heavens Chymistry he may spring up into a Tree of Life in the Garden of Gethsemany Wicked men fret and fume at death and curse the Aple that poysoned nature and some would seem to cheat death by a violent seicide O fool ne moriare mori by a choosing a violent to avoid a natural death by cutting off present terrors to hasten eternall But a Saint like a man in a dark Cavern under a mineral Mountain sees light at the other end by the Eye of Faith He goes down into this Valley leaning upon the Staffe of hope of Christ in him the hope c Col. 1.27 of glory he spies Mount Olivet and the foot-steps of Christs Ascention a Cor. 5.2 He groans to be uncloathed of his filthy garments expecting change of raiment and places to walk among Angels b Zach. 3.7 that stand by and wait upon the Prince of the Covenant He knows that his vile body this c Phil. 3.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 body of humiliation must once be a body of exaltation and fashioned like his glorious body who is able to subdue all things to himself and to carve our bodies into his own image Secondly Death is a valley of shadow a Valley of darknesse Here are Lions Dens and Mountains of Leopards Here be Akrabbims ascents of Scorpions and d Fons Draconis prope Jerusalem Fountains of Dragons and yet f Cant. 4.8 the holy Spouse will go hand in hand with Christ e 1 Cor. 15.57 from the fleeting pleasures of this mortall Lebanon to view and walk in the midst of these tremendous Dungeons The Valley of Kidron of old likely was a dark Valley not only for Rocks and Mountains but pitchy shades and thence might yield a lively symbol of death here might be Trees and Shrubs which not only shut out the healing beams of the Sun but also by their opiate vapors and the exhaling of deadly atomes might lull the brains asleep in the Cradle of Death here might grow the funestous Yew the strong-scented Box that makes the head to fume the melancholy Cypress the soporous Juniper with the Firre here the dark greens of deadly night-shade the grosse Savin and Dulcamara might entwine together and cover many an Asp many a Cockatrice and a Basilisk and plump them with their direfull poysons Does a Saint fear to trace these Regions and to measure the Land of his Captivity No! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ who gives him victory e 1 Cor. 15.57 His feet are shod with Gospel promises the Iron and Brazen a Deut. 33. shoes of happy Asher fence him from the stings of these b Haseraphim Num. 21.6 Seraphims these fiery Serpents he shall tread upon the Lion and Adder the young Lion and the Dragon shall he trample under foot c Ps 91.13 nay he shrinks not though let down into this Den of Lions seeing the Lion of the Tribe of Judah is with his Daniels And yet darkness this Egyptian darkness carries a load of fear and sadness upon its back it exhales and breaths out terror from every dim hole within the Valley behind every bush lurks a glaring Leopard from the cleft of every Rock the young Dragons hisse out fire and belch venome upon a carnal man He that 's alive to sin may tremble to dye to nature and shrink out and stream to think of the old Serpent sliding through the marrow of his back-bone and upbraid him with bitter scoffs about the forbidden fruit O ye Sons of Men how long will ye love d Ps 2.2 vanity and forget your latter end The length of their love to vanity keeps pace with the line of Life they turn not from it till they turn into it become vanity it self their place know them no more In time of some rowzing Sickness the Bell of Eternity tolls dolefully in their Ears then they say By and by Lord wee 'l come to worship to repent and amend but if a good Crisis lengthen the hopes of life theit gyant-promises sink into Dwarss and their By and by lengthens out its Tenor through many a morrow till the last hour approaches and then the day of invitation from divine grace turns into a day of provocation to the divine anger he that swears in his e Heb. 6.17 love to the Heirs of promise for their strong consolation will f Heb. 3.11 sware in his wrath to the Children of disobedience that delay repentance and harden their hearts at the voice of God they shall never enter into his rest Alas what 's the life of man but a g Jam. 4.14 vapour
1. c. 51 the e Camden in Glamorganshire eternales domus those smoaky and fulsome Huts about which the leves animae the separate Ghosts do keep their residence here the sprightly Satyrs tread their measures and paint green circles in the Elysian Fields till the blushing dawn of eternity d Ps 22.29 None can keep alive his soul from death nor ransome his e Job 13.6 lamp from darkness The martiall Commander creeps under his Bed f Sueton in Coleg c. 51. with Caligula at the râ—â—â—ing of this Thunderbolt no Marble Palaces cau dazle the eyes or daunt the approaches of Death no iron bars can repell his force his aquafortis burns all afunder he stands not agast at the pale and wan looks of quivering Princes but like a gyant fluster'd with the wine of blood looks terrible on the proud Nimrods of the World Kings Edicts that Death be not whispered in their Courts are sullied on waste Paper they but daub their Royall Parchments with fond flourishes Their strongest Towers are but the spinstry of Spider-webs Death's too great a Flesh-fly to be catcht in such Tiffany Walls hee 'l hum in their ears with hatefull buzzing will they nill they There 's no Canon or Decree against him can stand inviolable Should Medes and Persians twist Laws as strong as Cables this Sampson snaps them asunder like raw Flax or twined threads If all Justinians pandects were cramb'd with severe penalties that death presume not to touch an Emperor or be rude with his Lady or Children hee 'l send a Phocas to find them out and hale them to his Slaughter-house The Captains of their Guard with their Halberdiers fling down their Arms and cry craven This old Leviathan g Job 41.29 counts their Darts as Stubble and laughs to scorn the shaking of their Spears When this storm rises this furious blast be takes down the top-gallants and the Flags of Admirals he cuts their Masts by the Board the wisest Pilot he flings over-board no Anchor holds they run adrift and are shattered upon the Rocks The cunning Lawyer with all his shirks and querks and Writs of Error cant hook out a Habeas Corpus from this unbribed Barr. Death has too subtle a Pate to be overmatcht he has Presidents and rul'd Cases and Records as high as Adam There 's no Chancery refuge or Appeal from the Club-law of this Kings-Bench he 's Lord Chief-Justice and Jaylor he 's Sheriff and Executioner But what sayes Hipocrates with his Coan Aphorisms and Galen with his long winded Method Can't he open a Vein in the Arm of this raging Adversary that his Sword may fall and the Galenture of his fury abate against Mankind Is there no inchanted Potion nor amorous Cup can lull him asleep O Physitians Are there no Recipe's in all your Dispensatories against the crack of Heart-strings Must his deadly Ague shake both you and your Patients into the Grave Must his dropsie drown you his Feaver burn you to Ashes his Consumption emaciate and waste you to Skelitons and set up your Bones in his Anatomy School What is there no Antidote no Treacle against the needle-teeth of this black Adder No! he turns a deaf ear to all your Siren-Lectures This Serpent a Eccles. 10 11. will bite for all your inchantments Such bablers are no better But alas for this day of darkness b Irel. 2.2 this gloomy morning that 's spread upon the Mountains Can we track no comfort in this thick Fog of Ignorance Are there no Trees of Life to be found in Lebanon Alas is Eden lost Is that Tree free among the dead did the venemous breath of the old Serpent wither it did he hack it down did he pluck it up by the roots Are there no sprouts from its chips nor no healing atomes that flew from its wounds into other shrubs or plants Is there no drug in Arabia no balm in Gilead no Spice in India can revive a languishing mortal What no Etheriall Spirits nor irradiating Sulfurs nor Minerall tinctures nor Elixirs of Life to cure this stroke Won't potable Gold snatch back the flying Spirit and intreat that noble guest to stay a while within its old Cloister new plaistred and gilt with this restorative Won't the limpid Alcahest make the blood volatile and circulate it nimbly against the cold congealing blast of death Won't the great red-powder cure it Then farewell all their empty notions and unpracticable maximes their clogging Syrups ill digesting Powders their life-exhausting blood-lets and their cold mortal Juleps O vain man Nullis mors est medicabilis herbis No Plant in natures garden springs To heal or swage these deadly stings Use the Physitian that 's a duty trust not in him for that 's a sin Good Asa had this mournful title upon his a 2 Chron. 16.12 13. Tomb that he sought not to the Lord but to the Physitians and slept with his Fathers Though the skilfulst Physitian and the holiest Saint do meet together yet both should count upon a last day a last hour and a last moment that they cannot passe b Isay 3.2 The mighty man and man of war the Captain of Fifty the honourable the Counsellor the cunning Artificer and the eloquent Orator Death takes them all by the hand and leads them into this gloomy Valley He reverences not the gray hairs he rises not up to the milk-white brow of the grave and ancient nor layes down his crooked Sith at the foot of aged and hoary head he strains no courtesies with the weaker sex nor gives it the upper hand the pitifull cries of tender Infants pierce not his Adamantine breast This tearlesse Moloch hugs them mortally in his brazen arms he hath Urns proportion'd to all their Ashes and Graves of every size But what though riches and honour though sweet natures virtuous minds prevail for no reprivall Must holy bones also see corruption Can't Faith Prayer wrestle a fall with this mighty King of terrors No no though the wicked twice fall under the dint of this Goliahs Sword yet 't is appointed for all a Heb. 9.17 ence to dye and after that to Judgment For as by one man sin entred into the world b Ro. 5.12 and Death by sin So death passeth upon all men for that all have sinned Faithfull Abraham must lye down in the Cave of Machpeloh Patient Job after all his Arabian Tragedies must act one Scene more and say to Corruption c Job 17.14 thou art my Father to the Worm thou art my Mother and Sister Strong Sampson must fall by this Jaw-bone in the Vineyards of Zorah and meek Moses though he dye in a d Deut. 32.50 Mountain must walk down this deep e c. 34.6 Valley of Abarim Wise Solomon by all his prudent and pollitick maximes of Government can't tame and rule this ferocious Behemoth nor tye this wild Bull at his Figtree But his sage breath must out at the dore
their bones with strong pain when every bone shall have its pang and every pang from the strong arm of God oh how dreadfull to fall into the hands i Heb. 10.31 of the living God They are pains indeed which God calls pains when the soul shall be torn and rent from its beloved twin oh the tendons crack and the nerves with startling dolour snap in sunder We read of one but sick of the Palsie and yet k Mat. 8.6 grievously tormented When the Lord smites persons l Deut. 28.22 with Consumptions Feavers Inflamations and extream burnings oh what tossings and tumblings and pinings with wearisome hours when torn and grinded by the Stone or wrackt by the gout what tongue can express their miseries For a Herod to be eaten up of a Act. 12 23. Worms and such little wretches to pull a Prince piece-meal and to run away unquestioned For Jehorams b 2 Chron. 21.19 bowels to fall out by reason of his sickness and poyson his Courtiers For Asa to lye howling of the Gout and make all Jerusalem ring with his roaring Should not these tidings of three miserable Monarchs cool the fury and tame the madness of the Bedlam Hectors of our age To ruminate upon these terrors of death these painfull throws when men pour out their souls in dreadfull agonies methinks should take them a peg lower and put their carier in sin to a pause They who taste of the Cup of Death find it more bitter than Wormwood more venemous then the poyson of Asps all squeez'd into it Such as are under the gastly view of Death behold a griefly fearfull Monster that scares the bloody Heroes and vainglorious Gallants into exquisite horrors Obriguere comae vox faucibus haesit Their hait stands an end and their tongue faulters with amazing fears It has a direfull sting more horrid then a Scorpion or a Dragon This Cup unlesse sweetned with a lively sense of a gracious promise there 's no laying of your lips to it This fiery flying Serpent unlesse eased of his sting there 's no dallying with it in their bosomes for fool-hardy sinners Well might c Sueton. in Cas c. 87. Caesar wish a sudden and Augustus d Id. in Aug. c. 99. an easie Death who had beheld many astonishing spectacles in their long and bloody wars which might pierce hearts of Adamant and melt the most brawny and flinty breast and run down the most stoical Apathies into Rivers of mournfull Sympathies and compassions Methinks it should awaken snorting formalists to admit into the Hall of Conscience the Ecchoes of the roaring Elegies of such who dye as the historian phrases e Id. in Cas c. 88. non morte sua not a natural but a violent death when this Lion rampant rends the Soul from the body as he would the f Hos 13.8 Caul of a Kids heart When death shall meet them as a Bear bereaved of her Whelps or an evening Wolf that hath lurkt close in g Ps 104.20 her Den all the day long of a sinners life and comes forth barking at night and sharp set for her prey Then they are forc'd to drink deep of the wine of violence and to sup up the Cup of the avenger Then they a Job 15.33 shake off their unripe Grapes as the Vine and cast off their Flower as the Olive But alas the pains of naturall or the pangs of violent death are but the stinging of Gnats or Flea-bites to a scorched conscience and inflamed by the wrath of God When men come to dye and have trifled away pretious hours with Rattles and childish Baubles and the silly jingling Hobby-horses of Court or Country and at that turning point of Eternity have forgotten to make their peace with God then Conscience rowzes up like a Gyant refresht with the wine of Sodom and the Grapes of Gomorrah When the grinning Furies lasht the goatish Soul of Tiberius for all his Villanies within the dark and dismall Dungeon of his unclean breast Oh! who would not tremble to think of those goring wounds those secret and invisible tortures which wrackt his Soul and stretcht his tormenting imaginations upon the Devils Tenter-Hooks See how a Tacit. An nal l. 5. p. 107. Edit Basil 1544 Tacitus breaks forth upon the Theme Si recludantur Tyrannorum mentes posse aspici laniatus ictus had we Casements into the hearts of Tyrants the dreadfull marks of the Steel whips of Conscience would appear with bloody gashes And as b Dio. in Nerone l. 63. Dion the Historian speaking of the horrors of Nero neer the time of his death for the assasination of his Mother and other brutish crimes sayes that if a Whelp did but howl or a Hen cackle or the arm of a Tree creak by a strong wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was in a wofull anguish Oh how the wires of Megaerae fetcht blood and gobbets at every stroak from his Soul When God shall pour the scalding Lead of his wrath into these fresh wounds when the Law thunders from Mount Sinai and the lightnings of Paran glitter about him Then c Hab. 3.16 their bellies tremble their lips quiver at the voice and rottennesse enters into their bones When sin comes home to the Soul on a death-bed and accosts him as the Souldier did d Pollio in Mario p. 538. Ed. Lug. B. Marius the Black-smith and Triduan Emperor Hic est gladius quem ipse fecisti Here 's the Sword of thine own hammering and shaking it in the face of a sinner cries look how it shines 't is thine own furbishing Then wo to him who hath enlarg'd his desire as Hell and encreased that which is not his and laden himself with thick clay Then fain would he vomit up his sweet morsells but no Emetick of the shop can help him no Squills no Roots in Nicander can fetch them up Then they abhor to remember what they cannot forget and the eyes of their fancy are as quick and venemous as a Bafilisk Then with their robberies of Peter they would pay off Paul and for their defrauding of Ministers would give tenfold Tithes and with the ruins of old Abbayes and Mannors by oppression depopulations of Villages that they may a Isa 5.8 be alone in the midst of the earth in all haste they patch up Chappell 's Schoolls and Work-houses But God hates the Sacrifices of dying and putrilaginous bodies the Incense that oppressors offer proves the savour of death unto death he counts the sighs of their fleeting Spirits like the steams of rancid dung-hills which the fire of Hell sends up not the beams of his countenance who is now departed No warning pieces before could alarm them No blazing Comets could awaken or startle them though b Mantil Astrinom l. 1. p. 27. that of Mantilius be true in all ages Nunquam futilibus excanduit ignibus aether Never did blazing Comets shine in vain
hee 'l force no court complements upon them There 's a King of a fierce c Dan. 8.23 countenance understanding dark sayings will speak as big and as rough as they taunted to the poor he will make them bend the knee and do suit and service at his Court-Baron There they shall hear the Jaylors long-winded Lecture upon a sharp and cutting Text and can't get out of his Chappell though they sit at the lower end hee 'l keep them from sleeping and gash their memories with the keen knife of his tongue about the many Sabbaths they profaned and the means of Grace they contemned how they mockt at repentance and loll'd out the tongue at precisenesse hee 'l gripe them with the holy examples meek admonitions of Saints and their patient sufferings for the truth at their barbarous hands They 'l have cold stomachs to jeer and fleere in the face of this conscience-scalding Preacher hee 'l chain the blessed Bible to the Desk of their Pews which they had laid aside like an old Almanack Now it comes in date at this year of reckoning Hee 'l prove to their faces how they have slighted the heavy judgments of the late dreadfull Pestilence the astonishing Fire and the colour of the British Seas crimson'd and diaper'd with the blood of their brethren hee 'l gaul them with their base ingratitude in slighting the mercies of the great God who gave them reprievall and survivall after all these dismall memento's But now ha's delivered them from a Jerom. 21 7. the Pestilence and from the Sword and from the Famine into the hands of this dismall King of Assyria hee 'l once more rub up their dull senses with sharp rebukes about the numerous checks of conscience and the loud calls of the spirit which then they injoyed but now they may howl after without any pitty and that which shall vex them to the heart hee 'l ever be harping and grating odiously upon the same string and jarring in their ears and rubbing the old sore about their lost opportunities and seasons of grace This shall be a plain and home Sermon such as before they scoft at here will be no flowers of Rhetorick to set off Truth to the squeazy palate of a Sermon-sick Lady here will be no fear to displease greatness here 's no Trencher-Chaplains to soften expressions least the great Churl Stomack at sound reproofs that might save his soul No these dayes are past here 's no impatient lookings at the hour-glasse when the last sand drops to be gone to dinner here 's no being glad at sleevelesse errands to steal away through the croud and choak conscience with this flam that a little 's enough if well practised No! here 's a Preacher will hold them to it and taunt and twit them with the day of repentance being over and chain them to their seats and lock them in the stocks as they once did the Saints in Lollards-Tower till the Trump of the Resurrection sounds an Alarum to Judgment Is this the state of wicked mens souls while their bodies rot in the grave when will they learn to be wise for Eternity They must b Bernard de Conver. ad Clerico◠suffocate and slay the worm of conscience here saies Bernard that would not be bitten hereafter Is it not better to hearken diligently to a few Sermons here though ten hours long though a Act 20.7 Paul preach till mid-night then to be liuckt to that terrible Sermon that shall last many hundred years long from the day of death till the day of judgment and after that a second Sermon in the afternoon which shall know no evening but last to Eternity when rivers of tears can't wash away guilt nor ten thousand rivers of oyl can't make thy Sacrifice flame acceptably up to heaven O be wise while the day lasts Mic. 6.7 and do the work which the Father giveth to work b Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent But if ye reject this counsell and like foolish builders refuse this stone of the corner till that fearfull night shall overshadow you then your mouldring bodies must lye by it and be kept in that smothering prison while your lamenting souls are agitared and hurried with these condemning and tormenting Furies There your bodies though of ne're so fine a c Job 21.26 Clay must mix with the course allay of your once oppressed Slaves The dust of Princes must mingle with base and mean Peasants they and their Porters must lodge together Lords and Beggers know no distance and what Artist can form his Epitah by any distinct colour or grain in their mould Neither can heaps of Gold bride a fancied Charon to waft their bodies out of these gloomy regions these Egyptian shades to any Elysiam meadows of pleasure The searching brains of the ablest Counsellors can find no flaw in the Writ of Death nor get any bayl or mainprize from that tedious Gatehouse Here the Skull of the acutest Thomist through length of time will all dwindle into starvling Moss while he forgets to distinguish its fit season for the Weapon salve Alas it won't cure the fractures made by Deaths Pole-Axe No distinctions can satisfie this cunning sophister to turn the key and release the Prisoner But here they must all continue and abide in the state of the dead The ingenious Artificer can invent no clew to hand him out of this snaring maze this winding Labyrinth There 's d Eccl. 9.10 no invention or judgment no device knowledge or wisdome in the grave whither thou goest 'T is by the Decree of the e Dan. 4.17 watchers the time once doom'd and sixt there 's no reversion He that goes a Job 7.9 10. down into this far Country shall return no more to his house nor shall his place know him again There all sit down in deep silence till the moment appointed by the high and holy One who inhabits Eternity Then shall the enemies of his Sons Kingdome creep out of the dust to shame and everlasting contempt But the ashes of his people their gracious Father lays them up in the treasuries of his wakefull providence and they shall be his in that day that b Mal. 3.17 he makes up his Jewels when the joyfull voice of Christ shall gently raise them to that blissfull dawn when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rosie fingered morn shall blush out of the East and the Sun of Eternity shall gild their rising Temples for glory CHAP. VI. Of the fell Dragons at the further end of the grave MEthinks the way through the dark c Morisans Travels p 113. Grott near Naples opening towards the sulfurous mountains of Vesuvius and the stagnant air of Campania bears some resemblance with this close and terrible passage through the Valley of Death were the terrors many at the entrance they increase and multiply at the coming forth There 's no hiding stopping
19 12. secret faults or are purely cleansed from all the stains of hypocrisie But that the bent of the heart is to God that the constant pointing of the needle of our love is to heaven that we approve no sin not the least intumescence fermentation or rising of an evill thought without actuall combate or at least a serious inward habituall displicency of heart against it springing from that radicall hatred which is in us through grace against the least concupiscence Though when we b Rom. 7.22 would doe good evill be present with us yet there is a chrystall fountain of delight in the Law of God bubbling from the inward man that cleanses and carries away the very soil of our thoughts This holiness of heart conformity of will to the Law of God flowes from the grace that dwelleth in us Thou art with me saies David A holy God makes the heart holy the heart of a Saint by the light of holiness sees God a holy God to be with it In c Ps 36.9 thy light we doe see light the light of grace and we shal see light even the light of glory Many infirmities are and will lurk in the choicest of Saints The Ivy of sin will shoot its roots and fibres into the joints and cracks of our Mud-walls but when these fall that shall wither A Saint is alwaies hacking at the boughs of actual and stubbing at the root of originall sin His sincerity makes him to lay about him and though he can't appeal Lord I have no sin yet thus he can Lord be mercifull to me a sinner d Ps 51.9 Hide thy face from my sins the face of thy justice the face of thine anger and look upon the e Ps 84. â— face of thine anointed within the vail f Ps 55.1 hide not thy self from my supplications g Ps 119.19 hide not thy commandments from me O h Ps 69.17 hide not thy face from thy Servant I am i Ps 119.94 thine Lord save me for I have sought thy Precepts I have kept the waies of the Lord and have not k Ps 18.21 wickedly departed from my God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have not dealt so wickedly as to go away from God and his holy wayes through the tentation of any wickednesse Not as if there were any departure from God that were not wicked but I have not committed so great a wickednesse as to fall away from the wayes of God His Judgments a Ps 18.22 were before my face and I did not put away his Statutes from me Neither his Statutes in respect to purity of worship nor his judgments that is his judiciall Law in respect to morall obedience Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to the cleannesse of my hands in his b V. 24. eye sight To wash our hands in the Laver of the Sanctuary before his eyes because he sees them not because men see their impurity David would not rake in any foul dunghill of sin or pollute his fingers with the pitch of bribery or the sanies the ulcerous matter of any corruption because God saw him Nay I was upright c V. 23 before him and have kept my self from mine iniquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have guarded watcht and strictly observed my self as to mine own iniquity whatever it were ambition lying or any fruits of a sanguine complexion Can'st thou thus appeal to God in Prayer that thou keepest thine eye upon God and that the eying of his face guards thy heart from sin Thou may'st then cheerfully infer that God is with thee that he will enlighten the lamp of thy Soul with the light of his love and thus lift up thy Soul with David The Lord my God will enlighten my darknesse and though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no evill for thou wilt be my guid to glory Section 2. A second Appeal may flow from a retrospect a reflection on a well spent life He that hath faithfully appealed about the sincerity of his heart may doubtlesse reap his Sheaves with joy from the Harvest of a holy life For out of the abundance of the heart d Mat. 12.34 the mouth speaketh the hand worketh and the foot runneth In whose hearts are the a Ps 84.5 waies of them that passe through the Valley of Bacah up to the Temple of Beracah Such as have Gods holy waies in their hearts want not feet to walk and run in them when the heart is in the foot it runs nimbly like a Roe or a young Hart upon the Mountains of Bether They goe from strongth to strength till they all appear before him in Zion Thy law is in b Ps 40.7 8 my heart that 's the root of obedience and therefore lo I come to thee When the heart believes the c Rom. 10.10 mouth confesses unto Salvation when the heart is fixed settled and calmed from carnall fears then d Ps 57.7 108.1 the tongue praises the harp warbles and the ten-string'd Instruments of the Soul make the Temple-Marbles to ring aloud of his glory When the heart bubbles up with a good matter e Ps 45.1 then the tongue becomes the pen of a ready writer The body alas is but the f Rom. 6.13 weapon the organ and altar of the soul When some persons are impeacht of an ungodly life they retort let every one answer for himself their hearts are good and that they are no hypocrites But can hearts be good when lives be naught or can lives be unholy when hearts be gracious Such as the vein is such will the metall prove that 's melted from it as the fountain such is the stream as the root such the fruit like star like influence The Pleiades will soften with showres and Orion will bind with frost The cause and its effects are of the same blood and kindred Out g Pro. 4.23 of the heart are the issues of life naturall carnall and spirituall Whoever can look back on a well ordered conversation to him shall be shewn h â—s 50.23 the Salvation of God He that hath his Quiver full of holy works may shoot at this enemy Death in the gates The ungodly cannot i Ps 1.5 stand in Judgment but he that delights in the Law of the Lord whatever he doth shall prosper when holinesse hath taken root in the heart it blossomes and flowers in peace of conscience and joy of the Spirit and brings forth pleasant fruits in the conversation and goodly spices in the hour of death Like the Psalmist in his affliction so a Saint at death comforts himself with the holy Songs he had warbled in his youth The end of the wicked is to be cut off Ps 77.6 and a Prov. 14 32. he is driven away in his wickednesse but the righteous he that hath walkt uprightly hath hope in his death Mark the perfect and
behold the upright for the b Ps 37.37 end of that man is peace He 'l give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold If there be any choicer thing than grace and glory and truly that 's God himself he 'l keep back nothing From whom from such as walk c Ps 84.11 uprightly He 'l shew d Ps 16.11 Ps 23 3 the path of Life but 't is to such as first have been lead by him in the paths of righteousnesse Happy man that can unfeignedly and skilfully tune Hezekiahs Song Remember e Isay 38.3 now now at the point of death O Lord how I have walkt before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Integrity of hearr and the goodness of his doings are his double appeal at the appearance of death Though the good we have done be very little yet if that little fruit grow from a sanctified root God graciously accepts it because 't is of his own planting As David spake of his royall preparations for the Temple So must we of all our graces duties services f 1 Chron. 29 14. All things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee Do any fragrant spices perfume the air of a Saints discourse Or any pleasant fruits garnish the garden of a Saints life We must invite as the Spouse doth Let g Song 4.16 my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits The trees of righteousnesse are h Isai 61.3 of his planting that he may be glorified like the Trees of Lign-Aloes like the Cedars of Lebanon which the Lord hath planted and not man Numb 24.6 and Psal 104.16 i Phil. 2.13 To will and to doe to think and to act the hearts integrity and the lifes sanctity are all from his good pleasure Whoso can enter his appeal at the throne of grace with the testimony of his conscience that k 2 Cor. 1.12 in simplicity and godly sincerity he hath had his conversation in this world may rejoyce at the remembrance of the day of the Lord Jesus and long for its approach Section 3. A third Appeal concerns our love to God Opticks teach us that lines and raies of light come from all parts of a luminous body and traverse and cut one another at innumerable angles but some are centrall from the midst All the affections are but emanations beamings from the heart and will but love is the cardinall centrall ray What we love that sets all the wheels of the Soul in motion Love 's the commandresse of all our forces It a Ps 86.11 unites all the powers under its banner and leads all the squadrons of the soul into the fortress of Gods name The Soul before acquaintance with God was like a bird wandring from its nest but now she hath found where to lay her a Ps 84.3 young even all its unfledg'd desires upon thine altars O Lord of Hosts my King and my God The Soul that 's in love with God loves him only thirsts pants cries after him Whom b Ps 73.25 have I in heaven but thee and none upon earth do I desire beside thee Are there no Saints there no Angels there Yes but they move in the stated inferior Orbs both of their own essence and his affection he mounts higher and the glory of the Sun of Gods countenance eclipses all these Stars that a Saint sees none in heaven to love like God All these he loves in the order of his ascension to the bosome of God A Saint passes by the Angells ascending and descending on Jacobs Ladder till he comes to the embraces of the c Gen. 28.12 13. Lord above at the top of all Non aliud tanquam illum as d Bernard f. 94. b. Bernard heavenly non aliud praeter illum non aliud post illum A Saint loves none like him none besides him none after he hath tasted of his loveliness And again Nec pro illo aliud nec cum illo aliud neâ— ab illo ad aliud convertamur The Soul embraces none in stead of him none in competition with him neither turns about from him to any besides him Bern. p. 77. b. Bonum est magis in camino habere te mecum quam esse sine te vel in coelo It 's better to be with thee in a Furnace then in Heaven without thee A Saint loves heaven for God not God for heaven Heaven is heaven because God is there and where ever God is that place is a Saints heaven As a faithfull Spouse is not taken with the Jewells Bracelets and Ear-rings but the lovely person that gives them 'T is not the place but the person not the Palace but the Prince not the glorious Throne but the Father of Mercies upon it God lov'd first and kindled these holy flames and whither doe they towre but upward into the element of love within his bosome O let my prayer saies David a Ps 141.2 Dirigatur instar coâ—umâ—â— be directed as incense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the love of my heart like a pillar of incense No incense was fragrant to God but what smoaked in the fire that first came down from heaven no love but that which first flasht from God O let our love stream straight upright into heaven in perfumy and spicy pillars not waved by chill blasts of the worlds tentations The Torch of our affections was first kindled from b Ezec. 10.6 between the wheels of the chariot of Cherubims and it lights our winged feet into the Chamber of Presence We have none in heaven to love and none in earth to desire but God Here upon earth there 's nothing desireable but God In heaven there are things desireable but nothing so lovely as God He is the only prime and ultimate object of the Souls satiety Hearken to this c Ps 45.10 O daughter consider his lovely and beautifull glory incline thine ear and forget thy fathers house The memorable relish of the song of divine love inchants the Soul with a holy forgerfulness of old terrene relations So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty O Queen of Zion forget thy black Egyptian Father and all his tawny-moor Princes of the adust race of Cham. Run to the arms of thy Solomon desire him upon earth and love none besides him in heaven and he will greâ—tly desire thy beauty Thy beauty a Alas 't is his beauty that shines upon thee First thy beloved is thine and then thou art his he plants his Lillies and then feeds among them But let 's descend a little and try the pretended love of mortalls by these higher than Lydian touchstones Dost thou love any thing in the world more then God above God beyond God without God and not in order to him How then can d 1 Joh. 3 17. the love of the Father dwell in you Dost thou love him