salvation is left for him that turnes repentance it selfe into sinne which is the meanes of salvation O miserable soule that desires to see holy things and lives a heathenish life Observe in what a manner the wicked end their dayes so that thou mayest detest their lives See how the godly end their lives that thou mayest run the same course as they doe Obey thy Superiours honour those that are wise keepe company with those that be honest and religiously given And seeing mans corrupt nature doth much love hypocrisie touch not nor use the Sacrament before thou have founded the depth of thine owne heart most accurately Rule over those that are subject to thy command more by courtesie than severity courtesie is full of hope and tyranny of feare Gods justice will not suffer a tyrant to continue long for though subjects both by Gods laws and also by mans ought to yeeld obedience to Magistrates yet the Magistrates themselves are but Gods Ministers and if wee consider them as they are Christians they are not only servants but our brethren also in Christ Christians therefore must rule like Christians in charity and mercie as Christ hath taught us by his own example Art thou made a Judge give right judgement remembring that thy selfe must appeare before Gods Judgement Seat he is cursed that blesseth the wicked but blessed that blesseth the blessed O man how dangerous is mans life what a great account hath he to give what a short space is it but thou must appeare at Gods Tribunall What then must thou doe What deed hast thou committed How wouldest thou appeare if thou wert this houre to depart If thou wert to appeare this moment before thy Examiner It would quickly be determined concerning thee Thou art to day a man shalt thou appeare to morrow O dulnesse and hardnesse of mans heart that only meditates upon things present and foresees nothing what shall be hereafter Thou oughtest so to behave thy selfe in every action as if thou wert this day to dye in the morning think thou mayst not live to the evening and in the evening dare not promise thy selfe the next ensuing morning be alwayes prepared and so live that death may never take thee unprovided How happie and wise is he that labours to be such whilst he lives as he wisheth to be found at his death O Jesu give me the perfect contempt of the world give me a fervent desire to profit in vertue give me the love of instruction the labour of repentance the readinesse of obedience O my God grant that I may desire thee in my heart to seeke thee in my desires to find thee in my search and love thee being found Give me my Lord and God repentance for my heart contrition to my spirit a flood of teares to my eyes and a liberall distribution of almes to my hands O my King extinguish in me the desire of the flesh and kindle in mee the fire of thy love O my Redeemer drive out of me the spirit of pride and favourably grant me the treasure of thy humilitie O my Saviour remove from mee the madnesse of anger and indulgently afford me the shield of patience O my Creator pluck out all rancour out of my mind and bestow on me the sweetnesse of a milde spirit give mee most mercifull Father a firme faith a congruous hope and continuall charitie my Governour doe thou divert all vanity from mee all inconstancie of mind wandring of the heart scurrility of the tongue pride of the eyes gluttony of the belly reproaching of my neighbours the sins of detraction the itch of curiosity the desire of riches the extortion of great men the desire of vain-glory the evill of hypocrisie the poyson of flattery the contempt of the poore the oppression of the weak the thirst of covetousnesse the rust of envie and the death of blasphemie O my Maker cut off from me rashnesse iniquity lewdnesse disquietnesse idlenesse drowsinesse sloth dulnesse of mind blindnesse of heart obstinacie of sense bloodinesse of conditions disobedience to goodnesse resistance of good counsell unbridlenesse of my tongue preying upon the poore wronging the weak slandering the innocent neglecting my inferiours cruelty in my family impiety towards my familiars and hardnesse of heart to my neighbours O God my mercy I beseech thee by thy beloved Son give mee the works of mercy the study of godlinesse to suffer with those in affliction to counsell those that erre to helpe the miserable to succor the needy to comfort the sad to releeve the oppressed to refresh the poore to cheare those that weepe to forgive our debtors to spare them that sin against me to love those that hate me to render good for evill to despise no man but to honour all to imitate the good to beware of the wicked to embrace vertue to reject vice to be patient in adversity to be moderate in prosperity to set a watch over my mouth and a doore before my lips give mee uprightnesse in my dealings and a true testimony of my faith to trample upon earthly things to thirst after heavenly things that thou mayst one day say to me Well done good and faithfull servant thou hast been faithfull in a little I will set thee over much enter into the joy of thy Master Amen CONTEMP c. 37. Of the exceeding number of Gods benefits and of mans contempt of them by the multitude of his sinnes WHo will give water to my head and a fountaine of tears to mine eyes and I will weepe both night and day Let my eyes drop tears and my eye-lids flow with waters I will convey my selfe into the place of weeping and of teares I will take paines in my groaning I will every night wash my bed and water my couch with my teares My teares shall be my meat day and night and I will not hide my mourning I will prostrate my selfe and let the reines loose to my teares and rivers shall gush from mine eyes I will weepe in the bitternesse of my soule I will continue in weeping and the teares shall trickle downe my cheeks wherewith I will deplore my most grievous sinnes and will detest my impious ingratitude wherewith I have repayed my God and Lord. O that I could weepe out my eyes with teares that my bowels might be disturbed and my liver might be powred forth upon the earth for my great enormities The causes are great and many O God why my eyes should streame forth wates yea blood it selfe But I will now contemplate of nothing but the greatnesse multitude of thy blessings that thou hast bestowed upon me when I was yet thine enemy That therefore my soule may be astonished my cheeks blush my eyes cast downe and that I may eternally hate my malicious and most polluted life I will begin to reckon up thy blessings and my cursed deeds that I may see what thou art and what I am what thou hast done for me and how I have requited thee Send
is lost we even divide this very day we now enjoy betweene death and our selves Wretched man why disposest thou not of thy selfe every houre Think thou mayest now die because thou knowest thou must die call to mind that the time is comming upon the wings wherein thy eyes must sinke into thy head the veines of thy body shall be crackt in pieces and thy heart shall be cleft with sorrow remember thine owne frailtie remember the miserable estate of thy pilgrimage call to mind in the bitternesse of thy soule thy yeares past and the dangers of mans life Amidst the most uncertaine things of man yet is death most certaine yet what is found more uncertaine than the houre of death it takes no pitie upon want it reverenceth not riches and to conclude it spareth neither wisdome manners nor age this only is the difference that death standeth at the old mans doore and for the young man he lyes in ambush every one therefore ought well to feare this last day because every one in the day of Judgement shall be judged for such as he shall be found at his day of death Upon this only moment of our life depends eternity that hath no end What is more terrible than judgement and what can bee imagined more intolerable than hell What will a man feare if hee feare not these things if horrour seize not on him and if dread doe not cause him to tremble O man if thou have lost the shame which belongs to so noble a creature if thou bee not sensible of the sorrows of affliction which is also a property that belongs to mortall creatures yet lose not at least thy feare Feare therefore O man because in death thou must be parted from all the good things of this thy body and the sweet marriage knot of thy united soule and body must be cut in sunder by this most bitter divorce Feare because in that terrible Judgement thou must stand before him into whose hands it is a most fearfull thing to fall even before such an Examiner from whom nothing can be hid if iniquitie be found in thee thou must be banished the society of blisse and glory and bee severed from the number of the blessed Feare because in hell thou must be exposed to insufferable and everlasting torments and receive thy portion with the devill and his angels even in the everlasting fire prepared for them Dost thou not yet feare the face of the Judge which is even terrible to the angelicall Powers Dost not thou tremble at the wrath of that powerfull One at his angry countenance and his sharp words Art thou not affraid of the teeth of the infernall beast of the belly of hell of those yellings fore-runners of our devourings Are we not yet affraid of the gnawing worme scorching flames smoak and vapour brimstone and stormie tempests O! who shall give water to my head and a fountaine of teares unto mine eyes that by my weeping I may prevent that weeping and gnashing of teeth and those hard bands of hands and feet and that weight of oppressing fettering burning and yet not consuming chaines and that I may come to thee my Lord and my God Yet if any be so cursedly obdurate so fierce and steely that hee cannot be troubled with the feare of ill yet who can be so madde and senselesse that he will not be touched with the desire of good things There are laid up endlesse good things for them that make a godly end even things which the eye hath not seene nor the eare heard nor ever entred into the heart of man to conceive which God hath prepared for those that love him those things the preparer and worker whereof is God What things must they be thinkest thou The eye hath not seene them because they are not colour the eare hath not heard them for they are not a sound nor hath it entred into mans heart to conceive them because the heart of man must ascend unto them Why labour I then to make my tongue to utter that which my heart cannot conceive which is to be beleeved and not to be beheld nay it is not onely invisible but also unspeakable O Lord Jesus Christ when that most perilous moment approacheth wherein I shall enter into the way of immortality then give mee a quiet and pleasing repose that in the true acknowledgement and confession of thy grace I may yeeld up my spirit and my poore soule with peace and gladnesse and may deliver it into thy hands Neither let mee bee long tormented as I have a thousand times deserved and that I may enjoy peace on the earth in my body and may watch and be made coheire of the resurrection to life of all the beleevers that I may praise and glorifie thee with gladnesse and may give thee thanks for evermore for all the innumerable blessings which thou hast bestowed upon mee through the whole space of my pilgrimage Call me not to an account for my old scores and remember not the sins of my youth but be mercifull unto me according to thy great mercies and sustaine me in a firme faith and comfort even to my last gaspe that neither sinne death or the divell doe me any hurt nor that my own flesh make me impatient but that I may enter in unto thee that I may dwell with thee and may remaine with thee for evermore Amen CONTEMP c. 45. Of Eternity IS it this that divideth the entrailes parteth the bowels woundeth the heart tyes the tongue shutteth the lips distracteth the senses and overwhelmes all our members with feare Rivers slow from our eyes our cheekes are watered with teares and all this torrent hath its originall from this one word a terrible word by the force and threates whereof feare and anguish are bred in us a word that no day no voice shall determine no starre-light shall shadow no constellation shall darken a word that melts the marrow and softens breakes and even minces the heart and bones though harder than the Adamant or Marble This word is Eternity a word of longer continuance than the Heavens more terrible than thunder and lightning or any tempest whatsoever It is Eternity that hath neither pause measure nor end and drives on the minds of men as it were with goades and spurs and pricks so that they search not after mutable or transitory things This word hath moved many to pluck of their glittering crownes from their ayery heads and to despise the lofty bayes and made them let fall their towring plumes and putting on a courser habit to contemplate higher and more divine things This word doth wholely possesse me nor suffers me to enjoy any encrease of content it infuses into my most disquieted soule care feare and griefe O end most remote from any end ô time without time O yeare and no yeare O number not to bee summed up of any Descend descend my soule to hell not to mix thy selfe with flames but to avoid
for man O blessed day wherein the head of the Dragon is trampled under the feet of thy crucified and dead body Leviathan is bruised Behemoh that vast and powerfull creature is overthrowne and death is cast out O most milde Tribunall before which I am absolved without punishment freed without death but yet that even by death where I am dismissed from my bloody deeds by the blood of the supreme King by thy blood now shed I see most clearely that thou hast transferred my nature upon thy selfe that I might receive that innocencie from thee which I had altogether corrupted in my selfe but thou keptest thy divine Nature that I might receive glory and dignitie thou joynedst both together that the Deitie being joyned to the humanitie and the humanitie joyned to the Deity he that was sensible of my misery putting on my affections might unite him unto me as a brother whom I did feare as a Judge What shall I say or how shall I speak for I am not my selfe when I think of thee when I lift up my eyes unto thee when I behold thy side launced with the speare and behold thorow that wound thy most loving heart Thou that art immense infinite not circumscribed void of passion and immortall hast put on for love of us even this our flesh straight finite circumscribed and finally liable to passion and death it selfe which by hunger by thirst by miseries by injuries by scourgings by spittings on by blood by death was handled beaten extended and tortured by pieces in the presence of the Devill yet being joyned also with thy Divinitie thou hast placed it above all the Angels above all creatures which are in heaven and earth even at the right hand of thy Father that we who before were even pressed downe to hell may now by thee be taken into the fellowship of the Godhead I would I might alwayes rest in this thy so great passion that I may dwell in thy wounds for whosoever flies to thy wounds and precious scars shall in tribulation finde great comfort and enjoy that comfort the soule doth onely desire CONTEMP c. 24. Of Christs buriall THere is at length an end set to labour and the worke of redemption being wrought and finished and that all-sufficient ransome paid the grave receives and covers this ill-handled body for God is faithfull O Christ my God who set a convenient end to thy labours temptations sorrowes necessities and persecutions for my sinnes thou wast put to death after death thou art buried but it was that thou mightest rise againe out of the grave for my just fication Before the day of preparation for the Passeover was wholly past thou art taken from the Crosse thy Father hastens also our departure from this preparation day by a preparation to the heavenly journey that we may the sooner be brought to thee celebrate Sabbath upon Sabbath unto thee Therewas no reproach that thou hadst not bin loaden with in that Crosse nor any ignominy that thy body had not beene disgraced with in it yet these things could not affright Nicodemus whom thou hadst instructed by thy nightly conference and gained for a secret Disciple and Ioseph of Arimathea a rich good and pious Senatour two of the principall men amongst the Jewish Nation Thou didst hang upon the Crosse betweene theeves thy chosen companions fled from thee the whole rabble of thy persecutors cryed Crucifie crucifie him take him away take him away Pilate delivered thee over to death and judged thee worthy to be tormented yet these men searing nothing breake through the midst of the host of these perverse troops they goe to Pilate and beseech him that the infamously handled carkas yet heavens relique might be given unto them accounting of it as of a most great gift What courage of mind shal I beleeve you had who quickned your spirits O Nicodemus and Ioseph what beliefe could the small reliques of that golden tree raise up in you did you not think that yee might bee accounted partners with Christ whom they had proclaimed for a deceiver and a disturber of the publike peace and that yee might be reckoned for troublers of the Senate and be blamed of Pilate and stoned of the people But the fire of faith was kindled in you which not being to be confined within in your hearts breaks forth on all sides O strange power of God in his faithfull servants O how unsearchable are his works The Disciples had above three yeares beene publicke auditors of Christ now crucified they had beene plentifully and carefully fed and instructed by him but when so great dangers grew thicke they forsake their Master Nicodemus and Ioseph came in private to Jesus fearing to bring the peoples hatred upon themselves now when they see all things seeme desperate they doe not forsake him whom they had worshipped whom they had heard whom they had reverenced but doe now still even now love and honour not unwillingly How great is thy power in those that are weake how great thy perfection in those that are imperfect would to God that nothing also may be able to separate me from the love of Christ neither affliction nor anguish nor persecution nor hunger nor nakednesse nor danger nor the sword but let me be perswaded that nor death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature whatsoever shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is Christ Jesus my Lord. Those diligent worshippers of thee doe wrap thee in cleane linnen do embalme thee with Myrrh and Aloes O that I may humble my selfe by bitter repentance and purged from my sinnes may receive thee with a pure heart They embalme thee and lay thee in a new tombe in which no other had ever beene laid O that none but thy selfe might enter into my heart renewed by thy blessed Spirit They spend many things willingly for thy sake nor dare spare any cost let me also spend my life and blood for thee and for thine and what else besides my blood thou hast given me in this life When thou shalt call my soule from this wombe of durt let me thinke of nothing but of thy death but of thy blood but of thy wounds but of thy crowne when I I shall be affrighted with the grave let me thinke I shall be buried in no other sepulchre than in that which thou hast touched with thine one body which thou hast sanctified by thy scars that being to be raised at thy command I may live with thee everlastingly Amen CONTEMP c. 25. Of Christs resurrection SEt forth the prayses of the Lord and call upon his name declare his works among the nations sing unto him sing praises unto him declare all his wonderfull works call to mind his wonders which he hath done his strange works the judgements of his mouth Who can sufficiently speak of the power of the Lord
but feare God and examine exactly what may be truly profitable for thee Doe good to the poore with all thy power that thou mayest gather for thy selfe a treasure in heaven Doe all that God bids thee for thou art bound to doe good with thy will and spirit but he that knowes to doe well and doth it not he is guilty of sinne but he that doth good doth it not from himselfe but for that cause that it is bestowed on him of God and that he belongeth unto God Love not O man the world or the things of the world as the lusts of the flesh the desires of the eyes and the pride of life but feare God and meditate with thy selfe of heavenly things strive to fulfill Gods will in all vertuousnesse shun worldly minds set upon the earth that thou be not defiled with other mens sins seeke Gods kingdome and so use the mirth is permitted to thee that thou mayest alwayes tremble stand in awe and shew thy selfe thankfull that thou fall into no secret sin or be delighted with the tree of good and evill and with the sight of a momentany pleasure thou remove like Eve the law of God out of thine eyes and heart which should be neverthelesse the summe and highest pitch of all thy delights It should be thy delight night and day that it may be to thee the right way the truth and the life if thou wilt lead a a living life conducting to life eternall not to everlasting death Next O man keepe these three things faith charity and stedfastnesse of hope What ever thou dost see thou doe it in faith in simplicity of heart in confidence of the fatherly will of God and give God thanks to whom they are due and his blessings shall be alwayes thy handmaid let charity spring from the ground of thy heart nor be carefull to give thy selfe content but labour with feare and humility to please God Be pleasing unto men in truth mercy and justice without flattery for that is perfect charity Charity bids us look to the things that concerne God our neighbour not only those things which concern my selfe Let thy hope be without feare and doubting let him that desires divine heavenly and eternall things rest upon the wil of God and not upon slippery fraile and brittle things No man shall make thee lose thy hold of that hope which thou hast placed upon God thou mayest hope upon him even in the pangs of death for he is omnipotent Never let humility slip out of thy mind for he preserveth thy life by simplicitie strengthens it by patience and feeds it by truth Commit all thy waies unto God and hee shall bring it to passe he knowes what is for thy profit and what not Thinkest thou that he knowes not thy condition behold God sees and knowes all things and nothing is hid from his eyes He regards also the poore and contrite spirit and him that trembleth at his Word Search not therefore after high things when thou art commended feare because thou art an unprofitable servant and canst doe nothing except thou be assisted by the power favour and Spirit of God Thinke not better of thy selfe than of thy neighbour for thou art a man of nought remember God is only to be honoured and thou shalt be the greater if thou cast down thy selfe Be alwayes ruminating of these things first let no vain idle scurrilous words break from thy lips but godly pleasing profitable which tend to life and lead not to death therefore bridle thy tongue and restraine it for it can kill and give life Secondly to keepe thy soule and conscience free from wickednesse exclude thou malice and impious thoughts and never shun the light O thrice happie and more is hee whose heart condemnes him not Thou belongest to God O man walke upright with God remove from thee darknesse lyes and injustice for he is a Judge and a revenger of such things Trie and prove thy selfe in all things that thou mayst know what vice sticks to thee what vertue thou wantest that thou mayst shake off that and purchase this for thou canst never bee so perfect that something will not still be wanting Whatsoever thou dost thou dost it by Gods indulgence and helpe if it be acceptable to him for of thy selfe thou art very nothing and by the assistance of Gods holy Spirit canst thou onely proceed in goodnesse stay not therefore or hinder the operations thereof work out thy salvation with feare and trembling in continuall repentance humility and simplicitie of heart and think that thou art neither worthy of the blessings of this life or of that which is to come Lastly pray without ceasing in all thy labours pray reverently devoutly and humbly with faith in all thy wayes with a most fervent desire of thy neighbours salvation Thou must pray in thy chamber in solitarinesse in most humble devotion in fastings in teares in anguish in weeping in contrition upon thy knees night and day with a full hope and not doubting according to the will of God for all the true professors of the Christian faith study in all things to please God and not men whosoever honours God God will also honour him whosoever contemnes God God shall also contemne him Grant me thy grace most mercifull God that it may bee with me that it may labour with me and may continue with me even unto the end Grant I may alwayes will and desire that which is most acceptable unto thee and most dearly pleaseth thee let thy will be my will and let my will alwayes follow thine and agree best with it let me will and will the same thing that thou dost and grant I may not have power otherwise to will or not to will them as thou dost O my God thou unspeakable sweetnesse turne all carnal comforts into bitternesse unto me which doe draw me from the love of things eternall and evilly allure mee under colour of some present delectable good Let not flesh and blood O my God overcome me let not the world and its short glory deceive me let not the devill and his subtilty supplant mee Give mee strength to resist patience to endure constancie to performe give mee in stead of all the comforts of the world the most sweet unction of thy Spirit and infuse into mee the love of thy Name in stead of carnall love Confirme me my God by the grace of thy holy Spirit give mee power to bee strengthned in the inward man and to emptie my heart of all unprofitable care and vexation nor to be distracted with the various desires of any thing whether it be vile or precious but that I looke upon all things as if they passed but by me and that I did also passe away as they doe because nothing under the Sun is of any continuance but all things are vanity and vexation of spirit O how wise is he that thus considers with himselfe Give me my God heavenly wisdome
which the Prophet said A new name shall be given thee which the mouth of the Lord shall bestow on thee We have changed our accursed name because God hath given us a new name Take heed to your selves take heed who ever you be that you despise none of the faithfull that you disesteeme or reproach them not though he seeme most miserable most abject and most afflicted for let his misery or affliction be as great as may be yet is he the Almighty Gods Anointed the Prophet of the most holy the Priest of the most High yea he is himselfe a king of most great Majesty Yee are Prophets O Christians therefore let the Word of God dwell plentifully in you with all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymnes and spirituall songs singing unto the Lord with grace in your hearts Ye are Priests ye Christians therefore I beseech you my brethren by the mercies of God that you give up your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice and acceptable to God by your reasonable service of him and be not fashioned like this world but be yee changed through the renewing of your mindes that ye may discerne what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God Ye are Kings O Christians be not therefore servants of sin or be subject to the boyling affections of the flesh but mortifie your sinnes tame your lusts nor prostitute your dignity to a most base and impure servitude Extoll your Christ because all your eminencie all your worth all your grace and all your glory proceedeth from him As the rivers do flow from the sea and flow back againe into the same so let your eminency dignity grace and glory be directed disposed of and referred to the authour and giver thereof Call upon Christ O ye Christians because though you be anointed yet may that ointment be overwhelmed defiled and wiped off by the filth of your sinnes and the durt of your corruptions ye carry heavenly gifts in brittle vessels pray that they be not broken and your graces spilt pray that no wind may extinguish your flame that your oyle faile you not and yee be left in darknesse with the foolish virgins Love your Christ yee Christians because he is anointed that you might be anointed because he is a King that hath all the inhabitants of the earth for his subjects because he is a Priest that hath expiated all the sinnes of the whole world because he is a Prophet that doth instruct all the ignorant doth enforme them and teacheth them the right way to life Love Christ you Christians because the most apparant manifestation of a thankfull mind consisteth not in words but works not in promises but in obedience But to the end you may more fully consider your dignity the birth of a Christian is to be weighed God is his Father in heaven the Church is his mother upon the earth The Word of God to be heard and seene is the seed that is the Word preached this is the administration of the Sacraments Yee are borne againe not of corruptible seed but incorruptible by the Word of God that lives and abideth for evermore The Father of lights hath begotten you by the Word of his truth The Churches are the wombe where the seed of the heavenly Word is scattered and in which the eternall Father and our mother the Church doe meet together The heart of man is the matter of this generation the privation is the mortification of the old Adam the forme is the vivification it selfe whence doth arise the assent of the understanding and confidence of the will that the sonne of wrath may become the sonne of grace the blinde may see the deafe may heare the dumbe may speake the lame walke the leaper be cleansed and life may be restored to the dead The time of this formation is when a Christian doth more and more profit in knowledge of the understanding and holinesse in the heart the carrying in the wombe is when in our whole life by meanes of the vessels of the wombe and navell that is by the ministers of the Word he attracteth to himselfe the milke of saving knowledge from the two breasts of the Church the Law and the Gospell and as an Embrion lives in the wombe so he lives in the Word Hee is a brute creature and more silly than a beast that doth not admire that a childe in the wombe should be preserved alive in so darke a prison in so uncleane streights among so many filths corruptions excrements wrapped in filmes and crowded by the bowels but it is farre more to be wondred at that any Christian should be supported amidst so many griefes paines torments snares and calamities For about the wombe wherein we are carried the World cries I will slay him the Flesh cries I will infect him the Devill cries I will deceive him Wee must there lie hid where there is much malice where is little wisdome where all things are viscous and slimie all things hid in darknesse and beset with snares where the soules are in danger the bodies are afflicted where all things are vanity and vexation of Spirit and yet for all this we live and are preserved we live and are not killed we are nourished and not in want we are carried in the wombe and are not abortive we are sustained and are in want of nothing The Embrion in the mothers wombe lives a hidden life he lives indeed in the world but is not seene with the eyes of any he sends forth his breath but scarce draws any in we also Embrions of regeneration lead a hidden life For though we live in the kingdome of heaven yet our glory and desireable life doth not as yet make any great shew we yet behold not the light of eternall blessednesse we yet draw not the aire of the region of Paradise we yet eat not the Angelicall Manna we yet drinke not of the heavenly liquour but have as it were but a light taste of al these things and we have scarce any sensible breathing of these things But the houre is at hand and the time will come that it shall be made manifest what we shall be wherein we shall beginne and never end this glorious light this life not of hope but of the things hoped for even the life of vision We shal begin this life when we die for then begin we to be borne to the true light when we first put off our mortality For the true birth day of Christians is their day of death In death they do begin to live through death they enter into life as the infant lies sighing at the port of the wombe expecting his passage and though he be even at deaths threshold yet is he conveyed into the haven of life O living death of Christians O Christian sonne of God brother of Christ companion of the Angels Lord of the world partaker of the divine nature O Christian exalted above sin and the law
to weepe and soften my hard and stony heart Teach me O Lord to doe thy will because thou art my God Give me O Lord a heart that may stand in awe of thee a minde to love thee an understanding to know thee eares to hearken to thee eyes to see thee Take pity upon me O God take pity upon me and looke downe upon me from the holy throne of thy Majesty Lord Jesus give concord to thy Ministers peace and quietnesse to Princes that judge righteously repentance unto those that live unjustly I beseech thee O Lord for the holy universall Church for the Clergy and Layety for all Christian Governours and all that beleeve in thy Name that labour in thy holy Word that they may obtaine perseverance in good works Grant O Lord eternall King unto young men chastity to those of riper yeares holinesse and unto all innocency pardon to the repentant succour to the Orphans and Widowes to the poore protection to the travellers a happy returne comfort to them that mourne eternall rest to the faithfull a safe haven to those that rove upon the sea to the better sort of Christians that they may persevere in goodnesse to the weaker sort that they may grow better to them that commit wickednesse and still offend thee that they speedily correct their wayes with me a miserable sinner O most sweet and most mercifull Lord Jesus Christ thou Son of the living God thou Redeemer of the world that art amongst us all and in all things be mercifull to me a sinner Amen CONTEMP c. 43. Of ending the day religiously AS nights and dayes have their returnes so let the thought and celebration of Gods mercy have their returnes in thy heart For therefore are the vicissitudes of light and darknesse granted us that there might be an interchangeable restoring of labour and rest and that each of them might have its fit and appointed time If God would have made the Sunne to stand still there must have beene a perpetuall day Also if the starres had had no motion who can doubt but their must have beene an everlasting night but he gave them motion that there might be changes of nights and dayes and such various motions that there might be mutuall vicissitudes of light and darknesse in which alternate spaces of labour and of rest might appeare unto us Blesse the Lord O my soule that hath appointed the Moone for its determinate seasons and the Sunne to know her going downe that it may be night wherein all beasts of the forrest steale abroad the young Lions roaring after their prey doe seeke their food and when the Sunne ariseth they retire themselves and lay themselves downe in their dens but man goeth forth to his worke and his tillage untill the evening How ample O God are thy works how wisely hast thou made them all how full is the earth of thy possessions Consider well O man what thy work and labour hath beene this day If thy endevours have beene honest ascribe them to God if thou hast learned any good impute it to God but if thou hast done any evill and hast offended either God or thy neighbour humbly crave pardon for it nor sleepe the sleepe of oblivion or security with thy sinnes upon thee That is an accursed and darksome night in which thou goest to bed without reconciling thy selfe unto God Cast up thy reckoning and wipe out thy scores being to account with thy God and if thou finde thy account faire which alas seldome or never fals out give praises to the Lord but if it appeare soule cast thy selfe groveling at the feet of thy Lord and implore his unspeakable mercy that if thou wert even this night to be called to his judgement seat thou mightest by it be excused If thou have moved any man to anger and indignation desire his pardon nor let the Sunne set under this troubled cloud If he forgive thee beware afterwards but if he refuse thee pardon faile not earnestly to begge of God forgivenesse of thy offence And thou doe that willingly to another that thou wouldest have another doe to thee Revenge not thine owne quarrell for God hath reserved vengeance to himselfe Surely he must needs be accounted very bold that dares wrest Gods sword out of his hand The Heathens were wont to doe this when the day was ended and they retired themselves to their rest they asked their soule what wound of it was that day healed what vice it had resisted in what part it was growne better Let anger cease and it will be more temperate let thy soule know that she must daily come before her Judge What shouldest thou that art a Christian thinke of is not thy soule also a secret searcher and censurer of thee she knowes thy manner she retires into the closet of her thoughts and sees what she hath secretly wished for O heavenly Lord to whose bottomlesse goodnesse and infinite kindnesse we owe all things that hast given the most cleare light of the day as well to the bad as to the good to undertake the works of their calling and hast lovingly afforded us the friendly silence of the night to refresh the strength of our bodies and to wipe out the cares of the minde I beseech thee that those things which I have this day committed either through humane negligence or inbred malice may for thy unspeakable mercies sake be forgiven me and vouchsafe unto me also that this night by thy blessing may be happy unto me and thou being my pure keeper and protector I may be free in it from the nightly illusions of the devill that my sleepe make both my body and soule more cheerfull the next day to serve thee And because in this life there is not an houre wherein we can assure our selves from the cōming of that evening when thou shalt come and the dead be raised at the sounding of thy holy Angels trumpet I beseech thee that thou wilt enlighten the eyes of my soule that my faith may not bee extinguished and I sleepe in everlasting death but that I may rest in thee in whom even the dead do live who livest and raignest for ever more Amen CONTEMP c. 44. Of Death the last Judgement Hell and Happinesse IN all thy words remember thy last things and thou shalt never sin no artificiall medicine nor any doctrine doth so overcome pride so conquer malice so quench lust or so trample upon the vanities of this world as the remembrance of our last things What are those our last things let others here dispute what they be but let the godly weigh the matter diligently with themselves thy Death the last Judgement the glory of Heaven the paines of Hell these are the things thou must meditate of What comes more suddenly and when we lesse think of it than Death We die daily for part of our life is daily diminished and even while we encrease doth our life grow lesse the time that passeth away
thy comming and that the old Religion should not seeme utterly rejected or that thou mightest save the Iewes by receiving of Circumcision as thou didst the Gentiles by Baptism that is wert thou to save them by the powring forth of the purified dew or was it that thou mightest keepe fulfill and establish all the Law What need I to reckon up many things thou wast circumcised for the cause that thou wast borne and for which thou didst suffer none of all this was for thy selfe but all was for thy Elect for mee for all that cleave unto thee that thou mightest pay for us those debts even thou that didst owe nothing thy selfe and mightest free us from our owne and from the offences of others O most loving Jesus I adhere to thee doe thou everlastingly stick to me I have runne into debt doe thou pay them I beseech thee by that pretious blood which thou wast willing to shed for sinners in thy most holy Circumcision and afterwards most abundantly to powre out for them in thy most bitter passion that thou mightest wash away all mine iniquities looke upon me most humbly petitioning and often calling upon thy holy Name cause me O Lord readily to submit my selfe to thy Lawes I learne from thy selfe my Lord to obey thy Lawes and to obey thee not by constraint but by free consent for this is the true obedience of the humane nature when it subjects its will readily to the will of God and when by working it perfecteth the good will it hath received with a willing liberty without any constraint Give me O Lord the Circumcision of the heart which is that the cloud of errour being taken away to acknowledge the Creator God the Father and his Sonne Christ by whom he hath created all things that the truth of God might be fulfilled grant that I may cut off and cast out of my heart all uncleannesse of thoughts and impuritie of my senses For the Gospell hath not enjoyned cutting away of the Prepuce but the circumcision of the heart and that by the Sword of the Spirit wee should cut away all petulancie as well of our members as of our affections this Circumcision is not in my power succour my weaknesse O Lord and assist me that I may doe that which thou hast promised by thy faithfull servant Moses the Lord shall circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed that thou mayest love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule I am present O Lord as thou hast commanded by thy faithfull servant Jeremy Be circumcised to the Lord and take away the fore-skinne of your hearts that my wrath break not forth like fire Give me that which Saint Paul speaks concerning me Thou art circumcised with a Circumcision which is made without hands if thou put off the body of sins by the Circumcision of Christ The Iewes circumcised but one member of the body grant O Lord that I may circumcise all my members The heart of man is wicked it must therefore be circumcised and the Sword of the Spirit is to be unsheathed for it and this is the preaching of the Gospell of Iesus Christ which if any one receiveth into his heart by faith first his sinnes shall not be imputed to him but he shall be accompted just for Christs sake then the holy Ghost shall bee given unto him by whose power it shall come to passe that the reliques of sinne shall not raigne in his mortall body but hee shall fit his members as weapons of righteousnesse unto God Stirre me up O Lord and strengthen me that I may circumcise my eyes that they behold no vanitie nor defile themselves with privie adulteries Thou hast commanded this O Lord if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee Stirre me up O Lord and strengthen mee that I may circumcise my hands that they be not enraged and shed innocent blood for thou hast commanded this O Lord if thy right hand offend thee cut it off Stirre me up and strengthen me O Lord that I may circumcise my feet that they goe not in the way of sinners and that they haste not to doe evill so putting off the old man and putting on the new I shall become a new creature and shall possesse the inheritance of thy Kingdome O Christ I shall enjoy the societie of the citizens of heaven the quire of Angels singing Hymnes unto thee and the sweet fellowship of all thy blessed ones Thus thou shalt speak O Christ to thy Father I will that those thou hast given me may now be with me that they may behold my glory which I had with thee before the world was made O when wilt thou speake this O Lord O when shall I heare this CONTEMP c. 17. Of the passion of Christ DOest thou ascend for me to Ierusalem that all things might be accomplished which are written by the Prophets that thou mightest be exposed for a scorne to the Gentiles that thou mightest be scourged that thou mightest be spit upon that thou mightest be fastned to the Crosse thou who art the God of glory the God of life safety the chiefe best and Omnipotent most mercifull most just most secret most present most beautifull most strong stable incomprehensible God invisible yet seeing all things immutable yet changing all things immortall illocable interminable unbounded without ending inestimable unutterable fearfull and terrible to be honoured and reverenced venerable and renowned never new nor ever waxing old and innovating all things For me who am deep darknesse miserable earth the sonne of wrath a vessell fitted for reproach begotten in uncleannesse living in misery that must die in extremity a vessell taken from a dunghill a shell of corruption full of filth and horror blinde poore naked subject to many wants and wretched and mortall as I am ignorant when I came in or when I must goe out of the world whose dayes passe like a shadow whose life vanisheth like the shadow of the Moone a mad mans phansie as the blossome upon the tree blowes and forthwith is rotten now flourisheth and by by is dried up whose life is a fraile and fading life that the more it continues the more it decreaseth the farther we proceed in it the nearer it approacheth to death What shall I thinke what shall I say what hast thou commited O most sweet Saviour that thou shouldest be thus judged what hast thou done O my most loving Saviour that thou shouldest be handled so rudely what is thy wickednesse what thy offence what the cause of thy death what the occasion of thy condemning I am the stripe of thy paine the offence for which thou art slaine I am the desert of thy death the wickednesse revenged upon thee I am the spleene of thy passion and the labour of thy torments O the greatnes and foulnesse of my sinnes Out of the consideration of the remedy I value the measure of my
of him in whom thou hast placed all thy hope and trust I therefore that am forsaken of all doe bring to both of you that small ayd I am able thou O Mother behold another Sonne for thee thou my disciple behold another helpe for thee O most holy Jesus O most faithfull Saviour O most mercifull helper how many sad widows doest thou even now comfort how many poore orphans doest thou now relieve how many afflicted persons doest thou now take charge of I am also widowed of all comfort and deprived of all sustenance robbed of all protection and aid the anxieties of my mind are many my affliction is great my griefes are multiplied comfort me sustaine me take care of me O thou omnipotent Comforter of those that bee sad thou Strength of those that labour let my groanes come unto thee what extremity soever I am in that in my necessities I may joy in the presence of thy mercy Heare also yee that have eares to heare the fourth word Let my soule attend let my spirit attend and let all the devotion that is in me give her attention our Priest in the dayes of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications with teares and strong cries unto him that was able to save him from death My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The just God and heavenly Father who begate thee from eternity who by a voyce from heaven testified of thee This is my beloved Sonne heare him hath forgotten thee hee left thee not for thine owne cause but for mine for I by my sinnes have begotten thee these labours and griefes it was I was to be forsaken but thou stoodest in my stead thou who speakest righteousnesse who art the bulwarke of salvation hast trod the wine-presse alone and there was not a man to helpe thee thou lookedst about and there was no helper thou soughtest but foundst none that might save O how bitter was this forsaking to thee but how pleasant and how happie to mee Thou God exceeding long-suffering thou shalt not leave me for ever because thy Sonne was forsaken for me Thou ardent lover of my soule thou diligent Saviour of sinners thou most courteous searcher of men thy most obedient Sonne tooke on him the punishment which was due for my sins which are so much against thee hee hath borne the sinners burthen hee hath endured the horrours of death and terrours of hell and hath most largely satisfied for me Leave me not then O my God depart not from me O my God in the day of my death if the so copious satisfaction of thy Sonne if my so dangerous misery can move thee to compassion be present with me most miserable sinner pitifully heare my prayers and help mee in the houre of death neither remember my iniquities but O thou fountaine of mercyes deale with mee according to thy exceeding great mercy CONTEMP c. 20. Of the fifth word of Christ uttered upon the Crosse GAther O gather your selves together and heare saith the Patriarch Iacob when he stretched forth his feet to enter into the way of all flesh and stood even at the threshold of his wished-for eternity but if the last words of a man were to bee received with such attention what attention may be required what fervour what diligence to heare his last words who is both God and man who is above all the Patriarches in whom all the Patriarches did trust and whom they wished so often to behold The words were seven The number of seven is a peculiar number a holy number and is used in many mysteries it is here also peculiar it is holy and not barren of mysteries thou hast already understood this O my soule and thou shalt know it in part hereafter The first word of our Lord was I thirst ah Lord all thy spirits were dissipated all thy strength issued forth in the torrent of thy blood for thou wast a man of sorrowes and experienced in infirmities despised and a man of the least esteeme although thou haddest committed no offence nor was guile found in thy mouth therefore wast thou scorched with extream thirst and yet thou Saviour and preserver of men thou couldest not obtaine drink from men O most barbarous cruelty the Lord did travell with extreame thirst at the beginning of his passion and that thirst did increase still more and more so that it was one of the greater sort of torments which the Lord endured upon the crosse for the letting out of the great plenty of the vitall fountaine doth dry and cause thirst therefore the Lord who after much wearinesse and by his scourging lost much blood and afterwards being crucified had foure open fountaines as it were in his body from which great plenty of blood had for a long time issued forth how could it be but that hee must be tormented with extreame thirst They who have received many wounds from which much blood doth flow desire nothing so much as drink as if they suffered nothing but thirst but who was there that took pitty and offered so much as cold water who was present who had a fellow-feeling of his sorrowes there was not one nor any found to comfort him O Jesus thou heavenly Lord they gave thee gall to eate and in thy thirst they have thee vineger to drink thy beloved John saith there was a vessell set full of vineger and they fastning a sponge full of vineger to an hysop stalk offered it to his mouth O cruell wickednesse as they had at the beginning a little before his crucifying offered him wine mixed with gall so at the departure of his soule they offer him vineger a most pernitious thing for his wounds that Christs passion might be a true and continued passion from the beginning to the end without any mixture of comfort in stead of refreshing and pleasing liquour they offer him hurtfull and bitter O refreshing without any refreshing O most lamentable consolation When Sampson had slaine the Philistims he thirsted exceedingly and the Lord opened a great tooth for him in the jaw-bone of an asse whence waters did flow and thou when thou haddest overcome the most potent enemies the world satan and death diddest also thirst extreamely but no waters were given thee and the Antitype was in a farre worse condition than the type which the Conquerour of the Philistims did represent wee alas had deserved eternall thirst to us was due that scorching heat which the glutton had when hee lifted up his eyes being in torments and saw Abraham afarre off and Lazarus in his bosome and crying said Father Abraham take pitty of me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and refresh my tongue for I am tormented in these flames but thou that takest pitty of us that most ardently thirstest for our salvation hast in thy thirst suffered that thirst and hast deserved so much for us that we shall one day neither hunger nor thirst any more neither
and make all his praises to be heard O Lord my God thou art exceedingly exalted thou hast put on praise and comelinesse and art clothed with light as it were with a garment Ioseph was thrust into a most noysome darknesse of a prison but the third yeere was hee taken thence and made the great commander over all Aegypt Christ was put in the bowells of the earth but the third day he came out thence alive and was made governour of heaven and earth Moses was cast forth into the river being shut into an Arke of bulrushes but was presently drawne from thence and made the people of Israels Captaine and deliverer Christ Jesus was shut into the tomb but was in good time raised thence and designed for a Saviour unto all men The bush in the wildernesse did burne but was not consumed by the fire Jesus burned upon the Crosse and was exposed to the flames of Gods wrath and the assaults of Satan but this fire was put out and now the beames of his fatherly favour shine forth Aarons rod was withered but it flourished againe all Christs bones were dryed by his passion but vigour returned to them from the grave Josuah trampled the five Kings that were brought unto him under his feet and hung them upon five trees Jesus Christ trampled upon our five enemies the world satan sinne death and the grave and carried away most great spoyles and set up glorious trophyes of his victory Sampson was taken in Gaza but hee plucked up the gates of the City and escaped Christ Jesus was taken of death but not kept and having conquered death hee triumphed David overthrew Goliah the Philistims champion with a sling Christ with his blood overthrew and vanquished the devill the leader and captaine of the wicked We blesse thee famous Saviour we laud thee most invincible captaine we reverence thee most triumphant victour arise make haste my soule and come away now winter's past the storme is over and gone the flowers deck our feilds the spring is come the voyce of the turtle is heard in our land the figgtree is budded the flourishing vines send forth a sweet savour arise make haste my soule and come away it is no time for sloth but to make speed it is no time to sleepe but to awake it is no time to weepe but to rejoyce it is no time to complaine but to bee glad wee have beene too indulgent to sadnesse wee have shed teares enough let sadnesse depart let mirth returne the time of the passion is past the time of the resurrection is come all anxiety must fly away when the message sent by the Angell is heard all greife of heart must vanish when the Gospell is received hee is risen hee is risen whom his friend betrayed whom the company of his disciples forsook whom Peter denied whom the Priests delivered up whom the serjeants smot whom the high Priests mocked whom the Iudges condemned whom the hangmen put to death whom the souldiers pierced whom the accursed burden of our sinns did oppresse whom the wrath due to our sinns had tormented hee is risen the Lord our God is risen our brother is risen who hath in his sepulcher buried all our iniquities and by his resurrection hath brought forth for us freedome and salvation Confesse unto the Lord and call upon his name set forth his works amongst the Gentiles sing unto him sing psalmes unto him declare all his wonderfull works This is the day wherein hath fallen what ever lifted up the head against the Lord for the Lord himselfe after hee had drunk of the brock in the way exalted his own head and brake to peeces the heads of his adversaries this is the day wherein hell was overthrowne and the abhominable Kingdome of Satan conquered the devill bound the old dragon spoyled death disabled and the miserable Christian people freed Remember the wonderfull things of the Lord which hee hath done his marvailes and the judgements of his mouth who shall set forth the power of the Lord and make all his praises to be heard this is the day wherein did vanish away the snares of the serpent of paradise which hee layd for the seede of the woman they vanished away and the head of the serpent was cleft in sunder and the enmity betwixt mankinde and the serpents brood brake forth into extreamity of deeds This is the day wherein the second Adam from heaven awaked out of sleepe and received his only beloved and married her to himselfe blesse the Lord O my soule O Lord my God thou hast been wonderfully magnified thou hast put on praise and comelinesse and art clothed with light as with a garment rejoyce in the Lord O my soule this ought to be the solemnity above all solemnities wherein Christ the Lord by his divine power arose from death 〈…〉 as before handled like a 〈…〉 theefe this day is better than tha◠wherein the world did first appeare For that was created for mans labour this was made for his rest that deserved death this frees him from the feare of death the light of that day is buried in darknesse the brightnesse of this day doth even enlighten the graves to conclude the dead see not the light of that day but the light of this day hath even showne forth to the dead let us therefore rejoyce in this day which both shines about the living and quickneth the dead and illuminates those who are to come Let all the world exult with joy for it is meet that as every creature did lament with mournfull teares the death of their Creator and did follow the hearse of him that was put to death upon the Crosse in the dark funerals of the night so they should now joyfully receive him triumphantly returning in his resurrection from the dead And thou also my soule rowse thy selfe from the sleepe of sinne that thou crucifie him not againe after his resurrection awake if thou be asleepe and rise from the dead when the Lord arose from the tabernacle the campe removed and all the people followed to day is the Lord of life and death risen from the grave thou must not lie snorting but follow him by thy fervent devotion the old leaven must be purged out the leaven of malice and wickednesse wee must feed on the unleavened bread of truth and sincerity I am willing O God but not able thou who hast given mee grace to hate the way of the flesh and studies of this age vouchsafe that I may never set foot in that way nor ever be deceived by these inventions Lord Jesus Holy Iesus Good Iesus if thou wilt I shall be able for it is thy will that makes mee able will therefore I may have ability and will I may bring this good work to perfection Thou who did'st vouchfafe to dye for our sinns and to rise againe for our justification I beseech thee by thy glorious resurrection to raise me from the grave of all my sinnes and offences
what Saint Paul said We brought nothing into this world and we know that we can carry nothing away from thence and therefore let us be content with our food and cloathing but those that will bee rich fall into temptations and snares and many foolish lusts which afflict and drowne the sons of men in ruine and destruction Pray with Agur the son of Jakeh I have desired two things of thee O God deny them not unto me as long as I live remove farre from me vanity and lyes give me neither poverty nor riches let me be nourished with the meat of mine owne table lest being over full I lye against thee and say who is the Lord or being poore I should steale and so abuse the Name of my God Bee grieved more for Gods dishonour than thine owne if thou sufferest wrong beare it patiently and thou shalt overcome it yet thou mayest say my reputation is stained shall I endure it Why not suffer and thy reputation will be soone repaired he that shall at length even in the last day restore unto thee thy putrified body shall restore to thee thy credit if thou be angry and enraged and teare thy selfe what shall all these turmoiles profit thee Nothing is more pleasing to thy enemie than to see thee by thy rage to be in such a confusion Rather pray for thine enemies that they be fellow-heires with thee of eternall life and fellow-chaunters of thy Fathers praises in his heavenly Kingdome The more others extoll thee the more doe thou humble thy selfe in thine owne eyes nor please thy selfe with such vanities They that esteeme lightly of earthly things are magnified and extolled by the Angels of heaven proceed sincerely rightly and innocently in every of thy actions nor too earnestly take care for the things thou hast not Think no sin little for there is none so light if any may bee said light but it may bring upon thee great plagues everlasting death therefore deplore thy least sinnes and pray without ceasing for the bettering of thy life Think how short thy life is if any seriously consider what ever belongeth to us he shall see they vanish from us like birds in the aire and wee also by our perpetuall motion are carried beyond those transitory things but that which is worst no remedy can be found against this for these things fall out thus by the law of Nature for the things of this life are a dreame a smoake and impostures this is our life O men that lead a fleeting life such is the Scene upon the earth that wee must be borne ere we could have a being and as soone as we are borne wee are againe dissolved to nothing Wee are a dreame that lasts not an apparition that cannot be laid hold on a flight of a bird that is gone the passage of a ship in the sea that leaves behind no impression dust a vapour morning dew a flowre that hath his time to blow and time to wither the dayes of man are as grasse and shall flourish but like the flowre of the field Think therefore alwayes what manner of life thou hast not how long it may last make haste to live well and think every day is another life let us extend our life whose office and argument is action let us not place the goodnesse of our life in the length of it but in the use of it For it may come to passe yea it often happens so that he who hath lived long hath lived little his life is most long in the whole extent whereof he hath been at leasure for himselfe and yet no part thereof hath lyen waste or idle Life is like a Play it skils not how long it is but how well it was acted not he that hath sung much to the Harpe nor he that hath made many prayers or hath steered many ships is to be commended but he that hath performed these things for Beauty is to be placed in Vertue and a seasonable moderation not in length of dayes In every thing we see the Priority to bee yeelded to maturity and perfection not to their old-age For amongst the Plants those are accompted the best which beare most fruit in the shortest time and amongst the living creatures those from whom we receive most commodities for our lives in the shortest time We conclude therefore that a short time well and innocently spent is farre to be preferred before a sinfull long life CONTEMP c. 35. Of necessary rules to lead a holy life concerning our words HEare and obey these things O man which I shall utter touching thy words weigh well continually with thy selfe that saying of our Saviour I say unto you that of every idle word that the sonnes of men shall speake they shall give an account for in the day of judgement and that also which the most wise Salomon also affirmes in the multitude of words there will not cease to be sin Fly therefore idle and slothfull words which have repentance treading upon their heeles and ill successe at their elbowes Examine what thou art to propose and what to answer As long as thy word is within the fence of thy teeth it is thine own but as soon as it is escaped it is his that receives it How foule and uncomely a thing is it if thy unbrideled tongue breaking the bounds of modesty shall cause thee to blush for shame Let therefore thy words be few and weighty and seasoned with salt and mark in the delivery what is worthy and what in them is unworthy of thee Chiefly vaunt of nothing for truth which thou knowest not to be true nor give thy selfe over to receive vaine reports Such a tongue is a monster more changeable than any Proteus that fils the world with fables doth often in sports cause tragedies to be acted amongst men it encreaseth in its progresse and for the most part relates things to be greater than they are and cannot abstain from telling of lies in relating a truth and although it doth onely utter trifles and toyes yet sometimes is it in the place of a thousand witnesses As the hand of a foole doth leave a token of his folly deciphered upon every wall it passeth by so such a tongue filleth all mens eares with rumours and stories but whether they be true or false it careth not A mouse scarce peeps out of any cranny but it is presently at hand and like a midwife receives this issue and makes it presently grow bigge and that it may shew the fairer cloaths it in most large vestments so he forces rumours upon every one he meets as being fresh and new yea as a true story though for the most part it hath scarce any truth in it So is falshood in very short time divulged thorow the world Whosoever heares a report coynes and addes something to that he hath heard what either credulity or ornament shal perswade him too Behold the stories which doe at length put off
Lord imputeth not sin Rejoyce in the Lord ô ye righteous for praise becommeth the Just taste and see for the Lord is sweet Blessed is the man that hopeth in him Blesse the Lord ô my soule and all that is within me praise his holy Name who is mercifull to all thy iniquities and healeth all thy infirmities who hath redeemed thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with mercy and pity His goodnesse and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord for evermore I desire and beseech thee ô God by the death of thine owne son give me thy Spirit to purifie my heart and with his grace to strengthen me that by mine own unadvisednesse I fall not thither whence by thy mercy I have been called Create in me ô God a new heart and renew a firme spirit within me restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me by thy free spirit Wash mee daily by pardoning my daily offences translate me from the fennes of this age and the mud of this present life to the excellent kingdome of thy glory where is neither scab nor blindnesse nor doth any one suffer any uncleane issue of blood nor is any one uncleane where is no farther need of a lavacre thy glorious body being joyned unto our body Thou must needs fulfill thy promise made and both finish and confirme the good worke thou hast begun in me through Christ our only Lord and Saviour Amen CONTEMP c. 40. Of the worthy preparation to the holy Sacrament I Will make an entrance unto the Altar of God even to the God that maketh my youth rejoyce Laying aside the garments of my inveterate iniquity I will renew my youth like an Eagle and hasten to approach that heavenly banquet A plentifull and delicate banquet is prepared which is a medicine to the sicke a way to those that wander a banquet that comforteth the weake delights those that are in health cures sicknesse preserves health a banquet that makes a man more pliant to reproofe more patient to labour more zealous to love more wise to warinesse more ready to obedience more devout to thanksgiving a banquet by which our daily sinnes are forgiven the powers of Satan expelled strength given to undertake even martyrdome it selfe finally a banquet by which all good things are brought unto thee because a man partaking of it doth even become the same thing he receives This banquet compared with Ahasuerus his banquet relisheth farre above it compare it with the table spread in the Wildernesse for the children of Israel and it refresheth thee far more For though that Table contained in it the figure of this our Eucharist when God rained downe Manna for our Fathers in the Wildernesse and they were daily fed with food from heaven and men did eat Angels bread yet they that did eat that bread did die but this living bread that is set before thee in this costly banquet did come from heaven and hath given life to the world That Manna came from heaven this from above the heavens That being reserved to the next day was full of worms this is free from all corruption whosoever shall religiously taste thereof shall not see corruption That was given the Fathers after their passage over the red sea where the Egyptians were drowned and the Israelites were delivered so this heavenly Manna can profit none but the regenerate That corporall bread sustained the ancient people in their passage thorow the Wildernesse to the Land of promise this heavenly food sustaines the faithfull of these times in their passage to heaven Moses was Master of their Table and here Christ is ready at hand who hath furnished this Table and blessed it For it is not man that makes the bread and wine set on this Table to be the body and blood of Christ but Christ himselfe that is crucified for us words are uttered by the Priests mouth but the things set before thee are consecrated by the power of Christ who used these words unto his Disciples This is my Bodie this is the Cup of the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you It is Christ in whom doth dwell all the fulnesse of the God-head bodily who is the power of God unto whom is given all power in heaven and earth Hee when hee was to put an end to the Ceremonies of the Law would prepare for himselfe the Passeover and before he would be condemned to death and be nailed to the Crosse he was pleased according to the solemnitie to celebrate the Passeover the roasted lambe unleavened bread and sowre herbs When this Supper was so prepared amidst these sacramentall dainties both the old and also the new institutions offered themselves to him and having eaten the Lambe that the old tradition did set before them This great Master sets before his Disciples a meat not to be consumed nor are here the people invited to a banquet made exquisite both by cost and paines but the nourishment of immortality is given them differing from common food keeping the forme of a corporeall substance but by the invisible efficacie of the divine power working in us and proving Gods especiall presence accompanying it Come hither yee faithfull soules refresh and recollect your selves cheere and fill your selves joyne in one by your faith your remembrance of Christ with the application of his merits with hearty thanksgiving for your deliverance made through his blood receive the pledge testimony and assurance of your holy communion and fellowship with Christ your Head and by him with the Father and the Holy Ghost also encrease cherish comfort and hold fast the faith of the remission of your sins your faith is imperfect perfect it not only by the hearing of the Word preached but by using this holy Supper the Word offers but this Supper applies Christ unto us Encourage your selves to the studie of good works How too often are we hindred stopt and grow stupid in performing this work Here Christ keepes us company in exhibiting unto us his bodie and blood hee doth daily more and more mortifie in us the body of sinne and beginne in us the newnesse of a spirituall life performe each to other the offices of concord peace and love for we eat the same flesh we drink the same blood we are nourished with the same food we are refreshed with the same drink we are made one body under the same head but who hath ever seene the members of one and the same body to disagree to strive jarre or contend Cast out rancour pluck up hatred purge out the old leaven The faithfull under the Gospell must not be made of leaven The holy Banquet requires pure and sincere mindes The sweet savour that comes from Christs scorching upon the Crosse doth concoct all crudities of our carnall senses and doth harden and settle the affections of the minde nor let there bee any spot in the Sacrament of
those consuming fires The wicked might beare it if it could be so gently dealt with him that Aetna might be his place of torment that the Vultures might continually gnaw his liver that the Spiders might weave Cobwebs in this throat that he might bee nourished with aconit that he might be tormented with boiling pitch that he might drink nought but dragons blood that hee might bee fed with glowing coales that his body might bee cloathed with a perpetuall scurfe that he might be broiled on a gridiron that he might be peirced with speares bee bound to a stake to bee burnt that hee might bee pluckt in pieces by wild horses that hee might be choaked with brimstone that hee might bee stretched on the wrack that he might be continually pining to death for want of meat and drink that hee might bee butchered with pugniards that wicked wretch might suffer this end for a thousand yeares continuance yea for thousand of thousands added to that thousand if there might be hope at length of an end of tormenting How great soever a torment or torture be or how great a vexation yet a hoped for end doth make them easier to be borne of us it is the eternity of them that doth truly wrack and torture us It is that that makes the paines of hell it is that that makes plagues to be plagues indeed that gathers all punishments into one and does not only double but infinitely multiply the flames thereof Alas alas what is Eternity What Geometry can measure it It is not dayes or months or yeares that can set a period to it not hundreds of thousand revolutions of times not millions of millions of Olympiades Yet the passage to this never ending eternity is wrought by the flying unstablenesse of a few dayes The sun riseth and setteth but they that come to this do never returne here the beginning is the end and the end the beginning O life worse than any death O perpetuall dying without a death thou shall be hurried thither who ever thou art that doest here glut thy soule with pleasures that doest follow after the corruptions of thy flesh that givest unto a harlot thy members which Christ hath redeemed with his blood that stretchest thy throat with quaffing and stuffest thy paunch with gluttonous eating For what shall that fire devoure but thy sins The more thou sinnest the more fuell thou storest to be consumed of that fire there are many descents thither but never an ascent from thence he that once falls thither must alwayes abide there and is lost without any hope of succour He that is once numbred amongst the inhabitants of heaven shall alwayes rejoyce and he that is once joyned in company with the furies of hell shall alwayes be affrighted The joys of the blessed soules shall be without number or measure the torments of the accursed soules shall bee without metes and bounds without meane or remedy After yeares infinite and without number are passed they are still compelled to thinke that these are but only the beginnings of punishments One houre of punishment there shall be more grievous to us than a hundred yeares spent here in repentance the coales shall not there be dead but glowing no abatement but increase of heate The punishments shall increase the punishers shall be exasperated the place of torment shall be enlarged and the number of the tormentors increased Let the citizens of Heaven rejoyce and let those above for ever live let the damned for ever mourn those in hell for ever be dying Tread the path to heaven while it is open run in that way while it lyes faire before thee the path shall be shut up and the way destroyed if thou once go out of it dogs shall teare the Goates but God shall refresh the Lambes the Hawke shall prey upon the Crowes but God shall preserve his Doves Whilst the guest of Heaven is filled with delight and gladnesse what can bee set before those that lament in filth and corruption let those that are there famished beg for crums for fragments to stop their querulous throats they shall not receive their miserable complaints They shall be commanded for ever to drinke their owne teares and to coole their throats with the continuall waters flowing from their eyes their drinke shall be a torrent of griefe that shall never grow dry a fire in which they are consumed a pitcher of gall shall bee mixed with their teares which shall neither bee drawn dry or broken insunder the gall shall flow continually and the guest shall continually bee urged to drinke Ah! how much better would it be to thirst for ever than continually to be destroyed with this drinke and perpetually to groane and tremble If thou once enter in thou shalt never get out if the enemy of the blessed doe once get possession of thee hee will be for ever thine host first thou shalt be presented with dainties afterward expect as long as thou wilt thou shalt ne-never see any this table shall be alwayes furnished and never empty of ill meates to morrow to morrow thou shall suppose it may be better but every moment shall be as to day To day as thou readest or hearest these things ruminate diligently thereon and repent fervently nor expect or thinke thou will call to morrow for mercy O eternity he is lost for ever that is not alwayes mindfull of eternity O man O soule of man who hath both reason and meditation granted her if the love of God cannot lay hold of thee yet let at least the feare of the judge the horrour of the grave the snares of death the paines hell the burning fire the gnawing worme the stinking brimstone the scortching flames and all other evils and the eternity of them restraine and keepe thee in awe for the space of eternity is so great that if any damned wretch should drop but one teare every thousand yeares from his eyes yet would those teares come to be more water before that space should have an end than the whole world could contein O Eternity FINIS A Table of the Contemplations Sighs and Groans of a Christian 1OF the greatnesse of Gods love pag. 1 2 Of the originall nobility of man and his falling away from it pag. 4 3 Of mans departure from God the deceits of the devill of Gods omnipresence and clemencie pag. 8 4 Of the councell of the Trinity concerning mans Creation and of the end of his Creation pag. 13 5 Of Paradise and of casting forth of man from thence pag. 19 6 Of the Serpent the deceiver pag. 24 7 Of Gods Providence and Preservation pag. 30 8 Of the cloathing of Adam the first man pag. 38 9 Of Noahs Arke Crow and Dove pag. 42 10 Of Jacobs Ladder pag. 46 11 Of the most tender care of God over his people to be collected from his care for his people Israel in the Wildernesse pag. 50 12 Of the Tabernacle of the children of Israrel of the Cloud wherein Gods especiall presence was manifested of the Mercy Seat Of the Arke of the Manna and of Aarons Rod. pag. 62 13 Of the Conception of Christ pag. 66 14 Of Christs Nativity pag. 72 15 Of the Name Jesus pag. 79 16 Of Christ and of our Circumcision pag. 87 17 Of the Passion of Christ pag. 92 18 Of the first and second Word of our Lord spoken upon the Crosse pag. 104 19 Of the third and fourth Word of Christ uttered upon the Crosse pag. 110 20 Of the fifth Word of Christ uttered upon the Crosse pag. 115 21 Of Christs sixth Word uttered upon the Crosse pag. 119 22 Of the seventh and last Word of Christ uttered upon the Crosse pag. 124 23 Of the opening of Christs side pag. 129 24 Of Christs buriall pag. 133 25 Of Christs Resurrection pag. 137 26 Of Christs Ascention pag. 144 27 Of the sending downe of the holy Ghost pag. 150 28 Of the mystery of the Trinity pag. 157 29 Of shunning curiosity in t ings not revealed unto us pag. 163 30 Of the custody of Angels pag. 171 31 Of Baptisme pag. 179 32 Of a Christians practice pag. 186 33 Of the true dignity of a Christian pag. 193 34 Of necessary Rules to lead a godly life concerning our thoughts pag. 207 35 Of necessary Rules to lead a holy life concerning our words pag. 115 36 Of Rules necessary to lead a godly life touching our Actions pag. 225 37 Of the exceeding number of Gods benefits and of mans contempt of them by the multitude of his sinnes pag. 234 38 Of the greatnesse and foulnesse of our sinnes and of the Confession of them pag. 355 39 Of Gods readinesse to forgive sinnes and our thankesgiving for the forgivenesse of them pag. 258 40 Of the worthy preparation te the holy Sacrament pag. 261 41 Of those things which are to be meditated upon after the receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper pag. 269 42 Of beginning the day holily pag. 274 43 Of ending the day religiously pag. 280 44 Of Death the last Judgement Hell and Happinesse pag. 284 45 Of Eternity pag. 289 FINIS