like a Bird from the perch or melt away like Ice before the Sun and so leave the immortal soul to sink for ever so that the creature will not onely make thee restless but leave thee miserable I see then that I shall never rest till I rest in God he that is the Father of Spirits the Fountain of Bliss the Ancient of Dayes he only is the adequate object for thine immortal soul the rest of the creatures is in its end the end of the soul is its God Therefore Lord seeing thou hast made me for thy self fill me fully with thy self or take me wholly to thy self XXIX Meditat. DOth Sathan tempt thee either by pleasures dignities or profits O my soul Stand upon thy guard gird on thy strength with such thoughts as these What can the World profit me if the cares choak me How can Pleasures comfort me if the sting poyson me Or what advancement is this to be triumphing in honour beforâ— the face of men here anâ— to be trembling for shamâ— before the throne of Goâ— hereafter What are thâ— delights of the World tâ— the peace of my Conscience or the joy that is iâ— the Holy Ghost Whaâ— are the applauses of meâ— to the Crown prepared bâ— God Or what is the gaâ—â— of the World to the loâ—â— of my Soul The vanity the creature is far beneaâ—â— the excellency of my soul Therefore Sathan you aâ—â— I must keep at an everlaâ—ing distance for you bid me loss XXX Meditat. A Black cloud makes the Traveller mend his pace and mind his home whereas a fair day and a pleasant way wasts his time and that stealeth away his affections in the prospect of the Country However others may think of it yet I take it as a mercy that now and then some clouds do interpose my Sun and many times some troubles do eclipse my comforts for I perceive if I should find too much friendship in my Inn in my pilgrimage I should soon forget my Fathers house and my heritage XXXI Meditat. There is a generation of men that wiâ—â— praise and adore the Saint in Heaven and yet mocâ— and afflict the Saint on Earth so that were aâ—â— those Saints alive again whom they so much honour in their day I daâ—â— affirm they would persecute them in their person like the Jews the can garnish the Sepulchre of thâ— Righteous and yet plaâ—â— the Jew with the Person 〈◊〉 the Righteous Dissembling World thy tongâ—â— embalms a dead Saint whil'st thy hand strikes a wound into the living Saint and thou canst praise God for those that are departed in the faith and yet persecute God in those that will not depart from the faith O foolish World must thou needs condemn thy self for thy praise hath lest thy practise without excuse XXXII Meditat. ALexander being asked where he would lay his Treasure Answered very well Apud Amicos Among his friends being confident that there it would be kept with safety and return'd with use What needest thou enlarge thy Barnes Knowest not thou where to lay thy plenty Make the friends of Christ thy treasury let the hands of the widdow the bowels of the poor be thy store-house here is is sure no thief can steal it no time can rust it no change can lose it and hear 't is improved A temporal gift is here turned into an eternal reward no ground so fruitful as the bosome of the poor that brings forth an hundred fold XXXIII Meditat. O My Soul What makest thou groveling on the Earth Every thing here below is too base for thine excellency too short for thine eternity thou art capable of a God and must have a being when these poor things are reduced to nothing the creature is too base a metal to make thee a crow of glory too rotten a bottom to carry thee through eternity Oh fill thy self with God so shalt thou raise thy dignity to perpetuity XXXIV Meditat. WHere any thing presents its self think if Christ were now alive would he do it Or if I were now to dye would I do it I must walk as he hath walked and I must live as I intend to dye if it be not Christs will it is my sin and if I dye in that sin it will be my ruine I will therefore in every action so carry my self as if Christ were on the one hand and Death on the other XXXV Meditat. OUr life is but a moment of time and yet in this moment of time we sow the seeds of eternity in this transitory hour I am framing to my self either a good or a bad eternity These words that now I speak these works that I now act though they here seem to rot yet they shall spring up to eternity Therefore as the Poet answered one upbraiding him for being three dayes about three Verses whereas he could make an hundred in one day Oh saith he At tui ad triduum modo mei in omne aeternum dur aturi sunt Thine are but for three dayes as it were but mine must continue for ever according to my carriage now my Name must either rise or fall for ever So may we answer this foolish World upbraiding us of too much strictness and preciseness Oh! had not we need to be exact indeed when the works we are about are not to be written in sand but in the records of eternity the lines that now we draw must run parallel with eternity and according as we carry our selves in this moment of time our souls must live or dye for ever O Lord help me so to improve the brevity of my life by the integrity of my actions that I may turn this moment of misery into an eternity of bliss XXXVI Meditat. THe Soul of man saith the Philosopher is the horizon of time and eternity now if the Son of Righteousness be not risen in our horizon we must expect nothing but a clouded time and a stormy eternity gross darkness here and utter darkness hereafter for ever But as for those blessed Saints into whose souls the oriental splendour of the Sun of Righteousness is shed abroad how do they live in his sight What celestial excellencies What reviving comforts What advancing principles are darted forth from the face of beauty into their spirits And as for the triumphant Saints in whose horizon Jesus Christ is in the eternal meridian of his glory Oh what full beams of bliss and consolation without the least shadow of bitterness and discontent warms and delights their blessed souls to all eternity Lord lift up the light of thy countenance in my horizon so shall time be the morning and eternity the noon of glory in my soul XXXVII Meditat. THe World hath many servants because it gives present wages where Christ hath but a few Disciples because their reward is in another life Most live by sight and therefore must have to satisfie sense they had rather with Ishmael be sent away with a small gift than with Isaac to wait for
others have the use of it onely the abuse of it he carries to judgement with him he hath made his friends as we say but he hath undone himself so that I may justly write this Motto upon every bagg This is the price of blood Shall I then treasure up the price of blood No Christ hath entrusted me as a Steward therefore what I have and need not Christ shall have in his members that need and have not So the transitory creatures when they shall slide away shall not carry me with them but when I shall pass away I shall carry them with me XII Meditat. GOod Lord what a miserable creature is a wicked man His very Manna turns to worms his very mercies make him miserable look upon him in his larger estate and you shall find either he hath not the benefit of enjoying it only the danger of keeping it and this adds not to his comfort or else if he doth enjoy it he doth so miserably abuse it that as one saith well he makes that which for use is but temporal for punishment to be eternal Alas the pleasures of it are quickly gone but the pain of it lyes in his bones for ever Lord therefore help me to improve thy mercies or else thy mercies will but improve my miseries XIV Meditat. WOuld'st thou know whether thy name be written in the Book of Life why then read what thou hast written in the Book of Conscience Thou needest not ask who shall ascend up into Heaven for to search the Records of Eternity thou mayest but descend down into thine own heart and their read what thou art and what thou shalt be Though Gods Book of Election and Reprobation be closed and kept above with God yet thy Book of Conscience that is open and kept below in thy very bosome and what thou writest here thou shalt be sure to read there If I write nothing in this Book but the black lines of sin I shall find nothing in Gods Book but the red lines of damnation But if I write Gods Word in the Book of Conscience I may be sure God hath written my Name in the Book of Life At the great Day of Judgement when all Books shall be opened there I shall either read the sweetest or the sharpest lines I will therefore so write here that I may not be ashamed to read hereafter XV. Meditat. BE not curious to search into the secrets of God pick not the Lock where he hath allowed no Key He that will be sifting every Cloud may be smitten with a Thunder-bolt and he that will be too familiar with Gods secrets may be over-whelmed in his judgements Adam would curiously increase his knowledge wherefore Adam shamefully lost his goodness the Bethshemites would needs pry into the Ark of God therefore the hand of God slew above fifty thousand of them Therefore hover not about this flame lest we scorch our wings for my part seeing God hath made me his Steward and not his Secretary I will carefully improve my self by what we have revealed and not curiously enquire into or after what he hath reserved XVI Meditat. NOthing is so sure as death and nothing so uncertain as the time I may be too old to live I can never be too young to dye I will therefore live every hour as if I were to dye the next XVII Meditat. AS the Tree falleth so it lyeth and where death strikes down there God layes out either for mercy or misery So that I may compare it to the Red Sea If I goe in an Israelite my landing shall be in glory and my rejoycing in triumph to see all mine enemies dead upon the Sea-shore but If I goe in an Aegyptian if I be on this side the Cloud on this side the Covenant and yet go in hardned among the Troops of Pharaoh Justice shall return in its full strength and an inundation of Judgement shall over-flow my soul for ever Or else I may compare it to the sleep of the ten Virgins of whom it is said they slumbred and slept we shall all fall into this sleep now if I lye down with the wise I shall goe in with the Bridegroom but if I sleep with the foolish without oyl in my lamp without grace in my soul I have closed the gates of mercy upon my soul for ever I see then this life is the time wherein I must go forth to meet the Lord this is the hour wherein I must do my work and that the day wherein I must be judged according to my works I know not how soon I may fall into this sleep Therefore Lord grant that I live every day in thy sight as I desire to appear the last day in thy presence XVIII Meditat. WHat is said of the Mariner in respect to his Ship that he alwayes sayles within four inches of death that may be said of the soul in relation to the body that it is alwayes in four inches of Eternity if the Ship splits then the Saylor sinks if our earthen vessels break the soul is gone plunged for ever into the bottomless Sea and bankless Ocean of Eternity This is the soul therefore that I desire to weep over that shall preposterously launch into the deep before he knows whether he shall sink or swim XIX Meditat. IT was a sad speech of a dying King Nondum caepi vivere jam cogor vivendi finem facere I must now dye before I begin to live It is the sad condition of many a dying man that their work is to do when their hour is come when the enemy is in the gate their weapons are to look for when death is at the door their graces are to look for when the Bridegroom is come their oyl is to buy the pursuer of blood is upon them and the City of refuge not so much as thought of by them In a word the seven years of plenty are wasted and no provision for the years of famine time is spent and nothing laid up for eternity I will therefore now finish every work I have to do that to dye might be the last work I have to finish XX. Meditat. THis impudent age of ours is grown so eminently uncivil that it is now a dayes counted one of the greatest shames to be ashamed of sin but for my part I had rather be accounted the Worlds fool than Gods enemy XXI Meditat. WOrldling thou deridest to see a Ceristian melting at the Word trembling at a sin I tell thee he is of a noble carriage he can triumph in death and in judgement it is not the King of fears that can appall him or Hell it self that can affright him but as a Conquerour over both he can leave the World with a smile O Death where is thy Sting O Hell where is thy victory That is his triumphant valediction and farewell But thou that gloriest so much because thou canst silence Conscience and out-face sin I tell thee thou art of a base
openly prophane and cunningly hypocritical meet both there at last only with this difference the way the one goeth through the Gate and the other stealeth through the Postern Lord Therefore whiles the Hypocrite cloaths himself with formality cloath me with sincerity It may be men will hate me but I care not so God love me my duties may be full of imperfection but yet they shall never want a gracious acceptance my way may be in trouble yet my rest shall be in glory LXV Meditat. AS great serenity of weather is a presage of an Earthquake and Whirlwind so great security of life is a great and sore prediction of the souls earthquake of trembling and astonishment of spirit he that takes up formality and sits down in security he that layes his foundation in the sand and there raises his building the fall of that house will be great and you may observe that Christian that is only brought out of open prophaneness into outward profession that hath taken down the frame of his gross iniquity to set up a superficial form of piety that hath covered his face with a surface of Religion no soul so subject to fall into the sleep of death as such a soul for while he thinks himself well he seeks not to be better so that he slumbers away his time ' untill the cry at midnight ' and then he startles and awakes and sees nothing but the bridge of mercy drawn up and the gates of Heaven shut in See with what confidence these Formalists in the Gospel come unto Christ they come under the relation of Servants and therefore they call upon him as their Master Lord Lord Have not we prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast cut Devils c. They made no question of salvation but show their works as if they would command it for their wages But hear Christs answer Then will I profess unto them I never knew you What Lord Never knew us That is strange Have not we heard thy Word received thy Sacraments and relieved thy Members and spake for Thee and prayed to Thee and done many things in thy Name and yet didst thou never know us No sayes Christ I never knew you but with an utter and absolute rejection I never knew you I never did approve you in all your specious wayes and glorious shews wherein you did so pride your selves because all was in formality and nothing in sincerity therefore depart from me They little thought of such a sad expulsion such a direful seperation And thus the out-side Christian because he hath reformed in many things and doth conform to many duties therefore with Agag he concludes the bitterness of death is past so he cloaths himself with smooth imaginations and deceitful apprehensions till he is hewen asunder before the Lord. I will not therefore in the least duty be formal or in the least duty be secure but with the blessed man be always fearing for I had rather tremble here than startle in Hell LXVI Meditat. DOth Sin present it self look upon it as it must be with tears or shall be in torments if thou committest the least sin and dyest impenitent thy soul is lost and thy redemption ceaseth for ever Or if thou committest this sin and dost repent yet what cloudings of the face of God What breakings of the bones with David What bitter pangs What painfull throws What shadows of Death What terrours of Hell may seize upon thee before thou canst make thy peace or settle thine assurance Wilt thou give way to sin because it is delectable or because it is pardonable Who loves poyson because it is sweet Or who drinks poyson because he may have an Antidote seeing it will work to his trouble if it work not out his life I have a precious soul shall I lose it for a lust I have a gracious God shall I venture him for a sin No I will alwayes reject that for which I am sure to lose my peace likely to lose my soul LXVII Meditat. WHat Heir travelling to take possession of a rich inheritance either lets a green Meadow or a pleasant Garden detain him or a black Cloud or a foul way dishearten him O my Soul Thou art travelling to take possession of a glorious inheritance among the Saints wilt thou turn aside to crop every flower Wilt thou stand still to hear every melodious sound Wilt thou leave thy way to drink of every gliding stream of carnal pleasure What is this but to view a Meadow and lose a mannor For a dying Flower to part with an eternal Crown For a flying vanity to lose an immortal felicity To forsake the way of Sion to gather one of the Apples of Sodom Or else O my Soul What if thy way be in tears and thy dayes in sorrow all clouded and a swelling Sea so that not only the lading of the Ship but thy very life is in danger yet here is enough to comfort thee that a good Father and a large portion a sweet rest and an everlasting refreshment will make amends for all Therefore Vain World promise not for I Will make no deviation because my way lyes to purer comforts and surer glory Vexing World threaten not for I will make no retarding because I am travelling to my Fathers to my Country to my Happiness LXVIII Meditat. AS the heart is so is the estate riches are but cyphers it is the mind that makes the sum What am I the nearer for a great estate if I am not contented with it desires of having will quickly eat up all the comforts and delights in possessing Therefore that Alexander that wants content is worse than Digenes that is contented with his wants It argued a rich mind in the Philosopher when walking through a Market and beholding varieties of good commodities yet could say Quà m multis rebus ego non egeo How many things do I not want But a richer mind in the Disciples that with a sweet complacency of spirit could acknowledge that as having nothing yet possessing all things I see all would be well if my heart were well I will therefore forme my heart to my estate so shall I have an estate according to my heart LXIX Meditat. When I remember saith one Job sitting on the Dunghill John hungering in the Wilderness St. Peter hanging on the Gibbet then I think how severely will God punish hereafter those Reprobates whom he loaths if he deals so sharply with his Children whom he loves if he do so much to his intimate friends in the time of Grace what will he do to his professed enemies in the day of Judgment You therefore that deride the miseries of the Saints Oh turn your jeers into fears for Hell sparkles out on Earth On the contrary Lord When I consider Herod in his pomp Haman in his honour Ahasuerus at his feast c. Then I think if God drop so much into a vessel of wrath what will he pour into a Vessel
the inheritance they had rather take their portion in this life than to wait for an inheritance reserved in the Heavens Their unworthy spirits cry with Esau What profit will this birth-right do us We must have pleasure and we must have riches and therefore with Lysimacus they will sell their Kingdomes and themselves for a draught of water There are but few such elevated spirits as the Disciples had that can leave a possession to live upon a promise there are but few have such heroick spirits as Moses had that can despise the treasures of this present World out of respect unto the recompence of a future reward but there are many of such sordid spirits as Dives had that would enjoy their good things here but for my part Lord give not me my portion in this life I had rather live by faith XXXVIII Meditat. WHat Rebel under Proclamation of mercy stands out when he knows he shall be fetch'd in by the hand of Justice yet how many refractory sinners with those invited guests in the Gospel deride the messengers of Peace untill they are slain by the men of War Indeed hadst thou counsel wisdom and strength for the battel could thy heart endure or thy hands be strong in the day that God shall deal with thee this were much or could the Gods whom thou servest deliver thee out of the hands of Christ this were more but alas thou must one day be brought under his regal power either in favour or fury either in the praise of his Glory or to the magnifying of his Justice if thou hate his Throne thou shalt be made his footstool if thou wilt not have him to be thy head thou shalt be trod under his feet if he be not thy Jesus he will be thy Judge In a word if thou wilt not touch the golden Scepter of his Mercy thou shalt be crushed with the Rod of his Justice and remember this that this life is only the time of displaying the Flag of Mercy and the burning of the Taper of Peace if once the white Flag be folded up and the burning Taper burnt out then look for nothing but the sad flourishes of the black Flag As for those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me therefore now sit down and see thy weakness and while the King is yet a great way off send out the Ambassadours of thy prayers and tears and acquaint thy self now with God and be at peace For my part I had rather come in a Favourite than be brought in a Traytor XXXIX Meditat. SIn and Sorrow are two inseparable Companions thou canst not let in one and shut out the other If thy moment be spent in mirth thy eternity shall be spent in mourning if thou wilt not weep whil'st thou mayest have mercy to pardon thee thou shalt lament heareafter and yet have no eye to pity thee A bottle of tears may now quench the fire of Sin but a cloud of tears shall never quench the flames of Hell therefore while the wicked goe on laughing I desire to goe on mourning The Valley of Bochim will at length set me upon the Hill of Sion but the paths of rejoycing will at length bring into a hell of weeping for this is a truth that he that swims in sin shall sink in sorrow their laughter shall be turned into heaviness while my tears shall be wiped away I will therefore ever weep that I may not weep for ever XL. Meditat. THat way the Tree inclineth while it groweth that way it pitcheth when it falleth and there it lyes whether it be toward the North or South As we are in life for the most part we are in death so we lye down to eternity whether it be towards Heaven or Hell Being once fallen there is no removing For as in War an errour is death so in Death an errour is damnation therefore live as thou intendest to dye and dye as thou intendest to live O Lord Let the bent of my soul be alwayes towards thee that so I may fall to thee and ever rest with thee XLI Meditat. JOrdan that famous River no doubt runs through many a pleasant meadow by many a shady grove and flowery bank and yet at last is forc'd to empty it self into a dead Sea and not only so but those fresh Crystall streams that made those famous brooks lose both name and worth are turned into the dead Sea themselves Just so it is with a Weiked man here he walks through the meadows of Worldly pleasures and rests under the shades of earthly comforts and sports and wallows himself amongst the flowers of worldly delights but at last runs himself out into a dead Lake and is cast into Hell among the number of those that forget God and not only so but his very Heaven it self that made up all his hapiness is turn'd into hell his beauty is turn'd into horror his honour into shame his lusts into devils his pleasure into bitterness his scarlet into flames of fire and Brimstone so that that which was his fresh Stream here is his salt Sea there Lord Let me be a pure Stream that may end in Heaven I care not what stony veins I run through here on Earth so I may but there lose the name of weakness and corruption for glory and pefection XLII Meditat. WHat 's a day to an age And what 's an age to eternity And yet we know the shortest day is part of the longest time but the longest time is no part of eternity for where time ends there eternity begins Why are we then so foolish to heap up goods for mortality to lay up riches which at longest are but for many years perhaps not for many hours and yet to provide nothing for eternity And why are we so careful to humour and uphold a mouldering piece of clay a frail and mortal body which cannot stand above an age perhaps not above a day and yet neglect our precious souls that must endure for ever Do we all aim at a prosperous life Why then let us labour for a glorious eternity XLIII Meditat. ALL men would have happiness for their end but few would have holiness for their way all men would have the Kingdom of Heaven and the glory thereof but few seek the kingdom of Heaven and the righteousness thereof As that Noble man being asked what he thought of the course of precise Puritans as the World terms them or of the life of licentious Libertines Answered Cum ist is mallem vivere cum illis mori mallem I had rather live with those and dye with them So most men had rather live with Balaam but dye with Israel They would willingly have the Libertines ease but the godly mans end But this is certain no soul shall goe to God in death but onely that which draws near to God in life if the Kingdom of God be not first in us we shall