of any necessity of death As God made us living Creatures so his power was able to sustain us immortal creatures we had bodily life by our soul in our body and spiritual life by Gods Image in both but sin brought on us death of all sorts Death spiritual in the loss of Gods Image death bodily in the begun corruption of our body and death eternal in the endless ruine of both And whom would not this single thought afflict with dread and sorrow to see what a change sin hath made in the condition of man If Adam would have lived without sin he might have lived without end But now by his credulous receiving the Serpents Poyson Death is glued to our nature necessity of evil to the freedom of our will and all misery to our selves Another dark and posing thought did arise from the progress of death which keeps no order or method It thrusts its sickle not only into the ripe corn but the green blade it nips the blossom as well as gathers the fruit it dissolves the knot that was but new made between the soul and the body as well as that which age and years had conâ—â—rmed There were I observed skulls of all Sizes There were some who had never seen the Sun to pass from one Tropick to the other Others there were whose life could not be reckoned by daies or hours but by minutes they dropt only from the Womb to the Grave And is not this amongst the secrets of God that thousands should thus pass through the world and be determined to different Estates for Eternity What can I say But that the waies of God are unsearchable and his Judgements past finding out As it now shews his Soveraignty thus to deal with his Creatures as it pleaseth him so the Great Day will manifest the Wisdom and Justice of God that is wrapt up in these mysterious providences He that is the Judge of all will be found to be righteous towards all A third sad thought The consuming power of the grave did stir up within me so that I was ready to say Can these dry bones live Can these mingled dusts be distinguished Can the dusts that are scattered into distances be ever united Doth not the Noble and the Base the Saint and the Sinner lye equally under the power of corruption Who then would not dread to descend into the Grave and make Hemans question Will God shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise and praise him But when I consider that Believers in their ascending into heaven do only let fall their bodies to the earth as Elijah dropt his Mantle when he was taken up and that their Spirits return to God that gave them That Death striketh not on the New man but on the Tabernacle which is a common Lodging both to Flesh and Spirit my fears are greatly Alleviated for who is much solicitous for the Cabinet when the Jewel is safe Yea when I think that death which separates our persons from the world our soul from the body and every part of our body from another cannot dissolve our Union with Christ but that then we sleep in him and shall be raised by him and conformed to him as the pattern of our glory O how do these most radiant thoughts dispell both the black fears of death and the lightsome comforts of the world as the rising Sun makes the bright stars of heaven to vanish as well as the dark shades of the night How little then doth the love of this life or the difficulties of death abate the desires of a Believer to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better Who can wonder at old Simeons importunity to depart in peace when his eyes had seen the Salvation of God and his arms embraced it Who would not be of the same mind that hath once tasted of the Clusters of the heavenly Canaan to long after the full Vintage How pathetical is that of Austin upon Gods answer to Moses Thou canst not see my face for no man can see me and live Who replies with great confidence Lord is that all that I cannot see thy face and live Eja Domine moriar ut te videam videam ut hic moriar nolo vivere volo mori dissolvi cupic essecum Christo I pray thee Lord then let me dye that I may see thy face Or let me see thee that I may dye in this place I would not live I would dye I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Thus also have other Saints been affected who have had death in desire and life in patience O what a strange change then hath Christ made in death and the grave and his grace in the heart and affections of Believers Death which sin brought into the world is now become the only means to destroy and kill sin Death which is only contrary unto life is now turned into a Port and passage into life So that when we pass out of this life we lose neither life nor being but are admitted to a more glorious life and being than ever we had Death that before was an armed Enemy is now made a reconciled and firm friend a Physician to cure all our diseases and an Harbinger to make way for glory The Grave also by Christs lying in it is become a bed of rest in which his Saints fetch a short slumber untill he awaken them to a glorious Resurrection It is the Chamber into which he invites his beloved ones to hide themselves untill his indignation be past the Arke into which he shuts his Noahs whilest he destroyes the world with an overflowing deluge of his wrath and displeasure And therefore it is that by his grace they are not afraid to meet Death which others would shun and make it as a voluntary offering unto God which others pay only as a necessary debt Yea they esteem it as one of the choicest Jewels in that exact Inventory that Paul hath made of the riches of Believers and next unto Jesus Christ bless God for it as the greatest mercy O holy Saviour do thou then who art the Lord both of the dead and of the living unto whom all ought to live and all ought to dye enable me thy servant to love thee above life which of all blessings is the sweetest and to hate sin above death which of all evils is the bitterest to nature that so I may have this testimony of the power of thy grace in the change of my heart that for the enjoyment of perfect Communion with thee I can gladly lose my life and be separated from sin can willingly undergo death which is of all evidences the Clearest Meditation XLIX Vpon a Spring in an high ground THe additional blessing which Achsah sought of Caleb her Father was Springs of water for her south or dry land who gave her the upper and the nether Springs If the distinct recording of this particular in Scripture carry any thing of
bear up against the threats and malice of the most Potent Enemies with an unbended constancy Did not Peter and John thus against a Synode of Pharisees Paul against the Contradiction of the Jewes Athanasius against the Power of Constantius and the countenanced Arians And Chrysostom against the pride and rage of Eudoxia He indeed is not worthy of Christ who is allured onely to come to him upon expectations of Pleasure nor he that is kept from him for the fear of insuing dangers Do thou then O blessed Saviour make my heart upright in my coming unto thee and fix my confidence so in thee that Seas of troubles may never separate me in the least from thee and if at any time like thy timerous Disciples I cry out Lord save me I perish do thou calme my feares though not the storm that so I may possess my soule in patience and believe that thou wilt either be my Pilot to bring me safe to shoâ—r or my Plank to save me from ruine and perishing Meditation XXXIV Vpon the putting out of a Candle LIght and darkness are in Scripture the two most usual expressions by which happiness and misery are set forth unto us Hell and Heaven which will one day divide the whole World between them and become the sole Mansions of endless woe and blessedness are described the one to be a place of outward darkness and the other an Inheritance in light But it is observable also that as the happiness of worldly Men and Believers is wholly differing so the light to which the one and the other is resembled is greatly discrepant The happiness of the wicked worldling is compared unto a Candle which is a feeble and dim light and consumes it self by burning or is put out by every small puff of winde but the prosperity and happiness of the righteous is not lucerna in domo as a Candle in an house but sol in Coelo as the Sun in the Heaven which though it may be clouded or eclipsed yeâ— can never be extinguished or interrupted in its course but that it will shine moâ—e and more unto the perfect day till it come to the fulâ—ess of Bliss and Glory in Heaven May we not then rather bemoan than envy the best conditioned of Worldly Men who comes out of a dark womb into a dark world and hath no healing beames of the Sun of Rigâ—hteousness arising upon him to enlighten his pathes or â—o direct his steps What if he have some few â—â—ricturâ—s of light which the Creatures that are no better than a rush Candle do seem to refresh him with and in the confidence of which he walkes for a time yet alass how suddenly do the damps of asfliction make such a light to burne blew and to expire and to leave him as lost in the pitchy shades of anguish and despaire How do the terrors of darkness multiply upon him every moment all those evills that a restless fancy can suggest He sees nothing and yet he speaks of gastly shapes that stand before him He cannot tell who hurts him and yet he complaines of the stinging of Serpents of the torments of fiery flames of the wracking of his limbes If he have Cordialls put into his mouth he spits them out again as if they were the gall of Aspes or if he have food ministred unto him he wholly rejects it as that which will help to lengthen out a miserable life and yet die he dares not least worse things befall him If death approach he then cries out as Crisorius in Gregory Inducias vel usque ad maâ—e inducias vel usque ad maâ—e a truce a respit Lord untill the Morning So great are his straits as that he knowes not what to chuse or what to fly O that I could then affect some fond worldlings with the vanity and fickleness of their condition who have nothing to secure them from an endless night of darkness but the wan and pale light of a few earthly comforts which are ofttimes far shorter than their lives but never câ—n be one moment longer Have you no wisdom to consider that your Life is but a span and that all your delights are not so much Have you never read of a state of Blessedness in which it is said that there shall be no night and they need no Candle neither light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign for ever and ever or are you so regardless of the future as thâ—t you will resolvedly hazzard what ever can fall out for the present satisfaction of some inordinate desires Do you not fear the threatning of him who hath said The Candle of the wicked shall be put out O then while it is called to day make Davids prayer from your heart say Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us thou shalt put gladness in my heart more than in the time my Corn and Wine increased Meditation XXXV Vpon a Prison SEneca hath this saying Precogitati mali mollis ictus that the stroke of a fore-thought evil is more gentle and soft than if it were wholly unexpected which suits well with Saint Peters counsel to the scattered Believers not to think of the fiery trial as if some strange and new thing had hapned unto them A Wise Sufferer therefore must do as a wise builder sit down first and count his cost left afterwards he expose himself to shame and scorn He must first view a Prison in his mind before heenter into it with his body and throughly weigh what it is he must forgo and what he must undergo or else he will soon like Issachar couch under his burden and faint in the day of adversity his strength being small For the change which a Prison makes is the greatest that can befall any next to the Grave and is but a little short of it if not equal unto it Who can set down the several sad evils which attend it in distinct particulars And who can sum them up into a total that will not amount unto a death Is not Liberty which every being naturally affects turned into Bondage Is not the Society of friends which is the sauce if not the food of life changed into Solitude Is not Light whose approaches were anciently saluted with welcome light industriously shut out to make both Bonds and Solitude the more irksome Is not every Sense offended with objects that are displeasing unto them What doth the Eye behold but the face of a grim Jayler What doth the Touch feel unless it be hard Fetters and cold walls What is the Smell affected with unless it be a loathsome stench What doth the Ear hear but the ratling of Chains or the groans of some who are breathing out their last And what is the food that is tasted unless it be the bread of adversity and the water of asfliction And is it not then wonderful that such a condition as this which is as the very valley and
were not infinite but to adore its fulness and to acknowledge that from it they derive theirs is the duty of all that partake of it This is the only homage that those Stars of the Morning and sons of God who behold his face do give in heaven and this is it which the Children of men should give on Earth But alas from how few are those sacred dues tendred to God though all be his debtors Doth not the rich man when wealth floweth in upon him like a river forget that the Lord only giveth him power to get riches And sacrifice unto his Net and burn Incense unto his Drag Is it not the sin that God chargeth all Israel with that they rejoyce in a thing of nought and say have we not taken horns to us by our own strength Yea doth he not expresly say thar he will nor give his glory unto another Shall any man then take it unto himself And yet what stoln bread is so sweet to any taste as the secret nimmings purloynings of Gods glory are unto the pallate of most If any design be effected they think that their wisdom hath brought it about if any difficulties be removed they ascribe it to their industry if success and victory do build upon their Sword it is their own arm and right hand that hath obtained it O how great is that pride and unthankfulness which reigns in the hearts of men who affect to rob God rather than to honour him and to deny him to be the Author of what they possess than to acknowledge their Tenure that they hold all in Capite Stealing from men may be acquitted again with single or double with fourfold or sevenfold restitution But the filching from Gods glory can never be answered for who can give any thing to him which he hath not received Others may steal of necessity to satisfie their hunger but such violate out of pride and wantonness the Exchequer of heaven and shall never escape undetected or unpunished Consider therefore this all ye who are ready to kiss your own hands for every blessing that comes upon you to what danger you expose your selves while ye rob God whose name is Jealous who will vindicate the glory of his neglected goodness in the severe triumphs of his impartial Justice It is Bernards Expression Uti datis ut innatis est maxima superbia to use Gods gifts as things inbread in us is the highest arrogancy and what less can it merit than the very condemnation of the Devil Whos 's first sin as some Divines conceive was an affectation of independant happiness without any respect or habitude unto God I cannot a little wonder that the blackness of his sin and the dreadfulness of his Fall should not make all to fear the least shadow and semblance of such a crime in themselves as must bring upon them the like ruine Look upon him ye proud ones and tremble who are abettors of Nature against Grace and resolve the salvation of man ultimately into the freedom of his Will rather than into the efficacy of Gods Grace who in the work of Conversion make the Grace of God to have only the work of a Midwife to help the Child into the world but not to be the Parent and sole Author of it Is not this to cross the great design of the Gospel which is to exalt the honour of God and Christ that he that glorieth might glory in the Lord. And is not every tittle of the Gospel as dear to God as every little of the Law Can then any diminish ought from it and be guiltless Oh fear then to take the least due from God who hath threatned to take his part out of the Book of Life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in the Book of God Non est devotion is dedisse prope totum sed fraudis retinuisse vel minimum It is not devotion saith Prosper rightly against his Collator to acknowledge almost all from God but accursed theft to ascribe though but a very little to our selves Lord therefore whatever others do keep me humble that as I receive all from thee so I may render that tribute of praise which thou expectest from me both chearfully and faithfully and though it can adde nothing to thy perfection no more than my beholding and admiring the Suns light can encrease it yet let me say as holy David did Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name be the glory for thy mercy and for thy truths sake Meditation XXXIX Vpon the Bucket and the Wheel THe saying of Democritus which he spake concerning Philosophical truth that it did latitare in juteâ— hide it self and take up its abode in a dark and deep Well may much more be affirmed of Theological truth when the whole Doctrine of the Gospel is called the Mystery of Christ and the great Mystery of Godliness that there should be three distinct Persons in one Essence and two distinct Natures in one Person That Virgiâ—ity should conceive Eternity be born Immortality dye and Mortality rise from death to life Are not these and many more of the like intricacy unparalelled mysteries May we not then justly say as the Samaritaâ— woman did to our Saviour when he asked water of her Puteus profundus est the Well is deep and who can descend into it or fathom it And yet such is the pride and arrogancy of many men as that not contenting themselves with the simplicity of believing many make Reason the sole standard whereby to measure both the Principles and Conclusions of Faith for which it is as unapt as the weak Eye of a Bat to behold the Sun when it shineth in its full strength or the Bill of a small Bird to receive into it the Ocean These high mysteries are not to be scanned but to be believed the knowledge and certainty of which doth not arise from the evidence of reason but from the revelation made of them in holy Scriptures the mouth of God who is truth it self and cannot lye hath spoken them and therefore it cannot be otherwise But must then reason be wholly shut out as a useless thing in the Christian Religion or must it be confined to the agenda matters of duty and morality in which it cannot be denied to be both of necessary and constant use Surely even the Credenda also the Doctrines and points which are properly of Faith do not refuse the sober use of Reason so it be imployed as an Handmaid and not as a Mistress I have therefore thought that Faith is as the Bucket which can best descend this deep Well of mystery and that Reason is as the Wheel which stands over the mouâ—h of it and keeps alwaies its certain and fixed distance But yet by its motion is instrumental both to let down the bucket and also to draw it up again Faith discovers the deep things of God and then reason teacheth us to
afford shelter So is not God who is a full store-house as well as a free refuge a Sun as well as a Shield Secondly By way of Eminency all perfections whatsoever either for degree or kind which put a worth or value upon the Creature are to be found insinitely more in God Is a Rock strong and dashing in pieces all resistance made against it God is incomparably more He saith Job is wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath hardened himself against him and prospered Is a Rock durable and not subject to change by the many revolutions of Ages that pass over it God is far more immutable his yeares are throughout all Generations he is the same yeseerday and to day and for ever In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Is the shadow of a great Rock desirable in a weary Land to bear off the scorchings of the Sun and to revive the fainting Traveller what a covert and hiding place then is God against all stormes and heates whatsoever raised either by the rage of Men or by the Estuations of a troubled Conscience and fomented by the Malice of Satan Is a Rock of an awfull aspect for its height and apt to work upon the head of him that looks down from the top of it How great then is God whose glory is above the Heavens whose faithfulness reacheth unto the Cloudes whose righteousness is like the great Mountaines and whose Judgments are a great deep And now methinks I may say to my Soul as David did unto his Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me Cannot God keep him in perfect peace whose Minde is stayed on him is not he a very present help in the times of trouble what evil can befall me under which his everlasting Armes cannot support me What Seas of Tryalls can overwhelm when God shall set me upon a Rock that is higher than I As I my self cannot climbe it so neither can my Enemies power ever reach it A Believer can onely be wounded by his own feares as the Diamond is onely cut by its own dust Peter sunk not till his Faith failed him if his confidence had risen as the Winde and Billowes did he would have greatly honoured his Lord as his Rock upon whom he was built and have been highly commended by him as he was for the good Confession he made of him But O blessed Saviour if Peter cry out Save Master I perish how much more shall I who fall far short of his little Faith and am apt to fear not onely in the deep Seas but in the shallow Brookes not onely when the Waves roar but when the petty Streames murmur Do thou therefore holy Lord teach me to know what a Rock thou art and cause all thy glory to pass before me as thou didst before Moses that so I may see every attribute of thine as so many Clefts in the Rock to which I may run in time of danger and rejoyce to find how I am compassed about with thy power wisdome faithfulness and goodness from whence more sure comfort will arise than if a numerous host of Angells should pitch their Tents round about me Meditation LIII Vpon a Counterfeit piece of Coyne VVHit Physicians say of some Diseases Illi morbi sunt pericâ—losissimi qui sanitatem Imitantur That they are most dangerous dangerous which seem to imitate and come nearest unto health may be applyed fitly to adulterous and spurious Coynes that the greater resemblance and likeness they have to the true and genuine the more pernicious and destructive they are to the Publick wasting though insensibly not onely private Estates but the common Treasure and Riches of a Nation And therefore the falsifying of Coyn which beares the Image or Armes of the Prince as the general Warrant to ratifie the goodness of it hath been made a Crime of the same Complexion with the highest attempt or act done against his Person the same Capital Punishment being inflicted upon him that is found guilty of the one as is upon him that is guilty of the other What can be done more to deter any from such Practises then the loss of Name Estate Life in a gastly and ignominious death and yet these severities which should be as the Boundaries at the foot of the Mountain to keep all from offending are insufficient to restrain many whom the love of gain and the hope of secrecy do embolden to run a sad hazard that they may enjoy the sweet Secrecy in sinning though in some respect it exâ—enuates a sin as making it less scandalous and less contagious yet it is a powerfull attractive to incline to the Commission of a sin Josâ—phs Mistriss was most vehement in her solliciting of him to folly when none of the Men of the house were within The Harlot in the Proverbs makes that as her Plea to the Young Man to hearken unto her That the good Man is not at home he is gone a long journey he hath taken a bag of Money with him and will come at the day appointed It was that which put an edge upon the Covetousness of Achan to take the goodly Babylonish Garment the two hundred shekels of Silver and the wedge of Gold that he could do it without the privity of any so that none could charge him with the breach of that strict Command which God had given of not taking the accursed thing least they make themselves accursed and the Camp of Israel accursed and trouble it Usually when shame and punishment are the sole Motives to deter from sin the secrecy of doing it by which both may be declined swayes prevailingly to the commission of it But how far more presumptuous are they who adulterate not the Coynes of Princes but the Truths of God and stamp his Name upon their Inventions to give a Credit and value unto them Have such workers of iniquity any darkness and shadow of death where they may hide themselves Do they think that though Kings cannot discover those oft times that violate the Dignities of their Crown that they also can escape the knowledge of the most High or is not he as jealous of his Word which he hath magnified above all his Name as they are of every piece that carries their Image and Inscription upon it hath he not declared himself to be against those that Prophesie the deceits of their own heart and use their Tongues and say the Lord saith Yeâ— hath he not denounced the most dreadful of Curses against all Embasers or Clippers of his Heavenly Coyn To the one he threatens all the Plagues that are written in the Word of Truth and for the other he shall take away his part out of the Book of Life out of the holy City and from the things that are written in the Book of God Who can read such a Sentence and not tremble at the thoughts of it And yet though God be as Bernard speakes Sapiens Nummâ—larius qui non
its own concernments If there were but a clear insight into that Blessedness into which Peace of Conscience doth Estate a Believer it could not be but that it being laid in the Ballance with the health of the Body it should as far over-weigh it as a full Bucket a single drop or as the Vintage of Wine a particular Cluster True it is that health of Body is the Salt of all outward blessings which without it have no relish or savour neither Riches nor Honours nor Delights for the Belly or Back can yield the least Pleasure where this is wanting So that the enjoyment of it alone may well be set against many other Wants And better it is to enjoy health without other additional-comforts then to possess them under a load of Infirmities And yet I may still say Quid Palea ad Triticum What is the Chaff to the Wheat Though it be the greatest outward good that God bestowes in this Life it is nothing to that Peace which passeth all understanding Sickness destroyes it Age enfeebles it and Extremities imbitter it But it is the Excellency of this divine Peace that it worketh joy in Tribulation that it supports in Bodily languishments and creates confidence in death Who is it that can throw forth the Gauntler and bid defiance to Armies of Trialls to persecution distress famine nakedness peril and sword But he whose heart is established with this Peace the ground of which is Gods free love the Price of which is Christs satisfaction the Worker of which is the Holy Spirit and the Subject of which is a Good Conscience This was it that filled old Simeons heart with joy and made him to beg a Dimission of his Saviour whom his eyes had seen his armes embraced and his Soul trusted in What a strange thing is it then that there should be so few Marchant-men that seek this goodly Pearl which is far above all the Treasures of the Earth that are either hid in it or extracted from it Many say Who will shew us any good but it is David onely that Prayes Lord lift up the light of thy Countenance upon us Others like the scattered Israelites in Egypt go up and down gathering of Straw and Stubble when he like an Israelite indeed in the Wilderness of this World seeks Manna which his Spirit gathers up and feeds upon with delight and then cries out Thou hast put gladness in my heart more then in the time that their Corn and their Wine increased It is the love of God shed abroad in the heart that doubleth the sweetness of prosperity and sweetens also the bitterness of asfliction A wonder onely therefore it is not that few should seek but a much greater that any in this World should live without it Can any live well without the Kings Favour either in his Court or Kingdom And yet there are many places wherein such Persons may lie hid in his Dominions when the utmost ends of the Earth cannot secure them against Gods frownes But if any be so profligate as Cleopatria-like to dissolve this Jewel of Peace in his Lusts and to drink down in one prodigious draught that which exceeds the World in its price and yet think they can live well enough without it let them consider how they will do to die without it Sweet it is in life but it will be more sweet in death â—t is not then the Sun-shine of Creatures but Saviourshine that will refresh them It is not then Wine that can cheere the heart but the Blood of Sprinkling that will pacifie it The more Perpendicular Death comes to be over our head the lesser will the shadow of all Earthly comforts grow and prove useless either to asswage the paines of it or to mitigate the feares of it What is a fragrant posie put into the hands of a Malefactor who is in sight of the Place of Execution and his Friends bidding him to smell on it or what is the delivering to him a Sealed Conveyance that Intitles him to great Revenues who hath a few minutes onely to live But O what excess of joy doth fill and overflow such a poor Mans heart when a Pardon from his Prince comes happily in to prevent the Stroak of death and to assure him both of Life and Estate This is indeed as health and marrow to the bones And is it not thus with a dying Sinner who expects in a few moments to be swallowed up in those flames of wrath the heat of which already scorch his Conscience and cause Agonies and Terrors which imbitter all the comforts of life and extract cries from him that are like the yellings of the damned I am undone without hope of recovery Eternity it self will as soon end as my misery God will for ever hold me as his enemy and with his own breath will enliven those Coles that must be heaped upon me Of what value now would one smile of Gods Face be to such a person how joyfull would the softest whisper of the Spirit be that speakes any hope of Pardon or Peace would not one drop of this Soveraign Balm of Gods favour let fall upon the Conscience heal and ease more then a River of all other delights whatsoever Think therefore upon it O Christians so as not any longer through your own default to be without the sense of this Blessing in your hearts that so in life as well as in death you may be filled with this Peace of God which passeth all understanding If Prayer will obâ—ain it beg every day a good look from him the light of whose Countenance is the onely health of yours If an holy and humble Walking will preserve it be more carefull of doing any thing to lose your Peace then to endanger your health remember that Peace is so much better than health as the Soul is better then the Body But Grant Holy Father however others may neglect or defer to seek Peace with thee and from thee yet I may now find thy Peace in me by thy Pardoning all my iniquities and may be found of thee in Peace without Spot and blameless in the great day Meditation LV. Vpon a Looking-Glass VVHat is that which commendeth this Glass is it the Pearl and other precious stones with which the Frame that it is set in is richly decked and enammelled or is it the impartial and just representation which it makes according to the Face which every one that beholds himself brings unto it Surely the Ornaments are wholly forraign and contribute no more to its real worth then the Cask doth to the goodness of the Wine into which it is put or the â—ichness of the Plate to the Cordial in which it is administred That for which the Glass is to be esteemed is the true and genuine resemblance which it makes of the object which is seen in it when it neither flatters the Face by giving any false Beauty to it nor yet injures it by detracting ought from it To
themselves a continuance for many yeares In what a differing frame and figure doth it appear to the one and to the other The one behold it as a Bridg lying under their feet to pass them over the Jordan of this life into the Canaan of eternall Blessedness and the other as a Torrent roaring and frighting them with its hasty downfall Gladly therefore would I counsell Christians who enter into the Church Militant by a mysticall death being buried with Christ by Baptisme and cannot pass into the Triumphant but by a Natural death to bear dayly in their Mindes the Cogitations of their inevitable end as the best meanes to allay the fear of death in what dress soever it comes and to make it an inlet into happiness whensoever it comes As Joseph of Arimathea made his Sepulcre in his Garden that in the midst of his delights he might think of death So let us in our Chambers make such Schemes and Representations of Death to our selves as may make it familiar to us in the Emblemes of it and then it will be less gastly when we behold its true visage When we strip our selves of our Garments think That shortly as St. Peter saith we must put off this our Tabernacle I and think again what a likeness there is between our Night-Clothes and our Grave-Clothes between the Bed and the Tombe What a little distance there is between life and death the one being as an Eye open and the other as an Eye shut in the twinkling of an eye we may be living and dead Men. O what ardors of lusâ—s would such thoughts chill and damp what sorrowes for sins past what diligence for time to come to watch against the first stirrings of sin would such thoughts beget It being the property of sin to divert us rather from looking upon our end then embolden us to defie it Lord then make me to know my end and the measure of my dayes that I may in my own Generation serve the will of God and then fall asleep as David did and not as others who fall asleep before they have done their work and put off their Bodies before they have put off their sins Meditation LX. Vpon the Natural Heat and the Radical Moisture THere is a Regiment of Health in the Soul as well as in the Body in the inward Man as well as in the outward Man they being both subjects incident to distempers and that from a defect or excess in those qualities which when duely regulated are the Principle and Basis of life and strength What preserves and maintaines the Natural life but the just temperament of the Radicall Moisture and the innate heat and what again endangers and destroyes it but the heat devouring the moisture or the moisture impairing the heat When either of these prevail against each other diseases do suddenly follow And is it not thus in the Soul and Inward Man In it those two signal Graces of Faith and Repentance do keep up and cherish the Spiritual life of a Christian Faith being like Calor innatus the Natural heat and Repentance like Humidum Radicale the Radical moisture If then any by believing should exercise Repentance less or in Repenting should lessen their Believing they would soon fall into one of those most dangerous extreams either to be swallowed up of Sorrow and despair or else to be puffed up with security and presumption Is it not then matter of Complaint that these two Evangelicall Duties as some Divines have called them which in the practise of Christians should never be separated should be lookt upon by many to oppose rather then to promote each other in their operations Some out of weakness cannot apprehend what consistency there can be between Faith and Repentance whose effects seem to be contrary the one working Peace and Joy the other trouble and sorrow the one Confidence the other fear the one Shame the other boldness Now such as these when touched with the sense of their sin judge it their duty rather to mourn then to believe and to feel the bitterness of sin then to taste the sweetness of a Promise and put away comfort from them least it should check and abate the over-flowings of their sorrow Others again whether out of heedlessness or wilfullness I will not determine when they behold the fullness of Grace in the blotting out of sin the freeness of Grace in the healing of Backslidings they see so little necessity of Repentance as they think it below as they so speak a Gospel Spirit to be troubled for that which Christ hath satisfied for It is not Repentance that they should now exercise but Faith Sorrow seems interpretatively to be a jealousie of the truth of Gods Promise in forgiving and of the sufficiency of Christs Discharge who was the surety who hath not left one single Mite of the Debt for believers to Pay Sorrow therefore seems to them as unseasonable as it would be for a Prisoner to mourn when the Prison door is opened and himself set free from debt and bondage Thus this pair of Graces and duties concerning which I may say as God did of Adam it is not good that either of them should be alone are yet divided often times in the practise though indissolubly linked together in the Precept Fain would I therefore evidence to the weak the concord of these two graces in respect of Comfort and to the wilfull the necessity of them both in order unto Pardon Unto the weak therefore I say That the Agreement between Faith and Repentance doth not lie in the immediate impressions which they make upon the Soul which are in some respects opposite to each other but in the Principle from which they arise which is the same the Grace of Christ and in the end which is the same the salvation of Man and in habitude and subordination that they have one to another for Repentance is never more kindly then when it disposeth us to the exercise and actings of Faith whose comforts of joy Peace and Serenity of heart are as Gold which is best laid upon sad and dark colours or as the Polished Diamond that receiveth an addition of lustre from the watering of it Gods Promise is that the Believing Jewes who look upon Christ by an eye of Faith shall be also great Mourners They shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his onely son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first borne Unto the careless or wilfull I also say That God never forgiveth sin but where also he giveth a Penitent and Relenting Heart So that though Faith hath a peculiar nature in the receiving of pardon applying it by way of Instrument which no other grace doth yet Repentance is the express formal qualification that fits for pardon not by way of causality or merit but by way of means as well as of command which ariseth from a Condecency both to God himself who is an holy God and to the nature of the Mercy which is the taking and removing of Sin away Never dream then of such free grace or Gospel mercy as doth supercede a broken and a contrite heart or take off the necessity of sorrowing for sin For Christ did never undertake to satisfie Gods wrath in an absolute and illimited manner but in a well ordered and meet way viz. the way of Faith and Repentance How else should we ever come to taste the bitterness of sin or the sweetness of grace How to prize and esteem the Physician if not sensible of our disease How to adore the love of Christ who redeemed us from the Curse of the Law by being made a Curse for us if not burdened with the weight of our Iniquities Yea how should we ever give God the glory of his Justice in acknowledging our selves worthy of death if we do not in a way of repentance judge our selves as the Apostle bids us Was not this that David did in that solemn Confession of his In which he cries out Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightst be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest Can I therefore wish a better wish to such who are unsensible of their sins than Bernard did to him whom he thought not heedful enough about the judgments of God who writing to him instead of the common Salutation wishing him Salutem plurimam much health said Timorem plurimum much fear that so their confidence may have an allay of trembling Sure I am that it is a mercy that I had need to pray for on my own behalf and I do Lord make it my request that my faith for the pardon of sin may be accompanied with my sorrow for sin and that I may have a weeping eye as well as a believing heart that I may mourn for the evils that I have done against my Saviour as well as rejoyce in the fulness of mercy that he hath shewed to me in a glorious Salvation FINIS