Mankind throughout the Universe And on his Issue did Contagion spread Till CHRIST appear'd to bruise the Serpent's Head Then Penitence and Piety began To be refin'd and call'd relapsed Man By Rules and Christ's Example to possess Heaven with his united happiness So that repenting sinners Heaven must fill Because there 's none on Earth but have done ill Though sighs and tears may a good Prologue be To introduce Repentance yet we see High Structures on such thin Foundations built Have tumbled with much noise and greatest guilt So that to pray and fervently desire To be enlightned by celestial Fire How to forsake our sins if not too late Denominates who is regenerate On Easter-Day HOw Christ triumph'd o'er the Grave and Hell Is joy to think tho' terrible to tell When Rods had made his sacred Body bleed And purple Robes did aggravate that Deed When Pilate to consummate all his Scorns Adorn'd his Temples with a Crown of Thorns Hard were their hearts who did endure to see Their Saviour bleeding bound to set them free Those then who did his Agonies deride When they had pierc'd his feet his hands and side Were of much harder metal made more fit For their descent into th' infernal Pit While dying Christ by a diviner fate Gave Heaven to the repenting Reprobate To shew whom Faith and Penitence sustain Will sure a place in Paradise obtain Bless'd then were those whose eyes were never dry After they saw their Lord and Saviour die Till searching in the Sepulchre they find That sacred Body could not be consin'd To Earth which was declar'd before must rise To chear their hearts and dry their blubber'd eyes When the dull mist of Nature was remov'd They saw and knew whom they ador'd and lov'd Surpriz'd with joy transported with delight They trembling do approach his awful sight Until enlightned they at last grow bold By recollecting what he had foretold Which fix'd their Faith and by a joy'd Converse He then his Resurrection did rehearse And by his Spirit made them understand And look for his Ascension then at hand Thus fill'd with heavenly Wisdom they retir'd Well satisfied with what they most desir'd And by their Records of these Truths do teach Us by a lively Faith how we may reach The same assurance and like Comforts find Unless we will be obstinately blind If we can sin subdue this world despise This day we may with Christ to Heaven rise On late Repentance VAin Men who do presume to live in sin Hoping to end as easie as begin When Custom and Time such habits do beget That easie Nature to our Wills submit And force our hardned hearts with them comply To glut our Senses till the hour we die As if one Moment were enough to gain That Mercy we for many years disdain With all our power thus blindly running on In high contests to our confusion Thus heedlesly our Youth does bear the sway And middle age too willingly obey Still thinking as our Bodies do decay We may repent But age will not give way To quit his feeble appetites grown bold By Custom then does scorn to be controul'd And when no active vigour does remain Delights to tell and think sins o'er again By such sad precedents we learn too late And march to Hell in a triumphant state A Rapture O Lord thou seest the Secrets of my heart Beyond what sighs or tears or words impart Yet I must daily worship and adore Thy Name too much neglected heretofore Now own thou art the mighty Lord of Host One God the Father Son and holy Ghost What Reason wants we must by Faith supply For finite ne'er can reach infinity Thou lov'st a zealous heart and dost require Our best endeavours then grant'st our desire When servent Prayers the greatest pleasure brings In our addresses to the King of Kings And makes our joy in carnal appetites Submit to higher and divine delights Which fire the heart and make Devotion warm That inward works like a Seraphick Charm Lord bless my age that I may end my days In a delightful Rapture of thy praise On the Felicity of constant Health THo' honour with renown and greatest wealth God's Blessings are they can't contest with health For happiness which is the root that brings More pleasure unto Beggars than to Kings When fits of Gout Strangury or the Stone Do all or any of them come alone Health makes us eat and drink and sleep at ease When wealth creates but cures not a Disease What would not a daily sick rich Man give To have a poor Man's health while he does live His Plate his Jewels with his Bags of Gold Will ease no pain tho' all he has were fold Which shews that all Mankind should daily pray For health and not by wealth be led astray For there 's no joy like a contented mind Tho' 't is with poverty and health confin'd On lost Innocence THo we cannot lost Innocence re-call Repentance will preserve from farther fall And Faith in Christ will then recover all So we by him shall Victory obtain And God by mercy will the Glory gain And thus by grace and savour of God's love We may with joy triumph all fears remove Which will our hearts revive new hopes create And raise our Souls to our first blessed state And thus from sin by Christ's great Merit freed We may as God's adopted Sons proceed With Duty and Obedience to his Will Till he in Heaven does all our hope fulfil To a young Man surpriz'd by Death THo' Death has many ways to be disguis'd We have as many not to be surpriz'd So that surprize is but a lame excuse Which rather doubly trebbles the abuse When we are plac'd by God upon the guard Who proffers life eternal for reward But thou young Man for pain may'st loudly groan Or is' st for grief to die thou mak'st such moan If by the first thou do'st find any ease 'T is well the second adds to thy disease And by a great mistake disturbs thy heart With a false fancy that thou dying art Now thy beloved Carcase does decay VVhich should unto thy Soul raise no dismay But chear thy heart and so enrich thy mind With joyful thoughts of a diviner kind For when God calls for thy last puff of Breath He 'll bring thee to eternal life not death For so 't will prove and be more truly said That thou begin'st to live when thou art dead The Dream of a reconciled Sinner SOmething I saw more glorious to behold Than can I now awake by tongue be told Such glitt'ring rays too glorious to impart When raptures flow in a Seraphick heart Which only can behold so bright a shine To testifie such Dreams must be divine That comforts sleeping Souls with such delights As are inessable to waking sights Tho' God some secret Counsels doth conceal He may a glimpse of Glory thus reveal To fix such hearts as mercy does afford When Penitents are unto Grace restor'd To show some
therefore beg thy holy Spirit may Direct my Faith and teach me how to pray On a Reprobate's Repentance I Thank my God that now my Zeal doth burn Like the joy'd Prodigal 's in his return Tho' not adorn'd with glorious Robes and Rings To fix the reconciled Sons of Kings I meet my Father with his smiling face After his anger and my just disgrace Who will so great a Reprobate embrace And with bless'd Comforts make my heart aspire To such a Sonship as I most desire Such as may Adam's Innocence excell In paradise before he finn'd and fell The Hope of a true Penitent LOrd now my Soul does relish a delight In thee I am assur'dly in the right And will not doubt but my addresses may With hope encourage my joy'd heart to pray For a prime place in the great Judgment-day Where no Man's Vertue can by merit claim Such Mercy as belongs to God's great Name Where Sorrow only and Repentance can Restore to savour a relapsed man Thus will the solitary hours I spend In worshipping of God in glory end If I perform the Sonship I pretend On Faith with Repentance LOrd let thy grace and mercy never cease To make my joy and gratitude encrease By hating my beloved former Crimes And repetitions in these purer Times Since now 't is clearly taught and understood That we are ransom'd by our Saviour's Blood When worthily receiv'd with faith and love 'T will comfort bring and sure Salvation prove With what care then as an invited Guest Should I prepare for this celestial Feast Where Penitence with Faith assur'dly brings Full pardons unto Beggars as to Kings Words quickly said and are as soon forgot As our past sins which we remember not So often as we ought with grief and shame Nor long rejoyce to be thus freed from blame That by a miracle of mercy gain Eternal bliss through our great Prophet slain On a good Man's desire to be in Heaven THose who dare shake the Hour-glass in Death's hand To make the quicker passage for the Sand Have mounting Souls with a serene delight To hasten us to God's beatick sight And surely may a better welcome gain Than those that longer would on Earth remain To a careless Sinner THou dost not sure believe that thou shalt die Or never think'st upon it seriously Because thou liv'st as if thou didst disdain After this life ever to rise again Else thou wouldst set a higher price upon The Glories of thy Resurrection For 't is not possible a Man of sense Can always hold so ill intelligence With Heaven as not to wish or not to fear He never may or never would come there Some Caveats WHen petty Pleasures are procur'd with Gold When youth is gone and we decrpeid old There 's no more Gusto than a Tale twice told The greatest Monarchs while they flourished Were honour'd and ador'd but being dead Were soon forgot and only pitied So that whatever Marble Tombs pretend All their gay glories never can defend Their pamper'd bodies from the Beggar 's end Caesar and Alexander both became The highest splendor of a glorious Name And yet in some things both deserved blame So that when Men have all the World subdu'd They may themselves and all their Fame delude Unless they do in Piety conclude Those mighty Hero's car'd not to be good But brave because they never understood The sacred Sanction of our Saviour's Blood But those who saw the Miracles he did And heard how boldly he their Crimes forbid Are justly scourg'd instead of being chid What 's our due then who do believe yet run The course which that accursed Crew begun To flight God and re-crucifie his Son Which shews Men want some Caveats to restrain The idle Fancies of a busie Brain That frequent losses bring instead of gain These serious Thoughts are Caveats to despise Such Crimes as from our idle hours may rise And captivate our Senses in disguise Till by a power divine we can obtain Such bright serener joys as will sustain Our Souls and to eternity remain For we are born to learn and to express By daily actions what we do prosess To purchase everlasting happiness On Poverty PUre honest Poverty in former times Was no disgrace but now our latter Crimes Have introduc'd new kinds of punishments To expiate our sins for old Contempts In luxury and such profuse expence That we are now chastiz'd for that offence With Penury to make us own our shame And free all present accidents from blame Which from God's mercy now to us is sent To make our most obdurate hearts repent And yet there may such poverty proceed From wicked Men whose malice have decreed Our ruine to get wealth for their support In spight of right or their damnation for 't And such absurd base scandals do invent That no man's innocence can e'er prevent From such Devils good Lord deliver me As hate all those who truly worship thee And with profound repentance do submit To all the judgments that our God thinks fit And make the poverty I now endure For all excesses past a perfect cure On Pride OF all the Vanities I know 't is Pride Which all the World most justly may deride That like an Ass with golden Trappings dress'd Thinks himself 'bove all other Beasts the best And when he brays does all that hear him fright Mistaking their amazement for delight Like gilded Fools that only learn of late To strut and make loud noise when they do prate For Pride did ne'er the greatest man adorn Nor free him from God's hate and wise Men's scorn Satan for Pride and for Ambition sell With his accursed Crew from Heav'n to Hell On Pride's Kindred PRide's next of kin are such as do despise Their Neighbours for the Motes in their dark Eyes Who first their own Beams should remove then learn That Rule by which they may such Motes discern And by this caution constantly prevent Such rash Censures that do raise discontent Between good Friends who seldom will endure A blind Man's Precepts till himself he cure On this Day 's Sacrament received Septemb. 3 1693. LORD I Did believe but not such joy conceive As since I did thy Sacrament receive To ratifie thy mercy and my zeal By adding of thy Holy Spirit 's Seal Upon my heart to manifest thy love And all my doubts and fears by faith remove Which made me shrink from death but now my voice Shall Hallelujah's sing and Soul rejoice To celebrate this Victory obtain'd O'er all my fins by thy bless'd Conduct gain'd How great then is my Obligation grown If thou wilt this day my Election own By adding joys on joys and grace on grace Till I in glory come to see thy face And now adore and worship thy great Name With warm addresses from this sacred Name On Adoption I Have read that he who lives in a constant uniform Obedience to the Gospel and performs the Conditions required in it departs sincerely from iniquity and
did appear so dazling bright I could not see its Glory for the Light My Soul supriz'd with Wonder and amaze Methought I pray'd and did forbear to gaze Frighted and pleased at what I lik'd and fear'd I found it was a Dream of Heaven appear'd Which waking fled but did my Fancy fill With blessed Ideas which abide there still With such transporting joy that I can weep To think of what I had and could not keep On a Dream of Hell STart not my Soul 't is but a Dream to show The dismal Terrors of eternal Woe Which unrepenting Sinners feel below Where Satan with his cursed Crue do dwell For their Ambition tumbled down to Hell While we rejoice on the Divine Presence Of our exalted Bliss by Penitence Those fiery Streams we seem to see May give us joy to find that we are free From that sad Doom where Torments never cease But rather to Eternity increase While our Conversion doth aloud proclaim What mighty Honour due to God's great Name Who will in Mercy save a Reprobate If his Repentance do not come too late On Death 'T Is very strange the World should still comply To think that Death is sent to make us dye By leading us to Immortality And the same moment does our souls convoy From worldly slavery to eternal joy So that we ought to find some other Name For God's great Messenger that bears our blame Alone tho' Life and Death are both the same Moment our eternal Lot to end this strife We may treat Death as our first step to Life No terror find by our remove from hence When all our Happiness proceeds from thence The Postscript IF Heaven be what we read or hear and see or do believe to be the glorious Habitation of the more glorious Trinity that we pretend to love to obey to truth worship and adore as one united God who has created Heaven and Earth the Sea and all therein and from whom we do expect eternal happiness when our Souls expire How can we justifie this Creed if in our actions we daily do transgress what we so daily do prosess as if our present moments did afford us more concern to pamper fading Flesh for being Worms meat in the Grave above the nourishing of our Souls with heavenly Manna to endure unto eternity If this be Gospel-Truth as I think it is I cannot chuse but wish and pray that my Retirement may produce the like Effects in others by reading what I write to obtain the high Felicity I privately enjoy transcending all the glittring Vanities that I have seen and too largely sharedin but now know no Felicity in this World to be compar'd unto the Joy of living ever ready to go out of it which is not so easily done as said though we endeavour all we can Now Reader I have nothing else to say But wish thee Grace to meditate and pray Which will high joys create and teach thee why True Piety will never fear to dye When arm'd with such Divine Philosophy FINIS ADDENDA On our cold desire to go to Heaven WE seem to prize the other World 'bove this But fear to go to that undoubted Bliss We find few Men who would with Enoch fly From hence to Heaven that dare soar so high Or with Elijah would take like delight To mount his Fiery Chariot in his flight Our Faith for such Celestial Joy comes short Of our Fruitions here where our Support Is what we see and what we understand Which we preferr before God's best command Tho' Reason and Religion both agree To bring us to a Bless'd Eternity In the same moment we are rais'd from hence Through Faith by God's Divinest Influence Which only can Immortal Life Create By Death destroying this our Mortal Fate So that till we with God's Decree comply We do not truly Live until we Dye To a Friend in a sit of the Gout WElcome thy pain my Friend this Gout is sent In Mercy to fore-warn and to prevent Thy Gluttonies and Epicurean Crimes Which were unpractis'd in our Fathers times This is the effect of strong Falernian Wine And pride to wash thy Feet in Muscadine By eating Mushrooms stew'd with Ambergreece And the fat Livers of the Iews fed Geese With Peacocks Eggs in gravy to support Thy Luxuries and now thou' rt punish'd for 't On the Fear of Death 'T Is strange that all Mankind should be afraid To Die nor any arguments perswade Wise Men from the terror of a Name Death is God's Messenger and we to blame To antedate his Arrant with such fear As doubts to go with Him we know not where Tho' Death's power only can our Souls convey To Heaven if we God's Holy Laws Obey But we still struggle with undaunted strife To keep our dying Bodies from true Life For want of Faith left Death should by mistake Lead our sad Souls to the Infernal Lake When such gross misdoubting Grace only can Force Death to fright a misbelieving Man Which shews the Glory of our future State Is left to our own Option not to Fate On true Devotion WHen true Devotion is our chief delight We may presume 't is pleasing in God's sight And to our Souls will sacred Bliss reveal To fix and to eternalize our Zeal And while we live our blessed thoughts direct To the Seraphick Joys of God's Elect. And will by our Adoption when we dye Declare the glory of that dignity On God's wondrous Works WHen we consider God's Word and Deed And see the products of the smallest Seed It doth our wonder greatly antedate With joy and in our hearts fixt Faith create It doth all doubtful thoughts with truth confute When fancy guides our Fingers on the Lute But yet these petty arguments of sence Must all submit to God's Omnipotence In wonders of a higher nature shown Which all the Christian World admires and own But know not how the boystrous Sea or Land Do steady stand by God's Supreme Command Who has the Sun and Moon so firmly set With Stars in their fixt Spheres that no Man yet Can by his Industry or Art declare How high or what circumference they are And yet the Seat of God's Celestial Bliss Is still to be admir'd above all this Where God himself Inthron'd is pleas'd to dwell Which must in Glory all the rest excell Tho' these be wonders of a large extent There be some of much more wonderment That God should all Offences here forgive And grant us daily comforts while we live By our Souls washing in the Crimson Flood Of our Bless'd Saviours Sacramental Blood By which he does our Claim to Heaven advance When we approach in a Seraphick Trance And own his Mercies with intire delight To glory in his bright Beatick sight The more we think the more we wonder and The less of Miracles we understand Why the same Earth should ev'ry year produce Such various Fruits and Herbs for humane use If Faith and Gratitude did not combine To think such
death prevent To free us from that fatal punishment Let us consider how we surely may The daily Terrours of that Doom allay The first thoughts then that should our hearts possess Our Souls are not depriv'd of happiness Whose lasting Essence must for ever be Immortal living by the same Decree But where the Question is for none can tell Whether he be destin'd to Heaven or Hell Till by the light of Scripture or by Grace We may be certain of the better place For then will death our blessed Souls convey To our immortal Bliss the surest way This is a Lesson for all Men to learn But is decrepid age's chief concern Who ought to watch for their last puff of Breath Which brings true life tho' we do call it Death Which only faithless Men and Children fright But to good Men proves their supream Delight On Nineveh's Repentance IF God an Angel should from Heaven send To bid us fast and pray can we pretend To feast and dance and not our God offend When we his Goodness and his Will withstand By slighting of so gentle a Command Instead of Fire and Sword when Tyrants rage Slew Saints by thousands in the former age Much greater now will our Offences prove When we despise such favour and such love When Piety and Grace so fast decay That as we ought few neither fast nor pray But careless throw our precious time away As if the world were given us to defie Our God and shew we scorned to comply Till he appears in Glory with such power As wiil both Heaven and Earth by fire devour Our wanton wealth and luxuries do look As if our stubborn Nation were forsook By God until our Nineveh repent In sack-cloth and in ashes to prevent Our fatal Doom and his just Punishment Unless our Princes do without delay Teach all the People how to fast and pray We may be all together swept away But this God's love and anger may divide So as to lay his flaming Sword aside And with his glorious Shield and Spear to rise And free us from our subtilest Foes surprize Thus we may convert God's severe Decree To love by our profound humility And find delicious Joy to fast and pray When servent sacred Zeal bears all the sway On Dying daily TO write of Dying and to spend our breath In long discourses of approaching death Is not the daily dying we should learn Nor is such practice of so much concern For we should live in every respect Like-pious Men or we that rule neglect Which is the true superlative degree Of dying daily while we living be To live in Heaven while we on Earth remain Will greater joy and highest honour gain For death by God is unto good Men sent To give eternal life not punishment On the desire of Variety 'T Is strange Man's nature should be so inclin'd To relish nothing that is most refin'd Without variety which we pursue Tho' worse than what we have because 't is new Yet thus we daily seek for more content By vicious ways which proves our punishment When down-right honesty would more prevail For bliss when all our wandring wishes fail Yet Nature will its natural desires Maintain and such variety requires That often turns our present joys to pain And makes our losses greater than our gain On a covetous rich Man IF wealth can hardly pass a needle's eye Men may with joy their poverty supply With hopes to pass who have no weighty packs Of such rich glitt'ring bundles at their backs As over-load their Souls with houshold-stuff When little food and raiment is enough To pass them through this World Such golden streams As brightest shine prove but fantastick dreams Which mock their sleep with some false pleasing sight Of shadows that do vanish with the night Tho' this unto poor me may seem most true 'T will find but little credit with rich you To part with any parcel of your store To cloth the naked and to feed the poor Tho' Christ declares 't is him whom we do feed When we relieve his Children in their need And may with justice rather curse than bless Such wicked men as do his poor oppress On negligent cold Prayers IF thy Devotion be not always alike delightful Examine thy own heart if thy Addresses to God be alike zealous if thy fervency of Spirit be not sometimes slackned and then do not wonder if God gives cold encouragement to cold Petitions he values his great Blessings at a higher price than to part with them to Men that mind not what they ask nor unto whom they pray He gives his bright shining favours only unto flaming hearts that think of God with awful reverence and pray with such angelical adoration in their approaches to the Throne of Mercy as may obtain the secret joy of a divine rapture in Devotion with such Ideas of eternal bliss as will not be purchased at an easier rate than a whole heart offer'd up to God in a daily Sacrifice On a Desire to die IT is a great mistake to think all Men desire to be with God whose afflictions make them desire to die only to be rid of their uneasiness on Earth as if they could flatter God to welcome them to Heaven who never had a thought of going thither until their Joys on Earth forsook them Such Men should consider that God's all-seeing Eye searches the heart and discerns when Men's chief arguments for love to him are his divine Perfections and their gratitude for Benefits received such a flaming Zeal may raise Men's Souls to such inessable Joys on Earth as Men truly pious can only judge of On frequent Meditation AS our Saviour said when he likened Heaven to a Grain of Mustard-feed so may I say of a Grain of divine Meditation if it be sown in a rectified heart it will in a little time grow unto so great a Joy that nothing can reach nearer to Heaven for it will raise the Soul of such a Man thither that sets himself to a constant practice of blowing those divine Sparks into a flaming love of God by frequent Meditations which ought to be the Souls food daily to make them live unto eternity in Heaven and by custom will create fresh Joys every day so fast and delightful as is inessable to be express'd by words nor can any Man's fancy reach those constant pleasures but he that feels and relishes such divine Ecstasies as a spiritualiz'd Soul can rise to On Time mis-spent TIme is the greatest Treasure that we have For use between our Cradle and our Grave Which we still study how to pass away Tho' no Man can its pace one moment stay 'T is strange that Nature should such Joys resist By which we naturally do subsist So often tir'd with idle thoughts in health As if we knew not how to spend such wealth But daily-wish we could to Time add wings Tho' his approach no welcome tiding brings Yet various hopes still in our hearts create
shuts up the ways that lead him into temptation may give himself as strong and comfortable an assurance that he is an adopted Child of God as if a voice from the Clouds should tell him so and is a good argument for frequent Meditations How to know when our Sins are forgiven IT has been asked How a Soul may know when her Sins are forgiven and answered thus When she finds the same affection to God with his that said I hate iniquity and all false ways I utterly abhorr Yet David who said so did die and so must we Tho' our Souls may by the same grace become of the same temper with his and our sins be forgiven too yet we may consider how few Men do slip out of this World into eternity with a joyful hearty delight to be with God through divine Love which is the highest perfection of an holy life and is our greatest assurance to manifest our sins forgiven when our Souls are by faith so fixed on God as to know no joy so great as such spiritual Comforts do raise when we desire to be in Heaven which taught David to hate iniquity and to abhorr all false ways and so reduced him from all his sins to become a man after God's own Heart On Reconciliation before we die IF we fully consider our manifold sins and the horrid Punishment due unto us for them if not forgiven before we die 't will make us tremble at the approach of Death But if we do believe in Christ's plenteous Redemption with GOD's immense Mercy to deliver us from Hell's eternal Torments and exalt us unto Heaven's eternal Joy and Glory it may be justly said Happy is that Man who can obtain such a Reconciliation with GOD before he die as daily to delight in the Meditation of a sudden Death with inward assurance of his eternal Bliss the moment he expires which is the highest Exaltation of Joy on Earth and will be the greatest Comfort at the hour of Death and ought to be the chief Business of all Men to live and die so who do march every moment from our Cradles dying towards our Graves On Heavenly Joy WHate'er we do on Earth we all pretend Heaven is our Home Heaven is our Journey 's end That 's true Seraphick Joy when we do find Such elevated Bliss as fills the Mind With high transports of God's celestial Throne And all our meaner Objects we disown Yet sometimes spoil our bless'd angelick rest To rowl on Roses when on Thorns is best Vainly thinking some diviner Grace May smooth afflictions with a smiling face When sighs and tears if they come not too late More surely can our heavenly Joys create When God observes our Zeal to do our best To please we shall assuredly be bless'd And may expect to find more Penitents Encircling of God's Throne than Innocents Which shews sincere Repentance surely can With a fix'd Faith restore relapsed Man Thus may our high-rais'd warm addresses prove Bright Ecstasies of the divinest Love Then will our Souls from dross be clean refin'd And by our sacred Chymist be calcin'd Fit for a Choir of Angels to attend Such Saints and sing them to their Journey 's end On taking heed of all our Ways WHen God reduces Sinners to take heed Of all their ways in thought in word and deed Repentance then will be of little use When all our actions will need no excuse We shall the World subdue and stoutly stand In full obedience unto God's Command And then will Death in glorious Robes descend To guide not fright us at our Journey 's end So that if we take need in all our ways We shall the Devil defeat and wear the Bays To a Friend My dear Friend I Have read in a divine Author That if God be with us he will make us see that he is with us and will not depart from our sight until he has brought us never to depart out of his Which is a Lesson of high concern to Men in his World for Thus to enjoy God here is to be in Heaven before we die When our souls are thus transported with a continual divine Conversation with Almighty God we may taste and relish his celestial Joys to some degree so as to envite us to value his spiritual Comforts above all carnal Fruitions So that our great Business is to improve this Blessing to the highest reach of humane Fancy by a daily practice of holy Meditions to contemplate and observe how God doth infuse this joyful enjoying of Him into our souls by the secret working of the Holy Ghost when we set our selves with zealous integrity to find him there to conserve with us on this great lesson of his immense Mercy with our humble prayers to be enlightned from above to participate of such angelical Delights as far as our frail Nature will admit of which by frequent use will bring us to such an habit of holy living that God God will manifest his presence ever with us by an inward Felicity of Divine Comforts to such an assurance of our Election unto eternal Bliss as is ineffable to be described So that when we raise our Thoughts with a divine Desire to know as much of God as we can know and of his being with us he will add of his Grace to enlarge our Capacities to such heavenly Trances in Devotion that we shall be with him and he with us as we do with with such a joy as will dread all diverting Occasions that shall obstruct those Emanations of his holy Spirit working in us And thus if we do entertain our selves by such frequent addresses to find God he will daily meet and ever dwell with us if we unseignedly desire to dwell with him and will give us such a glimpse of his eternal Bliss as may fix our hearts on Heaven and make us live every moment in a joyful Expectation of Death's quickest Summons thither and by this frequent entertainment of thy Soul with God Thou my Friend wilt find such a communication with God on Earth to be the highest Perfection of Piety and a felicity much more delightful than all other Diversions which can never reach such Seraphick Joys as I with to thee my Friend On the Fear of Death IF we fully consider our manifold Sins and the horrid Judgment due unto us for them it may well be said Happy is that Man who can obtain such a Reconciliation with God before he die as daily to delight in the meditation of a sudden death with inward assurance of his eternal Bliss the moment that he expires Because all our Ideas of the divine Felicities above do seldom invite Men to welcome Death with cheerful Hearts Our fears are so much stronger than our Faith that too many Men do rather think than find they do believe that Christ's plenteous Redemption will cancel all their Crimes and bring them into Heaven and therefore dare not really rejoyce to look on death but start back from such
angelick Happiness as he brings good Men to participate of in God's eternal Glory which natural infirmity of doubting can only by an illustrious Faith be removed and that Faith by frequent Prayers be obtained Then thus to live and so to die will make us live and die in great tranquility though not to reach St. Stephen's Faith who saw Heaven open to him yet to so great a degree of divine Raptures in Devotion as to be filled with elevations of an inward assurance of our Election which must come from God when the Soul is in such a blessed Trance of celestial Delight that is inessable to be described How near such joy is to the joy we read of in Paradise when servent Zeal is by a lively Faith so raised and fixed in God by frequent Meditations it is a wonder that such Men can fear to die or doubt togo to God with cheerful Hearts when thus invited and thus led by his holy Spirit with such bright illuminations of surprizing joys while those divine Flames last cheeras cannot be related When Men's hearts are warmed with such Seraphick high Transports of Love and Mercy from Almighty God to give true Penitents some taste of their eternal Glory that being thus enlightned they may not fear to die but rather welcome death who comes to carry them to Heaven which is the highest Exaltation of the Soul's joy so to delight in God that the expectation of Heaven may be more pleasant than all the momentary Fruitions of this World are compared unto a blessed incomprehensible Eternity Which neither Wit nor Fancy can express When multiplying numbers make it less When neither first nor last can e'er be known Points so far distant yet so join'd in one That the eternal Circle shews us none But is a secret known to God alone 'T is such a sacred Riddle so profound That humane Wisdom never can expound But leaves us still to wonder and adore What will be after and what was before On the Power of Faith THough Men by Nature born to fear and to avoid what may seem hurtful yet that fear by Grace and Faith may be converted into divine Valour of the highest kind as is evident by the Three Children in the fiery Furnace and by Daniel in the Lion's Den which with other the like Examples should invite such Men as trust in God not to fear what he only can prevent if he thinks fit and though a fearful Man cannot remove a Mole-hill for want of Faith much less Mountains how little Faith then have we when the noise only of Ill News does affright our unsetled Souls with dismal apprehensions of what may never happen more than the ill event brings with it if it do unto such pious men as live prepar'd to bear afflictions for few moments here with faithful joyful Thoughts of their eternal Happiness in Heaven So that we see the Power of Faith will remove the greatest terrour and work Miracles when Men dare trust in God Lord give me grace to live as I do write And as thy holy Spirit shall indite To manifest thy mighty Mercy shown To such a Reprobate as must own Christ's Doctrine to suffer CHrist's Doctrine is with patience to inure Our selves to suffer what he did endure On Earth from that malicious cursed Crew Who scorn'd his Miracles and boldly slew Their bless'd Messiah who did then submit To die because his Father did think fit That we redeemed by his precious Blood Might trust in him who dy'd to do us good And now may sighing sing and weeping pray Our death may prove our highest Holy-day When we with Christ in Paradise appear And shine amongst those blessed Angels there On the Power of Love to God TO love and fear God is what every good Christian doth own and what most Men think they do but very few I fear do understand what it is to love and fear Him as we ought with all our Heart Soul and Mind above all other Objects whatever which is a Lesson of great use to bring Men to Heaven who know that we are dying every moment that we live and can not with more pleasure here than we shall find by serving God thus For those who can love him with all their Heart and Mind will worship and adore him with the same Zeal and will obey praise thank pray and trust in him with the like servent affection in all their divine addresses with their utmost endeavours to be with him in Heaven which God never will reject nor can eternal Bliss be purchased at a lower rate of Love Thus God exposes Heaven to entice Good Men to purchase at the Market-price When Love with all its Perquisites comply To fix a blessed Immortality On such exalted Souls as take delight To meditate on his beatick sight When their enlightned Faith does bring them there Enrich'd with love they 'll bid adieu to fear And leave no arguments to justifie Such timorous Men as dare not think to die Though their eternal joy will then be such That none will have too little or too much And those who truly love will surely find Their happiness by God is predesign'd Who sees the heart and thoughts of every Man That loves and serves him to the best they can On Faith WHen Faith grows strong our Fancies will soar high To search the secrets of Eternity Which to our Souls are of so near concern That no man can a greater Lesson Learn Nor have a more serene celestial Bliss Than he 'll enjoy by practising of this Great step which by degrees will lead him on To the sacred Seat of his Adoption Where Faith 'bove all the Gifts of Grace will shine With Love in Bliss and Glory most divine On God's Mercy OUr God from us his Glory keeps conceal'd Because it would destroy us if reveal'd His essence we can never understand 'T is well if we obey his just Command For God to mortal Man will never teach Such great Secrets because what we can reach By Nature cloys as soon as had or known He therefore lets us live by Faith alone Still subject to so many hopes and fears That our prime Joys are damp'd by frequent tears Which daily do our sorrows multiply Until death comes to tell us we must die The only remedy ordain'd to cure All sorts of evils that we here endure Yet God in mercy makes amends at last To free us from all miseries are past By raising them to blifs who do their best To gain a share in his eternal rest Which best in God's esteem is to do all Was done by bless'd St. Stephen and St. Paul On true Valour HAppy are they who in these letter days Are fill'd with love with gratitude and praise To God whose joyful Soúls do ever fly With highest thoughts of their Eternity And by the actions of their lives declare That Faith in Christ has conquer'd their despair For all past Crimes and now with Death has made Strict
desires our joys encrease Such raptures never cloy nor fail to bless Such fouls with everlasting happiness The world if we consider right Doth dazle rather than delight With wealth and honours that decay With strength and power that pass away Vain objects full of hopes and fears Freight with few joys and frequent tears Where pride or lust or gluttony excell We see short hours of true contentment dwell Though our Creator hath the Creatures made For men he has ordain'd them all to fade That nothing here might fix our wandring Sense But his divine and heavenly influence On Humane Frailty LOrd I confess when I at mid-night wake And think how Christ did suffer for my sake When all the world seems dead and I alone Freed from my Cares and Care 's confusion Then does thy Spirit bear the only sway Taking the burthen of my sins away Then does thy dazling beams of glory free My heart from fears with joy to worship thee Then with an humble holy confidence I row my self on thy Omnipotence Which fills my painting heart with such excess Of bliss methinks those joys should ne'er go less But when the Sun appears and I do rise The world betrays my heart deceives my eyes With wonted vanities as heretofore And I forget my vows to sin no more Thus I grow worse and worse and cannot frame My thoughts to perfect holiness though shame And trouble at the danger I am in Makes me abhorr the slavishness of sin Nature and Custom has in me begot Such earthliness I cannot move a jot Towards Heaven until thou think'st it fit To cure my fancy and restore my wit That by thy grace I may enable be To fix my heart upon eternity On Repentance REpentance easie seems when we regard Either the punishment or the reward We can confess and moan our wretched state And humbly our offences aggravate To sigh to weep to sorrow for what 's past Because our sins our souls and bodies waste Does but attrition prove and shew some sense Of our condition 't is not penitence Until we cast our vanities away And learn to make our appetites obey Till we can all habitual crimes forsake Hate him we love and a new pleasure take To raise our souls to such an holy choice That each thought may of Heav'n make us rejoice 'T is such a total change a self-denial Causes the only penitential trial At which the Angels joy and for our sake Do an high holy-day in Heaven make On Christmas-Day COme oh come let us rejoice and wonder When the King of Kings lays by his thunder And will in gentle language have it said His only Son was in a Manger laid To shew the poor the humble and the proud More glory in that lowness than a crowd Of Princes with their trains did ever bring To celebrate the birth of earthly King Thus homely born we read this heavenly Lad As Ioseph's Son was ever meanly clad Until the purple Robe and thorny Crown Became the Iewish shame and his renown Who would submit to that mock-dignity In highest scorn to his Divinity Who might command all Princes then to meet And lay their crowns and scepters at his Feet Foolish Herod how blind how strange a strife Shewd'st thou to murder the young Lord of Life Unmindful of that new-created Star Which guided those wise Worshippers so far To justifie the Prophecies of old By his Forefathers so precisely told On Good-Friday THe Iews by ancient Prophecies not taught Nor by those miracles Christ daily wrought Nor at his death would they converted be When they did high and mighty wonders see The darkned Sun the Temple Veil quite rent The cloven Rocks nor risen Saints then sent Could e'er persuade those mis-believing men T' avoid those miseries befell them then Yet we more foolish and more blind than they Anew do crucifie him ev'ry day Our high contempts do aggravate our sin 'Cause we believe the glory he is in To us his Resurrection has reveal'd What his Humanity from them conceal'd VVhat yearly tribute should we Christians pay VVhat Sacrifice will best become this Day On which the Lord of Life was then content To dignifie an earthly monument May we rejoice to find our selves set free From all the guilt of past impiety Or must we blush at our own Crimes for shame To see Christ feel the pains due to our blame Both we must do both eyes dissolv'd in tears Must raise our grief must wash away our fears And yet our frighted souls may justly bring Joys mix'd with sorrows for his suffering On Easter-Day LOok look rejoice and wonder see O see The Lord is risen by whose Spirit we Must rise and find our souls more int'rest have In this his Resurrection than his Grave Though we attend at Golgotha there fall With our High-Priest who was Aaronical On this Day let new Vows our Hearts new deck That we may rise with our Melchisedeck Whose Blessing shews that we more int'rest have In this his Resurrection than his Grave On the Lord's Supper on Easter-Day THe Table is prepar'd the King attends His Guests come slowly in yet still he sends Ambassadours abroad to summon all And chide in such as come not at first call Strange Kindness that we dust and ashes are So much his business and so much his care That nothing less than his own Flesh and Blood Shall this day be to us mysterious Food Haste then and put thy wedding garment on This is the Bridegroom's Coronation And thou my soul envited art to be VVash'd from all stains and cloath'd with purity A blessed Feast and highest honour this Each worthy guest to God invited is And ev'ry heart that heretofore was Hell Will now turn Paradise where God will dwell Thus thus we may a prepossession take Of Heav'n and God who only for our sake Came down from Heav'n that he himself might be The guide and way to our felicity On the Fear of Death WHy dost thou shrink my soul what terrour see To cause such high impiety That thus from age to age thou would'st endure Pray'st thou for his for such a Cure As may more time in Vanity mis-spend To what doth this averseness tend That thus thou still enamour'd art Of thy disease and smart Or do'st thou grudge the dirty grave Should thy dead Carcase have This Giant Death which hath so long controll'd The VVorld submits unto the bold His threatning dart nor point nor sharpness hath To men of piety and faith Thou know'st all this my soul yet still dost cry Thou wouldst not die and know'st not why If thou be'st frighted by a Name Then thou art much to blame And poorly weak if terrour-struck By a fantastick look Women and Children teach thee a disdain To fear the passage or the pain The ancient Heathens courted Death to be Remembred by Posterity And shall those Heathens then more Courage show Than thou that dost thy Maker know The misbelieving Christian may Shake at
his latter day Till then not mindful of his sin Nor the danger he is in But thou that hast convers'd with God and Death In Speculation shall thy Breath Unwillingly expire into his hand That comes to fetch it by Command From God that made thee art thou loth to be Possess'd of thy Felicity Because thy Guide looks pale and must Convey thy flesh to dust Though that to worms converted be What is all this to thee Thou shalt not feel Death's sting but instant have Full joys and triumph o'er the Grave Where thy long lov'd Companion Flesh shall rest Until it be refin'd new drest For thy next wearing in that holy place That Heav'n where thou shalt face to face With Saints and Angels daily see Thy God and ever be Replenish'd with celestial Bliss Oh my Soul think on this On God's wondrous Works GReat are the works of God and wonders all The first we hear of we do Chaos call But in the Scripture it is no-where said How or of what Chaos it self was made We only know from that confused Name That lump of something Nothing all things came Great and good was the work of the first hour 'Cause Chaos then had no resisting power All things did naturally then submit Without dispute to what our God thought fit Till man was made the Prince of all the rest And Free-will given which taught him to contest With his Creator and resist his hand Whose word alone does Heav'n and Earth command To shew us greater wonders yet behind Miracles of a more transcendent kind Our Saviour's Birth and Resurrection Pre-design'd by God for man's redemption 'T is strange to think and wonderful to see That man to God so great concern should be Whose heart is full of high antipathy To his Commands fierce to impiety By nature cross by industry so fram'd That by it self it never can be tam'd Which most accurs'd resisting quality Only belongs to its carnality So that God's greatest work we may conclude Is when man 's heart by grace is so subdu'd That all its appetites converted be From its own nature unto purity Of life towards God which justly may be thought The highest Miracle that e'er was wrought To the Repiner DOst thou repine vain man 'cause thou art born Subject to pains to scandals and to scorn When Christ himself in all perfection made Felt more than thou and was himself betray'd Alas poor wretched miserable thing That must be dust suppose thou wert sole King Of all this Earth and didst the World controul What would it signifie if thy own Soul This minute may Be ta'en away When that sad hour shall come what horrours then Possess the hearts of such wise worldly men As present joys do seek and ne'er pretend To Heav'n until it be too late to mend Till sudden death their joys surprize and Fear In high amazement doth unmask'd appear Then those Repiners will want a pretence To Courage and their frighted Souls fly hence As men were made To be afraid Thus the Repiners do create their shame While those inspir'd with a bright Christian flame Humbly submit to all from Heaven sent Are thankful and most happily content When the Divine Hand does remove those toys Which the Repiner counts his only joys But if the holy Spirit do thy heart Possess there dwell thou truly happy art Can'st not repine While God is thine On lost Time IT is our Business every day To pass the time we cannot stay This minute 's mine but it is gone Past call while it is thinking on 'T is pleasant and we think it fine To spend our time on a design To get some honour and encrease Our wealth till the hour of our decease Not using what we do possess In hopes to gain more happiness Thus for some nothing or a toy We lose the time we might enjoy So that indeed we do believe And only dream that we do live To be thus vain and thus profuse Of Time admits of no excuse While our desires do still make room For some new pleasure that 's to come Wishing more wings to Time for haste Not thinking how our selves do waste How much we lose how little gain When we our wishes do obtain Till age and our experience brings Our Souls to long for heavenly things Which is the sure and only way To call Time ours make it obey Our Wishes and in some degree May join Time to Eternity A Good Conscience is a continual Feast THo' Flesh and Blood be so imperfect made That we must sin yet be not thou afraid For a pure Heart with the Soul that 's resign'd To God does Pardon and Protection find When our whole Hearts endeavour to do all That God commands then that endeavour shall Accepted be if it endure the Test Grace will encrease and we are surely bless'd Who ever does attain to this degree Of Faith will be so fill'd with Piety That neither pains nor losses can annoy It will convert all sorrows into joy A heart thus set and firmly fix'd must needs Produce delicious Fruits such holy Seeds Bring forth such heavenly Thoughts in Souls refin'd That every minute does new feast the mind With pious strivings which do raise the state Of humble hearts and Grace on Grace create Till we get interest in God and then Converse with Angels as before with Men. And thus our high-grown Fancies will behold Pleasures too great too glorious to be told On Temptation TEmptation rightly scann'd and understood Is certainly ordain'd to do us good To shew that our frail nature ever needs Our prayers for Grace to justifie our deeds Never to be tempted leaves no trial To measure Vertue by Self-denial Is the scale 't is no merit to forbear To do the things for which we do not care To be tempted is no crime but to yield Unto temptation and to quit the field To a known Enemy is worthy blame When our resistance would the Tempter shame Still to be tempted by some high delight And piously resist that appetite Does exercise our Faith 't is the only way T' express our Love and shew that we obey To be tempted Honour is if we do Forbear to act and quit the object too Such skirmishes will much advantage gain Till we a perfect Victory obtain To be tempted is a bliss if we find Sufficient Grace to satisfie the mind For when we make our master-sin our slave We joy in Life and triumph o'er the Grave To be tempted unawares by a thought Or a wish it is nature and no fault If Grace does nip the bud of our desires Custom in time will teach to quench those fires To master all temptation is a sign That we have something in us more divine Than Nature can afford by which we know God's Spirit does such Victories bestow To be Regenerate TO be regenerate to be new-born We rise like the clear Sun in a fair morn After a dismal night of rain and winds For such are
bright Ideas of his Throne To such adopted Sons as he will own On Happiness HAppy is he who can his Joys impart Unto a trusty sympathizing heart Happy is he whose griefs are only known Unto himself and to his God alone Happy is he can do his Neighbour good And have his goodness rightly understood Happy is he who by example can Reduce a rigid misbelieving Man Happy is he whose Vertue is so strong That when he can will not revenge a wrong Most happy he who heartily can pray For such a Foe as doth his Friend betray On Devotion TRue Devotion is the supreamest Good If rightly practis'd when 't is understood But those enlightning Joys most Men do feel May prove much short of a Seraphick Zeal Pure Piety is a great mystery That puzzles our divine Philosophy Inspir'd by God's propitious fix'd Decrees Which humane Nature feels but never sees And yet doth consecrate their lives desire Who God's great Attributes do most admire And does those secret Riddles so unfold That we may understand what we are told And then by higher Raptures antedate The heavenly Pleasures of our future state By sacred Joys that fill a righteous heart With godly thoughts too lofty to impart For no Man can angelick Fancies paint But he who is or hopes to be a Saint On relapsing into Sin THo' Piety and Grace in hearts prevail Our Fancies and our Natures are so frail That ev'ry object of our old desires Are ready to unkindle such new fires That few good Men are found who dare to say They really desire to die this day On Hope WE work for wealth and honour while we live With all the Perquisites that God can give We rack our Fancies and disturb our Brains We tire our Bodies and take mighty pains When at the last our pamper'd Bodies must Be eat by worms and then return to dust Here nothing we possess but hope in time To gain our peace and pardon for our Crime But then by Grace restor'd and snatch'd from Hell We shall in bliss and glory ever dwell To my Friend to justifie my Retirement SIR I Do value your Friendship much and take your Advice very friendly To forsake my solitary Life and to return unto the Conversation of my Friends and this with very civil though with very sharp Reflections on my Retirement in the Opinion of the World as you say as if some Discontent or love to a lazie Life rather than Devotion had made me bury my self alive which my Age might very well excuse at 88 Years if I had no better Arguments to justifie my Repose this way But now you shall have my Reasons at large which I did not think fit to declare in that Company at that time For When I considered how many Years I had lived in Idleness and Vanity and such Sins as were in fashion with most Men of great Estates with as full a swing as my wild Fancy could reach In which kind of short-liv'd mistaken Felicities I found no real Satisfaction but still roving from worse to worse it pleased God to induce me to think of Heaven and how to get thither by a timely Repentance in a Retirement from all worldly Delights and all publick Concerns but do not pretend to be an inspir'd Quaker nor a profess'd Hermit though I do believe that both those Callings may have pious Men that do abhorr Hypocrisie in Devotion as much as I do who think it to be the next greatest Sin to that against the Holy Ghost Yet I must own that my solitary Life is become so delightful that my Bosom-Joys are much above all the Pleasures that I have formerly known and largely shared in the Courts of Four great Kings in which there might be many Saints though I was none By which I judge that those who live as I then did in the pomp and splendid Crowds of such great Assemblies can seldom have the opportunity to delight in frequent Prayers nor time to relish the deliciousness of such servent Addresses unto Heaven as my solitary hours afford me So that such busie Men are not often refreshed with those daily Comforts and secret spiritual Joys as slow in Souls totally resign'd to God For when God sees the Integrity of such Men's Hearts as do value their Hopes of Heaven above all earthly Fruitions he gives them a cheerful hearty Devotion to be their highest Felicity in this World with great assurance of Glory in the next And whoever will try to live so much alone with God will find such enlightning Comforts to his Soul in frequent servent Prayers and Meditations as will encrease his Joys until he go to Heaven and all the way thither will entertain his Heart with celestial Delights so much above the Pleasure of this World that they are inessable to be described by words or to be conceived but by chose who feel how much spiritual Joys in a divine Conversation with God does transcend all carnal Enjoyments with as much elevated hopes of a prepossession of Heaven as Men are capable of in this World Though I have read in a divine Author That the Soul that is upon good grounds fully assured of its future Bliss is already in Heaven and has begun to take possession of Glory If this be so as I hope it is our eternal Bliss begins and fixes here which ought to bassle the Joys and Troubles of this World and the Terrour of Death also with a constant present Felicity to be with God the moment we expire For I do believe that God mocks no Man with a hope of Heaven that he shall miss of if he seek it as he ought I do not say that I do this but I do averr That I will not change the Happiness I have in my Retirement to be a Prince without it I do own God's Mercies to me in every thing and do serve him the best I can in all things and do envy no Man's Talents who can serve him better I write not to instruct wise Men but to shew some Ideas of Devotion for such weak Brains as mine to work upon If these be not good Arguments for my Retirement I wish that you may find better in your publick Conversation Your humble Servant W. K. January 5. 1692. On Humane Weakness WE have no means to please Almighty God But to beg Mercy and avoid his Rod We have no Joys on Earth that can sustain Our Souls or free our Flesh from constant pain Our hearts alone are only ours to give And only can dispose 'em while we live And that 's so hard a Task we always find Some difficulties still divert the mind From Heaven where all good Men desire to be Yet fear to go which is a Mystery And such a Riddle that 't were worth the while Our selves unto our selves to reconcile We must all die THo' we know not when we do all know why It is decreed by God that we must die And since no remedy can
Meditations are Divine When God with secret Bliss such joys imparts As does create true Zeal in pious hearts And doth their Souls with flaming Love invite To Paradise inessable to write Unless his Holy Spirit should indite To my Old Sick Friend MY good Old Friend why so sad does thy Age decline so fast that the Idea of thy Grave frights thee with fear to die Are we not all dying and none knows who shall go next nor how soon be gone if this occasion thy dismay I will teach thee an Antidote that will dispell the Poyson of that Serpent's bite and turn that universal carse of Death into a State of Bliss if thou can'st raise thy dejected Spirit to a quick sense of sharing the Eternal Joys of Heaven with those departed Saints who by Faith Prayer and Penitence are now exalted thither Let thy melancholy Meditations and Preparations for the Grave be changed from a Gaol delivery into a constant chearful zealous Conversation in thy Divine Retirements with God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost by a total Resignation of thy Soul and all thy concerns unto them and think with pleasure how near thou art arrived to thy Journeys end to be with them in Paradise Then such Celestial Thoughts will be thy most pleasant entertainment and surely meet with surprising joy from Faith in Christ's plenteous Redemption which will beget a hearty speedy welcome unto Death's arrival who comes to conduct thee to Eternal Bliss and thou wilt also find that every devout step towards this felicity of thy approaching Salvation will make thy heart dance with a Saint-like delight to battle the terrors of the Grave with a serene prospect of thy Eternal Happiness at hand and so make thy last hours full of Angelical transporting joy to be with God the moment thy Soul expires fix thy heart thus and all sad Thoughts will vanish when a sincere Faith becomes predominant Thy Heart by practice will delight in this Divine Elixir of Eternal Bliss On vain Projectors NO mortal Man can limit or restrain The boundless fansies of another's brain But may such Fetters on his own Thoughts lay As will keep them from wandring much astray But naturally Men add wings to try How high their vain ambitious Hearts can fly Until like Icarus their waxen Wings Do melt and all their hopes to ruin brings But when our Souls do with Angellick Love Soar high they will Celest'al joys improve To flaming Zeal and raise our hearts so high As will discern our Immortality To my Rich Friend become Poor TEll me Old Friend and speak the truth If twenty Dishes in thy Youth Did then more please and gratifie Thy Stomach with that Gluttony Which did Diseases daily breed Till now thou dost on one Dish feed Tell me if now thy constant health Gives not more joys than thy lost Wealth Afforded by thy vast excess In frequent Treats and Wantonness Which made a noise more than content For all thy charge and time mispent When to the Poor half that expence Would have procur'd God's Providence And fav'd the loss of thy Estate Which thou hast thought upon too late Tho' now thou dost aloud prosess Thy Poverty proves Blessedness On Injustice IF Charity to Men be God's Command Justice must in much higher favor stand If neither can in wicked Men find place They slight God's Anger and despise his Grace But these are petty Crimes when Avarice Doth harden hearts for gold and Souls intice To sell Salvation at so cheap a Rate Such villanous intentions aggravate When a design'd premeditated cheat With a bold-fac'd fraud shall just Right defeat And a false Cause by power shall justifie Hell only can reward such Infamy For God with indignation does declare He will Poor Men's Oppressors never spare Against Momentary Ioys NOW let my Friend from sighs and sorrow cease For Crimes repented let thy joy increase For thy serene assurance lately gain'd Of pardon by thy Saviour's Blood obtain'd Let thoughts of thy Eternal Glory rise And scorn all Earthly Bawbles that surprise Unsteady Souls with present fading Toyes That cloud the brighter Beams of Heav'nly joys And boldly do those glitt'ring bubbles try In hope they 'll last unto Eternity Who raise their idle fancies by their wit To practise Atheism rather than submit To part with present Moments of delight To purchase Heav'n with God's Beatick sight Who with his known Decrees will not comply But think to live till they are pleas'd to dye Tho of such Men it may be truly said They are that moment both alive and dead The Terror of Death by Death is cured IF Death were not for Sin from Heaven sent It could not be esteem'd a punishment To be deliver'd from our daily woe While 'twixt our Roses Thorns and Thistles grow So that our care should be to weed our hearts From soul excrescents by such holy Arts As will that fatal sting of Sin destroy And so convert our sorrows into joy When we the Pangs of such a Death endure As doth produce both Punishment and Cure To my Old Friend on his Birth-day MY Friend thou dost well to celebrate thy Birth-day as a vow'd Sacrifice to God because he did reserve the first born to himself of Living Creatures and thou art one But let not thy Altar be adorn'd with a superfluous Treat with too many slagons of rich Wine and Tables throng'd with Wealthy Guests as if it were a Bacchanalian Feast But such a moderate Meal for thy own Servants with some Poor Neighbours that may soberly rejoyce to see a New Year begin with a propitious prospect of thy insuing happiness and pray thy Piety and charity may Shine round about thy Habitation here on Earth until thou art advanc'd to Heaven Death is the Beggars highest Holiday 'T Is but a saint Felicity that any Man can have in all the Honours Treasures and Pleasures of this World without a joyful inward assurance of his Salvation when the next moment an angry Neighbour or a Tyrant Prince can end his days Or Sickness by tormenting pains turn all his joy into sorrow while he lives with despairing terrors worse than all at the approach of Death when a poor pious Beggar will die transported full of Celestial Joys for his highest Holiday and be as welcome into Heaven as the greatest Monarch And therefore may be well and truly said Both Souls are of the same sine Substance made To my merry Friend WHY now so joyful my good Friend has thy Princes smiles this Morning added new feathers to thy Heart that makes it fly so high His frowns to morrow may turn those gay feathers into Lead tho' thou deserve not such a change Consider now such frequent sad Fates as do besal the craftiest Men that only truth in mortal accidents for their support in Princes savours and raise thy Souls delight in Service of the King of Kings whose savours will endure unto Eternity above the reach of Earthly Storms and then thy Prince's favours will have a sure foundation to subsist on with higher joys than any Sycophants black Arts by Malice or by Envy can disturb thy Peace or Pleasures when a good Conscience is so center'd and so fix'd on God For no Man can imagine the constant felicity of a strict pious Life in all conditions but he that is so reconciled with a lively Faith to God as chearfully to part with all the glitt'ring Bubbles of this World to enjoy everlasting Bliss in Heaven which ought to be the supreme hope of our best endeavours On the fear of Death THO Men by nature Born to fear to Die May still account it a great misery When Piety and Prayer can't prevail To change the pow'r of that severe Intail Tho' all our Hearts and Souls do still agree To frame our Minds to God's most bless'd Decree Because no other means like that the best To bring Mankind to his Eternal Rest. Yet our weak Faith cannot the credit gain By Heavenly joys and glory to obtain Such Courage and a Valour so Divine Rather to Die with joy than to repine To part with fading pleasures that no Age Can for one moments certain time engage They shall abide nor can find any cure That Men on Earth for ever shall endure How great a shame and folly then that we Should fear to go where we desire to be And so preferr our miseries on Earth Before a bless'd and glorious chearful Death That will in gratitude the surest way Our Souls to God in Paradise convey When Faith with such a Zeal shall so comply 'T will shew a Godly Gallantry to Die On the Art of Meditation WHO will the Art of meditation learn Must make each Paragraph his chief concern For some few moments to consider on Lest reading more create confusion And unavoidably disturb the Brain With more at once than what it can retain When Piety by Art is thus refin'd It will rejoyce the heart inrich the mind With sacred Thoughts beyond all Earthly care Till flesh be turn'd into Angelick Air. All Men should live as ever in God's sight And make Devotion their supreme delight And then observe how God does Grace return To make Seraphick Joy the brighter burn
Friendship never more to be afraid Of his most sick alarms in disguise Nor of his quickest Summons by surprize And thus the greatest Cowards in the Land For Valour may in competition stand With any Hero's of the former age Or those who now in a just cause engage When Courage is a Vertue to be brave And sets a Crown on such a Soldier 's grave On Relapsed Man in Paradise WHen Youth with strength wealth and beauty flourish Some short joys our wanton hearts may nourish But when old age is much decrepid grown We ought with sighs and tears great Sorrows own For idle hours that we have vainly spent Without the sense of shame or punishment And if we die in that unhappy state All hopes of mercy then will come too late So that if age revive and propagate Past sins till they do greater Crimes create 'T will turn old Age's Blessings into hate Then let no mortal man presume to think He cannot see when he is pleas'd to wink For no Man yet was ever such a Sot That Age his former Crimes had so forgot That on his Crutches thinks 't is boldly brave Loaden with Crimes to creep into the Grave Much worse than Youth when cross'd in his desire In a mad fit dares leap into the fire Which shows that all our Ages here ne'er can Retrieve the Curses of relapsed Man Till faith in Christ create a brighter flame Impow'ring men to have a surer claim To Heaven at our blessed Saviour's cost Than that which Adam's disobedience loft By which we the intrinsick Treasure find Of future joys in a Seraphick mind On the Power of Faith IF all Men did our Christian Graces understand That like good Heraulds we might rank them according to their antiquity and merit Faith may claim the highest dignity and place as of just right to be the most fixed foundation on the blessed Rock of our Salvation which will unmov'd with stand the greatest Storms when lofty Structures built on Sand are with Wind and Rain soon tumbled down And if we mind those mighty Miracles of the first Ages they all relate unto Faith Our blessed Saviour also used to say Whosoever believeth in me shall never die Do you believe that I can do this and then Be it done according to your Faith Thy Faith has made thee whole The Woman with the bloody Issue had no other application for her Cure but Faith Without Faith what signifies our Creed And to what purpose did our Saviour bleed If we all Doubting could from Faith divide Pure Faith would then in greatest triumph ride God grant all those the Power of Faith that die In joyful Hopes of bless'd eternity When their departing Souls will gladly own By faith they rise from Dunghills to a Throne How to delight in GOD. THe Text says Delight in the Lord and he will give thee thy hearts desire And no doubt but if we delight in him with the highest faculty of our Souls above all carnal appetites with contemplation of his glorious Essence and Attributes in frequent servent Prayers with continual Gratitude for his daily Mercies To adore him as we might we should find such a rejoycing in God to be the most voluptuous felicity that the heart of Man is capable ofâ— But we mock our selves too often with a belief of this Felicity by a careless searching short in our own Hearts for a clear proof of the divine Perfection of this delighting in God which every Man must find in himself for no Man can correct the unseen Errours of his Neighbour's heart So that it must be every Man's concern to examine his own Conscience how much he rejoyces in God more than in all worldly Fruitions and according to his proportion in excelling therein his peace of Conscience will prove the more exalted joyful Feast and will create in him the greatest hope of his heart 's promised desire and is the furest way to remove our natural Fear of Death who only can lead us to glory which all Men ought to think on more than all other affairs in this World For if we delight in God as we ought We should the clear intrinsick value find When Grace enriches a delighted Mind That trusts in God and by such bless'd converse Excells all pleasures of the Universe Which no Man's Faith nor Fancy can conceive Till that delightful practice gives him leave Then Souls enlightned by that holy fire Will pass to Paradise when they expire An higher Bliss can no Man's heart desire Though worldly joys may all our Senses please The Soul's joy makes them all but a disease But when God's glory in our Souls doth shine It shews those holy Raptures are divine Yet we ought not to think that every petty pleasing Object that assaults our Senses doth deserve the Name of a Delight more than little Children have for every new Baby they do see But when the Soul 's supreme delight is so fixed on God that every address brings men as near to him as Souls can come while they are involved in Clay yet by a flaming Zeal and such high mounting Faith as doth believe that God is every-where and Heaven with him and them are altogether at that time there Where such joys may grow up to such a divine Delight in God as will come nearest unto his beatick sight tho' few Men seek it by such practice as we might and therefore cannot fansie such transcending Bliss on Earth as those hermetick Livers have who daily do converse in Heaven with great delight in expectation of a quick Summons thither and such Piety may be truly called Delighting in God 'T is said my Book does need apology To beg a Pardon for tautology Which is a Crime I never understood If the repeated matter be all good David's Example as my Pattern may Excuse that Errour and for pardon pray On the Power of Divine Meditation DAvid says God requires no Sacrifice But Penitence and Faith he does despise The Blood of Beasts We are to thank and praise His holy Name and honour him always And if we trust him as we ought Mankind Will be by frequent Comforts so refin'd That we on Earth shall have a daily taste Of his eternal Peace and joys at last If David's Rules authentick be That God Had rather use his Mercy than his Rod And proffers Heaven at so cheap a rate T' invite us to become regenerate What labour less can mortal Men invent To gain God's favour and 'scape his punishment If thus our Duty may his Favour claim All Men will trust and honour his great Name Such Ecstasies in Meditation will Men's heads with glorious heavenly Visions fill And by degrees our Souls with joys advance To think that we are there in such a trance And find that such enlightning Zeal as this Is emanation for our future Bliss A Dream of Heaven THough Sleep Death's Image be I have been now I know not where convey'd I know not how Where something