the Jewel we shall have the box if we buy the wine we shall have the cask and if we seek first the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof all other things shall be added Mat. 6.33 most men begin at the wrong end they make sure the world and think then all is safe and heaven sure but would they make heaven sure riches should not be wanting but most men think that scraping and keeping together is the way to be rich but the holy Ghost teacheth us that it is giving and laying out is the way Solomon tells us he that gives to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him Pro. 19.17 and he that gives to the poor shall not lack Pro. 28.27 so that not getting but giving is the way to wealth but he shall have judgement without mercy that will shew no mercy Jam. 2.13 rich men are Gods stewards he trusts them with his store-house to give their fellow-servants their meat in due season and blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall finde so doing Mat. 24.46 but if insteed of feeding them they feed themselves and eat and drink with the drunken and beat their fellow-servants their Lord shall come when they are not aware and shall give them their portion with hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth but all places are too full of such evil servants and so is hell too such dust-heaps are found in every corner but those unmercifull men shall have their portion with the devil and the damned Mat. 25.34 when the charitable Christian shall have a portion in glory we are all Gods servants and have some talents or other to improve in his service to his glory which if we do we shall not be without our reward there is none saith God shuts the door of my house for nought or kindles a fire upon my altar for nought Mal. 1.10 he hath lent us our riches and yet if we improve them and employ them as we ought they will become our own and we shall send them to heaven before us where they will be made up into a crown for us this is the only good they can do the soul but whatsoever is not thus improved is lost yea worse then lost for it will be put upon our account and required of us when we give an account of our stewardship It is a great mistake and so it will be found when men think they have an absolute propriety in what they enjoy and may dispose of it at their pleasure Christ bids the young man sell all that he had and give to the poor and he should have treasure in heaven Mat. 19.21 and rich men are charged to be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to give that they may lay up for themselves a good foundation against the evil day 1 Tim. 6.16 c. had rich men but Moses eye to see the wealth of heaven and the worth of it it were not hard for them to make such a choise as he did worldlings if they could have heaven without labour or cost they would accept of it if not they will not buy it at so dear a rate but Christians say as Mephibosheth let Zibah take all so I may enjoy the king oh my soul here is riches worth labouring for thou canst not buy this gold at too dear a rate the world thou maist and many do with the loss of the soul here thou canst not be disappointed whatever rate thou setst upon this treasure it is ten thousand times better lay hold upon this make heaven sure to thy self improve the world to a spiritual advantage then will thy riches encrease as the oyl in the cruse or like the bread in Christs hands or the water in a spring thy good works will follow thee to heaven when the world will leave her dearest minions oh my God let it be so say amen to my prayer let me have thee and I have all things necessary Upon mens misery labour and pains 73. Med. WHen I considered that man that was the chief of Gods workmanship and next to the angels the most glorious creature of the whole creation yea in his creation was made little lower then the angels and cloathed with honour and dignity Psal 8.5 and was made Lord over the works of Gods hands Gen. 1.26 yea God created him in his own image all these inferiour creatures were made for his sake and for his use and service he was their little Lord yea the angels themselves are ministring spirits sent out for the good of those that love God Heb. 1.14 the saints are the Church the spouse the bride the members of Christ and so seem to be in nearer union to him then the angels themselves some think the devils envied this and so fell from their own station thus you see how man in the creation was exalted to honour but on the other side I considered how man above all the rest of the creatures was more subjected to misery labour and slavery yea vexation of spirit then any other and many of them even worn out with carking cares and fretting fears with moiling toyling spending labour which tires their bodies breaks their sleep in the night when other creatures which were made for their use and are their servants rest secure and free from daily cares and nightly troubles many kindes of them are preserved without their pain all without their care or fore-cast the masters care for some and maintain them and God maintains the rest but it is not so with man he must eat his bread in the sweat of his brows how true is that of Joh chap. 5.7 man is born to labour as the sparks fly upwards all things are full of labour saith Solomon Eccl. 1.8 molestation and misery meet us at every turn the world saith one is a sea of glass for it is vanity mingled with fire for it is vexation Rev. 4.6 man is in a restless condition tossed to and fro like a football and here he hath no resting place when I sought out the cause of this why this noble creature should be thus subjected to trouble and sorrow more then any others I quickly found out it was Gods will and mans desert for had man continued in his primitive purity he had never had an aking head or aking heart or loss or cross or any thing to molest him but when he had sin'd God pronounced this sentence upon him in the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread which law never yet was reversed The beasts of the field never transgrest their makers law as man hath done and therefore never had such punishment threatned as man had though it is conceived they are sufferers for mans sin Rom. 8.20 had not sin gone before trouble and misery had never followed the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life and as sin brought death so also sorrow into the world
provided for thou art a thousand times in a worse condition then they are thou wast made for an higher end and fitted to do God better service but they never transgrest their makers will nor Creators laws as thou hast done and if thou art not regenerated and born again thou hadst better never have been born or else made a dog or toad or poor crawling worm whose misery ends with life when thine will begin at thy death these serve God better in their kinde then thou hast done Oh my God it was thy will there should be a difference between me and these irrational creatures thou hast indewed me with more noble faculties and didst create me in thy own image and madest me Lord over the work of thy hands but oh how soon was this image lost and I disabled for the work I was created for I became as a lost sheep O seek thy servant that I may be found I am the prodigal incline my heart to come home to my fathers house and open thy arms and heart to receive me give me in those qualifications that are necessary to thy service renew thine image in my soul pardon my transgressions and be favourable to my soul mortifie my corruptions then shall I be able to serve thee with chearfulness and shall have occasion to blese God that I was made a man and not a worm Upon an heap of Ants or Pismires 16. Med. FInding in the garden a heap of ants or pismires at the root of a tree which I look't upon as no friends but enemies to an orchard I disturbed them with my foot and they soon took the allarm whereupon I took notice how these painful creatures behaved themselves when thus disturbed they were all in a confusion some run this way and some that and no one knew where or how to settle and yet I observed every one laying hold of something and getting some burden upon his back though he knew not where to bear it I thought this confusion resembled a beseiged City when taken by the enemy or the Countrey when an enemy makes an incursion the inhabitants every one shifts for himself one runs this way another that to save himself and if it may be to secure his chiefest Jewels or that which he most values this minded me by the way that it was a Christians wisdome in all the incursions of satan and the inroads and assaults he makes upon us to secure the soul our chiefest Jewel and not leave it unguarded at his mercy this is our fort-royall which if taken we are undone but if safe though he take the out-works it matters not much if the castle be secure Let us store this therefore with provision and ammunition against the assaults of this treacherous enemy Again this confused stir that thus happened among these poor insects represented to me the hurlyburly that is abaoad in the world wherein are millions of men every one driving on some particular designe and yet go various ways to work some pursue after riches some honours and some pleasures and yet agree not on the way nor on the means to attain their end Those that aim at riches all tread not in the same steps some go a more plain way then others do and by labourious toiling carking care and pains seek to get it and are no ones foes but their own in spending so much time upon it that they neglect their greater concerns others by more subtill but less honest shifts cast their ground and think to take their prey before their neighbours these by lying cheating swearing forswearing cozening and circumventing make hast to be rich but cannot be innocent these ofttimes with the Eagle stealing meat from the altar bring a coal with it which fires their own nests ill-gotten goods seldome prosper and the third heir seldome enjoys them some in the pursuit of honour take the way of vertue and hunt after it by desert but these are but few yet this is the securest road others endeavour to ascend the steps of promotion by fawning and flattery and such indirect courses but though these are the most by far yet ofttimes they break their necks ere they come to the top of the ladder and are always set in slippery places the former way though least trodden and most painfull is the surest and safest for honour follows virtue as the shadow doth the substance others that pursue pleasure differ also some seek after more innocent delights others esteem none worth enjoying but what is the forbidden fruit and desperatly pursue such pleasures that perish ere they are budded and the end of that mirth is heaviness In a word some are building castles in the air and never live to finish them others are getting goods and know not who shall enjoy them others are raking together by hook or by crook and others are scattering abroad what is thus scraped together and spend all and know not who shall relieve them some are promising themselves content if they had a Lordship others if they had a Dukedome and some if they had a Kingdcm which if attained they are no nearer satisfaction then before and they are scarce warm in their places but death with a dash with his foot breaks the pitcher and spoils the sport and strips him of that in an hour that he hath been projecting for all his life and thus you see there is a confused hurly-burly in the world every man driving on his own designes and God all this while tacitly by this is a carrying on his designes perhaps quite contrary to theirs Or this tumultuous confusion amongst these little creatures may resemble a crowd in a market or fair some rush this way some that that he that stands at a distance and observes their motion thinks it is a confusion yet every man is carrying on some designe or other and moves accordingly Oh my soul lose not thy self thy pains thy precious time as many do in seeking honey in a wasps nest or that in the world which no man was ever yet able to finde there content satisfaction and happiness these are not sown in the furrows of thy field and therefore are not to be found in full bags and barns content grows not in natures garden and those that seek happiness beneath the moon are mistaken the enjoyment of God in glory is our compleat happiness and nothing else will give the soul content let the world say what it will to the contrary carking cares and fretting fears and Jealousies about earthly enjoyments are so far from being the way to it that it choaks the word which is the means to attain it the riches honours and pleasures the world affords which are the worlds Deity whereupon most men doat as much as the Ephesians did upon Diana's Temple bear no more proportion to true riches true pleasures and true honours then painted fire on the wall to true fire or a King upon a Stage to a King upon the throne
blazing star ominous to the beholders and hurtfull to those that enjoy it and proves ofttimes the devils lime-twigs to catch his fowls meat and drink are necessary yet to many their table becomes their snare and by a plentifull table they come to be guilty of gluttony and drunkenness wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging and he that is overtaken with it is not wise I fed them to the full saith God and they were as fed horses every one neighed after his neighbours wife learning and great parts are lovely endowments and many times it proves dangerous and deadly the greatest scholars oft prove the greatest enemies to Christ and the greatest adversaries to the power of godliness In a word those that have most of the world have frequently the least of heaven Son saith Abraham remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luk. 16.25 Wealth many times swells men into a tympany not easily cured I know there are some that follow Christs counsell and make to themselves friends of this Mammon of unrighteousness but most do but encrease their account by them and at the reckoning-day will prove bankrupts and owe ten thousand talents more then they are able to pay earthly enjoyments usually rock men in the cradle of security and lull them asleep that they never wake till hell fire flames about their ears thus the rich man Luke 12.16 and that also Luk. 16.19 c. when the moon is at full it is furthest distance from the sun and nearest to an ecclips and the world many times interposeth it self between the full soul and the sun of righteousness relations and carnal friends oft-times prove snares thus they were to Job to Spira and to many more the things that are in themselves lawfull blessings yet abused prove our licitis perimus omnes immoderately used prove a sin and a snare oh my soul thou walkest in the midst of dangers snares are laid for thee in every creature in every corner trust not therefore to any the most innocent will betray thee if not heedfully observed and wisely enjoyed the most harmless nay the most necessary enjoyments are not free from snares a serpent may lie under thy feet poyson may be in thy cup or dish many temptations are in poverty more in plenty pray therefore with Agar not to have poverty nor riches but to be fed with food convenient Pro. 30.8 as a shoe too big or too little suits not the foot so an estate too big is troublesome and to little pinches a staff may help the passenger in his journey but a burden of staves will be his hinderance oh my God are there so many dangers that attend me both in reference to my body and my soul oh what need have I of divine protection Lord be thou my defender keep me under the shadow of thy wings O let not Satan the world or my own deceitful heart ever betray me but let me be kept by the mighty power of God unto salvation Upon a Toad 45. Med. OBserving as I walked in the garden in an evening a loathsom foul and ugly toad crawling in my way hasting from me as from a deadly enemy to hide her head in a hole to save her life and that from one that she had never wronged this sight occasioned me this Meditation how nigh akin am I to this poor creature this dispicable loathed and abhorred wretch there is but the sheers between us nothing but the makers will she is my sister and may claim the right of primogeniture as coming into the world before me we have the same original the same father and the same mother we were made of the same matter by the hand of the same workman but she hath the precedency in nature and came of the elder brother both of us were of the same clay and fashioned by the same potter hewn out of the same rock and digged out of the same hole of the pit and had it pleased the workman I might have been the toad and this the man no thanks to me that it was not so and it had been no wrong to me if it had been so I might have been crawling into that hole to save my life from one that desired my death and fed upon such loathsom meat that she feeds on but my God hath bestowed more upon me and denied it to her even so Lord because it hath seemed good in thy eyes oh my soul what hast thou done more for thy God then this poor creature hath done doubtless where more is given more will be required thou hast received ten talents for one nay an hundred for one how hast thou improved them and God expects from man much more service then from any other creature in the world being only fitted for communion with himself But hath not this despicable wretch which thou thinkest is not worthy to live served God in her place better then thy self and answered the end of her creation better then man and never transgrest her masters will nor her makers law as thou hast done a thousand times she desires nothing more then life and what is necessary to maintain it and fears nothing more then death and what tends to it and doth no hurt but it is imagined good to mankinde unless hurt or provoked and if she have a noxious quality it is questionable whether the sin of man hath not procured it God hath given thee the use of reason and made thee capable of communion with himself and enjoying him for ever and laid upon her far more innocent this punishment of being hated and abhorred of all and her life is put into thy hands and whosoever killeth her thinks he hath not offended thou canst walk free from fear when every one that sees her desires her death and plots her ruine and destruction what cause then have I to bless God that I was made a man and not a toad and that I had the use of reason given to me and not made a bruit but if I be not regenerate and born again if I have not the image of God renewed in me which I lost by the fall if I answer not the end of my creation and redemption if my sin be not mortified and the power of my corruptions abated if grace be not implanted in my heart by the spirit of God if I have not an interest in Christ and a title to glory if the mistical marriage be not made between Christ and my soul and my affections set upon him if any thing in the world lie nearer to my heart then he doth and be beloved above him the time will come and it will not be long first that I shall wish would God I had been made the toad and this toad the man for then my misery would have ended with my life when now it is like to begin at my death and
eternity of torments will be little enough to pay the debt which I owe but her debts being nothing but death will be soon discharged oh my soul if God do not distinguish thee from wicked men by grace as well as from this toad by reason thy misery will be far worse then hers and thy condition more forlorn Oh poor man whither art thou fallen thou wast in the creation made the glory of this Universe and all the creatures to be thy servants yea the angels to be Ministring spirits for thy good and now if God assist not in a new creation the meanest and most despicable of the creatures is in a better condition then thou art Oh sin what woful work hast thou made among us and of what a bewitched nature art thou and how hast thou infatuated us still to doat upon thee and to think thee lovely oh my God how good hast thou been to me and how evilly have I requited thee for thy good and how foolishly have I behaved my self to my own soul thou createdst me after thine own image in knowledge righteousness and true holiness and gavest me dominion over thy creatures thou madest me little lower then the angels and crownedst me with honour and dignity Psal 8.4 5 6. such I was when I past out of thy hand but I have lost this image by the fall and this supremacy and now this poor creature is in a better condition then I am by nature and never transgress thy laws as I have done but Lord thou canst renew thine image in me and bring me to my primitive happiness Lord do it then shall I praise thee with unfained lips that thou hast made me a man Upon the coursing of a hare 46. Med. BEing occasionally present at the coursing of a hare and my affection being tickled with the sport to see what turnings windings shifts and cunning evasions she had to delude her enemy and make an escape but all too little for she after came to be their prey that sought her life and to suck her bloud when I felt my affections thus to heat and close with the sport I began to check my self for it and to expostulate the case thus with mine own heart vain man what art thou doing whither art thou going art thou in heaven or on the earth that thy affections are so pleased is it God or the creature that gives thee this content alass what poor fading perishing joy is this and canst thou finde more delight in it then in the service of God or in communion with Christ Nay but art thou sure that these delights are lawfull if not thou hast cause to bewail it the thing may be disputable was it not the sin of man that brought this enmity and antipathy between the creatures and made them thirst after one anothers bloud Reverend Mr Bolton tels us this is the judgement of the best Divines that it was a fruit of our rebellion against God now if this misery was laid upon them for our faults it should be rather matter of our grief then sport and taking pleasure in their bloud is a vexing of their very vexation and we discover those weeds and seeds of cruelty to be too rank and luxurious in the soul and we degenerate in this below the beast of the field who as it is observed take not content in hurting one another but in case of hunger or anger they satisfy their appetite and rage sometimes with bloud but never their eye or their fancy Is the fruits of our sin become the matter of sport this consideration might work in us a contrary effect and I think much better but grant for no body will deny it that we have liberty given us to make use of this antipathy for the destroying of hurtful creatures and the enjoying of those that are usefull as these now under consideration which no doubt are given to us for food as well as others and grant that they cannot be so well taken any other way and their flesh to be best when it is thus hunted and chased yet it still remains disputable whether their death were ever appointed by God to be a matter of sport or a lawfull recreation to us to kill them is no doubt lawfull but to sport our selves in their death seems cruel and bloudy to delight more in seeing the shifts the poor creature hath to save her life an instinct given her by nature and to see her in the mouths of her bloud-thirsty enemies rending and tearing her in peeces without mercy then they do in the flesh it self which should be I think the cheifest end in this action seems cruel and bloudy recreation suppose thou heardest such a poor creature giving up the ghost to speak after this manner for it is no absurdity to fain such a speech oh man what have I done to thee or what evil is found in me that like a cruel enemy thou sportest thy self at my death I have lived upon my fathers allowance and never transgrest my masters will nor makers laws as thou hast done If thou take away my life what needst thou make a sport at my death If a sparrow fall not to the ground without Gods providence surely he takes notice of my death and the manner of it and I am part of the goods thy master commends to thee as a steward and for which thou must give an account I am thy fellow-creature made of the same matter by the same hand it was not all the men on earth could have created me or given me life my life was given me by God and now it is taken away in sport to please man take heed vain man that thus dost satiate thy self with my bloud lest at last thy condition be worse then mine and thy account heavier my debt is now paid by my death and my own sufferings but thine will never be discharged by thy self to eternity this pleasure thou hast now taken will be dearly bought and this flesh of miâ—e must be satisfied for hereafter if Christ be not thy surety nay O man thou knowest not but there are some enemies if God restrained them not that do as earnestly thirst after thy bloud as thou hast done after mine and would be glad to wash their hands in it however the devil is a more cruel bloud thirsty enemy to thy soul then these dogs are to my body and goes about day and night like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and take heed lest those dogs which have now drunk my bloud and are too often fed with the poors portion and deserve death as well as I being every way as noxious do not rise up against thee another day c. Oh my soul spend no more time in recreation then thou canst afford and that is but a little till thy main work be done and then spend no more in recreation then thy state will afford and that will not be much take heed that the poors
for the holiness and integrity which he secretly hates and abhors and speaks well of God and his laws his ordinances and his people which in his heart he abhors The knowledge of the one and the other differ like that of a traveller that hath been at Rome or Venice or Jerusalem or Constantinople and hath seen those places and known those inhabitants and dwelt among them and his who hath only heard or read of them or spake with those that have seen them the latter perhaps may speak as much nay more of the scituation of the place the manners of the people the government customes and laws they are ruled by then the others can yet is not their knowledge alike the one is assured by ocular demonstration of what he speaks the other not these eyes saw it saith one these ears heard it saith the other so it is here one speaks what he knows the other what he hears Or it is like the difference between the knowledge of a diseased person and that of a physitian the latter can speak more of the causes signs and symptomes of the disease and more learnedly describe it but the other feels what he saith and knows the working of the disease in another manner of way then the physitian who hath only read of it or heard of it from others this is the difference of the knowledge between the sincere Christian and the hypocrite the one speaks knowingly experimentally feelingly truly the other speaks by rote like the parrat only what is taught him dissemblingly hypocritically and falsly pretending to experience that they do not oh my soul take heed of contenting and satisfying thy self with a bare notional knowledge without experimental heart-knowledge it is not that which floats in the brain but that which sinks down and seasons the heart and life that will do thee good the former a man may carry along with him to hell yea the devils have it in a greater measure then the most knowing man though bad words may yea will condemn thee if not repented of yet good words if any such can be without good actions and good hearts cannot save thee yea thou wilt be guilty of self-condemnation in justifying what thou dost not labour after if godliness and a holy life be good why dost thou not live thus if not why dost thou speak thus why doth not thy heart and tongue agree sincerity is the true philosophers stone it turns all into gold and makes weak performances acceptable hypocrisy turns all into dross oh my God grant me heart-knowledge as well as brain knowledge lest I go to hell with a candle in my hand such knowledge may serve to sink me not to save me to talk of the way and not walk in it little profits to speak of heaven and not enjoy will do me no good Lord let me be in substance what I am in shew yea Lord make me such as I ought to be in truth Upon a Kite kild by a Fowler eating his prey 66. Med. WHen I observed a kite that bird of prey how fiercely he struck at a trembling partrich carrying her away in her griping talons rending her in pieces in an instant when the poor innocent creature could make no resistance and none came to her rescue and devouring her yet alive all reaking in her blood and intombed her in his cruel devouring maw Methought it was as bloudy a spectacle as ever I beheld to see an innocent thus used that had never injured him but while I considered of the act behold a fowler undiscerned shot him dead upon the place in the height of his cruelty with the meat in his mouth so that he had sowr sauce to his sweet meat When I had awhile considered the matter I thought I had seen some such dealing in the world yea amongst men where one makes a prey upon another and like the fishes in the sea the great ones swallow up the lesser and feeds upon them as these birds of prey do upon those that cannot resist them The great ones of the world are like this kite good for nothing unprofitable burthens of the earth feeding upon the brains of their innocent neighbours how many cruel griping Landlords wring so many tears from their Tenants eyes in their life time that at their death they have not one more to shed how unreasonably do they rack their rents and extort unreasonable fines how do they oppress them by unreasonable impositions service and other covenants force them to do their work keep their dogs horses and such like when all this time they pay to the utmost farthing for what they have that were it not for their liberty it were as good for them live in Turky as where they do they cark and care and moil and toil and rise early and ly down late and eat the bread of carefulness they fare hard and work hard and deny themselves even necessaries yea can scarce get cloathes for their backs or meat for their bellies but moil like slaves or horses and yet all too little to satisfy their greedy Landlord who at length strips them of all they have seizeth upon their estates turns them out of house and harbour perhaps throws them into prisons where they end their misery while their families depend upon the courtesy of the parish In their poverty the Landlord deals with them as men do by their horses when one is tired they call for another and shew them not so much favour as they do their dogs for when they be wearied in their service they feed them and make provision for them Now all this cruelty is used to satisfy their insatiable avarice or to maintain their hawks and hounds and whores and other like debaucheries and all too little they suck their brains drink their tears and suck their bloud and if their Tenants or poor neighbours are wronged by them they may expect no more justice then the fox and ass in the fable that were to divide the prey with the lion they must give away their right for peace-sake part with all and think they speed well if they meet with no further mischief the laws themselves prove often like cobwebs they hold little flys but the great ones break through But the time is coming that the fowler death will strike these birds of prey to the heart and long it will not be before it be done and an impartial judge will make them vomit up the blood they have so greedily drunk and pluck the prey from between their teeth and make them know that they were the sole proprietors of what they enjoyed but that he lent it for other ends then they employed it in and now their condition will be worse then their poor Tenants and their accounts greater remember the story of Dives and Lazarus both in their life and in their death oh how good is it for men to live so as not to be ashamed to live nor afraid to dye and to keep