grace that I may now willingly leave this fraile and wicked flesh in hope of the resurrection which in better manner shall restore it to me againe grant me O Lord God that thou wilt by thy grace make strong my soule against all temptations and that thou wilt cover and defend me with the buckler of thy mercy against the assaults of Satan I acknowledge that there is in my selfe no hope of salvation but all my hope and trust is in thy most mercifull goodnesse I have no merits nor good workes which I may alleadge before thee of sinnes and evill works alas I see a great heape but through thy mercy I trust to be of the number of them to whom thou wilt not impute their sins but take and impute mee for righteous and just and to be the inheritor of everlasting glory Thou O most mercifull Lord wert borne for my sake thou didst suffer both hunger and thirst thou didst preach teach pray and fast for my sake thou didst all good works and sufferedst most grievous pangs and torments for my sake and finally thou gavest thy most precious body to dye and thy blessed bloud to bee shed on the Crosse for my sake wherefore most mercifull Saviour let all these things profit me which thou hast freely given mee which hast given thy selfe for me let thy bloud cleanse and wash away the spots and foulenesse of my sinnes let thy righteousnesse hide and cover my unrighteousnesse let the merits of thy bitter sufferings be a sufficient and propitiatory sacrifice and satisfaction for my sinnes give me O Lord thy grace that my faith and beleefe of thy true and grievous death waver not in me but ever be firme and constant that the hope of thy mercy life everlasting never decay in me that charity waxe not cold in me and finally that the weaknesse of my flesh be not overcome with the feare of death grant me also O most mercifull Saviour that when death hath shut up the eyes of my body yet the eyes of my soule may still behold and look upon thee and that when death hath taken away the use of my tongue and speech yet my heart may cry and say unto thee O Lord into thy hands I give and commit my soule Lord Jesus receive my spirit and take me to thy mercies Amen A Prayer for a Woman in time of her travaile RIghteous and holy Lord God I doe now finde by experience the fruit of my sinne that I must travaile in sorrow and bring forth in paine and I unfainedly adore the truth of thy sacred Word as certifying unto me that sorrow must be in the Evening so comforting me also against the Morning that a Childe shall be borne Willingly I doe desire to submit my selfe in hope unto this thy chastisement and to learne the desert of my sinnes horrible in themselves that these temporall paines are forerunners of eternall and yet by thy mercy may be so sanctified unto me as not onely to prevent eternall vengeance but also prepare for eternall comforts even to be saved by bearing of Children Grant me therefore gracious Father true repentance and pardon for my sinnes past that they may not stand at this time in this my need betweene mee and thy mercy Give mee a comfortable feeling of thy love in Christ which may sweeten all other pangs though never so violent or extreame make me still to lift up my soule unto thee in my greatest agonies knowing that thou alone must give a blessing to the ordinary meanes for my safe deliverance Lay no more upon me then I am able to endure strengthen my weake body to the bearing of what sorrowsoever by which it shall seeme good unto thee to make triall of me Grant mee to consider that howsoever it be with me yet I am alwaies at thine hand whose mercies faile not who wilt bee found in the Mount and greatest extremitie and to whom belong the issues of death so prepare me therefore to death that I may be fit for life even to yeeld fruit alive unto the world and to be renewed and enabled to nourish the same And when thou hast safely given mee the expected fruit of my wombe make me with a thankfull heart to consecrate both it and my selfe wholly to thy service all the daies of my life through Jesus Christ mine onely Saviour and Redeemer Amen A Thankesgiving after safe deliverance O Blessed for ever bee thy great and glorious Name most deere and loving Father for thy great mercy to me most weake and sinfull woman Wonderfull art thou in all thy workes O Lord the riches of thy mercies are past finding out thou hast plunged me with great afflictions and yet thou hast returned and refreshed me againe thou hast brought mee to the feare of the grave and yet thou hast raised me up again to life O how hast thou shewed thy power in my weaknesse How hath thy loving kindnesse prevailed against my unworthinesse Thou mightest for my sinnes have left me to perish in mine extremities but thou hast compassed me about with joyfull deliverance thou mightest have made my wombe a grave to bury the dead or in affoording life to another thou mightest have procured my death but yet thou hast not onely made my wombe a well-spring of life but restored life unto me also for the cherishing thereof Marveilous O Lord are thy workes infinite are thy mercies my soule by present experience knoweth it well O my soule praise thou the Lord and all that is within me praise his holy name My soule praise thou the Lord and forget not all his benefits Thou hast heard my prayers and looked upon my sorrow thou hast redeemed my life from death and healed mine infirmities and crowned me with thine everlasting compassions O give me I humbly pray thee a thankfull heart not onely now while the memory and sense of thy favour is fresh before me but continually even so long as I have any being Grant that I may learne by his lively evidence of thy power and mercy for ever hereafter â—o depend only on thee Quicâ—en me also to all holy duties â—hat my thankfullnesse may appeare in my pure and Christian â—arriage Make me a kind and carefull â—nother willing to undergoe the â—aine and trouble of education â—et no nicenesse or curiositie â—inder me from those services â—o whom both nature and reliâ—ion hath appointed me let me â—â—so be carefull when time reâ—uireth to season the fruit thou â—ast given me with the saving â—nowledge of thee thy deere on that my desire may manifestly appeare to be set for the â—ncrease of thy Kingdome Vouchsafe so to order my affections and to bring them in obedience unto thee that if it should bee thy pleasure either now oâ— hereafter to take this infant from me I may as willingly part with it as thou freely gave it me And now O God perfect in mee that strength which thou hast begun make me to grow in care to
HEAVENS GLORY SEEKE IT EARTS VANITIE FLYE IT HELLS HORROR FERE IT LONDON printed for Michaell Sparke Ao. 1638. A Most Excellent TREATISE Containing the way To seek Heavens Glory To flie Earths Vanity To feare Hells Horror With Godly Prayers And The Bell-Mans Summons The third Edition by S. R. LONDON Printed by G M. for Michael Sparke Junior at the blew Bible in Greene-Arbour 1639. To the Reader THE present carelesse security of all men in generall is like unto our first Parents neglect of Gods sacred commandement in Paradice when the seducing Serpent no sooner perswaded evill but it was instantly put in practise You shall die said God was heard but you shal not die said the Divell was beleeved Our eares are daily acquainted with the threatnings of Gods denounced against sinners and yet that sinne that broad way path and high-way to hell is attempted with a delectation and pleasure so craftie and subtill are the baits and lures of the deceiver and so void of spirituall wisedome is the soule-murdering sinner But if due consideration were had of the wages of sinne and the reward of unrighteousnesse and to what bitternesse it will turne in the end it would make us lesse bold to sinne and more fearefull to offend if wee would take into our company for a daily consort the pale memory of death and whereto he summeth us after this life Death it selfe is very fearefull but much more terrible in regard of the judgement it warneth us unto Imagine to see a sinner lie on his departing bed burdened and tyred with the grievous and heavie load of all his former trespasses goared with the sting and pricke of a festered conscience feeling the crampe of death wresting at his heart strings ready to make the ruthfull divorce betweene soule and body panting for breath and swimming in a cold and fatall sweat wearied with strugling against the deadly pangs Oh how much would he give for an houre of repentance at what rate would he value a daies contrition Then worlds would bee worthlesse in respect of a little respite a short truce would seeme more precious than the treasures of Empires nothing would bee so much esteemed as a moment of time which now by moneths and yeeres is lavishly spent How inconsolable were his case his friends being fled his sences frighted his thoughts amazed his memorie decaied his whole minde agast and no part able to performe that it should but onely his guiltie conscience pestered with sinne continually upbraiding him with bitter accusations what would hee thinke then stripped out of this mortall weed and turned both out of the service and house-roome of this world hee must passe before a most severe Iudge carrying in his owne conscience his enditement written and a perfect register of all his misdeeds when he should see the Iudge prepared to passe the sentence against him and the same to bee his Vmpire whom by so many offences he hath made his enemie VVhen not onely the divels but even the Angels should plead against him and himselfe maugre his will bee his owne sharpest appeacher VVhat were to be done in these dreadfull exigents VVhen hee saw that gastly dungeon and huge gulfe of hell breaking out with fearefull flames the weeping houâ—ing and gnashing of teeth the rage of all those hellish monsters the horrour of the place the rigour of the paine the terrour of the company and the eternitie of all those punishments Would you thinke them wise that would daily in so weighty matters and idlely play away the time allotted them to prevent these intollerable calamities Would you then account it secure to nurse in your bosome so many ougly Serpents as sinnes are or to foster in your soule so many malicious accusers as mortall faults are Would you not then thinke one life too little to repent for so many iniquities everie one whereof were enough to cast you into those everlasting and unspeakeable torments Why then doe wee not at the least devote that small remnant of these our latter dayes to the making an attonement with God that our consciences may be free from this eternall danger Who would relie the everlasting affaires of the life to come upon the gliding slipperinesse and running streame of our uncertaine life It is a preposterous pollicie in any wise conceit to fight against God till our weapons bee blunted our forces consumed our limmes impotent and our breath spent and then when wee fall for faintnesse and have fought our selves almost dead to presume on his mercy It were a strange peece of Art and a very exorbitant course while the Ship is sound the Pylot well the Marriners strong the gale favourable and the Sea calme to lie idle at rode and when the Ship leakes the Pylot were sicke the Marriners faint the stormes boysterous and the Sea turmoyled with surges to launch forth for a voyage into a farre Countrey yet such is the skill of our evening repenters who though in the soundnesse of health and in the perfect use of reason they cannot resolve to weigh the ankers that withhold them from God neverthelesse feed themselves with a strong perswasion that when their sences are astonied their wits distracted their understanding dusked and both body and minde racked and tormented with the throbs and gripes of a mortall sicknesse then will they thinke of the weightiest matters ad become Saints when they are scarse able to behave themselves like reasonable creatures being then presumed to bee lesse then men for how can he that is assaulted with an unsetled conscience distrained with the wringing fits of his dying flesh maimed in all his abilities and circled in with so many encombrances be thought of due discretion to dispose of his chiefest jewell which is his soule No no they that will loyter in seed time and begin then to sow when others begin to reape they that will riot out their health and cast their accounts when they can scarsely speake they that will slumber out the day and enter their journey when the light doth faile them let them blame their owne folly if they die in debt and eternall beggerie and fall headlong into the lapse of endlesse perdition Great cause have wee then to have an hourely watchfull care over our soule being so dangerous assaulted and environed most instantly entreating the divine Majesty to be our assured defence and let us passe the day in mourning the night in watching and weeping and our whole time in plainefull lamenting falling downe upon the ground humbled in sackcloth and ashes having lost the garment of Christ that hee may receive what the persecuting enemy would have spoyled every short sigh will not bee sufficient satisfaction nor every knocke a warrant to getin Many shall cry Lord Lord and shall not be accepted the foolish Virgins did knocke but were not admitted Judas had some sorrow and yet died desperate Foreslow not saith the Holy Ghost to be converted unto God and make not a daily
gift which God hath â—â—en me contrived a great picture in a little ring set forth the â—eat vanity of this world in a â—â—tle Map Let us now learne the lesson â—f Saint Iohn the beloved Disâ—â—ple of Christ who wrote so â—uch of love doth yet dehort â— from loving the world 1 Iohn â— 15. Love not the world neither â—e things that are in the world Why not the world for three â—asons 1. If any man love the â—orld the love of the Father is not â— him 2. All that is in the world â—e lust of the flesh the lust of the â—â—s and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world 3. The World passeth away and the lust thereof that is it is vain and vanishing yea in the abstract Vanity For these reason we must not suffer our hearts tâ— cleave to the best things in thâ— world as if happinesse were tâ— be found in them Follow thâ— counsell of the Holy Ghosâ— 1 Cor. 7. 31. Use this world 〈◊〉 though thou used it not for thâ— fashion of this world goeth 〈◊〉 way Use the things of thâ— world as helpes to thee in thâ— travell to heaven-ward but 〈◊〉 them not steale away thy heaâ—â— from better things from Goâ— and Christ and Heaven anâ— peace of conscience and joy the Holy Ghost these must dâ—light the heart of a Christian who was redeemed not with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious bloud of Jesus Christ in comparison of whom all the things of the world must seeme losse and drosse and dung and whatsoever is most despicable in the eyes of man If riches increase set not thy heart upon them no â—reasure no pleasure no honour nor gold nor plate nor jewels nor house nor land nor apparell nor friends must steale away thy heart We must be â—ffected to these things as Theodoricke the good King of Aâ—â—taine was with his play * In good casts he was silent in ill merâ—y in neither angry in both a Phylosopher or a wise man We must not make these a rivall unto God we must not leaue upon these by our confidence for they are a reed that shall quickly breake and the shivers will run into our hand Death is the most terrible of all things that are terrible said the Philosopher Aristotle it is terrible both to man and beast but most terrible to a wicked man that is worse then a beast when he remembers his sinfull life past the complexion of his flesh the palenesse of his face the dissolution of his members the rottennesse of his bones the obscurenesse of his grave the solitarinesse of his sepulcher the gnawing of wormes and the like But alas albeit these are terrible yet these are nothing without the consideration of sin which is the sting of death the strength and victory of the grave Thinke upon thy sinnes whereof thou art guilty and for which thou must dye as the condemned malefactor that after sentence pronounced is hurried to the fatall place of execution to suffer deserved punishment Remember yea againe and againe I say remember how miserably how violently how suddainely others have suffered death that were guilty of those sins which are more predominant in thee then they were in them Art thou a thiefe which thou maist be though thou wert never attached for theft by the lawes of men for covetousnesse is a Pick-purse before God read and remember how Achan dyed Iosh 7. Art thou a whoremaster which thou maist bee as well in thy minde as in thy body then read and remember how Hophni and Phineas dyed how Zimri and Cesbi were slaine in the very act of their uncleannesse And Iezabel an impudent strumpet dyed a sodaine and shamefull death Art thou a blasphemous swearer that dost rend grinde the sacred name of God betweene thy teeth Remember him under the Law that was stoned to death for his blasphemy Art thou an Idolatrous impe of the Popish Church that dost leave our Lord to worship our Lady and give that honour to Saints nay to stockes and stones which is proper to God alone call to minde how Sennacherib was slaine in the midst of his Idolatry Art thou an intemperate drunkard that dost sacrifice thy time and state nay soule and body unto Bacchus rising early to drinke strong drinke and sitting up late till Wine inflame thee thinke upon Belshazzar that was slaine in the midst of his cups whilst he was drinking in that Wine which the swords of his insulting enemies drew out of him together with his latest blood Art thou a covetous Usurer that dost let out thy money to men thy time to Mammon and thy soule to Satan that like a common Hackney jade wilt not beare thy debtors one houre past thy day or art thou a griping oppressor that dost racke thy poore tenants and exact upon thy neighbour to gaine a little transitory trash Remember Nabal and remember that Miser in the Gospell who being asleep in security and dreaming of enlarged barns and plentifull harvests was sodainly bereft of all and being awaked upon the hearing of his Soule-knell perceived himself to be forever wrerched Consider whether these and the like sinners that have made their souls the slaves of vanity have not in the end made themselves the slaves of misery Have they prospered or have they perished if they have prospered then follow them if perished as indeed they have then in the feare of God retire out of their paths left thou bee speedily cut off having no information of the danger till thine own eyes amazed with the sodainnesse behold it in the shape of inevitable damnation Be thou warned by their examples for God hath punished sinne in them to prevent sinne in thee Vt exempla sint omnium torment a paucorum that the torments of some few may be terrours unto all like as thunderbolts fall Paucorum periculo sed omnium metu to the hurt but of few though not without the horror of all That ship which sees another ship sinke before her lookes about her puls downe her saile turneth her course and escapes the sands which else would swallow her up as they did the other When the earth swallowed up Corah and his confederates all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them for they said Lest the earth swallow us up also Num. 16. 34. The Bird will not light on the lime-bush nor into the net if shee see another insnared before her the Horse will not follow another whom he sees to sticke fast in the mire oh be not lesse wise then bird or beast nor more brutish then Horse and Mule that hath no understanding If thou seest another fall into the fire thou wilt not willingly follow him then follow not sinners to the fire of hell lest thou be constrained at last when it shall bee too late to bewaile thy folly to cry out with those that have
torments of hell Assuredly it goes beyond the compasse of all common sence and conceit of humane reason to consider That there should be such negligent wilfull grosse and carelesse blindnesse able to enter and take such deepe rooting in the soule of man The Conclusion of all the Premises IF now all this be so I beseech thee even for the bitter passion of our sweet â—viour Jesus Christ to remember thy selfe and consider that thou art a Christian â—â—d that thou beleevest assuâ—dly for a most undoubted â—â—th whatsoever the true faith â—â—sructeth thee This faith telleth thee that thou hast a judge above that seeth all the steps and motions of thy life and that certainely there shall a day come when he will require an account of thee even for every idle word This faith teacheth thee That a man is noâ— altogether at an end when he dieth but that after this temporall life there remaineth another everlasting life and thaâ— the soules die not with thâ— bodies but that whiles thâ— body remaineth in the grave untill the generall day of judgement the soule shall enter into another new country and into a new world where it shall have such habitation and company as the faith and workes we which it had in this life This faith telleth thee also that both the reward of vertue and the punishment of vice is athing so wonderfull that although the whole world were full of bookes and all creatures were writers yet should they all be wearied and the world come to an end before they should end their description and make a perfect declaration what is comprehended in each one of these points This faith informeth thee also that the debts and duties which we owe to Almighty God are so great that albeit a man had so many lives â—s there be sands in the Sea yet would they not suffice if they were al employed in his service And this faith likewise telleth thee that vertue is such an excellent treasure that all the treasures of the world and all that mans heart can desire are in no sort comparable unto it Wherefore if there be so many and so great respects that doe invite us unto vertue how commeth it to passe that there be so few lovers and followers of the same If men be moved with gaine commodity what greater commodity can there be than to attaine life everlasting I they be moved with feare of punishment what greater punishment can be found than the moâ—â— horrible everlasting dreadful torments in the lake of fire and brimstone to continue eveâ— world without end If that bonds of debts and benefits what debts are greater than â—hese which we owe unto almighty God as well for that he â—s what he is as also for that which we have received of him â—f the feare of perils doe moove â—s what greater perill can there be than death the houre thereof being so uncertaine and the â—ccount so strait If thou be moved with peace liberty quitnesse of minde and with a â—leasant life which are things â—hat all the world desires it is â—ertaine that all these are found â—uch better in the life that is â—overned by vertue and reason â—han in that life which is ruled â—y the affections and passions of the minde for so much as maâ— is a reasonable creature and nâ— beast Howbeit in case thoâ— account all this as not sufficient to move thee thereunto yet lâ—â— it suffice thee to consider further that even almighty God â— abased himselfe for thy sakâ— that he descended from heave unto the earth and became man and whereas hee create the whole world in sixe daye hee bestowed three and thiâ— yeares about thy redemption yea and was also contented â—â— the same to loose his life Almighty God dyed that sinâ— should dye and yet for all thâ— doe we endeavour that sinâ— might live in our hearts nâ—â— withstanding that our Loâ—â— purposed to take away the life of sinne with his owne death If this matter were to be discussed with reason surely this already spoken might suffice to prevaile with any reasonable creature for not onely in beholding almighty God upon the crosse but whethersoever wee doe turne our eyes wee shall finde that every thing crieth out to us and calleth upon us to receive this so excellent a benefit for there is not a thing created in the world if wee duely consider it but doth invite us to the love and service of our Saviour Jesus Christ insomuch that looke how many creatures there be in the world so many preachers there are so many bookes so many voices and so many reasons which do all call us unto almighty God And how is it possible then that so many callings as these are so many promises so many threatnings and so many provocations should not suffice to bring us unto him What might almighty God have done more than he hath done or promised more greater blessings than hee hath promised or threatned more grievous and horrible torments than he hath threatned to draw us unto him and to plucke us away from sinne And yet all this notwithstanding how commeth it to passe that there is so great I will not say arrogancy but bewitching of men that doe beleeve these things to be certainly true and yet be not afraid to continue all the daies of their life in the committing of deadly sinnes Yea to goe to bed in deadly sinne and to rise up againe in deadly sinne and to embrue themselves in every kinde of loathsome detestable and odious sinne even as though all their whole endeavours intended by the practise of sinne to resist all grace and favour in the sight of God And this is done in such sort so without feare so without scruple of minde so without breaking of one houres sleepe and without the refraining of any one delicate morsell of meate for the same as if all that they beleeved were dreames and old wives tales and as if all that the holy Evangelists have written were meere fiction and fables But tell me thou that art such a desperate willfull rebell against thy Creator and Redeemer which by thy detestable life dissolute conversation doest evidence thy selfe to bee a firebrand prepared to burne in those everlasting and revenging horrible fires of hell What wouldest thou have done more than thou hast done in case thou haddest beene perswaded that all were meere lyes which thou hast beleeved For although that for feare of incurring the danger of the princes lawes and the execution of their force upon thee thou hast somewhat brideled thine appetites yet doth it not appeare that for any feare of Almighty God thou hast refrained thy will in any one thing neither from carnall pleasures not from backebiting and slandering thy neighbours nor yet from fulfilling thine inordinate lusts and desires in case thine ability served thee thereunto Oh what doth the worme of thy conscience say unto thee whiles thou art in such a fond securitie and confidence
Be blest a sleepe be blest awake SIth neither men nor Angels know When as the dreadful trump shal blow Nor when our Saviour Christ shall come To give the world a wofull doome Thinke then but what a case you 're in That sleepe in unrepented sinne O wake O wake O watch and pray And think upon this dreadfull day SLeepe not so sound rest not secure Marke well my words of this be sure The waking Virgins past the gate When those that slept came al too late Wherefore be watchfull in your center That you may with the bridegroome enter IF wicked impes wake day and night And keep their candle alwayes light And all their skill and practise bend To bring their damned plots to end Let us not sleepe but laud his skill That frustrates all their projects still THe night well spent the day drawes night Awake from sleep and sin defie All sluggish sloath expell away Have still in mind the judgement day When dead shall rise at trumpets call The graves shall open wide with all ARise from sin awake from sleepe The earth doth mourne The Heavens weepe The winds and Seas distempered bin And all by reason of mans sin Wherefore arise lay sleepe aside And call on God to be your guide From raging sword and arrowes flight And from the terrours of the night From fires flame from sin and sorrow God blesse you all and so good morrow ALL you which in your beds doe lie Vnto the Lord ye ought to cry â—hat he would pardon all your sins And thus the Belâ—mans prayer begins Lord give us grace our sinful life to mend And at the last to send a joyfull end â—aving put out your fire and your light â—or to conclude I bid you all good night MAns life is like a warfare on the earth Whose time is spent with troubles toyles and cares Subject to all temptations from his birth In woe he lives and dies at unnawares The surest signe true fortitude to show Is in his life all vice to overthrow O Harke O harke my Masters all To your poore servants cry and call And know all you that lie at ease That our great God may if he please Deprive you of your vitall breath Then sleeping thinke your sleepe is death LEt true repentance cleanse your sin And then your soules coÌ„mend to him That by his death hath rais'd and cur'd The dead the blind and them assured To give to them eternall rest To live in Heaven among the blest Confesse thy sins to God on hie Who pardons sinners when they cry Bewray thy faults to him in time Who will in Christ forgive thy crime HE that on the Crosse hath died And for our sins was crucified Be you ever blest in him And cleane remitted from your sin Be it granted as I have praid And so the Bel-man resteth paid ALL you that in bed doe lye Harken well to what I cry Leave off your sins repentance crave It is the onely way your soules to save REpent in time while ye have breath RepentaÌ„ce commeth not after death He therefore that will live for aye Must leave his sins and to God pray O Gratious God and blessed Preserve all ye that be in bed So that your quiet rest may take Vntill the morning that ye wake Then may ye all with praises sing To thee O God our heavenly King REmember man thou art but dust There is none alive but dye he must To day a man to morrow none So soone our life is past and gone Mans life is like a withered flower Alive and dead all in an houre Leave of thy sins therefore in time And Christ will rid thee from thy crime O Mortall man that is made of dust In worldly riches put not thy trust Remember how thy time doth passe Even like the sand that from the Glasse â—ath spent the time and there remaines â—ever canst thou call that time againe SIcke men complaine they cannot sleepe The Bel-man such a noise doth keepe Others that doe win at play Sayes he too soone proclaimes the day Yet to the sicke that drawes short breath It puts them in the mind of death And saies the gamster makes good stake If he for Heaven so long would wake And all this while like silly worme He doth his office but performe Then if his duty breed disease Hee le goe to bed and none displease FINIS Psal 2. 2 3. Nequities vitae non siniâ— esse senem Rom. 6. 12. * * Conventum terrarioÌ„ orbis Justin l. 2. Dan. 5. Dan. 4. 2 King 25. Eccl. â— Eccl 1. 2. Ps 102 26. 1 Pet. 1 19. Ps 26. 10. In 〈◊〉 iâ—ctibâ—â— tacet in maâ—â— rides in utrisque Philosophatur 2 Sam. 3. Numb 25. 8. Isa 37. ult Dan. â— ult Lut. 12 Cyprian ser 5. de Laps Thus Franciâ— Spira cried out after hee had renounced the profession of true pietie for the possession of earths vanity Rev. 2â—
lingering of thy repaire unto him for thou shalt finde the suddennesse of his wrath and revenge not slacke to destroy sinners For which cause let no man sojourne long in sinfull security or post over his repentance untill feare enforce him to it but let us frame our premises as we would finde our conclusion endeavouring to live as we are desirous to die let us not offer the maine crop to the Divell and set God to gleane the reproofe of his harvest let us not gorge the Divell with our fairest fruits and turne God to the filthy scraps of his leavings but let us truly dedicate both soule and body to his service whose right they are and whose service they owe that so in the evening of our life we may retire to a Christian rest closing up the day of our life with a cleare sunne-set that leaving all darknesse behind us we may carry in our consciences the light of grace and so escaping the horrour of an eternall night passe from a mortall day to an everlasting morrow Thine in Christ Jesus Samuell Rowland STrike saile poore soule in sins tempestuous tide That runst to ruine and eternall wracke Thy course from heaven is exceeding wide Hels gulfe thou ent'rest if grace guide not backe Satan is Pilot in this navigation The Ocean Vanity The Rocke damnation VVarre with the Dragon and his whole alliance Renounce his league intends thy utter losse Take in sinnes flag of truce set out defiance Display Christs ensigne with the bloudy crosse Against a Faith-proofe armed Christian Knight The hellish coward dares not mannage fight Resist him then if thou wilt victor be For so he flies and is disanimate His fiery darts can have no force at thee The shield of faith doth all their points rebate He conquers none to his infernall den But yeelding slaves that wage not fight like men Those in the dungeon of eternall darke He hath enthralled everlasting date Branded with Reprobations cole-blacke marke Within the never-opening ramd up gate Where Dives rates one drop of water more Than any crowne that ever Monarch wore Where furies haunt the hearttorne wretch despaire Where clamours cease not teeth are ever gnashing Where wrath and vengeance sit in horrors chaire Where quenchlesse flames of sulphur fire be flashing Where damned soules blaspheme God in despight Where utter darknesse stands remov'd from light Where plagues inviron torments compasse round Where anguish rores in never stinted sorrow Where woe woe woe is every voices sound Where night eternall never yeelds tomorrow VVhere damned tortures dreadfull shall persever So long as God is God So long is ever Heavens Glory WHo loves this life from love his love doth erre And chusing drosse rich treasure doth denie Leaving the pearle Christs counsels to preferre With selling all we have the same to buy O happy soule that doth disburse a summe To gaine a kingdome in the life to come Such trafficke may be tearmed heavenly thrift Such venter hath no hazard to disswade Immortall purchase with a mortall gift The greatest gaine that ever Merchant made To get a crowne where Saints and Angels sing For laying out a base and earthly thing To taste the joyes no humane knowledge knowes To heare the tunes of the coelestiall quires T' attaine heav'ns sweet and mildest calme repose To see Gods face the summe of good desires Which by his glorious Saints is howerly eyde Let sight with seeing never satisfide Sod as he is sight beyond estimate Which Angel tongues are unt aught to discover Whose splendor doth The heavens illustrate Vnto which sight each sight becomes a lover Whom all the glorious court of heaven laud With praises of eternities applaud There where no teares are to interpret griefes For any sighes heart dolours to expound There where no treasure is surpris'd by theeves Nor any voice that speakes with sorrowes sound No use of passions no distempered thought No spot of sinne no deed of errour wrought The native home of pilgrime soules abode Rest's habitation joyes true residence Ierusalem's new Citie built by God Form'd by the hands of his owne excellence With gold pav'd streets the wals of precious stone VVhere all sound praise to him sits on the throne HEAVENS Glory EARTHS Vanitie and HELLS Torments Of the Glory of the blessed Saints in Heaven TO the end there might want nothing to stirre up our mindes to verâ—e after the paines which Almighty God threatneth to the wicked he doth also set before us the reward of the good which is that glory and everlasting life which the blessed Saints doe enjoy in Heaven whereby he doth very mightily allure us to the love of the same But what manner of thing this reward and what this life is there is no tongue neither of Angels nor of men that is sufficient to expresse it Howbeit that wee may have some kinde of savour and knowledge thereof I intend here to rehearse even word for word what S. Augustine saith in one of his meditations speaking oâ— the life everlasting ensuing thiâ— transitorie time and of the joyes of the blessed Saints in Heaven O life saith he prepared by Almighty God for his friends a blessed life a secure life a quiet life a beautifull life a cleane life a chast life a holy life a life that knoweth no death a life without sadnesse without labour without griefe without trouble without corruption without feare without variety without alteration a life replenished with all beautie and dignity where there is neither enemy that can offend nor delight that can annoy where love is perfect and no feare at all where the day is everlasting and the spirit of all is one where Almighty God is seene face to face who is the onely meate whereupon they feed without loathsomenesse it delighteth mee to consider thy brightnesse and thy treasures doe rejoyce my longing heart The more I consider thee the more I am striken in love with thee The great desire I have of thee doth wonderfully delight me and no lesse pleasure is it to me to keepe thee in my remembrance O life most happy O kingdome truly blessed wherein there is no death nor end neither yet succession of time where the day continuing evermore without night knoweth not any mutation where the victorious Conqueror being joyned with those everlasting quires of Angels and having his head crowned with a garland of glory singeth unto Almighty God one of the songs of Sion Oh happy yea and most happy should my soule be if when the race of this my pilgrimage is ended I might bee worthy to see thy glory thy blessednesse thy beauty the wals and gates of thy Citie thy streets thy lodgings thy noble Citizens and thine omnipotent King in his most glorious Majestie The stones of thy wals are precious thy gates are adorned with bright pearles thy streets are of very fine excellent gold in which there never faile perpetuall praises thy houses are paved with rich stones wrought throughout with Saphirs
and covered about with massie gold where no uncleane thing may enter neither doth any abide there that is defiled Faire and beautifull in thy delights art thou O Ierusalem our mother none of those things are suffered in thee that are suffered here There is great diversitie betweene thy things and the things that wee doe continually see in this life In thee is never seene neither darkenesse nor night neither yet any change of time The light that shineth in thee commeth neither of lampes nor of Sunne or Moone nor yet of bright glittering Starres but God that proceedeth of God and the light that commeth of light is he that giveth clearenes unto thee Even the very King of Kings himselfe keepeth continuall residence in the middest of thee compassed about with his officers and servants There doe the Angels in their orders and Quires sing a most sweere and melodious harmony There is celebrated a perpetuall solemnity and feast with every one of them that cōmeth thither after his departure out of this pilgrimage There be the orders of Prophets there is the famous company of the Apostles there is the invincible army of Martyrs there is the most reverentassembly of confessors there are the true and perfect religious persons there are the holy Virgins which have overcome both the pleasures of the world and the frailty of their owne nature there are the young men and young women more ancient in vertue than in yeares there are the sheepe and little lambes that have escaped from the Wolves and from the deceitfull snares of this life and therefore doe now keepe a perpetuall feast each one in his place all alike in joy though different in degree There Charity raigneth in her full perfection for unto them God is all in all whom they behold without end in whose love they bee all continually inflamed whom they doe alwaies love and in loving doe praise and in praising doe love and all their exercises consist in praises without wearinesse and without travell O happie were I yea and very happy indeed if at what time I shall bee loosed out of the prison of this wretched body I might be thought worthy to heare those songs of that heavenly melody sung in the praise of the everlasting King by all the Citizens of that so noble Citie Happie were I and very happie if I might obtaine a roome among the Chaplaines of that Chappell and wait for my turne also to sing my Hallelujah If I might bee neare to my King my God my Lord and see him in his glory even as he hath promised me when he said O Father this is my last determinate will that all those that thou hast given unto me may be with me and see the glory which I had with thee before the world was created Hetherto are the words of S. Augustine Now tell me Christian brother what a day of glorious shine shall that be unto thee if thou lead thy life in Gods feare when after the course of this pilgrimage thou shalt passe from death to immortality and in that passage when others shall beginne to feare thou shalt beginne to rejoyce and lift up thy head because the day of thy deliverance is at hand Come forth a little saith S. Ierome unto the Virgine Eustochia out of the prison of this body and when thou art before the gate of this Tabernacle set before thy eyes the reward that thou hopest to have for thy present labours Tell me what a day shall that bee when our Lord himselfe with all his Saints shall come and meete thee in the way saying unto thee Arise and make hast O my beloved my delight and my Turtle dove for now the VVinter is past and the tempestuous waters are ceased the flowers doe beginne to appeare in our land Cant. 2. How great joy shall thy soule then receive when it shall be at that time presented before the Throne of the most blessed Trinity by the hands of the holy Angels and when shall be declared thy good workes and what crosses tribulations and injuries thou hast suffered for Gods sake Acts 9. S. Luke writeth That when holy Tabitha the great almes giver was dead all the Widdowes and poore folke came about the Apostle S. Peter shewing unto him the garments which shee had given them wherewith the Apostle being moved made his prayer unto Almighty God for that so mercifull a woman and by his prayers he raised her againe to life Now what a gladnesse will it be to thy soule when in the middest of those blessed spirits thou shalt bee placed with remembrance of thy almes-deeds thy prayers and fastings the innocency of thy life thy suffering of wrongs and injuries thy patience in afflictions thy temperance in diet with all other vertues and good workes that thou hast done in all thy life O how great joy shalt thou receive at that time for all the good deeds that thou hast wrought how clearely then shalt thou understand the value and the excellencie of vertue There the obedient man shall talke of victories there vertue shall receive her reward and the good honoured according to their merit Moreover vvhat a pleasure vvill it bee unto thee when thou shalt see thy selfe to bee in that sure haven and shalt looke back upon the course of thy navigation which thou hast sailed here in this life when thou shalt remember the tempests wherein thou hast beene tossed the straits through which thou hast passed and the dangers of theeves and pyrats from whom thou hast escaped There is the place where they shall sing the song of the Prophet which saith Had it not beene that our Lord had beene mine helper it could not be but my soule had gone into hell Especially when from thence thou shalt behold so many sins as are committed every houre in the world so many soules as doe descend every day into hell and how it hath pleased Almighty God that among such a multitude of damned persons thou shouldst be of the number of his elect and one of those to whom he would grant such exceeding great felicity and glory Besides all this what a goodly sight will it bee to see those seats filled up and the Citie builded and the wals of that noble Ierusalem repaired againe With what chearefull embracings shall the whole court of Heaven entertaine them beholding them when they come loaden with the spoiles of their vanquished enemies There shall those valiant men and women enter with triumph which have together with the world conquered the weakenesse of their owne fraile nature There shall they enter which have suffered martyrdome for Christs sake with double triumph over the flesh and the world adorned with all coelestiall glory There shall also daily enter many young men and children which have vanquished the tendernesse of their young yeares with discretion and vertue Oh how sweet and savorie shall the fruit of vertue then be although for a time before her roots seemed very bitter sweete
doe farre excell her fame and that all which is spoken in praise of her is nothing in comparison of that which she is indeed That a man ought not to deferre his Repentance and Conversion unto God from day to day considering he hath so many debts to discharge by reason of the offences committed in his sinfull life already past NOw then if on the one side there be so many and so great respects that doe binde us to change our sinfull life and on the other side we have not any sufficient excuse why wee should not make this exchange How long wilt thou tarry untill thou fully resolve to doe it Turne thine eyes a little and look back upon thy life past and consider that at this present of what age soever thou be it is high time or rather the time well nigh past to begin to discharge some part of thy old debts Consider that thou which art a Christian regenerated in the water of holy Baptisme which doest acknowledge Almighty God for thy Father and the Catholike Church for thy Mother whom she hath nourished with the milke of the Gospell to wit with the doctrine of the Apostles and Evangelists consider I say that all this notwithstanding thou hast lived even as loosely and dissolutely as if thou hadst beene a meere Infidell that had never any knowledge of Almighty God And if thou doe denie this then tell me what kinde of sin is there which thou hast not committed What tree is there forbidden that thou hast not beholden with thine eyes What greene meddow is there in which thou hast not at the least in desire feasted thy letcherous lust what thing hath beene set before thine eyes that thou hast not wantonly desired What appetite hast thou left unexecuted notwithstanding that thou didst beleeve in Almighty God and that thou wert a Christian What wouldst thou have done more if thou hadst not had any faith at all If thou hadst not looked for any other life If thou hadst not feared the dreadfull day of judgement What hath all thy former life beene but a web of sinnes a sinke of vices a way full of brambles and thornes and a froward disobedience of God with whom hast thou hitherto lived but onely with thine appetite with thy flesh with thy pride and with the goods and riches of this transitory world These have beene thy gods these have beene thine idols whom thou hast served and whose lawes thou hast diligently obeyed Make thine account with the Almighty God with his lawes and with his obedience and peradventure thou shalt finde that thou hast esteemed him no more than if he had beene a god of wood or stone For it is certaine that there bee many Christians which beleeving that there is a God are induced to sinne with such facility as though they beleeved that there were no God at all and doe offend no whit the lesse though they beleeve that there is a God then they would doe if they beleeved there were none at all What greater injurie what greater despight can bee done than so to contemne his divine majestie Finally thou beleeving all such things as Christs Church doth beleeve hast notwithstanding so led thy life as if thou wert perswaded that the beleefe of Christians were the greatest fables or lies in the world And if the multitude of thy sinnes past and the faculty thou hast used in committing of them doe not make thee afraid why dost thou not feare at the least the Majesty and omnipotencie of him against whom thou hast sinned Lift up thine eyes and consider the infinite greatnesse and omnipotencie of the Lord whom the powers of Heaven do adore before whose Majesty the whole compasse of the wide world lyeth prostrate in whose presence all things created are no more than chaffe carried away with the winde Consider also with thy selfe how unseemely it is that such a vile worme as thou art should have audacity so many times to offend and provoke the wrath of so great a Majesty Consider the wonderfull and most terrible severity of his justice and what horrible punishments hee hath used from time to time in the world against sinne and that not onely upon particular persons but also upon Cities Nations Kingdomes and Provinces yea upon the universall World And not onely in earth but also in Heaven and not onely upon strangers sinners but even upon his owne most innocent sonne our sweet Saviour Jesus Christ when he tooke upon him to satisfie for the debt that we owed And if this severity was used upon greene and innocent wood and that for the sinnes of others what then will he doe upon dry and withered wood and against those that are loden with their owne sinnes Now what thing can bee thought more unreasonable then that such a fraile wretch as thou art should bee so saucie and malapert as to mocke with so mightie a Lord whose hand is so heavie that in case hee should strike but one stroke upon thee hee would at one blow drive thee downe headlong into the deepe bottomelesse pit of hell without remedy Consider likewise the great patience of this our mercifull Lord who hath expected thy repentance so long even from the time that thou didst first offend him and think that if after so long patience and tarrying for thee thou shalt still continue thy leaud and sinfull life abusing thus his mercy and provoking him to further indignation and wrath hee will then bend his bowe and shake his sword and raine downe upon thee even sharpe arrowes of everlasting wrath and death Consider also the profoundnesse of his deepe judgments wherof we read and see daily so great wonders We see how Salomon himselfe after his so great wisdome and after those three thousand parables and most profound mysteries uttered by him was forsaken by Almighty God and suffered to fall down and adore Idols Wee see how one of those seven first Deacons of the Primitive Church which were full of the Holy Ghost became not onely an hereticke but also an arch-hereticke and a father of heresies We see daily many starres fall downe from Heaven unto earth with miserable fals and to wallow themselves in the durt and to eate the meate of swine which sate before at Gods owne table and were fed with the very bread of Angels If then the just and righteous for some secret pride or negligence or else for some ingratitude of theirs be thus justly forsaken of Almighty God after they have bestowed so many yeares in his service What maist thou looke for that hast done in a manner nothing else in all thy life time but onely heaped sinnes upon sinnes and hast thereby offended Almighty God most grievously Now if thou hast lived after this sort were it not reason that thou shouldst now at the length give over and cease heaping sinne upon sinne and debt upon debt and begin to pacifie the wrath of Almighty God and to disburden thy sinnefull soule Were
at least God made me Man I make my selfe a Beast How swelt I with hard travell through the Dale That leads to Prophanations irkesome cell But freeze by softly pacing up the skale Where burning zeale and her bright sisters dwell Thus sweat I in the shadow shake i' th shine And by free choice from good to ill decline Sweet Saviour cleanse my leprous loathsome soule In that depurpled Fount which forth thy side Gurgling did twixt two Lilly-mountaines roule To rinse Mans tainted Race Sin soylifide Wash it more white than the triumphant Swan That rides o' th silver brest of Eridan Suffer my prayers harmony to rise Into thine eares while th' Angels beare a part Accept my Sighs as smelling Sacrifice Sent from the Altar of my bleeding heart Vp to thy nostrils sweet as th' Oyle of Aaron Or th' odoriferous Rose of flowrie Sharon The Hart ne're long'd more for the purling brookes Nor did the lustfull Goate with more pursuit After the blossom'd Tritisolie looke Then do's my panting Soule t' enjoy the fruit Of thy Life-waâ—er which if I attaine To taste of once I ne're shall thirst againe Even as the chapped ground in Summers heat Cals to the clouds and gapes at every showre Whose thirstie Casma's greedily intreat As tho they would th' whole house of heav'n deuour So do's my riven Soule be parcht with sin Yawne wide to let moyst drops of Mercie in Earths Vanitie VAnitie of vanities and all is but vanitie saith the wisest Preacher that ever wrote One generation passeth and another commeth and all is but vexation of spirit Which divine theorem that we may the better perceive let us set our selves to the serious meditation of it for the more we search the more we shall see all things to be vanity nothing constant nothing for our eternall good but our soules salvation Mans life on earth doth no sooner begin but his end approacheth his death hasteneth Some come upon the stage of this world but to have a breathing and are presently gone others stay a while longer it may be a day perhaps a weeke perhaps a month peradventure a yeare or it may bee some few yeares but alas the longer they stay the greater their griefe care feare and anxietie of minde Even in the infancy of age man is oft times left as Moses sometime was in the flouds of misery but as age increaseth sorrow increaseth because sinne increaseth when youth runnes most at randome and thinketh it selfe most safe it is then hemm'd in with greatest dangers then the rashfoole-hardy minde of man hurrieth him headlong to hell except the irresistible power of Gods preventing grace doth speedily stay him then his wits are even intoxicated with a frenzie of iniquity and wholly bent upon riotousnesse rashnesse luxury jollitie superfluity and excesse in carnall pleasures Hee then devoteth his time and addicteth himselfe to all manner of evill drinking dancing revelling swaggering swearing whoring gaming quarreling fighting and in the meane while never thinkes on Heaven nor feareth hell His head is frought with vanities his heart with fallacies where by his soule is brought into â— labyrinth of inextricable miseries So great is the temerity oâ— his unadvised minde that nâ— consideration of Gods judgements either past or present or to come can set a stop to his wickednesse His youthfullnesse damps at no bogges quagmires hils or mountaines but wingeth him over all impediments mounts him over all motives that might way-lay his sinnes He sticks not to offenâ— his maker to recrucifie his Redeemer to resist shall I say his Sanctifier no but the Spirit whom God hath given to be his sanctifier and if hee so carry himselfe toward these no mervaile that he derideth his Tutor scornes the Minister like the little children that mock'd Elisha oppresseth his poore brother as Pharaoh did the Israelites spareth not Infants no more then Herod did regardeth not parents no more then Hophni and Phinias did Let the mother direct him the father correct him his ancients instruct him alas all is in vaine youth makes men head-strong selfe-conceited and proud so that they swell with an overweening opinion of their owne worth they thinke themselves the onely wits of the time the onely men of the world more fit to teach others then to learne themselves more able to give then to take advice If they go on a while in their lewd courses without the restraining and renewing Grace of God they get a habit of evill are hardned through the custome of sinne none may resist them none compare with them no law of God or man can restraine them They take counsell together against the Lord and against his annointed saying Let us breake their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us Whereupon oftentimes the ripenesse of sinnâ— being hastened by outragiousnesse of sinning God suddenly cuts them off in their intemperancy luxury quarrels and disorders which shewes theâ— vainenesse to be meere vanity Suppose they grow as great as Tamberlaine yet a Gunne Pike Arrow nay a Fly Flea or Gnat a dram nay a drop of poyson proves them to bee vaine men one of these silly creatures may send him presently to his Creator to receive his finall doome Yet alas what doe these most minde The bum-basted silken Gallants of our time that come forth like a May morning decked with all the glory of Art the Epicurean Cormerants the gusâ—ing and tipling tosse-pots the dainty painting Dames the dedicate mincing Ladies the sweet-singing Syrens the dancing Damsels the finicall youths the couzening Shop-keeper the crafty Crafts-man I say what doe all these but set their minds upon vanitie upon glory honour pride drosse and such like trash which weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary prove lighter then vanity Doe we not sometime see more spent upon one suite in Law then would keepe a poore Country towne with the inhabitants for a whole yeare See wee not more spent upon one suite of apparell for one proud carkasse then would build Free-schoole So that the cloathes on many a Gallant backe exceeds his Rent-day See wee not more spent upon Feast to satisfie the curiosity oâ— a few then would satisfie thâ— necessity of a hundred poore wretches almost famished to death See wee not more drunke in a Taverne at one sitting by a small company then would serve a troope of sturdy Souldiers in the field Many goe daily to the Tavern where they sticke not to spend their twelve pence who would grudge to give one penny nay one farthing to a hungry begger Againe is there not now more spent upon a Ladies feather then would pay a meane mans tythes Is there not more spent upon one paire of sleeves then would cloath sixe bodies and more spent at a Whitsun-ale then would keepe the poore of the Parish for a yeare Have wee not amongst our Gentry some of the female sexe who will spend more upon a Glasse and a pot of complexion then they will give a
mispent their time in vanity Oh that now I might die the death of the righteous Oh that I might not die at all Oh that I might feele in my conscience the least hope of pardon which is as unpossible as to unâ—ade all the water in the vast Ocean with aspoone Oh that God would give mee the least dram of grace which is as impossible as for the least graine of Mustardseed to fill the whole earth prevent this betimes which thou maist doe by abandoning the vanity of the world and so live that wheresoever or howsoever thou dyest whether abroad or at home by day or by night sleeping or waking whether a sodaine death or a deliberate death thou maist willingly commend thy spirit unto the hands of God as unto the hands of a faithfull Creator and maist say with the Bride Come Lord Iesu even so come Lord Iesu come quickly my heart is prepared to enter into thy rest receive me into the armes of thy mercy entertaine mee into thy owne kingdome that leaving the vanity of this world I may with thy glorified Angels and blessed Saints enjoy that everlasting felicity of a better world which never shall have an end Adew therfore vaine world with all worldly delights whatsoever and now solitary soule begin to take thy solace in better things And to prove the world vaine and consequently thy selfe vaine behold these shapes read these Verses and in order open the leaves that are folded up Herein as in a mirrour behold thy owne estate reade and consider what thou readest that thou maist know and see thy owne vanity Here thou shalt see what thou wert what thou art and what thou shalt be Dust thou wert dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt returne dust in thy creation dust in thy constitution dust in thy dissolution Hels Torments I. THough long it were since Adam was Yet seemes he here to be A blessed creature once he was Now naked as you see Whose wife was cause of all my care To say I may be bold Turne back the leaves and then you may My picture there behold II. To thinke upon the workes of God All worldly men may wonder But thinking on thy sinnes O man Thy heart may burst asunder The sinner sits and sweetly sings And so his heart beguiles Till I come with my bitter stings And turne to griefe his smiles III. Muse not to gaze upon my shape Whose nakednesse you see By flattering and deceitfull words The Divell deceived me Let me example be to all That once from God doe range Turne backe the leaves and then behold Another sight as strange IV. Had Adam and Eve never beene As there you saw their shape I never had deceived them Nor they ere made debate But turne behold where both doe stand And lay the fault on me Turne backe the upper and nether crests There each of them you see I. III. Here we doe standin perfect state All formed as we were But what the Serpent did by hate Shall sodainely appeare Then here behold how both doe stand And where the fault did lye Th' almighty power did so command That once we all must dye II. IV. See what comes of wicked deed As all men well doe know And for the same God hath decreed That we should live in woe The dust it was my daily food Vnto it we must turne And darknesse is my chiefe abode In sorrow so we mourne Of the punishments which the Lord threatneth unto such as live a sinfull life ONe of the principall meanes that our Lord hath used oftentimes to bridle the hearts of men and to draw them unto the obedience of his commandements hath beene to set before their eyes the horrible plagues and punishments that are prepared for such persons as bee rebels and transgressours of his Law For although the hope of the rewards that are promised unto the good in the life to come may move us very much hereunto yet are wee commonly more moved with things that be irkesome unto us than with such as be pleasant even as we see by daily experience that we are vexed more with an injury done unto us than delighted with any honour and we are more troubled with sicknesse than comforted with health and so by the discommodity of sicknes we come to understand the commodity of health as by a thing so much the better perceived by how much more it is sensibly felt Now for this cause did our Lord in times past use this meane more than any other as it appeareth most clearely by the writings of the Prophets which are every where full of dreadfull sayings and threatnings wherewith our Lord pretendeth to put a terrour into the hearts of men and so to bridle and subdue them under the obedience of his Law And for this end he commanded the Prophet Ieremie That hee should take a white booke and write in the same all the threatnings and calamities which hee had revealed unto him even from the first day he began to mlke with him untill that present houre and that he should read the same in the presence of all the people to see if peradventure they would bee moved therewith unto repentance and to change their former life to the end that hee might also change the determination of his wrath which he had purposed to execute upon them And the holy Scripture saith That when the Prophet had done according as hee was commanded by almighty God and had read all those threatnings in the presence of the people and of the Rulers there arose such a feare and terrour amongst them that they were all astonished and as it were bestraughted of their wits looking one in anothers face for the exceeding great fear which they had conceived of those words This was one of the principall means which Almighty God used with men in the time of the written Law and so he did also in the time of the Law of graces in vvhich the holy Apostle saith That as there is revealed a justice vvhereby God maketh men just so is there also revealed an indignation and vvrath vvhereby he punisheth the unjust for vvhich cause S. Iohn Baptist the glorious forerunner of our Saviour Christ was sent vvith this commission and embassage to preach unto the world That the axe was now put to the rooot of the tree and that every tree that brought not forth good fruit should bee cut downe and cast into the fire Hee said moreover That there was another come into the world more mighty than hee that carried in his hand a fanne to winnow and cleanse therewith his floore and that he would put up the corne into his garner but the chaffe hee will burne in a fire that should never bee quenched This was the preaching and embassage which â—he holy fore-runner of our Saviour Jesus Christ brought â—nto the world And so great was the thunder of these words â—nd the terrour which entered â—nto mens hearts so dreadfull that
sorrowes of hell have compassed me round about and the snares of death have besieged me For on which side soever they looke or turne their eyes they doe continually behold occasions of sorrow and griefe and none at all of any ease or comfort The wise Virgins saith the Evangelist that stood ready prepared at the gate of the Bridegroome entred in and the gate was forthwith locked fast O locking everlasting O enclosure immortall O gate of all goodnesse which shal never any more be opened againe As if he had said more plainely the gate of pardon of mercy of comfort of grace of intercession of hope and of all other goodnesse is shut up for ever and ever Six daies and no more was Manna to be gathered but the seventh day which was the Sabbath day was there none to bee found and therefore shall he fast for ever that hath not in due time made his provision aforehand The sluggard saith the Wise man will not till his ground for feare of cold and therefore shall he beg his bread in summer and no man shall give him to eat And in another place he saith He that gathereth in summer is a wise sonne but hee that giveth himselfe to sleeping at that season is the sonne of confusion For what confusion can be greater then that which that miserable covetous rich man suffereth who with a few crums of bread that fell from his table might have purchased to himselfe abundance of everlasting felicity and glory in the kingdome of Heaven But because he would not give so small a thing he came to such an extreame necessity that he begged yea and shall for ever beg in vaine onely one drop of water and shall never obtaine it Who is not moved with that request of that unfortunate damned person who cried O father Abraham have compassion on me and send downe Lazarus unto me that hee may dip the tip of his finger in water and touch my tongue for these horrible flames doe torment me exceedingly What smaller request could there be desired than this He durst not request so much as one cup of water neither that Lazarus should put his whole hand into the water nor yet which is more to be wondered at did he request so much as the whole finger but onely the tip of it that it might but touch his tongue and yet even this alone would not be granted unto him Whereby thou maiest perceive how fast the gate of all consolation is shut up and how universall that interdict and excommunication is that is there laid upon the damned sith this rich Glutton could not obtaine so much as this small request So that wheresoever the damned persons doe turne their eyes and on which side soever they stretch their hands they shall not finde any manner of comfort be it never so small And as he that is in the Sea choaked and almost drowned under the water not finding any stay whereupon to set his foot stretcheth forth his hands oftentimes on every side in vaine because all that he graspeth after is thin and liquid water which deceives him even so shall it fare with the damned persons when they shall be drowned in that deepe Sea of so many miseries where they shall strive and struggle alwaies with death without finding any succour or place of stay whereupon they may rest themselves Now this is one of the greatest paines wherewith they be tormented in that cursed place for if these torments should have their continuance limited but for a certaine time though it were for a thousand yea a hundred thousand millions of yeares yet even this would be some little comfort unto them for nothing is perfectly great in case it have an end But alas they have not so much as this poore and miserable comfort but contrariwise their paines are equall in continuance with the eternity of Almighty God and the lasting of their misery with the eternity of Gods glory As long as Almighty God shall live so long shall they die and when Almighty God shall cease to be God then shall they also cease to be as they are O deadly life O immortall death I know not whether I may truely tearme thee either life or death for if thou be life why dost thou kill And if thou be death why doest thou endure Wherefore I will call thee neither the one nor the other for so much as in both of them there is contained something that is good as in life there is rest and in death there is an end which is a great comfort to the afflicted but thou hast neither rest nor end What art thou then Marry thou art the worst of life and the worst of death for of death thou hast the torment without any end and of life thou hast the continuance without any rest O bitter composition O unsavory purgation of our Lords cup of the which all the sinners of the earth shall drinke their part Now in this continuance in this eternity I would wish that thou my deare Christian brother wouldst fixe the eyes of thy consideration a little while and that as the cleane beast cheweth the cud even so thou wouldest weigh this point within thy selfe with great deliberation And to the intent thou maiest doe it the better consider a little the paines that a sicke man abideth in one evill night especially if he be vexed with any vehement griefe or sharpe disease Marke how oft he tumbleth and tosseth in his bed what disquietnesse he hath how long and tedious one night seemeth unto him how duely he counteth all the houres of the clocke and how long hee deemeth each houre of them to be how he passeth the time in wishing for the dawning of the day which notwithstanding is like to helpe him little towards the curing of his disease If this then be accounted so great a torment what torment shall that be thinke you in that everlasting night in hell which hath no morning nor so much as any hope of any dawning of the day O darknesse most obscure O night everlasting O night accursed even by the mouth of Almighty God and all his Saints That one shall wish for light and shall never see it neither shall the brightnesse of the morning arise any more Consider then what a kinde of torment shall that bee to live everlastingly in such a night as this is lying not in a soft bed as the sicke man doth but in a hot burning furnace foming out such terrible raging flames What shoulders shall be able to abide those horrible heats If it seeme to us as a thing intollerable to have onely some part of our feet standing upon a pan of burning coales for the space of repeating the Lords prayer What shall it be thinke you to stand body and soule burning in the midst of those everlasting hot raging fires in hell in comparison of which the fires of this world are but painted fires Is there any wit or judgement in this
continuing in such a dissolute and wicked life as thou doest Where is now become the understanding judgement and reason which thou hast of a man Why art thou not affraid of so horrible so certaine and so assured perils and dangers if there were a dish oâ— meate set before thee and some man albeit hee were a lyer should say unto thee refraine to touch and eate therof for it is poysoned durst thou once adventure to stretch out thy hand to take a taste thereof though the meate were never so savoury and delicate and hee never so great a lyer that should beare thee thus in hand If then the Prophets if the Apostles if the Evangelists yea if Almighty God himselfe doe cry out unto thee and say Take heede thou miserable man for death is in that kinde of meate and death doth lye lurking in that gluttoâ—ous morsell which the divell hath set before thee How daâ—est thou reach for everlasting death with thine owne hands â—nd drinke thine owne damnaâ—ion Where is the applying of â—hy wits thy judgement and the discourse and reason which â—hou hast of a spirituall man Where is their light where is â—heir force Sith that none of â—hem doe bridle thee any whit from thy common usuall vices Oh thou wretched and carelesse creature be witched by the â—ommon enemy Satan adjudgâ—d to everlasting darknesse both inward and outward and so â—oest goe from one darkenesse â—o the other Thou art blinde to see thine owne misery in sensible to understand thine owne perdition and hardeâ— than any Adamant to feele the hammer of Gods word Oh a thousand times most miserable thou art worthy to be lamented with none other teares than with those wherewith thy damnation was lamented when iâ— was said Luke 19. Oh that thou knewest this day the peace quietnesse and treasures which Almighty God hath offered unto thee that doe now lye hidden from thine eyes Oh miserable is the day of thy nativity and much more miserable the day of thy death forsomuch as that shall be the beginning of thine everlasting damnation Oh how much better had it beene for thee never to have been borne if thou shalt be damned in the horrible pit of hell for ever where the torments are perpetually durable How much better had it beene for thee never to have beene baptised not yet to have received the Christian Faith if through the abusing thereof by thy wicked life thy damnation shallt hereby be the greater For if the light of reason onely sufficeth to make the Heathen Philosophers inexcusable because they knowing God in some degree did not glorifie him nor serve him as the Apostle saith in the first to the Romans how much lesse shall hee be excused that hath received the light of faith and the water of Baptisme yea and the holy Sacrament of the body and bloud of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ hearing daily the doctrine of the Gospell if hee doe nothing more than those Pagan Philosophers have done Now what other thing may we inferre of the premises but briefly to conclude That there is none other understanding none other wisedome none other counsell in the world but that setting aside all the impediments and combersome dangerous wayes of this life wee follow that onely true and certaine way whereby true peace and everlasting life is obtained Hereunto are we called by reason by wisedome by law by heaven by earth by hell and by the life death justice and mercy of Almighty God Hereunto are we also very notably invited by the Holy Word spoken by the mouth of Ecclesiasticus in the sixt Chapter in this wise My sonne hearken to instruction even from the first yeares of thy youth and in thy latter daies thou shalt enjoy the sweet fruit of wisedome Approach unto it as one that ploweth and soweth and with patience expect the fruitfull increase which it shall yeeld unto thee The paines that thou shalt take shall bee but little and the benefits that thou shalt speedily enjoy shall be great My son hearken to my words and neglect not this my counsell which I shall give thee put thy feet willingly into her fetters and thy necke into her chaines bow downe thy shoulders and carry her upon thee and be not displeased with her bonds approach neere unto her with all thy heart and follow her wayes with all thy strength seeke for her with all thy diligence and she will make her selfe knowne unto thee and after that thou hast found her never forsake her for by her shalt thou finde rest in thy latter daies and that which before did seeme so painfull unto thee will afterwards become very pleasant Her fetters shall be a defence of thy strength and a foundation of vertue and her chaine shall be a â—obe of glory for in her is the beauty of life and her bonds â—re the bonds of health Hetherto Ecclesiasticus Whereby thou maiest understand in some degree how great the beauty the delights the liberty and riches of true wisedome are which is vertue it selfe and the knowledge of Almighty God wherof wee doe intreate But if all this be insufficient to mollifie our stony hearts lift up thine eyes and fix thy thoughts constantly to behold our omnipotent God in his mercy and love towards sinners upon his dying crosse where he made full satisfaction for thy sinnes There shalt thou behold him in this forme his feet nailed fast looking for thee his armes spread abroad to receive thee and his head bowing downe to give thee as to another prodigall sonne new kisses of peace and attonement From thence hee calleth thee if thou wouldest heare with so many callings and cries as there be wounds in his whole body Hearken thou therefore unto these voyces and consider well with thy selfe that if his prayer be not heard that hearkeneth not unto the cries of the poore how much lesse shall he be heard that maketh himselfe deafe to such cries as these being the most mercifull cryings of our loving Saviour and intended for our soules salvation Who is he that hath not cause to resolve himselfe wholly into teares to weepe and bewaile his manifold offences Who is he that can lament and will not lament at this unlesse he be such a one as seeth not nor careth what great shipwracke waste and havocke he maketh of al the riches and treasures of his soule FINIS GODLY PRAYERS NECESSARY AND VSEFVLL for Christian Families upon severall occasions Therefore I say unto you What things ever yee desire when yee pray beleeve â—â—at ye receive them and yee shall â—â—ve them LONDON Printed by G. M. for M. S. 1629. Godly CHRISTIAN Prayers A houshold Prayer for private Families in the Morning MOst mighty and glorious God the onely Creator and Governour of Heaven and â—arth and all things therein â—ontained we miserable sinners here met together by thy graâ—â— doe in thy feare prostrate selves before thy throne of Majesty and glory desiring in so measure to shew
serve thee faithfully both in the duties of piety and in other businesse of my place and calling that I may be a comfort to my husband aâ— example to my neighbours â— grace to my profession and â— meanes of glory to thy Name through Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour Amen FINIS THE COMMON CALLES CRIES and Sounds of the BEL-MAN OR Divers verses to put us in minde of our mortality Which serve as warnings to be prepared at all times for the day of death LONDON Printed by G. M. for M. S. Junior at the Blew Bible in Green-Arbour 1639. THE BEL-MANS SOVNDS For Christmas day REmember all that on this Morne Our blesseds aviour Christ was borne Who issued from a Virgin pure Our soules from Satan to secure And patronise our feeble spirit That we through him may heaven inherit For Saint Stephens day THis blessed time beare in your mind How that blest Martyr Stephen died In whom was all that good confinde That might with flesh and blood abide In Doctrine and example he Taught what to doe and what to flee Full of the Spirit he would preach Against opinions false and naught Confute them to and bouldly teach What Christ himselfe to him had taught For which at last he lost his breath Ston'd by the stonie hearts to death Let us then learne by this blest Martyrs end To see our follies and our lives amend For Saint Iohns day THis man the Word did bouldly teach Saw Christ transform'd and did preach The glory in that Mount he saw And by that glory strove to draw The soule of man from sinfull thrall To heaven to which God send us all For Innocents day THe swords of Herods servants tooke Such sweet yong things as with a look Might make a heart of Marble melt But they no grace nor pittie felt Some from the cradle some awake Some sweetly sleeping some they take Dandled upon their mothers lap Some from their armes some from the pap For New-yeares day ALL you that doe the Bell-man heere The first day of this hopefull yeare â—oe in love admonish you So bid your old sins all adue And walk as Gods just Law requires In holy deeds and good desires Which if to doe you le doe your best God will in Christ forgive the rest For Saint Davids day I Am no Welchman but yet to show The love I to the Countrey owe I call this morning and be seeke Each man prepare him for his Leeke For as I heare some men say The first of March is Saint Davids day That worthy Britaine valiant wise Withstood his countries enemies And caused his Souldiers there to choose Leekes for to know them from his foes Who bravely fought and conquest wone And so the custome first begun Then weare your Lecks and doe not shame To memorize your worthies name So noble Britaines all adew Love stil King Charles for he loves you For the 5. of Novemb. AWake Britaines subjects with one accord Extoll and praise and magnifie the Lord Humble your hearts and with devotion sing Praises of thanks to God for our most gratious King This was the night when in a darkesome Cell Treason was found in earth it hatcht in hell And had it tooke effect what would avail'd our sorrow The traine being laid to have blowne us up o' th' morrow Yet God our guide reveal'd the damned plot And they themselves destroy'd and we were not Then let us not forget him thanks to render That hath preserv'd and kept our faiths Defender For Good Friday ALL you that now in bed do lie Know Iesus Christ this night did die â—â—r soules most sinfull for to save That we eternall life might have His whips his grones his crown of thorns Would make us weep lament and mourn For Sunday LEt labour passe let prayer be This day the chiefest worke for thee Thy selfe and servants more and lesse This day must let all labour passe ALL hale to you that sleepe and rest Repent awake your sins detest Call to your mind the day of doome For then our Saviour Christ will come Accompt to have he hath decreed Of every thought word worke and deed And as we have our times here past So shall our judgements be at last AS darke some night unto thy thoughts present What 't is to want the daies bright Element So let thy soule descend through contemplation Where utter darknesse keepes her habitation Where endlesse easelesse paines remedilesse Attend to torture sins curst wilfulnesse O then remember whilst thou yet hast time To call for mercy for each forepast crime And with good David wash thy bed with teares That so repentance may subdue hels feares Then shall thy sovle more purer then the Sunne Ioy as a Gyant her best race to run And in unspotted robes her selfe addresse To meet her Lord that Sonne of righteousnesse To whom with God the Father and the Spirit Be all due praise where all true joyes inherit THe Belman like tho wakefull morning Cocke Doth warne you to be vigilant and wise Looke to your fire your candle and your locke Prevent what may through negligence arise So may you sleepe with peace and wake with joy And no mischances shall your state annoy YOur beds compare unto the grave Then think what sepulcher you have For though you lay you downe to sleepe The Bell-man wakes your peace to keepe Andnightly walks the round about To see if fire and light be out But when the morne daies light appeares Be you as ready for your prayers So shall your labours thrive each day That you the Bel-man well may pay LIke to the Seaman is our life Tost by the waves of sinfull strife Finding no ground whereon to stand Vncertaine death is still at hand If that our lives so vainelesse be Then all the world is vanitie THose that live in wrathfull ire And goe to rest in any sinne They are worse unto their house then fire Or violent theeves that would breake in Then seek to shun with all your might That Hidras head that monstrous sin That God may blesse your goods abroad And eke also your selves within SLeepe on in peace yet waking be And dread his powerfull Majestie Who can translate the irkesome night rom darknesse to that glorious light Whose radient beames when once they rise With winged speed the darkenesse flies THou God that art our helpe at hand Preserve and keep our King and land â—rom forraigne and domesticke foes â—uch as the word and truth depose And ever prosper those of pittie That love the peace of this our Citie AWake from sleepe awake from sin With voice and heart to call on him VVho from above pleas'd to descend From Sathans malice to defend Our forfeit soules to that rich grace Where we may still behold his face LEt us repare and God implore That henceforth we transgres no more And that our joy be at this tide That we in him be satisfide Then shall we all for his deare sake