my Burthen light JESVS Christ the great Pattern of our Lives Does bid us follow him and loves who strives To imitate him most for he that can But near him come will be a blessed Man 'T is not commanded nor expected is That our own righteousness should equal His Our God from us doth nothing more require Than our utmost endeavours and desire To do his Will He only calls us to What he does give us Grace and power to do He wills us to believe obey and love But does not give us mountains to remove His yoke is easie and his Burthen light We make of Mole-hills Mountains in our sight To a strong young Man T'Hou'rt young 't is true and strong mayest yet Live many years but do not thou forget That young and healthy People often die By various accidents as suddenly As old nor yet expect that death must bring A Fever to fore-shew thou art dying When death with thee divides this minute's breath Though we call the last act of dying death Because we then do cease to die no more When we are dying all our lives before Thy youth and my gray head now dying are Thou need'st no other Summons to prepare For Heaven but observation every day What multitudes of young men drop away Only the old Man's Dream is almost gone The young Man's Dream but newly is begun The longest is like twinkling of an eye Moments compar'd unto eternity On Hypocrisie HE errs that owns his Crimes in the World's sight To avoid being thought a hypocrite We are not bound our frailties to reveal But may our shame with modesty conceal Rather than aggravate our sins 'gainst God By boasting that we do contemn his Rod. But he that does a feigned Zeal put on To cloak his sins doth scorn Religion And does not only with his base intents Contemn Obedience to Commandments But does that way design his God should shroud His wickedness under a holy cloud And does God's Goodness mock thus to presume Rudely to move his anger to consume Such mad-men as do his known power despise By daring to affront him in disguise Who thinks a Vizard on his face can hide His heart God does such hypocrites deride And will in fury finite so bold offence As undervalues his Omnipotence To GOD. WHen I look back on my past life the ills That I have done my heart with horrour fills And does amaze my frighted Soul to see Thy Judgments due to such impiety But since thy Mercy hath so long forborn To smite and thou art pleas'd at last to turn My heart to Heaven when I was running on Heaping sins on sins to my perdition I bless thy Name that would not let me go To Hell nor suffer me to perish so This Grace gives hope and does my Faith encrease To Confidence that thou wilt now release Me from the punishments and from the shame Due to my Crimes and make me love thy Name It is thy own great Work the honour 's thine I cannot own a vertuous thought for mine Shall I then fear to raise my thoughts to thee When thou dost fill my heart with Piety When my assurance is thy gift I may Approach thy glorious Throne and humbly say Thy Grace hath such a Confidence begot As cannot be in one that loves thee not Lord let this love encrease let it endure Unto my end make my Election sure That I may feast my Soul with thoughts of thee My God the Fountain of Felicity Thus fill'd with Grace and by thy Spirit led I shall for ever live when I am dead And with true courage when I come to die Shall gladly pass to my eternity On a bold profane Sinner WE may well fear great Judgments in our times That dare to boast and glory in our Crimes To sin is humane frailty but to slight Religion and to make 't our chief delight To show how we can triumph in the act Of ev'ry sin does aggravate the fact And make us worse than Heathens heretofore Who never scorn'd those Gods they did adore But Christians now do take the liberty To own no Joy but in the infamy Of their worst deeds and do a War proclaim With Heaven as if they could their God desame The Giants war by Poets feign'd came short Of those who use Devotion as a Sport And rally on their Priests who stories tell To awe the ignorant with Heaven and Hell While Wit and Courage do disdain to be Frighted from Pleasure by such Foppery Thus some gay Gallants of our age do treat Their God as if his Precepts were a cheat To make us live in fear and trembling die With idle Dreams of an Eternity If these Opinions like Contagions spread God may in rigour strike the Nation dead Then sow the Land with Dragons teeth fit seed For soil that does such monstrous people breed On Eternal Life NO sooner born than we begin to die By Nature taught to cry we know not why Till riper years do teach us wicked arts To cozen and betray our wanton hearts That boldly dare our great Creator brave By sinning from our Cradle to our Grave Sad fate for Souls thus destin'd to obey The various Vices of corrupted Clay Involv'd in dangers that we do not fear Because the certain ruine seems not near Till some diviner light our hearts inform How to fail safe in this devouring storm Bless'd be that light which does from terrour free And make us Victors in Captivity For Souls by Grace enlarg'd will quickly taste Such Joys as no Eternity can waste Thus born to live and yet ordain'd to die And live again is such a mystery As only Faith can reach and shew us how To out-live Death by pious living now Which will a prepossession take of Bliss And such angelical transports as this Will such a bless'd celestial Courage give We shall be glad to die that we may live On Valour and Fear VAlour mistaken through the World we see When rashness looks like Magnanimity When senseless Drunkards vap'ring in the Street For want of Courage quarrel all they meet When practised danger brings the meanest Clown To vie with Alexander for Renown When shame will fear remove and money hire The scum of Men to face the Cannon's fire We must some other Rules for Valour find That grows from Vertues of a higher kind These Men do not know why They do not fear to die Experience shews the Valiant and the Wife May start at the first glimpse of a surprise And may avoid such squabbles as will stain Their Courage and no jot of Credit gain High Valour and true Vertue brightly shine When they 're asserted by a Cause Divine When King and Country or thy Church wants aid 'T is basest Cowardice to be afraid True Courage will endeavour to create Safety to them though ruine be their fate These are the Men know why They do not fear to die On Repentance WHen Adam fell GOD did a Curse disperse On all
our tempestuous wicked minds Full fraught with terrours darkness and dismay While sin doth reign and satan bears the sway To be regenerate is to put on The bright raiment of the Resurrection The hardest Lesson that was ever taught The greatest Miracle that e'er was wrought Was Paul's Conversion and Mannasseh's Crimes Forgiven the hope and wonder of all times To be regenerate does put our God Unto a double task his Grace and Rod Are both employ'd for he must first subdue The old man's crimes ere he can frame a new It was Christ's highest business to convert Our stubborn hearts who labour to pervert The benefit of his most precious Blood So freely shed so little understood How to overcome Temptations by Meditation WHen Satan does our fickle hearts assault With pleasing Objects that do cause revolt From God with subtile arts he does surprize Before we can discover his disguise He has as many advocates within As we have appetites to plead for sin How shall we then avoid to be his prey When thus we do our selves our selves betray 'T is dangerous to treat unsafe to fight With foes at home the Enemy in sight So that our only safety's to retreat Send up our Souls unto the Mercy-seat Of God there fly for succour and there dwell Out of the reach of all the powers of hell There Satan cannot come dares not molest That Soul where Christ doth claim an interest When thus our God 's engaged to defend Wise Satan will not offer to contend He does our weakness and his Own Strength know When our vain hearts and we do dwell below Unsensible of those eternal joys Do entertain our selves with earthly toys Then is his time to dazle our weak eyes And win our hearts with glitt'ring vanities But if we love not this Captivity We must contemplate our eternity Tho' flesh be a dull lump that cannot fly Our thoughts have nimble wings to pierce the sky Rise upward then my Soul till thou obtain The highest pitch of Faith which will sustain Thy love to God and bring thee by degrees To taste and relish Heav'n's felicities A pious fancy rais'd by faith will reach Some glimpse of glory and in time will teach Thee to converse with Angels and to know Their glorious Mansions while I dwell below Thou may'st of Bliss a prepossession take Till both do Heaven our habitation make And thus thy unity with Christ discern The only Comfort and the high Concern When thou art full of these great joys above And dost return this ecstasie of love Will bring our God along and we shall here The same Heav'n have as if we both were there For Souls with such Divinity possess'd In spight of all temptations must be bless'd And thou my Soul by this celestial art Wilt soon spiritualize my fleshy heart Such antepasts of Bliss will raise desire From smoaking flax unto a flaming fire Which will my trust confirm my hope assure And will unto eternity endure Then Satan will on his own Envy feed And we shall gain a Victory indeed Queries HAst thou forsak'n thy known sins that were Just arguments for all thy doubts and fear Do Gospel-Graces in thy heart now grow Where various Vanities did overflow Can'st thou o'ercome thy self the World subdue Caesar was a less Conquerour than you Do'st thou love and fear thy God do'st thou dread To do amiss and trust in Christ thy Head Is the Resurrection thy firm belief Does it equal the crucified Thief Do'st thou think Heav'n in all its Beauty shines Brighter than Diamonds from our earthly Mines Do'st thou fancie what that great glory is That fills the Saints with everlasting Bliss Do'st thou believe thy self shall have a share In Paradise as an adopted Heir I do not doubt but thou wilt now say Aye To all those Quaeries of thy Piety There is yet one behind put to the test Will try the intrinsick value of the rest Do'st thou desire to be dissolv'd to be With Christ new-cloath'd with his Divinity The object of thy Faith and Prayers possess Which frees from ills and fills with happiness If the approach of death does make thee start Examin't well thou art not right at heart It is the business of our life to die And to fear death is infidelity In some degree or madness to desire To be in Heav'n that do'st from Heav'n retire To this some pious Christian may reply How can we chuse but be afraid to die When Christ the head of our Humanity Sweat drops of Blood in his great agony But his Passion differ'd from the small pain We feel he did the wrath of God sustain And on himself he all the torments drew Which for the sins of all the world were due And by that act alone destroy'd the sting Of death that so he might more eas'ly bring Mankind to Heav'n leaving us no pretence To fear the passage but our diffidence In the success We either doubt the bliss Or doubt that we the happiness shall miss Young Babes who neither fear nor fancy have Like equally the Cradle and the Grave A Pious Man fears no Danger DOth sickness poverty and shame unite Their forces and together 'gainst thee sight Do griefs abound do evil tongues desame Thy honest actions and asperse thy name With Lyes Art thou from honour tumbled down And dost now plow the Seas for new renown Where the loud winds do make high waves to rage Till they create a storm which does engage Thy ship 'mongst rocks that in the bottom lie And the next moment toss thee to the sky Where thunder with fierce lightnings do conspire To lick thee up into a flaming fire As if the Heavens did with the Seas contest Which of their power could most disturb thy rest Or hast thou ' scap'd the storm and now on shore Do'st meet with greater terrours than before Do the Mountains move and great Cities shake Does the Earth open and a passage make Unto the dark Centre as if the world Should once again be into Chaos hurl'd And all the joys and glories thou hast seen Be quite forgot as if they 'd never been Would'st thou be free from such Calamities As these trample on dangers and despise The terrours of the world Thou must then stand Under his wings that does the world command There six thy heart and hopes and thou wilt find Contentment for thy Body and thy mind There 's no safety nor joy to be compar'd To Piety nor peace like hearts prepar'd For Heav'n We must live so that when we die We may account that change felicity The Power of Faith 'T Is but a weak expression of our Faith Our Love and Gratitude to Christ who hath By his Death freed us from eternal fires If we do only bridle our desires It is not zeal enough that we refrain Our petty appetites and do constrain Our fancies and affections to retire From acts of momentary high desire Nor is it yet enough to be content With frequent
death prevent To free us from that fatal punishment Let us consider how we surely may The daily Terrours of that Doom allay The first thoughts then that should our hearts possess Our Souls are not depriv'd of happiness Whose lasting Essence must for ever be Immortal living by the same Decree But where the Question is for none can tell Whether he be destin'd to Heaven or Hell Till by the light of Scripture or by Grace We may be certain of the better place For then will death our blessed Souls convey To our immortal Bliss the surest way This is a Lesson for all Men to learn But is decrepid age's chief concern Who ought to watch for their last puff of Breath Which brings true life tho' we do call it Death Which only faithless Men and Children fright But to good Men proves their supream Delight On Nineveh's Repentance IF God an Angel should from Heaven send To bid us fast and pray can we pretend To feast and dance and not our God offend When we his Goodness and his Will withstand By slighting of so gentle a Command Instead of Fire and Sword when Tyrants rage Slew Saints by thousands in the former age Much greater now will our Offences prove When we despise such favour and such love When Piety and Grace so fast decay That as we ought few neither fast nor pray But careless throw our precious time away As if the world were given us to defie Our God and shew we scorned to comply Till he appears in Glory with such power As wiil both Heaven and Earth by fire devour Our wanton wealth and luxuries do look As if our stubborn Nation were forsook By God until our Nineveh repent In sack-cloth and in ashes to prevent Our fatal Doom and his just Punishment Unless our Princes do without delay Teach all the People how to fast and pray We may be all together swept away But this God's love and anger may divide So as to lay his flaming Sword aside And with his glorious Shield and Spear to rise And free us from our subtilest Foes surprize Thus we may convert God's severe Decree To love by our profound humility And find delicious Joy to fast and pray When servent sacred Zeal bears all the sway On Dying daily TO write of Dying and to spend our breath In long discourses of approaching death Is not the daily dying we should learn Nor is such practice of so much concern For we should live in every respect Like-pious Men or we that rule neglect Which is the true superlative degree Of dying daily while we living be To live in Heaven while we on Earth remain Will greater joy and highest honour gain For death by God is unto good Men sent To give eternal life not punishment On the desire of Variety 'T Is strange Man's nature should be so inclin'd To relish nothing that is most refin'd Without variety which we pursue Tho' worse than what we have because 't is new Yet thus we daily seek for more content By vicious ways which proves our punishment When down-right honesty would more prevail For bliss when all our wandring wishes fail Yet Nature will its natural desires Maintain and such variety requires That often turns our present joys to pain And makes our losses greater than our gain On a covetous rich Man IF wealth can hardly pass a needle's eye Men may with joy their poverty supply With hopes to pass who have no weighty packs Of such rich glitt'ring bundles at their backs As over-load their Souls with houshold-stuff When little food and raiment is enough To pass them through this World Such golden streams As brightest shine prove but fantastick dreams Which mock their sleep with some false pleasing sight Of shadows that do vanish with the night Tho' this unto poor me may seem most true 'T will find but little credit with rich you To part with any parcel of your store To cloth the naked and to feed the poor Tho' Christ declares 't is him whom we do feed When we relieve his Children in their need And may with justice rather curse than bless Such wicked men as do his poor oppress On negligent cold Prayers IF thy Devotion be not always alike delightful Examine thy own heart if thy Addresses to God be alike zealous if thy fervency of Spirit be not sometimes slackned and then do not wonder if God gives cold encouragement to cold Petitions he values his great Blessings at a higher price than to part with them to Men that mind not what they ask nor unto whom they pray He gives his bright shining favours only unto flaming hearts that think of God with awful reverence and pray with such angelical adoration in their approaches to the Throne of Mercy as may obtain the secret joy of a divine rapture in Devotion with such Ideas of eternal bliss as will not be purchased at an easier rate than a whole heart offer'd up to God in a daily Sacrifice On a Desire to die IT is a great mistake to think all Men desire to be with God whose afflictions make them desire to die only to be rid of their uneasiness on Earth as if they could flatter God to welcome them to Heaven who never had a thought of going thither until their Joys on Earth forsook them Such Men should consider that God's all-seeing Eye searches the heart and discerns when Men's chief arguments for love to him are his divine Perfections and their gratitude for Benefits received such a flaming Zeal may raise Men's Souls to such inessable Joys on Earth as Men truly pious can only judge of On frequent Meditation AS our Saviour said when he likened Heaven to a Grain of Mustard-feed so may I say of a Grain of divine Meditation if it be sown in a rectified heart it will in a little time grow unto so great a Joy that nothing can reach nearer to Heaven for it will raise the Soul of such a Man thither that sets himself to a constant practice of blowing those divine Sparks into a flaming love of God by frequent Meditations which ought to be the Souls food daily to make them live unto eternity in Heaven and by custom will create fresh Joys every day so fast and delightful as is inessable to be express'd by words nor can any Man's fancy reach those constant pleasures but he that feels and relishes such divine Ecstasies as a spiritualiz'd Soul can rise to On Time mis-spent TIme is the greatest Treasure that we have For use between our Cradle and our Grave Which we still study how to pass away Tho' no Man can its pace one moment stay 'T is strange that Nature should such Joys resist By which we naturally do subsist So often tir'd with idle thoughts in health As if we knew not how to spend such wealth But daily-wish we could to Time add wings Tho' his approach no welcome tiding brings Yet various hopes still in our hearts create
Fresh Objects to abuse not mend our Fate How to improve our Time FIrst is to be contented with our Lot Not to repine for that we yet want not When health with food and raiment will suffice We may abounding Plenty then despise For the short time that we on Earth remain But they who would celestial Joys obtain May think Time slow whose sure tho' lazie pace Keeps them too long from seeing of God's face Whose righteous Souls by Meditation fly Faster than Time can pass their Destiny And so a quicker prepossession take Of Heaven than lingring long-liv'd Time doth make When Meditations are divinely set God and our Souls are in conjunction met Thus me may out-ride Time our Joys improve By greater speed when we converse above In frequent Raptures of Seraphick Bliss While our diviner Thoughts do practise this How to excuse and how to inform unlearned Men. IT is not possible for unlearned Men to judge the Opinions of great Doctors who seldom do agree in the nicest points of the divine Philosophy because the Greek the Hebrew and the Syriack Characters do afford various Senses to dispute on and to exercise their Wit to inform the World the right way to Heaven which too often does produce quite contrary effects in the Thoughts of universal Ignorants who know no rule to judge the right and so do doubt of all Let such Men walk in the plainest and most trodden paths to Heaven and be comforted with assurance that He who does love God most will serve him best And will by Faith in Christ be surely blest On Dooms-Day SInce Saint-like Innocence from Earth is sled And ancient Vertue in most Nations dead It shows Religion so deformed grown By various Sects that most Men now have none But such vile Pretences for Ambition That Anti-Christians only dare to own Tho' covertly too many do combine To propagate so wicked a Design Such as no sad Example can prevent Nor make such bloody Tyrants e'er repent Who think an universal Monarch might Destroy whole Nations for his own delight By daily breach of God's direct Command When Love and Charity for Cyphers stand While Fire and Sword do desolations make Throughout the World that will no warning take But still provoke our much-incensed God To smite us with his most devouring Rod To terrifie such Sinners in our Times As do exceed bold Korah's fatal Crimes With flaming Streams and gaping Earth devour Millions of Men with Cities in one hour That makes us shake and in amazement stand To think our Dooms-day may be near at hand When Seas may swallow Islands on command As well as Earth does Cities on the Land On Sickness and Health OF sick Men's Zeal we make no kind of doubt When the sharp pains of Strangury or Gout Molest them with such restless agony That good Men are compell'd to wish to die Because their flesh no longer can sustain Patience with such intolerable pain If our foundation for all joy in wealth Be best supported by a constant health How much more Zeal then may our strength and ease In gratitude afford than a Disease Pretends to only to avoid the Rod When our health clearly shews our love to God By making ready with serene delight For a quick Summons to our Maker's sight When we do frequent Hallelujahs sing That without pain will us to Heaven bring With cheerful hearts more gratitude express Than sick Men's sighs and groans aloud profess All Men must die WE must die and 't is happy that we must And not our natural affections trust Lest our weak Faith beget in us content To dwell on Earth as a just punishment For loving of so troublesome a Fate And valuing Heaven at so low a rate As ne'er to wish that we may thither go While God will give us leave to live below To finish some great Business we pretend From time to time until our Journey 's end But God s Decree will our defects supply Who has ordain'd that all who live shall die When he calls Death admits of no delay All arguments laid by we must obey To my proud rich Censurer YOu say true I a Beggar am and poor But have had more than you have heretofore Honesty and Poverty were no Crimes Accounted 'mongst wise Men in former times And if we now consider right there 's none But Beggars from the street-Cripple to the Throne The ragged poor beg alms of all they see Of my dependers and they beg of me And I as humbly beg the Prince I serve For such grants as I think I do deserve My Prince that in a higher station stands Begs of the Parliament whom he commands And they beg their Elections and the Purse Of all the People which is much the worse And all the Nation beg for Grace from God For Peace and Plenty as their livelihood So that the whole World is in some degree Liable to some kind of Beggary If thy loose tongue do want an argument To rail My want is a just punishment For my past luxuries which I confess Were daily acted to a great excess And unto which thou may'st as justly add My many sins while I was blindly mad Yet after all in Charity might tell By what well known great accidents I fell To want and yet if justice I obtain I shall my former Lands and State regain Till then let not thy heart my want despise For I am happier in this disguise Than all thy wealth and gaiest robes make thee Which I have worn with more variety Than thy thin Fortune will thy pride allow Of which thou so much prat'st and boastest now But if injustice does gainst me prevail My faith in God's great Mercy will not fail To give me Paradise instead of Gold With present joys too glorious to be told I scorn thy Wealth thy Titles and thy Wit And only unto God's Decrees submit And all thy malice do forgive c. On Gratitude LOrd let my Gratitude rejoyce to find My Nature is so much by Grace refin'd That thou hast wean'd me from the World and made Me learn to know thy will yet still afraid Of a relapse till thy divinest light Guides and inflames my heart with such delight As will create Seraphick Joys to see And to observe adore and worship thee Then will my zeal be fix'd and my retreat From fading glories to thy Mercy-feat Will fill my Soul with Raptures so divine As will declare thee mine and make me thine Than which there does no greater bliss remain But thy beatick Vision to obtain On Faith as the best Wedding-Garment LOrd enrich my heart with Faith as the best Wedding-Garment for this most sacred Feast Left doubting of thy mercy should create More sin to raise and aggravate thy hate Instead of pardon for those Crimes are past And leave no remedy for this at last Such doubting strikes at thy Omnipotence To flight thy Mercy is a great offence Next to presuming on 't with insolence I
shuts up the ways that lead him into temptation may give himself as strong and comfortable an assurance that he is an adopted Child of God as if a voice from the Clouds should tell him so and is a good argument for frequent Meditations How to know when our Sins are forgiven IT has been asked How a Soul may know when her Sins are forgiven and answered thus When she finds the same affection to God with his that said I hate iniquity and all false ways I utterly abhorr Yet David who said so did die and so must we Tho' our Souls may by the same grace become of the same temper with his and our sins be forgiven too yet we may consider how few Men do slip out of this World into eternity with a joyful hearty delight to be with God through divine Love which is the highest perfection of an holy life and is our greatest assurance to manifest our sins forgiven when our Souls are by faith so fixed on God as to know no joy so great as such spiritual Comforts do raise when we desire to be in Heaven which taught David to hate iniquity and to abhorr all false ways and so reduced him from all his sins to become a man after God's own Heart On Reconciliation before we die IF we fully consider our manifold sins and the horrid Punishment due unto us for them if not forgiven before we die 't will make us tremble at the approach of Death But if we do believe in Christ's plenteous Redemption with GOD's immense Mercy to deliver us from Hell's eternal Torments and exalt us unto Heaven's eternal Joy and Glory it may be justly said Happy is that Man who can obtain such a Reconciliation with GOD before he die as daily to delight in the Meditation of a sudden Death with inward assurance of his eternal Bliss the moment he expires which is the highest Exaltation of Joy on Earth and will be the greatest Comfort at the hour of Death and ought to be the chief Business of all Men to live and die so who do march every moment from our Cradles dying towards our Graves On Heavenly Joy WHate'er we do on Earth we all pretend Heaven is our Home Heaven is our Journey 's end That 's true Seraphick Joy when we do find Such elevated Bliss as fills the Mind With high transports of God's celestial Throne And all our meaner Objects we disown Yet sometimes spoil our bless'd angelick rest To rowl on Roses when on Thorns is best Vainly thinking some diviner Grace May smooth afflictions with a smiling face When sighs and tears if they come not too late More surely can our heavenly Joys create When God observes our Zeal to do our best To please we shall assuredly be bless'd And may expect to find more Penitents Encircling of God's Throne than Innocents Which shews sincere Repentance surely can With a fix'd Faith restore relapsed Man Thus may our high-rais'd warm addresses prove Bright Ecstasies of the divinest Love Then will our Souls from dross be clean refin'd And by our sacred Chymist be calcin'd Fit for a Choir of Angels to attend Such Saints and sing them to their Journey 's end On taking heed of all our Ways WHen God reduces Sinners to take heed Of all their ways in thought in word and deed Repentance then will be of little use When all our actions will need no excuse We shall the World subdue and stoutly stand In full obedience unto God's Command And then will Death in glorious Robes descend To guide not fright us at our Journey 's end So that if we take need in all our ways We shall the Devil defeat and wear the Bays To a Friend My dear Friend I Have read in a divine Author That if God be with us he will make us see that he is with us and will not depart from our sight until he has brought us never to depart out of his Which is a Lesson of high concern to Men in his World for Thus to enjoy God here is to be in Heaven before we die When our souls are thus transported with a continual divine Conversation with Almighty God we may taste and relish his celestial Joys to some degree so as to envite us to value his spiritual Comforts above all carnal Fruitions So that our great Business is to improve this Blessing to the highest reach of humane Fancy by a daily practice of holy Meditions to contemplate and observe how God doth infuse this joyful enjoying of Him into our souls by the secret working of the Holy Ghost when we set our selves with zealous integrity to find him there to conserve with us on this great lesson of his immense Mercy with our humble prayers to be enlightned from above to participate of such angelical Delights as far as our frail Nature will admit of which by frequent use will bring us to such an habit of holy living that God God will manifest his presence ever with us by an inward Felicity of Divine Comforts to such an assurance of our Election unto eternal Bliss as is ineffable to be described So that when we raise our Thoughts with a divine Desire to know as much of God as we can know and of his being with us he will add of his Grace to enlarge our Capacities to such heavenly Trances in Devotion that we shall be with him and he with us as we do with with such a joy as will dread all diverting Occasions that shall obstruct those Emanations of his holy Spirit working in us And thus if we do entertain our selves by such frequent addresses to find God he will daily meet and ever dwell with us if we unseignedly desire to dwell with him and will give us such a glimpse of his eternal Bliss as may fix our hearts on Heaven and make us live every moment in a joyful Expectation of Death's quickest Summons thither and by this frequent entertainment of thy Soul with God Thou my Friend wilt find such a communication with God on Earth to be the highest Perfection of Piety and a felicity much more delightful than all other Diversions which can never reach such Seraphick Joys as I with to thee my Friend On the Fear of Death IF we fully consider our manifold Sins and the horrid Judgment due unto us for them it may well be said Happy is that Man who can obtain such a Reconciliation with God before he die as daily to delight in the meditation of a sudden death with inward assurance of his eternal Bliss the moment that he expires Because all our Ideas of the divine Felicities above do seldom invite Men to welcome Death with cheerful Hearts Our fears are so much stronger than our Faith that too many Men do rather think than find they do believe that Christ's plenteous Redemption will cancel all their Crimes and bring them into Heaven and therefore dare not really rejoyce to look on death but start back from such
angelick Happiness as he brings good Men to participate of in God's eternal Glory which natural infirmity of doubting can only by an illustrious Faith be removed and that Faith by frequent Prayers be obtained Then thus to live and so to die will make us live and die in great tranquility though not to reach St. Stephen's Faith who saw Heaven open to him yet to so great a degree of divine Raptures in Devotion as to be filled with elevations of an inward assurance of our Election which must come from God when the Soul is in such a blessed Trance of celestial Delight that is inessable to be described How near such joy is to the joy we read of in Paradise when servent Zeal is by a lively Faith so raised and fixed in God by frequent Meditations it is a wonder that such Men can fear to die or doubt togo to God with cheerful Hearts when thus invited and thus led by his holy Spirit with such bright illuminations of surprizing joys while those divine Flames last cheeras cannot be related When Men's hearts are warmed with such Seraphick high Transports of Love and Mercy from Almighty God to give true Penitents some taste of their eternal Glory that being thus enlightned they may not fear to die but rather welcome death who comes to carry them to Heaven which is the highest Exaltation of the Soul's joy so to delight in God that the expectation of Heaven may be more pleasant than all the momentary Fruitions of this World are compared unto a blessed incomprehensible Eternity Which neither Wit nor Fancy can express When multiplying numbers make it less When neither first nor last can e'er be known Points so far distant yet so join'd in one That the eternal Circle shews us none But is a secret known to God alone 'T is such a sacred Riddle so profound That humane Wisdom never can expound But leaves us still to wonder and adore What will be after and what was before On the Power of Faith THough Men by Nature born to fear and to avoid what may seem hurtful yet that fear by Grace and Faith may be converted into divine Valour of the highest kind as is evident by the Three Children in the fiery Furnace and by Daniel in the Lion's Den which with other the like Examples should invite such Men as trust in God not to fear what he only can prevent if he thinks fit and though a fearful Man cannot remove a Mole-hill for want of Faith much less Mountains how little Faith then have we when the noise only of Ill News does affright our unsetled Souls with dismal apprehensions of what may never happen more than the ill event brings with it if it do unto such pious men as live prepar'd to bear afflictions for few moments here with faithful joyful Thoughts of their eternal Happiness in Heaven So that we see the Power of Faith will remove the greatest terrour and work Miracles when Men dare trust in God Lord give me grace to live as I do write And as thy holy Spirit shall indite To manifest thy mighty Mercy shown To such a Reprobate as must own Christ's Doctrine to suffer CHrist's Doctrine is with patience to inure Our selves to suffer what he did endure On Earth from that malicious cursed Crew Who scorn'd his Miracles and boldly slew Their bless'd Messiah who did then submit To die because his Father did think fit That we redeemed by his precious Blood Might trust in him who dy'd to do us good And now may sighing sing and weeping pray Our death may prove our highest Holy-day When we with Christ in Paradise appear And shine amongst those blessed Angels there On the Power of Love to God TO love and fear God is what every good Christian doth own and what most Men think they do but very few I fear do understand what it is to love and fear Him as we ought with all our Heart Soul and Mind above all other Objects whatever which is a Lesson of great use to bring Men to Heaven who know that we are dying every moment that we live and can not with more pleasure here than we shall find by serving God thus For those who can love him with all their Heart and Mind will worship and adore him with the same Zeal and will obey praise thank pray and trust in him with the like servent affection in all their divine addresses with their utmost endeavours to be with him in Heaven which God never will reject nor can eternal Bliss be purchased at a lower rate of Love Thus God exposes Heaven to entice Good Men to purchase at the Market-price When Love with all its Perquisites comply To fix a blessed Immortality On such exalted Souls as take delight To meditate on his beatick sight When their enlightned Faith does bring them there Enrich'd with love they 'll bid adieu to fear And leave no arguments to justifie Such timorous Men as dare not think to die Though their eternal joy will then be such That none will have too little or too much And those who truly love will surely find Their happiness by God is predesign'd Who sees the heart and thoughts of every Man That loves and serves him to the best they can On Faith WHen Faith grows strong our Fancies will soar high To search the secrets of Eternity Which to our Souls are of so near concern That no man can a greater Lesson Learn Nor have a more serene celestial Bliss Than he 'll enjoy by practising of this Great step which by degrees will lead him on To the sacred Seat of his Adoption Where Faith 'bove all the Gifts of Grace will shine With Love in Bliss and Glory most divine On God's Mercy OUr God from us his Glory keeps conceal'd Because it would destroy us if reveal'd His essence we can never understand 'T is well if we obey his just Command For God to mortal Man will never teach Such great Secrets because what we can reach By Nature cloys as soon as had or known He therefore lets us live by Faith alone Still subject to so many hopes and fears That our prime Joys are damp'd by frequent tears Which daily do our sorrows multiply Until death comes to tell us we must die The only remedy ordain'd to cure All sorts of evils that we here endure Yet God in mercy makes amends at last To free us from all miseries are past By raising them to blifs who do their best To gain a share in his eternal rest Which best in God's esteem is to do all Was done by bless'd St. Stephen and St. Paul On true Valour HAppy are they who in these letter days Are fill'd with love with gratitude and praise To God whose joyful Soúls do ever fly With highest thoughts of their Eternity And by the actions of their lives declare That Faith in Christ has conquer'd their despair For all past Crimes and now with Death has made Strict
Meditations are Divine When God with secret Bliss such joys imparts As does create true Zeal in pious hearts And doth their Souls with flaming Love invite To Paradise inessable to write Unless his Holy Spirit should indite To my Old Sick Friend MY good Old Friend why so sad does thy Age decline so fast that the Idea of thy Grave frights thee with fear to die Are we not all dying and none knows who shall go next nor how soon be gone if this occasion thy dismay I will teach thee an Antidote that will dispell the Poyson of that Serpent's bite and turn that universal carse of Death into a State of Bliss if thou can'st raise thy dejected Spirit to a quick sense of sharing the Eternal Joys of Heaven with those departed Saints who by Faith Prayer and Penitence are now exalted thither Let thy melancholy Meditations and Preparations for the Grave be changed from a Gaol delivery into a constant chearful zealous Conversation in thy Divine Retirements with God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost by a total Resignation of thy Soul and all thy concerns unto them and think with pleasure how near thou art arrived to thy Journeys end to be with them in Paradise Then such Celestial Thoughts will be thy most pleasant entertainment and surely meet with surprising joy from Faith in Christ's plenteous Redemption which will beget a hearty speedy welcome unto Death's arrival who comes to conduct thee to Eternal Bliss and thou wilt also find that every devout step towards this felicity of thy approaching Salvation will make thy heart dance with a Saint-like delight to battle the terrors of the Grave with a serene prospect of thy Eternal Happiness at hand and so make thy last hours full of Angelical transporting joy to be with God the moment thy Soul expires fix thy heart thus and all sad Thoughts will vanish when a sincere Faith becomes predominant Thy Heart by practice will delight in this Divine Elixir of Eternal Bliss On vain Projectors NO mortal Man can limit or restrain The boundless fansies of another's brain But may such Fetters on his own Thoughts lay As will keep them from wandring much astray But naturally Men add wings to try How high their vain ambitious Hearts can fly Until like Icarus their waxen Wings Do melt and all their hopes to ruin brings But when our Souls do with Angellick Love Soar high they will Celest'al joys improve To flaming Zeal and raise our hearts so high As will discern our Immortality To my Rich Friend become Poor TEll me Old Friend and speak the truth If twenty Dishes in thy Youth Did then more please and gratifie Thy Stomach with that Gluttony Which did Diseases daily breed Till now thou dost on one Dish feed Tell me if now thy constant health Gives not more joys than thy lost Wealth Afforded by thy vast excess In frequent Treats and Wantonness Which made a noise more than content For all thy charge and time mispent When to the Poor half that expence Would have procur'd God's Providence And fav'd the loss of thy Estate Which thou hast thought upon too late Tho' now thou dost aloud prosess Thy Poverty proves Blessedness On Injustice IF Charity to Men be God's Command Justice must in much higher favor stand If neither can in wicked Men find place They slight God's Anger and despise his Grace But these are petty Crimes when Avarice Doth harden hearts for gold and Souls intice To sell Salvation at so cheap a Rate Such villanous intentions aggravate When a design'd premeditated cheat With a bold-fac'd fraud shall just Right defeat And a false Cause by power shall justifie Hell only can reward such Infamy For God with indignation does declare He will Poor Men's Oppressors never spare Against Momentary Ioys NOW let my Friend from sighs and sorrow cease For Crimes repented let thy joy increase For thy serene assurance lately gain'd Of pardon by thy Saviour's Blood obtain'd Let thoughts of thy Eternal Glory rise And scorn all Earthly Bawbles that surprise Unsteady Souls with present fading Toyes That cloud the brighter Beams of Heav'nly joys And boldly do those glitt'ring bubbles try In hope they 'll last unto Eternity Who raise their idle fancies by their wit To practise Atheism rather than submit To part with present Moments of delight To purchase Heav'n with God's Beatick sight Who with his known Decrees will not comply But think to live till they are pleas'd to dye Tho of such Men it may be truly said They are that moment both alive and dead The Terror of Death by Death is cured IF Death were not for Sin from Heaven sent It could not be esteem'd a punishment To be deliver'd from our daily woe While 'twixt our Roses Thorns and Thistles grow So that our care should be to weed our hearts From soul excrescents by such holy Arts As will that fatal sting of Sin destroy And so convert our sorrows into joy When we the Pangs of such a Death endure As doth produce both Punishment and Cure To my Old Friend on his Birth-day MY Friend thou dost well to celebrate thy Birth-day as a vow'd Sacrifice to God because he did reserve the first born to himself of Living Creatures and thou art one But let not thy Altar be adorn'd with a superfluous Treat with too many slagons of rich Wine and Tables throng'd with Wealthy Guests as if it were a Bacchanalian Feast But such a moderate Meal for thy own Servants with some Poor Neighbours that may soberly rejoyce to see a New Year begin with a propitious prospect of thy insuing happiness and pray thy Piety and charity may Shine round about thy Habitation here on Earth until thou art advanc'd to Heaven Death is the Beggars highest Holiday 'T Is but a saint Felicity that any Man can have in all the Honours Treasures and Pleasures of this World without a joyful inward assurance of his Salvation when the next moment an angry Neighbour or a Tyrant Prince can end his days Or Sickness by tormenting pains turn all his joy into sorrow while he lives with despairing terrors worse than all at the approach of Death when a poor pious Beggar will die transported full of Celestial Joys for his highest Holiday and be as welcome into Heaven as the greatest Monarch And therefore may be well and truly said Both Souls are of the same sine Substance made To my merry Friend WHY now so joyful my good Friend has thy Princes smiles this Morning added new feathers to thy Heart that makes it fly so high His frowns to morrow may turn those gay feathers into Lead tho' thou deserve not such a change Consider now such frequent sad Fates as do besal the craftiest Men that only truth in mortal accidents for their support in Princes savours and raise thy Souls delight in Service of the King of Kings whose savours will endure unto Eternity above the reach of Earthly Storms and then thy Prince's favours will have a sure foundation to subsist on with higher joys than any Sycophants black Arts by Malice or by Envy can disturb thy Peace or Pleasures when a good Conscience is so center'd and so fix'd on God For no Man can imagine the constant felicity of a strict pious Life in all conditions but he that is so reconciled with a lively Faith to God as chearfully to part with all the glitt'ring Bubbles of this World to enjoy everlasting Bliss in Heaven which ought to be the supreme hope of our best endeavours On the fear of Death THO Men by nature Born to fear to Die May still account it a great misery When Piety and Prayer can't prevail To change the pow'r of that severe Intail Tho' all our Hearts and Souls do still agree To frame our Minds to God's most bless'd Decree Because no other means like that the best To bring Mankind to his Eternal Rest. Yet our weak Faith cannot the credit gain By Heavenly joys and glory to obtain Such Courage and a Valour so Divine Rather to Die with joy than to repine To part with fading pleasures that no Age Can for one moments certain time engage They shall abide nor can find any cure That Men on Earth for ever shall endure How great a shame and folly then that we Should fear to go where we desire to be And so preferr our miseries on Earth Before a bless'd and glorious chearful Death That will in gratitude the surest way Our Souls to God in Paradise convey When Faith with such a Zeal shall so comply 'T will shew a Godly Gallantry to Die On the Art of Meditation WHO will the Art of meditation learn Must make each Paragraph his chief concern For some few moments to consider on Lest reading more create confusion And unavoidably disturb the Brain With more at once than what it can retain When Piety by Art is thus refin'd It will rejoyce the heart inrich the mind With sacred Thoughts beyond all Earthly care Till flesh be turn'd into Angelick Air. All Men should live as ever in God's sight And make Devotion their supreme delight And then observe how God does Grace return To make Seraphick Joy the brighter burn