let him not go without a blessing so shalt thou gain by the battery of Prayer a Kingdom by violence 17. Of Hope In the greatest difficulties Hope is a comfortable support to an afflicted Soul When Epimetheus unadvisedly opened Pandoras's Box he let out all the miseries in the world upon himself but hastily shutting the lid reserved hope in the Bottom for his comfort When the waves of Affliction come rowling like a Land-flood upon a man Hope buoys up his Spirits that he swims above water it lightens fears lessens cares expelleth dispair fills the Soul with magnanimity against all disanimosity it is a cordial Grace which revives a fainting Spirit from death yea though the Lord writes bitter things against a man and hedgeth him up on every side with thorns of Affliction yet Hope breaketh through inclining the Lord to pity Though he kill 〈◊〉 saith Job yet will I trust in him When Ahasaâ—erus's Decree of Death went forth for the Destruction of the Jews though Esther had failed of her duty yet Mordecai's hope expected deliverance some other way Endeavour we then to lodge our Hope in the bosom of Heaven that when the high winds of dessolation the bitter storms of Persecution shall beat down our clay-buildings upon their sandy foundations our souls may be safely housed upon the stable rock of our Salvation 18. Of Charity Amongst all the herbs of Grace planted by the Spirit of God in the Garden of a gracious heart Charity hath the supreme vertue it is like the Oyle that was poured upon Aarons head oderiferous to God and Man This Oyl of Charity is an excellent Remedy to heal the sinful Bruises of the Soul It expelleth the Poyson of Revenge it cureth the Plague sores of Envy Hatred and Malice and is of a magnetick power to attract the Iron hearts of Enemies to brotherly Kindness yea though a man had all Gifts and Graces as is expressed by the Apostle and wanted Charity he is nothing Charity is kind envyeth not vaunteth not is not puffed up beareth all things believeth all things indureth all things So rare are the fruits that spring from the root of Charity Pour upon my Soul O Lord this Oyl of Love this Balm of Gilead this blessed Vnction of thy holy Spirit for the savour of which the Virgins love thee let me I beseech thee experiment the healing vertue the comfortable effects and fruits thereof in my Conversation to the joy of my spirit the benefit of my Neighbours and all to the praise of thee my Creator 19. Of Faith Hope and Love Faith Hope and Love as they are the three Theological Graces of the Soul so they are Handmaids to wait upon her all exercised upon an object of promise Faith beholds it Hope expects it Love imbraceth it Faith looks upon it with assurance to obtain it Hope waits for it with patience to get it Love receiveth it with comfort to enjoy it Rouze up then thy self O my drooping Soul from the slumbers of Sorrow and despair and milk Consolation from the dugs of the Promises Art thou poor and needy the Lord is thy Portion doth every one reject thee thy God careth for thee who hath said he will not leave thee or forsake thee Lay hold on these Promises with thy hand of Faith secure them unto thee through Hope in thy extremity so shalt thou enjoy them in Gods opportunity 20. Of Nocturnal Devotion In the deep of silence when Morpheus the black Jayler of the night shackles the outward senses and lays them to rest under his sable Canopy then and then only is the time of a gracious Soul that waits upon God breaking off sluggish slumbers to awake in God and to have sweet Communion with him by Meditation Supplication and Ejaculation entring into the secret closet of the heart where he may examine and read over the Errata's of the mispent day and with the holy Prophet with tears of Repentance wash them away This kind of Devotion hath ever been of the Coram at all times nothing to interrupt a zealous Votary but a Clock or a Cock which are pleasing Monitors of his well-spent minutes it puts the heart into a holy frame making it better for the succession of the next day as Plato's Royal guest with homely but wholesom Collations of green herbs being well seasoned with the savory Discourse of the Philosopher Enter then thou King of glory into the heart of thy Servant though I can give thee but mean entertainment yet if thou please to honour my Soul with the Graces of thy Spirit thy own beauty shall bid thee welcome Be thou O Lord a Saviour unto me both by night and by day rouze my Soul from the slumbers of sin and unfetter it from the gives of carnal security from the swadling bands of spiritual darkness that I sleep not in death set it at liberty as a bird from the snare that it may soar up unto thee by the wings of Prayer and have sweet society with thee before the morning Watch yea I say before the Morning and be thou as a bundle of Myrrh between my Breasts and let Love be thy Banner over me and since it is thy Precept that I should watch and pray lest I fall into Temptation though my outward Man sleep for the support of my Spirit yet let my Heart wait and wake for thee that when thou comest whether in the Evening Watch Midnight Cock-crowing or dawning I may open unto thee and give thee Entertainment 21. The Nature of Sin No sooner is Man Born into the World but sin like a Vulture seizeth the Faculties of his Infant Soul So that his Body becomes a Living Monument of his better part till like Lazarus from his four days Tomb it be Miraculously re-animated by the Word of Life As it is the greater Miracle O Lord to raise my Soul from the Grave of sin which hath not only been four days but many Years under the power and shadow of Death so shall it be through thy grace the greater Obligation to make me look upon thee by the Eye of Faith as the Object of my Soul and God of my Salvation 22. The Devil and the Spider In beholding the Spider methinks I see some resemblance of the Devil both Venemous Creatures and begin their Work alike one in the centre of her Web the other in the centre of the Heart both aiming at one end which is to kill and destroy both forming their inviting works out of their Poysonous Bowels The Spiders Web so curious that prying Flies are intangled in it The Devils Work so glorious that beautified with Objects of Pleasure and Profit every one more or less is snared in it Sweep away O Lord these Cobwebs of sin from my Captivated Soul set it at Liberty from the thraldom of Satan so shall it be delivered as thy Ransomed one as a Bird from the Fowler 23. Of Vanity Great is Diana was the cry of the Ephesians to which not
Life like beautiful Flowers in the Garden of the World making a Rape up the beholders Eye courting all the senses to gather them which fades away in the space of a day Let not then O Lord the Magick of these outward Prosperities so charm my Senses as to idolize such fleeting objects which glide away as a water-brook but arrest thou my Thoughts upon a more permanent beauty the injoyment of thy self that when Death shall gloom me the light of this life thou mayst beam my Soul with eternal Glory 45. Of uncertain Friends Solomon tells us That Riches take wings and fly away so doth uncertain Friends follow after leaving their quondam Cor-rival a pitiful object of Misery and Poverty whose Affections doth ebb and flow according to the turning Tides of Prosperity and Adversity as if Nature created a new Metamorphosis in their souls But happily O forsaken man mayst thou find some sure Friend some faithful Achilles who will cleave unto thee in thy necessity whose love is grounded upon some better Principles than upon such afleeting Foundation of inconsistancy Sanctifie O Lord every Condition with Contentment unto me If in thy righteous Judgment thou take from me all outward support 〈◊〉 is that I may lean more surely upon thy self though the Gusts of Adversity storm the out-work of my Body let my Soul through thy Grace retreat unto thee as a stronger Fort. And be thou O Lord a faithful Jonathan to chear my Spirit in my extremity with thy oyl of Charity 46. Of Poverty There is no greater Tryal to a Child of God than to bring him to the Touchstone of Poverty which will discover him Christian proof or not whether his Graces be true or false Gold or Brass so was the Patience of Job proved by that grand Artist Satan whose Arguments to God was Doth Job fear God for naught wherefore God suffered him to touch Job in his Estate in his Children in his Body and all to try this Saints Patience and to defeat the Policy of the Liar If in wisdom O Lord for my Souls good thou take from me what I have it is but what thou freely gavest me at first If thou strippest my body of outward raiment clothe my Soul I pray thee with thy righteous garment If thou nippest my outward man with Winter Poverty Summer my inward man with the grace of integrity that so I may appear in thy gracious Eye a right-begotten Child and not a Bastard 47. Of Prosperity and Adversity Prosperity and Adversity are two great Engines with which the Devil useth to batter the heart of man to make it malleable to his designs If the scorching rays of Prosperity will not make man forsake his garment of Integrity he will endeavour by the boisterous blasts of Adversity to drive it from him both was experimented upon Job but in a different manner God gave Job Riches for his Uprightness but the Devil made him Poor by taking them away but not his righteousness to his sorrow leaving him an Addition of Boils and Botches which made his body as sore as his soul which was grieved with uncomfortable Friends So able art thou O Lord to preserve man in every Condition manger all the malice of Satan but since there is such danger in these extreams fix I beseech thee my unstable Soul in a middle Sphere that Prosperity may not make me forget thee nor Adversity forsake thee but feed me with Food convenient for me 48. Of Afflictions Some men are so licentiously wicked that having rioted away their Fathers blessing they make themselves miserable by demerit even to feed upon sharp and short Commons till by the scourge of Affliction they are made to retreat to their Fathers house for better Provision So God oftimes deals with his rebellious Children as a loving Father with his extravagant Son who will not give him according to his lavish Appetite to make him worse but with the Prodigals Father sends him abroad to feed upon the Husks of Misery till he return better qualified happily appointing him a Garden to relieve him from starving O merciful Father since my Exorbitances hath made me uncapable of a more immediate blessing from thy own hand yet bless me O my Father in that providential way thou appointest for me so I may have Food and Raiment I will thankfully be content not repining at the Prosperity of others whose better Ingenuity hath made them capable of a greater Portion but shall account it a happiness that thy offended Clemency doth place me in the lowest forme above my deservings and if thou shalt think it needful for me to feed upon the Wormwood of Adversity to quell my luxurious Appetite Oh! may it be as wholesome diet to prepare my stomach for the bread of Life As the waters of Marah could not be drunk by the thirsty Israelites they were so bitter till sweetned with a bough cut from a Tree so are the Waters of Affliction when seasoned with the Branch of Christ Jesus to comfort the Vitals of a sin-sick soul and is as a Julip to cool the fevorish distemper of our Concupiscence If thou Lord still please to hold forth a bitter Portion to me let me receive it by the hand of Faith and drink it as the Cup of my Salvation Some things in appearance seem Instruments of much Cruelty as the Caustick Saw and knife which being put into the hands of a wise Chirurgeon are of excellent use for the preservation of life in the cutting off a putrid member so are Afflictions in the hand of God to pare away the proud flesh from our sin-swoln hearts and to dismember us of our sinew-corruptions Wise God which knowest a Remedy for every Disease where my soul is festred with the Gangreen of sin let the Caustick of thy word be my Cure that so I may come to thee though halting with the loss of a right eye or right hand Experience teacheth That the nature of Thunder and Lightning is to purge the Air of hurtful Vapours which infests our Bodies Such are the Judgments of God to clear away the foggy Meteors from our clouded souls raised by the fiery suggestions of Satan Since thou the great Commander of Heaven and Earth directest the Intelligences for the health of our bodies how much more good art thou unto our souls the images of thee our Creator If the Lightning of thy Grace will not tender our obdurate hearts it is requisite that the Thunder of thy displeasure should fright us into obedience rather than that our souls should perish so shall it be good for us that we have been afflicted He that goeth out of the path of Gods Commandments forsaketh his own safety runs out of life into the shadow of death out of the Protection of the Almighty into the Liberties of Satan where his life is in hazard every hour through the wounds of sin without the mercy of a gracious Samaritan Lord if my unwary soul chance to stray
day were we shall observe in their several hours CHAP. II. Of Christ's Indictment and Judas's fearful End ABOUT six in the Morning Jesus was brought unto Pilate's house then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the Judgment-Hall and it was early When the Morning was come all the chief Priests and Elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death and when they had bound him and led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the Governour Then Judas which had betrayed him hanged himself O the readiness of our nature to evil When the Israelites would sacrifice to the Golden-calf rhey rose up early in the Morning If God leave us to our selves we are as ready to practise mischief as the fire is to burn without delay But on this Circumstance I shall not long stay the Transactions of this hour I shall consider in these two Passages Christ's Indictment and Judas's fearful End In Christs Indictment we may observe 1. His Accusation 2. His Examination In his Accusation we may observe 1. Who are his Accusers 2. Where he was accused 3. What was the matter of which they do accuse him 1. His Accusers were the chief Priests and Elders of the people the very same that before ha judged him guilty of Death are now his Accusers before the Temporal Judge 2. The place of the Accusation was at the door of the House they would not go into the Judgment-hall lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passover See what a piece of Superstition and gross Hypocrisie is here they are curious of a Ceremony but make no strain to shed innocent Blood they are precise about small matters but for the weightier matters of the Law as Mercy Judgment Fidelity and the Love of God they let them pass they honour the figurative Passover but the true Passover they seize upon with bloody and sacrilegious Hands 3. The matter of which they accuse him 1. That he seduced the people 2. That he forbad to pay Tribute to Cesar 3. That he said he was a King How great but withal how false were these their Accusations 2. For his Examination Pilate was nothing moved with any of the Accusations save only the third and therefore letting all the rest pass he asked him only Art thou the King of the Jews To whom Jesus answered My Kingdom is not of this World c. He saith not my Kingdom is not in this World but my Kingdom is not of this World by which Pilate knew well that Christ was no Enemy unto Cesar Christs Kingdom is spiritual his Government is in the very Hearts and Consciences of men and what is this to Cesar Hence Pilate useth a Policy to save Jesus Christ they tell him that Christ was of Galilee and therefore he takes occasion to send him to Herod who was Governour of Galilee 2. Pilate having dismissed Jesus this hour is concluded with a sad Disaster of wicked Judas Then Judas which betrayed him when he saw that he was condemned repented himself c. Now his Conscience thaws and grows somewhat tender but it is like the tenderness of a Boyl which is nothing else but a new Disease There is a Repentance that comes too late Esau wept bitterly and repented him when the Blessing was gone The five foolish Virgins lift up their Voices aloud when the Gates were shut and in Hell men shall repent to all Eternity and such a Repentance was this of Judas about midnight he had received his money in the house of Annas and now betimes in the Morning he repents his Bargain and throws his Money back again The end of this Tragedy was That Judas died a miserable Death he perished by the most infamous hands in the world i.e. by his own hands he went and hanged himself And as Luke he fell headlong and burst asunder in the midst and all his Bowels gushed out In every passage of his Death we may take notice of Gods Justice and be afraid of sins it was just that he should hang in the Air who for his sin was hated both of Heaven and Earth and that he should fall down headlong who was fallen from such an height of honour and that the Halter should strangle that Throat through which the voice of Treason had sonnded and that his Bowels should be lost who had lost the bowels of all Pity Piety and Compassion and that his Ghost should have its passage out of his midst he burst asunder in the midst and not out of his lips because with a Kiss of his lips he had betrayed his Lord our blessed Jesus Here 's a warning-piece to all the world Who would die such a death for the pleasure of a little sin or who would now suffer for millions of Gold that which Judas suffered and yet suffers in Hell for thirty pieces of Silver Now the Lord keep our Souls from betraying Christ or any of his Children and from despairing in God's mercy through Christ Amen Amen I see one sand is run I must turn the Glass now was the seventh hour and what were the Passages of that hour I shall next relate CHAP. IV. Of Christ stripped whipped clothed in Purple and Crowned with Thorns ABout Nine which the Jews call the third hour of the day was Christ stripped whipped clothed with Purple and crowned with Thorns in this hour his sufferings came thick I must divide them into two parts and speak of them severally by themselves 1. When Pilate saw how the Jews were set upon his death he consented and delivered him first to be stripped Then the Soldiers of the Governour took Jesus into the common Hall and gathered unto him the whole band of Soldiers and they stripped him They pulled off his Clothes and made him stand naked before them all He that adorns the Heaven with Stars and the Earth with Flowers and made coats of skins to clothe our first Parents in is now himself stripped stark naked 2. Pilate gave him to be scourged this some think he did upon no other account but that the Jews being satiated and glutted with these Tortures they might rest satisfied and think themselves sufficiently avenged In this scourging of Christ I shall insist on these two things 1. The shame 2. The pain 1. For the shame It was of such Infamy that the Romans exempted all their Citizens from it Is it lawful for you said Paul to scourge a man that is a Roman And when the Centurion heard that he went and told the chief Captain saying Take heed what thou dost for this man is a Roman The Romans looked upon it as a most infamous punishment fit only for Thieves and Slaves 2. For the pain This kind of Punishment was not only infamous but terrible no sooner the Soldiers had their Commission but they charged and discharged upon him such bloody blows as if he had been the greatest offender and basest slave in all the World Nicephorus calls these Whippers bloody
this life saith the Prophet all the sweet he hath fore-goeth death after he hath a Portion indeed but it is a Portion of Fire and Brimstone of Storms and Tempests of Anguish and Tribulation of Shame and Confusion of Horror and Amazement in a fiery Lake from the presence of God in the midst of cursed Spirits Thus death must needs be terrible to him but as comfortable to the Godly for it makes his Crosses as short as the others Comforts The Wicked cannot promise to himself Comforts of an hours length nor may the Godly threaten himself with Crosses of an hours continuance Death in an instant turns the sinners Glory into Shame Pleasure into Pain Comfort into Confusion Death in an instant eases the Godly's body of all pain his Soul of all sin his Conscience of all fears and leaves him in an estate of perfect happiness And happy are they whose Misery is no longer than life but woe be to the wicked whose jollity ends when death enters and whose Torments survive death it self and so we leave Samuel to his rest Well Samuel is well himself but in what case doth he leave his poor Neighbours at Ramah that the Text now speaks and it is my trouble yet better one than all troubled that I must speak it so briefly Israel saith the Text Jacobs issue Gods people all Israel distributively taken that is of all sorts some were gathered in great Troops either by publick command or of their own voluntary accord or both ways First to lament according to the then custom in most solemn manner Samuels end and their own loss and next to honour him at his Burial in Ramah The Points which in a passage or two must be touched from this part are two the first is this Samuel a publick and a profitable man dieth Israel publickly mourneth you see what followeth Great and publick losses must be entertained with great and publick sorrows Sorrow must be suited to the loss as a Garment to the body a Shoe to the foot when the cause of Grief is great the measure of Grief must be answerable This is one Principle when a good man and Neighbour dies there is cause of great forrow this is another the inference will soon follow and result hence and that is our Conclusion Good men of publick use and place should never pass to the Grave unlamented their death should be considered and bewailed And indeed reason calls for it for we must mourn in respect of the cause of such mens deaths not private but publick sins too God never beheads a State a Country but for some Treason Reason 1. If Samuel die it is because God is angry with the people the sheep be not thankful nor fruitful therefore the shepherd is smitten Now should it be thus when useful persons die what then shall we say to these times wherein men have not put off Piety only but Nature also No marvel if the Prophet complain The righteous perish and no man considereth it in his heart The wife perisheth and the Husband doth not consider it the Parents perish and the Children do not consider it the Children perish and the Parents do not consider it few such Brethren as David to Jonathan such Husbands as Abraham such Children as Isaac such Fathers as Jacob. These long and long felt the loss of their dearest Friends but now one month is enough to wear out all thoughts of a Brother nay of a Child nay of a Mother nay of a Wife nay in the nearest tyes one in that space may be buried a second wooed a third married Hitherto in hardest pressures and worst measures David could go to Samuel in Ramah and there meet with good Counsel and Comfort but now both Samuel himself dies and poor David must flie Shall I beloved speak as the thing is In the fall of one Cedar of Ramah we have lost much shade and shelter in the splitting of one Vessel of price wherein we had all our interesses and adventures we are all losers what we have lost we shall better see seven years hence than now but losers we are all losers Wife Children Neighbours Friends Ministers People all losers so that here that is verified which was anciently uttered of another In one we have lost many a chast Husband a tender Father a religious Minister a kind Neighbour in few a Samuel Speak I this after the flesh to please No I speak it for use to profit I report my self to your hearts You tell me that you have a publick loss your mouthes have uttered it your faces speak it my Ears and Eyes have received it from you and if so then see what follows if we have Israels loss we must make Israels Lamentation Let us take up Davids words with Davids Affection I am distressed for thee Brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been to me thy love to me was wonderful passing the Love of Women Are we as David to Saul Isaac to Rebekah sons Are we as Jeremiah to Josiah Prophets As David to Abner Kindsmen Are we by any name entituled to this loss Mourn then mourn not as the Infidel desperately nor bitterly as doth the froward but soberly as did David when Abners Death put him to a Fast Let his dearest Yoak-fellow say Ah mine unthankfulness and unfruitfulness let Children say Ah our Disobedience and Stubbornness and Servants Ah our Idleness and Untrustiness and all Ah our Folly and Frowardness who could not see Vertves through Frailties and Corn through chaff till we had lost all These sins of ours have strip'd us of a Samuel and covered us with darkness He is gone the Arm and Shoulder is faln from this our little body the sooner for our sins let us see it or else what abides us In the Body what Medicines cannot do cutting must what that cannot burning must or else nothing saith the Master of Physick It is so in the Soul too Oh that we could see it In our Friends Sicknesses we have been Medicined in private distresses lanced but in the loss of Publick Persons the Lord proceeds to burning If these wounds upon the very Head of us strike us not down what shall next be smitten but our Heart it self Well Israel laments and it hath cause What do they next That next we must hear They bury him and the place and manner be observed For the place they bury him at his House in Ramah the Ancient and the Mannor House his Father dwelt there before him 1 Sam. 1. where also you may be informed touching the Town Whereas there were of Ramahs four or sive this was Ramah Zophim in Mount Ephraim which borrows his Name from the Situation of it it stood high and the name importeth no less In this Ramah Samuel sometime lived and here he is Interred For the Selemnity of the Funeral it is such as argues Israels love and Samuels worth they do him all the Honour that is possible First Israel the first-born of Men
only Ephesus but all Asia gave their Worship How much greater is the World 's Diana vanity that not only Asia but the World it self prostitutes its Devotions She is Attended with three Golden Idols as vain as her self Pride Concupiscence and Lust the Worlds Trinity which entertains all Suitors with variety of Honours Pleasures and Profits To this Lady of Honour the Ambitious spirit makes his acquist esteeming himself as nothing without a bended Knee a popular Applause and a turgent Title which his Fancy feeds upon as the Camelion upon Air but if crost in his designs by any opposite to his assention he grows as lean as Envy can make him like the Birds that fed upon Zeuxis Grapes with pecking at shadows Hither also resorts to this glaring shrine the Idolatrous Miser whose Hydropick thirst after Gold like the Horse-leach after Blood cries Give Give his Heart is always digging with the Mold in this Earthy Mine never satisfied till Death Robs his soul from his silver Mountain and his Mouth is bunged with courser Earth Finally the Luxurious Gallant makes Court to this Goddess of Beauty who prodigallizeth upon her Wanton all her sinful Favours which may indulge the Flesh and please desire with her deeds of Darkness Enter not my Soul into these their secrets which lead down to the Chambers of Death but skip like a Hart over these Mountains of Vanity Soar with the Wing of Contemplation into a higher glory let thy aspiring thoughts transcend this Airy Arrogance as far as Light surpasseth Darkness Heaven surmounteth Hell where thou maist Tribute thy Devotions to a more Beautiful shrine the Blessed Trinity from whence thou maist derive everlasting Comforts eternal Honours which flie not away upon the Wings of Time durable Riches where neither Rust doth canker or Thieves break through and steal torrents of Divine pleasure which shall continually chear and refresh thy spirits where thou maist behold with perpetual contentment the loveliness of Beauty the splendour of Saints and the glory of Kingly Majesty 24. Of Infidelity The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God so consequently neither Heaven nor Hell which Atheistical Opinion is too rife in the Hearts of many who live as without God in the World without hope of Heaven or fear of Hell so willingly incredulous are they of their own safety or Ruine that though they have the two Testaments Nature and Grace the Light of Reason and the Word of God to inform them the one convincing their Consciences the other to enlighten their Understandings yet are they such Passionate Zealots over their Lusts that they violently court the embraces of Hell like Pliny the re-search of his scorning Vesuvius they will doubtfully experiment their own destruction As in Mercy O Lord thou hast given me a Rational being capable of Divine Light as a true born Christian let not I pray thee the Powers of Darkness or my indulgency over sin muffle my Soul in unbelief to make me an Atheist but impress upon my Heart with the Seal of thy Spirit the true cognizance of thy self that I may know thee who Created me to be my Almighty Father thy Son who Redeemed me my Blessed Saviour the Holy Ghost who Sanctifies me my gracious Preserver That I may know Heaven a place of Honour a Kingdom of incomparable Love Hell a place of Horror a Lake of intolerable dolour let the beauty of the one invite my Affections the danger of the other fright me from sin and both be objects of my Souls safety 25. Of Pride Pride is a gaudy Brat of a Monstrous Nature begot by the Father of Lies upon a Presumptuous Heart whose Towring thoughts and Devil-like Disposition could not soar higher or center lower than God himself It was the Serpents suggestion to the Woman Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil A Temptation no sooner offered then embraced which brought a Curse upon her self her Husband and Posterity In sorrow shalt thou bring forth by the sweat of thy brows shalt thou eat Bread The Serpent not exempted Dust shalt thou eat upon thy belly shalt thou creep So that the Serpent was punished for Lying Adam and Eve for aspiring and eating Strangle O Lord in Love to our Souls such spurious Conceptions of the Serpents Pride in our Lustful hearts that they may not come to the perfection of Birth which will bring forth death But if we will not keep within the bounds of thy Commands but will through too much Curiosity peep into thy secreet Decrees and intrench upon thy Negative Precepts thou wilt make us acknowledge thee Righteous in thy waies and Just in thy Judgments 26. Of Hypocrisie Hypocrisie is similata sanctitas Vertue in appearance when Vested in her Saint-like Habit under which sin and Satan doth shrowd themselves to deceive the Innocent not unlike the Earth in the midst of Winter when Cloathed in her white Raiment spurious Broods of Toads Nettles and Adders lie mantled under her snowy Breasts but when the Sun ariseth in its vigour her Nakedness is uncovered and her Deformity appears So is it with our Earthy Hearts which Naturally brings forth mishapen Brats of Lusts veiled through the Devils Policy under the Garment of Hypocrisie transforming them as himself into Angels of Light Discover O my God to the Eye of my Soul such dangerous Impostors as sin and Satan that I may behold them in their Monstrous shape with detestation as the great Enemies of my Salvation and arise thou Sun of Glory with thy beams of Love upon my Soul and thaw away this rimy Robe from my frozen Heart that I may appear what in truth I am the greater Object of thy Compassions 27. Of Envy This Torturing Passion is like Prometheus his Vulture which continually Tyrannizes upon the Heart where it takes possession it soveraignizeth over the rest of the Passions not enduring any Competitor in the Common-wealth of Prosperity subjecting all the Lusts to be subservient to it if Covetousness come in competition with it for greatness of Reward Envy will be thankful to the Angel for one Eye to make the Miser stark blind If graceful Vertue sit in the seat of Dignity Envy will endeavour by Ambition to pull her down If Love cannot win Lady Beauty by fair Treatment Envy stirs up Raging Lust to deflower her If Thrift grow up in the Garden of Prosperity Envy presently sendeth forth Extortion to crop it If true Valour bear away the Prize of Honour Cowardise and Vain-glory are employed to asperse it by detraction This Envy is Attended with two sullen Passions Hatred and Malice the one is a sad sedement of continued Anger which settles upon the spleen causing it to swell upon every occasion in opposition to its object of discontent The other is ever hatching Mischievous designs for Envy's Practice Envious detractor Malicious sinner Hateful maligner who not only Robs thy self of quiet but also Thieves away from thy Neighbour his Goods and good Name If
that Golden Hesperides that the red Dragon Guarded for his Minions till slain by Hercules which all passionately enquire after the greedy Miser for Wealth the Ambitious for Honour the Luxurious for Pleasure all being Avaritious of Beautiful Apples no Labour no Danger seems difficult to obtain their desires whereas the poor Soul lyes Hunger-starved for want of the sincere Milk of the Word that it may grow thereby Convert we then our thoughts from these perishing things to a holy Covetousness after a more durable substance than this eyely Fruit which like the Apples of Sodom will fade into dust hunger we after that Tree of Life which beareth twelve manner of Fruits the Doctrine of the Apostles which are for the healing of the Nations through the vertue of the Lord of life our great Hercules pray we him to cut down both root and branch of this Hesperides and slay the Dragon which keepeth Possession and that he will please to replant us with better fruit to wit the graces of his spirit that we may grow up as fruitful Trees by the water-brooks of Repentance bringing forth our fruit in due season 34. Of Prodigality It is no Paradox to say That the Prodigal is very covetous in that all his Lavishments are to gratifie his greedy Passions that could he enjoy perpetual health and strength with the unlimited Addition of large Revenues as fuel to feed his sinful humours his luxurious Appetite would never be satisfied yet is he not so unprofitable a member in a Common-wealth as the covetous miser who defrauds his Genius to indulge his lustful eye being a Thief to the Common-wealth robbing it of Treasure which should relieve his Brother Whereas the Prodigal is his own greatest enemy others partaking of his wild Disbursements though not of his sin his whole life being as a Dream his profuse phansie feeding upon all kind of Delights which may cherish the flesh and pamper Nature till awakened by the storms and pinches of Poverty which haply makes him return by weeping cross to his Fathers house for better shelter and more wholsome Diet. O thou Almighty Giver who dispensest of thy goodness to every one as in thy wisdom thou knowest convenient for them if thou please to intrust me with two or three Talents suffer me not to be so prodigally vitious as to wanton them away upon my sinful Lusts or so wretchedly avaritious as to hoard them up unprofitably in the ground of my sensual heart but that I may improve them as thy faithful steward to the best advantage of thee my Lord and Master that when thou callest me to an account I may chearfully appear before thee not fearing thy Curse but expecting thy Blessing 35. Of Vain-glory. The Vain-glorious man is a bundle of Folly swadled up in ambitious Bravery whose airy thoughts words and gestures doth metamorphize his Soul by a kind of Pithagorean metempsuchosis into a puff of Vanity his wild phansie draws the circuit of his conceit beyond the Moon his words like wind bladders him up into a fond opinion of his frothy humor his gestures so affectionately mimical that they make him more than ridiculous Come not O my Soul into this aiery Element let not vain-glory swell thee like a Bladder in an overprizing conceit of thine own weakness but let Sobriety moderate thy Passions Temperance regulate thy Affections Humility bridle thy desires that thou mayest be a friend to thy self and not a foe to others 36. Of Presumption and Desparation The Serpent having bitten our first Parents with this infectious sin of Presumption afterwards sets upon Cain with that stinging sin of Desparation Both which are the great Master-pieces he useth to batter the Rampire of our Righteousness that so he may the more easily let in death into the heart the Souls Citadel one commonly follows the other as that little ravenous beast follows the Lyon for the reversion of his Prey 〈◊〉 the great design of Satan to hush a man 〈…〉 a carnal security that he may spend 〈…〉 and flower of his years in a presumptive way of sinning in hope of an after Repentance but if he chance to look back in the Evening of his age the Devil rouzes the Conscience as a sleepy Lyon to to fly in his face which returns him into his former way of Presumption or else exposes him to the devouring teeth of Desparation Shield me O my God with thy preventing Grace from such miscarriage that passing through the Red Sea of this World I may steer my course by the gale of thy favour between Silla and Carybdis the rocks of Presumption and the Gulf of Desparation till I safely arive upon the coast of Canaan the promised harbour of eternal Rest 37. Of Vertue and Vice Narrow is the way that leads unto life and few there be that find it but broad is the way that leads unto death and many there are that go in thereat At the entrance of the one stands Vertue in her sable dress like Rachel mourning for the loss of her Children and will not be comforted crying with Wisdom in the open places of concourse How long will ye simple ones love Simplicity ye Scorners delight in scorning and Fools hate knowledge Turn ye at my Reproof behold I will shew you the way of life though it may seem cragged rough and hard yet by it you shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven But at the other way stands gawdy Vice in her rich habiliments like Solomons Harlot curiously bedect with all sensual Invitements with which she commits a rape upon the Eyes of her Beholders her lips drop as the Honey-comb and her words are smoother than Oyl her feet go down to death and her steps take hold on Hell she opens unto them the gate of Vanity which leads into a spacious place where are Gamesters of all sorts sporting themselves with the Rackets of Pleasures and Profits in the Tennis-Court of this World till unwisely unwarily and unhappily they court their own Destruction Prevent me O my God in the day of Grace with thy blessing of wisdom that I may listen to the call of Virtue and not to the Courtship of Vice that I may creep with the fewest on the knees of humility in the narrow way to eternal life and not run with the most on the feet of Folly in the broad way to eternal death 38. Of the World As the Wilderness of sin was a place of tryal and trouble to the murmuring Israelites in their way to Canaan sufferin hunger and thirst with the sting of Serpents for Rebellion and Disobedience so is the World in general to us all full of variety of Vexation of Spirit for Sin and Transgression Some are hungry and thirsty and cold and naked pinched with poverty others surfeiting with prosperity throughfulness of flesh sticking in their teeth their fiery Lusts as so many Serpents gendred by Satan upon their Sin-bearing hearts sting them to death without the mercy of a Saviour Blessed
Redeemer who hast healing under thy wings for every disease cure I beseech thee my wounded heart being sorely bitten with the venomous Teeth of my Viperous Passions direct the eye of my soul as the Israelites to their Brazen Serpent to look up unto thee for my speedy Remedy that so passing through the briers of this wilderness of sin or sinful wilderness I may safely enter by the Conduct of thee my great Joshua into the promised land of Eternal Rest 39. Of the Earth When I look upon the Earth invellopt in her misty weeds methinks I see her sit as a disconsolate widow mourning the Suns absence to exhale those Vapours from her clouded brow by the vertue of his glorious beams So if my foggy Soul sit benighted under the dark Canopy of sin and Error Lord let the shining of thy Wisdom enlighten the eyes of my understanding that I may see thee in thy beauty to the great comfort of my Soul in the fruition of thy Spirit 40. Of Light Light is a comfortable emanation breath'd from the mouth of God Let there be light and there was light without which the Fabrick of Heaven and Earth was an abortive swadled up in the mantle of obscurity it distinguisheth Colours discriminates objects of various forms properties and qualities with their several dimensions it shews the great perfections of the Creator in the visibility of the Creatures especially in that choice piece called Man the model of the greater World whose intellective Soul is made capable of a twofold light like the Sun and Moon Grace and Nature the one giving shine to the Science of Divinity the other of Morality whereby we come to know God in us and us in him Lighten O Lord I intreat thee my dark heart which indeed is no better than a confused Chaos invellopt with the clouds of sin and ignorance shine upon it with the light of thy countenance which may discover unto me my deformity making me seek for better perfection in the knowledge of thy will and practice of thy word which is a Lanthorn to my feet and a light unto my paths 41. Of the Sun That glorious Lamp the Sun hath several Properties according to the Subject-matter it meets with it hardens Clay and melteth Wax its beams lighting on a stinking Dunghil causeth a noisom savour but darting on a fragrant Garden produceth a pleasant smell Cleanse my heart thou Son of Righteousness of the filth of sin by the vertue of thy precious blood that it may not be exposed to the influence of thy rays as a putrid substance but as a Nursery of graceful herbs not as stubborn Clay but as soft Wax capable of the Impresses of thy Image so shalt thou be unto it the savour of life unto salvation and not the savour of death unto Damnation 42. Of mans Heart The Heart of man came a rich soil out of the hand of God capable of bringing forth rare fruits of Righteousness but the wild Boar breaking in upon it so rooted and digged it that it became a Wilderness of sinful Weeds O may that gracious hand so husband my wild and barren heart pulling up those brambles of iniquity and sowing in it such seeds of Grace and plants of Vertue watering it with the dew of his spirit and fencing it with his blessing it may become a Garden inclosed fit for the Lords delight 43. Of Riches Riches are but golden balls which the world trundels before her Minions in the race of this life which they with Atlanta greedily snatch up to their utter undoing losing the benefit of a better prize the Graces of Heaven For earthly Riches do but clog the wheels of the Soul which drives Heavily on like the Chariots of Pharaoh to destruction not but that Riches are the Gifts of God and Instruments of much good if rightly stewarded but man being over apt to bless his soul in them he honours the Creature more than the Creator Admit O Worldling that thou couldst with Alexander compass the whole World and that thy Lordships were richly stored with all kind of Cattel feeding with more sober security than thy self thy Egyptian Granaries stuffed with Corn thy Coffers filled with Gold and Silver sumptuous houses promising perpetuity to thy Name and Posterity with all which thou mightest indulge thy soul for many years yet consider the casualties thy Goods may be driven away with Sabeans thy Barns eaten with Rats and Mice Thieves break in and steal thy Treasure the Elements enemies to thy Houses and Children and lastly death with the Fool in the Gospel robs thee of thy soul who then art of all men most miserable if thou hast not with Job laid up inward Riches in the Treasury of a good Conscience which will strongly fortifie thee against all Assaults and chearfully bear thy Charges to Heaven whereas other Riches as heavy Plummets will sink thee to Hell What got Midas in the Fable by his Grant from Apollo to make his fingers as Philosophers stones to convert by touch all things into Gold that when he would have taken pleasure in his glittering Joys his stomach craving more suitable meat was choakt to death with Golden Morsels Convert we then this Fable into a real truth which will afford us better profit Be thou avaritious in the pursuit of a better Treasure by thy Orisons summon Heaven to instruct thee in this Art of Conversion this holy Chimistry that thou mayest change all things into the Gold of Grace Art thou in love with rich Pastures Christ the Shepherd of thy Soul will feed thee in fair Meadows with running Rivers Doth full Barns delight thee make Heaven thy Store-house for Bread of Life Doth glittering Wealth steal away thy heart cast it upon the waters of Poverty and it will bring thee an income of everlasting Riches Doth costly Buildings take up thy heart lay thy Foundation on that Corner-stone where thou shalt have a building made without hands not to be devoured by the teeth of time Wouldst thou establish thy Name to all Posterity get that white stone in which is a new Name written to perpetuity And which beside all these external Accommodations superads that Joy which is unspeakable and full of Glory which will be lengthned out to Eternity 44. Of Honour Honour is as light as a Feather pufft up and down by a popular breath according to the ebbing and flowing Tides of inconstant Affections witness proud Haman who in his conceited thoughts did herauldize to himself his own Dignity in riding upon the Kings horse with Royal Habiliments How gloriously did the Sun of his Honour arise upon the sphere of Ahasuerus's favour and how suddenly was it blown amongst the clouds of his Displeasure by the breath of a Woman With what Admiration did Marcillus ride in his Chariot of Triumph after his great Victories and presently by the turning wheel of Providence his Reputation overthrown and Laid in the dirt So inconstant are the Felicities of this
out of the narrow tract of life into the broad way of death O may the rod of thy love drive it in that I may walk with more caution having my feet shod with the preparation of thy Gospel 49. Of Life Natural Objects of instability instructs us of our frailty a bubble a vapor a shadow a flower are all Emblems of our Mortality which make their appearance like Philips Page to mind us that we are but men every day liable to the stroke of Death Yea man himself may read his nullity in his own Mirror for how many comes upon the Stage of this World and suddenly returns off as if they would only shew they had a being as if Nature gave them breath presently to bequeath it to death Some with Heraclitus acts a Lacrimae from the Womb to the Tomb others with Democritus a longer Commedy of much Vanity whose Exit oftentimes produceth a sad Catastrophe making more hast out of the World by the pangs of a sudden Death then they came into it by the Throes of their Birth so fragil and uncertain is our condition Muse we then our souls on these animate and inanimate Idea's of our short-lived Being What a curious Fabrick is that Chrystaline Hemesphere the Bubble as if nature composed it on purpose to remonstrate unto us by its sudden non-entity our Fragility A Vapor which is the exstract of all the Elements how soon is it reduced to its first Principles to shew us our speedy return to our original dust The Vmbra of the Gnomon how insensibly doth it steal away our time instantly hiding it self among the Clouds till it receive a second Being from the Sun which shadows forth unto us our vanishing condition to our earthly Bed till the Son of Righteousness reanimates us to eternal Happiness or Misery That Golden Flower of Affection the Marigold enough to dazel the eye of the Beholder doth emblemize unto us in the space of a day our Infancy Youth and Old Age. But admit we some of our Temperaments be so good that the storms of sickness doth not violate us in the Bud or sudden death deflower us in our full blown Glory yet considering the Sun of our life is in its verticle point of its Declination the whole being but a span shortned by every days succession and that upon a moment dependeth Eternity Let us not be such Enemies to our selves to neglect so great an opportunity of a more permanent life but learn we to busie our thoughts upon that heavenly Decree of our Mortality and daily to live the life of Grace as every day expecting the Dissolution of the life of Nature that so when the ship of our life shall run upon the ground of our Grave we may purchase to our selves a new life which shall triumph over time in a Kingdom of Glory 50. Of Death Alexander Questioning Diogenes why he pored upon a pile of dead mens Bones Answered to find out his Father Philip's Skull if possible he could difference if from others A Reply as suitable as his research both enough to flag the Plumes and darken the splendour of the Young Gallants Glory for Objects of Mortality seriously contemplated are but dusty Characters wherein we may read our own nothingness rebate the swelling Humours of Honour Beauty and Valour seeing Death makes no difference between Persons and Qualities between Royal and Plebean Dust the Worms no difference between Nereus and Thersites Beauty and Deformity the Earth no difference between Noble and Ignoble Rich and Poor being all retaken into the Womb that bore them unless it be the Addition of a Golden Epitaph upon a Marble Cover-lid to Emblemize their past Greatness if not their Goodness whereas poor Irus goes more silently to his Bed of Earth than rich Croesus not burdened with such thick Clay Gaze we not then on these gilded Vanities which like Basilisks Wounds us to death let not our Passions Soveraignize over our Affections to make us neglect the fruition of our future felicity and consequently incur everlasting Misery but muse we our Souls upon our Death-day as our second Birth-day upon our Corruption as a new Generation to a new Life that so we may not forget our return home laden with the Rich Treasure of Heaven the Works of Faith Repentance and Obedience with which we must encounter yea Conquer both Death and our selves 51. Of Hell To omit the vain Disputes where Hell is and to pretermit the fabulous Fancies of the Poets concerning Hell that the burning Mountains of Vesuvius and Aetna are the Entrances to it and Pliny pressing too near to search the secrets of Vesuvius was stifled to Death Sure I am where Heaven is not there is Hell the certainty of it prepared for the Damned Devils and Reprobate Sinners the Word of God declares unto us Tophet is prepared of old the burning thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a river of Brimstone doth kindle it It is that Gehenna wherein is continual weeping and knashing of Teeth that firy Gulf which never goes out where there is no Society but what will augment our Misery the Devil his Angels and Reprobate men where the Worm of Conscience is ever gnawing the fire of Gods wrath ever burning where all the Senses according to their several Properties are gulft in misery Those wanton Eyes which were ravish'd with every Beauty are afflicted with hideous Objects of gashly Ghosts Those Ears which once were nothing but spunges of Folly are now affrighted with the noise of howling Devils That dainty Nose wholly delighted with sweet Odours and rich Perfumes is stuft with the noysom stench of burning Sulphur That curious Palate which could relish nothing but what was far fetch'd and dear bought the richest of meats and drinks is miserably bitten with hunger and scorched with thirst The Understanding which would not know God and his Will is wrack'd with the knowledg of Eternal Torment The Will which ran like a Torrent into the Sea of Delights is there overwhelmed in the Ocean of Misery The Memory made to be the Key of Knowledg is grievously tortured with the remembrance of lost Felicity Thus every Sense Faculty and Member is everlastingly wracked tormented afflicted Known unto thee O God are all thy works which Praise thy Name yea Hell it self which thou madest for thy righteous Judgment doth shew forth the same As thou art God Almighty so thou art infinite in every place thou art in Hell by thy Judgments in Earth by thy Grace and in Heaven by thy Glory Hell speaks thy Justice Earth thy Mercy Heaven thy Goodness Thou art as well just in thy Goodness as good in thy Justice O then I pray thee that I may prevent thy Justice by my Goodness and that thy Justice may crown my Goodness which to obtain while I am in this middle Sphere between Hell and Heaven let the one I beseech thee in a holy fear fright me from sin which leads
They may both be true in a different sense for the word dishonour may be taken two ways 1. To degrade or make one unhonourable that before was honourable but in this sense it is rarely if at all found in Scripture 2. To disrespect or slight one that is honourable and still remains worthy to be honoured In the former sense God cannot be dishonoured but in the latter he may even as Children by their disobedience do not render their Parents dishonourable but dishonoured Par. How can men in Justice become lyable to eternal punishment for sin committed in time and it may be in a short time Conf. They are committed against an Eternal God and therefore are always as it were in committing before and against him 2. If men might live eternally they would sin eternally and God punisheth according to the rebellion of their wills 3. Though punished in Hell they still retain their enmity against God and therefore justly is their penalty continued DIALOGUE V. Concerning Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience Also Of the Civil Magistrate and Church Censures Par. IF Christians must not be the Servants of men how come Rulers to have any power over us Conf. The meaning is not that we must not serve men at all for that would contradict the Verses immediately fore going and almost infinite other places but do not so serve men that it hinder you in the service of God Par. If every one must bear his own burden and be judged according to his works why should any man Magistrate or other trouble or interrupt him though he be Heretical or Blasphemous but leave him to God and his own Conscience Conf. The vilest sinner on earth may plead thus But the truth is that though the Principal and ultimate Judgment of every mans cause be left to Christ to be determined by him at the day of Judgment yet God out of his singular wisdom hath appointed that open wickedness whether it be matter of opinions or practise be judged and punished also by Authority Ecclesiastical and Civil and if either sort neglect their duty herein themselves become culpable Par. But what good is this restraint like to work but to make men either more violent when they see their Tenet opposed or else Hypocrites if they be restrained for God only can change the heart Conf. This also any notorious wretch may say for himself but trust reposed in men by God must be discharged and the issue left to him Par. But if my Conscience be erroneous what course can I take If I go against the truth I sin and if I go against my Conscience I sin also Conf. It is true and therefore the way is to pray and seek for satisfaction that your Conscience may comply and close with the truth DIALOGUE VI. Treating of the State of man after death and likewise of the Resurrection and last Judgment Par. HOW can a man comfort himself in the death of his profane Kindred Conf. He may quiet his heart with these Considerations following 1. God is ready to forgive those which repent at the last moment and for ought we know may work Repentance when the party is too far spent to express it 2. Gods Decree is unchangable and therefore they either were elected and are saved or Reprobates and could never have been saved had they lived a thousand years 3. Had such as are rejected of God lived longer their impenitent hearts would have caused them still to have treasured more wrath to themselves by proceeding further in wickedness 4. Our Relation to them the main cause why we are grieved for them ceaseth after this life 5. However it is with them God will dispose of all things for his own Glory which should be more dear to us than our Friends yea our own Souls Par. If the whole man soul and body sinned how can it otherwise be but the Soul must die as well as the Body Conf. Man in his actings is to be considered collectively not distributively and as sin is not acted by the Soul and Body in a divided sense but joyntly by the whole man consisting of Soul and Body as its constitutive parts So man dies not in a distributive sense as if the Body died by it self and the Soul by it self but as a Creature compact of both he dyeth or ceaseth to be what he was when the Soul which is the essential form of a man is taken away A Parliament when dissolved loseth its essence as such though all the members be alive so doth an house dimolished though all the materials remain whole So when the Soul and Body are disunited the man is dead howbeit the Soul lives either in Happiness or Woe Par. If there be no satisfaction of the Justice of God after this life which men having given shall be forgiven and saved how is it said Till thou hast paid the last mite or uttermost farthing Conf. This word till is often found in Scripture signifying or at least not excluding perpetuity and taken in that sense the force of it is thus much if thou be not reconciled to God in Christ before thy death thou shalt be cast into the Prison of Hell there to abide the exact justice of God for ever because thou never canst never so satisfie his wrath as to be acquitted from it Par. If every Soul when it leaveth the Body goeth either to Heaven or Hell immediately to what purpose is the Resurrection or day of Judgment Conf. There is very great reason for them as First That the whole Creation may be purged and delivered from the bondage of Corruption Secondly That the Soul and Body which suffered or sinned together may in the righteous day of the Lord be crowned or punished Thirdly That all hidden things yea the secrets of hearts may be discovered that thereby Gods righteous Judgment may be also revealed Fourthly That he may publickly right his people upon their enemies Par. Godly men are men still and Christ avoucheth That every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof at the day of Judgment How then can they be said to be discharged from all sin Conf. The meaning is not as if the godly shall be called to account for their idle words or any other sins but only thus much that the Judgment of God shall be so exact and severe that even so much as an idle word shall not pass him without full satisfaction to his justice on the Transgressor or his surety and that he which hath not his Pardon already procured by Christ shall be found culpable at that day and the sentence of Condemnation pronounced against him though he had only one idle word to answer for Par. Sir I thank you for your pains you have taken with me this day in resolving my several Queries but now at present I will trouble you no further Conf. The Lord give you then a heart to consider what hath been said and so for the
to have spoken Blasphemy and the Fact to be notorious he then asked their Votes What think ye And they answered and said he is guilty of Death They durst not deny what Caiaphas had said they knew his Faction was very Potent and his Malice great and his Heart was set upon the business and therefore they all conspire and say as he would have them He is guilty of Death Oh here is Jesus's Sentence which should have been mine He is guilty of Death But this Sentence was but like strong dispositions to an enraged Fever they had no power at that time to inflict Death or such a Death as that of the Cross they only declared him apt and worthy and guilty of Death 5. For Peter's denial and abjuration While these things were thus acting concerning Christ a sad Accident happened to his Servant Peter at first a Damosel comes to him and tells him Thou wast with Jesus of Galilee and then another Maid tells the by-standers This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth And after a while they that stood by spake themselves surely thou art one of them for thy speech bewrayeth thee q. d. thy very Idiom declares thee to be a Galilean thou art as Christ is of the same Countrey and Sect and therefore thou art one of his Disciples Peter thus surprized without any time to deliberate he shamefully denies his Lord And 1. He doth it with a kind of subterfuge I know not what thou sayest He seems to elude the Accusation with this Evasion I know not thy meaning I understand not thy words I skill not what thou sayest 2. At the next turn he goes on to a licentious boldness denying Christ with an Oath I know not the man and lastly he aggravates his sin so far that he grows to impudence and so denies his Lord with cursing and swearing I know not the man Here 's a Lie an Oath and a Curse the sin is begun at the voice of a Woman silly Damosel not any of the greatest Ladies she was only a poor Serving-maid that kept the Doors but it grew to ripeness when the Men-Servants fell upon him now he swears and vows and curses himfelf if he knew he Man O Peter is the man so vile that thou wilt not own him Hadst thou not before confess'd him to be the Christ the Son of the living God and dost thou not know him to be Man as well as God Say is not this the Man-God God-Man that called thee and thy Brother Andrew at the Sea of Galilee saying follow me and I will make you Fishers of men Is not this he whom thou sawest on Mount Tabor shining more gloriously than the Sun Is this not he whom thou sawest walking on the water and to whom thou said'st Lord if it be thou bid me to come unto thee on the water How is it then that thou sayst I know not the man Surely here 's a sad example of human infirmity if Peter fell so foully how much more may lesser Stars And yet withal here 's a blessed example of serious through Repentance no sooner the Cock crew and Christ gave a look of Peter but he goes out and weeps bitterly The Cock was the Preacher and the look of Jesus was the Grace that made the Sermon effectual O the Mercy of Christ he looked back on him that had forgot himself he revives his servants memory to think on his Master's words he sends him out to weep bitterly that so he might restore him mereifully to his favour again 6. For the abuses and delusions of the base Attendants offered to Christ the Evangelist tells us then did they spit in his face and buffetted him and others smote him with the palms of their hands saying Prophesie unto us thou Christ who is he that smote thee And as Luke adds many other things blasphemously speak they against him what those many other things were it is not discovered only some ancient Writers say That Christ in that night suffered so many and such hideous things that the whole knowledge of them is reserved only for the last day of Judgment Mallonius writes thus after Caiaphas and the Priests had sentenced Christ worthy of death they committed him to their Ministers warily to be kept till day and they immediately threw him into the Dungeon in Caiaphas 's House there they bound him to a stony Pillar with his hands bound on his back and then they fell upon him with their palms and sists Others add that the Soldiers not yet content they threw him into a silthy dirty puddle where he abode for the remainder of that night But we need not borrow light from Candles or lesser Stars the Scripture it self is plain Observe we these Particulars 1. They spit in his face this was accounted among the Jews a matter of great Infamy and Reproach And the Lord said unto Moses if her Father had but spit in her face should she not be ashamed seven days We our selves account this a great affront and so did Job I am their Song and their By word they abhor me they fly far from me and spare not to spit in my face 2. They buffet him We heard before that one of the Officers struck Jesus with the palm of his hand but now they buffet him some observe this difference betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one is given with the open hand but the other with the fist shut up and thus they used him at this time they struck him with their fists and so the stroke was greater and more offensive By this means they made his face to swell and to become full of Bunches all over One gives it in thus By these blows of their sists his whole head was swoln his face became black and blew and his teeth ready to fall out of his Jaws 3. They covered his face Mark 14.65 Several Reasons are rendred for it As 1. That they might smite him more boldly and without shame 2. That they might not have that object of Pitty in their view it is supposed that the very sight of his admirable form so lamentably abused would have mollified the hardest heart under Heaven and therefore they veiled and hood-wink'd that alluring drawing Countenance 4. They smote him with the palms of their Hands saying Prophesie unto us thou Christ who is he that smote thee To pass away that doleful tedious night they interchangeably sport at him first one and then another gives him a stroke we usually call it a Box on the Ear and being hood-wink'd they bid him a-read who it is that smote him And now the dismal Night is done what remains but that we follow Christ and observe him in his Sufferings the next day The Psalmist tells us Sorrow may endure for a night but joy cometh in the Morning only Christ can find none of this joy neither Morning nor Evening for after a dismal Night he meets with as dark a day what the passages of the
Solomon a foolish Nabal a holy Isaac a prophane Esau of what sort soever he must be Deaths Prisoner Nay let there be a concurrance of all in one let Samuel be both a good Man and a good Minister c. and have as many Priviledges as are incident to a man yet can he not procure a Protection against this Officer his Mother may beg his Life but none can compound for his Death Speak we this according to men saith not the Scripture as much Wise men die saith David and Fools die Rich men die and poor too and therefore he calls both upon the Sons of Nobles and of the Earth to mind the Lesson indeed the Heathens could compare the Sons of Adam to Counters Chess Stage-plaies in reckoning Counters have their several Place and use for a time but in the end they are all jumbled on a heap in a Game at Chess some are Kings some Bishops c. but after a while they go all into the same Bag on the Stage one is in his rags another in his Robes one is the Master another the Man and very busie they be but in the end the Play ends the bravery ends and each returns to his place such and no other is the state of man We wear death in our faces and bear it in our bones we put it upon our backs and into our mouths and cannot be ignorant of it Yea the dead proclaim this Lesson go to the Earth and they that make their Beds in darkness and sleep in the dust will tell you that it s neither wisdom nor power nor strength nor friends nor place nor grace nor any thing else that can exempt from this Tribute of Nature Our deceased Brother here before us speaks this to all this vast Assembly If greatness of Spirit feature of Body gifts of mind chastness of life soberness in diet diligence in a calling Prayers of the Church would have given any advantage against death darkness and blackness had not at this time covered us That there is no Prescription against Death appears by these Reasons The first of which is taken from the Decree of God it s a Statute enacted in that highest Court the voice of Heaven that man should once die No man as yet hath breathed but he hath had his death or translation no man is yet to come but he must either see death or an alteration so hath Heaven concluded it and who can possibly reverse it The second is taken from the matter whereof all men are made the Scripture compares man to a house whose foundation is laid in the dust whose walls are made of Clay the whole is but a Tabernacle and that of Earth and that of mans building as Paul after Job tells us this is the estate of man of all men some are more painted than some but all earthen Vessels some more clear than some but all Glasses all built of earth all born of Women and therefore all short of continuance as Job infers The third is taken from the proper cause of Death Sin Sin is Poyson to the Spirits Rottenness to the Bones where it comes and where doth it not come And therefore now what 's to be done Vse 1. Surely as men that must travel stand not to dispute but Arm themselves for all Weather So must we die we must that 's already concluded young and old good and bad c. Whatsoever we be now we must be dead anon You will think strange perhaps of my pains in this kind whilst I perswade a Mortality For howsoever we can all say in the general we are Mortal nothing so sure as Death yet when it comes to our own particular we dream of an Immortality in Nature we never set any bounds to Life we do not resolutely conclude I must die shortly I may instantly this day may be the last that I shall see this hour the last that I shall spend this word the last that I shall speak this deed the last that I shall perform this place the last that I shall breath in and so live by the day by the hour But it is our duty daily to consider what it is to die what goes before it what comes with it what follows upon it For first before we come to the very Gate of Death we are to pass through a very strait long heavy Lane Sickness first tameth us which many times is worse than Death it self that renders us unfit for all Religious Services Prayer Repentance c. as being a time not of getting but of spending that cleaves the Head and pains the Heart and wounds the Spirits and leaves us so distressed that Meat is no Meat the Bed no Bed Light no Light to us that makes us catch at Death for help But alas what help in Death if not fore-thought of Oh the Misery of a poor Creature that is so pained that he cannot live so unprepared that he dares not die he goes to Bed but cannot sleep he tastes his Meat but it will not down he shifts his Room but not his pain Death saith the Conscience would end and amend all wert thou prepared for Death but to die before were to lose those Comforts one hath and to fall under those Curses that are unsufferable Ah beloved we may intimate somewhat of his Misery but it falls not within our thoughts to conceive what his fears be who hangs between Life and Death Earth and Hell thus forthwith ready to drop into flames at every stroke of Death and to sink down down down till he be gone for ever And yet this is not all When I am dead saith the Carnal wretch all the World have done with me He saith truth all the World and all the comforts of the World have done with him indeed he shall-never laugh more he shall never have a moments ease more But though the World hath done with him yet God hath not done with him he sends for his Soul having first taken order that the Body be forth coming convents that and dooms that and casts that from him with greatest indignation into such a place such a company such a condition as would make the Heavens sweat and the Earth shrink to hear it Ah beloved therefore without all delays as a man that is now dying as well as he for whom the Bell tolls though not haply so near to Death set upon two things First set your House in order next your Souls For the first you have your persons and things to look unto To begin with Persons so live with your Wives being Husbands with your Servants being Masters with your Children being Fathers as becomes dying Men exercise such wisdom kindness faithfulness mercy every day as thou wouldest do if thou knowest it to be the last day And for things mark me well hearken not to Satan who disswades all seasonable wills because he would administer the Goods by being timely in this Errand thou shalt not shorten thy days but