others have the use of it onely the abuse of it he carries to judgement with him he hath made his friends as we say but he hath undone himself so that I may justly write this Motto upon every bagg This is the price of blood Shall I then treasure up the price of blood No Christ hath entrusted me as a Steward therefore what I have and need not Christ shall have in his members that need and have not So the transitory creatures when they shall slide away shall not carry me with them but when I shall pass away I shall carry them with me XII Meditat. GOod Lord what a miserable creature is a wicked man His very Manna turns to worms his very mercies make him miserable look upon him in his larger estate and you shall find either he hath not the benefit of enjoying it only the danger of keeping it and this adds not to his comfort or else if he doth enjoy it he doth so miserably abuse it that as one saith well he makes that which for use is but temporal for punishment to be eternal Alas the pleasures of it are quickly gone but the pain of it lyes in his bones for ever Lord therefore help me to improve thy mercies or else thy mercies will but improve my miseries XIV Meditat. WOuld'st thou know whether thy name be written in the Book of Life why then read what thou hast written in the Book of Conscience Thou needest not ask who shall ascend up into Heaven for to search the Records of Eternity thou mayest but descend down into thine own heart and their read what thou art and what thou shalt be Though Gods Book of Election and Reprobation be closed and kept above with God yet thy Book of Conscience that is open and kept below in thy very bosome and what thou writest here thou shalt be sure to read there If I write nothing in this Book but the black lines of sin I shall find nothing in Gods Book but the red lines of damnation But if I write Gods Word in the Book of Conscience I may be sure God hath written my Name in the Book of Life At the great Day of Judgement when all Books shall be opened there I shall either read the sweetest or the sharpest lines I will therefore so write here that I may not be ashamed to read hereafter XV. Meditat. BE not curious to search into the secrets of God pick not the Lock where he hath allowed no Key He that will be sifting every Cloud may be smitten with a Thunder-bolt and he that will be too familiar with Gods secrets may be over-whelmed in his judgements Adam would curiously increase his knowledge wherefore Adam shamefully lost his goodness the Bethshemites would needs pry into the Ark of God therefore the hand of God slew above fifty thousand of them Therefore hover not about this flame lest we scorch our wings for my part seeing God hath made me his Steward and not his Secretary I will carefully improve my self by what we have revealed and not curiously enquire into or after what he hath reserved XVI Meditat. NOthing is so sure as death and nothing so uncertain as the time I may be too old to live I can never be too young to dye I will therefore live every hour as if I were to dye the next XVII Meditat. AS the Tree falleth so it lyeth and where death strikes down there God layes out either for mercy or misery So that I may compare it to the Red Sea If I goe in an Israelite my landing shall be in glory and my rejoycing in triumph to see all mine enemies dead upon the Sea-shore but If I goe in an Aegyptian if I be on this side the Cloud on this side the Covenant and yet go in hardned among the Troops of Pharaoh Justice shall return in its full strength and an inundation of Judgement shall over-flow my soul for ever Or else I may compare it to the sleep of the ten Virgins of whom it is said they slumbred and slept we shall all fall into this sleep now if I lye down with the wise I shall goe in with the Bridegroom but if I sleep with the foolish without oyl in my lamp without grace in my soul I have closed the gates of mercy upon my soul for ever I see then this life is the time wherein I must go forth to meet the Lord this is the hour wherein I must do my work and that the day wherein I must be judged according to my works I know not how soon I may fall into this sleep Therefore Lord grant that I live every day in thy sight as I desire to appear the last day in thy presence XVIII Meditat. WHat is said of the Mariner in respect to his Ship that he alwayes sayles within four inches of death that may be said of the soul in relation to the body that it is alwayes in four inches of Eternity if the Ship splits then the Saylor sinks if our earthen vessels break the soul is gone plunged for ever into the bottomless Sea and bankless Ocean of Eternity This is the soul therefore that I desire to weep over that shall preposterously launch into the deep before he knows whether he shall sink or swim XIX Meditat. IT was a sad speech of a dying King Nondum caepi vivere jam cogor vivendi finem facere I must now dye before I begin to live It is the sad condition of many a dying man that their work is to do when their hour is come when the enemy is in the gate their weapons are to look for when death is at the door their graces are to look for when the Bridegroom is come their oyl is to buy the pursuer of blood is upon them and the City of refuge not so much as thought of by them In a word the seven years of plenty are wasted and no provision for the years of famine time is spent and nothing laid up for eternity I will therefore now finish every work I have to do that to dye might be the last work I have to finish XX. Meditat. THis impudent age of ours is grown so eminently uncivil that it is now a dayes counted one of the greatest shames to be ashamed of sin but for my part I had rather be accounted the Worlds fool than Gods enemy XXI Meditat. WOrldling thou deridest to see a Ceristian melting at the Word trembling at a sin I tell thee he is of a noble carriage he can triumph in death and in judgement it is not the King of fears that can appall him or Hell it self that can affright him but as a Conquerour over both he can leave the World with a smile O Death where is thy Sting O Hell where is thy victory That is his triumphant valediction and farewell But thou that gloriest so much because thou canst silence Conscience and out-face sin I tell thee thou art of a base
never enter into the Kingdom of God no soul shall rest in Heaven hereafter but those that walk in Heaven here no soul shall enter into the gates of felicity but only that which treads the narrow paths of piety Lord make me holy as well as happy that I may love as well to glorifie thee as to be glorified of thee XLIV Meditat. THere be many to morrow Christians that set their day with God at such a day they will repent and not before as if they had the Lordship of Time and the Monopoly of Grace whereas Time and Grace are only at Gods disposing As St. Ambrose saith Poenitenti indulgentiam sâ—d dilaturo diem crastinum non promisit God hath promised pardon to the penitent but he hath not promised to morrow to the negligent As Saint Augustine saith Qui dat poenitenti veniam non semper dabit peccanti poenitentiam He that gives pardon to the penitent doth not alwayes give repentance to the sinner If I put God off to day he may put off me to morrow if I put off this hour of grace I may never have another gracious hour to day if I put by his hand of Mercy to morrow he may stretch out his hand of Justice It is true whil'st I have time I may come in but it is also true when I would come in I may not have time This is certain when I repent I shall have mercy but this is as certain when I would have mercy I may not find repentance O Lord thou hast given me this hour of grace to repent in Give me grace in this hour to repent with XLV Meditat. GOod Lord What a shaddow is the life of man What a nothing is it The time past that 's nothing just like a Bird fled from the hand of the Owner out of sight The time present that 's vanishing a running hour nay less a flying minute as good as nothing The time to come that 's uncertain the evening Sun may see us dead Lord Therefore in this hour make me sure of thee for in the next I am not sure of my self XLVI Meditat. ALexander when he had divided his wealth among his friends and being ask'd What he had reserved for himself Answered Hope He is a rare Christian indeed that can part with all for Christ and live by faith but when it comes to this that we must lose what we have here out of hope to find it again in Heaven the running Professor stops and goes back sorrowful Crates in his way to Philosophy threw his goods into the Sea to save himself saying Fgo vos mergam ne ipse mergar à vobis I had rather drown you than that you should drown me For he thought riches and vertue were incompatible But how many Christians are there that in their way to Jesus Christ throw away themselves and their souls to save their gold Before they will cast their bread upon the waters they will throw themselves into the Ocean many that make such specious shews of following of Christ in this same turning you may know their Master but this is a truth he hath no part at all in Christ that will not part with all for Christ and he lives but the life of sence that cannot make a living out of a promise Therefore Lord of what I have freely take thou what thou callest for Christ is my portion and reward I have enough to live on XLVII Meditat. WHen I look into the Treasures of men perhaps I see Chests of Plate Baggs of Gold Cabinets of Jewels but this is the misery of it that when he goes abroad he cannot carry them without a burthen or leave them without a fear But here now is the excellency of a Child of God that his treasure is alwayes in him and it is his happiness to carry it alwayes with him that as it is transcendent for riches being the fulness of God so it is likewise permanent for continuance because he is filled with that fulness insomuch that you may sooner rend his soul from his body than take his treasure from his soul This was that which sweetned the loss of Country-house and friends to Ovid in his exile the thoughts of his Genius the riches of his ingenous spirit was beyond the riches of Caesar's malice and this is that which refresheth the spirit of a Christian in all troubles and afflictions that he meets with in the Land of banishment he hath the possession of Jesus Christ whom he can never lose Oh the excellency of a Child of God! Though you cast him out of all yet you cannot cast any thing of this all out of him But as Bâ—as that Princely Philosopher said when he lost his City and was put to flight being asked by those that fled with him with their bagg and baggage Why he likewise took not something with him Answered Omnia mea mecum porto I carry all my riches with me meaning his Wisdom and his vertues So a Christian though you impoverish him banish him and cast him out of all yet he is able to say still Omnia mea mecum porto I carry all my treasure with me I have my Christ my fulness And truly Lord so thou wilt possess me with this all I care not though I am dispossessed of all XLVIII Meditat. LEgal dayes were but like winter dayes dark and cloudy sharp and stormy and yet how many of our Fathers travelled to Heaven in those dayes But Gospel-times they are like Summer dayes sweet and clear full of light and beauty so that we may truly say that God hath not been as a cloud of darkness to us for these are the dayes of grace that are full of the beams of mercy yet how slowly and sadly do many of us goe to Heaven But which is worse how sadly and slightly do we waste these precious dayes and neglect these golden opportunities Oh what time shall that soul find to repent in that shall be hardned in these melting times Oh what dayes shall that soul find to goe to Heaven in that shall idle away these Gospel-dayes Oh what grace shall that man find for sin that shall sin away the dayes of grace Oh to whom shall that soul appeal that shall renounce Jesus Christ Oh woe unto that soul for ever upon which the shaddows of death and of the evening are stretched out and yet never set forth for Heaven But wofuller is that man to whom the clearer and sweeter day doth only make the blacker and the sadder Hell Oh what blackness of darkness is reserved for that soul that shall walk in darkness in the midst and under such clearness of light We are those that are not only lifted up to Heaven but Heaven is let down to us Oh how long shall that man lye in Hell that Heaven presseth down Oh thou Gospel-Christian Thou art now under the clear demonstrations of Christ the sweet invitations of mercy the large manifestations of love look
openly prophane and cunningly hypocritical meet both there at last only with this difference the way the one goeth through the Gate and the other stealeth through the Postern Lord Therefore whiles the Hypocrite cloaths himself with formality cloath me with sincerity It may be men will hate me but I care not so God love me my duties may be full of imperfection but yet they shall never want a gracious acceptance my way may be in trouble yet my rest shall be in glory LXV Meditat. AS great serenity of weather is a presage of an Earthquake and Whirlwind so great security of life is a great and sore prediction of the souls earthquake of trembling and astonishment of spirit he that takes up formality and sits down in security he that layes his foundation in the sand and there raises his building the fall of that house will be great and you may observe that Christian that is only brought out of open prophaneness into outward profession that hath taken down the frame of his gross iniquity to set up a superficial form of piety that hath covered his face with a surface of Religion no soul so subject to fall into the sleep of death as such a soul for while he thinks himself well he seeks not to be better so that he slumbers away his time ' untill the cry at midnight ' and then he startles and awakes and sees nothing but the bridge of mercy drawn up and the gates of Heaven shut in See with what confidence these Formalists in the Gospel come unto Christ they come under the relation of Servants and therefore they call upon him as their Master Lord Lord Have not we prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast cut Devils c. They made no question of salvation but show their works as if they would command it for their wages But hear Christs answer Then will I profess unto them I never knew you What Lord Never knew us That is strange Have not we heard thy Word received thy Sacraments and relieved thy Members and spake for Thee and prayed to Thee and done many things in thy Name and yet didst thou never know us No sayes Christ I never knew you but with an utter and absolute rejection I never knew you I never did approve you in all your specious wayes and glorious shews wherein you did so pride your selves because all was in formality and nothing in sincerity therefore depart from me They little thought of such a sad expulsion such a direful seperation And thus the out-side Christian because he hath reformed in many things and doth conform to many duties therefore with Agag he concludes the bitterness of death is past so he cloaths himself with smooth imaginations and deceitful apprehensions till he is hewen asunder before the Lord. I will not therefore in the least duty be formal or in the least duty be secure but with the blessed man be always fearing for I had rather tremble here than startle in Hell LXVI Meditat. DOth Sin present it self look upon it as it must be with tears or shall be in torments if thou committest the least sin and dyest impenitent thy soul is lost and thy redemption ceaseth for ever Or if thou committest this sin and dost repent yet what cloudings of the face of God What breakings of the bones with David What bitter pangs What painfull throws What shadows of Death What terrours of Hell may seize upon thee before thou canst make thy peace or settle thine assurance Wilt thou give way to sin because it is delectable or because it is pardonable Who loves poyson because it is sweet Or who drinks poyson because he may have an Antidote seeing it will work to his trouble if it work not out his life I have a precious soul shall I lose it for a lust I have a gracious God shall I venture him for a sin No I will alwayes reject that for which I am sure to lose my peace likely to lose my soul LXVII Meditat. WHat Heir travelling to take possession of a rich inheritance either lets a green Meadow or a pleasant Garden detain him or a black Cloud or a foul way dishearten him O my Soul Thou art travelling to take possession of a glorious inheritance among the Saints wilt thou turn aside to crop every flower Wilt thou stand still to hear every melodious sound Wilt thou leave thy way to drink of every gliding stream of carnal pleasure What is this but to view a Meadow and lose a mannor For a dying Flower to part with an eternal Crown For a flying vanity to lose an immortal felicity To forsake the way of Sion to gather one of the Apples of Sodom Or else O my Soul What if thy way be in tears and thy dayes in sorrow all clouded and a swelling Sea so that not only the lading of the Ship but thy very life is in danger yet here is enough to comfort thee that a good Father and a large portion a sweet rest and an everlasting refreshment will make amends for all Therefore Vain World promise not for I Will make no deviation because my way lyes to purer comforts and surer glory Vexing World threaten not for I will make no retarding because I am travelling to my Fathers to my Country to my Happiness LXVIII Meditat. AS the heart is so is the estate riches are but cyphers it is the mind that makes the sum What am I the nearer for a great estate if I am not contented with it desires of having will quickly eat up all the comforts and delights in possessing Therefore that Alexander that wants content is worse than Digenes that is contented with his wants It argued a rich mind in the Philosopher when walking through a Market and beholding varieties of good commodities yet could say Quà m multis rebus ego non egeo How many things do I not want But a richer mind in the Disciples that with a sweet complacency of spirit could acknowledge that as having nothing yet possessing all things I see all would be well if my heart were well I will therefore forme my heart to my estate so shall I have an estate according to my heart LXIX Meditat. When I remember saith one Job sitting on the Dunghill John hungering in the Wilderness St. Peter hanging on the Gibbet then I think how severely will God punish hereafter those Reprobates whom he loaths if he deals so sharply with his Children whom he loves if he do so much to his intimate friends in the time of Grace what will he do to his professed enemies in the day of Judgment You therefore that deride the miseries of the Saints Oh turn your jeers into fears for Hell sparkles out on Earth On the contrary Lord When I consider Herod in his pomp Haman in his honour Ahasuerus at his feast c. Then I think if God drop so much into a vessel of wrath what will he pour into a Vessel
of mercy If God do so much for a Slave on Earth what will he do in Heaven for a Son Therefore ye holy ones that are so offended at the flourishing of the wicked Oh leave your envy and see your glory for Heaven lyes above ground As the adversity of the Saints shall therefore give me a glimpse of Hell so the prosperity of the wicked shall give me a glance of Heaven LXX Meditat. GOd hath made all things for his elect and his elect for himself All is yours and you are Christs I will therefore serve my God in all things my self in nothing LXXI Meditat. THe Creature hath a goodness in it no further than it stands in reference to the chiefest good if you cut the stream off from the fountain it will quickly lose its sweetness pureness and it self at length the comforts and enjoyments of the wicked because they flow not from the spring of love they are but like dainty Channels mudded and imbittered with the wrath of God fading Brooks which at length will make the soul ashamed so that he which only enjoyes the creature in it self shall lose the creature and himself The purest and the sweetest mercies only run in the rivulets which are fed by the upper celestial springs of mercy Therefore O Lord Whatsoever I enjoy let it stream from the fountain of thy love and flow to me in the blood of thy Son LXXII Meditat. AS the Rivers which flow from the Sea run back again into the Sea So those blessings wich come from God must alwayes be employed for God What I have received from God in his mercy he must have it back again in his glory Therefore Lord Whatever I enjoy let me find thee in it and serve thee with it LXXIII Meditat. LOve should alwayes be the life of motion Amor meus pondus meum eo terror quocunque terror That soul goes true that hath true love to way it and that soul loves truly that hath a true object to center it a gracious spirit loves the Lord not because he does good but because he is good I will not weigh that friends affection that loves a fluent sweetness before an inherent goodness that soul that loves Christ for himself though you take away all weights else yet there is strength enough in love to move and constrain the soul O blessed be that Saint Lord that 's so taken with thy love that can truly say Were there neither Heaven nor Hell yet sin should be my Hell and holiness my Heaven LXXIV Meditat. TO speak the truth our Life what is it but a vital death The Poet being asked What he did Answered very well Paulatim morior I dye by little and little We do but then begin to live indeed when we begin to live to God our life before is but a race to the sepulcher but when we live to God then we are in our way to eternity As Alexander when he reckoned up his age counted not his years but his victories so when I take an account of my life I will not reckon up my time but my duties LXXV Meditat. O Thou precious Saint thou gracious Soul Three questions calls for thy answer thy answer for thy praise 1. What wast thou 2. What art thou 3. What shalt thou be 1. What wast thou A Rebel to thy God a Prodigal to thy Father a Slave to thy Lust an Alien from the Common-wealth of Israel 2. What art thou The Son of God the Spouse of Christ the Temple of the Holy Ghost begotten of the Immortal Seed born of the Blood Royal of Heaven made free among the Denizens of Sion written among the living of Jerusalem 3. What shalt thou be A glorious Saint a Companion of Cherubins a triumphant Victor a crowned King and an Attendant on the Lamb wheresoever he goeth a spectator of those soul-ravishing and ineffable excellencies that are in God the beholding of the King of glory face to face and enjoying immediate communion with Jesus Christ Nay more made one with Jesus Christ cloathed with his excellencies enthroned with his glories crowned with his eternity filled with his felicity The glory which thou hast given me I have given them Oh! Stand amazed at free grace and seeing God hath made thy soul a vessell filled with his mercy make thy self thy life a spring flowing with his praise LXXVI Meditat. THe Soul takes its rise from every creature to Heaven When I see the Stars Lord I think if one Star be of such magnitude what are the dimensions of those Heavens in which so many are fixed Nay how immensible is that God whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain When I see the Sun I think if one Sun make such a glorious and lustrious day what a glorious Heaven will that be wherein every Saint shall be a Sun and every Sun so farr brighter than this as this is brighter than our bodies And yet all these Suns are but a shadow to the Sun of righteousness Again when I consider the rising Sun how by the perfection of his beams he puts beauty life and joy upon the face of the whole Creation paints the Flowers guilds the Corn puts a flourish upon the Plants chears and exhillarates the Birds and makes the Valleys shout for joy I then think what shall be the shining beauty and soul ravishing delights of that soul upon which the brightness of thy glory shall fully rise and rest and into which the glorious splend our of thy beauty shall clearly shine to all eternity And when I consider the Air this is my thought That as here I cannot think at all unless I draw in this Air so I cannot think well at all except thou puts goodness into my thought Lord When I view the variety of thy Creatures and see one excell in beauty another in strength another in wisdome another in love and of others in swiftness Lord I think these are but beams of thy brightness and streams of thy fulness as they had only their being from thy hand so they have only their perfection in thy essence here they are mixt but there they are pure how happy then shall that soul be that enjoyes all perfection in God and God infinitely above all Lord I see stately buildings shady groves and crystal brooks and pleasant meadows and yet perhaps a wicked man the owner why then I think if Simeon goes away with such a mess what will Benjamin's portion be If the Children of the Concubines have so large a gift what shall be the inheritance of a Son of Promise Again when I look upon my self in temporals Lord I bless thee that I have a convenient sufficiency a goodly heritage my tents are by the wells of Elim my portion is from the hands of thy wisdome and though corruption may think it of the least yet wisdome it self knows it to be best Now Lord if thou givest me so much in the time of my vanity what wilt thou do
and high condition We are too weak for such a weight of glory therefore God will bear us up that we may bear up it and because our joyes cannot fully enter into us we shall fully enter into them Who would then set so large a Vessel as the Soul under a few drops of carnal pleasure and neglect the spring and spouts of everlasting joy Oh my soul What a glorious day is there coming When the Vessels of mercy shall be cast into the Ocean of mercy and be filled to the brim with mercy When the Sons of pleasure shall drink their fills at the torrents of pleasures and be set for ever at rest in the rivers of pleasure When the soul that is sick of love shall lye in the bosome of love and for ever take its fill of love When the Children of God shall have a full fruition of God and be for ever satisfied with the presence of God the joy of which glorious presence the fulness of which joy the sweetness of which fulness the eternity of which sweetness the heart of man in its largest thoughts cannot conceive Lord Let the thoughts of the joy and glory which thou hast prepared for me in the Heavens turn away my Soul from the pleasures and delights which are presented to me on Earth that so neglecting them I may be pressing to thee and be breathing forth with thine Oh! When shall I come and appear before God! POSTSCRIPT By A READER AND now being Refreshed with these fragrant leaves what shall I say Blessed Author Art thou yet alive Breath longer in this fruitful Air and extract more out of so Rich a Stock A Scribe so well Instructed cannot have spent all but must have new or old to bring out of his Treasure Do not hide but Improve thy Talent Be not only a good and wise but faithful Steward and yield us more of thy pleasant Fruits Thou hast begun well who what should hinder thee Thy present were there no succeeding Reward is spurr enough to future Work Religion is Recreation and Heaven is the way to Heaven Good men are there on this side the grave Thy Longing Soul was still peeping into it and sending thy Thoughts as Spies to view this promised Land But art thou at Rest from thy Labours this among others thy work follows thee and hath here Erected thy Lasting Monument Where ever thou wert Buried Obscurity shall not swallow thee Every good Heart that knew thee is thy Tomb and every Tongue writes thee an Epitaph Good men speak well of thee But above all God delights in thee Thy Thoughts were still fluttering upwards Richly fraught with Divine Breathings and ever Aspiring till unladen themselves in the Bosome of thy Beloved We are hugely Thankful that a few dropt from thee for the Comfort and Example of fainting sluggish Mortals below Thou liv'd Indeed while most live onely in Shew and hast changed thy Place but not thy Company Blush and be ashamed my Drowsie Soul at Sight or Thoughts of such Active Christians These are Redeeming Times whil'st thou art Mis-spending it These are working and thou loytering These are Conversing with God whil'st thou art following or trifling in the World These are Digging in Scripture Mines whil'st thou passes over them as Barren Empty Things Backward to Read slow to Hear most averse to ruminate on the Word David meditated day and night but thou scarce day or night Shall God be to thee hereafter All in All and here as nothing at All Have all thy Thoughts then and be afforded so few now Is he thy Portion and wilt thou live no more upon him Thy Treasure and thy Heart so seldome with him Is there so much in God and his Attributes in Christ and his Offices in the Spirit and his Workings in the Law and its Exactness in the Gospel and its Sweetness in Grace and its Excellency in the World and its Vanity in the Guilt of Sin in the Beauty of Holiness in the Preciousness of the Soul in the Paucity that shall be Saved in the Frailty of Life in the Certainty of Death in the Torments of Hell in the Happiness of Heaven in the Vnalterableness of Judgement And art thou barren in so fruitfull a Soyl Only a Cumberer of the Ground notwithstanding all the Cost bestowed upon thee Oh see thou be not only alive but a lively Christian Canst thou think of an eternal weight of Glory and rest contented with a little work Who ever served God for nought Hath he not passed his word to make thee amends for all thou canst do or suffer for his sake What Harm is there in a Heavenly Life What Dishonour in Adoring thy Maker What great Danger in being strictly Religious What Discomfort to live and dye in the sense of Gods favour Where is thy best friend What is thy chief Interest What wilt thou wish upon a dying bed Who doth or can do most for thee What into another World will accompany thee O live in the sense of Dreadful Happy Eternity and of the difference to stand with boldness before the Judge when the careless World shall stand trembling Let Heaven be alwayes in thy eye the World under thy feet Christ nearest thy heart the last Trump in thy ear the Work the Word of God in thy hand and his Praises continually in thy lips Listen what Yellings under thee Heark what Acaclmations over thee Look round what Snares are laid for thee Behold whose eye is upon thee what hast Death makes towards thee how near thy course is finishing See who stands holding thy sparkling Crown how the wicked would die like thee how the Devils for Envy grinn at thee how the Angels rejoyce over thee stand round thee and long to be carrying thee thy Father will be no longer without thee Yet a little while and God shall wipe away all Tears turn every Holy Desire into an Embracement every Prayer into a Song of Praise every Sigh into an Hallelujah every Tear into a Pearl every Stone of Reproach into a Diamond in thy glittering Crown Reflection into Possession Faith into Vision Hope into Fruition the Glass into the Face for we shall see him as he is to whom be glory for ever Amen FINIS
like a Bird from the perch or melt away like Ice before the Sun and so leave the immortal soul to sink for ever so that the creature will not onely make thee restless but leave thee miserable I see then that I shall never rest till I rest in God he that is the Father of Spirits the Fountain of Bliss the Ancient of Dayes he only is the adequate object for thine immortal soul the rest of the creatures is in its end the end of the soul is its God Therefore Lord seeing thou hast made me for thy self fill me fully with thy self or take me wholly to thy self XXIX Meditat. DOth Sathan tempt thee either by pleasures dignities or profits O my soul Stand upon thy guard gird on thy strength with such thoughts as these What can the World profit me if the cares choak me How can Pleasures comfort me if the sting poyson me Or what advancement is this to be triumphing in honour beforâ— the face of men here anâ— to be trembling for shamâ— before the throne of Goâ— hereafter What are thâ— delights of the World tâ— the peace of my Conscience or the joy that is iâ— the Holy Ghost Whaâ— are the applauses of meâ— to the Crown prepared bâ— God Or what is the gaâ—â— of the World to the loâ—â— of my Soul The vanity the creature is far beneaâ—â— the excellency of my soul Therefore Sathan you aâ—â— I must keep at an everlaâ—ing distance for you bid me loss XXX Meditat. A Black cloud makes the Traveller mend his pace and mind his home whereas a fair day and a pleasant way wasts his time and that stealeth away his affections in the prospect of the Country However others may think of it yet I take it as a mercy that now and then some clouds do interpose my Sun and many times some troubles do eclipse my comforts for I perceive if I should find too much friendship in my Inn in my pilgrimage I should soon forget my Fathers house and my heritage XXXI Meditat. There is a generation of men that wiâ—â— praise and adore the Saint in Heaven and yet mocâ— and afflict the Saint on Earth so that were aâ—â— those Saints alive again whom they so much honour in their day I daâ—â— affirm they would persecute them in their person like the Jews the can garnish the Sepulchre of thâ— Righteous and yet plaâ—â— the Jew with the Person 〈◊〉 the Righteous Dissembling World thy tongâ—â— embalms a dead Saint whil'st thy hand strikes a wound into the living Saint and thou canst praise God for those that are departed in the faith and yet persecute God in those that will not depart from the faith O foolish World must thou needs condemn thy self for thy praise hath lest thy practise without excuse XXXII Meditat. ALexander being asked where he would lay his Treasure Answered very well Apud Amicos Among his friends being confident that there it would be kept with safety and return'd with use What needest thou enlarge thy Barnes Knowest not thou where to lay thy plenty Make the friends of Christ thy treasury let the hands of the widdow the bowels of the poor be thy store-house here is is sure no thief can steal it no time can rust it no change can lose it and hear 't is improved A temporal gift is here turned into an eternal reward no ground so fruitful as the bosome of the poor that brings forth an hundred fold XXXIII Meditat. O My Soul What makest thou groveling on the Earth Every thing here below is too base for thine excellency too short for thine eternity thou art capable of a God and must have a being when these poor things are reduced to nothing the creature is too base a metal to make thee a crow of glory too rotten a bottom to carry thee through eternity Oh fill thy self with God so shalt thou raise thy dignity to perpetuity XXXIV Meditat. WHere any thing presents its self think if Christ were now alive would he do it Or if I were now to dye would I do it I must walk as he hath walked and I must live as I intend to dye if it be not Christs will it is my sin and if I dye in that sin it will be my ruine I will therefore in every action so carry my self as if Christ were on the one hand and Death on the other XXXV Meditat. OUr life is but a moment of time and yet in this moment of time we sow the seeds of eternity in this transitory hour I am framing to my self either a good or a bad eternity These words that now I speak these works that I now act though they here seem to rot yet they shall spring up to eternity Therefore as the Poet answered one upbraiding him for being three dayes about three Verses whereas he could make an hundred in one day Oh saith he At tui ad triduum modo mei in omne aeternum dur aturi sunt Thine are but for three dayes as it were but mine must continue for ever according to my carriage now my Name must either rise or fall for ever So may we answer this foolish World upbraiding us of too much strictness and preciseness Oh! had not we need to be exact indeed when the works we are about are not to be written in sand but in the records of eternity the lines that now we draw must run parallel with eternity and according as we carry our selves in this moment of time our souls must live or dye for ever O Lord help me so to improve the brevity of my life by the integrity of my actions that I may turn this moment of misery into an eternity of bliss XXXVI Meditat. THe Soul of man saith the Philosopher is the horizon of time and eternity now if the Son of Righteousness be not risen in our horizon we must expect nothing but a clouded time and a stormy eternity gross darkness here and utter darkness hereafter for ever But as for those blessed Saints into whose souls the oriental splendour of the Sun of Righteousness is shed abroad how do they live in his sight What celestial excellencies What reviving comforts What advancing principles are darted forth from the face of beauty into their spirits And as for the triumphant Saints in whose horizon Jesus Christ is in the eternal meridian of his glory Oh what full beams of bliss and consolation without the least shadow of bitterness and discontent warms and delights their blessed souls to all eternity Lord lift up the light of thy countenance in my horizon so shall time be the morning and eternity the noon of glory in my soul XXXVII Meditat. THe World hath many servants because it gives present wages where Christ hath but a few Disciples because their reward is in another life Most live by sight and therefore must have to satisfie sense they had rather with Ishmael be sent away with a small gift than with Isaac to wait for
will be alwayes warr with sin I know that while I live sin will have its being in my mortal body the Ivy will still be twisting about the house there 's no destroying of it untill the wall fall Sin was the womb of Death and only Death must be the tomb of Sin God would have my soul humbled therefore though he hath broke my prison yet he hath left the chain upon my feet God would have my graces exercised therefore though he have translated me into the Kingdom of life yet he hath left the Canaanite in the Land God would have my faith exercised therefore Goliah still shews himself in the field that so I might make out to the Name of the Lord I will therefore unbuckle Saul's Armour humble mine own abilities and betake me to the strength of Christ so though I cannot help the rebelling power of sin yet I shall alwayes hinder the ruling power of sin As it shall be my grief because sin will have its being so it shall be my care that it may never have its thriving though sin may live in me yet I will never live in sin LXI Meditat. I Must not pray simply against Temptations though I may against the evil of temptation for a Christian my be tempted and yet not overcome a Castle may be assaulted and yet not taken if Sathan inject an evi motion and I reject it this is not mine but the Devils sin this shall be a shining jewel in my crown of victory as an aggravating Item in his day of judgement Why art thou so terrified at the roaring of a Lion as if he could not rage but he must devour or as if grace temptation would not stand together As if the same afflictions were not accomplished upon thy Brethren This is an undoubted truth that spiritual wickedness is to be found in the heavenliest places and this is an excellent sign that Sathan takes thee for one that will tread upon his head when he is so violent to bruise thy heel and this a comfortable assurance that if Jesus Christ be thy Captain to lead thee in he will be thy Champion to bring thee out so that temptation shall be as a File to beautifie thy soul and as a Sword to wound thine Adversary For my part I know Sathan will be alwayes tempting therefore I will be alwayes watching and what I cannot hinder that I will be sure to hate So shall it be my joy to fall into temptation and the Devil's misery to fall into his own pit LXII Meditat. II was proudly said by Caesar crossing unknown the Sea being in a little Barque in a tempestuous storm when they were ready to be swallowed up by the waves perceiving the courage of the Pilot to fail Confide scias te Caesarem vehere Fear not for thou carriest Caesar How truly may a gracious spirit say in the midst of all dissertions afflictions and tribulations Fear nothing O my soul thou carriest Jesus Christ What though the windowes of Heaven be open for a storm or the fountains of the deep broke up for a floud dissertions from above afflictions from below yet God that sits in Heaven will not cast away his Son Christ that lives in me will not let me sink the swelling waves I know are but to set me nearer heaven and the swelling deeps are but to make me awake my Master prize thy Christ they cannot drown thee therefore shall not daunt me For while I sail with Christ I am sure to land with Christ LXIII Meditat. IF Satan cannot hinder the birth of graces then he labours to be the death of graces this is too ordinary to see a Christian lose his first love and to fall from his first works his love that was formerly an ascending flame always sparkling up to Heaven is now like a little spark almost suffocated with the Earth The godly sorrow that was once a swelling torrent like Jordan overflowing his banks is now like Job's Summer brook which makes the Traveller ashamed his proceedings against sin once furious like the march of Jehu against Ahab but now like Sampson he can sleep in Dalilahs lap whil'st she steals away his strength before he could not give rest to his eyes till God had given rest to his soul but now he can lye down with sin in his bosome and wounds in his Conscience At first his zeal did eat him up but now his decayings hath eat up his zeal How is thy excellency O Christian departed from thee How is thy crown fallen from thy head What a dangerous breach hast thou made for the entrance in of sin and sorrow Temptations find thee wracked and leave thee wounded thy graces that were once like the Worthies of David that could break through anâ— host of enemies and draw water at the wells of salvation are now like the Souldiers that follow Saul they are with thee trembling thou hast potent enemies but impotent graces often assaulted but easily conquered and as thy glorious Sun is setting so are dismal Clouds arising Thou O Christian art decreasing in thy graces and God is declining in his favours Thou drawest off Communion with the Saints and God draws off Communion from thy soul Thou offerest up thy sacrifices without the fire of zeal and he answers thy coldness with the fire of wrath In a word thy spirit hath no delight in God and Gods soul hath no delight in thee And as there is bad news from Heaven so there is sad news from Conscience What tremblings of heart What astonishment of soul What disputes against mercy What questionings of salvation will thy wounded conscience and bleeding spirit raise What flashes of lightning What claps of thunder will break out upon thy soul when the hot pangs of death shall be wrapt up in the cold and chill scruples of salvation As I will therefore draw out my soul to praise God for grace implanted so also will I put out my strength to serve God by grace improved that as every hour sets-me nearer my grave so every action may set me nearer my haven LXIV Meditat. AN Hypocrite is the Devils servant in Gods livery and therefore out of favour both in Heaven and Earth for man seeth his livery and therefore hateth him and God sees his heart and therefore will not own him Men see his outward sanctity and therefore deride him and God sees his inward hypocrisie and therefore abhors him so that he travels in the Wilderness and yet shall never rest in Canaan when he comes to cast up the summ of all his labours this he shall find to be the summ of them in stead of that blessed sentence of approbation Well done good and faithfull servant he shall have that direful sentence of detestation Who hath required this at your hands He that so cunningly deceived others doth at last as foolishly beguile himself in a word he is a man that steals his Damnation and sweats to get to Hell so that the
Praise of those that were slain in the Wars by the Lacedemonians received this answer from him Quales igitur nostros esse putas qui istos vicerunt If those were such brave and valiant men what dost thou think that we are that overcame those What though now we read a sad relation of the potency and policy of our enemies and find the heavy experience of it yet how glorious and victorious dost thou think we shall one day be when in the strength of Christ we shall have overcome those enemies What though my assaults be many my enemies mighty if God strengthen me I have enough to comfort me for the greater my enemy the more glorious my victory and the more glorious my victory the more triumphant my glory LXXXIII Meditat. I Have seen some Christians that for ordinary losses have been inordinate in their mourning as if not only the Stream but the Fountain had been exhausted whereas if the understanding part of the soul did truly act it self it would reason thus What must the stream of my sorrow run altogether in this channel Is there no mourning to be made for sin What shall I suffer my heart to swim away in tears Are there no duties to be performed for God And do I not know that a sad heart cannot serve a good God I have lost the Creature but I must keep my God I have parted with an outward comfort but I shall meet it again with advantage in Jesus Christ I have lost something were it more were it all so that I were not the owner of any thing yet enjoying Christ I should be the possessor of all things The failing Stream shall but therefore send me to the flowing Fountain Thus did the soul put forth it self it would quickly sweeten those bitter waters and presently turn those tears into duties For my part I will mourn for the loss of the Creature but it shall be in the Cause which is Sin so shall my sorrow be godly and not worldly and I will never be satisfied till I make good the absence of the Creature but it shall be in the Fountain which is Christ so shall it be a gain and not a loss LXXXIV Meditat. T Is observed as a point of wisdome in Husbandry to set those Plants together that have an Antipathy in their natures and draw severall juyces out of the Earth therefore it is thought a Rose set by Garlick is sweeter because the more fetid juyce of the Earth goes into the Garlick and the more odorate into the Rose I am sure 't is true in spirituals therefore I wonder not why afflictions are the portion of the righteous for I see prosperity is too strong a sucker to exhaust and steal the spiritual sap and celestial vigour of the Soul and so to debilitate the principles of growth and life Whereas adversity hath a contrary extraction it only draws out what may be malignant and leaves behind it what may be for nourishment it takes the dregs and leaves the spirits whereby the soul is elevated and made more fruitful in the works of holiness Therefore Lord so I may but grow if the Flowers of the World be too succulent transplant me among the Bryars LXXXV Meditat. WHen I look up to Heaven how oft do I both see the Sun shine and set When I look down into my soul how oft do I see my comfort rise and fall Eye but that Ship which now seems to touch the clouds and you shall see it in the depth anon as if it would be swallowed by the waves One while a Christian is upon mount Tabor and hath a glance of Heaven another while lyes in the valley of Bochim weeping because he hath lost the sight of his Country Joshuah's long day is many times turn'd into Paul's sad night God would quicken our affections therefore now and then he gives us a glance of Heaven that so we might be in love with what we see and now and then he draws a black veil over that bright vision that so we might not loath what we did love He suffers our happiness here to be imperfect that so we may be pressing on to that place where we shall be perfectly happy Lord when thou shewest thy self let me love thee and when thou withdrawest thy self let me follow thee and under all these changes here let my soul be always breathing panting longing and reaching after thee till I shall so perfectly enjoy thee that I may never lose thee LXXXVI Meditat. WHere the King is there is the Court and where the presence of God is there is Heaven Art thou in Prison with St. Paul and Silas If God be with thee thou wilt sing thy Hallelujahs Art thou at the Stake with blessed Martyrs As the beams of the Sun puts out the fire so the beams of Gods Countenance puts out the flames and turns their troubles into comforts so that 't is but winking and thou art in Heaven Therefore that soul that enjoyes the Lord though it may want the Sun or Moon to shine in Creatures comforts worldly delights to solace it yet it needs them not for the glory of God doth enlighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof God himself irradiates it with the brightness of his beauty and Christ himself fills it with joy unspeakable and full of glory This God brings his Heaven with him and that man that enjoyes God carries Heaven about him so that here is his happiness cast him in a Dungeon in a Furnace when you please yet he is still in Heaven Therefore for my part Lord give me thy self and then deal how thou pleasest with me LXXXVII Meditat. MArk the wicked man though his Intrat may be Comical his Exit is alwayes Tragical Belshazzar in his first Scene is revelling out his time in sin and pleasure feasting carousing with his Concubines in the vessels of the Lord but view him in the Catastrophe and you shall find the hand writing and him trembling Darius rending away his Kingdom and Death snatching away his Life If you look upon the entrance of a wicked man his gates are riches his seats honours his paths pleasures he goes delicately fares deliciously every day he hath more than hart can wish But wait his going out and see a sad conclusion in a moment he goes down to Hell The man is cast out from God as an everlasting curse Destruction closes her mouth upon him and his place beholds him no more His body is wrapt in the dust his soul is buried in the flames and his name is covered with darkness But now behold the perfect man it may be thou mayest see a few tragical Scenes the World hating mocking persecuting him but the end of that man is peace Though he may come forth weeping yet he goes off rejoycing Though he come forth combating yet he goes out triumphing so that the Saints and Angels clap their hands for joy When I therefore judge of a happy
cowardly spirit let but a little sickness impair thy health or the thoughts of death charge upon thy spirit and what quick retreatings are there from thy bold resolutions What heaviness clouds thy looks What terrours shake thy joynts What sadness sinks thy heart So that a fancy frights thee a shadow startles thee Nabal-like thy spirits dye and sink within thee like a stone Therefore jeer on for my part I hold it better to fear while God threatens than to fall when God judgeth XXII Meditat. THe nearer the Moon draweth into conjunction with the Sun the brighter it shines towards the Heavens and the obscurer it shews towards the Earth So the nearer the Soul draws into Communion with Jesus Christ the comelier it is in the eye of the Spouse and the Blacker it appears in the sight of the World He that is a precious Christian to the Lord is a precise Puritan to the World He that is glorious to an heavenly Saint is odious to an earthly Spirit But it is a sign thou art an Aegyptian when that cloud which is a light to an Israelite is darkness to thee It is a sign thou movest in a terrestrial orb when thou seest no lustre in such celestial lights for my part if I shine to God I care not how I shew to the world XXIII Meditat. IT appears not what we are to the World and it hardly appears what we shall be to our selves for did they know that we are the jewels of God the favourites of Heaven the excellency of the Creation the beloved of Christ they would not mock and persecute us as they do Or if we did but know that we should be glorified together with Christ his happiness shall be as our happiness and that his joy shall be as our joyes and his glories shall be as our glories truly we should not be so much dejected as we are when I consider that my life is hid with Christ in God I wonder not to see the World hate me but when I consider that when Christ shall appear I shall be like him I wonder it doth so much as trouble me XXIV Meditat. WHy should I fret my self at the prosperity of the wicked Indeed when I look upon the spreading Bay and forget the withering Herb when I view their Quails and forget their Curse my feet had almost slipt but since I went into the Sanctuary of God I find that all the blossomes of their glory must dis-flourish under the blastings of Gods wrath and all their external felicity doth but only perfect the judgements of the Lord and fill up the measure of their misery for what 's their pleasure but just like the deceitful salute of Joab with Amasa What 's their honour but like Absolom's Mule it only mounts and carries them to their Gallows What is their riches but like Jaels Present in a Lordly dish it only makes way for the fatal nail for their sad account at the day of judgement This their prosperity slayes them Now who esteems that Oxe happy that hath a goodly pasture to feed himself for the slaughter Who envies that Malefactour that has a fair day to ride to execution in And why is it that the workers of iniquity flourish Is it not that they may be destroyed for ever And the larger their pasture the sooner they are fitted for the slaughter I therefore for my part when I see a sinner prosper in his wickedness will turn the flame of envy into a tear of pity XXV Meditat. THis is Heaven to be for ever with the Lord and this is Hell for ever to be without the Lord. You that can see no beauty in Christ nor glory in Heaven do you likewise see no flames in Hell no Hell in loss of God You therefore that cannot be taken with his presence Oh tremble at his absence and you that care not to be with Oh fear to be without him for this is Hell on Earth Depart from us and this is Hell when we leave the Earth Depart from me Lord thou art my Heaven and my happiness unite me to thee that I may be for ever with thee XXVI Meditat. THat good which is in riches lyeth altogether in their use like the Womans box of Oyntment if it be not broken and poured out for the sweet refreshment of Jesus Christ in his distressed members they lose their worth Therefore the covetous man may truly write upon his rusting heaps These are good for nothing Chrysostome tells us Thas he is not rich that layes up much buâ— that layes out much for its all one not to have aâ— not to use I will therefore be the richer by a charitable laying out whilâ— the Worldling hall be thâ— poorer by his covetouâ— hoarding up XXVII Meditat. WHo will part with his God I will parâ— with my life rather than with my God no marvel then the covetouâ— man so hugs his Gold iâ— is his God if you take that from him he may cry with Micah when he lost his Gods What have I more His Heaven is gone his Happiness is gone his All is gone if God be gone I will not therefore wonder so much at the closeness of his hand as at the vainness of his heart We count it singular wisdome to keep that God we choose but that is absolute folly to chuse that God we cannot keep XXVIII Meditat. OH my Soul Thou art spiritual in thine essence immensible in thy desires and immortal in thy nature so that there must be proportion and perfection of what thou â—njoyest with a perennity â—f both or else no full content no real satisfaction Now were the universal World turned into a pleasant Eden and that Eden refreshd with the living springs of immortality and thou seated in the Throne of its choicest excellencies crowned with the Diadem of its highest felicities swaying the Scepter of thy glory over all sublunary creatures nay could'st thou give reins to the Sun or guidance to the moving flames did thy Territories board upon the highest Heavens and the revenues of thy Crown flow in from the farthest parts of the Earth yet what proportion doth a material World bear to an immortal Soul Will a Lion feed upon grass Or can the Soul be satisfied with dust Thou mayest as soon feed thy body with grass as thy soul with the creature if it did bear proportion yet it wants perfection Could the Devil turn a Chymist and extract the very vitall spirits and quintessence of the purest and desirablest excellencies under Heaven yet it is of such an imperfect nature that there is more lees than liquor more thorns than flowers more smoak than fire more sting then honey so â—hat that soul shall be filled with a whirlwind of vexation that thinks to be satisfied with an object of imperfection For it is impossible that such a scanty excellency should any wayes fill such an enlarged capacity Yet again were there perfection yet there is not perpetuity it will fly away