yoâ with amazement It 's good to keepe in peacâ with God least he arme hiâ Creatures against us Goâ can and doth bring great Aââtions to passe by small anâ weake Instruments All haââ force enough when He imâploies them The Flie anâ Worme are as able as the Lyââ Its not so much to questââon with what a man is puââshed as to learne from whoâ and whence it commeth I ãâã Oh God acknowledge thâ power in all thy creatures ãâã thou makest me an Example of thy Iustice by the least for despising their seeming impotencies Non in quantitatâ sed qualitate virtus MEDITATION 25. Vpon the sight of a dead Man TEach us Oh Lord so to Number our daies âhat we may apply our harts ânto wisedome for so soone âasse we away and are gone All flesh I see is Grasse ând all the beauty of it is as âhe flower of the feild Thou âOh God hast determined âhe number of our dayes which we cannot passe See what followes the seperation of the soule and body As long as this Tabernacle lodged the soule It was sensible active could heare see speak or move now that guest is driven forth by the Maker there is nothing in it but breeds loathsomnesse I plainely see that all confidence in man is vaine and deceitfull we must all dyâ for sinne but keepe me from dying in sinne since I musâ dye let me end in grace noâ in nature I descry the natâârall mans unfitnes for anâ spirituall exercise what ãâã he performe without Christ And as the body is deaâ without the soule so both soule and body without grace Oh let me alwaies be as a dead man unto sinne so this death shall end in life and this dissolution shall be the onely meanes to have both happily and gloriously united Mortuus pecâato vivus Christo. MEDITATION 26. Vpon the sight of a Lottery HOw cunning the world is to deceive the world here are a thousand Blankes for one Prize The World deales all upon cheating It 's a thousand to one if any good man gets any good by it from it or in it See what a throng is heere Every man strives to be first to cheate and deceive himselfe I doe see places of more profit and pleasure stand empty The world hath more Clyents then the Church we cannot conclude the greatest company to bee the best Goodnes cannot bee justly numbred by the Pole There is more Earth for the Potter then for the Gold-smith It 's no safe argument to follow the multitude Every one that drawes hopes for a prize but hee that hopes to be a Winner in this world shall be a Looser The folly of the worldly âans wisedome is here easily âene Here he will willingly ââst away Pounds vpon unâârtaine hopes but in Gods âottery the Church hee will âudge his farthings nay his âesence Yet here he gaines âme and saves his estate âere hee looses both Oh âord I beseech thee to give ãâã grace to come to thy âtore-house where I may furâish my selfe with rich comâodities at a low rate I âeed not feare to adventure âor all that comes from thee ãâã advantageous MEDITATION 27. Vpon a great Candle in a faiâ Candle-sticke HOw comfortable hoâ comely is this anâ how wisely is it plaâced It 's pity but such ãâã Candle should have such ãâã seat and such a Candle-stickâ deserves such a Light Therâ is not any but affects it if hâ well disposed How easily doe I in thiâ see a good and painfull Preacher well and wisely placed iâ a good Pulpit His Doctriâ is no lesse comfortable theâ convincing My Prayer shalâ ãâã that every such light may âave such an Eminent Preferâent Those whose lives and Doctrine are both holy and âanctifiedare indeed burning ând shining Lampes and doe ârace the Temple and Gospell âf Christ. Let me Oh Lord âe but even a little Candle ân thy Temple thus qualified ând I cannot dislike my âlace nor doubt of Accepâance and Approbation with âhy Saints MEDITATION 28. Vpon a dead Coale VVHy this sooner extinguishd then another or why at all ãâã that heate so sodainely anâ totally vanish from the suââiect or being dead is it not ãâã be revived It 's manifest thâ remotenesse and solitarinesâ makes it die But joyned ãâã the whole Company hoâ soone recovers it the formâ virtue It 's no otherwise with thâ Elect Children want of goââ exercises and Company maâ abate and lessen their heaâ of zeale but thou wilt ãâã suffer it to bee extinguisheâ Satan by policy may cauâ some remissenes but he shaâ not procure absolute deadânes Graces in the Act are noâ alwaies so sensibly operativâ yet the habit may remaine firme The Sunne may bee âhid with clouds but we know It doth then move in his Orbe It 's not a meane blessing to enjoy the company of Gods Saints who are not onely warme in Grace themâelves but also make others so to be MEDITATION 29. Vpon seeing the Sunne setting HOw glorious comfortable and pleasant was his light this last houre now how darke and disconsolate is the Heaven and what a sable Mantle spreads ouer our heads and how are the Earthly Inhabitants Canopied in Darknes How doth it shadow out the vncertaine condition and fraile estate of the greatest Monarchs the mutability of all worldly lustre Scepters have their periods and the greatest honours and preferments their appoynted dates Nothing under the Sunne but is subiect to setting Iust such is the case of the body without the soule and such is the state of the soule without Christ miserable uncomfortable I entreat thee Oh Saviour never to deprive my soule of thy presence but let mee alwaies bee comforted with the light of thy countenance so I need not feare the darknesse of the Grave nor that of Hell being alwaies in thy presence who art that Light and that Sunne which never sets or changes MEDITATION 30. Vpon a Stone in a River HOw unmoveable obdurate is this though the waters are about it above it continually It changes not the forme seldome the place and is absolutely unfit for any building or necessary Imployment when as others that are heavier and greater then it with a few dropâ of Raine onely are mollisied receive impression are squared and fitted for many excellent imployments I cannot but behold Oh God the severall conditions of sinfull men some are so desperate and accustomed in wickednes that neither the often showring downe of mercy nor iudgement will worke any thing upon them such Phaâaohs are they in selfe-will perversnes custome These are setled upon their Lees. Others though heauier and more loaden in sinne yet with one drop of mercy or at the first showre of punishment relent mollifie and so are sensible of their miserable condition and are often fitted by the Goodnes of God and the Ministery of a diligent Preacher for excellent uses in his Church Keepe mee Lord from hardnes of heart and insensiblenes in sinne let my soule be
a vaine folly was it to dippe in water to swimme in blood What a strange delusion was this to seeme the cleaner to be the foâler Outward pretences may and are often voyde of sincerity Many Roman Pharisees doe often sprinkle themselves in Holy water yet vnder this wallow in the blood of Princes and Gods weaker members and so many Hypocrites amongst us under the forme of sanctity commit the deepest and desperatest impieties The worst complexions and sordidst natures are deepliest painâed The grosser villanies have the fairer excuse That great Imposter when Hee meanes worst appeares as ân Angell of Light We ââe not to relye upon appearances I desire not to âash with him I had raâher have a cleane Heart ând foule Hands then cleane Hands and a soule Heart Praestat esseâquam âideri MEDITATION 3. Vpon the sight of a Toade VVHich of us tiro are of the Ancienter House the Earth is our mother This creature may plead antiquity of nature I of sinne My originall Polution makes this so loathsome to the sight I am beholden to it for bearing so patiently some part of my burthen By nature I am as full of poyson as It. Every sinne is not onely venemous but mortall In my corrupted nature I doe appeare in the Eyes of God as ugly as this deformed beast It would perhaps be better if it could I may bee if I will This creatures deformity comes from mee mine from my selfe and Satan How am I beholden to that God that did not though hee iustly might have made me so How am I bound to praise Him who to make mee comely le ts the whole creature suffer under vanity Rom. 8. MEDITATION 4. Vpon hearing a Woman to die in child-bed THE unlawfull desire to taste fruit made her diâ in bearing fruit Eves sinne procurd her suffering The opening her wombe is a preparative to her grave It may well bee called a Travaile when the Mother takes her journey out of the World I see truely what a dangerous thing it is to conceive and breed sinne St. Iames spoke true That sinne when it is conceived brings fortâfortâdeath Children I thinke have good cause to love their Parents who are willing to part with life themselves to give it these How ought âve then O Saviour to love thee who to give us eternall life was so willing to lay downe thine owne life in the grave And in the case of regeneration so must every Child of God doe His body must die wholy to sinne that soule and body may live wholy unto righteousnes unto glory The onely way to live hereafter is to die here MEDITATION 5. Vpon SAVLS going from Heirusalem to Damascus VVHither posts this deepe-learnd Pharisee with such Eagernes and Zeale did Gamaliel his Tâtor ever read such a Lecture of bloody persecution to him where found he this Axiome in the whole Law to persecute the Gospell where learnt he ever to make Mose fight against Christ Could he so deeply love the Seruant and yet kill the Master Alâ knowledge and Religion in âây professor is but zeale blinâd without Christ. It may âeme strange that the Professors of Divinity should âave such âarres and so deepââ uyed Behold the great âoodnes of God In the depth of darknes Saul is caught ând compassed with the great ââght of a glorious Sauiour We âre not masters of our Owne âhoughts It was a true âpeech of Ioseph ye thought âill but God brought it to Good VVhen wee thinke many times to doe most âee then cannot doe any âhing I see it 's vaine fighâing against the Church of Christ. God does well know âow to catch a Sinner at adâantage Even all thing persecution it selfe work for the good of Gods Saint He beganne his Iourney Saul But ends it a Paul ãâã if I be asked where Saul ãâã I may safely answere Is ãâã Saul now among the Prophet and Apostles blessed for Euer MEDITATION 6. Vpon DAVIDS Adultery IS it not pity such a Rosâ should have such a Canker so faire a face such a Blemish But what Saint is priviledged with the state âf Perfection here This ââll as it proved was but for is surer standing better âeed taking The greatest ââenesit I see that God ânds to recover Him is a âod Sermon preacht and Well âpplyed by a Worthy and well âarned Prophet send O God such alwayes upon âeed in the Courts of earthây Princes They deserue there âlaces with reverence with âespect No Member of Christ can expect a Freedome from tentation Our head âad his trialls and those âharpe ones too by that wickâd One. the fairest Sunne sometimes meetes with Cloudes So the purest lights of the Church want ãâã their blemishes O Godâ let not me so much ãâã that he fell as reioyce ãâã he did in time recover ãâã me looke well to my self For I may be sure that if Sâtan durst invade such a religious Crowne He will not ãâã the weaker subiect The beâ course to keepe out Satan to avoyd idlenesse MEDITATION 7. Vpon CAINS murtherâ his brother AââL VVHat but two ââthrân in a whoâ World and they together ãâã the eares What 's the âuarrell for wealth or hoââoâ the one was not knowne âhe other not affected Was ãâã religion this would have âaught Cain love not revenge This was an early persecution âhe divell began Warr beâimes goodnesse can no sooââer be begun but it shall ââeete with opposition We must not loose our religion though we bleed for it by our ãâã brethren All in a family ãâã not the children of the ãâã father Grace is not tyed ãâã the first-borne God may âhoose the youngest leave the âldest Cain scornes to hate ânder blood-shedding The divell is a murtherer from the beginning Brethrens divisions especially in matters of Religion are hardly reconciled But though this one dyes God knowes how to bring up another goodnes shall be sure of Enemies but it cannot be utterly rooted out Abell hath had abundance of brethren Caiâ did not so much kill Abeas himselfe It is a true Maxime that Sanguis mâârtiârum semen Ecclesiae S. ãâã shall conclude it in thiâ saying That he that ãâã borne after the flesh persecââted him that was borne afteâ the Spirit MEDITATION 3. Vpon the good Samaritan and the wounded Man SEe how we poore wretches are beset with dangers our life is but a conâinued passage through robbers Free booters It 's the safest to keepe our selues at home When we goe forth we expose our selues to hazards It 's not every Mans happines to have such a compassionate Passenger That man liues safe whose minde keepes within A retired life hath the fewer inconueniences This Man found most good at the hands oâ a stranger A friend is more Neere then a brother It is grace not nature affection not affinity that are most sensible and sympathizing of distresses I see plainely that those Iewish ceremoânies are not so Helpfull as the mercies of God in Iesus Christ It 's not
without wantones is a pleasant blessing but ayming at some unlawfull pleasure or profit proves dangerous to the Enioyer O Lord it was the soule of Man that was thus beautifull pleasant pure and active in the state of Innocence What a spacious âiberty had it eyther for Exercise or Recreation but âeing enthrald by that too âoo cunning Fowler by âhe snares and traps of sinâull pleasure How heavy âow irkesome and how âoathsome is it even to it âelfe Sinne makes us loose all âur spirituall mirth and liberty and exposes us to manifest perdition Oh God since there are so many snares and politique fowlers Let my Soule keepe Above and not settle here Below so I shall escape their devises and preserve my owne liberty Columbaest Anima Aucepseâ Diabolus MEDITATION 35. ãâã the sight of a Thorne Tree full of Blossomes VVHat makes ãâã growing and flouriâshing in so good a piece of Ground It doth deserve a âire rather then such an happy Scituation being naught in it selfe and choaking the good Seed It 's well when wickednes is barren better when it 's quite rooted up may some say But I admire thy patience and thy wisedome Oh God even towards these vessels of wrath It 's thy will and wisedome to place them here Who dare then question thy Action for uniust it stands here eyther for an open conversion conviction or confusion We must not be our owne sharers in our Petitions All is not best that seemes so in our desires We should revenge eyther too hastily oâ two deepely in our owne or our friends wrongs Thy Lilly was troubled and thy owne Israel was molested by these yet both by thy Permission I believe they shall have a hot day of it when it comes I enuy not the felicity of the wicked but patiently waite to see thy wisedome manifested Wee are but foolish Logicians if we conclude hapines from temporall blessings the wicked may surfet with them and thy Elect want them Let them grow where and how long thou pleasest I beleeve âhy words That the wicked shall be rooted out at the last MEDITATION 36. Vpon visiting a Rich man in time of his sicknes VVHat resorting to His house by kinâred friends and Neighbours Hee wants not their compaây Councell or helpe when âs an honest poore man may lie long enough under ãâã tedious sicknes and have âo such Visitants They âome for his Goods rather âhen to doe him any good much like greedy Gleanerâ when the Corne is cutting downe He makes his wiââ against his will settles his state assures all for the World At last sends for a Preacher who finds him unfitting foâ God or the World Sicknes and death I seeââ are bold and impartiall Serâânts The World and wealââ are but poore Baile upoâ deaths Arrests All meanâ are nothing when God striââ us The wisdome of the woââ is but an ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for Heâven The Rich are unwillingââ dye because they know nâ a better life and want ãâã to beleeve it Wealth and riches often âre but Percullisses let downe âo stoppe the passage through âhe Gate to saluation Rich âorldlings have Gods Word ân least and last consideration Soe let God order mee âhat in all estates I may be âeady to part with All to ânioy Him But it is truely âpoaken Oh! How bitter âs the Remembrance of death âo a man in his full possessions MEDITATION 37. Vpon Hearing a faire Shippâ come home Richly laden VVHat dangers ãâã Poore Vessell hath passed what Rockes Piratâ Sands Waves and Windeâ hath it encountred with ãâã What hunger cold heat anâ blowes hath she indured ãâã What a greene tedious âââknowne moueable way hath shee flowne over What ãâã world of water hath she plâââed through With whââ strange Nations hath shââ traded And yet what moââ is how often hath shee beenâ reputed and given for ãâã âet safely at length arrived âith Drums beating Trumâts sounding Colours disâayed and rich Prizes in âer GODS Name bee ââaysed Every sonne of man comes to and goes out of this world ãâã a Shippe to Sea What ââiseries afflictions calaââityes poverty disgrace âoe encounter them Happy ãâã he that keepes the Vessell âf his soule by Patience to âhe End Many split and sinke ââme are taken Prisoners âhers die with hunger All are âable to Combats and fiery ârialls More specially I thinke âf and pray for that Royall Shippe of thine oh Saviourâ called the All-saints ãâã the Church militant Which hath beeee long forth hatâ endured Heauy things ãâã as I hope shall ere ãâã put happily into her safe Hâââbor of rest and repose VVhat reioycing anâ gladnes shall there bee ãâã Her approach which comâ laden with so many âââââsands of pure Soules to ãâã put into that Royall ãâã change Fetch home thy ãâã Oh Lord and thy ââdeemed one with much peopââ Let mee bee any Prize ãâã her and I shall be rich enââââ Ecclesia Navis est Animae piorum sunt Mercaââ MEDITATION 38. ân the sight of an Infant fed with Milke it were not for this âinde of foode the poore âant might starue See how ãâã proportions to all Nouââââment sitting there Age. ãâã quietly you may see ãâã receive it How kindââ ãâã Nurse giving it How âgrees with his tender Conââution and digested fits him ãâã stronger diet How doth Oh God ãâã Heavenly Wisedome âpeare in giving us sincere ââilke out of thy Heavenly word While we are ãâã in Christ how meekely ãâã the thriving Child in ãâã receive it which is able ãâã save his soule How lovinâly doe thy faithfull Miââsters feed him with it ãâã being rightly received makâââ him grow up unto the pââfect stature of a Man ãâã Christ. God is carefull to provide food for mans ãâã The Preacher ought to be âââligent in the distribution ãâã it and the hearer ought ãâã be constant in the receipt ãâã it Children that will not âââceive Milke eyther sickeâ ãâã die or else prove Dwarfââ Seeing Lord it is uncomeây unnaturall alwaies to be ãâã Child ever learning but âever comming to perfection Let mee so receive thy Word that I may grow from strength to strength ând from virtue to virâue They are unnaturall and âânfiting Nurses who eyther doe not give Children Milke at all or else adulterated and sophisticated with many dangerous Ingredients to hinder their growth The first are careles and unlearned Ministers the second are superstitious and âdolatrous false Teachers who presumptuously mixââ their humaine Traditions tâ Gods Word hindring thâ growth and encrease ãâã Gods Church Gods Word admits ãâã mixture it 's desperate boldânes eyther to withhold it ãâã to adde to it being first ãâã necessary secondly so perfect in its nature Both wilâ undergoe that heavy curse of God the one for Substraction the other for Addition MEDITATION 39. Vpon the sight of the Moone THis Creature is now in the full lustre in the reâolution of a few daies how is the beautifull light of ât diminished because
it is not of or from it selfe but borrowed from the Sunne That is absolutely perfect whose subsistence is in it selfe That body is but imperfect whose Fundamentals are Externall dependances Those Princes are counted weake whose Forces are borrowed from their Neighbours Miserable is that man who inâ His necessary imployments must have a Legge from one a Hand from another and an Eye from a third That party dares not disobey him by whose power his Head stands on his Shoulders Seldome doe they accomplish any great Actions whose Materials are other mens Beneplacits To borrow another mans faith to goe to Heaven would seeme but the Errand of a beggarly Christian. The body of the Moone Encreases and Decreases to our sence it is as subject to change as it is to moâmotion If Phylosophy will serve for an Argument Mans âmutable state of his body sympathizes or else is caused from it But howsoever it is no such mervaile if men bee unconstant faulty and faâding since those more Caelestiall and Superior creatures stood not all stedfast The Angels kept not their first Integrity Worthy Calvin hath it Si peccare norunt Parentes in paradiso quid mirum si Nos in sterquilinio It is Oh Saviour with our soules as with the Moone shee hath light onely from the Sunne The light and lustre wee have in our soules is thy comelinesse and beauty We are darknes but thou hast made us light in the âord Let mee O Lord cast away now the workes of darknes and put vpon my soule the Armour of of Light Lux mea a Te. MEDITATION 40. Vpon the falling of Leaves in Autumne VVHat a strange alteration is here in this Tree The last quarter how flourishing how replenished and decked with thousands of Attendants in greene âromising much to the saâisfying of the beholders but âhis was in Summer How many such seeming Parasites are there which will spread Saile with us in ãâã faire gale of Wind or in a prosperous terme promising âidelity but in the tempests and violent stormes of adversity or affliction are sodainely gone with a Non Novimus Few men make haste to that Market where there is nothing to be bought but blowes It showes also to us the fraile condition of the body and worldly preferments how beautifull and comely hath this man beene and how honourable this day when sodainely but one âit of a feaver or one frowne of a Prince hath âopt both in a moment Sodainely have such Meteors and Comets beene extinguished God make mee so resolute in perseverance that I may hold my first love So neither the heate in Summer shall make mee too proud nor the frosts in Winter affright or displace me MEDITATION 41. Vpon Reubens divisions Iudg. 5. 15. 16. I wonder much and grieve more at this unmatchable seperation Can those hearts which should alwaies bee united in so small a distance be divided was it any discontent that this Tribe harboured because it lost the priviledge of the first borne Indeed lawfull Heires seldome part with their Prerogatives but threaten revenge or intend it to the present possessors with Esaâ could not the Equall Testament of a father so inspired be admitted for just in so many Generations Without malice or revenge This had beene a faire opportunity for Reuben to have gaind that honour in the field which he lost in an unlawfull Bed Was it because Deborah a Woman was then the Generall in the Feild And so Reubens Regiment scorned to be led up in Armes by âo weake an instrument but certainly he was then the more culpable being so potent a Tribe and absent VVill he put the fault in Iordan because he could not Passe over his high sweld VVaves Oh no! A willing minde slights such poore excuses and will affront the âreatest perills VVas it the force of the Enemies Army that affrighâed him or did he thinke he should come too late For âhe first he could not have âazarded his life in a fairer quarrell nor amongst nearer friends and if he had come though after the Battaile no question but Deborah and all the Lords would have beene glad to have âeene his Colours in the Feild to tryumph though not to Fight It would have shewed a readines and propensity of minde and would have made an Apology for his whole Tribe Howsoever hee should have renewed his old familiarity with his brethren and more then that Iâ would have caused a great feare in the Army of the Aduersaries to have heard his Drummes âeating to succouâ his Brethren The union of Brethren is terrible but their divisions are alwaies spurres to their Adversaries and great advantages But briefly to lay him forth hee was busie about his private Commodities his Flocks and his Heards workt more with him then Gods cause It is a great fault to slip opportunites in doing good especially to our selues and brethren how âong could he thinke to have ânjoyd his flockes at home âf his Enemies had got the âeild from his Brethren Our ârivate gaines must not be âreferd before our Countries And such and no other are worldly men when I am assaulted by the power of Satan or tentations What comfort will these afford my soule Noe they will neyther lend me Comfort Councell or Prayer So his fault was in respect of the Cause the Time his Person his Freinds Aduersaries and Example Concordiâ Res parvae Crescunt Discordiâ evertuntur Maximae MEDITATION 42. Vpon Sleepe THe naturall sleepe is ãâã cessation of all labor moâtion action With excesse iâ brings poverty shame disâgrace sicknesses diseases â Hee that is given to sleepâ shall not bee rich It stupeâfies besots the best sencesâ and faculties of the souââ and makes them unfit so any good imployment oâ virtuous action It is thâ Rust of the whole man Nature cannot move tâ Grace in its owne condition The spirituall sluggard iâ âhe onely poore man Hee ââat lies downe in the sleepe âf sinne shall rise in shame No such diseased person âs the spirituall sluggard âis poverty and shame may âome slowly but violently as ân Armed man I beseech thee O Lord âo waken mee from slumâring or sleeping in sinne So may worke powerfully and âhâerefully while the time ând day of grace doth shine âhe night of death will come âhen no man can worke I âould wish that all would âake St. Pauls counsell Awake thou that sleepest arise âud stand up and Christ shall âive thee light Somnus animae periculosus MEDITATION 43. Vpon the sight of a faire Garden I Question not the Gardâners skill nor his diligencâ neither doubt I the goodneââ either of the Ground ãâã of the Seed sowne in iâ Yet I see more Weeds theâ Herbes or Rootes whaâ base vsurping intruding Hinderers are these of beââter things Pull them up what make they growing ãâã so choyce a Piece to thâ disturbance of those whole some and medicinablâ Hearbes and Flowers seâ the patient Wisedome of the Master They must grow for