in thee a thankfull remembrance of his benefits and some answerable returns to God for his mercies which thou hast had beyond expectation let his continued series of providences banish out of thy heart all atheistical thoughts and conceipts and also all desponding despairing distrustful thoughts and carking care keep in Gods way and he will never forsake thee he that feeds the young ravens when they cry will not suffer thee to starve nor shut his ear to thy prayer if thou leave him he will leave thee oh my God all my springs are in thee all my mercies flow from thee though the pipe be cut Lord show me the way to the fountain-head Vpon birds building their nests 63. Med. OBserving in the spring time when the fouls of heaven build their nests how variously they did it and every sort had a several way fashion mode or manner which all of that sort kinde or species did exactly observe not by imitation but by a natural instinct those that had never seen nest built before were excellent artists and needed no instruction The several kindes also build in several places as well as use several forms and methods some build in houses in the chimneys thatch and other places others have places provided for them as pigeons stares and such like these are defended from winde and weather which others endure to their sorrow but are less secure some build in high and craggy rocks in inaccessible places to defend their young and some in lofty trees as the oak the ash the Elme the pine and the cedars far out of danger and dread others that aspire not so high hide their nests in rough hedges bushes brambles and obscure places where the passengers eye shall not behold them and generally all obscure them what they can from sight yet some build upon the ground as the ostrich which layeth her egges in the earth and warmeth them in the dust and forgetteth that the fool may crush them or the wilde beast may break them she is hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers her labour is in vain without fear because God hath deprived her of wisdome neither hath he imparted to her understanding Job 39.14 c. every one acteth according to the wisdome God hath given them to some more to some less I observed also the materials with which they built and these were different also some built with sticks others with straws some with moss some with wooll feathers and many other things the fashion also was various some bigger some less according as need required some built only a bottom some raised up wals some covered it over head to secure the young some daubed their castle and made it weather-proof others not various are the forms and fashions they use and for ought I know no two species or kindes make their nests in every point alike and in the working both the male and the female join heart and hand in the work and use diligence till it be effected and in sitting on their eggs both take their share in the work and relieve each other by courses as the careful observers testify at least of some kindes and undauntedly endure the frost and snow the winde and the weather as also in feeding their young they have a mutual love and a mutual care and take mutual pains Methoughts this did much resemble the love and amity the care and industry between man and wife and oh that there were so much between them as there is between these silly birds they are faithfull each to other and loving and helpfull and that by a natural instinct without the use of reason or any other bond or obligation and thus it should be and oh that it were so between man and wife they have more obligations each to other God hath given them the use of reason the Scriptures and many other helps yet many break all these bands asunder yea the very marriage-knot by their adulteries and neighing after other mens wives and other womens husbands and many times return hatred for love and wish if not practice the death one of another they should lend mutual help to build the nest and feed the young but sometimes both of them are wanting oftentimes the one there are many foolish men as well as foolish women that pluck down their house with their hands and turn off their children into the wide world destitute and neglected many spend that rioteously that their yoak-fellows or their parents have got painfully and prove a hindrance and not a help to their relations and as for the body so much more for the soul they prove ill husbands and hindrances and not helps in the way to heaven God might send these men and these women to school to these silly birds to learn faithfulness love and mutual friendship and assistance as he doth the sluggard to the ant to learn diligence and to the stork the crane and the swallow to observe their times and to the oxe and ass to learn to know their benefactour These poor creatures minded me also of the wise providence of God that hath thus instructed these otherwise silly creatures Job 39.27 doth the eagle mount up at thy command and make her nest on high intimating it is at Gods command it is he that gives goodly wings to the peacock yea wings and feathers to the ostrich Job 39.13 and it is he that takes care of these birds Deut. 22.6 oh my soul learn those lessons from these poor creatures faithfulness diligence and care learn those relative duties here hinted out unto thee fly idleness as the bane of vertue let thy general and particular calling take up all thy time especially be a good husband for thy soul oh my God implant every grace in my soul to this end out with every corruption make me diligent for the world but especially for heaven Upon a small bird feeding many young ones 64. Med. OBserving a little wren one of the smallest of birds that had a dozen young ones lying upon her hands to maintain to take care of and make provision for I heedfully attended to see what the event would be I observed with what unwearied pains she labours for their sustenance how chearfully she imployed her little strength to that end even to the neglect of her own belly how self denyingly she behaves her self sparing that which she should have fed upon to sustain them and from morning till night busieth her self to feed them but that which most put me to a stand was this in her returns with meat they all stand with open mouth to receive the new taken prey which made me admire that such a silly creature void of reason was able to distinguish between those she had fed and those she had not which might in such a multitude have puzled a better head I wondred that some of the most lively did not get all and starve the weaker but that God hath put such an
this if our own Nation yielded not sufficient examples we might pass over into Ireland for proof where a hundred thousand were suddenly stript of all and for beauty those that have most gloried in it in a short time by a disease they have been deformed so for friends those that love to day do hate to morrow the like we may say of all earthly enjoyments Oh my soul if earthly delights how pleasing soever be so fading and transitory here thou seest thy folly in spending so much of thy time in planting pruning fencing and watering so fading a gourd and so perishing a plant and contenting thy self with a painted nothing beauty is but skin-deep and when the frost of sickness or the winde of old age comes it will wither death will equal the fair with the foul the young with the aged riches are no surer they take themselves wings and fly away strength will decay and Sampson himself cannot grapple with death honour is the emptiest of bubbles and he that this day is ascending the highest round of the ladder of promotion may suddenly break his neck in the fall as Haman did but there is a beauty which will never fade grace and holiness will never change colour there are riches which will be certain laid up where neither rust corrupteth nor theives can steal or plunder there are honours which will last to eternity pleasures at Gods right hand that never shall have end there is meat that perisheth not but endureth to eternal life spend not thy time in seeking after these guilded nothings and painted vanities Oh my God bestow these things upon me that will do me good these garments will adorn me and make me beautiful in the eyes of God and good men this food will nourish my soul and these riches will make me rich indeed put me not off with such trifles as the world affords and with which the devil pleaseth fools and franticks the riches of Christ the jewells of grace the crown of glory are worth wishing for working for suffering for striving fighting running wrastling yea dying for when all other things are not worth the pains and sweat which usually are spent upon them Lord no portion but thy self will satisfie no husband but Christ will serve my turn no pleasure will please but those at thy right hand no jointure but a kingdom will content Lord give me these though thou take from me all the rest Upon Stones in the Garden 14. Med. OBserving in the garden many stones mixt with other soil and considering how useless fruitless and unprofitable they were yea though they had the same husbandry bestowed upon them the same sun to shine upon them and watered with the same showers though they had the same seed and labour the same mucking and manuring the same tilling and weeding as the other soil had yet were never the better never the softer or more pliable they remained stones still fruitless and unprofitable yea though I broke them in pieces I could neither mollify them nor make them fruitfull nor profitable but they were hurtfull and pernicious to the place they were in neither axe nor hammer fire nor water could change their nature neither fair means nor foul the summers sun nor winters frost could not change them they were still the same hereupon I caused them to be gathered together and cast out of the garden to mend a foul way and by this means that which before was a detriment now became a benefit This Observation helpt me to this Meditation it brought to my minde the nature of a stony heart oh how lively do these stones represent this to us the stony heart is of the nature of a stone mercyes cannot melt it judgements cannot break it see this in Pharaoh his heart after all the judgements continues stone still good seed sown in a stony heart brings nothing to perfection neither can it take any deep root as we see in the parable of the stony grounds they receive the word with joy but have not root and therefore soon wither they only taste of the good word of God Heb. 6.45 as cooks do of their sauces saith one they let nothing down they digest it not this ground though never so carefully husbanded even by Christ himself the wisest husbandman yet brings no fruit to maturity I have sometimes wondred how wicked men could sit under the powerful means of grace and Ministry of the Word and have hell-fire flasht in their faces and yet never startle at it though the same sins which their consciences know they are deeply guilty of are again and again condemned to hell and it be proved that those that live in such sins shall never go to heaven and the Chapters and verses alledged where God doth sentence such sinners to hell and exclude them out of heaven yet they remain as insensible as blocks or stocks or the stones they tread upon or the seats they sit upon or the pillars they lean against and what wonder is it that one stone should be as insensible as another And on the other side when the melting promises of the Gospel are prest and God and Christ and heaven and happiness everlasting pleasures and treasures glory and happiness is offered this makes not so deep an impression as the offer of one shilling nay of one penny will from a man Doth not this plainly prove that these mens hearts are senceless stones Now it is the nature of some stones fire will not melt them water will not soften them nothing will mollifie them so it is of wicked men neither mercies nor judgements will work upon them Pharaoh was such a stone nothing would work upon him though he was broken to shivers each piece retains its naturall hardness it is stone still but such stones that will not be fitted for Gods building he will employ them otherwise and make stepping-stones of them God will not lose by them if they will not serve for one use they shall for another 'T is true he hath a furnace that can melt them and happy is he that is cast into it if they miss of that they shall be reserved for the infernal furnace where they shall always burn but never be consumed neither shall any of their dross ever waste in the mean while as God made use of thorns as before was noted so can he of these stones for the good of his Church oh my soul this was thy case this was thy condition by nature out of the same rock wast thou hewn and out of the same hole of the pit wast thou digged thy heart was as hard as the nether millstone and resembled the flinty rock that would neither bend nor bow and was as insensible of spirituall things as the stones in the street much water was spilt upon this rock which could not be gotten up again much washing was bestowed to make this blackamore white but all in vain many a melting Sermon thou hast heard and
then a woman can do builds a finer house then a man can do in manner and form like an Emperours tent she draws her web out of her own bowels When I had a while pleased my self with the curiosity of the work and commended the diligence of the workman I began to consider what her end might be of all this pains or what benefit did accrue to her by this her diligence I could guess at no other or at least no higher an end then to make a net to catch flys which I saw became her prisoners when otherwise she could not take them and when they were in her power she proved their mortal enemy few escaping her with life I perceived that when the Bee laboureth to preserve life her work was to destroy I thought when I had considered it her work did much resemble the devils for he like the spider is ever busy and never well employed he goes about like a roaring lyon seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 he envies man the happiness that he lost he is that venimous spider that poysons us his very breath is infectious the nets and snares are his temptations and poor souls are the flys he hunts for which fall faster into his nets then flys do into the spiders webs and when they are at his mercy nothing will serve but their death and utter destruction he like a cunning Fisher baits his hooks and like a fowler spreds his nets to catch unwary souls and spares none high nor low rich nor poor young nor old fair nor foul but he hath one bait or other suited to their condition he attemps all Christ himself not excepted for whom he prepared one of his choisest seldom failing baits all this will I give thee but all in vain his wilde-fire fell upon wet tinder although a thousand times ten thousand have been taken with it yet like a great fly he broke through and spoil'd the web and by the strength of the Captain Christian souldiers also break his nets repell his temptations and become more then conquerors he yet infects a great part of the world with the poyson of this temptation and it is a rare man that escapes sometimes yea too frequently he baits his hooks with a beautifull woman and is too successful thus he fisht for a strong Sampson with a beautiful Dalilah for a holy David with a Bathshebah and wise Solomon was oft deceived by this bate and swallowed this hook sometimes he catcheth men with a golden hook thus he did Achan Judas Ananias and Saphira with Dâ—â—as and many others sometimes he baits with honours and then ambitious Herod will soon bite as also Haman Achitophel and many more sometimes with pleasures and then the youth are in danger A poor withering gourd is a temptation to Jonah and makes him quarrel with God himself friends and relations often prove sore temptations and dangerous snares to a man a beloved husband a dear wife a cockered childe a near and dear relation ofttimes are made use of to undo those to whom the greatest love is pretended Jobs wife though she could not prevail to ruine him yet she proved a heavy burthen to him but Spira's relations undid him in making him to deny Christ Peter that great Apostle was an offence to Christ himself in advising him to spare himself and not to suffer no doubt by the instigation of satan but Christ answers him with indignation get thee behinde me satan thou art an offence to me for thou savourest not the things that be of God but those that be of men Mat. 16.23 he easily saw the devil in a beloved friend and many times satan speaks to us by them many times a professed Christian yea one good man is a snare to another leading them into errours or factions but of all the baits the devil uses riches honours and pleasures are the surest and seldomest fail him by this he often buys mens souls and hath their profession out of their hands into the bargain meat and drink are necessaries yet many mens tables becomes their snare Cloathes are needful but this also proves a temptation to pride learning and parts also which are great ornaments to the minde become dangerous snares yea what can be named but may be abused and what enjoyment can we have but the devil will fly-blow it grace it self is not free nay humility sometimes proves an excitement to pride O the subtilty of satan that can thus cheat the soul and fly-blow all our duties and oh the mercy of a merciful Saviour that hath broke the nets of this cunning hunter or otherwise none could ever have escaped out of his hands oh my soul beware of those snares which are spread for thy feet in every place in every company in every enjoyment and in every duty walk as circumspectly as thou wouldst do amidst snakes and serpents or enemies that sought thy life sleep not in the cradle of security listen not to the Syren-songs of the inchanting world taste not touch not gaze not upon any forbidden fruit the devil will deceive thee by it as he did Eve though it seem sweet in the mouth it will be gravel in the stomack be moderate in the use of lawfull things or they will prove unlawful drink not poyson in a golden cup set not thy affections upon any earthly enjoyment they will prove like Dalilahs to betray thee into thy enemies hands oh my God I walk among snares and am apt to be taken in them be thou my guide and direct my steps preserve me from the snare of the fouler he is too cunning for me but thou knowest how to deliver me and to preserve my soul from sinning and my feet from falling Upon small flys caught in a spiders web 49. Med. WHen I had veiwed the spiders web and seriously considered the end it was made for which as I said seemed to me to be principally if not only to catch flys and to captivate those little creatures which otherwise were too quick for her I then observed the event and whether this little fowler could this way be recompensed for all the pains she had taken I saw upon diligent observation how small flys were taken and made a prey to their poysonous enemy who paid their ransome with their lives yet whether they were the food she fed upon or whether it were an innate antipathy in her to them that thus she sought their destruction I was not well able to discern but withall I observed that the great flys brake through the net and sometimes bare away both the weaver and the web as Sampson did the gates and posts of Gaza and so the workman and the work were like to perish together this minded me of the saying of the Psalmist Psal 9.15 16. the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands the heathen are sunk down into the pit that they made in the net that they hid is their own foot taken I considered that
instinct into them thus to cherish their young hath given them also so much knowledge as to fit them to do it Having spent some time in this Observation unobserved I thought to try her affections to her young ones a little further I approached the nest as if I intended to rob her of her young where I observed that poor creature naturally fearful and timerous with what boldness confidence and undaunted courage she opposed her self to her small power to have rescued her young ones out of my hand even to the hazard of her own life this plainly discovered to me the divine providence of the great householder that doth not only provide meat but also some one to give it in due season and to help those that cannot help themselves and puts such an instinct into such poor despicable creatures that they deny themselves to help their young ones and venture their lives for their safety and never leave them till they are able to help themselves and then forsake them as if they knew them not and that he gives such a blessing to the labours of these two poor wretches that such a numerous brood should be provided for and no doubt brings the prey to them by his providence this also may silence our Atheists and may make him lay his hand upon his mouth for what accidentall concurring of atomes can occasion this this made me also consider how degenerate a piece poor man is many of them having obliterated what the most savage animals have retained viz. this natural affection to their young so that we may take up that complaint against many in our times more deservedly then the Prophet doth against Israel Lam. 4.3 even the sea monsters draw out their breasts and give suck to their young ones the daughter of my people is become cruel like the Ostriches in the wilderness these forsake their children through the extremity of famine or for want of natural affection Rom. 1.31 there are many refuse to labour to maintain their charge the fouls of the air will rise up in judgment against these yea many waste and spend that riotously that is provided to their hands when these poor creatures pinch their own bellies to feed their little ones how many men and women endued with reason do so obliterate it that they expose their children wilfully to want and penury yea to plain beggery yea when the very bruits seek what they can to preserve their young and many venture their lives in their quarrel and set themselves between them and danger yet too many that bear the name of men and women have so far obliterated those principles nature hath imprinted in them that they often lay violent hands upon their own children and not only contrive their death but also effect it I would daily experience did not speak out this truth too lowd what assizes is there almost but some or other are tried for their lives upon this account But though some have a care of their childrens bodies there are but a few that make any provision for their souls though that be their master piece but suffer them to be eternally ruined Oh the stupendious folly of the most of men they train up their children as they do their horses teach them to drudge and then they think they have given them sufficient education many if they can leave them an estate though with a curse intailed upon it have their desires many are too tender of the body that have little care of the soul let that sink or swim but the time will come that the soul will be found the choisest jewel and the loss of that the greatest loss oh my soul be diligent in thy calling make provision for thy relations to thy power he that provides not for his family hath denyed the faith and is worse then an infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 be not without natural affections but that is not enough be not without spiritual affections see that they have mentem sanam in corpore sano though the body must not be neglected nor the things of the world slieghted yet know this is not the main a little grace is worth a great deal of gold keep a mean in earthly enjoyments between coveteousness prodigality fear not an extream in spirituals oh my God help me to regulate my life both to externals and internals by the rule of thy word and spirit Upon the prating of a Parrat 65. Med. HEaring a Parrat talk and prate and counterfeit mans voice and utter words which yet he understood not when I had considered of it I thought it was a lively embleme of an hypocrite for as this bird doth imitate man and counterfeits his voice so doth an hypocrite imitate a true Christian both in words and gestures speaks as he speaks and acts as he acts for what action or what duty can a Christian perform as to the external part of it which an hypocrite cannot doth not do As there is no hearb in the garden but there is some counterfeit of it in the field which resembles it so there is no grace in the heart of a believer but the devil hath its counterfeit and therefore it is a cunning thing to be a Christian and an easy thing to be deceived for what can a true Christian do for the bulk and materiality of duty but a hypocrite can do also yea sometimes seems to exceed him and as in duty so in conference and discourse it is hard to discern the one from the other hypocrisy may be spun with a fine thred and hardly discerned either in the cloath or colour from sincerity but it is often found out in the wearing to be but a cheat in storms and tempests it is apt to change colour and will not hold out but shrinks in the wetting there is indeed a difference now both in garb and language the one is truly beautiful the other is but paint and varnish which time makes to fade they speak it is true the same things but the one speaks what he knows and the other by hearsay both may discourse the deep mysteries of Religion as the parrat may mysteryes of state if taught but understand not what they say Can a true Christian discourse of redemption regeneration conversion adoption sanctification c. so can the other also but the one speaks what he feels the other not the Christian findes the marks and tokens of it in his own soul the other not can the one discourse of the workings of the spirit in the heart of a believer the actings of grace of communion with God c. so can the other can the one speak out his experiences of the goodness of God the vanity of the creature the bitterness of sin the comforts and directions of the spirit the beauty of holiness c. the other can counterfeit this also but all this while the hypocrites heart and tongue agree not he disclaims against that sin which he loves and pleads