insist here nor hint about the Earth that the very Soyl where Corn grows gives a various Tincture to it and makes some more wholesome than others as may be considered in reference to Grain produced in Mineral Countries Should I amplify about Waters Water it might over-flow a Volume But this Element being truly Terra fluens Earth in Flux is impregnated with the various Salts and Sulfurs that it finds in the bellies of those mountains whence discharg'd and in the Chanels of those Champions where it sports and plays in curious Maeanders and pleasant Turnings And therefore according to its differing imbibitions is sometimes wholsom and often pernicious to humane bodies Schoockius de cerevisia Bochart de animal par 1. p. 292. 2 Kin. 2.19 Untzer p. 967. Willis Henr. de Rochas and hence 't is of great concern in Brewing and all Offices of the Kitchen For instance The Waters about Jericho were naught causing Women to miscarry The Waters among the Alps procure the Kings Evil. The Water of the River Po breeds the Stone Those at Watford in Northamptonshire make men bald at 30 and those at Carleton in Leicestershire induce a wharling in the Throat Veget. de remilit l. 3. c. 2. Juvenal sat 13. v. 161. and generally the stagnant corrupt Waters of Fennes are dangerous by naughty Ferments for the Pestilence Such as are taken up at Fountains are replenish'd with the Atoms of that Earth whence they spring and such as are near great Cities are not so wholesome especially when convey'd home by Leaden Pipes and landed and kept in Cisterns of the same Metal Plin. l. 31. c. 7. Vitruv. Lang. Ep. Albert. de Met. l. 3. c. 4. Majer Symbol p. 494. as Pliny Vitruvius Albertus Magnus Langius Majerus and other of the Learned have observ'd that Griping of the Guts Bloody Fluxes and Kings Evil are tormenting Diseases to such Inhabitants which I could wish were attended by the worthy Citizens of London my dear native City If the Earth and Water minister so many inconveniencies to the prosperous Health of Man Air. how can the Air be free which is always fill'd with Vapours and Steams from both Whence some Solutions may arise to the questions about the various Products of different Winds blowing from the Horizon Why the Nitre of the North makes the Air so bitter and the Sulfur of the South so contagious Why the East so parching and blasting being mixt with mineral Atoms from the Mountains of Germany Hungary and Thrace and in Jewry from the Mine Hills of Arabia though there may be other latent Causes intermixt Are not some places noxious to the Brain by vegetable Fumes as Arbours of Night shade Walks of Walnut and Woods of Box Nay do not many Animals where frequent infect the Air as Naturalists have observed and to name but one for warning sake Arnold It 's noted by Arnoldus out of Avenzoar that the continual usage of Cats is so unwholesome to the Body of Man that it often produces the Phthisick and Consumption of the Lungs And so do many Learned Physicians testifie by experience In Ramsey of Poysons But to hasten Fire it may not be unfit to observe that the Air may be much impaired as to wholesomeness by the very culinary Fires which we use where scarcity of Trees forces many to use dryed Cow-dung Turff Peat Seacoal and Canol instead of Wood. The crude Sulfur Arsenical Fumes that fill the Air of our city are doubtless great causes of the multitudes of Consumptions within those Walls by drawing so constantly those corroding Fumes into the Lungs Not to mention that the very Body may be much molested by Itches and Scabs in sitting by Seacoal Fires Arnold siquis p. 64. b. and the very Meat that 's roasted and Beer warmed by them is not so wholesome Bacon Nat. Hist p. 202. Let the Learned Bacon vouch my fears who affirms that the vapors of Seacoal as well as Charcoal in a close Room hath killed many and stealing in by little and little induces only faintness without any manifest strangling And to this I can attest with great thankfulness for my deliverance being forced to sit in a close Room for a long time in a late Winter and found evident recovery by change of Fuel O what cause have we to magnifie the Name of God for the sweet Air we breath in and to sweeten it more with the Musick of our Praises and that all within us should bless his Holy Name That every Western Wind with its fresh and wholesome Gales should open the Flowers of Thankfulness that every sense and all their Organs that every Nerve should strive to string the Harp of Praise Ps 139.4 not a thought in our Heart or word in our Mouth but should be known to him altogether in the Echoings and Resoundings of his Gloey That our Spiriturl Senses should be ever exercised in making him their lovely Object Heb. 5.14 and his Holy Bosom the Center of all their Songs Shall the Holy Psalmist lead the Quire Praise him all his Angels and all his Hosts Ps 148.1 Praise him Sun and Moon with all the Stars of light The Heaven of Heavens and the Waters above the Heavens The Dragons and all Deeps Fire and Hail Snow and Vapor Stormy Wind fulfilling his Word of command Mountains and all Hills Fruitful Trees and all Cedars Beasts and all Cattel creeping Insects and flying Fowl Kings of the Earth and all People Princes and all Judges Young Men and Maidens Old men and Children Praise ye the Name of the Lord for his Name is alone excellent his Glory is above Earth and Heaven Let every bright Lamp of the Firmament prove a falling Star and worship at his Footstool Let the cold Influences of the Moon wax warm with motion in the Chariot of Praise upon the mighty Waters Let the healing Balsam of the Sun which cherishes the surface of the Earth its Inhabitants from Pole to Pole inflame every living Creature with his Glory Let the Sea roar and the fulness thereof Let every River wash the Pavement of his Temple Ezek. 47.1 and run under the Threshold of his Sanctuary Let the savage Lions hasten and the ravenous Eagles fly to his Altar and pant to expire in its Flames Let all the Spices of India and Arabia perfume the Mansion of his Honour Let all Minerals Rocks and Mountains pour out streams of Oil to attend his Sacrifice Let all the Vines of Lebanon Eschcol and Sibmah thirst to empty their blood-red Liquor for Drink-offerings Let mighty Aetna Vesuvius and Hecla cast up their flaming Bowels upon his Hearth in Zion Isa 31.9 and turn all his Sacrifices into ashes Let his Priests be clothed with Salvation and his Saints sing aloud for joy for the Lord reigneth Let the whole Earth rejoyce and the multitude of Isles be glad thereof Let the Holy Angels answer from Heaven with
corner above all the good will of him who dwelt in the bush of Horeb defend all your flourishing Mercies from flames of wrath and like that marching Pillar of Fire conduct you to that City above whose builder and maker is God where your feet may tread that malleable pavement of transparent Gold Rev. 21.18 and your thirst after righteousness quencht with the Living Water of the Well of Jacob Joh. 4.14 that Water of Paradise which issues from the Throne of God Rev. 22.1 and be replenisht with those 12 sorts of Fruits which hang upon the Trees of Life and drink abundantly with the beloved Spouse of Christ Song 5.1 of the spiced Wine of the Kingdom in the presence of the Father and his Holy Angels at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Samuel Lee Febr. 8. 1676. Triumph of Mercy A TREATISE OF Preventing secret and sudden Mercies CHAP. I. The Beneficence of God the Spring and Source of preventing Mercies THE infinite goodness of God bestows more Mercies upon us in the method of prevention then of answer to particular Prayers We enjoy most things before we ask and oftentimes more excellent in kind and more abundant in measure then we ask The Lord began thus with Man at the first Creation when there was none as yet to know his mind Rom. 11.35 or sit in Council with him He framed the stupendious and glorious Fabrick of the Universe Job 26.7 By his Wisdom he stretched out the North upon the empty place and hung the Circle of the Earth upon nothing He thrust up its Glebe into aspiring Mountains Isa 40.22 fashioning their Concave Heads for Springs their Bowels for a Matrix to Minerals and their external Convexities and Declivities for beautiful Prospects He commanded some Portions to subside into humble Valleys and to be extended into Champain Plains He clothed its surface with stately Cedars shady Palms and Sea travelling Pines with all the Fruitful Medicinal and Sweet-sented Groves Balsamick Shrubs and wholesom Herbs graceful and various in curious Flowers wherewith the lovely Meadows laugh and sing at the return of their shining Psal 19.5 Bridegroom in his vernal Progress He spread its native Landscapes with that green Carpet of Grass woven by the hands of the blew Nitre of the Air and the yellow Sulphur of the Earth into that delectable Colour which salutes the eye of Man with so grateful a pleasance when painted upon its inward Vestment or Coat the Retina He enjoyned the Ocean to compass and embrace the habitation of Man to minister Rain to the Bottles of Heaven and Liquor to the bubling Fountains when strained through the Veins of the Earth And lastly for support to Ships for Navigation and Commerce 'T was the work of his Hand to interweave the Fertile Vales with Chrystal Streams in their sporting Meanders Psal 104.10 curing the fat Pastures of anxiety about Summer droughts relieving the chafed and sweltring Air with cooler Vapours and indulging to the neighbour Villages easie conveyance and many delicious pleasures Neither was his Divine Bounty withheld from the dark Caverns of the Earth replenish'd with his hid Treasures Those deep and gloomy Regions being impregnated with various Salts with subterraneous Steams and Juices to give origin and food to Metalline Concretes for the service of Manual Arts and for the cure of the more obstinate Diseases in the bodies of Animals shortly to be formed out of the same congenial Earth Then his Curious Pencil embroiders the Land with rare variety of living Creatures and his Voice inspires the healthful Air with Vocal Musick from the winged Choristers that sing among the Branches Psal 104.12 whose warbling notes are not more pleasant to the Ear then their painted Feathers beautiful to the Eye of Man His Hand furnishes the liquid Seas with numerous Passengers who Sail under water fearing neither storms nor stifling At length having establisht the Heavens by his Wisdom he casts a glittering Canopy over all his Sublunary works admirably garnisht with spangling Stars glorious for Lustre harmonious for Motion and powerful in Influence Lo these are part of his ways Job 26.14 but how little portion is heard of him We are in deep darkness to what 's visible The essence of a small pebble gravels our stupid understandings the Eye of our Reason is so blunt that it cannot pierce into the shape or Emerald Colour of the growing Green-sword How much less able to Anatomize the Entrails of the Earth of some thousand miles Diameter Who can account for the Sand's being a bound to the Ocean though the Waves toss themselves yet they cannot prevail though they roar Jer. 5.22 yet cannot go over it Who can solve the flux of the Sea either by the Moon or the Earths motion Lydeat Spagnet Enchir. philos c. 20. l. 12. c. 22. l. 13. c. 15. Austin confess l. 13. c. 32. Or who so hardy to dive to the top of the under-wave Mountains or set their foot on the ridge of those hidden Ararats What Philosopher ever fathom'd the Air and all its Meteors in his Arms or formed a genuine conception of that liquid Aether wherein the Stars do swim or of those waters above the Heavens Gen. 1.7 Psal 148. 4. What Telescopes those curious Spectacles of our late Astronomers ever pierced into that Saphire pavement beyond their Convex Exod. 24.10 Ezek. 1.26 Eph. 4.10 the Place of the Blessed and the Seat of our Lords Glorified Body where Angels and Saints stand trumpeting his Praises through voluminous stations of Eternity who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in Working Isa 28.29 Whose Infinite Power and Goodness having finish'd his six days wonders and prevented the wishes of Man by these excellent preparations for him last of all forms the Head of the visible Creation and exalts him into the Chair of Dominion over all this capacious Theatre antedates his most ample desires rarifies his Heart with sacred wonder and installs him for High Priest of the whole Creation to offer their Tribute to worship adore and love him and to sing his Praises But oh heedless Man being fix'd upon the Pinacle of the Temple of Honour was soon inchanted by a vertiginous blast of the subtile Serpent Jer. 17.13 and forgat his Sovereign the Fountain of Living Waters and falling headlong drank deep of the muddy Cistern invenomed by his poison and became like the Beasts that perish But being sensible of his shame and confounded at his base disloyalty and afraid of Gods awful Majesty fled into the Woods to hide his distrustful Countenance yet found no shelter for his guilty Conscience Justice might now have pursued him with the flaming Sword of Cherubims but preventing Mercy steps into the close and shady Thickets and proffers a Covenant of Grace to the amazement of Angels and admiration of them that believe A Covenant flowing from the good pleasure of his Will Eph. 1.5
' Ελεοθζιαμβοσ ' ' Or the Triumph of Mercy In the Chariot of Praise A TREATISE OF Preventing secret and unexpected Mercies with some mixt Reflexions Psal 21.3 Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness LONDON Printed for John Hancock at the three Bibles in Popes-head Alley in Cornhill 1677. To the unknown Dispenser of a considerable Kindness on Thursday Febr. 4. 1674. Honoured Sir WHen I lay faint and weak in my bed under a dispiriting and wasting Distemper of the Yellow Jaundies by the holy dispensation of the all-wise God an unknown Messenger comes from an unknown Benefactor with a Token of value who determined that his left hand should not discern what his right hand did Mat. 6.3 but the Eye of God saw both Though Sir my Tongue as yet hath not found you out yet I hope my Pen may reach you Should I never arise to that happy Cognizance yet I could not suffer your kindness to lie hid under the clods of ingratitude but heartily return a publick Testimony by these Papers which I have enjoyned the duty of diligent searching out the path to the same hands and to kiss them in the dark by a private reception Aelian reports of Democritus that great Thracian Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he most earnestly coveted to lie hid though a great Benefactor to the world by his learned Studies You have traced his foot-steps in trampling-upon the airy bubble of vain glory desiring to be good rather then seem to be so Kindnesses done to others with a single Eye to God are consecrated into Free-will-offerings For with such Sacrifices God is well pleased Heb. 13.16 Lamprid. in Sever. Lug. B. p. 378. Alexander Sever the Roman Emperour when an Embassadour had presented his Empress with Two Oriental Pearls of price invaluable caused her to dedicate them to the Temple and Statue of Venus judging the too splendid to hang in the Ears of Mortals Happy persons that present of their gain and substance to the God of the whole Earth Mic. 4.13 Cold water in the name of a Disciple shall be warm'd at the Hearth in Zion and run to account Nay it will turn into a more precious Liquor then Gold potable and prove more Cordial then all Earthly Treasure Suidas relates Suid. p. 1197. That Hercules us'd to succour the oppressed before he was entreated and being of a generous temper wrencht the three Apples of Anger Pleasure and Covetousness from the mouth of the Dragon of Lust to intimate that no covetous man can be truly beneficent or noble minded especially to relieve the indigent with unexpected kindness and to reap no harvest but the satiating of an enlarged heart Upton de milit offic p. 172. like the Princely Eagle that disdains to eat of his prey alone Though kindnesses are to be given freely and not put to the usury of return either by open praise or secret requital yet who will plow upon the rocks or scatter his precious seed upon the sands The whole circle of Nature teaches the duty of Gratitude The wise Athenians enacted a Law Valer. max. l. 5. c. 3. â—hat ungratefulness should bear an action in their Courts and the Roman state made a Decree that Women should take the upper hand in streets because two Noble Matrons had prevail'd with Coriolanus their Son and Husband not to invade their City From whom during their abode in Britain it 's likely that Custom might be deriv'd to us To contract Let this little Treatise be hung up like a votive Table in the Temple of praise and your Honourable Name be engraven on the bowls of the Altar Acts 10.4 when your Prayers and Alms rise up like Incense for a memorial before God If any demand why these Characters came in so late for Sculpture upon the Marble Pillars Know that some showers and storms of afflictive providence from Heaven detain'd the Votary If others of uncandid breasts doom these Lines precarious I hope I may safely reply they are of a more generous Off-spring and like the Lark which sings praises in a May morning flies up towards Heaven disregarding tatling Travellers Their vitious breath like that of Cats brings Hecticks to such as hug them and distills corrosive Salt upon their own Lungs The cheerful Rose with a ruddy blush smells sweetly among the prickles of Envy and much sweeter when set among rank Onions I know not your Noble Personage nor can divine whether my Pen be pluck'd from so dextrous a wing as to fly to your bounteous bosom and utter complaints how I have weltred in the shame of silence I bless God 't was a seasonable mercy and I trust some secret mercy of more inestimable value will in due time find you out I magnifie God Prov. 30.8 I am in Agurs station and for those that have strengthned it to help some charge I beg the blessings of the God of Jabez 1 Chron. 4.10 enlarging my grateful thoughts towards the Heavenly Mansions and as the Speakers before the Conference in Plato's Timaeus went to prayer so let this Preface lift up its hand toward his Holy Temple That the scent of your name may be fragrant as the Field which the Lord hath blessed Gen. 27.27 Eccl. 9.8 That your Head may lack no Oyntment and your Garments be always white and odoriferous taken out of Cedar Chests of the growth of Lebanon Num. 24.6 That the perfuming Trees of Lignaloes of the Lords planting may grow thick and shady about your Tabernacle as in their native and genuine Soil That the Spices of Eden and the Heavenly Indies and Diamonds more orient then those of Borneo may lade your Vessels That a greater then Solomon even the true proprietor of the Isle of Ceylon the ancient Ophir would invest your Soul with Faith Psal 45.9 Rev. 3.18 that true cloth of Gold with the meekness of our blessed Saviour more soft then the Oyls of Zant or the Silks of Smyrna That your hopes of Glory may flower more pleasant and lovely then the beautiful Blossoms of the Pistachia in the Gardens of Syria and send them as experienced Tokens to your Children as holy Jacob did to his beloved Joseph Gen. 43.11 Rev. 2.8 That the first and last who was dead and is alive would wreath your Temples with a Crown of Life and keep you from hurt by the second death That the wealth of the Terra Incognita the Land of Promise may be your inheritance so little known to rambling Mortals that pant after the dust of Aegypt Suid. in Dioclet That the fatness of Heaven may drop down upon your heart Deut. 33.13 c. the dew and the deep which coucheth beneath may run by your roots the precious fruits thrust forth by the Sun and Moon and the chief things of the Eastern Mountains and the choice things of the lasting Hills and the costly things of the Earth and its fulness from every
and founded in the mystical Union of the Son of God with the Nature of Man in the promised Seed and establisht upon better promises Hence issued that Living Fountain of all that beneficence that comforts his chosen Flock in the state of Grace and beautifies their Souls in Glory CHAP. II. The Government of the World administred by preventing Providences and Mercies THe most Wise and Holy God having finish'd all in number weight and measure and adjusted all the proportions of Heaven and Earth in his Sacred Balance that not the least Atom of dust in the Mountains or Drop in the Ocean or Vapour in the Air but came out of his accurate Scales and setled in their due place by his arbitrement Neither is his Infinite Wisdom more radiant and magnificent in the composure of the vast circumference of the Celestial Bodies then admirably curious and stupendious in those minute and numerous Creatures which by reason of their smalness fly the sight of man Insomuch that the Majesty of God is most illustrious and conspicuous in those lesser Beings which the world never understood till he blessed it with the rare invention of Microscopes By which we are assisted to contemplate his Glory while sitting under he shadow of a Plant that grows it a canker'd Rose leaf Hook Micrograph p. 124. as well as of he tallest Cedar May not admiration be inflamed to view the quick and voluble motion of those Eels that swim up and down in their little Sea of a drop of Vinegar more then when Mariners from their Ships gaze at the tumblings of Whales in he Atlantick Ocean Or when we consider the fineness of those Spirits that agitate the Nerves of Mites or of those supposable Creatures that may draw their origin from the corruption of those little bodies or creep among their hairs while yet alive As Mites in Spiders Power p. 19. Or when we view by the aid of those discovering Glasses the 8 Eyes in a Spider or the 24 Teeth in the mouth of an Ant as black as Ebony as well as those vast Ivory Tusks in the head of the generous Elephant Or when we delight our Eyes in the rare textures of vivid marbling colours in the flowers of Eye-bright Panzies or the chequer'd Fritillary as well as the prophetical varieties in the Rainbow We may well cry out with Pliny while he descants on the great voice of a Gnat flying about in a Summers Evening Rerum natura nusquam magis quam in minimis tota sit Plin. l. 11. c. 2. That the great God of Nature is never more admirable then in framing the least of Beings But howsoever unspeakably and unimaginably glorious his Divine Providence shines in the management and government of all his works It is yet most admirable in his preventing goodness to the sinful sons of Adam and much more to his own chosen Inheritance As to Man in general he makes his Sun to rise every morning upon the unjust and his Moon to fill her Orb with light upon the Turkish Crescent Psal 65.11 His paths in the Clouds drop fatness upon the fields of bloody Tyrants and his Ocean is open and sweet Western Gales often swell he Sails of rambling and roving Pirates The Earth is full of his goodness Psal 119.64 He spread and fill'd the Tables of Heliogabalus with his hidden Treasures No Inhabitant but is laden with his benefits however abused to their luxury pride and wantonness His Mercies are over all his Works He makes the out-goings of the Morning Psal 65.8 121.8 and Evening to sing He preserves the goings out and comings in of the Children of Men. All the operations and influences of second causes are primarily ascribed to him Psal 139.15 The formation of our bodies when curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth was of his secret texture The race of the Sun the bright appearance of Venus like the Moon and the nimble motions of Mercury and the 4 Planets dancing their measures about Jupiter and all the Ordinances of Heaven they are his he sets the dominion of them in the Earth He binds up the sweet influences of the Pleiades in April Job 38.33 and looseth the frosty bands of Orion in November when he pleases he is the Father of the Rain and the pearly drops of Dew he hath begotten them from the Morning Womb. Amos 5.8 He calleth for the waters of the Sea and poureth them out upon the face of the Earth the Lord is his Name He sends the turbulent and tempestuons winds out of the hollow of his Hand Psal 104.32 He looketh on the Earth and it trembleth he toucheth the Hills and they smoak he shook lately the Cities of Ragusa and Rimini into ruines He cast up out of the bowels of Aetna the late dreadful River of sulphureous flames to run six miles breadth by the City Catania into the Sea He kindles the Lightnings in the Regions of the Air and they answer to him Job 38.35 here we are 'T is the voice of his Thunder that breaketh the Cedars of Lebanon and makes Mount Sirion to skip like a young Unicorn Psal 29.5 6. Whatever he pleaseth that he doth in Heaven and Earth Psal 135.6 in the Seas and in all deep places He causeth Grass to grow for the Cattle Psal 104.14 c. and Herbs for the service of Man the Wine to rejoyce his Spirits the Oyl to make strengthen his heart He gives life his face to shine and Bread to strengthen his heart He gives life and food to all Creatures they wait upon him to receive their meat in due season he opens his Hand every morning the Fowls of the Heaven fly to his feet and are filled with good The Gardiner may plant and his servant may water but 't is God that gives increase to the stature of Vegetables their Verdure their Flowers and Fruits 1 Chron. 3.6 Mat. 6.28 He clothes the Tulips of Persia those Lillies of the Plains of Shushan with more Royal Attire then Solomons As to the Church in special he often and mercifully prevents the fears of his people How graciously he dealt with Jacob in the case of Laban Gen. 31.24 commanding him in the night not to speak roughly to his servant from good to bad and made the face of Esau to shine upon him as the face of God Gen. 33.10 In the time of Famine he planted a Corn-field in the bottom of a barrel of meal for Elijah and an Olive-yard in a cruse for the Widow of Sarepta and opened as it were the Windows of Heaven in the time of Elisha and poured out Corn among the poor in the streets of Samaria Such stupendious Mercies which the ungrateful world calls hap and fortune are the sudden and sweet dispensations of his Heavenly and Holy Providence He is pleased out of his munificent bounty to prevent our expectations with sudden and surprizing benefits
of the Sands but no person that ever appeared on the stage of Being though he should spend all his time in writing Volumes of his own Life could trace the measures of his Mercies were he never so observant or did pry never so curiously into the passages of Divine Providence Every draught of Air into the Lungs is attended with Mercy When it carries out the fuliginous Vapours of the Heart who can attract it in again for the refrigeration of the Bloud and mixing the volatile balsam of the air to circulate that purple liquor in its motions The pulses of providence are quicker then chose of our Wrists or Temples How manifold are his mercies Ps 139.14 The soul of David knew right well their multiplicity but could not multiply them aright by any skill in Arithmetick Nay the very summ or chief heads of divine kindnesses were innumerable His wonderful works and thoughts towards him could not be reckoned up in order by him they were more then could be numbred Ps 40.5 It 's impossible to follow the footsteps of these mercies Heaven it self is not sufficient for a finite capacity to measure them They endure to eternity in preventing our lapse from happiness Le ts try a little speculation on 2 heads 1. On some gracious occurrences in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the compass of day and night and 2. The preventing mercies that are laid up in the bowels of afflictions both as to subsequent sins and dangers As to the first When we rise in the morning that sudden palsies do not unloose our Nervs or painful Convulsions shrink them up that we are not able to descend our Stairs that when we are down some Messenger of Death doth not appale us with terrible tidings and give us a bitter breakfast that we have Hearts and Spirits to call upon the God of our mercies in our Families as an Antidote against the evils of the succeeding day When we come into our Shops that the rapines of night Villanies hath not stript us naked of all our Goods and that we find all our Relations in health and peace when we walk abroad that we suck not in Contagious Atomes from the Air that the East wind does not blast us that sudden violent rains in hasty walking do not cool our sweats into Surfets or that we hurry not the blood into fermentations for new and surprizing distempers In vain should we be wary if holy providence were not wakeful That the earth we tread on doth not suddenly open its mouth to swallow us as it did the Rebels in Numbers Num. 16.32 That we dash not our feet against a stone our Shins against Posts Ps 91.12 or strain our Ankles in plain ground that the Tiles or Timber falling from Houses or the sweepings of gutters do not brain us that mad dogs infect us not with an Hydrophobia by their venemous bitings that wilde Oxen let forth by careless and wicked Butchers do not gore us or Carts crush us or damnable Hectors stab us or that casual arrows bullets or stones do not dispatch us The memorial of such a mercy stands upon the top of the Free school and Alms-house at the South end of Islington Lady Owen where Iron arrows are planted to signifie the gratitude of a poor Milk Maid to Gods mercy who upon escape of an arrow that was shot into her clothes vowed to build it if she rose to an estate and at length being raised to the degree of a Lady performed her vow We ought to be thankful that Coachmens whips do not accidentally scourge out our eyes That in the days of general Trainings or publick Shows strange disasters brings us not to the evenings of our lives That meddling with unconcerning quarre's in the ring of a tumult twist us not into danger through our own folly since wise Solomon hath warned us Pro. 26.17 He that medleth with strife belonging not to him is like one that taketh a dog by the ears When we ride that every step is not a path to the grave that the Horse stumble not or the Waggon break not or the Coach overturn not That we sink not into unfenced Gravel-pits overwhelmed with quick-sands overflown with waters That Lightnings do not lick up our spirits or hot Thunderbolts rend us in sunder We should reckon our mercies not by miles or hours but by steps and moments When we come to our meals that fitting refreshes when many by painful Fistula's pine away into Consumptions and cannot repose their bodies into any grateful posture That we bring appetites to our Tables and are not by cares and vexations from abroad rendred snappish and currish to a tender Wife and sweet obedient Children at home and our stomachs stuft with choler unfit to crave a blessing or receive it That we have our lovely Vines to chear us and our Olive plants about our Table to soften and sweeten our spirits Ps 128.4 So shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. That some of us behold our Tables spread with furniture from the Air from the Seas and Rivers from the Mountains and Valleys from the Fold and Stall nay some with Olears from Spain and curious rarities from Turkey Muscovy and both the Indies and served up in Porcellane Dishes from China in Silver from America Gold from Barbary and 12 sorts of wine in Venice glass from Murano and yet like Jesurum was fat and kick That any one of these curious Viands meet not with an ill-habited Scurvy in the blood and especially all confused together carry not thousands from the Table to the Pillow and thence to the chambers of death When at our meals what a mercy that every bit doth not strangle us since story remembers some to have received their last by a raisin stone a fly a hair When our dayly food passing over the Larynx the bridge that covers the windpipe that it doth not choke us as the rump of a Capon did the Earl of Colrain When after meals in our repose or walking in Gardens or Fields no sudden accident attaches us and spoils Concoction That when we have eat and drunk that we can render our urine and uncover our feet thousands perish by stopping the chanels of Nature Let 's daily bless the Lord for Evacuations as well as Ingestion It 's wonderful that mens cutting their Hair tends not by distillations on the Lungs to Consumption or by letting bloud that an Artery be not cut as some who have lost their Arms. Or so inconsiderable a thing as the cutting a Corn does not rankle to death as in the Lord Fairfax When we sail upon Rivers or Seas Oh what mercy that the Vessel founder not that the Sands suck us not in nor the Rocks split us nor sudden Gusts overturn us and wandering Pirats catch us not that he makes the waves to obey his word and the stormy wind to fulfill his pleasure When we converse that Pride and Passion do
Virgins chearful and smiling upon each other to teach that kindnesses must flow without fraud with a candid Rom. 12.8 simple and delightful spirit Yea Holy Page recommends it when done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with singleness of heart with a generous frame casting no squint-eye or nourishing any base aim either to elevate the crest of pride or debase others into servile offices And this deportment ingenerâ—tes a sweet temper in the Hearts of Receivers Love is the Cement of the Universe and humanity is twisted into unity by kindness and concord Vertuous Heathens numbred the graces among their Deities noting it for a Species of Sacrilege not to return Favours with an aimiable Gratitude The Dispenser of Love should have a slippery memory but the Recipient should engrave it on Pillars of Marble and Pyramids of Brass The Giver should shut his Eyes when he opens his Hand Dissimulation without blame to chear an unknown person or to hide his knowledge Prov. 19.17 such a one lends to the Lord and makes Heaven his Debtor and surely there is Treasure enough to requite him while he that accepts gratefully makes God his Pay-master by Prayer If by giving we expect returns we fit like Publicans at the Receipt of Custom and give to our selves what we pay to others Self-love is never truly magnificent To pour out benefits upon persons unknown or unable to return shews delight in bounty and the pleasure of Love to see such walk at liberty whose Iron bands we have unloosed incognito A liberal man deviseth liberal things like a Prince Is 32.8 and seeks out Objects to exercise friendship that so great a Grace may never lye idle A brave Spirit judges he receives the kindness which he bestows as M. Antony said Whatever I give that I have The Europaeans purchase whole Territories with a few Beads Knives and Hammers of the naked Indians much more happy who gain an Eternal Inheritance by a few Penies Such a one bestows himself whose Coyn comes warm from the Mint of his Heart and shall be melted into a Crown of Life He that seeks a debtor does but drive a Trade hearkens to the promise because of payment He gives proudly and worships his own ambition and sacrifices to the Drag of Covetousness He deals a Loaf but full of Grits to break the teeth and a Scorpion instead of Fish to sting the Stomach Be kind to such as are hoising sail to the Indies and send precious Cordials to such as swelter under incurable maladies or those that hold out their needy hands in a dusky even Scatter your morsels to them that come from far in a Pilgrims Habit and a transient Staff Heb. 13.2 and so entertain Angels at unawares 'T is the ready way to find Treasure Trove to enjoy plentiful Crops rain'd down from Heaven and Ships blest into the Ports from Storms and Pyrats Others spend their unsanctified returns in vanities while the bowels of Saints almost cleave to their Backs and the next year their credit sinks at Land and their ships at Sea or find the way to the French Harbors while others sail in safe by the breath of Prayer We may stand in need of the meanest before the Sun shines again from the Northern Tropick and those that scrape in dunghills and rake for Nails in Chapels may ride in pomp upon Velvet Sadles before twelve Moons be wained The Old Man of Winchester found it by experience being cast into the depth of poverty by one whom he had opprest in youth Haman may climb the Tree of Justice though planted for Mordecay and blind Sampson may see well enough to pull down a Play-house upon 2000 Philistins Who knows what evil may thunder upon the Earth and where the Bolt may hit A scoffing Noble was trod to death in the Gate of Samaria 2 K. 7.29 who had mock'd a Prophet and jeered at the Windows of Heaven but a day before Cast your Bread upon the sliding waters Eccl. 11.1 which though swallowed in the Sea return through the Caverns of the Earth into the same River after many days A prudent man foresees the evil and flies into the Temple of Charity and there meditates upon both fortunes He reaps at present the plentiful crops of Peace in the Champain of a good Conscience and makes a continual Feast to himself upon the dones let fall to others He that gives to Princes and rich Equalls Prov. 22.16 may come to poverty by out-vying Such as expect returns are like Merchants in the Port Physicians in Cities and Victuallers is in Camps and such as sun their Fancies in the Usurers Walks They are Traffickers and not Benefactors and are often out-witted by Expert Sophisters who are wonderful officious in hopes of gain Like Crows that fit kawing upon an old stump watch dying Cattel with much ceremony and with fawning flatteries hop about them till they pick out their Eyes But whatever be the frame of the Givers Spirit the Receiver must not pry too narrowly into the Patrons Conscience but make his kindness the seed-plot of renown Happy are those Noble Souls who so give as to stir up a sweet memorial before God and man The amiable frame of the Giver out shines the Gift it self and cherishes Gratitude in the leanest Soil Praise is comely for Saints Ps 33.1 2 Sam. 24.23 Mat. 5.45 especially when men with Ornan give like Princes when Jebusites act like Israelites or like God himself whose Sun warms the House of the Evil and his Rain pours down upon the Field of the Wicked It becomes us to let God hear from us when we hear from him and all his Mercies to turn into Sacrifices A thankful Spirit is like a Musical Echo in the Star-chamber of Heaven Man must not only be a Concha but a Canalis Bernard not a Shell to retain but a Chanel to derive mercies Like marble Basons at Fountains when full run over to others and water the parched Plains Our Corn-fields must grow for the Poor and the Levite Deut. 12.18 19.14.27 29.16.11 14. as well as to swell our barns and cram our Garners that others hearts and faces may shine with the Oil of Joy and Thankfulness both to God and us That like the cheared Lark when enlivened by morning warmth mounts up with singing out of our sight towards the Suns Chariot and thanks him with a Sonnet and makes him rejoyce to run his Race We should learn his Lesson and praise the Fountain of Israels mercies at the dawning day Scruple not to leave the Rosy-finger'd Morn abed in Tithonus Arms. Leave the Sun a Sluggard sweating in the watry Embraces of the Eastern Ocean We need not the glittering Lamp of Venus to find out the Palace or knock at the Gate of Heaven The blessing of former the sense of present and the hope of future Mercies should all inflame us Our Souls from experienced observations of former Mercies like expert Astronomers
of Hony though little Water The French though Papists exprest their affections with briny Tears and beating their famish'd Trunks with loud cries Mon Dicu mon Dicu My God My God Cleanness of Teeth sharpned their Appetites to the Bread of Life At length they kept a Solemn day of Prayer when every day was a continual Fast Duty ended a Lad from the Topmast-head descried a Vessel and Heaven sent a benign Gale which soon brought them together She proved a Bermudas Merchant to their excessive joy which took in Mr. Leverton with his English supplyed the Rochellers wants and so they parted Upon conference the chief Person in the Ship being the Governour of Bermudas tells Mr. Leverton that that their Ship came newly from England and at her arrival fell in between two Rocks To get her off they took out their Guns and heavy Wares The next Tide rises with a violent Storm while most of the Seamen were ashore and hurries them among the liquid Flouds where the French found them on purpose to bring deliverance at the end of prayer After that a fair Gale conducts them safely to Bermudas where they who had embraced the Throne of Grace in their absence with Holy Hands now embrace their Friends with happy Arms and entertain them joyfully who had been both carried out and brought in by Prayer Here we have a French Calm at Sea awakened into a Breeze for a Haven Enjoyment and an English Calm in Haven rouzed into a Storm for Sea-adventures and both excited by Prayer The French have a storm within the Ship though a calm without and the English have a storm without to bring to the former a calm within O the vehement power of Prayer that raises storms quells the boysterous Waves at pleasure Here 's a Ship full of Provision hurried out to the Main to fetch famish'd Orators to the Harbour of Plenty What manner of Man is this Mark 4.41 said the Disciples of our Lord that the Winds and the Sea obey him O invincible Faith O Soveraign and Imperial Prayer that commandest both Calms and Storms Master carest thou not that we perish Mark 4.38 cries Prayer Christ delights to be awakened by his Holy Spouse and lays Storms asleep Christ always sails in the Ship of Prayer and though this Pilot be asleep yet he steers safely he sees the hidden Rocks and secret Shelves and needs no Star nor Compass He knows the Mystery of Longitude and wants no Tables of the four Planets attending Jupiter or the Spots of the Moon or Minute Watches to give the Distance of the first Meridian But who can measure the Length of his Love to the Church Eph. 3.18 or fathom the Depths of his Wisdom in manifestations of his Love He fins the Sails of the Churches Ship with prosperous Gales to bring her into safe Chambers He turns Calms into Storms to obey his Churches cries Ps 107.29 and raises the Waves of the Sea to invert the Psalmist that Saints are glad because of a Storm to bring them to a calm Haven O happy Storms that drive the Saylant Church to Heaven O happy Heaven that enjoys a perpetual an everlasting Calm CHAP. XII The Centemplation Mount or the Permanent Mercies of Heaven MOSES and XERXES took a view of their puissant Armies the first from a Mountain in the Plains of Moab Deut. 3.25 the other in the Plains of Abydus One rejoyced to see the Land of Canaan and the goodly Range of Lebanon extending 40 Miles in length which Israel was now ready to possess The other wept that his burthensom bulk of Barbarous Nations within a 100 Herod l. 7. p. 401. years would raise so many heaps of Bones or tumuli slightly turft over where on Death might stand and blow his Trumpet of Triumph Saints have but Jordans Valley to pass through into Eternal Joys while others wasting their precious time in vaine designs suddenly slip into eternal wo. Saints militant after many a sharp Combat enter victoriously into Paradise And although some may encounter with Fainting Drooping Qualms yea it may be set in a Cloud yet what an extasie of spirit will surprize them who after many Labyrinths and Mazes of trouble unexpectedly enter the ravishing Glories of Heaven The best may labour under fears and tears but one hour there makes amends for all When these Mists will be scattered in that Radiant Morning and all Tears wash'd away in those Rivers of Pleasure which run through the Streets of New Jerusalem Here the Inhabitants of the Earth build plant travel sail and fight upon an Atom The whole World is but an invisible point to the external Convex of Heaven and all its Inhabitants like the small Dust of the Balance Is 40.15 or a drop perishing from the Bucket nay less than nothing less than vanity The smallest Atom that rejoyces in the Sun Beams at a Chamber Window far transcends the whole Globe of Earth and Water if a Man were imagined to stand in one of the fixed Stars it could not be discern'd by the most curious Glasses nay if one stood in the Sun this circumference of about 21000 Miles could not be discovered For if the Sun be about 167 times bigger than this Earth Gassend è Ptol. in Epicur p. 784. as some Astronomers have determined while others enlarge the Suns Diameter to to much vaster extension and yet appears to us not to exceed 32 Minutes of such a Degree whereof 360 measures the Circumambient Line of the Ecliptick being its Race round about the Heavens Then the Earth must needs shrink into the visibility of a few seconds or less Nay more some have conceived by calculation that the whole Orb of the Earth's supposed motion about the Sun who is very probably the Centre of that Planetary Vortex as the Cartesians call it wherein we subsist is but a point to the Systeme or Sphear of the fixed Stars and that if the Earth all its annexed Beings were utterly annihilated it would not be wanted as being comparatively so insiderable a Particle of the Universe Plutarch de placitis l. 2. c. 13. Heraclides and the Pithagoreans held every Star to be a World What a smoak and smother do miserable Mortals raise about a petty Kingdom when Geometrical proportion may prove a Molehill to be vastly more considerable to the earth than the Earth is to the Empyraean Circumference then may an Ant shine upon a straw a more glorious Emperour than we imagine If then the inferiour Pavement of Heaven if the out Offices of the starry Chambers be so magnificent what 's the Chamber of Presence that are those Supercelestial spaces Mat. 13.43 where the Saints shall shine like so many Suns in the Kingdom of their infinitely Blessed Father Let 's a little contemplate the glorious State of the Saints after the Resurrection as far as we with sobriety and submission in this our Valley-state may inquire into those deep