and high condition We are too weak for such a weight of glory therefore God will bear us up that we may bear up it and because our joyes cannot fully enter into us we shall fully enter into them Who would then set so large a Vessel as the Soul under a few drops of carnal pleasure and neglect the spring and spouts of everlasting joy Oh my soul What a glorious day is there coming When the Vessels of mercy shall be cast into the Ocean of mercy and be filled to the brim with mercy When the Sons of pleasure shall drink their fills at the torrents of pleasures and be set for ever at rest in the rivers of pleasure When the soul that is sick of love shall lye in the bosome of love and for ever take its fill of love When the Children of God shall have a full fruition of God and be for ever satisfied with the presence of God the joy of which glorious presence the fulness of which joy the sweetness of which fulness the eternity of which sweetness the heart of man in its largest thoughts cannot conceive Lord Let the thoughts of the joy and glory which thou hast prepared for me in the Heavens turn away my Soul from the pleasures and delights which are presented to me on Earth that so neglecting them I may be pressing to thee and be breathing forth with thine Oh! When shall I come and appear before God! POSTSCRIPT By A READER AND now being Refreshed with these fragrant leaves what shall I say Blessed Author Art thou yet alive Breath longer in this fruitful Air and extract more out of so Rich a Stock A Scribe so well Instructed cannot have spent all but must have new or old to bring out of his Treasure Do not hide but Improve thy Talent Be not only a good and wise but faithful Steward and yield us more of thy pleasant Fruits Thou hast begun well who what should hinder thee Thy present were there no succeeding Reward is spurr enough to future Work Religion is Recreation and Heaven is the way to Heaven Good men are there on this side the grave Thy Longing Soul was still peeping into it and sending thy Thoughts as Spies to view this promised Land But art thou at Rest from thy Labours this among others thy work follows thee and hath here Erected thy Lasting Monument Where ever thou wert Buried Obscurity shall not swallow thee Every good Heart that knew thee is thy Tomb and every Tongue writes thee an Epitaph Good men speak well of thee But above all God delights in thee Thy Thoughts were still fluttering upwards Richly fraught with Divine Breathings and ever Aspiring till unladen themselves in the Bosome of thy Beloved We are hugely Thankful that a few dropt from thee for the Comfort and Example of fainting sluggish Mortals below Thou liv'd Indeed while most live onely in Shew and hast changed thy Place but not thy Company Blush and be ashamed my Drowsie Soul at Sight or Thoughts of such Active Christians These are Redeeming Times whil'st thou art Mis-spending it These are working and thou loytering These are Conversing with God whil'st thou art following or trifling in the World These are Digging in Scripture Mines whil'st thou passes over them as Barren Empty Things Backward to Read slow to Hear most averse to ruminate on the Word David meditated day and night but thou scarce day or night Shall God be to thee hereafter All in All and here as nothing at All Have all thy Thoughts then and be afforded so few now Is he thy Portion and wilt thou live no more upon him Thy Treasure and thy Heart so seldome with him Is there so much in God and his Attributes in Christ and his Offices in the Spirit and his Workings in the Law and its Exactness in the Gospel and its Sweetness in Grace and its Excellency in the World and its Vanity in the Guilt of Sin in the Beauty of Holiness in the Preciousness of the Soul in the Paucity that shall be Saved in the Frailty of Life in the Certainty of Death in the Torments of Hell in the Happiness of Heaven in the Vnalterableness of Judgement And art thou barren in so fruitfull a Soyl Only a Cumberer of the Ground notwithstanding all the Cost bestowed upon thee Oh see thou be not only alive but a lively Christian Canst thou think of an eternal weight of Glory and rest contented with a little work Who ever served God for nought Hath he not passed his word to make thee amends for all thou canst do or suffer for his sake What Harm is there in a Heavenly Life What Dishonour in Adoring thy Maker What great Danger in being strictly Religious What Discomfort to live and dye in the sense of Gods favour Where is thy best friend What is thy chief Interest What wilt thou wish upon a dying bed Who doth or can do most for thee What into another World will accompany thee O live in the sense of Dreadful Happy Eternity and of the difference to stand with boldness before the Judge when the careless World shall stand trembling Let Heaven be alwayes in thy eye the World under thy feet Christ nearest thy heart the last Trump in thy ear the Work the Word of God in thy hand and his Praises continually in thy lips Listen what Yellings under thee Heark what Acaclmations over thee Look round what Snares are laid for thee Behold whose eye is upon thee what hast Death makes towards thee how near thy course is finishing See who stands holding thy sparkling Crown how the wicked would die like thee how the Devils for Envy grinn at thee how the Angels rejoyce over thee stand round thee and long to be carrying thee thy Father will be no longer without thee Yet a little while and God shall wipe away all Tears turn every Holy Desire into an Embracement every Prayer into a Song of Praise every Sigh into an Hallelujah every Tear into a Pearl every Stone of Reproach into a Diamond in thy glittering Crown Reflection into Possession Faith into Vision Hope into Fruition the Glass into the Face for we shall see him as he is to whom be glory for ever Amen FINIS
INRI Oh how â—â—iable When shall I come and appear before thee DIVINE Breathings Or A Pious Soul Thirsting after CHRIST The fourth Edition very much Corrected Quid enim mihi est in Coelo à te quid volui super terram LONDON Printed for Robert Pawlett at the Sign of the Bible in Chancery-Lane near Fleet-street 1671. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER WE know that Christ accepted the Widows Mite This Orphan is to thee the zealous offering of its Parent whose intention is to furnish thee with holy Desires which are a Christians wings to fly to Heaven and therefore challenges thy acceptance We have in Holy Writ the Psalmes of David left us for our Example wherein we read his longing to be with God desiring the wings of a Dove that he might flye away and be at rest and assimulating his thirsting after Christ to the Hart As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God! Loe Hear one that hath learnt by David's rules and fain would have thee learn by his and doubtless in imitation of that holy Prophet purposely penn'd these his pious Ejaculations to leave them for posterity to be a furtherance in the way to bliss And though the Authors name is not prefixt his Piety these heavenly Breathings speak which being found by a Person of no mean degree among the writings of an eminent Divine have been by him communicated only to his dearâ—st relations as a celestial Dove to carry the Olive-branch of peace into their Souls It being my happiness to receive a Copy my own affections for the good of others instantly inflamed my desirs to publish it being seconded not only by the approbations but earnest solicitations of my friends I have assented and here present it to thee hoping thy devotions may be hereby raised thy holy desires increased and thy Soul have a relish on Earth of the unspeakable joyes in Heaven which that thou mayest have the fruition of is the hearty Prayer of Thy Cordial Friend CHRISTOPHER PEâ—IN Divine Breathings I. MEDITATION MEditation and Prayer are like the Spies that went to search the Land of Canaan the one views and the other puts down and both brings â—ome à taste of the fairest and sweetest fruits of Heaven Meditation like the â—ye views our mercies and Prayer like the hand reacheth in those mercies or Meditation is like a Factour which lyeth abroad to gather in what we want and Prayer like a ship goeth forth and brings in what we desire It is my misery that I cannot be so perfect as not want but it is my mercy that I cannot be so miserable as not to be supplied Meditation cannot find out-areal want but Prayer will fetch in an answerable comfort Lord If mercy be so free I will never be poor but I will meditate to know it never know it but I will pray to supply it and yet not rest until thou shalt do more for me than I am able to ask or think II. Meditat. SAint Bernard sweetly compares Contemplation to the Eagle For as the Eagle is still fastening her eye upon the radiant beams of the beautiful Sun So Contemplation is still viewing the glorious beams of the Sun of Righâ—eousness it is still conâ—ersant about the high and profitable things of Salvation Or else I may compare it to those Birds of whom David speaks who â—uild their nests by the Alâ—ar of God This is that â—elestial Bird that builds her nest about the Throne of Glory This is the Bee which flyeth into the sweetest Gardens and sucks Honey from every Flower of Paradise By Meditation I can converse with God solace my self in the bosome of my beloved bathe may self in rivers of pleasure tread the paths of my rest and view the mansions of my eternity What makest thou then O my soul in this valley of tears Up upon the mount and view the Land of promise What makest thou in this wildernesse oâ— trouble Up upon thâ— wing and take thy flight tâ— Heaven let thy thought be where thy happiness is and let thy heart be where thy thoughts are though thy habitation may be on Earth yet thy conversation shall be in Heaven III. Meditat. WHat art thou O my Soul a spiritual Essence an Incorporeal substance the very breath of God and Epitomy of Heaven What satisfies thee O my immortal Soul none but the immortal God in whom all fullness dwells he onely â—can fill the Soul that fills Heaven and Earth the insufficient creature may fill the Soul with vexation none but the all-sufficient God can fill the Soul with contentation O Lord as no action of mine will satisfie thee without my self so no creature of thine will satisfie me without thy self therefore O Lord take thou my heart and give me thy self IV. Meditat. WHat want'st thou O my Soul with what imaginable excellency would'st thou cloath thy self What desirable object would'st thou pitch upon Is it beauty The righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of Heaven and the wise as the brightness of the Firmament for ever and ever Is it riches Wealth and riches are in the house of God every one in his family shall have a rich a glorious and incorruptible and an eternal inheritance amongst the Saints What is it then Is it honour What honour like to this to be a friend and a favourite of God and a spouse of Christ to have a Crown of righteousness of life and of glory Yet more a farr more exceeding and eternal weight of glory set upon thy head Yet again is it pleasure The Just shall enter into their Masters joy and there are rivers of pleasures at his right hand for evermore In a word What would'st thou have Oh my flesh A confluence of all the glorious things both in Heaven and in Earth Why Godliness hath the promise of this life and of that which is to come If Heaven and the righteousness thereof be the thing that thou dost seek both Heaven and Earth with the excellencies thereof is that which thou shall find Lord make me holy and then I am sure I shall be happy V. Meditat. WIse Agents do alwayes propound their Ends before they set upon their Work And then direct their actions to that end they did propound If the Mariner launch it is that he may get to such a harbour Therefore he sayls by Compass that he may compass that he sayls for A Christian should have always one eye upon his end and the other eye upon his way That man lives a bruitish life that knows not what he lives for and he acts but a fools part that aims at Heaven and lives at randome A wise Christian his end of living is that he may live without end and therefore his way of living is that he may live continually to spend his life in the ways of life he is alwayes walking in those paths where he sees Heaven before him O my Soul What is
like a Bird from the perch or melt away like Ice before the Sun and so leave the immortal soul to sink for ever so that the creature will not onely make thee restless but leave thee miserable I see then that I shall never rest till I rest in God he that is the Father of Spirits the Fountain of Bliss the Ancient of Dayes he only is the adequate object for thine immortal soul the rest of the creatures is in its end the end of the soul is its God Therefore Lord seeing thou hast made me for thy self fill me fully with thy self or take me wholly to thy self XXIX Meditat. DOth Sathan tempt thee either by pleasures dignities or profits O my soul Stand upon thy guard gird on thy strength with such thoughts as these What can the World profit me if the cares choak me How can Pleasures comfort me if the sting poyson me Or what advancement is this to be triumphing in honour beforâ— the face of men here anâ— to be trembling for shamâ— before the throne of Goâ— hereafter What are thâ— delights of the World tâ— the peace of my Conscience or the joy that is iâ— the Holy Ghost Whaâ— are the applauses of meâ— to the Crown prepared bâ— God Or what is the gaâ—â— of the World to the loâ—â— of my Soul The vanity the creature is far beneaâ—â— the excellency of my soul Therefore Sathan you aâ—â— I must keep at an everlaâ—ing distance for you bid me loss XXX Meditat. A Black cloud makes the Traveller mend his pace and mind his home whereas a fair day and a pleasant way wasts his time and that stealeth away his affections in the prospect of the Country However others may think of it yet I take it as a mercy that now and then some clouds do interpose my Sun and many times some troubles do eclipse my comforts for I perceive if I should find too much friendship in my Inn in my pilgrimage I should soon forget my Fathers house and my heritage XXXI Meditat. There is a generation of men that wiâ—â— praise and adore the Saint in Heaven and yet mocâ— and afflict the Saint on Earth so that were aâ—â— those Saints alive again whom they so much honour in their day I daâ—â— affirm they would persecute them in their person like the Jews the can garnish the Sepulchre of thâ— Righteous and yet plaâ—â— the Jew with the Person 〈◊〉 the Righteous Dissembling World thy tongâ—â— embalms a dead Saint whil'st thy hand strikes a wound into the living Saint and thou canst praise God for those that are departed in the faith and yet persecute God in those that will not depart from the faith O foolish World must thou needs condemn thy self for thy praise hath lest thy practise without excuse XXXII Meditat. ALexander being asked where he would lay his Treasure Answered very well Apud Amicos Among his friends being confident that there it would be kept with safety and return'd with use What needest thou enlarge thy Barnes Knowest not thou where to lay thy plenty Make the friends of Christ thy treasury let the hands of the widdow the bowels of the poor be thy store-house here is is sure no thief can steal it no time can rust it no change can lose it and hear 't is improved A temporal gift is here turned into an eternal reward no ground so fruitful as the bosome of the poor that brings forth an hundred fold XXXIII Meditat. O My Soul What makest thou groveling on the Earth Every thing here below is too base for thine excellency too short for thine eternity thou art capable of a God and must have a being when these poor things are reduced to nothing the creature is too base a metal to make thee a crow of glory too rotten a bottom to carry thee through eternity Oh fill thy self with God so shalt thou raise thy dignity to perpetuity XXXIV Meditat. WHere any thing presents its self think if Christ were now alive would he do it Or if I were now to dye would I do it I must walk as he hath walked and I must live as I intend to dye if it be not Christs will it is my sin and if I dye in that sin it will be my ruine I will therefore in every action so carry my self as if Christ were on the one hand and Death on the other XXXV Meditat. OUr life is but a moment of time and yet in this moment of time we sow the seeds of eternity in this transitory hour I am framing to my self either a good or a bad eternity These words that now I speak these works that I now act though they here seem to rot yet they shall spring up to eternity Therefore as the Poet answered one upbraiding him for being three dayes about three Verses whereas he could make an hundred in one day Oh saith he At tui ad triduum modo mei in omne aeternum dur aturi sunt Thine are but for three dayes as it were but mine must continue for ever according to my carriage now my Name must either rise or fall for ever So may we answer this foolish World upbraiding us of too much strictness and preciseness Oh! had not we need to be exact indeed when the works we are about are not to be written in sand but in the records of eternity the lines that now we draw must run parallel with eternity and according as we carry our selves in this moment of time our souls must live or dye for ever O Lord help me so to improve the brevity of my life by the integrity of my actions that I may turn this moment of misery into an eternity of bliss XXXVI Meditat. THe Soul of man saith the Philosopher is the horizon of time and eternity now if the Son of Righteousness be not risen in our horizon we must expect nothing but a clouded time and a stormy eternity gross darkness here and utter darkness hereafter for ever But as for those blessed Saints into whose souls the oriental splendour of the Sun of Righteousness is shed abroad how do they live in his sight What celestial excellencies What reviving comforts What advancing principles are darted forth from the face of beauty into their spirits And as for the triumphant Saints in whose horizon Jesus Christ is in the eternal meridian of his glory Oh what full beams of bliss and consolation without the least shadow of bitterness and discontent warms and delights their blessed souls to all eternity Lord lift up the light of thy countenance in my horizon so shall time be the morning and eternity the noon of glory in my soul XXXVII Meditat. THe World hath many servants because it gives present wages where Christ hath but a few Disciples because their reward is in another life Most live by sight and therefore must have to satisfie sense they had rather with Ishmael be sent away with a small gift than with Isaac to wait for
see him clearly and directly face to face and enjoy his immediate communion with Jesus Christ We shall then be like him indeed when we shall see him as he is our bodies shall be like his our souls shall be like his our glory shall be like his our eternity shall be like his who is the God of beauty excellency and sweetness concord happiness and eternity Oh Lord let me have such clear visions such sweet fruitions of thee that I may not only hereafter be happy as thou art happy but may likewise now be holy as thou art holy XCVI Meditat. THe life of Faith is the noblest richest contentedst easiest truest life of all It is the noblest life for it takes the Soul out of the house of Adam and carries it into the houshould of God it makes the Soul forget her Fathers house and espouseth it to the King of Glory And then it is the pleasantest life it lives upon the choicest excellency and highest felicity often wrapt up in the third Heaven to take its repast in inexpressible glory it walks in the paths of pleasantuess and under all the heats of troubles and afflictions it shades it self under the Arbour of Paradise And then it is the richest life if our desires be according to our wants it is impossible we should want above what we desire Tantum quisque habet quantum credit Every man hath saith a Father according to his faith And be it unto thee according to thy faith saith Christ And then it is the contentedst life it carries the fading creature and layes him upon Christ and under all mutabilty still holds fast all-sufficiency and so sits down contentedly Then is it the easiest life Faith looks not on the strictness or difficulty of duty but on the power and strength of Christ therefore if it meet with a hard precept it dissolves it into a sweet promise it carries it to a loving Christ pleads it out till he hath drawn out a proportionable strength to facilitate and make easie the duty In fine it is the truest and the onlyest life for he is dead in sin that doth not live by faith therefore as one said Non vivere sed valere vita est Not to live but to be well is life So may I say Not to live well only but to believe is to live and to live well indeed XCVII Meditat. IF God be the highest perfection in himself and the highest good to the creature then it is the highest wisdome of the creature to choose him and the highest piece of his duty to live in observance of him If all creatures must certainly appear before this great Majesty and bow unto him I admire the wisdome of the godly and wonder at the folly of the wicked And seeing this certainly and of necessity must be Lord let me be of the number of those that choose thee here so as for ever hereafter I may enjoy thee and not as the number of those that refuse thee here and must for ever hereafter be separated from thee XCVIII Meditat. GRaces are the very Courtiers of Heaven those wait upon Christ in his privy Chamber Honour Riches Credit and the like may do much below you may keep out your betters here but in the Pallace of the King of Glory you must stand by for ever It is only Faith Love Humility and the like that shall have admittance into the Presence Chamber moral vertues you must likewise walk without All that goe bravely are not qualified for such a Presence you are but Splendida peccata beautifull Abominations base Hearts wrapped up in brave cloaths Parts and Gifts you may stay and wait at the gates but I can tell you there is a special Command gone forth that none but Grace and Holiness shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven therefore you may receive your answer if you please only these are welcome to the King of Glory only these are familiar and conversant with Jesus Christ Therefore as the Queen of Sheba said of the servants of Solomon so may 〈◊〉 say of the Graces of Gods Spirit which are only the retainers of Jesus Christ Oh! happy are these thy men and happy are these thy servants O God which stand continually before thee and hear thy Wisdome and see thy Glory True love doth not only preserve every heavenly motion of the Soul but raiseth the Soul â—t self to the highest perfection The more I love the more I shall be beloved and the fuller participation shall I have of him who is altogether lovely St. Bernard speaks fully to it Summum bonum amare est summa beatitudo To love the chiefest good is the greatest happiness The purest and the fullest love shall alwayes wear the weightiest Crown of glory Lord perfect this Grace in me that so I may be perfect in loving thee XCIX Meditat. THe Israelites must first pass over Jordan before they can land in Canaan but no sooner did the feet of the Priests that bare the Ark of the Covenant rest in the water but the proud waves saw it and fled and the swelling streams were driven back and laid in heaps to make them pass over safe and well So every child of God is like an Israelite in the Wilderness of this World travelling to the Land of Promise Death is that Jordan that runs between this wilderness and our Canaan it is that swelling stream that over-flows the banks of every mortal creature it is that last River which must be passed over But this is the happiness of a Child of God That Jesus Christ our High Priest that bears the everlasting Covenant on his shoulders hath already dipt his feet in the brims of this water insomuch that the streams of bitterness are diverted the sting of death pluck'd out the water of the salt Sea is dryed up and the power of the curse cut off so that death is but a sure step unto glory Why then am I afraid to dye the channel is dry and I see the footsteps of my Saviour in the bottom and Heaven and Happiness on the other side so that the waters shall not go over my Soul they may goe over my sins they may goe over my miseries they may goe over my troubles but my Soul shall goe over to its rest Lord therefore fit and sanctifie me for my removal and then take down my Tent I cannot be too soon with thee C. Meditat. HEre the Vessel is too capacious to be filled with all the pleasures and delights the world can lay together but hereafter our pleasures and delights shall be too full for the most capacious Vessel to comprehend our Glory shall be so great that power as well as goodness shall come forth from God himself for to renew and enlarge these Vessels that so they may be capable to receive and retain that glory strength and love shall goe forth together for to prepare and raise our dispositions that they may be suitable for such a transcendent