will from place to place like an Angel with incredible swiftness The Soul acting with a more enlarged and excellent advantage as to all its faculties and operations by the subserviency union and concomitancy of the Members and senses of our glorified bodies than it could do without them Of which in their due place with Gods assistance I shall treat more particularly O my Soul shall thy frail fleshly body be shining like the Stars and the Firmament in all its brightness glorious like the Sun yea like the brightest Son of Righteousness and be replenisht with the glory of God Shall it be thy radiant Garment and super-excelling Ornament Thy Chariot of Tryumph Yea more the completion of thy excellency and Coelestial happiness O give it now its due honour and inslave it not to Sathan and to sinfull lusts Thou shalt shortly be thine and the Angels glorious companion Debase it not so much as to put it to dig and delve in the Earth like a blinde Mole Nor to cloath it self with thick Clay nor to feed upon white and yellow dust which is the Serpents Meat and curse which shall within a short space of time shine like the Stars and Sun in the Heavens Yea suffer it not to be bespotted and defiled with uncleanness Nor to be joyned or united to an Harlot which conjoyn'd with thee shall be a perfect and glorious Image of God incarnate and for ever the Spouse of Christ and the Habitation and Temple of God the Holy Ghost What though as yet thou art in a state of humiliation ascend thou with our Lord into the Mount into the high Mountain of Divine and Heavenly Contemplation being both in Body and Soul raised from above the vanities of this low and evil World Let thy converse be with Moses and Elias the Law and the Prophets and by so doing thou shalt be transformed and transfigur'd yea thy face shall shine and thou shalt be changed into the Image of God from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. O Lord my God who art infinite in free grace and mercy in goodness bounty and liberality and hast abundantly manifested thy self to be all this to me a poor and miserable sinner in my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent in my nature to purchase for me not only salvation from everlasting death but such a shining and glorious state and condition of Soul and Body with thee unto Eternity give me a gratefull heart and an obedient life which is the real thankfulness of thy Children Yea let the Meditation and application by faith of this blessed and transcendent change not only ravish me in Spirit as Peter was at the sight of the representation thereof at our Lords Transfiguration but let me with holy Paul follow after it that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus as counting my self not to have apprehended and therefore through thy grace Let me forget those things that are behind and reach forth to the things that are before pressing towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Let me so run not as uncertainly so fight not as one that beateth the Aire but keep under this my Body and bring it into subjection least by any meanes when I have instructed others I my self should be a cast away Gracious God in order to this glorious and new life grant me to walk in newness of life that I being planted together with my Saviour in the likeness of his Death as to sin I may be also raised with and by him in the likeness of his Resurrection to Glory and having these precious promises let me through faith in them be by thee enabled to cleanse my self from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in thy fear for without holiness none shall see thy Face O Lord let my conversation be in Heaven although my body be on earth And since thy Word saith a Mans wisdome makes his Face to shine give me that true wisdome that is from above And since thou hast in infinite mercy given me this blessed hope that even my body shall shine and be glorious like the Stars and Sun after this life give me grace in this life to be a burning and shining light with John the Baptist and to be harmless and blameless a Son of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation Amongst whom let me shine as a Light in the World that they seeing my good works may glorify thee my Heavenly Father Amen I proceed now to the third Heavenly excellency of our Bodies glorified after the Resurrection viz. Their incorruptibility and immortality In order to our more cleer understanding of this so wonderfull a change in which as saith the Apostle This Corruptible must put on Incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality I shall from the ground of right reason and natural Philosophy humbly offer these considerations First that the body of Man is compounded although unequally of the four Elements And that at Death which is the dissolution of the Soul and Body The Spirit returns to him that gave it and the Body returns to the four Elements the first Principles of which it was compounded This is illustrated and proved from Scripture which witnesses that at the Resurrection The Sea gave up her Dead that is that part of the substance of the Bodies that were in it and Death and Hell that is the Earth or Grave delivered up the Dead that were in them Further this must be granted as an undeniable maxime that as none but God our Almighty Creator can make something of nothing so none but he can annihilate any Creature or any Atom of a Creature so as to make that something nothing If this be a certain truth as assuredly it is and that the Lord hath declared in his Word that the same Bodies in which the Soul lived here upon Earth shall again appear and be raised at the Resurrection as inspired Job attests saying I know that my Redeemer lives and that I shall stand at the latter Day upon Earth and though after my skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see for my self and my Eyes shall behold and not another though my Reines be consumed within me Then certainly at and after death that part of our Bodies that is a part of the four Elements from a Principle sympathy law and instinct of nature the compositum and structure being dissolved and separated shall return to that Element of which it is a part where it shall be kept and preserved by the all-governing Power and providence of God as in a Wombe or Treasury untill its new birth at the Resurrection In the next place consider that when the
adversaries an Angel pointing out a living Fountain to all thirsty Hagars even that Spring of grace his Prophetical Office Thirsty I say for none but such taste present and perfect comfort and refreshâ—ing from hence Encouragement indeed all others may have from this Office which are not yet called to enâ—deavour and exercise themselves in the means which beget faith and repentance notwithstanding the resisting impossibility of their nature as beholding the free promise and enabling gift of God in Christ. But the Covenant and the blessing belongs and is effectual to those sensibly and chiefly That hunger and thirst after righteousness For they shall be filled To proceed then let all Men observe with me two spiritual streams or works flowing from this Office The first is the Divine Revelation of the will of God so far as it was necessary for his Church by the Mouths and Pens of the Prophets and Apostles and that through the immediate inspiration and instinct of the third Person in Trinity his most Holy Spirit All which issuing from the living Fountain the Lord Jesus who is in the midst of his Garden the Church as so many Rivolets do make glad the City and water the Paradise of God This is that work that is wâ—ought without us yet with an end to work within us and upon us all being according to St. Paul that Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles upon which the Church is built Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone O Eternal Beeing who art as mercifull as great a Father God to me thy unworthy Creature should I in this prospect of my weak faith carelesly oâ— silently pass by so high a favour so gracious a work of thine as this towards my Soul Thou mightest justly take my object or my sight or both from me for such unthankfulness Is the revelation of secrets the greatest expression of friendship And to be of the Kings Council the chiefest honours And shall not I as a Christian apprehend apply and be gratefull for such â—avours as these confer'd by a far greater Person in a far greater manner and measure upon a far unworthier object than ever they can sample If the Letters and mandates of Princes are received with so much reverence preserved with so much care esteemed honoured and obeyed How much more the Words and Scriptures of God the Prince of Princes Are Books but the Soul in Print the Beams of Mans wisdome what is this but the life of the Soul the Book of Wisdome and the Book of Books Here is the height of Metaphysicks as revealing what so ever can be known either of God or Angels The use and summe of both Phylosophies in the Creation and Decalogue The knowledge of Astronomy in Job The exactest Geography and truest Chronology in Genesis and Chronicles The mystery of Numbers in the Levitical Ceremonies Daniel and the Revelations The exercise of Rhetorick throughout the Prophets especially in Esay The marrow and art of Logick in Saint Paul's Epistles and in all which is above all as the Sun amongst the Planets the whole Body of Divinity Here are Politicks for the Statist in Ecclesiastes Oeconomicks for the House-keeper in Proverbs Instruction for the Woman from Solomon's Mother And David's Poesie for the Poets Lastly here 's wisdome for the ancient for it maketh wise unto Salvation Here 's a beautifull Spouse and love Canticles for the youthfull and religious Amorist And here is Milk from the Sacramental Teaâ—s for the new-born Babe Yea what can my heart seek Lord which thou hast not placed in this Book of Life in this library of my Soul It remains nâ—w only that I beseech from thee the true use thereof viz. the knowledge and worship of thee So shall I be not only a hearer and Reader but a doer of thy Word not deceiving my own Soul From this work of Gods Spirit iâ— the Word without us I proceed to that second work of the Spirit wrought within us viz. Sanctification being a conformation of our willâ— unto his O my Soul here is that thou seekest for The knowledge of the greatest happiness without possibility of fruition is not the least of torments And to behold the Crown Robes and Priviledges of a Christian without either visible means to obtain or a true propriety of weaâ—ing them makes but our misery more miserable Thou weart even now lifted up and cast down exalted with joy and humbled with sorrow For looking upward thou beholdest with holy Stephen Heaven open and the Lord Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God But alass whilst thou weart ravisht with this Vision a multitude of thine Enemies not much unlike nor less cruel than his Persecutors thy original Corruptions have blind-folded thy eyes and manacled thy hands separating for the present both it from thee and thee from it But now be of good comfort though thou liest dead in sin and intranc'd in astonishment the Lord of life is come down unto thee Who manger all these Hell-hounds that watch over thee will give thee part in the first Resurrection He is thy spiritual Elisha and the Prince of the Prophets who will lay his Mouth to thy Mouth that so thou maist praise and confess him his Eyes to thy Eyes that thorough faith thou maist behold him his Hands upon thy Hands that in deeds thou mayest obey him yea his whole and living Body upon thy dead Body that so thou maist revive and live in him Behold there Him of whom his own saying concerning John the Baptist is evidently verified A Prophet yea and more than a Prophet even the God of the Spirits of all Prophets Who least thy weak and sinfull nature should fear to approach unto or lend an Eare unto his Word hath vailed his glorious Deity with humanity therein being typified by Moses when he covered his shining Face as well as prophesied of him saying A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you amongst your Brethren like unto me Like unto Moses indeed as being a Man an Israelite a Prophet full of Miracles meekness of the Spirit yet with this difference of degrees the one was comparatively the other perfectly full the one a Vessel the other a Fountain the one the Servant the other the Son according to that of the Apostle This Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he who hath builded the House hath more honour than the House Moses being faithful as a Servant but Christ as a Son Next whereas O my Soul thou objectest the deadness of thy nature thy sleeping in sin I confess indeed thou art so But hearken unto thy Saviours Tryumph which doth not only pierce but give thee Eares Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light The hour being come and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live
righteous sentence pronounced upon them and the Apostate Angels and his translating his Saints from this Paradise of Earth to the Heaven of Heavens These objects and occasions of holy hatred anger and indignation against Sathan and Gods Enemies the wicked of unexpressable love joy delight praise and glorious tryumphing the holy Scriptures holds forth shall be in the state of glory And can we conceive holy zeal which is the height and crown of all these graces can be absent or unnecessary I shall further add that after our Lords yielding up his Mediatory Kingdome to the Father all the service and everlasting praises of the Saints in the remembrance of all Gods wonderfull works from the beginning unto Eternity in the Heavens Earth and Hell shall be heightned and winged with this holy zeal I shall assert this truth and conclude this ravishing Meditation with pointing at and refering the Reader to the frequent and zealous hallelujahs of the crowned Elders and glorified Saints in the Visions of Saint John set forth to us as the types and lively figures of our Heavenly and glorified condition Revelations Chapter the 4 th Verse the 8 th And the four Beasts rest not Day and Night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come And the four and twenty Elders fell down before Him that sate on the Throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were Created Like to this are their zealous Songs and Thanksgivings upon divers occasions Chapter 5. Verse 8. untill the end of that Chapter and Chapter 7. Verse 9. unto the end thereof and Chapter 11. Verse 15. unto the end of that Chapter and Chapter the 14. Verse the 1. unto the end of the 5. Verse and Chapter the 15. Verse the third and the fourth besides many more to the end of that blessed Book which for brevity sake I omit These being sufficient to prove the use and exercise of this Seraphical grace of holy zeal by the Saints in their state of Glory O my Soul Is this most Heavenly grace of zeal so illustrious and exemplary in the Saints that have lived upon Earth Doth it shine forth with a Heavenly light here in the actings of holy Angels of our for ever blessed Saviour and of our Almighty Father and Creator Yea shall this grace out-live thy hope and thy faith be the Crown and compleatment of thy divine love and the height and perfection of all other thy graces in glory Endeavour then to follow their famous examples Rest not in the cold and middle Region of bare profession with the careless Gallioes of the World and frozen Church-professors The Demasses of this last and worst age but let thy holy zeal upon all occasions for the glory of thy God and purity of his Worship and Doctrine mount up even to the Firie Region and In his cause be Boanerges and like Gods Angels and Seraphins a Cole a flame of Fire So shalt thou excell and exceed others in this grace in thy glorified state as far as thou hast gone before them in this life And as thou hast been more gracious here so thou shalt be more glorious hereafter The larger thy Vessel the larger thy Receipt Every Vessel shall be full and overflow although much different in their measure All shall be Stars although not of the like Magnitude The Saints at the first Resurrection being rewarded according to their works although not for their works O Lord my God is divine zeal a holy flame a Pyramid-like Fire a Spring towards Heaven as to its own place Is my heart my Souls shop where it forges affections and this middle Region of my Body like the middle Region of the Aire cold and naturally void of this thy heavenly Fire Be pleased I humbly beseech thee to cause the same holy Spirit that once sate in the likeness of Fiery Tongues upon the heads of thy Apostles to rest upon unthaw and inflame my frozen heart and affections Then shall not its earthly and sinfull qualities of coldness hardness and ponderousness chill resist or smother the fervency and intensness of any of thy graces in me since thy Almighty Power that produces lightning in the cold middle Region of the Aire that melts the Rock and causes the Mountains Aetna Vesuvius and Hecla to breath forth flames of Fire can yea will because thou hast promised it bring forth and create in me a greater wonder even a new heart and a new spirit a heart of Flesh instead of a heart of Stone Then shall I be not only zealous in all my actings for thee but frequent and zealous in my praises to thee in this life of Grace and that of Glory to Eternity Amen All affections in this life as love fear zeal and the rest although sanctified in their heighths and intensiveness by reason of the weakness of the Organ and our decayed nature may put the whole Man to pain and in that respect are called Passions yet it shall cease to be so with us in our glorified condition Where whatsoever that flowes from Infirmity or Imperfection shall be done away In the new Jerusalem there shall be neither sorrow nor pain We shall then be as the Apostle exhorts not only when occasions shall be offered not to be angry without sin but without passion or disturbance Being herein like to God and the holy Angels whose Image shall then be perfectly renewed in us and who in the Scripture although I grant it to be meant not properly but Anthropopathos is often declared to be angry But as to the Elect Angels I conceive they may as truly be said to be angry witness that famous opposition of Balaam and that action of the Angel that with his drawn Sword was ready to destroy Jerusalem for David's Sin as to rejoyce greatly for the conversion of a sinner If then such accidental affections are testified to be in glorious Angels why not much rather in glorified Saints unless by cessation of so eminent a grace as holy anger we should irrationally conceive the Saints less perfect in this new life than in the other Especially since the sole object of this holy affection the Sin Blasphemy and Rebellion of wicked Souls and Devils to the dishonour of God shall continue and in that great and long day or time of their Judgment be more universally manifested to their view than ever as also afterward in Hell to Eternity Anger here though for Gods cause may possibly inflame the Eyes distort the Visage of a Saint but its lipe as the modest blush of a Virgin doth add beauty to her Face so shall this
eating and drinking of the glorified Saints which was not at all in the question For if so it may be brought as well to prove that they shall in all things else be like the Angels which I humbly conceive no Man will or hath asserted since in many things were it proper to be treated of upon this subject I could shew a manifold difference betwixt the Angels and the glorified Saints This being sufficient and a clear and full answer to that objection I shall now proceed to speak more particularly although very succinctly as having in the six foregoing reasons or preliminaries spoken more than I intended and given sufficient satisfaction to my self and I hope to others both from Scripture and reason as to this Subject First as to the sight or sense of Seeing the Eye although by Oculists Naturalists and Anatomists it is now placed in the first rank of the bodies parts or members as a subject wherein the most excellent and wonderfull wisdome of God is greatly manifested and that not only as in respect of its curious fabrick but admirable way and manner of conveighing and representing objects to the Soul whether Extra or intra mittendo or by both is not my work now to dispute or determine yet then it shall as to its optick use and faculty be much more wonderfully bettered heighthned and enlarged and that first as to its objects Now the best Eye cannot immediately behold the Sun shining in its brightness any time with fixedness without twinckling trouble and danger of blindness and as though it was asham'd of its weakness is presently vailed with a tear Now a Daniel an Ezekiel cannot look upon or behold an Angel without astonishment and falling to the ground upon their faces as being not able to behold their created glory But after the Resurrection we shall with these Eyes as Job speaks not only behold the glorified Saints that shine as the Sun and are as so many millions of Suns but the glorious Angels and our Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ the brightest Sun of righteousness and shall see God as he is yea we shall see him face to face and live This is that everlasting and glorious beatifical Vision of Father Son and Holy Ghost the for ever blessed Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity so much spoken of by the ancient Fathers in which as in a most bright cleer mirror the Saints shall behold their Eyes being herein assistants to their Souls all things God is pleased to reveal and so far as a created nature is capable of past and present and to come As also the natures virtues and qualities of all the Creatures not as now by their effects but in their cause Idea and truth yea the high and deep things of God The second excellency of this glorified sense of sight as to its strength in respect of objects that are far distant is That whereas now our Eyes without the help of Perspective-Glasses cannot discern or clearly distinguish and inform us of the things upon Earth some few miles off and are much inferiour to Eagles and Vultures of whom Naturalists report That when by high flying they are so lessened as not to be discerned by our Eyes yet they can behold a little quarry upon the ground and their prey although many miles distant from them and that now through the imbecility and weakness of our sight in a clear day we judge the skie to be of an azure colour whereas truly it hath no colour but is only so represented being only by a vaster distance and the intermediate Aire enlightened by the Sun and that distance beyond the extent of our weak Eyes upon the level of the Earth seems to be dark or black But hereafter at the Resurrection the Eye being the Instrument and Organ through and by which the Soul beholds all things shall be so strengthened that it shall thereby behold things very far distant Else it should lose by union with the body that excellency of sight it had as a Spirit before it re-entred into the Body It being clear and evident that the Angels and Spirits excell all other living Creatures as to the activity and extent of seeing That evil spirit the Devil being able to behold and represent to our blessed Saviour from the top of a high Mountain all the Kingdomes of the World that is of that Hemisphere and semi-circle of the Earth and the glory of them a most vast view and prospect so also the Angel of God called unto Hagar and afterwards to Abraham out of Heaven A third admirable excellency of the Eye glorified is the wonderfull life and beauty of it Now it is the chief Ornament and grace of the Face in Men or Women but then it shall super-excell what it is now as much as the Eye of a living Man transcends the Eye of one that is dead Which life splendor and beauty doth not only proceed from the glorification of the Eye as apart and member of the glorified body but from those spirit-full and sparkling rayes sent forth from the within glorious Souls which like the Sun-beams shining through and upon the purest Chrystal shall cause the Eye to shine with a most delightfull and unexpressible radiancy and splendor much like to that wonderfull and visional appearance of our Head and sample the Lord Jesus to Saint John of whom it is written That his Eyes were as a Flame of Fire O my Soul shall thy sence of seeing attain to such a height of perfection as to be able not only to behold glorified Saints and Angels but the much more resplendent face of thy glorious Saviour yea of God himself shall it be so greatly fortified as to surveigh like the Angels things remotely distant shall thy eyes be so beautifull and radiant as to shine and sparkle like the Stars of the first magnitude O resolve and endeavour by the assistance of Gods free grace not to vassalage and debase them by beholding Earthly vanities much less to make use and imploy them as the Pandors of Sathan and the Dung-ports of sinfull lusts and lasciviousness like the Men of this World Whose Eyes are full of Adultery and uncleanness But let them according to the end for which they were created be wholly employed in beholding and admiring the glory of God in his wonderfull works held forth in the bright-shining Stars and Planets and in the splendor of the Moon and Sun Let them be also helpfull Instruments to conveigh unto thee continual matter of praise and admiration as to the wisdome of thy Creator in the consideration and meditation not only as to the excellent and universal frame of Heaven and Earth but as to the great variety and beauty of each particular Creature so shall this their Heavenly and holy exercise prepare thee and them for a greater measure of perfect Glory O blessed Spouse and dear Saviour who hast said to thy Church
down and destroyed And that without my suffering of any considerable loss Soliloquium or Discourse OF all inanimated Instruments of God's curse for sin none have been so violent irresistable and destructive to Man as the four Elements because of all sublunary things they possess the largest extent and therefore have the greatest power and influence Witness the Earths tremendious swallowing up the Tents and Families of rebellious Korah Dathan and Abiram and the destructive and ruinating Antiochian Earth-quakes The Universal Deluge in Noah's time by Water The great Mortality and destruction of the Israelites in the Wilderness and our late dreadful Pestilences in London proceeding from the corruption of the Aire and the fearful and unparallel'd Visitation of Sodom and Gomorrah by Elementary Fire Of which four Fundamental Simples and sole Ingredients of our lower Creation None is so terrible so tormenting so swift and so indomitable as the Element of Fire and therefore not only the unsupportable pains of Hell are held forth to us in Scripture by Fire But flaming Fire is already irrevocably ordained by the Lord as the blessed Apostle Peter witnesseth to bring up the rear and to be the last and the most desolating Judgment upon this wicked World The sad yet lively figures of this last Fiery Destruction are the Burnings of Houses Towns and Cities particularly that of the great famous and ancient City of London in the Year 1666. Against which City those Ignation Fires marcht with such a large and fearful front that they destroyed and laid in Ashes in three Days the glory labours and expences of two thousand seven hundred of Years O gracious God! hath Fire been so raging unmerciful and desolating to many thousands of Houses and Palaces in London and England hath it now and heretofore impoverisht and undone many thousands of Persons and good Christians what cause have I a sinner above others to record and acknowledge thy great and continued mercies for no less than Eleven times quenching the Fires begun in Four of my Houses lately in my possession and for preserving our Goods from any considerable Damage O let thy Goodness and Mercy that was virtually Water to allay and put out these judicial and terrene Fires kindled by my sin as well as though the malice of Enemies and carelesness of Servants be as Oyle to cause the Flames of my Love and thankfulness so to mount aloft that they may be heard and seen afar off even of all that serve and trust in thee in these three Nations That they in the consideration of these and of others thy marvellous loving kindness to me declared in this my poor work may praise thee with me also Yea let this holy and Heavenly Fire consume and burn up whatsoever is not thy goods and furniture in me and destroy every Image of Jealousie any Lust that Sathan hath set up in thy Temple my Body or upon thy Altar my heart so shall my whole Man like thy House consecrated by Solomon be replenisht with thy brightness and glory yea being thus filled with the Holy Ghost my Life and Soul shall shine like holy Stephens Face thy Proto-Martyr and Confessor here and both Soul and Body hereafter to Eternity shall be made like unto my Saviour's glorious Body For we know that when Christ who is our life shall appear we shall also appear with him in Glory Amen The EXTINGVISHER Ejaculation or Hymn upon the former Subject HOw blest and Heaven-like was Man's State in Paradice When nakedness with goodness cloth'd was of a greater price By far than Cloth of Gold imbost with Diamonds Rubies great orient Pearles and other precious Stones There was no need nor pompous use of Houses fair To live lodge Banquet in or fence from Wind cold Aire Or Summers heat Grass ever green imbrodered With various colour'd Flowers was his sweet Bed The Earth his Table was spread with variety Of gustful Plants and Herbs yea every fruitful Tree As Servitors present his Smell Eye Hands and Tast With all kinds of the varest Fruits and delicates Above the rest was that Nature-preserving Tree Of Life giv'n him to feed on to Eternity By Day his large previllion was the Azure Skie Glorious like Heaven through the Sun 's light his Canopie Also by Night it was though chang'd and altred clean As being spangled o're with Stars like a new Scene O wretched Man who by thy own rebelliousness Hast forfeited this Patent of true blessedness And art most justly out-law'd and by sin cast out Of this thy first condition And be-set about With miseries hence is it that each Element Of which thou art compounded is revengeful bent Against thee that the glorious Sun whose Heavenly Fire Was made to warm and cherish thee is through God's Ire By its refracted Beams thy great Tormentor Hence The Aire is full of Thunders Tempest and with cold condenst Powers forth the down-Snow and canded Hail with Rains Like Floods Witness the Indian Spouts and Hurricanes The Seas and Rivers now have leave to pass their bounds And make that Sea again or Lakes that was drie ground Hence is it that our Mother Earth out of whose Wombe So many kindes spring forth unnaturally becomes Their Tombe before their time And with a trembling Jaw Devours her Off-spring swallowes up in her vast Maw Whole Townes yea Towring Cities and the swelling Streames Of Rivers deep making proud Mountains humble Plains Hence is it that wild Beasts rebel 'gainst Man their Soveraign Lord Nimrods oppress and Brothers fall by Brothers Sword These fearful fruits of Sin and of first Adam's Fall Was the ground Plot Impulsive cause Original Of Houses Towns and Cities Then necessity Was Man's Surveyor But now Pride and Luxury Which changed hath our Fathers Caves Tents Cottages To Castles Towers like Babel stately Pallaces And costly Buildings Four such Lord for my rich lot Thou gavest me once built furnisht to my hand what not Nay more that love and mercy might thy bounty match Eleven times thy good providence kept only watch And blest the meanes to quench those Flames that had begun To Ceize House Goods upon sins Execution Yea once the side pience of a Garret was on Fire put out Without the knowledg help of any Person wonderful throughout In all these Fires our Damages was very small When Neighbours lost fair Dwellings Houshold-Stuff and all Their precious things Wherefore let this thy goodness be By me O Lord Recorded to Posterity That what 's deficient here to celebrate thy praise May be supplyed by them in time and length of Days Dear God to give preserve from harm Four pleasant Seats Was thy great act of love and care made more compleat In giving gracing me poor sinful Hut of Clay To be thy Temple and thy dwelling Night and Day But wretched Man I am and mad that in return Have oft essai'd thine yea my one House to burn By Flames of Lusts
exchanges Earth for Heaven even for the City of the ever living God the new Jerusalem her Earthly associates for the beatifical vision and presence of the glorious Trinity those many Myriads of Angels the general Assembly of the Church of the first-born and the spirits of all just Men made perfect As for the overplus of her treasure uninherited she hath and doth take order by good works as by so many Bills of Exchange for the receipt of them above herein obeying the precept and counsel of our Saviour to lay up treasure in Heaven Lastly a Sceptre is not a Bar neither doth the massy weight of a Crown nor felicity of terrene things depress the high-soaring affections of this Christian Soul King David's choice is hers rather To be a Door-keeper in the House of God than to dwell in the Tents of wickedness Neither is there fear of loss where it is The Fathers will to give a Kingdome For The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord will give grace and glory no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly O Lord of Hosts blessed is the Man that trusteth in thee Man being a compositum a sensible Creature is naturally deeply apprehensive of pain therefore impetuously an abhorror of separation Hence a third fearfull and violent assault of Death so powerfull and prevalent that it hath brought the strongest of Gods Warriours upon their knees and to a marvailous astonishment Hence as some interpret the reiterated and strong cries the wonderfull and bloody sweat of our great General Christ Jesus But because his apprehension and suffering are mysterious unconceivable and extraordinary see the conflict and hear the complaint of a dying sick Man Holy therefore truly royal Hezechiah I shall go saith he to the Gates of the Grave I am deprived of the residue of my years I shall behold Man no more with the Inhabitants of the World God will cut me off with pining sickness from Day even to Night wilt thou make an end of me I reckoned till Morning that as a Lion so will he break all my Bones Like a Crane or Swallow so did I chatter I did mourn as a Dove I might further instance here the mournfull Lamentation of Job and David upon the like occasion But what need I when every one of us in our healths can witness that in our Meditation of our dissolution we have often felt strong sits of this dead Palsey I will therefore hast to the Allay or Antidote them O my Soul I confess I have undertaken a hard task to perswade against Natures prescription and sence For what more universal more common more necessary and therefore more natural than the marriage of Soul and Body What amity more ancient or more diffusive than this betwixt these two friends Yea what expresses the glory and regal Power of the one what gives an active beeing and lively existence to the other but this mutual communion and effectual union Neither wants there negative arguments to dishearten and weigh thee down my Soul in this thy Eagle-like flight as being the unwelcome concomitants fearfull consequents and direfull defects of this unwilling separation Such the darkning of the Sun Moon Light and Stars I mean the Eyes the obscuring of those that look out of the Windows viz. the receding of the Soul by reason of the debility of the optick Nerves as the holy Ghost elegantly expresses such the palsyness of our hands the keepers of our house of Clay the weakness and binding of the Legges the strong guard thereof the want of motion in the Teeth the mills and grinders of our food such the bringing low of the Daughters of Musick by deafness in the Eares and hollowness of voice such thy many and present fears equal if thou beest ancient unto thy gray haires white like the blossoming Almond-Tree The losing of the silver Cord viz. the evaporating of the natural and vital Spirits the drying up the marrow and the relaxing of the Nerves and sinews the ligaments of the Bones such the breaking of the golden Bowle Pitcher or Wheele at the Fountain or Cistern viz. the rending in two of the heart-string those last pangs disabling it to force the blood extracted from the Liver as being the Fountain into the Veins and to perform its circular motion But all these are but the associates and symptomes of Death the followers they are far more terrible and distractive such are the privation of life the Pallace of the Soul being now a dungeon of corruption the pale hue of the Face and Body the breathless Carcass now as it were mourning for her Spouses departure Such the strange deadness of the late sparkling Eyes yellowed now like unto a fallen Star To conclude the whole Microcosme of the Body deprived of her created light and of that Spirit that moved in her and informed her the Soul becomes nothing less than a motionless lump an obscure and deformed Chaos These considerations O my Soul at the first sight I confess render Death a terrible Goliah before whom most of the Armies of Israel turn their backs Yet do not thou fear for a stone or two chosen and taken out of those running and pure streams of Gods Word from that Rock hewen out without hands shall from the Sling of every faithfull David not only pierce his forehead but also swallow up terminate and intombe Death in death Is thy sick-Bed through the fury of this adversary as full of torture as the hot glowing Gridiron of holy Lawrence yet such a Metamorphosis will thy high-soaring Contemplations and the power of faith work in thee that the full sence and influx of Heavenly joyes and raptures shall make thee senseless of thy pains and sufferings Thy feavourish fits being but Eliah's Chariot thy cold sweats but thy passage through Jordan into the Heavenly Canaan Hast thou not seen a fierce flame in thy Chimny suddenly to damp and recoyle when the Sun shines full upon it Did any Conqueror feel or regard his wounds when about to ascend his tryumphal Chariot And can the weak blaze of Deaths consumption out-vie the shining of Gods face and not be swallowed up of glory Can Deaths wounds be felt in the neer apprehension nay fruition of Immortality Surely no. Thou mayest as being in nature mourn a day or two with Mary but when thy Christ approaches thus neer doubtless thou wilt forget thy grief and run not out of thy Doors but out of thy Body to meet him Swan-like singing with David As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Wherefore O my Soul or whosoever thou art that readest these Meditations amidst thy great pangs as the Apostle exhorts Look unto yea follow the example of Jesus the Author and finisher
of thy Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Where also we shall sit together with him and be then perfectly changed into the same Image from glory to glory Thus reckoning that the sufferings of this present life even Death it self are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Let us not faint for though our outward Man perish yet let our inward Man be renewed Day by Day being confident that our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding weight of Glory Looking as hath been shewed not at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal Dread not then O my Darling this Lion Is not he faithfull who hath promised that he will never leave thee nor forsake thee That he will be thy guide even unto Death Or dost thou doubt his Power to whom belongs the issues from Death and at whose voice all that are in the Graves shall come forth Behold a Tree of Life indeed the spiritual Manna which do but feed on by faith and thou shalt not dye For He that eateth this Bread shall live for ever Was it with blessed Paul to live Christ and to dye is gain and shall thy cowardise and recoyling insinuate and imply a loss No let such thoughts as Impes of Sin first dye yea be annihilated since every true Believer is assured of a glorious change and an ineffable reward Corruption putting on incorruption and mortality immortality we dying no more but being made equal to the Angels For as we have been planted together in the likeness of Christs death so shall we be also in the likeness of his Resurrection Did many Worthies under the thunder of the Law and in the twilight of the Gospel as the Apostle witnesses undergo the exquisitest tortures not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection And shall we in this open day and Evangelical Revelation when by faith like Stephen we behold our Lord Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God ready to receive us and having as he promised taken possession and prepared a place for us stand back like Saul And being neer our Coronation seek still to hide our selves under the rubbish of our Earthly Tabernacles No what was humility in him will be esteemed shamefull and distrustfull pusillanimity in us yea which is worse disobedience to the Almighties summons Let the wicked hang down their heads and cry to the Mountains and Rocks to cover them but let all of us that have obtained grace be faithfull be faithfull unto the death and he shall give us a Crown of Life lifting up our heads because the time of our redemption draws neer even that day of recompence when the Lord shall say well done good and faithfull Servant enter into thy Masters joy Not it into us because not enough capable but we into it that so we may be as it were swallowed up in that infinite Ocean of Glory What though the Soul and Body have been unseparable friends contemporaries in life and being associates in joy sympathisers in sorrow two in nature one in affection Do we not read of Jesse and his Darling David Of an Eliah and his beloved Elisha Of an Hanna and her long desired Samuel Of a Mordecai and his entirely affected Hester All which cheerfully consented to a disunion and separation that so the conjunction of hearts might appear inviolable which seeks not so much the presence as the happiness of each other And shall thy Soul O Earth be summoned not to play before a mortal King as David before Saul but to sing the Song of the Lamb even spiritual Hymns before the Throne of Glory Not to serve before the Arke as Samuel or to be the Paramour of an Assyrian Monarch as Esther but to be ravisht up with Eliah and Paul into Paradise To be the Eternal Spouse of Jesus Christ and to behold the splendour of God not vailed and in a type as under the Law but face to face as being changed into the same Image from glory to glory shall it I say be sent for by Gods Sergeant and thy Servant Death once unprofitable as Onesimus to Philemon but now most profitable to thee and all Saints and wilt thou delay and be unwilling to part intreating with the Levites Father-in-Law for one Day nay one Moneth or one Year longer exile from thy Heavenly home thy Crown of Glory O let such unwise and such unthrifty prorogations be far from thy thoughts farther from thy practise Rather let both Soul and Body unanimously sing the Song of Simeon and sigh out the vote of Paul crying out Oh how we desire to be dissolved That thy incompleat holiness O my Soul might be perfected and become compleat glory That thy faculties being not only unimprisoned but heightned may approve thee according to thy Saviours promise like yea equal unto the Angels in all spiritual excellencies and Heavenly Prerogatives Again how do I desire O sinfull corrupted and mortal lump of Clay thy reduction into thy first Atoms and matter that so sin which hath possest and accurst thee may dye and be intomb'd with thee as having no longer work or nourishment in thee That Heavens great Chymist the omnipotent Spirit of God may cherish encircle and hover over thee as once upon the Waters separating the pure from the impure and producing a body spotless perfect and immortal even like unto the glorious Body of thy Saviour That so being made a proportionable and capable Pallace for thy Soul thou mayest enjoy an eternal reunion with it and both an everlasting communion with God To conclude O Man Death is a necessary absolute and unchangable decree of God Therefore it is thy wisdome to make it voluntary For It is appointed unto Men once to dye saith the Apostle and then comes the Judgment Comes the judgment did I say at the mention of this word judgment my Soul recoyles again not daring to peep out of her earthly Cabbin For she knows that this general Assize is an undoubted truth an Article of her Creed annexed to that of the Ascention and Session of our Saviour at the right hand of his Father At which we left when we first entred upon the three Offices of our Lord. And therefore now it fitly and in order comes to be the practical object of our faith as being also the last act of our Saviours Kingly Office in the Kingdome of Grace This being his total victory and destruction of all his corporal and spiritual Enemies his Day of Tryumph reward and recompence to all
stiled passions shall in that life comparatively exceed but not subjectively the full and lasting gale in that Ocean filling the Sailes not sinking the bottome O my love which art now full of repentings and unconstant because unsatisfyed wishing with Alexander more Worlds to marry thy affections to which hadst thou beyond Arithmetical progression thou wouldst still prove a Harlot and they insufficient For though a Creature thou art fitted only for an infinite object not to comprehend it but to be comprehended of it Wherefore nothing finite can be adequal or proportionable to thy extension Hence even the Worlds darlings the wicked have this Monument of their lost happiness and primitive Creation remaining viz. they live and dye seeking and unsatisfyed But the Elect as they are restless in their search with the Spouse in the Canticles so at length they finde him whom their Soul loves But as yet He standeth behind our Wall he looketh forth at the Window shewing himself thorow the Lattess With him they enter into a mutual contract in Baptisme and receive continual pledges and love-tokens by his Spirit In this life by reason of seeming absence clowdings and intermissions our loves are violent yet pleasing passions But in the other that day of our Nuptials they shall be swallowed up in excelling fruitions Then shall we affect and enjoy in one the all of goodness and loveliness The love which is here different and divided according to the diversity of opinions and objects shall be in God one and concentred in him we both affecting and possessing the eminency of beauty the height of honours the Elixar of pleasures the perfection of wisdome So that the then glorified sences the Windows and ports of the affections though inconceivably enlarged shall then continually receive in even to overflowing spiritual and ravishing object of love and delight For In his presence is fulness of joy and at his right hand pleasures for evermore Lastly which ought most to ravish us neither this nor any other affection or faculty of the Soul shall be limitted or at their heighth of glory Not but that in the first entrance they shall have a present sufficiency and fulness for even in Heaven there shall be no Vacuum but as we have seen a Bladder filled with Wind afterward by a second influx far more extended yet at all times full And as our Saviour is said to increase more and more in knowledge yet from his conception full according to his organical reception so the glorified Saints like the Angels on Jacob's Ladder according to their several degrees shall mount and continually encrease and ascend to higher steps of Glory the influxe of all divine excellencies incessantly and at once both enlarging and filling all their faculties all their affections So then desire of more shall never torture us because ever full nor satiety cloy us because our joyes shall be ever new and encreasing The grounds of this Coelestial and Eternal growth of happiness excellency and glory arises both from Gods Word and Nature The Prophet telling us that those which are wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament Our Saviour yet higher The righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father Let Solomon expound both the Path of the Just is as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day They as the Sun mounting towards their Meridional heighth God to whom they shall be perpetually approaching neerer and more and more like in glory but never shall nor can reach or equalize he being and dwelling in infinite and inaccessable lights Farther our Saviour teaches us that in Heaven we shall be like the Angels Now the Angels have accidental joyes in the repentance of sinners Accidental knowledge by the Church of the mysteries of our Redemption and no doubt if their joyes and wisdome have an accidental encrease through the Creature then much more from God the Fountain This being I conceive one meanes as respecting them subordinate and co-operating with Gods high and eternal decree for their confirmation in Christ it being impossible for that essence to fall away that is continually intent upon and replenisht with new fruitions and manifestations of Gods glory This being a blessedness both to Angels and Men that the Wings of Cherubins and Seraphins though they are without labour and wearisomness and with delight ascending yet they can never out-soar the infinite heights of the divine Majesty and incomprehensible fulness If the affection of love O my Soul shall be perfect in Heaven as hath been declared and perfect love casts out fear as saith the Apostle what place is then left for the affection of fear in glory I answer our divine love both now and then shall exclude all servile and slavish fear but not our filial Espousal and Reverential fear which if found in our sinless Mediator who was heard in that he feared and a duty of the glorious Angels that with this reverential fear serve and praise him and exhort all others to do it then also of glorified Saints who if commanded to fear God for ever and as long as the Sun and Moon endureth shall doubtless thus fear him everlastingly and in Heaven as well as here upon Earth For as love without this fear would be presumptuous so fear without love would be painfull and discouraging But both together are to the sanctified Soul as Ballast to a Ship to keep it steady and doth grandize elevate and enlarge each affection from the awfull apprehensions and adoration of so super-excelling an object of infinite glory as is the Trinity in Unity Jehovah God blessed for ever Further if this saving grace and sanctified affection of holy fear is by Solomon commended to us as the beginning and end of divine wisdome in the Saints on Earth shall they be denuded of it and excluded from it in Heaven Is it held forth in Scripture as the summe and implication of all religious duties and worship and the condition or rather qualification of those holy ones that have right to temporal spiritual and eternal promises in the Word and shall this grace then cease when with other graces it is to be Crown'd with Glory Is this pure affection the Salt to preserve from corrupting not only in the Marriage-state amongst Men but in the conjugal and spiritual union betwixt Christ and his Spouse the Church and shall it not be as lasting as that Union which is everlasting I conclude it shall though with this difference according to our differing condition not a fear of offending because we shall be then in a sinless condition Not such a fear as was in the Spouse in the Canticles because of sin and infirmities nor of Gods hiding his face and with-drawing his presence for former things are past away all things are made new we are entred into life
and shall be ever with the Lord. But this glorified fear is the most bright reflection in and from us of Gods glorious Soveraignty according to that of the Prophet If I be a Master where is my fear a fruit and an effect of Gods ravishing and transporting excellency and therefore this heavenly affection being so necessary a requisite in our heavenly condition is so far from lessening our perfection in glory as that without it it cannot be perfectly glorious O my Soul shall thy affections of love and fear be thus glorious in thy Heavenly state Let them not have a lesser or lower object than the most high let not such High-Born Princesses be enamoured with their Slaves Vse the World as not abusing it and as though thou used it not Neither fear any but him that only can cast both Soul and Body into Hell-fire Let these two graces be as Jethro to Moses eye in the Wilderness of this World to admonish and to keep thee from losing thy way when thou art turning to the right or to the left And like the Lords Pillar of a Cloud by Day and of Fire by Night to direct thee according to his holy will in thy Journey towards thy Heavenly Canaan Converse with these two Royal Virgins continually So shalt thou have Communion and fellowship with the Father and the Son in the Spirit be partaker of the Divine nature and begin to enjoy Heaven here upon Earth Prepare and so enlarge these Divine Vessels by a pious use and continued Exercise that they may be the more capacious of Glory For according to the measures and proportions of graces in this life shall be their repletion in the life to come where of Apprehensors the Saints shall be made Comprehensors according to their several enlargements For as one Star differs from another in glory so shall it be at the Resurrection of the Just when we shall see God face to face and know him as we are known and be made like him in Glory O my God my Father are these two sanctified affections of love and fear the two Eyes the two Armes of the Soul with which the Saints behold imbrace and enjoy thee in all thy glorious excellencies Are they the two Centinels and Guards by which every true Christian discovers and repells all sinfull thoughts looks words and actions Doth that root of all saving Graces Faith work by love in the application of what the Father Son and Holy Ghost hath done for us Turning our Hearts of Stone into Hearts of Flesh and melting them into teares of Gospel-Repentance Doth love oile the wheeles of our universal obedience so that they run swiftly in the pathes of thy Commandements when thou thus enlargest the heart And is fillial fear the whip in the hand of zeal the holy Chariteer to drive and carry us manger all stops of Sin Sathan and the World to the end of our race Is this divine love to thee and thy Saints the summe and the fulfilling of thy Law The more excellent way The compleating continuing and the greatest grace as most like unto thee For God is love and who so dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Shall these twin-like graces of love and fear not leave the Soul when it leaves the Body and accompany both Soul and Body at the Resurrection to the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb and to the Marriage-Bed of Glory yea shall they be the measures and compleating of our Glory O holy Father who art the essential love my fear and my dread be thou pleased to sanctify inlarge and inflame these my affections that of sinfull passions in the old Adam they may be changed and Heavenized into active and holy graces in me thy new Creature Let them I beseech thee be effectual and usefull to all the aforementioned ends And since it is no sin but a duty to be ambitious of and to covet spiritual things let them be enlarged and heightned like Heaven even to the utmost of a created capacity that I may be as thou hast promised thy dwelling place upon Earth and thou mayest be my inheritance and my Heaven in Heaven Even so Amen Lord Jesus come quickly The sanctified affection of holy zeal in the glorified Saints deserves our next Meditation This to speak properly is not a simple grace but the highest and intense degree of every grace and holy action which if so famous and resplendent in the Saints upon Earth as in Moses in his exemplary Justice upon the false worshippers of the Golden Calf In Phineas his executing judgment upon that Idolatrous and adulterous payre Zimry and Cosby in David who declares that the zeal of Gods House had eaten him up In Elijah when he put to death four hundred of Baals Prophets in one Evening In Paul who preserved the glory of God in the Redemption of his Country-men the Jews before his own salvation and in that highest example of our dear Lord and Saviour in his purging of his Temple Then this Heavenly grace shall undoubtedly not only continue and have then a Beeing in each glorified Saint but shine forth and act in them much more gloriously Is that only infinite and pure Essence our Omnipotent God who is happiness blessedness and life it self so often declared in the Scripture to be zealous for his name and glory And shall not his Saints his Image be like him Is this grace exercised by glorious Angels as when one Angel destroyed all the first-born of Egypt in one Night Another destroyed a hundred fourscore and five thousand Assyrians at the command and in zeal for the glory of God Yea did an whole Host of Angels descend from Heaven and with a holy zeal Celebrate our Lords Nativity and Man-kindes Redemption in an holy Hymne And shall not the glorified Saints overflow and express upon all occasions to Gods glory the like zealous and inflam'd affections assuredly they shall For though Sin Sathan and the wicked World which by a kinde of spiritual Antiperistasis made their zeal here burn the hotter shall be cast out and banisht thence Yet the glorified Saints shall not want nor be without constant objects and continual occasions according to every ones measure to exercise this grace To instance only some successive ones Gods unparallel'd flaming Justice upon Gog and Magog and all wicked Men at our Saviours second coming with ten thousand of his Saints Christs Crowning and rewarding every Elect Member in righteousness according to their works together with all his glorious Administrations in that his holy righteous and personal Reign in the new Heaven and new Earth for a thousand years His powerfull raising of the wicked after the thousand years and curious Inquisition into and perfect discovery and bringing to Judgment of all their evil thoughts words and actions and his
they should not only brake Prison but carry her up in an holy extasie to these glorious Mansions O that this pious love and holy joy fixt to the Fiery Chariot of a true zeal moulding this Dust burning up this Chaff at least letting fall this fleshly Mantle would make me a second Elias in a speedy ascent and present fruition of my God But alass poor Soul how are thy Wings limed thy Feet lamed thy Chariot-wheels clog'd with Earth and Sins O by way of preparation since certainly Elias shall be parted from Elisha thy Soul from thy Body let the sharp beak of the Law pick and prune thy Wings the healing Oyl of the Gospel supple thy Feet and thy Heavenly Conversation of a Christian disburden thy motion that when the Whirlwind of Death shall make a separation thou mayest cheerfully and swiftly go up alive unto the Heavens The Body hath during these my last Meditations seemed to sleep in the dust But since the Body as hath been shewed shall have a glorious Resurrection at the last Day so it must be raised here also by my weak thoughts as the fit and next object of a Christians faith I believe then that at the shrill sound of the last Trumpet which is no other than the mighty and powerfull voice of our Arch-Angel Christ Jesus the innumerable Atoms of my Body shall incorporate and after the re-union of my Soul stand up a most glorious substance mortality putting on immortality and corruption incorruption This Worm-hill this mouldering Hutt of white and red Sands shall then inherit the name of an eternal mansion and become not as now a little Cage a loathsome Dungeon but the glorious Pallace of the Soul O surpassing glory of this re-animated Phaenix So excessively radiant that the Holy Spirit who is eloquence and truth it self pitches upon the most illustrious of visible Creatures the Sun the light to be the resemblance of this divine transfiguration The righteous shall shine like the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever The Jewish Temple seemes to be a resemblance of this Temple of God Man glorified in which the Body may be stiled the Sanctum the Soul through the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit the Sanctum Sanctorum Oh if that Earthly Temple transcended others and Heaven be Heaven because of the more special manifestation of Gods glorious presence there shall not each glorified Saint be a Heaven of Heavens It being a necessary and consequent Truth that the great God will more declare his excellency in his living members then in his inanimate works in his adopted Sons than in his inferiour Creatures and Mansions If an humble heart contrite for Sin be now Gods dwelling shall not a sanctified heart purified from Sin become then his Throne of Majesty Our Bodies which now Imprison and Eclipse the Soul's lustre shall then not only be coagile but like a Chrystaline Lanthorn transparent and coruscant not hiding but by a radiant concomitancy augmenting the others splendour For as in the Sun there is the containing and the contained the sphear and the light yet both conspire and meet in a heighth of brightness or as in sounds strings apart musical being struck together produce a harmony so though the Body and Soul are two distinct excellencies yet being united they shall mutually conveigh and reflect their beauty conducing to and effecting a joynt perfection of Glory Further whereas the Creator is now but in part magnified in Man because of the partial knowledge of our selves as concerning the admirable secrets and excellent curiosities of the humanity Then not only our understanding but our Eyes and other bodily sences shall coadjute to make each Saint a most exact Anatomist a most divine Phylosopher O let not then that better covetousness of secular knowledge make us bankrupts in spirituals Let not imprudent pursuits after the shadow make us over-run the substance Being confident of this that a true Christians life shall not prove then as it is now by the World accounted of a devourer of time folly and madness but a Tree of Life in the midst of Eternity Yea a Tree of Knowledge whose fruits shall be fully ripe in Heaven Perplex not thy self then vain Sophister in those scholasticals and endless labyrinths I mean those difficult and so much controverted Questions whether the Soul be ex traduce or immediately from God whether it be confined to a Throne or Tota in toto tota in qualibet parte Whether there be three distinct Souls in Man or only the rational How the Soul sees hears smells tasts touches by those sences Whether we see Intra mittendo or extra mittendo of the species Whether the course of the blood be circular or direct whether odours nourish or only refresh with many others of the like stamp Rather O wandering Disputant let thy chief study be to resolve these questions thus that in our Saviours sense thou art born of God that thou art wholly holy in every part both of Soul and Body that he the incomprehensible three in one is Soul of thy Soul and sees hears tasts smells and touches in thy chast looks devout attentions spiritual relishes faithfull imbracements and in the sweet savour of a pious conversation That thy holy love the blood of action and the life of practise is circular and endless having God to be its Centre that from him it may receive daily new Spirits and new fervour That thy Prayers which the learned call Gods perfume his incense do not only revive but by the powerfull attraction of saving grace feed thee to Eternal life Such thoughts as these O Man if practical shall make thee transcend the natural and become a divine Phylosopher These exercises which are the study of Angels and the liberal Arts of Heavens Academy end in the perfection of knowledge But to proceed O my Soul thou now groanest under a Body of Lead made up of corrupted flesh and stuft full with noisome humours either so fat as it sweats under its own burthen or so lean and weak that it needs wooden supports In its motion is so Worm-like that its contemptible if compared with the pace of most four-footed Creatures But in this thy melioration it shall become thy winged Chariot and be as swift as thy thoughts can imagine or thy wish desire even like lightning then which it shall be far more sprightfull passing in an instant from one end of the Heaven to the other thy whole body shall be then all feet not moving as now but incredibly swiftly guiding through those immeasurable spaces of the Empyrean Heavens These Locomotive Mussels if at all useful shall then only serve for the graver measures of Glory for our Bodies shall as the Apostle speaks be made like unto Christs glorious body not only
a Hell of unclean lusts But labour as much to be like Christ in holiness and righteousness as thou hopest and desirest to be like him in glory Let thy Members be spiritualized and heavenized and made Members of holiness unto righteousness And let thy conversation be in Heaven where thy habitation shall be For our life is hid in Christ with God and when he appeares we shall appear also with him in glory and be ever with the Lord. O omnipotent God and gracious Father in my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who in the beginning madest Man after thy own Image in holiness and in righteousness of body and soul as having from everlasting decreed that thy only begotten Son the Eternal Word should be made Flesh and become Man And therefore thou saidest let us make Man in our Image after our likeness for to thee all things past and future are as in their present being in thy great goodness pitty and with infinite compassions behold what a sad and miserable change Sathan and Sin have made in thy Image and Creature Thou hast made Man upright but they have sought out many inventions Yea every imagination of the thoughts of Mans heart are only evil continually Their hearts are deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked who can know them Their bodies are become so like Sathan that they may well be called Devils incarnate Their Heads imagine mischief continually their Eyes are altogether set upon vanity their Eares are soon set open to let in all verbal uncleanness their Smell is fum'd with pride their Pallates are fur'd with gluttony and excess and their touch is the pander of lust and lasciviousness their Mouths Tongues and Throats are open Sepulchres their right hands are full of bribes iniquity and oppression and their Feet walk in the way of sinners and are swift in running to mischief In summe the whole Body is a Cage of unclean lusts and the wicked Instruments of all ungodliness and unrighteousness O mercifull Creator this is our sinfull condition by nature But thou hast promised to change these vile bodies and to make them glorious bodies like the body of our Lord. O begin I beseech thee this change and new Creation upon my body here since they only that are sanctified and made new Creatures shall be glorified They only that are raised and have part in this first Resurrection from sin shall be raised and have part in the second Resurrection to Glory Let it appear that I am born again of Water and the Spirit and that Christ is already formed in me and let all those senses and Members which have been the Members of uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity be now the Members and Servants of righteousnes unto holiness so shall my glory begin here in holiness and righteousness and be compleated hereafter in the perfection of Glory Amen I proceed next to the second excellency of our Bodies at the Resurrection They shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever Yea our blessed Saviour far transcends these expressions of the Angel in Daniel and saith The righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father Yea far higher yet They shall partake of the Glory of God which is far above all created Glory he declaring that The glory God hath given him he had given them All which is comprehended in the fore-recited Texts He shall make our vile Bodies like unto his glorious Body And that when he shall appear we shall be like him To this great truth the Apostle Paul further beares witness saying Whom he justifies them he also glorifies That those that suffer with Christ shall also be glorified together with him And that our light affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory That when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with Him in Glory Of this excelling and blessed state of the People of God in the darker times of the Church under the Law the Psalmist gives testimony saying Let the Saints be joyfull in Glory And of himself in particular Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and after receive me into Glory I shall conclude the proofs of this most comfortable encouraging and ravishing Doctrine with the evidence of blessed Peter When the chief Shepward shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fades not away The God of all grace hath called us into his Eternal Glory by Jesus Christ. Our blessed Saviour in his great love to us and for our encouragement in his service hath not only from his own Mouth and by his Spirit in the Mouths of his Ministers as hath been shewed verified this precious truth and illustrated it by sensible similitudes such as the Sun Stars and Firmament but became himself even in his state of humiliation a Sign Figure and example of this glorious shining condition and change of the Bodies of his Saints at the Resurrection in that his wonderfull and miraculous transfiguration in the presence of Peter James and John upon the Mount when his Face did shine as the Sun and his Rayment was white as the Light A sight so ravishing and delightfull that it made Peter although but a Spectator to forget Wife and Family and to look upon this World as a Dunghill saying unto our Lord Jesus Lord it is good for us to be here if thou wilt let us make here three Tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias Consider then was this glorious change in our Saviour so superlatively delightfull to Peter to behold What shall it be to us in the fruition Certainly true is that Word of the Lord Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Our Souls are now immund or rather imprisoned with in a fleshly Wall or Jaile of whited Earth and like a poor Prisoner hath only the liberty to peep and look out at the Cinque-ports or windows of the sences Neither is it or can it now be seen or truly known by our selves or others But then that Image of God that Angel-like Spirit that most rich and inestimable Jewel purchased with the infinite precious blood of the Son of God and valued by him to be more worth than the whole World shall dwell and be housed in the body glorified as in a shining pure and transparent Chrystal Cabinet And shall be seen and known by Saints our selves and Angels as to its forme to its glorious operations and perfect beauty The resplendent body like a Concave Mathematical Glass not deminishing but magnifying and adding to its excellent glory and brightness And moves according to its
they may have a like effect upon you as to your spiritual food and edification as the â—irst and second concoction hath in the stomack as to a good and perfect digestion and turning the Meat into a fit Chile to be sanâ—â—fied and made good blood and spirits besides an after chewâ—ng of the Cud by remeditation and practice in a Gospel and spiritual signification will much difference and distinguish you that 〈◊〉 clean Christians from those that are unclean who for want of the heat of Divine affections devour but not digest holy things To include I desire my great suffering condition abounding with sorrows hopes and fears and all kinds of Tentations discomforts and distractions my above Twenty removes to several Residences and more than seven years Exile and separation from my â—ooks dearest Friends and Relations my ignorance infirmities and sinfulness as being the greatest of sinners the least of Saints 〈◊〉 excuse and apologize for me to any of my Brethren of the â—hurches of Christ that shall with you read these Contemplations â—â— to any defects or errors therein as being one of the lowest â—â—rms in the School of Christ and therefore ready in all humility to submit any thing herein contained to the Judgement of the Saints that are learned or judicious and to give or receive light or satisfaction to or from any that differ from me in Opinion Which I cannot but expect because of the diversity and rarity of a great part of this subject which may be a reason that plowing with no man's Heifer in some things I may walk alone yet left not in the dark and without as seems to me a clear light of holy Scripture hoping that this Essay of mine as to those great future mysteries and periods of the Churches state may give some new light through the free condescention of God's spirit to me his poor Exile in Patâ—os as to the understanding of many Scripture Prophesies in my Judgment much mistaken by former Expositors both ancient and modern and that though my weak light be but as a rush Candle yet it may be an occasion of the inflaming and lighting up of great and shining Tapers both in this generation and in the Age to come Most loving gracious and faithful Consort and hopeful Children whom I greatly long after in the bowels of Jesus Christ And for whom in the words of the Apostle Paul I frequently pray that your love may aboâ—nd yet more and more in knowledge and in all Judgment that ye may approve things that are excellent that ye may be sincere and without offence until the day of Christ Being filled with the Fruits of Righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.8 9 10 11. For this cause I bow my Knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner Man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and heigth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God Ephes. 3.14 15 16 17 18 19. Having the Eyes of your understanding enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us wards who believe according to the working of his mighty Power Ephes. 1.18 19. That you all with open Face beholding as in a Glass the glory of the Lord may be changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 Finally my dear Brethren Sisters and Fellow members in Christ for all other Relation and Denomination shall shortly be laid aside Farewell be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace And the God of peace and love shall be with you 2 Cor. 13.11 Amen Yours in all sincere and tender affection as doubly Obliged by Nature and by Grace W. W. This 29th of June 1666. Sweetnese of Forme Feature Heere 's Combinde Yet much below the Beautie of her minde The True Effigies of the Lady Katherine Harington Wife to Sir James Harington and Baronet AN EPISTLE TO THE ELECT LADY And her Children My true Yoke-fellow and Dearly beloved Children Whom I love in the Truth HEar ye the Instruction of a Father and attend to know understanding forget it not neither decline from the words of my Mouth First seek the Kingdome of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Wisdome is the principal thing the one thing needful and with all your gettings get understanding forsake her not and she shall preserve you Love her and she shall keep you Exalt her and she shall promote you she shall bring you to honour when you do embrace her she shall give to your Head an Ornament of grace a Crown of Glory shall she deliver unto you and the Years of your Life shall be many When you go your steps shall not be straitned and when you run you shall not stumble Take fast hold of Instruction let her not go keep her for she is your life Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ who is the power of God and the wisdome of God God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last Days spoken unto us by his Son who he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Therefore ye ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that ye have heard lest at any time ye should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation If he that despised Moses Law dyed without mercy under two or three witnesses See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not ye escape if ye turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Hear ye therefore the word which the Lord Jesus speaketh unto you who spake by the Prophets and is the Lord God of the Holy Prophets since all Scripture is given by Inspiration of God even from him who is the Eternal Word of God and is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works Counsel is mine
zealous flaming Grace of holy anger add light to light and glory to the glory of a Saint O my Soul is holy anger a saving and gracious affection a part of the glorious Image of God in a Saint Do the holy and blessed Angels as the Scriptures witness in their zeal to Gods glory and hatred of Sin express it in their constant oppositions and inflictions of Gods Judgments upon wicked Men and Devils Yea is it an Apostolical Precept and Duty to be angry and sin not Shall this grace have even in Heaven continual objects and occasions to exercise it self to Gods glory and thy own O write after this Copy and endeavour that this grace may not be seldome and casually but habitually in thee here upon Earth Let it be one of the Mortifiers and Crucifiers of thy lusts as they were the Murderers of thy Saviour Let it dash out the brains of all these Babell Beasts against the Stones of holy reproofs even the accursed issue of thy sinfull thought words and actions Let this God-like passion resist the Devil in all his subtle and powerfull temptations and he shall undoubtedly flye from thee Yea let this grace imitate and second the holy Spirit in reproving and convincing the ungodly World of Sin So shalt thou be preserved from the Commission of all evil triumph over all thy worldly and spiritual Enemies and be prepared by thy more full extent and acting of this grace here to be of an higher form in the blessed exercise thereof in Glory O All-mighty Creator who hast made my heart the seat of my affections and plac'd it in the Centre of my Body that it might affect and influence every part alike Let it not I humbly beseech thee be any longer like the middle Region of the Aire the coldest part of this Micro-cosme and void of this Heavenly heat of holy anger But let this sanctified affection flash forth like thunder and lightning and burn up and destroy every crude and evil thought word and action as soon as they appear and purge this Element of my Heart and Soul from all the infectious noxious and sinfull vapours of vain and sinfull thoughts that arise from this Earth this Body of Death and Sin that incompasses me about that they may never come to the maturity of wicked actions or if they do they may be as it were Thunder strucken and torne up by the Roots and not able to stand before this flaming grace so shall I be like thee who art as a flaming Fire consuming all Iniquity That so being renewed and fashioned according to thy Image in this World by such holy affections I may be assured of theirs and my greater perfection in the World to come when I shall be made like thee iâ— thy Image of Glory Amen As the light of the Sun to the World so is the affection of joy to the Soul when it arises there is day when it sets an uncomfortable night Man in his innocency enjoyed a polar day a continued presence thereof but having lost God its cause and object the effect ceased not that the Soul is disrob'd of the affection but of the true use of it hence the distinction of a spiritual and carnal joy The first is the true only found and beginning afresh to bud in the renewed Saints and favourites of God for a stranger shall not intermeddle with their joy but the other is momentary and illegitimate as being begotten in the Soul by false objects and is as it were the Moon-light of the wicked The object then of true joy is God and that in this consideration as he is inclusively and exclusively the compleat happiness of the Creature Whereby it comes to pass that the godly and reprobate may both rejoyce in the same things as Wifes Children Honours Estates c. And yet the joy of the one be holy and spiritual of the other carnal and wicked Leaving then the sensual mirth which is deceivable sinfull and temporary my thoughts pitch upon the Solace of the Elect which the Scripture stiles the joy of the Holy Ghost unspeakable and glorious the first-fruits and earnest of their future happiness By these glimpse O ye Saints of God's may yee judge of that full light you shall there enjoy Which if unspeakable here shall surely be there unconceivable Alas what can I then think and meditate of it chiefly negatively thus that there shall be no cloudings nor intermissions there no measure of our joy for we shall continually behold God and in him see all the grounds of rejoycing If here excesses have proved mortal their exceedings shall make us more immortal this being an increasing and reviving not a surfeiting fulness The capacity of the affection being gradually and continually augmented according to the plentifull infusion our joyes multiplying there even to Eternity The growth of our graces here although God be seen of us through the cleft of the Rock as to Moses teaching discovering and evincing a continued and far greater augmentation in glory hereafter O blessed and happy estate which is not diminished by Eternity but is as unlimitable as lasting O happy place wherein all joyes meet their objects in one Centre There shall we possess and enjoy not guttatim but according to the fulness of each Vessel God our gracious Father Christ our mercifull Saviour the Holy Spirit our everlasting Comforter the glorious Angels and Arch-Angels our fellow-Servants the Holy Patriarchs and Prophets our Tryumphant Leaders the pious Apostles and valiant Martyrs our victorious Champions together with the many millions successively of religious Professors There shall we meet and rejoyce in the like felicity of all our vertuous Parents Brothers Sisters Wifes Children Kindred and Friends There shall we inherit unvaluable and incorruptible riches Be install'd in Thrones of unchangeable and incorruptible honours and be filled with all unspeakable and Soul-ravishing delights To conclude whatsoever things either in conception or possibility can affect or rejoice the glorified Soul are there not interchangeably but contemporarily and continuedly obvious and present And on the contrary all things whatsoever that may lessen or offend in the least degree this divine extasie have an impossibility of subsistence in this Eternal Paradise And that not only in regard of the presence but of the decree of God himself Therefore needs must this joy be ineffably compleat to which all things concur for its perfection O Divine condition which shall thus sweetly impe and restore these mouldring and broken Wings of my Soul O blissfull Paradise and Chrystaline Sea upon which these now maimed Feet of my affections shall walk or rather evenly slide free from all rubs thorns and sinfull interruptions O how melodious will the harmony of these Strings be when mounted to the highest Key not to Ela but to Eli Methinks the very Contemplation of this life should so ravish my Soul and actuate these Wings these Feet that