soule beaten with the flood of sinnes findes no refuge in this world no comfort no aide be thou only my retiring place and my peacefull sanctuary the Dove makes her nest in the holes of the rock and in the cave of the flint wall my soule shall rest in the holes of thy wounds and shall therein perpetually delight her selfe no creature so well pleased with gemitus as the Turtle shee mourns both night and day Oh Christ I will send forth no other voice than a mourning and lamenting voice that I have not my portion hereafter with the Ravens but that thou O Christ mayst say to me behold my love thou art faire thy eyes are Doves eyes arise my love my faire one and come away arise make haste my love my Dove my faire one and come away O Christ when shall I come CONTEMP c. 10. Of Jacobs Ladder STir up now thy selfe O my soule and raise up thy whole understanding and consider as much as thou art able how great and what that is that is set before thee goe into Bethel enter into the house of God wherein the Lord inhabits which is the Gate of Heaven Where canst thou take better rest than where thy God doth rest If the heart of man bee not fixed in that eternall place it can never be firme but more wavering than motion it selfe passing from one thing to another seeking rest where there is none to be found for if his captive affections be taken up in these transitory and vaine things he can finde no true rest because the soule is of so great a value that nothing but the chiefe good can content it enter therefore O my soule into Bethel goe into the house of thy God dwell in the high place accompany thy God Ascend O my soule ascend the Ladder is set by which thou maiest climbe to the most High What is that Ladder O my God which thy holy Israel did see in his dreame which stood upon the earth and reached heaven with his top by which also the Angels of heaven did ascend and descend is it not thy righteous Sonne who is the Way the Truth and the Life and by whom only we have accesse to thee He stood upon the earth because hee assumed our humane nature into the unity of his Person and the branch of Iesse sprang from the earthly Virgin Thou my God willing of old to heale man the King of all thy creatures of his sinne didst make as it were thy blessed Sonne in a sort to goe back from the excellency of the Divinity and by extreme humility having passed over nine degrees those nine orders of Angels to descend by the incarnation unto the tenth degree even the humane nature He was borne unto us he lived amongst us he also ruleth amidst us he is with us nor doth he ever forsake those whom he once determined to love O blessed Ladder fixe thy selfe also upon my heart and cause my soule to mount up and remaine with thee Thou didst descend for my sake let me ascend to thee as thou hast conformed thy selfe to my infirmity so make me partake of that rest and pleasure which no care can either interrupt or lessen The top of this Ladder did touch the heaven but thou the Messiah dost not only touch heaven and art from thence to come unto us and hast from all eternity taken thy pastime therein but hast also framed it thou who hast neither beginning nor end of dayes for yesterday to day and for ever art thou the first and the last the great the true and blessed God who wast in the beginning and wast glorified with the Father before the foundation of the world was layd But the Ladder was but one that did reach from earth to heaven so thou O most sweete Jesus art Lord of heaven and a man of the earth yet but one Person but one Man one God and one Mediatour between a displeased God and a wretched man by the union of the Divine and humane nature By this Ladder Angels ascend and descend because Angels desire to look into the mystery of so holy and admirable an union who notwithstanding doe alwayes see and heare the holy Spirit instructing them There doe also other Angels ascend and descend even the Teachers and all beleevers who ought to preach nothing else but Christ because there is no admittance to life by any other nor is there any open familiar and daily passage to the Father but this Imitate O my deere soule the pure chaste and holy Angels in purity in chastity in sanctity except thou wilt lie groveling on the earth and laden with the durt of thy sinnes bee thrust into hell O Lord I cannot lift up my selfe bee thou my guardian where ever I goe and bring me out of banishment into thy promised Land nor neglect or forsake mee till I shall returne into my Countrey In the meane time let mee be like Iacob a supplanter and by faith let mee trample upon sinne let me prevaile and obtaine the blessing let mee rest upon the living Corner Stone and I shall not bee moved or confounded let me be also a spirituall Stone built upon that Corner Stone that I may become an Habitation and Temple of Divinity Ah Jesu my Redemption my Love and Desire bee present with mee I invoke thee I cry unto thee with a strong voice with my whole heart which voice none but thou canst heare I invite thee into my soule enter into it and fit it for thy selfe that thou mayest possesse it without spot or wrinkle for a pure habitation is suteable for a most pure Lord sanctifie mee therefore thy vessell which thou hast made empty out the malice and fill it with grace and keepe it still full that I may bee now and ever a Temple fitting for thee to dwell in Most Sweet most Benigne most Loving most Deere most Mighty most Desired most Pretious most Lovely most Beautifull Thou that art sweeter than Honie whiter than Milke or Snow pleasanter than Nectar more pretious than Gemmes or Gold and deerer unto mee than all the riches and honours of the World CONTEMP c. 11. Of the most tender care of God over his people to be collected from his care for his people Israel in the wildernesse MY soule doth often languish and my heart is often full of great cares when I thinke what I may bee namely an example of weakenesse the ruine of Time the scorn of Fortune the image of Mutability the beame of Envie and Calamity and the rest nothing but Flegme and Choler Oh who sees not how many things may be every where busie upon the circumference of the earth Oh with how many teares and sighes they fill the earth all which doe as it were by a certaine fate accompany mans life he deplores the sicknesses which possesse this his body he deplores the uncertaine condition of his health and the ambiguity of his life For what Age or Time is
I see better Contemplations Sighs Groanes of A Christian I follow worse London printed for William Lee and are to be sold at the Turks head in fleete streete 1640. CONTEMPLATIONS SIGHES and GROANES of a Christian Written in Latine By IOHN MICHAEL DILHERRUS And Englished by WILLIAM STYLE of the Inner Temple Esquire LONDON Printed by Richard Bishop for WILLIAM LEE and are to be sold at the Great Turks Head next to the Mitre Taverne in Fleet-street 1640. The Authors Dedication TO THEE O IESVS CHRIST Son of the living God and borne of the Virgin Mary Lord of the living and of the dead Doe I with Teares and Groanes Give Dedicate and Consecrate These my CONTEMPLATIONS and SIGHES And doe begge and beseech thee that thou wilt make them unto mee A helpe in my life A comfort at my death My protection in Iudgement Thy adorer redeemed by thy blood J.M.D. The Translator to the Reader BOokes if they bee good need no protection if bad in this our age and state they can have none bee not the Surveyors of the Presse a thing not to be presumed either corrupt or negligent Now therefore to see a booke in print with an Imprimatur in the front is a sufficient warrant for all to buy and a sure rule for thee to reade without either offence to thy selfe or displeasure of any other Besides this is no new Booke though a new Translation and therefore I hope as it hath been publikely vendible for many yeares without restraint and good applause in the Latine tongue so it may now find as free a passage and as faire an acceptance in the English and shall not need a Protector to keepe it off from a publique censure or warrant it from the fire And this is all I now wish either for my Author or my selfe Yet I have a Patron too even He that commands not only the hands but even the tongues and hearts of men If he be pleased with these my weak endevours for whose honour I chiefly undertooke them I have my Guerdon even all I expect or desire if not I am sure I shall vainly implore any other patronage how potent soever as no way sufficient to protect either me or my Translation from his All-seeing eye and All-doing hand of him therefore doe I beg pardon of my errors committed and to his service doe I in all humilitie dedicate my selfe and this Manuall and doe loveingly commend the use thereof to thee my courteous Reader From my chamber in the Inner Temple August 20. 1639. THE AVTHOVR to the Reader THE time is already come which our Saviour foretold should be before the Fabrick of this world should be dissolved take heed saith he you bee not deceived for many shall come in my name and shall say I am Christ and that time draweth nigh but go not after them And when you shall heare of wars and tumults be not affraid for these things must first be but the end is not yet for Nation shall rise against Nation and Kingdome against Kingdome and there shall be great earthquaks in divers places and famines and deaths and there shall be terrors and oppositions and great signes shal be seen from heaven and there shall be great tempests but before all these things come to passe they shall violently lay hands upon you they shall persecute you and deliver you up to their Synagogues into prisons and shal set you before Kings and Governors for my Name sake your own parents brethren kindred and friends shall betray you and they shall put some of you to death and you shall bee hated of everybody He that makes a doubt of the fulfilling of this Prophesie let him cast his eyes upon the actions of the former age and behold the tragedy which is even acted in the sight of all men which dyes in purple both the body and estates of all men and yet its Catastrophe doth not yet a peare to us How many imaginary Christs forged in hell hath the old Serpent put upon us he hath suffered almost no age to passe wherein he hath not hammered out new Authors and Princes of Salvation and hath prepared new ways for impious devotion so that we are even reserved to that time than which none was ever more fierce for Religion nor more barren in Piety If any more sincere and more unspotted than the rest be given us from heaven that may shew us the path to those heavenly mansions and that faith which is the only ladder to life eternall and commands to bee clothed with works bids those other personating sectaries of Christianitie to carry more devotion in their hearts than in their countenances and to be fiercer in doing than saying he shall scarce get from them without hissing and a clownish jeere I dare say that these very things doe happen even within the Orchyard of the Church How many witnesses of the Gospels truth are delivered by our adversaries to make themselves pastime to be destroyed by the cruell sword to be consumed by the devouring flames and to be pined within a dark prison In our age have wee seene Nation to rise up against Nation and their great burden pressing the earth more than ever wee reade of in our bookes we find by daily experience that fathers grow mad and cruell against their own sonnes mothers against their daughters and children against their parents and that either for Christs or Mammons sake Though we see not innumerable Cities overwhelmed by earthquaks yet we know it to bee true in other parts of the World We see armies of fires in the Firmament representing unto us and besmeared with the humane blood which is after to be shed netther is the breaking in of seas and floods any new thing and more I need not say for as Gregory the Great out of whom wee have taken something of that we have formerly declared doth write when the swelling waves hang over us and doe threaten death which they bring with them wee call to mind no carnall pleasures yea we cast over boord those very things for which we have made a long voyage and all things compared with our life are set at nought So we also when we perceive the waves of Gods wrath to swell high we laye aside the burthen of our wordly possessions we remove our vaine desires and cast from us the weight of all our worldly cares being earnestly and only sollicitous for our hoped for eternal life So shall it bee that thus lightned the ship of our devotion may floate which laden must sink for the cares which depresse us in this life do draw our soules into the deep which is borne so much the higher amidst the billows of temptation as wee are carefull to rid it from the thoughts of this world but there is another thing which wee should duly consider in these our tempestuous times when a storme doth first arise the waves are then but small but presently after they swell to
what manner to end the strings of my tongue are ready to move something concerning thee but can find neither Prologue nor Epilogue neither exordium nor conclusion of thee O my God guide mee and instruct mee cherish and help mee If I behold thee what is it that in the first second third and last place doth offer it selfe unto me it is love I observe it is love that I see and feele all the objects of my eyes are love the fishes in the Sea are sparkes each pile of grasse in the feild is a spark the trees in the orchards are sparks the leaves upon those trees are sparks the often rising and setting Sun is a spark and his beames enlightning all the world are sparks the Moon 's a spark and her hornes are sparks the glittering Sarrs and all the host of Heaven are sparks of it If all the members which thou hast bestowed upon my body were tongues if I had the understanding of an Angell yet could I not comprehend or set forth the footsteps of thy love O violent love burning love vehement love love that cannot be kept within thee When I was nothing thou wouldest make me something and thou didest not create mee after the likenesse of the Sun or Moon nor yet of the Angells but after thine own likenesse that I might serve thee in this life and after this life changed not by death but by an easie passage that I might reigne with thee and prayse thee for evermore Thou didst place mee in Paradise the garden of pleasure not to warre with beasts or to terrifie me with the Lyons roaring or the grumbling of Beares but that all the beasts should be subject to me and stand in awe at my beck and faune upon me in an humble observance I would O God find out thy works but cannot Moyses writ something but he did but write and straight went hence unto thee nor have J him now here present for if he were I would hold him and beseech him and beg of him for thy sake that hee would freely lay open to mee the wonderfull things of the Creation wherein the fountaine of thy love did flow and bubble up most plentifully and I would fasten my bodily eares to the words that should break from his mouth I would also admit them within the harbour of my breast and hee should make me sensible and even touch my very soule but hee is gone who did but shaddow forth unto me thy wonders and there is not one left that can unfold the whole and surely thou wouldest have mee understand thy works but in part only whilst I am absent from thee with thee I shall be most fully instructed Neither yet doe I O most Mighty enough understand that part which thou hast granted and permitted mee that I may understand spare therefore thou Mercy it selfe thy servant the work of thy hands thy hands have moulded mee thy spirit gave mee a soule and added life to my life it gave mee what I can neither value nor number and such is God and such are Gods gifts alas give mee this also that I may obtaine this neere tye of thy love that as thou art my Creatour thou wilt bee also my father and that thou wilt not refuse or reject or disinherit of thy love a sonne unworthy so great a father CONTEMP c. 2 Of the Originall Nobility of Man and his falling away from it I was in honour O lord and heavenly King even so great that I cannot now set it forth but when I was in honour I understood not what that honour was In what an honoured place did I inhabit in a place of delight My life found neither trouble nor want I was compassed with fragrant apples I was propped up with honours crowned with glory and honour and placed above the works made of clay But I was the more excellent in regard of the badge of thy divine image and my lot and company was the society of Angels and the whole Army of the Host of Heaven but I did change that glory into the similitude of a calfe that eateth hay How many virtues was I cloathed with What did I want whom mercy protected truth instructed justice did governe and peace did cherish But alas what shall I say O my God thou bestowedst that property of reason upon me whereby I might excell all living creatures and didst so sublime it by a peculiar gift that I wanted but little of attaining to those thy most pure Ministers I knew this but did not acknowledge it nor did I weigh for what end thou gavestime this wisdome I call not that a good ship that is painted with gaudy colours nor which hath a guilded or silvered head nor whose hull is inlayed with ivory nor which is fraught with Kingly wares and treasures but that is strong and firme and hath thick ribs to shut out the waters and tough to endure the assaulting Seas that is pliant to her rudder can make good way and fetch all winds I call that a good sword not that hath an embroydered belt or whose scabard is set with pretious stones but that that hath both a keene edge to cut and a point that can pierce any armour Men desire a straight rule and not a faire one wee commend a thing so farre only as it is usefull for that end for which it was made So I who did then know these things better than now ought to have acknowledged that I received all good from thee if I would have ordered my selfe according to the rule of thy heavenly government the obedience only which thou requiredst and which without thy command was due unto thee had made mee blessed and perfect if I would and had not obeyed the detestable suggestions of the old Serpent From my originall I was good but that goodnesse came only from thee none of it was from mee yet thou wouldest have some goodnesse come from mee to the end that thou mightest see I did acknowledge that thy goodnesse but I obeyed that traytour Satan thy enemy more willingly and more readily than thee when I might with more ease have contemned his slights than I can now those foresaid poysons which are mixed in my draughts and that even by my friends I am undone I am undone I have neglected my perfection O sad and mournfull change O man the inhabitant of Paradise the lord of the earth Citizen of Heaven one of the Lord of Saboths family and fellow heire of Heavenly vertues from whence by a sudden change art thou cast headlong by reason of infirmity hee lyes in a stable for his likenesse to beasts hee even needeth hay for his untamed fiercenesse hee is tyed to a manger I am undone I am undone and nothing can repaire mee but thou O most Mercifull CONTEMP c. 3. Of Mans departing from God of the subtilties of Satan the omnipresence and Clemency of God THou art wonderfull O God and very much to bee praised thy
power is great and there is no summing up of thy greatnesse and goodnesse beneficence and clemency Though but a man I will confesse thee though I am but one piece of thy Creation and but a man that carries his mortality about him and that beares within him a testimony of his sinnes though such a man such a portion of thy Creation yet will I praise thee If I were without thee I should not be whatsoever I am I should become nothing Thou wast in mee to make me have a being and to be with thee but I departed from thee although I am thus in thee and with thee But how could I depart or be absent from thee how could I fly from thy face if I ascended into Heaven thou wast there for thence didst thou cast downe headlong the spirit of pride and authour of disobedience if I should make my bed in hell thou wouldest be there also for thou hast the keyes thereof and setst open the gates thereof for them that trust not in thee if I should plunge my selfe in the depth of the Sea thou wouldest there find mee for thou didst cast disobedient peevish Jonah into the maw of the whale thou madest him there a prisoner 3 nights and 3 dayes and then didest draw him thence neither torne hurt or wounded if also I should take the wings of the morning and make my habitation beyond the farthest Seas even there would thy hand lead mee and thy right hand take hold upon mee if I should say yet shall the darknesse hide me why even night shall be turned into day unto me darknesse it selfe cannot hide from thee the night to thee shines like the day darknesse is light and light as darknesse not houses nor vailes nor walls nor enclosures no caves that are under ground or dens that are full of darknesse can shut out thy presence thou art more nearely present with us than we are to our selves Thou searchest through our life our actions and all our thoughts Can any lurking place hide any from thy presence Doest not thou fill heaven and earth and art a God at hand and also afarr off Thou art all eye for thou seest all things all eare because thou hearest all things all hand for thou framest all things all foot for thou art every where present thou art neare me thou art with me thou art in mee thou sittest within mee thou art an observer of all my good and evill and art my protector yet my God I went from thee I departed and forsook thee I blush when I speak this yet I speak it willingly because forthwith thy mercy offers it selfe vnto me Souldiers that keep not their stations are punished with death and hee that in the battell first begins to runne loses his life yea for a man but to lose his target is counted a crime and to cast away his weapons is counted a most reproachfull thing Ah! how foulely have I left my station without thy command O heavenly eternall commander there was yet no ordered or marshalled battell with Satan I was but only assailed by a light skirmish and at the very first onset I threw away the buckler of my integrity and faith I suffered my weapons to bee shaken out of my hands and I fled from my allegeance from before thy face With what a slight resistance and by how childish a valour might I have overcome Satan it was my sloath and not his force that made him strong As a man greedy of gaine seeing an orphant have riches entices him often to his house makes him a banquet bestowes something on him and beguiles him with faire words till hee hath gotten his meanes so the devill seeing that I had a pretious treasure heavenly wisdome layd up in an earthen chest presently offered mee wealth pleasures and honours that baited with these hee might spoyle mee of my heavenly riches he hath stripped mee and spoyled mee of all my treasure which I ought to have kept holily and might without difficulty have done it But what gave he me in requitall what riches what pleasures what honours What can he repay whose inheritance and riches is that infernall torment that gulfe that vomits forth pitch and flames whose torments are without end and his confusion everlasting But thou my God for my backsliding hast rendered a reacceptance of me for my falling from thee thou hast requited mee with thy favour For thy grace and mercy is precedent and greater than my whole offence and all my failings I read it spoken by thy Kingly servant that thy mercy is great great hee said it was but how great hee could not tell wee have knowne that it is great but how great we have not knowne nor can perceive We know not the quantity of it's greatnesse which cannot be expressed in words Wee see the fruit of mercy is great for were it not extended beyond measure we had not after our Fall been received of thee Ah what is sinne to the mercy of God A spiders web that a blast of wind makes invisible Consider a spark of fire if it should fall into the Sea could it continue living or visible as a spark to the Sea so is mans malice to Gods Pitty and Clemency yea not so only but farre lesse for the Ocean though it be vast yet is not unmeasurable but of Gods mercies there is no measure CONTEMP c. 4. Of the Councell of the Trinity touching the Creation of Man and of the end why Man was created WHat is man that thou wast mindfull of him what the son of man that thou didst visit him Thou thoughtest of me before I had a being I was in thy minde before I was in the world thou appointedst a consult O my God when thou wast to make me after thou hadst brought forth all things and hadst built this vast stage of the world hadst replenished and adorned it thou didst say Let us make man after our Image Thou God and Father who art the beginning and originall of the Trinity with whom consultedst thou was it with the Angels and those holy Inhabitants of heaven why surely they joyned not with thee in the Creation of man nor was man made according to their similitude Did hee consult with the Earth or with the Sun because the Sun and man are said to generate man who may be suffered to trifle thus Let us make man saidst thou we our selves will be busie about him and not an Angell not the Earth not the Sunne not the Water nor any other thing But who is with thee doest thou speak in the Potentates language Nor was this sutable thou speakest to thy Coeternall and Coessentiall Son and holy Spirit thou speakest God with God one God as the Father workes so works the Son and holy Ghost they work but one Thou createdst man the worke of the whole Trinity to live in this world better than the whole world the most exquisite Creature of all creatures the most
many chalenges many and so useth to commend her selfe often unto her beloved Kisse thou also the Lord O my soule lest at any time he be angry and thou perish in the way Who will give thee unto me O Lord O let me find thee and I will kisse not my hands or any thing my hands can touch but even thee O Lord. Let the tumultuous flesh be silent let the phansies of earth and water of ayre and of the vault of heaven hold their peace let dreams and imaginary revelations bee still let every tongue every signe and whatsoever is acted in a trice be quiet say nothing to thy selfe O my soule passe by thy selfe and have no thought upon thy selfe but upon my God For he is truly all my hope and trust For in God and our Lord Jesus Christ most sweet most bountifull and most pitifull is every of our portions our bloud and flesh the lover doth as much as possible desire to be one with the thing beloved and therefore they cling together and glew as it were their bodies in one and they strive to make of both their soules but one by the conjunction of kisses Thou O Jesus my love thou my desire thou my thought thou my hope thou my wish I would I could alwayes cleave unto thee Would to God that where thou my portion doest raigne there I may at least be a subject and where thou my blood doest rule there I may obey and where thou my flesh art glorified I may not bee there confounded I am indeed a sinner but yet I distrust not of the communion of grace and if my sinnes doe forbid it yet my substance requireth it if mine owne offences exclude me the fellowship of my nature drives mee not back for God is not so great an enemie that hee should not love his owne flesh his members and bowels I might indeed despaire by reason of my too too many sinnes and offences my infinite faults and negligences which I have committed and which I daily and without ceasing doe act in heart mouth and worke and by all wayes that humane frailtie can offend except thou haddest kissed me except O Word thou haddest beene made flesh except thou shouldest dwell in me Let reason here be silent and let faith speak the things are true which I say for thy Spirit hath revealed them unto me yet are they so profound that I cannot pierce into them they are so high that my abjectnesse will not suffer me to reach them I will adore them in silence and admire in my adoration And thy miraculous incarnation shall clense my spotted conception Let not reason conceive that which thy overshadowing doth work so that my Salvation may be firme sure and unshaken CONTEMP c. 14. Of Christs Nativitie THat which none ever saw now all the world beholds that which none ever heard now all the world doth heare God the Sonne of God undergoes the shame of our humane nature and takes upon him the reproachfull principles of our earthly originall he lyes in a manger to whom Angels doe yeeld their service he suffers himselfe to be wrapped in swadling cloathes who gives cloathing to the heavens no ambition seene in his house a bare couch in a stable and his Mother lodged in hay such an Inne doth the worlds Creator make choice of these were the dainties of the holy Virgins child-bed ragges in stead of purple for silke and princely trimming nothing but plaine hemmes hee that was before the foundation of the world was laid borne from the heart of his Father who had Alpha and Omega for his surname the beginning and the close of all things which were or are or shall be hereafter now in the end of the determined time put on the shape of a servant and is borne of a poore Virgin Let the vault of heaven sing let every Angell sing let all that belong to vertue sing to the praises of God let no tongue be silent and let every voyce for ever and ever sound forth his praises Old-age and youth quires of Infants troopes of matrons and virgins the simple maydens with tunable voyces let them with chast consorts chaunt forth his praises let every age acknowledge that the reward of our life is come after the bondage of our sharpe enemie Whence is this that not the Mother of our Lord but that the very Lord himselfe comes unto us How great is he that is given to mee hee is the Angell of peace the Lambe of God the Benefactour of all the horne of salvation the Bruiser of the Serpents head the Governour of Israel he is the desire of the Gentiles the guide of our life and the expectation of the Nations He is the Son of the most High the branch of Jesse the humble Caller of mankind he is our Intercessour he is our Righteousnesse he is our Deliverer hee is our Mediatour hee is our Nourisher hee is our Helper He is the Prince of Peace he is the great Prophet the Restorer of our quiet he is our Redeemer Hee is our Reconciler he is King of Sion a Saviour an Expiatory Sacrifice he is the heavenly Bridegroome the Expeller of sadnesse he is the Word made flesh the most ample Present the heavenly Zelote he is all things Let the bright heaven thunder let the glad earth personate let yawning hell mourne but let mankind keepe a Jubily we groaped in darknesse and were blinded and covered in a most thick night he proceedeth out of the darknesse and night that expelleth these mists of ignorance and night of sinnes Our nature is not now strange to God since that in it even in Christ our Mediatour the fulnesse of the Godhead doth now dwell for the Virgins womb was made choice of for the Lord of heaven and earth to spring in nor was that blessed masse the Sonne of God incarnate for her onely but that of his fulnesse all wee might be made pertakers God did not onely make mee but hee made many things for me seeing that the Word is made flesh for me and dwelleth in us he is become one flesh with me that he might make mee one Spirit with him Christ would become that which man is that man might become what God is it is impossible for mee to understand the secret of his Nativity My understanding failes my voice nay not mine only but even the voice of the Angels is stopped it is above Powers above Cherubin and Seraphin and above all sense I therefore lay my hand upon my mouth I may not search after these so high mysteries It may bee knowne that he was borne It is not to bee disputed how hee was borne it is rashnesse to enquire after this This is an unutterable Birth who shall declare it An Angell shewes it the Vertue overshadowes the Spirit assists the Virgin beleeves a Virgin brings forth and yet continues a Virgin who doth not admire the Word is born an Infant 8c length is acknowledged to be
short breadth narrownesse heigth lownesse and depth shallownesse there light is found that shines not the Word an Infant thirsting for water hūgring after bread O Nativity honorable to the world in its unpolluted holinesse lovely to men by the greatnesse of the benefit bestowed inscrutable also to the Angels by the depth of the sacred Mystery and admirable in all these things by the speciall excellency of the newnesse thereof even so that there hath not bin seene the like before it nor can there be seen any such to follow it Ah what was the cause of Christs comming and Birth what but to save sinners Take away sicknesse take away wounds and there will bee no use for medicines Therefore the great Physitian came from heaven because men lay sicke in all places all the stocke of mankind was lost by the sinne of one in whom all were and therefore came one without sinne that might save all that were in their sinnes for not our merits but our sinnes drew him from heaven It is a thing becomming our faithfull soules Christian breasts beleeving minds that we celebrate the comming of our Lord with all devoutnesse and that we meditate of his Birth being delighted wirh so great a consolation and amased with so excellent a Dignity and enflamed with so great a love It is a worthy thing my brethren that we sing forth glory to the Trinity in unity and to God the Divine and begotten off-spring and also to the Spirit proceeding from them both O Jesu thou that wouldest be borne an Infant make mee become little in mine owne sight and that I may not too much desire high things Thou which diddest proceed from the wombe of a most chaste Virgin be thou also borne in my chaste heart which is purified by thee Thou who wert born in the town of Bethlehem that is the house of bread and wast sought and found by the Shepherds joyne mee often with thy Shepherds and furnish mee with the heavenly bread and so thy Nativity shall for ever satisfie me The heaven was opened when thou wast borne open heaven also unto me when the dayes of this my earthly birth and pilgrimage are ended that I may see and glorifie thee Angels accompanied the Shepherds that went to thee joyne them also to my company that I be not cast headlong into a by-way or desire any thing besides thee the brightnesse of the Lord did shine upon those that did desire to be neere thee I would that I might bee alwayes present with thee and be illuminated by thy Light that I rush not into darksome fens or be involved in filth and pernitious darknesse They granted thee no roome in the Inne O make choyce of a place in my heart let my heart be thy manger and thy swadling bands wherewith thou wert swathed that I may for ever remaine inclosed within thy wounds and within thy mercy and my soule shall magnifie thee O Lord and my spirit shall rejoyce in God my Saviour I will call out with those lowd crying and fiery inhabitants of heaven Glory bee to God on high on earth peace good will towards men now is wrought salvation and power and the Kingdome of our God and the power of his Christ Thou art worthy O Lord our God to receive Glory and Honour and Power Ah Lord when shall this come to passe when wilt thou bestow this upon mee CONTEMP c. 15. Of the name Jesus WHat sound is this that flies to mine eares it is a name that parents gave not neither did the circucising Priest bestow it but an Angell brought it from heaven and God that it should be brought and declared unto us commanded saying His name is Jesus how pleasant delightfull and forcible a name O how this name doth comfort my soule Jesus is a God of giving men salvation which is expounded a Saviour or saving for this reason of the name was given when before he was to be borne by the Virgin it was said Thou shalt call his name Jesus because hee shall save his people from their sinnes God hath now manifested his salvation all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God hee hath opened himselfe in the earth and salvation and righteousnesse have been fruitfull My God thou makest us safe in the Lord our God thou hast given us a light of the Gentiles which is our salvation even to the ends of the earth Let us therefore rejoyce in God our Saviour say to the Daughter of Sion behold salvation approacheth The other names of the Messiah are taken from the effects of his salvation and doe onely signifie either the beginning or middle or onely the end of salvation but this name Jesus the whole proceeding thereof for it doth sufficiently containe and expresse the beginning middle and end thereof and doth include all other things also within it The Angels adore and the devils doe tremble at this name and men receive it for their salvations This name is glorious in the preaching of it being thought upon doth nourish us called upon doth mollifie and anoint us not in the letters of it but by its spirit and life Whence could there have beene in all the world so great and so sodaine a light of faith but by the preaching of the name of Jesus Hath not God called us in the light of this name into his admirable light to such as are so enlightned and doe see light by his light Paul speaketh deservedly You were sometimes darknesse but now are you light in the Lord. And the name of Jesus is not onely a light but it is also food art not thou as often refreshed as thou dost think upon it What doth so much fatten the soule as the thought of that name What doth so much repaire the decayed senses It strengthens our vertues it quickens good and honest manners it cherisheth chaste affections all meat is dry that is not moistned with this oyle is unsavoury not seasoned with this salt If thou writest to mee I relish it not if thou leave out Jesus Jesus is honey in the mouth harmony in the eare gladnesse and physicke for the heart Is any of us sad let Jesus come into the heart and thence let him flow into our mouths and behold at the rising of the light of that name every cloud is expelled and the cleare light returnes Doth any slip into sinne doth he haste even to the halter of death by his despaire doth he not by invocation of this name of life forthwith respire to life Surely there have beene many others who have had the name of Jesus for the name of Ioshuah that led the Israelites through Jordan into the land of Canaan is the same name with Jesus The son of Syrach is called Iesus and Iesus is mentioned in Zachary but these men beare the name without the thing or if they wrought any safety they performed it by the power and helpe of this my Jesus There
danger and so is the esteeme of the medicine as is the heaping up of my griefe and feare O the sweetnesse and greatnesse of thy love although O Lord my God the world was placed in the middest of mischiefe and is full of misery yet sentest thou thy blessed Sonne into the world for us and for this diddest thou send him into the world that he being sold might ransome us being put to death might restore us to life might honour us by suffering disgrace and might adopt us for his sonnes If I would reckon up what he suffered for most miserable man what voice would suffice me for it what eares would not be weary to heare it for he was no sooner borne but his blood was spilt in the circumcision he was scarcely circumcised but forthwith was he designed to the slaughter he no sooner professed his doctrine openly but he was called the impious blasphemous and raging stirrer up of the people even by them whose God he had alwayes beene after a peculiar manner I doe every where behold misery calamity disgraces reproaches griefes poverty wearinesse sadnesse hunger thirst that he seemes but onely to have finished in his passion what he had continually suffered in the whole course of his life After that the Son coeternall and consubstantiall with his Father the Omnipotent Patron of the Church ordained for a judge of the quicke and the dead had fervently powred forth those prayers which he had conceived for mans salvation wherin he at the point of death more especially recommēded to his Father that deare pledge his Church for whose sake he suffered not onely valiantly but most willingly and freely not a drop but streames of blood to flow from his five wounds Walking with his disciples beyond the brook that tooke it's name from the shady vale the traitour meets him with an armed troope of servants and officers his neighbours flie from him his Disciples retire a friend and companion saluting the innocent betrayes him for a malefactour but it was the same whom before O cruell mischiefe hee had sold for a little money and for a base price his hands are tyed his armes are bound thus tyed and bound is he led away and the most deare young man that a little before leaned upon his most holy bosome followes after and Peter also but a farre off and with great feare none of the rest are present those whom he had loved whom he had full fed whom he had taken care of whom he had healed doe not so much as looke backe upon him they all forsake him that never forsooke any man he is made an unhappy spectacle in the house called Pratorium his shamefast body is made naked that off-spring of the most pure Virgin and was scourged even to death by those beastly Serjeants ordained to scourge malefactors they are instant both with words and stripes and drunk no lesse with blood than wine they binde him to a pillar they load him with stripes they multiply strokes upon strokes the place did ring with their smart blowes streames of bloud issue from his torne body and now there is scarce the resemblance of a body to be seene throughout him Behold the man saith Pilate And here lift up thy eyes O my soule and looke stedfastly upon the face of the Lord thy God leave awhile all thy vanities to which thou hast all thy life addicted thy selfe and if thou canst collect for one moment all thy thoughts and bestow them this day upon thy Saviour Behold the man behold a man of sorrow behold him that is beautifull above the sonnes of men ruddy chosen out of thousands whose haire is as the palme branches blacke as the ravens whose eyes are like the doves eyes by the fountaines of waters which are washed with milke whose lips distill the choisest myrrh like the lillies behold then it now raines nothing but blood his haire cleaves together with blood his head pierced with thornes doth dart forth blood his nostrils bruised with the strokes of the fist have besmeared his face with swart blood and which is most miserable of all being tyed bound he hath not wherewith to wipe of his blood he hath not I say wherewith to wipe away his blood forcing as it were from all parts of his body Behold the man This is that face which the heavens cannot behold and hell dares not behold this is he that now keeps silence whose voice is heard in the clouds whose thunder daunteth the courages of men with his fearful claps Behold the man behold the Lord of all things stands in want amidst all those things which he doth possesse he standeth bound who frees all he stands wounded that heales all Behold the man for thy cause O man stands he before the judge before us all doth he stand for us all he stands without a garment he stands robbed that no wound of his body might be hid from the beholders Learn O man out of these things which he suffered for thee what account Christ made of thee to the end by how much the viler thou art for whom he suffered by so much the dearer thy Christ may be unto thee Learne O man to avoid those things which may offend thy God Behold with how much sweat with what labour with what griefe he stood that he the Son of God might reconcile thee to his Father I have said many things yet if thou considerest the rest they are very few for the officers adde reproach to his punishments while they cloath his body with a purple garment made more purple with his most innocent bloud They fasten a prickly crown made of stiffe thornes upon his reverend head they salute him for a King and strike their King over the face and they blow upon the glasse of Angels with the worst sort of mixed stincks even the stench of their breaths corrupted by surfeting and mingled with spittle and by and by when they come to Calvary the prophane wretches doe prepare themselves for the butchery and lay upon his fainting body that most accursed punishment of the Crosse his most innocent hands are fastened with nailes which never did wrong to any but had wrought salvation for all men his most holy feet are fastened with an iron band wretch that I am they must be joyned together that had been exercised in so frequent travell for mine and for the salvation of all men His eyes swim in blood those two that were wont to be the lights of the good but lightning to the wicked his pure mouth is silent from which had rained honey combes his tongue is tyed which with its very silence convinces the cruelty of the parricides heaven was afraid of this spectacle and in it its mourning weed bewailes its Creatour the Lord of the Starres it withdrew it selfe within a sudden darknesse as ashamed of so great a wickednesse the Angels groane the Citizens of heaven breake forth into teares O face of man harder than
a flint that with dry eyes canst read this story O heart of man harder than an Adamant that these things cannot penetrate O fierce and steely heart of man that considers not these things Thy Saviour being weary and overcharged under so great a burden cries and cals out and in his soule cals upon us My people what have I done unto thee or how have I beene troublesome unto thee answer me I have beene no Usurer nor hath any thorow the earth taken use for me yet all doe curse me God hath shut me up with the wicked and hath delivered me to the hands of the wicked Many calves have compassed me about fat buls have besieged me They opened their mouths upon me as it were a raging and roaring Lion I am powred out like water and all my bones are scattered abroad my heart in the middest of my bosome is like melting wax my strength is dried up like a potsheard and my tongue cleaveth to my gums and thou hast brought me into the dust of death He cryed he called out but there was none that would heare he is led without the city to the place made infamous for the punishing of the wicked therein as unto a publick separate place that he might not pollute any man by his contagion which the adjoyning inhabitants gave a name from the dead mens souls which lay scattered every where abroad within it The Captaine of the heavenly hostes led forth in the sight of men and Angels to be fastened between heaven and earth unto the accursed Crosse to be refreshed with vinegar he is wounded he is slaine he is thrust thorow with a speare what current of language can sufficiently unfold this misery but thls remembrance of such stupendious things requires rather the teares of the faithfull than the Orators eloquence O who shall give water to my head and a fountaine of teares to mine eyes that I may weepe night and day I will weepe with strong teares I will make drunke my cheeks with my teares the righteous perish and there is none that taketh it to heart the Lord of heaven gives up the ghost and there is not one that thinks it concernes him any thing Raise up thy selfe O my soule and weary thy selfe in meditating upon the passion of thy Lord no time is more happily spent than that which the devout soule imployeth upon the passion O wonderfull condition of his censure and unutterable disposition of a mystery the unjust doth offend and the righteous is punished the guilty transgresseth and God is chastised the impious sinneth and the righteous is condemned the good suffereth that which the wicked deserveth that which the servant is indebted the Master doth pay Whither O whither thou Sonne of God doth thy humility descend how farre hath thy love beene inflamed how farre did thy love reach and how farre did thy pitty eâ—tend O Lord Jesus Christ governe and guide me by thy Spirit that my soule being pricked by thy visitation may crucifie its flesh with the sins and lusts thereof O Lord Jesus I onely put my trust in thy passion and death O Lord Iesus Christ who hast witnessed that thy delight is to be with the sonnes of men thou who becamest man for man in the later age be mindfull of all thy premeditations and inward griefe which from the beginning of thy conception thou diddest endure in thy humane nature but chiefly in the instant time of thy most saving passion fore-ordained from all eternity in thy divine heart Remember the sadnesse and bitternesse which thy soule was possessed with as thou diddest testifie when thou saidst My soule is heavie even to death and when in thy last Supper thou diddest deliver thy Body and Blood to thy Disciples when thou washedst their feet and when sweetly comforting them thou didst foretell thy neare approaching passion Remember the feare anguish and griefe which thou didst endure thorow all thy tender body before thy suffering upon the Crosse When after thy troubled prayer thou diddest sweat that bloody sweat when thou wast delivered by thine owne Disciple taken by thy chosen people accused by false wi nesses unjustly sentenced by three severall Iudges in the holy City when at the time of the Passeover in the florishing time of thy youth being innocent thou wast condemned wast delivered wast spitted on thine owne cloaths pulled off and others put upon thee thou wast buffetted thy face and eyes were covered when thou wast bound to the Crosse and crowned with thornes O most sweet Jesus give me I beseech thee for the memory of thy paines and passion true contrition and confession and also remission of all my sins before my death and in my death grant me comfort and consolation of spirit and after death grant me salvation and glory Amen CONTEMP c. 18. Of the first and second word of our Lord spoken upon the Crosse O My soule one of thy faithfull servants sadly and mournfully cryes out concerning Job what a pageant of triumph hath God made of the Devill in that man what an ensigne of his glory hath he erected from his enemie when he did with great patience cleanse away the uncleane flowing matter of his sores when sportingly hee did call back the wormes that crawled forth from his sores to the same holes and feeding places of his worme-eaten flesh But how much hath thy Saviour out-gone him in constancie of mind and an unshaken patience he in the last necessitie in the pangs of death in the paines of hell sorsaken and made exceeding sad by his angry God failes not in the courage of his mind he shewed no signe that his heart departed from the path of righteousnesse but as he began so continues be to love mankind Heare the words that he utters from the chaire of his crosse they were few but great profitable and worthy never to depart out of a Christians heart as long as he hath his vitall breath Thus he speaks Father forgive them they know not what they doe Oh thy supereminent love O Lord thou prayest not O Lord that they might be punished who afflicted and crucified thee but that they might enjoy the merit of thy passion and be saved Thou so aboundest in thy love that forgetfull of thy most exquisite sufferings thou thinkest on nothing but the reconciling of sinners O incomparable humanitie of unspeakable mercy with what gentle and friendly eyes dost thou locke upon me from the Altar of the Crosse how can any man despaire seeing we have so diligent so faithfull so loving and so zealous an intercessour Where are you trembling sinners where are you affrighted conseiences doe you delight to see the heart of your Lord to overflow with grace Come and behold his Crosse Come come see his heart mounting into his tongue and begging pardon for your sins Iesus my God I am also present amongst sinners amongst those that crucifie thee looke on me and receive me my sins my sins were those
for man O blessed day wherein the head of the Dragon is trampled under the feet of thy crucified and dead body Leviathan is bruised Behemoh that vast and powerfull creature is overthrowne and death is cast out O most milde Tribunall before which I am absolved without punishment freed without death but yet that even by death where I am dismissed from my bloody deeds by the blood of the supreme King by thy blood now shed I see most clearely that thou hast transferred my nature upon thy selfe that I might receive that innocencie from thee which I had altogether corrupted in my selfe but thou keptest thy divine Nature that I might receive glory and dignitie thou joynedst both together that the Deitie being joyned to the humanitie and the humanitie joyned to the Deity he that was sensible of my misery putting on my affections might unite him unto me as a brother whom I did feare as a Judge What shall I say or how shall I speak for I am not my selfe when I think of thee when I lift up my eyes unto thee when I behold thy side launced with the speare and behold thorow that wound thy most loving heart Thou that art immense infinite not circumscribed void of passion and immortall hast put on for love of us even this our flesh straight finite circumscribed and finally liable to passion and death it selfe which by hunger by thirst by miseries by injuries by scourgings by spittings on by blood by death was handled beaten extended and tortured by pieces in the presence of the Devill yet being joyned also with thy Divinitie thou hast placed it above all the Angels above all creatures which are in heaven and earth even at the right hand of thy Father that we who before were even pressed downe to hell may now by thee be taken into the fellowship of the Godhead I would I might alwayes rest in this thy so great passion that I may dwell in thy wounds for whosoever flies to thy wounds and precious scars shall in tribulation finde great comfort and enjoy that comfort the soule doth onely desire CONTEMP c. 24. Of Christs buriall THere is at length an end set to labour and the worke of redemption being wrought and finished and that all-sufficient ransome paid the grave receives and covers this ill-handled body for God is faithfull O Christ my God who set a convenient end to thy labours temptations sorrowes necessities and persecutions for my sinnes thou wast put to death after death thou art buried but it was that thou mightest rise againe out of the grave for my just fication Before the day of preparation for the Passeover was wholly past thou art taken from the Crosse thy Father hastens also our departure from this preparation day by a preparation to the heavenly journey that we may the sooner be brought to thee celebrate Sabbath upon Sabbath unto thee Therewas no reproach that thou hadst not bin loaden with in that Crosse nor any ignominy that thy body had not beene disgraced with in it yet these things could not affright Nicodemus whom thou hadst instructed by thy nightly conference and gained for a secret Disciple and Ioseph of Arimathea a rich good and pious Senatour two of the principall men amongst the Jewish Nation Thou didst hang upon the Crosse betweene theeves thy chosen companions fled from thee the whole rabble of thy persecutors cryed Crucifie crucifie him take him away take him away Pilate delivered thee over to death and judged thee worthy to be tormented yet these men searing nothing breake through the midst of the host of these perverse troops they goe to Pilate and beseech him that the infamously handled carkas yet heavens relique might be given unto them accounting of it as of a most great gift What courage of mind shal I beleeve you had who quickned your spirits O Nicodemus and Ioseph what beliefe could the small reliques of that golden tree raise up in you did you not think that yee might bee accounted partners with Christ whom they had proclaimed for a deceiver and a disturber of the publike peace and that yee might be reckoned for troublers of the Senate and be blamed of Pilate and stoned of the people But the fire of faith was kindled in you which not being to be confined within in your hearts breaks forth on all sides O strange power of God in his faithfull servants O how unsearchable are his works The Disciples had above three yeares beene publicke auditors of Christ now crucified they had beene plentifully and carefully fed and instructed by him but when so great dangers grew thicke they forsake their Master Nicodemus and Ioseph came in private to Jesus fearing to bring the peoples hatred upon themselves now when they see all things seeme desperate they doe not forsake him whom they had worshipped whom they had heard whom they had reverenced but doe now still even now love and honour not unwillingly How great is thy power in those that are weake how great thy perfection in those that are imperfect would to God that nothing also may be able to separate me from the love of Christ neither affliction nor anguish nor persecution nor hunger nor nakednesse nor danger nor the sword but let me be perswaded that nor death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature whatsoever shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is Christ Jesus my Lord. Those diligent worshippers of thee doe wrap thee in cleane linnen do embalme thee with Myrrh and Aloes O that I may humble my selfe by bitter repentance and purged from my sinnes may receive thee with a pure heart They embalme thee and lay thee in a new tombe in which no other had ever beene laid O that none but thy selfe might enter into my heart renewed by thy blessed Spirit They spend many things willingly for thy sake nor dare spare any cost let me also spend my life and blood for thee and for thine and what else besides my blood thou hast given me in this life When thou shalt call my soule from this wombe of durt let me thinke of nothing but of thy death but of thy blood but of thy wounds but of thy crowne when I I shall be affrighted with the grave let me thinke I shall be buried in no other sepulchre than in that which thou hast touched with thine one body which thou hast sanctified by thy scars that being to be raised at thy command I may live with thee everlastingly Amen CONTEMP c. 25. Of Christs resurrection SEt forth the prayses of the Lord and call upon his name declare his works among the nations sing unto him sing praises unto him declare all his wonderfull works call to mind his wonders which he hath done his strange works the judgements of his mouth Who can sufficiently speak of the power of the Lord
and give me daily a part in the first resurrection that I may truly deserve to receive a part in thy resurrection Most sweet benigne loving deare precious desired lovely beautifull Jesus thou didst ascend into heaven in triumph of thy glory and sittest most mighty King at the right hand of thy Father draw me up to thee that I may runne after thee for the odour of thy perfumes I will runne and never be weary if thou wilt assist me joyne the mouth of the soule that thirsts after thee to the heavenly streames of eternall satiety yea draw me to thy selfe thou living fountaine that thence I may drinke my fill whence I may alwayes live my God and my life CONTEMP c. 26. Of Christs Ascention CLap your hands O all ye Nations rejoyce in the Lord with an exulting voice because the Lord is high terrible a great King above all the earth he hath subjected the people unto us and nations under our feet he hath chosen us out for an inheritance to himselfe the excellency of Iacob which he loved God hath ascended in a shout the Lord in the voice of the trumpet Sing unto our God sing ye sing unto our King because God is the King of all the earth sing unto him with understanding God hath reigned over the nations God sitteth upon his holy seat the Princes of the people are gathered together with the people of the God of Abraham because God is exceedingly exalted by them that defend the earth This O my soule was the voice and song of the faithfull Jewes in the old Testament wherein they gratulated their Saviour when in spirit and in faith they saw he was to come and did exhort one another that they should sing unto and trust in him that was exalted in his Majesty Say thou also O clap your hands rejoyce in the Lord in the voice of exultation that which they proclaimed in hope doe thou proclaime in fruition for Christ is ascended the eternall offspring of the eternall God and the Sonne of temporary man borne in time Sing O my soule to thy great God and Saviour to the true peacefull Prince of peace Emperour of heaven and earth King of kings Lord of lords The Angels praise his Majesty Principalities adore him Majesties tremble at him the powers of the heaven of heavens and the Society of the blessed Seraphins doe celebrate his praises with exultation doe thou also cry out to thy Messiah be life and victory blessing and honour glory and power for evermore Those sell soules not satisfied with his death torments and Crosse did even warre against him being dead and did most diligently observe all things lest any should steale his body out of the grave yet returnes he the Conquerour returnes cloathed with the brightnesse of his glory as it were with most pure garments he returnes and hastens to higher things he flies up to the highest heavens compassed with quires of Angels and heavenly citizens some of whom as I guesse sing songs of triumph to the Conquerour others dance for joy others offer him palme and bayes others strew handfuls of a most pleasing crop of heavenly flowers Where are now thy pale lips where is that filthy besmearing with spittle where is the congealed blood where the pricks of the thornes where his black and blew shoulders where those streames of blood gushing forth where his torne sinewes by the lashes of whips In so short a moment is this so thicke a mist of ignominy exhaled and the brightnesse of his glory possesses all things And now is the fore-head cleare the eyes sparkling the comely cheeks blushing red now are the lips died scarlet now doth he shake his golden and glittering tresses in briefe he is all over like the Sunne breaking out of a cloud Where now Lord is thy abjection after thou hast pierced the skies and ascended above all heavens when thou wast higher than the heavens and hadst entred into thy Fathers house in which are many mansions where was thy contemptible estate when the glory of the heavens gave place to thee and thou ruledst every where and filledst all places from sea to sea even to the ends of the earth for evermore Thou fillest all things O Lord therefore art thou most present and although thou seemest sometime to be departed from us yet if thou wouldest open our eyes we should finde thee about us and in us Thou art most present therefore let not my sinnes defile me because they offend thee that wast scourged crucified and slaine for them and cause me to be condemned for offending of thee Thou art cleane and dost dwell with those that are pure in heart those that burthen their soules with the filth of sinne doe expell thee the guest of their soule Thou art most present therefore whatever betides me and howsoever the devill batter me and in what manner soever the world afflict me or the flesh doe tempt me yet thou seest it and art both able and joyfull to deliver me When upon mount Olivet thou madest preparation to depart to the full enjoying of thy heavenly kingdome thou didst hold up thy hands to heaven and didst blesse thy Disciples I am also thy disciple therefore thou wilt not withdraw thy blessing from me but wilt make thy ascention to become unto me a descention of many sorts of gifts Thy graces did descend as thy body did ascend so shall I ascend in my heart I will runne after thee not with the steps of my feet but with the desires of my soule and flying from worldly desires I will follow thee thither in heart whither I beleeve thou art in body ascended let me now take no pleasure in vile things here below that am possessed of thee in heaven I will ascend in my affections I will ascend in my progresse and I wil ascend in effect I shall ascend in my affections if I relish heavenly things I shall ascend in my progresse if I shall daily profit in thy ministery and I shall ascend in effect if I have my conversation where thou art even in the heavens And I trust I shall easily obtaine this for thou art ascended to the Father to be my Intercessor The high Priest when he entred the Holy of Holyes made an atonement for the people thou art entred into the Sanctuary of blessed immortality a Sanctuary not made with hands but heaven it selfe thou wilt therefore appear in the presence of God for us Thou art ascended not leaving upon the earth thy humanity which thou tookest from the earth and didst carry about thee on the earth but hast so exalted it that thou hast made it a partaker of heaven Why therefore O man shouldest thou feare why O man shouldest thou afflict thy selfe Be secure flesh and blood you are possessors of heaven and Gods Kingdome in Christ if any deny you are in Christ he denies also that Christ is in heaven the flesh and blood and portion of every of us is in
the more ignoble I ought to beare patiently if I understand not the Creator of the Universe who must even in the smallest parcels of his works professe mine owne blindnesse Let me not then proceed farther in other things than my small capacity wil beare not curiously pry into those things which are so high above me I will say with reason and constancie I know not his secrets and I am ignorant of his divine councell the oracle of the heavenly word is enough for me to try all causes God sayes he sees all things governes all things judges all things If thou wilt know what thou art to hold thou hast the holy Scripture it is perfect reason to hold what thou hast read But I will not suffer my selfe to aske for what cause God doth these things in such a manner I am a man I understand not the secrets of God I dare not search after them and therefore I even feare to meddle with them because even this is a kinde of sacrilegious rashnesse to desire to know more than is permitted unto thee Let it suffice thee that God doth testifie that himselfe doth act and dispose of all things leaving therefore these things let us rather seeke like good merchants to gaine the inheritance of heaven and those things that may profit our soules let us learne to get goods which will continue with us let us first seeke to have Gods seale stamped upon us because in the day of judgement when God shal make that separation when all the nations of the whole earth the sonnes of Adam shall be gathered together when the shepherd shall call his flocke whosoever have beene sealed shall know their shepherd and the shepherd shall know those he hath sealed and shall gather them together out of all nations Every man naturally desireth knowledge but what doth knowledge profit without the feare of God certainly an humble rudenesse is better that is employed in Gods service than a proud Prelate or Philosopher who neglects himselfe and is alwayes contemplating upon God or the motion of the heavens How many are there who in this life by many curious enquiries have endevoured to know God who shall never see his face how many in this life doe labour to measure the heavens and to finde out all things belonging to them that shall never enter into them He that doth well know himselfe thinks meanly of himselfe and is not delighted in the praises of men If I did know all things in the world and were not in charity what would this knowledge profit me in the presence of God who then will judge acccording to my works I will therefore at length rest from the too much desire of knowledge because the more I know the more grievously will the most high God judge me except I live the more holily Give mee most blessed and most wise God the highest and most profitable knowledge that I may know thee God the Father Son and Holy Ghost with moderation and may inwardly know my selfe to be miserable and of no account that I may attribute nothing to my selfe and alwayes have a good opinion of others This is great wisdome and some sort of perfection Though I see another sinne openly and even to commit some grievous sinnes let me not think my selfe better because I know not how long I may continue in goodnesse we are all undoubtedly fraile but let me judge none frailer than my selfe that I may obtaine true strength in goodnesse CONTEMP c. 30. Of the Custodie of Angels BLesse the Lord O my soule all my bowels give praise unto his holy Name Praise the Lord O my soule and forget not any of his benefits praise the Lord yee Angels of his yee that excell in strength fulfilling his Word giving eare to the voyce of his Word Praise the Lord all his Hoasts yee servants of his that doe his pleasure Praise the Lord all yee works of the Lord praise the Lord O my soule in all places of his dominion My heart is ready O God my heart is ready He hath commanded his Angels saith thy faithfull servant David speaking of man to preserve thee in all thy wayes they shall hold thee up with their hands that thou strike not thy foot against a stone God hath commanded it God the true and most excellent Life in whom and from whom are all things the Creator Governor of the world the Sweetnesse Beauty of the Angels the Creator and Preserver of men that God who is God of gods so great a God that no tongue can rightly expresse him hee hath commanded and hath commanded his Angels his holy Angels that are instructed of God by the eternall contemplating of which truth they become blessed hee hath commanded them concerning thee O man What is man that thou tookest notice of him or the sonne of man that thou didst esteeme him Thou sentest unto him thy only begotten Son thou sendest into him thy holy Spirit and that there should be no want of thy carefull working for him in the heavens thou dost also for our sakes send forth those blessed Spirits to minister unto us the most mercifull God sendeth forth those Spirits as it were so many bright sparks of his Deity sparkling from the Torches of his everlasting light who are conceived to bee divided into so great hoastes and into so many orders to prompt us not only with matter of prayer to God but of admiration of his greatnesse and goodnesse when I speake thus O my soule phansie not to thy selfe little faire Boyes whose countenances are over-spread with an admirable splendour whose soft dissheveld haire of colour like the finest gold hangs dangling to their shoulders fanned with the gentle breath of the peacefull westerne wind doth kisse the smooth pillars of their milkie necks if thou phansie such Angels thou art utterly ignorant of their power They have a pure nature subtill and aiery not to be represented in the shape of any body no spot of matter doth cloud it no mole of corruption doth sprinkle it and that I may speak briefly our best part is our soule an Angell is nothing but a soule But what soule not relishing of that fire whereby the Starres doe twinkle and the Axeltree of Heaven is moved but a vigour of a most quick moved understanding made so much the nearer to resemble the patterne the eternal Beauty by how much it approacheth nearer to and is the more plentifully sprinkled with that holy Fountaine Hence truely comes that notable comlinesse of all their ornaments and the immortall concurrence of goodnesse which they with a most acceptable ingenuity of will doe yeeld to their Creator they out-strip in speed the swiftest shippe sailing on the maine and driven by force of windane oares they out-fly a bullet in the aire sent from the sulphury mouth of a thundring Cannon these most excellent mentall Intelligences most wisely foresee all things with no trouble or interposition of time
what Saint Paul said We brought nothing into this world and we know that we can carry nothing away from thence and therefore let us be content with our food and cloathing but those that will bee rich fall into temptations and snares and many foolish lusts which afflict and drowne the sons of men in ruine and destruction Pray with Agur the son of Jakeh I have desired two things of thee O God deny them not unto me as long as I live remove farre from me vanity and lyes give me neither poverty nor riches let me be nourished with the meat of mine owne table lest being over full I lye against thee and say who is the Lord or being poore I should steale and so abuse the Name of my God Bee grieved more for Gods dishonour than thine owne if thou sufferest wrong beare it patiently and thou shalt overcome it yet thou mayest say my reputation is stained shall I endure it Why not suffer and thy reputation will be soone repaired he that shall at length even in the last day restore unto thee thy putrified body shall restore to thee thy credit if thou be angry and enraged and teare thy selfe what shall all these turmoiles profit thee Nothing is more pleasing to thy enemie than to see thee by thy rage to be in such a confusion Rather pray for thine enemies that they be fellow-heires with thee of eternall life and fellow-chaunters of thy Fathers praises in his heavenly Kingdome The more others extoll thee the more doe thou humble thy selfe in thine owne eyes nor please thy selfe with such vanities They that esteeme lightly of earthly things are magnified and extolled by the Angels of heaven proceed sincerely rightly and innocently in every of thy actions nor too earnestly take care for the things thou hast not Think no sin little for there is none so light if any may bee said light but it may bring upon thee great plagues everlasting death therefore deplore thy least sinnes and pray without ceasing for the bettering of thy life Think how short thy life is if any seriously consider what ever belongeth to us he shall see they vanish from us like birds in the aire and wee also by our perpetuall motion are carried beyond those transitory things but that which is worst no remedy can be found against this for these things fall out thus by the law of Nature for the things of this life are a dreame a smoake and impostures this is our life O men that lead a fleeting life such is the Scene upon the earth that wee must be borne ere we could have a being and as soone as we are borne wee are againe dissolved to nothing Wee are a dreame that lasts not an apparition that cannot be laid hold on a flight of a bird that is gone the passage of a ship in the sea that leaves behind no impression dust a vapour morning dew a flowre that hath his time to blow and time to wither the dayes of man are as grasse and shall flourish but like the flowre of the field Think therefore alwayes what manner of life thou hast not how long it may last make haste to live well and think every day is another life let us extend our life whose office and argument is action let us not place the goodnesse of our life in the length of it but in the use of it For it may come to passe yea it often happens so that he who hath lived long hath lived little his life is most long in the whole extent whereof he hath been at leasure for himselfe and yet no part thereof hath lyen waste or idle Life is like a Play it skils not how long it is but how well it was acted not he that hath sung much to the Harpe nor he that hath made many prayers or hath steered many ships is to be commended but he that hath performed these things for Beauty is to be placed in Vertue and a seasonable moderation not in length of dayes In every thing we see the Priority to bee yeelded to maturity and perfection not to their old-age For amongst the Plants those are accompted the best which beare most fruit in the shortest time and amongst the living creatures those from whom we receive most commodities for our lives in the shortest time We conclude therefore that a short time well and innocently spent is farre to be preferred before a sinfull long life CONTEMP c. 35. Of necessary rules to lead a holy life concerning our words HEare and obey these things O man which I shall utter touching thy words weigh well continually with thy selfe that saying of our Saviour I say unto you that of every idle word that the sonnes of men shall speake they shall give an account for in the day of judgement and that also which the most wise Salomon also affirmes in the multitude of words there will not cease to be sin Fly therefore idle and slothfull words which have repentance treading upon their heeles and ill successe at their elbowes Examine what thou art to propose and what to answer As long as thy word is within the fence of thy teeth it is thine own but as soon as it is escaped it is his that receives it How foule and uncomely a thing is it if thy unbrideled tongue breaking the bounds of modesty shall cause thee to blush for shame Let therefore thy words be few and weighty and seasoned with salt and mark in the delivery what is worthy and what in them is unworthy of thee Chiefly vaunt of nothing for truth which thou knowest not to be true nor give thy selfe over to receive vaine reports Such a tongue is a monster more changeable than any Proteus that fils the world with fables doth often in sports cause tragedies to be acted amongst men it encreaseth in its progresse and for the most part relates things to be greater than they are and cannot abstain from telling of lies in relating a truth and although it doth onely utter trifles and toyes yet sometimes is it in the place of a thousand witnesses As the hand of a foole doth leave a token of his folly deciphered upon every wall it passeth by so such a tongue filleth all mens eares with rumours and stories but whether they be true or false it careth not A mouse scarce peeps out of any cranny but it is presently at hand and like a midwife receives this issue and makes it presently grow bigge and that it may shew the fairer cloaths it in most large vestments so he forces rumours upon every one he meets as being fresh and new yea as a true story though for the most part it hath scarce any truth in it So is falshood in very short time divulged thorow the world Whosoever heares a report coynes and addes something to that he hath heard what either credulity or ornament shal perswade him too Behold the stories which doe at length put off
Lord imputeth not sin Rejoyce in the Lord ô ye righteous for praise becommeth the Just taste and see for the Lord is sweet Blessed is the man that hopeth in him Blesse the Lord ô my soule and all that is within me praise his holy Name who is mercifull to all thy iniquities and healeth all thy infirmities who hath redeemed thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with mercy and pity His goodnesse and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord for evermore I desire and beseech thee ô God by the death of thine owne son give me thy Spirit to purifie my heart and with his grace to strengthen me that by mine own unadvisednesse I fall not thither whence by thy mercy I have been called Create in me ô God a new heart and renew a firme spirit within me restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me by thy free spirit Wash mee daily by pardoning my daily offences translate me from the fennes of this age and the mud of this present life to the excellent kingdome of thy glory where is neither scab nor blindnesse nor doth any one suffer any uncleane issue of blood nor is any one uncleane where is no farther need of a lavacre thy glorious body being joyned unto our body Thou must needs fulfill thy promise made and both finish and confirme the good worke thou hast begun in me through Christ our only Lord and Saviour Amen CONTEMP c. 40. Of the worthy preparation to the holy Sacrament I Will make an entrance unto the Altar of God even to the God that maketh my youth rejoyce Laying aside the garments of my inveterate iniquity I will renew my youth like an Eagle and hasten to approach that heavenly banquet A plentifull and delicate banquet is prepared which is a medicine to the sicke a way to those that wander a banquet that comforteth the weake delights those that are in health cures sicknesse preserves health a banquet that makes a man more pliant to reproofe more patient to labour more zealous to love more wise to warinesse more ready to obedience more devout to thanksgiving a banquet by which our daily sinnes are forgiven the powers of Satan expelled strength given to undertake even martyrdome it selfe finally a banquet by which all good things are brought unto thee because a man partaking of it doth even become the same thing he receives This banquet compared with Ahasuerus his banquet relisheth farre above it compare it with the table spread in the Wildernesse for the children of Israel and it refresheth thee far more For though that Table contained in it the figure of this our Eucharist when God rained downe Manna for our Fathers in the Wildernesse and they were daily fed with food from heaven and men did eat Angels bread yet they that did eat that bread did die but this living bread that is set before thee in this costly banquet did come from heaven and hath given life to the world That Manna came from heaven this from above the heavens That being reserved to the next day was full of worms this is free from all corruption whosoever shall religiously taste thereof shall not see corruption That was given the Fathers after their passage over the red sea where the Egyptians were drowned and the Israelites were delivered so this heavenly Manna can profit none but the regenerate That corporall bread sustained the ancient people in their passage thorow the Wildernesse to the Land of promise this heavenly food sustaines the faithfull of these times in their passage to heaven Moses was Master of their Table and here Christ is ready at hand who hath furnished this Table and blessed it For it is not man that makes the bread and wine set on this Table to be the body and blood of Christ but Christ himselfe that is crucified for us words are uttered by the Priests mouth but the things set before thee are consecrated by the power of Christ who used these words unto his Disciples This is my Bodie this is the Cup of the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you It is Christ in whom doth dwell all the fulnesse of the God-head bodily who is the power of God unto whom is given all power in heaven and earth Hee when hee was to put an end to the Ceremonies of the Law would prepare for himselfe the Passeover and before he would be condemned to death and be nailed to the Crosse he was pleased according to the solemnitie to celebrate the Passeover the roasted lambe unleavened bread and sowre herbs When this Supper was so prepared amidst these sacramentall dainties both the old and also the new institutions offered themselves to him and having eaten the Lambe that the old tradition did set before them This great Master sets before his Disciples a meat not to be consumed nor are here the people invited to a banquet made exquisite both by cost and paines but the nourishment of immortality is given them differing from common food keeping the forme of a corporeall substance but by the invisible efficacie of the divine power working in us and proving Gods especiall presence accompanying it Come hither yee faithfull soules refresh and recollect your selves cheere and fill your selves joyne in one by your faith your remembrance of Christ with the application of his merits with hearty thanksgiving for your deliverance made through his blood receive the pledge testimony and assurance of your holy communion and fellowship with Christ your Head and by him with the Father and the Holy Ghost also encrease cherish comfort and hold fast the faith of the remission of your sins your faith is imperfect perfect it not only by the hearing of the Word preached but by using this holy Supper the Word offers but this Supper applies Christ unto us Encourage your selves to the studie of good works How too often are we hindred stopt and grow stupid in performing this work Here Christ keepes us company in exhibiting unto us his bodie and blood hee doth daily more and more mortifie in us the body of sinne and beginne in us the newnesse of a spirituall life performe each to other the offices of concord peace and love for we eat the same flesh we drink the same blood we are nourished with the same food we are refreshed with the same drink we are made one body under the same head but who hath ever seene the members of one and the same body to disagree to strive jarre or contend Cast out rancour pluck up hatred purge out the old leaven The faithfull under the Gospell must not be made of leaven The holy Banquet requires pure and sincere mindes The sweet savour that comes from Christs scorching upon the Crosse doth concoct all crudities of our carnall senses and doth harden and settle the affections of the minde nor let there bee any spot in the Sacrament of