had not hereby an interesse in the best of all Gods favours in the heaven of heavens and the eternity of that glory which is there laid up for his Saints far above the reach of all humane expressions or conceits It was the word of him who is the eternall word of his father Father I will that they also whom thou hast given mee be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me and not only to be meere spectators but even partners of this celestiall blisse together with himselfe The glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one Oh the transcendent and incomprehensible blessednesse of the beleevers which even when they enjoy they cannot be able to utter for measure infinite for duration eternall Oh the inexplicable joy of the ful everlasting accomplishment of the happy union of Christ the beleeving soule more fit for thankfull wonder and ravishment of Spirit then for any finite apprehension Now that we may looke a little further into the meanes by which this union is wrought Know my Sonne that as there are two persons betwixt whom this union is made Christ and the beleever so each of them concurres to the happy effecting of it Christ by his spirit diffused through the hearts of all the regenerate giving life and activity to them the beleever laying hold by faith upon Christ so working in him and these doe so re-act upon each other that from their mutuall operation results this gracious union whereof wee treat Here is a spirituall marriage betwixt Christ and the soule The liking of one part doth not make up the match but the consent of both To this purpose Christ gives his spirit the soule plights her faith What interesse have we in Christ but by his spirit what interesse hath Christ in us but by our faith On the one part He hath given us his holy Spirit saith the Apostle and in a way of correlation we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God And this spirit we have so received as that he dwells in us and so dwells in us as that we are joyned to the Lord and he that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit On the other part wee have accesse by faith into this grace wherein we stand and reioice in hope of the glory of God so as now the life that wee live in the flesh we live by the faith of the sonne of God who dwells in our hearts by faith O the grace of faith according to St. Peters style truly precious justly recommended to us by S. Paul above all other graces incident into the soule as that which if not alone yet chiefly transacts all the maine affaires tending to salvation for faith is the quickning grace the directing grace the protecting grace the establishing grace the justifying grace the sanctifying and purifying grace faith is the grate that assents to apprehends applyes appropriates Christ and hereupon the uniting grace and which comprehends all the saving grace If ever therefore we looke for any consolation in Christ or to have any part in this beatificall union it must be the maine care of our hearts to make sure of a lively faith in the Lord Jesus to lay fast hold upon him to clasp him close to us yea to receive him inwardly into our bosomes and so to make him ours and our selves his that we may be joyned to him as our head espoused to him as our husband incorporated into him as our nourishment engrafted in him as our stock and layd upon him as a sure foundation Hitherto wee have treated of this blessed union as in relation to Christ the head it remaines that we now consider of it as it stands in relation to the members of his mysticall body one towards another For as the body is united to the head so must the members be united to themselves to make the body truly compleat Thus the holy ghost by his Apostle As the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so is Christ. From this entire conjunction of the members with each other arises that happy communion of Saints which wee professe both to beleeve and to partake of This mysticall body of Christ is a large one extending it self both to heaven and earth there is a reall union betwixt all those farre-spred limmes betweene the Saints in heaven betweene the Saints on earth between the Saints in heaven and earth We have reason to begin at heaven thence is the originall of our union and blessednesse There was never place for discord in that region of glory since the rebellious Angels were cast out thence the spirits of just men made perfect must needs agree in a perfect unity neither can it be otherwise for there is but one will in heaven one scope of the desires of blessed souls w ch is the glory of their God all the whole chore sing one song and in that one harmonious tune of Allelujah We poor parcell-sainted souls here on earth professe to bend our eyes directly upon the same holy end the honour of our Maker and Redeemer but alas at our best we are drawn to look asquint at our own aims of profit or pleasure Wee professe to sing loud praises unto God but it is with many harsh and jarring notes above there is a perfect accordance in an unanimous glorifying of him that sits upon the throne for ever Oh how ye love the Lord all ye his Saints Oh how joyfull ye are in glory The heavens shall praise thy wonders O Lord thy faithfulnesse also in the congregation of the Saints O what a blessed Common-wealth is that above The City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem ever at unity within it selfe therin the innumerable company of Angels and the generall Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven the spirits of just men made perfect and whom they all adore God the judge of all and Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament All these as one as holy Those twenty thousand chariots of heaven move all one way When those four beasts full of eyes round about the throne give glory and honour and thanks to him that sits upon the throne saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come then the four and twenty Elders fall down before him and cast their crownes before the throne No one wears his crown whiles the rest cast down theirs all accord in one act of giving glory to the Highest After the sealing of the Tribes A great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the
have peace at the last ransack them thoroughly not contenting your selves with a perfunctory and fashionable over-sight which will one day leave you irremediably miserable but so search as those that resolve not to give over till you finde these gracious dispositions in your bosomes which I have here described to you so shall we be and make each other happy in the successe of our holy labours which the God of heaven blesse in both our hands to his own glory and our mutuall comfort in the day of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen THE CHRISTIAN THE Christian is a man and more an earthly Saint an Angel cloathed in flesh the onely lawfull image of his Maker and Redeemer the abstract of Gods Church on earth a modell of heaven made up in clay the living Temple of the holy Ghost For his disposition it hath in it as much of heaven as his earth may make room for He were not a man if he were quite free from corrupt affections but these he masters and keeps in with a strait hand and if at any time they grow resty and headstrong he breaks them with a severe discipline and will rather punish himself then not tame them Hee checks his appetite with discreet but strong denials and forbears to pamper nature lest it grow wanton and impetuous He walks on earth but converses in heaven having his eyes fixed on the invisible and enjoying a sweet communion with his God and Saviour Whiles all the rest of the world sits in darknesse he lives in a perpetuall light the heaven of heavens is open to none but him thither his eye pierceth and beholds those beams of inaccessible glory which shine in no face but his The deep mysteries of godlinesse which to the great Clerks of the world are as a book clasped and sealed up lye open before him fair and legible and whiles those book-men know whom they have heard of hee knowes whom he hath beleeved He will not suffer his Saviour to be ever out of his eye and if through some worldly interceptions he lose the sight of that blessed object for a time he zealously retrives him not without an angry check of his own mis-carriage and is now so much the more fixed by his former slackning so as he will henceforth sooner part with his soul then his Redeemer The tearmes of entirenesse wherein he stands with the Lord of life are such as he can feel but cannot expresse though hee should borrow the language of Angels it is enough that they two are one spirit His reason is willingly captivated to his faith his will to his reason and his affections to both He fears nothing that he sees in comparison of that which he sees not and displeasure is more dreadfull to him then smart Good is the adequate object of his love which he duly proportions according to the degrees of its eminence affecting the chiefe good not without a certaine ravishment of spirit the lesser with a wise and holy moderation Whether he do more hate sin or the evil spirit that suggests it is a question Earthly contentments are too mean grounds whereon to raise his joy these as hee baulks not whē they meet him in his way so he doth not too eagerly pursue he may taste of them but so as he had rather fast then surset He is not insensible of those losses w ch casualty or enmity may inflict but that w ch lyes most heavily upon his heart is his sin This makes his sleep short troublesome his meals stomacklesse his recreations listlesse his every thing tedious till he finde his soul acquitted by his great Surety in heaven which done he feels more peace and pleasure in his calm then he found horrour in the tempest His heart is the store-house of most precious graces That faith whereby his soul is established triumphs over the world wvether it allure or threaten and bids defiance to all the powers of darknesse not fearing to be foiled by any opposition His hope cannot be discouraged with the greatest difficulties but bears up against naturall impossibilities and knows how to reconcile contradictions His charity is both extensive and fervent barring out no one that bears the face of a man but pouring out it self upon the houshold of faith that studies good constructions of men and actions and keeps it self free both from suspicion and censure Grace doth not more exalt him then his humility depresses him Were it not for that Christ who dwels in him he could think himself the meanest of all creatures now he knows he may not disparage the Deity of him by whom he is so gloriously inhabited in whose only right he can be as great in his own thoughts as he is despicable in the eyes of the world He is wise to God-ward however it be with him for the world and well knowing he cannot serve two masters he cleaves to the better making choice of that good part which can never be taken from him not so much regarding to get that which he cannot keep as to possesse himself of that good which he cannot lose He is just in all his dealings with men hating to thrive by injury and oppression and will rather leave behinde something of his own then silch from anothers heap Hee is not close-fisted where there is just occasion of his distribution willingly parting with those metals which he regards onely for use not caring for either their colour or substance earth is to him no other then it self in what hiew so ever it appeareth In every good cause hee is bold as a Lion and can neither fear faces nor shrink at dangers and is rather heartned with opposition pressing so much the more where he findes a large door open and many adversaries and when he must suffer doth as resolutely stoop as he did before valiantly resist He is holily temperate in the use of all Gods blessings as knowing by whom they are given and to what end neither dares either to mis-lay them or to mis-spend them lavishly as duly weighing upon what tearms he receives them and fore-expecting an account Such an hand doth he carry upon his pleasures and delights that they run not away with him he knows how to slacken the reins without a debauched kind of dissolutenesse and how to straiten them without a sullen rigour He lives as a man that hath borrowed his time and challenges not to be an owner of it caring to spend the day in a gracious and well-governed thrift His first mornings task after he hath lifted up his heart to that God who gives his beloved sleep shall be to put himself into a due posture wherein to entertain himself and the whole day which shall be done if he shall effectually work his thoughts to a right apprehension of his God of himself of all that may concern him The true posture of a Christian then is this He sees still heaven open to him and beholds
of our souls we are readie to think of Christ Jesus as a stranger to us as one aloof off in another world apprehended onely by fits in a kind of ineffectuall speculation without any lively feeling of our own interesse in him whereas we ought by the powerfull operation of this grace in our hearts to finde so heavenly an appropriation of Christ to our souls as that every beleever may truly say I am one with Christ Christ is one with me Had we not good warrant for so high a challenge it could bee no lesse then a blasphemous arrogance to lay claim to the royall bloud of heaven but since it hath pleased the God of heaven so far to dignifie our unworthinesse as in the multitudes of his mercies to admit and allow us to be partakers of the divine nature it were no other then an unthankfull stupidity not to lay hold on so glorious a priviledge and to goe for lesse then God hath made us Know now my son that thou art upon the ground of all consolation to thy soul which consists in this beatificall union with thy God and Saviour think not therefore to passe over this important mystery with some transient and perfunctory glances but let thy heart dwell upon it as that which must stick by thee in all extremities and chear thee up when thou art forsaken of all worldly comforts Doe not then conceive of this union as some imaginary thing that hath no other beeing but in the braine whose faculties have power to apprehend and bring home to it self far remote substances possessing it self in a sort of whatsoever it conceives Doe not think it an union meerly virtuall by the participation of those spirituall gifts and graces which God worketh in the soul as the comfortable effects of our happy conjunction with Christ Doe not think it an accidentall union in respect of some circumstances and qualities wherein we communicate with him who is God and man nor yet a metaphoricall union by way of figurative resemblance but know that this is a true reall essentiall substantiall union whereby the person of the beleever is indissolubly united to the glorious person of the Son of God know that this union is not more mysticall then certain that in naturall unions there may bee more evidence there cannot be more truth neither is there so firm and close an union betwixt the soul body as there is betwixt Christ and the beleeving soul for as much as that may be severed by death but this never Away yet with all grosse carnality of conceit this union is true and really existent but yet spirituall and if some of the Ancients have tearm'd it naturall and bodily it hath been in respect of the subject united our humanity to the two blessed natures of the Son of God met in one most glorious person not in respect of the manner of the uniting Neither is it the lesse reall because spirituall Spirituall agents neither have nor put forth any whit lesse vertue because sense cannot discern their manner of working Even the Loadstone though an earthen substance yet when it is out of sight whether under the Table or behinde a solid partition stirreth the needle as effectually as if it were within view shall not hee contradict his senses that will say it cannot work because I see it not Oh Saviour thou art more mine then my body is mine my sense feels that present but so as that I must lose it my faith sees and feels thee so present with mee that I shall never be parted from thee There is no resemblance whereby the Spirit of God more delights to set forth the heavenly union betwixt Christ and the beleever then that of the head and the body The head gives sense and motion to all the members of the body And the body is one not onely by the continuity of all the parts held together with the same naturall ligaments and covered with one and the same skin but much more by the animation of the same soul quickning that whole frame in the acting whereof it is not the large extent of the stature and distance of the lims from each other that can make any difference The body of a child that is but a span long cannot bee said to be more united then the vast body of a giantly son of Anak whose height is as the Cedars and if we could suppose such a body as high as heaven it self that one soul which dwels in it and is diffused through all the parts of it would make it but one entire body Right so it is with Christ and his Church That one Spirit of his which dwels in and enlives every beleever unites all those far-distant members both to each other and to their head and makes them up into one true mysticall body So as now every true beleever may without presumption but with all holy reverence and all humble thankfulnesse say to his God and Saviour Behold Lord I am how unworthy soever one of the lims of thy body and therefore have a right to all that thou hast to all that thou doest Thine eye sees for me thine ear hears for me thine hand acts for me Thy life thy grace thy happinesse is mine Oh the wonder of the two blessed unions In the personall union it pleased God to assume and unite our humane nature the Deitie In the spirituall and mysticall it pleases God to unite the person of every beleever to the person of the Son of God Our souls are too narrow to blesse God enough for these incomprehensible mercies Mercies wherein he hath preferred us be it spoken with all godly lowlinesse to the blessed Angels of heaven For verily he took not upon him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham Neither hath he made those glorious spirits members of his mysticall body but his saints whom he hath as it were so incorporated that they are become his body and he theirs according to that of the divine Apostle For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ. Next hereunto there is no resemblance of this mystery either more frequent or more full of lively expression then that of the conjugall union betwixt the husband and wife Christ is as the head so the husband of the Church The Church and every beleeving soul is the Spouse of this heavenly Bridegroom whom hee marrieth unto himselfe for ever in righteousnesse and in judgement and in loving kindnesse and in mercies and this match thus made up fulfils that decretive word of the Almighty They twain shal be one flesh O happy conjunction of the second Adam with her which was taken out of his most precious side Oh heavenly and compleat marriage wherein God the Father brings and gives the Bride All that the Father giveth me shall come
are enlightned by his vvisdome justified by his merits sanctified by his grace are yet conflicting vvith manifold temptations and strugling with varieties of miseries and dangers till upon their happy death and glorious resurrection they shall be fully freed by their ever-blessed and victorious Redeemer He therefore vvho by vertue of that heavenly union is made unto us of God Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification is also upon the same ground made unto us our full Redemption Redemption implies a captivity We are naturally under the vvofull bondage of the Law of sin of miseries of death The Law is a cruell exactor for it requires of us vvhat vvee cannot now doe and vvhips us for not doing it for the Law worketh wrath and as many as are of the workes of the Law are under the curse Sinne is a vvorse tyrant then he and takes advantage to exercise his cruelty by the Law For when we were in the flesh the motions of sins which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Upon sinne necessarily follows misery the forerunner of death and death the upshot of all miseries By one man sinne entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned From all these is Christ our Redemption from the Law for Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us From sin for we are dead to sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace From death and therein from all miseries O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now then let the Lavv doe his vvorst we are not under the Law but under Grace The case therefore is altered betwixt the Law and us It is not now a cruell Task-master to beat us to and for our vvork it is our School-master to direct and to whip us unto Christ It is not a severe Judge to condemne us it is a friendly guide to set us the vvay towards heaven Let sin joyn his forces together vvith the Law they cannot prevail to our hurt For what the Law could not doe in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his owne Son in the likenesse of sinfull flesh condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Let death joyn his forces vvith them both vve are yet safe For the Law of the spirit of life hath freed us from the Law of sin and of death What can vve therefore fear vvhat can vve suffer vvhiles Christ is made our Redemption Finally as thus Christ is made unto us Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification Redemption so whatsoever else he either is or hath or doth by vertue of this blessed union becomes ours he is our riches our strength our glory our salvation our all he is all to us and all is ours in him From these primary and intrinsecal priviledges therefore flow all those secondary and externall vvherewith vve are blessed and therein a right to all the blessings of God both of the right hand and of the left an interesse in all the good things both of earth and heaven Hereupon it is that the glorious Angels of Heaven become our Guardians keeping us in all our ways and vvorking secretly for our good upon all occasions that all Gods creatures are at our service that we have a true spirituall title to them All things are yours saith the Apostle and ye are Christs and Christ Gods But take heed my son of mis-laying thy claime to what and in what manner thou ought'st not There is a civill right that must regulate our propriety to these earthly things our spirituall right neither gives us possession of them nor takes away the right and propriety of others Every man hath and must have what by the just Lawes of purchase gift or inheritance is derived to him otherwise there would follow an infinite confusion in the world we could neither enjoy nor give our owne and onely will and might must be the arbiters of all mens estates which how unequall it would be both reason and experience can sufficiently evince This right is not for the direption or usurpation of that which civill titles have legally put over to others there were no theft no robbery no oppression in the world if any mans goods might be every mans But for the warrantable and comfortable injoying of those earthly commodities in regard of God their originall owner which are by humane convciances justly become ours The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse of it in his right what ever parcells doe lawfully descend unto us we may justly possesse as we have them legally made over to us from the secondary and immediate owners There is a generation of men who have vainly fancied the founding of Temporall dominion in Grace and have upon this mistaking outed the true heyres as intruders and feoffed the just and godly in the possession of wicked inheritors which whether they be worse Commonwealths-men or Christians is to me utterly uncertaine sure I am they are enemies to both whiles on the one side they destroy all civill propriety and commerce and on the other retch the extent of the power of Christianity so far as to render it injurious and destructive both to reason and to the Lawes of all well-ordred humanity Nothing is ours by injury and injustice all things are so ours that we may with a good conscience enjoy them as from the hand of a munificent God when they are rightfully estated upon us by the lawfull convention or bequest of men In this regard it is that a Christian man is the Lord of the whole universe and hath a right to the whole creation of God how can he challenge lesse he is a son and in that an heire and according to the high expression of the holy ghost a co-heir with Christ As therefore we may not be high-minded but fear so we may not be too low-harted in the under-valuing of our condition In God we are great now mean soever in our selves In his right the world is ours what ever pittance we enjoy in our owne how can we goe lesse when we are one with him who is the possessour of heaven and earth It were but a poore comfort to us if by vertue of this union wee could only lay claime to all earthly things alas how vaine and transitory are the best of these perishing under our hand in the very use of them and in the meane while how unsatisfying in the fruition All this were nothing if we
and counted the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing how had I in some sort done despight unto the spirit of grace yet even then in despight of all my most odious unworthinesse didst thou spread abroad thine arms to receive me yea thou openedst thine heart to let me in O love passing not knowledge onely but wonder also O mercy not incident into any thing lesse then infinite nor by any thing lesse comprehensible But oh dear Lord when from the object of thy mercy I cast mine eyes upon the effects and improvement of thy divine favours and see what thy love hath drawn from thee towards the sons of men how am I lost in a just amazement It is that which fetcht thee down from the glory of the highest heavens from the bosome of thine eternall Father to this lower world the region of sorrow and death It is that which to the wonder of Angels cloathed thee with this flesh of ours and brought thee who thoughtst it no robbery to be equall with God to an estate lower then thine own creatures Oh mercy transcending the admiration of all the glorious spirits of heaven that God would bee incarnate Surely that all those celestiall powers should be redacted to either worms or nothing that all this goodly frame of creation should run back into its first confusion or be reduced to one single atome it is not so high a wonder as for God to become man those changes though the highest that nature is capable of are yet but of things finite this is of an infinite subject with which the most excellent of finite things can hold no proportion Oh the great mystery of godlinesse God manifested in the flesh and seen of Angels Those heavenly spirits had ever since they were made seen his most glorious Deity and adored him as their omnipotent Creator but to see that God of spirits invested with flesh was such a wonder as had been enough if their nature could have been capable of it to have astonished even glory it self And whether to see him that was their God so humbled below themselves or to see humanity thus advanced above themselves were the greater wonder to them they onely know It was your foolish misprison O ye ignorant Listrians that you took the servants for the Master here onely is it verified which you supposed that God is come down to us in the likenesse of man and as man conversed with men What a disparagement doe wee think it was for the great Monarch of Babylon for seven years together as a beast to converse with the beasts of the field Yet alas beasts and men are fellow-creatures made of one earth drawing in the same ayre returning for their bodily part to the same dust symbolizing in many qualities and in some mutually transcending each others so as here may seem to bee some tearms of a tolerable proportion sith many men are in disposition too like unto beasts and some beasts are in outward shape somewhat like unto men But for him that was and is God blessed for ever eternall infinite incomprehensible to put on flesh and to become a man amongst mē was to stoop below al possible disparities that heaven and earth can afford Oh Saviour the lower thine abasement was for us the higher was the pitch of thy divine love to us Yet in this our humane condition there are degrees One rules and glitters in all earthly glory another sits despised in the dust one passes the time of his life in much jollity and pleasure another wears out his days in sorrow and discontentment Blessed Jesu since thou wouldst be a man why wouldst thou not be the King of men since thou wouldst come down to our earth why wouldst thou not enjoy the best entertainment that the earth could yeeld thee Yea since thou who art the eternall Son of God wouldst be the son of man why didst thou not appear in a state like to the King of heaven attended with the glorious retinue of blessed Angels O yet greater wonder of mercies The same infinite love that brought thee down to the form of man would also bring thee down being man to the form of a servant So didst thou love man that thou wouldst take part with him of his misery that he might take part with thee of thy blessednesse thou wouldst be poor to enrich us thou wouldst be burdened for our ease tempted for our victory despised for our glory With what lesse then ravishment of spirit can I behold thee who wert from everlasting cloathed with glory and majesty wrapped in rags thee who fillest heaven and earth with the majesty of thy glory cradled in a manger thee who art the God of power fleeing in thy mothers arms from the rage of a weak man thee who art the God of Israel driven to be nursed out of the bosome of thy Church thee who madest the heaven of heavens busily working in the homely trade of a foster-father thee who commandest the Devils to their chains transported and tempted by that foul spirit thee who art God all-sufficient exposed to hunger thirst wearines danger contēpt poverty revilings scourgings persecution thee who art the just Judge of all the world accused and condemned thee who art the Lord of life dying upon the tree of shame and curse thee who art the eternall Son of God strugling with thy Fathers wrath thee who hadst said I and my Father are one sweating drops of bloud in thine agony and crying out on the Crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me thee who hast the keys of hell and of death lying sealed up in another mans grave Oh Saviour whither hath thy love to mankinde carried thee what sighs and groans and tears and blood hast thou spent upon us wretched men How dear a price hast thou paid for our ransome What raptures of spirit can be sufficient for the admiration of thy so infinite mercy Be thou swallowed up O my soul in this depth of divine love and hate to spend thy thoughts any more upon the base objects of this wretched world when thou hast such a Saviour to take them up But O blessed Jesu if from what thou hast suffered for me I shall cast mine eyes upon what thou hast done for my soul how is my heart divided betwixt the wonders of both and may as soon tell how great either of them is as whether of them is the greater It is in thee that I was elected from all eternity and ordained to a glorious inheritance before there was a world we are wont O God to marvell at and blesse thy provident beneficence to the first man that before thou wouldst bring him forth into the world thou wert pleased to furnish such a world for him so goodly an house over his head so pleasant a Paradise under his feet such variety of creatures round about him for his subjection and attendance But how should I magnifie thy mercy who before
that man or that world had any beeing hast so far loved me as to pre-ordain me to a place of blessedness in that heaven which should be and to make me a co-heir with my Christ of thy glory And oh what an heaven is this that thou hast laid out for me how resplendent how transcendently glorious Even that lower Paradise which thou providedst for the harbour of innocence and holinesse was full of admirable beauty pleasure magnificence but if it be compared with this Paradise above which thou hast prepared for the everlasting entertainment of restored souls how mean and beggerly it was Oh match too unequall of the best peece of earth with the highest state of the heaven of heavens In that earthly Paradise I finde thine Angels the Cherubim but it was to keep man off from that Garden of Delight and from the tree of life in the midst of it but in this heavenly one I finde millions of thy Cherubim and Seraphim rejoycing at mans blessednesse and welcomming the glorified souls to their heaven There I finde but the shadow of that whereof the substance is here There we were so possessed of life that yet we might forfait it here is life without all possibility of death Temptation could finde accesse thither here is nothing but a free and compleat fruition of blessednesse There were delights fit for earthly bodies here is glory more then can be enjoyed of blessed souls That was watered with four streams muddy and impetuous in this is the pure river of the water of life clear as Crystall proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb There I finde thee onely walking in the cool of the day here manifesting thy Majesty continually There I see onely a most pleasant Orchard set with all manner of varieties of flourishing and fruitfull plants here I finde also the City of God infinitely rich and magnificent the building of the wall of it of Jasper and the City it selfe pure gold like unto cleare glasse and the foundations of the wall garnished with all manner of precious stones All that I can here attain to see is the pavement of thy celestiall habitation and Lord how glorious it is how bespangled with glittering starres for number for magnitude equally admirable What is the least of them but a world of light and what are all of them but a confluence of so many thousand worlds of beauty and brightnesse met in one firmament And if this floor of thine heavenly Palace be thus richly set forth oh how infinite glory and magnificence must there needs be within Thy chosen Vessell that had the priviledge to be caught up thither and to see that divine state whether with bodily or mentall eyes can expresse it no otherwise then that it cannot possibly be expressed No Lord it were not infinite if it could bee uttered Thoughts goe beyond words yet even these come far short also He that saw it says Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Yet is thy love O Saviour so much more to bee magnified of me in this purchased glory when I cast down mine eyes and look into that horrible gulf of torment and eternall death whence thou hast rescued my poor soul Even out of the greatest contentment which this world is capable to afford unto mankind to be preferred to the joys of heavē is an unconceivable advantage but from the depth of misery to be raised up unto the highest pitch of felicity addes so much more to the blessing as the evill from which we are delivered is more intolerable Oh blessed Jesu what an hell is this out of which thou hast freed me what dreadfull horror is here what darknesse what confusion what anguish of souls that would and cannot die what howling and yelling and shrieking and gnashing what everlasting burnings what never slaking tortures what mercilesse fury of unweariable tormentors what utter despair of any possibility of release what exquisitenesse what infinitenesse of paines that cannot yet must be endured Oh God if the impotent displeasure of weake men have devised so subtile engines of revenge upon their fellow-mortals for but petty offences how can wee but think thine infinite justice and wisdome must have ordained such forms and ways of punishment for hainous sins done against thee as may be answerable to the violation of thy divine Majesty Oh therefore the most fearfull and deplored condition of damned spirits never to be ended never to be abated Oh those unquenchable flames Oh that burning Tophet deep and large and those streams of brimstone wherewith it is kindled Oh that worm ever gnawing and tearing the heart never dying never sated Oh ever-living death oh ever renuing torments oh never pitied never intermitted damnation From hence O Saviour from hence it is that thou hast fetcht up my condemned soul This is the place this is the state out of which thou hast snatcht me up into thy heaven Oh love and mercy more deep then those depths from which thou hast saved me more high then that heaven to which thou hast advanced me Now whereas in my passage from this state of death towards the fruition of immortall glory I am way-laid by a world of dangers partly through my own sinfull aptnesse to miscarriages and partly through the assaults of my spirituall enemies how hath thy tender love and compassion ô blessed Jesu undertaken to secure my soul from all these deadly perils both without and within without by the guardance of thy blessed Angels within by the powerfull inoperation of thy good Spirit which thou hast given me Oh that mine eyes could be opened with Elishaes servant that I might see those troops of heavenly soldiers those horses and chariots of fire wherewith thou hast encompassed mee every one of which is able to chase away a whole host of the powers of darknes Who am I Lord who am I that upon thy gracious appointment these glorious spirits should still watch over me in mine uprising and down lying in my going out and comming in that they should bear me in their arms that they should shield me with their protection Behold such is their majesty and glory that some of thy holiest servants have hardly been restrained from worshipping them yet so great is thy love to man as that thou hast ordained them to be ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Surely they are in nature far more excellent then man as being spirituall substances pure intelligences meet to stand before the throne of thee the King of glory What a mercy then is this that thou who wouldst humble thy self to be lower then they in the susception of our nature art pleased to humble them in their offices to the guardianship of man so far as to call them the Angels of thy little ones upon earth How hast thou
admires the light inaccessible he sees the all-glorious God ever before him the Angels of God about him the evill spirits aloofe off enviously groyning and repining at him the world under his feet willing to rebell but forced to be subject the good creatures ready to render their service to him and is accordingly affected to all these he sees heaven open with joy and desire of fruition he sees God with an adoring awfulnesse he sees the Angels with a thankfull acknowledgement and care not to offend them he sees the evill spirits with hatred and watchfull indignation he sees the world with an holy imperiousnesse commanding it for use and scorning to stoop to it for observance Lastly he sees the good creatures with gratulation and care to improve them to the advantage of him that lent them Having thus gathered up his thoughts and found where he is he may now be fit for his constant devotion which he fals upon not without a trembling veneration of that infinite and incomprehensible Majesty before whom he is prostraâ—e now he climbes up into that heaven which he before did but behold and solemnly pours out his soul in hearty thanksgivings and humble supplications into the bosome of the Almighty wherein his awe is so tempered with his faith that whiles he labours under the sense of his own vilenesse he is raised up in the confidence of an infinite mercy now he renues his feeling interest in the Lord Jesus Christ his blessed Redeemer and labours to get in every breath new pledges of his gracious entirenesse so seasoning his heart with these earely thoughts of piety as that they stick by him all the day after Having thus begun with his God and begg'd his blessing he now finds time to addresse himself to the works of his calling To live without any vocation to live in an unwarrantable vocation not to labour in the vocation wherein he lives are things which his soul hateth These businesses of his calling therefore he follows with a willing and contented industry not as forced to it by the necessary of human Laws or as urged by the Law of necessity out of the sense or fear of want nor yet contrarily out of an eager desire of enriching himself in his estate but in a conscionable obedience to that God who hath made man to labour as the sparks to flye upward and hath laid it upon him both as a punishment and charge In the sweat of thy browes shalt thou eat thy bread In an humble alacrity he walks on in the way wherein his God hath set him yet not the while so intent upon his hands as not to tend his heart which he lifts up in frequent ejaculations to that God to whom he desires to be approved in all his endevours ascribing all the thanks both of his ability and successe to that omnipotent hand If he meet with any rubs of difficulty in his way hee knows who sent them and who can remove them not neglecting any prudentiall means of remedy he is not to seek for an higher redresse If he have occasion of trading with others his will may not be the rule of his gain but his conscience neither dares he strive for what he can get but what he ought Equity is here the Clerk of the Market and the measure w ch he would have others mete out to himself is the standard whereby he desires to be tryed in his mensurations to all other He hates to hoise prices upon occasion of his neighbours need to take the advantage of forfaits by the clock He is not such a slave to his trade as not to spare an hour to his soul neither dares be so lavish as utterly to neglect his charge upon whatever pretence of pleasure or devotion Shortly he takes his work at the hand of God and leaves it with him humbly offering up his services to his great Master in heaven and after all his labour sits comfortably down in the conscience of having faithfully done his task though not without the intervention of many infirmities His recreations for even these humane frailty will sometimes call for are such as may be meet relaxations to a minde over-bent and a body tired with honest and holy employments safe inoffensive and for time and measure fitly proportioned to the occasion like unto soft musick betwixt two long and stirring Acts like unto some quick and savory sauce to a listlesse and cloyed stomach like unto a sweet nap after an over-watching He is farre from those delights that may effeminate or corrupt the minde abhorring to sit by those pleasures from which he shall not rise better He hates to turn pastime into trade not abiding to spend more time in whetting then till his edge be sharp In the height of his delectations he knows to enjoy God from whom as he fetches his allowance so he craves and expects a gracious acceptation even when he lets himself most loose And if at any time he have gone beyond his measure he chides himself for the excesse and is so much the more carefull ever after to keep within compasse He can onely make a kinde of use of those contentments with light mindes are transported and can manage his disports without passion and leave a loser without regret A smile to him is as much as a loud laughter to the worldling neither doth he entertain mirth as his ordinary attendant but as his retainer to wait upon his serious occasions and finally so rejoyceth as if he rejoyced not His meals are such as nature requires and grace moderates not pinching himself with a penurious riggardlinesse nor pampering his flesh with a wanton excesse His palate is the least part of his care so as his fare may be wholesome he stands not upon delicacy He dares not put his hand to the dish till he have lookt up to the owner and hates to put one morsell into his mouth unblessed and knows it his duty to give thanks for what he hath paid for as well considering that neither the meat that he eats nor the hand and mouth that receives it nor the mawe that digests it nor the metall that buyes it is of his own making And now having fed his belly not his eye he rises from his board satisfied not glutted and so bestirs himself upon his calling as a man not more unwieldy by his repast but more chearfull and as one that would be loth his gut should be any hindrance to his brain or to his hand If he shall have occasion to entertain himself and his friends more liberally he dares not lose himself in his feast he can be soberly merry and wisely free onely in this he is willing not to be his own man in that he gives himself for the time to his guests His Cator is friendly thrift and Temperance keeps the boards end and carves to every one the best measure of enough As for his own diet when he is invited to a