bring forth much fruit Upon a sudden Drought 22. Med. WHen I had digged manured sown and fenced my garden and done what lay in me to do and began from the hopefull springing up of the seed to have comfortable hopes of a plentifull encrease and began to rejoyce in the works of my hands behold an unexpected judgement fell upon it for God withheld the showers of rain and restrain'd the influence of heaven and caused that it should not rain upon the earth and the clouds which were wont to drop fatness and by which God was used to open his treasure and to give a blessing to his people Deut. 28.12 now proved empty clouds promising much but paying nothing hereupon the earth languished and could not nourish what she had brought forth for though she had not a miscarrying womb yet had she dry breasts so that hearbs and flowers yea the grass of the field languished hanged down the head withered and died and their beauty faded away as mans will if he want food as we may see Lam. 4.7 8. Her Nazarites were purer then snow they were whiter then milk they were more ruddy in body then rubies their polishing was of saphire their visage is blacker then a coal they are not known in the street their skin cleaveth to their bones it is withered and is become like a stick c. This providence made me consider how vain and fruitless all our endeavours are either for this life or that to come if God succeed them not with his blessing and that all the men that live upon the face of the earth had they joined with their united counsels with policy and power they could not have removed this judgement had they taken in all the gods of the heathens to assist them Can any of the vanities of the gentiles give rain Jer. 14.22 it is in vain to hope for salvation from the hills or from the mountains in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel When God blows upon our creature-comforts they vanish and prove unsatisfying Haggai 1.9 ye looked for much and lo it came to little and when ye brought it home I did blow upon it c. ye have sown much and bring in little ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but you are not filled with drink ye cloath you but there is none warm and he that earneth wages putteth it into a bag with holes ver 6. the earth cannot bring forth without the influence of heaven and these cannot be had without a commission from God Jer. 14.22 Can the heavens give showers art not thou he O Lord our God therefore we wait upon thee for thou hast made all these things It is he that cloatheth the heavens with blackness Isay 50.3 Hose 2.21.22 I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyle and they shall hear Jezreel but when God refuseth to hear all others cry in vain they may all say as the King of Israel to the woman that cryed to him 2 Kin. 6.26 if the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee out of the barn floors or out of the wine-press yet how doth vain man reckon without his host and promise himself a plentifull encrease and much happiness in the enjoyment of it like the fool in the Gospel Luk. 12.16 c. when the event ofttimes proves otherwise if their designe succeed as sometimes it doth for all things fall alike to all as to the good so to the bad the sun shines upon the just and the unjust they give not the glory to God but sacrifice to their own nets and burn incense to their drags Hab. 1.16 they think their own arm saveth them and their own wisdom and endeavours enricheth them they are like the king of Assyria that said Isai 10.13 by the strength of my hand I have done it and by my wisdome for I am prudent but what had all my labour profited me or what good would theirs have done them if God had not given rain I went yet further in my consideration of the great mercy and benefit of water without which it were impossible that man or beast or fish or foul or hearb or plant or any other creature sensitive or vegetable should live or prosper and wondred at my own and others stupidity that we took so little notice of the mercy and gave God so little thanks for it but this mercy was more prized by the ancient by Israel in the wilderness by Jacob yea by Ahab 1 Kin. 18.5 And Ahab said to Obadiah go into the land unto all fountains of water and unto all brooks peradventure we may finde grass to save the horses and the mules alive and they divided the land between them c. When I had a while considered of these things I raised my Meditation a little higher and considered if rain were so refreshing to the thirsty earth and so necessary for the fruits thereof what was the dew of heaven to the poor soul without it all the Ordinances would prove of little use and all the sowing planting and manuring would signifie little the soul under those enjoyments would be like the heath of the desart that sees not when good comes what cause then have we to depend upon God for the one and for the other oh my soul are thy endeavors crost and thy labour lost learn to depend upon God for the time to come concern not thy self overmuch in the world if it smile upon thee let it not steal away thy affection if it frown on thee trouble not at it for these things are at the dispose of thy father and he mindes thy good use diligence and providence because they are commanded duties but beware of murmuring and repining because they are forbidden sins when thou hast gone as far as thou canst leave the success to God and whatever the issue be acquiesce in his will if thy endeavours be blasted think it was best they should be so because God thought thus if he succeed them bless him if he cross them bless him also The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away saith Job blessed be the name of the Lord seek not great things in the world expect no more then God hath promised lest if they fall short of expectation thou be discouraged hast thou neither poverty nor riches but food convenient this was Agars petition hast thou food and rayment the Apostle was therewith content But for the soul thou must not take up with a small portion labour after the highest pitch of godliness and content not thy self with a low frame of spirit be as covetous for grace as others are for gold use the means diligently but trust not to the means though Paul and Apollo's may plant and water it is God gives the encrease he only can speak to the heart and say to thy sins die and to thy soul live oh my
cast into the oven Mat. 6.30 what sweetness then is in the creator that breathed this sweetness into them is not he much more sweet and delightfull and why dost thou not place thy affections upon him that is altogether lovely Cant. 5.16 wholly desirable Moses thought him so when he preferred the reproach of Christ the heaviest piece of his cross better then all the treasures in Egypt all the excellencies here below are but the shadow and he is the substance they are but a drop to this ocean a ray to this sun and a spark to this fire Why wilt thou go to the puddle that maist go to the fountain-head and take up with a handfull of muck that maist have a handfull of angels taste and see how sweet God is he is sweetness it self thou that so admirest these vanishing flowers whose beauty suddenly is changed for deformity why wilt thou not be enamoured upon perfect beauty the sun the moon and stars are darksome spots in comparison of the beauty that is in him he is white and ruddy the chief of ten thousands his head is as the most fine gold c. Cant. 5.10.11 red and white shews a perfect symmetry a sound and sure complexion and constitution thou speakest of pleasures but at his right hand are pleasures for evermore all earthly enjoyments yield little content small pleasure and delight there is a pound of sorrow for an ounce of pleasure and those also are but bitter sweet pleasures but with him are satisfying pleasures unmixed delights yea the image of God in the hearts of his people is a thousand times a more perfect beauty then the world affords and the graces of the spirit in the garden of their souls as they shew a more perfect beauty so they yield a more fragrant savour and sweeter smell then all the flowers in the world can do to a spiritual sence here is an orchard of Pomegranats and all pleasant fruit camphire and spicknard spicknard and saffron Calamus and cynamon and all trees of frankincense myrrhe and aloes and all chief spices Cant. 4.14 15. see how precious God accounts the graces of his people which here are likened to these precious things here mentioned they smell sweet in the nostrills of God and man yea the word of God and his Ordinances these were sweeter to David then honey and the honey-comb better then thousands of gold and silver Psal 19.10 and to Job better then his appointed food and are none of these taking with thee is there more true worth in a handfull of flowers that will not please thee from morning till night then in those never-ending never-fading pleasures here presented to thee heaven and earth may stand amazed at thy folly oh my soul wallow not in the mire delight not thy self with the swine in swill when thou maist have better and more dainty food feed not upon husks when thou maist have bread enough in thy fathers house grasp not after the shadow when thou maist have the substance or with the dog in the fable lose not the substance to catch at the shadow despise peebles that thou maist have pearls lay not out money for that which is not bread nor thy labour for that which profiteth not when wine and milk are offered without money and without price Esay 55.12 fill not thy vessel with water that it can hold no wine these outward things may be of use to us but must not be abused by us though they cannot make us happy yet they can point us out where happiness may be had and happy is that soul that can with the bee gather honey from hearbs and flowers there is not the most contemptible creature that breathes nor the most despicable vegetable that lives nor the poorest thing that exists nay nothing in rerum natura but hath a finger to point us to God a fly or flea or leaf of a tree or grass-pile or if any thing be more contemptible will tell us whence they had their being and any or all of these may teach us some lessons for our instruction yea the devil which is the grand enemy to mankinde yet by this heavenly alchymy of divine Meditation may be made nourishment to the soul as of the vipers flesh may be made a soveraign antidote against the vipers sting yea it is possible to extract heaven out of hell and God out of the creature and surely that must needs be a fat soul that feeds in so many fat pastures oh my God keep my affections from closing with these earthly enjoyments and teach me the heavenly art of improving them and drawing out the spirits of them And as commonly they are snares and nets and hurtful to the soul Lord assist me that they may prove beneficiall to it let mine affections close with thee and then I need not fear falling into these snares Upon hearbs withering in a dry season 26. Med. WHen I beheld the hearbs and flowers yea the grass of the field also in a dry season how they fainted and flag'd and hang'd the head for lack of moisture the earth being not able to give them a supply without further assistance It brought to my minde how necessary a blessing from heaven was to our enjoyments upon earth and how vain these things would prove if God did but blow upon them and how foolish those men were that depended upon their own industry and promised themselves great matters like the fool in the Gospel Luk. 12.16 when they often finde such reckoning is without their host he we finde in the midst of his jolity like a Jay was pruning himself in the boughs and came tumbling down with the arrow in his side his glass was run as one saith when he thought it was but new turned he was shot with the boult when he gazed on the bow this was he that trusted in his riches and was not rich to God he had indeed abundance but it signified little to him but many men promise themselves plenty and never come to enjoy it how necessary is our dependance upon God for our dayly bread the greatest of us have no assurance of it neither is any exempted from seeking it daily at the hands of God I saw then that that promise was not in vain which God had made Hose 2.21 22. I will hear the heavens and the heavens shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel for though the people should cry to the corn and to the wine for relief and the corn and wine should cry to the earth for nourishment and the earth should cry to the heavens for showers and the heavens should cry to God for a commission if God should deny that petition all the prayers of the other would signify nothing the creatures have no more then what God puts into them If God give not rain the creatures must languish and the earth fail the earth must
thou provided another habitation against this shall be disolved and moulder into dust when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved hast thou a building not made with hands but eternal in the heavens hast thou acted thy part well upon the stage of the world that thou maist go off with applause â—f not … s better thou hadst not been born for if death meet thee unprepared as thy body moulders into dust so must thou down to everlasting darkness there to suffer eternally the demerit of thy sin Oh my God! take me not away before I be fit to be lodged in thy bosome kill me not before my sin be killed if any thing that is necessary be wanting Lord give it in and let me not be deceived in so great a thing as the salvation of my soul Let my sins die and let my soul live Let me see the funeral of my vices before others see the funeral of my body Vpon a Tuft of green Grass 3. Med. WAlking into the Garden as at other times to take the ayr I fastened my eyes upon a green tuft of grass that grew besides me the sight of it brought to my remembrance what I had often heard and read viz. that the damned in hell should suffer exquisite torments such as the tongue of men or angels are not able to express and that for as many millions of years as there are grass-piles upon the earth sands on the sea shoar stars in heaven and motes in the Sun and yet after all this long tract of time their torments shall be no nearer to an end nor they to a delivery then they were the first day they were cast in This made me a little to consider the number of piles that was in this little tuft and when I found it too hard for me to number them I considered what was this tuft to one pasture or that to one Parish or that to one County or that to one Kingdome or that to the whole world this made me to cry out Oh Eternity Eternity who can conceive of thee who can fathom thee Oh the horrible nature of sin that provokes a mercifull God to lay such heavy strokes upon his poor creatures Oh the love and pains of our dear Redeemer what did he suffer to quench those flames and discharge those debts for his people in suffering what was due for their sins and oh the madness of men and my own folly that knowing there is such a remediless gulf before us run on so madly towards it and that for momentary pleasures deceitfull riches worthless honour or filthy sin do venture the soul upon the pikes of danger Oh the misery of poor unregenerate wretches what will you do in the latter end who amongst us shall dwell with devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burning Esay 33.14 Tophet is prepared of old even for the King it is prepared the pile thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone doth kindle it Esaiah 30.33 Were a man compelled to lie upon a feather bed but one year without turning or stirring though other comforts were afforded how painful how tedious would that year seem but what is this one year to eternity or what is a featherbed to scalding lead and burning brimstone or what is that to hell torments Oh Satan how dost thou deceive us Oh world how dost thou insnare us Oh sin how dost thou bewitch us Oh heart how dost thou betray us to this deadly danger Oh earth how dost thou betray thy fastest friends and payest them off with pains for pleasure and buyest their souls for a thing of naught Oh Satan who would be thy servant if this be thy wages and yet how many fish come to thy net and how prosperous hast thou been when thou hast baited thy hooks with the world Oh my soul is Eternity such a fathomless gulf without bank or bottom how stands the case with thee art thou for everlasting joy or endless torment what interest hast thou in the one or what hopes to avoid the other what hast thou that a hypocrite cannot have or what dost thou that he cannot do God surely expects great difference in the work when there is so much in the reward give thy eyes no sleep nor thy eye-lids no slumber till thou hast some comfortable assurance of the love of God in the pardon of thy sins and the salvation of thy soul make peace with thy Creditour before thou art cast into prison otherwise there must thou remain till thou hast paid the utmost farthing If death surprize thee before thou art ready hell will be thy lodging get oyl trim up thy lamp get on thy wedding-garment that thou be not shut out into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth Oh my God! make me such as thy own soul delights in give me in the qualifications thou hast made necessary to Salvation thou knowest my wants Lord supply them my debts oh forgive them my corruptions Lord subdue them and binde up my soul in the bundle of life write my name in thy book and at last lay me up amongst thy Jewels Vpon a barren plat of ground 4. Med. WHen I perceived one plot in my garden fruitful and another barren and observed the difference between the one and the other how lovely how amiable how pleasant the fruitful plat seemed to me how fresh and fragrant how green and ardent it was how it was diapred with various coloured flowers beautiful and lovely and how lothsome unseemly and unhandsome the other lookt where nothing appeared but briars and thorns weeds and thistles with stones and rubbish which was a fit receptacle for toads and serpents and other venemous vermine I began to consider it was yet possible to reduce this plot into a better form and turn it to a better use And hereupon I caused the rubbish to be stockt up the weeds to be pluckt up and the stones pickt out and after I digged and manured it and had an effect answerable to my expectation for when it was sown with better seed it brought forth better fruit The unlovelinesse of this plot when overgrown with weeds and rubbish produced this following Meditation I thought it lively represented a heart barren of grace and goodnesse but fruitfull of briars and thorns sin and wickednesse which is more odious to God then this plot was to me and yet how lovely a fruit bearing Christian is in his eye the one is like a loathsome muck-heap which stinks the other like a watered garden that yields a sweet favour like a garden of spices Cant. 4.14 the one brings forth fruit for Gods basket the other fewell for the devils fire all the seed sown upon it is lost and choakt with briars and thorns and all the rain that falls upon it doth but make the weeds more rank and flourishing their grape is the grape of Sodom and of the fields of
soon offended and Christ may take heaven to himself for them if this be his rate of it some seed was sown among thorns and these sprung up and choaked it the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choak it few rich men can handle these thorns and not prick their fingers most overload themselves with earth and so lose heaven they set their hearts with Saul upon the asses when a kingdome is before them these like dissembling hosts welcome us into Innes and at last cut our throats and there is but a little good ground and that also brought forth variously some an hundred some sixty and some thirty-fold every man cannot excell we should strive after the highest pitch of godliness and content our selves with a low frame of spirit but not dispair though we fall short of it God accounts it good ground that brings forth any good fruit to maturity This consideration made me reflect upon my own condition and call my self to an account what sort of ground my heart was since so much seed hath been sown and so little fruit appears Oh my soul how comes it thus to pass that thou art barren and unfruitfull how comes it to pass the seed is lost after so much labour pains and care so much manuring and cultivating what could God have done more for thee by the way of means then he hath done why then bringest thou forth wilde grapes art not thou the high-way-ground and hath not the devil hardned thy heart that it is become sermon-proof and Ordinance-proof and doth he not pick up the seed which lies lose upon it and is not covered by meditation art not thou a forgetful hearer and how can that fructifie that is thus stole away or was it not sown among stones no wonder then if fruit appear not where a root cannot be had trust not to all stirring of the affections Herod heard John Baptist gladly and reformed many things but if the stone of the heart be not removed and a heart of flâ—sh given thee how can corn be expected upon a rock that was never softned mortified or made fruitfull or was it not sown among thorns didst thou not suffer the thoughts the cares the fears of the world or the love desire of or delight in riches to choak it when the heart brings forth such fruits the word cannot prosper when the vessel is full of water it can receive no other liquor O my soul if this be thy case beware of it and prepare thy heart to receive the seed and harrow it in by Meditation what good will meat do if not eaten and digested or what good can physick do if not taken or a plaister if not applied or the word if not set home to the conscience and reduced into practice empty thy heart of all distrustfull cares and fears break up the fallow ground of thy heart and sow not among thorns Oh my God! if thou be not the husbandman there will be no good crop If thou direct not the plow there will be no good furrow If thou bless not the seed and the labour all is in vain Paul may plant and Apollo water but God gives the encrease If God set not a hand to the work old Adam will be too hard for young Melancthon and the devils tares will thrive better then the good seed Man can but speak to the ear God can speak to the heart no plaister can heal if God be not the Surgeon no food can nourish if God be not the nurse Lord reach my heart cure my wounds remove nay distempers empty my soul of froth and vanity that the water of life may be received Say to my ears Ephphatha be opened and they will hear and to my heart be soft and it will be done Say to these dry bones live take my stony heart into thy furnace or what good will it do to preach to a stone all the water that falls upon it will be spilt and all the means of grace lost Lord speak the word and it will be done command my heart and it will obey Upon refreshing rain after a dry season 9. Med. WHen I saw after a dry season wherein the fruits of the earth languished for want of moisture that when a refreshing shower of rain came how they flourished grew and encreased and how fresh and fragrant these were which a little before hang'd the head and droop't I plainly then saw that all the pains and all the cost and all the care which men were at even about these earthly enjoyments signifies nothing if God deny his blessing if the influences of heaven were but restrained what would all our care and labour signify we may rise early lie down late and eat the bread of carefulness and all to little purpose but how few look up to the true cause of plenty or want The most are like to hogs under the tree that eat the crabs or acorns when they fall but regard not whence they come and murmure if they have them not I considered the earth wanted the influences of heaven and the heavens wanted a commission from God and till that was sealed the creatures could not be supplied it was in vain to quarrel the one or the other nay man had no cause to quarrel at any but himself where the obstacle lay for had not he sin'd the creatures had not suffered This made me a little consider the course of nature and how one creature depends upon another and every one seems to be made for another rather then for it self The Sun the Moon and Stars those glorious lamps and beauty-spots of heaven in their uncessant and unerring courses powr out their heat and light and influence upon the earth and by this means the creatures are generated and the earth refresh't without which influence it would be but a barren dry and unprofitable heap and all things therein would languish and die The earth not ingrateful for received favours conceiveth and produceth corn and grass herbs and flowers plants and trees and other vegetables both for the use of man and beast whereby the vegetable and sensitive creatures are maintained beasts of the field fouls of the air fish of the Sea and all creeping things are fed and cherished these again offer themselves for food or service to man their little Lord and he alone is made capable of communion with his creator and especially fitted for his service When I had seriously considered this subordination among the creatures and that every one seemed to minde anothers good rather then his own this led me up to a first cause to enquire who directed them to an end they knew not and led them by a rule they understood not and when I considered that all those famous works were made and thus subordinated each to other and thus directed for the sake of man this made me break out with the Psalmist upon the like occasion Lord what is man that thou art mindefull
of him or the son of man that thou regardest him thou hast made him a little lower then the angels thou hast crowned him with glory and dignity Psal 8.4 5. I considered that all this rule and dominion glory and dignity was given him that he might serve and honour his Creator whose image he did in the Creation most lively represent but above all sublunary creatures none have more deviated from the rule God hath given them nor transgressed his laws nor frustrated the ends of their creation more then man by whose fall the beauty of the newly burnisht world was soon stained and the glory of it soon ecclipsed This made me wonder that God suffered such enemies to live upon the face of the earth to be lords over the works of his hands Oh the patience and long-forbearance of a merciful God! that such rebels that have their life and breath and being from him and are guilty of so many acts of treason and rebellion against heaven should yet be preserved and provided for as they are and so many offers of mercy tendred to them Oh my soul hath God done so much for thee was this glorious fabrick of the world made for thy sake among others are the creatures yea the angels themselves set a work for thy good and doth thy great benefactor only require the pepper-corn of homage and the thankful acknowledgement of what thou hast received and obediential homage for the time to come and dost thou deny him that art thou fed and cloathed maintained and preserved by his providence and care and hast thou any meat to eat or drink to drink or cloaths to put on or health or strength or limbs or senses or peace or plenty or life or breath or any other enjoyment but what he gives thee and is a thankfull acknowledgment of these favours denyed by thee he doth not need thee neither canst thou add any thing to his glory yet he takes himself honoured by a thankfull obediential observation of his commands but alas how much time didst thou spend before thou dist cordially yield any thanks to him for his benefits and how much wanting art thou in it to this very day he makes his sun to shine upon thee and his rain to fall upon thee he gives thee fruitfull seasons and fills thy heart with food and gladness 't is doubtless then thy duty to devote thy self wholly to his service and give up not only thy name but thy heart to Christ Oh my God! dost thou expect service from me enable me to do it I am by nature a senceless stock or stone dead in trespasses and sins put life into me and I shall perform the actions of life I cannot act without thy assistance give me help from heaven for vain is the help of man open my lips then shall I shew forth thy praise inlarge my heart then shall I run the ways of thy commands touch my tongue with a coal from thy altar then shall I trumpet out thy praise seek thy servant and I shall be found Upon the plucking off the tops of weeds 10. Med. IN a dry season when the bottles of heaven were stopped and the clouds were bound up the rain restrained and the showers withheld from the earth so that it was parched hard and dry and gaped in vain for cooling moistning refreshing softning showers I observed some persons when they could not get up the weeds by the roots tare off their heads which when they had done the garden seemed pleasant to the beholders and gave content for a while to the spectators who imagined there had been a through-reformation but not long after when a shower of rain distilled upon it the cheat appeared the weeds sprung up as fresh and flourishing as before yea like hydra with more heads then at first so this partiall reformation was discovered This observation afforded this Meditation I thought it much resembled a partiall reformation in the soul when men begin their reformation at the wrong end or take a wrong course to kill the tree of sin as many do they crop and lop off some branches and let the root alone this is not the way to destroy it many tear off some of the tops of the weeds but let the root remain in the soul which when it is watered with the devils temptations and the worlds allurements and animated with fit occasions and suitable opportunities they spring forth afresh it may be with more heads then before and then the cheat appears that those sins were not kil'd but laid aside An evident example we have of this in Herod who convinced by Iohn Baptists preaching that his courses were not good sets upon a reformation falls out with many of his sins lops off here one bough and there another but lets the root remain firm which afterwards spring forth and shew themselves It is said he reformed many things but he left much work behinde undone to the undoing of his soul The sore was only skinned over and was not sound at the bottom and after broke out with more violence and greater anguish like a torrent of water dam'd up when the dam breaks it runs more furiously So did Herods corruption even to the taking away of Iohn Baptists head who before had set some stop to it And thus it is with many seeming Converts that after prove wicked apostates and persecute the truth that they did formerly profess the root of the matter was not in them Hazael did not believe so much wickedness to lodge in his heart as the Prophet spake of and afterwards appeared An apple rotten at the heart may have a fair outside but the rottenness within will in time rot the outside also when the fountain is corrupted it is impossible to purge the stream If the heart be rotten all that thence proceeds will have an ill savour This half reformation hath been the undoing of many forward Professors in our days they reformed their lives but not their hearts they lopt off some boughs but medled not with the root they went to clense the stream but not the fountain and in a little time the corruption within breaks forth into the life and conversation without and the unclean spirit that was cast out takes to himself seven more worse then himself and enters in and the last end of that man is worse then the beginning Mat. 12.45 The devil deals by such when he hath reduced them as a Jaylour with one that hath broke prison lays on more bolts Runagate Christians are the devils greatest devotes and such apostates very hardly if ever are reduced O my soul how stands the case with thee hast thou not weeded thy own garden thus and rather tore off the lops of the weeds then pluckt them up by the root how comes it else to pass that upon every showr of temptation they are so apt to spring up again look about thee if thou wilt not kill sin sin will kill thee and if
thou wilt kill the cursed tree stub it up by the roots and not lop off here one branch and there another for if the root be dead the branches will soon wither but if the root live the branches will revive The way to cleanse the stream is to purge the fountain for sweet water cannot proceed from a stinking puddle if the tree be good the fruit will be good also if the spring be not dried up it will sooner or later overflow the dam the way to cure the sore is to heal it at the bottome and heart-reformation is the best way to life-reformation hypocrisie within will like a botch at length break forth and a rotten heart will ere long rot the life also O my God without thy assistance all my endeavours will prove vain the devil the world and my own deceitful heart will beguile me let me not strive in my own strength nor fail of thine assisting grace rather cast me into the furnace then suffer my corruption and dross to remain in me and rather plow deeper furrows by affliction then suffer the roots of the weeds to remain in my heart turn me O Lord and I shall be turned convert me and I shall be converted let me not take up with a partial reformation and let nothing less then the death of sin give me content Upon the care men take of their Gardens 11. Med. WHen I considered how careful many men and women are to keep their garden in order and what pains and cost they are at in this thing and what time is spent to this end and how many are employed in this work walling fencing and securing it in digging dunging weeding and much more there must not a rarity be wanting that love or labour or money can procure there must not a weed be seen nor hearb nor flower out of order what is dead must be supplied what is wanting must be had and what is superfluous must be cast away the tenderest must be secured from frost and scorching sun and the whole must be formed after the newest mode and latest fashion the alleys and walks must be swept and trimmed and rowled and levelled the grass mown and kept under and all so exactly done that it may appear to be an earthly paradice a place of pleasure and delights And observing also that all this while those very persons so curious and so neat in shaddows yet neglect the substance and suffer their own souls and the souls of their Children servants and near relations the gardens God only takes delight in to be sadly out of order and though they make choise of the choisest skilfullest painfullest men for the other they let out these gardens to the devils dressing without regard who sows tares and poppy cokle and darnell weeds and rubbish thorns and thistles in them and whatsoever bad is which grows and flourishes without controul and choakes all the good seed that is there sown these men are made keepers of others vineyards but their own vineyard they have not kept these men suffer the devil to make a path-way over their hearts when they only look to the ways in their gardens I have oft wondred at their stupidity in spiritualls that are so ripe-witted in temporalls and that those that are so good husbands for the body should be such bad husbands for the soul and those that take so much pains for a little imaginary pleasure here should altogether neglect the true pleasures everlasting joys at the right hand of God for evermore Oh the stupendious folly of men to prefer pebbles before pearls and gold before grace and a handful of flowers before an heartfull of holiness and the shadow before the substance and earth before heaven and a garden before paradice well however they do now the time is coming these men will finde their mistake and will alter their minde and change their judgment when grace will be accounted the choicest flower in the garland and a dram of it will be of more value then a cabinet of Jewels and holiness will then prove the best fashion though many now disdain to wear it Oh my soul art thou not guilty thy self of those sins which thou so sharply chargest upon others doth not this shew that thou lookest too much abroad and too little at home art thou not too deep in the transgression which thou now castest upon others and puts other mens sins in the end of the wallet before and thine own behinde out of sight thou art blinde at home and quick-sighted abroad and seest the mote in thy brothers eye and not the beam in thine own hast not thou thy self been more prodigall of thy pains thy time thy cost thy sweat for meer trifles then ever thou hast been about thy greater concerns and is any mans folly more conspicuous then thy own hast thou not had thy ears open to those bewitching Syren songs of pleasure and been more tickled with earthly sensuall delight then with communion with God in his worship and service when the world hath smiled upon thee how unwilling hast thou been to die and to be with God and hast laid cut thy self thy strength thy time too much for earthly enjoyments to the neglect of heavenly riches sweep therefore before thy own doors before thou complain of the foulness of the street pluck out the beam out of thy own eye before thou offer thy helping hand to thy brother to remove his mote throw the first stone at thy self reform what is amiss and then thou maiest reprove another more boldly get thy affection weaned from the world and thy eye fixt upon better riches and more enduring pleasures lest God give thee these for thy portion and what then wilt thou do in the latter end Oh my God what shall I say to thee how shall I answer thee my iniquity is found out this day to be hatefull had I spent but my time for spirituall advantages which I have prodigally wasted for very trifles it might have been much better with me had I planted and sowed in a more fruitful field I might have had a better crop Lord wean me from the dugs of carnal delights though it be with the gall and wormwood of afflictions and suffer me not to surfet on the worlds dainties leave me not to my own will then shall I undoe my self feed me with food convenient and it sufficeth me Upon a neglected Garden 12. Med. WHen I saw by experience how soon a neglected garden grows out of form and fashion and in a short time comes to be a rude and indigested heap grown over with weeds and nettles trash and rubbish destroyed with moles inhabited with toads serpents or other vermine the wall broken down the fence decayed beasts and swine making a prey of it the one tearing off the tops the other digging up the roots of the tender plants the hearbs and flowers dying withering or decaying choaked by the weeds or starved for want of nourishment
thy hand and a wedding-garment on thy back improve thy talents well that Christ may say well done good and faithfull servant enter into thy Masters joy when others only wish for heaven do thou work for it Oh my God I have been one of these loitering truants that am justly here reproved and sent again to school to the meanest of thy creatures their diligence shames my negligence they have only an instinct of nature to guide them I have reason experience Scripture and example to put me on they labour only for the body I for the soul and body they for the meat that perisheth I for that which endureth to eternall life they for a winter I for eternity yet are they diligent and I negligent Heaven and earth may stand amazed at my folly Lord pardon what is past and incline my heart for the time to come to give diligence to make my calling and election sure Let me so run that I may obtain so fight that I may conquer and be faithfull to the death that I may receive the crown of life Upon the gorgeous dresse of Flowers 18. Med. WHen I seriously considered the various dress the curious colours of the herbs and flowers which diapred the plot I took some delight to consider the power of God in them and how far he condescended to please our fancies and delight our sences when I saw how gorgeously they were attired how beautiful they appeared it led me up to the fountain-head even to God who is beauty and comeliness it self and the greatest beauty that the world can brag of is but a spark to this fire a ray to this Sun and a drop to this ocean if the creature can be so beautiful what is the Creator end if earth be so pleasant what is heaven but when I considered also the transitory fading nature of these short-lived flowers how soon when they were in their prime they withered away and perished this put me in minde of the vanity of man which is compared to a flower which cometh up and is cut down like a flower and never continueth in one stay and not only he but all earthly enjoyments are short-lived and soon perish But when I considered their beauty with their fading nature it minded me of our Saviours words Mat. 6.28 c. Why take you thought for raiment consider the lillies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory is not arayed like one of these wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe ye O ye of little faith c. he sends us in the former verses to the sparrows which though they neither plough nor sow reap nor mow nor carry into barns are yet fed by divine providence so here he sends to the grass and flowers who though frail vanishing things are gorgeously attired by him and all is to put us on to depend upon our fathers providence for the force of the argument is thus If God feed these worthless sparrows and not one falls to the ground without his providence and so clothe the withering grass in such a dress doubtless he will not suffer his sons and servants to want necessary food and rayment which as they are better so are a thousand times dearer to him then the fowls or flowers There is in every man by nature a conceit of self-sufficiency as if by our own diligenee we could provide for our selves and are ready to undertake Gods part of the work Now this self-confidence is the daughter of unbelief as one saith is the mother of carking care and carnal thoughtfullness Our Saviour here by many arguments disswades us from these there is a care of the head not only lawfull but commendable but there is a carking distrustfull diffident care of the heart here condemned when a man hath done his utmost endeavour in the use of lawfull means yet vexeth himself about the event what if this or that follow I fear I shall die a beggar c. One day saith David I shall perish by the hand of Saul What shall I eat or what shall I drink c. because God will not let us know how we shall be provided for therefore we are ready with Israel to question Can God provide a table in the wilderness Psa 78.19 Oh my soul how justly art thou reproved and sent to these poor creatures to school hast thou not had distracting thoughts and distrustfull fears hast thou not oft been questioning What shall I eat or what shall I drink or wherewithall shall I be cloathed what shall become of my wife and children when I am dead c. even contrary to the express command of the great God as if thou hadst had no father to provide for thee or no God to depend upon or no promise to uphold thee and though God hath ofttimes silenced thy fears and husht thy cares by an unexpected providence yet upon the apprehension of new danger new fears arise like murmuring Israel though they had seen Gods wonders in Egypt at the Red Sea in feeding them with Manna yet cry out Can he furnish a table for us in the wilderness Psal 78.19 yea though thou hast never wanted food nor rayment nor any thing truly necessary and hast a promise thou shalt never want any thing that is good and though God hath bid leave your fatherless children with me and let thy widdows trust in me yet how hard is it to commit wife and children to him if there be no visible means for their subsistance or to trust him when means are out of sight and the world doth not pass for payment what if thy food be not so dainty nor thy cloathes so fine if the one nourish thee and the other keep thee warm it matters not if thou do not fare deliciously every day nor go in purple and fine linnen thy betters have fared harder and gone more meanly clad reade Heb. 11.36 and be ashamed of murmuring others had trials of cruel mocking and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments they were stoned they were sawn asunder were tempted were slain with the sword they wandred about in sheeps-skins and goats-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandred in desarts and in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth what if thou hast no certain dwelling-house thy dear redeemer had not where to lay his head and those Worthys were worse bestead then ever thou wast Oh my God charge not upon me those distrustful thoughts but strengthen my faith in thy promises Lord I believe help my unbelief and let not this sin have dominion over me Enable me to say with Job though he kill me yet will I trust in him and with Ely 't is the Lord let him do what seemeth him
take her prisoner nor make her pay for the trespass this unexpected accident made me consider of the vanity of all humane felicity how soon the beauty of it may vanish and come to nothing and by how small a means God can blast all earthly enjoyments All that the world affords is of the nature of Jonahs gourd that grew up in a night and perished in a night no solidity to be found in any sublunary creatures some worm or other breeds in it that eats out the very heart of it and makes it wither and die and when we have the greatest expectations we meet with the greatest disappointments and when we think we are most sure many times we are in most danger and when we think to gripe it fastest we are likeliest to lose it I considered how foolish men were to promise themselves security in their enjoyments when they apprehend no danger in sight for if our ways please God he can make our enemies yea the stones of the field at peace with us but if we please not God he can raise us enemies enow to disturb our peace David a good man yet offending God had his own familiar friend Achitophel nay his own son Absolom that sought his ruine yea the poorest vermine are sometimes a scourge to the proudest tirant frogs and lice and flyes and locusts make proud Pharaoh stoop to God that before had proudly said who is the Lord that I should obey him I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Exod. 5.2 but God made himself known to him by his judgements and compelled him to say the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked yea he hath made caterpillars cankerworms palmerworms and such like which God calleth his great army Joel 1.2 c. a scourge to potent princes and can destroy the greatest monarch on earth by these poor insects how little trust then should we put in earthly comforts when God can so easily imbitter them to us and how dangerous it is by our sins to provoke God to leave us and to punish us he can easily do it he need not raise many against us no single creature no fly no flea nor grass-pile nor hair but if it have a Commission from God will be our bane Instances of this may easily be given nay if he withhold our breath we return to our dust and all our thoughts perish and for our enjoyments he can make a worm breed in them that shall eat out the very heart of them and can imbitter that which we esteem our sweetest comforts If these earthly enjoyments are vain and perishing like their owners what need have we to make preparation of some thing that is more durable and more certain which may bear some proportion to our immortal souls we can have no abiding city here but affliction and vanity will attend us in all places for if sin go before affliction will follow after as the effect follows the cause or the shadow the substance Now if these our earthly enjoyments are in such continual danger and have enemies without within above beneath and on every side the soul is in much more danger having more potent subtill cruel and malicious enemies how watchfull then ought we to be lest these chiefest Jewels our immortal souls should be bloudily butchered or inhumanely treated what care what providence should we use that we be not made a prey to infernal furies and what need have we to invoke God to be our guardian our defender and our watchman Oh my soul here is a check for thy folly that hast overeagerly grasped after these vanities and sought content where it was not to be had take heed to thy self this will not serve thy turn a few days and thou wilt be stript of all there are better pleasures truer treasures to be had there is a worm in these will eat out their very heart there is vanity writ upon them they are but Egyptian reeds and will break in thy hand cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the living God if thou love the world the love of the father is not in thee 1 Joh. 2.15 Use it we may as a traveller doth his staff which he keeps or throws away according as it helps or hinders him in his journey these worldly things are transitory and there is a vanity writ upon them but there are riches durable as the days of heaven and run paralell with the life of God or the lines of eternity these are worth scrambling for they are laid up now and may be drawn forth a thousand years hence these our enjoyments are liable to vanity and violence when we grasp them hardest they prick us most and when we embrace them they vanish into smoke which may wring tears from our eyes but never sorrow from our hearts when others therefore lay hold upon riches do thou lay hold upon eternal life 1 Timoth. 6.12 lay hold upon that pearl in the Gospel though thou let all things else go for nothing else is worth having this will make thee rich to God the time is short thy race is long stand not still to pick up sticks and straws nor leave thy way to catch butter-flyes up and be doing let heaven be thy object and the earth will be thy abject oh my God pardon my former folly that I have spent so much time to so little purpose and made no more haste to my journeys end that I have lost my way mistaken my happiness and laboured so long in vain draw up my affections O Lord from earth to heaven and let me be as zealous for heaven as ever I have been for earth and take as much pains for my soul as ever I have done for my body Upon the springing up of the seed 21. Med. WHen I had digged the garden and sowed the seed in convenient time I observed the springing of them up and after a while I observed how fresh and fragrant that looked that a little before seemed dead and rotten among the clods this minded me of the mighty power of God that could of a small seed seemingly dead and buried and rotten in the earth raise up so great so flourishing an hearb or flower indewed with such beauty and excellent vertue yea so great so mighty a tree I considered how small a matter I did or could confer to them I only disposed them where I would have them grow but no skill nor art nor labour nor industry of mine could make them grow the earth hath a natural propensity to receive them the heavens powred out their influence upon them which through Gods blessing cooperating became effectuall 't is God alone must do the work or it will not be done 't is he that gives to every seed his own body and put life into that which hath no life all the skill industry and pains which the husbandman can use cannot make one
be refresht either by the clouds immediately or from the fountains by mans industry or it cannot bring forth but if God deny provision whence shall man have it they may say as the king Ahab did 2 King 6.26 if the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee out of the barn-floor or out of the wine-press he is the fountain that must supply the cistern he it is that maketh the springs to run among the hills and fills our fountains out of his treasury Can any of the vanities of the gentiles give rain no they cannot and all the men on earth and devils in hell nay all the angels of heaven cannot do it if he deny it let men say what they please to the contrary and without water neither man nor beast fish nor foul hearb nor plant can long subsist this raised my Meditation a little higher I considered as it was in naturals so much more in spirituals where neither Paul nor Apollos can do the work or make the soul fruitful without God we have indeed many pipes but they are all supplyed by one common fountain if God withhold the water of consolation we may suck long enough before we be satisfied This minded me of a twofold errour in men one in the excess the other in the defect some they suck at the pipe and neglect the fountain these may suck long enough before they are satisfied the other thinking to be supplyed immediately by the fountain neglect the pipe these fail on the other hand in not using the means God hath appointed them some trust in the ordinances and think them sufficient and idolize the Ministers these many times suck at dry breasts the pipe can give no more then it receives from the fountain the other think themselves above ordinances and neglect them the ordinary way appointed by God for their supply and these ofttimes argue themselves out of their Religion though the dug be not that which feeds the childe yet the childe must suck milk through the dug from the breast or otherwise is not like to have it though the pipe cannot supply it is the usuall means of bringing the water the Ministry of the word is usually honoured with the conversion of souls though God can and no doubt sometimes doth work conversion without them yet it is rare Cornelius you finde was directed by an Angel to Peter Act. 10.4 5. though the angel certifyeth him that his alms and his prayers were accepted yet he reads not to him the doctrine of redemption though no doubt he could better have done it then Peter had God given him a commission but the office of preaching is given to the Ministers not to angels We finde Paul when he was strucken down in the way as he journeyed towards Damascus Christ did not teach him himself but sends him to Ananias Act. 9.6 c. and hereby graceth his own ordinance so Philip by the spirit of God was sent to instruct the Eunuch Acts. 8.29 now either Christ himself immediately or the angel or the spirit might have done the work had not God intended to have honoured his Messengers with the work of mans conversion and also to leave it as a standing ordinance to the world for the bringing in and building up those that shall be saved and therefore 't is not safe to contemn it Oh my soul sall not out with the pipe for this is the appointed way to bring water from the fountain fall not in love with it for of it self it can give no satisfaction use it thou must but idolize it thou must not trust not in men nor means food nor physick though thou must make use of them Cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the living God all other are physitians of no value clouds without water broken cisterns that can hold no water It was Asa's failing and no doubt a gross one to seek to the physitians in the neglect of God think it not sufficient for the body to make use of the ablest physitian nor for the soul to live under the ablest Minister for many bodyes and souls perish under such if God help thee not whence shall they help thee the sun in a clear day may be seen in a pail of water but if it be clouded all the water in the world cannot shew it the ordinance is the usual place where God may be seen but till God open mens eyes there is none can see him there yet must not the ordinances be despised for usually God makes discoveries of himself there he could have sed Elijah himself or by an Angel yet sends him food by a raven he could have taught Paul as well as struck him down as is before-noted yet sends him to Ananias he seldom works otherwise where the means of grace is to be had he could have healed Hezekiah with a word yet useth a bunch of figs no matter what is the disease or what is the receipt if God bless it Oh my God afford me the means of grace the Ministry of thy word and leave me not up to a famine of thy word nor leave me not to the teaching of man but follow home every truth and set it home by thy holy spirit let me not suck an empty dug then shall I draw nothing but winde let me not draw at an empty pipe then shall I suck and not be satisfied supply the dug from a full breast and the pipe from a full fountain then shall I be fat and flourishing Upon the difference between the various sorts of flowers and vegetables 27. Med. WHen I considered the various forms features shapes colours and vertues of the several sorts of herbs flowers and other vegetables and though there are perhaps many hundred several species in the world yet every species hath a distinct colour shape and vertue different from the rest whereby they may be perfectly known found out and distinguisht one from another by a skilfull artist and all these together adorn the creation and make the earth lovely and every one hath its peculiar use While I spent some thoughts on these things and was admiring the creatures wisdome in these works of his hands and his good to mankinde to give a salve to every sore for he hath made nothing in vain it came to my minde how many thousand millions of faces are upon the face of the earth all alike and yet unlike all resembling one another and yet scarce two persons to be found out in the whole world so like but they may be differenced one from another in one thing or another by a discerning eye this also raised my meditation from the creature to the Creator to admire his wisdome and skill that hath as before noted thus distinguished between the several sort of vegetables though many hundreds and between so many hundred thousands of faces among rational creatures that as he gives to every seed his own
semper idem always the same Job upon the throne and upon the dunghill is holy Job still it brings forth the fruits of the spirit whereever it is planted Gal 5.22 but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law but where sin is it brings forth the fruits of the flesh it grows from one degree to another from a thought to a resolution thence to action and at length comes to a habit and hard it is to be left Bray a fool saith Solomon in a morter with a pestle like wheat yet will not his foolishness depart from him Pro. 27.22 A wolf will have a wolvish nature though his skin be stript over his ears and his bones be broken as every seed produceth its own kinde and not another species so grace and sin shew themselves in their production men gather not grapes of thorns not figs of thistles a good tree cannot bring forth evill fruit nor a corrupt tree good fruit but every tree is known by his fruit oh my soul are there secrets in nature that thou understandest not yea even in those creatures that thou dost dayly converse with admire the wisdome of the Creator and see how little beholding thou art to sin which hath drawn such a vail of ignorance before thy eyes and wonder not that there are mysteries in spirituals beyond thy conceiving if thou canst not understand temporalls much less spirituals that are spiritually discerned the nature of God of Angels and of thy self lie far more remote from thy understanding There is many a man that can search natures garden from end to end that never could search his own heart many can try their evidence for lands that know not how to try their title to heaven they can finde out the state of their bodies but know not the state of their souls but when others study earth do thou study heaven the things that are necessary are attainable study Christ and him crucified this will do thee more good then if thou couldst with Solomon discourse of all the vegetables from the cedar in Lebanon to the hysop that groweth upon the way and did men study God and themselves as much as they did the creature it would bring in more profit The knowledg of these things is excellent but the knowledge of God and our selves is necessary all thy time is little enough for this study the other must be left to more curious heads and riper witts oh my God suffer me not to spend my time in any unnecessary study that should be spent in seeking thee let me not catch at the shadow and lose the substance and hunt so long after curiosities till I lose my self and know not which way to return all my time is little enough to spend in my generall and particular calling all the water is little enough to run in this channel and I have none to spare to turn any other mill let my greatest care be to know God and my self the duty I owe him and the relation I stand in to him and what interest I have in Jesus Christ Lord let this be the work of the remaining part of my life Upon some despicable weeds yet usefull 32. Med. WHen I saw some poor contemptible despicable weeds that usually grow in the fields without labour pains or care of man or are thrown out of the garden with contempt as not fit to have a being there but to be trod upon and despised as not being neither sweet for savour nor beautifull to the eye and yet when I beheld these very weeds gathered and successfully used by the greatest artists in physick and surgery for the curing of great distempers when the more glorious gorgeous and more esteemed vegetables were disregarded this made me consider how deceitfull a thing it is to judge by the outward appearance and that beauty and vertue are not alway linkt together neither go they hand in hand many have been deceived when they have pleased their eyes by beauty the devil many times baits his hook with a fair woman and many have been undone by swallowing such a hook many that have made beauty their aim have been matcht with foul conditions Samuel that man of God was deceived by his eye when he thought Eliab Davids elder brother had been the Lords annointed because he had a comely countenance 1 Sam. 16.6 and it came to pass after they were come that he looked on Eliab and said surely the Lords anointed is before him but the Lord said to Samuel look not on his countenance or on the heighth of his stature because I have refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart Many a man under a russet coat carries more real worth more true gentillity yea nobillity then others do under their silks and sattins velvets and scarlets many a worthless piece is drest puppet-like with paint and plaister and ridiculous gewgaws but could we but see the soul through the gayish dress of the body it would appear leprous and deformed nay perhaps in the body it self there would appear visible marks of deformity as well as of infirmity paint and plaister better become a mud-wall then a marble pillar true beauty needs no varnish nor a diamond needs no painting spotted faces often cover spotted souls and their spot is not the spot of Gods people there are many that like the Cinamon-tree have the bark better then the body but it is a fool that buys a horse by the trappings or chooseth a wife by her gaudy dress or that esteems the better of himself or imagines that any wise man esteems the better of him for a fine suit of cloathes yet there was a disease amongst Christians in the Apostles time and it is almost epidemical in our days to respect the cloathes or outward ornaments of a man more then his conditions and qualifications Jam. 2.2 3. if there come into your assemblies a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel and there come in also a poor man in vile rayment and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay cloathing and say unto him fit thou here in a good place and say to the poor man stand thou here or sit here under my footstool are you not then partial in your selves c. but however man may disrespect them God hath chosen the poor rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom A poor man though wise yea though by his wisdome he save the city yet is not remembred Eccl. 9.15 this is merces mundi the worlds wages many deal by such as men do by a fruit-tree to which they run in a storm and when it is done beat him and rob him of his fruit many wise Ministers are heard with scorn or at least with disregard till men lie upon their death-bed and then they are sent unto for counsel or
rather comfort It is not always those that can speak loudest that speaks best but he that speaks wisest the empty barrel makes the greatest sound that Sermon 〈◊〉 not always best that hath most gaudy notions and rhetorical flourishes but that which savours most of Christ and the divine Eloquence of his holy spirit he is the best preacher that woos for Christ and not for himself and would set the crown upon his head and not his own it is not the best physitian that speaks most latine greek and hebrew but he that gives the surest and safest directions to recover health it is not the tickling of the fancy a preacher should so much minde as to speak convincingly to the conscience oh my soul judge not by the outward but the inward qualification neither cover hypocrisy by a mask of seeming sincerity for God will ere long pluck off such vizors slight no man meerly upon the account of poverty for God thinks never the worse of them admire no man meerly for his riches for God thinks never the better of him this is but to worship a golden calf the time is coming that the king must leave his robes behinde him and the beggar his rags and it is the inward qualifications that must distinguish between the one and the other Dives and Lazarus when they come to stand on even ground shall by these be tried and so must all by what means or titles soever they have been dignifyed distinguished or called it is our works and worth not our wealth will follow us whereever tâ—ou seest Christ in any own him for God will own him esteem grace in the soul more then money in the purse and the robes of righteousness above the most costly jewels a drachm of grace is worth thousands of gold and silver for thy councellors take the wisest not the wealthiest for wisdom and wealth many times dwell not together in the same house esteem that preacher best that speaks home to the heart and conscience not him that seeks to tickle the ear and please the fancy he that woos for Christ and not for himself and seeks to put the crown upon his head and not his own esteem that Sermon best where thou findest most of Christ and not that which is drest with gaudy notions and rhetorical flourishes which serve to darken and not illustrate the matter and are as king James was wont to say like red and blew flowers fine to look upon good for little but pester the corn a diseased man had rather have medicum sanantem quam eloquentem one that will rather do well then speak well oh my God should I cover my prophanness or hypocrisy with the vizor of seeming holiness thou wilt soon discover it and unmask me for thou searchest the heart and triest the reins and all things are open and apparent to thee Lord give me sincerity and truth in the inward part for this is thy gift make me such as thy own soul delights in let me not be deceived by my own deceitful heart nor think to deceive others for I cannot deceive thy all-seeing eye Upon the constant supply the vegetables need 33. Med. WHen I seriously considered that these beautiful creatures which now adorn the earth with their flowers and enamel it with their various shapes and colours and enrich it with their odours vertues and operations yet without a constant supply of mans labour pains and diligence and also of the influences of the heavens they would soon wither die and come to nothing some of them must be yearly set or sown or transplanted others preserved both from heat and cold and all need some manure care and pains weeding watering fencing or other cares this minded me of the condition of all earthy delights or enjoyments they must be renewed or they will soon vanish all things by sin are become subject to decay there is a vicissitude of earthly comforts and a constant change Mans life cannot be preserved without food and physick and other necessaries the four Elements fire air earth and water are so necessary that if eâ—â—her be denied mans life is at an end the houses we dwell in must be repaired or they will soon come to ruine and fall about our ears The most famous fabricks that ever the Sun saw are come to ruine The Piramides of Egypt the walls of Carthage the tomb of Mansolus or if there were any thing more famous or more durable yet time hath consumed and brought it to a ruinous heap the most impregnable castle the most invincible strong-hold if not repaired by labour and industry time levels with the ground we cannot say now of our garments as Moses of Israels cloaths Deut. 8.4 thy rayment waxed not old neither did thy foot swell this forty years it was not the worse for the wearing but as some imagine probably it grew as their bodies did they needed not to trouble themselves with anxious thoughts what to eat or what to drink or wherewith to be cloathed God brought them food to their tent-doors and provided rayment without their care or pains but with us all such comforts must be renewed with care and diligence with a care of the head though not of the heart or they will quickly be gone this consideration made me think what a great deal of confusion sin had brought into the world and subjected all things to vanity and vexation of spirit every thing saith Solomon is full of labour for as it brought death into the world so likewise all other miseries had it not been for sin we had never had aking head or aking heart or loss or cross or any thing to molest us and now every thing becomes a trouble man is born to trouble saith Job as the sparks fly upwards yet alass how doth the world bewitch men that they had rather be drudges and savages here and moil and toil and cark and care and live as it were in a dungeon and work as in the very fire then die and come to God this they make their portion this is their delight and all that they care for they sell their ease their pleasure and their very souls oh earth how dost thou bewitch us O satan how dost thou infatuate us oh heart how dost thou deceive us what disappointments doth foolish men meet with here and yet will take no warning we never did finde content and yet we are always promising our selves happinesse here where never any yet could finde it alass what proportion is there between a piece of gold and an immortal soul Oh my soul canst thou love this sin which hath brought all this misery and confusion into the world canst thou hug this viper in thy bosome which will sting thee to eternal death if not kil'd and mortified and canst thou place thy happiness in these vanishing perishing and withering vanities will these serve thy turn or boot thy needs or make thee happy can they pay thy debts or save thy
hell these things are not lasting thou seest the flowers ripe at noon and withered by night like Jonah's gourd grow up in a night and wither in a night and have a worm breed in them which will eat out their heart they are like the bee they have honey in the mouth and a sting in the tail and not only vanity but vexation of spirit is writ upon them will a handful of flowers revive a dying man or comfort a languishing soul when the earth and all the works therein are burnt up where will be thy happiness then why then wilt thou moil and toil and cark and care for such vanities that never will make thee satisfaction why wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not if thou wilt take pains let it be in a more fruitful soil where thou maist expect a better crop spend not thy money for that which is not bread nor thy labour for that which satisfies not these cannot satisfy and if they did cannot last long these are but swallow-comforts they hide their heads in the winter the grass will soon wither the flowers will soon fade and thy own life is no more certain and what good will these do the soul some poor vanishing delights they yield for an hour or two and then it is over but there are more satisfying pleasures more durable delights to be had then these why are they then neglected these like swallow-friends forsake when winter comes when there is most need or like Physitians leave a man when he is dying or like the devil with the witch tempt a while and then forsake her when she is in the most danger If a small spot of earth seem so delightful what is heaven and those mansions of glory provided for glorified Saints if the creature be so glorious what is the Creator who infused such a beauty and vertue in it if a flower be so sweet what is the rose of sharon and the lilly of the valley these things delight us for a moment but one day will make us weary of them especially if there be not the addition of meat and drink and sleep and lodging of health and strength and other necessaries but in heaven is nothing wanting that is necessary delightful or desirable no creature-comforts there are needful but God is better a thousand times then all the comforts the whole earth affords oh my soul labour after the substance not the shadow after Christ and a title to glory there are reall pleasures to be had rivers of pleasure at his right hand for evermore scorn then to be put off with such poor things or to let out thy affections upon such vanities or to let them grovel upon the ground wilt thou suffer thy eyes to be dazled with a few flowers when thou maist behold the sun the moon and stars those glorious lamps and beauty-spots of heaven these are greater beauties those beautify only the porch how beautiful then is the palace the throne nay the king himself These flowers thou now admirest may for ought thou knowest be cropt and made use of for thy funeral for thy body is as fading and thy life as uncertain as they are a few days will â—â—ther make them uncapable of pleasing thee or thee uncapable of praising them this use thou maist make of this pleasing object be as careful of thy soul as the gardiner is of this plot of ground let neither thorn nor thistle briar nor weed of sin thrive there supply what is wanting root out what is superfluous order what is disordered and then it is a happy time thou madest this Observation oh my God what a poor pitiful foolish wretch am I thus to doat upon vanities Lord wean my affections from the world and keep them close to thy self Upon an adder lurking in the grass 44. Med. WAlking in the garden I had like to have trod upon an adder lurking in the grass and so was in unexpected danger where I least dreaded it the apprehensions of it at present put me into amaze which when it was something abated it made me consider what daily need we have of divine protection and how dangerous it is to be from under the protecting hand of God It made me also to consider that thus it is in all our earthly enjoyments there is no security in any much danger in all anguis in herba latet there is a little honey and many stings a little pleasure and much pain there is no age no calling no condition of life free riches are held by many to be the greatest happiness and most men rather desire gold then grace and to be great rather then good yet these are not without their snares neither set men out of the reach of danger they are called deceitfull riches such as choak the word when it was sown Mat. 22.13 and well they may be so called for they promise that they never pay and always deceive those that trust them they promise content satisfaction and happiness when oftentimes like strong drink in a feaver they do but inrage the disease he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver Eccles. 5.10 a man may as soon fill a chest with grace an empty stomach with air as a covetous heart with grace pauperis est numerare pecus saith the coveteous man he had never enow cattle while they might be numbred a ship may sink under the burthen that is not half full and men may have riches enough to sink them when not half enough to satisfy them non plus satiatur cor auro quam corpus aura But this is not all their vanity neither for as they are unsatisfying so they are uncertain they take themselves wings and fly away Pro. 23.5 they are never true to those that trust them they are oft as transitory as a head-long torrent but this is not all they are golden fetters to chain the souls faster in the devils clutches and faster in his service and many times the devil buys mens souls yea their very profession out of their hands for money pleasures have honey in the mouth but a sting in the tail they oft perish in the budding in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is heaviness favour is deceitful and beauty is vain Pro. 31.30 and those that trust to them shall be deceived favour will fail and beauty will wither and how will they deceive mens expectation some men marry saith one by the eye and some by their fingers ends viz. for money dos non Deus makes such matches Absolom and his sister found there was danger trusting to their beauty and many more besides them to whom it hath proved a temptation honour is the emptiest of all bubbles courted by many attained by few and there is but a little distance between the highest round of the ladder and the lowest step let Haman and Achitophel prove the point Beauty many times is like a
part be not devoured by unprofitable dogs and besure the recreation thou useth be lawfull what is cruel and bloudy may be suspected let it be when true need is and to fit thee for thy general or particular calling oh my God give me wisdome that I may never delight in any thing that offends thee let me not make a mock of sin lest thou call me fool for my labour and laugh at my destruction and mock when my fear comes preserve me from my bloud thirsty enemies especialy from satan that hunts after my soul Upon the labour and pains men take about worldly things 47. Med. WHen I had wearied and almost spent my self in digging delving and moiling in the garden and had unfitted my self for better and more necessary employments I began at last to check my self for it and discourse with my self after this manner vain man what have I been doing or how have I spent my time and my strength is it for heaven or for the earth for my soul or for my body for this life or that to come is there so much pains needful for a little spot of earth which will bring in little if any advantage what pains then is necessary for heaven have I been so prodigal of my time and pains and sweat and labour for this poor empty nothing and yet negligent in the main concern when did I take so much pains for heaven and happiness for Christ and glory as I have done for these trifles when did I sweat thus in Gods service and spend my self thus in doing his work am I working for a better master or is this a more delightful employment or am I like to receive or can I expect better wages then he gives that I work harder and sweat more then I would do in his work and follow my business with more diligence care and industry if the whole world be really worth so much labour pains and industry as I have bestowed upon this little angle this worthless plot of ground what pains doth heaven deserve if to the obtaining the whole world deserves one days hard work sure heaven deserves all the rest good things are not had at easy rates the more excellent the more difficult it is so in earthly enjoyments riches cannot be had without sweat and pain without cark and care nor learning without labour and study and will heaven be had with a wet finger cannot I provide for a few days without all this adoe and can I provide for eternity with less labour will an interest in Christ and a title to glory be had so easily no no doubtless a slow pace will fall short of heaven and the sluggard is never like to come there there must be striving running contending fighting or we shall not obtain the kingdome of heavsn suffers violence and the violent take it by force those only that are carried out with strength of affection after Christ shall enjoy him those are like to have the pearl that will have it at the hardest rates though they sell all to purchase it heaven is had by the violent though the earth be inherited by the meek Mat. 5.6 those that content themselves with the least mercies here as not deserving any cannot content themselves with the greatest portion the world can make up for them because they know there is a better portion laid up for them by their father there is nothing but eternity that can make us absolutely happy or perfectly miserable eternity added to happiness or misery makes it compleat and can I attain the one or avoid the other so easily toylsom days and wearisom nights may make us willing of a change but what good will a change do if it be for the worse and not the better or how can we expect better and not make preparation for it can we expect an harvest that have sown no seed or wages that have done no work can we expect the prize that never run the race or the victory that never entred into the field to fight if we bury our selves and talents in the earth can we expect they will be there improved nay may we not expect a reckoning day when they will be taken from us and given to those that are diligent and will improve them a judging time is coming when our reward will be according to our diligence and our wages according to our work if we sow vanity we shall reap folly if we sow to the flesh we shall of the flesh reap corruption if we sow to the spirit we shall of the spirit reap life everlasting if we trade only in earthly commodities we cannot expect rationally any other gain but what they afford which will never recompence the pains and care and loss we sustain upon that account but if we serve a better Master we may expect better wages oh my soul how justly here maist thou be reproved for thy diligence in trifles and neglect of the substance thou hast not only let the world run away with thy time thy hands and thy head but with thy heart also use the world thou maist but abuse it thou must not but so thou dost when thy affections close with it and thou committest spiritual adultery with it and lodgest it in the room where Christ should lodge in thy earthly business thy heart should be in heaven and thine eye upon Christ if thou be diligent it should be because he commands it and if thou do all in obedience to his command then dost thou engage him to be thy pay-master and maist expect a reward from him even for doing thy own work learn to make some spirituall use of all thy earthly enjoyments then by divine meditation thou maist enjoy heaven upon earth yea extract heaven out of the earth and God out of the creature that must needs be a rich soul that can with the bee extract honey out of every weed and flower oh my God I must confess I have been grossly faulty not only for spending my time and strength upon vanities but letting out my affections on them also Lord suffer me no longer to ramble from thee gather in my scattered affections to thy self Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean let me see more excellency in thee then the world can shew this will engage my heart to thee for ever Upon the dilligence of the spider 48. Med. OBserving the industry diligence and painful labour of the spider a contemptible creature how busy she was in weaving her nets how industriously she plys her work and though oftentimes she meet with disappointments had her work spoiled and her self indangered yet never a whit discouraged or disheartned she begins again this is one of these four things that Solomon had observed in the earth that were little but wise c. the spider that taketh hold with her hands and is in Kings palaces Pro. 30.24 c. she doth her work painfully and curiously spins saith one a finer thred
a conscience void of guilt that it cannot accuse them of any unjust or uncivil act lest the sergeant death put them into the devils hands and they be cast into prison thâ—se that will not now abate their fellow-servants a penny shall themselves pay the utmost farthing he that will shew no mercy shall finde none when they stand in need and those that now feed upon others death shall ere long feed sweetly on them Job 24.20 yea the never-dying worm shall feed upon them as it is fabled the vulture did upon Prometheus his liver oh my soul live so holily towards God and so uprightly towards man that thy greatest enemies may have nothing to object against thee but concerning the law of thy God Improve those talents God hath lent thee to his glory lest thou have the doom of the unfaithful servant consider thou art but a steward of what thou enjoyest and what is under thy hands thou hast but the dispose of it for thy masters use and he will require an account take heed of getting any thing unjustly keeping it unlawfully or parting with it sinfully put not the poors part in any childes portion this will be a canker to consume the rest and bring a curse upon thy posterity grinde not the faces of the poor for their redeemer is mighty and will not bear it do as thou wouldst be done by shew mercy or thou wilt miss of it when thou standst in need if thou wilt not forgive others God will not forgive thee Oh my God I have this sin of cruelty in my nature also oh curse and blast this bitter root that it may not spring up in me incline my heart to lenity and mercy yea to forgive mine enemies that I may resemble thee my father that dost good both to the good and to the bad Upon a kite soaring aloft yet minding her prey 67. Med. OBserving the Kite that bird of prey soaring aloft towring on high as if he meant to scale the clouds and look into heaven and with the Eagle to make his nest among the stars Obad. 4. And yet I observed he suddenly descended fell upon his prey and devoured it This observation satisfyed me that though he aimed at heaven and seemed to scorn these inferiour things yet his eye and minde was fixed here below and grovelled on the ground though the bodv were above the heart was below and his mounting aloft was but dissimulation and upon designe like the fox in the fable that pretended himself dead to take his prey the better so this kite to compass his ends carry on his designes and to take his unwary prey useth this stratagem I thought this was a lively Embleme of an hypocrite who seems to be all for heaven when he mindes nothing less he is only minding his prey driving on some carnal designe and when he seems to be trading for heaven and discoursing with God himself yet his heart and affections are glued to the world and he is carrying on some self-interest or fleshly designe and is like a waterman he looks one way and rows another Thus the Pharisees those noted hypocrites did for under pretence of long prayers they devoured widdows houses and fisht for popular applause with their prayers fastings and almes-deeds Mat. 6.1 2 3 c. their hearts were on earth when their hands and eyes were lifted up to heaven A hypocrite is most devout when preferment profit or applause is in sight but key-cold when there is no temptation they are burning hot in the publike lukewarm in their familyes and key-cold in their closets they are like a Cardinal I have read of and doubtless there are many more of his minde who being a poor fishermans son was for his humility and other qualifications advanced to several degrees of honour but always to minde him of his mean extraction and to keep him humble as he said he would have his Fathers Net in his dining-room that he might not forget his descent but at the last being made Pope the net was laid aside being demanded the reason he replyed when the fish is caught what need is there of the net This net and feigned humility was but to take the fish and there are many in our times fish with such a bait some that depend upon some godly great man or some religious Landlord or great benefactor counterfeit their colours and pretend to wear their livery the better to ingratiate themselves into their favour and friendship but when they have caught the fish the net is thrown aside for when they have attained their end or are frustrated of their expectation they soon cast off the sheeps-skin and appear in their own likeness they make religion but a stalking-horse to take their prey and use it for no other end and when that work is done they lay it afide they have a piece of work to do and when one tool will not do it they lay that aside and take another if profession of religion fail them they will turn persecutors and those that now cry hail master will shortly cry crucify him they follow not Christ for love but for loaves and will be his servants so long and no longer then they gain by him they put their hands to the plow and look back and will have no more of religion then will do them good while it will stand with their credit profit or worldly advantages they will be religious when they must part with any thing they will not buy heaven at so dear a rate but let such take heed of mocking God that will not be mocked or of playing with this candle lest they burn their wings or approach too neer the sun of righteousness lest like Icarus they melt their waxen wings and they deceive them God can easily see through this thin vail of dissimulation and smell the filthy savour of an hypocrites rotten lungs this fire will soon discover this paint and without oyl in the vessel as well as a lamp in the hand there is no entring into the bridechamber it is not then a Lord Lord open to us will serve turn yea often this rotten inside will rot the outside also and those ulcers at the heart will break forth in the life and conversation oh my soul beware of hypocrysy that damning sin that ruines thousands and sends them to hell and unfits a man for any office or imployment in Church or state this will make thee hatefull both to God and man man will hate thee for thy profession God will hate thee for counterfeiting his colours and serving the devil in his livery if religion be bad why wilt thou profess it if it be good why wilt thou not practice it Make the tree good and his fruit good or make the tree evill and his fruit evill be as thou seemest or seem as thou art and do not dishonour God by a great profession and an evil conversation there is no deceiving God by a fained shew who
so careless for the body as they are for the soul the most of us sleep in harvest and are like to beg in winter slug away the day and make no provision for night when they cannot work and lose the opportunity God affords them and have a price put into their hands but have no heart to get wisdome they provide not against the winter night of death nor the days of darkness which will be many Eccl. 11.8 for as sure as the night follows the day so sure a change will come a storm will rise and such a storm as will never be blown away to wicked worldlings There is too many professors go on in heavens way as the proverb hath it on a snails gallop we can scarce see them move and many like the crab-fish rather go backward then forward they are like those silly women mentioned 2 Tim. 3.7 ever learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth many have served an apprentiship in Christianity some two some three and some more and never yet understood the mystery of their profession nay not the grounds and fundamentals of Religion those that have been listed souldiers twenty or thirty years have not yet learned to handle their arms nor known the use of their weapons those that have been as long schollers in Christs school yet have not learned the first lesson of self denyal they have the same corruption unmortifyed the same grace weak or wanting the same doubts unresolved and the same fears upon their spirits as they had long since many years are past away and their work stands at a stay no more fitter for death no more assurance of heaven no more communion with God no more knowledge of the state of their own souls and all this notwithstanding the means they have had the Ministry they have enjoyed and the seasons of grace they have lived in Now is not he a monster in nature that is as big at two years old as at twenty and is it not a dullard indeed that goes to school twenty years and cannot take out one lesson Ancient professors should grow with the oak more firmly rooted and with the apple more ripe and mellow these trees of righteousness should bring forth fruit even to old age and add every year to their experience indeed there are some that grow in opinions and think this is growing in grace and in few years run the whole circle of errors and at last end where they began at profaness if not at athiesm they grow most in the head like children that have the rickets when the rest of the body pines these errors the brats of their own brain are like suckers in a tree they draw all the sap that should feed the other branches to themselves and run up into aspiring branches fruitless yea hurtfull the strength and vigor of the soul the life and heat of their zeal is spent upon these to maintain them when the power of godliness languisheth but true grace grows uniformly like a healthy body though every member grows not to the same bigness yet every member grows in proportion to the rest and so the body is compleated but alass where is this growth of grace discerned the most professors are in a languishing condition their pulse beats weakly and their natural heat abates and they are inclining to a consumption or a lethargy oh my soul is not this thy condition that is here described art not thou fitly resembled to this sluggish creature how long hast thou been in Christs school and never the better how many apprentiships hast thou served and yet art a very dullard and little more grace appears then did many years ago well double thy diligence amend thy pace set about thy work to purpose lest God turn thee out of his vineyard for a loiterer and give thee thy portion with the unfaithfull with the unprofitable servant Mat. 25.26 had idleness been a calling doubtless thou hadst been a good husband yet at last up and be doing thou canst not serve a better Master expect better work or wages O my God what shall I say to thee or how shall I answer thee mine iniquity hath found me out and my sin shews it self it is I that resemble this snail and have sluggishly served thee all my days Lord rouse me up out of my security that I may make more haste lest I fall short of my journeys end Upon a snail carrying her house along with her 72. Med. WHen I observed a snail carrying her house upon her back and in so doing carryed all she had with her in her removes it brought to my minde how the Israelites in the wilderness when ever they journeyed they removed their tents and carryed them with them and when ever they rested there they picht them and carryed all their substance for forty years space along with them and this might well put them in minde that they were strangers and pilgrims and there rest was not here I have read of heathen Stilpo when the enemy had seazed upon all he had burnt the town he lived in and took his wife and children prisoners being asked by Demetrius what he had lost replyed nothing omnia mea mecum porto I carry all-along with me esteeming his vertues his only riches which none could take from him but all loseable riches he valued not This made me further consider if any heathen could say thus how much more a Christian that hath all his vertues adopted graces and hath an interest in Christ and a title to glory for this is a Christians all and he can properly lay claim to no more for as he hath all from God so he hath all in God and having God he hath all and a rich portion it is beyond all the gold in the Indies and all the wealth in the world it is a more soul-satisfying portion then the world can afford and such a portion that is durable for the devil and all his instruments cannot deprive them of it and this they may take along with them to a prison to a gibbet yea to the utmost parts of the earth if they are banished thither The men of the world would have their portion in the world and heaven like paper and packthred into the bargain but it will not be they would carry the world upon their backs to heaven but it is too great a burthen to carry up the hill and too big to enter with at the strait gate The only way to make the best advantage of the world is to take Christs counsel Luk. 16.9 make your selves friends of the unrighteouss mammon that when they fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations this is the way to send the world before us to heaven or to improve it to the best advantage testify your faith saith the Apostle by your works improve these talents well and God will reward you for it riches are not properly ours but Gods but if we make sure
the Jewel we shall have the box if we buy the wine we shall have the cask and if we seek first the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof all other things shall be added Mat. 6.33 most men begin at the wrong end they make sure the world and think then all is safe and heaven sure but would they make heaven sure riches should not be wanting but most men think that scraping and keeping together is the way to be rich but the holy Ghost teacheth us that it is giving and laying out is the way Solomon tells us he that gives to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him Pro. 19.17 and he that gives to the poor shall not lack Pro. 28.27 so that not getting but giving is the way to wealth but he shall have judgement without mercy that will shew no mercy Jam. 2.13 rich men are Gods stewards he trusts them with his store-house to give their fellow-servants their meat in due season and blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall finde so doing Mat. 24.46 but if insteed of feeding them they feed themselves and eat and drink with the drunken and beat their fellow-servants their Lord shall come when they are not aware and shall give them their portion with hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth but all places are too full of such evil servants and so is hell too such dust-heaps are found in every corner but those unmercifull men shall have their portion with the devil and the damned Mat. 25.34 when the charitable Christian shall have a portion in glory we are all Gods servants and have some talents or other to improve in his service to his glory which if we do we shall not be without our reward there is none saith God shuts the door of my house for nought or kindles a fire upon my altar for nought Mal. 1.10 he hath lent us our riches and yet if we improve them and employ them as we ought they will become our own and we shall send them to heaven before us where they will be made up into a crown for us this is the only good they can do the soul but whatsoever is not thus improved is lost yea worse then lost for it will be put upon our account and required of us when we give an account of our stewardship It is a great mistake and so it will be found when men think they have an absolute propriety in what they enjoy and may dispose of it at their pleasure Christ bids the young man sell all that he had and give to the poor and he should have treasure in heaven Mat. 19.21 and rich men are charged to be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to give that they may lay up for themselves a good foundation against the evil day 1 Tim. 6.16 c. had rich men but Moses eye to see the wealth of heaven and the worth of it it were not hard for them to make such a choise as he did worldlings if they could have heaven without labour or cost they would accept of it if not they will not buy it at so dear a rate but Christians say as Mephibosheth let Zibah take all so I may enjoy the king oh my soul here is riches worth labouring for thou canst not buy this gold at too dear a rate the world thou maist and many do with the loss of the soul here thou canst not be disappointed whatever rate thou setst upon this treasure it is ten thousand times better lay hold upon this make heaven sure to thy self improve the world to a spiritual advantage then will thy riches encrease as the oyl in the cruse or like the bread in Christs hands or the water in a spring thy good works will follow thee to heaven when the world will leave her dearest minions oh my God let it be so say amen to my prayer let me have thee and I have all things necessary Upon mens misery labour and pains 73. Med. WHen I considered that man that was the chief of Gods workmanship and next to the angels the most glorious creature of the whole creation yea in his creation was made little lower then the angels and cloathed with honour and dignity Psal 8.5 and was made Lord over the works of Gods hands Gen. 1.26 yea God created him in his own image all these inferiour creatures were made for his sake and for his use and service he was their little Lord yea the angels themselves are ministring spirits sent out for the good of those that love God Heb. 1.14 the saints are the Church the spouse the bride the members of Christ and so seem to be in nearer union to him then the angels themselves some think the devils envied this and so fell from their own station thus you see how man in the creation was exalted to honour but on the other side I considered how man above all the rest of the creatures was more subjected to misery labour and slavery yea vexation of spirit then any other and many of them even worn out with carking cares and fretting fears with moiling toyling spending labour which tires their bodies breaks their sleep in the night when other creatures which were made for their use and are their servants rest secure and free from daily cares and nightly troubles many kindes of them are preserved without their pain all without their care or fore-cast the masters care for some and maintain them and God maintains the rest but it is not so with man he must eat his bread in the sweat of his brows how true is that of Joh chap. 5.7 man is born to labour as the sparks fly upwards all things are full of labour saith Solomon Eccl. 1.8 molestation and misery meet us at every turn the world saith one is a sea of glass for it is vanity mingled with fire for it is vexation Rev. 4.6 man is in a restless condition tossed to and fro like a football and here he hath no resting place when I sought out the cause of this why this noble creature should be thus subjected to trouble and sorrow more then any others I quickly found out it was Gods will and mans desert for had man continued in his primitive purity he had never had an aking head or aking heart or loss or cross or any thing to molest him but when he had sin'd God pronounced this sentence upon him in the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread which law never yet was reversed The beasts of the field never transgrest their makers law as man hath done and therefore never had such punishment threatned as man had though it is conceived they are sufferers for mans sin Rom. 8.20 had not sin gone before trouble and misery had never followed the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life and as sin brought death so also sorrow into the world
better provided the soul here wears the body as a garment which when it is worn out the saints shall have a better suit they shall be choathed with the Lord Jesus Christ death will not spare the best there is no coming to paradice but under the flaming sword of this guardian that stands at the porch no wiping all tears from our eyes but with our winding-sheet assurance of Gods love makes a man even willing to die but the cook on the dunghill knows not the worth of this jewel oh the blindness madness and stupidity of man whose care is to lade himself with thick clay and to take care what he shall eat or what he shall drink or wherewithall he shall be cloathed and makes no provision for the soul but depends upon that for comfort that can do no good when most need is they can provide in the day for the night in the summer for the winter on the market-day for the whole week and at a Fair for the whole year and yet make no provision in life for death or in time for eternity if a coelestial habitation be not provided against those houses of clay our bodies wherein the soul lodgeth as a tenant at will be dissolved our lodging will be worse then with toads and serpents even with the devil and his angels in endless easeless and remediless torments oh my soul how fares it with thee or what preparation hast thou made long it cannot be before night comes where then will be thy lodging the earth then will be to thee as the waters to Noahs dove thou wilt finde no rest here for the sole of thy foot it is in heaven that the weary be at rest Job 3.17 oh my God enable me to clear up my interest in Christ who is the only sanctuary for a troubled soul Upon sickness spoiling all earthly delights 98. Med. WHen I had fitted things to my minde and began to take delight in the works of my hands when I began to sing a requiem to my self and my heart with Solomons rejoyced in all my labour Eccl. 2.10 yea when I had promised my self content in what I had done I was suddenly forced to say with wise Solomon Eccles 14. behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit nothing in themselves yet sufficient to vex and perplex us sin hath produced a confusion in the world and stampt vanity upon the creature every man saith David in his best estate is altogether vanity this is the impartiall verdict brought in by one that could best tell and to this I was forc't to subscribe for God immediatly humbled me for setting my affection upon creature-comforts and let me see the vanity of them by visiting me with a fit of sickness that I was taken off from setting my delight or taking satisfaction in or upon them or taking any pleasure in any thing that I had done nay I was troubled that I had not spent my time better and that I had not planted set or sown in a more fertile soil where I might have expected a more plentiful encrease and had a better crop this providence seemed to speak to me as Christ did to the rich man Luk. 12.16 c. that set his heart on his riches and was not rich to God thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee and then whose are these this shewed me more of the vanity of humane felicity then I had before observed I plainly saw there was a double uncertainty in all earthly felicity and in sublunary enjoyments for they themselves are very uncertain and many times short-lived and may leave us or we may by death be arrested and then we shall leave them God sometimes takes them from us they take themselves wings and fly away and shall we set our eyes upon things that are not Pro. 23.5 there is no solid substance in them though the foolish world call it by that name they are as transitory as a hasty headlong torrent but if they remain we shall remove for our life passeth away as a shadow or post or weavers shuttle and continueth not and then those winged fouls that now sit upon our trees shall sit upon other mens sometimes God blows upon them and blasts them that though we do enjoy them they prove but a vexation to us sometimes he disables us to use them and sometimes imbitters them to us mixing them with gall and wormwood that we can finde no pleasure in them and assuredly they will do us little good when we have most need suppose a man to have what the world can afford yea all the delights of the sons of men yea all that his heart can wish as Solomon had Eccl. 2.27 yet one hours sickness spoils all his mirth and robs him of all the comfort he promised to himself one fit of the collick gout strangury or other raging pain yea the extream pain of an aking tooth puts a man besides all these his enjoyments yet how greedily do men grasp after the world as if it included the highest degree of happiness and hug it in their bosome and lodge it nearest to the heart which will prove no better nay much worse then a bush of thorns if graspt too hard so this the harder it is handled the worse it hurts oh folish man cannot these earthly enjoyments give ease to an aking head or heart can they not mitigate the pains of the gout collick stone or strangury and can it be imagined they can ease the conscience or cure a sinsick soul if not what good can they do it could Judas Achitophel Spira and others fetch any comfort here in their extremity no no they are like Jobs friends miserable comforters at such a time what good will gold do at death and judgment this coin is not currant in the other world nay in this world it brings little content if God frown if one spark of hell-fire flash in the conscience all these things cannot extinguish it one drop of it will mar a whole cup of earthly delights that in the midst of laughter the heart will be sorrowful and the end of that mirth will be heaviness Pro. 14.13 nulla est sincera voluptas wicked men may dance to the timbrel and harp but suddenly they turn into hell Job 21.12 13. and their merry dance ends in a miserable downfall the candle of the wicked shall out in a snuff and what will all these outward enjoyments signify then Jobs flower Jonahs gourd and Davids green bay-tree will soon wither and their beauty will fade all these things will leave us at death many times before how much need then have we to make preparation before-hand of something that will stand us instead This sickness of mine also taught me how unfit a time this was for repentance and yet how many post it off till then oh how unfit was I to examine my heart and call my sins to minde to repent of them when racking pains brought