Concealment happened to him ANd accordingly a while before the Celebration of Easter he used to search the wild unfrequented places thereabouts and beat the Hedges and by-ways to find out and set aright any solitary wandring Pilgrim How successful his Charity proved you may judge by the event One day above the rest walking out he was overtaken by a very thick Fog descending from the hills that benighten'd all the Vallies round whereby every thing at a short distance was undiscernable to the eye The Sun as if he knew how to commemorate the Eclipse of the Sun of Righteousness mantled over his light in black cloudy Exhalations such was the darkness though not universal that it might not unfitly represent that mid-day-night wherein all the powers of Infernal Darkness were scatter'd and confounded Which made him revolve in his contemplative mind all the dire and tragick parts of his Masters most astonishing Passion whom the Evangelical Records relate to have offer'd up his Soul a bloudy Victim about this time for the Sins of the whole World Thereupon his thoughts crowding too fast upon each other were forced at length to burst out into some such Expressions as these viz. My Lord and Saviour how great and intolerable were the pains which thou didst endure How sharp and pungent was thy grief Who alas can express thy Sorrows or comprehend the riches and excellency of thy Goodness What else but infinite Love could make thee holy Prince before whom all knees bow both in Heaven Earth put off thy Coelestial Diadem and Glory to court Infamy Servitude and Misery to be scourged reviled and spit on to be forsaken even of thy Father and together with Thieves and Robbers nail'd upon the accursed Tree For whose sake dear JESV didst thou submit to this Could it be for the meanest of thy Vassals for a depraved mortal Race thy disloyal rebellious Subjects and vile Creatures Yes LORD thou knowest 't was for them alone And is thy Death of no more efficacy to them Do thy precious Wounds avail thus little Has thy Bloud lost its virtue or thy Love its power If not how canst thou behold them perish for whom thou hast done so much to effect the contrary Canst thou let the World after all this be lost or canst thou so far forget thy Name as not to be merciful Look down and see how the Destroyer of Mankind seems proudly to triumph in thy defeat Why wilt thou any longer suffer him to usurp Dominion and Rule over that which is thine Thou LORD art faithful and remembrest the * Chap. 4. Promise made to thy Servant In vain didst thou die if Here Tears gusht out so fast as to block up all further passage for words and leave him no power to speak the rest except in sighs and tacit grief He had not kept silence very long before he heard a small stir which at first he little minded thinking it to be the rushing of a Deer in the Thickets till hearing a lamentable groan he judged it to be of one in a worse case than himself and therefore sought him out that he might help him He was directed by the frequent reiteration of such mournful notes to a certain Bush hard by where he could discern a comly Youth that had been barbarously tortur'd and now ready to expire his breath stript of all his Clothes and rifled of every thing but his native Beauty and Endowments He taking pity on the poor young man and his hopeful features threw his Gown over him and the Air clearing up he made a shift to bear him home in his weak arms But in the way he fell into a dead Swoon CHAP. VII The Penitents Sickness and Signs of Recovery AT this the charitable Father almost struck like him believing that his Spirit then had quite vanished and that now nothing in him of life was any longer remaining fell down with him to the ground Such a desperate lifeless stupor had indeed benumm'd the poor wretches Soul that although the touch and pressure of a Prophet has proved vital and salutary to more than one and the embraces and the expansion of a man of God reviving to many a dead Sinner yet could this produce no effect upon the appearing Corpse Whereupon after the Father had a little recovered himself and was able he went to prepare a Grave When as he was going the remembrance of his Vision Promises of his God and late apparition of an enliven'd Carcass soon called him back and bad him not distrust the Veracity of him that could not lye Being therefore come home into the hole of his devout Hermitage and having laid down his sad burthen and wept over it he made a gentle Fire for it is near an impossibility to do any good in this case if the Fires of Zeal be either extinct or over vehement to expel the cold and noxious Vapours To it he brought the senseless body in which he knew the Soul was buried and left not off applying such Revocatives as he had always at hand till he felt warmth therein next breath And at last came a deep sigh a glad note you will say however of life which was followed by this short moan O Eubulus Eubulus But here he stopt not able to go further This so filled the spirits of Theosophus with joy that as his custom was he could not forbear running out into Hymns of Praise and thankful Acknowledgments Besides it pleased him much to hear Eubulus named above any other as either longing perhaps to hear some news of his long-absent Friend or else not knowing the true cause willing to attribute it to a supernatural Impulse and even reckon the very calling and seeking after that reverend Physician of Souls some kind of presage of Recovery Now marking the lines of his face he recollected how that amongst the tumultuous Rusticks in their late Assault he had observed his forward fury and had often listened to the Character given him by this same worthy person whom returning to himself he presently called for All which made him not desist his labour until with continual chafing and rubbing he brought him wholly to himself again But he observes his Patient in whose pale languid face but just afore there shone the remains of such feminine sweetness and winning prettiness to be now covered over with Botches and Plague-sores with the crust of a Leprosie and the ruptures of Violence scorched up with burning Fevers and the Calenture of an intemperate Diet tortur'd with sharp Dolours with grievous twingings of Conscience so that he looked upon him as the most deformed and the most loathsome Monster in the whole Universe the most miserable Wretch vile unhappy Caitive that ever his eyes beheld Yet even this increased not lessened his care and hopes For the breaking out and the knowledge of the Disease he took to be the first and most necessary step towards its Cure and the surest prognostick of mending It would have
less but greater far and nobler if any Comparison can be made betwixt a Coelestial Substance and an Earthly one Thus his stony and obdurate heart which the Thunders of the Law could not shiver is now softned with the Bloud of the Passover He who but a little while afore matter'd not the Threats and Terrors of Mount Sinai is now touched and moved with the sweet Gospel-Messages of Love and Peace Whence ever after he related great things of this Evangelical Feast how it was the Seal of his Pardon the Christian Pasport of his Heavenly Pilgrimage and the beginning of his Vnion with God And how it gave him all things even by removing him from them and making him desire nothing but JESUS and to be with him in PARADISE CHAP. X. An Eucharistical Meditation AS soon therefore as he was returned back again with the Eremit into his Cell and shut himself up in a close apartment thereof his Soul by rapturous flights of Joy strove to ascend upward and exert her self in these following Acts of devout Acknowledgment I. I am well pleased that the Lord hath thus heard the § 1. An Act of Thanksgiving and Adoration voice of my Prayer Blessed is he that now cometh in the Name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Hosanna here below Thrice hail most triumphant Prince of Heaven Hail holy wonderful eternal King great Deliverer successful Combatant the Redemption of the Captives and the Oppressed and upon this day the First-Fruits and Hopes to those that sleep of a glorious Resurrection Hallelujah Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power be to the Lord our God Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Hallelujah I adore thee I worship thee I love thee I magnifie thee O thou Conqueror of Hell and Death victorious Champion over the Infernal Forces I will magnifie thee as much as I am able and will still strive to magnifie thee more All hail welcome sweetest Saviour Jesus welcome Lamb of God the Life-giving Sacrifice the spiritual Refection the holy and accepted Peace-Offering the Deliverance and Comfort of all faithful Souls Welcome victorious Lamb all the mighty Hosts of Heaven fall down before thee and with everlasting Praises delight to celebrate the glories and triumphs of so strange a Love And here below under their feet I would do the same Thou art the powerful and wise the Lord of Hosts the King of Loves thou art called and thy Conquests are spread abroad as far as the ends of the World When the terrours of Death encompassed me round when the nethermost Hell threatned to devour me quick and Satan was ready to grasp my polluted Soul then found I deliverance then saw I my returning Victor laden with their spoils and having trampled on and crushed their power bidding me live Behold even he whom I fought against has obtained for me the victory and has overcome me with his love and with his love has made me overcome The great God the mighty Saviour of Nations hath pitied a poor perishing wretch he hath snatched my life from out the paws of the devouring Lion and the sulphurous stench and horrors of yonder black Abyss II. But who can tell me how all this came to pass what § 2. An Act of Contrition or Humility was there in me that I should be thus highly honoured or my life worth that it should be ransomed at so dear a rate as the death of my God Why should God the Father whom I had offended send his Son to die for me Why should God the Son whom I had so sinned against bear the load and punishment of that sin Tell me what could the Creator see worthy of so great savour in such an abominable and filthy Creature or the Lord of all things in his proud presumptuous Vassal the Holiest in a sinner wallowing in his Lusts How came Vnworthiness and Pride Rebellion and Sin perverse Dust and Ashes to find thus instead of the heaviest curse and dreadfullest execution of a just and fiery Indignation so extraordinary a Blessing so far not onely above my merit but my comprehension This is all Prodigie of Mercy Shall the careless and disobedient the refractory and murmuring Servant be rewarded be feasted with his Master Shall the wilful and obstinate offender be pardoned the despicable and haughty Villain be pitied Who can believe there is so great Charity for an Enemy or such Honours as these for the vilest of the children of men This was indeed too great for me to expect or wish for will take up all the wonder of Men and Angels Ah! have have not my Crimes crucified him my Passions made him bleed and could he yet do and suffer so much for me Has not my Pride alas stript him naked my Intemperance and Luxury forced him to fast And did not my Covetousness make him poor my Ambition a slave But he hath covered my Nakedness and Folly he hath feasted me with his holy ones he hath filled me with the Riches of his Grace and hath freed me from the slavery of sin The bitterness of my Spirit hath been worse to him than the very Gall he tasted my Peevishness and Malice than the Vinacre he drank my Honours have wreath'd him a Crown of Thorns The rude Souldier pierced but his side when I pierced his very heart with sorrows My Jollity was that anguish which made his Virginal Body to be drained all over bloudy droops of Sweat My Scoffs at Religion have been far more intolerable have entred deeper into his Soul than the Contempt and Mockeries of the Pretorian Band. Nay my very Devotion and Piety has murthered him my Addresses have been criminal and traiterous and with Judas have I studied to betray him with a kiss O Prodigie of Villany But neither is this all Ah me I can scarce utter that which is still more black Oft would my Wickednesses have offered Violence even to his glorified Body and ripped up his Wounds afresh Thus have I open'd his side by violating those mysterious Sacraments which proceeded thence my best works put him to shame Nor indeed could I any otherwise have claimed his infinite Mercy but that I am infinitely vile and infinitely sinful III. Dearest Jesu how admirable are the effects of thy § 3. An Act of Wonder Goodness How glorious and condescending is thy Love that could do all this for me and how disproportionate are the Returns of thy soveraign Bounty to the deserts of a perfidious disloyal wretch I came not unto thee of my self but thou hast drawn me with Cords though I refused yet found I protection My Guilt was thy Condemnation yet through thee am I saved Thou hast reached forth to me the Scepter with the same hand which my Vanity had mocked with a Reed Could I ever expect to receive life from him whom mine Iniquities bruised and even robbed of his a Cure through his
which are so many just Apologies for my Vndertaking I am of the opinion that Religion and Good Manners are not to be taught just like a Science by Rules and Precepts or in a Scholastick dress but rather by Examples I never yet heard of any whom Aristotle ' s Ethicks converted This is the difference the one way is dead and without any Spirit liveless and unmoving but this is animated and full of vigor having a soul and life in it and powerfully affecting The Learned and the Ignorant are both alike moved hereby it is so cogent that 't is able to work upon the most judicious and the most wise and yet so plain that 't is apt to take with the most Rude and Vulgar fit for every one but chiefly for the Ingenious § 4. This was the antient Poetry before ever it was confin'd to Verse At length it was brought not onely into the Drama but also the Epick Poem whence of the last sort Homer and Hesiod Virgil and Ovid have two of them given us the most noble and the most adequate Images of Heroick Vertue and the other two not less delightful and instructive Figments Wherefore I cannot agree to those who make it as late as the irruption of the barbarous Nations into Italy It is true that then it grew into greatest credit with the Souldiers but I no-where learn that the wild Germans brought it along with them thither or that any besides the Italians themselves used it whence it is said to receive the name of Romanzo and Fabula Romana I have already exceeded the measure of that Discourse I intended and therefore cannot stay to give you an account of its progress from the Jews Egyptians Indians Persians Arabians Moors Spaniards The last I named were so addicted to this sort of Wit that one of them I mean the Author of Quichot hath in the same stile writ a Satyr against them Which in Spain growing so in vogue hath passed thence into most of the Nations of Europe though still made worse by transplantation and very much abused to wanton and mean Subjects And if we may take an estimate from the mischief it hath done now it is corrupted the good must certainly be very great which we are to expect when once it is reformed That which hath done the Devil such service will I hope if wrested from him do God as much and it will be a cunning artifice thus to wound him with his own Weapons § 5. The Reader has now seen the Motives and the Reason of my putting Pen to Parer Wherefore I call this a PILGRIMAGE is from the frequent comparison in the holy Scriptures of Gods Law to a Way which leads to everlasting Life This has been heretofore attempted by several tho they have not kept closely to the Metaphor There is extant the Scala Paradisi of an uncertain Author in the ninth Tome of S. Austin ' s Works and Robertus de Sorbona Penitentiary to Lewis the Ninth of France surnamed the Saint and Founder of the Sorbon Colledge in the Bibliotheca Patrum calls a little Tract of his Iter Paradisi Bonaventure has besides his Itinerarium the Seven Journeys of Eternity Bernardinus hath writ De Paradisi Acquirendi Viâ But herein they have proved unhappy and are not worth much The Itinerarium Paradisi of Giraldus in Italian which I have not seen I guess to be much after this manner onely more like a Journal or an exact Diary than this and like unto the Victory of Divine Love a short Romance written by the Sieur de Nerveze Secretary of the Chamber to Henry the Fourth of France wherein he handsomely draws the Loves of Polydore and Virgine under them two representing the Skirmishes of worldly Pleasure against Seraphical and divides into seven Days or Sections But truly nothing that I have yet met with in this kind is in the least able to compare with the Critick of Gracian or the Pilgrim of our Dean of Peterburgh But this last worthy Person limiting himself to the Needs of a private Friend is not of so general use as could be wish'd Perhaps there was never one better accomplisht for such a designe than the late B. Taylor whose extraordinary Eloquence and Sweetness must here needs have been very proper The last Lord Orrery had indeed a Genius fitted for this his handsome Stile Fancy and Piety are by as many as read those excellent Composures of his not unworthily applauded and had not Death prevented we might probably have seen such Productions from his noble Muse But our great disparity has not disencouraged me from setting about and laying this Foundation to a much bigger Superstructure In which my intent is to handle otherwise than by any Pen hath yet all the Vertues Moral and Divine their contrary Vices the Passions the rise of Errors the discovery of the Truth both the Pleasures of and the Instruments wereby to attain an Habitual Piety with all or most the Cases that can befal not onely a private Christian but the whole Catholick Church and every Order of Men within it The Reader therefore must not think strange if he meets with some Passages here and there which are little more than References to the following Parts § 6. Now if this finds not a too hard reception hereafter may be expected under the person of Theosophus the Character compleated of a holy and wise Prelate under the persons of Orthodoxus and Eubulus of an Apostolick and pious Clergie under Uranius of a Divine Poet Euistor of a Sacred Critick Ephorinus of a Contemplative Philosopher for a loyal Souldier Cratander for a worthy Statesman Nestorius for a just Judge Diceus for a good Physician Lucas and Spudeus and Philoponus for honest Plebeians The highest Love of God exemplified in Theophilus Humility in Chamalus Temperance in Sophron Chastity in Parthenius Vigilance in Nephalius Charity and Hospitality in Eleutherius an aged Piety in Eusebius and on early Piety in the Child Erastus Devout Widowhood in Priscilla Holy Virginity in Parthenia and Parental Care in Christina and so in the rest For it is a common truth the very sad experience of every day that we are sooner prevail'd upon by Examples than by never so excellent Precepts and Discourses And certainly our Saviour as a late ingenious Writer hath it could as well have given the moral common places of Vncharitableness and Humbleness as the divine Narration of Dives and Lazarus or of Disobedience and Mercy as that excellent Discourse of the lost Child and the gracious Father but that he knew the Estate of Dives burning in Hell and Lazarus in Abraham ' s bosome would more constantly inhabit both the Memory and Judgment As for me I can conceive nothing more moving than to have a Prodigal represented feeding upon the Husks and the Wash of Swine Nay methinks it should make every one that has run so far parallel with him as to waste their Estates with riotous living Luke c.
15. v. 13. to return also and say Father I have sinned against Heaven v. 21. Let both the severest Stoick and the Ciceronian and most eloquent Orator at once lay out all their Art and their Passion their Arguments and Ratiocination in declaiming against Luxury it will at last come extreamly short of this one instance duly considered of the Rich Man praying for a drop of water to cool his tongue cap. 16. 24. Whensoever also I read the Parable of the lost Sheep I am a great deal more moved at the love of my God and the rejoycing in Heaven of the holy Angels at the Conversion of a Sinner than I am with all the intricate Disputes of Grace and Predestination betwixt Metaphysical Airy Divines Whence this good Shepherd laying his found Sheep upon his shouldiers with joy v. 5. hath ever been by pious men made an Emblem of the Worlds Redeemer What shall I say of him who being forgiven his * Matth. 18. 24. A thousand Talents amounts to 1870500 l. Sterling and the hundred Denarii to 3 l. 2 s. 6 d. which is calculated to be above five hundred thousand to one A very vast disproportion See Dr Hammond ten thousand Talents would not have patience with a poor Fellow-servant for but the paying of an hundred pence Can any thing livelier express or powerfullier curb our Ingratitude to God I should have thought that nothing could have possibly more commended to the Disciples of the blessed Jesus Charity and mutual Forbearance than this Saying of his If you forgive men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you yours but if you forgive not men no more till I read this home and pressing Instance this reasonable and irresistible one would think Incentive to Gratitude and had markt the great cogent Argument and more cogent Terror here couched in a neglected Parable § 7. And as for my part notwithstanding the Clamours that are made against it I can find no harm in the so-much-despised Story of Tobit Whether it be a Fiction as is very probable or else real History as the Jews would have it it matters not at all I can scarce think of any thing besides the Historical Poem of holy Job that can more encourage a good man for so Tobit in the Hebrew signifieth than the Rewards and Blessings of his Piety and the notice taken of it in Heaven Nothing ever comforts and enlarges my heart more than that the Angels are ministring Spirits to our good and sure when I read how one of them condescended to be a Servant and to travel along with an honestly-educated Youth to drive away from him Asmodeus the Spirit of Unchastity and cure the Blindness and Infirmity of his good Parents I cannot but be above measure raised up with devout joy and rapturous Sentiments hereof § 8. The pious and ingenious Fancy through the Book of Judith which Grotius hath discovered and rendred more than probable is not only delightful but might be also of great use unto the People of God in their Afflictions I hope I am not over-partial in what I here say for though I know that the Lord will one time or other deliver his Church and that he is able by never so weak means to bring the greatest things to pass yet am I more than ordinarily elevated and confirmed herein if I chance but to read the strange deliverance of the Bethulians and what great powers were defeated by the hands of a Woman Questionless when Jerusalem was beleaguer'd by the numerous Army of Antiochus there lacked not as is usual and not unpolitical Consolatory Discourses to keep up the Spirits of the Inhabitants from Despair But sure nothing could be more proper more sweetly affecting and comfortable to them than to have their * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gens Judea Country Judea represented by a beautiful Widow under the name of Judith the Devil their potent Adversary by †Nabuchodonosor Hebraeis saepè Diabolum significat Assyria fastum Grot. ib. Nabuchodonosor their ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bathulia Templum Dei Jah Temple by Bethulia and by the * Gladius inde egrediens preces Sanctorum Sword thereof their Prayers ascending into Heaven by †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holophernes Lictor Serpentis Holophornes i. e. the the Instrument of the Serpent Antiochus I cannot but conjecture that these pretty Similes did work upon them and conduce somewhat at least towards their Delivery the expulsion of the Enemy and of Idolatry and might perhaps make Judas Maccabeus with his small Band courageous and victorious Nor is this so very unlikely since every one knows what effect but the Story of Menen Agrippa had how it appeas'd the furious Rabble kept a great People from Ruine and that of the Prophet Nathan sav'd a great King from destruction § 9. The Additions to Daniel and Esther the Apocryphal Books of Esdras and Baruch considering their several Repugnances with History Inconsistences with the Canon of holy Writ and newness of their Stile should they be read as sincere and authentick Narrations of the Truth would not onely wofully therein deceive the Reader but force him by an unhappy consequence to throw away his Bible to quit for these the sacred and truer Records which were preserved in the Ark. But whosoever reads them as mere Fictions as he cannot be deceived so likewise he will reap that Pleasure and Profit which otherwise he might have sought for in vain For looking upon them as humane Composures I find Excellencies in them which are scarce to be matched elsewhere The contrivance of some of them particularly of Susanna if not exceeds equals at least I may well say that of the best wrought Romance I have ever seen Not to speak of the several parts which are there exactly observed I cannot think what is joyfullier surprizing than so clear and unexpected a Vindication as is there related of condemned Innocence that can forceablier encourage us to embrace for a short while Reproach and Shame for the sake of Virtue by representing thus to us the Providence of an All-seeing God and his Care over us But of these I may have occasion in some other Papers to speak more at large § 10. The Church of Rome by her Legends her ridiculous Forgeries or rather the imposition of them has given her own Cause a greater Wound than could the Weapons of her stoutest Adversaries Certainly nothing can be more absurd or an Imposture more bare-fac'd than the imposing such apparent Falsities and Incredibilities such whimsical idle Dreams of melancholy Devotes for Truths Nothing more amazing and less profitable than to give for Patterns such miraculous unimitable Saints So if in those Stories the Authors had contained themselves within the bounds of Probability and had a little better penned them declaring them to be feign'd Relations I am apt to believe they might have been a means to bring Practical Christianity more into the
Stripes which mine Immoralities both caused and deserved Is not this the height of Wonder and surprizing Extasie Was there ever Patience like to that with which my Lord hath forborn me or ever Love like this with which my Lord hath loved me IV. Look down ye blessed Spirits and see the Wonders § 4. An Act of Devout Remembrance that your God hath done here below for a miserable sinning Caitive I will declare before the great Congregation the marvellous Operations of his Almighty Love O most adorable King though I confessed my self unworthy altogether unworthy to gather up the Crums that fall from thy Table thou hast for all this placed me amongst thy friends and best beloved ones and wonderfully fed me with thy own Body and Bloud the choicest Viands of the Gospel And therefore will I thank thee thank thee now and again and thank thee for ever for that thou hast given me this Earnest of a joyful Resurrection the Food and the Medicine of Immortality and Viaticum in this Pilgrimage which I am now undertaking into a remote Country Now I know for a certain that thou hast ratified my Pardon by the effusion of thy Bloud and am fully satisfied that if I be not wanting to my self I shall one day be with thee in Paradise For what more canst thou do for me Am I not remarked with the most signal expressions of thy favour by being this day admitted to the all-powerful and venerable Mysteries Am I not united to thee Am I not incorporated with the nearest Vnion possible to thy self and honoured with the highest Honours and Priviledges of the Sons of God Thou hast entered into a new Covenant with me when I had broke the first made me one of thy Retinue and sealed my Inheritance to an everlasting Crown in the presence of thy Saints * Chap. 8. According to the word of the man of God thou hast cured all my Diseases and entered me into the Roll of thy Pilgrims For this rejoyce in the Lord Jesus O my Soul He is that mysterious Rock the Rock of Israel whence gushed out these refreshing streams in a Wilderness and thirsty Land He opened the Treasures of Heaven and rained down Mannah upon my parched Soul he filled the Hungry with good things and refreshed my drooping Spirits with unwonted Vigor Lest I should faint and die in the Wilderness he hath provided for me this same Wonderful Food and reached it forth to me by the hands of an Angel who touched me with his wings saying to my Soul Arise and eat for this journey is too great for thee 1 King c. 19. v. 7. V. O that in the strength of this Meat I may walk my § 5. An Act of Desire forty days and forty nights as did the persecuted Prophet unto Horeb the Mount of God or as the antient Pilgrims in the Desert as many years and at last enter the Promised Land and have my Portion with the Saints of Israel The Hart brayeth after the Water-brooks so panteth and breatheth my Soul O Jesus after the Rivers of Joy which are at thy right hand My Soul is athirst for the Living God O when shall I come and appear before the presence of God! VI. I have tasted and I § 6. An Act of Acknowledgment mixed with Faith and Love know that I shall live for ever if my corrupt stomach turn it not into death For thou hast said and I do believe that * Joh. 6. 54. whosoever eateth thy Flesh and drinketh thy Bloud hath everlasting life and thou wilt raise him up at the last day Thou art the Bread of Heaven the living bread which came down thence and was broken for me of which he that eats not cannot live and he that eats cannot die the incomprehensible the supersubstantial Food the Refection of Virgins and elect Souls both the Master of the Feast and the Feast it self a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedeck to feed and bless me Thou art the great Offering of Peace the perpetual Atonement the Lamb still standing as slain and thy Bloud speaketh better things either than that of Abel or the Sacrifices of old Thou hast admitted me to thy mysterial Supper and I know that thou wilt likewise call me to sit down at thy Marriage-Feast How joyful will it be to see a Marriage celebrated in Paradise and as was the Mother of Mankind in Paradise also brought by the Deity unto her Husband Adam to see the Bride given thee by the Almighty Father and hear the Nuptials sung by Choires of Angels to see thee joyned to thy triumphant Church in mysterious and inseparable Vnion and to participate of the joys of thy Sister thy Love thy Dove thy Vndefiled thy fair Spouse purchased with thy dearest Bloud O how happy are those that shall be then invited And shall I such an unworthy wretch be one of those happy persons Have I not these Pledges that I shall Yes I have and I will take care lest I break or lose them Wherefore I love and adore thee my bleeding Saviour I love thee because thou hast loved me and gavest thy self for me washed me in the Rivers of thy Bloud those waters of Life and Joy I love thee and O that I could love thee more For how can I but love thee for this I will love thee O Lord my strength the Lord is my Rock In the clefts of this Rock in the waters issuing thence are my Pollutions cleansed my Corruptions are mortified by thy death I have bathed my self in thy Wounds O holy and eternal Victim I have washed my Sores in the salutary Fountain of thy Side and found there health and comfort unto my languishing Spirits VII How are the Powers of Darkness that gaped for my § 7. An Act of Exultation and Joy ruine confounded and disappointed now to behold this sudden unexpected Change How do they fret and gnash their teeth and with what lamentable howlings curse themselves who were not able to hold fast their Prey Even Death and Satan are vanquished the Grave and Sin dismantled and subdued all the Enemies of my Soul discomfited and quelled Yea they that seek my Soul are scattered they are all fled from thy presence O God of Jacob Thou hast sent from Heaven and delivered me from them that would swallow me up For mine Adversaries conspired together to take away my life they fatned me for destruction many and strange were the Monsters that sought to devour me And who besides Jesus would have enter'd into the lists would have set upon so great so terrifying an Enterprize as this was for the sake of a poor evil-deserving and despised wretch Who was there in Heaven or in Earth but he whom I had infinitely offended to take up my Cause Who was there found beside either ready or able to be my Rescuer Was there any beside him who to be this suffered in my stead emptied himself bore the guilt
I be a whit dismayed at the cloudiness or inconveniencies of my Passage so at last I arrive at the calm and quiet Regions of Paradise there to be eternally blessed with the sight of thee For have I not this day to my unspeakable satisfaction and refreshment tasted of the Fruit of the Tree of Life which groweth in the midst thereof and how can I be any longer detained from seeking out this place the place that thou inhabitest or be at rest before I gain admittance into this same Spiritual Eden restored us by thee the second Adam Not all the fiery Tryals I must expect to suffer nor * Gen. 3. 24. the Angels with their flaming Swords shall terrifie or drive me back shall obstruct my passage or keep me from laying hold on thee who art both the Truth of the Tree and Giver of that Paradise I have tasted and seen how gracious the Lord is and surely if not for the Miracles sake yet for the Loaves I cannot chuse but follow him unless I make my self worse than the worst of all his Followers leave him sooner than the Multitudes that followed him for Bread I know that my divine Soul is to be satisfied with no other Food than this that she can never hereafter be contented with the husks and the draff of Swine the sordid delights of the World How can I any longer relish the Apples of Death or find pleasure in reaching out my hands after the forbidden Fruit after unlawful Lusts and the desires of a disordered Appetite I will not depart from this holy persons Cottage afore he has instructed me in the way and shewn me the Path in which alone thou art to be found How do I already long and burn with desire to begin my Pilgrimage and follow thee through this thorny and briary World I come Lord Jesus I come I can no longer resist the Charms of thy Almighty Goodness I am heartily sorry that ever I offended thee or countenanced thy hated Rivals preferring a common Morsel before the holy Bread and a Lust before my God But now I am resolved as far as weak humane nature will permit never more to sin against my gracious Lord or with my Transgressions to wound the merciful and holy Jesus who was wounded for them to caress and entertain his Enemies or joyn my self with those that afflicted his Soul Farewel all my past Delights farewel ye impure and accursed Lusts that have slain the Lord of Life I bid you all eternally farewel From henceforth I hope we are never more to meet My sins those vile Assassins that went along in combination with the high Priests and bound themselves together in an horrid Confederacy against his life I can no longer endure to see except it be to crucifie them upon his Cross My unjust Violences that have pierced his hands and his feet my wicked Pleasures that have pierced his Soul I will lay down at the foot of his Cross and there put them to a most just and deserved death They even they were the Nails that wrenched the tender Body of my Saviour They have crucified that just One have slain the Lords Christ and hanged the great Prophet and Saint of Israel upon a Tree For this I will detest and abhor them I will dash them in pieces upon the stones and throw them down headlong from the Rock of my Deliverance Adieu ye sweet and traiterous Vices the Murtherers of my Lord are no fit Companions for me I received you into my breast but ye ingratefully betrayed me and if he had not sustained your fury ye had delivered me up to everlasting Burnings XI An HYMN of Eucharist 1. Rejoyce with me now all ye Heavenly Hosts who take delight in the Conversion of a Sinner for I who was dead am alive again and who was lost am found I will rejoyce greatly in the Lord and my Soul shall be joyful in my God For he hath clothed me with the Garments of Salvation and covered me with the Robe of Righteousness He hath decked me like a Bridegroom and as a Bride tireth her self with Jewels Behold God is my Salvation I will trust and will not fear for my Lord God is my strength and my song I will magnifie thee O Lord Thou hast exalted me and hast not made my Foes to rejoyce over me O Lord thou hast maintained the cause of my Soul and redeemed my Life Thou hast delivered me from the choking of the Fire on every side from the depth of the Belly of Hell Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits who hath now forgiven all thy sins and healed all thy infirmities Who saveth thy life from destruction and still crowneth thee with Mercy and Compassions Who hath satisfied thy mouth with good things and renewed thy Vigour like the young Eagles He hath given Meat to them that fear him and is ever mindful of his Covenant He hath prepared a Table before me against them that trouble me He fed me also with the finest Wheat-flour and with Honey out of the stony Rock hath he satisfied me He made a Feast of fat things a Feast of fined Wines and fat things full of marrow of Wines fined and purified He brought me into the Wine-Cellar and stay'd me with Flagons His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth support me He hath trodden the Wine-press and there was none to help and hath given me thereof this pleasant Wine to drink a Cordial drawn from his bleeding heart He shall shew me the Path of Life in his presence is fulness of Joy and at his right hand are Pleasures for evermore He strengtheneth the weak hands and comforteth the feeble knees He will make my feet like Hinds feet and will make me to walk upon high places So shall I run and not be weary and shall walk and not faint Thou my Soul shall dwell on high Thy defence shall be the munitions of Rocks Bread shall be given thee and thy Waters shall be sure Thine eyes shall see the King in his glory they shall behold the Land afar off Everlasting joy shall be upon thee thou shalt obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and mourning shall flee away 2. Thou hast brought me O God out of the horrible Pit out of the Mire and Clay and set my feet upon the Rock and ordered my goings and hast put a new Song in my mouth a Song of Thanksgiving to my God Mighty Jesus great are the wondrous works which thou hast done like as be also thy thoughts which are unto me sweetest Saviour I would declare and speak of them but they are more than I am able to express The Snares of Death compassed me round the Pains of Hell gat hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow but thou hast heard the voice of my cry and saved me My Soul thou hast delivered from Death mine Eyes from Tears and my Feet from Falling I cryed unto thee and
was very glad News you may be sure to his Eubulus who would have been content to hear him a longer while recount those pretty sad Occurrences and joyful Changes When Theosophus the Sun being about setting called them to sit down to a frugal Supper Now because it was a day so solemn in which besides the divine Goodness brought all these things to pass a Feast to them of such great Rejoycing both for what it remember'd and for what had happen'd in it one part of Theosophus his Vision hereby being happily fulfill'd and they so surprizingly met Before they sate down they judged it fit therefore to send up their Praises with the Choir of all Creatures to the supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth For they good Souls who thought themselves bound at all times and for all things to pay Him tributary Thanks could not at this time and for so many things forbear from turning their Congratulations of each other into Adorations of Him Doth not said one of them every Creature which is in Heaven and on the Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that are in them bow down and worship our Creator And can we alone of all his Creatures be silent Then they bowed all three and said Glory be to God on high Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever Blessed be the Lord our God from everlasting to everlasting With Seraphins Cherubins Thrones Virtues Powers Dominations Principalities Archangels Angels the holy Animals surrounding the Throne of the Great King the four and twenty Elders all the mighty Princes and glorious Lovers in that happy Court all the heavenly Hosts with these and all the Pilgrims arrived there Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Evangelists Martyrs Confessors Virgins Widows holy Doctors and all holy and humble Men and Women we praise thee we bless thee we worship thee we give thanks unto thee and shall ever love O God to celebrate thy Glories For this let no profane Person blame their Piety After they were seated at the Table and the Supper was blessed Theosophus said to Eubulus You satisfied me but now how much Calodulus stirr'd himself to get off the imprisonment from you and both my other Friends and dear Assistants but I long to hear how you have succeeded in your Labours The Youth told him also He was impatient to know what had befallen him since he was taken from him by those ill men and where he came to light on those Pilgrims whom he spake of Eubulus promised to tell them in order what they desired and thus began Most Reverend Father Theosophus after that you had sent me out together with my worthy Fellow-labourers in Christ Orthodoxus and Vranius to visit the Roads and Highways with charge that we should bring to you all the Sick and the Lame we could find to be healed and made whole and that we should give Directions to and set aright as many as straggle out of their way and proffer them safe conduct to the Holy Land and had therefore disposed us for several parts that we might bring the more in unto you and gather a company of Pilgrims not inconsiderable for their number We all after about a years Travels met together according to our promise in the delightful Vally of Edena to give each other an account of our success but without any intent of returning back to you as yet We had sad Stories enough to tell one to another and here we passed some weeks employing them as well as we could I should be of a very hard nature if I could without Tears relate unto you how ill we succeeded For though we said never so much we could not perswade the Sick that they were so and those who halted thought themselves to run in the Paths of Righteousness they that were poor esteemed themselves most rich and they that were miserable most happy If any one was so misled as to lose himself he yet verily believed that all the World beside was lost and he alone in the Way which would bring him to Paradise Nay some thought they should possess the Canaan of the Blessed without so much as going through the Red Sea or passing over Jordan without being baptized into the Death of Christ or purified in the River of Life that parts our eternal Happiness As many as were able ran from us and those that were not able made a shift to crawl away and kick at us My Advice was disgustful and harsh Orthodoxus's Reason not at all agreeable to their Errours and even the Pleasantness and divine Eloquence of our Vranius liked not We all suffered very much onely I think if there were any difference of our Sufferings Orthodoxus had the hardest measure Having now past these Storms and Brunts of the World here I told you we thought to rest But the HOLY WAR growing still more fierce we could not expect to lie long hid in our beloved Retirement The Souldiers who were sent to ravage that part of the Country quickly found us out and made us their Prisoners As we were tumultuously carried thence Good God! how many dismal sights had we before us and round about us I am sure it was not over-pleasant to our eyes to see such Harras and Havock made every-where to see the Earth laden with dead Bodies and the Waters mixed and defiled with Bloud The Devils themselves might glut their Envy with seeing what we saw In truth nothing ever frighted us more My Friends I have often said Theosophus lamented by my self the Folly of these Pilgrims now-a-days who maintain this Holy War a War which is not alas to win as of old it was the Holy Land or gain the Jerusalem of the Lord but even about the Way thither Than which my Eubulus can any thing be more ridiculous more unhappily ridiculous It would be a very strange madness methinks in any one to denounce open Hostility against all such as do not go with him in the same Road. Yet so it was said Eubulus by these Pilgrim-Souldiers who professed to fight under his Banner who is Lord of all the mighty Hosts we were seized in that place onely for not going the way as they did In that we thought it safest to be conducted by Moses and Aaron the Secular and Ecclesiastick Powers quietly following them thorough this World this Wilderness of Sorrow and mishaps into the Land of gread Plenty and Gods faithful Promises which is on the other side and refused to joyn with any gainsaying Corah or rebellious Dathan against the Priestly or the Kingly Office so to be swallowed up into Hell with the Transgressors I thank my God heartily for whatever I sustained at their hands and shall quite pass it over Only the loss of a small Casket which just before we were taken I threw unwillingly into the River doth now somewhat trouble me for looking back I think I saw a
tumultuously compast round by the Giddy Rabble who cried up his Nonsence for Gospel and those Doctrines in which was Death yea though in never so plain legible Characters there was written on them the Curse Thou shalt die the Death for Soul-saving ones Amongst these was a poor paltry Fellow who had somewhat in him I know not what it was which he named Conscience for Conscience it was not that could unhinge Governments overthrow States and tumble down Scepters and Crowns that so all being turn'd topsie-turvy the first last and the last first he might be advanc'd to the top With him joyn'd such as were of Levelling Principles and such as were any whit discontented setting up the Standart of Reformation A little further I met with a quaint Controvertist in the Rear of these RELIGIONS who bandied all this about and even raised Objections by his answering them As also a slie Favorite who had learnt from him how to make his Praises to be Accusations and by putting off Doubts to bring Doubts into ones head I had the company afterwards of a rich old Chuf who having read that the Glod of the Land of Havilah was good came this way to seek out Paradise Having travelled thus far such was the effect of the Air and of our Travel that now every one became light-headed Also the Ways which before did seem curiously laid with Tarras and the rich sorts of Cement now appeared to be paved with dead mens Sculls And though we now began to view the blazes of the Fire yet one would have perswaded us that it was onely a glimpse of the Coelestial Light and that we were not far from the bright Mansions of the East from oâ—… delightful Eden placed near the Sun-rising Some of us were willing to believe 〈◊〉 and some to believe that all things were made and govern'd by Chance which Supposition being hard to maintain others holding a fatal Necessity said they did not go but were carried The Presumptuous thought he continued on as fast or faster than any of us still cried God was merciful and he should at last arrive at Paradise But the Desperate leaping into the Gulf of Flames which we now plainly saw said it was impossible for him to do otherwise or to avoid the same by running back No Tongue can express the Horrours and the Pangs that I already endur'd Whereupon I stepped a little out of the Road to ease my Grief But being unable to move far I fell down expecting there I should die I could discern that they were Baboons and Monsters in the shape of Men with whom I had all this while conversed could see the Devils preparing their Torments and ready to fetch away my Soul Then first opening a Book which I had hitherto kept that was given me by my forgotten Friend Theosophus I began to read but Despair and dreadful Dismayedness of Mind closed up mine Eyes in an horrible affrighting Sleep CHAP. XIV The VISION of Tophet I Remember to have somewhere read a very remarkable Story of a melancholy Pilgrim in the first Ages of this Institution who having seen HELL but in a Dream said he would rather chuse to suffer a thousand Deaths than see the same again or for one half hour more the short turn of a Glass feel what he had felt And such effects had this saith the Historian upon him that of a debauched lewd Liver he became the greatest Saint the most resolute Professor of Christ and immediately separated from the World putting on such Weeds as this poor well-meaning Tract would fain cloth its Pilgrim-Reader in I do most heartily wish O that Wishes were not vain that what the brave Timotheus in the same case hath seen may as on him it did so which he prayed for all the days of his Pilgrimage with unutterable Groans on all those to whom the Relation thereof ever cometh work the like effect O that hereby I could frighten the stupid out of his Lethargy of Sin and rouse him up into a sense of his Condition O that if such an one shall turn over these leaves he would sit down and consider a while to what place he is travelling ask himself whether he can dwell with Everlasting Burnings That he would do so much if not out of Religion yet out of Prudence lest he come to feel the same at long run not in Vision but Reality greater too perhaps than this and far beyond all Hyperboles of Pain My Sleep was such said the noble and truly pious Convert as I verily believed it to be Death and a Devil I thought taking me up with his Claws carried me toward the Burning Lake Which as I drew near appeared to me to be bounded with seven high Banks of solid and unconsumed Fire and on a spatious sevenfold Gate of rocky and impenetrable Adamant which open'd to us of its own accord I read with a sorrowful cast of mine Eyes these words TOPHET IS ORDAINED OF OLD YEA FOR THE WICKED IT IS PREPARED HE HATH MADE IT LARGE AND DEEP THE PILE THEREOF IS MVCH FIRE AND MVCH FVEL THE BREATH OF THE LORD LIKE A STREAM OF BRIMSTONE DOTH ENKINDLE IT Isai c. 30. v. 33. As soon as I was entred I heard a Voice like the Voice of Thunder and the Voice of many Waters saying KEEP THESE SOVLS BOVND IN CHAINS OF DARKNESS VNTIL THE GREAT AVDIT OF THE LORD and another LET HOT BVRNING COALS FALL VPON THEM LET THEM BE CAST INTO THE FIRE AND INTO THE PIT THAT THEY NEVER RISE VP AGAIN And looking back I saw great Multitudes behind me rushing in at the Gate who were bound presently and cast into the Lake A wild Wast methought it was of inextinguishable Sulphur and Naphtha whereon as far as ever I could ken lay rowling hopeless Peoples and Nations that striving to blow it out made it burn the more and kept it burning Whence intolerable Smoak with gloomy Flakes of unlightsome flame were scattered upwards and darkened round the wide Coast There are perhaps some subtile Wits who will say 't is impossible for Flame not to be light but let them subtilize as they please before they know the nature of this Flame they are not very competent Judges It was I remember every where so black and dismal a Night as plagu'd Egypt sure felt not such a Night as could not be brooded even on the face of Chaos an obscure a smart a boundless and a never-ending I concluded Night palpable almost to the Touch. But how vain am I that I strive to describe it For it was greater far than I can express to you nay certainly than any one can dread or Poetick Phant'sie imagine Which yet was render'd more terrible if any thing possibly could adde to such Terror by flashes of Lightning breaking it and horrid Shapes that continually passed through the thick substantial Darkness By those dreadful gleams of Light I could discern sooty deformed Ghosts every moment flying by me and sundry black