that kept mee from the Court I had died of surfets for company with the rest So may many of Gods precious ones say I had been lost eternally had not God brought mee in by crosses and troubles and made me loath the World which hath in every angle of it shelves of danger and rocks of shipwrack 'T is wel noted by S. Jerome Josiah the holiest King of Juda was slain by the sword of the Egyptians Quid inter reges Jofiâ sanctius Aegyptio mucrone interfectus est Quid Petro quid Paulo sublimius Neronionum gladium eruentarunt Et ut de hominibus taceam Dei Filius sustinuit ignominiam cruck Et tu putâ—â— beatos qui falicitate istius seculi diliciis fruuntur Magna ira est quandâ— peccantibus non irascitur Deus Ep. 33. ad Castrutium Peter and Paul the great Apostles were put to death by wicked Nero yea the Son of God suffered by the Jewes and Castrutius dost thou think the prosperity of this world a portion for Gods beloved ones God is never less in love with men then when they go unpunished and have the world at will God then doth afflict his and his hear his voice when he calls to them to afflict themselves not like creatures of envie who when they want other objects to torment rend perplex themselves by vain and impertinent angariations God loves not the sacrifices of fools nor the devotion of mad men He delights in the reasonable services we offer Religion is no heathenish digladiation but an holy imitation of Christ and a willing resignation to the rule of his word It commands man to chasten Nature not by destroying it as that Philosopher did his bags which he threw away into the sea Perdam te ne perdas me Aurum deponere incipientium est non perfectorum fecit hoc Crates Thebanus fecit Antistenes Scipsum offerre Deo proprie Christianorum est Apostolerum S. Hyeron Ep. 28. ad Lucinium that they might not throw him away No man hath any warrant for self-abuse We are not nostri sed alieni juris and God will see we shall not destroy his work besides his will We are to afflict our selves but not as Macarius Asisias Lewis the first of France Lithophorus the Monk Paconius Caecilia Radigundus Sarrae and others of which Sabellicus makes mention Exemplor pag. 42. Nor as the Popish Pennances who with the servants of Baal whip and dilaniate themselves nor in that mistaken sense of Origen who made himself an Eunuch for the Kingdom of God no nor in that Hypocritick way which the Prophet condemns Isa 58.5 Hanging down the head like a bulrush or fasting and praying to smite with the fist of wickednesse These are as smoak in Gods eyes and have no better entertainment from him then Who required these things at your hands Isa 1.12 The self-controll that hee accepts and rewards is that of Job Job 42.6 I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes that of Mary weeping at Christs feet the devout Publicans prostration to beg pardon the humble confession in Jacobs words and with Jacobs heart Gen. 32.10 I am not worthy of the truth and faithfulnesse that thou hast shewed to thy servant In fine to do and suffer the will of God and when thou hast done all to think thy self an unprofitable servant This duty God enjoyned the Jews of old Levit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 16.29 There is a statute for self-affliction The LXX read it by Yee shall humble your souls Afflictions on good men work humiliation The pride of man sullies Gods beauty in the soul and the nipping frosts of affliction revive and refresh it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hebrew word rendred Humble signifies to answer and to testifie and to attol the voice either in expression of joy or sorrow A Metaphor possibly taken from Musicians who sing in parts one side of the Quire answers the other God expects there should be an Antiphona betwixt his Judgments and our souls We should answer his castigations with emendations True Humiliation is not onely the grace of a corner and closet but it when God calls is on the house top accusing it self and admiring God in publick that others may see and blesse God on its behalf Nor was this onely enjoyned the Jews as the law of their bondage from which Christians are manumitted but continues still in force to the end of the world Sin and sorrow came into and go out of the world together one grave the Dissolution of all lodgeth them both till then there is no parting those whom God hath chained together Sin is sorrows merit and sorrow is sins malady and we must be contented with these Sergeants to serve Execution on us at the suit of our Maker Sorrow is the Jordan that all Naamans must wash in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Basilius It becomes Misery to be humble Our Lord Jesus commands us to be such not onely towards God whom wee provoke all the day long but also to one another as was Christ who though Lord of all washed his Disciples feet and fed them by miracle yea paid their ransome in great charity that by these actions of condescention and yet Grandeur he might lesson them their duties and his divinity 'T is a great degree of Christian perfection to follow Christ in the regeneration and to be what Saint Paul sayes he was all things to all men for Christ and the Gospels sake He that considers Christs exaltation throughly must take the rise of it from the center and bottome of it his humiliation God forbid saith the Doctor of us Gentiles Gal. 6.14 that I should glory in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby the world is crucified to me and I unto the world It seems crosses to Gods are great indications of divine love not only for that God especially errands them to his that his saints and servants in all times have born them but also because Gods promise of comfort is to the afflicted 2 Sam. 22.28 The afflicted people thou wilt save He heareth the cry of the afflicted Job 34.28 In all their afflictions he was afflicted Isa 63.9 If afflictions were not useful God would not send them to his if they were not expressionsof love he would never support his under them by his promises he would not be a strong fortress and refuge Jer. 16.19 not a deliverer out of affliction Ps 18 27. Methinks I hear the holy soul breaking forth into this Ejaculation Welcome crosses sanctified by Christ to his welcome sorrows sweetned by him who bore our sorrows that ours might be less grievous to us welcome stake the ladder of eternity which Martyrs kissed and Virgins who were not defiled wedded welcome prison banishment and loss of all for my Saviours sake who after all the sorrows of a troublous life is ascended up to take possession of glory
reasonably thought a prophanation of and violence done to his Excellency He who was consecrated in the womb had sorrows in his soul before on the cross wounds from spears in his side that he might appear to be A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief whose soul had the propassion before his body the Passion Yet further verse 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief What means this is there any degree of misery beyond that of a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Is not every twitch of anguish an Orator to God and mans pity What can be a depression more irrecoverable then to be condemned to the Cross for the Son of God to bear the sins of men yet this puts a further emphasis on Christs Suffering God permitted him to be bruised in the mortar of mens malice that the fragrancy of his charity may affect his and make them admire him for this savour of his oyntment Cant. 1.3 And 't is well coupled To bruise him with It pleased the Lord God commended his love to man by giving his San to die an act of pure choice and perfect charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simul affectum acceptationem includit Pagn in verbo Nothing could have moved Christ to come from heaven to suffer on earth but free and unmerited benignity Christ had a body given him to be broken for us that our Ransome might be effected by his lifes dissolution our debts solution Thus it pleased the Lord what to doe To bruise him not to humble him as a Virgin robbed of her Ornament that could not be Christ is what hee was and ever will be a Lamb without blemish this Hellen of heaven hath no mole or black spot on the face of his glory though Hee was apprehended by Club-men yet was Hee Lord of Millions of Angels The humiliation of Christ consisted in this that Hee should lie in the dust as man Home rarus home singularis home extra omnium hominum numcrum solus talis in hoc mundo Corn. Mussus in concione de Pass habâ—u Romae in Palatio who could not see corruption in the grave because God that he must die an unusuall way who was an unusuall Sacrifice He must be bruised Our Lord Jesus not like Jonah for disobedience but like him in the tumultuous sea of sorrow had a grave prepared to lodg him in till his time of detension was over and that of Ascension was come then hee opened Deaths prison doors and took a speedy cours â—o heaven where he is now sitting at the right hand of God the Father O Lord how great sorrows pressed upon Christ What unparallell'd grief had he who was the Son of God and could not sin the Son of God and deserved not to suffer 't is we O Lord that provoked thee what did that Lamb do Nay rather Lord what did hee not do that deserves our admiration and eternal gratitude yet behold his sorrowes Sorrow that 's an unworthy singular of detraction such a prelation of passion calls for a plurality of expressive Gratitude Come then O holy soul to this sacred Audit and behold sorrowes numberless Love without merit O opus absquâ— exemplo O gratia sine merito O amor sine mensura Cornel Mussus Epis Bitont in Ser. de Passione Luke 2. Charity beyond Measure Had he not sorrow who was the Son of God yet became the son of Man and that of no King no Grandee but the reputed son of a Carpenter born in an Inn in the Stable of that Inn laid in the Manger of that Stable Had he not sorrow who wanted a hole to hide his head in bread to feed upon unless by Miracle whose Followers were poor whose Tribute was paid by a fish and Triumph solemniz'd by an Ass Colt and by boughs and garments spread in the way Had he not sorrow who spake and did as never man his enemies being Judges yet was traduced envied followed with Reproach betrayed by his own servant and put to death by his Country men after a shameful manner and by a lingring and protracted Engine of dispatch the Cross on which he was exposed to shame naked unpitied reviled given Vinegar and Gall to yea as it were forsaken of God What call yee this if not forrowes Was is shall be any sorrowes like these sorrows of Christ When his soul was made an offering for sin his body subjected to violence yea body and soul for a time parted to joyn God and man together whom sin had severed whom only his death could reconcile Mat 2.7.45 Wel might the Sun refuse to give light to such a deed of darkness as was the Jews cruelty in crying to death their King John 19.15 which the wisdom of Pilate hinted to them by way of Reproach in these words Shall I crucifie your King Well might the vail of the Temple be rent when the Temple of his body more glorious then Solomons Temple not made with hands as was that but compaginated by the miraculous art of Omnipotency was torn apieces by cruelty Matth. 27.51 52 53. Well might the graves open and the dead yeeld themselves no longer prisoners when Jesus Lord of the grave was on his march to the grave Well might the dead appear to many in the holy City since the City appeared but a grave of dead men who knew not what they did nor whom they acted cruelty upon O holy soul since it is thine ambition to have Christ thy reward resolve to follow him bearing his reproach Fear not the infultings of men nor the oppositions of flesh and bloud If to accompany Christ to Golgotha be to be vile be yet more vile The Cross of Christ hath treasure under it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marcus Anton ad Silenum much glory results from contempts for his sake There is nothing so becoming thy holy Prosession as to imitate Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nissen de relig Christian Profes Christianity is nothing else but to live holily and die patiently as did Christ and so much neerer him shall we be in glory as we are here like him in our Conversation Christ made it his meat and drink to do his Fathers will Thou O holy Soul must not think his good pleasure thy pennance his providence thy disappointment his service thy slavery He uttered no discontent thou must not rave and rage He suffered contradiction of sinners thou must not expect approbation from them Hee forgave his Enemies thou must not remember injuries to revenge them Percussorem Episcopum ille condemnat qui dorsum suum posuis ad flagella maledicius non remaledicit S. Hieron Epist 83. ad Oceanum Hee came unto his own and they received him not thou must not wonder if thou suffer from those whom thou hast obliged He wanted a hole to put his head in use thy plenty well that thy Lord
be Eccles 1.9 and that which is done is that which shall be done That nothing is new under the Sun That Providence calculates every thing for the Meridian of its great designe That not a sparrow falls to the ground nor an hair from the head without the permission of God The noble Homer tels us this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer V. 109. de Jove Both good and evil come to men By Gods appointment bear them then He it is that so appoints the gests in the whole latitude of this vital progress that there is no turning out of the high road of Mankind Misery nor no coming to the Upshot Glory but by these Cross-wayes at which in the processions of life there are more Epistles of Complaint then Gospels of Joy rehearsed God who is Lord of all condemns us his vassals to pay tribute de alto de basso as our Predecessors have whose Vices we continue though their Vertues be eraced And if they who with great devotion and gallantry lived to God and their Ages as eminent Tapers and Magnalian Heroes had Crosses like snuffs to allay their brightness and encumber their Comforts We who outweigh them not in worth must not out-passe them in serenity nor ought we to expect our harbours free from Pirates when others have been infested who had no less prize to provoke but more care to prevent Assailants then have we He who in greatest brightness falls from that Heaven of lustre in which not long ago he glittred to beholders amazement He that dies in strength beauty fame fortune with friends bewailing Poets acclamating and what not which adds to the tumour and congeries of an earthly aggrandization hath companions more then many in this Tragedie He that by his ingenious avarice accumulated Art and made it his Monopolie engrossing it in his brains and thence retailing it to men of less note who deserved not the Epitaph of Anaxagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Laertius in vita ejus p. 98. Here lyeth he that skilled was In both worlds secrets Anaxagoras Even he must resign to Mortality and give quarto inevitable and unequall Vicissitudes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mare Antoniu lib. 2. Changes are the worlds degrees of ascent by which it comes to perfection and thence returns back to dissolution Darkness and light heat and cold have their times and by their seasons of hight decay make way for each other Lux quotidie interfecta resplendet et tenebrae pari vice decedendo succedunt sidera defuncta rovtvescunt Tompora ubi siniuntur incipiunt fructus consumuntur et redeunt Tertul. in apol c. 48 the generation of one thing is the corruption of another every thing in nature is finite and to hasten the period there must be variation of â—orms and shuffling of tempers The worlds lubricity bids every one expect what any one hath undergone when the sap falls leaves decay and the tree is dismantled of its viridity there seems to be a temporary recesse of Nature out of her Belcony into her Parlour When the windes grow clamorous and storms belch out their Menaces the King-fisher departs and leaves the rougher Choristers to their winter notes Every thing hath its season and what hath been shall be til the periodick Non ultra be declared and our writ of Ease sued out by the dissolution of all To which the whole Creation tendeth Rom. 8.22 and for which groaneth but til which must labour with those troublous guests excesses And since change betides every elementary compound why should not we men the rather provide against it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demetrius apud Stobaeum Ser. 254. p. 840 for that we see it at greater distance and ought with lesse dread then other creatures whose direction is from instincts lesse rational and not more certain The very Heathen tell us It is folly in grain not to bear what we cannot avoid because necessary It was a brave resolution of Anaxagoras who told 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Plurarc lib. de Tranquil animi that his son was dead replyed I knew him to be mortal when I begot him And it doth no lesse become a man to consolidate himself against the inconstancies of the world from the assurance of heaven then it doth the hireling to confront the dolour of his pains with the comfort of his pay for even in the best of this world goods felicity there is not onely care to get and keep it but a discord amongst the learnedst in the termination and consistence of it Crates placed it in a prosperous Navigation Stilpo in amplitude of power Symonides in the good wil of ones Country-men Archyta in victory over Enemies Gorgias in pleasant Stories Chrysippus in goodly Buildings Antisthenes in Fame after death Eurypides in a beauteous Wife Sophocles in Children Palaemon in Eloquence Themistocles in Nobility Eccles 2.11 Aristides and Heraclitus in Wealth and Solomon wiser then them all concludes all things vanity Prov. 15.15 professing the continual feast and unceasing Jubilee to be only in a good conscience and a contented mind which is ever merry 1 Tim. 6.6 because never disappointed for it resignes to God Me thinks now I hear one of the old Philosophers upbraiding the vanity of relying on things mundane after this sort Whither O man tendest thou what is thine industry bribed by where thy treasure deposited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philiscus ad Ciceronem apud Dionem lib. 38. p. 73. why seekest thou life in death stability in decay glory in contempt ease in disorder Own thy self to be more then this Universe and see thou beest the same thou seemest which this is not Credit no suggestions which lure thee from thy self to keep watch and ward at home is to be safe Thy fortune is imbarqued in thy Minde as that is such is thy bliss Without thee there is little but chaffings and puffs of boasting Nothings The Favour of Caesar Pompey Alexander the Wealth of Craesus the Eloquence of Tully and Demosthenes the Art of Aristotle and Archimedes the strength of Hercules serves not against Crosses and disharmonies or if it doth bear off those baffles yet not Death which rides first or last in triumph over all worldly greatness and confines every thing which pretends exemption from other Conquests Why then pitchest thou O man upon these groundless bottoms which waft away and with winged haste speed their flight thorow all seasons and climats yea change their Masters upon every pet or occasional disquiet Look to times diary see if that beesom hath not swept away Men Things Places Governments upon the account only of a concluded revolution And when thou hast perpended that fatal systole and sadly numbred out the measures of Mutation which have fallen to the share of the most serious Men and usefull Things then conclude Vanity is impressed upon all and that which hath been shall
and to draw me into fellowship with him O my God give me grace to welcome the crosses I have or further may have as my Saviour did his revilings not reviling againe not returning but remitting injuries Rejoyce O holy soul in those Monitors which rouse thee from thy sinfull slumber Remember the Coâ—k crew and minded Peter of a glorious Master denyed by a presumptuous servant And fear not but thy frailty may have an aspect of mercy as had his the more thou art at loss the greater ought thy care be to seek God with more ardency and serve him with less indevotion Trust not too much in any arm of flesh which sayes life and lustre is in mee Falix necessitas quae in meliora compellit S. Aug. ep 45. all things here passe and repasse by uneven vicissitudes and leave their confidents in trouble and complaints In the Lord Jehovah put thy confidence He only is the same yesterday to day and for ever O holy soul thy time here is but short thy task great thine opposites many be diligent improve opportunities warily practise that sacred chimistry which from fetid simples outward crosses extracts the precious Elixar of divine cordials Be not weary of wel doing study rather how to quit sin then wave the cross there is no lesson it learns but is savory and thou art not to refuse the point of Doctrine it commends to thy meditation Think upon good things had as trials how thou wouldest use them and lost how thou canst beare them bemoane not so much what thou hopest for but hast not as what thou hast and usest not aright perhaps God hurls thy pride from the pinnacle whence it took rise Great thoughts are often confronted by him who will have no Dagon of folly cheek by joll with his Ark of Vertue O consider hadst thou not Babels in thy brains wa st thou not of their minde who thought of nothing but sitting at the right and left hand of glory If so art thou not befriended that payest fine and ransome for thy Rebellion in the stubble and straw of an external Content Is God contented with a turtle Dove and art thou discontented because hee hath that which thou sayst was the Lamb that rested in thy bosome Is any thing too good for God too great for him who is thine all O holy soul study thy self better God hath been mercifull to thee thou art a gainer by every losse which if it had not betided thee had endangered heaven Lift up thine eyes the Canaan Mercy promiseth thee is in view that is thy Country that thine Inheritance that the Haven to which thou art bound and in which onely thou shalt be safe Chear up O holy soul thy drooping spirits Remember thy treasure is in heaven there ought also thy heart to be Call upon thy Saviour in glory and ask in his way that thou mayest receive for his sake Is any thing too hard for God Do not all things serve Providence and laquey to Power Why doth thy Faith misdoubt accesse to God and success in those things thou with Conscience and Wisdome managests The holy confidence of a Beleever scales Heaven and by an humble pertness obtains it so great a prize is worth waiting for though it be attended with Serpents of craft and Dragons of felness He that said Though thou slay me Job 13.15 yet will I trust in thee counsels thee to venture all thy welfare upon mercy There is no fear of miscarriage where good things in a good manner are prayed for and pursued after Then onely we miss our wages when we work amiss Then our Prayers are returned without answer when we turn our Prayers into Subsidies to lusts when we pray for accommodations to our vices and forget that of our Saviour Matth. 16.26 What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his soul Much then hath been written of the benefit of Afflictions But the great Argument which puts all Question of the advantage of them out of question is behind that is the Sufferings of Christ potent enough to force a thaw on Marbles and to liquifie Adamants Quis talia fando Temperet à lachrymis Whoso those troubles doth conceive Can't chuse but from the heart to grieve He it was that went before his Apostles and Martyrs in treading the Wine-press of wrath Like that Commander Monstrat tolerare labores Non jubet To others he doth not command What he himself don 't take in hand God appointed the Man of his right hand his fellow Alas we cannot drink of the cup of wrath nor be baptised with that baptism he was baptised with for our sakes to be our forerunner in sorrowes Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world declared a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Isa 53. A man of sorrows t is an Hebraism denoting fulness of sorrows a sea of sorrowes in Christs soul Tristis corde propter multitudinem afflictionum suarum Rab. David in lib. Radicum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin imputed and mercy inherent were at a holy contest as it were for Mastery and the pangs of such twins must needs be grievous The word sorrowes comes from a root which signifies to be weakned and denotes a sorrow internal even to expiration and the learned distinguish it from those words which they express outward sorrowes by Verus boâ—â—o vere doluit Gloss Lyrae Christs sorrowes were such as brought grief upon him even to the decision of the silver thred of his life Yet further he is said to be acquainted with grief the word rendred acquainted comes from a root that signifies to apprehend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Learned say Verbum mentis et intellectus Pagn in verbo t is a word of the Mind and Understanding importing that Christ was so qualified and obfirmated that no sorrowes with reverence be it written could come amiss to him he had a sinless Manhood to undergoe and a divine power to overcome sorrowes God had made him the Churches rock against which the waves of sorrow could not prevaile He must himself have armour of proofe upon which no humane Machination can hurtfully prevaile who is the captaine of a Christians salvation and who has gloriously triumphed over all the enemies of it Acquainted with grief I cannot but renew the thoughts of these Sorrows of my Saviour O beatum mortem unde vita nostra nata est O falicem stultitiam quae nostram pâ—perit sapientiam because his sorrows are my rejoycings not as they were exprobratory from the Jews but as they are expiatory for me There was not onely dolour but externall disdain as the Jews managed the death of Christ they crucified him and that between two theeves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from a word neere of kin to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prophanari or violari John 19.34 Might not this dishonour of Christ be
cohabit they in intense degrees in the same Subject at one and the same time because they are inconsistent and are made what they are by the non-being of each other Fire is no fire if water prevail against it for it is suppressed and led captive by the Victor and so water ceaseth its moysture and liquidity if the heat of the fire accede it to Mastery whereas other things that are not at this variance meet like Mercy and Peace and kiss each other Active heat and Passive moisture make way for Generation Steel and the Load-Stone are in amity and do with eagerness approach each other so is it in Love by the will disposed of to any object There is no Soveraign more absolute as to things subjected to his will then the will of man for it wheels about the totum mobile in him This moved Samson to love Dalilah Archimedes to dye with his Art Judas to betray his Master Julian to Apostatize and by Gods severity this seals as the meritorius Cause the wicked under unbelief that they may be damned who have pleasure in unrighteousness for this once perverted and engaged 2 Thess 2.12 the whole man is circumferred and hurled after the genius of its project by this are the affections alarm'd and keened to good or evil and without this Velliety is nothing feasible without the power of God come to aid yea and that too deales mildly by a sweet compulsion and insuperable perswasion transforming the soul from what it is and as corrupted would into what it is not but ought to be submissive to sequacious of and voluntarily captived by God Now all the quarters of the inner man are beat up and Proclamation is made in the name of the great King of Heaven now the word is I am not what I was Isai 26.13 Other Lords have had dominion over me but the desire of my soul is to thee and to the remembrance of thy Name ver 8. now there is this only outcry None but Christ none but Christ That is the second Step and the Advance is great Acquaintauc is in a good progress when we understand the worth and will that worth to be acquainted with But there is more Marches to be made to this Conquest Step 3 therefore the 3d. Step is Discovery of this Desire to that Object we love and this though in regard of Gods Omniscience needs not Psai 132.2 For he knows our thoughts afar off yet in order to our Obedience and his declared Will ought to be done by us again and again the Canon is Matth. 7.7 Ask and ye shall have seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened 'T is a minute trifling boon that is not worth asking God hath entailed Bliss to our Prayers and tears not as the price but the way to them as he hides not himself from his people that pray so doth he not own them that look big with the Pharisee and have too stiff knees to bend before him Hab. 2.4 He knowes the heart is not upright when it is unhumble and condemns it as a false Character of a good heart not to ask Dost thou O man conceive God the best Good and thy self miserable without him and wilt thou not seek by Prayers and tears to gain freedom Dost thou think he will ever be waiting to be gracious who ought to be waited upon because he is and will be still so unless thou provoke him to turn his back and not his face Thou art blind and wilt thou not ask Eye-salve Rev. 3.18 Naked and art thou too sturdy to beseech Christ to cast his Garment of Salvation upon thee If thou canst not confess thy sins 1 John 1.2 9. he declares not himself a Forgiver of sins for his fidelity is engaged only to Penitents Will any man that 's worthy put his friendship upon an unwilling party or motion amity but upon the request of him whom thereby he shall oblige It becomes those that will have part of anothers propriety either to beg or purchase it all the Coyn in thy purse and the pride in thy heart will not capacitate thee to gain God for thy friend upon any termes but repent and believe These are the wedding Garments which bring thee into the Feast of fat things with approbation and if thy holy Motions be as eager as they ought and as thy acquaintance with God deserves then thou wilt not find a repulse for thy God is ready to meet those with open armes who offer their service to him upon bended knee and with abashed faces Step 4. to Acquaintance with God is his Word Step 4 Psal 77.13 John 5.39 Psal 25.14 his Servants his ways God is known by his out goings in his Sanctuary the Scriptures testifie of him his secrets are with them that fear him If any man be a seeker of God him he hears But above all be sure of the favour of the Well Beloved he that comes from his hand is carryed into the Bed-chamber and refreshed with the good things of his right hand Christs bloud crosseth the Roll of Indictments and dischargeth the guilt If thy soul be dipped in that bloud it will hold colour against all waters against all assayes to interpose perhaps Satan puts in his plea and informes thou art his What though a stronger then he hath taken possession Suppose thy sins rest upon thee as upon Mary Magdalen yet if thou lovest much why shouldst not thou hope to be forgiven as was shee There is no sin in Mortal man can out-poise the mercy in an immortal God nor the merit of a spotless Saviour whose blood in value out-prizes them as far as the noblest Gemme doth the most vulgar pibble To this bounteous Emanuel who when he was Rich became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich who when he was in the bosom of his Father came to converse with men that he might elevate men to communion with God in Grace and compartying with him in glory do thou O holy soul conjoyn thy self by a Covenant never to be broken He he it is that soders God and man that gives thee access with boldness to the Throne of Grace that moves thee to good confirms thee in it rewards thee for it by the Holy Ghost which the Father sends in his name Is thy Peace begun and perfected thy Comfort continued and encreased in the assurance of this thou wilt live a life of good example to men Phil. 3.14 Psal 149.9 and of glory to God and after all reach the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus For this honour have all his Saints And the better to keep thee in this less and lower to that better good it becomes thee O man to attend on the revealed Will of God that bears witness to the Truth Mercy Justice Patience and other Holy Attributes of the Divine Nature it records also what thy
how fearfully and how wonderfully am I made for who can confess less then this The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament shewes his handy work But O man wander not too wildly in this wilderness wherein are beasts of Prey uncouth paths dismal upshots thine errand and end is to admire the works of God that thou maist do it is thy duty and Gods exact of thee so to do and thou thy selfe art a fair Text to such pious Meditations God created thee something of nothing a Man not a Toad a Christian not a Heathen of clear intellect not brutish of right shape not deformed and consider this calls for Gratitude God hath beautified thee with a bright Sun refreshed thee by a sweet gale of wind in thy sayls thou art at the wished Port supported by a miraculous hand of Providence he hath discovered to thee thy dangers conducted thee in thy way ministred to thy wants when others not less his nor less themselves then thou go mourning all the day long are on their duty John 5.4 waiting with the Cripple when the good Angel will come to their comfort but all in vain No Butter sticks on their bread their cake is dough as the Proverb is All is fruitless Remember the more thou receivest the more thou must return Cui plus datur ab illo plus exigitur in fine rather labour to improve wel that thou hast then to covet more to misuse it and abuse thy soul for God expects from all men as he sowes so to reap and thou art an Unthrift on his Bounty if thou returnest him not obedience and love who hath crowned thee with Honour and Plenty above thy fellowes But O man above all things Deut. 32.15 be not like Jesurun spurn not with the heel when thou art fat forget not the hand that feeds thee and the paps of Providence that suckle thee nor let thine hornes be exalted to worry and plague thy fellow servants of a lower Form then thou art This is not to be like God good gentle and nigh unto all those that call upon him but liker the servant in the Gospel Matth. 32.32 who took his fellow servant by the throat when he himself was forgiven by his Lord the greater Debt yea this is not to admire God but to reproach him as misgiving Power and Greatness and trusting it in the hands of those who by it prey upon not protect the Sheep This is not to admire the Works of God but to admire thy self and to sacrifice to thine own Ambition and inordinacy and so to dishonour God who commands Phil. 4.5 Our Moderation should be known to all men yea this is to be unworthy of Acquaintance with God who is Shepherd of his Sheep and delights in Lillyes things harmless and benigne and those that are not such shall do well to consider that of the Prophet Jer. 30.16 I will spoil the Spoiler and steer another course for the future even to emendation of life which brings up the rear of what God requires from those that wil be acquainted with him and calls for my next Meditation 5. Lastly Renovation of Life is a chief adjunct to Acquaintance with God Light and darkness Christ and Belial Dagon and the Ark do not agree new cloth and old garments sute not nor will generous Wine endure crazy bottles nor a Kingly mind brook the thatched cottage There is nothing more averse to the pure Nature of God then the impure life of a sinner his eye loathes his hand corrects his heart relucts his Word reproves his Spirit labours against it he cannot but call with a loud voice Jer. 44.4 Rom. 1.18 O do not that abominable thing which I hate and correct by revealing his wrath from Heaven against the ungodliness of men Till thou O man return to him by Repentance there is no peace with God to be hoped for no amity to be attained The means to gain God is to own thy self and to return to thy fathers love Luke 15.18 to weep over thy wandrings and to drown thy sins in penitent tears as did Mary Magdalen and Peter Then then only are we worthy to be friends of God when we are not profane as Esau but holy as Abraham not rude as Nimrod but meek as Moses not rebellious as Absolom but devout as David not treacherous as Judas but penitent as Peter not vexatious as Saul but couragious as Paul not embracing the world as did Demas but contemning it and our selves as ought the Disciple of Christ who must deny himselfe and take up the Cross This this is to be born again Mark 8.34 John 3.3 Ephes 4.23 Isai 1.16 Rom. 13.14 Ephes 5.11 Nichodemus his lesson this is to be renewed in the spirit of our minds this is to cease to do evil and learn to do well this is to put on the Lord Jesus and to take no thought for the flesh this is to have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness but rather to reprove them this is to put off the old man and to put on the new man Ephes 4.22 24 which after God is created in Righteousnesse and true Holinesse this is to lay the burthen of our sins upon Christ and to take the beauty of Holiness from him this is to gain heavens amnesty to remove our sins far from us as the East is from the West and to cause them to come no more in remembrance before God yea this is to be throughly acquainted with God and to have him the souls Sun and Shield who will give Grace and Glory Psal 34.11 and withhold no good thing from it These are the bona notabilia which God keeps as the reward of Piety as his secrets so his comforts are with those that fear him Clusters of Canaan grow not upon Crabstocks of Sodom Divine familiarity is not with mortal foedity They which will have God their Lord must have his Rule for their Guide Penitence must supply the want of Innocence or else God will deny acceptance It is not for me to say I will return after and be received first God will have his Doles of Mercy distributed to Pennancers and the Oyle of Gladness returned to those faces whose heads were covered with ashes A weeping eye is no small Favourite with a merciful God who not only greets with an Euge Luke 15 7. returning sins but commands an Exultate in Heaven amongst the Angels for it and those that sow their wild oats in tears shall reap their wages in due time namely Mercy and Joy in Come ye Blessed of my Father receive the Mansion prepared for you by Acquaintance with God namely Peace which is the third hinge of my Meditation and followes in the Scripture Acquaint now thy self with God and be at peace The third Quere is Quest 3 What Peace it is those have who are acquainted with God And here silet lingua stispet animus deficit
suaviloquius charmes and compleasant influences his Pharisees that swallow downe Widowes houses in the hollow of long Prayers that are all to all men that they might reduce all men to be nothing to any but themselves his Saduces that deny Resurrection Angels Spirit but what is theirs those they cry up as Ocular execrating all that are not of their party and cry not Grace Grace to this Apollyon of their designing Lord what a Gallamaufry of Frauds hath this great Engineere on foot How is he furnished to deceive who hath not only the tongues and pens of many men Learned but lying Wonders and miraculous Artifices at his service But we know his methods and may see this Apicius gaping to devour all contented with nothing but ruine and disorder though he cry out with Jehu Behold my Zeal And it were well if men would try the spirits that now are abroad for Satan is often a Lying spirit in the mouth of Prophets and a Prophecying spirit in the mouth of Lyers and if he durst mingle himself with the Sons of God when they came before him of old may he not now be well mistrusted Job 1.6 though he quote Scripture with the zeal of a Seraphim and in the meetings of Christians pray and speak with notable evidence he who durst appear before Christ with Scripture abused to his own purpose Matth. 4.6 dare do the like to Christians whose weakness is more opportune to his Conquest He is that Evil one who in his whites is a Divel of Deceit in his blacks a Divel of Malice in his Crimsons a Divel of blood a Divel in all shapes actions senses and happy is it for us that we know his Methods And Agents not men of triffling talents who need vulgar helps to make them eminent but men of great parts noble wits yea often noted lives speaking to wonder writing to amazement living to envy and example the Leaders of Israel sometimes caused them to err Isai 9.16 The Priests divined a falsehood the Divel of Sauls heart in Samuel flesh as it were is potent enough to misguide millions O Lord what a Progress hath the mystery of iniquity made when the Serpent stings the Dove to death Religion becomes politized What an Egypt will Gunaan be when Mannah is exchanged for Garlick and Onions when the Screech Owl extrudes the Turtle and that be upon us which the Jewes feared John 11.48 The Romane come and take away our Religion and I pray God not our place and Nation Is not this evil of the Divels designing Is not the hand of hells Joab Satan in it but the sword of the Lord and of his Gideon Christ Jesus shall prevent this though none stand in the gap no Moses intercedes no Phineas executes Judgment yet this Plague shall cease God for his own namesake will turn those Locusts the Jesuits back to their quarters and make their Design as a red sea to bury themselves in The Thumbs of these Adonibezeks shall be cut off the Pride and Policy of these Absoloms become their ruines So let all thine enemies perish O Lord. Well we have a sight of Satan in his power and agents now see him in his Policy and end which is to cut off Samsons locks to destroy the Males of Israel to ruine all the Smithes and Forges by which our Spiritual weapons should be edged to oppose him and defend our selves against his assaults thus did the Philistims of old to Israel 1 Sam. 13.9 But I hope God will turne this Wisdom into Folly and this Babel of Hope into a Babel of Defeat yea I will bespeak these Gates of Hell to give way to the Rock of Ages and to Christ the Corner stone who is with his Church to the end of the world and I will pray that the iniquity of their hearts may be forgiven them who hate the Church of England without a cause and endeavour to subvert the Religion of it against Scripture that asserts it And now is not custody from this evil an unspeakable Blessing Is it not as rain to the parched grass and ought we not to receive this Mercy with the joy of Harvest Is it not a serious collect which deprecates Satans success while he with Herod acts a Tragedy on Innocents and labours to steal away the Babe Christ out of his mothers lap the Church his mother the Church not to rob the blessed Virgin of her Crown All Generations call her Blessed because she bare his body in her womb but to right the Church against her Rival the Synagogue of Satan which disowns her and seeks Christ out of her who spiritually is only formed in her from which evil and the infatuation of it good Lord deliver us This is the first Evil Satan from which the Peace of God shields us the next is from Sin like father like child a chip of the old block a branch of that Lye which was from the beginning From sin the evil of inquination that which defiles the man defaces Gods image passes an eternal exile twixt the soul and him for he hath no fellowship with unfruitful works of Darkness His eye is on them that are upright Prov. 2. ult but he cutteth off the wicked from the earth and rooteth out the Transgressors From sin the Evil of Angels for because of folly beheld in them they were cast from Heaven 1 Pet. 2.4 Isai 30.33 the evil of Kings and great men for whom Tophet is prepared of old Sin the evil of men of low degree sin the evil of all 1 John 5.19 for the whole world groaneth under it and lies in it From sin the eyes grief Gen. 3.6.66 because by that it prevailed against Eve by that against the sons of God of the old world Sin the hearts ake thus in Saint Paul crying out Rom 7.24 Psal 39. â— O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Sin the feets snare against which David cautions I said I wil take heed to my ways Sin the tongues temptation to speak unadvisedly Sin the Catholick Cross to all that are crucified with Christ and mystical members of him Sin the breach of Gods Law the grief of his Spirit the price of his Son the torment of his Combatant and the triumph of his Crowned ones Sin the Monster of Paradise for there it was plotted the first born of life for therein it is acted the plague of this world on whose Stage it is attyred and thence maturated Sin something of nothing a tumourous bubble of pestilent pride scorching Lust and empty vanity evaporating in nothing but the Lust of the flesh Lust of the eye and the Pride of life Sin an evil inward in the thought outward in the act upward against God whom it contemnes and downward against earth whom it burthens and all to gratifie him who is Prince of the Air and rules in the hearts of the Children of disobedience Sin against
may say to thee Well done good and faithful servant and continue thee ruler in thine own house which many thy betters are not who yet are not greater sinners then thou though greater sufferers His usages varyed from Hosannahs to Crucifige's bids thee not marvel If the same breath blows hot and cold or that Favour hath a dark and bright side to thee He died lastly a shameful death do not thou defeat a noble death by a shameless life Thou O holy Soul hast met with disappointments here Who hath not Let thy comfort be that thou art or oughtest to be above all this world can afford Perhaps thy crosses have been in those things thou most admiredst Thou art well served who lovest any thing passionately but God whom thou shouldst love with all thy heart with all thy minde and with all thy might thy defeats are in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of thy hoped for fruition God sees thou art too indulgent to flesh and he loves to abase confidence in it What to others proves Gold to thee becomes drosse Comfort thy self thy best advantage is to come Heaven makes amends for all those manageries thou thinkst wise and wary succeed not when as thou wouldst wait upon God there is more in the lot cast into the lap then thou art aware of honest indeavors in the end have sure pay Patence though late profligates difficulty and disarms petulant resolution Mercy often forms noble Mercuries of rude logs and the greatest designs of beauty from the dull lowrings of mortal opposition That which is sowen in weaknesse shall in Gods time rise in power and bear down all that stand against it Thou lastly art out of love with thy self because thou canst not have thy will of this world study to prepare for that better before thou desire a cal from this death is a terror to those who have not part in the first Resurrection And if O holy soul thou findest thy comforts come in and thy God gives thee access to him with boldness then despise whatever would part thee and thy joyes chear up thy selfe with this that Christ is thine in his life thy pattern in his Spirit thy Comforter in his Word thy Rule in his death thine Attonement and in his glorious Session in Heaven thy Triumph that he is thy Sun by whose influence thou shalt be drawn up after him that he is thy sheild to defend thee from evil that he will give thee grace to glorifie him in a holy life before men and grace thee with glory before his Pather and his holy Angels But O holy soul all is not Gold that glisters all sufferings are not sanctified to sufferers because Pride and Folly has Martyrs which Christ crowns not Christs slock hear his voice and not a strangers keep in the fold not wander into by-wayes Let it be thy care to suffer not as a busie body not as an enemy to Government and a subverter of Order and civil Peace Non erga qui propter iniquitatem et propter Christianae unitatis impiam divisionem sed qui propter justitiam persecutionem patiuntur â—bi Martyres veri suns S. Aug. Ep. 50. ad Bonifac. Countem in these mistakes sober and prudent Christians ought not to be involved nor can any from just grounds of Magistratick severity against offenders take comfort in sufferings but as a Christian Martyr not with clamour but meekness Ann. 33. Q. Eliz Acts 7. last not reviling Powers as did Hacket but praying for persecuters as did Stephen Lord lay not this sin my suffering to their charge See O holy soul thou cleanse the inside of the cup and keep thy heart upright and trim Christ cares not for Pharisaicall outsides and ceremonious pomps he delights in the inner man in those addresses that are made to him from a pure heart and faith unfained to evidence which to men who judg by outward appearance the bodies concurrence in all devout and lowly demeanour is requisite And since thou knowest him a Spirit fear nothing more then a spiritlesse offering and beleeve nothing less acceptable to him then to be denyed the Male of thy Flock thy best and ripest parts Take heed thou mistake not Leah for Rachel and chuse the blear-ey'd world before Christ the Word that from the beginning to this moment speaks life and love to thee And who in all holy reverence be it written drank the health of Eternity to thee in his own bloud Matth. 26.58 and invites thee to pledg him in that Eucharistick Nectar which our holy Mother the Church fils out to all worthy Communicants and in which 1 Cor. 11.25 by command of him they celebrate the memoriall of his Passion And if O holy Soul the sorrows of thy life are too pressing for thee to prevail against Call thy Saviour to thy rescue He is a ready help in trouble He is a door of hope in the valley of Achor Hos 2.15 Achor vallis turbationis Gloss He that was thine Antisignanus in sorrow expects thou shouldest follow his Colours There is no fear of suffering and dying with this Phocion of Eternity who for his Martyrs hath Comforrs in Nolitimere mori cum Phocione and Crowns after torments This this held up Primitive Saints even to generous contempt of Death Saint Jerome reports that Hylarion being to die with eyes fixed on heaven thus spake My soul go forth of thy prison the body Egredere quid times egredere anima mea quid dubitas Septuaginta prepe aunis servisti Christo et mortem times In vita Hylar what fearest thou wherein doubtest thou Thou hast served Christ almost 70 years and dost thou now fear to dis I know it is a great work to obtain this Conquest Turkish Hist p. 220. to bring a Bajazet of mortal pride into the Cage of Self-denyall yet the Scholar of Christ must be this Tamberlaint and con this Part exactly Plus debet Christi Discipulus praestare quam mundi Philosophus S. Hieron Epist 26. ad Pammachum Christians who excell Philosophers in their Wages must also go beyond them in their Work And if O holy Soul thou retreatest and darest not enter the lists 't is a sign thou art unsatisfied of thy duty and settest light by thy birth-right Heb. 11.8 which is no better evidenced to thee then by Afflictions the badg of Legitimation Consider therefore that whatever trouble befalls thee is to file off thy pollution to give thy Vertue a transparency and to make thee more like him who is far above the Powers and Principalities of this vain World and its dulling and dangerous â—nvie Bid therefore defiance to all that would either court or compell thee to resigne Faith Hope Charity Patience Perseverance or any other piece of thy holy Armour to diffidence and impsous despair Consider every thing in this world shall have end and then if not before thy frailties and thine enemies injuries