to the lips in water yet they are slaine with thirst as the Poets in times past fabled of TANTALVS But though many and great be the troubles of the Righteous yet the Lord delivereth them out of all For the eyes of the Lord is over the Righteous and his Eare is open to theyr cry but the Face of the Lord is against them that do evill Psalm 3 4 to cut off theyr Remembrance from the Eatth Who would be unwilling then to suffer ignominies and scornings rather then with the wicked to injoy the pleasures of Sin for a season Revel 2â— God himselfe will wipe all teares from theyr eyes hee will give them Ioyes for theyr Sorrowes as hee sayth Blessed are yee that now Weepe for yee shall Rejoyce troubles in this life are badges of Gods Children Whom the Lord loveth Prov. 3. hee chastiseth and correcteth every Sonne that he chuseth with Patience Luke 21. Therefore possesse your Soules Iohn 15. and remember who it is that sayd You are not of the World as I am not of the World the world hateth you because it hated mee first if you were of the world the world would love you Oh blessed Sufferings that makes us like to God himselfe if wee had the Wisedome of SALOMON the Treasure of CRoeSVS and the long life of METHVSALEM and out of the favour and love of God our Wisedome were Foolishnesse for to know him is perfect wisedome our Riches were drosse for riches will not avayle in the day of Wrath and that life so long and wickedly led no better then a man that dreames hee is a King honoured of all and wanting nothing when waking hee findes himselfe hated of all and wanting all things III. Of the Peace of a good Conscience and the Ioyfull end of the Godly SALOMON having set himselfe to behold all things that were under the Sun having taken to himselfe all that could bee delightfull for what can he doe more that commeth after the King at last concludeth Eccles 2. That all the dayes of Man are sorrowes and his travailes griefe therefore sayth he I hated life for all is Vanity and vexation of Spirit and perceiving how apt men were to follow what delights this world could affoord them scoffes at theyr folly and by way of derision sayth Rejoyce O young man in thy Youth Eccles 11 let thy heart cheare thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes yet would hee not let them goe on thus but gives them an Jtem saying But know that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgement for though sayth hee A Sinner doe evill an hundred times and his dayes bee prolonged yet surely I know that it shal be well with them that feare God These Caveats the godly man placeth before his remembrance least hee should fall into errors and making his life of no value to him hee despiseth all things onely ayming at that may make him happy which is a good Conscience for that will bring him peace at the last death being to a godly man the ending of Sorrowes and the beginning of Ioyes he doth then begin to live with God when hee dyes to the World Eccles â— as it is sayd in Ecclesiastes Who so feareth the Lord it shall goe well with him at the last and in the day of his Death hee shall be blessed And St. IOHN was commanded to Write Blessed are the Dead Revel 14. that dye in the Lord even so sayth the Spirit that they may rest from theyr labours their works follow them How can that man bee discouraged that heareth this of the Lord in the houre of his Death when he findeth himselfe hasting thither where hee shall receive that which he hath all his life-life-time desired And Saint AVGVSTINS speaking of the Death of a Good man sayth He that desireth to bee dissolved be with Christ dyeth not Patiently but liveth Patiently and dyeth delightsomely and it may be sayd That like a Swan he dyeth singing yeilding the glory to God which calleth him With what joy doth that Soule behold his end who hath all his Life-time possessed a good Conscience nothing fearefull can present it selfe before him he sees all his sinnes not of a Crimson die but White as wooll washed by the blood of Christ he beholds him not as his Iudge but his Sauiour and Mediatour his Iudge is his Brother God in Christ is become his Father hee hath no debts to pay Christ Iesus on the Crosse hath Cancelled the hand writing that was against him and hath not onely made him free but also an heyre of the Kingdome of Heaven The presence of Death is not terrible to him for he feareth not Death because hee feared GOD and hee that feareth him need feare none other hee feareth not Death because he feared Life but feare of Death are the effects of an evill Life hee feareth not Death because through all his life hee learned to dye and prepared himselfe to dye but a man prepared and provident need not feare his Enemy he feareth not Death because so long as he lived he sought for those things that might helpe him that is for Vertues and good Workes hee feareth not Death because to a Righteous man Death is not death but a sleepe it is not Death but an end of all labours it is not Death but away unto life and a Ladder unto Paradice for hee knoweth that Death hath lost all the bitternesse of Death after it hath passed through the veynes of Life and that it hath received the sweetnesse of life hee feareth not the presence of Divels because he hath CHRIST his defender and Captaine he feareth not the horror of the grave because he knoweth that his body is sowne a corrup tible body but shall rise againe in incorruptible body often boasting in the strength hee hath gained by Christ saying with cheerefulnesse of spirit O Death where is thy sting 2. Cor. 15. O Grave where is thy victory The strong man death comes not upon him unawares for hee hath layd up in store for himselfe a good foundation against this time 1. Tim. 6. which was to come that hee might lay hold on Eternall life Even the brest-plate of righteousnesse Ephes 5. the shield of Faith the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit having his loynes girt about with verity and his feete shod with the preparation of the Gospell of Peace what hope now hath his enemy of any advantage though helped by the weakenesse of his owne flesh Death was ever expected and therefore provided for he alwayes lived as in the presence of GOD having a strict eye over all his actions and though now Satan bend all his Forces against him because hee hath but a small time before his siege must bee raysed and therefore presents that before him which he dearest loued his Wife
know him but bid him be gone and barre the doore against him I know thou wouldest account him most inhumane and ungratefull Isa 5 3. and yet how farre short comes this of CHRIST'S love and bounty to thee for the chastisement of thy Peace was layd upon him and with his stripes thou wast healed O wretched Soule to loose such a Friend Oh unhappie man by this opposition to deprive thy selfe of all Happines for what greater Happinesse canst thou have then to injoy that Fatherly providence by which God preserveth his what sweeter Delights then the Divine Grace the Light of wisedome the consolations of the holy Ghost the Ioy and Peace of a good Conscience the good event of Hope the true liberty of the Soule the inward peace of the Heart to bee heard in Prayer to be helped in Tribulations to be provided for temporall necessities and to bee ayded and to taste of Heavenly Comforts in death whilst I seriously meditate upon these things my Soule is as in a Rapture me thinkes I see CHRIST IESVS comming in the Clouds with thousand of Angels about him the Heavens and Earth flying away at his presence millions of damned Soules yelling and crying to the Rocks and Mountaines to fall upon them and to cover them from the fiercenesse of his sight The Divels quaking and trembling expecting the denouncing of their Torments and the Ioyes the Godly have at that houre For as it is a day of horror and terror to the Wicked so is it a day of joy and gladnesse to the godly for as the body of the one rests in the earth without taste of those miseries it hath deserved even so the Righteous by this sleepe of Death is deprived of this blessednesse in their body untill corruption hath put on incorruption and mortality hath put on immortality and that they are wakened by the sound of the Trumpet which sūmoneth them to appeare before CHRIST when then their soules become againe reunited to their bodyes and both with Ioy beholds the face of God not as their Iudge for he is their Brother and therefore can expect from him nothing but mercy he hath purchased them for himselfe with no meaner a 〈◊〉 price then his owne precious bloud and there fore must needs bee to him acceptable this is theyr yeare of Iubilee this is the Marriage of the Lambe with him they enter Revel 21. and he is theyr God and they are his Sonnes they now behold his face and his Name is in theyr foreheads They now receive the fulnesse of theyr Ioy Revel 22. they now possesse that happinesse theyr Soules thirsted for they now injoy the reward of all theyr labours this blessednesse truly considered on affoordeth more pleasures then the tongue of Man can utter or his Soule remayning in the Prison of his flesh is able to receive without crying out with the Spouse in the Canticles Cant. 2. I am sicke of Love It is no marvell that the Church cryeth Come Lord IESVS come quickly for in this his comming consisteth all happinesse Here is the finall end of all miseries and sinnes it onely prooveth the waters of Mara to the ungodly it is terrible to none but the unrepentant even they who had their eyes sealed from beholding any other Happines then what tended to their pleasures They which tooke to them the Timbrell and the Harp and rejoyced in the sound of the Organs they spend theyr dayes in wealth and were of them that sayd Speake no more to us in the name of the Lord they sayd to God depart from us for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit shall wee haue if we pray unto him Now alas but too late they see theyr owne follyes now without hope of redresse they behold theyr owne miseries no marvell though the mentioning of the day of Iudgement be terrible to such a man who by his wickednesse deprives himselfe of all those Blessednesses for ill will it prove if the day of Death be not alwayes in his remembrance which is the first judgement and wherein he must stand eyther convicted or acquitted eyther condemned for his bad workes or justified for his good whereof he can have little hope unlesse hee meet his Iudge in the way and make his peace with him whilst he may be found yet there is time to furnish thy lamp with Oyle yet the Gates of Mercy are not shut yet thou mayest so cry as thou mayest bee satisfied with this gracious answer Come yee blessed of my Father Whereas if thou deferre thy Repentance from time to time putting farre from thee the evill day if thou doe not expect the comming of thy Lord but become drunken and fall to smiting thy fellow Servants if thou hide thy Talent in the Earth which God in his goodnesse hath bestowed on thee to better uses Thy Lord will come when he is not looked for Math. 21. and in a time when thou art not aware of and cast thee into utter Darknesse where shall bee wayling and gnashing of Teeth giving thee a just hyre for thy carelesse security It is not thy pleasures that can deferre thy calamities it is not the inlarging thy Barnes that can resist thy misery the greatnesse of Friends will not availe thy Iudge is blinde to Bribery and deafe to all but Iustice if his wrath be not appeased before he come to give sentence it will then be too late to expect mercy V. Comforts for the weake Christian and to beware of Backesliding OVR most subtle malicious Enemy retayning still the hatred hee bare our first Parents at the beginning seeketh to bring us into ever lasting Perdition and so to gaine us to himselfe by one meanes or other to a man nouzeled in Sinne hee useth no other wayes then the lulling him still the faster asleepe in worldly pleasures the Miser he perswadeth still to covet Riches thereby making his Gold his God by which meanes hee filleth up the measure of Wrath against the day of Iudgement the Adulterer hee draweth on more easily by the delightsomnesse of the sinne telling him that stolne bread is sweet Prov. 5. and hid waters pleasant the Proud man hee hath hud-wincked not to thinke of time but to account all loft but what is spent in decking and setting himselfe foorth in the Divels Feathers Thus all sinnes he lessens that so he may cause man to defer his repentance till the last then the which there is nothing more dangerous but when he meets a child in religion who is glad to suck milke from the sweet paps of Gods word him he so to sceth shaketh with telling him of his owne unworthines and the severity of Gods Iustice that the poore Soule is ready to leave his hold and to fall into desperation not daring scarce to looke up to Gods Mercy but if his weaknes become strength and he be raysed by Faith then hee strives
Children Father and Friends with his whole Estate Honour Riches Youth Health Strength and Life it selfe thereby thinking to shake his hold for this subtill enemy knoweth they are not lost without griefe which are possessed with Love yet fayles he of his purpose for it is certaine hee that in this life knoweth of fewest delights least of all other feareth Death so he having never prized them otherwayes then they were in themselves parteth from them with the lesse trouble yet weake nature strugling with him may a little dazle him but calling to minde the Words of his Saviour who sayth Mark 10. He that forsaketh Father Mother Wife Children house and lands for my sake shall receive an hundred fold hee gaines strength and with the greater joy his Soule answers Oh sweet IESVS I shall I not willingly forgoe all these who for my sake suffered the Viols of thy Fathers wrath due to me for sinne to be powred out upon thee and in thy body indured that which I deserved It was for my sake thou wast borne in a Stable and layd in a Cratch for me thou flying into Egypt livedst seaven yeares in banishment for me thou didst fast thou didst watch thou didst run hither thither thou didst sweate Water and Bloud thou didst Weepe and thou didst prove by experience those miseries which my sinnes deserved and yet thou wast without sinne neyther was there guile found in thy mouth neyther hadst thou offended but wast offended for me thou wast taken forsaken of thine denyed sold beaten with fists spet upon mocked whipped crowned with Thornes reviled with blasphemies hanged upon the Crosse Dead and Buried thou wert not onely forsaken of all externall things but also of the Divine comfort as thy owne Mouth testified when thou cryedst out My God my God Math. 27. why bast thou forsaken mee Oh the height of Loved Oh the depth of unmeasurable humility Oh the greatnesse of Mercy Oh the bottomlesse Pit of incomprehensible Goodnes Oh Lord if I be so greatly indebted to thee because thou hast redeemed mee what doe I not owe thee for the manner by which thou hast redeemed mee thou hast redeemed mee with most great dolours with contumelies and ignominies not to be borne insomuch that thou wast made a reproach of men and the scorne of the whole world through thy reproaches thou hast honoured me through thy accusations thou hast defended me through thy bloud thou hast washed me through thy death thou hast raysed me and through thy teares thou hast freed me from everlasting weeping and gnashing of teeth thine were the Wounds that healed my sores thine was the backe that bare my sorrowes thine was the prize that quit my scores thou assumedst my flesh to redeeme me here and thou raignest as King to crowne me hereafter Thus by those miserable Torments thou didst free me from all evill and shall I be unwilling to suffer the deprivation of a little happinesse and the induring of a few paines to come unto thee who hast thus dearely purchased me for thy selfe these Meditations so ravished his soule that with aint PAVL he thinkes himselfe in the third Heaven hee hath drunke so freely of the River of Paradice one drop of which is greater then the Ocean which alone is able to quench the thirst of the whole World that he loatheth these puddell Waters accounting all things but drosse and dung in respect of Christ all is to him in comparison no more then the light of a Candle is to the glorious beames of the Sunne he is now so farre from esteeming eyther them or life that he desires to be dissolved and be with Christ he longs for the day of his dissolution life being to him a Prison and with often groanes and sighes cryoth Come Lord Jesus come quickly and with DAVID hee sayth O how I long to appeare before GOD. If life were offered him with all the pleasures thereof hee would despise it for hee is fitted for God he is no man for the World his Soule hath too exactly looked into the worth of it to be deceived with all the glithering shewes thereof the which hee findes to bee vayne and fleeting and nothing permanent in this Life IIII. Of the deferring of Repentance how dangerous it is and of the deceiveablenesse of worldly Pleasures HAving now seen the quiet Happinesse and happie Blessednesse of the Godly at the houre of his Death mee thinkes it should incourage every man to prepare himselfe for his end in the time of Prosperity least when the time of changing shall come they bee found naked and bare and so lye open to all the assaults and batteries of Sathan many there bee to whom the Day of Iudgement seemes terrible not remembring the day of theyr Death which is the first Iudgement the which whosoever passeth on such the second shall have no power as Saint IOHN sayth in the Revelation The deferring of Repentance proves dangerous Yet some inreligious man will say When I am come to old Age I will runne to the remedy of Repentance Dare mans frailtie presume thus much of himselfe seeing hee hath not one day of all his Life in his owne power for though God hath promised Pardon to the Penitent yet he hath not promised to morrow to a sinner therefore whilst it is called to day Hebr. 5. heare his voyce and hearden not your hearts least you enter into temptation Follow the counsell of that Kingly Preacher make no tarrying to turne unto the Lord Eccles 5. and put not off from day to day for soda nly shall his wrath come and in the time of vengeance he shall destroy thee besides there is another evill sinne having no restraint but free liberty to runne on in his owne current how dangerous doth it proove and how hard is it to stop the course thereof being once growne to a custome Is it not usually knowne that hee that driveth a Nayle into a Post fasteneth it at the first stroke that he giveth it but more firmely at the second stroke but so fast at the third that it can hardly bee pulled out againe and the oftner he striketh it the faster it sticketh and is pulled out againe with the greater difficulty So in every one of mans wicked actions vice is driuen deepely into their soules as if it were with a Mallet and there it sticketh so fast that it can by no meanes be pulled foorth but by the bitter teares of Repentance which are seldome and very hardly found this same thing our Saviour shewed in the raysing of LAZARVS being foure dayes dead whom he called foorth Ioh. 1. with groaning of spirit whereas he raysed others that were dead with farre easier tokens of difficulty signifying to us thereby how great a myracle it is that God should convert one buried in the custome of sinning yet not considering these things how doth time passe on and what numberlesse sinnes are committed without feare to offend or care
cleare and comfortable in it self and so is it to the eye that is sound yet to a sore eye it is very grieuous not through any default in the sunne but by the diseased disposition of the eye so albeit he in himselfe be perfectly good and doth nothing but good yet to an vnrepentant sinner he is grievous and terrible but if he returne to him by unfained repentance he soone inclineth to mercy as is euident in that wo man whom Christ so called upon her humiliation and acknowledging her selfe to be no better she receiueth this gracious answer Be it vnto the euen as thou wilt and againe in the Nenivites though his decree was gone out against them that yet forty dayes and Ninivie should be destroyed Ionah 3. upon their unfained repentance he also repented of that euill and with aboundance of mercy revoked that sentence For the eyes of the Lord ◠Chro. 16 beholds all the earth to strengthen them that with a perfect heart beleeve and hope in him and againe it is sayd O how good is the Lord unto them Lament 3 that put theyr trust in him and to the Soule that seeketh after him never was there any forsaken that put theyr trust in him and though the hand of your Faith be not strong enough to lay fast hold on him as IACOB did who sayd I will not let thee goe unlesse thou blesse mee Gen. 32. yet if hee perceiue thee creeping after him hee will imbrace thee for hee hath sayd The bruised Reede Math. 12. I will not breake and the smoaking Flaxe I will not quench that is hee will not reiect the desires of the heart though in weake measure if unfeyned and what he hath promised is Truth Hee loveth not as man loveth for they in prosperity will regard vs but if Afflictions or wants come they regard us not but so farre is our good God from this that his beloved Sonne CHRIST IESVS tooke our shape upon him suffering Hunger Cold Nakednesse Contempt and Scornings for his owne mouth testified That the Foxes had Holes and the Birds of the Ayre had Nests but the Sonne of Man had not whereon to lay his head showing thereby to us how farre hee was from contemning our Povertie or refusing us for our wants let us therefore flie to this God who will not fayle us nor forsake us let us cast our care upon him for hee careth for us and set us first seek the Kingdome of heaven and the righteousnesse thereof and all things else shall bee ministred unto us How many haue beene knowne which have gayned to themselves Riches or Honours by unlawfull meanes that have prospered but if for a time they have seemed to doe well their Posteritie have come to ruine and theyr owne ill-gathered treasure like a dilating Gangrene hath rotted theyr owne memory and consumed every part of theyr heyres possession seeming as it were a Curse and doome intayled with the land upon the successour and so proveth not a Blessing but the bane of him that Injoyed it They may for a time flourish like a Bay Tree but suddainely they fade and their place is no where to bee found Oh therefore that they would consider what great evils and how many inconveniences this small prosperity bringeth with it they should find this love of Riches more to afflict by desire then to delight by use for it inwrappeth the Soule in divers temptatiōs bindeth it in infinit cares it allureth it with sundry delights provoketh it to sinne and disturbeth the quiet no lesse of the body then of the Soule and that which is greater Riches are never gotten without troubles nor possessed without care nor lost without griefe but that which is worst they are seldome gathered without sinne and offence to GOD Why then should man bee so greedy of this Worlds pelfe life beeing so short and death following at our heeles What neede is there of so great Provision for so short a Iourney What would man doe with so great Riches especially seeing that the lesse he hath the more lightly and freely hee may walke and when hee shall come to the end of his Pilgrimage if he be poore his estate shall not be worser then rich mens who are loden with much gold the Grave shall both alike containe them as sayth IOB Iob. 3. The small and great are there and the Servant is free from his Master Nay it is better with the poore then with the rich for they shall feele lesse griefe in parting with this trash and pelfe of the World and a smaller accompt is to be rendred before GOD whereas on the other side Rich men leaves theyr Mountaines of Gold with great griefe of heart which they adored as GOD neyther are they without exceeding gerat hazard and danger in rendring an accompt for them Besides as hee came forth of his Mothers Wombe Eccles 5. so naked shall he returne to goe as hee came and shall take nothing of his labour which he may carry away in his hand Psalm 7. Therefore a little that a Righteous man hath is better then the Riches of many wicked I have seene sayth DAVID in the same Psalme The wicked in great power and spreading himselfe like a greene Bay tree yet hee passed away and loe hee was not I sought him but hee could not bee found the transgressours shall be destroyed together the end of the Wicked shall bee cut off but marke the upright man and behold the Iust for the end of that man is Peace Thrice blessed then is that man that feareth God and they whose God the Lord is and he that sots his feare alwayes before his eyes Iob. 5. For they shall bee delivered out of sixe troubles and in the seaventh no evils shall touch them in Famine he shall redeeme them from Death and in Warre from the power of the sword they shall come to the Grave in a full age like as a shocke of Corne commeth in in his season They may for a time bee bungry but they shall be filld for God himselfe will feed them with blessings from aboue and from beneath Even naturall reason will not suffer them to doubt for he that giveth meate in due season to Ants and Wormes of the Earth will he suffer Man to famish who night and day serve and obey him as CHRIST himselfe saith in MATTHEVV Math. 6. Behold the Fowles of the heaven for they sow not neyther reape nor cary into Barnes yet your heavenly Father feedeth them are yee not much better then they This happines moved DAVID to invite us to serve the Lord saying O feare the Lord yee that be his Saints Psalm 34 for they that feare the Lord lack nothing the Lyons doe lacke and suffer hunger but they that feeke the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good The ungodly man when he is full of wealth dyeth for hunger and when they sit even up