their actions rise according to their desert and gather credit out of my fall MED 29. VVIth what willing paines and how laborious endeavours will divers men runne a race that is set before them all hoping to attaine the glory of the prize and to get the first touch of the desired marke though it can fall to the lot but of one to be victor this world is a course and all that live are runners in it but every man almost sets up for himselfe a marke which he pursues with all eagernesse Some aime at and attaine their desire of riches others not so much earthie looke somewhat higher and haply gaine their expectations by the enioyment of desired honour but a third which is the only happy man heightens his desire and lifts up his soule aiming alone at the only desirable marke heaven Let me not Oh director of my steps spend my selfe in painfull labours for the attaining that which vvill not satisfie nor runne a whoring after my owne inventions but since I live here and must make one in the race let me direct my steps to the gaining of that marke which can only make me happy Heaven is the marke that I desire to gaine Let me so run then that I may obtaine MED 30. A Waterman is the perfect resemblance of an hypocrite who goes the quite contrary way to what he seems and lookes not at the place he goes to but some Italian pictures present to our view its absolute patterne who shew on a straight line a Venus in her most compleated beauty enough to make your affection like Pigmalion adore the Statute but turne to the other side it holds forth the gastliest countenance that ever eye beheld the terrible physiognomie of some bloud-thirstie monster or infernall fury Here you have the hypocrites very nature who more Saint like who carries a more seemingly sweet aspect who of a more though faignned courteous and affable disposition if you look at him with a single eye but if with a searching understanding eye you take a through view of him you will finde him a devill incarnate whose heart and tongue never speak the same things and of so perverse a nature that no infernall hag is half so divilish he that with Iudas batraies his Master with a kiss and under an humble obedience hides treason deserves a far greater torment then an open enemy He hath great reason to fear that God will never own him as not knowing the disguise he so often uses Therefore my tongue and heart shall go together and I will always seeme what I am and be what I seeme MED 31. VVAlking in the fields and seeing the tender grass already tincted with a lively verdure by the forward Spring and how invitingly with its sweet freshness and fresh-sweenesse it allures the fancy of the delighted walker to some pleasing meditations I cannot but think of mans dulness that is not able from the sweet showers of Gods grace and mercy distilled on his drooping soul to gather thence so much spirituall life as may quicken his thoughts to the meditation of his happiness Lord as we like the earth of rayn are receivers and hearers of the word so let us imitate its thankfull fruitfulness and with a gratefull retaliation endeavour to be doers ravish our hearts with the thought of thy love raise our desires to the performance of thy commands grant we may do what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt MED 32. IN these times I meet with many men whose crazed braines will never let them injoy the golden mean but alwayes drives them to the greatest extreams Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim for hoping to escue the one rock of superstition they fall and split themselves on the other of Atheisme I can resemble such to nothing better then Jesuits and both to Sampsons foxes who while they look and strive to run severall wayes have a firebrand in their hearts with which they endeavour to destroy both Church and State It s an old Proverb when the fox preaches let the Geese take heed for thereby hee le only seeke by their securitie an opportunity the better to worry them I love not the Fox of himselfe he is destructive enough but a Fox with a firebrand is like an Ignis fatuus that wholly stupifies our senses and leads about in errour till we arrive at our destruction I will therefore take the wise mans counsel Take these Foxes these little-foxes that spoyle the Vines MED 33. HE that lives all his life time as if he should never dye or at least should never come to an account but drives off his repentance till he lies on his death-bed and thinkes then one Lord have mercy is enough to carry his soule to Heaven may perchance finde instead of joy a gulfe of endlesse easelesse remedilesse torments but what say our Ancients nunquam sera it is never too late to doe well why then should I ever despaire of mercy Was not the good thiefe on the Crosse admitted into Paradise were not the Labourers sent into the Vineyard at the eleventh houre and yet received an equall hire with the first As I will not therefore despaire so I will not yet so presume to expect it as due I wil not with the Epicures say Let us eat and drinke for to morrow we shall die but let us repent and amend since we may dye daily MED 34. WHen I come among a company of Musicians and see every one playing on a severall instrument and singing thereto with various voyces and yet heare what a melodious harmony ariseth out of that discord which pleases mine eare delights my fancy and luls my senses as it were into a sleep with content I cannot but thinke of that heavenly joy among the Saints where all sing Allelujahs with one consent what a supernaturall content they enjoy If then our inferiour musick can so ravish my senses what shall I say of those superiour whose least harmony as farre surpasses ours as the golden ore excels the contemned sand the least sounding of whose Angelical voyces as farre exceeds the sweetest melodie and most delightfull symphonie of our best tuned notes and instruments as the purest Diamond and most hard Adamant doe the britlest glasse Lord make mee one of that heavenly Quire that sing perpetuall prayses in thy presence that my voyce may chant forth Allelujahs to thy name Oh heavenly joyes filled both with content and happinesse Lord raise my spirit that I may attaine To chant forth prayses with thy heavenly train Ravish my senses my dull notes inspire With holier fancies make me of thy Quire The greatest discords shall that now appeare Be then melodious harmonie Lord heare MED 35. HOvv uselesse and altogether uncomfortable is that roome at present where darknesse is predominant making me sit in an unwilling idlenesse which is both usefull and sociable when candles are brought in Lord thinke I then how comfortlesse is my
is an honest way to get his living Thus with a specious visor doth he adorne his crime and sinnes securely not having one relenting thought but runnes on head-long to perdition I will never seek to scrape up so many riches as that my wealth may prove more irkesome to me then my need or that I should feare God meanes to punish me more in my superfluity of money then in the want I will be jealous of my gaine and more feare then desire abundance MED 87. I Can never see a flatterer framing all his actions and gestures according to the humours of whom he flatters but I thinke the Polypus a fit resembler of such a person who changes his colours as often as the various objects he touches doe Art thou sick so will he counterfeit himselfe art thou prodigall he will tell thee it beseemes thy birth whatever thou dost or sayest thereafter will he frame both his words actions till he hath so far compassed his own ends as thou must either trust him or he will undoe thee I will not then looke altogether at the outside of a faire word nor trust too much to the subtle daubings of a cunning flatterer for outward appearances are but deceitfull guides to our judgement and they are worthy to be deceived that value a flatterer above a true friend a smiling malice is most deadly and hatred doth most rankle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled MED 88. TO see a beast have any one part of a man produces in us not only a great but a just admiration but to see a man have all the parts of a beast is never taken notice of to tumble in the mire like a hog and after amendment with the dog to returne to his vomit again is grown to a common custome though a lewd one Other sinnes move shame but hide it this of drunkenness discovers it to all the world it not only makes imperfections but shewes those we have to others eyes A man hath not then so much rule of himselfe as to be ashamed I will alwayes shun this vice which will rob me of my selfe and lay a beast in my roome for he that gives himselfe to wine is not owne MED 89. I Have read of a certain man that came with a resolution to kill a Tyrant but the stroke intended for his death opened him a dangerous Impostume whereon his Physitions durst not lay their hands How oft doth the inscrutable providence of God from injurious and bad causes produce good effects Was it not a somewhat strange cure where nothing but danger of death can save ones life that which one intends for a mischiefe to me may prove to procure my good though not to be a benefit for it is no benefit which I am inforced to receive saith Seneca neither is it a benefit that maketh me iudebted to him I would not If then thou wouldest doe a benefit for me first give me the freedome and power of my selfe for Thou good turnes mayst doe though thy intent Had in designe to worke some detriment MED 90. AS God loves a cheerfull giver so he hates an ingratefull thanklesse receiver with what high prayses is the willing gift of the poore widdow remembred and what a terrible doome is laid upon the husbandmen who could not otherwaies requite the Lord of their Vineyard sending for some of his own then by beating his servants and killing his sonne Oh inhumane barbarisme that could not afford a good word for the meanes of their livelihood but no marvel for he cannot be thankfull that is willingly forgetfull of what he hath received but I will receive courtesies with a gladsome countenance for he that receiveth a good turne with a joyfull thankfulnesse hath already satisfied the first payment of the requitall but he that carries it in memory hath already requited it MED 91. IUstice and clemency are the two maine pillars that uphold a wel-ruled Common-wealth Justice to punish obstinate offenders and mercy to be extended to those that repent what a solitude and desolation would there soone be if all offenders were tryed by the strictest rule of Justice Is there any accuser without his fault Clemency therefore is the most assured safe-guard for cruelty in governours increaseth the number of their enemies by extinguishing them It is better to have thy Subjects hearts tyed to thee by love then their bodies a servile feare I will alwayes be just but never severely cruell and I vvill be mercifull yet not give a liberty to sinne to save is the property of an excellent fortune And I know not whether there be any man more difficult to give pardon then he that hath often deserved to beg the same MED 92. VVEre I to wish a titular happinesse or did I desire a reall good it should be this that I might have a quiet minde and a conscience voide of feare with whom when thou conferrest it can accuse thee of no base acts thou needest no other inditement for sinne then what thine owne conscience will preferre The killing of a nest of young Swallowes will produce an answer to convict thee of Parricide Feare suffering sinne are fellowes conscience will Accuse thee daily for fore-acted ill MED 93. SOlanten miseris socios habuisse dolor is If it be a comfort in afflictions to have a partner of our griefe how much greater is it to thinke that what hath happened to him all that went before him have suffered and all that shall come after must endure for is there any man so proudly arrogant that will think to have himself exempted out of the ranke of all others can any man discharge some one house from that ruine which shall destroy the whole world therefore saith Seneca hath Nature made that most common which is most grievous to the end that the equality thereof might in some sort lenefie the cruelty of the fate I will therefore in my sorrow alway observe this measure that it neither run into impiety or folly and I will contain me in that habit which becomes a quiet and not disturbed minde though my teares shall flow yet at last shall they stay and though my sighes shall proceede from the bottome of my heart yet shall they have an end MED 94. THe ample revenews 〈◊〉 â—â—ince if it come as we say into Hucksters hands consumes and goes away in a moment when the hundredth part thereof well managed and husbanded would rather encrease then prove scarse Wen I think of this I cannot but blame those who cry out of the shortness of their life which is not short indeed but that we lose so much of it so that I may say with the Poet A little part of our life it is we live And many men die before they are ready to depart the world Why then vaine man livest thou so as if thou hadst a warrant to live for ever Lord teach me to number my dayes that I may apply my heart unto wisdom
out one repentant teare the sin of our soul is the soul of our sin and vvhen our eyes cannot dissolve themselves into rivers of teares our hearts congeale as hard as rocks of Adamant yet that Adamant can be broken with vineger and teares of repenpentance will wash away the hardness of our stony heart Lord grant me grace to turne away sins smart And make my teares soften my flinty heart MED 62. THe poor Publican vvas sooner heard that said little and stood afar off then the proud-loud-boasting Pharisee 't is not the multitude of our words but the zeal of our hearts that God affects the righteous man in the midst of trouble can fly to God by his prayer when the abundant prosperity of the wicked makes him guilty both of neglect and infidelity the prayer of the heart is the heart of prayer and where my faith fails my prayer falls our infidelity stops Gods eare and makes us that we cannot heare vvhen he calls I will be humble in prayer but not fearefull Qui timide rogat docet negare MED 63. THe sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord when the prayer of the righteous is as a sweet smelling odour Zeno sayling vvith a company of lewd Athiests there suddenly arose such a storm as drove the most impious among them to his prayer peace quoth he lest the gods hearing cast us away because you are here 't is our iniquities that separate between us and our God I will never therefore absent my self from God by prayer so long as that vvhen I come I should be taken as a stranger nor shall the burden of my sins so clog me down but that I will fly to my God MED 64. IN the midst of extremities to fly to Christ is the sign of a true Christian faith to hope and rest on God is the best muniment We reade our Saviour slept in the height of a storm a quiet conscience is a bed of Downe yet is he not so secure in himself but that he can sympathise vvith his disciples shall vve say his suffering them to ingeminate their calls vvas either because of a deafness in his eare or dulness in his heart O no he heard them at first but he loved to heare them again but they no sooner speak we perish but he awakes me thinks I see our Saviour startle at that word thus do we see the gentle prayer of a disciple is sooner heard in heaven then all the thundring of the creature and that Christ that sleepes in a storm wakens with a prayer Lord teach me but to pray so shall no sea Of woe ore whelm me for I le fly to thee MED 65. HAve you seen the rugged Ocean disturbed with the impetuous blasts of furious windes how it curles its angred forehead with threatning vvaves affrighting with the terrour of death the most skilfull Pilot and valiantest Navigator that ever sayled on the Maine but then to remember the storm our Saviour stilled comforts them and tells us that Gods Justice never failes it alalwayes meets with the ringleaders in any sedition neither doe the followers escape unpunished The windes resemble the leaders the waters like the common people are of themselves quiet but once moved montes volvuntur aquarum I will never raise such a spirit which I am not able to allay lest at last it pull my house over my head MED 66. WHen a sudden storme arises how fast will the harmelesse sheep runne to the next brambles where thinking to save her selfe by its shelter from the fury of the storme it is deceived into a greater ill and returnes with some losse of its fleece just such thinke I many times proves the friendship of some ingrateful and self-seeking friends to whom when driven by the adverse blasts of a contrary fortune I retire my selfe for help and comfort they either altogether cast me off or prey upon my necessitie so that such help proves more fatall to me then my worst calamitie I may patiently beare all outward miseries and though I am wet to the skin I can drie my selfe againe but when my professed friend instead of love works my woe this this cuts me to the heart Brutus one stroke went neerer Caesars heart then the stabs of all his other enemies MED 67. WHat a beastly drunkennesse will soone surprize that man that sits all day and drinkes nought but wine when the same moderately used is both pleasant and good Prosperitie is this wine a constant enjoyment whereof might cast into a surfeit of sinne God therefore mingles it with affliction to keepe us sober Shall I dislike the physicke because it pleases not my palate I care not whether it be toothsome so it be wholsome we would have it to cure not to please us give me so much prosperity as may make me mindeful to returne and cast me not downe so much as to make me despaire of thy love I may as well starve as surfeit MED 68. AS the Hart panteth after the rivers of water so longs my soule after thee oh God It vvould be an easie matter to come to heaven if outward shewes and professions would bring us thither there must be a hearty desire an earnest longing and a constant perseverance therein we will run through all difficulties to attaine what we long for what we desire hence then is our Love to God knovvn to be hearty if for his sake we make light of the world contemne afflictions and count all things but drosse in comparison of him I will not serve God because others doe so but because it is my duty MED 69. AM I the first whom a false report hath slandered or doe I thinke I shall be the last Why then doe I so trouble and vexe my selfe It is the commonest thing of a thousand to be told of our failings though what we doe well is husht up in oblivion and can any man think to sinne and not heare of it yea but the falsenesse of the thing laid to my charge is the cause of my vexation they laid to my charge things that I never heard of but shall I expect better measure here then was dealt to our Saviour was not he more maliciously accused but this thing will make me take heed to my wayes I will never say or doe any thing that I would be ashamed to let all the world see and heare The only way to deterre us from sinning is to say this I am about to act is sin and therefore cannot be secret MED 70. BLessed are the Peace makers how happy then is he that composes and allaies divisions the greatnesse of the blessing is never rightly knovvn but by the goodnesse that Marriner can never truly prize a calme that hath not been in a storme in a calme the Sea is the skies looking-glasse it is the stil musick of the world Peace is the vigour of the Law the honest mans best patent the harmony of the soule the richest casket
Since all that is to come is uncertain I will live out of hand I will not forget the time past neglect that is present nor fear that which is to come lest when it is come I finde that I have been way busie in doing nothing MED 95. GRatia ab officio quod mora tardat abest the goodness of the benefit is half wanting when we delay the doing of it for the expectation of things how good soever they be is both tedious and displeasant true liberality is quick expidite and it is the property of him that doth willingly to do quickly as it is said Bis dat qui citò dat he has at it were done a good turne twice who does it in time so he that willeth a thing too late does as it were not will it at all I will never give later then I should do and weary out both time and occasion before I assist and succour the indigent lest my actions should witness against me that I never had a will to do him good MEd. 96. AN antient Philososper seeing an ingratefull man prosper taxed Nature of partiality in that she had laded a thistle with fruit ingratitude being both loathsome in it self and hateful in all mens opinions where a good turne is not only forgotten but denyd faulty are those eyes that feare the light but blinde certainly are they that see not at all of all men I cannot but most hate and wonder at an unthankfull person since to requite is so easie a matter Art thou a niggard thou shalt not need to drain thy purse thou mayst requite without expence or art thou slothfull thou mayst sit with folded arms and take thy repose thou maist without labour satisfie for a good turn for Seneca saith in that very moment wherein thou art oblieged if thou listest thou mayst make even with any man whatsoever because he who hath willingly received a benefit hath restored the same MED 97. HOdie Craesus cras Irus though thou sittest to day on a throne thy Will standing for Law and dominering with a proud tyranny over thy inferiors thou mayst to morrow lye with Job on a dunghill see the inconstancy of fickle fortune making as it were a tennisball of the world who would be a servant to so wavering a Mistress who vvould rely on that which is constant to nothing but inconstancy I will therefore bare my affliction like my self as one subject to chance but resolved in the change of my fortune though I may bewaile my fortune though I may bewaile my fortune and lament my fall yet will I not dismay my self since I know that all corporall damages that betide mortall men are either by means remedied by patience suffered by reason rectified by time cured or by death ended there is a power above the capacity of men and comfort may descend beyond the expectation of men MED 98. WHen I see a sealed Dove mount to such an aspiring height as if it would seeme to reach at the very heaven it self on a sudden fall down like a dead and senseless carcass It presently brings to my minde the soaring ambition of a high minded person whose minde being sealed with popular applause makes him Icarus-like with those waxen wings to dare even at Majestie it self till at last the Sun either of envy or dislike dissolve the conjoyning wax he falls down headlong into the sea both of comtempt and despair yet who is frightned with his misery how soone will another step into his roome and even strive to out-vie his greatness till the storme of a frowne shiprack him What clog heavy enough to keep down ambitious thoughts nothing can outballance ambitious desire though it is full of pleasure in its beginning and rise yet is its end cruell and downfall sudden While each thing stayes within his proper sphear It neither danger breeds to 't self nor fear MED 99. PRovidence prevents-misfortunes and gives life to future actions but rashness is the mother of ill-luck and not only blasts promising enterprises but nips them in the bud Is it not a piece of the greatest folly to requite an imagined wrong with an effectuall mischiefe I will look at my present being not a promised for promises of advancement are no assurances of enrichment and he hath a short understanding that will lose certain favors for uncertain riches I will not be either carelesly or overtimerously suspitious what may sinisterly or suddenly succeed but I will be heedfull of the hazard lest any oversight may cross my designed endeavours and so make me both hapless and helpless MED 100. DImidium facti qui bene caepit habet though it were said of old He has done the better half of his work that hath begun well yet we know that non progredi est regredi he that goes not forword goes backward it were as good he had never set out who sits down in the midst of his journey Iacobs ladder hath many steps it s not enough to begin to be good but to proceed in goodness It is as true as common that exitus acta probat the glory of a thing lies in its ending It was a law in Rome that when a souldier was fifty years old he should no more beare arms A Senator having attained to threescore years was no more bound to attend the Senate what should be the reason but that after the turmoyles of their tedious life being freed from the cares of the world they might think of their end I like the Law well but yet I will not follow it wholly for I will not put off the thought of my death till old age but will alwayes prepare for it since ever to meditate on my end is the best end of my Meditations FINIS