of God for thy Salvation and the voice of God for thy acceptation Who but an experienced Christian can express the sweet of these yet how far short are his expressions of these streams of comforts which flow through the Priestly Office to every true Believer from the unexhaustible Fountain of Gods mercy What spots doth not this wash off What soares doth not this Jordan heal Yea what lameness and imperfection doth not this Bethesda cure O the consolation of Christs intercession in this imperfect state of grace Is my love weak and unstable as Water This love O Saviour is stronger than Death Is my obedience imperfect By thy obedience many are made righteous Is my zeal defective Lord Thy zeal of thy House hath eaten thee up Is my Faith small and subject to doubting O Saviour thou wilt give a blessing even to a grain of Faith as of Mustard-Seed And hast promised not to quench the smoaking Flax nor to break the bruised Reed Is my Prayer full of weakness ignorance and imperfection Thy Spirit it self maketh request for us with sighs which cannot be expressed Yea thou art entred into the very Heaven of Heavens to appear now in the sight of God ever living there to make Intercession for us To conclude Is my inherent righteousness imperfect And am I a transgressor of the Law Thy imputative righteousness is perfect and thou art a fulfiller of the Law For thou art the end of the Law for righteousness unto every one that believeth Yea that all further objections may be answered that all other defects may appear supplied behold here a gift as large as Mans wants and as full of mercy as he of sin Christ Jesus of God is made unto us wisdome and righteousness and sanctification and redemption Our Saviour Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life that Jacob's Ladder whose foot as expressing his humanity toucheth the Earth and whose top as respecting his Divinity reacheth unto Heaven This threefold office may be considered as the parts of this Heavenly ascent Upon whose first degree my faith which is the eye the hand and the foot of the Soul hath begun to ascend It remains now that I mount the next staff belonging to his Priestly office which is satisfaction the inseparable consequent of which is Justification The parts of which forgiveness of sins and imputation of righteousness do necessarily follow the former Our mercifull High Priest and Redeemer satisfying by suffering that our sins for which he suffered might be forgiven fulfilling the Law is continually interceding that his righteousness might be to us imputed So that to our comfort and confirmation be it spoken that when faith hath gaind footing upon satisfaction and intercession it must needs have hand-hold on remission and imputation Can the Lord be less righteous than Man Doth not the cancelling of the Bond succeed the absolving of the debt The satisfaction and releasement of the Prisoner follow the not guilty of the Jury O the perfection of all the ways of God especially of this his great work towards the Children of Men wherein mercy and justice do sweetly kiss each other He being just towards Man in his fall into Death that he might be mercifull in raising him to life And that he might spare his adopted Sons he spares not his only begotten Son O what is Man that thou art mindfull of him or the Son of Man that thou visitest him To proceed Justification by some Divines made an act of Christs Kingly office is that mercifull and yet just sentential act of God the Father whereby a believer is absolved from sin and death and the inherent righteousness of Christ is imputed unto the faithfull applyer for the attaining of life everlasting Hereby waving our debt and supplying our want at once delivering us from guilt and corruption Behold here is an Olive Branch which faith the Dove of the Soul brings home unto it in the time of Gods vengeance and in the midst of the great Waters of Sin Here 's a Golden Scepter held forth by the incensed King of Kings to every faithfull and humbled Esther Now I may say to my Soul as once the multitude to the blind Man See he calls thee Not in his strong Wind by which he rents the Mountains of pride Not in his Earth-quake by which he shakes secure and presumptuous sinners No nor yet in his consuming Fire with which he devours unexcusable Hypocrites But in his mercy even with a still small voice of compassion and pardon O my Soul Thou art not come unto the Mount that burnd with Fire and that might be touched nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest nor to hear the voice of those words which voice they that heard entreated that the Word should not be spoken to them any more But thou art come to Mount Sion and to an innumerable company of Angels and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of Sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel and to God the Judge of all whom thou maist hear with comfort proclaiming Himself unto thee as once before Moses thus The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Forgiving sin O what good news is this unto my Soul How truly is this called the glad tidings of the Gospel Tell me yee which shall hereafter read my thoughts even from the testimony of your own Souls For only experience can make you fit Judges in this case If there be any joy like to the joy of a justified sinner Any blessing like that of David Can I consider into how fearfull an estate sin hath cast me and unto what punishment Justice hath condemned me and not from thence proportion out and acknowledge the greatness of this deliverance Doth not the truth-speaking Word of God which is neither cruel nor partial tell me that I am a sinner For there is no Man that sinneth not That I am a debtor Since we must all pray forgive us our debts That I am a condemned Person For by the offence of one judgment came upon all Men to condemnation That I am a bond-slave to death and to him that hath the Power of Death the Devil all my life time being subject to bondage That I am a dead Man For We are all dead in sins and trespasses That I am an enemy to God and Christ and lastly by nature a Child of Wrath And shall I account remission of all my offences Satisfaction of all my arrearages Liberty from servitude Life in stead of death Nay more resurrection from death no mercy Can my powerfull Enemy be made my friend and Father my irefull Judge become my Mediator and Saviour and I not highly favoured gratiously yea
Israel Who saith that to Him the Porter openeth and the Sheep hear his voice that he calleth his own Sheep by name and leadeth them out Is it the duty of a King to protect his subjects to reward them as well as to restrain and overcome their Enemies And is not this true of our good Shepward Who giveth his life for his Sheep being not like the hireling who seeing the Wolf coming flieth and leaveth the Sheep Yea all blessings temporal and spiritual abound to them that are admitted into his Fold For he promises that if any enter therein he shall be saved and shall go in and out and finde pasture Lastly is it the office of a King to see and judge of the actions of inferiours to give dignity and honour to the well-meriting and obedient and to inflict punishment and death upon rebellious offenders See this also made good by Gods promise unto us under the rule of our only Shepward Christ Jesus Saying Behold even I will judge betwixt the fat Cattle and the lean and I will cause the evil Beasts to cease out of the Land And I will make with them a Covenant of Peace And I will make them and the places round about them a blessing And I will cause the showers to come down in his season there shall be showers of blessings And as concerning the last and General Judgment our Saviour speaking of the ordering of Persons before his Trybunal and the parting of his true Subjects from Rebels the good from the bad still alludes to the office of a Shepward and saith that he will separate them one from another as the Shepward divideth the Sheep from the Goats Having for the better and more comfortable illustration of our Saviours Kingly Office thus far traced this similitude let us now O my Soul by faith take a nearer and more serious view of this his glorious function as it manifests it self in the excellency of his Person and in the uprightness and perfection of his Laws as also in all those gratious effects which flow from so divine a dispensation That from them God assisting in the application thou maist reap that saving fruit which grace offers and thou expectest As the Basis and Pillar of Peace and tranquility in a Common-wealth is good Government consisting of upright Magistrates and just Laws So the defect of either ushers-in present ruine and destruction This position is not only verified in civil estates but in the spiritual Regiment of the visible Church Which whilst it was governed by the Spirit of Christ and was obedient to his injunctions attained to a Meridional height of quiet and glory witness the times of Solomon Hezechiah and Josiah But on the other side when that there was no King in Israel and every Man did what was right in his own Eyes how was their Land and Church filled with blood-shed Idolatry and vanity witness the Book of the Judges O let their miseries make us beware and let us learn wisdome from their destruction â—et their ill-succeeding rebellions incite and hasten us to do Homage at his Foot-stool whom the Lord hath set King upon his holy Hill of Sion And to kiss him with the kiss of reverence obedience and worship Let us meditate of him all the day long and let our Mouths be filled with his praises O how truly are we happy in thee O Lord Jesus according to that of the wise Man blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles Is there any Nobility like unto thine will any boast of or derive his Pedigree with thee who art the ancient of days the dew of the Morning the Morning-star and in a word â—he Fountain of honour what are the greatest of earthly Princes but thy Vice-roys Conduit-Pipes to convey â—ny favours unto the Children of Men For By thee Kings Reign and Princes Decree justice And from thee proâ—â—eds the sentence which makes poor and makes rich â—rings lowe and lifteth up For thou art that only begotten Son of the Father before all beginnings who then can declare thy generation for thy Birth is hid in Eternity Nor art thou not only glorious in thy Father but in thy self also for thou art God of God equal with God and therefore art not only a wise mercifull just and holy King over us But wisdome mercy justice and holiness it self unto us Witness this in that thy gratious invitation to thy spiritual Feast where wisdome hath builded her an House As also in the former Chapter I am understanding I am strength Further thy Spirit in the Mouth of thy beloved Apostle testifies that thou our God art love And thy Prophet Jeremy foretold to us that the Name whereby thou shouldst be called is the Lord our righteousness As for the last the Prophet David stiles thee so in many of his Psalmes singing thus O yee Saints of his give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness To whom the Saints in the Revelation answer and second with this triple acclamation Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbath O my Saviour my King my beloved let me feed a while here amongst these Lillies Let me sit down under this thy shadow and let thy fruit be sweet unto my taste O stay me with Flagons comfort me with Apples for I am sick of love Who is like the Lord our King on all the Earth Is there any People or Nation alike happy with us Christians whose God and King is the Lord I should now proceed to view and admire that golden Scepter those his righteous Statutes by which he governs and directs us his People But that my Soul possest with a holy fear lest any thing should nullifie my right unto my Soveraigns protection stops me with these objections As that I am not only the Son of rebellious Adam but also an Alien to the Common-wealth of Israel as being not sprung from the loynes of Abraham nor from any of the Sons of Jacob but from the unbelieving Gentiles Lastly that I am out-lawed by my own actual transgressions and therefore may rather expect punishment than any favour happiness or priviledge by his Government As to these I answer with the Apostle The Jews because the Seed of Abraham are not all Children But the Children of the promise are counted for the Seed Wherefore Abraham is called the Father of the faithfull Neither is he a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit not in the letter Also he is a light to enlighten the Gentiles as well as the glory of the People Israel Again my being a sinner is so far from disabling my right to the Lord Jesus that by the hearty and penitent confession thereof I am intitled unto his pardon and mercy witness his
righteous sentence pronounced upon them and the Apostate Angels and his translating his Saints from this Paradise of Earth to the Heaven of Heavens These objects and occasions of holy hatred anger and indignation against Sathan and Gods Enemies the wicked of unexpressable love joy delight praise and glorious tryumphing the holy Scriptures holds forth shall be in the state of glory And can we conceive holy zeal which is the height and crown of all these graces can be absent or unnecessary I shall further add that after our Lords yielding up his Mediatory Kingdome to the Father all the service and everlasting praises of the Saints in the remembrance of all Gods wonderfull works from the beginning unto Eternity in the Heavens Earth and Hell shall be heightned and winged with this holy zeal I shall assert this truth and conclude this ravishing Meditation with pointing at and refering the Reader to the frequent and zealous hallelujahs of the crowned Elders and glorified Saints in the Visions of Saint John set forth to us as the types and lively figures of our Heavenly and glorified condition Revelations Chapter the 4 th Verse the 8 th And the four Beasts rest not Day and Night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come And the four and twenty Elders fell down before Him that sate on the Throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were Created Like to this are their zealous Songs and Thanksgivings upon divers occasions Chapter 5. Verse 8. untill the end of that Chapter and Chapter 7. Verse 9. unto the end thereof and Chapter 11. Verse 15. unto the end of that Chapter and Chapter the 14. Verse the 1. unto the end of the 5. Verse and Chapter the 15. Verse the third and the fourth besides many more to the end of that blessed Book which for brevity sake I omit These being sufficient to prove the use and exercise of this Seraphical grace of holy zeal by the Saints in their state of Glory O my Soul Is this most Heavenly grace of zeal so illustrious and exemplary in the Saints that have lived upon Earth Doth it shine forth with a Heavenly light here in the actings of holy Angels of our for ever blessed Saviour and of our Almighty Father and Creator Yea shall this grace out-live thy hope and thy faith be the Crown and compleatment of thy divine love and the height and perfection of all other thy graces in glory Endeavour then to follow their famous examples Rest not in the cold and middle Region of bare profession with the careless Gallioes of the World and frozen Church-professors The Demasses of this last and worst age but let thy holy zeal upon all occasions for the glory of thy God and purity of his Worship and Doctrine mount up even to the Firie Region and In his cause be Boanerges and like Gods Angels and Seraphins a Cole a flame of Fire So shalt thou excell and exceed others in this grace in thy glorified state as far as thou hast gone before them in this life And as thou hast been more gracious here so thou shalt be more glorious hereafter The larger thy Vessel the larger thy Receipt Every Vessel shall be full and overflow although much different in their measure All shall be Stars although not of the like Magnitude The Saints at the first Resurrection being rewarded according to their works although not for their works O Lord my God is divine zeal a holy flame a Pyramid-like Fire a Spring towards Heaven as to its own place Is my heart my Souls shop where it forges affections and this middle Region of my Body like the middle Region of the Aire cold and naturally void of this thy heavenly Fire Be pleased I humbly beseech thee to cause the same holy Spirit that once sate in the likeness of Fiery Tongues upon the heads of thy Apostles to rest upon unthaw and inflame my frozen heart and affections Then shall not its earthly and sinfull qualities of coldness hardness and ponderousness chill resist or smother the fervency and intensness of any of thy graces in me since thy Almighty Power that produces lightning in the cold middle Region of the Aire that melts the Rock and causes the Mountains Aetna Vesuvius and Hecla to breath forth flames of Fire can yea will because thou hast promised it bring forth and create in me a greater wonder even a new heart and a new spirit a heart of Flesh instead of a heart of Stone Then shall I be not only zealous in all my actings for thee but frequent and zealous in my praises to thee in this life of Grace and that of Glory to Eternity Amen All affections in this life as love fear zeal and the rest although sanctified in their heighths and intensiveness by reason of the weakness of the Organ and our decayed nature may put the whole Man to pain and in that respect are called Passions yet it shall cease to be so with us in our glorified condition Where whatsoever that flowes from Infirmity or Imperfection shall be done away In the new Jerusalem there shall be neither sorrow nor pain We shall then be as the Apostle exhorts not only when occasions shall be offered not to be angry without sin but without passion or disturbance Being herein like to God and the holy Angels whose Image shall then be perfectly renewed in us and who in the Scripture although I grant it to be meant not properly but Anthropopathos is often declared to be angry But as to the Elect Angels I conceive they may as truly be said to be angry witness that famous opposition of Balaam and that action of the Angel that with his drawn Sword was ready to destroy Jerusalem for David's Sin as to rejoyce greatly for the conversion of a sinner If then such accidental affections are testified to be in glorious Angels why not much rather in glorified Saints unless by cessation of so eminent a grace as holy anger we should irrationally conceive the Saints less perfect in this new life than in the other Especially since the sole object of this holy affection the Sin Blasphemy and Rebellion of wicked Souls and Devils to the dishonour of God shall continue and in that great and long day or time of their Judgment be more universally manifested to their view than ever as also afterward in Hell to Eternity Anger here though for Gods cause may possibly inflame the Eyes distort the Visage of a Saint but its lipe as the modest blush of a Virgin doth add beauty to her Face so shall this
O have these fleshy eyes of ours such various presentations of pleasure to delight these Bodies of Clay with and can we imagine Faith the eye of the immortal Soul can be destitute of a subject worthy its view and contemplation O no my Soul The weakest-sighted Faith enjoys a far better and more excellent prospect viz. with Eagles eyes looking abroad upon the glorious Son of Righteousness and Son of God Jesus Christ. The Life of the Body gives the first power and motion to the Eye but this Heaven-aspiring sight gives the Soul its first Life Hear me saith God that is believe in me and your Soul shall live The Earthly Sun suffers sometimes an Eclipse so did ours once for all An interposition caused the one the other not any defect in his own Body or Light but a condense Darkness an Orb of Sin for a time obscured his brightness Women and Children whose shallow reach fathome not the depth of Natures works may with a flying fear hide themselves not daring to behold the labouring Sun when a learned Artist by Water or reflection searcheth out the cause and greatness of an Eclipse Worldly and carnal Men may mask their understanding with a wilfull ignorance But do thou O Lord which hides these things from the Wise and revealest them unto Babes make me to apprehend the reason and admire the infiniteness of thy suffering Earth affords not a neerer Union or Relation than friendship That mysterial incorporation and perfect conjunction of Wedlock is but an inclusive of this that being more particular this more general Society is the happiness of Mans life this is the height of that Conjunction and the perfection of that happiness He is either most miserable or undeserving that hath not had some taste of this reciprocal foelicity Since vice and vertue have both their favourites the one exceeding in number the other in worth Thus far hath my Meditations roved on Earth ascending this height of temporary delight that from such a rise my Soul may take a quick flight to Heaven The friendship of the World and all things else in it eminent or praiseâ—worthy are but dark shadowes of Heavenly things beames derived from that eternal Light to give Light to Man Doth not the Holy Spirit express the exceeding love of the eternal Father to us his Children by the tenderness of Earthly Parents His infinite and free mercy by the charity and friendship of the Samaritan stranger The ardent and unparallel'd affection of our Saviour Jesus Christ to us his Church by a Matrimonial and espousal love O all yee that have any illumination of Faith come and witness with me if there were ever or can be any love amity or affection like unto this which God hath shewed towards us Lord I would fain express thy acts of mercy the witness of thy love and object of my Faith but who is sufficient for these things or able to express what he cannot sufficiently conceive of How or where shall I begin when Lord my beginning was from thee Yea from all beginnings hast thou chosen me and in time hast thou called me void of love desire and freedome of will or any other congruity remote or sufficient to answer thee calling being the servant of Sathan and Bond-slave of Sin and therefore an Aliene from thee and the common wealth of Israel One not only sick but dead in sins and trespasses and therefore unable to move towards thee A natural Man perceiving not the things of God and therefore ignorant of thee Thy love alone was the cause of mine for herein is love not that we loved thee but that thou loved'st us first Nor foreknowledge of my after works or willingness to receive grace occasioned this free Election For not of works which I had done but according to thy mercy didst thou elect and save me From thy free and gracious predestination my faith with a devout affection makes haste to behold the Foundation thy dear Son Jesus Christ my Saviour O wonder O infinite Love O admirable friendship He whose glory and greatness the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain was inclosed within the Womb of a poor though pure Virgin God descends in humility from Heaven that Man might ascend Heaven in Glory becoming like to Man that Man might be like to him Not Rome the Metropolis of the World nor Jerusalem the glory of Judea must tryumph in the birth or be made more honourable by the first presence of Emanuel but Bethlem the least of the Cities of Juda. Which poor place either ignorant or regardless of so high a favour was not only void of thankfulness and common courtesie but of neighbourly hospitality A Stable a Manger and brute Beasts being the Palace the Cradle the company it prepared for the entertainment of the Worlds Saviour Behold here a mystery of mysteries He who knows no beginning now begins to be that his being in nature might give us a being in grace in glory And in his Infancy did our gracious Redeemer begin to suffer the entrance of his life being but the Prologue of his sorrow and the total thereof a continued passion His innocent Child-hood is made the subject of treason and nought but his slaughter must allay the Tyrants suspition What needed any unjustly or violently to have sought his Death who willingly came to Dye only living the life of Man that for Man he might be capable of Death This Herodian cruelty hath a deeper dye than Nero's Tyranny For he destroyed the World only in his wish but this Man by one act would have made not our Bodies only but our Souls mortal O sweet Jesus thou fleddest into Egypt not to preserve life but to die daily avoiding his merciless Power that thou mightest declare thy powerfull mercy Thy Death by which we live must not be constrained least ungrateful Man should esteem it no gift The strength and policy of Herod are unable to wrest that per-force from thee which thou purposest freely to give Infancy must not suffer for Man-hood since the greater includes the less but the lesser cannot comprehend the greater That perfection of Age that made Mans rebellion and sin more full more hatefull must make thy obedience and sufferings more compleat more acceptable Not Bethlem but Jerusalem the center of the World must be the Theatre of infinite mercy of merciless cruelty that thy passion being acted in the place wherein the Legal Ceremonies were celebrated the Types and Figure might more clearly point out the substance All those bloody Sacrifices being abolished by one Sacrifice of blood After this escape of danger in his Child-hood and reprieved of his life for a time did not the increase of his years multiply his sorrows No doubt he suffered as well as fulfilled the Law for us during those thirty years he obscured himself At twelve years of age we finde him disputing in the Temple when surely
he wanted not opposition that time of his Youth being a gradation and introduction into a height of suffering and a private preparation to a publick Office and Ministry Which he no sooner enters but he is encountered by Temptations and those none of the least they being fortified with the greatest subtilty of Sathan which over-blown Man seconds the Devil heaping upon him whatsoever injuries humanity can possible be capable of beginning with his good Name which they seek to scandalize and make approbrious with their blasphemous tongues reporting him to be a Glutton a Wine bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners Disparaging his birth and calling him the Carpenter's Son affirming his miraculous power to be the effects of a Satanical confederacy saying that he cast out Devils by Belzebub the Prince of Devils Poverty to all is a misery full of miseries yet not alike to all Circumstances alter much the state of things He is poor that is born so but he is truly poor that is made so since the one knows most of his misfortune is from and by reason of others When the others woful experience makes him more sensible of his woe A Man 's own censure more than the judgments of others makes him more or less unhappy Deprivation and loss is the extremity of poverty and most grievous to humanity But who can lose what he never had In nature want is as it were a part of Mans nature and therefore less wretched The first works most upon the body this last upon the Soul and therefore far more unsufferable by how much that purer substance hath a deeper apprehension of pain than the more gross and outward senses O my Soul is this outward indigency so full and overflowing with sorrow how infinite bound art thou unto him who being rich became poor that thou through his poverty might be made rich The greater the height the more miserable is the dejection The more eminent the state the more unsupportable the humiliation O behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto this sorrow wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his fierce Wrath. Was he rich in beauty had he the dew of his youth from the Womb of the Morning Behold for our sakes he is become as a Root springing out of a dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness And could we now view him as he was then there would be no beauty that we should desire him What thing so without measure glorious and unexpressible as the simple and infinite essence of the Godhead what Element more vile and base than Earth the principal ingredient of our bodily substance O miracle of love behold God is made Man the Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us Immortality putting on mortality that mortality might become immortal A King of Caesar payes tribute to Caesar and will be subject to his Subjects The Master of all as a Servant to all washes the Feet of all his Disciples Is there any comparison betwixt Heaven and Earth a Crown of glory and a Crown of Thorns yet how willingly doth this not to be equal'd love accept of this unequal change Such Lord were the honours which the World gave thee The story and contemplation of my Saviours sufferings leads my Soul into a Garden not fraught with joy pleasure and delight but with grief sorrow and perturbation O who can by a true faith look upon his humbled Saviour and not be humbled in Spirit Who can behold the clodded drops of blood falling from his blessed Body with a drye Eye not sorrowing for the sin that caus'd this sorrow not shedding plenty of tears in apprehension of his love who shed plenty of blood in the imputation of our sin If his external parts were thus prest and opprest with pain how painfull were the pressures of his Soul the internal cause of this outward Agony Surely as the Power was infinite which sustain'd him so the Passions were infinite which he endured and are as far above the height of Mans expression as above the height of Mans sin In a Garden Adam sinned and Christ suffered Sathan in the one deceiving our first Parents by a Serpent in the other betraying our blessed Saviour by a Judas The unsupportable wrath of God the immense weight of Mans transgression and the ebbe and flow of his humane will being all expressed in that significant and passionate Prayer of his O my Father if it be possible let thus Cup pass from me He had now thrice bowed his blessed Knees to Earth to whom all knees do bow in Heaven and Earth when a wicked trayterous crue under the conduct of a most ungrateful Leader enter the lists adding affliction to his affliction and becoming a party against him took their parts Thus merciless and unthankful is the disposition of ignorant Man thus free and undeserved is the mercy of God Lord Jesus shall my faith lose sight here forsaking thee with thy Disciples No Lord I will yet follow thee even to the high Priests Hall not denying thee with Peter but confessing thee Can any better or more lively express thy cruel usage there than thine own spirit doth in the mouth of the Evangelical Prophet Isa I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that pulled off the hair I hid not my face from shame and spitting Loe how this Heavenly Chronologer by Divine Inspiration even as an Eye-witness describes the several cruelties inflicted on our Saviour Although the judgments of the Lord are unsearchable and his wayes past finding out yet such is his goodness towards his People that he reveales these his secret decrees before they come that when they are come we might with a more firme assurance believe them A Christians Faith hath a double confirmation as from the uncontrol'd truth of History so from the Divine testimony and presage of prophesie Some hundred years before his passion our Saviour by the mouth of the Prophet told us what he would do Now behold in the fulness of time his own Person and Act makes good his own Word Witness the true Relation of his sufferings Then did they spit in his face and buffetted him and others smote him with the palmes of their hands Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him thus by his stripes we are healed I am now in Spirit before the Judgment Seat of Pilate where I view the Judge of the World arraigned before a Judge of a Province and hear at once an unheard of injustice the most righteous of Men accused acquitted condemned If there be any power as well as form of godliness any lively and applying faith besides a bare Historical belief in you let the patient Perusers of these my thoughts unworthy this subject read no further before yee have called with me a private Sessions in your souls Where a diligent search and enquiry being made after sin and
Garden rather express an excess of pain than an unwillingness to suffer rather declare his Humanity than contradict his Divinity might by these Speeches have been afresh molested and invited to a self-deliverance even in this entrance of death Further they might also thus suggest that he should not only by such 〈◊〉 giversation be freed from the present and unsupportable torment rescued from the all conquering Monarchy but also without controversie be received and acknowledged the Son of God the King of Israel Yea which is more miraculous than all the rest those that even now were impious Traitors will instantly become obedient Subjects those that ere while were execrable blasphemers will presently be changed into righteous converts those whom John rightly stiled a Generation of Vipers our Saviour a faithless Generation will in a moment be metamorphosed into believing Christians O blessed Redeemer had not our lives been more dear unto thee than thine own these Diabolical charms might have raised up such a self-self-love as would have forced a repreeval from death But thou O Lord searchest the heart yea thou knowest how exceeding full of hypocrisie the minds of these Men were So that if thou shouldest have descended from the Cross or sent unto them one from the dead they would neither have trusted in thee nor credited the other since they believed not Moses nor the Prophets Three hours measure out this last act of our Saviours sufferings That mass and full measure of sin which many thousand of years had treasured up must not be abolished or annihilated in an instant Why was not the infinite sufferings of Man deified though dated but for one minute of more rate price and estimation than the offences of Man mortall yea surely Wherefore then this overplus O it is the overflowing of this Fountain of love The immense disparity betwixt the offender and satisfier the Creature and Creator causeth this disproportion betwixt the debt and satisfaction Man cannot sin but finitely God cannot love but infinitely Man's actions to which his sin cleaves are finite God's Attributes one of which is his love are infinite O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God! Lord grant that I being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth all understanding that I may be filled with the fulness of God The friendship of Man is momentary fickle and unconstant as wanting measure perseverance and a true foundation But the mercy of God expressed to Man his most unworthy Creature is the very quintessence compleatment and perfection of all other loves being not defective in quantity for in him doth all fulness dwell nor in quality for it is the love of God nor in stability for he is Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end the great Jehovah who is not changed With whom is no variableness nor shaddow of turning And lastly the cause of it is his own free grace the ground of it Jesus Christ. So that the Foundation of God standeth sure as having this seal the Lord knoweth who are his The glorious and infinite Attributes of the Almighty are so many glasses through which at distance the Creature in some sort may perceive the Majesty of the Creator Amongst which none is more usefully transparent than that of his love The mirrour of which mirrour is the passion of our Saviour The Centre of all which is this very point of his death O gracious Lord was it not enough that thou forsookest the Heaven of Heavens thy Throne of Glory to live amongst Worms on this Dunghill Earth the unworthy foot-stool of thy greatness Nay further was it not sufficient that thou endurest the stings and persecutions of those Muck-worms suffering such insects even the corruption of nature to brawle and tryumph over thee but that thou would'st also pray forgive and dye for thy Persecutors For a righteous Man perhaps some would suffer but thou dyest for sinners the just for the unjust Lord Jesus let the apprehension of thy wonderfull affection be as delightfull to the taste of my Soul as thy last draught of Gall and Vinegar was displeasant to the relish of thy pallate As thy sense of my sin and thy Fathers wrath made thee cry aloud for assistance so let the sense of thy mercy my happiness make me lift up my voice in thankfulness Yea let me conclude my hours each day of my life with that comfortable and Swan-like ditty of thine Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Death is swallowed up in Victory O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory the Sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be unto God which giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Finis coronat opus the last acts of our Saviour are not the least In the foregoing encounters he was a Combatant In these following actions a glorious and peaceful Conquerour The account cast up the compleatment concludes the operation He was buried O my Soul should thy faith be so weak-sighted as to make thy Saviours Death the utmost extent of thy prospects thou mightest then as one without hope uncomfortably weep with the Marys at the Foot of his Cross. But thanks be unto God thou mayest overlook that fear being assured that the Grave of thy Champion is not his Prison but his resting place the conclusion of the fight being the beginning of his victory Upon the Cross our blessed Saviour accepted the challenge of Death fulfilling that of the Prophet O Death I will be thy Death And here in the Sepulchre beginneth his Tryumph For No Man can enter into a strong Mans House and spoile his goods except he will first binde the strong Man and then he will spoyle his House The Grave is the Metropolis of Death which our General enters that so the place might both assure us of his Combate his Victory and add glory to his Tryumph Had'st thou O blessed Saviour been led into this Cytadel of Death as his Captive the Gives of corruption would soon have made thee his bond-slave But behold the greatness of thy Power the innocency of thy Person tramples on this last Enemy that is to be subdued and makes thy Tombe his Grave Death being swallowed up in Victory As the Suns Eclipse makes us the more acknowledge the brightness and benefit of his light so the clouding of our Saviour by death teacheth us his Disciples at once the felicity of his presence the uncomfortableness of his absence and the perfection of his Person The descents of Mans misery are the degrees to Christs victory As we in this World inherited sin so he upon Earth merited righteousness As we in the Grave are subjects to death so he in the Sepulchre makes death his subject
That when there was no King in Israel every Man did that which was good in his own eyes In this last Scripture the truth of my former discourse is observable and confirmed as that a natural Mans will usually attends his judgment so that the minde and understanding being totally depraved and corrupted as before hath been declared it must consequently yea impulsively follow that the activity of the will keeps the same position In Adams Sons there is a continued Earth-quake The debauched faculties of the Soul being as so many pestilent and tumultuous Ayres within the Bowels of this wretched Microcosme which together with the impetuous violence of the will rends us belching forth continually Mans actual sins which are not only dead in themselves but also to others by example Doth a â—ountain send forth at the same place sweet Water and bitter Can the Fig-Tree bear Olive-berries or a Vine Figs They cannot Neither can an unsanctified minde be fâ—llowed with a will free and full of good resolutions Hence therefore O my Soul with all ability in thy self lessen not thy loss and poverty lest by such a proud and presumptuous bragging thou lose thy gain and forestall Gods charitable benevolence Lord I account my self to have no will because not a good one Therefore let thy own will anew beget me with the word of truth that I may be a kind of first fruits of thy Creatures Lord it is thou which workest in Men both to will and to do of thy good pleasure Therefore let me rather in an humble ignorance bury what proud Men say is Mans right for love it I cannot if mine Thy perfect justice giving to every one his due then for the nothing of my merit to lose the infiniteness of thy mercy To derogate from my own desert had I any is a plausible error a commendable humility But to detract or steal from thee horrible sacriledge and abominable heresie Let my humility strive to make proud natures something nothing rather than to suffer any vain boasting to arise from such imaginary abilities worth nothing So that though both shall as in themselves they are nothing end in nothing yet the company of a vertue shall in thy sight make the one to me something when the other shall be by thee adjudged as full of sin as it is wanting in worth Man in his first Creation was like to a strong and beautifull Cyttadell whose external and carnal part I may terme and that not unfitly a defencible Rampire or Earth-work his sences the Cinque-ports of this fortification his Soul an incorporeal part me-thinks resembles the habitable and innermost part of the Fort or to speak more plainly the Pallace of the Governour the Court of the Prince for so indeed it was even of the King of Kings before its unhappy and accursed defection Herein the principal faculties as so many expert Commanders did exercise their several offices The affections also the subject of my ensuing thoughts had their places of eminency and authority Love being the Leader of the Band or the Ensign-bearer and Fear the Sentinel to prevent sudden surprisals In this happy order freedome and condition was Man at first until the Apostate-Angel Sathan envying that felicity in others which himself had lost unlocked the sences by the beauty of the forbidden Fruit and after parly with the Guardians of the Soul tempted them with the fair promise of Dii eritis to be Traytours to their Soveraign that had made them little less than so For In his own Image created he them This beautiful structure being become the Cage of unclean Birds no wonder if the Holy one of Israel refuse to dwell there If the glory of Israel departed when the Ark was taken from amongst them sure I am the glory of Man vanishes when God forsakes him Histories and Politicians have observed the misery 〈◊〉 that Country I dare not call it a Government 〈◊〉 the Hydra-headed multitude give Laws unto themselves Experienced Souldiers can bear witness what Floods Tragedies and Disorder follows the unheading of 〈◊〉 Army and the Regiments Such Men for only he thâ—â— hath been delivered from such calamities can best judge of them will confess that both these are but weak deâ—scriptions of the wretchedness of the Soul deprived 〈◊〉 the life of God Nay the small remainders of those disâ—orders and corruptions which in comparison are but 〈◊〉 scars of those great wounds will inforce the best dayly with Holy Paul to cry out O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death This misery of Man this his civil War hath been briefly touched and discovered already in the former faculties of the Soul It now remains that I observe and that with brevity how the affections particularly stand affected O Love which weart once the Spirit the fervour the marrow of the Soul Its Embassadour to her Creator lying Ledger in the Court of Heaven as long as that happy and mutual amity remained unviolated How art thou now degenerated yea how wretchedly hast thou lost thy happiness by changing thy object There is no whit of life spirit or freedome in thee now For thou art dead and entombed in Earth nor neerness or relation to God no not in the least degree for the wicked saith the Apostle are haters of God Thou art now so far from being Mans Agent to God that if God in the infiniteness of his mercy would renew his peace with Man he must be his own Agent and thou his Patient witness St. John We love Him because he first loved us How comes it to pass that thou hast forsaken the living Fountain and hewen out unto thy self Cesterns that will hold no Water Is Earth to be compared with Heaven or the Creature with the Creator that thou hast forsaken the one to embrace and marry the other The Mole that of all other Creatures delights to undermine and root within the Earth wants the Organ of sight thereby illustrating this truth that where a carnal earthly or sensual love is there must needs be a blinde and ignorant understanding O Lord is this affection of love being rightly placed the Prince of all other our affections Is it the summe and compendium of thy whole Law Is it that which gives life to the actions of the Soul Is it the tryal of our Adoption That by which faith works Is it an old Commandement as being from the beginning a new Commandement as being renewed and straitly enforced in the Gospel Is it the mark of our perfection and of the truth O give me sighs give me words yea give me those unutterable groans of my Spirit raised by thy Spirit wherewith I may daily importune thy Majesty for the right fixing and direction of this affection of my Soul That so my love inflamed by thee may not henceforth be sub-lunary but like the Sun sending forth beams
place a Memento in the midst and as it were in the front thereof Further thy holy Spirit in the Prophet doth brand and note this privation as the root and cause of all Rebellions Because saith he my People have forgotten me they have burnt Incense unto vanity Lastly which adds to and most aggravates this my languor wicked Men are in thy Word thus described and painted out To be without God in the World and not to have thee in all their ways to cast thy Laws behind them and to forget thee as I have done O Lord since I have lost this precious gift in the first Adam let me receive it again in thee the second that my Soul being adorned with holy impressions may become the Temple of thee my Saviour Strengthen thy self in Me O dejected Soul and in these thy wants Look unto me who works in thee both the will and the deed of my good pleasure and will my self also freely give thee all things As I am not ignorant of thy defects so I am not to seek of thy cure I know there is a double forgetfulness in corrupted nature the one of thy sins to repent the other of my Word and Laws to practice But know thou this also that although for a time my Elect may forget me yet they shall never be forgotten of me Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Wombe yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee for I will remember my Covenant with thee and will establish unto thee an everlasting Covenant And because I will do thus thou shalt also remember thy ways and be ashamed and thou shalt loath thy self in thy own sight for all the evil which thou hast committed And as for the other defect be assured that the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom my Father will send in my name he shall teach thee all things and bring all things into thy remembrance whatsoever I have said unto thee For This is the Covenant that I will make with thee I will put my Law into thy inward parts and write it in thy Heart and will be thy God and thou shalt be my Servant O my Lord I can never sufficiently admire thy power thy free Love and the healing vertue of thy sacred and refreshing word But what sweetness or relief what hope of remedy and recovery can my diseased Soul receive from it that wants a will to receive or apply thy comfortable Plaisters unto my festred sores Can the knowledge and sight of Meat feed the hungry Can the beholding of riches satisfie the needy or the Physicians Medicament cure without application No Lord they cannot How then can thy Holy Word work upon me any gracious effects that have a wretched will refractory to hearing reading meditation or any good use thereof If the mind and understanding be evil the will which is their servant and agent must needs be so also And if it hath its work in all evil actions it must not be left out nay cannot be idle or wanting in those that are good But my will is continually opposite to thine which is the rule of equity and justice and therefore cannot work the works of God It is true thou canst not For as I said before I work in thee both to will and to do But because thou canst not wilt thou limit my power also Cannot I that at first gave thee a will now at the last give thee a good will Is it not as easie for me to bend move and change thy nilling will into a willing one as to enlighten and quicken the other dead faculties of thy Soul Or is my free grace and love less benevolent unto it than unto the rest No surely It is not for my honour nor is it in thy power to be primarily and voluntarily assistant in this work For of my own will I beget my Children that those that glory may glory in the Lord humbly confessing that it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Mercifull Saviour I know thou canst cure dangerous yea desperate diseases But Lord I fear that I am too far gone that I have lost and let slip my opportunity and time of grace even that Day wherein thou wilt speak and be spoken to So that now I may justly expect that thou wilt swear in thy wrath that I shall not enter into thy rest And that this my fear may not seem groundless be thou pleased to feel the Pulses of my corrupted Soul and thou shalt finde that they beat not at all or if they do their motion is either exorbitant or full of intermissions Is it not thy command that I should love thee love my God with all my heart with all my soul with all my minde For thou wilt love them that love thee Is it not negative also thus Love not the World neither the things that are in the World For if thou lovest the World the love of the Father is not in thee What then Lord will become of me who have loved darkness rather than light and have been a lover of pleasures more than a lover of thee my God Further if at any time I be in love or ravisht with thee as beholding that excellent beauty which streams forth from all thy glorious attributes especially thy mercy how weak and of what short continuance are these flashes being like lightning which gone make but the night the darker So that in their so long absence I have just cause to fear their return doubting lest thou wilt say of me as once of the Laodiceans that because I am neither hot nor cold but luke-warm thou wilt therefore spite me out of thy mouth Again doth not thy Kingdome within us consist in righteousness in peace and in joy of the Holy Ghost which kinde of joy for the excellency thereof thou callest thine as also because of its procession from thee and from thy spirit it being that unparallel'd and unconceivable mirth which admits no mixture of sorrow no higher pitch of solace This this was it which so ravisht thy holy ones making them breath forth seraphically with Habakkuk I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation with the Spouse we will be glad and rejoyce in thee with David in thy presence is fulness of joy and with Peter we rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious Now O Lord in what ranck shall I place my self who being carnal and sold under sin savours not the things that be of God but those that be of Men not rejoycing in thee but in my own vain and sinfull imaginations proudly boasting and rejoyceing with those reprehended by the Apostle in those few gifts thou hast indued me with as
though I had not received them Further as thine have many objects of holy joy within them so have they many also without them David preferred Jerusalem above his chiefest joy And the spiritual prosperity and welfare of the Church was St. Paul's hope joy glory and Crown of rejoycing But such O Lord is the natural depravation of my affections that instead of wishing well unto Sion I am ready did not thy grace restrain me to persecute thee with Paul in thy members and to cry with those wicked concerning thy Jerusalem Rase it rase even to the Foundation thereof rejoycing on the contrary part with those reproved by Job and the Apostle who make Gold their hope and whose God is their Belly hungring and thirsting after momentary honours like Balaam and Haman taking the Timbrel and the Harp and rejoycing at the sound of the Organ Lastly as within and without so also above themselves they have their objects of joy even thy glory What else made that royal Prophet so piously nimble and so chearfull and publick a dancer before thy Ark what caused the Songs of Moses Myriam and Deborah yea what occasioned those joyfull expressions of thy blessed Mother of Simeon Zachary and Anna together with those two transcendent and affectionate wishes of St. Paul and Moses I say what but the joyfull magnifying of thy glory in vouchsafeing thy presence in destroying thy enemies in fulfilling thy promises and in the Salvation and Conversion of thy People But in me Lord instead of this lightsomeness in seeking of thy glory there is naturally the sinfull popularity of Absolom yea the hypocritical zeal of Jehu the vain-glorious formality of Magus and the self-seeking pride of Herod So that considering these wants and disorders in my affections no wonder if I distrust my self and cry out to thee with the Publican Lord have mercy upon me a sinner Poor Soul let not these fears and doubts discourage thee they make thy state the better not the worse Ignorance of want is the more dangerous when stomachless and silent as being thereby disabled both to ask and to receive relief Thy many complaints of defects are the true effects of those graces thou desirest Neither canst thou mourn because of no affection without some affection But to answer all thy objections weart thou emptiness it self am not I he that made Heaven and Earth of nothing Do I fill all things with my Essence and cannot I fill thee with my grace Can I be love it self for God is love and not be both willing and able to impart some rayes thereof to thee my Creature The fruits of my Spirit is love and joy which Spirit I give unto all that are mine What though the Chaos of thy corrupted nature yields no such fruits The Paradise of God in which thou art replanted doth as being watered with those Rivers of love which flow from me the Fountain Thou therefore loving me because I loved thee first as I am the only cause of thy love for I loved thee freely so I am the continuer For thou shalt abide in my love yea I will continue to love thee for whom I love I love unto the end Wherefore fear thou not the Eclipses thereof Natural Men do not more certainly expect the one than all my Saints the other As their Sun is not extinct no more is thine I thus ordaining it that in my absence thou mightest have a longing for my presence and in my presence mightest lovingly fear my absence these intermissions preceding the increase not the dimunishment of affection And since thou canst cry with David Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation doubt not but thou shalt also confess with him that my anger endureth but a moment weeping may endure for a Night but joy cometh in the Morning Again whereas thou objectest and bewailest the want of the true spiritual mirth Be not discouraged for this thy humble craving argues that thou art free from pride and self-conceitedness which usually so swells the hearts of natural Men that no place is left for grace Further it assures thee of a present possession for thou could'st never have heartily longed for that which thou never tasted nor have hated this false joy hadst not thou had some experience of the true Lastly thou hast an interest in my promise for I fill the hungry with good things As I am always filling so my servants are always hungry A good Archer is not by thee condemned for sometimes missing his Mark neither will I reject thee for some miscarriage since thy affections are bent towards me and thy constant aime is my glory To conclude Longest thou for the joys of Habakkuk David and the rest of my Saints continually petition me to be indued with the same Holy Spirit which my Father will give to them that aske him and to support thee in thy Prayers Remember and rely upon these my promises Aske and yee shall receive that your joy may be full For I am sent to comfort all that mourn to give unto them beauty for ashes the oyle of joy for mourning The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with Songs and everlasting joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flie away Lord Kiss me with the kisses of thy Mouth for thy love is better than Wine But O diseased Creature that I am what shall I do or what will become of me The uncovering of one malady discovers more and my infirmities like the Oyl in the Widdows Cruse multiplies upon me So that in me is verified the complaint of thy Prophet The whole Head is sick and the whole Heart faint from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it but wounds bruses and putrified sores I had no sooner bewailed my want of love but my misgoverned hatred torments me No sooner I accused my self for worldly and exorbitant mirth but carnal sorrow and servile fear overwhelms me Whereas those that love thee hate evil yea every false way with the workers thereof and that with a perfect hatred My cursed nature with the fool hates knowledge Yea and him that rebukes being like to those wicked Israelites the Prophet Micah speaks of That hate the good and love the evil Whereas I should be humbled and penitently chatter thus with David I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long neither is there any rest in my Bones because of my sin And also be so much affected for thy glory as to cry out yea to die with Phineas his Wife because the Ark of God was taken Or be able to say that Rivers of Waters have run down my Eyes because Men keep not thy Laws My carnal and sinful disposition is ready to make me mourn and hang down the head with Haman
of sinfull Flesh and for sin to condemn sin in the Flesh which Victory He obtained by his Death For in that he dyed he dyed unto sin once so reckon we also our selves as being baptized into his Death to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Thus being made free from Sin we are become the Servants of righteousness neither hath Sin any more dominion over us as being not under the Law which is the strength of Sin but under Grace the moving cause of our Salvation Further this total and spiritual Leprosie is in Scripture tearmed a general pollution of the whole Man In which sence how many sweet and gracious promises doth the Old Testament offer to the faith of every true Believer poynting out unto us with the Angel when in a far more despicable and desperate estate than Hagar's Ismael a Spring a Well of living Water In that day which is the day there shall be a Fountain opened to the House of David and to the Inhabitants of the Spiritual Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness And lest with that Cripple in the Gospel we should be unable to make tryal of the Virtue nay because we are with that miserable Infant in the Prophet Dead in sins and trespasses Therefore he adds he will say unto us live which agrees with his immediate Word in St. John's Gospel The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Nay which is more he will become our spiritual Physician and Chyrurgion to heal to wash to cleanse to circumcise to anoint us witness this his own promise viz. Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and yee shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you a new Heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take the stony Heart out of your Flesh and I will give you an Heart of Flesh and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and yee shall keep my judgments and do them O thou which art my Joshua my Jesus and hast cast out and destroyed my Cananitish lusts leaving only some few tributaries to try my obedience and to be as pricks in my sides that I might not sleep to death in security grant me thy strength of grace more and more to prevail over them though they have Chariots of Iron as being strong corruptions and inhabit the Valleys as being ambushed in a deep and deceitfull heart Enable me O Lord either to destroy them or to make them Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water to the House of my God that is serviceable to thy spiritual Building and Temple which I am Let Avarice be turned into a coveting of spiritual things Excess in thy Creatures to a repletion with thy Spirit Worldly sorrow which worketh death unto godly sorrow not to be repented of Love of Earth to a love of Heaven O my gratious Physitian what â—ee have I or is great enough for this spiritual cure or rather miracle a resurrection from the dead Lord thou hast given me all therefore I have nothing to give Yet though I cannot give I will do right and render as to Caesar so unto God what is his My Soul beares thy impress thy Image and is therefore passant in Heaven Wherefore when thou pleasest embanck it there in glory The greater an offence is the more severe and weighty the punishment This rule of proportion giving both a beeing and splendor to distributive Justice Whisperers and murmurers against a State are not prosecuted with so much rigour as the openly rebellious Nor according to the judgment of truth it self shall the ignorant Servant be beaten with as many stripes as the presumptuous offender Blessed Saviour even in this maxime of humane Justice there is though in weak and faint shaddowes a glimpse and representation of thine Mans well doing and best of action being but an imperfect imitation of thee a most pure and universal act which ballances our faults and retributes to each his due weight of punishment Thus righteously judging that if causeless anger be in danger of the judgment then approbrious and disgracefull speeches such as thou fool being a further degree and an accursed fruit of the former shall be in perril of an Hell-fire So Paul because a Persecutor through ignorance received mercy when as Julian an Apostate and wilfull sinner died a Blasphemer Lord I have laid this train to blow up my self O let thy conviction in justice like a storm before a calm forego thy absolution in mercy Righteous Judge if that thy mortal sentence hath already attached me as Adam's Son as Adam's Image yea I have pleaded guilty shall not my numberless actual transgressions meriting that other curse of thy Law make me therefore as deserving thy double curse liable to a double punishment Yes surely unless miserable wretch infiniteness and eternity will not admit of an addition If one single act the breach of one Injunction that which the Papists and others though erroneously would have no sin or at the most a venial sin that which is mine not by personal commission as not then in esse but as it were by consanguinity by imputation from Adam my root fountain and transactor If this O Lord as formerly it is sufficiently evinced hath not only arraigned me at the Bar of Justice but cast me as guilty of high Treason and worthy of eternal punishment and not only me but those without the Pale of the Church unless God be mercifull to them who have not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgressions that is as some interpret actually How ponderous and excessively weighty shall my judgment appear in Justice scale How shall her Rods be converted into Scorpions How shall the same hand and power that inflicts in respect of durance an eternal yea in all respects if we measure by the Creatures weak apprehension an infinite suffering magnify it self in the augmentation of pain according to our encrease actuality and agedness of sin adding as it were infinite to infinite and making me to be unhappily so also that is capable of it and able to subsist under its just pressure O my God I walk in this my vale of misery like the Egyptians through the red Sea before me is thy clouded countenance and wrathfull indignation ready to give the watch word to my execution On the right hand and the left stand the towring and threatning Waves of my sinfull omissions commissions and deficiencies ready as the Psalmist speaks to swallow up and flowe over my Soul and behind me the pitchy darkness of horrour and punishment waites to entombe me for ever O my Saviour being thus like Abijah encompast with the Ambushes of my Enemies like fallen David immurde within his
who were deprived for a time of their Principalities for their refractoriness to Idolatry In defence against the first assault the pious Christian marching under Christs royal Standard victoriously opposes his Shield of faith with which and the Sword of the Spirit he disorders and puts to flight his Enemies reverberating and expulsing Sathans temptations with the blessed Virgins Antheme God scattereth the proud in the imaginations of their hearts and pulls down the mighty from their Seates and exalts them of low degree With the curse of the holy Prophet Isaiah Woe to the Crown of Pride Yea he concludes the Victory with that holy Maxime of St. James God resists the proud Now who amongst us shall be able to dwell with everlasting burning If the Lord condemns who can justify In pride in all these places the Spirit of God includeth ambition which essentially differs not being connatural and concomitant with her As for the temptation on the left hand the loss of any temporal dignities The valiant Christian poyses them with the glorious promises of Gods faithfull word whereby judging of their lightness he concurs with holy David that surely Men of low degree are vanity and Men of high degree are a lye to be laid in the Ballance they are altogether lighter than vanity And therefore returns this or the like counter-buff Get thee behind me Sathan for I value not thy threats since thou boasts of that which is not in thy power The haires of my Head are numbred the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up But say the Lord should suffer thee as he did in Job to be the Instrument of my debasement I will kiss Gods Rod even in thy hand and say with that holy Man The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be the Name of the Lord and with that tryumphing Apostle In all these things viz. disgraces and losses of what kinde soever I am more than a Conquerour through Christ that loved me For what things were gain to me those I count loss for Christ yea doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I will suffer the loss of all things accounting them but dung that I may win Christ. The highest favours of Princes from whom flow Earthly dignities are but shadowes of true honour Shadowes for they weakly express them and vanish when their Sun is set or clouded He that pours contempt upon Princes commands me not to rely upon them Put not your trust in Princes nor in the Son of Man in whom there is no help If not in them much less in their gifts For in that very day in an instant they their gifts and thoughts perish My happiness is a better hope My honour is more surely fixt than by Man or Devil to be extirpated or extinguisht Can all thy power O Enemy of Man frustrate my Election whereby from Eternity I am enroll'd a Peer of Heaven Can all thy policy or force dim the splendour or annihilate that title of being called and truly adopted the Son of God Canst thou disrobe me of my honourable red and white Garments of Justification and Sanctification in my Saviour O Father of lyes canst thou turn light into darkness and truth into falshood Deprive me of my Crown and nullify these glorious and infallible promises Fear not my little Flock it is your Fathers will to give you a Kingdome Those that honour me I will honour If any Man serve me him will my Father honour Glory and honour and peace to every one that worketh good I am assured and conclude thou canst not And therefore I trample under foot thy power and vilify thine and the Worlds menaces and offers as believing in the royal might and truth of my Saviour That neither life nor death nor Angels Principalities Powers nor things present nor things to come shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord. Having thus routed and discomfitted the Wings and first Squadrons of the Enemy we must not rest here losing both our hopes and advantage A Christians whole life we have heard is a continued warfare To live unto the Lord and by self-denyal to overcome former temptations is a happy progress towards our Victory But to persevere to the end to dye for the Lord is the conclusion the Crown the tryumph of the Christian. By how much the Enemy is more powerfull and terrible by so much is the service more honourable and the conquest more glorious This last Phalanx of the Worlds force Persecutions are her Janizaries her Pretorian bands her last refuge in whom she puts her chiefest confidence led and marshalled by Sathans Lieutenant General described and set forth in the Revelations by him riding upon a red Horse destroying the fourth part of the World who may be also as expressing its mortal effects figuratively called Death whom Hell it self follows and attends Well is this the last and strongest of our worldly adversaries Yea have they begun already or will they shortly certainly assault us and notwithstanding our former Trophies contend with us for our Palme For all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecutions Let us like our English Martyrs with courage leaping and rejoycing run to kiss the Stake to meet our Opposers yea as the Apostle our tortures not accepting deliverance that we may obtain a better resurrection Are we hated by the World It is the surest mark of our Election by God So the word of truth Because yee are not of this World but I have chosen you out of the World therefore the World hates you Have we mourning here It ushers in yea accompanies an unutterable and inseparable joy Yee shall be sorrowfull saith our Saviour but your sorrow shall be turned into joy and your joy shall no Man take from you Yea do we so far suffer for well doing that we are delivered over to Death as Malefactors Remember we are not without a companion in our sufferings our blessed Saviour was Crucifyed and reckoned amongst the Transgressors Now the Servant is not greater than the Lord if they have persecuted him they will also persecute you To conclude if we be conformable to Christ in his Death we shall also be like him in his Resurrection we shall have a change rather than a loss For He that loseth his life for his sake shall finde it viz. Immortality which is only the true life This is a faithfull saying If we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he will also deny us Thus then have I made good my proposition that this is the Victory that overcomes the World even our Faith Thanks
his faithfull Saints and Servants For there as my Meditations must cease because faith shall be then fruition so also the Kingdome of Grace and Mediatorship shall determine according to that of the Apostle Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the Kingdome to God even the Father when he shall have put down all Rule and all Authority and Power Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that puts all things under Him that God may be all in all To proceed then the Christian Soul being about to take her Heavenly flight upon the apprehension of her particular together with the General Judgment starts back and trembling with a sudden fear thus revolves and laments Alas why haste I so fast unto the dreadfull Tribunal of a just and sin-revenging God Am I not an infinite offendor indited by Sathan witnessed against by conscience yea found guilty and convicted by self-confession Why flye I then so speedily to hear that sentence of condemnation Goe yee cursed into everlasting Fire Is not this that terrible day of the Lord spoken of A Day of trouble of distress of wastenesse and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess of Clouds and thick darkness The day of Battel the great Day of Gods wrath Surely if it be not it is the parallel the preludium thereof for as the Tree falls so it lies As Death leaves Judgment findes Oh how am I astonished when I but think of the horror and torment of that Hellish Tophet those everlasting burnings merited for me by my sins roomthy enough for Worlds of sinners For God hath made it deep and large never ceasing in its fiery vengeance for want of fuel as sometimes the burnings of Aetna for the Pile thereof is Fire and much Wood ever abounding and continuing in its fury and rigour of punishing For the breath of the Lord doth kindle it There 's weeping wailing and gnashing of Teeth The Worme that gnaws the Chain that enthrals the contempt that vilifies the Fire that torments and burns is without consumption All which therefore are infinite because everlasting Justice requiring that our deficient nature should for our infinite debt be thus eternally extended Nor is this Paena sensus this positive misery although endless easiless remediless all Is there not a far greater because more spiritual and intrinsical that Paena damni that death of the Soul the banishment separation and privation of Gods blessed face and of all hope of happiness for ever O the torture of these premeditations Lord if the thoughts of Hell be a Hell what will the infliction be Blest Saviour which once prayedst to be saved from this hour as being in all things tempted like us sin only excepted be my mercifull high Priest and royal Champion to deliver me in this hour and from this temptation yea let my faith in this her last act and motion be swiftest and strongest because neerest to thee her Centre O my Soul have not I often seen one small Cloud to hide the Sun from our Eyes and finde I not it true spiritually also that one dram of sorrow embitters a great measure of joy A few doubtings to eclipse and for a time obscure the bright beams of true believing But no wonder for this is the hour of darkness therefore the fittest time for the power of darkness to act its part Corruption and infidelity are now to bid adieu and to raise their Siege from the Soul and therefore give the sharpest assault and battery to the Bulworks of thy faith Wherefore let not thy vain fear betray the succours which both faith and reason offer but recollect thy self and consider Is not thy Saviour and King the same yesterday to day and for ever Are not his promises yea and Amen Are not his gifts and callings without repentance Hath he loved thee and will he not love thee to the end Hath he begun and is he not able to perfect Will he even at the point and in the height of his tryumph be overcome in thee one of his Members Hath he made thee yea new-made thee Hath he paid thy ransome with his precious heart-blood Yea with infinite sufferings preserved thee all thy life past from many-fold dangers and Enemies by his gracious providence And will he now to the dishonour of his omnipotency deliver up his glory his prize to his expiring and almost vanquisht adversary O far be from thee such weak and groundless imaginations but because infidelity and temptation are often-times deaf and seem to be of proof even against undeniable arguments and demonstrations mount against all thy scruples and timorous unbeliefs the Canon of Gods word which will quickly level all impediments and through the strongest barrocadoes of Sathans suggestions make way for a safe a happy passage and exit to thy Soul As an Introduction to which let these holy Lights and examples of departing Saints be premeditated of Such as that speech of dying Jacob Lord I wait for thy salvation such the obedience and chearfull dissolution of those two unparalleld Levites Moses and Aaron they went up to the tops of the Mount Hor and Nebo and dyed there such the cruel and voluntary Martyrdome though inspired by an extraordinary Spirit of valiant Sampson such also the last words of royal David He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered and sure for this is all my salvation The expressions also of Job Paul and others might be instanced but I will conclude with pious Simeon's devout wish Lord let thy Servant depart in peace for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Further to thy establishment and comfort in that day when God shall judge the secrets of all Men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel consider what firme assurance thou hast of the favour and how neer relation thou hast to the Person of thy Judge For herein as the Apostle speaks is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of Judgment because as he is so are we in this World Is not the same Lord Jesus Christ that sole and universal Tribune to whom the Father hath committed all Judgment and to whom all power is given both in Heaven and in Earth As being that Man whom God hath ordained to judge the World in righteousness even the Quick and the Dead And before whose Judgment Seat all must stand Is not he I say by the witness of his own word and undeniable truth so neerly allyed and endeared to thee that the strongest tyes of nature are by him figuratively taken up to shadow out rather then to fully express his indissoluble affection As that he is thy Master nay more O infinite love and humility thy servant That he is thy friend yea more O ineffable honour and exaltation thy brother yea more if this be not enough he
hath adopted thee his Son and esteemed thee and stiled thee his Sister and Mother To conclude lest these foregoing degrees may admit of a division he vouchsafes thee this high favour to call thee the branch He the Vine thee a member He thy Head He the Husband thee the Spouse that so a union yea the perfectest of unions might be exprest and that sweetest of Petitions be fulfilled That all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Those that are joyned unto the Lord being one spirit and one body in Christ. Tell me then O my Soul can such a Lord whose love to thee made him serve thee become a cruel Inquisitor to condemn thee Will thy friend thy brother be an Achitophel a Cain to thee Is it a thing possible that thy everlasting Father instead of the Bread of Life will give thee to the torments of Hellish Scorpions No though Parents may forget the Sons of their Wombe yâ—â— will He not forget thee Is it unnatural for the Root to suffer the Branches to wither for want of sap For the Head to deny animation to the Members yea cannot there be a true conjunction in Marriage without the cement of affection And wilt thou dare to think that that Root of Jesse thy Head thy Spouse the God of Order and Nature will destroy the Principlse of nature and with-hold the sap of his Grace and Mercy his all-quickening Spirit of Life and Glory his Eternal free and unchangeable love from thee a branch a member a beloved No account it impious Infidelity to give such a thought the least entertainment Rather if thou wilt meditate of that day which indeed is a Christians duty all being commanded to watch because we know not at what hour our Lord will come pitch thy thoughts upon the Resurrection and that happy and blessed assumption of thy Soul and Body reunited to meet thy Judge and Saviour The Apostle testifying that we shall be all caught up together in the Clouds to meet our Lord in the Ayre and that then we shall be ever with the Lord For wheresoever the Carkass is there will the Eagles be gathered together Wherefore as the same Apostle exhorts Comfort both thy self and others with these words Rely also upon and apply those golden and royal declarations of thy Judge As that he will not condemne thee when thou art judged That he that believeth on him is not condemned but hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life That there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Since God doth justifie thee who is he that condemns thee That we are often times corrected here that we should not be condemned with the World Further is it possible that thou shouldest be saluted with so sweet an invitation and denomination as Come thou blessed of my Father and be accursed Canst thou be the Heir yea the Possessor of a Kingdome and also the Slave and Prisoner of Sathan Will the righteous Judge give to them Torments of Fire and Brimstone to whom he hath promised a Crown of Glory Art thou commanded to pray for to long for to wait for thy destroyer No surely but for him that hath promised to deliver us from the wrath to come To conclude even amongst Men none that is a Delinquent must presume to possess the Bench the Seat of Judicature But know you not saith the Apostle that the Saints shall judge the World yea Angels Wherefore doubtless they must be just yea are acquitted and made innocent both imputatively and inherently in their own Persons Further if this be not sufficient to animate and strengthen thy hope let thy faith make the last Article of the Creed thy object Where thou believest everlasting life to take its beginning or rather begin its perfection immediately after death and the last Judgment The time appointed for the full reward and coronation of the Saints I know there are many gracious promises of temporal blessings and those often-times fulfill'd and confer'd upon the Saints in this life Some whereof though few of many as being a remunerating act of Christs regal and judicial Office I will by the way recite not impertinently as being earnests to them of future glory sensible tokens of Fatherly love a Pilgrims Staff for our Faith to lean upon in our lifes peregrination This maxime being first undoubtedly to be believed that the same promises made to perfect obedience under the Law had at the first a respect and are now truly applicable to faithfull sincerity under the Gospel Such that Magazene of blessings in the 28. of Deuteronomy where to the largest and several appetites every true believing and sincere obeying Christian as well as to the sacrificing Jew a most plentifull feast and satisfaction is offered Is thy calling in the City or iâ— the Field thou shalt be blessed in them both Desirest thou riches and plenty of all the fruits of the Earth and a numerous posterity and a blessed use and enjoying of them Thou hast a Pattent a great Seat for these also Art thou a Man of action and great employment for the Church or the Common wealth yea hath thy vertues splendour a shadow of envious and malitious adversaries If thou hearkenest unto the voice of the Lord thy God thou shalt be blessed when thou comest in and blessed when thou goest out and the Lord shall cause them thine Enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face Wouldest thou have thy forfeited Charter renewed and all the Creatures yea the most honourable serviceable unto thee Behold the Lord shall give his Angels charge over thee yea they shall pitch their Tents about thee and the Heaven shall give Rain unto thy Land in due season Dost thou wish for to the further glory of God a long life and an honourable place and esteem amongst Men The Lord hath promised that he will set thee on high that he will make thee the head and not the taile and with long life will satisfie thee Yea more which is the compleatment of all he will shew thee his Salvation But a long life if imbittered with sickness is but a tedious Death True But if thou fear the Lord and depart from evil it shall be health to thy Navil and marrow to thy Bones Yea thy light shall break forth as the Morning and thy health shall spring forth speedily Further dost thou desire wisdome beauty strength The righteous have promises of all these so far forth as they still perfect their happiness Whose Daughters so fair as Jobs Those that mourn in Sion have assured unto them beauty for ashes If the Feet of the Saints are beautifull surely no part else is deficient But
Iron cast into the Forge is as it were converted into Fire and the body and substance of the Sun is as it were hid and changed into the light that possesses it so shall the Soul and Body as being in God and God in it be absorpt and as it were transmuted into his Glory Thus much concerning the Souls external glory The internal if it be possible is yet a Sphere in altitude above this as bringing the Soul neerer to the assimilation apprehension and fruition of God The understanding will memory and affections in the Soul being as it were Impresses to speak improperly and according to the understanding of Men of the like infinite essentials in God For then the understanding faculty according to its created capacity shall be wonderfully elevated and enlarged and be repleat with a sufficient and compleat knowledge of all Creatures yea of God himself Which shall not then be acquired and gathered as now by a Retrogradation from the effect to the cause but then primarily by immediate Vision and mutual possession of God the cause of causes Be not then disconsolate O my Soul nor set thy Bodily Organs upon the Rack in the study of the Metaphysicks Mathematicks and Physicks farther than thy special calling requires mispending thy hours and neglecting that one thing necessary The knowledge of God and thy self The degrees of learning on Earth are reversed in Heaven begin here with God the beginning of all things and proceed to be Batchelor of Divinity on Earth and fear not but be assured that thou shalt commence a true Master of Arts yea a Doctor of Divinity in Heaven Then shalt thou know perfectly and not as now by supposition the essentials spiritualities and supreme excellencies and attributes of God and Angels The magnitudes altitudes motions and influences of the Heavenly Planets and fixed Stars There shall be no disputing Copernicans No ignorant Empedocles nor Aristotles The causes of the Aetnaean Fires the Flux and reflux of the Seas the Polaramorousness of the Loadstone and all other the Magnalia of Nature shall there be discovered to the Souls eye For as a Man placed in the Centre of the Sun having an Eye or Organ proportionable must needs see whatsoever it enlightens so the Soul of every Saint being fixed in God the Centre from whom all operations as so many lines or rayes are emitted must needs know all being finite and within his enlarged capability the whole frame and work of Nature perfection of knowledge being necessary to the perfection of Glory As the understanding so the will shall be replenished with Glory also being made then co-voluntary with God's and answering his in every particular as the impression doth the Seal or as the Image in the Glass the Original being according to it s created and limitted measure and proportion perfectly just and holy yea freely and constantly willing good without the least constraint or necessity This being no thraldome but a divine perfection of the will to will nothing but what is good The understanding which is the Leader and incliner as a Spring in a Watch the internal mover of the will being not left to it self and created sufficiency as in Adam but by an irrevocable mercifull natural and therefore necessary consequence and decree in Christ is doubly confirmed First positively as being for ever enlightened and filled with a height of wisdome truth and goodness flowing from the perpetual mystical union and co-habitation of Christs Spirit Secondly privatively as being in such a state of perfection glory and happiness as admits not of any temptation or inclination to mislead the one and thereby to defile the other From this ground also springs the Eternal station in goodness and consequently in blessedness of all other the faculties of the Soul Which like so many Stones in an Arch are unmoveable because every Stone is unmoveable Jesus Christ being the Head-Stone upon whom the whole Building depending becomes immutable O my God! I cannot pass this thought of Eternity without a Selah a note of admiration as seasonable although in respect of the benefit but a temporary acknowledgment Behold how wonderfull is that mercy which in Christ hath not deprest but elevated not extinguisht but inflam'd not diminished but encreased Mans excellency Innocent Adam being neither in his perfection nor duration so happy as we sinfull Adams by Regeneration Shall I therefore commend sin God forbid I extoll grace even that Miracle of thy love O Lord whose Mercy hath made Mans Sin Oyle to enflame thy love which in its own nature and ours was Water to quench thy pitty and drown a World Let it work one wonder more and turn my Rock into Springs of Tears to wash thy Feet in humble Repentance and Thankfulness that so my seldome falling here may be a Preludium of my never falling hereafter and Glory begun on Earth in Grace may be in thy Kingdome perfect and Eternal But to proceed and not to forget that faculty which makes me to remember viz. Memory that Magazine and Treasury of the Soul I wish I could say not of evil also Wherein now many things lye confused and obscured by latter Occurences unless discovered by external objects and circumstances or rak'd out by help of discourse Out of whose Postern many things are crowded out by trifles or fallen through its rifts and deficiencies or else worn out by time and age or stollen away by that arch Thief Sathan this faculty I say though now thus decayed and imperfect shall in that never-ending day of happiness be repaired and made Gods Ark over which not Cherubins but the Almighty shall hover filling it by means of the Souls divine and continued Vision of the Glass of the Trinity with a present sight and apprehension of the great glory of God and in it all things I will not call these kindes of actings of the Souls remembrance for those imperfect ways of its operation by recollection and recordation with other medial helps shall be then absorpt in this act of the understanding as being unnecessary and only fitted for the state of Corruption the Apostle teaching us that we shall then know as we are known not remember as we are known The chief Power of the Memory the retention remaining and becoming by this continual beatifical Revelation and Inspection indefatigable and invincible Yea in this Ark shall be always kept the Tables of Gods holy will the Manna of all his past and present mercies the Rod ever budding and flourishing with all his righteous Judgments and Declarations of his Justice As the Memory so each Affection except what habits or inmates sin and corruption have introduc'd such as the servility of fear the dolorous passion of sorrow shall then have not their part only but their full of Glory Then excesses though of the right hand while in this life prove the Soul a Prisoner and make both Soul and Body suffer being therefore properly
but such as shall be exceeding ravishing and delightfull and as Musick to the Soul even such unspeakable words as blessed Paul heard when he was caught up into Paradise Then shall we being placed in glory at the right hand of our righteous King and Saviour hear with boldness and without fear or astonishment that most joyfull sentence Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the World Then shall we hear that great voice of God the Father who sits upon the Throne saying Behold I make all things new the Tabernacle of God is with Men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his People and God himself shall be with them and be their God Then shall these words which are faithfull and true be fulfilled God shall wipe away all teares from their Eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end I will give unto him that is athirst of the Fountain of the Water of Life freely he that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son To conclude I shall not say any thing as to the Musick of the Sphears as esteeming them to be only groundless dreams and phantasies of Heathens and Phylosophers I humbly conceive that as far as the glorious Heavens and Angels transcend and excells the nâ—w Earth and the Inhabitants thereof so far shall the ravishing and musical voices and sounds in this glorified state of the Saints excell all the pleasures and delights of this kind in this our low and corruptible condition O my Soul shall the sense of Hearing in the next life be as comprehensive and perfect in its kinde as the sense of Sight Shall it be made capable not only of Hearing and that with understanding also the Musick of Heaven the all-ravishing Hymns the mellifluous speech and voices of Angels the Language of Glory as also to hear him whose voice is as a Trumpet and as the noise of many Waters of him who is the Judge of Heaven and Earth the King of Kings the King of Saints and the King of Nations the Eternal Word the Lord Jesus Christ God-Man blessed for ever Yea shalt thou then O my Soul by the assistance of this glorified sense hear not as now the dreadfull and killing but the all delighting reviving exalting and transporting voice of the ever glorious Trinity even of the Eternal God Himself O let not this so excellent and usefull a sense be deboist so much as to be the Gate or in-let of vain and unprofitable discourses of wanton and lascivious words or of any kind of false slanderous or evil speeches all which are as so many Traytors to thee and Enemies unto thy God and Soveraign Nor let thy Eares be â—urfeited and excessively glutted with any kind of earthly Musick or with the pleasing sounds or voices of any of thy fellow-Creatures which although lawfull delightfull and refreshing to the natural and animal Spirits as being neer a Kin to them yet by the subtilty of Sathan the World and thy Flesh do frequently become snares and an undiscernable flattering and therefore the more dangerous Enemy and means to pollute thee with sin or to introduce some kind of fleshly lust or other But begin even now O my Soul to exercise every sense and member upon such objects and in such employments and actings as come neerest to those of Angels and glorified Saints This is to make this Earth a Paradise and to have even whilst thou art in this World as the Apostle exhorts thy conversation in Heaven To this end let thy delight be with holy David in the converse of the excellent ones upon Earth yea watch dayly at the Gates of Wisdome and wait at the Posts of her Doors yea with attention hang upon the Lips of her Teachers Be much in the exercises of the Church Tryumphant in praising God in the Assemblies of his Saints in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing with grace and making Melody in your heart So shalt thou O my Soul by a sanctified spiritual and internal sense heâ—e frequently even in this thy state of humiliation the counsels and instructions of blessed Angels the voice of God and of his holy Spirit viz. thy Father and Comforter behind thee saying This is the way walk thou in it And the loving expressions and invitations of thy most sweet and gracious Spouse and Saviour who standing behind the Wall of thy Flesh and looking forth at the Windowes of several Providences and shewing himself through the Lattess of thy intervening and impeding weakness and infirmity will often speak unto thee saying Arise up my love my fair one and come away For loe the Winter is past of thy doubts fears sufferings and temptations The rain of thy teares and mourning is over and gone The Flowers of my saving gifts which evidence the Spring of my Grace appears on the Earth of thy renewed nature The time of the singing of Birds the earnest and witness of my Spirit and of thy conscience assuring thee of my love and salvation is come and the voice of me the true Turtle is heard in the Land even in thy Soul my Habitation The Figg-Tree putteth forth her green Figges and the Vines with the tender Grapes give a good smell viz. thou art fruitfull in all holy and good works Now therefore arise my love my fair one and come away and inherit the Kingdome prepared for thee before the Foundation of the World O my gracious Lord and Saviour who when thou wert upon Earth in the zeal of thy Spirit cryed out unto thy Auditors He that hath Eares to hear let him hear and didst declare and expound the Words of thy Prophet That there should be many that hear but understand not intimating to us thereby that there is a spiritual and internal sense of hearing that many want that have the bodily sence and Organ O thou which openedst the heart of Lidia as well as her Eares when she gave attention to Paul's preaching and said to the deaf Man in the Gospel Ephtata and his Eares were opened give me an understanding Eare as well as thou hast given me an Ear of Flesh that I may both hear and understand know and obey thy will declared unto me by the Ministers of thy Word Yea let my Eares be always open to receive entertain and retain the holy instructions consolations reproofes and encouragementâ— of any of thy faithfull Servants and my fellow-members and Brethren But let them through thy grace be turned away sealed up and guarded against the Syrene Songs of all Sin and Sinners And if by force or surpriâ—e oaths curâ—ing lying slandering blasphemies vain
ravishing contemplation of the infinite Power and Wisdome of thy Creator manifested in the multiplicity variety and unexpressible excellencies of smells and odours as also of his wonderfull mercy love and goodness in making them and communicating them to thee for thy use and benefit that as in a clear mirrour and by this blessed medium thou mayest behold and enjoy him who is essentially sweetness and by whom through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which grace as a spiritual internal and common sense and Architype of all thy Bodily senses beholds hears tasts smells imbraces and possesses him thou mayest I say in God alone be delighted refresht and nourisht unto Life Eternal O infinite holy ever glorious and Eternal Spirit who art the power and love the goodness holiness and sweetness of the Eternal Father and the Son as proceeding from all Eternity from them and who art co-equal co-eternal and co-essential with them in the unity of one Divine Essence and God-head who art the Comforter Counseller Preserver and Sanctifier of all the Elect and Children of God give me a new heart and a new spirit and make me a new Creature according as the Father hath promised in the new Covenant of grace so shall not only my Soul with all the faculties and affections thereof but my Body also with all its Members and Senses be meliorated renewed and sanctified and this rare wonderfull and curious sense of Smelling with the sinfulness of pride voluptuousness excess curiosity and vanity hath made not only unprofitable and destructive to me but of ill savour offensive and dishonorable to thee become like the laborious Bee a gatherer of sweetness out of every object thereof Of which various mixtures my Soul shall compound and make up an holy Incense in resemblance of that under the Law prefiguring this of love as in return for thy goodness of admiration in the acknowledgment of thy wisdome of adoration as declaring thy Omnipotency of praise and thanksgiving as glorifying thee for these thy manifold gifts and blessings and be not only Adamiz'd and like him as in Paradise before the Fall but Angeliz'd yea like my Lord and Saviour who from every object Creature and occasion observed and raised matter of honour and glory to God his Father and mine yea by such an holy exercise of this Sense my Soul as well as my Body shall be refresht delighted and nourisht in its Eternity of Life begun here and to be made perfect together with this sense at the first Resurrection of the Just in Glory I need not prove that the Sense of Feeling shall continue and have existence in the Saints glorified state since to deny it is tanto-mount as to affirm that their Bodies shall not have a beeing or which is equally absurd that they shall in this new life be sick of a dead Palsie This Sense being now and so without doubt shall be then one of the clearest signes and demonstrations of the life of the Body and hath in one respect a singular preheminency and difference above the rest of the Senses For whereas every other Sense hath its proper Seat and Organ This may be truly said to be like the Soul and to Organize and reside in every part and member of a living and perfect Body Neither is this Sense less necessary to motion than to life insomuch as that when a Body is totally deprived thereof it is insensible and moves not and is accompted no better than a dead Trunk and inanimate Corps I shall add further that this Sense as it is now so certainly it shall be then the Souls chief Instrument and Inquisitor to discern by and give Judgment with much pleasure and delight of those four principal Elementary qualities that are respectively inherent to and in all created things and bodies that consist of matter and are made up and compounded of the four Elements as to heat or coldness driness or moisture or of those remoter qualities and adjuncts soft or hard smooth or rough arising from them So that as the Soul united to the new-raised Body without Eyes and the Sense of Sighâ— may truly be said to be imperfect and blind as to all visible objects so should the Body want this Sense of Feeling the Soul may as truly be said to be incompleat and ignorantly dark as to its knowledge and understanding as to all Tangible subjects From what hath been said I assert that the Saints at the Resurrection shall in their glorified Bodies have both the continuance and exercise of this Sense of Feeling and that in an incomparable perfection as to what it is now I will not positively affirm that spiritual substances as Angels may be subjects of this glorified Sense that shall be spiritualiz'd with our Bodies which though now a Natural Body shall then according to the Word of Truth be raised a spiritual Body If so is it not probable that as now to our natural Bodies natural things are touchable so to our spiritual bodies spiritual substances as Angels may be Tangible Our Saviours expression to his Apostles not at all contraducing or excluding this inquiry or inference he affirming only that a spirit hath not flesh and bones as he had not denying that a spiritual glorified body may touch and feel a spiritual Beeing and Essence But should this not be I am assured we shall both touch and imbrace him and be imbrac'd by him I speak this according to the Scripture-phrase with all due and humble reverence who is far above all Creatures and Angels our Head our Spouse our Saviour the most glorious Lord Jesus Christ God-man in one Person as also Abraham Isaac and Jacob the Holy Patriarchs Kings Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors and glorified Saints as also our formerly neer and dear Relations which then shall be known of us in that perfection of knowledge and in this our exaltation that so their salvation may add such an accidental joy to the augmentation of our blessedness as the Holy Angels are said by our Saviour to have now super-added to their happiness at the conversion of a sinner To these I shall annex and subjoyn other more inferiour subjects of this glorified Sense the then refined and well-tempered Aire and Elements the delightfull contact of Fowles Birds and Beasts now willingly subject and obedient to Man the super-excelling and numerous Trees Fruits and Plants the Arbors of soft and sweet-smelling Roses the banks of Lillies the beds of Violets the Carpets of all manner of rarest Herbs and Flowers with which this new Heaven and new Earth this renewed Paradise shall be even to perpetuity plentifully garnisht and adorned with to the great glory of God the Creator of Christ the Restorer and of the Holy Ghost the Efficient and to the unexpressible pleasure and delightfull use and benefit of the Elect and glorified Saints As the blessed Canticles that Song of Songs hath been and is reproacht and abused by wanton Amorists
or greater Assemblies the glorious fearfull and wonderful Name of the Lord our God that is his infinite and incomprehensible Attributes by which he is made known to his Creatures for every Attribute is God in the abstract as his Omnipotency wisdome holiness justice love mercy truth goodness life glory eternity and the rest As they have been are and shall be declared in his works of Creation then fully understood and revealed to us as to the causes and effects nature vertues influences and uses of all things that God hath made and that have a Beeing in Heaven or in Earth to the glory of our God their Creator Which is to me a strong reason and a great help to interpret many Scriptures as setting forth the great wisdome and justice of God in appointing a certain time for his Saints for whom he made the Earth and wherein they have so greatly suffered and been persecuted for his sake and to whom he hath redeemed and restored it shall with their Head the Lord Jesus in this new Heaven and new Earth before their second and ultimate Glory in the highest Heavens possess and enjoy know and understand this his lower Creation in its Primitive excellency That so they may sing to his praise and speak thereof one to another to the exalting God's Name and Glory as being the Chief end for which he Created it and them The second Chief Head of the Saints exercise of speech one with another will be concerning the wonderfull providences of God especially in respect of his Church from the beginning of the World a History never to be blotted out obliterated or forgotten by his Saints but to be frequently remembred and mentioned to the glory of his power wisdome love and faithfulness and of the rest of his Attributes A third and principal subject will be that which now and ever shall be the wonder of Heaven and Earth the admiration of Saints and Angels that Miracle of Divine love the Redemption of Man-kinde by the Lord Jesus God-Man in one Person In which above all other his works the Lord hath been pleased to draw neer and to manifest himself in all his glorious Attributes both to Saints and Angels This is that mystery of mysteries of which the Apostle witnesses That without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels Preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory This is that bredth and length that depth and height the knowledge of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge even the fulness of God and the riches of his Glory But I must return where I left off lest I be swallowed up in this Ocean of Divine love which both now and then shall far transcend not only the expressions but the Conceptions of Saints and Angels The fourth Subject about which the Saints Tongues shall be exercised respects their several employments and activities under their glorious Head and King in this transcendent Kingdom and Universal Empire which by way of allusion I may terme their Callings or degrees of Office under him and in Relation to one another For if the Holy Scriptures hold forth that in the highest Heavens there is the most excellent Order and Government evidenced by the gradual denominations and titles given unto those Aetherial subjects as Arch-Angels and Angels Principalities and Powers Thrones and Dominions Cherubins and Seraphins All which have their several Offices Imployments and Governments according to the appointment and establishment of our great and all-wise God in those vast Regions and innumerable starrified Orbes yea if in Paradise had our first Parents not fallen as they so also their Progeny should have dressed the Garden and not have been idle so also it is more than probable that as the Saints according to the Scriptures should have like the Stars different degrees of Glory so shall they have different actings Offices and Imployments for the performance of which the Tongue and speech above other parts and Members of the Body as being the Souls Image and Interpreter will have the greatest share and honour As for their Offices he who is truly the Fountain of honour our Lord and Emperor the Lord Jesus saith that the Saints shall be all Kings yet with a difference as to the extent of their Governments For some shall rule over five others over ten Cities in this Empire of Glory Now their several and respective Functions and atchievments in their Governments none will suppose can be performed without the use of the Tongue and speech If all things in the Church Militant must be done with decency and in order much more admirable shall be the unparallel'd order of this Church Tryumphant The regulation directory and carrying on of which I conceive shall not be as now by the use and help of any kind of Books or Canons but by verbal Orders and Acts flowing continually from their Souls now as full of Light as Life That gracious promise and prophesie being then to be compleated and fulfilled They shall be all taught of God Let none mistake me as though I here hold forth that Saints shall have any Dominion or Rule over their Brethren No I mean and intend no such thing For all here are Kings and free and shall be subject to none but God and Christ their Head But this I conceive that this Church Tryumphant being that glorious and mystical Body whereof only Christ is the Head it is as the Apostle elegantly concerning the Church Militant like the natural Body compounded and made up of many Members every one of which hath a different degree of honour grace and glory and are design'd for several uses and actions which without any servitude or disrespect from each other of their Members they do and chearfully execute in order to the good benefit and happiness of the whole according as they are continually influenced and directed by their Head the Lord Jesus who is the only Potentate The King of Kings and Lord of Lords I come now to the third and last particular the gubernative and mandatory acting of the Tongue and voice of glorified Saints upon the new Earth as in respect of all animate and inferiour Creatures as Fowles of the Aire Beasts of the Earth and creeping things some of all which kindes as being intelligible although not rationable are now subjected to and obedient to the voice of Man even to the command of wicked Men As first for instance are not Faulcons Lanners Gosshawkes and all kinde of ravenous Fowles brought and taught to obey the Rulers call and voice of the Faulkner And as for other Fowles how wonderfull is the subjection and observance of the Cormorants and the coy Ducks as to the Instructions and designes of their Masters And as for harmless lesser and singing Birds how speedy and trusty Conveighers of Letters are the Pigeons called Carriors
comfort declaring to them to the praise and glory of God thy experiences thy consolations and Divine manifestations And for as much as thou art zealous of spiritual gifts seek that thou maist excell to the edifying of the Church that spiritual Body of Christ whereof thou art a living Member And since God as the Apostle excellently observes hath set some in the Church First Apostles secondly Prophets thirdly Teachers after that Miracles then gifts of healing helps Governments diversities of Tongues Covet thou earnestly the best gifts For there are diversity of gifts but the same spirit But the manifestation of the Spirit is 〈◊〉 to every Man to profit withall To one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdome to another the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit to another Faith by 〈◊〉 same Spirit to another the gift of Healing by the same Spirit to another working of Miracles to another Prophesie to another discerning of Spirits to another diâ—vers kinds of Tongues to another the interpretation of Tongues but all worketh that one and the self same Spiâ—rit dividing to every Man severally as he will For 〈◊〉 the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body 〈◊〉 also is Christ. If they were all one Member where weâ—â— the Body The Eye cannot say to the Hand I have 〈◊〉 need of thee again the Head unto the Feet I have 〈◊〉 need of you Now we are the Body of Christ and Memâ—bers in particular Therefore O my Soul since 〈◊〉 Tongue as to all divine and spiritual gifts is now thâ— principal Agent and Expressor And shall be then 〈◊〉 as a Member of Christ mystical Body in this his glorious Kingdome thou shalt be plac'd in thy Function and respective administration be not spiritually idle but â—it and exercise thy Tongue continually in declaring to others according as it shall be revealed to thee by the Holy Spirit the Magnalia Dei the wonderfull ways and works of God Freely thou hast received freely give O my Soul shalt thou then be as one of Christs Viceroyes over all inferiour Creatures shall thy Dictates Orders and Commands be received and obeyed by them as the voice of God O let not then thy speech now to them be mixt with oaths and cursings according to the woâ—t and fashion of the wicked of the Earth whose behaviours towards the poor Brutes are more like to Devils than Men or Christians Yea let thy employment of them and rule over them be gentle milde and moderate not cruel or oppressive since the good Man with the Scripture is mercifull towards his Beast And 〈◊〉 tenderness of thy God towards them exprest as 〈◊〉 of the reasons of his commanding a seventh Days 〈◊〉 That thy Beast may rest as well as thee teaches what respect and considerate pitty and compassion he expects from thee towards them as being fellowâ—Creatures suffering what servitude they undergo for thy sin and from which they shall be freed and delivered in thy glorious liberty But instead of speaking evil of or to the inferiour Creatures do thou now as thou shalt do in the World to come with thy Heart and Tongue praise and glorifie thy God after the Example of holy David Psal. 148. throughout in and for them admiring his love and goodness to thee to them as also 〈◊〉 unexpressible yea unconceivable power and wisdome declared in their various formes wonderfull strength 〈◊〉 qualities excellent virtues and uses as being 〈◊〉 great end of theirs and thy Creation as the Lord â—â—clares to Job when he bids him behold Behemoth and â—â—â—iathan and leaves upon Record for our Instruction and Imitation so large a description of them and of others of his Creatures This holy exercise both of mind and voice in the contemplation of the Creatures was without doubt a chief employment of Adam in his innocency Let it be thine then in thy return and travailing to this second Paradise that what is begun by thee here in grace may be perfected there in Glory O glorious God and mercifull Father O infinite loâ—ing and gracious Saviour and Redeemer O holy and Eternal Spirit my Sanctifier three infinitely glorious Persons One Omnipotent onely wise and Eternal God Blessed blessed blessed from everlasting to everlasting who hath so highly honoured and dignified me a 〈◊〉 Worm and no Man As to love me freely in thy Eterâ—nally begotten and only beloved Son the Lord Jesus God-Man and in him from before all beginnings to elect me unto Eternal Life and Salvation Creating 〈◊〉 unto immortality and glory by giving me an immortaâ— Soul and a Body that shall assuredly be raised to life and glory by thy Almighty Power and by the virtue of the Resurrection of my Head and Saviour who hast miraculously raised me from a sinfull death unto a spiritual life in my effectual Calling through Adoption the Sanctification and Inhabitation of thy holy Spirit as 〈◊〉 freely justified me in thy Son the Lord my righteousâ—ness and by this blessed and inseparable union to 〈◊〉 in thy Son by the Holy Ghost given me assurance 〈…〉 Life and Glory which shall indubitably begâ—◠〈◊〉 my Soul at my dissolution and be compleat at the â—â—â—union of Soul and Body aâ— the Resurrection of the 〈◊〉 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise 〈◊〉 with my glory Awake my Heart awake my Tongue 〈◊〉 self will awake early and joyn with the Arch-Angels and Angels and the Church Tryumphant in Heaven and with the Holy Catholick Church upon Earth in 〈◊〉 Heavenly exercise of praise and thanksgiving O Lord whose only prerogative it is to search the heart knowest that these are the desires and petitions of 〈◊〉 Soul yet with holy Paul I cry out that to will is present with me through thy grace but how to perform know not Blessed Saviour give me of thy fulness so soâ—â— to receive grace for grace Yea be pleased to add 〈◊〉 to grace since thou alone workest in us both the will and the deed and the Heaven aspiring piercing 〈◊〉 of praise ariseth only from thy Divine Fire of Knowledge and holy affections Eternal Father let not this noble Instrument of thy Glory my Tongue be tuned to the vain and wanton Layes of the World and Sin lest thereby being crackt unstrung and made untunable for thy service here it and my whole Body with voluptuous Diveâ— be cast 〈◊〉 useless into the Fire of Hell where a drop of cold Water will not be 〈◊〉 to cool a flaming lascivious Tongue But let me O Lord be continually chaâ—â—ing the Magnâ—lia Dei and be singing those Evangelicalâ— and prophetical Songs of the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders the figure and representative of thy holy Church saying and singing
continue you in the things that ye have learned and have been assured of knowing of whom ye have learned them For evil Men and Seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived Consider one another to provoke to love and to good works not forsaking the assembling of your selves together as the manner of some is But exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the Day approaching Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace For there is one Body and one Spirit even as you are called in one hope of your Calling One Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Since then you are the Body of Christ and Members in particular let there be no Schisme in the Body Now I hear that there be divisions amongst those that call themselves Christians For there must be Heresies also among you that those that are approved may be manifest among you which were spoken before of my Apostles that there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts These be they who separate themselves sensual having not the spirit Now by my Name I desire you that you all speak the same thing and that there be no Divisions amongst you but that you be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment If you say then I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas and I of Christ Are ye not carnal Is Christ divided Who then is Paul And who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed Even as the Lord gave to every Man If then such an one as was Paul plants or as Apollo was watereth It is God that giveth the increase Therefore let no Man glory in Men But do you mark them which cause Divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine you have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not Me but their own Belly and by good words and fair Speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Finally whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any Virtue and if there be any praise think on these things And those things which ye have both known and received and heard and seen in me do And the Father himself that loveth you the God of Peace shall be with you Holy Father who hearest me always This is Life Eternal to know Thee the only true God and Me whom thou hast sent Keep through thy own Name those that thou hast given Me that they may be one as we are one That they all may be one as thou Father art in Me and I in Thee that they also may be one in us And the glory which thou gavest Me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one And that the World may know that thou hast sent Me and hast loved them as thou hast loved Me. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which Thou hast given me I have given to them the words which Thou gavest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from Thee and they have believed that Thou didst send me I pray for them I pray not for the World but for those that thou hast given me For they are Thine and all mine are thine and thine are mine and I am glorified in them I pray that thou wouldest keep them from the evil of the World and that my joy may be fulfilled in them Sanctifie them with thy truth thy word is truth Finally Beloved Wife of my Youth and dear Children Farewel be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of peace and love shall be with you For this cause I bow my Knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named That he would give you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man That Christ may live in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with the fulness of God The God of Peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepheard of the Sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is most pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us to him be glory in the Church by Jesus Christ throughout all Ages World without end The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen A Post-script of the Father to his Wife and Children concerning the foregoing Epistle with some further Exhortations to the practice thereof MY dearest heart and intirely affected Children the good and salvation of whose Souls I pray for and labour for as for my own I have I trust by the direction of the holy Spirit chosen in this manner to write unto you as hoping that what is delivered to you in the Person and words of our Lord and beloved Saviour For such is every word in the Epistle except some words not substantial necessary for connexion explanation and application requisit in a subject of such various matter You will with the more reverence and affection delight and obedience attend to and receive For although all the words therein were not uttered by his own mouth upon Earth yet were they all indited by his holy Spirit who spake by the Prophets and Apostles and is the Lord God of the holy Prophets So that if ye will not hear and obey him herein speaking to you by himself and by them Neither will you be perswaded though one arose and spake to you from Hell and from the dead Ye know after what manner I have been with you at all seasons And how I have kept nothing back that was profitable unto you but have shewed you and have taught you both in private and more publiquely Testifying unto you and
exhorting you to repentance towards God and faith to our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold I am as one bound a Prisoner and a banished man separated from you not knowing what things shall further befall me But none of these things move or grieve me neither count I my life dear unto my self so that I might finish my course with joy For I am perswaded and assured that neither Tribulation or Distress Persecution or Famine nakedness or peril or Sword Death or Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord or cause to cease my love to him As therefore loving him because he hath loved me first Yea I am further assured that when I have finished my course a Crown of righteousness is laid up for me which my Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that Day and not to me only but unto all those that love his appearing And now my dearly beloved ones I know not God he only knows whether we shall see the Face of one another any more Wherefore that living or dead I may discharge my duty as a Husband and as a Father I take you to record this Day that I am pure from the blood of you all For I have not shunned to declare unto you the counsel of God Take heed therefore to your Souls which God hath purchased with his own blood for I know that after my departure grievous Wolves and Enemies such as the mighty Powers of Darkness the numerous tempting and malicious men of the World and that out of your own selves which therefore are the most dangerous of adversaries will arise strong innumerable and impetuous Lusts all endeavouring to draw you from the Faith and to destroy your most precious Souls Therefore watch and remember that by the space of these many years I have not ceased to warn every one of you Night and Day with tears Therefore my dearly beloved and longed for my Joy and Crown stand fast in the Lord my dearly beloved And I intreat thee also true Yoke-fellow help counsel and encourage our Children in the way of godliness and righteousness which is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come Hide not thy talent nor neglect the gifts that are in thee until I come again unto you Give attendance to reading to exhortation meditate upon these things that I have written and give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all Be an example to our Children in Word in Conversation in Chastity in Spirit in Faith in Purity For in doing this thou shalt both save thy Self and Family now solely under thy charge and as to the care of whose Soulâ— thou must shortly be accountable at God's Tribunal O ye that are my precious Jewels my chief and only riches upon Earth my mouth is open to you my heart is enlarged ye are not straitned in me be ye not therefore straitned in your own bowels Now for a recompence in the same I speak unto you as unto my Children be ye also enlarged And now dear and beloved Christians for this is the highest and shall be my concluding Title and sweetest compellation as therein not knowing you after the Flesh I commend you unto God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build up and to give you an Inheritance among all them that are sanctified Ceasing not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my Prayers That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ The Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdome and revelation in the knowledge of him The Eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling And what the riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints And what is the exceeding greatness of his Power to us-ward that believe Your most affectionate Husband and Father J. H. From Antwerpe the First of January 1665. A Directory Letter Mutatis Mutandis sent by the Author to every one of his Twelve Children prefixt to the Manuscript of the following Epistle now Printed for the use and benefit of other Christian Families Dear Daughter Mary I Commend unto your serious and often Reading and Meditation this following Epistle a Work which cost me much labour study and time in the Collection yet performed with much delight and chearfulness as moved to write it to all my Relations by the good Spirit of the Lord as the best means I could use to counsel stir up and advise them with Mary to choose the better part which shall never be taken from them Wherefore loving Daughter let me lay this Paternal Charge upon you as I shall do upon the rest of your Brothers and Sisters for whom I am preparing Transcripts out of the Original written by my own hand That you read it over at least once a Quarter as long as you live as being not mine but the Epistle of our most dear Lord and Saviour presented to you only by my hands his most unworthy Instrument The subject matter thereof being his most sacred Word who is the Lord God of all the holy Prophets the Pen-men hereof And the great Prophet of his Church whose Word whosoever will not hear and obey are threatned to be destroyed My design herein I hope through the grace and mighty power of the most holy Spirit of Christ will be prosperous and effectual as being not only a Letter of advice and counsel from an earthly Father whom I am confident you love and will obey in the Lord But the Epistle and most powerful Exhortations of your heavenly Father yea the love-letter of your Head and Spouse the Lord Jesus Christ who hath married you unto himself in holiness and everlasting righteousness Dear Daughter the holy Scriptures being the Foundation of all saving knowledge and true Religion I have by the direction and assistance of the Lord skim'd off for you the Cream thereof and given you a few proofs of many holding forth as from his own mouth First The excellency of his Person Secondly The Fundamental Articles of the Christian faith and belief in the words of the holy Scripture only Thirdly what things are to be practised by you held forth in God's holy Law Fourthly what evil things are to be eschewed either respecting Doctrine or manners wherein you have the Lord Jesus Christ's encouragement and exhortation to the attaining of all saving graces and virtues and his Dehortation from all errors in Doctrine especially those that are sowen and profest in these worst of times and from all sins and vices in practice Fifthly You have herein many of his Holy Counsels directing
unhappy Man had not ambition and infidelity Eclipsed the apprehensive brightness of thy understanding thou mightest have made thy Ring-leaders fall a mirrour to view thine own in O blindness the more blame-worthy the less to be pittied 〈…〉 self didst both willingly wilfully and speedily occasion 〈…〉 thy gracious God imprisoned all thy sences within his 〈◊〉 command all Judgments would have condemned thy ungrateful disobedience how much more blameable art thou that mightest have viewed it toucht it and delighted thy self with the fragrancy of that pleasant Fruit eternally without offence and yeâ— still desirest more even to tast thy Death O bitter sweet sweet in thy deceitful expectation bitter in thy accursed fruition O behold now what knowledge thou hast obtained thou knowest now the good thou hadst and hast lost the evil thou didst want and now enjoyest Momentary was thy imaginary pleasure certain and eternal thy procured curse O the Childishness of Man's perfectest age which sold the little World himself the great World about himself for such a knowledge which made him know good not more but less by knowing evil All things that are good in themselves in their first enjoying gain from us most estimation but Man here blest with the fruition of all happiness which joyntly met in him as in its Centre undervalues it even in the first possession exchanging pleasure for pain knowledge for ignorance Paradice for Hell and Life for Death But what neeâ— is there of my weak descriptions in delineating the lamentable 〈◊〉 of Man's fall Since if every Christian would but deal faithfully with himself and retire into his own Soul viewing it in thâ— state of Unregeneration he might in that too lively Picture of dâ—â—d Adam learn the chief point of wisdome to know himself I appeal to the witness of thy Conscience O Christian Reader whither thou findest not naturally the Supream faculties of thy Soul the Enemies of God and goodness the bond-slaves and willing Vassals of sin and Sathan the parts of thy Body the Members of wickedness and ready Instruments of ill Is not thy memory a magazine of evil unhospitable to goodness Thy imagination and intellect like the Northern Seas frozen with ignorance to whom the Sun of wisdome gives so dim a Light that thy highest knowledge is to know thou knowest nothing Is not wickedness the Centre of thy will towards which it moves with a natural swiftness all holy motions being contrary to its course Lastly do not generally the parts of the whole Man which did before by their concordance and harmonious obedience so sweetly express the due praise of the most glorious Creator now rebelliously jar with a hideous and cursed confusion But what need these questions I would to God every Mans unhappy experience did not affirm and ascertain this truth as there is none free from Death so none from sin the cause of Death we all alike come into this World all suck in corruption with their first breath no sooner have our Souls a Beeing but they are in a deep Consumption so that our life is but a continued dying a Prologue of Death according to that of Job 1.21 Naked came we into this World naked of goodness as well as Clothes and naked shall we return again except thou cloath us to Christ our beginnings our foundations are laid with untempered morter Can then our after-works be unlike the Original We must all say with David In â—in hath my Mother conceived me and I was shapen in iniquity 〈◊〉 the Root evil and can the Fruit be good Is the Fountain bitâ—er and can the streams be sweet Do Men gather Grapes of Thornes or Figges of Thistles Hath Adam fallen and was accursed and shall his Off-spring stand and be justified No assuredly There is none good no not one we are all wrapt up in the same condemnation O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us now having waded in the gulph of 〈◊〉 miseries from that depth behold the height of Gods mercy â—â—y mercies O Lord are great and reach unto the Heavens and â—â—y truth unto the Clouds Thou hast delivered my Soul from â—ell my Body from Death thy Mercies are above all thy Works â—onderful are they Who can express them This World is a Monarchy the great Emperor thereof is God no admits of no Equal nor Partners in his Government Kings â—rinces and all things else are either Subjects or Subject to â—â—m nay more his Creatures For by Him were all things Created â—hich are in Heaven and which are in Earth things visible and invisible Crimes of the highest nature are only accounted Treaâ—ons in terrene States but the least breach of those general Staâ—â—tes enacted by the Earths great Law-giver is not only Capital 〈◊〉 infinitely punishable had Man offended either his Superiors 〈◊〉 Angels or his equals as Man it had been possible to have reconciled the one by submission the other by satisfaction but having traâ—sgressed the Commandement of God no created and â—nite substance can repair his ruines for infinite is his Justice inâ—nite our sins and consequently infinite our punishment Thus wretched and miserable are we in our selves by reason of our â—all and thus destitute of redress from others by reason of the â—reatness of our fault and unrecoverableness of our loss and â—â—stly O Lord do we deserve to be so since wittingly willingly and wilfully we made our selves so Of Man's Redemption by Christ. GOD is both infinitely just and infinitely merciful as his Mercy hinders not the Execution of his Justice so his Justice bounds not the extent of his Mercy Man is here infinitely indebted to God and utterly unable to pay God's Justice requires payment his Mercy places his Son as principal in the Bond who fully satisfies his Justice and repeales the Judgment pronounced against our Souls and Bodies O gracious Father in this thy Son our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy love is infinite like thy self boundless as thy Divinity and so ineffable that the Tongues of Men and Angels are not able to express it Mercy implor'd hath its first motion or inducement from the suppliant but thy mercy first beheld us when we had no power to view thee being blinded by Sathan thy goodness raised us when we were dead and buried in sin and thy free love only procured thee to move in compassion towards us who were moved through transgression contrary to thee unvaluable and extraordinary gifts are assured although silent expressions of a fixed and ardent affection But who O Lord is able to value thy gift to declare much less apprehend thy love Friendship is reciprocal for a friend can no sooner exhibit any reality of benevolence but as it were by reflection he is presently apprehensive of the like from the receiver though not in quantity as being perhaps less able yet in quality as being
Order of Melchizedeck I say dost thou now being on Earth neerer to their reproaches and yet not further off from thy power pass over their iniquities suffering thy self to be crucified by them whom thy Justice should have crucified to be sacrificed by the wrath of them whom thy anger hadst thou come to destroy not to save should have sacrificed Was Noah Lot Moses Elisha all Prophets all Types of Thee by thee aided and made victorious over their unbelieving and insulting adversaries and why dost not thou O Lord of all Prophets being now thine own Orator and yet despised demolish Corazin or Bethsaida with other Cities of Judea either by Water or Fire O Lord thou art still the same God then thy Justice was manifested but now thy mercy is magnified as appears by that Deploration over Jerusalem where the Floods of Waters are now converted to an Inundation of Teares the Fire and Brimstone to love-burning and pittying sighes though some murmuring ask From whence hast thou this Authority others blaspheming make thee a Sabbath-breaker and esteem thee as a Conjurer a Glutton a Wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners yet hast thou not now a devouring Gulf for such Repiners Teeth of wilde Beasts for such calumniating Blasphemers unless we behold that one alone bottomless Gulf of thy mercy most extended and most deep even to Man in the depth of his misery Father forgive them for they know not what they do O Christ Did fear dead thy revenge due to those Sinners against their own Souls No fear is a duty of the Creature ruled by thee not over-ruling thee Passion is incident to inferiours and therefore below thee which hast no Superior Did want of ability smother thy anger No thy Power is not extinguished no less than â—nfinite although in thy humiliation clouded during thy pleasure Lord why did those many Legions of Heavenly Souldiers suffer thy Enemies to carry thee their General away Captive those Bonds which could not resist Sampson's force fetter the Armes of thee the Almighty who gave him strength those Nailes fasten thee to the Cross who wert as able to deliver thy self as thou wert willing to suffer O Saviour my thankful Soul by way of confession replies thus The unmeasurableness of thy love patiently swallowed up all these contumelies and reproaches for love instead of revenge thou forgavest thine Enemies instead of calling for power to destroy Man thou proclamedst his Salvation crying out It is finished the Angels when thou wert attached by Judas although within thy Call must only be admiring Witnesses of thy Patience not Executors of those Traytors Lastly thy Mercy only manacled thy hands and nailed thee to thy Cross making Thee a Transgressor by the bearing of our Sins that we might become righteous through the Imputation of thy Merits according to that of Peter Who his own Self bare our Sins in his Body on the Tree that we being dead to Sin should live in Righteousness by whose Stripes we are healed These things gracious Saviour yea infinitely more hast thou done for us which since we cannot apprehend let us with reverence admire rejoycing that we have view'd thee in thy Birth to be our Kinsman in thy Life our Example in thy Death our Saviour after Death our Resurrection and Glory Lord what art thou not unto us a Balme for our Wounds a Laver for our Souls a Sacrifice for our Sins and the Life of our Death What hast thou not suffered for us Wert thou not humbled in thy Birth persecuted all thy Life and though innocent adjudged to Death that our Nature might be exalted our Life enlarged our Guilt acquitted Wert thou not scourged disrobed Crowned with Thorns lifted upon the Cross derided athirst forsaken and slain that we might be delivered from the Judgments of thy Father clothed with thy Righteousness Crowned with thy Glory lifted up into Heaven freed from the mocks of Sathan satisfied with the sweet draughts of thy Love received of thee for ever to Live Eternally What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon his Name saying Glory be to God in the Highest Peace on Earth good Will towards Men Praise and Honour and Glory and Power be unto Him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for evermore Soli Deo Gloria A Concluding Prayer O Eternal Infinite and Everlasting God by whom all things were Created that are made and in whom we Live Move and have our Beeing I thy poor Creature humbly beseech Thee to deal graciously with me thy Servant pardoning all my Offences and passing by all the errors wants and imperfections committed in these my feeble Meditations O Lord I praise Thee for thy favourable assistance of my weakness ever confessing thy gâ—eat Goodness in my Creation the Pride Incredulity and Weakness of my Nature in Man's Fall and thy Infinite Mercy in my Redemption O let the one rejoyce me the other humble me and the last make me obediently thankful in the observant performance of all thy Commands that so I may glorifie Thee which is the end of my Beeing repent and believe in Thee who art the Resurrection of my Fall and live with Thee Eternally which is the Compleatment of my Salvation and fulfilling of my Hope which is fixt in Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all possible Praise Obedience and Thanksgiving now and for ever Amen Vpon several temporal Mercies Providences and Deliverances Graciously Vouchsafed By the Lord Infinite in Goodness To the most unworthy Author And to many also of his neer Relations EBENEZER HETHERTO hath GOD helped me 1 Sa. 7.12 Bethel the House of God Gen. 28.19 A Pillar of PRAISE Erected by An English JACOB unto the onely Infinite Eternal and Almighty JEHOVAH in all Sincerity Humility Reverence and filial fear Hallelujah Eternal FATHER Glorious SON and Holy GHOST Three Persons but One GOD in Essence who the HOST Of Heaven and Earth did'st make and art Goodness Power Justice Truth Love Wisdome Holiness To Thee with JACOB SAMUEL A PILLAR I ERECT to tell All Future AGES to thy PRAISE Thy MERCIES to Me all my DAYES Their 's like their Faith was of firm Stone Mine weak like Me a PAPER One O let thy Strength made Perfect be In my Great IMBECILITY Two Mites Goats Hair from Hearts most free Are JEWELS in Thy TREASURY LORD had I Men and Angels Tongues That KEY would be below the SONGS Of THANKS-GIVING I owe to THEE For what in CHRIST thou did'st for MEE From which Eternal Love forth Springs The Temporal Mercies which these Hymns Commemorate O let Free GRACE Be Adamantine and my BASE And IRON-HEART to THEE attract Seal'd by Thy SACRAMENTAL Act So shall my Person and these Sheets Which I prostrate at THY blest FEET Received be as being PERFVM'D By thy sweet SPIRIT and only
Tun'd Unto thy Praise and thy Great NAME Be blest by ALL that read the same Who shall by Favours shew'd to MEE Be mov'd to Love and Trust in THEE Accept dear Lord in Goodness what 's here Thine And in Thy MERCY Pardon what is Mine Yea Let this Humble Work a future BASIS be For SAINTS to raise Colums of Glory unto Thee Place this afore Occasional Meditations at Folio 347 AN EXHORTATORY EPISTLE TO THE Nobility and Gentry of Great Britain Right Honorable NOble and generous Spirits of this famous Island Whose Persons I truly love and honour both as Christians and of the same Nation with me as also for your excellent wits parts and gifts who equallize Tully and Virgil in Eloquence and Poetry Witness your many Romances Comedies Tragedies and amorous Works now extant O consider all you that are thus rarely accomplisht both by Art and Nature that you must shortly give an account of these deposited Talents and of your mis-spent time and stewardships at the neer approaching Sessions and Goal-delivery of your Souls out of the Prison of your Bodies and at the great Assize the dreadful Day of Judgment to our great God and to the Lord Jesus the Judge of the quick and the dead Who hath made all things for his Glory and the wicked for the Day of his Wrath. O will you not then blush for shame and be confounded at what you now pride your selves in when Sathan your Maecenas shall then be your Accuser and produce as evidence against you Item so many precious Hours lost such high strains and Veines of Witrun wast such excellent Language defiled and abused and such and such a happy Muse ravisht and debaucht in the compiling and publishing so many false and unhallowed Legions to stir up and inflame your own Lusts and the sleeping passions and corruptions of the Youth of both Sexes in these Nations So many Stage-Playes the Scoffers of goodness and holiness of conversation the Consumers of useful time and of the innate Virtue Modesty and Estates of all kindes of Persons as also so many Frothy and Airy amorous Verses Ditties and Songs the Nurses and Panders of all manner of loosness and uncleanness in all sorts of People Had these precious Stones and Gems these sparkling Diadems I mean your choice Indowments been set in Aaron's Brest-plate or been offered up as a gift to God who gave you them to be for the Ornament and praise of his Church his Temple How brightly would they have shin'd as in their proper Sphear for which he created them Whereas they are now by their fall from their Heavenly Orbe to this vile Earth of sin and vanity become like so many sliding Stars which whilst they pass through the darkned Aire of corrupted and deceived Observers give forth a false Light and suddenly are extinct leaving behind them nothing but a corrupting Belly and a Hellish and sulphurious stink to the view and in the Nostrils of all Divine Astronomers Is it your highest honour to be stiled Christians have you at your Installment in Baptisme vowed and promis'd to resist the Devil the World and the Flesh And will you by your wanton Poems and vain Sonnets offer Sacrifices to Sathan the God of this World and to his Idol the World and blot and blur your sacred and glorious Title and dishonour and prophane that holy Name by which you are called Hath the Lord Jehovah your gracious God and Almighty Saviour who was the first great Orator and Poet that wrote upon Earth given you an unparallel'd Example by the Pen of Moses in the whole Book of Deuteronomy the very Marrow of Divine Eloquence Deut. chap. 1. vers 3. and in that Elixar of Poesie that Song of the Lord 's own composing Deut. 32. to the end of the 43. vers Hath his choicest Saints lest you sublime patterns of Heavenly Poesie Witness the Songs of Moses and Meriam Exod. 15. unto the 22. vers and Psal. 90. Of Deborath and Barak Jud. 5. to the end Of King David 2 Sam. 22. from Vers. 2. to the end Besides his Book of Psalms upon divers subjects witness also the 11. Psalmes of Asaph beginning with the 73. Psal. and ending with the 82. Psal The Psalmes of Heman and Ethan the Ezrahites Psal. 88. and 89. The Canticles or Song of Songs written by King Solomon besides One Thousand and Five other Songs 1 Kings 4.32 The Songs written by the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 5.1 and Chap. 26.1 the Song of Habakkuk Chap. 3. to the end And in the New Testament the Song of the blessed Virgin and of Simeon and the many Angelical and Heavenly Hymnes wherewith the mysterious Book of the Revelations is gloriously imbroidered Besides these excellent Presidents and Examples the sacred Scriptures are full of Precepts enjoyning and commanding this thankfull chearfull and singing temper to be in all his Saints in these words and the like Whosoever offereth praise glorifieth me Psal. 50.23 O come let us sing unto the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our Salvation Psal. 95.1 The like Psal. 96.1 98.1 Praise the Lord for it is good to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely Psal. 147.1 In the New Testament we are commanded to rejoice ever-more 1 Thes. 51.6 and to sing with Grace in our hearts Psalmes and Hymnes and Spiritual Songs Col. 3.16 In which holy exercise our blessed Saviour hath given us his Example after his last Supper Math. 26.30 And that blessed Poet and singer of Israel that Man after God's own heart King David Who upon divers gracious providences deliverances and mercies as well private as publick penned many Psalmes As upon the occasion of his flight from his Son Absolon the slanderous words and treacherous actings of Cush the Benjamite the Psalm of thanksgiving before mentioned for his many deliverances from Saul and all his Enemies And at the Dedication of his House To these I shall add the Psalm penned by him when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech alias Achish King of Gath His Song of loves or commendation of Solomon's Queen the Egyptian The Tipe of the Gentile Church his penitential Psalm when Nathan had been with him after he had gone into Bathsheba his Poem concerning Doeg's false accusation of Abimelech the High Priest his Psalm upon the Ziphims discovery of him to Saul another when the Philistims took him in Gath Also his two thankful Memorials of his deliverance from Saul in the Cave and another for his preservation when Saul sent and they watched his House to kill him A third upon his Victory over Aram Naharaim Aram Zobath and against the Edomites A fourth concerning his abode in the Wilderness of Judah to these may yet further be observed the Song written for his Son Solomon and his Psalm for the Sabbath Day To these Scripture examples which are indeed the very sacred Rhetorick and Poesie of the
Eternal God the Holy Ghost lest you should think it too high presumption to write after so rare a Copy Let me remember you of and set before you also â—s so many laudable and excellent Patterns a few of the many famous Works of our own Country-men such as the divine and eloquent Contemplations and occasional Meditations of Doctor Hall Spencer's Fairy Queen Deveout Hâ—rberts sweet guards and honest Wither's Poems which are as so many eminent Piramides of white and black Marble whose tops point towards Heaven as glorifying God as their chief aime and end and whose substance and Basis shall as their living Monuments stand fixt and undemolish upon Earth to their perpetual honour and as â—eaching Pillars to Posterity for ever Here possibly some of you may object that you are to seek of subjects to imploy our parts and giftâ— upon to the glory of God and the good and Instruction of your Brethren To whom I answer View and contemplate the wonderful Works of our Almighty and most wise Creator in the vast Canony of the Heavens and the large Globe of the Earth and Seas and you shall finde matter enough for all the Tongues Pens and gifts of Men and Angels Be not like the bruit Beasts that remain sensual and dumb in the midst of wonders Are you professedly Christians and shall that great and glorious subject the admirable and stupendious work of your Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ God-Man the Saviour anointed the Mysterious work of the Incomprehensible Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost the Eternal God blessed for ever a work above all expressions and conceptions yea above the praises of holy Saints made perfect and glorious Angels wherein is held forth if ever you hope to be saved from Hell and endless torments your free and eternal Election by God the Father to everlasting Life and Glory your effectual calling and sanctification by the holy Spirit your free Justification by the alone righteousness of Christ and ravishing lively hope of a never ending happy and blessed state in the highest Heavens The blessed fruit and effect of the infinite and free love of God of the unvaluable Righteousness Merit Death Passion Satisfaction and continued Mediation of Christ our Lord that Person who is God in our Nature the eternal begotten and beloved Son of the Father the brightness of his glory and the express Image of his Person I say shall this Miracle of divine love this wonder of wonders these your chief and greatest concerns together with its most beautiful attendants Faith Hope Love and the rest of the holy Image of God in you be slighted forgotten and not thought worthy to be the subject of your choicest Oratory and Poetry and of the best of your gifts wit and parts O Jewish Ingratitude shall a Heavenly Host of Angels much less concern'd than you begin give and leave you a pattern in that short but full Anthem at our Saviour's Birth Glory be to God on High on Earth peace good will towards Men And will you be still wickedly yea brutishly unthankful and not follow their holy example shall not the French Druids and our own British Bards stand up in Judgment against you at the last Day But possible some of you will say you are as yet but Babes in Christ and your Muse cannot as yet mount so high as these sublime Misteries to whom I answer Is not the large Mapp of God's great constant and marvellous providences actings and deliverances towards his Church in all Ages even from the beginning of the World until this Day spread before your Eyes in the sacred Scriptures of truth and in Ecclesiastical and other Histories Yea in your own Nation in this our Age of wonders All which in honour and gratitude to God and the edification and encouragement of his Church calls for from you in Imitation of God's Saints in former times as hath been afore declared many Triumphant Arches Pillars and Monuments of praise both in Prose and Verse never to be worn out by time or thrown down by the Malice and slanders of traducing Persons But probably some of you may be Politicians and time-servers and therefore although convins't of your duty think it neither prudent nor safe to discover either your Religion Judgment or affection To such that like Naman to the Prophet Elisha say God be merciful to me in this I cannot say go in peace but this I will say that Ingratitude includes all other sins against God and Man Si ingratum dixeris Omnia dixeris Wherefore that all such may convince and Judge themselves notwithstanding all these Excuses and subter fuges Let me ask them this question Have you from your birth until now received no mercies nor blessings from God to your Souls to your Bodies or to your Relations No recovery from spiritual or bodily Diseases nor deliverances from spiritual and corporal enemies and dangers no blessings temporal spiritual and eternal no gracious and extraordinary providences to you or yours If then you cannot deny but must acknowledge to have received from the Lord many favours of this Nature O may I not say of the most of the English Nobility and Gentry as once our Saviour of the Ten Leapers Were there not Ten cleansed where are the Nine Only One returning to give thanks Wherefore lest your unthankfulness mud and stop up the stream of God's mercy to you and the Nation for the future and since it is God's commands the practise of God's Saints and your duty as Creatures and Christians to be Praisefull Yea lest your Talents be taken from you and given to others and you receive that most terrible Sentence declared by our Lord at his return to the unprofitable Servant that hid his Talent in a Napkin Bind him Hand and Foot and cast him into everlasting Fire O let that fearful Declaration like a Thunder-clap rouse and awaken you out of your sleepy sloathfulness the Night is far spent the Day is at hand even of your Judgment and mine Wherefore walk as Children of the Light and Husband that Inch of your Life which is behind redeeming the time because the Days you live in are evil Stir up the Grace that is in you meditate of and contemplate the ineffable excellencies and attributes of our Incomprehensible God as they are manifested in his glorious actings and the fore-mentioned particulars Pen Publish Print to this and future Generations his wonderful works and praises So shall you be Angelical Heralds of his Glory Grandize and Ennobilize your Nobility dignifie and hononourably perpetuate your Gentility And not like most of the preceding Peers and Gentry of this Nation which is worth your observation have like them your Names written in the Dust and buried in oblivion O joyn then with Angels and Ark-Angels and all the Triumphant and glorified Saints in Heaven in spiritual and divine Hallelujahs here and you shall certainly sing your part with them in the blessed
Ejaculation or Hymn upon the foregoing Subject O Blest Creator let my first Birth be A Figure of my second Birth to thee Sooner than many others 'T was thy grace That fir'd my heart during my youthful race And caus'd me seek the free refreshing Gales Of thy blest Spirit to cool and fill the Sailes Of its desires That from the noisome Wombe And dark some Jaile of Sin I might become A free-born Son to thee and change my place This Earth for Heaven the Birth of Sin for Grace 'T was thy free-love which did desire to see Blest Parent thy own Image born in Me. That pour'd clean Water on me washt away My Natures Blood and stench and didst allay My shivering doubts and feares by putting on Thy Lambs warm Skin the Imputation Of thy Sons righteousness that from that heat A life of grace might spring and be compleat Lord since thou mightest have made my Grave in Wombe Or by miscarrying cloâ—'d me in my Tombe Or made my life through sin a living Death A treasury of wrath Let my new Birth And life bring forth to thee the thankful fruit Of holiness So shall I Retribute Thy own in my poor Mite and to thy praise Live thankfulness sincerely all my Days Amen ARGUMENT The REMEMBRANCER A Psalm for the Lord's Day Being my thankful acknowledgment of the Lord 's many Mercies to me in my Formation and Beeing LOrd who giv'st in mercy great A seventh Day to meditate On thy works of Creation Give me grace to think upon Thy great goodness unto me Who didst bring From a nothing Me a something for to be Next that me thou hast not made As frail Flowers which quickly fade Nor a Toad a Dog a Swine Or a Creature Serpentine But a Beeing rational Fit to see And to know thee Great Creator of us all That I was no Innocent Organ-less Deficient Nor a Monster from my Birth Void of shape a shame to Earth Thus and worser had I been But thy love Was far above Such thy just reward of sin Thou art he that gav'st me light In a Land made free from night Of dark Antichristian Mists Pagans and Mahometists Where poor Infants with their breath Sucking are Infectious Air Live a Life far worse than Death Here thou didst unto me give In thy life new life to live Where so many love the Night And with Owles do hate the Light Yea like Fish in Jordan's streams Swim with ease Into dead Seas Sleep and perish in false Dreams Wherefore Lord upon thy Day I will praise thy Name for aye Till thy second Sabbath blest Gives to me Eternal Rest Where from World Sin Sathan free I shall ring And sweetly sing Hallelujah's out to thee ARGUMENT Vpon God's gracious deliverance of me from the Infection of the Plague when being a Childe I was present in my Nurses Hand at the Bed-side of one that was sick and dyed thereof whereby many of that Town were infected and dyed Soliloquium or Discourse CHaritable Visits to our Neighbours many times prove uncharitable to our selves such proved this of my self Nurse and others to the sick Bed of the Vicar of the Town by which the Inhabitants were infected and many of his Parishioners followed him not only to but into the Grave whereof many were Children Plants of my Age and standing Cruel Death as an Enemy to time and Man-kinde Saturn-like delighting to devour tender Babes as well as aged Men which his enmity our good God converts to our good that so being fore-warn'd we might be fore-arm'd and alwayes prepared to encounter him as being both the most certain and the uncertain Adversaâ—y O my Soul hath Death often by sickness and danger shaken thy Glass and lest Summons and Suppenaes at thy Door and hath the great Numberer of thy Sands and Days from time to time sent thee Repreeves with King Phillip's Motto written on the back-side of them Mortalis es Is more than three Quarters of thy Years of Life posted away in Childhood Youth Man-hood sin and vanity O let the small remainder with Solomon be thy Ecclesiastes to preach this his experimental truth to thy Children and all following Generations Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity and vexation of Spirit that so thou despising all things under the Sun mayst soar aloft and enjoy that only chief good that is above the Sun thy God in Christ blessed for ever to whom in a thankful remembrance of this great signal and primitive mercy and deliverance I humbly present this following Ejaculation and thanks-giving The ANTIDOTE Ejaculation or Hymn upon the former Subject FIâ— lazie Soul shall the Idolaters give Vnto dead Marbles praise and wilt thou live Vnthankful Shall God's Instrument thy Tongue Be tun'd to folly not unto his Song When in thy Youth an ignorant charity Led thee into Death's ambush He stood bie Could else one and the same infectious breath Preserâ—e thy Life which brought to others Death O in this mercy greater mercies see Death swallowing others swallow'd up of thee Lord since in dangers thou new life didst give Let Souls anew as well as Bodies live That fill'd with praise faith hope and fervent love Heart Tongue may bless thee here my Soul above Amen ARGUMENT Vpon a dangerous fall from a Horse when I was a Childe whereby I received three hurts one in the Head another in the Arme and a third in the Leg and upon God's mercy in my recovery thereof Soliloquium or Discourse SInful falls are a just cause of falls under Judgments my first fall in Adam could my Childhood have pleaded innocency as to all other deserved not only this but that which is infinitely worse a remediless fall into Hell The indulgency of my Parents in satisfying my childish desires and my too early venturousness together with the much mettle and ill qualities of my Horse were the external occasion of this my sad disaster which left me not only on the ground and cruelly hurt but for a time senseless and only fit to be carried in a Coach unto my Fathers House whose loving care prepared not only one to set my dislocated Bones but applyed Balsomes unto my wounds by which means through God's mercy I obtained health strength and a perfect recovery YOVTHS EMBLEME Ejaculation or Hymn upon the former Subject O Gracious God and Father let my sense Be spiritualiz'd and from each Providence As Bees from Flowers suck sweetness then I shall Praise thee for greater mercies by this Fall Which was from thee a milde Correction For Adam's and my own Transgression For hadst thou judg'd severely I had fell Not only from my Horse but into Hell O Lord me thinks by this sad fall and fate Thou mind'st me of my Vnregenerate State When I indulg'd my will and rid upon A wanton Steed my loose affection Which gave me many falls wounded my Head My Reason-Faculties yea left me Dead And hurt in Arm and Leg senceless and mad Vnfit to act or walk
upright Thus sad Was that my Youthful State when from above Thou didst in thy Caroche of Faith and Love Dear Father draw me home and for my good Balsom'd and heal'd my wounds with thy Sons Blood O let those parts which thou hast doubly cur'd Be doubly thankful and hence-forth impour'd To contemplate walk in and act thy will Since real praise is thy Word to fulfill Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's gracious preserving of me from any harm by Eight several Falls from my Horse Soliloquium or Discourse MY whole Life O Lord hath been a Circle a Map fill'd full with thy loving and extraordinary Providences which should I at any time forget I might justly deserve to be forgotten of thee In these eight merciful deliverances I bear witness and seal to that great and comfortable truth the constant and powerful Ministration of thy glorious Angels for the preservation of thy Children according to those comfortable promises That thy Angels are ministring Spirits for the good of thy Elect And that they shall hold them up in their hands lest they should dash their Feet against a stone Who else but they as thy blessed Instruments did put under their Hands and aleviate such and so many down-falls that they broke not into many pieces such a Venice Glass as my frail Body nor dislocated in the least any of the many wheels of so curious a Watch That is so soon and easily put into disorder as appears in the frequent and sad disasters of others that by such overthrows have lost their lives or the use of their Limbs O Lord great and special mercies call for from me great and singular praises which after the example of the Man after thy own heart I humbly offer to thee in this Psalm and thankful memorial of these thy many Preservations The OCTONARY Ejaculation or Hymn upon the former Subject DEar Lord our Sins according to thy Curse Have burthened Earth and Creatures yea far worse Our God no wonder then thy Subjects pay Vengeance on them that do thee disobey And that the Horse so oft his Rider throwes For to regain his Freedome from such Foes Trampling them under Feet that he might see That which is burthensome to him Earth thee Eight times O Lord have I thus humbled lain Prostrate As oft Thou hast me rais'd again In goodness safe and sound O let these falls Be both from Sin and Mercy blessed calls Remembrancers The one these dangers brought And by the other my Salvation's wrought Blest Love and Wisdome that thus throwes me down To raise me up again unto a Crown Lord let this close be the Eccho of that sound Where Sin exceeds thy Grace much more abounds Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's merciful Preservation of me from any Harm when being a Childe and alone in my Fathers Coach the Horses running down a steep Hill the Boot flew open by a jolt in the way and I was cast out of the Coach upon the Ground and taken up without any the least hurt or maim Soliloquium or Discourse O Lord God who hast been a gracious Father to me in my Childhood as well as now in my elder Years How great cause have I to trust in thee continually and to celebrate thy praise to future Generations O that Men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the Children of Men. Although violent motions are not perpetual yet are they very often hurtful and destructive as is evidenst by the sad effects of Earth-quakes Whirl-winds and Hurricanes Thunders and Lightning yet all these yea Fire and Hail Snow and Vapour stormy Wind fulfilling O Lord thy Word shall praise thee and declare thy gracious Presence with thy Children as once in the Red Sea the Fiery Furnace and now with me the greatest of Sinners the least of Saints yea unworthy to be called thy Son else when I was cast violently out of a Coach by a Jolt that forc'd open the Boot the swifter and violent motions of the hinder Wheels had taken advantage of the much slower and heavy motion of my falling Body and run over and broken my Bones or pitcht me upon my Head to the destruction of my sense or life as hath often happened by such accidents But if an evil spirit was in the Horses as once in the Gadarine Swine which is frequently the occult cause of such sudden and usual frenzies of Beasts although taken notice of or observed by few Persons yet I am assured O Lord thy good Angels and providence was present to preserve me from any hurt in so eminent a danger Wherefore with thankful David all my Bones shall praise thee yea those Bones which thou hast kept from breaking shall rejoyce yea I will further record this thy great goodness in this following Hymn to all future Ages The HURRICANE Ejaculation or Hymn on the former Subject THy Mercy Lord is a continued Act As well as is thy self witness this Fact Of Love which doth succeed the four Last mention'd Blessings ush'ring many more O let my constant Praises imitate Thee in thy Daily goodness that Ingrate I may not prove yea let this Providence Make me more thankful as reminding hence Thy higher favours for my Soul hath bin Shut up and hurred in a Coach of Sin My Flesh full-oft in which my sinful Will As Charrioteer hath drove me down the Hill Of Worldly Pleasures on swift moving Wheels Of raging Passions Steeds whose Mouth neer feeles Religious Bit Pride Lust This Chariot mov'd With feerless speed Till Grace in thy Belov'd Cans'd thee as oft to scotch it on Some Stone some blest affliction By which thrown out cast down upon the Ground Thy Childe hath lain as in a spiritual swound From which thou still hast raised me by the Arme Of Mercy and Me sav'd from lustful harme O let me run no more in Sins career But draw me to Thee by thy Love and Fear Nor suffer me for to run down the Hill Again of Earths delights but let thy will Be mine so shall my changed Soul aspire Heaven like Elijah in a Coach of Fire True holy Zeal letting my Garment fall Of Sin that thou mayest be my All in All. Amen ARGVMENT Vpon God's gracious preserving and preventing me from falling Horse and Man into a deep Pit when I was riding in the Night the Moon only shining to a Horse-Race when being upon the brink of it I was stopt suddenly by the Call of my Friend that accompanied Me. Soliloquium or Discourse DAy unto Day and Night unto Night teacheth knowledge Thy Mercies O Lord are renewed to me every Morning and thy Providences are circular and without an end therefore let nulla Dies be sine linea no Day pass without my thankful remembrance and recording of thy many great and undeserved mercies Worldly yea too often sinful Pleasure is the Dallilah and flattering Mistriss of our Youth so that slavishly and unweariedly we court it Day
in the Gulph of Despair Lord is it thâ—â— experimentally With my poor Soul are all these dangers nie Incumbent â—â— me during such sad stormes Sleep not dear Saviour in me command Calmes Be thou my Pilot Let thy Spirit Gales Fill constantly all my affections Sailes Let Faith my main most hope my Anchor be And all my Passions quieted by thee So sâ—all I scape all shelves all Syrens charmes All Rocks and Gulphs as imbrac'd in thy Armes Till that my â—ark brought in my Soul on shore May praise thee both for mercies evermore Amen The ANGLER O Lord thy third and great deliverance Of me from Drowning not the Lady chance The wicked's Goddess for my Tribute calls Of Pâ—â—ise deservedly since such sad falls Have Coffin'd Men in Water mud and Death Whereas 〈◊〉 thou gavest me a new breath Even then when Angling Tree Hands Feet betraid And cast me in a watry Pit no Aid Being neer and I alone then did thy Hand Double my strength and drew me out to Land Blest be thy Name for this and what thou didst So often for my Soul when that amidst Hâ—r Angling after Worldly pleasures she Did fall from her false Confidences Tree Into the deep and filthy Pits of sin And Vanity a state neer perishing Yea when unto this dangerous fall My Hands Feet Members did contribute all Then didst thou Lord appear to me alone And helpless Renew'd grace and heard'st my moane Gave to my hand of Faith thy hand of Love In Christ to draw and lift me out above Such dangers That with the wise Merchant I May fish for gems and the best Pearl buy Lord since in thee both soul and body live Accept these double Praises which they give Amen ARGUMENT Vpon a great Snow and God's gracious deliverance of Me and my Servant from being smothered and lost when many others perished therein in our Travel and return Home Soliloquium or Discourse PRaise the Lord Fire and Hail Snow and Vapour stormy Wind fulfilling his word what means this second deluge of Snow burying our Iland as it were in an Alablaster Sepulchre Why are the shewers of mercy descending in Earths refreshing Veins through the cold of the middle Region of the Air or rather of our evil hearts frozen and turned into Snow into a Judgment the Earth seeming to do Pennance for our sins and uncleanness Is our Land become a Romanist and Prelatick that she Cloaths her self with and so much delights in Surplices and white Vestures or hath the Sun as in Hezekiah's time reverted ten degrees whereby our Northern temperate Zone is become a frozen Polar clime Hath any Venetian Artist that can make Glass malliable in a few Hours christalliz'd the fluid Rivers and hardned soft Snow to bear without sinking the pulsation and burthens of Horse and Man or are the Clouds turn'd Levellers as having covered ditches and hedges the distinction of every Man's propriety and turned the surface of our Lands into a Salisbury Plain a Berry as well for Sheep as Rabbets Whence was that faith and courage that spirited me upon the providential call of my necessary return home like as Peter's walking upon the Water to amble over yea gallop upon the hollow Snow not fearing Pit Ditch or danger whence all these Wonders and above all my Preservation when so many perished and were smothered not in Beds of Feathers as by Tyrants some have been but in Beds of Snow Are they not from thee O Lord the great Creator and prime Agent in all the works and admirable Prodigies of nature the only Saviour and Preserver of Man and Beast and of me thy most unworthy Servant Who therefore desires Grace from thee to exalt thee and to perpetuate thy Praises in my own heart and in the hearts of others to all succeeding Generations that shall read this Memorial and sing this Song of Thanksgiving The SNOWIE LANDSKIP Ejaculation or Hymn upon the former Subject LOrd let my Souls Eyes open be As well as Lips to praise That in each mercy I may see Thy Presence all my Days Thou wast my Guide o're snowie Plains Where was no track nor way Thou mad'st the sugarfied Rain As solid as the Clay On which I travell'd many Miles In safety without fear O're Hedge and Ditch o're Gates and Stiles For thou wast with me there Although I past o're many a Pit Fill'd and smooth'd o're with Snow Thou would'st not let me fall in it Though sin deserves a woe Yea many perishing that Day Were buried above Ground Loosing their Lines as well as way Being choaked smother'd drown'd Through all these dangers thou me led Secure unto my place With goodness as with Manna fed Thy Monument of Grace O Lord this World 's a Ball of Snow In Hand it melts away Full of deep Pits which overthrow All those that go astray Cover'd they are also from sight By Sathan and Men's guile With Snow that is pretence of right White Devils most beguile Wherefore O Lord let not my Eye Be dazled with such light But be enabled to espie Their Pits and works of Night Let not my Soul now travelling home Venture without a Guide Thy spirit and Word nor walk where none Of thine have gone aside Nor let me ride o're Hedge and Ditch I mean the sacred Bound Of righteous Laws which Devilish Itch Whole Nations doth confound Lord let these Prayers and Praises be Accepted in thy Son So shall my Soul and Body see Thy great Salvation Amen ARGUMENT Vpon the Lord's Deliverance of Me from a Company of Robbers when I and my Servant having a great Charge of Money was Way-laid by them at my return home in the Forrest of Rockingum about the Moneth of May. Soliloquium or Discourse IN the space of time in which the Sun had almost twice measured the vast Concave of Heaven and taken an exact and curious surveigh of both the Hemispheres of Sea and Land I poor slow Worm and Pilgrim had only paced about thirty Miles towards my home Rackt with my Journey roasted with heat and flowr'd over with sweat and dust when on the suddain my way led me into a most pleasant plain a second Temple or Arcadia for delight and pleasure to guard which from the hot Invasion of the Sun or the suddain irruption of Storms stood round in Rank and deep Filles Armies of sturdy Oakes over-lookt by their tall Chieftains bauld-headed with Age yea some of them possibly free Britains before the Conquest and never since subdued nor subjected instead of the harsh and War-like sounds of Drums and Trumpets there were elevated in their Armes as being Dwarfs several sets of Nature's Musitians cloathed with coloured Liveries of several sorts of Feathers after the America fashion whose diversity and sweetness of Notes and Songs warbled forth through living Cornets and intrals as much excells that of dead Sheeps Guts as the animate the inanimate and Nature doth Arâ—
did raise my admiration but not my devotion After this having heard extolled the wit and language of our English Poets and that their Playes a fit name for such Airy Poems were much Visited and by the Youth of our Nation preferred above the best of Sermons As also that they were acted to the life in the publick Theatres I weâ—t thiâ—ther and was both an Auditor and Spectator where I heard wiâ— and language abused Being told of the Noble Buildings of both Exchanges and of the great concourse to them of Coaches and Persons of the best Quality I expected better things there but found in that place an Exchange but as for the Company the like or the same The Shop-keepers and their Feminines being like the Company of Players I saw lately that know how to act all parts currantly and sedantly especially those of lying equivocation dissimulation and over-reaching when they meet with Country Ignoramuses After some time I adventured at the instance of some of my acquaintance not therein my friends to go into a Tavern I stopt and thought the fair structure rich Sign-bush and Bason had some resemblance to the Roman Tryumphant Arches But my admiration was soon chang'd into a detestation for the roaring and singing bawling and swearing of their Tenants at will the knocking of Pots the scraping of Fidlers the gaping of Tapsters at the Bar not of truth and Justice but too often of the contrary made me think it to be a Bedlam a place full of mad-men or the House of Circes where by mixt intoxicating and adulterated Liquors rational Men are changed into Swine Dogs Goats and Lyons yea into all kind of Beasts and bruitishness My mind tasting no good nor finding any satisfaction in these things I thought to entertain it with more private and as most think although therein deceived harmless delights and recreations such as Complemental Visits of fair and vertuous Ladies Balls and mixt Dancings yea I assaid by chast and modest Rules or Bonds to bind Cupid as I vainly held forth in an Herogliphical Order But for and after all these carnal pleasures my heart was and is sad yea I found my soul empty of that Rest and happiness I sought after and being seasonably and graciously taught by the same spirit of wisdome that instructed Solomon I sealed and that experimentally with him to that truth of God Vanity of Vanities all is vanity and vexation of Spirit And though I saw an end of all perfection in Earthly things with holy David yet the Law and Word of God is exceeding broad which caus'd me diligently to attend upon some living Oracles of God in those times Seraphical Holesworth devout Taylor pious Gouge eloquent Shute with others by whose holy wooings and love-tokens my first love to my Spouse begun about a year before in the Country was now renewed increased and confirmed and these great temptations of the World and my Enemy Sathan prevented and overcome who thus a while after my first Conversion assaulted me as he did my Saviour as soon as he entred upon his Office deceitfully shewing to me in these Cities as in a time and contracted Map the Vanities of all the World and the empty glory thereof insinuating to me the enjoying of them would I fall down and worship him that is yield to his temptations and enslave my self to him by the wicked possessing of all these sinful Lusts and delights But blessed be the Lord who hath broaken the Snare and I am escaped For which great deliverance and manifold mercies accept O Lord in my dear Mediator's hand my multiplied praises both here and in this following Psalm of Thanksgiving The METROPOLIS Ejaculation or Hymn on the former Subject LOrd thy Word is Verity Child hood Youth are Vanity Else had not such Troops of Vice Waited on me in Disguise Blest be that Power which from thee Made them Gibeonites to me So that they shall hence-forth be Hart-hewers Water-drawers In my Sacrifice to Thee When in Courts I saw Men rise On Prides Wings by Flatteries View'd dear God their Luxury Sinful Lusts and Gluttony Through thy help I left that place As a School of Vice not Grace A Quag-mire where the rich of 't Lose Estates spent at Court-rates When Poor Beggars mount aloft When Sins Parks Vicinity Had almost impailed Me And those Heards of Women spies Had neer filtcht away my Eyes Then thou shewest me Lord that time Was not mine to lose but thine And that those that spend a Day On such sights and vain delights Do but with white Devils play In the Garden call'd the Spring Where the Flowers and Fruit are sin In which Bound by Day and Night Devils walk like Angels bright Where young Adams by their suit Eat again forbidden Fruit. There thou call'st me Lord to thee From those Groves Of wanton Loves Promist better things to Me. Thence to Theatres I went Where vain Wits their Poems vent Heard and saw such Ribaldry As defiles both Eare and Eye For Man's mind inclin'd to ill Runs not up but down the Hill There thy spirit to me told He 's asleep that comes to seek In a Cole-pit veins of Gold To Exchanges Old and New I repair'd as worth my View There my Eares were deft with Cries Lackt you Sir what will you buy Pride and Conscience in that place I saw sold all things but Grace Lord thou kept'st my wit and purse From deceits And lying Cheats And their Females which were worse Then to Taverns I went in Which I found the sinks of sin There the Devil's Revels be Lust and Drinking Gluttonie Swearing Dancing Carding Dice Cheating and all other Vice On their Doors Lord set a Cross To keep me All that love thee From Souls Bodies Plague and loss Last I thought of a reserve How to please and yet preserve Me from all unchast delights By a choice of vertuous wights Who agreed aâ— modest â—â—lls Oft to meet by mutual calls By mixt Dancing will not quall Sathan's wiles Who Vs beguiles Give an Inch He 'l take an â—ll Blessed Lord that mâ—dest me see Sin and dangers misery And that all things here below Are but Ciphers in a row That a Father was to me When my Parents left me free In my Youth and in a place Where all Vice Hath its rise And true vertues in disgrace Yet where Sathan hath his Thrones Thou hadst Churches precious Ones Vnto which thou leddest thy Youth And declared to me thy truth There thou gavest to me thy love Kist me call'd me Spouse and Dove And imbrac't me in thy Armes Made me tast Thy delicates And deliver'd me from harmes Is thy love Lord set upon Such an Aethiopian Did'st thou take me from the Pâ—ts Cleanse me from my Leopard's spots Let me a chast comfort be Now and ever unto thee Till I be by Angels led My first rise To Paradise
and other such like Is it so O my Soul And hath the Lord so extraordinarily and abundantly blessed this Ordinance and condition unto thee as thou hast declared in thy foregoing Memorial and thankful Acknowledgment Let upon this occasion thy Meditation be further stirred up and inlarged and from this great temporal blessing and mystery behold declare and point out the far greater and excelling blessings which are and shall be enjoyed by thee and the Church the Spouse of Christ by our spiritual Marriage and Union unto Him As Marriage in the Institution and in the particular Application is the Holy Ordinance of God and the blessed effect of his gracious Providence and Eternal Decree All Marriages according to the Proverb being made in Heaven so is that great Architype thereof the Marriage of the Church and in it of every true believer unto Christ. The Father bringing every one of us to him as he did Eve to Adam For none comes to me but whom the Father draws saith our Saviour Christ yea our Election effectual Calling and Regeneration together with our Union by Faith and spiritual Espousal to Christ our Heavenly Husband is of and from the Eternal Decree Love and Election of God our Father As the Woman was of the Man and not the Man of the Woman and the Woman was Created for the Man and not the Man for the Woman so was the Church typified by Eve taken out of the side of the second Adam the Lord Jesus Christ that she might be made as being his Rib Beloved and neer to his heart Flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone his only Spouse and one with him as the Apostle Paul asserts Eph. the 5. ver 30. This was effectually done when being asleep in Death upon the Cross the Beeing and Redemption of his Church arose and sprung forth of his side in a Flood of infinite precious and Cordial Blood and Water To conclude this our spiritual Union and Marriage is by the Apostle called a great Mystery as being the blessed effect of the free grace of God who is assentially love and therefore it is as to the heighth and depth length and breadth thereof Incomprehensible and passing all understanding By vertue of this Espousal in Baptisme we as Wives amongst us change our names into his and instead of Adamites are called Christians And on our part promise to forsake Father and Mother and all things else for him and to honour love and obey him On the other part the Lord Jesus Christ thus betroth'd to us in holiness and everlasting righteousness becomes thereby our Lord Law-giver and Spouse our Pattern Protector and Saviour as in the Type Husbands amongst us are or ought to be unto their Wives and as they so he endowes us here not only with all temporal blesings so far as shall be for our good For Godliness hath the promises of this Life and of that Life which is to come But with the rich dowry of all the saving Graces of his holy Spirit Cloathing us with the white Robes of his perfect and immaculat righteousness As being made of God unto us righteousness wisdom sanctification and redemption Yea the Lord our righteousness And as for hereafter he gives us the earnest and assurance of being Co-heirs with him of Eternal Life and Glory Amen EPITHELAMIVM Ejaculation or Hymn upon the former Subject BReath not this Aire Men of unchast desires No Fewels here for your unhallow'd Fires Lord I adore thy wisdome and thy love That shadow'st in blest Wedlock things above Teaching Vs that this Vnions Mystical And sets forth thine with Vs Before the Fall A crooked Kib thou streightnest gav'st it Life Mad'st it a Virgin pure first Adam's Wife That she of thy dear Spouse the Type might be Once crookt by sin but now made streight in Thee Yea in the chast delights of Marriage-Bed Her union thou holdst forth with thee her Head In which thou giv'st to her thy loves that she Be'ng first belov'd might flame in love to Thee Kissing her with the kisses of thy Mouth Quickned with sp'rit and life thy sacred Truth Thou also her incirclest in the Armes Of thy protection And her frees from harmes For why thy right hand-power doth her o're-spread And left hand-care supports her graceful head Her sp'rit'al senses ear tast smell touch sight Thou satisfi'st with ravishing delight Her piercing eye of Faith sees and applies Thy excellency hid from Worldly eyes Her eares be'ng fill'd with Musick of thy Voice Doth in thy Word and promises rejoyce Thou altogether lovely art unto Her inward touch whence mutual love doth flow She tasts thy Spice Myrrh Hony Milk and Wine Of Hope Joy Peace Delight all sweets Divine Thy Spicknard Camphire fills her smelling sence Also thy Cassida Aloes Frankinsence And fragrant Oyntments All which well express Thy love truth mercy wisdome holiness Thy power and goodness grace and righteousness Sweet Oders which her cherish and refresh In fine thy Nuptial-Bed is covered o're And pav'd with love and fill'd with Graces store Here in her thou shed'st incorrupted Seed Begets in her a Christ-like forme indeed Whence follows that which joyes both Heaven and Earth Divine Conception and thy Saints new-birth So that one Christ one Sp'rit one flesh and bone One Body is thy Church thus 't was made one Hence as of Faith and mutual love the effects Thou rul'st and in her dwell'st and her protects Cloaths her with Golden Robes thy righteousness Mak'st her within glorious through holiness Giv'st her the promises of this World's life And of that life to come and as thy Wife Crown'st her with Glory sets her on thy Throne With thee on Earth as thy beloved One Next to thy Fathers Kingdome her translates To live with God Thy Churches highest State Another Hymn upon the same blessed Subject being Meditations upon my Marriage-Day The TYPE BLest Miracle of Love whose sacred Rights Restores to Man his own and re-unites Natures Division Two Bodies were combin'd In Adam once Loe here two Souls I find Knit in a purer union How doth the smile of one Attend the others joy her sighs my groane If absence parts us like as though one breath Did fan two hearts both seem to suffer Death If distance Clouds our view the strength of Love Doth make our thoughts as well as Bodies move In visits to each other So though two parts We seem to be we still are one in Heart The Anti Type or Application MY Love my Spouse my Sav'our Can the Fires Sprung from weak Natures notions and desires Produce such Sympathies O let thy flame Spir'd by a purer spirit effect the same In my unworthy Soul The Loves of all Compar'd with that of thine the Original Are but as shades to substances the Ray Vnto its Globe of light as Night to Day Lord in my Baptisme
review how I There plighted troth to thee and did denie All other loves save thine nor was this Act My single deed alone but a compact For why so free 's thy grace Man so accurst That none can love except thou lov'st them first Thou art my Head O Christ can I then be A living Member and not part of thee The Heavens high distance doth not dim the Eye Of Souls nor can it lessen or untie Thy Spirits union now nought wants but this To be unbod'ed where my Saviour is O let me be uncloath'd then And by Angels led To thee my Spouse To Heaven my Nuptial-Bed Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's all wise and gracious Providence in ordering of Affairs for the preserving and continuing love and peace betwixt me and my own Father and Father-in-Law in danger to have been interrupted by reason of some differences arising from a dispute in point of my Right as to the one and from an act of love towards my Family as to the other Soliloquium or Discourse AS false Ground under the Foundation of a Building a crack in a Master-beam of an House and a breach in a Wall of a City is very dangerous and destructive So are distances differences and divisions in Families and betwixt neer Relations This truth O Heavenly Father thou gavest me even in my blooming Manhood to know and to obviate when as from two very neer Relations my own Father and Father-in-Law upon two different accounts I had deeply suffered both as to profit and affection and that for the defence of what I conceived to be my right and for well doing Hadst not thou O Lord been to me a Father Judge and Friend to preserve love and to order and reconcile us as to the things in difference O Lord thou hast tried me at all times in all places by all Persons that I poor Creature might prove and have a full and sweet experience of thee also as to thy gracious Immutability Omnipresence and All-sufficiency in all things concerning me For thou hast thou doest and I trust wilt deliver me in and from the evil of all Temptations and according to thy faithful Word and promise cause all things to work together for my good To thee therefore O infinite wisdome and goodness do I offer up the Calves of my Lips and the praises of my Soul for these thy merciful preventing restraining and commenting providences in this and the following Psalm as a living Sacrifice Amen The VMPHIRE Ejaculation or Hymn upon the former Subject SAthan the first divider of himself And Man from God is still a forward Else To ruine all things by Division As doth the Jesuit Pope his Eldest Son Yea to this truth of Christ he sets his hand Kingdomes within divided cannot stand Of these his Wyles thou warnest me O Lord And taught me how to cement a discord 'Twixt me and neer Relations by love Which beareth all things rather than remove Or break domestick Bonds since such a rent Of Friends widens in time growes permanent Yea as a broken Bone well set doth grow Far stronger than it was before Ev'n so Through thy wise ordering and providence These breaches made to me a better fence Working together for my future good According to thy Word now understood In that Instead of losing what was got Thou chang'd my part gav'st me a better lot Lord since Parental loves thus ebb and flow Give me thy love which doth for ever grow Let not my Crimes make mortal my sins wounds Since their increase makes Grace much more abound O bring me to that place of rest and ease Of Charity and Everlasting Peace Where Devils World Sin cannot divide me From Parents Fellow-Members nor from Thee Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's most gracious Answer of our Prayers in giving Rain after a great Draught threatning a Famine in Three Summers successively Viz. In the Years 1637. 1638 1639. Soliloquium or Discourse O Lord as sin is the substance so affection and judgment is the dark shaddow that alwayes attends and accompanies it as the effect doth the cause This truth was verified to this Nation of England in the Years 1637 1638 1639. When according to thy Word a fruitful Land was turned into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein As the first Rebellion of Adam brought a curse upon the whole lower Creation so this wicked off-spring by sin often invert the order and harmony of the Elements and makes malignant the influence of the higher Orbes causing those Coelestial Planets which were Created for blessings to Man-kinde to be Executors of thy righteous Judgments Of this these Three Years Prodigies are clear and sufficient witnesses when as that only Magazin of light and heat to the Universe thy glorious Sun which chears and delights Man and Beast and gives in our Northern Regions in the Spring as it were new life to Vegatives was made by thee for England's iniquities a terrible Curse as occasioning deadly Diseases Feavers and Murrains upon Men and Beasts through its constant and excessive heat and like a Globe and Furnace of Fire withered and burnt up all Grass and Vegitives especially our Grain the staff of life destroying by this Heavenly Fire our Earthly blessings As thy Sun so thy watering Pots the Clouds which like swelling Pappes used to distil streams of fruitful Rains according to thy Ordinance were now vanisht or rather banisht to the Antipodes or if any appeared they were but dry breasts and true symptomes of the barren Womb of England yea thou madest the Heavens contrary to their Nature to become as Brass and the Earth as Iron that the one might be as the Hammer the other the Anvil whereon to forge thy many Darts and sharp Arrowes of insuing Plagues As thy Rod of Justice O Lord hath three Cords or Lashes which thou callest thy three sore or greatest Judgments Viz. War Pestilence and Famine whereof this last is the greatest as being usually the dregs and the effect of the two former So thy mercy also hath a three-fold time or Plea as in the Gospel Lord let the Fig-Tree alone this third Year also to try it whether or no it will bring forth Fruit before thou cuttest it down Lord as England's sin called for and deserved this greatest Judgment Famine so thy mercy did during these three Years successively threatning this grievous Plague give her three years warning and space of Repentance Yea did offer thy Peoples Prayers unto thee by the hand of our Mediator for a reprieve and obtained it and which is much more wonderful a pardon and dismission of so justly deserved and so long impending a Judgment for which great condiscention I will bless thee as long as I have a beeing And that the Generations to come may praise thee also I have in all humility and thankfulness returned and recorded in this and the following Meeters thy never to be
forgotten Goodness and Mercy The LAMENTATION Ejaculation or Hymn upon the former Subject BRight Eye of Heaven how doth thine Ire From a smooth Brow dart forth thy Fire No Tropicks bound thy torred Zone Since Britains know no temperate one Why doth those living rayes which grace Thy Tellus brow now scorch her Face No Saturn thou yet the same heats Which gave thy off-spring life retreates Them into Death and makes them have Within themselves a wither'd Grave See how black Clouds of dust arise To blear thy Beames because the Skies Have none In Sack-cloath see thy Queen Sits having laid aside her green Her Spring-paint gone wrinkles appeares And shews her Ag'd five thousand Years Art thou not jealous for to see Thy love lye nak't forc Company Or art thou Spanioliz'd and would Through these new Inlets spie out Gold Doth Hell keep Jubill and desires Thee to shine there with lightsome Fires See Troopes of Blades whose strength did keep Whole Cities Townships scarce dare peep Or shew in Field yea in these feares Some not offending lose their Eares Whole Rivers scarce thy thirst doth bound Whilst Springs their heads hide under ground Tell me is Phaeton in place Or Daphne hath thy Twelve Moneths Race Fir'd thy Axtell for didst thou fear Our Springs hive would out-brave thy Sphear But whence this brightning hark my moan Is answer'd by a Thunders groan Wrath through that Planet burns Earth Skies Men's barren Hearts assimuliz's The Application and Petition DRead Lord I tremble and now see The cause of this Catastrophie Leaves had the Figg-Tree were prun'd Yet fruitless Vines yea like untun'd Instruments whose Notes do jar And only Briefs and Minnums are Of goodness full of stops which lie And discord makes not harmony Were the Microcosmes on which Thy love hath shin'd with a most rich Influx yet we thy Graces dew Dry up and lose both fruit and hue Lord let thy show'rs on both Worlds fall So shall thy Sun not scortch but all Things fructuate On us rain blood No evil Omen this but good On that unbowel Clouds of Rain So shall both Spring grow green again Yea once more Blood and Water shall Witness on Earth thy Peace to all Rivers shall flow then in each Place And to both prove the streames of Grace Blest Sp'rit upon these Waters move That both may yield Thee fruit praise love And those dry Chaps that want a Tongue Shall sing a close unto this Song Amen A thanksgiving for Rain after the forementioned great Drought Anno 1637 1638 1639. ARGUMENT The God that heareth Prayer heard ours And pitty seems to weep in showers The Shewer of Mercy MErcy If peace 'twixt Heaven and Vs Tell me why roars his Cannon thus Why do I hear where e're I come The Warlike Wings strike up their Drum Seest thou that Row so vastly bent As if the Centers point it meant To split through us that by one Doom The World might fall into its Tomb Or Chaos May be through Earths heart Nature two counter-poles World dart Because as some think she 's decay'd Her Poles worn out or over-way'd No drooping Soul that thunders noise Is Justice murmur 'cause my voice Prevailes with God The other sound Musters up Troops of blessings round The Orb. As for the threatning Bow It 's my Triumphant Arch no woe Portending since he means no harm Who turns the Bowes horns from his Arm. Witness those orient streaks which are The Ensigns of Earths Peace not War Since then the string is in thy power Dart up by force of love a shewer Of praise then by that Jacob's scale Let thy Soul mount with a fresh gale Take Heaven by force no danger fear 'T is freedome to be Captiv'd there Earths Jubily TEll me my Soul when did the Skies So become Morning to all Eyes Were ever teares so timely shed As these which strangely raise the Dead Mercy now puts on Justice Gown And smiles under the old Worlds frown Dame Earth grown frolick now attires Her front with liquid Pearls and desires To feast the Creatures by her lie Clear mirrons for to dress her by Young Hairs she busheth forth to hide Her baldness and like Autumes Bride Hath over her by Spike-men born A Canopie of swelling Corn. The Springs invited but she grown Feavereth to Southern Climes was gone For health yet presents her Queen By Proxie with a suit of green With which Earth spreads her lap and sets Thereon her fruits and delicates The feasts prepar'd then in each place Let us before we eat say Grace The Thanksgiving GOod God such a new World as this Deserves a second Genesis To preach thy power and love which thrice Hath made our health a Paradice O give us innocency too So place and blessing shall anew Through Christ by right of re-intaile Be ours and ours till Issue faile Lord make all Heads Fountains all Eyes Limbicks distilling like the Skies Through heat of love a weeping Rain Let hearts like Earth grow soft again So shall such mutual Harmony Shew grace as sin works sympathy And to thee Lord this truth return That Mercy melts though Justice burn Witness Earth Heaven my Heart Eyes Pen May they thus ever melt Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's merciful restoring me to health and graciously supporting and comforting me in a fearful Agony and Apprehension of Death by reason of a dangerous Cough which caused me to spit Blood Soliloquium or Discourse AS Pride War and Contention are the ungrateful Off-spring of Peace and Plenty so are sickness and affliction the succeeding and unhappy Daughters of health and prosperity This is not only my Observation but Experiment As having the fresh Spring of my Youth after an Halcion calme and time of health on a suddain turned almost into an Autumn or Fall of that leavy beauty and greenness which my Body which is but a Tree inverted was adorned with and that by an unexpected and dangerous Spout or Cattar of Rhumetick Rain seconded with a fearful Hurricane or Thunder-storm of a rending Cough which had not God been very gracious had undoubtedly â—ink both the Pilot and Vessel my Soul and Body I pumping out through the Lungs much Water and Blood But with the Marriners in Jonah's Ship or rather with Jonah in the Whales Belly I cryed and prayed unto my God even in this Agony and preluge of Death his Serjeant wherein Pompa mortis magis â—erret quam mors ipsa As an addition to these my inward fears and terrors arising from my dangerous condition was the apprehension of my Arch Enemy and Accuser Sathan preparing and ready to prefer at the Bar of Divine Justice a long Role and Inditement of my great offences attested too by my own Conscience which is more than a thousand witnesses as also the legal and just punishment of them Hell Eternal Death and Torment I say again with all humble and reiterated thankfulness I then petitioned my
recovery by thy blessing upon the Medicine of a poor Widdow even after that the utmost endeavours of a skilful Doctor proved uneffectual The fifth and last dangerous encounter was with another Pursivant of Death a second painful and perilsome Ague From this Ague also after three very accute fits thou gavest me a happy and healthful recovery Lord what shall I render unto thee for these five most gracious recoveries and as it were new lives And for thy deliverance from many other lesser Distempers Yea what have I to return unto thee since all I am is thine and all my most spiritual Sacrifices are lame weak and sickly Lord although such were forbidden under the Law yet under thy Gospel we have a great High Priest which takes away the iniquity and infirmity of our holy things in whom thou hast declared even from Heaven that thou art well pleased with us And who is that compassionate Physician that came not to heal the whole but the sick Blessed Saviour heal now the infirmities of my Soul as thou hast done these of my Body That according to thy promise the dumb may sing and the lame may skip as the Lamb Yea open thou my Lips and my Mouth shall shew forth thy praise O Lord God what is Man that thou visistest him or the Son of Man that thou regardest him That as a Father and Nurse thou shouldest watch over us from Morning to Night and from Night to Morning That the left hand of thy gracious providence should be alwayes under my head and that the right hand of thy unchangeable and fervent love should continually imbrace me That thou shouldest lead me to Heaven by the Gates of Hell That thou shouldest wound me that thou mightest heal me Humble me that thou mightest exalt me That thou shouldest exercise me with sickness to teach me how to overcome Death The height and summ total of all sicknesses O for ever blessed be thy Name that gives me not only believingly but practically and feelingly to seal the truth of that cordial Word that saith That tribulation brings forth patience and patience experience and experience hope which makes us not ashamed Wherefore my heart which thou hast enlarged my lips which thou hast opened and my life which thou hast thus often renewed through Grace doth praise thee this Day for these and all others thy great Mercies and desires to perpetuate my thankful acknowledgment in this and the following Memorial to all Generations Amen The BETHESDA Ejaculation or Hymn on the former Subject TRue is that Axiome since the Curse Best things corrupted become worse Than others which are less refin'd By Man and Angels fall we find This truth confirm'd yea our best meatâ— Putrified are Diseases Seats Hence came my Surfeit by that food That pleas'd my tast was sweet and good This tempted me to an Excess That alwayes brings forth Putridâ—ess Which Nature striving to cast out By Vomit made me sick throughout This first assault Thou Lord withstood Of Death thus withering my Bud Of Childhood And by Friends advice Purg'd out my sickness and its rice Restoring health to me and joy To Parents grieved by my annoy All sins a surfeit and abuse Of what is good through our misuse A Lust rebelling to Excess And yet a want of Holiness Lord Vomit Purge me and supplie Thy Grace so shall I live not die Man's Life from Birth doth hasten on Towards Death by a Consumption Of moisture Radical like Lights We wast this Oyl by burning bright But Rheums and Coughs accession Addes Wings to Dissolution Such was my state for many Years Which ballanc't me 'twixt hopes and feares Vntil in Mercy thou though'st good To blesâ— the means drie up this Flood Of Mall-concocted humors So That it no more my Earth o're-flow O Lord the streames that drown'd my Soul Are wicked Lusts let Grace controle This Deluge lest it more and more Consume thy radicating store That Body Soul restor'd again May be it 'h full of Grace not wain As Art by Succors Forcers mount Waters upon a like accompt Rheum pumping Coughs raise it and Aire Above out of their place Hence are Those stiches pains and Plurisies Which us indanger and Disease Such was the cause such the effect Of my third sickness whose Aspect Prefigur'd and made way for Death By Stitches Coughs shortness of breath Yea all one Night to add to pain Thunders did roar and Lightnings flame When thus upon thy wrack I lay Lord thou didst turn my Night to Day And answered from thy glorious Throne My prayers teares my sighs and groans And blâ—st weak means refresht my Soul And on a suddain made me whole A wonder next a Miracle Was this my quick recovery Which merits Lord a Pyramid A Trophy that cannot be hid Of praise That Saints in after Days May bless love trust in thee alwayes Lord frothy Distillations Lustful Inflammations Shorten still thy Spirits breath Threatning to me a worser Death By pricks of Conscience and Heart grief O give unto my Soul relief Dry up O Lord these Springs of sin That do obstruct thy breathings in My sickly Soul Let Conscience be Freed from its pains as cleans'd by thee So shall my Soul and Body live And to Thee living praises give The Bodies Earth-quake Agues are Shaking us like a pent-up Aire Then breaking forth through our Earths pores It casts out Flames and Waters store Imbalming us with sweat as 't were To fit us for our Sepulchre Such was my two last Sicknesses Deaths prelude and a long recess Of Health which no Court-Pagentry Could flatter for to stay with me Nor yet my Office which transfer I did to God's Commissioner An all-controling Ague which Like the Familiar of a Witch Did haunt me at set-hours each Day At first till Mercy did allay And to each other chang'd my fit Lest I should be burnt up by it Here sometimes I as frozen lay Shaking for cold as Seamen say Those do neer the North pole Anon Burnt up as one i' th torrid Zone For eight Hours space at whose retreat I almost drowned was with sweat Thus alternative cold and heat Predominant were in the same seat And subject So the Scriptures tell Sinners tormented are in Hell Where weeping wailing gnashing Teeth Shew cold and heat and easless grief Out of this Aguish Hell in which I twice was cast some Years betwixt I cryed with David Jonah Then Thou savest me as thou did'st them Wherefore as they so I will bless Thee in my Heart Tongue Life and Verse O Lord I have since Life began Been sick of a Quotidian Which sometime doth me greatly shake With faithless fears which makes me quake Anon mad Anger boyles my blood Breaths out ill humors like a Flood O purge out quite this Malady And passions tune to Harmony So shall such holy temp'rament Give health to both with sweet content And fear
thy free Grace who delightest to do good as being full of Bowels of pitty and compassion and shews Mercy to whom thou wilt shew mercy Wherefore O Lord since thou art not like to ill-natur'd Man but givest without grudging yea hast promised more to them to whom thou hast already given much Add I beseech thee this Grace that I may exceed others in real thankfulness as thou hast made me to precede many others in this and the like favours In testimony of which great and special Mercy to me and mine in our preservation I humbly present to thee this Cordial acknowledgment in this and the following Psalm of Praise Amen The PROTECTION Ejaculation or Hymn upon the former Subject WHen Sin becomes Vniversal No wonder Epedemical Diseases answer Justice call Making each House an Hospital Such was unhappy England's fate When a Vsurper Rul'd our State Then Lord unto my Family Thou wast a healthful Sanctu'ry Thy Mercies great Indulgency Freed us from this Mortality Made Vs to Goshen-like when fear Sickness and Death Triumphant elswhere Sad was these times whon Corn and Grass Like to their owners withered was For want of help to Inn alas And tend them yea to such a pass Were many Housholds brought before It ceast three parts were sick or more Good God! how free 's thy Grace how great Thy Love how sinful uncompleat Am I the Subject Stage and Seat Of Favours which I here repeat With Praise since thou protection grants To worst of Sinners least of Saints Feavers O Lord of Luxury Tumors of Pride and Vanity Dropsies of swelling Gluttony Agues of sad Apostacy Most Families do now infect Make Sick O do thou mine protect And let not an Egyptian Night Of Error now Eclipse the Light Of Goshen but let thy might Preserve their Families upright So shall our Houses Churches be And give all Glory unto Thee Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's gracious Preservation of my Horses and other Cattle from dying in the time of a great Murrain under Oliver Cromwell's Government when many of my Neighbours were very much damnified Soliloquium or Discourse AS Achan's sin let Israel blood So Saul's guilt of blood made Israel fast perforce in three Years of Famine David's pride in Numeration concludes in Israel's humiliation and Pestilential substraction And the High presumption of the Princes of the Philistines in the captivating God's Ark ends in the shame and reproach Plague and destruction of the People of their principal Cities Ekron and Ashdod to all which Examples the Poet bears witness Delirent Reges plectuntur Achivi As Israel suffered for Korah Dathan's and Abiram's Rebellion So England was punished with several Judgments as I humbly conceive for Cromwel's unfaithfulness and ambition witness the great and strange Plague amongst Horses and other Cattle and which was very remarkable it raged most amongst his Troops the Pillars of his Pride Not but that in all these Inflictions the Peoples Sins was the principal cause and the Princes offence as it were the shooing-horn to pull them on them as the Holy Spirit witnesses as to Israels Plague The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he moved David against them saying go and number Israel and Judah That is he permited Sathan to stand up against Israel and to provoke David to number Israel as it is clearly held forth in the first of the Chronicles Chapter the 21. Vers. 1. But to return This Plague or Murrain was so contagious that it cleaved unto the very Walls Planks and Mangers of Stables insomuch that the fresh and untainted Horses brought and placed in them to supply the former loss were presently infected and dyed alike Mortality was also amongst other Cattle So that it is hard to say whether the dying groans of Beasts and Horses or the Cryes of the Husband-men and Carriers and those whose livelyhood was swept away by this Beasom of destruction was the greater O most gracious God who in the midst of these general Losses and Complaints preserved my Stock untoucht and intire not for my righteousness sake which is as filthy Rags but for thy mercy sake Accept I beseech thee this my thankful acknowledgment of thy singular goodness and Fatherly providence amongst the rest of thy mercies which according to thy own example and thy Saints my duty and thy command I desire to record and declare to my Childrens Children and to all future Generations that when through the Redemption of my Saviour Jesus Christ thou shalt translate me to praise thee in the Heavenly Chore of glorious Saints and Angels They and thy People in succeeding Ages may continue to praise and bless thy Name here upon Earth and be incouraged by thy manifold favours to me thy poor Servant to fear love and trust in thee for ever Lord since thy Glory and the good of my own Soul and others is my only end in this Work Let it receive a blessing from thee Amen The SHAMBLES A Corolary Poem on the former Subject WHence is it that the stately Stalls for Horse Of Noble Men are empty And perforce The Grooms do idly wait bewaile the fate Of their dead Steeds who seem to lie in state Like some in our proud Age yea Gentry fear No course at Brackly will be run this Year For want of raceing Barbes And that their Hounds Will surfeit with much Horse-flesh be unsound For want of Exercise and Troopers cry Old pay will not suffice new Horse to buy Why are our Fields Vntill'd why doth our Grain Now sow it self before brought home again For want of Teames to Inn it And the Road Through Carriers loss of Horse so thinly's troad Yea Dairy-men and Graziers throw up Ground Because their Sheep and Cattle die unsound Our Oracle God's Word gives answer Thus All Plagues are fruits of sin And the first curse Which like the Jewish Leprosie infects All that is ours though Creatures innocent As be'ng on Vs in part a Punishment Thus Rulers righteously do confiscate Not only Rebels Lives but their Estate And Princes use for faults in the Non-age Of a beloved Son to whip his Page O let our sinless Brutes sad dying moanes Stir up in Vs Offenders hearty groanes For all our sins their Plague so shall this loss To Vs become a blessing not a Cross. Lord though my fault did greatly contribute Vnto this common harm yet at thy suite This Judgment thou on others laid Let fall Sparing my goods who was a principal Preserving unto Admiration My Stock in this so great Contagion Lord as thy Mercy here was singular So let my praise the common pitch as far Transcend That so thy favours magnitude May not bring forth make great ingratitude In Me Who for thy Preservation Offer my self for an Oblation Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's gracious Providence in the seasonable quenching and preserving Eleven times four of my Houses then in my possession from being burnt
which from the middle story my vil'd heart Flamed through my Eyes Balcons and fill the highest part My mind with smokie darkness so that Flakes of Fire Indangered thence my Neighbours House yet hath not thy just Ire Good God left me thus foolishly by my own act To be burnt down but in remembrance of my firm contract To thy dear Son my Spouse thou didst bind up restrain Sathan that unclean Sp'rit the Wind that blew that Flame Yea pour'd by th' hand of faith thereon my Saviour's blood Which dampt those Fires repair'd and made thy Structure good Lord am I a Bankrupt unable to repay My Debt of Gratitude for favours every Day Deliverances from many Dangers Temporal What shall I render for these Mercies spiritual Lord I am wholly thine by right of Creation And thy Son's purchase constant preservation Wherefore accept thy own my all Let it suffice Since Soul and Body is thy living Sacrifice Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's gracious preserving of me from being Burnt in my Lodgings in Summerset House Soliloquium or Discourse DAy unto Day uttereth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth knowledge as to the constant gracious and wonderful Providences of the Lord for the preservation of his People Amongst whom to the praise and glory of his free grace be it spoken I have had a large share witness the foregoing Records and this deliverance when in the conclusion of some Hours spent alone in Fasting and Prayers and I ready to arise from my Knees and to change my Cushion for my Bed at Ten a Clock at Night I heard a great crack as of a Pistol issuing from behind the Hangings and corner of the Chamber within two Yards of me at which suddain noise I arose up and pulled back the Hangings saw a Barrel full of small-Cole all of a flame occasioned by the innocent carelesness and thrift of my Fire-maker who had cast back some live small Coales into the Tub the breaking of whose burnt Hoops gave me this timely Alarm which had it been delayed but a few Minutes I and my Servant had been a Bed and asleep and lockt up in my Bed-Chamber within that Dining-Room And the Hangings that hung over the Barrel certainly Fired together with that Room and that whole stately Structure O Lord whilst we are faithfully imployed in thy service and worship we are assuredly under thy Almighty Protection who hast promised to those that make thee their Refuge That there shall no evil befall them nor any Plague come neer their dwellings That thy Angels shall take charge of them to keep them in all their ways that they shall bear them up in their hands lest they dash their Foot against a Stone O how sweet how comfortable how incouraging to thy People is the most firm belief of the constant presence watchful and powerful assistance of thy glorious Angels whom thou hast made Ministring Spirits for the good of thy Elect As thy Servant at this time found by experience Such gracious Providences as this being most probably timed acted and discovered by an Angel as the laying of the Train and kindling of the Fire and inflaming of the Barrel might possibly be the malicious contrivance of a wicked Spirit Who as the Scriptures witness are as constantly Instruments of evil to Man-kinde although the wicked World are ignorant thereof as the others are of all good to thy Children Lord probably it was the Devils will and design that the Barrel should not have flamed forth so soon by a quarter of an Hour and then without any noise that so the Chamber being empty and we a Bed and asleep and the Hangings on Fire we might have been first certainly smothered and afterwards burnt A Roman-like Obsequie But thy All-wise providence suffered him as thou didst his Guy Faulkes to bring his Plot to an accomplishment and then ordered thy Angel thus strangely and opportunely to discover to thy greater glory his disappointment and thy Servants wonderful Salvation and serious Observation of this thy most Fatherly love care and watchfulness over me thy poor Child and Creature Blessed God and Father how hast thou through our Adoption in Christ meliorated our condition so that our greatest Enemies in all their malicious actings against us are now made but Carriers to convey thy love-tokens unto us yea all our troubles and dangers are so many choice and faith-strengthning experiences of thy Power Goodness and mercy so that now instead of fearing of them we can rejoyce and triumph in and over them And give to our selves and others a satisfying reason why thou sufferest Devils and Diabolical Men thus to act rage and persecute thy Saints when thou couldest in a moment cast them all into Hell Why thou leadest us into various Temptations afflicts us with Diseases sufferest us to be Daily incompast about with troubles and dangers when in an instant thou couldest renew and make again this Earth our Paradice Is it not O Lord as well as to exercise and brighten our Graces and to purge out our sins that in and by these Trials thou mightest also have a frequent and fit occasion to manifest thy self unto us in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ in all thy glorious Attributes of Power and Wisdome Justice and Faithfulness Love Mercy and Goodness Thus O Lord this great danger of Burning was to me the Mother of a far greater mercy thy wonderful preservation and shall now and for ever be the subject of my praise and thanks-giving which I humbly present to thy most gracious Majesty in this Memorial and the following Poem Amen The DELIVERANCE A Corolary Poem on the former Subject O Lord how aptly doth thy sacred Word compare Men unto Travellers whose toilsome Journeys are Begun even from the Womb whence natures pass they have And make some short some longer steps unto the Grave Our common home fulfilling thy Decree most just For sin That Earthly Bodies shall return to Dust But is this all 's held forth by this comparison No our Life and Way like theirs is tiresome O're Hills through Vailes now high then low through passages That cragged Woody are untrode where Ambushes Of sundry mischiefs troubles Thief-like us engage Such hath my course been Lord throughout my Pilgrimage Instance amongst the rest of my Life 's Narrative This following danger and thy loves preservative Who would have thought dead small Coals laid some yards from fire Vnused for five Hours space should as it were conspire Behind my Hangings without sight or scent of fume Or crackling me and a great Pallace to consume Or that my harmless Maid should ignorantly lay A train o're Night to burn us all before next Day By her too careless thrift in casting back some Coales Inkindled when she made my Fire Who could controle But thou O Lord this dreadful fate of causes set Within few Minutes to produce a sad effect Thou forcest the dead Barrels Hoops i' th nick of time To sound
Alarm and discover this design Else had I quickly slept in Death been smothered Consum'd as on a Roman Pile upon my Bed At which great noise which did direct my Eyes and Hand I rose with-drew the Vaile and cast the flaming brand Into my Chimny-Fire converting prayer to praise And vowes of gratefulness unto thee all my Dayes Which here I pay adding this Application That when one of the Sex first in transgression Inflam'd by some wanton Insects the Gun-Powder of Lust Barrel'd up in my Heart like that kindling dust I' th Night the Sun-set of thy Grace which Coles did lie Smothering sometimes behind the graceful Tapistry Of my Christian profession yea when that Fire With noise and Hell-assisting fury did conspire To burn and break the Hoops and Bonds of Chastity That so the Dining Room on Fire my Body suddainly My surpriz'd Soul its Guest might sleeping burn and â—lie With all her goods thy grace in this Catastrophie Then didst thou fright my Conscience by guilts Thunder-clap And raised me up with holy speed for to draw back The hangings of hypocrisie And to cast in The renew'd Fire of Zeal this Hell-like Fire of Sin And to pour on the Waters of repenting teares With Daily Prayers and Fasting which this Devil fears Casts out O Lord thy temporal deliverances Of Body have been great but thy Indulgences And Mercies to my Soul exceeds as far As doth the Heaven the Earth the light of Sun a Star For by the one thou hast spun out the slender thread Of my expiring life but by the other thou instead Of Death Eternal the reward and fruit of sin Hast giv'n me Glory everlasting Life in Him Who is my hope O that I had the thankful Tongue Of Men and Angels that I might inrich this Song Of praise for thy redoubled favours and free love Which are beyond expression yea which soar above My weak conceptions Lord accept this Widdowes Mite Because I offer all I have for it 's thy right To me for sin belongs confusion shame of Face But to thee O Lord forgiveness mercy through free grace Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's most gracious and wonderful Providence in preventing and delivering me from being Slain and from committing of Man-slaughter in my Lodgings in Sommerset-House about the Year 1647. Soliloquium or Discourse HE that dwelleth in the secret of the most High shall abide under the shaddow of the Almighty Gracious God I humbly and thankfully acknowledge that thou hast performed to me this thy promise although I come far short of fulfilling the condition For thou art no hard Master as the sloathful Servant slandered thee but the most liberal and bountiful Lord whose grace is free who gives without upbraiding and who savest us temporally spiritually and eternally for thy own Name sake Even when there is but a step betwixt Us and Death This truth was both verified and manifested when I and my Servant in my Lodgings in Somerset House were suddainly awakened out of our sweet and quiet Nights sleep about break of Day on a Summers Morning by a great noise upon my Stairs head seconded by the most forcible breaking open of my Dining Room Door though defended by two great â—olts and a strong Spring-Lock which first assault gave us only time to step out of our Beds in our Shirts to my Chamber-Door with our naked Swords and wound-up and ready-prim'd Pistols charged with Bullets against which Door without any Parly another assault was made by a kind of a Roman battering Ram which 〈◊〉 out and cast into the Flore three strong Staples the security of my Lock and Bolts The Door wide open a Person unknown to me with others following him with drawn Swords would have entred the Chamber not once answering my loud deâ— and of what they came for Whereupon they pressing upon me even to the point of my Sword I verily believed they intended to murder me and the rather because not long before reports were spread abroad of a design of massacring in one Night all the then Parliament Men in their Beds Wherefore in self-defence I presented my Pistol and struck Fire against the Brest of the Leading-man without effect which failure in all likelihood might have encouraged and provoked him and his associates to have rusht in upon us naked Men and to have hew'd us in pieces but certainly there was more with us than was against us else had not a valiant tryed Officer with some Files of Souldiers for such I understood them to be afterwards at the sight only of two Men in their Shirts been struck with such a pannick fear that they suddainly and with great speed ran back through the Dining-Room not stopping in their flight nor recollecting their spirits until they came to the bottom of my Stairs To which Stairs top I in my Shirt with the like speed pursued them where upon a second demand of their intentions and who they were the Officer told me he was sent by Order from Major General Skippon to search a House in Somerset-House Yard and to apprehend two dangerous and disaffected Persons which before they could attach were slipt out of their Beds into the Cellar of that private House which by reason of the height of that great House above that Lean too had a Cellar under the Cellar belonging to my Lodgings from whence forcing up a board of the Flore they crept up into my Cellar and from thence to my Stare-case under which they hid themselves and after our parly were there found and taken These Persons he told me he and his Souldiers pursued through the same Hole into my Cellar and Lodgings supposing all to be but one and the same House whereupon I telling him my Name and rectifying the mistake The Officer came up to the Stair-head and craved pardon for his rash and dangerous Error I returning to my Bed and he with his Prisoners the same way that he came my Door into the House Court or Quadrangle being all this time fast lockt and bolted as we left it at our going to bed O Lord how did this ignorant and innocent mistake by thy all wise permission and ordering involve me into a double danger that thou mightest redouble Mercies had these Souldiers 〈◊〉 more knowing in their actings I had been more ignorant of thine yea if I had not been in so great danger I had not been so graciously delivered Thus to the answering and satisfying of all murmurings and objections against thy Government of the World thou dost exalt and justifie thy Holiness Power Wisdom and Righteousness in bringing forth Light out of Darkness and that not only out of things casually evil as here but out of what is morally evil as in Adam's fall which thy Omnipotency could have impeded did not the conjunction and greater shining forth in the midest of this black â—oile of thy Wisdome Justice Mercy and all other thy Attributes through the darkness and
contrariety of Providences and opposition of Sin and Sathan make more for thy Glory the Chiet Just and Soveraign end of all thy Works Who but thou O Lord who art the God of Nature canst change and unnaturalize Nature So that hungry Lyons shall not devour thy Daniel Fire shall not burn thy Three Children A Whale shall not smother and concoct thy Jonah nor the fluid Sea flow over and drown thy Israel Who but thou O Lord at this time didst forbid a Sulphur Stone to spit forth Fire at the collition and motion of the wheel of my Pistol or extinguisht its sparks with Gun-Powder that thou mightest preserve my Hand from the guilt my Conscience from the trouble my Heart from the grief and my good Name from the reproach of Man-slaughter Who but thou O Lord did cause Man with naked Swords to recoil and valiant Souldiers to turn their backs and to flie from two naked Men provoking them and in part disarmed that so Friends might not act as Enemies nor pour forth the blood and destroy the lives of one another Who was it but thou Almighty Saviour that gave a right understanding betwixt us and turned our feares and dangers into a Happy deliverance and thanksgivings Which then and now accept O Lord who at this time didst mercifully prevent my friends at other times didst powerfully restrain my Enemies from taking away my life And as thy goodness hath been continued so let my praise be perpetuated in this Memorial to future Generations even till time shall be no more Amen The INVISIBLE GVARD A Corolary Poem upon the former Subject MAn's Life is wholly unsecure Vpon him dangers do attend As Shades on Substances As sure As Sparks flie up from Foes from Friends Asleep awake early and late In Sickness Health In every State Instance Loyal Mephibosheth By slandring Ziba spoil'd the ends Murders of sleeping Ishboseth And Abner by their seeming Friends Of sick Benhadad Amasa Of healthful Ammon Sisera This Axiom oft hath been prov'd true In and by me Witness this Role Full fraught with dangers old and new And this which Mercy did controle Else had I Kill'd or Killed bin Or both without malicious sin That Leaders should by Day-light take A Palace for a Tenement That Friends like Enemies should break Ope Doors not shewing their intent Assault as Foes no words exchange But Swords and Pistols was most strange But this most wonderful of all A Fire-stone struck no sparks confer Or if it did should vainly fall Into a Bed of Gun-Powder As upon Snow that Powder drie Should be more merciful than I. That Souldiers and their Officer That fear'd not thundring Cannons Crack Should flie from naked Men as 't were Afrighted with one Pistols knack That this should end without all harme Was only God's restraining Arme. O Lord though danger is sins Lot By thy Decree like Persian Law Reversless yet this Haman's Plot 'Gainst Isr'el thou dost over-awe And by assisting Providence Vs safe-guard gives in thy defence Wherefore Purin-like Feasts of Praise I will keep Daily unto Thee Who hast been gracious all my Days In Peerless Mercies unto me That all things work as saith thy Word Good unto thine I here Record Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's gracious preserving Me from the Infection of the loathsome and dangerous Disease of the small Pox Four times and of my Wife Six times when some Persons in the Houses in which we lived in were sick of it Soliloquium or Discourse AS Sin is the Distemper of the Soul so is Sickness of the Body both Maladies ending in Death the one Temporal the other Eternal As every Sickness is the sad effect of Sin so every Disease Herogliphical and Sumetomical of some Sin or other discovering as well as punishing it So the Tun-bellied Dropsie is both the figure and scourge of Drunkenness The inflaming Feaver of Fiery anger and passions The noisome French-Disease of filthy Lust and the fulsome Face ingraving and marring small Pox of Pride O how doth our righteous God humble affright and punish the proud wanton and beautiful Persons of our times by this Tyrant Who as the Lord's Bayliff having seiz'd their whole Bodies upon Execution for the Debt of Sin and baffled and fool'd their expected Rescuers their deified Physicians binds his Prisoners Hand and Foot unto their Beds Regards not their groans sighs and teares that falls from their late amorous and lascivious Eyes which he seales up with a scab singing off as Peasants do their Swine even unto baldness their curiously curled powdered and abused Hair swells up and greatens their Heads and Faces beyond all proportion even unto monstrousness Cloaths their Idoliz'd and beautiful Faces and Bodies instead of Silk and Tissues of curious paints promates and costly washes at first with Job-like Boiles and Ulcerated Carbuncles afterwards with a loathsome ugly and stinking temporary Leprosie and when that shakes off he brands and stigmatizes them with most dis-figuring Marks that so all may know that looks on them under whose Tyranny they have been As for their smiling and inticing Lips their false Tongues and Epycurian Throats the Instruments of Voice by all which they used to quaver and warble forth wanton Aires and deluding words He commands to silence and binds them by the strict and sore Bonds of outward and inward Tumors and Imposthumations to be dumb and quiet scarcely permitting them so much liberty as to send relief and nourishment to their almost-starved and languishing Mother-Nature O Lord hast thou no less than four times delivered my self and six times my second-self my dear Wife from this painful dangerous loathsome unsatiable and dis-figuring Malady even when it seized upon others of our Family Hast thou fore-told and fore-threatned as I humbly conceive this destructive Disease by thy Prophet Isaiah as thy most just Judgment for pride Chap. 3. Vers. 7. held forth in these words The Lord shall smite with a Scab the Crown of the Head of the Daughters of Zion and the Lord will discover their secret parts yea hast thou set down and ennumerated the many Instruments of Israel's pride and ours Vers. 18 19 20 21 22 23. A Scripture worthy to be seriously read and considered by the proud Gallants of both Sexes in our times Concluding thus Vers. 24. And it shall come to pass that instead of a sweet smell there shall be a stink and instead of a Girdle a Rent and instead of well-set Hair baldness and instead of a Stomacher a girding of Sack-cloth and burning instead of beauty Judgments that seemes to me to be the very lively Characters of the small Pox. O let me to whom thou mayest say as once my Saviour did to the Scribes and Pharisees If thou beest without sin throw the first Stone at the proud Offenders of these times After my humble and penitent acknowledgment of my manifold offences of this kind Bless and praise thy Name for these thy so often reiterated
it shall be corrected and repelled and at the worst be but as a dead Spider a mortified Lust. Blessed and praised be thou O Lord who only art the all-curing Physician and hast given to me thy sick Patient For thou comes to heal such Antidotes both for Body and Soul against both kinds of poisons for both which experimental Receipts and merciful Recoveries and Deliverances I praise thy Name with my whole Man and here declare thy gracious goodness to me and my dear Yoke-fellow in this and other thy Preservations to all that fear thee in and to all Ages Amen The PRESERVATIVE A Thankful Poem upon the same Subject AS Sathan is the Father of all Sin So Sin the Mother is of dangers and of death Both which he acts as he did first begin Vnder the specious shew of good on Earth Which though he hates yet under that disguise This Jugling Cheator ushers in his Lies Thus his deluded Agents falsly stile To save more than is meet a virtuous thrift And to be prodigal in things most vile A gentle spending and a liberal Gift Heresie they call new Light Idolatry A Medium of Worship and true Piety Pride neatness Swine-like drunkenness And beastly Gluttony good fellowship Deceit Trades mystery Voluptuousness Christian Refreshment Ruining suertiship A friendly Office murderous Duelling True Valour Justice right determining Lust and Lasciviousness his Factors name Love-Courting Amorousness Affection Hell's Patches Beauties spots Painting no stain But a good Art to help Complection Legends of Lies a pious fraud base Guile Good Language and a Complemental Stile As moral Crimes so often poenal ill Dangers and mischiefs like the Crocodile Lie cover'd under sensual Pleasures still As under Water till they Vs begâ—ile And ceize upon Thus Tomaris rich Tent Was Cyrus Sepulchre and Monument And Jael's Lordly Dish of cooling Drink Lull'd Sisera into a deadly sleep Thus Ammon Haman when they least did think Of danger Death did their own Funerals keep And the Whores Vassailes drink her filthy Wine Out of her Golden Cup of Jus Divine Sweet Lord thus also in the lawful Tast Of thy good Creature in a silver Cup I and my dearest might have drunk our last Had'st thou not seasoned our poisonousâ—Sup Elisha-like cast out by thy Command Its Venome as the Viper from Paul's hand In both fulfilling what thou promised At thy Ascention as of Faith a sigue That such of thine should not be poisoned Nor hurt by Serpents or by deadly Wine Blest be thy Name who by one act of Love Both strengthened Faith and thus preserv'd thy Dove Sin Lord of all things here 's most venomous As swell'd and badg'd with deadly poisonous Lusts. Lies in my Heart not dead but vigorous As was that Spider ready for to burst O let thy Grace by Oyle prefigured Preserve my Soul as that my Body did So shall I live here blest with sprit'all health And cast out from the bottome of my heart All spider-like vil'd thoughts dead which by stealth Creep in and poison would my better part Yea ever live to praise thee in that place Where sin shall be no more nor want of Grace Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's merciful preservation of some of our Family from being kill'd or hurt by a Fowling-Piece full laden and unawares discharg'd by an unskilful Person carelesly medling with the Cock thereof in the Room wherein they were diversly Imployed Soliloquium or Discourse NO Person time place or Company upon Earth is free from danger not Julius Caesar who was stab'd and slain in the Senate-House of Rome although a Person as fortunate as great in a time of Peace and in a Place that was the richest and strongest Piece of the Worlds head therefore called the Capitol and in the mid'st of an Assembly of the justest gravest wisest greatest richest and valiantest Men of the whole Earth But it may be Objected that although civil Persons times places and Senates may be unsecure yet Ecclesiastical are not so and therefore they their times of Worship and Assemblies are at the least by the papal Cannon-Laws stiled and made spiritual and priviledged their Synods and Counsels sacred and their Churches and Monasteries Sanctuaries not only for themselves but for the most flagitious Persons such as Traitors and Murderers I answer that as I deny that De Jure they have any such security or priviledge so De Facto they and others have found it otherwise to their cost instance in the three Cerberus-like Heads of the Roman Catholick Church as they falsly and nonsensically call it Gregory the XII Benedict the XIII and John the XXIV all Three Elected and acknowledged Popes at one time and deposed by the Council of Constance called by the Emperor Sigismund who there chose Martin the V. Pope in their Room which Election is the present Foundation of all the succeeding Popes and their actings which if the Papists and their Champions the Jesuits deny to be legal where will they finde a Pope Papacy and Succession ever since Peter or since John the XXIV yea all actings by and since Pope Martin the V. are illegal and therefore Null If they affirm it legal then they confess their Church had three Heads or Popes at once that the Emperor of Germany hath a right to call together when he pleases a General Council that such a General Counsel hath a right to Depose Pope or Popes And lastly that he and they did lawfully then Elect their Pope without his Concave of Cardinals But leaving them this Bone to pick I proceed in my Meditations and instance together with this as a clear proof and Example besides many others like as to the Popes the sad fate of others Jewes and Pagans slain in their holy places as of Senacherib slain by his Sons in the Temple of Niscoch his God Of Queen Athaliath attached in the Temple and afterwards slain Of Joab slain by Benajath at the Horns of the Altar I might here add many more but I conceive these are sufficient to prove my assertion and to answer the Popish objection That no Ecclesiastical Persons holy times or places are free and priviledged from danger If it be lawful that is fit according to the Proverb to compare small things with great This truth and observation that all Persons times places and Companies are subject to danger was verified to our Family where Persons of the better rank and Servants being together in the Kitchin upon several employments a Fowling-piece laden with great shot Bullets or Slugs was involuntarily discharged without the hurt of any Person it 's deadly burden being by the great force of the Powder buried as in a Grave in a large Hole in the Wall That it might be a Daily remembrancer of God's gracious providence and our deliverance and excite continually our thankfulness Lord thy Word likens Mens Mouthes to Bowes or Quivers of Arrowes which many times unwarily
one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all I beseech you by the mercies of God by the excellent effects of charity by the fruits of the spirit by the examples and commands of the Lord Jesus and the Character of his Disciples be meek and lowly and love one another So shall the Plots of Rome and Hell be prevented and all Sectaries shut their Mouths Why should it be spoken to our shame that there is not a wise Man amongst us No not one that is able to judge between his brethren But Brother asperses and declaims against Brother and that before the Antichristians Now therefore there is utterly a fault amongst you Know ye not that Revilers shall not inherit the Kingdom of God But some will answer that they have received a new light O be cautious that novelty Eclipse not truth since the last Days foretold and forewarn'd of by our Saviour are at hand wherein iniquity abounds and the love of many waxes cold hence Father against Son and Son against Father betraying one another and hating one another hence the Judgments of Famine and Pestilence Nation rising up against Nation So that the whole World seems to be on Fire before its time These Days not I but the Lord Jesus the great Prophet of his Church dictates and points out to be the time when many false Christs and Prophets or Teachers of Christianity shall arise who by their applause or excellency of parts and external holiness by which they shall shew forth as it were signs and wonders and gather a Multitude of Disciples Declaring that in such a Meeting be it in Woods or Deserts or in secret Chambers the true way of Christ is to be found deceiving as it were if possible the very Elect. Our Lord teaching us from hence how neer a similitude these new Doctrines shall have to truth and true holiness But be they as Paul or Cephas in the Church or as Angels from Heaven believe them not for as the Lightning comes out of the East and shines even to the West so shall also the glorious coming of the Son of Man be that is as I humbly conceive that his Gospel which at first broke out like Lightning in the East shall in this last Age upon the ruines and through the Clouds of spiritual Babylon dart it self and shine gloriously in our Western Churches even to the Indies that the other parallel Prophesie may be fulfilled by the subjecting and uniting Kingdomes of the Earth unto the Kingdome of the Lord and of his Christ. Let us not then be carried about with every mind of Doctrine but hold fast the Gospel delivered to us by Christ and his Apostles in the Unity of his Spirit and the bond of peace since other Foundation can no Man lay it being a sin so much as to doubt much more to defend that the Fundamentals of our Religion some of which are mentioned by the Author to the Hebrews and received by the Churches in all Ages are not to bind as de futuro as having a possibility upon new notions to be null'd or chang'd which is to make God a lyar to undermine his Church and to pull down the Pillars thereof For if the Foundations be destroyed What shall Nay what can the righteous do Wherefore my humble suit unto our Master-builders is to keep the Foundation unmoveable not permitting a Resurrection to ancient Hereticks before the time that so whatsoever Men build thereon whether it be Gold or Stubble may be brought to the Test in this Fiery Tryal Stand fast therefore Brethren in that liberty wherein Christ hath made us free not making your liberty a Cloak for maliciousness not for an occasion to the Flesh but by love serve one another judging thus of one another that he that loves his brother abides in the light but he that hates his brother whatsoever he may boast of new discoveries walks in darkness and knows not whether he goes Because that darkness hath blinded his eyes and that whatsoever seems to be religious and yet bridles not his Tongue he deceives his own heart and his Religion is vain But that I may not only perswade but offer my Mite I shall in all humility propose a medium which if found agreeable to the Word of God may through the blessing of the Almighty make up the breach and reconcile your greatest difference I conceive you both agree in these particulars That all shall be Members and have right to vote in your Churches from which Votes Women are excepted shall not only be free from just scandal that is prophaness and the impenitent practice of any known Sin but be indowed with a sufficiency of knowledge to which end since your accord in the principles of Religion I hope there will be speedily set forth and establisht one short Catechisme for Information and Examination Next in condescention to the impediments I hear it is mutually resolved that the Government of their respective Members reconciling of inferiour differences and ordering their Conversations even as far as Ordination and the Censure of Excommunication respect being had in Appeals to the Advice and Results of the Classes and Provincial Synods and saving to the Presbyterians their right be ordered by their particular Congregations Thus far we are knit together in one spiritual building and Temple of God The great difference if I understand it is the Tegument and Covering which is indeed the Ornament coupling and strength of the whole Aedifice as where shall rest as to us under the same Scepter the determinative and concluding Power the end of Appeals the regulation of that unlimited Plea and over-much extended liberty of Conscience that so we may be one as Christ and his Father are one this some of you fix in a general Assembly others limit to a particular Congregation The first pleads not only Scripture analogically but prudence for preserving union and preventing of Tumults as also antiquity from the parallel in general Counsels and Parliaments affirming that the other way hath no Grounds in Scripture since Churches were necessarily independant no State being then Christian that this way by reason that our corrupt Nature hath no check is destructive to the Unity of Religion Since according to the number of the Congregations will their Opinions as also pernicious to Common-wealths there being no Fewds so bloody and irreconcileable as those that break out about points of Faith instance in the Warres between Turke and Persian Papists and Protestants in the Lutheran Contestations and Arian Persecutions Lastly They conclude an inconsistency in this way with Relations and Callings disaffection and departure from Bed Board Families and Imployments being experimental consequences of Religious differences On the other side the contracting party affirm
Church the Body of Christ to which he hath promised his presence and spirit of truth to the end and therefore must as to each particular State or Church though not infallibly yet prudentially end and conclude by obedience either active or passive the discenting Churches whom the civil Magistrate after the Churches Excommunication is to order by Banishment or lesser punishment according as their Doctrines shall be more or less prejudicial to the State wherein they live Which since they suffer as evil doers is as to that Common-wealth a civil and necessary act of preservative Justice not an inforcing of Conscience or Persecution Thus fervently beseeching the blessing of the All-wise God upon my poor endeavours trusting that in the Bowels of love and charity I have in sincerity and plainness declared unto you the mind of Christ in all humility I conclude The unworthiest of all the Servants of the Lord Jesus J. H. FINIS Matth. 6.21 Matth. 6.20 Matth. 13.44 Hebr. 11.1 1 Cor. 9 2â— N. B. Historical Faith Ezek. 49.3 Genes 28.12 Genes 3.1 Numb 13. Revel 22.1 Psal. 75 6 7. Psal. 10.16 Psal. 82.6 Genes 41.45 Dan. 1.7 1 Sam. 18.21 Esth. â— 15 Luk. 12.32 2 Pet. 1.4 1 Ep. Joh. 3.1 Rev. 4.4 John 7.37 Esa. 7.14 Dan. 6.26 Luke 2.28 Num. 23.17 Luke 1.47 Mark 5.7 Temporary Faith Genes 4.3 Gen. 19.1 1 Sam. 10.1 1 Sam. 10.24 1 Sam. 10 10. 1 Sam. 11.15 1 Sam. 14.38 1 Sam. 15.24 1 Sam. 10.21 1 Sam. 10.27 1 Sam. 11.6 1 Sam. 28.3 1 Sam. 28.7 1 Sam. 28 1â— Acts 5.1 Psal. 94.9 Matth. 24.51 1 Cor. 2.10 Matth. 23.13 John 6.30 John 6.42 John 6.60 John 6.68 1 Cor. 1.20 Matth. 7.22 Miraculous Faith 1 Cor. 11.27 Matth. 22.39 John 4.16 1 Cor. 13.2 Matth. 10.1 Luke 10.17 John 7.6 Acts 4.30 Gen. 3.6 John 6.34 Rom. 8.7 Psal. 51.10 Ephes. 2.1 Rom. 1.20 Mat. 21.19 Mat. 7.19 Luk. 13.6 Joh. 13.1 Joh. 6.47 The means of Faith Rom. 12.3 Rom. 10.17 Ejaculation Christ the object of Faith Son of God Esay 55.3 Ejaculation Matt. 11.25 Esay 49.15 Mark 10.33 â— Canticles Ephes. 2.2 Ephes. 2.1 Ephes. 2.2 1 Joh. 4.10 Titus 3.5 Christ was born of the Virgin Mary Persecuted by Herod Luke 2.46 Mat. 4.1 Mat. 11.19 Mat. 12.24 2 Cor. 8.9 James 1.12 Psal. 110. â— Esay 43.2 John 1.14 Christs Agony in the Garden Mat. 25.39 Esay 50.6 Rom. 11.33 Mat. 26.67 John 19.1 Esay 53.5 Christs Condemnation by Pilate Psal. 84.6 Mat. 10.38 Ezek. 37.1 Rom. 5.15 Christ conceived by the Holy Ghost Rom. 5.16 Luke 15.7 Christs crucifying Ejaculation Luke 16.21 Job 16.2 Luke 19.38 Luke 23.21 Matt. 27.46 Matt. 28.42 Luke 16.31 Rom. 11.33 Ephes. 3.18 19. James 1.17 2 Tim 2.19 Of Christs Death Luke 23.34 Luke 23.46 1 Cor. 1â— 54 c. Christs burial Hosea 13.14 Mark 3.27 Christs victory over Hell Revel 20.1 Of Christs Resurrection Judg. 5.1 Christs Ascention Acts 1.11 Acts 7.56 Ezech. 47.8 Mat. 9.12 Ezek. 36.31 Mans misery by nature 1. In his mind 1 Cor. 2.14 2. In his understanding Esay 29.9 Acts 20.9 Rom. 10.8 3. In his Conscience Mark 5.2 Gen. 4.13 1 Sam. 18.10 Matt. 27.5 Revel 3.17 Matt. 13.14 In his will 2 Kings 18.3 Judges 17.6 Jam. 3.11 Jam. 1.13 The affections Gen. 1.27 Rom. 7.24 Of the disorder in the affections in particular Of Love 1 Joh. 4.19 Jerem 2 13. Contemplation Matt. 22.37 1 John 2.7 John 3.11 Of Joy In riches Men cannot joy Job 21.13 Job 27.16 Job 27.17 Nor in honours Eccles. 10.7 Nor in pleasures Job 21.12 1 Tim. 5.6 Not in wisdom 1 King 4.30 Eccl. 1.17 18. Contemplation Matt. 16.11 Psal. 51.12 Of Fear Dan. 5.6 Gen. 4.13 Mat. 27.5 Hebr. 5.7 1 Cor. 15.47 Gen. 3.8 Contemplation Psal. 2.10 114.7 Psal. 34.9 Psal. 119.110 Phil. 2.12 Rom. 11.29 Exod. 33.13 Exod. 34.6 Of the Body Of the Eyes sinfulness Gen. 3.6 Gen. 6.2 Gen. 9.22 2 Sam. 11.2 Of the Eares Acts 12.23 2 Chro 24.17 Exod. 32.1 Dan. 3.14 Matt. 27.24 1 Sam. 26.8 Prov. 7.21 Gen. 39.7 Contemplation Of the smelling Esay 3.24 Of Fasting Ezek. 16.49 Luke 12.16 Luke 16.19 Contemplation Of the Truth 2 Sam. 11.2 Contemplation Psal. 8.4 Psal. 1.4 Luke 3.17 Rom. 7.24 Luke 10.30 Ezek. 16.4 Of Christs Priestly office Gen. 1.31 Gen. 2.17 Dan. 6.12 Rom. 8.33 1 Tim. 2.5 Rom. 6.23 Psal. 37.6 Rom. 6.6 1 Cor. 15.55 Rev. 20.14 Rev. 12.10 John 5.18 Heb. 9.14 Heb. 10.21 22. Gala. 3.15 Rom. 8.2 Contemplation Rom. 10.4 Luke 23.20 (a) Heb. 5 6. (b) Exo. 30.30 (c) Heb. 9.7 (d) Heb. 9.14 (e) Heb 9.12 (f) Heb. 9.24 Heb. 1.5 Rev. 13.8 Mat. 3.17 Of Christs Intercession John 3.16 Rom. 5.19 John 2.17 Luke 13.19 Mat. 12 20. Rom. 8.26 Heb. 9.24 Heb. 7.25 Rom. 10.4 1 Cor. 1.30 John 14.6 Of Christs Satisfaction Psal. 8.4 Of Justification 1 King 19.11 Heb. 1â— 18 Verse 19. Verse 22. Verse 24. Exod. 34.7 Verse 8. Forgivenesses of Sins Psal. 32.1 1 Ep. Joh. 1.8 Mat. 6.12 Rom. 5.18 Heb. 2.15 Eph. 2.1 Rom. 5.10 Eph. 2.3 Psal. 32.1 Of imputative righteousness Gen. 1.31 Definition of imputative righteousness Exposition Proofs of our right to Christs imputative righteousness Psal. 133.2 Revel 6.11 Demonstrations from Scripture Revel 12.1 Mat. 22.11 Exod. 41.28 Gen. 41.14 Luke 15.22 Job 25.4 5 6. Luke 17.7 1 King 8.46 Esay 64.6 Luke 17.10 Luke 15.15 Rom. 8.16 17. Jerem. 33.16 1 Cor. 1.30 Rom. 10.4 General questions or objections answered 1 Quest. John 15.16 2 Quest. Mat. 21.42 Rom. 11.6 Exod. 32.12 Numb 14.16 Object â—â—m 5.18 Necessity of Justification 2 Kings 4.1 Exod. 32.11 Luke 5.20 Mat. 22.10 Rom. 7.24 Prophetical Office Mat. 5.6 Ephes. 2.20 Contemplation 2 Tim. 3.15 2 Kings 4.34 Numb 27.16 Acts 3.22 Heb. 3.3 Eph. 5.14 Joh. 5.25 Object Object Mat. 11.28 Mat. 9.13 Mat. 9.12 Luke 4.18 A DIALOGVE betwixt Christ and the Soul The Souls complaint against the mind and understanding Eph. 4.17 Christ. Joh. 1.9 John 9.39 1 Cor. 1.30 Psal. 18.28 Prov. 2.3 Eph. 2.8 Mat. 7.7 Jerem. 31.33 Luke 11.13 Soul Cant. 5.16.7.9 Against the Conscience Job 13.26 Christ. Prov. 18.14 Deut. 32.39 Jerem. 30.17 Jerem. 31.34 Esay 1.18 Colos. 1.14 Heb. 9.13 14. Soul Against hardness of heart Job 41.24 Mat. 13.15 Gen. 8.21 Gen. 6. â— Ezek. 18.30 Acts 3.19 Christ. Rom. 2.5 Acts 11.18 Ezek. 36.25 Psal. 114.8 Ezek. 36.26 27. Esay 57.15 Phil. 2.13 Col. 2.13 Rom. 9.15 Soules complaint of its unfaithful memory Psal. 46.1 Psal. 119.103 Psal. 119.16 Matth. 13.52 Jerem. 2.32 1 Kings 2.38 Luke 11.28 Deut. 6.8 9. Exod. 20.8 Jerem. 18.15 Eph. 2.12 Psal. 50.17 Job 8.13 Christ. Phil. 2.13 Rom. 8.32 Esay 49.13 Ezek. 16.60 62 63. Ezek. 20.43 John 14.26 Jerem. 31.33 Souls Complaint against her will Christ. Phil. 2.13 James 1.18 1 Cor. 1.31 Rom. 9.16 Souls complaint against her affections Against Love Mat. 22.37 Deut. 11.1 13. Prov. 8.17 1 John 2.15 John 3.16 2 Tim. 3.4 Rev. 3.16 Against Joy Rom. 4.17 John 15.11 Habac. 3.18 Cant. 1.4 Psal. 16.11 Mat.
called the Apostles Creed held forth 〈◊〉 Christ in Scripture Expressions Joh. 14.1 Joh. 10.30 1 Joh. 5.7 1 Cor. 8.5 6. verse 1. The Doctrine of the Trinity Mark 12.29 Gen. 1.1 1 Joh. 4.14 Eph 4.4 1 pet 1.2 2. Article that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God and our Lord. Joh. 14.6 Rev. 19.13 1 Joh. 1.4 3. Article as to the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary Joh. 12.36 Joh. 1.14 mat 1.20 Gal. 4.4 mat 1.23.18.25 1. ver Ro 1.3 Heb. 2.16 mat 3.17 Joh. 1.14 4. Article concerning Christ's Condemnation by Pontius Pilate his Crucifixion Death and Burial and all other sufferings in Soul and Body Joh. 6.29 mat 27.2 Luke 23.24 mat 27.26 Heb. 13.12 phil 3.8 1 Cor. 15.3 4. Rom. 4.25 Zac. 12.10 Lam. 1.12 Mat. 26.38 Luke 22.43 Mat. 27.46 Isa. 53.10 2 Cor. 5.21 Isa. 53.6 Psal. 16.10 5. Article as to Christ's Resurrection Joh. 1.12 Luke 24.34 Joh. 20.17 Psal. 68.18 Col. 2.15 6. Article Of Christs Ascention Mark 16.19 Act. 1.9 mat 28.18 Heb. 7.25 Rev. 1.7 Act. 1.11 Heb. 9.28 Act. 10.42 Joh. 5.22 Eph. 1.22 23. 7. Article Of Christ's coming to Judgment 8. Article Concerning the Holy Ghost is proved in the 1 st Article concerning the Trinity 1 Tim. 3.15 1 Cor. 12.12 13. 9. Article Concerning the Catholick Church and Communion of Saints 1 Cor. 10.16 17. 1 Cor. 12.25 Eph. 4.16 10. Article Concerning forgiveness of sins Act. 13.38 39. Act. 5.31 Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 11. Article Concerning the Resurrection of the body Joh. 11.25 26. Joh. 5.28 29. 12. Article Concerning life everlasting Joh. 10.27 28 29 Joh. 3.16 The Preface to the Decalogue or Ten Commandements Joh. 14.23 Ja. 2.20 Heb. 12.14 Jam. 1.22 Mar. 10.19 1. Commandment Exod. 20.2 3. 2. Commandment 4 5 3. Commandment 7 4. Commandment 8 9 10 5. Commandment 12 6. Commandment 13 7. Commandment 14 8. Commandment 15 9. Commandment 16 10. Commandment 17. The Conclusion of the Ten Commandments mar 12.29 30 Note that the promises and reasons annexed to some of the Commandments are omitted for brevity sake 31. mat 7 1â— The Exhortation of the Lord Jesus to the use of Gospel-Ordinances viz. mar 16.16 Joh. 3.3 1. To Baptisme 5 6. 2. To the Lord's Supper Joh. 6.54 55 56 57 35. 58. 62 63. mat 26.26 27. 28. Luke 22.19 1 Cor. 11.26 3 ly To the reading of the Scriptures Deut. 11.18.19 20 21. Rev. 1.3 Joh. 10.27 Luke 11.28 4 ly To the hearing of the Word of God preached Ja. 1.19 Rev. 3.20 Luke 8.8.22 13. 5 ly To the Meditations of the Word of God and of his works Jos. 1.8 Psal. 77.12 6 ly To Prayer in publick and private Eph. 5.17 Luke 11.2 mat 6.9 mat 7.7 Joh. 15.16 1 Joh. 5.14 phil 4.6 Jam. 1.6 mat 6.6 7 ly To Obedience to Church-Governors and Discipline Heb. 13.17 Mat. 18.15 16. 17. 18. Eph. 4.11 12. 1 Tim. 5.17 1 Tim. 3.13 The Exhortation of the Lord Jesus to Gospel-saving Graces viz. Act. 3 19· Jam. 4.9 Job 25.4 1. To Repentance Psal. 51.5 Eph. 2.3 Gen. 6.5 Rom. 7.1 Isa. 1.6 Dan. 9.5 Ezra 9.6 Rom. 3.13 Isa. 1.16 17 18. Pro. 28.13 1 Joh. 1.9 7. 1 Joh. 1.7 Mat. 11.28 Joh. 6.37 1 Sam. 12.25 Psal. 11.6 Psal 68.21 Psal. 50.22 Deut. 30.15 2. To Faith Joh. 3.33 35 36. 1 Cor. 1.30 2 Cor. 5.21 Rom. 10.4 Gal 3.13 14. Rom. 10.17 Eph. 2.8 Col. 1.23 3. To Hope 27. 1 Thes. 5.8 Heb. 6.9 Heb. 3.6 1 Joh. 3.3 1 Pet. 4 8. 1 Cor. 16 14. 4. To Charity 1 Cor. 13.1 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8 Col. 3.14 1 Tim. 1.5 Rom. 13.10 Jam. 2.8 Mat. 5.44 45. 5. To holy courage or fortitude Eph. 6.11 12. Mat. 10.28 Mar. 10.21 29. 30. 6. To Christian-Temperance 1 Cor. 9.25 26. 27. 2 Pet. 1.6 Gal. 5.22 23. 2 Pet. 1.6 7. To Holy Patience Luke 21.19 Luke 8.15 Jam. 1.4 Heb. 6.12 Jam. â— â—â— Jam. â— 10 Heb. 12.1 8. To Divine-Wisdome Mat. 16.16 Col. 1.9 10. Eph. 5.11 16. 17. Rom. 16.19 1 Cor. 3 19. Jam. â— 15 17. Jam. 1.5 6. 9. To Christian â—umility Col. 3.12 13. Prov. 15.33 Luke 14.11 Mic. 6.8 Jam. 4.6 Psal. 10.17 Job 22.29 Isa. 57.15 Mat. 11.29 10. The Exhorâ—â—tion of the Lord 〈◊〉 to several 〈◊〉 graces comâ—â—nly called the â—atitudes Mat. 5.3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. Heb. 13.4 11. To Religious â—â—astity 1 Cor. 6.18 19 20 1 Cor. 6.15 16 17 1 Thes. 4.3 4 5. Mat. 5.27 2â— Prov. 6.29 Hos. 4.11 Prov. 6.26 Prov. 23.27 Prov. 2.18 Prov. 7.25 26 27 Prov. 3.19 Eph. 5.5 12. To Christian Justice and Righteousness Psal. 106.3 Psal. 4.5 Psal 11.7 Isa. 32.17 Prov. 21.21 Rom. 6.13 1 Joh. 3.7 10 2 Pet. 2.12 13. 1 Cor. 6.9 Mat. 13.43 Dan. 12.3 â— To Gospel-â—â—â—â—rity uprightâ—â— and truth Mat. 5.48 Prov. 10.9 Pro 28.18 Psal. 11.7 Jeh 24.14 Pro. 11.3 Psal. 97.11 Job 8.13 Psal 119.29 Eph. 4.25 Psal. 31.5 4 ly To Holy â—â—â—â—kfulness and 〈◊〉 of God Eph. 5.20 Psal. 50.23 Heb. 13.15 1 Tim. 4.4 Psal. 147.10 â— The Exhortation 〈◊〉 the Lord Jesus 〈◊〉 Divine affectiâ—â—s viz. Joh. 15.11 Joh. 16.20 22 1. To Holy Joy and delight Rom. 14.17 Gal. 5.22 23. Neh. 8.10 Psal. 33.1 Phil. 4.4 Psal. 37.4 119.143 Rom. 15.13 2. To filial fear of God Iâ—a 8.13 14. Pro. 23.17 Pro. 1.7 Prov. 10 27. Prov. 22.4 Phil. 2.12 2 Cor. 78 1. Rom. 8.15 Isa. 8.12 1 Joh. 4.18 Rom. 8.15 Phil. 4.18 3. To holy zeal and anger Tit. 2.14 Psal. 69.9 Joh. 2.17 Psal. 119.139 Num. 25.17 Eph. 4.26 Gen. 30.2 Mat. 5.22 4. To holy hatred Psal. 97.10 Psal. 139.21 22. Pro. 8.36 Note the Exhortation to godly love and sorrow are to be found in the foregoing Exhortations to repentance and charity The Preface to the Dehortations of the Lord Jesus from several prinâ—ipal Vices Gal. 5.16 17 18 19 20 21. The Dehortations â—â—rst from unbelief Heb. 3.12 Mat. 16.16 Heb. 2.1 2. 3. 4. Luke 12.46 2. From Atheisme â—he first branch â—f unbelief Psal 14.1 Zeph. 1.12 3. From Polutheims or having more Gods than one the 2 d. Br. unbelief Exod. 22.20 Exod. 20.3 4. From Idolatry the 3 d. Br. of unbelief Lev. 26.1 5. From Blasphemy the 4. Br. of unbelief Lev. 24.16 6. From Prophaneness the 5. B. Lev. 18.21 7. From Sacriledge the 6. Br. Prov. 22.25 8. From hypocrisie the 7. Br. Job 13.16 Job 8.13 Job 15.34 Job 27.8 9. From Sabbath-breaking the 8. Bra. Isa. 58.13 14. Lev. 19.13 10. From Superstition the 9 th Br. of unbelief Act. 17.22 Joh. 15.14 Deut. 4.2 Psal. 119.104 11. From Lukewarmness the 10 th Branch Rev. 3.15 16 12. From hard-heartedness the 11. Branch Pro. 28.13 14. Num. 15.30 13. From presumptuous sinning the 12. Branch Deut. 17.12 Psal. 19.13 14. From sinful swearing the 13. Branch Exo. 20.7 Mat. 5.37 15. From Incorrigibleness the 14. Branch A Preface to the dehortation against despair Prov. 29.10
upwards towards thee and rays down-wards amongst my Brethren Then shall thy will be done by me on Earth as it is done in Heaven The ground and occasion of all true joy is either assured hope or a present fruition of some extraordinary benefit Now no natural Man can be said to possess this affection aright as being deficient in the ground thereof Sin making him uncapable to receive any thing as a blessing or benefit either from God or Man 'T is true wicked Men spend their Days in Wealth heaping up silver as the dust and preparing Rayment as the Clay But observe their riches cannot be properly tearmed their goods These may possess treasures but shall never enjoy them For The innocent shall divide his Silver and the just shall put on his Rayment It 's as certain that the wicked walk on every side when the vilest Men are exalted That Servants ride on Horse-back and Princes walk as Servants upon Earth But note also that honour is to them as the Hebrew word signifies weight heaviness not rejoycing producing as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports Fear which excludes joy God giving worldly Men preferments Non ut honoraret sed ut onoraret Have they not pleasures also Yes verily if we understand them according to their acception or Etymology that is things pleasing them Look upon the description of them in Job drawn to the life and we shall view them Taking the Tymbrell and Harp and rejoycing at the sound of the Organ This their pleasure to be bold with that word pleasure that it may be the more bold with them is a pleasure wherein things seem what they are not The word delight me-thinks is very significant teaching us that true pleasure only springs from that true light and only doth give light life and joy to the Soul That so empty are all voluptuaries of these ingredients that I may say of them as St. Paul of the wanton Widdows They that live in pleasure are dead whilst they live Now death excludes joy therefore it is impossible that Man so dead should rejoyce Lastly To silence all Objections and to conclude the Earthly minded Man is the only melancholy Man The very subject and object of Lamentation Take the height and learn the nature of those that blaze like meteors being placed in the highest region of carnal Men I mean those that are second Adams in the knowledge of the Metaphysicks and both Philosophers Machivels in Policy and Solomons in the generality of humane Learning and see what they are But least it should seem presumption in thee O my Soul to censure or detract from such shining Lamps of the World Let the King of Israel who excell'd in wisdome all the Children of the East Country and all the wisdome of Egypt for he was wiser then all Men give up his experimental judgment proving by an undeniable argument a Majore ad minus what I formerly layed as my ground That no natural Man can possess a genuine joy Hear his own words I gave my Heart to know wisdome and to know madness and folly I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit For in much wisdome is much grief and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow O gracious Creator with what a deluge of misery is wretched Man over-whelmed In how deep an abyss of sorrow is he plunged Cannot riches honours pleasures wisdome the content and compleatment of the whole Worlds felicity excite or beget one true smile of joy in the Soul Nay do they not with Man stray from the end of their Creation administring instead of sollace vexation and infelicity O who but Man hath ruin'd Man who but himself is the Thief and betrayer of himself what occasioned the parting of this good from the Creature but the departing of Man from thee his Creator O thou In whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for ever more Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation that in thy light I may see light Then shall those streams of gladness accompany thy many benefits and continually and plentifully flow into my Soul when to others they shall be dryed up as being separated from thee the Fountain Be thou my Sun and let thy blessings as so many beames proceeding from thee irradiate and rejoyce my Soul that so I may see thee in them and them in thee and by such a double aspect of thee be moved to give a double praise unto thee of Glory in thy self of mercy to my Soul Fear is now become a continual Palsey of the Soul an Earth-quake of the Body The object of it is commonly either some eminent danger or unresistable force in a Superiour particularly apprehended with such a fear as did the Creatures observe Man before his own hands cancelled his large Pattent of Dominion And with the same affection though much more enlarged and in a far greater measure as looking through the perspective of reason doth natural Man adore and tremble at the feet of his Creator armed with the thunder of Omnipotency and breast-plate of Righteousness crown'd with Majesty and arrayed with Glory Who can behold the Lord God thus and live Let Belshazar's thoughts Cain's words and Judas last action express the terrour of those Souls that thus apprehend God Look upon the preying Claws of the Lion the Stubble in the midst of the Furnace the Malefactor quaking at the Bar of Justice and in them my Soul view thy fearfull estate by nature If any Soul as a sinner was ever endowed with so perfect an Organ as it could look abroad upon God as a Judge or discover one smile in the face of anger or mercy in the midst of incensed justice surely the first and second Adam would have done it one of which had the strength of nature the other of grace But alass even the Son of God when in the place of sinfull Man he stood before the Justice of God feared Witness the Apostle witness his exclamation though his astonishment and fear were temporary the wickeds eternal His occasioned by a recess of the Divinity and paternal comforts beyond the reach of his present sence Theirs is a cursed effect of sin and utter privation of that infused love from God that begets a love to God which indeed is the very form of a filial fear If then the second Adam which came from Heaven having put on our transgressions conceived that God had forsaken him No marvail if the first Adam of the Earth Earthy together with his off-spring personally and by nature sinful forsake and hide themselves from God flying from him to whom only they should flie fearing him as a Judge whom they should reverence as a Father perfect love casting out fear O my God! is there a necessity of fear must all the Creatures tremble before thee
as being all witnesses externally or internally of thy essential and judicial power Is the fear of the Lord the beginning of wisdome and will he with-hold no good thing from him that fears him O let my Soul bear a comfortable part in this affection Let my flesh tremble for fear of thee because thy Creature and let my heart be enlarged in love towards thee because thy Son Let my manifold sins humble me as beholding thee a righteous Judge and let my faith raise me as apprehending thee a merciful Saviour Let me work out my salvation with fear and trembling as considering my weakness and mutability and let me press towards the mark with confidence and assurance as believing thy free election omnipotency and immutability Lord if thou dost know me by name if I also have found grace in thy sight shew me now thy way how to know and see thee There is a place by thee O do unto me as thou didst unto Moses set me upon a Rock even my Rock Christ Jesus that so my life being hid in him through the Clists his wounds I may see thy glory passing by and hear and apply this thy loving Proclamation The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquities transgressions and sins I have now made a short progress through the Soul once a Paradice as being watered every where with grace even as the Garden of the Lord. But now being like Sodom and Gomorrah which the Lord destroyed even a furnace of brimstone and a vail of tears It now remains that I take a general view of the Body which is as it were the superficies of Man the Pallace the Shell the Garment of the Soul That so having observed their union in sin aswell as in nature from the joynt and voluntary acquired curse of imperfection I may be the more inlarged to magnifie Gods free gift of perfection As the Lord in the Creation made Man after his own Image as concerning the Soul that he might be capable of Divine Visions and enjoy a communion with him So also he made Man like himself as considering the Body in respect of Dominion and Majesty no Creature being like God but himself That according to the present Commandement one Man might love another as himself such a similitude of parts inducing a communion of hearts love being the fulfilling of the Law since the fall Because there needed not Law when love was perfect before the fall the defect of the one necessitating the constitution of the other Every member of the Body in the state of innocency being made willing and ready to perform all good actions respecting either God or Man by the quickning and agitating Power of this predominant affection in the Soul But what have I now to do with the state of Innocency that am now discoursing of Rebellion Our self-love in Adam hath depraved us of that true love which seated in the Soul moves the Body to act any goodness Of which miserable loss of ours that we may be more sensible it is necessary that as the Souls so the Bodies defects be particularly meditated on The curse and judgment of the Body is that it should be a ready instrument to execute the sinfull commands of the Soul these two parts constituting Man being as it were Master and Servant Husband and Wife Yet observe as in the happiest unions amongst us we shall finde that though the Nobler Sex hath the Superiority and Power of Rule yet so prevalent is the nature of conjugal love that it sweetly allures the superintendents will to joyn issue in many actions by that which is subjected So in Man though the Soul be the Head the Monarch yet by reason of the neer conjunction the Body oftentimes inclines the Soul to be active according to its disposition making good that Phylosophical maxime Mores animi sequuntur temperamentum corporis By this it appears that the Body is not only instrumentally but also in a kind potentially evil since the Fall being then changed in an instant of time from its beauty to deformity from its perfect composition which was equal ad pondus to an unequal mixture of the Elements and humours Hence followed termination of life millions of Diseases and Death the malady of Diseases Hence the necessity of daily nourishment and the peccancy and abounding of humours descryed in the four Complexions and those excess aided by the constant bent of nature to do ill do cause that aptness and proclivity of several Men to particular Vices as the cholerick to malice blood and anger the melancholy to desperation and discontent the sanguine to lust the flegmatick to sloath and idleness In this cursed depravation of our erring nature the sences which are the Bodies Pentarchie have no small proportion For what is the Eye the seat of the optick faculties but an open Window apt to give entrance to theevish lusts A two-leaved Door prepared by treacherous nature to receive in deadly Enemies The life of Man would be far calmer did not these riâ—ts let in tempests of pride and vanity The presumptuous opening of these made Eve open her hands to receive her mouth to taste the forbidden fruit For when the Woman saw that the Tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the Eyes she took off the fruit thereof and did eat Mark here what assistance this sence gives to the temptation Had not the Sons of God made their Eyes Flood-gates to let in the deceitful beauty of the Daughters of Men an Idolatrous union could not so soon have procured a dis-union from God which moved the Lord to an effective repentance changing the Globe of Earth into an Orb of Water Ham's mocking and curse proceeded from a carnal discovery Sem and Japhets blessing from a dutifull and willing blindness Lastly Davids heart had never been his concupiscencies Captive had not Bathsheba bathed in his Eyes aswell as in the Fountain O thou which illuminates Mans darkness and hast the over-sight of my sight suffer not that sence which thou hast made to give my Body light to be the in-let of my Souls obscurity But if I cannot see but I must sin Lord let me cease to see carnally and be enabled to see spiritually that so the one may be swallowed up in the Vision of the other In the next place what are the Eares but the roads of Blasphemy the Labyrinths of obscenity an open passage to the mind through which Traytors as well as true subjects pass without examination or controulment Proud Herod had never been a God in heart had not he willingly consented to be one in Eare. Had not Joash hearkned to the Princes of Judah when they made obeysance unto him he had never left the house of the Lord and served Groves and Idols Had Aaron heard the People as
of the Lord is Being wise unto that which is good but simple concerning evil For the wisdome of the World is foolishness with God and 't is earthlie sensual and devillish But the wisdome that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie Wherefore if any of you lack wisdome let him ask of God which giveth to all Men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given you but let him ask in faith nothing wavering Put on humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any Man hath a quarrel against any even as I have forgiven you so do ye For before honour is humility And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted What doth the Lord require of you but to do justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with your God For God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble Yea I will hear the desire of the humble And although I inhabit Eternity I will dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit Wherefore learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall finde rest unto your Souls Blessed are you that are poor in spirit for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven That mourn for you shall be comforted That are meek for you shall inherit the Earth That hunger and thirst after righteousness for you shall be filled Blessed are you that are merciful for you shall obtain mercy That are pure in heart for you shall see God That are peace-makers for you shall be called the Children of God Blessed are you that are persecuted for righteousness sake for yours is the Kingdome of Heaven Blessed are you when Men shall revile you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Marriage is honourable in all and the Bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Wherefore flee Fornication every sin that a Man doth is without the body But he that committeth Fornication finneth against his own body Know you not that your bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God anâ— you are not your own For you are bougâ—â— with a price Therefore glorifie God in yoâ—â— bodies and spirits which are Gods Also 〈◊〉 you not my Members Will you then take 〈◊〉 Members and make them the Members of 〈◊〉 Harlot God forbid What know you 〈◊〉 that he that is joyned to an Harlot is 〈◊〉 body For two saith he shall be one Flesh But he that is joyned unto me is one spirit This is the will of God even your sanctificaâ—tion that you should abstain from fornication And that every one of you should know 〈◊〉 to possess his Vessel in sanctification anâ— honour not in the lust of concupiscence as the Gentiles which know not God Ye 〈◊〉 heard that it was said by them of old 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not commit Adultery But I say 〈◊〉 to you whosoever looketh on a Woman to 〈◊〉 after her hath committed Adultery with 〈◊〉 already in his heart And whosoever toucheth another Man's Wife shall not be innocent Whoredome and Wine and new Wine takâ— away the heart and by means of a 〈◊〉 Woman a Man is brought to a piece of breâ—â— and the Adulteress will hunt for the precâ—â—â— life An Whore is a deep ditch and a straâ—â—â— Woman is a narrow Pit Her House inclinâ—â— unto death and her path unto the dead Lâ—â— not your heart incline to her ways go not stray in her paths for she hath cast down 〈◊〉 wounded yea many strong Men have beâ—â— slain by her her House is the way to Hell gâ—â—ing down to the Chambers of death 〈◊〉 that go unto her return again neither takâ— they hold of the path of life Know this thereâ—fore that no Whoremonger nor unclean Person nor covetous Man who is an Idolater hath any Inheritance in the Kingdome of God Blessed are ye that keep Judgment and thaâ— do righteousness at all times Offer to God thâ— sacrifices of righteousness and put your trusâ— in the Lord For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect thereof quietness and assurance for ever He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life righteousness and honour Therefore yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as Instruments of righteousness unto God For he that doth righteousness is righteous even as I am righteous but whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God And shall utterly perish in their own corruptions and receive the reward of unrighteousness and shall not inherit the Kingdome of God But the righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of my Father And they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect For he that walketh uprightly walketh surely and shall be saved For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright Fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth For the integrity of the upright shall guid them Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart But the hope of the hypocrite shall perish Remove from you the way of lying and let every one speak truth to his Neighbour For I am the Lord God of truth Give thanks for all things to God the Father in my name For he that offereth praise glorifieth me By me therefore offer the sacrifice of praise continually that is the fruit of your lips For every Creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving Praise ye therefore the Lord for it is good to sing praises to your God for it is pleasant and praise is comely These things have I spoken to you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full Verily verily I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament but the World shall rejoyce but your sorrow shall be turned into Joy and your Joy no Man taketh from you For the Kingdome of God is not meaâ— and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Yea the fruit of my Spirit is love joy and
peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no Law The joy of the Lord is your strength Therefore rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright Rejoyce in the Lord always again I say rejoyce Delight your selves also in the Lord and let his Commandements be your delights and he shall give you the desires of your heart Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dream and he shall be unto you for a Sanctuary Be ye in the fear of the Lord all the day long For it is the beginning of knowledge a Fountain of life to depart from the snares of death Yea by the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life Work out therefore your own salvation with fear and trembling perfecting holiness in the fear of God Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear Therefore fear not their fear for perfect love casteth out such fear But ye have received the spirit of Adoption whereby ye cry Abba Father It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing for I gave my self for you that I might redeem you from all iniquity and purifie unto my self a peculiar People zealous of good works Let therefore after my example and David's the zeal of my House eat you up and consume you And be like Phineas who was zealous for his God Be angry for sin as Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel but sin not Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath For whoso is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of Judgment Ye that love the Lord hate evil yea they hate those that hate me with a perfect hatred All that hate me love death Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the Flesh For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would But if ye be led by the Spirit ye are not under the Law Now the works of the Flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murthers drunkenness revellings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Take heed Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God He that believeth not shall be damned Therefore ye ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that ye have heard lest at any time ye should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall ye escape if you neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by Me the Lord and was confirmed unto you by them that heard Me God also bearing them witness both with signes and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will Take heed that your portion be not among the Unbelievers in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone Nor say with the Fool in your heart there is no God and the Lord will not do good neither will he do evil He that sacrificeth or gives worship unto any God save unto the Lord only he shall be utterly destroyed You shall have no other Gods before me Ye shall make you no Idols nor graven Images neither shall you set up any Image of them in your Land to bow down unto it For I am the Lord your God He that blasphemeth the Name of the Lord shall surely be put to death all the Congregation shall stone him Thou shalt not prophane the Name of thy God I am the Lord. It is a snare to the Man which devoureth that which is holy and after vowes to make inquiry An Hypocrite shall not come before God His hope shall perish The Congregation of the Hypocrites shall be desolate For what is the hope of an Hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his Soul If you turn away your Feet from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my Holy Day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shall honour him not doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasure nor speaking your own words Then shall you delight your selves in the Lord and I will give you to ride upon the high places of the Earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob my Servant for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary I am the Lord. I conceive that in all things some are superstitious therefore ye are my friends if ye do what I command you Ye shall not add unto the word that I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it that ye may keep the Commandements of the Lord your God which I command you But shall with my Servant David hate every false way I know there are many that are neither cold nor hot and I will spue them out of my mouth He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Happy is the Man that feareth always but he that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischief The Soul that doth ought presumptuously the same reproacheth the Lord and that soul shall be cut off from his People As also the Man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken to the Priest that standeth to minister before the Lord your God or unto the Judge even that Man shall die Wherefore pray with my Servant David Lord keep back thy Servants from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over us so shall you be innocent from the great Transgression Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain Let your communication be Yea yea Nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil He that being often reproved hardneth his Neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his Servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him
and Night else I would not have lost my sleep nor travelled all Night only to see such a transitory delight as a Horse Race where usually our precious time our wisdom and our Moneys run faster away from us than our Horses The night of Ignorance and the Moon-shine of Unsanctified Reason is of all times most dangerous to Youthful Travellers who when they dream that they are galloping on the palfrey of Pleasure towards Paradice are before they so much as think of it upon the edge yea often fall head-long into that bottomless Pit of Hell Lord thy Word saith It is not good for a Man to be alone yet Experience teaches me also that Companions in sinful Vanities are great Incendiaries Thy merciful Providence Lord at this time mad'st my Companion in Vanity the Instrument of this great Deliverance and also made thy Word good for had not my friend whose Elder Years and Experience gave him knowledge of the way and danger even in that instant of time cried out and stopt my career I had unrecoverably fallen both Horse and Man into a deep and horrible Pit even into Death Wherefore dear Lord let me hence-forth never be alone but let a truly enlightned Conscience which is my best and intimate Friend be alwayes present with me especially in the Night of Temptation to fore-warn me from falling into the dangerous Pit of Sin which to all thine is the Figure as well as the deserver of the bottomless Gulph of Hell Amen The PIT Ejaculation or Hymn on the former Subject LOrd in this Night-peece there is drawn to Life The Day-peece of our Youth wherein most rife It is for Vs to travel in the Night Of Ignorance and by the Moon-shine light Of our unhallowed reason After Sin And Pleasures till we fall are taken in Their Gulph and snares how oft in Holy Writ Is Death Hell and Affliction call'd a Pit Yea every Sin especially a Whore Which Man and Beast Soul Body doth devour What cause have I that in my Youthful Days Have scap't these dangers for to render praise To Thee Preserver of Body and Soul From Death Hell trouble and from Sins controul Thou went the Voice behind me that cryed stay Avoid each sinful Pit This is the way Conscience thou also gav'st me to fore-warn Me as a trusty Friend of every harm Wherefore I offer Soul and Body both A living Sacrifice to thee by Oath Covenanting for to serve Thee whil'st I live That doest new Life from Sin and danger give ARGUMENT Vpon God's merciful deliverance of me in Three great dangers of Drowning twice upon the River of Thames and a third time in Rutland when being a fishing alone I slipt from off a Tree into a River Soliloquium or Discourse O Incomprehensible Creator and loving Father how delightfully ravishing and comfortably supporting is the Meditation and experimental knowledge of thy gracious Omnipresence to thy Children whereas the thought and belief of it to the wicked thy Enemies is most terrible for to all such our God is a consuming Fire O Lord thou art not only the God of the Mountains and of the Vallies of the Earth but of the Rivers also and hast been mercifully present to deliver and preserve me as thou didst thy Servant David and Paul in Perils of Land and in Perils of Water else had I sunk down into the deep Waters Yea the Floods had gone over my Head and Soul as well as in these three dangers they fearfully washt my Body and Cloaths In the two distresses upon the Thames when the Water-men were all at a non-plus thy only powerful providence preserv'd steer'd and rowed me into safety In the third when my own Feet slipt and betrayed me and the Tree I held by broke and fail'd me thy Hand alone saved and drew me out of a watry muddy and perilsome Pit If every lesser mercy O Lord calls for a tribute of praise how much more such as these which are thy so suddain and opportune reprieves from Death since it is a truth although spoken by the Father of lies Skin for skin and all that a Man hath will he give for his life Wherefore since our lives preservation is the greatest corporal mercy open thou my Lips O Lord and my Mouth shall shew forth in these Lines yea sing forth thy praise for three so great deliverances in this following Psalm of Thanksgiving The TEMPEST Ejaculation or Hymn on the former Subject NOt humane Courage Wisdome did direct To use or build Boats Ships The Architect Of these our floating Chariots was the Lord Who fram'd the Earth Heavens he by his word To Noah first i' th Ark a Pattern drew Vnparallel'd that we might it renew In little which is now so often done That in one first bold Drake durst like the Sun Incircle Earth and Seas live and lie Within an Intch of Death and yet not die Vpon a spawn of one of these I plow'd The back of Themasies when loe aloud The Wind beats up a charge on Sins old Jar Retwixt these Elements Renews the War I interpos'd by chance these Combitants As strangers often fall into made Rants By which rash act the force and strokes I bore Of both Maâ—gre two seconds arm'd with Oares Who spent and wearied gave up to the Wind My wooden Fort who entring us to bind And drive along Thames jealous grew Of such bold Seasures claim'd us as her dew And enters with a troop of Waves our Hull Erects her watry Streamers fills us full With churlish Billowes ordering us to lie In her deep muddy Dungeon till we die The Wind inrag'd with this affront us tore From out her Bands and drove us to the shore Thereby declaring the third Elements right To us her Subjects as it were in spightâ— Thus far I take a Poet's liberty To shaddow forth my danger Now unty O Lord my Sailes the affections of my Soul That fill'd with thy free spirit without controle Of an unthankful calme I may lanch forth Into thy Sea of Mercy praise thy worth O Lord my Soul iâ—barkt in Flesh sailes in Continually a Sea of Lust and Sin On which the Prince of th' Aire that evil spright Blowes raiseth fearful Stormes by Day by Night Filling the Sailes of my Affections With evil Aires raising my Passions Like swelling Billowes sometimes watry Waves Of Worldly sorrow fills me then the braves Of Earthly joyes o're lades me till a Train Led by mad Anger casts them out again Next in the Whirl pool of sad doubts and fears My Bark is whirl'd about neer drown'd with tears But if a calme succeeds these stormes then he Sends forth his Sirens Women-like to me His Tritons â—errâ—ne Pleasures and Delights That harkning to their Songs and Charms I might In such security run foule upon The shelves of Lust call'd Love Presumption And Prides high Rocks or if I take not care Be swallowed up