such things declare plainly that they seek a countrey XLIX Further there from the story of the Woman of Canaan who acted faith on Christ for the cure of her daughter whereupon Christ said unto her O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee as thou willest and immediately her daughter was made whole He infers that Saints should not have slight and superficial thoughts of these outward mercies but should know these mercies come or stream from the same fountain as spiritual mercies do and can we think that sweet and sowr water come from the same fountain Oh get your hearts into an admiring spiritual praising frame for outward mercies Upon which he put this Question What is the reason that Saints find it such an hard thing for them to get their hearts into a praising frame for the receit of mercies meerly external Ans First Examine thy soul whether thou dost not set thine heart too much upon some external mercy as learning parts estate and this perhaps may be the cause why God doth not spiritualize thine heart in the reception of that food and health thou hast And here we may allude to a place of Scripture If then thou regardest iniquity in thine heart the Lord will not hear thy prayer So if thou dost idolize one creature too much God in punishing of thee will not raise thine heart to praise him for another mercy Secondly Another reason may be because thou hast not studied Christ in such mercies so as to acknowledg thou art made partaker of them by his procurement Thirdly Because thou hast not constantly liv'd upon God for the giving of them in and if God should keep some of them from thee thou couldst praise God as well as for the giving of them to thee being not regardful of thy dependance upon him for all thou hast Fourthly Examine your selves whether or no you pray'd for these mercies which you now receive and for which you find your soul indispos'd to thankefulness Assure your selves there is no greater motive to a mans thankefulness to God than when he looks upon mercies given in as a fruit of prayer Of this you may have an instance Rom. 1.8 9 10. saith Paul there I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the world And what is the reason Vers 9 10. For God is my witness whom I serve in my spirit in the Gospel of his Son that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers making request c. L. As he had early impressions upon his heart to Sabbath-sanctification so they continued to the last For several years as some of his nearest Relatives have observ'd it was his usual practise when he rose out of his bed on the Lords-days in the mornings with a cheerful heart and voice to sing a Psalm or some part of it or spiritual Hymn for the putting of himself into a spiritual frame for the work of the day or to repeat those eucharistical expressions or salutations of the heavenly host recorded Luke 2.14 Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good-will towardmen By this means his spirit was much rais'd and â—e shew'd himself not less zealous for the well-performance of the Lords work than he then was for the due sanctifying of the Lords-day not only in the Congregation but in his Family and amongst his Friends For hearing some of them on that blessed day talking about worldly matters he fairly rebuk'd them with kindness saying John when in the Isle of Patmos was in the spirit on the Lords-day He had acquainted us in his experiments on Saturday night the middle of June 1651. when before he went to bed he did by the spirit exceedingly heighten the free-grace of God to him of a dream of his saith he there I dreamed that some Scholars were playing at Ninepins in our Chappel on the Sabbath-day My thought when I saw them Oh! how was my spirit moved I ran amongst them kick'd them down and said Hath England lost so much blood for such sins and will you take no warning And this I utter'd very affectionately Such dreams as these lik'd me well and from thence I often gathered the frame of my spirit On a Sabbath sometime after this he records I was not in the day in so spiritual a frame as I desired my thought mine heart knew little of God which I was desirous to have been my trouble but towards the evening reading Gal. 4.9 But now that ye have known God or rather are known of God c. How kindly did that place work on me as eye-salve to my faith as fire to my love The word was this or rather being known of God It seems that was the precious word which did rest so sweetly upon the heart and so deeply affect this choice Servant of the Lord on the Lords-day when he us'd to have his heart greatly rais'd in singing of Psalms in his family and would say to his Wife and Relatives Do not you find a sweetness in this day Oh! certainly it is the sweetest day in all the week LI. In all his Relations he was a man greatly beloved and singularly useful by prayer counsel and various other ways of doing them good We have him on Feb. 25. 1652. recording an experiment which his Relatives had to his dying-day an abundant proof of His own words are At morning mine heart was melted and so at evening in a special manner Ch how evidently God made out my faith to me both for my self and others especially for our family and my other Christian friends and the Church in general for bringing peace to her Verily of a truth the spirit help'd me in that prayer I was much broken in heart and had a deep sense of the love of God A little after he adds I was much in melting humility let it be one of the evidences of thy Saintship for I never saw humility more apparent before Oh! praise thou God and never cease One of his nearest Relatives remembers he would often say in self abasement If it were possible I could do as much work for God as any man did upon earth I would not care whether it were known there were such a man as I am in the world So little regard had he to the applause of men in what he did and so little regard had he to the rewards of men that when some had told him of some small presents that such and such neighbours had presented to some of his brethren in the Ministry and thereupon asked him Whether they had been with him He answered no And subjoyn'd he was not sorry he was pass'd by in that way saying I am heartily glad I had not their presents so that I might receive my reward from my Master For I am never better pleased than to think after I have done his work that Jesus Christ hath all my reward in reversion for me yea and he would
the Presbytery and Prayer in a great Congregation at St. Mary-Axe Church London like a good Husband-man as he was careful when he had sown his seed with diligence in Preaching of the Word to see how it sprang up so he was to prepare the ground for the receiving of it by Catechizing his people which he was very zealous to carry on successfully as you may see by the Epistle before the short Catechism he recommended in the words he then printed To all the Inhabitants of the Parish of Newington-Butts Grace and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ My dear Parishioners GOD is my witness how the Salvation of your never-dying Souls is desired by me If I could not have compassionated you as men and women drawing near to that Tribunal where you shall within these few days receive your final sentence either to everlasting Happiness or Torment I had never been so earnest and importunate with you in my Pulpit for your hearty entertainment of the Lord Jesus in a sincere obedience to his Laws and unfeigned love of his person and benefits as the only way to eternal life And if the same love and tenderness had not continued in me I would never have ventured upon this toylsome laborious work of sending for you family by family to instruct you in the knowledg of that Jesus Christ through whom only you expect to find salvation If God shall be pleased to make you as willing a people to learn as he hath made me willing to spend and be spent in this service of teaching you I shall have cause to praise him to my dying day The God and Father of our Lord Jesus perswade your heart to receive his teachings of you in your Ministers that you may not shut the knowledg of himself in the Gospel out of your doors which will prove of more sad and dreadful consequence to your Souls than you imagine Amen So prays one that unfeignedly loves you and that is willing to sacrifice health strength ease and all I have in the service of your Souls Thomas Wadsworth AT the end of the Catechism he adjoyn'd an Admonition I have here presented you but with a few things to commend to your memories but if through age or other weaknesses some of you cannot get this little without book let me desire you to perfect your selves in the Creed the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments But however if you are Parents or Masters and Mistresses of families let me entreat you to command your Children and Servants to get the rest and to hear them say it once or twice a week you may make it part of your Lords-days work and adjoyn it to your Praying Reading or Repetition of what you heard when you come home Having laboured much in this and other ways with great success to reduce the Inhabitants of that great Parish from their disorderly living to the obedience of the Gospel After a profession of their faith Printed singly after the example of the Ministers in the Worcester-shire Association he engag'd those instructed who were willing to joyn in all Ordinances to signifie in these words I do consent to be a member of the particular Church of Christ at Newington-Butts whereof Thomas Wadsworth is Teacher and Overseer and to submit to his Teaching and Ministerial guidance and oversight according to Gods word and to hold communion with that Church in the publick worshipping of God and to submit to the brotherly admonition of fellow-members that so we may be built up in knowledg and holiness and may the better maintain our obedience to Christ and the welfare of this society and hereby may the more please and glorifie God XLI You see what pains and cost he was at for the good of the Souls under his Charge at Newington where you had before from his Hearers in Mr. Baxters Preface to his Two last Sermons a more particular account of his most exemplary and unwearied industry in his Ministerial-office And then on the Lords day in his own family when his great work was over in the publick Congregation he us'd to have Sermons repeated and he himself prayed and Sung Psalms with them yea and being well instructed of his Lord and Master who knew how to speak a word in season to him that is weary and remembring the Apostles charge for Preaching the Word 2 Tim. 4.2 to be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine He did in a time of an extraordinary long Frost when poor Watermen were sorely put to it for a subsistence set up an Expository-Lecture for four or five mornings in a week at least two months together When it pleased God to manifest his special presence with him in this seasonable work for it prov'd the means of turning several from their evil ways unto God and some who had liv'd loosely before can to this day with humility and thankfulness testifie that a work of grace was then wrought upon them So that they were seals to his Ministry and to that truth of the Wisemans Prov. 25.11 A word fitly spoken or seasonably on the wheels is like Apples of gold in Pictures of silver This was extraordinary but the other was his course whiles he continued at Newington which was till Mr. James Meggs who vouch'd himself to be Legal Rector of it forc'd him to resign that Benefice to him in August 12. Carol. 2di and put an end to all Suits only he yielded that Mr. Wadsworth should Preach there till Septemb. 29. next ensuing Though Mr. Meggs sometime before his death could not but acknowledge that however he had given Mr. Wadsworth trouble he had not before that real and legal title to Newington he had made the world believe he had But our Practical Divine had learn'd to suffer rather than to do any wrong XLII However the great God who had made much use of this choice instrument in his work would not let him as yet lye by useless For after he was remov'd from Newington by no fair dealing as before of him that succeeded besides his Lecture on Saturday mornings at S. Antholins yea and for some time likewise there at five of the Clock in the evening of the Lords days and for a Winter or two on Monday nights at Margrets Fish-street-Hill London where by the concourse of Auditors 't was evident his labours were much valued though he had low thoughts of the apprehension of men He was by the Parishioners in whose power the presentation or nomination then was chosen to be Minister of Laurence Poultney where he continued and being then a Widower and removing from the House of his intimate friend Mr. Sedgwick then marrying liv'd in the family of his worthy friend Mr. Robert de Lunà Merchant till the frowning Bartholomew 1662. when he was ejected thence and out of his Lectures as 2000 of his Brethren were elsewhere because they could not assent and consent
eye he eyeth you Twelve Tribes he intends to tear you in pieces and to give your land to another people why because he roareth because he threatens This is the sense of the 4th verse the 5th follows wherein the Lord by his Prophet beats them from another refuge where he knew they would seek to hide their heads and that is that though wars and desolation should come as was threatned that they were but matters of chance incident to this world and no argument of Gods anger towards them This the Lord meets with in a Parable of a bird being taken in a net Can a bird saith he fall upon a snare in the earth where is no gin for him shall one take up a snare from the earth when he hath taken nothing He meaneth however accidental plagues may seem to be to men yet they are determined of God when a bird is caught it is but accidental to the bird he lighteth and is catched in the snare but it is the deliberate act the intentional act of the fowler for he sets the snare for what end to catch the bird and he taketh not up this snare until he hath caught it Oh Israel when ever you find your selves caught in the snare of God when ever you see your selves destroyed however accidental those destructions may seem to come upon you as to second causes believe it I was the fowler I laid the net saith the Lord I did intend to catch you it is my own work my designed work Therefore when such a Judgment comes say I sent it when you are caught I caught you when you are torn in pieces I tore you in pieces And now in the conclusion of all this saith he Can there be evil in the city and the Lord not do it These words they are put by way of question as I now told you make them affirmative and they shall be my Doctrine That is then thus Doct. There is no evil in a city but the Lord hath done it In the opening hereof 1. I shall shew you what is here meant by City 2. I shall shew you what is meant by evil in the City 3. I shall shew you how God is the author of all that evil in the City and I shall shew you the reason why he doth assume to himself to be the author of all the evil in the City 4. I shall shew you the reasons why he doth inflict so many evils upon a City and then we shall come to Application 1. What is here meant by City City may be taken here either properly or improperly properly for the rows of houses the streets of houses as they are compassed in with walls which are the habitations of Citizens The City for the houses of the City and then it is thus Is there any evil befalls the Houses of the City but I do it Are Cities fired and burnt to ashes I do it Improperly and here is a double Synecdoche to be understood in this word City 1. City is here taken for the things and persons in the City Is there any evil in a city that is Doth there any evil befall the Citizens of the City or any concernment of the Citizens and then there is another Synecdoche of the part for the whole the City may be taken for the Kingdom as being part of the Kingdom nay it may be taken for the whole world as being part of the whole world so the sense will be thus Is there any evil in a whole Kingdom Is there any evil in the whole world but I have done it saith the Lord God owneth himself to be the author of all the evil that is of punishment I shall shew presently that hath been in the world from the beginning of it to the end But then we must in the 2d place see what is meant by Evil there is a great deal of reason that you should be well informed hereof There are therefore my Brethren two sorts of evils which we must carefully distinguish 1. There is the evil of sin And 2ly There is the evil of punishment The evil of sin that is any transgression of or any nonconformity to the righteous Law of God this is properly evil the evil of sin yea the greatest evil in the world There are no evils of what kind soever that are to be compared with this great evil of sin Now my Brethren in this sense you must take heed of understanding the Prophet God doth not here say or the Prophet doth not here say Is there any evil of sin in a City but I have done it no God forbid this were the highest blasphemy in the world to make God the author of all the sin of the City He would be a strange God if he should be the author of all London's sins and all England's sins and all the worlds sins This cannot be the meaning of the Prophet for these Reasons 1. Because God is so far from being the author of all the sin in a City or in the world that he never committed any sin since this world was the world hath had experience of God for near six thousand years but they never found God guilty of sin guilty of any unrighteousness God in upbraiding his people Israel he doth make use of this You have departed from me saith the Lord and why are you departed from me What cause have I given you to depart from me Have your fathers found saith he any iniquity in me Have your fathers experienced any unrighteous dealings from me Did they ever find me an oppressor of them Did they ever find me to exact work and not to give good wages Did they ever find me to be false to my word In Jer. 2.5 Thus saith the Lord what iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone from me and have walked after vanities and are become vain What iniquity your fathers never found any iniquity in God no nor you neither The righteous God never was guilty from the foundation of the world to this time of any unrighteousness to any of his Creatures No here is a challenge as to all generations if they can tell any unrighteous works or any unrighteous act that God was guilty of and if they can challenge him for any they may have something to say for themselves 2ly God is so far from being the cause of sin that he doth disclaim an having any hand in it in any sort or kind whatever no not so much as in any temptation to it as you may see in Jam. 1.13 Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God That is when any man is tempted to sin let no man say when he is thus tempted that God tempted him to sin Why should they not say so Why saith the Apostle the reason is for God cannot be tempted of evil neither tempteth he any man No man can ever tempt God to do that which is evil neither doth God tempt any man to
what a great deal of this plague is upon London and truly Sirs this is a worse plague than that of the Pestilence this plague exceeds the Plague of Sixty-five and exceeds the great plague of the Fire for which you humble your selves this day It is worse than Plague and Fire why because those other plagues are but the litter of this Coccatrice eggs all hatched in this womb of sin London's blindness London's hardness of heart under the light of the Gospel was the cause of London's Fire and London's Pestilence It were well if there were a Fast-day appointed all over England to bewail this great plague of blindness of mind and hardness of heart this judicial blindness and hardness that is as it were spread like a leprosie all over England this is a plague we are not sensible of little affected with Why because it is invisible in the soul The fire that flamed and cast a dreadful smoke and affected our senses looked like Sodom yea like Hell it self these we are affected with and when we see our dying friends look pale and see them gasp and groan this we are affected with but for blind souls dead souls poysoned souls poysoned with sin being full of sin and full of Hell gasping and dying and going to Hell no body is affected with this how few hearts are affected with this and those least upon whom this plague is 2ly There is another sort of evils and those are such that reach the body Is there any evil in a city but I have done it That is Is there any punishment upon the body there is not My Brethren you never know God aright you never adore him aright you never fear him aright till you can see him concerned with every thing that you meet with in the world yea every evil God doth look so narrowly unto all that you are and have that there is not one hair of your heads can fall to the ground without his Providence there is not an aking head but God hath a hand in it the least pain on your body that is inflicted it is by a direction from God There is not one evil in a whole City no not among all the inhabitants of a City but I have done it saith the Lord all the crossings of your family all of them every one of them whatever be the second causes that are at work God is the first he is the first great wheel There is not an evil all those burning feavers agues all the pains of the Stone or Gout all those Plague-sores those Boils and Blains let the disease be what it will what it can as it is a punishment God is the author of it God inflicts it And then there is another sort of evils there are many of them indeed but another that which respects the estate there is not one evil that may befall your estate in this world but God is the author of it Would you in London but believe this it would be of great use to you you never lose one farthing but God knoweth of it and he hath a hand in it You never trust a man and he deceiveth you but God giveth you up to be deceived by that man You never trusted a man that breaketh through poverty but God knew it before hand and gave you up to lend him or to trust him There is not a Ship miscarrieth by Sea but it is of the Lord it miscarrieth Oh that you were but well acquainted with this Doctrine then would you learn to acknowledg God in all your ways and in all his works of Providence that you meet with in the world and if there is none of these evils can follow your estate without God then surely London could not be burnt without God for if the least evil how much more the greatest evil So that here you see it was the Lord Jehovah that burnt this City a few years since he burnt it to ashes he would not have the fire stopt he would have it go on raging till it had finished his Decree he would have it so the Lord hath done it he owneth it this day that you are met together and hath in his Providence sent me to tell you that God burnt London God burnt it Do not therefore much trouble your selves about Instruments though likely some might be wicked instruments in it yet it was God that did the thing I have done it saith the Lord. Doubtless it it of an humbling consideration to us this day now we are come before the Lord. But then the question will be in the Third place How may God be said to be the author of all punishment How is it that God doth burn Cities destroy Families Kingdoms how doth he do it There are two ways that God may be said to be the author of all the punishments that are in the world First God is the author of them by his decreeing of them Secondly God is the author of them by seeing to means that shall certainly execute them God in his Decree appoints the end and God in his Providence provides the means too so that if they be decreed by God and these Decrees executed by God then God may truly be said to be author of them I have done them saith God First Then God is the author of all punishment in a City in as much as when ever these evils come upon a City or people they are first decreed by God they do not come by chance they are of Gods laying on as the Prophet intimateth God hath determined of them before hand and this will be clear if you do but consult several like cases when evils have befallen a world of people and befallen Cities they came not accidentally but they came by the determinate counsel of God We will give you some of these instances One of the most universal plagues that God ever poured down upon this world was that of the Deluge when he drowned it Why whence come these waters from God Who drowned the World I did saith God What didst not thou spare except those eight persons man woman nor child no not one I spared none of them but drowned them all What was it done rashly inconsiderately as men use to do in a passion doing that in haste that they repent at leisure No no God thought of it long before sixscore years before the world was drowned it was determined of God it should be drowned he had passed his Decree upon it for their iniquities Gen. 6.7 And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created I will do it saith God from the face of the earth both man and beast and the creeping things and the fowls of the air for it repenteth me that I have made man I will do it saith the Lord. Lord when wilt thou do it I will do it saith he about sixscore years hence I will give them so much time to repent in to see what they will do vers 3. For
the Lord said my spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is flesh yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years That is between the threatning and between the performance between the execution So that the Deluge was of God it was of Gods deliberate determination he decreed it he was the author of it So again as to the burning of Sodom God first sitteth in judgment upon Sodom trieth Sodom heareth evidence against Sodom casts her passeth sentence upon her and all this before execution day the righteous Judg of the world did proceed righteously he hath a trial and a sentence before execution And as he dealt with Sodom doubtless he dealt with London too Gen. 18.20 21. Sodom had grievously sinned to provoke God as London may have done and there came continual tidings from earth to heaven Lot sent them up in his lamentations good Angels peradventure declaims against them crying out How long how long holy and true wilt thou spare yonder wicked Sodom And the Lord said Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know I will deal very fairly with them I will not burn them without they deserve it And you know the Lord sent two Angels who came to Lots house who were eye-witnesses of their abominations for thither came the wretched Sodomites there to force the men that came to Lot's house and what was the issue of it Gen. 19.13 Haste thee hence saith the Angels we will destroy this place There is the sentence for we will destroy this place because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it And do you think my Brethren though it may be perhaps hard for you to understand it do you think London was not tried before burnt as well as Sodom ay no doubt London's drunkenness and uncleanness and formality cried in the ears of the Lord God of Sabbaths God looked down to see what London did and how London lived and how London improved the Gospel it had and upon trial it was found too light and God sent them first the Pestilence then the Fire First destroy the Citizens with the Plague saith God then burn the City God decreed it it was decreed before done The Lord help us to have reverent thoughts of God in all his works here among the children of men Again I might instance in two more and that was the first and second destruction of Jerusalem They were destroyed who destroyed them the Lord destroyed them How was the Lord said to be the author of the destruction of Jerusalem because it was decreed before it was done God decreed the destruction of it and God sent Jeremiah to tell the people of Israel that he would bring the Babylonians upon them a strong and mighty Nation God had purposed to do it and that many years before he did it It had past in the sentence of God the judgment of God was past upon them So again the second time when the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed and burnt by Titus Vespasian when it was burnt destroyed and laid desolate by the Romans it is true the Romans were the Executioners but it was God that had past the judgment upon them Nay it had passed in the judgment of God five hundred years before it was done God had reckoned with the Israelites reckoned up their sins from their forefathers he had kept an account of them all from generation to generation and foretold their destruction from the time of Daniel which was to the destruction of Jerusalem about five hundred years Dan. 9.26 and what Daniel foretold so long before that Jesus Christ foretold in his day to be nigh at hand Christ looking upon that beautiful structure of the Temple of Solomon in the 24th of Mat. saith unto them Do you not see a beautiful Temple here the Temple of Jerusalem Verily I say unto you there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down How did Christ know that Christ knew that his Father had determined to destroy the Temple How long before near five hundred years For it is spoken of about five hundred years before by Daniel as I have said When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet stand in the holy place that is compass the City besiege the City whoso readeth let him understand Why so for now is the time spoken of by Daniel for to destroy this City and for to destroy this Temple Thus you see in these instances how God is the author of all the punishment that is in the world in as much as he doth decree it before it comes to pass Secondly God is the author of all the punishments because he seeth he provideth means and instruments for the execution of his Decrees God doth not only say let such a plague come let such a fire come but God taketh care to see it done When God will have a thing done there shall not want instruments it shall be done in a way and manner of his own contriving If you will ask me who are these executioners of Gods decrees in inflicting punishments upon this world upon the Kingdoms and Cities and Towns and Persons thereof I answer you the whole Creation all the parts of it they all stand ready as Ministers of God to do his pleasure when God will have any punishment inflicted both Heaven and Sea and Earth Men and Devils they are all ready to execute his wrath and vengeance upon the World The Heavens they are the executioners of Gods decree to punish men When God had a mind to defeat Sisera's army the very Stars in their courses stood on Gods side and fought against Sisera You have such a passage as that is in the Judges The stars fought against Gods enemies the clouds the hail they are ready to do according as they are capable in executing Gods wrath when God would punish the Egyptians and their Cattel with Hail the Clouds they did as ministers of God charge themselves with Hail and discharge like so many Harquibusses discharged themselves again upon the Egyptians and their Cattel and destroyed multitudes of them The Winds they are ready to serve the Lord and to do what ever he would have them do The Winds ye shall see how David put them all together as Ministers servants of God ready to do his pleasure in Psal 148.8 Fire hail snow and vapours stormy winds fulfilling his word they all stand ready at the word of God to go and come to do what God will have them do all of them ready to fulfil his word Will God use the Seas to punish the wicked those senseless creatures those deaf creatures they have
man would have done it 2 And was not God himself slighted by those that were invited to the feast Was not Christ worse than slighted and was not Paul called a Babler and the Gospel foolishness 3 But consider further Is not the Gospel and the God of it slighted in thee the message thou knowest is not thine but his that sent thee 4 And think is it not natural for the carnal mind to have unsavoury dark foolish thoughts of the Gospel was it not always so did not Christ wonder seeing their unbelief 5 But think it 's God in Christ or the strictness and spiritualness of the Gospel that they undervalue and think nothing of the excellency of They say it 's thou speakest nothing they would say the other but they dare not speak out and so they cast it on thee and art thou not willing rather to suffer than it wouldst not thou have interposed thy face to Christ to have received the spittle and kept it from him and thine head to have been crowned with thorns and what dost thou shrink in taking of this 6 But think what reason have they to charge thee with a nothingness and impertinency in preaching what mean so many to follow thee they may hear nothings and impertinencies nearer home Wherefore go on chearfully and boldly in thy work and regard not what some few scoffers say when thou art carrying on that work for the good of souls which the Lord will own and bless HYMN I. WHat ails my soul to look so wan My vitals they are fled What faintings do I feel within My heart as 't were is dead Love-beams do shine full in my face From off the throne above They sparkle glories round my soul Yet yet I cannot love I see the Heavens open wide My Lord upon his throne I see his Saints all cloth'd in gold Bedeckt with glittering stone I fee a Crown held in his hand To set upon my head If once I were laid low in grave Yet yet my heart is dead What my distemper is God knows It 's cause I can unfold My heart lay down upon the earth And there it caught a cold This this alone had been enough My health to overthrow But I of flesh a surfeit took Which made my grief to grow Lord what compassions in thy looks What pearls stand in thine eye Like a kind friend thou turn'st away As loth to see me die No cordials can my sp'rits revive Those glorious sights do'nt move Oh I am lost there is no hope I see yet cannot love My God! my God! don 't me forsake If I must needs then die Whil'st I am breathing out my last Oh! do but thou stand by Help help thou great soul-curing God In languishments I lye Speak but the word my heart revives Oh yet I shall not die I find my native heat restor'd My wonted joys return I love thee Lord I love thee now With love my heart doth burn Oh what are all the things below What toys they seem to me When shall I leave them and come up To dwell my Lord with thee HYMN II. The Souls Farewell to her Body TIr'd with a body now at last In travel on my road I must take Inn and rest my self I must of flesh unload I see my prison-walls fall down And mold'ring into dust I feel my chains of flesh break off As eaten up with rust Oh! I am going help my God! A little respite give Reverse thy sentence add some years That I on earth may live Ah! foolish soul how fond of life Dost thou thy self betray Why a few minutes more dost thou With tears for life thus pray Are not the years enough thou ' st been A Pilgrim here below Thy Father calls bids come away Ah! fool thou wilt not go What seest thou in this wicked world That thus delights thine eye A father brother or dear friends Thou ' lt find them all on high Thy Saviour hath a Palace there Imbost about with Gold Thine's but a den where now thou dwell'st Whose walls scarce keep out cold What canst thou see more than thou hast The same Sun runs its round The rivers ebb and flow alike No new thing can be found The pleasant faces of thy friends Thou feest but o're again The sweets of meats and drinks thou tasts Are but the very same Yet these sweet and beloved things Have thorns been in thy side Their Prickles have so torn thy heart Thou scarce could'st them abide But Oh thou lump of Gold my Soul How full of dross and tin Thy Father would but melt thee now And purge thee of thy sin Thou art my Soul a ball of light Here in dark lanthorn place't God in a golden socket would Thee set to burn not waste Arise my Soul come shake thy plumes Prepare thy self for flight Like a fledg'd Eagle mount aloft And bid the world Good-night Farewell then dearest friends farewell Farewell fond world I say Lord now I come Oh take me up With sighs and groans I pray HYMN III. The Resurrection of our Blessed Lord. ON Golgotha that fatal day While Christ on Cross did bleed The whole Creation groan'd they say To see that bloody deed The Earths big heart with sorrow swells Which burst out in earth-quakes The Sun his eye hides in a cloud The lowring Heaven shakes The bodies of the dead arise Most ghastly look and wonder Because mens hearts nor garments rent The Vale doth tear asunder Yet one thing do I admire more To see a God-man dead His breathless royal trunk they took And laid in grave deaths-bed Like conquer'd captive there he lies In th' prison of a grave Three days the tyrant death him holds In fetters like a slave So long said he I 'le lye then cry'd Hell grave death do your worst Fast tye me bind me chain my hands I 'le all your fetters burst Rowl rowl a stone upon his tomb The Jews of Pilate pray Set watch and ward lest that his friends By night steal him away With bills and lanthorns there they stand With scoffs they him deride See how he riseth jeeringly They flout one very side At length the third days morn doth dawn Our Lord begins to ' wake Whilest the hard stony Cover-lid Away the Angel takes Look look the watch-men see they run As frighted hark their crys The buried Jesus he is risen We saw him with these eyes Shout shout for joy ye Saints of his This is your Saviour dear When you this wretched life must leave Graves Coffins do not fear This day a perfect conquest he Of grim-lookt death hath made Your moulder'd rotted bodies he Can raise as he hath said HYMN IV. Of our Lords Ascension into Heaven I Sometime wondred why thou Lord Those forty-days didst stay On earth betwixt thy Grave and Crown Or thy Ascension day It seems most like a Captain great After some bloody fights Who walks to shew his friends he lives And puts his Host to rights Thus all things
pore about a channel was Which pains had open'd wide Through which as through sulphureous mynes Did scalding liquors glide Amidst those simpring plashes lay My wrinkl'd par-boil'd skin In my own sweats I had expir'd Had not my good Lord been My God then dri'd up all my dews Me richest cordials gave Out of those waters I did cry And he my life did save Colds gone and waters now asswag'd A fire fast hold doth catch My muddy cottage was on flame Through sparks within my thatch Its sindgings made my former griefs Desir'd they would return That winds would blow or waters flow To cool me that did burn While my house flam'd about my ears My soul wisht to get out I cri'd I call'd my God did hear And then put th' hot fire out Next must my rest a burthen prove Unto my drowsie head My spirits spent my strength 's decay'd I was as those are dead My eyes as useless were through sleep My tongue had lost her taste Each thing it did offend my smell My flesh about did waste That very God that on dry bones Did breathe and make them live That very pow'r that Laz'rus rais'd Again this life did give He put this quickness in my joints These spirits in mine eyes Restor'd this joy unto my heart Thus answer'd all my crys HYMN XIII Remedies against Discontents THAT blessed peace which all men wish That none but good enjoy Is when all states of life do please And nothing doth annoy If thus unshaken thou wouldst live Contemplate God on high As near as may be live like him Fixt in self-constancy Wish nothing more than to be good Do justly fear no man Think on the blest eternity Let th' world do what it can Be no more mov'd with thy reproach Than God when men blaspheme Let not want loss or death affright Which men so dreadful deem Think that the world below the Moon As yet thy self contains And that all things here ebb and flow That nothing fixt remains What wonder is' t the Mariner At sea meets with a storm How boldly yet he plows the waves In danger fears no harm The traveller his weary steps Directs unto his Inn Sometimes meets Sun-shine and then storms Yet ne'r leaves travelling Are not our days and months and years Now foul and sometimes fair Variety doth not annoy Change makes things please as rare Why should I wish it always day The world without a night Why should I wish it always Spring For flowers for delight Were I not fool to weep to see A cloud creep o're the Sun Such folly is it to lament A cross when it is come II. Rash man complains In any strait But this I could be blest Any mans trouble I could bear Mine only gives no rest Says he what sorrow can be like To want and beggery This this I feel or else I fear Which makes me wish to die Man be thou faithful do thy work Thou serv'st a righteous Lord He will not let his servant want But bread will sure afford Starving-extremity thou fear'st This beggars never feel Better allowance God them gives To whom his dole he deals Hunger and cold and nakedness True blessed Paul complains Yet so as that he glorieth In them so in his chains Are not the Lilies gaily cloath'd They neither toil nor spin Are not the birds of th' air fed That ne'r brought harvest in Will God give grace and glory both Yet barely bread deny Will he give Crowns and Scepters too Of want yet let thee die True murm'ring Israel cri'd out Can God a Table spread Can he in this vast wilderness Prepare for all here bread The Devil could have taught those men That God of stones could take Could mould and knead them up to dough And of them bread could make III. The fool fears want while plenty lasts Like one in Summers day Should shake and blow his hands for cold Then winters coming say Or like one that in streams doth swim Yet gasps and crys for thirst Then says Oh me what shall I do This river leave I must It 's best things should be as they ' r made That rivers ebb and flow That glass or earthen ware may break That riches come and go Fool do'nt torment thy heart in vain If these things fleeting be Fix but thy soul on things above They ' l constant prove to thee All will be gone say let them go Man lives not all on bread There is a word of promise that In want holds up thy head I never will to death thee leave I 'le never thee forsake Think but on this do but believe Thine heart 't will joyful make IV. I know whence spring more troubles yet That do annoy me here My undertakings oft are great And I success do fear I often am engag'd in more Than able to go through Which makes me sit and moan my self Not knowing what to do Whose fault is that why didst thou so Thy God's too good a Lord To set thee on more work than he To do doth strength afford Where he finds will he doth accept With eye to what thou hast Give but thine all he wont refuse To crown that all at last I often have intended much But could not what I meant I would men save but ah I can't Because they wo'nt consent Instead of thanks for my good-will With taunting scoffs I meet I would them raise up unto Thrones They would me under feet Sometimes I talk like to a fool Deridingly they say I now teach false and then too sharp I can't please any way Be wise and such things ne'r will touch Thy heart as to disturb All thy attempts if good should joy Though insuccess them curb It 's reason to think in this world That good things should be crost If thou wilt fish for men thou must With winds and waves be tost What if I disappointments meet They are in use with men Why should I not expect to share Alike with my breth'ren What wonder is' t that they should call That false or sharp that tart That frets the sinews of their soul And that corrodes their heart Can the old man it quiet take To see him bound about That thence where so long he hath lodg'd He should be thus cast out Is not my work a warfare call'd What and no enemy How canst thou fight and not oppose Or use Heav'ns armory HYMN XIV TWO things Lord I desire of thee First that with thee I live If thou delay'st to bring me there Oh then assurance give Content I 'le be in th' shades of night Until my glory dawn Do but for surety grant this wish That I may keep the pawn Give Lord the earnest in my breast A gracious heart to see Let me but know thou dost me love And I shall quiet be Can I have peace whilst that I fear Thy curse hangs o're my head It makes my heart to ake to think What now if I were dead Pardon O Lord it