days in the Kalender of their lives for Festivals and make them all Play-days as if there were never a working day among them that are as busie and tedious in dressing their worm-eaten bodies as Children in dressing Babies and are more troubled at the smallest disorder in their hairs then the greatest disorder in Church and State would give up all and much more if they had it for a little time Then the Nobles and Kings and Emperours of the world will disesteem their honours and height and trample upon their Robes and Scepters and â—rowns for a little time Then they who dally with their days of grace and delay the preparation of their souls for death and judgement as if time were at their command and they could force it to attend their leasure that live as if Death were their servant and must wait on them till they thought fit to come to their graves will find that time was time indeed O my soul of what worth will time be at that day and wilt thou waâ—te it at this day Alas how little is that time which thou hast to improve for thine unchangeable estate My life is but a shadow that is gone when the Sun hides his head A Bubble that vanisheth when a small breath of wind appeareth A day that is soon overtaken by a night a span nothing Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth mine age is nothing unto thee Wert thou able to secure a long life though thou hâ—sâ— work enough of infinite weight to imploy it all yet thou mightest have more colour of reason for being lavish but when thy time is little and thy business of such consequence what unspeakable madness is it to be wasteful of it He that hath thousands of acres of Land will spare some for a Park some for a bowling-green some for a court-yard some for pleasure and pastimes but he that hath but a little land upon which himself and his family must live and by which they must be maintained can spare none at all for vain pleasures but must improve all to real profit Man that is born of a woman is but of few days He comes up as a Flower fleeth as a shadow and continueth not and wilt thou O my soul revel and riot away this poor pittance in which thou shouldst work out thy salvation O that I could value this jewel in some measure answerable to its worth and do the work of the day in the day allotted me for work Time rightly husbanded is acceptable time a day well imployed is a day of salvation Lord though my journey be great my time is little Nay how much of that little time have I lost A considerable part of it hath been taken up with my Infancy and Child-hood wherein I did little above a Beast My youth hath been squandred away in trifles and vanity and too much of it in lust and iniquity Much of what remains if thou shouldst add a few more days to my life must be spent in eating and drinking and sleeping and necessary natural actions and shall I not redeem it to my power for the service of my Saviour O affect my soul throughly how Eternity rides upon the back of time that I may prize time highly redeem it carefully and improve it so faithfully that eternity may be my friend and when time shall have an end I may enjoy that joy which hath no end I Wish that I may every day so cast up my accounts that I maybe always ready for the great Audit-day Wise Stewards do not write down great sums in gross which they have disbursed for their Lords at several times but set down the particulars whereby they are prepared for a general reckonning and enabled to justifie their accounts My trust is more weighty then of any Princes Steward on earth my Master will be more exact then the severest humane Lord and am I not then concerned so to number my days as to reckon every day what I receiâ—e from my Lord what I disburse for my Lord and at the foot of every day to write the total sum How foolish is he that rejects his books till his bookâ— reject him 〈◊〉 is it not better for me to look over the book of my conscience and observe what blots and errors are there whilst I have licence and liberty to correct them then to neglect them till those eyes which are purer then to behold iniquity come to look it over and leave be denyed of ever amending what he finds amiss O my soul this evening now I am writing this page I must send to thee Amaziah's challenge of Joash Come let us see one another in the face Why should we that are so near together be such strangers to each other I must ask thee as Elisha did Gehezi Whence comest thou Where hast thou been What hast thou done this day for God and thy self Hast thou lived or onely been in the world this day Doth thy soul work thine eternity work go forward or backward Hast thou lived as if thou wâ—rt going to die and walked in the fear of the Lord all the day long Hath the awe and dread of the divine Majesty all along possessed thee Dost thou consider that thou hast one day less to live and one day more to account for Suppose God should come to thee this night as he did to Belshazer with a Mene Mene It is numbred It is numbred Thy days are told God hath counted them up and finished them thou shalt not live to see a morrow Thy days are extinct the grave is ready for thee Art thou ready for thy grave If God should say to thee as that Lord to his Servant Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou shalt be no longer Steward Are thy accounts and Gods even Dost thou reckon as he doth What do all the actions of this day stand for in thine account Figures or Ciphers somthing or nothing What were thy first thoughts in the morning Was he who came first to thee with his morning mercies first served by thee How didst thou pray in thy Closet and Family What sorrow accompanied thy confessions Was thy heart broken that thou hast broken his holy laws What faith and fervency did accompany thy requests Was the heat of thy affections answerable to the weight of thy petitions Didst thou present thy petition to the Master of Requests the Lord Iesus Christ by him to be delivered to the Father What spiritual joy and delight didst thou find in Thankesgiving Didst thou wonder at that infinite cost which the glorious God is at with such an unworthy wretch How didst thou râ—ad the word this day Did it come with power and authority to thy conscience was it mingled with faith Didst thou hide it in thy heart Hadst thou any resolution to make it thy rule and Counseller and Comforter and to order thy conversation according to it How didst thou eat and drink this day Didst thou feed
and stranger in this earth may joyn my self not with the natives the men of the World whose portion is in this life by whose company I am sure to contract either guilt or greif but with my fellow sojourners who are travailing with me towards the same Heaven Though I love the wicked with a love of pity I would love onely the Saints with a love of delight Let my choice be of them now with whom I would choose to be for ever O let me joyn with those on earth and that in discoursing of thy gracious word and glorious works with whom I hope to joyn in Heaven in admiring thy boundless perfections and giving thee everlasting praise Lord if there be such comfort in thy chosen and their voices be so lovely and their faces so comely here below in the estate of their minority when they are black with the worlds calumnies and cruelties and besmeared with their own corruptions what delight will there be in them above when they shall come to their full age be parted from all their defilements and be perfectly adorned with thine Image How lovely will their voices be when they shall joyn with thy Celestial quire in singing HallelUjahs and in running division on thine infinite attributes and excellencies How comely will their faces be when they shall be freed from all the freckles and spots of sin and so see thee as to be fully like thee O if grace in its infancy be so ravishing what will it be in its maturity If the morning of holiness be so glorious how glorious will it be in its noon-day lustre Lord if my soul rejoyce so much in thy Saints who shine onely as stars in their several Orbes with a borrowed light what joy may I have in thy self the true Sun O cause thy servant so to glorifie thee in my choice of Companions and in my carriage in all Companies that I may come at last to enjoy immediate communion with thy beautiful Saints and thy blessed Majesty World without end Amen CHAP. III. How a Christian may exercise himself to Godliness in evil Company HAving spoken to the Choice of Companions I proceed Reader to thy Carriage in Company and first in evil Company Though evil men are not to be the object of a Christians choice or delight yet he must sometimes fall into their Company or go out of the world 1 Cor. 5. 10. Our Relations or Vocations or Offices of Charity which we owe to the worst of men will command our presence now and then amongst them Civil commerce with them is lawfâ—l though intimate communion be sinful It s certain the less we have of their society the more of safety but because civility and our necessities require us sometimes to be with them Christianity must help us as a glass-window to let in the light and keep out the rain to get what good we may and to prevent the hurt they intend God in the first creation separated the light from the darkness and so must the godly man amongst wicked persons Swine will be cleanly in a fair Meadow Sinners civil sometimeâ— in the society of Saints but Christians must keep their garments unspotted when they walk in dirty places and amongst defiled persons Godliness will be thy best armour to ward off those blows and hinder those wounds which those sons of violence and villany would cause in thee A wise Physitian whatsoever diseased Patients he goeth amongst will take some preservative but if he be to go into a Pest-house an Antidote It will be a sign of an excellent complexion if thou canst walk as occasion is in the Sun and not be tanned The Romans had a Law that every one where ever he went should wear a badge of his profession or trade either on his garment or in his hat that he might be known Christianity must be owned in every company as that which is our great and worthy calling The Nobleman carrieth his Garter or George with him in all places because he esteems them his gâ—ory and honour and if he be of the blood royal he desireth that all may take notice of it O what an honour and happiness is it to be a Christian to be related to Iesus Christ and how willing shouldst thou be to own and acknowledge it as the badge of thine honour amongst all personsâ— He is a base servant that is ashamed of his Lords livery It s said of the Teal a certain wild Beast iâ— AEthiopia that he hath two hornes of a Cubit long which he moveth as he pleaseth either both forward to offend his enemy or both backward to defend himself or one forward and the other backward to both uses at once A Christian in evil company should be as wise as a Serpent that he do not bring himself into suffering but yet as innocent as a Dove that others do not draw him to sin Walk as prudently as thou canst onely walk piously Use as much caution as thou wilt but be sure thou keepest a good conscience The Apostle gives a special precept for our pious carriage in such Company Walk wisely towards them that are without Col. 4. 5. In which words the qualification of the act and the specification of the subject are considerable 1. The qualification of the act walk wisely that is graciously Grace is Wisdom To fear God is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding He who walketh in the Law of the Lord and according to the rule of the word is the wise walker Job 28. 28. Psa. 119. 1. Gal. 16. 16. Whatsoever our company be we must walk by precept not by pattern He may be a good Courtier but he is a bad Christian that alters and orders his carriage according to his company If like Musicians we play no lessons but what the company calls for and what pleaseth them our musick will be harsh and jarring in Gods ears If I please men saith Paul I am not the servant of Christ Gal. 1. 10. He walks foolishly that to please a few weak dying Men displeaseth the jealous and Almighty God He walks wisely who will be sure who ever be offended to please him upon whose favour his life and all his comforts depend 2. The specification of the Subject towards them that are without Wicked men are said to be without 1. Because they are visibly without the Church scandalous sinners proclaim to the world that they are not so much as visible members of Christ. What have I to do to judge them that are without Do not ye judge them that are within but them that are without God judgeth 1 Corinth 5. 12 13. 2. Because they are really without God and Christ God may be in their mouths and they may call him Father but he is far from their hearts and will never own them foâ— his Children That at that time ye were without Christ and with out God in the world Ephes. 2. 12. 3. Because they shall go
of fire be kept from consuming and as Gideons fleece be moyst when all the earth about it is dry O that I might as Fish retain my freshness in the saltest waters and never savour others vices or follow their steps who depart from the Commandements of my God Lord whose promise is to thy Disciples They shall take up Serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them Mark 16. 18. Is it not thine own hand writing and canst thou fail of fulfilling it O let thy powerful presence accompany me whithersoever thy providence calleth me Let thy preventing grace preserve me from receiving harm and thy quickening mercy enable me to do good that whereas thine enemies are apt to speak evil of me as an evil doer they may be ashamed who falsly accuse my good conversation in Christ 1 Pet. 3. 16. I Wish that I may be so far from receiving prejudice that I may be profited by the worst of those with whom I associate As my God created nothing in vain so he permits nothing but to some good purpose T is true wicked men are Dogs Mat. 7. 12. prone to faun on me that they may defile me but even of Dogs there may be a good use The Flock is the more safe from Wolves and the House from Theives through their watchfulness They are dust apt to breed vermine but some creatures live upon it as their Aliment and in it as their Element and the basest rubbish may be serviceable about the foundation of a building The Guts and Garbage of some beasts are food to others Doth not experience teach us that many Fowls draw nourishment from unclean and filthy Carcasses Why may not my stomach be so good and my spiritual constitution so strong as to concoct such unwholsom food Lycurgus taught the Lacedemonians vertue not onely by the pattern of their Sober Ephori but also of the drunken Helots their slaves Poisons are as necessary as the best diet if they be in the hands of him who is able to improve and prepare them Beer is the better the more lively and brisk for the grouns that are in the same vessel with it O that my graces might be the more quick and active for the lees of others vices that their sins might increase my sanctity both in making me more thankful to him who maketh me to differ and more watchful over my self lest I fall from my own stedfastness The Mariners are directed in their sailings by Rocks and Shelves as well as by the Northern star My God instructeth Jonah by the shadow of a Weed Go to the Pismire thou sluggard consider her provident ways and be wise to follow them Observe the men of this world O my soul consider their wicked ways and be wise to avoid them Ask these beasts of the earth and they will teach thee nay shame thee How unwearied are they in the pursuit of the world how diligent about their works of darkness how often do they lose their sleep to do mischief and neglect their food and callings to indulge their fleshly lusts whilst thou whose Master is the Lord of Glory whose service is the onely freedom and whose recompence will be infinite art loytering and lazing upon the bed of security O that thou mayst learn industry about the concernments of heaven and eternity from others industry about the affairs of this earth for a few days and take shame to thy self that Satans Servants should be more forward to gratifie their Soul-destroyer then thou art to please the blessed Saviour Lord it is thy prerogative to cause light out of darkness and to bring good out of evil teach thy servant to gather figs from these thistles and to be the better because others are so bad Because the wicked forsake thy law therâ—fore let me love thy commandements above gold yea above much fine gold I Wish that though in pursuance of my calling I do afford my â—ompany to sinners I may never bear them company in their sins True Gold will not change its colour or nature for the hottest fire The Rock keeps its place and is immoveable notwithstanding the continual dashing of the water The earth is not hurt either by the heat of Summer or cold of Winter Though much dirt be flung at a post well oyled it will not stick My God hath enjoyned me Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Whence I learn these three things 1. That sin is a work of darkness The Prince of darkness is its Father It s his natural off-spring therefore called the work of the Devil Iohn 8. 44. A dark heart is its Mother there it s conceived thence it s brought forth In dark holes these vermine breed and swarm Ephes. 4. 18. Hos. 4. 1 2 3. 2 Cor. 4. 4. It s portion is utter darkness blackness of darkness for ever all its inheritance lieth in darkness and the shadow of death 2. I learn that the works of darkness are unfruitful The sinner makes a sad market of all his wicked wares He soweth vice and reapeth vanity promiseth himself much pleasure and sindeth it wholly unprofitable What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death O what a frightful monster is this miscreant It hath fruitlesness in the beginning shame in the middle and death in the conclusion 3. I learn that I onght not to have fellowship with these unfruitful works of darkness Indeed I have little reason if I consider the two former particulars yet how prone am I to it either by my silence when they sin or by my secret complyance with them in their sin My corrupted heart is like Touch-wood ready to take fire by the least spark When others are bold to blaspheme God I am apt through an ungodly bashfulness to hold my peace little considering that I must one day answer as well for my sinful silence as for every idle word It s my duty to hold the jewel of my faith fast lest Satan steal it from me to hold my profession to the end lest by leaving my Colours I lose my Crown but not to hold my peace in the quarrel of truth lest by suffering sin in others I wrong my own soul Where is my love to others if I stand still whilst they destroy themselves It may well break the strings of my tongue as of the Son of Cyrus when sin like the Persian is ready to kill my Father or Brother or Neighbour Evil men are like Traytours with whom if we act or conceal we are guilty Where is my love to my self if I take others intolerable burthens on my own back Sin is a load too heavy for the stoutest for the strongest to carry Should I by my silence give consent to others Oaths or Lyes or Ieers at godliness and godly men I become a party in their bonds and liable to make satisfaction for their debts and may
Christian without a spice of this sin Ioshua is ready to envy them that seemed by their light to darken his Master Cantharides a venemous worm usually breedeth in Wheat when it is ripe the highest Christians as the greatest Favourites at Court are usually the greatest objects of envy But O t is a sign of a weak eye not to behold the sunshine of others holiness without pain The holy Apostle is enlarged in thanksgiving to God for the faith and love and patience of the Thessalonians and their grace was â— strong cordial to revive him in his sorrows and distress We give thanks to God for you all Remembring without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope in our Lord Iesus Christ. We were comforted over you in all our afflictions and distresse by your faith Nay he was so far from grieving at others graces that he professeth the joy of his life did very much depend upon their perseverance in piety For now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord As if he had said Our life will be but a death in regard of sorrow and grief it will be so doleful a being that it will not deserve the name of a life if ye should once be loose and wandring from the Lord 1 Thes. 1. 2 3 4. 2 Thes. 3. 6 7 8. 1 Colos. 12. Grace cannot but desire and delight in its like He that truly loves his God will rejoyce in his brothers graces because they tend to his Fathers glory and he that truly loves his brother will be glad at his grace because it tends so exceedingly to his brothers good Pedaretus when he could not be admitted to be one of the three hundred among the Spartans went home rejoycing that his Country had three hundred better men then himself Surely then Christians when they behold others sparkling with grace and shining as lights in the World should rejoyce that the blessed God hath some that can do him more service and bring him more glory then themselves Good Wish about a Christians Carriage in Good Company wherein the former heads are applied THe Father of mercies and onely wise God who hath appointed â—he way in which I should walk during the time of my Pilgrimage and understandeth the multitudes of rubs and hinderances that I shall encounter with the power and policy of those enemies which will beset me therein as also how weak I am and unable to hold out how weary I shall soon be and ready to give over if I should travail alone having out of his boundless grace and goodness called me to the communion of Saints that I might be directed by their counsel and encouraged by their company notwithstanding all opposition to run the ways of his commandements I Wish that I may esteem his precept herein as my glorious priviledge improve their society to the greatest advantage both for my own welfare and my Gods honour and delight to converse with those brethren here with whom I hope to dwell in my Fathers house for ever What an inestimable dignity doth my God invest me with in imposing on me so sweet a duty How wretchedly ungrateful should I be if his paths should not be the more pleasant to me for such companions The worth and riches of this society may well invite me to trade with them and give me hopes of profiting by them All the companions on earth of the highest Callings are but a rabbel of Cennel-rakers to this noble society The Prince of this Senate is the Heir of all things the blessed and glorious Potentate such a Soveraign whose dominion is universal from Sea to Sea whose Kingdom is eternal throughout all Generations and even the highest have gloried in being his Subjects The Charter and Priviledges of this Society are the inestimable Covenant of Grace exceeding great and precious Promises wherein pardon of sin peace of conscience new natures adoption justification the love of the blessed God and eternal life are granted to them and entailed on them for ever The Servants of this Corporation are all the creatures in their several places striving which shall do them the greatest kindness They are in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field though never so ravenous by nature are at peace with them The glorious Angels pitch their Tents about them and count it their honour to wait upon them both living and dying The Livery in which this company is attired is the Royal Robes of Christs righteousness which renders them without spot or wrinkle and far more beautiful and amiable then Adam in his estate of unspotted innocency Their Garments smell of Myrâ—he Aloes and Cassin and for their richness infinitely surpaâ—â— that cloathing which is of wrought gold Their food is hidden Manna such meat as endureth to eternal life the bread that came down from Heaven the flesh of the Son of God which is meat indeed and the blood of the Son of God which is drink indeed Their inheritance is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken a Crown of life Rivers of pleasures an eternal weight of glory Some Societies have boasted that Kings and Lords have been Free of their Company the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is both Freee and Head of this Society they are his Hephzibah his delight his Segullah his peculiar treasure Ah! who would not have communion with them whose communion is with the Father and Jesus Christ his Son Lord let my ambition be to be enrolled a Citizen of Sion and to walk amongst them worthy of that vocation wherewith thou hast called me since the communion of thy Saints here is some weak resemblance of Heaven where all thy chosen shall glorifie and worship thee without fault and faintness teach me to hallow thy name by doing thy will on earth as it is in heaven I Wish that the gain which I am sure to reap by joyning with Christians in their common stock may make me more diligent at this spiritual trade The greatest priviledges are granted to Corporations not to particular persons The greatest victories are obtainted by Regiments and Brigades not by Souldiers engaged singly against their enemies That Oyntment which yeilded so grateful a savour as to delight God himself was compounded of several spices Exod. 30. 23 24 25. My God hath ordained the communion of the faithful for the building up one another in their most holy faith and if I expect his blessing it must be in his own way The body thrives best when all the members concur to perform their distinct and proper offices for the good of the whole Men make the most ravishing musick when many joyn in consort The two Disciples travelling together found the blessed Jesus to make a third and to warm their hearts with the fire of his heavenly Doctrine How many vessels going in company have returned in safety richly laden with the unsearchable riches in Christ If I am in doubts
of thy glorious Majesty and the place where thine honour dwelleth There thou makest the largest discoveries of thy self and grantest the fullest communications of thy grace O let me take sweet counsel with thy people and go to serve and honour thee in their company I Wish that the Confederacy of the wicked in sin may provoke me to a league with the Israel of God for a free trade and commerce in holiness Shall they whose lusts are often contrary and set them at variance unite against God and his holy ways and shall not we whose graces are ever alike and of a cementing nature not joyn together for God and his Worship Do they conspire to defile and destroy each others souls as if vitiated nature did not lead them fast enough to sin or as if they could not run singly quick enough to Hell and shall not we encourage one another in the Worship of the living God and provoke one another to love and to good works O how much do the servants of Satan by their conjunctions in evil shame the Children of God for their backwardness in good Their Master is the Prince of darkness a cruel Tyrant a roaring Lyon that goeth about seeking whom he may devour Their work is far worse then any Turkish slavery its bondage to corruptionâ— the service of unrighteousness the diversity and contrariety of their Lords their lusts tearing them as it were in peâ—â—es for the promoting of their particular interests Their wages is the vengeance of the eternal fire the worm that never dieth and the fire that never goeth out after all their vassallage to their barbarous Masters and hardships which they have been put to in making provision for and gratifying such opposite furies they are recompenced with extremity and eternity of torments yet they can unite their hearts and hands and heads for the advancement of so hellish a Lord about the prosecution of so base and divelish a work and to earn so miserable a reward when the Souldiers of Christ whose Captain is the Lord of Hosts the most courteous and compassionate General whose combats and contests which they are called to are Noble and Heroick and whose Crown and Garland will be beyond all comparison and apprehension blessed and glorious do rather fight against themselves then against their enemies or for their endless happineâ— Ah foolish Christians who hath bewitched us May we not well blush that Satan should even out-boast the living God in the unity of his Subjects that the children of this world should be wiser in their generation then the children of light Alas is it a time for Mariners to be quarreling when their enemies are joyned in discharging their Cannons against them and the Bullets flie thick amongst them Is it a time for Christians to be wrangling when their Adversaries are united in a confederacy to destroy them all Lord thou hast promised that thy people in the days of the Gospel shall no more envy one another that the Wolf and the Laâ—b shall feed together and the Lion shall eat straw like the Bullock and dust shall be the Serpents meat that they shall not hurt nor destroy in all thy holy mountain Thy dear Son when leaving an ungrateful World left Peace as one legacy to his Children not onely peace with thee but also among themselves thou knowest how much his heart was set upon it when he begd so hard so earnestly so affectionately of thee this blessing a little before he went to lay down the price of it Let it please thee for thy Promise sake to make all thine of one heart and one way for because thou hast spoken it therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer before thee this day Let it please thee for thy Sons sake whom thou hearest always to take away all envyings and wrath and emulation and strife out of the hearts of thy people and heal thy Sion in its breaches for thou seest it shaketh I Wish that the injury I do my self by unnecessary solitariness may make me the more in love with good society My God hath told me Wo to him that is alone David was alone when Satan drew him to defile his Neighbours Wife Whilst the Sheep flock together they are safe as being under the Shepherds eye but if one stragle from the rest it s quickly a prey to the ravenous Wolf It s no hard matter to rob that house that stands far from Neighbours The cruel Pyrate Satan watcheth for those Vessels that sail without a convoy The order is observable in the narration of Demas his Apostacy Demas hath left us and hath embraced this present World He first left the Company of the faithful and then openly denyed the faith Christian conference is a good help to perseverance but they that forsake the communion of Saints will quickly disown the profession of sanctity If Rabbits keep within the Pales amongst their fellows there is Law to secure them against the violence of strangers but if any wander from the Warren they are a lawful prize for any man and prey to any Dog What an ill case is he in that travelling in a dark night falls and hath none to help him up that wanders and hath none to shew him the right way that is set upon by Theives and Murderers and hath none near him to defend and secure him Such is the condition of those that neglect the communion of Saints Hence it is that our great and sworn enemy raiseth the dust of dissention and strife amongst Christians to make them keep aloof from each other knowing that much of their welfare and safety doth depend upon their keeping together He knoweth its best fishing in troubled waters O my soul Now thou beholdest in these wicked days the high winds of divisions and passions amongst the Children of God how ready they are to Martyr one anothers names and it s to be feared to Murther one anothers bodies if infinite power did not over-rule and prevent it thou mayst gather assuredly that Satan was the Conjurer to raise them I have read of a Tree that if some of the boughs of it be cast into a Ship they cause a mutiny betwixt the Passengers and Mariners to the ruine of both Dost thou not think that Satan hath cast some such branches into the Vessel of the Church at this day that instead of uniting their strength against him and his Kingdom and instead of joyning their power to improve every gale for their furtherance towards their blissful Haven they might fall together by the ears destroy one another and save their enemies a labour O that for the divisions of Sion I could have great searchings great sorrows of heart Lord thy Saints in the Primitive times were famous for their love to each other Their very enemies would with admiration cry out See how the Christians love one another Thy Jerusalem heretofore was a City compact together at unity within
of a Crown for the highest â—ead on earth Am not I a greater fool then the former and more vain then the latter if I spend that time which is infinitely more costly then gold or Bezer as having relation to eternity wholly in worldly talk which might be imployed in declaring and admiring the boundless perfections of the blessed God in furthering that curious work of grace in my own and others souls and in preparing us for our unchangeable bliss in the other World My God hath not onely a book of remembrance for every good word but also a book of observance and account for every idle word Lord within a few days I shall go the way that I shall not return thine Angel may say concerning me That time shall be no more Thou wilt never trust me with another life nor afford me another day of grace this is the onely time that I shall have to provide against the coming of my Lord. Nay whilst I live thou mayst part me from thy people and deny me that happy priviledge of their society that I now enjoy For the Lords sake help me to work whilst it is day and to walk whilst it is light because the night is coming wherein I can neither work nor walk I Wish that my tongue may never be so set on fire of Hell as to speak evil of those that are the Heirs of Heaven It were better for me to be sick and solitary in my bed then to be censuring or reflecting upon the Lords Servants The Divels themselves though for their own ends could sometimes speak of righteous ones with a seeming awe and reverence These men are the Servants of the most High God and shew unto us the way of salvation And shall I at any time be worse then a Divel at some times Such impotency in my tongue would be too great a sign of impurity in my heart Those that have a blemish in their eyes judge the Skie to be ever cloudy Caligula who was a Monster of obscenity and uncleanness thought there was never a chaste person in the World T is usual with the wicked measuring others by themselves to judge all to be ungodly They render others to be deformed that their own faces might be esteemed the more fair Or as the Lapwing they hope by their false cries against the godly to divert strangers from finding the nest of their own filthiness They would have all good men thought to be evil that themselves who are fullest of evil might be thought good But though the seed of the Serpent spit their poison against the seed of the woman should I do so who am one of their brethren How bad is that Bird that defileth its own nest How foolish as well as sinful is that Child that disgraceth and defameth his own Family If I speak evil of any of the Saints I speak evil of my self and of the Master whom they serve Though Christ was not upon earth in Enochs days yet he tells me that he will judge the slanderers of the Saints as blasphemers of himself Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince them of their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Iude vers 15. It is Satans title to be the accuser of the Brethren and my God calleth such men as are guilty of it by no better name then Devils 2 Tim. 3. 3. Tit. 3. 2. Would I be willing to resemble the Prince of darkness or can I do it and escape punishment O t is dangerous to abuse the King of Heavens Favourites Such Arrows of slander and censure shot out of Satans Bow by my hand against the Saints would as a Shaft shot against a Stone rebound upon me and hurt not the Stone or Saint but him that shot it He that snuffeth a candle with his bare fingers doth foul if not burn his fingers but makes the Candle to burn the more brightly If I censure the Children of God I defile my own conscience but do not make them the less glorious O my soulâ— consider what thy God hath said Cursed is he that smiteth his Neighbour secretly And all the people shall say Amen Thou mayst smite thy Neighbour as really and as dangerously with thy tongue as with thy hand The wages of both is a Curse from God from all the People Surely the breath of so many would blow down the strongest person the strongest dwelling Though the causeless curse shall not come yet when God and Men both see cause for it and say Amen to it there is no way to avoid it I may build upon my profession as if that would secure me against such a stormy wind but it will prove a rotten foundaâ—ion My God hath told me What hast thou to do to take my Covenant in thy mouth Thou givest thy mouth to evil and thy tongue frameth deceit Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother and slanderest thine own Mothers Son No pretence whatsoever can prevent my punishment But I will reprove thee and set thy sins in order before thee If God once undertake to reprove it will be cutting it will be killing O let me tremble to think of tearing the names of any of Gods people lest my God tear me in peices when there is none to deliver me Psa. 50. 16 17 21 22. How irrational as well as irreligious is it for me to spend my time in censuring others If they be guilty of erring they do but shew themselves to be Men not Angels Am I so foolish as to expect Heaven upon Earth perfection in a polluted and polluting World If I my self were without sin then I might throw the first stone The actions of the best are but a miscellay of good and evil Moses himself like the Pillar that conducted him had his dark side The cleanest Corn even after threshing and winnowing will have some soil in it There is a tincture of corruption that stains all mankind Otherwise there are some graces that would rust for want of use and be given in vain What wise man will despise or deny a Mine to be Gold because it hath some dross or bad earth with it or will throw away a Beast and say it is not good meat because it hath guts and garbage in it The Vermine of sin may sometimes craul in a cleanly holy person though they be not allowed there One act will not prove an habit nor a few bad actions a bad person If every sin unsaint a man Satan will challenge the whole race of mankind as his own peculiar When I see the course rather good then evil my charity commandeth me not to think the man other then a Christian Besides How frequent is it for the malicious world to lay down false reports of the Saints and shall I be their Pedler to take them up and cry their rotten deceitful wares up and down the Country The Priest under the Law was
Scaffold may serve to rear up a goodly building and an ordinary creature may afford matter for excellent meditations God likens himself to many to shew that there is something of him in all He compares himself to a Builder to a Buckler to a Castle a Captain to a Fortress to a Fountain of living water to an helper to health to an Habitation to Light to Life to a rocke a refuge a reward to a shadow a shelter a shield to a Lion an Eagle a Leopard a Bear to fire dew a moth the Sun and why but to teach us to read him in his creatures In Heaven the Christian shall know God and all the creatures in him but on earth we must learn to know him by them God hath given us three Books which we ought to be studying whilst we are living The Booke of Conscience the Booke of Scripture and the Book of the Creature In the Book of Conscience we may read our selves in the Book of the creature we may read God in the Book of Scripture we may read both God and our selves The great God sets us excellent lectures in the volume of the creation Though this Book hath but three leaves in it Heaven Earth Sea yet it teacheth us many rare lessons If we think of the visible Heaven and behold those great lights of the world how swiftly they move in their proper orbes how unwearied they are in their perpetual courses how they fail not a minute of their appointed time nor wander an inch out of their designed way how they divide the day and night and the several seasons of the year how they bless the earth with their smiling aspects and keep the inhabitants of this lower world from finding it a Dungeon by their enlightning beams we may therein discover the wisdom and power of its maker and cry out with David Psa. 19. 1. and 8. 2 3. The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-works When I consider the heavens the work of thy singers the Moon and Stars which thou hast made What is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou dost thus visit him O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth and thy glory above the heavens What rare fruit may a soul gather from these celestial trees if the porch of Heaven be such a curious piece the work of his fingers i. e. an elaborate piece of embroidery how curious is the Palace within If the outward Court be so glorious how glorious is the holy of holies If light be so sweet and it be so pleasant a thing to behold the Sun how sweet is the light of my Gods countenance and how pleasant is it to behold the Sun of righteousness O what a blessed day will that be when the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun as the light of seven days when all beleivers shall shine as the Sun in the firmament of their Father Lord thou speakest to the Sun and it riseth not to the Moon and it standeth still Why should not thy Servant be as obedient to thy command even when it is against my natural depraved course O speak but as powerfully to thy poor creature and he will as readily obey thy pleasure If we look a little lower to the clouds and meditate on them in their natural cause thin vapours exhaled by the Sun in their principal use to drop fatness on the earth in the tenuity and smalness of their bodies the weight and greatness of their burdens the waters in them being like lusty children encompassed onely with a tender film how they are tossed too and fro hurried hither and thither with tempestuous winds and yet burst not in pieces through lack of vent nor sink under the heaviness of their load nor leak out one drop till the hand of their Master unstop their bottles may well admire that infinite invisible power that upholds and governs them and say as Eliphaz of their author He doth great things and unsearchable marvellous things without number for he giveth rain upon the earth and sendeth water upon the fields Job 5. 9 10. What excellent water may I distil with the limbiks of the clouds If the favour of a Prince be as a cloud of the latter rain Prov. 16. 15. so refreshing and comforting what is the favour of the King of Kings As the clouds mask the Sun from the â—ight of Mortals so doth sin hide the smiling countenance of my God from the view of my poor soul. As the Cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the grave shall come-up no more If showres from above make the earth soft and fruitful surely the showres of heavens grace would make my hard and barren heart both tender and abundant in holiness Lord whilst I am in my journey towards my heavenly Canaan let thy good spirit be my pillar of cloud to direct me Suffer me not to be as a cloud without water Do but say unto me I have blotted out thy transgressions as a thick cloud and I will bless thee for ever If we look to the earth and view her well though she hath been called and counted the vilest and grossest of the elements we shall finde her a glorious body and not in the least degree a disparagement or disgrace to her maker Take her inside and she is curiously and wonderfully made Her Center like the heart is seated in the most convenient place for the benefit of every part Her several channels under ground as so many veins do convey her pure though pale blood for the animating and actuating as it were every member Though her wealth lyeth deep and much of it was never discovered to any mortal yet what rare jewels and rich mettals have been seen in her very guts and garbage Take heâ— â—â—â—side and that cloathing will be found better then of wrought gold Her Garment is richer in any part of it then Solomon in all his royalty The fine linnen of Egypt silks of Persia and curious works of Turkey are exceedingly inferior to her daily attire She is covered with the costly curious Aâ—ras of Hearbs and Plants and Flowers embroydered with variety of all sorts of colours perfumed with the most fragrant and delightful odours She is attended by Birds and Beasts of several orders that all in their proper ranks move too and fro acknowledging their engagements to her O who is like that God that hath made himself such a foot-stool If his foot-stool be so glorious how glorious is his throne But besides all this he that shall ponder the fruitfulness and fecundity of her Womb her unweariedness in bringing forth her wonderful care of her off-spring in bringing them up providing them all though of different kinds food sutable to each of their natures whilst they live and receiving them kindly into her bosome and embraces when
they die and all else are weary of them may well cry out by way of admiration O Lord the earth is full of thy goodness The earth is full of thy glory What rich mines may I dig out of the bowels of the earth when my God is angry the earth shakes and trembleth and the foundations thereof are moved and shall not my flesh tremble for fear of the God of the whole earth and my soul be afraid of his righteous judgements His hand hath laid the foundation of the earth and his right hand hath spanned the Heavens â— when he calls they stand up together and shall not I hear his call and obey his command Lord if the earth be thine and the fulness thereof the world and all that dwell therein Whos 's then am I Surely thine O help me to disown all title to my self to quit all my interest in my self and to live as one that is not his own but the Lords the earth is full of thy riches let my heart be full of thy righteousness and that will turn earth to me into heaven whilst I am full of thy likeness and thy love If we consider the Ocean that amazeth a beholder with its fierce countenance and seems to have neither banks nor bottom how it threatens the earth with its boysterous billows as if it intended to swallow it up in a moment and yet when it hath swoln it self to the height of its pride and its insulting waves have shewed their teeth how soon it retreats like a coward as if it were afraid of the smallest worm and had already outgone its bounds and commission what innumerable Fish both small and great take up their chambers in the waters and finde their food in the jaws of that devourer what multitudes of massy Vessels she fetcheth off from one Island and carrieth upon her back as a Porter his burthen and sets them down safe at another how she playeth with them what frights she puts them in by the way as men do little children tossing them up to heaven and then throwing them down again as if her belly should be the certain place of their burial and after all her frowns and fury refresheth them with her smiles and favour and doth but prepare them thereby to salute their harbour with the greater joy and gladness how she sendeth out of her store-house provision for the several families of the world furnishing the several pipes and aquaeducts of the earth with fresh springs and streams for the comfort of Man and Beasts If we but confider these things what cause shall we have to say with the Psalmist They that go down into Ships see his wonders in the deep and with those Mariners What manner of man is this whom the Winds and the Seas obey What manner of God is this who gathereth the waters of the Sea together and layeth up the Floods in store-houses who shutteth in the Ocean with bars and doors and saith Hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed who puts a bridle in the jaws of such a monster and when she threatens nothing but death and destruction puls her in and makes her retreat to her own den without doing the least hurt O what a God is this whom the rugged blustring winds and raging boistrous seas obey What excellent conclusions may a Christian gather from such premises Do the Winds and Seas obey God as stubborn and surly as they are and shall not I obey him Are they kept within their banks and shall not I be kept within my bounds Lord thou stillest the noise of the Seas the noise of the Waters and the tumults of the people O why dost thou not quiet the headstrong passions in my breast Thou observest how they roar and make a noise continually what frightful stormes they raise within me If thou wouldst but say to them in their height and heat Peace be still there would presently ensue a calm O suffer not these high winds to overturn me nor these swelling waters to overwhelm me I am even ready to sink save me Master or I perish Thus a Christian may consider the works of God either collectively or severally both in their insides and outsides to his marvellous advantage As the Rabbies say of the Word I may say of the Works of God Turn it over and over and over again for all is in it Turn them over and over and over again for all is in them There is wisdom in them in their variety diversity of natures subordination and serviceableness each to other O Lord how marvellous are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all There is Power in bringing with a breath the whole Creation out of the barren womb of nothing He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast There is Mercy in providing so bountifully for every of his creatures The whole earth is full of thy goodness There is Faithfulness in upholding all things in their being Thy faithfulness is unto all generations thou hast established the earth and it abideth yea mercy and truth meet together Thy mercy O Lord is in the heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds Every of Gods works is so profitable that as the Aromatick fruit not onely the kernel is a Nutmg but the skin of it is Mace As in a fair suit of Arras though the hangings never appear to their full advantage but when they are opened in all their dimensions and seen together yet a small shread may assure you of the excellency of the colours and richness of the stuff So though the Divine Perfections would appear most in their beauty and glory if we were able at one view to behold the whole world in its several eminencies and beauties yet a little part of it may speak the worth and richness of the whole It was an honest speech of a Monk who being asked how he could endure that life without the pleasure of books answered The nature of the creatures is my library wherein when I please I can muse upon Gods deep Oracles The Egyptians were instructed by Characters and Hieroglyphicks by something presented to the eye notions were represented to the understanding Reader it is thy priviledge that thou mayst perform this duty in any place No sight no sound but may afford matter for meditation If thou walkest in thy garden thou mayst turn it into an Eden by delightful meditations Dost thou behold the flowers standing in their ranks what a goodly shew they make thou mayst think what a lovely â—ight it is to see Christians contînuing in those several places and stations in which God hath set them Some flowers open and shut with the sun so doth the Christian observe the shining and withdrawing of the Sun of righteousness Some flowers dye having a worm gnawing their root so will all hypocrites wither and come to nothing notwithstanding their gaudy shew Flowers are tender things and must
be charily lookt to or they fade away so Saints if the Spirit of God were not choyce of them and ever watchful over them would perish How lovely are flowers to the eye how pleasant to the taste how soft to the touch what ornaments to an house How amiable are the children of God to those that have eyes to see his image on them how fragrant is the smell of their Spiknard and Calamus and Cassia what a grace are they to any Family or Society Dost thou walk into thy Garden to observe how thy flowers thrive so Jesus Christ goeth into his garden to see how his plants flowrish Thou wilt not allow any weeds or barren flowers in thy Garden and Jesus Christ will not permit such wicked unprofitable ones in his Church Flowers are lovely and beautiful one day and withered and fallen off the stalk the next so man is a comely living creature one day and a deformed corps the next Thus a Saint may make every flower like the Gilly-flower cordial to him If thou walkeâ—t by a River thou mayst change the water there into spirits by meditation How fitly may thy thoughts be raised by that object to the cleansing refreshing properties of the Word of God to the water of life to the Well of salvation to the river whose streams make glad the City of God to the rivers of pleasures at Gods right hand for evermore The same water which being liquid is penetrated with an horse hair will bear the horse himself when hard frozen So those threats and judgements of God which penetrate deep into the tender consciences of the regenerate enter not at all into the hearts of carnal men hardned by custom in sin and hence thou mayst gather the reason whence the sword of the Word that in some divideth the joynts and marrow in others glanceth only or reboundeth not making the least dinâ— or impression upon their frozen adamantine hearts If thou art eating and drinking thou mayst feed thy soul as well as thy body by meditating on the meat that endureth to everlasting life on that flesh which is meat indeed and that blood which is drink indeed Thou mayst think if my outward man need food and without it cannot subsist surely spiritual food is as needful for my inward man and without it that will starve If a famine of bread and water be so dreadful that the tongues of men cleave under it to the roof of their mouths and their countenances become as black as a coal how dreadful is a famine of the Word of the Lord If natural food be so pleasant and savoury to my taste surely spiritual food is sweeter then the honey and the honey comb If all the labour of man be for his belly what labour doth the soul deserve If the ordinances of my God now are so pleasant to me that my soul is even filled as with marrow and fatness and refreshed as with Wine on the Lees well refined what a blessed day will it be when I shall eat bread in the Kingdom of Heaven and drink new wine in my Fathers Kingdom O blessed are they that are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. If thou beholdest thy candle thou mayst consider how that light which makes small shew in the day yeilds a glorious lustre in the night not because the Candle hath then more light but because the Air hath then more darkness so that holiness and grace which in a day of prosperity and life seems of small worth and price in a night of adversity and death will be of infinite value Or thus I set up this candle to help and direct me about my business so God sets up the candle of my life and affords me the light of his word for me to work out my salvation not to play by them Or thus this candle is spending it self for my good so I should be willing to spend and be spent for the good of others souls Or this Candle is always consuming and will at last be quite wasted so is my life daily wearing away and ere long will be quite extinguished The great Candles whilst they burn make the greater light but when they go ouâ— leave the greater stench So ungodly men the greater they are the more they shine with glory whilst they live but when they die leave the more stinking savour behind them If thou art putting off thy cloaths thou mayst ponder thy duty to put off the old man which is corrupt according to his deceitful lusts and to put off the works of darkness as also that ere long thou shalt put off thine earthly tabernaâ—le Art thou lying down in thy bed thou mayst think of thy grave wherein thou must shortly lye down and never rise up till the morning of the resurrection Is the night dark thou mayst meditate thence on the darkness of thy mind naturally of the works of darkness of the blackness of darkness for ever Ah! what a dark dungeon is Hell where not the least spark of light appears though so much fire My night will end but sinners evening will find no morning If a bed be so refreshing to my wearied body how refreshing is a Redeemer to a wearied soul How lovingly he inviteth me Come to me all that are weary I will give you rest and how refreshing will tha God! When thou wakest in the morning thou mayst say with the Psalmist When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness or When I awake I am still with thee or rouse thy self up with Awake to righteousness and sin not Awake thou that sleepest arise and call upon thy God When thou art rising thou mayst meditate on the Churches garment of needle work the fine linnen of the Saints righteousness thy putting on the new man created after God in righteousness and true holiness thy putting on that most excellent cloathing which is for warmth for ornament and defence the Lord Iesus Christ. Dost thou look on the glass to dress thy self think of the glass of Gods law how necessary it is daily to look into it for the discovery of thy spiritual spots and filth Dost thou wash thy hands O wash thy heart from wickedness and forget not that great laver of the blood of Jesus Christ. Doth thy stomach call for some food think of thy spiritual appetite and how savoury it will make the dainties of Gods house to thee They did all eat of the same spiritual meat and they did all drink the same spiritual drink they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. Art thou to go about buying or selling or worldly bargains take some thoughts of buying that one Pearl of great price which the wise Merchant sold all he had to purchase of buying that gold of grace and fine linnen of the Saints righteousness Mat. 13. 44. Rev. 3. 18. Amongst all thy gains and gettings consider What will it profit a man to gain the
whole world and lose his own soul or what will a man give in exchange for his soul If the gaining a little silver or gold be worth so much time and pains how much is holiness and heaven worth surely ten thousand times more Art thou in the day to take a journey thou mayst consider I am but a Pilgrim and Stranger in this earth I am every day travelling towards my long home I have no abiding City here but look for one that is to come whose Builder and Maker is God O that I could prepare for it and daily make some progress towards it Art thou to spend the day in thy Shop or fields and about many businesses think on that of Christ Martha Martha Thou art careful and troubled about many things but one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen the good part which shall never be taken from her This Reader were an excellent improvement of thy time in solitude by such occasional meditations which are obvious to ordinary understandings SECT V. THirdly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to godliness in solitude Mind solemn and set meditation In the former head I advised thee to Occasional in this to Deliberate meditation Hereby thou wilt not onely prevent those covetous ambitious lascivious thoughts which otherwise might crowd in upon thee and pollute thee but also exceedingly further thy soul in holiness Occasional meditations do some good but these much more as making a greater impression upon the soul and abiding longer with it They differ as a taste and a full meal as a sip and a good draught Occasional meditations are like loving strangers that afford us a visit but are quickly gone Deliberate meditations are as inhabitants that dwell with us and are longer helpful to us The former as the morning dew do somewhat moysten and refresh the earth but quickly passeth away The latter as a good showre soaks deep and continueth long Because this is of great weight I shall acquaint thee what solemn meditation is and then give thee a pattern of it Solemn meditation is a serious applying the mind to some sacred subject till the affections be warmed and quickened and the resolution heightned and strengthned thereby against what is evil and for that which is good There are five things in this description 1. It is an application of the mind The understanding must be awake about this duty it is not a work to be done sleeping If the mind be not stirring the affections will be nodding The understanding in this is as it were the Master-workman if that be out of the way or missing the servants of the affections will be idle and stand still T is by this Sun that heat is conveyed to the lower world Darkness like the night is accompanied with damps and cold The Chariot of light is attended with warming and quickening beams 2. It is a serious applying the mind Too quick digestion breeds crudities in the mind as well as in the body and doth often more distemper then nourish There must be a retentive faculty to hold fast that which nature receiveth until a through concoction be wrought or little strength will be gotten by it Hereby it differeth from occasional meditation which is sudden and soon vanisheth this calls at the door salutes us and takes its leave that comes in and stays some time with us Occasional meditation is transient like the dogs of Nilus that lap and are gone set meditation is permanent it as the Spouse beg'd of Christ lodgeth all night between the breasts This duty cannot be done unless the mind be kept close to it the person that is negligent cannot do this work of the Lord. Things of importance are not to be hudled up in haste Loose thoughts as loose garments hinder us in our business We need as much our hearts united to think of God as to fear God Short glances do little good it is the abiding influence of the sun that turns the earth into silver and golden mettal It is not once dipping the stuff into the Dy-fat but frequent doing it that giveth the pure scarlet colour The true Mithridate which is so cordial and opening is long a making The yellow wax lyeth long in the beams of thâ— Sun before it changeth its colour and attaineth a virgin-like whitness and purity He that rides post though he wearies himself in travelling from place to place is less able to give an account of the Country through which he passeth then he that is more slow in his course but more constant in his abode Omnis festinatio caeca est saith Seneca T is much blowing that makes the green wood to flame 3. It is about some sacred subject As good meat and drink breed good blood so good subjects will breed good thoughts There is abundant matter for our meditation as the Nature or Attributes of God the States and Offices of Christ the three-fold state of man the four last things the vanity of the creature the sinfulness of sin and the love and fulness of the blessed Saviour the Divine Word and Works out of these we may chuse somtimes one thing sometimes another to be the particular subject of our thoughts Exo. 15.11 Ps. 1.1 and 119.148 Pro. 6.22 1 Tim. 4. 13. To undertake more then one at a time will deprive us of the benefit of all Too much food will rather destroy then encrease the natural heat A little wood may help that fire to burn which a great quaintity would smother Whilst the Dog runs after two Hares now after one and presently after the other he loseth both Many subjects as a press or crowd of people do but hinder one another Those streams are strongest which are most united Greediness of appetite and receiving too much food weakeneth digestion Simples are most operative mixtures and compositions are often used to allay their force When thou hast fixt upon the subject meditate if it may be on its causes properties effects titles comparisons testimonies contraries all will help to illustrate the subject and to quicken and advantage thee they do all as so many several windows let in those beams which both enlighten the mind and warm the affections but they must be considered in their places and methodically The parts of a Watch jumbled together serve for no use but each in their order make a rare and useful peice 4. It is that the affections may be warmed and quickned Our hearts and affections should answer out thoughts as the eccho the voyce and the wax the character in the seal If our meditations do not better our hearts they do nothing Whilst they swim in the mind as light things floating on the waters they are unprofitable but when they sink down into the affections as heavy and weighty things making sutable and real impressions there then they attain their end Our design in meditation must be rather to cleanse our hearts then to clear our heads Whilst I was musing the fire
was the debtor God-man the surety who made satisfaction to God the Creditour How he was born of a mean woman that we might be born of the most high God he was tempted that he might conquer Satan for us and succour us when tempted by him what a life he led filled with miracles and miseries what a death he died embittered with shame and pain and all that we might be exalted to eternal honour and pleasure How he triumphed over Death the Grave the Curse of the Law Satan and Hell in his Resurrection and ascended into Heaven leading Captivity Captive appears in his Fathers presence pleading his death as the prise of his Chosens fafety and life sitteth at his right hand and ever liveth to make intercession for us Its precepts excel all the commands and Statutes and Laws that ever were in the World in purity and justice and goodness much more then the Firmament of Stars doth a Wisp of Straws Its promises are exceeding great and precious of special efficacy superlative excellency and unquestionable certainty In a word the Scripture hath all in it requisite either for counsel or comfort for necessity or delight for knowledge or action for direction in life or consolation in death 3. The form of the Scripture renders it worthy my highest esteem and hottest affection 1. It s inward form is That perfect correspondence and agreement between the commands and promises laid down in the word and that infallible and certain truth of Gods own understanding The books of men are sutable to their minds and their minds being but in part sanctified their works must be answerably imperfect but the Lords understanding being infinitely pure and true his word must bear some proportion to it God is truth without the least shadow of error holy without the least tittle of mixture hence his word is certain without the smallest colour for doubts Thy law is the truth pure not admitting of the least sin or darkness Thy word is very pure therefore doth thy servant love it Because of its exact conformity to the eternal will of God it s called his word As a man maketh known his mind by his words so doth God hence it s called the mind of God Pro. 1. 23. The Word of God 1 Pet. 1. 15. The counsel of God Act. 20. 27. The Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. The Law of God Psalm 1. 2. Not onely in regard of its Author which is the divine wisdom but also in regard of its matter which is the divine will 2. It s outward form is both plain and difficult according to Gregory so shallow that lambs may wade in it and so deep that Elephants may swim in it It s stile is so plain as to encourage the most unlearned and yet so difficult as to exercise the greatest Scholars and most profound Rabbies To those that are babes in understanding the Scripture is milk to them that are men in knowledge the word is strong meat It s therefore called light the nature of which is both to discover it self and other things also Thy word is a light to my feet and a lanthorn to my paths It s a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts Psa. 119. 105. 1 Pet. 1. 19. It is plain in regard of fundamentals and things necessary to be known and done What we are to believe concerning God the mediatour our own estate of innocency apostacy recovery what we are to practise in order to salvation are all perspicuous and clear to ordinary capacities Though there be some whose eyes the god of this world hath blinded lest the light of the glorious Gospel should shine upon them yet all wisdomes ways are plain to him that understandeth 2 Cor. 4.4 Pro. 8. 9. The Scripture sheweth the greatest simplicity both in words and phrases and figures that the weakest need not be afraid of searching into it There is such obscurity also in things not absolutely necessary to salvation that the deepest understandings need not be ashamed of reading and studying it Peter affirmes that in the Epistles of Paul there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some things hard to be understood There are such abstruse texts in the word of God that no man can make a certain comment on them The Jews themselves confessed that in the latter end of Ezekiel there are many things mentioned which are beyond all their apprehensions against which and all other difficulties in the Old Testament they comfort themselves according to the expression of the woman of Samaria Messias venturus est qui nobis annunciabit omnia The Messias will come and tell us all things Now the wise God seeth fit to let some truths in Scripture be dark 1. To shame us for our ignorance which is the fruit of our fall from him The pride and height of man is laid low by the profound and hard places in the Word of God 2. To quicken us to diligence in reading and meditating and comparing Scripture with Scripture The deeper a mine of gold lyeth in the earth the harder we must labour to dig it out 3. To raise our price of the Word of God We are apt to slight things that are easie and ordinary and to value things at the highest that cost us dearest 4. To provoke us to pray to God that he would give us his key whereby we may unlock this cabinet of precious Jewels He onely that made the Scripture can best acquaint us with his mind in the Scripture therefore David intreated divine light that he might understand the divine Law Psa. 119. 18. Open mine eyes that I may see the wonderâ—ful things of thy Law 4. The final cause of the word will speak it full of value and worth Namely the glory of the great God and the salvation of lost man The honour of God shines more brightly then the Meridian Sun through the whole Heaven of the Scripture The Scripture exalteth God in regard of his infinite nature and being his transcendent excellencies and perfections his eternal decree his works of creation and providence It advanceth God in all his attributes declaring to us 1. His wisdom how he is the onely wise God the foolishness of God is wiser then the wisdom of men yea that Angels themselves are fools to him His understanding is infinite 2. His Power how he is mighty in strength the Almighty God to him nothing is impossible doth what ever he pleaseth can do more then he will do 3. His mercy how he is full of mercy rich in mercy the Father of mercys hath multitudes of tender mercies his mercy endureth for ever hath an heighth and depth and length and breadth in it which none can reach 4. His Iustice how he fails not the least in the performance of his promises and accomplishment of his threatnings how he will by no means clear the guilty not the greatest of his favourites not
be is not Psa. 19. 7. It s promissory part is holy both formaliter in its own nature and effective in its end and fruit It s Historical part is holy other books are properly called prophane Histories in distinction from this The Scriptures expressions are pure of the most impure actions He knew her no more men with men doing what is unseemly Gen. 38. 26. Rom. 1. 27. 2. It is powerful As fire it can melt the hardest mettal As an Hammer it can break the most stony heart Ier. 23. 29. 1. It is powerful for Conviction It sets mens sins before their eyes and makes them behold their ugliness and deformity whether they will or no It tells the sinner as Elisha concerning the Syrian King to the King of Israel what he doth and saith in his bed-â—hamber in the retiring room of his heart It makes the spirit of the stoutest sinner to treâ—ble as the leaves with the wind and though he strives to put off his quaking fits by some humane cordials yet he finds his soul-Ague still continuing upon him Sturdy Murderers of Christ spring in trembling and an earthly Felix quakes under the power of this word This voice of the Lord is powerful it â—hakes the Cedars of Lebanon The batteries of the word have shaken the sensless conscience and shattered the flinty hâ—art in peices 2. It is powerful for conversion It is able to change the nature and turn an heart of stone into an heart of flesh It hath many a time inlightned dark minds to see the things which they never saw enlivened dead souls and enabled them to stand up from the dead The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul It hath dispossessed the strong man cast him out of his strong holds wherein he had raigned many years and subdued the soul to another Lord and Soveraign What hath been said of God may be said of the Word in the hand of the Spirit Who ever resisted its will How powerful is that word which can make the proudest creature that scorned former reproofs and precepts threatnings and judgements to cry and weep bitterly like a child under the rod that can create the new creature the choicest of Gods works By the word of the Lord are the new Heavens wherein dwelleth righteousness made and all the glorious host thereof of sparkling graces by the breath of his mouth 3. It s powerful for conquering spiritual enemies The noble victories atchieved by the Lords Worthies are most of them obtained by this sword of the Spirit Whole armies of sins have been discomfited and forced to flie before the face of this weapon God hews these by his Prophets and slays them by the word of his mouth This word like the rod in the hand of Moses worketh wonderfully for the destruction of such Egyptian enemies Satan is another enemy of the Christians but as powerful and as politique as he is he falls down like lightening from heaven before the preaching of the word This sword hath so wounded that Leviathan that destroyer of souls that he can never recover himself They overcame him i. e. the Devil by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony Rev. 12. 11. In a word it must needs be strong for it is the power of God to salvation The rod of his strength Rom. 1. 16. Psa. 110. 2. 3. It is perfect It contains in it all that is necessary and sufficient for our eternal salvation It is a full and compleat rule and measure both of things to be believed and practised it will admit no addition because it is defective in nothing it will suffer no diminution for it is redundant in nothing If any man shall add unto it God shall add anto his plagues If any man shall take away from the words of this book God shall take away his part out of the book of life Jesus Christ who was the great Teacher sent from God was faithful in his office and gave his Church whatsoever Precepts or Doctrines were needful for her in order to her endless good He tells us Whatsoever I have heard of the Father I have made known unto you Joh. 15. 15. And his Apostle speaks to the same purpose Act. 20. 21. I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God Besides it is able to make the man of God perfect and throughly furnished unto every good word which it could never do if it were not perfect it self Nil dat quod non habet Nothing can give that which it hath not in it self either formally or virtually Traditions are no way necessary to compleat the Canon of Scripture Since God did reveal his will in writing every age had that revealed to it which was sufficient for that age to make such as then lived wise to salvation but as God was pleased to reveal more the latter did assist us in the understanding of the former â—herefore so long as any truth was necessary to be more fully known he inspiâ—ed holy men to do it and the compleating of the divine Canon was reserved for Christ and his Apostles Ioh. 15. 15. and 7. 8. and 6. 13. Act. 20. 27. Gal. 1. 6 7 8. 4. It is true and certain Not a tittle of it shall fail It is calâ—ed truth the truth thy truth the Scripture of truth the word of truth the Gospel of truth a more sure word the comparative for the superlative the most sure word Christ prefers it before information from the dead the Apostle before Revelation from Angels or auy other way whatsoever 1. The Precepts of it are true they are perfectly agreeable to the mind of the speaker Thou art near O Lord and all thy commandments are truth Psa. 119. 5. The words of men may be true but the word of God onely is truth There is no error no mixture in it t is therefore called sincere milk 1 Pet. 2. 2. 2. The Promises of it are true They are accomplished to the least particle of them Hence they are called the sure mercies of David The Promises of God are unquestionable because their speaker is unchangeable and one for whom it is impossible to lie They are sure hold and will eat their way through all the Alpes of opposition Not one good thing haâ—h failed of all that the Lord our God hath promised Joshua 21. 45. 3. The Histories of it are true Whatsoever is written in it of the first or second Adam of any persons or nations is exactly true â—here never was fuch an impartial historian as the inditer of the word This is the Book which hath no Errata's in it 4. The threatnings are true The sinner shall as certainly feel them as he reads or hears them He shall as surely be damned as if he were already damned therefore he is said to be condemned already to speak its certainty He shall find the gnawing worm and the eternal fire as unquestionably as if he felt them at
to them Faith is a Christians guide and good Works his garment As the Fish by the Fins are raised from the mud to the top of the water so faith lifteth the soul from earth to heaven It is the evidence of things not seen Good works are as Scales a shield to a Christian and are not unfitly called the Breast plate of righteousness Thus O my soul though thou couldst not read a line in any Printed book thou mightest read many good lessons in this natural book Even things without mouths can Preach and speak thy Makers praise and pleasure Their voices are heard in every language and their words go to the end of the world Psa. 19. 4. Wheresoever O my soul thou goest thou mayst by meditation get some steps nearer thine eternal weal Art thou walking Consider thou art but a sojourner and traveller in this world thy life is a continued moâ—ion thy way is the Son of God thy home is the Fathers House thy motion is painful thy way is perfect and thy home will be full of pleasure Why shouldst thou wander and come wide or loyter and come short of Heaven O be sure to walk in the right way and be content to travail hard that thy saâ—e way may find its end in solace and thy painful walk make thy home more welcome Art thou walking in thine Orchyard thou mayst from every tree as a Text gather many profitable doctrines and inferences Take a turn or two among the Trees and thou mayst find much wholsom fruit on them 1. Some Trees are profitable for one purpose some for another some to quench thirst some to comfort and refresh the inward parts c. so the Children of God are diversly serviceable according to the different gifts bestowed on them by the Holy Ghost 2. Every living fruit tree is in some measure fruitâ—ul though some bring forth more fruit some less yet all bring forth some All living Christians are thriving and bearing fruit though some are more eminent for growth and proficiency in grace yet all bring forth fruits worthy of repentance The Hypocrite like a dead stake in an Hedge continueth at a stay is without good fruit nay groweth more rotten every moneth then other but the true Saint like the living Tree the longer he continueth rooted in Christ the more abundant he is in the work of the Lord. 3. The best Trees have a winter wherein they seem to be dead and barren yet they have their life and sap at that time remaining in the root Christians under desertions and temptations may be judged by themselves and others to be dead and undone but even at such seasons their life is hid with Christ in God Though they may fall fouly they cannot fall finally 4. Fruit-trees are tossed and shaken by the wind but there is no danger of their overturning or death whilst their root remains firm in the earth Saints may be stirred and tossed by the high winds of Satans and the worlds temptations but can never be overthrown because they are rooted in Christ. Grace may be shaken in but never out of their souls 5. The winter which the Trees suffer in frosts and snow and the continuance of their sapunder ground is profitable for them and helpful to their greater growth in Spring So the various and severest providences of God towards his people are serviceable to their good and their seeming declensions in order to their greater growth As Children under a fit of an Ague they may at present be weakened and stand at a stay but afterward they shoot up the more 6. The fruits of trees are harsh and little worth till they are grafted so the fruits of all by nature are wild and unpleasant to God till they are grafted into Christ. 7. Those trees that stand most in the Sun bring forth the sweetest and the largest fruit So those believers that live nearest God by an holy communion do the more abound in the fruits of righteousness and their fruits are the more acceptable springing from a principle of love to God 8. The more the boughs are laden the more they bow down to the earth so the more abundant any are in holiness the more humble and lowly they will be 9. The Husbandman chuseth what plants he pleaseth to bring into his Orchyard and his grafting of them and care about them makes the difference between them and others So God chuseth whom he pleaseth out of the wilderness and waste of the world and his grafting them by regeneration and conduct of them by his Spirit distinguisheth them from all the rest of the earth 10. The Leaves drop from the Trees in the beginning of Autumn Such is the friendship of this world whilst the sap of wealth and honour lasteth with me and whilst I enjoy a summer of prosperity my friends swarm in abundance but in the winter of adversity they will leave me naked O how miserable is that person who hath no friends but of this world How happy is he that hath the sap of grace which will remain with him in the coldest winter Thus O my soul whilst thou art walking with regenerate creatures thou mayst better thy spiritual senses and walk with thy Creator O how may thy thoughts be raised to the trees that are planted in the house of the Lord and flourish in the Courts of thy God that are planted by the Rivers of waters and bring forth their fruit in due season Lord I confess thy goodness in giving me so many ushers yet alas my dull and blockish heart to this day hath not learnt those lessons which thou hast set me by them Vnless thou who art the chief Master of the Assemblies undertake the work all will be in vain Thy creatures are as burning glasses they cannot make the Sun to shine but when it doth vouchsafe its heavenly beams they help to increase both light and heat It s thine own promise that all Sions Children shall be taught of God Let it please thee to undertake the tuition and instruction of thine untoward Scholar O do thou spiritualize my heart and then I shall spiritualize all the works of thine hand do thou enlighten me so powerfully by thy blessed Spirit that I may turn every spark into a candle and every candle into a star and every star into a Sun and by the light of all be enabled to see more of thy beautiful face and blessed perfections I Wish that I may not onely taste by occasional but make a full meal by set and serious meditation of that food which may God provideth for my soul If a drop a little be reviving and strengthening surely a good draught will yeild me more comfort and profit If ever it be true it s here the best is at the bottom That rare object which upon a transient view gives me some delight upon a permanent vision will afford more pleasure If my meat abide in my body it will afford me the better
Morning prayer is the key of the day which openeth the treasury of divine bounty and locketh the soul up in safety A Prayerless person goeth all day unarmed and may expect many wounds from that hellish crew that lye always in ambush to destroy him The neglect of this pass gives Satan a great advantage to take the City When Saul had left off calling at Heavens gate the next time you hear of him is knocking at a Witches at the Divels door Prayer is one of the great ordinances that batters down the strong holds of the Devil hence he sets his wits at work to divert men from it It is the Souls armour and Satans terrour he that knoweth how to use this holy spell aright need not fear but he shall fright away the Devil himself The Lord Jesus when he marcht out against the powers of darkness and was to fight with them hand to hand armed himself before-hand with prayer Luk. 3. 21 22. not onely for his own protection but also for a pattern to us Every day we walk in the midst of enemies which are both mighty and crafty and will watch all advantages to undo us and should we go amongst them without prayer we are sure to become their prey It s too late to wish for weapons when we are engaged in a Battel Caesar cashierd that Souldier who had his armour to furbish and make ready when he was called to fight The moral of the Fable is good The Boar was seen whetting his Teeth when no enemy was near to offend him and being asked the reason why he stood sharpening his weapons when none was by to hurt him he answered It will be too late to whet them when I should use them therefore I whet them before danger that I may have them ready in danger Another duty that concernes thee in secret is to read some portion of the Word of God The Work-man must not go abroad without his Tools The Scripture is the Carpenters Rule by which he must square his building the Tradesmans Scales in which he must weigh his commodities The Travellers Staff which helpeth him in his journey There is no acting safely unless we act scripturally Bind it continually upon thy heart and tie it about thy neck When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee when thou wakest it shall talk with thee For the commandement is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life Prov. 6. 21 22 23. The Lawyer hath his Littleton or Cook which he consulteth The Physitian hath his Galen or Hippocrates with which he adviseth The Scholar haâ—h his Aristotle The Souldier his Caesar And the Christian his Bible that Book of Books to which all those Books are but as a course list to a fine cloth and scarce worthy to be wast paper for the Binder to put before this to shelter it This will teach the Lawyer to plead more effectually then Cicero when undertaking the cause of Quintâ—â— Ligarius one of Caesars enemies he did by the power of his Oratory make Caesar his Soveraign to tremble and often to change colour and when he described the Battel of Pharsalia caused him to let his books fall out of his hand as if he had been without spirits and life and forced him against his will to set Ligarius at liberty this will teach him so to plead as to prevail with and overcome God himself This will teach the Physitian to work greater cures then ever AEsculapius wrought to produce more strange and rare effects then the most powerful natural causes The Weapon-salve and most extraordinary cures that ever have been wrought are nothing to the healing a vitiated nature by the spirit and a wounded conscience by the blood of Christ which have been frequently done by the Word of God It hath opened the eyes of the blind abated the dropsie of pride softned the stone in the heart stopped a bloody issue of corruption healed the falling-sickness or back-sliding and raised the dead to life He sendeth his Word and healeth them Psa. 107. 20. The waters issuing out of the Sanctuary are healing waters Ezek. 47. 9. This will teach the Scholar to know more then the greatest Naturalists or then the Delphick Oracle could enable him to though it told him his duty even to know himself It is a Glass clean and clear wherein he may plainly see the spots and dirt and deformity of his heart and life It will teach him to know the only true God and Iesus Christ whom he hath seâ—t whom to know is life eternal This will teach the Souldier how to war a good warfare how to fight the Lords Battails against the Prince of Darkness and all his adherents and over all to be more then a Conquerour There is no Guide no Counsellor no Shield no Treasure among all the Books that ever were written comparable to the Scripture It is reported that a certain Iew should have poisoned Luther but was happily prevented by his Picture which was sent to Luther with this warning from a faithful friend That he should take heed of such a man when he saw him by which Picture he knew the Murtherer and escaped his hands the Word of God discovereth the face of those lusts in their proper colours which lie ready in our callingsâ— in all companies in our goings out and comings in to defile us and which Satan would employ to destroy us By them is thy servant forewarned saith David Psa. 19. 11. By reading and applying it we may know their visage and prevent their venome by the words of thy mouth I have kept my self from the paths of the destroyer Cyprian would let no day pass without reading of Tertullian nor Alexander without reading somewhat in Homer Shall the Christian let a morning pass without an inspection into the Word of Christ As God commanded Moses to come up into the Mount early in the morning with the two Tables in his hand So Reader he commandeth thee to give him a meeting every morning with the two Testaments in thy hand After the refreshment of nature about which I have given thee directions else-where and therefore shall omit it here it will be requisite that thou shouldst call thy family together and worship the blessed God with them Our Relations namely Children and Servants have mercies bestowed on them wants to be supplied dangers to be prevented natures to be sanctified souls to be saved as well as our selves and therefore must not be neglected Some tend and feed the souls in their families on the Lords day and starve them all the week after but herein they are guilty of dishonesty and unfaithfulness They rob God of the service which is due to him from all in their house joyntly They wrong the souls in their families by not allowing them the liberty at least by not calling and causing them to hear the voice and seek the face of God
of others do speak aloud in thine ears that health and rest are mercies O how shouldst thou adore that God who distinguisheth thee thus graciously from others Mayst thou not think with thy self Here is a person full of pain the day is full of darkness to him and wearisome nights are appointed to him Lo his Wife and Children and Friends are weeping about him but cannot relieve or redress him all the comforts of this life are unâ—avoury to him His aches and grief and diseases hinder him much in spiritual performances and in the prosecution of a better life how much aâ— I bound to the Lord that it is not so with me I can relliâ—h outward mercies and am refreshed with bodily comforts I have no such distemper or pain to take me off from prayer or Scripture but I may be as frequent and as urgent as I will about my soul and eternal concernments Bless the Lord O my soul and all within me praise his holy name Surely health is the Prince the first-born of outward blessings Though foolish men deprive themselves frequently of it for the satisfaction of a sensual wanton appetite yet it s more worth then a thousand of those brutish transitory delights A Stomach is of more value then meat and a good digestion then raiment Men think not much to part with much of their wealth in their sickness for a little health O it deserves thy prayers to God for it with submission to his will when thou wantest it and thy praysing of God for it with enlarged affections when thou hast it 3. In observing the necessity of a timely repentance and its difficulty on a dying bed How unfit is a man to begin to live when he is wracked with pain and going to die The dolour and trouble of his body are great impediments to the good of his soul. When the outward man is in great distress and the inner man sympathizing with it the best words are often wasted and thrown away and the mind is unfit either to receive counsel or comfort Further How irrational is it to give Satan our prime our health or strength and God our weak and consumptionate and dying parts to present our enemy with our quick and nimble and active faculties and members and to put off our best friend with a body full of sores and a soul full of sin Besides the longer men continue in sin the more difficult their conversion will be He that hath wandred or travelled out of the right way all day will hardly be perswaded to go back all the way and set out again at night Where Satan hath dwelt long he will hardly be removed A Ship the longer it leaketh the harder it is to be emptied The fâ—rther a nail is driven in the more trouble to get it out The longer my soul continueth in disobedience the harder it will be to bring it to repentance The more sin is riveted and habituated in me the more pains and toyl and grief it will cost to get it subdued and slain 4. In learning more the excellency of grace and an interest in Christ and God which will do a man good in a day of â—ickness and an hour of death He is a friend indeed that is a friend in a day of adversity The sinners folly in neglecting durable riches teacheth the Christian wherein true wisdom consisteth and the worth of it That it consisteth not in heaping up such treasures or getting such friends as will be useless and unprofitable in a time of need but in laying up a treasure in Heaven and ensuring eternal comforts Cold â—harp weather sheweth the value of an healthy constitution A storm will speak the worth of a sure Anchor and a skilful Pilot. The excellency of grace and holiness and Christ and God are not fully known till we come into the other world where all sublunary comforts are wanting But the more any condition in this world resembleth that and the nearer we approach that the more visible is the value of divine and lasting blessings A Cordial is not esteemed till we come to fainting fits A soul that in time of health and wealth and outward prosperity made the fear and ways of God and the estate of the godly the object of his scorn and contempt when he comes to be awakened by the alarum of death and to look into the other world will make them the object of his choice and give a world if he had it for them A Good Wish about the visitation of the sick wherein the former heads are applied THe righteous Lord and God of all grace who for sin afflicteth man with sickness yet in the midst of judgement remembreth mercy intending his instruction not his destruction by it having designed such afflictions as rods to whip men to himself to make them out of love with sin the spring of all their sufferings and sorrows and to wean them from the earth who otherwise would make it their Heaven and hath also appointed men to be the means through which these mercies shall be conveyed and sicknesses sanctified to them I Wish in general that I may never omit to visit those Neighbours with pity whom God hath visited in fury muchless insult as the Edomites over the afflicted Israelites and persecute them whom God hath smitten drawing blood from those wounds which are already blew with the blows of the Almighty but may be faithful to the precept and purpose of my God in this particular and adopt my second table duties into the Family of the first table by visiting the sick not out of common civility but out of charity and in obedience to the God of my health It is my priviledge that my Almes may become Sacrifice my Courtesies worship and in paying that debt of love which I owe to my Neighbour I may pay that duty which I owe to my Maker O that in all my common transactions I might move upon principles of reason and especially in works that have a tendency Godward act upon grounds of Religion Lord thou hast an eye to my good in all thy providences and dealings why should not I have an eye to thy glory in all my practices and actings Cause thy fear so to possess my heart that I may visit the sick out of conscience and let thy grace so assist and accompany my endeavours that thou mayst visit them to their eternal comfort I Wish that the Command of my God may be a sufficient Motive and warrant to make me set about the practice of this work It is my duty to visit them that are sick as I am the Lords Servant I disown his authority I deny his Image if I do not sympathize with others in misery Nature it self commandeth me to be affected with the conditions of such as are afflicted All creatures will commiserate those of their rank and order that are in misery Bees will rather stay and starve with those of their kind that
in my dealing and discourse with such men Lord thou knowest the poor silly children of men are unable to judge of eternal affairs according to their weight they are quickly lost when in their thoughts they begin to launch into that boundless Sea The ponderousness of the subject is ready to affright and press them down being so much beyond and above their shallow understandings But wouldst thou please to enable them though it were but to peep into the other world and to behold through some Crevice what is doing and enjoyed there both by thy friends and thine enemies they would soon have other thoughts of thee and thy service and other carriages when they are about thy work the greatest seriousness would then be too little the greatest ardour would not be thought enough for thy worship they would then indeed be fervent in spirit when they are serving the Lord. O teach thy servant though he cannot see into the other world with the eye of sense yet so to look into it with an eye of faith that he may transact the concerns thereof with that diligence faithfulness and fervency which thou acceptest and whilst he liveth be zealous of good works I Wish that my heart may be so affected with pity towards sick and afflicted persons that I may often and earnestly remember them in my prayers A little Captive considering the Leprosie of her Master was instrumental for his cure by crying out Would God my Lord were with the Prophet that is in Samaria for he would recover him of his Leprosie I have more reason when I behold a Leprous soul near its last gasp to look up to Heaven with Would to God that poor creature were with Jesus Christ that great prophet of his Church who is able and willing to enliven and pardon and sanctifie and save Would to God he would be perswaded to come to Christ to cling to Christ to close with Christ for he would recover him And what do I know but my prayers may be prevalent on his behalf Christ when dying prayed for his enemies for them that imbrued their hands in his blood and shall not I pray for my friends when they are dying and possibly ignorant whether they are going My Prayers are a cheap courtesie and diminish nothing of my estate either spiritual or temporal Their misery is an awakening motive to the duty Never did they stand in such need of help from others and wrastling with God on their behalves as now that they are taking their journey into a far Country and entring upon an unchangeable condition They may say to me as Nehemiah to Geshem I am doing a great work c. I am going to die to bid adieu to all the folly and vanity and comforts of this world to take possession of my long home of the place wherein I must abide for ever O pray for us that we may be pardoned and saved that we may repent and believe that we may die in the faith and obtain the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto life eternal They have many distractions upon their own spirits by reason of pains and bodily distempers and the loss and lamentation of their Kindred and Relations that they cannot poure out their hearts to God with that freeness and seriousness and earnestness which probably they desire Their enemies and assaults and temptations at such a time are more quick and strong and violent and full of rage having but a short time I must now pray for them or never pray for them Now beg mercy for them or never beg mercy for them When their life is gone all tears and cries and groans for them are in vain Davids greatest passions for dead Absolon were to no purpose They are then gone the way they shall not return and fixed in that place whence they shall never remove Lord I confess that my narrow heart hath not pity enough for afflicted and sick and dying souls and my weak hands have not power enough to supply or support them in their sad estates but thou hast both O be pleased to look down from Heaven the habitation where thine holiness dwelleth Behold their miseries hide thy face from all their iniquities out of thine infinite fulness releive their necessities Let the eyes of their souls be opened to see their sins and their Saviour before the eyes of their bodies be closed Give them patience and strength answerable to the burden thou layest on their backs Enable them to do their last works well and let them be better then their first Open thou their lips and let their mouths shew forth thy praise before they go to the place of silence Stand by them in their last conflict with their enemies Death and Devils that they may over come both be more then conquerours through him that loves them and pass through the jaws of death to the joys of a blessed eternal life I Wish that my soul may be the more sound for every visit I bestow on sick bodies There is not so much danger of catching their outward diseases as there is hope of increasing my spiritual health if I am not wanting to my self The sick and dying bed is a Pulpit out of which I may be instructed more fully in many serious truths though the sick or dying man be speechless King Joash obtained three famous victories over the Syrians by visiting sick Elisha and might have gotten a compleat conquest over them if it had not been his own fault The sight of sick and dying men may assist me in my conflicts with the three great enemies of my present purity and future comfort and bliss It teacheth â—e how vain it is to make provision for that flesh which will it self ere long be provision for wormes Ah how foolish am I to pamper and please that which instead of releiving or refreshing will in my extremity pierce and pain me It teacheth me that the world it self is the greatest Cheat and Impostour in the world That though it laughs and smiles on men dandling them on her knees and hugging them in her armes whilst they are in health and promising all sorts of comforts and pleasures yet in their sickness and misery she turns them off and leaves them as Absolons Mule did him to be â—hot through with the heart-cutting arrows of eternal death By discovering the emptiness and falseness of these two seeming ends the flesh and the world it helpeth me to overcome my third enemy and to repel the fiery darts of the Devil The cup of temptation which hath so often bewitched me to drink down his deadly poison had its prevalency from the worldly profit with which the out-side was guilded or the fleshly pleasure with which the in-side was sweetned Ah! could I but bid an hearty defiance to the World and the Flesh and conquer them I need not fear the wicked one They are the powerful Advocates by which Satan pleads and too often prevails with
that in the other world I may stand among thy Sheep on thy right hand and hear that blessed heart-chearing voice Come thou blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for thee before the foundation of the World For I was hungry and thou gavest me meat I was thirsty and thou gavest me drink I was a stranger and thou didst take me in I was sick and thou visitedst me when my soul shall be above all sin and my body above all sickness and both blessed in thy favour and fruition for ever and ever Amen CHAP. VIII How a Christian may exercise himself to Godliness on a Dying Bed SIxthly and Lastly Thy duty is to exercise thy self to Godliness if God give thee opportunity on a Dying Bed The work of a Saint is to glorifie God not onely in his life but also in his death The Silk-worm stretcheth out her self before she spin and ends her life in her long wrought clew The Christian must stretch out himself on his dying Bed and end his life in the work of his Lord. Every Man by his death payeth his debt to nature He is earth in regard of his Original creation and must be earth in regard of his ultimate resolution Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Gen. 3. 19. The Sinner when he dyeth payeth his debt to Sin Satan and the Law To sin as he is the servant of unrighteousness and so must receive its wages which is death To Satan as he hath sold himself to work wickedness at his will and so must have his tempter to be his eternal tormentor To the Law as he hath violated its precepts and commands and therefore must undergo its punishment and curse The Saint when he dieth payeth his debt to God for he oweth him honour as well by his death as by his life Hence we read not onely of their living in the Lord and to the Lord but also of their dying in the Lord and to the Lord Rom. 14. 8. Rev. 14. 13. Which though some expound in that place of the Revelations to the cause for which they died they did not dye out of humour or obstinacy or any carnal selfish interest but purely as Martyrs at Gods call and for Gods cause They loved not their lives to the death for the testimony of Iesus Yet the words may as clearly speak 1. The state in whiâ—â— they died They died in the favour of God reconciled to him through the death of the Mediatour The Castle of their souls was not taken by storm or in a state of emnity and opposition but by a quiet voluntary sâ—rrender or in a state of peace and amity 2. The manner of their deaths They died in the fear of God they exercised grace as well in sickness as in health and when dying as when living their spiritual motions were quick when their natural motions were slow Plutarch reports of Lucius Metellus high Priest of Rome that though he lived to a great old age his voice did not fail him nor his hand shake in his sacrificing to the Gods It s said of Moses when he was a hundred and twenty years old and dyed that his natural sight did not fail him neither was his heat abated So it may be said of the Christian that though he die old his spiritual sight doth not fail him nor his divine heat abate As Caleb he is as strong in regard of grace his inward strength when he is entering into the promised Canaan as he was when he first went forth as a spie by faith to search the land flowing with milk and honey The Heathen counted him happy that dyed either in the midst of the goods of fortune hence they say if Priamus had died a little before the loss of his Town he had died the greatest Prince in all Asia or in the exercise of their moral vertues Hence they so highly extol Seneca and Socrates who seemed to dare even death it self out of resolution and fortitude Though those seeming vertues were but as Austin terms them Splendida Flagitia Famous Vices and their confidence arose not from any grounded knowledge of their good estates but from their blindness and ignorance of their depraved wicked and woful estates He is the happy man indeed that dieth in the faith that sleepeth in Iesus that goeth to his grave in the exercise of grace The Master of Moral Philosophy commendeth that Pilot whom a Ship-wrack swalloweth up at the Stern with the Rudder in his hand The most high God commendeth that person whom death seiseth doing the work for which he was sent into the world Even the blind Mole if Naturalists may be credited opens his eyes when he comes to dye and the crooked Serpent stretcheth out her self straight when she is going to fetch her last breath and shall not the Saint be best at last Reader Observe how careful the Saints have been to do their last work well and to go out of the world like some sweet spices perfuming the room in which they fetch their last breath with holiness and leaving a sweet savour behind them Jacob when dying worshipped leaning on his staff Heb. 11. 21. What a Character doth he give of the Angel of the Covenant and what blessings doth he pray for and prophesie to come on his children when he was going from them How was his heart enlarged in pantings after the Lord Christ Gen. 48. 16. and 49. per tot The living waters of his graces ran with the greater strength when they were emptying themselves into the Ocean of glory Moses like the dying Swan sings most sweetly being to go up to Mount Nebo to dye there What excellent doctrines reproofs instructions doth he deliver to the Israelites How pathetically rhetorically divinely doth he dictate his last legacies to his Political children who can read and not be ravished with wonder and delight Deut. 32. 33. Ioshua like the morning star shines brightest at last He gives his people so strict a charge to serve the Lord such gracious counsel when he was going the way of all the earth that it could not but be remembred many days after Dying Ioseph will lay his bones at stake for Gods faithfulness and that he will visit Israel and deliver them out of Egypt Sampson did the Church of God much service in slaying more of her enemies at his death then in his life Iulius Caesar among the Romans and Olympia the Mother of Alexander among the Grecians were famous for their care to die handsomely and not to commit at last any ill beseeming action whereby their memories should have been rendred inglorious But the Christians care hath always been to die holily and to do their God most service when they are going to that place where they shall do him no more in a proper sense Philosophers tell us that the soul upon deaths approach is more divine and supernaturally inclined certain it is the soul of a Saint onely doth then more
aspire heaven-ward when its returning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to its original divinity according to Plotinus his phrase of death As his Saviour he brings out his best wine at last and his last works are more then his first Rev. 2. 19. The blessed Prince and Lord of life should be our pattern at death He got his Father most glory he did his Church most good by his death though he was eminently serviceable to both all his life time It s said of him He was obedient Phil. 2. 7. to the death Which may import 1. His continuance in well-doing His obedience lasted to the last moment of his life so should ours Elisha would not leave his Master till taken from him into Heaven and we should not leave our Lord till taken to him into Heaven Polycarp in his old age being urged by the Proconsul to deny Christ answered I have served him eighty six years and he never once hurt me and shall I now deny him 2. His obedience in his death His death was a Free-will offering in obedience to his Fathers command Not onely his birth and life was an answer to his Fathers call A body hast thou prepared c. Then said I Lo I come to put on that body to take upo◠〈◊〉 that nature and thereby and therein to do thy Will O God but also his death was in pursuance of his duty This commandment received I of my Father Thus the Christians death must be offered up as a sacrifice to God in obedience to his command The Sinners soul is Prest to this War in which there is no discharge This night thy soul shall be required of thee The Saint understanding the orders from the Lord of Hosts is a Voluntier He gives up the Ghost Into thy hands Lord I commend my Spirit 3. The gracious manner of his dying The Sun of righteousness when setting did shine most gloriously Though at his death he had such infinite disadvantage being to wrestle with the frowns of an incensed God the fury of earth and Hell and met with clouds black and thick enough to have obscured the graces and hindered the holiness of any but himself from shining at all yet how brightly did they break forth in the midst of all those Fogs and Mists and Darkness What holy counsel and comfort did he give his Disciples to prepare them for his departure in his last and one of his longest Sermon Ioh. 14 15 16. What an heavenly prayer doth he put up to his Father for them and all his elect to give them both a taste and a pledge of that intercession which he was going to Heaven to make for them When he was hanging on the Cross under such an heavy weight as the sins of the whole World Grace was not depressed His love to his Mother is observeable Woman behold thy Son And from that hour that Disciple took her to his own house John 19. 26. But his love to his membrenâ— though enemies was wonderful Father forgiâ—â— them they know not what they do His Faith in his Father Father into thy hands I commend my spirit His pity to one of the Theives His Patience in bearing the scoffing words and taunts more bitter then Worm-wood of them that passed by reviling him as well as in suffering the wracking of his bones and whole body and the anger of an infinite God in his soul without any murmuring may well call for our admiration Reader he hath set thee a pattern that thou shouldst follow his steps Some tell us the Phoenix of Saba in Arabia Faelix so called from Phoenicea or the Purple colour of her wings liveth six hundred and sixty years at the end of which time she buildeth her a nest of Cassia Calamus Cinnamon and other precious spices and gums which the Sun by the extremity of his heat and the wavering of her wings fires and she taking delight in the sweetness of the savour hovers so long over it that she burns her self in her own Nest. Thus did the blessed Jesus and thus ought his followers to expire in a Nest of sweet Spices the exercise of the graces of the holy Spirit It was a poor farewel to the world which even Octavius Augustus gave when at the point of death he called for his Looking-glass commanded to have his Head and beard combed and his shriveled Cheeks smoothed up then asking his friends if he had acted his part well Cum ita responderint vos omnes igitur inquit Plaudite It is a dreadful conclusion which Pliny relates the Hyberboreans to make who when they have lived to one hundred years or more make a great feast to which they invite all their friends and after their jollity and mirth throw themselves down a steep rock and so perish Ungodly men are always worst at last when they come to the bottom they are flat and dead and nothing but grounds and dregs How often in the eyes of the world do wicked persons go out like a Lamp leaving a stench behind them The scandalous sinner usually like the Goats beard or star of Jerusalem closeth up the flower of his presumptuous hope at high noon he is cast in his own conscience long before his death The Hypocrite ordinarily as the Daysie and Dandelion declares the approach of the evening by shutting up before its approach If he be gold in the morning and silver at noon yet as we say of Butter he is lead at night What is the hope of the Hypocrite when God shall take away his soul As its storied of the Pardora a people in India that in their youth they have silver hairs but in their age their hairs are quite black Or as the She Wolf hath a yearly defect in generation the first time she hath five the second time four then three then two then one then barren ever after So the Hypocrite dâ—clines and decreaseth in goodness faster then the Moon in its last quarter and is commonly worst at last But the sincere Christian hath his best at the bottom and hath his daintiest dish reserved to be served in at the last courseâ— Naturalists tell us of Honey that that is the thickest and best Honey which is squeezed last out of the Comb. O what excellent periods and endings both in regard of the exercise of grace and comfort have many of the Children of God made The Death-bed to some Saints hath been like Tharah to the Israelites in the Wilderness where after many journeys growing near to the Land of Canaan they rested themselves and it was called Tharah from Roah and Tarah which signifieth a breathing time The Sun when it declines into the West hath even then much more light then any of the Stars The meanest upright Christian when he is near setting hath more joy and comfort then a specious Hypocrite any day of his life When some asked Oecolampadius lying on his death-bed whether the light did not offend him he answered pointing
I love them how can I manifest it better then by commending them to God in prayer Should I leave them thousands of silver and gold if I were able it would not all amount to the price of one fervent prayer My riches might wrong them through the deceitfulness of their hearts and cause them to be contented short of Heaven but my prayers cannot prejudice them but may much further their eternal welfares Men whose natures are crabbed and cruel have granted the requests of their dying children when they have been contrary to their own humours How much more will God the Father of mercies whose nature is Love whose bowels are infinite satisfie the desire of his dying children when they fall in with his own design and desire If Joab had hopes to speed in his supplication for Absolom because he knew the Kings heart was more for it then his own may not I be confident to speed when I beg that he would pay my debts in spirituals with interest to those who have bestowed carnals on me for his sake when I ask that my Children and Relations may love and fear and worship his Majesty and be his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works and when I intreat that he would accomplish all the great and good things which he hath promised to his Church the purchase of his Christ knowing that his heart is infinitely more for these things then mine can be Lord when I dye I shall no more put up prayers for my self or other particular persons My natural obligations to my Kindred and Relations my civil ingagements to my Friends and Benefactours besides my spiritual bonds to them and thy whole Israel may well provoke me to be fervent and instant with thy Majesty at such an hour on their behalves My Redeemer before his death wrought hard at this duty He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears Ah how should I pray for my self and others when I am taking my leave of prayer O let thy spirit of supplication be so poured down on me that I may poure out my spirit in supplication unto theeâ— for my own and others souls through thy Son with the greatest success I Wish that the night of my death may shine gloriously with the sparkling stars of divine and heavenly graces In particular I desire that when the time of my combat with my last enemy and my last combat with any enemy shall come I may above all take the shield of Faith whereby I shall be sheltered against the sting of death and quench the fiery darts of the wicked one The wise Mariner perceiving a storm approaching makes hast to fasten his Vessel with Anchors that it may be steady and not altogether at the mercy of the winds I must expect the greatest tempest when I am entering into my eternal Haven then all the powers of darkness will conjure up their strongest winds if possible to shipwrack the vessel of my soul Ah how much doth it concern me to put forth this grace the anchor of my soul both sure and stedfast and which entereth into that within the vail and thereby to fasten on the rock of Ages If I fail in this I fall I miscarry for ever God is a severe judge to condemn all guilty Malefactours Without his Son I am cloathed with guilt and so under his boundless wrath When Adam had disrobed himself of original righteousness by disobeying the law he fled from God and dreaded the summons of offended justice There is no appearing in the Fathers sight with acceptance but in the garments of his Son None can have boldness to enter into the holy of holies but by the blood of Iesus It s Faith onely that interesteth in this blood I know that through the red Sea of this blood I pass may safely though enemies pursue me hard into the Land of promise Lord I confess through an evil heart of unbeleif I have many a time departed away from the living God yet Lord I believe help mine unbeleif O Lord of life be not far from me when Devils and death are near me Help me with thy servant Stephen to see Heaven open by faith and the Son of man at thy right hand Enable me to disclaim whatsoever duties I have performed or graces I have exercised and to rely alone on a crucified Christ for pardon and life Though thou killest me let me dye trusting and clinging on and cleaving to Iesus Christ Let this Pilgrims staff of faith be never out of my hand till I come to my joâ—rneys end Thou art the Lord of Hosts and the Captain of my salvation O help me to put on the whole armour of God grant me such skill to use it that I may be able to stand in the evil day Teach thou my hands to war and my fingers to fight that through thee I may do valiantly and through thee may tread down mine enemies Grant me so to finish my course to fight the good fight of faith that at death I may receive the crown of righteousness which the righteous judge shall give to all that love his appearing I Wish that my faith may ripen into full assurance that thereby I may depart with joy and an abundant entrance may be ministred unto me into the Kingdom of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Moses and Simeon could sing at their own funerals The great Apostle could call to be put to Bed expecting thereby his sweetest eternal rest How many Martyrs have gone more joyfully to dye then ever Epicure did to dine and leaped when they drew near the Stake believing that they drew near their home their happiness their heaven What is it O my soul that makes thee start and flinch back at the sight of this bug-bear What is there in death that is so dreadful to thee Is it the sweetness of life or the pain of death or thy future estate after death Consider them all seriously and then judge rationally whether any of these should make the sigh so loath to depart First The love of life need not make thee so backward to obey the call of death If all thy time were made up of Holy-days death would bring thee greater advantage The Garlick and Onions of Egypt are nothing comparable to the Clusters of Canaan But alas its far otherwise thy whole life is a civil death Thou art born to sorrow as the sparks flye upward Thy days are few but full of trouble The earth to thee is a valley of tears the cross is thy daily companion which accompanieth thee where-ever thou goest The sufferings of thy flesh are neither few nor small How many diseases in thy body losses in thy estate how much disgrace ignominy slander oppression art thou liable to The sufferings of thy spirit are more and greater Thine own sins the provocations of others the dishonour of thy God the wants and weaknesses and oppression and persecution of the Church
Joseph shall send to convey me to the true Goshen I Wish that I may with patience submit on my dying bed to the divine pleasure It hath been far from some Moralists to murmure either at the extremity of their sickness or the necessity of dying By impatience I do not help but rather kill my self before-hand It s the general lot of mankind to sickeâ— and dye Am I angry that I am a man that I am mortal Because I know that I must be sick and dye I know that I must submit The knowledge of an approaching evil is no small good if improved Though it cannot teach me to prevent it by all my power or providence yet it may teach me to prepare for it and to bear it with courage and patience Discontent and quarrelling are great arguments of guilt and a defiled conscience The harmless sheep conscious of their innocency do quietly receive the Knife either on the Altar or in the Shambles and give death entrance with small reluctancy when the filthy loathsom Swine roar horribly at their first handling and with hideous cries are haled and held to the fatal block The Children of God and members of Christ who are perfect through their head do often give up the Ghost and desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ when the souls of wicked men are required of them and they are strangely passionate at the approach of death and with dreadful screeches salute its Harbinger sickness O that patience might have its perfect work in me when I am taking my leave of it and its work is near an end Lord my heart is too prone to be impatient under thy hand though thou art infinitely wise as well as gracious and knowest what is best for me In my sickness turn mine eyes upon my sins that my discontent may be at my self for that which is the original of all my sorrows and then I shall never repine or murmur against thee I Wish that I may daily think of death and wait beleiving and repenting and working out my salvation till my change shall come My whole time is given me that therein I might prepare and dress my soul for my blessed eternal estate Why should it not be imployed for that end The Child who hath all day been diligent about his duty may expect his Fathers good word at night But what Master will give a reward to him in the evening who hath all the day long served his enemy My life is the seed which will yeild a crop of horror or comfort in an hour of death If that be good my Harvest will be glorious and joyful if that be sinful my Harvest will be bitter and sorrowful Do men gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles The Grapes of comfort are not to be expected from the Thistles of corruption nor the Figs of peace from the thorns of impiety I should blush to commit to the keeping of a cleanly and considerable person a foul and filthy vessel With what face can I commend to the holy and glorious God an impure and polluted soul O how dreadful will it be to meet with my dying bed before I have met with the Lord of life and to be going out of the world before I have seriously considered why I came into it My great work in this world is to get my depraved nature healed by the blood and spirit of Christ ifâ— I forget my business when I have time to do it and trifle away my days in doing evil or doing nothing I lose my soul am unfaithful to my Master and deepen my judgement by the number of my days â— That Traveller may well be agast and perplexed who hath a long journey to go upon pain of death in one day for which the whole day is little enough and seeth the sun near setting before he hath begun his journey How ill doth the evening of my time and the morning of my taske accord together How justly may God reserve the dregs of his wrath for me if I reserve the dregs of myâ— days for him What folly am I guilty of in deferring my preparation for death If he be a ridiculous person that having choice of lusty horses should let them all go empty and lay an extraordinary heavy load upon a poor tired jade that is hardly able to go much more foolish is he that prodigally wasteth his youth and health and strength in the service of the flesh and the world and leaves the great and weighty affairs of his soul and eternity to be transacted on a sick or dying bed O my soul what little cause hast thou to future or delay thy solemn provision for the other world First thy life is uncertain thou hast not another day at thy disposal There are some creatures they say in Pontus whose life lasteth but one day They are born in the morning come to their full growth at noon grow old in the evening and dye at night What is thy life but a vapour that soon passeth away The first minute thou didst begin to live thou didst begin to dye Death was born when thou wast born the last act of life is but the completing of death As on thy birâ—hâ—day thou didst begin to dye so on the day of thy death thou dost cease to live How many outward accidents and inward diseases art thou every moment liable to May I not say to thee as Michael to David Save thy self to night for tomorrow thou shalt be slain Others have died suddenly by imposthumes or the falling-sickness or violent means and if thou promisest thy self a fair warning before the fatal stroak thou dost but cozen and cheat thy self But secondly If thou wert sure to see the evening star of sickness before the night of death overtake thee thou art not sure thy sickness shall not be such as may not incapacitate thee for the working out thy salvation Extremity of pain anguish of body lack of sleep the violence of a fever may indispose thee and distract thee that thou canst not so much as think of God Or thy distemper may be such that the Physitian may charge thee not to trouble thy self with melancholy or sad thoughts lest thou wrongest thy body and yet the Minister commandeth thee to pull up those sluces of sorrow if thou wouldst not lose thy soul for ever Or cold diseases as the Lethargy or Palsie may surprise thee and incline thee to continual slumbers till at last thou sleepest the sleep of death O how sottish art thou and how grosly doth the destroyer of souls delude thee to defer that work of absolute necessity of conversion to God upon which thine endless weal or wo dependeth to a dying Bed when thou art not sure to dye in thy bed but mayst as well dye in thy Shop or Fields or in the Streets when thou art uncertain what disease if thou shouldst meet with a dying bed should send thee to thy eternal