World and laying downe life wee lay downe all and love that layes downe all for one loves one better then all It was an unspeakable act of love not sufficiently utterable by the great Angels of heaven that the most glorious Majesty of God not capable of pain nor yet able with all his power to inflict paine upon himselfe should come down though not in his Majesty and close with a body subject to pain in which hee would experimentally know al that which man could bodily suffer and more then all for no man ever suffered in such a delicate constitution of body and therefore no man ever endured such rage and vehemencie of pain O Lord whither do'st thou come we are creatures yes truly bodily creatures we must be fed cloathed and kept warme we are lyable to paine and shak't with a little pain we turn colour from red to pale Lord the Angels they have likewise fallen and their nature is more noble as being free from grosse and earthy matter What stirred thee to put thy selfe in the livery of our fraile nature thy love thy will thy most loving will Looke upon him ô my soule thou daughter of Jerusalem look upon thy dear Friend who died temporally that thou mayest live eternally and who out of his singular tendernesse would not suffer thee to burn in Hell for a hundred yeeres and then recover thee by which notwithstanding he might have more imprinted in thee the blessed memory of a Redeemer but expresly required in his Articles that if thou wouldest cleave to the benefit of his Passion thou shouldest never come there now look upon him Hee hangs upon the Crosse all naked all torne all bloudie betwixt heaven earth as if he were cast out of heaven and also rejected by earth betwixt two thieves but above them tanquam caput latronum as the Prince of thieves hee has a Crown indeed but such a one as few men will touch no man will take from him and if any rash man will have it hee must teare haire skin and all or it will not come his haire is all clodded with bloud his face clouded with blacke and blue his eyes almost sunk in the swelling of his face his mouth opens hastily for breath to relieve decaying nature the veins of his brest rise beyond themselves and the whole brest rises and fals while the pangs of death doe revell in it Behold hee stretcheth out his armes to imbrace his Persecutors and they naile them to the Crosse that he cannot imbrace them Look you hee sets one leg before another with a desire of comming to them and they naile his legs together that he cannot come Now trust mee hee is all over so pittifully rent I wil think the rest My soule this Christ did for thee and this Christ would have done for thee if thou hadst been the onely Sinner and wanted his help What a grievous mischiefe is sin by which this great great I have not words most great most glorious passion of Christ is trod under foot and spoiled of the latitude of its effect and which maketh Jews of Christians For by sin Christ is every day crucifyed by mee every day forced to bow his head and give up the ghost I have farther to goe If from the price and qualitie of the medicine wee may in reason draw arguments to prove the state and condition of the soare Sin is indeed a grievous wound I never heard of such another Agnosce ô homo saith Saint S. Bern. Serm 3. de Nativit Bernard quà m gravia sint vulnera pro quibus necesse est Dominum Christum vulnerari Acknowledge ô man how grievous those wounds are for which it was necessary our Lord Christ should be wounded He goes on Si non essent haec ad mortem mortem sempiternam nunquam pro eorum remedio Dei filius moreretur Had they not beene even to death and to eternall death the Son of God assuredly had never given his deare life for the remedie If I go to the depth of it the Jewes did not kill Christ sin killed him MEDIT. 4. AS sin killed him so he killeth sin Then let every sinner come my self with them and open his wound and receive his Cure The young of the Pelican are stung by a Serpent and shee bleedeth upon them even the blood wherein her vitall spirits harbour Is a man a Drunkard Let him soberly consider what haste hee makes to purchase a Fever or a surfet which might suddenly passe him away to hell let him ponder how often hee hath drowned reason and grace and quenched the fire of Gods Spirit in himself how often hee hath bowed Gods good creatures and put them besides the just end of their Creation and how often in his cups he hath defiled Gods white and holy Name and beat hard upon his patience and let him now come hither and give all again in teares and cry with the Centurion in the Gospel Lord I am Matth. 8 8. not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roofe For my house is a sink of dregs and lees and loathsomnesse but speake the word onely and my soul shall be healed And truly ô thou that didst complaine of thirst upon the Crosse I will hereafter thirst with thee Is a man a covetous person Let him search the Scriptures and learn what Saint Paul learned in the third Heaven that the love of money is the root of all evill For 1 Tim. 6. 10. what evill will not a man commit to get the money which hee loves and money being ill-got is not well spent and sooner or later The love of money is the root of all evill Let him think how he sweats and breaks himselfe in catching flyes in gathering dirt and trifles which give no setled rest to his desire and to use the words of a good one quibus solutus corpore non indigebit Diodor apud Max. which when he hath laid down his body he shall not have or have need to have And let him now come hither and be fully satisfied with the unvaluable riches of Christ his precious death let him take off his heart from passing riches and betroth it to Christs passion let him looke upon him with the eyes of faith and conceive in what a poore and neglected manner hee hangs upon the Crosse and lament for his owne manifold oppressions of the poore let him pitty the desolate nakednesse of Christ and in his absence cover the naked and let him say Sweet God I doe heere lay downe all my vain and boundlesse desires and wholly desire thee and nothing but thee and nothing with thee but thee Is a man a burning fire-brand of rage and anger let him understand that irafuror brevis anger is a short madnesse and a long vexation that it subverteth the whole work of Peace and all the fabrick of piety in the heart robbeth it moreover of the sweets of life and leaveth
which she saw not and which humane eye never saw which shall afford her satisfaction though not perfect her blessednesse according to S. Austin He that sees thee O God and thy workes in thee non propter illa beatior sed propter te solum is not more happy for seeing them in thee but for seeing thee onely She shall see as much as God hath set apart for her blessednesse and though she differ from others in her extension of sight she shall not desire to share equally with them because it is one of her perfections and indeed part of her blessednesse to rest perfectly upon the will of God from whence flowes a blessed peace From this beatificall vision or sight of Gods face shall flame out a most ardent love of God Wee behold in the world but certaine emblems of Gods mercie justice power and the like which are out of God and in creatures and yet the reflection sets us on fire with the love of God How then shall we burne in love towards him when we shall see all we see in God though not all in God in whom all is God Verily this love will have a Property above all loves For the lover of God in Heaven cannot but love him For having once seene him he cannot but look upon him and looking upon him he cannot but love him Many objects in this meane world meane in respect of Heaven at the first sight stirre us to love Looking we love and loving we looke and the more we look the more we love and the more we love the more we looke and we cannot tell for the time whether we looke more or love more Call away the soule that lookes upon God offer her a thousand worlds for the present and ten thousand hereafter Bring all the cunning enticements that the Devill can thinke of or that God can give him leave to forge make here an assurance of all that God can give besides himselfe bring Gods owne hand to it Go to her againe speak aloud tell her of another Heaven where although God is not to be enjoyed yet there are Angels to be seene and delights without number to minister pleasures that cannot be numbred Speake words as faire as the soule you speake to And cry with the Devill All Matt. 4. 9. these things will I give thee not over one world O poore O barren temptation but over as many worlds as God can make if thou wilt turne aside from God but a little a very little or winke out but one moment She will not she cannot not that she will not because she cannot or that she cannot because she will not but shee neither will nor can Nothing but Gods holy will can move her to turn aside or wink and that shee knowes is constant to her Happinesse O the basenesse of this world O the beastlinesse of our lusts and carnall desires O the vilenesse of our pride and filthy bravery How foule how sorbid how beggerly they are set in comparison with the fight of God in Heaven What poore things are they to take in exchange for eternall blessednesse Go go presently and sell your part of Heaven your part in God for these base things O the vanities of earthly Courts and kingdomes Give us God him him only him and let all go For in God we shall have riches without care honour without feare beauty without fading joy without sorrow content without vexation all good things not one after one but altogether and without the defects annexed to them in this imperfect world The Husband that loves the Wife of his bosome the Mother that loves the child of her wombe the children that love their Parents whose living Images they are the friend that loves his friend for whom he would endanger his life though he hath but one they may frame a conceit of the tender love of God to the soule and of the soule to God but they cannot entirely and comprehensively conceive it For upon earth we may love one man or woman most yet we may love others though not as the persons we love most and our love of others may have no respect to the person we love most and so our love may bee divided We cannot love two most 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato speakes there is but one best in all kindes one best one best-beloved But in Heaven our love shall settle with all the force it can make upon God where onely one is to bee loved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint Justin for Gods most perfect unity requires the perfection of a Monarchy It is the most perfect government where is one supreme Governour and therefore one God And though in Heaven we love Saints and Angels yet that love is a naturall branch of the love of God We love them because we love God we love them in God wee love God in them we love God for himselfe and we love them altogether for God But where a Trinity of persons is the Giver in the highest gift of all and the end of all other gifts there must appeare a trinity of gifts the sight of God the love of God and a rejoycing in God According to the good we receive and the intimacie of its connexion with us so natur'd is our joy It must then be the greatest joy when we shall perfectly enjoy the greatest good But what if the greatest good be all good shall we have all joy yes I write it with great joy all joy the sight of all all love all joy not that can be given or that can bee received but that we can receive Quicquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur whatsoever is received is received according to the capacity of the receiver And though perhaps some one or some few shall receive all that can be given to such a creature for God now gives himselfe out most freely yet they shall not receive all because no finite can receive an infinite nor all that a more perfect creature could receive It will be no small part of the soules joy that Gods will is done in his Saints in his Angels in the saved in the damned The righteous Psal 58. 10 saith the Psalmist shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance There cannot bee a knowledge and possession of God without great joy And will it not afford matter of great comfort to the soule to see in God the dangers of this world both spirituall and temporall which strengthened with a hand from Heaven she fairely passed When she thinkes being now in full security With such a plot the Devill assaulted me at such a time had not God beene in the combate with me on my side I had beene lost Had I runne such a course that runne in my head at such an houre I had runne head-long to Hell Had God call'd for me and for an account at such a day by land by sea when the sea roard the winds blew the rocks watcht
I will throw them off one here and one there and only serve God who is my true end It is remarkable that the Papists turn our lenity and gentlenesse towards them into an argument against us inferring that wee have no zeale no religion O consider the flocks and multitudes of ignorant people that came to me when I lodged in London crying for satisfaction in matters of beliefe Every one of them being divided betwixt a Protestant and a Papist not knowing where to finde rest for their souls And some came under my hands whom the papists by their continual perswasions had wrought into a distraction some into madnes This others know with mee God will require an account of these souls O that it were granted to mee but first to the glory of God that while I have leave to behold this good light both of the Sun and of the Gospell I might speake in the light as our Saviour commands us what I have heard in darknesse and that I might be always at hand to binde up the gaping wounds of afflicted spirits even where they are most wounded because there are most Enemies Neither do men saith Mat. 5. 15. our Saviour light a candle and put it under a bushell but on a candlestick and it giveth light to all that are in the House The Candlestick is the place of the candle be it small or great Shall the zeale of the true Church be overcome in religious forwardnesse by a false one It is not all my purpose to labour in the prevention of Popery Part of it is to teach plainly and truly the Faith professed in England and the piety of a Christian life even to the perfection of it as will appeare to the Reader It is our Saviours Rule commended to Saint Peter When thou art converted Luk. 22. 32. strengthen thy Brethren God hath abundantly performed his part towards mee the performance of my part remaineth towards him and my Brethren And no zeale is like to zelus animarum the zeal of souls It somewhat suits which the Bridegroom said to the Spouse My Cant. 2. 10 11 12 13. beloved spake and said unto mee Rise up my love my faire one and come away For loe the winter is past the rain is over and gone The flowers appeare on the earth the time of the singing of birds is come and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell Arise my love my faire one and come away When God calls who loves because he will love and therefore says first My Love and then my faire one and he first loves because we are not faire but by his love And he seems to love without reason and to do what hee does as women doe because he will doe it but it is the greatest of all reasons that his will should be done And this is confessed by the Schoolmen in the resolution of other great difficulties and when hee cals so movingly and so prettily it is high time to goe But before I go I beg of all the zealous and noble spirits included in my Dedication that they will so farre listen after me and remember Gods worke in me as to take notice and observe what becomes of me And so God that in his good time hath remembred you and us remember both you and us all in the end and world without end Which humbly prays Your humble servant Richard Carpenter EXPERIENCE HISTORY and DIVINITY The first Booke CHAP. 1. THe Divines authorized by Let not my Reader reject many easie things being joined with a few that are not so easie because in the best book the Elephant swimmeth and the Lambe wadeth Saint John in the beginning of his Gospell whom therfore Gregory the Great calls Evangelistarum Aquilam the Eagle of the Evangelists beginning their discourses of Christ with his eternall Generation stile him the word The Reason is reason Because as verbum mentis the word of the Mind even after it cometh of the minde doth still notwithstanding remaine in it the word of the Tongue perishing with the sound So the Son of God comming of his Father by a most ineffable yet most true Generation receiveth a personall distinction and yet remaineth with and in his Father by a most unseperable Unity of Essence This blessed word I call to witnesse before whom wee shall answere for every idle word that my words heere in the matters of Experience and History are so farre agreeable to the Divine word that they are true which is the first excellencie of words as they are words The matters of Divinity will stand by themselves I have read in the Schoolmen that Omne verum est à Spiritu Sancto Every Truâ—h comes from the Holy Ghost I will bee sure to tell truth and upon this ground truth being told every man may be sure from whom it comes fix upon it in the deduction of the Conclusions it virtually containeth as upon the firm Principles of a Science I am not ignorant that sometimes it is a sin to speak truth because there may be a falshood committed though not spoken as a false breach of true Charity which many times obligeth to secrecie And these times the speaking of truth is indeed a lie because such a sin and against God who is Truth even as he is Truth But I know it for a Maxime Against a publique enemie of the Church of God we may lawfully and religiously speak all Truths It is a rule amongst Casuists Certa pro certis habenda dubia ut dubia sunt proponenda in a Relation certain things are to be proposed as things certain and doubtfull as doubtfull Let no man doubt but I will certainly dresse every thing in cloathes according to its degree Hence followes a lesson and it falles within my lesson God was in all eternity till the beginning of the World and but one word came from him and that a good one as good as himselfe and not spoken but as it were onely conceived Words are not to bee thought rashly and if not to bee thought not to he spoken because we think not in the sight of our neighbours but we speak in the hearing of our neighbours and if not to be spoken not to be written because we write with more deliberation and more expence of precious Time and words are more lasting when they are written I will heare what Christ says to his Church in the Canticles Thy lipps are like a thread of Scarlet and thy speech is comely Saint Can. 4. 3. Hierome translates it Sicut vitta thy lipps are like a Fillet or Haire-lace They are compared to a thread of Scarlet for the comlinesse of the colour and therefore it followes And thy speech is comely Thomas Aquinas his lips are like Scarlet and his speech is very comely in the Exposition of this place He sais that
coul◠tell which way and not run from Chris◠all the sweetnesse of this world would be gall and extreame bitternesse to them they would relish nothing but Christ they would scarce endure to heare any man speak that did not speak of Christ his very name would give a sweet taste in their mouthes they would seeke him and they would be sick till they found him And having found him they would let goe all and hold him fast And then the remembrance of their labour in seeking him would be sweetnes it self to them Our Saviour before his passion ascended according to his custome to the mount of Olives and there drew himself even from his own Disciples For as St. Luke describeth it He was withdrawn frō them about a stones cast and kneeled downe and prayed About a stones cast for Luk. 22 41 the peace and privacie of his owne Recollection And but a stones cast for the safety and security of his Disciples And cursed be the Traytour that brought a vile rabble of seditious persons upon him to breake his mysticall sleepe and to cut the fine thred of his calme and quiet devotions Thus did my thoughts spread themselves imagining this could not any where be found but in a Monastery My last reason was because being carried away with a great streame the desire of knowledge it being the Philosophers Principle in the first grounds of his Metaphysicks Omnis homo naturâ scire desiderat Every man by nature Arist 1. Met cap. 1. desireth to know I plunged my selfe into the depth of profound Authors Bellarmine and others and was lost in the bottome And hurried with these motives I left with a free minde Kings Colledge and the University of Cambridge upon Christimasse Eeve that I might avoid the receiving of the Sacrament the next day for which I was in particular warned to prepare my selfe But the divine Providence went with mee and plainly shewed mee by my owne eyes and by my eares and by other knowing powers perfected with knowledge in some measure with which God hath endued me that my reasons were as weak as I was young CHAP. 9. I Shall now and I cannot help it lay open and uncover the faults of others But who am I that I should doe this Have I not great faults of my owne O I have Lord have have mercy upon me a miserable sinner and upon them and upon all the world I am one of those to whom God gave a faire preheminence over all other earthly creatures I was shaped by him in my mothers wombe and tooke up by him when I fell from her I was guided through all dangers by him in my weake infancie and ignorant childhood I was reserved by him for the law of grace and the faith of Christ I am furnished by him with all kindes of necessaries for the fit maintenance of life and have beene delivered by him from a thousand thousand mischiefes bending the bow both at soule and body I had lost my life the other day and beene carried hence with all my sinnes upon my back had not he stept in to help me I have beene moved every day to goodnesse by his holy calls and inspirations He puts bread and meat into my mouth every day having strangely brought it from many places by many wayes through many hands to me Hee covers my nakednesse every day He hath preserved and restored me from sicknesse and disposeth all my affaires with all gentlenesse And yet I have play'd as foule with him as any man Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sinne did Psal 51. 5. my mother conceive mee I am thronged with unruly passions madd if let loose to wickednesse I goe and grow crookedly and stoope very low under a mighty burthen of sinne and am prone to all mischief and of my selfe ready for all attempts and wicked enterprises against God For if God should withdraw his preventing Grace I should quickly be guilty of any sinne that ever any man or woman committed It is granted that I am the void and empty Cave of ignorance the muddy fountaine of evill concupiscence dark in my understanding weake in my will and very forgetfull of good things and that left to my selfe I am not my selfe but a devill in my shape All this is true And yet I have beene the Captaine of an Army against him by whom only I can be set at liberty and freed from all these evills God is so perfectly knowing so compleatly wise that no sinne though lying hid in the dark thoughts and quiet privacie of the heart though covered with the mists of the morning or the darknesse of the night can escape his knowledge so throughly good that no sinne can please him so wonderfully powerfull that no sinner can flie from him though hee should have wings to help his feet He is the endlesse boundlesse bottomlesse heape of all perfections He is infinitely stored with all kindes of perfect worth and beauty and therefore most worthy of all true love and honour And this All of perfections is my all in all He is one and a great one that I make very angry with me every day and yet striking hee shakes his head pulls back his hand and is very loth to strike Hee would but will not Hee beares with mee from day to day and hopes well of mee breaths upon me blowes upon me with his holy spirit waters mee with his heavenly grace and benediction diggs about mee with lessons and instructions of all sorts and with good examples on every side expecting good fruit from mee And this good great God have I struck with many faults CHAP. 10. VErily I have deserved that because I have defiled all the Elements with my sins as I goe the earth at every step should sink under mee that it should open and swallow me with a wide throat into hell That water when I first come where it is should leape into my face and stifle mee that when I open my mouth to receive the sweet benefit of ayre nothing but mists and foggs and the plague should enter that fire should not onely cease and denie to warme me but also flie upon mee hang about me and burne me to ashes that heat and cold should meet together in the clouds and without much threatning break out upon me as having bin neither hot nor cold strike me dead with a clap of thunder that because all my zeal was but a flash a flash of lightning should burne mee to a coale and leave mee standing without life a blasted man all black and dried to scare others from sinne That because I playd the Beast in erring against the rules of reason beasts and unreasonable creatures of all kindes should lie every where in wait to destroy me that the Birds of the Aire should break into my House catch the bread out of my hand before it comes to my mouth and carrie away the very meat from my Table because they
Angels not descend with Nabuchodonosor to that inferiour and low rank of beasts And by the more frequent operations of the spirit in high things we become more spirituall and indeed Angelicall By the more frequent exercise of the body and the bodily powers in the acts of sensuality we become more bodily and bestiall MEDITATION 4. ANd God gave us a being so perfect in all points and lineaments that lest we should fondly spend our whole lifes in admiration of our selves and at the looking-glasse hee wrought his owne image in us that guided byit as by a finger pointing upwards wee might not rest in the work but look up presently to the workman The image consisteth in this God is one the soule is one God is one in Essence and three in persons the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost The soule is one in Essence and three in faculties the understanding the will the memory The Father is the first person and begets the Son the understanding is the first faculty and begets the will I meane the acts of willing by the representation of something which it sheweth amiable The Holy Ghost is the third person and proceeds from the Father and the Son the memory is the third faculty and is put into action and being in a manner joyntly by the understanding and will But here is a strange businesse The Sonne the second person came downe into the world and yet stay'd in Heaven The will the second faculty and she onely goes as it were out of the soule into outward action that we may see the soule of a man in the execution of his will and yet remaines in the soule God is a spirit the soule is a spirit God is all in all the world and all in every part of the world The soule is all in all the body and all in every part of the body Phidias a famous Graver desiring to leave in Athens a perpetuall memorie of himselfe and an everlasting monument of his Art made a curious image of Minerva the matter being pretious Jvorie and in her buckler upon which in a faire diversitie hee cut the battails of the Amazons and Giants hee couched his owne picture with such a rare singularity of Art that it could not any way be defaced without an utter dissolutioÌ„ of the Bucklar This did God before Phidias was ever heard of or his fore-fathers through many generations in the soule of man the image of God though not his likenesse remaining in the soule as long as the soule remaineth even in the damned To this image God hath annexed a desire of him which in the world lifts up our hearts to God in Hell begets and maintaines the most grievous paine of losse And to shew that this desire of God is the greatest and best of all desires nothing which any other desire longs after will satisfie the gaping heart but onely the object of this great desire Ad imaginem Dei facta anima rationalis saith S Ber. Ser. de divinis S. Bernard caeteris omnibus occupari potest repleri non potest capax enim Dei quicquid minus Deo est non replebit The reasonable soule being made after the image of God may be held back and stay'd a little dallying with other things but it can never be fully pleas'd and fill'd with them for the thing that is capable of God cannot be filled with any thing that is lesse then God The heart is carved into the forme of a Triangle and a Triangle having three angles or corners cannot be filled with a round thing as the world is For put the world being sphaericall or circular into the triangle of the heart and still the three angles will be empty and wait for a thing which is most perfectly one and three And that wee might know with what fervour of charity and heat of zeale God endeavoureth that we should be like to him he became like to us For although God cannot properly be said like to us as God as a man is not said like to his picture but the picture to him yet as man he may And therefore as hee formed us with conformity to his image in the Creation so hee formed himselfe according to our image and likenesse in his Incarnation So much he seeketh to perfect likenesse betwixt us in all parts that there may be the more firme ground for love to build upon when commonly similitude allureth to love and likenesse is a speciall cause of liking It is the phrase of S. Paul who saith of Christ that he was made in the likenesse of man 2 Phil. 7. MEDITATION V. ANd woman being made not as man of earth but of man and made in Paradise was not taken out of the head that she might stand over her husband nor out of the feet that she might be kickt and trod upon nor out of any fore-part that shee might be encouraged to go before her husband nor yet out of a hinder part lest her place should be thought amongst the servants farre behind her husband but out of the side that shee might remaine in some kinde of equality with him And from his heart side and a place very neere the heart that his love towards her might be hearty And from under his left arme that he might hold her with his left arme close to his heart and fight for her with his best arme as he would fight to defend his heart It is one of the great blessings which the Prophet pronounceth to him that feareth the Lord. Thy wife shall be as a fruitfull vine by the sides of thine house The vine branch may Psal 128. 3 be gently bended any way and being cut it often bleeds to death And the wife is a vine by the sides of the house her place is not on the floore of the house nor on the roofe shee must never be on the top of the house But there is a difference the woman must be a Vine by the insides of the House But now begins a Tragedy It is not without a secret that the Devill in his first exploit borrowed the shape of a serpent of which Moyses Now the serpent was more Gen. 3. 1. subtill then any beast of the field The knowledge of the Angels is more cleare compared with the knowledge of the Devils and moreover is joyned with Charity but the knowledge of the Devils is not joyned with Charity Justice or other vertues and therefore degenerateth into craft according to that of Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. in Mâ—â—â—xâ—â—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Knowledge not linked with justice and other vertues is not wisedome but craft And the serpent is crafty For if he can passe his head his long traine being lesse and lesse will easily follow Hee will winde and turne any way He flatters outwardly with gawdy scales but inwardly he is poyson Hee watches for you in the greene grasse even amongst the flowers Wee see that
a man a silly man to be the daily subject of other mens laughter and scorne let him consider that the God of peace dwelleth not in a troubled discontented soul And let him now come hither the shedding of this bloud shal satisfie still his anger for the bloud of Christ will breake the Adamant of his heart and let out the passion hee hath crushed water out of a Rock For what Lion-hearted man can be angry when hee calleth to mind how this innocent Lambe heaven and earth being moved above and beneath him remained calme in the midst and died in the fulnesse of content and patience and let him say come O come great example of sweetnesse open thy armes wide wider yet yet wider that I may run into the Circle of thy sweet imbraces O my beloved Lord I am a spotted Leopard and yet I am not for I am all black and one drop of thy cleane bloud will transform all into perfect beauty O God how beautifull are thy Tabernacles I will prayse thee in Jerusalem the holy Citie of peace Is a man a back-biter or a talkative person Let him seriously think that he hath out-done the Basiliske and killed where and when hee hath not seene let it sinke into him that hee scattereth coles and is able to set on fire a whole Kingdome for if all were known to all persons that is done and said the dearest friends would bare of their love and there would be little if any friendship amongst men let him observe that words which have flown out of one mouth flie from one mouth to another and never leave flying let him now come hither look upon him that opened his mouth in speech but seven times in three long houres upon the Crosse when happily another would have roared in the extremity and have declamed against the ravenous greedinesse of the Jewish cruelty let him here admire in silence for hee will see that which if hee would speak he could not speak worthily let him heere contemplate him that knew the darke hearts and secret sinnes of all the world and yet did not reveal them to his tongue And let him say Deare Lord and Master I perceive now that I am not master of my brother's good name and that I ought not to break silence and speak every true thing and though my neighbour hath stained his credit in one place yet if it be not wholly prostituted by him if it be not a general publike and over-spreading stain I may not recount his weaknesse in places where his good name is firme and entire or at least not bruised in that part O my blessednesse I will make a covenant with my lips and a branch of the covenant shall be My lips shall praise thee Is a man a lover of pleasure Let it enter into his heart that as money profiteth onely when it goeth from us so pleasure delighteth only when it passeth and that it passeth as it commeth and that never any earthly pleasure did please when it was past let him keepe in his minde that whosoever is overcome with the vain ticklings of pleasure is more busied in the exercise of those faculties which he hath common with beasts then of those in which he is like to Angels and in the inference is a man-beast and let him believe for it is certainly true that the greatest pain grief and torment which Christ suffered on the Crosse and all the time of his life rose from a fore-sight in which hee beheld how many would doat upon the short and lightning flashes of the World and how few-would cleave to the great and ever-during benefit of his passion and let him now come hither and fix upon him whose whole life was a map of misery and a sad history of pain who as he hung upon the Crosse suffered most heavy pains in every small part of his body died in pain and left to his Church a large legacie of most painfull sufferings and let him say O thou true lover of souls I will henceforth pursue pain more then pleasure I will prove my selfe to be a naturall member and suffer with my head O goodnesse make me conformable to thee and though I weep and bleed and beare crosses and though I am born up my self from earth and all earthly pleasure on a Crosse I shall not repine at my condition because the servant is not more worthy then his Master Come all kinds of Sinners come on come neere the Crosse take a full view of this bloudy sacrifice offered once for all touch it lay your hands freely upon the wounds and bruises they belong to you Come let us fall down before him and tell him of what weake and glassie matter he hath made us how prone we are to slip what great enemies threaten our ruine that the quarrell is because wee beare his Image and that we are persecuted even to death only because wee are like to him and that in the matter it is his quarrell And then let us humbly dedicate our parts that have sinned to his service For doubtlesse hee that suffered Magdalene to wipe his feet with her hair so often kemb'd sweetned tied up in knots let downe in books and spread in Nets to catch the carelesse youth of Ierusalem and the Country will not reject you or mee or yours or mine Hee that hath feet which have beene swift to shed bloud and quicke in accomplishing the acts of sinne let him kisse these feet and beg part of the satisfaction which they have made for the sinnes of the feet hee that hath hands dipped in bloud and bathed in all the sinks of mischiefe let him kisse these hands and beg part of the satisfaction which they have made for the sins of the hands hee that hath set the casements of his curious eyes wide open to vanitie and never shut them against vaine and wanton fights let him kisse these eyes hee that hath eares blistred with slanders and blurred with foule discourses let him kisse these eares he that hath a mouth plenum amaritudine full of bitternesse delibutum mendaciis bedaub'd with lyes and besmear'd with oaths let him kisse this mouth and beg part of the satisfaction which this mouth hath made for the sins of the mouth he that hath a heart fraught with ill habits and alwayes at worke in hammering sinne let him kisse not with his lips but with his heart this wounded side and a mingled drop of bloud and water from this royall heart shall meet the lips of his heart while hee beggeth part of the satisfaction which this heart hath made for the sinnes of the heart Come all the dying man refuseth no living man you beggar with the crutch come forward no man woman or childe is excepted from the fruit of his passion Every one that is endued with a reasonable soule hath title to it It is only required that we believe in him and keep his Commandements for we ought
likewise to give evidence of our faith by our works It is Christian doctrine which Christ teacheth As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wildernesse even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternall life Saint Leo strikes home Effusio pro injustis sanguinis S. Leo. justi tam potens fuit ad privilegium tam dives ad pretium ut si universitas captivorum in redemptorem suum credoret nullum tyrannica vincula retinerent The powring out of the just mans bloud for the unjust was so powerfull by way of priviledge so rich by way of price that if every captive soul had believed in Christ Jesus hel should not have held one damned soule in it Who then can despaire He permitted himselfe to be fastned to the Crosse to proclame that he could not run away from any man Press on boldly hee cannot stirre His feet are sure and therefore you may be sure he cannot run away Nor can he free his feet with his hands for the hands are as sure as the feet And if hee were loose hands and feet poore wounded man he could not go farre for he is now parting with all the bloud in his body And when hee does withdraw himselfe from those that call upon him it is onely that he may give them opportunity to call more earnestly and that hee may be more honoured These are the cunning tricks of Lovers Saint Gregory Nazianzen writing to his Friend Nicobulus objecteth to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you flie when I S. Greg. Naz. ep ad Nicobul follow you loves practitioner to make your selfe more precious MEDIT. 5. O Lord how should a poore man do to passe his life in the due and solid consideration of the great secret of Christs Passion to consider that he would appear to men in a vile and despicable manner that he would weare a Crowne of thornes an old purple Robe and beare a Reed in place of a Scepter to be firme occasions of dispensing his heavenly gifts and ornaments to us to consider how Pilate and Herod joyned hands and met in his destruction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and contraries concurred to his punishment S. Greg. Naz. as Saint Gregorie Nazianzen wrote of a Martyr burned alive in an old Ship to whose death fire and water did agree to consider how the Sun as Dionysius declareth in his Epistle to his Master Apollophanes in ipsius verae lucis occubitu lucere Dionys ep ad Apolloph non potuit in the setting of the true Sun could not shine to consider that hee did not take a phantasticall body in the Incarnation that hee might seeme to suffer when he did not as some vainly thought and that he did not chase away the bitternesse of his Passion by the power of his Divinity as others imagined but that hee drew up and concealed his Divinitie and gave nature no succour in her pain when hee giveth to his Martyrs power above nature to consider that all the parts of the body in which sins are committed were in him accordingly punished even though the sins were not in him to consider that hee stretched out his armes to imbrace sinners bowed his head low to kisse sinners gave water with bloud to signifie that his bloud was able to make white the blackest and most deformed sinners to consider that hee died Hee died and yet the World stands the earth stirs not and the cruell Jewes are not swallowed alive into Hell O pietie O pittie whatsoever Histories have mentioned Verses have sung Fables have framed is to this a trifle And is he dead Good soule when hee was alive hee was the best man living And when hee died hee died sweetly he bowed his head to all that were about him and so died O the strange inventions of love O the bottomlesse abysse of love Unhappy Jews they sold Christ for 30 pence Titus son to Vespasian the Emperour after the destruction of Ierusalem sold them thirty for a peny they cried they forsooth had no King but Caesar and the Statue of Caligula the Emperour was soon brought set up in their great temple they crucified Christ were crucified thēselves under Florus the President till there was no roome in the fields adjoyning to Jerusalē wherin to raise a crosse The death of his forerunner was in like maner revenged for the body of the dancing-maid slipped under the yce while her head was seene to dance above it And thus God dealt with Leo the Emperour if the Popish Writers doe not juggle with us for having took by violence from the great Church of S. Sophia in Constantinople a pretious Carbuncle Zonar annal to 3. an ulcer rose in his head called a Carbuncle of which hee miserably dyed And shall not vengeance be severely taken of those that murder Christ every houre I will strike my brest with the Publican and cry to my selfe Remember alwayes when thou art brooding sinne in thy heart that then thou art breeding a most bloody and stubborne intention to kill Christ and that thou bloudy man doest to the full extent of thy power actually kill him and therefore thou art a murderer a murderer of Christ and it is a wonder that as thou passest in the streets the stones doe not cry out from under thee stop stop the murderer stop the man that kill'd his Master his Lord his Redeemer his Father his King his God and all at a blow Goe thy wayes ungratefull world thou hast lost a jewell of the sight of which thou wert not worthy Good God how naked the world is now Christ is out of it for when he was in it it was very full O my spirit since he is gone solace thy selfe with his memory and being dead let him live in thee in thy thoughts in thy discourse in thy actions he will be very sweet company And my spirit goe with mee a little Christ being dead it is pitty but he should have a Funerall Let the Usurer come first with his bags of money and distribute to the poore as he goes The drunkard shall follow with the spunge filled with gall and vinegar in his hand and check his wanton thirst Then the young Gallant barefoot-like his master and with the crowne of thornes upon his head Then the factious and angry person in the seamelesse coat and carrying the Crosse upon his shoulders The wanton person shall beare the rods and whips wherewith his Master was scourged and fright his flesh The ambitious man shall goe clad in the purple roabe The proud Magistrate follow with the reed in his hand The twelve Apostles shall beare up the corps with one hand and with the other beare every one the instrument of his owne death And the blessed virgin shal goe after sighing weeping and at every other pace looking up to Heaven Then Mary Magdalen divided betwixt love and sorrow with a box of pretious
Judas out of Christs company then follow as one of his Disciples and make the number full With admiration heare his doctrine and be witnesse to his miracles Look upon him in his Transfiguration and admire the beautifull glimmerings of his Godhead Cast thy garments in the way and throw boughes before him strip thy selfe of all and submit both them and thy selfe to Christ Be present in the Chamber wait upon him at the great Supper and communicate in spirit with him and the Disciples And kneeling hold the Towell and Water in the washing of the poore Fisher-mens feet Follow into the Garden and conceive that as Adam and wee were made slaves in a Garden So Christ his Father having promised was took and arrested for the payment of the ransome in a Garden Chide the three Disciples for sleeping and say fie fie can you not watch one houre with your Saviour and then look with a pittifull eye upon him and wipe the sweat of bloud from his browes and cry Alas poore Saviour Go after him when almost all the Disciples flie Goe with him from Pilat to Herod and considering that hee speaks not to Herod even urged by a question Call to mind that Herod had killed his voyce Iohn the Baptist who said of himselfe I am the voyce of one crying in the wildernesse and think his voyce being gone how could he speak And from Herod back againe to Pilat Behold his purple robe his reed his crowne of thrones and ponder what gay robes indeed rich Scepters and crownes of gold and jewells that is robes scepters and crownes of glory and immortality he hath purchased for us Watch with him all the night and feare it will never be day he is so tormented And suppose that thou seest hearest feelest what he saw heard felt and that thou smellest and tastest the sweetnesse of his patience Accompany him the next day and help to carry his heavy crosse to mount Calvary And there as if thou hadst beene frozen hitherto thaw into teares Run with all thy might into his armes held out at their full length to receive thee whilest he hangeth as he did with his back towards the ungratefull Citie Ierusalem Think profoundly that he hath suffered his feet to be nail'd together to demonstrate that both the Jew and Gentile goe now in one path Waigh the matter Because sinne entreth by the senses therefore his Head in which the senses most flourish is crowned with searching thorns O mervailous what King is he or of what Country that weares a crowne of thornes Surely the King of all afflicted people wheresoever they dwell Because the hands and feet are the outward instruments of sin therefore his hands and feet are nail'd to the Crosse for satisfaction Because the heart is the inward Fountaine of ill thoughts therefore his tender heart is pierced for thee And hence learne if thou hast sinned more grievously in any part of thy body or faculty of thy soule with a speciall diligence to estrange that part or faculty from pleasure Wonder that the Thiefe confessed Christ on the Crosse when even the Apostles either doubted or altogether lost their Faith of his Divinity Here unburden thy heart of all the injuries ever offered to thee with a valiant purpose never to speak of them againe Lay downe all thy sinnes at the foot of the Crosse whither the bloud droppeth with a firme confidence never to heare of them againe and say from a good heart with S. Austen Ille solus diffidat qui tantum peccare potest quantum Deus bonus S. Aug. lib. de vera falsa poenitentia c 5. est Let him onely be diffident who can sinne so much as God is good See him as farre as thou canst for weeping shaking and dying and mervaile that thy owne heart shakes not and dye with him by a most exact mortification Looke pale like him when hee was dead with sorrow for thy sinnes Behold him layed in the Sepulcher and though the Jewes hide him and binde him downe with a great stone and a strong chaine over it fastned in both ends to a rock as old History mentioneth and though the foolish Souldiers watch there in Armour yet doubt not but thou shalt see him again even in his body let him not shake thee off by dying Come running and having out-runne thy company finde white Angels in the Grave and pray that by thy Grave thou may'st passe to Angels Be with him even upon the mountaine where hee ascended and there kneele before him mark how his wounds are closed and be glad they are heal'd againe kisse the very print of his feet in the ground looke upon his face talk to him pray for a blessing upon thy selfe and the world confesse thy faults uncover thy weaknesse and say Lord I am very tender in this part begg the divine help then as it were dye for love and ascend with him crying O Lord leave me not hitherto I have followed thee now take me with thee to thy Kingdome and after this give thy selfe gently up into heaven and there see and heare those things which neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard and especially the things which concerne the entertainment of Christ RULE 8. THat you may proceed with more cheerefulnesse both in your speculations and in the part of practicall performance If you desire to know whether you now be in the grace and favour of God know it by this which is more easie to be knowne whether God be I dare not say in grace I hope I may say in favour with you If he be he can stirre and turne you as he pleaseth and it is your daily care to give him full content and satisfaction If you love God he loveth you for his love is alwayes the first Mover and it commeth from his love of you that you love him Indeed God loveth his Enemies as we likewise ought to doe but his enemies doe not love him neither doth he love his enemies intimately and familiarly as hee doth his friends For there is little commerce little communication which is both the exercise and recreation of love betwixt God and his enemies You love God truly if prompted by the love of him you preferre him and his law in all cases in all causes and when you rightly fit and order the acts of your election not giving place to creatures or sins which as they are sinnes are not creatures before God and in a manner deifie them It would be strange above ordinary and extraordinary that God should command me to love him and stirred by this love to keepe his commandements and moreover to give thanks continually for the spirituall good which by his grace he worketh in me and yet I should never be able to know when I or others did love God though perhaps it might prove a knot in respect of others And certainly he that loveth God truly is highly in his favour For the true love of God
mastering of the powers and passions standeth absolute mortification and consequently true perfection And truly when wee desire or love a temporall thing above an ordinary manner GOD doth ordinarily and extraordinarily chastise us in it or by it or by the want of it because it breedeth a great expence of Time and the desire and love due to God are turned upon a creature When wee so love our children that wee look over or countenance vices in them we are commonly punished in them they bring our gray haires with sorrow to our graves And likewise when wee abhorre and are wholly averted from an indifferent thing God sendeth it in a full showre upon us with a purpose to kill and mortifie our wils and affections Some things although not evill in themselves may not be lawfully desired as our own praise and honour beyond the straine of our condition The love of God can never be immoderate because it can never be greater then the thing which is loved and the will in loving if it be carried directly to God can never be disordinate Fast often And if thy body be able to goe under the burthen let not thy Fast admit of any kind of nourishment And then aske the benefits thou most desirest And by the way remember that to fast as also to heare Sermons are not properly vertuous Acts but the ready wayes to vertue And therefore if the Body be not laid under the Soule by fasting and the Soule farthered in the practice of vertues by hearing Sermons no good is done but harme in abundance God is tempted Time abused Holy dayes are prophaned The soul with God's Image defiled and these outward acts puff us up and wee contemne others as prophane persons The Soule is Mistris I say not absolute Mistris of the Body And therefore her end being supernaturall and transcending all other ends to comply with it shee may curbe and fubdue the body as she in reason pleaseth The Soul of the Cōfessor giveth up his Body to punishment and the Soul of the Martyr his body to death and dissolution in the pursuit of their end Zeno saith Remorabantur in luce detenti quorum membris pleni erant tumuli They Zeno de S. Arcadis remained alive and conversed with the living with whose members as tongues hands fingers feet the Tombs of the dead were replenished Yet break not your body by fasting for so you may cut it off from the fit exercise of Vertue and Gods service and hee that commands thee not to kill thy Neighbour will not suffer thee to be thy owne murderer Be not dejected because you are weak and cannot perfectly master your Bodie for God delighteth to manifest and shew his strength in your weaknesse Strength and weaknesse are best met together When you fall catch hold upon God and rise falling again again rise Indeed hee that goeth smoothly on when all things smile upon him and returneth backe when the winde bloweth in his face will never come to his own Countrey And here note that God dealeth with his Servants and with all people now by faire means and now again by foule But it is a very suspitious and doubtfull businesse when we have more faire and flowry way then foule and stonie and it is very likely that God hath now cast off the care of us The badge of Prosperity is one of Death's marks The Oxe is fed full and fat for the Shambles God punisheth his best Servants to wean them from the World and to better their waight of Glory Hee chastiseth every childe which he receiveth And therefore when wee sin and our sin is not followed with punishment but one sinne is punished with another that other with another it is a most fearful case for then God sheweth he hath a farther ayme then temporall punishment As likewise when wee have no sense or feeling of our sins no spirituall tribulation the soule is dangerously affected RULE 12. WHen thou art set on fire with a Temptation of the flesh apply thy selfe instantly to some kinde of employment saying Go Devill now I read your basenesse in a big letter Truly now you begin to be a meere Foole this is plaine filthines How strangely the Divell hath besotted yea bewitched men Some love women far inferiour both in body and minde to their wives whom they neglect damping and discountenancing their loves But God will perhaps punish them as his manner is with punishments like to their sins Other wives may succeed that will doat upon their Husbands Inferiours From love worse then hate and from false women that fry with love towards other men their Husbands yet breathing Good Lord deliver us For they are like faire strong and heavie Chests that appeare to the eye and hang upon the hand as if they were rich in money plate and jewels but are stuffed only with stones hay and browne paper As their gifts so they The sin of the flesh is now more hainous then it was before the Incarnation of Christ because it tainteth the flesh which he took which he hath already glorified Parce in te Christo saith one Spare Christ in thy selfe And fright away the Temptation with a loathing and execration of such Beastlinesse with contempt of so base and so quicke a pleasure accompanied with shame and with such a thought as this I am a Villain and followed with shame hate and sorrow much unlike Repentance After your Triumph over Temptation or your escape from danger run to God the onely disposer of your affaires when they turne to vertuous Good and give him humble thanks And reflect upon your misery if you had fallen under that Temptation or Danger Then search into the secret and learn whether you did not by some former offence pull the Temptation or danger upon your selfe which God now used as a warning And look with a neere eye into the deep craft of the Devill And for the present mark how painfully hee kindleth and bloweth the coals of emulation betwixt Brethren Sisters Scholers men of the same Trade people living in the same House Neighbours Families Countries How hee createth mistakes suspitions jealousies with a purpose to call up Anger I wil tel you A great Author is of opiniō that the devil doth oftentimes set Dogs together by the eares that hee may provoke men to quarrell By the falling out of two children playing at ball hee turned all Italy into a combustion wherein many thousands lost their pretious lifes passing by degrees as hee doth in all his Temptations from children to men from Parents to all of the same bloud from them to friends and from these friends to their friends and their friends friends from houses to Cities from Cities to Countries and all this began from the play of two little children I will give you a touch of his wonderfull deceits out of my Experience One seeing a dead man and hearing the people that were present say it was a
weakened by his fall in his will and readinesse to doe good then in his understanding and knowledge of good so the Devill is farre more blunted in his will then blinded in his understanding As for his naturall knowledge it is rather dazled then darkned And by this notable signe you may know that his will is most malignant For although it is plaine to him that for every temptation he stirreth up in man the burden of punishment shall bee laid presently heape after heape upon his shoulders and though he knoweth exactly how many strong ties he breakes by offending perceives more throughly the quality of the offence and sees with a more cleare eye the greatnesse of the Divine majesty offended yet still the perversnesse and faction of his will carries him on through all to mischiefe And if the Devill remaineth yet so perfect in the intellectuall part by knowledge sans doubt he knowes and is versed in all the possible wayes how to invade us which way our inclinations leane which side is most weak and how he may plant his engine with returne of most profit to his owne cause and what will best follow the fashion of our fancie The enemy which we see before us in his owne and knowne shape sense teacheth us to feare and consequently to withstand or prevent him But the Devill we feare the lesse because we see him not because he has the art to goe invisible Thomas Aquinas is of opinion that every man being alwayes accompanied with a good Angel and a bad one some by reason of the foule enormity of their sinnes and desertion of God who never forsaketh before he is forsaken and left alone himselfe may be forsaken for a while or totally by their good Angel But I dare say that never any man was forsaken by hi◠bad Angel the Devill If one of us were but a little while haunted with a Ghost how he would feare and tremble every one of us is haunted continually with a Devill and yet we feare not because we doe not see him No man goeth but the Devil goeth with him no man stayeth but the Devill stayeth with him no man sleepeth here his action changes but the Devill waketh by him And as he is alwayes with us so hee is also alwayes so vigilant about us that although he doth not know the thoughts of the heart in the heart and cannot reade them in that booke of Characters yet he doth oftentimes gather what they are by the language of outward signes and also by outward signes forestall and know even future occurrences depending upon the will of man He is a Tempter by his profession God also may be said to tempt us but how by scattering rubbs in our way to make vertue more bold and more laborious What made all the Conquerours famous but because they conquer'd what was not easily conquer'd But the Devill tempteth with a direct intention to sinne God tempteth with a strong desire of good and of our salvation the Devill with a furious desire of evill and of our damnation God tempteth us not above our strength the Devill would if God would suffer him And as the Roman Conquerour the Queene having escaped carried her image in triumph So because he cannot trample upon God who threw him downe from Heaven he labours to revenge himselfe upon his Image Suspect therefore all his proceedings Facilius illicita Tert. de cultu foeminarum timebit qui licita verebitur saith Tertullian He will more easily feare unlawfull things who will be afraid even of things lawfull Let this joy thy heart Nothing can happen or stirre or be in the world except sin without Gods approbation nor yet that without his permission Please God and you have him your friend that holds all chances all stirrings and the being of all things fast in his hands And lastly begge nothing of man before you first begge it of God Rule 2. DIsingage your selfe from the world mistake me not from the love of it Old Authors observe that the Apostles were all clad outwardly not with Friers coates but with mantles And the mantle is a loose garment which hangs to a man but by a loope If it prove troublesome if it hindereth in your journey put your finger to the loope and the mantle falleth away The Apostles taught even by their garments and the mantles served to demonstrate their neglect of worldly things and to give evidence by what tenure they held them If riches abound set not your heart upon them sayes he that was both Prince and Prophet If they creepe upon you keepe the infection from your heart if they breake in upon the heart they are Luke 14. 33. mortall Except a man shall renounce all which he possesseth he cannot be my Disciple sayes the Prince of Prophets Then O rich man either presently renounce all which thou possessest or else turne out-law and forbeare to thinke thy selfe the Disciple of Christ All. A tearme of universality shuts the doore against every particular This is heavy newes I feare the messenger will bee ill Matth. 11. 30. paid It is not My yoke is easie and my burden is light saith he under whose yoke we labour Renounce the will and affection to riches and thou hast fulfilled the Law The affection of a ragged poore creature may be more closely tyde to an old house and a pewter dish then the will of a great person to a Palace and the revenewes of a Prince And therefore our Saviour speaketh plainely Blessed are the poore in spirit for Matth. 5. 3. theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven For poverty of spirit even rich may have in a rich manner And because they are poore upon earth they shall be rich in Heaven for theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven And the Kingdome of Heaven is not promised to any kind of poverty but the poverty of spirit And to that it is promised wheresoever God finds it It is easier for a Cāel to go through Mat. 19. 24 the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdome of God that is for a rich man whose love and affection sit brooding upon his riches Some ancient expositors tell us upon this place that there was in Jerusalem a little gate which for its extraordinary straitnesse was called the Needle the passage through it being accordingly named the Needles eye and that when the Camels came loaden to this gate their packs were taken off These Authors insinuating that a rich man cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven before he hath laid aside his burden his pack of riches He must be master of them and so manage them that they are not a burden to him he must possesse them as if he possessed them not And these Authors construe it It is casier for a Camell to goe through the eye of the Needle c. With which exposition that other saying of Christ suiteth Strait is the gate and narrow is
are very quick at their worke they live altogether by catching and snatching The French History hath one who Reymond Lullius being full of vaine affection to a vertuous Lady she to cure his Fever uncovered one of her brests and there shewed him a Canker which had eaten deepe into her body and was extreamely hideous to the sight adding these words See vaine man what thou hast loved Hee recovering himselfe from the fall began to lament grievously how vaine he had beene in loving that which he did not perfectly know All fond people would speake in the same phrase if the cloud hanging before their eyes were dispersed What amongst beasts is more fierce then a Lyon And yet a Lyon is a Lamb in respect of a wicked woman What Vide Chry. homil 15. in Matth. tom 2. is more cruell then a Dragon And yet a wicked woman is more a Dragon then the Dragon it selfe What is more devouring then a Whale And yet a Whale is not a Whale compared with a wicked woman Many Lyons spared innocent Daniel in the Den and yet one Jezabel devoured holy Naboth The Dragons and all the great army of poysonous beasts feared S. John Baptist in the the Wildernesse But Herodias and her dancing daughter cut off his blessed head at a blow serv'd it up to Herods table buried it in his Palace that if it should talke againe as one writeth againe being at hand it might be quickly brought to the Axe The whale kept Jonas safe and secure in his belly But Dalilah betrayed Sampson into the hands of those that bored his eyes out I praise the chast and modest woman For it is the nature of contraries that the one is as good as the other bad Goe fond man and visit all the brave women of the last age the great gallants of the Court and City court them in their graves and consider with what a little handfull of bones the vaine people of those times were so exceedingly taken what painted Images of dirt they fighed for about what trifles of flesh and bloud they vainely spent their dearest houres and for what lumps of carrion their weake heads so often aked The Devill striveth to keepe our love at worke upon vaine things because by love onely we are united to Heaven Rule 4. BEare a strong hand over your passions They are mutinous subjects and live within the wals Man is composed of foure contrary elements But they came to this composition upon composition upon faire tearms of agreement But the passions stand yet in the full force of passions There are two great contraries in matters pertaining to morality good and evill The one we naturally desire to obtaine to avoid the other Good considered within the compasse of its owne nature kindles love the prime and master-passion If it be or seem absent it stirreth a desire of it selfe If we desire it and conceive it possible hope begins to grow big and we follow it If impossible despaire starts up if the good was great and good playes the mad-man But when wee fully enjoy it joy smileth in us On the other side if we make a discovery of evill we hate it If it be absent we put wings to our feet and flie from it If it shew it selfe as inevitable we feare it But if it arrest us being present we are chilled with griefe And then anger loves souldier is at hand ready to strike at every turne and to turne all into a tumult And anger fights on both sides for we are angry with the hinderances which occurre in our pursuit of the thing we love We love before wee hate because we hate nothing but as opposite to a thing we love But here is the block of danger when good appeareth in the forme of evill and evill in the shape of good or when one is apprehended as the other no man loving evill but guilded with a pretence of good For then we love evill hate good desire evill flie from good hope for evill feare good rejoyce in the purchasing of evill grieve in the atchievement of good Every thing runs a most unnaturall and disordinate course and all the little world of man is disturbed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solon apud Phil. Judaeum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said the grave Solon The Sea fals rises beates against the rocks and is grievously troubled with the windes but if it be not angred with any loud breath or blustering it is very smooth plaine and gentle When the passions are subject to Reason and Grace the minde of man is the Common-wealth of Plato an even and well-governed State But if one wheele be out of order the rest stand waiting for little purpose all the passions will adhere to the passion then predominant It is recorded that Semiramis was an humble Petitioner to the great King Aelian de var. hist l 7. of the Assyrians whose concubine she was that she might take upō her the government of Asia and command the Kings servants but for the transitory space of five dayes It was granted She came forth adorned with a Princely robe and her first words were O wretch Go take the King kill him And by one venturous step she climbed to a settled state of Imperiall government Semiramis representeth passion Suffer it to enter into your house and it will keepe possession give it once the upper hand and it will claim the course of gift as a priviledge A passion is like fire which is pliable to good uses while we keepe it in the place and office of a necessary instrument but if it passe without a guide it will bring us to an ill passe the passion will turne to action and make a great spoyle of all things In all the uproare of passion keepe the minde calme Yea when anger beginneth to inflame you thrust off the passion by maine strength and compose your selfe in a sweete pleasantnes of minde and face And say inwardly Sweet God how mild art thou that sittest quietly in Heaven when thou seest thy divine Majesty most grievously abused here on earth God doth not require of you to become Stoicks to pull up passion by the roote and to remaine unsensible For passions doe give an edge to vertue and are the supporters of it God desireth onely that in anger Reason should direct and carry us through the croud And that anger should stay in his owne home in the inferiour part of the soule and not breake in upon the minde and that in all the stirring Reason should have her principall motion For if passion be first she will blinde Reason and then draw her into her faction change opinion alter judgement worke strangely upon the apprehension turne the discourse and make another man And as anger so love desire joy feare griefe and the rest are all to be wisely tempered Rule 5. KNow that when any thing is well and piously said or done in your presence God speakes to you And that
which cryeth to God onely for helpe which is throughly obedient for Gods sake to lawfull authority bee it amongst Heathens which doth not permit and countenance sinne by which onely God is dishonoured And she cannot be the cleane spouse of Christ which God and his Truth being infallible performeth the most high and most reverend Acts of religion upon uncertainties As prayeth absolutely for a soule turned out of the body without a certaine knowledge of her being a determinate friend or enemy of God And worshipeth that with the worship of God for God which if the Priest be deficient in his intention or defective in his orders is in her owne opinion a creature And she is not the faire spouse which hath lost her attractive beauty and which all Jewes and Infidels hate and abhorre justly moved at least with a notorious shew of Idolatry And therefore I beleeve that the Church of England is the Spouse of Christ as being free from these blemishes and conformable to Scripture And in the defence of this Faith I stand ready to give up my sweete life and dearest bloud And if I die suddenly to this Faith I commend the state of my eternity An Act of hope in God I doe hope in God because hee is infinitely full of goodnesse and is like a nurse which suffereth pain in her brests till she be eased of her milke because hee is most able and most willing to helpe me because he hath sealed his love with most unbreakable promises and because hee knoweth the manifold changes and chances of the world the particular houre of my death and the generall day of judgement in all which I hope greatly this good and great God will deliver me An Act of the love of God I such a one in perfect health and memory able yet to revell in the world to enjoy wealth and pleasure to scrifice my body and soule to sensuality doe contemne and lay under my feete all goe behinde me Satan sworne enemy of Mankinde and love God purely for himselfe For put the case he had not framed this world or beene the prime cause of any creature in it put the case hee had never beene the Author of any blessing to mee yet excellencie and perfection of themselves are worthy of love and duty and as the object of the understanding is truth so the object of the will is goodnesse and therefore my will shall cheerefully runne with a full career to the love of it Saint Austin S. Aug. hom 38. hath taught me Qui amicum propter commodum quodlibet amat non amicum convincitur amare sed commodum He that loves his friend for the profit he reapes by him is easily convinced not to love his friend but the profit Wherefore although I should see in the Propheticall booke of the divine Prescience my selfe not well using the divine helpes not rightly imploying the talents commended to my charge and to be damned for ever yet still I would love him away ill thoughts touch me not I would insomuch that if it were possible I would even compound and make to meet hands the love of God and damnation For although I were to be damned yet God could not be in the fault and though I should be exceedingly miserable by damnation he would yet remaine infinitely good and great by glory and though I did not partake so plentifully of his goodnesse yet many others would O Lord I love thee so truely that if I could possibly adde to thy perfection I freely would but because I cannot I am heartily glad and love thee againe because thou art so good and perfect that thou canst not be any way more perfect or good either to thy selfe or in thy self And I most humbly desire to enjoy thee that thy glory may shine in mee and that I may love thee for ever and ever It grieves me to thinke that if I should faile of thee in my death I should be deprived in Hell not onely of thee but also of the love of thee Note pray that other vertues either dispose us in a pious way towards our neighbour as justice or doe order the things which are ours and in us as many morall vertues or they looke upon those things which appertaine to God as Religion or they direct us to God himselfe but according onely to one Attribute or peculiar perfection As the vertue of Faith giveth us to beleeve the divine authority revealing to us Gods holy truth Hope to cast Anchor upon his helpe and promises But with charity or the love of God we fasten upon all God with respect to all his perfections we love his mercie justice power wisedome infinity immensity eternity And faith hope patience temperance and other vertues leaving us at the gate of Heaven charity enters with us and stayes in us for ever An Act of Humility O Lord if others had beene stored with the divers helpes the inspirations the good examples the good counsell the many loud cals from without and yet from thee which I have had they would have beene exceedingly more quicke more stirring in thy service Many Acts which I have thought vertues in me were onely deedes of my nature and complexion My nature is be spotted with many foolish humours I am unworthy dust and ashes and infinitely more unworthy then dust and ashes A Sinner I am not worthy to call thee Father or to depend in any kinde of thee to live or to be The foule Toade thy faire creature is farre more beautifull then I a Sinner-Toade Verily if men did know of me what thou knowest or what I know of my selfe I should be the rebuke and abomination of all the world An Act of resignation to the will of God Whither shall I flie but to thee O Lord the rich store-house of all true comfort The crosse which seemeth to me so bitter came from thy sweet will Can I be angry with thy good providence Is it not very good reason that thy royall will should be done in earth as it is in heaven And though perhaps it was not thy direct and resolute will that all my crosses should in this manner have rushed upon me yet the stroke of the crosse being given it is thy direct intention that I should beare it patiently I doe therefore with a most willing hand and heart take Gaule and Vineger delivered by thy sweete hands I doe kisse and embrace both the Giver and the gift And moreover give up my selfe and all that I have to the disposition of thy most sacred will health wealth that which I best love here and liberty and life and all are ready when thou callest Crosses are good signes For the more I suffer now the greater I hope shall be my glory And therefore to thee be the glory An Act of content I am fully and absolutely contented O Lord with thy glory And it is the head of all my comforts that thou art God and doest raign over us And
I am very wel contented with the sweete condition in which thy wisdome hath placed me Thou art wisdom it self other wisdome is not wisdom but as conformable to thy wisedome And I doe most humbly yeeld up my selse to comply with the ranke and quality in which I am by thy royall appointment And I remaine indifferent to have or to want to be sicke or in health to dye or to live As thou pleasest so be it And if I could learne thy farther and utmost pleasure I would goe through the world to effect it though I should labour to death in the performance An Act of the feare of God O Lord I feare thee because as thou hast made me of nothing so thou canst reduce me to nothing in one turne of an instant Which perhaps would be a greater losse of my selfe then to be lost in Hell Because then I should not be thy creature I should have no being no dependance of thee but should be lost branches tree roote and all It had beene better for Judas that he had never beene borne because then hee should never have tasted of life or being But when he was Judas which was better for him not to be or to be miserable thou onely knowest I feare thee because as thou art infinitely mercifull so thy justice is infinite And because sinne being but a temporall thing quickly committed and past over and sometimes as soone almost forgot as committed a meere flash is answered notwithstanding with eternall punishment as fighting against an eternall God And yet I feare thee not as a slave but as a sonne For I have more love towards thee then feare of thee though I much feare thee And also my hope weighs down my feare And though all this be true teach me to worke out my salvation with feare and trembling with a great feare which may cause trembling An Act of Praising God O God I doe praise thee for thy most infinite goodnesse thy most infinite power and for all thy most infinite attributes and perfections If thou hadst not beene what thou art I had never beene what I am Yet I praise thee for the first although the other had not followed and yet I praise thee because it followed I doe praise thee for all the benefits which have beene or shall be hereafter bestowed upon the humane nature of Christ and upon all thy Saints and Angels one of which is the continuance of glory Upon men women and children from the beginning of the world to the end of it and especially upon thy chosen vessels for all thy benefits upon ignorant persons who did not know thee and therefore could not love thee nor keepe thy commandements for all thy benefits upon wicked persons that would not and upon dumbe and unsensible creatures that could not praise thee And upon me a vile one Thy blessed name be blessed by thy selfe and by thy Angels and Saints for ever and by men women and children while they live and by all creatures till they cease to be creatures And let all the people say Amen We must be seriously carefull that these Acts in their exercise be true and goe to the bottome of the heart not faigned and superficiall Rule 7. WHen any thing comes to you by way of speciall blessing or gift kneele downe in some private place and receive it as immediately from the hands of God saying O God This is not the gift of destiny or chance of men or Angels it is thy gift onely it passes from thee to me by creatures appointed for the just execution of thy good pleasure upon whom in this respect I beg a blessing If thou hadst not first ordained it for me it could not have thus passed from hand to hand and at last beene reached to me From thee therefore I take it O thou sunne sea fountain spring treasure of all goodnesse O thou good and gracious giver of all good gifts and graces O thou good and perfect giver of every good and perfect gift Catch all occasions to speake of God and praise him and stretch out the discourse as farre as you can And be heartily glad when you heare the holy name of God glorified or his goodnesse mercie justice or other excellencies magnified Yea out of the Devils temptations raise occasions to praise God which is a most short and compendiarie way to divert him as when the Devill hammereth evill words and actions into your minde as he doth especially when you are angry to bee used at any times turne upon him and say Blessed be God that keepeth my feete from falling Hallowed be his name who threw downe proud Lucifer from the gates of Heaven And alwayes reserve a time wherein to blesse God privately for the gifts which others do praise in you And being dispraised rejoyce Rule 8. HAve alwayes some pious and short sayings floating upon thy memory at the end of thy tongue and in thy heart like Arrowes in a Quiver which thou mayst at every turne dart into the lap of thy beloved and use upon every call of occasion As at the sight or hearing of anothers misery This very stroke might have bruised me as it hath my neighbour why was not I the man I might have beene as easily found out amongst the crowde as he But I am Gods favorite And I should bee more wicked then he that is most wicked if God should with-draw his grace favour and helpes from me At the sight of a blinde man Lord I see thee daily in thy creatures O thou that art the eye of thy selfe and that lookest through the clouds upon the world I can looke up to thee At the sight of a lame man I might have beene like this poore imperfect creature but now I will bestirre my selfe and goe readily to thy house and there say and not saintly but heartily O Lord O God O Lord God thou art the giver and preserver of all things When thou lookest up to Heaven say That way lies my Countrey wherein God shines out upon his Saints and Angels to whom they now sing with heavenly musicke and most melodious harmony mee thinkes I heare their voices What good power will draw the curtaines of Heaven that I may likewise see their glory And when downe to the earth I doe or can walke daily over the loathsome carcasses and rotten bones of thousands that have beene gallant men and women and beene carried up and downe in coaches and when I have done all I must die This way lieth hell O the confusion that is there O the darknesse In sorrow How can I be troubled when God and his Angels rejoyce continually In joy I will rejoyce in the Lord againe I say I will rejoyce At other times My tongue and lips which have concurred to speake against thee shall now joyne their forces but what to doe to speake of the marvellous things which thou hast done in our dayes and in the ages before us My hands that have
is a broad way Shee sought the King of Heaven in the way to Hell And therefore shee found him not And yet she was very forward in the first onset I will rise now She had not made her own the two lessons which are ever coupled together Depart from evill and doe good But Psal 34. 14. Vers 3. what hapned The Watchmen that goe about the Citie found me to whom I said Saw yee him whom my soule loveth Is it so pretty one you that rose up now and thought to watch out the night are you took your selfe by the Kings Watchmen for a straggler for a haunter of the streets and the broad wayes It will be question'd now whether you be honest or no both of your body and your hands The watchmen will tell you having met you at such a time that you doe not look honestly that your sin is plainly written in your forehead This affliction I hope will sift and winnow you You cannot bring the Watchmen within the circle of your fault It is their office to go about the City and to surpize such as you are Resolve them now and with sound reason whence you came and whither you would The poore lost thing hath griefe enough and her afflictions have made her bold She will not be question'd For before the Watchmen can open their mouths and speake to her she is wondrous busie in the examination of them Saw yee him whom my soule loveth And now she makes it plaine that her soule loves him She goes the right way to finde him She sues for direction to her beloveds Watchmen Doe yee heare you Watchmen nay pray let me speake first my late wandring is warrantable I goe in quest of him whom my soule loveth and my love cannot sleepe Speake one of you Did yee see him whom my soule loveth Were my love towards him all tongue or all face I could forbeare his company But because it is he whom my soule loveth while I have a soule I cannot be without him But did yee see him I am in great haste pray tell me While the Watchmen were getting up out of the deepe amazement into which shee had struck them like an unwonted apparition by night She steps aside in a heate And so I come to the rest I would sing to my soule It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soule loveth I held him and would not let him goe As soone as ever I had passed beyond them presently after I had untwisted my selâ—e of company And what then Let all the world heare and rejoyce with me I found whom my soule loveth O deare Lord have I found thee Where hast thou beene this many a day I have beene seeking thee by night and upon my bed and about the City and in the streetes and in the broad wayes and I could not finde thee And I have beene found my selfe and tooke by thy officers they are not farre hence and had not my tongue beene very quick and ready and my wit good and my cause better I had beene sent to prison and laid fast enough But I presently tooke them off from all their authority and us'd thy name and said Saw yee him whom my soule loveth But thou hast not yet told me where thou hast beene Indeed I was halfe afraid I had quite lost thee I beleeve I doe I doe that had'st not thou sought me more then I sought thee wee had never met againe And thou didst help me to seeke thee but I could not helpe thee to seeke me as I could not helpe thee to make me For I was lost my selfe not only in my selfe but also in my understanding and I knew not what directions to give for the finding of my selfe because I knew not where I was But since I have extracted from particulars by the Chymistry of experience what a bottomlesse misery it is to be lost from thee and what a solitary labour it is to seeke thee now I have found thee I will hold thee with my heart and with both my hands and armes and I will not let thee goe The soule being now close in the armes of her Beloved must exercise her spirituall acts in a more perfect manner Let me kisse that middle wound that hath foure lesser wounds to waite upon it O those blessed Quires of Angels they sing marvellously well But when they have sung over all their songs no musicke is like to Davids Harp the old instrument of ten strings to wit the keeping of the ten Commandements by the which Gods holy will is performed This All-seeing providence that all over-flowing goodnesse that immensity this infinity Lord Lord whither goe I I am quite swallowed up No tongue can speake it Doe what pleaseth thee O most good and most great whose greatnesse doth most shine in goodnesse O God who can fadome thy eternity And now I cannot hold up my eyes I must needs fall fast asleepe CHAP. XVIII I Know what will happen to many of my Readers What I have wrote will put nature to the start and a little fright the soule And therefore it will worke in them awhile though at length weakly and remissely But other passages pressing upon them passages of mirth of businesse it will grow colder and colder in them weare away and after awhile be quite forgot the Devill hammering out by little and little a golden wedge with one of a base metall If the seed hath not fell upon good ground thus it will be with them And then let them thinke of me and remember that I foretold them what would happen Aethiops in balneum niger intrat saith Saint Gregory niger egreditur The Aethiopian goes blacke into the Bath and comes again blacke out of it The Prophet David hath a divine expression If he turne not he will Psal 7. 12. whet his sword meaning God hee hath bent his bowe and made it ready Whom doe we strike with a sword him that is nigh us Whom shoote with a bow one a farre off Who is nigh God the old man For by the course of nature hee is neare death Who seemes to be farre off the young man but God can reach him with his bow Lord helpe us We are farre gone We cannot learne that which God taught from the beginning of the world And when people began to multiply taught every day and houre And that which he most teaches of all that ever hee taught And what is it that here we have no continuing City but seeke one to come Heb. 13. 14 Could we sinfull creatures fore see our own ends and the lamentable chances that lie watching for us as we passe by such a day and such an houre the hardest of us would weepe let us weepe then for the cause of all our misery our execrable sinnes Christ wept over Jerusalem because he saw the hearts and fore-saw the ends of all the people in the City He saw perhaps
much approved in the Councell of Chalcedon Conc. Chalc. As when the body of man suffereth the soule indeed knoweth that and what the body suffereth but in it self remayneth impassible So Christ suffering in whom the Godhead was the Godhead in him could not suffer with him If as in God there are three persons and one nature and three persons in one nature so in Christ we consider two natures in one person and lay them out to their proper acts all is easily perceived Excellently Cyril of Alexandria alleaged in the first generall Councell Cyr. Alex. in Conc. Ephes 1. of Ephesus Factus est homo remansit Deus servi formam accepit sed liber ut filius gloriam accepit gloriae Dominus in omnes accepit potestatem rex simul cum Deo rerum omnium He was made man but he continued God he took the forme of a servant but he remayned free as a sonne he received glory but was the Lord of glory hee received power over all but was King together with God of all things With what a ready finger the holy Evangelists touch every particular string in the dolorous discourse of our Saviours Passion They were not ordinary men drawn every way with carnall desires but extraordinary persons carried aloft upon the wings of a divine spirit For in the relation of those things which manifested the glory of Christ and pertained to the demonstration of his God-head they do not stay they give a naked declaration and passe to that which followeth But in the cloudy matters of his disgrace and especially in the Funerall Song of his Passion they are copious and full of matter Which if they had vainly affected the glory of the World they neither should nor would have done Thus evidently shewing they did not glory in any thing but with Saint Paul in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ Saint Luke opening the glory of Christs Nativitie openeth and shutteth all as it were with one action And suddenly Luk. 2. 13 14. there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying Glory be to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men That strange comming of the Wisemen or Eastern Princes Saint Matthew comes as quickly over And fell down and worshipped him And Mat. 2. 11. when they had opened their treasures they presented unto him Gifts Gold Frankincense and Myrrhe In blazing the Transfiguration of Christ they put it off without any blazing figure without a transfiguration of words as willing onely to insinuate that Christ opened a chink of Heaven and gave a little glympse of his glory before his Passion to prepare and confirme his Disciples And forced at last upon his Ascension it fals from them in short Hee was received Mar 16. 19 up into Heaven All which they might have amplified by the help of their infused knowledge which virtually contained the inferiour art of speaking with glorious descriptions But in the dolefull Historie of his Passion wee have a large discourse of apprehending binding judging buffeting whipping scorning reviling condemning wounding killing and if any thing slip under the rehearsall it is to be a scarff over the face and to shew the griefe could not be expressed and moreover to stirre mens thoughts to expresse more in themselves to which wee may referre that of Saint Luke And many other things blasphemously spake they against him These blessed Evangelists Luk. 22 65 proved themselves to be the true Disciples of Christ For Saint Matthew saith From that time forth began Iesus to shew unto Mat. 16 21 his Disciples how that he must goe to Hierusalem and suffer many things of the Elders and chiefe Priests and Scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day The Resurrection had but a very little roome and it should have had no roome had it not fitly served to sweeten the relation of his sufferings Hee did not much stirre his head in his passion without a Record without a Chronicle Saint Iohn saith hee bowed his head And thus doth the flower when it John 19. 30 beginneth to wither Hee bowed his head and gave up the ghost He bowed his head Stay there it is too soone to give up the ghost Father of Heaven wilt thou suffer this O all yee creatures help help your Creatour But they stir not because he hath bowed his head the most high and most majesticall part of his body Did hee bow his head Hee the great God of Heaven and of the World betrayed by his owne Disciple crucified by his owne people led by him to the knowledge of him when all the World was given into their own hands and brought by a strange and a strong hand out of Egypt the house of bondage the black figure of this World into the Land of Canaan the Land which flowed with milk and honey the beautifull Embleme of Heaven Did hee bow his head no instruments but his own creatures being used to his destruction when the weighty sins of the whole world were laid upon his guiltlesse back and when he could in one quick instant have turned all the World to a vain and foolish nothing And shall one of us dirty creatures frowne and be troubled lift up the head speak rashly and kick against the thorn moved by every small and easie occasion Shall we murmure and trouble all with the smoake and fames of angry words As thus for the deceits of the Devill are wonderfull If that Miscreant that shape of a man had not put my honour upon the hooke I had not beene troubled Such another man is not extant me thinks hee has not the face of an honest man The carriage of his body is most ridiculous God forgive me if I think amisse my heart gives mee hee never says his prayers Pray God he believe in Christ This makes the Devil sport What are we How soone we take fire how quickly we give fire how long we keep fire In what mists or rather fogs wee lose our selves Why did God send some of us now living into the World and not rather create us in glory if he did not mean we should passe through a field of thornes into a garden of flowers through the Temple of Vertue into the Temple of Honour by pain to pleasure MEDIT. 3. HE gave up the ghost They say men that die give up the ghost Did Christ die It cannot be Yes and more He died willingly like a meeke Lambe sobbing out his life For hee gave up the ghost it was not taken from him And therefore a good man hath not feared to say that Christ held his life by mayn strength some little while beyond the date of nature that it might not seem to bee taken from him by force of armes Greater love hath no man then this that a man lay downe his life for his friends Joh. 15. 13. Life is the last of all our possessions in this