part be not devoured by unprofitable dogs and besure the recreation thou useth be lawfull what is cruel and bloudy may be suspected let it be when true need is and to fit thee for thy general or particular calling oh my God give me wisdome that I may never delight in any thing that offends thee let me not make a mock of sin lest thou call me fool for my labour and laugh at my destruction and mock when my fear comes preserve me from my bloud thirsty enemies especialy from satan that hunts after my soul Upon the labour and pains men take about worldly things 47. Med. WHen I had wearied and almost spent my self in digging delving and moiling in the garden and had unfitted my self for better and more necessary employments I began at last to check my self for it and discourse with my self after this manner vain man what have I been doing or how have I spent my time and my strength is it for heaven or for the earth for my soul or for my body for this life or that to come is there so much pains needful for a little spot of earth which will bring in little if any advantage what pains then is necessary for heaven have I been so prodigal of my time and pains and sweat and labour for this poor empty nothing and yet negligent in the main concern when did I take so much pains for heaven and happiness for Christ and glory as I have done for these trifles when did I sweat thus in Gods service and spend my self thus in doing his work am I working for a better master or is this a more delightful employment or am I like to receive or can I expect better wages then he gives that I work harder and sweat more then I would do in his work and follow my business with more diligence care and industry if the whole world be really worth so much labour pains and industry as I have bestowed upon this little angle this worthless plot of ground what pains doth heaven deserve if to the obtaining the whole world deserves one days hard work sure heaven deserves all the rest good things are not had at easy rates the more excellent the more difficult it is so in earthly enjoyments riches cannot be had without sweat and pain without cark and care nor learning without labour and study and will heaven be had with a wet finger cannot I provide for a few days without all this adoe and can I provide for eternity with less labour will an interest in Christ and a title to glory be had so easily no no doubtless a slow pace will fall short of heaven and the sluggard is never like to come there there must be striving running contending fighting or we shall not obtain the kingdome of heavsn suffers violence and the violent take it by force those only that are carried out with strength of affection after Christ shall enjoy him those are like to have the pearl that will have it at the hardest rates though they sell all to purchase it heaven is had by the violent though the earth be inherited by the meek Mat. 5.6 those that content themselves with the least mercies here as not deserving any cannot content themselves with the greatest portion the world can make up for them because they know there is a better portion laid up for them by their father there is nothing but eternity that can make us absolutely happy or perfectly miserable eternity added to happiness or misery makes it compleat and can I attain the one or avoid the other so easily toylsom days and wearisom nights may make us willing of a change but what good will a change do if it be for the worse and not the better or how can we expect better and not make preparation for it can we expect an harvest that have sown no seed or wages that have done no work can we expect the prize that never run the race or the victory that never entred into the field to fight if we bury our selves and talents in the earth can we expect they will be there improved nay may we not expect a reckoning day when they will be taken from us and given to those that are diligent and will improve them a judging time is coming when our reward will be according to our diligence and our wages according to our work if we sow vanity we shall reap folly if we sow to the flesh we shall of the flesh reap corruption if we sow to the spirit we shall of the spirit reap life everlasting if we trade only in earthly commodities we cannot expect rationally any other gain but what they afford which will never recompence the pains and care and loss we sustain upon that account but if we serve a better Master we may expect better wages oh my soul how justly here maist thou be reproved for thy diligence in trifles and neglect of the substance thou hast not only let the world run away with thy time thy hands and thy head but with thy heart also use the world thou maist but abuse it thou must not but so thou dost when thy affections close with it and thou committest spiritual adultery with it and lodgest it in the room where Christ should lodge in thy earthly business thy heart should be in heaven and thine eye upon Christ if thou be diligent it should be because he commands it and if thou do all in obedience to his command then dost thou engage him to be thy pay-master and maist expect a reward from him even for doing thy own work learn to make some spirituall use of all thy earthly enjoyments then by divine meditation thou maist enjoy heaven upon earth yea extract heaven out of the earth and God out of the creature that must needs be a rich soul that can with the bee extract honey out of every weed and flower oh my God I must confess I have been grossly faulty not only for spending my time and strength upon vanities but letting out my affections on them also Lord suffer me no longer to ramble from thee gather in my scattered affections to thy self Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean let me see more excellency in thee then the world can shew this will engage my heart to thee for ever Upon the dilligence of the spider 48. Med. OBserving the industry diligence and painful labour of the spider a contemptible creature how busy she was in weaving her nets how industriously she plys her work and though oftentimes she meet with disappointments had her work spoiled and her self indangered yet never a whit discouraged or disheartned she begins again this is one of these four things that Solomon had observed in the earth that were little but wise c. the spider that taketh hold with her hands and is in Kings palaces Pro. 30.24 c. she doth her work painfully and curiously spins saith one a finer thred
a conscience void of guilt that it cannot accuse them of any unjust or uncivil act lest the sergeant death put them into the devils hands and they be cast into prison thâ—se that will not now abate their fellow-servants a penny shall themselves pay the utmost farthing he that will shew no mercy shall finde none when they stand in need and those that now feed upon others death shall ere long feed sweetly on them Job 24.20 yea the never-dying worm shall feed upon them as it is fabled the vulture did upon Prometheus his liver oh my soul live so holily towards God and so uprightly towards man that thy greatest enemies may have nothing to object against thee but concerning the law of thy God Improve those talents God hath lent thee to his glory lest thou have the doom of the unfaithful servant consider thou art but a steward of what thou enjoyest and what is under thy hands thou hast but the dispose of it for thy masters use and he will require an account take heed of getting any thing unjustly keeping it unlawfully or parting with it sinfully put not the poors part in any childes portion this will be a canker to consume the rest and bring a curse upon thy posterity grinde not the faces of the poor for their redeemer is mighty and will not bear it do as thou wouldst be done by shew mercy or thou wilt miss of it when thou standst in need if thou wilt not forgive others God will not forgive thee Oh my God I have this sin of cruelty in my nature also oh curse and blast this bitter root that it may not spring up in me incline my heart to lenity and mercy yea to forgive mine enemies that I may resemble thee my father that dost good both to the good and to the bad Upon a kite soaring aloft yet minding her prey 67. Med. OBserving the Kite that bird of prey soaring aloft towring on high as if he meant to scale the clouds and look into heaven and with the Eagle to make his nest among the stars Obad. 4. And yet I observed he suddenly descended fell upon his prey and devoured it This observation satisfyed me that though he aimed at heaven and seemed to scorn these inferiour things yet his eye and minde was fixed here below and grovelled on the ground though the bodv were above the heart was below and his mounting aloft was but dissimulation and upon designe like the fox in the fable that pretended himself dead to take his prey the better so this kite to compass his ends carry on his designes and to take his unwary prey useth this stratagem I thought this was a lively Embleme of an hypocrite who seems to be all for heaven when he mindes nothing less he is only minding his prey driving on some carnal designe and when he seems to be trading for heaven and discoursing with God himself yet his heart and affections are glued to the world and he is carrying on some self-interest or fleshly designe and is like a waterman he looks one way and rows another Thus the Pharisees those noted hypocrites did for under pretence of long prayers they devoured widdows houses and fisht for popular applause with their prayers fastings and almes-deeds Mat. 6.1 2 3 c. their hearts were on earth when their hands and eyes were lifted up to heaven A hypocrite is most devout when preferment profit or applause is in sight but key-cold when there is no temptation they are burning hot in the publike lukewarm in their familyes and key-cold in their closets they are like a Cardinal I have read of and doubtless there are many more of his minde who being a poor fishermans son was for his humility and other qualifications advanced to several degrees of honour but always to minde him of his mean extraction and to keep him humble as he said he would have his Fathers Net in his dining-room that he might not forget his descent but at the last being made Pope the net was laid aside being demanded the reason he replyed when the fish is caught what need is there of the net This net and feigned humility was but to take the fish and there are many in our times fish with such a bait some that depend upon some godly great man or some religious Landlord or great benefactor counterfeit their colours and pretend to wear their livery the better to ingratiate themselves into their favour and friendship but when they have caught the fish the net is thrown aside for when they have attained their end or are frustrated of their expectation they soon cast off the sheeps-skin and appear in their own likeness they make religion but a stalking-horse to take their prey and use it for no other end and when that work is done they lay it afide they have a piece of work to do and when one tool will not do it they lay that aside and take another if profession of religion fail them they will turn persecutors and those that now cry hail master will shortly cry crucify him they follow not Christ for love but for loaves and will be his servants so long and no longer then they gain by him they put their hands to the plow and look back and will have no more of religion then will do them good while it will stand with their credit profit or worldly advantages they will be religious when they must part with any thing they will not buy heaven at so dear a rate but let such take heed of mocking God that will not be mocked or of playing with this candle lest they burn their wings or approach too neer the sun of righteousness lest like Icarus they melt their waxen wings and they deceive them God can easily see through this thin vail of dissimulation and smell the filthy savour of an hypocrites rotten lungs this fire will soon discover this paint and without oyl in the vessel as well as a lamp in the hand there is no entring into the bridechamber it is not then a Lord Lord open to us will serve turn yea often this rotten inside will rot the outside also and those ulcers at the heart will break forth in the life and conversation oh my soul beware of hypocrysy that damning sin that ruines thousands and sends them to hell and unfits a man for any office or imployment in Church or state this will make thee hatefull both to God and man man will hate thee for thy profession God will hate thee for counterfeiting his colours and serving the devil in his livery if religion be bad why wilt thou profess it if it be good why wilt thou not practice it Make the tree good and his fruit good or make the tree evill and his fruit evill be as thou seemest or seem as thou art and do not dishonour God by a great profession and an evil conversation there is no deceiving God by a fained shew who
tryes the heart and searches the reins he loves truth in the inward part and the secretest thought of the heart cannot pass by him undiscovered sincerity is the true philosophers stone that turns all things into gold and makes weak performances acceptable when hypocrysy turns all into dross glorious performances into guilded abomination oh my God my heart is deceitfull and desperately wicked a nest of unclean birds roosts there and this sin as well as others lurks in it Lord thou knowest my condition discover my self to my self and let not my own heart deceive me create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me what good will a shew do without a substance or a profession without the practice whatever thou denyest me deny me not sincerity what shall I do at the wedding without a wedding-garment or what good will a lamp do without oyl or a talent if not improved Upon a Bird in a cage 68. Med. UPon the observation of a bird in a cage that was kept warm and secured from danger fed to the full and that without her care or pains so that in my apprehension she wanted nothing that might give content or minister delight she neither felt want nor wo yet it seems she was not content with this supposed restraint or imprisonment for in process of time she gets loose fled away and refused to return she esteemed her liberty more then all her enjoyments and rather exposed her self to want and penury yea to danger and trouble then to return to her easy confinement and trust her self rather to the mercy of the merciless enemy then to her greatest benefactor The thoughts of this raised my Meditation as high as our first parents Adam and Eve in paradice they were placed in a place of pleasure provided for by God himself wanted nothing for necessity or delight and had only one little restraint laid upon them to forbear the fruit of one tree which haply had it not been forbidden had not been desired but impatient of this restraint they break the cage and got loose and so were turned out into the wide world and by this means brought want and misery danger and death upon all their posterity and exposed themselves and their off-spring to be a prey to the devouring vulture satan and this is the condition of their posterity they like not Gods cage because the devil promises more liberty but brings them really into more slavery they leave Gods service which is perfect freedom for the devils drudgery in hopes of more freedom but really more slavery they serve a worse master are set about worse work and shall receive worse wages loath they are to be under any restraint and yet the devil keeps them in the most servile slavery fain they would have their fill of sin and this will bring them in their fill of misery for suffering will follow sin as the shadow doth the substance if sin go before misery will follow after and they will rue the time that ever they left their cage changed their Master or left his work for when they come to receive their wages they will be sensible of their folly eternal destruction is the best wages the devil gives but eternal life is Gods reward But le ts leave these doing their masters work and expecting his wages and consider man in his temporal concerns and here also you will finde him a discontented creature and though you follow him from the womb to the tomb you will always finde him in a restless condition never satisfied never contented in his infancy and childhood never able to brook any cage or endure any restraint any thing but go to school and any book will please but that he is to learn in any profession but a scholler in their youth any thing but service or apprentiship and any trade but what they are bound to and any Master but their own after any estate but a single life and when married they are soon weary of that Many a servant that lived void of cares that sleeps soundly feeds heartily and hath all necessaries provided for him plentifully and nothing lies upon him but a little moderate labour to do his work and receive his wages when ofttimes the master works as hard as he all day and spends his spirits and at night breaks his sleep with anxious cares and fears and turmoiling thoughts how he shall pay his rents discharge his debts provide for his family meat drink and cloathes and other necessaries how he shall pay scot and lot as they say and bring both ends together and all proves too little many times yea a thousand things more run in his minde and break his brain yet this servant not content with this condition dislikes his cage leaves it he cannot away with any restraint he must needs be his own man or rather his own Master stand upon his own legs be ruled by his own will leaves his service alters his condition marries and sets up for himself and now he thinks all will be well but after awhile when pincht with want and misery and forc't to maintain a wife and children and much ado to get them bread he begins to wish oh that I were in my cage again I should prize it better then I have done and begins to think his service was better then his freedom and wishes when it is too late that he had better considered it and look't before he leapt and thus it is with men in all callings estates and degrees always discontent if any restraint be laid upon their insatiable mindes Oh my soul choose not another Master till thou art sure of a better that will mend thy work and better thy wages this cannot be satan his wages is eternal destruction when the gift of God is eternal life break not Gods prison for the worlds liberty now thou art liberally provided for and remainest under the wings of the Almighty and no devouring vulture can molest thee but if at the instigation of Satan thou break thy cage and make an escape a thousand dangers will assault thee and thy poor soul will be made a prey to this roaring lyon that seeks day and night to devour it 1 Pet. 5.8 the devil that bloud-thirsty enemy will pursue thee to destruction and nothing will satisfy him but thy ruine oh my God my strength is in thee and not in my self my enemies are many politick and cunning bloud-thirsty and cruel treacherous and deceitfull and my own heart like an inbred traitour ready to betray me into his hand I have no strength against this enemy only mine eyes are up to thee Lord keep me under the shadow of thy wings let neither the temptations of satan nor the frowns or smiles of the world draw me thence Upon a bird with a clogg at her foot 69. Med. WHen I beheld a poor bird that was taken prisoner and her Jaylor the better to secure his prisoner had hanged