the Jewel we shall have the box if we buy the wine we shall have the cask and if we seek first the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof all other things shall be added Mat. 6.33 most men begin at the wrong end they make sure the world and think then all is safe and heaven sure but would they make heaven sure riches should not be wanting but most men think that scraping and keeping together is the way to be rich but the holy Ghost teacheth us that it is giving and laying out is the way Solomon tells us he that gives to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him Pro. 19.17 and he that gives to the poor shall not lack Pro. 28.27 so that not getting but giving is the way to wealth but he shall have judgement without mercy that will shew no mercy Jam. 2.13 rich men are Gods stewards he trusts them with his store-house to give their fellow-servants their meat in due season and blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall finde so doing Mat. 24.46 but if insteed of feeding them they feed themselves and eat and drink with the drunken and beat their fellow-servants their Lord shall come when they are not aware and shall give them their portion with hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth but all places are too full of such evil servants and so is hell too such dust-heaps are found in every corner but those unmercifull men shall have their portion with the devil and the damned Mat. 25.34 when the charitable Christian shall have a portion in glory we are all Gods servants and have some talents or other to improve in his service to his glory which if we do we shall not be without our reward there is none saith God shuts the door of my house for nought or kindles a fire upon my altar for nought Mal. 1.10 he hath lent us our riches and yet if we improve them and employ them as we ought they will become our own and we shall send them to heaven before us where they will be made up into a crown for us this is the only good they can do the soul but whatsoever is not thus improved is lost yea worse then lost for it will be put upon our account and required of us when we give an account of our stewardship It is a great mistake and so it will be found when men think they have an absolute propriety in what they enjoy and may dispose of it at their pleasure Christ bids the young man sell all that he had and give to the poor and he should have treasure in heaven Mat. 19.21 and rich men are charged to be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to give that they may lay up for themselves a good foundation against the evil day 1 Tim. 6.16 c. had rich men but Moses eye to see the wealth of heaven and the worth of it it were not hard for them to make such a choise as he did worldlings if they could have heaven without labour or cost they would accept of it if not they will not buy it at so dear a rate but Christians say as Mephibosheth let Zibah take all so I may enjoy the king oh my soul here is riches worth labouring for thou canst not buy this gold at too dear a rate the world thou maist and many do with the loss of the soul here thou canst not be disappointed whatever rate thou setst upon this treasure it is ten thousand times better lay hold upon this make heaven sure to thy self improve the world to a spiritual advantage then will thy riches encrease as the oyl in the cruse or like the bread in Christs hands or the water in a spring thy good works will follow thee to heaven when the world will leave her dearest minions oh my God let it be so say amen to my prayer let me have thee and I have all things necessary Upon mens misery labour and pains 73. Med. WHen I considered that man that was the chief of Gods workmanship and next to the angels the most glorious creature of the whole creation yea in his creation was made little lower then the angels and cloathed with honour and dignity Psal 8.5 and was made Lord over the works of Gods hands Gen. 1.26 yea God created him in his own image all these inferiour creatures were made for his sake and for his use and service he was their little Lord yea the angels themselves are ministring spirits sent out for the good of those that love God Heb. 1.14 the saints are the Church the spouse the bride the members of Christ and so seem to be in nearer union to him then the angels themselves some think the devils envied this and so fell from their own station thus you see how man in the creation was exalted to honour but on the other side I considered how man above all the rest of the creatures was more subjected to misery labour and slavery yea vexation of spirit then any other and many of them even worn out with carking cares and fretting fears with moiling toyling spending labour which tires their bodies breaks their sleep in the night when other creatures which were made for their use and are their servants rest secure and free from daily cares and nightly troubles many kindes of them are preserved without their pain all without their care or fore-cast the masters care for some and maintain them and God maintains the rest but it is not so with man he must eat his bread in the sweat of his brows how true is that of Joh chap. 5.7 man is born to labour as the sparks fly upwards all things are full of labour saith Solomon Eccl. 1.8 molestation and misery meet us at every turn the world saith one is a sea of glass for it is vanity mingled with fire for it is vexation Rev. 4.6 man is in a restless condition tossed to and fro like a football and here he hath no resting place when I sought out the cause of this why this noble creature should be thus subjected to trouble and sorrow more then any others I quickly found out it was Gods will and mans desert for had man continued in his primitive purity he had never had an aking head or aking heart or loss or cross or any thing to molest him but when he had sin'd God pronounced this sentence upon him in the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread which law never yet was reversed The beasts of the field never transgrest their makers law as man hath done and therefore never had such punishment threatned as man had though it is conceived they are sufferers for mans sin Rom. 8.20 had not sin gone before trouble and misery had never followed the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life and as sin brought death so also sorrow into the world
blazing star ominous to the beholders and hurtfull to those that enjoy it and proves ofttimes the devils lime-twigs to catch his fowls meat and drink are necessary yet to many their table becomes their snare and by a plentifull table they come to be guilty of gluttony and drunkenness wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging and he that is overtaken with it is not wise I fed them to the full saith God and they were as fed horses every one neighed after his neighbours wife learning and great parts are lovely endowments and many times it proves dangerous and deadly the greatest scholars oft prove the greatest enemies to Christ and the greatest adversaries to the power of godliness In a word those that have most of the world have frequently the least of heaven Son saith Abraham remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luk. 16.25 Wealth many times swells men into a tympany not easily cured I know there are some that follow Christs counsell and make to themselves friends of this Mammon of unrighteousness but most do but encrease their account by them and at the reckoning-day will prove bankrupts and owe ten thousand talents more then they are able to pay earthly enjoyments usually rock men in the cradle of security and lull them asleep that they never wake till hell fire flames about their ears thus the rich man Luke 12.16 and that also Luk. 16.19 c. when the moon is at full it is furthest distance from the sun and nearest to an ecclips and the world many times interposeth it self between the full soul and the sun of righteousness relations and carnal friends oft-times prove snares thus they were to Job to Spira and to many more the things that are in themselves lawfull blessings yet abused prove our licitis perimus omnes immoderately used prove a sin and a snare oh my soul thou walkest in the midst of dangers snares are laid for thee in every creature in every corner trust not therefore to any the most innocent will betray thee if not heedfully observed and wisely enjoyed the most harmless nay the most necessary enjoyments are not free from snares a serpent may lie under thy feet poyson may be in thy cup or dish many temptations are in poverty more in plenty pray therefore with Agar not to have poverty nor riches but to be fed with food convenient Pro. 30.8 as a shoe too big or too little suits not the foot so an estate too big is troublesome and to little pinches a staff may help the passenger in his journey but a burden of staves will be his hinderance oh my God are there so many dangers that attend me both in reference to my body and my soul oh what need have I of divine protection Lord be thou my defender keep me under the shadow of thy wings O let not Satan the world or my own deceitful heart ever betray me but let me be kept by the mighty power of God unto salvation Upon a Toad 45. Med. OBserving as I walked in the garden in an evening a loathsom foul and ugly toad crawling in my way hasting from me as from a deadly enemy to hide her head in a hole to save her life and that from one that she had never wronged this sight occasioned me this Meditation how nigh akin am I to this poor creature this dispicable loathed and abhorred wretch there is but the sheers between us nothing but the makers will she is my sister and may claim the right of primogeniture as coming into the world before me we have the same original the same father and the same mother we were made of the same matter by the hand of the same workman but she hath the precedency in nature and came of the elder brother both of us were of the same clay and fashioned by the same potter hewn out of the same rock and digged out of the same hole of the pit and had it pleased the workman I might have been the toad and this the man no thanks to me that it was not so and it had been no wrong to me if it had been so I might have been crawling into that hole to save my life from one that desired my death and fed upon such loathsom meat that she feeds on but my God hath bestowed more upon me and denied it to her even so Lord because it hath seemed good in thy eyes oh my soul what hast thou done more for thy God then this poor creature hath done doubtless where more is given more will be required thou hast received ten talents for one nay an hundred for one how hast thou improved them and God expects from man much more service then from any other creature in the world being only fitted for communion with himself But hath not this despicable wretch which thou thinkest is not worthy to live served God in her place better then thy self and answered the end of her creation better then man and never transgrest her masters will nor her makers law as thou hast done a thousand times she desires nothing more then life and what is necessary to maintain it and fears nothing more then death and what tends to it and doth no hurt but it is imagined good to mankinde unless hurt or provoked and if she have a noxious quality it is questionable whether the sin of man hath not procured it God hath given thee the use of reason and made thee capable of communion with himself and enjoying him for ever and laid upon her far more innocent this punishment of being hated and abhorred of all and her life is put into thy hands and whosoever killeth her thinks he hath not offended thou canst walk free from fear when every one that sees her desires her death and plots her ruine and destruction what cause then have I to bless God that I was made a man and not a toad and that I had the use of reason given to me and not made a bruit but if I be not regenerate and born again if I have not the image of God renewed in me which I lost by the fall if I answer not the end of my creation and redemption if my sin be not mortified and the power of my corruptions abated if grace be not implanted in my heart by the spirit of God if I have not an interest in Christ and a title to glory if the mistical marriage be not made between Christ and my soul and my affections set upon him if any thing in the world lie nearer to my heart then he doth and be beloved above him the time will come and it will not be long first that I shall wish would God I had been made the toad and this toad the man for then my misery would have ended with my life when now it is like to begin at my death and
also that rob the poor will be found to reproach their maker Pro. 14.31 God is the poor mans king and he will defend him destroy his enemies and will not suffer the injuries offered them to be unpunished winter will come when these wasps will dye oh my God suffer me not now to feed upon those morfels that I must chew for ever in hell if I have but little let it not be with a curse Upon the painted Butterfly 57. Med. WHen I observed the curious gaudy dress of the painted butterfly her various colours and her specious shew and took notice how she spent her time in paint and plaister and all to adorn her self and make her seem beautiful when the laborious Bee improved her time to better ends and purposes viz. to provide in summer for winter and to gather her food in the harvest I considered also that notwithstanding all this paint this proud creature was but a poor infect nay an unprofitable creature doing hurt but no good and when I caught her to take a further view she did but foul my fingers I considered also what would be the end of this so proud so sluggish and so useless a creature and found against winter she put her head into a hole and died and there was the end of all her bravery when the painfull Bee hath her life preserved by her dilligence this made me think that this creature did much resemble many of the Gallants of our times especially of the female sex though others may take it ill if they be excluded which are good for little but to paint and dress and spend their time as vainly as ever the butterfly doth these content not themselves with their own native beauty or with the form and fashion God made them in but cast themselves into another mould and take upon them another shape then God made them and it is to be feared God will never own them for his when they are thus transformed or rather deformed themselves with their own hands and what is the reason of all this paint and plaister but to make traps to catch fools their hair are snares to catch men as the fisher of his hairs makes lines to catch fish or as the spiders web is to take flys for if there be no wine in the cellar why hangs the bush what doth this gaudy dress signifie but a lascivious minde and to let the world know in what ware they deal and how welcome such a motion that brings profit or pleasure with it would be to them and like the signe at the ale-house-door promises entertainment for money what doth this gawdy dress signify less then a lascivious minde when they spend great part of their time in attiring painting dressing and spotting themselves this is their morning devotion and their afternoon service is not much unlike for that is mostly spent in sports and merryments in plays and interludes in idle visits or perhaps worse employments the devil many times makes use of these gaudy flys to fish for souls wherewith he baits his hooks and many unwary youths are caught with these lime-twigs Is it not a wonder that any of Adams sons or Eves daughters and yet both sexes are guilty should take more pains for hell then others do for heaven yea and be at more cost and care also for pride is more costly then humility yea is it not a wonder to see persons pride in that which is the fruit of sin and a cover to shame viz. their cloaths which usually are but the excrements of beasts or insects or at least of as poor an original this is a sure signe of a worthless piece to be like a bubblâ— or bladder blown up with a little winde how many are there that are like the Cinamon-tree the bark is better then the body yea sometimes the cloaths are better then all the estate besides Many that are ashamed of their deformity yet when their crooked ill-shap't bodies are covered are proud of their beauty but what will become of those at death that have spent their time in paint and spot and neglected to adorn the soul it were well with them if with the butterfly they could finde a hole to dye in that they might never more be seen but this will not be they must be seen in their own colours when all the varnish will vanish sincerity will abide the fire I fear others also are guilty of this paint and flourish as some Ministers who paint their Sermons not to profit but to please and preach not in that plain convincing way Christ and his Apostles did but woo more for themselves then for Christ and fish not for souls but for popular applause and seek not to set the crown upon Christs head but their own oh my soul beware of these three grand enemies to thy salvation pride idleness and hypocrisy where these bear sway the soul never prospers pride is the master-pock if it strike to the heart it will surely kill thee pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble Jam. 4.6 he defies those that deify themselves witness Herod and Lucifer grace grows not in high mountains but in low vallies the least degree of pride sets it self against God the highest degree sets it self above God 2 Thes 2.4 and as pride so idleness is a deadly sin pride fulness of bread and abundance of idleness were Sodoms sin and doubtless they are Englands sins also and make many thousands fall short of heaven and the time is coming hypocrisy also will appear in its own colours the paint will not abide the fire oh my God how many poor souls split themselves upon these rocks and make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience Lord keep me humble make me sincere and help me to be diligent so shall I be happy for ever Upon a gnat playing with the candle 58. Med. WHen I observed a gnat play so long with the candle that at length she burnt her wings was taken prisoner suffered for her folly paid dear for pleasure and was exposed to a cruel death even to end her life in the flames I thought this resembled poor man that so long dallies with sin and plays with the devils temptations that at last he is snared in his limetwigs and fettered in his gins and led captive by him at his pleasure 2 Tim. 2.26 those that he thus takes in his snares he useth worse then Sampson was used by the Philistins he puts out their eyes and then makes them grinde in his mill poor man is like a fish nibling so long at the bait till at last he swallows the hook or like the unwary bird so eagerly falls upon the prey that they are taken in the net the devil like a cunning fowler holds out the bait covers the hook and hides himself behind the bush so that they see not the hand that holds it he doth not usually
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
thou provided another habitation against this shall be disolved and moulder into dust when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved hast thou a building not made with hands but eternal in the heavens hast thou acted thy part well upon the stage of the world that thou maist go off with applause â—f not … s better thou hadst not been born for if death meet thee unprepared as thy body moulders into dust so must thou down to everlasting darkness there to suffer eternally the demerit of thy sin Oh my God! take me not away before I be fit to be lodged in thy bosome kill me not before my sin be killed if any thing that is necessary be wanting Lord give it in and let me not be deceived in so great a thing as the salvation of my soul Let my sins die and let my soul live Let me see the funeral of my vices before others see the funeral of my body Vpon a Tuft of green Grass 3. Med. WAlking into the Garden as at other times to take the ayr I fastened my eyes upon a green tuft of grass that grew besides me the sight of it brought to my remembrance what I had often heard and read viz. that the damned in hell should suffer exquisite torments such as the tongue of men or angels are not able to express and that for as many millions of years as there are grass-piles upon the earth sands on the sea shoar stars in heaven and motes in the Sun and yet after all this long tract of time their torments shall be no nearer to an end nor they to a delivery then they were the first day they were cast in This made me a little to consider the number of piles that was in this little tuft and when I found it too hard for me to number them I considered what was this tuft to one pasture or that to one Parish or that to one County or that to one Kingdome or that to the whole world this made me to cry out Oh Eternity Eternity who can conceive of thee who can fathom thee Oh the horrible nature of sin that provokes a mercifull God to lay such heavy strokes upon his poor creatures Oh the love and pains of our dear Redeemer what did he suffer to quench those flames and discharge those debts for his people in suffering what was due for their sins and oh the madness of men and my own folly that knowing there is such a remediless gulf before us run on so madly towards it and that for momentary pleasures deceitfull riches worthless honour or filthy sin do venture the soul upon the pikes of danger Oh the misery of poor unregenerate wretches what will you do in the latter end who amongst us shall dwell with devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burning Esay 33.14 Tophet is prepared of old even for the King it is prepared the pile thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone doth kindle it Esaiah 30.33 Were a man compelled to lie upon a feather bed but one year without turning or stirring though other comforts were afforded how painful how tedious would that year seem but what is this one year to eternity or what is a featherbed to scalding lead and burning brimstone or what is that to hell torments Oh Satan how dost thou deceive us Oh world how dost thou insnare us Oh sin how dost thou bewitch us Oh heart how dost thou betray us to this deadly danger Oh earth how dost thou betray thy fastest friends and payest them off with pains for pleasure and buyest their souls for a thing of naught Oh Satan who would be thy servant if this be thy wages and yet how many fish come to thy net and how prosperous hast thou been when thou hast baited thy hooks with the world Oh my soul is Eternity such a fathomless gulf without bank or bottom how stands the case with thee art thou for everlasting joy or endless torment what interest hast thou in the one or what hopes to avoid the other what hast thou that a hypocrite cannot have or what dost thou that he cannot do God surely expects great difference in the work when there is so much in the reward give thy eyes no sleep nor thy eye-lids no slumber till thou hast some comfortable assurance of the love of God in the pardon of thy sins and the salvation of thy soul make peace with thy Creditour before thou art cast into prison otherwise there must thou remain till thou hast paid the utmost farthing If death surprize thee before thou art ready hell will be thy lodging get oyl trim up thy lamp get on thy wedding-garment that thou be not shut out into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth Oh my God! make me such as thy own soul delights in give me in the qualifications thou hast made necessary to Salvation thou knowest my wants Lord supply them my debts oh forgive them my corruptions Lord subdue them and binde up my soul in the bundle of life write my name in thy book and at last lay me up amongst thy Jewels Vpon a barren plat of ground 4. Med. WHen I perceived one plot in my garden fruitful and another barren and observed the difference between the one and the other how lovely how amiable how pleasant the fruitful plat seemed to me how fresh and fragrant how green and ardent it was how it was diapred with various coloured flowers beautiful and lovely and how lothsome unseemly and unhandsome the other lookt where nothing appeared but briars and thorns weeds and thistles with stones and rubbish which was a fit receptacle for toads and serpents and other venemous vermine I began to consider it was yet possible to reduce this plot into a better form and turn it to a better use And hereupon I caused the rubbish to be stockt up the weeds to be pluckt up and the stones pickt out and after I digged and manured it and had an effect answerable to my expectation for when it was sown with better seed it brought forth better fruit The unlovelinesse of this plot when overgrown with weeds and rubbish produced this following Meditation I thought it lively represented a heart barren of grace and goodnesse but fruitfull of briars and thorns sin and wickednesse which is more odious to God then this plot was to me and yet how lovely a fruit bearing Christian is in his eye the one is like a loathsome muck-heap which stinks the other like a watered garden that yields a sweet favour like a garden of spices Cant. 4.14 the one brings forth fruit for Gods basket the other fewell for the devils fire all the seed sown upon it is lost and choakt with briars and thorns and all the rain that falls upon it doth but make the weeds more rank and flourishing their grape is the grape of Sodom and of the fields of
thou wilt kill the cursed tree stub it up by the roots and not lop off here one branch and there another for if the root be dead the branches will soon wither but if the root live the branches will revive The way to cleanse the stream is to purge the fountain for sweet water cannot proceed from a stinking puddle if the tree be good the fruit will be good also if the spring be not dried up it will sooner or later overflow the dam the way to cure the sore is to heal it at the bottome and heart-reformation is the best way to life-reformation hypocrisie within will like a botch at length break forth and a rotten heart will ere long rot the life also O my God without thy assistance all my endeavours will prove vain the devil the world and my own deceitful heart will beguile me let me not strive in my own strength nor fail of thine assisting grace rather cast me into the furnace then suffer my corruption and dross to remain in me and rather plow deeper furrows by affliction then suffer the roots of the weeds to remain in my heart turn me O Lord and I shall be turned convert me and I shall be converted let me not take up with a partial reformation and let nothing less then the death of sin give me content Upon the care men take of their Gardens 11. Med. WHen I considered how careful many men and women are to keep their garden in order and what pains and cost they are at in this thing and what time is spent to this end and how many are employed in this work walling fencing and securing it in digging dunging weeding and much more there must not a rarity be wanting that love or labour or money can procure there must not a weed be seen nor hearb nor flower out of order what is dead must be supplied what is wanting must be had and what is superfluous must be cast away the tenderest must be secured from frost and scorching sun and the whole must be formed after the newest mode and latest fashion the alleys and walks must be swept and trimmed and rowled and levelled the grass mown and kept under and all so exactly done that it may appear to be an earthly paradice a place of pleasure and delights And observing also that all this while those very persons so curious and so neat in shaddows yet neglect the substance and suffer their own souls and the souls of their Children servants and near relations the gardens God only takes delight in to be sadly out of order and though they make choise of the choisest skilfullest painfullest men for the other they let out these gardens to the devils dressing without regard who sows tares and poppy cokle and darnell weeds and rubbish thorns and thistles in them and whatsoever bad is which grows and flourishes without controul and choakes all the good seed that is there sown these men are made keepers of others vineyards but their own vineyard they have not kept these men suffer the devil to make a path-way over their hearts when they only look to the ways in their gardens I have oft wondred at their stupidity in spiritualls that are so ripe-witted in temporalls and that those that are so good husbands for the body should be such bad husbands for the soul and those that take so much pains for a little imaginary pleasure here should altogether neglect the true pleasures everlasting joys at the right hand of God for evermore Oh the stupendious folly of men to prefer pebbles before pearls and gold before grace and a handful of flowers before an heartfull of holiness and the shadow before the substance and earth before heaven and a garden before paradice well however they do now the time is coming these men will finde their mistake and will alter their minde and change their judgment when grace will be accounted the choicest flower in the garland and a dram of it will be of more value then a cabinet of Jewels and holiness will then prove the best fashion though many now disdain to wear it Oh my soul art thou not guilty thy self of those sins which thou so sharply chargest upon others doth not this shew that thou lookest too much abroad and too little at home art thou not too deep in the transgression which thou now castest upon others and puts other mens sins in the end of the wallet before and thine own behinde out of sight thou art blinde at home and quick-sighted abroad and seest the mote in thy brothers eye and not the beam in thine own hast not thou thy self been more prodigall of thy pains thy time thy cost thy sweat for meer trifles then ever thou hast been about thy greater concerns and is any mans folly more conspicuous then thy own hast thou not had thy ears open to those bewitching Syren songs of pleasure and been more tickled with earthly sensuall delight then with communion with God in his worship and service when the world hath smiled upon thee how unwilling hast thou been to die and to be with God and hast laid cut thy self thy strength thy time too much for earthly enjoyments to the neglect of heavenly riches sweep therefore before thy own doors before thou complain of the foulness of the street pluck out the beam out of thy own eye before thou offer thy helping hand to thy brother to remove his mote throw the first stone at thy self reform what is amiss and then thou maiest reprove another more boldly get thy affection weaned from the world and thy eye fixt upon better riches and more enduring pleasures lest God give thee these for thy portion and what then wilt thou do in the latter end Oh my God what shall I say to thee how shall I answer thee my iniquity is found out this day to be hatefull had I spent but my time for spirituall advantages which I have prodigally wasted for very trifles it might have been much better with me had I planted and sowed in a more fruitful field I might have had a better crop Lord wean me from the dugs of carnal delights though it be with the gall and wormwood of afflictions and suffer me not to surfet on the worlds dainties leave me not to my own will then shall I undoe my self feed me with food convenient and it sufficeth me Upon a neglected Garden 12. Med. WHen I saw by experience how soon a neglected garden grows out of form and fashion and in a short time comes to be a rude and indigested heap grown over with weeds and nettles trash and rubbish destroyed with moles inhabited with toads serpents or other vermine the wall broken down the fence decayed beasts and swine making a prey of it the one tearing off the tops the other digging up the roots of the tender plants the hearbs and flowers dying withering or decaying choaked by the weeds or starved for want of nourishment
rather comfort It is not always those that can speak loudest that speaks best but he that speaks wisest the empty barrel makes the greatest sound that Sermon 〈◊〉 not always best that hath most gaudy notions and rhetorical flourishes but that which savours most of Christ and the divine Eloquence of his holy spirit he is the best preacher that woos for Christ and not for himself and would set the crown upon his head and not his own it is not the best physitian that speaks most latine greek and hebrew but he that gives the surest and safest directions to recover health it is not the tickling of the fancy a preacher should so much minde as to speak convincingly to the conscience oh my soul judge not by the outward but the inward qualification neither cover hypocrisy by a mask of seeming sincerity for God will ere long pluck off such vizors slight no man meerly upon the account of poverty for God thinks never the worse of them admire no man meerly for his riches for God thinks never the better of him this is but to worship a golden calf the time is coming that the king must leave his robes behinde him and the beggar his rags and it is the inward qualifications that must distinguish between the one and the other Dives and Lazarus when they come to stand on even ground shall by these be tried and so must all by what means or titles soever they have been dignifyed distinguished or called it is our works and worth not our wealth will follow us whereever tâ—ou seest Christ in any own him for God will own him esteem grace in the soul more then money in the purse and the robes of righteousness above the most costly jewels a drachm of grace is worth thousands of gold and silver for thy councellors take the wisest not the wealthiest for wisdom and wealth many times dwell not together in the same house esteem that preacher best that speaks home to the heart and conscience not him that seeks to tickle the ear and please the fancy he that woos for Christ and not for himself and seeks to put the crown upon his head and not his own esteem that Sermon best where thou findest most of Christ and not that which is drest with gaudy notions and rhetorical flourishes which serve to darken and not illustrate the matter and are as king James was wont to say like red and blew flowers fine to look upon good for little but pester the corn a diseased man had rather have medicum sanantem quam eloquentem one that will rather do well then speak well oh my God should I cover my prophanness or hypocrisy with the vizor of seeming holiness thou wilt soon discover it and unmask me for thou searchest the heart and triest the reins and all things are open and apparent to thee Lord give me sincerity and truth in the inward part for this is thy gift make me such as thy own soul delights in let me not be deceived by my own deceitful heart nor think to deceive others for I cannot deceive thy all-seeing eye Upon the constant supply the vegetables need 33. Med. WHen I seriously considered that these beautiful creatures which now adorn the earth with their flowers and enamel it with their various shapes and colours and enrich it with their odours vertues and operations yet without a constant supply of mans labour pains and diligence and also of the influences of the heavens they would soon wither die and come to nothing some of them must be yearly set or sown or transplanted others preserved both from heat and cold and all need some manure care and pains weeding watering fencing or other cares this minded me of the condition of all earthy delights or enjoyments they must be renewed or they will soon vanish all things by sin are become subject to decay there is a vicissitude of earthly comforts and a constant change Mans life cannot be preserved without food and physick and other necessaries the four Elements fire air earth and water are so necessary that if eâ—â—her be denied mans life is at an end the houses we dwell in must be repaired or they will soon come to ruine and fall about our ears The most famous fabricks that ever the Sun saw are come to ruine The Piramides of Egypt the walls of Carthage the tomb of Mansolus or if there were any thing more famous or more durable yet time hath consumed and brought it to a ruinous heap the most impregnable castle the most invincible strong-hold if not repaired by labour and industry time levels with the ground we cannot say now of our garments as Moses of Israels cloaths Deut. 8.4 thy rayment waxed not old neither did thy foot swell this forty years it was not the worse for the wearing but as some imagine probably it grew as their bodies did they needed not to trouble themselves with anxious thoughts what to eat or what to drink or wherewith to be cloathed God brought them food to their tent-doors and provided rayment without their care or pains but with us all such comforts must be renewed with care and diligence with a care of the head though not of the heart or they will quickly be gone this consideration made me think what a great deal of confusion sin had brought into the world and subjected all things to vanity and vexation of spirit every thing saith Solomon is full of labour for as it brought death into the world so likewise all other miseries had it not been for sin we had never had aking head or aking heart or loss or cross or any thing to molest us and now every thing becomes a trouble man is born to trouble saith Job as the sparks fly upwards yet alass how doth the world bewitch men that they had rather be drudges and savages here and moil and toil and cark and care and live as it were in a dungeon and work as in the very fire then die and come to God this they make their portion this is their delight and all that they care for they sell their ease their pleasure and their very souls oh earth how dost thou bewitch us O satan how dost thou infatuate us oh heart how dost thou deceive us what disappointments doth foolish men meet with here and yet will take no warning we never did finde content and yet we are always promising our selves happinesse here where never any yet could finde it alass what proportion is there between a piece of gold and an immortal soul Oh my soul canst thou love this sin which hath brought all this misery and confusion into the world canst thou hug this viper in thy bosome which will sting thee to eternal death if not kil'd and mortified and canst thou place thy happiness in these vanishing perishing and withering vanities will these serve thy turn or boot thy needs or make thee happy can they pay thy debts or save thy
soul alass they cannot they cannot procure thee one days respite out of hell or one days freedome from sickness or from death they cannot give thee any satisfaction here for content grows not in the worlds garden there are indeed joys worth having pleasures worth minding and riches worth labouring for happiness that shall never have an end that are not subject to changes nor vicissitudes as earthly enjoyments are but they are to be sought for above in the enjoyment of God in whose presence alone true happiness dwells The happiness the world promiseth are meer delusions a little honey and many stings a little bitter sweet pleasures that perisheth ere it bud in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is heaviness their joy is but like the crackling of thorns under a pot soon in soon out if thou wilt trade let it be in a surer commodity and not with the merchant have fortunam rudentibus aptam thy estate depending winde and weather if thou wilt be planting let it be in a better soil and not where thorns and thistles are like to be thy reward there is a treasure to be had a pearl of great price to be bought Mat. 13.44 45. whosoever deals in these cannot lose by them in comparison of which pearls and diamonds and precious rubies are not to be named these are they that make the soul rich all other riches doth it no good this makes it rich to God and lovely comely amiable in his sight oh my God give me this treasure and it sufficeth though I have nothing else all other things I can spare Christ I cannot spare he is the breath of my life and the life of my soul let the world take their portion alass it is a miserable portion I envy them not but Lord put me not off with such pittifull poor things let me have an interest in Christ and communion with him let me lie for ever in his bosome and let the enjoyment of him be my portion let me be an inhabitant in the city of pearl where no dirty dog shall tread upon the pavement my heart pants after this as the chased hart after the water-brooks when Lord shall I come and appear before thee come Lord Jesus come quickly Upon the sudden withering of flowers 34. Med. WHen I beheld the beauty splendour and glory of several herbs and flowers and other vegetables when they were in their pride and in their prime and invited all eyes to behold them and to do them homage and when I considered withall how short-lived they were how soon they withered vanished and perished and their glory passed away and came to nothing I thought this was a fit embleme to set forth humane frailty and the worlds glory by for both are transitory and vain for man himself who is Lord of these flowers he soon fades and is withered as a flower yea many times in the flower of his age how frequently doth the Scripture compare man to the grass and to the flower of the field which this day flourisheth and to morrow fadeth their glorious beauty is as a fading flower and as the hasty fruit before the summer c. Esay 28.1 4. all flesh is grass and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass the grass withereth and the flower fadeth away 1 Pet. 1.24 man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble he cometh forth like a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not Job 14.1 2. Now they are fresh and flourishing and sudenly they decline now in the heigth of youthfull vanity and sudenly they pass away and the place that knew them shall know them no more if they live cares and fears sickness and old age succeed of which they are forc't to say they have no pleasure in them death it self many times calls men off the stage when they think they have but begun to act their parts and puts an exit to them and their work is done and their part ended But suppose life were more certain yet our earthly enjoyments and our happiness here are transitory and vain and all the felicity the world brags of is but a meer fancy and a very cheat at the best it is but a mixture of sweet and sowr a little honey and a great deal of gall and the end of that mirth is heaviness if the happiness be such what is the misery man himself is but a bubble how great soever he may seem and with what titles soever he be dignified and soon shall he be prickt by death and the winde let out and then a great bubble and a little one cannot be distinguished and all the pleasures which vain man takes in all his youthful follies is but like a bush of thorns and wisp of straw on fire make a sudden blaze and is forthwith extinguished they make a noise for a while and then vanish into smoak youthfull pleasures are soon over and carking care treads out their steps and old age makes them forgotten youth is like young lambs they leap and frisk awhile while they have the dug to run to when they are hungry but when they are once weaned and set to shift for themselves the sport is over so youth under their parents providence minde their sports but when once at their own provision cares and pains spoil the mirth and make it little minded The world also frowns and smiles upon the same man many times the same day and useth him as a tennisball now lifts him up and sudenly casts him down raiseth him to the top of honour and then plungeth him into the gulph of disgrace Now it shews him abundance of riches and then pincheth him with extremity of poverty now it mixeth him a cup with pleasure and presently fills it with gall and wormwood that which the world calls pleasures and for which so many sell their souls are but like those of the drunkard that last but while he is swallowing the drink and then succeeds belchings and vomitings sickness and sorrow wallowing in the mire and such like or like that of the adulterer which is often attended with pains aches rottenness filthy diseases not fit to be named and death it self and indeed these two beastly sins have much of that which the world calls pleasure but the effects shew it is wrong named sickness succeeds health and deformity beauty sorrow treads upon the heels of pleasure and adversity follows prosperity and there is a vicissitude and change in all humane affairs he is a stranger in the world that knows not these things David tells us Psal 37 35. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found whether he have reference to Saul and his family I know not yet in the next generation how was his
many times God by his providence doth thus dispose of the cruel enemies of his Church and those that thirst after the blood of his Saints they have had blood even their own blood to drink Rev. 16.6 so righteous is God in his judgments and so true in his word thus it was with Pharaoh that sought the destruction of Israel he and his army were overthrown in the Red-sea Adonibezek that had caused threescore and ten kings having their thumbs and their great toes cut off to gather meat under his table was requited in like manner by the men of Judah Judg. 6.7 thus it was with Haman he procured a decree to cut off aâ—â— the Jews and made a gallows fifty cubits high to hang Mordecai upon but he himself was hanged upon it and his own friends and relations were destroyed Thus it was with Daniels persecutors he was delivered out of the Lions den and they were cast in so the flames lickt up the men that threw the three Worthies into the fiery furnace but had no power upon them Phaleris perisht in his brazen Bull the work of his own hands invented to torment others thus Tomyris dealt by Cyrus and the Parthians by Crassus and the Romans by those Jews that cryed out his blood be upon us and upon our children and so God by his providence dealed with our gun-powder conspirators and so let thine implacable enemies perish oh God this Observation also brought to my minde what I had somewhere read and often heard by way of complaint of our English laws viz. that they were like unto spiders webs which hold the little flys but the great ones break through or like fishers nets rather where the little fishes creep through and the great ones break through and I thought the comparison not unfit the laws themselves I know would hold the greatest malefactor were not those that should execute them partiall ofttimes fear or favour makes them open the net and let go their prey how oft may we see partiality sit as judge in some courts of Judicature this is my friend that is my kinsman deal gently with the young man for my sake how oft have I seen a poor man stockt for swearing and drunkenness and well they deserved it but his worship or his honour guilty of the same crimes brake through the net and escaped scot free and was neither punished in person nor purse yea though they offended in the Magistrates presence but whether worshipful titles will bear them out also before the judgment-seat of God is worthy enquiry there is no such exceptions in Gods law let him suffer except he be a Gentleman nay it is an aggravation to the fault of such a one who may well be presumed to have better knowledge and better breeding then others or otherwise I know not what gentility signifies and he that knows his Masters will and doth it not should be beaten with many stripes I have read of a Gentleman being condemned to death for a flagitious crime and pleading for a mittigation of his punishment because he was a Gentleman the Judge yielded him but this favour that he should be hanged upon a higher gallows then the other were and I fear the Ecclesiastical Courts are not much better perhaps much worse poor ones are a prey not worth keeping great ones are too big to be held the middle sort of fish best suits the net and pleaseth the palat oh my soul think not to escape at the judgment-seat of God by any external priviledge the soul that sinneth it shall dye whether high or low rich or poor thou hast a righteous Judge to be tryed by that will not be corrupted by gold nor gain who will hear over again all the causes tryed in our Courts of Judicatory and parhaps pass another sentence if thy cause be good he will not condemn thee oh my God absolve me in thy Court and no matter if man condemn me but if thou condemn me there is none can acquit me Upon the worthlesness of a spiders web 50. Med. WHen I considered further the great diligence and the unwearied pains of the spider yea the fineness of the thread and the curiosity of the work and how she drew it out of her own bowels and yet notwithstanding how useless and unprofitable it was if a man should make a garment of it it would neither wear well nor keep warm or dry neither can it shelter from winde or storm if he make armour of it it cannot defend him if we lean upon it it cannot support us if we fall upon it it cannot bear us up neither can it stand before the besome but it is soon rent and spoiled and ofttimes the work and the workman the weaver and the web are cast both together into the fire I thought it resembled the world and the things of the world for of this it is the devil makes his net to catch souls which are the flys he hunts after which in it self considered is vain and transitory too poor a refuge to trust to either for temporal deliverance or eternal happiness yet many like the spider spend themselves to weave their web and even draw it out of their own bowels yea their very hearts goes along with it and if they meet with a prosperous success they like the rich man Luk. 12.16 c. sing a requiem to their souls and promise themselves a great deal of happiness when alas Gods besome of destruction sudenly comes and sweeps away both the work and the workman in a moment and casts both into the fire yet many spider-like put their trust in these webs of their own making and think they may eat drink and be merry c. right Epicures that make their gut their God and eat that on earth they must digest in hell their glass is run when they think it is but new turned then shall they finde though too late that their money will do nothing and death will not be hired but righteousness alone will deliver from death Solomon tells us Pro. 18.11 the rich mans wealth is his strong-hold and high walls in his own conceit but wealth is never true to those that trust it and cannot help in the evil day Zeph. 1.18 but if sin lie at the foundation though the walls be made never so high they will tumble down Jer. 17.5 cursed is man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the living God and truly of such refuges we may say as Job of the spiders web Job 8.13 14 15. if a man lean upon his house it shall not stand though he hold it fast it shall not endure most men like to a drowning man lay hold upon something to stay them and to bear up their heads above water but if it be not upon the Lord Jehovah it will do them no good but prove like to Egiptian reeds not only break but run into their hands should we trust in Princes
despight of his enemies if they take away their meat saith the Martyr God can take away their hunger why not as well as he doth the life of other creatures and he will do it rather then his promise shall fail Elijah goes in the strength of one meal forty days and had God pleased it might have been forty years for he could have preserved the Israelites forty years in the wilderness without food as well as with food from heaven and as well as he preserved their garments from waxing old Deut. 29.5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness your cloaths are not waxen old upon you and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot they needed not to care what they should eat or what they should drink or wherewithall they should be cloathed for God made provision of all this they were maintained at Gods proper cost and charges methoughts also this cessation of action in these creatures in winter did much resemble sleep which if God pleased might be as long in other animals and were it not common would be thought wonderful and little differing from death it self and yet experience shews us that which seems to destroy nature doth restore and refresh it or it is like to a swoon when the symptomes of death are upon a man yea in some distempers the symptomes of life for many hours together are scarcely discerned but above all it resembles our lying in the grave and our rising again at the resurrection for the body sleeps in the dust till the last day as these creatures do in their holes till the winter is past and the spring approacheth and the silkworm never receives life till the Mulbery-trees leaves which is their food and then they shall be revived by the sun of righteousness and life put into them then these dry bones shall live This I know some question and some deny possibly because they cannot fathome the depth of this providence and were they not convinc't by yearly experience of the other they would deny that also and would think it could not be that creatures should have their life preserved the one half of the year at least without food because they know not how it should be But I think few articles of our faith are more clearly proved in Scripture then this of the resurrection but many men I fear are wilfully blinde their lives and conversations being so debaucht they would believe at least wish they could believe there were no resurrection of the body yea that the soul were mortal as well as the body and that the death of the one were the destruction of the other also but the time is coming they shall finde the contrary to their sorrow both scripture and reason speak plainly that the soul is immortal and that the body partaking with it in holiness or sin shall also partake with it in weal or wo and that there will be a day of retribution when those that now suffer for Christ shall then reign with him and those that sin shall suffer for their sin the contrary to this cannot stand with scripture-revelations the threatnings of the law the promises of the Gospel nor with divine justice it self and why should any think it impossible for God to gather our dust together and raise up our dead bodies at the last who do believe that there is a God and that he hath made not only man but the whole creation of nothing and that this God is just and will make good both his promises and threatnings and nothing is too hard for an omnipotent arm oh my soul distrust not Gods word question not his power he that can make all things of nothing can of thy scattered ashes raise up thy dead body to life and re-unite it to thy hould and he that saith he will do it will certainly perform it heaven and earth shall pass but not one tittle of his word shall pass till all be fulfilled call not in question the power and providence of God but labour to have a part in the first resurrection that the second death may have no power get fitted for death and judgement get sin pardoned and subdued which is the sting of death get grace implanted and thy soul married unto Christ then needst thou not fear death nor the resurrection oh my God strengthen my faith confirm my hope and encrease my love to thee and let me long for the time that I may enjoy thee in glory and lie for ever in the arms of my beloved Vpon beggers at the door 60. Med. WHen I saw some lusty able persons fit for service and other employment begging at the door I began to consider how disagreeing this course of life was to the word of God who had commanded men in the sweat of their brows they should eat their bread this is a law laid upon all sorts of men to sweat out a poor living brow or brain must sweat for it or our bread is eaten ere it be earned God would not have a begger in Israel and the Apostles will was those that would not labour should not eat 2 Thes 3.6 10 14. those that have enough to live on must not be idle much less those that have nothing yet many live like rats and mice only to devour what others labour for paradice that was mans store-house was also his work-house God set him to dress the garden and there should be none that like body-lice feed upon other mens sweat such idle persons often times are set on work by the devil for idleness is the hour of temptation and standing-waters are usually full of vermine Nay how disagreeing is this course of life with the laws of the land which making other provision for the poor stigmatize these wanderers by the name of rogues and appoint them to be stockt and whipt and sent back to the place of their birth or last abode and inflicts a penalty upon those that relieve them The great Turk that grand Seignior is not excepted for he hath a trade and is dayly to labour with his hands yea Divines in all ages ancient and modern and of all perswasions have exclaimed against this course of life and esteemed such persons to be the plague-sore of the Nation and not to be tolerated in a well-ordered Common-wealth they are a dishonour to the Church they live in and to the Countrey they inhabit and the heathens as well as the Christians have made laws to punish them These and the like considerations made me think correction to be the fittest alms and their restraint might hinder a great deal of sin acted by them and be a means to reduce them under government civil and Ecclesiastical which now live like lawless persons under none and neither fear God nor obey men but are the unprofitable burthens of the earth But on the other side when I considered how little provision notwithstanding in the law was made for the poor in most places and
what cause then hath poor man to hugg such a viper in his bosome that feels so much the sad effects of it which is the cause of all temporal spiritual and eternal miseries which without repentance will cause not only a seperation of the soul from the body but also of the body and soul from God I considered also that though man were subjected to more care and trouble then other creatures were yet if he did his work well he was promised a greater reward and better wages then any other he shall be well paid for his pains and who will not take pains for profit it is fit that man that is promised a kingdome for one days work should work harder then he that hath but ordinary wages yea God hath gracious ends in these afflictions to his people by this means he lets them know their rest is not here and weans them from the love of the world which would undo them who otherwise would with Peter say it is good being here we are travellers and cannot expect rest in a journey or security in an enemies countrey the Samaritans would not entertain Christ because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem Luk. 9.53 and the world will not entertain Gods people because they have their faces heâ—â—enward Christ tells us in the world we shall have tribulation John 16.33 this is not a paradice but a purgatory to the saints we may say of this as one doth of the Straits of Megellan when a man is there which way soever he bends his course the winde will be against him but Christ hath overcome the world and will subject this enemy to us It is a great mistake to take this for our rest yet many do and rest here and it is all the rest they are like to have and a miserable portion it is to those that have the most of it there are none here live free from misery though some sinfully pass away their time idly sorrow will follow sin as the shadow doth the substance and if any can patch up a miserable happiness here yet it is short-lived and they know not whether it will be a day older when death comes eternal miseries will take date oh my soul art thou under suffering and hast no free-day do they come like waves of the sea one in the neck of another thank thy self and thy sin for it these are the fruits of thy beloved lusts when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death Jam. 1.15 never expect to be free from suffering till thou be free from sin when thou smartest by affliction avenge thy self on thy sins and make thy heart smart for sin if sin be not forsaken thy sufferings will be more God will make thee bend or break under his hand but if thy sins be hated and repented despair not at thy troubles it is but the portion of Gods own people Abel began a health and all the saints that ever were are or shall be have pledg'd it round and some have drunk very deep and Christ himself drunk up the very dregs of it but if thou suffer for righteousness sake thou shalt be sufficiently rewarded yea thou maist rejoice and be exceeding glad for great will be thy reward in heaven Mat. 5.11.12 Oh my God thou hast afflicted me less then I deserve help me to patience under thy hand with correction give instruction and let no twig of thy rod be in vain fit my back for the burthen and then lay on what thou pleasest On the difference between a well manured and neglected Orchard 74. Med. WHen I observed the difference between a well-manured well-ordered and well-husbanded orchard and one that was slieghted neglected and carelesly heeded I observed the difference between diligence and negligence in the one I beheld the trees orderly ranked not too near nor at too great a distance carefully prun'd and freed from superfluous branches suckers clensed from moss and other offensive enemies manured dung'd fenced from the violence of cattle and in a word in a comely form and handsome to behold and the fruit answered expectation and made amends for the care and cost but the other was neither handsome to the eye nor profitable to the owner lying open to the beasts of the feild out of order and shape some too thick others too thin overgrown with moss suckers cankers and unprofitable branches the ground over-run with briars brambles nettles docks and other unprofitable weeds and the fruit thus choaked and spoiled proved accordingly by this I saw the difference between a good husband and a bad Solomon tells us the king himself is served by the field Eccl. 5.9 and so doubtless he is by the orchard but then it must be well husbanded Uzziah loved husbandry 2 Chr. 26.10 the orchard yields both meat and drink both food and physick profit and delight is here to be had but not without labour and diligence In all labour saith Solomon there is profit Pro. 14.23 that is all honest labour we should work with our hands the thing that is good some labour diligently to do mischief and take pains to go to hell there is small profit in this work and some as one saith do magno conatu magnus nugas â—gere they do take great pains to small purpose some take as much pains to spend their estate as others do to get it and more pains in the way to hell then others in the way to heaven but diligence even in earthly business is doubtless a commanded duty and negligence is a forbidden sin the one brings profit and the other loss diligence in an orchard brings in more then ordinary profit the Apostle commands those that will not labour that they shall not eat 2 Thes 3.10 paradice that was mans store-house was his work house also those idle persons that have little to do are usually set on a work by the devil for he takes up and employs such wanderers those that like body-lice live upon other mens sweat are not fit to live in a well-ordered common-wealth it is an apostatical command that we labour with our hands that we may be able to give to those that need Eph. 4.28 he shall be poor saith Solomon that dealeth with a slack hand but the hand of the diligent maketh rich Pro. 10.4 doing there must be or the beggar will catch us by the back it follows he that gathereth in summer is a wise son but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame he that lets the offered opportunity slip may haply never recover the loss diligence usually though not constantly is attended with abundance but the sluggard shall be covered with rags we reade Pro. 24.30 that Solomon went by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding and it was grown over with thorns thistles also had covered the face thereof the stone-wall thereof was broken down
dead soul to God though the unsavoury smell of it be not perceived by natural men for how can one dead man smell another you may as well expect good fruit from a dead tree as any good action from a dead man perhaps something good for the matter may be done by a natural man as prayer fasting and almes-deeds from the Pharisees but the manner or ends spoil all but he that can say to dry bones live can say to a dead soul live and he that at the first brought light out of darkness can enlighten a darkned understanding The soul can act nothing truly good or acceptable to God till it be taken off the stock of nature and planted into that generous vine Christ then will it bear good fruit when it is nourished with sap from this root it must needs germinate and bring forth but without this there is neither bud nor blossome the soul by nature brings forth briars and brambles thorns and thistles weeds and baggage for to these it is not dead but only to good works these other are the fruits of the curse and these will choak the good seed and render it unprofitable the heart is alive to those but dead to grace and holiness of natural men God saith their vine is the vine of Sodom and of the field of Gomorrha their grapes are grapes of gall and their clusters are bitter their wine is the poyson of dragons and the cruel venime of asps their works yea their best works are pernitious the vine is their corrupt nature and the grapes their evil works which proceed from this vine their spot is not the spot of Gods people Deut. 32.5 the saints have their spots but these are not like theirs they are not so deeply ingraven wicked mens spots are like the Leopards not only in the skin but in the flesh yea in the very heart and therefore can be cured by none but Christ the great Physitian they cannot be cured by the art of man or washt away by any water the sin of the saints is but like the viper on Pauls hand through Gods mercy they hurt him not how many of these dead trees may we observe among us yea how few that be alive and few bear so much as a leaf they make no profession of Religion at all but deform the place where they are and procure a curse upon it I fear it may be said of England in a spiritual sence as once it was said of Egypt there was not a family that there was not some dead person in it and I fear there are very few free amongst us nay are not most familyes all thus spiritually dead and it appears they are dead when after twenty years dressing pruning watering and manuring and that by the most skilfull husbandmen who have spent their time their strength and their lives in the work yet they do not bring forth one leaf much lesse any good fruit and there is none can cure them but he that can put life into them and say to a dead soul live and can transplant them from the stock of nature into that noble vine Christ that they are dead is apparent for their souls have all the symptoms of death upon them they have neither heat nor breath nor sence nor motion if God call they hear not if his hand be stretched out they observe it not if a load of sin ly upon them as heavy as a mountain of lead they feel it not nor the deep gashes sin makes in the soul present before a dead man the bloudiest spectacle that ever was beheld or the pleasantest sight that ever was seen all is one he sees neither the one nor the other the roaring cannon and the sweetest musick is all one the sweetest savour and the fulsomest stink he cannot difference the lightest feather and the heaviest mountain signify the same the sweetest meat and the rankest poyson and why because he is dead no more can a dead soul judge of spiritual things promises and threatnings are all alike he is moved neither with the one or with the other oh my soul this hath been thy case thou hast been spiritually dead dead in trespasses and sins thou hast been spiritually deaf and dumb and blinde and lame and if it be better with thee bless God for it for it was he and not thy self put life into thee bring forth now fruit sutable to a tree that hath life that is transplanted into Christ that hath had such planting dressing and manuring as thou hast had that Gods labour be not lost upon thee oh my God remove those obstructions that hinder me from bearing fruit and purge me that I may bring forth more fruit put life into me and I shall live Upon a tree seemingly dead in winter 84. Med. WHen I observed in the winter-season those trees formerly green and flourishing and richly laden not with leaves only but good fruit but now were stript of all and had neither leaf nor fruit but lookt withered dead and dry and no difference appeared between the fruitfull and the barren yea scarce any between the living and the dead yet in the spring following when the sun shone upon them with a more direct ray and warm beams and the rain from heaven watered them and refresht them they revived sprung again budded bloomed and bare fruit I thought this did lively resemble a poor deserted souls condition in her widowhood when her husband hath forsaken her and seems to give her a bill of divorce when the sun of righteousness is either set upon her clouded or ecclipst or at least very remote from her sight then with the Marigold she droops hangs the head and is contracted into her self it is then winter with her and little difference appears between her and a dead soul at least in her own apprehensions when God hides his face from the soul or any thing interposes between them that she cannot see him then is she in a languishing condition and crys out with the spouse did ye see him whom my soul loveth Cant. 3.3 she cannot hide this fire in her bosome or conceal this love but it will break out then she goes from one Ordinance to another from one Minister to another enquiring after her husband Christ every corner of the house can witness her moan for his absence nothing will satisfie nothing will content but him give me Christ or else I die never did hungry man more earnestly desire meat nor thirsty man desire drink or Rachel desire children then an hungry soul desires Christ But when the sun of righteousness doth arise with healing in his wings Mal. 4.2 the soul that before was cold and chill now becomes lively and active these cherishing rays make her bud and bloom and bring forth what Job speaks of a tree seemingly dead and withered yet saith he through the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant Job 14.7 c. is really true of